coasterrz

I have notices the red roof of The Beast station when standing over by the entrance to Shake Rattle and Roll before. I believe that you can see the red roof of the station even in the summer when the leaves are on the trees.

Do you mean that International Street is now known as Hollywood Boulevard? I certainly hope that IS is still the name of the area, even though there is essentially no "international" theming other than the French name of the bakery on the right side by the Eiffel Tower.

Opps! I meant to say you can park elsewhere in the parking lot. On a side note, it would be strange to drive in a car on the midways! I remember when they opened TR:TR to the media, they had limos drive peopl back to the ride. That would be one unique and easy way to get back to TR:TR from the front gate.

I personally have no problem with the seatbelts being added. However, I am slightly concerned with people not being aware of the addition of the seatbelts. Has the park added any signs in the stations of The Racer and The Beast about the seatbelts? If not, there will inevitably people that don`t see the trains loading and unloading ahead of them unbuckling and buckling the seatbelts. I can`t wait till Sunday when I get to finally go back to the park after a long off-season. I look forward to seeing the spruced up Scrambler.

While I know this is not PKI related, I can`t help but post a link to this site because these models are so cool. The site contains LEGO recreations of amusement park rides. One of the rides, the Skylab, is a replica of the one that used to reside at Kings Island. The one I first saw, was the Flying Bobs. The model looks very similar to the one that is located at Coney Island. The site also has a Tilt a Whirl, which is also located at Coney Island. The cool thing about some of these models is that they actually operate!

I would assume you enter the parking lot as normal. I would assume that there will be no one at the toll booths so you will be able to drive right through. Then, park in the closest spot to the season pass process building, which is located right next to the lift of Face Off.

Didn`t Jeff say that the only sand in BB would be in the volleyball courts next to the high power lines? If I remember correctly, he said they plan to put some sort of treatment on the concrete, if they have the time to do it, to make it both more interesting to the eye, and more pleasant to walk on in the hot summer sun.

I add never heard about the Hope exhibit before I visited the PGA website and saw the pictures of it. I would like to know what people`s reactions to the Paramount Magic of the Movies show is. Does anyone know if it is excellent, good, so-so, or bad?

According to the park`s website, the parade will be at PKI from July 15 through August 17.

WildCat, I already started a thread about this very same topic with the very same link. You can see the discussion on the topic here.

It is my understanding that while the track follows the same layout, they changed the way in which the cars rotate and spin throughout the course. As far as the ballroom, I`m assuming you are refering to the "2-story" room with the ghosts that utilizes the Pepper`s Ghost effect. They removed the large panes of glass and filled in the floor. I do believe that the scene with the chess board and the chimney in the center, and I believe books on the side of it, was where this scene was located.

True, that would make the most sense since PKI is Paramount`s flagship park.

PGA just opened this past weekend in sunny California. They are the first of the Paramount Parks to have the Nickelodeon Parade. From the pictures here, the parade looks like it will be a big hit. The parade will be at PKI from mid-July to mid-August. According to a post by Shaggy (a.k.a. John Keeter) in a thread over on Ultimate Roller Coaster, the parade will run twice a day at PKI. Looks like the parade will be a very exciting addition to witness at PKI this season. From the looks of it, they have done a good job with this parade. Now I wonder if this is a huge success, which I believe it will be, if it will return next season at all the parks permanentaly throughout the summer months or if they will keep the rotation.

They would not let us use our PKI parking pass when we were at Carowinds. If you read the very smallm print on the back of the pass, I believe it says that parking, discounts and other perks are non-transferable to other parks, other than the one at which the pass was processed. However, when I visited Carowinds in 2001, they let us in with free parking. Both times, we had a gold season pass, so who knows.

If your pass says "Parking" then you do in fact receive free parking. Now, if you have a gold season pass, and the gold pass lot isn`t full when you arrive at the park, you may park in the gold pass lot. Sometimes, the goldpass lot is full and you will have to park elsewhere in the park. Also, usually around five or six, they stop staffing the gold pass lot, so non-gold pass holders will begin parking there. However, if you arrive at the park early enough, you will probably be able to grab some of the few normal parking spots that are located right next to the handicapped spots that are actually closer to the entrance than the gold pass spots.

