medford

Couple of thoughts on last night: First time I've had the chicken at the Coney BBQ. It was around 8:00 at night, so the chicken was slightly dry (not terrible mind you, but it was likely nearing the end of when it could be/should be served, like I said, it was near 8 pm so I don't expect things to be as fresh then as they would have been even an hour earlier) but oh lordy was it huge. It will be my go to next time, My 11 year old who will eat me out of house and home before he's done got about half of mine plus his pulled pork and we were both stuffed. Have they added some Disney Theming? Saw at least 1, possible 2 different small skunks (I think they had different marking, but can't say 100% sure) back by Woodstock express and the little car ride. This is in addition to the larger skunk I saw a few weeks ago by Viking Fury. Seems like a potential nuisance issue, though the workers were largely unfazed seems like they see them regularly so they must not be spraying anything. (side note, if you haven't see Toy Story 4, then you won't get the joke) I hope repaving the parking lot is added to the project 2020 budget. Its been bad for awhile now, but this season it feels like its 10x worse than last season, good sized pot holes all over the place. Speaking of parking lots, why are people so rude as to leave their trash just sitting on the parking lot? We've all seen it, and its not just onsies twosies here and there, but all over the parking lot there is trash, mostly drink containers just strewn about. KI provides a bunch trash cans at the end of the isles, the pot holes are bad enough, but these people leave the place looking like a dumpster. Have they no decency? My 7 year old, can't even get her to ride Woodstock express with us (she's ridden it in the past, but not this year); my 3 year old is ****ed he can't ride Banshee....how are these 2 related? Was it just my gun, or did I finally figure out a good method for Boo Blasters? I started pulling the trigger less often and found I could hit nearly everything (was in the same car as my 3 year old who just holds the gun and says "boom" so all the targets were left to me, scored like 1800 points, my best on a ride where the cars didn't stop on the course at some point to assist someone getting on/off the ride vehicles.

3 flats? Drop Tower, Delerium, Viking Ship, Shake Rattle And Roll, Monster, Scrambler, Grande Carousel. They could use some more, even though Viking Ship is the only one at that list that I'll ride, but they have at least 7... Oh yeah, bumber cars, swings so at least 9 that I can think of. Edit: Tiques - 10, Windchaser - 11

Perhaps the giant kraft noodle was a huge hint all along, and nobody knew, well except Jonathon maybe

It would be awesome if there were teasers in the park all season long and none of us had realized it yet. Even better yet if they started posting clues about once a month to see who can find those teasers and post them. The best teasers can often be hidden in clear sight.

^^^ I doubt anyone wants to come to your house, or cause you ill will, but I'm just saying if you are going to take the time to black out the streets, blacking out the blue dot would have been equally important. Better yet, don't even post a picture of where you live in relation to a easily identifiable building/structure to begin with.

Should have blacked out the dot if you didn't want anyone to know the streets, easy enough to find those street names if one cared enough to do so.

A day on the calendar for one, a Wednesday to be more specific, though that assumes he's talking 2019 calendar year.

Why bring it up into the loop then? I assume it didn't get stuck like that, but rather in the low part, with the riders rear ends below their eye balls That was always one of my KI nightmare dreams as a kid, that and the restraints on Vortex breaking about half way up the lift hill. Are they trying to get it back to the lift hill so they can cycle it like normal back to the station? That makes sense. I don't recall much wind yesterday, any clue what made it valley?

