homestar92

I believe in Santa Claus. I took a Voyage there once.

Superman at Kentucky Kingdom was 177 feet high. So, presumably, they can build at least that high in that one particular spot. Not TECHNICALLY enough height for a hyper coaster, but you could certainly build something that offers a similar experience. Although they already have Lightning Run, which in my opinion, is better than all but two of the hypers that I've ridden...

Oh, look. I see Goliath.

And remained in the Kings Island 4D theater until 2010, and Carowinds until 2011.

All I'm saying is that my virtual park guests really seem to enjoy "Wooden Roller Coaster 1", so it obviously HAS TO work at a real park, right?

I would think tennis shoes would be more practical. It just seems like pumps would make loading and unloading the boats unnecessarily difficult.

That depends. If you have more than one person in your party or plan on leaving the park and returning later in the day, then parking on Point is going to be cheaper.

Also, on Bat in particular, the train would be free to swing if it were parked in the brake run, but this is not the case in the station or lift hill. That may also be a factor.

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... Vortex absolutely does NOT require that one ride in 5-1 for an enjoyable ride. It is my absolute favorite roller coaster, and I almost never ride in car 5. I find cars 4 through 7 to be absolutely fine. 1 through 3 are a bit crazy, but I'd take Vortex in any seat vs Racer or Beast in a wheel seat. - homestar92, loyal member of the church of 7-1. Side note, of the coasters that I've ridden this year, I found X-Flight at SFGAm to be running the roughest right now. I usually have spectacularly smooth rides on that coaster, so I assume that maybe it's just a bad wheel or something, but I was there last weekend and it rattled my brains to the point that I had to sit down and get something to drink... Which NEVER happens with me...

Stay Frosty, Terp[emoji14] Uhhh.... Only two have B&M gigas... Four Cedar Fair parks have Giga Coasters....

I go out of town for THREE DAYS, and you guys make 8+ pages worth of posts for me to catch up on? We're practically at the rate that the Decoding 2014 thread had hit right at the end...

I really enjoyed Vortex/WindSeeker ERT back in 2011... Yes, I do realize that I'm the only one...

I think Timber Falls sounds better. So does a certain amusement park* that is home to the best coaster in Wisconsin**, and they liked it so much they had it trademarked, so... * I'm not really sure if "amusement park" is the right phrase, but they have a handful of rides and I found them many orders of magnitude more amusing (and less frightening) than the place around the corner that brands itself as a theme park, so I'll go with it. ** A dubious honor to be sure, but an honor nonetheless.

No brakes on Beast?! I hope they only used one train!

This thread has accomplished nothing but putting this song in my head...

If I were submitting a name for this ride it would probably be "Wooden Roller Coaster 1". A timeless classic, indeed!

Greezed Lightnin' was also a staple of my father's adolescence when it operated at (then) Mariott's Great America as Tidal Wave. That coaster certainly made its rounds and seemed to mean a lot to a lot of people. The nighttime POV of Storm Chaser is great and all... But it's not like there will really be many night rides on it considering the park's typical hours. Especially considering that they are basically right on the westernmost edge of their time zone, which means that on any given day, they have a much later sunset than most other places. Even still, it does look like a great ride Perhaps one of those 9 PM closings will give me just enough time to get in one or two night rides.

I haven't honestly ridden many Intamins that have really wowed me. There are those that have, but not really that many. I've ridden every North American Giga coaster, and the two Intamin ones rank at the bottom, MILES below the two B&Ms. Intamin seems to have managed to hit the two extremes with their Gigas. Millennium Force is slightly less exciting than a bucket of lukewarm dishwater, while I-305 so intense that I would classify it as unrideable. I rode it once, I'm good for life. B&M found the happy medium in that category. Their coasters have enough elements to be fun, while still being extremely re-rideable. I've literally not ridden an Intamin inverted coaster (be it an Impulse or otherwise) that I'd rank any better than mediocre. I realize I'm in a minority, but I thought that Volcano was less fun than most Kiddie coasters. Impulse coasters are alright, but nothing I'd write home about. I'd probably say that Steel Venom is the best one I've been on because of the holding brake, but even then, it was very "meh" to me. There are some great Intamins out there. I'm a big fan of Ride of Steel at Darien Lake. That said, my favorite B&M hyper, which opened the same year, blows it out of the water. And Maverick is one of the finest coasters of all time, and it's definitely in a league of its own. But honestly, I find that on average among the coasters I've ridden, B&Ms are much more thrilling. Now, if I may talk for a moment about Chance/Morgan... <3

