I guess by now, we should just start filming walk throughs to get to new rides when they first open, and then expect to see all themeing destroyed a few short years later.

That's probably true.  I'm not sure why Top Gun's theming was shuttered so quickly.  I don't think it really even lasted 10 years.  The lower level had been shut up for a very long time, so removing it really did it a favor in some ways.  

 

Flight of Fear has maintained its queue much better, but I don't think any ride is quite the same after the first couple years.

Well, I do know that "Bat" (aka Top Gun/Flight Deck) will have to be replaced by another roller coaster eventually, because the company that made it went out of business many years ago, and Kings Island can no longer get the parts that they need to keep it operating. Also, the parts need repair more often than other coasters, just because of the way it is designed.

 

Same thing happened to Action Theater. The company that made those moving chairs, went out of business, and so when Kings Island needed parts to keep it operating, they were forced to shut down one side of the Action Theater and to use one side for spare parts to fix the other side that was still operating. Then when they ran out of parts, they gutted all the remaining parts and started having people sit on the floor.

Arrow parts are readily available, plus the park can make its own....

^Indeed.  S&S, who absorbed Arrow, still makes parts for Arrow coasters.  I also imagine Vekoma would be an option considering how similar a lot of their rides are to Arrow's. 

^Indeed.  S&S, who absorbed Arrow, still makes parts for Arrow coasters.  I also imagine Vekoma would be an option considering how similar a lot of their rides are to Arrow's. 

 

Don't be so sure of that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bad_Wolf_%28roller_coaster%29

Big Bad Wolf is an Arrow suspended roller coaster, and it was closed because it could no longer be maintained.

I think it really can vary case-by-case.  When King Cobra closed in 2001, I thought the other Togo stand-ups in the chain would follow soon after.  They finally did, but not until 2014 and 2015 which is quite a long time after.

 

Big Bad Wolf closed in 2009.  Since then, no other Arrow Suspended coasters have been removed.  We probably won't see any new ones built, but it could be another 20 years before The Bat goes.

Big Bad Wolf was removed for other reasons.

Terp, who knows more than he can or will tell. Parts had NOTHING to do with it.

 

^Indeed.  S&S, who absorbed Arrow, still makes parts for Arrow coasters.  I also imagine Vekoma would be an option considering how similar a lot of their rides are to Arrow's. 

 

Don't be so sure of that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bad_Wolf_%28roller_coaster%29

Big Bad Wolf is an Arrow suspended roller coaster, and it was closed because it could no longer be maintained.

 

 

And I can think of a couple dozen Arrow coasters older and sometimes bigger than BBW that are still running. 

 

Just sayin'. 

I'll have to check again, but I thought our "Bat" was the last suspended roller coaster made by arrow.

 

 

Update:

 

There are 5 currently operating that were made by Arrow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspended_roller_coaster

 

Our "Bat" is the newest one, so that means the other 4 would probably go before our "Bat" goes.

There is never hardly a line, either.

The first time I rode the line was backed up in the tunnel. That was 2000.

The longest I've seen it since was on a passholder ERT with Banshee. And then it was only to the bottom of the stairs.

It had a decent line in 2007, but that was mainly caused by one train operation due to the incident with the maintenance truck.

Well, I do know that "Bat" (aka Top Gun/Flight Deck) will have to be replaced by another roller coaster eventually, because the company that made it went out of business many years ago, and Kings Island can no longer get the parts that they need to keep it operating. Also, the parts need repair more often than other coasters, just because of the way it is designed.

 

Same thing happened to Action Theater. The company that made those moving chairs, went out of business, and so when Kings Island needed parts to keep it operating, they were forced to shut down one side of the Action Theater and to use one side for spare parts to fix the other side that was still operating. Then when they ran out of parts, they gutted all the remaining parts and started having people sit on the floor.

 

As of 2013, at least 1 other park had a full set of Action Theatre seats in storage in case they wanted to re-install them in the future... If KI had wanted to keep theirs running and it was a matter of parts for seats, they could have acquired those quite easily...

Lines don't always mean popularity. Bats a short ride and relatively moves very fast. Last year on popular days the line was out past the cut through (the little path that goes from exit to entrance before the old SOB queue

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Speaking of The Bat and theming, i just found this old video of the ride as Top Gun. I never knew they had smoke effects in the ride station under the cars, would be cool to see fog back in that area to spruce up its theming

 

It had smoke fog beneath the trains in the station! Wow!

...originally created by dry ice!

And if my memory is correct, it still had wild animals nearby, as well.

....and not just the ones riding the ride!

Two (wild) deer ran across the field in front of the lift hill when I rode earlier this week.

I mentioned this earlier in the thread regarding the south exit and how what used to be 3 exit lanes (left turn lane, middle lane to turn left or right, and right turn lane) has now been reduced to two lanes - a right turn only lane and a left turn only lane. 

 

People are used to the old one and I watched for 20 minutes at close tonight that the majority in the right turn only lane turned left onto Kings Island Drive.  What makes this troublesome is the construction has the southbound lane of Kings Island Drive down to one lane, resulting in many beeping horns and flip offs because two lanes are now turning into a one lane road (and one of the lanes turning left is now doing so illegally).  Not that people pay attention to signs, but they need some better signage as the only indication is painted arrows on the pavement that most are probably missing.

 

Further complicating the problem is that they have two left turn arrow lights at the intersection, which means two lanes can turn left.  So the questions are is the current exit configuration permanent and they need to fix the signal light or is the exit going to revert back to two lanes being able to turn left after construction is done?

 

 

Thanks KI for attempting to fix this horrible condition when exiting the park at close at the south exit.  Last night, they placed cones dividing the two lanes and the right lane cones were curved in such a way that everyone should have realized it is a right turn only lane.  Doesn't mean some moron didn't go through the cones, but at least it should prevent a lot of it.

 

So the bigger question that time will tell will be what I posted earlier - if the south exit is intended to only be a left turn lane only and a right turn lane only, then they should essentially concrete island the area created by the cones to further enforce/guide drivers that the right lane is a right lane only lane.

 

I still think the revisions to the south exit are worse than what was there previously.  They continue to put security folks to block lanes entering into the exit so that traffic from the other direction can leave and last year this was accomplished simply by cones, but the new traffic pattern within the parking lot prevents it going back to cones.

I don't think the fog wouldn't exactly fit now because it was meant to simulate the steam that comes from the catapult for a carrier launching aircraft. 

^Okay, so it's not steam anymore. However, Bats are creatures of the night. A foggy night maybe?

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13 visits so far this year ☺

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13/15, not bad!

My pass on my phone says 0 visits though I have been to KI three times.... hmmm...

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but it seems the lights inside the queue of Flight of Fear have been restored to be synchronized with the pre-show video.  It's a really really cool experience I would recommend everyone see it before it breaks again and they don't fix it.

I have read some users re-added their pass and it updated the count.

Thanks everyone. It's all updated now!