CoastersRZ

No, don`t leave PKIC for EPKI! I know you will continue to post here Scooby! (I actually have posted over there a couple of times. Mainly to correct someone that had said something that was blatantly incorrect.) Yes, PKIGuide had a forum website. In fact the webmaster on that site had stumbled across the history page for PKI that I had up on my geocities site, and asked me to incorporate it on his site. I said sure. (I no longer have that history page on my site, but I do have several pictures from PKI, with several from early years including the smurf ride, among other theme park travels). Guidetotheisland.com did not, to the best of my knowledge have any forums.

It`s ok. I wasn`t trying to be rude. I was just trying to give you a heads up. If you were to continue to post with sentences like that, the mods might edit or delete your posts, because of what CombatStupendous said. No harm done!

Wow. You could use some better sentence structure in that post. As has been discussed before, they did not run a Racer train on Son of Beast. (Not to mention that all four Racer trains are still on the tracks of that ride). But PKI`s PTC trains use electric strikes on the sides of the trains to lock and unlock the lapbars. Son of Beast`s trains, llike most of the steel coasters at PKI, use bars that rise underneath the trains to release the bars. (They can be unlocked by the operators stepping on pedals in the rear of the train. If they ever were to run PTC`s on Son of Beast, they would have to buy PTCs that have that type of locking mechanism, or retrofit the station. IMO, the trains themselves are not the reason for the bad experience. It also has to do with the track and the way the train jackhammers on the track in certain spots. With the amount of money PKI has spent on Son of Beast, I`m sure they will continue to wokr on it, to make it a more enjoyable ride for the general public. They want to be able to see some return on their investment. However, it may reach a point when they throw in the towel. I don`t forsee that heppening in the very near future though!

Yeah, that is the spiel. I used to know it, but having ridden Son of Beast less this year, (in part due to classes at UC in the summer) I had forgotten parts of it.

Vortex, to my knowledge, the park has done track work every off season on Son of Beast since it opened. PKI prides themselve in maintaining their wooden coasters. While Son of Beast is rough, they are continuing to work on it to make it smoother. As the old saying goes, a wooden coaster is always under construction.

Well, I think it is safe to say, that PKIC will be around for quite some time. The staff here is very dedicated to improving the site, both design wise and content wise. If PKIC dies in the near future, I`m sure many of us will migrate onto the next great PKI website, like many of us veterans from PKIU, or even PKI Guide have done.

I don`t really remember the adds on PKIU. I do remember when Aaron took the boards offline for a couple days. Yeah, I`d like to know what happened to Aaron. He sold the site, and has not been involved in this site much, if at all after the merger. Maybe it was his time to move on to bigger and better things in life.

Yeah, there is a recorded spiel that plays periodically in the station. Jeff is the one saying it and it goes something along the lines of "The Son of Beast is a forceful, turbulent roller coaster with quick turns and sudden drops. Guests with recent back, neck or bone injuries should not ride."

That is one thing that bugs me about IJST though, is that the onboard audio and headlights are no longer working. While the headlights did not add much to the ride, unless you rode at night, the onboard audio, made the ride more fun and enjoyable. On the flip side, the fishtailing effect that was almost unnoticable in the beginning of the season, is begining to become more evident as the springs loosen up. On Saturday, I felt two or three spots where our car was definantly pivoting. But other than the onboard train issues, which are in part due to the new technology involved, the effects on IJST have been pretty consistent. THe "stunt" show in the middle of the ride has worked flawlessly every time I have ridden the ride this year. Thanks for the kind words CombatStupdendous! It bugs me when people critique the park, and blatantly do not tell the truth or know the reasons behind why things are done the way they are. Take a look at some of the other theme parks around (like PKI`s neighbor in Kentucky) and you will realize how well Paramount takes care of their parks!

While the landscaping may not be to the caliber it once was, it is still pretty well maintained. I like the fect that they have kept the old KI logo in the floral calendar, even after all these years of ownership under Paramount. While some thing have deteriorated in Coney Mall as far as landscaping (namely the ginko trees are no longer trimmed like push pops, like they used to be), they still do a pretty good job. Yes, they took out some of the trees along Coney`s midway, but they replaced them with new ones. The old ones probably were sick and either going to die, or spread it to the neighboring trees. The landscaping around TR:TR is pretty good now that it has had a few years to fill in! And no, Paramount hasn`t let all of their attractions` theming deteriorate. Look at FoF. It is in its tenth season, and the preshow and lights are still working like they did the year it opened! While I admit, rides like Top Gun, Adventure Express and to a lesser extent TR:TR have gone down hill, it seems to me like the part is making a conserted effort to keep up the level of theming in the rides, especially with the direction that the park seems to be headed in.

No, I know that. Islandguide was the site that had an odd url, right? Along the lines of islandguide.8m.cc or something? Besides, Guidetotheisland was run by Shawn Werley, an ACER, so why would you be good friends with an ACER, right !

