mikeykaise

That was kind of my thinking too, oh joy, another dark ride with screens!

I noticed when I was in line for one of the water slides that most of the old Batman Hollywood show that was in the amphitheater was pretty well gone, there was one small section left standing and there were a few RV trailers sitting there.

Interesting stuff - thanks for sharing. Were you there when Ed Hart spoke? I read elsewhere that he said they are still evaluating what to do based on how attendance has been as they don't want to rack up the debt. To me that sounds like they want to pull the trigger on a bigger project but want to be absolutely sure they can get the numbers right from an investment perspective. Perhaps this season has been softer and they are trying to understand why? I was, and he said last year they had 20% growth I think, and right now they are on pace to match that or exceed it I believe, but yes Ed did say that they were still looking at the attendance numbers to get a feel for their plans.

I was at the park today for the Koaster Kids Coaster event this morning and I talked to the guy that led the Keys to the Kingdom tour during morning ERT and have "You didn't hear this from Me" update concerning the 2018-2019 update. What he "didn't" say is: "We are trying to balance between the waterpark and the dry side. We're trying to decide how we want to do Steel vs Water rides. We're very close to making an announcement but we're waiting on one more contract to be signed which should be any day now, but you did not hear that from me." So it does sound very much like there will be another steel coaster coming but whether it will be 2018 or 2019 is unclear right now but my money is probably 2019. My first question to him was will KK be planning on bringing a dark ride to the park, and he said No, he (Ed Hart) doesn't want one but that could happen in the future.

Good lord! It doesn't even look physically possible for a train to make that whatever it is, going to be insane.

Rowdy Racers had been announced for 2017 but that are working on building a higher platform for it instead of it sitting on the ground which makes it harder to get in and out of.

I didn't catch that at the time though I did find it odd why the park would be handing out 2018 maps, blame it on a lack of coffee, my bad people, sorry. My previous post has been corrected. Ed Hart or one of the tour guides did say that 2018 was going to be a Water Park year since they've focused on the dry side for the last couple of years so I'm thinking the 2018 plans will revolve around the slide complex that is going to be removed at the end of this year. The pictures of Storm Chaser on any website does not do it justice to how much room is available inside of Storm Chaser's layout or just how much ground Storm Chase covers but when we went in those same gates during Keys to the Kingdom there was a huge open layout and you can't see it but if you turn slightly right when entering the gates it is completely open all the way back to the 3rd hill where it turns to the left, they could easily put several flat rides inside of the Storm Chaser layout if they wanted to. If you sliced up a football field you could fit the whole football field inside of Storm Chaser and still have room left over.

I think they might be planning on connecting Storm Chaser to Eye of the Storm because when we were at Keys to the Kingdom when we left Storm Chaser we went out a gate and crossed over the Drag Strip and then walked along side of it to Eye of the Storm. The area and distance between the two rides is a pretty big area so they could do a lot in that area.

It will be, if they don't make an announcement before Thunder and the 2 weeks of festivities leading up to the Derby, they said they wait until after the Derby.

As much as we'd all like a 200+ roller coaster I don't think it will ever happen because the FAA would have something to say about that since KK sits right in the middle of 2 runway approaches. Ed said that the most restrictive height limits are at the East and West edges of the park with the middle having the least amount of restrictions. They have to watch what they do build because he said that when they bring in cranes it'll show up on radars and cause the FAA to have panic attacks and start asking all kinds of questions. I know when they were building the new body slide the airport traffic was stopped while the cranes where onsite so I think a Giga coaster would end up causing all kinds of problems for KK. It'd be nice though.

That is one of the things they mentioned on the Keys to the Kingdom tour, a local corporation rents out the park on Thunder so that is more than likely what was happening. Ed says one reason why they don't stay open later is so that they can keep the prices down and that is why season passes go for 59.99 because several of us asked about it and his response is would you rather have lower prices or would you rather the park be open later was his basic response.

We had one of those when I was growing up. The step-mom took it when my Dad divorced her, man I loved that thing!

I could spend hours and hours in that arcade, it has all my favorites.

I present Exhibit A "Adventure Express" a great coaster but an ending that makes you laugh and go "WTF was that?"

I was questioning it myself, it's a possibility but I'm just not seeing it based on what's built so far.

I'm not sure how accurate this is but while watching videos on youtube, I came across this one and supposedly this is what the new ride is. Just thought I'd share:

^ ^ Robb, you are so hilarious to watch and listen to while you're on a coaster, I love it!

Here's one of Eye of the Storm that I submitted through the Park Index link for Kentucky Kingdom, it was hard to get it all in. I can get a better one when the park opens.

I agree Chuck, some parks are getting rid of log flumes which is a shame, it's nice to see a new one being built.

I really can't say one way or another, there's 4 times a year I hunker down at home: Black Friday, Christmas Eve, Thunder Weekend, and Derby weekend including Friday.

I was just talking to a coworker about Kings Island and it made me remember one of my favorite attractions as a kid but I can't remember what the name was. It was right next to Racer about where Flight Commander used to be. I remember you walked into a dome tent structure and there were 2 or 3 hand railings and you would stand there watching a 180 degree movie screen and while watching the movie it would feel like you were moving and turning left and right even though you were standing still. Anyone remember what the name of that was? I absolutely loved that thing.

I love the drop, just wish they would have done a tunnel kind of like The Legend but I understand why they didn't.

That is hard to call because that is Oaks and Derby weekend so it could be a mad house.

I now know the new official name for whatever they're building "Meaner Streak".