Joncars05

https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2019/08/holiday-world-announces-addition-of-worlds-first-launched-water-coaster/amp/?__twitter_impression=true “With the addition of Cheetah Chase, Splashin’ Safari will now be the undisputed Water Coaster Capital of the world,” adds Eckert. Its a new dueling launch water coaster from Proslide!

Its okay that you dont think that HW is a major player but they draw over 1 million people a year to SANTA CLAUS, IN!!! They are HOURS away from any major city yet still draw an attendance level on par with Kings Dominion, Dorney Park, California's Great America, and Valleyfair. Based off of attendance levels HW would be in the upper half of Cedar Fair's portfolio if it was owned by CF. I'm not saying HW or KK will take over Kings Island. Of course they won't, they dont have the financial backing of a parent company that owns 11 parks. But they are definitely major players hence why Kings Island started marketing heavy in Indianapolis with they 39.99 deal. The water park at HW is a huge draw and they make a ton of money from it. Just because its a water park doesnt mean its not a juge draw. Good luck getting to ride everything in the water park on one day during the summer. Thats where they make their money. HW is almost a multiday park especially for families. Also HW pulls from St Louis, Indianapolis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Nashville, I didnt believe it until I went to Nashville and saw multiple HW billboards and tv commercials. Small parks dont advertise in multiple states and in cities 5+ hours away. I understand most people think parks are small because they dont have a 10+ coasters and arent owned by parent companies but they still do have power in the region and luckily KI and CF have taken notice and blessed the park with 3 new coasters, new antique cars, 3 new additions to Planet Snoopy, and a slide complex in Soak City, and many adjustments (International street overhaul, grand carnival, and other additions) and made the all within 6 years. I mean they have built more coasters and had more park improvements than Cedar Point, Knotts Berry Farm, Canada's Wonderland and Carowinds have recieve in the same time. Although each of those parks have higher attendance numbers than Kings Island. I wonder why that is?

LOL! A park that has brought in over 1 million people every year since 2006 is not a small park. I remember people saying the same thing about Kentucky Kingdom when they opened up. Then after they pulled in over a million visitors with their 39.99 ticket deal, Kings Island responded to that by making their own 39.99 deal with free drinks and parking. If HW and KK were "small players" you wouldnt see the investment of new rides at KI. They have added Banshee, Mystic Timbers, Antique Cars, and this new Giga coaster in the last 6 years... HW has three world class roller coasters (Raven, Voyage, Thunderbird), three world class water rides (Wildebeest, Mammoth, and this new water coaster they are building). They are major players in the region and to diminish HW is not a wise business strategy.

I feel bad for the people who actually thought a coaster was coming to KI in 2019. There was literally ZERO evidence that a coaster was coming. No footings, no major land clearings, etc. Sure there were posters up teasing Adventure Express and Son of Beast but there were also posters all across the chain concerning multiple coasters as well. If you were truly expecting a new coaster off of two random posters and no clear construction evidence then that is on you. I for one am glad the Antique Cars are back and my kiddos will love having another fun ride to get on when we visit next year!

Tickets are $75 for the event. The first public train is $250. All tickets proceeds go to The LeBron James Family Foundation. They go on sale March 19th.

My wife and I weren't able to use our passes during the 2014 season due to her being pregnant with our first child. As long as you do not use the pass once during the previous year, you can roll that pass over to the next year for a fee. I believe the fee I paid was $30 for each pass. It is actually a great deal and I'm sure they still honor it.

So... I was at Cedar Point for opening weekend and took a photo that may or may not be of any significance to the current Mean Streak project. While in the staging area (Soak City Parking lot) taking photos of RMC Mean Streak, I noticed this car that was shrink wrapped but had the rear of the car exposed. It was next to another object the size of a small car that was shrink wrapped in the same white cover. This white cover was also covering some items next to the area where RMC track was being stored in the parking lot. My first question is has anyone ever seen anything like this at Cedar Point before, maybe during Halloweekends? The license plate says 'The Count' at the top, the "number" says 'I Heart Blood,' and at the bottom it says 'Transylvania.' I thought it was unique because the plate's color is very similar to track that is being installed on RMC Mean Streak. If this car hasn't been seen around Cedar Point does this mean we are possibly seeing a vampire-esque theme for RMC Mean Streak or does this seem like a red herring? I mean, car was perfectly set up to have the plate exposed and was the only shrink wrapped item in the parking lot that was torn or exposed. The Vampire theme could fit as they are undead beings and a vampire could come back from the Mean Streak funeral they had last year. The inversions could be like a vampire bat hanging upside down as well. I know that doesn't really fit the western theme of Frontiertown but I just found this odd. Let me know what you think below.

