coasterville

Update: I had a chance to use the self-serve admission gate yesterday. In the systems current configuration, it would be useless to try to mount a small camera to look at the pass photo and the person scanning it. The primary reason for this is that as of now, you hold your pass under an arm, over a sample pass mounted to the counter. The way that is mounted, the barcode is to the right, which means that in order to not have your fingers covering up the barcode, the natural place to hold the pass is on the left hand side nearest you, which puts your thumb right over the photo. Personally I think the machine is awkwardly mounted, in order to see the monitor you have to stand in front of the counter, not in the admission lane, which could leave the possibility of someone else sneaking through the turnstile on your scan. If I were doing this I would have rotated the machine 90 degrees, so that you can scan in and proceed while standing in the narrow 'chute' to the turnstile. Of course and even better way would be to do what the self serve lanes at the ballpark to, where you hold your ticket under a scanner mounted to the turnstile itself. Yesterday was my second use of the new machines, and I stood in the lane, and held my pass under the scanner until the 'traffic light' mounted to the turnstile changed. Now if they REALLY wanted to be cool, they could have a monitor facing the self serve lane's attendant. When you scan your pass, it would access your pass image from the databse and put THAT up on a monitor facing the reader. (This is of course assuming it can't already do that)

Sometimes I wonder if they really care WHO uses a season pass, as long as a loaded wallet walks in the gate. Let's review, this is the park that has stopped printing the customer name on the season pass, in addition the Photo ID system they use takes such crappy low-res black and white images that I have seen passes from people who look nothing like me, but all of our pass pictures loook pretty much the same. In short there is nothing on the pass card itself to positively identify you. That being said, I don't encourage anyone attempt to use any pass except the one issued to them. In other news, did anyone else notice that they are obviously using a differnet pass barcoding scheme next year. The pass I have has a real long barcode as opposed to the short one next year. Could this be to encode the year for the Self Service turnstiles, OR to allow one huge pass database system to be netowrked to all their tunrstiles in all their parks.

Regarding free soft drink refills: Cedar Point was doing that this year, if you purchased a certain Top Thrill Dragster souvenir cup, for $10, you were entitled to season long refills. Of course CP made the cup about as unweildy to carry as they could: no handles, no belt loops, and very tall and narrow so you can't fit it inside any of their lockers. That would be a nice Gold Pass perk, or even if they sold a decal you could apply to your season pass.

Well, unless the Stricker's ever change their pattern, the schedule of General Public days at Stricker's is consistant and predictable. They have the Indepenence Day Celebration (7/4), which concludes with fireworks. They have Family Reunion Day, which is always the second Sunday in August. The last couple years they have added a "Customer Appreciation Day" In my mind Stricker's is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact its almost a nostalgic reminder of the way small town traditional amusement parks used to be. One long straight midway, lined with rides, a games building or two, picninc grove, concessions. About all you need for a laid back old time classic park. For those who have not been there, they have: Carousel (Herschell) - now with a band organ and a real carousel pavilion Crazey Daisey (PTC) - half of a cuddle up. Its a tea cup like ride where the cups move in a figure 8 pattern, yes with near collisions as the cups cross paths in the center of the ride. Ferris Wheel - (ELi Bridge) Train Ride (Chance Rides) - Takes you on a tour around the perimieter of the property, impossibley tight tunnel under the parking lot driveway. Tip Top (Hurbetz) - A second tea cup variant, this one tips up at an angle, and then at times bounces up and down. Scrambler (Eli Bridge) Tilt-A-Whril (Sellner) Kiddie Helicopters (Herschell) Flying Skooters (Bisch Rocco) This is the traveling model, and as such is much harder to snap than the park model (see PKI for a park model) Kiddie Whip (Mangles) Kiddie Turtle (Chambers??) Kiddie Planes (King) Kiddie Circle Car Ride (King) Kiddie Wet Boats (Herschell) and did I mention two wooden rollercoasters? Teddy Bear - modeled after a coaster of the same name that used to stand at Coney Island, Ohio. Very similar to Beastie, only about half as high. Tornado - modeled after the Rocky Glen (Lancaster, PA) "Mighty Lightning". Its a small to midszie (57') twister. Its mostly a gentle ride except for two airtime pops near the end of the ride. In addition to rides, they have a miniature golf course, athletic fields, picninc grove, shooting gallery, arcade games, Skeeball, and a small assortment of skill games. The last couple times I have been there, they have also been running a promotion where the soft drinks are free.

