Kenban

Looks like a fun ride but I don't believe its what Kings Island needs. The website says Theoretical Capacity 850 riders per hour. IJST is rated at 1,000 riders per an hour. KI needs a good long steel coaster but it also needs one that can handle large amounts of people. I want to see some large capacity rides put in that will have the lines moving no matter how packed the park is.

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2007/9/25/290364.html Only one bid was placed for Cypress Gardens but before the auction they said that they would keep the park "a locally owned and operated tourism destination".

I believe the parks are worth a lot more then $17 million and I expect it will go much higher before this is all over. I don't think Cedar Fair would want to take on additional debt right now but if they can pick up the parks for around $50 million I think this would be a great addition to the chain.

The trams at Disney are needed though. When you park at any of the Disney parks your almost always a long distance from the gates. At the Magic Kingdom the entrance was designed to make you feel like your entering another world so an artificial lake was dug and you have to take either a boat or a monorail from the tram stop to the entrance of the park. For anyone wondering the dirt from the lake was actually put on top of where the Magic Kingdom was built and your standing on the second floor of the park. Every street in the park has a tunnel under it built at the original ground level so trash, goods, employees, etc. can move around the park without the guests knowledge. Most of the time I don't mind the lack of trams at Kings Island because while large its not that long of a walk to get to the entrance. On busy weekends and holidays the park should have trams running.

Universal raised their parking several months ago. I am surprised it took this long for Disney to match the price hike. Although this makes paying for parking a mess because of the need to make change.

There has been talk of having the higher end resort guests getting extra fast pass privileges for years. Yet today the only people getting any extra fast passes are the guests who are being given the lanyards from the year of a million dreams campaign. A patent application does not mean that they ever plan to implement it either. This is one of those things that I would wait until it happens before its worth discussing at this point.

I hate to say it but I can find story after story of people hurt or killed on Ferris Wheels. A 3 year old boy fell out of one only a week ago in Union City, OH. The only thing I can think of is that there should have been bars over the windows in case the car locked up.

This is how it happened as I remember it I am positive someone will correct me if I don't remember something correctly. About a year ago several supports failed which created a dip in the track. This caused a train to suddenly decelerate throwing the passengers into the restraints. I believe there might have been a cracked rib or two but overall the injuries were minor. After the accident the ride was closed and it was found that the trains weight was causing damage to the ride. The reason the trains were so heavy was because of the loop so instead of trying to go back and redesign the supports and track the loop was removed and a pair of used coaster trains were purchased and retrofitted to run on SOB's non-standard track.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/cu...0,4778680.story Well when Disney announced their single day ticket price increase a week ago just about everyone figured Universal would match the increase and it just happened this morning. A single day one park ticket to Universal Orlando is now $71 ($67 if purchased online). The two park ticket is $79.95 ($77 online). The 7 day $85.99 online only deal is still in effect. Sea World has not matched Disney/Universal yet and in the past have waited several months to do so.

When making a list like this they should say top ten US parks other then Disney and Universal. If you just say outside of Orlando then Disneyland and Universal Hollywood should be on the list. I find it hard to believe that Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort and Amusement Park is more popular then Dollywood. Also why did the Sea World parks not make the list? Busch Gardens Tampa makes the cut but Williamsburg does not?

Almost no one buys the single day tickets. The ticket prices have been designed for long trips with only a $14 price difference between the 4 and 10 day tickets (old prices). Before the price increase the tickets were $67 for a single park for one day which was the same price at Universal (who is expected to match the increase within the next few days). Sea World is a little cheaper at $65 and Busch Gardens is only $62. Not going to try to explain it but I really enjoy spending time at Disney and I feel the ticket price is still worth it if you are spending several days.

