silver2005

The last time I was at the park, the Diamondback crew seemed agitated. They told guests that trains would leave in 45 seconds, but the tone of voice made it seem they were angry with guests for no good reason. They then try to juxtapose it by doing the 'I say Diamond, you say back' routine or anything to liven things up again, but it falls flat on guests who are being rushed. For one of Kings Island's signature rides, its sure poorly staffed this year. I also overhear the ops speaking to themselves (on Diamondback, Vortex and Beast) saying they are angry with whoever is in charge and taking their time loading trains. I've also heard ride ops manning the microphones put down rides in their own park or even parks in the chain, not in the poking fun way, but in ways that make those other rides seem undesirable (Bat and Adventure Express are the usual rides brought up in that regard). Its like Kings Island spent too much time on training the Banshee crew and forgot to spread that professionalism to the other rides as well.

No matter how smart you are, you can't fight stupidity. The stupidity will always win. EDIT: To put it another way, you can lead a horse (GP guest) to water (the information about the new ride), but you can't make him drink (actually read and understand the info). But with that, you're implying that a majority of Kings Island's guests are that way, which I'm pretty sure isn't the case. Also, if renaming Flight Deck to Bat was seemingly such a bad idea, why did Kings Island just do it?

Just throwing this in there- for all your speculating on how the public would accept The Bat rename, I have yet to hear anyone bring that up. I think the GP is smarter than most of us give them credit for, which is why I still think a new wooden coaster could come sooner than most of you are thinking. New rides at Cedar Fair usually have those information websites about them which the park could easily talk about GCI of whoever builds it and do enough to separate it from Son of Beast. I think our GM and PR duo is smart enough to pull that off if they wish to.

From a few things I'm reading, its not that they can't operate together from an engineering standpoint, but rather, New Jersey won't let them. You'd think NJFTP would have put a little bit of forethought into that and actually build a separate tower. I'm surprised that rides like Kindga Ka and Nitro even exist in New Jersey.

Concerning the talk of 'shelf life' of suspended coasters, Ninja is regarded as one of the more forceful ones left. I believe it has the most swing of any suspended coaster ever built (I remember reading that somewhere). All things considered, I'm very glad no one suffered worse than an injury. That looked like it was rather nasty from the riders' perspective.

^Okay, I might have been mistaken about that, which I apologize. Also, no need to get so angry. You act like I labeled you something worse or something for mistaking that you may have liked Intamin. Learn proportionate response.

^I only brought up Intamin as a way to dismiss it as DontWantToWait42mor0 is also a known Intamin fan. I'm well aware of the implications of what I said.

If you're talking as if I'm lying- I just skimmed through a lot of your posts (which you can filter using the forum tools), and its impossible for me to post all the dozens of times you've brought up wanting to have Son of Beast back and/or re-build it using today's 'technology', often without any regard to others pointing out why Son of Beast failed or follow up on your own arguements. I use the word technology in quotes as, well, it would likely turn out an RMC project and would therefore be a steel coaster, probably much to your disliking. The only other viable technologies are Gravity Group's Timberliners, which have yet to work well on a coaster above 70 ft, and Intamin who won't be building in North America any time soon. In any case, you ought to remember what you post before calling someone a liar.

@ DontWantToWait42mar0- I know you've been on here long enough to know why a ride like Son of Beast won't work. In fact, you were involved in many of those same discussions.

I have one last question regarding The Beach- Do they allow people to wear water shoes on slides and pools? I didn't see any info on that on their website. EDIT: Nevermind, I found the answer.

But Terpy, there's this wonderful company that builds wooden coasters packed with air time, including a few at Cedar Fair parks, called Great Coasters International.

Yeah, Rozzi's has shot them off in the rain at many a Riverfest/WEBN Fireworks as well.

On the talk concerning places to relax in the park, despite the congestion, the seating by the I-Street fountain is surprisingly a pleasant area to relax. I eat at the I-Street LaRosa's quite often just to relax and watch the fountain, plus I like to people watch as well. The Oktoberfest pond is a close second.

The jazz band gig went well. We sounded pretty good, despite me having a really, really off night. I tend to be a bit hard on myself when I have my bad moments in music, especially when performing, but I usually don't let it linger. Just apart of being a musician that I've learned to accept. I still enjoyed doing it and we must have done something right as we got a lot of good crowd reactions. I will say, it was nice that it was cooler than last year. We were all frying last year. I got my fare share of fireworks the night before at KI (plus I have the WEBN Fireworks the Sunday before Labor Day), so I left right after we finished. The I-275 bridge (going into Ohio) and the ramps on and off of Kellogg Ave. were filled with stopped cars.

