CoastersRZ

If the new show ends up on Nick, I have little doubt that the smurfs won`t return to PKI, at least in the form of a meet and greet character. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming years.

The show is in the renovated Paramount Theater. Is is basically a cheesy show about "making movies." Oh, and the middle part of the show is a trailer for the upcoming Spongebob Movie. I personally though the show was a complete waste of my time. To each his own.

Why do people always want PKI to blow the "diapers" off of Cedar Point? They coexist together quite nicely and create some friendly competition. After all, if PKI was the only park around, they would not have the need to add new attractions every season.

Captain Obvious, I rode Delirium this season, I think it might have been on Easter, and someone lost their shoe on the ride. It ended up clear over by the station of Days of Thunder!

What do you mean Scooby`s Ghoster Coaster WAS the lowest capacity ride in the park? I believe it IS the lowest capacity ride in the park!

Mason will probably grant PKi the zoning variance, because the new sign will be the same size as the old one. The park just has to go through all the proper zoning procedures to get it ok`d by the Mason Zoning Commission, which probably would not object to a sign of the same size. It is a lengthy process, but PKI will most likely get the variance approved. Hopefully, by the end of daily operation in 2004, we`ll have a brand new shiny sign to greet us!

Antique Cars were always located in Coney Mall since the park opened. There was another station on the south side of the current Antique car lot on the path across from the lake. The park closed that side, which was known as the Ohio Overland Auto Livery, around 1997 sometime. There also used to be the Sunshine Turnpike which was located next to Kings Mills Log Flume, which is now Wild Thornberrys River Adventure. Sunshine Turnpike, was the same concept as the Antique cars, except they were sports cars instead of old fashioned model Ts. Sunshine was removed after the 1993 season to make way for Nickelodeon SPlat City in 1995.

I thought the show was rather bad, and not worth the time I spent watching it. It could have been just a bad time that I saw it, but I don`t plan on seeing the show again. The seats are nicer than what used to be in the theater last year, though.

Flying Eagles? What`s wrong with the Eagles? They are one of the few rides that the riders actually can control the experience they recieve. Additionally, they are a classic dating back to 1940 when they were first installed at Coney Island. Also, the Scrambler is another classic ride that came from Coney (although both have been replaced by newer versions of the same ride) and originally opened in 1957. Why mess with something if they`re not broken? Also, they just repainted the Scrambler for this season, so it isn`t going anywhere any time soon. Why take out rides ( a lot of which are classics) when they can expand on undeveloped land like the land that used to be occupies by the eurobungees?

The delay is in part because they have to go through zoning appeals with the city of Mason. With current law, they could only build a sign about half the size of the old one. It is my understanding that they are appealing to build a sign of the same size as their last one. Once they get approval from the zoning board, they then have to obtain the construction permits and actually fabricate the design. It is my understanding that they already have a new sign designed and that both Paramount Parks and Paramount Studios have signed off on the design. The latest I`ve heard for the new sign to be built is the end of June or sometime in July, but that`s only what I`ve heard to be the target date. Thinds can change, especially if they get hung up on the zoning board.

Since the ride bears an identification number and permit from the Ohio Department of Agriculture`s Ride Safety Division, I believe that the state of Ohio considers the Eiffel Tower as a ride. I also, btw, consider the Eiffel Tower as a ride.

I do not believe that Drop Zone got new seats. Technically, Drop Zone does have Volcano styled seats and restraints as both Drop Zone and Volcano were both manufactured by Intamin. I could be wrong, but I nev er heard any news about DZ and new seats.

While I like the new site. There are still some problems with it. For starters, they still haven`t updated all of the information on it, such as the height restrictions. Also, they have the 2004 park map on the site, but if you download it, you get a 2003 park map. Additionally, some of the pictures on the featured rides pages are pixelated or stretched out of proportion. Hopefully, they will be updating and fixing these and some other minor problems with the site soon. Other than that, it looks excellent and is a big improvement over the old website!

I too am interested to hear about what changes the park has made to Tomb Raider for this season. Will we see a TR:TR v2.0 this season as Jeff hinted at during the construction tours of BB? Or will they simply have refurbished all of the effects to get them working to how they were supposed to be, like the spinning light on the door into the preshow room?

I don`t exactly remember where I got that list from. It was either a website or an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer. I seem to think that it was an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer. You might be able to find it on their website if you do a search for it.

Actually, tunnel #2 as it exists today is comprised of two original tunnels. The beginning and ending of tunnel #2 are in fact underground tunnels, and hence the reason the sides and top are made out of concrete. In the first season, the two tunnels were not connected, that occured in 1980 when they conneected the two underground portions with a wood tunnel. Also, originally, the double helix had a roof on it, but was not enclosed on the sides like a real tunnel. That too occured in The Beast`s second season in 1980. Additionally, for The Beast`s 20th anniversary in 1999, they had a speaker at the top of lift number one that continually played a growling noise to sound like a monster/beast.

