medford

How is it worn out "literally"? I'd say it gives pretty much the same ride today as it did when I was a kid. My body handles it different, but it always beat me around as a kid a bit. I enjoy the ride as much today as I did 25 years ago or whenever I first rode it, just can't ride it 3-4 times in a row like I did back then. There are plenty of other spaces you can add a new roller coaster to around the park, no need to tear one out just because it doesn't suit you. Its also the only looping coaster in the park at the 48" requirement, giving young kids their first chance at inversions.

2 seasons ago, before the meal plan, we'd often hit the park, mid week about 5:30, ride for about 3 or 3.5 hours, then head over to Jimmy John's or Chipotle just north of KI. Since the meal plan, we typically eat in the park, stay to about 9:30 or 10:00, skip the pretzel snack we used to get on our visits since we eat an actual meal there are an earlier time. Occasionally we'll stop and get DQ on the way home, but never an actual meal. We are but 1 family, but I'm guessing we're somewhat typical for the season pass holder that visits on a regular basis. We don't have much need to squeeze in "1 more ride) since we'll be back the next week. Diner is already paid for on the meal deal, so there is little incentive to leave the park to eat elsewhere (even though both JJ & Chipotle are better than any of the food served in the park, save several offerings at The Reds HOF Grille, at least IMHO). Overall, we probably spend a little less on food on our weekly adventure. If you add in the cost of the 2-3 Auntie Ann's pretzels in the park plus eating dinner outside of the park, compared to eating 1 meal, with the meal plan, inside the park I think we come ahead on our 12-15 visits a year.

Its a big smoking area that sees limited use as a smoking area these days (at least as I observe it from the carousel) There are a lot of smoking areas in Coney, and I always see people in there, there are also a lot of rides that older kids could go ride while their parents take a break. Other than the carousel, which doesn't attract many older kids that would ride a ride by themselves or with friends/siblings on the trip, there's nothing around that area that would call to a parent looking for a place to take a break while their kids explored the immediate area. Its location, makes it almost useless as a smoking area with the exception of a couple or group looking for isolation from the rest of the park. I've said many times, I'd love to see the area mostly kept "as is", boot out the smokers, get with the people from Entertainment Junction and create some KI models, or ride models similar to what they've done for their Coney Island display, put up a bunch of history of KI, move the hall of fame over to that area, then carve out a spot to sell Vintage KI merchandise. I don't know that it would work well in regards to ROI as the general population probably doesn't care so much about the history of KI that they'd be willing to spend an hour or so in there, but as someone who grew up with KI, I'd love to see something like that. Short of that, add a nice flat or two to that area, classic flats that would tie in well with the carousel and I think you've got a hit.

I was on The Beast once when it ran into a Hawk on the track, in hindsight, that Hawk should have cared a bit more.

Funny, I thought the same thing driving home yesterday. I was an hour + earlier than usual, around 4:30 when I drove past, and the platforms near the interstate looked to have decent lines to them. Good for The Beach.

Maintance sheds can be moved, but it is not "easy" as Terpy inmplies. Not only do you have to factor in the cost of moving all the physical equipment in them, but also the cost of the new buildings, any site work on said buildings, but any increase (or potentiall savings found) in man hours spent moving the equipment stored/worked on in there to another locations in the park. Its not as simple as it would appear on the surface, its much more complicated.

Utopia, and no one word posts.

I adore Vortex; just wish it wasn't so rough on me (I think its mostly me aging, not the ride, used to be able to ride that thing a ton as a kid) Its got a great first drop, the double loop was as exciting as a kid as it is today, a relatively smooth corkscrew, bat wing is a bit too rough, but unique. My son rode it a handful of times when he was 4/5 two seasons ago, then for whatever reason, he didn't ask to go on it at all last season, so neither did I. All of a sudden, after riding Corkscrew at Valleyfair (and complaining about it a ton, I had to force him to take a 2nd ride on it when my wife's cousins showed up) he's taken a liking to Vortex again. With my wife pregnat, it falls on me to ride with him, I just worn him that I'm likely done for a bit riding coasters after Vortex. Anywyas, having not ridden it in 2 seasons, I find that I love it just as much as I did as a kid, and would (will be) sad when its removed. I'm sure something fantastic would rise again in that space, its doubtful that it will hold the memories; obviously it won't span from my youth into my children's youth the way Vortex does and hopefully will for at least another decade or so, if not longer.

