Kenban

I will be there and really looking forward to seeing what this message means.

Pretty sure it will be renamed but not until after the new sections of the park are complete.

They look like Picnic tables. No idea why they got dumped there. Yea I was not thinking when I typed that. There is another exception as well Intimidator 305 is from Intamin and was in 2010.

We might have a winner here. At least about the power lines. Still not sold on a flat, but the power line idea seems to be spot on. To demonstrate: It lines up with rumored locations of some of the markers and would explain a narrow path through the woods. Good catch. Sorry but this makes no sense at all, there is an existing power line directly to the left of your yellow line. In the off chance they want to expand the power service you just string up another wire on the existing poles. If you look closely at your picture you can see several of the poles for example there is one just above the large metal tower in the lower left, I can also see two on the left of the train shed. The question I want to see answered is who is getting the major attraction this year in the Cedar Fair chain if it is not King's Island. Cedar Fair has already said they are spending a total of $150 million on new attractions across the chain. They have also shown to investors they plan on adding at a minimum one major attraction somewhere in the chain every year for the next 5 years. So far the only parks with construction that I know of are King's Island, WoF, and Cedar Point. WoF is getting two flat rides relocated from parks in Europe. Cedar Point is removing Shoot the Rapids but just received Valravn, and would be surprised to see back to back major coasters. This tends to point towards King's Island, but I am willing to say ok X park is getting the big ride this year but I see no signs that it will be happening somewhere else. But also look at what the park is teasing. The park posted a picture of Rob Decker with blueprints at Kings Island in January. If you are not familiar with Rob he is a Senior Vice President in charge of Planning and Design at Cedar Fair. He helps design the coasters you see at the parks and he is not going to show up at the park for a flat ride. Whatever is on those blueprints is likely the 2017 attraction. He is responsible for everything from Valravn, Fury 325, Banshee, Gatekeeper, and many other attractions. The past does not always repeat but since 2004 the Major Attraction has been a B&M every time. It has become reliable the chain adds one B&M a year. You could almost say they are stuck in a rut but since it is so reliable it makes it easier to make an educated guess. Building new food service locations, and moving the entrance to an attraction are expensive. In the past these kinds of activities have always been the sign that something big is coming. Flat rides are just shoved where they happen to fit and make sense. The park has tons of space to put in smaller attractions. You build in a spot like this for something specific, or because you really want to put the ride there, for example a water ride. The teasers, construction, etc all point towards something a lot bigger than just a flat ride. Maybe this is not a giga from B&M but I am pretty confident it is something big.

There is a huge difference between a drop dead the work needs to be done deadline and what is likely. Speed costs extra so the work is typically spread out over a longer then needed time frame. But overall the deadline is somewhat the same for everything actually, the major limiting factor is that site prep, footers, concrete work, etc has to be finished before it gets too cold out. Beyond that the ride itself would largely be constructed during the fall and winter. You also need to get the ride finished a month early for testing if you want it open on opening day. They could wait until August to even start work and still get anything done by opening day.

Please, no.. Don't worry would never happen. Both are maintenance and downtime nightmares. A few years after it opened Dick Kinzel who at the time was CEO of Cedar Fair called Top Thrill Dragster the worst business decision he had ever made. I cannot see another ever being built at a Cedar Fair park unless Intimin can somehow prove they fixed all the issues.

I think that is around where the new path to White Water Canyon will be. Could just be installation of a net.

Less then a year. Which included time to rebuild a section of track which collapsed during construction. There is plenty of time to build just about anything for 2017 still.

Even worse they were the only riders. The rest of the ride was open they could have easily moved to another car. Reuters Video. There is no excuse for this, if the safety system is not working 100% no one should be sitting there period.

I don't believe so. They just recently got their approvals IIRC. Orlando was approved in December. Georgia appears dead. The website for the facility where it was to be located no longer lists the tower and I cannot find a news article newer then 2013 which shows any sign of progress. A Polercoaster was approved in Atlantic City either in December or January. This would be from the same developer who is trying to build one in Orlando. 30 to 50 in five years is just insane. I could see a few of these being built but not that many. I could even see a theme park building one as central icon. But I have my doubts.

The only 5 year plan which is public is for the chain as a whole and includes no details for individual parks. We know the chain plans at least one major ride every year for the next several 5 years. But we have no idea which parks are getting them. We know the chain is spending $150 million this year on capital improvements. But we have no idea if Kings Island is getting $5 million or $35 million. Having said that we can make some pretty good guesses early in the season about who is getting the major ride. Land clearing and teasers from the park would start early. Which points towards Kings Island. For the last several years large attraction means B&M. Which is why I personally think we are getting another B&M. Which based on our current rides leaves me to think giga, or wing. Since we are the only major Cedar Fair park without a Giga my guess is Giga.

