Favorite Memories Of The 2009 Season

[TOPGUN1993]

-Leaving School early to go to KI April 17th and ride Diamondback 27times.

-Getting photos from the Train Bridge

-Going to KI with a bunch of school friends after we got out of school on the last day.

-Buying Marge Simpson for $2.00.

-Almost dieing on Launch Pad.

-Playing the "lucky" color-o-rama in Skeeball arcade.

-Looking all the random crap ki sells.

-Having a Marshmellow Fight.

-Riding Son of Beast while its lightning.

-Not getting suck on Firehawk this year. (6 times last season)

-Having ERT on the Family Dryer.

-Watching Spongebob 3-D five times in a row. "COOOOMMMPLLEEEETEE!!!"

-Seeing Dick Kinzel in the Family Dryer.

-Riding Diamondback at 1am.

-Taking Thousands of photos. (5,050 as of today for 2009 ki)

-and alot more, this year has been so much less drama free compared to last...

[keiko_coaster]

There are soo many memories this year.

-Meeting everyone from KI

-Riding Diamondback (front row)at 1 AM on RWW after not getting on seat

-THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCE OF THE DECEIT OF GETTING ME BACK ON Diamondback

-Riding skyflyer for the first time (and then the 100 plus times more)

-Riding slingshot and cussing the entire time

-Going to Halloween Haunt and running through the same haunts over and over talking to all the people

-Kicking everyone's butt at Scooby Doo

-Gummy Whales

-Going to Kings Island 15 minutes before it closes

-Parties in the parking lot

-Getting stuck on soo many rides with my best friend

-Walking through the park wrapped up in a blanket with my best friend

[Jamesv7]

My top 3 memories of 09 are.

1. Watching my daughter at work in Cemetery Drive scaring the crap out of people.

2. Taking my Mom to KI for the first time since 96

3. Opening day ride on Diamondback with my family.

[touchdown62]

I'll start with an off-season memory...

Walking from GWL to IR down that beautifully plowed path in January

now to the season:

Ride Warriors Weekend--seeing zombified coaster enthusiasts outside the gate at 7:45 am Sunday;

First ride on Diamondback, the highest ride I've ever been on;

First back-car ride on Diamondback and finding religion in the process;

First front-row ride on Diamondback, worried my coat would start to shred in hurricane-force winds;

Beast thoroughly kicking my butt all year long for coveting another coaster;

A friend making a scary face toward the front of the line in SDATHC and making a little kid cry;

Back stage tours of Racer;

and just making time to hit the Island more often to blow off steam...

oh yeah, can't forget riding coasters at midnight in near-freezing temperatures during Halloween Haunt. Almost couldn't fit on the rides because I was wearing so many layers.

Hoping to make a few more memories on Nov. 1.

[touchdown62]

Going to my first ERT morning session and riding Diamondback three times in a row then heading to The Beast and riding it 4 times in a row without getting off then The Vortex 8 times in a row in the very back seat.

If I ever rode Vortex 8 times in a row, you all would have another memory to add for the season: me projectile-vomiting around the inversions like the rings of Saturn. I know, some of you would pay good money to see that. That's fine, so long as I get a share.

[JAHill]

I visited the park three times this year. Two of those days were parts of the offseason event.

1: Seeing Diamondback for the first time. I saw it on the first offseason event day.

2:

I'll start with an off-season memory...

Walking from GWL to IR down that beautifully plowed path in January

3:

4: My first ride on Diamondback.

Indeed.

[McSalsa]

Well, it was a great year for me too even though I only managed to go to KI ONCE . But that only made the one visit that much more memorable...

#1-Seeing KI for the first time in 9 years caused me to nearly explode from excitement.

#2-My first ride on The Beast ever. (Awesome)

#3-White Water Canyon with my sister and my best friend. Hillariously fun. Also quite wet.

#4-Waiting 1 hour to ride Diamondback (should have been only 40 minutes but rain interfered).

#5-Seeing my Mom's reaction to Diamondback (she was scared to death! OK I was a bit too...). She was OK, but rode only 1 more ride that day.

#6-Eating an amazing Chilli Dog from Skyline Chilli. Hadn't had one that good in a while.

#7-Getting hit on by a park employee and not realizing it up in the Eiffel Tower. Yep. Me dumb.

