Kenban

I have heard the action theatre closed due to availability of repair parts. The company who made the motion seats had gone out of business and so many seats were broken with no parts to fix them that it no longer made sense to keep the attraction open. No idea how true that is though. I find the lack of a food and music festival strange. Most of the bigger parks have them. The most logical choice seems to be an Octoberfest celebration for the Cincinnati areas German heritage. Except that does not feel easily compatible with Haunt.

Just because the attendance at one park goes up it does not mean the other park will see a decrease in attendance. Honestly I doubt they have much of an effect on each other.

I was thinking it would be done like kitchen tours on cruise ships. They split the group into smaller more manageable groups, maybe 20 people at a time. A chef shows off the equipment, explains just how much food they go through a day, takes a question or two, then swaps for the next group. Each group only gets a few minutes and you could get through everyone who cares in under an hour. Just figured since the park got the shiny new restaurant they might want to show it off.

I kinda hope that Chef Major drops in for one of the Q&A sessions. Actually an interesting behind the scenes tour would be of the new restaurants kitchen. Maybe before it opens in the morning?

Looking at a satellite view, and going off my memory that basically means behind the picnic pavilions, and the water park. There is an existing lot of some kind in this location, any idea what it is used for now? Storage, overflow parking, employee parking? I assume this means the long term goal is to expand the park into the lot behind the lazy river. It would reconnect to the park around T3 or the amphitheater. Does the park control this land already? My concern is that for the next few years before that large of an expansion project can be built the park has a huge dead end. Unless they plan to build out the whole path at once and lead it back around. Also it completely would encircle the water park limiting its expansion potential.

I have a therory, I think it was a combination of mechanical and programming, although it is unlikely we will know for certain. Eye witness accounts claim both trains were in motion, and that the front train was moving slowly. It has also been reported that there was a strange burning smell, and something was making a lot of noise. People assumed it was a bad wheel on the front train, but I think they are wrong. I think a drive motor in the station failed. That is the source of the burning smell and noise, plus it can account for the slow dispatch. This allowed the second train to catch up. Eye witnesses also report seeing the second train brake suddenly, I think something or someone realized what was about to happen and e-stopped the ride. Unfortunately the second train did not stop quickly enough to prevent the accident. It used to be that when a train was dispatched the next train would not start moving until the station was completely clear. Today coasters frequently use a moving block where both trains are moved at the same time to minimize the time the station is empty. The computer should still be maintaining a safe distance at all times and obviously it failed this time. One thing we do not know and it could completely change how Cedar Fair views this accident is what stopped the trains? If the computer triggered an e-stop then it caught the problem except it was just a second too late, not a huge deal just increase the minimum distance or add a few more sensors. If a ride op caught it and the computer missed the block violation completely, that’s a sign something is really wrong.

I doubt this event will have any impact on the reputation of RMC in the industry. While it is an RMC coaster it was Irvine Ondrey Engineering who did the control system for this ride. Basically IOE was responsible for all of the sensors, buttons, controls, PLC, and programming. IOE is well known and respected, I doubt this one incident will have much of an impact. Just an FYI, IOE did the control system for Mystic Timbers.

I am not sure if the state has to examine the ride again before it can reopen. If not it might be open with a single train tomorrow. I will be surprised if it runs three trains anytime soon.

The speed of the train which changed along with temperature made more of a difference then where you were sitting. All of the violent ejector air is at the end of the ride after the MCBR. The group I was in agreed that the ejector air is more powerful in the front. None of us got a front row ride to my knowledge but we did ride in the second row and multiple rides in the back row. My guess is that you will prefer the back of the train before the MCBR and the front of the train after the MCBR.

