SOB/Gun Steve-O

It DID NOT valley! How many times have me, Drew, Sparky, and god knows who else said that's physically impossible! Though SOB was closed all day, and from what I have heard it may not be open tomorrow - at least the first half of the day.

My guess is that those are the radio frequencies that the park uses to communicate to managers and security. The walkie-talkies they use have like 8 channels, so there would be a lot. Plus, the park has its own fire and police squad, so you need communication for them. I'd tell you what people do over the radios, but then I'd have to kill you. But then Sparky, Drew and pretty much everyone above me in the rides department would kill me soon afterwards.

Yes. The coaster's don't have backup power. If it dies with you on it, you get stuck. Very simple. And for fyrfyter: 1) What's up! Haven't seen you in a while. 2) Ride ops are trained to immediately turn off the ride if there is any kind of power flucuation that we can see. I think its to prevent the panel from frying when the power comes back on. I know that on Top Gun the power was down for no more than a few minutes - but we were still down because we had to get approval to go back up.

See you gotta say that or we get mad. We have our problems with management as well. Kings Island is owned by a very large, public, and for-profit company (Viacom) and I'll be the first one to say that there are some things that could definately be imporved upon - primairly with theming. We understand that we do things that tick a lot of people off. We merely ask that you realize that these things are done for a reason (usually guest saftey), and that we are merely following orders so we can collect our paychecks. OK, so now everybody understands and we can all cool down. Sorry if we were also misleading. I'm happy now. And I'm also going to sleep. See you all later, and here's to hoping that it won't be cold enough to snow on Friday!

Sparky's not the only one who works there, dude. There's got to be at least ten PKI employees who post here regularly, including myself. And when you openly say that we're not doing stuff right, we get kind of mad. So I have the following to say: 1) We don't control the theming 2) When a ride is shut down, it is shut down for a reason - usually to protect you! 3) A ride is always closed "indefinitely." NOBODY at PKI is permitted to give you a timeframe as to when a ride will reopen after a malfunction - generally because we very rarely know. 4) It was snowing this morning - what the heck were you thinking when you decided to come? 5 and finally) There is a reason its called "preview day." There. I'm done. I apologize for any inconvience your day or this post may have caused you. Have a nice day.

I know that last summer, the get into action-zone early was a weekly thing.

The rides at Kings Island are designed to run when its WARM out - not when its 40 degrees. That's why they were closed.

I'd recommend 5-8. We are much more likely to keep rides closed in the morning when its cold. The coldest temp of the day usually occurs just before dawn, high usually comes between 3-5, so you should definately be good. The rides get warmed up when we cycle them - and they don't start throwing people out of the park before closing time, no matter how small the crowds are. Just hope that there isn't another "incident" that shuts down every single ride in the park for an hour like there was today.

Today was definately very hectic. The 4PM thing was definately not planned. As far as I know, every single ride in the park died. I'm not sure of the cause (and even if I was, you all know of the gag order). Once it was fixed, then we had some rowdy guests to deal with - many line jumpers on SOB, and apparently there was someone threatening someone or something - but nobody could prove anything.

Popular rides and Coasters generally get priority. Generally, each crew must give priority to staffing its higher-capacity ride (except ours, since we give SOB priority over Top Gun).

Amen.

I have never seen any type of media event in which people are openly allowed to film on the ride. I think they actually attach the camera to the train when the Discovery Channel or the like wants to film it, so there is no risk of someone dropping it. Even if the PR department gave you permission, I still probably wouldn't dispatch it.

Its pretty much dependent on the weather. Generally though, the lines are longest in AZ in the morning and early afternoon. So its best to start to your right and go counter-clockwise across the park. Also, Sunday's are usually less crowded than Saturday's.

Ride ops are instructed to confiscate any camera that we see anyone take onto the ride. There is a camera on the lift so that we can see if anyone whips one out as soon as they get out of the station, usually we catch them and at least stop the lift and yell at them over the PA system. However, many folks know about the cameras and simply wait until they are at the top of the hill - out of range of the camera - to whip it out. This is a VERY bad idea. You are NOT allowed to bring cameras onto rides, especially roller coasters. It could hit someone. Oh by the way, it is also illegal - its against Ohio law to openly violate a park's posted saftey rules about a ride.

I remember when I was at toll plaza we did not accept season passes from other Paramount Parks - because they would not accept ours.

I see - how often does someone check every inch of your computer? How often does your computer have to be certified by the state of Ohio to be safe to operate? How often do you have to go through a 5-hour training course just to turn your computer on? How often do you lose your job when you do something that has maybe a 1 in 100 chance of hurting anything? Have you ever heard of a data back-up system?

Its perfectly normal to have a little free play in the restraint. It just shouldn't come up more than a couple inches. And besides, Top Gun doesn't even go upside down, and the G-forces of it pin you in anyway! Heck, I'm not sure you even need a restraint, other than for making sure you don't just hop out!

Let me put it this way. I mean no offense to anyone, I just want to make it as clear as possible: NO!!

Yes. As Tiny will learn, all ride operators are trained to immediately detonate the ride if we ever see anyone trying to take these kinds of pictures.

Yeah what FoF said. It is illegal, though I personally have never seen this law enforced, it has to be posted at the entrance of each ride, also part of Ohio state law.

If you drive into the main parking lot with a motorhome, you will be forced to park in bus parking - which is actually better than the Gold Pass lot! When you go, turn right when you first enter the park (go to Rivertown and HB) and move counterclockwise. I work in Action Zone on the left side, and we get our biggest crowds in the morning. It starts going downhill at around 1:00 PM usually - other AZers can back me up on this. You might want to consider going in what we employees call "Hell weeks." These are the weeks in which we have a lot of trouble staffing (hence the name) but the park itself is almost deserted of guests. The only problem is that many of the smaller rides, especially the kids rides, won't operate then because there aren't enough people there to work them. The first week is the week before Memorial Day (3rd week of May). The other is the third week of August. And don't go on bring a friend free day. The park is insanely crowded on those days.

No, you know its bad when Cincy Public cancels school - either that or someone on the road crews in Cincinnati really needs to be fired.

That's right, it was in June. Man, I remember that day. We had to close up the gate to stop letting people in, and we told them all to go home - and nobody did!! I was an hour late because of the backup on 71 - I had to get in around 3, and it was backed to to Fields Ertel. Bad times. Very bad times.

Only major complaint I have is the BAFFD on a Sunday. Last time they did that they ended up with 65,000 people in the park. Maximum capacity is 50,000.

One word, endless possibilities: Oscar's!