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HomerJay

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Everything posted by HomerJay

  1. I seriously doubt you will ever see PKI open all year-round. There are too many issues as to why it would never work: 1.) Staffing--because Kings Island operates with so much college and high school help, it would be tough to get the work year-round for it. Yes, I know there's Winterfest...but there are also a lot of breaks coming up around the holidays that make it easier. 2.) Pricing--who would pay to get just a sliver of the entertainment they can get during the regular year? The weather during the winter months can suck, so who would pay just to go sit in an amusement park where the main draws aren't even open? 3.) Maintenance--it takes all winter to fix the park up. When would park maintenance be done? Also,there's the hazard of ruining the surprises of the new parks? I think there's a certain aspect where so things at PKI--particularly International Street--might be a nice draw. Come in for a meal or a coffee. Install a movie theater. Open it up as a shopping/dining destination during the weekends, kind of a new adult hangout. Heck, put a nightclub in. But as for opening it as the PKI we all know and love, but just with fewer rides, would just be lame.
  2. The KC was a very underrated ride...it was a lot of fun and gave some great airtime. Still, everytime I was at the park the ride had at least an hour of downtime. I can see why PKI let it go, especially if it was costing lots of $$$ in maintenance. Even if it was useable and for sale, who would have really brought it? Nice as it was, it was a relic...there've been many better stand-up coasters (Mantis, at Cedar Point, for one). I'd also like to see PKI do a museum of its heritage...I used to love being in the lobby of the International Restaurant and seeing the news clippings from the 1970s about the progress at the park.
  3. Here's a rumor: next year this post will actually go back to being about festhaus, not stupid and pointless arguments about chillers
  4. Yup, I sure do remember when this post was actually about Festhaus...not about some stupid trivial, pointless debate about ice chillers... Listen, there are chillers at PKI now. What does it matter where they come from? Why is this important? WHO CARES?????!!!! Let's focus on the stuff that matters at the park not where a stupid machine is coming from. this is getting pretty pointless.
  5. Wow...remember the good old days, when this post was about the Festhaus and not about petty arguments with people who worked at the park now and people who worked there in the past? Listen, Kings Island is still Kings Island. Put your squabling aside and let's stick to what this board is all about...petty speculation and rumor-mongering! :-)
  6. 1.) I think ragging on Winterfest by saying that it's not like it was 13 years ago is pretty unfair. Like it was posted before, I think that people fail to realize that they pretty much had to start over and reboot the whole Winterfest idea because they didn't have all the equipment. Plus, it's a new company doing it. 2.) Yes, it's going to be more money-making than giving the true holiday feeling. When a family owns the park it's going to have more heart to it than when a corporation does. Still will be fun, but don't expect a tear in your eye. 3.) Be thankful that you get to go to Winterfest. I live in Detroit. The closest park to me is Cedar Point. And they're doing NOTHING (not that I'd love to spend a winter evening on a freezing cold peninsula, but still...). I'd love to get the chance to go to PKI for a December weekend.
  7. I don't know how much I'd like a New Year's Eve celebration at PKI. Wouldn't it be pretty darn cold? Now, what might be interesting is if they had like live music and dancing in the Festhaus and turned it into one giant party!
  8. Oh I wish they would take those TVs in Festhaus out for good! It used to be such an awesome place to take a break during the day and see a good show. I remember when they had ice skating shows in there (this is before the shows were in Paramount Theater), then they did a--pretty lame--Cheers show, an--even lamer--game show. But still, as cheesy as some of the shows there could be, they were so much better than watching the lame QTV or whatever it's called nowadays! By the way, if people tend to stay at the park all day, why do they have QTV on a loop that only seems to last an hour? I hate seeing the same lame music videos 20 times in one day!! Restore the Festhaus to its former glory!
  9. Hated the Brady Bunch, but I always loved that episode :-) I remember seeing them outside the LaRosa's Pizza (was it called it then) and wondering "where's The Vortex?" lol. Other TV shows that could film at PKI (these aren't necessarilly paramount shows, I just think it's be funny): 24: Jack Bauer must spend a day stopping a terrorist attack at PKI. To get info from a potential terrorist he exacts torture Jack Bauer style--make him ride the Son of Beast Lost: Another hatch on the island leads to...the lemon chill stand! CSI:PKI--The case of Tower Johnny THAT 70s SHOW--Would be a cool homage to "partridge" and "brady" My name is Earl: Earl decides to cross his line jumping transgressions off the list Prison Break: Michael Scoffield escapes Prison...but can he escape the line to Top Gun?
  10. Wow, color me stupid...I thought PKI closed last weekend (why was I thinking that CP and PKI closed the same weekend?) They don't still do Fearfest this weekend, do they? Closing the season with a final ride on The Beast...that would be so cool (too bad I live in Detroit). Whenever I go to PKI I try to end my trip with a final ride on The Beast, especially at midnight on a Saturday. Last year I did it and it was so cool because there was an amazing fog that just had set over the entire park and riding The Beast in the fog was great! Have fun!
  11. HomerJay