Hulk is not a re-track, it is being replaced by the same ride. Everything is being replaced, the track, supports, launch, trains, even footers were ripped out and replaced. The problem is that doing this is just as expensive as building a new B&M. Might as well just build a new design unless you want the exact same ride again.

It is an outside company which developed and maintains the app. They likely just got the two mixed up since they both have the same name. I doubt it is being done on purpose.

Typically new attraction announcements are in August. We should be able to have a pretty good idea on what we are getting before the announcement though. If they start clearing large amounts of land we should know if it is a coaster or not and possibly get an idea on how large it will be and the path pretty quickly. As soon as the first footers are complete we will know the manufacturer of the attraction. B&M for instance has a very different appearance which is very obvious. The size of the footers will clue us into how large the ride will be, just take a look at the lift hill of Fury 325. Assuming it is a B&M we should see track coming out of the plant around July or August. It basically comes down to money. King's Island is number three in the chain in profits only Knott's and Cedar Point make more money. With the land issues at Knott's it leaves King's Island right behind Cedar Point for new attractions. King's Dominion would also be behind Canada's Wonderland and Carowinds. To give you an idea on just how much more King's Island makes it is around what Carowinds and King's Dominion make combined. They are big enough to justify big coasters but not no where near as frequently as King's Island or Cedar Point. If this is a Giga I suspect it will be around 5 years before another major coaster at Kings Island, unless there is an uptick in attendance or per cap spending.

Just another guest who was riding the train trying to figure out what the park is up to.

I ran into someone at the park who had a great explanation for what they are doing. Basically you first go through and mark the trees which are valuable and can be sold for lumber. Those are the trees which are getting the green marks. They will be cut first and hauled off. Then you come back through and just level everything that is left with heavy machinery. Once you get an idea of what is going on I felt like only the big trees were marked and it no longer felt random.

Way too early to be thinking that. The first piece of Banshee track was installed in August. That gives them 4 months to get ready for starting to install track. If our speculation is accurate and it is a long thin coaster then they do not even need the entire path to be ready at that point in time.

Yup, there is a very old house in there. I have heard that when the park land was being purchased the owner who had built the house by hand did not want to see it torn down. So he made a deal with the park that he would sell the land but they were not allowed to tear down the house. The park built the fort around the house to hide it from view.

I played guess the coaster path. I took three trips on the train on Saturday. I saw markers to the end of the train shed. The markers followed what appeared to be a straight line back over white water canyon and would continue back to the clearing in Rivertown. There are other markers which also appear to follow straight lines but I did not do a good job of keeping track of them. There are no survey markers which I could see which head towards the fort, or the front of the park at all. I did see some brush clearing in front of the fort but I do not see anything which links this to the other work. I am guessing a coaster but I think the early guesses at the path are totally wrong. In my view there are too many obstructions to see this ride head towards the front of the park. First you would not want to cross a power line, the line could be moved but then you just run into other problems. If you head towards the fort or front of the park you have to cross the path of the train several times, which would also require clearing most of the trees around the train. The turn around would be next to where I believe the trash is taken in the park (please correct me if I am wrong). The entire path of the coaster would be dictated by existing construction or would require other work. It just feels wrong to me. So what does feel right? That is where my guess comes in. Everything is from google maps. I put Fury 325 turned so it would match where I think the coaster is going on the side to give you a sense of scale. From what I can tell there is a 50 foot drop just past the train tracks next to the train shed. It would be possible to build a lift hill around 330 ft tall and have a 350 foot drop or even more. Which could get the coaster going over 100 miles per an hour and I believe that would be a first for a coaster without a launch. I am just trying to show what I think the path of the ride is going to be. But it makes sense to me. Around the same length as Fury 325 although could easily extend this to The Beast. I looped the brake run around so that it would not be above any other attractions,

I want to say I want an RMC. But it is not that simple, I want a ride like Twisted Colossus. I would love to see a mobius loop track layout. The ride is pretty good if it is just your train, but it is almost magical when you have another train beside, above, and below you. There is a section of track where you are upside down climbing above the other train. You can feel the train slowing down in the stall and looking down you can watch the other train below you. I would also like to see an LSM Launch coaster from Intamin. But I do not want something like Maverick I want something closer to Cheetah Hunt. The transitions on Maverick are just too sharp and I head bang on it too much. Although I never made it to Cedar Point last year and I do understand they got new restraints which are a huge improvement.

