cathyJ

KD back in the early 80s was looking at building a very large wooden coaster on the same level as King Island's The Beast. Richmond's WWBT channel 12 did a report on it back then ( back when we had Richmond TV on our local cable cable..today its DC, Winchester and Baltimore ). I remember being very excited about hearing that. Maybe it was due to maintenance cost as to why it was never built or perhaps it was the fact that from 1980 until 1982 Virginia was in a very bad recession but eitherway KD DID go on to build a wooden coaster though the plans was downsized....The Grizzly.

I think its a safe bet to say most of you are too young to remember when cigarettes and cigars such as Marlboro, Camel, Newport and Black & Mild were allowed to advertise on TV but there was an ad for Winston Cigarettes back in the early 60s that was shot at NYC's Coney Island where this man and woman light up their Winstons and then thry boarded the Cyclone ( then again it could have been the Thunderbolt or the Tornado ) and they continued to puff away..while they rode that coaster !!!! Every once in awhile this ad pops up on you tube.

A lot of this may very well have since changed but back in the 70s and early 80s I had family who worked for KD. from what I was told, the land behind where the Rebel Yell is, that is pretty close to the end of the land ( in the southern part of the park ) that KD owns. As I remember I believe there was some factory located not too far south of KD perhaps that plant owned that land however it has been many years since I have been to KD so I am not sure if that factory is even still there. West of the park I am pretty sure KD owns the land all the way to I-95. But still I doubt KD could extend their park to "touch" I-95 since I am pretty sure the state of Virginia ( VDOT ) required some kind of buffer ( such as tress ) between the park and I-95. I am sure this is to protect the drivers on 95 The east of the park...I really don't know. The front of the park on the other side of the road....last time I was at KD..a truck stop/motel ( not talking about Kings Quarters ), a 7-11 store and one or two fast food places was in that location. I have heard that KD actually owns that land as well or partially owns it Again here, I am not totally sure if that is still the case. I know back in 1986 a group of us went to KD and our car broke down at the 7-11 that was( might still be ) in front of KD. I remember the guy who came over to fix our car telling us that KD owns the land where that 7-11 was sitting on and pretty much everything else on that side of the road..all the way to I-95. Whether or not how much this is true..I don't know.

Orlando maybe but Las Vegas? I highly doubt it. Had HRP been built there instead of Mrytle Beach, they would have had the same problems if not worse. Just the other day i was watching a TV news report that not only said that Vegas has among the highest forclosuer rates in the nationbut that for the first time in many many years..the casinos are laying people off and with that many folks are finding themselves out on the street. Even though many people are still moving there rather than being a part of "exciting Las Vegas"..its more like "..the exciting Salvation Army".

I had said this before but had this park been built in another city all together such as the Raleigh-Cary-Durham metro area would that have made a difference? Raleigh is a fast growing area and it seems whenever magazines like Forbes does those lists of cities that are "recession proof", Raleigh is always mentioned. Plus that city has a very large international airport that offers coast to coast non-stop flights, unlike Myrtle Beach. ..and Raleigh doesn't have any park at all.

Back in the 80's, The Washington County/Hagerstown, Maryland Home Builders Association had a carnival at the now defunct Hagerstown Fairgounds ( FWIT...Hagerstown is only about an hour-hour and a half from Hersheypark ). What makes this interesting was that the carnival was held in JANUARY and there was still some snow on the ground left over from a storm that had hit the area just a week before. The temps were in the upper 30s/low 40s but oddly those fast rides like the Scambler, Roll-O-Plane, Tilt-A-Whirl, Round-Up, Octopus and the rides like them..even the Ferris Wheel didn't have a problem finding adults to ride them. meanwhile the kiddie rides weren't so lucky...the parents wouldn't allow their kids to ride them as they felt there could be a chance they could catch cold but they could care less if their teenagers would ride the scambler with an air temp of 40. Go figure !!!

Even though I have found a full time job recently one thing I have noticed about interviews/job hunting nowadays...employers really want to get personal. The last interview I had, I was asked why kind a bars do I go to and what kind of beer do I drink. I was asked what kind of websites do I visit , if I am on My Space, even if I smoked !!!! I dont get it !!! I do know that many employers now wont give references other than the fact that you worked there. My last one didn't. So I guess future employers are resorting to "other things" to find out more info about you.

