I didn't really know where to put this, so I figured this was good. I've been thinking about it a long time posting this, but I just couldn't keep any of this to myself. So, I thought I'd share my Kings Island story.
I have to warn you though, it's pretty long. lol
Kings Island. It's a place where coaster enthusiast, thrill seekers, and families go for summer break or to just have a good time.
Kings Island opened on April 29th,1972,in Mason, OH. At the time I wasn't born yet. But I would someday get there.
I was born in December of 2000. Same year that the massive Son of Beast opened as the first hyper wooden coaster at 218 feet and the first woodie to have a loop.
I've been to Kings Island 16 times in my 16 years of life, and have spent about 55 hours at the park.
My first visit to Kings Island was on August 13th, 2002. I was 1 and half.
Little did I know that a little over 12 years I would grow to love Kings Island very much.
This is how Kings Island has changed my life.
Kings Island to me is more than just an amusement park. It's everything else with it. Great coasters, food, shows,etc.
When I'm near or at the park, I just feel diffrent. I feel happy, and at peace knowing I'm in my favorite place. The sounds of the anti roll back clacking, people screaming, the whoosh of the ride as it passes by,smell of fresh cut potato fries, chain lube coaster oil from The Beast, Racer and Vortex.
I've set goals, and have achieved them on account of Kings Island.When I'm going through hard times in my life, I just think of how many days till I go to Kings Island again and all the fun memories I've had.
When I walk through those turnstiles, I become a whole diffrent person. Smiling the whole day till it's time to leave.
I didn't like roller coasters that much till the end of 2012, early 2013.
My first big coaster in Hanna Barba Land now Planet Snoopy, was The Beastie, now known as Woodstock Express.
I remember it very well. I was scared so bad! In the ride photo, I'm clinging onto my mother and have a terrified look on my face.
I first rode The Beast, Racer, Adventure Express, Backlot Stunt Coaster on September 7th, 2009.
First time on The Bat, I almost had a bathroom attack, it looked so big!
I don't rememeber my first time on Adventure Express, but I do remember I always held onto someone's arm and I hated the end!
I don't really rememeber first time on Backlot either but I wasn't scared too much.
I can't rememeber my first time on The Racer.
First time I rode The Beast, because I was so scared and trying to hold onto my mom's arm, I got a huge purple knot on my left elbow. I swore to myself never to ride it again. Till later...
I didn't ride Beast when I went back the next year on August 26th, 2010.
We never went to Kings Island in 2011.
We went 2 times in 2012 though.
The first trip was July 17th, 2012. I refused to go near The Beast since I remember what happened the last time with my arm. But I did ride Diamondback. The 230 foot, 80 miles an hour hyper coaster. I came so close to telling my sister I didn't want to ride. But I got on, heart beating like a crazy, held a tight grip on my sisters hand. By the end of the ride, I was smiling and wanted to ride it again. Rode it 3 more times that day.
Second trip to Kings Island was on August 6th, 2012.My oldest sister convinced me to give The Beast one more chance. And I did.
It wasn't as rough as I remembered. In fact I loved it! Rode it in the dark that night, and absoulutly fell in love with it.
That following winter I looked up more on Kings Island, park history, ride stats, past ride stats, where past rides used to be.
My first time back to Kings Island after looking so much of it up was May 21st, 2013.
That was when Banshee was being built but no one knew what it was at the time.
Fast forward to the night of August 8th, 2013. The night Kings Island announced Banshee as the longest inverted roller coaster at 4,124 feet long. I got chills when I first saw the POV and thought "I'm going to ride that next year."
So, I followed along with Banshee's construction. Saw basically every piece be placed, the trains arriving, testing of the ride, and opening day. Saved a lot of conststrution pics from Kings Island's twitter, and saved interviews with the park about the ride. I also memorized basically everything about Banshee, and a lot about the park. I started a Kings Island notebook that has ride stats, past ride stats, where old rides used to be, deaths, ride records, trivia, and a little story of how Kings Island started.
May 23rd, 2014. One of the biggest days of my life. I was going to ride my first inverted roller coaster.
I saw Banshee and I just froze. It was one of the most beutiful rides I've seen. The color,theming, size. It was perfect.
Got in line only waited 15 minutes. Nervously I got into the seat, pulled down the overhead, buckled in. I heard "all clear!" then the train started moving. I just thought "I've been waiting since August 8th, 2013. All the times I watched the POV's saw the track being put together, and here I am going up the longest inverted coaster in the world."
I screamed from the first drop to the brakes, and as the ride came to an end I was all smiles! Got back in line and rode it again. This time in the front row. Oh was it an amazing feeling. You feel like you own the world on the front row of Banshee.
My second trip that year to Kings Island was on August 9th, 2014. Just one day after it had been a year since Banshee was announced. It was a Saturday. So we had to wait almost 2 hours to ride Banshee. It was worth it though. Getting to ride Beast again was amazing too.
I only went to Kings Island once in 2015. It was May 22nd, 2015. The next time I went was May 27th, 2016.
I had to wait a very hard 370 days without stepping one foot into Kings Island. It was really tough going so long without being in my favorite place. But my comfort was that I was only an hour and 45 minutes away, and it will all be worth the wait when I go again.
May 27th had finally came. Not only was I excited about riding my favorite rides again like The Beast.I was very excited to see what was going on in Rivertown across from Red's Hall Of Fame Grille. I knew it had to be a roller coaster. Then Pulling down that lap bar on Beast, hearing the anti roll back, and the smell of the coaster chain lube after going 370 without all of that was just amazing,
I went 5 times to Kings Island in 2016. : May 27th, June 9th, August 9th, October 21st, and October 29th.
Riding 95 rides that year, getting my 40th ride in on Racer.
I've rode 228 rides in my 15 years of going to KI. 368 roller coasters totaled up.
53 miles traveled on The Beast
24 miles traveled on Diamondback
25.9 traveled on Racer
7.9 miles traveled on Vortex
18.7 miles travaled on Banshee
7.6 miles traveled on The Bat
4.5 miles traveled on Backlot Stunt Coaster
1.9 miles traveled on Firehawk
1 mile traveled on Flight of Fear
1.3 miles traveled Flying Ace Aeriel Chase
0.6 miles traveled on Invertigo
0.3 miles traveled on Great Pumpkin Coaster
5.1 miles traveled on Woodstock Express
62 feet traveled on Adventure Express
I have traveled 163.5 miles on Kings Island roller coasters, 73.8 miles in 2016, and 224.4 miles on roller coasters combined in the past 14 years.
The biggest reason I am a coaster enthusiast is because of The Beast and Diamondback at Kings Island. I am who I am today because of Kings Island. I know now that I want to work in a communications department at a Cedar Fair park, mainly Kings Island. My whole entire room is basically covered in Kings Island stuff and souvenirs. My past, present and future is all Kings Island as of now in growing up, my job career, and when I have a family of my own. I know we'll go a lot when we can.
Again. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Kings Island. I am more patient, more kind, more everything because of this amazing park and the people working in it.I'm so blessed and thankful I have a 2017 gold pass so I can go to the park a lot this year! You'll see me mainly at Racer, The Beast, and maybe even Mystic Timbers this summer.
Thank you for taking your time out reading this. It took awhile to write. I hope maybe some of you can share below what Kings Island is to you, and what kind of person you are cause of it, or just whatever.
What I consider my home.
