coasterrz

Yes, The Beast facts in the station are in deed five years old. They were placed there back in 1999, when The Beast celebrated its 25th anniversary. I highly doubt they will add fog as that will increase maintenance on the track, which is why the fog was removed from Adventure Express.

Its quite simple if you think about it. Would you rather keep sinking money into an old car that is held togeth by duct tape? Even if it was you first car? At some point, you have to spend money to buy a new car, that lacks the maintenance issues the old one had. Also, the new car contains enhancements and extras that the old one didn`t have, making the new one better than the old one. It is the same with rides and roller coasters. Sometimes the perks of a new ride force the park to scrap the rides that is old and continually breaking down. Now, just like old cars, there are classics which the park must preserve. Examples would be the Carousel, Scrambler, Eagles and Monster. These are great rides, which PKI has shown they are willing to maintain these classics for generations to come. Heck, Scrambler and Monster are being refurbished for this season.

Yep, Geocities, while free, does not allow for a lot of bandwidth, which is almost necessary with large pictures.

I visited PKD in 2000. Yes, their International Street is much shorter than PKI`s, and unlike PKI`s, PKD`s International Street has no midways off of it untill one reaches the Eiffel Tower. Although they do have Frenzoid (I believe that is the name of it) on the left middle side of IS, which is an inverting viking ship. As far as same areas, no, they don`t have the same areas. PKD has the Congo, which is home to Volcano and Avalanche. Also, PKD does not have a Rivertown or an Octoberfest area of the park. Their Coney Mall section of the park is similar to PKI`s but has a different name that escapes me now. You can probably find out the names of all their themed areas at their website.

The Grizzly is not a clone in anways of The Beast. in fact, the Grizzly is a clone/loose copy of the Wildcat that used to grace Coney Island, before they dismanteled the ride to make room for the skyride in the late `60`s that wasw later moved to PKI. The Grizzly at PGA is also a clone of the same ride, but it has been tamed to be more family friendly. PKI was built in 1972. Because of its success, the owners, Taft Corporation, decided to build another park, in Virginia. Kings Dominion opened in 1975. Their racing coaster, Rebel Yell, is not exactly identical to The Racer, because it does not split apart for the turnaround. Also, Rebel Yell has a tunnel over the final bunny hop. Overall though, the two parks have a lot in common.

I`ve never seen that happen. Usually guests can move their legs enough to allow for the bar to be pushed down the little bit that is required to release the bar. I have seen them take apart on eof the lapbar assemblies on opening day a few years ago on The Beast. (They were having problems with the bars unlocking automatically so they had to use the two keys for about ten bars on one train. They later took that train off the track. It is amazing all the complicated components that are under the lapbar assembly covers!

I`ve seen the Brady Bunch episode, not the one with the pop-ups however. Its amazing how much the park has changed since that was filmed in 1973. (Its also amazing how much the park has changed since I was born in 1985.)

So it is true that they are renovating the theater slightly. I like the idea of theater style seats, which probably have more padding than the old benches and are probably more comfortable than the old benches. Is this the first renovation to the theater since it was built, minus the name change after Paramount bought the park and changed the name of the theater? I am looking forward to this show, which will also appear at the other four Paramount Parks this summer as well (I believe that they are also renovating the Paramount Theaters at the other Paramount Parks as well). The show does not actually start until May 30. I can`t wait, and am glad that they are having an interactive show. Sound like loads of fun!

I think that quite a lot of people go to Kings Island on vacation. A lot of it has to do with location. PKI is located right next to I-71, a major interstate in Ohio. That makes PKI a perfect stopping destination for familes, not to mention the other things to do in Cincinnati in the summer, the Zoo, Newport Aquarium, the Cincinnati Museum Center, The Beach waterpark, The Reds, Coney Island Amusement park, among others. While not the tourist destination of some of the California and Florida parks, PKI attracts its fair share of non-local visitors. In my opinion the employees are a big factor to making PKI so great. A lot of them will go out of their way to ensure that guests have an excellent day they will remember forever. However, people won`t go to PKI just because of the employees. Instead, they go for the rides, the coasters, and all the kid freindly attractions in the best children`s area three years in a row! I can`t put my finger on what makes PKI so special to me. Maybe its the fact that I grew up going there at least once a year, ever since I was 7 months old. Or, maybe it has to do with the overall atmosphere created by all the rides, employees, sights and sound that make it so special.

But even though they will be giving tickets away to the same weekend it will be better. Why? Well last year it was one day for five hours. This year, I`m assuming it will be for more than five hours each day, at least eight hours. Also, the crowds will be able to be divided up among the two days. Although some season pass holders may visit twice, I don`t think it will be quite as hectic as it was last year. But it all depends on the weather that weekend, and how many tickets are given away. If the weather is perfect like it was last year, lookout. Or, if it was like the preview day in 2002, bitter cold, then it might be less crowded. Regardless, there will be plenty of unbusy days this season!

Any one know when the traveling parade will visit PKI? Its at Carowinds from mid-June to mid-July, and its at PKD to start the season.

I indeed heard somewhere, don`t remember where, that in fact the first weekend in April, April 3 and 4, would be season pass preview days. Now, the park might be combining dry run days with the season pass days, after the fiasco that occured last season when the park was flooded with people on pass holder night becuase of the large amount of tickets given to radio stations. As far as media goes, I would imagine most of the media won`t be that interested in opening day of the park as there are no new attractions. They will, however, be interested in the opening of Boomerang Bay in May. Here is a link on these boards to the thread that mentioned the season pass preview days. http://www.pkiunlimited.com/forums/index.p...ss+preview+days EDIT: Added link.

If the work on it makes it as smooth as the first turn after the first drop on The Beast, then the rosebowl could end up being tolerable and maybe, enjoyable. Hopefully, the money the park is sinking into fixing the rosebowl will make it smooth and allow the park next offseason to work on other parts of the ride. Hopefully, the ride is on its way to becoming a smooth, enjoyable ride. As I remember reading a wooden coaster designer saying that a wooden coaster is always under construction. With Son of Beast, I`m sure that will be true. I just hope that they get it to be more tolerable and re-rideable than what it currently was last year.

Wow, that is a complete redesign of the Carowinds website. Very impressive. That wasn`t there this morning. I`m sure that all Paramount Park sites will be updated soon. Probably why PKI hasn`t wasted time to update the current website. This is the first massive overhaul of the websites in a couple of years.

Thanks for the update Beatfreak. I`m sure whenever they get their new sign built, it will match the nostalgia that the old one had, and will hopefully welcome visitors to the park for a longer time than what the original sign did! I can`t wait to see the finished sign!

Keep what a surprise is the real question! Regardless, I believe that there will be some sort of update by the time the park opens, whether or not it relates to new attractions or not. Yeah, I thought the same guy/company did all the Paramount Park websites. Sort of off on a tangent, but does the park ever intend on bringing back the now long defunct webcam? I know that the park is busy with other stuff, but that was always a cool feature on their website, that allowed me to guage how busy the park was before I left for the park.

Why aren`t you allowed to ride Delirium? Are you the one that is too tall to ride it or am I thinking of someone else? Anyway, the logo for PGA`s is slightly different and does not feature the tornado like PKI`s. Also, I believe that PGA`s doesnt swing up 120 degrees to 10 and 2 o`clock like PKI`s. Other than that, the slightly smaller size and the inward facing seats are the only differences. I`ve never been to PGA so I can`t compare the two.

That has to do with technology. When The Vortex opened, it was state of the art, the first coaster to sport six inversions. Even though it was slightly rough in some of the transitions, it was smooth as far as coaster went in 1987. But since the development of more sophisicated computer design programs, designers have perfected the transitions and trains to create a smoother ride. However, even the smoothest designed rides can become rough if they are not properly maintained.

True, they are probably busy. However, in years past they always have seemed to update their site with the goldpass perks by the start of March. True, they could be waiting for the much rumored and anticipated announcement that is supposed to occur this month. I just find it odd that they haven`t added anything about the season pass preview days, since those are a month from today and tomorrow. In years past they have always made a big push on their website, prior to the park opening about season passes, which is why I`m surprised they haven`t been promoting the Goldpass on their site.

I would love to see a show similar to the one that Discovery did on Cedar Point a couple of years ago. A complete behind the scenes tour, from the communications department, to maintenance, to live shows, to ride and food operation. I would really enjoy a show like that! I don`t know if they will ever make one though, but it would be very interesting and awesome to watch.

Whenever they want new footage of a ride at the park. It depends when DC wants a new show and new footage for the show. I don`t think Discovery Channel or the Travel Channel were in the park last year. I know the Travel Channel was at the park in 2002 to film Tomb Raider.

Any one know of any developments with regards to the new sign? Does nayone know if the park received the zoning variances from the city of Mason to build a sign of the same size? Last I heard is the park originally wanted to have a sign built for the start of the season, but that was too optimistic and that the park anticipated to have a new sign by early summer. Any know of the current happenings?

One interesting thing I heard over on Screamscape is that Six Flags has secured with the developers of Spongebob 3D to put the film in its motion simulators at parks that are not in direct market competition with any Paramount Park. Very interesting indeed.

Just be patient. The park will announce whatever they want to announce when they feel the time is right. For someone reason, I have a hunch that that may end up being before any pass holders or gp step in the park this season. But that is just a hunch that is in no way backed up by other rumors or inside information.

It was recently brought to my attention that both Paramount`s Carowinds and Parmount`s Kings Dominion have announced via their websites their 2004 show lineup. However, Paramount`s Kings Island has yet to do so. Also, PKI has yet to update their website with any information on the gold pass perks, or even mention that there are season pass preview days on the 2nd and 3rd of April. Does anyone know if PKI plans on updating their site soon? Since the main page has a link to one of Paramount`s movies that says "opening January 30"? It seems that by this time last year they had already announced the show lineup as well as the gold pass perks for the year. Is the park doing some sort of reworking of their website or what? Anyone have any glimpses into their lack of updates?