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I attended the job fairs at the park yesterday for an interview and am eagerly looking forward to working this 2015 season as a Ride Operator!

Areas Covered: Six Flags Over Texas Sea World San Antonio Six Flags Fiesta Texas Silver Dollar City Restaurant Reviews - various Overview: My friend Dave and I have traveled to a lot of parks in the last couple of years, but neither of us had ridden a Rocky Mountain Coaster (RMC) creation. Because we've had such a nice Winter in Cincinnati (!), we decided to get an early jump on the coaster riding season and check out the RMCs in Texas and at Silver Dollar City. All of these parks were completely new to both of us (and the first new-to-me parks in 3 years). I forgot how difficult trying to navigate parks can be when you don't know where you're going! We did take a limited number of photos along the way, and I'll try and integrate those into the report as this trip report progresses. This is my first trip report integrating pictures so if they don't turn out right or just flat out suck I am certainly open to suggestion! I'll break this trip report into days to make things manageable for everyone :-) Itinerary: Sunday - leave Cincinnati and arrive in Dallas Monday - Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Tuesday - Sea World San Antonio Wednesday - Six Flags Fiesta Texas (SFFT) Thursday - Six Flags Over Texas Friday - Silver Dollar City and arrive back in Cincinnati Sunday: We left Cincinnati around 6:45. Our initial departure time was designed to allow for a breakfast stop in Louisville and a BBQ stop in Memphis and still make it to Six Flags Over Texas by 8:30 local time for some night rides. Unfortunately - traffic in Memphis, Little Rock and in Dallas prevented that from happening, but we did make it to the food places we wanted to try and got into Dallas around 10 local time. Please & Thank You - Louisville, KY Anyone who stops through Louisville during breakfast or lunch hours needs to check this place out. We ended up getting some breakfast sandwiches (the Butchertown Panino - bacon, eggs, potatoes, cheddar on focaccia), some chocolate chip cookies and a derby bar. The breakfast sandwiches were delicious. The chocolate chip cookies and derby bar were both excellent and made for great snacks. Two thumbs up! chocolate chip cookies & other assorted desserts derby bars Central BBQ - Memphis, TN We went here because it was the highest rated BBQ place on Yelp that was open in Memphis on Sunday. The place smelled delightful as most smokehouses do. Central BBQ was a real mixed bag. The dry ribs were absolutely delightful - well seasoned and very tender. Everything else we tried - the pork sandwich, the fries, the cole slaw and the baked beans were all cooked properly but tasted very bland. Those of you who have been to Eli's know what a really good pork sandwich tastes like, and, well, this one was not. As much as we wanted to like this place the food - aside from the ribs - isn't worth it. Central BBQ - entrance I hope to have the rest of the trip completed by the end of the week. Stay tuned!

^ Another POV of Fury 325. Video that the link sends you to was uploaded by Theme Park Review. The video itself was made by Carowindsv Carowinds on YouTube posted a reverse POV of Fury 325:

It was a pretty neat experience walking through Kings Island yesterday while no one else was there during the job fair. Lots of construction going on! Also lots of ominous wind echoing through International Street.

Check out the web cam, Diamondback is testing!

You never know who you might see at one of those events. Have FUN!

Looking forward to my 3rd year working at the best job ever.

I can't believe I'll be riding that monster in just three days!

Fury 325 Media day was as good as any media day I have been on. It was very well done. As I parked the car and walked toward the newly renovated entrance (which looks like Cedar Point entrance), I ran into Dan Helbig and said hello. After the ceremony, we finally got to ride Fury 325. My seat for auction was train 2 7-1. The lift hill was considerably faster than Diamondback and faster than Leviathan. The drop........... Oh that drop........... I will be dreaming about that tonight. First part of the ride was quite twisty with strongest lateral force I experienced on any B&M coaster including inverts. Some of the turns felt quite intense. Unlike Intimidator 305, the laterals were quite comfortable. The favorite part of the first 1/2 was a dive hill with good air time going under a bridge. After another 90 degree turn, there was a dreaded trim. The air time on the following hill was quite nice. After a turn, there was a slow head chopper followed by the strongest air hill that rivals any B&M coasters I have been on. After another small turn, there was another air time hill that was not as good as previous one. The break run ended the ride. I am not ready to say this beats Bizarro, yet. I will say this is better than Leviathan. I ended up riding 21 time. The best seat by far was 8-4. Don Helbig agreed with me. I skipped lunch provided by the park and rode the coaster. The event ended around 3 pm. Overall, this was quite a turn out for one of the best coaster I have ever been on.

