Maestro

While I think SOB isn't the smoothest wodden coaster I've ridden, I agree that it's not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. Like any wooden coaster, the ride can vary dramatically based on lots of things like temperature, moisture, weight of the train, etc... I've had very good rides and very bad rides. More good than bad, in my opinion. I love the speed and power, and since most of the roughness I've experienced is side-to-side (as opposed to the up and down "jackhammer" effect) it doesn't bother me too much. Similar to what everyone else is saying, it all depends on where you sit. 6-2 is my personal favorite, but in any case, never, ever over a wheel. I think maintenance has done a great job keeping it as smooth as possible. Now if only we could get a different set of trains! Ugh!

You are correct, the angle of the gondola can vary from ride to ride on the final descent. Depending on the weight distribution, the gondola may catch in a slightly different position after each top spin. The weight of the gondola could also effect where the gondola is released to the top spin, thus making a slight height difference (the heavier the gondola, the lower the release point). Depending on weight, I've seen it do a full top spin, a half top spin, or any combination of things. The brakes always engage at the same time, so it really comes down to weight and momentum of the gondola as to how far it goes around.

What, no International Restaurant? Since that isn't a choice, then Cafe K.

PKI still has all of the Phantom Theater characters. They were loaded into crates and stored in an undiscolsed location on park property. As for the Smurfs, there are still a few floating around the park, but they are owned by individuals rather than the park. They were either donated or auctioned off to park employees many years ago. One of the full-time Rides managers has one in his office, and I know that an ex-Seasonal Ops Manager for Rides has one in his basement. The Bat cars are long gone. The fronts of each car (the "Bat heads") were given to VIP's related to the ride when it was dismantled (ride supervisor, etc...). As someone mentioned, much of King Cobra is still floating around in various places from FOF's drum to the fireworks site to the field behind SOB. The park doesn't keep much more than it needs to. Many times, after rides are removed, the cars/trains are given to another Paramount Park with similar rides, or used for spare parts. Usually, things of nostalgia (Smurfs, Phantom Theater characters, etc...) will be kept around for a while, but ultimately are sold through in-park auctions to managers and full-time staff.

And I'm sure the park will be terribly upset about losing someone like you as a customer. See, that's what I don't get. PKI goes out of their way on their big day to extend an open invitation to folks other than the media. Inevitably, a couple of whiny babies show up and make comments like this. Sometimes, I wonder why PKI bothers to keep doing it. It truly shows what a class act they are. Funny, a loyal guest to me is one who supports the park and is excited for them, no matter what. You might not like what the park is getting, but unlike most parks these days, they continue to sink millions of dollars into the park each year for new rides and improvements. Maybe they shouldn't spend a dime for a few years and then perhaps you'd appreciate things a little more. Italian Job will be a huge hit for PKI.

First let me say that I love Vortex and it's by far one of my favorite Arrow loopers out there. But why would PKI want to put one more dime than necessary into a 17 year old steel coaster? Whether it got retrofitted with lap bars, or entirely new trains, we're talking some serious cash. It's definitely not the smoothest coaster in the world, but it's not in awful shape for a ride of that age. Maybe a bit more padding on the current restraints would help?

Definitely the blue ice cream!!!

1) - Scooters 2) - Delirium 3) - Drop Zone

I'm not sure Timberwolf is equipped for a show of that magnitude, but I would love to see it!

I have been on a couple of the Sally Scooby rides and I much prefer the continuous loading of PKI's - it makes the line move much faster and I like the "enclosed" feeling of the old Phantom Theater cars.

Face/Off - it's a good ride, but there are plenty of boomerang coasters out there. I could go to a different park to ride one.

It depends if you classify hanging over the lava pit as an inversion - if you do, there are 5 of them. If not (I don't really count it as one), then there are 4 inversions (after the Shiva wall before the ice field, two inversions after the ice field before the lava pit, and the top spin after the lava pit).

You are correct, technically it could run 4 trains. FOF has 5 blocks (loading station, waiting brakes, unloading station, ready brakes, and midcourse brakes). However, unless the crew could get the other 3 trains moved around in about 20 seconds or so, freeing up the ready brakes, the 4th train would always have to stop and wait in the midcourse brakes. With the lap bars and the slower loading process (as well as the faster cycle time due to only lightly using the midcourse brakes), they can achieve the same amount of riders with 2 trains as they can with 3 trains. In most cases, the second train is already unloaded now before the next train is ready to launch. Having a third train would just mean you have two empty trains waiting to be loaded instead of one.

It was definitely not 1997.

I think there is a place for all of them. It's good to have a well-rounded collection of rides/attractions - something for everyone. My personal favorites are hard park rides, but I love a good flume ride now and then - those are almost always unique to each individual park.

I like the movie soundtracks they play on I-Street. It really adds to the "movie" atmopshere of the park!

I think it's a great idea, but would be pretty hard to enforce. Maybe someday!

Shaggy, nope, I'm not positive. You are probably right - I worked at the park for a lot of years and for some reason the 1997-1999 seasons kind of run together for me. I know for a fact that they hired a full crew for the ride in 1999 and that, as you said, some of them were cross-trained on a daily basis or transferred to other crews because the ride wasn't opened. I just can't remember if it ever operated that year or if the final farewell was the year prior. Do you remember Carla, your supervisor (later manager) from the first half of the 1999? She says hi :-)

They operated off and on for the 1999 season, but have been closed since then.

It's definitely Nate, I was with him the day he recorded the spiel.

His name was Nate...

Jeff did some of the speils on SoB, but a few of them were done by one of the old Rides managers, who was the head manager of Action Zone the year SoB opened.

I think it is awful and I agree with KI for having this policy. It's pretty hard to enforce sometimes, though - a lot of the queue lines are long, and most of it is not visible to the operators!

Amen! I'm sure there are a few people on this site who really know what happened, and a lot of people who think they know what happened. But I can say that some of the people very close to that situation read this site, and those of you who complain about a few extra seconds of extra light do not make that day any easier to forget. It was a life changing experience for some of us. Please let it go. For those of you complainers, I know it makes the ride a little bit different, but you need to trust me when I say that there is a **** good reason for it. The lights will never, ever change back to the old way. Remember, you are PKI enthusiasts and you notice things that other guests do not - most guests to the park have no idea that anything has even changed. Sometimes you just have to be accepting that the park knows what they are doing.

For best overall movie, I choose Days of Thunder - I think it was the most well-suited for that type of first-person ride experience. However, I'm glad they went to the 3D shows in one theater - I think those are far more entertaining. I'm disappointed that PKI never got "Dino Island", which was a 3D movie that was at many of the other Paramount parks (I rode it in the Action Theater at Canada's Wonderland).