TombRaiderFTW

^ Given how the ride's been running this year, in my opinion, they better hope it doesn't get beastly like The Beast!

Well, that's just ridiculous... ...Usually, they call it "Faceoff" and then proceed to ask who died on it and caused it to close.

The Beast(1) vs. Millennium Force(2)

^ I want to laugh, but, my gosh! That's the most disturbing thing I've ever heard happening between guests on a roller coaster. I would have been silently freaking out. I imagine you probably were yourself. Guess my story about once being stuck with a less-than-sober man on The Beast who loudly announced, multiple times, that he was going to throw up (when he wasn't elbowing me and calling me "pal") is a little less effective now...

^ That will suck! I'm never going to Kings Island again. After all these hints they've dropped about it being an Aquatrax*, how could they possibly shaft us with a Volare?! They should have put something in the waterpark! The Dippin' Dots guy told me there would be something in the waterpark! *Of which there have been just as many as there have been steel coaster hints from Holiday World, too!

Done! Hope you guys win.

Thanks for the update! I really appreciate the fact that people are taking the time to update each other about The Crypt's improvements... especially this year, when I haven't been able to go to KI nearly as much as I'd like. As discussed in the "Ride Improvements to The Crypt" thread, they're actually Tomb Raider's old lava LED lights. Originally, they served to give the lava in the rockwork the color of... well, lava. Since there's no more water in there, they now just serve as several rows of lava-colored lights. Hey, it's an improvement over "plaster you to the seat with mind-numbing flips in a giant garage"-Crypt from 2008...

Right. Like on the Mummy. Or Backdraft. Or The Italian Job: Stunt Track. Or JAWS! Haha. Kings Dominion's Crypt and the similar Firefall at Great America hold riders over fire (or, cleverly disguised to appear that way to onlookers). But yeah, that would probably require a lot of re-coding the building and re-ventilating. It would be expensive. If our Giant Top Spin were replaced with a newer suspended Top Spin or something with a wild program and better reliability, I can see money being put into the ride. As is, I doubt any sizable investment will ever be set aside for The Crypt when - as was mentioned - it's not exactly a crowd pleaser. But who knows what the new head of the company has planned... Given the constant propane stank hovering around Kings Dominion's outdoor Crypt, I'd guess the likelihood of our indoor Crypt getting real fire is about as likely as The Beast opening with no trims and new Timberliners tomorrow. Truthfully, I doubt Ouimet's going to take a personal interest in the ride. The fanboy in me wants to think, working for Disney, he would have heard of the Disney-comparable ride experience of Tomb Raider and have discussed in board meetings any sort of Disney "response" to the ride (in the form of a comparable or competitive experience). Realistically, even if that did happen, I'm pretty sure any personal interest in the ride is going to be significantly diminished when he hears about its horrendous downtime. I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer; the ride is simply a money pit at times.

^^^ Honestly? No, I'm not surprised. It's like no coaster enthusiast site is complete without rampant complaining about the quality of future attractions... which is one of the saddest things about them*. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the park could have added nothing. That thought should be especially effective when talking about Holiday World... The place changes something every year. KI fans are pleasantly surprised when something noticeable changes more often than every 2 to 3 years. On that note, the park *did* add things for this year. GYK's right about Mammoth and the Halloween event being for 2012, but this year did bring general park improvements that were based on guest's requests. They replaced a kids' ride with a similar model that better fits the Christmas theme and modified several buildings to better accommodate guests. The Plymouth Rock Cafe had its seating area enclosed and air conditioned, the front gate was modified to increase throughput, a series of children's waterslides were added, and (I think) more lockers were added in a more convenient part of the waterpark. They're not strictly ride additions to the dry park, per se, but they are improvements that aren't only water rides. In fact, I'd argue that these sorts of "additions" every once in a while could almost be a better PR move than trying to push how big and fast a new ride is--to me, it says, "We're not only focused on pulling annual visitors in. We know we have our regulars, and we care about their wants." I will say, to the benefit of those who want another steel coaster at Holiday World... I do still think either a family-friendly coaster to bridge the gap between Howler and Raven would fit very nicely. A smaller (i.e., a Maurer Sohne or B&M) looper would also fit very well, seeing as how Indiana has an odd lack of inversions that the GP does seem to want out of their parks. *Especially when, lately, they've almost always been wrong about them. Remember how Carowinds' Intimidator was going to absolutely blow I305 out of the water?

