A Clue?

[PKIVortex]

I just got another e-mail about 2007 season passes. In the e-mail is says:

"Kings Island soars into its 35th Anniversary with more than 85 world-class rides and attractions, including world-record holding roller coasters, an award-winning children's area, 15-acre water park, and outstanding family musical productions. Enjoy all this and much more with your 2007 Season Passes!"

Kings Island soars? Could this be a clue to X-Flight? Also glad to hear it mention "outstanding family musical productions". That sounds promising.

[Captain Nemo]

I love all of these tiny clues. As you can see it seems we are going into a Cedar Fair way of hinting new rides.

[mutedarkness]

Haha.. you guys crack me up

[flightoffear1996]

Do you guys really think they can tear down a coaster move it and build, test it and open it in a few months?

[CoastersNSich]

I have to think that it can open sometime in 2007, by June at the latest. Footings may be going in at the KI site already, while dismantling is already underway at Geauga Lake.

I could compare this to Italian Job - of course it's a smaller coaster than X-Flight, but it didn't take too long to build, by the time it was completed and ready by mid to late April 2005. I see this coaster going up rather quickly...

[PKIDelirium]

Yeah, and IJ's track didn't arrive until December 21st, and it was structurally complete by March!

[RailRider]

I think it is very feasible to dismantle and reassemble X-Flight in just a few months. I would look for it to be ready for opperations around the same time IJ:ST was opperating full time. After all this coaster has been assembled once, so the 2nd time should be pretty easy because theoretically all the bugs have been worked out. Seems doable to me.

[CoasterKrazy]

And who says all the bugs have to be worked out in the first place? Italian Job still has a few good size cockroaches roaming around the track, and it took Kings Island six years and a considerable accident to call the exterminator to work on Son of Beast.

Bugs, shmugs. Open the darn thing anyway!

[CoastersRZ]

While the ride has been assembled at GL, IF it comes to KI, it will be a completely new electrical system. As a result, there will likely be some issues that have to be worked out. I think that it is completely possible for the ride to be relocated to KI and be ready to roll for 2007.

[mutedarkness]

The ride NEEDS to be painted... before anything.

If the ride would open by opening day footers would have been poored already. Remeber. They are only taking off track now. Supports have to go down after the footers...

[Reclaimer]

So I take it you've been to the construction area and have seen that there are, in fact, no footings that have been poured?

[CoastersRZ]

What? Supports have to go down after the "footers?" What are you talking about? Keep in mind that if the ride is coming to KI, they could already have started pouring footings (the proper architectural term for them) on the site, especially with the nice weather Cincinnati has had lately. Yes, they have to disassemble the ride in the reverse order in which they built it. Ie, track first followed by supports. And then the supports will be the first to be rebuilt at the new site. Keep in mind that the pictures on this site of the clearing behind Flight of Fear were from the first weekend in December. A lot can happen in the period of several weeks.

I would tend to agree with it going to need a paint job wherever it goes. The green looked pretty faded in some of the recent pictures I`ve seen. That, and from being disassembled, transported and reassembled, there may be several areas where the paint has been scratched off.

[Delirium13]

I'm surprised no one has said anything about this yet, but:

"Kings Island" soars into its 35th Anniversary with more than 85 world-class rides and attractions, including world-record holding roller coasters, an award-winning children's area, 15-acre water park, and outstanding family musical productions. Enjoy all this and much more with your 2007 Season Passes!

It only refers to it as Kings Island. This may not seem all that big, but under Paramount or CBS it would've definately read Paramount's Kings Island...

The regular logo that says Paramount's Kings Island is still there, but it's a start.

[CoastersRZ]

Well, not necessarily. There were numerous occasions the last couple of years, where they did not refer to the park as Paramount`s Kings Island. Even in some of their advertisements they had been doing away with some of the Paramount name. But is was still there. Now it seems they might be shifting away from the Paramount name all together. Though they still have the Paramount logo. I have to wonder how long it will be before the websites for the Paramount Parks receive an update. I`d imagine at some point they will get a Cedar Fair make over. And when that happens, I think we will know if they will still have that P word in front of the park names.

