violakat03

I keep my keys on a carabiner (like Angie posted) and clipped to a belt loop at the back of my pants. The pressure between my body and the back of the seat holds them in place. I usually try to tuck the keys down into my back pocket (with a button on it) as well, just as extra security. I also keep my money, including loose change, in my buttoned back pocket, and haven't lost any on a ride when using this method, even on Firehawk, KI and KD's Crypt, or Demon Drop at CP, all of which are notorious change thieves. And don't trust snapped or buttoned pockets without some pressure holding them shut. The snap came undone on the cargo pocket of my capris on Gemini and that's how I lost my BlackBerry. I don't keep things in buttoned pockets that aren't also held shut with pressure from the lapbar or the sides of the car anymore. Keep checking back, there's a chance maintenance will find them. If you haven't already, make sure you left a good description of them with lost and found. They'll mail them to you if they're found. This is another reason to have an identifying mark on your keys (such as a dab of nail polish) if you don't keep a keychain on them. Also handy when you and a friend have the same car, or like my husband and I, have two cars with identical-looking keys. I try to have some sort of small keychain on my keys so that if they were ever to be lost I could say "it's a Saturn key with a small Saturn of Germantown keychain." This works especially well if it's something out of the ordinary (SoG was the dealership I worked at in Tennessee - low chance of someone up here having the same keychain). My husband has a handcuff key. My brother uses a piece of a circuit board. He lost his keys in the mall parking lot one time. He left a description with lost and found and the unusual keychain was what led to their return.

I haven't lost anything at KI (almost lost my old Razr on Firehawk but saved it before it came all the way out of my pocket), but I've lost my BlackBerry Pearl from Gemini at CP (it was recovered) and a half carat diamond earring on Maverick (it was not recovered). Last year I lost my season pass on Mean Streak (it was also recovered).

^ There are mayflies, and there are muffleheads. The muffleheads (non-biting mosquitos) are what show up en masse around May and June and then go away. http://www.sanduskyregister.com/articles/2...ront/294219.txt As for the earring, I've actually never once seen the sign that says to take them out, but wouldn't have even if I had. I've worn my earrings on every coaster I've ever ridden (even Ninja at SFOG!!) and never had them bother me. If they were hoops, yes, I'd take them out. Small studs, no. Plus, they were safer in my ears than in my pockets or in a purse.

A well rounded collection of rides. There needs to be a good variety of flat rides, family rides, kids rides, thrill rides and coasters. Something to suit every taste. No person of any height or age should be bored. A good atmosphere. For me, this means friendly enthusiastic employees, clean midways and bathrooms, landscaping and trees, and a feeling of security (knowing that problems will be taken care of properly if they arise). To me, the parks that have embodied this so far have been Busch Gardens Europe, Holiday World and Cedar Point. Many come close but not quite. Kings Island is lacking in ride variety (especially flat rides/family rides that young children and adults can both ride), Kings Dominion was lacking the enthusiastic employees, and both lack the sense of security. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

^ you are correct. I'm thinking one of the mechanisms on the swing arm, such as the shock absorbers was broken. Phantomtheater and I had our car swinging completely vertical during the ride and as it slowed we were afraid we'd get yelled at for swinging the car because of how much rocking it was doing all on it's own. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

Congratulations, you have all experienced mirrorlization!

^ that sounds like a KICer! Today at Cedar Point in line for Matterhorn, heard this one from the lady in front of us there with 2 young children. Young boy (points to car roped off with orange tape) "Why aren't they loading that one?" Mom: "because it's broken, honey" Boy: "what do you mean?" Mom (by this time obviously annoyed with answering his questions): "it means if you sit there, you'll go flying out of it" The boy's eyes got huge and he stopped asking questions! Phantomtheater and I were in line behind them and started cracking up. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

Don't forget meijer has discount tickets as well. I do not know the prices of them, however. Some local businesses such as credit unions also carry them for their members or business associates. In the past it seems that AAA member discount tickets are the cheapest, followed by KI's online ticket sales which are usually a surprisingly good rate. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

