thedevariouseffect

That is correct..park is selling the ride to the media, last thing they need is a bit of negative publicity.

Hopefully they take you by the USAF Memorial, and at least by the Pentagon, and the Pentagon Memorial.

True statement haha

I'll try the slingshot at CP, the ridiculous height may be fun, plus I have a free pass to try it once so why not. Skyscraper @ CP is AMAZING, just a great ride, especially if you can do 360's or dive bomb head first straight down. Great stuff.

There shouldn't be any power hours, just consistency. Safety is the number one priority.

I wouldn't mind any organ music, it's like cowbell, you can always use more of it. Hell set up a pipe organ, I'll play what I can, then ridiculously play like a madman

Better have some Pipe Organ, always eerie to most, to me, what beautiful music they make Always needs moar organ

So this will be a bit of a brief-ish (considering my other trip reports) of my weekend up in Dusky. Started off with a relaxing Friday night, Lindz ended up coming over and we figured why not drive up Friday night, we had a complimentary night at the Motel 6 we usually stay at as an apology for the dirty room we received last stay. It was the first time in my 7th visit there I have had any issues with the room cleanliness. So after packing my bag and getting ready we left for the night about 2100 or so. It was a rather blustery day...er night..I swear the drive up. I had my wheel cocked to the left slightly about the whole time. Not for a bad alignment or anything, just my car was literally being pushed everywhere. First time in awhile construction or grooved pavement made me feel weary. Anyways, made almost close to record time. Traveling that late at night meant practically no traffic, and on Rt 6 that's a big deal. Traffic on 75 you can usually get into one of the lanes to pass, but on Rt 6, I only ran into traffic for a few minutes. Again for people down in the southwest portion of Ohio like me. You can either take 75 North to Route 6 East to Sandusky, or the grueling long straightaway through town after town with stoplights and unending agony that is Route 4. Anyways, once we got within the city limits of Dusky, we passed up the park. That night was for the first time I think a bit of the lights were left on all night. Millie, Power Tower, and Big Wheel all were lit up. The only unfortunate thing was Big Wheel didn't have it's patterns & whatnot, just solid blue all night. Once we passed up the Causeway, we headed to a local Walmart. I didn't pack everything needed (nor did I care), but had to grab shampoo, soap, etc. I was almost out at the dorms, so I figured why not just by what I need for the trip and at home. Once we got a midnight snack (I was HUNGRY) we got our room. Then within a few minutes of getting a room, getting showered, I crashed, and it was amazing. The next morning, we lollygagged (sp) for a few hours watching Netflix, ate Chipotle for lunch, etc. We finally decided about 1100 to head to Kalahari. Well, we got there, stared at the little Tiger cub they had and then went to buy (or attempt to) day passes. Well, these sell out quick, so no waterpark Saturday for us. If you want to go to Kalahari without buying a ridiculously expensive room, go online and buy a day pass. Apparently you should normally go online to purchase them ahead of time for the day you plan on going to the park. Well, we didn't know that or plan on it. So we decided to derp around for a few hours until the night life turned on. Once we got that out of the way, we headed to a small pier outside of the park on the parks west side. It was so nice to hear a calm lake, no people or tourists, no loud engines, no wakes, just..Peaceful . I will say the lack of people was amusing because tons of geese and gulls were perched all over the pier and flying around. They were literally everywhere, we would pass through where most of them were and they would look confused, startled, and fly away only to recongregate as soon as we left. Also on another amusing (at least to me), because of the freeze, many fish do not make it through the winter, and are left floating on the surface near the shores. Many birds were picking them out of the water or around a shore feasting. Right now it's basically a free buffet for the birds around the bay right now. I bet this year took a bit of a big toll on the marine life too considering how cold and how much ice was in the lake this year. The fish who stayed in the pier area, I doubt none of them really made it out. For some it reminds me of the old FIsh Heads song..if you don't know what I'm talking about..a quick Youtube search will reveal the answer.. Anyways, while up there I snapped alot of photos, I decided to get artsy with my phone and pull off some shots. This was a one time deal really, as sadly