Trip Report - PKI - 04/10/04 - First Time
Associated parks:
None
When we got into the park we headed to the midway behind the Eiffel Tower Where you can veer to the right to head toward The Beast and Tomb Raider The Ride. I immediately aimed for the Beast having head so much about it but it was closed due to a supposed mechanical error on the lift. So since we were right there we went to Tomb Raider.
TOMB RAIDER - THE RIDE :
The Theming is amazing for this ride! Inside the Cave Reminded me of Dueling Dragons almost! There were a few things about the queue that I thought were rediculous, including the fact that when you enter a Chamber in which you think to be the area in which you wait to be loaded onto the ride, but then the wall opens up and some lights flash and it just takes you into another chamber to wait.
When I entered the loading area, the neatest thing was the Zip-Up pouches they have on the wall in front of your seat for your loose articles.When I got into the seats I couldn't help but notice how much padding was on the restraints, and just thought uh-oh to myself. I thought the ride was amazing and totally forgot that I was a on a Giant Top Spin! Awesome Special effects =o). 8/10
The Beast was still closed at this time, but we saw Vortex Operating and decided to hike over there. But you'll see here is that for some reason the rides that I anticipated the most were the rides I cared for the least, and the ones I weren't anticipating I enjoyed the most.
VORTEX :
Something I don't understand about this ride is the station. The station looks completely tame and unmatched with the rest of the ride. It's a pretty white-pickett fence type station... baffled. Loading was quick, like loading of corkscrew at Cedar Point. I thought that it was a proficient crew on that ride. Heading up the lift hill I realised I had forgotten how loud Anti-rollbacks were on Arrow Mega's. Going over the first little dip beofre the turn you can really tell how bad the transitions are on this even compared to Great American Scream Machine or Shockwave (RIP). The first Loop was pretty forceful and the second gave me near black-out forces.
I was amazed by how fast you enter the midcourses, and how slow you leave them.
Going into the Double Corkscrews I realized how high off the ground they are! at least 60ft! But you also went incredibly slow through those, but the batwing after the corkscrews was taken at a pretty hefty speed and is really close to the midway. I was also impressed by arrow's ending helix on Vortex and the amount of G-Forces it provided. This was one of the rides I was anticipating for some reason, and felt it was just average. 6.5/10
FLIGHT OF FEAR:
Following Vortex we headed for Flight of Fear, because we saw the building for FoF while cresting the Vortex lift. I was not really excited about FoF because of my other Premier coaster experience on The Chiller (Robin) with LapBars only. I thought I was going to die going through the Zero-G. It was incredibly painful. But To my Suprise I LOVED FoF! Incredibly fast paced, or so it seems, unexpected G-Forces, Unexpected turns EVERYTHING was amazing. I didnt find it to be that rough at all and actually enjoyed myself on it. Definately Rerideable. 8/10
RACER (backwards only) :
After being on American Eagle at SFGAm backwards and foward I wasnt sure that this little thing could be any better so I only decided to ride backwards on it. Nothing Special. 6/10
DELIRIUM :
Now this was a ride that has lived up to it's expectations! After having ridden The Claw at Hersheypark and loved it, I Knew that this was going to be incredible. Although I wish the ride program was longer like the Claw's was, what I experienced of it was amazing. My Favorite Flat. 9.5/10
Top Gun :
Again this is another ride that I was not really excited about, but Son of Beast was not in operation and it was right there so I said what the heck. God-damn, the queue line I think is longer than the ride-track itself! What a hike to get to the ride! I entered the train and was much more comfortable in these trains than in Iron Dragon's because of the butt and back padding on them. Heading up the lift hill I realized that ALL Arrow suspends must slow down on the lift hill like Iron Dragon and Top Gun do. Hmmm.... I also realised that this thing has a pretty big lift hill! We went around the first turn and down the drop and the rest was all a FLASH. This thing went so fast and had so many more forces than I would ever expect an Arrow Suspended to have! I think my thought on Suspendeds was Biased from Iron Dragon's impression on me. I loved the decending helix over the water and the near-miss with Son of Beast. Great! 7.5/10
THE BEAST :
I had heard so much about this coaster and from what I could see of it, it didnt look too impressive. I got on the train and was suprised that they were 3 bench PTC's with 6 of them on one train?! I was amazed... hehe. That showed beastiality already. The signs and sounds in the station were cool, they were actually scaring little kids. Plus the fact that you could actually hear screaming coming from the woods. hahaha... =o) Going up the first hill I was thinking whether or not I should brace myself. I held on as we dropped and I could Immediately tell I was going to love the speed. The laterals are also extremely impressive on the ride. No air, but it was still quite amazing. I love the use of the terrain with the coaster and the tight turns on the ground against hillsides. If only there were animatronic Beasts in the woods! =o) The Second half of the ride was the best though, although it is short I found it to be stupendous. The second drop is very long and shallow, but when you get to the bottom of it you are SCREAMING though that tunnel at what seems to be 100+mph. then you come back around and do it a second time which feels even faster, and then back to the brakes. I LOVE IT. I've found my #1 wood.
