Kings Island 6/8 and 6/9

My family, and I traveled about 5 hours to get Kings Island. I rank it as number 7 park out of 20 parks I've been to. I do think that Cedar Point is better at number 6 for me though. The weather was really hot, and humid.

For the first day, I didn't get there till like 4 hours before closing which was 10 at night. Darn eastern time. The other day, it was a whole day worth of rides except for eating at Big Boy which is just an awesome restaurant that I can't go to where I live. You have to try the Swiss Miss burger. Don't get the Big Boy burger because I did last time going to the Ohio State Fair, and it just tastes like a Big Mac at Mcdonald's. Ohio is like Big Boy capital of the world except by Cedar Point.

These are my ride reviews:
_____________________
Invertigo- This ride is just awesome. I think it's the best ride the park has. Me being a fan of Deja Vu, this ride is really good, and now my number 4 coaster. What I noticed the difference between this ride, and Deja Vu besides the obvious of lift heights is that the catchcar is on a lifthill chain, and they have some sort of brakes on the lifthills compared to Deja Vu which has nothing.

You can clearly see the brakes open, and close on at least the second tower. They are different brakes though unlike your typical roller coaster. They are on the outside near the track which again Deja Vu doesn't have. I was always toward the front of the train because it was less packed. I asked the employee if this ride breaks down a lot, and she said no.

The line was like 15-20 minutes. I couldn't get a reride on it even though it was the last hour. I think this ride more than any other ride is a social ride. You talk to people all the time on the other side. I haven't experienced all this talking on any other coaster like that.
__________________________

Firehawk- I think it's great, and I have ridden GL's X-Flight, so nothing to say about the ride experience except that it's a little rougher than the B&M ride. I like the B&M ride, but this ride was still great. The ride line was like an hour though. The line itself wasn't that long, but it broke down.

They were running 2 trains (one for each side). Than, they took one off after awhile because people were stuck on the other one, and than they just ran 1 train.
__________________________

Flight of Fear- This was the most disappointing ride in the park for me. To me, this ride should never be put indoors. The reason is because it's too intense of a ride to put indoors, and than you have the fact that you can't see where you are going.

It would have different if it was like Rock N Roller coaster because you know where you are going, but not this ride until like the very end. On top of that, they have a brake in the middle of the ride. You actually stop. That is just horrible.

Rcdb.com says that they had 4 trains on this ride. Are they nuts to have that many? Anyway, Joker's Jinx is so superior to this ride, but it's at Six Flags America when you have no idea if Two-Face, and the Alpine Bobs will be open. This rides line probably was 20 minutes. The area for the train is terrible. This is when theming ruins your ride. How is it terrible?

It's hard for the employees, and people to see where the seatbelt is for the car. They need white lights just on the train. Put spotlights just on the train to not ruin the other theming you have because it's slow as heck sending those trains.

What is with the double checking for certain rides at this park? I don't get that. They did it on Delirium, and this ride. Maybe, it's because they can't see on this ride. They also double checked on Chaos at Cedar Point.
_______________________

Backlot Stunt Coaster- This ride is another awesome Premier ride. Yes, it might not have the loops, but it goes fast, and it goes in the dark with some pops of air. To me, Premier has so many great rides. There isn't one Premier ride that I have been on that's been bad. I would say the ride was 10 minutes. I didn't go on it Sunday, but rather Monday.

For Flight of Fear, I won't count because Paramount messed that ride up. I really, really like Runaway Mountain, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Joker's Jinx, and Mr. Freeze. I hear people loving that Speed ride at Nascar. You can never have enough Premier coasters.
______________________

Advernture Express- The ride is really fast, and fun for a mine train. You are going very high in the air, and dropping. The Six Flags ones (SFOT, SFOG, SFStL) aren't that high up in the air. This ride doesn't have the big drop at the end of the ride though. Instead it has the boring scenery that's a lift hill.

I would compare it to the ending like Ninja at SFMM with stupid scenery. This ride has the Indiana Jones feeling to it. This ride was walk-on both days.
_______________________

Rugrats Runaway Reptar- It's just Swamp Thing at Cypress Gardens. It's fun though for being a kiddie ride. The wait was like 15 minutes.

