homestar92

The problem with 'Tiques is that they aren't cheap to operate given their gasoline engines. Oil prices are lower right now than in past years, but that's still a significant cost. And it's very subject to change. I'd be surprised to see parks install new ones in this day and age. I guess you could use electric motors... But a 'Tique that doesn't spurt and putter like the carbureted engines of old is hardly a 'Tique at all, in my book...

So, if people are expecting a major ride for the 45th anniversary, I have to ask, what did we get for the 40th? I have no insider knowledge, just encouraging people to not get too hyped yet. Wouldn't want to build up too much anticipointment.

Remember that time that people read too much into vague, early teasers and led themselves to believe that we were getting a record-breaking new ride, and we later ended up finding out that the teasers were for Dinosaurs Alive? Pepperidge Farm remembers...

Absolutely. They have a coaster that is currently in my top 5 steel. They have a coaster that is currently in my top 5 wood. They have a coaster under construction that looks like a heckuva great ride, and for me personally is THE new ride for 2016 that I'm most looking forward to. Add to that a great waterpark, and you've got a place that's absolutely worth a couple of visits. For me, I got my season pass when they were $60. At that price, it's definitely a no-brainer.

Considering that Cedar Fair just removed something quite historic to the park that it was in which also related to a plantation, I'd not hold my breath on that.

I would consider simulators and the like to be different. There is still a ride element. Certainly much more amusing to many parkgoers than an educational film with stationary seats which can be experienced outside the park. I could ride DarKastle all day long, but the DA! film practically bored me to tears. That said, the DA! film was more entertaining to me than the Wizard of Oz 5D Experience. I just don't have the Hart to sit through that one again.

I watched it once. It was meh. If I want to watch a film, I go to the cinema, not the amusement park. Notice that the IMAX theaters formerly at the two original Cedar Fair parks got replaced with venues for Live Entertainment, which is much more... Theme park-y... than a movie. Of course, the CP one eventually went away completely to be replaced by a new coaster. Either way, still more "theme park-y" than a film.

I've seen Chick-Fil-A restaurants with drive through lines wrapped around the building at 9 PM. Hardly a time that corresponds with a lunch or dinner rush. Also, they are consistently the fastest moving line among concession stands at KI. Not like that is really much of an accomplishment, but worth noting.

I'd personally be all for a small, twisty GCII akin to Renegade. Or, you know, the Rye Aeroplane. That would be cool too.

As a software developer, I'm thrilled that Flash is (mostly) gone. As you can tell by my username, there is at least one website out there that prevents me from removing it entirely. Yes, I know their stuff is on YouTube (and DVD, I have most of the ones they sold...) but without the fun Easter Eggs that Flash allows for, it just isn't as good.

There really isn't much reason to make an app unless you need something you can't have on a webpage. The main things that would drive a company to build an app would be a need for some hardware feature (camera, graphics acceleration, etc.) or push notifications. Neither of which are needed for RCDB.

The Park's Facebook page just updated its profile picture to a painfully low resolution image of their logo. As in, I can make out individual pixels on my phone screen. Little things like that leave me shaking my head. It doesn't look good for the company AND it's incredibly easily avoided. I spent 30 seconds on Google Images and I found no less than 10 acceptable images for the park's social media profile picture. On the first page. I know it isn't much, but little things like that all culminate and slowly hurt public perception of your brand.

I enjoy everything from the lift hill to the final helix. The final brake and station, I'm not too keen on because the lying down position reminds me of the dentist. And the only thing that makes me cringe more than the thought of a trip to the Dentist is the band U2.

On the subject of the cemetery, if a relative or loved one of somebody buried there wanted to come and pay their respects, how would that work? Do they have to pay the parking toll? Could they even do so during the offseason when the park is closed? My curiosity had been piqued. On another note, See also Hartland, for some early buyers of season passes. Even they can manage "free" drinks in paper cups. Not that their business strategies are ones that other parks necessarily want to mimic.

OK, something confuses me. Obviously these images predate Fast Lane considerably, but there is something in the picture of Adventure Express's sign that LOOKS like the Fast Lane sign. I'm trying to figure out what it is, lol. I guess maybe it's just the back of someone's T-Shirt.

Well, let's see. Obviously KI because there's no park like Home Park. Then there are all these... Cedar Point for Valravn and a Maggie marathon or two. Kennywood, because nostalgia and sentimental value of KI aside, it's my favorite park. SFGAm, which I will attempt to get my dad to accompany me to, as he grew up riding the American Eagle and I am concerned it may not have much time left. Valleyfair! Because it is a new favorite as of my visit this past summer. Ed Alonzo may have contributed to that. Stricker's, because my last trip was with someone special who I will likely never see again. Need to close that book once and for all. And of course, Hartland because Storm Chaser looks fantastic.. Basically, any parks that I get to won't cause me to complain. Unless it's Mount Olympus. But if I'm in the Dells, there's a much better coaster to be ridden less than a mile up the road. Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I would like to think that the park knows what would happen if they institute a blanket ban on KIC members. Bad word of mouth is a very quick way to kill a business. If I were kicked out of a park because of what I was wearing (assuming of course that it's modest, follows all rules, etc) you can bet that I'd be telling everyone I know not to visit their park. And while enthusiasts don't make up an appreciable percentage of a park's visitors, they are VERY vocal about their opinions of a park. And the last thing that any park needs is an entire enthusiast group all encouraging everyone they know to stay away from their park. This is doubly true for an enthusiast group like KIC, where the overwhelming majority of the members belong to that precious, precious "out of state" market that they so desperately need. Word of mouth spreads quickly. I have encouraged people I know to visit Kentucky Kingdom in the past. If I wore a KIC shirt and were kicked out for it, you can bet that my recommendation of the park would end immediately. And excluding myself, I've already gotten three (non-Kentuckian) people through those gates who not only wouldn't have gone without my recommendation, but wouldn't have even known that the park was open again. I don't know if they've recommended it to anyone themselves or not, but if you scorn an entire group of people, you are looking at potentially exponential growth of the number of people angry with your park who won't recommend it to their friends. I don't think they'd do that, but they've never exactly given me any indication that they really know what they're doing, so who knows?

