Shaggy

"<G> I won't tell ya which portions were mine but I don't expect credit. <G> " Suit yourself, but I do. After all, the world DOES revolve around me ;-) Shaggy

"The new owner of Kings Island, Sandusky-based Cedar Fair, looked at the numbers and decided to concentrate on other park attractions, Kaiser said." "Other park attractions?" They must be thinking 2008... don't hold your breath folks... Shaggy

Ummmmm.... the information in the Brady Bunch section was literally copied word for word from a post I made. Here's a link to the thread: http://www.pkicentral.com/forums/index.php...opic=6449&st=30 Thanks for the credit guys. Boo! Hiss! Bad form! :-( Shaggy

It's gone... it's not coming back... move on. Shaggy

Early-to-mid season 2001. Tip offs are: Nick Central is present. KCKC land is cleared for TRTR Vortex is half painted. Ads on main entrance show the SOB logo as well as the (then) new Nick Central. Shaggy

Think about the chances of this though. Loops are oblong, or egg shaped. For a train to become perfectly balanced in one would be quite a feat. Now trains have gotten stuck upside down on coasters before, but that has been due to a mechanical failure that lodged the train into place... i.e. broken axles. Even from a stopped block brake position, SOB can still manuever the loop. It was designed to do so. Shaggy

"Did any North American parks besides KECO ever install a Togo standup?" Yes, as someone mentioned earlier, Kings Dominion has Shockwave and Canada's Wonderland has Skyrider.. both Togo standups installed following King's Island's installation of KC. Skyrider is an exact clone, while Shockwave has an altered 2nd half. Both of those are still operating at those parks. The supply of parts for King Cobra was not the reason for it's demise. Actually, Premier Rides is the North American supplier for Togo rides and attraction parts. The coaster was removed because the cost of operating and maintaining it outweighed the ride's marketablity. In simple terms.... the parts were available, but were too costly for continued investment. Also, the park refers to the ground that aging rides exist on as "prime real estate." Meaning the land is deemed more valuable as a potential future attraction site, than it is as home to an aged one. KC was due to bite the dust when Action Zone was built. However it was slavaged at the last minute. It's final demise came after several seasons of fate debate. People simply cannot fathom that rides age, and deteriorate over time. The are nothing more than machines, no different than a car. When you own a 1984 Dodge for 15 years and run it daily... no matter how much you "baby" it... the engine and body is obviously going to wear out over time. When you discover the car is costing you more to keep and operate than a brand new shiny make/model would... then you chuck it. KC was no different than a 1984 Dodge. Shaggy

Unless they overhaul Octoberfest and International Street altogehter, adding more Bavarian theming is a waste of energy. It used to make sense. The whole reason for the Festhaus being added was the need for a large indoor eating hall. Octoberfest (which played off of Cincy German roots) was the perfect place for the hall. KI went on the cheap in building it... it's essentially a large corrogated metal warehouse on a concrete slab... and was hurried to be readied for the first Winterfest. However, with the dissapearance of virtually all Octoberfest theming (completely lost on today's guest) not to mention all of the International theming on International Street, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Heck, even "Viking Fury" doesn't make sense being located in Octoberfest. Am I crazy or were Vikings Norwegian and not German? Here's a fun little but of trivia about the Festhaus. The front entrance/clock is a wooden facade on the front of the metal building. There's about a 6 foot gap in-between the two. You access the clock mechanics and in-between storage areas by going up a hidden staircase to the right as you enter the Festhaus. Once up there, you can look down below and still see tons of empty vintage pop and beer cans thrown to the floor by workers when constructing it. Shaggy

Man, where to start?! I could type up a really long list of things I'd personally change... but why waste the time? The A#1 thing that I would alter immediately is all the ridiculous commercialization that has raped that park over the years. All of the cross promotion is vial. The park is supposed to be a place to get away from all of that. Every single one of the in-park ads and movie tie-ins would get chucked no matter how much the sponsor gives to the park. Heck, the park spent countless $ just a year or so ago to put in those awful scrolling billboards throughout the park. I live by the Walt Disney park ideal. I mean, Walt Disney would have a heart attack at seeing a billboard in Fantasyland advertising a new John Deere Tractor... let alone a restaraunt in Tomorrowland. IMO, get ride of 90% of that, and you have solved 90% of the bad perception that PKI can have. Not that PKI has a bad reputation... quite the opposite... I just think people are put off by the lack of escapism. Shaggy Side bar: I admit that I am an old sourpuss when it comes to this sort of thing in general. A few years back, I pretty much stopped wearing t-shirts etc that advertised things. Why? I am not paid to be a billboard, and don't like it that clothing is used to try and influence me as to where to spend my money. Think about it, why are we having to PAY to walk around advertising Old Navy across our chest?

