KIghostguy

For anyone curious about competition in the Columbus market...Zoombezi Bay in Columbus is getting a massive new waterslide tower for 2025. Two of the slides are first of their kind and one is first in the Midwest. https://www.columbuszoo.org/news/zoombezi-bay-announces-worlds-first-conservation-tower-water-park-attraction

My understanding is that Grace is the Regional Director, but she will have Regional Managers (yet to be named/announced) who will report to her.

Out of all the parks in the chain now, and all the years to actually build it…it is opening in 2025 at Cedar Point. There are other parks in the system that also have flat, empty plots of land. It is honestly ridiculous to think this has nothing at all to do with Top Thrill 2.

The 2024 Golden Ticket Awards were tonight, and it's always fun to discuss the winners and rankings. The full list can be viewed here: https://amusementtoday.com/issues/2024/gta2024/assets/downloads/AT-GTA-2024i.pdf If you are curious where Kings Island placed this year... #20 steel coaster (Diamondback) #3 and #5 wooden coasters (The Beast and Mystic Timbers, respectively) #5 best guest experience #3 best kid's area

Yes, season 8, episode 1, "Roller Ghoster."

Today was the last day of operation for Lookout Lagoon, which is being replaced by Splash River Junction. It opened in 1997 under the name Buccaneer Island. The name was changed in 2004 to Kangaroo Lagoon, and then to Lookout Lagoon in 2012. Probably the most notable thing about it is that it was featured in a couple shots of the Ghost Hunters episode that was filmed in November 2011. I took these photos a few weeks ago, on August 5. It obviously wasn't the flashiest or biggest thing in the waterpark, but I'm surprised the park didn't put out any notices or anything about it closing today.

It's replacing an amphitheater. I interned there in summer 2022 and it was boarded up by then; I don't know when it was last used.

I won’t have any copies with me, but if you bring your own, I will be happy to sign it!

For any coaster club members...tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 10:30 is The Beast behind-the-scenes tour! Hope to see some of you there.

As much as I love ProSlide attractions, Cedar Fair doesn’t work with them. They ripped out two slides at the Carowinds waterpark a few years ago just because they were ProSlide (supposedly). I guess CF sees them as the waterpark equivalent to Intamin .

Nice thread idea and conversation starter! Kings Dominion has done a much better job of retaining their original identities and lands than Kings Island. The park still feels like a Taft Broadcasting park in a lot of ways, which is a very good thing. Best of all, they still play the appropriately-themed music in each land! It continues to baffle me why Kings Island does not...

Terrible idea. At least with Boo Blasters, you aren’t shooting at things on a screen.

Sounds like fun, and a nice perk for coaster club members.

It is definitely possible to put a coaster into that sized plot of land. Dorney Park was able to squeeze an entire B&M dive coaster into where their Invertigo was.

Congratulations on 100 episodes. Looking forward to 100 more!

So excited for the water coaster. It is exactly what the waterpark needs attractions-wise!

Probably. Cedar Fair already does with their XDS team (eXperience Design and creative Studio). Nowhere near as big as WDI, but it exists, and it has grown already in the past couple of years.

It’s based on blueprints that were filed with the local government, so I don’t know how much more official it can get other than once it’s announced.

This is the confirmed layout. Looks excellent!

Got to ride it three times this morning. I was actually very impressed—smooth and surprisingly forceful for a kiddie/family coaster! Great addition to the park and is sure to be very popular. Will be interesting to see how it functions since it has one train and has Fast Lane.

This is not entirely true. They built a very nice little museum at Worlds of Fun for their 50th anniversary last year. It featured things like the front car of Orient Express and the drafting table that Randall Duell designed the park on. I was very impressed by it (and I was impressed by Worlds of Fun in general).

The sign on this beer cart is incredibly nice. Looks like hand-painted wood. Was not expecting that at all!

I think they missed a spot…

He was VP of Finance at Kings Island 1995-1998 and Assistant General Manager in 1998 before he was promoted to the GM position at KD later that year.

Nice to see all the paintwork going in, and nice to finally get details about Pigpen’s Mess Hall. A little odd to me that they just talked about it and didn’t show off any renders, but maybe they are holding that off until later.