WindSeeker Update

By: Chris

Again all, sorry for the delay. There hasn't been too many off season updates. However, I'm excited to let you know that WindSeeker is well underway at Kings Island.

The construction crew at Kings Island has certainly been busy since our last WindSeeker update in December.

Coney Mall has been getting a ton of work as well. The WindSeeker Plaza is certainly shaping up at the end of Coney Mall.

Kings Island's Twitter has also been giving us wonderful updates. 

All pictures below are from Kings Island Twitter. 

Windseeker parts started to arrive at Kings Island on February 22nd.

It is quite amazing how big these pieces are! 

Don't forget you can check out the live webcam on the WindSeeker plaza at http://www.visitkingsisland.com/public/fun/webcams/index.cfm

Here's a video of the first piece at KI.

 Here's another video of pieces arriving at the park!

Finally here are three time lapses of the Windseeker Plaza construction!! 

 

 

I don't know about you, but I'm am really excited about this ride! Hope you enjoy this update on WindSeeker. Be looking for more updates as this ride goes vertical! Also be looking for a Trip Report on Kings Island's "sister park" Carowinds and possible a trip report on KI's true sister park, Kings Dominion after the first weekend in April! 

Don't forget to leave us comments! If you don't know how, check the "Contact Us Page" for instructions! We look forward to hearing from you and any ideas you may have!

Park Dreams

By: Chris

First of all I want to apologize for the lack of updates. Life can be crazy at times and add college in there you get a lack of time to even think!

With my past few times of going South 71 past Kings Island I've had some day dreams of the park, going and riding Diamondback, eating some Larosa's Pizza in the Festhaus, etc.

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The day dreams inspired me to look and see if some people had dreams about both Kings Island and Cedar Point. So I looked to the fan forums to do some research. Here are a few examples I found, enjoy! Nothing has been edited, minus taking poster names out.

•  I dreamt that I was in the Eiffel Tower and every thing was normal so I leaned against the bars to get a better look at DB but and then they dissapeared and I was falling (in slow motion). all i could think about was hitting the ground so I did what spider man would do and shot webs out of my finger tips and crawled back up the tower when i was safly in side the tower i looked around and everyone didnt even noticed what just happened. I turn around to look at where the bars had disappered and they were there again. I was so confused to say the least! This is what happin when you take Nyquil before bed!!!lol "
• I had a dream that a TTD train completly fell off the top of the tower. I was in the park as it happened, and i saw everyone running for cover. Then, and this was the weird part, they got a giant crane and started to take ttd down as everyone was still in the park! So, I then went on the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the park, millennium force. Yeah... weird dream indeed!
I dreamt that I was being taken on a pre-dawn tour of the park by someone who was either Don Helbig or Jeff Probst, (or an amalgamation of them both), and there was an elevator inside the mast on the top of the Eiffel Tower, which, in true, dreamy illogic was over 3,000 feet tall! ...and I still couldn't see my house (dang it!) ...so, As I came out the top, there was a beautiful, curvy roller coaster with otherworldy supports (like something out of "Alien") silhouetted against the predawn twilight, rising a thousand feet out of the mist-enveloped treetops below. The supports featured an almost dragon-scale texture, and was lighted with slowly sweeping, ghostly-white, "Pink-Floyd-ish" robotic lights, which revealed a chrome-plated quality as the material sparkled. I reached for my trusty Flip camera (you know, because you gotta record your dreams...) Anyways... I felt a heat source so I turned around, and finally found the blinking aircraft beacon, and was amazed at how tiny it was. Suddenly, the wind picked up, and the mast started to sway violently, and the elevator, for some strange reason, had been removed for maintenance while we were up there; but the tour guide knew of a secret escape chute inside one of the leg supports of the tower, so we all jumped in and the gut-wrenching sensation of falling woke me up.
• Well, my brain went into overdrive last night, apparenty what I ate for dinner made me have weird dreams again.I dreamed that who ever truely owned Millenium Force had died, and that Cedar Point could no longer run the ride as it was designed. Cedar Point had to redesign a few sections of the ride so they could run it again.The major thing that changed was the 1st over bank turn. They kept it low to the ground, and twisted the track so when you went around the curve you were on the outside of the track, about 3 feet off the ground. They changed the cars to Single Cars so all seats were the front row, and made them larger so people up to 300 lbs could ride the ride. Then up in the front of the park they had announced the new ride for 2011. It was called the Demon, or Demons Return. The structure was an identical version of Demon Drop, but the cars were those robotic arms/simulator cars. And it was a space shuttle simulator ride of sorts. So just as I was about to try the new ride, my alarm went off and woke me up. - All I know is I better watch what I eat before going to bed, or I better get to Cedar Point this year real soon.
• I had this wild dream that I was on Magnum with my friend, and we were at the top of the lift hill, and the ride stopped. My friend got so scared that she unbuckles our seat belt, somehow pulls up our lap bar, and gets out of the train, making her way down the lift hill stairs. Just my luck, the train starts moving again, with my seat belt undone and lap bar up, quickly latch the seat belt, pulled the lap bar down, and prayed my friend would be okay going to the stairs. Well, as we were cresting the hill, my friend's shirt gets caught on the side of the train, and as the train goes down the hill, she is pulled down with it, and falls to the ground. When I got off the ride, I ran into Soak City to try and where she had landed. And oddly enough, she had survived the 205 foot fall, and wasn't even harmed! In fact, she was sitting on a bench eating cotton candy like nothing had happened!

