Homey G's CoasterBuzzCon MEGA TR ! Part 2 : PKI
Associated parks:
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Crumbs! Whatta week it's been. I feel like a heel cause I'm JUST NOW getting around to writing part 2 of my amazing trip, but anyway..
Again, all coasters are rated using the Griswold Scale with (-3) being a nightmare to +5 (religious experience) with 0 being positive, but only slightly.
After Brad and I rolled out of Cincy and got back on the interstate, we still felt refreshed enough to go ahead and drive all the way into Cincy and stay just outside of the park. Ok, mistake.. We passed a Days Inn just on the Ky side of the Ohio river that was advertising 45 bucks. We ended up staying one exit before PKI for 72 bucks, and we had to switch rooms cause the air conditioner in the room burned out and basically smoked us out of the room. Since we were so close, we slept in until just before 8, got up and made it to the park at about 9:20. The first mild heart attack for the day happened as we approached the ticket counter and I asked about the CoasterBuzz convention meeting area, and the girl had NO clue what I was talking about, and when she called her supervisor, they didn't know either. Fortunately, the next place we checked was the booth to the far left, and we saw the sign for COASTERBUZZ.. Stephanie was handing out envelopes, and so we went on in and saw the group waiting near the fountain. Having never been to a convention before and therefore knowing no one, we kind of stayed off to ourselves. Minutes later, Jeffrey Seibert addressed the crowd and we began our walkback to Tomb Raider : the Ride... hereafter referred to as Thong Raider.. don't ask me why. It wouldn't be the last ride to have it's name changed. Jeff (who I'm convinced loves his job more than anyone else on the planet) hotfooted us back taking us through off-limits areas until this big box came into view. Here we waited about 15 minutes, until the park opened. It was already very hot out there on the asphalt, but it went by kinda fast cause I finally met my buddy.. the man, the myth, the legend.. Bill (rollergator). What a super nice guy. I had chatted with him before, but it was great to finally meet him in person. You can learn so much from him about coasters just being around him. Unfortunately, for what he knows, he's also completely in the dark about some things.. (*ahem* Chang) ;)
Thong Raider is great for what it is. I had never ridden a Top Spin before, but the ride left me feeling kinda the way I feel getting off a looping starship. I'm sure it has to do with hanging upside down. To it's credit, the special effects are well done, and the restraints are comfortable. TR:TR I believe is a solid attraction for PKI, although one time was enough for me. The two guys we sat next to (Eric and Kris) ended up being our riding buddies the rest of the day. I'll say right now that Brad and I would have had fun that day regardless of anything else, but Eric and Kris (their home park) were so helpful and cool to hang around, that I believe we easily had 3 times the fun we would have normally had.
After we got off Thong Raider, and got our official greetings with Eric and Kris out of the way, we all headed for the Beast. It was Brad's first time to PKI, and my last since Vortex was brand new, so we headed straight for the back with just a one train wait.
THE BEAST +4
I don't know what it is about this coaster, but it has been a landmark woodie for years and years, but it still delivers a heck of a ride. The jury is still out on the "improvements" (i.e. magnetic brakes) they've added. Yes, I can't imagine a trim being on the first drop, but that magnetic brake on the second hill really saps the strength out of the first to middle part of the coaster. Still, the Beast is still the Beast and there's still no stopping the power this big guy displays after the second lift hill. Those back-to-back helixes remain one of the most terrifying experiences on a coaster. Not to be missed, and it's even more out of control at night!
After our first coaster of the day, we headed over to my first experience on "Flying Eagles". Let me just tell you, the Eagles are something I could do ALL DAY LONG. Since Sean F. broke his promise to me (haha) to be there to teach me, Kris stepped in and showed me. After watching him one time to get the hang of it, I was soon on my way to "snapping" joy. What a rush from something so seemingly tame! Watching Kris work that thing was funny in itself. Everytime he changes the direction of the fin, he shimmied from side to side like a jockey on a horse trying to get that extra power for the final furlong! Hysterical! After I think 3 rides, we headed towards the freshly painted steel of...
