The day began with my friend and I arriving at the park around 9:30am. We went straight for Runaway Reptar. There was quite a crowd forming for Reptar, but we managed to get on the first train of the day. I think Reptar was a great addition to the park!
After our ride on Runaway Reptar, we checked out the new Wild Thornberrys Log Ride. We did not ride it, but we were both impressed with the theming. Another plus for PKI.
Our next stop was the Beast. It was basically a walk on. They really braked us on the long straight-away! It hardly felt like we were moving! :(
After the Beast, we hit the Vortex...another walk on. It was only running two trains.
I had totally forgotten about the 7th Portal until we were exiting Vortex, so we went straight for it. I thought the 7th Portal was great! No Spiderman, but I was impressed.
We wanted to ride one more ride before lunch, and we saw that Flight of Fear was operating, so we decided to give the new lap bars a try. The line was just at the beginning of where you enter the building, but it took forever! Only one train was in operation. After about a 40 minute wait, we boarded the train. The new lap bars are great! You are very secure and it was nice to be able to move my upper body! But the true test was to see how it ran with the new restaint system. Let's just say, Oucher Limits: Flight of Pain is no more!! It was totally awesome! The midcourse block did not even catch at all. The ride was fast, smooth and one of my favorites now!
Lunch time!- Good 'ol La Rosa's pizza!
After lunch we walked on Son of Beast and Top Gun. Son of Beast seems a little bit smoother. Still only has 2 train operation though. The trim at the top of the second hill does not effect the ride much at all.
Face off was about a 15 minute wait--and was the highlight of the day! We were waiting for the 3rd row (2nd row facing forwards the first time) and a lady and her son were waiting for the second row. They both had not ridden yet and the lady was pretty nervous about the ride. She asked me what I thought about it; my response was "it's over before you know it". Oh boy was I ever wrong! We boarded the train and were pulled up the first hill. After the appx. 5 seconds of hold time, we were released and began our journey forwards. By the expression on their faces, the lady and her son facing us, loved it! After exiting the loop, we were heading up the second hill. I knew something was wrong right away....the lift mechanism did not catch the train and we rolled back down the hill. We went into the loop, but just barely did not make it around. The look on the lady's face changed from excitement to fear! We rolled back to the hill and the brakes slowed us down. We had vallied! The guests waiting to ride next all stood there and watched with open mouths. There were a few screams from the train. I immediately told my friend, the lady and her son that everything was fine and not to worry. Everyone remained calm and in no time there were several maintenance workers and managers crowded around the ride. The queue line evacuated immediately. We talked amongst ourselves, joking and having a good time. The lady even offered to take our picture, so we reached across and handed her the camera and got some snapshots of the whole ordeal. After about 30 minutes, it was our turn to be evacuated; the cherry picker safely lowered us to the ground. We were given an Exit Pass to board any ride from the exit without having to wait in line.
After that we rode several other rides, most of which being walk-ons. At 8:45, we headed to the Beast where we used our Exit Pass. It was now dark out and we were given front row. This time, the ride packed a little more punch than it did earlier in the day!
So, there it is- my first and only PKI experience of the year. I guess I will just have to settle for ride opping Raptor all summer long! :)
Kudos to PKI for a great start to what I think will be a great season for them!
