upstop

To be truthful, since we have seen some big jumps in theming improvement in the past couple of years, I believe it is quite possible that this building is being built from wood instead of steel and themed to look as if it is a part of The Beast structures. Therefore it won't appear to be anything else but an additional structure blended in with The Beast. Truthfully, only the die-hards would then notice it as something new.

Hmmm...hopefully Banshee style trains for Raptor.

10 to 1 says that's the name of the Carowinds coaster. It just makes too much sense.I think we can all pretty much agree, based on what we know, that this is a Haunt structure however details beyond that won't be released for weeks. I thought that the name or so called name for the Carowinds coaster was Fury 325? Do they use stealth names to cover for real names with coasters...interesting...Centurion would be the better name for a coaster though.

My nephew was above 48 inches when he was a kid. He was too scared to ride the adult rides because of his mental age and couldn't ride the kiddie rides because of his physical size, therefore that year was a waste of money all the way around. He immediately lost interest in Kings Island. In fact after that year he never came back and hasn't to this day.

Maybe we will get something from these guys... https://www.facebook.com/skylineattractions http://skylineattractions.com/#popout

One person rescued so far. Edit: now two from the front car. 11.24 est three at 11:30 est 4 at 11:31. Front car is now empty. Rescue personnel never cease to amaze me....bravo!

Looks like it was a Zac Spin coaster.

Feels like a launch to me!

Just curious...I wonder if this construction has anything to do with the CF trademarked name Centurion from earlier this year?

OMG....It's gonna be a Dippin Dots Bar with sprinkle fixins! Yeehaw......YummmmmYum! LOL

May God bless you and help you find peace during the rough time. Was Julie a coaster enthusiast as well?

Banshee was announced in the fall too. ( But I think you are right.)

Wood? That blows the whole steel building concept.

Was it creepy enough to be a Halloween Haunt? I bet with some tweeking it would be.....(hint ki!)

Hmmm. I thought he was referring to what appears to be a footer lying in the dirt near the bridge....lol

Great report! Glad you had fun! I've only been there once, but it is on my list of great parks. I rode Night Hawk when it was Borg Assimilator...What a great ride. I think its a bit shorter than Firehawk but it packs a punch for sure. Intimidator looks fun for sure as well.

Kings Dominion is a wonderful park. I particularly like the shade. Not too many parks have as many trees. The one thing I noticed was the lack of a breeze while we were there. We seemed to be the only two sweating...LOL. I looked like I got off of a water ride most of the time I was there...hehehehe. Yes it is too bad we didn't meet up. I think we would have had a blast. I'm back on my diet now and walking for 8 hours straight for 4 days straight and (unfortunately/fortunately...not sure which) being sick...I lost 8 pounds....I call it the Theme Park Exercise and Diet Program...lol I'm hoping to have lost a bunch more by mid August and would really like to meet you and everyone else here. So keep me informed of any August meetups if anything comes up I feel blessed to have "virtually" talked to you! Have a safe trip home Lora!!!

Yes that first turn is a doozy. I was on the outside and a couple of inches more to my left was the guiderail. I felt that if I had looked down at that moment I could have seen the wheels...LOL. I hope you had a wonderful time. Thank you for the kind words! BTW, My fever broke last night! Onward to recovery...Yay!

