Disclaimer: I mean this in the most respectful way possible.

First off, yes, Voyage seems to be intended to operate every day of Holiday World's calendar. Paula has made no suggestion aimed towards them closing it anytime for testing. If the park is open, it seems they intend to have Voyage running.

Now hear me out, even if you disagree... I know we're all totally psyched for the Timberliners. But guys, it seems like we (meaning enthusiasts in general, not just KIC) are sitting around groaning about it unfairly. It's not as if Holiday World is intentionally making everyone wait to get a ride on their new trains. If you read through Paula's exceptionally patient and overly kind comments on the HW Facebook page, this will become evident. (I know I couldn't be as patient as she's been. Nearly every post is related to "When will we ride the new Voyage trains?") They want to get them running. If one of their main pluses is reduced maintenance/retracking on the ride because of the trains, don't you think they'd want them- and them alone; not the PTC train- running now? They're doing their absolute best to get the Indiana testing requirements out of the way while ensuring that the trains themselves will be flawless when we get our hands on them. They don't want to lunge headfirst into something and get I305-esque results. By I305-esque results, I mean not making sure everything was absolutely 100% perfect before letting the GP on. First drop trim brake rumors, anyone? YUCK.

Will, Paula, and the rest of the Holiday World family are doing their best, just like they always seem to do. We should be thankful they want to be sure it's done right the first time, because, frankly, hearing things like "the boats were too long for the lift hill- oops!" just kind of irritates me. And in the meantime, why not simply revel in the fact that there's even a Voyage to ride? It's not as if they've shut it down until the Timberliners are functional. I'm convinced they withheld a train from Darien Lake and Predator for a specific reason: Voyage still remains an absolutely mindblowing ride, and they want us to have an opportunity to experience it. So let's just be glad it's running at all, because honestly, if it were me running the park and paying for Voyage's retracking fees, not running the ride till the Timberliners arrived would be very, very tempting.

That being said and on a side note, it does seem like Holiday World is kind of getting screwed over on actually receiving the trains. I agree with DaveStroem to an extent- I think someone may be in for it when this is all said and done. But then again, it may be just another case of the Gravity Group wanting to make everything perfect. And as far as I'm concerned after my first Voyage rides earlier this month, good things come for those who wait.

Especially if the Gravity Group is involved with it.

Now don't go spending my whole $.02 in one place. Just kidding.

Y'all can fight over it. I pick Dibs on Maverick and Magnum XL-200.

I. Will. Take. You. Down. Terp. You have been warned.

()

Anyway, nice TR! I may have to snag a churro or two (read: as many as possible) when I get up to the Point this year. But everyone knows CP's getting the world's tallest, longest, fastest, meanest, highest-inversion-count flying wooden Aquatrax for 2011!!!!!!!!11!!!1!11

*starts praying for cryptic messages on GCI's or TGG's Facebook pages*

Here's my two cents on it.

Personally, I think it should at least be attempted. And I'm not just saying it in hopes of getting some ERT or something. Yes, it's going to be tricky to pull together as it stands. Yes, like other people have said, the whole "work" aspect would be especially troublesome. And I'm not about to deny that, because the logic makes sense. Having workers that aren't really hired by the park yet do work seems, from a layman's perspective, to be a legal nightmare. And I agree.

But still, do try. Just because you won't be able to instantly grab the camo netting and go to town on The Crypt's ride chamber doesn't mean this still isn't a great idea. Even if it amounts to just a "Live 5@5," that's still a step closer to being able to contact the park directly. Even if they don't always take advantage of suggestions we might provide, this would still absolutely be an unparalleled source of involvement with something we all really do love.

Yes, unparalleled. As great of a site this is, the arguments that "this is what KIC does" just don't click with me. Where's the direct contact with people who can change and order things within the park? Knowing that they read the forums is okay- but that's all it is. We can do anything from nicely suggest to downright demand things from the park on here, but when it's all said and done, our suggestions are half-noteworthy at best. After all, our suggestions can be taken either as "a great idea I heard from our fans" or as "just some thoughts by some passioned park enthusiasts we need not worry about". A Kings Court would be- assuming we use our earpiece wisely- valued, respected, and exciting. Meeting with the Court could be something management would look forward to- and by all means, we should make it something to look forward to!

Which brings me to my next point: were this to happen, we couldn't dare abuse our stance with the park. We would need to realize that the park by no means owes us anything and that this is NOT some means by which we can start unloading our demands. Nobody's going to enjoy attending some meeting where all they hear is "bring back the Eagles," "fix _____ theming," "take off The Beast trims," and "tear down/open/remodel Son of Beast". That's not being a great source of park guest information- that's just plain being annoying. And I think being too persistent in those needs, important as we feel they are, would be a tempting action but the Court's quickest downfall.

