JCJTheHurricane

I enjoyed reading your review and I'm happy you were able to get in a ride! But the weather likely had some to do with that loss of momentum. That final day, the ride was moving a little slower, so it might not have done it justice.

Hopefully I can shed some light on how wait times are figured out. I'm not 100% sure if this is what the app uses but oftentimes throughout the day we will get a call from the rides office asking what our wait time is, then we give them a guesstimate. Also, how many Fast Lane each ride lets in is just based on the person at separator. There's no hard and fast rule for that sort of thing. However the park does limit how many Fast Lane tickets they give out each day.

This brings up some good points and now that I think about it, FOF probably does just run the two because of the maintenance reasons and it probably can handle three trains. One thing I would like to mention is that FOF at KI doesn't have to re lock the restraints at unload before sending it into the load station, at least not anymore, but OP's do have to wait for everyone to be beyond the exit gate to dispatch it out of unload.

Based on what I've heard, the third train isn't used because the LIM's wouldn't have enough time to cool down.

This was a wonderful read! I cant imagine how exciting that must've been! Thank you for sharing it!

Hey Carolyn! (It's Clem! ) And I second this ^ It stops hardddd, and that turn is so sharp and taken fast, sometimes I question what Arrow was thinking, but boy did they leave a mark. (on the industry I mean... but also maybe a bruise or two... ) All in good fun of course!

So we do! I can't speak for too many rides, but generally its not too complicated for any of the rides I've gotten to do LO for. The only potential difficulty would maybe be with FOF due to there being two control panels, Unload and Load. In the morning, both positions have to page each other and countdown to when they turn the key to power up the ride. Same for when they close. For most of the rides though its as simple as receiving permission from sups, communicating effectively that you're locking out, marking it down in the LO binder, then flip the lockout switch, grab a hasp, put your lock through it and then take the key for the lockout gates with you. And don't forget the lock key itself All of the locks for LO have a stretchy coil bracelet attached to the key and they're all marked.

Welcome to KICentral!

To also add to what RedRacer said: In the Rides Department the normal shifts during the Summer are as follows: Opens: (9.15am-3:45pm); Closes: (3:45pm-10:30pm); and my least favorite: Swings (11:40am-8:00pm). And then there are AD (all day's). The hours can sometimes be long, but the schedules are made by the sups and so there's a decent amount of flexibility. There is almost no limit for time off (IN RIDES) and if you cant ever work an AD, Open, or Close etc, they can usually work around that. These times are what i'm used to because my ride doesn't (...didn't ) have early entry. I think the day for those rides begin at 8:45am. During Haunt the shifts change a little bit. For Fridays we have just one shift: Yes (4:15pm-1am) The shift is called a yes because it's either yes you work or no you don't. For Saturdays, it's the same as the shifts during the summer, only everything is pushed back an hour. So an open arrives at 10:15am, and leaves at 4:45pm etc. And of course the latest shift ends at 1am, Although after some quick cleaning we usually get out around 1:30. And The shifts for Sundays during haunt are just opens and closes (swings aren't needed because of how short the close shift is.) Overall, if you're a close, you'll be leaving the ride about 30min after the park has closed. This varies ride to ride of course, and depending on if you need to do lockout for lost keys, phones, etc and how long the sup makes the pow-wow.

So I thought I would be able to shed some light on this topic. So this will be my fourth year at the park, I have the pleasure (and the slight stress) of working the brand new ride, Orion. My previous three years have been spent at the beloved Vortex and that one other ride that really doesn't ever like seeking wind despite its name. (Please don't ask why its called WindSeeker ) I have been trained at all positions in Coney Mall, and have worked a couple rides outside the area, such as White Water, Banshee, Mystic, and Diamondback. Out of all the rides I've worked, I would say that the most physically demanding ride is honestly either FOF or Racer. White Water is actually a wonderful ride to work and it's pretty relaxed. Of course the physical demands of each ride depends on how busy the park is. I would say that during Haunt is when it's the most demanding, considering that the park is usually a little understaffed, and attendance is probably near its highest. This does make the days go by quicker though! I would say the coolest thing about working there is how much you get to learn about the rides that you would otherwise never know. And my favorite thing is waking up for an open shift and walking into a completely empty park - it is so peaceful!

IIRC, while talking to someone in maintenance last season, they mentioned how there were some things that they wanted to adjust with mystic, but they had to wait until after something like a contract was up in order to make modifications to the ride. I believe it was along the lines of two or three years. Of course this could all be incorrect, but just thought I would weigh in. Also, if this was a thing, who's to say it has anything to do with the "warranty" that a park might have on a ride or parts. If anyone else has a more definitive answer, I'd be eager to hear!

If only I had a quarter for every time I heard "Am I tall enough?", as somebody squats next to the height stick...

Well, lime green aside ya know. A tad bit of blue and green on the trains too.

So I would just like to point out a few things about this memorial. First off, the white wreath to the left has four flowers on it, colored red, yellow, black, and silver. The exact same colors that you see on Firehawk. Secondly, when its dark, they project red and yellow lights onto the scene. The only other large coaster in the park with a red and yellow paint scheme is Diamondback, and I can tell you that's definitely not a ride that's leaving anytime soon. And third, "The air is eerily calm" can be a reference to The Bat, but honestly, with all clues taken into account, I'm pretty sure this means that the Hawk isn't going to be flying for much longer. And as others have pointed out, Vortex had gotten 970,000 riders last year, which to me indicates that ridership is not a problem.

I really thought it was kind of hard to believe that people think Adventure Express is somehow the Son of Beast, until I was walking to Vortex today. A woman was talking to her group and said that they used to have Son of Beast but then it became Adventure Express.