LongLiveTheSmurfRide

When I was last ay KI, I didn't notice a problem with smoking. However, it did not seem overly obvious that there was a no-smoking policy in the park. If I was a smoker who did not know about the policy beforehand, I didn't see too much that stuck out as a warning that they'd be breaking the rules of the park if they smoked out in the midways. Just seems like an ineffective policy at the moment.

I agree totally. They sacrificed the ride's ability (which is to flip you tons more than TR:TR does) to try and tell a dumb story based on a bad movie (which you can't even hear anymore because the sound is so bad.) It's like taking a ride like the Scrambler and putting a ton of theming on it and spinning you once around so it looks like you'll hit spikes on a wall then backwards once or twice towards something else and then it's over. I'd prefer the Scrambler do what it was intended to do, which is spin you a bunch and forget the boring theming.

The Son has been dead for a long time, it just didn't know it yet.

Hey, I think I remember that story. Didn't you post that like a year or so ago?

Do you have any sources for that bit of insight?

TG is too short for me to fall asleep on it. I just can't get to sleep that fast.

^Got mine from this site.

What I noticed first was that the eyesore IJST was not there. Compare to this pic:

^And when they stop you at the old helicopter scene, instead of getting shot at, an old HB character can come out (Scooby, Fred Flinstone, Capt. Caveman) and hug everyone before you're shot through the Int. Street. Maybe have a mini Smurf ride in the dark portion.

That must have been a heck of a ride.

LoL, yeah it was Disney-like because they ripped off Disney's Haunted Mansion ride in about every way possible.

Those things make a loud slamming noise when the ops close them for such little doors too.

Actually, Geauga Lake has a Top Spin "on a piece of concrete" and my friends who have been there said that it blows TR:TR away mainly because it does more of what a Top spin is designed to do, which is flip you as much as it can. And it's not even a GIANT Top Spin. So, yeah, I think it would be better outside instead of trying to follow a bad "storyline".

So you'd also say that you would rather ride Flight of Fear out in the open in broad daylight then inside a near pitch-black building, even though some effects don't work? And from what I can remember, Cedar Point doesn't do to well with theming, either. *eyes Disaster Transport* Name ONE coaster at a Cedar Fair park that runs through NATURAL trees instead of a "concrete parking lot." Now you can understand why I wanted Busch Gardens to buy us instead of Cedar Fair. I don't mind Flight of Fear being indoors. That has nothing to do with theming. I don't like how flood lights are now on in the hanger area making all of the cool lighting effects that FoF has null and void. And everything is dusty and cobweb-ridden while the inside of the saucer is carved up more than a jack-o-lantern. The ride could be indoors without it being themed to anything. Its theming is what's gone downhill like all themed rides at KI (Not counting the awesome kids area). I'm not against theming, I'm just against heavily theming a ride and letting it deteriorate after a season. And I never said anything about Cedar Point doing theming well. One big difference between Cedar Point and KI is that CP is pretty much an island. I can't say that I know the history of the land or if it even ever had an abundance of trees. But the basic problem is that they have run out of room, so they can't really work with a forest or anything like KI can. So I'm not all that worried that Cedar Fair is going to turn KI into a parking lot. I'm sure they'll work well with what they got.

Smurf's Coaster Count KI Trips: 1 Beast: 1 Vortex: 2 recaR: 2 Italian Job: 1 Delirium: 1 Top Gun: 1 Viking Fury: 1 Avatar: 1 Tomb Raider: 1 Face-Off: 1 Drop Zone: 1 Flight of Fear: 2 Asked to fill out a credit card app: 2 Singled out by a game op begging for players: 3 Was told my excuse not to play was a good one by said op: 1 Tempted but fought off temptation to have LaRosa's pizza: 4

I never cared for the Cobra, but then I'm just not a fan of stand-ups.

I think I'm one of the few here who doesn't care as much about theming as a good ride. I like themed areas to parks, but I'm not crazy about rides needing theming (FoF, TR:TR, IJ). It's fine with me if a ride has extensive theming, but all I ask is that if you're going to spend the money to create the theming, then keep up with it. If you're not going to, don't bother, it just becomes an eyesore after a couple years. I don't believe Cedar Fair is into the whole theme park scene as much as KI has always been. Like, Cedar Point has a Frontier Trail themed area, and that's about it. The rest of it is pure Amusement park. I'm more into that, personally. Give me more rides that are out in the open, giving different quality rides. Don't give me something like Back to the Future at Universal that's fun the first couple times, but is essentially the same exact thing over and over. Theming gets tired after a while. Just a straight-up great ride does not.

I was not aware of that. I wonder what the circumstances were for that.

I don't think you'll have anything to worry about with Cedar Fair in regards to Fear Fest. They seem to be big fans of Halloween events. Cedar Point's Halloweekends are just as good as KI's Fear Fest and Cedar Fair's Knott's Berry Farm is constantly considered the best Halloween park in the country. So once Cedar Fair DOES begin impacting the park, I don't think Fear Fest will have anything to worry about.

Goes to show that theming is not always the best idea. I'd rather take a coaster flying through naturally beautiful trees than cut them down for some theming that won't be kept up after the first year. Everyone who screams for KI to do more highly themed rides, this is what happens! It's what's always happened! KI can't keep up with theming!

Smurf Ride and the Eagles. (Not the band)

Hasn't there been a time or two during those days where they weren't allowed to let anyone else in because they reached the park's limit?

Yeah, I went and brought some friends for free and we walked in, wandered around for a couple hours and left without riding a thing. It was that busy.

I've gone the last 4 years, actually, and it's great. I don't know exactly how to compare it to PKI's Fear Fest. I do know that it's my favorite time to go (to either park, actually). The weather is usually perfect (except my first year it was in the lower 40's with strong winds), and the park's open late so you get to enjoy the nighttime park atmosphere longer, and you get free thrills and scares aside from the rides! As far as haunted houses go, KI has the advantage because they have more and they were a little scarier, I thought. CP has 3 houses and a kind of trail thing which is supposed to be really cheesy (I've never waited in the 2+ hour line for it). The best things they got are 2 scary midways. One is in their Frontier section called the Fright Zone and the other is by Wicked Twister called CarnEvil. Both get freaky at dark and fill with smoke and lights and people dressed as ghouls roam amongst the crowds scaring them. It's the funniest thing just watching people get freaked out and sometimes getting freaked out yourself. They also have little Halloween-type shows and dressed people roaming around. They have really good stage actors who do little one-man shows of old Edgar Allen Poe stories which are pretty interesting and a little intense. They have a magician as well. At night on their large screen that they do the laser show on, they show silent horror films. All that plus all of the additional Halloween theming here and there makes it almost a completely different park. Another not-to-miss area is the old ride graveyard which pays homage to all of the rides taken from CP over the years. It's amusing and a little sad.

They just need to get some good German-style polka bands in there and get people clapping to the music to help make it a fun place.