"You can't get much wetter!"
Sunday I went back to Kings Island again. That's trip #4 for the season. I drove into Cincinnati, collected Dave Bowers, entered the park around 11:00am. Having missed the walk-back, we simply headed for the Flying Eagles, took a few high-action rides, rode Vortex, skipped Spongebob, rode Flight of Fear. When we came out, it was raining lightly. I suddenly realized that I had left the car windows partially open (it was beautiful when we arrived at the park, and it felt like we might finally make 80 degrees!) and that I was carrying my camera. We made a beeline for the front gate. As we did so, the sky opened up in a monstrous deluge. By the time we got to the car, waaaaay out in the parking lot near the tram stop, we were totally soaked, and the rain wasn't letting up. Winds had been kind, sparing the car interior too much water. I stowed my camera in the trunk, and we agreed to go get some lunch "off campus".
In this case that happened to mean "Steak 'N Shake," which in years past managed to get put on the Dave & Dave Banned Restaurants List for being woefully unprepared to do business. On this occasion, the food and service were both good (and they were not out of everything). Well, sort of. I usually appreciate it, when I am eating in informal restaurants like this one, when my invoice arrives at the same time as my meal, as I hate to have to sit around waiting for it when I am done eating. But at the same time, I don't understand why, under those conditions, many restaurant servers have adopted the attitude that once the invoice has been delivered, service ends. When our drinks ran out, Dave "Todd Longed" us some refills [Footnote 1]. We finished our meals, as we waited for the weather to improve. Which it did, to the extent that the lightning quit, although the rain continued. Fortunately I had prepared for such an eventuality. I switched to my infrequently-seen "wet park" configuration of swim trunks and no electronics or unnecessary items. I figured there was no way to avoid getting wet in the rain, so I'd just switch to a configuration where the rain would be less unpleasant. This would come back to hurt me later. But initially it made my trip through the useless me_al detectors quicker than usual. I had a good feeling as we returned to the park, and upgraded to a parking space in the super-secret ultra-preferred parking area that actually is near the front gate.
Once inside, we started to visit the major attractions, starting on the right-hand side with Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. We didn't expect that one to have a short wait, what with the rain and all, but it did. This would be a sign of things to come. This time, Dave got to embarass me in the scoring department. Once outside we systematically worked around the park: Beastie, Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster (yes! Even that one was a near walk-on!), Wild Thornberries River Adventure, White Water Canyon...the long line scared us away from Tomb Raider, but The Beast was a walk-on, so we walked on, and got possibly the best ride on The Beast I've had all season. I looked at Dave, he looked at me, and we mutually agreed to take advantage of the walk-on conditions and take a back-seat ride. If The Beast is running well, that's something to savor!
Unfortunately, the second ride was without a doubt the absolute worst ride I've had on The Beast this season. I probably brought it on myself, inadvertently. I was riding, as I sometimes do, with my feet up, when the lightly-loaded train hit the trim brakes at the top of the second hill. Riding feet-up and arms loose (though holding the grab rail), as the train hit the brake, I was pitched forward so hard that I was doubled over the lap bar. With nothing in my pockets to stop it, it came down hard, driven with pile-driver force by my descending stomach as the train went down the second drop. Ow! I was now jammed down and back in the seat, meaning my spine was crammed against the damn-near-unpadded seat back, and suddenly my thighs hurt like hell. I'm not usually one to scream on rides, but what I was screaming at that point was decidedly unbroadcastable. Even stupider, the one piece of equipment I had not left in the car was the safety belt that I keep specifically to prevent this problem on the Racer. But I hadn't used it this time because The Beast had never done this to me before. Of course, the result of all this was that every bit of wheel hop, track bounce, or train shuffle; every loose track screw, misaligned rail or just plain old bump in the track was instantly shot through my spine and ricocheted off my thighs. Everything I hate about the trains on The Beast hit me with full force. I wanted off that train, and we hadn't even hit the second lift yet!
After an eternity, the ride finally ended, the operator hit the lap bar release, and the lap bar vibrated like crazy, but stubbornly refused to open.
(note: the following explanation is an educated guess; I haven't seen this mechanism with the cover off, nor have I seen a diagram)
The PTC electric lap bar has a ratchet pawl that is jammed in place by the tooth on the bar axle. When the release solenoid fires, as nearly as I can tell, the ratchet pawl is not pulled away from the tooth, instead, the locking arm that prevents a spring from pulling the pawl back is released. Normally, once the locking arm is released, the bar is pulled back slightly to allow the ratchet pawl to disengage, and once disengaged the spring pulls it clear, allowing the bar to open. It follows, then, that when the lap bar is jammed tight against the rider and/or the seat (Kings Island's lap bars have a locking position where the bar is slightly compressed into the seat cushion) and cannot be pushed down, it won't release. This, of course, is what happened to me. In the end, it didn't require a train dissection (though it was beginning to look that way) but it did require the combined efforts of three platform attendants, two of whom were literally standing on the bar trying to get it open. Grrr. There is no logical reason why that bar should even be able to go that low!
