violakat03

Wow, I got married close to Maggie Valley a little over two years ago and had no idea they had an abandoned amusement park! If they ever get that coaster working again, I'll have to make a stop there on my next trip through the area.

I know by law they are required to carry liability insurance to operate the rides ... I'm talking about all the other little stuff that would concern me ... like how good is the training the operators recieve (or how well do they pay attention), how carefully are they transported and set up... It just brings up a lot of questions that I'd rather not have about a company that operates something that could easily kill you with a little bit of neglect. If they neglect one area (in this case, the protection of their assets), what else are they neglecting?

... and now back to your regular programming. If CF randomly decided to redo an entire ride, I'd nominate Flight Deck. I really do believe it's the hidden gem among KI's coasters and with a little bit of love could be a star once more. I agree with whoever said to add a second, higher lift hill to it and run it through SOB's structure. That would make it exciting and unique, and since it's already a great ride (especially in the back of the train), it would push it into the "awesome" category for many. Right now it's a long, boring hike to a short ride. I was never impressed with the Top Gun theming, and as Flight Deck it's a complete joke, because other than that awful grey-on-grey-on-grey, there's nothing that says "Aircraft carrier" about it at all. Redesign it into something more suitable to the swinging trains and wooden terrain, though I can't think of anything right now because I'm finals-fried. My second nomination would be Son of Beast. The only reason I ever rode it was for the novelty of the loop. While I can understand the removal of the loop, even though it saddens me greatly, they could have taken the opportunity to redesign more than just one short section into a bunny hill. There is no airtime to speak off, just two giant helices, one that's unnecessarily violent and one that's painfully slow with the MCBR before where the loop was. I agree with the idea to make it an El Toro-type tracking to smooth it out. Why not take out that horrible first giant helix and make it more of an out-and-back with some of those Voyage-type 90 degree banking? SOB's on some prime real estate and could be turned into more of a terrain coaster with a little bit of effort. A removal of the helices and extending it out into the woods more would probably still keep it shorter than it's daddy but still in the top rankings for length. It really is a beautiful coaster to look at (I love seeing all that wood rising high above the north side of the park) and could have been amazing, but it was poorly executed, and CF I think missed an opportunity to correct that. Other changes I'd like to see would be FOF-type trains on Vortex (not those new Intamin ones, they look awful IMO), and a return of recaR.

That really frightens me. If they don't have insurance on their rides, what else do they not have...?

If you wander around in Barnes and Noble, you'll find several books. I've found a calendar and many books there and spent lots of drool-time.

Hey cool! Thanks! Yeah, I expect to pay for them, but hopefully they aren't as expensive as they are in Memphis ... I just never saw a reason to spend $40+ on a horse-drawn carriage ride when it isn't even snowing and romantic-Christmasy.

I didn't even hear about Winterfest until this summer ... if that gives you any idea. I may check out the Beach's festivities this winter. Ever since Fairborn stopped doing horsedrawn carriage rides, I've been sad. My husband and I have never gotten to do one in a snowy area..

Usually a buck or two more an hour than a peon. The higher you go up in the food chain, the higher the pay and bonuses start to become available.

Same system that Disney uses. You get a single card and the photographer scans the number into the system with your pictures. you can see them there or at home for a period of time. I still have my Disney photopass. If all my friends and I had been in the same car on Test Track, I'd have probably bought the photo. I thought the system was really cool, only one thing to keep track of and the ability to go get it later. KI has had the online system for many years, I have a picture with a big group of friends from the 2003 season that I got online. I'd love to see Cedar Fair start doing something like the photopass where you can add your on-ride photos as well. I know I'd have loved to have had our picture from front seat on Millennium Force but we didn't have the money at the time.

1. terpy answered the belt question -each ride requires 2 restraints now. and now to get back on topic It didn't happen to me, but a bunch of my friends and I took a summerly trip to KI in High School (and even into college) Hey, we lived closer to CP don't blame me 3 hours opposed to 1 1/2 lol but anyways, I can not for the life of me remember what ride, (FOF maybe? it was where your backs to the counter to look at the screens) but we got off to look at the photos and one of my very tall friends starts pointing and laughing hysterically and petting the tv and screaming "Boobies!!!" The poor girl in the car in front of us (seat infront of the guys) boob had popped out of her shirt and it was there for everyone to see until it updated. Needless to say the boys bought the economy pack of that ride photo... *sigh*... boys I'm surprised the photo people didn't catch it. One of my managers in merch had worked at Tomb Raider photos the year it opened, and he said they had to block a section of photos almost every single ride cycle because it took it while you were upside down and it never failed that at least one girl fell out of her top. Of course, not like he was complaining.