Ya'll know good and well if they came out with a coaster called the Holy Roller, you would beating down the gates to get in! "Move, I need this credit!" Doesn't sound exciting to me. They should make it a museum and call it a day. Disney it won't be. I did have a good idea for a Christian Horror Dark ride with goes into a Gay Bar playing La Bouche. Oh the Horror! Then it goes into a catholic church and you catch a glimpse of a priest snatching an altar boy into the confessional! Hey let's make it a Sally ride so we can have a shooting gallery where you point crosses at targets. "Oh no, save the guy trying to serve us the koolaid! Save the teens trying to have sex!" Terry You could call that dark ride "Exodus" as in that group who tries to turn gay men/women into straights even though in reality they do not have a very good track record in doing that and they way they recruit is very questionable.

Bingo CTU Agent! Well said my friend. I can understand some of the feelings being mentioned here, but there are plenty of other Biblically based churches that don't practice a stereotypical type of Christianity. Honestly, I don't get the feeling this park will be anything like anyone's preconceived notions of church. Ok...enough devil's advocating from me. Actually we can thank the media for all of this. Look at Fred & Shirley Phelps..the media loves those people when they do their pickets and often calls Fred Phelps a "Baptist preacher". Or that woman from Virginia who won tickets to the Indy 500 from an auto parts stores ( Autozone ??? ) only to tear up her tickets and claim to the press that going to Indianapolis would go against her faith since "it is very well known that Indianapolis supports the gay BEAR lifestyle and everyone in that city will go to hell...." what some people don't do to get on TV !!!!! UGH !!!!

I agree with you besides not all religons approve of each other either. For example there are many Southern Baptist who don't approve of Mormons so chances are if such a park does get built, some group is bound to be excluded.

From the looks at the pics at least this Frederick County Fair ( Maryland ) is a lot bigger and better than the other Frederick County Fair 40 or so miles away in Virginia. In Virginia's case the rides are exactly the same as the ones used during Winchester, VA's Apple Blossom Festival and the two county fairs in nearby West Virginia ( Berkeley & Jefferson ). In those three cases..well it isn't much !!!

[quote name="printersdevil78 Of course' date=' if that doesn't happen, I suspect HRP will become a short-lived wonder like The World of Sid and Marty Krofft in Atlanta, Six Flags Power Plant in Baltimore or Blue Diamond in Delaware, only on a much larger and more public scale. [/quote] I could be wrong but I don't believe the Six Flags Power Plant in Baltimore had any rides. I was there in December 1986 when a group of us went to see Bon Jovi at the Baltimore Arena, I never got that whole concept as to what Six Flags was thinking when they created this...power plant ???? Atlanta's The World of Sid & Marty Kroft, I remember reading a book years ago by the late Bob Denver ( Gilligan ) and he talks about one ride they had that was a huge pinball machine that you actually ride. I have never seen a pic of this. Someone once told me that at the time of this place, Sid & Marty Kroft was involved in a very nasty lawsuit with McDonalds over the use of a character from their Puffnstuff show, McDonalds believed the Krofts stole that idea from their Mayor McCheese character. Anyway due to that lawsuit the Krofts didn't allow cameras inside their theme park so as a result very few pics of thie rpark exist today. Not sure if that fact or an urban legend though.

Very, very true. And really pretty sad. Even when KD had someone die on Shockwave years ago there wasn't that much bad press, and that was a part of a particularly bad summer where it seemed someone was hurt or killed on a ride every week and the media was freaking out constantly about it if I remember correctly... I wonder if the Richmond stations have some sort of "deal" to downplay anything negative about Kings Dominion? That could be possible, years ago I heard a stroy about some radio disc jockey in Pittsburgh who was fired because he said on the air that "Kennywood Sucks". In Denver, Lakeside, Waterword and even Elitches it seems always get good press. According to some of my friends who live in Colorado, when Elitches was having "troubles" a lot of that wasn't reported by the Denver TV stations. On a similar note is that new football stadium in Indianapolis. Just the other day I was reading on another site where the Indy TV stations are downplaying the current economy woes becuase they dont want the local folks there to get the idea that their new football stadium for the Colts is a "waste of money". I would imagine Indianapolis got that idea from Baltimore...at the same time Camden Yards was built ( with Baltimore money ) that city was laying off teachers, firefighters and the police because Baltimore claimed they didnt have the money to pay them but they had the money for the Orioles new home. Baltimore got a very bad black eye over that.

