ONE OF THESE!

Hm......

I can't figure out where that ride is that you put in - is there nothing there currently?

That is where Thunder Alley currently stands.

Those rides are fun, but I feel like it is too similar to Delirium to be placed right next to it.

Have you ridden both? The ride experiences are not that similar at all...nor is the restraint system!

Oh okay the view is kind of weird to me. Thunder Alley is pretty stupid, I wasted $30 for my family on some race cars that go 2mph - seriously. Dumb.

I would love to see a bit more atmosphere put into Action Zone. The area needs more landscaping desperatley. It's hard to think back to what it looked like as the Wild Animal Habitat / Adventure Village. Now it's just a concrete wasteland.

Well I don't see a place called Action Zone having a lot of landscaping....at least more trees though.

I wish Paramount would of put Tomb Raider (The Crypt) in the Action Zone since it would fit the whole movie theme. I loved that huge log flume. Paramount messes everything up.

(emphasis added)

Really? Did they mess up in who they sold the parks to? Or in how much money they got for them? In installing the Flights of Fear? In bringing back Winterfest, for whatever reason? In signing a very lucrative Coke contract while they had the parks for sale? In hiring Jeff Seibert and thousands and thousands of other talented people, many of whom have left or who new park management let go?

Terpy, just sayin'

Wow bub, calm down. I did'nt mean that in literal terms and for every year they owned the park. They took out the antique cars and put in a total snoozefest (Stunt Track). While Paramount owned the park, the employees were doing a sloppy job and the lines moved soooo slow. Once Cedar Fair bought the park the employees seem to be doing a harder job and the lines are moving faster. Sure Paramount did make some good decisions. They put in Flight of Fear, Drop Tower, Invertigo, Son of Beast, and Delirium. They made more mistakes than achievements. Cedar Fair put two new coasters in the park. Two good coasters in a row actually (even though they are two years apart). Firehawk works most of the time and is one of the greatest rides there. Diamondback is the best ride ever at Kings Island. It is perfect. Also it hasn't broken down yet.

Well not to be so literal but Diamondback has broken down several times. Not that it matters. Just usually in the morning it gets stuck on the brakes or the lift hill. Off topic a little.

is it bad i miss King Cobra in the Action Zone...... BTW does anyone have any photos of the Action Zone before SOB was built? But after the Safari Thing ended. I can not remember what it looked like.

I don't know what it is about Action Zone. Its missing somthing and I have yet to figure it out...

It doesn't have the "Action" feeling. 3 coasters, 1 flat and a water ride. Terrible.

HTCO what you are missing is the fun factor. There is no reason to stay over there. If you walk through river town you have a bunch of rides and restaurants on either side along with a little atmoshphere and games. Over in Coney Mall you have the games in the middle of the "midway" along with the sounds of the games and many restaurants. IMHO the problem with Action Zone is it feels like a big circle and you rush in do those rides then go and enjoy the rest of the park. For example why would you eat over there when you could walk down the mid way or head over to Octoberfest. Top Gun is so far back there is nothing to watch, and SOB all you can see is the main hill. You do get to watch Invertigo and Drop Tower but not like over by Vortex (I assume you can see plent of DB have yet to make a trip this year I will be going in Sept) and over in Coney Mall you can watch The Racer roll on. Action Zone was nice to sit and visit when they did the stunt show over there. But to be truthful there is not much going on over there to watch. (Not an insult to the rides) plus I believe there is one store over there where everywhere else there are multiple stores in an area....

is it bad i miss King Cobra in the Action Zone...... BTW does anyone have any photos of the Action Zone before SOB was built? But after the Safari Thing ended. I can not remember what it looked like.

um... i might be wrong but that area of the park was never Action Zone until Son of Beast construction had started, did't it become paramount's Action Zone when they opened Invertigo and Drop Tower to the public and didn't they have Son of Beast partially constructed that year?

right thats why I was saying I dont remember what it looked like. Congo Falls was over there and King Cobra's que i thought was where deleriums que line is at sort of. And of course Top Guns line ran all the way down but ... what else was there

Well I don't see a place called Action Zone having a lot of landscaping....at least more trees though.

