gigacoaster2k

I love the roar/hum it makes as it hits the brakes at the the bottom. That never fails to give me chills, no matter what the temperature is outside.

CF platinum passholder here! Had the Maxx Pass last year. Renewing it for '09, have the voucher right here on my desk.

I would go on Sundays, except I normally work 7 am to 3 pm, and it takes an hour for me to get down there.

I got off work at 3 pm, and decided to head down to Kings Island for the rest of the day. I was almost to downtown Dayton, when everyone slammed on their brakes.. not only was construction funneling traffic down to 2 lanes during one of the busiest times of the day, it was funneled down to ONE lane due to an accident. I was going about 3 mph for about 10 miles. Yay, what fun that was. I got to the park and managed to get a great spot in gold pass parking, in row 55, which I took as a good sign. I was very wrong. The first ride I hit was Invertigo. The queue was half full, and combined with the low capacity, I waited about 45 minutes. Ready for some G forces? I rode in the very front, as always. Then it was off to Drop Tower, as I was craving that adrenaline rush. I walked over to the queue and was horrified to see that it was almost completely full.. but I waited anyway. I waited close to an hour. It's only a 264 foot drop at 65 mph.. don't look so scared! Xtreme Skyflyer.. something I still haven't done yet. After I got that amazing Drop Tower rush, I headed over to Backlot Stunt Coaster partially because I wanted to get some Diamondback construction photos.. yes, I like BLSC, be quiet. I wanted to try and get some good photos for you while it was still light outside. My jaw literally dropped and I heard myself say "Oh my God" when I saw the massive supports and pieces of track pointing toward the sky. Photos do not do justice to this, not in the least. It's HUGE. Standing directly under the first drop! This is going to pull some Gs.. I can not wait until April 2009. Something Cedar Point doesn't have.. I waited about half an hour to ride BLSC, and went in the front seat. Crazy as it sounds, I almost lost my sunglasses to this ride (they were in my hoodie pocket). After that, I hit Vortex and went for the very second seat. I still love this ride. It was about half an hour to 45 minutes, odd since it's usually a walk on. I heard sirens, and saw people lining up for Urgent Scare. After I walked off Vortex, I saw that the line for Urgent Scare was backed up all the way to Zephyr. By this time, the park was so packed that it became a sea of people. I saw no spaces in the crowd whatsoever. In the 12 years I've been religiously visiting this park, I have never seen it that crowded. I wanted to do something to make my night worthwhile, as I had this nagging feeling I wouldn't get on many more rides. I wanted a good dose of adrenaline.. so I headed for my first ride on Slingshot. My ticket to ride! I waited an hour to ride it. That has to be one of the most amazing rides I've been on to date, and my first bungee cord ride. I have to admit that at one point my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest while waiting in line, but it was totally worth it. Thrilling, yet exhilarating at the same time.. and I kicked my feet and got the cage to do a few flips.. wheee!! Skyscraper at CP is still better, but Slingshot was pretty awesome, and I'd definitely do it again. After this, I went for some LaRosa's pizza. While sitting in the Festhaus, suddenly the place went dark and strobe lights appeared on the stage. Apparently I had arrived just in time for Ghouls Gone Wild. The singers were great and so were the costumes, and the fireworks really got my attention. I had a pic, but it's very blurry and you can hardly see anything. I headed back to Drop Tower to see that they had even turned the water tower into a haunted attraction. This ugly thing was at the base, and occasionally it would snap straight up and scare anyone standing in front of it. Who needs scare zones when you have this? It was really starting to get cold, but I didn't care, I wanted another ride on Drop Tower, so I stuck it out and waited the hour in line. After that, I headed to Delirium, but it was down, so I went back to Drop Tower. I looked at the full queue, saw that it was 11:15 pm, and wondered at this point if it was worth it. Drop Tower ended up breaking down, and I saw that Delirium was back up and running, so I headed for it. I was 2 rides away when they announced that it had broken down again. I ducked under the rails, and headed out of Action Zone. I'd had enough. I stopped by a gift shop on my way to the exit, and bought this shirt. I've pretty much been eyeing it all season, and had to have it. I looked at my phone to see that it was 43 degrees in Mason, and cranked up my heater as high as it would go. I left the park a little before midnight, and got home around 1 am. Ride count: Drop Tower - 2 Slingshot - 1 Invertigo - 1 BLSC - 1 Vortex - 1 6 rides in 7 1/2 hours.. If KI and/or CP is going to be that ridiculously crowded for what's left of the season, consider that my last trip this year. I had fun, but good grief.

It is hilarious what coaster n00bs will believe, isn't it? That hiss you hear as the train nears the hill is the noise from the magnetic brake fins popping back up on the launch part of the track, so that the train slowly and safely returns to the loading station in the event of a rollback, and I'm pretty sure I just quoted the signs in the queue. I won't ride something if I don't feel safe on it, and I have been on TTD more times than I can count.

I can't remember where I read this, but someone said that there's a certain way to make the cage spin like crazy while you're in the air. While on Skyscraper at Cedar Point this weekend, I figured out that if you point your legs forward, then tuck them under real fast and point your arms forward, you can get that seat to flip about 4 times. So I was wondering if there was a way to do that with Slingshot.

