PKI 4-24-04

This trip was a spur of the moment thing. My wife had been out shopping and got back at 2:30. I had been watching the NFL Draft up to that point. I got online and noticed that the weather on Sunday was going to be bad but that things would be fine Saturday night. I suggested we take the 2:30 hour trip down to PKI, and we went.

After a brief stop at Burger King we arrived at the park at about 5:30 and headed for Scooby-Doo but the line was a little too long for us at that point. We headed to Tomb Raider but it was closed. So, we hit the Beast. 15 minute wait or so, just grabbed a spot in the middle. Fun as always- even though I manaaged to slam my ribs into the seat divider again :).

From there we headed to Tomb Raider to find that it was open. Waited about 4 cycles... which seems to take forever on this ride. The time it takes to load and check restraints seems really long sometimes. Anyway, my first ride in the front row. Seemed more intense than the other rows and I didn't get as much of the head exploding sensation.

Next stop- Delirium. 10-15 minute wait. I always enjoy this ride. It is just fun. Very free feeling I guess. I really like the visuals.

Next up was Racer. We did forwards this time and for some reason chose the back of the train- ouch, won't do that again back there.

By this time it was about 7:30 and we wanted to cram in a couple things before a night ride on the Beast so we headed back to Scooby. 15 min wait. Wife beat me again. I am really bad at this ride. But, it is still fun and it makes her happy to beat me.

We had a little time and we decided to do Beastie having never done it before. I crammed my self into the back row with my wife in the row in front of me. The ride was ok, better than I expected.

We messed around and finally got in line for the beast about 8:45. We were climbing the lift hill at 9:00 and it was very nearly totally dark. Oh, front seat by the way. The tunnels are very cool at night- totalyl pitch black. Smoother ride up front as well. Great way to end the day. Grabbed a funnel cake on the way out of the park.

Overall, a much better day than sitting around watching the draft would have been.

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Smoother ride up front as well.

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I was there the next day and found out that the very front seat is rather smooth. It was probably the best ride on the Beast that I had ever had.

A question for ya, Do they have much merchandise in the parks for The Beasts 25th anniv???

I didn't shop around really. But, I saw several people with shirts and there is a souvenir cup I believe.

Went to PKI Sunday (25th). Rainy in morning but turned out pretty nice. EVERY ride a walk-on. Beast, SOB, Racer, Tomb Raider, Scooby Mansion, Delirium, EVERY ride. However, even with no wait time, it didn't stop the morons. In line for Drop Zone, while only waiting for the previous group to "drop," one girl just had to smoke and another moron just had to urinate on the soda machine (and announce his intentions to everyone beforehand-"Yo...I'm 'bout to be pissin' over here" -DIRECT quote.)

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Bob O said:
A question for ya, Do they have much merchandise in the parks for The Beasts 25th anniv???

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We do have a Beast 25th Anniversary program, which I know can be found in the Emporium and I believe also can be found in Outfitters Supplies. I think it is mainly shirts, but I am also pretty confident that there are some other things.

Rentzy, I am not sure I remember the ascent up the hill all that well. Sorry :)

The slowing of The Beast as it goes up the first lift is a block thing. All the rides that I have taken on it this year have done the same thing for some reason so it would be a bit difficult to try and base a same ride on that factor, but it would have been cool if you had been on the same train.

I knew I should have gone last Sunday. I looked at the weather radar right before going to sleep on Saturday evening and thinking it was going to be storming for most of Sunday. When I woke up, I looked at the radar again and realized it could clear up, but I wasn't sure.

At 4:00pm I almost hopped into the car and drove down there for a few hours of riding as it looked very clear, but instead spent some time planning future trips.

-Sean

Sean is right about the slowing of the lift being a being a block thing. For those wanting a more detailed technical explanation of the blocks and why the lift is slow, I thought I would explain the reason in more detail.

First I am going to describe the Beast block structure and want its 6 blocks are.

If I remember correctly this is the blocks with the skid brakes

Beast (skid brakes, 1979-2001))

Block 1: end of station to top of lift 1
Block 2: top of lift 1 to 1/3 way up lift 2
Block 3: 1/3 way up lift 2 to top of lift 2
Block 4: Top of lift 2 to brake 5 on the bridge brake run
Block 5: brake 5 to 2/3 of station
Block 6: 2/3 of the station to end of sidetrack

Notes:
1. This is based on how well I remember from the 2001 season. I am sure that it is mostly right, but am not sure of blocks 5 and 6.
2. Only one train was allowed on the bridge (covered brake run shed)
3. Blocks 2 and 3 were seperate blocks unlike they are now (explained later)

Beast (2002-present)
Block 1: end of station to top of lift 1
*Block 2: top of lift 1 to 1/3 way up lift 2
*Block 3: 1/3 way up lift 2 to top of lift 2
Block 4: top of lift 2 to end of safety brakes (brakes furthest from station)
Block 5: End of safety brakes to end of ready brakes.
Block 6: end of ready brakes to end of station.

Notes:
1. The "*" are because blocks 2 and 3 are grouped as one block. This is the main reason for the slow first lift (more later)
2. Now two trains can be stacked on the bridge.

(2002-present) Beast lift 1 speed:

The reason why lift 1 is slow is because block 2 and 3 has a train in either block and thus the next block is not clear. Imagine that train 1 is on bottom of lift 1, train 2 is on the bottom of lift 2, and train 3 is in the station. Train 1 is in block 1, while train 2 is in block 2. Train 1 has to wait until train 2 clears the top of the second lift and thus is out of blocks 2 and 3. So the computer reconizes the situation and lift 2 travels at a normal lift hill speed, however the first lift is slowed down to allow time for the other train to get over the second lift.

The reason this is done is so train 1 on lift 1 does not setup and have the lift hill 1 stop. This would happen if the lift was not slowed down because if train 1 on lift 1, were to get to the top of lift 1 (end of block 1) , while train 2 was still in block 3, the lift would have to stop.

However sometimes even with the slow lift speed on the first lift the train still setups. This is do to the train ahead running slower than normal. For example a empty train (or mostly empty train) might run much slower than normal.

What controls the lift speed among other vital compenents of the ride is the programmable logic controller (PLC). This is the brains behind the ride and is responsible for:

1. Location of the trains and proper blocking and spacing
2. Monitering the pressure in the brakes
3. All the electrical controls
4. Determining and reporting the speed of the ride at certain locations (First drop, helix, brakes shed,)
5. Several other things to numerous to list

So the PLC is the device that determines that based on block 2 and 3 being filled, that the lift 1 speed should be slow. However it also knows that when blocks 2 and 3 are clear, the lift speed for the first lift and go back to a noraml speed. However the speed over the top of the first lift is slower than a normal speed.

So a typical ride up lift 1, when the Beast is running 3 trains is:

1: initially very slow, until train 2 goes over the second lift.
2: speed up until the train gets to the top of the lift
3: Back to a slow speed over the top

Yes the stores on international street sell a lot of cool Beast 255th birthday stuff. And the are really cheap!

Wow, the Beast is 255 years old? :)

I bought my daughter a 25th anniversary Beast sweatshirt when we were at the park in early April.

wow, its REALLY old!

did anyone see the Steel band play at 11 on the 24th