DJSkyFoxx

"Come to the Midwest's largest amusement park which will also be the Midwest's largest alcohol vendor! With the brand new addition of 21 and Colder joining our already ROBUST selection of alcohol stands and our Food and Wine Festival you'll have plenty of options to get blitzed! Caution: There may be higher amounts of temporary ride closures due to vomit from increased alcohol consumption during this time. Please show integrity and patience for your fellow park goer especially during this record-breaking time."

Apparently Good Gravy at Holiday World is already leaving a positive impression so I am hopeful that SBR will do the same for KI. I also see this as a good "welcome back" coaster for Vekoma to show CF that they have grown and advanced as a company and maybe bring a bigger installation to the park.

Would love to see a museum of sorts be placed in the park. I know CP had one and I don't believe it has been operational since COVID? I wish that would open back up. Love being able to see park history, artifacts and other various things that tell the story of how the park came to be. Something of that nature would be awesome for KI. I suppose in a way, Tower Gardens is kind of a small blip of history. But something on a grander scale would be cool.

Honestly this doesn't surprise me at all. This was quite an ambitious project if not a risky one all together. The bad press could have easily made it so the ride ceased to exist in any capacity at all, which while being sad, would have been understandable seeing the way things transpired. But they decided to make an effort to keep it around despite the easy way out. They took a chance on a company that was willing to put forth the effort to do something on a grand scale that would hopefully be more reliable and much safer than it's predecessor. Well here we are. It performed for its opening crowds and now that its made enough passes with fully loaded trains, the problems have shown themselves and of course they are going to look at and pick through every single detail with a fine comb. This is not only a huge deal for the investment made, but they do not need another similar incident occurring with a reimagined version of a popular ride. I'm glad they caught whatever the issues are now vs later on when it would be too late. I am of course disappointed, as I was planning to make a least one trip up this year to ride it as I am sure a lot of you were as well. And with the uncertainty of a re-opening date, if at all this year, that really stinks for both the park and fans of this ride who wish to try it out in its new phase of life. But I see it as, I would rather them take their time getting it right and ready than rush through it for it to never reopen again and ultimately meet the great scrap yard in the sky. Fingers crossed for a late summer opening, but again, if not, next year is better than not at all.

Honestly that was my first thought. The concept of having a "higher" tier set of food options for such an event sounds wonderful, but I can't imagine the execution living up to the hype due to your already stated reason. I know my fiancé and I were very disappointed with the Grand Carnivale food offerings. Most of it was lukewarm, somewhat flavorless and overall just left a lot to be desired. I fear that the same would be set forth for this event which is a shame seeing as you know the price point will be at a premium. I hope I am wrong though.

So just for funsies I decided to run a little experiment. Specifically in my Google search I typed in "Maverick roller coaster art" and did an image search. Guess what popped up? This exact image with it clearly stating it is being sold from RedBubble with the artist's name as well as their brand "Theme Park Collection". This was a conscious decision to steal this art. The artist even has their watermark in the lower righthand corner. I guess you could say I find this incredibly frustrating as someone who has done my fair share of art and music, I would simply be taken aback to have my work clearly stolen from me. Whether it be CF or whoever runs FunPix, someone made the effort to disregard a clear watermark and the ownership of this imagery. The image from RedBubble: https://www.redbubble.com/i/art-print/THE-WILD-ONE-Maverick-Roller-Coaster-Cedar-Point-Theme-Park-by-jfells/34415986.1G4ZT

I feel bad for the artist. Granted I have never heard of this individual artist, I know that typically when one conducts a Google image search, the image generates from a website more often than not and usually includes a watermark if it is copyrighted material. The fact that whoever stole this work just took it upon themselves to take it without ever contacting the artist is just pathetic and sad. Not to mention very tacky not to respond to the artist's correspondence in regards to said stolen work. This artist seems like a class act in how they are trying to handle this, but I also just feel so bad for them. Art is a gift to the world and stealing it is low and degrading. I would be very upset if someone stole my art or music and didn't ask permission. Chances are, if someone asked me to use any of my materials I would happily oblige so long as I was given the fair credit. That's why a lot of artists are broke when they are alive because they are usually just happy to be involved and be recognized. Money is nice and obviously a great bonus if a living can be made off of doing creative and fulfilling work. But I know a lot more artists who do it just for the fun of it without gaining much money and are just happy to be given credit when paired with other artists or in this case, a large company who EASILY could have either paid this creator or given them some kind of exchange. A season pass. A VIP experience. Literally anything, but moreover, CREDIT!!!!

