coasterrz

While Tomb Raider doesn`t exactly fit into Rivertown, the cave entrance and landscaping make it seem to fit into that area. Originally, I heard that Tomb Raider was going to be built in Coney Mall, with the cave entrance under the large hill where the two sides of The Racer split, back by the Paramount Action Theaters.

No I`ve never been to Kennywood. I didn`t say that building on hilly land was impossible, but almost impossible. The big reason it would be almost impossible is cost. True, you can fill in some of the valleys but that is costly. I heard the nature preserve from I believe Shaggy. Where is he when you need him? I know that the Little Miami River is a state and National Scenic river, so I don`t know if that has anything to do with the nature preserve. Jeffrey Siebert said that they have about 400 acres left to develop. Lets home that 2005 attraction expands into some of that undeveloped land. Actually the park originally owned 16000 acres, including the Kings Island Resort & Conference Center, as well as the Kings Island Golf Course and the Tennis courtsw across I-71 from the park. I don`t know how big the parking lot is in terms of size, but it contains approximately 11,000 parking spaces in it.

That framework for Tasmanian Typhoon is already huge, and itsn`t even complete or situated right yet! Glad to see they are starting to erect some of the new stuff, even if it is just preliminary stuff. Thanks for the excellent picts pkiDelirium!

Were you just notified today? There was a thread on this a couple days ago because the drawing occured this past Sunday.

The wallpaper in Scooby Doo`s line at the beginning of the season was particularly bad as people picked away at it. After the first couple weekends, they fixed it and placed plexiglass over it to prevent people from picking at it. Also, the bamboo style queue rails outside TRTR continually have their paint picked off by guests waiting in line. The park has been continually repainting those rails. A theme park, according to my definition, is a park that has themed areas and attractions. I consider PKI more of a theme park than CP. 300th Post!

I agree that Coney could use a little TLC. Landscaping, paint and just a general sprucing up of the area would make the entire atmosphere in that area of the park better. I don`t know if they`ll be returning lights to the ride signs as they got ride of them this season on every ride but Vortex. I agree that adding some neon lights to Coney and the ride signs in that area would make Coney feel festive and fresh again.

Regardless of what they call it, it is not the plain truth, unless he comes out and says it. He does his job very well of promoting the park and promoting talk about any detail, insignificant in the grand scheme of things or not. Just curious, but when did Jeff start working at PKI?

I remember hearing somewhere that the land that PKI owns down near the Little Miami river is some sort of nature preserve or bird sanctuary. Not that PKI will ever expand to that land, but the land back there is very hilly and would make installing midways next to impossible.

Actually, besides bringing back the lights on he IS buildings, and painting the faded and peeling/rusting Eiffel Tower, there isn`t really much that needs to be improved on IS. I agree that Coney Mall needs some updates as its last new addition was techniocally Flight of Fear back in 1996 (i know they`ve added quite a few movies in the action FX theater, but they required no new construction in Coney Mall). With the exception of the landlocked IS and Ocktoberfest, this is the only area that hasn`t recieved a new addition in the past four years.

I think the figure (364 acres) includes the parking lot and any land the park is developed on. The park has about 725 acres of land that they own. I believe this also includes the Kings Island camp ground, which the park owns and operates. However, PKI no longer owns the Kings Island Resort & Conference Center.

I`ll agree that the park does tend to let theming go to waste, which is ashame because of the amount of money they probably have invested in it. I personally think that theming adds to the experience and atmosphere of a park. I think that while theming may not directly bring in more guests and money, it will create an interesting park that will create more lasting memories, requiring that people return a second time to re-experience the theming.

Weren`t those racks for the large fireworks extravaganza known as Night of Fire? I remember that in 2002, they shot off fireworks from the normal location, from the Eiffel Tower and from behind Tomb Raider. This past season, they cut back on Nights of Fire, and they only shot them off from the normal spot and the Eiffel Tower.

Or did they what?

With Jeff Siebert, anything that he mentions about a future attraction that is not announced yet needs to be taken with a grain of salt. He could purposely mislead people to get them talking about the park or to cover up what is actually being built. For example, the final Beast rides of the year in 2002 he hinted at the clearings by The Beast and Son of Beast and said "Hmmmm" Nothing ever happened to those as far as new attractions go, but he achieved his goal, which was to get people talking about PKI. This is free publicity for the park, and in fact this entire site is free publicity for the park. Unless the park officially anounced that their next coaster is not a flyer, I wouln`t necesarrily believe him.

