PKD Monorail Question

Just a quick question, when I was but a wee lad, I remember going on a "Safari" themed Monorail @ PKD with my family.

I know that the Monorail @ PKD and Carowinds(which I also remember riding, and I think boarding around Vortex's station) was taken out, but where was the area with the animals in which the PKD Monorail ran through located at?

Also, Does anybody know why these 2 parks took out their Monorail Systems? Thanx in Advance!!!

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Sdrawkcab siht daer ot emit eht koot yllautca uoy?

FYI, PKI removed theirs as well.

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Sig under construction!

Thanx Moosh! Actually, I didn't know PKI had one, since it was not there the year I went. If anybody else has info, please share!

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I Am not the Real CPnut/SeederPoint/Chris Sawyer. Or Am I? No.;)

Well all I know about the location of the PKD monorail is that in the movie Rollercoaster the turnaround for the Rebel Yell was in the backround which means it must have been in the general area of the late King Kobra....

Yes, I think it was. In fact, I remember King Cobra(and Rebel Yell being across the lake), and I remember that the station was themed to a jungle Tiki Hut, but that's about it. I think PKD's monorail cars were inside w/ A/C(though I may be wrong). but I think Carowinds were open. Moosh, how bout PKI's?

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I Am not the Real CPnut/SeederPoint/Chris Sawyer. Or Am I? No.;)

Carowinds removed there Monorail due to low ridership and high maintenence costs. It is is now operating in Mexico as a form of transportation for tourists.

The loading area was directly across from Vortex.

There are still footers where the monorail used to be all over the place, even in the parking lot. So, its easy to make out where it use to run.

*** This post was edited by Dukeis#1 on 1/21/2003. ***

Yeah, PKD's was inside with AC. It was located pretty much located right behind Volcano, where FOF sits, and to the left of Anaconda's lift hill. It covered a large area.

yup, you can see the Carowinds Monorail footers out by Carolina Pottery(carowinds is my most visited parks with around 7 visits), and i thought the thing was close to Vortex.

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I Am not the Real CPnut/SeederPoint/Chris Sawyer. Or Am I? No.;)

PKD should have kept the monarail. I remeber reading in an amusement park book about it. There were also pictures that were in it as well. Interesting. They should have kept it. My first and only visit to PKD was back in July 2000 and I had a great time there. I loved the landscaping (all the trees and shaded areas).

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Keeping Youngstown Living Exciting

I remember riding the monorail at PKD. ( I remember a giraffe or a zebra getting really close to the window. I was young, but that sticks out in my mind and I also remember it being air conditioned.) What Coreo81 said about its location being behind Volcano and the FOF/Anaconda area is right. At the top of Anaconda's lift, if you look out to your left, you can get an idea of the area it covered. And what is that "building" out there to the left in this area?

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Go Jr.!!!

*** This post was edited by Lorrie on 1/22/2003. ***

Its Paramount's policy now unfortunately to remove ride like this, all the monorails, the train at Great America. The monorail is just a small part of why these parks are just a shell of themselved in their former glory days (when theming, clean parks and maintaining rides were normal), imo.

Paramount and Keco before them seem to choose removing rides instead of maintaing them. All of these parks basically have the same number of adult rides they had 20 years ago.

You need to fault Linder for that, not Paramount. The mid 1980's through the mid 1990's were dark years for the KECO parks.

Back to the topic at hand.......

The PKD monerail was located in the Congo area of the park. The station, if I recall properly, has been converted into a Bubba Gumps restaraunt. The monerail used to exit that station in the direction of The Lost World Fantasy Mountain, and back into the feilds/wooded areas where Flight of Fear now sits. The ride traversed the lands behind Anaconda's lift (or King Kobra when it was there) back behind the turnarounds on Rebel Yell, then back into areas behind the mountain, then through the area around Avalanche Bobsleds. The monerail then made it's way back to the station via the other side of the mountain. There used to be a pathway from the station to the Avalanche entrance that is now closed off. The path actually went under the monerail track as it neared the station. I remember because people were constantly jumping up and trying to touch the track.

