TR: Paramount's Kings Dominion 09/23/2001
Dave Althoff Jr
Trip Report: Paramount's Kings Dominion
Doswell, Virginia - 09/23/2001
========================================
"It looks familiar, but it isn't!"
Sunday was an exceptionally long day for me, starting at Busch
Gardens just before 7:00am and ending at home at nearly 3:00am
Monday, about 20 hours later. But fear not. So much of that time
was spent driving home from Kings Dominion that I really didn't have
much time to spend in the park.
I arrived right around 1:00pm. I had only seen the sign from IR-95
and had naturally assumed that the configuration was similar to Kings
Island, with the parking lot positioned between the park and the
highway. It turns out that this not the case; the front of the park
is perpendicular to the highway, with the parking lot extending the
full width of the park and surrounding it on the east side. At the
parking toll booth I noticed that all cars are charged $6, which is
33% less than the cheapest parking space at Kings Island. Next I
noticed that the parking attendant cheerfully accepted my Kings
Island parking pass, and wished me a wonderful first visit to the
park. Then I saw that Kings Dominion has one parking lot with an
island in the middle that serves as a picnicing area. Spaces
adjacent to the island are handicap spaces, and other than that it's
one big lot, NOT subdivided into employee, preferred, gold-pass,
standard, handicap, VIP, and remote parking areas. Maybe Kings
Dominion is a little behind their sister park in Cincinnati, but I
like the simpler approach.
I stopped at the customer service booth for my ticket, then entered
the gate. I see they are using metal detectors here, a step that
probably makes very little difference in the safety of the park, but
it probably makes somebody feel good. Once inside a familiar vista
stretches before me, the Royal Fountains of International Street. I
started down the midway to my left. Where PKI has a cut-through to
the Action Zone, Kings Dominion has nothing at all. At the next
cut-through, I turned left towards Oktoberfest where I expected to
find an Intamin pendulum boat. And indeed, that's what I found.
Only it's rotated 90 degrees so that its long side faces
International Street, and this one has a counterweight on top so that
it can go all the way over. I made the mistake of riding one of
those at Busch Gardens Tampa some years ago, so I skipped this one,
instead following the path from the ride parallel to International
Street. This would be the path from Oktoberfest, past Adventure
Express and the climbing wall, over to Coney Mall. Only here there
was no Oktoberfest, no Runaway Train, and no climbing wall. Just an
endless blue fence and a bad feeling that I was about to end up in
the parking lot. Except that there were other people on this path.
We were discussing the launch figures for Hypersonic XLC. As we
neared the end of the path, they broke the news to me: I was heading
for the picnic grove and performance shed, and I needed to turn
around. I reasoned that since I could see rides on the other side of
that miserable fence, I ought to be able to get to them...forgetting
for the moment how Busch Gardens is laid out. As it turns out, I was
right. An opening in the fence to my right revealed a junior
parachute tower, the back end of Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster, and a
way back to civilization. I continued through there and under an
arch identifying "Kidzville". From there I spotted a more
interesting arch identifying "Volcano: The Blast Coaster."
The arch didn't lead to the coaster, but it did lead to a sort of
jungle-themed section of the park. It took very little time for me
to find Volcano. Machines for some sort of queue-management system
were stationed out front, but the system was obviously not in
operation today. I walked up the ramp and into the gunite mountain.
I was reminded of Kings Island's queue for King Cobra, except that
Kings Island doesn't have the mountain. It was perhaps a ten minute
wait before I sat down in the train. The train reminded me a lot of
Superman: Ultimate Escape except that the ornamentation was a little
different, and Paramount had added a second safety belt to the
shoulder bar. Like Superman, there is a belt on the side of the bar
that hooks into a latch on the outboard side; like virtually every
other inverted coaster, there is a strap that hooks between your
legs. On the Intamin train, I don't think that is a bad idea. Kings
Dominion was also smart enough to make sure that the two loose ends
cannot mate with one another, though that didn't stop at least one
person from trying. The train is also equipped with a timing
comb...a series of teeth mounted on the train so that an optical pair
or prox switch can rapidly detect the speed or position of the train.
I don't remember seeing that on the Superman: Ultimate Escape train.
I took my seat, fastened the belts, and prepared for takeoff.
The train glided slowly out of the station and into a launch tunnel
where much of the undecorated interior of the mountain was visible.
But I didn't have much time to admire it as the train took off like a
rocket, accelerating dramatically and then rounding a wide turnaround
behind the mountain, then re-entering the mountain. I wasn't sure
what to expect. What I got was another set of motors to shoot the
train even faster before it shifted to blast straight up and through
the top of the mountain. From that point, the ride takes on very
much a wild mouse kind of layout, but with corkscrew inversions
instead of hairpin turns. There is more to this ride than the double
launch, and the layout, while really, really quick, has some
interesting action. I decided I liked it.
I've never much cared for "exit through retail" and that combined
with the general filthiness of the entrance queue to temper my
opinion of this otherwise stellar ride. I made it through the shop
and out onto the midway. I turned to my left and proceeded past
Flight of Fear and on down to Anaconda.
There was no wait at all for Anaconda, and knowing that I would
probably get only one ride, I headed for what is usually my favorite
seat on an Arrow looper, the front seat of the back car. The ride
has a striking color scheme in yellow and orange that I thought
looked pretty good. I sat down next to a local kid riding in front
of his parents, and in a few moments we were off. The first drop
tunnel under the pond gag is pretty much lost on the riders, but the
water splashes make a nice show for spectators. The
vertical-loop-then-sidewinder is an interesting combination,
particularly as the lone sidewinder (half of a Boomerang or Bowtie)
is seldom found on a multi-looper; sidewinders are usually paired.
The train comes to a near stop on the mid-course brake, shaking much
like Kings Island's Vortex as it does so, and taking the corkscrew a
bit slow. It rides a lot like the Vortex, and it's a neat coaster,
but I liked Volcano better.
When the ride ended, the operator mentioned that if nobody was
waiting for our seats we could stay aboard. Nobody was waiting for
my seat, but I got off anyway, climbing over the kid who opted to
ride again. I'd have ridden again, too, but the park was full of
rides I hadn't ridden yet. I exited and back-tracked to Flight of
Fear.
