McSalsa

I had a weird but Kings Island related dream. I was at Kings Island, and it was dark-ish (sunset). I decided to ride Mystic Timbers, so I get in the q-line, walk through, and oddly I am the only person in line. I was thinking, oh wow, I was expecting a 1+ hour wait but this looks like it's gonna be a walk-on! It was, there were only a few people in the train (front row was taken so I took the 4th car- it was the green train). The train went out with like 8 people on it total (strangers mostly, I did not recognize them from real life) and this is when stuff really got weird. We reached the lift hill, and I immediately notice that it is not Mystic Timbers 109 foot lift hill. No, it was MUCH bigger- over 200+ feet high! And it was very, very loud. It was at this point I realized that this was NOT Mystic Timbers, it was Son of Beast! Using Mystic Timbers GCI trains! We reached the top of the lift, and then the ride began with the dip and huge drop and then the helix, it was basically Son of Beast's correct layout, and the helix actually had good laterals. It was also pretty smooth actually, which I assume is because for whatever reason in this dream, GCI had re-built the coaster since it was using their trains and stuff. And yes, it had the loop. The ending of the ride was a bit modified, the final hill had actual airtime and the last turn was banked a bit more than on the OG Son of Beast. Then we hit the brakes, entered the station (which still felt more like Mystic Timbers station than SOB's) and the ride ops did the usual "Welcome back Son of Beast riders, how was that ride?!?!" and for 8 people it got a pretty good pop. I undid my lap bar and seat belt, and got off, and woke up. So in summary: In my dream, I rode Son of Beast, rebuilt by GCI with Loop, with Mystic Timbers styled trains. To make it even weirder, this was NOT during a long sleep- I took a short 1 hour nap and had this entire dream during it. Woke up refreshed though, and suddenly craving to ride Mystic Timbers. (Can't ride Son of Beast since it was demolished)

The very tiniest possibility that someone is in charge at Cedar Point is secretly evil and wanted to anger their guests, not caring for how much money it could cost them. (I seriously doubt anyone at CP has this line of thought though- pretty sure they LOVE money.) And the fact almost nothing can be 100% guaranteed.

When I went to the park on a May weekday a few years ago, every ride was open and running. Some food places were closed, but I rode all the large coasters- Drop Tower and WindSeeker were both closed due to high winds, but that was it. And I can't think I have seen a trip report where say, Vortex was closed because there was no staff to run it. I know Cedar Point has had this issue the last few years, with major roller coasters not opening on some days, but I don't think I have ever seen it at Kings Island to be honest.

Wow- not what Cedar Point wanted, I am 99.999% sure. I did a quick look on Pointbuzz, and a user on there named Magnum-Man says he was on the stairs, and he saw the "Chess" train blow a wheel or something mid-course, because it began to shake badly and when it returned to the station it smelled awful. "Digger" went out, ran the course normally, and when it came into the final brake run it stopped hard but slipped through, bumping into Chess. (Blackjack was apparently not in operation) No one was seriously hurt, but a few people did get minor whiplash and were treated by EMT's. I don't know how true this is or not, but it was what I have heard. The ride is apparently testing now with 1 of the trains (I'd guess it is either Digger or Blackjack, probably not Chess if she did blow a wheel) but no one is sure if it is gonna re-open today. 3 train operation is probably months off, at least. With Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion also having issues (I saw a video taken from the station on Youtube of them having to cut the transfer track because it got stuck) this is not a good look, reliability wise, for RMC's Cedar Fair debut. Hopefully these issues get ironed out before the season hits peak (around July) because the reviews for these rides have been great, and if they are down for various reasons when people visit, you are gonna have to deal with a LOT of angry guests. I am going back to Cedar Point in 2 weeks, and I hope Steel Vengeance is open then, though as MDMC01 said, even if it is not there are plenty of other great roller coasters and thrill rides I could enjoy instead (though even if SV is open I do not expect it to be using 3 trains, I see it using 2 maximum).

^ Looking at the webcams, Beast is running. I can see trains hitting the final brake run and climbing the lift hill, and people are entering the que.

^^^ To be honest, on both my trips to CP last year, I visited on a Haunt Saturday (some of the busiest weekends in the year apparently) and the longest I waited for GateKeeper was 25 minutes (2nd time I had FL+ and didn't even need it, the line was shorter than the merge point). Apparently it gets its biggest waits right as the park opens and right before the park closes, since it is the front gate coaster everyone entering the park there sees and it is a GP magnet. During the afternoon is when apparently GateKeeper's wait time drops like a rock, because by then everyone has made their way further back into the park. Though SV could throw everything off, drawing everyone straight into the rear of the park as soon as the park opens. ^^ I expect it will probably go down the Gemini Midway after the overflows, I don't know for sure though.

GateKeeper has really, really high capacity- it runs 3 32 passenger trains and from what I have seen, that ride crew does an incredible job of getting the trains out. If the crew is able to get a train out every 60 seconds or so (which from what I have seen is very possible with that ride) it can pull, from my math, up to 1,900+ riders per hour. That means it's gonna eat up whatever lines it does get, especially since there are plenty of other popular and high-capacity rides at Cedar Point to further ease the load. Vortex at Kings Island is kinda the same way- rarely will you see it with a wait over 20 minutes, yet at the end of the year, turns out it gave 900,000+ rides while Firehawk with constant 2-hour waits only gave 600,000+. I would also expect increased wait times and ridership for Maverick in 2018. Not only will Steel Vengeance probably increase overall crowd levels at the park, Maverick just happens to be right next door, and they are refurbishing a lot of the special effects and theming. Me and my sister are super excited to ride Maverick again since that stuff was all already broken when she first rode in 2010, and was still not fixed when we rode last year. I am sure were are not the only ones eager to see Maverick with all the old (and maybe some new?) special effects working. I am expecting, if I wanna ride Maverick when we go to CP in a few weeks, I am either gonna have to do it for ERT, or wait a while (At least 1 hour, probably more like 2+).

