Back to the Trip Report Archive
Back to Dave's Adventures
Back to Dave's page.
"WHAT storm?"
I've never been one to place a great importance on being at a park on its opening day, or riding a new ride on its first day, or any of that kind of thing. Opening day for an amusement park for me simply means that I have another recreational option available. Normally I don't make it to opening day at Kings Island just because I like to avoid going to that park on any given Saturday. That said, this year, the way the calendar worked out, I did go on Opening Day. It's a side-benefit of working for a "Church Related University": I get the day off on Good Friday.
My day got off to a bad start. Because I had taken a scenic route to get to the park, I was approaching from the South, but since I live to the North, I figured I would park in the North parking lot. It's a lot easier and safer to drive Kings Island Drive from the South end to the North end than it is to drive through the parking lot. Unfortunately, there is no indication at the South entrance that the North entrance is actually closed. So I had to turn around and go back. North of the park, Kings Island Drive is a massive construction zone right now because of the construction on the very large log cabin on the old campground site. I got back to the South entrance and joined the long line of vehicles trying to get into the lot. Parking this year is up to $10, or $15 for "premier parking." Premier parking? For that kind of money, they should let you park on the midway between Flight of Fear and Italian Job [Footnote 1]. I keep thinking that Kings Island, the park that seems to sell more season passes than anybody else, and which bundles parking with most season pass sales, is going to be the first modern major park to take the plunge and bundle the parking charge into all admissions, but while that makes good sense, they show no signs of ever actually doing it.
I got a pretty good parking space (particularly since there would be no tram service today) and then I noticed the long line of people snaking across the entrance plaza and down the tramway. Initially it looked like that might be the line to get in; instead it turned out to be the line for Season Pass processing. The line to get through the me_al detectors was considerably shorter. It wasn't any faster moving, though. I had, of course, taken precautions. I was wearing a nylon belt with a plastic buckle, I left my tape measures, my pocketknife, and all of my change in the car, and I handed the telephone and video camera to the attendant, expecting to sail through in just a couple of seconds. Unfortunately it didn't work that way. I don't have this much trouble getting through airports!
I had made arrangements to meet up with a group of Michiganders in the park, and as I entered, they were riding The Beast. To get back there to meet them, I took a quick walk through what used to be Hanna-Barbera Land. This is where the big changes for this year are in the park. On a quick look, I could see that the kiddie swing ride, the car ride, the train ride, the Miler coaster, the junior wood coaster, and the Intelligent Pedal Car all got name changes and re-themes. The carousel...well, I'll get back to that one. The kiddie turtle, hand cars, and Batflyer coaster are all gone. New this season are a kiddie bounce tower, and an oversized version of a Zamperla Skater. I'd return later to take a closer look.
My first ride of the day was The Beast. On entering the train, one of the first most obvious features is that the train has all new lap bars. They are the same as the old ones, except that they now, possibly for the first time since they were installed, have very strong return springs on them. That is an improvement. Unfortunately none of the other deficiencies of the trains has been corrected...the bars are still missing their first two detent positions, the train still has the hard-as-rock seats with the high center seat divider, and on my first ride, the seat belt buckle attempted to dismantle itself as I was trying to fasten it. Out on the ride, there is a significant amount of new lumber visible, especially in the second half of the ride. The ride was running fast, and smoother than usual. The biggest change is on the helix at the end of the ride, where the outside rail has been re-capped almost all the way around. The high-speed valley run at the bottom of the ride, just before the second lift, is still downright brutal, but there is a lot of lumber stacked up in that area, so that might be fixed over the next few weeks. Something else I noticed was that the crew was routinely meeting or beating interval, something that doesn't often happen on The Beast.
