Floydsheating

1. What is the name of your home park? Beech Bend Park 2. Do you own a coaster related T-shirt? Do uniform shirts count? But coaster specific shirts no... Really need to get a Kentucky Rumbler shirt though. 3. Do you enjoy Vekoma SLCs? I have only rode T2 years ago and it was painful so no... 4. Name the first 3 coasters that come to mind. Kentucky Rumbler, Tennessee Tornado, The Voyage. 5. One park you would definitely never go back to is... None, I have not found a park that I can't forgive. 6. Have you ever ridden a drop tower taller than 200 feet? Superman at SFSTL 7. What is your favorite roller coaster? Tennessee Tornado as it was my first BIG coaster when I was like 5 or 6 years old, right after it was built. (I went from riding kiddie coasters to that monster!) It will always be my favorite to ride. 8. When you go to a park three things you must have with you are... Phone, Tickets, Keys 9. How many times did you visit your home park last season? Umm... Almost everyday during the summer, working though. I only spent probably 2 days in the park as a guest, along with the random rides here and there. 10. The first Intamin coaster you rode is... Never have. 11. Have you ever spent an entire day at a park alone? Nope 12. The independent park you go to the most is... Beech Bend Park 13. Does B&M or Intamin make better hyper coasters? B&M because I have never rode an Intamin. 14. If it was free, what upcharge ride what you jump on right now? The Island Ferris Wheel, or an Alpine coaster 15. What is the best food at your home park? The Homemade Fudge. 16. The name of the worst GCI you've ridden is... American Thunder 17. When you're not riding something at your home park where are you? Working Usually, or riding-while-working on the Starship! (Gravitron) It is also my favorite ride to operate. 18. Favorite water ride in a dry park (flume, rapids, etc) Mountion Slidewinder 19. Do you get your photo taken with park mascots? Not usually, but I like talking to them. And picking on Boomer of course! 20. Name one personal item you've lost at a park. I lost my favorite Green Cup, it fell off of the station platform into whitewater's basin and got destroyed... 21. Name of the worst B&M invert you're ridden is... Batman is the only one so, it's the worst but also the best maybe? 22. Name your favorite steel coaster under 125 feet tall. Beech Bend's Wild Mouse, with the car spinning for the entire ride! It was a blast i never stopped spinning! Pro tip, the Orange Mouse spins more, and is faster on the track than the other colors. 23. Name your favorite coaster/ride manufacturer? This is hard... Coaster is Arrow, but NOT S&S I like the classic coasters, followed by Velkoma. Flat rides would be either Wisdom or SBF VISA. 24. What waterpark have you visited most often? Splashin Safari probably... 25. The name of the fastest wooden coaster you have ridden is... The Voyage after dark full train and NO TRIMS! 26. What is the name of the flat ride you've ridden the most? Michael Jackson's SeaDragon. 27. Name a ride-related injury you have suffered. Fell crossing The Legends Track in the station and hit my head on the Que gates. I was ok, just had a headache for a while 28. Favorite Halloween event at a park? Six flags Fright Fest 29. Name the most recent Arrow ride or coaster you've been on... River King Mine Train SFSTL 30. Name of your favorite ride that never leaves the ground (safari, train, bumper cars, etc) flying bobs/himalaya 31. What ride makes you laugh the most? I honestly don't know. 32. How many RMC's have you ridden? 0 33. Best flat that goes over 100 feet is... Zero G 34. When you are on your way to your home park what is one worry that you might have? Did I remember my nametag 35. Favorite park that is NOT your home park is ___________. Dollywood 36. How many different parks did you go to last season? Just 2 37. The indoor coaster/dark ride you ride most often is... Probably Justice league at SFSTL or Blazing Fury 38. When you spend the day at the park what do you drink all day? Water, but it depends on the park. 39. The name of the best B&M you've ridden is? Raging Bull

Beech Bend's owner Dallas Jones also owns a trucking company called Clay Jones Trucking out of Beechmont Ky. A lot (but not all) of their trailers have the Beech Bend Advertising on them, there are hundreds of them and they travel all over the nation. As far as the Rumbler goes, the train was just completely replaced, and the coaster overhauled for the 2016 season. It's a brand new train all the way down to the frame.

