Markers Placed by Old Columbia Rd.

[BeeastFarmer]

3 minutes ago, gforce1994 said:

Coney BarBQue is considered one. They have walls they can slide into place, as seen during Winterfest.

Got a source on that?  And even if you do, it is really not indoor dining.  There is no climate control in the hot, humid summer when people crave AC.  And the outdoor dining porches at CB do not allow for seating for that many people.  An climate controlled eatery in CM would be a revenue generator.  The temporary walls at CB do not increase revenue in my conecture.

[Oldschool75]

On 10/26/2020 at 9:13 PM, gforce1994 said:

The markers ran in an East-West direction. There was an additional marker east of Kill Mart by the antiques.

I just got off Racer. I can confirm these survey markers. Also noticed utility markings all the way down to Monster behind the buildings. My guess, something you do with Racer?


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[gforce1994]

6 minutes ago, Oldschool75 said:

I just got of Racer. I can confirm these survey markers. Also noticed utility markings all the way down to Monster behind the buildings. My guess, something you do with Racer.


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Bring on the Twisted Racer!

All joking aside, I think this could be an interesting development, because a lot of the markers focus around KillMart, with additional markers approaching the main utility lines.

[Oldschool75]

Bring on the Twisted Racer!
All joking aside, I think this could be an interesting development, because a lot of the markers focus around KillMart, with additional markers approaching the main utility lines.

I’ll call it now. A new light package for Killmart. Lol


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[SonofBaconator]

I don't want Racer touched by RMC.

[gforce1994]

It may be of some consequence that the original Markers that started this whole thread got removed. 

[Bwb.32]

So, its not really anything scarily important, and I totally didn't even ever think to mention it here until now, but I visited the park with a group of friends on October 17th this year, when being curious and checking out the SOB area, the original entrance plaza and the ramp entrance that leads to the station that usually has a padlocked gate was just kind of wide open, padlock off the gate, gate wide open, didn't even cross my mind to get a photo of it because when I saw it open I immediately found a park employee to inform them that it was just open.

My best guess is whoever is/was doing that survey work relating to the station left the gate open accidentally, the employee closed the gate after they saw it though

So yeah, nothing serious but I figured you all would get a kick out of it lol

[gforce1994]

It looks like the markers are for the new campgrounds rather than on Columbia road by the park. The water lines appear to go from GWL, by the high school, down to the campgrounds. That begs the question, what were the markers in the front of the park for?

[Klabergian Empire]

On 9/2/2020 at 6:28 PM, Klabergian Empire said:

Ya know, I bet I could bring in a stick with a little pink or orange flag on it, put it in a random and viewable place in the park, and everyone would think that Kings Island is putting in a strata coaster...... 

I still stand by my previous statement. 

 

Lemme just put a fake marker in Planet Snoopy real quick and.... Planet Snoopy STRATA COASTER

[Cincinatired]

This is not confirmed 

but I believe the park is using those markers for a bus/ tram drop off

Chad S said CC would have a bus to and from KI

also I think they are adding trams again in the parking lot.

[SonofBaconator]

15 minutes ago, Cincinatired said:

This is not confirmed 

but I believe the park is using those markers for a bus/ tram drop off

Chad S said CC would have a bus to and from KI

also I think they are adding trams again in the parking lot.

I was preaching this for weeks and now that Cedar Fair will be operating that campground it would increase the need for a shuttle.

[gforce1994]

31 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

I was preaching this for weeks and now that Cedar Fair will be operating that campground it would increase the need for a shuttle.

Nope, the drop off location would be the  markers by the original drop off by the main marquee sign. From the pictures that were posted, it’s clear it’s for the drop off location.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Even though this doesn't really have anything to do with the markers, I came up with a wing coaster concept based on @gforce1994 Winged Demon concept. Except I removed both Invertigo and Congo Falls. The station replaces the former Son of Beast station which also gets demolished. I also rerouted The Bat's exit and used the former exit path/SOB queue path as the queue and Fast Lane queue for this new coaster. 

