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Your thoughts on Winter SOAR


Dane
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There is no doubt that SOAR was a major success. Very very happy to see and meet so many of you out there braving the cold weather and winds. For those who went we got a full tour of the Nick Universe Construction site, the picnic grove storage site for everything from The Vortex cars, to pumps from White Water Canyon, all the way to the old time cars outside Happy Days.

Dinner in the magnificent International Street Restaurant was fun too, plenty of food and drink for all. Plus some ad musing (and some unamusing) stories from misc people and parks. The best speech award still has to go to the always fun Maureen, who entertained and addressed pretty much every single rumor circulating on the Internet right now. Aswell as a information Q and A section and lets not forget about all the prizes that were given out. smile.gif

Keep it here on PKICentral.com as we are currently prepping our photos for upload!

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Yes it was definitely a good time for all. Especially that little kid who won every other raffle draw. Hehehe. No there was no track as of yet. Just concrete footers and platforms poured. NU was pretty much a mess, and it would be amazing to see how they work on it. Maureen stressed about fifty times that NU will be ready for April 14th so i'd be suprised if it isn't ready. The best part of the whole tour was going into the picnic area and seeing the different ride cars stored there. The backstage area near the picnic grove and water works was also pretty cool as well. All and all A good way to get ready for the park season.

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Arggh! "Footers" are not the correct terminology. They are referred to as footings. Just like "cement sidewalk." Cement is one of the three ingredients in concrete. The other two being aggregate and water. I could go on about the chemistry behing concrete, but this is a PKI board. Enough ranting about architectural terminology.

Yes, it was quick. I wanted to get them uploaded and out of the way so that I could focus on homework tomorrow!

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This was my first visit to PKI - other than the parking lot last weekend - of the year. It was great to walk on park property, see the construction site, hang out in the International Street Restaurant, see old friends and enjoy Maureen's awesome presentation.

In addition to being author of the Kings Island book, I am a freelancer who has contributed to 10 publications. I've interviewed lots of people - probably more than 200. Maureen is unique in her demeanor, professionalism and enthusiasm. As a journalist, it is very easy to work with her.

And I think Jennifer, the new PR assistant, will greatly contribute to the success of PKI. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders and an excellent work ethic.

Though sad to see H-B Land go, I am greatly looking forward to enjoying NU with my son, Toddler Chef, and wife, Mrs. Chef.

Overall, tonight was a great experience.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

chef.gif

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I enjoyed it too. We had some fun moments on the tour ("Don! Look! I think they might be filling up the fountain! Take a picture!), and it was interesting to hear the speakers. Of course, wasn't impressed with the Voyage video, since it's already on their website, and I have the program they used to make the video (just not the professional version they used).

As always, Maureen's presentation was good, and very fitting. Yes everyone, she does read these forums (and since she does, Thank you once again). She did "The top 10 PKI rumors", and discussed their facts. Brian Kosmac, manager in the rides dept. also spoke and gave some ride operations stories. Let's just say that the Eiffel Tower, Top Gun trashcans, and Face/Off's station can be very scary at times.

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So were the rumors of the Indiana Jones movie officially confirmed or denied? And who was that guy there who's name tag said "Indiana"?

I thought the tour was pretty cool. I would have liked to have won one of the Holiday World flags. It was pretty funny though when Don won that packet and wasn't even paying attention and we were all like - DON GET YOUR ASS UP THERE! laugh.gif

And the most memorable part was the tom foolery that happened back in the picnic grove. ph34r.gif

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Yes. And how true it is the stories you accumulate after working at an amusement park. I have a bunch from Coney.

There was a close encounter of the skunk kind at the Scrambler a couple seasons ago, although it didn`t directly involve me. The skunk tried to make a home in the covered trench for the gears that go out to the ride. Well, the operator that morning didn`t know there was a skunk in there, and it left a smelly situation that lingered around the ride for days afterward! Luckily I wasn`t placed on that ride then!

