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On Friday May 1st I decided to take a 1/2 day off from work and go to the park, stay all night and go back on Saturday as a me trip.I get to the park about 1:30 pm and go to Banshee first thing and get on it with just a a 2 cycle wait. When I got off I ran into Nochickens and Mrs.Nochickens. We got back in line for Banshee again and got a second ride. After that we rode AE, and then got in line for Red Racer, (blue was not up at that point.) We then got in line for Shake Rattle & Roll. There is something about that new paint job that just attracts you to it and makes you want to ride it. I think I like that remodel more than the addition of Woodstock Gliders! The new sign as well sets it off as well! We then go and get in line for BLSC when I was playing with my phone. I am not one for selfies, but got a good one with Dee (Mrs.no chickens) photo bombing so I had to keep it! LOL I got another one with a train going through my head. After that we got a ride in on The Beast and of course Diamondback! We then decided to ride Woodstock Gliders and see how well we could swing those tubs. Nochickens was getting a little frustrated with his skills and mine were not any better this time. While there I got a better picture of the new Space Buggies. We went and rode Surf Dog since Planet Snoopy was not really to busy. Got a nice pic of Flying Ace Areal Chase on the way to eat. After that several KIC'ers meet up at Red's for dinner. Some might recognize an old KIC'er (Rotag) in this pic as well. After that we went to The Beast to see if Princess Sparkles was working, but she actually had the night off. I got a few good shots there! After that we went to Vortex where I rode with nochickens in 7-1. It was quite smooth, I was expecting worse there! I had not sat in that seat in a while. After that we hit up Dodgem, and for giggles we all went to the Carousel! Gobble! Malem, behiind him is OhioColts, and to the left is Silver2005 We then hit up the Blue Racer which it seems to be winning every time. One or Red's trims must be pulling harder or something? Back to Adventure Express, and Banshee! I got quite a few good shots of her! This dusk shot is my favorite though! We then went and rode The Bat, back to Banshee and since I had not seen the light package on SR&R we walked back there and rode it. The queue was 3/4 full. I think they made a good choice adding that light package! Needless to say, Vortex needs a light package next. We noticed we had a 3/4 queue to ride SR&R and Vortex had less than a station wait. We were going to end out night on Diamondback, but it was down, so we hurried back over to get in line for Banshee. Walked out of the park as the fireworks were going off! It was a great day! I stayed in Cincy for the night and went back on Saturday! During ERT I got in 3 DB rides. Headed over to The Beast and got 2 rides in over there before it got busy. I then went to BLSC for a ride on it. I then rode SR&R , Vortex, and since I was by myself rode WindSeeker. After that I rode Zephy. I was trying to ride some of the flats I had not ridden the day before. I then went and got some Panda Express which was pretty good. After that I meet up with Kat and we rode Viking Fury. She wanted to get some food so I decided to see what was going on in Action Zone since I had not made it there yet. I wanted to watch Let it Rock at 1:30, but only had about 1/2 hr to ride something. It seemed that Banshee did not have to bad of a line and knew it moved quickly. Got on and out of the Banshee store in about 20 minutes.Got back into the Festhaus and found a seat. I got to say Let it Rock had to got be the best show I have ever seen at KI! Great songs, great energy, and all around fun show! You could tell those performers were really pouring themselves into it! After that we rode Blue Racer and AE, both having about 1/2 hr waits. We then headed to The Beast. Wait was about 1 1/2 hrs, we were 3 trains from getting on and it went down. we figured we had waited that long we would wait it out, but 20 minutes later we gave up when they said there was a bigger issues than just a sensor or something. I meet up with some other KIC'ers and got some dinner and just walked around for the rest of the evening till I left at 8:15ish to head back home. All in all it was a great few days at KI for an impromptu trip over! Will be back over for Coaster Stock!