Basically when you go to PKD now, all the land you see to the left of the "park" that is now overgrown, was the Wild Animal Safari Monerail.

Of course PKI had a Wild Animal Safari as well, but Carowinds was just a people mover and not animal themed.

Shaggy

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Shaggy

R.I.P. Maestro
Phantom Theater 1992-2002

PKI's monorail is now at Jungle Jims International market on Route 4 in the Cincinnati area. I think at least 3 trains are restored and a station is built but there is no additional track laid as yet. This place keeps expanding every couple years. I also think the old former BLUE ELEPHANT fountain is at Jungle Jims. I know that Lesourdsville Lakes former Bernstine Bears is there.

Chuck, who was recently told Lesourdsville will open memorial day weekend and possibly the weekend before on a thursday through sunday basis. Probably noon.

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Charles Nungester.
Is it about coasters or friends? I say both!

It really makes you long for the day's of years gone by at the park doesn't it?

I recall going to PKD back then when the safari monorail was up & running & really enjoying the ride,as well as the whole atmosphere of that entire section of the park.

Now of course times have changed & paramount decided to retheme the whole section & in many ways not for the better,it does bring up an interesting question though.

Does anyone have any idea as to what happened to the animals when that attraction was closed? & if they own all that land perhaps we should see some expansion in the area in the future.

On my Theme Park Brochures site I have a 1980 KD map, and it shows the monorail. Well, its a little hard to follow since its just a black and white drawing, but take a look:http://www.themeparkbrochures.com/maps/1980/pkd1980_3.html

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Zimm - www.themeparkbrochures.com - Theme Park Brochures and Maps

Wow....those maps bring back a lot of memories of my childhood! It is so weird to see only 1 coaster. (Well, 2 counting Scooby Doo.)

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Go Jr.!!!

Wow, thanks for all the responses, and the link. I never realized Bubba Gump was the station, I ate there last time i went 2 PKD. I still like the park, as well as Carowinds and PKI, but think they could be better, and I hope that in the future, we may see a big B & M(or another companie's) Hyper Twister in this area of PKD.

The last time I went to PKD, it was the first time in over a decade, and I was by myself. I wanted to do four things that I remembered doing from the times I went as a kid-Going to top of Eiffel Tower, Riding Avalanche, Riding Scooby Doo, and going through what used to be Yogi Bear's cave in Hanna Barbera land. I knew the Monorail wasn't there anymore, and these were the only other things I remember about the park. I was almost devestated when I couldn't fine Yogi Bears's Cave, but then I noticed it had been redone as Treasure cave, and so I went(which made my day)

Everything else that I remember was gone, like the Haunted River, and the Time Shaft that was also in the mountain. I also remember another train ride that went in a circle going through a small part of the Mountain.

Ah, childhood memories with the family....

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I Am not the Real CPnut/SeederPoint/Chris Sawyer. Or Am I? No.;)

edit-remembered name of Time shaft, and re-added smiley in sig.

*** This post was edited by TeknoScorpion on 1/22/2003. ***

Bubba Gump was NOT the station for the monorail.....Bubba Gump was once called Livingstons Cafe, and it was a dinner/theartre type restauraunt. The monorail station was once housed in the building where Volcano Grill is now.....its got that big, triangular shaped roof....you pass right by it walking directly towards Volcano:TBC.

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proud PKD homer
(currently a Dorney Park homer though...thanks to college)

*** This post was edited by vacoasterfreak on 1/23/2003. ***

oh, okay, thanks vacoasterfreak. like i said, it was over a decade in between visits. can't wait till this year's trip..

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I Am not the Real CPnut/SeederPoint/Chris Sawyer. Or Am I? No.;)

by the way, TeknoScorpion, that ride you described....that train that went around in circles fast in a small part of the mountain? that was Mt Kiliminjaro, a Bayern Kurve....and along with the Apple Turnover (Enterprise), one of my two most missed defunct flat rides at PKD. if my memory serves me right, Mt Kiliminjaro was removed after the 1989 season....that whole area was blocked off in 1990 for the construction of Anaconda, which opened in the spring of 1991.

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proud PKD homer :)
(currently a Dorney Park homer though...thanks to college:))