Reclaimer Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 First of all, the title of this TR comes from Friday, two days before the trip. My friend, Kristy, was sitting with me at my school's fountain. She looked up to see a duck by the fountain and exclaimed "IS THAT A REAL DUCK!?!?" I laughed. On to the TR: Started at the day on 4/22 at 4:30am with some showers and basic waking up and not wanting to move because it was so early. Kristy, Tony, Scott and myself all packed in the car and left by 6:30. Along the way, Kristy was very, very hyper and was keeping us all entertained from Muncie to Mason. We stopped about halfway to KI on I-74 at our usual McDonald's for breakfast. We ordered our food...and Kristy ordered a toy American Idol microphone (available in Happy Meals). After eating (Kristy only ate her hash brown, she was too hyper for food), Kristy entertained us by singing into her new microphone for the rest of the trip. We got onto 275 to find construction. Fear not, for Kristy would keep us entertained here as well. She read every street and construction sign...screaming out what it said in a very urgent voice. We finally arrived in the KI Parking lot at 9am. We parked and headed up to the pass center for Tony to process his pass. He was the only one in the group to get a pass, as Kristy, Scott, and I are all CP employees. (Granted, we still paid today because we don't yet have our IDs.) He was in and out within 10 minutes or so. We wanted to get in a Drop Zone ride to start out the day just to get the blood pumping. We waited at the front of the ropes to Action Zone and 10 o'clock hit. We headed to Drop Zone, getting trampled by the large mob running every which way. We found Drop Zone was going to open late, so we went to Delirium so Scott could ride his ride's sibling. Delirium was an amazing ride and seemed to be packing a punch. We all loved it, and we got the thrill we had been yearning for over the past six months. We headed to Nick Universe to ride SDatHC and Avatar...both great rides. Avatar was a walk-on, surprisingly. We also rode Reptar, as Scott had never been on it before. Yet again, Kristy entertained us with some shrill screams on Reptar. We then walked back to TR:TR and walked on it...didn't notice too many effects not working except for the 'lava bursts' which were not functioning. It seemed much better than trip reports from Saturday, which was good. After that, it was time for Beast. Walked on it and holy hell, it was hauling ass. The helix was that much more amazing. Now for the 'middle of the day ride, ride, ride not much else to say' section: We rode recaR, Drop Zone, Face/Off, Top Gun, Son of Bea..just kidding, Vortex, IJ:ST, Adventure Express, Zephyr, Monster and some other stuff I know I'm forgetting. We hit up TR:TR a second time during the course of the day and right as the gondola was going into the top spin just before the end of the cycle, the ride E-stopped and we definitely flipped a couple more times and started swinging to a slow stop. Extra fun. After TR:TR, we headed to The Beast for one more ride, and to say hi to Ronny. One of the last things we rode was FoF. Was it just me, or was that launch extremely fast yesterday? It could've just been me not having ridden it for months and forgetting the speed, but it seemed extra fast up until the mid-course breaks. After the rides closed, we headed up to the front of the park to leave. I got to meet Karen and talk to her for a bit, but eventually had to leave and start a 3.5 hr drive to drop Kristy off and then drive another 2 hrs to get back to my school in Muncie. All in all, a GREAT trip. The park was exceptionally clean. From what we saw, most rides were up or experienced very little downtime throughout the day. Most importantly, the employees were almost all exceptionally friendly and professional! Kudos to the employees! We were taking a group picture of ourselves in front of The Beast sign and a sweep walked by and asked if we wanted him to take a picture for us. We were also not only greeted when entering shops throughout the day, but were thanked and told to have a great day when exiting shops...even after just browsing. Both the sweep offering to take a picture for us and the merch employees thanking us when we left shops were something I'd never experienced up until this year. We did notice some employees already seemingly sick of their jobs, though. An employee at Shake Rattle and Roll was sitting in controls with his feet propped up on the controls and just relaxing and not even watching the ride. Hopefully this is just an isolated incident. So overall, between it being a beautiful day, most rides running, small lines, exceptionally nice employees, and a "mountainless" park: Employees: A Rides (uptime): B+ Lines: A Food (Wings): B Park cleanliness: A+ Overall: A Looks like a great season coming up! Highlight of the day: <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value=" name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKIVortex Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 So I take it the rides were running much better yesterday? It seems to be getting better already. No Face/Off for you? I missed it too on Saturday cause of the long long line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reclaimer Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 We got in a ride on Face/Off. It was our longest wait of the day, but that was only about 20-30 min. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutedarkness Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 so was the duck real? haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKIVortex Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Sunday seemed like a much better day to go then. We waited almost 40 minutes to ride Wild Thornberrys River Adventure. OH well, I still had fun, and will go plenty more times this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersNSich Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 AFLAC!!! Last night, Beast, Vortex, and Italian job were having issues. First ride I try doing, The Beast, breaks down when I'm midway on the ramp queue. Second is IJ, when I reach bridge, another incidence of downtime. My first attempt at Vortex this time was successful, but I saw it break down/set-up once or twice. I did make it onto Beast and Vortex later, and though I was at the park for less than three hours, was a memorable visit. I just have the feeling that the park is simply looking better than it has been the past few years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reclaimer Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 so was the duck real? haha Haha, yup. In fact, it was moving its head when she asked if it was real. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 I noticed GR people were out and about offering to answer questions and offering park maps to guests throughout the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterlova054 Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Just to let everyone know this is Kristy, and the duck moved its head in mid sentence, haha. Also, I had a full throttle before entering the car for the trip, hence the entertainment! I will agree with Reclaimer that the day was amazing and I had a great first day back at the park! I also would love to know if anyone else noticed the launch on FoF or if it was just us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faeriewench Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 great trip report, lol I had a blast hanging out with Karen yesterday too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kikevin Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Cool report, I wanted to go up yesterday but I couldn't I was there on Saturday though, I had training at 10, picked up my uniform, and stayed at the park till 5. By the way, do all CF employees get free admission to other CF parks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reclaimer Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 Yes. You use your ID for access to the other parks. Forgot to ask in the original post... I noticed Tomb Raider had all of its seats open all the way to the end of the rows. Did they fix the problem they've been having with the ride and are now able to utilize all of the seats? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI on the mind Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 I looked at a park map and they changed the picture of the Son of Beast to not have a loop. It looks funny. And Firehawk is on the map. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Just to let everyone know this is Kristy, and the duck moved its head in mid sentence, haha. Also, I had a full throttle before entering the car for the trip, hence the entertainment! I will agree with Reclaimer that the day was amazing and I had a great first day back at the park! I also would love to know if anyone else noticed the launch on FoF or if it was just us. It wasn't just you. That was a VERY intense launch on Flight of Fear. In fact, I'd say ALL the coasters that were running were much better than they had been in many a year. Especially Beast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kwindshawne Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 I have a question if anyone knows-what is the little green box laying in the middle of the track on Beast? I know it is some type of electrical piece that controls the launch and all, but I noticed when Beast was down Saturday, maintenance came in and replaced one of them and then Beast was fixed. Just curious on what it does.... To me it was like a battery that was dead, and was replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 That's a proximity switch, commonly known as a prox switch. It tells the PLC where the train is. PLC? Program Logic Controller, or a crude form of computer. But I probably speak too much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kwindshawne Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 That's a proximity switch, commonly known as a prox switch. It tells the PLC where the train is. PLC? Program Logic Controller, or a crude form of computer. But I probably speak too much! Thanks-I was intrigued with it-I got the general idea of it and knew it was a link in the chain that was fouling things up, but I didn't know it's job. I know next to nothing of this stuff, but it is all interesting. I noticed Vortex having issues as well-stopping halfway up the lift hill, but looks like the bugs worked out by the end of saturday. I was delighted racer was retracked-much nicer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopThrill Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Great trip report, yeah the park does look and feel cleaner. The ride's that I saw were running better on Sunday, thanks for giving park cleanness a A+. MOD Edit: Please refrain from posting privileged information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterlova054 Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Just to let everyone know this is Kristy, and the duck moved its head in mid sentence, haha. Also, I had a full throttle before entering the car for the trip, hence the entertainment! I will agree with Reclaimer that the day was amazing and I had a great first day back at the park! I also would love to know if anyone else noticed the launch on FoF or if it was just us. It wasn't just you. That was a VERY intense launch on Flight of Fear. In fact, I'd say ALL the coasters that were running were much better than they had been in many a year. Especially Beast. I knew something had to be different! I have never, ever felt a launch that intense from FoF! FoF is usually not on my high priority list mostly b/c of the line most of the time, but after experiencing that launch it moved up on the list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelixSpiral Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 Forgot to ask in the original post... I noticed Tomb Raider had all of its seats open all the way to the end of the rows. Did they fix the problem they've been having with the ride and are now able to utilize all of the seats? They actually removed ten seats from the far end of the gondola. So yes, they use all seats, but there are fewer than there used to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reclaimer Posted April 26, 2007 Author Share Posted April 26, 2007 Ah...Weird. I thought that might've been what they did, but I didn't really notice enough space for seats to be missing. Guess they were though. Thanks for the info. It's good to see they at least removed them rather than just having them "there" and not being used. Less room for confusion now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braves0511 Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 I never even noticed they weren't using part of the seats...wow im out of it...what was up with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterlova054 Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 They always had a ton of harnesses down at the end of the seating area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reclaimer Posted April 27, 2007 Author Share Posted April 27, 2007 Updated original report with video highlight. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value=" name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elitescr3 Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Yes. You use your ID for access to the other parks. Are we 100% sure that employees get into the rest of the parks for free? I know that with Paramount we did, and I know that Cedar Fair did before, but I am just wondering because I have not heard anything for sure. Also, the back of the ID just says to get into Kings Island, whereas with Paramount it said to all Paramount Parks. I am not doubting you, I am just making sure. Thanks for the info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory Butcher Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 you should have gotten an e-mail saying that the first issue of the employee newsletter is online. If you read it, you will see that yes, KI employees get into any CF park, aside from the Star Trek experience or whatever it is just by showing their ID. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elitescr3 Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Ok, thank you very much. Apparently I do not get all of the emails, as my brother had about twice as many as I did. Anyway, my question has been answered, and I do appreciate the guidance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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