___________________
Avatar (Disko Coaster)- The hill doesn't do much for me. I think it of it like Max Air sort of. It doesn't go up as high, but it's not that fast like a Scat carnival ride, or something. It's more like a Round Up spinning version, but it goes back and forth, and over a hill. It was like 15 minutes.
_______________________

Scooby-Doo (Dark Ride)- The rides scenery was awesome, but the ride just stunk because of the shooting. You can't see the stupid laser at least for my car on any of the targets. That was just so bad. Later in the day, it was like 5 minutes.
_____________________

Fairly Odd Coaster- This ride was pretty fun. I think I got bigger pops of air on this wooden coaster than any of the others. It's quite fun, and I would gladly go on it again. PTC rules!
_______________________

Racer- I did both sides, and I think red was the better side. The lapbars are really bad on this ride. It just staples you in there, and than you have seatbelts. You really have to try to get airtime on this ride. If it had better lapbars like Blue Streak, or any other PTC I can think of, it could have been really awesome. Rather, I consider it good because you have to try too hard to get airtime. This ride was a walk on.
______________________

Monster- These rides absolutlely stink. I can't get much spinning of anything on these at all. Go on the Eyerly Spider if you find at carnivals, and avoid this ride all the time.
_______________________

Beast- I think this is the worst, and roughest (wooden or steel) coaster I have ridden. I would say maybe 5 minutes wait. It also is in a bad location.
_________________________

Son of Beast- I thought this ride was going to be horribly rough, but it wasn't. It was just boring. It was like 5 minutes. It was broke down later I was hearing from people, and I didn't really care.
_______________________

Vortex- This is a really great Arrow coaster, but I didn't go on it much because I have one similar to it. It was like 10 minutes.
__________________________

Flight Deck- This ride is an Arrow suspended. I really wanted to go on this more than twice, but I just didn't have enough time. Time just flies when you are reriding rides. It didn't seem as jerky as Ninja at Magic Mountain, but it's really fast, and fun. I think Ninja is first, and than you have this ride. It was a walk-on.
________________________

Drop Tower- It's a drop tower, but I like that it spins like an observation tower.
________________________

Carousel- The carousel has moderate speed. Too bad I've only been able to find one really fast speed carousel, and that's at Kiddieland. It's a good ride to me, but it's not like Kiddieland's.
_______________________

To me, there were a lot of people at this park just doing nothing but walking. It was weird to me to see Racer, Flight Deck, and Adventure Express empty, but yet there are 5 million people just walking bye. The parking lot looked really crowded on Sunday. I thought all the rides were going to be 2 hours long, but they weren't. I was shocked. *** Edited 6/12/2008 4:01:52 PM UTC by Spinout***

Sounds like you got a ton of rides in a short time. Fun.

What about Beast's location don't you like?

And just think.....in a year from now you would have had a B&M hyper to tie everything together!!

I'm actually surprised you liked as many rides as you did given some of your park references (SFMM), but at least your waits weren't bad!

Btw, if you sit in the last car for Flight of Fear you barely get stopped at all on the MCBR.

IMO, I think FOF in the dark makes the ride a little more exciting, not knowing where you are going.

I think one of the best things about The Beast is its' location.

I guess I'm the only one who really likes the lift at the end of Adventure Express. I agree that it seems like there should be more after that, but it is a nice effort and you have to give credit for that....

I quite enjoy the end too. I see nothing wrong with putting the lift at the end of the ride. And those freaky, glowing-eyes, Indiana Jones, fist-pumping statues are pretty cool, you gotta admit.

Were you talking about the bars all along the lift spikes on Invertigo that snap open when the train engages the lift?

Those aren't brakes, that's part of the lifting mechanism. The only brakes on the ride are the valley brakes, one set between the loop and lift 2, and one set between the station and the cobra roll.

^Can you explain the bars more in detail? I think they are doing something to really help.

I thought the Beast was a hard ride to find. I went to the Eiffel Tower, than I went right, and you would go in the kiddie section, and than I was thinking I don't want to go in the kiddie section. I want to go to the Beast, and than I kept going.

I think that might have been a path before instead of going into the kiddie section, but that's where they are clearing land, and you have to detour to the kiddie section.

My favorite park is Six Flags Great America. However, if it wasn't for the waterpark, it wouldn't be my favorite. If the waterpark isn't included with admission, I would than count it as two separate parks. The rides I think that are great at Cedar Point are Mantis, Raptor, Chaos, Tilt-A-Whirl, Wicked Twister, Top Thrill Dragster, Gemini, and Blue Streak.

My favorite parks I base on how many great rides I really like because those are the rides I could literally ride for an hour. The second park is Dorney Park, but it's a park I'm less likely to go to than let's say Magic Mountain because that park has a lot of similar rides that Great America has, or I can find some of those rides at other places like carnivals (Revolution 32 is a less fast version of the KMG Fireball, and Tilt-A-Whirl.)

