LongLiveTheSmurfRide

I tried searching around for info and couldn't find anything, but they changed the Congo Falls name to Amazon Falls, right? Did they bring back the old cool Amazon Falls sign that looked carved out of stone and had a waterfall in it? I loved that sign.

Wow, Gremlins!

I haven't ridden SOB yet this year, but after last season I don't think I will again. It's just not fun to me. I think since it was built I've had 2 rides that didn't give me a headache and 20 or so that did, or worse. I have never seen an improvement. I can only see myself riding it now if every ride has a 2+ hour line and SOB somehow is walk-on. Even then I'd have to think about it.

Did the place fill up when the show started? Like were people coming in just to see the show and not eat? I love the fact that you'll be able to go to the Festhaus for some good food and a good show. That really was lacking ever since they installed the big screens. Even a mediocre show is better than nothing when you think about something free to enjoy while eating.

Maybe a way to boost sales of pictures on rides would be to set up a way to have your picture e-mailed to your computer for a cheaper price. You wouldn't get any frame, but it'd be cheaper and in this day and age, people like the digital pics that they can share easily.

Heh, good one. I second that. I tend to agree. I know we usually do the ol' point and giggle at the pictures, but never purchase. But I'm sure people who don't ride these every year might grab a pic, so I'm sure they make some money. It'd be interesting to know how much it costs to keep the picture booth running compared to how many pictures are purchased per day.

Well, I never actually said Paramount was stupid. I said they picked a dumb place. And I wasn't saying the loop section was the best place (which it totally would have been when there was a loop) but you can't tell me Paramount couldn't have SOME say in where the picture spot could be on the ride. I mean, before the lift? Please. If they can have a loop taken off a roller coaster, they can have a picture add-on moved to a better spot.

^ Wow, it's crazy that the Paramount folks couldn't realize what a dumb place they had the cameras before on SOB.

Ah man, hamburger wagon has the best burgers. They're small, but they're great.

Was the Downtown Thanksgiving race you run the Turkey Trott in Miamisburg? I used to run that every once in a while. Cold race usually. I'm going to try to make it. I used to jog 5 miles a day until I got this stupid desk job. I've been looking for a real goal to get me going. I doubt I'll try for the 10K, but I'm sure I can be in 5K shape by then.

That's cool. I didn't know they had one of these last year.

Yeah, I wonder if it'll be strictly through the park or on back-roads or what. Hopefully they keep us out of the parking lot as much as possible.

Yeah, good times! I want to know what the course is going to be.

Maybe they'll have arrow signs up saying "Answer to Swan Lake constuction this way" to keep everyone running.

Word.

Anyone going to run this? Kingsisland Run I gotta get in running shape again, but I'm so there.

Man, I'm late on this one (working on buying a house). All that Smurf talk makes me want to, oh I don't know, get on the Smurf Ride!?!

I was on the train at Cedar Point on Saturday and my fiancee was like, "Does Cedar Point have any more room to build anything new?" Then this lady sitting across from us said, "They're shipping Demon Drop to Kings Island and building a new coaster there that goes out over the water." I was like, "Huh?" And she said she knew someone who knows someone who works at the park. She said they won't be building that coaster for like 2 years, but it's coming. So yeah. Demon Drop is coming to KI. The lady from the train who knows a guy who knows a guy told me so.

I'm usually pretty cool with lines, but what happened yesterday was an exercise in patience that I almost couldn't handle.