in a few short weeks, tourists and snow birds will be back with their boats, and the park will be alive, and Dusky will be quite busy again. You have no clue how rewarding it is to see empty parking lots, and stocked shelves, and no touristy people around. As much as it's nice to see the park and surrounding city alive and full of exciting things, during the off season, that nice peaceful setting is very much looked forward to in my eyes. Anyways onto the pictures! It was hard getting this panorama right, I'd lilke to find a way to correct it, but I'm good with medicine and programming, not that artsy Photoshop/Vegas/etc. stuff Def. got a bit artsy with the focus here in these shots haha More focus-y artsy stuff This guy was up here all squawking at us and everything..one day little gull, one day (like birds a tad but I loathe their existence about 99% of the time) Anyways, after the pier visit, we headed to Thirsty Pony. This is my sort of favorite tradition in Dusky. There are many other great eateries around the area, no doubt. The main reason I usually go here is for sometimes cheap drinks, Saurkraut Balls, deep fried Cheesecake bites, and it's proximity. My favorite place to eat sadly closed down. Cooker was by far the greatest eatery in the town, a moment of silence is requested. Onward..anyways, got to Pony, ate Saurkraut balls and Cheesecake Bites, it was nice to have a bite of that after not eating there for quite a few months. Once we were done it was dark and I wanted to see if the park was out testing lights and was leaving them on until the season started. I was right! I really REALLY wish I had the camera to show you guys how beautiful it was Saturday night. I mean, y'all have basically seen the lights before, but man oh man, was it a sight to see. When you have a beautifully calm lake, no boats, traffic, etc you know, that peace and tranquility I mentioned before. It really changes that view. Plus with the park only lighting those three rides, it was so bright, and just..calm. It's such a site when literally nothing else is happening. The only other noise was the water, and birds, that was it. I have a few pics and a video, I'm sorry I know this doesn't do it complete justice, again I really wish I could show you guys how amazing this was. Video showing off the peninsula. Here's a few important points to all this IMO. One, this means the season is drawing near, it's almost time to walk the midways with the smell of food, grease, and BO in the air. Secondly, this trip wouldn't have originally happened with my original set of orders, this is very very sentimental to be able to see this with my own eyes. Third, just a few weeks more and all this would change, right now it's like this, but soon it won't be. After marveling over the view we got, it was time to head to my favorite bar. There's a Gay bar downtown called Crowbar, it's a fantastic little hole in the wall. That night they had a few drink specials, and a few drag performances. Even being straight, for those of you who never have been to a Gay bar, it's quite fun. Seeing a guy wear a dress, strut in heels, do splits, and dance to HIM from Lady Gaga, it's fantastic. Plus I mean they're motto is labels are left at the door. To go in, not worry about dressing a certain way, or falling into a certain stereotype, or any other issue. I mean we walked in, sat down at the bar and had a few pretty decent cheap drinks. Also the whole night was in support of a group called PFLAG. The group stands for Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians & Gays. The group raises awareness for those raising children who are new to the Gay community and also a support group for those finally willing to be open about their sexuality. Great group, look them up, it was awesome to support them. Just because you're straight doesn't mean you can't go to a Gay bar,it's honestly more fun than any straight or traditional bar I've ever been to. If you know who you are, going there isn't any issue. You know you're not into men, or women, etc. so what, go enjoy the entertainment and fun, it's probably the most relaxed and enjoyable night atmosphere around IMO. So after a fun filled night of good music, drinks, and and show, we headed to the hotel to crash. Once we woke up, it was time for Kalahari. Yay. We got our passes right after being denied Saturday, so we were up and ready by 1000 for Kalahari. First, get a locker there. They sell lockers right at the gate for 15 bucks, but refund 9 bucks when you return the key, great deal for an all day locker. Now once inside, WOW, the place is HUGGGEE. For those that were at GWL, this is more than double the size, yeah, that big. 79k square feet at GWL Mason compared to 173k at Kalahari Sandusky. Let you think on that for a minute. I forgot to take alot of pictures here, I was so concerned with enjoying the park I didn't even think to go anywhere with my phone. I was too busy having fun to think about a PTR, sorry folks. Anyways, we decided to start off with their Proslide water coaster. Unfortunately this one uses belts which to me showed a bit of age IMO, but man, it starts off with a straight launch and up a hill before you even hit the first downward slope. It def. packs a punch, that first hill is incredible, very impressive. After we decided to do their Proslide cannonbowl with a four seater raft. This was my favorite slide of the day, I mean that drop into the bowl going backwards, I really REALLY didn't feel all that restrained, it was crazy, totally intense! After we wanted to hit the adult swim up bar and grab some food. The food there was actually quite good. I got this chicken Panini deal that came with fries for 9 dollars, and was worth the price IMO. Then at the bar we got a few drinks. I grabbed a citrus mixer and Lindz grabbed a mudslide. After I finished with a nice Great Lakes Lager. Mind you btw, all at a swim up bar. Still sitting in the water in a hot tub, enjoying drinks. We even left the bar seating and the hot tubs connect outside through a garage door. We sat outside after eating with our drinks enjoying sunlight and liquors. Amazing idea, and totally relaxing for adults. Let the kids play in the playcenter, I'll sit in a hottub with a Dartmunder Gold. Once we got out, wave pool it was. This wave pool is INCREDIBLE. The waves this thing generates are about 2 feet higher than the 6 foot deep water. Eight foot waves in the deep end, WOW. Plus the shallow water actually gets waves that create impressive swells and a bit of rip current, very very impressive. I'm curious as to what type of wave pool this is and how it generates waves. I think it may be pneumatic but not entirely sure, all I do know is it created some serious currents! Also mind you all of this under a giant skylight. After the wavepool we headed to the Cannonbowl that is smaller, but requires no raft, it's a body slide. This thing was pretty intense, never been on anything similar. The body slide was a bit rough, it got my back just a tad, however being on a sheet of water zooming around in a circle, so much fun. Then to end free falling into a six foot deep pool, that was pretty awesome! After the wave pool, I wanted to hit the FlowRider up. These things are pretty neat. KI has one, but for those of you that don't know, it's basically a sheet of water on a surface shaped like a wave, so you can basically ride one continuous wave. The wait was long, but worth it watching those with skill navigate the ride, and those with no skill utterly fail. Being used to them a bit doing them at other parks and watching techniques and the lifeguard at the bottom trying to teach the proper way to do certain things, I was a bit prepared. I fell off three times but ended up getting on my knees with no hands at one point, and doing a flip on my back and back to the board at one point. These things are so much fun, the only deterrent is the line, that really bites waiting about 30 minutes for these things. Once we were done there (well I should say when I was done, Lindz was too clumsy to want to try haha), we headed to the Lazy river. This river was actually really fun. Lots of waterfalls, sprayers, and a good current. The best part was half of the lazy river is under a tunnel, that was cool going underneath all lit up and seeing the paintings on the wall. Once we got done with a lap around the river, we were both exhausted from the weekends activities, and plus I needed to get home and back on base at a reasonable hour. So after I showered and cleaned up (their showers had fixtures with soap btw, great feature), we headed in the car to head home. Sad day. This car ride home was a bit worse than the others. Even though it was three short days, being such a peaceful time of the year with good weather, it was practically a vacation. No winter holiday trips, no kids really off of school just yet, no crazy events, it was just Dusky, that was it. It was just perfectly relaxing. So after a grueling three hours of mellow music and my window down enjoying 60 degree weather and a nice sunny mid afternoon, I got back on base..Sigh..Only one week till I'm outside of the barbed wire again relaxing and enjoying my last bit of summer, but it won't have the peaceful, relaxed, carefree attitude this trip had. It'll be fun no doubt, but this was probably the last time I'll ever see any of my favorite city calm again. Hope you enjoyed the report, sorry there was alot of quick undetailed typing and random subjects, this one was a bit quick, and I didn't care to type much out. I'll have much much much more to type next week after a few days in the park, as will many of us here. But again, enjoy

Sigh... Why must people beat a dead horse.. This is for marriages, obviously again marriage in Ohio is male/female. That is that, unfortunately. As much as I hope at some point Ohio decides to overturn a previous decision, I can only voice my concern there, not actually change it. Obviously as a public company, CP will abide by Ohio's law, as they did originally. Trust me the company in no way discriminates. They let gay people host an unofficial Gay Day with no issues, many of the employees, including many gold tags are Gay. Think down here @ KI. They let a great group close down the park and leave it open for the LGBT community, and their supporters. Right now it's just unfortunate that Ohio is dragging it's feet, just like what other states are. However, if the public wants change, they need to voice it and let their government officials decide, or elect those to make the decisions they want on their behalf, that's just the way it works. I will say as soon as that law is signed and Gay marriage in Ohio is legal, CP will sell them to people of the LGBT community just the same. They didn't discriminate before, they won't after. They're just following the law as expected.

Sigh..Why are you arguing over stuff like this.. Nit picking little things such as that is childish and honestly a waste of time. Capitalize URLs all you want, they'll immediately go lowercase as soon as the domain is reached more than likely, if you'd like to get technical. So can we all move on, and not act like 16 year olds with a grudge and get onto something more resourceful. Compliance is mandatory on posts here by users, end of story.

^^It depends on weather conditions as to which rides shut down. Yes a drop will shut some rides down or they'll down before weather, some can go in light rain. Many rides will transfer off units and run with a decreased capacity in moderate weather, but will shut down in bad weather or before it hits. KI has a vastly different policy. Being that most rides I can think of can't transfer off units, they run full trains in mild weather, but full shutdown in bad weather. Hopefully KI will allow ride ops to transfer off trains, or at least call maint. to transfer off and run limited capacity. I'd rather run one train safely than none at all if possible. But all three trains won't run in full rain in event of a partial shutdown.

Y'all are so worried about these shirts. The ride and the park is all I care about lol.

The new Bat is bolted together though correct, not all hand bent and welded I believe yes? I haven't delved into that much research for our identity issue plagued ride.

Still calling her Megan

I know they do, again I just think it's stupid and pointless... Only ride I know a ride op "drives" is Monster, that I could understand, but the rest, you push dispatch or a brake release, maybe a few extra buttons, end of story. Last I checked driving something isn't just a push of the button

I wouldn't necessarily be worried about the chain. I'd be more concerned with the lift motor. Rides that use a trim brake or feeder wheels before the lift help match the train to the lift's jog speed to allow it to easily engage. B&M's have been a pro at this IMO, it just effortly glides up, engages, and away it goes. Like Gatekeeper, I didn't even know we'd engaged until I heard the anti rollbacks.

^^Nice bit of sarcasm.. But when you spend 80 hours a week on several rides through the whole park you tend to learn alot, especially if you're an enthusiast like me.. Again blocking systems aren't hard at all..literally at all. Each block has a point a train can be safely stopped at the beginning and end, simple as that. Look at the ride, it'll tell you right there where they all are.

1. Just because you don't work a ride doesn't mean you can't tell how a ride blocking system works..There are so many little processes I see on plat that could free up time, some even just a few small seconds, but that adds up over an hour hindering your capacity. 2. I do see the crew busting ass..at times..Thats my largest problem is inconsistency. Some days or cycles I'll see them dispatch perfectly, other times, stack trains on brake run and lift gets held up (we were there closing day for about two minutes while the block setup) 3. I appreciate the work they do, I did just the same thing as you practically, I know the long grueling hours out in humidity with stupid guests, I've been there and done that. However, again, I'm all about efficiency and process improvement, and consistency, I don't see that at times. If I see an area to improve that isn't utilized, it's upsetting. For instance the five-ten seconds from station clear, to all clear, to actual release of the dispatch brakes, thats a few seconds earlier that train could be clear the station and let the next train bump up a few seconds earlier. Also, I'm surprised you take the side of the park on every matter lately. Last I checked, you were the one who told people to head to the park and look at things after hours leading to someone trespassing and putting this site and it's members in between a rock and a hard place. I also believe you faced some disciplinary issues as well.

I've been on a full stop and a stop on the second lift hill. I'll go into the details I see later on improvement..it really goes down to sending a train at proper interval.. I can talk about it because I see the crew and I see how it's run. It's nothing special..I watch the crews cycle and run more than anything because I enjoy it..

It used to

They should be able to dispatch Vortex so the train reaches B set at lift crest area by the time the first train is clear the MCBR Btw Seeker is THE WORST when it comes to operations..Make the op in controls also one checking restraints causing them to go back and fourth, etc..just..pathetic. One op should be in controls at all times monitoring the other ops on platform to release/lock restraints as needed, and also be watching the panel/ride itself for anything worth noticing. Also they don't seem to organize and get riders ready and stage them before opening gates to let them onto the ride..CP and the other parks seemed to do this well when I watched, but WindSeeker is just, ridiculous. One of the reasons they were the worst crew in 2013 IMO

Yes, someone did.. All joking aside, some may not get emails because they misspelled their email, etc...any issues, send Don a private message, please do not post Media Day details here.

I think controls sounds more important ;P It all just doesn't make sense to me..

IMO Beast should be able to run four..The crew needs to step up and bust ass. Plus I don't get why the trains don't get bumped up to right before the station..that giant gap there makes no sense to me.

For some reason the title of this thread made me think of this, tehe..