Tr0y Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 29 minutes ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said: I haven't looked too far into it, but is it safe to assume that the ticket/free drinks combo is just a free drink plan for the day/season? It looks like this might partially be a promotion through Coca-Cola. I don't know that they would be allowed to put "Presented by Coca-Cola" on the images if it was entirely from the chain. The whole thing is a disservice to the people who bought their season pass and drink plan back in August and are ending up with the higher total. It'd be better if the end total was higher now. The promotion is an awesome idea! I just wish the situation didn't make those who bought their passes 10 months ago feel like they've been cheated. This smells like desperation with hints of bad timing for a cool pass promo It’s available for all the passes and day ticket. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 No different methodology than the person that bought a pass for 12 months and then watches in August someone buying a pass and getting 17 months (August thru end of following year)... Did they do anything for those that feel cheated the past couple of years on that deal.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI FANATIC 37 Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 Currently at the park this evening for an evening trip and have to complement all the ride ops. Everything is moving great and not stacking. Great evening to be here! 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver2005 Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 On 6/7/2025 at 12:14 PM, IndyGuy4KI said: How long has the Coke freestyle building been closed? Who do we blame for that one being closed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flightoffear1996 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 I have been having alot of issues getting drinks at pretty much anywhere in the park this season. I usually end up getting carbonated water. Making me thing real hard about ditching the drink plan next year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedarPointer Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 Same with getting an Icee. I've had at least one visit where the unnamed drink stand next to French Corner was the only place in the whole park with Icee, and several visits where none of them were open. Once again, I wonder how long "take the money and run" is a sustainable business model. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondback_Is_King Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 On 6/7/2025 at 12:14 PM, IndyGuy4KI said: How long has the Coke freestyle building been closed? It reopened today at about 11:00 I visited today, and went for ERT Orion. No lines as usual, and waited a short time for FoF. Lines were pretty short in the morning, but a lot of stuff went down halfway through the day. The ended up reopening by 2:00 though. One of the highlights of my visit today was meeting a man in The Beast line that had ridden it 43,002 (that's what I thought I heard, but that sounded unusually high to me). He showed me a picture of him being a part of building The Beast, and told me he made $25 an hour to help build The Beast! Anyone know his name? I couldn't remember. I had to smile after my visit with him, because I love people that have so much passion for roller coasters like I do. Good overall visit though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tr0y Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 On 6/10/2025 at 10:31 PM, Diamondback_Is_King said: One of the highlights of my visit today was meeting a man in The Beast line that had ridden it 43,002 (that's what I thought I heard, but that sounded unusually high to me). He showed me a picture of him being a part of building The Beast, and told me he made $25 an hour to help build The Beast! Anyone know his name? I couldn't remember. I had to smile after my visit with him, because I love people that have so much passion for roller coasters like I do. Good overall visit though! Rick Purdy is his name and no he hasn’t ridden The Beast 43,002 times. Last time I have seen him his shirt said over 36,000 times. That was 2023. It hasn’t even been two full seasons and yet he added 7000 rides to his ride count? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 1 hour ago, Diamondback_Is_King said: It reopened today at about 11:00 I visited today, and went for ERT Orion. No lines as usual, and waited a short time for FoF. Lines were pretty short in the morning, but a lot of stuff went down halfway through the day. The ended up reopening by 2:00 though. One of the highlights of my visit today was meeting a man in The Beast line that had ridden it 43,002 (that's what I thought I heard, but that sounded unusually high to me). He showed me a picture of him being a part of building The Beast, and told me he made $25 an hour to help build The Beast! Anyone know his name? I couldn't remember. I had to smile after my visit with him, because I love people that have so much passion for roller coasters like I