benny1388

I booked a room at Microtel for this evening. We'll see how it goes. We're driving south after work today to get a few hours in the park, then crashing and trying to motivate everybody to get some ERT in tomorrow and get the biggest part of the day in before heading back north to Cbus area. It seems like it will fit our needs well enough, bases on what I've seen here and other online resources. I'll update this thread and let you know.

Is access limited to just those rides? Being largely uninterested in flat rides, I'm not sure it's worth the 90min drive for a few hours of just Banshee, despite it being an awesome ride.

I would interpret 5-1 exactly that way. It depends, really, on what kind of ride you want to determine the "best" ride. For example, I learned Sunday that mid-train on Diamond Back gave my stepson and me much less airtime feeling than closer to the front of the train. This could also be a difference in the front of the car vs the back of the car. (I don't recall which car/seat, specifically in these examples). On Sunday, Vortex 3-2 was a pretty rough ride compared to what I'm used to getting from that coaster. I also found that I have very limited leg/knee room in *-2 on Vortex and will only go for *-1 in the future.

The All Star Game is July 14. The festivities start on the 10th, though.

Thanks for the feedback folks. Lots of good info. I'll check out the Share Inn sometime, but probably when we don't have the kids. Microtel looks to be the way to go for us, assuming this coming weekend pans out as planned.

WELCOME TO KIC! Invertigo was running on Sunday (I believe it opened for the season on Saturday).

We're considering a drive down on Friday to take in a few area favorites, including a few hours at the park. Then staying the night in Mason and then getting in the entire day Saturday at the park. I see Super8 and the like in the area and none of them have massively negative reviews, but I was wondering if anybody here had any feedback on any of the places in the area like if there were any to avoid etc. edit: malem's reply made me realize I should indicate I'm looking for a budget hotel. We need clean, functional, and safe. Just a place to sleep and shower.

Yesterday was our first visit to the park for the season. I found myself wishing the new app would show me wait times...

We're debating picking up meal plans for the family. This is our first season with passes, so we're not sure if we'll visit the park as much as we plan/want right now...but yesterday (our first day), we spent the same amount as it would cost one of us to get the meal plan (we ate just one meal each, but were buying drinks here and there, too). We actually need to think about it and do some math, but it feels like if we go just four more times it's a wash money-wise.

I won't again, but it's one of those that I think all coaster lovers should ride once, and 3/4 of my family hadn't ridden it (it was the youngest's third non-kiddie coaster ever).

It was running yesterday (Sunday). The wait was about an hour. I really do enjoy the ride, but the payoff isn't worth the wait. It was nice, though, for the rest of my family to get to experience it.

To my knowledge/understanding there are no laws against it, that may change between jurisdictions, though. I recall reading a story about a man who's son wanted the police car from the first Transformers movie...so they took their mustang and mocked it up to be a replica. The local cops tried arresting him for impersonating an officer, but the courts said driving a police car was not impersonating an officer, he would need to try to pull someone over, or arrest them etc (in other words, only people can impersonate police, not objects). I would think it would be a similar thing for an SSID. I disagree with you on your last statement. My mother would call me in an instant if she saw that pop up and she's extremely tech savvy for her generation. Also, you have more faith in government agencies than I do. They often miss/forget the obvious. While I agree it's not clever or witty to broadcast such an SSID, it is comical to sit in a coffee shop etc and look at logs showing connection attempts.

Rode Banshee for the first time in October. We sat mid-train and enjoyed the ride, but I couldn't quite wrap my head around it being as great a ride as everybody was going on about. Yesterday, the oldest and I sat front row...completely different ride and is now probably my favorite in the park. Beast is still up there for the nostalgia (and it is a great coaster, after all), but that first row Banshee experience...wow. Honestly, as an analytically-minded person, the most impressive thing to me was the throughput of the ride. It wasn't the smoothest operation (at times there were two trains waiting to unload while one was preparing to depart), but the line moved pretty quick.

Heading to the park this Sunday with the family. Is Invertigo still down? They've never ridden it, and despite the usual wait/ridetime ration, I think it's something a coaster lover should ride at least once. Anything else not running?

I was never really afraid. I've been riding since such a young age that I remember having to sit and not ride certain rides when I was a little guy, but I honestly don't remember the first time I rode a coaster. I do, however, remember my first ride on The Beast. I had to sit and wait so many times and I watched train after train of riders returning to the station with smiles on their faces that I couldn't wait for the chance to ride it. Then that magical day where the top of my head was high enough up on the sign that said you had to be "this tall to ride" (wer Hanna Barbara characters used throughout the park, or just in HB-land?)...and I was suddenly in fear for my life. My mom would not let me back out, and I was scared feces-less the entire time in line... Before our train came to a stop in the station at the end of our ride, I looked at my mom and said, "Can we go again?". Since then, there's only been one coaster I actively do not want to ride again and that is Firehawk...and that actually makes me sad.

I often do the same. Being a bigger guy has its advantages at times.

It's possible, really. Maybe during preseason inspections it was noticed that a certain repair was needed and it took this long to get the required part(s), and a crane is required installation. I really don't know, just conjecture.

I'm curious about the "full story" as well. I'm not an electrician so this is pure speculation, but I'm betting it has to do with the power draw for the Flight of Fear launch combined with the power draw for Drop Tower going up being too much draw for the 'grid' in that part of the park.

Any idea how long this will last?

Speaking of holidays and holiday weekends... Memorial Day is coming up. Would you suggest going on the weekend, or on Memorial Day itself (in terms of shorter ride waits)?

I was describing that to my stepson when we were there in October. He was amazed anybody would wait in a line that long. I don't think he's been there when it's crowded...that's going to change this season.

I'm guessing 25+ years ago. I remember being a kid of 12 or so talking to another kid (a year or two older) in line for a ride and he told me he had a season pass and that the park was basically hit day care while his parents worked. I was so jealous of that kid

I recall owning that book as a kid...or at least reading it. I credit it and the stories my older brother told me about the ride for my mother basically having to force me to ride it the first time.

Honestly, while it's fun to discuss based on our own likes and preferences, I'm betting (successful) parks only use finance as a way to evaluate rides. I'm sure they can equate number of rides to revenue for individual attractions. They have a pretty good grasp on the cost to operate a ride. From there it's an easy determination if an attraction is profitable. If it's not profitable, it needs to go. A similar, but slightly different, evaluation needs to occur on whether to expand the park or replace an existing attraction with a new one (the outgoing may be profitable, but below an established threshold). Granted, these aren't always good decisions (see the original Bat and Son of Beast) and end up being undone. So, if they have a coaster that is inexpensive to buy/install, isn't expensive to maintain and generates profit...that's what most businesses would call a trifecta.

It's kinda fun to speculate (or offer views based on personal likes/taste) on what ride is a leading candidate to be removed/replaced, but... I'm pretty sure CF has a way to translate number of rides to revenue generated. When a ride isn't profitable, or when the investment to replace it with one that will be (which is never a sure thing) makes good business sense, that's probably when a ride gets removed. That being said, I'm very surprised Bat is the 9th most ridden ride in the park. I'm more surprised Firehawk is as far down the list as it is (I dislike the ride, but it seems to have a lot of appeal). I never would have guessed the train would have a higher ridership. That surprise is tempered a little by my personal tastes, but also what someone referenced above about capacity and queues and how quickly a ride can load/unload a train.