medford

I understood that part, even appreciate it as I'm sure many don't realize that bit. But there were several points about their safety record, which I didn't realize was in question. I'm sure there is wording in their contract regarding the maintance and upkeep of Skyflyer, and I don't really care who has to pay for the painting of Skyflyer, my only point is, that it needs a fresh coat of paint and I hope that was taken into consideration for their offseason plans given the amount of attention that part of the park is going to see this season.

I don't think painting the supports for skyflyer is even announcement worthy (unless they were going to change the color of the supports). Going from gray with lots of rust showing to gray with all the rust covered up will probably go unnoticed by 90% of the park partons.

Has anyone questioned the safety of the ride, manufactuer or operator? I believe all anyone said was that it was in desperate need of some fresh paint, otherwise it will be an eyesore, at least in my opinion (of course I thought that last season before Banshee was even announced, so I think it will only look worse next to her beauty.)

I have no idea if they'll repaint Skyflyer, but it I believe it needs a paint job more than any other attraction I saw in the park last season. Lots and lots of rust spots showing up on that thing, and would be an eyesore next to the beautiful job they've done on Banshee and while walking back to The Bat. I don't know if you can just take a lift and some spray paint or if it involves something more complex, but it definently needs to be freshened up.

Depends on your child hood, but there are many rides in the area (some not easily noticed by the average family as they kind of hide behind Surf Dog) that have been in the park for a long time, some have even come over from Coney Island. According to Wiki, not always the best source, but easily accessabile, there are 12 current attractions that have been there since at least 1995 (which is about when the Ghoster Coaster was installed, give or take decade ) Though i don't believe all rides are currently in their original location and some have obviously changed names/themes thru time. The good news, you can forget all or most of those childhood memories, but if your lucky enough to have kids and get to take them to KI one day, you'll get to form new memories that will not only be lasting, but will potentially challenge any experience you currently have one any ride currently installed (or about to be installed) at KI. I can honestly say, my first ride on Woodstock Express with my son tops any ride I've had on Diamondback and equals my memories of dropping into the tunnel alongside my mothe when it was called The Beastie many years ago.

As I mentioned in the other thread, don't need a ton of theming, some tombstones similar to what they did for the announcement up front, and perhaps another graveyard setting on a close to the ground flyby. At night, fog effects would be pretty cool, especially near the "front of the ride". the area where Banshee Cam 1 is currently set would make a great spot for the glose to the ground fly by graveyard to be located. Come out of the vertical loop, pass thru the graveyard, you loop up and away from the graveyard, but then get a good look at the backside of the graveyard as you come out to the end of the ride and hit the brake run. The valley may be a huge deterant to what I'm envisioning though. I'll throw this in as well, for the newly rethemed The Bat, they don't need to do a ton. I believe Don said there wouldn't be significant changes to the station, but as I mentioned in the other thread, I'd love to see them do some sort of Cave Moteef (sp?) at the bridge that you pass under when walking to the ride, like your entering/exiting The Bat Cave. A handful (actually many handfuls) of pretend rocks/boulders and some pretend moss could do the trick. I wouldn't think it would be all that expensive and really add to the whole experience.

As pointed out above, they have new management and perhaps a new style. I don't think anyone is hoping/asking for theming that is over the top Disney style, but some simple grave markers (which they could "borrow" from the haunt at no cost) and what not within the que, near the entrance and mixed into a handful of points on the ride where the train swoops close to the ground could go a long way. Meanwhile, over at The Bat, all they would have to do is transform the facade around the bridge that you pass under while walking to the ride to resemble a Cave in some nature and you'd make a lot of people happy. Time will tell, but so far in Matt O's tenure, it certainly feels like more attention is being paid to the "small" things in the park, not just building the biggest rides money can buy each season.

I know many have requested a re-positioning of the "new" cam. My assumption has always been that the close up cam in that area wasn't put in for the constrution of the coaster (though it was an added bonus) but rather for the construction of the theming back in that area. That spot would support a "graveyard type" setting as you swoop out of the Batzel and vertical loop and into the end of the ride. At least that is my hope, seems like a good spot for a handful of grave markers, perhaps some fog effects as well.

