BlondyRidesOn

I completely forgot about their ground up coasters. Thanks for reminding me. I would like to see an Outlaw Run style coaster at a Cedar Fair park, however I think the new woodies in the Cedar Fair chain, at least for now, will be from GCI, like Gold Striker.

It has been a while since I have posted here. Both coasters are too important and iconic to alter or change, but I have been giving it some thought and made a choice. I honestly don't want either coaster to be Iron Horsed, but if I were to choose which coaster should get the Iron Horse conversion, I would choose The Beast. The ride is still fun, however, over the years, instead of being like a creature prowling through the woods, picking up speed as it goes along, the coaster has been tamed. There are trim brakes on the first drop, second drop, and around one of the corners, in order to decrease maintenance costs, due to the heavy trains going around corners at high speeds3. It also has a great layout for one. The Racer, on the other hand, played, at least in my mind, a bigger role in Kings Island's history as well as roller coaster history. Being the coaster that kickstarted the "second golden age" of roller coasters, most coasters, including The Beast, wouldn't be here had The Racer not been built. The layout of the ride isn't something that would make for an interesting Iron Horse coaster in my mind, as they tend to have twistier layouts, rather than out and back. The lead based paint on the structure is also a ruling factor as to why it shouldn't be converted. But the biggest reason why I feel that The Racer is too sacred to alter is because of what Coney Mall is supposed to resemble and represent. Coney Mall is meant to be a tribute to Cincinnati's beloved Coney Island, and The Racer pays tribute to The Shooting Star coaster, an icon to many Coney patrons. That isn't to say I wouldn't be okay with Topper Track in some areas, just not a full blown Iron Horse re-profile. Those are just my thoughts, however I sincerely hope Cedar Fair doesn't do business with Rocky Mountain Construction.

I saw plenty of lights like that on the International Street buildings last night.

That is just too hard to look at. Sadly, I have never been down to Carowinds to ride it. I just hope this doesn't repeat with Thunder Road's older siblings.

It depends mostly on which side the station of the ride is located. Thunder Road, for example, started out in South Carolina and crossed into North Carolina, so the state of South Carolina inspected that ride, vice versa for Fury 325.

I think our waterpark hasn't been expanded because of the terrain it's built on. There are ravines and hills everywhere (Before the property was developed into Kings Island, it was considered "wasteland" by the original owners, as it was unfit to farm with), while Carowinds is built on land that is more flat.

A question I've had on my mind was what other rolls the park has for the band organ, excluding 6606, 6645, 6547, and 6537-B?

^^^ I couldn't stop noticing that some of the decorative pieces on the rounding boards were missing. It's been that way for a while now. I hope the Carousel is on deck for a little TLC.

Guests gritted their teeth, Bore the load, And enjoyed their last ride, On Thunder Road. Blondy, who is thankful that The Racer still gets pretty sizable lines, especially this past Wednesday.

Eh? It isn't now? Point taken.

If they do anything to BLSC, they should give it a frontier, western re-theme and annex it into Rivertown, with a name on the lines of "Kings Mill Run" or something. But I don't see them doing that until the ride becomes a huge problem, or until the Italian Job-esque theming starts to become bland and tacky, which probably won't be for a while.

I accidentally double posted my response. I apologize.

I was in line for The Beast and a lady next to me got my attention and asked, "Did you know that this is the oldest coaster at Kings Island?" I corrected her, telling her that The Racer was older, as it opened in 1972. When we reached the station, she tapped me on the shoulder and pointed the wood board that reads "Rivertown 1979" hanging near the control booth. I said "Yes" in agreement to the fact that The Beast did open in Rivertown in 1979, but said nothing further, I just gave up. Nothing huge about it, just a mix up of information, but I thought it was worth sharing.

I think the only thing that can save the German tones of Oktoberfest is to get a flat ride and give it a German/Bavarian name. For food options, they should sell Goetta dogs from Gliers. I've had them before, really good.

They served bratwurst and mettwurst with saurkraut at the Christian Moerlein Bier Garten until this season. Now its just beer and nachos. I enjoyed it when it was there, if only more people ate there. It seems rather odd because hot dogs, brats and metts were a common food on amusement park midways.

This is also a good sign that Rebel Yell and The Racer will be spared... For now. Blondy, hoping for the best out of this.

Don't let the destruction of wooden coasters spread to Cedar Fair. Let The Racer continue as a wood coaster. I feel like there are better candidates for an Iron Horse conversion in the Cedar Fair chain.

I saw a few Kentucky Kingdom billboards in Indianapolis this weekend, as well as ones for Holiday World.

I think for a while, they lubricated the track, possibly making it go faster, but I think it was just advertised to make it seem bigger and faster to draw people in.

If Roar does indeed receive an Iron Horse conversion, which wouldn't surprise me, wouldn't it be the first GCI to receive one?

There might be more historical appreciation about Kings Island and not as much with Carowinds because many older Cincinnatians understand historically that Kings Island was a relocation of the beloved Cincinnati staple, Coney Island. Many of these people visited Coney until the very end (My father and his family were present at Coney on September 6th, 1971, when it closed). It's the rich history of Coney and Kings Island that dates back to 1867. Its the spirit of old Coney Island that still holds Kings Island up to this day, that's sole the purpose of Coney Mall and The Racer. Carowinds, on the other hand, doesn't have a history that dates as far back as Kings Island, so that might be the reason why Kings Island's history is more appreciated than Carowinds. I think that's tragic, as Carowinds has a very interesting history. It is the younger park goers that seem to not care about the history as much. I can't tell you how many times I have read things on social media, calling for The Racer to get the Rocky Mountain hybrid conversion, despite what it has meant for the present day coaster industry. It always makes me nervous about the history and the future of our park; I even had two nightmares in a row where The Racer was being torn down. However, I'm sure there are younger people out there who understand significance of the remaining original aspects of Kings Island, as well as Carowinds. I'm only sixteen years of age, and I respect the history of these parks because both of my parents visited Coney Island and have watched Kings Island change, evolve and grow for over 43 years. Understand the concern for appreciation, and hope more of it will come from people my age and younger, and not just myself. Blondy, who appoligizes for such a long comment.

I have similar feelings about the music in the park. I haven't been over in Planet Snoopy much this year, so I don't know exactly what they play, but I believe it's similar music over the loud speakers to whats played on International Street, plus Kidz Bop. This would be my ideal soundtrack list for each section: International Street- Whatever they play at Kings Dominion (The Reivers Main Theme by John Williams, Gabriels Oboe by Ennio Morricone from "The Mission," etc.) plus some from the Taft/KECO era (Sabre Dance by Aram Khachutarian, Hoedown by Aaron Copland). Planet Snoopy- Music from the Peanuts specials, like "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." Coney Mall- Nothing much to change. Action Zone- Nothing much to change. Rivertown- Bluegrass music in train station. Soak City- Beach Boys music.

I'm at the park right now and the organ sounds amazing in person.

I was a tad bit nervous about it not working. When I came opening weekend in April, it sounded bad. Can't wait to come back to hear it in person. It sounds amazing!

Lets hope that since The Racer played a huge role in starting the second golden age of coasters, and since it's a tribute to the beloved Shooting Star at Coney Island, as Kings Island was a essentially relocation of Coney, and since it still has pretty good ridership, that it stays for a while longer.