Kenban

To my knowledge the rides have not actually arrived at the park yet.

That’s how I read it. As long as they stay in the park and are reachable by phone you can split up.

So far this years schedule looks much more thought out than last years. Instead of a Lunch the attendees are getting Dinner. The cruise timing only overlaps events which are designed for you to just drop by in a large enough window you can do all of them without concern. You have dinner at the Pavilion then have the Q&A immediately afterwards at the Pavilion. That last hour of the night with only Maverick and Steel Vengeance feels like unless they really limited attendance you’re looking at likely 2 rides total based on previous events. But that’s really my only big complaint. Overall massive improvement.

Looks like 208 Retrak to me. Should keep the original layout and trains and only replace the track itself. I always liked the layout, but even a few weeks after the ride opened the tracking was terrible, the trains moved around way too much and you could tell it would get rough. Since then it has gotten extremely rough, I still try to ride it every once in a while and then vow to not ride it again until it gets retracked. I would have preferred to see gravity group fix it with their precut track. But this will fix the ride permanently and I look forward to riding it later this year.

When I said wrong it was a response to "every single Wooden Coaster that received this kind of iron horse conversion has also came with major ride element changes within its layout". Which is wrong, not a single coaster which has had Titan Track installed had any major element changes, and that includes Boulder Dash. Also not a single one has had the entire track replaced, so far every Titan Track installation has been small sections, of a few hundred feet, and appear to only target problematic sections of coasters. It feels like your trying to combine what RMC has done with what GCI has done, when frankly they are very different. Its possible GCI will redo an entire ride at some point, maybe even with a radically different layout, but as of right now that has not happened. When RMC has installed I-Box track those have mostly been complete conversions into completely new rides, sure they are reusing portions of an existing coaster, but I do not consider that major of a change to be the same ride, except for Lightning Rod. For example, I view a conversion from Mean Streak into Steel Vengeance the same as a company tearing down a coaster and building a new one, except they reused a few pieces of the old ride to lower the cost of the new one. The work they have done on Tremors is much closer to the work done by GCI, and to my knowledge has not involved I-Box track, although 208 is completely steel. You are correct I was wrong about which coaster at Michigan's Adventure had the Titan Trick installed. I have zero issues with how Titan Track has been used so far. Personally at this point in time I still consider all of them a wood coaster and the same coaster they were before the track was installed, that might change if more steel track is installed. If it continues to replicate the original layout, in my view its the same coaster still, just no longer a wood coaster, it becomes a steel or hybrid coaster. I will play along with your hypothetical, if for some strange reason Cedar Fair used GCI to install Titan Track on a Helix on The Beast, I would likely continue to view the ride the same as I do today. I have ridden White Lightning both before and after the Titan Track and frankly while you can tell the track changes to steel and back, the ride is effectively the same, its slightly smoother, although I never felt it was rough before it was installed. If the same section of track needs replaced or repaired frequently. Something more than just regular maintenance needs done.

Titan track, like some of the types of track from RMC, replicates the shape of wood coaster track making it possible to switch back and forth between wood and steel track, also allowing the rides to keep running the same trains. It is steel track but to most riders the experience is effectively the same if all that is being done is to replace sections of track in an effort to reduce maintenance. This is just wrong. The first coaster to receive topper track from RMC was Tremors at Silverwood, it also has some 208 retrak also from RMC, they kept the original rides layout and just replicated the problem areas in steel. The first coaster to receive any Titan Track was White Lightning at Fun Spot. Six Flags has since used it on Predator at Darien Lake. Cedar Fair has done this same thing using Titan Track on Shivering Timbers at Michigan’s Adventure. All of these just replicated small problematic sections of the original layout, keeping the majority of the rides wood track. I am likely forgetting something as well. Boulder Dash is 4,725 feet long. Only 580 feet of track has been replaced by Titan Track. It is the first drop through the first curve. That’s it, the rest of the ride is still wood, the trains are the same, the layout is the same. Call it a hybrid now if you want. But the majority of the ride is still wood. Something you might notice about most of the coasters I have mentioned, they are almost all from CCI. The other one is from Dinn, a coaster company who built 10 coasters and only 4 remain. Wood coaster maintenance is expensive, and parks often make changes overtime to reduce those expenses. Six Flags St Louis removed the helix from the Boss. Worlds of Fun removed the helix from Timber Wolf. Installing small amounts of steel track can be viewed as preservation.

