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thanks to everyone who has made suggestion and gave their input. As i have said in the past, it seems many are really interested in a group photo of some sort, I think the best opportunity for this will be right after the Parrots of the Caribbean show and also after the Down Home Country Show and taken closer to Diamondback. Also I have received many PM from a lot of you and I appreciate what you have to say and want you to know I did receive and read them. Looking forward to the best Kings Island opening day since the grand opening!!!!

LOL, nice one I love it!! I must say I am a little envious of your 12:30PM wake-up time.

Great video and the edits in it are awesome!

Congratulations Kat I'll see you Saturday morning and look forward to saying hi to Rexandthebeast, you guys have been great to have around and I look forward to your reports.

What?! I am offended! You are going to get rid of us? Diamondback FOF who is funnin' ya and just HAD to . I think you mean most of your riding in the morning . LOL I was hoping no one would notice that but i should have known, you can not get anything over on this group. pkiruler102 now now, those who know me best know I tend to go out of my way to include and involve. Also most shows run about 15-20 minutes. See you guys there

The Official Unofficial al la cart Kings Island Enthusiast Itinerary 12:30 Marty's Party – Putz HQ 1PM Lunch Rivertown Junction (Formally known as Wings) 2:30 Parrots of the Caribbean – I-Street Band Stand 5:30 Mr. Cowpie – In Festhause 6PM Down Home Country – In Festhause After the Down Home Country go to Diamondback for a group picture and a ride as a group. 10PM Rozzi's Fireworks I-Street between KI entrance and the Royal Fountain closer to the bathroom side. I hope we see you at the scheduled events I know some sound better than the others, I plan to do most my ridding in the morning, then the itinerary events in the afternoon. I figure with the anticipated lines it will be a nice alternative to see all the new shows and attractions on opening day and save the hard core ride riding for the Ride Warrior Weekend. The group photo seems to be the most asked about so I think after each show we may take a group picture and that will give us an opportunity to chat for a bit. Also after the Down home Country Show it was mentioned that maybe we could ride Viking Fury and start a chant of "KI"....-.... "Central" Lets have some fun, I'll see you all there!!!

Don't know but I can see on the official Diamondback Auction Board that you are still above the yellow line so I can see how you received one of those congratulatory e-mails, but not sure now if you gotten the last retractable Diamondback e-mails maybe that was in error. I hope you can get a hold of somebody soon, I know you have made a lot of changes to make this trip work. Good Luck

Dereck9312 thanks for the link to the show times, I looked at 1PM today and still no posted show times. So I called the park and waited 13 minutes on hold before a young man answered, he was very helpful and knew right away about the Parrots of the Caribbean show times. I polity prompted him to see if there was any way to find the other show times and told him it would be greatly appreciated. He put me on hold and gave me the rundown, I questioned the afternoon times for the Parrots of the Caribbean and wondered why there was not an evening show planned (as I think shows like that are great fun in the evening) he told be that was because Kings Island closed at 8PM on Saturday, but it does not, it closes at 10PM. So I have a real good idea how the al la cart Kings Island enthusiast itinerary will go but I am going to throw it out there for a bit to see the response. One big problem is that all 4 shows are within a 5 and a half our time period. So since it is al la cart everyone can pick the ones they want to attend. I will go to all of them that are scheduled because on days like the day I anticipate on Saturday the rides are usually my last priority because of the wait time and I can ride them quickly during the rest of the season. I think it is going to be next to impossible for a meet up before the rope drop as far as a large organized group for Diamondback because of the various times groups will be let in and the crowd mass that we all anticipate. So I think if you want look over the list and invite a private meet up and possibly ride a few of your favorites before the Al la Cart itinerary starts, that would be a great way to start your day. ***Tentative Plan**** 12:30 Marty's Party – Putz HQ 1PM Lunch Rivertown Junction (Formally known as Wings) 2:30 Parrots of the Caribbean – I-Street Band Stand 5:30 Mr. Cowpie – In Festhause 6PM Down Home Country – In Festhause After the Down Home Country go to Diamondback for a group picture and a ride as a group. 10PM Rozzi's Fireworks I-Street between KI entrance and the Royal Fountain closer to the bathroom side. Sorry that the shows are so close but I picked in the order so that those just getting off Diamondback closer to noon would be able to attend if they choose too and Lunch between the shows to allow more ride time for members in the morning and to put some time between them. Any suggestion please let me know.

