DragonLord

Well, WWC takes a ton of people to operate. That's the big reason... depending on when you were in the park, the ride would have been shut down because we didn't have people working it. Another thing would be that I very rarely saw WWC opened before noon on any day. If you were just in the park in the mornings, then you would have missed it. I'm not sure about any other reason why it would have been closed. Somewhere on these forums, at least before the cleaning, we had already discussed this same topic. Maybe you will be able to find more if you dig through the what's left, but after my brief scan it didn't look like it was here. As a last note... WWC will not be leaving the park or be taken out.

I have a photo documentary class this quarter and I have to come up with prints for our first project which is due Oct. 27th. I have to take about 30 pictures, choose 5, edit if need be or for effect, and write capations or annotations for them. What do you think? Should I try and get some pictures of the park... say the Rose Bowl of the SOB, the bottom of the second hill of The Beast, places where the public really wouldn't be able to go, especially while rides are operating. Or should I just concentrate on the guests and not really the rides? A combination of both? Forget the park and try something else? Suggestions and comments would be helpful...

I saw him there! It's always nice to see people from the forums, especially Mr. Chef since he is great to talk with. I agree it was very cold, but it will only get colder as the time goes on. I'm going to have to invest in a good pair of gloves and find some of those hand warmers to use this year! I had a great morning, but my evening was horriable! Way too busy. I guess it's all just been building up since we have had private events all month that were very boring on my part but fun on theirs. It took me 2 hours to do paper work after my shift (a double, btw) was over. My sup forgot my second lunch as well, so I was starving by the time I got home. Thank goodness for homemade soup!

I just drove by the park and getting there was an interesting drive... Western Row Road, past Mason Montgomery, has a lot of branches and stuff down and the old part of WRR has a tree down that is laying across the power lines. Mason Montgomery is shut down off of WRR, and I'm not sure how far that goes, but there was a Group Health Associates building down there that I know got hit pretty bad and some of the light posts, signs and trees are down as well, probably some power lines too, although I didn't see any. KI Drive has a few light posts down, but of course you really miss seeing the sign! I couldn't belive it, it was just bent over, broken at the base! The 12 news van was there doing broadcasts and the parking lot is being cleaned. None of the toll booths looked like they were hurt, but the Gold Pass booth outside the GP parking lot was being picked up and moved by a crane, so it was probably knocked down or blown off it's supports.

From channelcincinnati.com, Storms Cause Significant Damage Thousands Left Without Power CINCINNATI -- Thunderstorms caused significant damage in the area overnight -- particularly in the areas of Mason and Montgomery -- leaving about 13,000 customers without power Saturday morning. At Kings Island, a storm was powerful enough to knock down the park's large sign outside the complex. National Weather Service officials were in Warren County to determine whether a tornado formed and caused any of the damage. No tornado was immediately confirmed. Cinergy crews were working to restore power Saturday morning. I can't belive that the sign is gone! It's been up for over 30 years! I hope the park finds a suitable replacement for it soon. None of the rides were damaged, Jeff Siebert was on the news this morning stating that the park would be opening at 9am and all rides and attractions would be opened at 10am. The damage was only in the parking lot and the surrounding areas of Mason, Lebanon and Deerfield Township.

I had a blast last night although it was very boring from my perspective... everyone was behaving! The park did meet and excede the expected number of guests as well. I didn't get to see any of the shows either, I was busy pretty much just walking around asking people to put the beer back on the patio or to go back into the buildings. That really was the only problem I had... and smoking in line. A lot of people were smoking last night and a large amount were smoking in the lines, at least in the beginning of the night. The weather cooperated all nigth and I'm glad everyone was out before the storm hit.

I get to work an early shift that day, so odds are I will be working the concert... a decent act at Timberwolf? Who'd a thunk it!

I have seen some of the HB Characters out this year, but they don't bring them out often... usually just for special occasions. I like HB, and wish they would bring it back to what it was, but the kids now-a-days have no idea who most of the characters are. My bet is that slowly but surely anything HB (except for Scooby) will be rethemed to a Nick show.

Yes he will... odds are Season Pass processing will be opened so he can actually get his ID made. Before he does that, however, have him check with Admissions to see if he can transfer it to a 2004 season pass since he hasn't used it yet this season they might consider it. There might be a small charge for the transfer, though, so you might want to call ahead first.

The plans are already finished for the new water park and odds are most of the bids have been answered and are ready for the preliminary de/constrution of the site. They already said there will be far less concrete and much more grass, so they probably won't worry about that till later... at least for sidewalks and other pathways and lounge areas.