I'm frankly disappointed in everyone's disappointment. Mammoth will be a fantastic addition to Splashin' Safari that will help lessen the lines for everything else, including your precious coasters. It's got the capacity that Wildebeest dearly lacks while hopefully delivering a similar (but improved, thanks to the size) experience. This thing will be a hit with the GP. Also, I don't really know where a lot of people online get off being all, "This was supposed to be a steel coaster! Gah!" Exactly how many times does the park have to say it's not going to be a coaster, steel or not, before people believe it? Sigh. I know I said myself that I couldn't imagine the $9 million pricetag being for anything else but a coaster, but I think we were all buying into the assumption that the $9 million would be going into the dry park, not the water park. Truthfully, I will say that the Halloween event was a little more exciting for me. The park has one of the best atmospheres for a fall event--can you imagine zooming by a sea of changing trees while riding any of the wooden coasters? I'm a little confused as to whether or not it will be a scare event... I don't really see scares being a part of Holiday World's "family friendly" persona, but Dan did say there would be trails. I'll take whatever they'll give, but it just seems like a kid-friendly fall celebration of sorts would better fit the park. EDIT: Or like Kings Island building another "world's tallest wooden coaster," right? I mean, they already did it twice with Racer and then Beast, so why do it again?

Some of us happen to consider Howler our favorite kiddie coaster, thank you very much. Seriously, the back seat on that thing has laterals to rival Legend. Honestly, at this point... I have no idea what to expect out of Holiday World tomorrow. The hints alone make me think it's a roller coaster, and I'm having a hard time thinking of any Holiday World-appropriate flat for that cost. But then again, they've said at Holiwood Nights that it won't be a coaster... I'm at a loss. Bring on noon tomorrow!

Match 1 The Beast (1) vs. Flight Deck (2) Match 2 Magnum XL-200 (2) vs. Vortex (1) Match 3 Top Thrill Dragster (1) vs. The Racer (2) Match 4 Millennium Force (2) vs. Diamondback (1)

Match 1 The Beast (9) vs. Raptor (2) Match 2 Firehawk (3) vs. Magnum XL-200 (8) Match 3 Top Thrill Dragster (9) vs. Gemini (2) Match 4 Maverick (1) vs. Millennium Force (10) Match 5 Diamondback (7) vs. Flight of Fear (4) Match 6 Iron Dragon (0) vs. The Racer (10) Match 7 Vortex (10) vs. Mean Streak (1) Match 8 Blue Streak (3) vs. Flight Deck (8) EDIT: Sorry... Somehow, I missed out on voting for the entire first half. My votes won't change anymore, promise.

Thats still not like what they used to do, Kings Island used to be known for its innovation(e.g. first suspended, first stand up, first forward and backward loop, first launched, First wooden loop and First wooden over 200ft, The Beast when it opened was the tallest, fastest and longest coaster in the world) and i do understand that those titles are no longer available, why not use something new like the first stand up wooden rollercoaster, or the first launched wooden coaster(which was on display at IAAPA last year). I agree; however, those examples were also over the course of several owners--none of which are Cedar Fair. The exiting CEO once cited his (literally) biggest risk in trying something new, Top Thrill Dragster, as being one of the biggest mistakes in his career. Not to mention that the suggestions you made, while sounding very cool, are both still risks--there's no precedent for the technology necessary for those sorts of things. Even if someone like The Gravity Group can claim their Timberliners are launch-capable, that doesn't mean it will work perfectly the first time. (I could Koch you up a real story about The Voyage at Holiday World, for example... What was new for 2010 there, again?) That being said, I'd say the addition of WindSeeker is genuinely noteworthy in this case. Wave Swingers have been around for decades, but a thirty-story wave swinger that's designed to operate in very non-wave swinger-friendly conditions? That's a chance investment. Not as big of one as, say, the first Arrow 4th Dimension, since KI only paid ~$5 million for WS (as compared to the $40 million Magic Mountain's poured into X), but a risk nonetheless.

