Kenban

Dollywood will stop running the coasters if it gets too cold out. It is very rare.

I am pretty sure the shed is either projectors or LED screens. I suspect there will be a random show scene which will be done by Triotech. I doubt it will be interactive. If it is interactive it will be based on detecting arm movement and not using physical guns.

It depends on what the judgement is. If you complain about the capacity of a ride. You do not need to have actually ridden that specific ride. In the case of Lightning Rod the trains used are not unique, they are used on several other coasters. In my opinion RMC trains are slow to load/unload and restraint checks take a long time. This leads to long lines and low capacity. I have not had a chance to ride Lightning Rod yet, but I have a lot of experience with other RMC coasters. I feel qualified to comment on how bad the throughput is on RMC coasters which utilize this train. If you want to complain about downtime you also do not need to have been on the ride. The large amounts of downtime being experienced by Lightning Rod could be the very reason you have not had a chance to ride it yet. The ride is months behind schedule and still experiencing issues. I hope the ride is working next time I am at the park so I am not stuck just looking at it again. I will agree though if you want to complain about the experience, or how it is to actually ride the coaster. Then you really need to have ridden the ride first. Except the majority of the complaints are not about actually riding the coaster, and based on what I know about the ride they seem like pretty valid complaints. I also complain about capacity issues on FireChaser Express. I enjoy the coaster but the entire setup with how you pull into the station backwards is a capacity nightmare, the fact that there is a track switch required between a train leaving and the next entering the station leaves the station empty with nothing occurring for a long time. It frequently has long lines and I suspect most of that is due to just how few people can ride it an hour.

It appears many of the Cedar Fair parks announcements are occurring on August 18th. I would not be surprised to see the second announcement occur then. Makes me wonder if most of the chain or the entire chain is getting the same flat ride.

Cedar Point sent a large Flip Flop with the date to the media. I am still thinking this is a water park expansion at Cedar Point. If I remember correctly Kings Island did state they expected the second major announcement to be mid August.

^ If you understand the parks height restrictions it makes sense. The park is limited to 100 ft in the back half due to being in the flight path for the airport. The front of the park where the Ferris wheel is located has a higher restriction.

It was, I wrote that on my phone.

Numerous rides have reopened after deaths. If the ride was not at fault it can reopen with a few days/ weeks. Mission Space has had two deaths for instance. Both were found to be pre-existing conditions. When an issue with the rides design or maintence is found then it can take more time to reopen. EDIT: just fixed an auto-correct issue. Pre-existing not predicting...

Is it actually obvious? I do not believe it is. Since Cedar Fair purchased the Paramount Parks the capital expenditures on new roller coasters has been very similar. Cedar Fair purchased the Paramount Parks in 2006. Since that time Cedar Point has installed three new coasters, Maverick in 2007 which cost $21 million, Gatekeeper in 2013 which cost $25 million, and finally Valravn in 2016 which a local news agency reported cost $15 million but to my knowledge the park never publicly discussed the price. The $15 million dollar price tag is reasonable based on the cost of similar dive coasters, although it still feels a little low to me but not by a lot. In the same time period so far Kings Island has installed two coasters and announced a third. The first Diamondback in 2009 cost $22 million, Banshee in 2014 cost $24 million, and finally Mystic Timbers which based on similar coasters is likely around $12 million but similar to Valravn no price has been publicly discussed. So Kings Island is getting new coasters at a similar rate to Cedar Point, Cedar Point had 6 year gap and a 3 year gap, while Kings Island had a 5 year gap and a 3 year gap. The costs are similar at Cedar Point total $61 million dollars vs Kings Island total $58 million dollars. I just do not see it, Kings Island has been getting significant coasters, you might not like what they just announced, you might not even like what they have been installing, but the complaints about Mystic Timbers are not very different then what the coaster enthusiast communities felt when Maverick was announced. Actually I remember a lot more hatred of Maverick then I have seen so far for Mystic Timbers.

Because the concern is not the fire department having a source of water, the concern is with the sprinkler system not working.

^ FYI they have already added an elevator, I think they did this last year. The park still has no plans to reopen the restaurant for daily use.

It would have to be a completely custom design, but it should be possible. The problem is the building is not as large as some people think it is. The building is approximately 100' ft x 100' ft. No idea how tall it is but there is enough space to make it work. Sometimes I wish the park would use the building for a new attraction other times I just wish they would get rid of the building. It is blocking the area between The Beast and Diamondback and there is a lot which can be done with this area.

The best salad at Kings Island is at Reds Hall of Fame Grill. The buffalo chicken salad is even on the dining plan.

Kings Island does not count Surf Dog as a coaster. Instead they count The Racer as two seperate coasters.

Ouch! Hopefully the brass rings wouldn't be affixed strongly in their place. It would hurt to have the cart go forward and have my wrist try to stay behind. It used to be a standard feature on Carousels. There is a dispenser which you would reach out and try to grab a ring from, then there was a hole or slot you would try to toss the ring through. Only a few parks still have carousels with ring dispensers.

The park discussed the water tower at Coaster Mania. The primary reason it is being built was in case of another water main break. It is supposed to be large enough to keep the park and hotels open, but I do not know for how long.

I am leaning towards Plants vs Zombies, Mass Effect, possibly both, or a third EA property. Both is possible because they each only take up one side of the theater. Another roller coaster is unlikely unless it is a wild mouse. I think a custom wild mouse would be a good fit in the big box. Flat ride is possible. Everyone seems convinced that Carowinds is only getting 4 flat rides from Europe. Except when they were originally announced Cedar Fair purchased 7, and stated 5 were going to Carowinds, and 2 to Worlds of Fun. So not sure what happened there. Beyond that a new flat ride is also possible. Also the ride pickers were supposed to go to Japan next never heard anything about that trip. Was it actually announced the other announcement is an attraction? The 45th anniversary is coming up, could be a major refurbishment project. I keep expecting the park to build a new campground with cabins at some point. Cedar Fair announced a few months ago they were going to be building hotels and cabins on currently undeveloped land at the parks. Carowinds seems an obvious choice. But Kings Island also successfully supported a campground for a long time.

I suspect the track does nothing special. It is likely a show scene of some kind. Fake unload, animal attack, nature attack, or lumber mill.

If anything happens to the log flume it will not be because of this ride.

I could see the creeping vines, and sharp turn, but I do not believe there will be a launch. The shed is like 100 or 200 feet from the station.

The page for the ride is up at the Kings Island website. Height 109 ft. Length 3,265 ft. Speed 53 MPH Basically standard GCI specs.

To give you an idea for the cost here is a used Timberliner train. This used train is $550,000 and Hurler runs two trains. My guess is that price is around half what it would cost new. Hmmm built in 2010, I am guessing this is from Holiday World.

I believe that was only for press. The general public is welcome to just show up and watch.

I was thinking Cougar. On a more serious note. I am a little surprised that I cannot think of many coasters which use names of big cats. The only two I can think of off the top of my head is Jaguar at Knott's, and Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa. I think Panther would be a great name for a coaster.

^^^ It is a new roller coaster which will likely cost around $10 million. I think the park would consider that a major new attraction.