I really wish they weren't so passive on this issue. I realize that its a double-edged sword with getting throughput on busy days and guest safety, but all day long I will say guest safety is paramount. Too many horror stories of folks getting injured and heck, even permanently blinded by other folk's negligence. No ride op wants to have to gear up to walk the lift hill to take a phone away, I get it. But take the phone away and then toss them out of the park once the ride is over. Period. Nothing will change until they start to lay down the gauntlet. Have to start making an example out of those who wish to break the rules.

And I mean, in a way, it makes sense for it to be over there with the antique autos. At least Orion's trains aren't done up in a wrap or you know, remember the days when The Bat was known as Top Gun and had Gillette Mach 3 ads on the trains themselves as well as over the intercom? Haha.

Probably. I make strong drinks. But they would fire me for using too much of their stock and not making Applebee's "dollarita" style drinks lol

Or another alcohol stand

I was an older teen in 2006. Crazy to think about that now. But I have fond memories of Nick U. I didn't think much of it at the time. Paramount was really all I knew for the most part as my first trip to the park was in/around '92 and I was very small. But post that, my formative years were spent with the Paramount Days and Nick U/HB still cohabitating the kids area. There was definitely an energy and magic to it that I miss. It's nice to see other folk's memories here

I think what needs to be noted here is this is a response to what happened in 2021. Its a reactive gesture, not a proactive one. The ability to have your cell phone and other "loose" articles secured in a pocket, sunglasses on the head with a strap, etc, were allowed before on the original ride because it was not deemed a direct issue so long as items small enough to fit in the person's pockets could be safely stored on said person. Anything bigger needed to be placed into a locker or left with a non-rider just like any other ride for the most part minus SV. And of course depending on the day, heck, even the hour, even certain fanny packs were not allowed past the line operator. Granted the accident happened due to a part of the train itself striking a guest waiting in line and not an item unsecured by a rider, this is just that reactive response to try and omit that possibility of any more bad press on this ride all together. They don't want another Son of Beast on their hands ( multiple complaints/accident/neutering-new trains and reopening/another massive complaint then closure=lots of lost money and not so favorable reputation ) That doesn't negate the fact that there absolutely needs to be a free locker system to ensure less fuss with guests and promote a more stress-free experience for all-and I will repeat that statement with my whole chest out.

And I just had a thought. They could even implement the same wristbands that Great Wolf uses. Or used last time I was there some years back. They are RFID, waterproof and they store information that could be useful such as credit card credentials so one doesn't need to carry around their wallet. Granted that makes a lot of sense in a water park setting, I definitely could see this being useful in any amusement park setting. Just flash the user's credentials onto a wristband such as season pass, tickets, add-ons to a disposable RFID wristband and call it a day. Flash the wristband at the FL kiosks, vendors and other such things. Just a thought. Might not be nearly as advanced as say a Flash Pass or Magic Band, but it doesn't really need to be in this case. It still gets the point across and streamlines a lot of things along.

I am definitely in the camp of having a free locker system in place for people to use so there is absolutely zero excuse for people not to follow the policies. But I truly do foresee Sandusky PD patrolling TT2 much like they did for SV's opening year where violators of said policy were tossed from the park. And that was of course, before the free locker bank. Even though the absolutely zero loose item policy is stated everywhere and will be stated all over this ride, there will be without a doubt plenty of folks who will still not follow said policy and attempt to bring their phone into the line with them because they don't want to pay for a locker. Which like, yeah. Forcing people to pay for a locker is silly when you've already paid a lot of money to be there in the first place. But also, even with the free locker's that are offered for riders of SV, it's still incredible to me how many people make a surprised Pikachu face when they go through the metal detector, set it off and are found to be non-compliant. They then proceed to throw a fit when they have to go put their stuff in a locker. I imagine there is going to be a ton of this with TT2 as well even with all the signage and pre-info being put out there.

The regular wrist bands could just be a place holder until a more interactive option comes along. They could be working on that and fine tuning things for next year. The technology is in place so that's a good sign.

