McSalsa

My 2018 season at Kings Island was amazing. I already wrote about this earlier in the year in another topic, but heck, it's worth repeating. I'll try to make this a bit different though. I got Platinum Passes for the first time (also wanted to go to Cedar Point- and did twice- in 2018 for Steel Vengeance), and thus I went to the park 6 times total, which may not be a lot to some on here, but it DOUBLES my next best year (which was 2014). I got a "surprise" visit for the first time- my sister didn't tell me we were going for Media Preview Day, tricked me into going for a car ride, and then she spilled the beans as we were almost into Ohio. I also- finally- saw my first shows. The Dog Show was fun, but Gravity blew me away. The Peanuts Celebration was awesome, I liked the special food offerings and free donuts, and it was nice to finally see the Enchanted Theater be used. The park looked better than ever, at least as long as I have been visiting (2000, and then 2009-2018). The landscaping was very nice in the summer, and when Haunt hit, the fog created a incredible atmosphere. Then came Winterfest, which I missed in 2017, but was able to do a few days for the first time: WOW. Never have I seen that many Christmas Lights in one place! I also liked the new lights on Racer. The food service at KI may be inconsistent at times, but I may have gotten lucky. We didn't eat in the park a ton, but we usually got good results when we did. Everything was at least decent tasting, though a few items of note did rise above the rest and stand out, like the Chicken Shack Chicken Wrap I had half of (which also gave a much-needed energy boost). I also really liked the Chicken Tenders from Island Smokehouse. The only "bad" food experience I had was on preview night when everything had monster lines, but I was kind of expecting that because preview night=employees doing this for the very first time. This was also the year I got my first ride on a now-defunct coaster: Firehawk. I waited until August to ride it, and only rode it once because it kept breaking down in September. To be honest, I only ever rode the coaster 4 times since I started coming back to KI in 2009. It was a decent coaster, but I was not a fan of the huge lines and constant breakdowns. I was usually going to X-Base for Flight of Fear anyway, to be honest. There is a very good chance whatever replaces it, be it Giga, Wing, Dive, or Floorless will be something I ride a lot more often. Overall, I'd say Kings Island was better in 2018 than any previous year I had visited the park (again since 2009 mostly, plus a visit I only sorta remember way back in 2000 when Son of Beast was new). I would imagine the Kings Mills Antique Autos are gonna make the back of Coney Mall near WindSeeker and Vortex look much nicer, making the park even prettier. And I can't wait to see what special events the park does next year, to follow up the Peanuts Celebration of 2018. Heck, April 2019 can't come soon enough. I even renewed that Plantium Pass anyway, so of course I am gonna be back next year...