Woah, sorry I missed this post! To view them, you do need Java. I forgot to mention that in the OP... Sorry!

This looks pretty cool! I like the looks of these B&M Wingriders. They're visually appealing but seem to give a family-friendly ride (based off Raptor reviews). I had assumed that Gardaland's Raptor was the main prototype and therefore that Thorpe's ride would have the first rotating chairs, but it looks like either that rumor was false or B&M/Thorpe decided to opt out. I do wonder if, should Swarm and Raptor do well (i.e., don't get the reputation for vibrating you senseless like Intamin's Wingrider), we'll start seeing more of these installed. About the U.S. not getting cool things... Truthfully, I think it mostly comes down to the parks not wanting to risk the money and reputation on a prototype that could require modifications and large amounts of downtime in an economy where consumer spending is lessened. Quite simply, why would you risk, say, buying a theoretically temperamental Intamin prototype, when you could buy that B&M Hyper whose predecessors have a precedent for being easily marketed and increasing attendance? Why buy a pneumatic-launch S&S coaster when their arguably most easily marketed ride spends a majority of its time blowing up its motor (ringracer)? Is it better to risk buying an unknown product and risk your customer loyalty by making accidentally false promises about when it'll open, or is it better to be able to say "here's an awesome coaster that will be open on this day, so come ride it, buy your on-ride photo, get a t-shirt, etc."? They're just playing it safe, in my opinion... Though frankly, I can't guess why B&M Dive Coasters haven't taken off. They look pretty cool, and they seem to have pretty excellent downtime records. Still, do note that there are more parks than just Magic Mountain who are trying new things. Holiday World bought the first Timberliner trains (originally) for 2010 and has spent $9 million on a "first of its kind" ride for 2012. Hersheypark bought (as far as I'm aware) the first Intamin looper with a vertical lift, Fahrenheit, in 2008. Carowinds bought new Vekoma prototype trains for their boomerang in 2009, and Hershey followed suit with theirs this year. Even Kings Island is trying new things... We've got the second prototype B&M hyper trains on Diamondback and a 301-foot tower that seeks wind (most of the time). And all of that is within the last 3 years.

I'm not so sure you can, Terp... Better ask the Beaver. Anyway, I've had the same avatar issues before. Try resizing whatever you want to a 100-pixel width in a photo editor and see if that works. It usually does for me.

True pine is sometimes very weak, depending on the grade. My company uses a high grade of pine inside of barges to hold up 6500-8500 lbs steel coils, this works very well its cheap yet strong to do the job. Wow, thats pretty strong, but could it hold approximately 13,000 pounds( train+people)under all of the forces of Son of Beast. It's all in how you design the supports--which, based on the 2006 incident, seems to have been done imperfectly in (at least) the rose bowl. You can very easily design your supports to spread the weight of the train, as well as the other forces at play, among several beams, thus exerting less force on each one. You just have to be careful how you do it; you have to make sure all forces are accounted for. (For example, according to the SoB accident report from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the structure didn't account for an extra lateral load, which, in turn, caused that bent to fail.) It's pretty much just a Statics/Dynamics problem. (I'm so glad that all these hours of engineering homework have only equated to me being able to post more on KIC... )

Just read this tweet from Holiday World's Twitter... http://twitter.com/#...591192728420352 Uhh... $9 million? According to RCDB, Voyage cost $8.5 million... This is going to be interesting.

