Kenban

I hate to say it but I feel like RHoFG has largely been a failure. I would love for the park to just change it over to more of a casual restaurant where you order at a register and are given a puck. Then when it vibrates you just get up and pick up your food. The food is fantastic but leaving half the restaurant empty is just pointless. I would also be completely for splitting the restaurant in half, where one side still has table service and the other does not. But if the park cannot manage to figure out how to staff the restaurant maybe it is time to change the restaurant.

My problem with the 15-minute wait is that the freestyle machines are frequently out of popular drinks. If your cup is scanned before you try to fill it then you have no way to know if you will want to walk across the park to try to get a specific beverage. I almost exclusively drink the light lemonade and typically try to get some flavor mix in, and I do have to agree strawberry is likely the best. From what I was able to figure out the employees mostly seem to have no clue how to fill the machine and just ignore it when they run out of something.

A giga coaster is a coaster between 300 and 399 feet tall, the original is Millenium Force.

Looking at the ride list I feel like the park could offer season long Fast Lane as an option. As long as it is the regular Fast Lane and not Fast Lane plus I think it would be manageable. This would mean no Mystic Timbers, Beast, Firehawk, or Flight of Fear. The problem being that while the rest of the list has some great rides many of those do not typically have long lines.

You will have a difficult time finding anything. Almost everything related to theme parks is regulated at the state level. So it ranges from states where almost anything goes to states which have very strict set in stone rules.

I am really torn on this. I want it and based on the prices I have seen so far I feel like it would likely be around $150 at Kings Island and I would purchase it at that price. But I do feel like it would be detrimental to the lines at Kings Island. Not sure any of the parks listed so far will see too large of an effect. For example Carowinds lines are typically short even on Saturday, but they only have a total attendance around 2 million (announced by Cedar Fair around when Fury 325 was built). Kings Island is claimed by third parties to be around 3.3 million. Cedar Point is the only park with the new website which does not list the season long Fast Lane plus. If parks of similar size also do not receive the option that means, Kings Island, and Canada's Wonderland.

I do not want to directly post the photo because it even admits it was taken with a drone. I know the park and this site do not want photos from drones but the photo is fantastic and I would hate for people to miss it. If you take a look at this thread on reddit they discuss and link to a really good photo of the park. You can clearly see that the people who speculated the work being done next to timberwolf is related to the photo posted by KI entertainment are correct.

I changed my post to make it clear I am talking about the helix tunnel. While it is not at Kings Island I have been wondering about the clearances on Storm Chaser.

The helix tunnel was not added until after the first season on The Beast. EDIT: Added helix to specify that I am only talking about the helix tunnel.

If you look at the schedule the Friday of the preview event the park is listed as closed for a private event. My guess is the park will be very busy this year for the pass holder event.

Still thinking this is screen based. Two guesses, either the show is different based on the time of day, or it is based on the conditions outside the ride. One crazy idea I have had is that it will be a massive augmented reality effect. I could see cameras mounted on the outside of the building. Then when you are on the ride you start with something that looks like the inside of a saw mill, at some point the walls get holes or ripped apart and as the "walls" are removed you see an image of what is outside the shed.

I am happy to see this. But they better have a way to switch your order from last year. When I renewed my pass I purchased the season long bottle and I would really prefer to just get a cup every time I want a drink. With this change I have zero need for a locker.

^^ The problem with Pulsar is that it cost $9 million. It looks like a fun ride, but I would think Coney has better ways to spend that much money.

Last year we were given several coupons at check-in. Then when you used one at a photo booth the employee printed a receipt with a code which allowed you to download the photo.

I understand that Disney World is the most visited resort on the planet and people want to make big claims. But they are no where near the same position Disney was in 50 years ago. To make that claim is crazy. Disney had an already popular resort, a collection of properties to base attractions on, existing ride designs which were unique in the industry, money, and very importantly a weekly TV show that allowed the company to show off its new park to the entire country. I wish them luck and it is good seeing a company try to build a new park. To my knowledge there are no large theme parks in Arizona currently. But it is very difficult to build new parks today.

^ It just looks like an accelerator coaster. It uses an LSM launch not hydraulic.

