KIfan73

I got a Bud Light Lime at Lt. Dan's a few weeks ago, and it was quite possibly the coldest bottle of beer I've ever had. Mmmmm. The guy working the bar was really good, too.

For a few years now, I have wanted to visit Coney Island. Several family members and friends talk about visiting it in its heyday. Well, I just really wanted to check it out. Since I was meeting friends at KI for the day, I couldn't stay long, but since I was in the area, I stayed on 71 a bit longer, and took 275 down to Coney to check it out. I got there before the rides opened, and just kind of browsed around. It is a neat place, and I could just feel the history as I walked around. By noon, I had picked up a few souvenirs and checked out the history photos in the gift shop, and headed back to KI. However, like Terminator, I'll be back. Spend the rest of the day at KI. The highlight of my two day trip was the post-fireworks ride on The Beast. It had been 15 years since my last night ride. Just absolutely incredible. It was also really neat walking through the dark, empty park. A rare experience, for sure. A bonus was walking out to the empty parking lot! I'll never fight 10 pm Kings Island parking lot traffic again. Just stay in the park for 45 minutes or so. At this point, returned to the KI resort and conference center for the night. The next morning, spend a couple hours in the dry park (and watched the Spirit Song crowds fill the park), and finished up with a couple hours in the water park. I always forget how much fun Boomerang Bay is. The lines there were very short. Overall a great 2 day trip!! I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking:

I am impressed with the "Diamondback Pavillion" as much as I am with the ride itself. I found our group spending a lot of time there this week. With the gift shop, umbrella tables, and food stand, it's sort of become a new area of the park unto itself.

How much coasting does a coaster have to do...before you can call it a coaster?

So is The Beast.

I'm 6'4" 200 lbs, and have fit on everything at KI, even Runaway Reptar. So much has to do with your different body proportions. I'm just slightly scrunched on my shoulders on Vortex.

I like the ride through the "white water". I really think that WWC is a blast. Kind of a hidden gem, really. Not sure if anything like it will ever come to fruition again.

One of my most fun trips to KI ever was last summer following my friend's 3 year old around the park. We had a blast.

this may be one of the most entertaining trs i've ever read. seriously.

I just rode DB for the first time about a week ago. That was the only description I could come up with. You're in a very comfortable seat, and all of the sudden you're just flying. That second hill really got me. You go up so high so fast. The scale of that ride is just amazing. Compared with other rides at KI, you're just so high in the air during much of DB. Everything is just BIGGER.

Waiting in lines. I'd rather ride Zephyr, or visit Lt. Dan's porch than stand in a long line for a coaster. Having said that, there's a few that I willingly wait in (that still regularly attract) long lines for: Beast, Flight Deck, and now Diamondback.

Great TR. I also rode DB for the first time this week! Thanks for sharing.

My first ride on Vortex in '93. I didn't grow up riding coasters, and the family members I was with weren't really into them, either. That thing just looked so completely insane. I just sucked it up, and it was such a feeling of accomplishment afterward. The "mental tricks" I used to ride that day gets me through new ride experiences to this day.

WWC or Viking Fury. Any of the covered wooden ones are better than the cement/aluminum handrail/thin sunshade types.

Although my body doesn't like to take in coaster after coaster for hours on end, a new friend I made this season looks like it's going to really help out-it's a rather large snake and it lives in Rivertown.

One ride on 4-1, and the other one was further back, can't remember now...

Wanted to share a quick TR of my first trip to KI for the season today. The last time I was at KI, I was hoofing it through 6 inches of snow during the Offseason blues event! Arrived at the park at about 2 pm. Processed my Gold Pass, and I was on my way. After watching the webcams all winter, and just waiting until I finally made it to KI, I started the season off right with a fantastic ride on...Viking Fury! I think it was running trimless today. The ride ops were hilarious, too. On my way to AE, Red Racer, Beast, and then decided to go for Diamondback. After a 30 minute wait in the SRL, I was strapped in. DB is so different than anything that I've ridden before, I'm still trying to come up with a description. The best thing I can think of right now is sitting in a very comfortable chair that suddenly accelerates to 80 mph. Also got on Flight Deck, a second ride on VF, a second ride on DB (where I spotted some KIC kids!), and finally Avatar. It was a great, but kind of short (5 hours) first visit of the year. Thanks for reading!

Great pics! I haven't been to the park yet this year, and these kinds of PTRs are getting me ready!

Maybe a makeover of FD could be a lower-cost way of bringing a new experience to the park in a year or so.

I remember working my nerve up and riding Vortex back in '92 or '93. To me, at the time, riding Vortex was probably the craziest thing I'd ever done. It seemed so completely massive. Overwhelming. However, I'd never noticed pain on it until the last couple years, even in the seats that aren't supposed to be painful. However, when I get there this season, I'm sure I'll try it out...

Great TR! HW might be my first "new" amusement park trip this summer. You are just as enthusiastic in your TRs as you are in person!

I haven't ridden Invertigo for awhile for that exact reason. Also, for reasons very much like what you've stated, I've really started to enjoy WWC, Wild Thornsberries, Viking Fury, Congo, etc. I still enjoy Kings Island as much as ever, but anymore I don't spend hour after hour getting my neck snapped around.

Maybe, in light of what has been stated many times in these forums, some management types got together and instituted some policy.

Viking Fury! There'll never be another one like it!

There is something about SOB's queue that makes you feel isolated, like if something did go down, there's really no one around. The "queueing" experience for that ride has always stood out as being not good in my experiences.