XGatorHead 8904

Last fall it was $84.99 for adult, $69.99 for Junior/Senior. What the prices will be this fall, only a very select few know now (and no, I'm not one of those select few!).

This is already being discussed here: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17735

I voted FoF. It's dark, has a nice launch, has inversions and reaches some good speeds in some parts. They could even have a lightning round during the MCBR, there's plenty of time to answer several questions there! Firehawk was a close second. And what are "The Vortex" and "The Racers" listed in the poll? I've never heard of those coasters. I've heard of Vortex and Racer, but never "The Vortex" and "The Racers". And yet, the dark didn't stop the park from selling on-ride videos a few years ago...

I agree with you exactly about Illuminations. I frequent a Disney site from time to time (not nearly as often as this one), and they just love Illuminations. But, like you, for some reason I can't get into it. It's decent, but I like Wishes and Fantasmic much, much better.

Yeah, the original plan was to go to all of those parks this year. Then the reality of finances caught up with us and we decided to shorten the trip by a few days. But doing that then allows us to go to my company's outing at Coney Island on August 1st, so I'm not too upset. I haven't been to Sunlite Pool since elementary school, and I've never been there for the rides. I thought we would do WDW again next year, but instead the plan is to do all the "vetoed" parks next year.

While in line for The Crypt on my last visit, one of the teen boys behind me was telling his friends: "This line used to be good when it was Tomb Raider, because at least then you could watch the movie while you waited." As I was exiting The Beast on this same visit, one of the teen boys behind me said "This ride is smaller than Blue Streak up at Cedar Point. Blue Streak was built in the early '80's and was one of the first roller coasters ever built."

There will be no more this year. I'm sorry, you know this how exactly? Can you guarantee with absolute certainty that there will be no more BAF days this year? I severely doubt that you can. I've had plenty of experience in the park regarding BAF days, enough to know that you can never say never. A better way to have worded your response, and the correct way to answer the original question, is: "There are currently no more bring a friend days scheduled at this time".

It was a good one as always. I've never had a cavity in my life *knocks on wood*. Here, take a look... see, no fillings! I sure am. I'm always looking forward to anytime GatorGirl gets to experience a new ride! The 42" mark doesn't get her much more at KI than 40", only SR&R if I remember correctly.

