King Maple The Tree King

Uhm, before you go on criticizing the operations department, talking about how the ride works or talk about "preventing accidents" you may want to get a few things straight: Cortney, good topic! I have done a lot of work on roller coasters all over the mid west. Let's start with some basic understanding; most roller coasters run on a computerized "block system." The ride is separated into sections called "blocks," only one train is allowed in each block. The ride's computer system has automatic actions to stop the ride and create a "block set up" depending on how it's programmed. Most commonly at Kings Island this happens on The Beast's fist lift hill. The way the ride's current block program is designed does not allow a train to crest the first lift hill until the train ahead of it has cleared the next block, in this case the entire second lift hill. (The program and block spaces have changed over time, but this is the current set up). The reason you may have stopped on the second lift hill is for a similar block set up, the train ahead in the next block simply had not cleared the next block. This happens from time to time, usually when there is a long dispatch time to load a disabled guest or a guest is having trouble with a seat belt. So in lieu of what Ki Man said, the ride actually keeps the trains spaced out, the employees do not manually control it, and as a policy adopted by Paramount Parks that still stands on most KI coasters, there is an extra pinch break between each block to prevent an unlikely accident. Do not for one second think you were in any danger or that the employees have to do it to simply "prevent an accident," it's just normal operation. Hope that helps!

Well we don't particularly like people who don't use the search feature or make any effort to find the answers they seek before they create the same topics over and over again (a trait you seem to have). Your answer can easily be found by clicking "search" at the top right of this page.....or....get ready for this.....put a little thought into it and go to the main page. Click history ---> History Photographs and have a look. It's amazing the things you can find on your own! P.S. Do kids still go to libraries these days or do they just rely on the internet?

The Beast lake can be seen in this video at around 1:33: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

Eros, grow up. You want to accuse others on here of not being mature yet the only time you rear your head is to make some negative remark against The Interpreter. How come it's alright for you to accuse everyone of being a "Salty Sally" yet when someone calls you a "Debbie Downer" you cry foul? Grow up.

You think they'd cut off the paramount part and place it in front Wing's since that probably gets the most ACE traffic.

Hah....please!

It's sad to think that this gentleman may actually be an adult in real life.

Ha, I this guy has a wife, yet acts as if he's 13.

Especially since you know so much about being banned from Carowinds.

"Minutes away. . . a follow up to our story on how Kings Island supposedly treats its international employees." This quote read by the newscaster followed by the clip from last weeks episode of the employee saying "we feel like we are in prison." Sensationalism at its finest.

On the 5 o clock news currently on WCPO the I-Team is following up on the story.

Or anger. I was waiting in line for The Beast last night on the 5th of July. I thought a riot was going to start! Bless those kids and the security guard working, because they had to put up with some angry people. They made announcements frequently about the ride closing down early for the fireworks yet you could hardly hear the speakers and there were no signs out front. Now, since last season I have gotten used to this policy but it is very inconveinient for the average guest waiting in line who is oblivious to it. Normally they have the ride going again quickly, last night we waited nearly an additional 45 minutes from when they stopped at 9:45 to when they resumed at around 10:30. During the period in between, the employees went around trying to talk to guests and calm them down but folks in line kept chanting profane chants, shaking hand rails, and insulting the security guard when he yelled for folks to "calm down." It even got so bad as to guests began throwing trash and bottles across the station. I got fed up with the crowd and left. I hope they find a better solution soon.

Stopped by the park the other day after a lunch meeting with a friend at Kings Mills Skyline, just to ride SOB and Beast. Couldn't believe SOB had a 45 minute wait for the back seat while Beast was pretty much a walk on. Also, things to note: -Rode Blue Racer, not as smooth as Red Racer but there is definitely airtime on the ride once again. -The Racer crews now have the same headsets Beast and Delirium reportedly received recently and that Cedar Point has used for some time. However, I wonder if this slows them down as I sat in the tunnel for a good while on both my Red and Blue rides. Just a quick visit, hoping to have another trip soon.

