dare-to-fly

Unless the line is nuts, which it is quite a bit of the time, Reptar is not to be missed. For a kids coaster, it gives quite an amazing ride, much like Beastie does for the first half the ride, and does through the whole ride without that stupid trim brake. Are you sure about that? I don't remember ever going to KI and not pondering the latter in some fashion (at least in recent times). There is something to be said for including a variety, and going to the water park is a splash! There are no trim brakes on the water slides, and it's nice to be able to slide down a track without being slowed to a crawl around every corner. And here we go on that tangent again. Either way...agreed that it helps, but disagree that one doesn't ponder such things. Going with a child would make me hate the one on Beastie that much more instead of griping about the others.

Unless he was standing up acting like an idiot, I find that highly unlikely.

That's exactly what I thought. It took about .000000000001 of a second to decide to buy it. Then I looked at the price tag and determined even before I saw it that it was worth it.

Let's see if this works.

...And a wooden coaster that for no taller than it is, has an airtime moment to put all the KI coasters to shame! (Though it may be short, it's a wonderful yank!) Total airtime spots on the Tornado: 3. (Ride from the back for the best results.) 1. First drop. 2. Middle of the ride on the last hill before the third turnaround (yank and a half). 3. Last hill before the station is a nice little airhill. Now...for being only 55', that's something to brag about. For best results, the seatbelt should be left a little loose so that you hit the seatbelt and lap bar at the same time so that it won't hurt your gut! As you can tell, I'm a big fan of Stricker's Grove and plan on keeping my tradition of going to every public day that I know about. This will be the 3rd fourth of July for me, and I've never seen it packed, though usually busy enough. I just hope that all of the seats on the Tornado train are fixed, as last year the last car had two rows out of order during Family Day, and one row out at Customer Appreciation Day. Maybe I'll see some of you there. I might just have to wear my Racer T-shirt!

Believe it or not, the shirt I bought is a 2X. I don't mind sharing a photo of it if there is an easy way to post one on here.

That's a good system. We usually somehow always end up on the opposite side of the park getting off (or on) our second to last ride at 9:30 and have to make a mad dash to get to The Beast on time. Did you know that it is possible to get to The Beast in 10min from the exit ramp of Son of Beast. We did it! The best route seems to be cutting up from Action Zone and around the front of the Eiffel Tower through Nick Universe and to The Beast. I miss the Cornstalkers pathway!

I'm now officially a fan of the Backyard BBQ. We ate there on Tuesday and found it to be very tasty, though it could benefit from potato chips IMO. They just go with the elected choice of cuisine. I hadn't been to the picnic grove since 06, and was rather amused that they changed the names on the buildings to ride names. I was very pleased that both Beast and Racer got one of their own and they had the biggest!

I wondered if anyone was going to bring those up. I thought they were cool the first time, and then I got annoyed with being spritsed. The area up there is rusty, but I think it looks like it's old and abandoned, which sort of adds to the theming for me. You choose how you look at things!

As much complaining as I've had to do lately, I had a very refreshing day at the park on 7/1. With the exception of people ignoring the "smoking only in designated areas" policy, I don't have a single complaint about the day even despite the crowds. My highlight was finding something that I have been looking forever. We went into Thrill Seekers on International Street and there, FINALLY, after all the looking around I have done for years, was a Racer T-Shirt. Picture, stats, and the logo like on the front of the station--just exactly like what I have hoped for, and they FINALLY made one!!! The excitement was too much. I immediately bought one, went to the nearest restroom and changed...and now I finally have a T-shirt for my favorite ride in the park!!!! THANK YOU, Cedar Fair, FOR DECIDING TO MAKE A RACER T-SHIRT!!!!!!! I love the look!!! (Please excuse the all caps, but the thank you is too much for lower case letters!! I'm very excited!!!

In that case, what would it take to make you consider X-base a new area? Let's put some criteria on it. Surely someone knows the criteria of KI for an "area."

Agreed! I usually time it so that I have to wait for it. That way, I'm guaranteed a night ride. I was also there on 7/1. Talk about PACKED. I don't know what the heck was going on for a Tuesday to be that crowded, but yet I still had an awesome time. All of the wooden coasters seemed to be running very well, which I'm sure was due to the temp, lack of humidity, and full trains. The Racer was even running very well still despite the trim brake. They evened out Red and Blue in the same fashion that I knew they would. They dialed back the trim on Red and increased the trim on Blue. I miss Blue the way it was already, but with full trains, it had enough weight to get through it and still have some airtime yesterday.