This would be for everything the entire Cedar Fair chain.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission produces a report annually that were either killed or had to visit an emergency room while visiting a fixed or mobile amusement ride. The 2005 report is the newest at the moment and available on the CPSC website. I should point out that they only provide statistics and do not go into depth on fixed site attractions. My understanding is that they only have jurisdiction over mobile attractions. Here are some good quotes then I will give some statistics at the end... "There was no statistically significant trend, positive or negative, for mobile amusement ride injuries over the period from 1997 to 2004." "Inflatable ride injuries had a statistically significant upward trend over the period from 1997 to 2004." "From 1987 to 2002, for mobile and fixed-site amusement rides combined, there were an estimated 4.4 amusement-ride fatalities per year. When this report was prepared, CPSC had reports of 5 amusement ride fatalities in 2004 and 5 in 2003. CPSC may become aware of additional fatalities for the years 2003 and 2004." "When this report was prepared, CPSC had reports of 4 fatalities from inflatable amusement rides. These fatalities occurred from 2002 to 2005." This is for 2004 which is the latest figures from a CPSC document and are from the PDF I linked above. 17,132 injuries total of which 4,602 did not occur on a ride (people running in the park who trip etc), 1,417 which the CPSC could not confirm where it occurred, 1,705 which they are not sure if it occurred on a ride, and now for the interesting figures 1,937 on mobile rides, 2,590 on fixed site rides, and 4,881 on inflatable attractions. More people needed treatment at an emergency room after riding on an inflatable attraction then fixed site and mobile rides combined. But having said that 2,590 people needed treatment in an emergency room after riding a fixed amusement park attraction. You will never hear about every single one of those problems but its obvious from that large number there could be a lot of them out there. I believe with the huge move to just make every little thing that happens anymore into a news story on the web that we are just seeing a slightly higher percentage of the accidents not that there are more occurring.

How do you get this code? My friends and I are planning on going to WDW Dec. 08 during Christmas break so any discount would help us greatly. I'm willing to book now if I can get the code I am sorry if I was not clear but if you were staying on site last December there were tables set up in the lobbies of all the hotels to book a 2007 trip. If you booked a trip at that time for this fall around September you were able to get free dining. A general code was offered to travel agents a few weeks later and that was quickly posted on the internet. Free dining for 2007 was only available for stays between 8/5/07 and 9/29/07. Early December sometimes has discount codes for around $20 a night off the regular price of a value resort. AAA does have discounts year round that are good even during peak times. I get most of my codes and information on discounts from my own experiences and reading Mouse Savers and the DIS boards both of which have already been linked by Avatar. Since your going close to the holidays I want to point out something interesting about room prices that is often overlooked at Disney. The rate is set the night you check-in for your entire stay. If you check-in during value season you can stay up to 10 nights at that rate even if the end of your stay is at the holiday rate. For example this year the value season ends on the 19th of December. If you check-in on Dec. 19 you can stay at the Value season rate ($82 a night) until the 29th even though the rest of the stay is in the Holiday season (which would be $129 a night). To get an idea though when discounts normally become available and what dates they are good for check this listing on Mouse Savers. While it does not give you an idea on how big of discounts it should tell you when to start looking for specific dates. Something else to think about is booking a room early then when discounts do become available either try to apply the code to the existing booking or book a new room using the code and cancel the original reservation. Just call Disney directly for this and make sure its a room only booking (you can add extras later if you want) and that you can cancel it with no penalty. There are different offices that do the bookings depending on what you want if its room or a package and they have different policies on cancellations.

Free Meal plan? How did you get it for free? It costs $40 per night per person. Maybe it was included in the overall plan you paid for but I'm sure that you paid nothing for it. I am a little familiar with this. Its a deal thats offered in the winter/spring for fall bookings through a coupon code. There are a limited number of rooms in each hotel for the deal and once they are all booked your out of luck. The only requirements are that you pay the standard rack rate for the room and that every member of your party gets a park ticket for at least one day (plus they all have to be there at check in). The only costs are really the park tickets and the difference between any discounted rate and the rack rate. When I say rack rate it is the current standard seasonal rate for the day you check in. Avatar said his rate will be $82 a night where the discounted rate is $69 for the value resorts in September (there are other discounts but thats the public discount code) so the meal plan is costing his party $13 a night total. You can say its costing something but its not much. In short to my knowledge the meal deal discount is the best deal offered all year at Disney World. Last year it was offered in December to guests staying on site who were willing to book 9 months in advance. Then there was a public code a few weeks later.

