Where is The Crypt?

[King Maple The Tree King]

Today I had the chance to visit Kings Island for the first time this season. Normally, I would spend many summer days throughout the season riding rides, snacking on my favorite treat or even just walking and taking in the sights with my family. This year, due to the collapse of my place of employment and a rigorous traveling schedule, I have been distracted from what I loved about summer.

After my son-in-law and I cheered on my daughter/his wife in the "Run Kings Island" event this morning, we stopped by the Cracker Barrel off of Fields Ertel for a little breakfast. This was a mistake as it was Sunday morning and Cracker Barrel is popular regardless. The long wait to be seated and enjoyment of a hearty breakfast caused us to arrive at Kings Island a little bit later than planned. My daughter had enjoyed the event as it supported a great cause and granted her some wonderful views of the park in the early morning light. Her only criticism was that part of the course took participants through the employee parking lot where plenty of employees and their vehicles were piling in, causing quite a bit of a traffic concern for the runners.

Like a little kid, I had spent the previous night anticipating my visit to Kings Island that would be the next day. I spent a majority of my evening viewing the impressive, interactive Ride Warrior Nation website. As I scrolled through the rides from KI featured on the page I got excited about riding my old favorites and trying new thrills such as Diamondback and The Crypt which I had previously not ridden. Seeing the "card" on the RWN site and reading the description got me very excited:

The description on the back of the online card reads:

You’ll never feel more alive than when you and your fate are sealed into the darkness of The Crypt. Be sure to stifle your horrified screams as you’re inverted four times over boiling lava and razor-tipped stalagmites; you don’t want to wake the dead buried bellow.

As we passed effortlessly through the metal detectors, strange as my cell phone usually seems to set them off, friendly smiles of the security attendants greeted us while a kind employee scanned my seasons pass for the first time this season. It had been too long! We agreed we'd check on Diamondback later, my daughter and son-in-law wanted to hit up some old favorites, I wanted to try the Crypt. My son-in-law argued that a ride on The Crypt was not worth my time, I was determined to try it anyways. The description and pictures on Ride Warrior Nation seemed to counteract his argument.

Photos from Cedar Fair's Ride Warrior Nation

We decided to split up. They went off to take a spin on Son of Beast, only to find it apparently closed, while I located The Crypt on the complimentary map:

As I passed through the park it was great to see so much atmosphere back in Kings Island. I felt the park had reached a new high last season and this year it seemed to be doing better than ever! Walking past Diamondback the landscaping was wonderful and the sight of the new B&M coaster very impressive. The music though, was a real drawback. I think Kings Island needs to take out the "Awesome 80's" mix tape they have playing.

I made my way to The Crypt only to find that it was...

CLOSED

The friendly guy outside informed me that it may be open later. Oh well, no worries, that just meant I get to see an old friend; The Beast! A lap on The Beast revealed that the Double Helix seemed to have gotten some off season track work as the force and smoothness of the turns could really be felt (loved the cobblestones outside The Beast entrance by the way). I exited The Beast to take a turn on the Crypt only to find that it was...

CLOSED

Oh well, these things happen. I took a spin on the green train, taking in the sights of Diamondback and park guests cooling off from the intense heat in the water park. I returned to Rivertown, forked over an arm and a leg for my Potato Works fries. As I waited for my fries I noticed the employees in front of The Crypt were removing the "Temporarily Closed" sign and leaving, it had opened! I still had to wait for my fries, so I did. Then waited some more. After noticing three groups of guests who had been in line behind me receive their orders first, I reminded the employee of mine. I was given a cup of cold, soggy fries. I was pretty disappointed, but after asking to speak with someone I was set with an apology and new cup of fresh fries!

I enjoyed my snack from a bench and then made my way to The Crypt entrance.

Creepy music echoes through the halls of skeletons, spiders and cobwebs. I really enjoyed the "haunted house atmosphere" that the queue line's music and lights give. After roughly a 15 minute wait an employee assigned me to the "right" row and I was in the "bat" room that I had seen featured on KICentral before:

Here is where I got very confused. I could see the ride operating in the room/area ahead but I had sworn the pictures online had shown it to be an outdoor ride. Maybe in my old age I was fooling myself. As we got ready to ride, the employee grabbed the microphone and said "Alright, if you want your row to board the ride first you have to scream as loud as you can." then asked each row to scream. It was great fun and reminded me a lot of those night time rides on The Beast and how the crew there does a "power hour." My row won and we were ushered into the next room.