Whats come after the 2020 Giga? 2020 opening day of course Oh you mean coaster, I look at it this way: Soak City could use a water coaster (does that count?) For a water park of that size, not to have one seems criminal. IIRC, both of the water coasters at Holiday World were relatively in expensive to build. The one at Great Wolf Lodge was a ton of fun, I'd love to see what KI could do with something on a grander scale. Kid friendly coaster (my vote, or perhaps even in combo over 2 seasons with a water coaster for Soak City). Ever since viewing the POV for Fire Chaser express, I said I'd love to see something similar with a smaller height requirement (Fire Chaser express is 39", but I'd be happy with 40 or 42") to give that in between kid another coaster. There seems to be a decent gap between what I would consider traditional Planet Snoopy rides aimed at 3-5 year old and the intermediate 44-48" crowd that is too nervous or small to ride The Racers, Beast, etc.. After actually getting to ride Fire Chaser express recently, I'm even more confident in this assertion. Did I mention I rode Fire Chaser Express? Well that means I was also in the same park as Lightening Rod. I don't get around as much as most, so this was my first RMC (I understand that the launch mechanism often has issues and the ride is down) and that thing was AWESOME. Steel Vengeance also looks incredible on the POVs. I'd love to see the park get a new ground up RMC as their next major installation. Wild cards: The "Replacements" I don't think the park will see either one for some time, but a Dive Coaster would look really good in either space currently occupied by Vortex or Invertigo. A wing coaster would fit really well in either spot as well. I've never been on a dive coaster, but loved Wild Eagle. I get the references as "mild eagle" but after a day of spins, dips and dives, something silky smooth yet with inversions is a great thing. I'd hate to see Vortex go, but realize its gonna happen some day; I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep if Invertigo disappeared tomorrow.

What is your height measured at? I know you got elevations from the prints, but do we know what those elevations are marked for? Or to ask a different way, could they measure the height of the coaster from eye level, which by the time you add the trains and average height could push it up to 300' or higher. The drop would be the same either way.

I love Boo Blasters, the concept. The execution is terrible (though my kids love it, so I'm good). All it needs is a good rehab and proper maintenance. Retheme it while they are at it, so that if feels fresh, but keep the same "tone". Make sure the guns work right, all the time, every time (that is my biggest complaint). Rework most of the props and targets so they don't feel overly cheapish. Indoor, air conditioned dark interactive dark ride will always be a great concept. The biggest issue with the rides in this building (including Phantom Theater) is the lack of proper maintenance. Being constrained to a seat isn't a big deal as the seat is in constant motion. Some concepts that could be messed around with, allowing the riders to work as a team, or as individuals. Make each of the 3 guns color coded, and you get bonus points for shooting at targets that are the same color. Such that in a team concept, the left side could shoot all the red targets, the middle gun could shoot all the blue and the right gun could shoot all the white targets (or whatever color/scheme you wanted to set). But in an individual battle, the person on the right, could knock out the person on the lefts target not allowing them to gain the bonus points. Something like that would transform the ride from something you ride once and move on to something you want to try again on the alternate path. Include in-ride audio. A theme track if you will, but allow the user(s) to pick the theme. There should be a lot of room in that building (even more if they used the other side, could they make it multi-layered? Perhaps even set it up so that different cars take different paths so that each ride could be even more unique and enter different rooms that you didn't see the last time. Make the guns work, above all the guns and targets need to work on a consistent basis to make me want to ride without the kids.

The less time they have to handle track, the cheaper its going to cost them in the long run. Unless CSF runs our of room to store track on site, there is 0 reason to store track at KI. You want it to come straight from CSF to the staging area so the crane in place can be used to pick it up off the truck and either directly on to the ground or directly into the air depending on how quickly they can move and install it as it comes in. Its a waste of time and manpower to find a staging area at KI in the parking lot or deep in the woods, only to have to move it an additional time to the location that the crane will lift it up an install it on the ride.

