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Today (or yesterday I guess by the time this gets posted) was my first Kings Island trip since May of 2006. That year the Italian Job coaster was new, and it was still under Paramount's ownership, so needless to say there's been quite a bit of change to the park since my last visit. I will apologize in advance for using old ride names but they are what I know and I didn't pay much attention to the new ride names! My wife and I bought tickets online with the meal plan for $42.99 each, and this was very much worth it. More on this later.... We got off the Western Row Road exit about 5 til 2:00, and I couldn't have been more excited. From '91 through '04 I had a season pass each year and have visited the park 200 times easily, so I was pumped to take a trip down memory lane. Thankfully I still remembered that staying in the furthest lane to the left was the quickest way into the parking lot, because there was quite a line in the right two lanes. We had a handicap parking pass since I am a bone cancer survivor and have had some pretty gnarly surgeries on my left leg (it's 98% healed now and the pass expires next month), but this proved to be useless since every single handicapped parking spot was already taken. No biggie as I have been getting around pretty well these days, and we found a fairly close spot anyway. Before entering the park we stopped in guest services since we didn't know exactly how the meal tickets would work, and the first person we talked to had no idea what we were talking about, which as you will see will be a re-occurring theme throughout the day. Thankfully someone there did and told us we just need to present our pre-printed ticket to the cashier and they would scan it, and she gave us a list of food stands that would honor the meal deal and a list of foods that qualified for the meal and for the snack (which I can share if anyone is curious). So she was extremely helpful and friendly. Upon entering the park I was very much looking forward to that initial viewing of the fountains, but to my dismay there was a giant Halloween-themed structure blocking the view. The structure was pretty cool though so no big deal, but it was a slight letdown to have that view blocked. Seeing as the parking lot was pretty full when we got there and there was a long line of cars to get in, we though the Fast Lane passes would be a good investment at $70 a piece. Boy, was this the right call... After buying the passes we got a normal locker for $12. We couldn't get it to work so an attendant helped us out and gave us a new one. She was extremely friendly too, and in fact throughout the day a vast majority of the park employees were WAY nicer and friendlier than I ever remember, so kudos to Cedar Fair on that. We worked our way around to Face/Off first, passing some pretty cool theming on the way. The park did an AWESOME job with their Halloween theming overall I thought. The fog was a bit much in some areas but outside of that they knocked it out of the park. I went to the first year of Fear Fest back in the day (when a separate admission was required) and I don't remember it being anywhere near that well done. As soon as we arrived to Face/Off I knew the Fast Pass was a fantastic idea. All the turnstiles were open in the queue (a VERY common theme throughout the day) and I bet it was at least an hour wait in the normal line as the end of the line spilled past the turnstiles. With the pass it was a 3-car wait. I sat in the 2nd car from the right if you are facing the station from the queue, while facing down on the lift hill in the seat on the left. Gotta face down on the lift hill, it's the best way to enjoy the ride IMO. As a side note, I once got stuck on the lift hill on this ride while facing down for at least 45 minutes if not an hour, and it was the most terrifying experience of my life. The whole time I just kept thinking that if the restraints gave out I would be a goner, but that obviously was not the case, thankfully! Anyway, the ride was enjoyable and made me slightly more nauseated than I ever remember it making me in the past, and I feared that I might have a rough day if the first ride made me semi-nauseous but I ended up being fine thanks in part to some Dramamine and Tylenol! Next was Drop Zone. Again, all turnstiles were open and the line spilled out past the turnstiles for the normal line, but it was again a 3-car wait with our passes (they let about 12 Fast Lane riders on per ride). It still took a while to get on though since the first car was held up for 5 minutes as they kept measuring and re-measuring a youngster that was oh-so-close to being tall enough to ride but ultimately didn't make it, and the 2nd ride in front of us was held up by a large man who they kept trying to lock in there and ultimately DID get his restraint to click. I had seat 7 which was perfect for a view of Banshee and the rest of the park. As I remembered, Drop Zone is one of the best thrills in the park and I always ride with hands up for just that little bit of extra rush! We made our way to Top Gun after that which we knew was not a Fast Lane ride but we thought we'd give it a shot anyway. The line started roughly where Son of Beast's queue started, and of course all the turnstiles were open so we opted to check back later at night. It's a nice night ride anyway. Delirium was next, which my wife was not interested in riding, but I remember loving this ride so I had to give it a go. Falling in line with the previous rides, the normal line was as long as I ever remember it being, but this time the Fast Lane line seemed pretty long, too. I got in the queue anyway as the ride was coming to a stop. It took nearly 10 minutes for the next ride to load as another very large man attempted to squeeze in a seat. He didn't make the cut though and had to be booted off, then they had to re-check everyone's restraints. After this ride was up, the Fast Lane moved maybe 10 feet as the next car loaded, and it took darn near 10 minutes for the next ride to get going as well. I still couldn't see the end of the line for the Fast Pass lane so I said "screw it" and bailed, knowing that I would pass it on the way back to Top Gun anyway later in the day.... Up next was Adventure Express, which was yet another ride where the Fast Pass paid off bigtime. It would have been a 30-45 minute wait without