Question about the former paramount parks.

Agreed. With new attractions sometimes comes minor to moderate scars. Let's face it folks, when something new comes in it often takes the place of something else whether that be old attractions, trees or the apparently overly covetted "green space."

My point was not Diamondback's footprint but CF letting prebuilt themed rides at KI (not landscaping or regions) become let down. I personally think Diamondback's station, slashdown and turn around were squeezed as aesthetically pleasing as possible into Rivertown.

Joel, I think that the station could have easily been put on the outskirts of the park, behind the crypt or , for example. Doing something like that would have followed the unspoken-of design guidelines that the park has been following until Paramount build Stunt Track.

You mean the design guidelines that have resulted in Kings Island sealing off the ends of all of its midways so that they can't expand even though they have plenty of space?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I bet that within the park's first few decades, management had no idea that it would be normal, or even possible, for a theme park to have that many coasters. Kings Islands design really interests me.

They could have kept building the coasters on the outskirts of the park. it wouldn't have been an easy task, but they still found a way to do it with Flamehawk, SOB, Top Gun, Flight of Fear, all pretty new coasters.

Kings island still has plenty of room to expand and even add another few midways. The problem is, they would have to do a lot of dirt moving to do it.

There is a bunch of semi flat land next to the racer and firehawk that would be prime to build on to.

super7* said:
...some only care about the rides. Others care about the feel of the park and like to get away into another world through the theming and landscaping. I am in the 2nd group.

It really amazes me how much Cedar Point's landscaping/atmosphere gets slammed. Have we forgotten that it's completely surrounded by an enormous body of water? How's that for landscaping? Or feel? I'll tell you. Unique! Sandusky Bay. Lake Erie. Both apart of an atmospheric recipe that's impossible to replicate.

You shouldn't expect to hide in the woods at Cedar Point. It's consumed by water. Why would you want to obstruct the one thing that makes your environment unique? Asking for more trees would be like visiting Paris, but spending the entire weekend in a hotel room.

So, in conclusion, hope for less trees :)

LostKause said:
Doing something like that would have followed the unspoken-of design guidelines that the park has been following until Paramount build Stunt Track.

I'm not so sure about this statement. Paramount revamped Adventure Village into Action (Blacktop!) Zone and in Rivertown took out the log flume to build a big ugly warehouse. Diamondback may not fit perfectly with the theme, but it is much better than the flume for warehouse trade.

Context, Giftshop! :) I wasn't talking about the theme or what the park decided to make the walkways out of; I was talking about the fact that every coaster since Stunt Track was on the outskirts of the park's layout, except for a few of the kiddie coasters. Maybe I should have said "Layout guidelines". It's just always been something that I have noticed about the placement of new coasters at KI.

BGE isn't exactly perfect either. Over the past Memorial Day weekend, the park was filled with visitors and the "midways" could have definitely been wider to allow people to walk more than a foot away from the person next to them.

I think the "CP lacks trees" argument is lame since the back part of the park is full of big mature trees and there are scattered large trees throughout the middle and front of the park. And like d_port_12E said, the park's main feature is being surrounded by water. I wasn't raised on a lake/river so seeing a large body of water around a park is still scenic, to me at least.

LostKause, that had nothing to do with aesthetics and everything to do with back-of-house access. Look at the way attractions are laid out at Kings Island and realize that except for Stunt Track and Diamondback, you can drive a truck up to any of them without crossing a midway (except via bridge or tunnel). Of course that isn't so important for Diamondback, as, like most B&M rides, it comes with its own shop.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Thanks for the info, Dave. I've always been interested in KI's layout.

PRWagner said:
If you want a green park with some great themes and fair amount of rides that make use of the surroundings go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It's a beautiful park. I always enjoy my trips there.

Yes I have been to Busch Gardens Europe, went there back in June of 2007. It was amazing how beautiful the park and the surrounding areas are, I wish that BGE was my home park!!

It really amazes me how much Cedar Point's landscaping/atmosphere gets slammed. Have we forgotten that it's completely surrounded by an enormous body of water? How's that for landscaping? Or feel? I'll tell you. Unique! Sandusky Bay. Lake Erie. Both apart of an atmospheric recipe that's impossible to replicate.

My friend, his fiance and I went to Cedar Point for the first time last year. My first take was that the park was a little crowded up front with rides over top of rides, but I just attributed it to space being at a premium since it is an island. As we moved around the park, however, seeing the water and even beaches from the rides was neat. Milleunnium Force at night along the water is AMAZING to say the least! I totally agree with you about that being one of the park's strong points. It's a little bit of a unique situation with Cedar Point and they make good use of it overall.