XGatorHead 8904

There's not a single ride where I absolutely have to be in the front seat. Although the one I find makes the most difference is Flight Deck. Maybe that's why I wasn't all that impressed with it. It's a decent coaster, but it doesn't rank near the top of my favorites. I've only ridden it once, and that was in the back seat. It just didn't seem to live up to all the hype to me.

That looks like fun. I've entered the contest. Winning that would be the only way I could go anytime soon, since GWL is a little out of our price range right now! We plan on going to CoCo Key sometime in the next month or two. GatorGirl reminded me (as if I needed reminding) just last night when she saw a commercial for it on TV.

WOOHOOO!!!! It worked! Thank you so much coaster_junky! No more hitting enter a bunch of times to see my text below the toolbars, then going back to erase those blank lines when I'm done typing everything!

These are all fantastic ideas. Definitely use the Fastpass system whenever possible. With children, any decrease in queue line wait times is a blessing. You can go off and do other things while you wait for your time to arrive. And be aware that Fastpasses can be used anytime after the return time listed on the ticket. It lists an hour window on the ticket, but if you come back after that hour is over, the Fastpass can still be used. When going to DHS, make sure that the first thing you do is go over to Toy Story Midway Mania to get Fastpasses for that. They run out quickly for that ride and may not be available later in the day. When at MK, go to the Hall of Presidents toward the middle of the day. This is a great place for the kids to get a nap in! I read this tip online somewhere years ago, and two out of the three times we've been to MK with my daughter, she's fallen asleep during that. The third time she came very close but didn't quite get the nap in. At EPCOT, she fell asleep during The American Adventure. I like historical audio-animatronic shows, but it puts the kids out! Like KIFan1980, we also spent some time away from the parks by visiting some of the resorts, Downtown Disney, etc. These are all detailed in my TR from our last visit which can be found here. If you have time, when at DHS eat at 50's Primetime Cafe. It's our favorite restaurant on property. Another great website for tips and ideas is http://allears.net. I have found many useful tips and ideas on this site over the years, as well as from their weekly email newsletter. It sounds like you're well on our way to having an enjoyable trip. The kids will love it. And you're going at a good time of year while kids are still in school. But after you come back home, be prepared to hear "I want to go back to Disney World!" It may not be right away, it may be a year after your trip, but you will hear it! Have fun... I'm sure you will!

I voted an hour, but I completely agree with gad198's conditions above. I remember waiting 2+ hours for Hypersonic at KD in 2002, through a long period of downtime for maintainance. It was my first (and so far, only) time I've been there, so I had to wait. Good thing I did too, because now it's no longer there. And I just love it when people leave the line during downtime, and I get to move up!

Odd that it begins on a Thursday... but I can think of one reason why that would be, since that is the beginning of the month.

Already posted here. "Search" is your friend, Ryan! Edit: Sorry, I just noticed in your post that you said you searched!

Ok, there's your problem. You asked to ride Timmy's Air Tours... which you can ride, as long as you have a child with you. Since you didn't, you were turned away. In order for adults to ride Timmy's Air Tours, Little Bill's Giggle Coaster, La Adventura de Azul and Nick-O-Round, they must have a child with them that is under 60". These rides have had this policy in force for years; this is not a recent change. So parents can experience the park with their children, you just couldn't ride because you didn't have a child with you. So in Nick U, you can ride: Avatar, Reptar, Fairly Odd Coaster, Phantom Flyers, Plankton's Plunge, Wild Thornberry's River Adventure, Lazytown Sportacopters, Bikini Bottom Bash (and Scooby Doo, which was technically not part of Nick U). 9 out of the 19 (counting Scooby). If you have a child with you, you can add 4 more rides to that list, which I have noted in the first paragraph. 13 out of the 19.

Wow, how many of thse topics do we need? http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20577&view=findpost&p=357100 http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20578&view=findpost&p=357101 http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20110&view=findpost&p=344182 And yes, the 1st and 2nd links are separate topics...

I never did report it to the DoA. Come to think of it, I never did get my refund that was promised me either. But that's okay, we ended up getting three free visits to The Beach last year. Two from the tickets they gave us from our Holiday Fest fiasco and one from when we went on a day where they had heavy rains the night before, so they had to keep half of their attractions closed while they drained/worked on/refilled them because of all the dirt that had gotten into them. They gave all visitors that day tickets to come back again as we exited. There were two reasons that I gave Holiday Fest another chance: 1. They got rid of the peddleboats 2. Someone in our neighborhood gave GatorGirl a free ticket to go to it during trick or treating at Halloween. They were giving those out instead of or in addition to candy! Thanks! It certainly stuck in my head too. It'll be a night I never forget!