[fryler87]

Do you guys really think they can tear down a coaster move it and build, test it and open it in a few months?

Change "few" to "several", and the answer is: yes.

Keep in mind as well, this area is in a part of the park that has little surrounding it other than trees. Unlike IJ:ST, it's not in the middle of the park and one would think that with an easily-forged access path from Columbia Rd. behind SoB to that area, it wouldn't be difficult to bring hardly anything back there (concrete, steel, cranes, etc.). It's an area where machines can be a little more spread out (hence the idea that more land has been cleared than may be absolutely necessary) and parts can be stored on site rather than in the parking lot (or parts can be moved from the lot to that site as they are delivered). When I say parts, I mean big parts...like supports and track.

Does anyone know the time frame of de/construction of Stealth/BA?

[Shaggy]

Captain Nemo said:

"I love all of these tiny clues. As you can see it seems we are going into a Cedar Fair way of hinting new rides.'

Well, that's not a new "Cedar Fair" touch.

KI has "hinted" at new attractions for ages.

Are we forgetting the likes of:

"Dropping in Next Season" (Drop Zone)

"Getting ready for a New Adventure" (Wild Thornberries)

"Discover New Thrills at PKI" (Tomb Raider) and

"Pardon us as we stir up dust." (Delirium)

just to name a few ;-)

It's pretty obvious that X-Flight is headed to KI. It will be a good fit. And they'll get it open in 2007.

We need only look at the turnaround time it took for Borg to be installed at PCow. Ground prep is the hard part... well that and the electrical portion. They had Stealth moved across country, painted installed and opened in 6 months time.

My guess would be that the park's target is to open the coaster in time for full season hours. KI has never really been "on time" with past installs either. This will be no different.

I do think that they probably have a goal of opening the ride also in time for the ACE Coaster Con. That way they will no doubt use it to spur media attention. (i.e. "Hundreds of members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts converged on King's Island today to try out their latest scream machine. Details at 11")

Shaggy

[Cody]

Shaggy very good! Im glad some one on this froum looks closely at these emails and newletters etc etc

I can now say that KI is geting X-Flight, should be a great season in 07

[Dalefan]

If PKI is getting X-Flight then why isnt the land its going on sorta speak not being dug up for electric lines needing to be run to the coaster? I seen the land its being said its going on and its nowhere near ready yet. They from what i seen have no footers for the supports yet for the coaster and no digging has been going on. All they did so far was clear land. With all the work they are doing on SOB, it be hard to tell if they get any ride or coaster next year. With all the land PKI has they need to build out and build more rides cause of the land they have. Everyone ought to wait and see if they are getting X-Flight or not. Its been said its going to Michigans Adventure park but thats hard to tell too. Who knows it may go in to storage or its been sold.

[flightoffear1996]

I am pretty sure its going to Kings Island its just a matter of when. Yea I guess they would be able to build a coaster in a few months. Keep in mind they dont have to take down all the track to take down the supports.

[Shaggy]

Do you honestly think that Michigan's Adventure can support a coaster as complex as X-Flight? I cannot see this at all.

Michigan's Adventure does not have an abundance of steel coasters, especially ones as technically complex as X-Flight.

KI on the other hand, has a staff that is very well versed, and very well trained on highly complex and computer driven coasters. Heck a few of them even helped oversee the installs of Stealth (and then later... Borg.)

IMO installing X-Flight at MA would be on par with installing it at a park such as Knoebles, or Holiday World. It's leaving GL because it was too much for too little of a park. Placing it at MA woudl create the same issue all over again IMO.

Now, I may eat crow on this... but my money is KI.

Shaggy

[ohdes]

I don't think Kings Island would have any trouble installing X-flight for the 07 season. Doing some searching on Rec.Roller-Coaster. Footer work on the original installation didn't begin until January 2001. The Google Groups. states that a few forms were up on Jan 28th 2001. It opened by the end of May. This coaster could go up very quickly. I know it did the first time.