Delerium13, I've had similar issues at The Reds HOF grille this year, including yesterday. One time we walked in, the place wasn't very crowded, no one waiting in line, and we were offered a table. With 2 younger kids, neither of whom sit still very well, its often easier at a booth. There was one empty, but waiting to be cleaned off, so my wife asked if we could have that table. No problem the greeter said, then proceeded to do nothing about it. It got bussed (sp?) in due order, just out of normal habit I guess, but no one guided us over there, after 5 minutes or so (after it was cleaned up) and the greeter no where in site, we finally asked a waiter walking by if we could sit at the table. anyhoo, we tried again yesterday for lunch, were were a bit on the early side (say slightly before noon) and had no wait for a booth just to the left of the greeter's table. The waitress was prompt getting our drinks and taking our order, the food (as I've come to expect) takes about 5-10 minutes longer than you think it should (likely not the wait staff's problem) and considering that were were there slightly before the lunch time rush, I would have expected the kitchen to be fully staffed and read to go. When they brought our food out, it was good, as it always was, but when my wife asked for some Mayo, the waitress came back out and apologized saying they didn't have any mayo. Again, not her fault, but seriously, at this point its right around noon, on what should have been anticipated as a busy Sunday (it was), how do you not have any mayo in a full service restaurant that typically is stocked with it. By the time we left (12:45ish) there was a huge crowd waiting to get in. I can only assume the wait for food to arrive only grew longer. It seems to be a growing trend over the last 2 seasons, or perhaps I've just noticed it more since we've been eating inside the park more often due to the meal plan. The wait time to get food from order to you seems to be growing. I've never worked in the food service industry, so it makes it easy to complain while having little understanding of the challenges that they go thru, but not only at the Reds HOF grille, but at several locations, at different times in the park (and mostly when the park is not slammed, we avoid weekends typically) it appears that KI is need of improvement in their food management. The quality of the food has definently picked up over the last few seasons, the service of said food has gone down. People got to eat?

So T3 is already back down? For a month? Am I reading that correct? How, why? The ride was "brand new" and up an running for how long? Makes me wonder if it was truely safe during that period, I mean what would crop up after a few weeks of use on a new ride that was open to the public that would take that long to fix?

I'm not sure what the official stance, from either park or KICentral, but I wouldn't mind if the PR side of The Beach stopped by more often. I'd like to see this succeed, I'd like to see their winter tube slides succeed, any updates as the park moves forward would be appreciated.

driving home yesterday, there were some small lines on the two platforms you can see from 71N. The Cliff platform I'd venture to say extended back about 4 steps down from the platform, so maybe 10 -15 people or so in line. The platform for their water coaster extended a bit more, pehaps 25-30 people in line.

ERR.. yes, middle row, properly 'terped by jcgoble3.

Flying Ace Arial Chase is the smoothest coaster in the park, its not so fast to jerk you around too much, but fast enough to provide a good dose of fun. its only problem is that its a 1 train ride, and therefor slow to load. Perhaps I'm weird, definently against the grain on this thread, but I'd personally choose The Racers over The Bat in terms of being less scary. Something about that transition from having a "floor" under the coaster on the lift hill to having nothing but air under you still gets to me on that "slow" turn around to the start of the desent. Neither FAAC nor Banshee give me that same psychological thrill despite actually having my legs swinging under me when getting off the lift hill. Middle hill, blue train I've found to be realitively smooth. Its wood, so its going to bounce you around a bit, but no worse, IMHO than many other coasters in the park.

