McSalsa

^ The old Cedar Point water tower was in a backstage area, between Corkscrew's turnaround and the main parking area for Hotel Breakers.

On a typical hot summer day, my favorite coaster in the park is Banshee, followed closely by Mystic Timbers (and Diamondback isn't too far behind MT). However, if it's cool or cold and cloudy or the autumn tree colors have kicked in, or at night, The Beast rises above them and takes the cake since it is more of a "take advantage of the scenery" type ride and thus it takes advantage of those conditions better than your typical "element-to-element" normal roller coasters do. Oh, and for wait-time-to-fun value, Vortex and The Bat are both amazing since usually neither of those will be over 30 minutes even on busy days since both are older rides and still have great capacity.

Well, having finally made it to Cedar Point this year (and I made it twice!), I have finally been on a few Intamin roller coasters, so now I can weigh in more on this topic. Intamin currently dominates the top of my coaster rankings, with Maverick currently #1 and Millennium Force at #2 (out of 31 coasters so far). None of their coasters I have been on so far were even close to bad- TTD is short but crazy intense, and Wicked Twister packed far more of a punch than I was expecting from the POV videos. Also, unlike B&M, Intamin makes more than just roller coasters. They made Kings Island's iconic Eiffel Tower, Drop Tower, Congo Falls, White Water Canyon, Viking Fury, and I am sure probably even more. Their rides tend to push boundaries and they are always eager to break new ground, but this has a major drawback: Intamin's coasters and rides are known to have reliability issues, especially rides like Top Thrill Dragster. One my first ever visit to Cedar Point, I had 3 of them break down in a row while I was in line, it was not until my 4th attempt to ride a Intamin- Millennium Force at night- that I was successful, and I thus had to wait until my 2nd trip (which wasn't even planned as we surprisingly won a contest) to get the other 3 Intamin coasters there under my belt. Add in the accidents, and the sadly too often need re-designs of rides AFTER construction and even opening, and I can see why parks have moved away from building their rides. ...especially when their main competitor in the steel coaster market is B&M, a company with a perfect safety record and great ride reliability and capacity. Not to mention B&M can also dish out thrilling rides, and their rides are usually ADORED by the GP, aka the people who make parks the most money. Most enthusiasts also enjoy them, myself included, as can be seen by Fury 325's recent victories in both the Amusement Today Golden Tickets and the fact it tops the Coasterbuzz Top 100 as of right now. Just like Intamin, I have yet to find a B&M I didn't enjoy, even Rougarou which I ranked lowest among them I liked quite a bit- granted I have not ridden B&M's one model that usually gets mixed to bad reviews, the stand-up (never rode Rougarou as Mantis). I do still prefer Intamin's on-ride experience, but B&M is not far behind, and with all other factors included I can see why Cedar Fair loves to build B&M's so much these days. Though TBH I agree with Xdog42 on the aspect of the 2 companies products co-existing well. Cedar Point is a great example of this, as the 2 companies made pretty much every major steel coaster for the park since 1994, adding to the PTC Woodie and Arrow Coasters that were already there and building Cedar Point into the monster park it is today. Though that will change in 2018 as Cedar Point's streak of B&M's and Intamins ends with RMC coming in with Steel Vengeance, the first major coaster not from either of these companies since...1991's Mean Streak, which is what is being turned into Steel Vengeance. Odd how that's worked out.

My vote on this goes to...well, first I will address the other 3 rides that seem to have gotten lots of votes, and give my opinion on why I would keep each of those: Backlot Stunt Coaster- Honestly, I am surprised this has so many votes. Sure, it's capacity is not the absolute best, and it is horribly placed as all that gravel and the box cars look out of place in the middle of the park, but it is a fun family ride with some nice elements and good forces. The helix and final tunnel in particular are quite good IMO. If this was my call, BLSC stays. Vortex- Sure, it's 30 years old, going on 31. And it can be a bit rough. But I don't think it's THAT bad (though I am of a height where my head is above the OTSR) and it has a awesome layout, is pretty reliable, and has great capacity leading to very short wait times. Vortex also stays. Firehawk- Really it was down to this and the coaster I actually picked, and unlike the other one there is not another flying coaster at Kings Island. Poor capacity aside, Firehawk does offer a fun flying sensation no other ride in Ohio can claim to have. Plus at least Firehawk is usually decently smooth. Firehawk also gets to stay. Which means, the coaster I have chosen for removal is... Invertigo. Sadly for Invertigo, 1 coaster has to leave, and of all the coasters at Kings Island, I see it as the most easily replaceable. It is low capacity, reliability issues are somewhat common, and it unlike Vortex actually headbangs me nearly every time I ride it. Plus, it is not even the only large inverted coaster in the park, with the far better Banshee in the same general area. To be honest though, I don't think Invertigo would deserve actual demolition... (Invertigo begins to wake up from offseason sleeping) Invertigo: Ugh...I slept horribly. I felt like they took me completely apart...wait, WHAT THE (BLEEP)!?!? Why am I in the middle of a huge field!?!? And what's this massive pile of wood doing next to me!?!? ??? (In a Pirate-y Voice): Ahoy Matey! I not a pile of wood, I am Shivering Timbers! Welcome to Michigan's Adventure! Invertigo: MICHIGAN'S ADVENTURE!?!? NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! Shivering Timbers: O dear. He's acting the same way that Vekoma SLC fella did back when he first got here. Don't worry mate, you'll come to enjoy it here...

Holiday World is a great park. I enjoyed all 3 wooden coasters (though I was one of those crazy people who liked Legend best even before the GCI revamp) and they still have a nice small park charm to them the 2 bigger parks I have been to (Kings Island and Cedar Point) lack. They also really try to theme their rides to whatever section of the park they are in, which can lead to odd yet fun results- see Gobbler Getaway, their shoot-em-up dark ride in the thanksgiving section. It is far better than Boo Blasters (and I don't even think Cedar Point HAS a dark ride period if I recall) and the ending is hilarious. Jcgoble is also not kidding about food there being cheaper- at Cedar Point (and I think KI would be the same price 'cause same chain) we paid $10 for some chicken fingers, and all we got were chicken fingers and honey mustard dip for that price. At Holiday World you get that, plus fries and celery, and a choice of ranch and blue cheese dip for $9. So you pay $1 less, yet get more. (At least the Chicken Fingers I got at CP were good though) Or make that $5 less when you add the fact the $4+ drinks are free at Holiday World. Oh and unlike most parks, Holiday World's web site is not afraid to show what they charge in-park for food. https://www.holidayworld.com/park-tickets/food-snacks/ Just click a restaurant, and you can see the prices for yourself. And I'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned one of Holiday World's biggest draws, attractions wise: Splashin' Safari. It is the Cedar Point of waterparks- except instead of huge steel coasters everywhere, it is huge waterslides everywhere. You know the giant Funnel slide at Kings Island, which is one of the biggest and most popular waterslides KI has? Holiday World has that. There however, it struggles to make their top 5 waterslides in terms of scale and "draw" factor! You have ZOOMbabwe- one of the world's biggest waterslides which is over 100 feet tall, and is completely enclosed on the inside, creating a massive "dark" water slide (the view from the top of it is also incredible). Bakuli is almost as big and ends with a huge toilet bowl section. Hyena Falls is a complex is multiple slides, the biggest of which has a awesome and intense half-pipe element. There is also the massive mat racing slide, Jungle Racer, as well as numerous smaller slides, a fun lazy river (perfect after riding Voyage IMO), 2 water play areas, and 2 wave pools. And then you come to the star attractions of Splashin' Safari: Wildebeest and Mammoth, the ProSlide Water Coasters. These 2 slides CONSTANTLY get rave reviews, and also huge waits on busy days. Basically these slides feel more like a mix of a roller coaster and a waterslide, as they have twists, turns, and drops just like roller coasters do, complete with airtime...lots of airtime. Especially Wildebeest, and if you can ride it by yourself somehow (you'll need a day with no crowds) prepare for the best airtime I have experienced on ANY ride so far. Splashin' Safari blows Kings Island's waterpark out of the water, IMO...no offense to Kings Island though, Splashin' Safari blows MOST waterparks out of the water. And this isn't even mentioning Thunderbird, which was built after my last trip to Holiday World so I have not yet ridden it. Though if my rides on GateKeeper were any indication, Thunderbird is probably also awesome. I do hope I can get back to Holiday World at some point- I had great fun there on my last few visits, and would love to go back. Oh, and on Voyage: I like the coaster, and actually adored it back in 2010 when I first rode it, but when I returned to ride it again in 2011 it had become pretty darn brutal and rough (I heard that year they did not do as much re-tracking since they were expecting the Timberliners). I rode again in 2013, and while the first half of the coaster (everything up to and including the triple down in the dark) was almost back to 2010 quality, the 2nd half still felt brutal and somewhat painful. I was fine after a ride on the Lazy River afterwards though. I could ride it a few times a day, sure, but I'd need breaks between rides. I honestly prefer Legend over Voyage- Legend is a bit on the brutal side too, but not as much and it hits the brake run before it becomes too much. I haven't ridden Voyage since they began "trimming" it though (aka using the mid-course brakes more), so maybe that has helped them upkeep the 2nd half better, even if the intensity is reduced. Still, I know Holiday World works their butts off trying to keep Voyage running well. I cannot imagine how bad it would get if a chain park/new owner that didn't put as much TLC in took over Holiday World. Voyage would probably become a nightmare after a few seasons tops.

I was looking around online today, and I found this. Apparently it is a new wooden coaster poll that is meant to be a spiritual successor to the old Mitch Hawker polls that stopped running after the 2013 season. http://www.ellocoaster.com/wood-coaster-poll/ So far it's just going to be for wooden coasters, probably because there are tons more steel coasters than wood these days so a wood poll is simpler I guess. Oh, and I voted on it. Here is how my ballot looks... #1- Beast, Kings Island #2- Legend, Holiday World #3- Mystic Timbers, Kings Island #4- Voyage, Holiday World #5- Blue Streak, Cedar Point #6- Raven, Holiday World #7- Racer (Red), Kings Island #8- Racer (Blue), Kings Island (Racing Coasters can count as 2 if you prefer a certain side of them, I like Red Racer more than Blue) #9- Hoosier Hurricane, Indiana Beach #10- Woodstock Express, Kings Island And those are pretty much all the wooden coasters I have been on so far. I have to get out of Ohio & Indiana and find some more wooden coasters to ride...anyhow, felt this was worth sharing if anyone is interested. I kinda wanna see the results, mainly to see how the "woodies" (poll includes RMC topper track rides) built from 2014-2017 like Goliath, Lightning Rod, and Mystic Timbers among others do...

