Gordon Bombay

Actually, lots of doubt about it, Maverick was a large investment and prep work started for it long before it was even announced. Kinzel said the concept for it had been in the works since 05 and around this time last year track and a permit about electric equipment began showing up around the park as hints of a new coaster. So far CP isnt showing any signs of a new coaster for next year. Just because its the flagship park doesnt mean its getting a coaster, there are lots of other parks in the chain showing great potential and a large coaster could prove to be a useful marketing tool for these well to do parks.

I would reccomend Breakers Express. The price wasn't too bad, but the rates go up as the season goes on and hours of the park expand/crowds start to come. My only complaints about Breakers were that I had to be in the main lobby to use Wi-Fi and that the room was pretty small, i dont know how big your family is but the 5 of us were pretty cramped and we rented a pull out bed which could only fit in the doorway. A very nice place over all to stay though. Oh but the breakfest isnt free! Most things didnt open up before 10 A.M. but I imagine most of that was due to weather reasons. Millenium eventually did get going at around 9:45 and it was only a 10 minute wait. Im glad you liked the trip report, Cedar Point is such an awesome place!

So as a graduation celebration, myself and 4 friends decided to take a trip to Cedar Point. We decided to visit two days (most of us having MAXX passes, and two buying two-day tickets), stay at the Breakers Express, and take the time to really enjoy ourselves. This was my second trip to Cedar Point ever and I must say it is one place that does not fail to dissapoint. You may have read my recent trip report about how dissapointed I was in Holiday World for not living up to the hype they create, well this report is certainly not of the same nature, this recent trip to the point was worth every penny! We started out the day at 5 in the morning loading up a borrowed 1996 mini-van with our stuff. We hit the road early and started making great time, for an 11 year old car that just had its muffler replaced and begins to shake violently around 60 m.p.h. it really did well for us. We had no problems with traffic on I-275 or around Dayton and were on time to make it to Cedar Point before the park opened when on State Route 6, no more than 15 minutes from the Cedar Point causeway, I decided to pass two slower cars ahead of me on a double yellow road. I passed the first car legally and with no trouble as I passed the second car the driver became irritated, flipped me the bird, and tried to match my speed to keep me from passing, eventually my mini-van won and I passed him going 80 m.p.h. however the angry driver was not the only one who saw my victory. Just after making the pass, an Ohio state trooper using some snazzy rolling radar passed by on the left hand side. My friends said I was screwed and I remarked: "what is he going to do? Theres 2 cars behind me, hes not going to just pull his e-brake and flip around to come get me". Well, he sure put me in my place, because he did just that, no more than a minute later an Ohio state trooper was at my driver side window handing me a ticket, not for a fun day at Cedar Point, but for speeding. This got the morning off to a bad start as I soon found out the ticket would be costing me $125, but hey, it was my fault, regardless I was not in a good mood but the day looked promising. The morning was gorgeous and warm, we parked close, and entered an empty park and within one hour were able to grab rides on Top Thrill Dragster, Millenium Force, Gemini, and Magnum. After we walked down Magnums exit path the sun dissapeared and we heard thunder. Seeking shelter undearneath a midway tree with a few other guests we soon found we could not avoid the impending storm. I have never seen a more weird storm. It poured for 15 minutes straight with violent lightning and thunder, there was no where to stay dry, and the midways began to flood. The gift shop underneath the sky ride had a small river running through it and most of the main midway was covered in an inch of water. Once the rain ceased we retreated to my 1996 Mazda MPV to change into dry clothes and jackets. The day was not going good; a speeding ticket, bad weather, and reports of even more rain coming our way. We decided to eat Panda Express while the second wave of violent rain fell. Panda Express' food was wonderful (although pricey, a meal found in your local mall for 5 bucks (with free refills) was about 14 bucks at Cedar Point). We encountered more frustration here as we noticed there was no room to sit so we stacked our trays on trash cans. A school group of 8th graders from a local sandusky school was using the panda express as their "check in point" and the kids, who were meeting to go to the picnic grove for lunch, were all camping out in the Panda Express, this was very aggrivating since we paid for our meal there and had to eat it on top of a trash can. Eventually we just asked the kids to move as did many other paying customers. Still annoyed at the speeding ticket and weather I started feeling really sick as well. I've been suffering from a really bad ear infection for about a week now so that just made things worse. Finnaly the weather broke and we were able to start