medford

I've never been on a saturday during the haunt, only on a sunday (with kids) Some suggestions, get there early, so even if there are crowds you can get a good amount of rides in before the park gets really packed. Saturdays in the fall are typically busy times for families, soccer games, football, school stuff, etc... I wouldn't expect the early morning/afternoon to be too crowded. Get your kids measured when you get into the park, they'll give them wrist bands to wear so they don't have to be measured on each ride. There is a measuring station in Planet Snoopy b/w boo blasters and the great pumpkin coaster. There is also one by the front gate, to the left of the fountains and where you buy your fast passes. Its kind of tucked back into a corner, but if you go past the stroller rental area you should see it on your right. Have an idea of your kids heights before you go and consult the parks website for what they can ride. My son recently turned 5 and just millimeters away from reaching 48", though he's pretty tall for his age, he's super excited to get on The Racers, beast, etc... however you don't want to hype up those rides if your 5 year old won't be able to ride. On the flip side, also keep in mind that your 5 year old isn't confined to just Planet Snoopy. White Water Canyon and Congo Falls (though in late october those may not be good choices, they may even be shut down?) are 46" height restrictions. Viking Fury is 40", Monster and Scrambler are 36" (one may be 40" can't recall exactly), shake rattle and roll is 42" I believe. One of the best things the park does, is turn their Dinosaurs Alive exhibit into a treak or treat w/ the dinosaurs in the fall. you still have to pay the upcharge ($5 a person I think), but the kids will get various candy or trinkets at several stations spaced thru the walk. The dinos themselves are pretty neat and if you haven't been in so long, I'd recommend that trick or treat with the dinos option. The water park is shut down, but they turn it into a kids haunt area. There are games, mazes, a foaming pit (might want a change of clothes, lots of kids wear costumes as well), etc... in that area. Its pretty well done. You can park over there and take the train to the main area, which will put you relatively close to Planet Snoopy, or you can park by the main entrance and take the train over to the water park/kids haunt area. If you get there early enough, and your 5 year old is 44" tall, get on flying ace arial chase early. The line moves slowly and it may be too long of a wait later in the day (even on a non busy day). If you want to do woodstock whirly birds, I'd do that early as well. Honestly, its pretty boring, and the lines moves very, very slowly, so if you can get on it when there is no line you're much better off. The rest of everything in Planet Snoopy moves fairly quickly.

that's because those drawings are not meant to show the coaster or any of the supports, its mearly for the footers. The coaster is drawin in lightly as a single line as a point of reference, its intended to blend into the background so it doesn't clutter up the footers that the plan is intending. That is a fairly common practice in construction. Show heavily the stuff that you are responsible, lighten up everything else so people know what they are responsible for. Drawing even states that its shown for reference only.

Unless he was super dilligent, you could tell pretty easily if he whited out parts of the page, then drew over it by hand.

I was at the Indy zoo late last week. Its definently smaller than the cincy zoo, but dare I say that it felt more immersive??? The rhinos were maybe 5 feet from us, I like how they extended the bridge out to a canopy that puts you more in the middle of their area. My son enjoyed their coaster, mother was kind of blah (essentially a bigger version of the great pumpkin coaster at KI, even goes around twice). Dolphin show wasn't all that impressive, they spent too much time talking, not enough time showing off how high the dolphins can jump and flip; that part was free, so tough to complain, but I wouldn't do that 20 minute show again. The Dog show was awesome, had dogs catching frisbees, doing stunts, even had a beagle sniff a mother's sweatshirt that her son had rubbed his hands on. The kid rubbed his hands on it, then went and sat down in the first row, they brought the beagle out (he's used on a search and rescue mission to find missing people), he sniffed the sweatshirt (the kids were now sitting approx 3 or 4 rows in front of their mother in the first row), walked out to the middle, outside of the roped off area, immediatly turned left towards the kids, sniffed along the row of people in the first row, went past probably a good 50 people and jumped right up on the bench next to the kid who had rubbed his mother's sweatshirt on his hands. Really, really impressive. The desert (reptile area) was closed, the new construction for the orangatang exhibit looked impressive. It appears they are going to have some sort of skilift type ride that takes you up near platforms where the animals will be hanging out. Definently looks like it will be cool. The shark petting area was cool as well.

Then I am of the belief that KI paid SSA to make an additional set of documents that were faked and leaked them as a PR stunt. Probably nothing will happen to KI itself, other than announcement of project 2014. If they were faked, for whatever reason, nobody will really care. In all honesty, looking at the already poured footers and the plan, the first part of the ride makes complete sense to me, they could change what is in the back of the ride, the parts that are hard to see from the tower and/or not poured yet, but too much lines up for those plans not to be fairly accurate.