OK, so for anyone that is looking for future advice on the area, I'll share my experiences: Got down there Sunday evening, we rented a house in Pigeon Forge, close to the Ole Mill district, so pretty good location in the heart of Pigeon Forge. We knew we had to go to the Grocery Store and didn't want to be too active, but the kids saw a mountain coaster on the way in (Rocky Top Mountain coaster) and wanted to try it. We got our stuff in and I looked up the ride on You Tube to get a feel for what it was like (and if my 7 year old who is scared of most coasters could/would ride and if my 3 year old could ride (he absolutely would if given the chance, which he was)). All the kids loved it so much they wanted to take a second trip. The 3 year old had to sit in front of an adult in order to ride; I'm not sure about the 7 year old, but she preferred that anyways. I looked up a youtube clip of Goats on the Roof today and based upon that clip, I think this one looks better, however it is different. Goats on the roof takes you on along journey up the mountain, then one long continous (and twisy) ride down the mountain. Rocky Top MC takes you up several different lifts, with journey's down the mountain to the next lift. Perhaps others would enjoy the long trip up and 1 long trip down, I liked having several different rides up, down and around the mountain. Monday morning we drove into Gatlinburg and took the lift up the mountain at Annekesta. Lift is an open aired ski lift type, but they do have a handful of enclosed lifts if you need one or would prefer one, longer wait. While I love coasters, I'm not big on heights, so it got my blood flowing a bit being that high up, and especially when it had to make frequent stops to let some guests on that needed extra assistance. At the top of the mountain there are a couple of places to eat, the sit down restaurant that we had for lunch was excellent. There's a nice garden area to walk thru, a tree house play area for kids, a bridge walk (tree canopy to tree canopy) and perhaps a thing or two more included with the price of the lift. Additionally, if you want to pay more there is zip lining and their version of the mountain coaster, we didn't pay to do either, so I can't report much about them, but are there if you are interested. Well worth it Monday evening we went to a go-kart/arcade/putt putt place. About what you would expect, the kids loved it, there are about a million of them in Pigeon Forge give or take, so take your pick. Tuesday was Dollywood. Clear morning, but we knew rain was coming in. got there and headed for Lightening Rod (5 min wait). My son and I rode it while my wife took the two younger kids to the car ride immediately next door. When we got off, I texted my wife "OMG you've got to try this" As we got off, she and my other two kids were exiting the car ride, so we switched kids and she and my son headed for Lightening Rod (now a 10 min wait) while I did the car thing with the two little ones. The car ride was pretty cool, a bunch of vintage style muscle cars; my 3 year old got to "drive" which made him estatic. While we were on that, "lightening was detected in the area" they shut down all the big rides if lightening is spotted within 10 miles of the park. I mention this only because I found it interesting that they shut down lightening rod (irony aside) for lightening within 10 miles on a ride that takes 90 seconds, while Annekesta said they shut down their lifts if lightening is spotted within 5 miles on a ride that takes 12 minutes (at some point on the way down, they stopped letting people on the lift as the system was moving in). Anyhoo, they didn't get a chance to get on, but the small rides were still running, so we headed over to their original kiddie area and played there for about an hour before the rains started moving in. It went from light drizzle to everything being shut down, to a down pour in about 5 minutes. It was nearly lunch time so we stopped in the pizza joint (sit down and enclosed) and had some pizza (edible but only ok) while the worst of the rain hit. With a little bit of clearing in the rain, we headed over to a show with covered seating and took in the last half of that, then were waiting for a different show to start when we noticed that the train was starting operations again and the rest of the park was about to open back up. We caught a few more of the kid rides in that area while waiting for the 3 oclock train. Train ride was cool, there appears to be a huge clearing behind the recently expanded area that could signal the addition of a new coaster sometime soon. After the train ride, the rain was finally clearing up, so we headed back to lightening rod so my wife and son could ride it, while I did the car ride again. After that, we headed back to the other half of the park and started working our way up the mountain. First was Thunderhead (awesome, I like Mystic Timbers and Renegade better as GCIs but still a great ride) My 3 year old was ****ed he couldn't ride, so from there we went to the kid coaster in that area (forget the name). They let you do 3 laps before boarding the next group of people, but since there was no body waiting in line, my wife and 3 kids all got a re-ride (I sat it out, always feel guilty taking up a spot on a coaster of that type unless I have to sit with a kid that is too small otherwise). We then proceeded to Mystery Mine, I'm not the type that can ride coaster after coaster after coaster, I need breaks and knew there was a lot back there I wanted to do, so I sat it out while my wife and son went on. While they were riding, my 7 year old daughter said she was going to try it, I of course being the good parent didn't say a word about inversions, just calmly said OK, as soon as mom gets off we'll go (she was close to getting on Thunderhead but backed out). Of course as she spots my wife she runs up to her and tells here that she's going to give it a try. My wife, being the good mom that she is tells her "oh now, that's way too scary for you". So she changed here mind. from there, we worked our way up to fire chaser express. I loved that thing, as did all of my kids. With no wait, we rode it twice and the kids could have gone again and again. I'd love to see KI get something similar for their kids area. After 2 laps, I need a "coaster break" myself, so my wife and son went over to Tennessee Tornado while my 2 others played in the fire chaser express play area. I don't know if its an arrow looper, but it kind of looked like it, and based upon multiple experiences on different arrows, I decided early on I wouldn't miss it too much so it was one I could skip. Wife said it was much smooter than Vortex, but not as good. Short ride, like The Bat, a longer walk back to the ride than the ride itself. After that, my son and I rode Wild Eagle, they weren't even dispatching full trains. I get why some refer to it as "mild eagle" but I love that B&M smoothness. I enjoyed the ride a ton. I then sat in the play area with the kids again while my wife and son took a spin on Wild Eagle. From there, we made out way to the new kids area Wildwood Grove I think. Its a great area with a lot of different rides that they don't have in the other part of the park. We wanted to get our youngest on their inverted kids coaster. its only a 39" height requirement, I don't know if its local regulations or they change in the seats compared to KI's kids invert, but I loved that he got the chance to ride it. It seemed much more forceful than Flying Ace Arial chase which I've always thought was fun, but smooth. It was getting close to 7:00 (park closes at 8) so we headed back up to the top of the new area and ate in their Mexican cantina restaurant. Food was excellant, the pulled port I had on top of my nachos was great. After dinner, my son wanted to ride Mystery Mine shaft again, while the other 2 wanted to do some rides in the Wildwood Grove area (the enterance to the grove is right next to Mystery Mine). So he headed over there and took 2 quick rides (his favorite ride at the park) while my wife took the other 2 on their small viking ship type ride and a few others. We meet up again at some sort of Black Bear ride, which I'm not sure how to describe but you sit on a black bear and bounce your way around a single rail track. Overall, if you like coasters, Dollywood is well worth the trip, we missed in the indoor coaster, as well as the water rides, but hit most everything else Finally, on Wednesday we hit the aquarium (not a huge fan, definitely crowded) and Dolly Parton's Stampede (pricey, but an enjoyable show and dinner)