#8-Riding The Beast...at night...with my best friend.

#9-Ending the day with a gentle ride on the Grand Carousel. See #7. I tried to "save it".

And now, the dissapointments...

#1-The Crypt...you already know. My first real "ride" after the Eiffel Tower and I was worried it would ruin the trip. Beast made a nice save though.

#2-Firehawk's lines. Ouch.

#3-Really wanting to try Son of Beast, walk up to it, "we're closed for the day, sorry". And now it may NEVER open again. Now I may never how good/bad Son of Beast really is.

#4-Being forced to have KI withdrawl.

That's it...

And now, McSalsa's Top 5 Rides of 2009:

#1-The Beast (Night) @ Kings Island

#2-Diamondback @ Kings Island

#3-Flight of Fear @ Kings Island

#4-The Beast (Daytime) @ Kings Island

#5-Red Racer @ Kings Island

Sorry for the long post. PS, I will try my hardest to get more visits to KI next year...and other parks as well. So far, Cedar Point and Holiday World trips are possible. Hopefully, all goes well.

Bonus: Most Painful Ride of 2009

Vortex. My shoulders ached after that ride. Not that bad. If you count Carnivals, though, a certain Hammer ride had Vortex beat 100 fold...and probably even Son of Beast.

[TylerRider]

My favorite memory is when I was Nik Wallenda walk the high wire.

[thejoker34]

ill take the cheap one and say riding Diamondback

[Beast79]

I have to say that this was one of my funniest season in years!

-Watching my five year old up on stage for marty's party

-My girls watching me catch a flying cat on stage for marty's party

-Meeting so many Kic peps during the summer which many I have made friends with

-Being able to ride DB during the commersial shoot!

-Beast walk back "first time back there without working"

-Being able to ride Beastie and Viking Fury with both my girls!

-My oldest daughter catching two boys trying to line jump in front of her in Swipers Sweepers making them wait behind her!!!

Can't wait until next season my oldest little beastie should be 48 inches by then, she almost made it to 44 by october!

[Jasper]

I completely forgot about this memory. June 25th, I was sitting in front of the Slingshot. I received a phone call from my mother, "Michael Jackson just died" At the time I was like that's bad, I liked his music. When I got home from the park that day, the TV was going mad with the story of him dying. I can always say I was at Kings Island the day The King Of Pop died.

[Coney Islander]

^

That's interesting...

I was planning on going that day, but it got cancelled the day before we left, and we went the next day.

One of my best memories was getting a scare from that giant Jack in the Box.

[Skywriter]

Well this year has has so many memorable moments for me here are just a few......

1. Me finally fitting on to Diamondback and Riding it around 11 times

2. I got to ride Son of Beast

3. Actually Staying a whole day at Kings Island till close and see a concert at Timberwolf (ASA)

Last but certainly not least is working Halloween Haunt in Tombstone Terror-Tory and all the memories it brings back to me. I cannot wait until next years Haunt !

[thejoker34]

^

That's interesting...

I was planning on going that day, but it got cancelled the day before we left, and we went the next day.

One of my best memories was getting a scare from that giant Jack in the Box.

lol that was funny. N. and J. got freaked out too!

[CincyMan98]

Memories, sweet memories.

1. My first Diamondback ride.

2. When my friend puked after our 14th ride on DB in a row.

3. Halloween decorations

4. Watching the fireworks.

5. Walking down the past the fountains and marveling at how beautiful it was.

6. Being yelled at for running.

[Beast79]

With me no longer working for GWL I should be able to enjoy any off season activities and opening day!

[maverick2007]

-Playing hockey at the Blue Jackets thing with Ryan (Coaster Kid)

[SeasonPass4Life]

This is the first year, in over 20 years, that I did not carry a season pass for KI. I suppose I'll have to change my screen name. LOL My first and only trip to the park this season would have to be my favorite memory. It was a cool and rainy Friday night, Oct. 30th. My favorite memory of the night would have to be riding DB in the front seat in the rain. (it hurts btw) When we stopped my friend said that he thought he tasted blood... I looked around and discovered that my nose was bleeding and was running down my rain poncho. For a split second I was tempted to just let it bleed, throw my head back and act passed out. That would have energized the ride opps I'm sure. LOL But i didn't do it. I just let the rain wash it off and pinched my nose and it was stopped before we got into the station.

