Joncars05

Very cool! Where are you driving from? I was hoping for cold weather but it seems like even if it is cold it could still be busy, so it might as well be great weather since I'm getting Fast Lane Plus anyways. I thought about getting Fright Lane but didn't. I hope I don't miss out too much! I'm mostly going for the coasters and 1 show, but I'd love to do everything. I'm working today here in Atlanta, can't leave until 4pm. It's going to be a LONG drive! I might be a bit late and you might miss this info but with the weather being nice and it being a 3 day weekend I wouldn't be shocked if after 7pm you would have to wait over 30 minutes for Beast even with a FL pass. The park will be absolutely packed. We waited last year at the same time with a FL pass for around 30 minutes for a night ride on Beast. It was nuts! DB will probably have a 3 hour wait tomorrow night. My advice would be to hit low capacity rides (Invertigo, Drop Tower, Backlot Stunt Coaster) early. No matter how long the lines are AE and Vortex will be about a 30 minute wait tops. Check out Ed Alonzo's Magic Show. Enjoy Fast Lane it will definitely be worth it tomorrow! Here is the best tip if you can make it happen (not sure about your schedule especially with your long drive or if you have a CF pass) try to come in for the first couple of hours on Sunday and the park should be DEAD. Last year we walked on to every ride for the first 2 hours we were in the park after a near capacity crowd the day before.

Sounds like a great trip! It's amazing what a little rain can do to the crowd size. My wife and I are making the trip up there for the 11th-13th. We hope we get similar crowds and wait times on Sunday as you did. But looking at the calendar and seeing that the 13th is the only sunday with extended hours makes me think it will be packed... :-/

I'm still trying to figure out why people don't like Lori. She did everything in her legal right to protect the future of her family. She was being low balled and taken advantage of but she was smart enough and strong enough to stand up for herself and her family and not let someone ILLEGALLY take what was hers. I hope if I passed on unexpectantly my wife would do the same thing for our family as Lori did for her family. She married Will. She along with Pat are probably the two people who knew Will's vision for the park the best. She hired Matt who worked side by side with Will for multiple years to run the park for now. Why would either Matt disgrace his partner's vision or Lori disgrace her husband's vision by not holding the park to the same standards Will did years ago? The park will be fine. In fact I believe that the park is in better position now than it was with Dan at the helm. To be honest all of this drama started when Dan came back into the picture of HW. It was all fine while he was in Florida tending to his legal firm and had nothing to do with the park other than being a shareholder. When he came back and tried to strong arm his way to the top is when the proverbial "stuff" hit the fan.

Not to put word in anyone's mouth here but during an ERT event this September, a group of higher ups my wife and I talked to suggested that this is the outcome they desired. Again I cannot speak for anyone there and i can say they did not outright say this is what they wanted but my wife and I felt a strong inference and preference for this outcome from our conversations with these employees.

Not to be a jerk, Just pointing out the facts here. If Dan had "loved HW so dearly" why did he leave the park when Will took the reigns? Why did he move all the way to Florida to start a law firm if he loved HW so dearly? Why did he not work in the park with his brother if he wanted to keep the park in the family. I'm all about keeping the park in the family but Lori is family as well. She was actually near the park when here husband was working her kids (Dan's nieces, Pat's grand babies) were going to school for business to learn how to run the park. Heck even Pat at here advanced age was at the park everyday working along side the summer help cleaning trash and wiping down tables... The people I just listed actually loved the park. Dan only showed interest in the park after he realized how much money he could make when he took over after his brother's death.So again I ask the question if Dan truly "loved HW dearly," why was he in Florida instead of working with his family running this park? Think about it. I don't know Dan's motives/heart, so I can't answer your question. You are very correct, I guess I was really trying to say those questions metaphorically and not really directed towards you. (Even though looking at it now they did seem directed at you and not just question to make others think about this from another angle.) Sorry about that. I just have always thought that actions speak louder than words. A person can say one thing to many people but their actions could be completely different. The most damaging facts about this case and Dan's actions were spilled out on page 21-31 of the judge's report. Anyone that is interested or has been following this case should read them if you get the chance. It paints Dan in a completely different picture than what he represents himself to be. The link for the final judges decision: http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/10031306pdm.pdf One of my good friends says you can tell a lot about a person and who they are by watching what they do and not as they say. This is a very good example for the use of that saying. Especially now that we know the facts about what has happened in this case.

