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King Kobra


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Although it was a fun ride, it was quite painful. You put your arms through these restraints and more or less sat on a bicycle seat. lol...I don't need to tell you why the bicycle seat was painful, but the shoulder restrains weren't made for short people. Now, I'm 6'2, so it wouldn't be a problem now, but when I was younger it was horrible. If you have hit your head on the OTSR on The Vortex, then KC would be miserable. It would box your head around within the restrains.

Now, the ride was pretty cool if you could get over the pain. It had some good airtime going down the hill. The loop wasn't anything special (although it was my first experience on a looping coaster). It mainly consisted of humps or "bunny hops" and a helix or two. Overall a pretty fun ride, but it had a lot of downtime. Since it only ran 2 trains, and it took people a long time to figure out how to get into the restraints, the line moved slowly.

Anyway, I hope this helps,

Ryan

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I wouldn't say that I loved KC, however it was one of my more favorite "classic rides." Why? It was a classic in my book because it was the first stand-up with a loop (I believe) and something about it just made it fit in where it was. It didn't give a ride like Mantis at CP by a long shot...but KC was built in 1984...what could one expect? I'm a little saddend that PKI dismantled the coaster and has it in storage. I understand that it was a maintenance nightmare and required rare parts and PKI saw the oppertunity to rid itself of it, but it was just such a "good-old ride."

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The KC was a clasic. This ride was short jerky but yet a lot of fun. The helix was my favorite part. The coaster got some serious air time over the second hill just before the helix. Of coarse, this ride doesnt compare to Mantis or Chang in size, length or inversions, but it was a good ride. This also was my first looping experiance. I was a little intimidated of The Vortex at the time.

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I remember riding it its first year. I was 17 and yes, I was nervous. It was a stand-up with a loop. That is all I was thinking about when we started climbing the lift hill.

Also worth noting, the helix portion had water. I believe when you went around the bottom portion of the helix, water shot up. You never really got a chance to get wet, except for windy days maybe, but the idea was cool.

After years of riding other stand-ups, KC was a hurting machine as others have mentioned. I do miss it, but not the pain.

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There was water? Ive been ridding that ride since I was about 13 which was 8 years ago, and I never remember the water. Im not saying it wasnt there but I dont remember it at all. If someone knows more about this let me know. I would like to see a pic if possible. Did the water run all of time? Was there a pond? Did they get rid of the water years before they scraped the ride?

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Yes they were a pond where the helix of the King Cobra was. I'm not sure exactly when they got rid of it. But the pond used to extend from the helix of the King Cobra and over to the tables at the restruant on the other side. They were fish in the pond as well.

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The King Cobra was one of my favorite rides. It hurt like hell sometimes but I really enjoyed it. I loved working the ride too. Ive only worked it a couple of times but it was fun working it. I still remember the little lift speil:

PLEASE REMAIN STANDING, AND KEEP BOTH FEET FLAT ON THE FLOOR AS YOU RIDE THE KING COBRA!

Great stuff. I miss that ride. sad.gif

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I remember if you had really broad shoulders or really long arms, getting in and out of the shoulder restraints was a total pain in the you know what. The restraints were very poorly designed, as to open them, they folded out at a 90 degree angle to the car, which as we all know, people's arms do not fold out at 90 degrees. It was the most uncomfortable stand up, I have ever ridden on.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Me and my dad would ride King Corba first thing in the morning to get out of the way. We would usally get the front( it was a lot smoother). In the last year it was open,we got the back sit. It was so rought and out of control. Going down the first drop fealt like be thrown off a steep cliff. I was so sore after words. But I still miss watching it go throw its first loop in the morning.

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PLEASE REMAIN STANDING, AND KEEP BOTH FEET FLAT ON THE FLOOR AS YOU RIDE THE KING COBRA!

Actually the speil was:

Again as a Reminder Please Remain Standing and keep both feet flat on the floor as you ride the King Cobra. It was funny as the spiel use to run all the time before Parmount bought the park out, and then the last 3 or 4 season's it was running the speil was back. I think somewhow it was hookup so when they relesed the train from the breaks to come into the station it would play. I use to say the speil all the time while on the ride. Oh Good times.

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i first rode it right before it closed. i think i went in october 2001 and then it closed acter that season. i got to ride it about 3 times that day. at the time i'd just ridden chang it it just couldn't compare (size, length, etc.) but now that i look at it, KC is probably one of my fav. coasters and i wish it was still in operation. anyone wanna help me get $1 million to buy it. lol laugh.gif

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Yes, what is the CPC story?

I don`t think that PKI has that many parking spaces to spare. Sure, on most summer days they don`t come anywhere near filling all of them up. But have you been there when there is a concert, or on bring a friend free days or days similar to the last weekend. On the last day the park came close to filling up all of their about 11,000 parking spots. While not this season, I have seen on a couple of occasions when they park cars on the large grassy area to the south of the deep south lot. If PKI took out some of the close spots in the north lot, not only would they need to expand the parking lot for those really busy days, I just don`t think a parking lot coaster would fit in at PKI.

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