15 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.)

***singing***

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, Pave paradise, and put up a parking lotttt {or flat rides or a new land or a giga or anythiiiiing} (oooh ba ba ba, oooh ba ba ba) "

I think I'd have quite liked a tour, myself.

I have a question that maybe some of you more tech savvy people can answer. As we all know, the line to The Bat is ridiculously long. I know at one point, the exit was shared by Son of Beast. My question, is the terrain out there friendly to install maybe a thrill ride or a coaster out that way and utilize that line? Just a thought. Maybe someone has already asked that on another thread and I didn't catch it. Really, that is my only complaint about The Bat is the distance from the beginning of the line to the actual station. I am happy that we have that and not Iron Dragon. The Bat is much more thrilling.

I am not an engineer by any means but I am pretty sure you can build a roller coaster on all most any kind of terrain as long as the ground can support it.  I think the bigger issue would be developing the pathways.

30 minutes ago, KIBeast said:

I have a question that maybe some of you more tech savvy people can answer. As we all know, the line to The Bat is ridiculously long. I know at one point, the exit was shared by Son of Beast. My question, is the terrain out there friendly to install maybe a thrill ride or a coaster out that way and utilize that line? Just a thought. Maybe someone has already asked that on another thread and I didn't catch it. Really, that is my only complaint about The Bat is the distance from the beginning of the line to the actual station. I am happy that we have that and not Iron Dragon. The Bat is much more thrilling.

Just imagine how long that line felt when Son of Beast wasn't there.  If you notice, there isn't much space for switchbacks.  When the ride was built, the line stretched to the entrance and beyond, so it didn't feel like that long of a walk.

I would imagine you could find a way to stick something back there, and there is always the theory that they will reuse the Son of Beast station for something in the future.

I never understood the reason behind reusing a station.  I mean if your spending $30 million dollars on a new coaster why not just spend the extra $50,000 to throw up a new shed?  Just tossing those numbers out there.  I mean I can see reusing some stations like The Vortex since that is a little more than than but the Son of Beast station is just a concrete platform a metal roof.

That $50,000 amount seems low for a station.  I know you were just throwing out numbers.  Most of these stations are a lot more than just a shed.  Not to mention there are architects that have to be paid to draw up the construction drawings so that it can be permitted and built by the contractor.

3 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

That $50,000 amount seems low for a station.  I know you were just throwing out numbers.  Most of these stations are a lot more than just a shed.  Not to mention there are architects that have to be paid to draw up the construction drawings so that it can be permitted and built by the contractor.

I always figured it would be in the $100,000 range.  It's not much of a structure, but it also requires a speciality to both design and install.  This price, of course, is always built into the price of a coaster.  So Diamondback wasn't $22MM for the ride.  That was an out-the-door price.

Disclosure - I'm not sure if Cedar Fair builds in the "other" stuff into the marketed attraction prices such as entry ways, pavers, signage, etc.

Even the $100,000 figure seems low.

I believe that Cedar Fair has said they will not be releasing attraction costs anymore.

Though they did said that they intend to invest 10% of their revenue into capital projects as part of the Q3 earnings release today.

Time for a train expansion, a second station, another water tower and a roundhouse. $100k should do it!

9 hours ago, flightoffear1996 said:

I never understood the reason behind reusing a station.  I mean if your spending $30 million dollars on a new coaster why not just spend the extra $50,000 to throw up a new shed?  Just tossing those numbers out there.  I mean I can see reusing some stations like The Vortex since that is a little more than than but the Son of Beast station is just a concrete platform a metal roof.

It's probably $50,000 just for engineering, plans, and permits for the building. 

Totally agree @fryoj. The 50,000 might get you ready for the building. Then comes the ground flags @gforce1994loves.

I always thought a Dive Coaster could it in that area given their compact layouts and excess amount of land behind Banshee.

Maybe they’ll bring the wild safari and monorail back?

It was awfully nice of Jungle Jim to store it for them, since he only got 1 train running as a shuttle.

21 minutes ago, fyrfyter said:

Maybe they’ll bring the wild safari and monorail back?