riding again and the day would turn around: We walked away from Panda Express and to the Mantiss queue: The lagoon that Mantis sits on had become quite full with water. Although they were letting us fill the queue lines we noticed they were only running one train. While one train ran, the second one sat on the transfer track, while the third was in pieces under the station. Anyone know the reason for this? They shut down again for about 15 minutes, but this time to add a train to the ride to bring it up to two train operation. This signifigantly sped up the line. We rode Mantis which as always was intense and I loved how close we came to the water and I love the layout of this ride over the lagoon. The trim break was off and the ride was great. We then picked up one more ride on Dragster and checked on Maverick to find it was closed. We decided to leave and check into Breakers Express and come back later, still feeling sick and frustrated from the days events, I went through my camera bag looking for some advil and came across all my Holiday World receipts from last weeks trip and threw it all out, i found a CP two day ticket and thought nothing of it so it too went in the trash. Breakers Express was very nice and very clean. We each slept for awhile and watched some tv while the rain still came down. Still feeling sick and frustrated from the days events I woke up to find my friend Kevin (who is a very understanding individual and plays guitar with me in Combat Stupendous) looking for his two-day ticket when I realized I had thrown it out. He didn't seem mad and said he would just buy a new one, but myself feeling incredibly stupid and even more frustrated went down to the hotel desk and purchased him a new ticket for tommorow, luckily it only cost 32 bucks as opposed to front gate admission of 45. we then went to T.G.I. Fridays for dinner which had slow service but provided excellent food. While dining the sun came out and I started to feel better about the trip. I no longer felt sick and was excited to get back into the park. As the sun started to set around 8 o clock we headed back into Cedar Point, this is when things started going right for a change and it became a truly great trip: Raptor had a 5 minute wait, we rode in the very back. This is one amazing coaster and it really put me in a good mood. No headbanging, very intense, long, smooth, and all around very intense. One of the best coasters at Cedar Point! A truly great ride. The picnic grove still flooded from the days rain. Next we hit up Wicked Twister which is yet another awesome coaster at the point! While here I saw my friend and fellow KICentral member: "Reclaimer" working on the crew. We spoke for a few minutes and there was no wait for this great ride. This ride I feel is very under-rated, it may have a short cycle, but it is a darn good ride. We passed up a 15 minute wait on Dragster hoping the signs of a low line here would reveal a small wait back at another Intamin ride in Fronteir Town... As we came to the back on Fronteir Town this was all we were able to see of Maverick, which had just a half an hour wait! I had read many reports about this new coaster but they in no way do it justice, it needs to be experienced to be belived. Last week the Voyage at Holiday World had become my favorite coaster, and one week later it was trumped by Maverick! As you wait in the queue the awesome western music really sets the theme and mood for this ride and gets you very, very excited. After hearing the "the good, the bad, and the ugly" theme song it was our turn to board. Myself and my friend (KICentral member: erACER) were permitted to sit in the front seat of our train after asking the ride operator at the seperating position. The crew was incredibly fast and friendly, making sure every ride cheered and was pumped to ride. The intamin restraints on this ride are MUCH more accomidating than TTD or MF. Overall the ride is a 9/10 and has become my favorite rollercoaster! There is a twist and turn constantly, the theming is actually great, and the tunnel surprise although lame is a good launch. The ride is a perfect plend of MF and TTD while featuring Raptor's intense inversions. After the amazing Maverick we picked up 3 rides on skyhawk and headed back towards the front parking lot to leave. While leaving we stopped to catch the end of "Hot Summer Lights" which was actually VERY good, eventhough I've heard countless people criticize it. I found it to be much more inspiring and exciting than KI's current fireworks, particuarly the patriotic ending. After the light show we left the park, unlike KI's parking lot, the CP lot is well marked and easy to get out of, and didn't feature a long linge of congested traffic when leaving. Picked up a maverick shot glass on the way out and we retired to our hotel for the night. Day 2: Woke up to find that the Continental Breakfast at the Breaker's Express is not complimentary much to our dissapointment. We checked out and headed to the park in the dreary, drizzling, over cast weather. Using your KI Maxx pass was pretty easy, we just signed a think at Guest Relations. The GR people asked us about KI and Cincinnati etc. and then we entered the park using our resort pass to gain early entry. One thing I noted when we entered CP was that their national anthem they play is orchastrated and does not feature a recorded choir, CP