Beech Bend does not have Free Soft drinks, they used to but it was discontinued in 2012. Instead they sell a souvenir cup (the same size that Six Flags uses) for $7 with the first fill free, and refills are $1. The cheapest tickets are for Friday Night Lights. You can get in the park for only $15 from 5:00-9:30 on any Friday till August, or come on a Tuesday in June and tickets are buy one get one free. These are both at the parks ticket booth with no coupon required.

I can't chime in on the other two. But you should come by and visit Beech Bend this year if you haven't in the past few years. We have a new credit this year, a SBF Visa Spinning coaster called "Spinning out", also we have a rare Zamperla Air Race, and the Chance Revelution Vortex was added in 2013. Plus the brand new waterpark expansion includes the only ProSlide Flying Saucer Slide in North America, you would have to fly to Spain to ride one like it!

When you come to Kentucky if you have time come and stop by Beech Bend. If you have never been before you would love it! They have 3 credits, including the awesome GCI Kentucky Rumbler, a Zamperla Wild Mouse, and Brand New for 2016 Spinning Out, an SPF VISA Spinning coaster. Also as far as flats go there is a Zamperla Air Race, Chance Revolution, and even the SeaDragon from Michael Jacksons Neverland Ranch along with many others. Also for 2016 Beech Bend is getting 4 new water slides including the first and only ProSlide Flying Saucer in North America!

Mindbinder at Six Flags Over Georgia! It was Awesome!

It is a great addition to the park. I was just sad that I could not attend the press conference. I have been wanting to ride Spinning Out but I will have to wait till summer! The Magnolia Shelter has been Torn Down, and Monster Trucks has been moved but I am not sure where to. I could not ask for any more, as it is a great addition! I've got to spend one of my days off in the water park next year!!!

The track and train for Spinning Out arrived today! The bright green track looks awesome with the race car themed vehicles! Spinning out is our brand new family coaster for 2016, which takes riders on a whacky, twisty, exciting ride! More Construction Pics will be Posted to Beech Bend's Facebook Page! 2 of the Cars of Spinning Out. Rockin Raceway is in the Background. Some of the new track of Spinning out.

New Family Coaster Coming to Beech Bend Park in 2016! Beech Bend Park is excited to announce Spinning Out, a brand new family roller coaster! Spinning Out is themed like a race car, spinning out of control in a spectacular back to back seating configuration. Each car holds four people, a perfect size for the entire family, and the cars will spin freely throughout the ride, delivering different ride experiences each time the weight distributions change! Spinning Out will surely become a favorite for kids and parents alike! Beech Bend Park OPENS MAY 2016! Spinning Out is manufactured by SBF VISA One of the cars of Spinning Out

I do not want it RMCed either... I used to love the ride, and it was my favorite ride in the park, but it really shocked me how far downhill it has went. On a roller coaster you should not be thinking how much longer till it stops... Leave the PTC's alone and just retrack the entire thing but leave the iron horse track for a different coaster!

1:00 - 5:00 for lunch. 1:00 - 9:00 for snack 5:00 - 9:00 for dinner.

If it's policy I understand that. I just thought it would make more sense to go on and unload the guests verses having them sit there. All I know is that the ride ops did not explain it like that, they said it was because they could unload the guests but they could not open the exit. So there would be nowhere for the guests to go. I do not see why pushing 7 footswitches, and unlocking the exit would shut the rides PLC down and reset the fault codes, they must have it interconnected in some weird way.

Every time that the ride would fault the enable operator had to jump their gate so they could talk to the guests. The Velkoma trains have a manual release at the back of each car, I saw the operators use it several times and it unlocks the 4 restraints that are in the cars. When it faults it is in the station just a little bit out of position. Each time of the 6 times that I saw it happen the guests had to remain in the cars until maintenence adjusted the train and moved it about 4-12 inches. When I asked the operators why they cannot go on and unload the guests the reason given was that the exit was magnetically locked and they did not want guests jumping over the fence. Maintenence would not loose a fault code by the ride ops manually evacuating a train. It just does not make since to me that they do not have control of their own station.

