ZosoBeast

From the PKI Newsletter: Be a Part of the Gold Rush Audience! Join the audience October 3 as Kings Island hosts an episode of a new reality show for aol.com, Gold Rush. Watch the taping and cheer on the action as contestants embark on a thrilling chase to win hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold! Sign up here. Note: The park will not be open this day for regular operations, and no compensation will be provided for audience participation. Sign up here!

/\ Is it widescreen? Dolby Digital? Director Commentary?

No thank you. I dont ever rememeber that video being on sale. EVER! I know it was given away as prizes during the hunts but never for sale. But I, as always, can be wrong. I like The Beast. Bill

/\ The Monster Bash is the live stage show they were rehearsing last night while we were there. Remember?

I think he was talking about his article, not the actual fate of the coaster. "Park officials released that on the day before the accident, Son of Beast was shut down because riders complained of “a bumpy ride.†Operators opened up the ride 10 minutes later after inspectors tested and cleared the ride." This is the first I have heard of this news. Anybody else? Or have I just been living under a rock the past 4 months...

And so is your negativity!

The new site seems to be taking shape. I love that pic of Reon. I mean, WHO KNEW!?

WOW! I just used the domain as an example! Didnt think you would actually go with that one. Super cool! Looking forward to the updates! By the way, thanks for everything you have done so far in getting this project together! A job well done so far!! Bill

I say, just have the PKIC Logo on the front left and that persons user name under it. Then on the back, have the tour dates. As for food, I dont think the food should be included in the cost. I think just transportation and hotel. I think a lot of us will have a maxx pass so that covers the cost of the park. I am liking the idea of staying at a ERT hotel at the point. I also think an actual WEB SITE should be created with a sign up and all the details as they come across. Like a pkictour2007.com or something like that. I like The Beast. Bill

I am 33 but I act like I am 7. I guess Dane and Ryan bring out the best (or worse) in me!

The whole PKIC staff went to SFKK a few months back and enjoyed multiple re-rides on multiple different rides. Maybe SFKK is the exeption?

Dang it CnS! I actually clicked on that link! Thought maybe you found something! But now I seem to have a womans dress coming to me in the mail! DOH!

Same goes for me! I rode it with my eyes closed the entire time.

My first trip with a girlfriend: I want to say this was in 1989-90. Along time ago, my Dad worked for a place called Ohio Blue Print in downtown Cincinnati. At that time, Kings Island had a lot of work done there with Blue Prints and such. When they needed something in a rush, they would call my Dad and he would have the job done in a jiffy. As a reward for a job well done, KI would give my Dad free tickets every year. Well, one year my Dad gave me a couple and told me he would take Sandy(my girlfriend at the time) and I up there. This would just be Sandy and Me and I could not wait! So he drops us off and he heads back home. Sandy and I walk up to the park and give the lady behind the turn style our tickets. She looked at them and said "wait right there" All of a sudden, park security comes over and takes us to a room behind guest relations. "where did you get these tickets?" he asks. "Um, from my father (telling him the whole story about Ohio Blue Print)" I said. "well, these tickets are stolen so you have to be honest with me" He says Ok, at this point, I start to panic! I was looking forward for the past few months to being able to take Sandy to Kings Island and I am being accused of stealing? So they try to call my dad who is still on his way home from dropping us off. I think he could see how visibly upset I was. He decided to let us into the park, but to not be shocked if we were brought back there by park security. I was thinking to myself, GREAT! They are letting me in the park and I look like a criminal in front of my girlfriend. fun fun! So a few hours go by and I decide to call my Dad. "dad, they say the tickets are stolen, what gives" "nothing to worry about" he says "WHAT? How do you figure?" I ask Well, it seems that the lady at the turn style for one split second was reading from the wrong list and she tagged mine as being stolen. The whole thing was a total mis-understanding! WHEW! At least NOW I could start enjoying myself! That will just be one of those things that I always remember about the park. Thanks for reading!

WOW GUYS! I had no idea you guys were really this far into this! I think the first thing is that everyone that is interested in going should all meet up for Kings Islands last day of operation this year. That way we all meet and share ideas and what not. But other than that, totally count me in. Just dont put me in the same room as Tom OR Ryan. TURBO SPEED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bill

I really like Trip Reports like this one. Highlights are always seem to be more fun to read than the usual TR. How did you get that picture of Patrick with Patrick?

Hey everyone, In recent light of people breaking into the former Lesourdsville Lake/Americana Amusement Park and tearing it up, I decided to put together a photo album of the way it was back in the summer of 2002, the last year it was open. The pictures are taken over a couple of visits I took to the park that summer. For example, one photo has the "Pirate Ship" sitting there in pieces and another picture has it fully operational. It also features pictures of a ride they installed that year but never operated at all. Just for fun, I also uploaded a couple of videos I took during my visits there. These were all taken with my digital camera's movie mode so they are not the greatest of quality, but can still be a fun watch. The pictures can be found right here. The videos are on YouTube: 1. . (11 seconds) This was a great ride at the park, however, the final year it ran, they slowed it up alot, making it just a shell of its former self. 2. . (2:00) Sure the video goes a little long, but I got a kick out of watching her scream and fall over. Maybe you will as well. 3. . (1:12) I could not get her off the thing! Since there was nobody else riding, the ride op just let us ride over and over again. Thanks for reading and I hope you share any Lesourdsville Lake/Americana Amusement Park memories you might have! Bill PS: All on ride photos/video were taken with the ride ops permission.