Trip Report: Paramount’s Kings Island June 8, 2003 “Amazing what a few storms can do the ride lines†Today’s visit to PKI was kind of a last minute decision. At 8:40 I was planning on partaking of my normal non-coaster filled Sunday routine, then at 8:45 an email arrived that changed all that. Instead I would go with Dave Althoff to PKI. Given Dave’s travel time requirements and all that, we arrived at the park at a leisurely 11:30. It was just late enough in the day to get caught in the after-church traffic. The park looked busy as indicated by the fact that we were far out in the North Lot and arrived at the gate with the aid of a parking tram. It should be noted that we purposely parked right next to a tram stop, as it really has the same effect as being parked up close to the gate. While riding the tram to the gate, we witnessed an act of rider stupidity as a tram rider, wanting to suddenly return to their car jumped off the moving tram. We arrived at the gate. At the front gate I noticed that they have made a couple minor changes to the metal detection area. For one they have painted a yellow line a few feet in front of the detector in an attempt to space out the people entering the gate, and the second change is that a second bank of metal detectors has been setup in front of the old season pass entrance, I see the park is already planning for those heavy crowd days. As this is my fifth visit to the park this year, and will be my fourth trip report, with the last one issued just over a week ago, I will try to stick to the highpoints. We soon enter the park, and after a leisurely walk we eventually wind up at the Flying Eagles. You know Eagles? Smooth? Graceful? Soaring? Yeah, Right! We started the day with three Flying Eagles rides. From the Flying Eagles, we took a walk-on ride on Vortex. I hadn’t taken a front seat ride on Vortex for a while, and after doing so realized why I prefer the back. The back seat has great floater air down the first drop, the front seat you just have a brief sport where you legs float up at the crest of the second hill. Clearly the back seat is the better ride. From Vortex, we continue our coaster tour heading towards Flight of Fear. We took a shortcut, however, one that involves riding the Zephyr, the parks Wave Swinger. After a breezy trip through the skies of Coney Mall we start to walk to Ft. Cooper. I perform my usual flagpole inspection upon entering Ft. Cooper, and I notice the flags have still not been raised over this faux military base. Given that these are about the only two flagpoles in the park that aren’t flying some kind of flag or banner, I must assume there is a reason behind their non-use. After we entered Ft. Cooper instead of heading directly to the Press Area we instead took a look over at the flight area, the helipad to be exact. The Sky Team helicopter tours looked interesting, and they did have signs posted about a season pass special, and the skies looked perfect for flying. So perfect we saw a biplane out for a scenic Sunday flight on our way up to the park. While we heard the choppers, we also noted the booking office was closed. The warning sign about not locking the doors seems odd to me though. We thought we better head to the Press Area. As you may know Flight of Fear is one of PKI’s better attempts at themeing. In this case the idea is you are a press report who is coming to Ft. Cooper to get a report on what appears to be a flying saucer. First you walk through the shaded media area outside, then you walk into the building, and into Hangar 18 where you see the UFO in the center of the enormous room, and a lot of equipment for use in an investigation. Today we noticed the queue was taking the long way through Hangar 18, but was not entirely full. I’d say we got to watch the pre-show in the hangar about 1.5 times. At the end of the hangar preshow you climb up a short flight of stairs to board the flying saucer. The stairway looks like it is part of the saucer on a bug fold out hatch that bas been lowered. A stairway, that seems odd, as most science fiction movies with Flying Saucers show ramps were the preferred boarding method for flying saucers. We then walked through the flying saucer to come to the loading platform. A short while later we were getting into seat 5.1, the lap bars went down, the seatbelt buckle was thwacked against something hard a couple times to unjam it, then the seatbelt was fastened. Then the ride launched and we were off on a trip through outer space, all the way to the Outer Limits. Amazingly the craft is able to safely land back in a rather dull looking hallway in Ft. Cooper, where we exited the ride vehicles, walked down a long windy hallway within Ft. Cooper walked out into a retail area and noticed the rain. What happened to our perfect morning? Soon a large storm brewed up. We played, and lost, Dodge The Rain. First the on-ride photo booth to the tunnel under Racer, then to the games building, then walk along side the games to come to the Arcade. Still no pinball in the arcade. At the exit of the Arcade nearest Monster they have a prize game. Inside the machine is a series if holes arranged in a beehive like pattern. The player has control of what looks like a drill press. You insert your money and are given a limited amount of time to line up the drill bit. Line the bit up properly and it will be able to enter a hole and ‘drill out’ the prize. The was only interesting when I saw the two most popular prizes were Iraqi “Most Wanted†playing cards, and key chain sized laser lights. We hung around the arcade for the rain to lighten up, where we were able to make it from the Arcade to the International Street shops. We proceeded through the shops, out the front gate, through the exit form the secure zone and waited for a tram while standing under the canvas tent covering the metal detector area. We waited, and we waited, and we waited. We saw trams out in the parking lot doing nothing. Eventually we make a run for it and get totally soaked. Personally, I think it is very rude of a park to discontinue tram service in the middle of the day, particularly at a time when the park is having a mass exodus. What’s more the thunder and lightning hadn’t started yet. We took a side trip to a local restaurant, had dinner, watched the weather go from bad to good to much worse to a little better. In fact the rain was still coming down aswe left the restaurant and returned to the park. We never did dry off, and when we returned we got a big parking upgrade to the secret super preferred lot. The rain was still coming down as we re-entered the park. Upon re-entering the park, we were guessing that the two most popular rides would be Flight of Fear and Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle because of the rain. (Most of Tomb Raider’s queue is outdoors, and you can get wet on that ride) We decided that since it was raining, and we were already wet, that we would head to Rivertown and ride the water rides. We looked down the street halfway up International Street and were surprised to see no line hanging out of the Ghastly Manor. We determined Ghastly Manor was receiving visitors and went inside, with the line starting on the drawbridge. A couple minor changes have occurred in the queue area. In the big anteroom, clear protective coverings have been placed over the Victorian style ‘wallpaper’, and in the secret passage blue lights have been installed. Blue lights have the curious properties of giving off light, while still maintaining the darkness of the secret passage. After a very quick wait we soon boarded our Mini Mystery Machine. Scooby is a Sally interactive dark ride, and so as soon as the lap bar was closed, we grabbed our Fright Lights and got ready. The first scene has received a few changes. On opening day there was a stretch from the loading area until you reached the first target. This stretch does serve a purpose as the on-ride photo is taken and you hear Shaggy telling you to get ready and to grab your Fright Light. On opening weekend it was a very dull section of the ride. By the second week a directive to “AIM FRIGHTLIGHT HERE†was written on the wall by the camera. My guess is that a review of the on-ride photos, or the sales volume of the on-ride photo sales were not achieving the desired results, due to the guests not having their Fright Lights ready, or making inappropriate poses. The rather plain message has been replaced by an oversized target that says “AIM HERE†that helps by serving double duty as rider instructions. As I said in my last TR, I will finally start to get the story when I get a busted Fright Light. It is still a series of disjoint scenes in my mind right now, though I thought I heard some audio this time through. It must be that competetive thing. I redeemed my lousy score of last week by getting a 1,660 this week. We exited Ghastly Manor and realized the rain was still dripping. We heard a Beastie train go by, so that was the next choice. As we approached Beastie however there was an empty train parked on the ready brake. Luckily nothing was wrong, in fact the ride was waiting for riders. Beastie has a nice first drop tunnel headchopper and a nice sport of floater air off the second turnaround, unfortunately a trim brake sucks the life out of it on the third turnaround. We finished our Beastie ride, and noticing how empty Hanna Barbera Land was, we headed to Scooby’s Ghoster Coaster. Ghoster Coaster is an interesting product of Caripro. It’s a junior suspended coaster where you sit in little single seat cars (2 with a small kid), that travels by overhead monorail track over a course in the back reaches of kiddieland. Not only that, but it has a true blue vertical elevator lift. The ride does have a couple drawbacks, mainly it’s a very low capacity attraction, the other is that the cars can be quite cramped for bigger riders to get into. Male riders need to be extra careful. We noticed what may be the shortest line we would see for it all year, (which was still out and around the service crane, almost back to the end of the storage track). We patiently waited, I crammed myself into one of the real cute Bat cars, I took precautions as the car boarded the elevator (you should see the faces of mail riders who don’t take precautions, or head the operators warnings) took a quick ride to the second floor, and had a graceful ride over HB that was only interrupted by two trim brakes. (Careful on those two, BTW, look for the calipers) At least the final brake into the station is a lot smoother. It’s a once a year novelty ride for me, however I was able to get myself out of The Bat a lot easier than usual. We proceeded towards Reptar. Due to the weather Reptar was not online, but Wild Thornberries River Adventure came online just as we were passing it. We took a ride on Wild Thornberries, since we were already wet. I noticed the show sensors are placed above trough level, I suppose so the effects will only fire for a loaded log, or so that they can time the effect to hit the poor schmuck up front who tripped off the sensor. All in all very little water damage except for elephant at the very end. The back seat rider claimed to have gotten significantly wetter. After our ride on Wild Thornberries, I took a ride I haven’t taken for a few seasons now, White Water Canyon. I usually avoid WWC due to the long walk out to it, as well as the fact that you can get a merciless drenching. Today I was already drenched, so what more could it do. After having ridden some of the newer rapids rides parks are installing, this one seems tame in comparison. I noted the highly elastic seatbelt, then we took off for a fast game of Rapids Ride Roulette. The wheels of aquatic misfortune started spinning, and before the ride was through, Dave A. had scored 2 rapids and a geyser, and Dave B. scored 1 rapids and 1 geyser. We soon took the long walk back to the midway. We passed by Tomb Raider which had a lot longer line that we were willing to stand in, and headed for Beast. We took a ride on Beast towards the middle of the train, and were rewarded with the smoothest, fastest seeming Beast ride all season. We walked around and headed for the back seat. We then received the usual rough Beast experience. Must be a difference in those two trains. There was a significant delay in the station at the end of the ride as Dave A. had issues with his lap bar not releasing, in the end it took 4 operators, 2 lap bar keys, 5 minutes, and a lot of trial and error to get Dave’s lap bar to release. So trial and error that on one attempt they managed to ratchet down Dave’s lap bar even further, to the point of being painful. They eventually got Dave out, but not without stepping on his lap bar forcefully to get it to open. Darn, I was kind of hoping to see the ride mechanics have to perform a PTC train dissection and take the whole lap bar assembly apart to get Dave out. After Beast, we had another Flying Eagles Air Show. We came up with some more flight analogies, like testing the rudder before the ride starts is ‘pre-flighting the aircraftâ€, using your foot at the end of the ride to drag the tub to a halt is “deploying the landing gear†We took a few rides, then realized how late it was getting, and we still had a significant part of the park to see. Upon review of the coasters we had already ridden, we determined that our best course of action was to head to Racer. We arrived at Racer and took a walk on ride in the back car. While I admire the fact they are actually trying to race the trains this year, the back seamed a bit lacking for airtime. We then headed up to the Schmeck Seat (1.3) and were rewarded with a ride that had traces of airtime. We continued our tour around the park with a stop at Adventure Express, and took a walk on back car ride. Adventure Express is a consistent performer and a decent mine ride. I have yet to see what sort of improvements were rumored for this ride this year. After riding Adventure Express we realized we forgot the Backwards Racer. We returned to The Racer, rode in the first car of the backwards train. Not only does the backwards side track a lot better, but the airtime is more impressive. We then headed to the Paramount Action Zone. We entered the Action Zone, and I noted the Delirium line to be very reasonable. We took a ride on Delirium. Delirium is still a fast, intense crowd pleaser. This visit I noted they have switched from a "Follow your ride operator" system to an assigned seat number system, a tactic that has worked well on Drop Zone. Man, I love this ride. We then headed to the back corner of Action Zone, and first took a ride on Top Gun. Top Gun is the parks Arrow Suspended that is just way too far out of the way of traffic. A walk on with empty seats going out, we enjoyed a front seat ride on it. Top Gun also wins the award for most energetic platform crew. From Top Gun, we took a ride on Son of Beast so Dave A. could experience the new lap bars. Almost a walk on, we took a ride in seat 6.2 Big Mistake, while the ride was more tolerable than it was with the old lap bars, it is still pretty brutal. I won't be riding this one again unless something changes, like perhaps the floor design. After experiencing that worthless pile of bodily excrement, we entered the restroom building near Son of Beast to be nauseated by another worthless pile of bodily excrement. EWWWWW. By PKI standards this restroom building was truly disgusting. We ran far away from that restroom building and soon found ourselves at Drop Zone. We looked at the line for Drop Zone, and realized it was only a one cycle wait. We boarded, went up, spiraled, noted that Face/Off was a walk on, went up some more, paused, paused, paused, FELL. I have since figured out the method for releasing the new style (Intamin Style) seatbelt buckles and was thus able to exit the ride without delay. With out new knowledge that Face/Off was a walk on, we rode Face/Off in the midway end seat. A wonderfully smooth intense Vekoma Invertigo. After riding Face/Off we realized we only had one more coaster in the park that we were eligible to ride (Silly Enthusiast, Taxi Jam is for kids!) and thus made our way to Reptar. This time Reptar was open and so we took a front seat ride. When Reptar first opened, it had a unique moment where your feet could touch the lift hill bottom. Not any more. Reptar is a smooth quick junior coaster. With that ride we finished the coaster collection, looked at but did not persue the water maze. WE determined that it is impossible to come out of it dry. We headed back to Tomb Raider, noted no line at all for the ride, and as we guessed Tomb Raider was closed for the time being. Instead we took a third seat ride on Beast. After our Beast ride we finished up the day with several Flying Eagles rides which took place until the park closed. In fact the ride operators loaded us during the fireworks, let us sit there, and then started the ride. Started the ride with such timing in fact that the ride came to a complete stop just as the grand finale of the fireworks show was ending and the "Parks Closed" PA announcement was starting. Talk about timing! For the curious I timed the Flying Eagles, each session the ride lasts 3 minutes from start to stop, however the motor is cut off after 2 minutes, it takes the ride a full minute to loose momentum and stop. Factor in warm up time, and I'd say you have about 90 seconds of good quality flight time to work with. After the Flying Eagles marathon, we made our way to the front of the park, walked out to our super close car, and called it a night.