I was a legend ride operator, but I never liked the ride, also I have not rode it since the year i worked there, due to how maintenence took care of the ride. The Raven was my favorite Coaster to run at Holiday World. I rode the Screaming Eagle once and that was enough a ride should not be spent wondering how much longer until it ends. Bleh... I don't know if I put it in my earlier post but I used to LOVE the Screaming Eagle! Back in 2009-2010 I would ride it 20+ times in a row without getting off. Also the mine train is nowhere close to being the best coaster in the park that would probably fall on batman or mr. Freeze but since I cannot ride them I won't review them. It's just a cool little old ride nothing special, just fun in its own way, like Blazing Fury at Dollywood. Justice League the ride itself is not wasted space, but in my opinion it is not worth the lines that it is pulling... When it has 2-3 times the wait of all of the Coasters in the park it's just not worth it. I would not mind waiting 15-30 minutes for it, just not 1 or 2 hours. I did not read up on the ride as I wanted to experience it for myself, I saw pictures of the cool joker animatronic before and that was what I was kinda expecting throughout. I guess I was just had high hopes for the ride. The wasted space that I was referring to is the abundance of extra space in the que line. On the inside of the building there is a bunch of extra room for cool props and other effects that they could add to make the que more interesting, but instead until you get to Cyborg/the station all you have are some pillars with rope light and some flags. There is so much potential.

I will be glad to see you at Beech Bend next year! My advice is just do not come on a Saturday they get kinda crazy especially the line for the wild mouse and do not cut yourself short on time plan on spending at least a full day. Plus if you have never rode it, the Kentucky Rumbler is AWESOME!!! Also Air Race, Vortex, SeaDragon, and hopefully some new surprises for next year!

I just finished visiting SFStL for the first time in over 5 years and fright fest was an interesting experience and overall a great time, but there were several issues that I was not expecting that were different from the last time I was there. First of all I did not go through any of the additional fee Fright fest mazes/attractions. I did see most of the shows though. The food was pretty good for an amusement park and the Dining pass makes it so much better! The lines for the resturaunts were crazy though with several of them closed... I was surprised by the amount of employees that did not know the park. Asking for directions sometimes was next to impossable. I spent a lot of time just talking to the employees, a lot of them were fantastic! But you could easily tell who was new and who was a veteran employee but that is the same at every park. The "scare zones" were not scary... I only got scared once the whole weekend and that was one of them jumping up behind me at the end of boomerangs exit. It does not seem like six flags is doing as much as it used too at past fright fests. Love at first Fright was OK, but it could have been much better. The vocal levels were way off and you could barely hear what the female lead was singing exceptforn the climaxes of the songs, and the lights that they used during the show were awful! They pointed them at the back of the audience (where I was sitting) and they moved back and forth blinding me about every ten seconds. Also the show in front of the palace theatre had way too much Bass... you could hear it from NINJA, and when you were standing up near the train station it felt like the concrete ground was vibrating. I felt sorry for the people at the front of the show. Steve Daleys Hypnosis show was REALLY GOOD! I don't believe it was staged but it was hilarious! I went in expecting it to be dull and boring but I was blown away. He had all of the people on stage (approx. 15) forget their first name, and he switched two of the guys names for a female name of there choice. This guy who could pass for a member of a gang firmly believed his name was Jasmine he could not be convinced otherwise! His family cracked up! Also Steve got the same guy to come up to the stage, put on a blond wig and he danced to Taylor Swifts shake it off. I seen the guy after the show and his family was trying to convince him what happened was real he did not remember any of it. I don't even care if the show was fake it was THAT GOOD! The sideshow was just meh... I have seen a lot better, and it is outside with 0 seating. People were sitting on grass, on que fences even on the blacktop... Six flags should have found a better spot for this... They were not even using the HUGE theatre in front of screaming eagle for anything! so much wasted space, I am not saying put the sideshow there but they should use it for something. As far as the rides though it was hit or miss. I am basically the opposite of a normal coaster inthusiast and I love the old Arrow and Velkoma Coasters. I also hate all of the B&Ms and they hate me too! (I can not get the restraints to lock on any of their Coasters that I have tried) So batman was out and I knew Mr. Freeze was not gonna happen. I loved all of the flat rides that I rode. Colossus was cool, and I thought I would hate the enterprise but it was actually fun. Also I loved the train, carousel and a bunch of the other small rides. Ninja Ninja was running well it only had one glitch that I knew of Saturday morning and they had it running again in less than 10 minutes. It was actually smoother than I remember, which was the only coaster that was like that, and I love that it NEVER has a line when I am there! As long as you sit in the front seat and hold your head back it is a really fun ride! Boomerang Believe it or not I have never rode one of these and I had always wanted to try one. The first time I rode it I loved it! The Front is the best, but I learned quickly not to sit in the back! I ended up riding it around 8 times. But my only problem with it is that it LOVES to fault! It faulted out at least 6 times while I was there once when I was on the train. It kept either over shooting or undershooting the station... It does NOT like to park itself and each time it took maintenance over 15 minutes to manually push the train into the correct position and lower the catch car. Fun ride but I know maintenance has to hate it... Plus why design a station with the gates to close to the train then afterwards put in a infrared laser system to make sure that no one gets too close. Also the gates for the operators and the station exit are magnetically locked. So when it faults the enable operator has to jump over a fence to talk to a guest because they can't unlock it. Also even though each car can easily be manually released the exit is also magnetically locked so when it faults the guests have to sit there in the station until maintenence can reset it, because the operators don't want guests jumping the gate... The whole station just shouts awful planning. Still an awesome ride though! Mine Train The mine train was fun, on Saturday during the day the line was almost an hour long so I skipped it. Ended up getting a Zen ride about an hour before the park closed. They were just cycling 2 trains almost empty. It's a fun ride as long as there is no line. It has aged pretty well and I hope they do not change it. Screaming Eagle This was AWFUL!!!!!! I can't believe people ride this for fun! It just kept getting worse as it went. I made the mistake of sitting in the back seat as there was no line for the back and there was a 4 train wait for the front but I see why now... It was the most painful coaster I have ever been on! It was nothing like I Remember it being like, I used to love it! In 2009 I rode it over 20 times in a row without getting off on a slow day. In 2015 after riding it at 3:00 my head hurt until after the park closed... NEEDS RETRACKING!!! The Boss I really wanted to ride this... But I am glad that it was closed pretty much all of Saturday and I rode screaming eagle first. I had several guests and employees tell me that it was running worse than the screaming eagle... How is that possible? I decided that my head could not take it and I did not ride it during the few hours that it was open. I had several employees tell me that it will not run when it is below 60 degrees outside... The reason that was given was that the trains will valley... Also just to test it in the mornings they have to load each train with over 2 tons of lead weight just so they will make a complete circut... This ride needs help... I never got around to riding Pandemonium the line was either too long or I was heading to something when I went by. And finally Justice League... On Saturday it always had crazy lines always almost to the centennial park gate every time I looked. On Sunday I got there early for the gold pass opportunity to get in line early... It never opened... waited until 1:00 and it never had opened and gave up. A ride on even told me that they missed scooby... Apparently it finally opened around 2:30-3:00 and I got in line to ride it at 6:45 and it had an hour wait. The que line was OK I liked the TV monitors with the Preshow, but there was a lot of wasted space in the que line. The cyborg and joker animations were cool but that's what I was expecting through the ride, not an mobile IWORKS show... it was not worth the wait at all. All in all I did have a good time, it's just kinda the bad stuff that stays with you when you leave the park but I will be back! It was a fun trip and it was pretty much what I was expecting... I just can't believe that people hate on ninja compared to the painful woodies in the back.

Thank you for seeing why I love Beech Bend. I love that all of the employees are friendly, and since the lines are shorter we have more time to interact with the guests and i have several season passholders that have been coming there for years who seek me out just to tell me how well their day is going. It feels like the employees are one big family since it is a smaller park we all know each other and see each other every day. I have worked there for three years now and I absolutely love it, it is so much better than when I worked at holiday world, where reported safety issues would just go overlooked for days on end and you would be instructed to put guests in unsafe seats, and you would hardly ever see members of upper management. Unlike at Holiday World, maintence and management take what an employee says to heart and actually fix it instead of just trying to keep the ride running. Charlotte is in the park every day, she is the most caring individual that I have ever met. I have seen her buy food for employees when they have no money for lunch, make guests and employees feel better when they are sad, and all employees know that if they have a problem with anything she will take care of it, and nobody cares more about the safety of the guests than she does. Nothing can compare to that, from a personal standpoint it is so much better seeing the owners EVERY day and being able to talk to them face to face compared to seeing them once in a blue moon. As for the Accident it was not serious at all. Nobody was injured, everyone walked away. The coaster was slowly going backwards as it hit that spot. Everyone on the train was in good spirits, nobody was crying, the kids on the ride were even joking with me. It was nowhere near as bad as some of you are making it out to be. So please don't blast a good person when what they are telling you is the truth. I just hate people looking down on my park as I and all of the other employees really want it to be the best family amusement park that it can be.

I operated the Dragon coaster that morning, but not at the time of the accident. I have rode every single ride that I can at Beech Bend, and I trust all of the rides. (I can not ride air race or Vortex due to the restraints not green lighting) If I do not feel comfortable in riding it I will not put a guest on that ride. I have rode the Dragon coaster countless times, along with the rumbler and the mouse. I know all of the maintenence employees personally and I see them every day, and they check EVERY ride EVERY day. Beech Bend takes good care of the rides, there may be paint or light issues but they are structurally and mechanically sound. The rides are so much better than what I have seen at Holiday world, I can tell you all kinds of horror stories from when I worked there...

The Dragon coaster is secured to the ground at every base where the track meets the ground, there are huge bolts/stakes holding each of the footers to the ground. Also there are huge bolts in the ground which has metal wires which also hold the track to the ground.

I am actually the ride operator in that photo. No one was injured whatsoever and everyone was ok.

The rumbler is my favorite wooden coaster of all time, if you have never rode it you are in for a treat. The Air Race is a really cool ride too, and there is also Michael Jackson's SeaDragon from Neverland Ranch and a bunch of other cool flat rides. Honestly I have never been to Lake Winnie but I am sure that you would have a great time at Beech Bend. As long as you are not coming for the water park, 3 hours is plenty to be able to ride all 3 coasters and ride any of the flat rides that you wanted and even have time for rerides!

No problem! Car A is the best one! Stop by for Beech Bend Bash later this year if you have time, Air Race is BEAUTIFUL at night!!!

I am actually operating the Air Race at Beech Bend in that photo! I am glad that you had a great time, and it really is a cool ride. I love the Kentucky Rumbler and it is my favorite wooden coaster, the right seat in the front car is the best!!!

I also have a couple of park's that I consider to be my home parks. I have even worked at 2 of them. Living in Kentucky I live within an hour and a half of Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, and Beech Bend. I worked at holiday world for 1 year, and I have worked at Beech bend for 2 years. Kentucky Kingdom I actually have not been to Kentucky Kingdom since it was reopened and I am not planning on going anytime soon either. Greezed Lightning was my favorite coaster there, and they replaced it with a ride that I know that I can not ride. (I have been told the restraints would not lock) I don't see any point in going for a kiddie coaster and a meh wooden coaster. Holiday World I worked here for the 2012 season and I have been back at least once a year since then, It's ok but honestly I am tired of it. I will never wait more than 15 minutes for any of their coasters, they just are not worth it anymore to me. I went last year in the Halloweekends, (when I worked there it was dead), but last year it was CRAZY! Almost everything had an hour plus ride times, The line for the Voyage was two hours long and never went down! No coasters for me... Ride totals 2 rides on mayflower, and sparkler, 1 time on scrambler and frightful falls and I rode HallowSwings like 8 times...... I am glad I had free tickets! The park is not the same without Dan and Pat. When I worked there you seen them both there and they were just as nice to the employees as the guests. It's not like it used to be... Beech Bend Now this is is my favorite park. I do love it and I have worked there for several years. I would go in on my days off I would just walk around and ride any ride I felt like doing, and I like that I can really be relaxed and not have to worry about lines. I love the Kentucky Rumbler! It is my favorite wooden coaster, but I have rode it at least 150 times and no its not as fun as the first time but it is still a blast! Better than its bigger sister Thunderhead! Rounding out my favorite rides are the SeaDragon and the Wild Mouse.

This is a really cool picture of the park. I had always heard that there were waterslides where the Wild Mouse is today, but I had never seen a photo of them.