IcarusLives

SOB TOM, are you sure the guy was intoxicated? I did a google and found several articles on the incident (it occured on 8/25/99) but not a single one mentions intoxication. Are you confusing it with the incident on Flight Commander at PKI where alcohol did play a part?

I will give Hershey credit for building what could be a great coaster. They were able to take what could have been a copy of Xcelerator and make it unique. I think this could be the direction PKI goes for their next coaster. I can see them taking the Intamin launch and using it in a terrain coaster and/or a heavily themed ride. The nice thing with the launch is you don't have a lift hill taking up space so you can devote more area to rest of the ride. If they do build a coaster, I just hope they don't incorporate it into other rides or over walkways like a lot of parks have done. Yes, it does look cool sometimes but I like the fact the PKI keeps their rides in their own areas.

I know it wasn't a ride but I always like walking through the ivy covered tunnel that was between Rivertown and HB. Anyone remember what year that was removed?

Paramount probably runs the same commercial for all of the parks. The probably shoot a few scenes from each park and then splice them together to make one commercial. Keeps marketing costs down. It's cheaper and quicker than making five different commercials tailored to each park. The general public would not be able to tell that the coaster shown (probably Top Gun at PGA or PCW) is not a coaster at PKI.

I think we would have a very different park. I'm not sure if it would be better or not. Paramount does have some cash but amusement parks are usually get the least attention in entertainment companies, as eviedenced by the rumored sell-off of Unviersal parks after NBC buys Vivendi. The former owners made some smart moves (i.e Beast, Vortex, WWC) but they made a few bad ones too. I've never cared for Amazon Falls and no matter what people say, Phantom Theater never did anything for me. To me, it seemed like the former owners had lost some creativity towards the end. I think Paramount came in and added some great rides. Yeah, they took away a lot of the parks unique quaulities but I think it's still a good. They haven't gone "coaster crazy" like CP but they haven't gone "clone" crazy or ignored other parks like Six Flags. One thing for sure, there would be no Nick and quite possibly no HB. I am sure Time Warner would have charged so much for the use of the HB characters, that the former owners would have let them go. They probably would have been able to get rights for some other line of characters. After all, CP used to have no name characters, and then the Bernstein Bears, and now Peanuts. Maybe they could have snagged Calvin & Hobbes (that's just my wishful thinking).

I think Top Gun would still be there but not called Top Gun. Wasn't it already in the planning (and maybe building phase) when Paramount bought the park?

I have never really experienced a level of roughness that I thought was excessive at PKI. I have ridden with friends who's back hurt after SOB and my dad used to refuse to ride The Beast because it beat him up too much. Yeah, you get thrown from side to side a little on Beast but I just took it as part of the ride. The only coaster I've ridden that really hurt was Iron Wolf at SFGam. But for PKI I would rank Top Gun as smoothest and Beast as roughest, but not any level to where I wouldn't ride it.

Uhhhh.....yeah. Just like it. Exactly.

I really don't see any reason to get upset or start lamenting the sign's demise. I like the park but the sign was just another sign in the huge collection along I-71. Maybe they will install a new one that is a little more original and creative than one made back in 1972.

I really don't think PKI is going to try to hide construction in BB. They have already released pics of what's it going to look like and somebody on this board said they will be releasing a computer generated tour of the area. Their not building anything "ground breaking" or "record breaking" so there is no reason to be secretive about construction.

For Pete's sake, this horse is dead. Knock it off. Yes, CP has added more coasters over the years. But they have also spent more money. And while official attendance figures are not released by each park, there are reports that give out estimations and the parks are pretty much even. Also think about profit margins. If you owned a company would you want high revenue with a low profit margin or lower revenue with high profit margin. I don't have access to what PKI pulls in every year but I can safely say they will have higher profit margins than CP. even if CP beats them in attendance. KC was removed because of maintenace and safety. I can recall it being closed a lot during its later years. And for MF being the best RIDE ever, you need to get out more. Visit IOA and ride Spiderman. Then you will know the BEST RIDE ever.

"Thats just one single manufacturer. Things could be better if we got a B&M flying coaster. I am hoping for one of those myself. " Unfortunately, S:UF is a B&M. I'm sure if PKI would ever go with one they could request a better layout than the ones used on Six Flags Supermen. But flying coaster don't do a whole lot, for me. Your neck gets really tired trying to hold it up in that "Super Hero" flying position. And if you don't, you end up just staring at the ground as you go through the course. Yes, I know a lot of people like flying coasters but I feel they're a "one trick pony". Coasters like MF and Raging Bull prove you can build great coasters without having to resort to "gimmicks".