^ 367 ft. tall makes it a giga. It is launched like the strata coasters so Fury 325 will still be the tallest non-launched coaster.

That is the end which connects to the shed, could just be to help control the amount of sunlight so they can keep the enclosed areas darker.

While I would love to see a setup like at Universal Orlando, it is very unlikely. For those not familiar with how they work, the lockers are free for the length of the line plus some amount of extra time. So if the line is extremely short maybe it is only free for 45 minutes. But on a very busy day the same locker could be free for 3+ hours. You are told when renting the locker how long you have and if you come back too late then you are charged for the extra time. Universal's old lockers work off your fingerprint, the new lockers require you scan the barcode on your ticket or annual pass. What I could see happen at Kings Island is to have a set of lockers in a central location, like next to the Showplace Theatre. Then the annual pass has an add-on which lets you use one locker each visit to the park. It would likely be around $40-50 a year but I would get it.

It has been rumored for a while that Diamondback is going to be gaining a no loose article policy this season. Basiclly just like Banshee you will not be allowed in the line with bags, cups, etc. I will be more surprised if it does not happen at this point.

Behind the Crypt building, between Diamondback and The Beast is plenty of room to build one or more coasters. Personally I want to see this combined with removing the Crypt building but it is not a requirement to use this land. Might require grading depending on how far back the station is built. Keep most of the maintenance buildings next to X-base and only remove the two farthest from The Racer and you have the space to build a coaster without impacting the Dinosaurs. Would be easy to just build a replacement building(s) between Racer and Flight of Fear. These types of buildings are really cheap which is why the park has been building similar buildings for use as haunts. Remove Congo Falls and you have tons of space for a coaster. Which I want to point out I view as very likely for the next coaster. There you go enough space for 3-4 coasters without major expansion, or removing a single coaster. Although by the time these areas are used Dinosaurs Alive will likely have run its course or the park will start replacing coasters.

What I am fixated on is the retaining wall. That is the same style as what was used to build the maintenance road next to Mystic Timbers. How many of those can exist in the park? I do not even remember any until Mystic Timbers which means I have completely missed it or it is not in an area of the park which is accessible to guests.

The Crypt building looks huge but is smaller than you would be likely to guess because it is very tall. It is actually only 100 ft. by 100 ft. While Iron Reef is 200 ft by 100 ft and that ignores the maintenance area. Elevators add a massive level of complexity and cost to this type of attraction because you are moving a ride vehicle between floors while it is occupied. The cost of adding elevators is likely so high it would be cheaper to tear down the building and just build a new building. I just cannot think of a way to do this with ramps either, the vehicles cannot handle a very steep grade. The old Crypt building needs something which can be built vertically, a very custom wild mouse coaster for instance. I also think a flying theater ride similar to Soarin at Disney would be a good fit. A number of companies are showing off similar designs but I do not know if any parks have built one. Action Theater is also too small. Plus the levels where the motion seats are located plus interior walls etc are all still in the building. All of this stuff would have to be removed and I have no idea if it is even possible in a reasonable way.

I would actually think that animatronic trees waving their limbs chanting now you will pay would be a good ending. But being realistic it is more than likely going to be a screen based video, likely using projectors. It might have some physical prop in the ceiling as well. I could also see it being done in real time, which would allow it to be random. Likely this is being done by Triotech. Since the shed appears to be a sawmill and the theme of the ride appears to be you in a truck fleeing growing vines and trees. You likely stop in the shed then see a video which shows the sawmill getting attacked by "nature". I just hope it is something which is fun to watch over and over again. One of the problems with screen based attractions is that I find myself getting bored of them quickly and not wanting to ride them frequently. Having made frequent visits to Universal and Disney I find myself wanting to skip the video portion and just do the ride.

Music in the park performances are held in the Kings Island Theatre not Timberwolf. Although I do believe the awards are given out in Timberwolf. It has been years since the last concert performance at the park (2013?). Spirit Song is a 4 day event every year. It used to be used for an annual Cheerleading competition. I tried to google it to make sure I did not just miss the event but could not find anything recent. Please correct me if I am wrong but as far as I can tell the venue is used for 5 or 6 days a year. How long does it make sense to keep with little use?