Like many things, memory lends enchantment about The Racer's previous red, white and blue color scheme. The park switched to an all white motif for a good reason... the blue and red would fade so quickly and so badly that it used to look worse than it does now. Of course looking at old park pics, the coster looks great with that color scheme... well, that's because when the park photographed it, it was freshly painted! I dinstinctly recall the "patchwork" red and blue colors. Some boards were vibrant, some boards were blah... if they had to replace a colored board, it never matched the rest because the others were sun bleached. etc. etc. etc. FYI, pre-season, many of the ride sups and area managers actually do paint parts of the attractions. Many handrails, queue gates and yes, even the inside of The Racer tunnels have been, or are, painted by seasonal personnel. No matter how bad a ride looks, it doesn't make a lot of sense for the park to re-paint it mid-season. That spells downtime. Some rides require warmer weather to strip and paint... ala Vortex... but the park relies on off season maint for most of those jobs. Drop Zone has been in desperate need of a re-painting for years. However with a 6-7 figure price tag, the park must prioritize and rotate ride re-furbs. The CF olor influence should be quite unique at the Paramount Parks. How so? CF is NOTORIOUS for painting all things in bold primary Red, Blue, and Yellow color schemes. Have you seen Iron Dragon? Blech! Shaggy

Funny, in the time I worked there, we never closed a ride (let alone the park?!) for rain. I personally operated Beast in the midst of a hail storm once. And guests still rode... eeeouch! I would guess a HUGE downpour might have some effect, but I never witnessed it closing a coaster personally. Actually, the last time I "drove" Beast it was the final day of the 1999 season and it was feeezing cold and snowing. Well, back then it still had the skid breaks and the hydraulics would freeze. Maintenance would warm the hydraulics with heat cables (used for frozen water pipes in homes) and heat lamps. Even so, the hydraulics would still stick, and the skids would sometimes not engage. One of my last trains on Beast blew through the station and set up the block when the skids did not raise. The good news was that by then they were down to 2 train operation (they often cycle one train off prior to the close of the season for early off season maintenance) so there was no danger of trains colliding. We did close for lightning and tornados ;-) And one of the things I found most odd was that, in case of a Tornado, ride ops were instructed to lock-out the ride and head to the nearest shelter (In Beast's case it was under the turntable of KCKC) we were instructed to warn guests to take shelter, but essentially they were on their own! Shaggy

Lightning shuts the rides down, not rain. Shaggy

The mural and window are original to the Festhaus. They were just covered over by facades and screens for many years. But I agree, the Festhaus is much better looking when adhering to it's original look. Shaggy

And you know what? During that blackout was the best time I ever had with guests. Many remained in station and so we made a game of it. We did really silly stuff like throw around KI trivia, even sang old KI commerical jingles! The guests were extremely fun and smart. LOL It took a looooooong time for the rides to get evacuated and up and running again. All had to be evacuated, and it was late on a Sunday evening... so they only had the thin/late shift Supervisor crews on. I recall that there was one guest that took like 30 minutes to come down the lift of Vortex. Female, I think, and the only way she'd come down was to sit on the stairs and drop her butt down one step at a time. Shaggy