Hi everyone! Get ready for a McSalsa Trip Report...IN DECEMBER!?!? Yep: I went to Winterfest at Kings Island for the first time yesterday! But first, here is ride rating system as usual: F- Garbage. I regret ever riding this and will not make the same mistake of ever riding it again! D- Mediocre. A disappointing, or painful ride, though there might be a little fun here. I might give a D-Tier ride a second chance but it is gonna need to be a walk-on or something. C- Average. A fun ride, but either there is enough roughness/pain to dilute it, or it just does not blow me away. Will still ride this if the wait is not too bad, though. B- Good. A ride I enjoy, but it may have some flaws, but I will happily re-ride this unless the wait is pretty crazy. A- Awesome. These rides leave me with a huge grin usually, and I will ride them over and over if there is a short wait. If there are long waits around the entire park, I may aim for these anyway, as if you are gonna wait, best to be for something worth it. Surpassed only by... S- Epic. The best of the best. I am usually giddy and my happiness meter is maxed out after riding one of these. Tragically, these are not the most common rides out there, however. Note: If you wan na take this as a 1-10 system, S=10, A=9, B=8, C=7, D=6, and F=5 or worse. I was with the same group of people I have done most of my 2018 trips: it was me, my sister, and the 2 usual friends: A (Who Doesn't Really Do Looping Coasters) and B (Who Does). On a small side note, both sides of I-74 heading from Central Indiana to Cincinatti have finally been fixed, and the road construction that has been there all year is finally gone. In spite of this, we arrived a bit late- the park opened at 4, but we showed up around 4:30PM. We still arrived in time for the lighting ceremony though. But first, we headed for... Ride #1: Mystic Timbers Wait: 15 Minutes We headed for Mystic Timbers first, as we figured its line would grow after the tree lighting and stuff. When we arrived though it was still only at 15 minutes, even with only 2 trains. The ride ran pretty fast for such cold temperatures (BRR BTW) but the airtime was a bit weak, but I figure that was because the ride had just opened not too long before this and hadn't broken in for the day yet.It was still a very fun ride though, nice way to start the day. BTW, we got Snakes in the shed. Rating: A- After Mystic Timbers, we headed over and saw the "Tree" Lighting. It was fun, the singers were good, and I LOL'ed at the fake snow which was soap. There was this one strand of lights on the Eiffel "Tree" that was constantly green, so I assume that strand was busted. Then we headed through Candy Cane Lane, aka the Tower Gardens. It was BEAUTIFUL as the lights had turned on by now. Then we headed to Coney Mall, as my sister wanted to do a Horse Carriage ride. They were $40 but for 4 people, so $10 per person (which is not a bad price for carriage rides), so we went ahead and did it. Ride #2: Coney Mall Carriage Rides (Note: Upcharge) Wait: None This was a nice, relaxing way to go up and down Coney Mall and see all the pretty lights. Monster is taken apart for the year, it was kinda shocking to see it in pieces like that. I do like Racer's new "Millennium Force" style lighting package, it looks cool. We then turned around and went down the other way. A fun Winterfest-exclusive attraction. Rating: C After the Carriage Rides, we headed over to Flight of...Cheer (LOL Winterfest). My friends wanted to smoke so I took advantage of the single rider line. Rides #3-6: Flight of Cheer (x4!!!) Wait: 2 Cycles or so each time (Less than 5 Minutes Each) And the Single Rider Line, ironically, had no line! I just walked up to the station, waited for a empty seat (which happened almost every train) and boarded in whatever row I was put in. For the first ride, I got put in the back of the 1st car. I'll "review" my rides at the end of this section. After I got off and headed out, I found out that my sister and Friend B had finished smoking and were in line now, via Friend A who couldn't do loops (much- hence he didn't ride). So I went around again, and rode the ride 2 more times via Single Rider Line- from the middle car, and then the front of the very back car. After that (and a few minute breather) my friends got off the ride and said they waited 15-20 minutes. So via Single Rider Line, I rode 3 times to their one. And they decided to smoke AGAIN when we got off from their ride, so...one more ride, rode in the middle again. 4 rides in a row is enough to really get a good sense of what I like and don't like about this coaster. I love the launch and first few inversions, it feels like you are going super fast. The midcourse brake run kinda kills the speed, and hanging over the edge while turning is a bit awkward in the front car, but after a few drops and turns you are going again. Then you start going into more and more aggressively banked turns, and finish the ride with the final corkscrew- which is a great ending, IMO, as the banked turns tease you will flip and then the corkscrew does just that. Flight of Fear is a rock solid ride, probably my #5 in the park behind the "Big 4". It was also running pretty smooth from all seats for all my rides, which was a nice plus as it can sometimes be a bit rough. Also: STUPID ALIEN AT THE END, CHRISTMAS IS OVER!!! Rating: B+ Leaving Flight of Cheer and the "dead" Firehawk behind (I only rode it 4 times from 2009-2018: FOF matched that total in 20 minutes tonight!), we headed out of X-Base, but my sister wanted to ride Zephyr, so we did. Ride #7: Zephyr Wait: 1 Cycle (About 5 Minutes) Brr, these really are the "coolest" swings in Coney Mall, with WindSeeker closed at least (that would be stupid cold and possibly dangerous to ride in these temperatures). It was fun to swing around even in the cold, and the ride op had us play a fun game during the ride: sing the Spongebob theme song! Rating: C+ After a fun ride on Zephyr, we checked the line for Scrambler, and it was crazy. Looked like a 20 minute wait, which was worse than some of the roller coasters! I wonder why Scrambler was suddenly super popular. Instead, we decided to ride the Grand Carousel. Ride #8: Grand Carousel Wait: 1 Cycle (Again About 5 Minutes) The Organ was working, which was a plus. This ride looked GORGEOUS all decorated for Winterfest, props to the Winterfest guys/gals who did this ride. I ended up having to ride a horse that didn't move, but I did enjoy going around in the cold on this old classic from 1926. Rating: C After the Carousel, we headed to International Street to locate The Beast Hot Chocolate, but when we did we found it sold out (Beast be popular yo). So we settled for some regular hot cocoa at Blitzen's Hot Drinks, and I got a season long drink refill soda. We then used the bathrooms, warmed up near a heater thing the park had kindly put out (THANK YOU KI!!!) and then headed for Action Ice Zone. We saw a little of the Ice Sculptors, took some pics in the big globe, and then rode... Ride #9: Action Zone Sleds Wait: 15 Minutes Since they were next to Drop Tower (and even using some of its que) these sleds were not intimidating at all. It was a bit of fun to slide down (I struggled to get going for a second) but I have slid down a much bigger hill on sleds before (a few years ago) and this was nothing in comparison. Still, it was a Winterfest exclusive attraction, and we had time to kill. Rating: D+ After the sleds, we left Action Ice Zone, and cut through Festhaus where I got another glimpse at a show. It looked well made from the brief glimpse of it I saw. Then we headed to Rivertown, as we wanted to ride the Train. Ride #10: Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad (12 Days of Christmas) Wait: 15-20 Minutes We boarded the Green Train, only for them to decide to put it up. So that is why there was a 20 minute wait- we had to wait for the Green Train to go in its shed, and then wait on Blue Train to pull up. The Train itself was pretty fun, you got some nice views of Diamondback at night and Mystic Timbers you don't often see. And the lights for the 12 Days of Christmas were nice. But, there was ONE thing we all hated- the song gets old, and playing 4 versions of it doesn't help much (and I didn't even notice sometimes when the changed versions). I much, MUCH perfer Ghost Riders in the Sky! Rating: D+ (would have been a C but hated song by the end!) After the KI & MV RR, we ended the night with the nearby roller coaster... Rides #11-13: Mystic Timbers (x3) Wait: Under 5 Minutes, 15 Minutes, Walk-On My friends decided to smoke again first, so for the first ride, I used Single Rider Line again and waited less than 5 minutes. As with Flight of "Cheer", I will do the review part at the bottom here. When we rode as a group, we waited 15 minutes, and then we got back in line for last train of the night with next to no wait (and rode in the very back)! Earlier, Mystic Timbers had decent speed, but kinda weak airtime. Well, after it has been running for a while, that changes and it has MUCH better airtime like it did on all 3 of these rides. The ride also felt even faster, too, as it had broken in. My solo ride was in the middle, I got some great Diamondback-style sustained floater air from there. We then rode from the front, and those seats gave semi-strong ejector air instead! The very back was also very fun, but I was expecting even more airtime there and it was actually a bit worse than the middle (though still a good amount). As for the shed endings, I got Snakes, Snakes AGAIN, and then finally Bats. I was actually glad to see Bats because I was getting tired of snakes! Anyhow, Mystic Timbers gave me some awesome rides to end my coaster riding in 2018. Rating: S After Mystic Timbers, Kings Island began to close. We headed out, took in the International Street Ambiance one more time, and headed out. And thus ends not only this Trip Report, but my 2018 Coaster Season. Before I get into Overall Season Stuff, here are the Pros/Cons of this trip: PROS +The Park is GORGEOUS for Winterfest! There are a insane amount of lights, and little touches like changing most of the signs for the shops goes a long way too! +Flight of Cheer and Mystic Timbers were running great +I didn't do a whole show from start to finish, but what little I saw was neat, and I liked the roaming actors too +The fact THE PARK IS EVEN OPEN IN DECEMBER! CONS -Many rides closed, it is to be expected (they have to do upkeep and maintenance and some rides can't run in cold) but it does suck a bit to see so many favorites closed -BRRR!!! COLD!!! Not park's fault but still a con. This was a AMAZING trip, and a great way to end the season. Now, as this was my for-sure final visit to KI in 2018, here are my ride totals for the year: Visits in 2018- 6 Passholder Preview Night: April 13th April 21st June 16th August 5th Haunt: September 29th Winterfest: December 29th There are Trip Reports for all of these BTW, search "McSalsa's Coaster Adventures" in Trip Reports to find them! KI RIDES RIDDEN IN 2018 (In Order of 1st Ride) Adventure Express- 6 Red Racer- 6 Vortex- 4 The Beast- 10 Diamondback- 9 Banshee- 6 Zephyr- 2 Eiffel Tower- 3 Mystic Timbers- 11 Backlot Stunt Coaster- 5 Flight of Fear- 7 Boo Blasters on Boo Hill- 1 Delirium- 2 The Bat- 4 Blue Racer- 2 Woodstock Express- 1 Dodgem- 1 Grand Carousel- 2 KI & MV RR- 6 Shake Rattle and Roll- 1 Drop Tower- 2 WindSeeker- 1 Firehawk- 1 (R.I.P) Viking Fury- 1 Invertigo- 1 Soak City Zoom Flume- 1 Splash River- 2 Tidal Wave Bay- 1 Note: Did not do too much in Soak City! (Looks at List of Rides Ridden) Woah that is a lot of rides taken in 2018! Wait a sec...OOPS! I forgot to ride Monster in 2018. I actually like that flat a lot, granted I did ride a semi-similar ride twice at fairs. I also didn't ride Surf Dog, or Woodstock Gliders, but I did get the same models at Cedar Point. I still need the credit for Flying Ace Aerial Chase too. Oh well, I did renew my pass, so those rides are ones I can aim for in 2019. Mystic Timbers, thanks to me getting 4 rides during Winterfest, was my most ridden ride at KI (or any park) in 2018 with 11 rides taken. Beast was #2 (Beast: "Grumble Grumble Stoopid Winterfest Why Do I Have 2 Close 4 It I am Wooden Too!") with 10, and Diamondback claims the Bronze with 9. And that does it for 2018. Kings Island really did a GREAT job this year. The park was nicer looking than I have ever seen it during my visits from 2009-2018, with the great landscaping in summer followed by Haunt's awesome atmosphere and of course Winterfest was incredible. Most of the food I ate was good too, and outside of preview night I didn't have any issues with food service at KI. I would say the Chicken Wrap from Chicken Shack and the Chicken Tenders at Island Smokehouse were my favorite KI foods in 2018 though. And of course, Kings Island has a solid ride selection as well. KI is one of the few parks I would say has both great steel AND wooden coasters while lacking a truly terrible adult coaster (Invertigo is my least favorite and it can still be fun sometimes), and there are some fun flat rides. And the ride crews were great most of the time too. Waterpark is OK, nowhere near as good as Splashin' Safari at Holiday World but it does its job. Now I look to next year. The Antique Autos will be a nice family addition in 2019, and I look foward to whatever special events they do as well, like the Peanuts Celebration they did in 2018. Not to mention we might start seeing construction for the nearly confirmed mystery B&M. Speculation is usually pretty fun. Well, that is all! This is the end of my 2018 Trip Reports. See U all in 2019! MCSALSA AWAY!!!

