Koaster King

Paramount hasn't always "replaced rides" on the exact same spot, but I'm pretty sure they've added more rides than they've removed since they've been in charge. They only rides I can remember being removed *by* Paramount without a ride replacement on the exact spot were huge maintenance problems (Skylab, Flight Commander). Think about all the things that have been added though... 1993- Top Gun- arguably the best suspended coaster anywhere 1994- Action FX Theatre- Fantastic people eater with above avg. films 1995- Nick Splat City- Newly themed area for kids 1996- Flight of Fear- first LIM-launched/Mad Cobra coaster 1997- Waterworks doubles in size 1998- Scooby's Ghoster Coaster- Top Gun for the little ones + two new kiddies rides in HB expansion 1999- Drop Zone- tallest gyro drop in the world - Face/Off- umm PKI's only shuttle coaster 2000- Son of Beast- tallest, fastest, only looping woodie 2001- Nick Splat City expands to Nick Central- Part of the Best Kids Area in the World including Runaway Reptar and retheming KMLF to WTRA 2002- Tomb Raider: The Ride- possibly the most unique and best dark ride in a seasonal park (replaced KCKC) 2003- Delirium- one of the best non-coaster rides anywhere (replaced King Cobra) - Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion- one of the best and most popular family dark rides at a seasonal park (replaced Phantom Theatre). 2004- Waterworks renovated into Boomerang Bay, a runner-up of the Amusement Today list of Best Waterparks I think PKI replaced all the rides with something 10x better and popular and I'd say they added plenty of rides to help ease the pain of everyone sad about losing Flight Commander and Skylab. I'm sure a lot of people would rather have Raptor, Mantis, Power Tower, Millennium Force, Wicked Twister, and Dragster instead, but I think PKI is made up of a lot of the little things that seem to be missing at CP. I'm just glad both are so close to home and I wouldn't have it any other way- hooray for competition and both parks *winning*. +Danny

I don't believe the Flyers will be leaving the park and even more unbelievable would be them moving to PCW or PC. That's a heaping bowl of nonsense. I believe the Antique Cars will return in some form by 2006. Cedar Point has *two* Antique Car rides (one of which is rumored to be leaving the park at the end of the season as well), so I don't see PKI moving forward with none due to their popularity. Losing two family attractions in one year without similar replacement doesn't sound like Paramount's current agenda. I wait (and hope) to see the Flyers land in the ex-Flight Commander spot next season. +Danny

According to this article I found at the Internet Movie Database, Viacom has assigned Nickelodeon to supervise the theme park division because they want Paramount Pictures to focus on moviemaking. Does anyone think this will change the way the parks are run or what attractions are built? Has this really already started and been happening the past few years and we're seeing the results of it with the family focus? Whatever the theme parks are doing now, that's what I'd like to see them continue doing. It seems to be paying off with the huge increase in attendance the parks have seen. It's also a great idea to have Paramount Pictures concentrating on movies, because they have had some pretty bad films and horrible box office take for some bigger budget ones lately such as The Core, Timeline, and Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. They should stick to less expensive comedies that make huge bucks such as Mean Girls, School of Rock, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Italian Job is the exception and they need those to fuel new thrill ride themes. http://www.imdb.com/news/sb/#tv2 This seems to be the Press Release IMDb got the news from, but I haven't had the chance to go through all of it yet. http://www.viacom.com/press.tin?ixPressRelease=80404169 +Danny

1. Paramount's Kings Island 2. Six Flags Great America 3. Hersheypark 4. Busch Gardens Williamsburg 5. Disneyland The only thing missing from Kings Island to be a "perfect park" would be a major non-looping steel coaster and maybe better shows and a a full-service restaurant. Including Boomerang Bay in admission is a major plus for me. Six Flags Great America doesn't have any indoor coasters or major rides to escape the rain or heat from in the summer. Unless I missed it, they could use a full-service restaurant. Hersheypark is lacking on the major indoor coasters and attractions as well. They have fantastic shows and a fun atmosphere. Great wood and steel are covered, but a nice big non-looping steelie would be nice. BGW- where's the wood? They're lacking in the quantity of rides dept., but they're a hardcore quality park, so it's hard to leave unsatisfied. Disneyland is missing the wood and doesn't have a lot of thrills. I think they're perfect in the rest of the above though. +Danny

Each person got two exit passes when we "mislaunched" on Flight of Fear and had to walk back and get out of line. I guess every experience is different for everyone. Maybe you need to learn how to complain more. PKI will do something for you. They can't "relate" if you're not complaining. They figure you didn't care. The marketing/guest relations dept. at PKI is the best I've seen, so that's where you want to complain to... I wouldn't encourage it though if you really didn't feel bad about what happened. +Danny

That wasn't supposed to be funny. It's the truth and something they should be thankful for. The blank stares *are* funny though. We're suddenly less annoyed by continual complaints about the coaster and can build our patience back up for the next train... +Danny

