My farewell to the PKI Eagles

Well, after hearing about the last weekend for the Eagles at PKI, myself, my wife and my brother-in-law set off for a 2 day weekend at the park to see off the Eagles. Check on Italian Job construction and generally enjoy a last (maybe) trip to the park for the year.

I am not going to go into too much detail here, we spent 10AM-12 AM saturday and 10AM - 2PM sunday at the park. Hit all of the major coasters. I got my first ride on Ghoster Coaster (and first racking...). Got some great night rides on the Beast saturday night. We even tried out some of the Halloween stuff even though I am a big wussy when it comes to that stuff. I found that doing math problems in my head helps make it easier for me :).

Anyway, the highlight were the 10 or so rides on the Eagles that we took. I saw a lot of people that I recognized from club events and stuff but we kind of stayed to ourselves. We had a lot of fun and will have great memories of this weekend. The wind was kicking and the Eagles were soaring. I had a great time watching all of the people enjoying the rides. The ride ops and everyone were really into the last weekend.

I am sad to see the Eagles go as many are. I know that I will enjoy Italian Job but I still feel that park will be somewhat lessened without the Eagles. Oh well, guess I just have to make it out to Indiana Beach and try out Air Crow now.

Thanks for reading.

LOL, Ghoster Coaster was the most painful coaster ride I've ever experienced, too. Sonny was nothing compared to the damage inflicted by the mid-course brake on that nutbuster. Ye-owch!

FYI, Air Crow just doesn't have the "snap" the Eagles and other old school Flyers do. Soaring out of the water is cool, though.

Doesn't Fun Spot have a set of Flyers? How "snappable" are they?

"Doesn't Fun Spot have a set of Flyers? How "snappable" are they?"

I don't know. But, I guess I will run over next summer and find out.

As for Ghoster Coaster, I don't normally go for kiddie coaster credits but I got the 1st ride of the day. I had never watched the ride and I had no idea of the midcourse brake hitting so hard. I wasn't really holding on at all... ouch!

I was there both days open to close. I got about 70 flyer rides in the two days. Saturday night was a great atmosphere, but Sunday night was downright depressing. :( There were no lines on Sunday, they were all walk-ons, except for the 1/2 hour line for the Eagles. There was even 2 eight year old girls there who got over 700 signatures on a petition (which only 20-30 of were enthusiasts) to keep the flyers. Great memories on a very sad weekend. Thank you very much KI (notice I didn't put a "P" in front of KI for a reason) for all of the memories that I have from this ride, and the chance to ride it one last time. I will truly miss my favorite ride of all time.

Why is it that IB's and HW's flyers are so tame in comparison to PKI's? Are they different manufacturers? HW's are really boring and slow. Maybe they just don't make 'em like they used to 70 years ago.

Just curios, does anyone have any pics from Sunday night?

Well, to put in my two cents, or in this case a whole nickel, I love the Flyers. I thank KI from the bottom of my heart for allowing myself and anyone else who could and wanted to ride them these last chances. I have to say, that last ride on the Eagles will probably be my single most favorite amusement park moment of all time. It was cold, it was windy, it was fun. It was absolutely insane. Myself and John ? had the eagles the closest either of us has ever seen them to touching each other. But most of all, I will miss being able to take my girlfriend on the ride, giving a great excuse to smuggle up together. I will miss making my friends pee their pants on the ride. I will miss competing with my uncle for who will snap A. first and B. the most of every single ride we were able to enjoy together. I will miss the fact I will never be able to show my nephew how to snap them when I have one. I will miss the way the occupied the space of the park back there, completing that area. I will miss not being able to create my own rides. I will just flat out miss the ride. Before this sounds like a soap opera, i just would like to thank KI again for allowing me those last special moments on the ride, unfortunately, not the last one. But again, farewell old friend, and by this, my farewell.(All coming from a coaster-crazy 16 year old)

--- Cameron Parker Lifetouch Associates,get digital

P.S. Flying Eagles
Coney Island 1935-1971
Kings Island 1972-2004

Thanks for the report DragonRider!

Thrillerman,

Yes, Indiana Beach has a model from Larson. They make the newer versions that are selling fairly well. While it is possible to snap in them, Larson recommends you don't as their version is not designed for that.

Trick Track,

I noticed many people taking pictures on Sunday night, but I haven't seen any myself.

Camrider,

I am glad you feel you can look back and the many positive moments the ride gave you. I did the same thing during my last ride.

-Sean

O.K. Does anyone have video coverage of someone snapping the Flyers? I have ridden Air Crow at IB and my daughter rode the Flyers at PKI but never have I witnessed a snapping.

I believe Rideman has footage albeit in the horrible quicktime format.

Larson has some footage of the ride in motion but I don't think snapping.

