medford

Is that tunnel wide enough for a Dive coaster? Perhaps its perspective, but it doesn't look wide enough for the long, 3 deep trains that I've seen on the B&M dive coasters, perhaps a narrower car dive coaster? I'm thinking something like Griffon would be too wide to pass thru that tunnel, or if not, it would provide some serious "chopper" effects.

You are mixing up rides (or I'm mixing up names a bit) Snoopy 500 is the car ride where you "drive" over the bridge. I agree its always got a line and is popular with little kids from 1 to 8+, it fits in a great spot, is nice and shaded during the hot summer months. Peanuts off road rally is the car ride tucked back in the corner by snoop junction that you just got around in a small circle. I think there are roughly 8 "jeep" like vehicles that you can choose from. My kids enjoy it, but it never has a line. I do think it may be original to coney, but other than that, what they pay their employee to run the ride is not returned in ridership counts, at least compared to other attractions. I do believe Sunshine turnpike used to be back in that area. I agree that a wild mouse would be an awesome addition. I liked the one at Valleyfair (which isn't very unique for a wild mouse). Its relative small and compact, could easily fit in the area occupied by the theater and then some. Perhaps a combo addition, 'tiques and a wild mouse

anyone know if the new BBQ offers gluten free foods? the old coney potatoe works place had the gluten free chicken fingers and fries, which became my child's staple. If not, probably means we'll eat inside the park even less than we did last year. He also can't eat Red Dye 40 (other dye's don't affect him) which makes him crazy. Its amazing how many not so obvious food items Red Dye 40 is in (or dye's in general) for the prior conversation. There are efforts to get rid of them and produce more natural dyes, but from what I'm understanding some of them are really tough to get right, I think blue is proving tough to get right, works for some foods, but not for all.

The Kardashian Koaster

Actually I'll amend my statement above a little, if they didn't take off from KI, it may have been the sort of defunct landing strip off of the 48 by-pass just 1 exit up the highway. The concrete strip is in shambles, but there is still a grass landing strip that occasionally gets used. I know there was an article on here about that "airport" a couple of years ago, just not sure how to find it.

That is the flight commander pad. Its been used for various things since Flight commander was taken down, there was the giant inflatable ball thing for a season (or more) that I never did; they had picnics up there for a season or two as part of a the Dinosaur Alive group party package. Perhaps one or two more things thru time as well. The the Merch Tent up for DA in that pic, I think that view represents the period when they had party picnic for DA. Was that area used for the helicopter flights over KI at one point? It was a long time ago, but I can't recall where they took of from, or if they even took off from KI or not (perhaps the little used warren county airport up the road)

As I said, the times we go may not be the best data point (Wednesday evenings typically), but the the Peanuts off road adventure (or whatever its called) is always a station wait, and there is never anything close to resembling a full ride. However, it takes up a small footprint, but the 1 person it takes to operate it is costing them more than the value added by the ride itself (IMHO). Snoopy Junction is typically equally empty, plus its an awkward fit for adults and not something you really want your kids to ride by themselves at a younger age (though they can). The biggest downside is that it takes up a rather large footprint. I've always thought that would be a good spot for 'tiques.

I didn't realize the theater took up too much space. Seems like the park has a lot of theater space that goes under-utilized. Perhaps its a reflection of changes in society from the 70s when the park was built to today, but the one used for the petting zoo and the Timberwolf aren't really used at all for shows (with the exception of spirit song) I think the international stage is about perfect, the one inside of the Festhaus offers decent shows in AC, you've got the main theater up front with is excellant, then the one b/w Diamondback and the Tower which has always felt like a throw away stage to me, too large to serve its current purpose. Its been too long since it was used for the Dolphin show that I can recall the crowds. From an outside, it seems like the park would get better bang for its entertainment buck by utilizing the internal showcase stage more often, utilize the roaming band/performers a ton, add a 3rd indoor stage/dining facility that could compliment festhaus and keep up the shows and the main theater up front. Bulldoze the one in kiddie land, timberwolf and the one b/w the tower and Diamondback to add in more flats/rides/restaurants. Anyhoo, back to Planet Snoopy, I also think that snoopy Junction is a waste of space, as well as the Peanuts off road adventure. Perhaps we don't hit the park at the right time, but those always seem to be sparsely ridden compared to the beatle bugs, the swing, red baron, etc.... Snoopy Junstion in particular takes a large plot of land. They could combine that space and the space holding the theater into one kick tail kiddie coaster with a couple of additional kiddie themed flats.

keep it enclosed or open it up a bit, but get rid of the smoking and make it a nice little place to have lunch would be awesome. Both Hanks and the new place (assuming) would be a quick jaunt to tower gardens, the new place could even open up to it.

couple of things, do they plan to make Tower Gardens a little more open as that would indicate? Get rid of the smoking and it could be a great spot to eat lunch. This map does not show the extra slide tower that shows up on the map on the KI app (no, I don't think we're getting a new attraction over there, at least not this year)

^ Mike Vick never played for the Chiefs (unless he was on their preseason roster but never the regular season roster). However, in good news for you, he did play for the Steelers (as well as the Jets, Eagles & Falcons) so you can transfer that hate from the Chiefs to the Steelers if its just there because they employed Mike Vick at some point.

