medford

I love how that starts out "in a fog"

Regarding construction, looks like they've got the underslab steel up in place today on the transfer table, I wonder if they'll pour concrete for that portion soon, or if they'll wait for the station to be built and make both pours at once. There should be a decent amount up by the time the Haunt rolls around. I'd imagine many of the regulars are done visiting KI until the Huant rolls around and they'll be quite a few checking out the views from the Eiffel Tower/drop zone/ etc..

^^^ Makes sense w/ your comments about the trees. OP mentioned the skyline off the highway, I don't think most realize just how much you can see from the highway unless your making that trek on a regular basis. It really is quite impressive and screams to the average travel to come "play with me"

Not to mention, Flying Ace Arial Chase, Surf Dog, Woodstock Express, The Racers, Flight of Fear (building obviously), Firehawk, Flight Deck, Vortex, The Beast, Congo Falls, Invertigo, a huge water park (well 2 actually, but one has to look to both sides of the highway), Drop Zone.... Need I continue? I've seen lots and lots of rides on my daily travels up and down I-71. You'll be able to see this ride pretty easily from I-71. You can also see much more than "the tops of Delirium over the trees" from 71, I've seen it in mid swing many, many times on my way home, and even saw it in mid swing at 7:50am the morning of Banshee's announcement.

Says the man who claims he gets bored on B & M forceless coasters....Ironic?

How were the crowds? I know your day was cut short, so that would factor in, don't know what day you went either but here is why I ask. I drive north on 71 from work at least 5 days a week, past KI on the right, past the Beach on the left. A few years ago, seems like there was always a little line for the Big Red slide near the interstate, and I'd usually catch a rider coming down. This year, I've only seen a few people up on the platform, I've yet to see anyone actually coming down the slide. Limited opportunity I know, but its adds up over the coarse of a season. Similar stories on the other slides in that area, the lines don't appear to be as long as I remember from seasons past. I'd like to see the park succeed, the new owners put in a good chunk of money, but from my observations, it doesn't look like crowds are what they used to be. With that said, its been a terrible year for waterparks. The weather has been pretty mild, how many days have we had in the 70s or low 80s? I'm not even sure if we've crawled much above 90. Last year we had several days of 100 or near 100 degree heat, many days of 90+, days that are perfect for a waterpark.

That's what I've always thought, about labor day being busy, but I've heard on here that sunday and especially monday are pretty light. Can anyone confirm past history?

Didn't see this mentioned here yet, I know it was popular w/ people on the board last year, think I may try and take advantage of it this year... Dollar Days « Go Back 08/31/13, 09/01/13, 09/02/13 You don't want to miss Labor day Weekend at Kings Island. Dollar Days are back August 31 through September 2 with $1 Visit Kings Island over Labor Day Weekend, August 31 through September 2, and enjoy $1 Hot Dogs, $1 LaRosa’s Pizza, $1 $1 Blue Ice Cream and $1 Cotton Candy. Park visitors will also have an opportunity to play games at select locations for $1 or less and take advantage of special deals and discounts on merchandise including 50 percent off 40th anniversary merchandise at Spotlight Souvenirs, Lotsapalooza and Emporium (excludes souvenir coins and 40th anniversary drink bottles). A memorable day at the park will be capped off with fireworks shows Saturday, August 31 and Sunday, September 1. Park hours are from 10am to 10pm Saturday, August 31 and Sunday, September 1 and 10:00am to 8:00pm on Labor Day, Monday, September 2. View below the food. Games and merchandise deals: Food Deals: $1 Cotton Candy $1 Hot Dogs at Tower Grill and the Hot Dog Grill in Soak City $1 Blue Ice Cream at Scream Zone in Action Zone and Blue Ice Cream in Planet Snoopy $1 LaRosa’s Pizza at International Street, Festhaus, Rivertown Pizza and Coconut Cove Cafe in Soak City Game Deals: $1 per climb Rope Ladder $1 per swing Hi Striker $1 per play Plinko $1 all children’s instant win games $1 Coney Pong $1 per ball Goblet $0.50 a ball Short Range Plus, buy Your 2014 Gold or Platinum Season Pass at the lowest price during Dollar Days and be entered to win great prizes! I don't believe I've seen anything on 2014 season pass prices yet.

some one said they'd make it on 9/13 (friday the 13th) True or not, I don't know, but someone does.

youngstud, You like to talk about going to the park w/ your wife and 1 year old (I think) daughter a lot. I don't know about you, but this announcement increases the odds that I'd attend Dollywood in the next season or three. We have a 5 year old that will ride anything in the 48" and under range and a 1 year old not old enough to do anything but the merry go round at this point. I've never been to Dollywood, but the vibe I get is that its main audience is people in my target range, give or take 5 years w/ their kids ages that don't want the travel/cost associated w/a full week at Disney. I'm actually as excited about this announcement as I was Wild Eagle 2 years back. Edit, I see that your daughter is older, which makes sense now that I recall you stating your wife and you split time riding solo/going to Planet Snoopy. Anyways, the point remains, not all attendees want 300' tall mamoths, some want things they can experience w/ their children and not all children will ride a 300' tall ride or a multi inversion twister, nor will all adults, but from what I see, that is a ride that more people can experience together. I can't speak for all, but my fondest memories of amusement parks don't include going on Magnum, Vortex or Big Thunder mountain as a kid/adult but include the look on my son's face as we went back and forth on Viking Fury, watching him lift his hands in the air at the age of 1 while riding Maelstorm at Epcot, watching him scream as The Beastie took us thru its short course. I wouldn't trade those memories for a thousand rides on Millenium Force or Diamondback.

smurfberry.

