jdawg1998

59 days seems like such a long time away...especially with all of this snow getting in the way. At least I can still see KI from my house to remind me it's awaiting me this summer...(unashamed brag).

This looks really interesting...and scary. I really want to do this. Are the rooms going to be themed pretty well?

Boy, I haven't been on here much lately. I just recently joined the GOCC and soon I'll be signing up for CoasterStock! Can May get here sooner, please?!

For Thanksgiving break, our family visited Asheville, NC. I was skeptical about the trip. The city is very artsy and hipster-like, something we definitely aren't. Passing by the Dollywood and Gatlinburg billboards definitely didn't help, as I was irking to visit the "fun" part of the mountains. Asheville is very neat though. The largest house in the country, the Biltmore Estate, is amazing. It has 250 rooms and was built by a young man, George Vanderbilt, who inherited his father's railroad tycoon money. We took the tour of the house and it was very intriguing to see how life was like in the 1890s. George and his wife's bedrooms were separated from each other because it was inappropriate back then to be sleeping in the same bed (at least for the wealthy)! Vanderbilt even had an indoor pool (very unusual, because apparently many people in the 19th century didn't know how to swim), a bowling alley, and a bachelor's room that had billiards and hidden doors to his bedroom. It doesn't sound too exciting on here, but I highly recommend checking it out. The area also has a winery, many restaurants, and a shopping center. On Wednesday night, Dollywood commercials were playing over and over again on the TV. I said to my mom, "we should go to Dollywood." I had said this several times already, mainly as a joke, but she took this seriously; we told my dad, and it was set to visit Dollywood on Saturday! Saturday, we went to the Hampton Inn on Teaster Lane (very nice, I recommend). We had decided to buy season passes to the park. Pigeon Forge is only five hours from Cincinnati, the price for a pass is only $30 extra, and my dad (thanks Terpy for informing me of this) bought a Gold pass for himself so we now get free parking and 20% off food and merchandise. Getting past all this boring stuff, now I will talk about Dollywood! Walking into the park, I was immediately reminded of Magic Kingdom. To me, the theming highly resembled it. I was astounded by all the detail. I felt completely immersed in the place. Highlights: My sister, who I thought was 48", apparently isn't. We waited in line for Mystery Mine after measuring her at the thingy (whatever it's called) and it hit her head; but the one at the top, it didn't. So she's still 47"...frown face. Firechaser Express is awesome! Kings Island needs something like this. It was very long, fun, and innovative. The backwards launch freaked me out, to be completely honest. Mystery Mine is one of my favorite rides ever now. I didn't expect it to be that way, but I absolutely loved it. The beginning isn't too exciting, but the second drop is the coolest and best coaster drop I've experienced. The theme was well done too. Thunderhead has taken over as my number one wooden coaster. The Voyage has gotten too rough. Thunderhead was smooth all the way and is one heck of a ride. So much airtime, speed, excitement. I rode front seat both times which made it that much better. Wild Eagle is disappointing. Not very exciting. It is way too short. Meh. Gatekeeper is much better. Tennessee Tornado is another very short ride. Dollywood has short rides for some reason. Every one of 'em with the exception of Thunderhead and Firechaser Express is this way. I guess it's because of the mountains and their restraints for building. Blazing Fury is outdated and it hurt my back. But the theme was good! That is all. Barnstormer sucks. It only goes through one cycle once it hits the highest point. Skyhawk wins. The train is 1,000x better than Kings Island's! It was 20 minutes long and gave amazing views of the park. It starts out at ground level but somehow, you're looking above Dollywood and seeing all the behind the scenes. At Christmastime it's even better, and hearing Hard Candy Christmas and other Christmas music is just great. A Christmas Carol was very well done. I love the use of the holograms for the ghosts. The whole Christmas Carol story is worn out for me so I honestly almost fell asleep, but I can say the show was really good and I must see. It was too bad we didn't see any other shows, though. Craftman's Valley is the best! We spent an hour just walking around and looking in the stores. I probably forgot some stuff but I'll add more. To sum it all up, Dollywood is my new favorite park. Holiday World comes in a close second. The rides are all fun though they need some more family rides (yes, Dollywood needs more family rides), the theme is perfectly executed, the food is delicious, the staff are nice and friendly, and I just felt relaxed walking around. I'm so glad we got season passes because I can't wait to go back!

Yeah, I'm not really sure why I asked that; this is coming from the POV of someone who would love working at Kings Island during WinterFest, no matter how cold or how low the pay.

Cincinnati already has several winter events; Festival of Lights is insanely popular, EnterTRAINment Junction gets busy during the season, Christmas Ranch is a Christmas lights attraction that many people visit along with Sharon Woods. The Beach Mountain won't be a wake up call for Kings Island to bring back WinterFest. It's not worth all the trouble and money issues to compete with a small sledding attraction. On the other hand, I don't think it would cut into maintenance that much, would it? I don't know the schedule of the previous WinterFest seasons, but it's most likely only on Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays, thru Christmas/New Years. That still leaves plenty of time to do offseason maintenance. And, the whole park wouldn't be open (major roller coasters, large flat rides, waterpark, etc.) so is understaffing that big of a problem? Why were people so adverse to working in the park during the previous WinterFests?

Yeah, it's pretty funny to think that you are among a lot of KICers at the time. Congrats!

I rode Banshee 78 times this year, with Diamondback at a close second (16). I rode The Beast a lot more than I expected. I didn't ride Flight of Fear as much as I wanted. That sums up my ride counts.