also has a large flag they ask you to face, and all employees stoof at attention while security guards asked guests to face the flag and remain quiet. I thought this was great of the park to do, it really touched one of my friends who is an Army MP who recently returned from Iraq and loved the seeing the patriotism and respect that CP has for the country (the "support our troops" magnets on the sky ride, hot summer lights show, national anthem respect etc.). The only negative thing today was that many rides were not open in time for the 9 o clock resoprt guest and Joe Cool ERT. Millenium Force kept cycling the yellow train full of test dummies untill about 9:45 A.M. when the ride added the other two trains and opened to the public. Seeing Dragster and MF not ready yet we headed back to Maverick hoping it was open but only to find... ...No watter cannons blasting... ...or trains rolling down the insane 95 degree drop...we just found... ...a strong line forming behind some ride ops explaining the ride was down due to mechanical reasons. No worries, we did get to ride it last night, and new rides do have thier problems, so we headed back over to Millenium Force to find a nice 10 minute wait for the back and my friend and fellow KICentral member: LegendRider working as an operator there. We chatted for a few minutes than rode in the back seat for a great ride to start off the day. We follwed it up by riding dragster (where I saw fellow KICentral member: Coasterlova405), Magnum, Mean Streak (which is running graet this year), C.P. and L.E. Railroad, chaos, and sky ride before leaving the park for lunch at the East of Chicago Pizza buffet. After lunch we decided to follow KICentral member: Delirium_Guy's advice to take Perimiter Road around the park. This offered some great views of CP's great collection of amazing rollercoasters: Last year I remember coming off this ride in pain... ...this year it wasn't too bad... ...just a bit on the slow side due to those trims on the first drop... ...however there were a few pops of airtime... ...and overall its a pretty good wooden coaster. As we prepared to enter the park through the back Magnum gate we realized one in our group left his jacket back at the pizza place. Three of us went with him to go retreive it but since this was our second parking lot re-entry we were forced (well rather HE was forced) to re-pay the 10 dollar parking fee. We ended up getting a great spot up close to the front gate though. It seems the new CF rain policy that has been seen at KI is well and in effect at CP too... ...We had seen Maverick running from Perimiter Road but when our group re-formed inside the park we found Maverick and most other major coasters to be closed due to incliment weather. Although while Maverick was closed (as well as Dragster, Magnum, and MF,) Mean Streak went down to 1 train operation and continued to run. We waited for the front: -I love this coasters layout. When it was our turn to go, they halted the ride in order to add the other two trains. A ride op told us it would be about a 25 minute delay stating they had to cycle each train 5 times. Seeing maverick starting to run again, we left line and decided to see if Maverick would re-open. It did, but with a 1.5 hour wait, two in our group decided to wait while the rest of us decided to ride other rides. Content with my ride the night before we headed for Magnum. -The water effects on Maverick are great. -Diving into the canyon. -Definently another winner for Cedar Point! While they waited for a second ride on Maverick we rode Magnum and Disaster Transport before moving to maXair which I found to have a longer cycle (or so it seemed) than Delirium as well as a more intense ride. The gondola spins a lot more on this one, we didnt stop spinning untill after the floor had come up. We rode Power Tower for my first time, both launch and drop were dissapoiting, Drop Zone trumps this one. After Power Tower was Wicked Twister. -My friend Dan waiting in line for WT. -Dismal Lake Eerie from Wicked Twister's line. We once again said hello to KICentral member: "Reclaimer" and found the crew on Wicked Twister to be the most courteous of the day (although every employee we encountered was friendly and lively, take notes Holiday World before you go boasting again!). Wicked Twister was great, although I still prefer Steel Venom at Geauga Lake....or uhm....Geauga Lake's parking lot or wherever it ends up in 2008. As we went through the exit DOOR, i banged my KNEE for the first time at the PARK. As we headed towards Maverick to meet our friends we grabbed rides on Mantis, Corckscrew (which is the only coaster at CP I dont like), and Iron Dragon: While not as intense as Top Gun, its longer than 30 seconds and worth the walk. We re-joined our friends and exited the park with a ride on Raptor and the famous Blue Streak (back seat) which really surprised me with how good it is. Blue Streak would be our final ride before heading home. We hopped back in the van, got some gas on the way out, and started heading towards Cincinnati. We stopped near Lima for some skyline then got home around 10:30. Overall it was a fantastic trip, worht the time and money spent and it really eased my frustrations and stress that were bothering me in my life. A great way to start the summer at a great park with amazing rides! Hope you enjoyed the report and photos.

No it doesnt, it takes a point and shoot balanced on a queue rail.

I like what you said Mikewhy and do agree witht he good majority of it, I wasn't trying to say that I prefer or feel the employees at KI are way above those at Holiday World, I've had a fair share of bad experiences with employees while visit both KI and CP but it was just dissapointing when a park like Holiday World is supposed to be known for having an amazingly friendly staff then fails to live up to what they promote. I dont see KI proclaiming on their brochures: "We won an award for best guest service, best in the nation! Golden Ticket Award for service, etc. etc." where as Holiday World does then fails to deliver.

I wouldn't exactly say he was crucified, but there are quite a few other topics on the same question about waits at KI, the question could have easily been posted in one of those other topics, also, whenever the questions is asked it generallly gets the same answer: A-) No one knows for sure B-) Are there other events at the park? C-) Whats the weather like? Theres a bunch of factors that can have an effect on waits and crowds at the park any given day. Generally no one knows for sure and you can always use the KICentral trip planner to help better answer this question and plan a trip: http://www.KICentral.com/park/tripplanner.php Also, as for waits at Cedar Point, maybe you would find better help on www.pointbuzz.com since the majority of users on here consider KI their home park.

Awesome, thanks for the help guys! Unfortuanently it looks like rain all day tommorow, and most of the day tommorow, so unless that clears up than I probably wont be shooting any pictures. Thanks again for the help.

OMG!! Does anyone know how long the waits will be at Six Flags Over Georgia on July 23rd? I will be in Disney that day!!! Crystal Balls anyone?

Ok, so I have only been to CP once and that was last year in July. I really enjoyed the park and had a good time. As some of you know, I really like to shoot pictures and thats what im going to college for. To celebreate graduation myself and some friends are going up to CP tommorow and tuesday. Last year I carried my camera with me all the time and when we rode TTD or MF or another ride requiring us not to bring on loose articles I just paid the locker price, I dont remember it being too bad but it was annoying having to switch all the time. My question is, how much are locker prices this year and dos ome rides like magnum still have bins to leave your stuff in? I have a larger and better camera this year and Im debating whether or not to carry it around or just enjoy the park.

Hmm-I don't remember seeing the trams in 2004....not paying attention I guess, but I agree-with the parking lot cost, seems to me they could find a way to run them. Weren't they electric or something like that? I'm pretty sure they only ran on weekends even back then, and only "busy" weekends at that, I dont remember a time when the trams ran consistently. Although, I'm sure WooferBear can tell you of the times back in the 80's when Carl Linder himself drove a whole fleet of trams that were made out of gold, had lush leather seating, air conditioning, and drove you wherever you deisred in a parking lot that was well paved and covered by lush trees all of which paramount destroyed!

They completely ceased operation in 2006 when CBS corp. was in control of the park and for most of the season you could see them sitting in the parking lot near the GWL. My dad and I were just having this conversation when we were first talking about getting MAXX passes, he opted out of buying one cause he doesn't go that often but he commented that with how much you pay for parking you dont even get a somewhat shaded lot, a tram service, and its not even paved or marked that well.

Before you get concerned about locker prices I would try to master basic spelling if I were you and use of the search function at the top of the page: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...l=locker+prices Third post down.

Why is everyone so intent on getting a HUSS Jump 2, last time I checked wasn't HUSS in financial shambles and had moved from Bremen to become a company that would be switching to making portable rides and selling what they had left?

I agree, some added or upkept scenery would be nice to see, it wouldnt have to be a show year round, particuarly when the waterpark is in operation and many people want to relax coming to and fro, but I do enjoy riding the train very much and think the scenery should be kept a little nicer or just add a few more things in.

I think its very likely Geauga Lake will in the future be known as just Wild Water Kingdom, a Cedar Fair Entertainment Company water park.

Its definently worth one trip to check it out, especially if you like coasters and waterparks, i could ride around that lazy river for hours. The employee thing kind of made me upset but I just took it with a grain of salt thinking thats just a few out of the many employees and they all cant be like that and I know how stressful of a job that can ben but after reading the email UncleHenry received (and I hope he posts it, i read it because Henry and I are friends) I'm beginning to wonder if the attitude I experienced is whats being taught to those employees with how rude and unprofessional this PR lady was to Henry about his video. Maybe I'm just too used to the professionalism I've experiencd from people like Maureen Kaiser, Craig Ross, Jeff Seibert, Keith Chapalty, Greg Scheid, and Tony Clark while meeting them at various KI events when shooting photos with KICentral. Many of the guests we spoke to when finding out we were from Cincinnati said: "You drove all the way here, when you can go to Kings Island!?". I will give Holiday World a nod though, free soft drinks were great and I was able to enjoy a full and tasty meal for prices that are far more reasonable than SFKK, KI, and CP. However Holiday World needs to stop defending themselves and listen to negative feedback and learn from it as well as their possitive. SFKK is on the upswing (as is all of Six Flags) for that matter, and they aren't too far away from HW.

^My fault for leaving out the pumpkin patch express and Fearfest attractions, I meant that during the regular season when the waterpark is operating, it primarily serves as a transportation device. Speaking of which, currently during the week the train is only running 3 coaches along with the engine, then switching to six coaches on weekends. I wonder if this will change once more schools are out an dsummer is in full swing.

Thanks Brown!

The purpose of the train today is to ferry people to and from the waterpark/regular park not to serve as a show or entertainment section. As long as it is the main transporation to the waterpark the western shows wont be coming back. Actually it wasn't Paramount that made it waterpark transportation and stopped the shows, it was Linder and Co.

I'm referring to Cedar Fair's removal of two major rollercoasters from Geauga Lake. Six Flags stock is actually performing better than CF's right now and SF is getting a lot more praise nationwide than CF is.

As am I. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out. I wonder if CF will re-brand it "Even Meaner Streak"? -CombatStupendous89, who is running on very little sleep.

I agree with what Joker is saying, just cause a few of us had bad experiences doesnt mean anyone should be wary of going there, i think the good the park has to offer out weighs the bad. I definently do not feel I wasted my day at all, it was good trip and money well spent, not all the employees were bad, just no one went out of their way to really try and make our day like is so commonly seen at Disney. With a park that has won the golden ticket award for friendliness and the golden applause award and even on their brochure claimes to be ranked in park friendliness among the likes of Disney and Universal cant have one employee besides their owner say "hows your day going?", thats when I felt it did'nt get the praise it deserves. Overall, its a good family park and the Voyage cant be beat and I'd reccomend anyone try the park and visit atleast once. I wont be back this summer due to gas, work, and other obligations but I'll definently be back to see if anything changes in the future.

While at Cedar Fair parks the prices go up, the employment benefits drops, and in some cases the rides start to dissapear.

Yes. As long as you are staying at a CP resort, you will get a Joe Cool card. If they don't give it to you, be sure to ask for it. Awesome, thanks for the help Brown.

Ok, so I first heard about Holiday World while reading this site back in 2004 when someone mentioned how much better The Raven and Legend were than any of KI's wooden coasters. At first I thought that it must be just a bunch of over-hype from some local HW enthusiast but as I started trekking various coaster sites I found that Legend and Raven were alaways mentioned as the best the country had to offer in wood coasters and how Holiday World had a reputation for being one of if not the number one friendliest and cleanest park in the nation. I wasn't able to fathom how any woodie could be better than The Beast or the classic Racer at KI (I was able to imagine however how any coaster could be better than old Sonny). As I became friends with Boddah, Dane, RZ, and Zoso from this site I started going to KI a lot more in 2005 and especially in 2006 and hit up CP and GL for the first time in 2006 but still considered The Beast to be better than any wooden coaster either of those parks had to offer. Finnaly this year a friend from school and I decided to hit up Holiday World. So, as a graduation present to ourselves we planned a one day trip to visit Holiday World and its 3 highly acclaimed coasters. The day before Jon and I went to Kings Island with our Maxx passes to hit up Beast, Firehawk and some of our favorite rides so we could compare them to what Holiday World offered the next day. While riding The Beast I met KIC user FanOfBeast and his wife, it was very nice meeting you guys, hope to see you at the park again soon! The next day we met up around 7am and got on the road, after light traffic we got through Cincinnati and eventually to Louisville. We stopped at a Mcdonald's for some breakfast burritos and orange drink. We gained an hour going into Indiana and reaching Holiday World so we got to the park about half an hour before they dropped the ropes. First thing we went for was Voyage of course: It was running two trains so the waits to ride were'nt too bad at all. I had heard how good this coaster was but calling this thing "Awesome" or "Great" is truly, truly an understatement. The Voyage just does not let up at any time, much like Millenium Force except longer. The airtime is incredible, we first rode in the back seat, well let me re-phrase that: Our first ride was in the back of the train, you'r rear is hardly in the seat at any time. The mid course break is not enough time to catch your breath, immediately afterwards you hit that triple down and go flying back to Thanksgiving land. Such an amazing ride just how a wood coaster should be: Airtime, forces, fun, and not overly rough. After our first ride we went to a Pepsi oasis to grab some water, sit down, and try to fathom what we just experienced. The Voyage is hands down the best coaster I've ever experienced, and from what I hear El Toro at SFGADV is even better, I can't imagine how amazing that must be if it in fact is better than Voyage. We grabbed a front seat ride next, which was good but not as good as the back, and then headed to try out The Legend. As we got to Legend we noticed the wait was considerably longer than the Voyage and the line started at the bottom of the stairs. No worries, since neither of us had ridden it we didn't mind waiting. However, this is where I got my first annoyance by Holliday World, the day ended up being something like "5th grade appreciation day" and the morning crowds were considerably large. Legend and raven ran one coaster all day even when queues were filled, the Legend queue line is absolutely awful. They ran one train so the wait took about half an hour for the back which isnt too bad but everyone in the station is right on top of eachother and sweating. The raisl are very small for the lines and the fans hardly work, it was the most miserable experience I've ever had at an amusement park, luckily though the intense lateral forces of that amazing coaster made up for it. Legend was a blast, definently one of the better woodies out there. Each turn throws you to the side and the airtime is very good, it's like riding a scrambler. It's Double Helix is far better than The Beast's or Son of Beast's just for the fact that you feel the g-force, where as on Beast and SOB you just get roughed up. -After the annoying and hot queue at Legend we took a ride on the park's log flume to cool off. This was a pretty neat ride, you didn't get too soaked but I hated the beginning where you go through the tunnels in complete darkness, water at night scares the hell out of me for some reason and you get a very un-easy feeling in these tunnels. Having worked at amusement park's in the past before starting my new job I've always respected employees at parks and had heard about how awesome Holiday World's staff was. I didn't think they were that great. When our log came back on the flume the boats ahead of us were backed up and we bumped into the boat in front of us which caused our baot to lift up on the back of their boat. The ride stopped, the employee looked at us, frowned, said nothing, then went and got on the phone. Our boat was half in the water, half on the conveyor and she didn't tell us if we could move or not so after about 5 minutes of just sitting we just stood up, stepped on the platform and walked to get our stuff and headed to Raven. -This smaller coaster doesn't look to intimidating but it sure packs a punch. We waited about 10 minutes for the last seat, it too was running one train and beginning to fill up its queues behind us as we waited. While in line for the back the girl who had been operating the log flume came and relieved the gentleman working the Raven controls and when she saw us said to us: "Next time you need to listen to operator instructions before you just get up off the ride, what you did was very unsafe, you two need to make sure you abide by all park rules, do you understand?" When I tried explaining to her how I though we were in the station and received no instruction from her she walked away to go check height and we were loaded on with no response from her. Raven sure packs a punch, not so good in the front seat, but in the back its a very good ride. I loved the helix out over the lake and that last airtime hill, a short but very sweet ride. Jon over heard one of the teachers say to one of the various school groups at the park "Remember we meet at 1:30 and leave at 2" So we figured it owuld be a good time to check out the waterpark and do the rest of the park later when the crowds died down. The waterpark is very, very nice and locker prices are reasonable. I loved how they had two wavepools and two lazy rivers, this really kept crowds down, the lazy river was just about the best thing there, we just kept going around and around relaxing on their new lazy river. I dont particuarly like water parks because I dont usually feel like taking a bath with hundreds of other people but I gotta give Holiday World credit, their pools and water are VERY clean. However, besides relaxing in the lazy river the rest of the waterpark is pretty boring. Zinga, the worlds longest enclosed water slide, had about a half hour wait. We waited and got to the top, up here everytime a raft would reach the top of the conveyor an alarm would sound to notify the life guard, the alarm was similar to the siren of a fire truck and was very aggrivating and loud. Zinga was the biggest let down of the water slides, its very boring and sluggish. The racing slides were pretty fun but hurt certain male anatomy coming down the bumps in the hills. -The waterpark offers some great views of coasters like Legend and how it intertwines through the structures of Zinga and OttoRonGo which creates some cool head chopping illusions. However while photographing legend from the park... ...I was standing with a pool to my back when an employee sweeping trash tapped me on the back. The employee informed me that a woman had complained I was photographing children in the pool. I had done no such thing, but I did have a pretty large DSLR camera out with a full zoom lense on and was just photographing the Legend. I offered to show the employee my memory card to show her all I had were pictures of Legend and my little sisters birthday party, she said: "Theres no need for you to do that, im sure your not doing anything wrong, but I do need you to return your camera to your locker or exit Splashin Safari." I was pretty ticked, there was no rule against cameras in the water park, mine is just big and a more professional camera, I pointed out to her that she hadn't asked any other guests to put their cameras away and that they even sell waterproof cameras in the gift shop. She told me I should probably just leave the water park and I just said I would give up this spot but would go else where in the waterpark to shoot my pictures and she left me alone. None of the other slides we did were very thrilling so we changed and dropped off our wet clothes in the car and re-entered the park to ride some more rides. We did Gobbler Get-away which has a very nice queue line with hardwood floors and very powerful air conditioning. Despite a few animatronic charecters on the ride, its not much better than SDATHC. It uses many of the same blacklight effects and flat wooden cut out charecters. Overall its fun but what really sets it apart from SDATHC is that the lazer guns work and just like a classic dark ride you burst through doors and take some sharp turns that really whip you around. Overall its very fun. We did a few more classic rides like their flying scooters which you can not snap no matter how hard you try. Once I was able to kind of get it snap a little bit but they are very slow and very un-eventful, I would kill to have KI's back or to go ride Stricker's set. Next was the Revolution, thier centrifuge ride. I liked how the ride operator after checking restraints comes into the middle of the ride to tell eveyrone the rules to keep their rope restraints in place and not to move or hang on to the wires. That ride is a blast and still makes me somewhat sick. During the ride I lifted up one of my legs and placed it against the the cage of the ride since i was leaning so much it was getting to be a little bit painful of a ride. Once the ride came down we heard one again: "You two, over here, right now!" The ride op pulled us aside to tell us:"During the ride I saw one of you two lift up both your legs, that is a major safety violation and will not be tolerated, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!" One of the things I've learned from working for places like Best Buy and having to deal with catching people stealing is that even when someone is being rude to you or in the wrong you can usually make the situation possitive with good body language and keeping your voice calm, she was waving her arms around and yelling. I explained to her that I didn't mean to disrespect the rules and was just trying to re-position myself on the ride, I mentioned that I had worked for Paramount's Kings Island in the past and would not come to another park to disrespect their employees or rules and when I said that she rolled her eyes and looked away and started to tell me the policy for them to remove us from the park should we break another rule again. At that point I had had it with the employees in this park and told her there was no need to explain it to us and that we'd find out at Guest Relations. Not once during the day did we have an employee ask us how or day or ride was or if they could help us find something. Even at Guest Relations, they didn't seem to care about our problem and just told us to make sure we werent rude first. The only employee to approach us and offer us help to find something and ask us about our day was the owner Will Koch who was walking around sweeping trash. That guy is a class act and totally made up for the lack of respect the other employees seemed to have for guests, he spoke highly of Kings Island and asked about Cincinnati, he was a really cool guy. After talking with him we hit up the Raven and Legend, which now had 1 train wait evening lines, and we even got to stay on a few times in the evening. Both are very good coasters. -The Legend is yet another coaster that doesn't let up in intesity untill its over. -While walking back to The Voyage in the evening we noticed a show going on. I dont want ever hear anyone give KI hell for having a Karaoke show in the past cause Holiday World did the same thing too. This photo reminds me of the ending scene of the film Spinal Tap. -The two main highlights of Holiday World: The amazing Voyage and VERY clean waterpark. We rode the wonderful Voyage (which was brought down to 1 train operation, much to our annoyance) a few more times before leaving. I still cant get over just how fun that ride is and I think it may definently be my favorite rollercoaster. It's going to be hard for Gravity Group and HW to top this bad boy, although some claim SFGADV has with El Toro, but now thanks to gas prices I wont be heading the way anymore sadly. We ended the day by getting some Sweet Tea at a Pepsi oasis and saying goodbye to Holiday World. The three rollercoasters are all excellent and the waterpark is clean (but pretty boring), but other than those things theres not much else to do in the park and no really good quiet areas to just sit back and relax besides smoking sections, which neither of us need to use. Will Koch made up for the bad experience we had wtih those employees and the park was very clean. However, with gas prices, I dont think I'll be going back this summer despiate how good the rollercoasters are, theres just not much else to do. The drive home was pretty bad, on the way there it felt like it was quick because we were so excited, but now all we had to look forward to was work the next day so the drive home seemed to last forever but overall it was a great trip and a great way to start off the summer. We pulled over after we left and I snapped this picture from the road: