Timberman
Posts: 845
Registered: 9/21/2004
Rank: Gold Critic
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 5/22/2006 4:44:12 PM
My night's lodgings were at the Santa Claus Lodge, which was a little weird, decorated as it was for Christmas in late May, but it was also clean, comfortable, convenient, and, at $76, tolerably cheap.
The next day I called Holiday World and discovered that Raven was still down and that all they could say was that they hoped to have it up by 4:00 p.m. but could offer no guarantees. I wasn't looking forward to facing a 500 mile drive after leaving the park in the late afternoon, so I took a little drive to get breakfast and form a plan of action. Turns out Santa Claus is in a pretty remote area, and I had driven about 40 miles before I found a place to eat. Looking at the map, I saw that my route home would pass near Cincinnati, and I had the inspiration to go to Paramount Kings Island to see if my beloved Son of Beast would stand the test of time and the comparison to the many great wooden roller coasters I had ridden since I was last aboard it.
About 12 miles away from PKI, I got stuck in traffic that was backed up behind an accident, so I didn't get to the park until about 2:40. After I paid my parking fee, I realized that all of Ohio, and probably most of Indiana and Kentucky, had experienced a similar inspiration and were also at the park. I just happened to come on a beautiful spring day when the park was having a buy 3, get 1 free promotion. You know you're in for a long day when you have trouble finding a parking space at PKI. It took me about 10 minutes of driving around to find a space in the nosebleed section, and I only got that because I happened upon someone who was leaving. I then paid the stiff $50 price for an adult admission, which includes an option for a ticket that allows the same person to return once to the same park within the same season. As recently as 2003, I had paid $55 for a Six Flags season pass that was good for as many visits to their worldwide network of parks as I could fit in a season, so Paramount's deal did not impress me much.
When I got through the security line, the park was so crowded that I could hardly walk on the midway without bumping into somebody. The time was 3:00, and the park closed at 8:00. I immediately headed to the queue for Son of Beast, which was stretched out to the end of the cattle gates. To PKI's credit, however, they were running both trains, and the wait for the back seat was a tolerable 1 hour and 15 minutes. By the time our train hit the chain lift, I could feel that SOB had diminished since my last visit 20 months earlier. The ensuing ride was not only grueling due to the wild and senseless lateral shaking of the cramped Premier Rides trains and the occasionaly spine-compressing depressions in the track; even worse, it felt much slower and less exciting than what I rememebered from my last trip. I left the ride mortified that I had been championing SOB to the coaster community for almost two years. I wondered if my desire to see SOB succeed had caused me to overestimate the ride during my first exposure to it or whether the roughness I perceived was simply a reaction to having ridden exceedingly better-engineered and constructed wooden coasters with infinitely superior trains less than one day before. Yet I distinctly remembered, and my wife later concurred, that neither of us had experienced the same violent rattling of the train and pothole sensations from the track during our previous rides. What I remebered from that trip was the SOB's amazing speed and heavy positive Gs, along with a noticeable but not painful amount of vibration that never escalated into the convulsions the ride was currently undergoing. Yet I could hardly believe any ride could deteriorate that much in 20 months...and then I rode the Beast.
I will admit that I was already irritated when I climbed aboard the Beast, as the queue began about 30 yards onto the midway, with people constantly running up to join family and friends futher along the line. Initiall
Message updated 5/25/2006 3:22:21 PM by Timberman
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adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
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5/22/2006 4:54:55 PM
Sheesh, that's depressing as hell... I had no idea that Kings Island had fallen into such a mess. To hear that waste like that was laying on the ground in the park and bathroom floor is basically unimaginable to me - when I worked there, the place was nearly spotless...constantly. And even worse, to hear about the Beast running so poorly... what in the hell are they doing over there? I sincerely hope that Cedar Fair picks up the ball, seeing as how someone dropped it mighty hard. It really makes me sick to hear about my home park being so mishandled...
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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5/22/2006 6:24:59 PM
i stockpiled all of the nimoy and shatner albums. my favorite song ever between the two men is nimoy's "bilbo baggins." a very raunchy bassoon riff leads us into:
spock: Bilbo!
background chorus: Bilbo!
spock: bilbo baggins, only three feet tallllll!
Bilbo!
background chorus: Bilbo!
spock: bilbo baggins, the bravest little hobbit of the alllllll!
i've heard that there is a video with len and some gogo dancers dancing around with midgets. i've yet to find it, but talk about a holy grail...
i really can't imagine myself going back to PKI, which wasn't "P"KI the last time i went anyhow.
great work with your TRs. they were all great and fun to read.
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"I note your distress at my floccinaucinihilipilification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty." jesse helms 1999
Message updated 5/22/2006 6:28:04 PM by hrrytraver
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bumprnugit
Posts: 282
Registered: 10/7/2003
Rank: Silver Critic
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5/22/2006 10:08:36 PM
hrry - you can find that vid on Ifilm (there is just an insufferable amount of ads though). Type in Leonard Nimoy under search and you'll find it. They also have some good Shatner there too.
Timberman- I've been on those trips too many times;
I don't have the Transformed Man, but I have Rhino's "Golden Throats I & II" which have kept me entertained on the road. Those Shatner classics are on there, as well as Eddie Albert(Blowin' in the wind) and Jack Webb (Try a little tenderness.)
I believe Ifilm has Shatner performing his rendition of "Rocketman" on a late 70's sci-fi TV award show (a must see!) - this was spoofed by Stewie in an early episode of "Family Guy".
Message updated 5/22/2006 10:28:28 PM by bumprnugit
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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5/23/2006 7:15:59 AM
bumpr-
yeh i just flaked on searching that one out on youtube, where it also awaits at this moment. i wa smistaken about the midgets, the gogo dancers are "merely" wearing pointed spock ears.
ok- now back to PKI - talk amongst yourselves.
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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6/9/2006 8:50:36 AM
ok-
again i take amusement thread into the abyss. i can't resist but to add to the shatner discussion.
bumpr and timber, have you guys ever seen or heard about shatner's film debut, "incubus"? it's a mid-sixties "art film" in which the dialog is entirely spoken in "esperanto", the made-up "universal language." the film is shot entirely around the idyllic beaches and forests of big sur, and the gist of the plot is that there are all of these female "succubi", followers of satan, who go around seducing already corrupted souls and insuring their damnation. one of the succubi notices how "pure" bill shatner is and takes it upon herself to ensnare and corrupt his "pure" soul. there is an eventual confrontation between shatner and satan.
imagine a young captain kirk speaking entirely in a silly fake language while defending virtue in a faux art house film that plays like a crackpot version of ingmar bergman. it's worth a look for those who enjoy psychotronic entertainment.
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Timberman
Posts: 845
Registered: 9/21/2004
Rank: Gold Critic
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6/9/2006 6:14:12 PM
I think it sounds worth seeing for the devilish succubi. Mmmm....succubi.
Now, don't get me started on George Takei...
Message updated 6/9/2006 6:28:52 PM by Timberman
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