medford

Its not always as easy as "hey" or "get back" My 5 year old son is borderline ADHD (some of the tests for it he matches, some of the tests he passes). We've had long had trouble with him "wondering off" at KI. Generally speaking we keep a good eye on him, and if he gets to far away, we make him sit on a bench and "he owes us a minute" which worked pretty well this year. For ADHD kids, sitting still or walking in an ordely manner is not as easy as it is for everyone else, their minds wonder, their body wonders, they find distractions in everything. As I said, he's borderline, may just be maturity issues as he's always been imature for his age (which is made worse as he's generally much bigger than kids his age so he looks like he should be 7 rather than just turning 5) and recognize there are people that have it much, much worse than us. From that perspective I completly understand why a parent might put their kid on a leash. 10 years ago, I probably would have thought it stupid, if not abuse. Today, having lived life as a parent I completely understand. The parents who put their kids on a leash are more than likely putting it on there b/c they love their child, but also recognize the difficulties the kid faces, not because they want to punish the kid. My guess is that for each parent that has a kid on a leash at Kings Island or a much busier place like Disney would gladly give the cost of 100 leashes just so their kid could be "normal". Voicetek, the only people that would look at you in that situation and think "you much be horrible parents" are people who have never had to walk in your shoes and be resposible for someone like your autitistic nephew in a place as crowded as Disney. For every one person who judged you, there were probably 4-5 parents that "got it"

Backlot Stunt Coaster's too intense for a family ride? Try telling that to my 5 year old. Maybe he's not the typical 5 year old having been on Vortex, Drop Zone, Beast, etc... or maybe he is, but I'd have a hard time labeling that ride as "too intense to be a family ride" In many ways, I think its the perfect ride for that 5-8 (or older in many cases) that have outgrown (either physically or mentally) the rides in Planet Snoopy, but haven't quite grown up (again either physically or mentally) enough for rides like Diamondback, Invertigo, Banshee, Firehawk, etc... Adventure Express is another ride like that. For a park that claims it wants to provide "the best day of the summer" for families, I personally think they need more rides like those two, where mom, dad and child, perhaps even grandpa can all ride comfortably together, while still getting a little roller coaster thrill. Congo Falls... I'll admit, it has long since fit the theme of the area it resides in when it was first built and rarely have I had to wait for more than a boat or two when riding it last season, but I saw someone on here talk about how it provides the best air time in the park and after "rediscovering it" this summer while waiting for our son to grow that last inch, I can't say I can argue with that opinion. The air time is brief, but is exilerating. Its likely not worth the cost, but I've long dreamed that they could turn the timberwolf area into a long, imersive boat ride experience w/ the current Congo Falls drop as the end point. I would understand why they removed the ride when it comes to that, but I will be saddened by its departure after the couple of months this summer my son and I rode both that and white water canyon while waiting for him to hit 48" and mom and little sister laughing at how wet we would be walking off those rides. Action Theater serves no use to me at the moment, but there is still great potential there. Would love to see a "Soarin'" type attraction go in there if it could fit. No idea what it would costs, but there is no reason to tear the building down unless they're going to put something else there that couldn't fit somewhere else. Those seem to be the popular choices, so what is mine? I've got two.. Snoopy Splash Dance. Its a great concept and fairly popular, but the concept of having your chile go in on one side, and come out on the exact opposite side in a time frame that limites your chance as an adult to get around the attraction to actually see your child come out is mind numbing. I wouldn't let my children do that unless both mom & I were there, one at the entrance one at the exit. I've never actually heard of any problems arising from that setup, but its just ripe with potential for a kid to wonder off in the wrong direction, or even worse. If they could re-work so the kids would exist that attraction from the same side they entered it, it would ease my mind unbelievable. There appears to be ample room to make that happen. My other attraction, snoopy junction. Snoopy Junction sits in an area of Planet Snoopy I call the "lost world". You have Peanuts off road Ralley, Snoopy Junction and Linus' Beattle bugs all tucked in behind Surf Dog. Even on busy days, that particular part of Planet Snoopy is usually pretty quite. Linus' Beattle Bugs is great (well it looks great, no adults allowed), while the Off road rally looks incredible boaring, though I can see its attraction to very young kids. In between you've got Snoopy Juntion sitting on a fairly large plot of land b/w Surf Dog and the path back to the picnic area. Two problems with this attraction, its not a particularly comfortable setup for adults to sit on it, benchs are hard and at odd angles, part of the seats are for kids only (or short people) as they're partillay covered. In addition, you've got a much bigger train not too far away that everyone can ride. To top it off, I realize lines are not the pefect indicator of popularity, but consider the slow loading times, I'm not sure I've ever seen a wait more than 4-5 trains and often see empty trains cycling around. With all that said, I don't like the idea of removing a ride just to remove it, so I've got to put something in its place, something that would benefit Planet Snoopy, something that helps them fill the gap in their lineup. Great Pumpkin coaster is great for the smallest of kids. Parents can ride with their kids, you don't have to be too tall to ride it by yourself as a kid, so you can ride it with your brother or friend. Woodstock Express (40") is a great step up, actually a fairly big step up for small kids. You get some suprising air time on the 2nd drop, a great little wooden ride. After that, you've got Surf Dog, if you choose to claissy it as a coaster (which the Park does) and Flying Ace Arial Chase (both 44"). I personally think they need another 40" coaster back there if they want to keep the claim of Best Kids area in the world going forward as more parks are focusing on this part of their parks (see 6 flags claim to have the most coasters (4) in their kids area at one of their parks with next seasons addition, discouting KI's claim to Surf Dog as a coaster) A nice smooth steel coaster, I'm thinking something along the lines of the coaster at the Indy Zoo that could compliment Woodstock express as another choice in the Kids lineup there.