I will make this just a quick little trip report so I can get back to my school work. I have procrastinated long enough today already. ------------ I was lucky enough to win one of the auction seats for Thunderbird. I was on the first train, right wing, row 4. The morning we got there was very cold. We had to be at the park by 6:15 am for check-in. The auction riders were taken back first to Thunderbird before the rest of the group left the main gate. We were seated almost immediately in the nice and cold train and we waited for launch. I spent the day at Holiday World, with my mom. She loves wing riders and Holiday World so it made sense she was my guest today. Once the rest of the group made their way back to the plaza, you could hear a speech being given out in the plaza before we were launched. I couldn't make out anything that was said so if anyone here was there and not in station and knows what was said, feel free to let us know. Launch time was precisely 6:50 am. You could hear the countdown start outside and work its way into the building. 5...4...3...2...1... "It's Launch Time!" We proceeded into the staging area amidst a dense fog and thunderstorm effects. We waited several seconds in the fog while it thundered around us. Then at the loudest crack of thunder, the train was whisked away. Through the fog, down the launch track, and into the Immelman. You truly were upside down before you knew it. The ride never let up. The vertical loop, horseshoe turns, zero g-roll, and fly throughs were amazing. The finish reminded me of Banshee so much but Thunderbird crawls through it slower and is drawn out, creating some crazy hangtime. It was overall a fantastic addition to Holiday World! After our first flight we were able to warm ourselves up with breakfast: egg and cheese sandwiches on a buttered biscuit, strawberries and blueberries, cinnamon rolls, orange juice, and several other items. Ride time on Thunderbird, Voyage, and Crows Nest went until noon, so about 5 hours. Plenty of time to relax and enjoy the day. We were lucky enough to spend a little time on the other woodies when they were open, which ended up being only about 45 minutes. Raven still kicks some serious butt and Legend packs a punch with those lateral G's. The Legend is still my mom's favorite wooden coaster. Just goes to show you why we build so many different types of roller coasters, we all have different tastes. She didn't really say it but Thunderbird might be her favorite steel one now just based on her reactions to the ride. We were treated to lunch around noon. They served pulled pork sandwiches and country fried steak, the new menu at the new food stand by Thunderbird (forgot the name). It was all delicious. The Thunderbird Ice Cream was very different and not something everyone will like. It's vanilla ice cream with caramel and pecans. The funky thing about the ice cream though is that the pecans are fire roasted, making them spicy. I do encourage you to try it at least once. It was a very long day at the park and we didn't even stay for the last bit of ride time on Thunderbird or get dinner. We had been in the park for roughly 9 hours and had already ridden Thunderbird 14 times so we had plenty of laps. I was reminded why I love this little park in my home state. Can't wait to return later this summer! As always, thanks for reading!

I'm going to agree with Terpy here- I don't consider Goliath or Outlaw Run "wooden" coasters. Yes, they have wood structures, but by that logic Adventure Express and Gemini are wooden coasters. I did at one point think these were wooden, but that was before I saw how much of the track was actually replaced by steel- I thought it was just a small plate that covered the whole track. Then, I saw this photo from IAAPA. The topper track is on the left, with Iron Horse on the right: That's a HUGE section of wooden track taken out- nearly everything the main wheels would ever touch- and replaced with steel. The only wooden part of the track that even remains are the lowest layers which are just there to absorb weight and hold the wheels to the track. While a coaster like Georgia Cyclone that only uses SOME of this on its worst parts could still be considered wooden, Outlaw Run and Goliath use this on every inch of their tracks. Yep- while there's some wood in that track, I'd still call them steel coasters. They are probably very good coasters though (have yet to actually ride an RMC but reviews have been great so far). The current wooden records are held by, according to RCDB at least...(ignoring Goliath and RMC Topper Track woodies for above reasons) Tallest: T Express @ Everland (Korea), 183.8 feet (even if it was wood Goliath is only 165 feet tall and thus fails to beat this- they probably meant by drop) Tallest Drop: El Toro @ Six Flags Great Adventure, 176 feet Fastest Top Speed: El Toro @ Six Flags Great Adventure, 70mph Longest Track: The Beast @ Kings Island, 7359 feet Most Inversions: Hades 360 @ Mt. Olympus, 1 And, if because the track is laser-cut on INTAMIN woodies (El Toro & T-Express), if you discount them for that...the tallest, fastest, and largest drops on traditional woodies go to... Tallest: The Voyage @ Holiday World, 163 feet Tallest Drop: Mean Streak @ Cedar Point, 155 feet Fastest Top Speed: The Voyage @ Holiday World, 67.4mph (Beast and Hades 360 are normal wooden coasters so their current records would still stand under these rules)

