homestar92

^What he said. Those are the block brakes. If the next block section is open, it will slow down less. If it is not, then the train will come to a full stop until it is.

I can tell you exactly how they'll put them on the track. Carefully. -Homestar92, heading for the door right after Thrill_Biscuit

Well, Cedar Fair could give out a "PKI Lifetime Pass" and since PKI is no longer an actual thing, it would basically amount to a worthless piece of plastic.

This will only work if those still exist next year. I recall a time just a couple short years ago when EVERY locker in the park was of that variety, and now only the one set of them are. Also keep in mind, should they still be there and you use them, it would be wise to remove your items before 10 PM, or if you absolutely MUST get in that last 10 PM ride, pick a ride in Coney Mall or Oktoberfest, because security probably won't be too keen on you walking about after closing time unless you are headed for the main gate. This also seems like a good place for homestar92's guide to Theme Park Penny-Pinching through the use of cargo pants. Remove anything from your wallet that won't be needed for a day at KI. I learned this after an unfortunate incident on Firehawk required me to get a new Student ID card and cancel both my Debit and Credit cards. Now the only things that stay in my wallet are my gold pass, some cash if I don't plan on spending much, or my credit card if I do plan on spending a decent chunk of money. My driver's license travels to the park with me, but gets stored in my glove compartment upon arrival. I also keep an extra pair of glasses in my glove compartment at all times, so that if anything happens to my main pair, I can still get home. Also, regarding wallets, if you have an expensive or sentimentally-valuable wallet, I'd recommend getting a cheap one for theme park use. With regards to money, there is a good general rule to follow. If you are budgeting yourself $50 or less, you should probably carry cash. But if you know you will spend more, it actually makes more sense to bring a credit or debit card. The reason for this is the Fair Credit Billing Act, which states that if you report a lost or stolen card within two business days of learning that it has been lost or stolen, the most unauthorized charges for which you can be held liable is a total of $50. Phones are a toss-up around here. Many users, such as Terpy, do not typically bring a cell phone into theme parks for any number of reasons. Some of us, such as myself, need to have one with us for some reason or another (such as a mother who refuses to believe that her responsible 22-year-old son is far more likely to be hurt or killed driving to the park than he is on any rides therein, and therefore worries if she does not hear from him periodically). If you stick to a wallet, car keys, and possibly a cell phone, then cargo shorts should be perfect to hold your stuff. Zippers that run the length of the pocket are probably best, but if yours are velcro or a button in the middle, leaving the ends unfastened, safety pins for reinforcement can help ease your mind. Drinking water can save you from carrying a souvenir cup, and water is free at all concession stands and restaurants in the park. If you do choose to use a souvenir cup, then know that you will have to get a locker or leave it with a non-rider for Firehawk and probably Banshee. If you plan on riding White Water Canyon, Congo Falls, or Race For Your Life Charlie Brown, and you DON'T wear flip-flops or sandals, bring a Ziploc baggie with you. Prior to riding, remove your socks and place them in the baggie, then wear your shoes without socks for that ride. I find that wet shoes with no socks is a whole lot more tolerable than wet shoes AND socks. Then you also have dry socks to use later on when your shoes have adequately dried. Finally, sunblock. I stick to the trial-sized tubes. You can get them at most Meijer stores (and probably other places like Wal-Mart). The benefit to the trial-sized tubes is that they will also fit in cargo pockets quite nicely. Just close the lid good before you put it in your pocket, or give it its own pocket just in case. Or better yet, a Ziploc baggie. Sorry if this was slightly off-topic.

If I recall correctly, Don has said that the station won't be changing drastically, but I don't remember where this was mentioned.

A list of the (nonexistant) death tolls for Son of Beast, Drop Tower, and the (Original) Bat so that all the stupid rumors there can stop. Also, an explanation of why Vortex isn't sinking and a notice that at no point did The Beast ever operate with a loop. And perhaps a notice that not everything you read online is the infallible truth. (Bonjour)

They say not to lie to young'uns about the experiences of Roller Coasters in case they develop a phobia from it, but I will admit to having done that one time, with regards to the Indiana Jones/Adventure Express "coincidence". In order to entice my then seven-year-old nephew to ride Adventure Express, I told him it was an Indiana Jones ride (Raiders of the Lost Ark is his favorite movie). The queue music and the skeleton in a fedora just before the first lift hill aided me greatly in my deception. And he rode it and loved it. Still can't quite get him on Racer, but he's now ridden Backlot, Woodstock Express, and Adventure Express, as well as both coasters at Stricker's Grove. I'm hoping that this season I can convince him that Racer is only a little bit scarier than Tornado. Of course, in the eyes of a child, perhaps the difference is much bigger than it seems to an enthusiast. Admittedly, 55 feet to 88 feet is quite a leap in height.

