Kings Island 2022 General Discussions

[BeeastFarmer]

4 hours ago, brenthodge said:

Hmmmmm projects in NC and SC? Topspin buildings??? Immersive experiences? 

And it's interesting that the C's are capitalized!

[Orion742]

Drop Tower has also been down all day along with BLSC, And Boo Blasters just now opened. Hopefully they can fix things.

[brenthodge]

56 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

And it's interesting that the C's are capitalized!

There are a lot of subtle things in this like FUN (Cedar Fair) and Ive tried to figure out a company with CCC possibly in California - I've seen "some sign" here for a while, but for some weird reason was really drawn to look closely at it today. If like others have said it was installed in 2020 (after copperhead strike opened) and was part of that teaser campaign for Copperhead - it's even more telling that when you look at the list that says, They create Sheds (mystic) Seaside Boardwalks (CP Boardwalk) Camping Complexes (Camp Cedar) Midcourse Brake Runs (any recent coaster with them - like Beast), and corn cribs (Copperhead Strike?)  -  everything BUT the Topspin Structure has come to pass. Maybe this was a derailed teaser campaign for something in the old TRTR that pandemic years stalled. May be nothing, but fun speculation around an old (or new) sign.

[disco2000]

Just now, Orion742 said:

Drop Tower has also been down all day along with BLSC, And Boo Blasters just now opened. Hopefully they can fix things.

Drop Tower has been down a week.

[Orion742]

33 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Drop Tower has been down a week.

Oops my bad, thanks.

[FUN&ONLY!]

18 hours ago, KIghostguy said:

Area 72 is in quite a sorry state. No audio coming from the podcast wagon. One of the "surveillance camera" TVs in the Flight of Fear exit photo booth vignette is black with a "No signal" sign. No music in Orion's station--no surprise, there's been no music in there this entire season. It's only a custom soundtrack that the park spent a pretty penny on. I haven't been able to spend time back there at night since I got home from Hersheypark, but I assume that the light in the meteor is still burnt out? Just like it's been since JUNE 2021. I also assume that the spotlight on the Bureau logo is still burnt out as well? Why did the park invest in this stuff if they were going to let it all break down or burn out anyways and decide not to fix it? Orion is a great ride, and is still the newest ride in the park. Kings Island should make sure that the total experience is still shining like new.

The quonset hut was gated off today, as it is probably 85% of the time I've visited the park in the past two years. Working at the park last year, I had multiple guests stop in and ask me why the building was gated off, so it’s not like this goes unnoticed by the average guest. I get that it's gated on lower crowd days, but Heaven forbid guests have to walk another 10 feet. Quelle horreur! Even more frustratingly, the queue blueprints from May 2019 show that there was not supposed to be a gate in that location. It was going to be a solid queue railing. Why spend the money and time building cool theming and a fun preshow if you're just going to gate it off almost all the time? 

Also, one of the show lights in Mystic Timber's Shed is burnt out. Don't know for how long since like I said, I've been gone almost all summer. It's to the right of the main screen and is supposed to illuminate the animated saw blades on the wall.

Cross-threading here a little bit, but I do worry about the possibility of Phantom Theater coming back. Would I love to see it? Absolutely. But the park right now seemingly has trouble with speakers and light bulbs, so how on Earth could they maintain animatronics and illusions long-term?

Mystic Timbers’ theming has been in a sorry state for the majority of the season. In addition to what you mentioned, one of the security footage TV’s in the queue is completely out with the other one being super dim and quiet. Also, many of the lights in the shed that used to flicker no longer flicker. A speaker that plays the soundtrack is out in the Fast Lane line as well as the “there’s an old truck in the lumber mill, you got to jump start it, get out of here right now” audio on the station stairs. Honestly, these upkeep problems have existed for so long now that I honestly question if the management team even cares. If that is true, that is very sad.

[KIghostguy]

Just now, FUN&ONLY! said:

Mystic Timbers’ theming has been in a sorry state for the majority of the season. In addition to what you mentioned, one of the security footage TV’s in the queue is completely out with the other one being super dim and quiet. Also, many of the lights in the shed that used to fluster no longer flicker. A speaker that plays the soundtrack is out in the Fast Lane line as well as the “There’s an old truck in the lumber mill, you got to jump start it, get out of here right now” audio on the station stairs. Honestly, these problems have existed for so long now that I honestly question if management even cares. If that is true, that is very sad.

That TV has been out since last season. For a significant portion of last year, the TV had half of its display burnt out! I guess the rest followed soon after. A shame that it’s been so long without a fix.

[gforce1994]

23 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

That TV has been out since last season. For a significant portion of last year, the TV had half of its display burnt out! I guess the rest followed soon after. A shame that it’s been so long without a fix.

There’s been supply chain issues.

[KIghostguy]

1 hour ago, gforce1994 said:

There’s been supply chain issues.