I agree! Your trip report was a fun read! And the photos were a nice touch!

I only got "****y" about it because it seems to be one of the dumbest rules I have ever heard of. I mean, we were not even in the station yet and they were all over us! And you see, this is what happens with these parks. You end up talking more about the bad time you had at it more so than how cool Dominator was. It only takes one (and in this case, two) negative things to happen to pretty much put a downer on the whole trip! And believe it or not, I actually had this happen to me at Boomerang Bay this past Tuesday.... I live in Dayton. My kids live in Cincinnati. I took a vacation this week to spend a little time with them. I took them to Boomerang Bay, my first time ever going. We spent a good amount of time in the wave pool. Well, at one point, when the waves stopped, and we were about in the middle of the pool, my youngest, 5 year old Emily (who says Hello to Dane and Ryan by the way) was stepping onto my knees and kinda pushing herself off and into the pool. No big deal. But the lifeguard blew her wistle and told us to stop. So again, instead of talking about how much fun we had on the lazy river, I keep thinking about that lifeguard telling us to stop doing something that wasnt doing anything other than puting a smile on my 5 year olds face. A rare time with Dad. So flash forward to GL 3 days later, train coming into a pretty much EMPTY station and being told were not allowed to reride? No picture taking while in line? What does that hurt? Nobody! But like I said, it just boils down to what you remember. I remember the negativity and all the fires that Ryan was trying to start in the back seat! Turbo Speed, Bill

So the staff over at PKICentral.com decide to head up north to check out Geauga Lake. Since GL's owners, Cedar Fair, just bought our park, Kings Island, we thought it would be a good idea to see how they run other ones. You know, to give us an idea as to what to expect when Kings Island opens up next year under the Cedar Fair family. And I simply did NOT like it. I have been to a lot of parks all over the U.S. and the policy I have always noticed is that when your train gets back in the station and nobody is waiting, you can just stay where you are and enjoy another ride. Well, all summer long, I have had dreams of marathoning Dominator. But it seems your not allowed to do that! Our train got back into the station with only 4 people waiting in the station for the first row (we were way in back) so I told the guys how sweet this was. So we just sat there. Then one of the ride-ops walk up and said "no rerides guys" and my jaw just dropped! There was NOBODY there! What difference would it have made? I once rode The Beast at Kings Island 17 times without ever getting off the darn thing. I thought this policy was just a standard. A non-issue. So a long pointless walk to climb on board Dominator again had me steaming. So my dream of getting over 10 rides in on this great coaster turned into 3. I just drove 4 hours for this? But then the rules just get ever MORE dumb! Were waiting in line for X-Flight. Were up on the steps on the first landing. We still have a ways to go before were actually in the station. Along with the fact that they were only running one train makes for a longer wait. Wait aside, we decide to get the video camera out and have a little fun with it while were in line. All of a sudden from above, the ride op says "Your not allowed to do that" and I thought maybe someone was sitting on the rail or something. But he was looking at the guy holding the video camera. "Me?" he said. "Yes, your not allowed to video tape or take pictures while your standing in line." What the HECK??? Am I missing something here? For what POSSIBLE reason do they have this rule? We were not even in the station yet and they were all over us! So we decide to ask what the reason for such a rule would be. When we got to the station, he walked right up to the ride op that yelled at him and asked him for a reason. And you know his reply? Nothing. The ride op just flat out ignored him! I was just shocked. So we took our flight and we left. The park was open another 2 hours, but we were all just so mad that it was not worth staying another minute. Maybe it is just me and my "silly ways" but you should never leave an amusement park mad at the world. And that's just what we did. You know, when I first heard the news that Cedar Fair bought Kings Island along with the rest of Paramount Parks, I was excited! But if these "rules" get put into place at my beloved park, then it really will be a sad day indeed. Thank you for reading, Bill Dedicated to one of the greatest Amusement Parks in the world, Paramount's Kings Island! Lets just hope it stays that way.

(Taken from Channel Cincinnati) MONROE, Ohio -- Americana Amusement Park might be closed, but it's still attracting some people -- vandals. Employees spent Tuesday afternoon boarding up broken windows. The park's owner said the vandals also got into the arcade, destroying all the video games. They even moved the 400-pound elephant statue, dumping him into a drained pond. The owner said the park has been hit twice in the last month, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage. He's offering $2,000 for tips leading to the culprits.

Well, I went on over to find these graveyard pictures over at RCDB and found maybe one or two pics of King Cobra. Was this what you were talking about? Speaking of "King Cobra" and RCDB. Why in the "Existing Roller Coasters" listing is King Cobra still listed, even though it says it is in storage, when in fact "Scooby's Ghoster Coaster" is listed as a "Past Roller Coasters" when it is in storage at the park as well?

A bunch of the scrolling signs had Winterfest promotion scrolling in it. Not anymore. As of last weekend, those signs were taken out and they had nothing in its place. That picture from Coney Mall that had a Winterfest poster in it has had the poster taken down and replaced with a CDBB poster. There are 2 CDBB posters surrounding that window now.

Not sure if anyone has noticed this or not, but all the posters that were in the park promoting the event have been taken down as well.

Blue Ice cream does it for me. I cant get enough of that stuff.