Is Coaster Crew one of those approved? The list has not been announced yet. Except GOCC. They mentioned on their Facebook page that members will be invited. I do hope the April 17th date sticks around. It works out beautifully with my school schedule.

I know I'm going back to an older point of discussion, but I have a double approach to securing loose articles. I have cargo shorts with a flap over the pocket. I typically wear these, and reinforce the velcro with a Safety Pin. like Cedar Fair, I like redundancy in my fastening systems. If it is too cold for my cargo shorts, or they are in the laundry, etc, I have a small waterproof tackle box. It will hold my wallet and cell phone and fit nice and snug in my jeans pockets (snug to the point where INTENTIONALLY removing it is very, very difficult). Keys are ALWAYS attached to a carabiner clip on my belt loop (though people behind me on Diamondback are CONSTANTLY trying to inform me that my keys are falling out of my pockets). As an added bonus, the tackle box works well for the water park. Fits nicely in the pockets in my swim trunks, and has never allowed even a drop of water to touch the things inside it. Swim trunks with large pockets, the single biggest perk to having been born with a Y Chromosome!

If they will hold souvenir cups as they once did for Firehawk, then that's fine. Everything else I bring with me fits in my pockets. If not, then they can expect to make a LOT less money on drinks from me. Because I'll drink water before I'll pay for a locker.

We need turn no further than Muse to summarize the Starlight Sucktacular. Starlight, I will be chasing the starlight Until the end of my life I don't know if it's worth it anymore. My musings of Muse have made me that much more upset that Ed is leaving. My annual trip to Milwaukee this summer may require a detour to make a pilgrimage to Shakopee. Besides, that Wild Thing, she makes my heart sing!

When did we find out the show schedule last year? I'm anxious to find out if Ed Alonzo returns. His show is one of my favorite things about KI as of late. EDIT: Nevermind, reading the interview, it looks as though that show is gone. Ah, well. 'Twas fun while it lasted.

Here's your daily dose of the 1980s.

My favorite encounter with an Ark was at Kennywood. Being that I'm a man of faith who knows his Bible pretty darn well, I'm not sure how "biblically correct" the Kennywood Ark is, but I loved it. If any park relatively close builds something like that, they have one guaranteed ticket sale here.

So, wait, they're working on the parking lot? Glad to see them making an effort to smooth out the roughest ride in the park.

Shhhh! I was going to ask why Cedar Fair doesn't run two trains on Invertigo next! Invertigo does fine with a single train. I do think Wicked Twister could benefit from two trains, though. In fact, I think the improvement would be smashing.

I know that when I personally answered, I was responding to the topic in a hypothetical "you absolutely must remove a ride" scenario. In the real world, I am very happy with KI's ride lineup.

In the factory, my assumption would be that the track is powder coated. I have noticed a much nicer sheen to newly manufactured coasters that repainted ones don't quite get. Case in point, Gatekeeper looked much shinier this season than Invertigo just after its repainting, and the color is very similar.

Are there actually Portable Toilets on the construction site? I mean, there is a park bathroom that is extremely close by, which I'm sure would be much more enjoyable for the construction workers.

Indeed they did Knott.

They look very sleek and comfortable. I've yet to experience a Morgan coaster but I have heard some good things about Phantom's Revenge's restraints. Is this true anyone? I adore Phantom's Revenge, but you won't hear any praise from me on its restraints. I felt as if they were largely irrelevant and the seatbelt honestly did more to restrain me than the lap bar. Fortunately, the restraints on Lightning Run are completely and totally different. Lightning Run uses a T-Bar. Phantom uses some horrible abomination that comes down from the side, like an old school desk. Phantom also lacks any sort of handles, giving you no good place to hold on. Phantom is the weird case where the trains are not D.H. Morgan. They took the Arrow chassis from the Steel Phantom trains and put a new fiberglass body on them with new lap bars to replace the original Arrow OTSRs. But hey, I'm 6'1" and 140 pounds, probably a bit thinner than your average park guest.

Is it browser-based or IP based? You can clear the cache and cookies in any browser, effectively allowing for infinite votes if that's the restriction. If it's IP based, then I should get voting. I have access to four different internet connections at any given time.

Considering that all the sites above us cover the entire industry or revolve around a destination park, I'd say we're doing pretty well.

Well, if one can die at a fountain, it is quite possible that its water will be red.

Vortex.beansisland.com/pics/KI/Banshee That's my own personal server on which I host the webcam captures every 10 minutes. You have to go to the bottom to reach the newest capture, but a quick tap of the end key will get you there. If that's blocked for any reason, I have another server that captures it every 30 minutes: beast.beansisland.com/pics/KI/Banshee Looking at my own captures, I'm in the Sun glare camp.