homestar92

As for the question of "do you have any questions?" I like to have a few prepared that can be used pretty much anywhere I apply. At my most recent interview, when asked this, my first question was, "What's your favorite thing about working for (company name here)". This is, first and foremost, a chance to get a job. But it's also going to be your first real glimpse at what the job will be like, and a chance to meet someone who works there. Use it not only as a chance to get a job, but as a learning opportunity. Sometimes it can be tough to know which questions are appropriate for which workplaces, but asking the interviewer why they love their job should never be an inappropriate question.

And a competent mobile web site to boot! Good to see at least one Cincinnati-area park has one!

Hear, hear! - Homestar92, perennial fan of Vortex, Mean Streak, Hurler, and Predator...

Looking at Kentucky Kingdom's website, it would appear that Subway is listed as a sponsor for 2015. Could this mean new food options? Any food stands on that path that leads back to T3 will need something in them, so it seems plausible. Of course, McDonald's was a sponsor last season, and we still did not see a McDonald's location in the park, so it might not mean anything at all. And they've already announced that a taco place will be opening. That path back to T3 doesn't look long enough to bring more than one new food stall with it. Personally, I'm surprised they opted to go with a name that, when put in Google, has a very high likelihood of pointing potential visitors to no less than three vastly superior amusement parks within a day's driving distance that have a great deal more attractions... One of which being VERY close to them geographically...

And that is one thing about Tower Gardens as it is now. Speaking in terms of purely location, it is one of the most well-placed smoking areas. It is not so far out of the way as to be inconvenient for those who want to use it, but it is definitely off the beaten path enough that people who do not smoke should have no trouble avoiding the secondhand smoke. I do agree that if they could find a new location for a smoking area, they could turn that area into a very nice walk-through exhibit sort of deal. Maybe they could move the Kings Island Hall of Fame over there. Because let's be honest, I'd bet money that less than half of the people on here even know where that is, and even fewer of the general public.

Depends on the definition of huge. Certainly it wasn't physically large, but in comparison to the other rides at the park (excepting perhaps the other Run), it was definitely hugely popular. And, it was hugely popular with me! If it only had better restraints, I'd personally put it right up there with Maggie and Phantom. Kentucky Kingdom may not be my favorite park. Not even close, really. But it's geographically not too far, and it gives me a change of pace from always going to Kings Island. If/when they go under again, I'll be very sad to see two of my favorite coasters go with them... The verdict is still out on the SLC. We'll see if a new train with different restraints helps in the slightest. If the experience is anything like the SLC at Canada's Wonderland, I'll probably not be returning to that section of the park. If the experience is like the Darien Lake SLC, however, then it may actually be a once-per visit ride. Maybe. This brings up another question, with KK being so incredibly close to an airport, I wonder what their height restriction is, if there is one. Their infamous Droppy Thing was 177 feet, so we know they can at least go that high. Unless I'm missing a taller attraction in their history?

Still - if it is true, that would be, depending upon who you ask, four new coasters in four years. On the surface, it almost looks like a Kinzel-esque move, but it isn't at all. Three of these four would have brought things that the park desperately needed (a main gate facelift, an improved selection of rides for the youngsters, and a new breath of life for an old "favorite"). Certainly an impressive "track" record (ba-dum-tss). In reference to the first sentence - I would consider it to be two coasters in four seasons. But, whether they are "new coasters" or not, it doesn't diminish the fact that Rougarou and Pipe Scream are very worthwhile investments.

Tape? I have the LP! (My phone is stupid at times, so just turn your head upside-down) [emoji6]

The $15 million price tag actually isn't too far off what a Dive Coaster would likely cost. SkieKra cost about 13.5 million back in 2005. Adjusted for inflation, that works out to about 16.3 million today. A potential new Dive Coaster being slightly shorter than ShieKra, a discount due to Cedar Fair buying so many B&M coasters lately, or even just 9 more years worth of knowledge as to where you can save money in the design and building process could easily make up that $1.3 million difference. Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that I necessarily believe the article, only that the idea of a $15 million B&M Dive Coaster seems entirely plausible. EDIT: Beaten. But one correction to make, Oblivion cost 12 million British pounds, not American Dollars, so it isn't quite a straight comparison. And yes, I actually did spend 10 minutes finding data and doing calculations

OK, now I'm curious. Did you get this from Google's cached version, or from the Internet Archive, or do you just have a cron job set up to run a nightly recursive wget of KIC?

Unfortunately for Mr. Hamm, I suspect that anyone who has been to another amusement park in West Mifflin, PA will probably find that his Noah's Ark-themed attraction pales in comparison. I know, I know. Apples and oranges. But I can't miss an opportunity to shower my favorite amusement park attraction with well-deserved praise. To be fair, most of his target demographic (which actually usually includes me, but I'm not quite as gung-ho as he can be) would probably have issues with some of the liberties taken with the depiction of the events in the other attraction. I don't think Noah had one of those spinning funhouse tunnels on the ark. But if he did, then that Noah was one cool dude.

Well, just remember: if, hypothetically, SIX (under their current management) came into ownership of Kings Island, they have already established a bit of a precedent to suggest that eehsnaB could become a very real possibility, just like repiV and namtaB did recently (and I think various others, though which ones they were slips my mind) Of course, it also very well could be impossible, because Ohio.