Line lengths aren't a good indicator of popularity, and they are essentially NO indicator whatsoever of throughput. If there is ANY line whatsoever, that means that they are not sending empty seats* so it's operating at capacity**. * Excluding empty seats caused by odd numbered groups who aren't being paired with single riders ** by capacity, I don't mean the ride's theoretical capacity as specified by the manufacturer, but rather, they're sending as many people through as the ride crew, at their current pace, can send out. Basically meaning that the flow of people wanting to ride meets or exceeds the flow of people being sent out on the ride by the crew.

I'll list a few of my favorites. Six Flags Great America Busch Gardens Williamsburg Darien Lake Kennywood Kennywood Kennywood Did I mention Kennywood? Waldameer Park (If they are open) Conneaut Lake Park Indiana Beach Valleyfair! And IF you were to do SFGAm and Valleyfair, stop by Little Amerricka on the way. It isn't really worth a trip on its own, but if you're passing through the area, it's worth a detour. I highly advise that you do NOT visit Mt. Olympus. It is the only park that I've visited where I did not feel safe on the coasters.

Hmm... "Brought to you by Chevrolet"? And all of those Chevy vehicles on display in the park? Boy, I sure do yearn for the good old days when we didn't have all this product placement in the park, amirite?

I can think of an old adage that I learned at a young age which relates to this "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down." I'm not saying that you're wrong or that Cyclone's days aren't numbered, just that I'm sure Cedar Fair is well aware of its structural integrity, and if any wobble that it produces were cause for concern, they wouldn't have operated the ride. Metal fatigue is going to affect any steel coaster over time, but I have full confidence that Cedar Fair would close down any coasters before the degree of metal fatigue became a safety concern for riders.

I wonder if any other parks would slump so low? If I'm getting my story correct (and please correct me if I'm not), a Park Near You once gave Terpy a very hard time when he tried to go in, but eventually he did get to enter. Personally, I'd have been Furyous had that happened to me. EDIT: Per Terpy's correction, he was prevented from entering that park as well. So yes, other parks might slump so low. A certain other user of this forum was at Kentucky Kingdom the day that Terpy was barred from entry, but did not witness this take place. THe aforementioned poster DID, however, post a wonderful trip report following that visit. I wonder who that might have been By all accounts, the park needed every extra person (and wallet) that they could have gotten through the gates that day, so one has to scratch their heads as to why they would have turned ANYONE away. A tragic comedy filled with dramatic soliloquies, comedic satire, and maybe a few puns here and there! Surely this is written by Shakespeare, no? Wrong! By KIC's very own community bringing you the new Broadway topic "Kentucky Kingdom"*.*Please note that this is in no way a regular musical, but a tragic comedy in Opera format. Tragic comedy in Opera format? Allow me to leave some Notes as to how one of the musical numbers might go... "Dear Ed Hart, what a charming Kingdom, The Park enjoyed a great success, We were hardly bereft when those Six Flags left, Otherwise, the coasters were entrancing But operations were a lamentable mess!"

Funny enough, prior to the official announcement of Carolina Harbor, I would have been willing to bet a dollar to a donut that we were about to see the closure of Wildwater Kingdom, with its attractions being relocated to Carowinds for use in their waterpark expansion. In my mind, it made a lot of sense. Most of the attractions at WWK are things that were not present at Carowinds before the expansion, so it would have been a good way to add a bunch of new things to on the cheap to a park that is quickly growing into flagship-like size and status. I can't imagine that the idea of closing WWK and moving its attractions elsewhere hasn't ever been discussed. The fact that it is still operating seems, to me, to indicate that it is still profitable, or at very least, that they are losing less money operating it than they would moving the attractions or if they let that land and those assets just sit there.

Ugh. I certainly hope that Voyage doesn't get Timberliners. I actually kind of like it. It would be a shame if I couldn't ride it anymore. - homestar92, who really enjoys Arrows and Dinns but truly cannot fathom why anybody who's ridden a ride with them would ever want Timberliners on any coaster.

Quite a bit more than 5 miles, but allow me to make a different recommendation. Feel free to shoot it down if it doesn't fit with your schedule. Instead of staying in/near Doswell, stay two nights in or near Richmond. That puts you within an hour's drive of both Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens. Both parks are worth experiencing. You can visit twice the parks while only making one drive out to that region. I had a great experience at the Courtyard Marriott in Sandston, VA near the airport. I had originally booked the Motel 6 just up the road. The A/C didn't work and the clientele seemed... rough (they have a local police officer patrol their lot at night...). So we requested a refund and went up the street to the Courtyard Marriott, and it was a world of difference. Fantastic hotel, and from time to time you can catch a pretty good price online. If you definitely don't have time to do both parks, then sadly, I cannot offer any meaningful advice for accommodations in Doswell. But my recommendation would be to set aside the time and do both parks. Just do Kings Dominion first. If you went to Busch Gardens and THEN Kings Dominion, you may find yourself underwhelmed.