DJSkyFoxx

Literally nothing to struggle over. Just noting that sometimes park people sound ultra-tone deaf to be able to complain about miniscule stuff when that energy could be used for more important things besides complaining on a forum about ice. I love this hobby, I love this park. But sometimes I just can't with folks. Also I'll take a 10-piece spicy nugget and an apple frosty if you're offering.

Check your privilege man. It isn't "meaningless drivel" in the grand scheme of things. Being able to attend an amusement park let alone be able to discuss them IS a privilege, ice or otherwise. We could round back that the state of the world in it's current form IS having a mass effect on parks and other industries that lean into entertainment. Entertainment isn't a priority to a lot of folks in these current times. People can complain about ice all they want. Sit down and realize your privilege. You are able to drive to/ride to an amusement park, attend it, partake in it and either enjoy it or be miserable. But you still get to be there. Many folks don't have the ability or opportunity to. And you ever stop and think about some folks not even being able to feel safe going due to who they are? Must be nice to never have to worry about that. Yes, there are many things that could and should be resolved on a molecular level. However, I focus on the bigger picture that I can even go in the first place.

I think there are MUCH MUCH bigger issues in the world right now than lack of ice at an amusement park...just sayin'

I for one am glad they bought it. It could have just been demolished and that be that. Parks do stuff like that all the time. The fact that it has been bought and has a chance at living on somewhere else is great. While a ground up RMC has always been a dream for a lot of us, if this ends up at our park, I know I for one wouldn't be upset in the slightest. In fact, quite the opposite. I never got a chance to go down and ride AF1 and with all the hype about how great it is, having something of this caliber have the potential to take up residence at our park would be a great thing. Something that people have raved about having a second chance at life at a well traversed park wouldn't be a bad thing. It would strir up a lot of hype and give KI something that truly packs a punch and fills a void in our already great line-up. Imagine being able to ride 3 RMCs in just a few hours of each other. Steel Vengeance at CP, Wind Chaser down at KK and if AF1 ends up at KI, we'd have that as well. I see no negatives here if we get it.

Although that aerial shot is not a good representation of current day in any way shape or form. it sure does make me nostalgic for that period of time. This ( for me anyway ) was peak KI. Yeah, there was no DB (under construction here I see ), Banshee, Orion or Mystic, but I fondly remember having the time of my life still back then. The late 2000's/early 2010's are some of my most favorite times at KI. Maybe because I was younger and the world was a much different place. No cell phones to the degree that we have them now-if I wanted to take good pictures I had to carry my Sony Cybershot around with me ( and I did! ). And we actually socialized in line with our friends and family. The park had a magic to it that felt as alive as the deep woods that surround it. Not saying I don't love the park now, but I think I loved it a little more back then. Vortex, Firehawk and dare I say-Son of Beast-really added something special to the atmosphere back then. Three very distinct experiences from flying on your stomach, to classic multi-looper and a larger than life insanely jarring wooden coaster than took every ounce of stamina and toughness to ride. Yeah, being a patron of KI during those times was really special. I miss that.

On one hand, I want to be excited about this coaster since it really is a pretty unhinged concept. But honestly it just feels like another gimmick-y shuttle coaster. It's a good looking gimmick-y shuttle coaster and one I would ride when given the chance. I guess I am just in a state of fatigue over parks either 1) building family coasters or 2) building something gimick-y. I'm ready to see a park install a good ol' decently long, super thrilling traditional looping coaster (lift hill or launch, don't care ) or a high intensity-airtime filled wooden coaster. And I'm good with being in this camp by myself. I appreciate innovation and parks/manufacturers trying different things, but I feel like we are in that strange era of the coaster timeline where everyone is either doing family coasters or these mind-bending over-the-top crazy designs. I hope someone evens the playing field soon and installs something awesome but feels more like a roller coaster in the semi-traditional sense.