VORTEX +2
This Arrow mega-looper JUST barely gets the +2. It has shown much aging since I rode it during it's innaugural year, but that's to be expected. The first drop in the back is STILL a great rush, but that trim before the 'corks is on SO hard, and it just ruins the rest of the ride. But I still would love to have it in my park, period.
FLIGHT OF FEAR +2 (coaster count # 51)
I know, I know. I really, really wanted to enjoy this. It was my first Premier, and my first LIM powered coaster. What killed this coaster was the trains. I'm 6-2, and it was all I could do to get in this thing, so when I did, it wasn't all that comfortable. The foot thingies really is what really killed any comfort. The launch was awesome, but it just barely creeped through the course at the top so much that Kris thought it might valley. I didn't know any different, but did notice that there was no point having a MCBR if that's all the speed it carried. Apparently it had never run that slow anytime Kris or Eric had ever ridden it. Regardless, the final half of this coaster hauled tail with the final 'cork being disorienting. Great ride, but man, those trains! Eric told me to get used to those trains, as I'd be seeing them again very soon (SoB). I groaned. 5 minute wait for the front seat.
Recar (+3)
Here is where we found out another interesting fact courtesy of Eric and Kris. Apparently 1.3 on woodies is the airtime seat, so they were nice enough to let us ride. Another trick I saw was Kris took his keys out and basically tied his lap bar (somehow) to the back of the seat in front of us. This kept his lap bar from stapling futher during the ride. Interesting. So we're on our way up the lift and we get e-stopped. This was Brad's first, so he was kinda iffy about it. Eric and Kris were excited for a different reason, but because they wanted to be walked-down. There was an announcement that the train was stopped by the op, and sure enough a guy came to make the trip halfway up the lift to where we were. The guy gets to the front of the train and doesn't stop, so I'm wondering what the crap he's doing. At this point, Kris had hastily removed his apparatus and had put it back in his pockets. The guy walks right past us and stopped in front of Kris and says "Hey man, you gotta lower your lap bar some" and proceeds to staple the piss out of him by clicking his bar 4 or so clicks. Kris's face was priceless. It was a total look of shock that I wish I had a picture of. The rest of us were howling. The lift started back up and the coaster was great. 1.3 really is a great seat, and the retracking was evident. We were gonna go ahead and hit Racer, but we figured we should let the heat on Kris die down first. :oD Solid ride! Walk-on. After that we headed to the towards Sonny.
SON OF BEAST +3 (coaster count #52)
We basically walked on this as well. We took the second to last seat and I was again destined to be haunted by these trains. That hump in the floor kills guy like me with long legs. The ride op irritated the snot of out me by telling me she had to ride it the same way.. SHE WAS 5-2!!! Don't be silly! Anyway, it an amazing ride with insane speed for a woodie, but I just couldn't enjoy it with my legs crossed up like they were. I'm sure you guys are wondering why it's rated so high. Well, if I had only ridden it that one time, it would have been a 0... or less. But we got back later in the night and rode in the front seat, and that made all the difference in the world. After we purchased our on-ride photo, Brad affectionately renamed this monster "Son of B!tch... this goes too fast!" Haha.
DROP ZONE
Solid drop ride. Much higher than the one just like it at PC. Crazy airtime. 20 minute wait kept us from re-riding. We headed for Deja... er Face-Off, but it seemed to be down cause people were filing out of the entrance. Darn Vekoma.
ADVENTURE EXPRESS +2 (coaster count #53)
Best mine ride I've ridden. The final lift with those stone guys beating the drums cracked me up. Kris informed me that it used to say "NOW YOU WILL PAY!".. Funny stuff.
FACE-OFF +2 (coaster count #54)
Not too bad. Kris and Eric hate this ride, but it wasn't too bad at all. I actually greyed out on the reverse vertical loop. But it's no Deja-Vu.