Which is worse? Replacing small sections of wood track so that the ride can keep the same layout and experience? Or changing the layout so that it is less aggressive and easier to maintain? I would prefer a park keep the ride as it was originally designed instead of doing what other parks and chains have done by removing elements. A section of steel track designed to replicate the wood track does not bother me that much.

They painted the walkway on the side of the track, your just seeing excess paint from that.

From a marketing stand point this makes a lot more sense. It really does a better job of showcasing the park. The view is fantastic, and I look forward to seeing what it looks like at night. But the conspiracy theorist in me immediately assumed the old Tomb Raider building will be torn down.

It’s not really an addition, but Worlds of Fun basically quietly announced 5 ride closures right before the start of the season. The 3 in the kids area are right next to each other and suggests either expansion or just straight replacement in the kids area. The other two feel unrelated, Falcons Flight is relatively new but I understand has been very problematic, and Monsoon which I believe is the same model boat ride as Kings Islands Congo Falls and is actually newer than Congo Falls. Feels a little strange to see right before the 50th anniversary starts. But my hope is this is the start of a large multi year capital investment.

Personally based on that I have a hard time calling the ride in 1972 which was moved from Coney the same ride as what was installed in 1924. It sounds like the ride was on at a minimum the 3rd set of cars and the second building. It sounds different then what happened in 1986 at Kings Island, but likely by the time it moved in 1972 nothing of the original ride remained.

Is anyone familiar enough with the history of Coney Island to know if a complete replacement of the Dodgem ride occurred between 1924 and 1972? I believe it moved and that the cars were replaced but I have no idea if it was completely replaced all at once like what appears to have happened at Kings Island in 1986.

This is the Ship of Theseus debate. If you replace the entire ship slowly over time is it still the same ship at the end even though every piece has been replaced. The same is true of wooden roller coasters. Given a long enough time frame the entire ride will be replaced as part of maintenance. When does it stop being the same ride? A few years ago Universal Orlando rebuilt Hulk in Islands of Adventure. The ride is the same model, same layout, same manufacturer, but the footers, station, and launch tube are basically the only original pieces. The track, supports, trains, electronics, etc were replaced. Is it the same coaster? Back to Kings Island and the bumper cars. When the ride was moved in 1972 did any components from 1924 still exist? I believe the ride had moved while at Coney and the cars were also likely replaced, and the KICentral page backs that up suggesting the entire ride was replaced while at Coney. There is one big difference between the bumper cars and the antique cars, continuous operation. The work on the bumper cars while effectively replacement appears to have always been considered maintenance. The antique cars closed and were removed for several years.

It was part of the ride rotation program, which is often blamed for why it was so rough by the time it made it to Magic Mountain. When it was still moving around I cannot imagine anyone even considered enclosing it. At Magic Mountain it was built next to the water park, the problem was it was so loud and disruptive to park guests the park quickly made the ride seasonal and only opened the coaster when the water park was closed. Which means it would open around October and close in April. I suspect if any plans to enclose it existed it would be an attempt at quieting the ride enough to operate year round.