A sad but realistic possibility is that AF could end up dismantled and sitting in a warehouse or a parking lot for the foreseeable future until someone either decides to invest in it or it just gets forgotten and scrapped. We really won't know anything until we do. The rumor mill and chain of possibilities is endless, but I think people also forget that even if a ride doesn't get demolished, storage until further notice is also very possible.

I just chalk it up to the usual formula of when companies expand and get too large too quickly there are so many details that get minced along the way. And while this merger is still in its infancy and still trying to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up, this feels significantly more painful to witness and experience than the before times when CF acquired the Paramount chain. Things just feel so disjointed in a way that continues to confuse and dilute whatever image this mess is trying to cultivate. I realize there is a lot to do here and I want to believe that the end goal will be a more cohesive, polished product. But the lack of clear communication, the constant switching up on the guest and the lack of passionate and excited announcements just gives way to a very corporate focused mindset vs. a clear focus on the guest experience/satisfaction. Who knows what any of this will look like in the next 5 years. Who knows if this merger will even last that long. I just hope that whatever happens, things tighten up and improve with far less confusion/switching-up and a lot more clear communication and consistency.

In case anyone wants a ride down memory lane. This made me smile. Like many of you, I saw this one dozens of times and I can still remember how the seats felt when they moved.

I don't think we will ever see anything like SoB again. At least not a fully wooden roller coaster of that magnitude. It feels like a fever dream looking back at it now.

Coming to a gift shop near you-pieces of the station for $1400 to mark 14 years since SoB was demo'd!

With BG parks having demolished and rehabbed coasters over the years, it will be fun to see what path they choose to take with Kumba. Will it get demolished and a new coaster be put up in it's place or will it get a complete overhaul of the tracks/new trains sort of like what they did for Nessie ( minus new trains on that one )? A third option of course could be that they keep the existing structure and modify it to be taller/longer/etc. I just hope whatever is coming preserves the legacy of this coaster.

I often wonder what the end game was in mind with keeping the station. I can't imagine it was kept up for the sole purpose of Wolf Pack/any other possible Haunt attraction. But then again, I guess anything is possible. I just often wonder if there was ever a plan to reuse it for another coaster or even a flat ride. One tends to ponder seeing as most coaster stations get leveled long with the ride itself and those stations that are kept intact are often reused for another attraction. Also those photos on Reddit are cool. Brought back a lot of memories from my teens/early 20's riding SoB with my cousins and friends. It's almost eerie how that station just seems like it's waiting for a train to come back from running the course but never will arrive. Glad someone was able to get some photos in before the station is either gone completely or altered.

Patronizing folks is gross. Drop your superiority complex.

You got jokes. I never admitted to anything, actually. I just don't care to debate this with you any longer. This ain't a ****ing match so let it go.

That statement is really gross. Disability is a broad term and plenty of folks who have what would medically be considered a disability have insanely amazing creative outlets. If anything, the same people stanning such an absurd statement should realize that AI is stealing from the very people they think they are defending 🙃

Cool. Let it go and move on. K thx.

Its sloppy and really just absolutely sick of AI being used everywhere. There is literally nothing good about AI that I can think of. I just want clean air, water, land and for people to use the thing between their ears.

I'm not here to split hairs over this. I realize there are plenty of situations where a kid may have had good parents and upbringing and still have behavior issues. That's just how it is sometimes. However, I will stand on business. Have you worked in a school recently? Because I have. I have worked as an SRO and I have worked for juvenile court. I've seen some of the worst child/parent situations. Not to mention we live in the age where the bullying/constant flow of being on the internet/information overload and dopamine hits for likes is through the roof. And this is what we see in real life every day in public places-the park being no different. Twice already, myself and my fiancé' have had a group of underage teens asking if we were of age and if they could come in with us. My response every single time is "absolutely not. I'm not liable for you". Moving on.

While I agree with this analogy, I'd rather see them finish up that landscaped backyard before the brush comes in and takes over and then do a major refocus on AZ.

