Donald's Beastbuzz TR!

[PKIDelirium]

Trip Report PKI BeastBuzz 2004 - June 26 2004

After a slightly later-than-intended start, I was off to BeastBuzz! My first-ever park event.

We got to the park at 9:45 AM, too late to catch The BeastBuzz/ACE Walkback to The Beast. I ditched my mom at the car (Usually I leave her at the fountains, but usually I don’t have to take time to register for an event lol)

I ran, I mean, RAN to The BeastBuzz registration window in the Group Sales building, parted with 25 bucks since I have a PKI Pass (Hey! I have a GOLD PASS!! I’m important! I should get a better discount! Nah, just kidding.) And got my lanyard, name card (Which I had to write my name on myself since I was not pre-registered, and I wrote my first AND last names on it, not realizing I didn’t have too), my itinerary sheet, and I was off! I hurried through security as fast as the morning line would allow, and through the turnstiles the same way. Why does my line always have to creep? I swear, it always does!

In the gate, I flat out RAN again, trying to get to Beast before 10AM. No such luck. I got to the rope at Rivertown just past the Eiffel Tower, but there was no one to show my lanyard to get through, so I shoved through the group as close to front as possible, and took off at warp speed when the rope dropped. While all the slowpoke GP peeps walked casually, I bowled over a few and ran down the curb and on the grass by the path. I got to Beast and caught the third public train out of the station, in the front on the fourth car, (or was it the fifth car?), and got it.

I got off and flat-out RAN to Tomb Raider, (I know, I’m doing a lot of running today, darned late starts!), and got to Tomb Raider well on time, at 10:20 AM. There was only a small crowd so far, and my mom told me they were taking BeastBuzz people back for the first ride. I had not heard about this, so I VERY hesitantly entered the line. It became quickly clear that it was NOT the first ride, as I was in a line reaching to the cave entrance. SO I ducked out and went back to milling in front of the ride area.

A few minutes later, I saw Dane, Dan, Boddah, and someone else form PKIC enter the group. I was too far from them so I stayed put; I had a pretty good place in the group near the front.

A few minutes later, after a bunch of us chatted with Steve from Marketing, Jeff Siebert arrived and herded us back by Beast’s entrance, and through the service gate next to Beast’s queue entrance. We went back by a Cable TV Box for the queue TVs, and gathered around a fire hydrant (?!?!?!), to wait for the inevitable Jeff Siebert Speech™.

Jeff welcomed us to the Tomb Raider Backstage Tour, and then led us back by the building, where we were told to gather around a fence surrounding the ride’s resistor banks. Jeff climbed up a flight of steps that lead to the control room, and addressed the crowd. He gave an explanation about the ride and basic stuff, and then the resistors started making a horrendous racket. Everyone near them jumped 10 feet into the air. Jeff then explained what they were for, which I already knew due to a recent Travel Channel program that featured Tomb Raider.

He then said that because of copyright issues with the manufacturers and other thing, there was no photography allowed inside Tomb Raider’s rooms. He then came down and started admitting small groups into the first room through a set of double doors.

When I got in, closed cabinets on wither side of the room surrounded my group, housing the motor controllers for each arm of the ride. Jeff explained the each arm is independent, and must communicate with each other VERY precisely. If they get even slightly out of sync, the ride would halt immediately. At the end of the room, there were two desktop PC’s that Jeff said could be used to change the ride’s program, run diagnostics, etc. Behind them, an open cabinet displayed a counter counting down the current ride cycle. Jeff said the timer was part of the equipment that links to two arm’s motor controllers, and we were watching the two parts of the ride “talk†to each other.

Jeff then opened up a door on the left wall, next to the computers. He let people up to the door, where we got to watch the massive Giant Top Spin going through its cycle inside the cave, including several special effects.

After leaving that room, I walked to the third door, where people were being admitted without a guide. This room housed the boiler for the steam, which was indeed live steam, and some fog equipment, as well as steps down to an access tunnel that leads underneath the queue line part of the building.

After leaving there, I went to the middle door, where once again there was no guide, just Kimberly from Marketing standing at the door (Steve was manning the boiler room door), and cycled though. This room contained all the special effects goodies, including the main FX computer, sound equipment, timers, etc. The equipment formed an island in the middle of the room, with more on the walls. We circled around the room, and exited.

After lingering for a few minutes outside the building, and took more photos outside, I headed back out the way we had come, and exited to the midway.

Looking at my itinerary, the scavenger hunt meeting was next, at noon, at the International Street Bandstand. However, it was only 11:25, so I took the scenic route and went over through Coney Mall. Going by Vortex, I photographed the ride with the brilliant blue skies and bright sun, and then rode Troika (Shake, Rattle, And Roll), in Orange Car #2. With no wait, I boarded quickly, and then had a great ride. It was 11:39 by then, so I headed down Coney toward International Street, taking the scenic route through Oktoberfest.

I got to the bandstand, ten minutes before noon, and watched the clogging. Hmmm, clogging? I don’t want to watch clogging! I want to go on a scavenger hunt!!!

I found a group of fellow BeastBuzzers and joined them, not exactly sure about what to do. After a few minutes, the groups got REALLY big, and Jeff Siebert and Maureen Boothe led us into the International Showplace, the concert place to the right of the Eiffel Tower.

After herding into the Showplace, we all got in the closest seats we could. I got in a few rows back, right on the right side of the aisle, and continued taking some pictures.

