PKI 5-23-03

[PKIDelirium]

I got to PKI about 1:30 pm.

Keyhole photo 2 was closed, so I dodged an ambush, and saw that International Street Larosa's had a LONG (I mean REALLY long) line, I hiked to Rivertown.

After scarfing pizza, I tromped back to HB land, made a quick stop at Busytown Grill, and headed for Scooby.

It has an HOUR LONG LINE! It stretched almost to International Street, seriously clogging the entire pathway, and blocking the exit. They need to put some permanent fencing there to seperate the line from normal traffic,it's a real mess.

Skipping that, I went to Oktoberfest.

Viking Fury and AE are closed! So I get my mom's water bottle, call it a "club" and and shake it at the ride entrance, vowing to open it myself lol

I head to Action Zone.

After hiking for an hour (well, not really, but it seems like it) down to Top Gun, it has a 45-to-an-hour line! Now I'm kinda mad. So I hike out of Top Gun and down to SoB's entrance. The line is only 25 minutes, so I jump in. After seeing a cemera crew lead by Jeff Seibert go down the maintenence steps, I get in row 2, and have a GREAT, not very rough, ride. My mood is improved so much that I actually pay 12 bucks for a picture and keychain! (Outrageous price, I know, but I'm in a good mood)

Next stop: Coney Mall, hoping to have better luck.

recaR is closed, and Racer has an hour-long line, so I scratch that and head to Zephyr.

It's closed too! It's the first time I've been to PKI in 7 years without riding Zephyr!

So I go over to FoF, and the line is out the building. I seem to be having bad luck with rides today! I go down toward the flyers,and I see that Shake, Rattle, and Roll is also closed. So I get to the flyers AND THEY'RE CLOSED TOO! Shaking my "club" again, I head toward The Beast.

I get in the rear line, wait about 20 minutes, and get a fantastic ride with VERY low trims. The midcourse was on kind of hard, but it quickly got it's speed back and flew though the rest of the ride.

I get off and check Tomb Raider, once again in a good mood, but the line fills up several outside queues. The train is also following today's standard (closed), but the flyers have opened, and some tree leaves lost their lives.

I go to Vortex and ride twice, the first time almost the entire front of the train except the front row is empty, the queues blocked by the front row line. So I jump right in. At the camera, I made a mock-terror face, but when I got off the photo booth was closed! The line is short, so I ride again, this time in the very back seat. I had to wait an extra train because the one I was about to get into has both back seats taped off. Here's the weird thing: The ops checked the broken seats! What's the point of that?

After getting whipped over the top of the lift, I get hurled up against the restraint on the drop, then slam down at the bottom (ouch). The loops are really cool in the back, as soon as you reach the top, in yanks you down out of it. It does that in the boomerang too. For some odd reason, I made a face again, then I remembered the closed photo booth once the flash didn't go off.

By now, Shake, Rattle, and Roll, Zephyr, Monster, and CF have reopened, but it's 5:40 and time to leave. On the way out through Oktoberfest and AZ, I saw that Delirium and a REALLY short (10 minutes) line. So I go around to the entrance, and it's broken down! I would have shaken my club, but my mom took it back just after seeing the Flyers closed. Dunno what's wrong with it, but the line has almost completely emptied out, and it's just sitting there doing nothing, and no maintence people were there, either.

Before leaving, I stopped at Larosa's for a couple cartons of milk, and the casher tried to charge me $5.49 for 2 cartons!!! It's supposed to be 2 bucks for 2. For some reason, she rang up a slice of pizza with it, even though i just had milk. That made me suspicious, so I scrammed, and my mom went back to a different cashier, and got the right price.

So I head out, dodge a few trams (jk lol), and head out.

Overall, a good day, except for the closed rides. It was kind of chilly with the wind.

Next time: Hopefully a new personal record on Scooby!

[DragonLord]

The 23rd was a bad time for the rides b/c most of the employees are still in school and can not work. It was advertised (as much as people say it wasn't) that we would have limited rides open that day. GR was flooded with complaints, even from pass holders. I found that odd b/c a pass holder can just come back another day. Oh well.

The rides that were closed did open by 6pm, leaving a good 4 hours to ride them. The "big kids", 54" and up, should have had a good time b/c they can ride everything in the park and all the major coasters were opened. The small flat rides were closed and so was most of HB/Nick. Parents with little kids really got bad and let GR have it.

[Dane]

I was wandering in my head why all the rides were closed down. Except for Delerium, it sounds like it accually broke down.

