BoddaH1994

I was there as well. I left around 8, though... glad to hear that they were still able to do the fireworks.

Swung by the park to ride it today. MUCH better than before. The ride still kind of needs a hug in certain places. Certainly a better ride than it's ever been before.

WHAT? SPAM!! Just kidding! Robbie has worked VERY hard on this over the past couple of months and we're very proud to have it as an extension of the KICentral brand.

This is what prevents me from wanting a job at KI. I think some of the magic of the park would be lost by seeing behind the scenes. You need not worry about that aspect! My working at the park has only made the magic even greater, as I can now see first hand all of the hard work that goes into making all my previous visits so great and all those visits of other guests great as well! And of course you do get to see the internal workings of a theme park, which is actually really cool stuff! I agree with you, Corey. I've worked closely with the park for the past two years or so to do this site the way it's done. Even more so now with... well, you'll see... part of the KI magic for me is the great people I've come in contact with.

I've heard you get some air going down the first hill. Has anyone else felt this?

I think the days of free parking after six left with Paramount.

From what I understand, people were making themselves sick after being jetted in the face with the water. Doesn't mean water can't be used, it just means it can't shoot so high.

As stated in a previous post, I didn't get to ride because of the weather. I do agree that the crew was amazing yesterday! How was the former looping section?

It also said: "The family's statement said no one from the theme park had contacted them since the accident, as park representatives had told reporters. "At no time has any representative of the theme park been in touch with members of the family," the statement said." I'm just surprised that the park has not been in contact with them since the accident. You would think after an accident of this severity they would be calling daily to check on her and to see what they can do, not just accompany them to the hospital and then call it a day. I'm sure that the lawyers for both parties are all over this and maybe Six Flags was advised not to be in contact. I don't know.. Once the initial contact is made it's best to have the professionals handle the rest of the matters. When I handle a claim, I can not think of one situation that I'd tell my insured "you should contact the plaintiff." It's kind of a catch 22. If it was my child, I would like to have someone from the park show that they really care about my family, and not being in contact would really make me angry, but on the other side it could get them into more trouble legally if they do contact them. I don't know.. it is such a horrible situation all the way around. I'm glad that she is doing better and they could reattach one foot. You're entirely right. It's certainly a Cath 22. The park would seem insensitive if they did something minor like sent a card, but if they sent some sort of official to check in on her, the family would almost certainly have questions that they're not prepared to answer.

Yea cause you know its just natural for parks to sabatoge their own rides. The sound is not broken on purpose. Do you really think the park would not run the sound if they could. Its like when a ride breaks down and you expect to know when its going to re-open. It'll re open when its fixed, could be ten minutesl, could be ten days. A lot of behind the scenes ride changes were made to TR this past year in terms of the ride itself. As for the sound, well they tried doing too much too fast with the re-programing of the show. Also that "stupid preshow" is there for a reason. It's so that a group can be loaded while a group is on the ride. If you REALLY dont want to watch it and can get all 65 other people to say the same thing then you dont have too, BUT you'll still have to wait the same amount of time because there is a ride going on while you're waiting in that room don't think "sabotage" is the word FOFirehawkFAN was referring to. Realistically, I kind of have the same mindset of that they think, "If we're going to remove the show anyway, why spend money to fix it now?" I'm not entirely sure where the problem with KI's themeing is. You'd think it would be the budget, but all of the other Paramount Parks had their effects working... could be the people, but if any single person was really that bad at their job, they'd probably be removed rather quickly, could be that KI's rides are innovative but other parks have well-themed innovative rides which still work. I think Paramount had the mentality that, once a ride is done with its TV time (when it's new and there are commercials and people are coming to specifically ride) they don't need to put money into it beyond having it functional. I completely disagree with that idea. I really think that it's a disservice. I really don't care how much it costs to fix Ride A, or Ride B, or to get this effect or that effect to work on a ride. People pay GOOD money to come to KI. They also likely spend more than their fair share of money while at the park. The overall product that KI offers has to be 110% top notch or people are just going to spend their money somewhere else. I guess you want an example by now? Well, you're going to get one anyway. I rode Tomb Raider last week. I knew about the audio problems, but it was kind of like driving by a car accident... you don't WANT to look, you've GOT to look... you know? Got off the ride behind the perfect family. PURE suburbia. Father with a good job, supportive mother, 2.1 kids... the works. One of the kids (the kids ranged in age from 7 to 10 or so) turned to his mother upon exiting and said, "That ride was stupid too." The mother agreed saying, "Yeah, that was almost as dumb as the Italian Job ride." I couldn't resist... I played dumb and enquired. The mother told me that they rode the Italian Job and described a point in the ride where, and I quote, "you just stopped and acted like something was going to happen, but it didn't." I guess they rode with the helicopter scene off. She went on to tell me about her ride on Tomb Raider and how you just, and I once again quote, "Look at random things." She then volunteered the fact that they were from out of town, and had scheduled two days at Kings Island, but the family had decided to 'check out what's downtown' the next day instead. Cedar Fair, under all aspects, has to be at the absolute top of their game at all times. Simply put: they're not in the electronics business, they're not in the data or phone business, they're not in the home improvement business. They are in the entertainment business. They fight for your discretionary dollar, which has some of the harshest competition in a field which is expendable anyway. Contrary to popular belief, Cedar Fair is not in the business of making money. It’s in the business of entertaining everyone who walks through those gates. If they fail to do so, people will just be entertained elsewhere. Fortunately, it seems like the case with Cedar Fair is that they want to improve things like entertainment, cleanliness, guest experience, etc. They have their heads on straight. Don’t worry.

