KIBeast

This is something that is seriously missing from PKI. What happened to the old days when they had great shows. Guess it's a thing of the past. Might as well replace them with new rides if they're not going to put on any good shows.

Well, I would like to start my trip report with a thank you to some of the people here on this site. I took the advice of going to the back of the park first which turned out to be key in getting started. I went with my brother and two uncles. Anyway, we went to ride TR:TR. I had never been on this ride. There was virtually no wait and we waited only one cycle. I have to say that I was impressed with the theming throughout the ride. My only complaint would be that I thought that it was going to do a lot more than what happened. Although, now, I would have to disagree with some that it would be a huge deal to lengthen the program. I would have to give this ride an A minus. Next, we walked directly onto The Beast. Even after 25 years of terrorizing park goers, this is by far my favorite coaster in the park. Since the line was so short, we decided before we even got our first ride, that we would get right back in line and do it again. I have to say, after all of my years of riding The Beast, these two back to back rides were about as smooth as glass. And, I never thought I would say that. Still the #1 wood coaster in the world in my book. After that, we headed for Coney Mall and Flight of Fear. This also was a walk on. I managed two rides on this one twice. I could be wrong, but I thought it felt like it had become rougher this year. I bought an on-ride photo because I have been working on a collection of coaster photos. Still, FOF is a sweet ride and I quickly found out if you ride a bit defensively, it is not so bad. This seemed to be the theme of the day...ride defensively. When we exited FOF, we decided to head over to The Racers which had a zero wait. My uncles rode forward, and my brother and I rode backwards as he wanted to ride in the back seat since he had never done this. You know, I have been riding this one even longer than The Beast and it still has great air time. Next, we headed over to the Action Zone. One of my uncles did not want to ride Delirium, so he waited for the rest of us at the exit. We waited about two to three ride cycles which was not very long at all. When we were ready to load, a ride op pulled my brother aside as she wanted to measure him to make sure that he was not too tall to ride. Warning, if you are 6' 4", you may be told that you are too big to ride, even though my brother had been on it last year. He was a bit PO'd but got over it. Another warning...if you have not been on Delirium, you just about need to empty your pockets before riding. It crushed my sunglasses and squeezed about a half of a tube of sunblock into my side pocket. This was my first ride on Delirium and I have to say that this ride blows TR:TR out of the water. I was truly nervous to ride this one. I was extremely pleased with the experience....it gets an A++. Now, it was on to Son of Beast. What made this trip even more special was the fact that my uncles had not been since Paramount took over, so there were several rides that were new to them. They did both comment on how they did not like the constant movie music that seemed to be playing all day long. I didn't care for it either. In my opinion, SOB has not improved in the least since last year. I usually don't have any complaints about this coaster, but it shook me to death. I honestly felt like I needed a catscan or MRI afterwards. I must not have disliked it too much as I wound up with three trips on it. I did, however, notice the main problem with SOB. There is way too much shuffling left to right of the trains. This was clearly visible from the middle of the train when I looked at the front car. Otherwise, I still liked it pretty well. After that, we headed over to Top Gun. Still a pretty good suspended coaster except for the fact that it was too short. I did notice that it seemed that the theming was pretty much back in order. When we left TG, we went to the Drop Zone stunt tower. I was apprehensive about riding it as I had been on it once and was simply terrified by the whole experience. This was a good time though because I was the only one in our group that had been on it. As we ascended over the bungee tower, my brother looked over at me and seriously asked, aren't we to the top yet? Why don't you look and see. I said,"Hell no!", "look yourself. Then there was the moment of stillness before they drop you. I think what scares me about this ride it reminds me of an elevator just falling. Can't stand that feeling, and the height bothers me as well. Funny, I can ride any coaster of any height and it does not bother me. But, put ,me on a freefall ride and I am holding on for dear life. I was glad when the ride was over. This was probably our longest wait of the day. Next, we hit Face/Off. I love this ride. It was kind of a new experience for me as I had always rode this one in the front or back of the train. We rode so that we all faced eachother. I enjoyed seeing the expression on my uncles' face when we ascended the tower to start...priceless. Even though it is a short ride, I feel that it is very intense. After that, one of my uncles and I decided to catch a ride on Congo Falls. He had forgotten about the little bump on the way down which lifts you out of your seat a little. We didn't get too wet as we had only about 4-6 of us in our boat. This ride was pretty much empty the whole day. Finally, we hit The Vortex. After 17 years, this ride still kicks butt. I took some advice on this one and rode it defensively which made for a better ride. I still love Vortex because it still has that gut wrenching first drop. Still a winner in my book. I won't go any further with my report since everything else was just a repeat of what we had done before, with the exception of the last ride of our day. We rode SOB last and my brother wanted to ride back to back since the line was so short. Well, while our uncles waited on us, they decided to go on the bungee tower. They loved it so much that they bought a video and photo to commemorate the experience. I did discover that some by riding in a seat in the middle of the car as opposed to over top of a wheel helped greatly. We didn't do this on our last ride and I paid dearly for it. I have never had the restraint bar hit me in the gut so many time. It literally felt like I was punched in the stomach. We shopped a little at the end and was pleasantly surprised to find the unofficial Guidebook to PKI by Charles Infosino, AKA Italian Chef. We wound up leaving at 7:15 pm as we had enough. I told them that I didn't care to leave early so we could make it home at a decent time. If we had been all day and only been on everything once, I would have wanted to stay. But, since we had such a great day and had squeezed in 16 rides before 7:00, I felt like I already got my money's worth.

