CoasterKrazy

From reading your trip report, sounds like we were in line at the same time.

I pulled in to the parking lot of PKI at 10:00 AM. Paid the $10 for parking, and noticed that you can leave and re-enter the parking lot without paying, as long as you show the parking receipt. Having been to the park anywhere from 40 to 50 times, you'd think I would have noticed that before, but apparently not. Some very basic landscaping has taken place at the edge preferred parking lot. The tall fences leading into the park have been removed and partially replaced with lower, black fences. Grass has been planted, and it may just be my imagination, but the area seems flatter, which makes me think some dirt had been brought in to level out the area. The metal detectors had some considerable lines, but I have never experienced a long wait, and Thursday was no different. The removal of the ticket booths was done very well, and I hardly even noticed they were gone. I was surprised at how few people actually bought tickets at the park. The majority of people just walked right up to the turnstiles, with whatever form of ticket they happened to have. The park was not crowded at all, and the longest wait we had was about 40 minutes, and that was only because IJ:ST broke down while we were in line. I was very, VERY impressed with Nickelodeon Universe. The paint, the buildings, the rides were all top notch. Yes, some of the rides did appear to be carnival rides, but had I not read that opinion here, I don't think I would have noticed. From pictures, it seems like the removal of rides is obvious, but actually being there was entirely different for me. Everything seemed to be spaced out evenly, and the addition of themeing on older rides was nice. I hope Cedar Fair keeps this area up, because PKI did a wonderful job as far as I'm concerned. When I learned the project wasn't very expensive, I wasn't expecting much, but I am extremely happy with this new area. Now for some general park updates: It seems there has been a slight modification to the floor of Delirium. I may not have noticed it before, but there is now a slight step below the main floor. The metal of this "new?" step did seem to be exceptionally shiny. (I know, not a great indication of it being new) Anyone know if this is new or not? The new paint in Drop Zone is VERY nice. Even the lift mechanism and the coach itself were painted. The Jacob's ladder game in front of Son of Beast has been (temporarily?) replaced with corn hole. Son of Beast has been improved slightly, and I commend the park for their efforts, but I still find it extremely uncomfortable. One of the trains on Flight of Fear now has orange seats. Another interesting thing happened at the exit of this ride. They were using the exit spiel that the ride opened with, except for a slight (and for coaster enthusiasts, humorous) modification. It says something similar to "Now we know what happens when the human body is pushed to the...." The last part of the recording (which should have said "outer limits") has been erased. It AMAZES me that the park keeps things like this (like the sounds on Adventure Express, Phantom Theater, etc.), doesn't use them for years, and then randomly brings them back. With the sale of the parks, I would be interested if PKICentral could work out something to get those recordings here on the site. Just a suggestion.... Also, I didn't mind the new wall coverings found in Flight of Fear's exit. It reminded me of the FDA's forensics lab, and actually made the Air Force base theme more believable. The helicopter on Italian Job stayed in the up position for the entire day. I did not notice any lateral movement, but I wasn't really looking for it either. The crew was running three trains, and rather effectively as well. The monkey room in the Tomb Raider queue is now totally bypassed, and the door to the tomb doesn't even close once riders are ready to watch the movie. Once on the ride, the eyes of the statue are mysteriously working, but not in the same manner with which the ride opened. They do not turn off (even at the end of the ride) and they randomly change colors. They seem to be different from the eyes originally found on the ride. Sadly, this was the only effect working. There were no sparks, no black lights, very few lights during the lava scene, and no fog at the end. However, my "PKI virgin" friends were blown away by Tomb Raider and liked it a lot. My favorite comment was "I can't figure out where all that stuff came from!" Overall, it was a great day and I had an awesome time at the park. Waits were minimal, and other than ride themeing, everything else looks to be in pretty good shape. Great Wolf Lodge is coming along nicely, along with the new road in front of it, complete with road dividers with trees and grass.

I can't imagine that anyone would be hurt from Son of Beast burning down anymore than people are hurt from riding Son of Beast. At least the burning scenario would provide something pretty to look at.

Hope it burns down...I mean...I hope everything...was fine...yeah, thats what I mean....

Are there any indications at all that Busch or Universal were interested in purchasing Paramount Parks?

Actually, I found Cedar Point's Halloweekends to be much more impressive than Fear Fest, and Cedar Point's shows also receive more recognition than those at Kings Island. I agree that themeing could become [more] of an issue, but as far as shows and Halloween events go, I think we will see improvement. At one time, Cedar Point had a winter event, but due to low attendance it was eliminated. If Winterfest is as much as a success as it has claimed to be, I can see Cedar Fair trying it out for a few seasons.

Wow. Less than six million to revamp the entire area? That is impressive, especially when considering the return on investment the park is already seeing, but it makes you think what could have been done with a larger budget.

No, there wasn't an uproar by any stretch of the imagination, but they did notice it was gone. On the six separate occasions I visited the park that season (each time with a different group of people, made up of several demographics, from young children, to teens, to adults, and myself being the only enthusiast present) someone always mentioned the fact that they were disappointed Antique Cars had been removed. Compare that to my experience with King Cobra's removal, where it was either assumed that someone had died on the ride and that's why it was removed, or (my favorite response) someone would ask "There used to be a roller coaster there?" Obviously, there are different reactions to the removal of different rides.