Park also has a couple of Intamins should we bash John Allen designs? not sure why we continue to have this discussion, the arguments never change, nor do the realities.

Roof deformation isn't going to affect duct strap from breaking. The roofs are designed to deform a little, as the ground moves, people move above them (maintenance), the compressors in the HVAC unit, snow/rain loads, etc... The straps are designed to be flexible to a point, or act as shock absorbers if you will so that the vibrations caused by passing large quantities of air at high velocities in that ductwork will not transfer back to the roof which will transfer to vibration in the steel which will cause sound deflection into the space and get annoying (once you hear it, you can't "unhear" it). Saying there was a roof failure certainly seems like sensationalism to me. There are 2 likely causes, 1) the duct hanger that was installed was poor quality (or poor spacing, there are maximum distance requirements that may or may not have been followed) and/or the materials used were not able to handle the higher levels of humidity you would expect in the environment, 2) poor maintenance that didn't inspect the equipment/ductwork on a regular basis and take notice of failures in the hanger strap. Funny how people are willing to show their ignorance in the comment section; of course they are going to shut down the place for as long as it takes to determine if any other duct hangers need replaced/repaired and the time it takes to replace them as well as re-hang the duct that fell (which some of it will likely need to be replaced, not sure if 36" round spiral duct is available in stock, or if a sheet metal manufacture would have to fabricate new pieces to replace what fell and can't be salvaged)

Is that a bad thing? If you are not in a rush to get to the Pointe, why not stay until close both nights? That part of June will be near peak sunlight, so it won't get dark until 9:00 or so. That way you can ensure (weather pending) that you'll be able to squeeze in night rides on The Beast, Banshee Mystic Timbers, Adventure Express (4 best night coasters in my opinion) and perhaps another ride or two that catches your fancy (Diamondback would be the 5th choice in my opinion). It would be tough to catch all 4 in one night at that time of the year. Staying a little later would allow you to catch 2 series of night rides at KI as well as 2 series of night rides at the Pointe. I'm not sure that getting an hour north is going to affect the start of your day that much (assuming that you're taking 71 thru columbus to get there, an hour north would put you somewhere around the south side of Cbus). Leave at 10:30ish after your last ride and you can get to the south side of columbus by midnight, crash in a bit in the morning, hit the road around 10:00 and get up the point around 1:00 or 2:00 depending on what you do for lunch.

IIRC, it is supposed to be condos I believe (or perhaps apartments)

I think you'll are missing the major new addition in front of that shipping container... A FENCE! and we all know that every coaster installation is preceded by a fence installation I need a shirt: KI2018 We got a fence! Seriously, it does make me wonder why the installed the fence. If the shipping containers are for the restaurant, I would assume their contents would be emptied and they could be moved by opening day so that makes me believe that those containers or whatever they are will likely be there for a longer period to accommodate some sort of change in that area. If memory serves me correctly, I think the ladder game is always taken down to that stage each offseason. I'm sure there are screen captures from Banshee's construction that would confirm that or not.

Scaling by eye (yeah I know, not exactly accurate, so those that know how to crop google maps from one view to another chime in) it would appear that the "tiques they installed at Valleyfair roughly 4-5 years ago would fit into the space b/w DA and kill mart. It appears that KI's trac of land is a little longer, but a bit narrrower, they could use the Dino cut thru on The Racer to do a "turn around" on the other side, to free up more space. My memory is telling me that the plot of land at ValleyFair is relatively flat, while the plot of land you mention b/w DA & Killmart has a decent slope from killmart down to DA. Not sure how much of a grade they would allow on 'Tiques. If the grade could be worked out, I think it would make for an awesome spot for that type of attraction. But perhaps that cut threw is being planned for the other access point to X-base when it expands in 2019-2021

DYK..the average cumulus cloud weights approx. 1.2 million pounds (yes I typed million). Blew my mind when I read that a couple of days ago.