^ Yes, it did. Here is a old image, from this very site, of one of the old cars in storage. Also: 8 HOURS!?!? STILL 4+ AFTER THE DEBUT!?!? Holy cow, I knew it was a brand-new coaster concept and all and due to the 5-car trains capacity could not have been that great, but that is insane. And I thought Beast and Millennium Force regularly seeing 3+ hour waits their debut years was crazy.

Update: I went back and rode Racer a few times 1 week after opening day, on April 21st. It felt like it had gotten rough again already, although the Red side did feel smoother in the re-tracked spots you could clearly see. I found 5-2 (middle seat of the last car) gave a nice mix of being decently smooth and lots of airtime, though. It was obviously not too terrible though, because I ended up riding it 4 times (3 Red, 1 Blue) that day and my back felt fine the next morning. I would still give the usual "avoid wheel seats" advice, though, and Red is a bit smoother than Blue from what I noticed on my rides. (There was 1 spot on Blue, near the turn-around, that was VERY rough- be warned should you choose to ride Blue Racer!)

My guess is the 5-hour'ish range. I waited 4 and half hours for Banshee at Kings Island Opening Day 2014, and Steel Vengeance has just as much hype if not more (probably more) behind it than that coaster, and Banshee has better capacity than SV, given Banshee's trains can carry 32 riders and SV can only carry 24 and is about 1,600 feet longer. So Steel Vengeance will probably at least be half hour or so longer than that, unless Cedar Point cracks down on Fast Lane Plus abuse, which really slowed down the opening day Banshee line (I expect had Fast Lane Plus not been a thing, the Banshee line would have been 3 hours or so instead of 4 1/2). Granted there are other random variables, such as breakdowns and protein spills (aka people getting sick and barfing which I can almost guarantee will happen if SV is as intense as the early reviews suggest) so the line could be shorter if these don't happen, or longer if it happens a bunch.

I've heard about this rumor before- I would expect it was probably gonna happen, but around this time, Dinn Corporation fell apart and closed before the ride was built. Due to this, Kings Island shelved the wooden coaster idea, and went to Arrow instead to take a 2nd swing at the Suspended Coaster. Rumored names I have heard from this before Paramount bought the park and re-named and re-themed it TOP GUN include Thunder Run and Swoop. If you look close at what is now Bat's lift and first drop, you will notice right after it ends, there is a huge valley. If the woodie was supposed to be built here, I think the first drop would have been into that Valley, which would have given them the ability to have a huge 150+ foot drop with only say a 100-foot tall lift hill, much like the defunct Hercules at Dorney Park. I am not sure if a coaster like that would have stayed great for very long, given what has become of most of the other large Dinn woodies, including Hercules, but if it had made it to at least 2013'ish it probably would have made a great RMC candidate. The Aeroplane Coaster rumor is also a interesting one, but if Dinn had built it, I do not think it would be around today as it would have opened. The Aeroplane Coaster from Rye Playland had tons of sharp twists, turns, and curves and I don't think a coaster using PTC trains would have aged well with those elements. It probably would have been amazing its first few seasons but after a decade, it probably would need lots of maintenance every single off season. GCI is probably the best company out there right now if someone is serious about rebuilding this coaster, as their Millennium Flyer trains would handle it much better. However, this would probably have at least lasted to the era when RMC showed up, and RMC seems to be great at re-making twister coasters like this. A RMC'd Aeroplane would be very interesting and probably a incredible ride. I also don't think of this coaster as if it "never came", because IMO, it did. It was shelved for a few years while Paramount worked on other projects like Flight of Fear, but when Kentucky Kingdom began to threaten Kings Island with the addition of Chang in 1997, it came off the shelf (as well as the shelved Drop Tower idea Paramount had looked at around 1995'ish) for the new Action Zone area. However, by this point, Paramount had decided they wanted a looping woodie, which caused CCI (then the leader in wooden coasters) to turn down the project. GCI was not yet a big name (Lightning Racer in 2000 is when they got more popular) and probably would have turned the project down as well. Intamin's pre-fabricated track, which would have made such a large wooden coaster smooth and feasible, was still in the works for another season. So Paramount hired RCCA, who suggested they also break the 200-foot barrier, which Paramount agreed to do...and Son of Beast was born. And we know how that ended up. Six Flags bought Kentucky Kingdom, ruined their pants when they saw Kings Island add Action Zone (they could not match it due to the lease with the fair board being restrictive), and decided to add tons of stuff to Geauga Lake instead (compete with Cedar Point), which ended up killing that park eventually from over-expansion. If Kings Island got its Dinn woodie in 1991-1993, who knows how much of this would have changed.

^^ My guess on why Premier Rides was able to build Flight of Fear, B&M did not do launches at all in 1996 (they did not do one of their own until Thunderbird in 2015), so they would have turned that project down if that is what Paramount was wanting. Intamin was also not exactly as well-known for their coasters at that time either, as a lot of the rides that made them famous in that department would not come until 1997-2000. Thus, Premier Rides likely had as good a shot as anyone at that point and thus won the bid. I would also agree that Flight of Fear has turned out to be one of the long-term hits Paramount added to the park, probably the most successful of the roller coasters they added.