As I passed under the archway and entered the now-familiar confines
of Fort Cooper, a message played over the PA system indicating that
base personnel were to detain anyone not presenting proper
credentials. I dug out my park admission ticket stub and asked the
queue attendant if that qualified as proper credentials. She didn't
respond; I am guessing she's heard that gag a thousand times this
season. The ride was a Sandusky walk on; I had to wait a cycle or
two for the front seat. I watched as several people tried to figure
out the safety belts (hint: You can't hook the buckles together, you
have to hook them to the lap bar.). I thought it interesting that
while my understanding is that the ride has had the seat-belt style
buckles since the lap bars were installed, I noticed that the lap
bars have the eye bolts in the top for the snap-hooks that Kings
Island's ride opened with this year. I took my seat in what is
becoming my usual seat on the Flight of Fear ride, the left-front.
A check, a recheck, and we were off, zooming down the launch tunnel.
This seems to be a recurring theme in this park! Into the first,
second, and third inversions, around a couple of turns, and then
the--
[SCREECH!] [shudder]
Now that's something I've not experienced all season on Flight of
Fear. We...stopped! Right in the middle of the ride! Kings
Island's version of this ride hasn't done that since last November!
What's going on here?!
Seconds later, the brakes release and we fall too-slowly off of the
brakes and go through a couple more helix turns. There is this one
S-curve where the train takes a hairpin turn to the right and the
floor-pan vibrates slightly. I've noticed it at Kings Island, and I
was a little surprised to notice the exact same thing at Kings
Dominion, especially with the heavy braking. The train crawled
through the half-corkscrew and ended up on the back brake. I noticed
that the transfer table was hidden behind drapes of some kind. When
we came into the unload station, the whole train was cheering wildly.
As I exited I checked the gate on the exit ramp. It moved easily
when I tried to force it closed, but as soon as I let go it flew open
again and crashed into the wall with tremendous force. I'm glad I
got my fingers clear [Footnote 1]. Yet another way it isn't quite
like its twin near Cincinnati. But it's close!
I was about to head off towards the back of the park when I realized
I hadn't ridden Avalanche yet. So I backtracked past Volcano to the
Avalanche entrance. It was only a short wait to ride, but because of
the low capacity of the train (inline tandem seating means the cars
often go out with only one per seat) there was a brief wait. My ride
was in the back car of the train. Folks, I want one of these things
in my neighborhood. Forget the Intamin bobsled, this Mack bobsled is
little more than a couple of helix turns, but it really is a lot of
fun. It's a long train of cars, and I think the cars
themselves...which are split in the middle and have six wheelsets a
piece...are probably very closely modeled on John Miller's Flying
Turns design. I should look into that. In any case, no, it isn't a
huge thrill machine, there is no airtime, and it is a really smooth
ride. It has all the makings of an unremarkable Runaway Train. And
yet, it's a lot of fun. I certainly enjoyed it!
At this point I had been in the park for about 40 minutes, and I had
ridden Volcano, Anaconda, Flight of Fear, and Avalanche. That's al
but two of the park's steel coasters in a park known for its
collection of woodies. My next stop was Scooby Doo's Ghoster
Coaster.
Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster is not to be confused with the ride of
the same name...a Caripro junior suspended coaster...at Kings Island.
Once known as the "Scooby Doo," this coaster is more like the
Beastie at Kings Island. Or so it appears at first glance. In fact,
the ride has more in common with the Sea Dragon at Wyandot Lake. I
hiked up the entrance ramp to the platform where the first thing I
noticed was that the train has the new-style tie-rod drawbars like
the Sea Dragon instead of the old sleeved bolts found on Beastie. I
also noticed that while Beastie just has a computer console on a
stand on the platform, Scooby Doo has an enclosure at the downtrack
end of the station, an actual "doghouse" for the operator. And
unlike the Beastie (but like the Sea Dragon), there is no tunnel over
the first drop. My turn came, and I sat in the back seat. Just like
the Beastie, there are retracting seat belts on this one, but Kings
Dominion has added a stop to the webbing so that the belts cannot
retract fully; they stop with about six inches of belt hanging out.
This appears to reduce the jamming that has been such an aggravation
on Beastie this year. The train took off but I failed to notice
whether there was an advancing wheel at the downtrack end of the
station as on Beastie. The ride was smooth and quick and quiet until
the outbound side on the second pass, where there was lots of new
wood, an even smoother ride, and a lot of excess noise comparable to
the sounds the Stricker's Grove Teddy Bear made during its first
season. The second turnaround showed something else that
distinguished this ride from the Beastie: Scooby Doo, like the Sea
Dragon, operates without a trim brake. Oh, and one more surprise:
Scooby has one last dip at the end of the ride where Beastie has a
long straightaway to approach the block brake. What's not to like
about this Coaster Classic, anyway?
When I exited Scooby Doo, I was in Kidzville, so I took the
opportunity to take a ride on the Nickelodeon Space Surfer. It's a
Chance Aviator, and I've been wanting to ride one ever since the
thing was introduced. I picked a tub and sat in the outboard seat.
It was a little different from the prototype tub I'd seen at IAAPA a
few years ago. Now, part of my experience with the Aviator may be
because I was fully prepared to hate the ride before I laid eyes on
it. I did notice that the tubs are suspended using rigid suspension
poles rather than wire rope. I also noticed that the T-handle used
to control the massive dual sails would, when unattended, drop to the
full-dive position, which was actually a "sails forward" position
rather than a "sails in" diving position. The ride began by lifting
from the ground and starting to rotate. I responded by working the
stick, and I managed to get a fairly significant lateral displacement
for my tub in spite of the lack of a proper dive position. But the
rigid suspension meant that the freefall moments and wild swinging
I'm accustomed to from the Flying Scooter simply didn't happen. The
very high (the tower rises to above 100 feet) riding position was
interesting, but I concluded early on that while the large-area sails
were very responsive in spite of the heavy tubs, I really didn't much
care for the vehicle. A major ergonomic blunder, for instance...if I
let the control handle drop to its full dive position (full forward
stick) there was no way that I could reach the end of the control
stick because the qnzarq shoulder bar [Footnote 2] would not allow me
to lean forward in the seat. Fortunately, I was able to wrap my
fingers around the back end of the stick and regain control. Oh, and
the qnzarq shoulder bar also means you're so snugly wedged into the
seat that the sensation of flight is actually minimized. Overall, it
isn't a bad ride, but I still think a good set of Flying Scooters is
better.