There's a very delicate peak when it comes to capacity. Yes, capacity and throughput are among the priorities, but are just one piece of the puzzle. Safety first. Then guest relations (AKA, not being rude, assisting those who need assisted, etc). THEN capacity. I'm not saying throughput isn't important; it is. Ride operators should not dilly-dally about for no good reason. That said, I've never seen ride operators dilly-dallying for no reason except at Mt. Olympus, which is a park that no other park should ever, ever, ever try to emulate in any way, ever. Every delay I've seen holding up a dispatch at other parks has been within reason. There are right ways and wrong ways to improve capacity. Right ways are eliminating loose articles a la Banshee, as that eliminates delays caused by people walking over to the bins and gets people out of the station faster when they unload. Wrong ways would be to rush for the sake of rushing in an attempt to hit a completely arbitrary interval. Arbitrary management-imposed deadlines cause things to be missed and cause the work being done to be done in a substandard way. Ask ANYONE who's worked an office job. We've all had to rush to finish something because management had set a tight time limit and we couldn't get everything in time. If you rush and forget to put a cover sheet on your TPS report, someone might be a little inconvenienced, but life goes on. If you rush and forget to double-check the restraint on seat 1-4, someone could be seriously injured or killed. This is not the time or place for arbitrary deadlines and shame on Cedar Fair for pushing it in the way that they are. A computer can only tell you that a restraint is down past the minimum acceptable level. Basically, all it can tell you is, does this rider fit on the ride. I am a very thin fellow. I could very easily get the restraint down to a point where the computer says it's OK but still be in very real danger. The readout of the status of the restraints is useful ONLY to quickly identify SOME seats that are DEFINITELY not buckled to an acceptable level. It is NOT a substitute for properly checking every restraint and I can only hope that it is NEVER treated as such. I would much rather wait in line a little longer than have that be the last line I ever wait in.

August 11, 2010. I went to the park with a very close friend in order to celebrate his 18th birthday, and as one last visit for me before I headed off to college a couple weeks later. It wasn't until the following season that I got my first season pass, so visits to Kings Island were still very much a special occasion for me. I couldn't really tell you anything specific that we did that day other than riding Vortex probably 10-15 times. Neither of us knew that we would not be able to celebrate his birthday at Kings Island the following year, or ever again... Sure, I've had many great visits since then, and the visit where I discovered my love for coasters and amusement parks in general was obviously also very memorable, but that particular visit will always be my most cherished Kings Island memory..

Interesting. NJFTP's Jump2 had the seats mounted above a platform while on the one at CW they are suspended below. Did that have any noticeable effect on the ride experience?

I just wish there weren't so much of that particular shade of red in the park... I think this just confirms previous suspicions that red paint must cost the fewest nickels.

These cards could also allow them to greatly reduce games staff. Why pay someone to stand there when there is no longer cash changing hands and instructions for many of the games could be posted on a sign? I imagine that you could have the really simple games be fully automated. Then have a central location where they scan your card to see if you won a game and redeem your prizes there.

I'm surprised that it took them this long, to be honest. Many small parks are already doing this. Waldameer and Indiana Beach come to mind. Heck, Waldameer doesn't even directly accept cash at ANY vendors within the park. A so-called "Wally Card" must be used for all transactions in the park that are not paid with a credit or debit card and there are automated kiosks throughout the park at which you can exchange cash for a Wally Card. This system encourages sales by making money feel less like money. It's brilliant marketing masquerading as a customer convenience. That said, I might actually play games now. I never carry cash, and very few of the midway games accept credit cards, so I simply don't ever play them. I just wonder now if these will be the thin, cheap cards with a simple barcode like you find at Waldameer and Indiana Beach or if they will be nice, thick plastic cards with a magstrip similar to the Power Cards at Dave & Busters. Also interesting to see will be whether or not these cards become the accepted payment method at the arcades as well.

Here's my suggestion: Keep the bit about riding Firehawk and Flight of Fear early in the morning and then getting your Slingshot and SkyFlyer tickets. Those lines both get ridiculous later in the day and tickets for upcharge attractions will only get more pricey, therefore morning is the most sensible time to do those things. Throw the rest of the itinerary away and just do whatever you feel like. On a typical day (yes, even a Saturday, holidays excluded) you should have time to ride everything that you care to ride at least once. Don't ignore the live entertainment. For the last four seasons, Kings Island has had some of my favorite shows at a seasonal park ever (Cirque Imagine in 2015 and 2014, Ed Alonzo's Psycho Circus in 2013 and 2012). I'm sure that the show which replaces Cirque Imagine will be stellar and it would be a shame to be so focused on rides that you miss out on great entertainment. As others have said, spontaneity can add so much to your visit. After last summer, I rarely micromanage my schedule for park trips. After the tremendous disappointment that was Mt. Olympus, I decided to break my meticulous schedule and visit a different park instead (Valleyfair). It was completely spontaneous and it remains one of my most enjoyable amusement park memories to date. I'm not suggesting you be so spontaneous that you leave and go somewhere else (I normally wouldn't even do that myself, but Mt. Olympus was an extenuating circumstance due to the overwhelming feeling of being unsafe) but no matter which rides you do in which order, you're bound to have a great day, perhaps even a #KIBestDay . The difference in wait times at various parts of the day will likely be negligible for all rides that are NOT in X-Base, so just go to the park and have fun. If you must have a structure, might I recommend simply making a loop around the park? It's laid out well for that sort of thing. Oh, and if you do get multiple rides on some coasters, try out different seats on the train. Many rides offer greatly varying experiences toward the front compared to the back. Diamondback is a PRIME example of this. As is Vortex, but in completely different ways.