bwware

Nope! I dont know that guy. I was just snapping pics of people here and there thinking that maybe someone on here might know someone! If I took a lot of pics of a certain person, it was all by accident!

Oh, I wasnt asking in a snippy way why it was running without anyone on it. I just kept looking over at it for about an hour and it was running, actually RACING the forward train full of people, but the backwards one was just empty everytime! Was just wondering why...thats all. I knew it had to be for some sort of test runs or something like that.

Yeah, it is a Kodak. This is actually my 4th Kodak digital since I loved my other 3 but this one seems to give me a bit more duller of a pic. Not sure why. This is a DX4530. I no longer have my other 3 cameras so this is it! Thanks for the advice! I knew that Bubba Gump one would get me in trouble!

Ok, I wont make this as long as my last one. I am sure you guys get tired of reading these after awhile..... I got there about 5:30 since unlike the rest of the world it seems, I got stuck at work all day. Anyway, today I hit the coasters I wasnt able to hit this past Sunday when all the steels were closed due to cold weather. Short but sweet: Top Gun - NO LINE! Ride really does nothing for me. Never has. Still, I would have rode it again if I didnt have to walk a mile OUT and then a mile back IN! Face/Off - I love this ride, just WAY to short I would have rode SOB here had it been open! Vortex - The roughest I ever felt this one! After my ride, I had to wait in my train outside the station until they found out who it was that took there shoes off before there ride started. Turnes out EVERYBODY had there shoes on in the train, so it was a mystery! Beast - Again, roughest I ever felt this one as well! I am really LOVING the video they had playing of the making of The Beast. They just need to turn the volume up....ALOT! The volume DID seem to be louder when it came to the FX on the lift hills...at least I think. Funny hearing people asking "since when has The Beast have music?" Tomb Raider - same old same old. In the room before the movie room, the ride op asked us if we had any questions, one guy asked if they knew how to operate a HEATER since it was hotter than HECK in there! I mean BLAZING hot! Then the guest was like "well you better figure it out before summer!" I was like, dude, chill! Short day ride wise. The lines were very short. I took a ton of pictures today. Was wondering if I should ride TR:TR with a digital camera in my pocket, but I had no problems at all with it. Jeff happened to be standing right in front of me as I was leaving. Pretty spiffy suit! I wanted to ask him when they were going to start selling that Beast video but I chickened out. RHETORICAL QUESTIONS: Why was recaR running empty almost all evening? Is that a sweet looking poster they replaced The Beast 20th birthday sign with or what? I want one for MY wall!! (see my picture page) Do you want to own a copy of that Beast video as much as I do? And I really really DO! Is The Beast running really rough? Or is it just me? Dont you wish McDonalds had Potato Works fries? Do you know any of the people in the pictures? I have uploaded 51 pictures to the web for you all to look at if you wish. Was in a rush so who really knows what ended up there, but you are more than welcomed to view them! ENJOY! PKI Opening Day 2004

There are links to the pics on home page of the site. If this is the same dude that was running the FORWARD racer on Sunday, you were doing a perfect job at getting both forward and backward trains to race! You were on par perfectly with the girl driving the backwards racers! Even in the cold weather, looked like you guys were having a blast at doing what you were doing! Mad props guys! Bill

Link to the text... CinWeekly Kings Island Story

I am very curious about rides and power. If the power goes out just as Drop Zone is released, then what happens? Does it emergancy break on the way down? I have always wondered stuff like that and thought what a perfect time to ask!

Does it seem that the concrete tunnel after the first underground tunnel have a wooden portion in the middle of it? Could that be what there talking about?

I did notice the small construction areas near certain portions of that track. That made me believe it wasnt totally "madeover" yet. But just for fun, did anyone notice the wig in the tree next to the second lift hill? It is on the right side. A bunch of us looked over at it and started asking why it was there!? Just seemed out of place! Plus, just for kicks, if you do the train, look for the HEAD at the lower left hand corner of the jail....that is, if it is still there on friday!