TBH I agree on the current woodies- Racer is a pretty iconic ride and is still more liked than hated (It is a bit rough at times but I'd try a GCI overhaul first), Beast is beloved as-is by many (also I don't know how good of a RMC it even could be, since it has so much straight track and is so spread out), and Mystic Timbers is brand new. If Kings Island were to get something from RMC, I'd expect it would be a ground-up Topper Track coaster, like a bigger Wildfire (Kolmarden) or Outlaw Run, or a T-Rex Single Rail coaster (The smaller Raptor model likely is too low on capacity). With that said, I would be overjoyed if I found out Kings Island was building a large RMC Topper Track "woodie" (there is debate of course over if they are wood or steel). They give El Toro a serious run for its money atop most modern wood coaster polls, and adding one would make KI a destination park to nearly all wood coaster fans, as you would be adding what would be adding another "best wood coaster in the world" candidate to a park that already boasts the Legendary Beast and Mystic Timbers, both of which also usually can at least be found on many people's Top 10 lists. However, this probably won't happen at least for another coaster or two from now, as it would seem odd to the GP to add back to back wood coasters. Even if this happens, there will be stuff between it and Mystic Timbers on this Kings Island coaster timeline, I assume. A T-Rex could also be a interesting coaster to add to Kings Island's lineup, based on what I have seen from the smaller Raptor coasters test runs. They haul, and look to pack quite the punch. Kings Island would need the extra capacity though, so I'd wager we'd probably see a T-Rex instead. These coasters look like they can fit in tight spots, so there would probably be tons of places it could go. It would be ironic if Kings Island puts a T-Rex coaster in the former Dinosaurs Alive area. Though that is just what RMC has right now. I am pretty sure they will create and come up with more models within the next 10 years, and perhaps Kings Island could be in line to get one of those. ^ RMC Adventure Express? Really, while that does seem at least possible, I dunno. I'd imagine it would be mostly the same as the current coaster, as they would want to keep it a family coaster more than likely, but you would replace the old Arrow track with RMC Track and add new trains. If this was done, I would also hope they would fix up the theming a bit on the ride to go along with the new track and trains.

For those who could not attend media day, Cedar Point's Youtube Page has put up the official POV: Yeah, it looks amazing IMO. I can't wait until May, when my sister, me, and a group of friends are going up there again (went twice in 2017) and I will finally be able to ride this monster. (Visited on the last Saturday of 2017 and saw it with the track completed and it looked amazing even then.)