One can hope. Be careful with that organ. After all, it's nearly 96. Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoXchAFp5Hw

^^^ you could have had one, for about $5 towards the end of last season.

I've read that Scooby's Ghoster Coaster wasn't exactly friendly to half of our population. As for my self, that is one coaster I have no knowledge due to its life span. Used to go to KI a couple times a summer as a kid, up thru high school, then about once a year in high school, then I hardly attended for many years until meeting my wife, a former employee who loves KI, then after the 1st child hit 3 we purchased season passes and have been regulars. The Ghoster Coaster was built and demolished somewhere between when I was a regular park attendee thru HS and when we had our first child, I'm sure it was in the park for a handful of visits, but Planet Snoopy wasn't a priority at that time. I'd love to see a POV video, the best I've seen are a couple of stills, but I have only a rough concept of the coaster. For someone that remembers The Deamon and The Bat, took many a spin on King Cobra and rode SOB both with the loop and without, its the one coaster in KI's lifetime that I have the least amount of knowledge about; none first hand, not much more second hand.

Would you care to specify on that a little more, considering I can't find any news concerning No Coaster Con on the internet. good luck getting Terp to reveal what his cryptic messages mean, best you can do is interpret them and hope you find a clue.

The ride was always a walk on the days we went last season (though that only included 1 sunday, which was a busy sunday, everything else was mid week in the evenings). With Banshee opening up, plus the theme/color change, I expect The Bat to have some wait times this season. It was kind of nice, as our 5 year old hit the 48" mark last season, but we still have a 1 year old, so we could go over in that area, let her out of the stroller, Mom could ride with our son, then about 5 minutes later, I could hope on with our son, all while our 1 year old got some time to walk around and stretch her legs.

The park has been open on Easter Sunday in years past. What will be interesting though is to see if the company that's bought the park out the first Sunday the past few years will be buying the park out on Easter, on another Sunday in April, or at all. My wife (before I knew here) and her mother went on Easter Sunday some years back. Apparently everyone else in their family (her father passed away when she was 12) was out of town or tied up, so they headed over after church and she said the park was practically empty, as little attendance as she had ever seen (and she's worked there for 3 or 4 years). If its open Easter Sunday this year, I'd expect the park to be pretty quite. Banshee could change that story a bit as the anticipation might bring more people to the park, not to mention the people in town for Easter that wouldn't have made KI a priority at this time, may decide to go for a couple of hours to get on the new ride. I have my doubts that the company that bought out KI on the sunday following opening weekend in the past (but didn't do last year) won't be buying out the park on Easter Sunday this year. It would be very tough to convince enough employees to give up their Easter Sunday (and possibly spring break plans) to make it worth while.

Shhh...Let me tell you a little story about a man named shhh! shhh! even before you start. That was a pre-emptive shh! Don, part time grave digger?

^^^ as others have said, yes,yes it is.

I don't know how to post the picture, but if you look b/w the vertical loop around the lift hill and the bottom of the lift hill, you'll see a building in the background that almost looks like it could be the loading station for The Bat (its an optical illusion based upon the angle of the camera) You can't really tell now w/ the snow, but there is a multi-colored roof over the building (I think there is some red, blue & white, but can't recall for sure), that is the old station for Son of Beast and now the home of Wolfpack, which is only open for the Haunt. That is where some claim the camera to be (and it makes sense based upon what its showing)

Adventure Express doesn't have a huge lift hill, nor a steep drop. There are no inversions and practically no air time (perhaps literally no air time?). So there for, for the person who has learned to brave the big, inverting coasters of KI, its "boring" However, it provides the best laterals in the park, has pretty decent speed for its size and is well themed. Its a great "break 'em in" coaster for kids who have just hit the 48" mark and aren't brave enough to get on The Beast, Racer or Vortex. Lines are generally short and if there is someone in the group that is not interested in coasters, there are two great sitting areas by the entrance/exit. The Bier garden and the benches by the waiting area watching people attempt the ladder climb both make good people watching spots. I'd argue its the most family friendly coaster in the park outside of Planet Snoopy (perhaps even counting Planet Snoopy). If you're expecting something similar to The Beast, Diamondback or The Racer you're going to be dissapointed, but that is not what the ride is suppose to be. Its a nice change of pace to the towering coasters spread thru out the park and offers a nice alternative within the coaster lineup at KI.

plenty of people like Adventure Express (including this guy), just sit back and wait for the stream of people who tell you that its among the best, if not the best mine car style coaster in the country.