Wow some of these are quite the trip! Have you ever had a dream about Kings Island or Cedar Point? Leave us a comment telling us what happened in your dream!

http://www.cedarpoint.com/_upload/groups/aerial08.jpg

Sources:
Point Buzz Dreams
KICentral Dreams

Don't forget to leave us comments! If you don't know how, check the "Contact Us Page" for instructions! We look forward to hearing from you and any ideas you may have!

It's a bird, It's a Plane, No it's a Roller coaster

By: Chris

           When you talk to guests and coaster enthusiasts about Cedar Point and ask them about the coasters that have dominated the park, they'll more than likely talk about Millennium Force, Maverick, Mantis, Raptor, Disaster Transport, Corkscrew, Top Thrill Dragster, Wicked Twister, Mean Streak, Blue Streak, Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Gemini, Iron Dragon, Gemini Jr., Magnum, Wildcat, or Woodstock Express. When you ask them about past rides they will mention things like Demon Drop, White Water Landing, Mill Race, 
Shoot the Rapids (Prior to 2010), Earthquake, Pirate Ride, The Double Ferris Wheel, Rotor, and Frontier Lift. But most people will not mention the now defunct roller coaster, Jumbo Jet.

http://thelostcoaster.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/mp_script_jumbojet.jpg?w=450&h=99

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          Jumbo Jet was a pre-fab coaster that was listed as a coaster in the line up of rides at Cedar Point from 1972 until 1978. Jumbo Jet was one of the first coasters in the world to use a lift system that was an electrical one that was going up in a spiral. The trains would make their way up the very low grade spiraling helix before getting to the first drop. The helix had small wheel motors all the way up the incline that helped propel the train. The trains would have 2 cars, in which riders were in 6 rows per train, allowing for 12 riders per train. Jumbo Jet was classified as a steel coaster until later when it was distinguished as it's own type of coaster due to the size of the pipes. The coaster featured 70 degree banked turns and reached speeds up to 60 miles per hour. The track was 2,845 feet long, however the coaster itself was 108 feet long, 194 feet wide and 56 feet high. The coaster was located in the same beach front location where another defunct coaster, Cyclone, once stood and where Disaster Transport is now located. In 1979 Jumbo Jet was replaced by Wild Cat was moved from a previous location to the location of Jumbo Jet and then moved to its current spot. 

http://thelostcoaster.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/wagen-eigenantrieb01.jpg?w=300&h=447

http://thelostcoaster.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/jumbojetendoftheline.jpg?w=450&h=338

          This coaster was brought to my attention by stumbling upon a blog entitled The Lost Coaster. I had no idea about this coaster even being a coaster until I saw The Lost Coaster. To my knowledge their site is one that is trying to locate Cedar Point's pre-fab coaster since it had the ability to be moved and it wasn't destroyed after leaving Cedar Point. I don't have much to say about this coaster since there isn't a whole lot of information out there about it. As you can guess, I'd love to ride this coaster as well. I had found out that there were several duplicates of this coaster made and many of the "Jumbo Jets" are still in operation...now if I could find one! Check out the video below, it is about Cedar Point in 1972 and has a feature of Jumbo Jet. 

 Sources: 
http://rollercoasterfreak.com/Cedar_Point/History.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo_Jet_(Cedar_Point)
http://www.rcdb.com/355.htm
http://thelostcoaster.wordpress.com/

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Can You Stand It?

By: Chris

          Can You Stand It?