I have never in my life seen more bird poo on a coaster than the Raptor at CP. It looks like someone poured random buckets of white paint all over the supports.

I'm considering going to KI every day of every weekend until the park closes for the season.. hey, why not? Sadly, I won't be able to make it to CP again this year.. but I crammed in so much on my last trip this past weekend that I am honestly just glad I was able to go. My ride count was unreal, I met some really cool new people, did things I've never done before, and I took every trip tip that was given to me so that I could make the most out of everything.

This past weekend at Cedar Point, I got the glory of walking through Cornstalkers just as it was starting. It was very disorienting, you couldn't see anything through the fog. One of the monsters jumped directly in front of me and I literally jumped and screamed, something I rarely do. It happened a few more times. I thought I was going to have a mild coronary. Haunts are starting to grow on me. That's the second one that's made me jump out of my skin.

Haha.. I can be so mean. The kids behind me in line for Wicked Twister were getting REALLY annoying (yelling, jumping, practically body slamming me every minute).. so after the train came back down from the second backwards launch, I looked up at the spiral and loudly said "Wow, look at that thing swaying in the wind!" The looks on their face were priceless (It really does wobble though. Watch sometime). Stand behind Dragster and look at the curved part of the track below the twist, after the train hits the brake run. Look closely.. the track sways like a clothesline.

I have almost said Face/Off a few times instead of Invertigo. I love being a living park map too. I'll be in line in front of or behind first timers with a map fully opened, and they're thinking out loud about what to ride, how to get there, and they are completely lost. I can't help but jump in and politely help them out. I'll direct them to the rides they want to go to, ask them if they are thrillseekers or not, and then give them a good rundown of which rides to go on based on their response.

One of the last times at KI, someone was trying to convince me that S:ROS was 100 feet taller than MF and had a straight 90 degree drop, therefore it's faster. I love the wide-eyed looks on first time riders' faces when the ride ops in the Maverick station inform the riders that they are going to be dropping "95 DEGREES! STEEPER THAN STRAIGHT DOWN!"

I was in line for Dragster this weekend, and I heard a girl in front of me tell her boyfriend that they put the twist in the track to slow it down.

Same here. I've witnessed 2 rollbacks on TTD, one of them being this past weekend, and I tried to get on in the morning when they happen more often, but no. I'm doomed to only watch it happen and never get one.

In that case: 12 days at Kings Island 10 days at Cedar Point 3 wonderful weeks of my life spent riding coasters this year..

Sunday while in line for Millie, I heard a lady behind me tell her daughter that this was the Magnum Force.

I'm 26, and have been 12 times this year, and I ain't done yet! I've already renewed my platinum for next year, and plan on riding coasters every year until I die or am physically unable to. Keep on riding, Jasper! You may be the only person who understands my love for a certain free fall ride! Angie, who raced for the sky 7 times this weekend

I know. It only happened to me once, then I ran back and rode it again.. nothing happened.

Dragster and Millie were the worst for that at CP. It happened a few times on Maggie and Twister too. Groups of people would walk ALMOST to the entrance and suddenly someone would say "I don't know if I want to ride this" so they would just stand there like what are we going to do. I know darn well I'm riding it, I'm not going to stand behind you for 20 minutes while you and your friends debate about who's riding and who's not. I'm going around you and getting in line.

I hate it when groups of people stand there in front of the entrance to the rides and just look at each other.. then when I walk past them into the queue, they give me dirty looks.. you weren't technically in line, so either get in line or get out of the way.

I've thought several times about jumping in there on a blistering hot day, but i don't have the nerve to do something that may get me ejected from the park. There was one time when I went this summer, and it was in the low 90s with no clouds and no breeze. But alas, I didn't have my bikini with me, so no Boomerang Bay for me.

Friday wasn't too bad. I got 9 rides in 6 hours, including front seat on Dragster. Saturday waits were god awful. I'm talking 3/4 hour wait for Corkscrew and Iron Dragon, it was THAT busy. The wait for Dragster was 1 1/2 to 2 hours all day Saturday, and the wait for Maverick was easily 2 hours.

If I can get 15 rides in 14 hours AND a haunt on a sunny, extremely crowded Halloweekends Saturday at Cedar Point (including 3 rides on Dragster!), you can break The Racer record. Anything is possible.

Something I forgot to add: On my first ride on Millie on Sunday, it finally happened. At the bottom of the first hill, I got that light headed feeling, it got more intense, and I was looking at the world through gray-colored glasses for a second.. then I saw white sparkles, and the feeling went away about halfway through the first overbanked turn. It lasted about 2-3 seconds. In the 37 times I've ridden Millie, there have been 2 other times when I've seen little white dots at the bottom of the hill, but that was the first time I've ever grayed out on it.

This weekend was sunny all day, Friday through Sunday. I saw maybe 2 clouds and that was it. BooBuzz was also going on Saturday, plus Sunday the park was open until 10pm instead of the normal 8pm time. The outdoor walk-through attractions, which normally aren't open Sundays, were open on the 12th. So this was a big weekend for CP.