Both of those coasters are the same in the fact that they are flying coasters. However, Borg Assimilator was manufactured in 2000 by Vekoma as Stealth at Paramount`s Great America. The ride was moved to Carowinds for this season. Tomb Raider: The Ride at Paramount Canada`s Wonderland was manufactured by Zamperla, the same company that made the flying coaster at Six Flags Elitch Gardens. From what I`ve heard, both rides are not extrodinary when compared to the B&M variety of flyers. I have heard that the Vekoma flyer is a better overall experience than the Zamperla models.

April 4, the season pass sneak peak day, the park is open from 12 noon to 8 pm.

While this is not directly related to Paramount`s Kings Island, it is related to water parks, which PKI is enhancing this year. The Beach has formerly announced their 2004 additions to the 20 year old water park. Kahuna Beach, will be the renovated wave pool formerly known as Thunder Beach, and will debut with the park on May 22. The new attraction Volcanic Panic is the first new attraction at the park since 1996. 90 percent of the 500 foot slide will be built by the park`s own staff. The ride, scheduled to open on July 3, will also feature a 360 degree turn. Read more in the Cincinnati Enquirer article. I do remember this being discussed before, but I read it in the paper today, and thought that I would add the link with all the local news lately with PKi and a possible indoor water park.

I don`t know, but was The Beastie ever red? i know that it was yellow in the mid to late `80`s. It was then painted blue in the early 90`s followed by its current shade of purple. I have not seen pictures or heard of it being painted red before.

According to the park`s website, April 4th is a pass holder preview day for ALL season pass holder, gold and otherwise. Gold pass holders do have an exclusive night, which is a Friday in May from 5 to 10.

Yes, that will be its official name. However, it will probably be like the Paramount Action FX theater. While the official name of that ride is Paramount Action FX Theater featuring Spongebob Squarepants 3D, the park and most guest just refer to it as Spongebob Squarepants 3D. While the park may try and continue to call it Crocodile Dundee`s Boomerang Bay to fit in with their new Hollywood theme, I believe most guests will refer to it as simply Boomerang Bay.

But the person who died on Top Gun last year had a preexisting heart condition, and she died at the hospital, and not at the park. The ride did not malfunction in any way to cause her to have a heart attack. It was a combination of her preexisting condition coupled with the factors that occur when one rides a roller coaster.

The ride was struck by lightening about a week before the ride opened, resulting in some electrical problems that further delayed the opening. No one has ever died on Son of Beast. Actually, Son of Beast, like Drop Zone, probably is struck by lightening rather frequently. The last deaths to have occured at Kings Island were on black Sunday and involved the Octoberfest pond and the now defunct Flight Commander, back in June 1991.

Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle is by no means claustrophobic. I would be more claustrophobic in the elevator on the Eiffel Tower than in Scooby. I`ve been to Kings Dominion and Carowinds. Both are excellent parks with excellent rides. The only gripe I have about Carowinds are its hours and operating procedures during inclement weather. In the middle of the summer, the park closes at 9 everyday of the week! Additionally, they closed the park down one day I visited at 6pm, because they were anticipating rain in the evening, which showed up around 7. Additionally, when I first visited and a thunderstorm blew through, they waited nearly 45 minutes to an hour after the storm was gone to reopen all the rides. They shut down all the rides for that time, even their Scooby ride. Whereas at PKI, they only shut down rides if lightning is within a 20 mile radius of the park (or was it 10?). I however was once stuck on the train at Kings Island in a severe thunderstorm. I`ll never forget that ride, being blinded by the horizontal rain, and hearing loud claps of thunder what seemed like a couple feet away. When we got off in Rivertown, it was raining so har you couldn`t see the Eiffel Tower!

I don`t believe that NBC/GE owns the Discovery Channel. I believe that Discovery Communications, Inc. owns the Discovery Channel, TLC, the Travel Channel, Animal Planet and the Science Channel. I have never heard anywhere where NBC or General Electric owns the Discovery. I do know that there is a Discovery kids show on one of the major networks on the weekend, which might be NBC. However, I don`t think they are related beyond that. I did some digging around, and have found no link in ownership between NBC and Discovery. NBC does, however, own part of A&E and the History Channels.