    rumor

    But, okay...here's where I'm confused. . . . If you know that they read the site. And you know there's something you could post that people would want to know but would get you in trouble... Why not just put no signature so they don't know what ride you work at. Don't choose a username with your first or last name in it. If someone gets caught for posting something...it's their own stupidity for getting caught. I don't think the park has a bunch of crack investigators who dedicate their time to tracking down message board posters. I'm sure it's just "who did this...wel, duh, he gave us all the clues right here." It's not that you shouldn't post because you'd be in trouble...it's that if you don't have the brains to cover your tracks, you shouldn't post. I'm a journalist, by the way, so I am all for the posting of top secret information :-)
  12. HomerJay

    rumor

    first off, I do think it's funny that employees worry about being fired for posting on the board. Listen...if you're good enough about keeping your identity a secret, PKI execs won't find out who posted. I'm sure your screenname isn't your real name, lol. And second, listening to an employee talk about what the future business goals of PKI are is like listening to a janitor at the White House talk about CIA secrets. The higher-ups don't share that information. Ride operators and seasonal employees (and I mean this with no offense) are pretty far down on the totem pole. Third, I don't think PKI necessarilly "competes" directly with Universal...CP may be more of a concern just due to its proximity. But I think what you're seeing with the paramount parks is an incorporation of the theme park and thrill park into something new and, honestly, pretty unique. PKI will never be a true vacation resort in the way that WWW or US is. But its theming, the amount of rides and the various types of attractions probably brings in more families than a park like CP, which caters pretty extensively to the thrill and enthusiast crowd. (Families bring in more $$ anyway which is, bottom line, what the biz is all about). fourth--this is unrelated, but its been on my mind. If anyone says they know a good strategy for the park because they've played Roller Coaster Tycoon...please punch them in the face. Roller Coaster Tycoon has NOTHING in common with the actual business of running a theme park.
  13. So if they add a Spongebob dark ride...what's the other quality one? Seriously, Scooby sucks. The ride, not the character. It's just lame. Kids might like it because they don't have exposure to a REAL quality dark ride. Think about Universal Studios or Walt Disney world. The effects, the speed. Think about the ET ride at Universal Studios...it's amazing! Scooby do is a bunch of lame cartboard cutouts and a silly game.
  14. Oh how I wish I could make it down to Winterfest! It would be so much fun to celebrate Christmas beneath the Eiffel Tower :-)
  15. Nah...ski resort wouldn't be a good idea...on top of the money for building a hill you'd have to put in lift cables, ski lodges, etc. And it's a gamble because you have no guarantee that people want to go skiing there...Ohio doesn't really scream "SKI RESORT!!" Personally, I think that the idea of the Great Wolf/Bear/Platypus lodge is a step in the right direction toward a year-round destination. The one in Sandusky was popular enough to make CP build Castaway Bay. My idea has always been this...open International Street during the winter. I'm serious. Only charge $5 for parking, nothing for admission...and let IS be a shopping/dining destination. Put in some quality retailers on a temporary basis. Put in a couple restaurants...maybe open Festhaus throughout the winter. Honestly...people may want to come just because the scenery is different.
  16. I think they'd be missing the boat (pun intended) if they didn't get a Spongebob attraction as an anchor for Nick Universe. yes, the other cartoons are popular...but right now Spongebob is Nick's big hit...it would be like opening up Disneyworld without Mickey Mouse. And, ahem, a good place would be, I don't know, hm...maybe taking out some lame dark ride with a certain dog and retheming it with QUALITY EFFECTS AND THEMING???
  17. I just have to say that I just got off the phone with PKI. They tell me that I can't bring in my own saw and cut down trees to build my own cabin to stay in. I'm sad to say that now I must leave PKI and go somewhere more accommodating. I will not support any organization that does not support all forms of logging.
