Leaderboard

The 10 rides I have ridden (or rode) the most at Kings Island: 1) Racer - 11,999 2) Beast - 3,371 3) Flying Eagles - 1,544 4) Vortex - 1,021 5) King Cobra - 808 6) K.I. & Miami Valley Railroad - 771 7) Race for Your Life Charlie Brown - 539 8) Woodstock Express - 526 9) Adventure Express - 398 10) Tumble Bug - 234 I also found time to watch more than 2,000 live shows during my years as a season passholder. One of the park's slogan's in the 1980's was "Do It All". That I pretty much did as a passholder.

1,021 rides on The Vortex. Single-day high was 36 rides in 1987 on media day.

You should have come to the park on closing day and met up with us at Tower Drinks. You would have gotten a Beast tour.

Was it always a goal for you to keep ride counts or did you just start counting one day? Did you have spread sheets when you started? Growing up as a sports fan, I was always statistically oriented. I enjoyed looking at player and team statistics and analyzing the numbers. I kept track of my stats when I was playing baseball and hockey and going to amusement and theme parks was something I could have fun tracking and analyzing the numbers, same as with sports. If I wasn't into sports growing up, I never would have thought to do it. I didn't have a computer in the 1980's and had a notebook that I kept a day-by-day log in. From 1972 through 1980, I had written down on the park guide & map (or Fun Guide as it was called at one time) what I did during my visit. I visited the park one or two times a year during that period.

Yes. Several features already planned. Look for the first episode in late February or early March.

Photo #5 - Zodiac & Troika (Shake Rattle & Roll) added in 1975

http://www.visitkingsisland.com/things-to-do/live-entertainment

I guess Paddlewheel Excursions isn't coming to Kings Island at this time. Darn.

I have so many good experiences on FOF. I remember my first ride back in 1996, waited 3 hours with my dad. After the launch I remember my dad kept on saying are we upside down. 1997 was my first season working in rides, started off the season working Vikings Fury and Skylab after Skylab bite the dust I ended up bouncing from ride to ride then in July I transferred to FOF. Returned to FOF for the 1998 season then started off 1999 on Face/Off but before the end of the preseason I ended up back on FOF and trained their crew while the ride didn't have Supervisors, hoping this would give me the opportunity to become a Sup I ended up training the new Sups then sent back to Face/off, by mid summer I transferred to Skyflyer. 2000 Face/Off Skyflyer teamed up and I stayed on till the end of 2001 and only worked on FOF a hand full of times after. Don't know if a lot of you remember during the 99 season Drop Tower opened late, we found out that if FOF launched at the same time Drop Tower was pulling up through the magnates it would blow the power out of half the park eeeeh. I'll never forget having to run up to the Mid course brakes to yell up to the riders stranded on the ride and that was before the evacuation platforms. Once they discovered this they installed a direct line between Drop Tower and FOF and we called it The Bat phone and had to call before every launch to ensure it was ok to go ahead lol. 2002 I started working on Mech 2 rides maintenance and during the off season between 02 and 03 I got to hang around FOF torquing bolts and climbing all over it looking for stress cracks in the welds! While in rides maintenance I got to operate the ride when they had staff shortages and during Fear Fest "Halloween Haunt".

My favorite ride on FOF was with Captain Nemo a couple years ago during Haunt. It was the first Haunt with the green laser lights in the launch tunnel. We esentially had a ZEN ride, with both of us being the only ones on the train in the front row. At the midcourse we had to push ourselves forward to get the train to move out of the brakes from where it was almost completely stopped.

Shooting Star, without question.

The blog has been made inactive for the time being to make way for a future new feature in the Online Fun section of our website.

I went sledding on December 28th. The hill I went to was pretty steep. The first time I went down it, there was this small hump of land in the middle of the slope, and I was speeding straight for it! When I went over it, I caught air for the next couple of feet after that, and never fell off the sled once I landed. It. Was. Awesome! Sledding is probably my favorite thing to do in winter. I also like ice skating. I REALLY want to go skiing sometime, it sounds as fun as sledding!

Sledding is my way of getting thrills in the winter and with 3 winter storms in a row and snow not melting cause its so cold outside. I feel depressed when i dont get to get on a rollercoaster cause its winter so i got to sledding hills 40 foot drops!

Wow! I started doing something similar in 2000, Don. I have been keeping track using an excel file since 2000. I love numbers and statistics and looking at numbers. Sometimes I wonder why I went into architecture instead of going into accounting, since I like numbers so much. But I also enjoy architecture too. I have visited Kings Island 367 times since the start of 2000 and ridden The Beast 749 times, which pales in comparison to your numbers. Here is a question for you. If you could ride one roller coaster that you never got to ride before it was closed/demolished, which one would it be? I would have to go with the Shooting Star at Coney. I`ve always heard wonderful things about that ride.

Taken against my will: Easy: Congo Falls Splashdown Hard: Any 4-legged wildlife in the park

My question for Don is, what did the park do with the surfing wallaby that was in Boomerang Bay? He was my favorite thing in the waterpark, I miss him so much.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/original2/7875063002/'> http://www.flickr.com/photos/original2/7875063002/'>Pictures 046 by http://www.flickr.com/people/original2/'>KIC-Original, on Flickr Easy: WindSeeker from anywhere in the park except the Eiffel Tower. Hard: Squid Hat(s)t from game

Why cant we life in a world were their is apropriate speling and gramar used?

