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Our Mini Honeymoon 7/26/14


harmony29
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We originally were going to spend two and a half days at KI and then head up to Cedar Point, but due to the rental car being so expensive and a check we were waiting for never came in, we opted to just head to KI for the day. This was my first time visiting on a Saturday, something I will never do again unless it's during Halloween Season.

We arrive to the park about 9am, got decent parking and headed to the ticket booth to get our friends their tickets. We invited a close friend and her 13 year old daughter to go with us which I'm still trying to decide if I was delusional wanting to go with a 13 year old lol. I had purchased their tickets online for $33.99, the kick cancer price but having no printer we had to go to the ticket window first. While we were doing that Jeremy got in line and we were third to get in. By the time they opened the gates the lines were really long and I knew it was going to be a long day at the park.

Jeremy and I headed towards Banshee while our friends waited at the rope for the 10am opening. We got right on Banshee with a one train wait, only reason being we wanted front row. This was the first coaster we had ridden together and now that we were married we wanted to make sure it was again our first coaster. It seems the more I ride Banshee the more I love it. The very first time I had rode, I came off a little dizzy and disoriented but I think it just had to do with my body not having done anything like that in a very long time. This time when we got off, I was immediately ready to go back on. We had thought about going to Invertigo but it was not open yet so Jeremy decided he wanted to try Delirium. Originally I was going to have him ride it first to see how bad the spinning was, but at the last minute I decided to just give it a try. I haven't been that nervous to ride something in a long time so at first I was holding on for dear life. The spinning aspect of it really wasn't that bad for me, I could tolerate it and I actually enjoyed the ride, something I was really surprised about, I thought for sure I would hate it. We still had time before the gates officially opened so I decided to take some pictures before the rush of people came. I really do like walking around the Action Zone when it's quiet like that. When the gates finally opened our friends met us at the entrance to Banshee and we had about a 5 minute wait before we entered the station. We had just gotten in the front row line when the ride shut down due to storms. We decided to wait it out, as it looked like the storms would blow over quickly, unfortunately they didn't, it seemed to be very slow moving and we waited close to an hour. I wasn't complaining though because at least we were in the station covered, unlike the people in the line below. At one point they shut the line down and were not allowing people to enter. It was pretty comical to watch our friend's daughter, she said she was afraid of heights so she couldn't do Banshee, which we did try to talk her into it but with no luck. The entire time in line she complained about waiting and how everyone was going to look at her for not getting on the ride, it's kind of funny to see how a 13 year old thinks. She waited at the exit until we finished our ride, which obviously no one really cared that she didn't get on.

I had planned on trying to get to Flight of Fear and Firehawk first thing as I know those lines tend to move slow, but with the delay at Banshee that never happened. We started walking and of course the teen was thirsty and hungry already so we stopped at Hank's where Jeremy and I split a taco salad for one of the meals on our plan and the teen got strawberries and cream. She ate not even half of it and complained that her stomach hurt, so Jeremy finished it off for her. She saw WindSeeker in the distance and decided she wanted to ride this. I gave Jeremy a strange look as this is the girl that wouldn't go on Banshee because she's afraid of heights, but she picks WindSeeker, still cannot figure that one out. We waited one ride cycle and got on. It was a bit chilly up there as it had not really started warming up yet. Once the ride was over Jeremy and I decided we wanted to tackle Vortex as we had not done it on our last trip. Our friend could not ride it due to a neck problem so her and her daughter headed over to The Racer while we got in line at Vortex. The line was lined up to the entrance point of the line but it went pretty quickly, we waited maybe 20-25 minutes. The closer we got the more I kept thinking it was not a smart move for me to ride this. I knew it was going to be rough and that it was. We choose a middle row but for me it was just too much, I didn't like it at all and had a headache getting off of it. Jeremy didn't like it either and we both said once is enough for the both of us. After we got off we walked back towards The Racer to meet our friends, which I assumed they would have still been waiting in line as the line was all the way to the front of the entrance, but we actually met up right as they were getting off the ride. It was about 1:10p at that point and I really wanted to see Cirque Imagine so I suggested we walk up that way to the theater. The theater was maybe 3/4 full which surprised me with how bad the crowds were, so we sat on the right side about 15 rows from the front. I loved this show and highly recommend it to anyone.

