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IcarusLives

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Everything posted by IcarusLives

  1. Wow! So you monopolized an employees time with needless questions and prevented him from actually helping guests who needed assistance? You're so cool! And then you made inane comments that you thought were funny but I can gurrantee everybody else did not find humor in them at all. Just because you post on this site does make you part of some "secreat soceity" of PKI. There are employees who don't post here. They come to work and don't really know or care who "Racer85" or "ScoobyRules" are. Go to the park. Have a good time. But don't think it's your own personal playground where everybody is just waiting for you next "witty" comment.
  2. Demon was where Congo Falls is now. It took up more space (length wise) than Congo does. The one cool thing about Demon was watching the launch table push the train and then come back. Bat was exactly where Vortex is now. Vortex uses the same station The Bat did. Nothing changed except the track is on the floor of the station instead of being above. Bavairn Beetle was where Festhaus is. The Rotor also shared some of the space.
  3. Could Skylab have been the first "unofficial" HUSS Giant? I ask this because Skylab's cars had two compartments that held two people each. While current enterprise rides have single two person cars. Not sure if Skylab was taller than others though. SKYLAB, now and forever the best defunct ride at PKI!
  4. The "joystick" was not much of a joystick. It was very similar to the device used to move your side car mirrors. The ride was not very exciting either. Your view was basically the rear of the car in front of you and you really did not swing out that much. The flyers have more movement than Flight Commander. The seating position was very uncomfortable too. You sat in the car with your legs straight out. The only change made after the death was that you could not ride alone. The woman slipped out from the restraints because she passed out and there was no one next to her to hold her in. Nothing was lost when this ride was removed.
  5. I have seen Flintstone characters and Scooby at SFGAM. I don't have any pics of 'em, you can check out the Six Flags Great America site and see that rides listed in the Camp Cartoon Network area include Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine and Spacely's Sprocket Rockets Roller Coaster. http://www.sixflags.com/parks/greatamerica...des&rideid=kids http://www.sixflags.com/parks/greatamerica/kids/?id=rides While it would be nostaligic for us if PKI brought back the Smurfs and the HB characters, you gotta keep in mind that the characters aren't really there for us. Hate to bust everyone's bubble. They are for the little kids. Even when I was younger, I saw the phasing out of HB characters that my older siblings recognized but I had no clue as to who they were. I remember my siblings pointing out characters from the Hair Bear Bunch and I never recalled seeing them on TV. And as I got older, I saw characters like Caveman, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw, and others disappearing with only Scooby, Yogi, and Fred & Barney remaining. My money's on the Fairly Oddparents popping up this year as new characters.
  6. The rights to the Smurfs is (or was) held by Peyo. HB worked out a deal with Peyo to do the TV show and bring the characters to the parks. Even when the Smurfs were shown on commercials, there would be a "TM of Peyo" at the bottom of the screen. If I remember right, the Smurf characters who walked around disappeared befor Smurf's Enchanted Voyage was removed. By the way I did a Google for "Smurf Movie" and found a link to the The Lost Episode. Uhhhhh......not what I was expecting. Also, how could anyone confuse Captain Caveman with Snagglepuss?
  7. Fairly Oddparents seems to be the current "hot" cartoon on Nick and it would be cool to see them in the park. But just because Nick broadcasts the cartoon, doesn't mean they have the rights to use the characters in the park. The majority of cartoons are designed by independent companies or individuals and then broadcast rights are sold. Good example is when MTV (a Viacom company) aired a new version of Spiderman this past summer. It's a sure bet there will be no Spiderman chararacters in the park just because a Viacom owned station aired the show. Some cartoonists hold on to the rights of their characters very closely. Remember Calvin & Hobbes? Bill Watterson refused to allow the characters to be used for anything. And the Dr. Suess characters were only licensed out after the artists death.
  8. I don't really remember any story but there were several animatronic characters. There was a blacksmith who used to hammer on an anvil, a beaver who "chewed" through a tree, and several people who used to come out of the doors in the town and wave hi. There were several Native Americans (just staying PC) who were the "bad guys". They would have tomahawks and arrows. In the first years of the ride, they actually had real people dressed as Native Americans. They would hide in the bush and rush the train. There were also several cowboys on horseback who fired guns. If there was a story it was basically "Cowboys good, Indians bad".
