medford

perhaps he wanted "a Peterbilt for dang's sank."

I doubt you get a more reliable answer from anyone on this site than you would get on any of the standard weather sites (local papers, weather.com, accuweather, etc...) You may get a better guess, perhaps even the correct prediction, but at this point there is little reason to trust what someone says on here vs what you'll find at a number of websites.

If you're already dropping $320, what's 60 more bucks? I don't think the majority of people buying Fast Lane OR Fast Lane Plus are those who can barely afford it, but I could be wrong. $60 more is enough for dinner at the Reds HOF grille for a family of 4; could be used for part of an all day dining plan for 4, could cover the cost of parking and lunch at the Festhause, could be used to get on one of the "up charge" attractions, etc....At some point, people are going to say "enough is enough" and move on. $60 can be used in a lot of different ways depending on what the family is most interested in and can afford.

Wasn't there a change in ownership b/w the design of Top Gun/The Bat and when it officially opened? I can't remember what the original name was going to be before Paramount purchased the park, but while SOB may have come significantly later, the original plan may have called for a coaster or two, flats, etc... in that area and those plans could have all been changed or delayed when the park was sold.

I enjoyed The Italian Job, 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the 21% that Congo picked up, for what ever that is worth.

I rarely "look forward" to LaRosa's anywhere, but the one in the park is definitely a step back from the chain's outside of the park. They seemingly use the same sauce, and while O'Terpy will disagree, its the best part of LaRosa's in my mind. The crust however is pretty bad, but its far from the worst pizza I've ever had. I'd say its edible, but certainly not great pizza by any standards. I've seen more than 1 pizza I would call inedible. They have a Gluten free pizza that it appears you can buy by the pie, they may actually be an upgrade depending on the crust. I've never had it. The Reds HOF Grille is an incredible value considering that your inside the park. The food is wonderful as well, regardless of the price. Vortex is as rough as its always been, its your body that is different. I used to be able to ride Vortex multiple times a trip, now if I ride it, its the last one of the day, it packs too much of a punch for me, despite how much I love it. I'm not sure rough is the right word, its fairly smooth across the track, but defiantly forceful in its elements. Enjoy watching your 4 year old grow into new rides. Our 5 year old loves everything he's been on at KI and its a blast getting to experience The Beast, Races, and Vortex thru their eyes for the first time. Its defiantly has given me a whole new love for each ride that I couldn't relate to in the past; about 2 more inches to go and hopefully Banshee will be added to the list before the season is out. The best part is that he's transitioned each season into a new set of rides based upon his growth. Woodstock Express, then FAAC a season later, then Congo Falls & WWC early the next season, followed by the 48" coaster around his 5th birthday.... Its fun having different rides to explore each time your visit.

I think I caught a McDonald's ad in there from KI's executive Chef.

If RCDB is to be believed, Intamin has had no major coaster installations in North America over the last 2 seasons. While they have seemingly been busy in Europe and China, I'm sure that is a sore point for the company, and as APE mentioned above, it wouldn't surprise me if they offered a discount to someone to get their product back in the market, so to speak. It would however surprise me if that place was Holiday World given past history. With Kentucky Kingdom having opened back up, the last thing I would think HW would want is a risk that a major coaster would open with delay (which seems to be the norm these days for Intamins).

Combine this thread about an event on Tuesday, and the thread on the trip report about increased security on Wednesday and perhaps, just maybe the security guard had a lot more on his mind that minding his P & Qs. If you don't know what the "disturbance" was on the observation deck, then you don't know the seriousness of their search. While anyone representing the park should always be advised to be respectful to the parks patrons as a general rule, there are times in any line of work that getting the job accomplished is far more important than the feelings of said patrons. You got a call back from customer service, in a seemingly timely manner (why not stop there while you are already at the park?). I'm not sure what more you can expect.

On Fast Lane, the biggest drivers on if you should get it or not (in my mind anyways) is how often you visit the park (and when), the crowd volume within the park and how many rides you want to get in. If you are a season pass holder, and regularly attend middle of the week (like myself) there really is no need to buy a Fast Lane pass as you can hit different rides different visits and get plenty in (unless you just like spending the money and the privileges it provides to get even more rides on your favorite attractions) I'm assuming you are not in that crowd. With weather predicted as it is, and as stated above, when the rides are running, you may find very short lines as the local crowds stay away to visit another day when the weather is better. Finally, if you don't care if you get 1 or 2 rides on Diamondback, Banshee, The Beast, etc... while also getting your fill of the water park, if you are at the park an entire day, you should be able to hit all of the major dry side attractions even on the busiest of days during the normal seasonal operations (ie you may not be able to accomplish this on a saturday evening during the haunt) At rope drop, hit Flight of Fear (if open) and Firehawk right off The Bat before lines get long there, then either circle back around towards Banshee to the north or Diamondback to the South and hit the attractions on their respective side of the park. If you plan to hit the water park, that is obviously going to eat into your time on the dry side, which may not leave enough time for the coasters and may make Fast Lane a good investment even if you only hit each of the coasters once or twice. Have fun.

I think your giving the news outlet far too much credit. IMHO, the people reporting this likely know as much about roller coasters as the general public and that is why it is "news".

Where in that link does it say anything about a roller coaster over 325 feet tall? no where. IIRC when the claims were found for both Gatekeeper and Banshee, both listed similar merchandise items, no where did they specifically list a coaster that anyone pointed out (at least in the public domain) Its has been widely rumored that Carowinds is getting a 300+ foot coaster, mostly coming out thru reports based upon public hearings when Cedar Fair obtained state money to expand the park and hotel side of things (if my memory is correct, its been a while). Many thought the Centurian name would be linked to that project since it was trademarked around the same time the newspaper reports were published, however, it is certainly not set in stone, and the project, if indeed true could get the Fury 325 name, or perhaps something different all together that hasn't been trademarked to date.

adding "several turns" would not be all that simple. Should Roller Coaster Tycoon come to a theme park near you, and adding a couple of turns proved to "simple", lenth alone does not make a great coaster.

