jcgoble3

Hank's burrito, with rice, chicken, black beans, lettuce, cheese, and a little bit of guacamole is my favorite. I've also developed a taste for the orange chicken at Panda Express this year, despite the fact that I generally don't like Chinese food. I may get some cheese coneys or a 3-way at I-Street Skyline occasionally, though like Terpy I would vastly prefer Gold Star. Two scoops of cookies and cream ice cream in a dish from Graeter's is a common stop for me on my way out when I've stayed until closing on a hot summer night. Sometimes on a hot afternoon, I'll grab a chocolate milkshake from the ice cream stand on the back side of Juke Box Diner. LaRosa's is typically avoided unless I'm with a group that wants to eat there. I'd like to try the ribs at the Reds Grille, but I can't eat a full rack, so I would need someone else to split them with, and I'm usually by myself.

Do they charge less for forgoing them? Menu board prices there are for "combos" of pizza and breadsticks. I believe you can buy the 2 slices of pizza separately. Though I've never been in the Rivertown LaRosa's, only the one in the Festhaus.

Looking at the webcams, there seems to be plenty of people in the wave pool despite the temperatures.

Screamscape is sometimes used as a source on Wikipedia, but it is treated with extreme caution, and is generally only used as a last resort when no other source can be found. I'll look into it if the eventual Knott's news article doesn't mention the others.

2 or 3 years ago I put velcro on the pockets of a couple pairs of shorts (now dubbed my "park shorts") and I have never had a problem with losing anything out of them. Individual results may vary, and past performance is not a guarantee of future results. That's up to you. I personally don't trust velcro.

Ah, now it makes sense! Thank you for the info and for the pictures!

Here's a working link: Haile Foundation Donates $5 Million to Create "Carol Ann's Carousel" (The apostrophe was interfering with the BBCode markup, being treated as a single quotation mark. The solution in to enclose the quote in double quotation marks.)

Out of curiosity, where was this photo taken from? I'm racking my brain trying to figure out where. The only thing I can think of in that direction is Great Wolf Lodge, but it isn't anywhere near tall enough to get this birds-eye perspective.

I think "spelling" was meant to be spelled with a different spelling at the beginning of your spiel.

My 2003 Kia Optima gets about 21 mpg city and 32 mpg highway.

Don't quote me on this, but I'm not even sure there's a stand that sells corn dogs anywhere in the park. I might be (and for your son's sake, I hope I am) wrong on that. (EDIT: See kblanken's post immediately below this one.) I'm 5'6", and the bottom of my outstretched arms are right at 48" off the ground. I have slightly eccentric proportions (particularly short legs), so your son might be able to make 48". There is a height measurement station just inside the gate to the left, just to the left of the Fast Lane sales booth. Get him measured there as soon as you enter the park; they will give him a wristband indicating his height so that he doesn't have to be measured at every ride. If he's just barely under 48" (or another mark), remember to tell him to stand up straight, knees locked, and head up for maximum height. I've heard that taking a deep breath and holding it helps also. Have fun!

Thank you. Same thing applies. You think that much effort is dumb (and that's your right to think that), while I see it as amusement, which is the point of a hobby.

The video would not be considered reliable because anybody can put anything on YouTube, and video editing technology is so sophisticated these days that those videos might be highly modified and few people could tell that it was fake. There is a bot that automatically undoes any addition of YouTube links by new or unregistered users for that reason. The park's Twitter could theoretically be used (and there has already been a tweet from Don about it a few weeks ago when it first opened), but that is a primary source, not a secondary source, and the latter is preferred in encyclopedias such as Wikipedia. As such, it would be a last resort option. Right now, my guess is that unlike the others, the one at Knott's will generate a newspaper article or two when it reopens, because it was the only one forced to shut down by state inspectors. When that occurs, it is likely, if the newspaper does its homework, that the article will mention that the others have already reopened, and we can then use that as a source. Only if we are unable to get that would it then be appropriate to consider using primary sources like Twitter. It's a hobby, and every hobby has someone who thinks it's dumb. I'm sure you're not the only one that thinks that way about Wikipedia.

Removing it completely is a possibility. I'll bring it up on the talk page. As for "ignore all rules", that is not carte blanche, requires a very strong justification to get away with it, and is virtually unjustifiable when dealing with the core content policies, so probably isn't appropriate here.

WHIO-TV updated their article with a statement from Don, and in the process they removed the information about the 911 call.

See this core content policy. In short, using your own knowledge constitutes "original research", which is not allowed. Wikipedia only works with facts from reliable published sources. That's the key: the information must be from a published source. If the source is not published, then it is unverifiable and cannot be used. Which is why the article now displays a banner at the top warning readers that it contains inaccurate outdated information. While we can't change the information until we get an acceptable source, we can at least slap a maintenance tag on the article warning readers. And really, everything on Wikipedia should be taken with a grain of salt anyway.

