Italian Job At PKI in 2005!

no one answered my question how fast is it gonna go how tall how many launches what are the specs

Im excited as can be, personally i think PKI does a pretty good job with up keeping their themeing, no need for Top gun to go through the themed area now but it would be cool to totally theme top gun and its line. Outer limits themeing looks good to me and tomb raider will improve. Aventure express was improved on.

Next year what I'd like to see is a revamp of Coney Mall to help fit the themeing for IJ a little more and a heavily themed water ride like Jurrasic Park or dudly do right.

Or to rename top gun to something else, build an invert and heavily theme it to top gun, that theming could be awesome. way far fetched just be cool to see.

of course, everyone wants to see a hyper but if it goes in at cedar point thats fine with me as long as the PKI attraction is heavily themed, im buying into the theme park part of PKI now, time to complete it.

Great job PKI

EDIT- i dont think anyone knows any specs on the ride beside the themeing looks sweet *** Edited 8/13/2004 10:20:04 PM UTC by PKI fan2***

Apparently those will not be released until next year but you can find some pretty good "guesses" and hunches in this thread and the others. Search around. :P

At long last, I'll be able to fulfill my dream of pretending to be Matt Damon! He was in that movie, right?

No, that was Marky Mark. (C'mon, c'mon! Feel it! Feel it!) I made exactly the same mistake yesterday only the other way around, thinking Marky Mark was in the Oceans 11 remake, but it was actually Will Hunting in that.

Ok, ok....the movie sucked. Or at least a lot of people, (me included) thought so. That being said, how many great movies have been made in the past 5 years, and how many would really make a good theme for a ride?

Lost in Translation: The Experience
Mystic River: The Coaster

Doesn't exactly scream "fun" to me, even if I loved the films.

Did anyone happen to notice on the full length promo that the trains while going down a flight of stairs began to shake up and down? I wonder if this is actually being incorporated into the ride. It seems like coaster companies are paying more and more attention to what the trains can do instead of the track.

According to Jeff Siebert the bumps will be there. Though there's a rumor going around that PKI may have scrapped that due to maintenance issues.

I think it looks pretty cool. I hope PKI can maintain all the tricks and themes. I may have to make my first trip to there next year.

OK... For starters, let me say that while I am interested to see the new ride, I too, (like several of the others posted here) have some negative feelings about PKI's big announcement.

I am just a casual visitor to your website and message board (which, by the way, I enjoy very much)so allow me to share that I am a lifelong resident of Cincy, been going to Kings Island (to this day I struggle with the "Paramount") since I was 6, worked 4 seasons in Park Information (aka Sales and Service)and my daughter made her first visit at one month old, rode her first coaster TCTJ at 16 months and rode the Racer for the first time this summer (she didn't love it, but I am sure one day she will). So, armed with this background I would like to share my thoughts:

Over the years (esp. the "Paramount" years) it seems that the park sacrifices "classic" family rides for new thrill rides and attractions. Over the years, rides like the Baryn Curve (sorry, I know I spelled that wrong) Kenton Cove Keelboat Canal, double ferris wheel, etc have all been removed in place of other attractions. Sadly, it seems like this could again be the case with the Eagles and the Antique Cars. Consistently, those two rides have a queue line that is completely full. More importantly, these are rides that can be ridden by a great variety of people-especially the cars. My daughter took her first ride on them when she was a month old, and this summer was her first to be in the drivers seat. She was VERY upset to hear they are closing and even more so since I read about the 48" height requirement for IJ. Those of you familiar with PKI know that they own a lot of undeveloped land. Why aren't new rides and attractions added there??? The one thing my husband and I consistently applaud Cedar Point on is the fact that they have added all these amazing thrill rides without sacrificing classic family rides. In fact, Cedar Point excels at intermingling classic rides for families with the thrill rides, so you don't have to have your family separated all over the park.

Second, Overall, the upkeep of PKI is lacking, whether or not it in the "theming". From scraggly looking rude employees to trash cans that make you sick to walk by, the park needs some work.