Wow. I had never been to Cedar Point when it was so crowded before. Even on a Saturday in the Summer I've never seen it so bad. I'm not sure where to begin. We drove 3 1/2 hours from Dayton and we were able to park back in the Soak City parking lot around 2:00. Everything seemed alright. I expected crowds since it was a nice day, not too chilly, not too warm. But I've been to Halloweekends on Saturdays for the last 5 years and this one took the cake. The Magnum was over an hour wait so we passed. Gemini's line was out the gate with all queues open, so we passed. Maverick was full and had a line out the midway a mile long (we were told it was a 3 hour wait) so we passed. Even Mean Streak, arguably the worst wooden coaster in Ohio, had over an hour wait. So I think in the first two hours we got a ride on the train, Wildcat (line wasn't horrible, but they were running less trains so it was slow) and Cedar Downs. Then we got to the food. Oh man. We get in line for a hot dog. All lines for food were long but they weren't only long, but they were slow. We waited for 25 minutes to get to the hot dog guy, I then noticed that they didn't take cards there and I had $5, so I had to get just one dog for my fiancee and I to share. So we hit the ATM and go get in the separate line for fries. I'll pause here to say, they need some kind of way to link the food lines. They got a big sign in lights for corn dogs and pizza, yet under that sign they only sell hot dogs. Then there are lines for deserts, then there are pizza lines, then at the other end of this building are the corndogs. So if you're in one line for the big building and want a hot dog and a corn dog, they can't do it because they're on the opposite ends; though all of the rooms are connected. You'd think the hot dog and corn dog rooms could be joined at least since they both include the basic ingredient of a hot dog. But no. You have to wait 20+ minutes for a hot dog, then go to the other line (which is at the same building) and wait another 20+ minutes for a slightly different item. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if the lines were faster but they seemed understaffed for the enourmous crowds that day. So we're in the fry line now and we waited, I kid you not, 45 minutes for fries. I wouldn't have waited so long, but we were starved after sharing a hot dog and everything had the same length of line in the park so we couldn't really find anything else to hit that would have been any better. Everything had a line. EVERYTHING! The ATM had a line, the men's restroom had a line, to get out of the park - there was a line! Even the leather shop had a line. Who goes crazy for their leather fix at Cedar Point? It's like people were so sick of lines that if they saw something, ANYTHING, that didn't have a line, they ran to it so they could at least be able to do something. Then that caused a line. So I thought it'd get better as the night wore on and people started doing spooky stuff; but no, I think it got worse. We finally bit the bullet and waited for Maverick. It took all of 3 hours to get to it and it was when we were next in the station that they decided to finally put the last train on the track to help the line move. This was at 10. I suppose they thought that the line was just too long at that point. Pshhhh. The wait would have felt worse but we met a lovely Michigan family that we talked to for pretty much the whole 3 hours. I was conflicted being an OSU fan and them being Michigan fans, but we found common ground and stayed away from topics that may have started a war. After that we were pretty much done, but we had to do something scary, so we walked through all 3 scare zones. The Fear Faire was the best, the Fright Zone was about the same as normal, and CarnEVIL was pretty lame with the least amount of scares being dished out. We left at around 11, because I had to be here at work in the morning. So in the 9 hours we were there we rode 2 coasters and some flats and waited for food and other various things. Kind of a pointless trip, but Maverick was worth it. That's a fun coaster. I think it's the first new coaster I've ever ridden at night before trying it durring the day first, so that was cool. All I know is that every year CP's Halloweekends seems to get more and more crowded on Saturdays so I think this was my last one. I'm only going Fridays from now on. It also gave me a new perspective on how crowded a park can get. The only time I've ever seen KI get close to a day so bad was on "bring a friend free" days, so I'll be thankful to get back to KI and their relatively soft crowds this Friday. Oh, also, CP's park was the least decorated that I've seen since I've been going to Halloweekends. KI really set a high bar this year for me as far as decorating. Though I still have beef with KI's "Scare Zones" compared to CP's (their scare zones were the ONLY thing without a line); KI definately has a better scary feel to the park overall. Thanks for reading.

Guess it's a matter of opinion on what people consider a long wait.

My only problem with their "fear zones" is that they seem to be that same thing as a haunted house or trail at KI. My idea of a fear zone, especially since it was Cedar Fair/Cedar Point that defined scare zone for me, is an area that you just walk through and people are everywhere to scare you. But it's not an area you wait in line for. It's just an area everyone walks through all the time. I love Cedar Point's scare zones because of that. If you want to go somewhere where people are there to scare you, but you don't want to wait in line for a house; you go to a scare zone. Granted, this year the whole park is like a scare zone since the people are everywhere and able to scare you at any time. But then, why have areas called "Fear Zones" in the park when they really are no different than the Trail of Terror in the way that they're executed where only a small group of people are allowed through at a time?

If you turned around and left last night (Friday the 12th) then you missed out. It really wasn't as bad as the parking lot and ticket lines indicated. We got there at 7:00, and from 7 to 8:30 we got walk-ons on Vortex and Beast and just walked around the park admiring the decor. From 8:30 (when we met some friends) to midnight we went through the Cemetary, Death Row, rode The Beast (half hour wait), Blackbeard's Revenge, The Racer and the Monster (if that's what the spider ride is; can't remember off hand). We took our time strolling through the park and ate some pizza, watched Dead Awakening (ugh) and whatnot. Granted, I did expect it to be less crowded with it being Friday and pretty chilly, but it wasn't too bad.

Was the shop in Rivertown taken out in place of a large Old Time Photo? That's what I saw when I was last there but I'm not sure if it replaced it, or if I just missed the old shop there. If that shop is gone, they might not be able to sell them in Rivertown.

Hey, I was just wondering, do you think KI will start selling Knotts Berry Farm products in their shops; like jams and jellies and whatnot? Or are they already? I was at the park a couple weekends ago but didn't hit every shop yet. Cedar Point sells them in their Frontiertown section of the park, so I was wondering if KI might follow suit. My girlfriend loves that stuff.