SonofBaconator

I have some more that I frequently hear throughout the park Catch My Breath- Kelly Clarkson If you only knew- Shinedown Love Somebody- Maroon 5 Can't stop the feeling- Justin Timberlake Skyfall-Adele Fire to the Rain- Adelle Lights- Ellie Golding Diamonds- Rihanna Higher (single- no FloRida)- The Saturdays Numb- Usher

Diamondback has had great operations all day. I've been watching the webcams and all trains have been dispatched on an average of one minute with little to no stacking.

Would Mystic Timbers confuse people who are just visiting the park, i.e someone who doesn't regularly visit like from say Florida or even Athens?

I've heard mixed reviews also. Can anyone elaborate without spoiling anything for the other users?

Last year when college just got out, I went up to the park on a Friday for about two hours. The whole park was dead so everything was a walk on. I rode Backlot and my train got stuck on the transfer track; there was an error with the computer preventing the first train to launch. The ride attendants were extremely nice and got me a water as we talked. I asked them what they thought was going on in Rivertown and they both replied GCI and they immediately began to talk about Gold Striker and Prowler. It's awesome to meet ride attendants that know a lot about the industry. And no they weren't KICers, because I asked!

Do people get triggered or offended when they see the Son of Beast memorial while waiting in line for Banshee? Or when the park put a baby carriage by The Beast during Haunt? I agree that there has to be a certain level of professionalism but it's not bad for the park to make fun of themselves every once and a while. Cedar Point even made fun of the fact at how painful Mean Streak was.

I always felt that Kings Island has become more of a local park as opposed a true destination park over the years. The park initially had a campsite, a golf course, and its own inn. With the building of Great Wolf Lodge in 2006, a decent amount of Kings Island Drive, most notably the old inn and the conference center, has become more and more dismal as the years progress. Will we ever see Kings Island return to it's former resort glory that was seen in the 70s and 80s? https://usafl.com/image/nationals/2012/KingIslandResortAerial.png

Why do you hate it? They'd say it every time when I rode the train last season and it made people laugh.

A lot of work being done today. I like the little landscaping cart seen on the Mystic Timbers webcam

During the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo, both the train and the carousel operate no problem. I'm sure KI would like to operate more rides but sometimes less is more. The only other ride I could remotely see them operating is Boo Blasters.

@medford I completely agree with the "sprucing up" approach that the park has adopted. Banshee really spruced up Action Zone and made it a big in-park destination for guests and Mystic Timbers will arguably revitalize Rivertown and draw in more guests than previous years. I always felt that Coney Mall was missing something. Sure there are rides for people to ride, but there isn't an appealing factor to keep them there like there is with Banshee in Action Zone. When I ride Banshee I immediately want to ride The Bat, Delirium, and Invertigo, etc. I don't really feel inclined to stay in Coney Mall after I ride a ride, maybe that's just me. A giga would be something that might spruce up Coney Mall. The same approach was done up at Canada's Wonderland where Leviathan drew more people to the Medieval Faire section of the park.

To my knowledge, I don't recall there being any recorded interview regarding the possibility of a giga coaster coming to the park. If such an interview were to take place, I'd want something along the lines of "With the recent trend of Cedar Fair installing giga coasters at it's larger parks, what is the possibility that Kings Island will also get a giga in the near future?" I doubt that a high-up park official like Don could disclose that type of information, however the slightest hint could reveal the truth.

The reason RMC hasn't done an out and back woodie is because no one has hired them to do so. Give them money and they'll build one.

If Cedar Fair made an all-star park, which coasters would make the cut? You get up to 3 rides max for each park, however each park has to contribute at least one coaster. This is a tough one for me. California's Great America- Gold Striker, Grizzly Canada's Wonderland- Mighty Canadian Minebuster, Vortex, Wonder Mountain's Guardian Carowinds- Fury 325, Nighthawk Cedar Point- Gatekeeper, Maverick, Valravn Dorney Park- Hydra the Revenge, Stinger Kings Dominion- Flight of Fear, Rebel Yell Kings Island- Banshee, Diamondback, The Beast Knott's Berry Farm- Pony Express, Xcelerator Michigan's Adventure- Shivering Timbers Valley Fair!- Corkscrew World's of Fun- Spinning Dragons

I really want chasing lights. That would be an awesome edition to any type of coaster, especially on Vortex.

What if I can't make it to opening weekend? Will this site police "what's in the shed?" or will I just have to not log on here until I do ride it?