          On April 22, 1984 when Kings Island opened for the season, they opened with a $3 million investment in a prototype TOGO Stand-Up Coaster, named King Cobra. Kings Island still dealing with the issues of the prototype suspended coaster, The Bat, decided to install this coaster. This new coaster was a special one due to the fact that it was the worlds first coaster designed to be a stand-up roller coaster. King Cobra was designed my the Japanese company, TOGO. King Cobra was located in the Lion Country Safari area of the park. 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/King_Cobra_(Kings_Island).jpg

          The coaster featured trains that used Arrow Dynamics car chassis. The chassis was simliar to the cars on the trains for Corkscrew coasters, however the prototype on King Cobra didn't have seats, it had riders standing in an upright position with a new type of over the shoulder restraints, a picture of the restrains is below. There were 2 trains with 6 cars per train. Riders would stand 2 across in two rows on each car, for the total of 24 guests per train. This would make the hourly capacity 1250 for the 2 minute, 50 mile per hour ride. The length of the track for King Cobra was 2,219 feet at the top height of 95 feet with 1 inversion in the form of a loop. Once on the train passengers would ascend the 95 foot lift hill, before turning 180 degrees to the right to be dropped as soon as the turn was completed. The first thing after the drop was the vertical loop.  The riders then would experience a camel back hill allowing them some airtime, which many craved. As soon as they crested the hill they were dropped into a 540 degree helix, in which some riders said  they felt like they were standing sideways. After the helix, riders were thrown over a second camel back hill and then they experience a trick track. The trick track on King Cobra was straight, but banked to the left and then immediately turned right. The riders hit two smaller hills that gave minimum airtime before arriving in the brake run. Once the train was in the break run, the train turned to the right and was brought into the station.

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          In 1993, the Lion County Safari area including the former monorail (to be discussed later), the animals and other rides were removed without an explanation. However, King Cobra would continue to dominate and operate in that area for 17 years. In 2001, TOGO closed their American offices. This poised a problem for Kings Island and the operation of King Cobra. The problems were the fact that it became harder for the park to get replacement parts for the ride, like wheels and other parts. The decision came to remove King Cobra shortly after the 2001 season due to low ridership and the problematic issue of getting more parts. As the 2002 season opened up for Kings Island, crews arrived to remove King Cobra. However, the ride wasn't in any immediate danger of being wiped off of the planet. The ride went up for sale on several websites that sell used rides, for around 1 million dollars. The ride unfortunately never sold. Most of the steel for the ride ended up in the Kings Island ride "graveyard," as seen by the following picture. It's my belief that the steel was placed in the graveyard by Son of Beast, as I did my looking on Google Earth. The cars were stored in various places around the park. They were stored in one of the animal feed houses for the Lion County Safari attraction, they were stored (and most enthusiasts can vouch for this) in the Flight of Fear "spaghetti" bowl around the perimeter. At the end of the 2008 season, the remaining cars were sent to Kings Dominion to be used for parts on their coaster, Shockwave. To this day, you can see some remnants of the footings for King Cobra. I'm not completely sure where they are all located, however I know when I'm in the queue for Adventure Express, I can see the footers as I look to the left before walking into the sheltered queue.

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          While I never got a chance to ride this coaster. I've heard great things. For a prototype coaster, I'm extremely happy that Kings Island received one that was successful and that it didn't have the same fate as the previous prototype, The Bat. The only stand up coaster that I have ridden is Mantis at Cedar Point. That one hurt a bit for me since I'm a guy, not sure if King Cobra had the same "feature" but I hope not! The whole lay out looks fun to me, I know I would enjoy the feeling of standing sideways while on a coaster. I do find it sad that TOGO did close the American offices. Think of the coasters that could have been if they would have stayed in the states. One of my favorite things about this history of this coaster is the fact that when I go to ride Adventure Express with someone who has been to the park way more than me or for a longer time than I, ala prior to 1993, hearing the stories of their first ride on King Cobra, hearing their take on the layout and what "that footing" is for, or for the fact that these people continue to find the enthusiasm they had back when King Cobra was operational and bringing it to other rides. I do find it interesting that the park has had a couple of rides with snake names in them, then King Cobra and now Diamondback. I am a bit upset that I never got to ride King Cobra, however I'm happy that Kings Island was graced with this coaster.

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Sources

King Cobra Wikipedia

Roller Coaster Database, King Cobra

News Plus Notes- King Cobra Entry

KI Extreme King Cobra History

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A Natural Force Simply known as "Millennium Force"

          Imagine hearing the following words and seeing the video below for the first time...how would you feel? Would you be excited, would you question any of the posed questions, would you try to be the first in line for this new ride? 