And what do you know? Kings Dominion has a set of those, too. They
run at the right speed. They're a park model. They have enormous
sails with virtually no limits on sail pivot. These things could be
the best ones yet! Except that they have a Cedar Point-style cycle
time and an operator who made a couple of stern pre-emptive
announcements about not letting the tubs bounce. What? A perfectly
fantastic set of Flying Scooters and you're not going to let me show
off? I tell you, had the ride cycle been closer to that used at
Kings Island and the operating policy similarly accommodating, I
could have probably had that thing doing corkscrews. Okay, so maybe
not corkscrews. But I'd have had that tub dancing. Of course, if I
had done that, I'd probably also have cleared the queue...! [Footnote
3]
Now it was time to make my way to the back of the park. I entered
another of Kings Dominion's really, really, really, really long
queues (with no short-cuts) for a ride on Grizzly. Grizzly turned
out to be a decent ride, a ride that acted like it wanted to deliver
some airtime, but the thing rides like a Summers/Dinn coaster. It's
a decent ride, but it shuffles like crazy, and it seems to be running
a bit more slowly than it feels like it should. But it really feels
like there is a tremendous ride here just dying to be let loose. It
doesn't run poorly, and it is not a bad ride by any means. But it
isn't particularly spectacular, either. Now that I think about it, I
think it's a bit like my experience on the Wilde Beast at Canada's
Wonderland.
A particularly nice feature of Grizzly, though, was the reminder it
gave me as I went up the lift. I looked to the left and saw a
familiar looking track profile. Oh, that's right! This is a park
with one of the Hurlers, the rides that look like Kentucky Kingdom's
Thunder Run. Let me see...Thunder Run = fantastic coaster with lots
of airtime, therefore Hurler, since it looks like Thunder Run, ought
to ride like Thunder Run, right?
Wrong. Hurler ran more like Thunder Run did before Kentucky Kingdom
fixed it. Airtime? In my dreams. It shuffled and bounced, and in
general simply wasn't very good. I was disappointed. But not as
disappointed as I would be in another hour.
I entered the queue for Hypersonic XLC. As I waited, I watched and
took pictures. The launch is incredible; I don't know what the
brakes are for on the upward side of the tower, but the ride looks
like fun. I got to the station platform. Not having a whole lot of
time to wait, I tried to pick the shortest seat queue in the station;
it would have been the second row from the back. I got a look at the
train. There were four people in line ahead of me. My turn was
coming up. A loaded train left the station when suddenly the
announcement came: "Riders on the platform, we will not be loading
this train." The ride went down for Reasons Unknown.
Qnzzvg, why do parks insist on treating ride closures as closely
guarded state secrets? I understand that they don't necessarily know
how long it is going to take to fix the problem. But they know
whether it is going to be long enough to bother evacuating the people
who are hung up out on the ride. They know whether it appears to be
a routine failure or something unusual. They know enough that they
could be forthcoming with a little more information. They could
announce the shutdown as soon as they know the ride is shutting down,
for instance. Some of us are making 1,500-mile trips to ride these
things and have a long drive to get home. Had I been able to get
better information on the nature of the shutdown, I would have known
not to wait around for a half hour hoping for the ride to come back
up, I could have ridden the other rides in the park, and I might have
actually been able to get a ride on Hypersonic after it finally
re-opened. As it was, I was unable to ride Hypersonic, and I still
ended up staying about an hour later in the park than I had planned,
meaning I ended up getting home a whole lot later than I had planned.
I don't know...all the parks seem to do the same thing, and it
invariably aggravates me to no end. At my local parks at least I
have a better idea what goes on with their rides and I can usually
figure out what is going on and whether I should wait around or not,
but on a completely new-to-me ride system, no matter how well I pay
attention, I have no idea what is going to happen. Parks, throw us a
little information here. Give us a reason to NOT go on the Internet
and make up nasty stories about what went wrong with your rides!
To their credit, I have to thank the Hypersonic crew for distributing
cups of water to not only the people waiting on the launch track, but
also to those of us who were waiting in the station. I would have
preferred a little more information, though.
Well, what had started as a good day at Kings Dominion was rapidly
going south. Unfortunately, it was about to get worse. I went on
back to Rebel Yell. I thought I knew what to expect from this one.
I took a seat in the 3rd seat, which should be the best seat on the
train (it is on the Kings Island Racer, on which Rebel Yell is
based!). The coaster has a nice train, nicely cushioned, and, as
with the other two big wood coasters, mechanical ratcheting lap bars
that don't come down all the way to the seat cushion, and crews that
let me put the bar where I want it, in what ought to be Notch #3 but
that in Paramount parks tends to be Notch #1. So far, so good. I'd
love to have a train and crew like this on the PKI Racer. Around the
corner and up the lift, and I could hear an alarm horn sounding in
the shed beneath the station platform. We crested the lift. We
dropped down the first drop.
OMIGOD WHAT THE @!$% HAPPENED HERE?! The train bucked, bounced,
shuffled, rattled, and tried to go in every direction but straight
down the track. It felt like someone had connected a pneumatic drill
to the back of my seat and switched it on. I thought Son of Beast
was bad last season...Rebel Yell was proving to be a great looking
coaster with almost no redeeming qualities out on the course. I was
stunned, shocked, amazed appalled, and absolutely floored by the
absolutely dreadful ride this coaster was giving. I couldn't believe
what I was experiencing, but I knew I didn't want to experience it
again! I thought Kings Island's Racer was bad with its urethane
seats...this thing has soft seats and it made Mean Streak look like a
smooth ride! Here I was expecting three top-quality wooden coasters
and what I get are mediocre, below average, and downright awful!
In its favor, Rebel Yell still has its tunnel (which the PKI Racer
does not have) over its final dip (which the PKI Racer also does not
have. The profile is fantastic, it should be a great ride, and it
doesn't have a trim brake on the turnaround (which the PKI Racer,
unfortunately, has). But the ride quality on this thing was so
incredibly bad that I had no desire to do it again, or even to try
out the other track. It was painful. It was sickening. It has
prompted me to say things about it that I never ever wanted to say.
After all I'd heard about Kings Dominion's wood coasters, I was
expecting much better than this!
Speaking of painful, Kings Dominion has one more coaster for me to
try, a Togo "Astro-Comet" stand-up called "Shock Wave." I actually
like the Togo stand-ups; I think they tend to run fairly well, they
do interesting things, and they have the best system for securing
standing passengers of any stand-up coaster I have seen.
Unfortunately, while it is the best design, it is also the worst
proportioned. I checked the test seat, which is not a complete test
seat, but merely a seat rigidly mounted on a pole. If you can
straddle the seat, you should be able to ride. That's the theory. I
noticed that the Kings Dominion seat seems a little narrower than the
Kings Island seat, so I thought I would give it a try. I strolled
nervously up the entrance ramp. Had there been any wait at all, you
understand, I wouldn't have even attempted this.