^^^ agreed, but who knows when it all came together, I'm sure they'll get a good turnout. Josh Sneed is pretty darn funny if you haven't caught his act before, local guy, FWIW. While he show wasn't raunchy, by comedy standards, it wasn't realy meant for people of all ages either. I'm not sure if he'll clean it up a bit for the audience, but something to consider if you were thinking of taking your children. Its been a while, but something KI should consider posting to let people know one way or another.

To add to what I typed above, driving home, a little earlier than usual the last couple of days due to kid's activities (right around 5:00 to 5:15 when I passed The Beach), on two of the hottest, most humid days of the summer (so far, today probably tops both the last two days before a system moving thru tonight cools things back down) the lines on the rides visible from 71N were most non existent. On both Monday & Tuesday, there was no one but what appeared to be a lifegaurd on the platform for The Cliff and other slides attached to that platform. On the platform for their water coaster and new racing slids, there appeared to be no one other than lifegaurds on Monday and maybe 4-6 people in line for the water coaster on Tuesday evening. As mentioned above, you can't see much of the rest of the park driving North on 71, and its obviously a slimmer of time that I pass by, but if you apparently can't draw much of a crowd on two of the hotter, most humid days you'll see this summer I worry for their long term existence. I'm not much of a water park guy, but as a family that hits up our neighborhood pool on a regular basis, the last two afternoons seem like a great time to take advantage of a water park. perhaps they're all in the wave pool? Perhaps they all come early and leave before dinner time, perhaps they're packed on the weekend, but my simple, almost daily (well monday thru friday anyways) observation passing by the park makes me think the park likely struggling to make a profit. Hope my gut feeling is wrong, I think having an alternative to KI would be attractive for people who enjoy water parks.

I've gone thru this many times, I'd be surprised if there were many parents who didn't know who the Peanuts were. Sure there are many who may not know the name of Schroeder off the top of their head, but they know who Snoopy is, who Charlie Brown is, and they've mostly seen the cartoons at Christmas, Halloween, etc... For parents and grandparents, the Peanuts are far more recognizable than many modern day cartoons. For the kids, I don't think it matters much, a ride is a ride and its either fun or not fun, and the name of the ride probably doesn't mean much, however for a parent, or a grandparent, the ones controlling the wallet, you are far more likely to get them to spring money on a shirt, stuffed animal or other memoriabilia that shows a character that they are familar with, something they can relate to their children; frankly that is the only reason to pay a liscensing fee, otherwise just give them generic names and attandence is going to be the same either way. We first got our season passes when my son (now 7) was 2. He's never really seen much of the Peanuts, certianly not then, but not a ton today. He's seen the seasonal specials, and been at KI enough to recognize them, but until he started familarizing himself with them, I had no idea how often you woudl spot characters around town. From blimps, insurance commercials, painted on the outside of a car wash, etc... every time my son spotted a Peanuts character, he'd instantly shout out Kings Island. It didn't matter that he didn't know much of the cartoon, he was relating the image to KI. It helped draw a connection and love of KI to images he'd see with semi-regularity in his every day life. There are not many other franchises that would offer a similar amount of recognition; and of those that would be on that level (or greater like Disney), the liscencing fees are not an option for Cedar Fair. The Peanuts are timeless, they've been ingrained into culture for 70 years, the movie this fall should help revive that a bit, but either way they are going to remain ingrained. Its a brand you can trust, a brand with lasting value, a brand that you can trust to have as a means of entertainment for any of your kids. The Peanuts are a great fit for KI and Cedar Fair.

So going back to the prior page (and several months ago), I thought it interesting that in 1981, KI had a couple of rides with sponser's names on them, as well as a "Cincinnati Dugout" which would seem to be in the location where the Rivertown LaRosa's is today; something old is new again.