Never said it was just the youth, but more often than not the issues I have witnessed and dealt with personally have been with those under the age of 18. I realize this behavior is brought on by lack of parenting or poor parenting. But the song remains the same however you wanna slice it. Bad behavior could become a valid reason to cut fireworks/drones and later nights-thus giving more parks justification to close earlier.

The sad thing is with the state of these parks I could see 9PM or earlier closings happening to help kick back the late night unruly behavior from unsupervised youth. Seems to get worse and worse as years go by.

Yeah...these gas prices really have me looking at EVs right now and that's something I never ever thought I would do! Not that I'd pull the trigger any time soon, but if gas gets to some even higher astronomical price, it may not be window shopping anymore 🙃 Also St. Louis is a lot of fun! I've been wanting to make a return trip out there to make some new fresh memories. Their zoo is amazing, but definitely huge and requires a full day to really take it all in. The sculpture park is fun and interesting. Their science museum is rad. Tons of great food to be had all around. Honestly, I'd rather just spend the day hanging out and doing St. Louis stuff rather than go to SFSL. Far too much to see and do outside of that park.

I'd rather keep the current drink plan. Especially on hot days. As for the meal plan, I really would rather they keep it since that helps make for a smooth and easy trip without having to budget that cost into my day. They could raise the price if they needed to and it would still be an incredible value for anyone who chose to purchase it. Things are priced far too low, period. If they raised the prices some that would help offset costs on their end and also enhance the quality. Then if the math mathed, they could lower the price some for those who don't have the meal plan to where it falls into some reasonable range.

I never got around to following up to this. I've taken a bit of a hiatus away from a lot of things, but since I am trying to get back in the saddle of things, I wanted to follow up here with my thoughts on this event. Starting off, getting into the parking lot itself was a bit confusing since there were no instructions on where to go to get into the parking lot. There was no clear signage either which might have been hard to do seeing as this wasn't a typical event, but alas. We had to utilize the SC entryway instead of the regular main gate. Once we parked, the rest was simple. We headed in towards the main entry and over to the KI Theater. Let me give major kudos to Mason Symphony Orchestra on how kind, helpful and incredibly warm they were to each guest. We were each given a program, a ticket to receive our free ukulele and were offered free popcorn and bottled water. They didn't cheap out on the water either. They were the medium thick sized alkaline Smart waters. They also had a small concession stand for other snacks and beverages too if one so desired. I will also mention they had the water and popcorn offerings on both sides of the theater which I thought was convenient. The gentleman that donated the ukuleles also upped the donation enough to where every single family would receive one to take home, not just a limited number. The entire experience was really positive. Cocoa is such a great movie. They had a person that actually worked for Disney there to make sure everything went accordingly and the Mason Symphony Orchestra played beautifully. They played so well that you nearly forgot that you were watching a film with live musicians. They were that seamless. You forgot until you looked down from the screen and saw real life people playing the music and sound effects. Really something special there. My only real complaint was that it was really cold in the theater. That night got particularly frigid and the theater felt like an ice box. I get cold easily anyways and I was already dressed in one of my warm sasquatch hoodies, but at one point I put my hood up over my head because it was just cold cold. I'm not sure if the KI Theater is equipped with heat, but I would say I hope if there is ever a next time for an event like this I hope they will consider placing some kind of heaters in the theater to keep it from getting so cold. The walk to the car was brutal that night! All in all, this was really an amazing experience and it was very well done. It was a unique use of the KI Theater in the off season and really showcased how capable the theater is for various things. The fact they were able to fit an entire ensemble up there and pull off this show was something special. I 110% recommend attending if they ever do anything like this again and would definitely go again myself. I just wanna drive the point home that I hope they will be better prepared to combat the cold if temps are ever that low again to keep folks warmer inside the building! Kudos to KI for hosting this and for the smooth operations and major kudos to Mason Symphony Orchestra for an incredible showcase of talent and hospitality.