The train entered the station and unloaded. I stepped into the front
row of the last car and shoved the seat down so that I could actually
straddle it. I stretched out the useless safety belt as far as it
could possibly go. I straddled the seat, noting that it *is*
narrower than the one at Kings Island, and that it is as tight
against my crotch as it can comfortably go. I pulled the lap bar up,
and it was positioned just about right. I stuck my arms into the
shoulder loops. They did not clear my shoulders, but then they never
do on an Astro-Comet. I am, after all, not Japanese. I lifted the
useless safety belt to the extreme top of the grab handles to which
it is attached and started to pull. I almost had the qnzarq thing
fastened when the ever-so-helpful platform attendant arrived to offer
her assistance. Not knowing that I had already made adjustments, she
stepped on the pedal that releases the restraint latches and the seat
pillar.
I should mention at this point that the seat pillar on the
Astro-Comet is spring loaded. It's not a very strong spring, but
when you step on the adjustment pedal, in the absence of resistance,
the seat pillar will, in fact, rise all by itself until it meets with
some resistance. The Friendly Attendant had stomped on the pedal,
and the pillar did not move. She saw that the shoulder loops didn't
pass over my shoulders. She thought she knew how to fix it. "Lift
up," she suggested.
"Can't do that!" I replied emphatically.
"C'm on, lift up on it," she insisted again.
"IT DOESN'T GO ANY HIGHER!!!" I replied even more emphatically.
Ignoring my instructions, she grabbed the seat pillar and gave it a
hard yank. That had the effect of lifting me completely clear of the
car floor and suspending my entire 240+ pound frame on a particularly
sensitive part of my anatomy which was never engineered to handle
such a load. Thus impaled, I hollered like you wouldn't believe, and
the Helpful Platform Attendant finally realized that the shoulder
loops still did not clear my shoulders. I demanded in unmistakably
clear terms to be released from the train, and bailed out down the
exit ramp. Had she assisted with the useless safety belt instead of
fiddling with the seat, I probably could have ridden. Had Kings
Dominion not added that worthless safety belt (which is attached
between the grab handles on the shoulder loops, meaning it does
absolutely nothing to secure the restraint or the rider) I could have
ridden with no trouble at all, as I used to at Kings Island. Instead
I hobbled down the exit ramp, still in significant distress.
Hmmm...Perhaps someone should propose an operational standard to the
ASTM F-24 committee that stand-up roller coasters should be loaded
exclusively by *male* platform attendants. Qnza, that hurt!!
My time was running out. Of course at this point I really didn't
feel like driving, so I took a ride on the Wave Swinger, and a trip
up the Eiffel tower before going home. From the top of the tower I
realized that Kings Dominion really seems tiny compared to Kings
Island. It seems that everywhere you look from the tower is actually
outside the park boundaries. I thought back to the movie,
"Rollercoaster" in which the Young Man monitored Harry Calder's
movements at Kings Dominion from a perch on that tower. At Kings
Island that would work remarkably well, but at Kings Dominion, from
up there it feels like the park is so small and clustered so close to
the tower that it would be hard to really see much from up
there...it's all simply too close to the base of the tower. I was
surprised. I had been expecting a larger park, not one with the
coasters stacked so close to one another. Around the perimeter of
the park, the coasters are literally side by side around the edge:
Taxi Jam, Scooby Doo, Avalanche, Volcano, Flight of Fear, Anaconda,
Rebel Yell, Hurler, Grizzly, the rapids ride, and the log flume. I
also noted that while the tower is basically the same design as the
one at Kings Island, with the twin elevators serving the two
observation decks, and a connecting door between the elevator cabs in
case one of the elevators fails loaded. Unlike the Kings Island
elevators, the Kings Dominion elevators have the connecting doors
clearly marked. From the tower I noticed that Hypersonic was up and
running again, but now it was too late. It's against my nature to
leave a park so early, but to leave the park at 5:30pm was already
considerably later than I had planned. I had a 550-mile 9-1/2 hour
drive to get home.
Before I close out this report, I should make something very clear.
I had a good time in the 4 hours I spent at Kings Dominion. It's a
nice park, I found operational procedures and policies to be more
efficient and more user-friendly than those at Kings Island. I think
I need to mention that because my day started out really well, and
then, mostly because of timing and the order in which I chose to ride
the coasters, deteriorated...and this trip report, which follows the
general chronology of my day, reflects that. I also think it is
hardly fair to judge a coaster based on only one ride, but with only
four hours in which to ride ten coasters, I was doing well to get one
ride on each. I've been hearing for years that Kings Dominion has
good, well-maintained wood coasters, and that was obvious when I rode
Scooby Doo. Perhaps I caught the others on a bad day? I'd sure like
to think so.
The important thing is that after a half-dozen years of trying, I
finally made it to Kings Dominion. Now I just wonder when I'll be
able to get back...and if perhaps I can spend more than a half-day
next time.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Footnote 1: At Kings Island I watched several kids get mashed
against the wall by the OL:FOF exit gate. Finally, earlier this
season, Kings Island changed the design of theirs so that if a kid
gets pined behind the gate he at least won't get hurt. So I had to
check and see if Kings Dominion had done the same.
Footnote 2: (ROT13)
Footnote 3: At Kings Island there have been occasions when skilled
riders were doing their thing so well on the Flying Scooters that
people in the queue got scared and left!
--DCAjr
--
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Jacob Atkinson
> OMIGOD WHAT THE @!$% HAPPENED HERE?! The train bucked, bounced,
> shuffled, rattled, and tried to go in every direction but straight
> down the track. It felt like someone had connected a pneumatic drill
> to the back of my seat and switched it on. I thought Son of Beast
> was bad last season...Rebel Yell was proving to be a great looking
> coaster with almost no redeeming qualities out on the course. I was
> stunned, shocked, amazed appalled, and absolutely floored by the
> absolutely dreadful ride this coaster was giving. I couldn't believe
> what I was experiencing, but I knew I didn't want to experience it
> again! I thought Kings Island's Racer was bad with its urethane
> seats...this thing has soft seats and it made Mean Streak look like a
> smooth ride! Here I was expecting three top-quality wooden coasters
> and what I get are mediocre, below average, and downright awful!