it, and was a walk-on with it. The couple behind us claimed that they felt like people in the normal line were giving them dirty looks, but I did not get this feeling at all at any point during the day other than when some white trash guy yelled "bull s#*$" a few times in the FOF line when they let a few Fast Lane people ahead of him when the 2 lines merged. For AE I sat in 2-1 on the right on train 3. I always liked this little ride, though it was always better when the fog machines were on and the spears jutted in and out. And the ride is always better in the front of a car with more leg-room. Racer was next and appeared to also have a 30-45 minute wait to my eye and was a 2-train wait for us. Backwards Racer in the very back seat was one of my favorite rides of all-time so it was a bit disappointing to see them both facing forwards. We chose the Red Racer anyway and sat in the 2nd to last car in the middle row. I always felt like middle row on a wooden coaster was a little less rough, and that theory proved to hold up well in this instance. Racer to me is possibly the most underrated ride that I've ever been on. I could ride it all day and be satisfied. This was another wonderful experience, even though our train lost the race (despite having a lead on the lift hill, we lost by over half a train length!). At least the trains DO race though which was usually not the case in the latter years of my season pass streak. My wife was hungry and HAD to have the Potato Works thick fries, so we used one of our meals on a order with cheese and a large Coke. The retail on this was a little over $11 so it already paid for one of the meal ticket upgrades, and then some. And the fries were just as good as I remember! We kind of did a horrible job of planning out our routes, but we didn't mind a leisurely stroll every now and then. So we ended up at Diamondback next, which I had never ridden before. It took us 30 minutes to get through the line even with the pass, so I can't imagine how long the normal line took. We ended up on the green train in 1-2 which was sweet. Love the stadium-style seating. I was on the left and had some nice views of the park up the lift hill. I felt like we got some awesome air where we sat, so I can't imagine how the back of the train is! While on DB we noticed how long The Beast line was, so afterwards we stopped in a shop and asked if we could trade in our normal Fast Lane passes for the premium ones and pay the difference, and thankfully they obliged. That was $30 well spent, without question. Following this we needed to make a pit stop at our locker in the front of the park, so we strolled through kiddie-land just to see how things looked on that side of the park these days. What a madhouse! I wanted to ride the log flume but wifey said "I am NOT getting wet today" and I wasn't about to ride it by myself, so we chose to give Boo Blasters a shot instead and walked on with our passes (again, all the turnstiles were open and the line started outside of the building for the normal line). I'm not a huge fan because all I did was focus on the targets and barely paid attention to the ride itself. I did dominate my wife on the scoreboard (~1,900 to ~900), but at the same time I longed for the days of the Phantom Theater, which really was a pretty cool ride (I loved the Smurf ride too but didn't get to ride it nearly as much as PT). After a quick locker stop we decided to B-line it to Firehawk, which I wanted to ride before it got dark. The sign out front said it was a 120 minute wait but was only 3 cars for us. Wow. I have not read a lot of hype on this ride, and friends have said it was just "decent", but I thought it was incredible! We sat in 1-1 on the train nearest the queue and I was all the way on the right. You really do feel like you're flying at times on this ride. And how can you possibly ride this without sticking your arms out like Superman? This quickly became one of my favorite rides in the park! While we were there, we jumped in the Flight of Fear line, which also had a sign that said it was a 120 minute wait out front. This was confirmed by people we talked to once the lines merged who said they had waited for "at least 2 hours". Brutal. It was still a 30 minute wait for us, but certainly worth it. We were assigned to row 10 (the very back; I sat on the right) which I thought might get rough but ended up being fine. For the first time that I remember since the first year the coaster opened, it brings you to a complete stop at the halfway point which I absolutely LOVED. I always wondered why they stopped doing that. It makes that section immediately afterwards through those steep banks WAY better IMO. The take-off though is the highlight and still one of the best thrills in the park, especially with your hands up! It was also nice to see that they still use that same video in the queue, haha. Since they got rid of the overhead restraints, I think this has become one of the best rides in the park. Upon exiting we thought we would try our first (and as it turns out, last) haunted attraction and hopped in line for Board 2 Death. It was roughly a 20 minute wait and while the walkthrough was only about 6-7 minutes, it was fairly entertaining, but 1 haunted house is enough to hold us over for a while. We would have checked out more but the lines were just way, way too long. I'm sorry I can't give a better review but it's the only haunted house-type thing I've done in 10 years so I don't have a great comparison. The zombie picture was amusing though, haha. After this it was back to the lockers to grab our sweatshirts as the sun had gone down by now and the temperature was dropping FAST. We decided to head towards Beast at this point and stopped at Italian Job on the way. What a fun night ride. As usual, all the turnstiles were open and the line was backed up basically to right at the very start of the queue. But for us the wait was under 10 minutes. We were assigned to 1-2 and I sat on the left. I completely forgot that this ride had a launch start so that threw me off quite a bit, haha. The helicopter scene had pyro, which I thought I had read some people complaining about it NOT having so that was a pleasant surprise. The last indoor part was pitch-black which made for a fun ending to the ride. From there it was Beast time. Only a 20 minute wait with the wristband, compared to what likely would have