Kings Island & Cedar Point - Fri-Mon, May 24-27, 2019

Hey y’all! Been a hwhile since I’ve written a TR here, forgive the "not exactly breaking news" observations ha. Been through some life changes, mainly I moved out from the DC area to SoCal. Anyway, took the extended weekend to get back to Ohio!

Kings Island

Excited to get back here! Flew into Columbus and made the short drive south, got into the park early evening. Warmed up with Banshee — still a damned good invert — and soon made my way to Mystic Timbers. Between the queue next to the log flume and the layout weaving around the rapids ride, they fit it in well. The ride itself is excellent! Not super long but action packed. The curved drop is great. With strong moments of both airtime and laterals this reminded me of Prowler at Worlds of Fun, which I’m a big fan of. Enjoyed this about as much. Closed out with, what else?, The Beast. The GP gets amped for it, it’s freaking dark, it’s just fun as hell.

The next morning I mostly stumbled around and did whatever. Scattered thoughts....

• It got decently hot. Mid 80s. Lots of announcements to stay hydrated and free water is available.
• Flight of Fear is running great. Not rough, monitors in the queue and the ambient noise & lighting in the spaghetti bowl all working.
• The opening helix on Backlot gave me a (quite mild but still) greyout. Huh.
• Diamondback isn’t bad at all, but there’s more than a couple B&M hypers I enjoy more.
• What’s with the blue ice cream everywhere? Did I miss out? I wasn’t hungry enough to try.
• Can’t skip the Eiffel Tower, it’s such a great view here from all sides.
• Amusing: I think these phones have been in this box since 2009....

Cedar Point

Left Mason early afternoon for Sandusky. Between Saturday evening, Sunday, and Monday morning, was just enough time considering I visit every year. And by chance they’d added passholder ERT both nights I was there.

It’s the little touch-ups that make me smile. Magnum sure got some love for its 30th! Embracing that 80's vibe! 80's station music. Tunnel lights. Fog! (sometimes) Lap bar padding! As if I didn’t enjoy this ride enough already....Railroad crossing bells on Maverick!....Even Mine Ride got some new details for its 50th. Forbidden Frontier had also just opened this weekend. The interactive storytelling of stuff like this or Ghost Town Alive (Knott's) isn't quite my cup of tea, but refreshing seeing the park broaden with additions like this. And the landscaping on the island is well done. They reused parts of Shoot the Rapids (like the waterfalls), lots of nice seating in the large playground area. Hammocks! Hank Scorpio would approve.

• Valravn, eh. The view’s great and the last inversion is cool, but overall doesn’t do much for me. Skipped it this time.
• Didn’t eat there, but Witches’ Wheel’s footprint was that big? Wow. Backseat BBQ is larger than I thought it'd be.
• Got a new favorite row on Wicked Twister: 14! Looking straight down at the beach going back, looking straight at the support zooming by going forward.
• There’s a couple good B&M standups. Mantis was not one of those. So the Rougarou conversion is welcomed, now it’s another decently rideable coaster in CP’s already deep lineup.
• Sad to say the horses on Cedar Downs don’t go back and forth anymore, only up and down. There’s red flaps that I guess keep them in place now. That's a bummer.

• The garlic parmesan fries by Gemini are my one must-eat item at CP. Yumm.
• I love these signs (shop by Dragster's exit). Peppered with easter eggs, $20 each but good quality metal signs. The cashier said other CF parks were selling these, I'll have to look!

Oh, right. Steel Vengeance. What deranged people designed this thing!? That's a compliment. What more to say? Utterly relentless, there's barely a chance to catch your breath, but the intensity for me hits just under "that's too much." Mean Streak’s structure was gorgeous and I’m so glad they kept it. Weaving through all that wood in the second half is insane. My favorite part might be the little side stall after the last inversion. Super cute. But it’s all awesome. Lucked out with the Sunday ERT, lighter crowds after some rains early Sunday evening (was spotty with rain all day). About 15 minutes between rides, 2 trains running. I was freaking exhausted by the end, but worth it. Needless to say I chose sleep over early entry the next day!

Overall it was a fun weekend, and got me totally pumped for my next big summer trip!

I love the signs... I need some of those.

You know, I thought it was really special late 1999 when I got to be on the island under Millennium Force track on various tours. That's so not a special thing anymore.

I think the Cedar Downs thing is something else and hopefully temporary. A season or so ago there was work done on the ride and the back and forth motion was preserved. (Side note- Playland finally restored the mechanism on theirs) Cedar Point knows what they have there and I can’t imagine them letting that go.

Anyway, the red rubber things don’t hold the the horses in place- they were there last year when the thing was running as usual. I assume it’s merely a safety feature/warning to keep guests from accidentally putting their foot down there. Which I guess has happened on a daily basis since what, 1917? So it’s high time, right? (sigh....)

It got decently hot. Mid 80s. Lots of announcements to stay hydrated and free water is available

That's interesting. A lot of parks could use that. Sometimes even water fountains are scarce to find. Nice Trip Report! Those signs are cool, too. "Skid Brakes Lubricant" - love it! Hoping to get there this year for the first time.

In my experience, parks offer free water when you ask. Typically in a smaller cup, but you can take multiple if you want.

I can assure that the Cedar Downs horses are back to form.

I won my race yesterday. :)

Yeah, offering water isn’t surprising but having it announced so often was.

And happy about Cedar Downs! Don’t remember seeing those red flaps last year, but def could have missed them. Blackpool though, theirs were locked in place when I visited last year.