I remember this !!! Dont you just love stereotypes In today's world it is getting harder and harder to tell exactly how old one is. I myself have seen kids as young as 6 and 7 who could pass off as being 10 or 11. Heck just the other day I was reading in one of the Denver papers and they showed a pic of a 16 year old kid who was the quarterback at one of the local high schools there. This kid not only had a full beard but sported several large real tattoos up and down his arms. So much for beards and tattoos being for "adults only".

RE: Six Flags America... One thing they don't have in their favor is the local press. Frankly I am surprised nobody else pick this up? For some reason the TV stations in Baltimore and DC really do not like this park. If the slightest thing goes wrong..BREAKING NEWS !! A great example of this is when Two face was stuck. DC's WRC-TV NBC4 had one of their choppers live on the scene. OK nothing wrong with that since that was news, but did the anchor on WRC really had to make that comment "..oh my this is very bad, people could be killed if a loose screw pops off !!. Then not long after that there was a shooting in some apartment complex not far from SFA that left a young child dead but the way some of those Baltimore and DC stations made it sound that shooting took place IN SFA !!! dittos with radio too. Just last year I heard a woman on DC's Mix 107.3 make the claim on the air that Six Flags America was "trash" and she wouldn't allow her kids to visit the place. I have a hunch you wont hear any of the Pittsburgh stations say anything close to that with Kennywood, Harrisburg with Hersheypark or even Richmond with Kings Dominion.

The funny thing is if and when HRP closes for good a lot of people will put the blame on rock music ( and put in the "good morals" and "America has turned conservative " factors ) as to why HRP closed nevermind the economy and other issues which could doom a park. Exact same thing with Opryland. When that park closed to make way for Opry Mills Mall ( or whatever its called ) a lot of people ( mainly those folks way outside of Nashville ) put the blame on the fading country music scene of the late 90's as to why Opryland closed. At the time that park closed those pop music boy bands were popular, many radio stations were dumping country in favor of something else, and even Garth Brooks who had left his wife for Trisha Yearwood ( at the time a big country music scandal ). So there you go...Garth Brooks is to be blamed for the closing of Opryland !!! Its soooooo funny at how many people would actually believe that.

Over the years I have heard that Huntington, West Virginia's Camden Park is in "trouble over money woes" and may be gone soon. So far that hasn't happened even though I do remember hearing on the radio ( West Virginia Metronews network ) several years back that the park tore down their Thunderbolt Express coaster because the park simply didn't have the funds to fix it. What are the odds this park may be history say within the next five years? Then there is DelGrosso's Amusement Park in Pennsylvania. A few years back they bought the Revolution corkscrew coaster from the defunct Libertyland in Memphis. As of yet that coaster never was built at DelGrosso's and according to RCDB, that site shows pics of the coaster lying around in pieces from 2006. Anyone know the reason why this coaster hasn't been built yet? Like Camden Park, I have heard "rumors" that this park in having money issues as well. However according to some of my firends who live in Altoona, PA they tell me the park is doing quite well however they don't know what the park never did build that coaster they got from Libertyland. Hopefully this isn't a sign of "trouble". Are there any parks out there you think will be defunct within the next ten years? Or will Astroland be the last of parks we will hear going defunct for awhile?