There is no need to apologize. I don't think you were rude when you expressed your opinion. No one knew the full extent of what happened until they finally released all the info today. I would like to say that the park is in great hands right now. Matt is the man who was working side by side with Will during the huge explosion of popularity for HW. I believe Matt worked with him up until the day Will passed away. I believe that Matt will continue to work towards what Will wanted because Matt as well as Lori and Lori & Will's kids, might be the only people who knew the extent of Will's vision for the park. I believe the future of the park is bright and will continue to flourish when Lori & Will's kids are old enough to take over the park.

Not to be a jerk, Just pointing out the facts here. If Dan had "loved HW so dearly" why did he leave the park when Will took the reigns? Why did he move all the way to Florida to start a law firm if he loved HW so dearly? Why did he not work in the park with his brother if he wanted to keep the park in the family. I'm all about keeping the park in the family but Lori is family as well. She was actually near the park when here husband was working her kids (Dan's nieces, Pat's grand babies) were going to school for business to learn how to run the park. Heck even Pat at here advanced age was at the park everyday working along side the summer help cleaning trash and wiping down tables... The people I just listed actually loved the park. Dan only showed interest in the park after he realized how much money he could make when he took over after his brother's death. So again I ask the question if Dan truly "loved HW dearly," why was he in Florida instead of working with his family running this park? Think about it.

Trust me after going to the ERT event on Sept 14th and talking with specific people working at HW this is great news and is being received as such by that specific group of people. The park is in great hands and will still be around for many many years.

I don't think we ran into you. It was pretty quiet on our Diamondback cycles. Haha I have made that mistake before. Just ask ohiocolts or dudecoasterman.

I think they figure that out by attendance numbers not some random enthusiast's trip report. Yesterday as well as most fall Sundays are almost barren. The park knows that and they will try to get as many people through the door as possible. That what a good business does, maximize their profits.

Brutal. I hope not many people end up taking advantage of this. The park yesterday was amazing! I understand the move is great from the business perspective of getting people in the park but from a personal standpoint yesterday was probably the BEST day I have ever had at KI.