Great Trip Report! Glad to hear someone else is having good rides on Son of Beast as well this year, that coaster really has made a come back! I just wish it had a third train!

They mentioned the kids had tried to contact the woman who hired them from the parks Human Resources department and yielded no positive results, however that would not surprise me. Even when my kids worked at the park in the mid 90's Human Resources was always a joke, I wonder if it still is.

Glad to hear you had such a good time Jasper! Speaking of new experiences, what did you think of The Crypt and the turned around Racer? Is it just me, or does that Beast fireworks thing seem really goofy? They started doing that last season I believe. Why would you take (what seems to be) the most popular attraction at night and make it temporarily stop when in the past the ride used to run with the fireworks going, like all the other rides. Now I believe they moved the fireworks launch area when they added Firehawk, but still, why move it to interfere with The Beast? They do notify guests over the loud speaker but couldn't they at least have a sign up or something in the park map about it? Seems like a really poor plan to me.

No offense, but I don't think anyone was intentionally being dishonest. Also, while the feeling of speed has changed in your opinion, the actual speed of the ride has not, contrary to what you claimed earlier. The magnetic trims on the helix begin at the same point where the old skid brakes used to. You can still see the catwalk visible between the ledgers, however, the magnetic brakes are much shorter than the longer skids and as was pointed out by Gordon before....by the time the ride opened to the public the friction brakes had been added to the double helix.

No. No one was ever killed on King Cobra, nor has any fatality at Kings Island ever occurred due to a ride malfunction. On Shockwave at Kings Dominion, a not-so-but-kind-of-nearly identical Togo Stand up, there was a fatality.

Brown, don't you know anything? The folks running the amusement industry are complete fools. There is but one organization that exists to bring about justice in the amusement world....give me an A, give me a C, give me an E, whats that spell? ACE? Yes, these card carrying members know way more about "proper maintenance," maintaining a ride, safety, and the industry....moreso than any professional in it today. I've been riding The Beast since the year it opened, and I'm willing to agree that the experience of the ride has completely changed over the years. However, I'm also not too arrogant to the point where I can listen to the former employees on here and those who know what they are talking about. I trust them when they say the speeds run the same and "dare-to-fly," in reference to your youtube, videos you can clearly see that the skid brakes existed in the same spots as the magnetic brakes do today. While the experience has changed, the rides is still a great ride enjoyed by many today. The park and its people know what they are doing when it comes to safety and maintenance, better than any coaster club. Gordon, while I agree with you on many points, you have been incorrect about one thing: The ride did not open with the pneumatic pinch brakes, while the "brake line" was originally a block, those brakes were not controlled or adjusted by the operator. The feed motors were originally installed so that if a train became stalled or needed a boost they could help it along, however as you pointed out the skid brakes there could only be adjusted by counterweights and only maintenance took care of them, not the ride operators (later in the mid 90's before the skid brakes were replaced, a set of pneumatic brakes was added so that, that section could operate properly as a block and a train could be stopped there in the event of an emergency stop). The skid brakes were not adjusted throughout the day unless there were significant changes made to the structure or trains. As for "trimless" rides; the park claimed to offer these for special events, but I seriously doubt they ever really did that. Ride The Beast on a hot afternoon on a wheel seat with the current magnetic trim brakes. After you recover from the headache, imagine what the ride would be like if you went even faster while riding on that wheel. As pointed out the trims are there for a purpose and that is to keep the ride running well and allowing it to provide a great ride. Dare-to-fly, I think many members on here are having trouble seeing your points because of how immature, irrational, and illogical you are acting. This quote for instance: Did you know the operator? How are you so sure it was spite, and not an honest mistake? Your constant "jump to conclusions" and assumptions about things makes people reading your posts question you. Like Monroe said.....Bliss.....pure Bliss!