I actually did a 2nd post about this, but I can't find it so I wonder if it was deleted or something. Ehh, oh well- I actually came up with a expansion to this story that included Banshee, etc. Here is a shorter version (I have also made a few tweaks): RIVERTOWN Basically a small town where mysterious things are known to happen (like The Beast) so Government agents were sent in to investigate. Diamondback was created when a experiment conducted by them went very wrong (see story above). When the Miami River Lumber Company demolished a old shed and built theirs, even more mysterious stuff began to happen and the company was shut down after only 1 day (Mystic Timbers Storyline). The Agency has shut down the MRLC area, but trespassers continue to sneak onto the property. To add to this, The Beast and Diamondback are still lurking (Diamondback has also been rumored to have been seen near the shed). The Agency has been reported to have been shipping items from the Miami River Lumber Company area to their bases, including... Action Zone What appears to be a action film studio is, in fact, merely a front for the Agency. Behind the film studio lies Outpost 5, home of the former Son of Beast containment area. The Outpost also features a Aircraft Carrier. When Son of Beast was captured, he was given growth hormones and many tests were run on him, causing him to become massive, aggressive, and unruly to the point that the Agency eventually had no choice but to kill him. However, shortly after the death of Son of Beast, the spirit known as Banshee appeared and attacked the Outpost, claiming it for herself. Some strange, demonic-looking bats were also been held in Outpost 5 and when Banshee attacked, they were set free and took over the Aircraft carrier (The Bat). Outpost 5 has thus been abandoned, though the movie studio remains in operation (the Agency does need to make money so they make films to get it). CONEY MALL/X-BASE This small, family amusement park secretly hides X-Base: the location of the legendary Hangar #18. Rumors say a UFO is stored inside. The base was, until recently, home to a secret test project known as Firehawk. However, the Agency has gotten all the data they needed from this program and it has been retired, possibly to make room for their next big project. Adventure Express A 2-track train system, the Adventure Express connects X-Base and the Movie Studio/Outpost 5. Agents would use Track 1 to go from one to the other. However, Track 2 was built through a forbidden temple, causing massive problems, so it has been closed. However, Larry the Operator is sometimes a clutz and accidentally sends trains down Track 2 anyway. Oops! Why he hasn't been fired yet is one of the biggest mysteries of all. (I don't have storylines for I-Street, Oktoberfest, or Planet Snoopy that can tie those in to the story yet)