It would be very difficult to do get the "real" documents from the city, then alter them your self. It would be a complete waste of time, and possibly illegal. There is a standard disclaimer that SSA (and many other companies) put at the bottom of their drawings stating that the information contained on the plan is the exclusive property of SSA and not to be used without the written consent of SSA. If KI didn't like someone sneaking onto the property in the middle of the night, SSA isn't going to like someone taking their documents and altering them w/o their consent and likely wouldn't appreciate KI attaching a link to the doctored documents. Those prints are real, generated by SSA. They are, IMHO a version (may not be the most up to date) that are being used to build the footers for this attraction, or it may be a "fake" set created by SSA to help KI w/ a PR stunt. It is very unlikely that anyone outside of SSA generated those plans.

I tend to believe they're real as well, too much wasted energy to pull off a fake set of documents. I doubt the city of mason would be involved, what incentive do they have? Its not like KI can just pick up all their rides and relocate to West Chester. There is no incentive for Mason to keep a fake set of documents on record for a PR stunt.

Well for starters, those documents wouldn't have to be the one's submitted to the city, is there anything indicating that those are the exact documents issued to the building department? If those are not the real prints, then that means KI asked/paid SSA to make those prints and subsequently leak them as a diversion. SSA isn't going to just make a 2nd set of documents and post them on the internet on their own. Those documents are either very much real (and leaked either on purpose by KI PR or without KI's consent by someone who had access to them) and exactly what the park is building, or those documents are faked at the request of KI as a diversion leading up to the announcement. Why would KI leak the documents? To help build awareness and hype. As you can see, despite these documents sitting being out there, there are still people hoping they are fake and a Giga is coming to that site. It doesn't matter how many clues or diversions the PR department leaves us, there will always be people hoping the hints are diversions and their dreams are about to come true. Blue Prints for Diamondback were found and seen prior to the announcement, people saw the renderings and digitally created POV for gatekeep prior to the announcement. If these documents are factual, it won't be the first time this has happened either intentionally by the park, or by someone looking to scoop everyone else. I guess my point is, some people seem to think these could have been created by someone that has no connection to the ride, just someone messing around; I don't think that's possible, far too much work. I think these were created on purpose, either as a PR stunt by KI or as the actual set of plans to build the ride. The park could have tweeted about it b/c, if true, anyone that really wanted to know about the plans, probably already knew about them. Plus seeing the general amount of confusion, it seems the average person has no idea how to read a set of plans.

Second son, you are correct, I meant camp washington chili, nice catch

FWIW, The structural engineer listed on those drawings is very much a real company, and those are very much the company's most current logo and information. If I was the stamped engineer on those drawings, and they were fake, I'd be ****ed, I'll say that much. That alone leads me to believe they are real. But if you need further proof that those drawings were done on purpose (perhaps just a diversion, but seemingly unlikely, said structural company involved has worked on many Ki projects in the past (and I just found out according to their web site has done work at carowinds as well) Furthermore, said company has worked on many of the footings in the past. I didn't look all that closely at the prints until today, which drove me to dig up this: http://schaefer-inc.com/project/cedar-fairs-kings-island-carowinds-cincinnati-ohio/ I knew they had an entire section of their current building dedicated to entertainment structures, I didn't know they worked specifically on roller coaster footers until I saw those prints on youtube today and went to their website. I've worked with them on building construction, so I've never dealt with that end of their business before, and didn't even think about what they did in their entertainment structures prior to this. They've done quite a bit at KI according to their website. I'm pretty sure those prints are real, if there was any doubt, could be a diversion by the park, and not exactly what they are going to build, but those prints were made intentionally, only arguement is if they were released intentionally.

He's probably pretty well tied up trying to get everything ready for Thursday. I have no idea what all goes into an announcement of this scale, but I'm sure its a lot more than most of us realize. He has to make sure all the right people are taken care of, all the major and minor media sources in the area show up, accomidations are made for their equipment, vans, reports, etc... he's got to make sure the VIP packages are taken care of, the stage is set. The announcement might not start until 10:00 pm, but I'm guessing Don's day will be pretty well packed on thursday making sure everything comes together and the people that need to be taken care of, are indeed taken care of as they visit/tour the park earlier in the day.