Today there was only one engine running. After I rode the train I went to go take some photos of the the lake area. I ran into TopGun1993 again and there was an employee in front of the train who mentioned the train would be shut down temporarily as they were switching engines. A few moments later the Green Engine pulling Red Cars came by. Thanks Interp! That was it. I have heard but never confirmed, did they offer an even larger model that had 4 tubs on each arm? Awesome trip report! I love this photo as well! Thank you! I am glad you like that photograph!

I woke up this morning to find that some of my friends wanted to cancel our planned 18 holes of golf due to the rain last night over saturating the ground (As if any of us were really good enough so that, that really mattered ) and the threat of rain today. With my day freed up I decided to make a solo trip to Kings Island, unplanned and unexpected I just wanted to have a nice relaxing day enjoying the atmosphere of the park. Not feeling up for many of the intense rides, at my age some start to get to you and without my daughter and son-in-law to convince me to ride things, I figured I would take my camera along. After a brief traffic mess on Northbound I-71 I arrived at the park to pleasant smiles at parking lot admissions and front gate admissions. I hadn't been to the park since the historic Robbie Knievel jump and was glad to see the front entrance still looking great. First things I noticed: Landscaping and cleanliness. I have been to parks all over the world, some of them not so recently, but rarely do I see very clean parks. Kings Island this year has improved so much in keeping litter off of the grounds. I am sure that is due to more trash cans added by Cedar Fair, but those kids in bright yellow shirts seem to be everywhere keeping busy. The landscaping in the front looks great, the trees and plants around the new logo sign seem to have filled in nice. I decided to head off towards Action Zone first. At first sight of what many consider "the coaster enthusiasts favorite eyesore," a.k.a. Son of Beast, I just couldn't resist. I love wooden roller coasters. I loved the concept of Son of Beast, the promotions leading up to its opening. Having experienced the father upon its opening 20 years ago, I was looking forward all of the 1999 season to watching SOB go up. In 2000, like many, I was disappointed and last year upon its reopening I felt it was much better, yet still not any way comparable to the other great woodies I have ridden. Yet, every time I go to the park I seem to think "maybe they finally have it running well," always to find its the same old rough monster. Today, I had that same feeling so I canned my "relaxing day of atmosphere attitude" and got in line... -Waiting in line for the last car I glanced at the faces of returning riders trying to judge how it was. The ride crew here was great, every time a train came back they asked "Welcome back (Red or Blue) train, how was that ride?" and every time a train came back there was an enormous amount of applause. "Maybe people are enjoying it again." I thought. I boarded the very back seat of the blue train. My ride went like this... -Drop out of the station, a bit shaky. -Up the lift hill, loud as usual. -Over the lift, down the first drop, REALLY smooth with a HUGE pop of airtime that makes you say "WOW!" -Up into the 70 degree banking before the "Rose Bowl" I prepare for pain. -Drop into the Rose Bowl, another good pop of airtime, contiue to brace for pain. -Train runs the circuit of the rose bowl.....surprisingly.....no pain. Bumpy, but not painful, no worse than The Beast. Nice G-forces and laterals, no rib shaking or head shaking. -Drop into the area where the loop used to be, great pop of airtime. -Second helix, forceful and smooth. -Ride hits that hill before the "clover" turn, very slow I figure... "ok, its over, boring time." However, just as the train leaves the hill before entering the final brakes there is a great burst of airtime and speed before the ride comes to a close. When the train came back into the station and they asked "Blue train how was that ride?" I couldn't resist clapping! Kings Island's Wood Coaster Maintenance teams have done a phenomenal job on that thing. I went right back around and got back in line for a second ride. -I've noticed that once you get East of I-71 the cicadas seem to be everywhere, at Kings Island Action Zone seems more plagued than anywhere else. From the looks of this photograph it seems that the Son of Beast trains have come into contact with the cicadas on more than one occasion, prevailing in that contest. SOB would be my only ride in Action Zone. I stopped in the Festhaus to use the restroom. -I had seen County Line the weekend of Knievel, despite the addition of a show in here I still think this building is dark and dreary. I didn't stick around for the show but did notice that they have installed six new flat screen televisions in the Festhaus and that every food stand was open, including a booth that sold only beer. -Exiting the Festhaus I once again noticed the landscaping. I then decided it was time for a ride on Adventure Express. Great ride as always, the second tunnel though that once had the moving spears....wow does that look bad. The spears are all bent and falling apart and the tunnel is littered with park maps. -It was here that I saw some of the friendliest employees I have seen in the park all year. Every time they checked a lap bar they said "Check. Have a great ride!" The gentleman in the drive box was spieling about the "amazing" 65 