At the turn of the millennium, there were signs...
Was there something out there?
A higher intelligence?
A mysterious force at work?
Beyond words.
Beyond comprehension.
Beyond...Beyond... (echo: Beyond...)
What will the new millennium bring?
In theory:
A shadowy construct fathomed by scientists at their wits' end
of the quest for the answer to everything.
Beyond time, beyond space, beyond gravity, beyond dimensions we understand, a natural force simply known as 'Millennium Force'.
Somewhere, racing along the edge of the time-space continuum in the universe as we know it, it's out there.
Millennium Force, the future is riding on it.

          Millennium Force (MF) opened May 13, 2000. At 2 minutes, 45 minutes it broke 10 world records. The records that Millennium Force opened with were Tallest Coaster Ever (310ft), Fastest Coaster Ever (92mph), Longest Drop On A Coaster Ever (300ft), Steepest Non-Inversion Banked Turn Ever (122 Degrees), First Coater Ever To Use An Elevator Lift System, Most Coasters At One Park Ever (14), Most Rides At One Park Ever (68), First Ever Coaster To Top 300 Feet, Most Steel Coasters Ever At One Park (12), and Most Coaster Track At One Park Ever (44013 ft). Millennium Force Wikipedia Page As I said these records were broken in 2000. Most of these records have been broken since then, but for 10 world records to be broken with one coaster opening is pretty impressive.  As well as these records being broken Millennium Force since opening has won 11 Goldent Tickets Awards, never falling below 2nd place for Top Steel Coaster. More recently in 2010 MF was awarded the number 1 Top Steel Coaster. Golden Ticket Millennium Force Info The Golden Ticket Awards are seen as a big deal with parks because the awards are determined by surveys sent out by the Amusement Today Magazine to "seasoned park fans" and the parks pride themselves on how guests see the park.

          Millennium Force is an Intamin Giga Coaster. This coaster cost $25 million. Projected hourly capacity is 1300 riders. The coaster is 6595 feet long with the maximum height of 310 feet and drop of 300 feet. The maximum vertical angle at the drop is 80 degrees. The ride features a 310 foot lift hill,  169 foot and 182 foot air time hills and two tunnels. Millennium Force features no inversions. There are 3 trains with 9 cars per train. Each car features 2 rows with 2 seats making it a total of 36 riders per train. Each restraint is an individual hydraulic lap bar with a seatbelt. 

http://rcdb.com/594.htm?p=733

          I didn't get a chance to ride Millennium Force until this past season in early May. When I got to Cedar Point my two friends and I went over to Mantis to meet up with some other friends. Since they had just got off of Mantis they suggested we go ride MF. I tell you what, I was really scared. We got to the queue line, waited maybe a total of 10 minutes. We got in the back car of the blue train. I was wearing my Elmo T-Shirt, as we were being pulled by the Elevator Lift (which I think that system is the coolest ever) one of the ride ops kept yelling to me "Bye Elmo!" The ride ops at Millennium Force in my experience have always been wonderful. Anyway back to the ride. Climbing the hill was amazing and fast! I enjoyed seeing the lake right next to me! The drop was really cool and fun! It was definitely one of the smoothest coasters I have ever been on. The over-banked turns to me were really sweet and necessary...I'm pretty sure I would have browned out if they were not banked. The first tunnel was a complete surprise to me. I had no idea that there was even a tunnel on the ride (let alone 2)! I'm happy they went with a couple airtime hills as well! I love to get airtime! I found it interesting that they had some track above and below other track for a coaster like this. It was cool that there is an airtime hill next to the station and an over-banked turn over the queue line. One smart thing I think they did with this coaster was making it have two stations, one for entering the coaster and one for exiting the coaster. It allows for less confusion for guests and smoother operations. I found it really interesting that there were no inversions on this ride. However, it made my point more apparent, a coaster doesn't have to have inversions to be great. In fact Millennium Force is tied with Maverick for my top favorite Steel Coaster.  On this trip we closed the day out with 2 back to back rides. I even got on the last train of the day! I believe I will always ride this at opening and closing of my visits. 

          I do think that MF does need a coat of fresh paint. The colors are really starting to fade and I would love to see it as vibrant as ever! Mind you, I'm not complaining because I think the color that has faded makes the ride worse, I'm simply stating that I would like to see more paint :)! I found it weird when riding that the cat walk for the lift hill is on the opposite side of actual upside of the hill. The downward side features a ladder and then a steel catwalk as it gets to the peak of the hill...on the upward part of the hill it features a separate lift system for a basket that carries people up and down the hill in the basket if evacuation is necessary. In the below picture you can see the rails and wires for the basket.

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