TombRaiderFTW

In response to this post, I feel the need to highlight the level of detail involved in Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror. The park took an old queue that was already beyond their typical magnitude of Haunt theming and built a house that really blew the rest of the attractions away. It is nothing like the Paramount- and Kinzel-era houses with the thinly-veiled pockets for actors to hide in, like in Club Blood, CarnEvil, or even Wolf Pack. Particularly towards the beginning of the Haunt season, there were a ton of actors hidden in places you'd never expect, even if you'd been in every other house in the park. I'm still creeped out by the flickering hallway with the wrapped figures leaning on the walls that are uncomfortably close to your sides. I used to scoff at the old KI Haunt commercials featuring KBF's houses because the actual event never featured anything nearly as intense or intricate as the commercials showed. MFCoT actually was that detailed, and it maintained one of the longer lines at Haunt every time I visited. Yeah, it was "the new one," but I'd be pretty surprised if the lines are anything relatively shortish this year. People seemed to figure out in the (two?) seasons Mysteria was at Haunt that it wasn't that good, and the lines showed. Granted, I haven't visited USO during Halloween Horror Nights, so maybe I'm wrong here. I just really feel like the Cavern of Terror was a really good and unique step in the right direction that shouldn't be ignored. I know it's set the bar high for me this year--particularly with Backwoods Bayou. That seems like a fairly unique chance to reinvent Trail of Terror, and I hope KI takes the opportunity to do so.

That's a fair assessment, although I will suggest that you may have hit it on a bad day when it comes to the theming. Not that I'm assuming that it would do much for you; I'm just saying is all. At least as of last August, several pieces and lighting fixtures were working, although I don't know how much theming the ride originally opened with to compare. As much as I like it when parks bother to add a preshow to rides, I'm inclined to believe that all the effects working would still do nothing to convey an actual story for the ride. And oy, does that building ever stick out at Great Adventure. Out of curiosity, have you been on the one at Great America? It seemed like a wilder ride to me, though the theming wasn't doing quite as well as it was in my experience at GAdv. I also didn't notice the building as much, though I loathe its placement in the New Orleans-themed section of the park.

Awesome job, Shaggy! Interesting piece, and your comments were great. It was nice to see a piece featuring coaster enthusiasts that didn't involve said enthusiast spouting endless facts about the ride a la Travel Channel. I have to admit that the slightly awkward newscaster banter at the end of each video made me chuckle, though.

iPhone 5 on Straight Talk here. Uses Verizon's 3G network. Fantastic coverage at the park--anything Internet-related loads really quickly. Oddly enough, it's exactly the opposite at Cedar Point. Terrible coverage no matter where I am in the park, and I can hardly do anything at all. I can rarely ever even make a call until I leave Sandusky. And that is no change from when I was on Verizon earlier this year. Makes it nigh impossible to participate in the tweetups up there.

Conneaut Lake Park. Seriously, have you SEEN the Kiddieland sign?! Nah, but truthfully? That I'll wake up one day realizing I've wasted a majority of my life having experienced none of the things I want to experience.

To which I (kinda) reply: Haha, I kinda-sorta liked TDK at SFGAdv (though I thought the coaster was inappropriately tame for the theme). I'm just honestly curious--what didn't you like about it?

^ Courtesy the Kings Island website: a 3,300 X 2,550 logo. Link.

Wow, that's awesome! So glad to hear you're doing well. Congrats on making it back on a coaster!

Speaking as a former kid with a huge phobia of roller coasters, this post is literally all you need to read in this thread. You'll do yourself and your friend a colossal favor by letting your friend set the pace. Light suggestions are appreciated, but don't nag, and definitely don't push for the biggest rides in the park. Learn what your friend likes in what rides he chooses, and see if you can relate what he likes in those rides to rides he hasn't tried yet. But let him choose the rides. Also, Shaggy, I'm pretty sure this is called "Newton's third law".

If you've ever tried to do impressions of classic ride voice recordings, you might be a Kings Island addict. Don't even try to tell me you haven't tried "now youuu will paaaay".