I found a great new item on ebay. It is a video tape of The Beast that was made before it was open to the public. The company who made this filmed the entire ride from a first person point of view. Here's the link to that...The Beast. I may bid on this one.

Yes, they have been considered a thrill park. At one time, they were in the coaster race that involves Six Flags Magic Mountain and Cedar Point, but PKI decided a few years back to drop out of that race. Probably had something to do with the SOB problems.

I think with all their extra land that they haven't use PKI should make an expansion to the park and call it Hollywood Boulevard. And that way they wouldn't need to rename and ruin of any other parts of the park like I-Street or Coney Mall. Actually, I think that is the best idea yet. PKI could do it like when they opened Action Zone. They spent a ton of money on it right off.

I have to say The Beast, but SOB is not far behind. They are really two different wood coaster experiences. SOB is more like a twister coaster whereas The Beast is more of a terrain coaster.

It is great that PKI is in some elite company, but they may be gaining a reputation by some on the west coast as just a kids' park, and not a park for the whole family. I hope this is not the case, there are some very good thrill attractions that PKI has that are not getting any noteriety. But, this is how PKI is marketing itself...as a family park and a great place to take your kids, not a thrill park. This has been pointed out to me several times on this board, and everyone seemed to be ok with this. Now, someone's not happy because they're not known as a thrill park any more.

i saw that show on nick one time called rocket power. and on that show they have that pier area with the roller coaster. wouldnt it be neat if they relpicated that roller coaster at KI? or perhaps an entire small themed area within nick central dedicated to that pier. like have the restaurant that the dad owns and everything. I've never seen this. Can you post a pic? I would love to see PKI get a super saturator.

While Son of Beast is not the best coaster in the park it is no where near the worse. There may be alot of helixs but what more could you want with a wooden coaster that loops and a wooden coaster that stands 200 feet +????? The record has standed for 4 years and probaly alot longer. For the whimps that say this coaster is too rough look at The Beast that is just as jerkey and rough as the SOB and arent woodies supposed to be rough? Finally, someone who agrees with me. You may argue that a wooden structure is limited.... well, my not so brilliant friend, if you look right down the road in Rivertown, you'll notice SoB's daddy, which is a wooden coaster with a couple of helixes The main difference aside of the loop is tunnels and trees. What else does The Beast do that SOB does not?

I couldn't agree more. Coney Mall should never become Hollywood Boulevard. I can see it now....lots of neon signs and a casino...how cheesy can you get?

^As Marv Albert would say. YES!

I was wondering if people like KI better before or after the Paramount acquisition? Some of us old schoolers liked KI (before Paramount) with great classic rides like the Rotor, The Beast, King Cobra, the Screamin' Demon, The Bat, the Bayern Curve, Der Spinnin' Keggers and others. Plus, they had great characters like Fred Flintstone, Dino, Captain Caveman, the Smurfs, Quick Draw McGraw and others. And, Hanna Barberra Land used to be the place to be when you were a kid. But, now they have the Action Zone with great rides like Face/Off, SOB, Delirium and Rivertown now has Tomb Raider:The Ride. And, probably kids enjoy the characters that are now there like the Rugrats (not really sure what other characters there are). Plus, they have Nick Central. What do you guys think?

Sorry, I am already planning a visit for the 7th.

