PKI review

[raptorrvnge4928]

Well as I am on vacation and I had headed home for the weekend, I had decided to go to PKI on Friday 5/21, for a day of fun with a good friend of mine, who hadnt been there in 10 years. Boy was I surprised at the changes that had occured since my last visit, a little over 3 years ago...

First off, I made the mistake of going on a Friday, a limited operations day... there were a few rides that werent working. Namely White Water Canyon, Congo Falls, Adventure Express... and... TOMB RAIDER. Now THIS surprised me. TR is a relatively new ride. Is it not a popular ride? Why was this one not open? I wouldve thought they wouldve put some of their crew on this ride.

The other thing was the fact none of the water rides were running... well scratch that, not sure of Thornberry's was actually open, since we knew WWC wouldnt be, we never made it there. Point being, it got really hot on a 90 degree day with no way to cool off.

The crowds were relatively light, so what we could do, we did in about 3 hours. This included Beast, Vortex, The Racer (Frontwards, since backwards was also closed), Flight of Fear :D , Face Off, Son of Beast, Delirium, Drop Zone. But ironically, after being there less than half of a day, we were bored witht his place.

So here are a few negatories about PKI in my experience. First, what the hell happened to SOB? That ride is extremely rough, beyond belief. I could never imagine a wooden coaster aging that horribly in 4 years. I wouldve thought that PKI would really maintain that ride much better, due to the height and speed. There was noticable shift in the cars as they traversed turns. Few rides I have ever ridden have injured me, or made me felt like they maybe unsafe. This is one. Destroy SOB or retrack it.

The Beast was all trim braked out.... (sob). That was disappointing. Though a good ride still, a little disappointing of the places that the trim brakes were positioned (right after the second hill after the first drop, on the second big drop).

PKI, you were once my home park, now I am slightly embarassed to admit such a thing... I feel bad now that I had criticized CP the way I did the first time around, as now that I have something to compare CP to, opening day did not seem quite as bad afterall....

... hey, at least all their rides were open. But in PKI's defense, all their summer help had not arrived yet.

Final Conclusion, Visit PKI in June when all the help arrives, and do not, I REPEAT, Do not ride Son of Beast.

[Frito]

I'm surprised to hear that about SoB. I rode it its opening season and thought it was one of the smoothest woodies I had ever ridden due to the triple wheel base normally seen on steel coasters. The only complaint I had about SoB, and I guess this is where it gets "rough," is that the g-forces on the helixes were so high that I couldn't keep my hands up. Is that why you said SoB is rough? Or has it really gotten worse since it opened in 2000?

[raptorrvnge4928]

g forces do not equal roughness in my book. Here is an example: You know after the first drop where you have that banked turn to the right? You could see the cars shifting on the track. I believe there is alot of play between the position of the wheels, versus the track. It was very jerky, very violent... Yes I rode it opening year as well, and I agree at that point it was the smoothest wodden coaster I had ever ridden. I disagree now.

[Harpo]

I don't know the details, but I know there have been a lot of issues with SoB, including a lawsuit by Paramount against either the builder or designer. I haven't heard any results regarding the lawsuit. It's possible that it was settled out of court, or it might still be going on. All I know for sure is that Paramount was very unhappy about the construction of Son of Beast.

[6000000flags]

son of beast=sob
:haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha:

[xtreme2134]

i also was in the park on friday. now i drove all the way from cleveland to get there. first off i would like to say it is a very nice park, i was very impressed even though CP is my home park. all the rides that where not working earlier in the day opened up as the day went on, including all the water ones you just had to ruff the sun a little longer. we stayed the entire day and got about 25 total rides in, a new record for me and my friend, we then went back on saturday for a half day before heading home and man it got busy quick. friday on the other hand was great, pretty much walk right onto any ride at anytime with no line. i forgot to mention all my rides on coasters where all in the front seat to, so if i got 25 you can imagine how empty the park was. i even forced my self onto delerium which made me very sick for about an hour. i had made a trip to the park last year but it was in peak season so there where alot of that i got to get on this year that i did not last year. as for SOB we went last year on it 4 times and it was a little ruff but still bearable, now this year i was really looking forward to getting back on it. the ride is insanely ruff, so ruff to the point that the ride in not enjoyable anymore. this upset me alot. it seriously caused alot of pain, mainly headaches and in one point a shock down your spine, it felt like the train was going to fly off the tracks it was bouncing all over the place, to me it does not feel safe anymore. well thats all i got for now but i will be back there in august. one thing PKI has over CP though, a great collection of wooden coasters (beast,sob,racer,). CP really only has 2 woodies,(mean streak an blue streak), gemini and mine ride are steal tracks supported by wood, totaly different ride, and mean streak is nothing spectacular. bye bye yall

sorry for rambling on, peace

[erhswimming]

y'all best not be dissin' on my home park, pki, cuz that's in the 'hood i wuz from...kings island is my favorite park! and i even live 20 minutes away from disneyworld and have passes to both disneyworld and universal! kings island is still the best, yea cp has all mf and ttd but it doesnt have the beast, tomb raider, sob, drop zone, and all those other little cool rides in between! and wdw and universal get old fast. they barely ever get new rides and they dont have too many rides to begin w/. maybe its just cuz i grew up right by kings island and kno that park the but its still my favorite!

[leonardofury]

Could people use capital letters and full stops pleases. it makes the posts much easier to read.

[mantis6006]

In response to what raptor asked about TR. TR is in it's 3rd year I believe and it really isn't that popular of a ride. The reason it is a limited operations day is because of school still being in during that time. Since TR isn't exactly the most popular ride in the park, that is probably why they didn't have it open. If I am not mistaken, I believe TR takes a few more employees to run because it always seems like they're are more PKI employees on that ride than many others [i.e. Vortex,Drop Zone, Delirium]. I have only been to PKI once this year and haven't ridden SoB yet. BUT, if it is as rough as you guys are making it out to be, I probably won't like it much. [seeing as I am only 13 and would probably get whipped around a LOT] Even though the few times I rode it last year it wasn't painful at all and was one of the smoothest rides I had ridden in my life. However, the one ride I don't feel safe on is Beast. That ride is VERY PAINFUL. The last time I rode it my friend and I had to have employees help us out of the seat. We were in so much pain from that ride because it was VERY ROUGH. [although it is our fault somewhat for riding the ENTIRE ride with our hands in the air =P] And raptor, one more thing, DON'T BE EMBARASSED THAT PKI IS YOUR HOME PARK! PKI FOREVER! [my home park also ^^]