We rode Italian Job and made some observations of things we would notice all day long. While I had seen a fully restored Italian job third-car on the show floor at IAAPA, that car was clearly from the third train, the one that sat on the transfer table during this visit. The ride was great as usual, but quite literally none of the advertised vehicle effects were working, except for the functional doors. No fishtail effect, no headlights, no running-down-stairs effect, and no radio. We all noticed details of the cars that are really suffering...the rear-view mirror 'glass' looks like it is about to fall out, the headlight wiring is hanging down in the footwell, there are rust traces coming off the "windshield" mounting bolts, and in general the cars look like they are five years old and falling apart. Now, I have been to Kings Island in the off-season, and I have seen how they completely dismantle their coaster cars for mag particle testing and a full inspection and overhaul. With that in mind, it boggles my mind that the park's new-for-2005 ride can open for the first day of the 2006 season and really look like they did little more than throw a tarp over the train over the winter. Sure, the problems I noticed are all cosmetic...but how is it possible to strip the trains down and NOT clean them up a little?
From there, it was a more-or-less systematic trip aroundthe park. Vortex was next, perhaps the most predictable performer in the park. As usual, it was grabbing too hard on the mid-course brake, meaning it was going too slowly through the corkscrew and the boomerang, but I've come to expect that from Vortex. Really, on the whole, Vortex was not running too badly at all. Across the midway, the line for Flight of Fear was out the door, but we learned fairly quickly that the maze in the queue house was not in use. The pre-show was not playing, and the queue house was mostly dark. Well, I shouldn't say that. The pre-show video was actually playing, sans audio, on one of the "equipment readout" monitors next to the stairs leading into the flying saucer. Up on the platform, there is another interesting change. The train appears to have a new seat mold, this time in orange instead of black. Meanwhile, the safety belts have also been replaced, this time the orange belts have turned black. I rode in the second seat, so I can't say whether the short belt problem on the lead car has been fixed, but I had no difficulty getting the lap bar down and the safety belt fastened to it. It seems that the lights are a bit brighter in the barrel now, and I rather like it that way, as it gives you a better sense of just how convoluted the ride really is. Also, they've shut down the mid-course brake again, so the ride was running insanely great this time around. I'm sorry your Kings Dominion people are missing out on such a fantastic ride this season.
Over on the recaR I noted once again the new lap bars and extra-strong return springs, which I hope is a good sign for this season. It's not the real solution to the lap bar troubles on that ride, but it is a step in the right direction. Less noticeable is the trackwork, as it has been a while since I have ridden this one, but I did notice the non-operation of the mid-course trim brake.
More nice surprises awaited us at Adventure Express. Much to my surprise, all three trains were operating. It has become customary for Kings Island to still have one of these trains stashed away in the shop at the beginning of the season, often well into July or August. More surprises came in the first tunnel, where the lights have been fixed, and...the real shocker...the spears were popping out of the walls as they have not in years. Still no smoke or dinging bell, but it is clear that some work has been done on the animation elements. The second lift hill still has some problems, but if the first part of the ride is any indication, those lamps and stuck parts might actually get fixed this season! Oh, the other thing that surprised me here wasw the large collection of autumn leaves still occupying the queue.
Son of Beast was, as advertised, not operating. A sign at the entrance stated, "Son of Beast will open later this spring." This, of course, led to signs of disappointment from the group: "Awww, darn," we thought, "They are planning to re-open it." From the midway, we could see that sections of the upper part of the first helix have been rebuilt, and at a few points along the ride there are tents erected over the track, indicating, I presume, extensive track work in progress.
As long as we're back here, it's worth noting that Top Gun is as it ever was, possibly the best suspended coaster that Arrow ever built. It's too short, but that, and the long walk it takes to get to it, is about all I can say against it. The ride gives a pretty good view of the back side of the new Great Wolf Lodge now under construction in what used to be the campground, followed by a pretty exciting ride.
Last year, the Eiffel Tower was repainted. From the top of the tower, I noticed that either the paint has not held up well, or the observation levels have not been completed. There is a new lighting package on the tower, probably the stuff they installed for Winterfest last year, but I have not seen it lit yet...not with an 8:00 pm close. Also from the tower I was able to get a good view of the Nickelodeon Universe. It rained a little at this point, making Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion look attractive. I think the park was not expecting the warm weather, as the queue house was hot, stuffy and pungent. I believe the air conditioning plant has not been fired up just yet. The ride is still working all right, but as usual the guns are mostly malfunctioning; each 3-seat ride vehicle seems to be equipped with an average of 1.5 working guns.