I hate the cutbacks as much as the next guy, but I wonder if the people that matter (the general public) really notice that nearly 100% of the themeing on Top Gun has been removed, that about 75% of the special effects on Flight of Fear, Italian Job, Adventure Express and Tomb Raider don't work, and that other rides like Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle are slowly but surely deteriorating as well. In this situation, I wonder the validity of the old saying "you have to spend money to make money." Take a look at Disney. They go all out on nearly every attraction and it has paid big time. Spending nearly 100 million dollars on several attraction has resulted in several billions in increased profit. Could this work at PKI, albeit on a much smaller scale? If they take the time to make the "magic of the movies" experience a little more "magical" (meaning they take the time to work on aspects that many guests won't notice) would the attendance rise? Obviously, guests notice the big stuff, (namely the removal of beloved rides like Antique Cars) and this can have an immediate impact on the park. But what about those small things? If those "once a year'ers" come back each year and find themselves thinking things like "didn't music play on this ride last time?" or "didn't those eyes used to light up?" will those thoughts eventually build up to "I think we'll take our cash somewhere else?" Now more than ever, we see that Paramount's Kings Island is a business; and not some "mom and pop" place where major purpose is to make people happy, with monetary compensation as a pleasant side effect. Rather, the sole reason for the park is to generate major cash flow, and since that was not being achieved, they are being offloaded. It will be interesting to see the effects of a new owner. One option in particular seems undoubtedly bad (private investor), while being bought by a competitor such as Cedar Fair has the potential to go either way. Does Cedar Fair pick up the themeing business (which has yet to be seen at their other parks) or do they throw away all that [should] makes the rides at PKI a step above what can be found at other seasonal parks? I can't wait for '07. I just hope my anticipation doesn't turn into disappointment.

The picture below of Drop Zone at PKD gives a clearer view of the seat supports, which I assume are similar to Drop Zone's at PKI. http://www.pkdplace.com/images/pkd/dz05.jpg

When comparing the seats of Volcano: The Blast Coaster and those of Drop Zone, they do seem incredibly similar. There are no apparent differences in design between the two sets of seats. When looking at how the seats are connected to their respective ride chasis, however, I think there are a few descrepancies. Check out these two pictures. http://www.rcdb.com/ig474.htm?picture=10 http://photos.pkicentral.com/displayimage.php?album=59&pos=8 Notice the different structure beneath the seats. Now it is entirely possible that Intamin has designed their seats to be interchangeable, but I don't understand why used coaster seats would be used to replace used Drop Tower seats.

I was not able to view a photo on the link you provided, so I looked in the photo gallery, and if we are looking at the same picture, I'm pretty sure the orange is from the seat belt.

Wait, old seats from an Intamin inverted impulse coaster were used to replace the seats on an Intamin Drop Tower? Was this confirmed, or only inferred?

No, it certainly wasn't the camera. That is just one of the [many] effects on the ride that should be working but doesn't. Even if the general public is unaware these aspects of the experience are missing, I think they would be eve more impressed if everything was working the way it is supposed to.

Notice how the 2006 park map fails to mention Flight of Fear as a major attraction, while the 2005 park map did. This may or may not be an indication of what's to come, cosidering Adventure Express is not featured in the 2006 map either.

RingMaster, In the words of Laura Croft: Aboslutely.

Actually, I think the base price was $24.99. Hence, the "all discounts considered." I meant to emphasize the point that even with discounts, the price is still unreasonably high.

From what I've heard, Winterfest could have been more of a "success" if the prices had been reasonable. Lets say all discounts considered, $5 for parking, $15 for entrance, $15 for meal, and (apparently, correct me if I'm wrong) an extra $10 for ice skating. With no skating, thats a hefty $35, and when there are several other winter events around Cinci that run on the same scale as Winterfest but don't include the extremely high prices, the guests will go to the other places.

Agreed. It seems like the attractions over the past few years have been hyped up to be more than they actually are. When exiting Tomb Raider or Italian Job, the complaint I hear most often is some form of "Well, that was nice, but is that all?" (This coming from teenage and older guests) It wasn't until recently that I heard this after riding Delirium, which might be attributed to what seems to me to be a shorter ride cycle now that the broken gear has been replaced. Would themeing that actually works solve this problem? From an enthusiast's perspective it certainly would, and when considering the general public I don't see how it could hurt. If Tomb Raider actually had all the flame and lighting effects working in the queue, and the sparks, lighting, fog, sound, water, statue eyes, I think many people would have their "that's it?" sentiment reduced drastically. The same goes for Italian Job's flame, water, fishtailing, staircase, lighting, fog, helicopter, sound, effects and general themeing as well. I don't expect PKI to be Disney, with ten-minute flume rides with such incredible themeing they are more exciting than a roller coaster (my true opinion), but with the current advertising, that's what I'm led to believe. The kid zones are incredible, but those kids grow up, and want something else to do.

While I enjoy the "tunnel effect" you mentioned, I don't believe PKI has one of the best front gates. It seems to be fairly efficient from what I have seen at other parks, but it is lacking in the aesthetics department. Surpirsingly enough, Kings Island could learn from Six Flags as far as entrances go.

Would this coaster have been contending with the Son of Beast concept?

Just give me a few more years at UC and I'll give you the next 4th dimension coaster. While I do not have a subscription to First Drop magazine, many people have confirmed that an article in that magazine specifically mentions S&S has modified the 4D concept, supposedly making it a viable option for parks. From what I understand, there were even pictures detailing the changes made (shorter, lighter trains, different wheel/axle configurations, etc.) Here is a link to a website featuring the Intamin 4th dimension concept. If anyone is fluent in German, a translation would be nice Google looses a fair amount in translation.

That picture is not from the stage in Festhaus, but Paramount Theater.

While I am probably one of PKI's worst critics as far as themeing goes, I actually wouldn't mind if they had re-used themeing from previous WinterFests. Seems like it would add a nice little touch of history.

Once I resurrect Arrow Dynamics to its former glory and I own Kings Island, I'm going to re-build Bat. But this time it will work.