TOD

[StXBomber]

On opening day morning, I had to get up nice and early and take those dreaded ACT's. The whole test when I wasn't thinking about volcanoes and collectable coins, I was thinking about PKI. Well, at about noon we were released and I want to get to PKI ASAP, too bad the parking lot was... well... a parking lot. Every student taking the test was released at the same time, and the exit was clogged. 15 minutes later, I'm on my way to PKI.

That was the first sign that I'd be sitting and waiting.

Well I arrive at the park and as I drive up and see rides running, I feel like a giddy school girl about to see a boyfriend she hasn't seen for 5 months.

I enter the park and realize it's about 1 and I still haven't eaten lunch yet. I stroll over to Oscars and *GASP*! I see Jeff Siebert! He is chatting with a couple people at the table, so I don't bug him. At least I now know he really does exist.

I munch on my food and drink my Coke / Root Beer (they had Root Beer in the Coke slot). I hurry out to Beast and check in with my crew and head on out for my first ride of the year...

ZEPHYR! I had to say hi to my old crew, so Zeph was my official 1st ride of the year. The paintings are very good looking now, flowers really stand out.

After that I head over to FoF, but considering the line is 1 hour, I just go in the exit and say hi to the peeps in there. Doing this I notice that FoF station has new lights and it is darker in there.

Well I head over to my current crew, and get a ride on Eagles. Yeah, I still can snap.

As I walk over to Beast, I see some of the new signs. One has ride stats, one is about how it keeps getting rated one of the top 10 wood coasters in the world, and the last is about the guy who's ridden Beast over 4,000 times. Well it turns out that it was closed, so I go into the arcade for some DDR.

The RvT DDR machine's left pad must be broken cause I failed Twilight Zone, something I never do. It would count holds, so I knew something was up. I play one more game on the right side, and it works perfectly (B on CSFIL Speed Mix Maniac).

Well after playing CSFIL Speed Mix Maniac, I need an Icee (the unofficial drink of DDR players everywhere!). I walk over to CM and get one.

Since I hadn't ridden a coaster all day yet because they all have long waits, I go to Racer to give the seat belts a test spin. I wait... and wait... and wait... It took me at least a half hour to get on. Other than the wait, it was fine. Seat belts DO NOT affect air time. I had never waited so long to ride Racer before.

That was the second sign of sitting and waiting.

At this point I have about an hour left, so I go back to Beast to get a ride on that before my shift starts. The documentary was not running in the queues. The station has more signs though, like, "CAUTION: The Beast seen in area!" And they have 6 new signs along the station that you walk under to board the train, "Ignore the screaming" "In the woods..." "Everything is fine!" "Last chance to escape" "The wrath of" "The Beast"

Also the roaring sound effect is loud! It sounds more like the station is falling apart than a monster roaring though. The have it timed pretty well though, it only went off once while I was in the station.

Well with 15 minutes left until my shift starts, I board the train and as the train leaves the station I tell my crew, "See you in 5 minutes."

I shouldn't have said that...

The train begins the trip up the first lift, and then it stops. The music started playing at that moment, so I thought it might have been part of the new theming, but it wasn't We realize that Vortex isn't running either, and as far as we can tell none of the other coasters are. Here I am halfway up Beast's first lift, and I have to start work in less than 15 minutes. My supervisor comes up the lift and tells some cheesy jokes to the other guests. If you read another TR on this day, you know why they all stopped. I did get a nice listen to the new music though, it just kept looping the whole time. It sounds TRTR-ish to me. Well, that 5 minutes turned into a half hour.

Well, I get back and start working. Since this TR is already long enough, here's a summary of what happened the rest of the day:

1. Paint chips were flying into the station onto me and other employees and guests.

2. Heard my first dumb guest quote of the year. I over heard a guest watching Eagles while I was running it, "It doesn't have seat belts, you don't need them! You have that thing to hold on to!"

3. Got my first night ride on The Beast of the year.

And when the train is actually moving, the chain drowns out the first lift's music. You can only really hear it when you are next to a speaker, so it fades in and out as you go up.

[SOB_TOM]

HAHAHA You were on the train on Lift 1! If you looked over at TRTR and saw that guy running around from the backdoor to the drivebox, that was me. All to find out Joe had the show stop pushed in. I lost (literally in one day) 10 lbs because of me running around.

[0-120]

That's very good that you didn't bug Jeff. That must get annoying for him if that happens a lot. That's really neat that they have a sign for the guy that's ridden Beast over 4000 times. I want a sign!!! Well I'm going for 250 times this year so I think that's close enough. Can't wait to get my first ride! I'm goin' straight for The Beast.

[StXBomber]

HAHAHA, I was on the left side of the train, so I couldn't see TRTR. I did see a broom stuck in a tree to the left of the lift. The only explanation I could figure out is that The Beast put it there! I mean, it was at the very top of it!

[PKIDelirium]

Uh-oh! Witches!

[beastdude]

We got witches on beast, Vampires on Vortex, and Gouls on scdathc. oh wait there realy are gouls on scdathc. ( fake ones of course)

PS First post on PKIU

[SOB_TOM]

Too bad. From what I heard it looked funny seeing me sprint up those stairs.

[Return_of_Yogi]

Im wondering Tom, if you being a tech means I'll se more of you.......do you have any connection to Abe?

[derbeast]

He didn't mention the joys of checking bars with me

[Shman]

Im wondering Tom, if you being a tech means I'll se more of you.......do you have any connection to Abe?

No Yogi......I am pretty sure that he is involved with tech services......not the in-park techs (entertainment dept.)

[shadow2k3]

That's very good that you didn't bug Jeff. That must get annoying for him if that happens a lot.

You should tell that to PKI_MAN. After my shift ended... I saw Jeff and PKI_MAN was with me in the park. Although I had to find him first.. The moment he saw me talking with Jeff he went apes**t. I was carrying a short conversation with him.. and he just took it over and talked to him for a good 10 minutes about anything and everything. I'm shaking my head in shame thinking "Poor Jeff". Dude.. I need a leash for that kid.

I have yet to ride to any rollercoasters... although I should be able to ride soon. I'm itching to ride The Beast, and I want to make it my first rollercoaster ride of the season. Oh and Bomber.. keep using the RvT DDR machine. The one in OC has a stuck start button, and the one in the FH has a stuck coin dispenser. Oh Monduce, where art thou?

~S~

[SOB_TOM]

Thanks for trying to answer for me, but yes I do occassionally work with Entertainment. You have probabily seen Nick around, hes from tech services. Whenever he needs help, I go help.

Thats how I met ya this year Yogi, we were looking over some cable runs.

[Return_of_Yogi]

I thought you might have..........but yeah SHMAN knows his stuff too. lol

[StXBomber]

Oh yeah, and I checked bars with derbeast.

Sorry about leaving you out, its just that so much stuff happened that day that I had to cut it down to the major things. Sorry!

[SML828]

I didn't realize Abe was still there - Yogi and/or Shman - tell him Shifty says hey!

[Return_of_Yogi]

Dude he's the man. My first year there he was like my hero! When i broke the window he just tore the rest out with his bare hands.......alright, so he had gloves on, and i was a bit i nshock of what had happened, but he's still real cool.