touchdown62

RACER WALK BACK!!! Another new experience for me. Never seen Racer like this before... Red train in the lead! Red still in the lead. I'm noticing a trend here. Blue may actually have a chance here. This is hardly fair. Poor Blue train. I think this thing is rigged! More pics from The Racer tour: This is why you don't bring an ambulance to a paintball fight. Coffins getting freaky with it???? Going up? What goes up must come DOWN!!! Now it's time for more camera play... Let's get NEGATIVE! I thought this was too cool in Negative: Gratuitous shot of the King of The Racer himself, and the man who made this all possible. THANKS DON!!! 8 coasters, 1 train ride, and a Racer tour. We're STARVING!!! We headed to Outer Hanks, where the employees still greet you as you walk in the door. Our first trip there since the name change. We were pleased to see the portions were still the same size as before. I think the fish is a little different than before, but still very tasty. Probably one of the best values for your nickel in the park. It was Mother's Day, so it was time to call our mommies. While doing so, I caught something very cool: Hatched goose eggs on the old Sky Ride pier footer, under the rowboat. Uh oh, they look hungry. We felt bad. We didn't have anything for them. Maybe that guy down there has some food. Since Adventure Express was right there, we went for it. Maybe it's just me, but that ride seems to be getting faster and faster. This ride was the closest to a "5" rating I've ever had. Animatronics still aren't working. Gotta beat the air drums for them. More wandering about, and more pics... I've never actually taken this pic before, so gotta play a bit... Note to self... be careful of shadows when playing in negative mode. Geez that thing's tall. Pretty horsey I rode on the Grand Carousel. Got most of it, from area of Grand Carousel Naturally, had to play with camera again... My camera phone has a panoramic setting. Thus far, I've had trouble making it work, but I think this came out FANTASTIC!!! OK, enough sightseeing. Time for...

Ok, after a long, strange week, coupled with some unfortunate events, I'm going to try to get Day 2 of my PTR done. After leaving the park at 11:30 the night before, 6:30 came all too quickly. After some free continental breakfast at the Super 8 motel, Michelle and I headed to the park. We got there at 7:45 and had the pick of the litter in the Gold Pass parking area. As is typical in events like this, it was hurry up and wait. Wanted to make sure we didn't get left behind for The Racer ERT, but had to wait in line at the metal detectors. A bunch of sleepy ride warriors. The Royal Fountain greets us, even if the sun isn't so sure yet. An hour and a half of trains like this!!! Unfortunately, my days of marathoning coasters is pretty much over. I have no idea how anyone marathoned Vortex 9 times. I'm dizzy after 1 ride. Have no idea where I'd be after 9 straight. After 3 straight Red Racer rides, we decided to take a Racer break and head over to Flight of Fear. I really like the longer belts, at least they seemed longer. For the first time since the removal of the OTSRs, I had space between my legs and the lap bar. I still don't like the foot-binder doohickey. Brings my knees too close to my chest making it a little harder to breathe. Back over to Racer, and had to capture this magnificent sight... Midway all to ourselves!!! Got a Blue shot, now time for a Red... Ahhh, right on schedule. After 3 more rides on Blue Racer, our heads, and breakfasts for that matter, were scrambled. It was only 9:00. There's something satisfying about riding 7 coasters before the midway workers even had their games stocked with improbable-to-win and impossible-to-carry-and-take-home stuffed animals. We waited for a half hour and went to the X-Base entrance for the walkback to Diamondback for the Gold Pass/Enthusiast-Because-We're-Special ERT. We didn't actually meet the group, we barely managed to catch up with the end of the group. While Michelle took pictures of Vortex warming up, I went to Diamondback to get my 1 ride. There were no single rider passes, so I went into the group line. Group line went faster, as I saw people in the SRL I didn't see go by, and I made it on the ride before them. I was assigned row 12 and paired with a rider from the SRL. Turns out it was the one-and-only Jackson. Finally met KIC's little celebrity. On the lift hill, I got him to point and yell at REPTAR!!! Sweet. Let the coolness begin. Got off right at 10 am, and the park was now open to the common folk. Met Michelle, who happened to ride Beast 3 straight times. After photographing Vortex, she came into Rivertown and noticed people turning left. She rode 3.3.3 3 times as stay-ons. Apparently that was a big mistake as her organs were randomly shifted around. Before meeting up with her, I managed to take some nice shots of Diamondback, including 1 I'm not showing until after the photo contest deadline. Train going, and... Train coming. One more for good measure. 10:00 and already had 8-10 rides under our belts. Needed a break. Train station looked really good. Tried taking more pictures in the ravine, this time in the daylight. Old West Town, once again playing with settings on the camera phone. Oops, too slow. It's OK, it wasn't open anyway. Line to Beast was short, so we snuck in a ride before the...

