smallpox

I think if KD were getting a coaster next year, we would have seen more "smoke" than we have so far.

I admit I haven't ridden it for a few years, but Mean Streak is my #1 least favorite coaster. Looks amazing, but the ride was just total garbage, completely devoid of fun or thrills. burn it to the ground. I don't care what goes up in its place. why bother RMCing such a boring layout?? why spend all that money to turn a horrible ride into a mediocre one?

Yup. Head straight to volcano and ride it first, unless you want to wait in line for two hours to ride it later :/ i305 line never gets too long because it moves so much faster. Other tips ... skip hurler and anaconda unless they're walk-ons. people complain about Shockwave, but ride it in the back -- the first hill and loop are awesome. Flying Eagles are more fun than they look. Flight of Fear is easy to miss but it's one of the park's better coasters, it's in the building right next to i305. If possible, get night rides on Grizzly and i305!

indeed we do! it virtually defines the word "intense". it's on a whole other level than most coasters in that department.

meh, not a fan of water. i feel like it never should have been built in the first place. KD doesn't have the resources to maintain a full theme park AND a good water park. i wish they'd have stayed focused.

togo .... fan ? user name does not compute.

That ride op is the best! His name is Dale too which is so appropriate for Intimidator plus his voice sounds like that of a race announcer. It is almost like KD went out of their way to headhunt the perfect person to operate I305! i want to give props to Dale as well - on my recent trip there, he was telling jokes and interacting with the riders in line, it was great.

no idea, but it's also right next to two other launched coasters -- Flight of Fear and Backlot Stunt Coaster (aka The Italian Job). they must have one heck of a power infrastructure. glad i'm not paying KD's electric bill.

Yep--that's why I prefer it. same

yep, only one train operation on i305, but i only had to wait two cycles to ride, so no complaints here. if they'd been running two trains, there would have been a lot of empty seats throughout the day.

...?

just got back from KD ... what an INCREDIBLE day at the park! - the landscaping looks great and the whole park is gaining flavor and character from the 40th celebration and related improvements. it really is becoming more reminiscent of the KD from my childhood, and that rules. - the singing mushrooms nearly brought me to tears. i grew up watching them and i am thrilled that they're back. - floral clock was broken -- not running. - no lines all day in the kiddie section. i guess parents are all at work! - lines for the big-boy rides were also pretty short -- i305 was 2 trains. most coasters were walk-ons. - Volcano was of course the exception. it looked like it had an hour wait at least. i don't think the new configuration is doing anything at all to help throughput. something more drastic needs to happen there; it's just unacceptable for every ride in the park to be 5 minutes or less and Volcano to be over an hour. - i305 was just as i'd remembered it -- the greatest ride on earth!! - in dinosaurs alive (which my kids loved) there was an ear-peircing high pitched squeal at a super loud volume being periodically projected by some of the big speakers. it was a high enough register that some people couldn't hear it, but the ones who could (me included) were made extremely uncomfortable. it was instantly headache-inducing. - the day was perfect. 70 degrees and cloudy. comfortable but no sunscreen required. could not have been better. - outer hanks, country kitchen, and juke box diner were all closed today, creating a bit of a frustrating situation as we wasted time walking to all three looking for a decent lunch. - my daughter was heartbroken that she was a half-inch too short to ride ricochet. bummer! maybe by the end of the summer... minor quibbles aside, the park gets a solid "A", this is the nicest i've ever seen the place and i cannot be happier that it is regaining a measure of its old school charm.

This is the main reason I prefer Joker's Jinx. i don't understand why KD does that. it seems like both Anaconda and FoF would be smoother with a MCBR that didn't bring the train to a complete stop. the banking on the turns and inversions in the second half of those rides were designed for higher speeds.

NoLimits is still the best coaster game ever. where is my NoLimits for iPad ....

I'm really torn because I've always wanted to ride a B&M dive coaster but I really want to ride I305 as well. Does Griffon live up to the hype? Griffon is unique due to the diving first drop, but IMO I305's drop is more intense/exciting. Also I305 is arguably the best roller coaster in the world, and BGW has multiple above average coasters. Really is it that good? I may just have to go to KD. nothing at BGW comes anywhere near i305's intensity. not even the same ballpark. but having said that, Apollo's Chariot, Alpengeist, Verbolten, Loch Ness Monster, and Griffon are all great rides. KD has more coasters, and it has the best coaster, but BG has more *great* coasters than KD. does that make sense?

100% disagree with that. i think Volcano is one of the most impressive coaster sights there is. when you walk up, you of course see that huge mountain, and a very nice entrance and sign, which frame that track coming out the top of the mountain and wrapping around -- honestly it looks more amazing than it actually is. time shaft was just a rotor with a big disco ball and loud music. nothing special. honestly the long, dark cave that made up the queue was the best part. Smurf Mountain was a 2mph incredibly slow powered-train ride through a bunch of smurf dioramas. kinda cool i guess if you are a young child, but 0 out of 100 on a thrill or adult-amusement scale. haunted river was really low budget and falling apart the last time i rode it. i mean we are not talking Disney-level effects here. the final drop was fun though. that's really it ... Volcano may be just a single low capacity ride, but it's a pretty good coaster and it's not like it's replacing any superstar rides. me too!!

awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

yeah, and in the line, on video monitors, Mike Myers as Wayne would give a spiel about buckling your seatbelt and keeping your arms in the train and whatnot. a nice effort theming-wise, but i remember being extremely disappointed with the ride from day one. it was always crap, and has gotten worse and worse over the years. it was pretty much unridable by 2005 or so with the vibration. must admit i haven't ridden it since, but i didn't even like it when it was brand new.

even on busy days, hardly anyone rides it.

good point. plus lake charles' (swamp charles) depth maxes out at like 3 feet nowadays. building footers would be no problem.

bring back the klingons!

i absolutely despise the over-exagerated drawings of recent KD maps -- that new one is a million times less annoying to me. a nice compromise between the older styles and new.

sadly, it'd been gutted of its animatronics for a long time. it was time to go in the end.

ok, but what's your point? the color schemes are absurdly similar in both cases. all four coasters we're talking about are now primarily red and yellow. seriously what is up with Cedar Fair Ronald McDonalding all their coasters?? i don't even hate it. it's just baffling. Don't forget Thunderhawk at Michigan's Adventure! Thats a big ole McDonalds! i will say i think last year's new paint job on Shockwave looks fantastic:

haha true, true.