been 1.5 to 2 hours based on my past history. While in the queue, seeing the light flashes in the distance at the bottom of the hill for the picture added a little bit extra mystique to the ride for me for whatever reason. We lined up at 1-2 and I sat on the left on train 1. Man, what a killer night ride. Like, THE best. It wasn't too rough either. I did not feel the breaks on the first drop like many have commented, but I definitely felt them shortly thereafter. Probably a good thing though since it would likely get pretty rough if they didn't have them there. And then you can feel them tug pretty hard as you enter the double-helix, though that is probably needed to prevent the train from flying off the track! Going down that hill leading into the double-helix is still one of the most exhilarating experiences I can think of. I wish they could put the camera there to capture my face going into that! And I also couldn't help but notice what to me is one of the most underrated traits of The Beast, which is its smell! God I love that smell! It never gets old! Afterwards we thought we would cash in another meal from our meal ticket and hit up the LaRosa's between Beast and Vortex. We got 2 slices with pepperoni, 2 breadsticks with cheese and another large Coke. This retailed at about $13-14, so the other meal ticket was now paid for, with a snack still left to be used on each one. After this is where the meal ticket got "interesting". I was still hungry as only 1 slice of pizza and 1 breadstick is not enough to satisfy my dinner needs, so I searched out a soft pretzel to get as my "snack". The first stand we went to had only 1 pretzel left and it got purchased while we were in line. The next stand in Coney Mall sold them, but they were out of cheese. So we found another one that had both pretzels and cheese, but the kid's scanner wasn't working so he couldn't ring my ticket up. Ahhhh! We begged him to let us have a cheese and he obliged after some coercing, so we headed back to the 2nd one we went to to get a pretzel. When we made it to the front of the line, the girl looked at me like I had 3 heads when I told her we had "meal tickets". Thankfully someone came over to help her and explained how they worked. I guess not many people buy them? I would think more would since it's a pretty good deal. However, THEIR scanner didn't work either, but mercifully they let me take a pretzel in exchange for my ticket, which I no longer needed anyway. ANYWHO....Vortex was next. Probably a 45-60 minute wait for the normal line, and a 3-train wait for us. This was the one ride my wife said she would not ride as we were on our way to the park, so I was surprised when she said she would give it a shot. "I heard 5-1 gives you the smoothest ride" I told her as I have seen like 10 different KIC members post. However, this seemed like completely bogus advice to me as I found 5-1 on train 2 to be no more or less rough/smooth than any of the other seats, and I've ridden the ride hundreds of times. No matter...it still was an awesome ride for me. The transitions are awkward, but those corkscrews are probably my favorite part of any coaster in the park. I like to lift my feet up and let go of the handles through those corkscrews. And that batwing at the end is SO cool, especially with it being so very close to the walkway next to it. While the ride was awesome for me, wifey had a bit of a more difficult go with it. At only 5'2", her head doesn't stick out above the overhead restraint, so she had to deal with a bit of noggin-pinball throughout the ride. I felt bad as I had given her faulty advice regarding our seat. At this point she had about reached her limit for the day, but I still had to to WindSeeker since I had never ridden it before. Wah-wah. This ride just didn't do it for me. It was a 1-round wait only (and easily 2 hours for the normal line), but still took us darn near 15 minutes to get going due to a loading process that took FAH-EV-AH. The complaints about the loading process for this ride certainly seem valid to me. As for the ride itself, I was in seat 17, which was on the outside. I think I would have enjoyed an inner seat more due to the angle of the tilt, because as it was I just wasn't feeling this one. If it went slower I'd probably be more into it so I could take in the views a bit more. But I am not a fan of it going at that speed. Even though I wanted to hit up Delirium, Top Gun and the Ed Alonzo show on the way out, the wife was just done and wanted the heck out of there, so I obliged. Happy wife, happy life :-) We found a place to get cotton candy to cash in our last snack on our meal plan, and of course the girl working there had absolutely no knowledge of the meal tickets. After some convincing on our part she let us exchange our ticket for a bag in hopes that she could get someone to scan it for her after at the end of her shift. We didn't want to get any employees in trouble but at the same time we didn't want to wander the park aimlessly looking for food stands that would let us use our meal tickets! After that we headed back to our car and arrived there at 10:15, so we had experienced 13 attractions in about 8 hours. Had we not had Fast Lane passes, we might have settled for no more than 5-6 in that same time frame. Overall, it was a fun nostalgic day for me, even though I believe it was the most crowded I had ever seen the park in my 200-some-odd visits. Granted it's probably only about the 5th time I've ever been on a Saturday but still, it was insane. The park handled the high volume of guests very well though I thought. Every time I went into a bathroom there was someone in there keeping things clean and orderly, and there was always someone making sure that the crazy-long lines for the rides that spilled out of their queue were not blocking the midway. The theming I thought was VERY well-done, and the meal deal is certainly worth it if you plan on spending an entire day in the park. As fun as it was, today's visit will be enough to hold me over for a few more years. I think that'll help KI seem more "special" to me. I don't want to over-do it at this point in my life. Next year we are hoping to make it back to Cedar Point. I haven't been there in 5 years, my wife in 10. I always thought CP had better thrill rides but I always liked the atmosphere better at KI. We'll see how it compares this time around. Cheers!