Dixie, Fort Washington, Skyline.... there are a lot of good chili places around the cinci area, Gold Star isn't one of them in my opinion (but hey, the fans of their joint make the wait at skyline that much shorter for me, so cheers all around)

I was there on 7/31 as well. We left the kids at the sitter and my wife and I took in the morning/early afternoon at KI. We both got the Red Leg Burger. It was pretty good (not great, but rarely do I find a burger at a restaurant "great" as they're often overcooked a shade for safety sakes (and I can't blame them for that), the toppings on the burger were excellant, the fries were amazing and the lemonade was solid (though i'm assuming, as advertised it was just fountain lemonade, not some fresh made version). the inside of the place w/ all of the displays was great, service was solid (we may have been the first customers of the day as we got there shortly after 11:30), and you can't beat the price for the quality of food you get inside of KI. Sure its a bit more expensive than the pizza, but its 10x better than the pizza in the park. I don't think I've ever left larosas at KI and felt stuffed, I felt stuffed leaving the Reds Hall of Fame Grille, couldn't finish the burger and fries. I'd honestly go to a similar experience outside of the park for the exact same price. Overall I'd give it an 8 or 9 out of 10. I'll definently head back again to sample something different, perhaps something a little smaller or split a couple of apps. There were a couple of couples that got there near the end of our meal that were splitting a buffalo dip app that looked pretty good. It was hard to narrow down what I'd eat off the menu, lots of options looked good. its easily the best food experience I've had in the park; I've come to have pretty low expectations for most of the food at KI, this raised it up a notch.

I skipped over a ton that I missed over the last few days, but some thoughts.... Those prints look awfully darn real to me. If they are fake, someone has a background cad file of ki, which would be fun to play with. Spelling mistakes occur often, we've had stuff misspelled from one job to the next for well over a decade now. When it's trivial, you are worried more about the big picture and minute detail, the people installing are not going to care if the spelling is correct, as long as they know what you are telling them to do. If the prints are real, ride looks great to me

Gemini jr? Shoot the rapids?

I don't know what the policy is exactly, but we've walked into the park w/ water bottles sitting in the cup holders of our kids stroller and no body has ever said anything. I believe the official policy is that they allow things like that for small kids to meet their nutrional needs, but we've never had anyone check our diaper bag with either kid. You can get as much free water as you want in the park, you can even get 2-3 or more (if you can carry them by yourself) at a time, so carrying in a watter bottle does you no favors as you have to find a place to put it when you get on a ride. Wear comfortable shoes. That should be obvious, but I (and perahps many) have shoes that are great for running up to the grocery, quick erands, a quick stroll around the neighborhood, etc... however put a couple of miles on them at a time, and they start rubbing into parts of my foot and making them uncomfortable. Depending on what you ride, how you move from attraction to attraction, how long you're there, etc... you may well put in 10+ miles on your day at KI. Last think you want is a pair of shoes that has you calling it quits half way thru. I'd suggest cargo shorts, or shorts that you can safely secure personal items (phone, keys, wallet, etc..) rollercoasters can swing you around quite a bit, you definently don't want your phone or keys dropping out of your shorts in the middle of Diamondback.

I think its awesome that Don put that tweet up about apples, something that the general public would take as a marketing tweet, something that KICentral would take as a shout out letting us know that he's following along. Well played Don, well played. He is in Ohio's playground afterall.

It can only be found by those that know where it is.

Yes someone is. Haha..Fell into that one. I meant from KIC. Puddin tane Ask me again and I'll tell you the same.

Yes someone is.

Pennywise takes many forms, perhaps the form of a Banshee even.

would be my guess as well. nothing visable in the parking lot, driving on 71S about 70 mph (obviously not the best vantage point)

You do realize that August 3 is Saturday...IMO, that's some pretty bad PR/marketing to announce a major attraction on the weekend. Perhaps season passes for 2014 go on sale on Aug 3, for $94.45 Oh, and the website is working for me, see nothing special up there other than the ticket deal/susan G Komen ad.

How 'bout this off the wall idea. They're not announcing project 2014 A day this summer, b/c they're going to announce it at Winterfest 2013? They have an announcement that the announcement will take place in December at the opening of Winterfest. So not only do they builp up additional hype for project 2014, but they ensure that the first day of winterfest is well attended. Meanwhile, once the haunt shuts down, steel starts going vertical so that all you can see is the begining of steel going up from the parking lot/I-71. File that under the "not going to happen" section, but I think it would be hard to build up much more hype than doing something along that route.

Remember... a few weeks before big announcements, both Cedar Point and Kings Island are known for their Media Invitations... Giant, tagged bolt for Diamondback, Moonshine Bottle in "wooden" trunk for Shoot the Rapids, and "Wanted" posters for Maverick have all made it to my desk. I was going to say something similar (not that KI is going to send me a promotional item), but don't expect a revealing of the project this week. At most an announcement of the announcement would be coming, but one key item in marketing/PR, make sure you get as big a bang as possible for any large announcement. They're not going to reveal the ride in the middle of the night on twitter, they're going to make sure news sources, coaster groups, etc... are all aware several days, if not weeks prior to the announcement so they can get as many people covering the announcement as possible.