CoastersRZ

Well, part of that is they have been trying to give each park its own identity, and not have the same corporate identity from park to park. Case in point, look at the Soak City name for the water parks. Carowinds water park is now know as Carolina Harbor, Cedar Point Shores at Cedar Point and this year California`s Great America rebranded their water park South Bay Shores. I wonder how long before Soak City at Kings Island gets its own unique name and theme to tie into the area?

Drop Tower perhaps? It doesn`t look like Drop Tower needs a paint job as badly as some other rides. There are several areas in Snoopy that could use some refreshing.

I so love that they are bringing more of the original logo back. I love the simplicity and script of that original logo. I can`t wait to see what other things they have in store for the 50th anniversary.

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/middletown-council-to-vote-on-potential-1-3b-entertainment-development Total investment of over $1.3 billion, coming to Middletown, OH. We will see if this actually comes to fruition. If it does, there will be an indoor amusement park not far from Kings Island. Granted, this is likely many many years off from becoming a reality.

I know supply chain issues are hitting lots of things (I have witnessed it first hand on several of the projects that we designed at my job that are now under construction, having to switch certain materials due to 12+ month lead times), what Christmas decorations are facing shortages?

There is also no mention of the parade in the announced details...

I think it is an older article. However, Gravity Group has been posting about it on their Facebook page. They are exhibiting at the IAAPA Expo Europe Conference and trade show which is presently going on in Barcelona, Spain. iaapa.org/expos/iaapa-expo-europe

The cinnamon bread grilled cheese sounds delicious!

Yep, you can`t buy extra tickets, even through P&G. As a reminder to everyone else, Kings Island is CLOSED to the general public and season pass holders this weekend. It is only open for a private event for P&G employees, retirees and their families. You must have a ticket to get into this event.

When was the last time a bobsled coaster was built? In my opinion, they are not the most thrilling rides. They are also not high capacity rides by any means.

I doubt it was because of cash flow issues that they are just now fixing it. More likely they tried other things first, and those did not work. They may have had to bring in an outside contractor to fix it, and a lot of plumbers and electricians are extremely busy right now, so it could have taken a while to schedule the repair as well. They could have also wanted to wait until daily operation was over so they had more time to fix the issue during daylight hours without having guests in the park.

Paul Brown Stadium is going cashless this year: https://www.fox19.com/2021/08/17/paul-brown-stadium-going-cashless-bengals-2021-22-season/

That is largely because it is far cheaper to do that, and be able to get equipment in than to selectively cut down trees. I would say that they did a fairly good job with Mystic Timbers. The structure is still fairly close to several trees that were not cut down.

The park added a passenger elevator several years back to provide ADA access to the second floor (main level of the IR). Prior to that, the only accessible access was through a freight/back of house elevator.

To be fair, KI did add some hours on Sundays in October. They now close at 8pm instead of 7pm, like they have for years. Granted, they are still down a total of 1 hour on a typical Haunt weekend, thanks to the midnight closes compared to the 1am closes on Fridays and Saturdays. I hope, by next spring, that the pandemic will be in a better place, and that KI can open earlier in the season (mid to early April like they used to), and that the 10am openings come back.

Were they actual Winterfest floats, or were they still the Grand Carnivale floats? I know as of a couple weeks ago, they still had the Grand Carnivale floats in the tent structure next to the Racer. I would love if KI did have the Winterfest Parade. Back in the 2005 incarnation of Winterfest, they had a parade. It was really well done and added a lot of festive environment to the park.

I have come to expect the 11am openings during Haunt. That is pretty standard. I was pleasantly surprised to see the 8pm closes on Sunday evenings.

I think KI will have Haunt and Winterfest. Keep in mind that Huant doesn`t start for another month. A lot can happen in that time. Yes, cases locally are rising, but there are signs, particularly in the south in states like Florida, where cases are peaking or starting to decline. Again, one of the best ways to protect oneself is to get the vaccine.

What some people don`t realize is that 50% capacity at most amusement parks is pretty decent sized crowd. Imagine the busiest Haunt days at KI, and then take 50% of that, and it would still result in a very busy day at KI.

Just from a wear and tear point of view, an LSM launch like on Red Force, seems like it would result in less moving parts that need to be inspected and could wear out. I wonder what the cost of operating LSM verse the hydraulic launch is on TTD. Not to mention the conversion costs.

I am still surprised that the park has not added anything on the site of where the Dolphin show arena was once located. That entire path back to the Rivertown restrooms has seemed deserted for years. It would be a good spot for a new flat ride of some sort. I have seen that food stand open several times this season though.

And if I had bought a pass exclusively for the purpose of riding those rides, I would be a bit upset about not being able to ride a new ride that was advertised.

Was it down all day?

It definitely looked like water from a pressure washer. Not sure that they would use sand blasting that high up in the air. The sand would be blown all over the park if they did that. I couldn`t look that closely as I was driving on 71.

I drove by the park on 71 today on my way from a site visit in Lebanon. It looked like they were power washing the observation platforms. I saw water spraying off of it.