This is where the disappointment set in. We were brought into a room almost completely void of the decoration and atmosphere seen in the previous queue. As the ride began I noticed the stone figure on the wall and the rock structure below us. The ride makes sort of a ferris wheel motion as we did two inversions. As the ride approached the top again I figured the grand finale was coming...with the "lava" and "stalagmites" that had been in the description online. Instead, the ride continued it's circle and lowered down. The restraints came up and we were asked to have a nice day and exit to our right.

I couldn't believe it! Where was the "boiling lava and razor-tipped stalagmites?" Why were we inverted only two times instead of "four times?" Where was the water effects and outdoor ride I had seen on Ride Warrior Nation? Flabbergasted I asked the young man in the exit if this was in fact "The Crypt." He responded "yes." As I met with my family after my son-in-law said "see, told you it wasn't worth the wait" validating his original argument.

So I ask you KICentral: "Where is The Crypt?" Was what I had experienced really "The Crypt" I had read about? It seems so.

Since Cedar Fair didn't seem to care too much about the accuracy of their description or images, I thought maybe I could offer some new ones that are not entirely correct, but may give the viewer a more accurate description of what they will experience on The Crypt:

A tame, watered down version of a ferris wheel:

Inside an...

...empty warehouse.

Featuring two inversions, loud noises and flashing lights.

While the rest of our visit was wonderful (especially the all new Diamondback), I couldn't get my mind off of how disappointed I had been in "The Crypt." I guess I had just built it up in my mind too much. Upon coming home to write my trip report, I had to re-check Ride Warrior Nation. I couldn't believe how wrong the description and photographs had been. I felt kind of cheated. Even if I hadn't read a description of The Crypt beforehand, the ride was quite boring and I truly feel wasn't worth my wait.

[TheKlockster]

Awesome trip report. And you're right - the Rock-o-Plane at Coney Island can go upside down much more than The Crypt - and is overall a more fun and much more exhilarating attraction. You should have gone there.

[CoastersRZ]

After all, "Coney Has it." The Rock O Planes can give quite an intense ride experience if you get the cars spinning (or if you kindly ask the ride ops to give you a spin before starting the ride).

[KI Kevin]

The outdoor Crypt you saw was the one at Kings Dominion, which is a regular Top Spin instead of a Giant Top Spin. The one at KD is far more intense. You invert 6 times (am I correct), and you are hung over fountains and fire. It incororates top spin moves (constant flipping of only the gondola.

Overall, The Crypt at KI is pretty lame nowadays. It was brilliantly themed in it's days as Tomb Raider (that's when it had the lava and stalactites (sp?), and it was intense in it's early days as the Crypt. Too bad it's not very good anymore...

EDIT: Oh and by the way. Those pictures you put were pretty funny.

[cholderfield]

And I STILL don't understand why KD kept most of the themeing for The Crypt while KI's Crypt became a ferris wheel in an empty room.

[rotag]

Don't forget about the two flips.

[cholderfield]

Thanks!...Our Crypt also has 1/3 of the flips of The Crypt at KD... How could I forget?

[Tomkatt7]

Great trip report!

This year was also the first time I was ablt to get my daughter to ride the Crypt.

We go every year, and she has been working up her nerve.

This year she rode everything, in cluding the Crypt.

I died laughing, as she walked off of it, she was amazed at how scared she had been of it, and said, "They should re name that ride, and call it "The Crapt"!!!

[violakat03]

Actually, Kings Dominion's Crypt flips 9 times. 8 if you don't count the one in the middle as a full flip - the gondola is locked until it fully inverts, then it releases while upside down but it swings back forwards instead of doing a completely flip, however it is completely inverted. I just watched the video I shot of the ride cycle and counted!

Kings Dominion's is so much better than ours it isn't even funny. BTW, King Maple, your entire post was excellent. Your description of Crypt had me cracking up. You described it quite well! To experience the version described on the RWN site, you would have to go back in time and ride it as Tomb Raider, or to ride a more intense version, drive down to Virginia.

[Dalefan]

King, SOB has been closed since early June when it was reported that a lady got a head injury while riding it. The park wont open SOB again the rest of the year. The park will be working on what to do with SOB in the winter. It may close for good.