These guys might have some footage of snapping http://www.bluebuzzards.com/ and regularly do so on a 8 tub model Matter of fact the video is here and is downloadable as well. http://www.bluebuzzards.com/video.htm

Dragon rider, It was also nice to share a final night with you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Chuck *** Edited 10/19/2004 6:47:50 PM UTC by Charles Nungester***

We are putting a video tribute together that was filmed from about 10 different angles, featuring everybody that was there on Sunday.

Fixed the day. *** Edited 10/19/2004 11:59:20 PM UTC by Dane186***

My first ride on a Flyer since I rode Paratroopers at PKD (yeah, back when they were right next to the lake, near the ol' King Kobra) was last month at Knoebels. I'd only recently heard of 'snapping' them, so I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Of course, Knoebels no longer allows it, and the ride op was enforcing this rule, so I made sure not to do it. However, once on the ride, I found it difficult to not snap the tub. I had a couple pretty decent unintentional snaps during the ride, and now I understand the appeal. I'd really like to find a park that doesn't discourage snapping their Flyers. It's a shame PKI is removing theirs, as I was planning to return there next year. I didn't ride them when I was there in 2000...but I hadn't yet discovered their appeal.

Dane-
It would be great if all of you would put together a commemorative DVD of that night. I was there as I stated but would love to have something concrete to remember it by. I wish I had my camera ther :(*
In any case, I know all of us Eagle lovers would love to have one.

BTW, the appeal of snapping is what I condisder to be the single greatest experience in ride hisort, past or present.

Cameron Parker

Hmm, what is Fun Spot's policy on snapping anyway? Thanks for the replies everyone. I just found out that I may actually be in Carolina next summer, so I may get a chance to see the Eagles again soon.

i was there on saturday and i rode the flyers for the last tiem and i was yelling save the flyers and stuff but it didnt matter but i did have a good time on them.

DragonRider,

The last time I was at Fun Spot was a few years ago. The operator did allow snapping. Some people I know that have ridden the ride this season claim they were not allowed.

-Sean

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Camrider88 said:
I have to say, that last ride on the Eagles will probably be my single most favorite amusement park moment of all time. It was cold, it was windy, it was fun. It was absolutely insane. Myself and John ? had the eagles the closest either of us has ever seen them to touching each other.

I agree, Cameron! That was the best ride I've ever had on any Flyers (the Knoebels Flyers included). I couldn't believe how close the Eagles came to each other. I will always remember that ride and the great group of friends I met that day.

Thanks again to Kings Island for giving us the chance to say goodbye to the Flying Eagles. Here's hoping they have a great life at their new home...

John

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hmm, that at the bottom looks familiar ;)

-Don who made those buttons

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Camrider88 said:
Well, to put in my two cents, or in this case a whole nickel, I love the Flyers. I thank KI from the bottom of my heart for allowing myself and anyone else who could and wanted to ride them these last chances. I have to say, that last ride on the Eagles will probably be my single most favorite amusement park moment of all time. It was cold, it was windy, it was fun. It was absolutely insane. Myself and John ? had the eagles the closest either of us has ever seen them to touching each other. But most of all, I will miss being able to take my girlfriend on the ride, giving a great excuse to smuggle up together. I will miss making my friends pee their pants on the ride. I will miss competing with my uncle for who will snap A. first and B. the most of every single ride we were able to enjoy together. I will miss the fact I will never be able to show my nephew how to snap them when I have one. I will miss the way the occupied the space of the park back there, completing that area. I will miss not being able to create my own rides. I will just flat out miss the ride. Before this sounds like a soap opera, i just would like to thank KI again for allowing me those last special moments on the ride, unfortunately, not the last one. But again, farewell old friend, and by this, my farewell.(All coming from a coaster-crazy 16 year old)

--- Cameron Parker Lifetouch Associates,get digital

P.S. Flying Eagles
Coney Island 1935-1971
Kings Island 1972-2004

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Charles Nungester said:
Larson has some footage of the ride in motion but I don't think snapping.

These guys might have some footage of snapping http://www.bluebuzzards.com/ and regularly do so on a 8 tub model Matter of fact the video is here and is downloadable as well. http://www.bluebuzzards.com/video.htm

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Links are a bit out-dated now due to having a bit of an update. The video, and future ones, are now on this page Video Page. It's actually footage of the Mistral Flying Machine at Southport Pleasureland and is one of the easiest Scooters to snap. The Larson model in the UK is at Oakwood and is called "Plane Crazy" unfortunately I don't have any snapping footage of it (yet) but it can be done and when it does start going it REALLY goes. There is a whole different art to flying the Larson model and it takes a lot of effort and timing to get it right. When you do finally find the trick it's possible to snap the Larson's every time.

I also have very fond memories of the PKI Scooters and the fun I had on them.

Gee what a suprise....links are out of date in a thread that you ressurected from the dead after 15 months since its' last response. Go Figure! (eye roll)