coasterrz

Beastfreak, the reason I said I saw park vehicles outside of the building, is not becuase I thought they would be parked insides, but rather I was trying to express that the rear part of the building may be used for more than just stage equipment and storage. For example, between Face Off and the large part, I do believe that there is a smaller part, which might be home to some sort of offices for a park department, maybe entertainment, or changing rooms for FearFest.

Good questions bwware! I believe that you are refering to the Round-up at Americana? If so, then yes, PKI did have a round-up. I believe that it was located near the end of Coney Mall, which ended right by Antique Treats and the antique cars, it never originally extended back by The Vortex and Flying Eagles until 1982 maybe? Anyhow, I don`t know when they removed it. If you live in Cincinnati and still want to experience a Round-Up, Coney Island has a Super Round-Up located almost in the center of the rides portion of the park. Incidentally, Coney had to rebuild the Round-Up in the middle of this past season because of a hirline crack in a part. The ride was down for about three weeks, but later reopened. Funny thing was guests would ask if the ride would be opening that day when it sat in pieced in the grass!

I do believe that SFKK`s Flying Dutchman is in fact the model that used to operate at PKI. Flying Dutchman opened at PKI back in 1973, along with the Bayern Kerve, Kenton`s Cove Keelboat Canal and the International Restaurant. So opening day for SFKK is the last weekend in March? I was wandering when they opened, as that just happens to be my last weekend of spring break, and what a great way to end spring break! (Their website doesn`t list their 2004 operating calendar, or at least it didn`t when i checked it last week.)

I do believe that there might also be some storage in the back of the stage, like to store some of the FearFest costumes. I know that I`ve seen PKI vehicles parked outside part of the large part before.

What is up with the out of order post at the top of this thread? Anyway, I have yet to decide if I am going to apply at PKI for a rides position this summer. I did notice on their online application a spot for seasons I would be able to work, with a check box for spring, summer and fall. I would really like to work at PKI, but a 24 mile drive to the park is a dterrant, coupled with the possible conflict with college work. Coney, which i recieved a postacrd this week asking me back, is a heck of a lot closer, but the pay sucks. Thanks for all the information! I will make a decision by the end of the week whether to return to Coney or try and get a job in the rides department at PKI.

I realize that there still has to be a lot of infrastructure work done in BB. As you stated the children`s area, Jackeroo Landing, has yet to really go vertical. Also, I have yet to hear anything about Kookabura Bay, the lagoon type pool that will be built in front of Jackeroo Landing. So far, the improvements look excellent. This warm weather just makes me wish the park was open! Only about a month to go!

Yep, the weather can only help the construction. As a matter of fact, I just saw some construction pictures on PKI-Central, taken yesterday, leap day. The pictures show Tasmanian Typhoon which has almost all of its tunnel sections in place. The only section that remain to be placed are located by the loading platform. It is looking really nice! The park opens for a season pass preview in about a month, on April 2 and 3. This warm weather makes me wish the park had been open this past weekend! I`m sure this month will fly by and the park will be open soon! (I wonder if there will be any announcements from the park between now and then?) Cincinnati weather has been crazy this year. It is supposed to get up to 66 on Thursday!

Stephenmayes, you bring up a vary good point. The ride experience is different for every single person that rides it. Everyone is built differently, and thus are affected differently by the ride and have a different experience. Even from ride to ride on the same ride, I experience different experiences, especially from when i first rode rides like The Racer when I was 10. Most of the changes in experience from ride to ride throughout the day though stem from changes in temperature, and other factors, not related to the riders. I can imagine King Cobra being quite painful if you are that tall.

Eye, Eye, Captian!! Sorry, I couldn`t resist.

How about the alien voice from the Flight of Fear preshow? "Imagine a world where the imperfections of human existance are a thing of the past. Where poverty, hunger and disease are no more. This then, is our invitation. Come with us. Enter our vessel. Come with us as we journey across the cosmos." Of course any part of that entire spiel is memerable after waiting in line for FoF for more than a couple times. Another quote from that speil is "Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you."

I don`t know if the smurf`s will have a comeback similar to what the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are right now. One odd thing I just heard over on screamscape. It is rumored that Six Flags Great Adventure will be replacing their motion simulator movie with a new movie for this season. One rumor reports that they will bring in the Spongebob 3D movie. However, it also says that other Six Flags parks are receiving another movie, and usually Six Flags, like Paramount, replaces all of their movies with the same movie. (I realize that the secondary movies at the Paramount Parks differ from park to park every season.)

If you mean longest in terms of the amount of time that the ride equipment was located in the building, then yes. Enchanted Voyage opened in 1972, with the park. It was rethemed to the Smurfs for 1984. The ride system was removed after the 1991 season, when it was 19 years old. As of this season, the current tranpostation devices, built by Morgan Manufacturing, are 12 years old.

Flight Commander? Another infamous spiel from PKI, "Welcome back Beast riders! How was your ride!?"

Thanks for the information AndyatUC. For example, this weekend, I have to go on a fieldtrip this Saturday to take a tour of Miami University`s architecture, and then on Sunday I have to write an English research essay as well as a paper for my Archiectural history class, in addition to reading more than 100 pages for that class by exam week. I might just apply then, as I am getting tired of being underpaid at Coney to run mediocre rides! Plus, working at PKI has always been a dream of mine since I fell in love with the place!

