Kings Island to bring back Flyers and add second kiddie ride

Kings Island announced today they are bringing back the Flyers. It is apparently going to be a Larson model and placed in Planet Snoopy. A second ride is going to be added that has individual cars that bounce up and down as they spin. In addition to these, they are more than doubling the size of Starbucks and adding updates to the Picnic Grove. Not sure how they are going to wedge these new rides in unless they are removing something.

Also I believe they're uppimg their food like Carowinds, no?

Does this mean Chuck will finally let it go?

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/what-s-new/a-bigger-planet-snoopy-in-2015-

From the rendering it looks like the splashy factory place, formerly Sponge Bob something or another, might be going away to make room for the new rides. That thing was looking pretty crappy and worn out the last few seasons. And I'll say it for Chuck, it's too bad they aren't putting the Larson ride in at Carowinds and giving KI back their classic Bisch Rocco ride. There.

The I Street food renovations are probably just what's needed up there. I've said for a long time, and again when I was at Holiday World a couple weeks ago, that if I had a park I'd have several funnel cake stands with ten windows across. They do incredible business, particularly in the evening. The one at KI has been pretty much the same since the beginning of time and the line can be so long, sometimes stretching clear across the street toward the Eiffel Tower. Funnel cakes aren't hard to make, they're just time consuming. It's fun to watch them being made (I guess...), but what's really needed is faster service/increased capacity so hopefully that's part of the plan.

And please... I'm not trying to open up that age old funnel cake capacity argument, now....

They also announced that the candy palace will be undergoing a complete refurbish which will result in a visible kitchen and more onsite handmade candy (which will likely result in me spending more money, I wont buy off the shelf candy at parks but put a gourmet caramel apple, or fresh pastries and the money comes pouring out.)

Also, a little off topic but while it was bone chillingly cold (and wet Friday) the park was dead and I had a great last 2 days. The only negative was that the outdoor haunts did not open either night, at least the Skeleton Crew and Blood Drums preformed tonight though.

These seem like great upgrades. In my opinion, the flying scooters aren't the big story here. Major upgrades to International Street and the picnic grove are great ideas. Though not on the announcement page, there seem to be rumors that the theater in the kids area will be replaced by a new entrance to the picnic grove AND a petting zoo. Cedar Point upgraded their petting zoo this year, and it seemed like a big success. All the kiddies at Kings Island will love it.

I want a petting zoo at Carowinds. Like, now.

Food stand capacity would help. Think how much money could be made on "impulse buys" (Ice cream, funnel cakes, etc) if people didn't just look at the line and say "I"m not waiting in that." You have to get them while the mood strikes, because in case of an impulse buy like that, the impulse goes away after a few minutes of standing in line.

As for the Flyers, while they'll probably be a great addition, I don't care either, unless they are the older, snappable type. But that's just the coastertool in me.

I read a FB post last night that said snapping *would* be permitted. I'm assuming this is erroneous until proven otherwise (set yourself up for pleasant surprises, not unexpected disappointment).

That will be fine if it's possible to snap those Larson planes, which it kind of isn't. I did okay flying at Cedar Point on a breezy day, and I got pretty high in the air, but it was hard to get a snap. The plane almost turned backwards a couple of times and that was fun.

Yeah, I think the one at Cedar Point needs to go a little faster to snap.

They are lightly snappable, but you will get yelled at. In fact, while I'm not positive, I'm pretty sure that I had a ride cut short once. No warning, just a shortened ride.

But seriously, where is the fun in "lightly" snapping anyways? We mostly don't bother unless it's a walk-on, which it never is, being so low capacity.

I don't usually try to 'snap', but I do like getting a nice swoop going. Twice when I've ridden the flyers at Cedar Point there's been a decent gust of wind that has caused some bouncing, whereupon we get yelled at. So I held my wing straight center, and it still bounced (because as it turns out, wind is a thing) and we got the announcement again. I finally just took my hands off the wing entirely the rest of the ride to prove I wasn't intentionally snapping.

Combine that with the 90-second ride cycle and 2-minute slowdown/unloading time, and I usually leave the ride less happy than when I started. :-/

It has been said that Walt Disney was asked if he wanted a fence built to keep park visitors off the grass in a certain area of Disneyland. He replied no, and that he wanted a path there instead.

Keeping that example in mind, why wont the manufacturer of these rides make them safe to snap? People clearly want to do it. I'm sure that with a little bit of engineering it could be safely designed into the ride. Why not do it?

Flying Eagle ride scare me to death, for some reason. I think it's because they feel out of control. If I accidentally snap while on the ride, I get terrified for some reason and stop immediately. I get the appeal though. lol

Great addition to the park! I think the park realized that getting some flyers back to the park was long overdue. I applaud them.

I may have already mentioned this, and I don't know where to look now, but a while back on account of a previous thread I googled something (I know, these details are terrible) but I came up with a screenshot of an old newspaper from probably the 40's. On the page there was an column entitled "Coney Island Beat" that had news about Brooklyn's playground. There was an item about a Flying Scooter accident where only one cable came loose from a tub sending it, hanging strictly by the other, past the fence barrier. The tub and cable mowed down the spectators surrounding the ride, resulting in the death of two men.

I thought "Yikes! Maybe this is why they don't like us boys snapping so hard."

I'm sure with today's safety concerns the rides are safe and the cables are built to withstand, but I'm with Travis. I always feel a little precarious when I ride one of these simple devices. I'm also with birdhombre and prefer to make a game of seeing how high I can get the plane to swoop withOUT snapping. As Jeff mentions, speed has everything to do with it. Knoebels' machine, a classic, goes insanely fast and it's hard not to snap. Carowinds and Kings Dominions, also original Bisch Roccos, are a little slower, but with time and work a good snap is possible. These Larson rides are slower still and I wouldn't be surprised if the manufacturer mandates some kind of limit to the RPM's. Tub (wing) size and shape also has a lot to do with it. I believe Larson rides have slightly shorter wings than the originals and can't provide (unless the wind is good and strong) the kind of aerodynamic required for good snapping action.

I've been on the rides at Indiana Beach, Hershey, and Cedar Point and they all appear to be about the same. I've never been on the one in my own hometown, at Jungle Jack's, but I bet it's the same too.
And I just happened to think, Seabreeze has a ride with the original base and sweeps, but I believe the tubs have been retrofitted to Larson. Same thing there, no good snap possible.

To be truthful, my main concern with any of these rides is trying to get my fat ass in and out of em without falling or looking like a doofus.

LostKause said:

...why wont the manufacturer of these rides make them safe to snap?

Who said it wasn't safe?

Great point, Jeff. My new question is, assuming that it is safe, why do they not allow snapping if that's what the people want?

I dunno. It might not be unsafe, but I suppose I could understand some concern over wear and tear to the ride. I'm not an engineer.

The mechanicals of the ride are what's at issue. It's hard on the gears to have a tub bouncing and jerking rather than smoothly sailing around with two taut cables throughout the cycle. Just like your car, rapid acceleration and deceleration come at a price....imagine driving a stick-shift, getting up it to highway speeds, then jamming it into second gear.

I do wish Knoebels would let their ops know that end-of-season maintenance is "right around the corner" at PPP. It used to be an absolute snap-fest, now most (not all!) ride operators start trimming the ride at the first sign of a slack cable...can't tell you how quickly the line grows and shrinks over the two days when operators switch out.

Gears? I drive an electric. :)