I think this was the first coaster that the airtime was long enough and often enough that I started thinking, just how high off the seat am I? Because while I was in the station it felt like I was firmly planted down with the restraint but in the second half of the ride I will claim I was 4 inches off that seat. Obviously not possible but it felt like it. On media day the MCBR was completely off and there were no trims anywhere as far as I could tell. I doubt this will last the season, it might not even still be true this weekend. When it was in the 40's in the morning the ride was running what felt like at the time a standard speed and there was plenty of airtime. While the ride was aggressive I felt like it would be possible to ride over and over again, part of which I attributed to the new trains. In the afternoon as it warmed up into the 60's I was no longer confident that many people would be willing to ride multiple times. I would bet the ride was going at least 10 MPH faster by 1 PM when media day ended. The airtime is going to be powerful enough to bruise by the time summer rolls around. It was already becoming painful for multiple riders by the afternoon. Also the lift hill is crazy loud. I do not think I have ever heard another lift hill this loud before. I was trying to yell at the person sitting next to me on the train and we were having difficulty hearing each other. There is a significant piece of the line in the structure for the lift as you near the station, and this is very close to the campgrounds. I cannot imagine that this will not be modified. I am confident we are looking at the ride which will be considered the best new coaster of 2018. But I doubt that it will be considered the best ride in the world, except by select coaster enthusiasts. It is just too aggressive and powerful, Fury 325 is likely to keep the top spot, Fury is the ride for the whole family, while this feels like this ride is aimed at a much smaller audience. I really enjoyed my rides and I enjoyed the first half more in the afternoon after the ride had warmed up, but found the airtime in the second half to be too strong and prefered how it was in the morning. I rarely say this but I would like to see trims on the MCBR or just use the MCBR to slow down trains when they are running too fast. I am not one to try to break down a coaster element by element, so I will leave that to others. But I really do want to recommend people make a trip up to Cedar Point to experience it for themselves.

Forgot to include a picture, here is the sign for the ride.

I will say I think it is amazing and it is my favorite RMC. I really like the new trains. The restraints are very comfortable and I think make a huge difference over the older RMC trains. I find the airtime to not be painful which is a welcome change over rides like Lightning rod.

The only good news about loose items is that they are rarely dangerous to people on the same train. The items are traveling roughly in the same direction and at the same speed as the train. This is why objects slowly float away from the train on coasters like Diamondback and it is possible for people to grab items out of the air that people have lost. The bigger danger is to people on other rides, trains, on the ground, etc. The other concern is objects thrown at a train from people off the ride. The problem with Dragon Challenge (Dueling Dragons) was the near miss elements created times where the trains were traveling in opposite directions at high speeds. Objects would hit the other train at the equivalent of over 100 MPH. In the most famous case an individual who already was mostly blind in one eye was struck in the other eye and had to have the eye surgically removed leaving him blind. Loose objects are never safe and like others have said there is no need to film any coaster in the park. There are already good high resolution videos available on YouTube which I bet will look better than anything you could film. I like the new smoking spots, expect when I used the restroom near wind seeker it had a very strong smoke smell. I am wondering if maybe someone was smoking in the restroom or if it was just because it was downwind of the new spot where the entrance to the Dino’s was located.

I am a huge fan of the changes to the music. It gives the areas of the park a different feel and reinforces the theming.

It was really quiet about half way down I-Street on Saturday night. It was so bad that the fountains were drowning out the music. As I was walking out right after fireworks ended I realized the volume difference between there and in front of the gate is huge. At least for right now I can only recommend standing between the gate and the Kings Island sign in front of the fountains. The show just made me wish the fountains had similar lighting and computer controlled nozzles.

I am trying to understand this post. I think that you believe the Fast Lane pass is another tier of annual pass? The problem is that this is an add-on to an annual pass, you still have to buy an annual pass. The minimum break even looks like six busy holidays or Saturdays. In my view if you are doing any math at all trying to figure out if this is worth it then it most likely is not the right item for you. If you only visit the park a few times do you really need a Fast Lane every visit?

You are comparing the smaller parks to one of the largest in the chain. Canada's Wonderland is $499 Canadian dollars, and Knott's is $499 just like KI.

