Quirkster

Cedar Point is my home park but this year I am much more eager to go Kings Island. Thinking about making the 3 and half hour drive on Monday and leaving Tuesday. Just asking on the weather front I know it will be brutally hot but the rain chances. For those who know the area is it right in likely these rain chances are just part of the heat/humidity and what could come up is going to be isolated and shouldn't last that long. Just want to sure before I make a drive and stay overnight. I wish I could have went earlier this week but it was good timing for me. Next Mon/Tue though are good days timing wise for me to go.

I could reduce my mileage to KI by 40-50 if I take rural roads but I rather stay on I-71 and backtrack West to where I live, it takes the same time. CP is about 50-55 minutes for me, 76-80 miles (hinges where I park there which is usually the water park lot most of the time). But anyways one last thing I wanted to say about my experience, when it was daylight, I made sure to soak the view at one point where I could see Orion, Vortex, and Diamondback all at the same time, something I will never be able to see again.

WinterFest at Kings Island is amazing, loved it my 2nd time around. The atmosphere is incredible. Snow Day Buffet was quite good, I enjoyed the bread quite a lot even with it not being warm. And of course going 12/17 where it was cold and still a snowpack around did enhance the atmosphere for me. Those Mystic Timbers rides, what a chilling memorable experience. If only I could go more often but 480 miles per trip is quite a lot for me and unfortunately I just do not see my home Park in Cedar Point ever getting WinterFest (as the GM their days himself, go to Kings Island).

I am sure it will be open tomorrow but I will be checking. I live in Northern Ohio closer to Cedar Point, this is about 3.5 hour+ drive for me. Tomorrow looks very clear 12PM and after, just cold though.

I ma thinking about going on Tuesday next week. It looks like there is a snow chance earlier in the day and the Temps looks to be pretty cold which doesn't bother me, I am just wondering will the event close or will Mystic Timbers not operate?

Two days with low crowds gave me several opportunities to ride the coasters multiple times, I rode all at least twice. I feel in a ranking mood so I'll rank the 12 (of course this is all my opinion, sorry if I'm not a fan of a coaster you love). I'll be comparing to some rides at times I rode the other Cedar Fair parks I've been to (my main Cedar Point and Carowinds). I have the rides separated into 5 Tiers, Tier 5 the worst and Tier 1 the best. Bottom two are quite clear to me as Tier 5 12. Invertigo - Uncomfortable seat, rough ride, really wasn't all too eager to give it a 2nd go. I rode one other boomerang, one at Carowinds, somehow I enjoyed that one more. 11. The Bat - Underwhelming, really feels too short. I certainly enjoy Iron Dragon more at Cedar Point, longer ride. There next three are tough to rank between but all are Tier 4 10. Adventure Express - I do like the theming of the ride, especially the last lift hill. Ride itself is nothing special. 9. Firehawk - Vekoma is just a weak maker. Pretty much the same to Nighthawk. I'm sure the other flying coaster Batwing I would think the same thing. 8. Vortex - A ride I'm sure that has shown some degradation over the years, I would have love to ridden this 30 years ago freshly made. It has a good design and maybe if I rode it more, I would get more used to the roughness (something I typically do as the year passes and I ride the ride more and more). But alas was not one of my more enjoyed rides during the 2 days there. Following two are Tier 3 7. The Racer - Pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this one, a fun woodie to ride. 6. Backlot Stunt Coaster - I know it's shared between other Cedar Fair Parks, I enjoy the theming, generally smooth ride, wish I could feel the flame on a cooler day. Next two are Tier 2 5. Flight of Fear - I like to hold up my hands a lot of rides, this one I most certainly hold on to the handlebar to avoid jostling around. And most certainly one of the most weird seat designs I have seen. But besides that, maybe because it's great to ride a dark ride again, love that aspect, I enjoy the instant start, and it is pretty fun to ride overall once I really got used to it. 4. Banshee - I really liked my first ride on this, subsequent ones, it just couldn't really quite hold up to the top 3. That said I enjoy a lot of the intensity the ride provides, the inline loop close to the end, I always love them especially on B&M rides. And to round the cream of the crop, the Tier 1 rides. 3. Mystic Timbers - Soooo wonderful to ride a new wooden coaster and just a great wooden ride overall too, certainly an aspect Cedar Point just fails in. The shed is a very clever way to distract the riders from stacking as the next train gets loaded in the station. The theming is absolutely wonderful here, best in the park. 2. The Beast - A must ride wooden coaster for any enthusiast. It is sorta too rough for me in the back but the front, the ride is truly something special. Going through all the trees, what an atmosphere. And the last part with the double helix, that intensity is just utterly insane. 1. Diamondback - Part of me feels this is such a boring #1 for me to pick, but it is such an amazing coaster experience that I thoroughly enjoy every time I ride it, again and again. The airtime is so robust and beautiful. I discovered on the 2nd day sitting in seats 3-6 the airtime has it's sweet uniqueness with the first 2 airtime hills, I feel out of my seat for a good 5 seconds with them. The back it's more intense and quicker at the beginning but I feel it throughout the whole ride. It's a fantastic ride no matter where I sit. I know Kings Island is big with wooden coaters and it's great to experience really fun wooden rides. Cedar Point lacks a good dark ride and could use a new wooden coaster, but I could say Kings Island could use a giga coaster. I've looked at some posts about Vortex here before. I would say this, when it comes time to go with something new, I would personally love to see a giga coaster take it's place (if it could be feasible there).

