Plus if you look at all of the wooded space behind Firehawk there is PLENTY of room to expand (albeit it is hilly-valley land.) I still say a giga would fit in better if the lift hill started behind racer and went between AE and FOF.

giggity giggity.

Cough cough....terrain...something KI likes to do and keeps cost down on coasters.


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On 10/4/2017 at 5:56 PM, Oldschool75 said:

Cough cough....terrain...something KI likes to do and keeps cost down on coasters.


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Totally agree! It always makes those surprise first drops on coasters oh-so-much better. Next time you ride AE look at how steeply the area behind FOF drops. It’s at least 30 feet ( give or take). Now take a 270+ lift and voila you have a giga drop. Add a tunnel at the bottom and woo hoo, super giga!

3 hours ago, upstop said:

Now take a 270+ lift and voila you have a giga drop. Add a tunnel at the bottom and woo hoo, super giga!

I'd still want the coaster height to exceed well over 300ft though. Have it drop an extra 100ft and you have a strata drop

8 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I'd still want the coaster height to exceed well over 300ft though. Have it drop an extra 100ft and you have a strata drop

The worlds first GigaStrat. I love the idea!!!! I'd def want the lift hill to be over 300ft, I'd like it to be around 340 to be exact. Then use the terrain to its advantage by shooting  the drop into a ravine adding another 60 feet making the drop 400 feet. It would be a bigger version of the way Apollo's Chariot was designed. Now I know it's not likely to happen that way if it happens at all. But man that would be awesome if it did.

Dinosaurs Alive is now extinct at KI.

A large group showed up for the final walk-through at 7pm, and we were treated to a very nice tour from the area supervisors. It was hard to see much without proper lighting, but I did get a video of the tour which I'll share later today.

^We even had a moment of silence for Dinos after it closed. The crew was feeling it today.


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My last walk through of Dinos (around 6 PM) was fun; walked and talked with @XGatorHead 8904, one of his Slaughterhouse crew mates and another KICer (not sure the name) and took some final pictures. I think I will miss the unique views of Firehawk, but other than that, I'm ok with Dinos being extinct. For me, it had its moment in the sun, but I'm totally ok with it being gone (and this is coming from a guy who doesn't handle change well). 

This picture pretty much sums it up:

EDIT: However, that being said, I'm curious to see what goes here, especially since Dinos' extinction was so publicized.

We all know we want a giga... besides, ki HAS to get a Gigi eventually, so it might as well be now.

1 hour ago, diamondBanshee011 said:

We all know we want a giga... besides, ki HAS to get a Gigi eventually, so it might as well be now.

We all know? They "have" to? Echoing a past poster...

 

I learn the darnest things here. 

All I want is a totally renovated parking lot. It is sad that it is as rough as it is currently. 

58 minutes ago, dragsterguy21 said:

All I want is a totally renovated parking lot. It is sad that it is as rough as it is currently. 

repave, then cover the entire thing is solar shades. Keeps cars from getting stupidly warm, generate a good chunk of power.

17 minutes ago, Stoan said:

repave, then cover the entire thing is solar shades. Keeps cars from getting stupidly warm, generate a good chunk of power.

Someone's been to the Cincinnati Zoo. The solar panels at the zoo were donated by the company that manufactures the solar panels. It would cost a ton of money to have solar panels installed anywhere, let alone over almost 300 acres of parking space. 

I have no doubt that they have plans for the area. Sure, I agree that it wasn’t going to last forever, but why remove it now? There most certainly is a reason.

I’d be surprised if we didn’t see definitive action in that area next year. Perhaps even to start the season. Maybe checking out what’s going on will be a good incentive to ride WindSeeker next year.

It might also give me incentive to check out Dinos at CP next year (and/or Dorney if I end up there again - haven't really decided)

11 minutes ago, Oldiesmann said:

It might also give me incentive to check out Dinos at CP next year (and/or Dorney if I end up there again - haven't really decided)

It's not as big as KI's but it's a different experience. Especially with Millennium Force flying over.

If it's still around, visiting Dinos at CP is something I'd really like to do next time I'm up there as the location looks so cool.

On 10/6/2017 at 6:04 PM, BuckeyeBond said:

The worlds first GigaStrat. I love the idea!!!! I'd def want the lift hill to be over 300ft, I'd like it to be around 340 to be exact. Then use the terrain to its advantage by shooting  the drop into a ravine adding another 60 feet making the drop 400 feet. It would be a bigger version of the way Apollo's Chariot was designed. Now I know it's not likely to happen that way if it happens at all. But man that would be awesome if it did.