  18. Okay....does this sound weird? 40 years old and still whining like a 15 year old fan boy and using phrases like "Fearfest SUCKED!" Complaining that the lines are too long---at an AMUSEMENT PARK ON A SPECIAL EVENT!!! And complaining that his daughter was--god forbid--LAUGHING in a haunted house instead of crapping her pants in the fetal position, sucking her thumb in the corner. I'm sure the common reaction of most people in a haunted house is not true fear but laughing at the silliness of it all. And if you're a contractor who's been so intimately involved at the park for 28 years and know so much about the park wouldn't you know that a.) Fearfest IS open on Fridays, b.) Lines would be much shorter on those evenings and c.) exactly what Winterfest has? Uh yeah. We should really put you in charge. Sorry to sound angry. But I live 6 hours from PKI. I didn't get the pleasure of attending Fearfest. I'd LOVE to pay $20 for one night in the park with roller coasters and haunted houses instead of shelling out $12 for one stupid haunted house. Appreciate what you've got, bud.
  19. actually, though, even before KI was owned by Paramount I remember seeing commercials for the park and thinking "that's not Kings Island." Weren't some of the parks still co-owned, just not by paramount ?
  20. I've also seen the PKI commercials where another Paramount Park is featured under the guise that it's PKI. Although it's misleading, I've never thought there was anything wrong with it because they are all Paramount Parks and can share images... It's funny, though that a competetor hypes their parks with a picture of a competetor's roller coaster :-)
  21. What a year not to be able to go to PKI :-( I missed riding IJ:ST, didn't get to go to Fearfest and most likely won't be able to come down to Winterfest. . . But then again, Detroit's getting The Superbowl and The Real World :-)
  22. LOL!!! Wow, did you bring back memories!!! At first I remember thinking "what the heck is he talking about??" And then it all came back to me...except the name...sorry about that :-) The Double Dare thing I don't remember...but I do remember before Nick Central was brought into the park, the balls you would go into like at Chuck E. Cheese, right by the Sunshine Turnpike :-) Also, does anyone rember right between the Keelboats and The Beast there used to be a display for swimming pools and people were swimming in it? It was a loooonnng time ago, lol
  23. When I was a kid, I would NEVER ride roller coasters, but I LOVED KCKC. I would ride it with my grandfather like 20 times a day! Of course, then I went through my teenage and college years, when I only wanted thrill rides. As I'm older now, though, I miss those peaceful rides. It was so cool to be so high up, just going along the trees. With CP taking out White Water Landing, I'm afraid we're seeing the end of log flumes :-( That's too bad. . . they used to be a "must have" for all amusement parks and now they're either taken out or being thought of as kiddie rides. By the way, The Wild Thornberries Ride, pre-Thornberries makeover, was ridden on The Brady Bunch :-)
  24. Times like this I wish I would have kept all of the pictures my grandfather took during our trips to Kings Island as a kid. We had a ton of Smurfs Enchanted voyage pictures, because I would make my family ride it like 20 times a day! If the Smurf movie is a big hit in 2008 I'm sure we'll see something at PKI (if Paramount is still involved with the park). After all, the Smurfs were a huge part of HBL and I'm sure they'd love to see that again. Don't get hopes up, of course, for the return of Smurfs Enchanted Voyage or anything like that...but I wouldn't rule out some sort of 3D movie attraction or even a dark ride. Remember when they had a bench with Papa Smurf and Smurfette in HBL?
  25. I think the whole Beast Slayer or Beast Layer (that would be the mom of beast) idea is kind of lame, though. Sounds a little renaissance-festivally to me. Personally, does PKI need a huge roller coaster? I like the fact that they're unique and not simply copying off other parks (*cough* Cedar Point *cough*). And if you're familiar with the headaches CP has had with TTD, you'd know bigger doesn't always mean better--it's a good ride, but all the downtime has disappointed quite a few people. What they need to do is find some middle ground between being a family park and a movie-oriented thrill park. I would love to see them sink some big bucks into theming and make some real state-of-the art movie attractions. Tomb Raider is a good start and I think Italian Job sounds cool (didn't get to PKI this year to ride it, though). PKI has a lot of great thrill movies in their archives and I think they could really make a name for themselves as the Midwest's premiere movie theme park...it's closer than Florida for a lot of people.
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