For starters, at least PKI themes some of their rides. As far as upkeep goes, I`m sure that Paramount takes better care of theming than Six Flags. Also, while some theming has deteriorated, especially the original theme of each section, the park especially as of late, have continued to add themed attractions. PKI is a theme park because they have themed areas with some themed rides. It is also interesting to note that the guy in charge of construction at PKI cares about theming because he used to work for Disney, which is why the theming has been improved over the last couple of seasons, especially for Nick Central and TRTR. Also, over half of the capital dollars for BB are being spent on theming and landscaping and not new attractions. Afterall, the park wants BB to become a water park resort that is better themed than other water parks in surrounding states.

I think the park might have some preview weekends for BB in mid May for passholders, media and enthusiasts and such. Wow, 20-30 inches of snow. Its been a while since we had a winter with a lot of snow. I personally like snow, with the exception of all the driving problems it creates. Everything looks so pretty with half a foot of snow on it. Does anyone remember the pictures (I think from last year) of the park covered in 6 inches of snow? Before it snows, it needs to get cold first. This Saturday is supposed to be near 65 for the high and we are in mid November!

As long as its a new, major (not a shuttle like Face Off and has a lift of over a 100 feet), fast and smotth coaster I will be happy. I really don`t car if it is an Intamin, B&M or other manufacturer just as long as it is a fun thrilling ride. Also, I hope they don`t take out any rides to put it in. I wander if the announcement in March will have anything to do with a possible addition of a coaster in 2005.

True, there isn`t a lot to test. However, I am sure some of the construction, like landscaping and final pathways can`t be finished until after the heavy construction equipment used to build the rides is out of BB. Also, keep in mind that the park has stated that there might be preview weekend to BB for passholders, and maybe even enthusiats. I think I remember the survey asking about the first couple of weekends in May. I`d think February or March most of the vertical construction will occur.

Actually, Jeff Siebert said that the majority of construction will occur after the holidays. Remember that Delirium was built in January. I think that the rides will be installed in January or February and March at the latest. They won`t wait until spring to build them because the rides have to be built, tested, and inspected by the state. Also, final touches to BB can`t be completed (I assume) until the heavy construction of new attractions is complete.

Oh, I understand now, they have the funnel (presumably in the parking lot outside BB?) on site. I thought when you said constructed that they had it all put together already in its final position.

Yeah, Cedar Point (2) and SFWoA (1) each have some B&Ms and SFKK (1) has a stand-up B&M. However, it would be nice if PKI got a high capacity smooth engineering marvel from the Swiss firm. That would make PKI`s already superb collection of coasters world class IMO. We`ll just have to wait and see what surprises the park has in store for 2004 and beyond!

Very good point. As far as I know, Arrow hasn`t put out any new coasters since X, right? S&S`s last steel coaster was Dodonpa in Japan, right? It might be time that they release a new coaster. However, after the problems the park had with Son of Beast, IU highly doubt that we`ll see a prototype ride from a manufacturer, such as a possible floorless from arrow. but you never know what Paramount`s Kings Island has up there sleeves for the future.

I thought that Jeff said that there wouldn`t be any major construction until after the holidays. Also, on the BB tour on the last day, they hadn`t even poured any footers for Tasmanian Typhoon. However, I wouldn`t doubt that parts for the new rides have started to arrive with some preliminary construction.

They`re not going to upgrade Drop Zone for one reason, return on investment. Simply, they wouldn`t be able to recup the money they spent to upgrade it on new admissions to the park. Most people aren`t going to go to a park to ride a ride that is just a little taller but offers essentially the same sexperience. Also, Drop Zone has been immensely popular since the park installed it in 1999. It always has a line and in fact, the park extended its queue lines onto the midway this season, replacing the temporary metal barriers that had been there since the time it opened.

As far as i know, B&M is the only company that has currently produced a floorless coaster. I know that Setpoint (the creators of the Flying Super Saturator at Carowinds) had developed what they call a Seizmic coaster. The trains ride on the side of the rail so that there is no track above or below you. Instead it is to the side. Also, as an added benefit, Setpoint claims that it is a racing coaster. If PKI doesn`t go the Intamin or B&M route, I think that one of those rides would be cool. Not sure about how the loading platforms would work, but having a racing coaster could help capacity incredibly.