JZ's Ongoing Kings Island Update Thread!

[ginzo]

I'm still puzzled as to why they're calling the suspended coaster Flight Deck when Kings Island has a flying coaster. Wouldn't it make more sense to give this incredible name to the flying coaster?

[Sticky Nicky]

^Yes, but CF isn't about sense anymore.

[Philrad71]

Flight Desk...I think that they should actually call it that!

 

http://www.wlwt.com/entertainment/15910178/detail.html

[dwerling]

I found a couple of good pictures on kiextreme. They are taken from the tower and show a good overview of the path of contruction.

Also some pictures of clearing in the woods taken from the train.

[cfc]

OK, does anybody besides me think that changing the name of the "Bubba Gump Shrimp Company" to "Outer Hank's Shrimp Shack" was a little lame (and quite hilarious)? I mean, what the hell is that? Are they combining "Outer Banks" with "Tom Hanks" (who played Forrest Gump)?

 

They did the same thing at Kings Dominion, too. I think just plain old "Shrimp Shack" would've been OK.

[ginzo]

OK, does anybody besides me think that changing the name of the "Bubba Gump Shrimp Company" to "Outer Hank's Shrimp Shack" was a little lame (and quite hilarious)? I mean, what the hell is that? Are they combining "Outer Banks" with "Tom Hanks" (who played Forrest Gump)?

 

They did the same thing at Kings Dominion, too. I think just plain old "Shrimp Shack" would've been OK.

 

The so-called re-theming of the former Paramount Parks is one of the most hilariously disinterested efforts I've seen. It reminds me of that cult classic film "Repo Man" where everything is generic. The main character opens up his fridge and it's full of cans labeled "food". That's about the level Cedar Fair is running these parks at when they're calling coasters "Flight Deck" and drop rides "Drop Tower". The effort is so bad it almost seems like a prank steeped in the mischievous tradition of the great Andy Kaufman.

 

I had big hopes for Kings Island when the buy out was announced, but Cedar Fail hasn't done one good thing with the park yet. So far they've just taken Paramount's half-baked efforts to create themed attractions and crudely smashed them into generic parodies of their former selves.

[dwerling]

I agree with you on the naming thing..they sure sucked big time on that.

 

But

 

Things are slowly getting better. It is only their 2nd full year I believe since the transition.

-Ride ops have improved.

-Firehawk while being a used coaster was a good addition, you can't really go wrong adding a new coaster if one wasn't removed.

-They are adding new things (new coaster-possibly, trash cans).

-Shows look to be improving.

 

To me it seems a little harsh to call them Cedar Fail

[PKI Jizzman]

I agree with you on the naming thing..they sure sucked big time on that.

 

But

 

Things are slowly getting better. It is only their 2nd full year I believe since the transition.

-Ride ops have improved.

-Firehawk while being a used coaster was a good addition, you can't really go wrong adding a new coaster if one wasn't removed.

-They are adding new things (new coaster-possibly, trash cans).

-Shows look to be improving.

 

To me it seems a little harsh to call them Cedar Fail

 

Ride ops improved? Where? I really don't see a difference. Last year was pretty normal. The only thing I thought was improved was:

Halloween Haunt.

 

Negatives:

-TR:TR down 1/2 season

-Rides consistently opening 15-45 minutes after park opens

-Drop Zone down quite a few times

-SoB late opening

-Prices for food and drinks up

-Admission was up

 

This year, I better see TR:TR open most of the time. I hope Drop Zone doesn't have any problems. SoB is unpredictable, IMO. It seems it can go fine, and then have some break down. This year admission is same, and prices for food/drink I haven't seen yet.

 

My opinion of Firehawk.

Sure, it's an alright coaster. Does it fit in KI? Let's check.

Capacity ok or bad? Usually bad. ......Fits!

Is it a good ride? It's fun. ......Fits!

Frequent breakdowns? Yes. ....Fits!

 

Sure, it's a fun ride. But with crappy operations, long lines, frequent break downs, I would rather them started on plans for '09 earlier. I'd take a cool flat I could ride a few times a day over Firehawk. With Firehawk, I'm lucky to get one ride. You need to worry about not only lines, but also maintenance.

 

Firehawk broke down far more times than the other coasters. Again, when my Aussie friend was here for 6 weeks, we tried 3 times and it broke down every time. Including an employee party night!

[dwerling]

I went twice last year...

 

Wasn't Drop Zone down for safety reasons (SFKK) for a while. You can't really blame Cedar Fair for that.

 

TR:TR lets judge that after it opens this year -rethemed-

 

Drink prices-I gotta say this is the only park I have been to that gives out free cups of water.

 

SOB-Yes it took a while to reopen, but it is running and better (smoother and more enjoyable) and safer-"hopefully"

 

Just saying-I don't really think Cedar Fair deserves the reputation it gets here.

[coaster05]

^Six Flags gives out free water along with every park I have ever asked for other then Canobie Lake.

 

Why would drop zone be down because of a different ride at a rival chain? That is CF fault, they made the choice.

 

TR rethemed, changing a name is not retheming, unless I am missing something here.

 

I did feel that KI was ran a little better on my visit, but it also wasn't a busy day, and i do feel that the park will eventually run better, but look a lot worse.

[PKI Jizzman]

I went twice last year...

 

Wasn't Drop Zone down for safety reasons (SFKK) for a while. You can't really blame Cedar Fair for that.

 

TR:TR lets judge that after it opens this year -rethemed-

 

Drink prices-I gotta say this is the only park I have been to that gives out free cups of water.