Nowhere near the fastest steel.

Perhaps this is in part a way to demonstrate advantages of consolidation, in case BGW ends up on the market. In that event, they'd presumably want FUN as a suitor.

Behind the Thrills is reporting a partnership between Cedar Fair's Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg to co-market the parks and region as a family gateway to the Northeast: http://behindthethrills.com/2015/05/kings-dominion-and-busch-gardens-williamsburg-to-announce-partnership/ Behind the Thrills indicates the official announcement is to take place tomorrow. The partnership, involving many tourism agencies, will reportedly include a combination ticket good for both parks. Will be interesting to see the details as they emerge and are expanded upon in Tuesdays announcement. As always, one should read between the lines and pay attention to what is not said.

This is where I'll post my trip reports in the future. Mini-trip report May 1st: We went to a fair on Friday, because in the past almost 4 years of living in El Paso I have never seen one until now. Even though we have Western Playland, I was curious to see what kinds of rides they'd have. The first thing we rode was the Crazy Mouse roller coaster. I was actually really impressed with how this traveling coaster looked. Shiny, fresh paint. No odd noises. It looked like it would be a lot of fun. However, actually riding it was a bit of a different story. The cars are designed to fit 4 to a car, two on each side sharing a restraint. But if you only have two riders you each occupy one side. The beginning of the ride was actually really fun and fairly smooth except of course for a few intense turns. Then the ride started spinning. I still have a headache and bruises from being whipped to one side of the car and then the other hitting my shoulders & arms on the sides. The hills were very bumpy while spinning. It was an interesting experience, but not something I chose to ride again. After Crazy Mouse I had an awful headache and decided to avoid most of the spinning rides. I wish I hadn't chosen to ride it first because I'd been really looking forward to riding the Hurricane, but I just couldn't do it! Next we rode this Ghost Pirates dark ride. It was kind of like a tiny budget version of Whacky Shack with a couple of scares and a tiny bit of theming. I liked it enough to go on it a few times. The rest of the evening was mostly walking, visiting assorted fun houses, trying to decide if I was ready to ride Hurricane or not (which I didn't end up doing), trying to avoid overly aggressive game operators, having dinner consisting of a corn dog and a shared funnel cake with cherries, and riding the ferris wheel over and over. The ferris wheel was probably my favorite part, it was smooth and had beautiful LED lights, and of course the views in El Paso are pretty fantastic. We headed home a little after dark. It was a nice night and I'm happy to have a bunch of neat pictures.

I dont think its a snob mentality. Its really the fact that you have the opportunity to ride when the line is not long. I rarely like to wait in a line for a ride more than 30-45 minutes long just because of the pass. Only time I did it last year was Diamondback and Banshee. Most others I will skip if the line is long because I can always go back... I found myself feeling the same way a few years back, but it ended up being a blessing, rather than a curse. I have had a gold pass every year since 2001 except 2009, and I noticed myself getting bored waiting in line for a lot of the bigger rides, and just becoming bored with running from roller coaster to roller coaster non-stop... in fact, I couldn't do it anymore, I started to become motion sick just running from ride to ride. But then I started to change things up and take my time. I stopped to watch shows, to sit in the shade and eat, and to ride rides that I often walked past. My visits to the park since then have been longer and more enjoyable since. I rode White Water Canyon more times than any other ride on opening day this year and had a blast.