At Kings Island, my final ride of 2017 was Beast @ Night way back in August. It was amazing as usual for Beast night rides. Didn't come to KI for Haunt this year. Last coaster of the 2017 regular season (winter events not included) was GateKeeper at Cedar Point though, 2 days ago on October 28th.

Hello everyone! As you may have read in the off-topic... uh, topic... I went to Cedar Point for the 1st time ever on September 16th for my sister birthday. While we were there, while we were waiting on the Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad to show up, she entered a contest. A few weeks later, she got a phone call and found out we had won. The prize? 4 Cedar Point tickets, with included Fast Lane Plus and Fright Lane. So suddenly, we were going back to Cedar Point. She ended up liking the on-site cottages at Lighthouse point, and one of the friends we were going with said they looked nice too, so she just went and booked them even though she said she was wanting something cheaper than Hotel Breakers (the cottage was like $10 more). Then, a week or so before the one day we could make the trip, she and her friends decided to book a single night at Breakers Express simply so we could drive to Cedar Point a day early and not have to wake up at 5AM and drive that long. So much for trying to use cheaper hotels. Thanks to everyone who gave us suggestions and advice though. Now would probably be a good time to explain my ride rating system as usual... 10=Incredible 9=Excellent 8=Very Good 7=Good 6=OK 5=Meh 4=Bad 3=Terrible 2=Garbage 1=Hot Garbage 0=INFERNO Garbage As a side-note, since my last trip to Cedar Point, I realized I had to tighten up my ratings so that there would not be so many 10/10's, so for example while in the past I would give a typical ride on Racer a 8/10 now it would be a 7/10. This does not mean I liked the ride any less, I just wanted more room between the best rides and the ones that are just pretty good. Anyhow, now to the rest of the trip report. On Friday, we headed to our friends house and packed some stuff up. While there, I saw about 25-30 ducks walking down the street and heading for a neighbor's house who according to one of our friends feeds them. It was a sight to behold. We finished packing, grabbed some food at a nearby McDonalds, went back to our house because my sister forgot the tickets (D'oh!) and then hit the road. During the drive the rain began, and the temperatures began to drop. We arrived at the Express Hotel around 11:30PM, and we got our room and headed in. It was actually a bit bigger than the room we got at Hotel Breakers, and IMO was a bit cooler. Though it had the negative point of not being on-site. We then slept, woke up, and got some doughnuts and took our stuff and checked out. We still got ERT though, which was a plus. We then got McDonald's (Doughnuts did not fill us all up), and headed to our cottage. It was small on the outside but seemed bigger once we came in, and was quite nice to be honest. We then got a shuttle to the front gate, and redeemed our tickets, Fast Lane, and fright lane. We then headed into the park with the intent to ride Maverick, but one of our friends (the same one who was trying to get over his fear of coasters, he had a major victory later on) saw a ride he wanted to hit up first... Ride #1- Cedar Downs Racing Derby Wait: 5 Minutes (1 Cycle) This was a nice flat ride, though it was not terribly intense or super thrilling it does have some fun factor to it. I liked how during the ride, they played audio of an actual horse race. I also thought it would be a littler faster based on the off-ride videos I had seen, but it was still much faster than a old-school Carousel. A fun ride to start the day. Score: 6/10 (Note: Remember, Harder to get high ratings now! 6/10 not that bad anymore...) After the Derby (I came in last), we headed on down the Midways. The train was not open yet so we had to walk all the way to Maverick. On the way, I noticed something that worried me: I had not yet seen a single coaster running! Flat rides were testing, even giant ones like WindSeeker or MaXair, but no coasters. This worried me. We got to Maverick and saw...it was closed. There was a line built up outside it, and I even asked the ride-op who said clearly it was too cold but once the temperatures got higher Maverick and the other coasters would attempt to open. We headed into the nearby restrooms since some us had to go, and we checked out the awesome Town Hall Museum. The models of Blue Streak and the now-defunct Mean Streak were awesome and I even think they were to scale with each other. We then headed out and I pointed out that wooden coasters tend to be able to run in colder temperatures versus steel, so we would check to see if Blue Streak was open. But, to get to Blue Streak, we would ride... Ride #2: Cedar Creek & Lake Erie Railroad Wait: Walk-On...it was arriving as soon as we needed it! This time it was daylight, so all the cool creepy fog effects the train had last time were gone. The skeleton dudes were still cool props and stuff though. This is a good way to get from Frontier Town back to the middle of Cedar Point. Score: 6/10 After that, to get even closer to Blue Streak- as well as to see what else if anything was running- we rode... Ride #3: Sky Ride Wait: Walk-On In a surprising twist, I am more comfortable going backwards on this ride. I also was looking and yes, Blue Streak was open! And to my shock, so was a 2nd coaster...Wicked Twister! We still decided to do Blue Streak first though since our not-quite-comfy with coasters friend can handle and liked it. Score: 6/10 We got off the Sky Ride, and headed to Blue Streak. Ride #4: Blue Streak Wait (with Fast Lane): 45 Minutes (W/O: 75 Minutes+) The main reason for the huge wait was they decided to add the 2nd train and then had to do a bunch of test runs. However, those ended, and we got on near the middle of the ride. The train climbed the lift hill, and I wondered what a wooden coaster would be like in these cold temperatures. Well, cold of course. But also still very fun. We got tons of airtime similar to last time save like one hill, but one airtime moment had a near-disaster event: my sister's glasses, which she never got a strap for, flew off and landed in the car! She tried to save them with her feet but they slid up into the front of the car. We hit the brake run and thankfully, the people in the front row of our car found them, and they were un-damaged. I guess Blue Streak will teach my sister not to ride without a glasses strap next time. On nearly all coasters after this, she took her glasses off and put them in her pocket. The ride was very fun and packed with thrills however, and no bad stuff happened to me (I had a strap for my glasses) so I loved the ride. Score: 9/10 After Blue Streak, we were all a bit hungry again, so we headed to a nearby restaurant, Chickie's & Pete's... Food: Chickie's & Pete's I got the Chicken Tenders, and my sister got the Crab Fries and the "Blue Streak" alcoholic beverage (considering what had happened just prior I found that ironic). Our other friends got huge cheesesteaks, but I found out those cost $21 each! Holy expensive food compared to my $9 chicken tenders! We also got overpriced sodas as we forgot our drink bottles from the last trip at the cottage. The food came to us fast and hot, and my chicken tenders were great. My sister gave me some of her fries as she got a huge bucket, and they were amazingly delicious IMO. Her drink was just OK, it was Banana flavored, and it was not even Blue! Our check also took forever to arrive, which I think was due to the restaurant being a bit busy and being understaffed at the time. This was also the only food I ate in the park itself, well save some cheese fries later on a friend got that have gave me, which were also amazing so I now think Cedar Point has amazing fries. Score: 8/10 (would be a 9 or 10, but they were slow on the check) After we ate, our friends wanted to go smoke, and I was told since we had Fast Lane Plus I should go get a quick ride in on Wicked Twister. Great idea, I thought. I'll be back in 5 minutes! Ride #5: Wicked Twister Wait: 40 Minutes!?!? (Must have been 2 1/2+ Hours without FL+) Well dang I did not expect that to take so long. The ride crew was a bit slower, and with only Blue Streak as the other coaster option, the normally not-so-long line for Wicked Twister was immense. My sister even finished smoking and came up to the ride exit and we were chatting when I finally got on, which distracted me from the launch! And wow, Flight of Fear has NOTHING on this launch! POV videos do not do this ride justice. Wicked Twister is very fast and forceful, and dropping nearly 200 feet back and forth is great fun. Way, way better than Invertigo, and it was pretty smooth to boot! Also it did not "Intamin" (aka break down) once while I was waiting for it which is always a plus. Score: 9/10 As I was waiting in that stupidly-long-even-for-Fast-Lane line for Wicked Twister, I saw Magnum XL-200 had began to do test runs, which warmed my freezing cold heart in the hope it would open. Then, my sister (when she came up to the exit) did so because they saw Valravn was doing test runs as well! The coasters were coming to life! We stopped in the Snoopy Gift Shop to warm up (PS: This shop was awesome but we did not get anything) and then we did some more checks...and my sister's favorite coaster was open. We headed down the Frontier Midway and saw Millennium Force was also testing, which also made me happy but that was not the ride my sister wanted to do...we got to that minutes later. Ride #6: Maverick Wait: 5 Minutes (W/O FL+: 2 Hours...EPIC TIME SAVINGS BATMAN!) Seriously, just looking at the line we skipped thanks to Fast Lane Plus was crazy. Maverick itself? Even crazier. I had heard that this coaster was basically Backlot Stunt Coaster on steroids, and that turned out to be pretty true, and BLSC on steroids is awesome! Maverick had some nice crazy ejector air, only a bit weaker than what I got on Magnum about a month earlier, and lots of sweet twists and turns. The mid-course launch was also epic and intense just like it was on Wicked Twister. Also just like Wicked Twister, Maverick did not go down once this time. Guess there were no Bees due to the cold. (Then again we did also only have to wait like 5 minutes...) Score: 10/10! After Maverick, we were pretty cold so we decided to head back to our cottage and rest for a half hour-hour or so. Our non-big coaster friend wanted to ride Cedar Creek Mine Ride but it went down and as we passed it, I saw why...MINE RIDE HAD VALLEYED IN THE HELIX! This was the first time I have ever seen a coaster do that. It didn't re-open after that and I cannot really blame Cedar Point after seeing that. So we stuck to our plan. I also spotted Top Thrill Dragster of all rides do a test run, but it did not send a 2nd train for a while so I assumed it may have failed and closed again. We first headed to Hotel Breakers to catch a shuttle, but got Hot Chocolate on the inside that was great but was also so hot it burned my sister's throat a bit! Then we headed to our cottage on the shuttle, and rested for a bit. I watched some of The Nightmare Before Christmas which had come on, but after around 30 minutes or so I was warm again and wanted to go back and ride more coasters since they were starting to open now. I agreed to meet up with the group around 8PM at the cottage (Spoiler: I re-united before then at a different location), and headed out on my own... As I made my way towards Magnum XL-200 from the Soak City lot, I saw TTD send more trains out, but then I noticed TTD had people on it! Not getting to ride it was a big buzzkill on my last trip, so I walked fast, got in the park, and showed my wristband to the ride op and entered the line. I waited 15 minutes, thanks to FL+ in spite of them only using the first 3 cars of each train so it would not rollback. I got on. We rolled out. The engine sounds played. Arms down...head back...WA WA WA. Our train rolled back to the 1st launch section where the 2nd train is usually when it launches, just in front of the main station, and stopped. I feared TTD had remembered it was a Intamin and had broken down...but, turns out, it was just a minor seatbelt issue on a guy in front of me! Ride #7: Top Thrill Dragster Wait: 15 Minutes+5 Minutes for Minor Issue (Without FL+ I guess it was like 2 hours or something, not sure but it was a big line...) The cable car hooked up. The brakes came down. It was happening. The sound effects played again. And then...LAUNCH. Holy Toledo, even the forceful launches on Maverick and Wicked Twister did not prepare me for this like I thought they would. It was like a crushing force was pushing against my body. I blurted out "OH HOLY CR##!"