KIfan1980

Railrider - thanks for sharing the great trip report. For a smaller park, SDC has a few great rides for the coaster fans along with a really good area for the younguns in Grand Exposition - the little area where your daughters favorite ride is great for the 36" crowd, my three year old loved the frogs. The park also has some great theming and festivals/events throughout the season. Definitely a place to return for me and I'm glad you enjoyed it. As for discounts, unfortunately about the only way to get discounts (although some offer free passes) to SDC is to sit through a timeshare sales pitch. I figured 45 minutes saying "no" was worth it.

Wow Look At King Cobra This is a great memories photo - I really miss King Cobra and used to enjoy riding the monorail through the wild animal habitat. But I'm also confused by the photo as I would have bet money (and obviously lost) that the monorails were gone before Top Gun opened (but timeline says it happened in reverse at beginning and end of 1993). This leads me to a couple of questions: - What are the various buildings located in this picture? I'm thinking that the monorail station is the building withe the vertical piece on top above KC station. Assume the white building at left of picture is monorail maintenance/storage. What is the building above KC loop? - Where did the queue for Top Gun start and go? I'd have thought it would be visible in this photo, but can't seem to place it.

Avatar - thanks for sharing. The photos you take and add to your trip reports really help tell the story and share the feeling of your trip. I'll need to go check out the flood wall murals - sometimes its crazy that you can live somewhere for so long and not know about some of the "hidden gems".

KI could get an Intamin like Maverick, a B&M invert, and a couple of great flats and even then, I'm sure someone would start a "what KI really needs next" thread within months.

Thanks for sharing! And what is that other thought I've got running through my head ... oh yeah, envy!

Some people like to complain about SoB. Some people like to complain about Line Jumpers. Some people like to complain about people complaining. Sometimes it just feels like we all like to complain about something (and yes, I include myself)

I'd assume these were the City of Mason fireworks. They started about 10:30pm and were at a park only about a mile and a half from KI.

And the "Guest Information and Park Policies" on the Park Map would back Terpy up (don't ask me why I have one) "Attire & Behavior - Shirts, shorts/pants & shoes must be worn at all times" For info, this section of the map also states that "profanity, obscene ..., & suggestinve/offensive clothing or material is prohibited", "line jumping is not allowed" and "smoking is only permitted in designated smoking areas"

Well said markr. There is no point in going through life suspicious of everything. Coaster Kid stated in a previous post that he was going to go to KI and marathon Flight Deck, then comes back to say he did and people question it. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt and say "congrats" or "wow 136 times", or even "are you nuts, what was the point of that" if you feel you have to, but why question whether it is legitimate? Coaster Kid - I hope you enjoyed yourself. Good effort!

I may be the exception to the rule here, but I'm not a big fan of complaining about these kinds of charges. The amusement parks are a business and we are a customer - in this relationship, we have a choice as to how we want to act. I have purchased two on-ride photos over the last three years (kids first FOC rides) I eat at the park some times and outside the park some times (have refill cup, limit food intake) I've used a locker at BB once (maybe I'm too trusting) I don't mind waiting in line (I try to pick the better days to go), although I do agree that Fastpass at Disney is great system (and you can have two fastpasses at once - they are ride timed and clock timed) I see parking as part of the cost when going away from KI. I'd prefer to pay one parking bill and four cheaper admissions than four high cost admissions There are also other things that are more relevant to complain about in my mind - like food quality and healthy options and enforcing park rules .

Dave - I've really enjoyed reading all three parts of your Virginia PTR. Thanks for taking the time to document and share them with us. I can only hope that in a few years when my boys are tall enough to go ride with me I can create as interesting a summer as it seems that you have had and have planned! I may also need tips on how to convince the wife that this "year of the coaster" idea makes sense

Who cares if it is a coaster or not - it is fun. And what I really want to know is - is it running again as it was down both Monday and Tuesday when I was at the park.

Good - really fun ride, just a little short. No Pain - really, where would it occur? Bat - at least that's what my nostalgic memory tells me.

The other potential benefit of 42" is that she is tall enough to ride Timmy's Air Tours and Lazytown Sportacopoters without you.