>
> In its favor, Rebel Yell still has its tunnel (which the PKI Racer
> does not have) over its final dip (which the PKI Racer also does not
> have. The profile is fantastic, it should be a great ride, and it
> doesn't have a trim brake on the turnaround (which the PKI Racer,
> unfortunately, has). But the ride quality on this thing was so
> incredibly bad that I had no desire to do it again, or even to try
> out the other track. It was painful. It was sickening. It has
> prompted me to say things about it that I never ever wanted to say.
> After all I'd heard about Kings Dominion's wood coasters, I was
> expecting much better than this!
I will defiinately agree with you there Dave. This thing can't hold a
candle to the Racer, except for the trains. I would kill to have those
trains on the Racer. The one thing that I really missed on RY was the
small hill after the big before the turnaround. I thought the first
drop was better on the RY though. You really should have tried
backwards in the back. Just like on the Racer, it was much smoother
and with a little air.
I also agree with your overall assesment of PKD. I came in expecting
great things of the woodies, and came away with a love for the steel!
Grizzly gave pretty good rides, but could see the potential. Hurler
was a huge disappointment. Its a shame too, because both Grizzly and
Hurler were stay on for rerides when I visited in July. I really
wanted to like Hurler, but it really offered nothing. Overall, I think
the collection is better than PKI, and has the potential to be great.
The thing is that there is no brakes or bad trains either, it is
simply maintainance I think.
Did you notice that the Grizzly was almost riding the anti rollbacks
up the first turnaround? I thought we WERE on them when I rode!
Avalanche was a blast too, and with a short line!
Jacob
Dave Sandborg
Atkinson <coast...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Dave Althoff write in regard to the Racer wannabe at PKD;
> > After all I'd heard about Kings Dominion's wood coasters, I was
> > expecting much better than this!
>
>
> I will defiinately agree with you there Dave. This thing can't hold a
> candle to the Racer, except for the trains. I would kill to have those
> trains on the Racer. The one thing that I really missed on RY was the
> small hill after the big before the turnaround. I thought the first
> drop was better on the RY though. You really should have tried
> backwards in the back. Just like on the Racer, it was much smoother
> and with a little air.
>
> I also agree with your overall assesment of PKD. I came in expecting
> great things of the woodies, and came away with a love for the steel!
> Grizzly gave pretty good rides, but could see the potential. Hurler
> was a huge disappointment. Its a shame too, because both Grizzly and
> Hurler were stay on for rerides when I visited in July. I really
> wanted to like Hurler, but it really offered nothing. Overall, I think
> the collection is better than PKI, and has the potential to be great.
> The thing is that there is no brakes or bad trains either, it is
> simply maintainance I think.
The PKD wood coasters used to be better. Hurler used to have quite
spectacular airtime, and Rebel Yell was once a very smooth ride, with
two nice airtime moments. I actually liked Grizzly better this year
than in years prior, but that was right at the very beginning of the
year, so perhaps it's deteriorated. In any case, their wood coaster
maintenance seems to have gone downhill drastically over the past
couple of years.
> Did you notice that the Grizzly was almost riding the anti rollbacks
> up the first turnaround? I thought we WERE on them when I rode!
It's always dreadfully slow around that turnaround. Just part of the
design. Once I noticed that Hurler could make it all the way from its
first drop to the far turn in the time it takes Grizzly to get around
that first turnaround.
--
Dave Sandborg
Remove Spam-away to respond via e-mail.
billy
if you had done your homework you would have known that that is very normal
for Hypersonic and it ALWAYS goes back up in less than an hour.
2. lose weight. Overweight riders are always complaining about
rollercoaster incompatibiltiies. Maybe you should make yourself more
compatible with the coaster.
3. 10 min wait for Volcano? I wouldnt be complaining about that one. Do
you know how often that happens? Consider yourself lucky. You should have
rode twice.
4. Kings Island, Kings Island, Kings Island... blah blah blah
Of course you like that park better. Its your home town park.
5. Ride in the front of Hurler and Grizzly. Makes for a totally different
ride. The back and middle are horrible.
You had all the makings of a perfect day at PKD, no waits, good ride
operation, and i would assume good weather. I go all the time and i know
the park like clockwork. Had you not been a so impatient you could have
rode some rides. You drove 9.5 hours and you even didnt ride Hypersonic?
Man what were you thinking? That should have been the first thing you did.
You have no idea what you missed. Now you'll never know.
"Dave Althoff Jr" <dal...@gcfn.org> wrote in message
news:9ptuvh$29e$1...@acme.gcfn.org...
Dave Althoff Jr
Since you attached my entire Kings Dominion trip report to your otherwise
unenlighteningly-slugged message, I'll assume you're referring to me....
billy (he...@yourhouse.com) wrote:
: 1. be more patient and dont jump out of line every time you get irritated.
: if you had done your homework you would have known that that is very normal
: for Hypersonic and it ALWAYS goes back up in less than an hour.
First of all, the only line I jumped out of was the one for Hypersonic.
It was probably the toughest decision I had to make on that trip, but it
turned out to be a good one. After waiting in line for an hour, then
waiting on the platform for more than a half-hour with no information, no
sign of useful activity, and no idea how much longer it would be before
the ride came back up...not to mention a ridiculously tight schedule, I
had already wasted more than 90 minutes waiting for that coaster. It
turned out that leaving the queue was one of my smarter decisions of the
trip. When I watched the thing launch empty as I stood on top of the
tower, that was the first time the ride had run since I had been waiting
for it, roughly two hours earlier. So it DOESN'T always come back up in
less than an hour. And had I waited for it, I would not have had time to
ride Grizzly, Hurler, or Rebel Yell. On second thought, perhaps that
wouldn't have been such a bad thing.....
: 2. lose weight. Overweight riders are always complaining about
: rollercoaster incompatibiltiies. Maybe you should make yourself more
: compatible with the coaster.
First of all, I suspect you have no idea how big I am. All you know for
certain from my trip report is that I weigh about 240 pounds and I can't
fit on Shockwave. Notice that the Togo coaster is the only coaster where
I had any kind of coaster incompatability? And in that case it has
nothing at all to do with my weight or my girth, but rather the length of
my spine. The distance from the seat to the top of the shoulder loop is
shorter than the distance from the top of my shoulder to the bottom of my
crotch. Since you're such an expert on why people don't fit on coasters,
how do you propose I fix this problem?
: 3. 10 min wait for Volcano? I wouldnt be complaining about that one. Do
: you know how often that happens? Consider yourself lucky. You should have
: rode twice.
Do you hear me complaining about a 10-minute wait for Volcano? I'd have
loved to have ridden twice. I could have ridden five or six times if I
hadn't been waiting for Hypersonic to restart!
