homestar92

They've already put in literally the WORST possible type of ride they could build... I guess Hart figures he might as well go all-out with questionable decisions. I'd put an incredibly relevant clip from Tropic Thunder in here, but its choice of words can be quite offensive to some people so I won't. Most who have seen the movie probably know the scene to which I'm referring.

Okay, so I'm a loyal KI fanboy. I won't deny that. Here's my two cents. I think Kings Island has a coaster lineup that is absolutely on par with Cedar Point. Cedar Point may have a few more, but quality can make up where quantity lacks. In the areas where the parks each have one of the same type of coaster, KI wins nearly every time. KI has a better Arrow Looper. KI has a better mine train. KI has a better suspended coaster (by FAR). Some, if not most, would argue that KI has better woodies (I disagree wholeheartedly, but a lot of people just don't appreciate the Streaks). KI has better kiddie coasters. KI has a better Invert. IMO, CP has KI beat in the hypercoaster, woodie, and shuttle coaster deparments, and that's it. On the other hand, CP has a lot of types of coasters that KI simply doesn't have anything comparable to. Sure, KI has some things that are unlike anything at CP (Firehawk and Backlot come to mind), but CP definitely has a greater variety with a floorless, a giga, a strata, a wing coaster, and more. Hate to say it, but CP has better themeing. Frontiertown blows Rivertown away in that area. We have Coney Mall, which stays relatively true to its theme, but I would argue that everything at CP not in Frontiertown or Camp Snoopy is in an area that shares a similar theme to Coney Mall, and does a better job at it. And the food... Oh the food. Four words. Cheese on a stick. Done. I love blue ice cream, but that's not even close. Cheese on a stick wins EVERY time. I LOVE Kings Island. It's my home park. It will ALWAYS be special to me. I will say that I think the three Kings parks in the chain have great potential to be FAR better parks than Cedar Point. Cedar Point has great atmosphere, but ONLY because of its location. KI, KD, and CW have the groundwork laid out to be brilliantly themed, beautiful parks, they just aren't quite there. Each park has its strong points. What you're looking for in an amusement park will greatly determine which is the better park for you. Me, I like a good Arrow, and both parks have some of the best.

Doesn't look like my cup of tea. I'll just enjoy the Runs. Now THAT'S terror to the third power!

Mine stay in my "amusement park season passes" pocket of my wallet. Yes, I have that...

^ "Hats" must be a hint, so I'm guessing that the "Comical Caps" shop will start selling Cheeseheads? Be still my beating heart!

https://www.carowinds.com/rides/planet-snoopy/woodstock-gliders (hi, Don!) They are currently a 3. Same chain, so I assume same standards for determining the thrill rating. Disappointing that ours are a 1, it leads me to believe they'll be one of the tamer sets, but we shall see. I was going to compare to the Lake Erie Eagles, but their thrill rating is not listed on the website. KD's Eagles are also a 3, and they are very snappable (though they don't allow snapping) as I had to actually fight the ride to prevent it from snapping.

Unfortunately, unless Sunday was a fluke, this is no longer true. Fire effects are also not being used.

One other thing to note is, this kind of opens the door for abuse. If I'm going to some event at the Expo center and have a KK season pass, I can now park for free (presumably the park has to be open) because how could they know whether or not I plan on going to Kentucky Kingdom? Given that a Kentucky Kingdom season pass is much cheaper than a parking pass at the Kentucky Expo Center, I could see this being a problem. I'd assume, however, that they considered that when they worked out the deal.

But I'm pretty sure the park or Ed Hart didn't get any of that $8 parking fee. That was the standard fee to park at the Kentucky Expo Center and (if I may for a moment play Devil's advocate) is quite a bit lower than at most major parks, where $15+ seems to be the going rate. Sure, some parks like Holiday World and Kennywood have free parking for everyone, but those are the only ones I've been to that do. Even Coney doesn't have free parking. Even CAMDEN doesn't have that (or take credit cards at the parking tolls, but that's a different story...). Granted, most parks offer free parking to season passholders (if not on the standard pass, then at some tier anyway) but now KK has that too. That's $8 more in my pocket that would not have gone to the park anyway that I could, if I wanted, spend at the park. With season pass discounts, that's an entree at Swampwater Jack's (after all, I'm not wheelchair-bound, so I can go there...) and a soda. How convenient. I like this. I really do think this will raise up the per caps among passholders. I think this is a rare step in the right direction for this park. I really do like the park. I really do want them to succeed. It quickly became like a second home park for me. I see so many things that the park does wrong and it makes me so sad because I really don't like the thought of losing a park that I like so much. I love having something reasonably close by that offers something different from my normal coasters at Kings Island. And maybe I'm wrong, but recent socio-political happenings just across the river might (somewhat ironically) drive some dollars out of Indiana and into Kentucky if people really plan on putting their money where their mouth is, and the park might be able to capitalize on that. Time will tell. Remember, too that T3 will not be running the same trains that it did previously. That may (or may not) dramatically improve the ride experience. Vekoma SLCs do have really interesting layouts. If the ride experience can be made enjoyable, I honestly think it could be a flagship ride. The layout certainly looks enjoyable enough. They already have a Dinn that doesn't ride remotely like a Dinn (well, after the first turn anyway). Maybe they can have a Vekoma SLC that doesn't ride like a Vekoma SLC, too.