Hello everyone! If you recall, last week after preview day, I said I was returning to Kings Island this week. AND I DID. Here is the trip report! But, before we get in the meat of the report, here is my new-for-2018-and-thus-only-just used last week tier ratings system! 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- Zen. 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. I was with my sister and 2 of her friends, who I guess you can also consider my friends as we had a good time but I am farther from them than she is. We headed out and arrived at the park in time for ERT, around 9:15 AM. After the national anthem played, we entered the park. Also, with this trip report to save some time becuase THERE IS A LOT O' STUFF IN HERE, I am not gonna bother with the "we walked from here to here" blah blah blah stuff, and will just go straight from what we rode (or ate, or if we saw a show) in the order we did them. Ride #1- Mystic Timbers Wait: 20 Minutes You are probably wondering why the heck Mystic Timbers would have a huge wait for ERT. Well, it was not yet 45 degrees outside, which meant the other 2 ERT rides (The Bat & Banshee) could not run yet. Due to the cold, Mystic Timbers was not quite at full speed (I'd say it felt like 95%) but even then it was still pretty fast and intense! I got good amount of airtime, and we got the snakes ending in the shed, so I was still stuck at 2 out of 3 endings. Rating: A Ride #2- Backlot Stunt Coaster Wait: 10 Minutes (For Ride to Pass Pre-Park Opening Testing and Open, was Walk-On, we were first public train of day) BLSC opened with the park, but it too seemed to suffer a bit from the cold- it was struggling to get over the first helix! However, it was making it, so the ride opened. The forces were not as good at the reduced speed, but the fire effect felt good in the cold air. All the effects the ride has left were working on this day, BTW. Rating: C Ride #3- Flight of Fear Wait: Literal Walk-On (We arrived at the station just as the gates for the next train were opening and there was next to no one in line!) Flight of Fear, being indoors, was not as affected by the cold and was thus running at normal speed. The ride was a bit on the rougher side, but the G-forces were strong, and the ride was still a good bit of fun. The alien at the end of the ride is still there. At the exit, the aliens told us "We now know what happens when the human body is pushed to..." (silence) LOL, a removed Outer Limits reference! Rating: B Ride #4- Boo Blasters on Boo Hill Wait: Walk-On While I am not the biggest fan of this ride (I think KI needs a much better dark ride) my sister loves it and as it was a walk-on and harmless, I did it anyway. I got a score of 510, not my personal best ever. I really don't like the blaster gimmick, and wish KI would make a traditional non-shooter dark ride instead. Rating: D Food: Skyline Chilli I-Street After BBoBH, we went and got the all-season drinks plan. We chose disposable cups. To use the new plan, we went to Skyline Chilli, which had no line or wait. We also grabbed some cheese coney dogs, as they looked to make a decent snack. And they did- they tasted good, though I swear they were like 80% cheese! (I may be exaggerating a bit there) Rating: B Ride #5- Delirium Wait: 5 Minutes (They had some restraint issues apparently and had to unlock and re-check them twice, otherwise, this would have been another walk-on) I rode this ride solo, as it was a walk-on and my companions were smoking, which I don't do. Delirium was its usual, super fun ride, also based on its POV's I counted how many swings at full strength it does and knew how long the ride would last. These Giant Frisbees are fun, and remain my favorite flat rides so far. Rating: A Ride #6- Banshee Wait: 10-15 Minutes Our friend who couldn't do loops did not ride with us here, but he was able to hold our stuff, so that was a blessing (no need 4 locker). This ride marked a turning point- earlier, Mystic Timbers and Backlot Stunt Coaster, due to the cold, felt a bit slower than usual. By now it had warmed up, and because of this, Banshee actually felt a smidge faster than usual! One of our friends was also riding Banshee for the first time (he had not been since when Diamondback was new, Mystic Timbers was new for him also) and loved it. I did too. Rating: A Ride #7- The Bat Wait: 5 Minutes We saw The Bat testing before we rode Banshee, but it did not open until we got off. So we headed there, as one of our friends really wanted to do it (he loved Iron Dragon at Cedar Point). I was not opposed, Bat is usually fun. I rode in the back of the front car, and because my sister is a whole foot shorter than me (she is very short LOL) it was like a front-row ride! Bat also felt just a smidge faster than usual, and our friend loved it but was surprised by how much more intense The Bat is versus Iron Dragon. A fun ride once again. Rating: B Ride #8- Adventure Express Wait: 10 Minutes This one is another favorite of one of the friends I was with. AE continued the trend set by Banshee and Bat, it also felt a bit faster than usual! As such, this was a fun ride on AE. Also now I can confirm 100% Indiana Jones is not removed, I saw him this time. Rating: B (AE is usually a C, but the slight speed bump raises it up a bit!) Ride #9- Blue Racer Wait: Walk-On I decided to try Blue Racer, since I did Red on preview night. Well, Blue Racer was running a bit faster it felt like too, but also felt MUCH rougher than Red on Preview Night. I did notice the really rough spot near the turn-around, ouch. There was some good airtime though, so not all was lost, and I'd say this was a OK Racer ride. Also, we did win, as we were racing. Rating: C Ride #10- Red Racer Wait: Walk-On Thinking this side would be much smoother (based on preview night), I went ahead and took a wheel seat at one of my friend's suggestions. And well, it was a bit smoother than Blue, but the wheel seat negated that and made this ride a bit more painful! Yikes, how does a ride get this much rougher just from 1 week and a change in seat selection? As before, still a OK ride, just rough. But we also lost this time, somewhere in the turn-around Red Racer seemed to just lose speed for whatever reason and Blue passes it. Rating: C Ride #11- Vortex Wait: Walk-On I was with the friend who had not been to KI in awhile, as he was the only one who wanted to do Vortex with me. We rode in 5-1, since I figured that would be the best seat for us to try since it was usually the smoothest and had no wait. Vortex also felt a bit faster, which led to pretty strong airtime on the first drop and great g-forces in the inversions. Thankfully unlike Racer, Vortex's new wheels have not worn out in just 1 week, and it feels as smooth as it did on preview night. Yet another fun ride on the day. Rating: B Ride #12- The Beast Wait: 25 Minutes I was nervous and excited for this one- as a ride that focuses mainly on speed, if Beast was also running fast like all the other rides, this was sure to be awesome. However, on preview night, Beast was also running a bit rough. So I was expecting "Fast & Rough". Thankfully, while Beast did feel very fast here, it was also a bit smoother, since I was not on a back wheel this time, but a front wheel. Also, since the trees have not yet grown in, I could see the turn into the long tunnel between the long brake shed, and it is actually a 30 foot drop to my surprise! No wonder Beast gains so much speed after losing it to the brakes there. Another awesome ride on one of my favorite coasters. Rating: A Ride #13- Diamondback Wait: 25 Minutes My friends were doing some kiddo rides, so I decided to ride Diamondback solo instead. After a 25-minute or so wait, I was on, and my sister actually was trying to call me while the train began to climb the lift hill! (The phone was in a zipper pocket) Nope, sorry, can't answer that right now! (I called back after the ride from the gift shop) Diamondback kinda broke the trend of rides feeling faster, it did not feel slow but I did not notice a increase in speed or airtime here, it felt just like last week basically. However, I still got lots of strong floater air (some almost ejector), combine that with the openness of the restraints and the wind in my face, and it was still an awesome ride. Rating: A Ride #14- Woodstock Express Wait: 15 Minutes Yep, I went and rode a kiddie coaster, granted it is probably the least kiddie of that