^^^ This isn't their first trip to the rodeo; the construction schedule and sequencing has passed thru so many eyes, people with lots of experience doing this kind of thing, I have full faith that things are progressing completely as planned.

I like the Banshee logo better, however I'm probably more apt to buy a shirt with The Bat logo on it next season.

renewing saves you the hassel of having to get your picture taken again and filling out the forms. Should there be a cost savings in renewing a pass vs purchasing a new one today? I don't know, I'm not in charge of marketing, I'd lean towards yes just in the terms that a renewal is less work for Cedar Fair/KI than getting a new pass the additional costs associated w/ the physical cost of the card and processing. However, I can't say its a rip off, those costs are minimal. For roughly $90, I'll make about 15 visits next year. Toss in my wife and son and 1 year old daughter (who won't be charged until she's 3 I believe) and as a family, we'll be spending roughly $18 to get into the park each time we visit as a family. When you consider the costs of going to the movies, measuems, places like entertainment junction, etc... the season passes that we've purchased are a down right steal, easily the most bang for the buck we get as a family.

any word on why he decided to take ride #12,000?

Saw some supports being shipped up 71N on my way into work this morning, around 8:15, I'll assume the truck is on site now, though I don't see it on the webcam. Can't imagine it unloaded that quickly.

the piece of track leading up into the vertical loop around the lift hill.

IIRC Carowinds is going to get a 300+ (presumably B & M) for 2015 according to the details/media reports from the deal they made with the state (or city?) to secure funding for improvements. That's the obvious choice for now, though it could be a number of things they have in the pipeline for one of their many parks.

well Kat, for whatever its worth, my guess about the next action has already proven incorrect, they added another piece of track, extending from the track they installed at the bottom of the dive loop, up into the element.

Kat, they've put up the track coming out of the "lift hill loop". You'll also noticed that they have started staging a set of supports by the start of the lift hill. Based upon location, the only spot those supports can go are to finish out the vertical loop around the lift hill. Someone made a pretty good point that the supports for that area are going to need to be tied into the track prety quickly based upon the angle they tie into the ground. If they are staging those, my guess is the sequence of operations is to get thru the bottom part of the vertical loop. perhaps they top off the loop this week, perhaps next week. We may not see the dive loop finished off until next week after operations commence. I should add, I've been wrong on my aspects of the sequence of operations so far, so take those as mearly guesses based upon what I'm seeing progress. That part of it has been the most interesting aspect of this for me so far.

Got ther around 11:15 or so, front gate, had to renew passes for next season, around 11:30, seemed like there were plenty left, no mad dash, no long lines, they offered me four, said I only needed two, one for each kid. All in all, pretty easy.

they've got two pieces (so far) of track installed at the bottom (end?) of the dive loop

Yes KI has thought of the possibility of deer being on the track. The trains for The Beast all have deer whistles on them to hopefully scare the deer into moving I don't know if those deer whistles work to keep deer off the track, but I do know they don't do squat to keep hawks from landing on the track just prior to impact. Eeeewwww...is this something you learned from personal experience? That would ruin your day for sure! All I can think of right now is Fabio's bloodied gob... yes, it was a few months ago (August maybe) my son was in the 2nd row, first car of The Beast, along w/ my niece, I was riding alone in the 3rd row of the first car. As we came out of the double helix and started to go down the final dip before the break run a hawk flew onto the track on the hill going up into the break run. I was "sure" the hawk was going to fly right away, but there must have been a mouse or something that he had his concentration on. I don't know how long it takes to go down that final hill and back up again into the break run, probably a second or two, but it felt like we were going in slow motion. Since there was no way I could reach ahead and protect my son in any manner, due to be locked into the ride, I kind of ducked my head as we made contact, so I didn't really see it. While sitting in the break run, I asked the people in the 1st row if we actually hit the hawk, which they confirmed we did. I wasn't sure how many people on the train saw this unfold, but once back in the station, once the lap bars were released, about half of the train, maybe more came running up to the front to see if there were any remains of the hawk. I guess The Beast got a clean shot and it bounced off to the side as no remains we plasted on the front of the train. I still can't believe that bird didn't fly away, it was a decent sized hawk.

Yes KI has thought of the possibility of deer being on the track. The trains for The Beast all have deer whistles on them to hopefully scare the deer into moving I don't know if those deer whistles work to keep deer off the track, but I do know they don't do squat to keep hawks from landing on the track just prior to impact.

My son is 5 and 48"+ as well. I looked into prior to last season as well as I was wondering, is there a savings just b/w just buying him a gold pass now (not like he can take advantage of the free parking or early entry since he'd have to be there w/ mom or dad and typically we go on weekday nights since we live in the area, but IIRC there was no savings to be had b/w buying the gold pass now, while its at its cheapest price and buying a kids regular pass closer to the season.

^^^ as mentioned above, its the same thing on this project as it is on every project, they start around the stationg b/c there is the most work to be done around the station. Once the lift hills, and all that track, erectors are out of that area, there is still a ton more to be done, concrete or pavers have to be laid, railing, landscaping, electrical work, plumbing work, etc... They're not starting w/ this portion b/c they think it will help them sell more season passes, they're starting there b/c it was the most economical way to install the entire ride.

actually, that last support for the dive loop is going up right now. edit: looks like the piece they just put in was the third leg of the most "outward" dive loop support. Still have 1 more support to put in for the dive loop.

looks like that support is sitting right there, ready to be put in place, perhaps by lunch time. Kind of makes me wonder if they'll have the dive loop finished off today, and start working towards the loop around the lift hill next week.

It was raining yesterday, they still got a lot of work done. Its not raining that hard today, they may be slowed down, but they'll still most, if not all of their scheduled work in today unless the rain/wind really pick up from where it is right now.

can't tell for sure on IE, but looks like they're installing the next support now, it would be the 2nd tallest support w/n the dive loop element. Lots and lots of progress today. Edit, switched over to firefox where I could zoom in, and I think I was wrong, doesn't look like the next support is being put in place right now, though perhaps sometime today or tomorrow? Either way, still makings lots of progress today.

So in other words, Six is saying the fault lies with either the patron who fell or the manufacturer/designer of the coaster or perhaps a combination of both? Like railrider says, they better have their maintanence logs in prime order.

looks like they've got the next set of supports up, heading into the dive loop.

Since I go during the middle of the week typically, I almost always park in Invertigo rows 47ish (give or take a few rows), so I don't pay that close of attention to what row names they have over there. I do know that all the rows generally line up w/ the ride that you'd be looking at. I know Invertigo is first on that side of the parking lot, then I believe drop zone. If they plan to keep the same setup, Banshee would have to replace one of those 2 I would think, though I'm not sure what the row names are beyond the drop zone rows, flight deck? timberwolf? With the signs already up, seems like a needless expense to change the row names in the parking lot, though some offseason parking lot improvements are needed, so perhaps new signs all around wouldn't alter the budget too much.