After every one was down, Jeff introduced his partner in crime, Steve Bohmker, now known as Mr. Steve, or Sadistic Steve. He had been working on this scavenger hunt for a while now. Jeff then started to thumb through the pages of clues, saying, on each turn for dramatic effect, “It’s not one page, it’s not TWO pages, it’s not three pages, it’s not FOUR pages, it’s not five pages, it’s not SIX pages, it’s not seven pages, it’s not EIGHT PAGES!!! IT IS NINE PAGES LONG!â€

After a collective groan, which increased with every page, they instructed everyone not on a team already to raise their hands, which I did. After everyone else was paired (I was late on something YET AGAIN…), I got paired up with a couple one row down and to my left, on the other side of aisle. They introduced themselves as Darcy (Screen Name: Gecko) and his wife, Jennifer (If you read this, HI!)

Then, Free Son of Beast patches and pins were sent around, but not before Kimberly, also from marketing, dumped the box of pins all over the ground. (This was captured on photo, and is in the Extreme PKI BeastBuzz 2004 Gallery).

Maureen Boothe from Marketing then went around distributing free ink pens (Actually, more like fine-point Sharpies), and then Jeff told Team Captains to come up and get their forms. I got made captain due to my sitting on the aisle, so I went and got it. Teams were advised that they had to turn in their forms AFTER 5:50 PM, but BEFORE 6PM, and strongly urged everyone to read their questions completely before leaving the Showplace.

I rejoined my two teammates (Teams could have up to four people, but could have less), and we exited the Showplace, failing to read the questions. Once outside, we paused to read quickly, and we rapidly discovered the first question was to count The Beast pawprints, which we started to do immediately, after agreeing on a group-concensus count method: We would each count ourselves, then discuss our results after the fact.

We walked back to the edge of the International Street paver bricks, and started counting, walking around the Eiffel Tower, down the slope toward the floral clock, down the scenic path to Rivertown by Paradise Island, down by the old Antique Cars station, around the corner, through the Drunk Zone (The area by LaRosa’s where alcohol is allowed for sale and consumption), down past the arcade, hang a left, and up to The Beast entrance, where the last paw print right by the entrance of the queue is BADLY faded, almost not visible!

We discussed our count, and both Darcy and Jennifer had 226, but I had 225! They told me that a print was underneath a sign by the Tower, and they didn’t tell me so we wouldn’t lose count. So 226 went on our forms, and we walked over to the LaRosa’s patio, sat down, and started to read through the questions.

They were very glad I was from the area, and knew the park as well as I do. They were Cedar Point people, and did not know PKI very well. Darcy took his itinerary sheet out, and on the back, wrote down question numbers for Coney Mall, Oktoberfest, Action Zone, and International Street as I told him the numbers. Being the PKI Nut that I am, I identified almost immediately where most of the questions would take us.

Question One: The first question to tackle: counting the light bulbs in Vortex’s Sign (Groan). All the original questions, which we were not returned to us after judging, were in a rhyming format, which I do not remember. So I will just list them in the order my team did them, in simple wording.

We made the short walk to Vortex, and went up to the sign. After counting the “V†by eye, Darcy used his digital camera to take a photo of each letter, and we counted them on the screen, writing each letter’s number of lights on the itinerary sheet.

Answers for this question:

V=44 Bulbs O=34 Bulbs R=35 Bulbs T=24 Bulbs E=29 Bulbs X=51 Bulbs

Total: 217 Bulbs

Question Two: Next up: getting the price of a gallon of gas at Gilmore Gas. This was obviously at Preston Tucker’s Roadside Cafe. We went over there, and discovered that none of the three pumps in the front (Coney Mall Side), were named Gilmore Gas! Two were named Victoria Gas. So we went inside, and found no Gilmore Gas. At the last minute, I remembered that there was a pump in the back. SO we walked out the back door, and, lo and behold, Gilmore Gas! So we got the priceand headed on down Coney Mall.

Answers for this question: One gallon at Gilmore Gas is either .219 or twenty-one and nine-tenths, no way to be sure.

Question Three: Headed down Coney, we had to get the name on the back of the bumper cars. We went to the exit, and could not get close enough. So when the cycle ended, I cut into the exit, and grabbed a car, and read the name off the back, which was also on the dash panel inside the cars. Then, on to next question!

Answers to this question: The name on the back of the cars and on the dash panel is “Azzurriâ€

Question Four: We had to count the baskets on top of the “Basket Case†game. So we started down Coney Mall, and started looking. Guess what we found no game called Basket Case. But on the way we stopped to do…

Question Five: We had to get the high score off of an arm-wrestling game. That is in the Coney SkeeBall Arcade next to Zephyr. We stopped in, found the game, and I got tokens and started the game. Just before my game started, the high score was displayed, and I played a couple rounds before it ended.

Answer for Question Five: The high score of arm-wrestling is… I can’t remember!!! I’ll have to find it and re-post this.

Back to Question Four: Back to number four now. We walked all the way back down Coney Mall down to Vortex, by the last game, and then walked all the way back. There was a Peach Basket game, but no Basket Case (The question made it quite clear that we wanted BASKET CASE), so we decided to skip, and went to the next.

Answer to Question Four: We don’t know. Skipping for now, and will look for a Basket Case game elsewhere during the Hunt.

Question Five: We have to get the name of the military base where Flight of Fear is. So we head back there, and get the name Fort Cooper off of the overhang over the entrance. But then, we headed back out and saw ANOTHER sign, behind a chain-link fence just past The Racer cross-under, to the left when facing Flight of Fear. It said “J.G. Cooper Special Forces Compoundâ€. So, we thought for a while, and went with that.

Answer to this question: We went with J.G. Cooper Special Forces Compund, as Fort Cooper sounded too obvious.