Did I mention anything about me personally getting angry? No, I did not. I know there are a lot of kids stepping into their first jobs, but I was speaking in theory of the people who do not care if said associate is taking on their first day at their first job who may not have the forethought to think about that before copping an attitude. What I should have highlighted is that team leads/supervisors should be on their game and be able to properly back up their lower tiered associates with the proper info. If my Lieutenant was not able to fill in the blanks for me in areas that I am not equipped to handle, that would be a very bad look on my department. I realize a lot of things come into play as things move along, but I also realize that it is up to the leadership to ensure everyone is as well informed as possible and to train as necessary to get everyone on the same page. That's all I was getting at.

Reading all of this and also hearing about @IBEW_Sparky's experience this weekend, it really just screams that there needs to be more training. Absolutely more training. Send a book of SOPs home with employees to study. Heck I mean, what is the number one rule of working anywhere? Understanding your product. Having a firm grasp on what you're doing and essentially selling in most cases. Having everyone virtually on the same page is so vital to the guest experience. Not everyone is patient, kind and understanding to an associate who doesn't know or understand what's going on. All they care about is getting an answer to their question or concern and when you drop the coin that a pass holder or day ticket holder does for a day of fun and you're met with "I don't know", not everyone is going to be so understanding.

This is actually the first season in awhile that I've missed Preview/Opening day and I, for once, am actually ok with that. It sounds like it was a stark contrast from last season. I totally understand that preview and opening days can and will have their fair share of hiccups and crowds, but I am more than ok with letting things iron out a bit before I go. I hope everyone who did go this weekend had fun!

I'm probably one of the few that misses it. I will say that I am grateful for Orion and in terms of re-rideability and enjoyment, Orion is definitely the winner here. But that doesn't negate the fact that I do miss Firehawk. It was something different compared to the rest of the coaster line-up and with there not being a ton of flying coasters out there in general/especially Vekoma Flying Dutchmen, it was unique in that regard. Not to mention it being a GL transplant, it had some history behind it. Sad that it couldn't be relocated, but understandable. Maybe some day we will see a new Vekoma flying coaster stateside.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/events/coastermania

"Come one! Come all! Have one final swim in Sunlite Pool the way it was intended! Flooded to the brim with natural Ohio River water!" ***Conditions apply In all seriousness it is absolutely crazy how high the river is right now. And with more rain coming I'm beginning to think I will need a row boat to commute soon. And if I had to choose what happened to the land that will formerly be Coney Island and future become a new concert venue, I'd have picked for it to become a nature preserve. Let nature take it back. Make some beautiful walking paths. Moonlite Gardens could stay and remain a venue for special occasions such as weddings. Just let her spirit rest. That would be my personal wish vs anything else.

As someone who enjoys beer, I am excited that this is making a come back. I did not get a chance to try it the last time it was out so I am anxious to give it a go. I enjoyed the strawberry funnel cake beer quite a lot so I am hopeful that this will be good. As a whole though, I really love Sonder. Having been to both locations I think they both have something to offer. The West Chester location has the better food...or I should say "had" seeing as the Mason location will be moving towards an in-house food selection as well just like the WC location. Their third party food vendor ( Blur River Café I believe it was called ) did not get renewed for the Mason location so they will be moving towards an in-house food selection which is exciting.

While I am all for the no loose articles policy as it is an added level of safety for everyone, like those of you who stated above, how will this be effectively implemented without causing too much drama? A free locker system would absolutely be ideal, but as stated above, folks will probably find a way to abuse that system. I just don't know. As someone who considers themselves a responsible and efficient rider as in I always wear clothing that supports safely carrying my wallet/keys/phone/etc in such a way that does not inhibit my ability to enjoy rides or pay for lockers, this kind of sucks. But they have to create a blanket statement to cover anyone regardless of how responsible a rider might be. I guess we shall see. I hope by the time we get up there in the summer that whatever early kinks and bugs with the entire system of ridership will be a little bit smoother. I do feel that this season will be entirely experimental and next season things will be better tacked down. One can only hope *shrugs*

As stated above in the subject, if KI were to bring concerts back to Timberwolf, who would you want to see? Me personally, I'd enjoy an eclectic line-up of concerts. A little of everything. Kind of like a mini-music festival over the course of several days.