It sounds like a good idea that would be beneficial to both parks. If a family was planning on Kings Dominion and has never heard of Busch Gardens Williamsburg (or vise versa) that combo deal is really good advertising. It will be interesting to see how this plays out!

So right after booking the trip and signing up we found out that my wife is pregnant. She is no longer participating but we decided I would still go and do Coasting for Kids ( I dropped the nice hotel and day at BGW). Now my brother and a friend of mine are going. It will be a first visit for all of us and we are all doing Coasting for Kids.

To be fair, I myself have walked into Kings Island at 9:30 specifically for the purpose of getting in a quick Beast night ride and going home...

CONGRATULATIONS to you both!

Saw pictures of the track up close on FB. According to the labels it is a Wing Coaster and is going to a park in China. Not going to post the photos here as they do not appear to have been taken legally.

Took my first trip to KI yesterday afternoon. Despite a crowded lot when we arrived around 3:00 pm, the lines (at least we were, mostly Planet Snoopy) never felt too long. Speaking of arriving, I'll start there. I've seen the numerous complaints about the parking lot, and have never really understood the fuse. After yesterday, I realize its b/c of how my normal routing operates. Typically, we go in the evenings, mid week as a family, I drive up from the south after work, my wife drives down from the north with the kids, we meet around 5-6 pm, the park typically isn't too crowded, and generally we always park in the same handful of rows, so most of our parking lot time is spent driving along the main road that runs down the middle. Yesterday, we had to traverse "up and down" several rows of parking to find a spot, looking for a spot vacated by somebody that had left for the day (or food). As such, I got a feel for just how bad the rows of the parking lot are. The lot desperately needs repaving. If Kentucky Motor Speedway can advertise how its the roughest track in NASCAR, and how the best love it, while others fear it, KI should pull out a similar slogan for their parking lot, the roughest ride in the park. Anyhoo, we got in, got the kids measured and headed to Planet Snoopy. I wasn't sure if our 6 year old would be at 52" or 54" to start off the year, I was kind of hoping for something less than 54" b/c our 2 year old daughter hit the 36" mark over the offseason and it meant there would be a significant amount of rides they could do together in that part of the park, and knowing we only had a short window before he'd hit 54" and be considered too tall for many of the attractions there. Even when our son hit the 48" mark 2 years ago, and discovered that he loved The Beast, Adventure Express, White Water Canyon and all of the others "bigger" rides he could hit once he got to the 48" (and in some cases like WWC a shade less) he still always had fun in Planet Snoopy and there were things there he definitely wanted to get on again. I assumed that would still hold true, at least early in the season while he could ride some stuff with his sister. Dad was wrong (not the first time, certainly not the last), he "hated" Planet Snoopy; he's definitely hit the "I want to be in the big kid part of the park" stage. I'm hoping that phases out b/c there are a couple of trips with some of his friends too small, or too scared to ride The Beast or other bigger coasters. I did get him on the flying scooters, and he had a ton of fun. I've forgotten just how much swing you can get on that; generally I don't do spinning rides, but the Eagles never bothered me as a kid, so I gave the new version a twirl and enjoyed them just as much as I remembered from my earlier days. They were surprisingly snug for myself and my 6 year old, would be tough to fit two adults into 1. Our 2 year old seemed to enjoy them. We caught a couple of other small rides, headed over to The Scrambler so our son and daughter could ride it with grandma. Our son has always loved it, our daughter has never been on it; not sure we'll get her on it again, she definitely wasn't a fan. Of course she felt the same way after riding The Monster last season, but by the end of the year, she had made 4 runs of it with Mom in a single trip, so perhaps she'll "grow" into it. After Scrambler, we grabbed some dinner, then finally got our son on one of his "new coasters". He said at the beginning of the day (and last season when he was getting close to the 52" mark) that he didn't want to get on Banshee. I had him talked into Flight of Fear and he seemed excited, but when he realized we were going to the Festhause for Dinner, and new Banshee was right by it, he made up his mind that was the one he wanted to do before we left the park. To his credit, the fear he talked about earlier in the day never popped up once he decided he was going to ride it. He loved the theming and was asking about the tombstones and if people were really buried there. I had never thought of it like this, but once we were in our seats, he made the comment that it felt like The Banshee had captured us the way the seats come down on you, which I thought was a good analogy. Seeing that we are going to have to "divide and conquer" a little more than I thought originally with our 2 kids, and since my wife has the "9 month flue" I see the two us having a good amount of trips on Banshee this year. He's got about 1 more inch to go for Diamondback, he's really looking forward to that one. After Banshee, his grandparents headed home and we meet my wife back in Planet Snoopy then hit Graeters before leaving. Something I have never seen before (though I doubt its the first time they've been there), was seeing about 4-6 Canadian Geese swimming in the fountains. I would have assumed the water was chemically treated, but I noticed one dipping its head in and drinking away, perhaps not, or perhaps they didn't care. Will these take up permanent residence, or will KI chase them off this week? Don't know when they stopped in. All in all, a good, quick 4 hour trip to KI. Great weather, loved the new location of the dino up front, employees were all friendly and helpful. Looking forward to the season.

