coasterrz

I too notices that the last park guides of the season had the outline of the lift of King Cobra on the front cover. I disagree with you, aero11, that the park is trying to keep the spirit of King Cobra alive. Unless you know where to look on the Eiffel Tower, or Son of Beast, most people will probably never know about the rusting parts of King Cobra. Also, it is extremly difficult to see the King Cobra train(s) in Flight of Fear. I haven`t been able to see them this year, and I`ve been looking, so I doubt the gp will be able to identify them. That is odd that they still had a shirt with King Cobra on it as its been gone for now two full seasons.

Who wouldn`t want to have both. I think another great spot they could have put Delirium was the area that used to be the home of the Salt Water Circuis. They need a new attraction on that midway anyway.

Yeah, that`s one thing I remember about waiting in line for King Cobra, standing right next to the deafening brakes. I also remember standing up in the Eiffel Tower hearing King Cobra`s brakes. Good times. Unfortunately the King Cobra is no longer with us as I thouroughly enjoyed it, more so than any other stand-up coaster I`ve ridden.

I`ve been to the art museum numerous times on school field trips.

oops! I meant to type the next time we go to the park in 2004 we`ll probably know where and what the 2005 attraction is!

I just don`t forsee PKI using their parking lot for a coaster. One main problem besides losing parking spaces and the obvious aesthetic issues, is getting people to the ride. The Action Zone is already well built up by the parking lot with Face Off, Congo Falls, Timberwolf Theater and Top Gun. I really don`t forsee them adding a coaster in their parking lot. I have a feeling the next time we go to the park in 2004, we will know where the 2005 attraction will be going and we might even know what that attraction is! I predict that there next coaster will be built in Coney Mall.

Why oh why does March have to be four months away? I hopt the four months go by fast and I`m sure I`ll be happy with whatever they announce.

While WF may be back real soon, it won`t be back in time for this holiday season. I`m thinking for 2004 though. The one thing I`m curious about is if the bring it back, will they once again decorate the Eiffel Tower as a large Christmas tree. I sure hope they do. Also, I wander if they`ll make it free for pass holders like FearFest this season or make you pay like the original three FearFests. Only time will tell though. Its going to be one long off season!

I`d like it if the park reintorduced Winterfest, with at least FoF or TR:TR running. The atmosphere of the park decked out in holiday lights, sounds and smells would be awesome. Not to mention the fact about the added bonus of being able to ride a couple rides and coaster in the normal off season. That would sure make the off season seem quicker. I think that the next coaster PKI adds will have some sort of inversion on it. IN the Paramount Park survey they did a while back through thrillresearch.com, a majority of respondents said that wanted a tall, fast coaster with inversions on it. Could one of these things be related to the eluded to anouncement in March? I would personally like to see an ice skating show return to the Festhaus. That would make dining in their more enjoyable and offer another type of show to watch. I would also like it if they brought back the Kings Island Clown Band. I remember the band running around and playing music. (My uncle has the cover of a drum that was used in the Clown Band and he does play the drums so he might have been a member of the Clown Band. I`ll have to ask him about that next time I see him.) It seems that they don`t have any wandering musicians in the park anymore. If they reinstituted some new entertainment options like these, the park would have an even better atmospher than it already does. Could you imagine what the park would be like if they added all of these? But who am I kidding, I don`t think the park`s entertainment will ever return to what it once was.

Yes, what is the CPC story? I don`t think that PKI has that many parking spaces to spare. Sure, on most summer days they don`t come anywhere near filling all of them up. But have you been there when there is a concert, or on bring a friend free days or days similar to the last weekend. On the last day the park came close to filling up all of their about 11,000 parking spots. While not this season, I have seen on a couple of occasions when they park cars on the large grassy area to the south of the deep south lot. If PKI took out some of the close spots in the north lot, not only would they need to expand the parking lot for those really busy days, I just don`t think a parking lot coaster would fit in at PKI.

My first visit to the park was when I was six months old, so i naturally don`t remember that visit. However, I first took a spin on The Beastie when I was two and a half years old. I don`t remember that but I do know I was terrified of the ride for the next five years. I remember the blue elephant by the Hanna Barbera Bathroom as well as riding the smurf`s Enchanted Voyage. I also remember playing in a pen of plastic balls in Hanna Barera Land. I especially remember the ice skating shows in The Festhaus. I wish they would bring back true shows in the Festhaus and not just QTV (although recently they have been televising sports games such as the World Series and Football games in there). Also, when i was six, I was tricked into riding "a train." This train wasn`t the Kings Island and Miami Valley Railroad or another kiddie ride but it was Adventure Express. I always visited the park once a year in the fall. I finally got enough courage to ride The Racer and enjoyed it somewhat but I was too scared to ride it again. I had ridden Top Gun, Iron Dragon @ Cedar Point and The Racer along with some kiddie coasters, but I wasn`t fascinated with coasters yet. I fell in love with roller coasters and Kings Island when I first encountered The Beast in the fall of 1995. I don`t know what it was, but I enjoyed that ride and wanted to ride again. The next season I only visited two times, but I rode FoF and King Cobra and myenthusiasm for coasters was blooming. In 1998 I got a season pass and well, I have so many memories from PKI that i could write a book on them.

