HappyEisentrout

^I forgot about TB, but the dining room always closed early. When I worked on Dragster we would all go and order in the drive thru and eat on the curb there. Buffalo Wild Wings is just over rated and kinda far down 250. And yeah the Sports City closed and Goofy Golf is there, behind a bunch of buildings. There is so much land that could be used on Cleveland Ave that could be utilized for making money. And no matter how touristy the area gets, nothing will take away from that sight when you turn onto the causeway and see the park out over the bay. So the park will always have that middle of no where feel. This town just needs more money flowing, which could happen. Don't get me started on how much downtown needs a face lift and what it could become with some tlc.

^Yeah it's an L.A. thing. It just makes me wonder how well it will work in Northern Ohio. I'm not sure what Knott's charges for a dog but that will be a major thing here. A simple combo meal at the Chic-Fil-A in the park will run you close to $10, which is way too much. Plus the Pink's location is not really in the best of locations. In fact I think that it will be covering up the major employee entrance to the park. What I'd really like to see happen here, is not in the park but in town instead. Sandusky has such a capability to be a tourist hotspot. I mean, hell, they gets crazy amounts of people everyday in town. Why can't Cleveland Ave have some mini golf courses, go karts, motion simulators, anything. Instead it has an abandoned old McDonalds that got a sheet metal facade, a closed strip of restaurants, a dollar general, a parking lot that's never used, and a closed hotel or two. Sandusky could become a Wisconsin Dells or Pigeon Forge. The city doesn't need any more indoor water parks, Kalihari has a hold on that in the area, but there is such a need for other things. Another MAJOR problem is that EVERYTHING (besides Diana's and Steak and Shake) close at 9-10pm. When the park closes at 10, you have tons of guests that may want to get some food before heading out of town but mainly, you have all the employees who want some food and can't get any because every place in town is closed. Places need to stay open later or there need to be more 24 hour joints. Ok, I'm done ranting. I've never had a pink dog but if it's tasty, then there goes a bunch of money out of my wallet.

I love Kennywood. So many possible pictures. The park is so classic and it's the only park I make sure I visit every year.

^ Yeah same thing for me. I managed to get Expedition 9 and 10 to download just fine. But I am having the same issues as everyone else on 13 and 14. 179 bytes. I've reached my max downloads on 14 but not on 13. I figured it was just an overload on the servers. Especially for the new Expeditions and new Raws. Hopefully they get it straightened out.

^ That's just the classy stylings of Cedar Fair. They can pay for the billboards to be changed and the Mini Cooper emblems to be taken off, but no way on a piece of plastic. They managed to take EVERYTHING Six Flags out of Geauga Lake in just 28 days. It only took them 3 more years to get everything else out as well.

The last time I was at King's Island, in 2009, I looked at the unload panel for Backlot Stunt Coaster and it still had the original bezel on it that said Italian Job Stunt Coaster. Not sure if they changed it or not yet.

I care more about the station still standing and looking as good as ever. I just hope that it remains and actually gets a use with the new coaster.

I wonder if this will be "franchise" location similar to how you can get Nathan's Hot Dogs at some service plazas on the Ohio Turnpike but they are just their branded dogs on a hot dog cart. The difference between one of those dogs or a pack of Nathan's you buy at the store vs getting an actual dog at Coney Island, is night and day. I hope that they cook these dogs to the same style that they do in LA. I think it would be cool if they had like statues of celebs in line or something, or put up the framed pictures of celebs on the wall. I'd still prefer Nathan's though.

At Cedar Point, the Convention Center back behind Joe Cool Cafe has a smaller shell of a room within the old original room. The room was added I believe so that they could add air conditioning and sprinkler system without having to do too much work to the original building. Here is the Convention Center. This is upstairs. This is outside the room and looking above it. You can see the old rafters. Here is Zingoman in the old space. There is quite a bit of room in the side areas. To the left is outside while the wood to the right is the wall of the inner room.

Great Pictures. So peaceful at a deserted park.

I'm never happy to see a Chaos go. These things were everywhere and then the MiA incident and no one seems to want them anymore. I'm not much of a fan of flat rides, even ask ^Greg^, but I'll never turn down a ride on a Chaos. It's sad to see it go and I was upset when I saw it gone when I just took pictures of the park.

Yeah I was just looking at that support. I love the section where the supports stick off and look kinda like bamboo or branches. Excellent job by Blackstone.

