GrandPoobah

"Attention Tomb Raiders. We are experiencing a temporary delay. A team of experts is checking into the situation. As soon as it is resolved, your adventure will continue." All day, every day, oh yeah This is another one: "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please. All rides and attractions at Paramount's Kings Island are closing for the day. Thank you for visiting Paramount's Kings Island. Please drive home safely, and we look forward to entertaining you again soon."

Isn't this the whole point of having test seats in front of the ride? Let large people sit in them and see how they fit. If they fit comfortably, there's no reason to prohibit them from riding. I don't see how there could be a safety issue.

Paramount Canada's Wonderland has one of those mountains with a roller coaster. The ride is called Thunder Run.

It's a combination of the words "inverted" and "vertigo".

Sounds like a cool idea, count me in.

The arcade across the midway from Coney Mall Skyline doesn't have any games for tickets. At the skeeball arcade across from Tucker's, they have games that do give away tickets that you can redeem for prizes. I haven't been in there in a long time so I don't know the exact games that are there. The games are maintained by Monduce; you can check out some pics of the KI arcades (among others) at their website.

I'd also have to vote FoF.

I didn't see any fights last night. Everyone seemed to be relatively well-behaved, although a few people were loud and rowdy. To save time, instead of loading people into the antechamber and doing the show with the sparkling lights and door, people walked straight through the antechamber into the preshow. Once there were enough people in there, they started the preshow. The ride program for TRTR hasn't changed at all - sorry if you thought that was what I meant.

The scheduling gods in the rides office blessed me with the night off on Friday. I figured that Grad Night would be a good time to head up to the park and get some rides in - the crowds shouldn't be horrible, right? As you'll see, that wasn't entirely correct My friend and I arrived at the park around 6:30 and joined the other members of the class of 2004 (and a few people who definitely weren't seniors). We headed straight for TRTR and were fortunate to only have a short wait (about 10 minutes). They were bypassing the antechamber show tonight and loading guests directly into preshow. As I suspected, the guests tonight were much rowdier than usual . After a delay because of guests who didn't understand the meaning of "fill in every available seat", we rode. It was an awesome ride, which is starting to become the norm for TRTR (it was succesful as well, in that it made it through a complete cycle ). Overall, a good way to start the night. We next headed next door to Beast. I noticed they turned up the volume on QTV so you could actually hear the video. Beast was only a one-train wait; we sat in the second-to-last row. Excellent ride and relatively smooth. Beast operators now deliver a spiel reminding you to buckle your seatbelt, and to "get ready to experience the world's longest wooden roller coaster, The Beast". Nice idea. We next saw that the line for The Vortex was onto the balcony overlooking the transfer track. I'm spoiled - too long a line for me. The line for FoF was filling out into the outside queue area; greeter told us one hour wait - again, too long for me . Racer's wait was only two trains, so we rode forwards. I really didn't enjoy this one - too rough. The Racers no longer race - not like it matters anyhow, backwards wins virtually every time. Adventure Express was next. Nothing to report except the theming on the final lift is in pretty bad shape. Several of the lights and fist-pumping statues didn't work. I decided to put up with a wait tonight and ride Delirium. I only rode it once in 2003, and hadn't ridden it at all this year. We waited 30 minutes, not too bad. Wow - this ride is incredible, I'd have to rank it as one of my top 4 or 5 in the park now. A little short, but still the wait is well worth it. I feel really dumb for not having ridden it more frequently. Son of Beast was next, about a 30 minute wait as well. The main thing I noticed was how loud the music is in the station. It's really annoying, and makes it impossible to hear the spiel when trains are loaded and unloaded. We got a clue as to how the ride was going as train after train came back with grimacing riders. We got our turn and rode in the second-to-last row. Right after the train got onto the lift hill, the lift stopped and a ride op got onto the loudspeaker and asked someone to put their camera away. You tell 'em! Even though we were riding in the middle of a car, this ride was very, very rough. It would be an awesome ride if it weren't for the roughness. Incidentally, I checked the ride photos on the way out and didn't see anybody holding up a camera. Top Gun (brought to you by Gillette Mach 3 razors) was a walk-on. The ride seems to have gotten in worse shape this year. It was rough, and the overall apperance of the ride and station was not very good. The only evidence of theming left is two banners and an American flag. When we got back to the station, only two people were waiting to ride. I guess noone else cares for the ride either, or they have no clue it's there . Walking back through Action Zone, it was obvious how busy the park was at this point. The line for the Festhaus was stretched out to the Age/Weight Guessing Game. Strangely, Viking Fury was a walk-on and we decided to ride. I had figured to go back for second rides on TRTR and The Beast. However, TRTR was a 30-45 min wait and The Beast line was out to the vending machines, so we decided to call it a night around 10:00. Overall, I got my first rides of the season on SOB, Top Gun, and Delirium. It was a fun night at the park, although busy and hectic for some of the time.

I was just talking about the actual pre-show (the video). More time is spent in that room though - doing the preshow spiel, collecting loose articles, etc.

It's a little over two minutes long.

Nick is British slang for "to steal"

When you hear it a dozen times a day, you start to remember it pretty well BTW, I always thought the second to last line was "nick the treasure, and that would be that"

The music that plays before the movie works now. I don't think it did on pass preview weekend. And yes, the final words of the preshow video are "Famous last words..."

I'd say anything in HB, because I don't ride them :-) Besides that, I would have to say Drop Zone. It's an awesome ride, but the short ride isn't worth the long wait.

Games prizes change many times throughout the season.

Those are some amazing pics...walk-on to SOB and F/O? I knew I should have come in before my shift

Gotcha some people on here have a weird sense of humor

I rode F/O yesterday and didn't notice anything different about them.

So it valleyed after having gone through the loop?

Yes, they're radio frequencies.

Actually, one button starts the effects show, and a second button opens the door. It's the operator's responsibility to open the door at the right time. As some previous posters have said, it's difficult to gauge when to open the door because the lights don't correspond with the soundtrack and other effects.

Sad, but it really was inevitable. The Cyclones were awesome until the Mighty Ducks came to town and the Cyclones moved downtown, where they couldn't really compete. Moving to an inferior league (the ECHL) didn't help either. At least the Mighty Ducks are still around.

Cool, thanks for the heads-up.

Now, I worked at the park last year but I didn't return the rehire application they sent me in the mail. If I go to the job fair and fill out an app, will I have to do another interview? Thanks if anyone knows and could help me out