Ok, I wanna play along, too, so I'm going to do my PTR for Ride Warriors Coaster Weekend. We'll start 1 post for Saturday 5/9, since that will be the shorter of the 2 PTRs. I had to work that day and suffer through some very bad baseball. It's my job to sit through whatever home events we have at the school I work at, so at least I was getting paid to be there. That didn't get done until 3:00. My friend Michelle met me at school then, and we were off... after a stop at Walmart in Muncie and a McDonald's in Richmond. It's just about a 2 hour drive from Muncie, without all the stops. Got to the park just after 6, so we missed the guest speakers at the theater. We rode the Red Racer, after a brief discussion about what color trains were on what side when the one side ran backwards. I believe each side had 1 blue and 1 red train. Had a great ride. Did our customary point-and-yell at Reptar. After Red Racer, we were off to The Beast. After hitting the facilities behind BLSC, I saw a lovely tree and decided to take a picture: Look at that strange curved branch at the top of the tree. Wait a minute... that's no branch. I think it's... Oh yeah! That's right. It's, ummm... errr... wait, I know this one... I know I've seen this before. It's right on the tip of my tongue... There it is again. I remember reading something about this... Oh yeah... Diamondback!!!! Ok, so I borrowed that last pic from my trip 2 weeks ago. Don't judge me! We actually went to ride The Beast. Decided to try more features of my new camera phone: OOOOooooOOOOoooo looks so vintage! Looks like the pic was taken way back in 1979. Ok, not really, but I liked the effect. Middle queue section was open, but not the bottom or top ones, so the wait was about 30 minutes, give or take the time it takes to measure a kid 1/8" too short. You know, where the swinging bar thingy brushes across the hair and all the ride ops have to go take a closer look, talk about it, take a poll, ask the Magic 8 Ball, then they walk the kid back to mommy or daddy, and they say "too bad," and stick the kid in The Beastie cage while they ride making the kid cry, and he ends up in therapy for 20 years. ANYWHO... I digress... WOW what a ride. I think Beast knew there were a bunch of enthusiasts in the park and was out to thrill us, or Beast knew there were a s***-ton of pubescent ankle biter band geeks who needed a serious attitude adjustment. Beast was on its game today. Fast and intense. When the train is screaming going around the left turn leading to the drop-in to the helix, you know you're going to get your derriere handed to you. So fast, and the retracking makes it so smooth. All the speed, almost none of the jarring. We decided to head toward the picnic area for the birthday party. I was pleasantly surprised there was a live DJ. The free souvenir cups were nice, but what the heck were we supposed to do with them on the DB ERT? With dozens upon dozens of people carrying those cups to the ride, how are we supposed to remember which one was ours? Oh well, it was nice to use at least for the party. After some pop, chips, pretzels, and chocolate cake, one of my childhood heroes showed up: No, not him. Not Snarf either. ROOBY ROOBY ROO!!! Of course I had to get my pic with Scooby! This is why we're here baby! We tried to get 1 last ride in on The Beast before the ride shut down for the fireworks. I was nervous and paranoid I wouldn't make it and get left behind for the walk to DB, so I waited out in Beast plaza. During the fireworks, I met a nice ACE family, and we talked about coasters, mean tricks we play on new riders, and fears of heights, namely her apprehension on going up the Eiffel Tower. Note to self, don't jump on bouncy panels when she's up there. Finally it was time to go back to DB. I went on 3 rides. I decided not to stay until 1 am because it would have been unfair to my friend since she still can't get in the ride. Working on it, but not yet. Diamondback at night is incredible, exciting, merveilleux, wunderbar, fantástico, замечательный... see it's so good it's got me speaking in tongues. My 3rd and last ride I went for the back car. Never ridden there before. Now, I've ridden Racer, Vortex, and Beast in the rear car and been slung over the first hill, but rear car on Diamondback is Nirvana! I was out of my seat the entire first drop and touched down in my seat long enough to get whipped over the 2nd hill, and the 3rd, all the way to hill #10. I think I found religion on that last ride. It was 11:30 or so, and that was the most incredible coaster ride I have ever had, so I decided that was a good way to end the night. Plus, Michelle and I wanted to be on that 8 am Racer ERT. More on that later. Good night.

