August 18-20, 2000

We had decided to cancel our annual PKI Labour Visit this year because of my work commitments on our company’s Oracle conversion.  I still had the hotel booked just incase there was an off chance we could go.  PKI hosts their annual cheerleader competition on Labour Day Weekend and Hotel rooms in the area will be very hard to come by.  Well the "off chance" did happen and the 3^rd Annual Reid PKI Labour Day Visit came one week early this year.

We have been trying to convince our neighbours, the Simons, to make the trip to PKI for the last couple of years. During our "Survivor Viewing Party" Glen let me know that they were planning to head to PKI the coming weekend. I got out my PKI maps and pictures and started to give them advice on how to best tackle the park. Donna could tell that I really wanted to go. But, I shrugged it off and asked if we were going to PCW on Friday evening.

While I was gazing at my wallpaper, at work, of us all on PCW’s Ghoster Coaster from 1996 a big smile came on my face and I knew I could not let our neighbours endure PKI by themselves.  I decided at that moment we were going.  I quickly got on the phone and made hotel reservations at Comfort Suites, King Center.  Phoned Donna to tell her we were going and to go to the bank and get some US cash.  Drafted a quick e-mail to my boss to let him know that I would not be in tomorrow.

Participants:
Reids: Kevin, Donna, Adam(12), & Nolan(9)
Simons: Glen, Elayne, Brandon(12), Drew(11), & Cody(7)

Day 1 Friday August 18:
On Thursday evening Donna and I were able to have ourselves, the two boys, and the van packed in record time. We were in bed by 10:30PM and the alarm went off at 2:30AM. The Reids and Simons were up at Tim Horton’s, for Coffee, and travelling south towards PKI by 3:00AM. Each van was equipped with a walkie talkie each which sure came in handy for arranging pee-breaks on the way. We arrived at the PKI parking lot just shortly after 11:00AM. Our PCW parking passes were honoured, like always, and we paid the $3.00 for the preferred parking. Sorry Scott and Carol but, I like being close to the entrance.

Just hearing that sweet sound of Sonny’s train cresting the lift hill’s chain from the parking lot can put a smile on ones face and make you forget that you just got up at a ungodly hour and drove eight hours. The very friendly people at Guest Relations looked at our Wonderland passes and gave us our admission tickets to the park. We now consider ourselves PKI veterans and were delighted to be able to share it with people who had not previously visited before. We figured the best place to start would be at the back of the park on the proud Papa Beast. Unfortunately, Papa would need a little more time before it would not allow us to ride. I didn’t realize that fathers also suffered from post-partum blues.

Like us, back in 1998, Vortex would become the largest steel roller coaster for the Simons.  Nolan proudly points out the elements of Vortex to the Simons.  Nolan starts to talk about the Bat but, I am afraid the Simons have no idea what he was talking about.  The crowd size at PKI was not too bad and we only had to wait about ten minutes for each of two rides. The Simons were ready to go for a third time , " Hey! there is lots more where that came from", I said.  We all decided that the backward Racer would be next.  They figured they would heighten the fun by going backwards without knowing what to expect next.  Racer is so much fun.  We would be happy to ride both sides continually all day.  There really is some nice gentle air-time going backwards.

It was time to make our first split. Donna and our boys plus Cody stayed at the Racer While the rest of us went over to OL:FOF.  On a normal busy day the wait for OL:FOF can be upwards to two hours. We got two rides within fifteen minutes.  The only negative about no wait is that you don’t get to experience the full impact of the ride’s theming.  It is so much fun to look at the expression on a person’s face when they see the train launch for the very first time after the "Clear" signal.  I previously described this ride to Glen as follows: "you are launched into a spaghetti bowl". When Glen got off after his first ride he said, " I now know what you mean by a spaghetti bowl."  Donna and her gang caught back up with us at OL:FOF and Cody was able to see the launch.  For our first ride I insisted that they ride the front seat to get the full impact of the launch and the track racing at you. The second ride we took the back seat. This was my first time I rode the back.