I'm not your english teacher, but please try and type in a fashion that is somewhat readable when you post. For example: Something like Behemoth at KI would be awesome! It would be a great addition to our not so great collection. Then again, something that makes sense in July 2009 would also be helpful when you post

Appreciate the positive reaction guys. Sometimes I wonder if a special personal experience is worth sharing (does anyone else really care) but I enjoy reading about it when others post so figure why not. Thanks.

I'm not sure I wanted to learn that you had 93 videos of your park trips on YouTube. I already spend way too much time on KIC and don't want to get addicted to YouTube as well.

If you've never been (like me) and have thought about going, I'd actually recommend ignoring the arguments on these pages. Instead, go search the Trip Reports forum for HW TR's. From reading many of these it seems to be worth a trip - I've been trying to figure out when mine will be for a couple of weeks.

Totally true - my "nostalgic" memories about how much better the park was come from the 1980's and I resented when Paramount came to MY favorite park and made me look at movie advertising everywhere (even on ride names) AND they had the audacity to change the name to PKI. Were some things better than before and/or now - I'm sure they were/are. Its all dependent upon ones own perspective I guess.

You've got to give the guy (and all the others who helped I'm sure) credit for being able to create something, without all the computer aided design and engineering capability of today, that has had so much staying power. While it is no longer the tallest or fastest, it is still a very good roller coaster.

I had the great experience of going to KI on three consecutive evenings. Sunday night without kids to do some Diamondback laps and then Monday night with my 5 year old and Tuesday night with my 3 year old for some Daddy bonding time. Here is the data: - Sunday: 8 rides between 8pm and midnight including two awesome front row rides and then a row 15 as the fireworks went off overhead. Awesome night of riding - total of 57 rides for the year - Monday: Started off with the hopeful measurement, but 5 year old is still at 47-7/8" tall (he's going to get there soon though!). Despite this, we had a great time riding FOC, Reptar, Danny Phantoms Flyers, and Wild Thornberry's before we decided to try something new - White Water Canyon. We got drenched, we laughed, we stayed on for another ride and got drenched again - way too much fun. After this we hit Shake Rattle & Roll and Viking Fury then went back to Shake Rattle & Roll to end the night with back to back to back rides - the last starting as the fireworks went off overhead which my son loved! - Tuesday: My 3 year olds trip always start with Scooby Doo if we let him, so since tonight was all his choice, that's where we started. Following this we grabbed a quick dinner at LaRosa's Rivertown where he was fascinated by watching Diamondback first drop and splashdowns. Following dinner, we went back to ride Little Bill's which he loved as always; then he shocked me by saying he wanted to ride FOC which he has always been too scared to try. He loved it - as anyone on the train could confirm as he was literally screaming it when we stopped in the break run "Daddy, that was soooo fun, we went soooo fast, WOW!" And now I have matching on-ride photo's of both boys first rides on FOC! The rest of the night was some more of his favorites - swippers, timmy's, carousel, before he chose his last ride to be a re-ride of FOC . I'm thinking I've got two little coaster buddies in training! Overall a great few nights at the park.

She actually types that every time (yes, I asked her) to help excuse any spelling errors. Since she started with the whole Blackberry comment this time, it was unnecessary.

Nice TR, glad you got a chance to experience some of the fun at BB finally and it seemed like your dry park rides worked out great. On the linejumping situation, it is a shame that it is so hit or miss with the different ride ops. I had a good one today on Diamondback (unfortunately his nametag was hanging flipped over or he'd have gotten a positive report at GR). In one 15 minute wait, he removed a couple from the line as one tried to rejoin the other right at the last switchback next to the lift hill, he also sent two kids who ducked into SRL (when it was closed) back to the queue.

At Diamondback tonight. A seat assigner, who I believe is a member here but can't confirm that, said a speil that went something like this: "Please secure all loose articles, unsecured articles could fly from the train and hit a bird, the bird might then hit a squirrel. Please protect the wildlife ..." Several of us in the SRL were cracking up by this point so I missed the rest.

I personally feel the best view of the Fireworks is from the Diamondback lift hill, top of second hill, top of third hill, overbanked turn (this is a really great location), trim hill, MCBR, etc... I got my third (and best) fireworks ride tonight as they started as we were exiting the station.