Based on those pictures on the last page (the post with the comments about park entrances), I'm getting pumped to ride Fury 325 this summer!

Yes they do. It's also been reported (and videotaped showing their "PETA" marked vans) of them going on peoples porches stealing their dogs for that reason, of course they deny it. And as far as their "shelter"? Someone went undercover in it and posted an article about that talking about how they kill the dogs and kitties and I regret ever seeing that dang website. I won't even post it cause I don't even want to remember it. Do a search. There's a reason I grit my teeth at the mere mention of those Idiots.

Images from Carowinds' webcams which can be found here: https://www.carowinds.com/online-fun/webcams

So what does this story have to do with Universal in Florida and targeting Disney competition? Seriously you are grasping at straws seeing as the article is about the Harry Potter tour at Warner Brother Studios in London and has zero mention of Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Disney, Florida or the USA. These are the misleading tactics that a group like PETA uses to sensationalise a story.

^ I can relate. Walking through CP in the weeks leading up to opening is creepy

Actually, this has everything. There are laterals on each turn and hill on first half, and 4 very strong air time hill in the second half. One of them is very unique. It goes from 90 degree turn into dive drop under a bridge with a floater air. There is a trim before a good floater. The air time hill after that is very strong floater / ejector air that is really, really good. The last air hill is also very good. Of course, the first drop............Oh man that drop................. It is a speed machine, but do not expect this to be Millennium Force. Fury 325 has so many more elements than MF. All of the forces (lateral, negative G, and positive G) with this ride will provide a complete coaster experience.

^^ I wouldn't take the Chance on that ride. I fear it may instill... Chaos.

There is a head/air conditioned lobby that will have chairs. He's more than welcome to sit in there. The total experience should last up to 90 minutes. Of course! All of the rooms are monitored at all times via CC television. In the even of an emergency the show will be stopped and the issue will be dealt with accordingly. ETRC is up to all codes and has been approved by the necessary jurisdictions.

I'd be up for dinner beforehand.

I've been thinking that about most of these new rides. Rather carnivalish. Certainly a departure from the original Vekoma and HUSS installations from the 90s. Good news is, these new rides should pack up rather quickly! Hope I'm wrong.......

It was probably sent via PM and not answered here because, no matter how seemingly minor, it was employee information that is not accessible to the general public. As a couple others have mentioned, working at Kings Island can provide you with some interesting information. But if you go sharing this interesting information online, like on KICentral and similar websites, you may find yourself not working at Kings Island much longer.

Thank you all for correcting me. I read RIGHT THERE "Warner" and I don't know why I thought it was Universal. What's so sad, I'm doing a wizard school theme for a dog show, and sat through every one of those movies with the Warner logo emblazoned onto my eyeballs. (I don't know if it's because my niece is saving to go to Harry Potter world in Florida or not, that I mistook it. There's only so many email ads you can get a day before they all blend together.) What? I was so mad I couldn't see straight? No. There's not even the same number of syllables in those studio names. Railrider, I was not grasping at straws, I made an honest mistake. I'll not come down on you when you do the same thing.

If Cedar Fair ever does business with Rocky Mountain Construction, I hope Kings Island receives an Outlaw Run style coaster, not an Iron Horse conversion of any of our current woodies.

First time i rode Banshee, i kinda was not ready for that drop. So, my back kinda "snapped" and i could'nt breath throughout the entire ride. Second time i rode i got in the front and it was an A+ ride

Two words: Cargo shorts. Preferably with zipper pockets, or failing that, buttons. I don't trust snaps or Velcro. If you have someone in your family who knows how to use a sewing machine, they can take a pair of cargo shorts without zippers and convert the pockets into zipper closures. Oh, and fanny packs are not allowed on Banshee. Another reason to switch to cargo shorts.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/24/apollo-global-to-sell-great-wolf-resorts-for-over-1-billion/ Remember when that one guy from Cedar Fair tried to sell out his own company to Apollo? Ah, the memories... I wonder how he's doing.

I don't know if anyone agrees but I feel like Banshee is such a true fit for the park. It's hard for me to imagine walking around KI and not seeing it. I feel like the ride truly belongs at the park.