No, I'm not, I'm talking about the structural team that designed the supports. Steven Schaeffer. http://schaefer-inc.com/ http://schaefer-inc.com/project/kings-island-Banshee-mason-ohio/ Upon reading the links, they may not have designed the supports, just the footings/piers that they discuss on their web page.

Getting back to stunt coaster, while its a bit Gaudi, I think it serves its function greatly, and would create an even larger hole in the park's lineup that I think needs an addition, namely that "middle" coaster for kids graduating from Planet Snoopy but too timid to get on The Beast, Vortex, etc... Ideally, I'd like to see something in the 42" or 44" height requirement, a good Mouse could fit the picture or something like Firechaser express would be awesome. Many younger kids (and adults) won't ride Vortex, inversions, rough transitions, height, etc.. make it intimidating. For many (like my mother in law who will ride Diamondback and Banshee), The Beast and Racers are too "rough", plus the The Beast can be a bit intimidating to young kids, b/w the name and that you don't see much of the ride from the the station. Meanwhile, I see many adults, of all ages, willing to ride Stunt Coaster with their kids/grandkids. For the most part, its a fun ride, with a bit of theming that is different than anything else in the park. Aside from Stunt Coaster, you've got Adventure Express, maybe The Racers if its not too rough for the parents (or too tall for the just turned 48" crowd) and The Bat (again, if its not too tall for the just turned 48" crowd) plus Flying Ace Arial Chase at 42". I think it fits perfectly into that "not too intimidating" for kids but "fun enough" for adults hole that KI could use an addition to, not a subtraction from. Yes, it could use a revamp in themeing, why have the "highway" signs be tied to L.A., why not switch to Cincy area themes? Or changing the whole thing to a western theme and anexing it into rivertown would be great. Instead of a helicopter, you might have a "shootout" at the OK Coral. There is a lot of life left in that ride, it would be a shame to tear it down.

I appreciate your logic here. But, what comes to my mind is this: 1. Would RMC sign a contract (and it appears this has been in the works for a while; RMC posted surveyor job positions in May, and work on TT deconstruction started in June) and risk not getting paid as well as thier reputation on something so risky if they did not have reasonable assurance of the viability of the park? I will start by saying I have no idea how their particular contract is worded, nor how a typical construction/design contract is setup in the amusement park industry. However, having work in the design/build side of commercial real estate, I'd guess its not to different (for whatever its worth, I'm much more on the design side, what I know from the contract side is just stuff I pick up in "passing" thru the years, so fill in the blanks where needed). In what I do, most work is payed in monthly installments, as the work is complete. For ease of conversation, lets say a project is negotiated at 12 million and at the end of the 1st month of construction, 10% of the job has been completed, you get paid 10% of the 12 million, or $1.2 mil. Lets say the next month of construction, another 30% of the job has been completed, so you get $3.6 mil, etc... until the job is completed. Typically there is a retainage held back until the owner has taken over and deemed everything satisfactory (there is always "punchlist" items that come up for small fixes here and there), typically 10%. Now, in what I do, I don't get paid squat (by the client anyways) for any of my design work as it occurs, so if I spend 3 weeks in design, then the job falls thru, the company I work for doesn't get paid for my effort. However, the architects don't actually build anything, just put together and coordinate documents so that various trades can go and build the building. I am assuming that a company like RMC would work similarly to an architect on the design phase of a coaster. They'd turn over their designs to structrual people to design the supports, civil people to design the site work, architects to design the station, etc... Some of that may be done in house at RMC, for Banshee, a local company (to cincy anyways) was in charge of designing all of the supports for the rides (they've done similar work for other Cedarfair projects) So anyways, my point is, that most people get paid as the work moves along, so for the demo guys, if the check from KK doesn't come in, they pull off the job and file a lien against the park. Thankfully, most of the clients I have worked for hold up their end of the bargin and payment has only been an issue on one project that I've worked on. On the one that it was an issue, the owner of my company had to push and push for payment, which eventually lead to law suits and federal charges for the General Contractor who was up to all kinds of no good. We still worked on the "come" to an extent, as did most trades on the job, but eventually patience and broken promises wears thin. I'd guess that the guys doing the demo work are getting paid at the moment, otherwise they'd be pulling off the job. Same on the design side, which may explain the lack of fancy graphics, it likely just wasn't in the budget to go all in like most parks do for their promo videos. If you are not going to get paid for a high end visual, you are not going to get a high end visual.

