XGatorHead 8904

So did we ever decide on a name for the crane working on WS? For DB we had Clifford (the Big Red Crane), but what about this yellow one? I think I remember someone mentioning Big Bird, but I'm not sure if that's what the consensus was!

That is so true. That really helped me get my current job, even though I didn't know it would when I walked into the interview. I had applied with this company several years ago but got the standard rejection letter at the time. When I was laid off from my last job, I applied with this company again and got an interview. During my interview with the department heads, one of the interviewers said, "I see you graduated from Princeton in '91. I graduated from there in '96, and my brother graduated from there in '91." I asked her who her brother was, she told me, and I said "Oh my god, I only ate lunch with the guy every day!" It turns out he had been a good friend of mine back then, and the overall tone of the interview became a lot lighter after that. After the interview I left, went down the street to grab some lunch, and not even 20 minutes after the interview ended, they called me and offered me the job. So yes, connections are good. You never know who will be able to help down the road, or when it will happen! That sentence reminds me of another favorite little park of mine, in Indiana. That's how I first met Pat Koch, near Raven, with a pan and broom in her hand.

I voted no, for the same reasons as Beast1979. I believe that to be considered a roller coaster, it has to coast on it's own without being powered. Surf Dog doesn't do that, Blazing Fury does. For the longest time I had trouble considering Disaster Transport as a coaster, because it didn't have the traditional coaster track. But after much discussion, a friend was finally able to persuade me with his arguments for calling it a coaster. I highly doubt that I will be so persuaded for Surf Dog.

As long as you don't mind watching an Ohio State game there while other friends are at the park! Still a good deal!

There soon won't be? I hope not! I will hopefully be around a lot longer, with memory intact, and still want to visit!

^It was active, even earlier today, but is not at the moment.

Thanks for putting this together! I'm amazed at the amount of research this must have taken. WAH was one of my favorite attractions as a kid. We only got to go to KI once a year using the tickets that my grandmother got from working there, and she got seperate tickets for the monorail. We have a picture of my sister and I in that photo spot under the 1975 section of your post... one of these years I'll find the time to hook up my scanner and scan in all of those pictures from the '70s and '80s!

I have it on very good authority that the initial upcharge price for LCS/WAH was 50 cents. I'll trust you on this Terpy, but I thought that the upcharge was around before Paramount. Per the timeline, the safari/habitat only lasted 1 1/2 seasons after the Paramount acquisition. Sorry Terpy, but I'm with KIfan on this one. I know Lion Country Safari wasn't around until 1974, but I'm very certain that the upcharge existed before Paramount. Before we had season passes, my family only went to KI once a year. My grandmother worked in the park from the beginning, first in the Executive Dining Room, and later in Housekeeping. We used the tickets that she got from working there for our yearly visits. In addition to the tickets to enter the park, there were also separate tickets that she received and gave to us that were for the monorail. And when I started working at the park in 1989, I'm pretty certain that I received those tickets too. I have a friend who worked at Lion Country Safari/WAH for years. I'll try contacting her to see if she remembers when the upcharge started. I heard back from my friend last week but forgot to post in here what she said. Here's what she told me: The first cost she remembers was 50 cents, then $1.00, then $2.00 when WAH closed. Perhaps when Paramount took over was when the price was raised from $1 to $2, and that's where the confusion came in? I can certainly see people being upset with the price doubling like that.

Another thought... Since DA is being billed as a permanent attraction, what is the future of Trail of Terror now? That's always been one of my favorite haunts. Hopefully they'll be able to move it somewhere else. I'll be sad to see it go if they don't end up moving it. Haunt attractions do need to be changed up to keep them fresh IMO, so all good things must come to an end eventually.