As far as what to eat, since you're going to be there 3 days, mix it up a bit. I've never tried the backyard BBQ, can't comment on it. The Reds Hall of Fame Grille is great. Its a sit down restaurant, but for being in the park, the prices are pretty resonable, very similar to most sit down casual joints in any strip mall across the county. The smoked turkey leg, if that is your thing, is great, but be sure to get it "fresh" light crowds could lead to one perhaps sitting around a while, which could dry it out. The lady who ofter works the booth over by Adventure Express is one of the happiest park employees I've ever meet. Don't know if she'll still be working, she's told me she has like 3 or 4 different jobs depending on the time of the year. I think LaRosa's pizza in general is ok, not great (though I love the sauce), I think LaRosa's at KI is basically edible, but definently nothing special, though some on here seem to love; worth a try if you're there 3 days. I've heard good things about the cheese steaks; never had one. If you like Ice Cream, get some Graeters on International Street. Black Rasberry Chip is their best sellar, but they sell many great flavors (but not the blue ice cream soft serve), its been featured on Food Wars and other shows. They have stores as far north as Columbus, don't know if they go north of that or not, so you may not have had it before, definently worth it.

Also keep in mind, Soak City closes before the rest of the park, so if you stay past 8, you won't be able to take the train over to Soak City and walk to your car, you'll have to exist the main gates, then walk over to your car thru the main parking lot. That may or may not influence where you park, I don't believe that was mentioned above.

Did you zoom that after a screen capture? looks like they'll go vertical on all 3 rows tonight. I assume they'll tie them off w/ the horizontal steel at the top prior to wrapping up for the day, though I can't say if that is standard protocal or not.

After looking at the Web Cam again, and squinting as hard as my eyes will allow me, I think I agree w/ you now; the vertical supports are tough to see from that far away, but they do appear to be there. If there are 3 rows for the transfer station, it appears that they have gone vertical on about 1 & 3/4ths of the rows.

It appears that they are still staging the steel for erection. They may have connected some of the steel on the ground (prior to erection) or may have done some work near the footers, but from the web cam it doesn't appear that there has been have gone vertical. They've spent about the last week or so staging this area; I don't know how long that takes, but it appears like they should be going vertical soon (sometime this week if I had to guess) Once they start going vertical, I would think the main supports for the transfer area and stationg should go up pretty quick and it will take shape in "the blink of an eye"

Heights (roller coasters don't generally bug me, Diamondback not at all, but I've ridden drop zone 1x in my life, and that 1x was enough for me) and Chuck Norris.

I was sitting outside of Adventure Express 2 years back I think while a couple of nieces rode it 3 or 4 times. The ladder climbing game worker, obviously bored by his lack of customers, started climbing the ladder himself. There were enough people that came thru during this 20-30 minutes that I sat there that it was pretty easy to tell what the ladder game worker was doing that made him successful each time, and what the regular customer was doing causing them to fall each time. Expand on this. OK, lets see if I can explain what I saw clearly enough thru text: As best as I could tell, the general public would pay their $2 (or whatever it costs) then climb the rope lader like you'd climb a normal lader while carrying a 100 pound backpack. Basically they'd put their hands on run 3 (eye level) and both feet on rung 1 (bottom level). They then would move their hands one at a time up to run 4, and then their feet 1 at a time to rung 2. From there they'd move both of their hands, one at a time up to rung 5, and their feet up to rung 3. Due to the sway in the rope ladder, I think this is inherantly the easiest path in the typical person's mind to keep them from tipping over. However, since each person only using 2 rungs as their pivot points, they're in fact not very stable. Its actually the exact opposite of what you'd experience on a stationary ladder like you'd use at home or a job site where you'd go up 1 rung at a time when you were scared of heights or carrying up something heavy.. What I saw a couple of different operators doing at various times thru the course of 2 seasons was they would start w/ their left (or right) hand on rung 3 and the opposite hand on rung 4, their left (or right) foot on rung 1 and their opposite foot on rung 2. Then they'd proceed to move their left hand from rung 3 to rung 5, then their left foot from rung 1 to rung 3, they'd follow that action by moving their opposite hand from rung 4 to rung 6, then their opposite foot from rung 2 to rung 4. By doing this, you always have 3 pivot points on the ladder and if you make the move quickly, you quickly have 4 pivot points to help you balance. I imagine it takes some core strength as well to help balance you out and you also want to keep your hands/feet to the outside of each rung as move up the ladder so that you "spread" the vertical ropes as far apart as possible, giving you more stability on your climb. If it were free, I'd give it a try, but I have no interest in the prizes to spend the money to see if what I was visualizing would hold up in action.