The executives of the park have publicly discussed the 150th during the Q&A session at CoasterMania. What is known is that the celebration will last two years and there will be an anniversary addition. I do not specifically remember them saying it would be a coaster but it seemed to be implied. Not much was stated in the way of plans just that they know it is coming and they have big plans for it. At the time I was pretty confident that the coaster would be a part of the second year which would be 2021, but I still feel that would be a little strange for construction to occur during the first year of the anniversary. But whatever is coming had definitely already been decided and was known by several people on the stage. I have heard some rumors, not sure how much faith I put in some of them, but I do remember Matt Ouimet has stated he wanted a GCI on the beach at Cedar Point. He wanted that classic boardwalk look and feel. Anniversaries are very much about nostalgia and the work going on with the new boardwalk being built and the stadium which was torn down makes it look like Ouimet's vision could be the anniversary coaster. But there are several open plots of land at the park so there is no need for any coaster to go here, but I am reminded of the prep work for Valravn.

DVC members pay for parking lot maintenance as part of their maintenance fees already which is why they are exempt. I really hope I am wrong but this feels like it will lead to resort fees at Disney World. My recommendation is for people to look at the Disney Springs hotels, this is what used to be called Downtown Disney. The hotels share marketing and transportation. It is the best off-site transportation that I know of to Disney World. Plus this year the hotel guests will receive almost all of the on-site benefits. You get the 60 day booking window for fast passes and extra magic hours. The transportation has a set schedule and runs every 30 minutes. No magical express so you will have to pay to get from the airport to the hotel but Mears is reasonable.

Vekoma is actually very good at custom coaster design and fabrication. You are likely just thinking of their old boomerangs and SLC coasters. They do a ton of work for Disney including, Seven dwarfs mine train, Big Grizzly Mountain, the TRON ride, Expedition Everest, and the Rock n Roller Coaster. There are more but that’s just off the top of my head. Vekoma has other good coasters but most of their custom coasters are not in the US so you are unlikely to hear about them.

I do not know of any reasons why Flying Ace could not have the trains replaced. I am pretty sure the track gauge is identical between the generations. It is also possible it is the same as The Bat due to the partnership between Vekoma and Arrow. I wrote a huge complaint about VR on coasters. But I decided not to post it, in short just say no to VR on coasters, it’s just a gimmick which makes the overall experience worse. One thing which I know is possible is to replace the trains on The Bat with the Vekoma suspended versions, Vampire at Chessington World of Adventures uses them. While I have never been been on the coaster I have only heard good things about the trains. Would require changes to the station but open trains without all the fiberglass would be amazing and totally change the feel of the ride.

Just for everyone’s information RHoFG was announced March 7th. Tom+Chee returning for 2017 was also not announced until March(I believe the 15th) There is nothing abnormal about the park waiting until close to the start of the season for a restaurant announcement.

Jeff Pike designed both the Skywarp and Mystic Timbers. The program talked about his previous work and specifically his work at Kings Island on Mystic Timbers.

I think what will separate this hotel from the offerings at Cedar Point is that I suspect it will be open year round. Which is likely why the hotel is a Springhill Suites. From the discussions on the conference calls I expect this is just the first of several hotels at Cedar Fair properties. Canada’s Wonderland has been rumored to be next.

I am reminded of the aviation industry. They developed a series of checks A to D. An A check is fast and is done pretty frequently. While a D check is only performed every few years and takes an entire team 2 months. In a D check the plane is almost completely disassembled and every piece is examined, the paint is stripped from the entire body, interior is removed, fuel tanks, etc. These checks are required by regulatory bodies but also are driven by the schedule of the manufacturer. On some planes the D check is done every 5 or 6 years, on newer planes it is done every 15 years. Which I think is where the break down in this issue occurred. Amusement rides need maintenance. It is the manufacturer's job to make a schedule for how frequently different parts of the ride are inspected and how. Ride manufacturers have to anticipate issues and design rides so that they have redundancies whenever possible. Guidelines need to include an inspection schedule which is frequent enough to catch problems before they can cause a catastrophic failure. In this case it appears KMG had no guidelines for how to inspect if there was too much corrosion and how frequently it needed to be checked. For corrosion to have reached this point it has been occurring for years and frankly could have been caught several years ago if someone had been looking for it. Which is why the inspectors and the ride operator were not fined. They followed the state laws and the manufacturers guidelines. Obviously this was not sufficient and more needs to be done.