I know, I just figured I would have some fun with the answer, because it was literally the prototype B&M coaster before B&M existed as it’s own company. The problem is most of the list in that first post were discontinued for good reasons, and the best of the bunch already have modern equivalents, or is it even really a model at all. The name space diver came from it being a very compact coaster, and that the train dived over and over again. The design was basically a copy and paste job, with the same element I believe 6 times in row, and a helix. The ride was intended to be mass produced and instead ended up having only one built that got moved around before being scrapped. B&M has the experience to make it totally smooth, but it won’t fix the repetitive layout, and this is not a style of ride it’s one specific layout. Here’s my thoughts on the rest of the list. The Arrow suspended coaster was in a way continued by Vekoma. They redesigned the trains and they don’t sway anywhere near as much. But that’s the thing, for maintenance reasons, and to extend the life of the ride you really need to not have the huge swing. Dragonflier at Dollywood is a great modern example. Chance Ride Toboggan, I think this is the only ride I have ridden where the operator explained before I rode that you have to move your head in a certain way to prevent injury when they yell at you during the ride…. These things are terrible, maybe more fun to look at than ride. Intamin Accelerator, from a safety perspective it really just needed redesigned. I understand the desire, and enjoy riding them. Maybe the best choice on the list to come back, but also unlikely, an LSM requires so much less maintenance. The S&S air launch is in some ways comparable, it does not appear to be able to reach the same high speeds or launch as heavy of a train but it can be very intense. Intamin Prefab wooden coasters, from a ride layout perspective they were great. But the track never held up, and maintenance is expensive. From talking to wooden coaster designers the problem was how the track was designed and assembled. The huge metal joints between track segments allowed for easy assembly but also created a lot of problems. Not sure it’s fixable without moving to a design more like what Gravity Group is doing. A modern version already exists, it’s already being done by Gravity Group, and both RMC and GCI are making steel track in the style of wood track. Intamin Suspended Catapult, I take it to mean a launched invert. Is it discontinued or just renamed and rarely ordered? Intamin built a new launched invert only a few years ago, Dueling Dragons in China, it’s a dual tracked coaster, one is inverted and one sit down. Gerstlauer has a launched invert under construction right now and it opens in a few weeks. Intamin Swiss Bob, bobsleds could come back, I doubt it but it’s possible. Not many were ever built, Mack rides also built them. If you want a good newer one maybe check flying turns at Knoebels. Intamin Wing Rider, maybe someone should tell Intamin? It’s still listed as a current product, and I am pretty sure they would make it if someone ordered one. Morgan Hyper coaster, Morgan went out of business, but their successor is Chance rides and while they seem to have very little luck selling anything, just about every coaster company will build a hyper. Schwarzkopf really did his designs differently, and no one has really built anything similar. No good answers here. S&S wooden coaster, not sure it’s worth it, just use GCI, or GG. Most of them were designed by Alan Schilke, and ran PTC trains. TOGO Ultra Twister, I have seen one but never ridden one. They look like a bad idea. I plan to go back to Nagashima Spa Land, during my last visit it was down for maintenance, maybe I will ride one before they all disappear. TOGO looping mouse, it’s a wild mouse with a loop. Plenty of companies build wild mouse coasters, adding a loop should be possible assuming a park is willing to pay. The trains would need redesigned, and these rides have so low capacity is it worth it? Zierer Launch Tower Coaster, this refers to a specific element of one ride. The launch up the top hat on Wicked at Lagoon. Is it really a model of coaster and is it really discontinued?

Except they did. Intamin subcontracted Space Diver to Giovanola. Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, who a few years later went on to found B&M, worked at Giovanola as engineers, and they both worked on the ride’s design, and were responsible for the track design. Space Diver was the first coaster with 4 across seating, and basically used what we now know as B&M box track.

The Kings Island website still shows the Winterfest map. Not sure I would trust the physical map since it was likely sent to the printers several weeks ago and could be out of date. Subway has been removed from both the website and the mobile app, if you try going to the old page directly it redirects you to the dining page instead of a 404 error. The FAQ listing for the dining plan which lists restaurants you can use the dining plan at and what meals you can get had Subway removed as well, someone scrubbed the website of any reference to Subway as far as I can tell. My guess is Subway is gone, just like the sign from the building. On a side note, the FAQ still lists “Dinosaurs Alive! Caveman Chicken Wings“ under Wishbone Grill.

I think 2025 is more likely if the next coaster is something big, but I would not be surprised to see a small coaster in 2024. Either something in the kids area, or maybe a wild mouse. The Zamperla being built at Cedar Point would be a tight fit but I believe it would fit where the old arcade is located on Coney Mall, between the antique cars and Zephyr, I believe the fence would be about 10 feet in front of where the building is located, but not 100% certain, with the queue between the coaster and Zephyr. Kings Island is the only park in the chain without a wild mouse or similar coaster. It’s a cheap and easy way to add a coaster and put off the next big new ride at Kings Island for 2 or 3 years. Dive coasters are very popular with the public, I expect Kings Island will get one, just likely not next year. The Vortex spot feels like the perfect location. Although I expect the next big attraction to be built towards the front of the park, likely in Action Zone. I believe The Vortex land will stay empty for a few more years.

A few hours before this announcement there was a news story about this district attorney and a possible scandal. In one instance a prosecutor refused to dismiss charges, then presented no evidence and called no witnesses, explaining to the judge that he could not just dismiss the charges because it’s election season. This feels like a political stunt to distract from being caught playing politics.