Its a zero-g/barrel roll the track does a complete inversion twisting the train to the right. The track appears to take a right handed turn that ends up banking 90 degrees, going under the lift hill, then heads into another roll/stengel dive/zero-g stall that will send the riders into a left hand turn. The first inversion and frame of the second inversion are photographed by me below.

Surprisingly they did when we were there 2 years ago. It was incredible. I hope they still allow it because the newer models at KI and CP are much harder to snap, IMO. I'll jump on board and say I liked Carowinds more than KD last time we were there. Carowinds park was DEAD. We went during two weekdays in late June. We left the park for lunch each day for 2 hours and we still were able to ride Fury 20+ times, Afterburn in the high teens, and Intimidator in the low teens. My advice would be to right Nighthawk first as when we went Afterburn was a complete walk on. Fury never extended more than 7 minutes, and intimidate was about a 5 minute wait when it was busy. Nighthawk was a 35 minute wait 30 minutes after the park opened. Other than that enjoy the laidback atmosphere. The employees were great when we were there. I cannot speak on the water park as we didnt visit it when we were there. But from the looks of it I would say over half of the crowd that was at Carowinds was in the water park for the majority of the day. The lines looked pretty long. Either way if you go enjoy your trip. Its a really nice park.

Do not skip Woodstock Gliders. I feel like my wife and I almost broke the ride snapping those gliders.

The time has come to find out what is in the shed! I'm not going to spoil it for anyone so don't worry you can read along. There are some theming elements relating to the lift hill and right before you enter the shed that are described. If you don't want that spoiled please don't read this. My first two rides for Mystic Timbers was in the back row and at night. I can tell you right now this ride is going to be a can't miss at night! It was dark in the woods even with an almost full moon. I was able to take the second train out for media day. The theming began with small sound bites while waiting in line that we found an abandoned truck and we are going to use it to leave the area. The line and station were both filled with eerie "Stranger Things-Esque" music. We exited the station to the sounds of a revving truck. Once past the small pre-lift section we were on the lift hill. The hill theming began with a security guard speaking over the intercom about us not being on the property and we should turn back and head home to play videogames! The nice little theming addition was that the train slowed down at the top of the lift hill and gave a final warning of us not going into the shed. Once cresting the hill we start the ride. The first drop is your classic curved drop found on other GCI coasters. After that the curve ascends to crest over the lift hill where you turn into the woods and begin your dash to the shed. The transitions are very fast. The POV doesn't really give you an example of how fast the elements actually come at you. Once over the WWC my favorite part of the ride happens. The double s turn trick track element right before the shed is an amazing mix of lateral and negative g's. The tunnel is a great addition as well signalling the "halfway point" of the ride. Outside of the tunnel you head back with more sharp curves and small airtime hill that provide a great amount of really good airtime. You cross WWC again and hit a small mini airtime hill that leads into the final curve and into the dreaded shed! Like I said before I will not spoil what is in the shed on this TR. I will however discuss one thing that I really did like in the last bit before entering the shed. There is a voice recording warning us to not go into the shed. It repeats it multiple times and as we get the closer we get to the shed the message starts to break up and become staggered. Right as we are entering the shed we hear the tape recording dying out and saying "go into the shed." I thought this was very fitting especially after witnessing what was in it. That last sentence right before going in is setting it up as we are the ones being lured into the shed by whatever is in it! That plus the warnings in general on the lift hill and theming in the station all fit together to make one solid story. I know there are some people that have said that what is in the shed doesn't make any sense but if you look up a video (I'm sure KICentral has a video on Facebook) about the backstory everything all comes together as one cohesive story! Kings Island has knocked this addition out of the park! The theming is so solid and if taken as a whole makes complete sense and elevates the story of the ride itself. This is a coaster that fills the gap between smaller coasters and the bigger ones at KI. In my opinion, this ride should cater to enthusiasts as well as the beginner coaster rider that wants to have the feel of a "big" coaster on a ride that is "only" 109 feet tall. The way the ride uses its terrain and elements gives the ride a feeling of quickness as well as feeling a bit out of control. The pacing is fantastic as well the ride itself feels as fast at the end of the ride as it did at the beginning. As for the rest of Media Day the 20 minute presentation of the ride was fantastic as well. We were able to hear from Kings Island new Vice President and General Manager Mike Koontz, Great Coasters International Senior Engineer Adam House about what this addition has meant to Kings Island and GCI. The background story of the ride and information about the special effects used on the ride was provided by Amy Steele of Holovis. Overall, I would say that Media Day was very succesful for Kings Island, Great Coasters International, and Cedar Fair. I want to thank Don Helbig for the invitation to Media Day as a member of the media as I definitely enjoyed the opportunity to experience this attraction first hand. I hope that you all get to find out what is in the shed in person very soon! Attached are 19 photos from Media Day. I am truly sorry for the large amount of photos (especially if you are using a bunch of mobile data to see them) but I wanted to share them all with you. As always thanks for reading my report! First Drop! Neat rear design on the train Mike Koontz, Kings Island VP and GM Adam House, Senior Engineer at GCI Amy Steele of Holovis Don Helbig, Public Relations Manager at Kings Island First drop! (Side Note: Apparently the dab is not dead for rider poses! haha) Sometimes you have to get artsy with the shots. Here is Mystic Timbers' reflection caught off of WWC reservoir. Airtime! The speed of this ride is really surprising! The pacing of Mystic Timbers is so great, the final airtime hill is so strong it produces a wheel gap! Track shot! Hairtime! Front Sign First curved drop and transition over the lift hill Long exposure shot of the truck/front gate of Mystic Timbers Night shot of the near full moon and track leading to the shed and lift hill. Night rides on this thing are crazy good! Airtime!