Final Steel Vengeance (4) vs. The Beast (4)   3rd  Banshee (2) vs. Maverick (5) Bumping this back alive! Also using 48 hours rule. 

When a round ends and another begins, you can vote immediately on the new matches, even if your vote ended the last round 1 minute earlier for example. Then the 48 hours before you vote again "clock" turns back on.

DA FINALZ HAVE BEGUN!!! 2 coaster remain, 30 are eliminated. Who will win the 2K18 Ohio Tournament Battle? Steel Venegance (1) vs. The Beast (0) Also...BONUS: Battle for 3rd Place! Banshee (0) vs. Maverick (1) And my votes have already been counted, as usual...

Steel Vengeance (5) vs. Maverick (2) The Beast (4) Vs. Banshee (3)  Not voting, but none of the coasters have reached 10 votes or been eliminated, so please don't do the bold/strike-out thing until they do. For clarification I re-marked them.

And with that, we are down to the final 4... Steel Vengeance (1) vs. Maverick (0) The Beast (1) Vs. Banshee (0)

Using 48 Hours Rule. Millennium Force (2) vs. Maverick (10)Top Thrill Dragster (4) vs. Banshee (10)Steel Vengeance (10) vs. Magnum XL-200 (3)Diamondback (7) vs. The Beast (8)

On to Round 3...only the "Elite Eight" remain. The battles will be even fiercer now! Millennium Force (0) vs. Maverick (1) Top Thrill Dragster (1) vs. Banshee (0) Steel Vengeance (1) vs. Magnum XL-200 (0) Diamondback (0) vs. The Beast (1) As usual, my own votes already counted.

I taking advantage of 48 hour rule... Millennium Force (10) vs. Adventure Express (4)Top Thrill Dragster (10) vs. Blue Streak (5)Steel Vengeance (10) vs. Flight of Fear (1)Diamondback (10) vs. The Racer (4)The Beast (7) vs. Mystic Timbers (8)Magnum XL-200 (10) vs. Rougarou (3)Banshee (10) vs. Raptor (1)Vortex (4) vs. Maverick (10) R.I.P. Blue Streak (in this poll at least). Beast vs. Mystic Timbers is the only battle left. Once it finishes, Round 3 begins!

^ OK. For anyone else, I will update the scores so far with NewD4y20's votes. Millennium Force (3) vs. Adventure Express (1) Top Thrill Dragster (2) vs. Blue Streak (2) Steel Vengeance (4) vs. Flight of Fear (0) Diamondback (3) vs. The Racer (1) The Beast (2) vs. Mystic Timbers (2) Magnum XL-200 (3) vs. Rougarou (1) Banshee (4) vs. Raptor (0) Vortex (0) vs. Maverick (4)

And with VortexBFF's votes, we are on to Round 2! Millennium Force (1) vs. Adventure Express (0) Top Thrill Dragster (1) vs. Blue Streak (0) Steel Venegance (1) vs. Flight of Fear (0) Diamondback (1) vs. The Racer (0) The Beast (1) vs. Mystic Timbers (0) Magnum XL-200 (1) vs. Rougarou (0) Banshee (1) vs. Raptor (0) Vortex (0) vs. Maverick (1) Since new matchups have been made (same rules: highest seed vs. lowest based on ride stats of all the coasters who advanced), all scores have been reset to 0, and you can now vote again even if you voted less than 48 hours ago because it's a new round (but once you vote the 48 hours rule kicks in again). I think a few of these matchups are very interesting, as we have a few of the same type of coaster going at each other now... Also, rides with a 1 instead of a 0 simply have my personal votes.