Ty you should try to get the same picture shot on Saturday as the one Standbyme pointed out. I think it would be cool to see the difference a few days make.

Nice precursor report to the 2009 season. Thanks Ty

The list has really grown and it looks like Kings Island will have plenty of true amusement park enthusiast in attendance. I tried to call the park to get the various show times, the park was very helpful but was as surprised as I was that they could not find the specific show times for this Saturday. So I need to go through the various channels and I am in that process now. Instead of dibbling out bits and pieces of the al la cart Unofficial Kings Island enthusiast itinerary I will wait and post that tomorrow or Thursday evening, I find it gets confusing to keep track when posting updates throughout a thread. I will also edit the first post in this thread when the al la cart itinerary is posted so members will not need to hunt through the thread for the Itinerary. Looking forward to seeing you all Saturday at some point. Avatar/Jesse

Wow – the list is really growing for members going on opening day. Several members have showed interest in having a flexible itinerary of events that may interest them while doing it with fellow members, so I will try to put a more specific schedule together and surprisingly a photo opportunity (perhaps with D-Back in the back ground instead) was requested several times. I think the live concert would be fun to do as a group and hope we see a lot of interest there. I will also try to include a night D-back on the itinerary as well, perhaps after the live concert if it is in the early evening. So if anyone knows what time the shows will be playing on Saturday please let me know and in the mean time I will contact the park to see if we can get that information so we may give more accurate times. Keep in mind this is completely unofficial but at least a way we can do some things together while enjoying one of Kings Islands best day.

1) Avatar 2) TG93 3) VortexJunkie 4) Diamondback FOF 5) Goofywdw 6) Ki4life08 7) Beast1979 8) dare-to-fly 9) The Beast Rider 10) coasterguy15 11) Raptor 12)markhudson17 13)need_for_speed 14)wide_load 15) Bravo4460

Since there does not seem to be any official get together I thought maybe I would but put together an unofficial Kings Island enthusiast itinerary so those wishing to attend various functions maybe able to pick and choose which event they would like to do as a group. Such as; Example ERT Diamondback ride 8:30AM* Lunch Rivertown Junction 1PM* First show of Marty's Party at Putz Headquarters First Show Down Home Country Parrots of the Caribbean concert 7PM* Possible group photo at the Royal Fountain 4PM* *times above are just guesses right now and just being used as an example If this is something some of you are interested in let me know I most likely will give out my cell phone or Text info so that those who run a bit late may still join in. I will also be using the Bublin App on my IPhone so those who have that application will know where we are at all times.

Opening day at Kings Island usually brings out a lot of Kings Island enthusiast and with this years new 22 million dollar Diamondback thrill roller coaster which will change Kings Island skyline forever. I think we will see a larger number of Kings Island enthusiast even more so than in years past. I thought it would be great to start a list so that those who are planning to go can see who all is going and maybe be able to see who else is going so they may be able to look out for other enthusiast during Kings Island opening day. I'll start the list if you are going copy the list and add your name and add any information you would like to share about your upcoming trip. 1) Avatar I have not decided if I am going to up my bid for first ride, so I may try to meet up with some of you to wait in line for Diamondback. UPDATED 4/16/09 here is the latest and hopefully the last update for the event schedule. The Official Unofficial al la cart Kings Island Enthusiast Itinerary 12:30 Marty's Party – Putz HQ 1PM Lunch Rivertown Junction (Formally known as Wings) 2:30 Parrots of the Caribbean – I-Street Band Stand 5:30 Mr. Cowpie – In Festhause 6PM Down Home Country – In Festhause After the Down Home Country go to Diamondback for a group picture and a ride as a group. 10PM Rozzi's Fireworks I-Street between KI entrance and the Royal Fountain closer to the bathroom side. I hope we see you at the scheduled events I know some sound better than the others, I plan to do most my ridding in the morning, then the itinerary events in the afternoon. I figure with the anticipated lines it will be a nice alternative to see all the new shows and attractions on opening day and save the hard core ride riding for the Ride Warrior Weekend. The group photo seems to be the most asked about so I think after each show we may take a group picture and that will give us an opportunity to chat for a bit. Also after the Down home Country Show it was mentioned that maybe we could ride Viking Fury and start a chant of "KI"....-.... "Central" Lets have some fun, I'll see you all there!!!