Many small things that have already been discussed; theme improvements on Boo Blasters, Adventure Express, BLSC, etc. I would love if International Street had, as Thrill_Biscuit put it, "majestic, bombastic, symphonic music". Part of why parks like Islands of Adventure are so great is the amazing music that you hear as you walk in; the adventure begins. I still think the entrance needs a change, but that probably won't happen. Repave the associate parking lot. It is horrible. I don't know about the guest parking lot. Just give the park some TLC. Honestly, I found very little faults in Kings Island this past summer.

It was a great night. Rode Banshee 7 times, came ONE row away from being 2,000,000th, rode The Beast's second to last train; if you saw a guy in a red Buckeyes hoodie, that was me! Oh, and ohiocolts, you made an appearance in the 2,000,000th rider picture! (I was right next to you, if only I hadn't switched seats with you before getting on...)

About to head to my first shift at Winterfest! So excited!

Honestly, Magic Kingdom is always crowded. It does get 17+ million guests yearly after all. It's pretty ridiculous how many people go, especially knowing how expensive it is. That's why whenever my family goes, we give ourselves four open days to go to parks. If we didn't do everything at MK one day, we will usually go back after a short day at HS. Utilizing FastPasses doesn't even help us at all most of the time since we go during the summer, so we brave the lines. The good thing about Disney World queues is that they are fun, interactive, and part of the ride itself. Waiting doesn't phase me at Disney; same with Universal. At least you guys had fun. I remember the last time I went to Magic Kingdom - I slept a grand total of 4 or so hours due to excitement, but I managed to have a great day. I recommend going to Universal now!

Just last weekend, my friend and I were walking past the Reds restaurant. I saw something moving in the bushes. It was completely camouflaged. I knew there would be a scare actor there, but when he popped out I still jumped a mile in the air and screamed. It turns out, it was an eight year old kid who was actually wearing a camouflage jacket just messing around. He got a kick out of my reaction.

Good - it obstructed the view of the rest of the area and it made the area too "small". The only question I have about the whole makeover of HS is, will the name ever be changed? A park with Star Wars land and no backlot tour or anything even show-related is hardly a "studio". Disney's Florida Adventure?

I didn't realize how old this was until I finished reading it, but wow, I couldn't stop laughing. I really want to ride Clock now!

Instead of a fifth park, how about Disney World begins focusing on improving the existing ones? Magic Kingdom is still great the way it is, but Epcot and Hollywood Studios need help. Epcot is way outdated - Ellen's Energy Adventure, for example - and needs updating. The idea of the future and innovation nowadays is not as interesting as it was in the 80s. Hollywood Studios is the one park I seem to have a totally different opinion of than other people; while it does need updating as well, I'd rather them not add a Star Wars or Cars land. Stay true to the movie-making side of it. Animal Kingdom is only sixteen years old and isn't in any need of repair (besides the yeti), so leave that alone. Adding a fifth park would just be way too much anyways. Planning trips around four parks is difficult enough. Imagine the cost if you wanted to go to all five. Plus I'm not even sure what the theme of it would be. Universal has the right idea. Two parks, a central "downtown"-type area, and a few resorts, all located close to each other. They don't need to add a whole other park to keep it going.

A ton of people do that. It annoys me when I'm with my friends who do it, but it's not a big deal.

All of them are tame. The tamest, in my opinion, is CarnEVIL. Even if you hate clowns (like me), it's very tame. It's colorful and fun unlike the other mazes. When there are scares, they're more funny than actually scary. Plus there's funhouse music playing in the background! Club Blood is very tame as well. The only part that really makes me jump is when the motorcycle starts. The rest is just fun and games, really. On the flip side, the worst of them all would have to be Slaughterhouse. The theme is gross, disturbing, and gory. The scares are plentiful. The actors are always really good. It still is tame to me, because nothing really scares me at Halloween Haunt, but still...

I went Friday night again. It was much better. A lot more actors roaming around and in the mazes. Still didn't scare me too much, but it felt a lot less empty. I didn't get to ride The Beast, but I got a few night rides on Banshee, Adventure Express, Racer, and Diamondback. Houses I went through were KillMart, Urgent Scare, Tombstone Terror-Tory, and CarnEVIL. Tombstone Terror-Tory was really good this time around. They added so much fog that I was honestly scared to walk through it. Well done! KillMart was very good as well. I just love the theme and the detail they put into it. Urgent Scare just isn't the same. I noticed this last year. It's pretty boring, honestly. CarnEVIL is way too bright and happy. I know it's supposed to be themed to a fun house, but it's not scary, at all. Overall, though, this night was much better than the last Friday.

You might want to make sure you choose one with a 4-D theater because I went on the newly renovated Carnival Dream not to long ago and didn't have that. I also believe the Nickelodeon Resort in Orlando Florida has it too? (don't hold it against me if I'm wrong) Adventure Dome at Circus Circus has it too (as of May 2012). The one at CC had water and bubble and other effects but the downside was the seats didn't move much at all. I liked KI's moving seats, as they really got ya moving! That's why I said "go on the new Carnival cruise ship, the Carnival Breeze!"...

Mr. CoasterGeek101, I am much in agreement with you. This is by far the most genius post I've ever seen here on these forums. Well done, sir. Well done.

For those of you who want to relive the Spongebob 3D experience, go on the new Carnival cruise ship, the Carnival Breeze! It has a 4-D theater and plays the exact same movie.

What in the world? I strictly remember there being no fog. And I remember last year seeing it. I don't know. Maybe I'm seeing things...well, not seeing things. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Once again, Friday night, first Haunt of the year. I swear on Friday there was no fog on The Beast.