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Park entrance looks so much more inviting without the detectors. I really like them being gone. I don't care if I get shanked while in the park.

Last year, I didn't get up to the metal detectors until almost 9:00 and was well back in line, so this year I had two new strategies to get first train of the year. The first was to leave Xenia a half-hour earlier, and the second was to go to Invertigo first instead of Diamondback, figuring that most would go to DB and thus I would have a better chance at scoring first train. I arrived at the gate in front of the toll booth at 8:15, and they let us in at 8:25. After parking, I jogged up to the ropes in front of the turnstiles and was about sixth in my line. From there I waited until I saw employees come out and supervisors begin assigning them to turnstiles. Now, there was a rope between the restrooms and the first pillar that nobody was lined up at. I saw them assign employees to those turnstiles and immediately jumped over there to form a new line. I ended up being the first one through that rope. I took off on a light jog toward Invertigo, turned my head to look behind me, and there was literally nobody following me. I flashed my pass at the gold pass entrance, and the lady there told me to walk. So I fast-walked the rest of the way to Invertigo. When I got there, the entrance was blocked by trash cans. I got the attention of a ride operator, who told me to go on in. I pointed out that the entrance was blocked, so he came out the Fast Lane entrance and ambled over there to move the trash cans. I walked up to the station and into the front seat (forward first), my preferred seat. I had trouble getting the seat belt to release, but finally got it loose and sat down. I go into all this detail to point out that even with the fact that I wasn't moving very fast, the delay at the entrance, and the trouble with the seat belt, I was seated with my seat belt buckled before anyone else even got to the station. So I easily claimed first rider of the year on Invertigo. After that I rode DB, after which I ran into Gator. Neither of us recognized the other at first, even though we've met twice before, but we eventually figured it out. After that, I headed back into Action Zone to try to get first train on Flight Deck. When the rope was dropped, I was the first one back there, only to discover that it was down. I wandered up toward Coney Mall and discovered that The Racer was down but about to open. I got in line and claimed first blue train of the year in the second row. After that, I got my ride on Flight Deck (it was open by the time I got off The Racer) and took a lap on the train. I also tried out one of the new cheesesteaks. It was $8 and change ($8.69, I think) for the cheesesteak and chips; I ordered it without the chips and paid less. They come with onions and peppers, but I ordered it without those. The cheesesteaks are made to order, so I had to wait for a couple minutes to get it. It tasted good; while I've had better, it takes a truly awful one for me to not like a cheesesteak. I give it a B+. About this time, it began raining. Diamondback went down with mechanical problems, so I went back to The Beast only to find them herding people out the entrance. A ride op there told me they were going down due to lightning. I tried BLSC, thinking that it might still be open because it wasn't as tall, but no dice. I started to get in line for Shake, Rattle, and Roll, but thought better of it and opted to take cover in one of the arcades in Coney Mall. Good thing I did: right as a came up to it, there was a big flash of lightning and the rain started coming down. After waiting out the storm and blowing $5 worth of tokens, I went back to The Beast. They got the all-clear a few minutes later and re-opened the line. The station was very crowded; while there was a separator, he made absolutely no attempt to control the flow of people into the station, and so it was Packed with a capital P. After riding that, I walked around a little bit and decided lines were a bit too long for my taste, so I walked out to my car and got my camera. I bought a brand-new Nikon Coolpix L120 last month, with 14 megapixels, 21× zoom and 720p HD video capability, and this was my first real chance to put it to work. I ended up snapping about 80 photos and about 5 minutes of video. Some of my favorite photos are below. The full album of photos is here. The videos will be uploaded to YouTube tomorrow or Tuesday. Repainted slides in Soak City: The Flight of Fear fort is still Fort Kinzel. A duck or goose (I can never tell them apart) sitting on a fountain in Coney Mall, with the area around it closed off and another duck/goose prowling the ground below it. I can only assume she's protecting a nest. Invertigo in all of its repainted glory:

Not to be missed: http://pointbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/27676.aspx The link to the interview can be found in this thread. Very well done.