 

SOB-Yes it took a while to reopen, but it is running and better (smoother and more enjoyable) and safer-"hopefully"

 

Just saying-I don't really think Cedar Fair deserves the reputation it gets here.

 

Drop Zone had a lot of breakdowns where the ride stopped half way up and I can't remember how it turned out, I think it was a manual drop. They also had a few problems with the cables, I can't find my pics.

 

I don't think SoB will be any different than last year.

[dwerling]

The Drop Zone time down I was reffering to was right after the SFKK accident. All the Intamin towers in the US were shut down.

-Not Cedar Fairs fault-

If anyone was to blame for that particular downtime it was SFKK for their lack of maintenence on their tower.

[PKI Jizzman]

The Drop Zone time down I was reffering to was right after the SFKK accident. All the Intamin towers in the US were shut down.

-Not Cedar Fairs fault-

If anyone was to blame for that particular downtime it was SFKK for their lack of maintenence on their tower.

 

Yeah, most were shut down about a week, but Drop Zone got a cable upgrade and was down nearly a month. But after that, it had many problems. That's rare for DZ.

[scruffy]

I just got back from the park and have some pictures of the area being worked on for the new ride next year.

 

All anyone would tell me its going to be a big ride.

[EastCoastn07]

The Drop Zone time down I was reffering to was right after the SFKK accident. All the Intamin towers in the US were shut down.

-Not Cedar Fairs fault-

If anyone was to blame for that particular downtime it was SFKK for their lack of maintenence on their tower.

 

Yes, you are very right from what I know all the towers were indeed shut down, but I know for a fact that not all of them were down for weeks like you are saying. I was at Kennywood a few days after the SFKK last year and I figured Pitt Fall would be closed due to all the closures in the country, but it wasn't. From what I heard from other people, the ride barely had any downtime at all. So yes, while part of the blame can be blamed on the massive closures due to the SFKK accident, saying that is the reason a ride was down for more than a few days is pure ludacrous. I'm sure part of the blame can be put on KI's mechanics as well.

[dwerling]

I never said the length of the shutdown. I was just stating that was the reason for one of the down-times

 

Once again the point I was getting at was Cedar Fair has not failed to this point at Kings Island

[PKI Jizzman]

Check out KIC's pics from opening day and pre-opening day!

Into the woods we go!

That's a pretty darn big workspace.

"You've got to have the right tools for the job, Beavis"... "....heavy machinery rules!"

Looking up to the ET

The acer attendance has already increased.

I think I like the billboard better than the other one.

No more Laura Croft...

And red to the other. I better see racing!

We now have Blue to one side...

A classic upgrade?

CF requires....MORE CANS!

[Scaparri]

 

You have got to be kidding me. I count 26 trash cans in this picture. I'm all for keeping the park clean, but I'm sorry, this is just overkill and makes the place look ridiculous!

 

Nice pictures though, JZ.

[PKI Jizzman]

I'm hoping it's just the staff putting out the cans to spread them out even further. Sometimes those can weight a ton!

[coolhandluke]

^^Unless that's just where they are stored before being moved around a little. He said the pics are opening day and pre-opening day, so I think these may be pre-opening (no humans) before they are all distributed out to their real locations (maybe another 50 ft apart). At least, that's what I'm hoping.

 

EDIT: Yeah, what you said, JZ.

 

Great pics. That construction site is MASSIVE. I also saw some trees in the woods cut down, but others still standing...a promising sign that they may not level the whole woods before installing something? I hope so.

[PKI Jizzman]

^Unless that's just where they are stored before being moved around a little. He said the pics are opening day and pre-opening day, so I think these may be pre-opening (no humans) before they are all distributed out to their real locations (maybe another 50 ft apart). At least, that's what I'm hoping.

 

Great pics. That construction site is MASSIVE. I also saw some trees in the woods cut down, but others still standing...a promising sign that they may not level the whole woods before installing something? I hope so.

 

 

Yeah, that pic was from pre-opening day. And yeah, usually the cans are like that before they are moved apart and stuff.

[PKI Jizzman]

And footer specialists in the house?

And another here...

One here...

So there's a few here...

[spaceace12]

I can't wait to get to KI this season, new park, more perks for me (I just joined Great Ohio Coaster Club and get the beast walk back), and get to increase my count, lol. Plus it is only 2 hours from me.

[PURE]

I think its bologna to complain about trashcans, even if they were 20 feet apart. Because what happens the second they try to get rid of some of them? Trash is all over the place and then somebody complains that there aren't enough. Be glad they're willing to spend so much money for so many cans to keep the park clean so YOU get to enjoy a nice clean park.

 

From the pictures it looks like there's a couple big footers, with smaller footers connected to those. Like whatevers in that rectangular section in the middle of the photo is going to need a lot of support. I smell rocket Intamin...

[PKI Jizzman]

I think its bologna to complain about trashcans, even if they were 20 feet apart. Because what happens the second they try to get rid of some of them? Trash is all over the place and then somebody complains that there aren't enough. Be glad they're willing to spend so much money for so many cans to keep the park clean so YOU get to enjoy a nice clean park.

 

From the pictures it looks like there's a couple big footers, with smaller footers connected to those. Like whatevers in that rectangular section in the middle of the photo is going to need a lot of support. I smell rocket Intamin...

 

A rocket, really? I might be able to see it in there, but we do already have Flight of Fear and Backlot. Granted, one is a "family" and the other is an indoor, I be able to see that going in. Again, all these possibilities are out there. I should be there this weekend to check it out for myself.

 

But B&M, Intamin....can't complain!