6/23 - 2½ Hours of Solo Ride Time I decided to make a short trip up to the park this day. I had a dentist appointment at 2:00, so I worked in the morning and took the afternoon off. After I left the dentist I headed straight for KI, getting there around 3:20. First thing I went for was DB to get my 40th ride on it. The end of the line was at the vending machines, so I decided to wait in the regular line. I kept an eye on the SRL, and noticed that no one had entered it since I got in line. As soon as I was able to, I moved over to the SRL to play SRL Roulette... and lost. The SRL line was at the bottom of the stairs, and I kept a lookout for the people that had been in front and behind me in the regular line. Sure enough, they passed me as I was almost to the station. I ended up 3 trains behind them, so instead of having a 20 minute wait in the regular line, I had a 25 minute wait in the SRL. While in the SRL, I stopped a pair of line jumpers. I was at the end of the SRL (towards the middle of the staircase at the time) and two teen boys tried to pass me. I spoke up and said "Sorry, the end of the line is here". One of the boys said "We're just looking for our friend" (oldest excuse in the book). I said "Well, you can see the rest of the line from here. If he's not on these stairs, then he's in the station or on the ride, and there's very few people in the station". The boy who had replied to me said to his friend "Come on, let's go back." Success! Score so far this year: Gator: 1, Line Jumpers: 1 I debated riding DB again, but decided against it because 40 rides is a nice round number, and there were other things I wanted to ride. Next was The Crypt. I hadn't ridden since RWCW, so I wanted to try out the new program. I waited about 15 minutes, and let me say, I was very disappointed. I had read others' comments on here, and I agree with the majority that say it's terrible. It's so sad how far this once great (when it was TR:TR) ride has fallen. I loved TR:TR, I kind of liked the program last year, but the new program is just terrible. The two girls next to me were apprehensive when they got on, but when it was over one said "That's it?" and the other said "That's a rip-off". It would only be worth riding again if it's a walk-on, but unfortunately you can't tell if it is until you get inside. I needed something exciting after my ride on The Neutered Crypt, so next was The Beast. After that, I headed towards Coney Mall. I didn't have too much time left, so I glanced over at BLSC and determined the line was a little too long. I debated riding Vortex, but along the way I was enticed by Shake, Rattle & Roll. I love this ride and hadn't ridden it yet this year. It will be a regular for us though once GatorGirl gets to 42". She's almost there! I was headed towards Racer when I saw Zephyr had no line, so I rode that next. Then it was on to Blue Racer, which I was able to walk right on. I had time for one more ride, so I headed for AE. There was a one train wait for the front seat, so I decided to wait for that since it's been a long time since I've ridden in that seat. I love that little coaster. On my way out of the park, I stopped by the Dippin' Dots cart outside The Racer to get a frozen Strawberry Lemonade cup, and was given a little wooden spoon to eat it with. My friends have always made fun of me because I have an aversion to eating things with/on a wooden stick. I don't like those wooden little spoons, and I don't like popsicle sticks. When I have a popsicle on a wooden stick, I'm always careful not to let it touch my tongue. I don't like the taste of them, and they leave a little of their taste on the popsicle too. OK, yes, I'm weird, but you probably knew that already! Just add this to the list. What happened to the plastic spoons that we could get with the frozen lemonade cups last year? Maybe it's because they switched brands and the new ones come with the wooden spoons. Either way, I headed straight for Outer Hanks and got a plastic fork (I didn't see any spoons) and ate it with that. Off the topic, but on the way to pick up GatorGirl from daycare, I stopped by the Speedway on the corner of 42 and Tylersville to get a drink. It was hot, I was thirsty, and the frozen lemonade cup didn't help. I had been looking all over for Mountain Dew Throwback, and this is the only place in 3 states that I've found it! This stuff is terrific! Mrs. Gator used to like Mountain Dew but doesn't anymore. When I got home, she tried this and loved it. She said "This is what it used to taste like when I liked it". I hope they keep this around. Hmmm... I think I need to stop there again after work today... I've now been to KI 10 times this season, June's over, and I haven't been to Boomerang Bay yet this year! That's very atypical of us. Although we have been to The Beach twice now this year thanks to our incident there in December. I'll post that TR soon!

Thanks again! I was really looking forward to riding Leap the Dips, Skyliner and Casino this summer, but it looks like I'll have to wait longer. I really should have Mrs. Gator look at your TR's to try to get her to change her mind (we had a serious discussion about our trip last night, and let's just say it didn't go in my favor). I guess I'll have to experience them vicariously through your TR's, so keep 'em comin'!

I got a letter in the mail that said to bring it to Human Resources to pick up the tickets. I have yet to do so (but thanks for reminding me, I have to look for that letter now). It's probably best if you speak to HR to see if you have any tickets available to pick up. I know you had to work all your scheduled shifts towards the end of the season in order to be eligible for them.

Your two year old niece is admitted free, and no proof of age is required.

I probably shouldn't admit to this, but I saw NKOTB in concert twice at Timberwolf. The first time they opened for Tiffany. The next year, Tiffany opened for them (and she came out to boo's from the mainly pre-pubescent female crowd). Someone had to take my younger sister to the concert, you know... Of course, being a young male at the time, I may have had a thing for Tiffany (and Debbie Gibson too) so I didn't mind too much.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! for posting this! The past couple of weeks, instead of being on this site as much as I usually am, I've been gathering info on the parks I want to visit on our Parks of Pensylvania Tour. Lately, Mrs. Gator has expressed her desire to curtail the number of parks that we would go to (there was even one mention of cancelling the trip altogether! ), so I've been collecting everything (prices, hours, rides, shows, etc.) on all the parks that I want to hit. That way I can show her what each one has to offer (and most of them are very reasonably priced). There are three parks that are definites for us: Sesame Place, Hersheypark and Conneaut Lake Park. If you've ever visited www.conneautlakepark.com, you know there's very little info on what rides they have. So your TR is very useful to me! Now to talk her into some combination of Knoebel's, Lakemont, DelGrosso's and Idlewild... (she said we may get to Kennywood next year, that's why I'm not pursuing that one now). I look forward to your future installments!