It could. Some bright colored flowers around the water tower instead of concrete could do wonders for the look of the area.

Or better yet, removal of the now pointless fake water tower would also help....

Then, there'd be a huge concrete field with *no* point whatsoever. I'd love to see a better logo put on the water tower, though. Or, at least, the Action Zone logo put back up. But, I know better.

Or better yet, removal of the now pointless fake water tower would also help....

That would be wonderful but I don't like the that fake water tower.

Or better yet, removal of the now pointless fake water tower would also help....

But then Action Zone would be even more empty. What would you like to see put in the area that the water tower resides? Anyone else have an idea on what the water tower could be replaced with?

Don't put a sky swing next to Delirium....take Delirium out and PUT the sky swing there. They're so much better.

Why act like Paramount Parks so often did? Just because you install a ride does not necessarily mean you have to take one (or even more) out!

Delerium needs to go as high as it used to. I'd rather have Kings Island use money to maintain their rides now instead of adding more. Beast for instance. They could take out the brakes and maintain it more.

Cedar Fair has some big plans for the park. They've proved excellent so far. I think that they built everything in Action Zone to close and closed it off from the park behind it.

Well, I think it's a decent part of the park. I like River Town better. BUT they have Drop Tower, Flight Deck, and Delirium. Also, SOB but it aint open. I think it could use another small coaster though.

The problem with Action Zone is guest flow... it's a dead end. Whereas most of the rest of the park places attractions along a path, Action Zone is a big slab of concrete with rides around the preimeter. I am not all that fond of the watertower, but is serves as a decent "weenie" for the land. The tower provides a central gathering point from which smaller paths lead to the land's attractions.

Looking at the overhead, I don't see an "easy" way of fixing the flow problems. The Club Blood building blocks the chance of creating a loop around the Skycoaster, and the way that Invertigo is shoved back in the corner creates an awkward path with no workaround.

Guest flow problems aside, there is no reason that some landscaping could be introduced. Big planters of bright flowers at the base of each of the poster frames that surround the tower, and some built in planter benches to break up the huge slabs of concrete would do wonders.

I've always wished the area could either go back to looking more like Adventure Village, even with all the current attractions, or perhaps be turned into something like GL's Power City (which I know originated as Gotham City as SFWoA), I think some comic book style, art deco buildings could work nicely for the "thrill ride" part of the park.

sort of like what Universal studios do?

As has been noted, Power City was a remake of Gotham City, left behind at Geauga Lake from the Six Flags Worlds of Adventure days. I'd not expect anything that detailed from Cedar Fair...

I think that the pic, along with the rest of SF's Gotham Cities, are too gritty in detail. What I liked about SFWoA's Gotham (GL's Power City) was that it had the art deco design, deeply saturated color, and strong detail, without looking seedy or dirty. From a thematic standpoint, it was actually done pretty lightly. There wasn't much in the way of placemaking, just necessary operational structures dressed up a bit (which is more the way CF operates anyway).

I wish there were some sort of thought process going on in park management to the tune of "What is Action Zone?" What does it represent? Is it a stunt zone in a studio backlot? If so, thats great, let's improve the look and dynamic of the area.

Looking at the installations since the CF purchase, I have to say I'm happy. Firehawk was dressed and themed to match where it went, and Diamonback works great where it is. The problems in Action Zone stem from poor execution or funding in the planning and design stage. There were certainly "hard points" (buildings, attractions, utilities) which had to be included in the Animal Habitat to Adventure Village and the Adventure Village to Action Zone changeovers, but in both cases, especially though the latter, most of today's problems with the area could have been prevented.

The water tower and I have a rocky relationship

On one hand, it's a great meet up place when others in my party wish to ride different rides in that area.

On the other hand....well...I walked right into the leg of it during my last trip. I had my head turned, talking to my husband about something. Man, I was going into great detail. I even had hand motions going. When all of the sudden... *BOP* Right smack into it. It startled me at first, not realizing what I had hit head on. My kids cracked up. My husband just stood there with this ' I can't believe you are that clumsy' look on his face. I wasn't hurt, but for the rest of the trip, they aggravated me about it. And still do. "Hey Mom, remember when you walked into that pole?" hah.