My first tpr...excuse the wordiness. My coaster buddy M&M Productions and I left my house at 4 am on 6/28 for our first time back to KD and BGW in over 7 years. The last time we went both of us were disappointed by the fact that we didn't fit on anything...more on this later. We arrived at our hotel in Ashland at 11:00 am....surprisingly fast in my opinion. Now a word about the hotel...Bad bad bad hotel...We stayed at Motel 6 in Ashland. The room was stinking and the light switch did not work. There were shorts in about all of the plugs and at night there was zero path lighting or stairwell lighting. It was not a safe atmosphere at all. We did not receive any maid service and I had to ask for towels after hours. The lobby was locked and the attendant was on the phone when I went into the enclosure. I told him we had no maid service and needed towels. He went into the back room....a half hour later he came out with one towel and a hand towel. I would have left, but the fees were non refundable...now I know why. Won't be staying there again. Anyways, on day one, we arrived at the park around 11:30. That weekend was KD's a festival like Spirit Song (it wasn't Joyfest). We expected a crowd and it was crowded. So we walked around for a while and decided to ride Ricochet . The last time we were there we couldn't get the restraints down two clicks...voila! We were able to get them set. The ride was rather fun. So we tried our luck with the Hurler. No problem there and we both fit, however, the quick hard banking to the right reset my spine and I thought I would be in pain all day, but that quickly went away...needless to say we didn't ride that one again. We then rode Rebel Yell. It is similar to The Racer but noticeably smaller....but it was very smooth. After riding this we headed over to Drop Tower. Here they have a test seat. We were both disappointed that we could not get the restraint locked. So we counted Volcano out as another ride we couldn't ride. So we walked dejectedly to Bad Apple (our version is Shake Rattle and Roll). Fun ride. It seemed a longer cycle but the operator was hysterical. When the ride was over he said push up on your lap bars...of course they were pushing and he was giving them a hard time by telling them try over and over. Eventually he released the locks everyone on the ride and in the line was giggling and having fun. We decided to have lunch so we check several places and prices are identical with King's Island. We finally settled for a cheeseburger at the Hungry Hippo in Safari Village. It was a burger bar with fixins. I was rather good. Plus there was unlimited drinks too. We stepped out and M&M said "Let's ride I305....Now, none of you know this but I, Upstop, am actually terrified of heights...ironic eh? I had just eaten this meal and now I was being asked to drop 305 feet. I was going to get over my fear with this trip but was not expecting to do this right off The Bat....so I reluctantly said "ok", but only if we can ride somewhere near the front....(this is an actual habit of mine when riding new-to-me coasters). So we came around the corner and lo and behold...there was a test seat. Secretly I was hoping that I wouldn't fit...I know, crazy right? I fit...so true to my word to ride I entered the line with M&M. Believe it or not, even with the crowd we walked right to the platform. We took our place in the second seat (front seat was around a half hour wait). So we were sitting there in the second seat and then "Gentlemen start your engines" and off we went up the super fast and super steep lift hill. I felt the hamburger rising and falling in my throat as we went up the hill. then we crested...down we went. I305 is one of the most exhilarating rides I've ever ridden. The only thing that was a drawback was that in the directional transitions, you are thrown into the air and to the right. Both times I slammed my collar bone on the restrain. I'm still bruised a week later. Other than that, I highly recommend this ride for speed junkies (94 mph)...It's fast fast fast! After this we headed towards Avalanche, and as we were passing Volcano, we noticed that Avalanche was temporarily down. We started to turn away when I noticed and told M&M..."hey, volcano now has a test seat...lets just settle this and give it a test." M&M was reluctant and didn't want to be let down again so I said "I'll go first". I fit....YAY!!! I told him to get on the test seat and he said "I won't fit" He got on the seat and by pushing it down a quarter of an inch he fit. We were like two little kids ready to do cartwheels. We rushed up the ramp and into the cave...and...the queue was full. As we waited, some people became impatient and left the line complaining it was too long. The entire queue is about half of Diamondbacks upper queue. I looked at M&M and said "They think these lines are long, they should try Kings Island". In the end the ride launch was incredible! If only KI had something like this...wowwy! After riding this we decided to head over to Boo Hill. What a neat ride. I like the laser beams better. At least you can see where you are aiming. I won...with two guns...LOL. We then headed over to Dominator. This was a tight fit for both of us. The tightest at KD, but what an exciting ride...a little rough but very speedy. We took a water break and went to the cooler in the car. It was beginning to get dark so we went back into the park to end the day. As we were walking near the tower, I mentioned "Hey, since we fit on Volcano, do you think we can fit on Drop Tower?" I convinced M&M that hey, if we have to do the walk of shame, so be it...I don't know anybody there..let's give it a try. WE FIT! The test seat is way off what is on the ride. Once I was locked in I thought, well here goes nothing. I just rode a roller coaster 305 feet high. there is no reason I can't drop 272 feet. I have to say it is a very different experience. I have ridden the Drop Tower at KI in the past. At KD it seems much, much faster. I'm guessing because it carries more weight and has less drag on it. We walked up the central walkway to look at Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular. I like how they used ground lighting to shine up into the trees instead of Christmas lights. It was really nice. After this we decided to call it a day and went back to the roach motel. Day two began with an early arrival at the park. We parked in row G3 right next to the kennel. We hit all of the rides from the previous day and decided to hit attractions that we didn't make. We rode the Crypt...wow it was intense. I think I was in the restraint more than the seat on this one. We rode Avalanche, a strange but fun rollercoaster. We also rode Flight of Fear, same as ours except they have a permanent haunt in the building queue line. We went across the park and rode Shenandoah Lumber Company. At the exit, I spent