Maybe I`m completly off of my base, but I wouldn`t be surprised if PKI becomes home to a Star Trek themed ride for the 2005 season. Paramount has been known to use the same name for rides at different parks. Vortex, Top Gun, Runaway Reptar, Wild Thornberrys River Adventure, Delirium, Drop Zone, and now Tomb Raider at Paramount Canada`s Wonderland. It would not surprise me if PKI`s 2005 attraction sports some sort of Star Trek tie, either in name or theme.

I did pretty well for the 2003 season. i kept track of every ride I rode this season. However, I`m not going to go into detail on every ride I experienced. I will name a few. PKI (27) The Beast (39) Son of Beast (12) Delirium (17) Vortex (15) Forwards Racer (15) Backwards Racer (11) Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle (13)

R.L. Stine wrote the book after he visited PKI, or at least that is my understanding. In the book he mentions in very loose detail a ride on The Beast. He also mentions The Vortex, the Eiffel Tower as well as the Royal Fountain.

I personally enjoy working outside, operating the rides at Coney. Usually, I enjoy the people that are riding my rides and the fact that the ride I am running is putting a smile on their face, and creating lasting memories. However, Coney`s rides are by no means spectacular and their Python is far less than anything that KI has. The one good thing about Coney is that on a normal summer weekday, the crowds are usually light, which is good because normally rides that should have two people only have one person staffed on them. I would rather work at PKI, because they have better rides to operate, and chances are you will be working with another person. At Coney, only Slide, Bobs, Wheel, and Coaster require two people to operate. I also would like to operate a coaster that has more than two trains of two cars. Nothing against Coney, but their pay sucks. If I return for a third season, I will be making a meager $5.65, not including the bonus program. If I were to work at PKI, I would be making $6.50 as a first year, 85 more cents an hour! The only drawback in addition to the one I described when I started this topic is the drive. Coney is only a seven mile drive from my house, while PKI is about 24 miles. Any one else have any suggestions on working at PKI and college.

I am seriously considering working at PKI. Now I realize that if I wanted to get placed on a good ride, I should have applied a long time ago. However, I haven`t applied for one main reason. Since I am a freshman in UC`s architecture program. As a result, most of my weekends are spent working on various projects related to school. UC`s spring quarter exams do not end until the second week in June. My question is if I were to apply there, how flexible would they be with scheduling until June? Would I be able to even work there? I would definately not be able to work both days of the weekends until June. There is even a chance I wouldn`t be able to work some weekends althogether. I would really like to work at PKi, and I don`t know if any ride positions will be left if I try and apply at the end of June. Obviously they are somewhat flexible with college students as a lot of their employees are college students. Any help would be greatly appreciated! The main reason I want to work there is I like running the rides at Coney, but the pay isn`t there. (Let`s just say that I will make almost $1 more an hour in my first year working at PKI than I would i my third year of working at Coney!)

Totally fictitious. An interesting note is that I believe the pair of Beast books by R.L. Stine make The Beast the only coaster to have a fictitious book created about it. I believe the book came out about ten years ago in either 1993 or 1994.

Yes I noticed that earlier. I believe that it is PKD`s first time offering the gold season pass. The one thing I noticed is that they will offer gold pass holders Scooby Bucks good for 10% off in park purchases, which is something PKI hasn`t done. I also noticed that Paramount`s Carowinds has announced their Platinum Pass perks. Those too are similar to PKI`s gold pass perks. The thing I find interesting is that Carowinds, correct me if I`m wrong, was the first park to offer a gold pass in the Paramount family. They have now scrapped the gold pass program and have instituted the Platinum Pass program, which in my opinion, sounds almost identical to PKI`s gold pass program. I would expect the park to release the 2004 gold pass perks in the nest couple of weeks, or sometime in early March.

Actually, the Festhaus was built for the 1983 season, nine years after the park opened. Everytime I`ve been to the park and been in the Festhaus, it has been busy. Even on days when the park is less crowded that place is busy. In part because it and the more expensive Wings are the only two air conditioned eateries at PKI, besides Oscar`s and International Restaurant, both of which are closed to the general public.

I`m fairly certain that when they paint their steel attractions, they don`t use a paint brush or roller. Instead, I do believe they use a spray gun to spray on the new layer of paint, at least for the final coat. As for reaching the top of the tower to paint, they most likely could ride the ring to the top as there is a catwalk around the ring that raises up the seats.

Yeah, I noticed that update as well. BB has been hopping with activity the last two weeks or so. They sure are making up from the lost final assembly times due to the warm weather!

Obviously, the Eiffel Tower hasn`t been painted in a long time. The paint is severly faded if not missing in areas. I don`t recall when it was last painted, but if you are on the observation platform you can tell that it has been painted a couple of times in its lifetime. I think it could use a paintjob. Also, the supports from Face Off look pretty bad. there are a couple patchs of rust. In addition, there are very faded, almost pink areas on the supports, which I am assuming are from the paint that they used to touch up the supports after the ride was assembled. Like the ET, it too could use a paint job. Drop Zone is starting to fade as well, but in my opinion, it is not in need of a paint job as much as FO and ET. I don`t know when the park plans on repainting them. This season they are focusing on Boomerang Bay and three rides in Coney Mall (Scrambler, Monster and the Zephyr). Next season we will most likely see the remainder of Coney`s rides repainted and refurbished (which is only The Racer, Shake Rattle and Roll and The Eagles. Dodgems were repainted in 2001, aloong with the Paramount Action FX Theater. The Vortex was repainted in 2002.) Those improvements will most likely correspond with some sort of new ride. We might see the park repaint the ET, if they have enough money in the capital budget to do so.