johnjniehaus

I'm just excited to see an investment! I was worried we'd see a nothing year after getting adventure port and camp Snoopy. I really hope we see a new coaster in 2026 and then get the nothing year. Not that I ever want a nothing year but I'd rather get one after a big coaster addition if we get one

Milli is the better coaster and at least nobody has to argue IF it's a giga coaster or not. I personally have tried to figure out the criteria because if it's lift hill based for giga and hyper, Orion is definitely a hyper but that would mean phantom's revenge is not a hyper. That doesn't seem right to me so if I go on size of drop, meaning phantom is a hyper and Orion is a giga, that means the original hyper coaster Magnum XL 200 isn't a hyper (drop is only 195'). This also seems wrong so for my personal criteria I classify any coaster with a lift hill or a drop of 200' as a hyper and any coaster with a lift hill or drop of 300' as a hyper. So yes, according to me Orion is a giga. I think Milli has a greater sense of speed from the low to the ground elements, tunnels, and lack of trim breaks. Orion has the better first drop but it suffers from some elements that are subpar to me. The wave turn at the top of the second hill doesn't do much and the orion's belt helix is forceful yet boring. Orion doesn't deserve all the hate it gets but it's definitely not the top giga coaster. My giga rankings are as follows - 1. Intimidator 305, 2. Millennium Force, 3. Fury 325, 4. Orion, 5. Leviathan. Maybe one day I'll win the lottery and go to Japan to get steel dragon 2000

Out of curiosity, are we still thinking The Bat is next to go? I'm personally leaning towards Invertigo, Congo Falls, and Timberwolf as the next removals. While The Bat is old, Invertigo is also a rare model these days and one could argue for a new front of the park coaster. Of course I wouldn't be crying if they announced Boo Blaster was closing at the end of the 2024 season but I don't see that happening.

The rumors thread is now locked so I'm going with this is the thread we're supposed to be using for discussion? If not someone please direct to the proper place. Anyway, I think a Soak City addition isn't surprising considering its been nearly 10 years since tropical plunge. I am not a water park goer so SC additions never do much if anything for me but it's still good to see the park investing in an area they haven't touched for close to a decade. J think this project looks like something water park goers would really enjoy and I hope it brings a lot of people into the park in 2025.

June 18-21 I spent in Minneapolis with a friend I made at the ACE Spring Conference at KI this spring. He lives up there and wanted to show me his home park Nick U and Valleyfair which is nearby. Due to my flight being cancelled and rescheduled for a day later, I got to also go to Adventureland in Des Moines. Nick U: for an indoor park this one really delivered! Good collection of flats and the coasters weren't bad for being cramped into the mall. SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge was a decent euro fighter but it seemed a bit shaky to me. I really enjoyed the length of the Pepsi Orange Streak and the views it provided. The fairly Odd coaster was probably my favorite as it ran smoothly and gave us some really good spins! Avatar the last Airbender was a cool concept but the spinning mechanism wasn't working 100%. We also managed to snag the kiddy coaster credit. There was a new op who struggled to stop the ride so we went around plenty of extra times. The star attraction is by far the log chute which is my second favorite log ride after the original splash mountain at Disneyworld. Valleyfair: Comparable to Dorney Park but slightly worse. Still a fun afternoon of coasters and flats. Started the day with Mad Mouse which was my first arrow mouse. Was definitely a bit more aggressive and rough than I was expecting but I did enjoy it's wonky transitions. Next was Renegade which honestly was just ok. It seemed rougher than Mystic Timbers and didn't have quite as good airtime. Did manage to get a front row ride though which was pretty cool. We then took a pit stop at wheel of fortune which was my first time being on a chance trabaunt since I was a kid at Coney Island. All parks should have a trabaunt! I loved that ride as a kid and this brought back so many memories. I love the way they run forward and backwards and waltz around their concrete pads. The next coaster was Wild Thing which was slightly less inspiring than Steel Force at Dorney Park but it's still a great ride and a fun hyper. The mid course was hitting a bit hard so if you were in the front of the train you didn't get any airtime on the final bunny hills. However, in the back there was some nice smooth floater. Definitely my number one coaster in the park. It was at that moment we noticed Excalibur testing so we made the second train of the day. Such a short ride but boy is it action packed! Got front row and back row rides and it's my solid #2 in the park. There's really no other coaster quite like it with its speedy low to the ground turns and crazy airtime hill mid ride. It wasn't particularly smooth but also never painful. While in the back of the park, we rode thunder canyon which was a cool refreshing journey though the forest. I managed to miss all th waterfalls...others were not so fortunate. High Roller was up next and it was very underwhelming. Probably the biggest disappointment of my trip due to the excessive trimming which took away any chance for airtime and made the coaster feel like it would valley at any moment. I'd like to see a gravity group refurb and the removal of some of those trims. Corkscrew was the coaster I most feared at the park but it was amazingly smooth during my ride. Very enjoyable classic arrow. A surprise ride at the park was Cosmic Coaster which was pretty fun considering its size and speed. Nice little helix layout. Those trains are dynamite though! We rode the flying eagles which were nothing special, supercat which looked old as dirt but delivered an enjoyable ride, and the monster which definitely runs faster than ours and provided us with much more spinning action. Final coaster was Steel Venom. The holding break is very jarring but I'm glad VF keeps it operational. Intense coaster with a unique element! Adventureland: After a 3 hour drive, we arrived at Adventureland and immediately hit up the Underground. Such a unique indoor coaster/dark ride. It reminded me of a better version of black diamond at Knoebels. Next was monster which is by far the best euro fighter I've ridden. Such great speed and hang time! The Pheonix was a good spinning coaster but while I was in line I got super hot and sick so I got to take a trip to first aid for most of the afternoon. The first aid staff was very kind and helpful. Turned out my blood sugar was off which had made me feel nauseous and weak. After lunch, we rode outlaw run which was running very smoothly for a CCI. Also got on the tornado which was a wonderful out-n-back woodie. I insisted on riding the teacups before leaving seeing as the PTC crazy daisy rides are a rarity these days. I thought the one at Knoebels spins slightly faster but the Adventureland one was quite enjoyable. The train ride was a fun way to end the day before the return drive to Minneapolis.

