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I wouldn't be so sure about that. I mean come on, it's pretty obvious that the ride ops saw this guy coming and were all, "Hey...let's close this ride down and **** this guy off!" Further, come off it. It's not like you haven't ridden The Beast before. I mean it goes around, up a hill, down, a turn, break run, a turn, a tunnel, a turn, a hill, down a hill, into a rather large helix with a tunnel, out of the tunnel, back into the tunnel, down a hill, up a hill, break run, and then the station. There you just rerode The Beast! How was your ride?!

Wednesday afternoon DB went down and we were waiting in line outside the gate. A guy in front of us turned around and said: " I wait until the end of the year to come here and they shut DB down. It figures they would do that to me." We walked away from this very toxic person. A note to all the young people reading these forums, the sooner you learn this life lesson the smoother your journey will be: The natural, mechanical world and everyone else is not personally plotting against you, roller-coasters and the people who work at them frankly don't care if you personally get to ride or not. QTIP= Quit Taking It Personally!

On Friday 8/17/12 I took a solo trip to KI for the day. I have had a very busy summer and have not taken the occasional day off to get away and have fun at the park all by myself. I got up early enough to get to KI for ERT. The weather man was predicting rain, but clearing up in the morning. I could not seem to find a channel that would give any close time of what they meant by morning. I figured I needed a day away and early morning rain might keep the crowds away for a while. When I left Indy it was sunny, but getting closer to the Ohio state line was not looking good. Just a few miles in, it started to rain. By the time I got to 275 it was pouring. Once I got to the park it was almost done raining, but very overcast. Still very damp and drizzly I put on my Cedar Fair wind jacket and headed for ERT. By the time I got to DB, the rain was pretty much gone. About 1/2 hr later the clouds were starting to break up and the sun was starting to come through at times. By 11 is was turning into a sunny day. I got in 11 DB rides during ERT, not having to leave the same train once. A great way to start the morning! At park open I headed towards Beast. Had a great ride on it. I then headed towards WS and Vortex. By this point the sun was shinning and starting to warm up a bit. I was heading to FH, but it was not running so I hit up FOF. I then rode Racer and AE.While on the lift hill I was saying by good-byes to that first drop of SOB. That part of the ride will be missed by me. I then headed towards FD for 2 rides on it. The first ride was in the first car. (Best car on the train IMO.) It was getting warm and while in AZ I decided to hit up Congo Falls. I was in the second row and on the outside of the boat. I wanted a little wet, but not soaked and it worked out pretty good. I was getting hungry and wanted a burrito from Hanks. Wow that thing was good! I then hit up DB and Beast again, for what ride warrior does not want to ride DB and Beast right after lunch. This ride warrior does! I then headed towards the Fun perks booth and used my level 1 perk to ride Thunder Alley. I have never been on those before. They were fun, but I would never pay to ride them. Plus, I can pay to ride go carts on a similar track a few miles from my house. I go to KI to do the thinks I can't do at home. While in AZ I hit up FD one more time. I was getting a little warm again, so this time I headed toward RFYLCB. That was a fun ride and got about the same amount of water on me as I did at CF. I then talked to KingsIslandPR (Don) for several minutes over by DB. I had a nice conversation with him and after that hit up DB again since you know, I was just so close to it! I meet up with Tom76257 after leaving DB for he was just 2 cycles ahead of me and we headed towards WS. Always a fun ride and we noticed the SOB trains in the graveyard behind FH. We went to FH expecting a big line, but it was about 10 minutes so we got in line and had a good ride on it. We then hit up Racer and got a re ride. We then hit up DT. We then meet up with Windshawne by DB and rode it with her. We then went to The Beast and had good conversation in the queue. Windshawne was not feeling the best and sat out The Beast ride. When we got back to the final brake run, Tom and I both agreed it was running awesome. I I would be willing to beet we were going about 5mph quicker than when I had rode it earlier in the day in the same seat. Great ride! At that point it was about was 8:40 and I had a 2 hour drive ahead of me. Tom walked me to the gate. On the way out I got a cool evening shot of DB with a train on the lift hill and another in the splashdown. (Below) All in all a great day. I stopped at Guest Services and told them what a great day I had. (I just wanted them to hear some positive feedback since they most likely never get that,) DB - 15 Racer - 2 FD - 3 Beast - 3 Vortex - 1 FH - 1 FOF - 1 WS - 2 DT - 1 RFYLCB - 1 TA - 1 CF - 1 Total: 32

So now it's time to evolve, and go from being an "energetic Kings Island patron" to a more mature, educated and responsible patron. It's time to let go of the junior-high mentality of getting overly emotionally reactive when a ride breaks down at an inconvenient time for you. There is, and never will be, anything more the park employees can tell you. Once you make this leap, your enjoyment of parks everywhere will increase exponentially. No need to "fire away" at all. I hope you got it out of your system, and are ready to move on.