Definitely true. Who's to say someone won't do a lot of things. Anything can happen. I'm waiting for someone to try to throw a coin from the SOB que at Flight Deck. I've seen them throw them everywhere else back there. And there certainly are plenty of areas for people to throw things at other rides from the midway. i.e.Vortex, Racer, Backlot, Reptar, etc. You have to hope that people wouldn't be so incredibly stupid, but since I've seen them bang on the TV guards (or whatever you call them) while in line for rides, try to hit signs by jumping, pushing and pulling on the queue rails, and others, you never know what they're going to do. If everyone would just be descent and follow park policies we'd be a lot better off. Heck, if that were the case, we'd be back to the days of lap bars only on the coasters. Especially after the incident at KK last year.

Now I miss it even more! I'd always feed the fish while waiting for the train, as it was more entertaining than just standing. It's funny, I always remember the train having one of the longest lines in the park.

I guess that's why I haven't ridden it this season. Maybe next season you'll actually be able to get on it without standing forever.

At first glance I thought the same thing, but if you look closely, there is a belt that goes around the middle at least. That prevents you from flying out sideways. That's something.

If they would put a bathroom in the X-Base, why not call it a new area of the park now? I haven't heard anyone refer to it as an extension of Coney Mall for a long time (since Firehawk actually). Everyone just calls it X-Base, so just call it a new area.

I agree with the clan on another forum that nominated this kid for a Darwin award. I've noticed a greater and greater lack of common sense in our population. For example, it used to be common sense to know not to walk out in front of traffic or you might be hit by a car. These days when you go to an amusement park...or Wal-Mart...how often do you have idiots that walk right out in front of you without even looking? The amount of people that completely disregard park policies is always amazing to me too...i.e.line jumping, smoking only in designated areas, remaining out of restricted areas (I've seen it too), or even just banging on things or intentionally trying to pull on the handrails just to see if they can break them (and then there's always the sitting, standing, and climbing on the handrails speech). Here is a theory I've heard a while back. People used to be taught the morals and values by their parents usually while in the house, playing, or around the family dinner table. Where are the kids these days, around the TV or video games. Not to insult those things when used in moderation, but the theory stated that these are the first generations of kids being taught values from TV, or from friends when they go out to eat. (How often do you see an adult eating with a bunch of teenagers at a fast food place?) Sorry to get on a tangent, but...it sort of fit in here. Speaking of being sorry, I don't feel sorry for him either, and I have a few choice words for him, but I certainly feel sorry for the family and friends. How do you suppose they'll blame this on the park?

You'll have to learn how to spell it first! Just messing with you. Congratulations, and for future reference it is spelled Eiffel.

I always remember the fish at LeSourdsville Lake being nuts too. And now they're all gone. R.I.P. fishies.

Sounds like an absolutely fabulous walk-on day. Congrats. I've been craving one of those.

It's always amazing how that works. I wore my aunt out on the slide at LeSourdsville Lake/Americana one year when I was little. After about 20 times, she just couldn't take the climb anymore.

Sounds like a trip to Kings Island. I can be there in an hour and 20-25 minutes if there is no traffic--like after a 1am close at the Haunt (which was sweet), but it usually takes an hour and a half minimum, and all the way up to 1:45 just because of all of the holder-uppers that like to camp out at 40 in a 55. One of my favorite games is to make up tickets to write these said holder-uppers if I was a cop. My traditional fees are the $300 holder-upper fee, the $500 aggravation fee, and on occasion, the $200 idiot fee. There are tons more, and if they are issued more than three, they get a mandatory $200 ticket writing fee.

There was a walk-on day that I stumbled on to last year in which my girlfriend and I were able to get in rides on pretty much everything in the park, we then spent three hours at the water park, and after we closed it down, went back to the rides park and had an absolute blast until closing!

Oh yeah! If you go up the Eiffel Tower and watch a race, you can visibly see just how much Red Racer slows down at the turnaround. Since they recently retracked this side, I'd love to know what the excuse is for killing all of the airtime on the back side.