Kings Island - July 22/23 2022

Our summer of Cedar Fair parks continued this past weekend with 2 wonderful days inside Kings Island. We have hit Carowinds 2 days, Kings Island for a half day, Cedar Point 3 days, Michigan's Adventure 2 days, and now this.

We stayed at Camp Cedar, which is a wonderful place to stay. We hauled our camper and got a site on the end so it was a little more private than a lot of them are, but a great place with lots of amenities for sure.

Inside the park:

I have to start with The Beast. I have always loved this ride anyway, but since the re-track, I can't believe how much better it is. Friday crowds weren't bad early on, so we got back-to-back rides and did front row and back row. Then of course made it back at the end of the night for a night ride!!! On a side note, we ran into a legendary rider while in line. The dude had ridden The Beast 32,652 times (at that point)!

Orion and Diamondback: I got to ride both of these back in May, but now that I have ridden them both several times. I like Diamondback better. I really love the airtime you get and the overall ride experience. However, that first drop and the banked curves on Orion are both great. So, both rides fit into my top 15 of all time, but Diamondback makes the cut in the top 10 for sure whereas Orion falls just short.

Banshee and Mystic Timbers: 2 more rides that I didn't have much ride time on before now. Banshee is really fun, smooth, and seems like a long ride. All of us loved Mystic Timbers. I had forgotten how great it was. We were able to grab multiple rides on it as well, both in the front row and the back row and they give you 2 completely different ride experiences!

These 5 are easily the top 5 in the park, not sure many would argue there.

Invertigo, Stunt Coaster, The Bat, and FOF: I have a newfound love for these now that I'm riding them with my kids and it's their first time. I haven't ridden Invertigo in over a decade but rode it twice this weekend with the kids. Got the end seat the second time which is always a joy. My son absolutely loves Flight of Fear, so we got 2 rides on it as well. Stunt Coaster is fun, but never worth the wait for me... same with The Bat. But again, it's fun to see it through my kid's eyes as they experience their first time riding it. Side note... did they flip-flop the entrance and exit to The Bat sometime in the last 10 years or so... it really felt like I was walking up the exit to enter the ride.

Racer: I will end with The OG. The Racer is an absolute classic and is always worth a ride. Only one side was operating when we rode, so that was sad and they opened it up as soon as we got through, so we didn't get to race...

Now for a few non-coaster thoughts...

• I noticed that the stairs and loading station still looks to be intact where Son of Beast was... I found that interesting.
• When riding Windseeker, you can see behind the fence where Vortex was, if you ride late in the evening, you can watch them get the drones ready for the nighttime show.
• Speaking of nighttime shows... what a great one this was.
• My son and I attended a concert at the Timberwolf Theater on Friday night. Fun experience, but terrible bleacher seats for a concert.
• The Phantom Theater Encore was so much fun... a nice break from the heat of the day and great callbacks to the old Phantom Theater ride that I loved as a kid.

Overall, this was a great experience for our family. I loved spending 2 days at the park I went to so much as a kid. I loved sharing those memories with my kids as well as making new ones. I'm also 100% satisfied with what Cedar Fair is doing with it. Paramount almost ruined it for me, but it's back to being amazing again!!!

I'm with you on Diamondback. Orion is a good ride but I had more fun on Diamondback. I'm glad to hear that Beast is running great. On our last trip to KI we had to make a choice between Mystic Timbers and Beast since it was getting close to closing time. We chose Timbers, which I'm glad we did, but really would have loved a Beast ride too. Maybe next summer!

Both are good choices... I haven't done Mystic Timbers at night. How was that?

Unfortunately it wasn't in the dark. This was in 2020 when the park closed at 7 pm.

Mystic Timbers at night rivals Beast at night. Highly, highly recommended.

It owns the Beast at night. Absolute insanity.

But brief insanity. I would love for that ride to go on another 30 seconds. It’s got the energy.
The first year Winterfest returned to KI we rode Mystic Timbers after dark and in bitter, bitter cold. The night ride combined with icy wind against our faces certainly made for an unusual and unforgettable experience.
It was a bad cold snap, the park was practically deserted, and we wondered why they were even open. Then the next day we found out they were cancelling the rest of the weekend. That Mystic Timbers ride just may have been the most unique one ever.

Nice TR! I had my first night ride on Mystic Timbers this year and yeah, it’s bananas. Good stuff. I haven’t been on The Beast at night in quite a while, but it provides a different experience. Mystic Timbers is a white-knuckle romp through the woods; The Beast is a long journey deep into the forrest.

See... now I want to go back just to ride Mystic Timbers in the dark.

If I only had time for one single night ride would still take the Beast. Timbers certainly is one of the best night rides there is , but it's not as transformational as the Beast gets at night. The Beast honestly goes from kinda 'meh' during the day for me to 5 star at night. Something about the helix at night gets me every time. There is also some lights from the raft ride which hurts Timbers immersiveness at night a bit whereas the only light on Beast are on the lifts. I I think those lights are off though in the fall and there are night rides a plenty then.

I felt the same about Orion. The moments it had were great but it was just a tad to short. I feel it packs as much of if not more of a punch as the other 2 giga's I've ridden, but it lacked in the length/stamina department (that's what she said). It feels like if MF ended mid second tunnel (not mid timbers). It's only 10-12 seconds more but I think it would take away a lot form the ride.

Speaking of length, looking at the Cbuzz top 20 most of the rides are a minute plus from drop/launch to brake. There are a few RMC's which are the exception, but those tend to pack an extreme punch. Giga's are more about the rush and I feel Orion falls a little short.