TR: 8/24-8/27

[Screwball]

Here’s a trip review of my recent trip down to PKI. My girlfriend and I left Hamilton, Ontario around 6:30 in the morning on Tuesday morning. After an 8-hour drive, we pulled into the PKI campground just before 3:00. After checking in and setting up our campsite, it was off to the park. We were able to walk on to almost every ride all week long, which was a very nice treat since we’ve had a very busy summer at our home park of PCW. We stayed Tuesday night and left Friday morning, and spent most of every day in the park.

Here’s a review of the rides during our four days in the park.

Delirium:

Six rides over the course of our stay. What a tremendous ride, with great forces. At some points the pressure can be too much if you’re not feeling so good. Sometimes I left it with a slight nausea feeling, but not enough to keep me away.

Drop Zone:

Ended up with six rides on DZ, and enjoyed every single one of them. No matter how many times I ride this the rush never goes away. Although the fright I used to have no longer exists, I still love the view and especially the drop. On Tuesday night, I spotted AZ_Kinda_Guy operating, however I wasn’t able to say hello. On another ride later in the night, I saw him joking/yelling at the girl operating who accidentally opened the restraints instead of sending us up, nothing like good support from your Supervisor.

Son of Beast:

Four rides total, I think SOB has improved since I was last at PKI in June. After a few rides my last time at the park, I was fed up with SOB and had little interest to ride it again. It just beat me up way too much, and from the minute it goes down the lift hill I could not wait for it to end. However this time it was much more bearable, it still has a long way to go but I will ride it, so that’s an improvement. This time I sat in a variety of seats, 1-1, 1-2, 4-2, and 1-2 again. Most of the rides were rough, but the worst part it after the first drop going into the second hill once it crests the top it slams you to the left. Ouch! The rose bowl is much improved and I can actually enjoy this part. I enjoyed three of the rides during the week, however one of them on Thursday morning during the rain was quite painful. I think with new trains SOB could be a good coaster.

Adventure Express:

Rode it twice during the trip. Still love this ride; it’s gives a great out of control feeling and the theming was all up and running which adds a ton to the ride. Definitely a fun run ride, and while my girlfriend doesn’t like the jerky feeling to the coaster it doesn’t bother me at all.

Face/Off:

Before this trip we had never ridden Face/Off. I’ve never been a fan of Boomerangs, and chose not to ride this til now. However I wanted the coaster credit so I finally decided to try it out. We tried to ride this late on Tuesday night, but the train before us it closed down due to mechanical problems and did not open up. Finally rode it Thursday morning before the rain came, and was given an alright ride. We were able to ride Face/Off before they opened up AZ, as we waited for the walk back to The Beast. However since it wasn’t opening til 10:00 we were escorted on Face/Off before opening. There wasn’t as much head banging as expected, but the pressure on the way back is almost too much for me and like Delirium left me a bit nauseous. I would ride it again, but would save it for the end of the day.

Flight of Fear:

We rode this one twice, both near the back of the train and enjoyed both rides. From experience I will definitely choose to sit near the back of the train now, as the front is just too much for me to take.

Racer:

Only one ride on this one, I was saddened to see that Recar would be down for our stay, so we had to settle for Racer. I find that forwards is much rougher then backwards, and since my girlfriend’s restraint ended up falling all the way down after the first hill, I spent the rest of my ride trying to brace her thighs from smashing into the lap bar. This is an all right coaster, but if given the choice I would pick Recar every time.

Flying Eagles:

Oh what can I say about this glorious gem of a flat ride. This has to be one of my favourite rides at PKI; there is just something about this ride that you cannot get on other rides. The feeling of snapping, and seeing the looks on the faces of the parents with younger children is priceless. I was able to get in five rides on the Eagles over the course of the week, however this was one of the rides that had a lineup when it was open. Mostly just one queue was filled, but I was able to hit it when it was opening on most days. Including two great rides after it was opened around 11:00 on Thursday, after some supervisors and managers were testing the ride for a couple runs while discussing it.

Tomb Raider: The Ride:

Makes me kind of jealous going through the tremendous theming of this ride, after seeing a similar attempt at PCW. Rode this twice, once in the back and once in the front. Both were good rides, the theming is what makes this ride. I have had much better rides on a Top Spin before, but I will ride this every time I come to PKI due to the uniqueness of it.

The Beast:

Rode this one the most of any ride this week with ten rides total. The Beast was running two trains Tuesday through Thursday, however the third was up and running for our last ride on Friday morning. Most of the rides were in our favourite seat 1-1. Nothing beats the view from the front, and there is nothing like getting a fresh smell of chain grease going up the chain hill from the front. Most of the rides were amazing, one or two were so-so due to being pinned by an over-zealous ride attendant. Almost every single time we rode the opportunity was there to re-ride again in a different seat and took it up most times. Including three rides in a row, which was enough for then as the last one was in the very back. Ouch! Don’t get me wrong I love The Beast, but I will NEVER sit in the back again, I felt things move that are not supposed to move inside of my body on this one. After going through the double helix, my ribs were screaming to me from the inside. I learned my lesson on this, and will stick to the front, and middle on Beast. One thing that I missed was night rides on The Beast. Since the park closed at 8 each night, it was still light out but I still love this coaster and it remains my #1 Wooden Coaster.

Other rides during the week:

Train – Two Rides

Rugrats Runaway Reptar – One Ride, Nice suspended coaster for the kiddies.

Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle – I prefer this version to PCW’s. I scored 660.

Eiffel Tower – Went up twice and got a great view of the park, and some nice pictures. I saw PKI_Diana working on Wednesday, but she was busy in conversation with a security guard.

Did not ride Vortex or Top Gun, just didn’t get around to going on either.

We went to Crocodile Dundee’s Boomerang Bay on mid afternoon on Thursday. The temp was mild at this point, but I wanted to head to the water park so off we went. I knew the park was in limited operation, but this is one part that was really affected. The only attractions operating were the Wave pool, Tazmanian Typhoon, Jackeroo Landing, Wallaby Wharf, and Kookaburra Bay. We relaxed around the Wave pool for a while, before getting two rides on Tazzy. I later found out from a late evening trip back to CDBB to take some pictures that once schools are out the water park goes into full operation. I should of waited til later, but hindsight it always 20/20.

The weather co-operated for the most part, and the park was nothing short of what I expected. It was an awesome way to cap off my summer, and look forward to heading back to PKI for FearFest later in October.

Thank you to everyone who helped with advice for the trip, I had a great time.