You are. Terpy, ever helpful... :blink: uhhhhhh... It's all Greek to me.

You do take really good pictures. I really like this one: The one you were considering is a really good one as well. Nice meeting you on Diamondback this morning. REPTAR!!!!!

I had a blast as well. I didn't get to the park until 6 on Saturday due to work . Waits by then weren't too bad. All the bands were heading home. I met a nice family in The Beast plaza waiting for the walkback to the Diamondback night ERT, and we shared some stories about coasters, Kings Island, and mean tricks we play on first-time riders for ANY coaster. Sunday was fantastic. Riding The Racer at 8 am when the other coasters were still sleeping (save of course for FoF) was amazing. Looking down the midway and seeing NO ONE was special indeed. I got to meet GabeLogan99 and finally met the famous JackSon of Beast1979 fame. We were actually paired up on Diamondback during the morning ERT. I got him to point at and yell "REPTAR!!!" (we'll get him trained in the way of the Chsbi yet), then proceeded to get my a$$ handed to me on DB. 8th ride of the day (first on DB), all before 10 am. Wow. Park was more crowded than I expected for mother's day, but probably like an average weekend day with no special events. Want to know what a chsbi is? TOUGH! No, really, I may tell you, but then I'd have to flog you with a wet noodle. I'll get a PTR up sometime soon (with some nice shots I got while playing with my new camera phone), but right now, I'm so tired that I'm not sure if I'm typing in English or Klingon.

On 4/25, first wait was like 15 minutes, second was 35-40 minutes... unless you want to count the 8+ months of anticipation, drooling, and sleepless nights.

I don't think they're any faster than last year, but it does seem like the ride cycle is a bit longer. Gives us more of a chance to get the ones who drive around and don't want to get hit.

Sorry, too long?

Proud moment, indeed. Not only that she could ride The Beast, but that SHE thought it was time to graduate to the big-girl park. Coaster junkie in the making. She felt the urge to ride Beast, answered the call, and CONQUERED!!! Looking forward to seeing all of you in the park, if we happen to be there at the same time.

I thought dropzone was 300 plus feet.Am i wrong or is the web site for Kings Island wrong? And from way back in Left Field... Touchdown, who has no idea where this came from.

What happened to Firehawk? I had the unfortunate and scary pleasure of riding the red train right after it came back off the maintenance track, where someone remove a rather large metal box. I sure hope he replaced it. They didn't even take it on a test run. They just backed it into the station and loaded us on. That led us to making up a song: I don't like the red train. I don't want to be a blood stain! I can't describe the disdain I have for the freakin' red train!

Some more pics from our day: REPTAR!! Now for Diamondback shaking its tail feather!! And splashdown from the Eiffel Tower Geez this thing is tall And now for some unintentional artistic photography:

This is going to be my first attempt at a PTR, well, partial PTR. What a beautiful day for an amusement park! Our group of 4 had an early start. Me and my friend Michelle left Muncie at 6:30 to meet up with friends Andy and Eric in Noblesville at 7:30 . We left Andy's house, had breakfast at Micky D's, then we were on the road. We made great time getting from Noblesville to Kings Island, arriving in the parking lot about 9:45. Except for KICentral.com event days, we have never been there for the open of the park. I was in the front of the park in time for the National Anthem. Andy and Michelle were in Guest Relations getting their free tickets (Andy works at Fox 59 in Indy), and Eric was there trying to pull up his ticket order (he forgot his ticket in his dorm room at UIndy). While Eric was trying to find his ticket, then subsequently having to buy a new ticket, I started playing with my new LG Versa camera phone. I don't know what the blue thing is, but it was pretty creepy at 10 in the morning. Looks like the camera phone is working OK, so tried something a little more picturesque. Awesome. The Royal Fountain was very lovely. Well, Eric is in a long line to get a new ticket, so the 3 of us decided to start off with a warm-up ride... Oh yeah baby, Diamondback!!! Unfortunately, our friend Michelle couldn't fit in the test seat, so it was just me and Andy riding the tallest thing I've ever ridden. He was in row 7, and I was in row 8, with my left leg hanging over NOTHING. Andy said he was scared. At least half his body wasn't hanging over the edge of the train. We were off climbing to the heavens, then, without so much as a pause, we were plummeting toward the earth. OMG what a rush. The speed and air time were incredible. What a way to start the day and the season. Then we were off to The Beast!!! The new plaza and landscaping look amazing. There was only about a 5 minute wait, then we were off on the longest (and best) wooden coaster in the world. The Beast seemed happy to be running again and giving thrills only The Beast can give. The track work done in the helix in the off-season made for a very smooth ride, which allowed us to enjoy the speed of the coaster instead of the roughness, and it sure was FAST! We decided to get some pics of Diamondback in the background of The Beast: And from Beast Plaza: Next up was Vortex. The orange tube rails look very nice, but would be really nice to see the support structure get a new coat of paint, before the ride completely sinks (wink wink nudge nudge ) Going into the double loop I cracked the back of my skull on the seat (first time that ever happened), so I don't know if that is why I was dizzy at the end, or the mind-numbing G's that scramble your brain. We decided to head toward X-Base. Flight of Fear had a long line outside the building, so we headed for Firehawk. There we had the longest wait of the day, 35-45 minutes. I almost wonder if FH is faster this year, or we had the benefit of fresh wheels, but I was really sucked deep into my seat in the loop. Very exciting ride. It was getting on 2:00, so we headed to Rivertown Junction to try the new buffet. The food looked pretty good, but some of the fried chicken looked kinda dry. I found a good looking breast (chicken breast, get your head out of the gutter), smushed potatoes, stuffing, and a turkey slice. The chicken was kinda dry. So was the stuffing, but nothing a little gravy couldn't fix. The potatoes and turkey were good. Round 2. Spaghetti and meatballs and garlic breadsticks. Very tasty, but the pasta was extremely filling. The pasta became a lump in my stomach which lasted a couple hours. This can be a good value for the money if you can get a good amount of food, but with the spaghetti being so filling, I didn't get my money's worth... this time. With a big lump of food in our stomachs, we headed to Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. A line in air conditioning. You bet! Andy made one of his demonic faces and actually made a kid behind us cry. I would cry too if a balding 30-year-old, 6'7, 300# guy turned and looked like one of the clowns in Stephen King's It. Eric wanted to get wet, so we went to Congo Falls. Actually about a 10 minute wait, but got into the front of the boat. Me, Andy, and Michelle are not small people (Eric kinda is), so we had about a half-ton in the front row. Man, what a wave. Andy and Eric didn't duck and got blasted. Michelle and I did, so the kids behind us got nailed. Eric and I decided we weren't wet enough, so we played chicken on the bridge. With shoes and socks in hand (behind my back), I stared down the waves. First one missed me completely. Second one nailed me. Even with my head down, I got water up my nose. Eric was completely soaked in front. We took 1 more wave. I took the frontal shot, while Eric turned his back. Got nailed again. Sufficiently wet, we headed out, and I dripped for a bit before putting my shoes and socks back on. Next up, Adventure Express. Actually a line here too. 10 minute wait. Coaster is jerky as usual. Animatronics at the end weren't working, so we took over the duty of beating the air drums. Next up the road, naturally, was Racer. We decided on Blue since I haven't ridden that much since the re-reversal of the Red Racer. Love the classic down-back nature of this coaster. Got off and had to take this picture: Oh my. Ummmm, wow. So much to say, much of it inappropriate, so off to Viking Fury. Even over the immature screaming of school-aged girls, we were able to do our adult-aged immature Ruffio chants. Not many people got it. Get off your X Boxes and PS3s and watch some movies, for crying out loud. A crane stalking its next meal. To complete the drying cycle from Congo Falls, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. Elevator was running quite slow. When we asked why, they said it was because of the wind. Makes sense. On the way to the top, Jennifer (pkipoodle) was our guide up the tower. Last year she was a good little company woman and didn't disclose any information regarding the Swan Lake project. I remembered, so when she asked if there were any questions, I asked if that construction project was going to be a new roller coaster. She played along, even sharing some of the rumors started about the project, like a 3-tiered carousel, where all 3 levels moved in