Question Six: Well, we got out of Flight of Fear area, and realized we had missed a question at Tucker’s! So we trekked back over there, and we had to fins the sign for Tucker Auto Oil (GULP!), so we started with the outdoor table area on the Coney Mall side by the basketball game. We found it there, on the side of the building near the door. We got the slogan from it, and headed out of Coney Mall, to get the Oktoberfest questions.

Answer for this question: The slogan for Tucker Auto Oil is “Keeps-your-motor-youngâ€

Question Seven: Time for Oktoberfest! Next question is that me have to get the number from something red that floats in the water at a shrimp place, so we hit Bubba Gumps Shrimp Shack. We went on the deck, and looked all around. We saw THREE red boats in the remote control boat area next to the deck, each with a different number, and there was no number on the red wooden boat sitting on the deck.

We realized that it could be something that COULD float in water, and it did not say it WAS floating. So we went around the side, looking around the bar and peeking inside the restaurant door, no luck. Then, we walked around front, and BINGO! A red buoy, sitting on a gravel bank as part of the theming, with a big number 8 on it!

Answer to Question Seven: The number on the floating thing is number 8.

Question Eight: Next up was getting the song that is played on the Glockenspiel every 15 minutes, which is at the Festhaus. We got there just as it quit playing, and we thought is was Chicken Dance. But we had to be sure, so we waited. Darcy and I went inside to get a drink, and saw the annoying $3 price for a Coke. So we walked through the Festhaus back door, and went looking for a cheaper machine, as they are only $2.75 in places. But we were low on time, so we went back and paid the annoying 3 bucks, got our Cokes, and went back outside to wait.

A few minutes later, it came on again, and was indeed the Chicken Dance. Next question time!

Answer to Question Eight: The song played by the Glockenspiel is the Chicken Dance.

Question Nine: We had to go to Action Zone now. First up, getting the serial number from a Giant Frisbee. Well there’s only one Giant Frisbee in the country, so we went to Delirium. The line that greeted us was 40 minutes long, and we had no time in which to spend in a line. I spotted the plaque on the drive box with the stuff on it, so we went to the exit. The guy at the exit booth (which is also Remote Dispatch) had the number written on his hand from helping other teams, so we got it quick, and moved on.

Answer to Question Nine: Delirium’s serial number is 106852.

Question Ten: We had to go to an aviation themed ride, and find the sign that looks like a playing card. Well, this is Top Gun, and I’ve seen this sign many times, but unfortunately had not memorized it before. So we walked down the Neverending-Entrance-Of-Doom, and found a pesky 45 minute wait. Of course, the reride gate to the exit was LOCKED (I think they are trying to annoy us today) so we were NOT going to walk it again. We just hopped over the stupid anti-scale fence, and continued on the Neverending-Exit-Of-Doom.

We got to the station and looked across to the queue, where we found the sign. We then hiked back out the Neverending-Exit-Of-Doom, and stopped to read our questions again.

Answer to Question Ten: The sign in Top Gun’s station is Black Aces 41

Question Eleven: We had to count the black rectangles that surrounded the Paramount Water Tower (Groan, massive crowds are standing on those), so Jennifer stood on the one that points toward Son of Beast, and Darcy and I walked around, each counting on our own again. We got a consensus of 24, and wrote it down.

Answer to Question Eleven: There are 24 black rectangles, however, and we wrote this on the form too, they are technically not rectangles, as they go around a circle, slightly wedge-shaped.

After this, we saw the Beverly Hills Cop 3 poster, and noted the release date of May 25. However, the question seems to indicate the SECOND Beverly Hills Cop movie, so we would figure that out later.

Question Twelve: Time to see a show! We have to get the name of the school written on a megaphone during the Magic of the Movies show. As luck would have it, we got there just as the show was about to start at 2:30!!! We are doing just fine so far, and we go in. once in the door, an employee offers to help and tell us after the show what it is in case I can’t see it, the condition is that Jennifer and Darcy have to be on the show for the Titanic part. So they go backstage, and I take a front row seat, camera with flash off at the ready.

The show started, and it is actually pretty good! This was my first time to see it, So I paid attention. The Titanic part started, and they came on stage, got introduced, and…

SPOILER ALERT: The first thing is for the first guy (The always goofy guy) to give the man in the show (Darcy) a sketch pad, and the woman (Jennifer) gets a cape-like robe thing. If you’ve seen Titanic, you’ll get the hint. Then the screen starts to show Kate Winslet dropping the robe for Leo DiCaprio to sketch, but then the other cast member on stage intervenes, saying NO NO NO!!! This is quite funny! Then the first guy gives Darcy a deck chair, and starts yelling, as the screens hows a guy in a deck chair tumbling off the ship, “AND YOU’LL GO SLIDING OFF HERE,AND…â€, Right then, the other guy intervenes again, and they finally agree to do something else, and they roll out a mockup of the Titanic bow, and put them on it. Stuff including “I’m king of the world!†follows, including a big fan to make wind. I mean a BIG fan. Then the first guy, the goof, suggests doing a sequel. To this, the first guy says, “How? The boat sank, it’s over!†then the first guy brings out Hawaiian stuff, and they put it on. Then, the sequel is done to the theme of “They sink, they hit the ocean floor, and what’s this? A PINEAPPLE?â€

You guessed it: WHO LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA, SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS! Complete with bubbles coming down from the ceiling. Then the show concluded with a trailer for the SpongeBob Movie, coming out this November.

Then, the show concluded, and we rendezvoused near the exit. I had gotten the answer from the megaphone during the wind-fan sequence, so we paused to neaten our papers.