I think it is certainly a diversion.They're anticipating more Flight Deck riders next year, so they're DIVERTING the path of the queue to fit more people. I highly doubt they would spend money like this to extend a queue that I already a 1/4 mile long.

2014 - Continue with Banshee opening, but create a subsection including Banshee as Banshee, Flight Deck as The Bat, and Sky flyer as Flying Witches. Racer Also Receives a new paint. Employees Dress accordingly to there placement. Teaser: In Rivertown signs and teasers have shone up. Each Depicting a different phrase. "It must come down!" "A lake? Where?" "Don't tip it over!" "Great We are all wet now…" There are also Canoes lying around the teaser area. Midway through the season the Crypt's former building is demolished, and footers begin to be placed, and lot more concrete shows up too. 2015 - Rivertown Expantion! A massive expansion to Rivertown with a new lake named Swan Lake in tribute the previous one of the same name. Two new attractions have also been added the first being a 98ft tall Log Flume ride called Copperhead (I know, I know), and a new Canoeing attraction, named Swan Lake Excursions, where guests can take a lovely trip on a traditional indian style canoe on Swan Lake, and through a canal through the woods. With this new Expansion of River, Diamondback receives a much need paint touch up, and the Trees are brought it and planted around and through out Diamondbacks duration. The Splash down "pond" gets a touch up also. A new Midway coming closer to it allowing for a "splash zone", new buildings are added to add to the feel that Rivertown is a frontierish town. Buildings, shops, and Restaurants are also added in the new area around the lake, to. Copperhead: Guests Enter through a building on the Midway, the building's sign depicts it as Rivertown Boating Excursions Co. Founded in 1815. The queue is an air-conditioned, although the overflow queue is located out side of the building. Props and theming is all around. Guests learn that with in Rivertown a long the Little Miami there are quite a few cataracts, each named after different types of Snakes (Diamondback, Copperhead, ect.), and in away explains a bit more of the Diamondback concept. After making their way through the queue, guest enter "the showroom" and the theming is explained further in-depth. An "actor" dressed appropriately leads guest to there boats where you are going to go on an boat tour, through these cataracts, and then come back to swan lake. You are promised that the company keeps a close eye on the rapids, and the water level is low enough for you to head out. But obviously this isn't the case. The Boat Departs from the station, your host on board with you. He is giving you a spiel as you take the tour. Once in the water, you take left taking you under the final drop, and along the edge of Swan lake, then heading into the woods. As the Ride host talks, there are animatronics and other props along the way. Making your way through the woods, you make various lefts and rights. Half way through the ride, hidden speakers boom with loud thunder, and the boat plunges down a 35ft. Drop. The ride host frantically talks on the radio, and he is ordered to get back ASAP. The host informs the boat that we are experiencing some minor issues, and we are going to take the emergency route, but suddenly we begin to rock and the boat plunges again down a 20ft. hill. zooming by "the emergency route", which would be clearly labeled. Signs, half submerge underwater, stating that you should not be on this river if water level is a certain height (which it obviously exceeds). The Guest begin to ascend a 60ft. lift hill climbing out of the woods and over Swan Lake. The Boat then Plunges down the hill thunder booms once again. Making a 180 Degree turn right the Boat ascends up the 98ft lift hill Face the first hill of Diamondback and the newly expand river town. After the Boat plunges down the hill it takes a left turn back towards the station, but not before the host apologizes for the rough ride, and for people on the midway to launch canons at the boat. Swan Lake Excursions: Guests Enter an old boat shack and are greeted by lively shop owner, they queue is in doors, but the overflow is not. A happy Employee escorts 2-4 guest into a Canoe and explains the path around Swan lake through, the Little Miami. Teasers: In the gardens by the front gate a sign staked in the ground reads: "Nah, it is to 80's" and another reading: "Out with old, and in with the Old?" 2016 - The Front Gate is torn down a new Coney Island inspired one in built in it's place, and International street is revamped, with the removal of the shops and the shops are returned to original theming to each building being form a different country. The other levels of the Eiffel Tower is once again open to the public, and the fountains receive a touch up and a new show is added to utilize all of the new feature that it has to offer (this taking the place of Snoopy's Star Light Spectacular). Teasers: In Dinosaurs Alive, one of the first Dinos is modified to hold a sign that says: "Oh, no" And cartoon meteors are hung from the trees. Mean while in X-Base Teasers, in the queue for Firehawk read: "It's about time isn't it…" Where Action Theater is, a lot hazard tape is around the scene. 2017 - Dinos are gone, along with Action Theater, Coney Island gets a new Motor Car ride, and Flying Eagles Return. The motor car ride named, Scenic Highway, Starting on one side of The Racer, going back to where Action theater once stood. Teasers: The signs in Firehawk's queue are still there. As with some footers activity behind the fence and where Dinosaurs Alive once was, footers and eventually track is seen on sight. 2018 - Massive X-base Expansion with restrooms, a Diner that resemble those near Roswell, Skyhawk style flat, and a new B&M Giga, named ​Aurora. Due to a lot of talking with B&M a new style of cars has been created custom for the ride. They resemble a Triangular Space UFO, Track is Back with White Grey supports, three trains all mainly Black, but with hints of either, Green, Red, or Blue. The new area would stretch from the maintenance sheds that were tore down all the way to where Dinosaurs Alive was. You would be able to enter form either the current X-Base Entrance, or through the previous Dinosaurs Alive Entrance. Aurora: With the new additions and Expansions or X-base, a new midway for this ride will be heavily themed with Employees dressed in either Military camo, Officer's uniform, Flight suit, or Maintenance/engineers uniform. Barbed wire will surround entire area, a massive hanger structure will act as the indoor queue and station, for the ride. Out side of the entrance A massive Black Triangular Plane looking structure, will hang over the midway being suspended by a large pole. Guests will enter a Hanger and be greeted with a soldier saluting them. As the make there way through the the first show room they will see full scale, but fake, planes, ranging form WWI to modern era, high tech and advanced planes and Missiles. After through SR1 Guests will enter a full queue line, in a room with videos and documentaries on Area 51 and Wright Paterson. After through there they will enter a Show room 2 where a General, and a scientists explain what you are doing here and how once through here, in the next room, you will have your photograph taken for an clearance 7 ID card (available in gift shop) and then be given a temporary clearance pass, to proceed to the station, before getting on the platform you will hand the a solider/ride attendant your clearance pass, and you will proceed. After Departing front the Station, the train will take a hard right going above the midway below, being level with the Aurora Plane Displayed at the entrance. Then Ascending up a the 310ft. Hill, the Train plunges into a valley making an over all drop of 333ft. The train then enters an over banked turn to the left and now heading back towards Banshee, preforming several ejector airtime hills then a Shambala style helix before turning toward the the river and preforming some more air time hills, another helix, some Maverick style banking, and some more hills, until reaching a midcourse break run. The dropping into a left handed turn and then a few more hills and then hitting the break run. After Exiting the ride, riders will be lead to a gift shop where the IDs can be purchased, and other themed items too. Crash Down Diner: A sit down, homestyle diner that has a bunch of gimmicky theming with news paper clippings and tin foil hats, that kind of the stuff. You can but tee-shirts and other memorabilia there also. The Orbital: A S&S Scream'in Swing right next to the Hanger for Aurora. Once entering Guests will be greeted by a young, mischievous man or women, who want to show you something they found on the property of Wright Patterson Air-force, base, after waiting through a queue line, you are ushered through a cut open fence and brought into a dark room. The host then finds the lights and turns them on. You will then find your seat and experience the ride with flickering lights and sometimes in complete darkness. The showroom, will be hidden within the hanger structure for the station of Aurora.

