violakat03

Part 3: April 18, late-morning The X-base trip was a bust. Angie, Rex and I stopped to get the above video of the Diamondback line and the rest of the group disappeared. We got to X-base to find Flight of Fear closed and a HUGE crowd of people. Rex split off at this point to go take care of some stuff, and we didn't seem him in the park after that. Angie and I stayed together and decided to head towards Action Zone slowly and hit what we could on the way. Racer was practically walk-on, I think we waited 3 trains for second seat. Red Racer (not racing in the morning) was feeling great and there was NO trim on the turnaround! That was a huge surprised and had me giddy going through the bunny hills. After Racer, we walked past Adventure Express (broken down) and decided that since Slingshot was only $10 for a ride, we were going on it. This was my first ride on Slingshot. The receipt for my first Slingshot ride! Nice shot of my "Diamondback red" nail polish that matches DB's track. This is the first video that I really shot with myself in it, but you can see that I did more of this as the day went on. Angie's random thumbs up next to my ear almost made me crack up laughing. Slingshot was a lot of fun. Not something I'll go out of my way to do again, but definitely fun and definitely worth trying. It didn't feel like it went as high as I know it does, and we only got one complete flip and only one half inversion out of it. From there, we continued on our quest to Action Zone. Drop Tower had a 1 hour wait so we skipped it in favor of Xtreme Skyflyer, which was also running a $10 a person special. We quickly bought our tickets: and got a little video before going on. Angie pulled the rip cord. I'm glad she did. I don't think I could have done it. I was shaking by the time we got to the top. This ride is the only ride that has ever actually scared me. We split the cost of the DVD because my girly scream coming down the first swing was totally worth it. I've never screamed like that on a ride, ever. Did I mention I want to do it again and again and again? After Skyflyer, we checked Flight Deck's line. It was long. As was Drop Tower, Delirium and Son of Beast (Invertigo was broken down). We realized about then that neither of us had eaten breakfast and we'd been at the park around 6 hours, so it was time for lunch! I do my best to avoid buying park food because a.) it's expensive and b.) eating when it's hot and I feel rushed will usually make me sick. So we left the park and headed towards the LaRosa's that's a very short distance from the park. Rex ended up joining us there before heading back to his hotel to crash (he's been up at least 30 hours straight by that time), but at least we got to hang out with him over lunch. I'm sure me and Angie frightened him a little - we're good at that. Heading out to the parking lot, we got a nice surprise - the Diamondback busses were lined up in the old tram area! It was cool to see them in person. And this time, that huge line really was the season pass processing. I felt bad for the people in it, but Kawana said he tried to tell them they could get in on their voucher and come back and they were jerks. So oh well.