Here is a list of the Top Ten most popular rides at PKI in 2000. I had this list typed in a Word Document after i saw it either on a website, or in a newspaper article. Anyhow, heres the list from my word document. • In 2000, the most popular ride was the (1) Racer with 2,081,115 riders. That was followed by (2) Adventure Express with 1,322,188 riders and the (3) Vortex with 1,288,492 riders. The next most popular ride was (4) The Beast with 1,143,739 riders, followed by (5) Top Gun with 1,049,989 riders. That was followed by (6) Phantom Theater with 914,269 riders, followed by (7) The Beastie with 862,860 riders. Next in line was (8) Flight of Fear with 847,300 riders. The last two top ten rides were (9) Congo Falls with 845,932 patrons and (10) Viking Fury with 840,667 riders.

What new survey has PKI sent out lately? I don`t remember seeing that statement or question before in a survey from PKI or Paramount Parks. I am glad that Paramount Parks have instituted this program as a good means for guests to give feedback and advice to the park in order to make it a better, more fun place to visit.

First of all, I don`t think Vortex is going anywhere anytime soon as they just repainted it for the 2002 season.. Secondly, I don`t forsee Congo going anywhere either as it is such a high capacity ride with 20 guests per boat. I have never seen that ride with its entire queue full, even on the most busy days. Thridly, I don`t think any of the WaterWorks attractions are going anyhere. The park is adding Boomerang Bay and has/is refurbishing some of the older slides. So I highly doubt they plan to remove a water attraction in the near future. if they were going to remove a ride, they probably would have done so in this off season. This is because the water park is in disarray from the construction, so getting construction equipment in to remove the attraction and the need landscaping would not be a problem. in the grand scheme of things, all sections of the park will probably loose an attraction at some point, whether next year or in twenty.

If I do recall, that "plant" Eiffel Tower hasn`t always been there. I f I recall correctly, it used to hang out by the Carousel near the Eiffel Tower. Incidentally, they also have a caroousel hourse made out of plants simlar to the Eiffel Tower, and that one is located outside of the Carousel. An interesting thing to note is that they used to have a Barney and Fred Flinestone character made out of plants in Hanna Barbera Land as well. I don`t think those have been around for quite some time.

You can see at least one of them extremly well from the lift of Top Gun. When you disengage the chain, the campground will be to your left. In front of you, and slightly off to the left will be a greenhouse/nursery. I do believe that there is a small pond in front of the nursery as well. Between the campground and greenhouse is an access road complete with utility lines beside it, heading off in the direction of Kings High School. I don`t know if you can see the greenhouse from the Eiffel Tower or not.

There is also the Son of Beast Spiel. "Welcome back riders, we hope you enjoyed your ride. Push down then pull of on your lap bars, exit to your right, walk down the exit ramp and have a nice day at Paramount`s Kings Island. Oncoming riders, step into the seats directly in front of you. Sit up straight, hold on tight and enjoy your ride on Son of Beast." Then there is also the recording on The Beast`s second lift hill "Caution: Please keep your hands down and inside the car. Please remains seated at all times. Thank you!"

Actually, the years that the park was owned by Carl Lindner`s American Financial were some of the parks darkest years. They did maintain an addition of at least one new ride over those years. However, they let the park deteriorate and removed several flat rides. While the park is not as unique now since Paramount has branded several attractions the same across all of its parks, Paramount has done a lot of good in the park, especially in the last couple of seasons. In the last couple of seasons the park has focused more and more on giving the guests a pleasing, memorable experience, which is what the orginal developers of the park had imagined when they built it in 1972. Paramount, especially in the last couple of seasons. has added a lot of theming to the park. Carl Lindner was not the original owner of the park, Taft Broadcasting was. Also, Face Off, Top Gun, Runaway Reptar and Flight of Fear, and the Paramount Action Theater are the only cloned rides that Paramount has added. Some of the rides they have added may have the same name, but are in fact different, like the Scooby Ride at Kings Island, Carowinds, and Wonderland.

I don`t think that Coney has enough money to buy King Cobra, let alone the resources to get it into operation. While it would be a big hit at the park if they could pull it off. The past season I heard rumors about possible additions such as a Log flume, some more whirl and hurls, a Drop Tower, and a coaster. However the coaster rumor I heard said that it would be a small wild mouse type coaster, similar to the Python.

Yep, Jeff is delivering on what he said back in November about a tour after the holidays when construction is further along. PKI is a world class park by the way they treat their loyal enthusiats! Unfortunatly, I don`t know if I can go on the tour. I have class from 8-9 and then again from 1-5. Time wise, I could probably go, but I don`t know if I`ll have a ride off campus. Mars1825, I told you I might eventually post on this site!