I could care less what the color of the ride is as long as it's a good ride. If you could care less, then you do care some. jcgoble3, beating Terpy to the punch

I have no problem with my fanny pack on Firehawk. Just move it to the side of your body and it should be fine as long as you make sure that the zippers are closed. As for water rides, rather than buying a locker, bring a couple of quart-size Ziploc bags and seal your stuff inside them before getting wet. The bags will keep your stuff dry, provided that you use the type of bag where you push the two sides together manually to seal it. I recommend against using the bags that have a zipper that you simply slide back and forth to open and close, as they do not always have a watertight seal.

It was posted online on their website at 2:40 pm and the link was then posted on their Facebook page. As far as I can tell, it did not air on the evening news, as no video has been added to the page yet (I did not actually watch the news as I was eating at Subway during that time). Not everything that WHIO posts on their website makes it to TV.

I'm pretty sure that gum is allowed in most places, though the Xtreme Skyflyer operators may require you to spit it out before riding that attraction. As for what to bring, I recommend packing as light as possible. Only the essentials should be brought in; cash or a credit card and a car key is all that you absolutely need (plus your season pass if you have one). Cell phones probably should only be brought in if you truly need it for communication with your group or expect to take pictures with it, otherwise it can be left in the car out of sight. Sunscreen is best applied in the parking lot and left in the car rather than carrying it around all day; you can get your hand stamped for re-entry when you go back out later in the day to reapply sunscreen. Generally, there's rarely a reason to bring in more stuff than can fit in the pockets of a pair of cargo shorts or in a fanny pack; if you're carrying a backpack, you're carrying too much stuff (not to mention that you'll be forced to pay $2 for a locker if you want to ride Firehawk, as bags and backpacks are not allowed in line and cannot be left in the station). Extra stuff can and should be left in the car. What you do bring in should be properly secured; this does not mean simply sticking it in an ordinary pocket, as some rides, most notably Diamondback, are notorious for causing stuff to fly out of such pockets. You need either cargo shorts with zippered pockets (velcro is not secure enough) or a fanny pack to properly secure your stuff and prevent losing it on the rides. If someone else is driving the group, talk to them and see if he/she can arrange for stuff to be left in the car/van and for trips back out to get sunscreen. The less you have to carry, the better. If you have to carry extra stuff like sunscreen inside the park, buy a small travel/sample size of sunscreen that will fit in a fanny pack so that you don't need a backpack. Welcome to KIC!

Well, the free refills day of purchase/$.99 refills thereafter are advertised on the menu boards in both Hank's and Juke Box Diner (the two Freestyle locations for this year), so I assume they are included this year. The only difference is that the cup itself costs an extra dollar at the Freestyle locations, at least as of the last time I was there.

The BLSC article has not undergone any of Wikipedia's quality control review processes, and as such is not fully compliant with all policies; in particular, it needs more sources. WindSeeker, on the other hand, is in better shape, having passed a review and been listed as a Good Article (as designated by the green circle with the plus sign in the upper right corner of the article), and so it is held to a higher standard than the BLSC article.

...and WHIO-TV in Dayton reports on it, apparently because one of the riders called 911 from the ride because he/she was having a panic attack. http://www.whiotv.com/news/news/local/kings-island-roller-coaster-riders-get-stuck/nXyK5/ Doesn't the news have anything better to report? Or is today just a really slow news day?

I'm the one who added the hidden comments into the WindSeeker article. For those of you unfamiliar with Wikipedia, please read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:V and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:RS, as well as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:OR in detail. Basically, in accordance with Wikipedia policy, we have to have a published source that is "reliable", meaning one with editorial oversight and a reputation for fact-checking, such as a newspaper, and that is also "independent", meaning that it is not affiliated with the subject and reports on the subject from an "arm's length". Sources that are not independent are only allowed in certain, limited circumstances, and original research (using your own knowledge) is never allowed. Currently, no acceptable sources exist, and as the first policy I linked to explains at the very top, "Even if you're sure something is true, it must be verifiable before you can add it." This was once expressed on the policy page as "the threshold for inclusion is verifiability, not truth." This means that we cannot update the article to list the WindSeekers as operating, even though we know that they are, until we can verify that with a reliable, independent source. Probably sounds stupid to you, but that's the way Wikipedia works.

The camera is in the same spot as before. You can see the same amount of the park with this view as you could before. I think he means that the camera has been angled down and to the left, so you get more park and less woods/sky in the picture. Previously, as the WindSeeker cam, it showed the entire WS tower. That is no longer the case. EDIT: Also, the Front Gate cam is crooked.