Answer to Question Twelve: The school name on the megaphone is Rydell High.

Question Thirteen: We now hade to count the stars around the Paramount’s Kings Island logo at the front of International Street. We did the group consensus count again, and got our answer, and moved on.

Answer to Question Thirteen: There are 22 stars around the Paramount logo.

Question Fourteen: Heading into Hanna-Barbera Land, we stopped by Scooby Doo and used a trash can as a table to list the question numbers for this area on our note card. Then, seeing the line for Scooby to get our question for that ride, we went on to the Krusty Krab Snack Shack, we needed the price of a Krusty Combo Meal.

Groan, they DO NOT SELL Krusty Combo Meals here! Just junk food at an annoying price. We are NOT walking all the way back to Coney Mall to ride SpongeBob now, and besides, the picnic grove opened a half-hour ago fro the catered lunch!!!

Before going there, we got the price of a Medium Smurfberry Ice Cream at the Huckleberry Dairy, for part of upcoming Question Twenty, which must be completed by adding this price to the price of a Shrimp Kabob in the waterpark later on. The price is $2.34.

Scavenger Hunt Break: Picinic Grove Time!

We were right by the path to the grove, so we walked back and entered. We found The Beastbuzz Shelter, and got in line, giving up out meal tickets we got at registration. We got stuff from the buffet. I got a hot dog, dinner roll, chips and a Coke.

While eating, Jeff Putz came on stage (Actually, on top of a table), and gave a brief spiel. He introduced the Coasterbuzz Staff at the event, including Lord Gonchar, Scott Short, Sean Flaherty, and RideMan. I looked over and saw RideMan sitting a few rown in fron of me, facing toward me. Jeff’s wife, Stephanie Gall, who had been running the registration booth, was standing down by the end of the shelter next to a column.

Then, Jeff Siebert came on, and gave a brief talk before introducing Tom Rebbie from PTC (If you don’t know what PTC is, well, tough beans, you should)

He talked for awhile about The Beast’s original trains, but we left before he was done, to get back to the Hunt.

Return to Hunt!!!

Question Fifteen: We took an odd path at this point, going over to Reptar to get the info from the signs on the back of each car. We went up the exit, got it, and kept moving.

Answer to Question Fifteen: The signs on Reptar’s seat backs say “Do not extend legs, keep feet downâ€

Question Sixteen: We went to the next-door Wild Thornberries, where we had to get the symbol for danger from the first hill. Great. The line was too long to ride, so we hit the exit ramp. In the unload area, we went up the steps, and looked over toward the lift hill. Nothing. Then, I saw a log boat climbing ANOTHER HILL THAT IS REALLY THE FIRST! Right next to the exit steps, out a window. We watched it go up, and go right by a skull and crossbones!

Answer to Question Sixteen: The symbol is a skull and crossbones.

Question Seventeen: We went to the neighboring Wings Diner, and had to count the airplane models hanging from the ceiling. This went quick, and off to the Train!

Answer to Question Seventeen: there are 9 model planes hanging in Wings Diner.

Question Eighteen/Nineteen: We had to get stuff from the train, and go to the waterpark (GROAN), so we went to the train, where we got the train answers from the employee at the station. (Yeah!)

Answer to Question Eighteen: The animal hiding in the woods is a bear.

Answer to Question Nineteen: The price for a meal and whiskey at the old Inn is 30 Cents.

Question Twenty-Twenty-One: Someone had puked on the train when it returned, so they had to back it up and hose it before we could board. Puked on the train??? How motion sick WERE they?!?!?!

We got to the waterpark, and here the fun starts! We have to count the boomerangs lining the roof of the Aussie Outfitter’s Supplies place. We each counted a side, conferred, wrote it down, and counter another section. We got a final answer and wrote it down. Next we had to get the price or that Shrimp Kabob to add to the price of Smurfberry Ice Cream obtained earlier, so we went to Outback Shack, and got the price of the fresh-off-the-barbie Kabob, which is a pesky $7.49. We added that to the previously collected price for the ice cream, and got a total.

Answer to Question Twenty: There are 80 Boomerangs lining the gift shop.

Answer to Question Twenty-One: the total price of a Shrimp Kabob and a medium Smurfberry Cone is $9.83

Question Twenty-Two: We needed the Aussie word for “Slobâ€. So we looked around the eating area by Outback Shack, and fount the Aussie-Yank translation poster.

Answer to Question Twenty-Two: The Aussie word for Slob is “Yobboâ€

Question Twenty-Three: I answered this on by looking at my map in the train station on the way over.

Answer to Question Twenty-Three: The place where the kiddie ship is located is called Kangaroo Lagoon.

Question Twenty-Four: OK, time to leave the waterpark. One question is to count the parking lot row names and numbers, so we considered going out the waterpark gate and doing that there, but our time was getting shorter by the minute, and skipped it. We walked back to the main park, and now we had to find the only non-Hanna-Barbera-themed eatery there, AND the name of the character who had lost his hat. I spotted both while going to Scooby, and we nailed another!

Answer to Question Twenty-Four: The eatery is Busytown Grill, and the poster on its wall is Dingo Dog getting his hat blown off.

Question Twenty-Five: we are VERY low on time now. We lingered in the picnic grove too long, and it was almost 5PM now! We had just over an hour, and very heavy crowds. We debated doing the parking lot one, But we had no time. We just skipped it, and ran to White Water Canyon, where we had to get the US Patent Number from a boat.

Once again, Long Line. I think this was held on Saturday on purpose. They stayed at the start of the exit, while I ran like a bat outta hell down that annoying exit mile err path.