a couple of dollars soaking riders...fun! We then went to Dinosaurs Alive (got to love the platinum pass). At one point we were looking around and didn't even notice the giant dinosaur we just walked under...it was well hidden. We then rode Grizzly....what a fun ride! I remember it being so rough but it looks like a lot has been replaced with new lumber. We again rode Rebel Yell. Then we rode Drop Tower again. There was a guy in front of M&M who was talking smack to his friends who all chickened out and left the line...but when the carriage started up he freaked out. I couldn't help but laugh...We hadn't even passed the breaks and he was so worked up. I thought he was going to pass out. We rode I305 from the front car...it's interesting to have air injected into your nose from moving so fast. I felt it go deep into my lungs. We then spent some time on the tower and then had a chicken sandwich followed by a blue ice cream...funny thing...it's not blueberry...it's just blue....go figure. We rode BLSC and then Anaconda. BTW, BLSC still has the splashdown and sprays when the car passes the drop, but most of the other effects are minimal....no flames here either. Later on as it was getting dark we rode the Scrambler and headed to I305. The line had grown to a full queue but still took about 20 minutes to get on the ride. We rode in the back car. Wow what a different ride at night...there are no lights anywhere! It was very exciting...I cannot wait to get my weight down to where I can fit on Millennium. It was almost closing time so we decided to try Volcano one last time. There were only four queues in the main house. When we were rounding the final queue, the fireworks went off. Volcano paused during the fireworks so we only got to see over the queue fence. However, since this was our last ride at KD for this year, we rode from the front....WOO HOO!!!!! (somewhere near the turn around a skunk got spooked and sprayed....and it was strong) it is totally different at night, flying through the dark and up through the Volcano...and then it was over.... Day three. We travelled to Williamsburg. As we were arriving at the motel, the local news on the radio talked of a bomb scare that temporarily closed down the England area on Sunday...we were hoping that this wouldn't affect our visit for that Monday and it didn't. At Busch Gardens Williamsburg our platinum pass got us premium parking! We parked right outside of the main gate and entered. The first thing we did was to go to the London Rocks show. Wow...Busch Gardens can really put on a show. There was actually a standing ovation at the end of the performance plus they used textured projection for set changes...it was like psychedelic, man....then we headed to Apollo's Chariot. It's very scenic....sorry guys. I like it better than Diamondback. We then headed over the bridge to Verbolten...what a neatly themed ride and it was very fun. We rode it many times and we only got the Spirit theme once, and then pretty much evenly for wolves and storm. The drop is surprisingly scary in the dark. Word of warning, if you ride in the very back, prepare for whiplash as you drop over the small hill and are launched out of the second tunnel. We then rode Mach Tower. It has a loud drop, but since it is on a hill side, you appear to be much higher than you really are. It's a fun drop, but you slow down about half way down the tower. By now it was lunch time so we went to Festhouse. I was so excited to have my favorite sandwich...The Alpine....I was shocked to see the Alpine was not on the menu...Then I noticed the Mile High sandwich...It was the same thing with a different name...I guess they didn't renew the copyright for the name. We then rode Dark Castle. It is one of the best of it's type for simulator/dark rides. The little splash of water at the end is welcome for a very hot day, but exiting the building, you could feel the heat streaming into the door...just like opening an oven. We then rode Alpengheist. M&M was in the large seat and I buckled into the seat next to him. The attendant came by and pushed down the restraint and then asked me to exit to wait for the next train and put me in the large seat. I got the seat locked so I'm not sure why this happened. It was a bit rougher than I remembered. Onwards to Griffon. What a rush! I love that ride. We took an airconditioning break and rode Europe in the Air. It was nice for a break. Next we went to Loch Ness Monster, It was a tight fit for two big guys, but it was very enjoyable. We finally finished the day by riding Escape from Pompeii then we did several cycles on Apollo's Chariot. Day four we arrived at the park at the crack of dawn and rode everything twice. We added the Turkish Delight, Trade Winds, Le Scoot, and Le Catapult. We also rode Davinci's Cradle...a very interesting ride, Davinci's Flying Machine and The Battering Ram. We rode the train from Italy to Canada and the skyride from Germany to Scottland. We ate at the La Cucina all you can eat pizza buffet for $12.99. Overall, Busch Gardens is is the most beautiful park next to Disneyland. Now that M&M and I have platinum passes for Busch, there is a reason to go to HalloScreams in Tampa this year...Yay I can't wait. Right now however, I came home from Virginia with a cold that knocked me out all day yesterday and part of today. I hope to get over this soon so I can enjoy me some KI....LOL Peace out ya'll.

^^ and routing of electrical lines and such.

Called them and found out they are having website issues today, but they are still available at the park.

Just looked online to possibly buy a ticket for tonight, even though I feel like crap and....it looks like online tickets have sold out....nothing for tonight is available.

I've actually gone early to the sports bar on Western Row on Independence Day when PKI had Nights of Fire. I went inside, had my dinner, and stepped outside around 10pm....watched the fireworks, then turned left to bypass nasty I71 to Montgomery Rd. Quick and easy and oh so fun. Made the mistake in the first NOF by being inside the park....didn't leave the parking lot until...da da da.....4am. Never again. Im hoping to go to Dinos in the Dark..I'm just not a crowd person....at all...they make me anxious and sometimes angry. I don't know why....just me I guess.

Due to large crowds when I get there, I have actually gone through the parking tolls and straight out the nearby exit. Regardless of webcams, I'm using common sense about today and tomorrow...no point in my getting anywhere near that mess!

How incredibly sad. I hope that her species survives and doesn't go the way of the Martha, the Passenger Pigeon. I would hope that the zoo could/would capture Nikki's DNA. BTW, just read an article about Passenger Pigeons and the possible reintroduction of the extinct species! http://longnow.org/revive/what-we-do/passenger-pigeon/