I haven’t heard of any other parks having trouble replacing lightbulbs and fixing broken speakers. And there’s no excuse for constantly gating off a themed show space that you spent money to build in the first place.

[BeeastFarmer]

1 hour ago, gforce1994 said:

There’s been supply chain issues.

I'm not sure about outdoor televisions, but there is a glut of televisions currently.  I mean, Amazon was selling 75" Samsung TVs last month for $400.  I saw LG 65" TVs at Walmart for $350.

[IndyGuy4KI]

1 minute ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I'm not sure about outdoor televisions, but there is a glut of televisions currently.  I mean, Amazon was selling 75" Samsung TVs last month for $400.  I saw LG 65" TVs at Walmart for $350.

There are plenty of TV's at Sam's club. Funny story thought, we had a vendor who put a project on hold that called for 6 TV's because they couldn't get the TV's. After months of waiting, we looked at the quote and ordered the TV's from Amazon. Got them a few days later and told them to come install them. Not sure what the deal is?

[FUN&ONLY!]

One can hope that after daily operations end, Kings Island will spend time and money updating what has been neglected for a while now.

[BeeastFarmer]

3 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

There are plenty of TV's at Sam's club. Funny story thought, we had a vendor who put a project on hold that called for 6 TV's because they couldn't get the TV's. After months of waiting, we looked at the quote and ordered the TV's from Amazon. Got them a few days later and told them to come install them. Not sure what the deal is?

From what I read, during the pandemic, TVs and monitors were in high demand.  Now that demand is down, the glut exists.  So much so, that Samsung and another company (can't remember which one) cancelled all orders from a company that makes the screen (?) until after the Superbowl.

[Orion742]

Can anyone confirm if Orion is open or closed right now? I heard that it is closed.

 

Edited August 19, 2022 by Orion742
Wrong letter

[Coasterteam]

On 8/18/2022 at 12:01 AM, KIghostguy said:

Also, one of the show lights in Mystic Timber's Shed is burnt out. Don't know for how long since like I said, I've been gone almost all summer. It's to the right of the main screen and is supposed to illuminate the animated saw blades on the wall.

Mystic Timber shed projector audio wasn't working for me last time I went. It was too quiet to hear whatsoever.

[Orion742]

Drop Tower seems down.

Backlot says open I haven’t heard if that is confirmed.

Orion says closed I don’t know why.

Update: Orion now says open 10 minute wait. Must have just been something to do with testing and they fixed it.

Edited August 19, 2022 by Orion742
Ride opened up

[Born_in_'72]

Looking at the live webcam, it appears to be running.

[Orion742]

K.I. & Miami rail road is closed as well.

[Kenban]

17 hours ago, brenthodge said:

There are a lot of subtle things in this like FUN (Cedar Fair) and Ive tried to figure out a company with CCC possibly in California - I've seen "some sign" here for a while, but for some weird reason was really drawn to look closely at it today. If like others have said it was installed in 2020 (after copperhead strike opened) and was part of that teaser campaign for Copperhead - it's even more telling that when you look at the list that says, They create Sheds (mystic) Seaside Boardwalks (CP Boardwalk) Camping Complexes (Camp Cedar) Midcourse Brake Runs (any recent coaster with them - like Beast), and corn cribs (Copperhead Strike?)  -  everything BUT the Topspin Structure has come to pass. Maybe this was a derailed teaser campaign for something in the old TRTR that pandemic years stalled. May be nothing, but fun speculation around an old (or new) sign.

The secret to how the posters are so accurate is simple.  They are done after the fact.  The vague references might make you think it dropped clues to additions years in advance when in reality they were references to something that already occurred. 

Seaside Boardwalks, could be Cedar Point, but I suspect it is the boardwalk at Knott's, Hangtime did open in 2018.  The thing about Camp Cedar is it was not a Cedar Fair project it is owned by and was built by another company, Cedar Fair just operates it.  Carowinds has a campground that had recently been renovated when this was made, could also be Cedar Point which had also recently expanded their camp ground.  I actually think the Topspin structures that you think has not happened is a reference to the old Tomb Raider ride at Kings Island, the ride itself was a Giant Topspin.  The artwork at the top is the station for The Beast, that lead car on the left is RailBlazer at CGA, the tractor is Twisted Timbers at KD.

From what I understand the employee who made these posters used to work at Kings Island, and is an enthusiast, so they tend to go a little overboard on the references to Kings Island.

[jsus]

43 minutes ago, Kenban said:

The secret to how the posters are so accurate is simple.  They are done after the fact.  The vague references might make you think it dropped clues to additions years in advance when in reality they were references to something that already occurred. 

Seaside Boardwalks, could be Cedar Point, but I suspect it is the boardwalk at Knott's, Hangtime did open in 2018.  The thing about Camp Cedar is it was not a Cedar Fair project it is owned by and was built by another company, Cedar Fair just operates it.  Carowinds has a campground that had recently been renovated when this was made, could also be Cedar Point which had also recently expanded their camp ground.  I actually think the Topspin structures that you think has not happened is a reference to the old Tomb Raider ride at Kings Island, the ride itself was a Giant Topspin.  The artwork at the top is the station for The Beast, that lead car on the left is RailBlazer at CGA, the tractor is Twisted Timbers at KD.

