Rivertown Rider

I feel like ride ops have been in top form on most of the rides I've been on this year. I appreciate their efficiency. I would also say that food service was quicker for me this past weekend compared to opening weekend.

I rode King Cobra once and never had a desire to do it again.

I rode both sides of The Racer today. It was running good on its birthday. Happy 45th Kings Island.

Especially when it is pouring.

I don't really remember the Keggers but why were they taken out? Were they not that popular or it was it maintenance related. I would love to see Oktoberfest get more flats though.

I think the overhype came as much from fans and enthusiasts as it did the park. I think the marketing was smart in that it got people interested in talking about a coaster that didn't break any records. If you remember when the first povs came out many people were talking about how the ride didn't look that exciting but they wanted to know what was in the shed. The marketing worked and we got an exceptional ride.

An approximately 11 year old kid behind me in the MT line on Sunday was telling his father that MT was about on the same level as AE. Even the dad corrected him and said that it was better than AE.

The music was a nice welcome change. It adds to the whole ambiance of International Street.

I guess I was the other one.

This is true.

It does take several trips to get a good idea for what the whole story is. I feel like I saw something different I hadn't noticed before each time I rode it.

I think it is hard to compare the two. They are both wooden coasters but that is about all they have in common. I think Beast is still probably a better night ride, but Mystic Timbers is a close second.

After having the night to ponder more detailed thoughts, the park has an incredible addition with this coaster. As of right now, it is in my top two in the park after The Beast and it may eventually rise to the top. This ride does not stop after it leaves the lift hill. Using the speakers on the lift hill to enhance the theme was great. The first time I rode it, I had my lanyard on top of my shirt and almost lost it right after the first lift. Luckily, I did not and tucked it under my shirt on future rides. I had high hopes for this coaster and it exceeded them. It is nice to have an air time machine at KI. It is one of those rides that you ride and then you want to get right back in line and ride it again. As far as the shed, the first time I wasn't quite sure what happened but it grew on me over time. As others have said it is much better than sitting on a brake run waiting. If you have high hopes of what the shed might be, just accept it for what it is. I think what is in there helps with the re-ridability of it though. The theming with the truck, queue, station, lift hill, and shed are all well done. Hopefully this is something that the park continues. Whoever had the idea to use the classic Bat commercial audio during the truck's loop gets a shout out from me. That was ingenious. I would say this ride is a cross between Thunderhead and Lightning Rod with a little bit of Jack Rabbit from Kennywood thrown in. When the announcement was made a lot of comparisons were made to Racer and Beast, but this is completely different from either of those coasters. As someone who loves all three coasters, this was a great addition. It was a great coaster during daylight and even better at night. I wouldn't argue if anybody has this as their best coaster in the park. There are a lot of reasons this coaster is getting rave reviews, it is certainly well deserving of that mantle. I'm in the Mystic Timbers shirt.

It was an amazing ride. I got 10 rides in this evening. It really doesn't stop after the lift. Kings Island has a winner on their hands.

It looks like the webcam shows the shed looking like the video above, so it looks like the map is just inaccurate.

I would love to see the buffet brought back to wear RHOFG is now. I think you're right, if they just said it will cost a few extra dollars I think most people would be fine with it.

If you look at the new map on the new and improved website, it lets you zoom in around MT. It is neat to see where WWC crosses. The only thing and it may be nothing is the shed back to the station looks different than the Shed outside view that they had released initially as in there is open area between different parts of the shed.

I'm glad to see the webcams back up and running. Unfortunately I was too late tonight to see it in daylight, but there's always tomorrow.

If it is as good as Thunderhead it is easily in my top three in the park after Beast and Banshee. I have hopes that it will even be better so it could be number one.

I would like to see a Eurofighter but I could see it fitting in better in X-base or Action Zone.

Thanks to everybody who provided the reports. It is nice to hear that Mr. Hart has a good and realistic view of the park's challenges.

When you're hoping the weather is as nice in two weeks as it was today.

I'm looking forward to riding it in a couple weeks. It is hard to believe that opening is almost here. As a big fan of Thunderhead, I have high hopes for Mystic Timbers even though they have some different elements.

The sad part about the removal of a ride like Les Taxis or KCKC is that they aren't rides that move ticket sales or merchandise but they are rides that really help the overall park. Current rides like Scrambler, Monster, Dodgems, Zephyr, and Shake, Rattle, and Roll fall into that same realm. The benefits of rides like Les Taxis and KCKC are that they helped with capacity. It is a shame with a park that has as much land as Kings Island has that they made some of the decisions that they did. I really enjoy BLSC but it would have fit in better in Action Zone. TRTR was a great ride as well but would have fit in better in Action Zone as well. Paramount made two short sighted moves and now you have a low-capacity, fun coaster that sticks out in the wrong area of the park and you have an empty box where a fun water ride that fit the area used to be (admittedly because of licensing issues with TRTR). Paramount didn't understand the popularity and goodwill that attractions that Les Taxis and KCKC and Phantom Theater and The Eagles had. Hopefully in the future years of expansion that CF (and by extension KI) looks at ways to bring more flats to the park including bringing the 'Tiques back. It always amazes me the line that BBoBH gets but there are only a couple attractions that families can do together (not everyone is going to do coaster and wild flats) and by taking out Les Taxis they lost that.

This is a really fun look back on KI in yesteryear.