IBEW_Sparky

Yeah, whoever that individual is out of their mind, reading the title and seeing that pic proves that. To say it like Buford T. Justice, "There ain't no way... NO WAY... that park is getting a giga in 2025". I will go on record and say IF you happen to be traveling and its on your direct route, and you have FL to reduce the amount of time you are in the park, then by all means take your chances to ride Mamba, Prowler, and the new Zinger. Do not stay in the area unless you wish to listen to high speed pursuits on I435 or want to pretend you decided to go to a car audio competition at 2am, stay up in the art district and have a good meal at Jack Stack Barbecue if you want a nice area. Eli is a really nice steam engine when its operating, I rode Monday before leaving and am thankful because all I got out of it on Tuesday was some great pics while it sat next to the midway, non-operational. I will say Id Love to have Prowler's trains for MT, WOW are the seats nice and soft and well padded in them, it was like sitting in a Coupe DeVille! I really wish I could have written an outrageously glowing review and hyped everyone up to go sometime because I used to absolutely LOVE the park and would talk it up to anyone who would listen, but its fallen so far since 2008 when I was last a regular visitor that I have to call it like it is and call them out on the metric ton of ridiculousness I endured while I was there. I don't know what they pulled to persuade Corporate to install Zinger, but they had better find what they saw and get their arses back in gear or it will be the last installation to come. Being brutally honest, Valleyfair deserved that new install more.

After a number of years of not traveling due to many circumstances I decided to take a week off and do a midwest trip, starting at Worlds of Fun and ending at KI this upcoming weekend. After some further thought I removed the center part of the trip and forewent my planned trip to Adventureland in Altoona, IA and decided to spend an extra day possibly at WoF. So, I headed out Monday morning on my way to KC to visit a park I used to call my home park, and one I hadn't visited since 2011 (the year that not a single park in the chain got anything right for opening day) and hadn't ridden anything at since 2008. I arrived around 4pm on Monday with intention of staying until what I thought was the parks 7pm close (found out this week is the first week of 8pm weeknight closes) and yes the unfortunate truth is..... much like SFOG and SFA.... those early close times are a needed thing. My first impressions upon entering the park and with my first associate interaction while getting my FL+ wristband was "OK, maybe that was just an anomaly and others will be better" and unfortunately it was no anomaly. Before I get into the park, I am going to break down the major coasters and give everyone who has not gone an idea if they feel the experience of enduring the park is worth the credits. I wont touch on Spinning Dragons as... even though Ive ridden it years ago and Loved it... it is not a ride that is easily ridden alone without creating unwanted situations in the station when being seated with others and as a result my days of riding those types of coasters are sadly over. Moving onto Patriot, their B&M invert that opened for the 2006 season, its a good small to mid-sized ride with nice elements and it is infinitely re-ridable. It was my first ride Monday when I arrived, and I remember thinking to myself after getting off "Wow, that was a lot more intense in the days before I rode Raptor and Banshee". Going around the park counter-clockwise, the next coaster is Timber Wolf, a Dinn opened in 1989. Let me say right now that even though this has received much work from GCI in the past few years... including completely removing the helix to install a single not quite 90 degree turnaround that the train meanders though painfully slowly... the fact that this turd needs RMCed isn't even up for debate. On to Mamba, a Morgan hyper opened in 1998 and that I rode (terrified) on her opening year. I still Love this coaster, maybe its partially sentimental as it was my first hyper, but it rides like a smooth Maggie and it DOES have the same 1-3 magic seat as I found out Tuesday, The back half is once again great now that they have mustered the intelligence to turn the B brake off, with the same great air as Maggie without the destroyed thighs since the bunny hills are hills and not pyramids like Maggies. Boomerang.... yeah it has one that I walked right by about a dozen times that sits right next to Zambezi Zinger and I kept walking every time I passed it. I cant review Zinger because its not open, and as a result I will never be able to review it because I wont be back. Last but DEFINITELY not least is Prowler, their GCI gem back in the woods of Africa that is the #1 coaster in the park. This was the first time Id gotten the opportunity to ride, as I didnt ride it for the very brief time I was there in 2011, and I ended up riding it many times when I was there. It could use a bit of re-tracking, but its really not bad and its still worth multiple rides like I did on both Monday and Tuesday. For those who wish to take their chances on the park, 5-2 is THE seat on that coster!! And now..... the park. Im not going to go too far as the facts are things aren't going to change until it gets bad enough for them to GL the park. Growing up in Des Moines, IA and being a silly kid/teen who didn't appreciate coasters like Tornado and Outlaw, I considered WoF to be my home park and went there much more often than I did to Adventureland in Altoona. What I can say now is that I wish Id gone there Monday and Tuesday, and spent my time at Adventureland instead. Aside from the entire Zinger debacle which is whatever.... CF wants to blame supply chain issue yada yada but regardless the entire thing was handled like ish.... the general operations of the entire park were dismal, nearly as bad as CPs atrocious operations on Saturday May 19th this year. Don't get me wrong, I understand training new ride ops, and I understand the fact that a good amount of the time it's the guests themselves that make dispatch times slow, but as slow as the park was both days I was there stacking of ANY kind is out of hand. The entire vibe of the park is just "off", again I have to compare the feel and everything to that of 2004-6 era GL, and after the purchase of a vintage Orient Express t shirt became a big process it didnt need to become I had had enough, and what was supposed to be an O-C on Tuesday turned into an O-430 :-(. I left feeling very disappointed and honestly sad, remembering what my "home park" used to be and what its become... some of which I understand is beyond the parks control as they cant control what the area the park is in has become... and while I am happy for them getting Zinger finally, I really do now understand why its been 14 years between Prowler and it. Edited to add.... I am still making the best of my vacation and coming down to the area for a long weekend, and Im looking forward to some time back inside KI. The next thing I am going to say needs to be taken in the right way.... in other words don't everyone be "fanboy"ing up when I say this because nothing is forever... as of this time, on this day, this season, KI is the best operated park Ive been to in the chain in years without a doubt so for now associates be proud and happy but DON'T rest on your laurels, keep it tight, right, and squared away.

