BoddaH1994

To repeat Dane this is a Q&A session. Maureen and the rest of the PKI/Cedar Fair people VALUE your business in the park and want to make sure that you and everyone else get the TRUTH and not just stories. Please post any questions in here and Maureen will answer them. If you have questions that you don't want public, feel free to email Maureen at Maureen.Kaiser@paramountparks.com. Thank you all..

From the desk of Maureen Kaiser: Son of Beast FAQ 7/11/2006 There seems to be a great deal of speculation in the online communities as well as in the media about where, when and how Sunday’s incident took place. Please take a look at the following questions and answers, and feel free to contact me directly (maureen.kaiser@paramountparks.com) with any additional questions or concerns. As more information is released or known, I will be sure to share it with you. Please know that I would never share anything with you or the news media that wasn’t the 100% truth as I know it. Thanks!!!! Q: What happened? When? What were early reports? A: On Sunday, July 9, at 4:45 p.m., a Son of Beast train rolled into the station after completing a full cycle. Some guests complained of discomfort. The Kings Island safety team, as well as Mason Fire and Safety immediately responded. 27 guests were transported to area hospitals. 25 were treated and released that evening. 2 were admitted to the hospital. Q: Other reports say there were more guests at the hospital. What’s the deal? A: We transported 27 guests from PKI. I don’t know about the number of guests who may have walked in on their own. Q: Who is inspecting the ride? A: On Monday, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and OSHA ride inspectors, as well as industry experts, arrived at the park to begin their inspection process. Q: How is PKI assisting with the inspection? A: We are cooperating fully with the Department of Agriculture. In addition, engineers and safety managers from Cedar Fair and PKI, as well as PKI ride maintenance technicians are assisting with the inspection. Q: What have you learned from the inspection? A: Preliminary evidence indicates there is a cracked vertical wooden post. Preliminary reports also indicate that this would not have been found by our pre-opening inspections and likely happened just before or right as the incident occurred. Q: How long will the inspection take? A: It could take weeks. Q: When will the ride reopen? A: The ride will remain closed until we are completely satisfied that the ride is safe. Q: Where is the cracked wooden post? A: In the rosebowl. Q: Is the loop separating? A: No. Q: Is the loop dangerous? A: No. Q: Why is a train stopped on the tracks? A: Two trains can’t be in the station at the same time. Therefore, to get the guests out of one train, another must leave the station. Q: Were guests in the stopped train? Did they have to walk down the hill? A: No. The train was empty. Q: Why is it still there? A: The inspection is in its early stages and we don’t want to jeopardize it by sending a train through a complete cycle. Q: Why were empty cars sent out of the station before this incident occurred? A: We had a biohazard incident earlier, and our park protocol for this insists that checks must be conducted before we can load guests again. Q: How many board feet of lumber will the Department of Agriculture inspect? A: 2.5 million board feet of lumber will be inspected. Q: What is the daily maintenance done on Son of Beast? A: 1) Mechanical (PKI Maintenance) 2) Electrical (PKI Maintenance) 3) Operational (PKI Rides Operations) Park maintenance technicians walk every inch of wooden track to complete the daily inspection. During daily inspections, workers look for anything unusual including loose fasteners, deteriorating wood, misalignment of steel and wood connections. They will also test all safety systems and thoroughly review the trains to insure they are operating correctly. All inspection processes are based on master check lists, developed specifically for Son of Beast. A boom lift is used by the park for the sole purpose of inspecting the loop on Son of Beast every day. Q: Didn’t PKI file suit against the manufacturer of Son of Beast? A: Yes Q: Wasn’t a part of the suit regarding sub grade wood? A: Yes. However, all lumber determined to be sub grade was replaced or reinforced before the ride opened in 2000. Q: Was any of the wood mentioned above in the area we’re focused on now? A: No. Q: Did PKI get a hefty sum of money when the lawsuit was finished? Some $20 million? Why wasn’t this reinvested in the ride? A: We have received a judgment on this case, and we are in the process of recovering a portion of the money promised. At this time, we have received no money as a result of this lawsuit. Q: How many guests does each train hold? A: Thirty guests. Five cars to a train. Q: How many guests have ridden this attraction since it opened? A: We have provided nearly 6 million safe rides since the ride opened in 2000. Q: Why didn’t the ride open with the park on Sunday? A: As mentioned above, wood coasters require extensive inspection before they can open. If irregularities are found, we tend to them immediately. This can take time. There was work down in a different area of the ride than the area in question. Q: Does maintenance happen daily? A: Yes. Safety is our top priority at PKI, there is no doubt about that. We will never open a ride to our guests unless we are completely confident that the ride is safe. Q: What about the work done over the winter? A: We did an extensive amount of work during the off season to improve the comfort of the ride experience. Q: When was the ride certified by the state? A: May 19 Q: Is there wood hanging from the track? A: No. Q: Did Cedar Fair voluntarily close the ride Sunday? A: Yes. Our ride operators were fantastic. They recognized the issue and took steps to ensure safety. This set the wheels in motion at PKI. We responded immediately and continue to respond to guest needs. Q: Have you talked directly with the media at all? Or are you just releasing statements and stonewalling them? A: We held a press conference on Sunday night. I did interviews with news crews all day yesterday. My job is to keep people informed and I will do that until this story is complete. We utilize a variety of methods to do this – statements, press conferences, one-on-one interviews. Q: Am I safe on roller coasters? A: YES Regards, Ryan PKICentral.com - Bringing you the REAL truth, not what truth the media makes up!

I'd go on a day when there's a light rain on and off. It's not enough to close down the rides, but it does scare away the masses.

I wouldn't let a freak incident stop me from riding.

It's the 2nd most viewed topic in the whole history of PKIC... and it's less than 24hrs old. Yes, I heard the "wood splinters" thing, but judging by the poor job of the media on this one, I have trouble believing that.

You know it's always funny, whenever we think rides will be closed for a long time they never seem to be, however if a ride has a seemingly minor problem it's closed for a month. An example would be how everything thought Flight of Fear was going to close for a month a few weeks ago because of an incident that happened at another park, but it was inspected and reopened hours later.

This is being discussed here.

Ha... very interesting. Good find!

They're going to do whatever the safest, smartest course of action is. If it's not in your best interest to be able to ride SOB in two weeks, then so be it.

I'm guessing this is limited to PKI... Flight of Fear Tomb Raider: The Ride Delirium The Beast Face/Off

No one has died as a direct result of the ride experience on any of the rides listed above.

Let's not use this as an opportunity to offend eachother. Yes, this IS a big deal. Regardless of how minor it may play down I can tell you that there were helicopters, ambulances, and all sorts of news crews there... I know.. I was there. People should feel safe on this and any ride. People having to go to the hospital is NOT acceptable and should NOT happen, especially with a high class park like our wonderful park. Of course this isn't the norm. People have been hurt on SOB before, but just imagine now many cycles went through today before the incident let along since its opening in 2000. Let's be respectful here.. people got hurt, lessons were learned, and we can be sure that the park will see to it that this will NEVER happen again.

Now you should have thought about THAT when you registered. :-) Just kidding, we'll do that.

Well, I can tell you that the Paramount/Viacom/CBS folk must have done their best to make Winterfest fail. I'll tell you that Winterfest had always been an event that made money with very little overhead in the past. Coaster, you pin pointed exactly what the biggest mistakes were with the event. I certainly hope that CF gives it a chance, again. This is how the pricing was explained to me: The price of the event reflects the value of the product itself. So if Winterfest retailed for $9.99 like Holidayfest or the Festival of Lights, it would cheapen the product to be on that level when in all reality Winterfest encompassed a lot more than those events. Not unlike regular amusement park tickets, the average person finds a better value online or through different venders most of the time. What came back to bite them was when newspapers and magazines compared the events to eachother and made it look like Winterfest cost more than double the others, which wasn't the entire story.

The only reason why I like KingsIslandCentral is because KICentral seems so naked since we've been PKICentral for so long. Once again, all of the URLs will direct towards this site.

Yes, it was opened by the same company, KECO, a year later.

Sorry to double post... Click here for a special note about the Nights of Fire tribute video.

Dear Users of PKICentral, Since posting the Nights of Fire video early Sunday morning, the staff has received some very mixed reviews. Some people believed it to be patriotic, while others thought that the use of 9/11 fotage wasn't a product which our users have come to expect from PKICentral.com. Realistically speaking, I had never intended the video to be a funny or happy video as we normally produce. I see Independence Day as a celebration of the freedoms which many have died defending and thought that any video which I would make for the site would be a tribute to just that. The sights of towers crumbling with thousands of Americans inside both terrifies and upsets me as it does many of you. As unrealistic as it may seem, the events which happened almost five years ago are now imbedded into the minds, the souls, and the daily lives of each and every patron who may be reading this post. In this dynamic world of happiness and terror, peace and war, and order and chaos, many things will shape the very essence of our environment, whether they are things that we want to remember or things that we wish never happened. None of the footage in the video was intended to be politically charged. If there's anything that I truly wish PKIC could do for you, it would be to both entertain and challenge you. Many of you have been around for quite some time, and in the past three years, I have seen many people learn and grow as a result of these forums. Not just knowing more about our wonderful home park, but to learn from the thoughts and ideas from the many people who post on our forums spanning over an extremely large age range and reaching the entire world. Having a video that was so emotionally driven, my intention was to have the view step aside for just a few moments and truly appreciate some of those who have shaped the world around them, whether by patrolling the streets in a country on the other side of the world or by simply falling victim to a hijacked airplane crashing into their workplace. I have heard the argument that the video was inappropriate because children read the site and watch the videos, which is something that I totally respect. However, I refuse to limit the output of the site as a result of that. There are things that are appropriate for children and things that are appropriate for adults, but to assume that children should not know why we live in the world we live in is a disservice to them. Children are not stupid, they're as smart as you and me... they're just shorter than we are. I would encourage some honest feedback of the video. Do most of you feel as though the video was a tribute to the American people, or do you feel as though it wasn't what you were looking for when you came to the PKIC site? I do not intend to apologize for creating, posting, or sharing the video with the community, however I do apologize for not putting a warning up about some of the graphic nature of the video as it has now. That was an error on my part and I am the only one who should be held responsible for that. Thank you for helping to make PKIC a better place! Best regards, Ryan Suhr PKICentral.com Media Director

The photos will likely keep the "PKICentra" name on them because it's completely unfeasable to edit 3,100 photos but everything else will be converted. Future photos will of course be watermarked with "whatever-central".

I've been having major computer problems. A total format and two upgrades later, I'm ready to roll.

Hell, they'll all redirect to this site anyway..

Thanks for the kind words everyone! If you haven't seen the video yet, please download it and let me know. This is the first one I've done for the site in about a year, so I'm still knocking off some of the ring rust. In response to some of the political statements above, that's far from the intention of the video. I actually Googled audio for "patriotic" and that came up and it seemed extremely appropriate for the direction in which I was going with the video. Remember, the Star Spangled Celebration ends July 4th!! Ryan

Since there's a good chance that the Paramount name may be dropped from the park, it wouldn't make too much sense to continue to be PKICentral. If we did change the name of the site, which one do you prefer to be the main URL? We own all three, PKICentral.com, KICentral.com, and KingsIslandCentral.com, so this is going to mainly be which one the site is named after. Please comment below.

It's that time of year again: the 4th of July, and PKI never fails to please the masses in their wonderful Independence Day Celebration! Some special entertainment offered is: Rabbit Hash String Band, Funnel Cake Stage in Rivertown 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 The Earlytimers, Funnel Cake Stage in Rivertown 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30 Ohio River Minstrels, Funnel Cake Stage in Rivertown 6:00 Travlin' Riverboat, Rivertown Roaming 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 Professor Numbus, Rivertown Roaming 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30 Country Step Cloggers, International Bandstand 12:00, 1:00, 2:00 Ramblin Roses Square Dance Club, International Bandstand 1:30, 2:30, 3:30 Eddie Stamper Group, International Bandstand 3:00, 4:00, 5:30 Elivs! Live in Concert!, International Bandstand 8:30 Great Lakes Timber Show, Swan Lake in Rivertown 1:00, 2:30, 4:30, 6:30 1869 Redstockings, Grass area behind International Showplace 1:00, 1:30 E Team Skydivers, Grass area behind International Showplace 2:00, 7:00 Also don't forget that the Nickelodeon Celebration Parade rolls through the park daily at 5:00. Some queues close at 8:00, The Beast, Racer, FX Theatre, Vortex, and Launch Pad. Of course at 10:00 Nights of Fire begins! Also, don't forget the all you can eat picnic in the Picnic Grove! It's just $9.99 for adults and $5:99 for children 3-6! Click here to preorder tickets!! The marketing team at Kings Island was so kind as to give us a perfect view of the fireworks from on top of the International Restaurant, so of course we had to share it with the rest of you! Click here to see photos from Nights of Fire and the Star Spangled Celebration! Also, click here to see the new PKIC Star Spangled Celebration tribute video!!** (Firefox users must right click and Save As) Regards, Ryan PKICentral.com - One nation under God. **Warning: The Video contains footage of 9/11 and may not be appropriate for those who are extremely sensative to the subject.

I'm guessing we won't see any major de-Paramountization until after this season. If there's a Winterfest, they'd start to drop it on us then.