ft. drop and "thrilling" four tunnels. He also mentioned how the Adventure Express "takes riders upside down not once, not twice, not even three times but NOT AT ALL." The entire station laughed, but I have heard this done at The Beast before for many years. I continued down Coney Mall and took in rides on both Blue and Red Racer. Red Racer is definitely much smoother and seems to have a bit more "airtime." I like the decision to turn it around. Reminds me of old days at the park and provides great views of the entire park and Coney midway. Both sides were great rides. -Did I mention how great my rides on SOB were earlier? Other thins I noticed in the park as far as atmosphere goes....the music. It seems like all they play on the queue lines videos and on the park soundtrack are tracks from the 1980's. Is this subliminal messaging for the new Flashback Totally 80's show? Walking down the Coney Mall, however, you can't hear the music. Because of all the games going on: -These two employees were by far some of the most annoying I have ever heard, however, I understand what they were doing is their job. Taunting guests, barking on the microphones, trying to convince customers to play their game, but its so loud it drowns out the music. Between the annoying games barkers and bouncing basketballs, Coney Mall can give you a headache. -Monster always made me sick even in my younger days, however, you have to enjoy the atmosphere classic rides like this add to the park. A lot of history is with this ride, I believe it was constructed in 1937 and the original manufacturer, please forgive me as I forget the name, was also an aircraft manufacturer. -Making my way around the park, I traversed through the former Tower Gardens a.k.a. the former Paramount Story a.k.a. nothing now. This is the only part of the park I found to be unattractive today. The former "stage lights" that once lit up the Paramount theming are all still there, rusted, lacking light bulbs. Many of the areas that once held water are filled with dead leaves. The area is still quiet but there are not benches to sit on. It does provide a nice view of the Carousel's lovely decoration though. Continuing down Coney... -I hate this ride, but it's definitely the most photogenic. -Personally I don't mind the new Cedar Fair names. They work well at Backlot Stunt Coaster and the new sign looks great. I'll always remember King's Mills Log Flume (and in it's former inception at Coney Island) but... -I think the theming of this ride has withstood the test of time better than most of the former Paramount theming in the park, it looks great in the kids area. -I ran into TopGun1993 who advised walking down the WWC exit to catch some great views of the construction going on. I made the walk and noticed that the "cannons" have been replaced by larger colored tubes that seem to spray even more powerful bursts of water. While not shown in this photograph, some boats still don the "Paramount's Kings Island" logo. I decided to complete my ride on all the wooden coasters (with the exception of Fairly Odd Coaster) by riding The Beast, only to find a nice young man out front advising guests that The Beast was temporarily closed and would most likely re-open shortly. I wanted to get a photograph of The Vortex from The Beast's exit line so I headed up that way. While heading up the exit I noticed one red shirted employee sweeping pine needles out of one of the lower queue houses and yet another employee roaming the grassy areas of the ride picking up trash into a bucket. Kudos to them to keeping up on park cleanliness! As I got up the exit path I was surprised to see a rare site. I've worked on wooden roller coasters before at various parks in the past, so I love to see things like this: -The crew was adding their third train to the track. It was interesting to see how they use the transfer table. Right before the train was added I noticed some of the employees holding rags and bottle of cleaning sollution. They were wiping down the train, I found this to be quite impressive as cleanliness seems to be a theme throughout the park this year. In no time the train was added and the ride re-opened, so I headed back around and got in line. -Hardly any wait for The Beast. -After a short delay The Beast was back and running at full force. The apologized for the delay and The Beast offered a great ride, from the looks of this photo it seems their efforts of cleaning cicadas off the front of the train paid off. I decided to end my day with a ride on the train. -This conductor was nice enough to let me step in front of the train for a photograph. (Please note the train was not moving and had just began boarding passengers.) -K.I. somewhat looks like a war zone back here, but I'm sure the new attraction will be worth it. I just hope they announce soon! -There was plenty of work going on behind the bridge of the train... -While things at the former Swan Lake seem to have settled down. All in all a very pleasant visit to the park. Had excellent rides on everything (especially Son of Beast), friendly employees, and saw a lot of work being done all around to keep the park clean and looking nice. The park has look the best it has in years and seems to be doing well. I think they are on a great track and KI has a bright future ahead of itself with its current leadership under Cedar Fair. I was skeptical at first, but todays visit and the Knievel event have really started to win me over, and that is coming from someone who has lived through ALL of the owners, and even remembers Coney Island! Thanks for reading!

