Kings Island: Finally Returned

As I am preparing for another summer out at Yellowstone National Park, I had to get in a few kicks at some local amusement parks. I have a good summer of park riding out west planned, but for the time being I have Kings Island (done), Waldameer (tomorrow), Cedar Point, Dollywood, and Frontier City planned in the next few weeks.

Now onto the report:

Arrived at the park around 1pm, weather was looking a bit dismal with some thunder in the area, as well as heavy rain. My brother and I decided to take a chance on coming down to the park even though the weather was looking none too good. Glad we did, however. The park was the same from I remember save for the name changes and a few additions/subtractions to the ride map. I had a bit of a coaster blunder as I drove down to the park last weekend thinking it was open on sunday. My brother bought the tickets as a bit of a surprise/going away gift.

Anyhow after being upset at the park and other things for a while, I decided to go back down. The first thing which caught my attention once we were heading inside was the fact they had a mentally disabled person working the admissions at front gate. This was a suprise because when working admissions at Cedar Point, we had people with disabilities, but you didn't have much face to face contact, they were either sweeps, or put in some out of the scenes place, I give Kings Island MAJOR props for having that person right at the front battle lines.

We walked around for a little while waiting for the rides to re-open as the thundercell had just began to pass and break up. First thing we rode was the Boo Blasters. Now mind you it's been so long I've been in the park, I forgot most of the old names.

Boo Blasters: 7/10 (fun and was able to stay dry)
This wasa great escape from the rain, and was a few car wait. A nice little shooting ride, cool theming and good elements. My main complaint with Boo was that it seemed the sensors were a bit off/not working the greatest. A fun family ride. Not worth waiting for long periods of time though, in my opinion.

Shortly after we got off Boo, and visited the Snoopy Boutique, Diamondback, my prime reason for driving down had been running to re=open.

Diamondback (multiple rides including a re-ride) 10/10
This coaster is AMAZING. I don't necessarily care for chain lifts on coasters, however the chain lift is smoothing and you can barely tell the difference between the cable lift on Millennium Force and this chain lift. Decided for my Diamondback cherry to be popped I had to ride in the back of the train. It was a very light rain, and not quite as bad as riding Millennium in a downpour. Yes I am comparing this to Millennium for the fact they are very similar in my opinion. I do know one (Millie) is an Intamin and DB is a B &M. I loved the stadium style seating, and that no matter where you sat you could see. Big props for that. Second ride was the front seat, and it felt like ice going into my face with a light rain and 80 MPH speeds. Smooth, fast, and TONS of floater time. I was out of my seat more than I was in on this coaster. Was a 1 train wait for the front, and walk on for the back. Also went later in the day and took 4 laps at night. Could have easliy just rode this coaster all day. Moved up to my favorite steel coaster, knocking down Maverick, Millie, and Magnum.

Spent a lot of the day trying to figure out which restaraunts accepted the Dining Plan. The said it was marked online and had a list in guest services, but I feel it should have been printed on the tickets as well.

#2 amazing guest service act. I am HIGLY allergic to the re-entry stamp ink. I explained this to Mary in guest services, and she walked with my brother and I to the re-entry point, explained our situation, and we had our tickets stamped rather than our arms. Accepted as re-entry into the park, and with her personally ensuring we were taken care of I feel she went above and beyond the call of duty.

After we dropped off our Diamondback photos in the car, we headed towards the stunt zone area of the park. We zigzaged around the park all day, I'll skip some of the boring walking bits, as there was nothing interesting except for avoiding rain, and trying to find the restaraunts.

We paid for lunch at Reds Diner, which $20 for 2 people isn't very bad at all. Fried Pickle Chips, water, and 12 bonless wings. Not bad food at all, heard opening weekend this place had some bad reviews. I don't see how or why, great guest service here, friendly staff, and very clean.

Adventure Express: 8/10 was a bit jerky for my taste.
Adventure Express has a pitiful attempt at theming, but does have themed elements nonetheless. I like the lift hill at the end, but feel there should be more to the coaster after that part. Was fun, but a bit on the rough side, and my head hurt after riding. They were doing re-rides it was so slow.

Racer: 7/10
Was very rough compared to last time I remember riding. And I rememeber this used to run backwards at one point in time... Either way still a coaster, just a little on the bumpy side. Tried finding some flat rides to calm down after the ride.

Dodgems were closed all day (bummer) due to a lovely leaky roof and wet floor. As the day went on the clouds began to clear, and rain stopped, even some sun shone through.

Dinosaurs Alive + 3-D Movie.
I almost forgot I was still in an amusement park hiking through the Dino trail. Some of those creatures were huge! The 3-D movie was also worth the 2 extra bucks, it was educational and life like. I feel this would be a very education trip for people, and worth the $5....although some of the other Dinosaurs Alive I've heard aren't very good. I enjoyed this stroll and the anamatronics.

Flight of Fear 8/10 20 minute wait.
I nearly forgot this went upside down. The lack of over the shoulder restraints threw me off for a few seconds, but once the train launched and looped I rememeber. Hahaha. Was fun, but I was very dizzy after riding, disoriented. Nice to get out of the rain here too.