Thanks! Thanks! I use a Nikon D5300 for my photos.

My wife and I took a trip to SeaWorld Orlando. It was our first ever trip there and we were excited to check out the rides and the shows. We arrived right at rope drop and headed straight to Mako. Unfortunately, Mako was closed until 11 so we went to ride Manta. The park was DEAD all day. Every ride was a walk on or at max a two train wait for the front row. Manta was my first B&M flyer and it was pretty fun. The pretzel loop is really intense outside of that the ride was really enjoyable and reridable. The inversions were pretty fun and the dive over the water was pretty impressive as well. I thought Manta used the area and theming very well as the trees and water seemed really close. That made the ride seem like it was going faster than it really was. Our next ride with Kraken. This ride was really fun. This B&M floorless coaster is very forceful and paced well. My favorite element of the ride was the final corkscrew kind of surprising coming out of the tunnel and snaps you pretty good. The zero-g roll was outstanding as well. The last ride we went on was Mako. This B&M hyper was pretty good. The first half of the ride was really fun and filled with air time the unfortunate part is the mid-course brake run and the brakes coming out of the hammerhead turn completely neuters the second half of the ride. I believe the front two rows are actually better than the last two rows which is surprising to me since I'm all about airtime. The low to the ground airtime hill before the MCBR is very solid. It's still a very fun ride but not as good as the other hypers that I have been on. Final Ride Count: Overall, SeaWorld Orlando has a good collection of rides and although I won't review the shows we went to, all of the shows and animal exhibits were great. The animal exhibits plus the rides create a good combo for this to be a family park. The only knock that I had on the park was they didn't have very many in between rides. It was basically roller coasters or animal exhibits and shows not really much in between. It was a great park and very photogenic. Below are the photos that I took during the trip. Enjoy and thanks for reading! Manta Track Manta Flyover Manta's "Splash" Nerd shot of Manta's wheel assembly in action Manta flyover Mako nerd shot "Artsy" Mako photo Mako's turn after the MCBR Kraken heading into its tunnel Wide angle photo of Kraken's loop with a Mako train in the background Mako's gorgeous finale High speed sweep over the water Snappy Kraken inversion

I think that I what I will do the best deal that I can find in the area is at Six Flags Over Georgia. So I will probably just buy that and head to SFMM and probably add SFOG and SF St Louis to the itinerary. That way I at least get my money's worth and not fret about paying almost $90 for half a day in on park.

That's what I am worried about with SFMM. I'm going to have to spend $85 if I go there and I don't want to go and only be able to ride 4-5 coasters. Ive never been to a Six Flags park and most of the things that I have read basically talk about slow dispatch times and long lines everywhere. SFMM looks to have about 3-4 really good coasters then just okay rides for the rest of them. The crowd map that I saw say that it will be packed that Sunday. I'm hoping to somehow find a cheap ticket to get in to justify spending a Sunday there. Thanks for the tip about the time it takes to travel from SFMM to Knott's because I thought about going to Knott's that way I get more than just half a day at Knott's.