Once finally extricated from The Beast (I'm just glad the operation didn't involve a large angle-grinder or cutting torch...) I took a couple of rides on the Flying Scooter, then continued in a systematic fashion around the park. Racer gave its usual performance (ridden this time with safety belt in place around the lap bar. A repeat of the The Beast incident would have been a Bad Thing™), and I still haven't decided whether I prefer seat #3 or seat #15. We rode Adventure Express where the creaking timbers on the first lift seem to be louder with every successive ride. I realized we had skipped recaR, so we backtracked and rode it. Why is it that the South Racer (recaR) runs great while the North Racer runs poorly by comparison?
Delerium was next on the list, and it remains a fantastic addition to the park. I was leery of the outward-facing seats, but it turns out this is a darned good ride. Somebody posted that it was running a "less intense" ride program than when it opened...I beg to differ. First, there isn't much to program on this thing...it swings, it rotates; second, it doesn't feel any different to me...!
In our bid to ride every coaster in the park (except Taxi Jam), the insanely long walk to Top Gun was next. The wait was short, and the crew was having fun. They were also allowing "fire-drill" re-rides, which is not unheard of for Kings Island, but IS unheard of for Top Gun. I remember one rainy day years ago, all the crews were allowing re-rides except Top Gun, where it is a ten minute walk to go around and every other train was going out empty. Today's crowd was a little bigger, but rerides were a 'go'.
By
changing out the lap bars, Kings Island gave me a reason to try Son of Beast
again. Regrettably, while it is a slight improvement, they still have not fixed
the major problems with the train, which I shall enumerate here:
I thought Son of Beast was going to be the ride that violated the conventional wisdom and proved that gigantic wood coasters didn't have to suck. Instead, in its current form, it proves the conventional wisdom right. Sigh. How much better it would have been if it had been "Son of Racer" instead.
In disgust, I visited a restroom which was disgusting by Geauga Lake standards [Footnote 3]. Which is to say, for Kings Island it would typically be well off the bottom of the scale; Kings Island restrooms are usually in pretty good shape. Our day in the park was quite literally going down the donniker fast. Fortunately, a no-wait ride on Drop Zone followed by an almost-no-wait ride on Face/Off quickly improved things. The weather had also improved, although that made Dave not want to join me on Congo Falls. "I've just started to get dried off," he protested, so we both skipped it.
It's
been so blasted cold this spring that my brain is having a hard time comprehending
just how late in the season it already is. The sun was just beginning to set,
but it was already late in the 8:00 hour. We crossed the park to ride the one
coaster we had so far missed, the Rugrats Runaway Reptar Roller Coaster.
Something about that ride has changed since it opened, and I am not sure what.
Either that, or my legs are shorter than they were the day that ride opened.
Either way, I can't walk up the lift hill anymore, which is probably a Good
Thing™.
We finished the evening with a ride on The Beast (this time with the
lap bar safely secured to the grab bar), and a few action packed cycles on the
Flying Eagles. I noticed a nasty crack in the sole of the right shoe
of my nearly-new cheap sandals. I generally don't wear them to drive, so I wondered
about it for just a moment. Then I realized: You know you ride the Flying
Scooter a lot when your right "landing gear" shoe wears out before
your left one does. 8-) On our last ride of the night, the operator had things
timed perfectly. Kings Island closes with a brief fireworks show and a PA announcement
right at closing time. Our last ride ended just as the PA announcement was beginning.
In
all, it was a good...in fact better than expected, given my late arrival and
the large early crowd...day at Kings Island. Even the rainstorm didn't manage
to spoil my fun, even though it did chase me out of the park for an hour or
two. I wonder when I'll be down this way again...
--Dave
Althoff, Jr.
Footnote
1: http://www.angelfire.com/mn/RunawayMT/8/todd.htm
OR Usenet Message ID vuakhsk5pdin88nf5b7c5nrptocrvdg823@4ax.com
[Return to text]
Footnote
2: Consult the saferparks.org
database for details. [Return to text]
Footnote 3: Geauga Lake is well known, unfortunately, for inadequate, overused, undermaintained, filthy rest rooms. [Return to text]
--DCAjr
Next: Six Flags over Geauga Lake
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