Flight Deck 9/10 walk on with a reride.
I compared this to Iron Dragon, which hands down is no contest. From the lift hill, to the stopping elements, Flight Deck is the clear winner. This coaster pulled some great g forces going into the last turns and was running pretty fast for an arrow suspended. Normally on Iron Dragon when the coaster stops, I get my head banged around pretty badly, not here though.

We walked through a few shops, found the LaRossa Pizza took the dining plan, and enjoyed the chicken tender platter with a 20oz drink.

Found out the fireworks show was going to be occuring, so decided to stay til park close. Re-rode Diamondback 4 more times, 6 rides total.

Went on Woodstock Express, which reminds me of Comet at Waldameer, and did Boo Blasters a final time.

Woodstock Express 9.5/10
Nice little woodie, some airtime elements. The cars were a bit small, but it seems it's more of someone with a child to ride, not two full grown adults. Fun, could have re-rode if I had time.


Overall Rating of the trip: 98/100
Guest Service was above and beyond.
Food was great, but lack of information on the dining plan needs to be altered.
Lines were short, and weather ended up not being horrible.
Want to go again for sure.

P.S. If I ever find my camera cord, I'll be adding some photos.

Gah! Bold make reading unpossible.

You said some bold things in your trip report.

Sorry I didn't realize the text box kept my bold lettering the whole thing. Kept hitting ctrl+b. but guess I was just too invloved in writing. Hopefully you enjoy now.

I liked your tr, though

Maybe I read this too fast, but did you mention what day you went? Was it Sunday?

Nice TR. Thanks for sharing.

I enjoyed the use of the term "cherry popping."

I haven't gave much info in my two posts about this tr, so here's 3 commets/questions I have about it:

~did you ride the Beast?

~when I rode Flight Deck last year, I got insane air time on the first drop. Did you get the same air time?

~Diamondback must be running better this year because 2012 it had weak air time. 2011 it was great, but maybe it's back to that.

2012 was a great year for Diamondback, although every ride I've taken on it since 2009 has been great. Not sure where you missed the airtime. I'm very happy to hear such a great trip report from one of my favorite parks. I definitely miss not working there this year, but we all must eventually grow up and get a big boy job, and that's what I've done.

I went Sunday, yes.

I did ride the beast, but it was very mediocre, they had the trim brakes on the entire ride...no real speed until the second lift and going through the tunnels. Was a pretty big let down for me.

Flight Deck there was no notable airtime, but the speed and g's it was pulling through the turns were fantastic.

I was comparing Diamondback to Millennium and Magnum, and to me it was like someone had magically combined the two into a fantastic coaster. :)

Really? No air time? That's weird. I thought there was a ton of air time on Flight Deck's first drop.

I don't have any noteworthy recollection of airtime on the first drop of Flight Deck, but I rode in the front last year, so I wouldn't have expected much air. All I remember was an epic g-fest that made me pray Flight Deck (and, as I would later discover, its equally awesome Canadian clone Vortex) sticks around for a very long time.

Now I had ridden it before back in 2005, but I don't remember where I sat, so I don't remember the airtime either.

I never really felt what I would call "airtime" on Flight Deck, but the first drop does have a belly-tickle sense of falling to it, in my opinion.

Ride in the back, and make the restraint not very tight. You will feel an intense amount of g's, both lateral and vertical, both negative and positive. I think our differentiation came from me riding in the back.

We talked about you yesterday, Tyler, when we rode Flight Deck 4 or 5 times in a row. Every one of those, for me, was in the front seat of the last car (always been my fave seat on the ride) and Jeph joined me there for two of those rides and Mike Roberts for two. We agreed there is absolutely no insane air time on the first drop. Really, like none. You must be awfully tiny or something, to get any lift there.

Now the high turn over the station leads to a great "floater" type drop that ends in the slamming positive-g zig zags and turns that the ride is noted for. Funny, Flight Deck is one of those rides I usually think I can toss away as a "been there done that" meh kind of experience, but every time I get on it I'm glad I made the long walk back. It's a really great ride, but certainly not on account of negative G's or air time.

I'm extremely skinny. I weigh about 100 LB's and am 5 foot 6. Last summer I was 80 LB's and buffed up a bit because I started doing weight lifting. I hope the Flight Deck restraints are still as loose on me. Magnum's weren't as loose on me this year and I didn't get as much air on that. It probably was my skinniness that provided air on Flight Deck.

You got to give Beast a second chance. I rode it this past Sunday around 11am and got one of the best rides that I can remember having on it. It just hauled through the brake shed. Rode it again around 1, and got the boring ride that you spoke of.

Checked out the old SoB area from the observation tower, but couldn't really see any new developements.

Overall great day at Kings Island, got a ride on all the major coasters in the first hour and had some great weather.

Tyler, are you sure you're confusing Flight Deck's first drop with Vortex? The air in the back car of that Arrow looper is crazy, but there is definitely no air time on the drop of Flight Deck regardless of where you sit.

Both give me air, actually.

I guess I was just upset Beast had the trims on and was getting braked like crazy. I love the Beast though don't get me wrong, very few woodies I won't ride.