Trip Report: Paramount's Kings Island May 29, 2003 "Limited Operations also means Limited Crowds" Today was the start of a weekend long coaster trek centered around Stark Raven Mad. Due to Jerry's good fortune at the airline check in counter, we wound up arriving at PKI at about the time Jerry thought he would be picking me up. Upon entering the troll plaza, we used my parking pass and received some paperwork. Included was the usual security notice, the other was two or three copies of the parks apology for "Limited Operations". Limited Operations means that may of the happy staff members that usually staff the park are still in school, so there are just fewer park staff members to go around. Recently, PKI has started to publish a list of those rides that will be open on a particular day. We perused the schedule of operations for the day and decided that enough rides would be open to justify our visit. We next approached the front gate, and had no problems getting through the security checkpoint, then proceeded to the admission gate. Recently, PKI has invested heavily in an electronic web-based ticketing system where guests can purchase and print park tickets at home. The park even offers this option with no service fees, unlike its web-based mail order ticket system. A recent review of the PKI website shows the e-Tickets to retail for $32.99, an approximate $10 savings off of tickets purchased at the park. This leads me to believe that perhaps the park is trying to reduce congestion and save some labor costs by minimizing the amount of tickets purchased at the park. I mention the e-Ticket system as Jerry has an e-ticket. I can report that the admission process is seamless and that the e-Ticket printouts go through the ticket scanner just as easily as regular tickets and passes. Once inside the park we try to dodge an ambush by the Keyhole Photo staff. I mean really once you express that you have no interest in a front gate photo, why won't these people leave you alone. We head to our first ride of the day, Delirium, which is a Huss Giant Frisbee. As we approach the ride I note that the park has added not one but two tests seats next to the entrance. I find it curious that the park places test seats on rides that I, a larger rider have no trouble with, but does not offer test teats on rides which I do struggle to ride. We enter the Delirium queue, and quickly have to dodge a group of school age kids backtracking there way out of the queue whining about a two-hour wait. Now I have ridden Delirium several times this year, and thus know that the queue house for the ride can't contain a two-hour queue. I estimated about a 4 cycle wait, thus the ride would have to break down for half an hour after each ride for the dreaded two hour wait comment to come true. The line started just at the end of the covered section where the queue passes under the ride path, and only one of the three queue house switchbacks were open. Past experience has taught me that the ride clears one of the switchbacks in two cycles. With only 1 in use I could safely estimate a 3-4 cycle wait, which is what happened. Soon enough we were boarding the ride carefully following our leader and not skipping any seats. What more can I say about Delirium that I have not already said in past trip reports. It's fast, its intense, it’s a crowd pleaser, its got strange interesting forces. All in all it’s a great flat ride. From Delirium we next headed to look at the queue for Face/Off. We were delighted to find the queue only stretched back to the yellow canvas tunnel under the vertical loop. We waited the extra time for an end seat, choosing the seat at the midway end. I noted the station to contain several coaster statistic signs, I was hoping that these would be a common feature on all the coasters, but I suppose they are just a Math and Science day holdover. Our time to ride came, and we experienced a smooth ride on a Vekoma coaster. Someone pinch me I must be dreaming. So smooth it didn't seem quite as intense as it used to be, maybe I am building some tolerance to it. Face/Off is the parks Vekoma Invertigo, a much more successful take on inverted Boomerang coaster than the lawn ornaments the Six Flags chain purchased. From Face/Off we proceeded to Drop Zone, while noting that Congo Falls would be closed today. Drop Zone was also using only one switchback in its queue house. So after a relatively short wait I was soon finding Seat 24. As you may recall from my last visit, I have a real struggle getting myself into this ride, primarily due to the seat belt design. On opening day, in order to ride this I had to have a ride operator shove hard on the shoulder bar, and then the seatbelt still just made it into the receptacle by millimeters, and the belt was very taut. Today, as soon as I sat down I lowered the shoulder bar and noticed that the seatbelts had been replaced. The older belts had automotive style buckles, while the new ones have the Intamin styte buckles. This IS an improvement for me as I am now able to lower the OTSR and get the belt fastened all by myself. Soon we were spiraling our way up the tower, took the customary look to learn the parking lot was very empty, then rose straight to the top, paused for a few moments dramatic pause, then came freefalling back to earth. Wow, what a rush, and even some air. At the end of the ride I discover I have a new problem. Yes I know that to release the buckles you push both metal tabs down, and I have no problem doing that on Millennium Force, yet here since the belt is tight, that means more pressure must be placed on the release tabs. After a stronger than me person, or merely a person with better leverage arrived they were able to release my belt. Geez, I used to not be able to self-load, now I can't seem to self-unload. After Drop Zone, we headed back towards Son of Beast, but on the way I noticed something unusual at the EXtreme Skyflyer. The park is apparently trying a new pricing scheme. This year the pricing structure seems really simple "$10 per Flyer". Jerry and I approached the ticket booth and found this to be the case. Gone is the reservation system and souvenir tickets. Now you hand over your $10 and your cash register receipt is the ticket. We head over to see no line at the gate, and are soon admitted to the harness shelter. After being properly harnessed and given the safety lecture, we proceed to the line for the ride. The new pricing structure has put the ride in the price range of those who would not pay the previous high prices, it also causes a steady flow of riders, and a disproportionate number of solo flights. Interesting dynamics, but I am sure in the end the steady stream of flyers will prove more financially sound than the stop-and-go trickle the park seemed to have in past years. After watching three flights we were invited to the rising platform. This would be Jerry's 27th Skycoaster ride, and my 8th. Platofrm going up, yada yada, flyers switch places, yada yada, lock arms, yada yada, you will fall forward, yada, yada, Beaners, Ripcord ready to fly. Not much longer we were making our way up to the 153' launch tower. This time we elected Jerry to pull the cord, as I had done the dirty deed the last time we flew together (the 300' model at Old Town). My last Skycoaster ride was the 100' toy skycoaster at Extreme World. Since Jerry was pulling, this meant I could have the demented fun of not knowing quite when you would be making a high dive. The more I ride Skycoaster the less the dive gets to me, let alone, the swing action which seems to get mundane. I mean my first Skycoaster ride I was screaming bloody murser, life in slow motion, life passing before eyes, I'm gonna die screaming. Maybe it was just a bad idea to ride Skycoaster right after the 300' Drop Zone. That is not to say we didn't have an interesting ride. At the end of the ride, it is my opinion that the crew raised the landing pole up to us too soon. Jerry grabbed the big loop, then I grabbed it which put us in a tailspin, so now you have us spinning, the landing cable did nothing to slow us down, we dropped it upon command, swung some more time while spinning until the operators grabbed hold of our legs to finally get us stopped. Hey another spin ride at PKI! We then got un-harnessed, declined to watch our on-ride video, and headed to the water fountains. It seems that Skycoaster's make me thirsty. I have heard this referred to as the human burrito effect as the flight suit gets pretty hot feeling inside. Properly watered, we continued onto Son of Beast. You may recall for my most recent report that I mentioned that unless changes were made I would not ride this ride again. Today the reason for my ride was that the new passenger restraint system was installed in one of the trains. The line was not too bad, just barely reaching outside the station, but with the one train operation it still took about 40 minutes. It was not all bad as we could watch the mechanics on the transfer table replacing the lap bars in the other train. While in the SOB line, we had a group ask me if I knew what time it was, I gave the Dave Althoff, Jr answer of <user looks at watch> "Yes!". Imagine my reaction when I was referred to as being rude, even though I answered their question. Anyway, sooner or later we were in line for seat 5.2, a non-wheel seat, and not in the back car. I commented to Jerry that if I see the old lap bars in the train I was walking through without riding. Jerry commented that that was not very sportsmanlike and took steps to prevent a ride walk-through. The train did arrive, and it did have the new lap bars. Not that much difference, they seem to have taken the same path as Gerstlauer by making the lap bar uprights flat iron instead of rounded tubing. The extra room they gave they took away with extra padding on the lapbar uprights. The floor has not changed at all. The end result is that I was pinned in and not able to move my legs at all. The good news is that now instead of being pressed into bare steel, they were at least buried in soft padding. What I noticed is that I did not get my legs beat up the way I did last ride. The ride has risen from "Positively Pathetic" to "Merely Mediocre" Still a big waste. From Son of Beast, we noted Top Gun to be closed as expected, and made our way to Oktoberfest where both Viking Fury and Adventure Express were closed, but that inane CyberSez thing was open. I did note that the Bubba Gump building seemed to be coming along nicely. We entered Coney Mall and took an almost no wait, 2 train ride on Racer. Only the forwards side was open, and it was trying but not having much luck at delivering slight hints of airtime. After Racer, we noted the Monster was closed, and proceeded to Flight of Fear. The queue was just back to the door to Hangar 18, but none of the extra queue maze was in use. With two trains it was not a bad wait, and soon we were waiting to board the back seat of the Flight of Fear train. I did note that the loose articles are getting out of hand on this ride. I mean if someone made me Grand Poobah Over Rides at PKI I would be installing lockers outside the Flight of Fear building and NO loose articles go into the FoF building. If you get all the way to the ride platform, well guess what you get to go right outside and wait in line again after securing your items, for not following my royal edict. Then again I would also ban backpacks from going past the metal detection security point, so maybe it’s a good thing I am merely a park guest. We soon boarded the ride, and while I thought I had the buckle complexly over the latch it would not lock. The ride operator was able to recite some magical spell which caused the seatbelt to fasten. A spell that did not involve further tightening of my lap bar. Flight of Fear is one of the parks great success stories. The park managed to take a near unrideable piece of crap from Premier and after six years, turn it into one of the best coasters in the park. Which means we have 3 more years until they get SOB to actually perform like it should. A fast fun intense Flight of Fear ride ensued. I was so happy to have only the lapbars, after being recently reminded on Speed: The Ride, how awful those OTSR's were. After that fine Flight of Fear ride, I showed Jerry the new on ride photos they are selling this year, the ones where you ride with the aliens. We then exited Fort Cooper where I noticed this faux military installation is still not flying its flags. We then passed by a closed Wave Swinger, I showed Jerry a burgee that looks quite like one I purchased for home use. It’s a very distinctive burgee. At least two just like it can be found at PKI. One in the plaza in front of the Skeeball building, the other in front of the convenience store on International Street. For those wondering what a burgee is, I guess you are going to have to look at the footnote to this TR. I mentioned to Jerry that Spongebob in 3D is open. Jerry showed no interest in experiencing that attraction, so we bypassed it and rode Vortex instead. Vortex was nearly a walk on, and we walked on to the rear seat. The one with a great airtime moment on the first drop. Having recently ridden Canyon Blaster at the Adventuredome really pointed out to me how rough this ride is. Vortex is a fine ride through the vertical loops and up to the mid course brakes, then the ride runs quite rough, and frankly slower than it should. We finished our ride on Vortex, and decided the line for Flying Eagles was a bit too long. We headed on down to Beast. Beast was another near walk on. Oh it had a line, but the line was more of a walk through the long mostly disused queue area. We took a back seat ride on Beast. Poor ride, it has a great coaster inside waiting to come out, but now its just overbraked and not really that much fun. It does have a redeeming feature in the final helix is just a wild and out of control as ever. We rode The Beast, then headed down to Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider is one of those attractions I don't have much of a queue tolerance for. When I noted the line for Tomb Raider was inside the tomb, we joined the line. The park still has not put a gate in the final switchback of the queue house, which means that Tomb Raider riders have a choice between gymnastics or aerobic exercise to ride Tomb Raider. Most choose the gymnastics. Tomb Raider is a ride that has lockers out front, has a posted no loose articles policy, has a person out front supposedly checking and yet a lot of loose articles make their way into the building. Somehow I don't think bouncing basketballs were intended as part of the theming package. (In my Grand Poobah mode the pouches on the ride, and the loose article storage room would be removed and a zero tolerance "no loose itmes" policy would be enacted. Besides speeding up loading, it would increase locker revenue. By providing guests with a free way of storing their junk, the park is loosing out on some easy revenue.) After a bit of a wait, we eventually make it into the pre-show room. At first I thought the pre-show movie had been abandoned, but later realized that it must start exactly when the ride starts (or hits a certain point in its cycle) so that the movie ends just as the automatic doors into the ride area open and the ride is ready to be loaded. We take our seats and even though I am in the middle row, I notice my OTSR is positively drenched. "I have a bad feeling about this" The ride starts, and I do think it flips more than it ever has, and as expected in the way-longer-than-it-needs-to-be lava scene I got a good dousing of ice cold lava. We proceeded to take a walking tour of Rivertown, then entered the Nickelodeon area. We took a walk on ride of Reptar in the back row. I think the back row of Reptar provides a very good ride for a family coaster. We then passed Ghoster Coaster which was down for some reason. We decided to skip Beastie: The Kiddie Woodie With A Trim Brake, and instead headed directly to Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. To my amazement Haunted Castle was so haunted that it didn't seem to have many riders. Upon entering the indoor queue area I see the problem I predicted did develop. The indoor queue area for Scooby is not adjustable, All riders must go through all switchbacks. Really, with this size crowd they should have directed all guests through the "Walk on Wednesday" entrance. Instead they would rather have guests pole vaulting the queue rails. I did note that an emergency chain was dropped in the queue area which helped somewhat, except there is no gate by the final turn in the queue, so you still have to jump at least one rail. Soon, we were boarding a dark ride car. I had my worst ever Scooby Ride in terms of score, worse yet Jerry beat me. I guess that's fair I was able to outscore him on his local Sally dark ride. One of these days I will actually try to figure out the story line. That might take me getting a car with a busted Fright Light however. Upon exiting Scooby, I realized we finished a lap of the park. I thought about heading to the cooler in the car for cold drinks, but with less than two hours of park operation left, that would have just been too time consuming. We started a second lap with a second Delirium ride, this time with a slightly shorter queue, and through some odd coincidence got exactly the same seats we had earlier, we then took another ride on Drop Zone. This time Drop Zone was a walk on, we rode, and I managed to have seat belt release problems again. From Drop Zone we saw that Face/Off was a total walk on. We walked over to Face/Off and took two walk on rides, one in each end seat. I think the end seat near the control booth is more intense than the one at the midway end. We then decided to try to get one more Flight of Fear ride. We arrived at Flight of Fear to find the ride closed early, but we did take rides both on the Backwards Racer, which was now open, as well as the Monster. I did not get anywhere near an acceptable amount of spin action on Monster. At the conclusion of the Monster ride Jerry did set foot in the Video Arcade. We proceeded to the back of the park, snagged another ride on Vortex, then took two rides on Flying Eagles. My first ride was really a warm up ride and I just got a couple minor snaps. My second ride I was really in the Zone and had a very turbulent flight. I love it. Graceful soaring Eagle theme, yeah right. We finished me the night with two rides on Beast, One in the back seat, another in seat three. After that we took the walk up to the front gate, gathered some souvenir park maps, headed out to our car, grabbed a dinner at Steak N Shake, then went to the Dave's Dominion Resort Hotel. Tomorrow we would start with Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Footnote to this TR: A Burgee is a type of twin-tailed pennant. The State of Ohio uses one as its State flag.