Before some of the paths were removed, it was in pretty much a wheel-and-spoke pattern, with the Eiffel Tower and International Street at the center. But yes, all of us had to look at the map to start with, but after the first season of working there, I haven't needed one since.

My husband and I had it happen on The Beast. Someone in the front of the train tried to spit on their friend behind them ... and missed.

No need to be embarrased about that. Everyone does that! The only problem is you will have two people call you a rooky if they see you...or would I...would I ever do something like that...nah. I never call people rookies for looking at park maps either. (Well...at least I don't say it to their faces.) Don't worry about the belt on FOF, as it's in a useless, illogical place to begin with IMO. They need to just ditch the belt to speed up the checking process. Backlot does fine without them...but they didn't ask me. The belt is there for at least two different reasons: a. by manufacturer's recommendation, to ensure the restraint is secured such that larger guests can be safely contained within the ride vehicle, b. at the insistence of the insurance companies, which require a secondary restraint in order to get the best rate. Back Lot Stunt Coaster, you might ask? Believe it or not, the door serves purpose two...or so I am told...and the ride has design changes such that a is also fulfilled (with apologies to Click and Clack). Then why did it run for so long with no belts? I don't know what year they were added because I wasn't there in 06 or 07, but in 05 they were still running belt-less.

I second this motion. I'm so sick of looking at nasty gum that people spit out on them every single time I ride it. Ew.

Shh! Don't say that too loud!! They might hear you and add them to BLSC too!!

While I wouldn't mind seeing Racer returned to original red white and blue (which I believe was before my time, as I don't remember this paint scheme) does anyone else want to see Flight Deck's track go back to dark red instead of the boring steel grey?

I remember seeing something about them, but can't remember if it was at SFKK or at another park I was looking up, but yeah. Those things do seem annoying and pointless.

Spitting off the Eiffel Tower (or off Drop Tower) can actually get them arrested. It's considered the same as dropping objects and is against state law.

I can't promise how Dollywood's work, but here's basically what the one at SFOG did. I walked up to the "Flash Pass" box at the entrance of the queue and touched the pass to a spot on the box. It saved that ride in it's memory and started it's internal timer based off whatever the current wait time was. Because we paid for the gold pass (which cut like 75% of the time off) we only waited a max of 15 minutes before it started beeping at us. Then the screen said "Goliath:Ride Time approx 5 minutes" so that you had time to run over to the line real quick. Then you showed the ride op at the flash pass entrance your pass so they knew it was your time. Then, depending on the ride, you either went up the exit and had your first pick of a seat, or you got in line where it was cut off before splitting out into the individual seat lines, so you had to wait 1 or 2 trains for your preferred seat.

Qbots rock! I discovered their greatness on day 2 at SFOG a couple years back. Managed to hit Georgia Scorcher, Goliath and Batman in an hour. And did I mention this was the year Goliath opened? I'd like to make it to Dollywood sometime. Haven't been to the Smokies since hubby and I got married in Cherokee NC in 06. We opted for SFOG instead of Dollywood during our honeymoon.

Pic I snapped from SOB that I mentioned a few posts back. Picture removed. The taking of pictures on rides and roller coasters at Kings Island is strictly prohibited. Cameras can and have been confiscated by the park for being used on rides, not to mention it poses a serious safety threat to other riders on the ride.

I worked there the year it was taken out and we were told in training that it was being sent to Terra Mitica (Paramount park in Spain). It was actually scrapped, not sold or sent anywhere, because TOGO went out of business and they could no longer get replacement parts for it. The trains are (or were, don't know what happened to them now) the only thing left of the ride, they were inside Flight of Fear's dome until this season.

LMAO!!!!!!! I used to work at a haunted trail and we did the Steak n Shake in bloody makeup thing too. Most of them are used to it by now.

I may go investigate the FC line myself next season, I've only seen the pictures of it. The monorail's still in existence, it's up at Jungle Jim's in Fairfield. The line for Flight Deck and Son of Beast goes right under the old monorail track - that random tunnel towards the beginning that's seemingly for no purpose used to have monorail track above it. I discovered the old parking lot tram cars too. They're in a field north of Son of Beast - very visible as you're coming up to the chain hill, and on the last bunny hill that faces that direction. I snapped a pic of them from the latter location but I haven't uploaded it.

You can see the footers for The Bat in The Vortex's basin-type area. The missing third row of seats from the Crypt is in the dome of Flight of Fear (I saw them when the lights got turned on for about 15 seconds while we were on the MCBR) but sadly, the King Cobra's trains are gone now, and the ride ops don't know what happened to them. I'm crossing my fingers for a sort of Kings Island museum like CP has and that they may show up again, that always was my favorite ride. I went to Americana when I was too small to ride the Screechin Eagle, wish I had gone back and conquered it when I was older, and now I'll probably never have the chance.