I think it is certainly a diversion. They're anticipating more Flight Deck riders next year, so they're DIVERTING the path of the queue to fit more people.

Ah...a diversion. Or not.

From KIC's Facebook:

I saw the elephant ears in Rivertown but unfortunately we just ate at that time and didn't make our way back to that part of the park at any point where I was ready for a sweet snack! Too bad they don't still sell them on IS or I would have grabbed one on my way out of the park. I wrote up a nice long TR last night but if you don't feel like reading it I would summarize my trip as follows: I had a blast, it was the busiest I have ever seen the park, the Fast Lane passes were worth every penny, the "Admission & Meal combo" was a good deal if you plan on spending the entire day in the park, the staff overall seems to be friendlier and more helpful (first time I have gone under Cedar Fair ownership) and I thought they did a great job with the Halloween theming. As someone who went to the park at least 200 times from ages 6 through 19, I just thought it was the neatest thing to be able to stay in the park while it was dark for roughly SIX HOURS and have all the rides open. In the summer you only get about an hour or 2 of darkness, and when I went to Fear Fest WAY back in the day I think the only ride they had open was Son of Beast, and most of the haunted attractions were fairly lame. If you go to the park a lot and have never been to Halloween Haunt, I HIGHLY recommend it!

On Saturday, October 12th, Cedar Point set a park record with 53,100 people in attendance. This number has been told to me by multiple employees. With this number comes parking problems: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/oh_erie/hundreds-of-people-were-stuck-in-the-cedar-point-parking-lot-saturday-night-after-halloweekends Pictures of traffic off of twitter:

Here's some more pictures from last night. No new track work, but lots of supports are going up for the loop and the immelman. We rode Diamondback twice (full queue is 1 hour 10 minutes with a crew that was constantly stacking) For the record, the main queue house full only takes 25 minutes to go through. We rode Top Gun, Racer, Adventure Express, WindSeeker. We also did Backwoods Bayou, Cornstalkers (worst maze/actors), Board to Death (What's up with the lighting in the first half? It was so dark you couldn't see jack sh!t.), Slaughterhouse, and Wolfpack just for giggles. Seriously, Wolfpack is one of the worst haunt layouts ever. It's so bad it's hilarious. Holiday Horror was the best. We did it around Midnight, no one was in line. It has the best animatronics and the actors were great! Thanks for providing an awesome Haunt! This Holiday Horror actor is awesome Train ride. Weeeee yay Diamondback. What the f*ck is this. Viking FURY! With light swords! Love this picture, Drop Zone going up, people walking through. Bulb setting.

I dunno...when it comes to waterparks, Splashin' Safari is a VERY tough one to beat. They have a lot of high-profile, massive water slides and attractions. However, if Ed Hart adds several new multi-tower slide complexes like the ones I saw in his pitch to re-open the park, the fact Kentucky Kingdom is 70 miles closer than Holiday World would suddenly become a huge factor at least in my family & friend's cases, and it might warrant a closer look at both- as well as Kings Island, of course, which will have a 168-foot, 68mph, 7-inversion inverted trump card next year...

Sigh. The sign is removed each year during Haunt.

I'm perfectly content with riding the Banshee for the first time 2-5 years from now. After all, yesterday was my first ride on Firehawk and Diamondback, so if I was in no rush to ride those 2 rides, I think I'll be fine waiting for Banshee. And I don't even know what Gatekeeper is. Believe it or not, not everyone who posts on here is a hardcore coaster enthusiast! I joined mainly to get information for my park visit and share my experience with everyone.