^Wow. I'm not even going to feed the troll this time. I'll spend my $5 that I would have spent on Troll Chow on Dinosaurs Alive instead! I like the idea of this, but I can see myself only doing it once or twice because of the upcharge, since it will be $15 a pop to get my whole family in to see it. I'd be curious to see what kind of repeat business they get on this. I'm sure they have attendance projections on that, but I can see that upcharge definitely being a deterrent to repeat attendance to the attraction. I wonder if the upcharge will eventually go the way of the FearFest upcharge they had it's first couple of seasons. Uh oh... I mentioned a park Halloween event! I did throw a morsel out there for the troll! Oops!

Very good one! OK, I'm guilty! I did post the link to that music video after all!

That reminds me of a certain restaurant chain's slogan: Dinosaurs. What You Crave! Oh no, please don't! That was a terrible movie!

Now I'm wondering if Wild Animal Habitat (aka the monorail) had stuck around, what would the upcharge for that have been today? Since it was $2 when it was closed, I would speculate that it would have been $5 at the very minimum now.

^Or some time in the family dryer!

It will be intresting to see how this goes over.... Especially with the season pass crowd, who feel a right of entitlement to everything. And let the griping begin! But seriously, I can see myself only doing this once as well, since it will be $15 to get my whole family in. I think the addition is a good thing for the park, but I question how long the upcharge will remain. We'll see how the public reacts to it, since it's definitely more of a family attraction than the other upcharge attractions currently offered at the park.

Dinosaurs Alive

I don't know that the fake rock/foliage/vegetation theming stuff is necessarily "required". This isn't likely to be an exact replica of the exhibit that others have previously posted on here. I'm not sure what Mason looked like 65 million years ago, but dinos in the woods would be good enough for me, although it would be even better with the items you listed. I will anxiously wait until Frodau, whenever that may be! Now that song is stuck in my head!!! Why, it's an inverted stand up B&M hyper dive machine dinosaur-themed Texas Giant extreme makeover of SoB of course!

I see something big and blue and I like it!

Green and inverted?

That's too bad. Another coaster to add to my list of ones I'll never get to ride but I could have when I was out there in 2001 if certain September events hadn't occured, a list only occupied by High Roller until now. (Don't go anywhere Canyon Blaster, I plan on getting to you someday!)

Already being discussed here: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=23517&view=findpost&p=419919

My post was not directed at anyone in particular, and I can say with certainty that I went to FB right after I posted it - so before I read your status I didn't think it necessarily was, I just thought it was funny reading your post after what I said on FB last night! We're okay, KIFan! As long as everyone in the family is 52" or over, then yes, you could consider WS to be family friendly. But for those of us with kids that aren't (GatorGirl should be over 46" but under 48" this year), then WS is not family friendly. So a dino attraction will probably be a good thing for us since the kiddies can't ride WS. Thats odd, when WindSeeker was announced they said 48'' for the hight requirement. Yes they did, but that changed over the past couple of months.

I don't even read people's comments under KI's Facebook posts anymore. Most of them are just plain ignorant. You don't have to walk any more than you do already at KI. You don't have to go through this dino walk-through (if that's what it is). As has been said before about other things, you're just one less person in line in front of me for it. YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY! Any addition to KI is just fine with me (as long as they don't take something else out in the process *cough*Flying Eagles*cough*). EDIT: Dang it, Smurfy beat me again! That's twice in one day!

As long as everyone in the family is 52" or over, then yes, you could consider WS to be family friendly. But for those of us with kids that aren't (GatorGirl should be over 46" but under 48" this year), then WS is not family friendly. So a dino attraction will probably be a good thing for us since the kiddies can't ride WS. From the Dayton Daily News article: And how exactly do they know this with 100% certainty? What is their source? They don't refer to any park official in this article that says that's what it is. 2:00 tomorrow cannot come fast enough to kill the speculation in this topic.

^I think it would be illegal to hunt dinosaurs since they are pretty much an endangered species! Unless you meant Haunt, which then I would have to agree with you that yes, that could be a good theme for a Haunt attraction. EDIT: Smurfy beat me to it!