benred23

Wow... After Watching this Video, I fell in love all over again... PLEASE!!!! bring it Back!!

Wow Guys! This is awesome! Thanks for all the Info. Very Enlightening! Although I do have to ask, What is so hard about Firehawk? I would assume its all automated like all the other coasters and also, When it comes to Oldies like The Racer and The Beast, If memory serves me correctly, didnt the braking system for these coasters used to be Tires? Seems to me like I remember hearing the "Irrk" when the cars came to a stop.. I Could be mixing it up with The Screeching Eagle at the old Americana, but I thought it was The Racer and The Beast or maybe even both. Also, Kind of off topic, but since Im posting, Did The Beast used to be surrounded by water when it first opened? And if so, why was it removed and when?

Not Being privileged enough to have ever been a Ride operator, I have to wander what Is the Hardest ride, from a control standpoint, to operate in the park? I can assume that rides like the Scrambler and alot of the rollercoasters run on a program and all the Ride op has to do in Initiate it, but when it comes to rides like Monster with all the Levers that have to be Used and the preciseness of having to stop the cars on the right spot, which exactly is the Hardest one to operate? I may be way off on the whole "Program" Idea, But please everyone, Eliighten Me! I'm Very Curious!

IMHO, While I am dissapointed that KI is Opening late, I think It allows them to do a couple of things. It Allows them to make sure that All is good and ready for the opening of WindSeeker so it wont be delayed and not open when the park opens and , (Heres Hoping!) It Just might give them a lil extra time to maybe come to a conclusion on what to do with SOB. Now someone help me out on this, But if memory serves me correctly, I thought I remembered KI staying open until the 1st or 2nd weekend in November a few years.. I think with the Crazy Mild weather we had this past October, that would have been a good option for this year. Sure, Lower 50's may be a little Chilly, but when the suns out, and your moving around, its not that bad!

Im Proud to be Gay every day.. I think Im a overall Happy person. Think they'd let me Go and Hand out Gospel tracks gayly to all the "Happy" People there? I think that would be an Overall Gay opprutunity to share the Gospel or Jesus Christ.Sounds like a Gay Day to me

I cant comment on the 3D thing, But I did notice something a little odd last time I went there, which was last thursday... Seems to me that Spongebob is the last remaining Paramount owned attraction in the park.. Which would tell me that, in due time, It will most likely be outta there soon.. But, When I looked up at the sign, They had replaced it with the new Spongebob Logo and new Nick logo. Didnt think to see if it said 3d or not though. Kinda amazes me that they would go to all that trouble to change/repaint the entrance sign for a character ride that is not even their own..

Hey Yeah, Ya Know there really isnt one close to KI. It'd be a nice alternative to spending a stupid amount of money in the gift shops. And think about the marketing. "Kings Island, The Only AMusement park so massive, We put a Wal Mart in it. Kings Island, Always, the Fun and Only"

Right here HTCO, running for the door Hey, Is that the Old Tram Cars in the Upper left hand portion of this Picture?!

Just a Little Tidbit here, But when I got in line to enter the Eiffell Tower the other day, The phone box on the wall beside the elevator was open and all the old decals from Paramounts Kings Island were still there. And theres a Drink Shack over in Planet Snoopy that still has a sign of the old Fear the Four Refillable Cup with the Son of Beast Logo on it. Kinda Geeky I know, But interesting

Hey Grandsonofbeast,Thats the Point dude. If you would have rode this ride 3 or 4 years ago like most of us here did, then you'd realize exactly how bad it is now. If ya Like it now, Kudos, Im happy for ya bro. But just know that once upon a time, it was SO Much better..

if you ask me, Thats the only thing cool about it! I almost Hope that the wait time is 15 minutes just so I can stay in the air conditioning for a little bit

Totally Unrelated.. Well Kinda anyway. When you enter xbase, Why do they MAKE you buy a Locker to put your stuff in before you ride the rides in that area? Not to mention the fact that I bought the Locker, got in Line for Firehawk, It Shut down, we got outta line to get into Flight of Fear only to find that It too was shut down. Thus, KI Made 2 bucks off me for the stupid Locker rental and I didnt even ride a ride on Xbase// Couldnt they Just let the ops take the bags and such to a holding area the way they do on The Crypt?!

Totally correct me if Im wrong on this one. Im not a Roller Coaster Manufacturer Buff by any means. But Flight Deck was Made by Arrow Coasters (Which to my understanding, is now out of business.) Yet, It has never been down any time I have ever been to KI. Isnt it Kinda odd that a coaster whose Manufacturer is Out of business has a better operation and less down time than a ride whose parts should be easier to get? Just an opinion and like I said, correct me if Im wrong please..

Then you totally see my point dropzone99. Thats exactly what I am saying..

Just a casual observation here, We have spent alot of time at Kings Island this year. Much more than we have in recent years. I love it and I will still keep continuing to go back, But one thing that keeps bugging me, especially since Cedar Fair took over full operation of the park, is the amount of Downtime Ive seen on alot of the Major rides! Delirium has been down for nearly 3 weeks now, Firehawk shut down for about an hour in the middle of the day yesterday, Flight of Fear has Shut down. 1 side of The Racer was Shut down for all of April and Most of May, Drop Tower has been in and Out and Invertigo was shut down a few times! Now I know that these are big expensive machines that cost alot of money to maintain and are Being run in the Middle of summer in the Hot sun. But I honestly don't remember the downtime being as normal when the Park was run by Paramount. Am I the only one who has noticed this? Is Cedar Fair not Maintaining the Rides like they Should and cutting corners wherever they can? Or is it all my imagination.....