Jeremy

[ragerunner]

If PKI is getting X-Flight then why isnt the land its going on sorta speak not being dug up for electric lines needing to be run to the coaster? I seen the land its being said its going on and its nowhere near ready yet. They from what i seen have no footers for the supports yet for the coaster and no digging has been going on. All they did so far was clear land. With all the work they are doing on SOB, it be hard to tell if they get any ride or coaster next year. With all the land PKI has they need to build out and build more rides cause of the land they have. Everyone ought to wait and see if they are getting X-Flight or not. Its been said its going to Michigans Adventure park but thats hard to tell too. Who knows it may go in to storage or its been sold.

How do we know what has been done on the site? I believe the pics were from December 3. A lot of work could have been done over the last 2 or 3 weeks.

[RailRider]

Heres a few questions that Im sure someone can answer.

Am I correct in saying Flight of Fear has a dedicated electrical line/supply going to the ride?

Would it be possible to tie in to this source for the power needed for X-Flight?

If this is a possibility it would seem like this would cut down a lot of work trenching, laying condiut, and running new lines, because this would be a much closer distance than needing to run lines.

Just some thoughts, because look at how much work Cedar Point has put in to Maverick and running its new lines, that aint cheap. Then again Maverick has a bit larger appetite for electricity than what X-Flight does.

[PKIDelirium]

CP said that Maverick won't be the only thing using that new dedicated line, so I suppose it's possible that X-Flight could use FOF's power supply, although considering FOF is using old style, power hungry LIMs, that might not be a great idea.

I'm no electricity expert though, so it's hard to tell really. I know there is a power source near there, there's a large electrical box next to the service road that supplies Psycho Path.

[Cody]

CP said that Maverick won't be the only thing using that new dedicated line, so I suppose it's possible that X-Flight could use FOF's power supply, although considering FOF is using old style, power hungry LIMs, that might not be a great idea.

I'm no electricity expert though, so it's hard to tell really. I know there is a power source near there, there's a large electrical box next to the service road that supplies Psycho Path.

I think thats a bad idea, It would be a risk of LIMS "stealing" power. And that would stink if you were on x-flight and there was no power to that ride.

EDIT:I quoted the wrong person

[CoastersRZ]

I`m sure they`ll have an electrical engineer involved with assisting them in getting power to the ride. I`m sure that they have plans for all the electrical systems in the park. I doubt they would tie into FoF`s power tap as that ride required quite a bit of juice to power those lims. But since there are all those maintenance buildings back there, there are bound to be quite a lot of electrical lines back in that area.

The thing I am more interested in, is how are they going to set up the midway. The pathway under The Racer is not the widest, but it works serving just FoF. It was a disaster at FearFest when they also had two haunt lines back there. Just imagine what it will be like in the middle of summer when there are two attractions back there, both will likely be very popular. I just hope they don`t make the same mistake they made with Action Zone of having an undersized entrance to a dead end midway (which they later remedied with the install of Delirium).

[BoddaH1994]

Speaking of Fear Fest, can anyone tell by the photos whether or not Psycho Path was destroyed by the construction? I want to say that it's farther back, but I can't tell.

[PKIDelirium]

Yeah, it is. They partially messed up the road that forms the queue, but Psycho Path hasn't been harmed.

Edit, to be more clear:

[flightoffear1996]

At least we will have something to look at while in line for Physo Path.

[fryler87]

One has to wonder if the park planned for this situation to eventually occur. I would assume that when the park put FoF in, they at least CONSIDERED leaving additional utility support in case they decided to install another attraction back there in the future. Then again, it's obvious that the decision to move X-Flight to KI couldn't have been made until Cedar Fair purchased the park in the first place, so I suppose we'll never know if PKI had wanted to eventually have some type of ride back there.

Going back to what I said in another thread-there's lots of space back there (it's just trees) and if another line needs to be run to that area, I'm sure it wouldn't be a big to-do. It's not like the park would need to tear up a road to lay lines underneath it (Maverick).