silver2005

^I'm talking being able to photograph it from up high. The rest of the good vantage points are from camera-less areas.

I've found that rule applies for the 2 bench PTC stock- ride on the front wheel seat for a better ride, regardless of how far in front or in back. 6-1 on Voyage and Legend are outstanding.

That area will be very difficult to see in any detail from the Eiffel Tower with the Flight of Fear building blocking most of the Firehawk site.

Rainbow Beast is gonna take a bit getting used to. I do like that orange and yellow on PTC stock though.

@IndyGuy4KI breaks this commandment routinely.

^Wow, religion took a hard left turn somewhere. Explains so much, yet so little.

Oh dear, @pianoman is getting, like, 3 new fountains to ERT this season.

*Blows dust and cobwebs off. Here's a link to the thread if you want an idea of timeline with Banshee. For those who want a trip down memory lane, you're welcome. Warning- high levels of shenanigans in store. silver2005, who (mostly) fondly remembers the 2013 season build up to Banshee.

Banshee and Diamondback had footings in the ground and the later had the splash pool ready to pour.

Where in Food did you work?

Banshee and Diamondback had obvious signs of work being done the year before they both opened and it was obvious what both were going to be on day 1. Mystic Timbers had some signs early, but it was more up in the air on what it was going to be due to it being smaller and they were slower in site prep.

I think its mulch/landscaping, too. Watching the trucks, they are taking the service road towards the front gate, not the ones that goes through Banshee/AE.

Now seeing Adventure Express making test runs.

I've seen a fight occur in the first switchback section which resulted in security running down one of the instigators. My 2 favorite night rides both involved a storm. One was when a storm was rolling in and you could see lightning in the distance (which adds that mysterious element to the ride's theming) and it poured rain as I was making my way back to the entrance. The 2nd was during a day when it was raining all evening, and there was just enough of a break in the rain during the ride where it stopped on the approach to the first lift and as soon as the train rolled into the final brakes, the skies opened up, and I got a rain soaked night ride to boot. The best night rides to me are either during a full moon where the tracks are soaked in white light, in the fall (I like it a little brisk), and right after it rains and the overcast is still looming. My first ride was right when I got passed the 48" mark, but I wasn't quite warmed up to coasters yet and I got scared pretty bad. My 2nd time, which was my first night ride, was the year after and just after I got my first Vortex ride (also at night, this was during a 11 pm close in the Paramount era). It felt so good to conquer that fear. As good as the helix is, my favorite section is after it blasts out of the 2nd tunnel and makes those series of drops before it pulls up to the 2nd lift. I like how it keeps accelerating while it feels like you're fighting from rolling down the valley and its a great, vicious turn with great lateral g's to line it up for the lift. I do miss the paw prints from the Eiffel Tower and the Cool Zone in the queue. Also, before they closed it for the fireworks, if you were lucky enough to get a fireworks ride, they would often stop the trains at the top of the lifts to let riders watch them.

- If you can, park by the water park (ask at the parking tolls). You'll likely be spending most of your time in the back of the park and its super convenient at the end of the day. Its also much less hectic getting out at the end of the day and you'll get a head start at opening in terms of getting to TTD, SV, Maverick, and Millennium Force early. - Dining suggestions- Any of the BBQ places in Frontiertown are great. Toft's has good ice cream. - If you do Thunder Canyon and/or Snake River Falls, you may want extra clothes. You will get extremely wet on them (Thunder Canyon only if the waterfalls are on). - Use the train and/or Sky Ride if you need to traverse the park a lot. Your legs will thank you. - Save GateKeeper, Raptor, and Valravn until mid-afternoon. The lines will be very short after the crowds from the front start their way back (another reason to park by Magnum). - If you want the most out of Wicked Twister, ride close to the front or close to the back. The rest of the coasters are good in any seat. - Watch the forecast for high winds, a good amount of the rides will go down for high winds - Be prepared for your face to make friends with mayflies throughout the day - Don't forget the flat rides - I find it better, as in, more with the flow of foot traffic to start at Iron Dragon and make your way clockwise around the back of the park. Also, CP's layout is not ideal for crisscrossing the park. If you're used to Kings Island's layout, CP is much more stretched out from back to front and there aren't ideal ways from getting around Millennium Island (unless I missed something).

RPW was also 'fun' during rain. Due to the trees surrounding the stand, the drains often get clogged, and when it rained, there'd often be a bit of water in the store. It was similar at WINGS as well (back before all the trees around that building were removed), though, not as bad. I also recall the back/storage areas of WINGS and LaRosa's in RT to be pretty messy (we often got relocated to those 2 in the event that PW was overstaffed or to help close, on rare occasions, we even got sent to the restaurant across from Vortex, I forget what it was called before Happy Days [*calling KIC historians]). Also, closing WINGS was a chore, mostly with cleaning the floor. I shudder to think what closing Festhaus must be like. PW was easy to close. Barring rain, we usually left within an hour after the parked closed. One of the bad parts was the fact that the receipts wouldn't print unless a purchase was made with a credit card, so bigger orders were tough to manage (you'd be surprised how problematic that is despite how few menu items are at PW). I eventually just brought my own writing implements to work on weekends if I thought I'd be working register. It also surprised me that people under 19 (serving age) were allowed to work register if the stand (like PW) served alcohol.

@Katie P @KI_Landscaper83 @Ted Christian @Alicia Welcome to KICentral!

I worked Rivertown Potato Works in 2004. Sadly, I had to watch the original Tiques get removed for Backlot, and during that part, the demo crew hit a sewer line. The smell flooded the entire back end of the park, I-Street around the Eiffel Tower, and a good chunk of Coney Mall. We had a lot of trays from other nearby food outlets, like Rivertown LaRosa's, what was the WINGS, and even some Skyline (this was after they removed the Rivertown Skyline foot long location, the next nearest one is Coney Mall). We always got very busy after the water park closed, particularly after the train rolled in, plus Tomb Raider was still new and there was a lot of activity in RT due to that. I would love to catch up with some of my co-workers from back then. It was a pretty smooth work environment. We got along really well and it translated to how we worked.

Honest question- Why would B&M building a giga a few feet shorter than Fury 325 be considered a 'step back'?

You do realize that the entire layout won't adhere to the terrain even if that's the case, right? It's gonna have some other bigger elements to burn off the momentum from a multi-ton train doing 90+ mph. Too many low elements would make for a lot of positive G's. A giga that has just a lift and a bunch of turns and S-curves would be pretty unimaginative.

When you ride something that's doing 90+ mph, are you really paying attention to theming at that point?

I hope that being posted in this specific thread isn't some sort of an attempt of an indictment against Mack for its problems only a week into Carowinds' season. New coasters tend to do that.

I feel this is only giving more fuel to the SOB conspiracy guys on their belief it's gonna come back. Sigh.

Before it was Hanks Mexican Grill, that building used to serve sea food including cod and shrimp (like actual shrimp, not popcorn shrimp). I remember it being pretty good. I ate there a lot. This was during the last few years of the Paramount Era.

Personally, I'd like to see KI get another launch coaster at some point, one that shows how far launch tech has come since the 2 coasters it currently has (I'm talking 70+ mph launch and elements getting towards 200 ft). A 3rd Premier or a S&S would be great.