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I actually had a story but I didn't tell it. I was working Troika one time and this family came and had 3 kids and a mother. You can only get 3 people in a Troika car so one of the kids was going to not get to ride. Then someone got rotated down to take my spot - so I test rode and was the kids chaperone so he could ride. Well like 2 months later I was sent to South Pie. I got stuck down at Choo and the same family rode. I did not recognize them - but the mother was like - you're the guy that rode the Shake Rattle and Roll with my son! That was pretty cool that they remembered that and I made a difference to them.

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Well, I have a somewhat similar situation. I was working the Spin A Ree at Coney on Big Borther Big Sister day. The park was dead because of a storm in the morning, and the Big Brothers Big Sisters weren`t showing up until around 7 in the evening for two hours in the park. Anyway, one of the kids said something along the lines of "You`re the nice guy from the roller coaster last year." It is those kind of comments that make the job thrilling and worht it!

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I have a skunk story as well. About three years ago A friend of mine was at the park and it was closing up. He was running through HB Land looking for the lost member of our party around where the water park walkway starts. He was running until a skunk came out of the bushes and stood in the middle of the path. He freaked and stood completely still so he wouldn't get sprayed by it. Just then anouther skunk came out out the bushes right next to the other one. My friend was so scared at this moment until something happened. Just as he was about to run one of the skunks mounted the other and started going at it. His mind was completely blown by this event so much that he didn't talk for the rest of the night, he just laughed. It was ther funniest thing to see his face when we all caught up with him, it wasa classic moment.

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Can someone tell us what she said about the rumours.

-Jake

Some main points that she hit (notice that a lot of these rumors were started on here)

  • Vortex is NOT sinking and will open this year.
  • SOB will be open this season, but not necessarily on time.
  • NU will look MUCH better than a carnival.
  • The Beast is NOT going to Carowinds.
  • The park is up for sale.
  • PKI will be PKI still (under the Paramount name) for at least the 2006 season.
  • Jeff Siebert was not the CEO of Paramount's Kings Island, and his departure does not mean that all progress will stop!
  • FoF at PKI will be open this season, but the one at PKD's future remains a mystery!!
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Guest TombraiderTy
Yes it was definitely a good time for all. Especially that little kid who won every other raffle draw. Hehehe. No there was no track as of yet. Just concrete footers and platforms poured. NU was pretty much a mess, and it would be amazing to see how they work on it. Maureen stressed about fifty times that NU will be ready for April 14th so i'd be suprised if it isn't ready. The best part of the whole tour was going into the picnic area and seeing the different ride cars stored there. The backstage area near the picnic grove and water works was also pretty cool as well. All and all A good way to get ready for the park season.

I wanted the Cedar Point banner that the kid won dry.gif Three tickets would work I guess...

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I have a skunk story as well. About three years ago A friend of mine was at the park and it was closing up. He was running through HB Land looking for the lost member of our party around where the water park walkway starts. He was running until a skunk came out of the bushes and stood in the middle of the path. He freaked and stood completely still so he wouldn't get sprayed by it. Just then anouther skunk came out out the bushes right next to the other one. My friend was so scared at this moment until something happened. Just as he was about to run one of the skunks mounted the other and started going at it. His mind was completely blown by this event so much that he didn't talk for the rest of the night, he just laughed. It was ther funniest thing to see his face when we all caught up with him, it wasa classic moment.

Must be something about that area.

I was a morning person and cashier foreman at Quickdraws. They always used to set up traps in our dumpster area. I used to find trapped skunks there all the time.

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OK, whoever thought that The Beast was going to go to Carowinds was half awake or something... huh.gif

But I almost keeled over when she mentioned that Delirium was going back into operation this season. That thing is such a pain... dry.gif All in all it was a good tour and event, and Klocke's weird little question had Maureen baffled. laugh.gif

~S~

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I actually had a story but I didn't tell it. I was working Troika one time and this family came and had 3 kids and a mother. You can only get 3 people in a Troika car so one of the kids was going to not get to ride. Then someone got rotated down to take my spot - so I test rode and was the kids chaperone so he could ride. Well like 2 months later I was sent to South Pie. I got stuck down at Choo and the same family rode. I did not recognize them - but the mother was like - you're the guy that rode the Shake Rattle and Roll with my son! That was pretty cool that they remembered that and I made a difference to them.

You know now you're gonna be getting Christmas Cards and will be invited to their Graduations. <G>

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