[TheKlockster]

After all, "Coney Has it." The Rock O Planes can give quite an intense ride experience if you get the cars spinning (or if you kindly ask the ride ops to give you a spin before starting the ride).

Yeah definitely. I remember that one time I rode it when it was still fairly new, and you were running it. I kept my car locked upside down for the entire duration of the unload - and I was near the top when the unload started. Such a great ride.

Tomb Raider tries to accomplish the same effect as the Rock-O-Plane - but it's too big and slow and just ends up confusing people.

[Gordon Bombay]

My favorite theming element in The Crypt is the maintenance work bench, just like an authentic work bench found in a real Crypt.

[indianapolisman]

I see some contradiction here. nuff said........

[KI Kevin]

Actually, Kings Dominion's Crypt flips 9 times. 8 if you don't count the one in the middle as a full flip - the gondola is locked until it fully inverts, then it releases while upside down but it swings back forwards instead of doing a completely flip, however it is completely inverted.

I stand corrected! I guess I couldn't even tell due to the overall intensity of the ride and awesomeness of it. I assume you rode it?

[violakat03]

Oh yes. I lost count of how many times it flipped while I was actually riding it. I had to go back and watch the video I filmed of it to count them afterward. KD's Crypt is one of my favorite flat rides.

[iChase]

Maple, I love your post. You nailed the description. I used to love TR:TR and The Crypt when it first opened. I rode TR:TR in its first season and was blown away. The theming and actual ride experience were flawlessly integrated and helped make a great package. Then The Crypt came along. No real theming. At least, the theming didn't work with the ride. They form two separate worlds. There's the "theming" in the queue, then the ride. That's it. The ride program was fantastic! But it was just a ride in a box. No story, no theming, no sound effects. I dealt with it for the awesome adrenaline rush the ride provided, but it just wasn't the same. I wasn't really into it. In the TR:TR days, I would actually get nervous. I would get excited. I would get enveloped. The theming adds a huge amount of mystique to the ride. I guess what I'm saying is, I was in it for the whole experience, not just wait in the indoor queue for a case of vertigo in a box.

Then the new Crypt! That came along and The Crypt was actually removed from the park map for me. It's awful. The only thing about The Crypt that originally kept me coming back was the awesome ride program. Well that's been removed and theming went long ago. So what, exactly, is there to keep me coming back? Nothing.

In my opinion, KI should cut their losses, remove it, and put that space to a better use. It's done, pack it in, we had a good run. You know, all the clichès.

[shortyOSU]

This is why an inside joke between us associates is that the Crypt is nothing much more than an indoor Ferris wheel, and whenever people ask me about it I always tell them not to ride it because it is quite terrible.

[rotag]

Hurry, hurry, come ride the first ferris wheel of its kind, what makes it unique you ask? It is inside a box and does two loops, with minimal theme-ing.

[PREMiERdrum]

I don't get all the hate for the new program... it is nowhere near as exciting as the Crypt v1, and lacking the theming detail of TR:TR, but the ride itself isn't all that awful. It's no longer a headline attraction, that's for sure, but it's still a solid flat.

My only major gripe with it is the visible maitenance area at the front corner of the show building. As dark as that part of the chamber is, it would only take some theatrical drape to create a pull curtain around the bench to clean things up.

The soundtrack works well, the lighting is well timed to the ride, and the queue has a reasonable amount of created atmosphere. There is no backstory, and the location still makes *no* sense within the park, but people still ride it.

It has been accpeted by most that the ride was tearing itself apart with the Crypt v1 program. So long as downtime levels off, maitenance costs stay low, and people still line up, the ride will probably stick around.

I know most of the hardcore enthusiasts don't like this answer, but if you take off your enthusiast hat for a minute and look at the ride for what it is (a flat ride, and most definately not a headline attraction), it is a decent addition to the park, and surely keeps the lines for other rides a bit shorter.

I have a degree in design (stagecraft and themed environments), and don't see too much problem with the queue (although it is dangerously dark once you make the first bend). I would like to see the demon bat actually do something other than sit there, but from what I understand The Bat's screaming was too scary for some guests. I would also like to see the Durga relief repainted, but as it is now it is lit and completly visible on the ride.