different directions at the same time. I liked that one. It was quite windy on top of the tower. Perfect for drying off clothing and prevent crotch-pot cooking. Not so perfect for taking pictures with new camera phone. Got some decent shots, as seen below, but was scared of losing the phone to the big blow. You can actually see all of the Wild Thornberrys ride since the leaves aren't fully out yet. Boomerang Bay is WAAAAYYYY out there! After we came down off the Tower, we went to the Grand Carousel. There were 2 little squirrels poking their heads out of the Living Liberty Bell support. Hard to see in pic, but they were very cute. Got to the carousel, and ran into Jennifer again. She gave me a bit of cr#p for not being able to get on an uppy-downy horse. Here's the horse I rode: After this, we wanted ice cream, so we tried going to the ice cream stand in Nick U, but they didn't have chocolate, so we went to the one in Action Zone. I got my chocolate twist cone. Andy got one, but we think he got hosed. Had a kid-sized amount of ice cream, but had the height of a regular cone. He and Michelle also had chocolate twist. Eric went for the full blueberry. While there, we went for Flight Deck. Practically a walk-on. It's an OK ride anymore, and I'm to the point now where I can sleep through the ride and not miss anything. Sorry, FD fans, but I don't see the thrill in it anymore. To kill time, we decided to cause a little mayhem on the Dodgem bumper cars. People try to avoid contact. Forget that! They're our targets!! We took 3 trips on the bumper cars, chasing people the whole time. To kill more time, we headed back to the Grand Carousel. We all wanted our rides on the moving horses. Here's the second horse: The park really does do a good job in keeping these horses looking beautiful. After that, we went on cruise control and ended up on the path between BLSC and DB, just eye-h***ing (sounds like: thumping) that sexy new coaster :wub: . Michelle wanted to ride the Crypt, and the rest of us wanted to ride DB again, so we went to our respective rides. The DB line was about 30 minutes. Not bad for a brand new coaster and the park overrun with middle school bands. We saw a group of people smoking and boozing in line and ran into a supervisor right before the stairs to the platform. We told him about it. The group was only a few feet ahead of us. When we were talking to the sup, one of the guys tried to start ciggy #3 for the line. He didn't get very far. They quickly sharpened up and didn't smoke or drink anymore. I have pics of them if anyone wants to see them. We got to the platform and told the toll booth person, ummmm, I mean ride op we had 3. Andy and Eric were put into row 1, and I was put in row 2 with a random single rider. He ended up being a cool kid. He was going for his 3rd ride of the day. It was our second, and obviously first in the front car. Totally different experience the second time around. The climb was amazing. I haven't brought myself to look around the park on the way up yet. Then we got to the top and started going over the edge. Being in the first car, we got to hang looking almost straight down for what seemed like an eternity. What a feeling. Then gravity took over, and it was one of the most thrilling rides I have ever been on. 80 mph with nothing in front of me to deflect the wind. That, plus I'm hanging over the right side of the car. The air time was amazing. I have never felt so much air time, and considering I needed an extra push for that 3rd click, the air time was surprising. It felt like I would never get back in my seat. What an awesome ride, and so incredibly smooth. Diamondback is a keeper. Still on a time-killing mission, we went for a ride on the KI&MVRR to try to get a few pics in the remaining light of the day. Here's what I was able to take, kinda haunting in the wee light of twilight: Hard to take clear shots on a moving train. After the train, it was time to get in line for one last ride on The Beast, so we thought. The wait was about a half-hour, so we got on with the hopes of getting through the ride and running back around before the (alleged) cut-off of 9:50. Beast held up its end of the bargain by giving us a very dark, very thrilling, extremely fast ride, and we had 6 minutes to get in the start house, get off, and book back to the entrance. Well, we were third in line. One in the house, one in the brake run, then us in the secondary brakes. Yikes. We're boned. First train goes, we move up. Second train has some issue with the kid, errr, ride op talking on the phone. Get off the phone. What's the deal. AARRGGHH now you're checking seats!!!! MOVE IT!!! Second train finally goes. We get in and teleport from the seats to the exit ramp. We have about 60 seconds to get back into the line. 3 fat people and one skinny fart. I'm surprised we didn't hurt ourselves or other innocents. Michelle found the emergency exit gate, which was open. Cheater.Not sure when the line officially closed because about 30 people got in behind us between 9:50 and 10:00. We were in a position in the queue to watch the fireworks, then wait impatiently for Beast to reopen and cycle us through. At 10:00, we saw some kids try to get into line, but was chased off by one of the ride ops sent down to close the line. We were concerned people would try to sneak into the queue's emergency exit, and sure enough, after the first train came back and unloaded, 2 people snuck in that door. We were about to get ticked off until I recognized Cory B. I told my buddies it was OK. He worked in the park. I didn't know the female with him, but I'm assuming she works there also. Sorry if you're a KICer. If you are, let me know your name so I can forget it the next time I see you there. We talked for a few minutes before we got in position to take one of the last rides of the night. Cory actually remembered the conversation we had waiting for The Beast ERT at the inaugural KICentral.com:The Event. Eric wanted to ride in 3-3-3, so we waited for a bit. Train 3 was second-to-last for the night, and what a ride it was. No moon. No lights. Dark tunnels. Fog rising off the ground. Magical. We took a nice quiet walk back to the front of the park and took a few final pics to cap off the day. Very haunting in this light. Good night, Kings Island. See you for Ride Warriors Weekend!

