Kenban

Fiesta Texas built a B&M Dive Coaster of similar scale that opened in 2022, and even purchased 4 trains even though it can at max operate with 3. Just so they can always have one train being rebuilt and still operate at maximum capacity. If they are willing to make that kind of investment, it honestly looks and feels a lot like we could still see rides like Iron Menace. Because they literally just built a very similar ride that with the extra trains, Iron Menace only runs two, likely cost more. Top Thrill 2 was a special case, but it’s also a similar investment to what Six Flags has done building their topper track RMC conversions, although these were done under previous management. Taking an existing ride and renovating it with a modified layout, new trains, etc. A better question is would they have done rides at the scale of Fury 325, Orion, Steel Vengeance, etc. The rides where Cedar Fair has built attractions on a scale that few other parks have been willing to do.

If this is accurate the best way I can describe this would be, disappointed. It feels like a waste of the main theater. Have I seen the show, no. But am I interested in seeing the show? Not really. This feels like a show aimed at children and families with children, and while its fine to target them with shows, it feels like the main theater should be utilized for shows that adults would want to go and watch. I would think the goal should be shows that appeal to the whole family. One thing that I have thought about before is chains like Cedar Fair, Six Flags, and especially the merged company should consider is having traveling shows. Smaller productions that are only at a park for a shorter period of time. That way a park could have several different shows throughout the season. A show like this would be perfect for a 2-4 week run, and I would think would be better placed in the theater in the kids area. A traveling show could do 3 days a week at the start of the season in the spring giving bigger parks entertainment options before weekly operations start. Do short stints at a number of different parks likely primarily focused at medium sized parks during the summer. Then back to bigger parks at the end of the season. If they really wanted to they could then utilize them around January to March at parks that are open year round like Knott's and Magic Mountain. Short runs gives people reasons to keep coming back, and gives a sense of need that if I don't go now I won't see this show.

More observations, I did not renew my pass, instead I purchased a new one for 2024. So the app has an expired passes button under my annual pass. Clicking it shows last years pass complete with the add ons and a Fast Lane voucher I never used from when I renewed the pass showing it expired in 2022. When everything is actually finished and working we might be able to actually see vouchers. Being able to see free tickets and vouchers tied to our passes would be good so we know everything actually worked and can just see when they expire. One last odd ball observation, the old pass has a different expiration between the Kings Island and Cedar Point applications. Suggesting the pass expiration is park dependent. Which I was not aware of. Not many parks are open past December 31 so likely does not really come up often.

I am pretty sure passes can be linked to multiple web accounts. It makes no difference who actually purchased them or pays for them. At some point in the past they were added to both accounts and never removed. The only oddity I have seen is I see no way to see the all park passport add-on, and in the Cedar Point app it lists my season long Fast Lane and the Kings Island app does not.

In the last few months barcode scanners at Fast Lane entrances have been installed at Carowinds and I think Kings Dominion. They already have scanners at the Fast Lane entrance to a number of rides at Cedar Point. The wristbands at Cedar Point have had barcodes for a while but they just have rarely been using them. Starting to look like they might by go chain wide this year, and actually see some use. EDIT: Just wanted to add there are signs the new app will allow guests to purchase single use Fast Lane in app and likely will have a barcode/QR code and guests will scan the phones at the Fast Lane instead of having the kiosks with paper receipts.

Canadas Wonderland literally just announced earlier this week the removal of theirs. The one at Canadas Wonderland is slightly newer having been built the year after Kings Island. https://www.canadaswonderland.com/rides-experiences/xtreme-skyflyer I would be surprised if the one at Kings Island is still around in 10 years. The entire area where it is located is ready for a complete remodel and the skyflyer is getting old, and sitting on a very good piece of land. I feel like the next big new coaster at Kings Island will be located in what is currently Action Zone and either the sky flyer or Congo falls will be removed to make room for the station. The problem with Action Zone is half the land feels like it’s ready to be removed, Invertigo, Congo Falls, Timber Wolf, and Skyflyer. I keep seeing people asking how much longer do any of these attractions have. There is a reason that retheming the whole land keeps coming up, and has been trending towards DC with the Six Flags merger.

I saw a picture of the coupon and it does say it is an additional 10% so it should stack.

