Reclaimer

Vortex, I didn't ask why it was gone. I said it looks tacky...and it does. The floral clock/date isn't ready the first bit of the season. That's nothing new.

Yes. You use your ID for access to the other parks. Forgot to ask in the original post... I noticed Tomb Raider had all of its seats open all the way to the end of the rows. Did they fix the problem they've been having with the ride and are now able to utilize all of the seats?

Way to bring back an old thread simply for another chance to bash Firehawk. Unless you can predict the future, you're just going to have to sit back and wait like the rest of us, because only time will tell just how good/bad the capacity is when it opens in its new home under new staffing.

That's also what I thought, Shman. katsdada, it's great you had a good time and liked the park! I always love reading peoples' reports on their first trip to the park and what they think. It thrills me you enjoy the park so much. It is an amazing park that, with some Cedar Fair love, can turn into something even more amazing.

Haha, yup. In fact, it was moving its head when she asked if it was real.

That billboard for Top Gun looks so tacky the way they removed "Gillette Mach 3"

We got in a ride on Face/Off. It was our longest wait of the day, but that was only about 20-30 min.

First of all, the title of this TR comes from Friday, two days before the trip. My friend, Kristy, was sitting with me at my school's fountain. She looked up to see a duck by the fountain and exclaimed "IS THAT A REAL DUCK!?!?" I laughed. On to the TR: Started at the day on 4/22 at 4:30am with some showers and basic waking up and not wanting to move because it was so early. Kristy, Tony, Scott and myself all packed in the car and left by 6:30. Along the way, Kristy was very, very hyper and was keeping us all entertained from Muncie to Mason. We stopped about halfway to KI on I-74 at our usual McDonald's for breakfast. We ordered our food...and Kristy ordered a toy American Idol microphone (available in Happy Meals). After eating (Kristy only ate her hash brown, she was too hyper for food), Kristy entertained us by singing into her new microphone for the rest of the trip. We got onto 275 to find construction. Fear not, for Kristy would keep us entertained here as well. She read every street and construction sign...screaming out what it said in a very urgent voice. We finally arrived in the KI Parking lot at 9am. We parked and headed up to the pass center for Tony to process his pass. He was the only one in the group to get a pass, as Kristy, Scott, and I are all CP employees. (Granted, we still paid today because we don't yet have our IDs.) He was in and out within 10 minutes or so. We wanted to get in a Drop Zone ride to start out the day just to get the blood pumping. We waited at the front of the ropes to Action Zone and 10 o'clock hit. We headed to Drop Zone, getting trampled by the large mob running every which way. We found Drop Zone was going to open late, so we went to Delirium so Scott could ride his ride's sibling. Delirium was an amazing ride and seemed to be packing a punch. We all loved it, and we got the thrill we had been yearning for over the past six months. We headed to Nick Universe to ride SDatHC and Avatar...both great rides. Avatar was a walk-on, surprisingly. We also rode Reptar, as Scott had never been on it before. Yet again, Kristy entertained us with some shrill screams on Reptar. We then walked back to TR:TR and walked on it...didn't notice too many effects not working except for the 'lava bursts' which were not functioning. It seemed much better than trip reports from Saturday, which was good. After that, it was time for Beast. Walked on it and holy hell, it was hauling ass. The helix was that much more amazing. Now for the 'middle of the day ride, ride, ride not much else to say' section: We rode recaR, Drop Zone, Face/Off, Top Gun, Son of Bea..just kidding, Vortex, IJ:ST, Adventure Express, Zephyr, Monster and some other stuff I know I'm forgetting. We hit up TR:TR a second time during the course of the day and right as the gondola was going into the top spin just before the end of the cycle, the ride E-stopped and we definitely flipped a couple more times and started swinging to a slow stop. Extra fun. After TR:TR, we headed to The Beast for one more ride, and to say hi to Ronny. One of the last things we rode was FoF. Was it just me, or was that launch extremely fast yesterday? It could've just been me not having ridden it for months and forgetting the speed, but it seemed extra fast up until the mid-course breaks. After the rides closed, we headed up to the front of the park to leave. I got to meet Karen and talk to her for a bit, but eventually had to leave and start a 3.5 hr drive to drop Kristy off and then drive another 2 hrs to get back to my school in Muncie. All in all, a GREAT trip. The park was exceptionally clean. From what we saw, most rides were up or experienced very little downtime throughout the day. Most importantly, the employees were almost all exceptionally friendly and professional! Kudos to the employees! We were taking a group picture of ourselves in front of The Beast sign and a sweep walked by and asked if we wanted him to take a picture for us. We were also not only greeted when entering shops throughout the day, but were thanked and told to have a great day when exiting shops...even after just browsing. Both the sweep offering to take a picture for us and the merch employees thanking us when we left shops were something I'd never experienced up until this year. We did notice some employees already seemingly sick of their jobs, though. An employee at Shake Rattle and Roll was sitting in controls with his feet propped up on the controls and just relaxing and not even watching the ride. Hopefully this is just an isolated incident. So overall, between it being a beautiful day, most rides running, small lines, exceptionally nice employees, and a "mountainless" park: Employees: A Rides (uptime): B+ Lines: A Food (Wings): B Park cleanliness: A+ Overall: A Looks like a great season coming up! Highlight of the day: <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value=" name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Maureen, That is such sad news to hear, but it's totally understandable. You'll be greatly missed as the 'face and voice of Kings Island' Good luck in everything your future has for you, and thank you for all of the great things you've made possible! Hope to see you around the park still!