10/10
FACE/OFF:
We were getting tired and it was only 2pm! We went out to the car to sit and eat for a while when I saw Face/Off start to test. We ran over there and got right on. I was really pumped for this having been on a Deja' Vu and Boomerang, but not a middle generation one. I found it to be boring and provided the same forces a boomerang would. 6.5/10
As we went to find something to eat we arrived in the Festhaus and played a few games of DDR, and I was suprised how quiet that machine was. Oh well. We at the pizza they had in this place and it somehow remided me of Chuck E. Cheese Pizza. I was amazed how expensive food was there. for 2 slices of Pizza, fries, and a reg. lemonade it was like $12.00 Oh well. When leaving there after sitting for a while and watching the screens that desperately need new lamps in their projectors, we saw that Son of Beast was now testing. We ran as fast as our bodies would let us over there and got in line (it was open!) there werent many people in line.. Maybe 200 or so. But we were still in line for AN HOUR with a ONE train OP. They didn't even have the other train on site! Rediculous.
SON OF BEAST :
The Drop out of the station told me that I was really going to need to brace myself for this one. We Ascended the lift VERY quickly and started to go down the first little dip, it was ALREADY ROUGH! The Actual Drop was Smooth until the bottom half. OH MY GOD! WHAT PAIN! I've never experienced this type of motion on a coaster before, it seemed like the car was jumping up and down on the track so quickly that it felt like an extremely strong Vibration. That Immediately numbed my back and butt. I actually couldnt wait to get to the loop because I knew it would be smooth, and was it, pretty forceless, but none-the-less, smooth. The rest was again TORTURE. I don't even remember most of the ride except the loop, and the turn around that I felt like I was going to die in right before the final brakes.
I bought a picture just to say I did it, knowing I never would again. Terrible. 5/10
We Took a few more re-rides on the best and Flight of Fear and one more on Delirium. I had a pretty good day in the park, but it was only like 6 and we were bored. Completely bored. We Rode Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle before we left just to relax. I beat Rob with 1760 compared to his 700 HAH! =o) We started to head home early for Cleveland.
The Park was really nothing special to me and I'm not quite sure I would return there again except for the beast and Flight of Fear. I was especially disappointed that the park did not have some sort of Table Service Restraunt within it. I would have really appreciated that when we were starting to get tired and whiney. But I survived.
PARK RATING : 7.5/10 (Need's some B&M or Intamin) =o)
-Steve-
VORTEX :
Something I don't understand about this ride is the station. The station looks completely tame and unmatched with the rest of the ride.
The station is actually the station for the Bat (the first suspended coaster in the US) They kept the station for the Vortex, and if you look carefully, you can still see where the suspended track went, and there are even a few old footers around.
"Ignore the screaming in the woods...Everything is fine! This is your last chance to escape the wrath of.... THE BEAST."
"Ignore the screaming in the woods...Everything is fine! This is your last chance to escape the wrath of.... THE BEAST."
As for sonny, I guess I'm still the only enthusiast in the world that has that as their #1 coaster.
And Face-Off , hmmm, It really is much more forceful than a normal boomerang(but GIB's are still much more insane than the other three).
And delirium, my favorite flat too. :)
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Hehe, for easter, I made a Pac Man egg.
Next time try Vortex in the back and pick up your feet and put your hands up a little for the first drop. That's the best airtime moment of the park and the main reason the ride gives Top Gun and FOF a run for my favorite steelie at PKI.
I think SOB is the best coaster at PKI and before dusk, I don't think The Beast holds a candle to even... Beastie.
The seatbelts are new to the woodies this season and I thought the crews were doing a great job with them and I prefer this type of belts to others I've seen. They seem to be easier to find, use, and more efficient.
I'm glad you liked TR:TR... Our group thought it was pretty blah this year since theming was missing and some things weren't working. I didn't ride since I usually end up having a bad day after riding it from the hanging although I loved it in 2002.
Nice TR. I always prefer to be done with a park around 5 or 6 and decide whether I want to do more or not than having huge waits all day and not be sure if I'll get to do everything I wanted to.
+Danny
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