After OL:FOF we went over to one of our favourite rides at PKI – Adventure Express.  We were afraid that the Simon boys would consider it lame.  After our first ride everybody gave it the two thumbs up and then they wanted to get back in line and ride again.  This little ride continues to deliver ride after ride.  One of my favourite smells in the world is while in the tunnel for the final "Now You will Pay" lift chain.  I can’t tell you why I love it so much.  Call me crazy.  The only thing that comes close is the smell of grease on the lift hill of the Great Escapes’ Comet.

Cody is just barely over the 48" mark which means he is too short for PCW’s Drop Zone but is okay for the much taller PKI version of Drop Zone.  Go Figure!  While the Simons did Drop Zone the Reids went over to Festhaus to enjoy their $75 pizza.

Back in June when SOB was running it only had one train and the wait was pretty long.  But now with two trains running the line moves quickly.  I can only imagine how fast the queue will move when the third train is placed into service.  We waited less than twenty minutes to ride.  Adam could not be convinced to ride even though he jumped right onto SFNE’s S:ROS.  Adam is just not crazy about the loop or loops on any coaster.  Nolan and I road the first car middle seat.  This was just our second ride after our first and only ride in June.  SOB offers a small coaster ride even before you get to the lift hill.  I understand that the drop out of the station is a taller drop than a good percentage of the existing wooden coasters first drops.  SOB’s lift chain is pretty fast and I have heard louder chains on some Arrows.  Both Nolan and I had our arms up as we went down the first drop. You can definitely hear the upstops holding the train on the track as it roared down the tremendously big drops.  The helixes are intense and it was best for us to hold on rather than arms up.  The transfer into the loop is so smooth.  The lap bars work well on the ride rather than OTSR.  I wish that the lap bar was suspended on a single bar rather than on the "U".  The single bar would make the already comfortable trains even better .  The Simons were very impressed with the speed that was achieved and could not believe that a wooded roller coaster could go so fast.

How do you follow up a ride on the fastest, tallest, and only looping roller coaster in the world?  You walk across to the back of the park and ride Papa Beast.  We were hoping that the Simons would not be disappointed in Papa.  In the queue we were telling them everything we knew about Beast. Within twenty minutes we were ready for our first ride. Wow! What can I say in this trip report that pays the proper respect due to this majestic Beast?  The smile on everybody’s face and the constant chatter among us down the exit ramp told me that everyone loved it.  The grand finale helix was completely unexpected by the Simons.  They couldn’t believe that a coaster could have that much force during that last part of the ride. Thanks to my bud, Rocket Roger, for sharing his helix riding technique with me during the June URC ERT.  Our first ride was so good we decided we needed more so we got back in line for one more ride.

The Simons decide to queue up for Face Off while the rest of went over to enjoy Racer and Adventure Express.  I did Face Off back in April 1999 and quite frankly once was enough for me. I will do it again next year when Nolan will be tall enough to ride.  Even when PKI is extremely busy Racer is your best bet to get on the ride in the least amount of time.  Elayne and I decided to wait the little extra time for the front seat on the frontward Racer.  The boys asked me if I seen the deer in between the two turn arounds?  But, I was to busy enjoying the ride and missed them. We quickly got back in line for the backward Racer.  Then over to Adventure Express. We wanted more Racer so we headed back.  On the way over who did we run into?  It was our great buddy, John "Shaggy" Keeter, who was walking the circle hoping that he might run into us.  I had phoned John as soon as I got to park and he said that he might be able to meet us tonight.

Time was getting late so the Reids, Simons and John headed over back to the Beast for the final ride of the day.  John made it an even ten and for some reason I was left to be John’s riding partner. We decided to ride the very back and while in line John was talking to his Beast crew friends.  Gheez! John even knows the maintenance crew by name who were also on the platform.  We caught one of the final trains of the evening.  I could not resist purchasing the on ride photo of John and I.