group. I have not ridden this in years, back then it was still The Beastie, and as I was just a kid I remember it scared me a little. And I can see why- for a kids ride, this is still a bit intense! There isn't any real airtime (though as it is for kids that is probably a good thing) but it felt decently fast and forceful for a small woodie. Also, the trains on here are still old-school buzz bars with just a seat belt, no head rests, no seat divider. I would have loved to ride Racer back when it had this style of seating (Beast too, but I think Racer has more to gain in this regard than Beast). Rating: C (IMO, BETTER THAN Invertigo!!!) Food: Yogurt Plus We went and got some frozen Yogurt, we got the Blue Streak flavor, as we had a bit of a sweet tooth after checking out Sweet Spot, but did not wanna pay $7 for fudge. (We ended up paying around that much anyway ironically) It was pretty good, and we got in and out decently fast since there was no wait. Rating: B Ride #15- Red Racer #2 Wait: Walk-On We were gonna ride Adventure Express again, but it was having some issues apparently, so we did Racer again. I made a point NOT to sit on a wheel this time, though we did also sit in the very rear car. Well, turns out this was a decent seat choice because airtime went up, and roughness went down. I could also really feel when we hit the re-tracked sections from this seat, they felt very smooth versus the rest of the track. IMO, this was much better than both the earlier Racer rides. This seat may be the one I target when I ride Racer from now on. Rating: B Ride #16- Adventure Express #2 Wait: 10-15 Minutes AE went back up after we rode Red Racer, so went and rode it again. I rode in the very back car, and thus the ride felt even faster than before! Other than that, no real differences between the 2 rides on AE. Rating: B Ride #17- Vortex #2 Wait: Walk-On My sister was with us this time, since she decided to give Vortex another shot with the new wheels. I gave her and our other friend (the guy who could not do loops waited outside for us) 5-1, and since 7-1 had a wait, I decided to try 6-1, since it is right in between. And turns out, 6-1 is also pretty good! Aside from maybe a tiny bit more roughness, felt about the same as 5-1. From here on out I guess I will look at the 3 seats I like (5-1, 6-1, 7-1) and ride whichever one of them has the shortest wait. However, my sister's short height still hindered her: she still got ping-ponged a bit. I guess Vortex isn't for her, unless it gets new restraints or something. Rating: B Ride #18- Dodgem Wait: 5 Minutes (1 Cycle) Well, Dodgem is more fun when you have more than 1 friend to target, LOL. I got them so many times. Sadly, the ride is a bit short and not the fastest version out there. Rating: C Ride #19- Grand Carousel Wait: Walk-On I was feeling a bit tired by this point, so I got on a horse that does not move and just enjoyed going around in circles while resting for a bit. I did watch how the ride works by looking at my sister and one of our friend's horses going up and down together, pretty simple but hey, it works. A relaxing ride on a old classic from 1926. Rating: C Food: Tom+Chee We originally wanted to do Coney Island BBQ, but it had a big line and Tom+Chee was cheaper, and had a shorter line. I do want to try Coney BBQ eventually though. We ordered and split a Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich, and it was delicious. Our friend also got the Mac N' Cheese from here, and I got to try some, it was also awesome. This was the last of the in-park food we ate, and it was all delicious, so KI did a great job on this front IMO! Rating: A Ride #20- Kings Island & Miami Valley RR Wait: Walk-On (Train was there as we arrived) After eating, we decided to ride the train to relax, since it is a good way to do so. Diamondback and Mystic Timbers both ran, giving some nice views of them running their courses. The spiels were just the usual ones, nothing too crazy or new. Other than that, classic KI & MV RR ride. Rating: C Ride #21- Backlot Stunt Coaster #2 Wait: 20 Minutes By this point, we were trying to kill time, as it was getting dark but not dark enough and we wanted to do a Mystic Timbers night ride (due to the not-so-huge crowds we also thought we could do both it AND Beast) . BLSC ran much faster at this point, as earlier in the day it was struggling to make it over the first helix but now it did so easily. With the sun down, the lights on the cop cars and effects from the helicopter attack really popped more. Another ride that felt better later in the day versus what it did earlier. Rating: B Ride #22- Shake, Rattle, and Roll Wait: Walk-On We still had more time to kill, so we spent a few minutes on this fun classic 1975 HUSS Troika. The ride op started the ride by saying "Enjoy your ride on Shake, Rattle, and Roll- stayin' alive since 1975" which made me play the famous song in my head during the ride. LOL. Rating: C Ride #23- Mystic Timbers #2 (@ Night) Wait: 25 Minutes Well, for my first Mystic Timbers night ride, I got front row! Woo-hoo! The view from the station as you sit in the front seat waiting for dispatch is quite awesome, one of the best views of the park IMO. The ride felt much faster than it did in the morning, and I got even more airtime on the many airtime hills. It was not pitch black or as secluded as The Beast at night, but the visuals of the lit-up Eiffel Tower and Diamondback are still pretty stunning. Mystic Timbers after dark is incredible, my only real complaint is it feels a bit short, I wish it was 1000 or so feet longer. Also, we went in the shed and got...TREE! I NOW HAVE GOTTEN ALL 3 ENDINGS! Rating: S- (if only it were a bit longer...) Ride #24- The Beast #2 (@ Night) Wait: 40 Minutes We got off Mystic Timbers at 8:50 PM, which meant there was plenty of time to also ride Beast. My sister and one of our friends left to do other rides like Adventure Express, but me and one friend stayed for Beast (he had never ridden it at night). Unlike Mystic Timbers, I knew Beast would be amazing after dark from past experience, and given how it was earlier in the day, I figured this ride would be super bonkers. And it was. Beast flew through the woods at seemingly epic speeds, my friend made this accurate comment before the long tunnel mid-ride: "IT IS LIKE A HORROR MOVIE!" Agreed. The view of the park at night from the 2nd lift is magical, and then comes the final helix, which was extra crazy on this night. And to top it all off, Beast was not too rough (it was a bit but a smooth Beast would probably be boring since the ride kinda uses its roughness to increase the out-of-control feeling). What a epic ride. Mystic Timbers puts up a great fight, but Beast is still KI's top woodie, IMO. Rating: S Ride #25- Red Racer (@ Night) Wait: Walk-On We met back up with our friends, and one of them wanted to ride Racer at Night with us. It was pretty fun and since I was not on a wheel again, not too rough. Good airtime too. However Blue Racer was not running due to the upcoming Fireworks. Riding all 3 of the large wooden coasters after dark was a fun experience, Kings Island has a great wood coaster collection IMO. Red Racer was the final ride of the night. Rating: B Show: Closing Fireworks After Red Racer, we headed down to I-Street and saw the Fireworks. I can't believe I rode Mystic Timbers, Beast, and Red Racer at night and still made it to I-Street to see them and the park' s light show on the buildings, which was very pretty. Rating: A And thus ended a very awesome trip to Kings Island- possibly even my best visit ever! I rode so much stuff due to the low (for a weekend) crowds, and so much of it was running better than usual. So now, my final Pros/Cons... PROS +Rides were running amazingly well after the first hour or so, once they warmed up, they warmed up! +All the food I tried tasted great, and the service speed was decent +Low crowds, especially early on, meant I got to ride most of the big coasters before they even built up lines! I broke my personal record for most rides ridden in 1 day! +Epic Night Rides CONS -Racer was running pretty rough, though it seemed better as I chose better seats and the day went on. And now, for once...HAVE SOME PICTURES I TOOK!!! (+1 from my sister) I hope you all enjoyed this trip report. Comments and questions welcome. Now, I await my next trip, which will probably be to Cedar Point, where I will return...WITH A VENGEANCE.