That's not to say you would never see any characters at any parks. Almost any company will allow use of their characters if the price is right. Look at Spiderman. Marvel owns the rights but gives Sony the movie rights, Universal has the rights to use him in a ride, and , recently, MTV (a Viacom/Paramount company) has began airing a new Spiderman series. And I think Nick (also Viacom) has a presence at Universal Studios. As to the disappearence of the HB characters..it could be for several reasons. Maybe Time Warner (they dropped the AOL from their name last week) wants too much for the use. Maybe the costumes are too much to maintain. Last time I saw Captain Caveman, he was looking pretty ratty. But the biggest reason, I think, is that kids don't know who the older characters are. Very few kids would recognize Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound, or Top Cat. They aren't shown too much on Cartoon Network (maybe more on Boomerang). Yeah, it was always a thrill to see Fred Flintstone or Jabber Jaws when I was little. But I'm sure kids today feel the same way when they see Eliza, Chuky, or Spongebob. I am hoping to see some characters from Fairly Oddparents show up at the park soon

Talk about killing a joke. Shaggy's original post was a reference to an episode of the Simpsons when they go to Australia.

So this pretty much puts to death the rumor that all the old WW slides would be moved out to PGA for their Boomerang Bay, which I didn't think Paramount would ever do. I wonder if PGA's BB will get the same slides. Maybe Paramount got a package deal from whoever they're buying the stuff from.

"Hey don't forget about our neighbors to the north, Paramount's Canada's Wonderland! They are getting a Flying coaster built by Zamprella, It will be the second of it's kind. I have to give it up for PCW, every year they get a new ride, Nothing Huge but allways Innovative -- by coasterguy" I rode the Flying Coaster at SFEG and I can tell you this...PCW is getting screwed! The thing has incredibly low capcity (only four to a car) and the ride is extremely boring. Plus the "seats" are really uncomfortable. I think Scooby's Ghoaster Coaster provides more thrills than this thing. I really hope PKI never gets a flying coaster. I've ridden S:UF and except for the first time you're put into the flying position, there isn't much to it. And you soon realize you riding a mediocre invertered coaster. I hope they put in a Huss Giant Delirium in the water area. That would be really cool. I think PKI will always get the best choice of rides of all the Paramount parks. And you will never see them get 3rd rate rides (like PCW) or recycled rides (like PC).

The current Dodgem as added in '86 along with Zephyr and Skylab for the parks 15th anniversary. The original one, next to the scrambler was pretty small. I don't remember what was at the location of the current Dodgem. Zephyr replaced the Giant Slide, which was cut in half and moved to HB Land, and Skylab replaced Tumblebug, which had to be the ugliest and loudest ride ever in the park.

I doubt they would open rides like FOF or Tomb Raider. Staffing would be a big issue during that time. Plus with TR:TR being so far back in the park, you would have to rope off a lot of stuff and staff the area back to it with at least security. I think if they have Winterfest again, they will keep most activities located in the front and center of the park.

I haven't had a chance to get to the park for a while so I wondered if anybody has been able to see any activity in Water Works? Any removal of slides or anything? I know final details of what's going to be built are still to come but with the area being closed for almost two weeks now, I thought maybe they would have started to do something.

I don't think Burger King would be the best way to go. I like the fact that they added LaRosa's and Skyline, which are local companies. While there is not a large burger resturant based in Cincinnati, they could add Wendy's or White Castle, which are based in Columbus and still support Ohio based business. I think a perfect addition would be Max and Erma's. I think the "fun" atmosphere of their resturants would fit in well with PKI.

I think PKI made a samrt move when they removed the monorail. Yes, it was nice but I am sure the cost of upkeep was just too much. And remember, there was an additional charge to ride the monorail. That might have played a part in its removal. It was a large attraction (land wise) and I think some people didn't like paying for it. Plus, with its removal, Top Gun and then Action Zone were able to be built. So I think more was gained than lost. As for the skylift, I highly doubt PKI would install another one of those. There was a lot of trouble with the last one, especially from lightning strikes. One loading/unloading station was in HB land (the current character house) and the other was right about where Adventure Express stands now, and it was elevated. But I've seen more parks take out their skylift (or skyrides). The only park I've seen that still has one is CP. I'm sure there are more but not very many.

Yeah, it's kind of sad to see how many flat rides have been taken out over the years. But most of the flats that were removed were just carnival rides. You can see rides just like Haley's Comet, the bobsleds, and the Rotor at any traveling carnival that sets up shop in the parking lot of a closed Kmart. I think PKI has done a good job of keeping a classic collection of flat rides and adding major unique flat rides as well. And Chatter, I don't think Zephyr is gone. Do you mean Zodiac?

No, they were not always there. They appeared the same year the pond was drained.

Delirium looked great! Overall the show was decent. I think they spent way too much time on Thrillshot (that "bungee" seat ride at SFMM). And I would not classify S:UF as an "extreme" ride. I've ridden it and it's pretty tame. But I think Delirium and TTD came out looking the best.

I think the pond disappeared when the cable supports were added (i.e. the ropes that attach to the track and and the concrete block as you start out from the station). Those were not there originally. There was water flowing out of the pump and by the mine car as you start up the first lift hill.