From what I understand the employee who made these posters used to work at Kings Island, and is an enthusiast, so they tend to go a little overboard on the references to Kings Island.

Just seems weird to me.  I've never seen any of these as teasers, just someone having fun with decorating the park.  Often making references to things that exist elsewhere.  But some want to find hidden meaning (i.e. teasers) in everything.

[CoastersRZ]

3 hours ago, Kenban said:

The secret to how the posters are so accurate is simple.  They are done after the fact.  The vague references might make you think it dropped clues to additions years in advance when in reality they were references to something that already occurred. 

Seaside Boardwalks, could be Cedar Point, but I suspect it is the boardwalk at Knott's, Hangtime did open in 2018.  The thing about Camp Cedar is it was not a Cedar Fair project it is owned by and was built by another company, Cedar Fair just operates it.  Carowinds has a campground that had recently been renovated when this was made, could also be Cedar Point which had also recently expanded their camp ground.  I actually think the Topspin structures that you think has not happened is a reference to the old Tomb Raider ride at Kings Island, the ride itself was a Giant Topspin.  The artwork at the top is the station for The Beast, that lead car on the left is RailBlazer at CGA, the tractor is Twisted Timbers at KD.

From what I understand the employee who made these posters used to work at Kings Island, and is an enthusiast, so they tend to go a little overboard on the references to Kings Island.

Yep.  And said employee posts on here from time to time.  

[disco2000]

^including within the past 24 hours!

[Imperial79]

I found this site and it talks and shows the history of Kings Island up to 2019, and things they wish the park would bring back, some of the things the park has brought back.  I have never seen some of these pictures, so this was a real treat! 

Kings Island - Part 1: It's Good to Be the King. — Themerica

[Orion742]

I finally got the chance to ride Banshee again this year here are my thoughts.

It was Noticeably more rough than last year, I felt the train shaking a bit more through the inversions. It was very surprising.

Drop just as great.

I love every time when you get to the bottom of those inversions the temperature drops like 10 degrees.

I don’t know why Banshee is like that compared to Orion or Diamondback, those are Butter smooth.

[disco2000]

All of Mystic's projections in the shed are working today.

[KIghostguy]

I popped in for a quick visit today earlier this afternoon. The "No signal" TV that was broken at the Flight of Fear exit vignette is back in operation! Which was great to see. The podcast wagon is still not emitting audio. No idea about the station music/light in the meteor because like I said, I was just there for a quick visit. It's great to see that that TV was fixed, I hope the other elements will be repaired soon.

[Oldschool75]

I popped in for a quick visit today earlier this afternoon. The "No signal" TV that was broken at the Flight of Fear exit vignette is back in operation! Which was great to see. The podcast wagon is still not emitting audio. No idea about the station music/light in the meteor because like I said, I was just there for a quick visit. It's great to see that that TV was fixed, I hope the other elements will be repaired soon.

So all you did was come on here to do some passive aggressive complaining? Seems like since you’ve been back from Hershey you’ve done nothing but pick Kings Island apart. Just do us all a favor and keep the complaining to yourself.
Sincerely,
Just About Everyone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FUN&ONLY!]

53 minutes ago, Oldschool75 said:

So all you did was come on here to do some passive aggressive complaining? Seems like since you’ve been back from Hershey you’ve done nothing but pick Kings Island apart. Just do us all a favor and keep the complaining to yourself.
Sincerely,
Just About Everyone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t want to start anything, but this is an extremely rude response. With this response, it seems like YOU are trying to start something. If anything, @KIghostguy’s critique are just an example of how much he cares about Kings Island. He, like many of us, know that the park has the potential to be better than it is currently, and he was just giving constructive criticism. Kings Island has some theming among other things that they have let go in recent years. He was just calling the park out because he knows the park can do better and wants to see the park do better. I agree with him 100%.

Also, people have different reasons to visit the park. Many go to ride rides, but a lot of people just go to walk around, take everything in, and watch a show. A lot of people only go to eat a meal. We don’t need to poke fun at people at reasons for visiting the park. Heck, @KIghostguy never said that he only went to Kings Island to look at theming. You just assumed that. Even if he did, so what?

[BeeastFarmer]

7 hours ago, Oldschool75 said:

So all you did was come on here to do some passive aggressive complaining? Seems like since you’ve been back from Hershey you’ve done nothing but pick Kings Island apart. Just do us all a favor and keep the complaining to yourself.
Sincerely,
Just About Everyone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I can't speak for him, but I think, from reading the posts, he just wants King's Island to finish what they started.  

[gforce1994]

4 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I can't speak for him, but I think, from reading the posts, he just wants King's Island to finish what they started.  

Uh, Area72 is complete.