^ My Overall Rivertown Theme Hypothesis: it's this small town with a Railroad and various shops, however, the town hides horrible secrets, note-ably with the Mining Company (Home to The Beast) and the Logging Company (Mystic Timbers & Its Shed). Based on one of the 3 shed endings (spoilers?) that Diamondback is a huge monster snake that escaped from the shed, and now also terrorizes the town. A river also runs through the woods which people can take raft rides on (White Water Canyon). Coney Mall is just a old fashioned amusement park, on the surface at least, featuring classic flat rides, old school roller coasters like Racer & Vortex, etc etc. They are also filming the car chase scene for a upcoming action movie here (Backlot Stunt Coaster), and they are looking for actors for that. However, hidden in a secret area behind The Racer, is X-Base, a government testing facility home to Hangar 18 (Flight of Fear) and its UFO, as well as a government machine to test human flight, known as Project Firehawk. Now, the other full areas I don't know/have not made up stories for, but based on the lore I have read/seen or made up, I can add at least some individual rides to the overall Kings Island storyline: Adventure Express: A railway designed to take government employees from near X-Base to Outpost 5, the other government base in the area where the Aircraft Carrier was located. However, the idiots building it made Track #2 go through a ancient forbidden temple, causing horrible things to happen on that track. Due to this, Track #2 has been closed for good, but somehow, on occasion (AKA every time you ride the coaster) the railway switches to Track #2, sending riders into the forbidden temple. Son of Beast: Yes, this ride is gone, but it's storyline is still connected in ways. Government Agents studying The Beast in Rivertown stumbled upon a cave, and there was a baby Beast inside. It is not known if the father Beast knew of his existence or not, but the Agents kidnapped the young creature and returned to Outpost 5, where the aircraft carrier was docked. This government base was also hidden, behind a well-known movie studio. In addition to studying the creature, the scientists at Outpost 5 decided to give steroids and growth hormones to it as well for research purposes, causing Son of Beast to grow incredibly massive and become very aggressive. The people in charge of Outpost 5 grew worried as Son of Beast kept attacking search vehicle after search vehicle, causing many injuries. They stopped giving him the steroids and neutered him, hoping he would become less aggressive, but it only marginally worked as Son of Beast continued to attack more search vehicles. Eventually, the General decided enough was enough and ordered Son of Beast to be killed. It took a while, and they say Son of Beast killed many of the soldiers trying to kill him, but eventually they did it. However, little did they know, this would be the undoing of Outpost 5! Banshee: When Son of Beast died, his blood soaked the ground. Little did most working there know, Outpost 5 was built on a former graveyard. With his last breath, Son of Beast wished vengeance on those who killed him. One of the spirits in the graveyard, known only as Banshee, heard Son of Beast's dying wish...and decided she would act upon it. The first of the loud screams was heard that very night. As days passed, mysterious things began to happen to the Soldiers, Scientists, and Agents: their drinks would turn into blood, their vehicles would randomly malfunction (sometimes even blowing up!), and they would have horrible nightmares and wake up screaming: "Banshee IS COMING! Banshee IS COMING!!!" Many soldiers, agents, and scientists quit their jobs and fled, but some remained. About 2 weeks later, the screams were heard again, but this time, Banshee herself appeared and began to terrorize and destroy the base! Since she is a ghost, bullets and bombs were useless against her. Nearly everyone either died, or ran away as fast as they could in pure terror. Banshee had taken over Outpost 5. She created a new tombstone for the fallen Son of Beast, with a flame atop it that is said to never go out. She also allowed a nearby Bat colony to overtake the army's aircraft carrier, and a pack of Werewolves were allowed to call the former Son of Beast search vehicle station home where they would not be persecuted by normal humans. The movie studio next door, unaware what had fully happened (they saw some explosions and heard the screams, but did not know the government base had been destroyed) remains in operation to this day, however, after Banshee took over Outpost 5 their hurricane-simulation prop, Delirium, changed colors mysteriously. The government has now abandoned Outpost 5, and has instead decided to focus its efforts on its studies in X-Base and Rivertown for the time being. And well, that's about all my Kings Island ride backstory head-canons. I really have nothing for I-Street other than it being a street with shops, probably in Paris, and Oktoberfest is just a small German Town, and Planet Snoopy is hard to make a backstory for that fits this overall storyline. I hope people enjoyed this story lore dump I came up with.