Trip Report: Paramount’s Kings Island April 27, 2003 Mason, OH “And so it was written, “The crowds will arrive at noonâ€â€ Today, I made my third trip to PKI this year, [Footnote 1] as such I will try not to be as verbose as last time, but make no promises. Today, I had arranged transportation to the park with Rideman Park Transit. Mr. Althoff arrives shortly after 9, we exchanged pleasantries, then headed up to the park. While discussing the various details of the off-season and the upcoming season, I asked if he thought the park would be crowded. Dave indicated that the park would probably get crowded around noon. A bit later we arrived at the park, and using the free parking pass that was issued to renewing season pass holders, we entered the park, and located a premium parking space that did not have any restrictions, or extra fees, attached. It took a few minutes to carefully stow away any metal objects. (Bulky key rings, the Cross Pen I didn’t realize I brought with me, and other items you would rather not loose to the rides.) After a few false starts, we headed up to the metal detectors. Since my last visit the park has finished up the security fencing separating the secure from non-secure zones, including the exit gates, which are opened at the end of the park day. They made just one mistake. When they added fencing between the metal detectors, they moved the tables further back into the secure zone. On opening weekend it was easy to place your camera into the red plastic bowl then walk through the detector. Now the table is pushed sufficiently back that you have to HAND your items to the attendant. Are we the only people a little worried about trying to support the weight of bulky video cameras in little red bowls, being held onto by the attendant with one hand? Also, while the park installed 24 metal detectors at the front gate, only a small handful of those were actually in use today. Fortunately there was not a major build up, maybe a half dozen people in each lane. While waiting in line to go through the checkpoint, Dave let out a laugh, and I of course inquired what was so funny. Dave mentioned that I should look closely at the belt barriers as I had probably seen them before. I looked at the logo on the belt, and it read “Aeroporte De Roma†(Airport of Rome), and it is quite true that did travel via the Airport of Rome, Italy less than 18 months ago. Eventually, we enter the park, where we realize that we have missed the walk back. Not to worry, we start to head up International Street where we are greeted by the Keyhole Camera Crew. (Gee, what a surprise) In recent years, a cute little bit of turnaround-is-fair-play has erupted as Keyhole Photo people who ask “Will you stop for a quick photo?†find themselves on the business end of a camera. That was cute or awhile, I have now taken the tact of just pretending like the Keyhole Photo people don’t even exist. So as I walk down International Street, Dave is taking the former approach. We regroup and find John and Carrie not too far down the street. From them we learn that Brad has joined the walk back, and that they would like to go ride Delirium. Fine, we reverse directions, double back through the front gate plaza, and start towards the Action Zone where we have to do battle with another army of Keyhole Photo people. Man they are annoying. Proving how indecisive we are, we spot the large group of guests gathered at the Action Zone rope, and decide to move away from the action, to something that we can have some fun on until the crowds work their way around to it. Something like the Flying Eagles. So again we double back, and this time we purposely contradicted natural human behavior and walk up the left side of International Street. [Footnote 2]. This is, of course, to avoid another Keyhole Photo Ambush. We walked up International Street, circled around the Freedom Tower, and headed down the hill to find a much smaller group assembled at the rope by the Antique Cars. This left us a choice it is pretty much equi-distant to get to the Flying Eagles by walking left or right, so we choice the less popular left hand turn, and headed to the Flying Eagles. Let’s face it, there are not that many people who enter an amusement park, and immediately race to ride the Flying Skooters. We arrived in time to have a private ride before the rest of the people arrived. The classic Bisch-Rocco ride needs no introduction in enthusiast’s circles, except to say that the ride at PKI is highly regarded. The Flying Eagles, as one may suspect, is a patriotic themed ride, with a sky blue center, with red, white and blue lights. The ride tubs are also sky blue, with a big Eagle’s head on the front, and red/white/blue accents. The ride has had this theme since at least 1976, when it was rethemed into the “Spirit of’76†for the nation’s bicentennial. A question for park historians would be as to what the ride looked like prior to 1976. I have a reproduction postcard from Coney Island, which shows the Flying Skooters with a drastically different paint job. As I recall the Eagle, I am reminded of a graceful, majestic bird, soaring proudly high in the sky. My temporary moment of meditation is disrupted when I look at the pilot’s who have climbed aboard these Eagles, myself included. I realize that the flight patterns of these eagles is going to be anything but smooth, graceful and majestic. Okay, maybe the unoccupied eagles will be graceful and majestic. The ride started, and as expected very turbulent flights were the rule. We rode a couple times, then Brad caught up with us, then we rode several more times, for almost an hour. We then decided that perhaps we should try some of the parks other rides. We headed for The Vortex, and with a very minimal wait, found ourselves in the back car. Vortex is running just a bit rougher than it used to, but it does contain the “Back Seat Float: on the first drop. We exited the ride and after a brief delay, headed to Flight of Fear. Flight of Fear received some minor changes this year. As you probably know, the story line of this themed attraction involves a visit to Ft. Cooper of the Bureau of Paranormal Activity where a UFO has allegedly been secretly taken for further investigation. Your role is that of a press reporter whose experience starts with walking from the gates of this installation, across a courtyard and to a press briefing tent, which happens to be next to a real live helipad [Footnote 3]. You then enter a dark mysterious hallway which leads into the hangar containing the UFO. A pre-show sets the stage, and after making your way through the hangar you climb into the UFO, tour a couple rooms, and through some twist of fate find yourself strapped into some type of spacecraft which is launched from the UFO on a dizzying trip through the cosmos, I want to say almost to the Outer Limits. Your spacecraft lands safely in another part of Ft. Cooper where you carefully make your way down a windy hallway outside to the courtyard, where there is a booth selling on-ride photos. Now for the changes. The most drastic change is in the on ride photos. It seems through the magic of digital photography, no matter where you sit in the train, your picture will show you in the front seat. The back seat riders have been replaced by aliens. It’s a reel cool effect, too bad the photos of the human riders did not turn out well enough to warrant purchasing a copy. Not the camera systems fault, we just did not take a good photo. Another change is a new announcement in the courtyard, a safety announcement “Please follow the instructions of base personnel†cleverly disguised as a message from Major Trenton. I also think there are a few more different color lights in the big room, and the UFO rumble has returned. All in all, the park has managed to take was really a nearly unrideable mess and has transformed it to an outstanding fun coaster. I can’t stress enough how much more fun this ride is with the lap bars. Just one small minor nitpick. This may be the only domestic ‘military installation’ whose main flagpoles at the main access point stand unused, particularly on a bright sunny day. We won’t get into the special intruder-friendly barbed wire they have. We exited Ft. Cooper, headed down the main midway some more, and decided to leave The Racer for later. We looked over the progress at Bubba Gump, looked at the suckers playing Cyber Sez (Wow, somebody actually is playing it), and headed for Adventure Express. Adventure Express is the parks mine ride. Not much of a wait here, and oddly enough the seats with the longest lines were in the middle. We took seats near the back, and proceeded on our train ride to doom. It’s a fast fun mine ride with some interesting lateral forces. I hope theming enhancements go beyond turning the volume knob for the “Creaking Timbers Lift Hill†up several decibles. After returning safely from out Adventure, we decided to head out t the car to drop jackets, unwanted electronic gear, loose other undesireables, and get a soft drink. We headed to the quickly but carefully to the exit gate, got a big old sploth a green goo [Footnote 4] on our hands, found the exit gate in the security barrier fence, and headed for the car. While at the car we notice the new paint job on the parking trams, then we notice a big river of cars pouring into the parking area. We look up at the big marquee clock, NOON. Dave reminds us that "The crowds will arrive at noon" We return a short time later after having enjoyed some cold drinks and other details. John and Carrioe spli off from us. We return to the metal detectors, get rescanned, and soon reenter the park through the reentry gate. We decide to head to Delirium. Seeing that Delirium has a full queue house, and backing up into the path, that Brad and I would have a sandwich while in line, while Dave went with a giant pretzel. The food prices at the Stunt Crew Grill are really excessive. Particularly when, as we later learned the same food items cost LESS at Preston T. Tuckers down in Coney Mall. For example I had the 1/3lb.Bacon Cheeseburger, with a menu price that I want to say is $5.39 or $5.69. The same sandwich at the Coney Mall eatery is only $4.39. The Coney Mall eatery offers to add fries and a soft drink for $3.00 more, Stunt Crew Grill did not. It’s one thing to get racked over the coals on an overpriced sandwich, it is yet another to find the same sandwich located elsewhere in the park for $1.00 cheaper. And no fries were not part of the deal at Stunt Crew Grill. I believe that since Stunt Crew Grill is located in a more popular part of the park, the park feels they can charge higher prices on the same food items. Anyway we enjoy our way overpriced sandwiches and join the Delirium line. The Delirium line extends just back to the soft drink machines, but with all the queues open in the queue house. About 20-30 minutes later we were to board. I may be confused but I thought I heard the operator say specifically to enter the ride area in a single file line, and to fill in each seat in turn starting with seat 50. Similar to what they do on Drop Zone. In reality what happens is the gate opens and some people race to preferred seats, others go straight to the loose article footlockers, and such that what should be a perfectly smooth loading patterns turns into a mess when groups now can’t sit together because someone else plunks themselves down in the wrong seat. I gently ran the bottom of my shoe against the metal flooring surface and while the surface is anti-skid, it will not be good on bare feet. Soon the Delirium ride starts, and for the 11th time, WOW. This ride is SO much fun, so intense, so delirious. Finally a fun flat ride that I’m sure will prove to be popular. I can’t say enough about the float time, the sudden changes of being face up to face down, the real odd sensations as you reach the top of the swings, the foot chopper effects. They really have a winner here. I noted they are still having some problems with the mechanical floor. We exit Delirium, and look around Action Zone. Face/Off and Drop Zone have long slow moving lines, so we head back to Top Gun. On the way to Top Gun, I noted a sign painted on the ticket shack for EXtreme Skyflyer (a Skycoaster adventure), that stated that it was only $10 per person. I don’t know if that was some sort of early bird special, or pre-season special, but at least for a while its only $10. Is this the first sign that the Skycoaster fad is nearing an end, or is it that most PKI guests are local and have already done it once, so the demand does not warrant $20 and $25 fees. Anyway, on to Top Gun where I notice some slight themeing changes in the tunnel. Top Gun is die for a ride theming overhaul. The line is practically non-existent, so we head to the back seat, enjoy a fast, and intense ride on an Arrow Suspended. Top Gun is one of the greater Arrow Suspended coasters but it is so short. We compensated for it by taking two rides. The hinge like pivot that allows the car to swing out to the sides was making some ‘nails-on-blackboard’ noises, but nothing like a couple years back on opening day. We were then exiting Top Gun, when we noticed that Son of Beast was running two trains. This was not to be expected as we thought the second train was receiving some modifications