I have to say, AE is one of the most underrated coasters in the world, and I think it's just a matter of perspective, given the selection of other major coasters in the park.

(*sniff*) Why is woodstock express before flight deck? And Backlot! And Flight of Fear!?!? (*sniff*) Vortex!?!?! WHATS HAPPENING TO MY MIND?!? YOUR MESSING WITH IT!!!

Let's be serious. No KI top 10 is complete without some Adventure Express love.

Here's my view of what could possibly happen. Even though the plan stretches out til 2021 I think this would be a bit ambitious as other park areas would likely need attention during this time span. My thought process comes from how they created the loop at Dollywood however.

For those who cannot visualize LlKC's well defined Beast rundown: I would like for those to take notice in the comment section that Beast lost the record of longest wood coaster to Shivering Timbers in '98.

A gem from the KD page: Not bad, but the first comment?

I don't like to criticize others for the choices that they make in identifying a top ten as it is by definition subjective and personal. To demonstrate, at KI my top 10 is broken down as follows: - Top 3: Beast, Diamondback, Vortex - 4-7: Firehawk, Racer, Flight Deck, BLSC - 8-10: Woodstock Express, Flying Ace, FOF - 11-14: AE, Invertigo, Pumpkin, Surf Dog (mainly cuz I think of it as a flat) Bottom line, I can see a top ten without AE and FOF pretty low on the list I will, however, criticize a lack of journalistic research and sloppy reporting if necessary.

Definitely the best week to visit for short lines with good operations. Wish I could have been there! It's been that kind of summer for me, too. I've had one day off, and went to SFOG, to find it swamped. I stayed a bit less than an hour!

I was mostly annoyed by Adventure Express being not even on the list. Even my 6 year old goes " i wana ride the boom boom ride" (what she calls the guys at the end) every time we go there

I have seen squirels and other stuff around skunk near beast ground hog family chillin in a hole under The Vortex brake run. There lucky they get to get in the park.........for free.

Tomorrow is a weekday....

Top Ten Roller Coasters at Ohio's Kings Island As someone who has a big fascination with stats/rankings I always enjoy these types of articles. Nice to see the park get an article like this all to itself.

Since there is a break in the tunnel after going around the lower helix before entering the tunnel on the upper helix, I would call that two tunnels. The second tunnel past the break shed used to be two tunnels before being connected as one tunnel. Its the same logic. I never thought about this issue before, ie are there two tunnels or just one tunnel on the final helices ( If I spelled helices wrong or if I improperly categorized one helix as two, I apologize. Whew-I'm exhausted from thinking up this post.)

Then I'd call that one tunnel, that the train just passes through again....