Oh really? Which ones? The only Nick U. rides that both parents and kids could ride were (all info below is from the 2008 and 2009 park maps): Avatar - min height 44" in '08 and '09 Reptar - min height 44" in '08 and '09 Fairly Odd Coaster - min height 40" in '08 and '09 Phantom Flyers - min height 40" in '08 and '09 Plankton's Plunge - min height 36" in '08 and '09 Little Bill's Giggle Coaster - min height 36" in '08 and '09 Wild Thornberry's River Adventure - min height 36" in '08 and '09 Timmy's Air Tours - no min height, over 60" must be accompanied by child in '08 & '09 La Adventura de Azul - no min height, over 60" must be accompanied by child in '08 & '09 Nick-O-Round - no min height, over 60" must be accompanied by child in '08 & '09 Lazytown Sportacopters - no min height, adults can also ride unaccompanied by child in '08 & '09 Bikini Bottom Bash - no min height, adults can also walk through unaccompanied by child in '08 & '09 Parents could never ride: Backyardigan's Swing Along, Blue's Skidoo, Go Diego Go, Swiper's Sweepers, Nick Jr. Drivers, Jimmy Neutron's Atom Smasher. These have always had a maximum height. Please tell me where you're getting this "many of the Nick Universe rides that were previously for all ages had height requirements". As a parent, I can say it's a lot of fun to watch your kid on rides that only they can ride. The smiles and the laughter on their faces are priceless. I do agree that some more rides like the ones you listed would be a great addition to the park (that's one thing that makes parks like Coney so good for families), you just needed to check your facts about the Nick U rides.

^And if they did that, I would most likely not work Haunt. Having a day job 8:15 - 5:00 Mon - Fri and then working Haunt every night would be painful. I can handle Thursday - Sunday!

Wouldnt count on it! They did cancel both Thursdays this year. One with good reason, the other was just rediculous. Yes, I'm well aware that both were cancelled, as I was ready to work them and got the call from my supervisor both times that we would be closed. Whether the second one being cancelled is "rediculous" (sic) is your opinion.

So did the turnpike actually go out into Lake Como? It looks that way at about the 1:00 mark in the video. I've built plenty of go-cart tracks in RCT that go out into bodies of water, but I didn't know any parks had ever done anything like that. That's sweet!

^If you haven't seen it already, you should check out my TR from there last year: 2009 Holiday Fest at The Beach. It's a pretty humorous read. We spent our New Year's Eve there this year and had a much better experience. I'll tell that story in my planned "How We Survived the Off-Season, 2009-2010 Edition" TR whenever I get around to posting that (which will hopefully be before April which is when I posted last years!).

Thanks for posting. 7 of us in my family went down there in September and stayed in one of the cabins in the park, right across the parkinglot from the visitor's center. It was GatorGirl's fist time in a cave, and she liked it. We did two separate tours, and yes, I was able to squeeze through Fat Man's Misery, even as it got narrower and narrower and shorter and shorter so that we all were walking hunched over (except for GatorGirl of course, who couldn't understand what some in our group were fussing about).

We went there three times this year, that's more than I've ever been in the same year. Two of those times were free (at least to me)... once was as a chaperone with GatorGirl's daycare, once was for our friend's daughter's birthday party, and then we paid for Festival of Lights. It's a great place and we're lucky to have it. Way to go, Zoo!

Yeah, don't get me started... Oops, now I've started... I agree with you there. As a kid I used to love getting an inside horse just so I could watch the organ as I rode by. I used to love watching the cymbals and the drum being struck, and would look backwards to watch it on every rotation. This piped in music is nowhere near as good as the original organ. Yes, but is that the kind of media attention the park would want? It could be perceived by the public as "we don't care enough about our rides to spend $2700, but this small group of people do". Of course we know that's not the case and that KI takes great care of their rides, but you never know what the public's perception could be. Believe me, I'm more than willing to do anything I can to get the organ back in it's home. If some event were to be set up (and the park were willing to accept our help), I'd be first in line (or maybe 2nd or 3rd if a few of you happened to beat me to it ). It's good to know there are others who feel just as stongly as I do on the subject!

Google Maps says it's 5.9 miles to KI for me. It also says 11 minutes, which is typically about right... although I have made it in 7 minutes several times, depending on how I hit the lights and traffic!

^That would be me. I've been posting only specials that air on ABC, and the election special was not shown on that network. I know that ABC Family was showing some more in December than what I listed, but I didn't list those for two reasons: 1. ABC is available to more people than ABC Family is. 2. I personally don't have cable or satellite TV (I use an antenna), so I don't get ABC Family and therefore don't keep up with their programming. I'd rather spend my money on other things such as trips to other parks and different cities than on cable/satellite. Last year I took 8 overnight trips to different locations and visited 7 parks besides Kings Island. Those trips would not have been possible if I was wasting money on cable or satellite. *steps off soapbox*

^I tried that but couldn't do it. But after reading your post, I went back to the full editor and found out why. With the problems I've been having with this new skin, the box where I type in the body of the post was covering the box to edit the subtitle, so I couldn't see it. I put my cursor in the box to edit the main title, then hit tab to get to the next field. Lo and behold, I was in the box to edit the subtitle. Ugh... I wish we could get this new skin problem fixed soon... but it only effects some of us.

Tell him to put a coaster in his yard. I know a coaster near Middletown that could use a new home...

Wow... three Thursdays and Sundays for Haunt!?!?!? I better start conditioning my voice now so I don't lose it! GRRR! ARRGH!

^No thanks! I'm more likely to go to Indianapolis just to go to Xscape. And that's not happening!

^Yeah, I was considering posting in the Gravity Group Timberliner Tour topic that we go to Krazy City afterward. I had never been there before and it was just down the street from the Gravity Group. Oh well, looks like I missed my chance to go there.