We all decided to meet at the Wendy’s close to park and across from the Hotel. There were about ten people in front of us at the Wendy’s counter and it was going nowhere. So Glen decided to use the Drive Thru and John and I quickly followed. We had our food served and eaten before the people who were in front us got served at the counter.  Have you seen the SOB/PKI coupon display at a Wendy’s? if not ask to see John’s I think he has one.  Over to the Hotel we went . A quick shower and off to bed by 10:00PM.  This was a long day which started twenty hours ago.  We were all tried and needed our beauty sleep because we had a long day ahead us tomorrow.

Day 2 Saturday August 19, 2000:
Up early and over to the park to meet John for the walk back at 9:30AM. The Simons are not ACE members so we meet up with them later in the morning. John could only spend about an hour with us this morning because he is in the middle of a move. We did our walk back to Sonny and waited in line for a few minutes before SOB was ready to board. Donna and I queued up for front seat and John and Nolan sat behind us. The front seat is great especially when you don’t have to wait the extra wait because of the ACE walk back. As soon as we were back in the station Donna suggested that we do the walk back on Sunday before we leave for home. Could not pass up on the ride photo. We also stopped in the gift shop so John could buy one more SOB trinket.

By this time the Action Zone was packed with people so we went over to ride Papa. Every body must be in Action Zone because Beast had small line ups. John then had to leave so we walked him to the front gate. We had a little time left so we did some Racer before we meet back up with Simons.

After lunch we all headed over to the Flying Eagles, Fliers, I was trying to describe the ride to Glen and the practice know as cable snapping. Glen learnt quick and was cable snapping at will.  I was at the opposite end of the ride and was able to feel the ride shake as Glen was flying.

Phantom Theater was closed on Friday so Saturday was our first chance to give it a go. I was surprised that there was no wait at all. Everybody enjoyed this attraction and did it again a little later in the evening.

All the boys wanted to go over to water park.  Instead of walking we took the railroad over. There were not too many people in the water park and the clouds overhead were threatening rain. Wipe Out Beach was a big hit.  This is one of the few attractions our Splash Work does not have at PCW.  It did rain a few drops but stopped as soon as started. The gift shops in Water Works had everything discounted at 75% WOW!

Eating just seems to interrupt the flow of your day at a park.  We had to stop in Rivertown to get a quick snack before he hoped into line for a few night rides on Beast. We headed back towards Action Zone to hit the gift shop before it closed.  On the way we stopped at Adventure Express to watch the fireworks while at the same time we all jokingly said "PCW’s Eruption is Better".  We spent a bundle at the gift shop and received free SOB phallic sport bottles.

Day 3 Sunday August 20,2000:
The Simons decided to head straight back to Newmarket from the Hotel while the Reids opted to head back for one more SOB ACE walk back. There were only about fifteen ACE’rs gathered for the walk back. There was a tremendous thunder and lightning storm over night and this had delayed the opening of sonny by a few minutes.  This was good because the Reids had a chance to have a very nice conversation with Sheryl from PKI Guest Relations.  Sheryl was a little embarrassed when she was making a coaster list to quiz our boys and she left out Adventure Express.  Nolan and Adam explained to Sheryl what  "stapling" meant during their conversation.  Thanks also to Sheryl for taking our photo with Face Off in the back ground.  Donna got two front seat rides on SOB one with Nolan and one with me.

We walked directly over to Beast for three rides including one front seat ride. We wanted to stay for more but an eight hour drive laid a head of us. The drive back was thankfully uneventful.  I could not convince anybody to drop into PCW as we drove by around 8:00PM.

Summary:
PKI - How Sweet It Is!  The big brother in the Paramount chain and a park we like to call "our home park away from home".  We feel so at home here to bad it is eight hours away for us. Thanks to all the friendly staff and especially to guest relations for making our stay so enjoyable and memorable. See you guys in 2001.

(post note this was not the last trip of 2000 we were back for the last days of the season the first weekend of November)

Regards,
Kevin Reid