BavarianBeatle

Took this one yesterday.

I've enjoyed the Fridays and Sundays this Fall. I love the "post season" at parks, as I like to call it.... The only time I have enjoyed a Saturday in the Fall was two years ago when I went with a date (when I used to do things like that LOL!!!) and she had to talk to me in long lines ....

Viking Fury was open yesterday. We made it a point to ride it.

I make it a point to avoid Saturdays at that place. That's why I've spent many more Saturdays at Sandusky Speedway than at CP.

And the temperature will be in the 80s tomorrow.... I can't wait to be there!!!

My first trip to Holiday World was this year. When we bought dinner, my kids said they felt like they were stealing from the park because of the low prices..... LOL!!!

Yes, they wore away, but the memory remains, (now I sound like Metallica...LOL). The Beast, however, will never be a "faded prima donna"....

First of all. thank you all for the compliments!! Wasn't sure how my first PTR would go!! But the pictures turned out very good. The Power Tower one with the completely empty sky and the ride at the top was one I just couldn't pass up.... Karen, my suggestion is to not go on a Saturday night!!! I have always found Sundays to be the least crowded at CP. On Saturday, it was difficult to even walk down the midways with the crowds waiting in line for food and the people trying to pass that getting backed up. Nobody needs that and you dont need to get stuck in the middle of that kind of a mess!! Especially because people started jostling each other and get hurried, then angry, etc..... So my only suggestion is to avoid Saturdays!!

Friday is a good choice. Much less crowded than Saturdays!! And al lof the monsters run out into the crowd when the park opens, so get there early, it's a lot of fun!! My kids are always scared of the male monsters, but the girls don't bother them. Yes, I know, they aren't scared of girls..... We're going to have to sit down and have a little talk before they get into trouble, if you know what I mean.........

Well, it would be all of them. But my memories go far beyond 2008. King's Island has been a special place for me since I was a child. I've always said that, being born in the fall of 1968 and three years old when the park opened, that the park and I "grew up together." I still remember (as I've said before) saving Top Value stamps with my sister in order to trade them for KI tickets when we were children. The trips to the park in those days were very special and were made even more so because we felt that we had somehow earned them by collecting, counting and saving those stamps. Then there were the season passes in high school, the weekly visits to the park (when Vortex was new) and the fun I had with my friends from high school.... I remember that we had a manager at the restaurant where I worked who said that she would let people off of work for the prom, but not KI. On the day of prom night, we, of course, told her we were going to the prom and all got the day off.... Do I need to tell you where we were from 10 to 10 that day????? When we all showed up for work with sunburns the next day, that manager was more than a little suspicious, to say the least... Especially when one idiot (I say that lovingly; there's always one in every group... ), showed up for work in his brand new "Kings Island 1987" t-shirt, before changing into his uniform...... I missed a few years in the 1990s. I had moved to the Cleveland area and was busy getting married and starting a family and a career.... I don't know if I have posted this on here before, but my wife died from childbirth complications when our second son was born in 2000 (she collapsed during labor and our son almost died as well), prompting my return to this area to be near my extended family. When my kids were little, I would take them to KI once or twice a year and let them ride the little rides while I looked longingly at the coasters and larger rides. But last year, they reached 48 inches and I bought them our first season passes for David's birthday in May. He is fearless and had to drag his older brither onto the coasters, but now neither of them have any fear of any coaster. We were on the sixth train of SoB when it reopened and once they did that, I lost all of my instinctual fear of them riding coasters. Now to 2008.... For me Kings Island is everything it was to me as a child and MORE!!! I love the weeknights in the summer with the boys. There's no tv ,or homework, or video games, or any other distractions. I get to talk to them, teach them things about life and people, and just have fun. I took them to Cedar Point and Holiday World as well and they loved every minute of it (except our first CP trip because it was too hot and crowded, but they got over that this past Sunday). And, there have been many times when, after a hard day at work, I pick them up at daycare and say, "Get in the car, we're going to Kings Island". By the end of the first drop on The Beast, the stress of the day is gone. Needless to say, they never object!! It has become a very special time for the three of us, just as it has always been special to me. On the way to the park, I still get that feeling that I had when I first saw the Eiffel Tower when I was three years old.... And I think the boys do too. So, every time I leave the park, I say a little prayer and thank God for the opportunity to be there and the wonderful gifts I have been given. So when I'm asked what my favorite memory of 2008 is, it isn't Knievel, which we had to miss , Wallenda in the rain, which was great!, the Brady's (the boys didn't "get it" LOL), or any other specific event. As always, the best thing about this season is what it added to my relationship with my kids and to my lifetime of memories. --Michael P.S.: My mother (who was always scared of the rides) found out we were going to KI tomorrow and asked, "Don't the kids get sick of it?" My response was "Well.... I'm 40 years old and I'm not sick of it yet....."