I just got back home after a 3+ hour long drive from Kings Island. Five of my friends and I decided to head up for opening day and we had an awesome time despite the far-less-than-awesome weather. With the exception of WindSeeker, which didn't run at all (or look like it would be ready to open next weekend---but what do I know), just like it hasn't run the past three visits I've had since last June, everything was running extremely well. HOWEVER, the shocker of the day was definitely The Beast. I hesitate to use the term "butter" because I feel like it might cause me to lose credibility, but I'm going to use it anyway. On April 28th, The Beast, throughout the entire ride, tracked "butter smooth-ly." It felt like a completely different coaster than what I rode last year, or any year before, and every one of my non-enthusiast friends agreed. There was new track everywhere, most notably the turn after the second drop/before the brake shed, the approach to the second tunnel, and the scattered throughout the section leading to the second lift. We were able to get one daylight and two nighttime rides in--the second because I lied to a ride-op that another had previously told me we could have a reride, which I sincerely apologize for--and while the latter rides were obviously beyond mind-blowing, the former was incredible as well. We were all extremely impressed and I just hope that the coaster continues to run in this condition. However, I'm not extremely confident this will be the case, so please, I beg you, get out to Kings Island and experience the early-2012 Beast SOON! I hope I'm not overhyping it, but I'm not sure that's possible at the moment. You will not be disappointed! Thank you Kings Island for an amazing visit. We had a great experience on our first Opening Day and you can count on seeing us again soon! (But please get the big swing ride working. )

I'll probably go over a lot of what was reported before, though I was there in the evening. Got to the park around 6:00 PM (had to work earlier) with my wife, Laura. It was wet and chilly, but not too bad and the rain seemed to be holding off for a while. Love that the metal detectors are gone. The front of the entrance is opened up. So much more inviting. We got in and met a couple friends and their 4 year old over in the kids area. They had just gotten out of Boo Blasters, which their son had been wanting to ride, but he got really scared this time. His dad said that all of the effects seemed to be going (which was new to them) and that there were a lot more skeletons inside than before and that scared the kid. We hung out with them for a bit and watched the son ride a couple things. Then Laura and I split off for about half an hour to ride some things before we'd meet back at the Festhaus for dinner. First we rode The Racer. One of the sides was blocked off at the entrance, so I figured that they closed a side down because it was slow or because of the rain. Then when we got to the station (which we walked right up to) and noticed, as it has been reported already, that the chain link fence separating the two sides was gone (for about the first two-thirds to half of the station.) I like that change, since it always bottlenecks at the front with the 1st seat waiters. Reminds me more of Gemini's station at CP now. Wonder if they'll always have the one side of the entrance blocked though. The Racer ride was a nice opening coaster for the season. Love that one. Happy 40th Anniversary. Also, it was nice to see the waiting tunnel at the end nice and clean with no bubblegum yet; which I'm sure will change in a couple weeks. Then we went to Adventure Express because it was just about a walk on. Rode nicely, as usual. As I've reported on a couple other posts, this is the first time in years that I've seen all of the guys in the finale hill with working arms. Usually there is one stubborn guy that doesn't move one of them, but they were all going this time. Good show. Met our friends at Festhaus and I had a couple slices of pizza. This year they have XL slices of pizza instead of the old double slices. If this isn't new, it's new to me. Still, at $5.99 a slice, seemed like a raw deal. Got my thimble full of water to go with it for no charge. Then the guys split off to go ride Delirium while the ladies took the kid back over to Snoopy. Delirium was a 2 cycle wait and is still the best flat in the park, IMO. It started to rain when we were waiting for (and riding) Delirium, so we headed over to Snoopy to meet the gals. Once there we watched the kid ride some more. The area was really emptying out (this was around 8:30.) While he was hitting the lady bugs the rain slacked and I noticed that Surf Dog had nobody waiting. I walked over to it, excited that I might get a Zen ride on Surf Dog, but the ride op said that it was down because the track was wet. Bummer. The friends made for home, so Laura and I made for Diamondback around 9:00. We had about a 10 minute wait and then rode. We got somewhere in the middle back area (can't remember the exact number). The ride was great, and there was still some vibration at the bottom of the hills, but not as badly as I felt last year. Then we went to The Beast, but it was a 45 minute wait. We passed this time, though I regret it now after reading that it was giving great rides. We went over to Stunt Track, which was a walk on. Fun little ride, but only worth it if there's no wait. Walked through the Starlight Spectacular, which was okay, though a big section of the Charlie Brown squiggle on the Tower was out already. Not sure if that was a technical difficulty, or if it's a left over from last year. Then we hit the Grand Carousel. Sadly, they still seem to be pumping the music in, though it sounded good. My horse had a little kick to her, but I got her settled down pretty quickly. We finished the night watching the fireworks and then browsing the shops on International Street. Like some of the new merch. Especially liked the 80's store which was packed with Star Wars merchandise and Fraggles! Lots of cool shirts from Back to the Future and Goonies to Gremlins and Ghostbusters. In the end, it was a nice short trip. I'm trying to talk Laura into going Friday evening so that I can try out The Beast. We'll see how that works out. Also, on a 'personal accomplishment' side note; I've lost over 30 pounds since last season. I was having trouble getting comfortable in a lot of the seats last year (though I could ride, but usually had the minimum amount of 'clicks' on the lap bars). Last night I felt like a new person, had no issues and had clicks to spare. Going to be a great season.