- I apologized to the guy who rode with me for my colorful language- a dad with 2 teenage daughters, he understood 100% though. We rocketed up the 420 foot tower, which actually felt good because the forces were removed. But then we were sky high, and I looked down on the pewny Millennium Force...WAIT, THAT IS NOT PEWNY HOLY COW! Then we came down which was like Wicked Twister times two. And then, at last, the brakes. Wow. It was only 20 seconds, but what a thrilling 20 seconds! Most intense coaster I have ever been on. Conquering this monster felt like an achievement. Score: 10/10! After finally overcoming Top Thrill Dragster, I decided I would go ride Millennium Force next since I knew what the wait would be with Fast Lane Plus. I walked over and got in line... Ride #8: Millennium Force Wait: 30 Minutes (W/O FL: 1 1/2 Hours- a savings of a whole hour!) After chatting with a girl and her boyfriend in line, we reached the station in about 30 minutes so my prediction was correct. I got to ride the the very last car this time, and got good floater air over the 3 huge drops (especially on the 1st drop- 300'+ of floater air!) and the final baby hill had borderline ejector air from this seat. The speed was still crazy fast, but it was also cold so the ride was very cold. It was epic, though I would still say my 1st ride (a night ride around a month ago) was better since it had the night ride "boost" a lot of rides get. Still 10/10 worthy even in the daytime though! Score: 10/10! After Millennium Force, I considering riding Valravn since the people I were chatting with recommended it and said front row was THE row to do. But I knew my sister really wanted to ride it, so I wanted to wait and ride it with her. Instead I decided I would ride Magnum XL-200 next. I headed over to Magnum XL-200, and I ran into my sister and our other friends...who were also heading to Magnum XL-200! So we re-grouped much earlier than planned... Ride #9: Magnum XL-200 Wait: 15 Minutes (W/O FL: 30-45 Minutes? I didn't get a good look at the line...) Here is our non-big-coaster riding friend's big achievement for the day: he rode Magnum XL-200! And he thought it was OK! Even though he still refuses to ride anything with loops and stuff, since those make him sick, and he still won't ride giant rides like Millennium Force or Top Thrill Dragster this was still a big step. As for my experience on this ride: pretty similar to last time during the daylight, but the cold temperatures must have slowed the ride at least a bit because the ejector hills at the end were a little bit weaker, though still pretty darn strong. The ride was also very smooth considering the age of the ride. Though our seat selection could also have done that. As I tried to exit the ride, my lap bar kept trying to come back down, and I tripped trying to leave the ride car (did not get hurt though)- it was like Magnum XL-200 did not want me to leave! Sorry baby, I must go ride other rides... Score: 10/10! After Magnum XL-200, we headed over to ride Valravn. However, when we were about to board, GateKeeper began testing for the first time and Valravn broke down. We headed over and waited a few minutes to see if GateKeeper would open, but it looked like it might not. Raptor also did a few test runs but then nothing. Valravn re-opened, so we went back there since the Fast Lane Plus line was very short...by now, it was also dark out. Ride #10: Valravn (Night) Wait: 5 Minutes (W/O FL+: 3 HOURS!!!) This was probably the biggest perk of having Fast Lane Plus of the entire trip- we waited 5 minutes for a coaster that had a 3 hour wait in the regular line! As for Valravn itself...it is AWESOME. We rode front now as I had been suggested earlier, and hanging over the edge gives a very Drop Tower like experience. The drop itself has lots of airtime, not quite ejector but pretty darn strong floater. The inversions are forceful and much faster than the POV's suggested, and the airtime hill actually gives very good airtime. This is actually my new favorite coaster made by B&M so far! Now I understand why so many here on KIC keep asking Kings Island to build a Dive Coaster... Score: 10/10! After the epic Valravn (which also includes a nice photo op spot with the huge throne) we decided to go get a night ride on Maverick, since my sister said the ride she got at night years ago was incredible. So we headed over there, and rode Maverick a 2nd time! We had to go through a scare zone to get there though, but it was pretty fun to be honest. Then we reached our goal... Ride #11: Maverick (Night) Wait: 15 Minutes (W/O FL+: 75 Minutes) The regular wait had decreased drastically from earlier, which I assume was from more rides being open and haunts opening, but a few more people had FL+ now so we had to wait a bit longer. But it was EASILY worth it! Maverick was great in the daytime, but at night, it becomes incredible! The airtime felt even stronger than before, and with areas of the ride now being dark you can't see the twists coming as easily. And the launch tunnel becomes pitch black, save the cheesy yet fun "exit" signs all over it, giving it a bit of a Flight-of-Fear vibe in that area. Millennium Force got to be my favorite coaster for a month, but now, Maverick is my new #1. Steel Vengeance is gonna have to be outstanding in many ways to surpass this...granted it might, that thing looks amazing too... Score: 11/10!!! (Still broke the scale, even with the more restrictive ratings!) After we rode Maverick, I was planning to head back to the cottage since I was feeling a bit worn out, but when we stopped near Magnum XL-200 to use the bathrooms we found out that Raptor and GateKeeper had both opened! My sister really wanted to ride GateKeeper, and I wanted to get the Raptor credit. So our friend who had faced his fear and rode Magnum earlier, who did not really wanna do haunts, left and we went to go ride the 2 B&M's. But, on the way, my sister saw a scare zone she wanted to do...we thought it was a haunt at first though. SCARE ZONE: Blood on the Bayou This Haunt was cool, and a bit creepy. It was awesome how you get to walk under Iron Dragon (which had opened but had a 45+ minute wait so I never rode it since it lacks FL), Rougarou (never opened, though a train was left on the lift halfway up), and Top Thrill Dragster (was still running and looked to be running strong all day once it opened- the new cable car must be working great). Also we saw the funny and amazing Voodoo screamster from Night of the Living Fed again in here! Also, there was a first for me: normally I do not get "targeted" by these guys, but one of them actually followed me around creepily for a bit. I had fun here. Score: 9/10 (would be a 8/10 but +1 for having Voodoo!) After BOTB, which set us back quite a bit, we ended up at Raptor, since we were on that side of the Midway. It was finally time to ride my 2nd B&M Invert after Banshee... Ride #12: Raptor (Night) Wait: 10 Minutes (W/O FL: 30 Minutes) Woah. Same coaster model, very different experience. A lot changes in 20 years I guess. Where Banshee is very graceful, yet forceful, Raptor is very snappy and transitions much faster from element to element, sometimes so fast I did not have time to register them! It was also a bit rough in spots, but I wasn't too bugged by that. My sister did not like it because her restraint locked at a point where she could still move quite a bit, and she strongly prefers tight restraints that feel 100% safe. I felt fine but I am not bugged by a not-so-tight restraint. I enjoyed Raptor quite a bit, nearly as much as Banshee, but I think I would still give Banshee a very tiny edge because I prefer the Pretzel Loop on Banshee to Raptor's Cobra Roll, and Banshee has that amazing slow roll at the end. Raptor is awesome though in its own right. Score: 9/10 After Raptor, and my sister calmed down a bit, we headed to GateKeeper which has the vest restraints she adores. (TBH they are comfy and prevent head banging) Ride #13: GateKeeper (Night) Wait: 15 Minutes (With or W/O FL, it was useless for once!) For once, there was not enough of a regular line so our FL+ was worthless. But it was a short wait anyway. I rode from the middle this time, and it was still pretty forceful and still very fun, save the airtime hill gave pretty weak air this go around (I could feel some, it was just weak). The keyhole element remains awesome, and the first drop is crazy with that twist. A great ride. Score: 9/10 After GateKeeper, I agreed to do 1 more Haunt (we still thought Blood on the Bayou was a haunt at this point) so we headed over to Hexed, which was nearby, before I too returned to the cottage. HAUNT: Hexed My one Haunt of the night, and while it had a lot of cool props, there were not many screamsters in here at all. My sister who loves Haunts was very disappointed. In fact, when I talked to her later in the evening she said most of the Haunts at Kings Island are better in her opinion. I thought Hexed was OK, but then again I am not into Haunts that much so I was OK with not being scared and looking at the cool props. Score: 6/10 After that, we headed to Valravn's exit and had our friend grab his van and come get us. I stayed with him and went back to the cottage, and our other friend and my sister went off to do Haunts for 1 hour. Later they came back, and I found out myself that you can actually watch FUN TV on the Hotel TV's. It was offline though because the park had closed. My sister came back, we ate some food we had brought from our house or gotten at stores on the way there, and we fell asleep. I woke up at 8AM the next day, the others followed after, and we packed up the van and left after having an awesome trip. A 5-hour car ride later, we got home safely. Since I rode quite a few new coasters yet again (I had barely ridden half of these yet on my first trip), here is my updated probably end of 2017 Top 10 Coasters so far: Note: I have only been to Indiana Beach, Kings Island, Holiday World, and Cedar Point so far and am missing a few coasters from some of them. #1- Maverick @ Cedar Point #2- Millennium Force @ Cedar Point #3- The Beast @ Kings Island (Favorite Wooden Coaster, Broke Fear of Coasters in 2009) #4- The Legend @ Holiday World #5- Magnum XL-200 @ Cedar Point #6- Top Thrill Dragster @ Cedar Point (An epic 20 seconds but it is only 20 seconds) #7- Valravn @ Cedar Point #8- GateKeeper @ Cedar Point #9- Banshee @ Kings Island #10- Raptor @ Cedar Point Some epic coasters got knocked out of My Top 10! Mystic Timbers, Diamondback, The Voyage, and Blue Streak must now accept Top 15 status. Wicked Twister was Top 10 for a brief period, then I rode Maverick and it fell out, it is my #14 ahead of Blue Streak. Getting in my top 10 is gonna start to become hard now that I have been on 31 coasters and will probably ride more in the future. Also I only need Corkscrew (was stuck on its lift all day closed), Cedar Creek Mine Ride, and next year's Steel Vengeance to have ridden all of the coasters at Cedar Point. Anyhow here are my final pros and cons.... PROS +Fast Lane Plus seems very worth the $150, granted mine came free +Park Worked VERY hard to get as many rides open as possible it seemed, even when there were mere hours left before closing +Food at Chickie and Pete's was very good, and the fries I got both there and outside were awesome +Both Express Hotel and Lighthouse Point Cottage were great hotels +Amazing Roller Coaster selection. They don't call it "America's Roller Coast" for nothing! +The Intamins actually behaved most of the day and didn't seem to go down too often! CONS -Brr...super cold weather. Not park's fault, but still a con. -Huge crowds in spite of this. Had I not had Fast Lane Plus, I would have had a much worse day. -Issues getting rides open, though I suspect a lot of it was weather, at one point your coaster choices were Blue Streak or Wicked Twister. GateKeeper and Raptor did not open until very late. -Food places seemed understaffed based on what we saw at Chickie & Pete's Thank you for reading this pretty long trip report. 2017 was a great year for me coaster-wise, my best one yet IMO. Though it may not be over just yet if we visit KI for Winterfest, and based on this CP trip, I will ride Mystic Timbers in 35-degree weather! Though I fear it will have a huge line. Anyhow, comments and questions welcome as always. MCSALSA AWAY!!!