Could also be localized flooding if say there is a back in the drain line or at the drain itself (leaves/debris being the most likely culprit in such cases). Most likely, its just your eyes playing tricks on you, but looking at the whole camera, its obviously not a widespread problem (if one exists at all)

Don't forget about the area b/w River town and White Water Canyon.. err... nevermind I wouldn't touch the grassy areas around the four legs of the tower, aside from landscaping, however Tower Gardens could be put to much, much better use. I've long thought that the grassy areas between Stunt Coaster and the Diamondback station could be a good area for multiple, family style flats; though there is a decent amount of sloped elevation to work around (though that could be worked around). The pathway from the Tower, to the bathrooms over by The Beast has the back entrance for maintenance for Diamondback, and 1 small food shack that is usually closed, easily the least utilized walkway in the park. The old Flight Commander pad Dinosaur's Alive area is now vacant, though hilly. Half the Boo Blasters building is only used a couple months out of the year. Action Theater is the same (though both are used for storage) Perhaps with the new presumed dinning option in coney, they can get rid of the Coney picnic table area behind the Scrambler which would open up a nice area for a family flat or two right by the Grand Carousel (which kind of sits all lonely in its current spot and is another underutilized general path within the park). I could do without the ladder game as well as the basketball game that border Coney and Oktoberfest, would make for a lovely entry/gathering area for a new ride as some of suggested on here (may have even been the OP) And finally, Timberwolf is now used once a year. How much money does Spirit Song generate? I've seen it packed before, but never actually been in. That is a huge chunk of land that sits unused all but 3 days a year. A ton could be done with that area, utilizing the grassy area b/w the park and the parking lot as well.

guess it was fake, but I shoveled by driveway monday, tuesday and this morning (though tuesday wasn't much snow, not sure if KI got much). Looks like it doesn't matter, nicely played, but if I was the park, I would have done that just to drive people crazy. Giga - Dive - Wing - Hype(er) - GCI - B&M - RMC - etc..

The screen shot was from yesterday morning, I'm not saying that it wasn't photo shopped, I have no clue, but in case you are not from the area, there was a ton of freezing rain and/or snow that swept thru the area last night, so what you see this morning (snow wise) isn't gong to reflect what you saw yesterday (snow wise). I'm not sure where exactly KI sat on the ICE/snow line last night, I-71 was roughly the dividing line, there was 4+ inches of snow 15 minutes to the (due) North of KI and the mostly ice 15 minutes (due) South of KI. I assume KI saw a little bit of both, enough snow to wash away any words left in the snow the prior morning (or Monday morning since it snowed Sunday night as well). simply look at the railway ties and notice how much snow accumulated b/w "right now" and the time posted on that picture, at least a couple of inches at KI, plus likely some freezing rain.

IMHO, The Beast is as smooth at is ever was (at least in my 30+ years of riding it). The smoothest seats should be in the middle row of each car as they don't sit directly over a wheel. Its not near as rough as SOB (again in my opinion). If you are 20, that means you were around 8 or 9 the last time SOB was operational, tough to make that comparison b/w a 9 year old body and a 20 year old body. At any rate, if you think its too rough, that just 1 less person in line ahead of me

It is only a failure if the park didn't want leaks to escape. You'll never convince me that parks don't appreciate the buzz generated by a few well placed leaks.

Why would they have track on site so early? Is there any evidence of land clearing and support structures? The land clearing and footings may be hard to spot, if not impossible (thru legal means) during the offseason, but the support structures would be noticeable for any coaster of any height, much less the larger crane needed to lift said structure into place. Seems on the typical CF B&M installations, the track doesn't show up on site until shortly before its ready to be lifted into place. Not that they have to do it that way, but it seems strange. I don't care how much colder it gets in Toronto during the winter compared to Ohio, the track wouldn't be needed on site until late summer for a project set to open up in 2019. All that said, there is no reason that both KI and CW can't install a sizable coaster in the same offseason. Its not typical of CF, but then again, having track on site this early for a project that shows no sign of being open during the upcoming season is not typical either. Perhaps CW is using a bit of the track as part of their promotion/teasing. Perhaps B&M had a piece lying around that was defective from an old project and rather than recycling it, they're allowing a park to use it as part of a promotional campaign. As far as KI goes, the trend in recent seasons has been to prep the area for future large projects a season or two in advance by moving stuff around (or eliminating them) to get ready. They got rid of the go-karts prior to building Banshee, they moved the funnel Cake stand prior to building Mystic Timbers, now they've removed the Dino's and are building a new restaurant in Coney (allegedly). If past is any indication, that should tell us that KI's next major project will occur in or around coney with the surrounding infrastructure already in place to support the increased traffic. Perhaps this is why the Coney Mall sign was never put back in; perhaps as someone suggested, that area b/w Coney and Oktoberfest where the ladder game sits will be used as the new Que/Entry for a ride that will extend back thru the Dino exhibit area.