I saw a great commercial yesterday for PKI. They showed a nice shot of Delirium in full swing. They also showed Rugrats Runaway Reptar, Top Gun, Tomb Raider, and I think SOB. There was a heavy emphasis on "ride the movies". Then, a little later, I saw one for Cedar Point. It was awesome as well. But, definitely two different directions for the commercials. PKI's was all about riding the movies while CP's focused on the coasters. Makes me really anxious for my upcoming PKI trip with my brother and two uncles. We are going in two weeks. We used to go together all the time when I was younger, before my back surgery. I couldn't ride coasters for five years. My uncles have not been since Delirium, Tomb Raider, Face/Off, or SOB was built, so they have some catching up to do. I'll post a trip report afterwards as I expect this trip to be memorable. I'm looking forward to adding to my on-ride photo collection. I just need FOF, SOB, and The Beast. Is FOF's photo back this year? I heard that it was coming back.

I liked Days of Thunder when it was playing so I am glad that it has returned. I see this also as a chance for PKI to bring it in line with the "ride the movies" theme that seems to be the center of their marketing campaign.

We will get a new sign this season. I've heard we'll have to wait until June.

You mean it isn't sinking? There's a similar rumor about Magnum XL200 at Cedar Point. It all started with an April Fool's Day joke and evolved into a rumor.

I think before too long, there will be three great amusement parks in the state of Ohio. Geauga Lake will be a better park, just give it a few years. They already have a good collection of coasters.

Yeah, but most of the time, coasterbuzz is a reliable source of information. Screamscape, on the other hand, is sketchy and sometimes correct.

It's not the rails that causes the roughness, but rather the wheel assembly I was reading up on Coasterbuzz and some of the people were saying that it is a combination of the wheel assembly, the fact that they never manufactured their own track and some other factors. I can post a link if requested.

Those are great pics man! I've never really seen a good pic of the Ghoster Coaster. All of the photos are excelent quality and the color is really clear. Nice job!

Oh, btw, someone posted that Dragster's problems had been corrected and that the ride was operating properly. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I understand its been down more than up so far this season.....complete with lots of roll backs and other fun issues. Yes, but it is the beginning of the season and it has to have time to warm up, not unlike the coasters at PKI. From what I understand, SOB and some of the others are having problems as well, which can all be attributed to the fact that they have not run on a regular basis. And, the major problems Dragster had last year were fixed. Who said rollbacks were a problem anyway? This is not a malfunction of that coaster. There's even a sign in line that warns you that you may in fact have a rollback. At least you can be relaunched. If you have a valley or rollback on any coaster at PKI, it has to be shut down, whereas Dragster can still operate without closing.

I think it depends on what kind of experience you are looking for. You have to give Arrow their props when it comes to coasters. You can go to virtually any park and find at least one Arrow coaster in that park. Unfortunately, they never manufactured their own rails, so that is part of the reason they are as rough as they are. Now, B&M is great because they came up with the inverted coaster and perfected the standing coaster. And, they are great when it comes to smooth coasters. Intamin, they are I think the up and coming coaster kings. They have great smoothness to them, plus they have been pushing the envelope when it comes to new technology and advancements.

How can you not like the Family Guy on adult swim? They spoof tons of movies and TV shows. I think it is funnier than Futurama. Just my opinion.

Agreed Browntggrr, I think the best aspect of CP is the ride capacity has been number one for years. When I stand in line for a coaster at CP, it seems that you are always moving, whereas at PKI, you wind up standing in the same spot for a long time. You can't say that CP is generally more crowded than PKI because if you look at the attendance numbers for last year, both CP and PKI are real close to each other. I agree with the Chef that this topic is extremely over done. And Browntggrr, according to the stats you gave earlier, I would say CP might have more flats as well. I took the total number of rides, 66, subtracted the total coaster count of 16, then subtracted the kids rides, 27, and came up with 23 flats. How many does PKI have? And, you can't count the kids' rides as flats or it wouldn't be the same. Guess I'll have to pull out an old PKI map to get a count. I really liked it better when it was Sea World then Six Flags Bought it and turned it into an awsome park I'm gonna miss the animals & The Themed Coasters like the Batman Coaster etc. Yeah, a dirty park with sub par employees had to be much bettter than it is now or will become. No Nicktoon characters for the kids or Scooby-Doo Yeah, that's because CP does not have the rights to these characters. And, they do have the Peanuts gang. And, they do the same things with their characters that PKI does. Granted, they are not as popular characters as they once were, but they are still cool in my book. I liked Charlie Brown and Snoopy long before I liked Scooby.