Trip Report 7/2 This has to have been one of the most spontaneous trips I've ever done. Not from going to the park at random, but just the random-ness of the day. After breakfast at Frisch's, I headed in for ERT right at 9:30. It was then I reached the next level of enlightenment, also known as my first ride on Banshee in the front seat. Holy cow, what an unobstructed view looks like on an inverted coaster. It was sheer gracefulness. Its probably the smoothest ride I've ever had on her. I will say that the forces are better in the back, especially the first drop, but the view alone makes up for the difference. The crowds through the morning were pretty typical for a weekday. I hit about 9 rides worth of action before lunch, which I ate early at 11:30, at Juke Box which was really good. I also invested in an all day drink band which I abused and got more than my money's worth, including the best thing ever to come out of a Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine- Strawberry Minute Maid Lemonade. The strawberry flavor smoothed over the sourness of the lemonade and it was just pure liquid gold. I'm sooooo glad of the existence of those bands now. I'll likely use them every trip as long as they're around. Well worth the $10. Suddenly between noon and 3, the crowds just exploded. Lines got long in a hurry. I had energy to make it the rest of the day, but the weekend-esque crowds came out of nowhere. I then gave in and purchased my first Fast Lane pass. I went with the standard as I didn't want to ride Firehawk and Banshee's crew was working its magic enough to where I could tolerate that line. A lot of rides near the back got waits close to an hour though. Beast had both queue houses open and Diamondback was on the verge of opening the lower switchbacks at one point. Diamondback's crew stunk on toast today, at least in the evening. They talked to guests boarding that the train would leave in 45 seconds each, which I understand they want to get better capacity numbers, but the way it was said and just the tone of voice made it seem they were angry at guests for no reason. I could just feel the tension in the station, they must have got the wrong end of a lecture from someone higher up. It was not a fun station to be in that evening. Fast Lane was nice to have, obviously. I have to admit, I did feel a little weird being the one with Fast Lane instead of normally trekking through the line and watching other people use it to their leisure. I did go on a wicked marathoning spree on Diamondback and Beast in the evening to close out the day, including one of the best Beast night rides I've ever had. I'll put it this way- first of all, I go the front seat, add that over cast skies, also some rain soaked track as it rained during the fireworks closure, and a little ongoing mist, and it just worked out beautifully. Beast also had a really fun crew to juxtapose the Diamondback crew's tension. The wait for the fireworks was quite enjoyable. I also rode Racer and Vortex aplenty. I also think I may have helped a girl be less afraid to ride Banshee the first time. She was happy coming off of it, so I must have done something right. Oh, and I rode with Gary Coleman on my final Diamondback ride. Didn't talk to him out of courtesy, but I did watch how he rode. He was very relaxed and nonchalant it seemed. I imagine after 10K+ rides, you tend to know how a ride goes enough to ride it without much need for bracing and whatnot.

Also stop by the Moonlite Gazebo (by Moonlite Gardens) at the Balloon Glow to check out the UC Jazz Band as well. I'll be playing 2nd alto sax. Apparently we're getting patriotic blazers to wear as well. We are told we will start playing around 7 pm.

Just found out I don't have band on Wednesday, and seeing that it'll be slightly cooler and have a smaller chance of rain than tomorrow, I'm choosing to go on the 2nd. No Soak City this time, so Congo Falls and WWC will be my go-to cool down rides.

He also has the constant habit of triple stacking Beast trains, at least that's what happens when I ride it when he's there.

I mostly like the coasters at Kings Island, but if I had to give an answer, it'd be Invertigo. I've received thorough head bangings on that in certain seats, and the g's are at times too much for me; not the amount of g's, but how it sustains them. I get full on black outs on it anymore. However, I still generally like it.

Yeah, for those of you who don't keep up with the industry as much, China is going through a HUGE park building boom right now (nearly on the scale as America's first golden age). I can see how Six Flags wants to get in on that.

There are a few older woodies in the Six Flags chain I'd hate to see retired or added with Topper Track. I'm actually hoping this doesn't start to trend in Cedar Fair.

^I'm unable to go to the KIC/CC event. Forgot about Spirit Song, I might change plans a little bit then. Might try to go on the 1st then.

Well, I've checked my schedule out, and I'm feeling a visit to Mason this Thursday. I'm hoping to actually get there for ERT (I missed out my last few visits due to oversleeping) so I can finally manage a front seat ride on Banshee. May also take a camera to do a little photography. I'm also aiming for a Beach visit during the first full week in July, probably Tuesday or Wednesday.

You should have been around Kings Island during the first few years it was open. It was almost commonplace that it was down at least once a visit for me, often for the whole day. At least, unlike a few other Paramount additions, it managed to work out its kinks.

It honestly looks like a ride with an identity crisis. It doesn't know if it wants to be a coaster or a dark ride. The two don't look like they mesh together all that well. Have to say it looks underwhelming compared to what I expected.