I dont know if someone was decapitated on KD's Galaxi but a young guy was sadly killed on the ride in 1984 ( maybe 1985 but I am pretty sure it was 84 ) when he stood up and got hit in the head. Now in Roanoke ( Salem ) at the old and now defunct Lakeside Park, a worker was indeed decapitated in 1986 while working on the Shooting Star wooden coaster and the incident ( and those bad floods from the prvious winter ) ended up killing that park. Back to KD & the Galaxy..I know there were rumors back then of someone having one of those super-8 movie cameras who had filmed the acident but whether or not that is true I don't know since I heard that KD seconds after the acident demanded they take all the cameras from those who were near by the Galaxi when the accident took place. I do know that KD wouldn't let any of the Richmond TV stations int he park or even on park property to do news reports about it. One local station ( Richmond's channel 8 ) actually had to go out and rent a chopper in order for them to get that shot of the Galaxy. Those actions by KD I believe did nothing but fuel those rumors.

I wonder if the state pf Pennsylvania is the reason why the coasters don't run during Christmas? Sounds odd but my husband remembers hearing from someplace where that state has restrictions on when and which park rides can be open during the off season for safety reasons. I know Pennsylvania is quite strict on saftey standards for rides and such but telling a park which rides they can/can't run say during Christmas..I never heard THAT before.

Not so much with Hersheypark but then again considering how warm the past winters in the mid-atlantic have been the last several years, I am somewhat surprised the theme parks in that region ( including Hersheypark ) haven't extended their seasons? Of course staffing could be an issue though. When was the last time it snowed in Richmond or Williamsburg, VA or even Charlotte, NC? Usually when it does it happens in January. The rest of the so-called winter months its quite common to see a temp of 70, why not open Carowinds, KD, BGE or even Hersheypark? other than staffing, shouldnt be a problem but then again with the way the economy is in those regions..even that shouldn't be a problem.

Heck..around my neck of the woods...radio stations being staffed for only 4 hours a day would be about right !!! After 10am during the week...its totally automated Last year we had a local radio station that actually went staffed around the clock. Taking requests from listeners, doing the weather twice an hour..around the clock. They did pretty well, that is until a bunch other radio stations in the area sued them in court claiming they had an "unfair advantage" by being staffed around the clock.Becuase of the lawsuit, that station went back to being automated again. Even the judge in the case said "..and you guys wonder why people are listening to Ipods and satellite ???"

I stopped listening to regular radio years ago when many stations stopped being local and went automated. Around my neck of the woods..no weather on the weekends...no traffic reports...nothing....just music and commericals of course. A few of our local stations don't even do school reports I always get a kick when I hear from people "..oh no..not around here..our radio stations still have DJs !!". Well that may be true during the morning hours but call up your local station at night, late night or on the weekends...chances are nobody will answer the phone because...nobody is there !!! When I was in Denver last year I must have heard "Hollywood Henderson" on at least 5 different stations...same guy...same name!!! I overheard an older woman say "..poor young man...how does he do it? He is playing the oldies and yet my husband is hearing him on the country station...he must run between rooms every few minutes !!" THAT is funny !! LOL

Great pics !!!! Not sure exactly how true this is but I believe Indianapolis a few years back was in the running to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention and were planning on using the new Colts stadium as the site of that convention. Of course Denver ended up getting it. Not sure why Indy lost out unless it could be the lack of suburbs needed to help pay for convention security ( like what is being done in Denver ) since Indy annexed a bunch of their suberbs over the years into their city. had they not Indianapolis would be a far smaller city than it is today. Then there is the "Focus on the Family" story. The Colorado-based religious group who was rumored to pressue the democrats on having their convention in Denver. That I don't believe at all !! Focus on the Family is and has always favored the republicans and I have heard the group isn't exactly fond of Denver. The same group for that matter isn't a fan of Indianapolis either. There is a reason as to why they don't like Denver and Indianapolis but because of the nature of that reason its best not to mention it on this site. Lets just say it has to do with those two cities politics and "morals" they feel lack of.

This park closed way back in the 70's..why is it still there? Hey I am all for history but why keep a roller coaster standing ( even if the coaster is in the woods ) that hasn't been in use since 1974 or whenever it stopped running? The wood on that thing has to be totally rotted out by now..that is a safety issue in itself. There is a higher chance of everyone on this board hitting a big lottery jackpot than to see this coaster running again much less the ferris wheel in the trees or even the park itself re-opening as an amusement park. Whats keeping them from tearing all of this down?