  9. Wow! You guys are amazing about totally getting off the topic!
  10. I found the results interesting. All those people who kept saying that CP was going to blow away PKI in attendance because of TTD were wrong. I bet PKI is happpy with what they spent on 2003 attractions when they see the increase. I found the Six Flags numbers interesting also. Two of the parks got new costers (S:UF) and saw decreases. Oh, and where was SFWOA on the list? No where to be found.
  11. According to an article in the LA Times, PKI's attendance was up 3% for 2003. Not a big number but PKI was one of the few parks that was up for the year. CP, Epcot, DCA, and Sea World-Orlando also had increases. By The Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. — Here is a list of the top 25 best-attended amusement parks for 2003, their attendance and the percentage change from last year. 1. The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., 14 million, flat 2. Disneyland, Anaheim, Calif., 12.7 million, flat 3. Epcot at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., 8.6 million, up 4 percent 4. Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., 7.8 million, down 2 percent 5. Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., 7.3 million, flat 6. Universal Studios at Universal Orlando, 6.8 million, flat 7. Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando, 6 million, flat 8. Disney's California Adventures, Anaheim, Calif., 5.3 million, up 13 percent 9. SeaWorld Florida, Orlando, Fla., 5.2 million, up 4 percent 10. Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City, Calif., 4.5 million, down 12 percent 11. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, 4.3 million, down 4 percent 11. Adventuredome at Circus Circus, Las Vegas, 4.3 million, down 4 percent 13. SeaWorld California, San Diego, 4 million, flat 14. Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, Calif., 3.4 million, down 4 percent 15. Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio, 3.3 million, up 3 percent 16. Paramount's Kings Island, Kings Island, Ohio, 3.2 million, up 3 percent 17. Morey's Piers, Wildwood, N.J., 3.2 million, down 5 percent 18. Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, N.J., 3.1 million, down 3 percent 19. Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, Calif., 3 million, down 2 percent 20. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in California, 3 million, flat 21. Paramount Canada's Wonderland, Maple, Ont., 2.62 million, down 7 percent 22. Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, Texas, 2.6 million, down 3 percent 23. Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Ill., 2.57 million, down 5 percent 24. Hersheypark, Hershey, Pa., 2.55 million, down 3 percent 25. Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, Va., 2.5 million, down 4 percent * __ Source: Amusement Business Here's a link to the article (you do have to register with the LA Times to view it though) http://www.latimes.com/business/investing/...sting-headlines
  12. Let me guess...you heard this from "some guy" or a "read some where but forget". How could BB be overbudget when construction just started? If they have gone overbudget already with the framwork for TT and taking the speed slides down, somebody did some really bad budget planning. And more than likely, the sign was covered by insurance.
  13. http://www.arrowdynamics.com/news.html Arrow is gone. S&S will no longer use the name Arrow on any future projects. There are probably many reasons for Arrow's demise. The troubles with X certainly affected them. But also, this could have been a planned bankruptcy. It is easier for a company to be bought out when they enter bankruptcy. When a company enters bankruptcy, federal laws say other companies can bid for the bankrupt company. Highest bidder wins (this just occured in Columbus where Giant Eagle outbid Kroger for bankrupt Big Bear locations). Arrow saw bankruptcy as a way to make themselves available to the highest bidder. I do not know who else (or if anyone) bid on Arrow. But S&S got 'em and choose to no longer use the name.
  14. The article was not good. In the first paragraph you talk about how King's Island offers rides, food, shows, and even exercise. But you only write about the rides. Don’t bring up topics to show why PKI attracts people and then never support them. And the successive use of “PKI also offers†and “PKI also has†shows an immature writing style. What is the point of this "article"? Is it to persuade people to go to PKI? Is it to describe the mechanics of Delirium? The writing is really all over the place. It really ends up looking like some little kid wrote a paper on "Why I like PKI". On a positive note…your spelling is decent. Thank god for spell check.
  15. I doubt they will get rid "OFF" any rides that you listed. You made a list of major rides that perform well and have no reason to be removed.
  16. As many people have stated before, the stand-up coaster is pretty much dead. I would be surprised if another one ever pops up. Which leads me to believe that KC was taken off the market and will be scraped. It's value probably dropped so much that selling it for scrap would be the only way to get any money out of it. I think the initial thrill of the stand up coaster is over. People would prefer a decent sit down to a stand up anyday. Look at the coasters that have been built over the past few years. Floorless, inverted (I include flyers in the inverted category) and launched dominate the new constructions. Stand-ups just don't fit anymore.