I'm really happy with the progress made in Rivertown. Everything's accessible and the whole section is more guest friendly. I really hope work is done along the pathway between Diamondback and BLSC. More rides, a redo on Paradise Island, maybe even a sign and additional theming.

Though I'd like to see it, I don't know how much they'd NEED one. They got rid of their racing woodie not too long ago so if that's any indication on how much the GP liked riding a wooden ride, a GCI would seem, in my opinion, pretty far fetched.

That's very true point. Come to think about it, aside from kiddie rides and the cloned rides from Paramount, the only major cloned Cedar Fair ride that comes to mind is WindSeeker. Great job CF, keep being original!

Another question is if Hurler at Carowinds gets the RMC'd will it be a clone of the KD Hurler?

The POV is up! Sorta. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155876501728368&id=155893938367

This isn't a rumor or speculation, it's a question. RMC track on an Arrow coaster? Would that even be possible? Would it even enhance the ride experience?

It's right next to Dinosaurs Alive. The arrow on the picture, provided by Google Maps, shows the shed. The red is the train line. As you can see, the trains would approach the shed on the left. The tracks for the coaches curved and didn't have any type of shelter.

Chapter 1- The Old Dominion Line https://www.facebook.com/KDGoldenYears/ Following the success of Kings Island in near Cincinnati, Taft Broadcasting Company decided to duplicate the park in Virginia. One of the many things Kings Dominion took from her sister park was a small 36" narrow gauge railroad in a section of the park named "Old Virginia", a section that reflected the early years of Virginia; a similar concept to Rivertown at Kings Island. The "Old Dominion Line" featured two authentic steam locomotives built by the Crown Locomotive Works- the Baldwin Locomotive Works of amusement park railroads. The line ventured through the Virginian wilderness past log cabins and animatronics. https://www.facebook.com/KDGoldenYears/ The two locomotives that ran along the short line were the #601 "Patrick Henry" and the #552 "Stonewall Jackson." Like their Kings Island cousin's, both locomotives were modeled after the standard "American" style locomotive bearing the typical 4-4-0 wheel arrangement. When management asked Kings Island engineers for feedback on how to perfect the train ride in Virginia they suggested a more prototypical approach. This meant that the locomotives should have larger smoke stacks, darker colors, and most notably- wooden cabs (as seen in the picture above.) These changes were made to give the locomotives a more "primitive" look as steel wasn't as plentiful in the mid 1800s as it is now. http://parkfans.net/thread-1541.html The “Patrick Henry” was meant to resemble Kings Island's #12 "Tecumseh" locomotive respectively. The locomotive bared a large balloon smoke stack, featured 2 domes, and a gothic style roof, as well as a dark blue color scheme with red decals. The “Patrick Henry” also had a set of blue coaches with brown decals to match the locomotive’s color scheme as well as the look of older passenger coaches from the 1800s. There’s no audio to prove this but I suspect the “Patrick Henry” featured a 6 chime whistle. The locomotive also featured two flags, one was the American flag and the other one was the Virginia Flag. Though meant to resemble Kings Island’s #12, Kings Dominion’s #601 was one of the most cloned Crown models to date. The large balloon stack was seen on multiple crown locomotives throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s giving it a less original look. http://parkfans.net/thread-1541.html The “Stonewell Jackson” was meant to resemble Kings Island's #19 "Simon Kenton" locomotive respectively. The locomotive bared a narrow balloon smoke stack, featured 2 domes, and a curved style roof, as well as an orange-red color scheme with blue decals. The “Stonewall Jackson” also had a set of orange-red coaches with brown decals to match the locomotive’s color scheme as well as the look of older passenger coaches from the 1800s. There’s no audio to prove this but I suspect the “Stonewall Jackson” featured a 6 chime whistle. The locomotive also featured two flags, one was the American flag and the other one was the Confederacy Flag. This locomotive model was my favorite of all the Crown locomotives ever built because of its unique balloon stack design. This is was one of the more original designs ever found on a Crown locomotive. https://www.facebook.com/KDGoldenYears/ The line started in the Old Virginia section of the park, near the end of Candy Apple Grove not too far from the Rebel Yell. The train would run parallel to Rebel Yell until taking a right turn into the Virginian Wilderness. In the woods, like the Miami Valley Railroad, the trains past several log cabins and animatronics. The train would stop at a part of the line and actors would interact with guests on board. The train would then pass the engine house before finally returning to the station. In the later years, some of the scenery changed to accommodate newer attractions. In the early 80s, Grizzly was placed behind