And don't get the idea that there's nothing we like about Kinzel. He played a big part in making Cedar Point "America's Roller Coast" as he led Cedar Point to a lot of coaster installations, from Magnum all the way to Maverick. Which, in turn, was actually good for those who visit Kings Island as their home park, because it was pretty stiff competition for a long time, and the parks were basically in a constant battle of one-upsmanship (is that a word?) for a long time. So, perhaps indirectly, he also had a big part in making Kings Island what it is today. Also, he loves trains, and he had a lot to do with the train at Cedar Point being taken care of as well as it was.

10 year old me would have named it "Inverted Roller Coaster 1" Nowadays, I think the Banshee name is pretty darn good. I can't think of much that I'd like better. Maybe the "Flying Purple People Eater" XD Or perhaps "Reptile Cage".

I believe last year, it started around late January or early February.

And when did the back seat disappear?

I never paid attention to those particular vendors in-park. But I do remember a McDonald's location in the Mall of America that served Pepsi (this was in 2004, so it may have changed since then). So if they were forced to use Red Gold despite normally being a Heinz company, it at least would not be unheard of. I'm surprised with the number of non-ketchup users here. I thought I was the only one...

No, I'll openly admit that I did not until just now. That's why I refrained from offering any in-depth commentary. If the bullet is still in there, then that is definitely beyond the realm of what I'm qualified to even begin explain. I've never understood firing guns for celebration. Even if you fire straight up into the air, what goes up must come down, and will, at nearly the same rate at which it was shot into the air (drag will slow it down a fair bit, but it will still be fast enough to do some very real damage)

Entry wound and exit wound seems the most likely explanation. - Homestar92, owner of several fine firearms, but enormous advocate for proper training and responsible usage thereof. EDIT: After reading the whole thing, definitely not an exit wound... Weird... Carry on then.

That is very true, but there are, of course, exceptions. It is very rare nowadays for downloaded music to be wrapped in DRM. Amazon and Apple don't use it in their marketplaces I know for sure (on music only - other content from these sources DOES have DRM). Movies almost invariably are (which is also why the only digital copies I own of movies were bundled free with the physical disc). If you want to get really nitpicky, most DVDs and Blu-Rays have DRM, too, it's just a bit less volatile since the devices to play this content do not necessarily have an internet connection. Plenty of online game retailers don't use DRM (GOG and the Humble Bundle are examples of this). Probably the one exception for me is Steam. I get a lot of games on Steam, which are wrapped in DRM. I'm not sure why I make this exception. Maybe it's the crazy sales they have a couple times a year. It's almost like, if Steam goes under, I've saved so much money by buying through them as opposed to buying the same games elsewhere, that it's almost still worth paying for an "indefinite rental". Of course, with Steam, you can put the client in "offline mode" but even then, they are still tied to that PC and you will only be able to play them for the lifetime of that computer.

That's true, to a point. But I don't think physical copies are going away completely any time soon. America is an enormous market, and a lot of America is very, very rural. There are lots of places where the only options for internet are dial-up, which is far too slow for streaming video, or Satellite, which is very expensive and usually has data caps, making it unsuitable for streaming. And as a content creator, you don't want to simply eliminate that large portion of your market. So for that reason, as well as people like you and I that like to have tangible copies of the movies and music that we purchase, I don't see physical media going away completely in the foreseeable future. Maybe when we get to a point where affordable broadband is available nationwide, though, as that would blow away the biggest reason for continuing to sell hard copies. As for the other piece of that puzzle, the people who have reliable internet access but simply prefer physical media: For me personally, I won't outright refuse to buy a digital download, but it is definitely a much tougher sell. I won't, however, pay for something that I "own" but can only stream and not download locally (such as a movie on Vudu). If I'm paying for something intangible, I want to at very least make sure I can make a backup and that I can continue to use my product even if the vendor goes out of business. Obviously this wouldn't include Netflix, since I'm not "buying" those movies, it's more akin to an unlimited rental service. That's usability even if the company goes under is precisely why so many people cling to physical media. And probably exactly why the movie and music studios want so badly to move past it.

Cirque was awesome, but I still miss Ed. Either show is a welcome change of pace, though from the musical revues to which we had become so accustomed. And for the music lovers, both shows had a fantastic variety of tunes, too. It's a relatively safe bet we'll be seeing more of cirque in 2015 at Kings Island. I'll be going to a lot of other Cedar Fair parks in 2015, though, and I really hope Ed is at one of the ones I go to this year. And that I don't manage to end up there on his day off...

Sure! They have a coaster so thrilling that the back seat of the train won't even ride it! I do have to admit, walking into the station and seeing an entire seat and lap bar missing from the train did not exactly give me the warm fuzzies about riding...

And I liked X-Flight better than Gatekeeper (which is the only other wing coaster I've currently ridden). Or at least, I would, if it were to receive the same modifications to its restraints that Gatekeeper did. And I definitely agree, don't judge all rides by a given manufacturer unless you've ridden them all. Millennium Force I find about as thrilling as mowing the lawn, but Ride of Steel is a rush beyond compare. I find Diamondback insultingly lackluster, but Raging Bull is in my top 10 steel coasters. Iron Dragon is the only coaster I've ridden that I can think of absolutely nothing good to say about, but I adore The Bat. You get the idea. I will say that I have yet to ride a Dinn that I didn't think was an absolute blast, but I'm most definitely in a minority there. I can be a bit of a maverick at times. Heck, my favorite launched coaster is a blue Sky (Rocket). - Homestar92, surprised that the capitalization filter allowed him to type that last sentence the way he did.

^ And I think it's safe to assume that the PlayStation 3 supporting Blu-Ray playback didn't hurt either.