thekidd33

^You are not.

It was more like a soft, soft opening. According to reports they were inviting small groups of people in the park to ride for one lap. It was never actually open for people to ride as they pleased.

^Smart girl.

Most likely it is roller coaster track.

Also, most of the Detroit area schools are still in session into early June if I remember correctly.

FWIW, Maverick is currently operating with riders, per the CP webcams.

There is a picture of him from one of the KIC get togethers from last year (?) floating around the site somewhere I believe.

Despite what appears to be snow on the CP webcams, Valravn's line is spilling out of the queue. It looks like they have quite the hit on their hands.

I have zero knowledge of Tron but that looks absolutely incredible.

From the webcams it looks like a pretty good Saturday to be there.

^That it takes 4.5 hours to get through.

Worlds of Fun has survey markers and a teaser wall. They are scheduled to get two of the European flat rides next year but there seems to be some belief that there may be more than just that coming. Apparently there are survey markers by Mean Streak at Cedar Point. There are also apparently markers out and around Great Canadian Minebuster up at Canada's Wonderland as well. Carowinds has survey markers where their five new flat rides are going next year.

Per the CP webcams the line for Valravn is currently all the way back to the northern Skyride station.

The reviews so far seem to be pretty good! If nothing else, it certainly looks impressive!

There's probably a certain number of articles you can read per week/month for free before hitting said paywall.

I live in a northern suburb of Indy and I too have yet to see any form of advertising for the Kingdom. Competition is great for the consumer, no doubt about that. I'd love to see a full scale tri-state 'attraction war' continue for years to come. It would seem unlikely though that the other two parks could match KI attraction for attraction given what we know of their current financial situations.

^And that's certainly not what I was suggesting. Obviously capital improvements will need to be made year over year. I was saying that KI doesn't need a another $20+ million coaster to compete with either KK or HW in their current iterations. ^^That certainly may be true, but the population in what the Census Bureau deems Southern Indiana is less than the Indy metro area alone (1.3 million to just over 2 million). Not to say that 1.3 million potential customers is in any way a small number. However these are largely rural, poorer areas (I realize not all of southern IN falls into this category) though with fewer people that can afford things like amusement park trips.

KI doesn't have to respond to KK or HW. Quite frankly, nothing short of "Disney's Cincinnati Adventure" would be something KI has to respond to. Under its current ownership, Kentucky Kingdom will never be a viable threat to Kings Island. Holiday World, at one time, was headed down the path of being a genuine threat to to consistently poach visitors from Indy and Louisville. Now... Cedar Fair may have decided that the best use of a sizeable chunck of their CapEx budget is to add a large scale attraction to KI, but to act like if the park doesn't get a Giga/RMC/GCI/actual live dinosaurs/etc. means that everyone in the tri-state area looking to visit an amusement park is suddenly going to head for Louisville or Santa Claus is wrong. Speaking strictly of the Indianapolis market, Kings Island is THE established amusement park option. While Holiday World has (had?) definitely gained a foothold in the area, many people still see it as a water park. To many locals here Kentucky Kingdom is "that place that used to have the Terminator ride." (An actual quote from a co-worker.) TL:DR - Kings Island is the established player in the market. Nothing that KK or HW could do (for the forseeable future) would be enough to shift that balance.

As someone who cannot handle many flat rides without serious motion sickness, The Crypt was surprisingly tolerable. I never rode it as Tomb Raider though.

I haven't been to the brew festival before. Will crowds be any bigger this Friday than a typical Friday in May?

^That's awesome to hear! Can't wait to get down there and ride it.

Vortex is the only coaster I've encountered so far that absolutely has to be ridden in a certain seat. Are some better in certain seats? Sure. Despite what Terp will tell you, Maverick is still Maverick even when not in the front. Voyage is a great ride (again, sorry Terp!) in any seat. But Vortex, well, Vortex demands 5-1. It is just a completely different ride there as opposed to any other row. Carry on...

I'm having a hard time seeing 3 coaster projects in one year. KI is, by all appearances, getting some type of large coaster, KD is redoing Hurler, a third would be a (welcome) deviation from previous cap ex trends.

Which is sad because, more than Voyage, or Wildabeest, or Raven before them, seeing not just Pat but an entire staff of people who genuinely wanted you to enjoy your day was the best part of Holiday World.

^This. The biggest difference in HW the past few years is the slow creep towards a much more 'corporate park' feel and less of that family run, 'we are so glad you chose to spend your day with us' atmosphere that existed before. That being said the park has grown and some things may be inevitable changes that come with that but there has been, IMO, a noticeable change in atmosphere at HW that is not for the better.