KIfan1980

Reminds me of this picture from the kiDiamondback.com photo gallery. Not a single hand up - everyone gripping hard!

Stick with NickU. As a person who spends a LOT of time there, Nick is what the kids who play/ride there watch. While I might fondly remember the Hanna-Barbera characters, I don't think my kids would know them.

Agree with Amber - Coolangatta Racer. Being able to ride with the under 48" kid, and getting to see the smile on his face as he finishes is awesome.

You guys are right, but I've got to add my favorite - arguing with, complaining about, and/or yelling at ride ops. On Saturday, I took time to say "thanks" to a few of the DB ride ops and you can just tell that they are expecting the worst when you start to talk.

Why would you want Vortex to go away? Terpy, who knows better...he thinks... Now if it had been SoB squeaking...some might think differently

It shouldn't have to be about the company cleaning it up or camera's watching people. What happened to personal responsibility and decency?

Second Hill - High Speed, great airtime, sweet turn at the bottom.

Been to: - Disney (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Studios, Animal Kingdom) - Silver Dollar City - Kings Island Going to: - Kings Island (every chance I get) - Cedar Point (not scheduled, but I'm past due for a visit) Trying to figure out: - What I can make happen on our summer vacation to Central Virginia

I hate to disagree with you Terpy (especially since even as a Mason resident, I support your view of an admission tax as a really bad idea), but I don't buy your premise that not much of this would be true without KI. You only need to look at I-75 just across town to see a similar dynamic without the impact of a KI. 20 years ago, there was no Union Center Blvd and Tylersville was a country Road. Now these two intersections along with Cin-Day are the heart of the fast growing West Chester/Liberty Township community. This is the same type of activity seen at Fields Ertel and now pushing up toward Western Row and 741 with Mason/Deerfield Township - it's the suburban sprawl of Cincinnati. Also in response to Bodda - Mason was incorporated in 1970 (it annexed KI a few years ago) and while it has gov't problems like any community and I believe it has made some bad choices, I think calling it a joke is a little extreme.

On Vortex, did they add padding to the seats? I don't remember it and the OTSR felt tighter on my shoulders. Also, you couldn't help but notice the nice updated orange track on Vortex (yes I know I watched it get painted on the webcam), but did anyone else notice that they didn't repaint the transfer track?

Ok, so here I am posting a Silver Dollar City trip report after opening day at Kings Island. I can only tell the truth - my wife booked the vacation to Branson for Spring Break here in Mason. As a note, we pulled back into the driveway at 4:30pm this afternoon and I was on my first Diamondback ride before 6pm! Back to Silver Dollar City, starting with my impressions of the rollercoasters: - Powderkeg: Loved this ride. Great launch into a sweet airtime hill followed by smooth but forceful twists and turns. My little coaster buddy (5 year old) also got to ride due to the 42" minimum. He was a little scared of the launch, but enjoyed it none the less. - Wildfire: With apologies to Vortex, this is my new favorite looper (5 inversions) with the first hill into the Immelman providing an awesome airtime to compression to turn out experience. Seats on this really help the feel of the ride (4 across and fairly open seating) - Thunderation: Ok for me (somewhat typical rough mine ride style coaster) although was the favorite of little coaster buddy. The train had two cars where you rode backwards (oh I miss the backward racer) which was the better direction in my mind - Fire in the Hole: Not a roller coaster, not worth the wait (even as a walk on) - Grand Exposition Coaster: Slightly bigger and better than Little Bill's Giggle Coaster (I was something worse than stapled into the car next to my 3 year old on this) Other impressions: - Other Rides: Lots of variety with some good family rides, some good kiddie rides. Enough to keep you busy if you only wanted to ride rides. The list isn't extensive, but the kids never got bored and I actually enjoyed riding some of them - Racing Regatta is quite high speed for a family ride. - Attractions and Theming: Theme is very well done and the attractions include many interesting shows and craftsmen - Food: Expensive but decent with many, many options (we only ate lunch at the park), but could easily have had a nice meal for dinner (depending upon park hours - it closes at 6 or 7pm much of the year). For a family that deals with food allergies, they also have great allergy menu's on their web site (I wish KI could improve in this area!) so we could plan in advance. - Festivals: We were there during the International festival (they have lots throughout the year) and it was extremely well done. - Parking: This was the only downside to the place. The parking shuttles were horrendous - on a day when I walked on to roller coasters running single trains (ok, so much of the International Festival crowd was older), I spent more time waiting for a shuttle back to my car than I did walking to my car, getting out of the parking lot, and driving home from KI on opening day after the fireworks. Final thought - worth a visit if you are in the area and enjoy theme parks or roller coasters. Ticket prices are fairly high (adult $50, 4-11 $40, 3 and under free), but not outrageous in a tourist spot like Branson. We were also able to get free adult tickets by going to a sales pitch at the timeshare place we stayed at (one hour, be ready to say "no thank you") which I understand is fairly common in the area.