^ That would probably be a good option, and considering many people seem to miss them, new Antique Cars would make guests happy. Though my personal pick would be a bit different: Tilt-A-Whirl. Just because I like them and it is a classic flat ride.

^ This kind of shocks me: Cedar Point is WAY ahead with six 200'+ roller coasters. I am looking over on the RCDB page, sorted by height, and it seems no one else has more than two over 200'. A few of the parks that have 2... Six Flags Magic Mountain (Goliath + Superman: Escape from Krypton) (X2 would be a 3rd but it is only 175 feet tall with a 215 foot drop) Six Flags Great Adventure (Nitro + Kingda Ka) Six Flags Over Texas (Titan + Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast) Carowinds (Fury 325 + Intimidator) Canada's Wonderland (Leviathan + Behemoth) Fuji Q Highland (Eejanaika + Fujiyama) ...and I may have missed one or two but I think that's it. Heck, in 2009, Kings Island would have made this during the brief period when both Son of Beast and Diamondback operated at the park!

I see "DM" on the part # section. I am pretty sure that means Dive Machine. Probably for outside the United States, I'd imagine.

^ Kings Island has more than one Intamin. Off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure they made all of these: Eiffel Tower White Water Canyon Viking Fury Congo Falls Drop Tower: Scream Zone ...and there may be more smaller rides I just am forgetting/not thinking about.

^ I hate to bear bad-ish news, but apparently this was while the ride was open with people on it. Thankfully in good news, no injuries. Though due to the damage done the ride may well be closed until next season from what I am hearing. Edit: Missed that post #1 also confirms the ride being closed. Sorry, brain fart!

Oh dang. No, not that. I didn't even realize the famous catchy song wasn't even the main theme. I thought this was the Ghostbusters theme...

^ I actually heard that when I was at Cedar Point a week ago for their haunt. It had the vocals and everything though.

^ I didn't. It seemed like a very simple and basic coaster (Drop, Hill, Loop, 2 Corkscrews, brakes), and I figured maybe I'd ride it if it had a short wait, but by the time I was curious about it it had a 30 minute line according to the wait time app. I was also targeting more stuff CP has that Kings Island has nothing like, and I've ridden the same model but more complex & bigger Vortex at Kings Island a lot. (BTW I do enjoy me some Vortex, in spite of it not being in my Top 10 ATM). I only did MaXair because it was right there and had a super short wait while my friends did Giant Wheel, and Iron Dragon to snag a quick credit since I had only ridden 5 coasters at that point. Though both of those were fun so I regret neither (In particular right now I'd like to say again Iron Dragon is probably a perfect starter coaster). My sister is already talking about returning to Cedar Point, next May, on a weekday and going for 2 days this time so I will probably have a great chance of riding Corkscrew- and many of the other coasters I missed- if that goes as planned. Also on that list: Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, Raptor, Valravn, Wicked Twister, Cedar Creek Mine Ride, and of course new-for-2018 Steel Vengeance. Not to mention I missed a TON of fun-looking flat rides, including Skyhawk and Witches' Wheel. I guess the ad was right- one day at Cedar Point really is not enough!

^ I did actually. Next time I am getting a non-wheel seat for sure. I would have done that on this trip, but they had about half the back cars (save the very back) blocked off and the seat I took had no extra wait. Both sides (Red & Blue) were running though. Magnum XL-200 at the end of the day was doing the same thing, but I still got a non-wheel seat (1-2) because there was no wait for it on that one since it was close to park close. Also I did not get the racing element of Gemini because, and I forgot to mention this in the TR, when the trains were sent out some lady in front of me had her phone out. The ride ops hit the E-Stop for the Blue Train I was on, told her to put it up, and I watched the Red train pull away and reach the top of the lift before we even began to climb it. Also thanks for informing me on the new/different name for monster actor dudes, I wasn't aware it was different at CP (or has changed).

Here's my top 10 favorite ride moments. To keep it balanced, I have limited it to one per ride, so there will be more variety on the rides. I also had to leave out some epic moments IMO. Here we go... 10. Banshee's Zero G Roll I'm talking about the one after the big loop and into the valley- though the slow twist at the end is also awesome though. This inversion sends you way up in the air, and then because the ride is on a large hill, you drop even further than you went up. And the negative g-forces on this inversion are solid. 9. Drop Tower: Right before the drop The only non-coaster moment on my list, this is when you near and reach the top of the 315' Drop Tower at Kings Island. You get a great view, and are looking around at other rides are you anticipate the inevitable. And then you hear the click. 8. Diamondback's First Drop (Back Car) This one kinda only happens if you ride in the very back car, due to how much more airtime there is there. You climb the 230' lift hill, and crest it. The front cars drop ahead of you, and you get whipped over for a full 215 feet of awesome floater air. 7. The Legend's Helix Lateral lovers, here is the element for you. After the initial out-and-back section, Legend dives into its helix, and it seems to vary between fast and slow depending what part you are in. You also get TONS of lateral forces. 6. Voyage's Triple Down After the mid-course brakes, you might expect Voyage would calm down a bit, considering how crazy the twister section previous to this already was. These 3 drops, all in a tunnel, however let you know the truth- your Voyage has only just begun, and still more craziness and airtime awaits you on the other side! 5. Flight of Fear's Final Corkscrew FOF does a great job building up to its final inversion- after the MCBR, you drop, twist, and turn and feel like it is gonna flip a few times, but it never does...until the final corkscrew hits. And when it does, it is pretty forceful, especially if the MCBR happened to be off! 4. GateKeeper's Initial Twist 170 feet up is pretty high, and even a standard drop would be pretty intense from up there. But, Cedar Point's Wing Coaster has something else in mind. Instead of a drop, you flip slowly 170 feet up, and it's pretty darn crazy when you do it. Then you drop into a giant loop and the ride begins proper. 3. Millennium Force's First Drop If the 215 foot drop on Diamondback was thrilling, this puts that to shame. Going 80 feet higher (aka the same total height as Blue Streak or Raven!) and towering over everything puts this drop on a different level, and it still has great floater air on the way down to boot! 2. Magnum XL-200's Final Bunny Hops Magnum XL-200 does not have the best first drop- there is not a lot of airtime, unlike the other 2 huge steel coasters I have ridden. However of the 3, it does end the strongest. The pure strength of the ejector air on the final bunny hops alone is insane, and the last 2-3 are done inside of a tunnel! However, one coaster ending is still better IMO... 1. The Beast's Final Helix Well, this was kinda obvious. Beast has a few memorable moments, but the helix at the end tops everything- especially since the entire ride kinda builds up to it. You crest the 2nd lift, and see Kings Island in all its glory. Especially at night. But then, you turn right, and see a huge 141 foot drop and a tiny tunnel await you! The drop seems to last forever since it is not steep and feels more like a ramp. Faster...faster...trim brakes try to stop you but fail...faster! FASTER! FASTER! Almost there...WHAM! The ride feels out of control and you cannot even hear anyone screaming because the ride is so loud. You get out of the tunnel, get a second to breath...WHAM AGAIN! It happens again. Then you exit, get a nice view of the 2 lift hills as well as Vortex & the Eiffel Tower, do a small drop, and hit the brake run in a sense of awe at what just happened. Note: I have only been to Indiana Beach, Kings Island, Holiday World, and Cedar Point and also have not ridden everything at all of those parks yet so these are just my top 10 I have experienced so far. Will update or make a new post later if this changes, which it probably will.