Well, for starters, Son of Beast is sort of a terrain coaster. Ever noticed how the lift sits on the hill and the drop sits in a valley that was once home to a creek (that creek was channeled through a pipe during construction of SoB)? The track doesn`t follow the contours of the land like its dad, but it still utilizes the land to achieve maximum height. The one thing I think SoB needs are some tunnels. That is the one aewsome thing about The Beast is the screech from the trains roaring thorugh the tunnel. Rumor is that the ride was designed to have tunnels added. I for one would like to see tunnels added. Other than that, they need to do a lot of TLC to make it smoother, my last two rides on it this year were brutal and I actually considered not reriding it, ever becuase of how rough it was. However, after the BB tour Jeff said that the smoothness is a work in progress and the Park has been trying new methods to smooth out the ride. He also said that they`ll work on extensively over the upcoming offseasons so that it will get progressively smoother over the coming years. Other than that, the view from the lift is quite spetacular of the park and surrounding area, unfortunately you can`t enjoy it very long!

The odd thing is that the maps were pretty low quality for years. I believe they still used the circle and line technique for showing attraction until the mid 90`s. However, since at least 1998 they have been using the current graphics and have continued to improve the quality of the maps. This really makes no sense since the map from 1972 had graphics on it and was similar to the current maps.

I second AZ Kinda Guy. Nice thread Italianchef! I thouroughly enjoy reading the responses from everyone.

LOL, that was good sobrider. I also like your new signature. I think that the park is seriously considering bringing back Winterfest. I for one would go, even it required a seperate charga above the season pass. I would pay even if only Flight of Fear, TRTR and Scooby are open. However, as I recall from the seeing a brochure about the last Winterfest, they also had the train running through the woods with lots of lights as well as the dodgems. I hope it returns for 2004.

I believe that "taxi song" is by Russel Crows and is called the "Big Yellow Taxi"

Well, when i`m not busy working at DAAP at UC learning how to become an architect, I will be relaxing. As the number 3 school for architecture in the country (behind Harvard and California Polytech), they want to keep that rating by giving us a ton of work. Wehn I have time I will be surfing the net and checking out the latest PKI news here and surfing Coasterbuzz as well. Right now, I`m looking forward to my winter break! Then I`ll look forward to PKI in April of 2004 *and then my last summer before I have to start co-oping).

Jeff Siebert on the Boomerang Bay tour said that there would be a forthcoming anouncement in or aqround March of 2004 but he wouldn`t divulge any specifics like if the anouncement would be for a new ride or a new park feature. So I guess we`ll have to wait and see whats in store for 2004!

I don`t know when pictures will be posted, but i know that Aaron had said that he would post pictures and a video to the site sometime. I took a very few pictures but I haven`t even seen them yet. Also, based on the amount of people that were there taking pictures, it won`t be long before they surface on the net. Patience is a virtue.

Actually, Son of Beast will be four years old this season. However, it will be in its fifth year of operation (weird how that works). When the park was celebrating The Beast`s 20th anniversary back in `99 was when they made the anoucnement that they were building SoB in the Action Zone. Wouldn`t it be weired if they anounced yet another coaster in conjunction with yet another of The Beast`s anniversarys. Hummm. Makes one wander about that anouncement in March even more.

The park isw usually very good about hiring people that are friendly and cheerful all season long. However, by this time of year, many associates are burned out, while no excuse for lousy customer service, it does happen. I too experienced a bad incident on Sunday at the Metal detectors when the worker yanked the keys out of my hand so she could "check" them. She also yelled at the person behind me because they started to come through the detector, but she wasn`t ready because she was checking my keys. I don`t know why she was checking my keys as all the other 26 times I`ve been this season they have never checked my keys. However, when I bought a Beast hoodie at the Emporium, the worker I paid there was extremly friendly and an excellent worker who had a smile on her face. Overall, I had an excellent day at the park on the BB tour and The Beast and that was all I did because it was too darn crowded!