Now that I got your attention with that wonderful headline (I'll explain that one later). I'll begin my TR for Kings Island on Sept. 29th, 2013. The day started with myself, my wife, and her little cousin (She describes me as her "roller coaster buddy" and we were heading to KI for her 10th birthday) heading out of Indianapolis. It was pouring down rain in Indy and we decided to shop for some ponchos as the forecast for Mason was continual rain after 2pm. We ended up grabbing some from CVS and that put us about 20 minutes behind schedule. About 30 minutes down 74 the rain stopped and the clouds lightened up a bit. We ended up getting to the park at 11:15. The park was dead. Every ride was a walk on. There might have been more employees there than paying customers in the park. Now my wife's cousin has not been on Diamondback or Invertigo so what does she decide we are riding first? Diamondback. Since there was no one there it was a walk on. She was pumped and ready to go. The queue gates opened and we sat in rows 3 and 4. As soon as we sat down she said she didn't want to ride and hopped up and left. We told her that we weren't going to make her ride anything she didn't want to so she decided to hop off the ride. After some talking to she decided she was ready to go again. So we went in rows 3 and 4 and she LOVED IT! After it was over she decided to ride again so we rode it 4 more times without a wait. Then we headed to Beast for a lap. After Beast I went to the car to drop off my backpack in the car while my wife and her cousin rode BLSC, Shake Rattle and Roll, and Zephyr. We met up at FOF and rode it 3 times in a row. Then we went on FH and rode it twice in a row. This is when the rain started. My wife and cousin rode Monster once and then we all rode Racer. After a "painful" ride due to stinging from the rain in the face, we decided to grab our jackets from the car and try out the Reds HOF Grille. The Reds Grille was pretty nice. The theming was nice. The menu was a little bit on the shorter side IMO. But they offered some good meals. I ended up eating the chili cheese fries while my wife and her cousin both ordered chicken tenders. The meals were good and the portions were pretty large. I would say the meals were well worth the price which we ended up paying $31 before tip. After food and waiting out the rain we decided to ride Boo Blasters. We rode it 4 times, I won all 4 matches with a high score of 2190! Then we headed to Diamondback and it was still a walk on we ended up riding it 7 times in a row with us not even getting off for the final 3 cycles . We headed to Vortex and rode it twice. This is where the "Soaked Booty" came. The rain gathered in the seats and thus soaked out "tooches." That stuck around with us for the rest of the day... The rain had stopped by now and we were going to ride WindSeeker but it was closed due to high winds. We then headed to AE and sat front row for 3 cycles. After that we headed to Drop Tower. My wife and roller coaster buddy didn't want to ride so I went for one cycle while they went to ride Delirium. Next up was FD. After 2 cycles in the back row we headed to Invertigo for our final ride. The ride was great and my roller coaster buddy loved it. After one cycle we headed to the car and headed home. The day was about a perfect as you could get. The weather wasn't as bad as it was in Indianapolis. We almost didn't go because we thought we were only going to be able to be in the park for a few hours due to rain. But the rain held off for the most part and was not heavy during the day. We were all very glad it didn't rain like it did in Indianapolis. Final Thoughts: -Banshee looks very similar in color to DB from the highway. You can tell the difference when in the park but most of the general public will probably think its the same color. I was hoping the ride would have been more like the renderings but the color is not what makes the ride, IMO. The construction looked to be coming along very well. -AE will offer very good views of Banshee from the queue line, the front row in the loading station, as well as along the ride. -The Reds Grille was a good deal for food and a nice place to eat. The food was good and the prices were similar to most sit down restaurants. Service was fast and good. - This was the third time I have been to Kings Island during a Fall Sunday and they are by far the BEST days to go. Today our longest wait was one train for any ride in the park. Almost every ride was a walk on. - My roller coaster buddy's favorite ride was Diamondback! She loved the speed and airtime!

Man!!! After looking at the official animation and diagrams again. This looks like it comes pretty close to the ground on the initial drop and basically entering almost every inversion during the ride. It makes me think that: A. The foot-chopper effect looks like it could be very strong. (Either from the ground or obstacles if they utilize them) B. The low level passes make it possible for good use of fog and other effects if they are planning on using them on this ride. C. This is going to be a very forceful ride. It might even be hard ride to marathon (at least for me). The low entries into high inversions look like they will produce a lot of G's. This ride looks awesome and I am glad that KI and B&M are bringing this to us!

All you have to do to alleviate any issues on GK with the restraints is ride it like you are supposed to. The seats are inclined back a bit so keep your back on the backrest and NOT lean forward (I know that is hard to do because I lean forward on almost every roller coaster I ride). If you sit back in seat the restraints will restrain your chest and not your collarbones. Try it next time you ride GK and let us know how it went!

Good questions. My thoughts are the industry might start intentionally putting seatbelts or other type of restraints that exclude people with unique body sizes from riding more often. It will be interesting to see what happens from here.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/u-s-world/six-flags-to-reopen-texas-ride-where-woman-died Texas Giant will be reopening this weekend. They have added new padding to the restraint bar and added seatbelts that will restrict people with "unique body shapes or sizes" from riding. The result of an investigation reported no mechanical malfunction on the ride.

What's going on with Giraffica? Is there something wrong with it specifically, or did they just close it as a reaction to the StR accident? From what I understand, Giraffica hasn't been opened all year and was closed towards the end of last year. Not sure whats up but It has been down every time I have been to the park in the last 16-18 months.