There is at least one exception to this that I am aware of, Theme Park Review. TPR has been allowed to film their own POV's at Kings Island on multiple occasions, the majority of them were not filmed on a Media Day. Many of them have been posted to their YouTube channel. Just like the parks POV's the cameras are always hard mounted to the train, nothing is being held by or attached to a rider, some of them do have riders on the train, but not all of them. They even have some 360 degree videos and frequently they film them from multiple angles, for instance Orion was shot from both the front and back row of the train. Filming on the majority of the rides at Kings Island is only allowed with the permission and assistance of the park. I don't see a good reason to change that policy. The POV's filmed by the park or with the assistance of the park are going to be higher quality than anything your going to be capturing.

It is a little out of your way, but there are several very nice sea side parks in New Jersey. I would consider skipping Virginia Beach and instead heading to the Jersey Shore and checking out Morey's Piers and if you have the time Playland's Castaway Cove, if you do visit Playland walk over to Gillian's Wonderland, they don't have any coasters but its still worth walking through the park. If you have never been to Morey's Piers I really recommend spending the time and making the trip since you would be so close. They have the smoothest SLC I have ever ridden, a lot of the track was replaced a few years ago, and it is running the new Vekoma trains with the vest restraints, the only SLC I got back in line for over and over again, it really is that good. Their CCI, Great White is fantastic. Playland has the amazing GaleForce coaster from S&S, I always just wish the line moved faster. You would still be visiting a beach and get access to the ocean just at a different location that also happens to have roller coasters. That is not even all the seaside parks, I also recommend Casino Pier with Hydrus which is a Gerstlauer Euro Fighter, and I loved riding their Sky ride at night. But I would start with Morey's and spend time in Wildwood where the park is located, then make your way up to Playland if you have the time, before you start trying to hit even more. I assume your driving through central PA, there is a small town, Altoona, home of the Boyer candy company which makes Mallo Cups and has a factory outlet, but also home to Lakemont Park. If you have the time it might be worth a diversion since that is where Leap the Dips is located, the oldest operating roller coaster in the world, the ride opened in 1902. If you have a Sea World or Busch garden platinum pass stop off at Sesame Place to ride the coasters, Oscar's Wacky Taxi is worth the time and I really wish it would get cloned. But it is not worth the admission cost for just the coaster.

The town hall remodel being cancelled was announced last year. At the time they said it would be impossible to reopen the old town hall because they had already gutted the building back after the season ended in 2019. They also said that they anticipated it would be several years before something might happen and they were not certain if they would use the existing design or if it would be something new. So I am unsure why this is considered news. Wild Turnip was a quick service restaurant on frontier trail, the entire point was to serve people who had dietary restrictions. The problem was it always had staffing issues and was rarely open, in part because it took special training to work there. I do not remember ever seeing it operate, but I actually heard good things about the food. From what I can tell there was no explanation as to what closing Forbidden Frontier even means. Is it just the characters, or is the whole island that closed? It feels like the entire thing is closing, not sure if that means it’s being removed which suggests something is happening out there, or to reduce labor to operate the park, and it might return in some form in the future. They installed bathrooms on the island, some interactive elements, and a big play structure. Overall I think Cedar Point is trying to reduce the number of employees it takes to operate the resort. Finding enough employees has been hard for a while and it seems more difficult then ever, it does not help that the park does not pay that well. I suspect that’s why the CP Nights is not happening, staffing.

This is the direction the chain has been slowly moving, Kings Island is not the first Cedar Fair park to get rid of the Fast Lane plus option and I doubt it will be the last. If I am correct only 3 parks in the chain still have two separate tiers, and there is enough time left for more parks to make this change this year.

I read the news article and it references another site, except the link goes to the sites homepage and I cannot find the source article on that site. So I have to trust the article. The news article does discuss how this might be true. They are saying the whole vacation is cheaper, so they are including hotels, transportation which they call out Uber, etc. The pricing assumes a family of 4, consisting of 2 adults, and 2 children. Frankly it feels worthless. So much of this is based on variable expenses, and who decides on a park to travel to based on these specific criteria? Parks like Kings Island are called regional parks for a reason. I saw an article a few months ago that compared parks based on cost per an attraction. It divided the ticket cost by number of attractions then ranked the parks based on that. If I remember right Cedar Point actually ends up first due to its number of flat rides and Kings Island is in the top few as well.

I think this was a serious plan, and we might have even seen one piece of this design be implemented. Back in I believe 2019, the Drop Tower at CGA was repainted and the paint job was intended to make you think of a redwood tree. The Drop Tower is in this section of the park and I believe would have been in this new redwood area. If you check the companies very next project on the site it’s a restaurant revamp at Knott’s which was built and opened last summer.