^They can just like KI does, but I have never seen it happen, and I don't think that happened this weekend either This is practically what happens EVERY Columbus Day weekend...Me and Lindzey met up and had our first CP trip together in 2011 during this weekend while I was still working, needless to say we really didn't get to hang out and do anything as the park was ridiculously packed. Traffic was backed up to rt 2/rye beach and even on 250. They were even parking people in the grass on the causeway before the tolls it was that crazy... I avoid this weekend like the plague

Possibly a rework of the queue for Fast Lane addition

And so far this year, two different posters have. That's not to say there isn't something going on, but a missing sign isn't a sign of it.

Sigh is right. Somebody always brings this up every year.

That structure isn't new. That structure is what holds up the sign. It was there last year when they took down the sign. You'll just have to trust me on that.

The ride was changed to Flight Deck to avoid such issues. VIACOM does not have the exclusive rights to all concepts involving battleships, aircraft carriers and jets.

After a long time of being busy, I finally have time to share a bit on my day. So to begin, I got up there with my family member near the end of the interview with the Reds player. Instantly I thought "Halloween, really?". We picked up our lanyards and headed over to Rivertown Pizza for lunch. Now I didn't wait in the line and walked to Madam Fatale's. When I walked in I noticed a few things. First, it really used the existing structure very well. Secondly, I was next to a KIC group, which i got the sense of how many people were actually going to be here. After i ate lunch and headed to Flight of Fear. Even before I go on, I love Flight of Fear, hands down it is my favorite steel coaster period. Then I went to Wolf Pack, even more KIC members were there! I liked Wolf Pack, though I think that the theme could use a bit more on placement issues. Being around there led me to ride of course Flight Deck. Then I was left with 30 minutes to spare prior to the Banshee tour. So, BB1, being BB1 rode Delerium and a other ride, making it back just in time to go into Banshee tour. The crowd infront of Banshee was immense, recognizing members like Jcgoble, NoChickens, Malem, even the most greatest Dane. After a short wait we shimmied into the enterance and entered the site. The whole area was quite an sight, and I was VERY happy to see my old BB guest services building still back there. With that I got a sense of how big the coaster was going to be and the supports as well, with the layout in the 'noggin I made sure to check out the whole site under the restrictions laid out of course. With this I took many many photos, and was quite thankful to be able to enter such a place. Thank you so much for this! After this it was off to the Diamondback tour, which it was great being able to see the coaster up close and on the ground rather than being on the steel beast itself. Then I headed to the IR for the q and a session, which thankfully we learned there are no Intamin products in the future. I actually got to put more names to faces here, but do note that no one has yet to connect the BB1 puzzle. The session itself was great and very informative, which led to the final rides of The Beast for 2013 summer season. Really it was fun meeting a few of you and i hope this can be repeated again. Few side notes: Brony backpack, as stated before, is awesome, period. Sometime during this day there was a WindSeeker ride Best part was probably the Banshee walkthrough, although seeing BB stuff on the DB tour made my day as well. Hopefully we can do this again soon!