A lot of people might not use it, but you're already dealing with an exceptionally low capacity ride. Much like Backlot, it will only take a handful of people using Fast Lane to bring the line to a halt. The other Fast Lane attractions in Planet Snoopy are decently high capacity so the effect is negligible. Two or three families with Fast Lane could turn a near walk-on into a 30 minute wait.

^ That makes me sad. Only one suitable reaction...

Vortex. In 7-1 nearly every time, I'm sure.

Indeed it does Only Come Out At Night. And if you have valid park admission, it's a Free Ride. But you can't experience it in the Winter, Edgar. And with it being one of the tallest rides at KI and having a drop that goes underground, it is true that the mountain is high and the valley is low. And there's very little light in the nighttime, so indeed, you're confused on which way to go. When you make unintentional allusions to classic rock, I have to chime in, you see.

^ This could not be more true. Having ridden The Beast many, many times, it is honestly not that thrilling to me during the day. I find it tame and dated. But at night, the experience is improved SO MUCH that at night it is one of my favorite roller coaster experiences, and in just over 48 hours, I'll have ridden over 100 of them. I will say though, that if you haven't ridden The Beast, it is still unlike anything you've likely experienced and you should not hesitate to ride during the day. Just make sure you go back for that night ride. Also as has been said before, Diamondback is like two coasters in one if you ride in the front and the back. In the front, you sort of hang over the first drop for a while and get gentler, more sustained airtime. In the back, the airtime is much stronger but doesn't last as long. Many on this site will tell you that the best seat on Vortex is 5-1 (front row of the fifth car). While I will say that 5-1 is great (as is ANY seat on Vortex in my humble opinion), my personal all-time favorite is 7-1 (second to last row of the entire train). I personally find it less headbang-y than 5-1 (though others seem to disagree) and it has one pop of airtime on the first drop that I think is the best single instance of airtime in Ohio (even better than anything that the big orange Arrow in Sandusky has).

Just stay away from Facebook comments on these sorts of articles. I was trying to explain to somebody that riding a roller coaster is many orders of magnitude safer than actually driving to the amusement park to ride it is, and they insisted that that's not true because their car has airbags... I'm speechless. I'd be willing to bet significant money that more people were seriously injured or killed in the United States in car accidents within the last 24 hours than on roller coasters in the last decade...

The rides in the kiddie area at Conneaut Lake Park frequently have no ride ops.

Jack Hanna always has been a fan of fishes. I hear he has a special place in his heart for the Muskellunge though. ^ And to be completely fair, if not for my alma mater, I would probably be in the same camp, unable to identify him.

Jack Hanna has stood with the park against the claims made in Blackfish before, so they already have his support, unless his mind has been changed somehow. They do have that going for them. If they are willing to discuss it, SEAS could recruit the help of Dawn Brancheau's family, who themselves have stated that the film is not an accurate representation of her story (as seen here: http://www.examiner.com/article/brancheau-family-speaks-out-says-blackfish-is-not-seaworld-trainer-dawn-s-story ). Whether Blackfish is right or wrong frankly doesn't matter at this point. They came out with their claims and SeaWorld did not appear ready to defend themselves, and it's much more difficult to defend than it is to attack in this kind of PR debacle. Once people have been riled up over something they believe YOU'VE done (accurate or not), YOU won't have an easy time changing their minds because their trust in you is already gone. You will need outside help from people that the public are still willing to listen to. I just hope that's enough. People get really upset when they believe animals are being harmed. Almost to a fault, as I've heard many, many people comment on how angry they are over the alleged mistreatment of whales after seeing the film, but not one person as upset about the tragedy of Dawn Brancheau's death...

When you're at a large park and your time is limited, the "skip-the-line" pass (whichever branding the park in question uses) can be a real commodity. I went to Six Flags Great America on a Saturday during Fright Fest last season, and had I not purchased The Flash Pass, riding all of the coasters would definitely not have been possible. While it made the trip a bit more expensive, the luxury of taking my time to really explore the park without worrying about scheduling my day around the "must rides". At that park, had I not bought The Flash Pass (or even if I had bought the lowest tier instead of the Gold) I would have missed out on a LOT of fun coasters. Now, for Kings Island on a weekend in May, the experience will likely be quite different. You SHOULD be able to get one ride on everything, no problems in a day and a half. However, if you want to get Fast Lane, I definitely recommend waiting until you get there. I'd be quite disgruntled if I spent good money on Fast Lane tickets, only to find that it is not crowded. And while Fast Lane tickets can ostensibly sell out, I wouldn't expect crowds of that caliber in the early season (except perhaps opening day)

Congratulations, you're officially my new best friend.

Remember, too, that there is only a one-letter difference between PETA and PITA. - homestar92, suddenly feeling like an acronym expert.

^^ Rarely? Even that's probably an understatement. I've personally NEVER seen it sell out. Not saying it hasn't, but it can't have happened more than a handful of times.

^^ I wouldn't take the Chance on that ride. I fear it may instill... Chaos.

Kings Dominion has it... Also The Goody Shop in Mt. Healthy had a near-clone last summer. Don't know if they still do.

I ordered it. The chicken was just good, IMO, but the bread was AMAZING. I always got the sandwich, basically as a way to swap a piece of chicken for an extra piece of bread. I can't imagine why they would eliminate that option considering that a piece of bread is almost certainly cheaper than a piece of chicken, and it didn't require them to keep any extra ingredients around.