You did, mostly. Forgot to bold Rougarou and Mystic Timbers and "cross-out" (like this) their opponents though, as they hit 10 votes. Also since NewDy420 said they were voting the same way as Maverick44 I looked at how he voted and gave all the same rides +1, so here are the up-to-date standings: Millennium Force (10) vs. Great Pumpkin Coaster (3)Top Thrill Dragster (11) vs. Wilderness Run (1)Steel Vengeance (10) vs. Flying Ace Aerial Chase (2)Diamondback (11) vs. Woodstock Express CP (1)The Beast (10) vs. Woodstock Express KI (3)Magnum XL-200 (10) vs. Backlot Stunt Coaster (2)Banshee (10) vs. Cedar Creek Mine Ride (2)Valravn (6) vs. Adventure Express (9)GateKeeper (5) vs. Blue Streak (10)Vortex (10) vs. Iron Dragon (3)Maverick (10) vs. The Bat (2)Raptor (9) vs. Invertigo (5)Rougarou (10) vs. Corkscrew (4)Gemini (5) vs. Flight of Fear (9)Wicked Twister (6) vs. The Racer (9)Firehawk (4) vs. Mystic Timbers (10) Once Valravn vs. AE, Gemini vs. FOF, and Wicked Twister vs. Racer are done this poll will move onto Round 2.

^ Oops, uhh, IndyGuy you voted twice. However, because this is going kinda slow versus the 1st one (I think we hit Round 2 back then in mere hours), I am gonna allow it and make a rule adjustment: If a round has NOT ended, but 48 hours (2 days) have passed since you last voted, you may vote again.

OK- I didn't add any votes here, but I am "marking" finished battles where a coaster has gotten 10pts. Please do not vote on these anymore. Coasters now in BOLD have earned 10pts and advanced to the next round. Strikeouts mean the coaster is...ELIMINATED!!! Millennium Force (9) vs. Great Pumpkin Coaster (3)Top Thrill Dragster (11) vs. Wilderness Run (1)Steel Vengeance (10) vs. Flying Ace Aerial Chase (2)Diamondback (11) vs. Woodstock Express CP (1)The Beast (9) vs. Woodstock Express KI (3)Magnum XL-200 (10) vs. Backlot Stunt Coaster (2)Banshee (9) vs. Cedar Creek Mine Ride (2)Valravn (5) vs. Adventure Express (7)GateKeeper (5) vs. Blue Streak (7)Vortex (9) vs. Iron Dragon (3)Maverick (10) vs. The Bat (2)Raptor (8) vs. Invertigo (4)Rougarou (8) vs. Corkscrew (4)Gemini (5) vs. Flight of Fear (7)Wicked Twister (4) vs. The Racer (8)Firehawk (4) vs. Mystic Timbers (8) If you notice your vote is "decisive" (aka the coaster you vote for reaches 10pts), please do this for that battle as well, so later votes will have a easy visual guide as to what battles are over.

Hi everybody! If you were on this site way back in 2011, you may recall this poll I did where I pitted 32 roller coasters against each other- all the coasters were from Cedar Point and Kings Island. But, rather than one poll where you just voted for your favorite, I made it a Tournament-style poll, where you voted on each coaster and first to reach 10 points advances to the next round, until they are reduced to the final two and the winner was chosen. Well, in a odd twist, as of 2018 Cedar Fair once again had 32 roller coasters in Ohio (counting Firehawk which will be in this poll since it did operate this year) so I have decided to do a Version 2.0 of it! Since 2011, quite a bit has changed (Including me getting out to Cedar Point since the 1st poll so now my votes will be more educated). Also, where I randomly sorted the poll last time, this time I "seeded" the coasters based on their stats: height, speed, length, with a bonus point for every inversion. So the larger coasters will get higher seeds. Though that still does not guarantee they will win, only the votes do. So, here are the matchups. Due to the way I seeded the coasters, the first few are probably gonna be very one-sided: Millennium Force (1) vs. Great Pumpkin Coaster (0) Top Thrill Dragster (1) vs. Wilderness Run (0) Steel Venegeance (1) vs. Flying Ace Aerial Chase (0) Diamondback (1) vs. Woodstock Express CP (0) The Beast (1) vs. Woodstock Express KI (0) Magnum XL-200 (1) vs. Backlot Stunt Coaster (0) Banshee (1) vs. Cedar Creek Mine Ride (0) Valravn (1) vs. Adventure Express (0) GateKeeper (1) vs. Blue Streak (0) Vortex (1) vs. Iron Dragon (0) Maverick (1) vs. The Bat (0) Raptor (1) vs. Invertigo (0) Rougarou (1) vs. Corkscrew (0) Gemini (0) vs. Flight of Fear (1) Wicked Twister (1) vs. The Racer (0) Firehawk (0) vs. Mystic Timbers (1) My own votes are already counted, as you can see a lot of the rides (mostly the "favorites" based on stats but this is just Round 1) that have a "1" instead of a 0. You can vote on all the matchups, or just 1 (in case you have not ridden some of the coasters or feel it is too close), but you can only vote on each match once per round. When all the matchups are complete (a coaster from each pair has reached 10pts) the next round will start. Basically, just copy and paste the battles and add 1pt to each coaster you like more. (If a battle already has a winner, please don't vote on it BTW- it will confuse those who have yet to vote!) Enjoy the Tournament-Style poll! It will be interesting to see what Ohio CF coaster wins this time. Some old coasters have dropped out, and new ones have replaced them, and a few have undergone some BIG changes since 2011. Plus KIC has also changed quite a bit since 2011 too, lots of new members have joined since then who did not come here in 2011... UPDATE 11/28/2018: New voting rule since this is going a tad slow- you can vote more than once per round now, but must wait 48 hours (2 days) between votes.