I saw a sign for this deal at LaRosas. Price was $9.99

To get into the single rider line, a ride op (at the sign) handed you a card in a laminated pocket saying "Diamondback Single Rider". I assume it is to stop people from jumping into the Single Rider Line from the switchbacks. I was told that there were only 30 of these cards and that when all were handed out, no more single riders were permitted until they were returned to the ride op.

As folks have said - amazing ride with incredible airtime and speed. I thought ride ops did a pretty good job this afternoon of keeping the ride moving (trains leaving consistently), although there were empty seats (including some rows) on many trains. First ride was in row 10, second ride in row 2. Both were awesome, but the view down the first drop from row 2 was something to behold. Hill 2 is the heart of the ride for me, but it is non stop action all the way. As for the fit in the seats, as others have said, it is all in the thighs (which concerned me) but I was ok. For those trying to gauge yourself, if I sit in my kitchen chair (typical wood chair) and pull a string over my thighs to the top of the seat, it is about 29" (my thighs are each about 24" around. I'm not saying this is a limit, just trying to provide some perspective.

I'm not really complaining about the single riders line (I used it twice this afternoon as I went alone after dropping the family at home when we returned from vacation), but ... I think KI will need to make some modifications to the system to ensure a more consistent approach. Two issues I saw today: - Different operators either allowed people to wait to the side for cards or didn't - A single rider not 10 yards ahead of me was told that no cards were available and moved on, but a ride op walked up with cards right as I got there so I got one Don't get me wrong, I love the idea, but also think it might need some tweaking as the season progresses

No...but very soon. Very, very soon. In fact, only 7 more days, and they'll probably fly. Flyer, who hopes time flies even faster than Diamondback. Hope there no trims or breaks during these seven days. Sorry couldn't resist Edit 600th post Actually, here in Mason, it is Spring Break this week, but I'm betting you were hoping for no Brakes.

On the Name, I guess that's what happens when you are forced into a last minute change. It's just not good. On the Prices, this is high for the amount/# of rides, but it is not that outrageous when you look at how expensive the general area is. I'm not sure that the better option for the park wouldn't be a pay- per-ride approach with an all day pass option.

I'm not an expert on corporate finance or bankruptcy law, but I'm not understanding the benefit of a sale (from the buyers perspective) at this time. Wouldn't any buyer have to assume the massive debt and therefore face the same issue as current ownership? While Bankruptcy may seem like a worse option for current ownership, it seems as though this is the best option for a potential buyer (Hard Rock new owners don't have to pay the several hundred million of debt, they only had to finance $25 million to purchase).

Well that's one post by Terpy that requires no "interpreting"

Well - I feel older. As I understand it, Bavarian Beetle opened under another name at Coney Island in 1970.

Somthing will happen - its called bankruptcy.

"at least til Culver's gets closer to the park." how close do you want it, there is a Culvers on Tylersville about 4 miles from the parking lot?

I'll apologize in advance, but the words "admission tax" get me up on my soapbox. Is this year, not the perfect example of why a place like Kings Island SHOULD get tax incentives and why Mason SHOULD NOT do anything to undermine the operation of the place. CF/KI decide to invest $22,000,000. Mason, without spending a single penny gets what benefit? While I don't know the exact dollars behind it, I'm willing to bet: - Some of the Construction folks paid payroll taxes to Mason, stayed in a hotel in Mason, ate at restaurants in Mason, rented some equipment from a company in Mason, etc.... - There will be more visitors to Kings Island this year due to this investment who will stay, eat, etc... - Mason has received plenty of free publicity: "Kings Island, located in Mason OH, is building ..." As a note: I live in Mason, so theoretically should love the idea of the rest of y'all putting $ in the city account, but then again - it just isn't right, especially as the city agreed to not do it when annexing KI.

Sounds to me like Mr Goodwin wants to drive the park out of business not once but twice - and he obviously knew how to manage the legal system to perfection. That said, I think rebranding makes the most sense for the new owners, but it is clearly going to cause a problem with re-opening.

I remember when the roller coaster choices were: Beast, Racer, Screamin Demon, and Beastie. That was all of them and you can imagine the lines (Racer lines with full queue and out into Coney Mall, Beast lines with all switchbacks open and out past the bubble gum tree). I also totally enjoyed the following rides (forgive me for forgetting the correct names) as a kid: Rotor, Flying Eagles, KCKC, BayernCurve, and the Big Slide, but don't remember when they came or went. No trip was complete without a monorail ride through the Safari or a ride in the parking lot shuttle back in the day. The best part of King Cobra was the little bunny hops and when the track angled just slightly to the Left.