Hello everybody! I took one last trip for the summer to Kings Island and Soak City today, as I go back to school tomorrow. I went with my mom, my sister Lucy, and her friend Abby, and we were also going to meet up with my friend Nathan and his family. (Lucy mostly “controlled the operation” >. )My mom had to work in the morning, so no ERT. We did get there around 10:15, and we all headed off to Flight of Fear. Looks like painting and stuff for a Haunt attraction, Massacre Manor, unless it is being renamed/rethemed this year. I guess it’s being renamed Scrambler . Anyways, we walked into Flight of Fear. We walked right up to the station, and there was lots of rows with no lines. So, after just waiting for 1 launch, we got on. On the ride, I was looking for any light shining thru the walls from the damage. I thought I maybe saw a little something, but I’m not sure if it has to do with it or not. Anyways, Flight of Fear was a good ride. My mom thought I and her should ride Vortex, (Because they won’t do it. They won’t even try 5-1!) while maybe they do WindSeeker. So, we did just that. I saw a bit of empty rows for some seats on Vortex, and it was a literal walk on for 5-1. It was of course a great ride in 5-1. Abby and Lucy were still in line for WindSeeker, I also wanted to do WindSeeker, the line was short enough we would get on the next ride, so we went in line for WindSeeker to. We walked on to our seats. It was a nice, relaxing ride. Great view too, of course. Then, I wanted to try Xtreme Skyflyer for the first time. I had money, and I’ve always wanted to do it, so we headed back to Action Zone. As I would have hoped, it was only $5. Lucy and Abby went on Flight Deck without me . My mom stayed and watched. I bought my ticket, and got in line. They were only operating 1 side. I waited maybe 10 or 15 minutes until I started. I watched the other rider’s free fall. Soon, it was my turn. They strapped me onto the rope thingy. Then, the what I call “Stand to Fly” moment was crazy, too. You just got whooshed to flying position. Soon, I went up. I was pretty nervous. I was really high, I believe 200+ feet, looking down. “3 2 1 fly”. I pulled the cord, and then I was falling to the concrete. Luckily, my harness saved me from dying. The rest of the ride was smooth flying. But that first drop… It feels like you are falling to your doom. It was a crazy, fun ride. Definitely worth $5. Oh, and here is a video of me on the ride my mom took with my iPod. The quality is not the great, but it is still something. Hopefully I did that right... After that insane ride, I found out Abby and Lucy were riding Drop Tower without me again. I hoped to come back to AZ later, but that never did happen . So much for “Lucas’s fun day of riding all his favorite rides that he likes with no lines” day. Oh well, we then headed to Diamondback. There was no line for Diamondback, just a station wait. I was walking to the back row, but of course my sister dashes ahead of me to get there before me. I should have reported that, as I believe it is line jumping. Anyways, I got next to back row, but I wanted to put my arms back on the splashdown. It was still an awesome Diamondback ride. Lucy and Abby were hungry, so we went to eat. I didn’t want to have to get the pizza combo for the 5th straight time, so I and my mom got a taco salad from Hanks. I got an instant reward for a free Thunder Alley ride. Lucy got a sub from Subway. But, a $5 footlong at Subway is $5, and 12 inches, right? Well, they are $6 here. And the $6 isn’t for a footlong, it’s for a 6 inch. Overpriced. We then went into the Festhaus to meet up with Nathan and his mom, his little brother Owen, and littler sister Emma, who both recently turned 7. They paid $30 for the Gold Pass Pizza Meal “Deal” thingy. A big taco salad, that my mom and me easily split (And I was full) is only like, $7.50. Turns out they just got here, and they decided to do White Water Canyon. I would not do that, for multiple reasons. We would then meet up in Soak City. I rode The Racer, and Lucy and Abby did Delirium. Thru the queue, I looked at FOF and could kind of see some sort of damage, but I didn’t get a good view. Only the Red side was open, and I just had to wait for 1 ride. The ride ops were being a lot of fun today at The Racer. They get the ride ops of the day award. The Racer was a great, FUN ride. I then met up with Abby, Lucy, and my mom, and we left to Soak City, with not nearly as many rides as I was hoping to get in. When we got to Soak City, it looked kind of crowded. But, the reason it seemed crowded? Most of the slides were closed. The only slides open were Mondo Monsoon, Rendezvous Run, Tropical Twister, and the kiddie slides. I was a bit disappointed. Probably because there aren’t enough lifeguards available or something (At School). Anyways, I headed to Mondo Monsoon by myself, and my mom found a spot by Tidal Wave Bay to sit down and put our stuff. About 3 “rows” of stairs were filled in the Mondo Monsoon line. I can’t be completely sure, but I think I waited around 20 minutes. It was a fun, cold, waterful ride! I then headed back to Tidal Wave Bay to find where my mom was. I found her; she said Nathan was here, in the wave pool, so I searched for Nathan. I eventually found him, and we stayed in for another round of waves. Speaking of waves, Breakers Bay was also closed. After that, we went onto Rendezvous Run. There was no wait to get a mat, and about a 5 or 10 minute wait for the slide. It was a fun slide down my new favorite Soak City waterslide. Nathan then went to do Tropical Twister, while I went back to Tidal Wave Bay. I didn’t do Tropical Twister because I honestly didn’t really like it that much. I stayed in Tidal Wave Bay for just about another round, and then my mom said we had to go in around 25 minutes (They have some Y classes and work and stuff). Me and Nathan went on Splash River. There wasn’t any line, and we got our tubes. Then, just to my luck of us about to leave, I saw Paradise Plunge open up. Grrrrr. We stayed for 1 lap of wet splash river fun stuff, and then I headed back to the wave pool to get ready to go, while Nathan did Tropical Twister one more time. I met up with my mom, and we then got ready to go, and then we left, probably our last visit to Soak City this year. Thank you Soak City! And well, after having a fun, Kings Island filled summer, it is now time to return to the classroom. Goodbye, summer! See you next year! A couple of notes: *As far as I know, I didn’t see anything closed at Kings Island. Paradise Plunge and Thunder Falls opened around 3:45-4:00, but I’m not sure if Breakers Bay, Zoom Flume, or Pineapple Pipeline ever opened. *Xtreme Skyflyer is awesome. Get there early, as it’s only $5 early. Tons of fun! *I’m glad I’ve got an awesome Amusement Park only 20 minutes away from me. Well, goodbye summer, and, Thanks for Reading!