I hear that can be a bumpy road.

^^^ I drink beer for the taste. In college I drank it for something other than taste (honestly theres nothing good to say about the taste of Milwaukee's Best) but now, on the rare occasions that I do imbibe, I drink for the taste, if the particular beer available doesn't taste good, I either get a different kind or find a water. I'll vouch for a good beer making a good burger taste so much better on a hot summer day. I don't go to hooters for the wings (or anything else for that matter) as I haven't been inside a Hooters in 20 years, but I did infact enjoy the wings when I have gone. Last time I had Hooters was in the take out form about 10 years ago with my friends wife picking them up so I did not actually set foot inside of the joint, but can say I enjoyed the wings as much then as I did the last time I had stepped foot inside a Hooters establishment. I get that neither beer nor Hooters is for everyone (and get why Hooters is potentially offensive to a certain % of our population) however there are indeed people that drink beer for the taste.

^^^ A direwolf?

For an added idea, one can stay at the Crown Plaza in downtown Indy and reserve a room in one of their "sleeper" coaches. They have approx. 6 trains on either end of the building (inside the building) that they've divided in half and turned into hotel rooms. The rooms are decent, certainly not the nicest, but its definently a unique experience. We surprised our 5 year old when we stayed there last summer. The children's museum is pretty cool. As far as the zoo, its not as big or nice as the Cincy zoo (and from what I'm lead to believe the CBus zoo though I've never been there) but its far more interactive than the Cincy zoo, definently worth the trip, just not as large a variety of animals if that is what you are used to. The organtang exhibt looked like it was going to be impressive, but it was under construction so I only got a far away view of what it will look like. The coaster was open when we were there last season while construction was going on, really nothing to write home about, but for those that like to tally up different coaster credits...

Adventure Express (and Stunt Lot Coaster) is (are) a wonderful transition coaster b/w the thrills a young child sees on Woodstock Express and Flying Ace Arial Chase and the heights they're willing to tackle on The Racer, The Beast, The Bat and Vortex. Perhaps I'm lucky, our 5 year old enjoyed The Beast and Vortex as soon as he hit the 48" mark, but I know I wasn't the same way at that age (heck I don't think I hit the 48" mark until I was like 7) and wish I could have had a more diverse option of coasters as a kid than The Beastie and The Racers before I was willing to tackle The Beast and eventually a few years later Vortex. If anything, I think the park could use another coaster of this ilk, something along the lines of Firechaser Express (or whatever its exact name is down at Dollywood) would be a wonderful addition, even more so if they could maintain its less than 48" height requirement (I believe its 46", but not positive, not sure if that would work in the state of Ohio for an exact clone or not.)

No matter the quality of their ride lineup, either current, near future or projected long future (say a 10 year plan), nor the quality of its employees, nor the quality of its patrons, Kentucky Kingdom is a business and therefor money should be right up there near or at the top of the list of things to worry about. They absolutely should be thinking abot finances and such and such, and as an extension it should be in the discussion here. Would Mr Hart pull the plug after 1 or 2 seasons? If he's a smart business man and he realizes that after 1 or 2 seasons he just can't get the money out of the park to make it successful and it doesn't appear that will happen within the next couple of seasons beyond he should absoultely pull the plug. The worst thing one can do financially is continue to throw good money at a bad product. I have no dog in this fight. I've never been to KK, may never go to KK. I don't really care if the park is successful or not so long as Kings Island remains successful (and if having a successful competor an hour or two to the southwest pushes KI to be more successful, then I'm all for KK being a hit). I don't know what crowds KK is getting at this point, I don't know what they expected, I don't know what they realistically think they'll get moving forward. Despite all the hard work put in so far, there is still much to be accomplished, chief among them is to make sure that the patrons who walk thru the turnstiles this season wil show up again next season and seasons beyond. Unless they can accomplish that goal, worrying about future coaster additions is for naught.

I'd go for that fountain in a second over Snoopy's Splash Dance, which is an abomination of a design. Lets see, kid goes in one side of the attraction, comes out on the completely opposite side, probably 99% of the time before the parent could ever hope to get to the other side, and if the parent does decide to walk around to the exit, which way do they walk, what if their kid goes the oppossite direction? What could possibly go wrong? We don't let our 5 year go thru that unless we are both there.

I'm going to guess it was the motor for the air conditioners/ air handlers. I would assume the motors for the LIMS or other mechanical parts of the ride are far enough removed from the general public, that unless the smoke spread quickly, people could easily move away while smoke produced from the motor on an air handler would mix with the supply air to the space and quickly spread down to the people waiting inside. That said, its just a guess, we'll see what KI says.

THANKS

^^^ I agree with sparky, Its no "how I read it" because I know the backstory, or at least part of it, but I can easily see how it can be read to be something signficantly worse than just the facts. Poor journalism, they could have dug a little deeper and explained it a little better in just a few more lines.

truth is, it will be a safe ride operating at Worlds of Fun (and as Terp said, more economical to operate) but just reading the facts at the end, riders stuck for 4 hours, moved it because there are less regulations....if I didn't know better, the facts could easily read as this state doesn't care as much about safety and beware of it breaking down. That wouldn't be the truth, but I could see how someone could easily read into that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Ze9T40gqg I can't ever figure out how to embed youtube videos. I know its easy, but always forget, sorry its a link.