It was a fun night and I must thank all my friends who traveled with me for a total of seven hours, on a bus that ran out of gas, to spend a cold, wet, crazy fun evening at my favorite place in the world! Happy off season everyone. And I WILL have a season pass for 2010. You can count on that!

[Gabe]

This doesnt qualify as favorite, but memorable..getting stung by a bee in september while at the park (over by sdathc) (first time I've been stung in over 30 years) and having Rachel (stalker) and Kat make me go to first aid after I said I'd be fine..lol!

[XGatorHead 8904]

Wow… so many good memories this season. I can’t rank them, so I’ll do it chronologically.

1. The Off-Season Blues Party: I had only met a few KIC’ers before this, but it was great to get to meet more of you. And I’ll never forget our treks across the frozen tundra, particularly the walk back with giga and Phantom Theater, and wondering how PT was able to walk all that way in his shorts without getting frostbite!

2. The Diamondback Tour: We finally got to get up close to this monster, and got some awesome pictures in the process!

3. Opening Day: *Getting up early, meeting up with friends I didn’t know were going to be there, and getting that first ride on Diamondback, in row 15. When we hit the splashdown, I turned around and saw that huge column of water right behind us.

*GatorGirl’s first ride on Viking Fury (her new favorite ride for the season). She laughed the whole time, and we had to ride it again as soon as we got off… plus she wanted to sit closer to the end so we would go higher!

*GatorGirl’s first ride on Fairly Odd Coaster. It’s her first woodie, and one of her favorite rides anywhere.

4. The Unofficial KI Road Trip, Day 1: Took the day off and met up with Kawana, kittenpooh, violakat and others to enjoy some of the “grown-up” rides for a change! And that’s when this occurred:

-THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCE OF THE DECEIT OF GETTING ME BACK ON Diamondback

Oh, the lengths we went to to get her back on DB...

This was also the day of my first (and only, so far) DB ride in the rain… OUCH!

5. The Unofficial KI Road Trip, Day 2: Went to Holiday World on their opening day with violakat, Beast Man and clbehymer. Most of the rides were walk-ons, and we got to enjoy Raven, Legend, and 8 rides on Voyage. Then there was our shoeless and sockless ride on Pilgrims Plunge, and the nicely priced, good quality food!

6. Ride Warriors Weekend: What a great event, hanging out with my KIC friends and meeting new ones. I loved all the ERT and the chance to get so many night rides on DB. Even though I had to leave in the middle of both days, I was able to come back in the evenings and have loads of fun. Hopefully this event returns next year!

7. Alumni Weekend: We’ve gone both years of this event now. This year had a great Beast walk-back. I’ve driven the service roads back there before, but this walk-back included sections I hadn’t been to before. Plus Mrs. Gator had an interesting conversation with Don on the way back from the walk-back…

8. Halloween Haunt: At first I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t returning to Club Blood, but I had a great time in Slaughter House. Working the same room as Typical Guy was a blast. “You want a bite? Free sample! On sale today, only $3.99 a pound! Available in original, Cajun, or honey barbecue!” Even serving as the host on the final weekend was a lot of fun (although I still prefer scaring people). And who can forget the wild times at Steak ‘n’ Shake (or should that be Stake ‘n’ Shake since it was filled with Haunt people)?

9. Closing Day: Got rides #47-50 on DB. Hung out with rotag for the first part of the day and we hit a lot of the big rides (including my first ride on Skyflyer in about 7 years) before Mrs. Gator and GatorGirl met me for the latter part of the day. We did something special for our last ride on Scooby (see my current avatar), which apparently was a topic of conversation in the park because later that night Agent SOB told me about “some guy and his two daughters had signs that said ‘Bye Scooby’ in their ride photo”. Got tons of pictures of Nick U and the outside of SD&THC, and GatorGirl got her last rides in on everything before Snoopy takes over. Then the last ride of the night on Beast with the KIC gang, then we got our last Mystery Machine pictures. Ended the night with another trip to Steak ‘n’ Shake.

It was a great year, and I can’t wait until April 2010!!! At least I have Dollywood this weekend. Hello Dolly!

[standbyme]

^Gator...it sounds like you had a great year all around! I also loved your last day Scooby story...and your avatar photo.