TombRaiderFTW

Thank you very much for uploading these! I haven't gotten a chance to listen to them yet, but I appreciate you taking the time to make the tracks available online.

(Thought I already posted in this thread... Apparently not, since 90% of its posts are from before I joined.) September 2008. That was a couple months after I joined KIExtreme, which, for me, is now a mausoleum of my most embarrassing posts ever. (I used the word "n00b," complete with both zeroes, so, so many times... So embarrassing, haha. I'm sure a couple posts of mine were SH0Xing--right, ahank? ) I will say this much for KIC: even though I was never around for PKIU, etc., which many of you seem to consider the glory days of the site, this place has more or less consistently remained one of the best park/coaster fansites around. It's had its rough moments, but it always seems to work out in the end. There aren't unreasonable forum rules, disrespect for the park and its rules, or an epidemic of know-it-all attitudes like several sites I could mention. Trust me, I've shopped around to see what's out there. (TL;DR: GROUP HUG.)

The second day is especially going to be incredible. Tobymac and City Harmonic know how to do a concert, though each do them their own way, in my experience.

See, the thing is: I don't think the length of the lines are necessarily an indication. Given the decently people capacity per train, consistently good operations, and the relatively short ride, I'd bet Flight Deck probably has one of the higher throughputs of any ride in the park. I'm not saying it's secretly got a huge ridership or something, but it's not often that you see a genuinely empty (as in 100% devoid of riders) station. Invertigo, Backlot Stunt Coaster, and Woodstock Whirlybirds almost always have lines, but are they actually popular, or do they just not move people very well? Same goes for Tombstone Terror-tory during Haunt. I'd say the fact that Flight Deck maintains any line at all many days says a lot. I do see your point about its age, though. It's 20 years old this year. Big Bad Wolf made it to 25 before Busch Gardens pulled the plug, though BBW appears to have had more drastic swinging. It wouldn't surprise me to see Flight Deck go in the next five to seven years or so. And I'll definitely miss it when it does!

I might be wrong, but I thought Jukebox Diner sold the same seasoned fries that Hanks used to.WHAAAAT.I am so disappointed in myself right now for not having eaten there in 2012.

beastfan26, I like the Outer Hanks appreciation post! It's a refreshing change from the usual batch of cliched/complainy/flamey off-season topics. It'd be cool to hear other members' thoughts on other attractions in a similar format. Outer Hanks is probably my favorite food location in the park. Personally, I liked it a little better (both themewise and tastewise) when it had seafood and those ridiculously tasty fries, but the burritos are still really good. It's one of the few places in the park that's charming without being too well known. I love sitting in the covered area to watch Viking Fury while eating lunch. It's also one of the few places I remember from when I was little that hasn't changed much over the years. (The only thing that comes to mind is the removal of the nearby RC boat things.)

To be fair, I feel like the fact that New Jersey has a fairly well-rounded mass transit system that goes straight to the park (NJ Transit) probably factors into that somewhere, though. It's how my group was able to stay at a hotel in Tipton Falls, NJ this past summer and take a day to travel to NYC and back. The fare to SFGAdv was decent, depending on where you left from. I know Cleveland has mass transit, but to my knowledge, it doesn't/didn't extend to Geauga Lake. It probably also helps Great Adventure to be the only huge corporate park in the state. Even at its prime, GL likely shared some sphere of influence with CP and Kennywood. (This conversation is now making me miss El Toro. I hope you're happy, Interpreter. )

Easy: Firehawk... Hard: ...At night... Expert: ...With fireworks in the background!

I've only seen 4 Cedar Fair kiddie areas: Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kings Dominion (in 2010), and Michigan's Adventure. (If you individually count each kiddie area at Cedar Point, then that number's higher. But you get my point.) Personally, I find KI's and KD's to be the best in terms of variety and quality, though fairly similar, with KI having a slight edge. Of course, my experience in Kings Dominion's was three years ago, and it's getting a huge addition this year. I'd wager that, if your son enjoys KI's Planet Snoopy, he'll probably like Kings Dominion's version, though I don't know how much variation there will be between the two with the new expansion. Your mileage may vary, and you may want to check out what they have and what they will be getting to make your own judgement. (From a coaster nerd perspective, you'll get airtime on their version of Woodstock Express in the last row, which is awesome, haha.) Cedar Point's kids' areas are good and have the benefit of being spread across the park, but it doesn't feel like there's much to them to me. (Then again, checking out the kiddie areas has never really been a focus of any Cedar Point trip for me.) The benefit with CP is that there also are kid-friendly rides mixed through the rest of the park, too (e.g. Ocean Motion, Jr. Gemini, maybe Wave Swinger, etc.), but the dedicated kid areas don't seem to have much more than several versions of the same sit-in-a-row-of-cars-that-travel-in-a-circle-and-honk-the-horn ride. That's not always the case, of course, but I feel like I might have gotten bored with the kid areas if I were a child participant. Again, it's what your son likes and what the park lists on its website; this is just my $0.02. Michigan's Adventure's, like much of the rest of that park, is a quintessential representation of Kinzel's Cedar Fair: a ton of bland concrete and not much else. Zach's Zoomer is a decent CCI remake of the Woodstock Express layout, but it's the only thing that stands out in my memory as noteworthy about the kiddie area. They have electric cars for the kids, but they're nothing exceptional compared to CP's versions. The Falling Star could be fun for the family, but I'm not sure if it's still there. They're getting a set of for 2013, which I vividly remember as one of my favorite rides when I was around your son's age, but I don't know if that justifies driving to The Middle of Nowhere, Michigan (a 7-hour drive for me.) I'd sooner drive to Stricker's Grove or Holiday World for them than revisit MA, because the grown-up rides there didn't do much for me, either.Whatever you decide, I hope you and your family have fun!