In your opinion, obviously the General Public sure doesn't seem to think so, "dude." Jaded and unbiased, he just pointed out to you that despite its size it's definitely not a "puny" ride and a fan favorite at the park. The size of a ride does not determine if a ride is "puny" or not. I'd rather take the quick, somewhat intense ride on Coney's any day over that snore fest down at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Hahah, I guess Mr.Postman is "too cool for Coney." I don't believe he ever said he wasn't happy to work for the park. Why? While I think Ferris Wheels are neat, gentle rides, they're only good if they offer a decent view. They're a pain to operate and I'm sure that staffing could be spent better somewhere else....maybe where that lake used to be. Every coaster is NOT trimmed to death, and the ones that are are no more trimmed than before. Whats wrong with the topspin in a garage? It's a very unique attraction. That 78 M.P.H albatros seems to be running reliably and has a line nearly every visit.

^Woofer, have you not been reading Chef's previous trip reports? Apparently there is a correlation between his new diet and his success at SDATHC.

Probably because from the way you tell it seems they weren't obligated to fix it. Did you go through an insurance company to get this settled? If so, maybe you should keep the matter between you and the park. Various sources? Like kids who work at Haunt?

Reclaimer, well said. The policies at both parks, even under previous owners, were pretty fair and this year they have gotten even more specific and even better. My question to you is; why did the park have to fix it? Did they, the park, break it? Having traveled to both CP and KI with people who were handicapped I was worried about the changes made throughout the CF chain this year. Both KI and CP had similar programs in the past when KI was under Paramount and now it seems they have the same but much more revised in detailed. To be honest, its for the best, its a good system, and it keeps people from taking advantage. Best of all, its fair to all types of guests. No offense, and I'm a big guy myself, but if they added restraints that further inhibit larger guests from riding, how is this a problem? Since when is being large a disability? What exactly was your experience and how exactly was the park responsible? You said they fixed it and I doubt they really had any obligation to, maybe thanking them instead? That is a common misconception, maybe you should be a little more informed on the new CF disability policy. Guests with a disability do not just get to "cut in line." If you wish to have an Attractions Boarding Pass (this is what they are called now, no longer "dissability passes") you need to stop by guest relations, inform them of your disability and what you are physically capable of riding and your physical needs and requirements, then they help you decide based on the ride restrictions what is ok and what isn't ok to ride. I found them to be very helpful this past weekend, especially with that new A.C. office they have. I'm guessing you are not a doctor, just because a disability isn't physically visible does not mean it doesn't exist. Many children with autism, like my goddaughter, can not wait in lines with a lot of people or become uncomfortable in large social settings, so using the attractions boarding pass and getting a time to ride works out great for her. Incorrecnt, at both CP and KI (Both under the CF chain and when KI was under Paramount) guests who had a time on their Attractions Boarding Passes could only have one time to ride at a time (I.E. in line for one ride at a time).