It may have been taken out when the expanded the backporch biergarden, or they likely just covered it up, you can't see it today I don't believe. I didn't pay attention the 1 time I rode it, but the footer for the old boat dispaly outside of race for your life charlie brown is still in the "pond" in front of the loading station.

If they could make this include your season pass info (and just as importantly your picture coming up on the transaction screen so some random person couldn't steal your bracelt and use it quickly) and I'd consider doing this. Otherwise, carrying my wallet in my back pocket has worked alright for me.

There are footers left over from the skyride, King Cobra, The Bat, various points around the railroad. They've left the station for SOB in place and the building from TR:TR for use during the haunt (and storage during the season). Its pretty easy to make out where part of the old camp ground used to be, the old parking lot trolley cars sit out in the graveyard, italian stunt job logos on control panels, etc... memories of KI's history lurk all over the park. Sometimes those can be used for something else from a new ride (like the old Bat station) to storage (flight commander que) to a new experience (ie SOBs station becoming a haunt), sometimes its just cheaper to leave things in place, like footers. there is cost involved any time you remove something, the average park attendee probably doesn't notice most of these things, so leaving them in place causes no harm and leave for the potential that they could be used down the road.

jc, I get the impression you don't have kids, but from someone that does, I'm not above using bribes. Bribes typically include "get thru church w/ no timeouts and you we'll get XYZ (restaurant of his choice) for dinner/lunch, do this, and we'll read an extra book before nap/bed time, stay (and walk) w/ me thru Krogers and we'll spend 5 minutes in the toy area so you can play w/ the cars before checking out, etc.... so I see no problems w/ someone bribing someone or a kid to get on a ride that they are otherwise healthy enough to ride. I don't think teasing is a good way to get that accomplished, especially from a parent (I guess a little light teasing isn't too bad, but parents should know where to draw the line and stop short) but I understand why a group of 13 year olds would push beyond the limits to get their friends on something. The question for me, is what age to start something like that. With our 5 year old, there was never any need to get him to jump on a ride he was tall enough. Viking ship & Woodstock express a week prior to his 3rd birthday, he loved it (though the back seat on Viking Fury got him a little nervous that summer). Boo Blasters on his first trip, it became a "must ride" on every trip, often first. Drop Zone, Vortex, The Beast at night at 5? He loved every minute of it. Honestly, at that age, if I had to bribe him to get on something, it wouldn't be worth it. But at age 8? I'd probably offer up something, but not until they were more than grown into the ride. One of my biggest fears getting him on The Racers a few weeks back was that he was so small that he'd potentially bounce his head off the lap bar or something. Hands up thru the 1st three hills, then I think gravity took over and he started holding on. He still came a little too close to the lap bar for my comfort, so I kind of braced him over the last couple of bunny hills until he got used to it, but now that he's a few rides into it, I think he's prepared for the ride and knows when and how to brace himself. I don' think I'd have the same fear w/ an equally tall 7 year old, I know I didn't when I took my niece on her first beast and Vortex rides a few years ago at 7. To Terps question, had my son fallen out or experienced some kind of ill fate, I'm not sure how I would have handled it; devasted obviously. Even though he was eager to go, heck he'd hop on Diamondback tomorrow if he was allowed, I'd feel terrible, even if it was someone I wasn't related to, much less my own son. Life is full of risk, and while they should be minimized, you certainly can't provide everything. Physically forcing someone on something they don't want to do, probably not a good idea. Pursuading someone to try a new experience when there is no reason to believe they are in danger is part of life.

Sad to hear all of this going down. We were planning a day at the park this summer as part of our Indy excurasion to the children's museum and the Indy Zoo, but my son was a shade shy of 48" at KI (actually hit the mark a week after our trip, partly I'm sure from wearing a new pair of shoes that I think are a little bit thicker) and not knowing how things differ b/w measuring someone's height at KI vs how they measure it at Holiday World we decided to hold off a year knowing that he would want to ride all 3 of the woodies, and w/o those we weren't sure we could make a half a day at the park (we also have a 1 year old, so the water park side isn't the best option for us in terms of making a full day of it, naps aside). Reading all of this makes me wonder if I want to go there next year or not. I'd like to give those rides a spin, possible before the park starts to fall into disrepair (if it goes that route, who knows), but then again, I don't want to drive all that way for a park experience that was well short of what I can get 20 min from my house at KI.

Glad to hear you had a great time. We drove by the park on our way to Costco around 11:00 or 11:30 saturday morning and the parking lot looked packed. I was thinking about this thread and hoping you got there for ERT and to get most of her first rides in by the time the crowds starting funneling in, glad to see it worked. Now you just have to get back there some night before the park closes to get her a night ride on The Beast and her season will be complete

I was sitting outside of Adventure Express 2 years back I think while a couple of nieces rode it 3 or 4 times. The ladder climbing game worker, obviously bored by his lack of customers, started climbing the ladder himself. There were enough people that came thru during this 20-30 minutes that I sat there that it was pretty easy to tell what the ladder game worker was doing that made him successful each time, and what the regular customer was doing causing them to fall each time.