You know they will absolutely. Even if they got all the money there was no guarantee they would save moonlight gardens. It's like when Hamilton County Parks had a tax on the ballot a few years back, one of the things they said they would do was to restore the Okeana shaker village at Miami Whitewater. After a lot of locals voted for the tax for that sole reason. Years went by and nothing happened. My boss who is also a local township trustee finally got in contact with someone at the park to find out why nothing has been done about the shaker village and he was told that it hadn't fit in the budget. If it wasn't for the volunteer group Friends of the Shakers the entire thing would be grown over with weeds and some of the buildings would probably have collapsed already. Just goes to show you that you can't trust people to spend money on what they "promise" they will spend it on. I'd love to be proven wrong and see moonlight gardens return to hosting events. Heck, I'd buy a ticket to opening night but in reality I don't expect much from them other than to quietly demolish it in the coming years.

I was just at adventure land in Des Moines and they had barbed wire on the top of their fences. One warning sign about entering the restricted area and a separate warning sign about the barbed wire...

I just saw that the Rick Bastrup book is for sale at the collections gift shop near the main entrance. Might be adding it to my collection shortly

https://local12.com/news/local/we-hit-something-kings-island-employee-talks-about-roller-coaster-hitting-guest-rollercoaster-ride-mason-warren-county-amusement-park-accident-wreck-restricted-area-injured-hospitalized-speed-Banshee-diamonback-the-beast-cedar-point-coaster-investigation Prayers go out to the front row passengers who sustained injuries during the incident. Thankfully it doesn't sound like any life altering injuries among the passengers but I'm sure there's also some emotional trauma attached to knowing what happened.

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/man-critically-injured-at-ohio-amusement-park-was-struck-by-roller-coaster-officials-believe/ Some witnesses quoted in this article...

I do not envy first responders at all. I could never do what they do every day. A big thank you from me to anyone who is a first responder or takes care of trauma victims. You are making a difference in the world and dealing with situations I'd never be able to fathom

Does anyone know where he was laying when sighted? I'm assuming he didn't make it to far from the point of impact. If it was in the PRETZEL SECTION he was very deep into restricted areas

I was curious about possible injuries amongst riders but I guess no news is good news? Hopefully none of the riders were injured because getting hurt on a ride due to someone else's stupid decision would just really suck.

That's probably true. I would just think that adults would be less willing to risk their lives over lost items. Teens typically have a won't happen to me attitude but maybe it's true that adults think they are smart enough to not get hit.

I just don't know what goes through people's heads when they decide to risk their lives for lost articles? And this was someone who was nearly 40 years old not some dumb teenager. If he is still alive, hopefully he doesn't have any long term affects but I can't see where he won't get some sort of ban from the park for entering a restricted area. Also, if a rider sustained an injury from the impact, I hope they are ok and are compensated. No rider deserves to be hurt because of someone else's stupidity and/or park negligence in the case the park is somehow found at fault.