I've been to KD 3 times this season and I pretty much agree with you on all points. Our FOF is definitely smoother (I wonder if this has to do with the period of time it was SBNO under Paramount), Vortex is better than Anaconda (though being over water is cool) and their Crypt kicks our Crypt's butt. To answer you question about the video, it's the same one they've always had. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

Yet another mobile trip report from the BlackBerry (or the KatBerry, as Jackson calls it) as I won't be home for a few more days. On Monday, my husband and I found ourselves in Grand Rapids MI with most of the evening to spare. Muskegon is only an hour away so I declared it time for Shivering Timbers and away we went! We arrived at the park around 7 pm. I knew the park closed at 9 so I wanted to hit my "must rides" first. It was overcast and threatening rain, so I was hoping for somewhat short lines. Unfortunately I didn't get my wish, at least not really. The park is seriously in the middle of nowhere. We were driving down a residential street and our GPS was telling us to turn in 500 yards, and I still saw nothing. Finally, a sign directed is to turn right for parking. As soon as we cleared the trees on that corner, tada, there it was! Shivering Timbers absolutely dominates this park, and is one of 2 coasters you can see from the street (the other is Mad Mouse). There is a long pond in the parking lot that allows beautiful reflections of the coaster's hills. It is definitely one of the most picturesque coasters and park skylines i've ever seen. As we headed to the front gate, we handed over our Platinum Passes only to be directed to a ticket window. Apparently none of the other park's passes scan correctly there because they have a different system so they give you a complimentary ticket to get you in. After grabbing a park map, we headed for the big mass of wood to our right. I peeked at the variety of flat rides available, sadly knowing I wouldn't have time for any of them. As we walked, I finally got glimpses of the other coasters. There is a lake in the middle of the park, making a very definite divide between the front and back areas. I spotted an Arrow corkscrew, another smaller woodie, and, across the lake was a Vekoma SLC. But my main focus was that big hunk of CCI. We got to the entrance to find the queue full!! Luckily, there are no switchbacks. A full queue was about equivalent to The Beast when down to the end of the ramp where you split front or back, without any of the stations switchbacks open. It was only a 30 minute wait. My husband and I chose front seat of the rear car, as I've come to really appreciate the difference in air time the rear of the train can give you. Heading up the chain, the excitement was building. Going to the first drop, I thought vaguely to myself "that's it?" this sentiment got stronger through the entire ride. Where I was expecting massive air time, we barely touched the up stops. There was no ejector air anywhere, and only minimal floater. Don't get me wrong, it was still an amazing ride. But having ridden coasters such as Voyage, Legend, Raven and Thunder Run less than a week ago, I was expecting more, and more forceful, air. Especially as it's a CCI, the same designers behind Legend and Raven, which have great ejector and floater air and are older. However, the double helix at the end was pretty wicked. Instead of a "stacked" helix like Beast and Son of Beast where you go around it at one level, change elevation and go around at a lower or higher level, it was a sort of warped track. On the outsides of the helix the track crossed itself vertically. I'll have to track down a picture to explain it. It was very neat and made for a very different sensation than i'm used to in a double helix. After Shivering Timbers we went to the next woodie, since I love wood coasters and wanted to get all 3 available credits if at all possible. Wolverine Wildcat had a pretty long line and only 1 train so we opted to skip it and come back. Instead, we got in line for Corkscrew. Guess what kind of coaster it was? That's right, an Arrow corkscrew! I'm a closet Arrow lover so if I only got one steel credit at the park, I wanted to be Corkscrew. Also on one train operation, we waited about 20 minutes for it. It was a typical Arrow corkscrew, but it was nice to go through a corkscrew element at a speed other than "painfully slow" like Vortex or Flight of Fear. From there we headed back to Wildcat, for which the line had dramatically reduced. 15 minutes later we were buckled in. This was a rather unexpectedly fun ride. The one thing I didn't like was that the only tunnel on the coaster was on the curve between the station and the lift hill. What was the point in that?! The air time was actually on par with the air on Shivering Timbers. No ejector but some floater here and there. Just overall a fun woodie. We were down to 30 minutes before park close, meaning time for only 1 more coaster. I had the choice of a junior woodie, a junior steel, a Vekoma SLC and an Arrow wild mouse. The wild mouse closed early, so it was eliminated, I hate Vekoma SLCs and love woodies, so the choice was obvious. To Zach's Zoomers we went! A 15 minute wait later, and we were under those wonderful single position lap bars with nice and loose seatbelts as they're one per row. My husband and I say separately so I got to enjoy sliding side to side on each of the turns. I'm sad to say, but Zach's Zoomers replaced Fairly Odd Coaster as my favorite junior coaster. ZZ was just... Better! Plus, there were no random trim brakes! At this point, everything was closing down as it was about 10 till. We headed off to the shops where my husband finally found a coaster/pirate shirt. He's been wanting one for a while but the only other place he'd found one was Worlds of Fun. It was a discontinued design so they only had it in medium and he left there disappointed. However, MA had one he liked and was in his size, so he now has a "Coaster Hunter" shirt and is very happy. I got a Shivering Timbers shirt that says "I <3 wood coasters" really big on the back. An appropriate statement for me and a good companion for my KI shirt that says "I'd rather ride a woodie" on the back After our shopping was finished, it was time to say goodbye. While I wish I'd gotten to ride Mad Mouse only because I've never ridden an Arrow wild mouse before, I was content with what I was able to do in such a short time. If i'm ever in the area again, I will definitely visit the park again, and I recommend the same to anyone else!

I think it's hilarious when I've gotten myself thoroughly soaked and then come back into the station to see the people next in line with a horrified look on their face, usually quickly followed with a complaint about not wanting to get wet. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

It never fails that when I'm wearing a KI shirt, someone either asks me what I thought of such and such ride or says "OMG I rode that and it was so scary!!" I also get "have you ridden that yet?" quite often when I wear a Diamondback shirt. I usually have to fight to refrain from laughing hysterically if it's my First Rider shirt I'm wearing. And amazingly, I've been asked many times when wearing a KI shirt whether I've been to Cedar Point. I'm a little befuddled by this phenomenon. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

^ Now THAT I would like!! I thought the train haunt was so awful last year, but a train robbery would make it pretty cool! I'm in the air on whether I want to apply to be a scareactor. Not just because I'm concerned about placement and a lack of control, but because I'll be unavailable two weekend in October, one for my sister in law having her first baby and one to be the maid of honor in my best friend's wedding ON Halloween. I think I may put in an application and if I don't like what I hear in the interview I won't take the job, if offered. So... Maybe you'll get to see a scary (or scarier!) Kat. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

Like Justin, I will be there most likely but not at the event. I don't have the extra money for it right now and won't by the 1st. Too many bills due at the end of the month! Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

I apologize. The Crypt sucks so badly that it's hard to remember it exists some times. I also did not realize Wild ThornBerry's had a "the." So that is a total of four rides with a the in the title. However, it still applies to Diamondback and Adventure Express (I yelled "There is no THE!!" every time I heard it at both these stations last night), as well as Son of Beast, Drop Tower, Vortex, Firehawk, and many other rides.

Game: RexandtheBeast.com First Rider giveaway. Okay, so it wasn't really a KI game, but it got me a seat in the Diamondback First Rider Auction that I'd never have gotten otherwise and definitely the best thing I've ever won!! My mom always wins stuff for me. She's really really good at those squirt gun games. The last thing she won me was a stuffed Patrick (from SpongeBob) at Cedar Point. I still have it in my bedroom. When I was little, probably about 5 or so, I won the little 25 cent bowling ball game, where you have to roll it over the hump without it rolling all the way back, and got a stuffed purple snail. To this day, I don't know anyone else who has ever won at that.

I chose ACE over a regional group like GOCC because I was intending to do a lot of traveling this summer. ACE allowed me to get into an ACE regional event and will be getting me into another one in October at Kings Dominion, both of which are in the Mid-Atlantic region. GOCC wouldn't get me into either of these. However, GOCC does get you into the local events like CoasterMania and also I believe is included in the discount program at Holiday World (there was a large list of groups posted in the ticket booth, I know I saw CoasterBuzz and Coaster Crew). So definitely, definitely worth looking into if you aren't planning on traveling outside of the local area for events.