Ok, just got back from Parade/Opening day game. The KI float SUCKED! Was hoping they would have the new Oddparents toons up there but instead had some Thornberrys and the newer Little Bill. Here are some pics: Firetruck pulling the float Kinda see Little Bill Another view of Bill Kinda hard to decide what was better!? This past weekend, or that float! HAHA ONLY KIDDING GUYS! Bill

They have had it for awhile now. Filled with cartoon dress up people and such. I think they might also take the loop from SOB and put it on the float as well! I wont be IN the parade, but I will be watching it! Also get a spot right next to the fountain.

when you goto a sneak preview of a movie, they dont only show just half of the movie, they show you the entire thing! Yes, i totally understand why some coasters were not working today, but to have a sneak preview and not even having the rides new FX running seems just wrong to me. Pretty much the only reason I went today was to see what they did to The Beast, and from what little noise it made, it sounded more like The Beastie! Come on PKI, if your going to have a Sneak Preview of something, at least have something for us to "preview"!!

First of all, on the way to the park, I seen a dog walking down 275 near Reed Hartman Highway exit. Anyone else see that? Anyway.... Got the park right before 10 this morning. Seen the sign out front with the very long list of rides that would not be running today! WHAT? No Vortex? No Face/Off? No SOB? Well, The Beast wansnt on that list so that was good enough for me! Ordered my season/parking pass and got my wonderful picture taken. Actual, it looks like total crap since the lady taking it didnt tell me when she was going to snap the pic! At least most of them say smile first. Into the park I go. Snow is actually falling and I ask myself "what did I get myself into?" Heading to The Beast, I had to say hello to Scooby first scoring 1260! Ok, at least I thought that was a good score! Anyway, heading to The Beast, TR:TR caught my eye so I walked on in. Someone was walking right behind me in the outside line section as the snow was coming down so I asked him if he had ever been to KI in the snow before. We started talking and it turns out this guy is a reader of this website. He said he never posts but he reads the website alot. I never got his name. We started talking about the "changes" that we heard might be happening to TR:TR before we got on it. The light for the door is still broken and none of the theming was turned on. The ride is pretty much the same as it was if not duller! I was very unimpressed! They seem to have turned off all the FX, or at least some of them. And I am pretty sure they left the "dome" lights on the whole time. Just WAY to much light on for my tastes! As a whole, the ride did NOTHING for me! So I decided that it was time......time to tame The Beast. The Beast was the MAIN REASON for me to go today. If nothing else, I wanted to find out what "hollywood" stuff they threw on it. A couple of new signs, no Beast Video was playing. Heck, I would have waited in line just to watch the video! But no dice. They still had the same old 20th birthday sign up! But they did have a few new signs to the left and right of that sign. Heck, the only part you could tell it was it's 25th birthday was at the Photo Booth at the line exit! Kinda sad! Just seems they have a lot of work to do before Friday! No line, I walked right up to the train, but had to wait one cycle so I could get the front car. It had been so long since I did the front car on The Beast that I thought it was a perfect time for it. Going up the first lift hill, I could see the new speakers they added for the soundtrack, but there was nothing coming out of them! I was disapointed to say the least. But it still was a sweet ride! Back in the station, there was still no line so off I go to get back in line. I rode it 2 more times and then it was off to FOF. When I got into the station for FoF, again, no line. The girl ride op asked me how I was doing, so I asked her to guess. She said "cold?" WE HAVE WINNER! She said it felt like it was getting a little warmer out there. So I told her that The Beast wasnt really that bad weather wise! She was super nice, as was all the other ride ops the entire day! For as cold as it was, all the ride ops were in great spirits! Mad props to all of you for that! Anyway, as I was getting into the train (last seat) I asked her if she worked yesterday and she told me she did. So I asked what the crowd was like. She told me it was crazy. She said they had a power outage and that they had a lot of angry people on there hands. She said she knew today would be different. No lines meant happy people! I must agree! Ride took off and it made remember just how great of a ride this really was! After getting off the ride, I got right back on it again, but that cool ride op was now at the control desk (or whatever you call it). Was a little bummed about that! I really enjoyed talking to her! I ended up with 3 FoF rides for the day. Anyway, time for a little AE action. Again, walking right up to the train, NOBODY else in the station, waiting tor the train to unload, another cool ride op asked me how I was doing. As the train was unloading, the ride op told the people in the front seat of the car to change seats since there was someone waiting for that seat now (me). WHAT? You can ride it and never get off? So I asked if I was allowed to stay on as well! She said "look around! There is NOBODY else here! Ride as much as you want! But if someone is waiting for your seat when you get back, you gotta change seats!" I told her that I loved her style and off we went! 5 sycles later and I was done. Only had to change seats ONCE! WOOHOO! Only the second time in MY PKI history that I was able to stay on a ride for multiple turns! SWEET! Now it was time to play frisbee. I am getting spoiled with this no line stuff! Was able to walk right on it! WOW! I just love this ride! I found out I was able to get off it and then back on it before the cycle would start back up! Did it 5 times in a row and walked over to Drop Zone and did it 5 times as well! Drop Zone is the only ride that scares me when I ride it because of the way it vibrates when your sitting still at the very top! Kept telling myself.....DROP ALREADY!! I grab another ride on the coolest frisbee in the world and then head off to The Racer. Grab the front seat. I always goto PKI by myself, I really have no problem with that! I seem to deem myself a perfect guest as when I get into a coaster, I will close the seat belt, drop the lap bar of the seat next to me just to help out the ride ops....reversing the actiosn when the ride ends. But when I got onto The Racer, I did my usual close the lap bar/seat belt of the seat next to me and I look up the dudes behind me in line waiting for the next train are LAUGHING at me!! I was like "whats up?" They were like, "who you belting in?" I just blew it off and off we went. Ride seemed a little rough today. Heading over to The Beast to say good bye for the day, I took a look at the Zepher and Scrambler. Scrambler looks nice, Zepher look ok (I guess) didnt really see anything different with the Monster. Did someone say it had a new sign? Looked the same to me. Another ride on The Beast, but now they had the Sound track on. I think I heard it once in the station. On the way up the first life hill, some very lame scary (I guess) music was playing. Maybe I heard a growl as well. I know I heard a growl at the second lift hill. My opinion, if that is all there doing with that soundtrack, then The Beast was better without it! Very very lame! After The Beast, I got some Potato works fries (with cheese!) and then onto the train to check out the Boomerang Bay construction. I decide to head home and off to the car I go. Look at the clock and it is 2:00 on the nose! So from 10:00-2:00 I was able to do: Scooby (1) TR:TR (1) The Beast (4) FoF (3) AE (5) Delirium (6) Drop Zone (5) Racer (1) Train (1) 27 rides in 4 hours! That tells you right there how DEAD the place was today! I have been spoiled, big time!! Planning on going back up on Friday after work just to see if they made any changes to The Beast. But until then, I am out....... Bill

