thekidd33

Given our own experience with the somewhat false Bat logo/webpage before the Banshee announcement last year this could be a red herring...but... https://www.carowinds.com/Centurion as of this posting this is an active link.

I wonder if this may be headed to Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

I would imagine it is either good news (more parts available for the trains) or bad news (perhaps this model is getting too expensive to operate). Then again, maybe it has no correlation at all.

First of all, absolutely LOVE the topic!! It took way more thought then I was expecting before I could come up with ten. In a very particular order... 10. The Beastie. My first ever roller coaster. I took my first spin on The Beastie at the age of 5 1/2 in 1991. This is the ride that scared me out of ever riding a coaster (with one exception) again for 16 years. How I wish I would have given them another chance much much sooner. To this day I have not set foot on this ride again. (Though I have ridden the clone at Michigan's Adventure). It makes the list at number ten due to my family's enduring memory of my face when exiting the ride that is still talked about today. 9. The Monster. My favorite ride as a child. During our yearly extended family trips through the 90's I would hound every single relative I could to ride this with me throughout the day. Sadly, spinning rides and myself do not get along very well anymore but I will always remember those summer rides! 8. Phantom Theater. The beloved Phantom Theater is the first ride I think of to this day when someone mentions Kings Island. It may or may not be as great as I remember it being but for me, it was the Diamondback of its day. THE ride you went to Kings Island for. If I could bring back one ride, this would be it (and I actually like Boo Blasters). 7. Flight of Fear. This is the one exception to my 16 year coaster hiatus. My cousins talked me into waiting almost 4 hours its opening year by telling me that it wasn't a coaster. Well obviously that was blown by the time we entered the station. To this day I have no idea why or how they got me on the actual ride. I spent the next 90 seconds convinced I was a split second away from death. Fast forward 12 years and my first return to Kings Island since 2000. Upon riding again Flight of Fear became my favorite ride at Kings Island (for a little less than a year anyways). 6. Drop Tower. This is the only ride in any of the parks that I regularly visit (KI, CP, MA, HW, IB) that still makes me nervous every single time I ride. 5. The Beast. What's not to love about The Beast? I remember my parents going off to ride the mythical Beast on those family trips and seeing the paw prints on the pavement. When I took my first ride in 2008 I was blown away. The double helix is still one of my favorite elements on any ride. 4. White Water Canyon. Another nostalgia pick for me. So many great memories of riding with a full raft of family members and trying so hard to make sure someone else besides yourself got soaked. This is the ride I hope is around for me to ride with my future children. 3. Banshee. This year's new toy and the first coaster at Kings Island who's construction I got to follow as it happened. It is a great ride and a great addition to the park. To me Banshee is the manifestation of everything Ouimet are doing right at Cedar Fair and standa as a shining beacon for the future. 2. Days of Thunder. As a huge racing fan I was super excited to ride Days of Thunder. It did not disappoint! Those 5 minutes of 'racing' action were an adrenaline rush like I'd never experienced. Riding Days of Thunder is probably my first real clear Kings Island memory and one I will always cherish. 1. Diamondback. Diamondback is the reason my family returned in 2009 after visiting for the first time in 8 years in 2008. It is the ride that convinced me to get a season pass for the first time and the ride that has kept me a season pass holder since. It is a ride that I could have very well come up with if I sat down to design my perfect roller coaster.

^Yeah I suppose flipping over and almost drowning could be considered thrilling, among other things.

My personal favorites in no particular order... - Last row on Diamondback - 5-1 or 7-1 on Vortex (probably my second favorite drop in the park). - Last row on Corkscrew at CP - Last row on Wild Eagle

Story is on the front page of MSN.com now as well. http://news.msn.com/us/two-injured-after-cable-snaps-on-ohio-amusement-park-ride

Yeah I actually laughed out loud when I read that number for Firehawk. I wish it hit half that with regularity.