  17. According to the PKI web site, it is staying but it will be called Surfer's Paradise. Here's a link: http://www.pki.com/attractions_water.jsp#
  18. It would be tough to do a 2nd park and/or entertainment/shopping area. Why parks like Universal and Disney can do additional parks is because of their locations. I think people want to be outdoors and Orlando and LA can offer that enviroment. There have bee so many failed attempts at indoor amusement parks across the country. They could try to do something like City Walk but when you have several outdoor shopping areas already in the Cincinnati area (Covington and that place off I-71 with PH Chang's and Max and Erma's) why bother? Yes, they could do something indoors that could be year round but you have to understand, in order to make money, you would have to draw from outside Ohio. And while it will be all toasty once you get there, you still have to get there. Do you think some family from Iowa wants to fly in to Cincinnati airport and have to battle a snow storm as they drive up to PKI? Or would they rather fly into Orlando and have a nice easy drive to their hotel and spend time outside. I just don't see a year round or indoor operation working for PKI.
  19. IOA is the definition of a theme park. They have an area and all the attractions fit in that theme. All the attractions in Marvel Super Hero Isalnd have to do with Marvel characters. The only area that is themed in PKI is Nick Central. The rest of the park is now a big mess. What does Tomb Raider have to do with Rivertown? It made a lot more sense when Rivertown was supposed to be a western mining type area. When you had rides like Kenton's, The Beast, King's Mill Flume, and Wheel of Fortune (the gambling wheel ride) it fit the theme. I thought they were going to keep AZ as a Paramount movie themed area but SOB pretty much stopped that. You might see PKI do some more themed rides but I think they are done with themeing an entire area.
  20. Check out PKI.com. In the BB section, they have posted the new names for the former Water Works attactions. This may have been covered already but it's the first time I have seen it. http://www.pki.com/attractions_water.jsp#
  21. http://www.screamscape.com/html/s_s_video.html This is the video of the Screaming Squirrel coaster in action. Personally, I don't think it looks very exciting. As the car goes over the "edges", there is so much braking that it looks like it ruins the ride. And the capacity of this ride looks terrible. I would rather PKI install a regular Wild Mouse coaster. Also, I don't know how strong Paramount's relationship is with S&S. I know they installed Hypersonic at PKD but that seems to be it. While almost every park has the S&S Tower rides, Paramount has always gone with the Intamin versions (which I think is better). Did (or does) Hypersonic have problems? I think S&S rides look terrible. They stand out like "sore thumbs" in parks and look like they are made of a lesser quality than the rest of the rides.
  22. Arrow as a seperate company is pretty much gone with the bankruptcy and the buyout by S&S. But I am sure S&S is smart enough to see the profit in offering service to the Arrow coasters. I think Vortex will stay around for a while. As others have already stated, it's a people eater and has had little maintanence problems. Plus the coaster is visually impressive. People like watching it. And it has that "what a coaster should look like" look to it. Have any little kid draw what he thinks a coaster should look like, and it will probably end up resembling Vortex. I don't see it going anywhere for a while. Unless it sinks (I'm just kidding. DO NOT start another thread about the sinking rumor)
  23. I always remember going to KI and riding the "Big Roller Coaster", which is what we called The Racer. When I was about nine years old, we were having dinner at Columbia Palace (Wings now I think) and my brother and sisters convinced me to ride The Beast. I just remember holding onto the lap bar for dear life and being too scared to even scream. After we got off though, I loved it and demanded we ride it again. The not so pleasent memory is when my brother and sisters rode the Witch's Cauldron one year. Withch's Cauldron was a spinning ride in HB Land (Remember the cat that used to jump out of the tree?). Anyway, if you asked the ride op, he would get your cauldron spinning before the ride started. You then could make it spin more by using the disk in the center of the cauldron. Well, my siblings had the ride op spin them and then got it going pretty good where they were almost a blur during the ride. After they got off, my sister puked by The Flintstone bumper cars. After that, my mom put a ban on all spinning rides, which included Witch's Cauldron and Der Spinning Keggers.
  24. The park is small in US terms but decent for Japan. Remember, Japan is an island and availlable land is scarce. I imagine Paramount/Viacom will have a percentage interest in the park, much like Disney does in Disney Sea parks. The only park Universal owns 100% of is Universal Hollywood. They share the rest with investors. I thought it was funny that they mentioned "the Godfather" and "Roman Holiday" as examples of Paramount's movies in the article. Will Japan get a ride themed to "The Godfather"? Just imagine
  25. You really couldn't see the water shooting up when riding. I think it was there more for people watching the ride. Also the trick track looked more intense than it actually was.
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