For me the Best and Worst times all occur in the same month. The Best time of year in my view is the first week of December. I have made two trips to Orlando during the start of December and both were amazing (I was there just last year the first week of December). The weather normally is great but it can get cold. You have to look for the lines at Universal while over at Disney there are lines but they are often very short and with some use of fast passes you can spend very little time in line. I was able to do EVERY attraction in Epcot in a single day (or any of the other parks for that matter). Plus all the holiday decorations are already up and Disney is running the after hours Christmas party at the Magic Kingdom. The worst time of year is the period between Christmas and New Years. It is the busiest time of the year and from what I have heard last year was worse then normal even. At times 3 of the 4 Disney parks had to close their gates because they had reached capacity (I think it was Epcot that was able to keep its gates open). There are other times of the year I would not want to visit such as the summer (I have done this before and felt it was too hot and there are a lot of long lines), and spring break (again crowds). Something else to think about are the many festivals and events that occur and it might make sense to visit during a certain time of year just so you can have that experience. I enjoy October because of Halloween Horror Nights over at Universal, or you can do Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney. Epcot has the Food and Wine festival in October and you have very short lines at all the parks. The Epcot flower and garden festival is late March or any time in April. I have yet to get down there to see it but I have enjoyed pictures online. Star Wars weekends occur in June and I am sure that I forgetting a few other events. Plus if you don't make frequent trips don't forget about the many tours and other extras that you can experience. There is a walking tour of the land pavilion in Epcot, diving in the Living Seas, morning tour of the countries at Epcot on a Segway (before it opens your the only people back there), behind the scenes tours at all the parks and many more. Disney can be a lot of work to plan but try to leave yourself enough time that your not just running around the whole time make sure you can sit down and relax.

There are videos out there of a rollback. There is even a video of the ride stuck on top of the top hat. I don't have links for either but I am sure there are members on the site who can provide them. Never been on a rollback yet but I hope for one every time I ride TTD.

That article was previously posted more than three hours ago by jzarley in this very thread: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=165965 Sorry about that I guess I skipped over that post when I was reading the thread.

Here is the Motley Fools take on the story. Like the article says this is the wrong time of year to be selling theme parks.

The seat belts in the article are a response to the death on the same ride 3 years ago. When a 7 year old "wriggled free of the restraining bar on one of the cars, knelt on the seat and fell soon after the ride started. The amusement park was not cited for any violations or required to make improvements to the ride after the girl's death, but officials announced plans to add seat belts, more lighting and a second attendant at the ride." What amazes me is the fact that is the 4th year in a row now there has been a death at this park. "After the Mind Scrambler accident in 2004, a 7-year-old boy was killed the following year when he climbed out of his boat ride and fell, according to investigators. A 43-year-old man drowned after wading into a lake at the park on July 4, 2006."

The lap bar does a very good job and its one of those things that you feel a lot safer once you see it in person. I went on RCDB and was able to find this picture. It really is a huge upgrade and I would recommend trying the ride out again its worth it.

I believe park employees can ride an attraction before it is inspected by the state.

They are permanent magnets. When looking at the tower its the white fins on the sides of the tower that go up to the top of the second color band.

There is a discussion about this going on at Coaster Buzz at the moment a post towards the bottom has links to pictures (I also copied the links and they appear at the end of the post). It appears the last car of a train did derail. From what I have read about it so far it sounds like all the injuries were very minor and I assume thats why it has not made it onto the news yet. I am hoping someone can get some more information at some point I would be very interested in reading the cause of the problem. http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i306/bil...t/carderail.jpg http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i306/bil...t/investcar.jpg http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i306/bil...ent/discuss.jpg http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i306/bil...investtrack.jpg

I ran across another site with the story which has a picture you can check it out on CBS news. Looking at the photo the ride stopped at just the worst possible moment. While the ride design looks interesting I think the ride should go up the other side of the tower then instead of you going over the top upside down just have it be a little more traditional. In my view this is a design flaw. It should not be possible for a power outage to leave a coasters train upside down. No matter how unlikely a situation like this is if your going to design a ride like this there has to be some kind of backup system in place.