I'm not denying this fact, and if there's legitimate proof that Dan was being underhanded for his personal benefit, then I'm more inclined to agree with Lori's claim. I'm just also considering that 1.) there was a formula approved by all involved parties in the agreement for calculating the shares' worth, 2.) there is, to my understanding, nothing that says that the formula had to be used for the moment the agreement was signed, and 3.) the figures Dan used would have been the latest available data prior to Will's death and thus best represent the value of the property at the moment the agreement would come into effect. Nevertheless, I feel like this didn't need to ramp up to this level. If Dan feels the value is accurate for the December 31, 2009 data but Lori feels it's valid for the last share trade between the brothers, then it feels to me like it's probably Lori's say since the shares belonged to her husband. Still, even if Dan's rate takes off 17%, she'd still be walking away with such a huge sum of money that it feels unnecessary to argue an extra $6 million on the top. That's just where I stand.

I find the new details incredibly sad. I can see Lori's argument, as that is what they agreed to, but on the other hand, they're debating the difference between $26,886,014.39 (number of shares x $541.93) and $32,399,847.61 (# shares x $653.07). At what point does $5.5 million of personal gain (on top of enough money to buy a full-size B&M roller coaster) become the difference between regular business and "I hereby use my new-found power to declare you unfit to fill the lead position in your parents' own company because you're out to get me"? I dunno. I guess I've never been through whatever the Koch family may have been dealing with lately, but there isn't a price that would put my family on the back burner. Edited to add for clarity: I'm also disappointed in trying to stick a price not agreed upon to the seller. I don't think either side in this is exactly spotless.

^ That's a good point, and I do agree. Most other members of the Koch family seem to have their own businesses, careers, etc., which they'd obviously like to continue. That in turn means that the next in line would be Will's children, and I think they're a little young to step into the position of CEO, if I remember correctly. I'd rather see the family have someone they trust work as CEO than have the park pass into the hands of some third party. (Cue a Terp post about the next of Kinz working at Carowinds in 5, 4, 3, 2... )

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=57333 I'm a little surprised someone not with the last name of Koch is in the CEO's seat, but I agree that Matt's probably the best one for the job if Dan wants to return to his lawyering. The times I've seen him in the park, he's been just as enthusiastic and warm as the rest of the Koch family.

Holy cow, I love that picture. I want that as a poster on my wall. That's awesome.

I love Flight of Fear, but I love Kings Dominion's a smidge more. Ours is violent and abrupt, but theirs just kinda rolls through the inversions like it's a brand new ride. The MCBR doesn't even touch the train, and it flies through the second half with twice the grace our trimmed ride has. It's the same forces, etc., but theirs just seems to do it without the shakiness. That's not a critique of our ride, because the violence of our Flight of Fear is endearing, at least to me; it's just what it felt like in 2010. I really wonder why that is.

It used to be listed as such on Intamin's website, though they've apparently done away with that classification as of late. iSpeed at Mirabilandia was the only other coaster listed as a Blitz coaster, and it's now under LSM Launch Coaster.

And since it's been at least two days, we're due for a new challenge. Easy: Diamondback's splashdown Hard: Racer from Action Theater Expert: the food stand (can't remember the name) between Diamondback's train shed and BLSC's helix

IT'S NOT THE SAME! It is if you're Doc Brown with the DeLorean.

^ Or a car, so you can drive to Carowinds.

Eh, possibly. I'm just playing the devil's advocate for the sake of conversation. I really don't have an opinion on what trains the park uses on any ride so long as the ride runs well. I'm moreso suggesting that, if the park liked the trains enough when they were on SoB, I'm sure Gerstlauer would sell them the parts/services to fix whatever needs fixing. If there are any salvageable parts on the old trains, the park could then use them on the renovated ones (or sell them, if the park attempts to sell them.)

Wonder what they're going to do with them now that SoB's gone. From what I gather on other forums, there apparently was a Screamscape rumor around 2007 that KI was considering using them on Racer and/or Beast. If that was legitimate, I wonder if that's still under consideration. They've certainly got Gerstlauer trains to spare (3 Villain trains, 1 RWB train, and 2 SoB trains = 36 unused cars). An 8-car Gerstlauer train would have approximately the same capacity as one of Racer's current trains, and there would be enough cars to put two trains on either Racer track (and have cars to spare for parts.) Personally, I'm expecting KI to sell all trains to the highest bidder for parts. It's just an interesting thought. EDIT: One of the Screamscape quotes, courtesy an old thread on Coaster-net.com:

If you went to KI right now, you wouldn't find me, as I'm not there. (Sorry, had to be a jerk about it. Serious answer now.) Before 2012, you would have almost certainly found me in Rivertown. It's just where I ended up a lot of the time, particularly in 2008 (when I first started buying my own pass and rode The Beast a bajillion times) and 2011 (because The Crypt with the Inception score really grew on me.) Since then, it's really hard to say. I ride Adventure Express and Racer a lot more than before, but I also find myself looking in the stores on International Street a lot more than I ever used to. I still love KI as much as ever, but for different reasons, as the changing reasons change where I usually go when I'm there. Heck, I even made it to the waterpark for the first time in about eight years this season.

I am so, so sorry for the loss. Especially at Coasting for Kids, it was obvious how great a friendship The Racer crew had with one another. Both Jessica's family and her KI "family" are in my prayers.

Man, you know me and my crime rate-Cedar Point conspiracy theories...

Not really seeing where the comment bitterness comes from. It's not like the guy spends his day riding roller coasters. The same people making those comments would not say "oh no, I can't accept this paycheck when there are high school students out there making minimum" if they were in Ouimet's place.