It was awfully nice of Jungle Jim to store it for them, since he only got 1 train running as a shuttle.

Housing animals is bad PR unless parks are 100% dedicated. Its hard to house animals and keep them healthy unless you're an accredited organization that can get additional funding and support from outside parties. Even then that won't stop PETA and other animal rights organizations from constantly breathing down the park's back. I'd rather have the park's money and resources invested in rides and attractions instead of on animals.

I thought I heard some years back that the Cincinnati Zoo and Kings Island were exploring the possibility of doing some kind of joint effort?

 

 

8 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

I thought I heard some years back that the Cincinnati Zoo and Kings Island were exploring the possibility of doing some kind of joint effort?

Source or link? The Zoo owns land in Mason near Kings Island where they grow organic food their Base Camp Cafe and where they let the Cheetahs run, maybe you were thinking of that.

Time to rebuild Son of Beast from a company that can actually make it work right.

They should’ve kept all those bolts....

25 minutes ago, fyrfyter said:

Time to rebuild Son of Beast from a company that can actually make it work right.

They should’ve kept all those bolts....

Could you imagine RMC getting their hands on that thing before they tore it down? 

Maybe they can get Arrow Dynamics to expand The Bat, add in the missing 1000 feet of track.

That'd be awfully hard, as Arrow Dynamics is no longer in business.

I would be very interested to know why its just our DA that is closing this year, clearly they have something planned for that area. who knows, maybe the rest will close soon.

I'm assuming because ours was the first installment. I'd look for the rest to close after next season.

You guys are way to literal....

Just keeping it real....

27 minutes ago, fryoj said:

Could you imagine RMC getting their hands on that thing before they tore it down? 

Who's to say RMC did not put in a bid to fix it before it was taken down?

7 minutes ago, fyrfyter said:

You guys are way to literal....

Just keeping it real....

Nothing wrong with guessing and speculating!

I am sure that the park solicited an RFP for ideas on what to do with Son of Beast before deciding to tear it down.  After all, the park had sunk a lot of money into trying to get it right.  Do I miss the ride?  Not really.  I much prefer Mystic Timbers, though I do wish Mystic Timbers was a little longer than it is.  You blink and the ride is over.  

Dinosaurs Alive probably wasn`t generating a lot of revenue in the last couple of years.  I honestly only went through it the day it opened at KI.  I wasn`t that impressed.  I get it had its place, and I am sure kids loved it.  

^ Not only did kids enjoy DA, I'm fairly sure it attracted a lot of people playing Pokemon Go, too, considering what I've been hearing from time to time on the forums.

On 11/2/2017 at 11:59 AM, KIBeast said:

I have a question that maybe some of you more tech savvy people can answer. As we all know, the line to The Bat is ridiculously long. I know at one point, the exit was shared by Son of Beast. My question, is the terrain out there friendly to install maybe a thrill ride or a coaster out that way and utilize that line? Just a thought. Maybe someone has already asked that on another thread and I didn't catch it. Really, that is my only complaint about The Bat is the distance from the beginning of the line to the actual station. I am happy that we have that and not Iron Dragon. The Bat is much more thrilling.

Or maybe sprinkling the DA Dinosaurs along The Bat's queue? Waste not, want not.

EDIT: I realize this isn't possible.  DA was an attraction with an extra cost.  However, a thoughtful way to spruce up The Bat's queue.

The DA dinos were in rough shape. Birds and squirrels had eaten and pecked holes in many of them.

My sons always loved them and the dig site as well, but they are 6 & 2. We went there pretty much every trip this past year.

It will be missed, but hopefully KI does something worthwhile back there, especially now with land and an abandoned theater, it’s begging for attention.

2 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Who's to say RMC did not put in a bid to fix it before it was taken down?

 

Oh I'm not saying there was a scenario where it would have happened. I'm just saying what a ride if they had. 

1 hour ago, starlitfire said:

^ Not only did kids enjoy DA, I'm fairly sure it attracted a lot of people playing Pokemon Go, too, considering what I've been hearing from time to time on the forums.

This is true, at least for me. The main reason to go back there this year was to look for (and walk my Buddy) Pokemon!