Are you kidding Ryan? That would be AWESOME if that turns out to be true, and if that`s the case, then I can`t wait for the update!

Yeah, I haven`t been able to find some of those pictures since he took his site offline either. He had some really unique and awesome pictures on there! Its a shame they seem to have dissappeared into oblivion. No, he is not the same guy that did guidetothepoint. Although he patterned his website after that one, even taking part of its name. Unfortunatly, he was not very intent on keeping it around, and it never got a large following. I had emailed him several times before he decided to launch it, and he was hesitant to launch it then. I think he launched the site back in 2001, right around the time the log flume was being renovated. Shortly after i encouraged him to launch it and the site debuted, he shut it down.

I remember that website too. Any one else remember guidetotheisland.com? It was a very short lived website by Sean Werley. It had several unique photos of the park in its early years, including some construction pictures of the Eiffel Tower!

Actually, I believe that any injury that occurs as a result of an injury on an amusement park ride in Ohio is subject to a State of Ohio Department of Agriculture- Rides Safety Division investigation. They are the ones that decide whether a ride is safe to operate in Ohio every year after inspecting it. I know for a fact that they not only inspect the rides, but make sure the ride operators are enforcing the height restrictions, and following all rules and procedures properly. They also check up on the rides paperwork. I was working last summer when one of the state inspectors mad a surprise visit to Coney to check up on the rides` paper work and to observe the operations of the rides. A couple days later, I saw the same guy at The Beast exit, observing things at The Beast.

I`ve thought about going up on Friday after work. But I might take Friday night off, since I have to work at my second job Coney Island, for the last weekend they are open and might be the last time that I will ever work at Coney. (But of course I said that last September when I left Coney!)

I started out on PKIU, and posted almost exclusively there. Then after talking with someone, don`t remember who, they urged me to post more on PKIC. I started to post more on PKIC, but still mostly posted on PKIU. Then around the time of the merger, when PKIU was up for sale, I started posting almost exclusively on PKIC becuase I didn`t know the fate of PKIU. And like Klockster said, my accounts were combined so that my posts from over on PKIU were carried over to my PKIC account. In fact, I had 946 posts on my account before it was merged with my new one. How do I know? Because my old account on PKIC was just Coasterrz, without the s in it, and if you check the fourth page of the top posted list, you will see my old PKIC sn.

Viacom is splitting into two companies. Viacom owns Paramount Pictures and Paramount Parks, although after the split, they will be on both sides of the new company. There will likely not be much change in the licensed rights and access to the Viacom library. I would not anticipate to see more CBS theming, but a continuation of the current Viacom properties, which incluse CBS. There probably won`t be much change in park operations, other than the fact that budgets might increase for capital expenditure (hopefully!)

I have seen Jeff Siebert several times stop and tell people to put out their cigarettes, as well as several ride operators. It is just hard to enforce a rule that is not advertised enough in park, IMO.

Really? Very interesting indeed! Yet another star that will be visiting the park. I too was not able to find anything on the Enquirer`s website to confirm this.

StXstephen, Shake, Rattle and Roll is a Huss Troika, with Troika being the model name of the ride. Originally, when the ride opened back in 1975, it was called the Troika. In fact, the Troika at Cedar Point is known by its model name.

Its a joke. He works at the park, just read his signature.

Well, for years they had a wheel assembly/car mount to one of The Bat cars, sitting in plain site from The Vortex station. It was laying unprotected right next to the footings for the turn into the midcourse break run. Then around 1999 or 2000 they removed it from its location. Others may remember seeing it as well. And no, I`m sure there are no significant parts of The Bat`s train left. I`m not sure what the park did with that piece. They might have moved it to one of the various graveyards.

Glad to hear you had a good time at PKI. Yes, the smoking ban is not enforced very effectively. Perhaps the main flaw though, is that other than the anouncements over the pa system, a mention of the ban in the park map, and in the designated smoking areas, there is no mention of the ban. You have to practically look for the ban to know that it exists. At Holiday World, they have banners all around the park touting it to be smoke free, so guests see the banners wherever they turn, and it makes people more aware. The thing that gets me witht he smoking is the people that insist on smoking in the ride lines (which has been banned for years). It is not like you can easily get away from them smoking when you are in a queue line with people behind you and all around you. Some people need to have some more common courtesy when it comes to things like this!

Actually, as far as plans go, they are probably finalized, with regards to the construction of the Great Wolf Lodge. Construction has already begun, which means building permits have been issued, and all the plans have been approved by Warren County and presumably the city of Mason. I`m sure between building this resort, the new Nick area and Winterfest, the park has other things on their minds currently than a new campground. I`m sure they may be planning to install a new campground (that is why they have repeatedly asked about campgrounds on the surveys). It will just be a matter of time. Look how long it has taken them to prepar for Winterfest. They have been making preparations and doing surveys on it for about the past three years!