XGatorHead 8904

I've been happy with the Planet Snoopy music so far this year. I haven't spent as much time in there as I normally would have by this point in the year since GatorGirl has only been there for part of one of my 4 visits this year, but I've heard more kid-friendly/kid-appropriate songs there this year than the past two years. No more Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull for the kiddies (although GatorGirl still has to hear that in the car sometimes)!

April 20th, 2008 - Little Bill's Giggle Coaster It was GatorGirl's first time on a coaster ever, and she LOVED it. She was giggling the entire time. I have the ride photo of us from that first ride on my desk. Her face is one big smile, and she's got her little hands in the air. Anytime I'm having a bad day, I just look over at that picture and feel better (and right next to that is the picture of GatorGirl, Mrs. Gator and me on GatorGirl's first ride on a woodie, Fairly Odd Coaster on April 18, 2009. Any time an on-ride photo is available for her first time on a coaster at KI, I plan on getting it!) Sure, my first time on Diamondback is right up there as one of the greatest rides on a KI coaster, but nothing beats riding with your kid. I never would have understood that until that day.

^I really hope not, if it's anything like post #3. It's so hard to read. Please try some punctuation and proper sentence structure if you decide to continue.

I'd LOVE to be there when you do that. Terpy, who is not afeared of heights, has done things that won't be appearing on this board, and STILL was skeered silly when the Wonder Wheel began its wondrous skeedaddles whence he rode it... If/when I do that, I'll make sure to get a video (as long as it's allowed). I'm sure it'll be quite funny! I can't stand to see that. As a parent, I have a pretty good idea what GatorGirl will like and not like. If she's unsure, she'll usually try it... after we persuade her that it'll be alright. The latest example of this is BBoBH. She wanted me to try it first, which I did. She asked me if I thought if it was okay for her, I told her it was, but I let her know there are some parts she might find scary. During the ride I talked to her to make sure she was fine and reminded her that it was all fake. Then the ride stopped while we were in the skeleton room... and that was not okay with her. She said she wouldn't ride it again, it was too scary for her. But she said the same thing about SD&THC when she first rode that, but she eventually tried that again and loved it. I'm sure she'll eventually try BBoBH again, but I'll let her do it on her own schedule... she needs to be the one to decide when it's time to ride again. I'm not going to traumatize my child by dragging her kicking and screaming on a ride, but luckily she's never gotten to that point anyway.

And for some of us (like me) a ferris wheel is a scary ride. I'm fine on almost all amusement park rides, but don't like "unsupported heights" like tall ladders. Ferris wheels like the one at Coney fall into that category of unsupported heights. I have to sit absolutly still when I ride those... I don't like the feeling of it rocking at all... but I still ride it for the thrill! The big "caged" ferris wheels like at CP and Navy Pier in Chicago, and the ferris wheel-like Rock-o-Planes at Coney I'm fine with. I really want to try a swinging car on Deno's Wonder Wheel in NY or Mickey's Fun Wheel at DCA!

I don't think that you should have to ask. It's called The Racer, it should race. End of story. It's a shame that it took you asking for it before the ride ops said okay. I LOVE going up the lift side by side, and then plummeting down together, with one train trying to catch up to the other. But in recent years, more often than not, you go up the lift hill next to an empty track. What a shame...

Nope, I used that gate to enter WaterWorks in 2003. It's also present on the 2002 park map. You are correct. After I posted that, I began to question myself. My answer didn't seem quite right... it seemed to me that it had been there before 2004, but I remembered being out there all day every day Boomerang Bay's opening weekend to make sure that something worked, so that's why I thought it was 2004. After reading your post I remembered exactly WHY I was out there both days that weekend. The weekend that Crocodile Dundee's Boomerang Bay premiered was also the first weekend that the handheld scanners used at the season pass gate automatically uploaded numbers to the park's attendance system wirelessly. In the years prior to that, we had to take the handheld scanners into the office, place them in a dock, and manually hit a button to upload the data. I was out there to make sure that the wireless uploading worked, and to be on hand in case any problems arose. The process went without any major hitches. Thanks for jogging my memory, PKIDelirium! When you work in one place for a long time (16 straight years at KI, 10 of those in Admissions) all the years tend to run together. Oh, if I had a nickel for every time my wife has said that to me... As Pagoda Gift Shop said above, it honors significant former employees of Kings Island. It was started in 2008. The inductees that year were Carmen Electra (or Tara Patrick as those of us who went to high school with her knew her as back then ), Dennis Speigel and Janeen Coyle. 2009 inductees were Gary Wachs and Rich Walberg. For more info, see here for 2008 and here for 2009.