I ran all the way to the Unload area, which is the spinning platform where load and unload occurs. I went to the edge, and asked an employee to get me the number. She told me to hang on a minute. Five minutes elapsed. I asked again, and she said “Just a minute sirâ€, well don’t have a minute to wait! So I asked the other employee to get it, deciding right then that if she told me to wait, I would throw aside the Yellow-Line rule and hop a boat myself to get the number. However she was VERY nice and got on a boat and read me the number, whoich I wrote on my own itinerary sheet with our pen which I had taken with me.

Answer to Question Twenty-Five: White Water Canyon’s US Patent Number is 269082.

Question Twenty-Six: This lead me to the next one, getting the price for 20 shots on the super-soakers along White Water Canyon’s exit, which allow people to drench the riders, for a price, that is.

Answer to Question Twenty-Six: The sign reads “5 Shots-50 Centsâ€, so some fancy math heralded the answer of…Two Bucks.

Question Twenty-Seven: I really had to hurry now. We had 35 minutes left to turn in our papers. We ran over to Tomb Raider and found the sign showing the price of Lara Croft’s Land Rover, Which is parked outside the entrance.

Answer to Question Twenty-Eight: The Land Rover cost $175,200 Bucks.

Question Twenty-Nine: I forgot to write this one earlier. This belongs with the ones in the train station. We had to get the number of days off of the calendar in the Telegraph Office, which is theming by the train station.

Answer to Question Twenty-Nine: There are 32 Days in the month of March.

Question Thirty: Another one forgotten from earlier: We had to count boxes of Scooby Snacks on Scooby-Doo. This belongs just after the Busytown Grill question. We had no time then to ride, so we asked the employee at the Walk-on-Weekends entrance. She thought for a minute, and said there was one per room, and guessed 12 rooms. We heard others say this, so we had our answer.

Answer to Question Thirty: The employee’s guess, and others around us, said 12, so we used that.

Question Thirty-One: Back to real time now. We had to get the name of The Beast Tamer and where he worked. I had a brain freeze, and just could not remember this. We ran over there, got his info, and ran to the Eiffel Tower

Answer to Question Thirty-One: Carl Eichelman used to work for the Internal Revenue Service. He has ridden The Beast over 4,400 times!

Question Thirty-Two: It was almost time to turn in our papers, and we had several blanks. I called my mom to meet us at the tower so I could get my camcorder back for the upcoming Beast backstage tour. Darcy and Jennifer went to the Paramount Story to look for a few thing. I went to get in line for Tower, where I had to get the phone number of the tennis complex across Interstate 71. I got my camcorder, and looked over, and the guy next to me was holding a paper with the various parking lot names and numbers!!! I asked if I could copy them, and he said “Sure!â€, so I borrowed his pen and copied them down. We were down to TEN MINUTES to turn in our papers, so I had NO TIME to go up the tower now anyway. So our 32nd question became the Parking Lot one!

Answers to Question Thirty-Two:

Preferred parking is rows 1-7

Adventure Express Parking is rows 14-24

Beast Parking is rows 32-35

Drop Zone Parking is rows 33-41

Face/Off Parking is rows 42-49

Gold Pass Parking is rows 50-56

Son of Beast Parking is rows 61-66

Top Gun Parking is rows 67-74

Vortex Parking is rows 74-82

Boomerang Bay Parking is 83-91

Associate Backlot is rows 11-25 with no sign.

Rest of Questions: I met up with Jennifer and Darcy in the Paramount Story, and we quickly wrote down the parking codes, which is when I realized I had taken off with the guy’s pen from the tower! Oh well, no time now. We tidied up out papers, and had the following questions unanswered:

The International Showplace Tuned In show, we needed to know which old show they were paying tribute to that included a captain and feathers. We had to guess Captain Kangaroo.

The Tennis Court Phone Number, we had to guess 867-5309 (lol)

There is a car in the park somewhere, who owned the car? We left that blank.

The SpongeBob Krusty Combo price, we had no time to go get it. We guessed $2.50

Basket Case Game, we never found it. Left blank.

What role did George Irving play in WINGS? We could not find that, left blank.

On an original park ride, what is the name on the cracked tombstone? We just had to guess “It was on the train course†due to that being the only tombstones I know of.

The Beverly Hills Cop one, we put the date from the BHC3 Poster, May 25

What coaster has a memorial plaque at the entrance? Oh boy. We guessed Racer.

OK, paperwork finished, we have TWO MINUTES! The last riddle says to go to where the flowers tell the time, which was given away when we saw Jeff and Steve collecting forms on our way to the tower. We ran like heck down there from Paramount Story, and turned them in with ONE MINUTE to spare. Whew!

Jeff flipped through our paper and said “Very nice, very nice…†so we considered that a good sign. On the other hand, the PKIC Staff’s team had Jeff going “Shame! Shame, shame, shame!â€

We had 30 minutes before having to meet up for The Beast backstage tour, which was what I had been waiting for all day. With my camcorder back, my camera and two extra sets of batteries, we walked over to The Beast’s entrance plaza, which was the meeting place. We got water bottle and Cokes, and rested our worn-out feet for a few minutes.

This was our first real rest in the last six frantic hours of the Hunt. Jeff showed up at about 6:30 exactly, and led us back through the same gate we used for the Tomb Raider tour, and once again gathered by the Fire Hydrant.

Jeff then said “Welcome to the Tomb Raider The Ride Backstage Tour!†There was a collective silence. Then he said “Just kidding!â€

LOL, he has a tendency to do such things. He gave us a quick reminder to stay on the dirt, gravel, or paved roads, and to not go into the grass for safety reasons. ALL photography is allowed here and at the Son of Beast Tour.