Next it was smoking break time for Jeremy and our friend which gave me the opportunity to snap some photos. I really wanted to try Invertigo so we made our way over there, the sign said it was a 2 hour wait, I was not about to stand there that long and wait so we changed plans. We headed to Drop Tower and the same thing, 120 minutes, very frustrating. We stopped at Chicken Shack to get drinks and another meal with our meal plan. After this we decided to head towards Diamondback but had to first stop at the airbrushing place so our friend's daughter could get a t-shirt. By this time the crowds were super heavy and every thing seemed to have long waits. Diamondback was no exception, again a two hour wait. I decided to try my luck on the spin the wheel game but didn't win so Jeremy and I got in line for Diamondback and figured we would just tough it out as I love this coaster. We thought our friends were right behind us but they weren't. The teen decided to start having a melt down and poor mom was at her wit's end. She decided she wanted to take her to the hotel and let her rest and maybe they would come back later. We debated on going to the motel and just driving back but it was in South Dayton and I really didn't want to waste that much time and energy, I was already tired from the heat and my aging body not being what it used to be lol. We actually decided to not stay over night and save our money and just drive back to Kentucky that night. So my friend and her daughter went to the car to rest for a while and we agreed we would meet back up later in the day. I felt pretty bad for my friend as her daughter was really giving her a run for her money and it was definitely wearing on her. During the teen's meltdown Jeremy and I got a ride in on the carousel as we were waiting for them to decide what they were going to do.

We next headed over to Invertigo and just said we were going to suck it up and wait it out, to our surprise the wait time had went down to 60 minutes, in reality we waited about 45 minutes, which didn't seem too bad. I was terrified to ride this for some reason, but once I got on I loved it. We rode in the middle as I was just too spooked to ride on either end. I think this looks a lot worse than it really is. We then decided it was time to get some ice cream so we headed to Graeter's. I thought I knew for sure that I was going to get the Black Raspberry Chip but when I saw their sorbets that was it, I got a scoop of raspberry and mango while Jeremy got a pineapple smoothie. It was nice just relaxing in the A/C for a bit. We decided after this stop we were going to head back over to Diamondback, played the spin the wheel game again and this time I won! I was quite happy and went into the Fast Lane line to find there was a pretty good size line, it took us 45 minutes to board. There was a slight hold up as someone got struck in the neck and had to have emergency service come evaluate. I never did see the person that was hurt but people around me were stating that there was a guy holding his neck with blood, there were about 3 cycles of trains that ran while they were trying to get this man medical help. They were pretty much assigning rows but somehow we did get lucky and just walked over to the front row line. While in line we received a text from our friends that they were back in the park and to meet them at Chik-Fil-A in Planet Snoopy. We made our way over there only to not find them, they decided to go to chicken shack instead so we walked over there and met them. Jeremy really wanted to do Firehawk and I wanted to do Flight of Fear so we headed that way. I did not want to go on Firehawk and neither did the teen so I babysat while Jeremy and her mom went to Firehawk. About an hour into the wait, one of the trains went down when it came back into the station and there were people stuck on their backs for over 15 minutes, glad that wasn't me! I figured Jeremy would want to stick it out, he was two trains away from boarding but after about 10 minutes they left. We checked out Flight of Fear but it said 90 minute wait, it was already starting to get late and I had really wanted to try and do The Beast at night. So we instead headed over to The Racer, the wait was about 10 minutes, we were on the blue train and our friends on the red, blue train won. This was one of two rides that the teen did the entire time, I'm still shaking my head at that one. By this time I was getting really tired and wanted our last meal of the day, I figured we would be coming back so instead of walking to the back to get on The Beast, we decided to head over to Drop Tower and Banshee instead. We stopped to get something at Hank's but the lines were really long so we went to Chicken Shack instead, I had the chicken wrap and Jeremy had the chicken sandwich. We then went over to Drop Tower, leaving the teen on a bench as this was another one she wouldn't do. It was about a half hour wait to get on but I'm really glad we decided to do it at night, I thought it was really cool and they had started the fireworks early due to the approaching storm so we saw some of that from the top. This ride even though I've been on it still terrifies me for some reason. Once we finished our ride we headed to Banshee, which the line didn't look bad at all. It was an interesting wait as there was a woman directly in front of us who we could tell was very drunk, she had a stack of glasses in her hand and was sipping out of another, she could barely stand or walk. This was pretty upsetting to Jeremy and our friend, as they are both recovering alcoholics so to see this was a bit much for them. We all agreed we did not want to be in front or behind her on the train as if she got sick it would end up every where. As we were going up the stairs she stumbled and spilled her beer all over my friend and myself, my friend was livid, not exactly what someone in recovery needs. When we got to the boarding we told the person assigning rows that we did not want to be by her and so we went to the second to front row. We were one train away from boarding when it shut down for storms. We waited about 10 minutes but looking at the sky we knew this was not going to blow over so we left so that we could hopefully beat the rain in getting to our car. The teen again complained that she didn't like walking in the rain, oh well, nothing we could do about it. We got to the car right when it started pouring and we had downpour rain the entire ride back to Kentucky.