The point? Rolling down the midway? What an adventure!

^^ The calorie count of a meal doesn't necessarily correspond to how fulfilling it is. Individual results and preferences vary. The nutrition calculator on pandaexpress.com shows that a sample 3-entreé plate has 1490(!) Calories. 570 of those are from fat(!), and 604 are from carbs. To many, this is not a satisfying meal. Not to mention the 109% of the RDI for sodium.

The type of reaction you fear from Gold Star is the same reaction MANY get from Panda Express. That and being hungry again in two hours.

I won't have eaten since lunch, so I'd prefer somewhere that I can get a more substantial meal. Somewhere that accommodates groups well and has various price/portion choices would be ideal. As we found out a couple months ago, Panda Express's table configuration doesn't work well for groups larger than 4. TMI

From what I can gather from what I've seen hinted (and I may be wrong, of course) there is at least one actor in the room as well. Presumably they could call for help and open the door of needed. For tort reasons, I would expect there is some sort of "emergency stop" button we'd be informed of before starting the game, as well.

^ That looks cool, but I'd much rather have it outdoors where you can get a good view from the top.

I don't think I'm up for dinner, but I'll be there for the Escape. My husband is going to drive down with me, not to participate. Do you know if there will be somewhere fairly comfortable he can wait for me indoors? If not, he's ok with waiting in the car.

Blue Moon is raspberry? For shame, when I was a kid, it was blue tinted vanilla (possibly coconut?) ice cream with bits of pineapple in it. I would get it because it was blue, then usually wouldn't eat it because I didn't like "stuff" in my ice cream. And manage to forget in between each visit. Of course, my husband, who is a few years older than me never heard of Blue Moon ice cream as a kid at all. To make this entirely off topic, when I was a kid, Superman ice cream was all vanilla dyed in red, blue, and yellow, swirled together. And any kid then could tell you it tasted better than plain vanilla I feel the Superman ice cream today, with different flavors for each color, is an atrocity! And get off my lawn!

Any suggestions as to where? Nearby on Tylersville are a typical selection of chain eateries (O'Charley's, Bob Evans, LongHorn Steakhouse, etc), Dewey's Pizza, City Barbecue, and some local/ethnic places.

Have a correction to make. General Custer's doesn't sell blue ice cream. Its a blueberry flavor, there is no blue coloring. Its still pretty good though. However, its hard for me to choose Custer's as there is a Graeter's next door.

You know what might be really cool in here, assuming the height works within the space? http://www.flatrides.com/rides/skywheel.html ^This.

Holiday World sells it IIRC.

I'm five minutes away from Whipty-Do yet have never been to it. That's pretty crazy. I'll make it my mission to go this summer to compare their blue ice cream to KI's.

I have been reading that its a speed machine with little floater air. As long as the thing stays fast i know i'll enjoy it.

I couldn't help the curiosity so I did end up searching it last night. That's just awful. It's such a shame that an organization like this is the public face of "animal lovers" when obviously it couldn't be further from the truth.

Not soft serve but Handels Ice Cream one of the best Ice Cream Company's and they have 2.00 dollar Tuesdays.

Given what many of us have seen in the past, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Kings Dominion has it... Also The Goody Shop in Mt. Healthy had a near-clone last summer. Don't know if they still do.

My husband and I have been marathoning Star Trek: The Next Generation in the evenings. We got to the end of the 4th season when Worf leaves to join in the Klingon civil war, and it reminded me of going to the Star Trek Experience when it was at Kings Island. Looking for more info about that, I found out this happened: http://retro.cincinnati.com/Topics/Klingon-at-Kings-Island

FURY 325 featured on the Today show

Apparently, they also do not care about how they train their dragons.

There's nothing wrong with a woman wearing men's cargo shorts/pants, either. I bought a couple pairs of men's shorts from Old Navy last year, and they served me very well. I already owned some womens' pants with decently sized zipper pockets, that I wore last spring, on cool mornings during the summer, and at Haunt, but they weren't nearly as convenient as the cargo pockets. So, I already have bought two pairs of men's cargo pants in preparation for this year. I'm thinking about converting all of them from buttons to zippers, for convenience and security, too.

Someone posted it on Carowinds Connection; someone else later said that it was taken by Carowinds' public relations manager, Laresa Thompson, and posted on her Twitter account. I think this is what you meant to post... https://twitter.com/laresathompson/status/580184547054194688