So Was Nobody Gonna Tell Me That Nighthawk At Carowinds Used To Be Called "Borg Assimilator" Or Was I

So was nobody gonna tell me that Nighthawk at Carowinds used to be called "Borg Assimilator" or was I just supposed to find that out myself one day looking at random coasters on Coasterpedia out of boredom?

...well I guess I was looking for a reason to watch Star Trek at some point. I gotta admit though, this is not what I was expecting XD

Hear me out-

An animatic of Nemesis Reborn to that one scene in Moana when she meets Tamatoa.

This one!

The idea has been swimming in my head all day and I felt like I should share it lol

Mmmmystic Timbers......

This coaster is so photogenic at night lol

(Images taken April 20, 2024)

Surprise happy birthday message for Manta at SeaWorld Orlando! This B&M flying coaster opened today in 2009 and is officially 15 years old today!

I've never been to SeaWorld & unfortunately have never gotten the chance to ride this coaster myself, but I *am* planning on going to SeaWorld Orlando on June 2 (and Busch Gardens Tampa on June 3), so with luck I'll be able to (finally) experience this awesome ride!

I absolutely ADORE Woodstock Express. It was my first ever roller coaster and I try to make sure to give it a ride every time I come to the park. That being said, I feel like the park may not quite love it as much as I do. Give my mans a repaint, Kings Island, please. His paint is looking so rough- XD

(Image taken April 20, 2024)

game

5,6, 9, 11, 14, 15

Bwah

Oh boy, I lowkey wasn't expecting anyone to actually respond to this lmao

We're doing Kings Island for this one since that's my home park (although I'm willing play the game with Holiday World, Walt Disney World, & Universal Studios Orlando if you or anyone else requests that)! I'll put my answers under the cut in case this gets long lol

(Warning, mild swearing, mostly just in the questions themselves)

5. What ride fucking hates you?

I'd have to go with The Beast as of my last trip to KI. Every time I went over there mf closed down right before I could get in the queue. AND it was on opening day & I had booked it all the way over to Rivertown from Action Zone (all the way on opposite corners of the park) to try to get those dang anniversary cards but NO!!! It has to be closed! When I finally did make it in, bro was down for a good hour & a half. I stuck it out tho & ended up getting one of my best Beast rides that day so... The Beast is just temperamental & I love it for it.

No hard feelings, Beast. You're still my favorite (from a personal bias perspective) lol

6. Who's the mascot blorbo you love and adore?

Not a mascot per se, but in terms of park characters, I gotta go with Mr. Richard "Dick" Christopher, White House Press Liaison & the root of all problems involving Hangar 18. I absolutely ADORE the queue video for Flight of Fear, and a big part of that is this guy. He pretends like he knows what's happening even though he has no idea what's going on at all & we love him for it. Plus, canonically speaking, if it wasn't for him publicly declaring a real flying saucer a hoax, we wouldn't be able to ride on Flight of Fear! So thanks Mr. Christopher! Love you, man!

(A close second would be either Major Trenton or the guy in Patchbay, both also from the Flight of Fear queue video)

9. Favorite event and why?

Halloween Haunt all the way! I've been to Haunt in 2022 & 2023 now, and both times I had SO much fun! I'm a sucker for some good creature/monster design & horror stuff, so that smashed together with a theme park that I absolutely adore makes for a pretty awesome experience. It was actually the stories of the mazes that got me into hunting for lore in the main park! If I had to choose a favorite maze that I've done at Halloween Haunt, I'd have to go with Alien Abyss! That was the one I'd say I was genuinely scared while I did it, and it was awesome! Naturally I ended up doing it twice lol

11. Weirdest shit that's happened there in your opinion.

While not technically AT the park, I'm gonna have to go with that one time when Kings Island sent a news station a plastic comb with pieces of white wig hair as a teaser for Banshee after they asked the park what they were planning. KI has sent a surprising amount of random objects to news stations as coaster teasers. Other objects include a plastic toy axe & a toy truck with a bundle of sticks in the back for Mystic Timbers and an entire binder(?) of fake "leaked government documents" from Area 72/X-Base for Orion.

14. Favorite show from that park.

Really specific, but I'm gonna have to go with the performance they did of The Christmas Story in the Peanuts Showplace during WinterFest 2023. It was small & only had 3 actors in total (with a crowd member being pulled onto the stage to play Scrouge making it 4), but it was adorably charming and genuinely had me laughing. My favorite joke went something like:

"...the most HORRIBLE place you could imagine!"

"SIX FLAGS!!!"

"Shh! You can't say that anymore! The merger! The merger!"

That sh*t had me CACKLING lmao

15. Coolest thing about that park.

As the unofficial self-proclaimed Kings Island lore person, I gotta go with the Easter eggs you can find around the park! There are so many fun and interesting details that you can find if you go looking for them! I love some good theming, and if you ask me, themed Easter eggs are some of the best kind of theming! Plus, it helps that it can all be connected into a genuine story! I feel like I'm the exact intended audience for all these little niche details, so any time that I find something new, it feels like the park itself is hearing me & telling me to keep looking. It's like getting a comforting hug from a trusted friend or family member. I feel like as I uncover more details of this story, that the park is telling me that it loves me just as much as I love it.

Well that got a bit sappy towards the end XD

I hope that covers everything you wanted to know!