Umm, that is VALKYRIA, a Dive Coaster in Sweden that opened in 2018, not Valravn. Also a giveaway: Valravn's cars seat 8 across, this is only 6 across. Here is Valkyria's RCDB Page: https://rcdb.com/14301.htm

^ Kinda, but it was more Werewolf-like, and standing on 2 legs and "roaring". Had on a ripped up red plaid shirt if I recall (may not be 100% correct, it was 8 years ago). They had a fog machine and red lights around it as well, so it had a ominous red glow. Don't know if anyone was able to get pictures, since it was WAY back in the woods and the only way to see it would be via riding, and you can't legally take pictures while riding coasters at Kings Island. And I dunno if they did any Beast backstage tours during Haunt 2010. Also, even though it is not 100% what I saw, that pic of what Beast apparently looks like is awesome IMO.

^ I dunno about Diamondback, but in 2010, The Beast had fog machines and a "Beast Monster" for Haunt night rides. It was covered up in the daytime. The monster was located next to the final turn before the 2nd lift. Still one of my most memorable Beast rides to date, 8 years later. The fog machines were back in 2014 and 2016 (the other years I have been to KI's Haunt), but no Beast monster. And in 2018, they didn't even have the fog machines, though the ride was running great so it didn't matter. They do still add extra stuff to the que, though. In 2018 it was a Graveyard.

