mwhinva

Well, I went back up to KD yesterday. The rain had pretty much stopped in Richmond and I hopped in the car for a 30 min trip up to the park. I had no problems with my new season pass at the parking toll booths. I even tried out the season pass parking lot (for those that purchased SP parking that is). You insert the season pass in the card reader. It scans your bar code and the gate opens and in you go! (there was a total of 5 cars in the SP lot). I could have just parked in the main lot as there was probably only 4000-6000 people in the park. I decided to ride the other wooden coasters in the park that I did not try on opening day. First stop was the Gribbly. The old gal was hauling and mean as ever! (I guess I would be too if somesone had rudely awakened me from a nice winter hibernation!) I noticed that the last turnaround had been retracked. No more dip before the final turn. The tunnel slam dunk is as good as ever. I personally think that riding this coaster makes you more "regular". I rode the Hurler next. I noticed all the factory props had been cleared out of the station area. (Sorry, the paramount logo is still peeling away). I was aprehensive about riding since everyone acts as if the train travels at a 45 degree angle to the track. I did not think the ride was as rough, shuffling wise, from the last season I rode it in 2005. I did notice the metal bracing on the curves. ( "L" metal braces on the outside of the running track). I rode the Rebel Yell forward and the trains were flying. I then drifted over to the Congo Stunt Track Area and rode IJ, FOF, Anaconda (with seat belts - 2 train operation), and Avalanche. Max wait time on any of those attractions was 10 minutes. I still cannot figure out the new red metal shell where the old Coke cool zone was. It has 2 huge electrical boxes bolted to 2 of the columns. I noticed that they are running electrical conduit along the top girders. (For Lighting?) I still cannnot figure out if this is to be a food stand, game, or something else. It does not match the construction style of any food or game stand in that area. I feel the electrical boxes are big enough to control a whole power grid! Hmmm ...... something to ponder. Well, for the biggest news of the day. The "Poo" sign has been fixed on the front of the TR:F pool area! I believe that someone from KD or CF must be reading these forums!!! And finally, for those who have been mumbling "Jim, he's Dead!!" in their sleep after visiting the park for the last couple of weeks, the park sound track is fixed!!!! I can now confirm that Paramount comissioned more than one movie theme for their movies!!!!! Till we meet again.

On IJST all effects were working, including the flames, except the water effects in the chopper scene (the final splash down water effects were working). The chopper went up and down. I never seen the gatling gun effects work since the ride was installed. Having the sound track playing in the train for the whole ride was a first for me. (I did not have a 2006 pass last year, so I don't have much of a past with that ride).

I was at KD yesterday also. I did not get there until just after 12 noon. I was surprised that more of the Paramount logo was not removed from the park. The entrance makeover was nice. It is weird seeing the main ticket booths gone and the area being open. I guess they are hoping people will use the web site to purchase tickets. They did a nice job getting rid of the asphalt and putting down paving stones instead. The front gate paint scheme was more muted. The used cream, gold, and brownish red colors. I had to exchange my temp season pass card for the permanent one. Since I had to purchase seaon pass parking online, after the park had closed for 2006, I went to the season pass building to get the parking added. I must say that the customer service was great. The lady in the season pass processing room took my pass and parking e-ticket and had the parking added to the permanent pass. she even showed me that the parking was applied to my pass on the computer screen! The season passes does not have your photo ID on the pass. It shows up on the screen at the main gate. After entering the main gate, I took a stroll along the right side of International Street. It looks like the Starbucks building got a new coat of paint. The Alpine Deli building was closed (new China Panda location). I did not see any changes to the outside of the building. Old Virgina Area: The log flume was down, it looks like the park is doing a refurbishing job on it. From the Eiffel Tower the Flume 1st hill conveyor belt lift was dismantled. The Flying Eagles were running. I did not go back to the White Water Canyon area to see if it was running. Course, based on the pictures above, it was. I did not get a chance to ride the Grizzly. I poked my head into the Paramount theatre while the dance competition was going on. The stage area was striped out. None of the set pieces from the House of Rock were there. I assume they are getting ready to prep the theatre for the Twisting to the 60's show opeing on Memorial Day weekend. I then was getting hungry and went to the Country Kitchen to get my BBQ-combo dinner (1/4 rack ribs & 1/2 grilled chicken). The food was good the meats were hot and moist. The ribs and chicken were meaty. It seems now they are giving you more choices for the 2 sides you get with any dinner. They had six side item to choose from: cole slaw, mashed potatoes, baked beans, corn on the cob, macaroni & cheese, and green beans. My first ride of the day was the Rebel Yell forwards. Speaking of being short staffed, they had a KD Maintenance guy checking the bars. The ride was hauling butt and was pretty smooth, just a little jack hammering going up the last hill before the turn-a-round. I noticed the new stuff in the water park while riding. The zoom flume slide looked almost complete, still working on the splashdown area and the pathways around it. The new wave pool is still under construction. I'd say they are 80% done with the concrete work. The wave/pump house still needs to be done as well as the paths around it. I would imagine the new wave pool would be complete by the beginning of May. I walked down the Grove toward the Congo area. I did not see much that has changed in this area. The new Tornado ride sure does dominate the water park entrance path. You can get good closeup views of the funnel from the DZ plaza and the swings. Congo did not seem to have much change to it either. I did ride the IJST. The wait was about 20 mins. The nice thing was that the sound system in the trains was playing for the whole ride. It was fun watching the train pulling into the loading area with the music blasting and the loading instrcutions coming from the train itself. I did take a ride on FOF (2 train operation). The line was on the saucer stairs. It did not take 20 minutes to wait. The mid-course brake did NOT bring the train to a complete stop. The brake slowed the train down then released and the train had momentum going into the 2nd half of the ride. it was its normal crazy dis-orienting self. The Anaconda was down during the time I was there. I did not get to ride the Volcano. I did not feel like waiting then. The last ride I had was on the Avalanche bobsled. It is a fun ride and it was hauling buns as well. I did walk through the kids area and saw some new paint on some of the rides. The main thing that felt different was the customer service. The employees were friendly and going out of their way to help. The park management was out in force in the streets cleaning up as they walked through.

I'll probably be at KD next weekend as well. It might be fun to play the where's Paramount game. Based on the local weekend section in the newspaper, I would not bother looking at KD's park entrance for Traces of the Paramount logo there. The park has remodeled the entrance area for 2007. They have torn down one of the ticket buildings, tore out the asphalt and replaced with paving stones, all new paint and signage as well. Should be interesting to see. I'll hit the Eiffel tower to check out the water park construction progress. Based on that same newspaper article, there was a picture of the tornado water slide and it was complete. it looked like they were still working on the paths and landscaping around it. I guess you will have to get into the park to see what has the paramount logo attached. Oh, by the way, the main park sign by interstate 95 will not be changed this operating season. This was in a small business article back in early February where the park spokesperson shared this info with the news reporter.