When my son and I rode FoF last night, we got assigned the 2nd to last row, there was nobody there yet to take the last row, can't remember if somebody finally showed up before our train boarded or not. My wife rode it with my son shortly after and had similar lines. We literally left Coney BBQ, and split up, my wife, daughter and youngest son went to Scrambler (obviously right next door to Coney BBQ) and my son and I went to FoF, which while close, relatively speaking, is a bit of a walk. We rode FoF and were back in time to watch their ride on Scrambler. A Short while later, my wife and son left from The Monster to go to FoF while I took my youngest and my daughter on the Carousel, which was just beginning to load as we entered the que, so timing wise it couldn't possibly have been more efficient for us. When we got off, we started walking back towards FoF figuring we'd meet along the way and head over to the next stop; we meet right at Scrambler. So, as you can see, b/w Magenta's story and mine, lines were extremely short. There should have been no reason to make anyone sit anywhere but exactly where they wanted on a ride (assuming they fit in that seat of course)

Thanks, We are staying in Pigeon Forge, I think pretty close to the main trolly station, that was the hosts rec as well.

Leaving in a few days for Pigeon Forge. What's the cheapest way to buy tickets? Also thinking of visiting the Great Smoky national park and hiking a bit (have a 3 year old so not super hiking) Saw some place that you can tube, if the weather is nice. Saw somethign on Anakeste, anyone been? Worth doing? Anything else worth recommending? Other than Dollywood one of the days we are down there, we are pretty flexible.

If by vertical construction he means piers poured into the ground, rebar sticking up and perhaps footings poured on top of the piers, then yes, vertical construction has started. But if vertical construction means what it typically means and that supports beams are standing upright, well no way in hades that is happening this week. He is correct that there is track at KI, miles and miles of track on several different coasters. Some metal, some wooden, one even hybrid. There's railroad track, coaster track and even track for "cars" to travel around in at least 3 different spots

Better consult with Little Joe, but love the idea.