Hey all, I just got back from Stricker’s Grove near Ross (OH) and it was a blast! This trip was a big deal because this was the first new theme park I’d been to in 5 years (last one was Six Flags Great America in 2008). Here’s what went on during the awesome day: I got there around 11:30 and waited until the park opened at 12. As it turned out, I was the first KICer there (and one of the first people there in general). I just listened to some music and then waited for others to show up. NoChickens and Mrs. NoChickens arrived shortly after I did and we talked. Finally, the gates opened and we went in. The first thing I noticed was that the park was divided between the rides area (which opened at 1PM) and the picnic area/food stands/arcade area. After taking a look around, I decided to play some skeeball, which was really fun. I played eight rounds (1 token each) and ended up earning approx. 11 tickets. I then had a hotdog and chips for lunch while chatting with other KICers. The hotdog was really good, but the chips were surprisingly just ok. The gates finally opened and I decided to make Teddy Bear my first ride (and coaster) of the day. I sat in the back because I knew that I got good air on Woodstock's Express at KI (which is a bit similar) and I thought the same would happen here. It was a pretty fun ride and a good pick for the first ride of the day. I then made a beeline to one ride I had been wanting to ride ever since I had planned this trip: the Round-Up (or as it’s called at Stricker’s, the Electric Rainbow). It was a pretty unique ride as centripetal force left you stuck to the wall and it got interesting once the ride went vertical. Although it was fun, I did have to sit and recover from the awesomeness. After this, I decided to ride the park’s second coaster, The Tornado. I ended up sitting in the second to last seat (back) and had heard about the airtime back there. Overall, the first drop was great and “the cliff” of airtime (as it’s called) did catch me off guard, but not really in a good way. Also, I noticed that the turn after the first drop reminded me of Son of Beast’s drop/turn section before the big drop. After this, I decided to do my new favorite ride, Electric Rainbow, again. I then decided to ride the Turtle, a Tumble Bug ride similar to the old Boo-Boo’s Baggage Claim kiddie ride that used to reside in Hanna Barbara Land when KI was owned by Paramount. That turned out to be a bit more forceful than I expected, but it was all good. I then made my way to the Tip Top. It’s basically one of those spinning cup rides on steroids as it raises up and down while you are spinning. I had seen a Youtube video of one of these rides and had watched the ride cycle before I got the chance to ride. I was a little nervous as I’m not typically one to try those “crazy flat rides”. It was not as bad as I thought (it looks a lot worse than it really is), but I found it really hard to spin and therefore didn’t spin much. This all changed when I rode it again with fellow KIC member ZombieNinja, who spun it like crazy!!! It turned into one of the most intense rides of my life, but it was great! I then went back to the old favorite Electric Rainbow for a third time. It was around this time that I noticed that my head hurt due to the lack of padding on the wall that you are standing on (preferably for head support). This seems vital as you are pushed into your “seat” by force and I think more padding would make it a more comfortable ride. After this, I rode the train with NoChickens, Mrs. NoChickens and their nephew. I was advised to ride the train by a friend of mine, and it was worth it! The tunnel reminded us all of The Beast’s first tunnel as the train seemed like it wouldn’t fit and the material the tunnel was made out of reminded me of the concrete used for the third tunnel (after the break shed in the first half of the ride). After this, I decided to brave the tilt-a-whirl. As some of you may or may not know, I had a very bad experience riding a tilt-a-whirl while visiting Michigan’s Adventure when I was younger (I didn’t like it, but had to ride a second time). Thankfully, the results were not the same here; I loved it. I especially loved spinning really tightly and fast, which was the part I used to hate the most. I then rode Electric Rainbow for a fourth and final time (I had to quit because of the head issue I mentioned earlier, which made the ride a bit less enjoyable). I then tried to win a Homer Simpson stuffed animal at a ball toss game, but failed (my aim was mostly too short). It was around this time that Gator and his family had gotten to the park, so after they exited the Teddy Bear, we (as in, all the KICers present) decided to ride Tornado before the line closed down for dinner. Most of us made it on one train and I led a “K-I-C” chant up the lift. The airtime “cliff” was taken a bit better as I was sitting towards the front, but it was still noticeable. It was after this that I wanted to ride the Whip as I’d never been on a Whip before. It was pretty cool and was definitely different. The time was about 4 o’clock and the rides had shut down for the hour break for dinner. During this time, I tried to coordinate all the KIC’ers sitting in the same table (or at least in the same area), which sort-of worked. It was also during this time that I thought we should all have a KIC mini golf tourney as sort-of a team building activity. Most people were cool with the idea, so after we ate (I had another hotdog), 9 of us played a round of 18 holes at the mini-golf course. JCGoble came in first place, RaptorGuy came in second place and OhioColts came in third place. A great time was had by all and I suggested that if we have a KIC gathering at Stricker’s next year, we should definitely do another mini-golf tourney like this (seriously, we should!). After golfing, I decided to ride the Flying Scooters (very similar to the old Flying Eagles there were at KI) and although it was a fun ride (I got a Nickelodeon orange tub), it didn’t really do much for me. After this, I decided to do the tilt-a-whirl again and surprisingly spun more this time than I did the first time. With not much time left (I wanted to get on the road before dark), I decided to ride Tip Top and Teddy Bear (this time near the front) with BeastForever before cashing in my skeeball tickets and calling it a day (by the way, I got a cool frog-hopping toy like I had when I was little and two tops for those Skeeball tickets). Overall, it was a great day and I had a blast. Thanks to all the KICers who joined me on this amazing day of awesomeness and I’m definitely looking forward to bigger and better coaster destinations in the future. -MDMC01 Top Rides: Tilt-a-Whirl (both times), Electric Rainbow (1st and 2nd times only), Tip Top (2nd time only) PS: As with the Dollywood TR last year, I apologize that there are no pictures to go along with the Trip Report as I only took one picture while I was there. Also, here's a breakdown of the ride count: Electric Rainbow: 4 Flying Scooters: 1 Teddy Bear: 2 Tilt-a-Whirl: 2 Tip Top: 3 Tornado: 2 Turtle: 1 Train: 1 Whip: 1

That would depend on what's on deck next...

Diamondback generally only stacks because of all the luggage people drag with them and the people who don't test the seat before the queue to make sure they fit alright. Give the crew a break and leave your crap in a car, locker, or better yet at home! People give the crew a hard time when their usually not the problem. Just speaking in general not to anyone specifically on here. Jr... having hundreds of DB rides and hoping for hundreds more and who enjoys copying JCGOBLE3.

Those are awesome ideas!

Took these pictures today.

Please be something more than a Fast Lane Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Why must we be taunted so?

And I thank many of you for sharing good information to help me plan my park visit!

thegajone confusigated me when he hijacked SFOG's thread, now I'm all messed up. I need to go ride DB now and clear my head.

What's wrong with wanting to go to 6300 Kings Island Drive, Kings Island, Ohio 45034 From Atlanta?

Ride, Sally, Ride.

This is the latest facebook post from Cedar Point. It is just a cover photo update from a family that they posted yesterday morning. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151665111211463&set=a.10150582435226463.375429.10625691462&type=1&theater Not sure if you can see these comments or not but there are about 154 comments as of now (10:30PM) and I have yet to read one positive review about what happened saturday. This is seriously making me consider NOT going to CP this upcoming weekend. Part of CP response to this situation was "While guests were attempting to park their vehicles, and subsequently, leave the park at the end of their day, they experienced a longer than normal delay in our parking lot and on our causeway. Like sporting events, concerts and other events where large crowds gather, guests leave around the same time creating a backup." I have been to many sporting events Pacers games, Colts games (including a bar outside across the block from the Super Bowl that was in Indianapolis), and large concerts such as Lollapalooza (Which hits capacity around 70,000 concert goers, not including the employees and volunteers working the concert) and I have NEVER had to wait more than 45 minutes (that was at Lollapalooza) to leave an area by car. I understand there are few ways in and out of CP but they have to have a better plan in place to accommodate crowds like this. I feel terrible for the families that had young children stuck in their cars for 4 hours...and for the people who decided to come with their families, spend hundreds of dollars (stories say anywhere from $300-$700)to run into a mess like this past Saturday. Just awful.