Hello KICentral! I am back with a trip report that may have come outta nowhere since I don't think I said anything about it. And it isn't for Kings Island this time! Nor did I return to Holiday World. It was my first ever trip to...Cedar Point! Now, Cedar Point trips may be commonplace to a lot of people, but for me, this was special. I have been to Kings Island a bunch, and Holiday World a few times, but every time prior to this in the years 2010-2016 we tried to go to Cedar Point something ruined everything and blocked it, and we had to go to Holiday World or Kings Island instead. While I had fun at those parks, I wanted to get the much-hyped and massive Cedar Point on my list of visited parks. Yesterday, my sister turned 26, and at long last I arrived at "America's Roller Coast" with her for the celebration. We stayed at Hotel Breakers, on-site, so we would not have to drive home stupid tired until 5AM. I guess now is a good time to explain my ride ratings... RIDE RATINGS 10=Amazing 9=Excellent 8=Very Good 7=Good 6=Decent 5=Meh 4=Bad 3=Very Bad 2=Horrible 1=Stinky Poo 0=Ultimate Stinky Poo from Hades Underwear!?!? I'll also say this now: it got pretty crowded and there were some events (I'll explain) that kept me from riding everything. Of the 14 "adult" coasters (there are also 2 kids coasters) I only got 7 of them, or about half. I did ride a few non-coaster rides as well though. It was a Saturday during Halloweekends (aka Haunt), it was not gonna be a ride everything day. Anyhow, let's begin. ARRIVAL AT Cedar Point & HOTEL BREAKERS Our group (Me+My Sister+2 Friends) arrived at the park after a 4 1/2 hour drive at 10:20AM. Seeing Cedar Point for the first time ever is a sight to behold- this park truly has a AMAZING skyline of roller coasters and thrill rides. Driving around it to get to Hotel Breakers and seeing several of the big rides up-close further built the excitement. Since we had a on-site hotel we could have taken advantage of ERT, but we had stuff to unpack and thus had to go to our Hotel first, and we also needed to get our tickets. By the time we had unpacked, ERT was over. I headed to Millennium Force (leaving my group who wanted to start with Iron Dragon because the guy who was scared of big coasters was with us), since it looked to have a short wait. It did- it was about 20 minutes tops. However, with 5 minutes to go in my wait, Millennium Force realized it was a Intamin and broke down. I met with my sister and she said if I wanted to try and wait the breakdown out to meet her at the hotel at 2PM. I agreed, but Millie was not showing any sign of re-opening for a while. With Millie down, I was anxious to get on a coaster at all, so I chose the closest big thriller I could find... RIDE #1: Rougarou Wait Time: 10 Minutes Rougarou, the former Mantis Stand-Up coaster, now turned Floorless. I had heard it was super rough and painful from some, even after the conversion. Well, after riding it for myself, I can say that is mostly false IMO- there was a little headbanging, and it was not 100% smooth, but it was perfectly ride-able to me. The coaster also packs some great forces and elements into its layout. It starts off feeling like Banshee a bit with the huge inversions, but after the MCBR it dissolves into chaos as I twisted and turned and I could not tell where I was going until we hit the final brakes. I enjoyed Rougarou quite a lot actually- I love Vortex, and I think Rougarou just managed to edge Vortex out. Score: 9/10 After Rougarou, I checked out Millennium's line again since it had re-opened, it had grown to 45 minutes. And I watched the ride struggling still- empty trains were going out, and sometimes there were big delays in dispatches and it seemed to only have 2 trains on track. So I decided to go see if Maverick, which had not been running during ERT, was running now. It was but it already had a 1-hour wait and I knew my sister would wanna ride that since it is her favorite ride ever. So I walked past the Steel Vengance construction (in person the coaster looks like it is going to be even more awesome) and Cedar Creek "Mystic" Mine Ride (I loved the nod to Mystic Timbers) and went to my 2nd coaster of the day- which back in 1978, at least Cedar Point claims this, was the biggest coaster in the world. RIDE #2: Gemini Wait Time: 5 Minutes OUCH! I had heard Gemini was one of the smoother Arrows, what the heck happened here?!?! On almost every drop or turn, Gemini kept jackhammering and my back was mildly punished by it. There was some light airtime and if the ride wasn't so rough I probably would have liked it, but this was a horrible first impression for Gemini. Invertigo is probably my least favorite big coaster at KI and I'd ride that over this without hesitation if Gemini is always like this. I'll give Gemini another chance some day probably, but the first ride was meh due to the roughness. Score: 6/10 After Gemini, my back OK but in some mild pain, I headed further down the Midway and to a ride that I was eagerly wanting to ride prior to this trip- but after Gemini, I was kinda worried about this one... RIDE #3: Magnum XL-200 Wait Time: 20 Minutes Dang, the station for this was crazy unsorted because of how big it is and the fact there are no dividers until you nearly board the train. Also for some reason Magnum XL-200 was only running 2 trains- the 3rd was on the transfer track. Probably needed repair or something. Anyhow I boarded eventually and thankfully, Magnum XL-200 was MUCH smoother than Gemini (still not sure how Gemini was that rough- my friends rode it separate from me and liked it). The first drop kind of underwhelmed me, with little air. The 2nd drop was a bit better with some weak floater, then the tunnel hit. The intensity began to increase. The ride hit the trims which sapped some speed but the pretzel knot was still forceful and fun. Then came the next few hills, and Magnum XL-200 came to life. Ejector Air! Over and over, up and down, I felt like I was gonna fly out of my seat multiple times and even thought my glasses, in spite of me using a strap, had flown off in that crazy final tunnel (thankfully they did not as I realized seconds later). The airtime was so strong it did kinda hurt my thighs a bit, but it was not too bad, so it was well worth it IMO. I actually like Magnum XL-200 over Diamondback, mainly due to how crazy the airtime on the final few hills is. Score: 10/10! (EJECTOR AIR FTW) After Magnum XL-200, I had about half an hour before I had to meet my group again. I saw Top Thrill Dragster had a 15-minute wait. I could have ridden earlier but I felt nervous after seeing TTD in person, the launch looked crazy and the noises were insane. But after Magnum XL-200 and all the ejector air, I felt ready. I boarded TTD 15 minutes later. The train rolled out of the station behind the 1st train. The train ahead prepared to launch. TTD then remembered it was a Intamin and broke down. UGH. That's 2 Intamin breakdowns. I had no time to wait to see if Dragster would re-open (it did, but it took about a hour to fix, and it had a huge wait all day after that so I never got to ride) since it was time to meet my group. My sister, who is scared of heights, was actually impressed I even tried to ride it alone. My solo session now over, I rejoined the group, ate a snack in our hotel room, and we went to go hang out on the beach a bit. I took my shoes off and let my feet into the lake water- they felt like they needed it. After washing the sand off, and putting my shoes back on we headed to a on-site store to buy Cigarettes, then we took a shuttle to the front gate because we wanted to ride a coaster near there...no, it was not Raptor or GateKeeper, both of those had huge waits. We instead rode... RIDE #4: Blue Streak Wait: 20 Minutes Yeah, 20 minutes was one of the shorter waits according to CP's wait time app my sister was using, and it turned out to be accurate for the most part. As for Blue Streak itself, it was kinda how I imagined it- like Racer. If Racer was rougher, and was faster paced and had twice as much airtime. I did not expect Blue Streak to pack this much punch! I loved it, in spite of the roughness which I think was partially because we (Me+Sister) rode in the very back. I actually even liked it more than Holiday World's beloved Raven (Raven is awesome but so was Blue Streak). Score: 9/10 After the small but spunky Blue Streak, it was about time for dinner. My sister had pre-bought tickets for the "Night of the Living Fed" event, held in the convention center section of the park. We arrived, rested (and they smoked their newly bought cigarettes at the nearby smoking section), and headed in for dinner...we were greeted by some of the scareactors as we entered. FOOD: Night of the Living Fed The food buffet was great. It was almost all delicious and there were lots of options. However, what really made this event was the scareactors- they were interacting with guests, and IMO, it was hillarious. They even fed my friends and our favorite of the bunch, a guy named Voodoo, put our silverware in my sister's hair! We made sure to get a picture as we headed out. This was awesome, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Score: 10/10 After NOTLF, we decided to go back to Frontier Town and ride Maverick, my sister's favorite ride, since we were stuffed and could wait for a ride now. We got back there as haunt was starting, and got in line. We waited 45 minutes, and then Maverick went down for the day. I cannot confirm this, but apparently at some point bees were on the track and had made a hive, and this may have been that. So I dunno if it was bees, or if the ride just Intamin'd like MF and TTD did earlier. Since there was nothing in the back of the park to ride (Steel Vengeance loomed for 2018 though), and we saw GateKeeper's wait had shrunk to 45 minutes, and my friend and sister wanted to ride Giant Wheel, we decided to go to GateKeeper the fastest way we could: train, then walk. RIDE #5: Cedar Point & Lake Erie RR Wait: 5 Minutes (for train to arrive) Holy cow this was the spookiest ride I have ever had on a train. Haunt was in full force, so the lighting and effects were at max creepout level, and the off-ride props really stand out at night. The fireworks sound the fake guns were making got me to jump. Why can't Kings Island's train be this cool!?!? Score: 8/10 The train got us much closer to our destination, and we walked the rest of the way to Giant Wheel. This section of the park was very pretty at night with all the lights. Me and one friend hesitated to ride Giant Wheel, as I had a bad experience on the one at the state fair a few years ago. My sister and our other friend got in line anyway, and I looked around for something to ride quick while they rode Giant Wheel. I saw... RIDE #6: MaXair Wait: 10 Minutes If you have ridden Delirium, I can sum up MaXair easily: it is Delirium with a longer, better ride cycle. If you have not ridden Delirium these rides dish out some fun positive and negative G-forces at 75+ mph. Delirium was my favorite flat ride...before this. Score: 9/10 After MaXair, I got off, and my sister was not even on Giant Wheel yet! Eventually they bailed and re-joined us, and we went to GateKeeper instead. The app said 45 minute wait... RIDE #7: GateKeeper Wait: 25 Minutes HA! App was off, in a good way, by 20 minutes! I rode in the back of the train on the left wing. Also...I do not get, at all, why some people call GateKeeper forceless and boring. It actually was very fun and had good forces! The first drop with the twist was incredible and nothing like I have ever felt before on a coaster, save maybe Banshee's slow roll. Also the big hill afterwards actually had airtime on it! Add a bunch of fun inversions including the keyholes to this, and a fun helix ending, and you have a great coaster. In comparison to Banshee (since both are newer B&M models with the same restraint system) I think I'd actually take GateKeeper- it's super close, but having even a bit of airtime and a amazing first drop give it the edge in my book. GateKeeper is a incredible roller coaster. Score: 10/10 After GateKeeper, time was running out, as only 2 1/2 hours remained before the park closed. We decided to ride the Sky Ride to quickly get to the Millennium Force section (as I had ridden Banshee previously Millennium Force was higher priority to me than Raptor and both were claimed to be at 1 hour), though I was hesitant since the one at the Indiana State Fair scared me. RIDE #8: Sky Ride Wait: Walk-On Thankfully, this Sky Ride is not stupid slow like the state fair one, and gives some nice views. So it did not scare me as much. It was a nice, quick way to cross the main midway too. Score: 7/10 After Sky Ride, we headed to Iron Dragon since our friend who doesn't like huge coasters wanted to ride it. It had a short wait so I decided to ride as well, just to get a extra coaster credit at least. RIDE #9: Iron Dragon Wait: 15 Minutes Iron Dragon is a fun ride, though unlike The Bat, I would not call this ride very intense. Swinging through the trees and over the pond are fun though, especially since it was nighttime. A fun ride to ride when you don't feel like something crazy. Score: 8/10 After Iron Dragon, me and my sister broke off from our friends (who were gonna go shop, eat, go back to the hotel, etc.) as I wanted to try to ride Millennium Force again. It had a 45 minute wait. We got in line, waited, and my sister called out a line jumper while we waited. We waited some more. We got near the station. We boarded. Millennium Force forgot it was a Intamin, because it actually let me ride! RIDE #10: Millennium Force Wait: 45 Minutes My first INTAMIN roller coaster. My first Giga coaster. These are 2 major coaster milestones for a coaster lover. Would Millennium Force be as awesome as everyone says it is, or is it, as some say, overrated? Millennium Force was, IMO, as awesome as it claimed to be. The sheer size of the first drop is staggering, not even Diamondback comes close (2nd tallest coaster I have been on so far). The speed is crazy, 93mph is very very fast. You blast through the tunnels, and at night, they were pitch black. And it offers some nice floater airtime on 4 occasions (first drop, both big hills, and final hill). MF at night felt like a mix of Beast (great speed through the forest and trees) and Diamondback (excellent floater air and huge hills). Those are 2 of my most loved coasters, and mixing them creates something epic. MF gave me giddly chuckles I previously have only gotten on Beast @ Night. It has (barely) surpassed Beast and become my new favorite coaster (Beast remains #1 wood though). That is one heck of an achievement. Now, can Millennium Force hold on to that title? Fury 325, El Toro, and more coasters I have yet to ride may have something to challenge that...heck, even Beast might try to re-bound... Score: 12/10!!! After Millie, me and my sister went back to check Maverick. It was still down. On the way there, and some of the way to our final ride, we passed through a scare zone which was very well done and very creepy- you could barely see anything, leading to many scareactors coming from the shadows. We finally headed around, towards the beach exit to our hotel, but first we grabbed one last ride... Ride #11: Magnum XL-200 (@ Night) Wait: Walk-On I tried to get 1-3, as I heard that was the "ejector seat", but we got 1-2 instead. However, that's not a wheel seat, so it was very smooth for a old 1989 Arrow. I also noticed that the lift can actually be very fast on this ride. The lake looked like a black void. I noticed there was more airtime on the first drop (still not much, but some) and the 2nd drop had a surprising pop of air come outta nowhere atop the hill. But the real fun once again began at the pretzel knot- the trims were off! So this time we blasted through the pretzel knot, and then got CRAZY ejector air on every hill after! It was not quite as good as the Millennium Force ride earlier, but it did come close. Magnum XL-200 deserves its legendary status in my book. It is also my new airtime king. Sorry Diamondback. Score: 11/10! I checked TTD's line again after we rode Magnum- it was pretty long so we just went back to the Hotel. We grabbed some snacks, and headed out to the beach side patio and chatted with our friends. Then we headed back in and slept. We woke up the next day, and had breakfast at the in-hotel restaurant I forgot the name of, but it had very good food. I got the Chicken Biscuits (no gravy- I'm not a fan) Scrambled Eggs, Potato Bites, Bacon, and a soda. It was delicious. Then we packed up, came home, and now I am writing this trip report for KIC. And that was my first experience at Cedar Point. I loved it, even if the Intamin coasters were having issues. I missed a ton of what are probably amazing coasters, so a return trip is very much needed. Probably on a day where crowds won't be as heavy. Not to mention Steel Vengeance in 2018 is probably gonna be amazing. Also do note that I did make quite a few comparisons to coasters at Kings Island (and one Holiday World) in this report, but that's because KI and HW are what I previously knew and thus would compare with. I still love the rides I made comparisons with BTW- especially Beast, since that one is what got me into coasters in the first place. And now, for the Pros/Cons of the trip: PROS +Amazing roller coasters and thrill rides, and lots of them! +Night of the Living Fed had great food and the scareactors were great +Beautiful lakeside location, and it lights up beautifully at night +Hotel Breakers is great with amazing staff. Will stay there again! CONS -Intamin has reliability issues and it shows here- though Bees may be to blame for 1...I can see why Cedar Fair has stopped buying from them. -Huge crowds, though that was to be expected considering the day we visited Overall I loved Cedar Point and cannot wait to return. Oh, as a bonus, since I got 7 new credits this visit raising my total to 26, here is my updated Top 10 list...note that prior to CP I have been to only KI, Holiday World, and Indiana Beach way back in 1999... #1- Millennium Force, Cedar Point (Intamin) #2- The Beast, Kings Island (Custom) #3- The Legend, Holiday World (CCI) #4- Magnum XL-200, Cedar Point (Arrow) #5- GateKeeper, Cedar Point (B&M) #6- Banshee, Kings Island (B&M) #7- Mystic Timbers, Kings Island (GCI) #8- Diamondback, Kings Island (B&M) #9- The Voyage, Holiday World (GG) #10- Blue Streak, Cedar Point (PTC) The Raven, Flight of Fear, Vortex, and The Bat have been kicked off my Top 10. I still love them though- also Rougarou which did not make Top 10, but I still really enjoyed a lot. I have been on a LOT of really good roller coasters considering I have been on "only" 26 of them (only Invertigo and Gemini are "meh" for me so far, and I may have just caught Gemini on a bad day)! Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this trip report. Questions, comments, and even advice for the next possible Cedar Point trip I make (aka when would be a good time to try and do it for example) welcome.