2018 was an amazing year for me as well, to the point I would say, Amusement Park-wise, it was my best year ever! In April, we ended up getting Platinum Passes for the first time because we were also planning trips to Cedar Point and in the long run it would save us money. As a result, I have been to Kings Island alone 5 times this year, more than any season in the past (and we did end up also doing Cedar Point twice and Holiday World once). And IMO, Kings Island was better than ever in 2018. Here are some of my 2018 memories...though I will go a LITTLE off-topic and include stuff from all 3 parks. (WARNING: HUGE POST AHEAD!!!) In April, my sister surprised me and we went to Kings Island for the first time without me knowing beforehand for Season Pass Preview Night. Having only a half hour or so to get hyped before we arrived at the park was new, I was expecting to go to Kings Island the week after. We got our passes processed, I was actually the first Platinum done by the lady who took my picture, and my first coaster of the year was...Adventure Express. It was a fun ride to start the year. We rode Racer next, and I got one of my smoothest rides ever on the coaster on the Red side (and I got a equally awesome and smooth ride on Blue months later). Vortex was also running smooth, thanks to new wheels. Beast was fun, but due to sitting on a back wheel, I got a little beat up, nothing terrible (especially compared to what would come later in the year). This was the one trip where the food service was kinda bleh, most places had huge lines due to the big crowds and since the employees were not yet trained, the lines moved slow, so we went for about a hour just looking for food until we finally found Tom and Chee's was do-able line wise (I was actually OK as I had eaten prior to coming to the park, but my friends had not and were starving). Then, towards the end of the day, we spun the Fast Lane Wheel and got tickets for Diamondback and Banshee. We had a fun ride on Diamondback, then went over and got a great ride on Banshee before we went up the Eiffel Tower and watched the Fireworks show from 275 feet up. There was a slight traffic jam when leaving the parking lot, but again, this was nothing compared to what would happen later in the year. As promised, about a week later, we came back. It was kinda cold, but because of that, there were very light crowds even though it was a Saturday. I rode nearly every big coaster in the park, and when it did warm up a bit for whatever reason it felt like all the coasters sped up noticeably. The day ended with epic rides on Mystic Timbers, The Beast, and The Racer- all at night- and we STILL had time to get to I-Street and watch the fireworks. I rode more on this 1 day than any other day since I began riding big coasters in 2009! It was another awesome trip. In May, we took advantage of the Platinum part of our passes, and headed North for my 3rd ever trip to Cedar Point. I didn't get to ride too much on the first day we were there due to large crowds and high winds closing some of the rides, but we did end the day waiting about an hour 15 minutes for...STEEL VENGEANCE. This coaster was super-hyped, and it actually lived up to it! SO. MUCH. EJECTOR AIR. Saturday- Day 2- had much less wind, and while it was pretty crowded for most of the day, it turned out to be a lot of school kids because they all left after 8pm and the last 2 hours were pretty dead. I rode Raptor, Valravn, Magnum XL-200, AND Top Thrill Dragster at night that day. And then had some tasty nachos afterwards at TGI Friday's. There was also some rain, and near sunset we saw a BEAUTIFUL rainbow that ended...in Canada. Sunday was our final day for trip #1, and crowds were very light all day so we re-rode a bunch of rides, visited the museum and petting zoo (both were fun), and I got a T-Shirt and some very tasty Loaded Sidewinder Fries from Sidewinder Sue's. They were delicious. We left around 5pm, since CP is so far from our house it takes 4-5 hours to drive home. What a trip, felt like a mini Vacation because it was 3 days long. I also got 3 new credits: Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Corkscrew, and of course Steel Vengeance were all new for me as I didn't ride them on my 2017 trips. Come June, it was time to return to Kings Island yet again. It was HOT on this day, in the mid 90's! The crowds were starting to pick up by now, especially in the waterpark (main reason most of us came) but on the dry side of the park, waits were do-able for the most part (until the waterpark closed and Beast broke down, causing the lines for Diamondback and Mystic Timbers to go bonkers). The rides were all running pretty fast too, and I ended up riding Beast 3 times in a row with little wait. The 3rd time was a bad idea though, as I sat on a rear wheel seat and while I was fine the first 2 rides (in 6-2, the very back car none the less) riding on a back wheel seat was a mistake as Beast decided to go ham on my right shoulder. Didn't even realize how bad it was until later (felt fine immediately after), when I rode Banshee and noticed the vest restraints hurt a bit. A big storm came through around 5-6pm, and due to this, we ended up catching some shows: The JUMP! Dog Show was fun, but Gravity was the one that blew me away. I only managed to see it once, but that 1 show was one of the highlights of my 2018 amusement park trips. This was also during the Peanuts Celebration, so before the park opened for ERT I got some nice free donuts, watched and laughed as my sister did some shenanigans with the Peanuts gang in the former Enchanted Theater, and I also got some of the special Charlie Brown Ice Cream which was pretty good. We ended the day riding WindSeeker as the Sun went down (where I saw Beast had broken down from), and then we rode Backlot Stunt Coaster at night which was actually pretty fun to end this trip. We were gonna go back to Kings Island in July, but the day we had selected ended up having bad storms come through. However, Holiday World was looking like it would have much better weather, so for the first time in 5 years, I returned to Santa Claus, Indiana. Being a Saturday in July, there were big crowds. Thunderbird- the biggest by far new addition since I last came- had a 1 hour wait, but it was worth it, IMO as Thunderbird is a very good coaster. Raven was running pretty good as well, and Legend has become very smooth after the GCI refurb in 2016. However, Voyage was the coaster highlight: after giving some somewhat disappointing rides in 2011 and 2013, Holiday World has seemed to finally get the coaster back to its old self I remembered from 2010. I even got a night ride for the first time, which was insane in a great way. Didn't get to do too much in the Waterpark- huge crowds there- but I did get both water coasters (both of which are still epic) and the lazy river. Holiday World also felt the cleanest of all 3 parks I have been to in 2018, while KI and CP are far from dirty, Holiday World was spotless, even in the bathrooms. We did have a bit of a issue with Wildebeestro, the employees apparently didn't know what came with their own combo meals and they overcharged us for a cookie, and we got double charged on a locker (but Guest Services came through and refunded us- they are as good as claimed!). I really hope I don't have to wait 5 more years to go to Holiday World again, it's another amazing park. August was a double whammy month: I got TWO park trips in, to Kings Island and Cedar Point once again. I did not realize it, but on my August visit, I got my last ride on Firehawk- it was fun, and a good final ride to leave on I guess. We also managed to get one of our friends, who was afraid of coasters just last year, to do Diamondback and it became one of his favorite rides ever. I also saw a bit of the epic stunt show they did during this month, I liked the song choice of Rob Zombie's "Dragula" and thought the show was cool. I also ate half of a DELICIOUS chicken wrap at Chicken Shack, possibly the best of all food items I ate at KI in 2018 (so far- I hope Winterfest has good stuff). As we headed for the waterpark, via the Train, I also saw DEER. Real ones! I also took some time to check out and appreciate the landscaping work KI has done on this trip via plants and flowers, etc. The park really did a nice job in this regard in 2018, it was all beautiful. We ended this trip with night rides on Diamondback and The Beast (which I wanted in June but it was broken), both were epic as usual. Then came Cedar Point Trip #2, another 3-day trip like the 1st one. Not only did I get re-rides in (often more than once, I rode Magnum XL200 6 times!) on every big coaster save Corkscrew, I rode tons of flats (Including the now-defunct Witches Wheel) and ate lots of good food. Melt Bar & Grilled was awesome, I loved the atmosphere of that restaurant, and their "Chicken Vengeance" sandwich gets my vote so far for best food item I have eaten at a amusement park in 2018. They were also having a food truck contest, and these guys were no slouches either. Thanks to the "renew season passes" promo, on Sunday I had Fast Lane Plus, which enabled me to get 3 more rides on Steel Vengeance in. Still so awesome, but Maverick did try very hard to get its #1 spot back. We did have a issue with the parking lot on the 1st Day, because there was a minor accident and it was crowded it caused a cluster(BLEEP) trying to get to the road that leads to Hotels (we left the park to get some food at the off-site Dairy Queen due to rain and got a message our hotel was ready so we came back). Made the fiasco at the KI parking lot earlier in the year look great in comparison. However, that was the only real bad moment of the trip. I also finally got my sister to face her fear of Top Thrill Dragster, which she found to be more bark than bite, and we got our friend to ride his first Giga coaster, Millennium Force (he liked it but hates how high it went). Finally, at the end of September, we returned to Kings Island for Haunt. While the park was pretty empty at first (which enabled us to ride nearly everything early on- even Invertigo which I only rode on this trip) it started to get more crowded around 1pm, eventually turning into some of the biggest crowds I have ever seen at Kings Island. I tried the Mac N' Cheese Bar, which was very good but I did feel was overpriced a bit even by KI Standards. I also got another rare super-smooth ride on Racer, this time on Blue, and I got my sister to ride Drop Tower- which was the same as TTD, once she rode it she realized she was scared for no reason. I also randomly saw a McDonald's from atop Drop Tower, LOL. We intended to get one final ride in on Firehawk before it closed forever, but it decided it wanted to throw a fit and keep breaking down, so that was a no-go. Once the Haunt began, the park transformed and IMO, the Haunt Atmosphere was BEAUTIFUL. Of course, since I really am not a fan of the Haunts themselves, me and a small group of friends did rides. We got epic night rides on Beast (cool graveyard in the que, but nothing new added to the ride itself for Haunt- didn't need it though as it was still epic), Mystic Timbers, and Diamondback (A fun moment for this was as we came into the brakes, Blood Drums began and thus we got a epic light show). After one last trip atop the "Evil" Eiffel Tower, we headed out of the park, the 2018 ride season (save stuff that will be open for Winterfest like Mystic Timbers and FOF) over. I have to give the ride-ops for a ton of the rides massive props, they were sending out trains like crazy, and in spite of the crowds waits were somewhat manageable. A good example: Mystic Timbers was claimed to have a 75-minute wait, but we only had to wait 45 because the ride crew was doing such a good job. So yeah, that was a summary of my 2018 coaster season. It was AWESOME- and I left a lot of stuff out here to save room, see the individual trip reports (I did them for every trip) for more details. Big props to Kings Island, Cedar Point, and Holiday World- all 3 are excellent parks. And, since I have renewed my Season Pass for 2019 (hence how I got FL+ at CP for Trip #2) I hope 2019 can at least give it a run for its money. Kings Island is super likely, and Cedar Point will probably see me again in 2019. It isn't 100% confirmed, but we are looking into Carowinds as a possible new park to visit in 2019 with our Platinum Passes, since they have Fury 325 and new-for-2019 Copperhead Strike.