I arrived at around 2:15 to a park that had an almost full parking lot. Oh, well, I only want to grab a ride on The Beast and go on the construction tour of Boomerang Bay. We actually found a close parking spot, and didn`t have to park in the deep south parking lot. PKI had rented school buses to use as parking lot shuttles. I guess they were really hard pressed for employees and couldn`t spare a few to run the usual trams. It definantly looked weird seeing school buses in the tram circle. As usual, there was a line for the metal detectors. After selecting the shortest line, we waited. Finally, I put my keys, cell phone and camera in the red basket and walked in. As usual, no alarm sounded and I went to pick up my cell phone, camera and keys. However, the lady grabs the keys out of my hand and rudely says "I need to check your keys" and then yells at someone in my group for starting to enter the metal detector because she had to check my keys. First of all, the other 26 times I`ve been through the detectors this year, they`ve never checked my keys. Secondly, she could have asked nicely to check my keys, instead of grabbing them out of my hand. Also, she could have been nicer to the other person behind me. Once in the park, I bought a PKI Beast hoodie. A couple of years ago wasn`t all park merchandise half off on the final weekend? Well, it wasn`t and the hoodie cost $49.99, a ripoff. Luckily, I still had 37 Scooby Bucks left over from the Discovery Channel Top Ten show on The Beast and Son of Beast so it only really cost $15. I then went to the Festhaus and waited till 3. At three Jeff Siebert explained that we would watch a video of Boomerang Bay and then go back outside to conduct the tour. The video was nice and offered great visuals of the new attractions. After that, it was off to Boomerang Bay. We walked in the Backstage area, past the Admin offices and Jeff`s office. We then stopped by the White Water Canyon boats that are awaiting their offseason maintenance. There Jeff also pointed out an Adventure Express train also awaiting its offseason maintenance. Also the third train for SoB was sitting there. Jeff also mentioned how the person in charge of construction at PKI right now (I forget his name) used to work for Disney which is why the attention to detail and theming has increased on attractions since 1999 when he started working at the park. Jeff also hinted about a possible change to an existing attraction for an upcoming season (TR:TR????) We then entered Boomerang Bay. Lets just say that the park has done a lot of work and research and is actually spending half of the money not on new attractions but on aesthetics and theming. Most of the attractions will be getting paint jobs and will be painted yellows, oranges, and reds. Also, Kookabura Bay is being built in what today is a giant stretch of concrete. Jeff also mentioned how they have designed the park so that you can`t see all the way into it and how they are adding more planting areas for trees and plants in the expanse of concrete. Also, he commented on how the gift shop and restaurant would be expanded. Also, the wavepool will be repainted blue and there will be a ton more funbrellas to add more shade to the park. Also, he mentioned how the funnel for Tasmanian Typhoon will point towards the Wavepool and I-71. Also, not included in the anouncement, there will be sand volleyball courts to the immediate right of the high tension tower. It seems like the park is really trying to tie the old and new sections of the waterpark together. Also, Jeff said that they will be adding pavers to the walking surface so its not all concrete. Wipeout Beach, other than its winter rehab, will return unchanged. They are also adding/upgrading the changing facilitied and restrooms in BB. Jeff indicated there might be another construction tour in the spring when there is more to see. At the conlusion of the tour, Jeff gave us his usual teasers. He stated that Son of Beast will continue to be worked on and the each season they hope it will get a little smoother. At least they will continue to work on it, it was riding horrible towards the end of this season! He did state that there would be no new rides added to the ride park in 2004 because BB is their main focus. Although he said they do have some very exciting surprises in store for 2004 (he liked saying in store for 2004). I think one of those is a new program for TR:TR, any one else have any clues? He also said that they will be making an exciting anouncement sometime around March. A new coaster in 2005 or Winterfest for 2004, maybe??? Can`t wait to hear what they have up their sleeves. They are applying for variances to build a new sign about the same size as the old one, but a much more modern one with all sorts of bells and whistles. He also mentioned that there might be sneak previews of BB for passholders, and possibly one for just enthusiasts! He concluded that the park values the friendship, support and feedback it gets from its loyal enthusiasts and he stated the park looks forward to maintaining that friendship in the future. Thanks for the tour Jeff, it was AWESOME! I can`t wait for 2004 and to go to Boomerang Bay!!!!! I ended my day with an hour wait for The Beast. It was running very smooth and , as usual I had a blast. Unfortunatly, I couldn`t hang out for the final ride of the year before the park put it to bed with its pillow as Jeff put it, but oh well. BTW, there were several people who took part in the tour (I`d say around 60 people or so. I know that Shaggy (John Keeter), Sean Flaharty, Scott and Carol Holmes, and Italianchef (Charles Infosino) were there among many others who I don`t know there names. I spent way too much time typing this report and I hope the offseason goes by fast!

Well, having returned from the Boomerang Bay and 1 ride on The Beast, I can say the park was swamped with people. When pulling in, the lot was almost full and they had brought out the "Park nearing capacity" signs out at the parking lot. As expected, he did show a BB video. Looks awesome and i think everyone in the Festhaus both the GP and all of us enthusiasts were quite impressed by the stunning footage.

I don`t think they`ll add on to The Beast. It`s hard to believe that next season will be the 25th anniversary of it. It seems like just yesterday that they were celebrating its 20th anniversary and anouncing its Son. I still find it amazing that it holds the record for world`s longest wooden coaster. Hopefully they`ll update the 20th anniversary stuff thats hanging in the station. Jeff Siebert did say a lot of stuff on the Boomerang Bay Tour today. He did say that there will be a special line of Beast merchandise commemerating The Beast`s 25.

Wouldn`t Flight of Fear be able to run in the cold since the building it is located in is heated? I know the big dome is not heated and air conditioned as well as the queue, station and launch tunnel but it still has HVAC in it. I know on the survey the park asked what rides you would want to see and one of them was The Beast, so obviously it can run in cold wather.