It's not a horrible idea, but the economics may not be there. The reason CP made TTD launched has a lot to do with the price of steel going up an addtional 110ft. above Millennium Force, which cost around 30 million. 

I also like the idea of them building a giga while also utilizing the surrounding terrain. 

On 10/30/2017 at 1:06 AM, malem said:

Dinosaurs Alive is now extinct at KI.

A large group showed up for the final walk-through at 7pm, and we were treated to a very nice tour from the area supervisors. It was hard to see much without proper lighting, but I did get a video of the tour which I'll share later today.

I'm glad you enjoyed the tour! We were happy to do it one last time.

16 hours ago, Oldiesmann said:

It might also give me incentive to check out Dinos at CP next year (and/or Dorney if I end up there again - haven't really decided)

Their Dino's is significantly smaller than the one at KI, though they do have a few different ones. It does have a different vibe, if you can get over Millennium Force flying over, it definitely has a more jungle-y vibe to it than KI's.

@dinoguy098 thank you for the tour! It was enjoyable!

2 hours ago, chugh43 said:

@dinoguy098 thank you for the tour! It was enjoyable!

I'm so glad you had fun! It was an emotional night for the crew, even past members - *cough@dinoguy098cough* - but it's all made worth it when people enjoy themselves on the trail.

23 minutes ago, mayaman2 said:

I'm so glad you had fun! It was an emotional night for the crew, even past members - *cough@dinoguy098cough* - but it's all made worth it when people enjoy themselves on the trail.

To be honest, I've never really been a fan of the attraction..but seeing the crew on the tour give their full out spiels about each dinosaur and their enthusiasm for the attraction really made the tour that much better. I'm glad I did the last walk through.

9 minutes ago, chugh43 said:

To be honest, I've never really been a fan of the attraction..but seeing the crew on the tour give their full out spiels about each dinosaur and their enthusiasm for the attraction really made the tour that much better. I'm glad I did the last walk through.

You should've asked for a tour while we were still operating! I'm sure it would've changed your perception of the attraction. I once gave a tour which lasted almost 2 hours... the folks were very interested and I had a lot to say! (Though usually my tours only lasted around 45 minutes, so my staff could rotate positions and go on break with minimal interference.)

I came up with something for the old dino plot. What if they use that land and just put some flats in, maybe open a new themed land AND then maybe a year or two, expand it with a new coaster like a B&M Giga, RMC topper/ironhorse or Raptor/'trex, or maybe a new type of coaster? Thoughts?

13 hours ago, mayaman2 said:

You should've asked for a tour while we were still operating! I'm sure it would've changed your perception of the attraction. I once gave a tour which lasted almost 2 hours... the folks were very interested and I had a lot to say! (Though usually my tours only lasted around 45 minutes, so my staff could rotate positions and go on break with minimal interference.)

 

Is it weird that I had no idea we even could ask for a tour?  I totally would have done it long ago, will have to check at some of the other Cedar Fair parks next year while they still have the attraction.

I didn't know either. Although I only went through generally once a year. 

38 minutes ago, Kenban said:

 

Is it weird that I had no idea we even could ask for a tour?  I totally would have done it long ago, will have to check at some of the other Cedar Fair parks next year while they still have the attraction.

Don't expect too much. Every Cedar Fair park operates theirs a bit differently. At KI, we were considered part of the Rides department (which is why you could often see us at other rides *cough cough*Planet Snoopy*cough cough*. I'm not sure about the other parks, but I know Cedar Point's is operated by their Guest Services department, and they really don't seem to give a darn.

Seems odd that the one Dinosaur's Alive attraction to close is the one where the crew actually cared for it.

23 hours ago, KIBeast said:

I also like the idea of them building a giga while also utilizing the surrounding terrain. 

Kings Island is one of the few US parks that has an excess amount of terrain to work with, aside from parks like Dollywood or BGW. 

If you look at it, the majority of popular KI coasters encounter multiple changes in terrain elevation- Adventure Express, The Bat, The Beast, Banshee, Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and Vortex. 

No existing giga has truly interacted with terrain, if at all. 

I actually thought the DA! Crew was consistently one of the more friendly crews in the park. That was my favorite place to go when the park was crowded. Between it being an excellent path to walk everyone seemed happy back there