Needless to say, my score was pretty awful.
The storm, such as it was, was short-lived. We wandered through Nickelodeon Universe, and came upon the Avatar. It has a more elaborate name than that, but I didn't catch it. The ride is a Zamperla Skater, essentially the same as a Rockin' Tug, only in this case the ride has an extra hump in the middle. It replaces the Ghoster Coaster and as it is powered at all times during the ride, is is absolutely not a coaster in any sense of the word. There are some odd things about the ride. The ride has six rows of six seats, and the seats are molded Fiberglas with a hump in the middle, and are horribly uncomfortable for even smaller adults. Each seat is equipped with an individual T-shaped lap bar, but all of the lap bars are tied together underneath the platform, so there is no reason I can think of why they didn't just use a single full-width lap bar. The ride vehicle rotates at a constant rate as it slides back and forth on the undulating track, resulting in a ride that is somewhat intense, somewhat nauseating, and from the sound of the screaming kids, not really a kiddie ride at all. It's a decent ride, but the seat mold makes the thought of successive or even repeated rides a somewhat less than pleasant thought. I also got the feeling about halfway through that it really ought to reverse the direction of rotation just to change things up a bit. It's a decent ride, and should be a pretty good crowd pleaser, but a lot of coaster people are going to ride it once, then be done with it.
It is clear that there is a lot of work left to be done in Nickelodeon Universe. The old Mini-Jet is not completely reassembled yet, the railroad ride re-theme isn't done yet, and worst of all is the carousel. The old HB-Go-Round has been repainted in orange and green, and the H-B figures have been removed. Now it has about a one-third complement of standard Chance figures and benches; I am guessing that custom Nickelodeon themed figures are on their way but aren't ready yet. To answer a question that I know is going to come up...yes, you can still get the blue ice cream. It's also worth noting that the Beastie got a new paint job, but I never made it over to ride it (shame on me!) so I don't know what else is new over there (except for the name: the Fairly Odd Coaster).
With about an hour to spare before closing, we decided on another ride on Italian Job. Just as we were crossing the bridge, almost ready to board the ride, the announcement came through: The ride was closed due to incoming severe weather. Incoming severe weather? It was a bit overcast, but there wasn't really a sign of even light rain. We checked a weather radar image and saw...nothing. We proceeded to The Beast, knowing that it would be closed, but hoping the park would come to its senses before closing time.
Sure enough, they did. The word came through that the storm wasn't expected to come through in the next twenty minutes, so The Beast did, in fact, re-open, and we proceeded immediately to the platform. That gave me a chance to take a front-seat ride, and to immediately follow it up with a ride near the middle of the train. As noted, The Beast is running very well, apart from the section in the middle that still needs retracking.
Overall, it was a good visit to Kings Island. There are some issues, though, that concern me. As we are all aware, the park is for sale, and it shows all over the park. Parking has gone from ridiculous to obscene, the operating hours have been cut, cosmetic maintenance clearly got cut back a bit, and the price of a 20-oz bottled soft drink from a machine is up now to $3.25. It is obvious to me that Paramount is taking steps to artificially inflate the profitability of the park this season, and if a buyer doesn't appear pretty quickly, I can see this situation only getting worse. It's something I hope the park operations people watch very closely, because Paramount is doing things that look good on the balance sheet, but only at the expense of actually showing the customers a good time. It's the same kinds of issues we've been seeing at Six Flags and even more recently at Cedar Fair. It's the kinds of things that lead to short-term gains, but result in chasing away good customers. I simply hope that Kings Island keeps balancing the books versus the customers this season so that once the sale is complete, Kings Island will still be the nation's most-attended seasonal amusement park.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Footnote 1: The park's two Premier Rides coasters, of course. [Return to text]
Next: Paramount's Kings Island (#2)
Back to Trip Reports 2006
Back to the Trip Report Archive
Back to Dave's Adventures
Back to Dave's page.