Are you being sarcastic, or have you not seen posts, and videos about Coasting for Kids? please ignore me. The last few days I have been sick and have been under the influence of Nyquil and Tusin DM. So I may have forgotten about the wonderful Coasting for Kids.... Honestly, my brain must have been in shut down mode when I wrote that...

My daughter's first ride on it. She made me purchase the photo.

I would have to say Ride Warriors Weekend back on 2009! That is where I met a lot of the KIC'ers for the first time, and really started a lot of friendships with people on this site and other enthusiasts! Arriving at the park around 7am and then marathoning DB till 1 AM will be the most time I have spent in the park in one day.

Well, "A few weeks" would be next week. I wonder what the verdict will be? I really don't think they want Hart running the place.

I recently remember complains about the name Gatekeeper, and I thought that was the most appropriate name for that coaster!

Photo of KI from outside the park on the night of Closing Day Lighting in Coney Mall that was still on at the moment after the park closed, also taken on Closing Day (yes, I know the pics are blurry. Whenever my camera's flash was off, it took pictures at a slower speed than needed ) Easy: A shot of the park on a cloudy day Hard: WindSeeker at night with its lights on Expert: Any set(s) of lockers that are within the park

Easy: A photo of KI from outside the park Hard: Photo of lighting in the park Expert: A Photo of you with Ed Alonzo

Oh, the Governor has made several statements. It's Hart who has taken up the church mouse role.

Was it always a goal for you to keep ride counts or did you just start counting one day? Did you have spread sheets when you started?

Don tweeted that he'd like an event like Beast Buzz to happen again in 2013, and CoasterBuzz/PointBuzz replied that they'd be interested. Hopefully other coaster clubs would get involved as well, should it go forward. This was discussed awhile back: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/5872-beast-buzz Speaking of events, we should make sure to have a big event/meet-up for KICentral this year. Those were apparently a lot of fun several years back, and Don told us on Closing Day that we should have more and bigger meet-ups this year.

Sorry for changing the subject seemingly randomly, but I always enjoy the people who complain about prices in the park. First off, with the addition of Hank's Nachos, a skinny non-health conscious person like myself can finally get a reasonably large plate of food in the park for around $5. Because of this, I did not leave KI to eat this past season as I have always done in seasons past. But I guess I get that normal people don't view a plate of nachos as a meal. But with the drink wristbands, the cost of drinks have DEFINITELY gone down for folks like me who like soda (or any other fountain drink available). And second, they should be thankful I'm not running the park. When I play RCT, I charge $35 to get into the park, AND every ride is an upcharge. And my people don't complain. Or rather, they stop once I introduce them to Mr. Lake (:<

Adventurous Octoberfest, the Viking zone?

I know the new name for this new area! ............. .................. .................. ACTION COUNTY!

The area may be the start of a total redevelopement of Action Zone, and Oktoberfest, time will tell but this seems huge. It may not just be a coaster maybe a small campground to, so many possibilities. We shall see;

What do you expect of a Baconador?

It was, SOB was tring 2 mak a funni

I'm really hoping that was done on purpose...

The irony....

If anything Coney Island could use some classic flats: Namly a Scooter

Can we get a live stunt like this in the parking lot (much how you did the robbie jump)

Don, Whats your favorite memory of Son of Beast?

In 1982, I was working Reds games at Riverfront Stadium and one of the players, Cesar Cedeno, took himself out of the game in the fourth inning, claiming to be sick. I arrived at the park that evening around 6:00pm and got in line for The Racer and right in front of me is Cedeno with a couple of his friends. It was a Saturday night and the wait time was about 45 minutes, so I was able to chat with him a bit and learned that he liked amusement parks and roller coasters. When I asked him about leaving the game because he was sick, he said he was sick. Sick of new Reds manager Russ Nixon, who had taken over for John McNamara a few weeks earlier.

Because my attempt to play professional baseball or hockey ended in a contract dispute. I wanted a contract but no team in either sport was willing to offer one. After realizing I wasn't going to play professionally, I wanted to work in professional sports (baseball, hockey, football) or the amusement/theme park industry and the things I was good at or had an aptitude for made PR/media relations a natural fit.

Because I chose not to.

That's like saying the president doesn't have to obey laws. Does it say in the TOS that we have to use multi quote? EDIT: Just did a search of TOS. I see nowhere where is says multi quotes must be used. No laws have been broken, and we should be happy he is even interacting with us!

That's like saying the president doesn't have to obey laws.

Because he's Don, he doesn't have to! Or, perhaps he's posting from his mobile. Or, like me, he's stuck there!

Are you being sarcastic, or have you not seen posts, and videos about Coasting for Kids? Coasting for Kids 2011! Coasting for Kids 2012!

3,371 The majority of my Beast rides came between 1981-1990 (2,219).

My best memory of it was a couple days ago when it fell down.

Now, EVERYONE knows that Steel Force was built by Morgan, and Millie was built by B&M, right Terpy? Sparky, who just couldnt resist