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^I'd be for bringing back PTC's with buzz bars.

Before the pandemic hit I bought a heavily discounted ticket during the President's Day Sale and a Fast Lane. I rode this ride 3 times. My only regret was I never spent anytime in line so I didn't get to see much of the "hangar" or whatever you'd call it before you go up the steps. Because you're moving so quickly in the Fast Lane and you don't want to hold up those behind you. Typically a ride doesn't scare me. I don't have a fear of heights. I have a fear of what I call unsecured heights. My first ride was in the front row. That first view from top gave me a momentary "oh ****" feeling. After that I was good. Absolutely thrilling ride. Dunno why it did that to me. I've been on Top Thrill Dragster and other taller coasters.

I have spoken

If you look on the right side slightly below the center line, you can see one of Blue Racer's cars

Hulk was more than a retrack. They rebuilt that ride from the ground up. It is a new credit now.

This isn't exactly matched up perfectly but its still remarkable how things have changed @kimv1972 do you have a preference on looks?

It's funny that back when I worked there, I was very critical of some of the details on the engines, particularly the windows in #12's cab and the skinny diamond stack on #19. In recent years, I have found that early Chicago and Northwestern engines used that stack, and the "cathedral" windows on #12 were the signature window shape of Dawson and Bailey (National Locomotive Works) of Connellsville, PA. But I have yet to find any prototype engines with dome covers the shape of the "stock" Crown dome.

Same. I was excited when I saw this. I only remember riding Flight Commander once or twice.

Just like to clarify, I did not make these vids lol, I just thought you guys would like to see them.

Tbh I thought doing every other row on Diamondback was ridiculous especially since Orion was doing staggered seating and Diamondback is literally staggered seating. I hope they can at least load the trains as full as they can this year except they likely won't put two different parties together on Banshee and Orion or 2 single riders next to each other. I still think on Banshee and Orion they should at least allow a party of 4 to sit in the same row.

Here's one that I did for Diamondback.

The one thing about rapids rides is that they are EXPENSIVE to operate. The cost of running the pumps and filtration systems all day is absurd. I know when I worked at Cedar Point they said their raft ride was the most expensive ride in the park from a maintenance perspective and I can confirm similar things here at Animal Kingdom. Financially, parks generally spread the costs of operations over their ridership. If rapids ride X costs a million dollars a week to operate and 70,000 people ride it that week then the cost per guest is around 14 dollars. (these are made up numbers) The ridership for water rides are generally not high compared to your regular E ticket attractions. So what I am saying is the VALUE for most water rides is just not there, at least not for rapids rides. Log flumes may be different. I would like to see parks take a more innovative approach to cool down guests during those hot summer months (or all the time in Florida). More indoor queues, large misting fans that aren't moldy/disgusting scattered all over the park pathways, etc...

I can speak to this. When we reopened, all coasters were loading every other row. Rides like Soarin' and Flight of Passage were leaving empty seats between parties. Boat rides were one group per boat. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what the Omnimovers like Spaceship Earth were doing. We have now adjusted and the coasters *with high headrests* are loading every single row. This includes Slinky Dog Dash, Rock'n Roller Coaster, and us over here at Everest. 7 Dwarves Mine Train does not have a high seat back so last I heard they are loading every other row still. Flight of Passage is no longer leaving empty seats between parties. (The reason we can do it with coasters that have high head rests between rows is because it counts as a barrier between guests. Similar to the plexiglass between you and a cashier)

A new KIBlog update: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2021/january/new-track-construction-begins-on-the-racer

I did about the same thing. Invested $1k when the stock bottomed out. I plan on keeping most of it however so hopefully the dividends will start rolling in. Might take a few years for the share price to return to normal (if it ever will).