Part 2: April 18, morning After finding a parking spot (not hard at all, amazingly), Rex and I did the phone version of Marco Polo (hey where are you? wave at me! can you see me yet?) and got in line with the auction winners. Angie had to go pick up her entrance pass, but Rex had already grabbed mine (isn't he great?) and we were ready to go. It was COLD outside. I was wearing capris and a hoodie and freezing. BTW, I found out later, as has been pointed out in other TRs, that line was not for processing. That was the Gold Pass holders waiting to get in. After waiting around forever, we finally start moving! Through the metal detectors (my camera set them off, grr), through the turnstiles, and.... stop. More standing around, waiting. A good opportunity to grab a quick photo or video or two. As soon as the majority of the group was in the park, we were led down International Street towards Diamondback! Finally, we were going down International Street! I couldn't believe how big the group is. It seemed like there was a healthy number of non-riders coming, such as Trooper Mom. After getting to Rivertown Junction, we stood in line! We did a lot of that. Probably more than we would have if we'd just waited in line with the GP. But it was a different kind of waiting and the energy and excitement was just building, building, building. In Rivertown Junctions, we were given shirts, checked in, and assigned our 'seat' number. The seat numbers were not an indicator of where you were on the train, just what order you got to pick. After a little bit of chaos in Rivertown Junction, eventually they got us all outside and in numerical order outside the queue. After they opened the queue up, it was actually very neat and orderly. We got to listen to the announcements in the station and watch them present A Kid Again with a giant check for $102,000!! I couldn't believe it! They said it's the single biggest check the organization has ever received, and after seeing some of the kids there riding, I know it couldn't have gone to a better cause. Rex and I decided that the back seat was the way to go, and since we were allowed to pick, we skipped the walk-on middle seats to wait 2 trains for the very back. Jackson got the row in front of us. I got very excited as our train came closer!! And yes, we did get a little bit wet. Just a little splash on my forearm. I don't think I need to describe Diamondback. I'm sure you all either experienced it yourself, or can imagine how absolutely amazing it is. I've ridden Goliath at SFOG, and Diamondback blows it out of the water. No comparison. I told everyone it knocked every last one of my top ten coasters off the list and took all ten spots itself. Number 1, Diamondback. Number 2, Diamondback. Number 3, Diamondback, etc. We had to wait forever to get our picture. We were given a voucher for a free photo as a gift but it was a madhouse. Trooper Mom (who ROCKS!) got photos for everyone in our car and passed them out while the rest of us shopped, because she is just that cool. After the madhouse in the gift shop, we escaped to ... another madhouse. Yes, that's right, while we were getting our photos, the herd of Gold Pass holders moved in. Angie, sneaky woman, got a second ride on Diamondback before the chaos descended, but I caught up to her on rides by the end of the day. We escaped to the relative sanity of Rivertown Junction, only to discover that all the food and drinks for our breakfast were gone. Pigs! The employees said they were not expecting as many people as they got (because of tagalongs and it looked like extra riders were added for A Kid Again) so they got wiped out. We got a group of KICers together and headed for The Beast, which was pretty much a walk-on ride for us. We had the whole first half of the train filled with KICers in white First Rider shirts! As we exited The Beast, the herd had moved on to it as well and it was lined out past the end of the queue. We headed towards X-base, but not before grabbing a clip of the splashdown: and the insane Diamondback line:

Alright everyone. I decided a while back that I wanted to shoot video this year, and I gave it a shot for opening day. I used my Kodak EasyShare digital camera and got amazingly good video. It doesn't do well with fast movement and I am apparently pretty bad at holding the camera still while walking, but this was a learning experience and it was a blast. It'll give you a little bit of a feel for how it was in the park during the day. I shot 18 video clips. They're individualized on YouTube for trip report purposes but I will make a combined one out of them eventually. April 17: Gigacoaster2k (Angie) and myself were both riding with the auction winners early Saturday morning. We live fairly close to each other, an hour away from the park, so we decided that rather than get up at 4 a.m. on Saturday, we wanted a hotel. I found us a really cheap (and really clean!) room at the Super 8 in Mason, just a stone's throw from the park. As we came down 741 into Mason, we got to see Kings Island spread out ahead of us. It was already dark out, but Diamondback's lift lights were on and the park was just an incredibly beautiful sight! I was driving so I didn't get any pictures of it, but we tried to get some video of it from the hotel. It proved harder than expected. After shooting that video, we started getting things together for the next day (watching Angie pack her pants pockets was highly entertaining) and got ready to crash for a couple hours sleep! Sadly, at the end of that video, I clicked it off before Angie's quip of "I don't want to go to bed!" I was sure ready. By the time we got everything packed up and ready for the next day, it was about 12:30 and I passed out hard enough that the alarm clock confused me in the morning because I couldn't figure out what was going on. Angie, apparently, did not have that problem and was awake before it went off. Edit: fixed the YouTube links. Continued in next post!

Great pictures Jackson! I love the shots your mom got of us on Beast and Diamondback. Tell your mom she ROCKS! and we love her!

Our group split up towards the end, and they were being pretty rude on the single rider line. They asked me if I could prove I was a single ride, and I looked behind me (there was no one anywhere around me) and was like "umm... do you see anyone with me?" I mean, I know I was with a group earlier, but does that automatically preclude me from becoming a single rider later in the day? I thought they handled it with very little tact.

pkiruler introduced gigacoaster2k and myself to Adventure Express at night. That's a wicked little ride at night! The tunnels are awesome! It was definitely worth the short wait to get to experience it in the pitch black, it was a completely different ride experience.

