SonofBaconator

The name got an extension grant on May 2nd of 2016 so Cedar Fair still has plans for Centurion. Now to figure out where it'll go..

This is an idea I've had for a while and its so strange that I've debated on whether or not I'd even be posting it. Here goes... Enclose BLSC into a natural looking hill or something like a mountain and re-theme it. Then later on down the road, keep on adding attractions to the existing structure. The main reason why I'm saying this at all is because I was looking at Wonder Mountain on Google Maps and realized that it houses three coasters (Yes I'm aware Vortex only interacts with Wonder Mountain but still.) I honestly thought it would be a cool idea for Kings Island to mimic this technique and possibly improve it. I'm not saying erect a giant mountain behind the Eiffel Tower blocking the views of the coasters behind it, but maybe make it tall enough to enclose BLSC and some other rides in the future. Will it happen? Probably not. I'm not saying it's the greatest idea in the world and I'm not expecting everyone to agree with me but I think its a cool concept that could give KI a different edge against other parks.

With the way Kings Island and Cedar Fair are taking it's guest feedback nowadays (bringing back Winterfest and adding another wooden coaster), I think it's a not too far off that The Racer could go backwards again. Perhaps when they have their next big coaster drought they might consider making it go backwards again. Maybe Cedar Fair will do the same with Rebel Yell and Gemini.

While Maud L was sent to Disneyland, I believe Vortex may be referring to the locomotive known as "Davenport." Disneyland traded the Davenport for the Maud L because the Davenport engine was too big for Disneyland and too small for Disney World. Maud L was the perfect size for Disneyland as was the Davenport for Cedar Point.

Like what I said earlier, WDWRR is the same gauge as KI and many other park trains. The trains at the Magic Kingdom have significantly longer boilers than a typical crown locomotive, mainly to accommodate more driving wheels. See the Walter E. Disney for example However the Roy O. Disney has the exact same wheel arrangement as a typical American style locomotive that Crown Metal Products based their designs off of. Notice how spaced out the driving wheels are to accommodate a larger boiler.

For those of you who don't know, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World has 4 live steam locomotives that were all built by the Baldwin Locomotives works based out of Pennsylvania. When planning the Magic Kingdom Imangineer Roger Broggie discovered 5 narrow gauge steam locomotives down in Mexico ready to be scrapped. The company bought all five and took them to Tampa for restoration, (it should be noted that one of the locomotives was beyond repair and was thus not restored.) That being said, the other 4 locomotives were finished in time for the grand opening of the Magic Kingdom in 1971. I have seen endless videos and read tons of articles saying that Roger Broggie and fellow imagineers searched the whole continent for steam locomotives and were unsuccessful, for the most part, in doing so. Now after 45 years I thought of something I've never thought of before- why didn't Disney hire Crown Metal Products locomotive company to design their railroad? Though larger in length and size, the WDWRR's steam locomotives run on a narrow gauge line just like Kings Island. All I know for sure is that Roger Broggie wanted to have the locomotives designed to his specification so he hired a steam ship manager, go figure! He said, "If I hire a railroad worker they'll make them how they want to make them, I want them made my way." But still, I feel like Crown would have been very flexible in working with Disney Imagineers. My only solid theory is that Disney wanted to find original steam locomotives that were already existing. What do you think? Though I'm a coaster critic, I also know a great deal about steam locomotives as well.

CP: Throw a bunch of coasters on a peninsula, break a lot records, focus on more thrills KI: Have a decent amount of coasters that are all great in their own way, break some records if its doable, focus on families. Let me clarify that I'm not saying Cedar Point is a bad park at all, they have great rides, a cool location, and gives a certain appeal that other parks can't match. However, I think KI has a lot going for it and has qualities that CP can't match. They have a great kids area, great rides that appeal to almost everyone, great landscaping, a lot of land, great shows, and a better water park. Cedar Point, in my honest opinion, is going down in quality and is becoming second rate to other younger parks. I believe parks like Carowinds and Kings Island appeal more to the GP than Cedar Point does. I feel like if King Island gets a giga they will certainly be put above Cedar Point.

Some predictions for the 2016 final ride count based on my visits this year. Kings Island and Miami Valley Railroad will increase because of the increased curiosity of what was being added to rivertown. I think White Water Canyon will also go up, if not slightly, from years previous because of the shorter walk due to MT construction. In my opinion, rides like Diamondback, Beast, WWC, and the KIMVRR will either increase or stay around the same place. From the numbers it looks like Vortex will be continuously go down and I agree that it might be due to the smoothness of newer rides that have been added to the park in the more recent years. Other rides that I expect a big drop in ridership are Flight of Fear and Firehawk because, as I have mentioned several times before, they don't have a lot of accommodations around them ie; bathrooms, actual food vendors, other attractions. Also the fact that both rides require a locker, unless someone holds your stuff, is very unappealing to the gp and guests that come from out of town.

I've been looking into this and I've wanted to know if there was anyway to find the exact number of rides given by each attraction in a given day, week, month, season, etc. It would be interesting to see which rides are ridden more than others, how many rides are an attraction is expected to give in a day, how downtime or certain days affect its ridership, etc. In my opinion, I think Banshee has the most ridership in a day where Congo Falls is probably on the low side.

I'm sure he wasn't too happy when the train stopped

The one thing I never understood was them deciding to nix the train for haunt. I get it that obviously they can't do terror-tory because of Mystic Timbers but they could do something else. Six Flags has their Terror train which is basically just a full circuit haunted ride in the dark with some props and characters. It might not be the scariest attraction but it could certainly decrease wait times for other haunted attractions. Maybe running a train at night for a whole circuit with a large number of people might be too much of a liability for it to even be worth it. At least when it ran during haunt it only carried 3 full passenger cars a few 100 ft to the drop off point. Any thoughts?