Gemini doesn't "race" all the time. Last time I was there, they weren't racing and one visit last year, one side wasn't even operating. Cedar Point isn't perfect. Dragster (numerous times including earlier this week), Wicked Twister (beginning of 2002 plus CoasterMania '02 I believe), and Millennium Force (Millennium Mania, er Magnum Mania) have all been down for days at a time before. Even Magnum and Mantis have had their "off" days in the last couple years. Of course, PKI has had their share of downtime with rides as well. No park is perfect. As far as capacity at PKI, the only crews that I've encountered this year that could have been going a little faster were at Face/Off and Vortex. I think the SOB crew sent out a record number of trains lately in an hour. Good for them! +Danny

"Would anyone like to buy a picture on the tallest operating coaster in the midwest today?" You bet that's what we were advertising at the photo booth all last night. The popular conversation with guests complaining on Tuesday and Wednesday... Random Guest #1: That ride beats you to death. Photo People: At least you weren't stabbed by metal shavings. Random Guest #1-?: *blank stare* +Danny

The only rides I could see a possibility of being removed are the Antique Cars (maybe just the SBNO side) or Congo Falls (due to PKD removing theirs and it not fitting in with the AZ theme). I would say the rest, including Vortex, are there to stay for a long time. +Danny

The votes are definitely split on this one. I like both names and maybe that's a good thing then. +Danny

PKI Punk, Coney Mall and *possibly* International Showplace are the last two areas that haven't been heavily renovated in the past decade, so I would assume it is the only area getting/in need of a renovation. +Danny

Is there still going to be that "big March announcement"? I've heard that while Winterfest was once planned for the end of this year, it has since been delayed, so it's not for that. Would we already be hearing about a new coaster or major attraction for 05? PKI wouldn't just announce that they added "Crocodile Dundee's" to the Boomerang Bay name. If there is going to be an announcement, any idea when the date will be? I guess they may want to announce what they're doing with the Paramount Theatre and the Nick Parade, but I don't know. -Danny

Sadly, you're wrong about some of these things. It's true that PKI has the most wooden track of any park in the world and that they are tied with PKD, Big Chief (will be in 2005 anyways), and Hershey (Lightning Racer- Thunder and Lightning, Wildcat, Comet) with the most wooden coasters outside of Blackpool Pleasure Beach. They have 5 woodies including Grand National, Big Dipper, Roller Coaster, Wild Mouse, and Zipper Dipper. Of course, some people might count Rebel Yell and The Racer as two coasters, which would give PKI and PKD 5 and the record tied with Blackpool (who has a racing coaster, but it's on "one coaster track"). For those who need PKI to hold a record to claim them as one of their favorite or their home park, they still have most wooden coaster track, the longest, tallest, fastest, only looping wooden coaster record titles, most suspended/inverted coasters, most junior/kiddie coasters (tied with Wild Adventure), and possibly the most upcharge attractions of any major amusement park in the world. -Danny

It was back open Sunday, so PKI was on top of it. -Danny

Joe, you should have stopped at SOB photo for a sec. I didn't even recognized it was you until you walked by! It's ok though. I understand *Teenage Ninja*! The other SOB train is getting the new restraints now and when it's finished, the current train will get the restraints. It should be back to 2 train op by daily operation. My visit to just ride was on Saturday and it was way better than Friday. We got on Delirium (2x... I just watched, lol ), Face/Off, Scooby, Racer, Drop Zone, Beast, AdvEx, FOF (2x), Vortex, Flyers (2x), Top Gun (3x), and SOB (2x) before 3:30. Very nice! EP, I think you can buy Sweet Tooth products at It's Fried now. -Danny

It is definitely for real. -Danny

It looks like Delirium will be the second fastest ride in the park! Here's hoping its pushed down to third next season. -Danny

My friend Kristin Marie from Coasterbuzz got the chance to take a few pictures of Delirium and Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle yesterday (4/4) during the photo shoot at the park. She told me they had a great time and thought Delirium was very intense! Here's some pictures she wanted to share with everyone at PKIU, so thanks Kristin for the incredible pics! Delirium: http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644485VpkiGz http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644570GBxjFU http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644563LypeRD http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644598wnIoaP http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644530ZTglvj Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle: http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644630aThnYg http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644642AukkPz http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644660GegtJT Fountain: http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644422cvBAou http://community.webshots.com/photo/431867.../68644620XFgrYP Enjoy! -Danny

While Coney Island is my favorite area of the park like many others have said, my favorite area for rides is Action Zone and my favorite area in looks and atmosphere is Rivertown. So, it's a tie. -Danny

Thanks eSHOP! I think PKI_BOT needs to visit the forums, but I'm not sure if he corrects spelling and grammar, lol. "This chat is brought to you by all of the fine people that bought PKIU Thongs!" -Danny

You're welcome Aaron! It was a great chat and I can't wait to do it again! Thank you so much Aaron and Jeff for allowing it to happen! -Danny

I heard this rumor several months ago about the Oktoberfest Gardens across from Adventure Express changing to the Bubba-Gump Shrimp Company (PKD has one, I think?), but I haven't heard anything else about it. I would really like for PKI to get some more nice, sit-down restaurants, so I hope this is true or at least something similar in the next couple years. I could see it happening, except I don't know if they think Forrest Gump would still have a mass appeal. It's a timeless film though, so who knows? Any ideas? -Danny