BHD63

I’ll give my break down. I have been coming for years and have loved this ride. My kids always enjoy seeing the engine and the buildings. It is a shame they never had a chance to see it the way it was in its hay-day. Trains modeled after late 1800's need a little late 1800's to surround it dont ya think? See below: A. Regarding a few rides already this year, I am slightly disturbed at the conductors lack of attention. They almost looked over staffed one visit. Yes everyone seems to have the friendly "I have to wave or I will get punished" look, kids still think its genuine, but several times groups of conductors simply stood around when a family needed help either getting out of the gates, needed strollers or wagons in the car or seem to just ignore everything around them; or to the extreme; we waited so long in the station because the conductors stood and talked to people or other crew members that the rest of the crew were giving thumbs up to their team while people got off and left. We spent so much time in the station at one point that people really got off and walked away. It seems in years past the crew was more enthusiastic and punctual. There is a real lazy feeling I get when I ride with my family. B. Speaking on the late 1800's theme, the buildings in place are decent, but why can't they be upkept a little more? I remember lights being around the buildings, or signs being read-able, or even the fort had the nice name just a few years ago. Now everything is overgrown in the fort, its not even a fort at this point but more like a bird sanctuary. I don't see why someone can't spend a days work and trim up the fort brush that is terribly making an attack on it. With the talk of the park being amusement instead of theme, there is no reason the current areas left cannot be kept up. Lighting is another thing, at night I remember various great lighting on the hotel and along the General Store being lit up. Did some bulbs burn out or what? So replace them! I just hope they stick with the wild west and keep it around. Cedar Point has a decent display, but the crazy skeletons kinda throws it off balance. Works great up north, just not feeling it at Kings Island. I did notice the sign being changed and that is really nice that someone back there seems to care and realizes that the town has some sort of nostalgic quality. You would think with all the creative services the park has they would be able to re-vamp the signs at a minimum. These simple little moves would DRASTICALLY improve the experience for the kids. I don't see how 5-10 wooden re-painted or re-done signs would affect CF's wallet. Whatever is left of what you want to call a "town" still gives a warm feeling to my kids. And I love to see them smile when the engineer slows down to let their imaginations flow when they go bye. If CF doesn't want to spend any more money on themeing, then thicken up the woods again. Even around Diamondback there is so much land that trees could be put in, and along the track many more areas for trees can be started. There just is not a feeling of being lost in the woods that once filled America feel. Don't even get me started on why the Jail is gone. It was a simple wood fake-front structure. And its gone? SIMPLY= Something needs to be done to upkeep the buildings before they crush. There are officially TWO buildings left, a fort with a forest inside instead of out, and a hotel. The rest are actually your movie set style wood front buildings. Fix them up before they are gone. C. Cedar Fair is a big pro-train company as visible with Cedar Point. CP owns FIVE stream locomotives for ONE park railroad. I realize one is under the weather leaving four, but still. That’s quite a roster. I am OVERLY impressed that they are running two trains. This has been a first that I can remember in quite a while. It is particularly neat when the trains are passing that the engineers play with the whistle between each other. We have went swimming only once, but it is really nice to not have to wait long to get back to the main park. It used to take almost 15 minutes. Now that has been cut nearly in half. D. The only thing left is some of the unclean-liness. A lot of this has to do with the actual riders, and not workers. I know CF has made a big effort at being clean and keeping trash picked up, but somehow sometimes the track seems to be littered with no attention paid to it. How hard would it be to send a conductor around to clean up twice a day? Once around the middle of the day and another towards the mid evening-end. I just wish the patrons would enjoy and treat the ride with a little more respect. The graffiti in the coaches I haven’t much noticed, but I have noticed the engines seem to be having a lot of work done in the cab. I have taken my kids up for both engines and they seem to have been getting new valves/piping put in around different parts of the cab. The cab’s used to be upkept for viewing and pictures, and were painted very neatly. There is a lot of plain pipe showing now or fresh bolts which seem to be missing the nice neat work area that used to be. Overall this ride as always is still one of the top favorites. It’s not every where you can go take a ride on a real live steam train these days. My kids love it when the engineer blows the whistle LOUD! There is nothing like a bell and whistle with some stack talk in the woods!