 

[SonofBaconator]

^The idea looks good on paper but I have a few nitpicks that would require some change.

• The station elevation- I don't know what's the tallest B&M station it but if its built over SoB's old station it would have to be pretty high
• The station is right near Banshee's- maybe this is just me but it would be too condensed in that corner.
• Demolishing Timberwolf- I'm torn on this
• Its too similar to GateKeeper- a wing coaster running up to the front of the park in Ohio. Multiply that by two and it seems repetitive

Full disclosure I'd love something compact like X-Flight but with Thunderbird in the next state, GateKeeper up north and even Wild Eagle to the south it just seems too saturated at this point in time. 

[ldhudsonjr]

So hey did we ever find out what was up with those markers last fall? I never heard anything about it again. I mean clearly it was nothing huge I'm just curious if anyone ever figured out what they did.

[CoastersRZ]

I believe that it was stated they were for a water line replacement project.  That road used to be Columbia Road prior to the park being built, so there likely are some utilities that still remain along that road, such as the water lines.

[starlitfire]

I don't believe that this is worthy enough of its own thread, but apparently Coaster Nation has posted images of additional clearing around Timberwolf near most of the original markers. CN mentioned that trees had been removed from both berns surrounding the amphitheater, with "extensive" land work "from the northernmost section" of the amphitheater to the maintenance sheds for the monorail. Additional paths lining the southern bern were also removed.

Because of Timberwolf's close location to the utility work done last year, is it possible that Timberwolf gets removed in the near future? Spirit Song is not happening this year, and if it does not happen in the future, it could easily be removed. The greying out of Canada Wonderland's Timberwolf venue on a park map for this year is also worth noting here as well.

(If mods see this as worthy of its own thread -- feel free to move this!)

[IndyGuy4KI]

Coaster Nation is very observant and knows when the park trims a tree and cuts the grass. Unfortunately, instead of posting their observations to bring up discussions, they jump to conclusions and present possibilities as fact just to get clicks. It really makes the rest of us who support the park look bad. While the rest of us are trying to help deliver the parks message because we love the park, there is CN who seems do the opposite and muddies/distracts the message trying to be delivered with already debunked or not confirmed information. 

I don't think the author of these articles means any harm in any way, but I feel publishing these articles is a major disservice in supporting Kings Island.

 

[gforce1994]

Well, it appears the markers were not planted by the county, as the waterline was not given the go ahead. I guess it’s time to go back to square 1.

[IndyGuy4KI]

8 hours ago, gforce1994 said:

Well, it appears the markers were not planted by the county, as the waterline was not given the go ahead. I guess it’s time to go back to square 1.

Either way, we are not going to hash out markers that might mean nothing at this point. If something more shows up then we can discuss, but we are not going to jump to a coaster being built because we notice the grass being cut and trees getting trimmed.

[coaster sally]

17 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Either way, we are not going to hash out markers that might mean nothing at this point. If something more shows up then we can discuss, but we are not going to jump to a coaster being built because we notice the grass being cut and trees getting trimmed.

We do know a Gerstlauer is coming to a park.  KI has been smashing attendance.  Something to think about.  Maybe KI us taking it from CP like KI did from great america.

[KIghostguy]

3 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

We do know a Gerstlauer is coming to a park.  KI has been smashing attendance.  Something to think about.  Maybe KI us taking it from CP like KI did from great america.

Kings Island did not take anything from Great America. Cedar Fair’s corporate office made a decision about Great America that affected Kings Island, but Kings Island as a park did not make any decisions about Great America. I would suggest reading the new book Kings Island: A Ride Through Time. It will certainly clear some things up for you!

[SonofBaconator]

47 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Either way, we are not going to hash out markers that might mean nothing at this point. If something more shows up then we can discuss, but we are not going to jump to a coaster being built because we notice the grass being cut and trees getting trimmed.