which would sideline it till June. We went to investigate. Upon walking up the exit ramp, we can see that they have two trains on, that the trains seem to have all the thematic decals on them, and unfortunately that they still have the same lap bar. Based on our rides earlier in the season, neither of us were eager to ride Son of Beast, so we skipped it, and wound up heading toward Scooby Doo instead. We arrive at the Haunted Castle, and immediately notice that the park has started to reduce congestion in this part of the midway. On the ride side of the midway a separate "Stroller Parking" area has been established and today it was crammed full of strollers. Less strollers cramming the midway, This is PKI so expect the parking meters to be installed for next week. This doesn't entirely eliminate the big traffic jam. The key problem is that exiting riders are expected to walk through the line of guests waiting to ride, then cross the midway jammed with people going to or from the kids area to get to the on ride photo booth on the other side of the walkway. The on ride photo booth itself does not help by having rope barriers that narrow the already jammed midway even more. Shame such an easy fix. To be real cheap about it all they had to do was route the queue towards the apparently unused Enchanted Theater, down towards the old theater waiting area, and have so forth. We'll see how bad this traffic jam gets on a busy Saturday in the middle of the summer. So we wait for about 45 minutes to ride Scooby. I notice the wallpaper is already peeling off (not entirely on its own, sad to say) and in the queue house it seems either people were talking louder or the volume was turned down lower. Pleasing level, then we made our way to the ride vehicle. It seems the park is unlocking the lap bar sooner than they were two weeks ago, making it a lot easier to change riders. Now it is fair to say that all three of us are competitive, and It also seems that Brad and Dave conspired to put me in the middle of the car. Let me go on record to say the middle seat is the worst. The two end riders have a big advantage in that as the car pivots and rotates they get first access to all the scenes, especially if they are leaning forward in the seat shooting targets in the scene ahead of and/or behind the car. I considered myself fortunate to eek out 840 in the center seat (still off the chart), but Dave got 1230, and Stormtrooper Brad got 1800 after claiming his gun did not work. Stormtrooper Brad goes psycho in that ride moving and shooting the gun at demented robot speed. We also agreed that for some reason the targets in the Great Hall are a lot harder to score than all the other scenes. I noticed one subtle change in the ride, maybe it was planned all along, but they have added a sign right where it takes your on ride photo to "Aim Fright Lights Here" Could this be in response to people taking on-ride-photos with guns pointed at each other (specifically heads) or suicide poses. They also have a pop up stunt at the right before the camera flashes. Having ridden Scooby, we then go and ride the original Scooby Doo, now known as The Beastie. The line is manageable, with two trains running. We thought we were all lined up but managed getting split up anyway. I noticed a hint of air on the drop off the second turn, but the brake on the third turn killed the fun. We exit the ride, have a couple words with Dan as we pass the on-ride photo booth, then proceed toward Reptar. Reptar was valleyed on my last visit, so this would be my first ride of the year. After about a 15 minute wait, we get into the way to small and cramped station, where due to its inherent problems we eek out the shortest lines, which are for the front two rows. A lot of safety warnings have been added to the ride about not extending your legs out to touch the seatback in front of you. I'm sure there is a story behind that somewhere. Seatback decals, lift hill sign, recorded announcement, they really want to get the point across. We had a short but fun ride on Reptar. Now that we have seen the Spongebob movie in the Action FX Theatre, we now know what the Krusty Krab is supposed to be. We walk up to the booth, and are surprised to learn we can have a hot dog, but no Kraby Patties. Brad tries to order one anyway, and is informed the booth sold the last one 10 minutes ago. Shucks. Still, the park, I think, is missing a great marketing synergy tie in by not having kiddie hamburgers with a pickle, called a Kraby Pattie at this stand. We leave that food stand, and head to Huckleberry Dairy where we have Smurfcones. We were still very clear to order them by the name Smurfcone, even if we did have to clue the attendant in that we wanted the blue ice cream. We enjoy our Smurf Ice Cream (is it made with real Smurfs?) then head into Rivertown. We walk past the water attractions (hey the electronic marquee had just told us its only 58 degrees out, funny it seems a lot warmer), we walked past Wings, and got to lower Rivertown just as the train arrived. We were not particularly interested in the train ride but noticed something odd. PKI has two trains, traditionally the blue engine runs with the red cars, and the green engine runs with the green cars. Today they had the blue engine pulling the green cars. We explored further and came to Tomb Raider. We explored the line for Tomb Raider and decided not to wait. TR:TR is one of those rides with a real slow stop and start type line that is just not a pleasant thing to wait in. Which brought us around to The Beast. We entered the old Beast entrance and noted the new extremely tacky, hideous looking Gold Pass Walk on Wednesday entrance. Did I mention this thing looked hideous? Not only does it block off access to the square seat walls, it just looks plain wrong. I suspect further that it may cause a fire hazard in that it effectively cuts off the emergency exit by the height check stand. The emergency exit in Queue House 1 has been padlocked shut for years, and is even labeled "Not an Exit". Even if they hop the rail, or have the presence of mind in a panic situation to open the gate between the new queue and the old queue, which you have to open TOWARDS you or it will block the new exit path, you go up a short ramp and then either have to jump the chain link fence or walk all the way around the (potentially burning) wooden building to get to an exit. The emergency exits in queue areas 2 and 3 are still intact. May God never let that old drinks stand in the middle of the queue area or Queue House 1 catch fire as I predict the lack of clear useable emergency exits will cause needless deaths. Does this city learn NOTHING from the Beverly Hills Supper Club, do they learn NOTHING from the Station in Rhode Island. (In case you hadn't figured out proper emergency exits are a big pet peeve of mine) We won't get into the Scooby exit doors that do not have crash bars on them. Look at White Water Canyon as another queue whose "Fire Evacuation Plan" must include "Pray to God Security gets there with a key on time" How does the park get away with padlocked emergency exits. Okay, I'm done ranting for now. We thankfully survive the fire trap of a queue area, and after about a 30-40 minute wait get on Beast. Beast is running about the same as last time, which is to say still way overbraked. The second and third trim brakes are set so hard they pitch front car riders up towards the headrest. The only part of this ride that runs remotely like it is supposed to is the final helix. We exit Beast and head up into Coney. Once in Coney, we turn down a long looking Flying Eagles queue, and instead ride the "Troika Troika Troika" (Look at the sign for a similar ride up at Cedar Point sometime) The Troika is another flat ride at PKI that gives a fun ride. While waiting for the Troika there was some disagreement on which way the center turret should rotate. I'll leave it to those with video replay to give a final ruling. We walk all the way to other end of Racer. For sake of brevity lets just say that while some minor air exits, its nothing like this ride is capable of, as evidenced by rides in the mid 1980's.. First we rode the forwards track, exited through was looked like a park security convention, then rode the backwards track. I must say the backwards side runs a lot smoother than the forwards side. After Racer we take a closer look at the Bubba Gump construction. There is a sign telling you where the next closest major food stand is. Unfortunately there is no sign telling you where to find Brats, Metts, or any other food remotely German. Let me get this straight, there is NO German food in a big German themed section of the park. What is wrong with this picture? We then leave Oktoberfest and decide to ride to the top of a French inspired tower, this scale model designed by the Swiss, and probably built by Americans in an American theme park. No wonder its called International Street. We ride to the top of the Freedom Tower. I had taken a lot of photos up here last time, so I merely went to enjoy the view. We talked a lot about how the park looked aesthetically. Take for instance, Royal Fountain. Royal Fountain has been lovingly restored and looks so good you would swear it was 1972 again. The International Showplace has received a fresh coat of Freedom Tower Green paint. The covered up stage has been revealed, and it looks like the work was primarily of a restorative nature. Dave went on to point out that the buildings the were original to the park have intricate roofs. It seems that the original structures were planned with the Freedeom Tower in mind, so they had to look good from way up high. This does not seem to be a concern with the newer structures. According to 1981 photographs, the roof of the Dark Ride building even had a Compass Rose painted on it one time for the benefit of people on top of Tower. The park looks a lot better from up high now than it has in a while, but there is still a ways to go. We exited the tower, again with the same tower operator who has a delightful sense of humour, and proceeded to Preston T. Tuckers for ice water. It was here that I noticed the price discrepancies that I talked about earlier. We then took one more spin on Vortex, then took several more spins on the Flying Eagles. Great Aerial fun. Towards close, we thought we would snag one more Delirium ride, but alas the ride had decided to go to bed early for the night. It is always wise to expect new riders to behave somewhat erratically for a little while, as they become used to carrying full loads of riders day in and day out. We then exited the park. PKI has taken further steps to alleviate the traffic jam at the exit. On the first week everybody had to exit out a real tiny opening to the side of the metal detector area. While those gated exits still exist, now a much wider opening has been created. Big signs have been posted pointing you to the exits, and now they let you walk out through the disused metal detectors. They look pretty solid, and I'm sure it won't hurt matters to give people 24 more exit lanes. As I left I noticed something I had not seen since the Vatican Museum in Vatican City. These metal detectors have a string of LED lights down the side that claim to be able to locate where on the subjects body the metal is. Great idea, I wonder why I haven't seen the airports go to this level of sophistication. We then exit the parking lot, and have nice leisurely coaster fanatic banquet at the Outback. [1] Including the Delirium Photo Shoot, on April 4th, which I did not write a TR for. [2] Natural human behavior is to keep right, or walk down the right side of International Street. The parks original planners considered this, and therefore located the will-call window, the information booth, the original ATM the restrooms, the convenience corner, what used to be the camera rental and film shop, and the bakery as you kept to the right as you entered the gate. As you left the park, you first pass the Funnel Cakes Stand, the park’s super-duper major gift shops, the stroller return, and the lockers as you proceeded out of the park on the opposite side of the street. Textbook Disney planning, based on engrained human behavior to “Keep Right†Which makes me wonder if amusement venues in England are optimized for guests to “Keep Leftâ€. It should be noted that Disney then tried to even crowd distribution by the infamous “Left Lane Theory†where they printed in all the official guide books the “Insider Secret†that “Given a choice, most people will go right, so go left to find shorter waits and less crowds†The park was so successful with this PR move, that Disney’s traffic patterns have reversed, and its seems to be a good idea to go right at a Disney park now. [3] For the parks helicopter tour attraction. [4] The re-entry hand stamp – The park uses the so-called ‘magic ink’ that is supposed to be visible for a short time (if at all) when you first get it, disappear completely, then can only reappear through the help of ultraviolet light. PKI uses a variant of the ink, which can still be seen by the naked eye hours after its application. My sneaking suspicion is that this is in response to guests who either do not think they really got stamped or are afraid the stamp would wash off.