On Beast's que & station: The old beat-up feel is actually what I think the station designers were going for back in 1979. The Beast's station is supposed to be this old, beat-up mill that no one has maintained for years because The Beast keeps scaring away anyone who would maintain it, thus it has fallen into disrepair, taken over by the creature. Now that the station and que are nearing 40+ years old, they have actually worn down and now fits the story behind the ride even better. It's not supposed to be clean and pretty. IMO as long as they are still safe (aka don't let the wood rot and someone fall from the station- replace it if needed) I am 100% fine with the run-down look. Beast actually has one of my favorite que's in the entire park, actually, since it matches its theme and backstory very well. Now, The Bat's que...yeah, I do agree on that one. The patriotic stuff does not really fit back there, but I do kinda see why the park has not removed it as someone would probably call them anti-American or something. I also kinda wish they had done more with the actual ride station, besides just rip all the lower deck aircraft carrier stuff out and call it a day, because it still kinda looks like a aircraft carrier to me. However, I have kinda come up with a story in my head that "explains" it a bit: when Banshee appeared in 2014, the spirit of The OG Bat came with her, and there was a aircraft carrier close by (TOP GUN/Flight Deck). The Bat, with its swarm of smaller bats, decided this would be their new home and chased all the soldiers and sailors away, so now you have a aircraft carrier filled with bats, docked in a abandoned secret government base. At least, that's the best theme I could come up with to explain why the patriotic stuff is still there and it still looks like a aircraft carrier, but is called The Bat.

^ LOL, I will fix that! (Fantasizes Michigan's Adventure with a B&M Giga, B&M Dive Coaster, B&M Wing Coaster, RMC'd Wildcat, GCI Wooden Coaster, Intamin Blitz Coaster, B&M Family Inverted Coaster, Vekoma Mine Train, Intamin Strata Coaster, as well as a huge waterpark expansion with multiple waterslides including water coasters and also a bunch of new flat rides and theming that is as good as Disney World) MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I MADE MICHIGAN'S ADVENTURE THE BEST PARK IN DA WORLD!!! (Because I forgot to upgrade Hotels & Infastructure, Michigan's Adventure suffers the same fate as Geauga Lake and dies from over-expansion and all that stuff I listed above gets sent to other Cedar Fair Parks instead) Oh...uhh...oops... WA WA WA!

^ True, from my memory usually the Red Racer has run better than Blue, though in August 2017 I rode both on the same day and Red was a bit rougher, and was losing to Blue quite a bit. I was on Red and we got a huge (half train length) head start, and Blue pulled away and was a full train length ahead by the brake run. On my first ride of 2018, Red got a far shorter head start but we finished well ahead of the Blue Train.

While I technically rode Racer not on Opening Day but on Preview Night, I will be the 4th that I thought it was running much smoother this year. I also think the ride was quite a bit quieter from off-ride, at least it seemed that way when I sat in the old Dinosaurs Alive area to wait for my friends after I rode Vortex, which would mean the train was not bouncing around as much and thus confirming it was running smoother. The red side seemed to be winning its races fairly easily, so I wonder if Blue got as much love as Red, as I noticed last year when one side is running rougher than the other it tends to lose. Good job to the maintenance team who re-tracked Racer this year. I look forward to many rides on it in 2018, especially if its keeps running like this.

From Kings Island, Son of Beast, if possible with loop during its first few seasons. Mostly to see if it was really as bad as everyone said it was, or to see if I would be one of the 10% who seemed to enjoy it. The OG Bat also looks like it was a very interesting ride, and King Cobra looks like it was at least decent. For coasters outside of Kings Island, the Rye Playland Aeroplane Coaster comes to mind almost instantly. From the photos I have seen, it looked gorgeous and seems like it had lots of airtime and nice laterals. Chicago's Old Riverview Park Bobs also looks like it was great. For Steel Coasters, Big Bad Wolf @ Busch Gardens Williamsburg would be my pick, that or Eagle Fortress @ Everland in South Korea, which looked insane.

Well, this trip to Kings Island came from seemingly nowhere. This year, due to our desire to return to Cedar Point (due to Steel Vengeance of course) in May and our now having friends who can reliably offer transportation, we decided to get passes for Kings Island for the first time since 2014, but this time, Platinum Passes. So we did so, however, I was not expecting to actually be able to come to the park until next week. Yesterday, my sister told me we were going to some park due to the amazing weather with a friend, and that I should come to get out for a while, so I got ready and all that, and then she said this park was really nice but was kinda along the same road that we take to go to Kings Island. I bought it, but I grew suspicious when we drove for over 45 minutes and had not reached the park. There are good parks near our house, why are we wasting gas and driving this far? Then, after we hit a rest stop for 5 minutes to use the bathrooms, she finally had to spill the beans. We were not going to the park (well, we were, sorta) at all. We were going to Passholder Preview Night at Kings Island! TBH this is the first time I ever went to any amusement park without knowing beforehand, so it was a new feeling. Usually, I have time to hype myself up for weeks or even months beforehand, but I thought I was gonna have 1 more week of off-season. I guess not. Also: I have decided after some deliberation, to scrap my 1-10 rating system, as I have over this last offseason thought up something better for me (since I almost never used 0-4). I am also into video games, and was watching some stuff on Youtube, and have decided to switch to...Tier Lists! Basically, every ride I go on will get a letter. F is the worst, and it goes up to A/S for amazing rides. Here is a explanation of the full scale, from worst to best: 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- Zen. 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. BTW if you must use a 1-10 scale, consider S=10, A=9, B=8, C=7, D=6, F=5 or worse, etc. Anyhow, let's get into the actual trip report and see what Kings Island has to offer in 2018! We arrived at the park around 4:30 PM, and headed to get our passes processed. This went by pretty quick, and I was the first platinum for the lady who did mine. We then headed in the park and I used the men's bathroom near the front gate, which seems to have been renovated this off-season. Our friend who took us was the one who was still scared of big coasters (though he managed to do Magnum XL-200 somehow), so for his sake, we made our first coaster of 2018... RIDE #1: Adventure Express AE was a walk-on, but we did not get first train of the year. They did have to take a little girl off for a second and re-measure her, as she was just BARELY tall enough to ride. She passed, and got her first ride on AE. Adventure Express was its usual, fun self with some minor rough spots but nothing unexpected for the coaster...save 1 thing. Indiana Jones skeleton is GONE from the 2nd tunnel! I mean, he was just sitting in there rotting away, so I guess the natives finally got sick of the stench and removed him. UPDATE: My sister has informed me he is still in the tunnel, we just did not see him the first time. My bad. Rating: C Since he had ridden Magnum XL-200, our friend who was with us realized AE is far, far less intense and he had nothing to worry about. Next up, we hit another coaster in the area, one of Kings Island's OG classics. RIDE #2: The Racer Another walk-on, but we waited 1 cycle for front row on each side, as they grabbed Blue Racer and I took Red. And I have some great news- Racer was running great! Memories of May 2012 were re-ignited because Racer was running pretty darn smooth, with a solid amount of airtime to boot. Easily my best ride on Racer since that day. Also, I won, by at least a full train length, so Blue Racer may not be as smooth this year as red. Rating: B After Racer, we headed for The Bat, since our friend really liked Iron Dragon and wanted to ride the larger, more intense version at Kings Island. However, when we got back there, a water pipe or something had busted and was spraying water all over, so The Bat was closed. I split off from the group for a bit, as they wanted to ride Congo Falls and I was not really feeling getting wet, so we agreed to meet up at the old Dinosaurs Alive! area, since over there I could ride... RIDE #3: Vortex 1 train wait, and since 5-1 and 7-1 both had the same wait, I actually went 7-1 since I always do 5-1, why not mix it up a bit? And this choice seems to have paid off: I got 2 nice pops of airtime, on the first drop and going into the corkscrews, and the ride was pretty smooth by Vortex standards (only 1 actual head-bang moment!). At least from my seat, the people behind me foolishly took a "2" seat and got pretty beat up. Though the guy behind me also did say as bad as he thought that was, he felt Son of Beast was worse. I can't imagine if I would have enjoyed that ride or not, but I never really had the chance for that one either. Rating: B After Vortex, I sat down and my group found me pretty quickly. I did get a chance to check the area out, no teaser posters here yet so I don't think we are getting a Giga Coaster next year, maybe 2020+. We then headed over and saw BLSC was also down (early season issues, early season issues everywhere!) so we headed to... RIDE #4: The Beast Our friend who was overcoming his fear of coasters was nervous about this one. However, since he did conquer Magnum XL-200, we told him only the helix at the end was to worry about. This was our first real wait at around 20-25 minutes. We boarded, and due to my friend's seat choices, I had to sit in 1-3 and be on a rear wheel seat. And, it resulted in a rough ride. My gut kept smacking into the lap bar, creating the sensation Beast was punching me over and over. Thankfully not too hard, but I could feel it. However, the ride was also running very fast and intense, so I would still take this Beast ride over some smoother, but less fun Beast rides I have had in the past. I thought this ride was very good. However, I am gonna try not to get a rear-wheel seat again. Our friend was fine for the first part of the ride, but he did think the helix was crazy, as expected. Though he will still ride Beast again, but he is scared to do it at night, since he hates not seeing what is happening. Rating: A After The Beast, my sister was getting hungry, so we wandered around the park and looked for food and...EVERY SINGLE FOOD STAND HAD HUGE LINES. We spent 30 minutes looking for somewhere with at least a short line, but nope. So we gave up, and decided we would eat outside the park later. However, this trek eventually took us past Diamondback, where we saw a old friend: THE WHEEL O' Fast Lane! A lot of rides had built up big waits, so we decided to play the game a few times. We got...Adventure Express, Banshee, and Diamondback! Well, one of those is right here...our friend sat this one out, he does not like how open the trains are and DB is even bigger than Magnum XL-200. He might do it when he has more confidence later this year, though. RIDE #5: Diamondback We still ended up waiting 10 minutes, because there was a protein spill on one of the trains, and thus only 2 were taking passengers. We rode in the front row of the 2nd car, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much airtime we got, especially since this was not the back car! Diamondback, per usual, gave its super fun airtime filled ride I have come to expect since 2009. Also the new black seats look great. Oh, and when our train hit the brake run, the 3rd train got barfed on as well, so DB was effectively down to 1 train and people were already barfing all over the new black seats. Yuck. Rating: A After Diamondback, we cut across the park and my companions took a 2nd ride on Adventure Express. AE is fun, but you could only take 2 people with the Fast Lane Ticket thingies, and it looked like it had a 20 minute or so wait. After that, we saw Bat had re-opened, but when we went back there we found it with a 45-minute wait (for Bat that is HUGE, biggest wait I personally have ever seen it with) so we just turned around and spent our final Fast Lane ticket. Our friend cannot do loops or inversions, so he sat this one out as well. Also, it was night time by now! RIDE #6: Banshee (Night) Ahh, Banshee at night. The cool air in your face, your body going upside down 7 times, the strong G-Forces...what's not to like here? Also, the KI Phone App was horribly wrong on a lot of stuff all day, for example it claimed Banshee had a 15-minute wait but it was actually over an hour, as we saw when we walked up to the ride with our ticket. Rating: A After Banshee, we checked the wait time for Mystic Timbers and found it was 90 minutes. While we normally would have waited that out, my sister had to work today so we could not leave the park that late. Beast was a hour, and due to its fireworks shut-down adding 15-30 to that, was also a no-go. So instead we opted to do some smaller flat rides, then wait and watch the fireworks. We came across Zephyr, and decided to ride that. RIDE #7: Zephyr (Night) There was a 5 minute or so wait, it had to run a cycle before we went on due to there being a decent line. Thankfully, Zephyr has good capacity. Swinging around and going up and down is fun, but I was also swaying side to side, possibly because it was windy (yet somehow, WindSeeker was open!). I had fun, but the ride made my sister and our friend kinda sick- turns out, he can't do spinning or looping. Rating: C After Zephyr, we checked out the new Coney Island BBQ, but my sister did not like the prices so we ditched (the menu may have only had combo meals, I didn't get a good look at it myself) and headed for our final ride of the evening... RIDE #8: Eiffel Tower (Night) You could really feel the wind up here, in fact it was making the tower sway. Our friend was getting sick from it, so he had to bail and go back down. The views of Kings Island at night are amazing though, and we stayed for the fireworks, which we got a great view of (though WindSeeker ran during them, bet that was a even better view). Then of course, due to park close, we went down to ground level. A fun trip up KI's iconic tower. Rating: B Oh, I should mention it here, the new lights on International Street are gorgeous. I think they were added during Winterfest (must do that in 2018!) but I am not sure. Anyhow, after all that, we met our friend and left the park, but it took us 30 minutes to exit the parking lot. Ouch, my sister is probably super le tired at work today. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this trip report! Here is my final Pros/Cons... PROS +Rides were running great mostly! Vortex and Racer felt smoother than in 2017, Beast was rough but running fast. +The park looks very pretty at night with the new lights +Good fireworks show to end the night CONS -Huge...food...lines...ugh. I'd say I hope this improves, but this has been a issue for 3 years now. Next time, we will have food in the car, just in case. -Huge crowds. People really want to go to KI after the offseason and it shows. Especially with nice weather. -Lots of ride breakdowns. Not unexpected, they are just waking up after the offseason, but it still kinda sucks. As usual, comments and questions welcome. Oh, and I'll be back...next week. Yeah, the trip next week was NOT cancelled, we are literally going 2 weeks in a row for the first time I can recall. And will probably be back more after that. YAY SEASON PASSES!!!

Here is my bucket list. -Eat at the new Coney Island BBQ -Finally get a night ride on Mystic Timbers -Get Tree ending on Mystic Timbers (this one could be tough, due to the random nature of the endings) -Ride Flying Ace Aerial Chase (so I can finally say I have ridden every coaster in the park) And that is it. I don't want some ultra-huge bucket list, as it would be very tough to knock everything off, and I would rather enjoy KI in 2018 at my own pace thank you very much.

^ The Premier Rides (company who designed Flight of Fear) Facebook page actually linked to the same poll, so that may be the reason it has so many votes.

Wow, I expected Beast to do well in that poll (it did get my vote), but it is currently demolishing everything (only Diamondback is even making a dent in its lead)! And Banshee and Mystic Timbers are both surprisingly getting slaughtered with only a few votes each. I am guessing locals who have not gone to Kings Island in a while may be doing a lot of the voting, and they have not been on the new coasters, since reviews for Banshee and Mystic Timbers were VERY positive, and quite a few enthusiasts list one of those as their favorites from what I've seen. Or Beast is just the GP's favorite ride in the park by far. Granted if more people see this poll, that could change and Banshee and Mystic Timbers could probably do better numbers.