CoastersNSich

Great TR, Todd! Something tells me I have to go to Carowinds this year. The long drive might be a *****, but doing the Borg Assimilator, Top Gun, and the Phantom Flyers should be worth it. I think I might also stop at Dollywood along the way.

I would like to see a somewhat repeat of 2003, with 2 new flat rides, including a new set of flyers, and maybe something from HUSS. I guess a Nick expansion is also due, possibly the return (in some form) of the antique cars. It would also be great if they could open a new fuill-service restaurant in the old International Restaurant space... renovate it into something informal, like an Applebee's or Friday's in that style, including a bar. I would also like to see an overhaul of the wood coasters, especially SOB.

Note: The park will still be open tomorrow at 10 am, and up until 8 pm, weather permitting. It closed at noon today because of the lousy weather and very low attendance. Honestly, I was glad they closed it early, not only for me, but for the people working!

I got back from the park a few hours ago. First, if anyone is thinking about going up for a couple hours... DON"T. The Park closed at noon, just two hours from opening. Why? Just so windy, cold, wet, and few people. It was one of the worst days, and probably the worst Jeff Siebert could remember. Upon entering the park, I got a souvenir cup (free) which I believe gets me refills all season long for 99¢. Nice deal. I first did Flight of Fear, twice. Lights on! Honestly, I like the ride a bit better with the lights on, because it doesn't happen so often. Next, Dodgems. Weak and slow... that's all I'll say. The Beast (one ride, back seat) was running with two trains, not much of an issue today. No different than I remember, a bit rough but still fast and fun. Some of my friends love the SpongeBob in 3-D, so we did that as well. It's nonsensical and whimsical, but still a favorite. Our final ride of the day was Scooby-Doo! and the Haunted Castle... I always get the lowest score of my peers! At closing time, noon, Jeff Siebert gave the luck souls who stayed around a tour of IJST. Instead of walking the perimeter, like on the last two tours, we got to go up closer, into the station, and... tour the tunnel between the middle and end of the ride! I got some photos of the splash-ending area and the station, but was not alllowed to take any too up close or in the tunnel. I'll post some of the photos I took soon. Also, Happy Days Diner looked great, and I'm looking forward to some of the new food options, like Graeter's and Chick-fil-A. Starbucks is going in the old French pastry shop, and the old hand dipded ice cream stand will now sell donuts.

I heard it was going to be Mexican going into the Chinese place. I actually like Mexican better...

My two cents: SFKK is an overall good place. Most of their coasters are good... my favorites are Chang (B&M person here) and Greezed Lightnin' (lapbar-only shuttle loop!) Thunder Run is also great, the Road Runner Express is intense, and the Twisted Twins have a few exciting intense points, even with the roughness. T2 is actually acceptable to me. Is it the cleanest, friendliest, most amazing park around? NO. But Six Flags is trying hard to make things better, with more attention on guest service and cleanliness. There are some days I've been to PKI where the paths, bathrooms, ride efficiency, and even some employees have been as bad as at SFKK. Most times I've been there, they've only needed to run one train on their coasters, but do run 2 on Chang and T2 on the busier days. I've also enjoyed their Hellevator, Mile High Falls, Bilizzard River, and Thrill Park theater simulator. And they are adding a Tornado to their waterpark... even if PKI and HW have them, nice addition to SFKK. The Season Passes are amongst the biggest bargains in the industry, and parking is $5, a bargain compared to other parks. I definitely recommend a half-day's visit to the Kingdom, whether on the way to Holiday World, or a simple day trip.

I picked the Days of Thunder go-karts... it's a very simple oval that a good flat could be built upon. Or a better pay attraction.

Worth1000.com Admin:I don't know why this dosen't work for some people but here is a link to the image: http://www.worth1000.com/entries/78500/78586UaCY_w.jpg

Graeter's Toffee Chip is irresistible!

I guess the doors are only on the right side. Makes sense with separate load and unload stations. Similar to Flight of Fear.

PKI.com now has pictures from today... Lots of completed stuff, including three cars now in place! PKI.com

I'll join ya! I feel silly going all the way to Las Vegas earlier this week to ride their new monorail.

I worked at the park in the late 90s when some ride ops wore special uniforms. Top Gun's staff wore one-piece flight suits, long ones for cooler days, and ones with short sleeves and shortened legs for hot days. Phantom Theater staff wore theater-style usher uniforms, which were long black pants and (burgundy?) vests on long sleeve shirts. FOF had their uniforms, which allowed shorts. Why were these special uniforms eliminated? For one, staff was often sent to cover people at different rides, like Phantom Theater people working outside on the kiddie rides. Rides are often being paired up with each other. Which led to another issue: the hot summer days wearing long sleeves and black pants. And the flight suits were no fun to be in in 90 degree days, as I spent time with folks whose home ride was Top Gun. (I wore the standard uniform of white shirt and khaki pants, as none of these rides was my home ride) And to stay consistent, especially with ride pairing, FOF joined the ranks of standard uniforms. Cost was possibly a good factor, too.