I ate at "Mandarin Chineese" on April 12th. (Around 1:30 if anybody really cares) Atmosphere is wonderful, but I do wish them more customers. I had the General Tso chicken, which was not quite like the General Tso chicken I get at my favorite Chinnese place, the Blue Gibbon. The food at the PKI restaurant is about on par with a shopping mall food court orinental restaurant. However, the value for price is actually pretty good. I had General Tso Chicken, with a brocoli garnish, a generous heaping of Fried Rice, an eggroll, and a fortune cookie for about $6.50, the massively overpriced soft drink brigs the total check to just shy of $10. (To compare the lunch price of General Tso at the Blue Gibbon, which would include the General Tso Chicken, premium vegetables, fried rice, and a cup of soup is $5.50, so the price markup is not that bad.)

Places Sprite Remix has been seen in the park: 1) First vending machine in Beast queue 2) First vending machine in Delirium queue 2) Vending machine closest to Face/Off 4) The Action Zone Dippin Dots stand. (This one is tricky as on 4/12 they did not have a sample bottle sitting on top of the stand, like most carts do. However if you asked the employee for a Remix, they opened up one of the three large Coke refrigerators and got one out. Kinda like a secret product. )

I wonder how long it will be until they update the "Score Table" at the end of the ride. As it was opening day weekend, anything over 800 is off the charts. Perhaps the score ranges are that way for the younger riders. I will admit, on this ride wheelchair riders are your best friends. Unfortuantely you can't see the exit ramp to judge when to board. The reason they are your firends isif you can get a lot of them to require loading/unloading during your ride, you will move through the attraction significantly slower, which allows you more time to score, and rescore the same targets, not to mention allows you to aim better. So far I have had three trips: 810, 1110, and 1650. (1110 with two in the car, and 1650 with three in the car, but with one nice slow spell) 810 was my first ride, a solo ride, so I was getting used to how the weapon handles, not to mention trying to see the ride. With that said, I guess not all the Sally Dark Rides operate on "Indiana Beach Rules" At Indiana Beach, once a target is hit, it is unavailable and does not reset until your car passes. Another difference is I haven't found any high scoring bonus items in Scooby. On the Den of Lost Thieves (Indiana Beach) certain targets will spin around once hit to reveal a gold bag, you then have a very short time frame to hit the target on the gold bag, which causes it to spin back around. On DoLT regular targets are 10, and the gold bag bonuses are 50. I was expecting the Scooby Snack boxes to work the same way, and was surprised not to find a target on Scooby when he pops up. I would not recommend light up lasersas that would be too distracting, and perhaps make it too easy. I WOULD like some type of sight or aim on the Fright Light.

Since it appears I am the only one here who has first hand experience with Sprite Remix...... Sprite Remix is more than just cherry syrup added to Sprite,it tastes more like a fruit punch. A friend commented that it tasted like drinking a roll of Life Savers, that it seems to change flavors as you drink it. I thought it was more like a clear Hawaiian Punch. Yes, you heard right clear, like sprite. None of this pink stuff like Cherry 7 Up, which, if I remember my bar days correctly is the color you would get if you mixed grenadine and Sprite, as earlier suggested. (Also the same color if you mix Absolute Citron, Sprite, and Grenedine, but I would not know how I know that..... )

Now the line I've always said is: "This is a family park, not a park for making families!" That was the original quote I changed around a little bit, has the same effect.