The stars on the wheels were Dick Carmell's idea. We were sitting on five gallon buckets repainting the wheels one night (the injectors used to dump on them and change the color of the Rustoleum paint), and he suggested the stars. I took it one step farther, and although I'm not particularly fond of them today, I painted the cranks black. I'm sure Dick was thinking of his California days since Disney's engines had stars on the wheels. As to the straight stack, I think that was just a reaction to the very poorly done balloon. If they would have put the same balloon on that Crown did with many other engines, it would probably still be there. But, hey, check the sand dome on #19 and compare it to #119.

LOL. The question is accurate. The character flipping the lights/using a flashlight, although not named afaik, was not an usher. (I called him a janitor in the quiz, but he could have also been referred to as a stagehand I guess.) The Usher(s) wore red and simply pointed, this guy was dressed differently and held a flashlight in his right hand, which he shined on buggies as they passed by. ;-) Photos below... courtesy DAFE... show the difference. The pic cuts off the flashlight.

My guess would be staffing. If international travel is still banned, since some parks rely heavily on internationals, particularly CP, that puts a hindrance on staffing for them. And during most normal opening seasons, schools are still in session so it's harder to draw local workers. But if it was referring to the chain as a whole, it could be talking about those with March openings, which isn't that far off from now and Carowinds and KD were in states with stricter guidelines. They may be waiting to see if some guidelines are relaxed or lifted by then.

If I were to guess, I would say that they are looking to reduce cash burn yet keep full timers on the payroll so this talent stays with the company.

Yikes. If they really did board the plane showing obvious symptoms, and signed off that they had no symptoms and hadn't tested postiive, this isn't a good look for the family, United, or anyone at the airport. I can't imagine being a passenger on that flight.

There's not remotely enough detail here to read anything into it. Someone flying from some unknown origin died on a flight. Tragic indeed. The family had "Disney bags". Is that luggage, merch shop bags, or something else entirely? They assume the family was flying from WDW, but they don't even say the plane departed from Orlando. The poster claims a nurse was on the flight who determined it to be related to COVID-19? Based on? They were apparently allowed through the airport and onto the plane with "major" symptoms of COVID-19? How did that happen? But I digress. Perhaps someone did visit WDW while infected with COVID-19, but this random post on Twitter is hardly darning evidence.

In-house. Let’s not forget that Kings Island is home to a world-class wooden coaster maintenance team.

Yes! I absolutely love that the park is putting so much time and dedication into maintaining and preserving The Racer. I think with track work for this 2020-2021 off season, I bet we get a fresh coat of paint during the 2021-2022 off season!

I’m still wanting a launch B&M wing coaster. I really don’t see anything but a coaster going into that plot of land due to the fact it’s a huge valley. What ever they build I hope they plant more trees.

**DOUBLE POST** I found this video on YouTube of the queue for Manta at SeaWorld Orlando and this is the definition of an indoor queue! Obviously Cedar Fair probably wouldn't do a queue line on this level since they don't really do animals, but I would love to see a Sea creature themed coaster in the Cedar Fair chain with maybe an indoor queue like this, but with some special projections to make it look like an aquarium.

Some of the best memories I have are my friends and I out at KI in the summers. We'd go up a lot on weekday evenings in the summer and since it wasn't too crowded, we'd run from ride to ride. We'd joke, laugh, goof around. There's nothing like growing up at KI and getting to enjoy it with your friends. Good times.

I don't think you're the odd one out on a no loose articles in the station policy on DB. I know myself and a few others on here would like the same thing. However, I have to disagree about the crew on Diamondback. No, they're not the fastest, but, due to an experience I'll describe below, I don't think they need to be faster. Last summer, I had a ride on Intimidator at Carowinds where the crew was moving at insane power hour speeds. However, there was absolutely no line to the point they were permitting re-rides without getting off. After I had ridden back to back, they seemed to suddenly remember policy and announced we had to get off. My brother got off, but my restraint had already locked again when I attempted to pull up on it. So, I prepared to ride again. A ride op came along, pulled on my seat belt and moved to the next row. The problem? My belt was not yet buckled. She had failed to notice. So, no, I don't believe we need super speed ride crews.