BavarianBeatle

The kids occupied my time today, so I'm not sure who I saw. I did get to talk to stalkerchick in line for Vortex.

That would be a shame! It was warm today and The Beast nice and fast through the helix!

Yes those sweeper uniforms are terrible looking! I felt bad for them too. And what about the new blue hand stamps? I'm going to go to work and everyone will think I've been hanging out in bars!!!

I enjoyed finally riding The Beast again after a long winter! That first drop is always a wonderful feeling and getting to do it in short sleeves today made it even more special!! The retracking of the helix made a huge difference in that part of the ride and it was better than I can ever remember! Did anyone else notice that they finally shortened or reduced the strenghth of the magnetic trim brake at the start of the drop after the second lift hill before the helix? I thought it was my imagination on the first ride of the day until my kids said the same thing at the end of the ride. Then we took our last night ride and that left no doubt that there is not as much braking at that point in the ride. Way to go KI!!!

I agree. The capacity of this ride is absolutely magnificent!!!!!!!

My first impression is that it was a very fun ride. However, in my opinion, the restraints reduced the airtime too much. I like coasters that are rough, though, and this one is as smooth as silk. So, I like Magnum and The Voyage better. But if you like smoother rides, then this coaster is a gem!! If I was to make a comparison to other coasters, I would call DB a cross between MF and Magnum. I also agree that they need to make changes the assigned rows policy. The dispatch times were fast and the person trying to keep up was having trouble doing so. I think they should add a second row of numbers and a second person going back through the line assigning people to rows . Or figure out a way to paint numbers on the ground in the que similar to Skyhawk at CP (this would be difficult because of the steps though). But these are minor and fixable "growing pains." Overall, DB is a fabulous addition to the park and I'm looking forward to riding it for many years to come.

1) Avatar - Jesse (First Rider) 2) TG93 3) VortexJunkie 4) Diamondback FOF 5) Goofywdw (I will be working out at parking tolls 11:30 - 6:30 then I can ride!) 6) Ki4life08 7) Beast1979 (With the famous Trooper Mom) 8) dare-to-fly 9) The Beast Rider 10) coasterguy15 11) Raptor 12)markhudson17 13)need_for_speed 14)wide_load 15) Bravo4460 16) AgentSoB (at about 5:00 have to freakin work mad.gif ) 17) Amber ( and family ) 18)angrybeaver 19)indianapolisman(no comment) 20) SOBFOF 21) HTCO(with friends) 22)Phantom Theater! (With a friend) 23) CedarPointer 24)G-Force (In the morning and the evening) 25)Skywriter-Family 26)Justin M17 27) FFEKUdawg4life, i have all day 28)catzdrummer09 29) Andrew 30)rotag1299 31) derek9312 (With girlfriend and maybe family) 32) Pkiruler ( by himself but be there about 6 or 7 p.m to closing.) maybe 33)Phantomtheater (the one who wears shorts in a snowstorm) 34) BoddaH1994 35)Ashers (Ashley) 36)kjkjkj(Kyle, Ashley's brother!) 37)RWildman424 (Starting work around 3:30ish) 38) Beast Man 39) tigellinus (w/ non-enthusiast g/f) 40) markalan (and friends) 41) Ogrmac (and friend) 42) Braves0511...all alone 43) violakat03 (wearing a KIC shirt) 44) gigacoaster2k (Angie) 45) gameGhost (Mark) 46) Kawana with Elina 47) Tuskin 48) Unrealsk8er (With fam and gf) 49) Zosobeast (w/ Kittenpooh as his guest) 50) Captain Picard 51) Mr. & Mrs. Thrill_Biscuit 52) Dvo (with uncle) 53) LongLiveTheSmurfRide (w/ fiance and friend) 54) XGatorHead with special guests Mrs. Gator and GatorGirl 55) Jamesv7 + cat13 Vortexfan92 & jessy8 56) CoastersRZ (Robbie) 57) TeenageNinja (working 12:30-Close) 58) paperg 59)Atomheartmother616 60) Longlivekingscobra (We'll see!) 61)KingsIslandMaster(I'll Be There At 8:00AM 62) CoasterFreak45 63) Popwar + ToastNJelly 64) iChase + Ksings 65)Kittenpooh (steph) 66) Tom76257 (wearing a custom white iron-on t-shirt saying "KingsIslandCentral" and "TOM76257" on both sides) 67) Jess (+ with #58- paperg) 68) IndyGuy4KI and wife (With my custom KIC Logo shirt that violakat03 created) 69) Frisbeefan 69) TheCryptRaider all alone. 70) JoeCartoon 71) Losantiville (Until Noon-1:00. Baseball game that night) 73) CPTP (flying solo, going to be on the 6th trainfor Diamondback) - 73 since the 1st 69th person was hiding 74) Gabe (can't get there for ert unfort, but will be there meeting Kat and Giga (Angie) about 11:30ish.) I usually am a lurker here (obviously since this is my second post) but hopefully will get a chance to meet some of you! Since I'm usually a lurker, I'll probably be the one in the shadows, listening to your conversations! Actually when it gets warmer I'll be wearing a Callahan Auto Parts t-shirt (Love you Tommy Boy!) 75) Peanut 76) Peanuts Dad 77) Peanuts Mom 78) Red (Peanuts Sister) 79) Rollercoast19 80) BavarianBeatle (and sons)

