KI, Ohio State Fair & CP 7/28-7/30

Heading back to Chi-town from a road trip down south and couldn't resist a 3-day detour through my favorite coaster state...Ohio!

Getting old here and can't marathon the rides/stand long lines anymore so don't be discouraged by my pitiful ride counts here. Besides, I've ridden every ride at KI and CP dozens of times already over the past six years.

King's Island was clean and beautiful as always. Was there for the chain drop and headed to DB. Loved it more than last year. Didn't seem any rougher to me. Nice ride. 5 min wait. Love this coaster! Headed to Crypt for a walk on. Wasn't surprised that the effects are completely gone...nothing. I should have known Cedar Fair would ruin this one as it was heavy on effects, lighting, etc. Even w/o the "Tomb Raider" theme they could have kept up the water and lighting. Totally nothing left. Just another Top Spin in the dark. Shame. Did Adventure Express since it was a walk-on and really loved my second ride on this oldie. MUCH better than MR at CP. I didn't remember it being so fast! Love those guys at the end. Did Flight Deck after a short wait for puke clean up-who pukes on this??? Was so hot by then we decided to hit the Bay (one of my favorite water parks) and was not disappointed. Got there early enough that some slides were still a walk-on. That didn't last long though. Still got in my fav (Aussie Twister) and had a great afternoon at BBay. Took the train and left the park around 5pm to go to Tri-County Mall (I am getting old). But the mall has a Dillard's (best department store) and there is not one anywhere near Chicago.

Decided Thursday morning to sacrifice rides on FoF and Beast at KI and head right to Columbus to hit up the Ohio State Fair. WOW! This has got to be one of the biggest state fairs in the country! I had no idea. Got there at 10:30am and was astounded by the vast number of cars in the lots. Yet it didn't seem that crowded once inside the fair. Got a $22 ride wristband, but didn't really need it after all. Got my double Ferris wheel fix! Love those things, did the two mouse coasters, the big swings like they have at IB and SFSTL (which scared the crap out of me because they say no one over 175 pounds and I'm 220 but stupidly did it anyway but got nervous about it right after the ride started and had visions of my chain breaking, sending me flying out over the midway to a certain death:). After calming down from the swing of terror, I rode some crazy contraption I've never seen before, looked like a propeller that spun around, seats flipped, and the whole thing rotated...almost killed me. Was so freaked after riding that thing I couldn't even do the Zipper or the Fireball. We had some food, and headed to Sandusky after about 3 hours at the HUGE and fantastic Ohio State fair.

Drive to Sandusky was nice along Hwy 4 through the cute little towns in the corn. Very relaxing. Arrived at CP around 5:30. I knew it would be busy but was busier than I expected for a Thursday. We didn't care we only wanted to ride STR and were prepared to wait for that...haha yeah right. Have not been keeping up here on Buzz and had no idea this ride is yet another lemon for it's opening year. It was actually running when we went by w/an hour wait, but we stupidly did not get in line as we had no clue of the ongoing downtime issues. We decided to come back to it later. Park was so crowded and we didn't want to wait in long lines. We did wait about 20 minutes for ID and went to the arcade. Very disappointed in the arcade. Most of the change machines were not working along with most of the vintage pinball machines which I love. The few that were "working" took my money and did nothing or the flippers were dead. Big bummer. I know those ancient things need alot of TLC but if you can't/won't maintain them...find them better homes CP! Still we enjoyed strolling about the park for the rest of the evening. The Starlight lights seemed haphazzardly hung up this year and STR never did reopen though they constantly cycled it and sent boats w/employees periodically with seemingly no problems. Shoulda got in that line earlier. That's what I get for not reading CBuzz before my trip! Did the Thirsty Pony for dinner for the first time. Can't believe I never tried it before. The lobster bisque is freakishly good as was the service!

Knew Friday would be super busy, so made sure to get there early for ERT. Managed a Maverick ride w/a 10 min wait. By the time we got to Millie at 10:30ish, line was already at least 45min so Did ID again and went to line up for STR. Which never opened. Constant cycling, tons of park brass taking video and pics of the second drop which is obviously the issue. Several boats of employee test riders one which may have held Dick himself, not sure. Still never opened. Did SH a few times w/o having to get off, then SRF and TC. Waited more for STR but had to leave. Least rides ever on a CP trip, but sill of course had a nice time. Impossible not to. Ride on people!