^ Here you go, it's in PDF Format and has the top 25 steel and wood coasters all listed. http://goldenticketawards.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017-GTA-Results.pdf Looking over this, I have more thoughts. In addition to the best-new-for-2017 and #11 overall Mystic Timbers, Kings Island also had Beast ranked as the #6 wooden coaster...scoring 666 points. So I guess 666 truly is "the number of The Beast", at least this year. Just a ironic coincidence, or something disturbing...? As for my personal taste on Beast vs. Mystic Timbers, it depends. If it is cool & cloudy, or dark (like at night), Beast is better. However, on regular sunny daytime rides, I prefer Mystic Timbers. Mystic Timbers also obliterated everything else on the best new ride poll, getting over 40% of the votes. Then again, 2017 was a "down" year with Mystic Timbers being the closest thing to a major huge new coaster (most of the rest of the rides in 2017 were much smaller). 2018 will probably go to Steel Vengeance. Diamondback continues to be ranked well in the steel charts, placing 8th. Banshee also made the Top 25 this year at #22, which is made more impressive when you consider the golden tickets seem biased against coasters with inversions on the steel list. At nearby Holiday World, all 3 woodies once again made top 25: Voyage was ranked 4th, Raven was 23rd, and Legend 24th. I think this may be closest Legend has ever gotten to Raven. I wonder if Legend could possibly even make the upset and pass it one of these years. (My opinion on these 3: Legend over Voyage, then Raven...) Wildebeest and Mammoth were #1 and #2 waterpark ride again, and they were the cleanest and #2 friendliest park again. Fury 325 won best steel coaster again, but this time it beat Millennium Force by a larger margin. It's looking like it is the new coaster to beat in this category, at least in the golden tickets, and it's doing it in a park that I'd guess is far less popular than Cedar Point overall. Millennium did claim #2, and Superman: The Ride @ SFNE claimed 3rd place. Iron Rattler did well, finishing 4th overall. El Toro- winner of the last 4 Mitch Hawker polls a few years back before it suddenly stopped- can add a 2nd Golden Ticket to its career resume, further cementing its status as one of the most celebrated wooden coasters in the world right now. Pheonix took 2nd place, and Boulder Dash drops to 3rd- they apparently had a minor accident and only ran 1 train most of the year, and they may have lost the golden ticket award because of that. Also of note: Lightning Rod shoots from outside the top 10 to 5th, likely due to being open a bit more this year and more people riding it. If Dollywood manages to keep it running and open on a consistent basis, it could eventually even take the #1 spot. Europa Park is pulling away right now as best park, its lead over Cedar Point is growing. The days of Cedar Point winning that award non-stop also seem to be over. And that's about all I have to comment on for now.

Well deserved. Also, I find it ironic that the relatively small GCI did something that big ol' Diamondback and Banshee both failed to do in 2009 & 2014. (Though I still think Banshee got screwed over since the ride that beat that opened in late 2013, not 2014) Also for those wondering, Mystic Timbers was 11th overall on the best wood coasters list. I was kinda expecting it to be closer or above Beast, given how most people compare the 2 coasters, but I think Beast had a lot more riders due to being open much longer (35+ more years) and thus more votes (This is one of the big reasons the Golden Ticket awards are not my main go-to for comparing how people view coasters- popular coasters, even if they suck- granted Beast clearly does not to most, will get more votes than a great coaster in the middle of nowhere.). I fully expect, so long as the ride quality does not decrease, Mystic Timbers will rise to a higher overall spot in the 2018 wood coaster results, possibly even passing Beast eventually since it is at the same popular park.

Actually I don't think $500 for Kings Island Season Long Fast Lane+ is that bad. They cannot make it too cheap, otherwise too many people will buy it, which will jam up the regular lines and create waits for even Fast Lane, which leads to angry customers and that means in the long run Cedar Fair loses money. Not to mention I have seen Fast Lane+ go for $80+ for even a single day, and someone who has a season pass and this will probably use it a lot on those super-busy weekends like the 4th of July and Halloween Haunt. Also a big reason why Kings Island's is more expensive than Carowinds or Kings Dominion's would be Kings Island gets bigger crowds- Kings Island draws 3 to 3.5 million guests in every year, and for comparison Kings Dominion is usually in the 1.5 to 2 million range if I recall correctly. I don't remember Carowinds specifically but I think they get just a bit more than KD. Cedar Point's Fast Lane Plus+ Season Pass is also going to be crazy expensive, possibly even more than the Kings Island one. Canada's Wonderland, another huge drawing Cedar Fair park, also charges $500 for this (though since that's Canadian it's more like $350 US) and Knott's Berry Farm in California will also probably be very expensive.

Well, I rode Mystic Timbers once again about a week ago, and since it was a few months between my rides, I'll share my thoughts on my now updated opinion. Mystic Timbers has gotten a bit rougher since my first ride in April- not by a lot, but it did actually feel like a classical wooden coaster instead of being smoother than Banshee this time. It didn't cause me any actual pain or anything though, and overall I actually thought it added to the ride a bit. The airtime and forces of all types (positive and lateral) also actually felt a bit stronger. It also helps that the trees around the ride have now grown in, so the "wooded" feeling is enhanced more as well. The shed is better on re-rides when you know what to expect and thus can look for all the hidden little secrets. Mystic Timbers, IMO, has gotten BETTER since its debut. Also I have gotten 2 of the 3 endings on my 3 rides, Bats twice and Snakes once. Now I just need to get a night ride- it'll need to be super epic to surpass Beast as my favorite coaster overall, mainly because that ride gives super epic night rides, but Mystic Timbers does give the better ride during the daylight, especially if it's sunny and hot out (Beast is more fun IMO when the air is cooler). However, no matter how that ends up, I still think this was a great addition and it makes KI's wooden coaster lineup incredibly strong overall.