We started out down a road to the side of The Beast’s final brake run, then UNDERNEATH the brake run and lift hill structure, and made a right. Walking parallel to the lift hill, we quickly got to the bottom of the first drop, the first tunnel, and the first turn.

At the bottom of the first drop, we waited for 4 trains… Well, 2 trains to drop and those 2 trains to return on the second lift and run to the brakes. I got a bunch of photos there, of the first drop, tunnel, a train exiting the tunnel, the first turn, a pic of the new track technology on the first turn, the second lift, etc.

After about 10 minutes, we moved on, going underneath the second lift hill, where we grouped into a clearing. We waited for three trains here, and I photographed this side of the first turn, second lift, and we got to watch a couple trains go up the second lift. We also got to see the motor house for the second lift’s chain drive.

We then proceeded down a service road, being cautioned yet again to stay on the road, “So The Beast won’t eat you.â€

This was a long and uneven-terrain walk. We first saw a bundle of cables (TOWER JOHNNY CABLES!!!). For those of you not familiar with Tower Johnny, a kid named Johnny was killed by an elevator on the Eiffel Tower in 1985. The elevator cables from then are rumored to be in the park somewhere, in The Beast area. So I took a picture, and we kept going.

We next arrived at the entrance side of the second tunnel, the long one that curves to the left. We got to look to the left and see two trains enter the tunnel, and then to take pictures to the right as it moved through the COMPLETELY ENCLOSED mid-section of the tunnel.

We then continued, and then came upon the exit part of the tunnel. Once again, we took pictures to the right of the FULLY ENCLOSED TRAIN, and then to the left of the train exiting the concrete section of the tunnel.

We then continued, and here’s where it got rough. We were all slipping and sliding down a fairly steep slope, covered in gravel, asphalt chunks, and other nasties. We got down to the bottom, and got to stand SIX LITTLE FEET from the track of the ground-hugging section following the tunnel, on the way to Lift Hill Number Two. We waited for 3 trains, the group taking turns up close because of the crowd, and I got some REALLY close photos of the part of The Beast not many are able to see, unless they are a maintenance crew.

Jeff then told us that the place in front of us, which was a section between two handrails without a safety cable, is where they start the morning inspection. One person goes left, the other goes right, and they meet in the station.

Then, we started back out, and I started videotaping. I recorded a train on the low stretch, then taped the rest of the way out, getting both sides of the large tunnel, the area by the second lift and second drop, including a train climbing the second lift. Then, we crossed under the lift hill again, and back to the area by the first tunnel, where I videoed more trains.

Then, we got herded back down the road we came, well, not quite. Instead of walking back right alongside and under the first lift, we went over to the side a bit, outside of the structure, and were taken over by the maintenance shed, then underneath the brake run and first lift hill, then back out, where we filed out, and were told to meet for Son of Beast in 40 minutes at the Flight of Fear Plaza at Fort Cooper.

Darcy, Jennifer and I went to the bathrooms by Vortex, then went straight of FOF to sit and rest for a while

We parked on a curb over by the Helipad service gate, and chatter coaster nut talk for awhile. We saw Jeff over there talking to the group, but we were not capable of walking again yet. We hauled up when he opened the gate, and went through.

Jeff welcomed us to the tour, and gave us the same warnings. Stay on the road, blah blah blah.

We then proceeded down the road where the entrance to the haunted trail goes, by some storage trailers, and back into the DEEPEST of the PKI woods. PKI has no land, my foot.

We walked on down, and, WhoooooHooooo! King Cobra! We all hopped over and took pics of the poor thing sitting in the clearing where the fireworks come from, then continued down the road, going around a left curve.

After walking through the old Lion Country Safari land for a while, we encountered, a, well, um, an AWFUL STINK. Jeff then said, “Welcome to Kings Island’s sewer!†Oh GREAT! I would have liked a little warning for that. But too late for warning, so I QUICKLY took a couple pictures, and we kept going, around a gentle curve to the right, and Hello, Helix!

We got to the base of the Rose Bowl Helix, and Holy Crap! This thing is MASSIVE. I knew it was big, but standing under it is different. Most of the people crowded up a slope to hear Jeff, but I hung back, taking a bunch of photos here.

Jeff finished up, and we turned around and headed back Well, that was a short tour! No, I’m kidding. We went down and turn RIGHT, onto a nice paved service road. We followed this for awhile, until we saw Adventure Express to our left. Whoop! So really we are getting three tours for the price of one here: King Cobra, Son of Beast, and Adventure Express!

After quick photos, we are greeted by SoB’s massive wall of wood that is the lift hill and first drop. We walked RIGHT underneath the first drop structure, ogling the huge wood beams used.

We then walked into the heart of the ride, walking underneath the entrance to Helix 2 as well. I was taking rapid-fire pics by this point.

We stood in the middle of the monstrous structure of the ride, and got to stand SIX FEET from the loop, right against the safety fencing.

We watched several trains go, and then Jeff said we would wait for three more. Well, five minutes elapsed, and no train. Then, it cycled empty. Great, someone threw up! It was getting late, and dark was approaching fast. Jeff decided we had to get out of there, so we wouldn’t get stuck in the dark.

We were led out, and I started videoing, just like before. I had also taped at the helix. I recorded the middle of the ride where we were standing, and taped all the way back out.

We went back the way we came, by the sewer again, (Bleh), and out to the Flight of Fear pavilion.

We were told to take the time between now and the 10PM event in the Paramount Theater to go eat, get sweatshirts for later, etc. Darcy and Jennifer were going to do the latter, so I told them bye for now, and went to meet my mom at Bubba-Gumps.

