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We got up early Sat. morning to make the trek down to King’s Island for our first experience with Fear Fest. I also wanted to see how crowded it was going to be. As usual we got there before the park opened and quickly got ourselves reacquainted with Beastie. My son loves this ride. We took two spins on our favorite kiddie coaster and then hit Top Cat’s Taxi Jam and Scooby Doo. He loves Scooby and is finally pulling the trigger on the gun but still hasn’t hit anything on his own yet. We then headed over to the train but found out the first train wasn’t leaving until 11 so we had time to go ride the Flying Eagles. Besides Beastie this is our favorite ride to ride together.
As we walked up to the line I got the unique opportunity of seeing 10 adult Acers snapping the bajeepers out of this ride, much to the amusement of the two male ride operators. I didn’t know there was an Ace event going on today so I tried starting up a conversation with one of the Acers but after he mumbled a few words to me about some behind the scenes tour of FoF he turned his back to me. I guess since I wasn’t officially part of his group he probably thought I was some dump GP with his two year old. Oh well, my son and I still got two good rides on the Eagles before it was time to go on our train ride. I know I can’t snap it like some of those Acers but I still think I give a pretty mean ride with my son onboard.
We made the 11 o’clock train and headed out to the pumpkin patch. I thought that was a really nice thing to do for all the kids. My son ran a grabbed his pumpkin and went to take a bite out of it because his mom had been giving him those candy pumpkins all week and he loves them. Luckily I stopped him before he took a chunk out of his real pumpkin. The rest of the train ride was nice with all the decorating and the Halloween songs. Once the train ride was over we headed out for the second park of the day.
Wonderpark
We found Forest Fair Mall without a problem but I didn’t know where to park because I had no idea where Wonderpark was actually located in the mall. Well, just a tip for anyone else that ever happens to go here, just park outside Media Play and go in there. Once you walk in the front doors you should be able to look to the back of the store and see Wonderpark.
As most of you know we went to Wonderpark to ride Boa Squeeze. This is a fun little kiddie coaster with a nice first little drop into a helix and some bunny hops to finish it off. It cost $1 to ride and they give you 3 circuits. Pretty good deal. Off to the third park of the day.
Stricker’s Grove
I had seen on Coasterbuzz that this park was supposed to be open to the public today and since I had missed the two previous public days I didn’t want to miss my last opportunity of the season. So we found the park quickly and easily and it looked like a cute little park with a decent coaster when I pulled up. It was 12:45 when we got there and I had to have my son home by 2:00 p.m. for a birthday party. So we were just going to check the place out and then come back after the party and hopefully coax my wife to come along. I walked up to the entrance to pay my $8 to get in and I decided to ask the elderly woman taking my money if I would have to pay for my wife to get in because she is 6 months pregnant and probably wouldn’t ride anything. Well I thought I had asked the question nicely enough but the woman looked at me like I was crazy and then went off how she couldn’t believe I would even ask such a question since they had free soda and face painting. Okay, a simple yes or no would have done quite well but thanks for a great first impression.
Putting that scene behind me I took my little one in and hoped to get a quick ride on Teddy Bear before going home for the party. Well the gates opened right at one o’clock but Teddy Bear wasn’t working. I decided I didn’t have time to wait so I got back in the car and started to speed home. I left at 1:10 and figured I could make it back to Dayton in 50 minutes. I was wrong, but one of the weirdest things I’ve seen happened on the drive home in the town of Hamilton.
I pulled up to a stoplight behind two trucks and I just figured there was another car infront of the first truck because of how far back he was. I was sitting in my car just seeing along to some Tom Petty and other rock classics when finally I thought, “Man, I’ve been sitting at this light for awhile.” So I looked at my clock and it had been at least five minutes since I had pulled behind these trucks. No joke. At the same time some cars behind me pulled out of the left turn lane and turned right and I decided to do the same. As I passed the second truck I realized there was no car in front of him. So I figured he had stalled or his truck died or something but I didn’t see his hazards on. Anyway since there was enough room I pulled in front of him at the stoplight. 10 seconds later the light turned green and I took my left turn and I was bewildered to see the “stalled” truck making a left turn right behind me. The light never turned green because the guy in the truck was so far back he never tripped the sensor. I thought that was pretty weird.
At any rate I got home 20 minutes late for the birthday party. I was able to talk my wife into going to Stricker’s Grove after the party.
We made it back to Stricker’s Grove around 5:45 and this time the same elderly woman taking money at the entrance was really nice to us, so I guess I just caught her at a bad time earlier. We got in the park and headed to Teddy Bear. This is a fun little wooden roller coaster but the best part was that it is an Ace Coaster Classic. The last time I had ridden an ACC coaster was before Lagoon had remodeled the White Roller Coaster trains. My son gave this ride 4 high fives out of five.
I then went to ride Tornado while my wife went to ride the helicopters with our son. (I guess she did ride some rides after all.)
Tornado: I got to ride the last seat on my first ride and it gave a great ride. Really nice floater air on the first drop. The rest of the ride I remember being a lot of fun but I will never forget the ejector air as you go through the double bunny hop towards the end. You go over the first bump and then the second one you just get launched into the seatbelt! It actually freaked me out. This coaster is a little gem in the middle of Ross, Ohio.
We spent the rest of the night riding their flat rides and enjoying the unique atmosphere of this fun little place. Also took my son on the Flyers here, but we don’t think they even compare to the Flyers at the Island. All in all for the size of the park I would never expect a ride like Tornado at this park. I loved it.
Thanks for reading…hope you liked it.
Doug
My wife just reminded me to add in that my son gave the little car ride at Stricker's Grove 5 high fives out of five. That little ride went pretty fast and you should have seen my son's face when it first took off! *** Edited 10/4/2004 3:56:40 AM UTC by S&SFAN***
I received my first Flyer snapping lessons that morning, and finally got it down by then end of the day (sorry someone was rude to you, maybe they were tired from waking up so early) after about 10 rides. When I was little, my mom always tried to make it as smooth as possible, so I have to overcome my childhood in order to snap!
I'm bummed that I didn't realize that Strickers Grove was open Saturday. Sounds like a neat place, maybe I'll get there next year. Glad you had a fun day.
I like to ride woodies.
Coaster ChickN said:
Bet your son bites into a pumpkin before the month is over - it may even turn him off those candies!quote]
Not a bad idea. Thanks.
Nice TR. It's cool you didn't neglect the Flying Eagles and gave them a ride. I have seen plenty of familes get in line then leave after they see snapping going on.
As far as the person ignoring you, I have no clue why as those that were at the event seemed to be very friendly. Granted I didn't speak with everyone, but I guess someone was just grumpy. I know there was one person that spent almost the entire day on the Eagles on Saturday and he doesn't speak much to anyone. Perhaps that was the guy?
-Sean
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