It's not like you had much of a choice. I was going to make you watch it anyway.

Firehawk's color does look great...but um, we've already seen the track in place with the new color. KI has been posting pictures on their website all this time and yes, there are pictures of the track in place with the final color.

I hope it hasn't been posted here. God I'm so out of it today I shouldn't be allowed online. haha

The Cincinnati Post has posted a great article on the upcoming season. Something mentioned in the article that I noticed, besides the removal of Paramount items in Paramount Story, is the addition of an Attitudes in Coney Mall. I'm guessing this will be the same store as Cedar Point's attitudes. They sale shirts and other merchandise geared towards, as the article says, a teen crowd. They have some pretty funny shirts, I will admit. http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar.../704190348/1005

I like how they're offering advance tickets to the park a year in advance. Kinda funny in a way.

Enjoy a full day’s admission along with a delicious picnic lunch at the incredible price of $49.95 per adult and $31.95 per child! (Regular adult admission only is $44.95.) Refreshments and food are served from 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. The all-you-can-eat buffet meal includes southern fried chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad, soft drinks and ice cream for dessert. (Picnic tickets are required for entry into the Picnic Grove.) Choose the date you would like to visit, purchase, and print your ticket out at home, it's that easy!! For those season passholders, or folks already with a ticket, can purchase the meal only option listed below! Place your order early. . . space is limited! Tickets must be purchased in advance; tickets will not be sold at the gate. No Rainchecks or Refunds. http://www3.cedarfair.com/kingsisland/shop...ping_events.cfm

Who said anyone forgot? This thread is about Firehawk. And Todd...Thanks for the pics! It's looking great!

Thanks for the pic! Ahhhhhh that's a great sight to see.

See ya'll Sunday!

And for most of the GP who will be riding it, it WILL be a new coaster. How many times must we go over this. Enthusiasts such as us that post on this site are a very small minority when compared to the GP that visits the park. They're the ones the park is there for, and the GP will eat this ride up.

Almost every post I've seen of yours has been so negative towards Kings Dominion. It's hard to take anything you say seriously.

That is true, boricuabud. You can get into all other CF parks, though you are responsible for parking fees at the other parks.

For the first time in 3 years, I've opted to not get a season pass this year. Rather, I've opted for a Cedar Point employee ID Process in, 21 days!!

Weather.com and Intellicast are both showing sun and mid-60s currently. Accuweather is predicting 0.02 inches per hour from 10am to 9pm. Again...like I've said before and as Browntggrr just said, these dates are over a week away. Right now, it's pretty much a stab in the dark. Wednesday on you'll probably get a much more accurate forecast. By then, it could be 10 degrees and a snowstorm, or 80 degrees and sunny...or anything in between.

Currently, Accuweather Premium is calling for Saturday: Cloudy to partly sunny, high of 57 Sunday: Rainy, high of 65 Just remember, this is more than a week away...forecasts that far in advance aren't too awful accurate. Hell, you can't really count on tomorrow's forecast to be accurate.

Happy burfday, Vortex!