Went this morning. Got there at 10:00 and stayed until 2. The Beast, FoF, Racer, recaR, AE and the Beatie were the only coasters going today. They said it was to cold to run the others. They just let you stay on AE if you wanted, you had to get off and get back in line for everything else. No real biggie though, was able to get off Delirium and back on before the next cycle took off! Rode it 5 times straight! did the same with Drop Zone. I did not see anything about the park closing at 5 at the park itself.

/\ I dont get it. Anyway, my vote goes to King Cobra. I was lucky to have given it a ride the last year as well. If I knew now what I knew then, I would have rode that sucker alot more!

I was being sarcastic. I am sure there is plenty of drama at the park itself, but dang, this is one heck of a website for it as well!

You got it all wrong.....I love "PkiUnlimited" because of the DRAMA!

I was shocked to find out that Weird Al is INDEED coming back to Timberwolf this year. I though the place wasnt all that well sold to make him wanna come back again. I would love to see Def Leppard come back as well, but I know they are done touring (in the states) for awhile!

Those PT pics totally ruled! I love seeing behind the scenes stuff when it comes to things like! Did someone say earlier in this thread that there is video of Demon somewhere on the web? I rode that ONE time, my eyes closed the whole time!

Nope! I never asked such a thing! I just sit back and let all you guys fight it out!

On top of that, does anyone have any pictures of the rotor?

Dude, I just wanted to thank you for sharing that great story with all of us! I, for one, never knew that KI had a Reds Gift shop in it! Thanks again!

Skylab isnt all that old! I loved the heck out of that ride! I make it a point to ride the one in Ceder Point and Chicago's Six Flags everytime I go! Really wish they didnt take that one away! Am I dreaming, but when that ride first opened, didnt it go totally upside down? But in later years it would just go shy of the upside down route?

Yes, I would like to see this happen as well, but all I ask is that whoever makes the brakets, be fair in setting them up! I noticed on the Ceder Point one that they have Top Thrill Dragster (which OWNS) Vs. Charlie Brown's Cookout. Ok, $5 says that Top Thrill Dragster KILLS Charlie Browns Cookout. I would go coaster vs coaster, food vs. food.

The Bat was in the same place as The Vortex. Yes, I knew that. Looking at the back wall of The Bat loading station , it looks almost the same as it does today! Plus as I am sure you all know, you can look where they store the train in that shed (behind that blue wall) and see where the suspended track use to run thru it! I point that out to people everytime I go!