After the addition of Diamondback I thought Kings Island couldn't possibly add another coaster to Rivertown; I was wrong. In all honesty though, what more can be added? What can be changed? At this point any prediction is fair game

What's Fear Fest? I think you've had one too many Beerman my friend.

I'm really interested to see how MT and the train will interact, especially when the coaster actually crosses over the track twice. With the absence of most of the old props and animatronics that were part of the railroad's popularity, I'm really hoping KI will theme parts of the train ride to fit the Mystic Timbers theme. Maybe some vines growing on the bridge, signs and props referring to the fictional Miami River Lumber Co., "maintain slow speeds, falling trees ahead."

Considering that Flight Commander was the name of an infamous KI ride that killed a 32 year old woman, Flight Commander would be a terrible name choice.

Bringing back an oldish topic back from the dead. I'd honestly love to see some Huss flats in X Base. If Kings Island were to "X-pand" they would have to relocate some, if not all, of those storage sheds and warehouses somewhere else. If KI ever announced that X Base would be getting expanded, it would most likely be because of a new coaster addition in the close future. One could only hope

Antique cars, Scooby's Ghoster Coaster, Phantom Theater, Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal, and King Kobra- send them all to Coney.

This question popped into my head the other day when I was watching a Tatsu POV on Youtube. As much as I love Firehawk, I'm not too crazy on the Vekoma Flying Dutchman design and would love to see what a B&M Flyer version of Firehawk would be like. Firehawk 2.0? There wouldn't be a loud rattling chain in you ear, the sun wouldn't be in your eyes on the lift hill, the layout would alter slightly, and it would provide, in my opinion, a better ride experience. Agree with me? Disagree with me? Let me know what you think. (I apologize for possibly offending any Firehawk fans out there.)

Here's what I think of Mystic Timbers. I voted that I'm excited but my mind isn't blown. This is one of the more family friendly coasters that we've seen over the years and I honestly don't have a problem with it. In my opinion, if Kings Island wanted to make this ride more intense then they would have. If you expect KI to come out with a new, highly intense thrill ride every couple of years then you were most likely somewhat disappointed when this ride was released. However, if you look at it as a more family style coaster then I don't see why anyone would have a problem with it. I say a family style coaster because basically anyone over 48" can ride it, its lower to the ground, and it has a curved drop. It's not the biggest coaster in Kings Island's line up, it's not the fastest, or the longest but it works for the park. But then again, I'm probably being too critical.

Has there been any word on the ride plaza up till this point? I personally want to see a pickup truck engulfed in vines and a couple of other props when you get closer to the station.

I believe that Firehawk is a pretty impressive coaster but it has too long of a wait for the ride to be worth it, especially when you're at a park like KI where you could easily get on another, arguably better, ride in half the time. Like what fightoffear1996 said, I think it would have made a bigger impact on a smaller park like Michigan's Adventure. But then again, I'm probably being too critical.

I was at the park today and I thought to myself, what would an alternate universe KI be like? Would Diamondback be a dive coaster instead of a hyper? Would Son of Beast still exist? Would ice cream be green instead of blue?? The possibilities are endless

I can understand the speciation behind it but I don't think they'd shut down RFYLCB. If the ride was leaving, KI would make an announcement so that people could ride it a couple of times before the season ends. Unless they move the whole ride over by say the petting zoo, I'd say the ride's here to stay. Just a thought And upstop that's just a standard snapchat code

After riding the train on Friday and looking at the posts and theories on here I might have a pretty good idea of what might be happening. (This is based on speculation and opinion.) I think the "Falling Trees" signs foreshadow more of what is to come than we think. While everyone is thinking new ride, I'm thinking expansion and development. Rivertown is the park's biggest potential for expansion (besides X-Base (still praying)). With the relocation of Funnel Cakes as well as WWC's line, it is my assumption that KI has a lot in store. If you look at this picture, you can better understand what I'm talking about. If you look at the edit you can see that most of the trees between the WWC pond and the train station have been completely removed leaving room for a plethora of possibilities. What Rivertown is mostly lacking is flat rides so having more family friendly attractions and different types of thrills would be a great addition. Aside from the flat rides, there could be possibly more food stands, restrooms and resting areas. If you look to the right you will see that I outlined the defunct Crypt building just sticking out like a sore thumb. Cedar Fair has begun to experiment more with dark rides with Guardian at CW being introduced a little under a two years ago so I wouldn't out rule one at KI. If my theory was true, KI could give guests more of a theme park experience with the addition of a new dark ride to its already impressive roster of indoor rides. Though this isn't what I expect to see next year, I could count on it in the distant future as another phase. Sort of ting in to my previous theory, there is still an impressive amount of real estate behind the building that could be used for a coaster if needed. One thing that I haven't seen anyone talk about yet is the possibility of an underground coaster. How cool would it be to have a Hades 360 type ride tunneling under the valley and emerge completely immersed in the woods? (And I wasn't thinking about The Beast when I meant that) Finally if you look to the far left you can see Picnic Grove. From my experience of working at another popular Cincinnati attraction I can tell you that picnic areas take up a ton of space and are only truly used a couple times out of the season. Another thing is that picnic areas are cheaper to relocate if needed. So I could really see Picnic Grove playing a part in Rivertown (or even Planet Snoopy) expansion in the distant future. I could be completely off on this one but its just a thought. So let me know what you think about my speculation!

Looking at online maps I can only speculate that KI will utilize the area behind the log flume and the woods by wwc. Falling trees?-possibly some KI deforestation or rather some type of ride that fully utilizes the forest scenery around it. And I know this is extremely far from reality but theres a huge chunk of trees between Beast and DB that could be utilized for expansion. I like to utilize the word utilize