BoddaH1994

I'm not saying that I seriously want it on that day, but if it works out that day that that's cool. Make it a day when the majority of the people can be there reguardless of whose birthday it is. -Ryan

I quote a former ride operator at Americana in saying: "The coaster is like a treasure chest. Everytime you walk it, you find everything there is - keys, glasses, lots of money, cigarettes. You just pick them up as you go. We've had girls lose their bikini tops. We had a girl one time with a paper dress and nothing under it. I was collecting quarters for riders. I said, "Where's your money?' She said, "I lost my clothes." It didn't dawn on me what had happened. I said to Bill, "Come down and look at this." She wouldn't give me any money or get off. She rode two or three more times before we could get a coat for her. Everybody was looking at her."

Boddah, I CAN get you drunk at Siam Orchid. Every time I go there after 8 PM the owners and I share wine....so much so that I need a designated driver. You'd better be sure you have one on your birthday! Cheers! Italian Chef :chef: lol.. I'll work something out. Perhaps a cab. If it is on the 21st, you guys have to come. I'd love to spend by b-day with PKICers!

1/18 is my 21st birthday, Chef. If it's that day you're SO getting me drunk.

They say it will be in total darkness. I don't know how much I believe that, but it would be awsome if it were. I'm looking forward to the funnel the most. It would be cool to feel like a piece of poo being flushed.

You may have read on one of my former posts that I lost my phone on SOB. Now, if it flew out on the ride and is sitting somewhere on the ground, man.. it's gone. But if it fell out in the seat and someone retreived it, the GR probably has it by now assuming that it was turned in. If you can't get to the park, call this number 1-800-288-0808 ext. 5805. Leave a voicemail. A lady named Judy will take care of you from there. Make sure that you mention it if you have already filled out a lost item report at GR. If you already filled out a card, then your chances are pretty good that they already have it. (Based on my two experiences of loosing things in the park) They should mail it to you really soon if they get it. It will come decently packed in a large envelope. Rest assured that PKI's GR is the greatest there is. I never thought I'd see my cell phone again when I lost it 2 Saturdays ago, but next thing I know, my cell phone shows up in the mail the next Tuesday. CP eat your heart out! -Ryan

Yeah, it wasn't too bad though. We got to met some good people that night. I had fun reguardless of the fact that we only got to do three things last night. I also got to sample some of Italian Chef's cooking -- trust me, he lives up to his name. Anyway, I hope to be there next weekend, and almost definately on Nov 2nd. So see you guys soon! -Ryan

Pretty much everything within the park is sinfully overpriced. I can't complain too much about it because I know what I'm getting into when I decide to go. Plus, it's like everywhere else, go to a Reds or Bengals game and see how much you spend...same deal.

Very good sobrider, I was waiting for someone to actually think logically on this thread. In all reality, just about every place of employment has a confidentiality agreement. Don't think you signed one? I bet you did. Remember that paper that you signed at you're interview? The clause is in there. Sorry to burst the big PKI employee bubble, but you're not really special on that front. Trust me, as far as confidentiality goes, it's a "need to know" basis. If you think you know something that's top secret, you probably don't. The wouldn't let just some kid get hired there, tell them the most intricate secrets of the park and risk he or she quitting the next day. So basically, if you know something, they probably don't care if everyone knows. The only time that you could get in trouble would be if you went public about something really bad. i.e. If you had worked on Black Sunday and went on here claiming that you had told your boss several times that there was something wrong with the Flight Commander and he didn't do anything about it. The only other time that you could get into trouble would be if you worked in security or were an EMT there and used someone's name when talking about an incident. Now, how much trouble could you get it? Not much. Probably just fired, if that. Anyway, those were my two cents, Ryan

ahh... That's one thing I love about you people.. this is the only group I know that complains that they get something for free..lol Anyway, yeah, I agree. I'd rather pay $19 and have a good time then get into a crowded park for free.

I'm glad you had fun at PKI. Are you from Toronto? Anyway, any perspective and input of yours will be very valuable here since most Paramount Park-ers on here mainly go to PKI and PKD.

Woooow... hold up! Just because it's a shot in the dark now doesn't mean it's not likely sometime down the road. I mean, yeah, there are like 10 people on here that want the same job, but this is a PKI site. If you ask any engineering student whether or not they've considered designing rollercoasters for a living, I bet 99% of them had never even thought about it. Now here's a more viable option than trying to get picked up by Arrow right out of college: Get together with other engineers and come up with a crazy new concept for a rollercoaster i.e. LIM, 4D...whatever. Something that hasn't been done before. Get a patent on the actual design, and then pitch it to say...Premeir. Now, this this is a viable, well-thought-out, physically possible idea, they MIGHT have an interest in it. Now, if they want to use it, they have to pay you royalties (once again, you have the patent) and you'll 100% definitely be on the designing team for whatever coaster they utilize your idea on. Sounds crazy, but it WILL work. The reason why it takes an engineer to do this is, like they say, you can't put a patent on an idea. You have to have designs, models, CAD drawings, mathmatical equations, etc. It would take a lot of time, effort, and thought, but it is do-able. Anyway, about the book. It sucks. It's the worst thing written..ever. The only cool thing is the content information. If you choose to buy it, just flip to the back near the index. Don't read the rest of the book because if you CAN read, it's an insult to your intelligence. -Ryan

Incorrect Dragon Lord. You're thinking about PKI rules as opposed to state laws. He can sell the ticket up to and including face value all he wants, but if he wants to sell them for over face value, then he'll need an Ohio (or KY) vendor's license. This is mainly so they can collect taxes on the profit. The reason why PKI doesn't allow this is simple -- if you give out a ticket, that's one less ticket that they'd sell. Same with selling them, if you have a ticket that you want to get rid of, who's stopping you from selling it for $4 right outside of the Timberwolf? If the ticket goes to waste, PKI still has your money plus the money that the potential buyer would have to spend on a ticket.

Although it was a fun ride, it was quite painful. You put your arms through these restraints and more or less sat on a bicycle seat. lol...I don't need to tell you why the bicycle seat was painful, but the shoulder restrains weren't made for short people. Now, I'm 6'2, so it wouldn't be a problem now, but when I was younger it was horrible. If you have hit your head on the OTSR on The Vortex, then KC would be miserable. It would box your head around within the restrains. Now, the ride was pretty cool if you could get over the pain. It had some good airtime going down the hill. The loop wasn't anything special (although it was my first experience on a looping coaster). It mainly consisted of humps or "bunny hops" and a helix or two. Overall a pretty fun ride, but it had a lot of downtime. Since it only ran 2 trains, and it took people a long time to figure out how to get into the restraints, the line moved slowly. Anyway, I hope this helps, Ryan

Hey, this is kind of a stupid question, but I have always wondered anyway. After the park closes, what time do the employees get out? I know they have overnight maintainance and security, but when I lost my infamous cell phone, they told me that items left on rides were brought back around 2:00am, which is pretty late in my opinion. Also, does the fountain ever shut off? My friends and I hung out outside of the front gate for about 2 hours after closing and we could still hear it. I guess my question to the employees is if there is anything interesting that goes on in the park after closing. Also, I was wondering what the security guys do in the off-season (DragonLord, that means you ) Do you just walk around the park? Does anything interesting happen in the off season besides construction? Like I said, it's a stupid question, but I'd love to hear some intersting stories or facts. Thanks, Ryan

^ Absolutely right, but it can always be saved. Although a woodie is much cheaper to save, a steel can be saved as well. It comes down to whether or not they think the coaster brings in enough revenue for them to purchase the repair items. Probably in KC's case, they would need custom items from another company which would be insane.

:::Wack! Hammer hits nail right on the head::: Absolutely correct. There is no measuring involved after the ride is constructed. That would be nearly impossible. The designer knows the exact length of each piece of track and they just add that up. The reason why there are sometimes discrepancies is because some might include the extra track that they store the trains on as part of the ride.

I too, am studying engineering and dream to design rollercoasters one day. I would recommend the book "The Fantasical Engineer: A Thrillseeker's Guide to Careers in Theme Park Engineering". Don't get me wrong, the content of the book is absolutely worthless, but it does have several pages of contact information for all of the major companies.

I doubt you are going to find any monorail remnants back in the woods, other than maybe a partial path or something like that. We all know that the monorail was sold to "Jungle" Jim Bonaminio, for him to reinstall around his store in Farifield Ohio. They are currently in the process of erecting the track and repainting the trains for his store. If you are unfamiliar with it, go to http://www.junglejims.com and under attractions check out the food tram. If you go out there, you can drive around the entire complex via some of the neaby roads and see the storage area for the monorail, the transfer track, and also see the maintenance shed Jungle Jim has built for his store. I know about the Jungle Jim's thing. He actually has a lot of stuff there. I know he has a spinning kettle from the old flat ride either at Americana or PKI. (Not sure which) It's the flat which moves around and you have a steering wheel in the middle to get it spinning. I think the one at PKI was in Oktoberfest and was themed toward being kegs of beer, so the one from JJ's would be from Americana. Anyway, was talking more along the lines of footers, bridges, and stuff like that. You wouldn't be likely to find a piece of track anywhere, but considering how long the monorail track was, there has to be terrain changes and stuff like that.

Aww.. things were going so well at this party until the PKI Fuzz showed up. J/K Welcome to PKIC, DragonLord! Just don't complain about the rules, people. They're there to protect you and the people around you. They don't just make the stuff up.

Thanks Chef! I hope you guys liked the article whether you agreed or disagreed with my observations.

Cages indeed still exist, dont know about caves though. They are right behind Son of Beast lift. If you ride and look to the right side when you're getting your picture taken you might be able to see them, maybe, in the fall with no leaves on the trees. It's seriously very creepy. I was down there once and, well, if you've never noticed, SOB is built on top of a creek. The whole darn ride is like on top of a bridge. It's the creek that goes under top guns station. It goes into a tunnel right where the top gun helix is, and the base of SOB's lift...and it comes out on the other side of the loop. IT goes straight under the lift, loop, and some sections of track. ANYWAYS, saw another cement bridge thingy one day down there by the creeks bridge and literally only walked like 15 feet into the woods to look at it, and about got the sh*t scared out of me becuase i looked up and saw all the old animal cages, they're all wood, and falling apart, the fencing is all rusted...but there is like 5 or 6 back there, all kind of in a line, alternating perfectly so that maybe the track for the monorail could go right in between them. I was looking for evidence of the track and really couldnt find much but that bridge. It's really overgrown back there considering the monorail hasnt been there for only like 10 years. I'll get back to you on those caves, but I still can't guarentee anything. I'm willing to say that there are a lot more remnance of the monorail back in the woods that we simply don't know about or can't see. I'm not sure if the cages you saw had the monorail running through them though, I remember the exhibit having the animals in an open rage. (Correct me if I'm wrong, it was a long time ago.) The cables near The Beast were not elevator cables, although it was a common myth. I have heard that they were spares for The Beast, not SoB, buy hey, that's not the point -- they're still just cables. Beastfreak, thanks for clearing up the Dolphin Show thing. Saying that it was in the International Showplace was an assumption which I made from vague recollections. Yes, The Vortex's station is the same station used for The Bat. (They call that an Arrow-swap in the business )

For all of you Mason-ites out there, there's a cool haunted house on WaterPark Dr. near The Beach called "Nightmare Estates." It's not the greatest in the world, but if you're looking for something to do, I'd recommend it.

A lot of people scream on rides, but I never have that type of sensation. When I'm thrilled on a ride, I just hold on tight.

I've never been impressed with PKI's haunted houses. But yes, for the most part, I agree with you.