The Interpreter

The menu did change when it became Happy Days...

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news...al/14164750.htm

Oh yes. And before that, I remember the great fruit cups and fruit on a stick that was sold on the path from River Town to the Eiffel Tower. I miss that! And the barbecued meat cooked outside in River Town!

CoastersRZ, I agree with you. But I still think, as I said before, that the other Paramount Parks have gotten more attention in the areas of groundskeeping, landscaping and maintaining the theming. Whether that was a corporate decision or local management decisions on how to spend the allotted budget, I don't know. But I do know that especially at Wonderland and Carowinds, the aesthetics of the parks are much better. And I TOTALLY agree with you about the flats at Wonderland. If Kings Island is missing anything, it's a great collection of flat rides. There are theme parks with worse flat collections (Six Flags Over Georgia comes to mind), but there aren't many. For a long time, it seemed the park only removed flats. Delirium (if it can be called a flat!), was certainly a step in the right direction.

One that does not require question marks at the end of a question, Uncle Henry? Pot. Kettle. (Now, where is that nice, helpful guy who used to throw dictionaries?)

Really? Ever seen the coaster at the South Carolina State Fair? Or how about the wood coaster at the Pacific National Exposition?

Yep, I thought that was what you were trying to ask. I THINK the answer is that there is no early season pass processing this year at Paramount's Kings Island. Anyone know any different?

I think the question was "Will there be any early processing of season passes before opening day?" I think the answer is no, but does anyone know for sure?

Yep, compared to Kings Island, Paramount has done an excellent job maintaining its flat rides such as The Flying Eagles, The Antique Cars, Flight Commander, Skylab. I don't think any of them were down at all last season. You've got a point there. Again, this thread is supposed to be about Kings Island vs. Paramount's Kings Island. NOT about Paramount vs. other parks. Want to talk about that? I'd think you'd want to start another thread in the appropriate forum....

That may work fine for ACE members in the early season, but if the parking lot normally doesn't open til 9:30 and the walkback leaves at 9:45, on many times members will still be trying to get in the toll plazas at the time the walkback leaves. Hopefully, on busy summer weekends, the parking lot will open earlier than 9:30. If not, PKI may be responsible for traffic jams on I-71 backing up to downtown Cinci in one direction and 1/3 of the way to Columbus in the other!

It could indeed be very disorienting...it was the ONLY movie simulator where I actually felt I was moving (as opposed to ACTUALLY moving in a seat!). All this from lying in the floor!

Thanks indeed! April 14 is coming. I, for one, will be there! And I can't wait to see the usual magic of turning a construction site into a place that looks as if it is a permanent part of the park that has been there forever. Amazing how they do that.

Not so. Many older rides run as well now as when they opened and some do better. By all accounts, for example, The Big Dipper at Geauga Lake runs as well as it ever did. Great American Scream Machine at Georgia, also by all accounts, runs no differently than when it opened. Same for Phoenix at Knoebels, and that ride didn't even open at that park! And none of them, unlike Racer, have entire hills taken out of them! (But Thunder Run at Kentucky Kingdom shares that with Racer!) You seem to want to set up other parks as strawmen, and then say that Paramount's Kings Island is better. You apparently have not read all the posts in this thread, or you would have seen I am not particularly a fan of Six Flags, especially when it was under Burke and company. I in fact denigrated Italian Stunt Job by saying it made the part of Kings Island where it sits look like a Batman theming job at Six Flags (see page two of this thread). You have your opinions, I have mine. When it comes to personal choices and beliefs, both are valid. But when you say it is a FACT that EVERY parks older rides do not run as well as they did when they were new, that is an asserted fact, not an opinion. And it is not correct. You tell me if I don't like the park, not to go. Where do you get the idea that I don't like the park? On the other hand, I do find I spend a lot more time these days at other Paramount Parks, from Dominion to Wonderland to Carowinds (in particular). Those parks have gotten a lot more attention from Paramount than has Kings Island in recent years. . .especially as to groundskeeping, landscaping and maintaining the theming. Perhaps that is one reason that Wonderland now gets more visitors per year than Kings Island, and its attendance is up bigtime (more than seven percent), while Kings Island's is down (more than five percent). Wonderland had an estimated 400,000 more visitors than did Kings Island in 2005.

Given the topic of this thread, perhaps it would be more fair to compare Kings Island's Coasters to those of Paramount King's Island in 2005. I wouldn't trade the King Cobra for Italian Stunt Job. I wouldn't trade ONE ride on Beast the year it opened for a whole season on it now. Same for Racer. Please don't get me started. You really don't want to hear it. As for Six Flags being a parking lot, get thee to Six Flags Great America or Six Flags Over Georgia. Then get back to me. You obviously do not know what you are talking about. There is more to Six Flags than Kentucky Kingdom.

Too many parks, too many histories.... But I think it was called Cinema 180. I know I saw many things while lying in that floor looking up. We thought it was the neatest thing! I also don't think it went in until like 1986 or so...

Yeah, were you lucky enough to ride the Shooting Star? Do you remember the contest to name the theme park that was going to replace Coney Island? Something up in Kings Mills, Ohio?

Gee. Thanks a lot. Now I feel really.....ancient.

CBS Corporation's (aka Sumner Redstone's) first goal for the sale is maximization of profit. If the new owner will pay a certain sum of money, I doubt CBS aka Sumner gives a whit what happens to the parks, unless the Paramount name is also used. If it isn't, the new owner can and will do whatever it pleases. If it does use the Paramount name, there will of course be guidelines which must be followed.

That's all very nice. And I am trying to be nice here. If you think PKI is very well landscaped, you really need to get out more. Try starting at any Busch park (yes, I know you say you've been to Busch Gardens Europe fka Busch Gardens Williamsburg), any Disney park, or even Six Flags Great Adventure. I've been at Kings Island every single year since it opened. To say that PARAMOUNT's Kings Island is well landscaped is not unlike saying that a Daewoo is a fine luxury car. Perhaps, if you've not driven anything else.

Well, there's a park in New Jersey that hopes to find out an answer to that question very, very soon... And remember, SOB was SUPPOSED to have been built with a type of engineered wood, and with soft urethane type wheels...and then the typical budget cuts seem to have visited...

I think that as to SOB...nothing at all was said. As in "If you can't say something nice...."

Radio contest winners this year are getting tickets for April 14, 15 and/or 16, according to my sources...

You will never agree on what is or is not a coaster. Count what you want. Or not. It only matters to the extent you think it matters. Heck, there are those who claim Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America has inversions, for crying out loud!

And the Paramount Parks 'suits' aren't in California. They are in Charlotte. Perhaps one reason why Charlotte's Carowinds is so much better landscaped and the rides' cosmetics maintained than in Cinci... Just my opinion, but hardly mine alone...

...and Six Flags' agreement with the Zoo ends soon....it would normally be up for renewal, but given what is going on at both the Zoo in Columbus and at Six Flags. . .