Outer Hanks has been changed to Hank's Burrito Shack.

http://m.daytondailynews.com/dayton/pm_20555/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=bM0SelS5

You make sense. Just remember, given its debt level, Cedar Fair only has a relatively limited number of dollars to spend on capex. How that is spent will affect the future of the parks for many, many years. CEO's and Boards matter. Their decisions impact a lot of people. Matt Ouimet gets it. So does Mr. Reid-Anderson at SIX. Interesting times. A second hint: Watch what they DO. It's a lot more important than what they say.

If something like that happens, please tell them about it... they can't help you unless you tell them.

That's not too shocking. FUN, keeping opening day patrons in suspense. Meanwhile, at Rivertown Junction, problems were draining the maintenance crew.

Wow, it's pretty cool how you guys are asking us for tips! You must NOT miss rides on The Beast, Diamondback, Flight of Fear and Vortex in terms of roller coasters. Other than that, most other rides you should still ride, just because there is not one bad ride at Kings Island. Drop Tower, Delirium, WindSeeker, and any midway rides are fun rides too to ride. Now, when you said "early rider hour" - you cannot do that unless you have Gold passes, which are season passes to the park..but the Fast Lane passes are worth it especially from where you're coming from! The order you ride things should be: Major rides first (Diamondback, The Beast, Flight of Fear, etc) then just go on whatever ride you pass. Have fun!

The installation once known as Fort Cooper that houses Flight of Fear. It really should be Fort Ouimet now.

My First ride on The Beast was when i was six years old. it was back in 2005 and we rode racer and all other stuff but this was alot more memorable. we waited about 20 mins. they measured me but when they did i tip- toed so i could get on and they didnt notice so they let me on. and then i got on the train with my dad and i didnt know what was coming. so we went up the lift hill and dad said this is a good coaster so then.. bam down a hill to the tunnel which i still have a on-ride photo of. so then we go up a curve and out of the tunnel(I was screaming my head off) and into another drop into a brakeshed so i could catch a breath then down another curve into a scary tunnel which was very long then into anothe curve up a hill which made a clink clack noise and into a lift hill which went a lot faster up the hill and then i saw the thing that huge tunneled helix and before i knew it we were descending down. We went into a tunnel and i was screaming like no tommorow and i felt like if i raised my hands up i would hit the wood so then out of the tunnel up a curve then into another tunnel which felt more like i was going to hit the wood and out of the intense tunnels down a drop which now it seemed slower into the brake run when i got of the ride i didnt speak for 5 mins and then when my dad asked me how it was i said "That Was AWESOME!" i wanted to ride Son of Beast but they scared me out of it (i was upset i couldnt get on.

At a company where public relations would have us believe that just deciding is a multi-year project.

OK, who said they didn't like their stay? And why?

I experienced two of these today... 1. While sitting in line for Beast I heard a girl ask her mother if they had a Diamondback at Cedar Point too. This girl was probably mid-teens. 2. We were towards the front of Drop Tower's line for the next load, and a girl behind us said that they would have a seat close to the front. Guests say the darndest things.

The cheesesteak without chips ended up being $7.98. Over at Rivertown Potato Works, the big bucket of fries dropped in price to $5.99.

^ oh, snap!

