Kings Island ACE Event, take 2

[slither37]

Here is my thread about the ACE event at Kings Island on 2/21.

It was very cold, rainy and snowy. Obviously the biggie is Diamondback, which does look very fun.

 

I have some additional information from some of the speakers later on. but for now on to the pics...

 

First stop of the day was actually Jungle Jims.

Diamondback..... THROUGH THE TREES AND SNOW!!!! and 90 degrees, well, ok the 90 degrees thing is not true.

Speaking of Kayla, here she is. She is extremely adorable, but do not tell her I said that, as she is 11 and "adorable" is not an acceptable word to use, according to 11 year olds.

Splash down. Kayla said that any splash down that does not get unsuspecting passers by very wet is useless. I will have to keep an eye on this kid.

This is the bottom of the first drop. If it was not for the bleeping snow, you could see the track better as it traverses the terrain.

Final turn before splash down, it was getting pretty darn cold by this time. Gravity defying shrinkage going on..

Above the building is the 2nd drop which looks like it should give lots of cool air time.

This one is not very good due to the snow, but there are 2 trains on the transfer track on the other side of the station. There is a third train on site.

Lift hill. Drool.

Loading station and start of lift hill. THROUGH THE SNOW!!!!

 

To the left will be the on ride photo sales.

Cold coaster nerds in 30 degree temperatures, some of who have driven for hours to get there, walking back to a ride that is not yet even tested and they will not be able to ride for 2 months.

Local news media interviewing Don Helbig of Kings Island.

Cold Coaster nerds.

here is the other, lots of hot sauce.. Ok. I took other pictures of this place, and it is very fun to visit, but on to Diamondback.

Jungle Jims is famous for its selection of hot sauces... here is one side of the display...

MMM. not sure who heart kangaroo and antelope....

Kayla heart candy....

I heart beer #2...

Mmm. I heart beer....

Jungle Jims has the old Kings Island monorail. I know there is a certain Hurricane fan that has a monorail fetish....

[slither37]

So after freezing for abut 45 minutes looking at Diamondback, we all went to the restaurant above the front gate for the speakers and pizza.

General view of the room. Event 'sold out", was pretty crowded.

[slither37]

Flyers....for some cool DVDs.

Hmmm, someone brought some Coasters in the Raw flyers. This was the original location, as I did not know there was a table in another room with other flyers. Once I discovered this, the flyers were moved next to the food tables.

[slither37]

Ahh,that is better.

I did see lots of people walking around with the flyer. Hope they buy.

[slither37]

LaRosa's was the food of choice.

Not a huge fan of LaRosa's. Glad Kayla and I had some yummy barbecue before the event. For some time, there were no plates to be had, so people used discarded pizza boxes to eat from.

[slither37]

There of course was giveaways. I will detail all the news in a minute, but the first speaker was a person who does the marketing for a cool looking attraction near Kings Island: Entertrainment Junction. The winner of the first giveaway of the night........?????

Yes, it was my kid. She won a train car that was given out to the media on media day when the place opened in July 08. I think I need to have her buy a lottery ticket....

[slither37]

Ok, on to the news/speakers.

 

Bill Mefford

 

Entertrainment Junction is an indoor train themed attraction. It boasts the largest indoor train display. Looking over my notes.... everything in the attraction is hand made....G scale trains...2 miles of track...1200 cars. forgot how many locomotives... there is also a maze area that is changed from non scary during the day to scary at night for older kids.

 

I am not a huge train person, but if you are, this place would appear to be very appealing to you.

 

Wake Nation I was actually thinking of Elissa while this park was being described..due to the flow rider videos. . Wake Nation is a cable water park in which you will be able to wakeboard, waterski, and some other things while being pulled around a lake by a cable. The video they showed looks pretty cool. There will be ramps set up to do tricks off of, or hit with your head/body parts if you are like me. This opens in June 09 in Fairfield Ohio. If you are an ace member you get discounts on equipment rental and "water time"

 

next up was Coaster Dynamix/Gravity Group.

 

We heard that more coaster models are coming. and were treated to videos of Fireball.

 

Waldameer

 

Steve Gorman with the park told us that the park had all time high attendance (up 30%) as Ravine Flyer 2 was such a huge hit. Disk-O will be the new ride this year......park will go no smoking...

 

Tiffany with Great Wolf gave a presentation, but I busy embarrassing my kid.... sorry Tiffany.

 

Next up was Tony Clark from C.P.

 

The big news at CP this year is Magnum turns 20. (any Arrow fans are required to make a pilgrimage) Magnum gets new signage! The causeway gets a new sign! .....there will be something new near MF.. new show....the "ball" fountain on the midway will be replaced with an interactive walk through type of fountain thingy....Halloweekends will be expanded/enhanced, although he did not say how. Unfortunately there still are no plans to destroy Mean Streak. I can still hope... Coastermania will be 2 days: June 5th Friday evening (ERT) and June 6th (morning and evening ERT). This year no cups, everyone attending Coastermania will get a wristband for free drinks!

 

 

 

 

Don Helbig with Kings Island was the final speaker. .. in addition to Diamondback... which he said will not have a pull through.'It is a B&M, we are just going to hook up the chain and let 'er rip" or something very close to that effect.... testing may start as soon as next week...auction for first 5 trains for a great charity.... Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is coming back...my fave news of the night was that Platinum Pass and Season Pass holders get to ride Diamondback 1/2 hour early every day and 1 hour early on Saturdays... Oh yeah, and there will be many festivities for The Beast turning 30 this year...

 

This was my first TR, so please have mercy on me.

 

Well that is all that I can remember. I do hope that some people buy some Coasters in the Raw Dvds. But before I go.. just a few more humorous labels on hot sauce jars at Jungle Jims. .....

Sounds painful...

[slither37]

This one just looks funny... and hot.

Ouch. I hate when that happens..

 

Thanks for reading....

[Big Mike]

Great Job Ken!!!!

 

Kayla looks like she had a fun time! She is awesome!!

 

Those TPR flyers sure have a way of popping up in the strangest places

 

 

Peace, Big Mike

[slither37]

Thanks Big Mike! All except for the cold, it was a fun day. I did not take any pictures of the IKEA store we also went to.

 

Great Coastermania pics. Reminds me to go and do an edit as I left out Coastermania from what Tony talked about... thanks!

[bgroodog]

To Expand on what Tony Clark said about Cedar Point 2009...

 

The more major improvements were new signage around the park. The first new sign will be located at the beginning of the causeway at Cedar Point Drive and 1st Street and will feature an LED Screen along with the Cedar Point Logo. The next sign will be a new ride sign for Magnum XL-200 for its anniversary. He showed us some artist concept renderings of the sign and it looks very stylish and fits the 80’s era very well. It looked like a slanted silver colored slab with the Magnum XL-200 logo in white with the molly orange underscore under the name at the top of the slab. Also, banners throughout the park will feature Magnum-XL 200 in celebration of its 20th Anniversary.

 

Of Course, new shows will also be debuting this year throughout the park. All Wheels Extreme is back this summer by popular demand. Halloweekends will be expanded for another consecutive year. And there will be a new improvement near Millennium Force, but there was no news spilled on what it may be

 

The other improvement will be the removal of the old classic water fountain near Raptor on the main midway. It will be replaced with a new interactive walkthrough fountain, to give guests and kids a way to cool off and have fun. There is no further information about the fountain itself, but I did see a story about the new fountain at Blackpool Pleasure Beach earlier and think it may be something similar to that (Just to possibly get an idea of what it may be, not confirmed).

 

Link to BPPB Fountains - http://ridemad.com/fountains-at-blackpool-pleasure-beach