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BigDipper 80

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  • Birthday June 9

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  1. They only make the track in Cincinnati. Everything else is sourced from Europe from what I remember working on Mantis.
  2. The only thing I'm not thrilled about is that the back half of the park is going to be nearly devoid of flat rides now. There are zero traditional flat rides between the skyride and Spider, save for Super Himalaya, and there is even less if you take the left fork and head up Frontier Trail. Don't get me wrong, I really like this new area and it's going to really jazz up an otherwise terrible part of the park, but they REALLY need to add more attractions toward the back.
  3. I really doubt Adventure Express is going anywhere any time soon. They just painted it and got all the effects working. My dream would be to make that corner of the park an adventure themed mini-land like Jungle X-Pedition and to plop down a freespin or some other flat ride in the Slingshot spot. Add in a margarita bar or something and you can make it a budget version of Lost River Delta at DisneySea!
  4. Went to the park for the first time of the season last Friday and all I can say is... wow. KI has done a lot to improve the atmosphere of the park over the last couple of years, but they've really pulled out all the stops this season shining everything up for the 50th. The Beast retracking has moved it back into my #2 slot at the park (just barely behind Mystic Timbers) and I suspect people will be really impressed with how well it's running now. You can still feel the trims (especially in the shed) but it still feels way faster than ever before, so I really don't mind too much. Racer looks gorgeous in its new paint job, and the GP has clearly responded well to the retracking, since it consistently has a wait now, when it used to almost always be a walk-on. And all of the effects are working on Adventure Express, along with a new lighting package and a repainted track! I also noticed new BGM throughout the park, with an attempt to have appropriate music for each themed area instead of just playing generic pop in each section of the park. I really appreciate all the little details like this that they're focusing on and it seems to be paying off for them. Hopefully they keep making little tweaks and improvements like this to really make KI stand out from other seasonal parks.
  5. Darien Lake still has theirs, and Geneva-on-the-Lake, a small resort town in Ohio, has one as well.
  6. Going all the way into the city and back out again would be a huge waste of time, IMO, unless you're looking to kill some time exploring downtown (which there is actually a bunch of cool stuff to see). If one is dead-set on avoiding all tolls, you can OH-237 NB right from the airport to McKinley Avenue and pick up I-90 from there. But I personally think this is silly since tolls are just 50 cents if you just follow Bill's route and switch over to OH-2 in Elyria.
  7. This thread hasn't had any new listings in a while, but I thought since park season is in full swing I figured I'd give it a bump. I've previously listed a couple of spots near Kings Island, but a relative newcomer to the area is Two Cities Pizza, which is probably my favorite pizza spot in southwestern Ohio. As the name suggests, they've got both Chicago and NY style pizzas on the menu, and both are delicious, if not truly "authentic". They're at 202 W. Main Street, Mason OH, about 10 minutes from the park. Oh, and make sure you check out the bathrooms! The famous bathroom is inside of a subway train!
  8. One final random Ohio thing that anyone who's been on TPR for long enough probably remembers: THE SANTA CLAW!!! Although it's no longer an online thing, you can still play it in person at the Proto BuildBar in downtown Dayton, which also has a bunch of 3D printers and other cool things to play with.
  9. We are going in the opposite order. Flying into Cleveland and staying at Hotel Breakers. Full day at CP then next day sightseeing and drive down to a hotel near KI. Full day there then leave out from Cincinnati the next day. I'm just getting the 3hr drive out the way once! What sightseeing is there? Serious question, never been but am thinking of doing a weekend sometime Columbus is definitely worth a stop if you're into checking out cities. The Short North is very vibrant with miles of shops and restaurants all the way from downtown up to OSU's campus, and German Village is really cool if you're into historical neighborhoods. If you're into airplanes, taking a detour over to the Air Force Museum in Dayton is 150% worth it, since it's probably the only place in the world where you can see things like the B-2, SR-71, F-22 and F-117 all in the same building, plus they have a large collection of old Air Force One planes that you can actually go inside and check out, which is really cool. Or take a detour into Cincinnati for the day before heading back up to Kings Island and check out the observation deck downtown or the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Ohio does have a ton of really cool stuff, but practically none of it is accessible on the drive between CP and KI. German Village, Columbus 1/4 of the Air Force Museum Cincinnati
  10. If you're planning on hitting up Cincinnati, I would recommend heading down to the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, which is the main "hipstery" Brooklyn-esque neighborhood in the city. Lots of cool old historic buildings if you're into that sort of thing, and an unbelievable number of food and beer options. I tell everyone to go to Rhinegeist Brewery, they have good beer and an awesome rooftop deck. Other good bars include Sundry and Vice, Low Spark, Queen City Radio, and Japps. 16-Bit is the barcade in Cincinnati. There's also a streetcar that goes between Over-the-Rhine and downtown; it's $2 for an all-day pass. You can go to the Carew Tower, which has an observation deck and the Cincinnati riverfront is incredibly nice. You can walk across the suspension bridge into Covington Kentucky too. Also over the river in Kentucky is Party Source, which is the country's largest liquor store if you're into that. Food-wise, my favorite restaurants in OTR and downtown are The Eagle (fried chicken), Nation Kitchen and Bar (burgers), Senate (fancy hot dogs), Harvest Pizzeria, and Eli's BBQ. Moerlein Lager House is also a great option if you want to eat near the waterfront. There's plenty more options that I won't link depending on your price range, from Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse to Nada (modern Mexican food) to the Court Street Lobster Bar. If you want to actually stay in the city itself, 21c Museum Hotel and Hilton Netherland Plaza are the nicest by far. But since it sounds like this is mostly a Kings Island trip, you might want to stay closer to the park. I'd look around the Blue Ash area, which is about 15 miles from downtown Cincinnati and 7 or so miles from KI. Feel free to ask more questions if you want other suggestions! Over The Rhine Rhinegeist Brewery
  11. Damn, that's pretty cool. How long does that take? Probably only 20 minutes, it's not far from downtown to the park when you cut across the bay. And if you're traveling solo or with just one other person, it's cheaper than parking at the park! They have free parking at the pier. Since you're from NYC and not totally uncomfortable with... alternative modes of transit, you could theoretically take the Red Line (Cleveland's subway) to downtown Cleveland and either catch the Amtrak or Greyhound to Sandusky. Probably more hassle than it's worth, but it might be cheaper than a cab if you're looking to pinch pennies. But yeah... I have a feeling it might just end up being cheaper to rent a car than to deal with a taxi service.
  12. Don't forget, if you find a reliable way to get to downtown Sandusky, you can always take the Jet Express ferry across the bay to the park for I think $10 round-trip.
  13. ^To elaborate a bit more, if you don't hit interval on Magnum, the ride "sets up"; i.e. The train hard-stops on the brake run after the tunnel. That's not considered "normal operation" by the manufacturer so as an emergency safety measure it essentially shuts off the ride so that you can't dispatch a train and have it crash into the train on that block brake. It was considered an "operational" by the front office so the ride ops have to call it in every time it happens because the ride has effectively "gone down". It's a weird quirk of how Arrow designed their coasters- Iron Dragon does it too. Problem was, in the old days (pre 2012 I think), you had to physically run over to that brake run and push a button to start the ride back up and then get back to the platform in time to do your duties so you wouldn't set the ride up again! I think when they redid the control booth around 2013 they added a button so you don't have to run over there any more.
  14. ^Cleveland's is next weekend I think, but Columbus' was this weekend, which draws people from every corner of the state.
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