Third, while I hope IJ provides the quality entertainment experience so many of you hope for, those who say "Oh this will be like having a Disney attraction here in Ohio" don't count on it. PKI's attempts this season to emulate the mother of all theme parks has been pathetic. The Nickelodeon Parade, so heavily touted on local media, was so short, if you blinked you missed it, and the "Magic of the Movies" show, which Disney did at MGM 10 years ago, and 10 times better, just proves that Paramount is trying but not succeeding.

I am sure that IJ will be a fun ride and make another sought after "credit" for coaster fans, but for fans of PKI, especially those of us with small children, the news is bittersweet.

Shari

If I were a kid, I would be so excited to ride this. Imagine a "big kid" ride, that has a short height requirement. I would be in heaven.

I kind of feel the same way Shari does in her explanation, to a degree.

The sacrificing of classics seems to be a common theme in the addition of new attractions. It's one thing if they got rid of something that was a maintenence nightmare, but to get rid of things that work well (and are widely enjoyed by the public) is not helping them retain the family friendly atmosphere that they want. Getting IJST is a nice step toward a family attraction, but at the expense of the tiques or everyone's favorite, the 'snapping buckets of doom', isn't the greatest of moves. Hopefully they'll move them (maybe the White Water Canyon queue area?), but I guess we'll have to wait for that answer.

Well enough about what I cannot control, so onto stuff that I'm curious about:

A - Will the walking path between the E-Tower and Rivertown be altered to accomodate the ride (closed, moved, etc...), or will the ride completely sit in the tiques land space?

B - Will the geese finally be chased off by loud gunfire and 'splosions? (Ok, probably not... stupid geese.)

C - Restraint system? Any word on U-bars or if this thing will have seat belts? (I swear, if it has a G-Ded 'restraint clip' like FOF, I'll scream.) *** Edited 8/16/2004 2:58:54 AM UTC by Chris Rettig***

This ride looks really cool 'n stuff, but I think capacity will be a huge issue. In order to get 1000/pph they need to send a train every 43 seconds.

While I agree with Shari her reasoning is a litte off.

First off the Eagles will not be leaving. They will simply be relocated. That ride is way too popular to be taken out.

Secondly Antique Cars is being taken out, but being put back up again in 2006, more than likely themed to Nickelodeon of some sorts; at least that's what everyone has been saying.

You're talking about how it's bad news for kids; PKI can't be that bad for kids if it's constantly ranked as having the best children's areas. There are plenty of rides your child can enjoy all around the park. In Coney you have Monster, Scrambler, Zephyr, Shake, Rattle, and Roll, along with Eagles. Rivertown has none really except Wild Thornberry's River Adventure. Again Action Zone has nothing. Oktoberfest has Vikings Fury along with Adventure Express.

I'll say that's four out of six areas of the park (not counting Rivertown's one attraction) that your children can enjoy. I'm sorry but if your child does not like the rides; that is not PKI's problem. There are plenty of rides your child may take part in, including more than likely the new Italian Job coaster depending on their height. If she chooses not to ride those rides; then what else can be done? Put your child in charge of the research and development crew for next year?

Wow, Shari, I have to disagree about the family focus. No park, not even Cedar Point, has the lineup for kids especially that PKI has. They deserve their Golden Ticket for best kids area. Of course, when you talk about CP, I have some issues with that park lately.

I guess it's relative. I thought circa 2000 that the park was a poorly run dump, and the change is so mammoth compared to then.

Shari, as far as I know "Paramount" didn't remove the Bayurn Kurve nor the double ferris wheel, so there's no use in complaining about those leaving under current rule.

At least 1/3 of the park (HB Land, Nick Central, 2 Kids Areas in Boomerang Bay) is geared toward *kids* while another 1/3 for the entire family (Coney Mall, Oktoberfest, Rivertown, most of Boomerang Bay, International Street) and another 1/3 for the big kids (Action Zone, Coney Mall, Rivertown, a lot of Boomerang Bay).

At this point, I'm really not sure what the park is missing... although I'm sure some people are still looking for the mega looping tera 4D coaster that breaks 20 records or whatever. Your next chance will probably be for the park's 35th Anniversary in 2007... But don't get your hopes up. ;)

They *could* do with some improvements to their shows (although they have a fine entertainment dept. overall) and a full-service sitdown restaurant. Besides that, I'm having trouble thinking of anything else. Bring on more icing on the cake? :)

+Danny

Longer flyer cycle...

