Hoeter

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I want to share some experiences that I had on Friday May 22. 1. Sitting on handrails- On every single ride I went on (The Beast, BLSC, Vortex, FoF, Blue Racer, SOB, Diamondback, and Invertigo), people were sitting on the handrails. Handrails were designed for you to hold your hand, not to sit on them. The person in the drive box on The Beast, and Son of Beast called these people out over the loudspeaker. The person on Son of Beast called the same person out twice, and the second time he said it over the loudspeaker, he called this person out by row and clothing. 2. Basketballs- People were bouncing basketballs like crazy. As stated many times on this board, give it to the winner deflated! I even saw people throwing basketballs to other people in their party and other guests having to run out of the way to avoid being hit. If one of those would have hit me, I would have popped the d*** thing. A prime example of this is over by Slingshot, Delirium, and Viking Fury. A security guard stepped in and stated to the two individuals that if they threw it again, they would be ejected from the park. 3. Ride Abusers- The only time I experienced something like this was after the park was closed on The Beast. A train comes back into the station and unloads, and a group of college kids are aboard, about 5 or 6 of them. All of the kids leave except one, he gets out of his seat, watches the ride operators very carefully, and hops into the last seat of the train and two people were about to get on in that seat. The people about to get on were furious, and the ride operators saw and knew what he did but did not take any action whatsoever. Again, sorry to hijack this thread, but I wanted to share these experiences with you. Now back to regularly scheduled programming...

Excellent link, thanks for sharing.

I haven't had the chance to experience Timmy Sr. Air Tours or whatever you guys are calling it now since the change, but my sister did. She is very picky about rollercoasters and rides in general and thinks any rollercoaster or ride without an inversion is lame. Needless to say, lame is the word that came out of her mouth when I asked her what she thought about the ride.

I rode Diamondback for the first time Friday. I bought my on-ride photo as proof to my sister that I rode it. She didn't think I was ever going on it. Anyways, they were running a special on Friday night that if you buy a picture, they'll email it to you for $.99! I'm not sure how long it took to send but was in my email when I got home an hour later. $10.99 isn't bad for a picture and a copy emailed to you. Beats the hard work of scanning the picture into your computer.

I'm in the top right picture wearing the camo cargo shorts and grey t-shirt. I do not know the other three people in the picture. Yay for the Single Rider Line, although it is overly abused.

Rode it for the first time on Friday. Ride was amazing, the first drop is out of this world and lots of airtime. My ride count, sadly, is 1. Hope to get a lot more rides in before the season is out.

I think I may have had a trimless ride on The Beast last season. Went on a Tuesday, got on right after rope drop, and didn't feel the brakes slow the train down going into the second tunnel and going into the helix. I would love to experience The Beast like this again, it's a totally different ride experience!

^ That video had me rolling in the floor!

I wasn't originally planning to take a trip to KI today, but since I was in the area I wanted to get my coaster fix in. Today was probably one of the best days I've ever had at the park. I rode five rollercoasters that I have never been on before and after tonight, I have ridden all of the coasters at Kings Island. I arrived about 4:45pm and found that the parking lot wasn't crowded like it was on Opening Day. First ride of the day was The Beast. Whenever I go to Kings Island, I always ride The Beast first. I was hoping for a trimless ride on The Beast but that sadly did not happen. It was running very rough today, much rougher than when I rode it twice on Opening Day. Wait time was about 20 minutes. Next was Backlot Stunt Coaster. This is my first ride on it this season and was a nice cool down from The Beast. Wait time 15 minutes. After these two, I decided to hit up the rollercoasters I have never been on. I started with Vortex. Rode it in 5-1 and enjoyed the ride, but the midcourse brake slows you down to a crawl and the rest of the ride is very slow. Wait time was 15 minutes. After this, I decided to hit up Flight of Fear. This ride was pretty cool, and being in near darkness added to the excitement. My only complaint with the ride is that the midcourse brake stops you completely. Waited about 25 minutes for this ride. Following Flight of Fear, I decided to check out Blue Racer. I rode it once last season, and didn't get a chance to do it again later in the season as it was closed. Gotta love a John Allen coaster! Red side beat us this time around. Walk on for this ride. After Blue Racer, I headed over to Action Zone and checked out Son of Beast. This ride was very rough...even more so than Daddy. I enjoyed the ride, but it was so doggone rough that I was complaining when the ride was over. Wait time for this ride was 15 minutes. Next up was Diamondback. I was going to ride this Opening Day but the line was very long. I tried out the test seat, got the green light, and went into the single rider line. Got to the station, and got row 8 on the green train. Captain Nemo was working the microphone tonight. I have to tell you, that first drop is amazing and I loved the airtime that I got from it. Even in row 8, I got some mist from the splashdown. Wait time using the single rider line was 15 minutes. After Diamondback, I went to Invertigo. Rode towards the back of the train and had a good time. Wait time was 20 minutes. Finally, I got my first night ride of the season on The Beast. Got into line just before 10 and the fireworks started shortly after I joined the line. The all-clear was issued and I was on in 10 minutes. Can't beat a night ride on the world's longest wooden rollercoaster. All in all, I rode five rollercoasters that I have never ridden before: Vortex, Flight of Fear, Son of Beast, Diamondback, and Invertigo. This was one of the best days I've ever had at Kings Island and can't wait to go up there and do them again!

