KIBeast

Great article! I still have lots of love and support for Camden. Not many small parks like it left. Michigan's Adventure makes money. Plus, they rarely add new large rides and increase the gate year after year with no drop in attendance. The water park is the main draw.

I liked Son of Beast, personally. Would I like to see a wooden coaster that large again, but built more successfully? Absolutely. However, I think as coaster enthusiasts, we are in the minority on that one. And as a few others have said ROI combined with cost are the two largest factors.

I agree in that it was an engineering marvel. I always loved seeing that structure when pulling into the parking lot. At least I can say that I rode a hyper wooden coaster in my day.

But was it an Intamin seat belt? Clearly, those are never satisfactory. I hate to hear this, but if she removed the seat belt, there is no one to blame?

But what is the Return on Investment? Are there enough people complaining about the trains now to justify changing? Or, are the trains doing enough damage to the track to justify such a change? Neither of these are problems I've heard of either from the park or the general public.

I too remember the paw prints of The Beast and metal hand of The Vortex. I remember how badly they were needed. Cool stuff

I rode Son of Beast quite a few times. I remember the first time I rode it. I loved it. It totally messed with my head when we went through the loop. I remember trying to get re-rides when the station was empty and being told I had to walk around the line again. I remember enjoying the ride with different friends. I recall when I went to the Halloween Haunt and rode post loop with my ex-wife. Never had a bad ride experience. I also remember going with an ex-girlfriend and her 3 daughters. The smallest one was big enough to ride, but I found out after we rode that it was her first major coaster. I would've picked something smaller to start her out on.

Ki has been a long time favorite of mine. It started in the 70's, sharing great family memories with The Racer being the top coaster in the park. The eventual addition of the legendary Beast. Spending time in Hanna Barberra Land. The transition to Nickelodeon where I went one summer with my sister, her husband and my niece. So many great memories. The ivy tunnel. The Rotor. Der Spinnin' Keggers. The Bayern Curve. Tumble Bug. Winnie Witch's Cauldron. Over the top good shows. LaRosa's pizza when we entered the gate. My teenage/20's years where I went for nothing but coasters. The addition of Son of Beast, rode it with the loop and post loop with my ex-wife. My first experience going to a Halloween event. Lots of shared memories with good friends power riding all the coasters as many times as we could in a day. Riding the original Bat coaster. The arrival of The Vortex. The classic car ride where Backlot Stunt Coaster now resides. The addition of that coaster and Paramount acquisition. Lots of movie themes in the park. Great online friends made here on KICentral. The birth of this web site and when it had combined with another that I do not remember the name of. I remember the old traveling route that we had to take in the 70's. There was great anticipation of our day to come. Knowing that when we got close, we could see the iconic Eiffel Tower beckoning in the distance. And now, watching my son grow up and sharing experiences with him. His first trip to Kings Island. Our first on-ride photo. Our 2nd trip this year when he hit the magic 48" mark and rode every coaster within his height range. Sharing the same LaRosa's experience with him. I have to say that after all these decades, I personally have never had any issue with staff. Always professional and courteous. I really don't think we give them enough credit for the jobs that they do there. Without them, KI would not be as enjoyable. And the heat that they have to endure, just to make sure that we have a good day. As for the 45th Anniversary, it seems there will be a new coaster lurking near The Beast. I'm sure that there will be more in store, but even if there isn't, a new coaster is enough. Heck, being open for me to enjoy for yet another year is enough for me. You gotta be thankful that we have something like KI. I try to focus on experience far more than what's in store next for them.

Someone over at Coasterbuzz told me that The Beast never ran 4 trains. I thought I had remembered that it did, but maybe I was wrong? Can't remember. That was back in the 80's.

I went to Geauga Lake twice under CF ownership. I truly feel like that they made the best of a bad situation with Geauga Lake. It was very clean when I went. All of the employees were exemplary. I loved their collection of rides. I actually liked the layout as I thought it was easy to navigate. They just couldn't force people to go there, end of story. Both times I went, I had a great time. There was not one coaster that I didn't enjoy. I liked Texas Twister. The water park was great. My brother and I loved everything about it. All it needed was an appreciative fan base. Many people slammed CF for closing the gates. All I can say is that it was a lot of those same people that didn't go there enough or at all to make it profitable. Or they could have talked the park up. Word of mouth advertising still works. Six Flags management just didn't do that park any favors.

This is really awful on so many fronts. I'm sure the teenager was just doing what he felt was right by his family. Thankfully this ended with no one injured.

Only time will tell...where is Marty McFly when I need him?

I love how you have been reviving these old threads to add to the excitement. I am for one, excited for an announcement at the end of this season. But for now, I am ready to make another trip to enjoy this year.

So, here is my take. Personally, I like CP for quantity of coasters and KI I feel is more rounded. So far, I have only taken my son to KI and I want to take him to CP, but I feel like he would need to be older and taller to enjoy more of what CP has to offer. I may go out on a limb and take him there next year as I want to compare experiences and not just for coasters. KI has some decent family flats but I would like to see more. When I do get around to taking him to CP, I will be comparing in my mind the same quality experience that I have enjoyed with him 2 years in a row at KI.