the station, similar to Mystic Timbers at Kings Island. The challenge was that the que line crossed the railroad tracks making operations interesting to say in the least. http://parkfans.net/thread-1541.html Towards the late 80s, the popularity of the railroad started to dwindle and some of the theming began to go away. By the 90s, Paramount attempted to revitalize the railroad by adding an action scene on the train but to no avail. Operations were so dismal that the railroad would close early around 6pm because it began to lose the park money. In 1994 Hurler was added and coexisted with the train for about a year. In 1995, it was decided that the line would be demolished and the locomotives and their coaches sold to other amusement parks. The fact that the railroad wasn’t a transport ride was one of the main reasons why it’s popularity decreased. One could make the assumption that Kings Island’s trains would have suffered the same fate if they weren’t used to transport guests to and from the waterpark. #601 currently operates at Busch Gardens Tampa on the Serengeti Express. The locomotive was repainted an off green color with a red cowcatcher and yellow decals. The original wood cab was replaced with a steel cab fitted with exhaust fans. The whistle was mounted on the additional dome and was toned down a couple of chimes, in my opinion to not scare off the animals. The original coaches were painted yellow to match a nearly identical locomotive bought from Six Flags Mid-America, now Six Flags St. Louis. The green coaches the train usually pulls is a part of an older Busch Gardens locomotive #4 that isn’t currently in operation. I was fortunate enough to see this locomotive down in Tampa when I visited Busch Gardens in 2012. Though I prefer its original look, I’m happy that the locomotive has more room to stretch out it’s wheels and isn’t sitting out to rust like a lot of other Crown locomotives. http://parkfans.net/thread-1541.html #552 currently operates at a small religious retreat called Dry Gulch USA in Adair Oklahoma. Like #601, #552 received a cosmetic overhaul with a black boiler, red domes, a red cowcatcher, red wheels, and a black tender. The most notable change however was the wooden cab. While in transport, engine #552 encountered a tree and suffered damage to its cab. The original cab was removed and replaced with a new, darker colored wood cab that can still be seen today. The locomotive operates on select dates and during the parks popular “Christmas Train” event with two other locomotives made by H.K. Porter. It is unknown what happened to the original coaches of the train whether they were sold to another party or are sitting on storage. https://www.facebook.com/KDGoldenYears/ There has been a bit of confusion as to where the locomotives actually ended up first. One rumor states that Dry Gulch bought the two locomotives and sold #601 to Busch Gardens. Another rumor states that Busch Gardens bought the two locomotives and #552 was sold to Dry Gulch. In my opinion, I believe both trains were initially sold to the Busch Gardens chain since Busch Gardens Europe was a short drive from Doswell. At the time, Busch Gardens Africa already had three locomotives but desperately needed a backup. I think #552 was less appealing to the company so it was sold to Dry Gulch. I could be completely wrong but that’s just how I think that went down. http://parkfans.net/thread-1541.html Remnants of the Old Dominion Line can still be seen at Kings Dominion today. The old railroad shed still stands vacant and the old route can still be made out on satellite. I think this ride could have served a greater purpose and could still be standing today if it acted as a transport ride. However, it’s placement in the park limited its potential to be used as a transport ride and was one of the many contributing factors to its dismantle in 1995. Also, the placement of the ride prevented a lot of potential expansion so, while I still wish it were there, I can see why the park made the decision to remove it. I hoped you enjoyed this! Please feel free to share your comments and post any pictures. I have way more pictures if anyone's interested. If you have any questions for me or any suggestions on what park I should do next, please let me know! Edit as of 2020: Cedar Fair aquired #552 to be a backup engine for the World's of Fun Railroad. The engine will be named "Levi"

The Amusement Park Railroad Thread Due to recent members asking me to post vintage pictures of old trains, I decided to create a central thread around amusement park railroads whether they are still operating or defunct. This is information I've gathered throughout the years as both a train and an amusement park enthusiast. Once a week, or maybe more times if I'm not busy, I will make post regarding a different amusement park railroad. The information I will provide will be accurate and any inaccurate information will be edited. Most of the pictures I'm about to post are not mine so I will link them the best I can because some links are dead. I invite you all to participate in the discussion and ask me questions! My first entry will be very soon since I'm still putting it all together. But for now, happy railroading!