I keep seeing monopoly thrown around, the problem is the parks largely exist as their own regional monopolies already. The majority of the competition between Six Flags and Cedar Fair occurs in discussions between enthusiasts. Guests primarily visit their local park, and in the rare instances where the chains do have parks close enough to compete they typically have other competition as well. Kings Dominion for instance is closer to Busch Gardens than Six Flags America. On a national level the two chains combined have a lower attendance than just the 4 main theme parks at Disney World. When guests are willing to travel they have already spoken with their wallets and picked someone else. I would be surprised if the Justice Department decides to do much.

All I can say is what I was told, and I will fully admit this is mostly from a few years ago, maybe I am remembering some details wrong. The thing is I have heard this from multiple people.

Which might even be true. I am not even considering comments made publicly by the park or its employees. This is purely from discussions with representatives of coaster clubs that I have had at events, and with friends who include regional representatives for a coaster club. What I have been told is that it’s common for the different clubs to try to reach out to the park annually, which at the time the conversations occurred, was essentially Don, and they were shot down every time. The answer was always either no, or a requirement to have a huge minimum attendance that essentially no club could reach. The park did not want to do smaller regional events. Part of the argument I was told was that club members are already welcome to come for Coasterstock so there is no real need for another event. These conversations are mostly from several years ago at this point. Realistically I can’t even blame the park even if it’s completely true. It’s a lot of work to put on an event, especially if a club can only get 50-100 people to attend. The clubs all want their own little private events because that’s one of the best ways to justify their existence. In the parks announcement it claims “Throughout the 2024 season, Kings Island will host a series of coaster club opportunities, and we will be in touch with those clubs and past Coasterstock participants before the season begins with more details.” Having smaller events throughout the year could actually be a good thing.

The ACE spring conference just like all ACE events moves around, the dates are determined by the park who hosts based on availability to host the event not ACE. I imagine the park jumped at the chance to host the event and decided they did not want to host two events in the spring and just used the dates for Coasterstock. I would have made the same decision. Trying to host two events, plus the opening for Camp Snoopy is a lot to cram into a short period, cancelling Coasterstock is honestly the logical choice. For years the park has used the excuse of Coasterstock for why they do not work with coaster clubs to hold events at the park. I am more interested in seeing if they do smaller events for other clubs like GOCC, or just ignore them all this year.

That received date actually means the date that it reached the port. It’s unlikely to have already reached the park, likely the containers still need to be loaded onto trucks and transported to the park. But I guess it is likely to arrive soon.

To my knowledge the park has not received any track or supports for the coaster. Any vertical construction to my knowledge is going to be station, theming, or something else.

Both links are going to somewhere else than what it’s displaying as the link. Let me try https://cpfoodblog.com/good-any-day-fast-lane/

I wonder how much money the water park on its own lost or made. Ignore the cost of maintaining the rest of the property, just the pool and slides. When you consider how large the property is as a whole, around 100 acres, which is roughly the size of the Kings Island parking lot. It feels like keeping the pool and either hiring a third party or just running it themselves as a small water park, should be possible, total I believe this would be around 8 acres. The rest has to be maintained anyways. As long as they don’t need the space, and I just cannot imagine how they would, unless there are plans for other facilities on the land.

Every piece of track on RailBlazer is welded to the next piece of track, the entire coaster would have to be cut apart. If that’s enough to cause it to be scrapped, I cannot answer. It’s rare for welded coasters to be moved, but it has happened, and should be possible. These two coasters run a different train design, and a different control system. Fiesta Texas is having the trains replaced with the trains being used on the 2nd gen, and will have the control system upgraded to also match the 2nd gen. I suspect with how much needs replaced and upgraded, RailBlazer is unlikely to be moved. Typically the savings from moving a coaster vs building new is around 50% because of just how much it costs to carefully take down, refurbish, and then build the coaster. Welded track increases the costs, so would the control system changes, and replacing the trains. Taken together, just building a new coaster, even if it’s another RMC Raptor seems to make more sense. But it’s really just speculation.