In that case can this thread by temporary locked? All this conversation does is anger people

[coaster sally]

31 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

Kings Island did not take anything from Great America. Cedar Fair’s corporate office made a decision about Great America that affected Kings Island, but Kings Island as a park did not make any decisions about Great America. I would suggest reading the new book Kings Island: A Ride Through Time. It will certainly clear some things up for you!

sorry, CF shifted a project from CGA that turned into Orion.

[KIghostguy]

12 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

sorry, CF shifted a project from CGA that turned into Orion.

Did they? Read Kings Island: A Ride Through Time to find out.

[disco2000]

So Orion wasn't originally intended for somewhere else?

And the book reveals that the new giga coaster Orion was originally intended for a different Cedar Fair park, and that it ended up at Kings Island almost by accident. You'll have to check out the book for that info, though.

"The story of Orion, that is exclusive. It had not been reported anywhere else," Postingle said.

https://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/teen-writes-book-on-the-history-of-kings-island

[KIghostguy]

8 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

So Orion wasn't originally intended for somewhere else?

And the book reveals that the new giga coaster Orion was originally intended for a different Cedar Fair park, and that it ended up at Kings Island almost by accident. You'll have to check out the book for that info, though.

"The story of Orion, that is exclusive. It had not been reported anywhere else," Ponstingle said.

https://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/teen-writes-book-on-the-history-of-kings-island

You’ll have to read the book to find out!

[disco2000]

For a site that likes to decode, it is surprising how quick some here are to dismiss what may be a clue.  Maybe it is a clue or maybe it isn’t, but nonetheless, it should be something to observe and watch over time.  Only then do we see if it were an early indication or not.

It is clear some here only want to decode once it is painfully obvious something is happening and plans are available at city hall LOL.  What fun is that?  When the fence went up for Orion construction that really got the speculation going, but there were clues prior to that for those paying attention…  

Part of the fun is figuring it out a couple years before it is painfully obvious an announcement is imminent.  Apparently some don’t have the patience for that kind of multi-year sleuthing lol. 

The survey markers may be a simple water line project, or it may not.  The County budget simply says it is 10,300 feet of 12-inch waterline along Columbia Road.  Columbia Road is a long road and could be anywhere along Columbia Road since a map is not part of the budgetary document.  But the existing line is a 15-inch water line in this vicinity.  Rarely would a county that is growing downsize a water main…   And if it is for something years down the road, of course KI will deny it is for a new improvement.  They time when they announce attractions for a reason.

In addition, the budget says the project runs from 2022 (design) to 2026 (construction completed).  So any survey work seen at the end of 2020 is not related to that project.  A waterline of that size is a design contract of no more than 9 months – year tops, so they would not have done survey work in 2020 for a project of that size for the design to be completed in 2022.

Further, a waterline project of this size would not be designed in-house by County staff – it would go out to a consulting firm through a competitive process.  According to the records (unless I missed it in my review), there has been no Columbia Road waterline project that has gone out for RFQ/RFP for design services, nor has there been a contract authorized for design services of said project.  Based on the timetable of the budget, I would expect to see that happen sometime this year for survey and design to be started either later this year or the contract completely performed in 2022…

So if the surveying stakes that showed up at the end of 2020 cannot be confirmed as a county project by review of County records, then it is a strong likelihood that this work was done for a private entity.  Could be KI, could be Duke, Cincinnati Bell, Great Wolf, or any other entity not bound by public records requirements.  We really do not know at this point, but if decoding is your thing, shouldn't you be watching for activity in that area to try to figure it out?

For all intents and purposes, this final portion of Columbia Road is an unofficial vacated road.  Perhaps the time has come to officially vacate the road and turn the parcel over to Kings Island, which really should have happened once that road was cut in two because there is no reason now other than for Kings Island staff to be on that road at that section as it is a dead-end road with nothing but KI on it.  It serves no public purpose and spending tax dollars on that road is poor stewardship of public funds.