All in all it was an enjoyable day, just frustrating at times, so I know we are talking about going back in the next few weeks once we get a bit more money and then we can head to Cedar Point as well.

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Sounds like you did what you could to make the best of a not-so-great day. Sometimes that's all you can do. I hope you can make it back before the end of the summer season!

Two tips for your next visit:

1. If possible, pick a weekday with an 8:00pm closing. You won't get fireworks or night rides, but the park will be essentially dead and you'll have plenty of time to ride everything you want to multiple times.

2. The magic seat on Vortex is 5-1. That means first row of the fifth car, which is marked on the station floor as row 9. 5-1 is the row around which Vortex was designed, and the difference in roughness and head-banging between that seat and any other seat is like night and day.

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Congratulations! I highly recommend saving up for the Fast Lane bracelets if you go again. I know it is crazy expensive but it makes a visit to KI an extremely different experience, especially if you're there on a crowded day. And for a special occasion, like celebrating your new marriage, it is completely worth it if you are not a season pass holder who goes to the park often. It is absolutely possible to go to KI and not spend any money on food (put a cooler in the car filled with snacks and sandwiches and drink water in the park). Put all that food money toward the Fast Lane instead.

It sounds like you really made the best of it, in spite of the weather and crowds. And grumpy teenager ;)

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Yeah unfortunately we could never afford those passes, just getting the platinum passes with the meal plan did us in, we just will try to go during the week from now on, I knew it would be busy just when you put all the factors together it got frustrating a little bit, but we still had an amazing time.

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Oh! You do have season passes! Ok, never mind :)

Well, should you ever find yourself with money to burn, it is so worth whatever the Fast Lane passes cost to zip past the long lines to ride The Beast four times in a row (I think my son made us go on BLSC six times in a row, ha). Maybe for your anniversary? :)

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If you go on a busy day I suggest that you go back to Diamondback after doing your Banshee early ride time. Do Diamondback, then Beast, then navigate the park in a counter-clock wise direction. The Rivertown and Coney Mall areas are usually pretty empty because everyone is at the front doing Banshee. In this way I find you can have an enjoyable day and still ride a lot of rides without the expense of a Fast Lane.

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LOL actually we are already looking back and laughing, we had a great time even with all the mishaps, one lesson learned if don't take a 13 year old that didn't go to sleep until 2am the night before with you, just is not a good situation!

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