[Diamondback96]

It has been accpeted by most that the ride was tearing itself apart with the Crypt v1 program. So long as downtime levels off, maitenance costs stay low, and people still line up, the ride will probably stick around.

But the problem is that the damage has been done. The Crypt is down more often than it is running.

[PREMiERdrum]

It has been accpeted by most that the ride was tearing itself apart with the Crypt v1 program. So long as downtime levels off, maitenance costs stay low, and people still line up, the ride will probably stick around.

But the problem is that the damage has been done. The Crypt is down more often than it is running.

I didn't realize the downtime lately has been that bad. I've spent a few days in the park the last few weeks, and never saw the Crypt closed. I would hope that Huss would make good on the ride, but with their financial issues I don't see them pouring too much into it. Like I said, if they can get downtime and maintenance costs to level then it's a nice addition to the park. If it stays closed more than it's open, then it's time to pull the plug.

[Guest TombraiderTy]

I don't get all the hate for the new program... it is nowhere near as exciting as the Crypt v1, and lacking the theming detail of TR:TR, but the ride itself isn't all that awful. It's no longer a headline attraction, that's for sure, but it's still a solid flat.

I have a degree in design (stagecraft and themed environments), and don't see too much problem with the queue (although it is dangerously dark once you make the first bend). I would like to see the demon bat actually do something other than sit there, but from what I understand The Bat's screaming was too scary for some guests. I would also like to see the Durga relief repainted, but as it is now it is lit and completly visible on the ride.

I agree- if you don't go on the ride expecting some big thriller, and if you don't compare to it the first version of The Crypt or either of the Tomb Raider programs, you'll enjoy it.

And The Bat still screeches and opens its wings, as of a week ago at least.

[The Interpreter]

But, but, but...most business at Kings Island is repeat business. MOST Crypt riders know what it was like before. Most ride cycles, many people get off now complaining and bitterly comparing it to what once was...

[PREMiERdrum]

But, but, but...most business at Kings Island is repeat business. MOST Crypt riders know what it was like before. Most ride cycles, many people get off now complaining and bitterly comparing it to what once was...

Have you witnessed this? I read this time and time again on these very forums, and believed it to be true. That is until I spent a few days in the park over the last few weeks. I experienced zero negative feedback after 4 seperate rides, and spent some time hanging out in the exit. I also heard people talking about how much they liked the ride both in the queue for Diamondback as well as Monster. I'm sure that it happens, but unless those complaints are rolling in to guest relations, I don't see them going very far.

[thunderbeast1968]

I attended KD in June and I agree, KD's version is much better. KI's is not worth the time. I waited one hour for that crap they call a thrill ride. Sorry to be harsh KI fans, but go to the park and ride a a Top Spin that is programed the right way. Theme,music,thrills ect. What more could one expect except "LOTS OF FIRE" and Kings Dominion delivers.

[The Interpreter]

WSYXnewsguy, yes, I have witnessed it, many times in fact...

[PREMiERdrum]

WSYXnewsguy, yes, I have witnessed it, many times in fact...

Interesting... exactly opposite of what I've seen.

[rotag]

One can only gripe so much before they give up. So if at this point you didn't here anything, its cause they gave up or don't care.

[Shaggy]

It's worth noting that neither Crypt... nor TR:TR have ever had high overall guest ratings.

The complaints from the beginning were:

Too short, didn't like going upside down for so long.

The complaints now seem to be:

Too short, didn't like not going upside down.

Fact is, as it stands today... without proper theming and show elements to distract, the ride program can never be enough. The Giant Huss Topspin is simply too large and too cumbersome a unit to cycle over and over with a large amount of inversions. That's why the original was themed so heavily. KI wanted a Top Spin, but for capacity reasons needed the giant version. It was a trade off.

KD's, followed suite and is a better install because it's:

A. Smaller

B. Outdoors

C. Able to easily change rotational programs.

These advantages stemmed only from the lessons learned with KI's TR:TR.

Shaggy

[KI Kevin]

It's worth noting that neither Crypt... nor TR:TR have ever had high overall guest ratings.

The complaints from the beginning were:

Too short, didn't like going upside down for so long.

The complaints now seem to be:

Too short, didn't like not going upside down.

Really? Cause the complaints I heard when it was TR: TR came particularly from men, if you understand.