: 4. Kings Island, Kings Island, Kings Island... blah blah blah
: Of course you like that park better. Its your home town park.
Actually it isn't. But consider this: Kings Dominion bears a striking
resemblance to Kings Island, albeit with the themed areas flopped
left-to-right. Given that I know Kings Island probably at least as well
as you know Kings Dominion, and given the obvious similarities between the
two, does it not make sense that I would examine Kings Dominion as it
compares with Kings Island? If you were to visit Kings Island, I'd expect
you to do the same, only drawing the obvious comparisons with your local
park, Kings Dominion. Notice I wasn't trying to compare the park with
Busch Gardens (which I had visited that morning and the day before) or Cedar
Point (which IS my home park)
: 5. Ride in the front of Hurler and Grizzly. Makes for a totally different
: ride. The back and middle are horrible.
I *did* ride in the front of Hurler and Grizzly. Remember, when I saw
Hurler the first thing I thought was, "It looks like Thunder Run!".
Thunder Run is without question a front-seat ride, so that's where I rode
Hurler. And Hurler:Thunder Run::Wolverine Wildcat:Phoenix .
: You had all the makings of a perfect day at PKD, no waits, good ride
: operation, and i would assume good weather. I go all the time and i know
: the park like clockwork. Had you not been a so impatient you could have
: rode some rides. You drove 9.5 hours and you even didnt ride Hypersonic?
: Man what were you thinking? That should have been the first thing you did.
: You have no idea what you missed. Now you'll never know.
Hypersonic and Shock Wave were the only two coasters in the park (well, I
was not permitted to ride Taxi Jam either) that I didn't ride, in both
cases because I was physically unable to ride (one because I didn't fit,
one because it wasn't operating). I had all the makings of a perfect day
except for *time*. I had approximately four hours to spend in the park,
and in spite of the familiar appearance of the place, no idea where
anything was located. The purpose of my trip to Virginia was not to visit
Kings Dominion, but rather to attend a NAPHA event at Busch Gardens.
That's why I spent the morning at BGW, riding Alpengeist and Apollo
instead of getting to Kings Dominion in time for the opening bell. And I
had to go to work the following day, which meant I had to leave by about
4:00 if I wanted to get home in time to get some sleep and get up in the
morning. I did what I could, and except for Hypersonic and Rebel Yell, I
actually had a really good day in the park
But apparently you missed that part when you were making
inaccurate assumptions about my me...
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Wolf
> certain from my trip report is that I weigh about 240 pounds and I can't
> fit on Shockwave. Notice that the Togo coaster is the only coaster where
> I had any kind of coaster incompatability? And in that case it has
> nothing at all to do with my weight or my girth, but rather the length of
> my spine. The distance from the seat to the top of the shoulder loop is
> shorter than the distance from the top of my shoulder to the bottom of my
> crotch. Since you're such an expert on why people don't fit on coasters,
> how do you propose I fix this problem?
The obvious answer is to remove two lumbar vertebrae.
Duh.
=)
--
|\-/|
<0 0>
=(o)=
-Wolf -- My sacroilliac!
Dave Sandborg
<dal...@gcfn.org> wrote:
> And Hurler:Thunder Run::Wolverine Wildcat:Phoenix .
A shame, because this was once definitely not the case.
billy
What an idiot.
I love reponding to people like this.
Well, lets analyze the stituation a little further.
1. You STILL didnt ride Hypersonic, the best ride at the park and probably
on the east coast, due to your bad attitude and poor patience. Anyone else
would have ridden it first.
2. As much as you like to try and convince yourself that your are just "Too
big and you cant help it.", you are most likely just another pig who whines
about not fitting on rides. (note all the posts about it, you might find
some other fat buddies to bicker with in the threads.) I have seen people
well over 6.5 ft ride Shockwave.
3. You should be especially thankful you got to ride Volcano in under 2
hours. Dont take that 10 min wait for granted like you did.
4. And yes, all you did was ramble about Kings Island. So what if its
another Paramount park? lol Should i ramble about every other Six Flags
when i talk about Magic Mountain near where im from? Your bias was your
contributing factor to your opinion of a great park.
Since the majority of your critique was negative, for you to say you had a
great time doesnt add up. Maybe you should write another trip report and
say what you mean.
PKD ROCKS! And im from Ca. FEAR FEST ROCKED TOO!!
"Dave Althoff Jr" <dal...@gcfn.org> wrote in message
news:9qetlc$j4r$1...@acme.gcfn.org...
Paul Asente
Sandborg <sand...@Spam-away.ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> In article <9qetlc$j4r$1...@acme.gcfn.org>, Dave Althoff Jr
> <dal...@gcfn.org> wrote:
>
> > And Hurler:Thunder Run::Wolverine Wildcat:Phoenix .
>
> A shame, because this was once definitely not the case.
Very true. In its inaugural season, Hurler at PKD was a fantastic ride:
smooth, fast, and with amazing air time. Hurler at Carowinds wasn't quite
as good. Conversely, Thunder Run that season was extremely rough and painful;
I think that the major track work on it was about 2 or 3 years later.
-paul asente
to reply, make the return host the same as my last name
Justice and revenge are not the same thing.
Ted Ansley
>In article <9qetlc$j4r$1...@acme.gcfn.org>, Dave Althoff Jr
><dal...@gcfn.org> wrote:
>
>> And Hurler:Thunder Run::Wolverine Wildcat:Phoenix .
>
>A shame, because this was once definitely not the case.
I would agree, and I have not had a really great ride on Thunder Run. Based
on my ride on both Hurlers and Thunder Run, I prefer both Hurlers.
>--
>Dave Sandborg
>Remove Spam-away to respond via e-mail.
Ted Ansley
**Rollercoaster Fan<atic>**
tan...@home.com
Keith Hopkins
> lol
>
> What an idiot.
>
> I love reponding to people like this.
What was that recent posting that said something to the effect of, "It's
probably not a good idea to attack a long-time, well respected poster"?
You've pretty much destroyed ANY credibility you might have on this group.
--
Keith Hopkins
suss...@blockvisi.com (clear the block to reply)
Susskins Central Dispatch at www.visi.com/~susskins/
"Embrace the inner Librarian!" Terry Pratchett, in an online chat
Nomicon
"Keith Hopkins" <suss...@blockvisi.com> wrote:
> "billy" <he...@friend.com> spewed a lot of drivel at Dave Althoff...
>
> > lol
> >
> > What an idiot.