That's another one I am just not willing to wait for. Being at Kings Island so much has turned me into a snob apparently. Firehawk and it's line can go away.

But maybe we should INCREASE season pass sales and babysitting services... Remember the advice of that Louisville Councilman who told us that amusement parks like this offer a great alternative for kids who would otherwise be breaking into cars? Because that's who we want walking around unattended in family amusement parks: teenagers who, if they had their way, would be breaking into cars instead.

I tried to do just that at Reds Hall of Fame Grille and was unable to get a stable enough connection to even locate a server.The servers in the restaurant, however, were very responsive as always.

I fully plan on trying to ride everything I can while I'm down there. That's why I decided to take two full days to do the park - re-rides, shows, etc.

Hmmmm....?

There is a new pole for FUNtv by The Racer and the poles by The Beast are clearly for chain link fencing. (Its still rolled up beside them) The Bat is also wired for TVs now. Didn't check out Adventure Express as the line almost filled the entire que and for us, not worth the wait. Playing "spot the WiFi AP" was our game of the day. They are practically everywhere. Finally made it all day on a single charge. Not having to use 4G is a great battery saver.

I was in the middle of one of these at Magic Mountain back in the 90s. My mother and I were visiting old friends and she reluctantly went along for thr ride to Magic Mountain. We were in the games area near where Riddler's Revenge is located. There were several kids arguing with a games attendant and security interveneved. Within a few minutes local police were there. As the local police proceeded to handcuff the kids, bystander kids started yelling obscenities at the police and began to gather around. I told mom it was time to leave. Many of you will know how far this is from the main gate. ( It is almost equivalent to walking from The Beast to the front gate.) We didnt stop for anything but when we got to the front gate we were herded by armed swat guards to the gate nearest the water park. The main plaza was occupied by hundreds of kids yelling and screaming at the gaurds about injustice. As we left in groups of about 20 we were hustled behind lines of armed swat gaurds past the tram area to behind Colossus. They allowed us exit through the employee gate. It was a pretty tense situation. When we told our family friend about it he said that stuff doesnt usually happen till summer....lucky us...

It is for this reason many of us held our breaths when Kennywood started offering season passes. For many, many, many years they were not available. The park is in, to be nice about it, a rough and tumble neighborhood.

http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com/CP_Brochures/1991_pg_map.jpg This map shows the extant of different areas that CP tried to have. There is a difference between Frontiertown and the Trail. Town is the old west as the trail is pioneer cabins of the east.

On cedarpoint.com: A platinum pass may be a great value, but a $198 pass doesn't pay for itself in less than 2 visits at a park with $62 admission and $15 parking.

When I was there yesterday, the wait times listed on FUNTV sounded legitimate.