Methnks the building may be gone to make way for the new coaster at KI. Just an uneducated guess.

So Trey and I met my girlfriend and her three kids to have a day at Camden. We arrived at about 1:15. The first ride that we headed for is the new Slingshot coaster. I was a bit skeptical as I had only seen a pic posted in one of the other forums and it didn't look like much. I am telling you, I was really wrong. I rode with my boy and this is a great ride that goes around that figure 8 track faster than I had imagined it would. The spinning was just enough to be fun without making me queasy. Great addition to Camden. We caught a lap on the Paratrooper after that and it's as fun as I've always remembered. Next, we went to the Big Dipper. For some reason I still enjoy BD, except I noticed the cars shuffling up and down as opposed to left to right, which I have experienced before. A classic in my book. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but it was her kids' first time on a coaster. They enjoyed it, but I would have put them on Little Dipper first if I had known that. Next, we rode the Rockin' Tug, a fun ride as always. After that, it was on to the Tilt-A-Whirl. Her son Eli rode with Trey and I. I had to show Eli how you can get the car spinning faster when you lean towards one direction or the other. Up next was the Kite Flyer. Last year, I made the mistake of riding this one. Not guy friendly at all if you catch my drift, but the rest of the crew rode. They enjoyed it. I tell you, there is nothing better than to listen to kids laughing as we all enjoyed these rides. We made our way back towards the front to catch a a lap on the Scrambler. I still love these rides and it's so fun when you have kids involved. The kids rode the what I call the Umbrella ride near the Scrambler. Just a typical small kid ride with motorcycles, buses, cars, etc. All the boys rode in the fire engine while Audrey was in a car by herself. We made our way back to the front for another lap on Slingshot. Then the Paratrooper. Then we had lunch at the indoor grill. It was $30 for two pizzas and drinks for everyone. My girl thought it was expensive until I explained to her how lunch at KI cost me $30 just for two of us. We caught a lap on the log flume after that as the kids really were hot and wanted to ride that one. Still can't understand why they run so few logs on this ride. Always an hour wait. Just ridiculous. Next, we took a train ride and the kids really seemed to enjoy that. We rode some more rides, but nothing new to tell about those. All in all, a great day at Camden. I only wish the Whip had been operating that day. I would really love to see them get bumper cars again. Not the most exciting addition, but it would be nice to have them again. And I wish they would put something other than a fence where the Spider used to be. I really have no complaints at all about Camden. It was very clean, the ride ops were friendly, and service was awesome. I do have one complaint, but it's not about the park, but about a group of people. We bought Snow Cones for the kids and my girl and I wanted ice cream, so we headed for that stand. A lady told me we could get in front of her because she was ordering for 14 people. There was one customer in front of us. After they got theirs, the lady who was supposed to let us order first butted in and began ordering. I was thinking, "ok, guess we're not ordering first." I stood there waiting for 20 minutes or what seemed to be an eternity.

I don't see Back Lot Stunt Coaster going anywhere any time soon. 1) It's not that old 2) It's a great intermediate coaster for kids like my son who are not tall enough or brave enough to ride Diamonback or Banshee or Flight of Fear or Firehawk. Not to mention not tall enough.

Went to Camden Saturday with my girlfriend and her three kids Saturday. We had a great time. Slingshot was open and we rode it twice. This is a very fun coaster. I was not expecting very much and it delivered far more than I thought it would. I think the current owners have made a lot of great additions to this park. This is definitely a home run. Rode the Big Dipper twice. Love this coaster, but man the cars bouncing up and down on the track is just horrible. Wish they could rehab this classic.

I had KI in my GPS and it didn't account for the new entrance. Kept telling me to turn right where it used to be located LOL. I was like, shut up GPS, I can't turn right here.

Saw on Camden's Facebook page this morning that Slingshot is open again

Sounds like you had some creepy experiences. It shows me that there is not enough being done as far as regulations go at gun shows and apparently, at least some gun shops.

Same video I just watched this morning. Very disturbing that anyone, let alone a 13 year old, can just waltz in and buy a gun at a gun show, no questions asked or regulations to follow.

I'm not advocating any type of bans, but there are a lot of problems with the ease of obtaining guns. I just watched a video on Facebook of a 13 year old boy with a hidden camera that was sent to buy cigarettes, beer, porn, and a gun. Guess which one he was able to obtain? Very easily he purchased a gun at a gun show where it seems there are either very few or zero regulations.

So, if they can't use fences, what about other types of barriers? Something needs to be done, other than any signage. I agree Tggr, those people are not swimming in your photo.

Exactly. I'm not advocating that all guns be banned or taken away, but there's no reason NOT to change regulations as they are so that the mentally ill, those who are known to have ties with terrorist organizations, and others do not have easy access to guns.