The thing that picture tells me most, aside from the vast elevation change, was that B&M did an incredible job incorporating the terrain into the ride. You'll come out of the vertical loop around the lift hill, raise up to the zero - G roll, then all of a sudden, you're on a huge descent into the bottom of the valley, its going to feel like you're coming off another lift hill. I believe the intial drop is 150', I wonder how much drop there is from the top of the zero-G roll down to the bottom of the track in that area.

I thought perhaps my lyin' eyes were decieving me as I swore before lunch it was up, and now its gone. I'm glad to know my eyes still show the truth.

Looks like they've been busy putting up the final supports for the Batzel, which means the track should be going up shortly to tie it all together (these are the supports that are sittng at a fairly steep angle like we've seen in several places on this ride, and would appear like supports you wouldn't want to sit around too long w/o being tied back into the track to give them full stability) anyhoo, I'm guessing the Batzel is in place sometime in the next hour or two.

I've never been to Dick's last Resort, so I can't comment on the quality of food, nor the atmosphere other than what I've read/heard 2nd hand, but I figured foot pricing would be easy to research. Now, I'll assume prices vary slightly based upon location and are not exact for any particular location. here is the "to go" menu from the location in San Antonio that I found on the web: http://www.dickslastresort.com/images/Menus/SA_ToGo.pdf A bucket of Ribs & chicken wings, dinner portion runs $17.99 assuming that is the latest. There is nothing on that particular menu about "an orer of wings" at some places and "order of wings" can vary from 6 to 10 to 12, to 18, 24, 36..... So an order of wings could be rather large or rather small. The menu doesn't list the amount of wings, nor the amount of ribs, but I'd assume the combination of both would be more than enough to fill the average consumer. If we assume a roughly 20% tip, a dinner bill of $70 with a 20% tip, rounded up to the nearest $5 would get you to $85. Lets be generous and and round the wings up to $20 to make the math easy, and that would leave you with $50 in drinks, or $25 per drink. Can you spend $25 on a single drink? Absolutely. At Dick's? I doubt it, though like I said I've never been so I don't know what their bar is stacked with. Put some high priced whiskey in there or a fancy glass of wine and I could see a price tag that high, however those type of prices and drinks are generally reserved for your higher end restaurants as a chain like Dick's or its equivalent isn't going to sell enough volume of those high priced drinks. there is nothing under the "booze" section of their website that list a single drink (beer or otherwise) approaching anything near $25; however there were bottles of wine for $21 to $27. The closest single drink was an $11.50 angry orchard "big *** beer" in a "keeper glass". They do have a page dedicated to magaritas, but they list no price that I could find. I doubt a single margarita run $25 based upon the other prices I've seen. So in short, the review claiming 2 drinks and an order of wings ran them $85 is bunk in my opinion. Either the price is exagerated, or the size of there drink is exagerted. I've enjoyed an entire bottle of wine to myself, I've even had 2 full bottles of wine while sitting in Bordeaux on a Sunday afternoon with friends with nothing to do but wait for the train to depart later that evening. While I certainly over indulged, I'd never say I had just "2 drinks" I had a boat load of drinks, just came out of 2 bottles.

I don't need no stinking live web cam to know the ride is not complete; I can use my own stinkin' eyes as I drive past KI twice each day. My lyin' eyes may decieve me from time to time, but they can't trick me believing a coaster with gaps is complete.

looks like they've "threaded" the pretzel batwing. two sets of supports and some track left and the Batwing will be "finished"