This is what happened to me at CP this year. It was the first time I used my PP this year and they kept me in a room for about an hour while on the horn with KI. I guess to speed up the process they told me to keep my receipt and bring it on the first visit. That way you can show them you purchased it with your card and they can match the card number.

I believe it is an addition to the water park. They have pieces for what looks like a water slide stashed away in the woods to the east of Voyage. They can be seen easily from the ride before entering the spaghetti bowl on the right and while on the brake run to the left. Whatever it is I think it will be awesome.

Cedar Point adds two family rides and Gemini Midway improvements! CP is adding an Flying Eagles type ride called Lake Erie Eagles. As well as adding a Surf Dog type ride that will be called Pipe Scream. They will also be changing the name of Frog Hopper to Woodstock's Airmail as well as moving the ride. Jr. Gemini's name will be changed to Wilderness Run with it's entrance moved to Camp Snoopy. Lastly CP will be renovating Hotel Breakers over two years. This winter they will be changing the outside, than they will be doing the inside next winter. Video Announcement Below:

CoastBuzz was supposed to have an event at HW on Sept 14th but due to low enrollment they cancelled it. So what does HW do? They offer free ERT on Voyage for the people who signed up and enthusiasts (and their guests) who are going to be in the park on Sept 14th. Their requirements are : 1) That you let me know in this (HWN 2013 FB) thread that you're planning to attend. 2) That you meet up with me at the north side of Plymouth Rock Cafe at 5:30pm CT on September 14. 3) As my 16-month-old grandson Cameron says, "Be happy!" They didn't have to do this for us yet they did it anyways. I am telling you Paula and her PR team are just amazing. They really know how to take care of their guests! Not very many parks would do this for free. HW once again proves why it is my and many other's number one park!

If the Timberliners were indeed too light to complete the circuit, there may not have been a fix for those. The bad news is that management apparently decided to abandon the replacement project, when the major goal was to reduce excessive wear and tear on the track. Granted, none of us know the reasoning behind the decision or what the long-term plan is now. Hopefully there's not another maintenance situation like The Freedom Train's. Very true. It just that it has been over 4 years of promises and they (Gravity Group) have not delivered on their promise. If I was in management, and something was promised to me for 4+ years and didn't come through, I would do the same thing and end the relationship. The only thing that complicates the matter is that this all surrounds the flagship ride at HW. I completely agree with you. Voyage is my #1 coaster wood or steel. I hope that the PTCs don't prove to be the downfall of the ride. I hope too that maintenance costs don't exceed the perceived value of the ride otherwise it may ultimately be the end of Voyage. :-/

How did we turn a situation where a company couldn't put trains on their own ride for over 4 years into Holiday World's management is bad? I still don't get what you guys see in Dan Koch. The guy is not good for the company. He didn't want anything to do with Holiday World while Will was running the show. He moved to Florida and lead a small lawyer firm that was 1600 miles away from the family business. Divorced his wife, and only showed interest in HW when his brother died. He raised his salary at Holiday World by 4X (to $1.16 million) in his short term of running the park. He is an opportunist and is just using his family name to try and make more money.

This is interesting because my wife and I were allowed to buy this on-ride photo from Kings Island. We only bought it because it was beyond chaotic. I was teasing her the entire ride because she was freaking out for some reason (She gets nervouse on DB but loves the ride). Then these guys in front of us had some crazy faces and one of them is flicking the camera off. I think this ride photo is beyond hilarious. But technically we shouldn't have been able to buy it. Either way I'm glad they let us buy it because we have it on display in our living room and its a great memory for both of us.

Well it has been a wonderful ride ladies and gents! (pun intended) Now all we have to do is sit back and wait for all to be revealed. From the methodical thoughts to the off the wall ideas presented, this has been really awesome. I'm glad I was able to be a part of this decoding thread with you all.