do. Good overall visit though! Are you sure that Coke Freestyle drink stand by Enrique's re-opened? Every time I went by after 12:30pm that sign was there that is was closed. Maybe it did for a short period, but seems unlikely. As for The Beast guy, he is a nice guy, but a good fish tale story teller LOL. So, this Vlogger attended CoasterStock in 2022 and from this video dated May 23, 2022, they ran into him and he says on the video that he has rode The Beast 31,030 times and when @Tr0y and others (because there seems to be daily posts with pictures with the guy on FB), claimed that as of July 24, 2023 he has rode The Beast 38,000 times.... And as recently as last week, people were posting on FB he said he is over 47,000 rides. So who believes that in 14 months (but really about 9 months when you subtract out Nov-March) that this dude rode The Beast 6,970 times? And without a Fast Lane? And at the pace he walks? Not even Mr. Racer got near that many rides in a year when he was on his marathon stretch LOL. Mr. Orion struggles to get 2,000 rides in a year and he has Fast Lane. Mr. Diamondback never hit near those numbers in year either. Heck has anyone hit more than 6,000 rides on a single ride in one year LOL. He also says his name and picture are on a plaque in The Beast queue - has anyone seen it and got a picture? As they would say on Mythbusters, this claim is FALSE. Enjoy his stories, but don't take it as 100% accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Losantiville Mining Co. Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 I believe one of his daughters said he has Alzheimer's (or some sort of mental disability) after he was mentioned in the Season Pass Holders group. Whether or not the person was telling the truth IDK, but it seemed to explain a lot. He doesn't seem to be hurting anyone, so he can have his shirt and his stories and keep riding on. I wouldn't like to pile on him either way. His love of The Beast shows with how many times he says he's ridden it. Maybe if we could get some of his boy math bumping up the numbers for the economy, we'd all be rich (and he'd still be Rick)! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondback_Is_King Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 9 hours ago, disco2000 said: Are you sure that Coke Freestyle drink stand by Enrique's re-opened? Every time I went by after 12:30pm that sign was there that is was closed. Maybe it did for a short period, but seems unlikely. As for The Beast guy, he is a nice guy, but a good fish tale story teller LOL. So, this Vlogger attended CoasterStock in 2022 and from this video dated May 23, 2022, they ran into him and he says on the video that he has rode The Beast 31,030 times and when @Tr0y and others (because there seems to be daily posts with pictures with the guy on FB), claimed that as of July 24, 2023 he has rode The Beast 38,000 times.... And as recently as last week, people were posting on FB he said he is over 47,000 rides. So who believes that in 14 months (but really about 9 months when you subtract out Nov-March) that this dude rode The Beast 6,970 times? And without a Fast Lane? And at the pace he walks? Not even Mr. Racer got near that many rides in a year when he was on his marathon stretch LOL. Mr. Orion struggles to get 2,000 rides in a year and he has Fast Lane. Mr. Diamondback never hit near those numbers in year either. Heck has anyone hit more than 6,000 rides on a single ride in one year LOL. He also says his name and picture are on a plaque in The Beast queue - has anyone seen it and got a picture? As they would say on Mythbusters, this claim is FALSE. Enjoy his stories, but don't take it as 100% accurate. Very sure it was open. I took this picture at 2:46 (it wasn't a great picture so I didn't post it at first) As for Rick Purdy, that's definitely the guy I talked to. Now that you and @Tr0y say this, I can definitely see how he is an attention seeker. Anyway, I did some quick math, and here is what I came up with: Assuming you rode The Beast 43,002 times, from 1979 to today, you would have to visit every operating day of the year every year (average 150 days per season) and ride the ride 5 times every visit. To have that kind of patience, it takes a special person to be willing to wait that many times. Even if you loved The Beast, you wear down after a while. So lets talk wait times: assuming you rode The Beast 43,002 times and waited an average of 30 minutes (probably could be higher) then he would have spent over 2 years of his life riding The Beast!!! The probability of this number of rides being legit is 0%. It's not likely at all. But he has ridden it more than me and is passionate about the ride so that's cool. I just wouldn't lie to others about how many times I've ridden the ride though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterJack Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 I can confirm it was also open yesterday, went in twice, once around 2 and once around 8. Both times the machines had very few options. When I stopped the second time, there was a F&B supervisor loading the machines, so I asked and they