Now that I would watch.

I don't doubt that Mr. Hart has no intention of owning the park long term but here is my question...who on earth does he think is going to buy it? You can eliminate Disney, Universal, and the Busch/Sea World groups immediately. I can't see Cedar Fair or Six Flags buying new properties anytime soon. Hart made a public spectical of bashing the Koch family. So that leaves who exactly? Herschend? Some new operator? The Commonwealth of Kentucky?

Dan seems pretty committed to creating 'Holiday World South' it seems. Hopefully he can see solid growth going forward.

Have you been up to Cedar Point since they installed Gatekeeper? It's a huge ride that stands out against the rest of the coasters. Keep in mind that Thunderbird will only have 2 trains, which saved the Koch's a pretty penny as well... Not to mention, the trains looked shorter than the ones on Gatekeeper. I recall seeing only 5 or 6 rows in the animation. Either way, Thunderbird will be Fun, Fun, Fun... at least until daddy takes it away. Two trains with 5 rows each according to the website, so 20 riders per train.

Quick question for anyone who may be more in the know as far as costs are concerned. Thunderbird is a full 1100+ feet shorter than Banshee and yet comes in only $2 million less. Is the launch hardware that expensive?

And a much bigger risk. This. I was trying to think of another example of a park this size making a single attraction investment on this scale. It would seem that getting a proper ROI on a attraction of this magnitude would be difficult for a park like Holiday World. Admittedly I have no idea of their financial situation or what their year to year revenues look like but this seems like it could be a financial stretch. I just hope this is a "We have saved/planned for this for years" type of investment and not a "Here's hoping we have a 45% jump in attendance (obviously a bit facetious but you get my point) next year!" kind of thing. I love Holiday World to death and would love to see nothing more then for them to continue to grow at the clip they have the last 10-15 years. I would just feel a little more comfortable with the direction of the park if this was say a Vekoma (did I really just wish for a Vekoma? Yikes.) mine train or some other type of family friendly coaster as opposed to the thrill machine it appears to be. All that said...you better believe I will be getting my butt down to Holiday World a little earlier than normal next year.

^They have manufactured track for projects all over the world the past few years. There is speculation on other forums that the teal track that has been spotted outside CSF may be for HW. Most guesses have the white headed to Carowinds, the yellow to China, and the Orange and Red for Europe.

^You're missing out on a lot then!

^It may very well have to do with insurance. With a new park opening up I'm willing to bet that they were required to err on the side of caution more often then not.

It is really nice to see how much progress is being made on Rampage. With what feels like a large number of wooden coasters getting axed lately its nice to see one coming back to life!

Paula has stated on TPR that the last week of entries were written prior to the kickoff of the teaser campaign. Whether or not they have been using said entries this week, I do not know.

These issues highlight an arguably bigger problem for the park; its managenent's incredible lack of foresight. They had to know that every single little issue would be made into something bigger. One would of thought that employees would have been vigorously trained to handle situations like the ones that occurred and that management would have been aware of all local laws. They PR response so far has been poor at best and at the worst possible time. Kentucky Kingdom will only be the new toy in town for so long.

Edit: Double post.

The information in that article seems like it may be tough for Six Flags if this were to make it in front of a jury. Seatbelts provided but not installed, test seat provided but not used, warning light indicators missed and/or ignored...all of these would be pretty darning in the eyes of a jury. Particularly one not versed in the in and outs of roller coasters or amusement/theme park. I tend to believe from what I have read that this was the result of operator error and not any fault of the trains or ride itself.

I always enjoy reading your TRs! Thanks for sharing!

Congrats on the wedding! I just got married this past weekend myself so I know it can be a stressful time. I have found KIC to be the most respectful board by far among those I frequent. It feels much more like a community than just a random group of people.

While I don't disagree that it could be a large flat, what could they add that wouldn't be somewhat redundant? CP is pretty well covered in the large flat area.