SonofBaconator

From Reddit

I think a lot of people put stock into these tombstones because of what we saw with Firehawk a couple years ago, where it was blatantly obvious that it was going away but they still had fun with it. Now you have a tombstone placed near an old ride, as opposed to the graveyard, with quite a bit of detail in it. Pair this with the former ride building/haunted house seeing some activity last year and you have a good amount of speculation to have fun with if you’re a fan.

I always remembered them closing at 7 IIRC. It did create an unfortunate overlap because kids would still be in PS when the monsters would come out and families would have to walk past them if they wanted to leave. I know the park lets out warnings before Haunt begins but when you close your kids rides right when the monsters come out, you’re going to have overlap. Personally I think the PS rides should close at 6-6:30P at the latest to remove that overlap entirely. On a side note, I do like how in the past they had part of the kids Halloween event in Soak City so families could park on the water park side of the parking lot and avoid the monsters entirely by walking between PS and SC, though I’m sure staffing and logistics was a good reason why it didn’t return; one less side of the park to staff.

Bumping should anyone care to read up

@IndyGuy4KI can this be its own thread?

Seems like a lot of detail was put into this to just troll fans, though I’ve been wrong before

I think TR:TR and IJST were Paramont’s attempts to engulf the whole park with their IP. It started off with most of their Paramount based rides in the front left corner over the park and over the years we saw it spread. In hindsight if Paramount put TR:TR and ITST in Action Zone, the park’s foot traffic would be somewhat lopsided. IIRC Rivertown wasn’t getting a whole lot of foot traffic in the 90s with most of the new attractions being towards the front of the park so it makes logistical sense why they put those two rides in that area, just not thematic sense.

I looked at BGWFans rendition of the yet to be announced 2025 project for Busch Gardens Williamsburg and noticed that there is quite a bit of landscaping and what looks like village scenery halfway through like the original Big Bad Wolf had. Granted, all the landscaping in this rendition is just concept art, it does beg the question: “How much does landscaping contribute to a coaster’s appeal?” I argue landscaping plays a larger role in ride theming that goes unnoticed unless it’s done bad. We often joke about the “Junk Yard Coaster” because of the concrete and miss matched scenery, but I would often think that if it had better scenery like trees and natural views, people wouldn’t dog on it so much.

I loop Firehawk into the category of mid sized inverting coasters- a similar vein to X- Flight (Ironic) at SF Great America. Even if Vortex’s replacement is large, I wouldn’t mind something under 125ft down the road.

I don’t understand why the park won’t use this IP. It can be easily milked for Haunt, a ride, and even merch.

I know its removal made way for Orion, but still- I miss Firehawk. Do you?

@BeeastFarmer is the furthest thing from racist and for someone to even insulate that is just reaching and trying to stir the pot.

@rexpostal, I’m very confused- what are you talking about?

I mean the park has been around for over 50 years and to my knowledge they’ve never had anything. Their compromise was theming an entire section to Oktoberfest-which has unfortunately lost its luster and footprint over the years. I feel like it’s not necessarily a missed opportunity, but rather something that they might not look into given their proximity to the 2nd largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world.

Enthusiasts, and my humble opinion, are free advertising. Am I saying you need to go out of your way to keep them happy?-no. That being said, you have to understand who your fans are, and what influence they have on the industry. Enthusiasts are one of the biggest upsell opportunities out there- they can buy add-ons, fast lanes, collectible merchandise, etc. Even what @johnjniehaus did is a prime example of enthusiast upselling: getting non enthusiasts to buy can be a difficult sell.

I thought that’s what was going to happen with the axis coaster

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/qoFmxcwWQ54fjg8w/?mibextid=UalRPS

RMC created Wild Moose with the intent of it being used as either a replacement for existing wild mouses or just fitting on a small plot of land. It would be cool if they took a stab at their own take on compact Schwarzkopf designs.

Side note, we an RMC Rator tripple loop

How I read it: “We sincerely appreciate your patience while Too Thrill 2’s MANUFACTURER, Zamperla” Unfortunately, the MANUFACTURER, will not be able to complete modifications in time to reopen the coaster in 2024”

Why not string up the Winterfest tower lights early and change them to Halloween colors?

Yeah that would be the only loss. Maybe they could still sell them as accessories, like they do at the end of the night during the summer, but be very clear that they do not work as a monster deterrent.

I think it’s useful to look at all of these and apply it to where we can assume the park will be for the rest of the decade. Tower coaster (shuttle Mack Xtreme spinner)- this seems too experimental for a park like KI- who never fared well in the experimental rides category to begin with. I feel like incorporating the spinning aspect on a large scale ride would limit it’s appeal- compare this to Wild Mouse at CP that’s on a smaller scale.) Giga dive coaster- this would be a move they’d make if they’re trying to get into the National/global spotlight by having a record breaking coaster. It seems like every larger coaster since Diamondback has broken some type of significant record. Would certainly put the park on a global stage, but would a 300ft drop affect the rest of the ride?: (If you have two dive coasters, both at 3,500ft in length, you might get more out of a 200ft tall coaster than you would a 300ft tall one) Family Thrill Coaster- it seems like we already have this with Adventure Express, Backlot, and Bat. While family thrill coasters are easy to market given their broad appeal, I feel like it’s easier to ask corporate for a family ride down the road after a large investment like an invert/dive/ hyper/giga/ etc. Indoor/Outdoor Coaster- this seems like a Dollywood/BGW type of attraction that would need decent theming. Would have to be on par with Verbolten or Mystery Mine but the indoor aspect might devalue existing rides like Flight of Fear and Backlot. Beast 2.0-this seems like an extreme ask. I’m not sure what the benefit of this would be over just building a new coaster. It seems like it would take a toll on maintenance staff and carpenters. I think it would be more trouble than it’s worth and people might feel cheated out of a new coaster. Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster- the capacity of these rides aren’t really on par with what Kings Island has been churning out since 2009. Currently the highest capacity Infinity train is Gold Rush at 20 people per train which is less than that of Mystic Timbers. Might be too small of a ride for KI- unless they made it a similar capacity to Vortex. Peanuts Dark Ride: This an interesting concept be based off the sheer fact that the new Six Flags chain has access to both Warner Brothers/DC IP as well as Peanuts IP. One would assume that if this concept was implemented, we would be continuing with the Peanuts brand. People might feel cheated out of a more thrilling addition considering we haven’t gotten a large coaster since 2020