Really liked your TR. Great stuff. (I was at KI on the same day last year, 8/22/11!)

Great trip report Brad! Glad the crowds went your way. Sounds like you had a great day!

You never ever, ever want to scare a skunk and if you did, just make sure you are not within range of his/her anger!

Carowinds - 8/16/2012 As with my previous report, my trip took me to Charlotte, NC. For once, the weather was not brutally hot in August. It was in the mid-80oF. It is usually in the upper 90oF or higher. I have visited Carowinds more than any other park besides KI in the past 4 years. This was my 5th time this year. Except for during April, this park is usually empty during weekdays. This time was no exception. As always, Intimidator is my first ride at Carowinds. I rode Intimidator during the first ride auction in 2010. I ran into Don Helbig on that day. He told me that day that Intimidator is more like Nitro than Diamondback. I absolutely agree with him although the second part of Nitro is more like Diamondback. Anyhow, Intimidator is another great B&M creation. Intimidator - The wait time was around 5 minutes. As always it seems, they were running 2 train operation. For whatever the reason, Carowinds allow people to ride Intimidator without shoes. Intimidator is running as well as I remember. This ride is tracking better than Diamondback by longshot this year. Diamondback wheels have been rattling somewhat. Not this ride. Smooth and airtime machine. I still prefer Diamondback over Intimidator, however. Diamondback has more hills and stronger airtime. I rode this 16 times before heading toward Flying Eag...... Woodstock Gliders. Woodstock Gliders - This ride still should be at KI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I told Don as much in 2010. Is this a kiddie ride? Why is this in the kid's section? For once, they were NOT encouraging people to "rip" the cords. Of course, that did not stop me from doing so. How I miss this ride although I have been riding this quite a bit since 2009. After three satisfying rides, I moved onto Afterburn. Afterburn - This invert packs quite a punch. Also, this ride is getting to be somewhat of a headbanger. I may just be that I just rode Silver Bullet earlier this week, but Afterburn feels rather rough compared to Silver Bullet. Still, this is quite a gem at Carowinds. This ride is relentless through the first part, and goes through another element just as you think the ride is ending. A compact layout is somewhat comparable to Talon which is my favorite Invert. This is my 4th favorite B&M Invert. Alpengeist and Montu are 2 and 3. I rode 12 times in the back and moved on. WindSeeker - My 5th WindSeeker and except for the view, I did not feel different about this over any others except for the one at Cedar Point. Whatever the reason, one at Cedar Point feels faster than other 4 I have ridden. Not a bad time at Carowind considering I only spend 3 hours at the park. I did not wait for any ride except for initial Intimidator wait. Everything else was either reride or walk on. Bay Beach Amusement Park - 8/20/2012 My latest trip took me to Green Bay, Wisconsin. I was here for one ride only, Zippin Pippin. This ride was relocated from Libertyland in Tennessee although the structure was rebuilt by the Gravity Group, I believe. Looking at the structure, this ride was nearly a total rebuild. The original ride was built in 1923. This ride did not look like 1920's design. Zippin Pippin (#301) - For some reason, this ride reminded me of Blue Streak at Cedar Point. However, the comparison ends on the looks only. Each ride was $1 (4 tickets). This ride had great airtime although not as intense as other TGG creation I have been on. There was an extreme ejector air near the end after the turn around. For those who have been on Tornado at Stricker's Grove, the airtime is similar to the one around the middle of that ride. A nice little wooden coaster. (8/10). Heading over to Six Flags Great America next week...........

Last year I was trucking Rivertown and Nightmare Alley. I went to put my truck in the compactor by Diamondback and as I operated the compactor a skunk decided to walk across my feet as he headed towards Rivertown Junction. Scared me to death almost. I have a few animal stories from Disney as well.

