erniebald57

PKI Vortex was built almost 20 years ago (can you believe that??). It was the first Vortex, and the name has been used by Paramount Parks over and over for some reason. Vortex @PKI is an Arrow Megalooper, and Vortex @Carowinds is a B&M inverted...and so on. The only thing they have in common is their name. 17 years ago.....geez I can remember when the line stretched all the way back to the Eiffel Tower.

That would be a bummer if they overhauled Itnl St. It would totally take away from the nostalgia that PKI has for me. Besides, the Eiffel Tower isn't in Hollywood, and it would look out of place among palm trees. Bottom line, PKI needs a new coaster....a very large steel coaster. The revamping and theming is nice, but PKI hasn't had a blockbuster ride in awhile, and I'm sure that most PKI fans are calling for a new coaster.

Maps good.....advertising bad. I see plenty of advertising in the real world. I go to amusement parks to get away from the real world.

false advertising on the post here dude.' Any photo booth workers here ever seen a "camera flash"?

Designated smoking areas are a good idea, if you can enforce them. Its not a big deal to me if somebody walks around the park smoking. Its open air after all. It does bother me in the queue. Two things bother me at a park....line cutting, and smoking in the queue...nothing like somebody lighting up right next to you and you can't go anywhere. Quite annoying Speaking of queue smoking....I can recall a line session on FoF last year. Somebody was smoking in line alright, and the smoke that permeated the air had a distinct smell if you know what I mean....thats right, the wacky tobacky smoke filled the dark room on FoF that night.

I've ridden a few Vekomas, mediocre at best. The ones I haven't rode are mediocre according to some peoples opinion. Still others are not reliable...Deja Vu models at various Six Flags parks being the major culprit. There are 3 companies in the industry who are designing sure winners. GCI, B&M, and Intamin. GCI builds woodies (the last thing PKI needs), B&M is still good, but there are a lot of them around. They should go with Intamin. Forget about the restraint thing in Mass. The cause was determined to be operator error, although Mass govt felt that someone needed to be the scapegoat. The TBar is a great restraint... used on MF and TTD at Cedar Point. Intamin is the whip right now as far as design and engineering, and PKI should take advantage of that.

There have been some cases when I have been at the park, and the Coney Arcade is full...at least at the front where all the new games are. To be honest, I usually go in and play a few games when I'm there. Obviously it does okay because it's still there, and it adds to the feel of Coney Mall, which I thought was supposed to emulate, or at least pay tribute to... old Coney Island. Amusement parks have always had arcades or "games of skill", and since this one does ok, then keep it open, and let all those people crowd around the Dance Revolution game.... geez I hate that game.

Amusement parks do extensive surveys and research when putting in new rides, one of those methods is to interview and survey park guests. PKI is no different in this area. In a way, the people have an indirect say as to what goes in the park. Thats not to say that the public gets the final say. As important as people's opinions are, most of them have no idea of what is best for the park at that particular time. If this were the case, then you would probably be building a coaster every year, and as fun as coasters are, they aren't the end all be all of amusement parks.