That last sentence is 1000% true, we were up there 2 weekends ago, and from a ride and food service operations standpoint, it was beyond atrocious on Saturday...... all but about 10% of the workforce needed pinkslipped and walked out the gate. I used to call CP the good Ohio park, and have been proven COMPLETELY wrong this year. Ever since Mr McClure took a promotion and is no longer GM of CP, its tanked big time. It is now 100% a weekday park, and for someone who doesnt want to take a Thursday AND Friday, or a Monday AND Tuesday off to accommodate travel, it looks as if Ive become a more frequent KI goer. Its not the rides that are better, SV alone is enough for me to give CP that win, but it is the entire general experience that is far better in general with some notable exceptions.

If we're going there, there can be no other name for him than Otis! "OTIS, MY MAN!"

I fail to see how my thoughts and opinions are up for debate, I see it how it is, and know my voice means d*ck to CF so they are going to do what they are going to do and Im accustomed to that.

I think they need to make them about $50 apiece, so the people who dropped a G to get season long FL are still receiving the perceived value of said season long Fast Lane program. Some may agree, some may disagree, but thats my viewpoint and it will remain that way regardless of dissenting opinions. Stop diluting a high priced premium experience for a money grab (this, gold passes, summer passes, you get my point.)

Am I the only one on tjhe forums who would much rather see the return of Cirque to the Theater in some form? PTE was and is a one and done for me, last year was enough.

If only it were that easy, Id make the drive from southern Indiana every single weekend and show up at 415 like clockwork.

Only $25????? Hahahahaha, if they did that (and I wouldnt doubt it for a second) CF will make it at least a $50 grab.