I know there are other topics like this, but I don't think I've participated in one in several years. Actually, if I remember right, I really haven't done one since shortly after I joined (September 2008). So... why not? (I'm not going to add Halloween Haunt additions to this since I really don't know how much it costs the park to add new haunts.) 2015: No new rides. Use provided capital to further update fountains into a nighttime light show to compliment the fireworks. Show starts at 9:30, and the music increases in pacing, energy, and excitement until the fireworks, which have a custom orchestral score written specifically for the park that the fireworks are timed with. Keeping with the "best day of the year" theme of current management, special guests are picked from the crowd to "start" the fireworks. As the score starts a few minutes prior to the fireworks, the guests are introduced to the crowd, with the score hushed and feeling like it's barely holding back from something far bigger and celebratory. After the guests are introduced, the music builds, then pauses--and with the staff member's cue, a button is pressed to start the show. The music bursts into this grand overture that's both exciting and elegant at once. Immediately following the fireworks, the staff member wishes the crowd an iconic goodbye that KI could be known for (see Kennywood's creepy "good night" song, and the "good night Mom, good night Will" speech from pre-Dan-and-Lori Holiday World). The rest of the evening on International Street would feature an impressive light show that incorporates both the fountains and the lights lining the International Street buildings. (The IS shop lights would need updated from their current configuration.) The evening's festivities would be marketed as the whole-family equivalent of Six Flags' igNite or CP's Luminosity--though not in those words, of course. All rides receive retracking and maintenance in accordance with past precedent. 2016: Rebuild TR:TR. Remove the fast pitch game and ICEE stand adjacent to the Flight Commander queue in Coney Mall. Install a Cedar Point Giant Wheel-size Ferris wheel (Zamperla Giant Wheel?) parallel to Racer in that spot. Alternatively, build a Deno's Wonder Wheel/California Adventure-style Ferris wheel to a similar scale as Giant Wheel. It's got a view not unlike WindSeeker, but it's more family friendly. The Wonder Wheel/CA-style wheel would have the added marketable thrill aspect of the moving seats. This is assuming that either of those models have decent people capacity, which is something I'm not totally sure of. Planet Snoopy would receive a daily mid-afternoon parade show not unlike the 2005 Nickelodeon Parade (except with Peanuts characters, of course.) It would run from July 4th weekend through Labor Day. Very high-energy with recognizable, popular songs for kids and families to enjoy. I won't say how long the parade would be, because I don't know how much it costs to retrack portions of Beast/Racer in the off-season, and I don't want to neglect them for the sake of other attractions. New song list for nighttime fireworks/fountains show. Keep the custom music, of course. That stuff's probably not cheap. 2017: Replace some of the relatively higher-force portions of The Beast with Rocky Mountain Construction's Topper Track and observe maintenance cost effect, if applicable. Add a Chance Rides Aviator or Larson Flying Scooters to Planet Snoopy, to be tied into the adventures of the Red Baron. Replace airbrush shop in Oktoberfest with Chance Rides Wipeout named Der Spinnin Kegger (with appropriate theming to match, and set back a bit farther into the foliage so it doesn't stick out into the midway as much as the airbrush shop, if possible.) New song list for nighttime fireworks/fountains show. Keep the custom music! 2018: If the Topper Track proves economically promising without harming the ride experience, add more of it to The Beast and purchase new three-bench PTC trains that articulate. Remove the trim brakes (except where the structure actually requires the train be slower, if necessary.) Reprofile the second drop and turn before the second lift so that they are comfortable at the higher speeds.* Modify the banking of the second helix as closely as possible to the original 1979 configuration to re-introduce stronger laterals (as long as the structure is capable of bearing them.) The idea is to reinvent the ride without drastically changing it from what people know and love--think of the Voyage rebuild in 2012. Market the ride as The Beast being "angered" or "unleashed"... Something to indicate that there is a new reason to ride, but not indicating that the ride itself has been changed. Beast has earned its status as the ride at Kings Island, and I'd imagine it wouldn't go over well if it got a drastic remodeling. * I say this because, as I understand it, those who rode The Beast before it had trims said that the ride was not comfortable. I'm merely speculating that these would be the most uncomfortable points during the ride at higher speeds. The new articulating trains would be able to accommodate the required banking transitions that extending the second drop pullout would require. If the Topper Track didn't prove itself last year, return wooden track to the ride. If I weren't so tired and hadn't accidentally spent the last hour and a half typing this post, I'd plan out some kind of new, major attraction along the lines of Cedar Fair's recent additions. As it stands, you can use your imagination. Beyond 2018: I'd observe the finance- and public relations-related effects of the past four years and adjust my strategy from there. Edited after likes by The Interpreter, Thrill_Biscuit, Fire-Beast-OF FEAR, zombieninja, VortexBFForever, Diamondback96, BlondyRidesOn, Jr for Birdy, Sonofbeast2.0, and rcwizard13 to correct grammar and to remove a couple iterations of "of course". I really shouldn't post while drowsy, people.

If I'm remembering things correctly, Magnum was the last Arrow coaster to have track bent on site. Maybe that's what you were thinking of, TheCrypt? I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm pretty sure I would have loved Geauga Lake. It seems like it had an eclectic collection of rides that really offered something unique. Unfortunately, I never knew it existed until after the dry side closed.

^ Pretty accurate, then. (I kid! I actually kinda like WindSeeker.)

Nah, I know about that one. Thanks, though! I'm talking about an actual, physical disc that may have been sold in the park around that time. I'd like to try to get my hands on one if such a thing exists, but I'd like to know it exists first.