You guys are right about the stuff for kids, and believe me, we do love the place and my daughter considers it her second home. In fact, we are headed there in about a half an hour. However, my point of view comes from a couple of things:

1) My husband has two older daughters (now 16 and 19). At PKI they had to either "hang out" in HB/Nick while our little one rode, or our little one had to sit and wait while they rode F/O, TG, SOB, etc. Either that, or your family splits up. This is not uncommon with so many of us out there starting second families. Cedar Point has "kiddie rides" throughout their park and also their fabulous "parent swap" system. That was where my comparison to CP came in. As for 48" being a "short" requirement, as someone said, try telling that to a kid who is 44". Also, if anyone has noticed, many of the height requirements have been raised at PKI in the past few years. Up until this year the flying swings were 44". I stood in line with my daughter only to find out (and I quote) "Oh, yeah. We found out we've been wrong all these years. It's really 48"... sorry".

2)Having worked in Park Information for 4 seasons, the most consistent "complaint" I took from folks was that over the years, especially since Paramount took over, there has been increasing less and less for non-riders, seniors, etc to do at the park. Admittedly, many rides (such as the old skyride) were removed long before the Paramount company took over, however since Paramount took over the amount of live entertainment and alternate activities has dwindled. I had many people who said they would like to come to the park with their kids and grandkids but could not justify the cost of admission to sit on a park bench all day. The Antique cars (which I do hope will be reinstalled, like they did with the classic log flume that I rode at Coney as a toddler and is now Wild Thornberrys)were the kind of ride that you could take your infant or your grandma on and those are increasingly few and far between at PKI.

To me, the definition of a "family ride" is something more along the lines of Scooby Haunted Castle. A coaster, regardless of speed or height requirement, is still a coaster.

Oh.. and for the record, my husband wanted a hypercoaster like MF or TTD, so even he doesn't agree with me :)

The only things I see close enough to do at CP with kids and big kids separating a short distance is Camp Snoopy with Gemini, Magnum, and a few random flats (possibly TTD) and Kiddie Kingdom with Wicked Twister, Raptor, Blue Streak, and some other random flats over there. There will still be waiting by Millennium Force, Mantis, Corkscrew, Mean Streak, Iron Dragon, Corkscrew, etc. I would rather have PKI separated in its themed areas (although I'm sure some will complain that they're not all consistantly themed) than to have a kiddie Carousel next to Son of Beast or a Frog Hopper under Face/Off or a Vekoma Junior Invert next to Flight of Fear.

Kings Island does indeed have a Parent Swap system because I used it last weekend with CB's LoriU and family. It worked out really well, so I don't know what the problem was on your visit(s) and trying this.

I don't think the plans ever were to completely take out the Antique Cars, but I'm sure they have a good reason to wait until 2006 to reinstall them. I guess I could add that sweet-looking Ferris Wheel from the planned Paramount Park in Japan though to something I'd like to see at PKI. The entire family could do that together.

+Danny

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SMS1966 said:
Sadly, it seems like this could again be the case with the Eagles and the Antique Cars.

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From what I understand, the Eagles are *likely* to be MOVED, not removed in ANY case. They WILL be back in '05, but probably in a new location.

Also, *word on the street* is that the 'Tiques were in dire need of some SERIOUS restoration/repair, and that more than just routine off-season rehabbing was necessary to keep them running reliably for the foreseeable future.

I do agree that MANY parks give up rides when it isn't really *their time*. Shoot, I'm the biggest advocate there is for keeping older rides up and running (see the locked "what's your SF beef" thread for more details, LOL). But I don't think that's what PKI was doing here. I immediately spoke up for the car ride even though it isn't my PERSONAL first choice, simply because it is a great "for all ages" type of ride. Anything that grandma and grandpa want to take the grandkids to ride while the *big kids* are off doing thrill rides, "it's a good thing". (Please Martha, don't sue me)...:)