I always thought Frontier Town was really nicely done. It's weird that other areas aren't themed. It would be awesome to see a nautical themed area for the rides along the coast.

I like mine. Cable guy had to ask my wife which was ours when he was changing out our modem because he didn't want to say it out loud....

I don't get why it's so difficult to put them in a new category of their own considering these are hybrids.

On the surface this makes sense to me. Many families can't afford or don't plan to go to both parks during a vacation. By offering a combo ticket you may lose a little money at the gate but are bound to make it up inside the park.

First thing I always do when pulling into the area is a trip through the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Generally a day at Cades Cove and another driving to Cherokee. The rest of the time I can be found enjoying the pure curvy bliss in the Z on Tail of the Dragon. To much fun in them woods to have any time for roller coasters. Lol....seriously though, I've been to that area probably 20+ different occasions and have never stepped foot in Dollywood. However I have promised myself that streak will end on my next trip. P.S. - Check rates for The Park Vista Hotel (tall one in Gatlinburg) as they can be surprisingly affordable depending on the time of year and current bookings. Their trash collection area also doubles as a bear viewing area in the evenings

That is true. I don't mind waiting in long lines at Cedar Point because I haven't been there as much and can't just go on a weekday randomly.

I dont think its a snob mentality. Its really the fact that you have the opportunity to ride when the line is not long. I rarely like to wait in a line for a ride more than 30-45 minutes long just because of the pass. Only time I did it last year was Diamondback and Banshee. Most others I will skip if the line is long because I can always go back...

Money was probably involved, wouldn't surprise me if SIX paid for the title. Probably not. Guinness is one of the few that attempts to be completely neutral. On their website it says if you want to dispute a record feel free to contact them. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/contact/ I would guess that SIXX had many people write and lobby that this should be considered a wooden coaster versus steel. Why not do the same? If you feel passionate enough about it, then you should do it as well. To 80-90% of the general population, the wooden versus steel coaster debate does not matter to them. So to probably people at Guinness there are probably only a handful that are passionate enough to care about the difference.

Sickens me that they allow this fraud of a coaster even be considered a wooden coaster.

I don't know how true this rumor was, but I heard that Guinness took a while to decide whether or not it should get wooden coaster records. I guess this is their decision. I do consider Intamin rides such as El Toro and T-Express to be wood because its the material I focus on, not how its produced nor how they feel. There's still actual wood involved. RMC's on the other hand are clearly not wood as you're replacing 2 layers of wood with steel. If you take that steel and make it tubular instead of the bar shape, you get track not unlike Gemini and Excalibur. I'm surprised Guinness went with wood on Goliath. I also know that RCDB was flawed before this, but them saying RMC's are wood really makes me question their system for doing things.

My votes: Best Sounding Lift Racer. Wooden lifthills sound great in general, and when 2 woodies are going up at the same time? Epic. Plus unlike Beast it's actually located in a spot where non-riders can hear it as the train does its climb. If I were voting on most easily noticeable lifthill sound though, it would go to Firehawk- it's so oddly high pitched compared to all the others it stands out. Best Sounding Launch Flight of Fear, easy. BLSC doesn't really even make much noise and FOF does a whole "WHOOOOOOO...BANGBANGBANG!!!" as it launches. Best Sounding Ride Racer again. Wooden coasters sound awesome to me with the clattering and rumbling, and since Beast is so hidden you can't hear it off-ride much, Racer again gets the vote. The B&M's (especially Banshee) also sound great with their roaring sounds. Update: After seeing a post about Beast's helix sounds below, I have changed my mind for #3. You can't hear it from in-park, but that roar in The Beast's Double Helix is just too awesome sounding to refuse.

Coaster Campout is Scheduled to take place in the Antique Cars infield in Frontiertown. https://www.cedarpoint.com/events/things-to-do/events/Coaster-Campout

Dollywood Express is up there on the list as well. Unlike most amusement park trains, Dollywood's fleet are legit, refurbished, coal fired steam locomotives, and it has a nice long course.

