silver2005

I'd like to add that to the wish list on a giga for me- - no red anywhere in the color scheme - no numbers in the name - no Beast lineage

I can tell by the early its of this thread that this is going to be a fun project to see unfold. Its pretty beautiful seeing a coaster take shape from groundbreaking to opening.

After seeing the pictures of the newest clearing, I think they're still going to add to it, not only because it's a bit too thin for a turn around element, but they also need to fit Clifford there to do the actual vertical construction. For those who weren't here for Banshee's construction, we referred to the cranes, often red, as Clifford.

I will admit, when I post about this type of stuff, its kind of me thinking out loud. Even if something is remotely possible, I just keep that in my head which is why I mentioned floorless. I'd put wing over floorless for sure, but I'm definitely in the giga mindset at this point.

I'm not sold on wing or floorless for a few reasons. B&M hasn't built any of their looping models (sans dive coasters) with hyper stats, most not close. Alpengeist gets close, but that's the only one that comes close (and most of its size is due to the terrain where its built). This would have to be a seriously scaled up floorless or wing coaster (look at how wide the clearing is, that's a lot of space to use). Though, I would hypothesize that if it is to be a wing or floorless, perhaps the clearing isn't just for the coaster, but also for a bit of an upgrade to X-Base paths and such (and perhaps, the restroom we all want ). Like, most of the clearing closer to Beast would house the coaster and more of the bit towards Flight of Fear being the new midways and such, thus, the new coaster would anchor the new area.

Request for the Photoshop gurus here- could you plug in GateKeeper along the areas on the map we know where the clearing is?

I also feel safe about completely ruling out a dive coaster at this point given the size of the clearing. You'd only need Firehawk's footprint and a bit of clearing around the edges to put in a dive coaster, even a decent size one.

It looks at least large enough to put Diamondback there now, so I think this will go giga. Another thing to look at is how Firehawk's (115 ft) and Racer's (88 ft) lifts look in size. Just scale them up a bit and make the lifts steeper (B&M gigas are 45 degree lifts with around 80 degree drops) and I can rationalize a giga size hill fitting in that space along with some elements that would fit a giga.

I hope they have a contingency plan for if they don't work.

^^KI used to host a UC day late in the summer for guests to meet a lot of those players from various sports. I've played with the UC Band at a few of them.

^I could see that considering there are 0 RMC's in that region. I had heard rumblings about a GCI, but that'd be kinda stupid considering the GCI captial of the world is an hour in one direction (all of HP's are running stellar), 2 of the best ranked woodies another 90 minutes away in Elysburg, and El Toro another hour away. I could see Eurofighter as well with CF working with Gerstlauer at Knott's.

Dorney has been rumored to get a coaster soon for quite a while with Stinger's removal. However, I'll believe it when I see it.

I wish Flight of Fear got the MTV treatment that Paramount was supposed to utilize. Then, we could have a music themed area.

And that cold makes it harder to work on extensive outdoor plumbing- ergo, the fountain may have been behind schedule.

I wonder what these videos would look like if done today. Also, how pointless is a Flight of Fear POV?

How about an X-Base re-theme?

^Also remember that week we had around and below 0 F for the high this winter.

I'd also like to add that they didn't have since October like a normal off season. They had to start after Winterfest, and add on to that the fact that SW Ohio had a brutal winter and its honestly amazing they got I-Street as good looking as it is with all that extensive paint work and tile work in that amount of time. The fountain's gonna be a bit more complicated than sprucing up a few buildings, especially since they can't test out the water until its relatively warm (March was pretty cold).

Most parks are geared to not be in 'full operation mode' until Memorial Day. Obviously, they find some benefit in keeping open through May, but the real meat of their business comes between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Its not uncommon for parks to delay thing until then. Six Flags is notorious for opening their new things around then. Thus, this whole thing about the fountain not being finished isn't that surprising to me. KI also doesn't really play up their opening day unless there's a new big coaster or thrill ride. Not everyone can do an opening day like the Reds do. KI's business doesn't completely hinge on having a good opening day or not. If you go into KI's opening day expecting the park to be on par in operations as they are mid-July, you're kidding yourself.

^Went on Friday. Even if the systems were in place correctly, I just come to expect training woes on opening weekend.

The onion rings are pretty solid at the Brewhouse, too. I like the batter they used for those and the cod. The register personnel were a bit slow since they were training, but the food came out lickety split.

I'll reserve judgement on the fountains until after Memorial Day when they are allegedly going to be working the way they're supposed to. With the current set up, there is a lot of potential, especially if they can work in some unique water jet patterns with some movement, something that catches the eye. I do hope they put lights actually in the fountain as before though.

The group I was with had a bit of a slow experience getting through the Brewhouse line, but once we ordered our food, it came out very quickly.

^That's totally Photoshopped.

It does look a bit bare now, but I imagine it'll start to look even better when all the foliage starts to grow in. Also a very minor tidbit- I wish they would have gone with a bit of a Victorian design for the station like its predecessor, but otherwise, it still all looks great as is.