Hello everyone! Get ready for another trip report, as I went to Kings Island yesterday (8-18-2017) with my sister and two friends. First up, for newbies who have never read one of my trip reports, my ride rating system... 10=Incredible 9=Excellent 8=Very Good 7=Good 6=OK 5=Meh 4=Bad 3=Garbage 2=Horrible 1=Super Garbage 0=Ultimate Garbage Be warned- we were able to do a lot since crowds were light, and we spent the entire day at the park to boot. This is gonna be a long trip report. Me, My Sister, and 2 of our friends arrived at the park at 9:45 AM and since we saw the parking lot was mostly empty, we decided to go straight to Mystic Timbers before it could build up a line. We looked around some of the shops before the rope drop, and then headed straight to Mystic Timbers. Ride #1: Mystic Timbers Wait: Under 5 Minutes The ride has gotten a bit rougher, and is no longer glass smooth like it was one my visit in April (Still pretty smooth though). However, I kind of liked it better that way- it felt like the ride had a bit more of a "edge". The airtime and forcefulness also felt a bit stronger. The shed is actually better when you ride a 2nd time, as you know what to expect a bit more and can look around for the cool hidden secrets. We got the Snakes ending this time, and it played "Maneater" as the song. Mystic Timbers improves from 9/10 on my first ride on it to a full 10/10! It was also my sister's friends first big roller coaster. He was actually OK on it and did want to ride more... Score: 10/10 After Mystic Timbers, we decided to hit 3 more coasters before the crowds could build up, knowing they were all low capacity... Ride #2+3: Backlot Stunt Coaster Wait: Walk-On We walked onto Backlot Stunt Coaster, and got a ride where NOTHING WAS WORKING. The ride still has some fun forces and elements, but it loses a bit of charm when everything is off. On a positive note, the emergency lights in the tunnel were on so we got to see the actual track in there. It's not as crazy as it seems when the lights are off. We then sat on the brake run for a good 10 minutes as a mechanic...fixed the effects. We got off and as it was still a walk-on, we rode it again with the effects on and they were all working the 2nd time. The lights in the tunnel were still on though. Score: 7/10 no effects, 8/10 with effects After Backlot, we headed to X-Base, to ride its "Big Brother"... Ride #4: Flight of Fear Wait: Walk-On This was the classic, a bit rough and super forceful and intense ride I have come to expect from Flight of Fear. All of the effects in the que and on the ride itself (the lights basically) were working. The UFO in the que going dark was creepy and awesome. The alien dude they put sitting at the end of the ride got me to chuckle as we headed out of the ride. Also the MCBR was back on, unlike my last ride in 2016. Our friend, who was just getting into coasters, didn't like this one at all as he thought it was too intense. Score: 9/10 After FOF, we headed to its next door neighbor...which I have not ridden since 2012... Ride #5: Firehawk Wait: 10 Minutes (1 Train- not much of a line though so we waited it out...) As we got on and boarded, we laid back...and we heard the lift hill going. Turns out, they decided to set up and send out the other train for test runs. Afterwards we were sent out and got our ride. The sun was in our faces as we climbed the lift hill, which provides a great view of the park if you look to the right (I did just that to avoid looking at the Sun). The ride packed a bit more force than I remember (then again it has been 5 years) especially in the loop which was awesome. A fun ride I don't get to ride very often due to its usually crazy long lines. Score: 8/10 After Firehawk, our friend who has just starting to get into coasters started to become sick, and he revealed he has a weak stomach and gets sick easily if spun around/flipped, so the 2 inverting coasters we just rode (FOF+Firehawk) were too much. He was still happy to come with us though and carry our stuff when we rode stuff that needed lockers. My sister wanted to head to the waterpark at noon, and eat now (it was like 11:30 AM) but she was OK with me leaving on my own to ride 2 rides solo... Ride #6: The Beast Wait: Walk-On This was my first time solo on The Beast, and my 20th ride overall on it. I accidently chose a wheel seat in the back of a car because I didn't notice the arrows in the station at first. The ride was a bit rougher because of this, but it wasn't horrible. The ride also packed a good amount of speed, and good forcefulness and intensity. However it was also hot out, and for whatever reason it didn't feel quite as good as some of my other Beast rides- I think it was the heat, warm air does not feel as fun to go through fast as cooler air to me. Because of this I think I got better daytime rides on Mystic Timbers instead of Beast. But...well, read on. Score: 9/10 After a slightly rough-but-fun old ride, I decided before I met back up with my group to hit the waterpark, the perfect ride to compliment it would be something huge, modern, and smooth... Ride #7: Diamondback Wait: Under 5 Minutes I took the back car once again since I love the airtime from that car, and I rode with a nice old lady and her grandkids. She had never been on the ride, so I warned her of the airtime that was to come. Sure enough, Diamondback offered up a buffet of airtime as usual. I loved it once again. The lady, however, looked spooked. She calmed down by the time we returned to the station but she'd had enough for one day she said. Her grandkids loved it though, and were trying to get her to go on Banshee next. As for me, I had to meet up with my group again... Score: 10/10 We all met up, grabbed our stuff, and headed towards the main exit (we had to get our waterpark gear). But our now non-coaster riding friend wanted to quickly ride the Eiffel Tower, so we did so. Ride #8: Eiffel Tower Wait: Walk-On The view from atop the Eiffel Tower was amazing as usual. I noticed a tall electrical tower I had seen in Google Maps off in the distance, as well as what looked to be hundreds of water towers. A ride-op asked me how many trees, I said hundreds of thousands if not millions. I may be in the ballpark... Score: 8/10 After the Tower, we exited the park got our waterpark gear ready, and came back in. We decided to ride the train to the waterpark... Ride #9: Kings Island & MV RR Wait: 10 Minutes (Train took a while to arrive as only 1 was running) The train was its usual self for the most part, save us only riding it halfway. Does it still count as a full ride if you get off at the waterpark and never get back on though? Score: 7/10 We arrived at the waterpark, fully changed into our swimsuits, and headed out to find...half the waterpark was closed. Apparently there was not enough staff, which I guess is because KI employs a ton of school kids and it was a weekday. However, we found Tidal Wave Bay was open, so we hit it up. I really didn't mind much as I just wanted to get wet and this would do... Ride #10: Tidal Wave Bay Wait: N/A This giant wave pool has some pretty freakin' strong waves! It was slightly annoying at first, but I found if you don't resist and go with the waves, it becomes pretty fun. Pool was pretty packed. I eventually managed to get a floating ring thing and it became even more fun to get carried by the waves. I enjoyed this attraction. Score: 8/10 After the refreshing TWB, we decided to ride Tropical Plunge, since it was one of the few waterslides open that looked interesting. Ride #11: Tropical Plunge (Blue Drop Slide) Wait: 10-15 Minutes I chose the Blue slide, since from atop, it looked like a good layout. I boarded the "coffin", and the eerie lady voice counted down 3...2..1...DROP! The drop itself was not that bad, kinda like Drop Tower's is to me. However, what became annoying as all heck is that the entire way down, water was snorting its way up my nose and I could not see anything because of it. I only knew the ride was ending when it went dark towards the end. Still fun, but if there was some way to ride it without getting water constantly shot in my face, I'd do that instead. Score: 7/10 After taking "Da Plunge", we were hungry and decided to hit one of the main things we came to the waterpark to try... Food #1: Island Smokehouse Wait: None Island Smokehouse was pretty dead, only a few people were inside. Kind of surprising. I saw the chicken fingers in person, and had to try them as they looked great, and they were. The ribbon cut fries they came with were also very good. I also tried some of my sister's food, she got the chicken wings and mac n' cheese, both of those were also excellent. I got so full I didn't even really need to eat more the rest of the day! Kings Island has a great new restraunt here, and I hope the rumors it is coming to the dry park in 2018 are true. Score: 10/10 After we ate, I sat out a 2nd trip to the wave pool (I was a little water hesitant after Tropical Plunge) and waited while the others swam a bit more. We then headed back to the changing stations, and switched back to our dry gear. We then headed to the car (long walk, may have been a mistake) and dropped off our wet gear. We then headed back into the main park, and into Action Zone. There were still no lines, but when my sister had us hand all our stuff to our friend who didn't wanna do coasters anymore, I knew we were gonna ride... Ride #12: Banshee Wait: Walk-On Banshee has been an amazing B&M Invert since Day 1 in 2014, and there was nothing different here. Great speed, strong g-forces, and smooth elements and transitions. There was still a bit of a rattle but it was not as bad as it was in April. I also noticed (or at least think I did) the never-used trim before the pretzel/heart loop was gone. Banshee: dishin' out epic rides since 2014. Score: 10/10 After Banshee, we tried to get our friend to ride The Bat with us since it lacked inversions and we thought it would be OK for him, but he dumped on us halfway through and we didn't even notice until it was too late. We then rode The Bat ourselves. Ride #13: The Bat Wait: Walk-On I had heard the ride was broken a few days ago, so I am glad The Bat was open for us when we visited yesterday. The ride was the normal fun, swinging coaster that sadly always ends way too soon I love. It may have been a good thing our other friend didn't ride, as we noticed that last swing on the brake run is pretty intense and could have further upset his stomach. Score: 8/10 After The Bat, we planned to start heading down Coney Mall and hitting the coasters there we had yet to ride. However, the others decided to stop and smoke, while I am a non-smoker. I said "OK so we are doing Adventure Express, The Racer, and Vortex next?" "The other 2 sure, but, Uhh, we really aren't down for Vortex right now." I asked if I could ride Vortex by myself while they smoked, they said yes. I headed down Coney Mall, and reached Vortex for said ride. Ride #14: Vortex Wait: Walk-On I rode in 5-1 yet again since it is one of my favorite seats (I debated 7-1 but it would have had a short wait). Vortex was rougher than I recall it being, because in addition to the normal stuff, there seemed to be a occasional awkward shuffle near the start of the ride (first few turns- by the end of the ride it was back to "normal" though). The ride itself also felt faster and more intense though as well. I wasn't in any physical pain afterwards, so all in all I enjoyed the ride. I also for the first time in person saw The Vortex "smile". I cannot unsee it now. Thanks, VortexBFFForever...who may or may not have been working Vortex, I dunno. I rode around 5:30PM... Score: 8.5/10 I met back up with the group, who had finished smoking, and we