LOL! Hysterical! It's really amusing when I think about it now, but at the time I would get terribly aggrivated. There were a few times on shift when I literally refused to go back to that backside position. In '98 it was still an extremely popular coaster, and the guests would bombard that thing. Of course, back then it had all it's bells and whistles... all the in-station speels, sound and light effects. Of course it had OTSR's with those disgusting ear pads that came off at the drop of a hat (and ride attendants were forbidden to re-velcro them back on, had to shut the seat off and call maintenance who would literally just stick it on.) I think I lost about 5 name tags from leaning over checking those restraints, and the cheapos in wardrobe would charge you like $3 every time for a new one. I had some interesting/hysterical situations there too. I was working FOF the night of the huge blackout at the park. Of course as a ride op you are not allowed to say what is going on with a ride when it shuts down. So there I stood on load side trying to dodge questions like "Are they stuck?" with the sounds of "Help, we're stuck!" being bellowed from the block-braked train in the drum. I also recall working unload once and all of the sudden "KABLAM! HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" I thought the world was coming to an end. Of course it was just the hydraulic/air line to the brake caliper bursting. Scared the devil out of me. Shaggy P.S. Steve... I think I recall you. I transferred to Beast crew in '99, and worked there all season (just part time though, my working at PKI was just for kicks.) Carla and Beth were supervising, and you moved up to an Area Manager I think.

Wow! I am so glad to hear others had the horrible experience of working the backload of FOF and hated it as much as I. I was on OLFOF crew part-time in 98, and I have to tell you, it SUCKED. Having to deal with people's personal items. Monitoring kids that wandered out of the kiddie corral Monitoring guests that consistantly tried to "sneak " into the loading platform. Monitoring guests that were hell bent on watching the train lauch and would not remain behind the yellow line. Dealing with wheelchair folks that lined up in whords. Having to leave the backside station unattended to run wheelchairs to the unload side and having to literally swim upstream to get there. And having to "Up Bar" every train because some idiot would get his arm stuck in the air between the side of the train and the OSTR. Finally, those working FOF today have no idea how it felt to do all of this in a "military" uniform complete with Beret. I had a red line across my forhead for months because of that thing ;-) It was awful! Shaggy

Do this... stand in the hot sun for 3 hours. Then get into the passenger seat of a car. While the car is moving, stick your head out of the window for 14 seconds. Have the driver hit the breaks. There, you have just ridden Dragster. LOL... mostly kidding. But trust me, if you have to wait over an hour to ride it, you will likely be dissapointed. You may think that being up that high, or twisting down the side would be the huge thrill. It's no doubt thrilling, but the immense speed is what surprised me. Heck, you are up in the air and twisting for such a short period of time, that you hardly have time to savor it. Shaggy

"I don't think that anyone that had ridden the ride would say that it was a "snoozer." My point, in case you missed it, was not that those of us that recall/rode it when it operated thought it was boring. My point is, that if the ride were still in existance today, I don't feel that it would be considered that thrilling by today's mega standards. Much like anything in popular society, legends and memories of things actually supercede the reality of them. The reality is, The Bat was fun... but terribly problematic and ahead of it's time. Very few persons got to ride it. So, it's unusual history lends itself to become one that fascinates those that never witnessed it firsthand. Heck, it's what started my fascination with coasters (and KI) in general. But I also vividly recall how immensely frustrating it was to guests to hear the ride hyped by their "friends", or see ads on TV or in the newspapers, only to find it closed nearly each and every time you visited the park. I have always thought of it as the "Cabbage Patch Kid" of the amusement industry in the 1980s. HUH? What I mean is, if you recall that Cabbage Patch Doll craze of the 1980's, you'll remember that there was an extreme exclusivity that drove their popularity through the roof. Because of that exclusivity, people just had to have one... they were like gold, and everybody that was lucky enough to get their hands on them bragged, and made them out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. When in reality, the rarity of having one was the motivation for their favor. The difference is, CP Dolls stuck around and people got really tired and bored with them. The Bat did not stick around, so the fascination and intrigue never died. add to that urban legends about accidents and deaths and you get quite a legendary force. Within two years of The Bat's origin, Arrow had perfected the Suspended coaster to the point that they could build "Big Bad Wolf" at BGW which goes twice as fast. But let's cite that as the perfect example.... BBW was plagued with downtime in it's first two years of operation and it opened much later than expected.. much like The Bat. That coaster weathered it's rough times and remains today. However, it's hardly the popular coaster at BGW. Compared to Alpengeist, or Apollo's Chariot or the former Dragon Fire, it's considered remarkably tame. That's a complete contrast to how "fierce" it seemed when it first opened. IMO, The Bat, had it not ceased existance due to mechanical issues, would have suffered the same fate. And after watching KI/PKI's willy-nilly removal of rides in the past decade, would no doubt have been axed for something "bigger and better." Shaggy

Metal bars?