I heard the roar while standing over by Flight of Fear tonight. That's the first time I've ever heard it from that far away. My husband said he heard it in the gold pass parking lot. Yay, our Beemer has grown up!

I think you've got it exactly. I've had this phenomenon happen before too when I tried to get my entire upper body wet. I was also sitting in the left seat of row 16 and my left arm did not get wet, though my right arm, back and head did.I believe I had my left arm too far down and in front of the scoops.

Raven will be long early in the day because it's like people start heading that way and just stop at the first thing they come to. If it's got a line, trust me, leave it and go back later. We went on Tuesday and followed this idea. Raven was listed as a 45 minute to 1 hour wait and had a completely full exterior queue. We waited about 30 minutes for Legend as our first ride in the morning 20 minutes after park open, about half of it's exterior queue was filled. We then went to Voyage and waited about 30 minutes there also, through a small portion of it's lower queue. 2 hours later, Raven was a complete walk-on, as was Legend. Voyage dropped through the day to about 10 minutes. When the water park opens, there will be a huge exodus to it, leaving most of the park empty throughout the day, though the crowds will somewhat return, at least to Voyage, when it closes. Strangely, some of the longest waits we had during the day were for Rough Riders (bumper cars) and Liberty Launch! If it gets cold or slightly rainy, the water park and Pilgrim's Plunge will suddenly empty out. Keep an eye on PP's line all day and if you see it short, grab it right then because it is usually a 1 hour wait. We snagged it when it was just starting to sprinkle as a walk-on.

I'm a member of ACE. Yes, the KICer that picks on "ACErs" is one herself, though you'll never catch me with knee-high socks and a sideways fanny pack! What I like: - LOTS of events. I've already been to 3 this year (Ride Warriors Weekend, CoasterMania and ACE Dives! at BGE) and will be attending at least one more, possibly as many as 3 this year. I wish I'd been able to go to the Spring Preservation Conference, Coaster Con, and Holiwood Nights. - Discounts at parks. Holiday World tickets are only $26.95 and season passes are under $90. Indiana Beach is 50% off. Many other parks have perks like this too. - Newsletters. Even though the news is usually old, it's fun to be able to read nice articles on it. They had a GREAT write-up about both Diamondback and Prowler in the latest magazine that I truly enjoyed reading. - Knowing that I am a member of an organization that is really working to preserve old coasters such as GL's Big Dipper and the Zippin Pippin. What I don't like: - While they have some cool merchandise, the shipping is outrageous. Therefore I have not purchased anything from them yet. - Cost of some of the events. The event at Six Flags America in October is about $30 for season passholders and does not include enough stuff to make it 'worth it' in my book. However, most of the events are reasonably priced, so I think Six Flags may be to blame for this. Overall, do I think it's worth it? Absolutely. Will I renew my membership? Absolutely. The discounts I've gotten at Holiday World alone this year has already paid for my membership!

Like Tom, I cannot combine wood and steel any longer. These may be changing after this week. Wood (Wood first because woodies are my favorite): 1. The Voyage (also overall #1) 2. Prowler 3. El Toro 4. The Legend 5. The Beast Steel: 1. Diamondback 2. Millennium Force 3. Flight of Fear 4. Top Thrill Dragster 5. Volcano: The Blast Coaster

Dear Kings Island ride operators: Please stop placing unnecessary articles in front of ride names. Examples: THE Diamondback. THE Adventure Express. THERE IS NO "THE" IN ANY OF THE RIDE NAMES, excepting the following: The Beast, The Racer. Sincerely, A Concerned Fan.

^ The best part was that Justin looks at me and goes "that is SO going in the thread tonight!"

Paramount had it shut off starting in 2002 or earlier, up until the sale to Cedar Fair. Joker's Jinx still runs without the MCBR. It doesn't even have an MCBR.