Then what I said in post #4 of this thread is wrong... As I have been many times in the past and undoubtedly will be many times in the future! Actually, I'm thrilled that this is a serious event! I wish I had the money to buy, erect and operate Big Dipper myself....

It's hard to believe that it has been 30 years. I remember the excitement and fear that accompanied my first ride. Now, after a hard day at work, I can load up the kids and relieve all of the stress with just that first drop into the tunnel. Thanks for the memories, Big Guy!!!

The kids probably won't be tall enough for DB, but for the other things you mentioned we will be there with bells on!!

And one of them is called Diamond Back.....

I won't have a T shirt on because it will almost certainly be too cold. But I will be there with the boys, so feel free to say hello anytime. Here we are: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...rianBeatle+40th

I refuse to answer. Some years back, some of our family friends had a little store in KI. Well they sold "Smurfberry" ice cream in their Hanna Barbarra located store. Their "Smurfberry" ice cream was such a big hit, Kings Island kicked him out of the park but kept the "Smurfberry". How? When you sell something in the park, like food, Kings Island has the rights to that recipe without asking perrmision. They are sneaky like that. And you also can't take them to court because in your contract, it says that Kings Island has the rights to all your products. I can tell you they needed permission to use the "Smurf" name..... But there is no possible way this is still true. KI does not now own the recipes of Subway, Skyline, Starbucks, etc.

If the weather is nice, you will be lucky to get 4 or 5.... And that is if you want to spend all of opening day in that line.....

I haven't commented in this thread because that is so special that I don't know what to say. I still remember the park in its early days and how it felt like such a "magical" place when I was 3 years old. Now I'm 40, and my children are older than that, and the feelings I had about Kings Island in 1972 have never gone away.

I am hoping that, by the end of the summer, I will know whether I adore Great Adventure as well. Can't wait to ride El Toro!!!

The kids and I will be there. Say hello if you see us. What we wear will depend on the weather. We will do ERT on The Beast first though.

My youngest son rode SoB when he was 7 and was 48 inches tall due to air soles..... Don't worry about it! Edit: He rode Drop Tower and Slingshot the same year and loved them all.....

I always assume the park will be crowded. That way I'm pleasantly surprised whenever it isn't.

Ha! He's right...Money talks... But offer her the 5 dollars first. That's cheaper than a meal at the park.

I like it. Pretty much what I expected .

A problem with or failure of the restraint is the only thing that I can imagine that would cause the Blue Streak thing (other than a crash or something like SoB)..... But since its only one person, I am more than a little skeptical about this claim.

I did not realize that. Thanks for the information. KI was my first park and it didn't even occur to my to look at Coney.

No, there are people in line for Vortex, and most every tree has leaves. Have those two large trees always been covering the path between BLSC and rivertown? For some reason, I don't remember those being there. I would guess that pic is from 2005. Note that the 3 point challenge is not there and the sign on what is now BLSC says "Italian Job" (My 10 year old noticed that). As for those trees, I believe they have been cut down or trimmed signifcantly, but I could be wrong about that.

We will be there on opening day regardless of weather. But if its cold and rainy, the visit will be short. Eventually, we will realize that we have passes that are good for the entire season and ask ourselves why we are standing outside in the rain freezing our behinds off.