Is it sad that I'm hoping for a big snow so that I can head back over there and snowier photos?

Interesting observation. Metals do shrink in cold and the ground also shifts in the winter...fairly considerably too. I'm guessing you were right and that is the cause. There is always a gap there due to that section being able to transfer trains to and from storage, but it doesn't ever seem to be that large in the summer, as you can see from this picture. It also works the other way too. If it is a very hot day, and you need to transfer a train on/off, the track can get stuck because of expansion. I spent an hour at the transfer panel while maintenance sprayed the transfer track with a hose to cool it enough to where we could transfer a train off to be worked on. It's crazy how much the metal changes.

The Mean Streak gets a lot of bad rep. I like it. Sure it's rough and the pacing way off, especially after the MCBR. But it's a gorgeous looking ride, especially at night. But I ride it more than most coasters at the park. I'd rather ride something common a bunch then wait a ton in lines. There are other rides that are much worse than MS. I don't see CP tearing it down anytime soon either, sure it's on a large plot of land, but it still gets a fair amount of ridership compared to its maintenance costs.

It's currently 23 degrees here and was when I took these earlier today. There is no wind though, so it's not too bad.

There is just something eerie and beautiful about a closed park, either for the season or for good. I've got pictures of Chippewa Lake Park before they started tearing stuff down and it was beautiful. But nothing is better than the winter covered parks.

Headed into the park today and brought my camera. There is just something about a park in the winter. Yep, it's winter. Matterhorn Iron Dragon over a wintery lagoon Power Tower is hibernating Adding some pavers by Dragster Dragster's gold train shell just chilling out in the photo booth All wrapped up Super Himalaya just hanging out in pieces Dragster's launch section Witches Wheel Monster Poor Frog Hopper Someone was doing work on Gemini's track Don't worry Kyle, it's still there. Wave Swingers look crazy in winter These little guys were everywhere I've always liked this sign, it looks much better in the winter Snow pond Classic Millennium Force shot Snow Splash Starlight Experience is a little tangled Shoot the Rapids Another Snow Splash These guys loved Mantis I think they too fat during the summer and can't head south for the winter Millennium Force car Winter Coaster Porn Part of the red train just hanging out Something is missing Not much going on here, still very flat Yep, it's gone Winter Twister Now this just looks goofy I think Disaster Transport wants to be Avalanche Run again MaXair is sleeping Ice Cream Cow is hibernating or dead Nothing going on here But the ship is nearby, ready for its move Horses Only one way to get beads... Blue Streak is looking nice under snow One final one

^If the temperature and wind is just right, the fog from CornStalkers will fill the Maverick area up. But my favorite night rides are: Magnum - I always get a few rides in while the fireworks are going on July 4th. There is never a line and it's always a great view. Shivering Timbers - There are no lights except for the lift and the turnaround, the rest is way dark. The Beast - This is a great ride ONLY at night. During the day it's alright, but at night after it's warmed up and especially if you are not familiar with the layout, it is amazing. My first night ride was at Fall Freak Out in 2004. It was on my 18th birthday and my mom got me an ACE membership and that event as a present. Night ERT on The Beast, 12am-1:30am, October, snowing. That was so cold. Fly the Great Nor'Easter was cool at night, with all the strobes and what nots. The whole pier was cool at night.

I remember No Coaster Con in 2005? when Jeff announced Italian Job. He had told us that the trains were going to drift around corners and then there were actuators in the seats that would rumble down the stairs section. When we ended up going to the park to ride it we ran into Jeff again, and he told us that the features weren't ready yet but they had planned getting them to work by years end. My theory is that Paramount loved the idea of the drifting/rumble but Cedar Fair did not and after the buyout, they removed those features all together.

Yeah at some parks you buy the actual photo and then there is an additional option to add a digital version. It's usually a few bucks more and a URL and code print out on your receipt and you have 30 days to access and download it. One of my receipts from Hersheypark

Now I'm gonna have to travel to the Lone Star State and go coaster touring with the old Zingoman.

Totally a fan of the digital download versions of on ride photos. There I am in the back. Zingoman is just in front of me.

They should re-track the ride and do a nice refurb on the trains. If GCI or Gravity Group can't do the trains, I'm sure PTC is dying for some work about now.

I always feel really bad for the guests when it starts raining, because all the coasters do shut down. I can say though that in the 5 years I worked there, We only ever closed the park early twice, A power outage and when Tropical Storm Ike hit us.