Kenban

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?

I expect to just see Congo Falls be scrapped. It is almost 30 years old and I just cannot see the park justifying the cost of moving the attraction. A similar ride at Carowinds is being removed right now. This would open up enough space in Action Zone to build a new coaster which would run towards Great Wolf Lodge and could turn and run behind The Bat. But long term I also expect to see Timber Wolf removed. There is enough space for several attractions and allows for a more direct entrance to The Bat. I suspect the eXtreme Skyflyer will also be moved at some point. Basiclly rebuild the entire corner of the park over several years.

The park has heavy equipment moving dirt around behind Banshee again. Watching it for a few minutes I saw a dump truck drop off a load of something, I assume dirt. Plus what I think is a bulldozer pushing it around.

An employee of GCI made a blog post about what was in the shed a few months ago. Spoiler alert, it contains the transfer and storage track for the trains.

A lot of the value in a meal plan is personal. How frequently do you visit the park and for how long? Do you travel to other Cedar Fair parks? For instance I value the meal plan a lot more at Cedar Point then Kings Island. When I visit Cedar Point I spent a lot of money on gas, hotel, and other expenses. At that point my time is worth more then the cost of the park food. So even if I did not have the meal plan I would still be eating in the park in those instances. The problem with the food service locations at Kings Island is that they were designed a long time ago and they are really not efficient. A lot of the problems could be fixed by remodeling. I am hoping some changes have been made in the off season we do not yet know about. Starting with Festhaus and replacing LaRosas by changing it to a more open layout like Harmony hall for instance, although this might require extending that side of the building. Changing the way the layout at other restaurants is also important. The fastest service I have seen is by having several registers where you first place your order, at which point you receive a number, plus your cup if you are getting a drink, then you have a few pop machines where the park guest fills there own cup, and finally a large counter at which you receive your order on a tray. The park did try this with the Jukebox Diner last year, the problems all appeared to be in placing the orders. Once you got past the resister it went pretty fast.

The way I read the schedule the park has been rented out for opening day. Closed for private event April 14th. So opening day for the public is the 15th. Wonder if the park will be operating Mystic Timbers on the 14th?

Honestly, it was mostly fine. The problems were confined to memorable areas of the menu but there was plenty of other food. The park did change the menu up last year and I think most people would agree the chicken was pretty good.

The park had a teaser video for Hurler which listed 2018. Most likely it will be RMC coming in and modifying the coaster.

Unlikely, cup manufacturers have always been worried about sanitation and very few are willing to use recycled material in a location where it could possibly come in contact with the drink. The other side of this issue is that the paper cups are actually plastic lined which is what makes them waterproof, and makes them almost impossible to recycle. But do not think it is always better to use a plastic cup, you can make 50 paper cups for just the energy used to make one reusable plastic cup. If this was really an environmental issue the park would sell high quality plastic cups and allow them to be used for multiple years. Just pay an activation fee each year.

I got the survey and I really hope the chain makes this change. It would frankly fix almost all of my complaints about the drink program. My only remaining complaint would be about just how frequently the freestyle machines are out of a beverage, and it typically seemed to always be what I want, the diet lemonade. I get the feeling that the parks are planning on having more rides with a no loose articles policy similar to Banshee. For Kings Island it has been rumored the bins in the Diamondback station will be gone for 2017. Plus I suspect that Mystic Timbers will also have a similar policy.