In addition to that awesome group, I saw RexandtheBeast.com, Beast1979, CoastersRZ, Dane, Boddah1994, Captain Nemo, IndianapolisMan, Unrealsk8r, angrybeaver, Cory Butcher, Tom76257, Phantom Theater, rotag1299, Kawana and a couple other people in KIC shirts that I didn't catch their usernames. Here's the Diamondback exit group snapshot: L to R: Ogrmac, (didn't catch a name), gigacoaster2k, pkiruler102, violakat03, keiko_coaster, Phantom Theater, again didn't catch a name, iChase, Avatar, and I don't know the last two names either.

I noticed that Vortex wasn't clattering like I'm used to hearing. Especially in the batwing element, it was always really loud. It is running VERY smooth and quiet now. I even heard a little bit of Arrow roar in the helix! I noticed that the whole park just seemed like it got freshened up. The only thing that was looking a little sad was Action Zone. Invertigo is in need of fresh paint on the supports, it's looking a little pink, and Drop Tower would benefit from a new coat as well. I'm betting Action Zone will be on next year's list for renewal.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that! He was absolutely screaming through that final helix. I noticed that it didn't seem to be grabbing as hard, and that combined with the new track made for an amazing finish. Also, I don't know if it continued for the entire day, but in the morning, red Racer was running trimless on the turnaround. Massive air time on the bunny hops!

I saw about 30 members or so. I'll try to remember all the names and post them when I get home. We're at Waffle House across from the park and about to head home. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

We got ichase on!!! Just had to let you guys know that. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

The people we talked to that stood in that line said it was 2 to 2 1/2 hours. It was running an hour most of the day. Giga and I got in 6 rides throughout the day as well as 2 on the amazingly smooth Beast and several other rides!

Don has ridden it. I saw an interview with him and he said he's ridden it more than 10 times. I found the test seat to be inaccurate. It was very tight on me but the actual bar was very loose. We're in line now and planning on making sure ichase gets on! Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

Well if we ride it I will let you know but it was broken down this morning. It e stopped on the 2nd lift hill.

The address for Skyline is 8906 Kingsridge Dr, Dayton OH if you need it for Google maps. Hope we see at least one person there.

Oh no!! I hope you can get out of there! I'm looking forward to meeting you tomorrow!

Hourly capacity is 1600 riders. That's a little over 6 hours. So as long as you ride before 2, you should definitely get one.

For Tom, here's the picture of my new shirt! A little back story first. Most people who are familiar with Cedar Point are familiar with "Single Rider Bob." He's the older gentleman who power-laps on Millennium Force pretty much daily. He can always be seen from a mile away in his "Single Rider" shirt. Because my husband recently became an over-the-road truck driver and will not get to spend time at parks with me this year like he did last year, he decided to surprise me with a version of my own. The color didn't come across through my phone's camera quite right, but it's pretty much the same color as Single Rider Bob's shirt. I will be wearing it tomorrow under my hoodie so if you see me, wave!

If anyone in the Dayton area is interested in meeting up with some other KICers tonight and sharing the excitement for tomorrow, gigacoaster2k and myself will be meeting at the Skyline Chili by the Dayton Mall tonight at 7 and everyone is invited! Post here if you are planning to be there. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

This is a good "call the park" scenario. Probably your best bet will be to pay for parking, process your pass, and then get a refund at GR. If you're buying your pass online, you can use your printed voucher to get free parking.

I definitely will sleep tonight. I didn't get enough sleep last night (not because of excitement, just cause of other thing going on in my life) so I'm already tired today and want to hit the hay early tonight.

I haven't gotten it quite yet. It'll be ready Friday afternoon so as soon as I have it I will definitely post about it with pictures! Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

You may be a KI addict if you ... get your nails done to match Diamondback's track for opening day! I opened a picture of DB from RCDB at the salon and looked through all their shades of red to find the closest matching one.

Some of the comments in this thread put a huge smile on my face (though a grin has been a pretty much permanent fixture all day). You guys make me feel so loved. I still can't believe I won this! Angie and I will probably be getting a hotel room for Friday night like a couple other folks are doing. I don't do early mornings well. Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

Got me and Angie's shirts done. Well, mine's a hoodie.