I wonder how many times, and how many different ways "it didn't work" can be expressed. ;-) The fascination with The Bat never ceases to amaze me. Was it a marvel when it was built? Absolutely. Heck, I remember standing on the brick wall watching it swing around to the station over and over again. But by today's standards, The Bat would be a snoozer... folks don't seem to recall that it only went about 35 m.p.h. In other words, it ran at about the speed of Beastie. (Now The Fairly Odd Coaster) Shaggy

Some complain of being uncomfortable from being suspended upside down for an extended amount of time. I have not found it to be rough, or uncomfortable. However, there is a slight difference in forces depending upon where you sit. The front row is a bit more forceful than the back row, and the middle is... well, in-between. Shaggy

Then a compromise must have been made since... the original was a large yellow and green plaque that simply said "Huss." I rode at both the media event and saw the plaque, and I rode the day following... and indeed the plaque had been removed by then. I didn't ride TR last year, or at least I can't recall riding it... and this year I've not visited. Shaggy

But I think it's important to clarify what you mean by "Falling off." It seems you are omitting two crucial words.... "while getting." Sure people stumble and fall and get hurt... while getting off (and onto) rides. However to somehow lump that into a subject line where someone feared falling from a ride while in motion is really ridiculous. Bottom line, at reputable parks such as PKI... rides are safe. Sure there have been occasional mis-haps or accidents. However, you are about 1 million times more safe riding any coaster or attraction IN the park than you are driving TO the park. Shaggy

I believe that Tomb Raider's on-ride photo was taken after the Shiva wall show, as the Top Spin rotated upward for the first inversion. The cameras were mounted on the ceiling above the Shiva wall. That way it caught the inital shocked reaction from guests not expecting to be flipped backwards. The eyes of the Shiva wall once illuminted with a light beam coming from each of them. The rotated right to left, with the beam shining across the gondola. However, within months of the attraction opening, the effect was broken and never repaired. It, IMO, was the best (and campiest) effect of the ride. Here's some fun trivia about Tomb Raider... All the ads for the ride feature "Angelina Jolie" as Laura Croft walking into the "eye" of the attraction. Her back is to the viewer. Why? Well, it's not Angelina... it's a double... Angelina would only do the ad for millions, so a model was used. However Angelina required that the park notate that it was not her. Thus there a caption below the logo for the ride saying that it is a body double. Meant to be a catch-phrase from the movie... the first time you hear Laura Croft speak in the attraction is when she says "You're making a big mistake!" And yes, it was meant to be ironic. Huss got sneaky and stuck a HUSS logo plaque on the ride unit just prior to the media event. The park wanted none of the media to reveal what the ride unit actually was... a Huss Giant Top Spin... but one reporter noticed the plaque and revealed it in her article. By the next day, the park had removed the plaque. It snowed on TR's media day. Tomb Raider is the first ride in KI's history to use pre-recorded screams. That's right... some of the screams/sqeals you hear are indeed fake. Shaggy

Boy, you guys sure do know how to reassure someone that is timid of going on a ride! Remind me to not ask anyone advice around here. Bottom line, Face/Off is an extremely safe ride. However because it is a little more than intimidating, I can definitely see your concern. The easiest way to overcome it, of course, is to ride. Tell the ride attendant that it is your first time and ask them to double check your harness. That should help ease your fear a bit. Also, as others have mentioned, there is a safety belt that acts as a back-up to the restraint itself. It connects the bottom of the OTSR to the seat bottom. My best advice, however, is to ride for the first time sitting in the train with your back to the cobra roll. In otherwords, when you board, sit in a seat that faces the operator's booth. I suggest this because you spend less time dangling forward and relying on the restraint. The time you spend on the spike facing downward is much shorter since it only occurs on the second spike and the momentum never really stops. If you sit so that you get pulled up the 1st spike backwards... then you have to agonize through the lift and gear switch while facing the pavement below. Face/Off is intense. But it's fun. And safe. Shaggy