I voted for The Beast. Even 30 years after it was built, it still is the longest wooden coaster in the world, and is my favorite when it comes to night rides. I was going to vote for Little Bill's Giggle Coaster. Man, that 8 foot drop scares the living daylights out of me!

FLORIDA- 10 COASTERS Disney's Animal Kingdom - Primeval Whirl (both sides) Disney's Magic Kingdom - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Goofy's Barnstormer - Space Mountain (both sides) Disney's Hollywood Studios - Rock n' Roller Coaster Universal Studios Florida - Revenge of the Mummy Universal's Islands of Adventure - Dueling Dragons (both Fire and Ice) - The Incredible Hulk OHIO- 11 COASTERS Coney Island - Pepsi Python Kings Island - Adventure Express - Backlot Stunt Coaster - The Beast - Fairly Odd Coaster (start laughing) - Firehawk - Flight Deck - Little Bill's Giggle Coaster (start laughing again) - The Racer (both Red and Blue) - Rugrats Runaway Reptar (geez...for the third time, start laughing!) The only coasters at Kings Island I've never ridden: Vortex, Son of Beast, Diamondback, Flight of Fear, and Invertigo. Andrew, who doesn't giggle when a bill coasts into his mailbox. Maybe when it's little...

I must say Angie, green looks good on you.

Just checked the weather forecast for this weekend and it's looking good. (Source: Fox 19 Cincinnati) Friday- Sunny, 83 Degrees Saturday- Sunny, 82 Degrees Sunday- Sunny, 82 Degrees Monday- Mostly Cloudy with a chance of T-Storms, 77 Degrees

^ That sucks that you can't ride any of the wooden coasters. The Beast is the best woodie in the park, especially at night.

I also agree that Flight Deck needs a new paint job. Even if Kings Island is planning on keeping an industrial steel look- at least clean up the rust to make it look better!

^ There's framing for the second story, but it has no roof nor is it an actual usable floor. I saw this in the photo gallery on KIDiamondback.com. The stairs might be for roof access. I could be wrong though.

Thanks for sharing this with us Terpy. It's nice to see that Kings Island is probably one of the only theme parks within 200 miles or so that has really done anything major for this season. Not much is being done because of this economy and I wonder if Cedar Fair had the funds committed for Diamondback before the economy turned sour.

A couple of years ago...you couldn't even get me on a roller coaster. That all changed when I was down at Walt Disney World in 2007 and I went on Rock N' Roller Coaster. That ride was awesome and I haven't hesitated about going on a single roller coaster since. WOO-HOO! POST #100!

Nice PTR/VTR Angie! I've never been to Cedar Point and I'll definately have to check it out when I get the chance.

Nice TR SOB_TOM. It sounds like you and Ryan had a fun time up there. I'll have to check it out when I get the chance.

There really isn't a second story to Larosa's in Rivertown.

This probably answers the question as to why the park was a madhouse on Friday....

Nice TR....I do agree that the helix on The Beast feels much better this year since it was retracked.

^ You're definately right about that. When I went on opening day, there were weeds growing up between the parking spaces and the lines badly need repainted.

Nice PTR....you had some very interesting pictures. I was going to go yesterday but heard it was so crowded. I'm going to try to go Friday, but I'm not sure what the crowds will be like since it's Memorial Day weekend.