Planet Snoopy, spent a lot of time there the last 8 years, and with the youngest currently 3, I reckon I'll spend a good amount of time there for at least another 2-5 years (2 if he's like his brother and riding The Beast, Vortex, etc.. by the time he's 5, 5 years if he's like his sister who just turned 7 and still won't ride The Racers, stunt coaster or even FAAC) Getting ride of the water course thing that used to be the slime thing was the greatest move they've made to that area in a while. That they let young kid enter the attraction on one side, and exit on the other in an area where their parents couldn't see them exit, nor get around the attraction quick enough to meet them at the exit was always incredibly stupid. Whirly Birds and the space buggies were a great add. 5 year plan (after next year's coaster I'd take PS on a 5 year improvement plan in small stages) Year 1, general cleanup and give Boo Blasters a lot of love. Generally speaking, I still think the idea and function of Boo Blasters is a great idea, kids love it and parents and grandparents and toddlers can all enjoy. However, as EVERYONE says it needs a lot of love. Half the guns don't work, some add points every time you click no matter if you are aiming or not (I think my daughter got like a bijillion points earlier this eyar, good for her, but poor maintenance). Seriously just a decent refurb, get the props working in the que like they used to, get all the props and some new ones on the ride working, get the guns all working and calibrated and that would be enough. Add enough small things to make it exciting for new riders, but fixing the guns and sprucing it up can get the ride another 10 years of life easy, and then keep the guns calibrated for the rest of the ride. 0 reason so many guns should be failing 1 or 2 weeks into the season. Season 2, repaint Woodstock express and rename it "The Beastie" Yes I know that is not the original name. Clean up Woodstock Whirly Birds. I hate them, thankfully it was rarely on the "to do" list of my oldest son when he was young, but they are popular. Smells like a sweaty sock any time you get in one, add some more ventilation and clean those birds up. Season 3, year off for a relatively minor (compared to a Giga coaster) install in other areas of the park. Season 4, get ride of the show place and petting zoo, add in some sort of sit down restaurant back in that area that focuses on kid fun fare. A sit down would also free up the lines and items they could sell at the snoopy snack shop. (put the kitchen in/near where the cotton candy building is at to minimize the plumbing work). Announce the last rides on the small train thing they have back there. Season 5, in the left over space b/w the theater/stage, petting zoo and train install a new 44"-46" tweener coaster to serve that market that is too "big" for Planet Snoopy but not quite big enough (or brave enough) for The Beast, Racers, etc... Something on par with fire chaser express would be awesome, or a good wild mouse.

So where is the POV of KI's new coaster to compare it to? Or are you just complaining to complain with no actual factual basis?

Have you seen the weather in SW Ohio? This might be the only shade of "Sky Blue" for miles around (Kindly ignore today's picture perfect day for this attempt at humor)

yes, avoiding one word posts.

If you count water coasters, that is my prediction for the next coaster for KI. Seems like a huge hole in the water park's lineup. Outside of that, I think it mostly depends on the life expectancy of any other coasters (namely Invertigo and Vortex). I think a Dive coaster would fit in great around Timberwolf/Invertigo. A floorless B&M seems like a natural replacement for Vortex, should either of those be at the end of their lifespan (no idea, but they seem to be the most talked about) Personally, I hope they get a wild mouse and/or a nice mid-height range coaster. Something that the 44" or 46" crowd can ride, but is still fun for the 48" and above crowd. That segment of KI has been neglected since FAAC was built (2001). Something that feels like a set up from Woodstock Express, but doesn't require the height of The Racers, Beast, Vortex, etc.. (or something that someone too afraid for those rides can jump on).

there appears to be a whole bunch of holes done already.

Its the net elevation change. Which is going to go faster at the bottom, a coaster like the pumpkin coaster that raises 10 feet in the air, and drops 8? Or a hypothetical coaster at the grand canyon that starts out level (0 feet) and drops 400 feet into the canyon?