Not really, they are pretty different and only higher priced if someone actually paid regular price except they give MASSIVE discounts. For instance you can check out Great America in Chicago, or Magic Mountain outside of Los Angeles. Both have a regular price of $199.99 assuming you want the deluxe dining plan. That sounds a lot higher then Cedar Fair and you would be right if anyone paid that much. Great America has the deluxe dining plan on sale for $79.99 right now, and Magic Mountain has it on sale for $84.99. I have checked multiple times and have never seen them regular price. They always have some sale. The current one which is the earth day sale started a month ago. That had a Christmas sale, New Years sale, Easter sale, etc and they all seem to last around a month before they find some new excuse for a sale. Not only is the plan cheaper you get more. They require you eat lunch and dinner in set windows, Lunch is 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM, while Dinner starts at 4:30 and the ending is based on which park you are visiting. But on top of getting two meals a day you get one snack a day, so you can get an ice cream, pretzel, Slurpee (they have a partnership with 7-11), Fries, fresh fruit, cotton candy, brownie, cinnamon roll, milk shake, funnel cake, etc. On top of getting more food you also get the season long drink cup as part of the dining plan. So it is typically cheaper, you get 2 meals, plus a snack every trip, and a season long drink cup. The only thing that makes the Six Flags plan worse then the Cedar Fair dining plan is that you are forced to eat lunch and dinner in specific windows. I would be happy to give up our current freedom for the set windows if we gained a snack each trip. Even worse the service is a lot better, the lines move so you are not waiting an hour even if the park is really busy.

If they take down Drop Tower I doubt we would be keeping it. It would likely be scrapped or moved to another park. The ride is down frequently, but I am not certain how much the repairs cost to keep it running. It might be useful to take it down and move it since it would be totally rebuilt. But it also does feel like something which would be scrapped. With the removal of Drop Tower and Xteme Skyflyer you would open up enough space for a station and line. I have heard in the past rumors of moving Invertigo to one of the smaller parks in the chain which could also open up space in the front of the park. Although I think Congo falls would likely be removed at the same time. Honestly long term most of Action Zone feels like it is likely to be removed.

They can disagree all they want, but they are unlikely to see a B&M anytime soon. Cedar Fair only buys $20+ million dollar rides from B&M. I do think Michigan's Adventure will receive a new coaster in the next few years, just not a B&M. With attendance estimated to be below 1 million people a year the best they are likely to see is a $10 million dollar ride. Lots of great rides can fit in that kind of budget just not a B&M. Valleyfair is in the same position. Likely to see a new ride but not a B&M. Uh...I was just correcting him in his saying that Valleyfair was the only CF park without a B&M. I don't know how you interpreted all of that from my small post... silver2005, also learning the darndest things around here. Sorry about that, I totally missed the fact that you were responding to the fact that Valleyfair did not have a B&M. To my knowledge those are the only two parks owned by Cedar Fair which do not have a B&M.

They can disagree all they want, but they are unlikely to see a B&M anytime soon. Cedar Fair only buys $20+ million dollar rides from B&M. I do think Michigan's Adventure will receive a new coaster in the next few years, just not a B&M. With attendance estimated to be below 1 million people a year the best they are likely to see is a $10 million dollar ride. Lots of great rides can fit in that kind of budget just not a B&M. Valleyfair is in the same position. Likely to see a new ride but not a B&M.

I have to wonder if trying to figure out which Cedar Fair park is getting a B&M this year is another way to look at this issue. Since 2004 Cedar Fair has built one B&M every year except for 3 years, 2007 where none were built, 2008 which had two, and 2011 which had none. The chances that some park in the chain will get a B&M is VERY good. So there are 12 parks in the chain. The only parks I would consider as possible for getting a B&M in 2017 based on park size, attendance, and time since last major ride are Canada's Wonderland - They got Wonder Mountain in 2014, before that Leviathan in 2012. It feels like it might be their time. Knott's Berry Farm - Been a while except for Voyage to the Iron Reef, Last coaster was a wild mouse in 2013, before that Pony Express in 2008 King's Island - Banshee in 2014, and Diamondback in 2009 King's Dominion - Last big ride was Intimidator in 2010 If I had to take bets I would say Knott's or Canada's Wonderland. I am pretty sure someone on this list is getting a big B&M for 2017. I expect we get a good attraction for next year I just have my doubts about it being a giga or even a B&M for that matter.