headed for the other 2 rides they were down for. First up, Adventure Express! Ride #15: Adventure Express Wait: Walk-On I just realized that I rode all 3 of KI's Arrow coasters back-to-back. LOL. Our friend sat this one out as well, even though to be honest it would probably have been fine since AE isn't the most intense or craziest coaster out there. It is good fun though, and ALL the effects on the final tunnel were working for once! Score: 8/10 We then hit up Racer which was next door, which oddly was running both sides even though it only needed to do 1 due to the crowd levels. So much for my "Both Sides Only Run on Busy Days" theory... Ride #16: Red Racer Wait: Walk-On My friend who was doing coasters and sister wanted to do Blue Racer, so when we boarded, just for fun, I hopped onto the same car on Red, 1 seat back because they were on a wheel and I didn't want to do that. I might have been fine though, because Racer was running pretty smoothly. Good amounts of airtime, and the trains were racing (though they started Red out a little ahead for some reason). I taunted my friends on the other train as we headed up the lift hills. It backfired however- even though my train was cheatin', somehow the Blue Racer still won. D'OH! Score: 8.5/10 After Racer, my sister and friend wanted to ride Beast (I already had) and Diamondback next, but took another smoking break beforehand. While sitting with them, I noticed we were VERY near Zephyr, a ride I had not ridden in 17 years. Rather than smoke... Ride #17: Zephyr Wait: Walk-On ...I swung! This ride has a lot of very pretty artwork on it. I do think I slightly perfer Holiday World's Hollowswings but Zephyr is still a fun Wave Swinger ride. Score: 8/10 After Zephyr, we continued with the plan. Next up was The Beast...for me, again... Ride #18: The Beast (2nd Ride) Wait: 5 Minutes For the first time ever, I finally got to ride in the very last car of Beast. I was in 6-2, the non wheel seat in said car. I wondered how much crazier this back car really would be. Turns out...a little bit, but not that much. I did get a nice weak pop of airtime on the 2nd drop, but other than that and a bit more intensity in the helix (and a smoother ride since it wasn't a wheel seat) it felt the same as earlier in the day. So...same rating. Score: 9/10 We then headed over to check the line for Mystic Timbers, looked around 20 minutes or so. While that wasn't a huge wait, Diamondback had a even shorter line than that, so we rode it instead for right now. Ride #19: Diamondback (2nd Ride) Wait: 10 Minutes Waterpark had likely closed by this point, hence why there were now some short lines instead of zero lines. However, Diamondback's crew was really working their butts off, so the wait was pretty short. I rode in the very back car again, though even further back now in the divided seats since my sister and other friend wanted to front seats. I got a little extra airtime from being a bit further back, but other than that and some mist from the final splashdown, same ride as before. Still very fun. Score: 10/10 We went and checked on Mystic Timbers again, but it's line grew a little bit. I wanted to ride again, but my sister and her friends wanted to do White Water Canyon and the log flume (including the guy who didn't wanna do coasters since these were not coasters). So we split up... Ride #20: Mystic Timbers (2nd Ride) (WOOHOO 20+ RIDES IN 1 DAY!) Wait: 30 Minutes (Huge in comparison) The ride itself was the same as before, until the shed at least, so I don't need to mention that again. However I noticed while in line how much mass appeal Mystic Timbers seems to have- Old people, kids, and coaster loving teens were all in line for this one. There was a dad and his 2 kids who were about to make this their first big coaster, or at least it seemed that way. Kings Island truly has found the sweet spot with this GCI wooden coaster. As for the shed, I got Bats for the 2nd time (1st was back in April on my first ride) but since it was sunset and darker out now, the little details really stood out more, like the hidden text and stuff. I also don't know what song was playing on this one, it was cheesy 80's pop but that's all I could recognize. I also was sitting in car #8, so I saw the entire finale video this time. They also put a huge fan in the shed due to the heat- hopefully at some later date AC will be added. Mystic Timbers seems to be a ride that gets better every time I ride it... Score: 10/10 After Mystic Timbers, I met my group, who rode WWC and Surf Dog instead of Log Flume because the Log Flume had a long wait. WWC had also soaked them. My sister was hungry, so she used her meal plan (she had paid $75 for a ticket that included that, admission, parking, and a drink bottle) and got a BBQ sandwich from Tom+Chee. She ate half her sandwich and gave me the rest, so I guess... Food #2: Tom+Chee Wait: None MMm...the sandwich was delicious and the perfect size for someone who was still somewhat full from the Island Smokehouse earlier. She also actually got her chips this time, which they had forgotten back in April. She gave them to another friend of our's though. Score: 10/10 My sister then wanted to ride Boo Blasters, since she loves it. As we headed towards it, we saw Drop Tower running. One of our friends really wanted to ride that after Boo Blasters, but my sister was scared to death of it, and our other friend was reluctant as well due to what had occured with the coasters. But for now we decided to do Boo Blasters. Ride #21: Boo Blasters on Boo Hill Wait: Under 5 Minutes Shockingly, I got some fun out of Boo Blasters, probably my best experience on this since it opened in 2010 besides my first ride! All the effects seemed to be working (including "Shaggy"), and apparently so was my gun because I got a personal best high score of 900! In fact, other than the issues on BLSC at the start, almost all the theming and effects related to rides was working. Good job on that Kings Island. Score: 7/10 After BBOBH, we headed to Action Zone. My sister painic'ed at the mere prospect of riding Drop Tower, and her heart rate was skyrocketing on her fitbit, so we knew she was actually really scared and let her back out. Our other friend also backed out. So it was me and one friend, who in line revealed he actually had never ridden this himself because it was always broken or he was with friends who would not ride. So I got to do it with him. Ride #22: Drop Tower (Night) Wait: 5 Minutes While this ride, due to its sheer height and concept, still makes my nervous I have found ways to distract myself and enjoy it more. I looked at other rides, the highway, etc etc. It was night now so all the rides were lighting up and it was very pretty. Before I knew it, we were 30 stories up and then...KLUNK. The actual drop doesn't bother me, it feels reliving to me in fact. A fun ride overall, my friend enjoyed it as well and was happy I did it with him. Score: 8/10 Since it was dark yet only 9:00PM (park closed at 10), we decided to ride Banshee, since it is a great night ride and was right there. Ride #23: Banshee (Night) Wait: 10 Minutes (Front Row) We waited for Front Row since that is THE row for Inverts and night rides alike. Banshee is great at daytime, but wow, at night it gets even better. The air blowing in my face was cool now, which I liked a lot more, and the awesome lights and scenery around the coaster really popped. The best ride of the day until this point! Score: 11/10! After Banshee, I pitched that we go and ride The Beast, since it is such a awesome night ride and Mystic Timbers probably had a huge (by comparison) line still. It worked and we headed over, but my sister and non-riding friend ditched as we arrived, as they wanted to see the fireworks better. Me and our other friend went and rode Beast though. Ride #24: The Beast Wait: 45 Minutes (15 minutes but fireworks delay) We still got a nice view of the Fireworks, but having recently seen the 4th of July ones from both my current home city and downtown Indianapolis, they underwhelmed a bit. But, where as now my sister and other friend were probably sitting in the car outside the park, me and my other friend got a Beast night ride. We also chatted with some other guests while waiting, and ended up entertaining them with my knowledge. Also encountered some other coaster enthusiasts who told me how awesome Cedar Point and Carowinds are, particullary Millennium Force and Fury 325. I did state I wanted to try both of those before deciding which I liked more. Then, the ride re-opened, and we rode The Beast. And wow. Mystic Timbers may be a better ride on hot, muggy days...but at night, it'll have its work cut out for it. There was no moon, so it was super dark out, and to make it more eerie all the other rides (except Mystic Timbers) were closed already so Beast was the only ride still running. This led to a super zen ride. The speed, drops, turns, and tunnels all felt longer and more intense as you could not see anything. The cool air felt great blowing on my face. The final helix was pure insanity. For me, Beast @ Night is the ultimate coaster bliss. It is gonna take some monster ride to top it. Score: 12/10! Afterwards, as the park was closing obliously, we saw the last few trains head out and then left. We made our way to the car through a closed Planet Snoopy (TBH it is a bit creepy at night with no one in it) and exited the park. We found our friends, got in the Van, and headed home after a epic day. I hope you all enjoyed this trip report. Here are my final pros+cons as usual... PROS +Incredible Roller Coasters. Kings Island has 11 "adult" coasters and I only think one of them is worse than "decent" (Invertigo- which I didn't do this trip) and the rest are all good or better. +Great staff. Everyone I ran into was friendly and nice, and the ride crews were doing great today. +Great food. What I ate was delicious, and service was fast, though there weren't any real lines to test the speed. +All Theming Working outside first ride on BLSC. On rides like Adventure Express and Boo Blasters, this helps a lot. CONS -Half of Waterpark closed due to apparent lack of staff. Since it was my first time ever, not a great first impression. And that'll do it. Another epic trip to Kings Island and I am very happy to have gone. Even the guy with us who didn't do much after Firehawk loved his time there hanging with us so much, he bought my sister a bottle of wine (she did pay for him to take us and bought his ticket though)! He does say next time he wants to try coasters again but no looping rides. I had a absolute blast myself. As usual, questions and comments welcome and thanks again for reading this HUGE trip report!

I would have reacted to this yesterday, but alas I was busy. However, I will leave my thoughts now... ...HOLY TOLEDO THIS RIDE LOOKS INCREDIBLE. Over 200 feet tall, first coaster with a wooden structure since Son of Beast to go that high (even though it is steel track). Which also- as the marketing clearly said- makes it the tallest and fastest of all steel/wood hybrid coasters. All 4 inversions looks great, and it promises more airtime than any other coaster period, which to me is the biggest selling point. I also love how they made a backstory about Frontier Town and how this ride came to be, and they even included Maverick in the story. In fact I am quite happy Cedar Fair under Ouimet has started doing this for the new coasters- I enjoy it when they have backstories. A lot of awesome new coasters were announced yesterday. 2018 in general already looks stacked, and this- at least for now- looks to sit on top of that stack. Unless Six Flags or someone does something really crazy or something. This will be hard to top, however...