BoddaH1994

Great work Dane & company! He wouldn't let me see the update until it was done, so I'm seeing it for the first time with all of you!

King Cobra photos can be seen here. Check out that gallery for a Flight of Fear tour in which the KC trains were spotted.

Nothing is finalized until it is announced. A friend of mine called a few days ago and they said they would start selling tickets again in October.. but who really knows. Expect an annoucement a lot earlier than you guys are anticipating.

Very cool! I like the Face/Off shots.

Kind of getting liberal with the people with all of the information, now aren't we?

I disagree. PGA is in northern CA, which was untapped by Cedar Fair. If they don't own the land then they likely won't make much money on the transaction. Sounds like CF should fight to keep the park.

Cool trip report. In all honesty, I don't know how you dealt with the humidity that we've had here recently.

I believe a lot of the stuff for Winterfest was on a 3 year "rent to own" deal.

Unfortunately you'll likely never see a hyper at SFKK. Due to their proximity to the airport, the height of their rides and attractions is greatly restricted.

The new Nickelodeon Universe will be a perfect hangout for your kids. The best part is, most of the rides and attractions can be enjoyed by the whole family. If you need to cool off, Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle is a great attraction that the kids would enjoy. On that same note, if the kids aren't bothered by semi-loud music and bright lights School of Rock Live in Concert! is an excellent show that has rock songs from the past few decades to the present and teaches you how to stick it to 'the man'. I hope you have a great time, and make sure you tell us about it in a Trip Report!

Old, old, OLD, old, OLD joke... that's disappointing from you Ronny.

I've never seen this done before, but I remember Siebert telling me that the back of one of the cars opens up so individuals with disabilities can get in easier.

Ok, I want to chime in at this point: I agree. The video showed a spectacular ride and it almost seemed that when all was said and done, it's almost like the ride was about 1/3 of what it should be. I agree with this as well, but did we really expect any better? I mean, as wonderful of a job as I think Paramount did with the parks, I think we know what happened when they tried to theme. The cars are in terrible shape... they are dirty as Diana listed above, the audio doesn't work, the staircase rumbling has never worked, etc. I'm actually kind of tired of hearing excuses about all of this as well as every other attraction that's falling apart. I really think and hope that Cedar Fair will get to the bottom of this and eliminate the problem. You can blame the manufacturers, but it seems as though this problem is only this widespread in our park. You'd be shocked with how little sense people really have... it's seemingly especially prevalent in people with money. I can see them having a mentality of, "If BMW will put their name on a ride that has such a dirty windshield, I can only imagine what kind of low class car they'd slap their name on." Who says the drugs where bad?? I do agree that the ride should have gone somewhere--anywhere else. i'd say if we could take back time, it should go back by Flight of Fear. Well, my opinion of the ride is in the middle. I think the ride experience itself is short but sweet. I especially enjoy the tunnel scene. I do, however feel as though the ride was played down quite a bit. It's almost like the animation was made and then the ride was created on 1/3 of the budget which it was intended to be, although I'm sure that's not the literal case.

I found a YouTube video of Evil Kneviel's infamous jump in Kings Island's parking lot in the 1970s. The footage is mixed with some shots of his jump in Seattle as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqd9OTzNWbI Enjoy!

Last year, Jeff told me that Fearfest was going to get a big revamp this year so hopefully that's what you're talking about!

Not exactly a correction, but this is what's on enquirer.com.

Probably not. She's doing this for YOU, the crazy fan people of the net. As much of a tool as a site like this can be to the park, it's also risky about starting rumors... especially in a situation like this. She wants to cut out of the fluff and the false facts that the media has put out. Maureen, do you think this incident with SOB will affect how other rides will be inspected in the future?

I agree... Legend kills Raven and Voyage kills the both of them.

Maureen, The media seems to like to demonize the amusement industry every time an unfortunate incident occurs. What are the chances of a person actually getting injured on a stationary ride? Also, how does this compare to the chances of injury or death in other comparable activities, like driving to Florida for a vacation, or even doing other thrill activies such as skydiving, base jumping, or bungee jumping? Thanks, Ryan

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.