Hey GoodYellowCorn, I couldnt agree more.. me and my Wife rode the Crypt for the first time since it has been converted over from Tomb Rider the Ride and I just wanna say, I couldnt me more dissapointed. The Theming was so much better when it was TR. They had the big door that slide in place and it told a big story about the Ride, then you entered and There was some thrill and charm to it. Now they leave all the doors open, Replaced the buddah looking thing with the ridiculas looking Bat thing and in the front of the ride where all the theming behind the story was, theres just a big black wall. You can even see a Desk and table and ride op maintnance stuff off to the left on the floor. So Very Dissapointing.

My first Kiss was at Kings Island actually... The Girl ( Now My Wife's) boyfriend was having a training day at Kings Island and he asked me to tag along to keep his then girlfriend (Now My Wife) Company while he was in the park doing some training. Then the back seat entered the Picture and the rest as they say, is history... hehehehe!

This was one of the worst visits I have EVer had to KI. We went with my Grandfather who was retired Military and my Mother in law, both whom havent been to the Park in 20 years. We got there right about 5. Right about 6 the fountains shut off and I thought that was kinda weird. We went over to catch the 6:00 snoopy rocks on ice show and they waited till right at 6 after everyone had lined up to tell them there would be a show due to the power outage. So we made our way over to the Sultry festhaus where they said the way too much tv show would go on on schedule at 6:30. We sat there in the heat until 6:45 when they announced there would be no show. Made our way over to coney mall where most of all the rides were operating.Half of snoopys starlight spectacular was illuminated with no music or anything, and the "Twice as big as last year" Fireworks they had planned went on for 15 minutes with no music or anything. A Very sad showing. All International street shops were dark which I can understand, but here was the kicker for me. The Restrooms were all closed!!! Cedar Fair handled this Horribly. How on a 90 degree day are you going to close most all food service locations and restrooms?! The guy told me the only other restroom in the park that was open was over by Racer. And There was no way i was walkin over there because I could only imagine the line! Now, Im a very understanding guy and I realize that things happen. When you have a park of that size and magnitude, stuff can go wrong, but Its all in how you handle it and IMO, It was handled. quite frankly, Like crap! KI Lost alot of potential future guests on the 4th. But then again, thats just my view..

Hey Cormaster, As I said in another post, I dont think its gonna be knocked down. Im just tryin to figure out why they are letting it sit there with no referance to it anywhere?! I was on Eiffell tower the other day and some girl asked what ride is that?! The Op said Thats Son of Beast. And the girl asked if the line was long and they guy said it was closed this year. The girl asked why and the op said he wasnt sure but there are "Plans in place" for it, but there not informing any of the ride operators or anyone that would let the info leak out. Sounds like they have a plan in place, now for us, the consumer, time to once again, Wait and see.. SOB Forever! Andy

We went Yesterday, but not the actual park. Went to Boomerang Bay for the day. Crowds were generally Light for the first part of the day 11-2. Then after that it seemed like the floodgates opened. Could hardly walk in the place by 5 when we decided to leave! My Girls had to wait 45 minutes for the little 20 second Boat slide ride in one of the kiddie areas of the park. Crazy. Overall, a Fun day though

We actually went on Friday Night And saw the "preview Show" If you will. All the KI Big Wigs were hanging around checking it out. I Asked them if this was a preview and they said yeah, just makin sure all the bugs are worked out. I thought they did a Wonderful Job on it though. Lights goin up the Eiffel Tower and everything. All the peanuts characters dancing around with the kids and stuff, very fun!

I really think they are just being cautious. Maybe the park will suprise all of us with Son of Beast. As I said a while back when I started this thread, I Believe (Or Maybe Hope is the better word), That Cedar Fair has a Plan for this Ride. They are not just going to let that big a attraction just sit there and Rot and do Nothing with it. Its amazing that SOB Is one of the Largest, (If not THE Largest) Visible Atrractions in the park and theres absolutly no referance to it whatsoever! I snooped around the park to see if I could see a referance to it ANYWHERE, and all I saw was an Old Sign for the 32 oz. refillable Cup that Had fear the Four with the Son of Beast Logo on it. That was it. I was on top of the Eiffel Tower and overheard at least 5 people ask, "What ride is that?!" But back to my main point, My Thinking is if They were going to demolish it, they would have done it in the offseason so that it wouldnt be visible to the public and creating talk and rumors. I feel that towards the end of this operating year, you'll see a big sign hung from it that says something to the effect of , "Better, Badder, Meaner, Son of Beast 2011" Of something to that effect. Maybe its just wishful thinking, or maybe, just maybe, Theres already a plan in Place...... Heres Hopin..

well said goodyellowcorn..

I thought the same thing Gatorhead. But Looking across the old Americana Parking lot, Most of the new ride are already halfway assembled and the land around it is starting to take shape. So, Although Ill believe the Leveling of Americana when I see it, I ALready see the Rides going up in the Fantasy Farm Area..