It has been said the Carolina GM, son of the former CEO, is high maintenance and has high operating costs.

This is just the simple rambling of a fan. A fan who likes to see great things happen at great places. Despite a relative fanbase, yes, I would remove the S.O.B. In it's place I would take advantage of the wooden area, and maybe start a new theme. Something similar to Rivertown, but not really at the same time. I would put up a massive new concept, something much like Adventure Mountain at Dollywood ( only bigger ) with the trees in the background to make it blend in splendidly. I would put up a new log flume ride to also fare well with the trees. Maybe I would even add a pond, where children could fish. ( That's different! ) In addition to all of this, I would add a zip line, and plant some new trees. ( Save the Trees )

That makes me sad, seeing how I got a Mac because I thought it was going to load big files faster. > Just because it is a Mac, does not make it a super computer. There are very different levels of Mac.. you have the macbook air, which while light and portable, has about the same specs as entry level pc's (with the added advantage of an SSD) the entry level macbook pro, which is like a mid-level pc, and then the high-end high 1000s-2000s macbook's, and imacs, that are very high-end, and usually can only be matched in the PC world by workstations and home-built pc's

And there is no such thing as a turn. It's a business, not Roller Coaster Tycoon.

In my days, hootch came in bottles. Grass came in Baggies brand plastic bags, and speed came in syringes. Terp, of a certain age.

Hello! I don't really have any tips as I am also a new pass holder (after going many times as a child and teenager and working there a total of seven seasons). Ten years off for life and having babies, and now back to take my husband and kids. But I thought I would ask how old your kids are because that might help people give you tips. My kids are about to turn 3 and 6 and we live about ten minutes from the park.

Journey Into YOUR Imagination at Epcot (1999). Not only was it a pale imitation of the original ride, but it also insulted the guests within their first minute of riding! Hooray! At least it didn't feature this, like its successor:

And the Terpster was hawking cheeseburgers, fish, french fries, fried chicken and roast beef from behind a stainless steel counter in front of a spherical glass bowl full of uncarbonated Orange Crush (often fermented) recirculating through a plastic three tier fountain. Driving a huge, dilapidated '67 Ford LTD to haunted houses (tell me people don't change!), and plotting his escape from the small Kentucky city where he was born and raised. Even then, his career interests were much the same as now....the restaurant industry, marketing, planning, writing, and interpreting. It was a very different world, then, though. A 20 minute state to state direct dialed weekend long distance call was promoted by Bell Telephone as $3 or less. Operators were still common, and many people placed person to person calls (you didnt pay unless the operator reached the person you asked for, you didnt even have to have the phone number) and asked for a fake name. The operator would ask for that person, and, say, your parents would then know you made it back to college safely. If they slipped up and accepted the call, the charge was huge, with a three minute minimum, typically $4 or so. (minimum wage was $1.60). 911 didn't exist. In an emergency, you just dialed the Operator. Most gas was sold at full service gas stations, nearly all of which had lube and light repair service. A full tank often got you a glass or plate or bowl. Fast food included fresh cut fries (although McDonalds was switching to frozen), slaw made in the store, and very little pre-prepared items. Orders were taken on a pad with a pencil, manually added, only the total rung on the register, and orally called out to the kitchen. Cameras to observe employees were big, expensive and rare. Employee theft was far more common. Driving was actually probably far more expensive than now. Yes, gas was 36.9 cents a gallon, but cars broke down frequently, flat tires were very common, tune-ups were required far more often, carburetors required far more maintenance and spark plugs fouled quickly on the leaded gas then used. Premium fuel was called Ethyl, from the company that made most of the lead additive. The Racer was the biggest roller coaster I had ever seen, and I thought I'd never see one larger. Kings Island was brand new, no one knew its future. It was owned by a broadcasting company that many saw as on a par with Disney in many ways. The park was a gleaming showplace, and the entire region was very proud of it. It was a family attraction, with a balance of incredible entertainment produced at a near Broadway level, exquisite carefully prepared food, lush landscaping and oh, yes, rides--some themed but many not. It was a different time, it was a simpler time. And 40 years from now, someone will say the same of now. The circle of life continues. My parents took me to Kings Island because they knew how strongly I was attracted to it and they wanted to enjoy a family experience. Today, thrills connect.