I heard Olivia say that last night and I jumped up and said to Mrs. Gator, "She just said Kings Island!" I was shocked to hear that. Oh, if only Olivia were coming to KI... I'd be there! I've had "Physical" running through my head all day today. And Shaggy, why am I not surprised that you're a "Gleek" too? That episode first aired May 6, 2004. See here, the episode is called "Turn of the Screws". Towards the end of the episode, Grissom is talking to a rides maintenance person(?) about coasters. If I remember correctly (it's been a few years since I've seen the episode, but I have it on tape), Grissom says that The Beast is his favorite coaster and that he's looking forward to riding SoB when he goes to a conference in Cincinnati.

^Sorry, that's not accurate. In my 10 years in Admissions at KI ('95 - '04), there was a military discount available every one of those years.

^The link isn't working for me.

^See the first 5 @ 5 answer in this post.

I didn't know that it was now a gate for everyone either. The gate was added in 2004 with the re-theme of the waterpark to Crocodile Dundee's Boomerang Bay. At the time it was a Gold Pass only gate, and was marketed as a Gold Pass perk. I wouldn't necessarily say that we "quickly" stopped turning away non-passholders at that gate. For that entire first year, we were fairly strict about allowing only Gold Pass holders through that gate since it was a perk. We did have the ability to sell tickets there in the event an exception was made, but that was pretty rare. What happened after 2004 I can't say since that was my last year in Admissions, so they may have started to let non-pass holders in the BB gate in 2005.

Wow... not included in the wristband. We'll see how this works out or them, but I don't think it's a good move. I knew I should have gone last year like we were originally planning! I would have ridden it multiple times, but now when I eventually go it will be a one time ride.

^I understand his point. I wasn't trying to argue with his point, and I have no problem with him not liking the names, everyone's entitled to their opinion. I was just trying to educate.

Charlie Brown is the pitcher for his baseball team... and what do pitchers do? They wind-up! Hence the picture of Charlie Brown pitching right next to the ride's name on the park website. As for "Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown", the name of the ride is also the name of a movie that has the Peanuts going to Camp Remote and participating in a river raft race. See here. I think the name's very fitting for a water ride in Planet Snoopy, even if it is long. But was "Wild Thornberry's River Adventure" any shorter? (Actually, WTRA is 2 letters longer than the new name!)

I think it's funny that on that map, the tubes on Lazy Miami River are flowing the wrong way. The tubes on the map are moving clockwise, when the ride actually flows counter-clockwise. Not a big deal, just something I noticed. I have a lot of experience navigating that ride.

After reading this topic, I just had to try Red Gold when I saw it at Rivertown Junction yesterday. I could definitely tell a difference from Heinz, but it's still acceptable to me. I guess my ketchup palate is not as sophisticated as some other KICers. But that's alright, I don't really use ketchup at the park anyway.

To the best of my knowledge, none of the haunted attractions have been officially confirmed or denied by the park for this season. They typically aren't until much closer to the Haunt season.

I have a Gold Pass. The only other CF park I plan on going to is CP during the first weekend of Halloweekends, when I'll be able to use my KI associate ID there. In the off-chance that I do get up there sometime this summer, a discounted ticket from AAA will be cheaper than upgrading to Platinum.

Check out this topic for more info/speculation about the lights on the trees near the tower.

...if while at work, you see a client's name is John Allen, and you automatically think "roller coasters!" True story, it happened to me this morning!

Those themes were written back in the day with lyrics, they were just aired with instrumental versions. It would look stupid for Way Too Much TV if all they did was dance around to instrumental themes. You have to add vocals. I agree that in order to include them in a show like Way Too Much TV, there should be vocals. I had no idea that there were lyrics to these themes... I thought you actually didn't know what you were talking about when you said these already had lyrics; I thought the park added them. But a quick Google search, and I was able to find that you are right, there are already lyrics to "I Love Lucy", "Bewitched", and "The Andy Griffith Show", and they are the words sung in Way Too Much TV. I stand corrected! A majority of the audience would most likely only be familiar with the version that aired on the original TV program, ie the instrumental version. The lyrics actually grew on me a little bit by the second time I saw the show. But especially after your post, I don't have as big an issue with them being included. Thanks for teaching me something!

I don't know... maybe the old Lakeside Park that was in Dayton? Just kidding; I like your thinking! From what I can tell, Lakeside Park closed in 1964, but Kings Island was alive and kicking when the song was released in 1975!

^From the sound of it, you may have missed this topic. Nate Byrum from CET put together a great series of videos on the history of Kings Island called "Riding History to the Limits". For a direct link to the videos, click here. P.S. I love that PBS show too, "Great Old Amusement Parks". I watch it every time it's on. I didn't realize it was on dvd until I just searched it to find out the name of the program. I think I now have a "suggestion" for a Father's Day gift for me!

I know in the Paramount years, there was a military discount. You may want to call the park to see if they still offer this. If they do, it may or may not be better than the online price, so you may want to compare the two.