^^ Ha my bad Mystery Mine slipped my mind I would actually put it at #5 and move the others below it down a notch. The fact it slipped my mind tells ya something though. It only makes the list because of the ending though. Granted I'm the same guy that put Disaster Transport over Maverick at Cedar Point as I'm convinced Maverick is the euthenasia coaster with the kill element removed.

You figured it out, Beast enjoys pig in a poke more than it's ability to operate. I would take it personal & start a FB protest page.

Hoping or more of the same today!

^I guess you have a strong dislike for Mystery Mine?

Glad to know I'm not the only person in the world who would prefer the lake over the Beemer...

I have seen my share of animals, both as a guest and as a worker. Once when The Beast still had the pond, I saw a cotton mouth lying in the water. I always watch the local squirrels that feast on the food droppings by the picnic tables at the front near the kennel. One squirrel is pretty big and roams all over. I have had a Blue Heron that was found and brought to the kennel where we placed it in the cat cage for the rescue group to pick it up. A couple of my supervisors adopted a couple kittens that was found by the train station and was kept in the kennel. And there are the ferrel cats that roam throughout the park. Whenever I had to empty trash in the dumpster at Rivertown Pizza in the early morning, I had to bang on the fence or I would risk getting bitten by all the raccoons that feast on the left over pizza. My very first time that I encountered them was a life changer. I did not want to undertake those painful rabies shots! But watch out for the skunks that roam also. I almost had a couple of workers almost get sprayed in front of the operations building by a local skunk.

A very frisky chipmunk chased a few Pre teen girls down path last year on opening day. Funny to watch.

I apologize for your frustration. Do know that the downtime isn't planned. Do also know, the blue shirts and maintenance aren't located at Beast or any other ride as they go down. The blue shirts, have an entire area to cover, as well as an office they could be located in working on paperwork for training, schedules, etc. Maintenance could be in the shop working on a part for a ride, building a haunt, etc. Needless to say an emergency on your part, doesn't constitute an emergency on the parks part, unless guests are stranded or injured. I'm sure there are numerous people who would say the park should have been urgent on a certain coaster in a partly actionless area, and would love to ride it. However, the park isn't going to allow a rider on a ride until the experience can be determined acceptable. So what to think? Just let it go. If something like this happens again while you are at the park, find a different ride to go to. Go to GR if you don't think the park is operating as fast as you think it should.

A dollar an inch? Wow. Haha. Anyways, good tr!

Great report! I will be there on 8/23, sorry I missed you!

Thank you. I also forgot to add that every single time we ride Boo Blasters, my husband's gun is always mysteriously broken. Just saying.

I really don't see how Flight of Fear is #8. Yes, it's his opinion, but whatchu talkin' bout Willis?

IT was NOT the first wood coaster with a vertical loop. The Beast was NOT built by PTC. Sigh.

Maybe where you work. Where I work, more details are expected OR a doctor's excuse will be required.

Nice! I went to KI on monday and got stuck on The Beast, twice in one ride!

They also bleep the train when it uses profane language.

agreed, but past the top two I have to start disagreeing with his rankings.

Holiday World says the updated trains will begin testing this fall for the first time (I mean updated, updated trains) and I think they mentioned they will put them on The Voyage once other roller coasters have tested them as well.

We're now beginning to talk about counterfeit souvenir Son of Beast wood. Fast forward 30 years, watching "Antiques Space Show" on my Dyson Air Couch... "Well, if this were real Son of Beast wood, it'd be worth about twenty million kilodollars; however, this is obviously fake, so it's worth only about two thousand." "Aw, shucks! I can't even buy a Veggie Pepsi with that. Oh well." ..."how much for this ACE tile?"

4680 Beast Recycler http://www.youtube.com/embed/Aw3LEuik6Y0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> I think this was built for this job and the name is perfect.

1. Raptor 2. Voyage 3. Thunderhead 4. Maverick 5. Magnum 6. Legend 7. Alpengiest (sp?) 8. Manta (Seaworld Orlando) 9. Apollo's Chariot 10. Maybe Wild Eagle. It changes everyday though. Sometimes you just get a craving for a certain coaster.

I would love for everyone on this site to stop *****ing at each other.

Sounds....haunting.

Its one of the best nights to go to Kings Island. Best part is that it is closed to the general public & free of protesters.

Everytime I go on the train, I see a giant Black bear standing up. I never see it move though.,