Nice report - glad you all had fun! Perhaps I should make the ~130mi drive next year. Organizing a mini-golf tournament was a great idea. I may have embarrassed myself, though; I had the highest score in a group of ~40 the last time I played mini-golf.

You are probably right, but when I hear stories of Kings Island's past, and look at the map in the First Aid Station, that has always been one of the most intriguing aspects of the former life of the park. I really enjoy canoeing, and I think that would make for a great family ride, in Rivertown. The Canoes always seemed one of the things that made Kings Island so unique, and such an awesome park, with just such variety, and if I owned Kings Island that is what I would want in my park. If I had more time, and wasn't force to come up with these ideas on the spot for Razzy's entertainment, I would probably do things differently and really figure out how to tie all of these unique things that made Kings Island such a special place, and bring them into a 21st century Kings Island and what makes it so special today.

The haunt inside of the crypt has you walk down a flight of stairs.... I also saw them tell a few guests in wheel chairs that they would not be able to go through a few haunts while in wheel chairs.... Seeing all of those pics makes me sad to think that almost 20 years ago we were (the universal we) all lining up under that ride. I loved the theme under the ride.

Boy am I glad we switched days for my wife and my trip to CP. We were going to go up there this weekend and decided not to on Wednesday this past week. We ended up doing a 3 day trip to KI (which Fri and Sat were pretty bad). I would rather spend a packed day at KI (takes us 1:50 to get to KI) than travel 4:30+ hours to CP and be met with record crowds... We are headed to CP next weekend and expect similar crowds on Saturday. But the weather should hold some people away (Mid 50s for high and low 40s for lows.) Though after reading this I doubt the crowds will be that much smaller... :-/ All I know is we rode two rides after 4pm at KI and I hated it. But I took it as a positive as well because days like this past weekend are what puts rides like Banshee in the park (FL,food, parking sales were through the roof).

Great Trip Report! I really Hoped i could go but i was to tired from Halloween Haunt last night May I ask what happned on the tilt-a-whirl?

It sounds like they should have extended the park hours.

I wish I could go over there but Action Zone is not my area. On a side note kjkjkj is was nice freaking out your sister when I came up and greeted here by name on Friday by the gate.

I've always wanted to actually go underneath the station so I will be happy.. once. Then saddened that I have to wait longer haha

Same could be said for TR:TR -- This thread makes me dearly wish KI had some more high-thrill flats.

With a box of sleeping cats under the ride to complete the scenerio.

Last night was extremely crowded! I was probably one of the people Not giving you "The Look" as you stood in Fastpass Lane. (How do patrons think we get new attractions like the Banshee?) I'm glad you got one, as the wait for rides, particularly The Beast, for some reason, would really put a damper on your evening. We got in very few rides last night, ended up celebrating Coney Island, which was a good change. There were, for want of a better word many a Garbagos DeBlanco there last. One guy regailed to me that a monster (in a haunted house) scared his wife so he took a lunge at the monster, missed, and hit his head on a piece of scenery. He was wearing a big clean white bandage, the only thing clean about him on his smudgy bald head, and couldn't figure out why it was considered his fault that he hurt himself. Also, he was an uncorraled smoker, a thing I cannot abide. Now that you've brought it up, all the bathrooms were extremely clean. It seemed as if the food service and sales people were in a daze, my first thought was that they were all new hires for this event, but then I realized that I would have been overwhelmed by that many people coming in out of a fog to buy things. In the gift shop, I had to ask for the reciept and a bag for a white fabric item. What was evident to me went over the heads of sales staff, but would I have faired any better at that age in that situation? On e of the clerks were standing at the door of the Girly shop, staring at me with frightened eyes. "I'm a regular person." I kept saying, until the fog cleared and she could see I was just another patron. I can't imagine anything about my gear or demeanor that would suggest otherwise. I'm so glad you got to run amok in the park as you did. It sounds like a great memory. Y'all come back, you sound like great fun. I hope you can return on a more sane day.

And for that we thank you.

The tour today is exclusively for ACE members. Membership cards must be presented to take the tour.

I was there tonight and security were as numerous as the monsters. It was so crowded tonight, we hung up on Haunts and rides, (we got there late, didn't feel like Fastpass would be worth it.) Walked around rode some fun little rides, and did the impossible, got that man I married to ride The Monster. We had a fun enough time along Coney Island to make the trip worth it. I thought the monsters that I saw were excellent tonight, but to be honest, there were so many weird looking people in the park tonight, it was hard to tell the two apart.

Why? What's in Sandusky?

Then what would a new go-kart track be? A fake addition?

I hear they'll be harkening back to KI's "old days", and slowing down Flight Deck drastically and renaming it "Lion Country Safari Coaster".

And to get that disgusting water on riders. I said it before. I'll say it again. YUCK-A-DOO. I got wet on Diamondback once when it was not raining. That's enough for this lifetime. For me. Only Clementon's chutes with the ground up fish come to mind as worse. Not even Camden's flume. Cedar Fair. Family fun. Clean. KI can do better on that water. It can. It should. Nasty. Despicable. Sad.