Very sad!!! It has changed some since 1979 though.....But I will always have the memories of the completely full queues and the lines stretching out onto the midway in the late 70s. The actual concession stand in line, the disgusting but funny gum tree, the lake (even when it smelled like vomit on hot summer days). The water flowing through the theming, when the second tunnel was two tunnels, soft seats without seat belts and seat dividers..... the list goes on and on.... I will be taking pictures this weekend!!!

We will be there Friday, in all liklihood. I don't think I'll expose the kids to Club Blood. I don't think they would get it (or at least I hope not ). I agree with Ashers that Tombstone Terrtory was the best of the haunted attractions that we have been through this year. They want to do Red Beard's Revenge and Urgent Scare next. I'm a little reluctant on that one..... Cemetary Drive, Corn Stalkers and the Work Zone were good as well. One of these weeks I may go without the kids and check out Club Blood for myself. And KIMan is one of their favorites:

I agree with you. I felt (as I always do) the same way in line. That shot was luck!!! I saw it coming with everyone's hands up, grabbed the camera, threw it in the air and pushed the button.....

If I'm ever at the park without the kids (Yeah right ), I'M THERE!!!!

One that always reminds me of parks, but that Ive never heard at any of them is "Almost Easy" by Avenged Sevenfold...................

Thank you too. I have "coaster hair" in that last picture, but I'm glad that people think I look younger than I am. Thankyou also for your help earlier with regard to posting photos, I couldn't have done this without you....

Indeed that is why we do this.... Thank you my friend, but I know that these days will end, especially at the end of the season! I, saddly, know that these days are numbered. --Beatle, who hopes to one day post a similar PTR with his grandchildren....

I was raised the same way... If I had line jumped at 5, I would never have seen 6, if you know what I mean.....

Well, I turned the big 4-0 last Friday and spent the weekend with my kids at KI on Friday night, then at CP on Saturday night and Sunday. Saturday night was terrible, only two rides in three hours at the park, but did get to see the end of the Buckeyes' game at the hotel. I hope our neighbors weren't too mad when they heard: "TOUCHDOWN!!!!" followed shortly by "INTERCEPTED!!!"...LOL!!!! Friday night and Sunday were wonderful. Here are a few pictures: This looks good in the fog.... A few monsters.... Us on the train.... A very fun night. They love The Haunt. We will skip Saturday! Then there was Sunday, a perfect day. The weather was pleasant, there were not the bees that I expect this time of the year, and the lines were short. Raptor was a walk-on!!! I had never seen that before. The kids rode everything they wanted and we had a ball!! It was a perfect day!!! Then on the ride home they wanted a laser pointer when we stopped for gas...It had a lot of attachments on the front and they BEGGEED!!! me to buy it for them, so I did but told them they would have to earn the money for it. As we pulled out of that gas station parking lot, the "Happy Birthday" image from that laser pointer appeared on the windshield..... They earned it!!!! Need I say more!? Thanks for reading. I drove home while they slept in the backseat knowing that it was all worth all of the small troubles that may arise along the way... --Michael

Well, I, for one, remember what was originally at that location....

The parks need to upcharge for these events!! Cp was just as bad Saturday Night. We got there around 6:30 and by the time we rode Magnum and Gemini it was quarter after 9. Then we had to wait for over 10 minutes (3 different times) while people walking down the midways had to squeeze through the huge crowds waiting in line for food. By then I realized that if we did another ride it would be after 11:00 by the time we were done, so we left and came back Sunday (which was wonderful).

I haven't seen it closed much either. Remember that most of the flat rides are not operating during the Haunt... And besides, if they removed Viking Fury, what else would they put there?

Its like that every year. But we went to Cedar Point last night and today. No bees or wasps to be found. Temps in the 30s at night tend to kill them off, I suppose.

Well I'm typing on the blackberry from Sandusky tonight. No rollbacks this evening that I saw. But very cold and crowded. Almost three hours to do Magnum and Gemini!!! Then we came back and watched the end of the Ohio State game. But we will be there again tomorrow for ERT. .

I live around here and my allergies have been TERRIBLE!!! this week. If you have allergies, take something for them or bring it with you.