It is profiling, and profiling is wrong. They want to save us big folks from the embarassing walk of shame on the platform, but it's also quite disturbing to pull people out of line where the whole world can see you. I checked the seat before I even got in line. That was my decision, but to be minding your own business and get pulled out of line by someone, that can be a bit much. Those of us who are bigger should know to check before wasting our time. That being said, is there a way to mark those of us that passed the seat test so we're not pulled out of line every time? Perhaps they could use a wristband system like they do for the young ones and the height requirements on various rides. Wristbands are getting a bit overused with the height requirements and free drinks, but they could do something along those lines.

I have made my reservation. Just one question though... if the guest I listed can't make it for whatever reason, can I bring a different guest? I sure as heck am not going to waste a 2-day ticket.

My friend and I would be more than happy to accommodate you. We love to corrupt, er, I mean, nurture the youth of the world! Yeah, that's it.

Patience, young grasshopper. Touchdown, whose picture is in the dictionary under "impatience."

A few years ago, some friends and I rode Top Gun 14 times because of the rain (don't give me that Flight Deck cr... it was Top Gun then). It did feel like you were being stabbed by little eye darts, but it was fun as h-e-double-hockey-sticks. They had both trains running. There was no line. The ride wasn't just a walk-on, it was a stay-on. The ride ops were having fun with it. They were even calling it (P)KIs newest water ride.

GRRRR!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!! FACE/OFF TOP GUN DROP ZONE BEASTIE OUTER LIMITS:Flight of Fear ITALIAN JOB STUNT TRACK TOMB RAIDER TOP CAT'S TAXI JAM!!!! *pant pant huff and puff* Did I miss any (of the last 10 years)? There, I feel better. Now that that's out of my system, I prefer the old names, but now I can call them by the new names. The one I really don't like is "Flight Deck." Could have been something else related to military aviation or planes, like Dogfighter or something.

Just in time for the world to end again on December 21? That'll make like the 7th time in my life that the world was going to end.

Terpy has no age. Wait, is that Terpy is ageless? Either way, the world may never know. I, on the other hand, sit in the middle of the 20-39 group, although closer to 39 than 20.

It's not just that people sue over everything, but it's the judges who are actually willing to hear such cases and juries who award ridiculous sums of money for the plaintiffs being boneheads.

There's a team called BOWNS just like there's a team called CHEFS!

Bungals colors? If you're going to do football team colors, why not pick a team that's actually won something lately? How about blue supports and white track, with a big ol' Colts horseshoe in the middle of the ride?