I think one of the first improvements I would make is the designated smoking areas - it's better than just telling the smokers to exit the park and go out the front gate than smoke. This system is in place at Disney World and Holiday World. I bet that if you took a random survey through the park, as with most major parks, most guests would support the idea. Related, I am against municipalities banning smoking from bars and restaurants. However, if a local law requires establishments to provide non-smoking areas, then I would be for it. And about alcohol: Personally, I also believe that alcohol has no place in a family environment like PKI. I think not having beer would reduce liability for the park if a rider incident happened. If it means losing money that would have come from a hothead, I would actually be happy about it. However, if I had to compromise, I would require that security be used as a "bouncer" at limited access points to an establishment, like Wings Diner, Festhaus, or Bubba-Gump. I remember the way alcohol used to be served at KI before Paramount: most stands would sell it (I guess) and beers could be carried around freely, even The Beast line, which had a stand that actually sold beer. Wanna guess where some of that beer went after passing through the body? Fights were also more frequent.

Or would it be possible for another media company to become interested in parks? One idea: Clear Channel. Besides many radio stations and several talk shows, they also manage many sports and concert venues, like Riverbend Music Center. After all, Taft Broadcasting, who owned stations like WKRC-TV and Hanna-Barbera animation, bought Coney Island, which would later form Kings Island... Post #50!

link to article/story Looks like Six Flags has decided to take a new route, albeit not new to Paramount with water parks. The Hurricane Harbor will be similar to the other ones Six Flags has built, but unlike some that charge separate admission, the one for Six Flags Great America will be included with theme park admission. The new water park is being built in a parking lot site near the Southwest Territory section, home of the Raging Bull and Viper coasters. My thoughts? Mixed, in that while Paramount has done it the same way for years, and made the parks highly visited. However, SFGAm is already a very busy, heavily visited park between Chicago and Milwaukee, and Six Flags is missing out on income that could have come very easily to them.

The way Six Flags is going, I would more likely see them selling parks rather than add them. However, I wouldn't be surprised if a sale of the Paramount Parks were to take place that Six Flags would buy maybe one or two parks. IMO, Paramount's parks are very similar to Six Flags' larger, longer-owned parks, like Great America, Over Texas, Over Georgia, Magic Mountain, Great Adventure... regional parks.

I thought it was somewhat odd that they were showing 2004's commercials. Could be bit early before they produce the 2005 ads, which typically pop up around late March.

I've actually set foot on the campground to eat with some friends, but I've never actually spent the night there since I live less than 30 min. away. Plus I've never been a fan of camping. It may be a loss, but the Great Wolf Lodge is a great move for the area! I do hope though they open a new themed campground to the east of the existing one as rumored.

As usual: PKI SFKK Cedar Point Geauga Lake Also: Holiday World (first time since SRM '03) Six Flags St. Louis* Kennywood* Conneaut Lake* Knoebel's* Dutch Wonderland* Hersheypark (last in 2004) Dorney Park (ditto) Six Flags Great Advenuture* NYC*/Coney Island* Even though it's in Columbus: Wyandot Lake* *parks I've never been to

TAER IT DOWN!!!

1. TheKlockster 2. BoddaH1994 3. AZ Kinda Guy 4. Ohiocoasterman 5. TheRickster 6. Alien Seed 7. Beast79 8. PkiJake 9. ZosoBeast 10. PKI_Diana 11. TRTR guy 12.sobrider 13. familyman "Lucky 13!" 14.flightoffear1996 (maybe maybe not) 15. PKIDelirium 16.Coney_man (no school for me tommorow) 17. Derbeast (coming with drew, the guy that got banned) 18.Scooby Doo I will be there with GreenGhost 19. UncleHenry / StXBomber (I'll have to leave by 11:30 for exam though) 20. CYoung2003 (I got nothing) 21. CoastersNSich (no classes)

With IJST being in the middle of the park, I'm sure we'll get the chance to see a lot of stuff going on just walking past to get to the site. I heard that one of them is the repainting of the Eiffel Tower - I hope so, badly needed, especially after seeing PKD's last year.

Hey, who stole my picture from my site!!!! Aww, Merry Christmas, permission granted in this case.

Walk-on-weekends. Walking past all those full queues at The Beast on a really hot Saturday... PRICELESS!