I'm glad to see a new coaster for KD! Such a great park and they really do not a replacement for volcano. Love the color scheme and the layout looks pretty solid too. It's also been a bit since the chain added a winged coaster and there isn't anything else like that in the VA amusement park market. Will definitely be going back down there next year!

I understand that there are circumstances and reasons that rides and attractions are not ready for opening day but it doesn't make it any less annoying. As has been pointed out here, this is something six flags has been criticized for over and over and Kings Island historically has held I higher standard in the industry. For example, major coasters additions such as Banshee and Mystic Timbers were open for pass holder preview day and opening weekend. Orion probably would have been ready but unfortunately covid delayed the season for two months. If I had to choose between no new rides or new rides opening late, of course I'd always choose new ride opening late but the point here is that it doesn't have to open late and when parks get comfortable opening rides late all the time and it becomes the norm you get six flags. When I was at SFSL on Memorial Day they had only poured the concrete pad for their Joker Carnival of Chaos frisbee... How about SFGA only now getting their Sky Striker open? I'm just saying if you can delay till Memorial Day, and lower the standard where does it end?

While I still really want to see a new coasters, Don has a great point which is if you can't operate what you already have, maybe you shouldn't be adding more. I totally agree that The Racer not racing is a cheap, unacceptable move. Food and beverage stands should also be open seeing as when operations are limited the lines are extremely long to get a drink or food. I also don't like the fact that two years in a row the park has not been able to get the new additions open for opening weekend. The shows also seem a bit lacking this season. I did enjoy the country crossroads in the festhaus but other shows just don't seem to grab my attention this season.

So I have long wondered if shake, rattle, and roll is our original troika from 1975 or if it was secretly replaced by a different troika? I remember that somewhere around 2015-2016 (can't remember the exact year anymore) that shake rattle and roll went missing and it was supposedly removed for refurbishment. The fact that in 2017 other parks in the chain (Carowinds, World's of Fun, Dorney) that previously didn't have troika received a troika as their new family ride addition for the season. I believe that the Carowinds and Dorney troika rides were relocated from other parks but I can't find any information about where the one at WoF came from. Is it possible that HUSS built a new troika rides for KI hence the complete removal of the ride for an entire season? It honestly doesn't matter to me because it's a great ride regardless but I've just always kinda wondered if it was the same ride or not ...

I've always kinda thought RTH is what put this park on the map for enthusiasts and vacationers. Definitely seems more like a family park from anything I've ever read or watched on the park. The dark ride does sound pretty cool... your description reminded me of Ye Old Mill at Rye Playland though I'm not sure if that would be an accurate comparison.

Sounds like an interesting park for sure! You mentioned that Big Thunder Mountain was Vekoma but isn't the one at Disneyworld Arrow? I'd be curious how they compare if they were indeed built by two different manufacturers...?

I don't see why they wouldn't stick around for another ten years. They have had their share of maintenance but so have other rides. For example, every time Drop Tower gets struck by lightning it's usually down for a few weeks if not months.

That's what I'm talkin' about! 48" height requirement for a great ride is dynamite! One reason millennium Force is such a great one. My little sister rode that at 7 years old and then was saying how she wished she could do "the big rides" at Kings Island referring to Dback and Orion which she was still too short to ride for a few more seasons. I love B&M don't get me wrong and the general public will love another B&M but I personally hope it's something more unique and special... something that other parks around us don't already have.

Does anyone know the height requirement on the new vekomas? I'd prefer not to see another B&M seeing as they have a 54" height requirement and I'd really like to see the younger guests be able to ride the new attraction as well. Vortex was 48" height requirement and it would be nice if the new coaster was the same

Coming back to The Vortex plot, I'm hoping we see a replacement in 2026. I really really hope that the park was happy with SSBR and they decide to partner with Vekoma again for a Vortex replacement. I would enjoy seeing a coaster like Fonix as our new loopers successor to Vortex. If they are going for a dive coasters, why not do a vekoma tilt model just to make it unique from what other parks in the chain already have? Oh but really wild idea, maybe they can give us one of those new Vekoma lunched Flying Coasters... So many possibilities! But I'm also 100% behind a Mach Extreme Spinner. (Full circuit, not a shuttle coaster due to capacity issues). I have never ridden time traveler but I hear so many amazing things about it and ride to happiness and it would be something so special and unique for that prime plot of land which currently sits vacant and silent... One day the wind will blow again taking the park by storm and The Vortex will have its revenge in a new form... coming to Kings Island spring 2026!