RACER 0
This was merely for Brad's coaster credit. Practically gave me spinal compression syndrome.
By this time it was lunch time so we went and ate.. Eric and Kris rolled out to LaSourdsville Lake (sp?) to catch Screechin' Eagle, but Brad and I just hung out at the Eagles til they came back. During that time I hit..
SCOOBY DOO'S GC (coaster count #55) and
RUGRATS REPTAR (coaster count #56) for credits only. I don't rate kids coasters.
After they returned we hit FoF again and then went back down to something we had totally forgotten about
TOP GUN +2 (coaster count #57)
As Eric says, it's great for all 43 seconds of it. The most memorable part of this coaster was me playing "The Game" (face/body/personality rating system) on a girl waiting for the next train. I started rating her giving her a 6.5 for face, but I couldn't see her body and was telling Eric and Kris and Brad I couldn't see her body and she looked right at me. Well, I just kept going rating her personality a 2 as we were leaving the station. The guys were dying cause I didn't care. Well we were leaving the station and her train came back into the station.. She looked right at me again, so I yelled out her body score "6 1/2!!!!!" really loud. *Shrugs* I'm silly like that.
By this time it was almost time for ERT at 10 o' clock. We were getting off SoB for the last time when the fireworks started going off. We hotfooted it back to the floral clock and got there right after 10.. maybe 10:05. There were about 10 people waiting there as well. I didn't think anything about it until 10 after. I got restless and tried to get the guys to go on down with me to the Beast. I didn't WANNA miss ERT. Well I don't know who the heck this guy was, but some guy spoke up as if he was in charge and tried to assure us that everyone was just getting their final rides in and they'd be along shortly. Well he was dead wrong, so if you're reading this whoever you are, next time you're ASSUMING something, make sure I know that you're ASSUMING cause I won't pay attention to you. ERT apparently started as soon as the fireworks went off, so needless to say at 10:20, I'm pissed cause I'm standing around waiting. We ended up missing the ERT on FoF, and finally caught up with the group at Thong Raider thanks to some security guys. We got back to back rides on it, and then went and got 2 rides on Beast. I was under the impression we'd get a choice of what we wanted to do, but whatever... it was fun regardless and I wasn't going to let that slipup ruin a fantastic day.
After bidding our new friends Kris and Eric goodbye, Brad and I headed for the promised land of Holiday World! Look for part 3 coming soon! Thanks for reading!
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Sorrrrrrrry folks! Parks closed. The moose out front should have told you.
Thong Raider? Exactly where does that come into the scenery. Let me know, so I don't miss it next week!! Wowzza!
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There's nothing like a woodie...
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Holiday World, it's impossible not to have a good time
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Sorrrrrrrry folks! Parks closed. The moose out front should have told you.
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Holiday World, it's impossible not to have a good time
Hey, when people are on the clock for our benefit, they're not going to wait around, so we were off precisely at 10. We even paused a moment for a group photo (which only had about 45 people in it... not everyone had the stamina I guess).
I can't get enough Tomb Raider... I really look forward to seeing it again.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"
That is awesome. My favorite part of the day had to be "The Game." She had to of known you were talking about her!!!!!!! That was an awesome trip report! I'll be looking forward to your HW TR.
Eric
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That is alllll........
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Sorrrrrrrry folks! Parks closed. The moose out front should have told you.
Homey G. said:
After our first coaster of the day, we headed over to my first experience on "Flying Eagles". Let me just tell you, the Eagles are something I could do ALL DAY LONG. Since Sean F. broke his promise to me (haha) to be there to teach me,
Sorry about that dude. I really, REALLY wanted to be at the park that day but a few unfortunate things prevented me from attending that day.
I am sure Kris did a heck of a job showing you how to fly although I don't think I have ever flown with him. If now, we are going to have to change that soon Chris.
Glad you had a good time at the park.
-Sean
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Sorrrrrrrry folks! Parks closed. The moose out front should have told you.
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