The only B&M hyper I've been on that I really like is Goliath at SFOG. I don't care for Raging Bull, and I haven't been on any other B&M hypers. *** Edited 6/12/2008 5:45:31 PM UTC by Spinout*** *** Edited 6/12/2008 5:46:49 PM UTC by Spinout***

Yeah, the path that goes straight from International Street to Rivertown is closed for the construction.

I'm not entirely sure what the bars on the lifts do, I think they engage the lifting clutch to the trains.

I kind of thought it had something to do with slowing the train down because when the train comes, they close, and than when it leaves, they open up. Or are they like a sensor? When the train comes, those things feel the train, and maybe they make the catchcar move to hit it on the right spot, and catch the train which makes a lot of sense.

I would love to talk to a mechanic to ask what those things are really for. I'm just fascinated from the regular boomerang, to this one (Invertigo), and than you have the GIB.

I understand why they couldn't use this system for the GIB. That is the chain lifthill. The problem is that it's a 90 degree drop on the GIB. The catchcar is much harder to hold onto the train at that angle. Just think about it. It's also 4 more people, and probably heavier trains between the two along with along with it feeling like more weight on the towers because it's that angle.

If these bars were to help slow the train down, they wouldn't have helped the GIB because it's too hard to hold to keep it in place on the GIB. If there were sensors, they should have used them.

Do they close the Invertigo on really windy, and almost anytime of rain even if it's just drizzling? Does the ride work good in really cold weather?

I know it's works in extreme heat without breaking down. That's about how much energy it takes to pull a train up the tower compared to the Invertigo.

There are two sides to the story with the GIB. One I hear is that it's timed, and the catchcars catch the train at a certain time. The other one is that it's about the sensors. You go why would it not work that good in rain, cold weather, or wind. For rain, the catchcar could get slippery, and than not catch the train.

For cold weather, it sticks to the train without letting go. For wind, it's kind of a unsolved mystery if it isn't timed. If the catchcar knows it's there, it shouldn't matter, but ironically it does, and I don't know why. As long as the train comes, it should go to the train if it's about the sensors.

Come to think of it, I didn't see any sensors for the Invertigo which again tells me that those bars are for helping the catchcar know the train is there, and to move.

---

Spinout said:

Backlot Stunt Coaster- This ride is another awesome Premier ride. Yes, it might not have the loops, but it goes fast, and it goes in the dark with some pops of air. To me, Premier has so many great rides. There isn't one Premier ride that I have been on that's been bad. I would say the ride was 10 minutes. I didn't go on it Sunday, but rather Monday.

For Flight of Fear, I won't count because Paramount messed that ride up. I really, really like Runaway Mountain, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Joker's Jinx, and Mr. Freeze. I hear people loving that Speed ride at Nascar. You can never have enough Premier coasters.

---

I agree, every Premier coaster I have been on is great, but the cost of fixing all the problems that come with Premier (ex. Batman and Robin the Chilller, and the Mr. Freezes) I think you can have enough, but I have to admit that Runaway Mountain is probably my second favorite ride at SFOT.

I was just so amazed about what Kings Island did, but I almost forgot to talk about it. In the coaster stations, they have lines that go back and forth (right to left). This is just so darn awesome. Too many times in the stations, the lines are really congested, and you can't move, but Parmamount was so darn smart to put in these lines. I'm not being sarcastic either.

Viper (SFGAm), Mr. Freeze (SFOT), Deja Vu (It's doesn't matter where.), V2, Top Thrill Dragster, and I can't think of anymore, but I say to keep the line rows in the station minimal, and have the lines go back and forth, or have a smaller station. I don't get the huge stations at these parks.

Stations should be just to load people. Maybe have 2 trains of people (Mr. Freeze should have about 4 people per row in line.), but don't have like 6 trains (This is instead of 12 people in line in the station.) of people in rows unless they want to sit in the front, and they have there separate line.

I think with Firehawk, they did the lines just like V2, Mr. Freeze, and so on without lines going back and forth. You get stopped because they have someone from goldpass, but imagine them getting rid of that person, or on low staffing days.

I guess this really bothers me because of Deja Vu, and Viper's stations. Deja Vu had have an extra employee for the station not to be a canned sardine. How much money could they have saved without this person? For Viper, it's the same thing. Invertigo is not the same ride, but it's station is so darn awesome that a person is not needed at all.

Yes, I understand that you have poles in the station for Deja Vu, but still you could have fit a back and forth line in the station, or just made it smaller. There is always a way to figure things out.