> >
> > I love reponding to people like this.
>
>
> What was that recent posting that said something to the effect of, "It's
> probably not a good idea to attack a long-time, well respected poster"?
> You've pretty much destroyed ANY credibility you might have on this group.
>
And he's done so in a manner that's extremely poorly written.
Goodbye Billy, PLONK PLONK!!!
billy
"Nomicon" <rkrall...@stargate.net> wrote in message
news:rkrallNOSPAM-EA59...@corp.supernews.com...
billy
I feel sad that you do though.
"Keith Hopkins" <suss...@blockvisi.com> wrote in message
news:RvWy7.3974$Ra3.1...@ruti.visi.com...
Dave Althoff Jr
: > What was that recent posting that said something to the effect of, "It's
: > probably not a good idea to attack a long-time, well respected poster"?
: > You've pretty much destroyed ANY credibility you might have on this group.
billy (he...@friend.com) replied:
: I have no desire to gain credibility from anyone in an internet newsgroup.
: I feel sad that you do though.
To which I reply...
billy, it is unfortunate that you feel that way.
Because in the world of USENET discussion, the only assets you have are your
reputation and your writing. And the one is usually built through the
other. You demonstrate through your writings and through your online
interactions with other correspondents just what kind of a person you are,
what kind of knowledge you possess, and whether you are the kind of person
the rest of us want to interact with.
As my Speech professor pointed out some years ago, "You cannot not
communicate." Whether you want one or not, as long as you post messages
here, you will develop a reputation, some level of credibility, and you
will develop in the rest of the community an impression of what kind of a
person you are.
The kind of reputation you develop is entirely up to you. But I feel I
should warn you: No matter who you are, no matter what kind of a person
you are, no matter what you think of the rest of us, if you behave as a
miserable troll with nothing to add to the conversation, you will get
exactly what you want. Because you will be ignored. You'll sit in the
bottom of the killfiles of the rest of the group where you can yell all
you want and never be heard. USENET is a tough audience. It's
technically impossible to make you or anybody else go away, but if you
choose to add nothing to the conversation, the rest of us are under no
obligation to listen to you.
Of course, the fact that I bothered with this little essay at all should
tell you something...specifically that I haven't yet given up on you as a
worthless troll, but rather that you're (for the moment at least) merely
clueless as to the unwritten rules of this community. When you visit
rec.roller-coaster you are visiting some of the nicest people on the
entire Internet, certainly the nicest people in all of USENET. You are
not expected to agree with me or anybody else. You are expected to form
your own opinions, to express those opinions in a civil manner, and to
join in with the conversation. If you can't manage to do that, you'll
find yourself very lonely and ignored, cursing the darkness and wondering
why it isn't fun to play on the computer anymore.
The choice is yours. Do as you see fit.
billy
laugh. Like i care, or even wasted my time reading it. What losers in
this group.
Wow we ride rollercoasters and join clubs with other coaster geeks! lol
Get a life.
Coasters rock, but please...
Hypersonic XLC is by far the coolest ride on the planet! Rock on S&S Power
and PKD!
"Dave Althoff Jr" <dal...@gcfn.org> wrote in message
news:9qi4hn$m6p$1...@acme.gcfn.org...
Richard Bonner
> Duh.
> =)
> --
> -Wolf
*** Hmm, would castration help? (-:
Richard Bonner
Managing Director:
The Coaster Enthusiasts of Canada
www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ak621/CEC/CEC.html
Richard Bonner
> lol
> What an idiot.
*** I hardly think so. David is a respected member of both
rec. roller-coaster and rec.parks.theme. He is knowledgeable on the
subjects here, and his posts are very intellegent.
> I love reponding to people like this.
*** OK, but I think you are mis-reading Dave. You could have also stated
the same comments without being so confrontational.
> Well, lets analyze the stituation a little further.
> 1. You STILL didnt ride Hypersonic, the best ride at the park and probably
> on the east coast, due to your bad attitude and poor patience. Anyone else
> would have ridden it first.
*** He tried to ride it early. However, if it is down, one cannot ride
it. As I understand it, "Hypersonic" was out of service for two hours.
David decided to ride other things rather than wait. I'm sure
he'll return at a later date to check out this new attraction.
> 2. As much as you like to try and convince yourself that your are just "Too
> big and you cant help it.", you are most likely just another pig who whines
> about not fitting on rides. (note all the posts about it, you might find
> some other fat buddies to bicker with in the threads.)
*** I have seen pictures of Dave. He is far from being a "pig". In
regards to the Togo standups, his problem is one of back length, not
girth.
> I have seen people well over 6.5 ft ride Shockwave.
*** Yes, but how comfortable were they? Also, how much of their height
was legs versus spine length? That makes a difference on the Togo's.
> 3. You should be especially thankful you got to ride Volcano in under 2
> hours. Dont take that 10 min wait for granted like you did.
*** I can't comment well here because I am not familiar with Kings
Dominion. However, since Dave doesn't visit KD often, it might be easy to
take that short time for granted. The ride is a few seasons old, now.
> 4. And yes, all you did was ramble about Kings Island. So what if its
> another Paramount park? lol Should i ramble about every other Six Flags
> when i talk about Magic Mountain near where im from? Your bias was your
> contributing factor to your opinion of a great park.
*** I did not perceive bias, but saw it as a comparison of two similarly
laid out parks. Taft parks of that era were very similar. Look at Canada's
Wonderland. All three parks have entrance sections and promenades that
look very much the same.
> Since the majority of your critique was negative, for you to say you had a
> great time doesnt add up. Maybe you should write another trip report and
> say what you mean.
> PKD ROCKS!
*** I don't agree that a few negative items add up to not having a good
time at a park. I'm sorry, but I just didn't read that into Dave's report.
I still think Dave likes the park.
Keith Hopkins
news:9qkg2h$7ka$1...@News.Dal.Ca...
> Wolf wrote:
> > The obvious answer is to remove two lumbar vertebrae.
> > Duh.
> > =)
> *** Hmm, would castration help? (-:
> www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ak621/CEC/CEC.html
Information on proper castration technique can be found at:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ak621/CEC/saygoodbyetotheboys.html
:-)
Okie
> lol
>
> What an idiot.
Billy - Your opinions of others says a lot about yourself.
>
> I love reponding to people like this.
>
> Well, lets analyze the stituation a little further.
>
> 1. You STILL didnt ride Hypersonic, the best ride at the park and probably
> on the east coast, due to your bad attitude and poor patience. Anyone else
> would have ridden it first.
