TombRaiderFTW

In no particular order: The Beast's (and Son of Beast's, and Firehawk's, and Diamondback's) lift hills The sound of both Racer trains running over the final anti-rollbacks and hitting the final brakes Various games employees spieling over their mics (which seems like it'd be a common theme park sound, but I've never noticed it anywhere else. Then again, I haven't been anywhere else nearly as much as KI, so maybe I've been too excited everywhere else to notice it.) Vortex's lift hill clanky noise The train whistle on Adventure Express, as well as the thunkthunk noise of its wheels running over the transfer track gap The screech of The Crypt's resistors* The preshow ambiance music of Tomb Raider: The Ride** The screams on Viking Fury Invertigo's rrrrrrrrrrrng-CHUNK when the train is released from the first lift Backlot Stunt Coaster's explosion The train whistle on KI&MVRR *I specifically name The Crypt and not Tomb Raider because I never noticed it when TR:TR was around. **The first time I ever rode TR:TR, there was some breakdown that resulted in our group being stuck in the preshow room for an hour and a half with the music constantly running. It was unanimous afterward that it had nonetheless been entirely worth the wait.

^^^ ...Because 9 times out of 10 it's more reliable to get information from the horse's mouth than to get it secondhand? (Ironically, this is the rare exception. The KI website doesn't have Thunder Alley listed as closed, so it might not have had Xtreme Skyflyer listed as closed, either, if it was. Still, TheCrypt's point is valid.)

Maybe Jeff was recently hired by Dippin' Dots!

I love your photos! Very fun, and very interesting. The one of Corkscrew at the beginning of part 4, in particular, is awesome. Can't wait to read more!

^ Outside of the fact that she (was? is?) a nun, I've got nothing.

^ Fair enough. It's just weird for me since I still very much feel like a teenager or kid in many ways. On the other hand, someone sincerely asked me this time last year if I had kids or was married. That one still blows my mind. (I know some people are married and/or have kids at my age, but it's surreal hearing it for the first time. It's probably a fraction of how people feel when they first get asked about senior discounts...)

Happy birthday to me in 3 years! (I'll be in my mid-20's... That baffles me.)

^ That sounds wonderful! I think I'll show up on that exact date and ride it. I'll probably buy a snazzy First Rider t-shirt that will later be frequently confused with some apparent Air Force connotation. Something about being an eagle instead of a chicken...

Cue the impending GoodYellowKoRn182 post in 5, 4, 3, 2... (I'd do it myself, but I don't have enough time right now to type it all out!)

They've said an announcement is coming for a few weeks now on Facebook when people have asked. As far as what it is... I've got nothing. I'm doubtful it will be a coaster, based on the way that planning for it seems to have fallen by the wayside behind Bluegrass Boardwalk and Happy Halloween Weekends. Outside of that... Who knows? On the note of HHW: I've said it elsewhere on here, but that's a nice little event. I encourage everyone here (especially those with kids) to check it out if you get the chance. It's small and doesn't take over the whole park atmosphere the way Halloween Haunt does at KI, but it's charming without feeling cheesy. The touches they add do bring something unique to the park (especially the corn maze and various Halloween decorations around the park, though the 3D "haunted" house is also cool.)

^ Just pointing this out: new roller coaster pieces tend to have some value on places like eBay. A Dare Devil Dive (SFoG) wheel went for something like $150 last winter on there. I'm willing to bet old roller coaster pieces do, too.

This is bad... Your photos have made me miss the regular season already. This doesn't bode well for the o**-s*****! Your photos are wonderful. I don't know why, but this one in particular is my favorite:

^^^ that drive is similar to mine to CP, but it's the two-lane roads that make me crazy, not the actual drive. Same here. 3.5 hours to CP from my house, but the length isn't the issue for me. It's the two-lane roads and navigating through town after town on Route 4 that get to me. FINALLY. Someone understands. I will always and forever passionately loathe Route 4. You're never going fast enough for the other drivers, and you will see absolutely nothing for the entire 3 hours you're on it. (Most exciting thing: passing the Magnetic Springs, OH sign when they're advertising the Spring Water Festival.) It feels two hours longer than the 4 hours it takes to drive to Holiday World just because it sucks so much.