I do apologize for the very (very) lengthy delay but in between my extended trip and processing in to Cedar Point I have had absolutely zero time for anything, except 2 trips to Kings Island of course. Once again, very sorry for that. ---------- Day 2 was my favorite day of the trip. I will start by saying that there is a reason this park wins most beautiful amusement park every year. It is absolutely gorgeous! Stunning in every way: sparkling midways, awesome architecture, lovely landscaping, all the good stuff. This park should truly be done in AT LEAST 2 days instead of the one we had planned. So much to do and see. The shows are second to none and all the rides are world class in my opinion. We started our day early in the morning at the park. We arrived at 8am for our roller coaster insider tour, which was amazing. Our tour guide was Sarah. She was very knowledgeable about the park and provided us with an excellent morning/early afternoon. With our tour we received: -The closest possible parking spot to the front gate, literally -Tours of Loch Ness Monster and Alpengeist maintenance bays -Ride the evacuation gondola up to the top of Griffon and walk around on the platform -Sneak peek inside the Verbolten building -2 rides on all the roller coasters -Quick Queue to ride all the coasters again after the tour was over -And pictures they took for us on the tour We started at Loch Ness Monster in the maintenance bay. Sarah explained to us there how chain dogs and anti rollbacks function and how they keep you safe on the ride. Nothing entirely new to me but still very interesting. As you can see, this maintenance area is so clean you could eat off the floor. That is not something you can say about a lot of ride areas. These areas definitely get some special attention. We did not ride Nessie yet as the park wasn't ready to open. We moved on over to Griffon for the crown jewel of the tour. The view up top was breathtakingly awesome. Just over 200ft off the ground and we were free to walk about the platform with only a few restrictions. From up there it looks a lot higher than 200ft. For those of you who have never been on a dive coaster, these trains are bigger in person. There's something about a train that's wider than it is long moving around the track that just looks so graceful. We wrapped things up at the top and headed towards the maintenance bay for a quick look around in there. Look at the size of those road wheels! We got to hold one and it's bigger than my torso. I'm the one on the right in this photo in case anyone did not know that. These wheel assemblies are intriguing in that they can drive around the track, so to speak. The whole assembly can rotate with the curves of the track as well as rock back and forth when going up and down hills. Beautiful piece of engineering by B&M. And after much waiting, we finally got on a coaster. Griffon was our first ride of the day. As part of the tour, we were guaranteed first ride of the day on this bad boy. Once we left the maintenance area, they transferred the train we were standing under onto the run track and began its morning cycling. They cycle each train 6 times each for morning procedures and then test ride each one for a total of 7 laps each. Griffon was my first dive coaster and it delivered. The beauty of this was that we did not have to stand up to ride again. We stayed right where we were and rode a second time. Great start to the day. After Griffon we left Scotland and headed towards Germany for a quick run down the slopes, but not without a quick detour through the lodge (maintenance bay). Another very clean area with a quick demonstration on how magnetic brakes work. These brakes are very powerful. Now I see why Beast uses these as trims. Now Banshee is my favorite coaster of all time. This is one monster of an invert that is for sure. I was almost scared to ride this in fear of it beating her out for the top spot. The whole slow and loud climb up to the top my mind was racing. Then we dropped off the pre drop and were on our way. Six inversions later my mind was calmed, Banshee was still number one. Alpie was very good though: very smooth and forceful, just like an old school B&M should be. Not much picture wise for the rest of the tour. We toured the inside of Verbolten building, went up to the hill of Verbolten after the building but before the water, took our rides on Apollo's Chariot, and finished up on Loch Ness Monster. We didn't get to ride Nessie earlier since the park was not open yet. After our rides on Nessie, Sarah handed us our quick queue for the rest of the day, said our goodbyes and thank yous, and headed for something to eat. So by this time we had 10 rides under our belt and it was only 12:30 in the afternoon. We felt pretty good about that. Sadly Tempesto was not open yet, but was test cycling. We decided to eat lunch at the Festhaus and catch the showing of Roll Out The Barrel. This show replaced the old Oktoberfest show which was cancelled this past offseason. Very good show and very good food. All of us did the meal deal which gave us dinner and lunch for 25$. Terrific bargain. My meal normally cost 17$ which obviously cost me less with the deal. There was so much on that plate of food it could have fed two people. It was also the best food I have ever eaten at an amusement park. We took our day so easily from there on. We had ridden all the coasters so we were in no hurry to use our quick queue just yet. This came in handy because the park was super crowded that day. I mean anytime you get 75 and sunny on a Saturday in April, crowds are expected. We enjoyed the amazing river-dance show after lunch, Celtic Fyre. When we arrived at the theater my friend noticed that not all the tables down below were filled with guests, so he politely asked if we could sit there and we were surprised to get a yes. That totally made his day as Celtic Fyre is what he was looking forward to all day, even more so than the coasters. The tables are part of the show and the dancers dance right on there in front of you. Totally a unforgettable experience! Do not miss this show! After Celtic Fyre, our day mainly consisted of reriding the coasters. I got on Mach Tower by myself since the other two were wimps. All I can say about Mach Tower is ouch. Those seats/restraints are just the most uncomfortable things I have ever been on. Curse of Darkastle was amazing and i had no idea what to expect with it. I had no clue the whole care spun around and sped up. Awesome effects and theming all leading up to a great ride through the castle. We ended the day on Verbolten. After only getting the forest theme all day long, we finally got the theme that pays homage to the rides predecessor. We were being chased by wolves the whole time we were in the building. Don't worry we escaped them in our roadster over the Rhine River. So all in all, not enough words can summarize the day here. This post could be 20x longer than it is. This park is on my tops to come back. If you are vacationing to Virginia and only have one day to do an amusement park, this is the one to do. Especially if you are looking for a great family experience. If you're a thrill junkie and want tons of rides, then Kings Dominion is for you. A+ for Busch Gardens Williamsburg for outstanding service and a wonderful atmosphere. I'll end with a few more pictures from our day. Until next post! Thanks for reading!