word of caution, while leaving the park last night, walking on the path b/w Boo Blasters and the first aid station I noticed some sort of "creature" walking b/w the bushes near Boo Blasters. I first I thought it might be an oppossum as all I caught was a flash of white, upon walking a little further, I noticed that it was a skunk. I'm not sure how often that skunk takes up residency in that area, and I'll assume its more used to lound sounds and screaming people than your regular skunk, but its close enough to a path that a kid (or adult) could easly "sneak" up on it, neither realizing the other was there. Would definently not make for the #KIbestday Other than that, I don't believe anyone in my family rode Vortex last season, no particular reason, just didn't. My 7 year old decided he wanted to ride it while he was on Shake, Rattle and Roll with his grandmother, so we both took our first trip on it since he was 5. Got in 7-1; man I love that ride, just wish it didn't beat myself up so bad, though last night wasn't too bad. Any tips for a 7 year old? he's about 53" I lean my head forward a bit to avoid the head banging, he's too small to do that. When he was 5, he was short enough that he didn't get much head banging, now that he's grown a bit more, that was his only complaint last night. FWIW, way smoother than The Corkscrew we rode up at Valleyfair a few weeks ago, it had been too long since riding Vortex to compare the two Arrows, it was tough to convince my son for a 2nd ride on Corkscrew (I kind had to semi-force him) so was happy to see him pick Vortex again, and enjoy his ride (other than the head banging)

walked past that area last night, I doubt they could squeeze a good antique car in there, its smaller than I realized while viewing from over head, typically those cars don't go up/down large inclines, and unless you plan to get rid of the path, or make walking bridges over the track there would be a lot of site work required. You are locked in by the hill leading up to stunt coaster on one side, Diamondback and the stage in the back, and the hill leading up to the tower on the other. It would make a great spot for a flat or two, particularly one that has a solid light package like Shake, Rattle & Roll. That spot has always felt kind of empty, if nothing else, it would be nice to see them add in some trees and landscaping to fill the area out a bit

How would they enforce no sharing? For example, if I take my niece to the park and decide to give her my coney dog that's on my meal plan, how would they know? These plans are generous in portion size and would they rather the coney dog go in the trash?Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk They don't really. I imagine they could, but it would be a PR nightmare, as well as a headache to enforce, they may say something at the Reds Hall of Fame grille, but I doubt anyone takes note at places where you get your meal and go eat on a bench or table somewhere (ie you don't have a server) meal plans all depend on how much, and how often you plan to eat. At the park last night, we used our season meal plan to eat at Chick Fil-A. It was the first time I've eaten at Chick Fil-A in the park, wasn't sure what to expect, huge portion of fries, chicken sandwhich was pretty large as well. You can get value out of it, but if cost is a concern, your best bet is to pack snacks or eat a light meal right before getting to the park, eat a late lunch, perhaps a snack of some sort in the evening, then figure out if your hungry enough to stop somewhere on the way home.

meanwhile, at Valleyfair just a few weeks ago, selfie sticks were proudly sold in the shop closest to the front gate. Although, I never actually saw one in use there (Did see one at Mall of America); I don't get the interest. On an (un?)related note, the operators at Valleyfair stopped Corckscrew on the lift hill until the person a few rows ahead of me removed their glasses from the top of their head. They were able to wear them over their eyes, just not sitting on top of their head.