^ They do, and it's $24.99. See the bottom of this page: http://www.visitkingsisland.com/shop/shopp...l_admission.cfm

That sounds like fun. I had mentioned to GatorGirl a few months ago that we might go to a balloon glow this year. Too bad we're already planning on seeing Huey Lewis & the News' free concert in Mason that evening.

^See here: http://www.visitkingsisland.com/visit/visit_breakfast.cfm

In line for DB yesterday, I saw a girl, early 20's, wearing a t-shirt over her bikini top, and nothing on the bottom but her bikini bottoms. No shorts/skirt/pants, nothing. It looked like she was in her underwear. I'm not sure if the DB crew let her ride in this since she was too far ahead of me.

"The Ohio Department of Agriculture" I thought agriculture was for plants. I would not know this since im going into 8th grade next year. Yes, agriculture is for plants. But the way I understand it, the way the Dept. of Agriculture inherited ride inspections is this (and someone please correct me if I've been misinformed regarding the history of how the Dept. of Agriculture got ride inspection duties): There are a large number of state/county/regional fairs and festivals. Lots of these fairs and festivals are agriculturally based. So the Dept. of Agriculture has a large interest in these fairs and festivals. And what, besides cows, pigs, sheep, pumpkins, tomatoes, etc. are at fairs? Rides! So the Dept. of Agriculture was placed in charge of inspecting these rides. The inspection duties spread to cover amusement parks as well. See here for the Department of Agriculture's Amusement Ride Safety website: http://www.agri.ohio.gov/divs/rides/

^The jean skirts down to the ankles is a religion thing. My sister had a friend in high school who went to a church where a majority of the girls wore those all the time (I forget the type of church).

^^The Ohio Department of Agriculture is responsible for inspecting rides. They are a government agency, hence the government is involved.

^You left out my favorite... Vampire Nightclub! Of course, I am a little biased! But like others have said, Fridays tend to be less crowded than Saturdays, and the earlier in the Haunt season you go, the better it is crowd-wise too. The park has a whole different atmosphere during Haunt. All the fog, lighting, scenery and fog make it completely awesome. And did I mention there was fog? My memory's a little cloudy... (ba bum bum... Thank you, I'm here all week... remember to tip your waitress!) And beware of those creepers around the park. You may think that you're safe from getting scared if you're not in a haunted attraction, but you're not! There are plenty of scares to be had in the midways as well...

I'm a big fan of sleeveless shirts. During the hot days of summer, that's the only type of shirt I wear to the park, pre- and post-season is when I'll wear actual t-shirts. But I'm very picky about the type of sleeveless shirt I buy. I don't wear tank tops in public, only in the privacy of my own home... in fact, I'm wearing one right now. The sleeveless shirts I wear in public look like t-shirts, only with no sleeves. And they are not open down the sides. That's a prerequisite... there's too much of me that you all don't need to see! But I will say that I was thrilled when I got my costume for Haunt last year... a sleeveless shirt! I get hot easily, and this definitely helped... except on those cold nights walking to and from Club Blood. Then it got a little chilly. But inside, it was just perfect! And you can bet I'll be wearing a sleeveless shirt when I go to the park this afternoon! EDIT: I just noticed, in my avatar... what am I wearing?

1. Riding with GatorGirl on her first roller coaster ride ever. 2. Finally working as a scaracter at Haunt (something I'd always wanted to do since the first year of FearFest, but I was always stuck working in another location in the park). 3. Taking a vacation day on August 6th for the Diamondback announcement.

Maybe they need to wait a little bit until the Scooby Snack to nickles exchange rate turns in their favor.