bradb055

Im just hoping for a good sprucing up of the place. A litttle paint here, and maybe some more nice landscaping would go a long way in my book. Also, a little more theming for some of the sections of the park would be nice too. Of coarse, we would all like to here that big anoncement about a new coaster! But... Ill take what I can get.

My first experinces were with KI. I loved to ride the slides in HBBL, walk through the ivy tunnel, and drive the old race cars. There was also one ride where you could pedal your own bike with your hands. The smurfs voyage was by far my favorite, but I was scared of The wicked Gargamel. This was in the mid 80's. The Iron Dragon @ Cp was my first coaster, but I was scared of coasters so I didnt ride many until I found out they were not that bad. The Racer made me a believer of coasters, and ever since I cant get enough of them. I loved HBBL when I was younger. I still have some great pics of me at KI when I was a kid. It does bring back some good memories. I still wish that Rugrats runaway Reptar was there when I was a Kid. That would have been one hell of a ride for a 5 year old!

Ok, I was thinking that since SoB is supposed to be the "son" of The Beast, they should share some of the same ride elements... but do they? Have you ever wondered why SoB is not a terrain coaster like its "father?" Or, why SoB doesnt have tunnels? If you were the designer of SoB what would, if anything, would you change about the track layout or the trains? What elements does The Beast have on it that should have been incorperated in SoB? What did the designers of SoB do a good job of in designing SoB? And of coarse, what does SoB do a better job of when compared to The Beast or vis-versa? Ill add my two cents later on but for now let me here what you have to say.

I too will be at UC most of this winter. I am in the mechanical engineering program so I will be bogged down with a bunch of work too. Right now I am co-oping which left my summer more open for PKI. I am planning on going down to Universals Islands of Adventures for my 3rd time this winter to calm my coaster crave. Its a great park to visit, but there are only a few rides there that are great. PKI is still better with rides! Well speaking of Co-oping I better get back to work.

I dont have any real problems to complain about here. I cant remeber anything too out of the ordinary. Not great, but definitly not bad. PKI does a good job of finding the right people for the right job. At least in my opinion. But yes, I have been treated bad by a person or two throughout the years, but thats bound to happen a time or two anywhere. Great Job PKI staff!

I too was there... but not untill 7:15 (after the Bengals game). I did get to ride 3 coasters before I left at 9:20. The forward Racer, Vortex, and SoB. Not bad for 2 hours in a crowded park. I could have stayed and rode somthing else because at the end of the day most people had left, but I didnt ( had to work). Plus, it takes me a good 40 mins to get home. It was a great night to be at the park. Not too cold and not humid. Perfect. The whole fearfest thing was still going on but I could careless because Halloween is over. It was a great year this year but I didnt make it up as much as usual. I might have only made it up 10 times or so. Ouch! School sucks durring the summer! O well, I still got more than my moneys worth. Cant wait untill opening weekend next year... Im there rain, shine, and yes even a little snow (1999) woulnt stop me.

I agree!! Don't drink and drive! I dont want anyone running into my car. Have a safe and fun Halloween. And dont put razor blades in kids candy... Thats just not nice.

I am totaly for the finger print system. THis would be a great way to save money and esentaly get rid of the actual card. This system would be much better than employees just looking at your black and white photo and trying to determine if it is you or not. I do know that PKI had some new computer lines ran in the park several month ago, but what for and where I dont know. I might have that info another time. The season pass entrance needs to be put back into place though to help with congestion during peak hours especialy. Automated systems are a great way of saving money! But then they suck at customer service and what not. O well its worth a try.

I am all about the gold pass parking, but as far as the other perks go... well their kinda lame. Tuesdays were tough for me to get there on. Wednesdays I couldnt get there early enough. And Bring a Friend Free day is kind of a nightmare. I would much rather see some money savings at the food stands. Then I might stay in the park to eat. Plus, I just like the look of the gold pass more. It makes me look like Im a VIP (LOL ). J/K! Anyway, the gold pass has some nice features but nothing beats the parking spot! There's nothing like not having to go out on an safari to find your car after a long day of walking around PKI. And thats all I have to say about that!

I dont know how DZ actualy works, but if there is a manual hydrolic(sp?) release it would release all of the arms at once. My guess is that there is a master cylinder for all of the hydrolics so that not just one arm can be released. That would be bad if one arm released and the others stayed locked. Anyway thats just my 2 cents.

From an engineering stand point, like beastfreak, putting the motor at the top seems to be an easier design. Of coarse I didnt design DZ so I could be completly wrong. The additional weight of the cable would be a serious issue considering the cable would have to be at least an extra 300 feet long. Thats a lot of weight!!! The passenger carrier seems to have a lighter design but by the time an extra 14 people are added, the weight is dramaticly increased. The design of PKD DZ also seems to be more airodynamicly efficent. This, would help it reach the faster speed along with the further drop. I am in total agreement with the both of you but then again I have never seen PKD's DZ.

Cant say I would be too happy climbing out of my seat at 264 ft with nothing but a rope and harness holding me. I would much rather climb down from a coaster hill any day of the week. That would be one hell of a scare for me personaly. Glad Im not the one doing the resuce.

Alright... Has anyone noticed that all of the newer rides have dull and boring flood lights to light them up? Yes, this works for some rides, but not all of them. What ever happened to all of the great lighting that amusment parks were know for? Is Coney Mall the only place where old school carnaval lights can be seen? I remember going to PKI (KI at the time) and having a lot of fun just seeing all of the rides lit up at night (monster, scrambler, Shake R & R). The lighting of the rides can be crucial to a coaster or rides theming and its success. Yes, of coarse some rides are better with out lights (Beast) but for the most part they are needed. Even the Christmas style lights on The Vortex are better than nothing. My personal favorite was Xtream Flyers arch. It used to light up all diffrent colors and fade in and out. Now the towers lights cant even be seen by Drop Zones airport worthy landing lights! Bring back the night atmosphere PKI please. Wow, I feel better getting that off my back.

I mean seriously, who, on this site, is going to tell you not to do it? Go for it, and maybe you can give some of your picks to Aaron to post on the site for future members or out of town people to see.

chef, That is a plethera of good info. I didnt relize that the average Japeneese person was that tall. Yes, I have meet a few Japeneese and Asian people and they were fairly short. The few I have meet would most likely made any and all height requirements, but may have been uncomfortable with the harnesses at eye level. Like you mentioned I have only had very little experince with Aisians and Japeneese. Thanks for clearing that up, now I know. Please dont take my previous statments as an insult to the Japeneese. I was just stateing that Japeneese are mostly smaller than Americans. This may influence ride designs (especaily over the head restraints). Thats the only point I was trying to make. This may prevent some rides that are designed for Americans from being directly cloned and sent to Japan. Alterations for comfort and saftey may have to be made. Also, I did some math converting Yen to the American Dollar. Can you check it and tell me if it sound right?

I just want to see what people who attend PKI on a regular basis think of their prices. Please let me know about your other experinces with other parks and their pricing. How does PKI stack up against other parks in the region and out of the region? I can tell you for a fact anything in Orlando (Disney, Islands of Adventures, Universal Studios) are all expensive.

I thought that PKI sat on 364 devoped acres including the 15 acre water park (subject to change due to BB) and the 100 acre parking lot. If I remeber right PKI owns another 450 acres or so. Someone that works at PKI should be able to chime in on this one. Im sure of the ET elevator comintators (sp?) has mentioned it more than once. But yes that would be a bit small inside Japan. Hopefully that is just the park and not the entire area including the parking lot.

There was water? Ive been ridding that ride since I was about 13 which was 8 years ago, and I never remember the water. Im not saying it wasnt there but I dont remember it at all. If someone knows more about this let me know. I would like to see a pic if possible. Did the water run all of time? Was there a pond? Did they get rid of the water years before they scraped the ride?

Ok I looked up some conversions to find out what this thing will actualy cost in US currency and how big it will be. By my calcuations Paramount (Viacom) will spend $1,097,293,343 on this park if no other companies pitch in. The space that it will lie on will be just under 125 acres. This seems a little small to me but my math could be off. This price may seem to be a bit huge but one must remember that Viacom has about 30 billion in revenue each year. While Im happy for Japan, I would much rather see a 1 billion dollar investment in PKI! But... you know as well as I do that woulnt happen in my life time!

Thats good to know that Paramount is willing to spend that much on a theme park. This, however, could be bad news for PKI if Paramount decides to spend less on PKI to build this new park. Hopfully this woulnt happen. The only question I have is... Are the Japeneese people tall enough to ride the bigger rides? This may seem stupid to ask but, Japeneese people are short people. THis would mean this new park could get custom made rides for the smaller stature of the Japeneese people. Just wondering? Nice find jzarley!

The KC was a clasic. This ride was short jerky but yet a lot of fun. The helix was my favorite part. The coaster got some serious air time over the second hill just before the helix. Of coarse, this ride doesnt compare to Mantis or Chang in size, length or inversions, but it was a good ride. This also was my first looping experiance. I was a little intimidated of The Vortex at the time.

The rides name was The Shockwave. It was a similar ride to the KC. "Timothy Fan, 20, of New York slipped through a harness and fell from his seat." This is straight from the Cincinnati Enquirer. This ride is currently at Kings Dominion.

NO, no one walks with the sticks down the track... Im not saying that at all. I was saying (incorrectly) that it could be done with a counter on the coaster wheel. Yes I relize that in todays world of computers length is easily calculated.

Yeah I know this is a shot in the dark but hey its worth a try. This is not the only reason that I am attempting to get a Mechanical degree. By the way I am expected to graduate in 06. BoddaH1994 I will check into that book sounds great thanks!!!

Like many of you out there I would love to design roller coasters or rides. Does any one know what it takes to be able to do this? I am curently a junior at U.C. taking mechinical engineering classes. I have my assiosiates in Mechanical engineering and aiming for the bachlors degree. Is there a nother field I could look into if I get serious about this? Also, if this doesnt work out like I plan, what other good jobs could be attained at an amusment park? And dont say ride op or consesions! Its kind of always been a dream of mine to work at an amusment park and be important to their success.