Take, take, take, with little to no give, give, give,, along with "OH wait, here is an even MORE expensive pass you can buy with iffy "benefits" at best (looking at you Mr. Premier Pass). I will once again revert to a phrase a highly intelligent former poster made regularly.... They already have your money. This has made CP an absolutely mandatory FL+ park, and made me realize I can sleep in later when I go up there now.

Non-PR B.S. answer to the question of what is coming is "Absolutely as little as we can possibly get away with and just barely enough to keep the mice listening to our flutes."

Meh, the money means dip to me anyway, and the majority of it (should be all of it) goes to a great cause, so it wont bother me a bit to let them fade off into the digital abyss.

Id like to get rid of the 3 I have to be honest, my two guests arent going and Id rather stay home than go alone.

And in the "My jaw literally dropped in amazement" category... myself and my group actually got picked, I got the email early this afternoon.

I think that, unless material technology has improved drastically since 2016, they are blowing it by once again painting a track red. I use 2016 as an example because that is the year Dragster was repainted crimson red, and look at current photos of the tophat to see how well that has aged. The brown supports will be cool for the reasons already mentioned, but the red track gets a no from me, dawg. Granted, my opinion means all of zilch, but there it is for better or worse.

Just FYI, the price tag on "Goodbye Coney Island, Goodbye" is on the inside front cover, and it is $6.95. They are all original 1972 print NOS (New Old Stock) and once they are gone, they are gone. I got one in mid October, and it is a fantastic read.

And that parking lot view is precisely why that view will be LONG gone by the 14th of April, just like CP makes sure the Power Tower cam NEVER shows anything but the premium parking lot, so you wont know until you are already on the causeway and at that point are a captive audience. I have never gotten the whole Cloak and Dagger shtick of this industry, if I had been the park Id have had a 4K best of the best camera installed on the top of The Beast's second lift all last winter as a for instance. I would WANT it all seen, and the whole "They don't want anyone to possibly see a construction accident if there ever was one" or "The mystery drives ticket/pass sales" garbage. Those are both 100% BS, show the projects, they are a lot of fun to watch! I feel it keeps the stupidity from the YTers and the 'Gram ers to a minimum since they don't have anything to report for clicks if its already reported in a forthcoming manner from the park. Sorry for the rant, but if there ever was something that deserved a spot on "C'mon Man" its that entire thing.

Absolutely, that aspect of it I am good with.

We were just talking about that very thing Sunday while at Winterfest....having GCI utilize Titan track to add about 40' to MTs lift hill, and put a corkscrew or zero-G roll and a slow 180 stall both somewhere in the layout!

Yes, thats clearly stated in the link I posted.

Just announced today, the event will be two days in 2023, February 25th and 26th, and tickets will be distributed utilizing the oh so legit "lottery" system. More information on submitting your name and up to three guests names into said system can be found here https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog/2022/2023-events-now-live

I think what needs to happen first and foremost is an injection of reality..... why would any company with a modicum of business sense spend an extremely large amount of money to remove one or multiple things in order to redevelop an area, when there is already a very bare plot of land roughly 1/4 mile south of it that is already prepared for development? Lets take care of the horse that is The Vortex plot before we start putting demolition markers around the cart that is Action Zone.

Yes, at least! I remember both of us saying "Well, we did it. Want to go again? NOPE! Ready to go? YEP!!" FYI, I just did the calculation and 39 degrees with a 93mph wind is a wind chill of 20. BRRR!!!!

For all that is sacred, PLEASE let them take @IndyGuy4KIs suggestion/wish/advice and do a Mack or RMC, or Vekoma as far as that goes! I don't care if it's an Extreme Spinner, Axis, Twister, or a frickin RMC version of a Wild Mouse, just PLEASE (and this is the ONLY time you will see me utter this ridiculous phrase) "drain the swamp" and do something different!

The last CM I attended was 2015, one I dubbed "Failmania" especially in comparison to the grand event that was CM2014 and I was actually thinking of giving it another shot this coming season. With this report of CM22, I am having second thoughts.