I thought his choice was valid. Your insistence proves that you are
the one with a need for an attitude and patience adjustment.
>
> 2. As much as you like to try and convince yourself that your are just "Too
> big and you cant help it.", you are most likely just another pig
Again. Impatience. Billy, you don't know. Be patient. If you must
know if he's fat, ask him. Then again, why would you really care?
> who whines
> about not fitting on rides. (note all the posts about it, you might find
> some other fat buddies
Billy, how much does your father weigh? How about your mother? Now,
on a scale of one to ten, what is your father's work ethic? Now
figure your mother's. Now figure yours. Add your mom's to your dad's
and divide by two. Now take that result and subtract yours from it.
We'll call that number the work ethic differential, or WED. Now, if
you think your parents are overweight, compute their average amount
overweight. Now, multiply that by your WED. That's how much
overweight YOU will be when their age.
I was young and muscled up once. I've done at least a FAIR job of
watching what I eat, and the pounds have still added on. Being an
accountant doesn't help. Hang on, slicko. Your belt size will grow.
Just watch.
Okie
> lol the fact that you wasted your time writting all of that makes me
> laugh. Like i care, or even wasted my time reading it. What losers in
> this group.
>
> Wow we ride rollercoasters and join clubs with other coaster geeks! lol
> Get a life.
> Coasters rock, but please...
Billy,
Life is rough and tough, but once in a while we all get a break in
life. The question is whether we're smart enough to recognize it.
You just received a very well thought out, well-written rebuttal,
that, if read about 100 times, very well may sink in and do you a
WHOLE lot of good. Don't forget, my friend, that people are the only
folks on this planet who can help us. Well, God, of course, but He
uses people.
Whether you receive the help or scoff it off is up to you.
Brad "hoping this whole thing isn't just proof of Mark's complaints"
Brown
Dave Althoff Jr
: Dave Sandborg <sand...@Spam-away.ix.netcom.com> wrote:
: >In article <9qetlc$j4r$1...@acme.gcfn.org>, Dave Althoff Jr
: ><dal...@gcfn.org> wrote:
: >
: >> And Hurler:Thunder Run::Wolverine Wildcat:Phoenix .
: >
: >A shame, because this was once definitely not the case.
: I would agree, and I have not had a really great ride on Thunder Run. Based
: on my ride on both Hurlers and Thunder Run, I prefer both Hurlers.
Ted, two things...
First of all, I don't remember how much of an airtime nut you are, but I
seem to recall you are more of a back-seat rider...
1) Have you ridden Thunder Run since they put the yellow train on it?
(Dumb question. The yellow train is really, really old news.)
2) Have you ridden that yellow train in the very front seat?
Thunder Run has some of the most forceful airtime I have felt when not
riding Phantom's Revenge!
Dave Althoff Jr
(of the writings of "billy")
: And he's done so in a manner that's extremely poorly written.
Oh, I don't know about that. He tends not to support his arguments very
well, he tends to prefer insult to discourse, and he has a habit of not
letting the content of the message he is responding to have much of an
effect on his comments...but what he writes seems to be reasonably written
apart from the fact that his shift key seems to be broken.
Ted Ansley
>Ted Ansley (tans...@home.com) wrote:
>: Dave Sandborg <sand...@Spam-away.ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
>: >In article <9qetlc$j4r$1...@acme.gcfn.org>, Dave Althoff Jr
>: ><dal...@gcfn.org> wrote:
>: >
>: >> And Hurler:Thunder Run::Wolverine Wildcat:Phoenix .
>: >
>: >A shame, because this was once definitely not the case.
>
>: I would agree, and I have not had a really great ride on Thunder Run. Based
>: on my ride on both Hurlers and Thunder Run, I prefer both Hurlers.
>
>Ted, two things...
>
>First of all, I don't remember how much of an airtime nut you are, but I
>seem to recall you are more of a back-seat rider...
>
>1) Have you ridden Thunder Run since they put the yellow train on it?
> (Dumb question. The yellow train is really, really old news.)
Yes
>2) Have you ridden that yellow train in the very front seat?
Yes
>Thunder Run has some of the most forceful airtime I have felt when not
>riding Phantom's Revenge!
However, I did not ride Thunder Run on my visit to SFKK this year, last time
I rode it was '98. I fully understand that since '98 the Hurlers are worse
and from the reports I've seen TR is running great so my opinion could
change. Maybe next year I'll ride TR again....I hope.
Richard Bonner
> "Richard Bonner" <ak...@chebucto.ns.ca> wrote in message
> news:9qkg2h$7ka$1...@News.Dal.Ca...
> > Wolf wrote:
> > > The obvious answer is to remove two lumbar vertebrae.
> > > Duh.
> > > =)
> > *** Hmm, would castration help? (-:
> > www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ak621/CEC/CEC.html
> Information on proper castration technique can be found at:
> http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ak621/CEC/saygoodbyetotheboys.html
> :-)
> --
> Keith Hopkins
*** Ahh.. well, not any longer. I couldn't get it to fit a coaster theme
well enough, so I had to remove that page. Sorry. (-:
Keith Hopkins
--
Keith Hopkins
suss...@blockvisi.com (clear the block to reply)
Susskins Central Dispatch at www.visi.com/~susskins/
"Embrace the inner Librarian!" Terry Pratchett, in an online chat
"Richard Bonner" <ak...@chebucto.ns.ca> wrote in message
news:9r41c9$ole$1...@News.Dal.Ca...
Richard Bonner
> > > "Richard Bonner" <ak...@chebucto.ns.ca> wrote:
> > > > Wolf wrote:
> >
> > > > > The obvious answer is to remove two lumbar vertebrae.
> > > > > Duh.
> > > > > =)
> > > > *** Hmm, would castration help? (-:
> >
> > > http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ak621/CEC/saygoodbyetotheboys.html
> > > Keith Hopkins
> >
> > *** Ahh.. well, not any longer. I couldn't get it to fit a coaster theme
> > well enough, so I had to remove that page. Sorry. (-:
> >
> > Richard Bonner
Keith Hopkins wrote:
> I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever respond to that. :-)
> --
> Keith Hopkins
*** Sorry, Keith. It's my busy time of the year. I only get a few hours
a week for e-mail and newsgroups. I do the groups in sequence, so it may
take some time for me to return to older threads. I also wanted to take
the time to research some actual castration sites to add to the humour,
but just can't spare the time.
Not to worry though, I will return to my regular pattern in Mid
December. (-: