Kenban

Unless it is small we are not getting a coaster in 2019. 2020 is likely though so would not be surprised to see land clearing by this time next year.

I know the TEA number is low, but I have no idea how low. The issue is that the numbers fluctuate a LOT more than the report indicates. I have been told to not even trust the order that the parks appear in the report, they are just that far off.

I think it is important to note that this is chain wide, not just Kings Island. You cannot directly link any number from this to the park.

Currently assuming a train is dispatched every 150 seconds they are only running 24 trains an hour for a total of 576 max riders an hour assuming every seat is full.

More likely it will find some wind and go down before you have a chance to ride it.

Sorry I was thinking Unicoaster 2.0

I hope it is not a Zac Spin, those things are terrible. There is a reason Six Flags went with the S&S Free Spin for the rest of their 4D coasters. But I took a look at the layout, there is a skywheel shown but no coaster. Multiple websites are calling it a UniCoaster which is that powered coaster concept from Chance rides. But the height listed confuses me if it is based on that. Oddly no one lists the Skywheel.

Personally I think this is the best use of available resources for the park. Blocking off rows instead of giving guests the option of sitting anywhere speeds up loading and dispatching the train, which means you spend less time waiting in the brakes. I would prefer to see the park run three trains with the middle blocked off then only running one or two trains. The majority of park guests seem to either want to sit in the front or the back, this allows for more guests to get what they view as the optimal experience. Also it allows the ride ops to open lanes in the event that more guests start showing up. I have not personally seen Mystic Timbers have trains put onto or taken off of the transfer track but on many coasters this process takes several minutes and frequently requires park maintenance to perform the work. Why shut down the ride during the day when you can just close off a few rows. Having said that, long term if it is possible to upgrade the belts to retractable so that wrapping the belt around the restraint is unnecessary then I would prefer to see that occur. But I suspect if it was easily done they would have been retractable to start with.

Waiting to board Firehawk I saw a train come back with three different people who had cell phones out and that’s a single train which can only hold 24 people. That’s assuming I did not miss any as well. I hate riding coasters at Universal Orlando due to the metal detectors. I have no desire to put every little thing which I have in my pockets in lockers and I really want to use my cell phone in the line while I wait. But it feels like something is going to have to change, either pulling people off rides, leaving them in the restraints while you call security when a ride is over etc. I really do not want metal detectors but I would not be surprised to see them at some point in the future at more parks.

Sea World did a hard hat construction tour for press last week. Here is a video of the event from Midway Mayhem. The good news is that it sounds like construction is close to being complete. But like they point out in the video this will require a lot more testing than a coaster.

You are greatly underestimating how much money Paramount was spending. For instance Tomb Raider was $20+ million. Son of Beast was also more than $20 million. Total spent at both parks over the same period was likely very similar. But it does feel like Paramount had a very low return on the investment.

My guess is your going to miss it by a few weeks. The construction updates make it look like at a minimum two or three weeks before testing can even start. I think opening is about two or three months away.

The biggest issues seem to be when the park is not open for daily operation. I just do not think this will help the early part of the season. But this still sounds like a good addition. Back when I first heard about the dorms, I was told the park was looking at locating the dorms near the greenhouses. Seems like the most logical location to me.

Oscars Wacky Taxi, Switchback, Roar-O-Saurus, and Zippin Pippin are all recent builds by the Gravity Group in the US. Ravine Flyer II is 10 years old this year. There is a chance I missed something as well. But I am not aware of any relationship between Gravity Group and Cedar Fair so I doubt we would see them working on The Racer. I am leaning towards something interacting with The Racer, or maybe even just a lighting package, or painting the coaster.

That looks like rigging for lighting. Plus the pallet appears to have a bunch of can lights. It looks like the start of a setup for a show of some kind.

I am waiting in line, it is running two trains. But wait time is two and half hours during ERT. EDIT: I should point out this was the posted wait time. Actual wait was about an hour.

In case anyone is confused, this is the old Flight Commander queue. I am having a hard time saying for certain the work is recent. Anyone take photos of the area last year to compare?

I am pretty confident it is Scheid anyways. I think multiple people are spelling his last name wrong.

On The Beast the speed up the first hill is determined by the location of the train in front of you. It goes slowly until the train clears the second lift hill then it speeds up. If it goes quick from the start then the train took a long time in the station, and the train already cleared the second lift.

What he said was that the parks recently made presentations to Cedar Fair management about what they want for the next three to four years. Basiclly their wishlist additions. He stated KI asked for a giga.

Anything is possible, and any answer I give is just speculation, my guess is we have seen all we will see for 2018. I am looking at what the other parks did last year and what they have done so far this year. Since Coasterstock is this weekend, there is a chance we will find out something. When I say last year I was specifically talking about the 2017 season. I think this was because to some extent it was still a trial at that point, no one was sure how many could be sold without a major impact on the park. Only three parks have sold out the 2018 passes, Carowinds, CGA, and now Kings Island. Neither CGA or Carowinds sold a second batch of 2018 passes. Carowinds sold out extremely quickly, no idea when CGA ran out. But it is still early in the season, and the water park is not even open yet.

^ I am guessing they sold around a thousand. Carowinds announced the initial number was 500 last year and they sold a second batch of several hundred (not sure they said exactly how many). Increase that a little and you end up around 1,000.

While I like the Lemonade it is just as bad for you as Coke. Both use high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener and have almost identical calorie counts. I still hope to see the Minute Maid Light Lemonade in the soda fountains at some point. But no luck so far.

Soda machines use the ice to cool the water. So when they are out of ice you end up with warm beverages. I am pretty confident the Coney Mall Coke freestyle location does not have air conditioning. It has two large ceiling fans, which was fine until Winterfest when the front was walled in and doors were added. The building has six ice makers all generating heat which is likely why it is getting so hot. The other problem is the ice machines cannot keep up with demand. I think the best sollution to the ice issue is a pair of dedicated ice maker/dispensers. I only have time to visit on Saturday and Sunday, I was at the park this last Sunday and I found the food service good but that the drink refill stations started closing around 4 PM. So far I think food service has seen a huge improvement over last year, overall I have been happy. What I have heard is that the underlying issue is the same as last year the park was not able to hire enough employees for this early part of the season. The park is willing to give people as many hours as they are willing to work but they just do not have enough people to work every shift which is available. I have heard it will be better once school gets out.

While implementation might be an issue. Every guest should have a ticket with a unique barcode. Scan the tickets and they can be certain each ticket can only be used for a single pass.