John Peck

I'm not yet ready to believe that this spells doom and gloom. First off, the company has been very open about this removal. Second, this ride has had troubles recently, so there could be some bad PR with the ride. The area where Invertigo sits is not that far off from the projected path of the GCI. Once the park opens for the season, take a look at any new infrastructure improvements. If they keep spending money fixing up the park, there is a good chance they will keep it running.

Not to change the subject, and I'm not bashing, but it feels kinda good that this is heading to China with a "Made In USA" Sticker on it for once.

I'm not thinking like an enthusiast... 99% of the GP don't even know what a B&M is.

^ No, I think you missed my point. I feel a B&M is too much for the park 'right now', I am all for him building the park up and adding whatever he would like, but right now, he just needs to get the place open and making money.

Ed said in one of his videos that the replacement coaster for Chang would be a smaller footprint—not sure if that's the B&M he's referring to or not. Frankly, I think a B&M is too much coaster for that park. A Eurofighter or a spinning coaster would be a much better investment—at least until the park has been reopened for a couple of years. But more power to him.

Thank you so much for this coverage, Robb! It's greatly appreciated.

Yes, they already have a Chance Sea Dragon (recently repainted) sitting in the lake. A new addition would be best served in the waterpark at this time, in my opinion.

Gaps are nothing new. Magnum had a 1-foot gap when it was built. Designs on paper never really match the construction.

This takes me back to when they were building Stealth at Great America. No Layout, no real artwork... we just watched it go up piece by piece.

Great Additions all around! How are these Zac Spins on capacity? Do they have a lot of cars?

Are they supposed to relocate the Scrambler next year, or is it out for good?

Miracle Strip at Pier Park opened in Panama City last March with four rides and a Pavilion. Now, they are are trying to bring the Starliner Home. You can vote to bring it back here: http://www.refresheverything.com/StarlinerBackHome

Unfortunately, none of the other rides will be running.

Star Flyers can operate in 40mph winds and they offer a different seat-hanging arrangement that can operate in even higher winds. Funtime posted that in their defense when everybody thought that the Mondials were built for more windy areas. In the end, the mondials will hold 64 people, and that's really what Cedar Fair wanted. So since this is being built near the Eagle, does that mean it is going to replace the Yo-Yo?

I'm still wondering what will happen. There may be a possibility they will reroute the road that cuts through the park as it will be cheaper to do that then to move all those rides... plus, it would be a waste of an existing infrastructure. I don't see what the problem is with that bridge.

It kind of depends on which way the park want's to head. Their 3 'competitors' have well-known wood coasters and Kings Island is the only one to have major steel rides. So, do they try to go after the wood market again or do they put in a steel one? 8 Million really won't buy you a large steel coaster nowadays, and I like the Eurofighter Idea or something like those Tony Hawk Big Spin coasters could be a contender. Could they expand the old Road Runner Pad and put in a Steel Hawg type-ride? I seriously doubt that a new coaster could open there by next season. I wouldn't expect much more than the waterpark and a few kids rides to be open by then with a few coasters reopening later in the year. This is a huge project, and I'm still unclear what will happen to the original entrance side, though it sounds like it will reopen eventually... there are so many different ideas up in the air. I can only wish the best for this little park and the people who care about it.

I can't believe how fast that Matterhorn is going! Those cars are nearly upside-down!

I wonder if $8 Million Fetches a Boomerang nowadays. Since the Skycoaster is gone and Roadrunner is leaving, that leaves the vacant space of what used to be a Boomerang's home... I hope not since Greased Lightning is a much better shuttle. Ed Hart loves Vekoma rides... at least he did in the 90's, he also loves Zamperla as the whole kiddieland was made up of them.

I was at GL's Wildwater Kingdom on Sunday, and there were signs posted to "Buy Your 2011 Pass". When the ride side was still open those last few weeks in 2007, there was no announcement at all. I'm still not convinced they bought the park to close it. They put too much money into the park (besides the waterpark) to throw in the towel that soon. I believe if they never bought the Paramount Parks, They would have gotten GL to work.

Is it me, or do the seat belts look incredibly long? I can't even ride Dragster or Millennium Force anymore

Zoombezi Bay Waterpark (At the Columbus Zoo) eliminated the break with a "changing of the guards", so now there are no more rest periods

Where the Star Flyer (with chains) looks to be a super-scary ride, I feel that the main reason for going with the Wind Seeker and its steel beams is just that... the high winds up there. That Star Flyer would be grounded half the time. Or maybe they just got a better deal. I'm really looking forward to this, though I hope Ocean Motion stays somehow and doesn't get sold.

When you think about it, Paramount really threw a lot of money into some major failures... Hypersonic, Son of Beast, Tomb Raider (Kings Islands Giant Top Spin) and spending all that money on Stealth to have it moved a few years later. Of course, you can say the same thing about Six Flags on not only their rides, but many infrastructure expenses. With Cedar Fair, not so much as they purchased most of their rides as second and third generation (less kinks) and their problematic rides (Dragster and Xcellerator) are still operating and are somewhat reliable.

With Son of Beast being down (and some older rides being retired), it occurred to me that the park must be really saving a ton of money by keeping it idle this year. So even though the price various from ride to ride and location to location, does anyone have an example of how much annually parks put into a ride when you figure labor, insurance, utilities and all the repair work to keep our favorite rides running?

They got the station and station track painted before it opened. If they're on daily operations, I doubt you'll see any new paint until fall/spring.