People passing out? You'll have that. In my experiences at the park, I've seen it a lot. Thank God mostly it's just dehydration. I absolutely hate the fact that they sell Full Throttle at KI. It’s one of the worst things you can put in your body when it’s hot out. I really think all of the carbonated drinks have a lot to do with the problem mentioned above. I’m an avid Diet Coke drinker, but I’m always drinking Poweraide at KI because realistically, carbonated drinks just make you more thirsty in the end. Now, they guy who had the heart attack… that’s scary. He was VERY fortunate that someone had the knowledge/audacity/courage/kind heartedness to do CPR. KI’s EMTs are great, but they certainly can’t be everywhere all the time. These first few minutes are absolutely critical for survival. Since he got attention immediately, his chances of surviving a heart attack are improved by a large multiplier. Your lesson for the day is to take the next opportunity to get CPR certified. There’s a good chance that you will never need to use what you learn, but in an instance like this, it’s worth gambling an hour or two of your time for the chance to save a man’s life.

The park did in fact open Son of Beast today, July 4th, 2007 around 1:15pm. Please continue your posts about your experiences or expectations about Son of Beast in the respective threads.

[double post] -- sorry Since I prefabricated this article, I figured I'd go ahead and throw it into the forums for public view. Let's all hope Don Helbig enjoys his new job. The job seems perfect for him, and he's certainly perfect for the job.

As Tom stated before, I swung by KI to catch a ride on SOB before heading down to Stricker's. Unfortunately luck wasn't a lady tonight and it went down due to weather twice, and since I had friend's waiting at Stricker's, I had to make the the call to let SOB wait a few days. I also spoke to a credible park official who told me Drop Zone wouldn't be long before it repopens. Good days at KI!!

Confirmed! From Local12: Son of Beast Reopens Today Last Update: Jul 4, 2007 1:56 PM A Kings Island Spokesperson says the park will reopen the Son of Beast today. The park removed the coaster's loop after an accident over the summer injured 27 people. A cracked beam caused a dip in the track. The state ordered an engineering review and structural reinforcements. Removing the loop was not required, but the park says that will allow the use of lighter trains to reduce the load.

Still no guarentee. We've been hearing "tomorrow" for the past 5 days.

It was certainly out of place at Geauga Lake. I think it fits in well at KI and it's being well received by the public.

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Wonderful trip report! I wouldn't worry about Joe's fear of rides just yet. He still seems like kind of a little guy. Once he's around this stuff more often he'll probably feel a lot safer on the rides and it'll be a lot more fun to go as a family. Just remember -- for the time being let Joe pick the rides he's ready to ride (as it seems you were letting him do) if you entice him to ride, it'll just make him more intimidated. Let him know that you want to ride with him and that you're not scared and congratulate him for being brave himself. Good trip report, I had fun reading it! Ryan

I'm sure KI would have no problem with you posting one of their commercials on YouTube.

There's just no way... two years ago or so, "Dirty Steve" and I rode it in the pre-season about 4 or 5 times in a row with the lights off. We then talked the ride op into letting us have a light on ride and she turned them on from the control booth.

What are they going to say? The wind from face/off knock em off the top of the car I don't know what they would say, but in sue-happy America I wouldn't doubt that excuse. What are you talking about??? Kings Island security should have been there to stop them! There's no way they could have know that this activity was dangerous!! [/sarcasm] Actually, BoddaH1994 is right. This could come back on the park because they are the ones that patrol the parking lot via security and park police. Some parent of the injured dumb*ss, I mean teen, who is looking for some $$ could potentially say that if they were patrolling the parking lot correctly that the incident may not have happened. It doesn't sound fair at all, I know and I agree. But this is ultimately what it might come down to. Let's hope not. Obviously security and park police can't be everywhere at once to prevent every little thing from happening. Paramount would have paid them off, Cedar Fair would probably take them to court let them make fools of themselves.

Are you sure it's 4.6... not 4.8? I'm not totally against the mid course brakes. Realistically, (especially for first time riders) it's that split second where you can look around and really appreciate the tangled web of track you are in.

I haven't ridden with the lights on for a few months, but if I remember correctly the "house lights" are mounted on the walls near the ceiling and point down.

I must admit that I'm not a big fan of name changes for the most part. To me, it's still The Beastie, still Taxi Jam, and still Amazon Falls. However, I was really impressed with the improvement of Water Works as it changed to Boomerang Bay, so it makes the transition a lot easier.. plus Boomerang Bay is easy to spit out. Usually name changes make a ride's name a mouthful: Scooby Zoom is less of a mouthful than Taxi Jam which is much less of a mouthful than Little Bill's Giggle Coaster. Beastie is a lot less of a mouthful than the Fairly Odd Coaster. X Flight is a lot less of a mouthful than Firehawk. Just my take...