I was searching around on Bing, and I found this older website that has interactive 360-degree panoramas of multiple parts of (then Paramount's) Kings Island from 2004. The pictures are on the smaller side, but it's still very cool to see whether you, like me, remember the park as it was then, or if you just want to compare it to how it is now. There are even some shots of defunct rides like the Flying Eagles. (Being the obvious TR:TR fan that I am, I especially enjoy the view of the old Swan Lake, Tomb Raider entrance, and Beast entrance. Just look at all those trees!) You can see them here. There are also panoramas of Cedar Point, Geauga Lake, Kennywood, LeSourdesville Lake, and Michigan's Adventure, among others. Just thought I'd share! Hope someone enjoys this as much as I did. General park atmosphere shots from back then do seem pretty difficult to come by (or at least they do when I look for them!)

Match 1 The Beast(1) vs. Wicked Twister(1) Match 2 Firehawk(2) vs. Adventure Express(1) Match 3 Invertigo(0) vs. Top Thrill Dragster(2) Match 4 Flying Ace Aerial Chase(0) vs. Maverick(2) Match 5 Son of Beast(0) vs. Diamondback(3) Match 6 Wildcat(1) vs. Iron Dragon(1) Match 7 Mantis(0) vs. Vortex(2) Match 8 Surf Dog(1) vs. Blue Streak(1) Match 9 Woodstock Express CP(0) vs. Flight Deck(3) Match 10 Woodstock Express KI(2) vs. Mean Streak(0) Match 11 The Racer(2) vs. Corkscrew(0) Match 12 Flight of Fear(3) vs. Great Pumpkin Coaster(0) Match 13 Millennium Force(2) vs. Backlot Stunt Coaster(0) Match 14 Gemini(2) vs. Junior Gemini(0) Match 15 Magnum XL-200(2) vs. Disaster Transport(0) Match 16 Cedar Creek Mine Ride(0) vs. Raptor(2)

^ We're cool. I probably could have gone about saying what I did a bit more gracefully. I was just trying to set the record straight.

Welcome to KIC! The Gold Pass parking area is the part of the parking lot surrounded by white poles. It's situated at the "back" of the lot, near Kings Island Drive and the Kings Island sign. From the south parking lot entrance, I believe you can follow the signs to the lot. (Not sure about the north entrance... I've only been able to use it a handful of times in the past few years.

^^ Um... thanks for putting me in my place? I never told you that you were wrong. I didn't deny that you got close to the goddess' face, nor did I accuse you of saying she was illuminated. I was just trying to set the record straight as to if anything's actually changed... since I rode it this year on the 22nd of July. And the 30th of April. And several days in between. Your TR just made a point of the goddess being exceptionally noticeable. All I'm trying to point out is that she isn't any more or less noticeable than she's ever been since opening day 2008. Both the original Crypt cycle and the ferris wheel version got you equally close to the goddess. Your TR made a point of the "riding sequence" having changed to hold you over the old lava pit and "ice pit". I assume you meant the stalactites from TR:TR by that. Those haven't been in the ride chamber since the Crypt change, and the "riding sequence" is no different than it's been since 2010, which you doubtlessly know based on your experience with the ride on the 14th of July. I'm just trying to clarify what's actually changed and what's just new to you. You're welcome very much.

I see. Now that I've read it, I'm honestly a little more prone to believe that you haven't ridden The Crypt much lately, KingsIslandJonasGirl. As of Friday, the ride cycle has not changed from the two-flip, "ferris wheel" cycle that it's had since 2009. The only thing that's changed, as has been pointed out in this topic earlier, is that the old Tomb Raider lava LEDs that used to illuminate the water have been turned back on, giving you something to look at during that prolonged backwards flip. The goddess is just as almost-but-not-really illuminated as she's always been as The Crypt and isn't genuinely "featured" at any point during the ride. I don't mean to be a jerk; that's just how it is.