said it hasn't been a lack of staff for the freestyle, but rather an issue of SF changed around some off the F&B full-time positions and the first order from the new position was messed up so the park didn't have any more Root Beer Syrup for the standard fountains, and no Freestyle carriages came in their last two orders, so they've been trying to space things out until the next shipment. He seemed confident it would be a temporary issue 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonHelbig Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 On 6/10/2025 at 10:55 PM, Tr0y said: Rick Purdy is his name and no he hasn’t ridden The Beast 43,002 times. Last time I have seen him his shirt said over 36,000 times. That was 2023. It hasn’t even been two full seasons and yet he added 7000 rides to his ride count? There is a better chance of the Eiffel Tower getting an RMC conversion than there is of this guy having 43,000 rides on The Beast. If he was a true story, the PR folks the park had in place from April 14, 1979 when the ride opened to October 15, 2017 would have known about him and he’d have been international news. It wasn’t until 2019 that he showed up wearing the t-shirts. Nice guy? Yes. Over 43,000 rides on The Beast? No. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondback_Is_King Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 51 minutes ago, DonHelbig said: There is a better chance of the Eiffel Tower getting an RMC conversion than there is of this guy having 43,000 rides on The Beast. If he was a true story, the PR folks the park had in place from April 14, 1979 when the ride opened to October 15, 2017 would have known about him and he’d have been international news. It wasn’t until 2019 that he showed up wearing the t-shirts. Nice guy? Yes. Over 43,000 rides on The Beast? No. He actually didn't have a "I've ridden The Beast ____ times!" shirt, but a regular park-sold Beast shirt. The shirt he normally wears was probably dirty If anyone were to take a wild guess, how many times do you think he actually has ridden The Beast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 16 minutes ago, Diamondback_Is_King said: He actually didn't have a "I've ridden The Beast ____ times!" shirt, but a regular park-sold Beast shirt. The shirt he normally wears was probably dirty If anyone were to take a wild guess, how many times do you think he actually has ridden The Beast? Many of The Beast ride ops are returners over many years. Many don't know who he is other than what they see on FB... Many here worked Beast in the 80s and 90s and don't know who he is other than on FB... Over the last few years, probably under 20 times, and that is probably generous. Maybe he has smoked 43,000 cigarettes in the park 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonHelbig Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 51 minutes ago, Diamondback_Is_King said: He actually didn't have a "I've ridden The Beast ____ times!" shirt, but a regular park-sold Beast shirt. The shirt he normally wears was probably dirty If anyone were to take a wild guess, how many times do you think he actually has ridden The Beast? At most 430. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 4 hours ago, DonHelbig said: There is a better chance of the Eiffel Tower getting an RMC conversion than there is of this guy having 43,000 rides on The Beast. If he was a true story, the PR folks the park had in place from April 14, 1979 when the ride opened to October 15, 2017 would have known about him and he’d have been international news. It wasn’t until 2019 that he showed up wearing the t-shirts. Nice guy? Yes. Over 43,000 rides on The Beast? No. Let's not forget that in 2019 the park put up signs in The Beast queue with stats and pictures and recognize Carl Eichelman as the official record holder at 4,400 rides. Or did Rick accumulate 40,000 rides since those signs went up to go along with his over 5,000 Orion rides 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI FANATIC 37 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 Whatever happened to the guy that marathoned Diamondback when it opened? I remember Don would share his ride counts on social media. Gary something? Does he still frequent the park? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 3 minutes ago, KI FANATIC 37 said: Whatever happened to the guy that marathoned Diamondback when it opened? I remember Don would share his ride counts on social media. Gary something? Does he still frequent the park? It was Gary Coleman. He has had many health issues and doesn't make it to the park very often anymore. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastfan11 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 I didn’t even think Gary Coleman was tall enough to ride The Beast. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 1 minute ago, beastfan11 said: I didn’t even think Gary Coleman was tall enough to ride The Beast. Whatcha talkin about Willis 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeastFarmer Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 18 minutes ago, disco2000 said: It was Gary Coleman. He has had many health issues and doesn't make it to the park very often anymore. Gary is a class act and has a life story that is worthy of a memorial. It's a shame he was not celebrated more in the last couple of years of his frequent rides. I hope he is doing as well as he can despite the health issues. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI FANATIC 37 Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 That’s sad to hear. I wish him all the best in regards to his health. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nemo Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 Gary!!! He was such a fun guy. Saw him a lot that opening year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco2000 Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 13 hours ago, DonHelbig said: There is a better chance of the Eiffel Tower getting an RMC conversion than there is of this guy having 43,000 rides on The Beast. If he was a true story, the PR folks the park had in place from April 14, 1979 when the ride opened to October 15, 2017 would have known about him and he’d have been international news. It wasn’t until 2019 that he showed up wearing the t-shirts. Nice guy? Yes. Over 43,000 rides on The Beast? No. 47,000 rides baby LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Losantiville Mining Co. Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 On 6/3/2025 at 1:07 PM, Diamondback_Is_King said: I've realized what is so off about this picture: the Liberty Bell and the tree slightly behind it are too close in color for me. They sort of blend together and make the topiary stand out less. I can't tell if the posts are new, but they are also too tall compared to the old ones. The patchy grass near the path also does not help the way it looks. A short fence/post & chain barrier near the path to keep guests out, more plants or ground cover around the bell, and something smaller on both sides to balance the view would make this marvelous Living Liberty Bell look 100x better. Oh, and a nice classic flat ride in the Saltwater Circus plot, complete with a covering structure worthy of the area Here's a photo of Kings Dominion's Liberty Bell. Notice that it is touching the ground within a raised planter bed. (Image: @DonHelbig on Instagram) Here is a photo of Kings Island's Living Liberty Bell in its old location. Note how it used to sit lower to the ground. (Image: Andrew from Park Rovers; https://www.parkrovers.com/home/2022/7/4/how-many-theme-parks-have-a-liberty-bell-replica) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonHelbig Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 10 hours ago, disco2000 said: 47,000 rides baby LOL He’s ridden over 4,000 times in a week. That’s impressive! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoeter Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 I remember catching some rides with Gary early on when Diamondback opened and just thought of him on a recent visit when the topic of people known for their ride counts (Carl Eichelman, Don, Darlene, etc) came up with a buddy of mine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenthodge Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 10 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said: I've realized what is so off about this picture: the Liberty Bell and the tree slightly behind it are too close in color for me. They sort of blend together and make the topiary stand out less. I can't tell if the posts are new, but they are also too tall compared to the old ones. The patchy grass near the path also does not help the way it looks. A short fence/post & chain barrier near the path to keep guests out, more plants or ground cover around the bell, and something smaller on both sides to balance the view would make this marvelous Living Liberty Bell look 100x better. Oh, and a nice classic flat ride in the Saltwater Circus plot, complete with a covering structure worthy of the area Here's a photo of Kings Dominion's Liberty Bell. Notice that it is touching the ground within a raised planter bed. (Image: @DonHelbig on Instagram) Here is a photo of Kings Island's Living Liberty Bell in its old location. Note how it used to sit lower to the ground. (Image: Andrew from Park Rovers; https://www.parkrovers.com/home/2022/7/4/how-many-theme-parks-have-a-liberty-bell-replica) I think the crappy grass is a big part of it. That area would've been PERFECT for a large, tent-like shade structure with synthetic grass under it. Then existing infrastructure from the Shooting Star could be expanded into 3-4 permanent "flex spaces" for food and bev for festivals. Back a small stage up to the showplace to possibly use the backstage infrastructure of that for festival entertainment. Then DING DING DING there's nothing wrong with the bell where it always was. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoomPlague Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 Okay guys. Why didn't you tell me we got a sweet, new dueling RMC this year? 1 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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