Actually the Sledgehammer has a giant version (of course) that the park will probably get next year to replace Euro Bungy. Wounderland already has this ride, so it's a pretty good guess that the park will get one. I heard that all in all we are supposed to get 5 Giant Huss rides...

Troika! I love Troika but I haven't been on it in years! I'll have to ride it next time I'm in the park as a guest... of course that could be a long, long time.

The park kepted the animals on property year round, I belive. I would have to check into that to see for sure. We still have the old lion house and one or two of the monkey houses. It's pretty interesting to see them. When the park built AZ, they never came close to using all the land that the monorail/zoo took. There is still plenty back there that was taken up by it that the public doesn't have access to now. I do remember the ride mostly because it was cheaper to take kids from the local schools and send them to PKI to see the animals instead of to the zoo. I also remember during the ride the AC went out and we were burning up by the time we got back to get out. I think the entire monorail was shut down for a short time. That wasn't good b/c there was no way to get air into the cabin without the AC working. I think it was a good idea to take it out, at that time. Maybe one day the park will think about it again. As of skychairs and stuff like that, the only thing I remember is almost falling out of the one at Americana when I was little. My uncle had to grab me and pull me back in. Not fun. I think that's why I hate heights so much! It would be nice to see the park get some sort of people moving system, however. Maybe they are just waiting to get some more expansion done so they don't have to rebuilt it later on?

I would think that putting a buffet in IR would be bad, it would make the resturant lose some of it's charm. The sit down type of dinner during the season would be great. You also have to understand that there really is no easy way into IR when the gates are down at the front gate. We would have to build something to keep the turnstile area complete closed off yet still have our doors to provide the security needed. It has the main dinning room which when full would be uncomfortably close to the other tables. The Carousel Room, the Caprice Room (which is actually a living room with a bar), the conference room that is off of the Carousel room (which by the way hasn't had a decor change since the Brady Bunch was there), and the two smaller rooms directly off of the main stair case that would be better for smaller parties and dinner meetings. All of the rooms combined could hold a lot of people, but would be very short of "extra" space needed to get up all the time and walk around to a buffet or just to get in and out of the chairs. If they seperate the chairs out like they should, it would still hold a lot of people but they better be filling it up all the time to meet the operating costs.

The park does open IR and in some cases Festhaus to certain groups during the off season, but mostly in January and Feburary for meetings and stuff. Sometimes Paramount Theater is used for round table discussions or other such things. These ocassions are far and few between, however, and the park really doesn't make much money off of it and they don't have to provide a full staff. In most cases, security (which is always in the park) and a member of marketing is with the group at all times. IR would be great if it could be used again. However, like it was mentioned before, there would have to be a lot of renovating to use it. It's very rarely used during the season, but it would be great if they could revamp it and make it a really nice place to just sit and dine. The few is great of course, right down IS to the Tower. It's probably the best seat in the house for the 4th and 5th's fireworks show!

Actually I think the park would do itself a favor by opening up IR again and having nothing in but photos of the park and maybe a movie clip or two going... I'm sure that QTV can come up with some sort of a short history clip to show. Maybe they could just do that and show it in the lines? There is so much history in the park that would be great to share. If people do have photos of the park from way, way back, then it would be awsome to see some up. Mr. Chef, why don't you use your charm and talk Seibert into seeing if he can conjure up anything?

I HATE Burger King! I always get sick eating there b/c they use fake fries... they aren't french fries at all, but soy fries! I'm not too thrilled over their burgers either, I would much prefer Wendy's or McD's. What I do know is that McDonalds has tried to get a store in the park, but that the park wants too much money from them to do it. It wouldn't be profitable for them to do so. I don't know if that was a franchise that asked, or if it was corporate, but it would be interesting to know how much the park would take from a vender to set up shop.

Now, now Mr. Chef, your much too young and healthy to worry about cardiac arrest. No coaster or attraction in the park can do that to you! I haven't ridden any of those, but I would love to ride both of them. In fact, they are the only rides in the park that I haven't ridden. Maybe I will gain enough courage (and have enough money) to ride them sometime before the end of the year is out.