I met her at Bubba-Gumps and had part of a crappy fish sandwich. Also, a few crappy fries. They had no chocolate milk, so she went to International Street (hurry hurry!), to get me a milkshake at UDF.

She got back, I ran to the bathroom by Bubba Gumps, and hurried back out, that bathroom is CRAPPY (It really is, blech), so I grabbed my shake and beelined to the Paramount Theater. It was 9:50 PM.

I got there, and hunted for my team. After looking all around by the theater, I heard someone call my name, and I looked over and found Darcy. I wondered over and chatted briefly, then Jennifer showed up from I-Street, and we plucked down on the wall, my feet now totally dead. I had barely made it to the theater without falling down.

A couple minutes later, they opened the doors, and I pried myself up and we went in. Wow! Red carpet, lanyard ID check, ropes, wow! We went in, and went to the left of the left side aisle, in the front where we could stretch out.

After a few minutes, and everyone was in, Jeff Putz came on stage and did a quick speech, thanking us for such a great event, and thanking the park for making it all possible.

He then introduced Jeff Siebert of PKI (We know who he is, Jeff), and Jeff then came up, saying that the lanyard checkers had counted 170 of us that had made it this far. Not bad! Last year they only had like 75 people at the entire event!

They then got down to business, the Scavenger Hunt Results.

He said: “How many gave up on the Hunt?â€, and a lot of people raised their hands. How many think they can win? Quite a few hands, including my team. How many thought there were 225 Beast Prints? More hands including my own. Sneaky! That sign was there on purpose!

He then said they had a three-way tie for second place, so Jeff announced a Price-Is-Right rules tie-breaker. They would call the team captains of the tied teams up to the stage, where they would be asked questions. They called up three people, the first two I later found out were David Bowers (Coasterville Dave), and Michael Darling.

Question One (Tiebreaker) How many bolts were used to build The Beast? This was done with the Price-Is-Right rules.

David Bowers overbid, Michael Darling overbid more, and the third guy got it with a guess of 35,000. Correct answer about 85,000. In the audience, I guessed to my team and myself 12,000 bolts, which might have won.

Question Two (Tiebreaker) Who was The Beast’s main designer? David Bowers got it with Al Collins, ending it there. (I got it right again)

Question Three (Tiebreaker) How many acres does The Beast occupy? Michael Darling got it with 35 acres, ending it right there. (I got it right again, I should be up there!!!)

Question Four (Tiebreaker) What is the exact track length of The Beast? Answer must be exact.

Dave Bowers overbid a little, Michael Darling underbid a little. The third guy got it right with 7,359 feet, which is WHAT I GUESSED TO ME AND MY TEAM!)

Question Five (Tiebreaker) How many riders had The Beast carried?

Dave Bowers guessed 4,000,000, Michael Darling guessed 5,000,000, and his team took third place.

The team “The ACErsâ€, who had won with 39/40 answers correct, they had missed The Vortex light bulb question, which I found easy.

The scavenger hunt answers were not revealed, which bugged us a bit. Jeff said they would go into the PKI vault.

They then killed the lights, and started The Beast’s 25th anniversary video. It was awesome! It had TONS of historical footage in it, including John Allen sitting on top of The Racer’s lift hill before the ride had even tracked.

It also talked about the guy who has ridden The Racer over 4,000 times, and of course Carl Eichelman, the “Beast Tamer†talked about in the Hunt and on the sign by The Beast.

The video lasted about 30 excellent minutes. I wish they would sell this o a DVD in the gift shops! That would be awesome!

`After it ended, Jeff told us to go outside and take a bathroom break and to watch the fireworks, but those staying for the ERT had to meet back there RIGHT after the fireworks to guarantee being in the event. Park closing was right at that point, which was 11PM, in other words, they had to separate us from the commoners, who had to leave at that point.

Unfortunately, I could not stay. So we filed out of the Theater, and I said goodbye to my teammates, promising to exchange photos by email. We had traded addresses while waiting for The Beast tour earlier.

After telling them bye, I met my mom in front of the main entrance on International Street, and for me, BeastBuzz came to a close after a FANTASTIC day!

Pictures are available at ExtremePKI.com

-Donald (PKIDelirium)

[BoddaH1994]

I had my camcorder, so I hid it beside me and put my hat over it, and luckily the bar monkeys missed it. So once we were on the lift, I pulled it out and started recording. I kept a firm grip on it, and had an awesome Beast ride. I stowed my camera, well, turned it off, in the brake run, and got off in the station, noticing an employee glaring at me for having it when I got off.

Nice, you do something that you KNOW is illegal and against park policy, and you flaunt it somewhere where you know people from the park will read it. This reminds me of an episode of Cops where a criminal breaks into a toy store and ends up getting caught under something, and calls 911 for help, thus turning himself in.

[Mr. Christopher]

The Tennis Court Phone Number, we had to guess 867-5309 (lol)

651- 2872.

There is a car in the park somewhere, who owned the car?

It's found in The Paramount Story.

Answer to Question Thirty: The employee’s guess, and others around us, said 12, so we used that.

I think it's 10.

The SpongeBob Krusty Combo price, we had no time to go get it. We guessed $2.50

Answer

Basket Case Game, we never found it.

That's because it's in Rivertown.

What role did George Irving play in WINGS? We could not find that

It's right outside of Wings, on the roofline. He played Mr. Powell

What coaster has a memorial plaque at the entrance? Oh boy. We guessed Racer.

It's Adventure Express.