Alright... Got a question for some of the more seasoned members around here. Mainly those with a decent recollection of the days around when this site was started. At some point within a couple years in either direction of 2003, did the park release a soundtrack featuring several ride soundtracks including Phantom Theater, The Wild Thornberrys' River Adventure, Adventure Express, possibly Tomb Raider, and others? Tomb Raider may have been on its own soundtrack. Now, the reason I ask: in my many (many, many, many) Googlings about anything I can find from defunct Kings Island rides, I've found cover art for a Tomb Raider: The Ride soundtrack. I've never figured out if that was fanart or an actual soundtrack, but then again, there isn't exactly a detailed history of KI merchandise over the past decade out there that I've found. Also, it's my understanding that now-defunct PKI fansites had several ride soundtrack clips available to download (as in downloading the sound file to your computer.) As I can't imagine KI at any point just handing off copyrighted music files to a fansite to share as it pleases, I have to imagine there was some kind of CD they were copied from and shared. I don't understand how legalities play into any of that, but I guess that's just how it was. Three or four years ago, I attempted to contact Rob Pottorf to see if I could purchase the TRTR soundtrack, but he legally wasn't be able to sell it, as I recall. So if this topic is encouraging illegal activity, please feel free to lock and/or delete it, admins. I know this question is pretty far out there, but I've Googled until my fingers are just about ready to fall off. You guys are pretty much my last resort here. Anyone happen to remember this sort of thing from back then?

I am ecstatic about this ride. Seriously. Going into last night's announcement, I wasn't crazy about the name "Banshee". However, with the clever way they tied it into Son of Beast, I'm 100% sold. They managed to indirectly tie a new ride into The Beast family "story" without it having "beast" in the name. And that's not to mention that this perfectly fits one of the few gaps remaining in KI's ride lineup. And that's not even to mention that it appears to be a B&M layout that required B&M to think outside the box, which is a situation which usually means I'll love it. I seriously can't wait for next April. I'm still a little nostalgic for that Bat logo, but maybe the park has something up its sleeve for Flight Deck? That'd be cool, but I'm not getting my hopes up. They just repainted FD in 2011.

^ THIS. It happens to me all the time! It doesn't matter how much you talk about about literally any other ride on the planet--people are sure that your lack of raving over Top Thrill Dragster is a sure sign that you've clearly never heard of Cedar Point.

Aw, I loved this! So glad you were able to have a good time with your son. Sounds like you've got a little thrillseeker on your hands.

With New Year's, I figure it's one of three things:1. There will be some kind of countdown. 2. Dick Clark will be hosting the announcement. 3. We're all going to start kissing each other when the ride's announced. (Please be #1. Please...) EDIT: D'oh. Missed calakapepe's post. Whoops!

So help me, this is my last YoungStud post. Read it with the understanding that I'm not playing moderator. Let me be clear: I think YoungStud's a troll because he literally talks about nothing else than things that get under people's skin. By all means, anyone can and should have a different opinion from me, but the line between "I think differently than you" and "I'm going to just cover my ears and keep saying the same things over and over" has been crossed. Trolling or not, that both gets old and drags down the community. Fast. Also, out of nowhere, we've got these random new users that "coincidentally" praise the one thing YoungStud keeps going on and on about. The site's been around for 10 years, and I've been here for 5 of them. In my history here, people DO register with specific manufacturers in their usernames. Those people also tend to praise said manufacturers more than a couple times. And you know what? That's fine. Really. But it doesn't happen that often. Out of nowhere, all of these Intamin lovers have all coincidentally jumped onto the site at the same time the world's most outspoken Intamin fan feels the need to defend himself. Hokay. I don't think suspicion is out of the question here. I don't care if you dislike fanny packs, B&M, the weather, or my shoes. Part of being an interesting forum is having people with these opinions. Just don't make every topic you ever post in about it.

Aaaaand now it's returning a 404 error. I feel like we've either seen something we weren't supposed to, or else we've all entirely been punked. Unfortunately, those are at the opposite ends of the spectrum from one another, so I don't even know. Quit playing games with my emotions, Helbig!

If that's legit: I am so happy! Holy crap! That is fantastic!

Thanks for the comments, guys! Also: Holy laziness, Batman. Totally didn't mean to procrastinate the rest of this this long. I'll keep working on it. Promise!

And I take offense to someone overtaking all topics that could otherwise be pleasant conversations with nonsense about how every ride is inferior to Intamin, how people dressing how they want for their own personal hobbies is lame, and now, apparently, how the act of murder is somehow made worse if the murderer is a female when the victim is male. But hey, that's just me. Apparently I'm in some kind of a minority, so that's what an ignore list is for.

^^^ Even if Slingshot was gone? (Not saying it will be; I just didn't notice it on the blueprints.)