Today was a great day to work... there was nothing going on and the people from GE were great! I love it when companies buy out the park, the guests are usually always good mannered, very clean and out right nice. They love the idea of having short ride lines, the longest I saw was DZ and TR at about an hour, and they love to have their coolers in the park. Not to mention the weather! It was wonderful outside today! No rain for the first time in like a month or so. This is how summer should be! The downside to days like today are that people are too stupid to read the valid dates on their tickets before coming to the park, or they read them and don't care thinking they can get in anyway. I feel sorry for GR, they got b*tched at today more than they have in a long time by people with season passes, "good any day" tickets which are valid only on the days that are printed on the ticket, the Blockbuster cards, and the e-tickets. PKI really should have planned some more for this month and ask Blockbuster not to sell tickets to the park during September. They also should have disabled the e-tickets on their website. That would have helped some. What we can't do anything about is the stupidity of the people who can't read the tickets or don't care about them and come anyway. We also can't do anything about season pass holders who are too dumb to read any of the paper work that was given to them while they got their pass, or to read the maps when they got to the park, or to check the website before coming. The park has ALWAYS been closed to the public in September, and if somehow you missed that then tuff. We turned away a ton of angry people and some of the season pass holders were saying they will not get a pass for next year. Thank God! Less dumb people to deal with! I really wish we would have taken their names just to make sure they don't get one. I know some people drive 3 hours or more to get to the park (don't they all?) and everyone has an excuse as to why they don't know that we are closed but it's always the park's fault for not advertising it better. Maybe next year they should add commercials that would air in all of Ohio, Indy and KY, and maybe beyond that says we are closed to the public? Of course, then someone would say they never watch TV or don't own one. Then add radio commercials! Then again, they won't listen to the radio during their 3 hour trip to the park, or before they decide to come. No matter where you came from, how long it took you or any other sob story you can come up with, just be nice about it and don't yell at our staff. If you are going to be yelling at our staff, you don't need to be in the park. Yelling gets you nothing. The park was being very nice to some people that came a long, long ways and gave them the okay to buy a FULL PRICE ticket to get into the park. That is NEVER an option for season pass holders b/c you can always come back when the park is opened to the public. Even season pass holders that work with the companies that come in have to buy a ticket from their company... they are not allowed in with their passes during their company's day at the park.

Umm... I doubt there is any chance of a dedicated water main for the park from Cincy to the park. Besides, an extra 500,000 gallons from Cincy would add more stress to their systems as well.

A few things... First, the park does have it's own water treatment plant and we do pump a lot of water out of our own pumps located near the river for use in landscaping and in the water park. Odds are we are adding more pumps to aid in the water park expansion, but will also need additional water from the city... "He noted that the park is considering options inside and outside the property." The city has always had a problem with water, and it isn't only Mason, it's Warren County in general. In fact, the city of Cincinnati takes care of Mason's water systems, or at least some it, and provides Mason with some of it's water. You haven't figured in the additional restrooms, food courts, showers, and other facilities that use water in the new water park. Water rides aren't the only thing that take water. In the end everything will work out... it will probably be a combination of County, City and private (PKI) sources that will get the park up and going.

Actually we pulled them out last year, and started doing so earlier than that if I remember. They brought them out during the big BAFFD, which was suprising. I saw Yogi and Fred Flintstone, but I'm sure they had some others out. I have a suggestion for the park (this should be posted somewhere else, but oh well)... I think they need to build a normal play ground, with nothing but the slides, juggle jims and stuff. A nice soft floor to it and some picinic tables around it for the parents and NO MUSIC! Just a nice quiet place for the kids to unwind, or gear up. Maybe they could have a stationary ice cream truck that would serve some treats. I just think the park needs to have some more quiet space like behind Wings, kinda out of the way. We could build it behind Nick, just take out part of the existing Grove (or expand it) and that would work.

Congrats Mr. Chef! Give your wife a big hug for me! This means that you can experience youth at PKI by riding on all the rides in HB/Nick! Maybe you should start early so you know what to expect?

Drop Zone is cool, but some park has a Drop Tower that is shorter and doesn't rotate on the way up, but when you get to the top of the tower and before you drop, the seats tilt down 15 degrees. That would be a great feature to add to DZ. Of course, it would be a very scary feature to add if the poor thing got stuck at the top...

sobrider... there isn't a coaster race (officailly) and if there were (officially) PKI would never say it was dropping out of it. You have to understand that we can gear towards families all we want, but we will still build big and bad for coasters when we get a chance, just not as often as we used too. Maybe in '05 you'll be seeing a new coaster, again in Coney Mall, without the removal of anything this time. As of KC, I loved it and never really got to ride it and enjoy it. I wish it were still around but they didn't remove it just to put up Delirium. It was removed because it was becoming unsafe due to metal fatigue. Why do you think it hasn't be reloacted to another Paramount park yet? Or sold to a local park? It can't be rebuilt with the original pieces.