I was told something by someone familiar with Coneys finances. They said “Coney is worth more as a parking lot than as an amusement park”. That was from a few years before the rides were removed. Riverbend uses the Coney parking and builds some amount into the ticket cost which is paid to Coney. My understanding is without this revenue the park would have closed years ago. Economics of scale are real, operating a small amusement park, profitably, is extremely hard. Being next to the river and flooding every few years, did not help. I enjoyed visiting Coney, but even when the rides were still there, I rarely visited the park. Since the rides were removed I have not been back. I am not surprised the park closed. People can sit behind a keyboard and claim this is due to the removal of the rides, but frankly even if they were still there I believe this is the direction the park was headed.

The biggest difference is that the queues and paths around the coasters come closer to the ride. There is nothing about the layout that separates the design of Iron Gwazi from the other coasters which allows for it to not have metal detectors. So far Sea World has been more tolerant of loose objects, in part because the only people who can get hit are employees and people riding the coaster. That might change at some point in the future. Incidents like this have thankfully been rare, but a lot of items are being thrown from the ride. If the reports are true, SEAS had a ground up new RMC designed for Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but after operating Iron Gwazi for a year they decided to cancel the project and that’s why they instead are going with a family coaster, which is believed to be a B&M family invert. Reports are the new coaster will be the exact location of the RMC so it will not be possible to build it in the future without changing the design. The only repeat customers RMC has had are HFE and Six Flags. I really like the companies coasters, Iron Gwazi is one of the best coasters I have ever ridden, but they really need to work on the maintenance and long term reliability. A cheap purchase price is not enough, companies often look at the cost over the life of the attraction.

Gilroy Gardens still gives California’s Great America pass holders free admission. It’s even listed as a perk on the 2024 CGA Gold Pass. No idea what happens with a Cedar Fair pass from a park other than CGA. There is some type of partnership still going on, I just have no idea what it involves.

These polls are more of a popularity contest then a real reflection of who has the best event. How many of the voters have even been to more than one of these events, let alone enough to actually rank them?

The worst part about these kinds of things is the missed opportunities. The number of people saying I visited frequently and never received a perk. If they are visiting frequently they should be receiving opportunities to try to push them into spending more money in the park. Spend X amount get Y item free, or just an extra discount. But one, get one free, on certain snack items. Discounts on midway games. Provide extra bring a friend free tickets only usable on weekdays or other slower times of the year. Instead it was, your already going to the park so we will just totally ignore you. I have not received a single pass perk all year. Some of those perks would have been completely ignored, but others could have been the push I needed to spend more money.

You are going to need to be more specific, because I do not know of any park who does not charge extra for this specific attraction. Cedar Point does charge per a rider and if I remember right it’s $25. Great Adventure charges $25, Darien Lake also charges $25. Some Six Flags parks do have attractions that have been paid attractions at other locations, such as Cat Woman’s Whip at Six Flags St Louis. But as far as I know, no one offers a slingshot for free.

Building a slingshot from scratch is something like a million dollars. Then you have to figure in maintenance and operating expenses. This is the problem, people keep saying I rode it when it was $5 or $10, but no one is saying $20 is a fair price. Over the life of the attraction it was likely profitable. But did it make enough money to justify building a new one? Unlikely. Kings Island is really the wrong kind of park to install one in. You need a location where people are already used to paying per a ride, a higher percentage of tourists, or something special. Kings Island is just too much of a locals park.

Jason McClure spoke about the gold passes at Coaster Mania during the Q&A session the year after it started being offered at $99. According to him enthusiasts are really overstating how many gold passes were being used during the extremely busy Halloweekends days, and that we are also wrong about how many of those passes sold. He basically stated that the vast majority of the guests when the park hit capacity were not using gold passes, and that the cheap passes had nothing to with the crowding. He was the parks GM at the time, and has access to all of the information needed to make these claims. As I remember Kings Island was essentially in the same position on the same days. The parking lot was filled to the brim with even the water parks lot full and people parking in the grass. It does feel like Cedar Point could get away with raising the pass price, or not including Halloweekends. Personally I have suspected the reason for changing how the passes work and dropping the platinum pass was to make it easier to introduce more pass levels, and taking features away from the gold pass and making them part of the mid tier(s) seems likely to me.

In my opinion it’s true in context, he took over sometime in 2021. I am referring specifically to the 2022 season with that comment. He made a lot of mistakes for the 2022 season which likely some could have been prevented if he had not fired so much of the corporate staff.