I can attest being at Mon/Tue here everyone is pretty much a walk on or just a few minutes all day. Besides Firehawk and Flight of Fear during midday, morning and evening they got short.

Well I dumbly lost my platinum pass, I think I put it in my unsecured pocket and lost it on Banshee. I bought it up to guest services and the lost and found but I am doubtful I could get it back before I had home. Thankfully my pass is saved to my Kings Island and Cedar Point app. Well I guess I learned a lesson cause I will probably have to pay for a replacement card when I get back to Cedar Point.

That's exactly where Iiked it on Diamondback, beautifully smooth airtime.

I was so concerned about rain, did nothing (though it looked borderline during the 1 o clock hour). I certainly was able to do everything in one day. I sorta see the tradeoff going this time of year more, I got to ride the rides a ton but no shows for me to just sit back and relax and enjoy. One more day, I am now hoping it sorta rains for a period so at least I'll get a break from the sun and I get ride to coasters as water rides. My skin being from the northern side of the state is not ready for this heat yet. I like Mystic Timbers, The Beast, Banshee, Backlot Stunt Coaster. Drop Tower. But to no surprise for me I like Diamondback the best.

Well I am at the park waiting for early entry!

I really am not sure with the weather. It looks indeed Monday/Tuesday it is the kind of weather where isolated PM showers could pop up, hopefully nothing long lasting. I hear Wednesday though it could be more scattered. I'd probably would go if I was set for Mon/Tue instead of Tue/Wed. I could change the hotel date, there are some definitely rooms still available.

Anyways I'm definitely reconsidering with the comments. I must note though this is going to probably be my only time this year going to Kings Island (besides maybe Winterfest which only one coaster in running). I only went to Carowinds once last year and it was a rainy day, riding some of those rides like Afterburn felt like a total water ride (plus it was in the 60s, not exactly a warm rain). Granted here if it does rain it will be in the 80s so it definitely shouldn't be cold. As long as there are dry periods cause I want to ride Banshee and others dry at least once.

I'll watch the local forecasts more closely tomorrow, obviously lightning I will look out for. They've been so focused on Mother's Day but they should finally be focusing on the weekdays tomorrow.

Unfortunately it looks like I probably will be canceling my hotel booking for Tuesday into Wednesday, weather pattern just is looking way too unstable right now and I am seeing chances of t storms everyday. Hopefully it settles next week.