pyrocoasterkid

Matt Ouimet was quoted as saying during the GateKeeper press day something along the lines of "we have given B&M another job." However, in another interview that day he was also quoted as saying something like "we do not have another Wing Coaster on the drawing boards." So take from that what you will.... Personally, I'd like to see an Intamin, to mix it up a bit. The Mega-Lites all look like great coasters. As are Maverick and I305 and some of the more recent Intamins'. I'd rather not KI just get a larger Diamondback, and I think Intamin can provide something totally different. But that's just my hope, and only time will tell.

A new patent was filed on April 24th by Cedar Fair. Maybe I was on to something earlier this week! www.trademarkia.com/banshee-85913369.html

An article on Yahoo's main page today. A bit similar to what was posted 2 pages back, but this takes a look at other prices. I think Motel 6 may end up being the one offended by this comparison. "What?? We're almost as bad as Carnival???" gma.yahoo.com/carnival-cheaper-motel-6-not-exactly-195349269--abc-news-topstories.html

Presumably, the relocation of the webcams mentioned by Tony a couple of weeks ago: www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/online-fun/I-Need-Your-Help But it's probably also not coincidence it happened right around when testing is expected. Supposedly, this happened with Maverick too.

Along the lines of an unnecessary lift hill... I always felt like Iron Dragon at CP didn't need the second lift hill. It seems to really slam into the brakes just before the second lift. I feel like the speed of the train could have cleared a hill of similar size. At worst, it could have been designed slightly lower and the speed would have been maintained into the finale. Granted, it has been quite a few years since I have bothered with ID and maybe my perception of the speed, and speed needed, is off. It just seems to kill the pace and excitement of an already fairly tame ride. On the other end of the spectrum, I feel like Flight Deck at KI could have easily added quite a bit of track to the design. It heads into the brake run pretty fast. Now if this was KI's decision or Arrow's (to design it at only 2300' or so), who knows. It just seems a bit short. I do find it interesting that both examples that I can think of, that are along the lines of what have been discussed so far, are Arrow rides.

IE: Great American Screamin' machine's turn into the MCBR I'm not sure, Vortex at KI may take the cake for the most "coat-hangerish" design I can think of from Arrow. Granted, my knowledge is pretty limited. But these three especially come to mind: Exiting the first turn around Heading into the loops, the turn to straight gives you quite a neck slam After the MCBR, into the corkscrews. Also, the mega-tight turn into the MCBR is quite ridiculous.

I presumed the news was blowing it out of proportion as usual, and even they made it seem pretty minimal. Heck, I'm sure you've been through worse, but I don't have/follow Twitter to see the live updates. If the coasters were still standing, I'd expect nothing less than you all to be riding

Looks like you all had to ride out a bit of an earthquake down there? www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/26/earthquake-mexico-city/2020547/ Hope all is well..doesn't look serious. The trip looks to be great so far! Extremely jealous of all these trips you get to go on. Hopefully someday I can have the funding to do trips like this.

Soo... what you are saying is that it will have some gold on it? Love the look of the trains. 2013 is the year of the tongues it seems with 2 new coaster getting trains that are sticking them out. My understanding of it, and seems to be confirmed by the pix released so far, is that the fiberglass that has yet to be installed in the center on the newest picture, that we saw in the factory in older pix (with glowing eyes in front), is the "Sunset Gold." The outside edges of the trains seem to be the "accents" of Zenith, Meteor and Orion Gold.

From cp.com: "Train colors: Sunset Gold, with Zenith Gold, Meteor Gold and Orion Gold accents "

Kings Island is replacing the Rivertown Junction restaurant (near Diamondback) with a Cincinnati Reds themed "Hall of Fame Grille" full service restaurant! Looks pretty cool. It will "feature authentic Reds memorabilia, framed jerseys and photos, and other bits of history dating back to the 1800s from the first professional baseball team": www.visitkingsisland.com/article/media-center/New-Reds-Hall-of-Fame-Grille-restaurant-will-feature-sports-barstyle-food-Reds-history-and-authentic-team-memorabilia from visitkingsisland.com

Look who's back OnPoint: www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/online-fun/Everything-Old-Is-New-Again

From the CP website. I'd say they nailed the "sunset" color on the head. Obviously when the animation was created, they either didn't know the actual color, or CP didn't inform the animator of the specific color and they just made it as close as they could. The exact train color is hardly a detail that matters in a ride rendering video. No matter what, it doesn't matter because it looks amazing (and much better than the bright yellow gold in the animation.)

It can't fare any worse than the original, right?

That was the point I was trying to make. It looks the same as it did yesterday morning, but at one point the track and supports were further along in the circuit. Since I posted this, I found a discussion and photos to verify it. These our courtesy of a "davidw" over on Pointbuzz (Note the time stamps too): Support and Track "Installed" Track Removed Support Removed Support Loaded Back on to Truck

Great to see the second keyhole going up. Side note, did anyone notice the section of track lifted into place yesterday, was removed later in the day (along with the support that was also installed)? Interesting.

New blog update with some new pictures! A few interesting notes: 1. The towers will be painted a "white aluminum", 2. The gaps in the towers will be staying for future inspection of the bolts. www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/online-fun/Keyhole-Tower-Construction-Update

At about 4-5 seconds and 16 seconds in, this video shows some renderings of what the new entry way will "officially" look like. This video also has some good shots from the B&M steel plant: www.wkyc.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=277929 Or here is a still from the video:

I have always thought this was quite cool too. However, apparently it was TOO "suspended up there" since they had to add the bracing for the spikes. And they still sway quite a bit. I can't imagine what it was like before! (Courtesy of topthrillcedarpoint):

It looks as though Action Zone is in for a major overhaul/retheme, presumably with the rumored 2014 ride on the SOB site. It seems like Jungle Jim's may be acquiring the water tower from Action Zone? Not confirmed in anyway, but there is a picture of Jungle Jim looking at in on their FB along with some interesting comments from the store. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=530259127005845&set=a.450115751686850.107627.201668799864881&type=1&theater

Having ridden Manhattan Express in 2003, BEFORE I saw this video, I can attest that this is how my family and I felt riding this. Once I saw this video a couple years later, I even showed it to my parents who found it absolutely hilarious because of the "truthfulness" of Robb's emotions and feelings on that ride. It was miserable (and KI is my home park, so I've had my fair share of rides on SOB!). Maybe it has improved since, but I doubt it. I was even back in Vegas again this past year and didn't even consider heading toward the ride.

There is a video of the most recent section coming down. Although, it is not too different from the section of the drop coming down: http://telly.com/9MYB0

Back in the day of the skid brakes, the ride seemed to be overall much faster. Now if it really was, I'm not sure. That said, the first drop felt like a real drop and more importantly, the second drop into the valley provided GREAT airtime. These days, there is nothing. Also, I feel like the magnetic trims in the midcourse brake shed stop you significantly more than the old days... maybe it's just my imagination because I highly doubt the speed has changed THAT much. Maybe it's just that the skids were much more gradual and not a "jerky" stop like the magnetics? That said, the final double helix is still insane. One advantage to the skid brakes was that you would get absolutely WILD rides if it had been/was raining. This was the first year in almost 15 years I haven't been to KI, but I have heard that it was significantly better this year than the past decade or so because of some serious retracking. Also, a night ride on The Beast still provides one heckuva ride, especially when there is a chill in the air.

CTV released this 360-degree POV of Leviathan. I've never seen something like this before... pretty cool! http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/360-view/leviathan-roller-coaster-1.969364

Lots of work to do still!