King's Island 6-26-10

Every year, my husband and I invite some readers of our goofy web comic, some friends, and occasionally some family out to a different amusement park. We've done SFGaM and Cedar Point in previous years. This time, we opted for King's Island, mostly because this year a lot of Cinci locals wanted to join in the fun, and no one felt like driving to Santa Claus as I suggested ;). Boo. Well, that and the call of Graeter's Ice Cream is too much for me to avoid. Seriously, I would make the four hour drive to Cinci from Detroit JUST for that.

We had 16 people in our group, some from Minnesota, some from Canada, some from Wisconsin and Illinois, and admittedly, a good chunk of them didn't really want to ride anything and were just there for the fun of hanging out with people. Which was still awesome. We also had some folks that just weren't coaster people, who all thought I was completely out of my mind all day. Scheduling became a bit of an issue, and not everyone agreed on what to do, so as usual we eventually split into 3 groups. I won't bore you with the details. Let's just say I was the only idiot that was coaster crazy and everyone else wanted to watch Sponge Bob 3-D or go hang in the water park. I blame some of that on the heat; it was CRAZY hot and humid all day long, and while the threat of rain seemed to increase later in the afternoon, none came (much to my dismay).

A few highlights:

• The former Nickelodeon kid's area looks fairly nice with the Peanuts gang re-do. Admittedly I had a lot more fun wandering around in there with the Nick stuff, but overall the section of the park still looks good. I think KI has one of the best kids areas I've ever seen. TONS to do...and the blueberry soft serve is awesome. You have to try it if you aren't planning a Graeter's run later in your day. (can we tell I love ice cream?)
• I still have not ridden Diamondback, and I have decided that I need need NEED to get back to the park later in the year with just my hubby so we can say to hell with groups of people who don't want to wait in lines. I saw a 30 minute wait at one point and BEGGED the gang following me around to just get in the line, but no one wanted to. I think the heat was making them crabby-riffic. Honestly I am pissed that I missed yet another chance to ride this thing. I am going to do my best to give it one more shot this year.
• Flight of Fear is way too much fun. Yeah, I know, it's one of those coasters that makes some people all eye-rolly, but I really think it's a blast. That and riding it with someone who rarely does coasters and then trying not to giggle when they freak out during a slow-down mid-way through the ride at the trims was too fun. I will admit I took a bit of pleasure in freaking people out all day. bwahaha. ;P
• Is it wrong that I enjoyed the Boo-blasters dark ride? I managed to get on this one with my best bud, and since there were two of us, I grabbed two guns and tried to pummel her into the ground with my mighty score...and totally lost. I still haven't lived it down. ;)
• I love The Beast, even if it doesn't love me back. I have what I have dubbed my "beast bite", a small bruise behind my left arm on my ribs where I pretty much get slammed every time I ride. I still adore this coaster and it's #2 behind Voyage on my wood coaster list.

I do enjoy KI. I think the scenery is just awesome, the park is mostly kept clean, and there is a lot of variety. We even caught a show during lunch called "too much tv" where they just sang theme songs from shows. We all hated it at first but by the end, everyone in my group was either singing along or quoting Family Guy in reference to show themes. Honestly it was a really great day at the park, I got to ride a few of my favorite rides, and I scared the living crap out of two of my friends making them ride The Beast not once, but twice. The speed freaked them out. I do love that coaster.

Now if only they'd just get rid of that giant wooden eyesore in the park and build something GOOD there...

Good trip report. I am right there with you about the Beast. It is my second favorite wooden coaster behind Voyage. You should have just told the group I am riding Diamondback wether you all like it or not! It is such an awesome ride. Even if the line was 30 minutes it moves so fast with a 3 train operation and they have a single rider line that is hit or miss with waits. Glad you had a good time being the only enthusiast in the group.

I actually wanted to, but seeing as I was the only 'in charge' person there for the group at the time, it would have been a crappy thing to do. Trust me, I was irked. My husband was as well, as he ended up having to do the same thing and take some of them to the waterpark side. We've resolved to go back in the fall when no one is there and get some ride time on the things we missed out on. =)

Not to go a little off topic, but what's your goofy webcomic? I tend to enjoy goofy webcomics :)

BBSpeed26 said:
Not to go a little off topic, but what's your goofy webcomic? I tend to enjoy goofy webcomics :)

It's called Otaku -no- Yen (geeks without money). It's in the anime-style so it's kind of a niche thing, but we have fun with it. =) It's the primary reason my husband and I don't get around to more parks during the year. We have to use most of our time off traveling to conventions and the like. =) it's at http://www.otakunoyen.com ^_^

I got to King's Island for the first time this summer right before HWN. I was pretty impressed overall by the park, but none of the coasters totally blew me away. Diamondback was very good, but I didn't think it was significantly better or worse than Goliath oG. In other words, definitely ride it when you get the chance, but not a once in a lifetime kind of coaster.

The coaster that impressed me most was actually the Racer. I caught it first thing in the morning in front and got a smooth ride with great air. I was very impressed.

ApolloAndy said:
I got to King's Island for the first time this summer right before HWN. I was pretty impressed overall by the park, but none of the coasters totally blew me away. Diamondback was very good, but I didn't think it was significantly better or worse than Goliath oG. In other words, definitely ride it when you get the chance, but not a once in a lifetime kind of coaster.

The coaster that impressed me most was actually the Racer. I caught it first thing in the morning in front and got a smooth ride with great air. I was very impressed.

I think the whole appeal of KI is that there is a decent variety of different kinds of coasters. I agree, none of them (with the exception of the Beast) are anything to write home about. But the park has a great overall feel and selection. =)

Racer is a lot of fun, I agree! I think our plan is to get back down there for a weekend in September if we can.