Preface: Ah, spring has finally sprung, amusement parks are open, and David gets to write his first Trip Report in almost half a year. Hopefully this will be bit shorter than the infamous Minnesota State Fair trip report, but no promises. As a word of caution, Kings Island did install a new dark ride this year, and so this report probably contains intensive spoiler information on the dark ride, as well as other new arrivals at Kings Island. Proceed at your own peril. You have been warned. Trip Report: Paramount's Kings Island Mason, OH (as stated in the new PKI guide book) April 12, 2003 "It's Opening Day!" It's not often I explain the tag line up front, but Opening Day carries with it not only that great reprieve from months of amusement park deprived life, but it also brings "Opening Day Jitters" That time when new amusement park employees are going beyond the theoretical manuals and role playing sessions and dealing with what happens when those people known as park guests descend upon them in droves. With that in mind this report will contain some praise for PKI, as well as some criticism. As a trip report this document contains opinions (both positive and negative), frank comments, suggestions, praise, complaints, and humor, which may be satirical in nature. With all that out of the way, on with the report: The day found me arriving at PKI early, in fact I arrived at the park around 8:40, just as the toll plaza was opening. My main purpose for arriving early was to take advantage of the Gold Season Pass ERT session. Today's ERT session was to be held in the Action Zone, and considering the number of attraction one could conquer before the general public was admitted, it was a very worthwhile endeavor. Soon I made my way to the front gate, where I did not notice anything on the ride closings board, but I did notice the much talked about Metal Detection Area. The metal screening area has dozens of metal detectors all in a line under a blue canvas top, slightly behind the detectors are tables for inspecting bags, and a second line of staff wielding hand held metal detection wands. In other words, if you have been to an airport, you know what you are in for. Due to the sheet number of entrance lanes, I did not notice any appreciable delay passing through security. It should also come as no surprise that a lot of the coaster enthusiast crowd were at the heads of the lines. The metal detection area opens at 8:50 and I can already see a potential bottleneck. For those familiar with PKI, the metal detectors are places along the outer edge of the brick veranda in front of the ticket booths, add in room for the lines to be screened, the detectors, and the bag check tables, and I have concerns with how the traffic pattern is going to be once you add ticket lines into the equation, which will back up into the area where the security staff are trying to perform their function and keep a secure zone. Add to this the season pass guests who formerly could bypass the ticket cages by approaching the gate from either side must now enter through the middle, and pass between the ticket cage lines. The two far sides are now officially park exits. So we passed through the detectors and then did a hurry-up-and-wait where we advanced to the entrance turnstiles. Here we waited it out till 9:00 and entered the park. With the Gold Pass ERT in Action Zone, most of the crowd headed straight for the Action Zone and totally ignoring the Keyhole Photo staff's requests to "stop for a quick photo" Soon we entered the Gold Pass gate and found myself in a very deserted Action Zone. Having not seen Face/Off run yet, I headed directly across the plaza to Drop Zone where I could see a crew eagerly awaiting riders. Upon approaching Drop Zone I noticed the temporary queue that was in front of the tower has been replaced by a more permanent one. I also noticed that there is some working afoot that look suspiciously like a queue management system taking root. Specifically there is a second queue that runs closer to the ride and goes directly to the ride instead of through the unshaded and shaded queue areas. With absolutely nobody in line, we would not need a queue management system right now, and in fact I was the second rider of the day onto Drop Zone. After some rider balancing took place, we lowered the OTSR's and I learned that I have not lost any bulk. In fact, with a jacket and t-shirt on, I had no chance of fastening the belt unassisted. Luckily this is not Cedar Fair, and with a little operator assistance I was securely (and snuggly) fastened into the ride, Hey I will take snug over no ride at all. Soon we were being slowly raised, and yes slowly rotated as we climbed the 310' tower. Once up at the top, I noticed the big dirt pile behind Delirium, and the nice tranquil park scene in front of me. Oh, that lasted about 7 seconds. Then Whamo! Well, do drop in on a new coaster season! A nice airtime filled rush ensued as we took a plummet towards Earth. With Drop Zone out of the way, I headed over to Face/Off and found walk on conditions. So walk on that I proceeded directly to the end seat nearest the operators booth. Face/Off would prove to be my first coaster of the year, and despite it bearing the Vekoma nameplate, the ride runs quite smooth. Due to my seating position I got to experience the boomerang facing the opposite direction of normal. All in all its still a smooth, powerful ride. By this time, I had noted Delirium running, and decided to take a spin, and why not it too was a walk on. Delirium is the parks brand new HUSS Giant Frisbee. The ride is spin ride meets swing ride meets Miracle Grow. The specs are quite astounding, 78MPH, 8FPS, 137' max height. I was soon seated in seat 50 (of 50), the OTSR's come down, the belts fastned and I have plenty of slack. It seems the Germans have a better understanding of the size of the American Thrill Rider than the Swiss do. Soon the whirling derivish was spinning and swinging. The ride wastes no time getting warmed up and goes straight to work, throwing you up high in the air, then flipping you back down so it looks like you are heading straight for the grounds. Part of the time you truly are upside down. The spin rate is enough to make the ride motions interesting but seeming not enough to make the rider nauseas. Airtime lovers will enjoy the gentle floats experiences several times on this spin ride. PKI definitely has a winner with this giant sized ride. Appearance? The ride is mostly yellow with red and white accents and a blue support structure, minimal theme work. In other words, is looks like a midway ride, just as it should. Those with loose articles can take advantage of four footlockers placed around the outside of the ride platform. Delirium like any good Pendulum ride, adheres to the Edgar Allen Poe rule, and contains a Pit and a pendulum. Before the ride starts, but after the restraints are fastened several pie like floor sections tip down to reveal the pit under the ride. At the end of the ride they are supposed to come up all together. Unfortunately the Pit crew has not quite worked out all the bugs, and sometimes the Pit has to be manually closed from the console, one pie wedge at a time. Opening Day Jitters. I noted another Fast Pass In The Works second queue entrance on this one. With the rides in the front half of the Action Zone out of the way (Sorry, too cold for Congo Falls), I headed past the pay extra attractions and down the ramp for Son of Beast. Son of Beast was another walk on, despite only having one train. Son of Beast has not received the rumored new restraint package. My theory is that they are currently running the seldom seen third train, while the two primary trains are at the rehab shop. I soon took a seat in 6.1. Yes, it’s a wheel seat. The bars are checked, and the train advances about half a train length, where it sits for about 10 minutes while some glitch is looked at and fixed. Part of the fix involved moving some riders around to different seats. Don't know what that was about. Opening Day Jitters. What can't be dismissed as Opening Day Jitters is the brutally rough ride I received. Had I been wearing shorts I might have taken the time to point out the bruises my legs received from this ride. Once upon a time, there was a ride called Legend at Holiday World that ran awful German designed coaster trains. The trains tracked well, but had lap bars the were unforgiving on the riders. Repeat riders often developed a condition known affectionately as "Legend Legs". Our Holiday World anecdote has a happy ending when the German made coaster train was ejected from the park, and replaced with an American made train that contains seat cushioning, and a better restraint design. One can only hope Son of Beast's new trains will get similar improvements, as the ride today was "Legend Legs Times Ten", and that was just one ride. BRUTAL! AVOID! After Masochism: The Ride, I headed to Top Gun. I was somewhat surprised to see Top Gun open. You see there were two versions of the Early Ride Times" bulletin posted to the Internet by the park. One version had Delirium, and the other had Top Gun in its place. PKI deserves kudos by addressing the situation by having BOTH attractions open. Top Gun has very timely theming. Yes it is filmed to a 1980's action/romance film. But that film involved the Air Force and that lends itself to very current connections. The walk back to the ride features American flags, military flags, posters of scenes from the movie, miniature jet fighters, mock radar and satellite equipment. Further along is a huge billboard for Gillete Mach 3, that featured a big aircraft carrier. Once upon a time you them toured a themed quue area that was meant to look like an aircraft carrier. You saw the bridge, the armory, the communication center and other nifty props. This year like other, the themed area is totally bypassed. I did note what may possibly be a very subtle, minor movement of the jumbo (dare I say Texas Sized) American flag that hung in the themed section of the queue to make it more visible on the final turn before you go up the stairs. Them again I may be just imagining that it was nudged over just a few feet for better visibility. You them climb the stairs and go up on deck, except the flight deck has a roof. Oh well theming has to give way to practicality. Top Gun's theming could use a little TLC, a lot of the military group insignias in the station area could use a touch up or re-application, and what happened to the artificial fog that was supposed to simulate jet exhaust fumes as the train left the station, as well as the military themed costumes the operators used to wear. However, I am willing to forgo decorative restoration for a more important restoration. Top Gun has its second train back. And there was much rejoicing. I took a seat in the back seat, we slowly climbed the lift, I took my usual look and waved to the smiling campers who were waiving up at us. We crested the lift, and a very reliable Top Gun took us on its fast, swift, albeit short course. All in all a solid reliable fun ride. I exited the ride, then started taking photos of Action Zone. I have a new digital camera, and I was eager to experiment with it. Besides the ERT time was over. After a brief spell taking photos, I headed into Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest: The themed area that is surely on its way out. The last vestiges of Oktoberfest are the Festhaus (which offers an American menu, cheesy video entertainment, no live shows, and plastic round tables) The last redeeming feature of the Festhaus is the animated clock out front which plays the Chicken Dance every 15 minutes. Expect this to be turned into a themed eatery within the next 5 years, just my prediction. Of course I may still be bitter about them removing all the murals that used to be on the walls. Besides Festhaus we have a Viking themed Intamin Bounty. ( A Swiss made pirate ship ride, with a Viking theme, that has even lost having its name written in pseudo German on the sign). If it weren't for the strong German heritage in Cincinnati, I feel Paramount would have trashed this whole theme concept 10 years ago, instead of slowly quietly trying to sneak it out a piece at a time. Speaking of sneaking it out, lovers of German fare will be sorely disappointed to find no venue for brats and metts this year (That I have located), Oktoberfest Gardens (nee Beirgarten) is CLOSED for transformation into a Bubba Gump Shrimp Shack. As much as I will probably enjoy the Bubba Gump eatery, I do feel that an amusement park should tell its visitors something about the local culture, it saddens me to see all signs of Germanic themeing being stricken from the park. While I'm at it, is the German Building even called the German Building anymore (on International Street), or Munchen Tower. (User grabs park guide, nope no use of those names) Besides Eiffel Tower, what on International Street is so International anymore, another theme concept lost. (Much more on the French scale model replica landmark later). User pauses, takes deep breath. The RIDES its all about the rides. Okay, RIDES. User resumes TR. I skipped Viking Fury and observed a launch on Slingshot. I noticed you can ride solo. I decided not to. I them walked right onto the front seat of Adventure Express. I had heard rumors that Adventure Express had received some cosmetic improvements. Since the word landscaping was used I will give the park the benefit of the doubt, and just say that I didn't notice any changes. I did notice that the ride is still very fun, and is a fine example of an Arrow mine ride. Perhaps the cosmetic rehab will include replacing some light bulbs in the second lift. From Adventure Express I proceeded into Coney Mall. I noted The Racer station received some new paint, and more importantly a new logo. While I really like the new logo, I wonder what the folks at Islands of Adventure will think of it. Coat of arms, red and blue split right down the middle. I noticed Ice Racer (I mean Backwards Racer) to be closed, so I took a ride on Fire Racer (I mean Forwards Racer) I boarded the third seat, and was rewarded with a ride filled with gentle airtime. The small hill right before the turnaround was especially potent. It was one of the best Racer rides I have had in a while. From Racer, I moseyed down the midway, and looked at the new Subway. Sweet Tooth is gone, replaced by a Subway restaurant, America's fasted growing fast food chain (have they outsized McDonalds's yet?) I feel Subway is a great addition to the park, and it will provide a lighter fare option for the park. The price is $4.59 for a 6" sub which is just a dollar more than any other Subway. They really get you on the drinks. Next to Subway is Monster. Wait Monster with no queue and riders on board. I entered the Monster queue which has received some subtle revisions. The revision is surely meant to improve crew efficiency as the actual ride entry point and exit points are now at the same place. This will eliminate the time the operator spends walking from one gate to the other. At first I though Monster itself received some not so subtle revisions. The ride came to a stop, the operators were unloading cars, except the cars were on The Racer side of the ride, not the midway side. Oh well, I thought they must have just reinstalled the ride backwards. Then the tubs were closed and new riders were not admitted. Then, I saw something I have never seen a Monster do. The operator pulled a lever, and the ride righted itself. Like a movie stunt prop resetting, the tubs that were up high lowered to the ground, and the tubs that were low were raised up in the air. I wish I could have gotten video of that. This was followed by an announcement that the ride would be closed for at least half an hour. Opening Day Jitters. I bailed out of the Monster queue and walked through the arcade. Once again, PKI has not pinball machines, while it does have a new DDR Extreme game, it also has a very timely Desert Tank game. The arcades have received a major change in policy. Basically they have converted the games from being quarter operated to being token operated. While slightly inconvenient, the tokens do offer bulk discounts. A $10 purchase comes with 4 free tokens, and a $20 purchase comes with 10 free tokens. Those DDR addicts may find the bulk discounts beneficial. I exited the arcade, and made my way to Flight of Fear. Flight of Fear is the winner of the "Most Improved Ride at PKI - 2001" award. I made my way back to the ride to discover a three train wait. Oh the agony of it all, J and here I thought it was Saturday. I took a couple station photos, noted that the queue area was sufficiently dark to discourage running, then boarded seat 2.2. I think I am officially larger than last season, as this year I needed operator assistance to secure the seatbelt, or I could believe they shortened the seatbelts. Safely secure, the ride launched and we took a mind numbing intense curvey ride through outer space. While Flight of Fear is still an awesome ride, it appears that tons of lights were added to the brake run area. This area is now brightly lit, and some of its light spills out into the spaghetti bowl. We returned to the station, and as I was walking down the exit corridor I noted regular blothes along the wall that were rudely treated with black spray paint. Funny, I don't recall any Outer Limits logos here. The photo booth was closed. As I was leaving the military installation, I noted the humorous PA announcements are still there., something about the mess hall being moved away from the Specimen Storage freezers. I noted the shooting gallery was removed from the Coney Mall midway area, probably just as well as there is now a much better FREE shooting gallery in the park.. I passed the High Striker and noted that this year California gets to tangle with the light pole, instead of Canada, which got moved to an inner position. I also noted the ATM had an out of service sign. Opening Day Jitters. Reading the notice revealed there were no functioning ATM machines in the park, the park offered check cashing as a substitute. I wonder how many travelers even bother carrying a check book anymore, checks are oh-so-easily accepted on the road. I inspected the Skeeball building (no pinball), and headed to Vortex. Vortex was running its usual form. Reliable, consistent Vortex. Another fine coaster ride. I exited Vortex, and looked over at the Action FX Theater. Now all sources, including the park guide, state that Spongebob Squarepants is not supposed to open for a month or two yet. I walked down the path curious to see what was showing. The path to "Secrets of the Tomb" was blocked off, but the path to Spongebob was open. Curiosity got the better of me, and before I know it, even though I have never watched the cartoon, I found myself holding a pair of Theme Park 3D Glasses while standing in front of an automatic door. After trying to ignore the pre-show on the monitors ( a bunch of 'flashbacks' and dopey kid-friendly skits, I guess highlights of the carton series), the doors opened and we entered the auditorium. Seated, belts fastened, movie started. It’s a 3D carton episode, Typical Iwerks motion movie. Kid friendly too-cute story line about chasing a pickle. However, if you loved the sadistic cratoons, (like Jerry beating up Tom, Tweety Bird beating up Sylvester, etc, there is one scene that will have you laughing way too hard in this motion movie. It's not a bad ride, though I do have to wonder how many Spongebob Squarepants fans are 44" tall or above. I then headed back onto the midway, where I noted the Laser Tag trying a nee pricing tactic. 1 game is $7, 2 are $9.50, but for $12 you can become a Laser Warrior all day. I headed for some rides. I saw a short line for Shake, Rattle and Roll, and did not make the current ride cycle, The ride cycled, and then the automatic lap bar release refused to function. Opening Day Jitters. The ride had a minor downtime, but soon I got to take a ride on it. It’s a fun ride, and the ride action sort of reminds me of something that is a cross between a Scrambler and Delirium. Enough stalling, I can't call myself a ride enthusiast if I don't pay a visit to Flying Eagles. It was just a one cycle wait. I boarded my proud Eagle, which won't do much graceful soaring with me behind the rudder. (User emits evil demented grin) Flying a Flying Skooter is like riding a bike, its hard to learn at first, you can't quite explain how to do it, but once you got the knack, it stays with you. It wasn't long before I was getting the loud violent snaps that any Flyer ACE should be able to accomplish. After some quality Flying Skooters time, I headed into Rivertown. Rivertown means Beast, no matter how you slice it. I entered The Beast queue where I noticed another one of those Fastpass In the Works second queue entrance. This one looks like Rube Goldberg designed it. With the walk on queue of today, it would have actually taken considerably longer to walk the secondary entrance. It basically runs along the perimeter of the existing queue area, then joins at the ramp where the line used to split into two. Now there is the regular line and the 'rumored to be fastpass line'. This may actually help traffic flow. I took a ride in seat 4. The Brakes, I mean The Beast still has the same brake package it ended last season with, including the first drop brake. The changes if any to the bottom of the first drop are unnoticeable, save for new wood. The ride does earn points for having the blocking system bring the train all the way up to the back of the station. Typical Beast Ride. I returned to the midway, where I walked past a closed Tomb Raider. It never would open today, then I walked past the train station, then past white water canyon, and Wings. I finally wound up at Wild Thornberries River Adventure that I would have ridden if not for this jacket. I thought I would stow the jacket and return to the ride, but as things turned out I never made it back. I then noticed Rugrat's Runaway Reptar was closed. Closer inspection of the ride revealed a valleyed train. Yup, it’s a Vekoma. Shame as it is really a fun little ride. I toured Nick Central, eager to get a Crab Patty at the Krusty Krab, with my new knowledge of what the Krusty Krab is, learned PKI's Krusty Krab only sells snack items. Finished touring Nick Central, looked at Ghoster Coaster. I'm not that big a fan of it, and the line way way too long. I walked through HB, stopping off for a spin on Beastie. Beastie is still a very fun kiddie ride. There was a bit of a wait to ride Beastie, but nothing that extended beyond the wooden ramps to the ride. Okay, now there would be only one more objective, Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. I did not go charging directly for it, instead taking some photos of the impressive façade. The castle is truly impressive. It is apparent that someone at PKI took a course in attraction theming. So the ride gains points on theming, but loses points on the traffic nightmare they created. You see they wrap the queue back past the exit, heading towards International Street. This would not be all bad except for the fact that path is not that wide to begin with, serves as a major access point to HB, and now has from one side to the other: The riders trying to exit Scooby, the riders trying to enter Scooby, the guests trying to get into/out of HB, and then on the other side of the walkway, right at the pinch point is the Scooby Doo On-Ride Photo Booth, which has rope stanchions so that photo booth customers do not get run over by the traffic getting into/out of HB. Something needs to be done about this traffic nightmare, and quick. I get in line which stretched just past the ride exit, (about 30 minutes) with a full queue, thankfully due to the ride system, the line keeps moving at a more or less steady pace.. First you try to contain your children and your patience as you advance through the traffic tie up, then you get alongside the railing where you can listen to the old Scooby theme songs, then you get to cross over the bridge to the castle, very nice IOA quality ride entrance. Right inside the 'door' there is a chain that looks like it should control the portculis I don't know if guests are supposed to interact with that chain or not, but guests do. A short flight of stairs later and you are down in the anteroom. Cobweb covered chandeliers dimly light the space., while up in the balcony level, cutouts of Shaggy and Scooby pop up, and the characters give the ride instructions. This being Scooby Doo and kidideland and all, the guns usually found on Sally Dark Rides have been rethemed into Fright Light Flashlights. They don't provide much light, through they do have a weird glow to them. Anyway, Shaggy explains that when you see the green and blue targets, to aim for them with your Fright Light Flashlight. Then Shaggy admonishes you to try to hit the targets (pause) 'dead-on'. The ride vehicle will keep the score, For bonus points hit the boxes of Scooby Snacks with will cause Scooby to appear. You then leave the antechamber by means of the oh-so-obvious secret passage. (Which in accordance to the mystery bylaws is behind a sliding bookcase, up a few steps down a nondescrepit hallway that looks like a secret passage should. Careful observers will note red eyes looking at them through the boarded up windows. You then go through an tiny doorway (after passing the merge point for another rumored Fastpass-system-in-the-works secondary queue) You can see the spinning floor for a real neat dizzying effect as the floor is rotating way faster than most of the revolving platform loading systems. A black curtain blocks a sneak peak into the ride. A grouper then assigns you to a car. For my first ride, I get to ride solo. It is a real tight time crunch getting the old riders out, the new riders in, and the lapbar secured. (and the scoreboard reset). Some cars went out empty while the crew tried to catch up to the assembly line, in this earily themed loading chamber. (I wonder how many riders will get scared off before they even GET to the ride vehicle, the queue is about as ominous as Pirates of the Carribean's queue) I took my seat, the lapbar was lowered, I took the Fright Light out of its receptacle and got ready for a shoot-em-up dark ride adventure. It should be noted that I love Sally Interactive Dark Rides. There is a long front section with no targets and Shaggy telling you to be sure to get your Fright Light ready. As if the natural instinct isn't to grab the Fright Light as soon as you are in the car, this area also serves for taking the on ride photo. You now know where you stage creative photos. Please remember this is a kiddie ride, not a ride for making kiddies. I must now be ashamed to admit that I don't have much recollection of what happens inside the ride, and I rode it three times. I don't even know if the ride has AUDIO for crying out loud. All audio was tuned out in my brain, and my entire thought process turned to a primeval: "See Target, Hit Target, Find Next Target" routine. A pointer that will help you, only bother with targets that are lit. Its like pinball, "Special ONLY when lit" On my first time through I scored 810, which is already off the scoring rating chart at the end of the ride. I know it’s the same track as Phantom Theater, I know its twice as fast as Phantom Theater, but it seems a lot longer than Phantom Theater. I can't figure that out. Strange, Oh, I mean I can describe certain disjoint scenes, like there is an art gallery, a great hall, a room with a big pipe organ, a room with wacky appliances, a bank vault, and such, but as far as getting a coherent story line, forget it. Oh, and the park was able to pull this off without the expense of audio animatronics. To be fair to the Scooby ride, I can't describe much of what happens in Den of Lost Thieves, or Ghost Blasters either. Having completed a circuit of the park, and hitting all the open rides that were on my 'must-see' list, I decided to take a meal break. I had decided early on to give the parks new Chinese restaurant "Mandarin Cuisine" a try. The new restaurant took over what used to be the All-Star Café. It is still a cafeteria-style setup. The outside looks vaguely oriental, and the inside is nicely dim, with a bunch of Chinese characters all along the wall. The place is done in earth-tones and really looks nice. I entered the serving line, and picked up a tray, complete with a Chinese calendar tray liner/placemat, proceeded past the desert bar, and looked up at the menu. The Chinese restaurant has at least a dozen different entrees available, most served with fried rice and an eggroll. The prices are $5-$7 for the entrée combos. Again they get you on the drink. While getting you condiments, be sure to pick up a free fortune cookie. Sources tell me this is an independent concession. I must applaud the park on bringing in a much wider variety of food. The food served was decent, if nothing special, however it is a break from the standard diet of pizza, burgers, and Skyline PKI guests have become accustomed to. After having my meal, I decided the weather was getting hot, this jacket was getting annoying, and the coin operated locker looked like a viable option. I also decided that since I was going to shell out the money for a locker, I may as well go gift shopping now and beat the end of the night crowd. I headed for the Emporium, my first goal was to get the new Unofficial PKI Guide Book, a revue of which is not included in this report,. Suffice to say, if you are looking for a historical sketch, this is not it, if you want current park information in typical tour book fashion this is for you. Noteworthy are the ride descriptions that in most cases give the rides birth year and manufacturer. The gift shop has a nice locked display case with miniatures of the carousel horses that should keep the carousel buffs highly entertained, as well as PKI themed desk sets. For the corporate desk jockeys in the group (like myself), I think you could redo your whole desk set in Son of Beast wooden furnishings. While in the gift shop, I also picked up a patriotic themed PKI shirt (to go with my patriotic themed Six Flags shirt, that I happened to be wearing today) Seems my collection of patriotic themed shirts is threatening to overtake my collection of coaster themed shirts. Anyway, this shirt is important for a few reasons. First, PKI has started to restock XXL shirts. (YEAH!!!!), secondly it points out something the park and I have in common. We are 100% American, established in 1972. I'm not as sure I like the pre faded look.. Lastly I picked up a Ohio Bicentennial beanie for mom. The whole thing should come to $32, but wait, one of the perks of the Gold Pass is an e-zine. The park has huger than life signs in front of the season pass processing area encouraging you to provide a valid email address to receive the e-zine. In the April edition, there is embedded about three layers deep, a .pdf file with coupons. One of the coupons is $5 off at the Emporium. So I step up to a cashier, and before she has a chance to ring my order, I declare the fact that I intend to use a coupon. This took the cashier by total surprise because she was not aware coupons even existed. What ensued is a truly comedic series of events, whereupon the question of my coupon was escalated several levels through management I recall the phrase "Would you have the O.D. contact me": being used. Not too long after my coupon was accepted, at first I figured someone as high up in management as "O.D." would just say "Give the $5 off and be done with it", but it was pointed out to the staff that there is, in fact a button on the cash register programmed for just this coupon. Opening Day Jitters. I only mention it because it was hilarious how many levels of management they went through for a lousy $5 coupon. Oh, and the ATM downtime included the gift shop point-of-sale terminals, time to get out the manual credit card slip imprinters, which is how they solved the problem. Having done my gift shopping, I took my proud purchases, and my jacket to a coin operated locker, and stowed them away for a reasonable 75 cents. In fact I had just entered the Action Zone, when I ran into Howard G., Scott Short and their entire crew. Scott has just found out he is one centimeter too tall for Delirium. I joined the group, and some of us waited for others to retrieve cameras from cars. We then turned towards the royal fountain and I looked up at the Eiffel Tower. (User reviews his Politically Correct Thesaurus, user has to first remove all the dust and cobwebs from the thesaurus as he usually doesn't care about being politically correct.) Let's see, here it is "Eiffel Tower: Freedom Tower" Hey, that has a nice ring to it, I think I'll use that for the rest of this report. Anyway, PKI has this tall tower in a very prominent sport in the center of the park. The tower is designed to be a 1/3 scale model of the Freedom Tower in Paris, France. I took a good look a the front of it, and burst out laughing. I think I found the ultimate irony. Draped over the top of a scale model of one of the most famous landmarks, in the capital city of a nation that is currently expressing severe differences of opinion with our nation, is a jumbo sized American flag. Irony at its finest. I took a few photos of that. The crew with their cameras returned, and we got in line for the Freedom Tower. For those really hard-line anti-France people, just remember that the tower at PKI isn't a French designed structure, it is actually a Swiss designed structure that happens to look a lot like the French tower. Besides scale, there are some key difference, such as paint color, and a fundamental difference in the elevator system. We spend the time in the queue looking at various pieces of camera equipment. We then board the elevator. I must take time out to write kudos for the older gentlemen who was the afternoon's elevator operator. He had a most delightful sense of humor. We get to the top of tower, we take tons of photos and videos, we stay topside till it starts getting a wee bit cool, then we come back down to earth. After the tower, we go to take photos of the outside of Scooby. The rest of the group goes to photograph Delirium while I ride Scooby with a gentlemen whose name I forget. If you thought I was competitive riding solo, having a live competitor just fed the frenzy, and even with two in the car I was able to up my score to 1,100. We left the ride, and he took off saying something about Flyers, I paused to participate in an exit survey for Scooby. Having successfully completed my Survey, I headed over to Delirium to catch up with the group. No group there, but not a long Delirium line either, with only half of the covered section of the queue maze in use. Delirium has a neat trick. The ride has a queue, a bullpen, and the actual ride. As soon as the ride starts, the next group of riders are advanced from the queue to the bull pen, and are therefore ready to be loaded on at the first opportunity. The time required to fill the bullpen compares nicely with the ride cycle, with an end result that the line tends to keep moving. Really nice effect, a better effect was the ride in seat 43. We have a definite winner here. I then started to head towards Flyers, but stopped to get that Monster ride. I really like the Monster, and I was rewarded with what seemed to be a generously long ride for a corporate theme park flat ride. I happened to get about to the Skeeball building when I ran smack dab into the rest of the group. We took a break for some coneys at Skyline. Skyline really is a good value-for-product dining option in the park. We engaged in Strange Coaster Nut Behavior and proceeded to have a long conversation about roller-coasters instead of riding the roller coasters. We did finally break it up for a ride on Racer. After Racer the group commented that they wanted to check out something at the front gate. It seems that when they went to take their cameras back to the car after taking Delirium photos, they were not allowed to leave the park., due to a "Security Issue". The benefit of time, and the Cincinnati Enquirer reveals the "Security Issue" was a mentally unstable gentlemen who got caught attempting to pass not one but two weapons through the metal detector. Said gentlemen threatened suicide upon being challenged by security, holding security at bay for about an hour. I only mention the details to say, if you had any doubts, or misgivings about the metal detectors before, NOW you see why they are needed. For surely they have already saved at least one life, I mean a man has got to be either mentally unstable, or extremely defiant to charge through a metal detector with two weapons, who knows what he could have done once inside the park. What harm could have befallen innocent park staff and civilians. The fact that he would rather kill himself than turn over the weapons has to make me think that a) he was on a mission to create a scene at the park or he would rather die than have the police find out his identity. With that unpleasant episode behind us, its time for a drink. Howard mentioned that PKI was a test market for Sprite Remix, a tropical fruit punch version of Sprite. I can't pass up a new soft drink offering, and $2.75 later I was enjoying a Sprite Remix. Very good, I hope it hits regular stores soon, so I can afford it. We looked around the Action Zone not eager to join any of the queues. We finally decided to take a big old group ride on Scooby. All 9 of us. We split up into three groups of three. It was a fine ride, we took a hilarious staged on ride photo, and I scored 1,650 even with 3 of us in the car. Howard the marksman got 1,710. The secret to our high scoring success: a wheelchair rider! For once wheelchair riders are your best friends, as the crew has to slow the ride down. Belt slowed down equals way more scoring opportunity, and more time to aim your shots. It's not quite as easy to aim a Fright Light, but it can be done. We purchased the hilarious staged on ride photo, then took a ride on Beastie. After Beastie, I looked at my watch, looked at my schedule for the next day, and decided to head out and end the park day. I collected all my things from the locker, exited the park, and noted that tram service is available at PKI And that ends the first day of coaster season for me in 2003.

I would have to say they are more like TR:Tr than Drop Zone. My reasoning: I can barely fit in Drop Zone, but I had no problems whatsoever getting into Delirium.

It was great to meet some of you at the photo shoot today. Now on to the meat: Delirium is an instant winner friends. Don't let the rather slow spin rate fool you. The super amazing speed of the swinging action is where this ride gets its claws. I was truly amazed at how intense it is, I especially love when you get to the top of the swing and the seating ring rotates halfway. You can get some odd cases where you are going up looking at the sky, float up against your shoulder bar, then the seats have rotatesdd around enough where you are going down looking straight at the ground. Main is it going to be awesome. I would hit this one early on in the day.