And does the shaking of the club really work? You ought to add that part of your story to "funny/Stupid things you did at PKI" In our "paramounts Kings Island " part of the fourms.

[coasterdime]

I was troubled by the ride closures, too. I understood that the park was to suffer from "limited operations," but the only thing EVER limited is the rides. In fact, last year that was a running joke between the PKI volunteers.

All games were open and only a couple restaurants were closed. I had prepared to spend the entire day, but called it quits after 30 minutes.

The whole weekend was not a loss, though. I was back on Saturday to try my luck, and the whole park was as good as it can be! The lines, even though a little long at times, moved quickly and almost all of the ride ops were actually friendly. The park needs to freeze frame Saturday's operation and play it back every day. (I'm talking about effciency and friendliness here, not #'s of emlpoyees.) The crews worked almost as quickly as the crews at that "other" park in the northern half of the state, and that's a good thing.

[PKIDelirium]

One of the SoB Ops was taking people's cameras and taking their picture in the train! I thoght that was nice

[DragonLord]

The problem with the rides is that the employees have to be trained for the rides rather extensivly. You can't just take a game person and have them check the lap bars. It might seem like an easy job, but that would be a very risky move by the park to do so. That is why our volunteers are not allowed to help with the rides.

[matt3224]

Yea, the job isn't as easy as it looks. You do have a lot of things you have to know that go beyond how to run the ride. You have to be ready for anything at any time...which includes problems with guests and stuff.

[coasterdime]

The problem with the rides is that the employees have to be trained for the rides rather extensivly. You can't just take a game person and have them check the lap bars. It might seem like an easy job, but that would be a very risky move by the park to do so. That is why our volunteers are not allowed to help with the rides.

I never even REMOTELY suggested that PKI should pull people off the games to run the rides! I DO wish that PKI would train some of the people that can commit more time to the park to actually run the rides. Not everyone of legal working age is away at school.

By the way, this is a fan site. I am a huge fan of PKI. When things aren't running as well as they should, people outside of the enthusiast community are the first to complain. Some will simply "vote with their pocketbook," and just visit other parks/attractions next time. (which worries me) I did return another day, like I said; and will return many, many more times.

As far as the volunteers go.....most of their frustration was coming from GUESTS who were complaining to THEM. Again, complaining guests aren't happy guests....and unhappy guests sometimes don't come back. Obviously, volunteers aren't stuck running or maintaining the rides. I'm pretty sure that didn't even need to pointed out. They are, sometimes, the person with a name tag even (if it's just a sticker) that will hear some of the grief.

I'm not trying to lash out at any responses here, but even the most loyal PKI employee has to see how some guests could have become a little upset at Friday's situation.

Also, most of the guests have NO idea that the park will limit operations at all, until they arrive. For me, it's just a 15 minute drive, but a large share of PKI's guests travel from much greater distances.

For what it's worth, the park was pretty busy all weekend. Despite this, pretty much every employee (in my observation) was really on the ball. I encountered nothing but friendliness and efficiency Saturday through Monday.

By the way, was SOB Tom working The Beast recently? I would have said hello, but I wasn't sure.....

[DragonLord]

coasterdime, I guess I sounded more agressive than I thought. Some guests need the obvious pointed out, some don't. In your last post you said that you "wished PKI would train some of the people that can commit more time to the park to actually run the rides". The problem with that is that the park needs people willing to work the rides. They recurite and they do their best to put people in all departments, but the people applying have to be willing to work rides. Seriously, If you have some spare time, you can work part time at the park in rides... just go apply! The park is always looking for good people to work!

[coasterdime]

DragonLord,

Don't worry, you didn't offend me or anything. I enjoy the discussion. It's just as good to hear your take on things as it is for you to hear from guests. (I hope)

We may disagree on things from time to time....but we have something in common; our intense interst in PKI.

When the park does things right....I talk about that here. When I see things I don't like, I'll talk about 'em here, too! Sometimes I'll even get an answer or two.

As far as working for the park.... When I was a little younger, I'd dream about working for the park. I lived in Pittsburgh for most of my teen years....would have made for one heck of a commute! I'm 31 now, am content with just enjoying the park as a guest! (Admittedly, a job in Jeff Siebert's dept. could be a blast!)

As I have stated in other threads, my love for this park is the major reason I moved to this area...I'm not even close to giving up on the park yet....

[SOB_TOM]

Yes, Monday morning I was working Beast. You should have introduced yourself. I like meeting people.