Perhaps as part of the condition before it can be officially vacated and turned over to Kings Island is that the waterline needs to be moved.  Does it need to be moved for a future expansion?  Can they really downsize the water line that is there now?  We don’t know…  

Now we see what appears to be some work around the Timberwolf area.  Maybe it is simply getting rid of dying trees and maybe some modifications are being done to Timberwolf.  Or maybe it is the early stages of a future improvement 2-3 years from now.  

Time will tell.  That is part of the fun and mystery of decoding – can we figure it out before anything obvious happens that the casual observer picks up on.  Can we figure it out before the wood fence shows up and plans show up at city hall?  These are the fun things to do.

Opening weekend we saw a crane show up in the lot.  Was it a clue?  Was it simply a contractor paid KI to park it there over the weekend for a project close by?  Could it be to salvage the Timberwolf sign and some material from the top of the theater?  Is it for replacement of the HVAC units on the top of KI Theater?  Is it to perform routine maintenance access to any number of rides where using a crane to remove/replace a part would be advantageous and if so, was something not running that could be a clue …and then we see Delirium is down.

Time would tell if it was just for Delirium or did they use it for something else as well.  Fast forward several weeks later and it appears the crane was just for Delirium and maybe some ride maintenance that we cannot determine based on visual observation.  Nothing else was done at Timberwolf other than it appears they cleaned up the backdrop that gave an illusion of being dismantled.  The roof is still all B-52s Love Shacked.  The sign is still there.  That is the fun part.

And now Music in the Parks has already occurred this year at KI and was the event held in Timberwolf like in years past (hint it was not).  But not as many schools participated as in years past either.

But Music in the Parks is scheduled for 2022 at KI already, so could it be in Timberwolf or not like this year?

All coincidental or a clue?

I think Shaggy and others nailed it why KI will not invest any money into Timberwolf.  Some folks here have some good suggestions on what they could do to make that a music venue for local acts, etc., but I don’t see that as being the target market KI is currently going after.

To some extent KI already does that with local acts taking the stage in Festhaus, stage by fountain, temporary setups like in front of Festhaus for the past fall event and inside the enclosed patio at Hanks for Winterfest.  KI has the facilities in place to host those types of bands if they wanted.

Timberwolf served a purpose at one time, and with minimal expenses, they could maintain it to hold SpiritSong and a few other events, but at some point it will be removed, and the question is how long before a new attraction is announced do they remove it - the fall before or years before or after the announcement?.  Plus SpiritSong staff is less than half the size it used to be, so will they even be in the business to put together such an event?  Could KI put together an event in the parking lot like they did for the Knievel jumps?

So we have markers that started showing up last year and now within close vicinity is activity around Timberwolf.  Maybe purely coincidental, but I will be keeping an eye on it for future clues that indicate whether it is purely coincidental or related…that is the fun part…figuring it out 3 years before it is announced is the fun part.  Not much to decode once we see the fence go up and construction going on that makes it painfully obvious something is happening and pulling plans from city hall a few months before the park announces it - at that point is more confirming before the official announcement than it is decoding.

Keep in mind a site admin started this original thread….this thread and the crane thread were posted here by a site admin before another site everyone likes to bash even posted about it…just saying…
 

[King Ding Dong]

..

 

[disco2000]

Condensed version:

Keep in mind a site admin started this original thread - this thread and the crane thread were posted here by a site admin before another site everyone likes to bash even posted about it…just saying…

Review of county records do not confirm the markers seen Fall of 2020 are related to said county water line and in fact all but indicate they were not part of the waterline project because the budget document shows a timetable of 2022 to 2026 for the project, so they did not have had funds encumbered for that project in 2020.

If you want the details and the specifics, then read the wall of text LOL.