[BoddaH1994]

<<The Tennis Court Phone Number, we had to guess 867-5309 (lol)

651- 2872.>>

He told you to use the telescope on the tower to get it off the building.

<<There is a car in the park somewhere, who owned the car?

It's found in The Paramount Story.>>

The Godfather car, right when you walk in.

>Answer to Question Thirty: The employee’s guess, and others around us, said 12, so we used that.

I think it's 10.>>

I think it's 12

<<What coaster has a memorial plaque at the entrance? Oh boy. We guessed Racer.

Adventure Express.>>

It's on a rock to the right of the entrance.

[Mr. Christopher]

He told you to use the telescope on the tower to get it off the building.

Yeah, I wasted 50 cents for that. Should've just used 411 instead.

[ZosoBeast]

We tried using 411 and the lady had no idea what we were talking about. I think you got the name for the boat in CDBB wrong as well.

Fusion, how did you get that pic of songebob? do you have 2D copy of the 3D movie? or is it a frame grab from a reg spongebob cartoon?

Just wondering!

Ever Onward,

Bill...who KNEW the very first reply to that post would be a shot at the video taping done on The Beast.

[Mr. Christopher]

Fusion, how did you get that pic of songebob?  do you have 2D copy of the 3D movie?  or is it a frame grab from a reg spongebob cartoon?

That's just a frame grab from the actual movie. You can find it at Blur Studio's site under Animation and Special Venue.

[BoddaH1994]

<On an original park ride, what is the name on the cracked tombstone? We just had to guess “It was on the train course†due to that being the only tombstones I know of.>>

What about The Beastie with the name "Imma ________" something... can't remember what the name was....

<<After every one was down, Jeff introduced his partner in crime, Steve Bohmker, now known as Mr. Steve, or Sadistic Steve. >>

Mr. Asset or "the temp"

<<Question Two: Next up: getting the price of a gallon of gas at Gilmore Gas. This was obviously at Preston Tucker’s Roadside Café. We went over there, and discovered that none of the three pumps in the front (Coney Mall Side), were named Gilmore Gas! Two were named Victoria Gas. So we went inside, and found no Gilmore Gas. At the last minute, I remembered that there was a pump in the back. SO we walked out the back door, and, lo and behold, Gilmore Gas! So we got the priceand headed on down Coney Mall.>>

Also, the prices for the wrong pumps read $0.00.

<Question Eight: Next up was getting the song that is played on the Glockenspiel every 15 minutes, which is at the Festhaus. We got there just as it quit playing, and we thought is was Chicken Dance. But we had to be sure, so we waited. Darcy and I went inside to get a drink, and saw the annoying $3 price for a Coke. So we walked through the Festhaus back door, and went looking for a cheaper machine, as they are only $2.75 in places. But we were low on time, so we went back and paid the annoying 3 bucks, got our Cokes, and went back outside to wait. >>

Is the extra quarter really worth your concern? Also, if you go to a food stand and pay $3, you get a 22oz as opposed to a 20oz.

<<After this, we saw the Beverly Hills Cop 3 poster, and noted the release date of May 25. However, the question seems to indicate the SECOND Beverly Hills Cop movie, so we would figure that out later.>>

No, it said sequel, which can be anything but the original. You read entirely too deep into this stuff.

<<Answer to Question Twenty-Three: The place where the kiddie ship is located is called Kangaroo Lagoon.>>

He asked for the name of the ship itself.

<<Jeff flipped through our paper and said “Very nice, very nice…†so we considered that a good sign. On the other hand, the PKIC Staff’s team had Jeff going “Shame! Shame, shame, shame!â€>>

Granted, we didn't place at all, but we only left one blank while you left a ton blank. I guess Jeff expects a lot out of the guys who actually run a reputable PKI site.

Regards,

Ryan

[Dane]

I'm still trying to figure out why You took so many pictures of Ryan and I. And I'm sure the park loves the fact that you whipped out your camcorder on The Beast.

[BoddaH1994]

I'm still trying to figure out why You took so many pictures of Ryan and I. And I'm sure the park loves the fact that you whipped out your camcorder on The Beast.

...or the park loves the fact that you took so many pictures of Dane and I, and we love the fact that you took a video of The Beast. either way

[beastdude]

hey ryan if you would of listened to me you wouldn't of had to spend 50 cents

[Dane]

He could have used my 12x optical zoom too, but NO Bill and I were out in the parking lot.

[BoddaH1994]

hey ryan if you would of listened to me you wouldn't of had to spend 50 cents

And trust you? "HA" I say to you!

[PKIDelirium]

um, I think I have only ONE SHOT of Dane and Boddah, but I saw you in a few crowd shots, I only took the one my Tomb Raider so i could find out later who guy was next to Dane, I wasn't sure.

I knew who Dane was, but not sure about who I now know is Ryan.

And about The Beast taping... Perhaps I should not have posted that. I only did it because someone on Coasterbuzz had told me taping and photos were allowed on-ride for the morning walkback.

[PKI_Diana]

I'm betting that's a load of bull, since it's a safety violation during park operating hours!

[PKIDelirium]

OK, I shall chew him out.

[BoddaH1994]

You should put the video up on your site. I want to see it.

[PKIDelirium]

Really? OK'l i'll see if i can plug my old camcorder into my computer to digitize it.Although it won't be on the normal public part of the site to avoid more trouble witht he park, i'll post the link here or PM it to you.

(Oh, it is not from the front seat, so it's not as good as it could be)

[Dane]

Hate to break it to you buddy but the park already knows about it...

[PKIDelirium]

Yeah, unfortunetely. I made a big mistake by 1. Taping, 2. writing about it.

That;s why i said MORE trouble hehe