Of course Kings Island is getting a coaster in 2005--it will have a 20 foot high lift hill, have a top speed of thirty miles per hour, and will be themed to Jimmy Neutron.
From what I understand, the new seatbelts will be similar to what The Beastie has had for years. They will go across your lap, and will not connect the lap restraint in any way. Of course, I could be wrong, but that is what I was told.
Steve-
To answer your question--yes; the SDATHC track follows the same route that PT did. The changes that took place to transform PT into SDATHC were mainly in the form of bringing in new themeing and, of course, adding the light blaster scoring system.
SDATHC uses the exact same track that PT used, so it is the same length. However, SDATHC moves much faster than PT did because some of the cars were taken out to enhance the experience of the game.
Last season during ride employee training day, they were finishing up the paint job on the outside of Scooby's Haunted Castle. They were using what looked similar to those plant food sprayers that gardeners use in combination with a hose. There must be dry color pigment inside of the containers, and the hose that connected it to a big truck thing must have had a sort of bonding agent to make it stick to the structure and make it weather-proof. I imagine that when they paint the rollercoasters, they must do it in a similar fashion.
I am also a ride op that wandered over to the Wonderpark in search of some winter cash (and in fact introduced Reptarrunner to the idea of working there). What can I say? It was a job that would take me for only a month in the winter, and they were decent. But I could never work there for any longer than that. You think the people who re-ride at PKI are bad? Try running a ride for the same annoying children when they are the only ones in the "park". You'll soon appreciate your summer job more than ever.