Q-Bots at Dollywood are VERY inexpensive. Good for rides and shows, I HIGHLY recommend them.

In all fairness, Panda Express wasn't originally on the meal plan. I look at this very similar to a dining plan at college. You pay for guaranteed meals without an idea of what you are getting.

It seemed to be highly dependent on where you were. I was practically directly under an AP entering The Beast's station and it was crawling. Elsewhere, including Starbucks, it was definitely usable.

^^ If your access point doesn't broadcast the SSID, your devices must send it out wherever they are in order to search for the network. As for irresponsible SSID choices, "FBI" is far, far down on the list of what I've come across.

I will be working less than 5 minutes from KI next season, and I have considered the idea of stopping by for a quick lap on a coaster during my lunch break, but my luck, the ride would stop on the lift hill or brake run for an extended amount of time if I try that.

^ That hasn't been discussed here as far as I'm aware. I noticed some work in that area on Friday, but I didn't pay close attention. A good question for someone to ask at the Coasterstock Beast walkback, perhaps. Also, welcome back.

To be fair, I myself have walked into Kings Island at 9:30 specifically for the purpose of getting in a quick Beast night ride and going home... I wish I lived close enough to do that.

See also Six Flags America last summer. Kings Dominion's parking lot several times. Elitch Gardens in Denver...

Yes, someone knows. BB1, stepping in for Terp.

An influx of teenagers coming into the park around 8:45 p.m.? I don't know about everyone else, but why would you go to the park at 8:45? Unless you had intentions of participating in enjoying the park experience, you wouldn't- especially teenagers. It sounds to me, if it was accurate that they entered the park around 8:45, that someone was looking for trouble.

Another park where the metal detectors at the entrance aren't just for show. We see why now.