Evey year during the off season suggestions are made for site specific clothing merchandise but nothing more than that usually comes from it. Being this close to opening day trying to come up with something (let alone personable) to be ready and paid for would be quite the undertaking. Plus the need to hand them out before rope drop and then what for those who are late or stuck in line at the parking tolls. I would suggest buying similar shirts at Kings Island and for those who wanted something more custom get a shirt from the place in the park that does those. I also will be looking to hook up with some fellow Kings Island enthusiast but I am not the type to run from ride to ride so I may be looking for some that would prefer taking in and seeing all the new offerings Kings Island has to offer this year while having conversations.

It could be said that Kings Island enthusiast who have not met Interpreter/'s would be seeing him for the first time with their own eyes, but those who have met Interpreter/'s will will see him with new eyes. Also I plan at least one ride ride on Diamondback but Kings Island is so much more than one ride for me or rides for that matter especially true on opening day. I will enjoy and equally riding Diamondback, meet-up with fellow Kings Island enthusiast, eating at Rivertown Junction, 2 new live shows, a special live concert , quick browse through various shops and photographing Kings Island with my new camera. Then after all that if there is still time I will enjoy riding more rides like The Beast and for some reason The Crypt, Yeah I can not wait for opening day!!

The thing that worries me is if they do not open International Street all the way to Starbucks then the crowd will congregate by Graeters by the Nickelodeon Universe gateway. I shutter the thought of small children in the mix with over stimulated guests jockeying for position close to rope drop and worse trying to stay out of the way of the running for the first ride of the day. Also violakat03 I can tell you that in fact that my family would do as you said and browse so that later in the day we would make the purchase. On days we did not browse early we never returned to my delite later in the day. Now we would buy early but because of the high cost of lockers and no option of holding our purchases until later in the day we choose not to purchase early as that would cause us the need to carry our purchase all day and risk losing it.

Thanks for the great report and the excellent pictures to go with it. I love heavy theme in parks and from your description of Busch Gardens it looks like we are in for a great treat when we plan to make a trip there in late September. Your report has now got me more excited about going there, thanks. Edit to add; you posted your Sea World part as I was typing my response to you first part. Your pictures are great and it looks like you had a great day. Wow those dolphins can really jump. After reading this first report from you and seeing how good it was I hope this is not your last.

Simple is the key word in your post and to be honest I think it is great that everybody is being open and honest about their feelings about the sign (good or bad), it's a breath of fresh air around here. Also I will just add that if they spent millions of dollars on theme, I don't think you would find anybody complaining because everyone would have passed away from shock!!!

Last year when a few pictures of Kings Island Theater where posted it got mixed reviews too. In fact I did not like the look with out the colonial columns and posted my thoughts about that, well when the park opened and I got to see it first hand I changed my mind and liked it. I think the pictures where taken too close which was good for seeing the details but it did not give us viewers the ability to see it from a further distance and to see how it fit in aesthetically. This is how I am feeling about the New Diamondback sign, I wish we had another photo taken of it but at a bit of a distance. I think the thing that I'm having trouble with is the excellent state of the art 3 dimensional sign with a early 1900 century background, it's playing tricks with my mind. I can't wait to see it in person to get a better feel for it.

Nice photo's Bill, good to see got to have a day off to enjoy a reds game. If I remember right you have attended several Reds home opener games in the past. Well the stadium looks really good in your pictures thanks for sharing. I just wish we could get one of those $1.00 stands at Boomerang Bay.

Brad – great pictures I really liked your Yeti foot print used as the children height gage picture. Super cool experience for you at American Idol sorry to hear you got that far, it would have been awesome to have read about a member winning the daily contest and getting a front of line pass for a real audition. How may days did you go down and if I remember right you won a Universal ticket did you get to go over to Universal too during this trip too?

Zorba – wow I really enjoyed your report, we want to go to Alaska too, but right now with so many other destinations on our list Alaska may need to wait till after our daughter leaves home. Your report really captured the beauty as well as the the way of life Alsatians enjoy. Thanks again for your report it was very interesting.

Robbie thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us. It sounds like you and Cory had a nice little get away even though it got a little wet for you guys. I did not know Carowinds was that close to Dollywood, we keep talking about taking a trip to DollyWood and I think your idea of going to Carowinds the next day or two is a good way for us to finally get there. For a family how many days would you say we would need to take both parks in without marathoning the trip? BTW I am happy for you in being so close to graduation, it'll be like a whole new Robbie school behind him.