Does that mean a Court should just be a rowdy band of people who tell the park what it wants to hear? Absolutely not! What I'm saying is that theming, for instance, may- may, not is- be something the park could stand to hear-- but when approached, it should be first and foremost respectful. Realize that the park officials may actually agree quite a bit with your points but simply isn't in a position to carry your requests. After all, wasn't it just last month that we had a debt management firm bidding for the right to own Kings Island and several other parks?!

If we can keep this mature and respectful, yet lighthearted and helpful, then I think this is a prime opportunity for both the park and for ourselves. But if a couple of nay-sayers are going to shoot this down, then by all means send me the contact information and let the park know I'll be stopping by soon.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but I'm sure they covered a few streets in that time.

-Alex, who's had quite a while since he's posted this much.

To be honest, I've been semi-anxiously awaiting this report. I love reading your great TRs, giga- and this one did not disappoint! Thanks for writing it!

Oh, and one other thing I want to clarify...

I went to the season pass center and got my season pass. Completely hassle free and very quick process, and it worked the first time it scanned. I loudly made a comment about how I was glad at least one of my passes worked this year, and one of the employees laughed. I think they knew what I was getting at. XD

Were the lines really that short for pass processing? I'm getting mine processed this Saturday, and my lack of any-park-besides-KI-or-CP knowhow has me cringing with horrible flashbacks to LONG April/May weekend processing lines. Haha. I really want to get that first ride on Voyage as soon as possible! Just saying.

Every time I saw The Crypt on opening day, it was closed. However, I was only at the park until 2. Anyone able to confirm the hours thereafter?

This is one of the best ideas I've ever heard. I don't know how to express my love for it in any other way besides saying I AM SO IN.

^

Bam. Done: Richard.

Also, I vote for him. He's much more realistic than ol' Shag.

ahoy, urakan.

I wear contacts...but I'm always terrified that the wind is going to catch them and they'll dry out and FLY out of my eyes as everything starts to move in slow motion. 'Nooooooo!'

Seriously, my eyes do get dry on the coasters so I sometimes manage to remember to bring eye drops. Other than that, I haven't had any bad experiences sans-glasses.

I actually have problems with dry eyes myself, and I wear contacts. On top of this, I have astigmatism issues with both my eyes, so my contacts, while secure, don't fit just right in my eyes. In spite of that, I make a point to wear my contacts (on top of almost daily wearing them) when I visit parks, and I've never lost them. Moreso, they almost never shift around on my eyes when I ride a launched coaster. The only exception to this was one- and only one- ride on Top Thrill Dragster a year or two ago. It was an exceptionally humid and warm day, and my eyes were spazzing out and spontaneously watering up when I'd rub my eyes thanks to allergies. My contacts were essentially on an ice skating rink and were being really iffy about sitting properly on my eyes, so when we launched, one slid to the side. I shut that eye till the ride was over and readjusted it when I got off. No biggie. I've never had any similar issues when my eyes were dry, either. So if it were me making this decision, I'd go with contacts just so you don't have to deal with pocketing/holding onto your glasses. But that's just me.

Oh, and also- welcome to the site!

Anyone else notice that they're going in order when releasing these? They started on King Cobra's corner of Action Zone and have worked their way up through Oktoberfest and Coney Mall... which makes me guess that we're next going to see a BLSC, Beast, or Diamondback POV next, if they're doing it intentionally. The only thing wrong with this theory is that they skipped over Flight of Fear and Firehawk... hmmm.

EDIT: Well... I guess King Cobra's still technically part of Adventure Village at the time of the recordings, isn't it.

EDIT again: Ha, I just realized that there wouldn't be any POVs of those two coasters since they weren't built yet in 1995. Nothing to see here, move along...

The site doesn't work on any web browser for me- Chrome, Firefox, or IE. Up until about 10 minutes ago, it would redirect me to the shopping page for Firefox and IE.

EDIT: Site now works in Firefox just fine. Chrome still has nothing. I don't care what IE gives me. Haha.

EDIT again: Site now works everywhere. I like it! It's MUCH better than the old yellow site.

The Crypt - They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! by Napoleon XIV

Or Broken by Lifehouse? (Nahhh, yours is better.)

Son of Beast - For the fans out there... Pain by Three Days Grace.

FTW, not meaning to pull a Terpy when he says he's running for the door.

Sorry to be a buzzkill, but GCI announced where the new coaster is going...

http://www.greatcoasters.com/?p=news&s=archive&id=6

China.

Mystery solved: http://www.greatcoasters.com/?p=news&s=archive&id=6

No GCI for KI. But now to figure out how China is familiar to Terpy...

^^ From personal experience, I'd go with Wii Fit or, even better, Wii Fit Plus (with the balance board, of course). You can set your own pace in workouts that have a surprisingly strong probability of making you sore... in a good way. It's not the ultimate workout tool by any means (as there are long periods of being motionless as you select your next activity unless you choose one of Fit Plus's preset workout routines), but it'll certainly help that I'd say it's worth the price. Plus, the games it comes with are basically addicting (particularly Fit Plus's skateboarding) that the whole family can get into.

^ To be honest, I'm kind of lost with your logic. I honestly can't see how one ride is rough to generally everyone who rides it except for you. (I'd say literally everyone, except that is a bit of an assumption that I could see biting me in the butt if someone asks, "So, you've interviewed everyone who's ridden SoB?") Sure, there are certain ways to ride rides to make them less uncomfortable- I lean forward on Mean Streak to receive a semi-smooth ride- but that doesn't make the whole ride smooth. You're just anticipating the effects more than the other riders. So how is it that SoB, which makes my neck and chest hurt when ridden in basically any seat except 1-1, automatically behaves itself when you're around? Do you send such fear down its support beams that it knows better than to jackhammer your train? If so... you, sir, had better be around in 2010 if that ride's open. I want all the first drop's airtime of the back seat without all the neck-spraining jackhammering of the rose bowl afterwards.

EDIT: I'm not saying this like I'm attacking your opinion of the ride- if you like it, so be it. All I'm saying is that roughness isn't overly subjective...

Is most coasters in one park the only record CP has?

well, there is lots of records,

...I believe the only park with 3 over 200ft. ...

Top Thrill Dragster is over 400 feet tall, Millennium Force is over 300 feet tall, Magnum is over 200 feet tall, and Wicked Twister stands at 215 feet tall. Unless you're not counting it because it's a shuttle coaster, there are 4 coasters at Cedar Point over 200 feet. Just saying.

Zephyr. Oh yes.

nothing. they would have subtracted Flight of Fear, and turned it into a storage shed.

Lets not think of where the park would be if Paramount still owned it. No Flight of Fear, Firehawk...

Maybe I missed something, but what's got everyone so positive that Paramount would have removed KI's FoF? It was KD's that was SBNO towards the end of the Paramount days, not KI's. Not to mention that it was added in 1996 in the first place, when Paramount owned the park, so obviously they would have added it since they did. And who's to say that we would never have received a similar Vekoma Flying Dutchman like Firehawk, the standard FD model? California's (then Paramount's) Great America got one, which was later moved to Carowinds, both under Paramount. Expecting a Vekoma FD wouldn't have been wildly impossible unlike expecting, say, an Intamin Giga would have been under Paramount, would it?

Hahaha, what a great TR! Your reactions were priceless. The OMGs had me laughing.

By the way, did you happen to see how far constructed the monorail track at Jungle Jim's is? I haven't been there in a while; last time I saw it, I think it was just beyond the stationary 'model' monorail (for lack of better description).

And if any drop is a vertical drop, I can't help but wonder if there's such a thing as a horizontal drop... Or is that just called a turn?

's the only Haunt one I've ever seen. It's being used chain-wide as well (or at least for KI and CP); they just replace the voiceover part where they say 'tonight we desecrate ______' to fit whatever park they're advertising for.

Maybe the Trail of Terror path? That could be really pretty during the year, back in the woods with lights everywhere... and the ToT theming removed, too, of course. I can't imagine the peaceful effect of the Starlight Experience lingering after guests are showered upon by that squirting toilet.

By far, SoB. When I see the structure, I automatically think of what I like about the ride and instantly want to ride it. Too bad what I like about the ride is only everything from the station to the bottom of the first drop. And yet that's still enough to pull me in for a ride now and again. Curse you, RCCA and Mr. Stengel, and your guest-attracting designs!

You can't compare the SFKK incident and Intamin launched coaster cables.

That is like saying: "Oh, there was a Explorer that rolled over, I don't feel confident in any car now."

Not to be a pain the butt, but how so? My point was that the involved kinds of Intamin rides seem to rely strongly on exposed cables that have the possibility to snap and injure the riders, which makes my intended statement more along the lines of, "Oh, there were some Ford SUVs and a similar Ford pickup that rolled over in average driving conditions; I don't feel confident in Ford cars now." It wouldn't be a matter of the SUV being known to flip over in an accident; it'd be a matter of the car doing exactly what it was intended to do and failing nonetheless, even after thorough owner inspection and repairs. That the car would be known to flip wouldn't reflect in how I would feel about SUVs- it would change how I would view Ford's engineering since a vaguely similar vehicle, a pickup, has been known to do the same thing. And, to me, this seems no different, though I'm not swearing off rides on TTD or something now; I just couldn't help but feel not quite as excited about Intamin's cable-using rides after taking in the incidents with a cable snapping. That's all I'm saying.

(No offense towards Ford fans- your cars are just the victims of the example. )