For actually tasty food, perhaps?

About 1-1.5 hours. As much as I'd like to get there faster, I'd like much more not to get pulled over in Xenia, Waynesville, or Lebanon.

On the record: they don't at Holiday World, or at least not today. Consistent walk-ons or 1-2 train waits on the coasters despite one-train operations parkwide; longest wait was 10 minutes for the corn mazes and 3D walkthrough. Great to visit as a guest, but I hope it picks up for the park's sake. It's definitely a charming little event that I'd love to see take off.

I bought it online, so technically, I suppose, there was nothing Six Flags could have done to avoid that. (It's not like they could have updated the website beforehand to say, "Hey! Probably shouldn't buy a pass today, as we're going to close the park in an hour. Thanks, and have a Six Flags day!") And no, I didn't. Part of the closure announcement included a means of getting a pass refunded, which included mailing all evidence of purchase to Texas. That was the last I heard of the $40-$50 I spent on a pass. On the plus side, I now jokingly threaten to shut down parks my friends are interested in visiting by purchasing a pass.

Bad luck at Kings Island: I rode Son of Beast. Elsewhere: Once upon a time, I bought a Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom season pass with the intention of visiting regularly, given the park's close proximity to Holiday World (for which I'd already purchased a season pass.) An hour after purchasing that pass on February 4, 2010, Six Flags announced Kentucky Kingdom's closure. I never got to visit.

Am I the only one that's been impressed by how quickly the ride is coming down? Not meaning to come down on you, SonofBaconador. I just had this idea that this thing wouldn't totally be down till just before opening day 2013, but they're well on their way to have it down before New Years'. Is it just me, or is a page not a page in this thread until someone's joked about burning the ride down and someone's swooped in with a "the fumes would kill you" retort? (Not coming down on you, either, TheCrypt. Heck, I'm probably the pot calling the kettle black. I'm just saying!)

In case anyone else is having trouble understanding where that video was taken, I'm pretty sure it's been horizontally flipped. On that note: wow, that's impressive to watch.

Of the ones I've been to: 1. Kings Dominion 2. Kings Island, Cedar Point, Michigan's Adventure (tie)

When I was young, Vortex was the "big" ride that officially made you a tough guy if you rode it. Because of that, I still have a nostalgic appreciation for the ride. As a rider now, it's okay. Not the worst Arrow looper I've been on, but I don't think I've ever found myself craving a ride on it. Several of my friends don't care for it, which means I usually only ride it when I'm at the park by myself or if I'm there with someone who's never been to KI before. There are many things to like about it, but I'm just not very excited about many of them, especially if I'm not sitting in one of the last three cars. That being said, Vortex's corkscrews are one of my favorite coaster elements, and the turn before the MCBR always surprises me with how intense it is. When it leaves Kings Island when its time comes, the place will definitely lose something for me.

^ For the sake of fairness: Son of Beast was inspected all the time, too. In the ride experience? Nah, not really. It would just be a nice touch.

See, posts like this are what's cool about the park interacting on these forums. Don's got a ton of info, especially about The Racer. As always, thank you for sharing! Makes sense about why they'd add protection for the skids... ...but I gotta agree with this. I'd imagine there are liability concerns with people on the brake run throwing something at the people crossing beneath, but it would be nice to have an open-air brake run instead of the walls now that the skid brakes are gone. Then again, Beast has the same possibilities on its brake run, and that seems to work out mostly well. Out of curiosity, Don--happen to know when the skid brakes were removed? Was it at the same time as Beast?

^ The turn after the first drop, as well as where the mid-course brake run once stood.