Ironically, Vekoma has yet to actually install one of these "New-Gen" Flying Dutchmen at any park. It's a model they still offer, but no has bit on it yet. Batwing at Six Flags America, ironically, is the newest one built (not counting re-openings due to relocation) and it opened in...2001, same year as Firehawk (as X-Flight at Geauga Lake). And Vekoma has only built 3 of them to date. Soon, only 2 will remain. For comparison, B&M has made 11 Flying Coasters since 2002, and none of them have closed. All remain in operation as of this writing, and the newest B&M Flyer, Flying Dinosaur, opened at Universal Studios Japan in 2016.

Wow. What a blast from the past, I remember this Trip Report from way back when I first joined KIC in May 2009. One year later, on May 29th, 2010: I went to Holiday World myself for the first time. Had a blast. Since then, I have gone back in 2011, 2013, and this year, 2018. Every single time, I have had a great time. Voyage, amazing in 2010, was running way off in 2011 (super rough and no air) and a bit off in 2013 (first half great but 2nd half was like 2011), but it seems to have returned to form as of 2018. Wildebeest, Mammoth, and Thunderbird have all been amazing additions the park has seen since 2009. I do miss Pilgrims Plunge, it was a fun ride, just sucks that- from what I have heard- it was gonna be so expensive to repair 1 part ($2 million!?!?) and the ride wasn't popular enough. On my visits before it was removed, I found it usually never had a long line. I also miss Paul Revere's Midnight Ride, their old spider type ride. TBH it was better than KI's monster. Also, out of curiosity I looked up how much that $7.50 2 slices of Pizza costs at Holiday World now: it's $11 now. I know Kings Island charges about $15 for the same 2 slices, so Holiday World is $4 cheaper now, but I don't remember how much Kings Island charged for 2 slices of Pizza back in '09. If it has always been $4 more at KI, then 2009 KI Pizza would have been $11.50, which seems about right.

Having been for Haunt this year, the construction fence is already bottlenecking that section as much as the Antique Autos will in 2019. It was also one of the most crowded days I have ever seen at Kings Island. It was a bit of a bottleneck. It was still a wider path than the one in front of Vortex, that connects Rivertown to Coney Mall. However, due to the fact they have THREE haunts (KillMart, Field of Screams, and Urgent Scare) back there during Haunt, it was wall-to-wall people near the bathrooms. You could easily get to Vortex since its entrance is on the side, but you had to walk through some people for WindSeeker. I don't think the path width was that bad, during the day before the crowds came in it was fine, but the fact they stuffed 3 haunts in that 1 section is what caused the bottlenecking. It should be fine during the spring and summer, I don't see the Kings Mills Antique Autos, Vortex, and WindSeeker drawing THAT many people back there by themselves but when you add the 3 Haunts, with as crazy popular as Haunt has become, that is when it is gonna get crazy.

In the case of wooden coasters, yes. Support structure really doesn't matter much- there are actually quite a few wooden coasters with steel support structures. For example, the Coney Island Cyclone in New York, one of the most famous roller coasters and built in 1927, has steel supports. And almost everyone recognizes it as wooden as well. Mainly, it is just the track that matters to what type of ride something is, not the structure. Which is why Gemini and Steel Vengeance, as well as Mine Trains, are considered Steel coasters even though they have wooden structures. Though I have seen some generally call them "hybrids" in a sense, for example some might list Voyage as "Wood/Hybrid (Steel Structure)". But to further clarify, by "traditional" wooden coasters, I mean the old-school, cut and built on site track, aka what The Racer and Beast use, which is what most wooden coasters used (and nearly all of them until recently). They are still being made, GCI still uses traditional wooden track, for example. By "new style" I mean stuff like Intamin's prefab laser cut track, or RMC's Topper Track. The Voyage is actually the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster to NOT use either of those. Also, out of curiosity, if you do disqualify Voyage from traditional woodies just because it has a steel structure (you also have to DQ Coney Island Cyclone then) the tallest and fastest "all wooden, all traditional" wooden coasters are: The Boss at Six Flags St. Louis has the biggest drop at 150 feet, and thus the fastest speed at 66.3mph. But, the tallest is Wodan Timbur Coaster @ Europa Park, at a whopping...131 feet tall. (Hades 360 is taller than Wodan, but it also has a steel structure and would thus be DQ'd same as Voyage)