McSalsa

Well, yes, they all do...Ugh. I was Terp'd again. I meant they are similar ride styles (Builder, Ride Type, features, etc etc.) but didn't know how to word it.

True- a great ride is a great ride, even if it is cloned a million times. In fact, that would kind of indicate the original was successful because other parks are copying it. I also don't really care myself, I was just looking at how many rides at KI/Carowinds have very similar connections and thought "Huh...that's kinda odd.".

I know- Firehawk's true 100% twin is Batwing, which resides at Six Flags America. Nighthawk (aka Borg/Stealth), while being similar, is the Prototype- the main difference between the two is that where Firehawk and Batwing have Barrel Rolls and a Helix Finale, Nighthawk has Corkscrews and no helix...they are still all Vekoma Flying Coasters, though.

Yet- strangely- Paramount, who you'd expect to be a HUGE reason for this, really didn't add too many similar rides under their watch. Most of the similar rides are KECO and Cedar Fair's faults, ironically... (Cedar Fair did add a few rides to each park after they took over that made them for similar- Firehawk and Banshee at Kings Island, for example, are ride styles that under Paramount WERE "unique" to Carowinds)... Matt Ouimet did say he wanted each park to have more "unique" rides than in the past. Well, Kings Island and Carowinds had better ask each other what the other is getting for at least a few years...ie, if Carowinds gets a B&M Giga for their rumored 2015 coaster, Kings Island may want to look at something else for its next big ride, for example...

Actually- and kind of ironically- looking at both Kings Island and Carowinds ride lineups, there are a LOT of similar rides...I'll leave out the teeny-weeny kiddie coasters for this comparison, but will include the larger kids coasters: Diamondback vs. Intimidator- Both B&M Hypers Banshee vs. Afterburn- Both B&M Inverts Firehawk vs. Nighthawk- Both Vekoma Flying Coasters, with "Hawk" in the name of each to boot! Racer vs. Thunder Road- Both PTC Wooden Racing Coasters Vortex vs. Carolina Cyclone- Both Arrow Custom Looping Coasters Adventure Express vs. Carolina Goldrusher- Both Arrow Mine Train Coasters Invertigo vs. Carolina Cobra- Both are Vekoma Boomerangs, though Invertigo is an Inverted model Flying Ace Aerial Chase- Same ride at both parks Woodstock Express- Same ride at both parks Kings Island "Exclusives" (Not at Carowinds): The Beast, The Bat, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Flight of Fear Carowinds "Exclusives" (Not at KI): Vortex, Hurler, Ricochet The amount of similar coasters in these 2 parks coaster lineups is staggering...granted, there are differences in the layouts and all that for some of them, and the differences do likely add up but still...

^ I am 98% sure it was as well...in fact... I clearly heard "A 70mph attack on your senses" in there.

It probably never did- back in those days, overblown stats on coasters were commonplace. And 61mph sounded WAY better than 53mph when marketing a new ride. The height is also incorrect- Racer is 88 feet high, not 94. Today, it's much harder to do that- since there are computers, cell phones, etc. it is VERY easy to fact check now.

^ Using a web site with an inflation calculator, that $4 translates into $27.25 in 2014 dollars. Though that seems a bit cheap for an amusement park of that size, with a good-sized wooden coaster (Shooting Star) and all that...it'd probably be more like $35 at least, I'd guess, today...

Well, came home from a friend's house and my sister, who had been to KI 2 days ago (I didn't go for this particular trip), had gotten one of these push pops (Blue Ice Cream Flavor) and still had some left and thus I can confirm- these new treats sure as tasty. Kudos to the park employee who thought this up.

To be honest, I kind of noticed the thing about wooden coasters and temperatures too- as I think back to my best rides ever on Beast (my most ridden of all coasters), I noticed the best ones usually came at night when it cooler or in the fall (Halloween Haunt 2010 is still my best-ever ride on any coaster ever). My last visit to KI- on May 13th- it was pretty hot (around 85 or so) and Beast didn't feel as fast as usual, though it wasn't too rough at all, but I also rode Racer and it was riding like junk (rough and much less-than-usual airtime). Meanwhile the steel coasters rode great... And I do think this may be what also caused my rides on Holiday World's wooden coasters back in 2011 to be less-than-stellar (aka the "No Airtime whatsoever save one spot on Legend" rides) compared to my 2010 rides and 2013 rides (I've been 3 times). It was quite hot, and in August, while the other visits were in May & Early June- pretty warm, but not as warm as August. Too bad Holiday World doesn't have any steel coasters for comparison...well, save Howler.

I said "fun" not "FUN". (Yeah, I know, I got Terp'D...)

Hmm...well, to give you some idea of what to expect at Holiday World, I think this picture I found on the interwebs back from 2012 does a pretty good job of showcasing most of what they have...it's also very large and high-res, and taken from a Helicopter. (I went ahead and didn't post the image directly for those with lower bandwith...) http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy10/McSalsa/ParkAerial_zps0be3352a.jpg~original OK- and there have obviously been some changes since this picture was taken, since this was in 2012... #1- The small white and blue water slides and lazy river near the waterpark entrance were removed to make way for a new, bigger & better waterpark entrance in 2013 as well as a new first aid building. Ready for a mind-blow? That was pretty much the whole waterpark back in 1994, replaced just for a new entrance in 2013! #2- Hyena Falls, a 4-slide tower complex, opened past Pilgrims Plunge/Giraffica as well in 2013. It has 3 "standard" tube slides, but then there is a 4th, massive slide with a unique half pipe element that is very fun. #3- Pilgrims Plunge/Giraffica is gone, but you can't see it's tower structure here anyway...so it really doesn't matter much now. #4- Obviously, Mayflower is not in this picture, but according to the park map it's next to where PP/Giraffica once was. Oh, and to put the sheer size of some of those waterslides into perspective- The Legend (middle wooden coaster) stands 99 feet high with a 113 foot drop, and the spiral drop towards the back of the out-and-back section is 77 feet or so. Notice how ZOOMbabwe (Big Purple One) towers above most (maybe even all) of Legend? Yeah, it's 100+ feet and apparently still the world's tallest raft slide. Zinga, Jungle Racer, Bakuli, and the water coasters are also no slouches. Hyena Falls' biggest slide, which isn't pictured due to the date, is around the same size as Zinga. Yeah- Holiday World has plenty of massive water slides. Hoping this picture helps, if it can. Have a fun trip...oh who am I kidding, it's Holiday World, of course it'll be fun...

Well- worth remembering is this is Holiday World, where ALL of their themed sections, save Splashin' Safari and Holidog's Funtown, are Holiday based. And the Thanksgiving area just happens to be the easiest one to expand in the "dry" park, as there are many large clearings to use. Plus, they aren't exactly the most conventional park in the world- which gives them some of their charm. And there could be more to the Thanksgiving section than Turkeys and Boats- what about the Native Americans, who are also supposed to be a large part of this Holiday? Or- crazy longshot- a roller coaster themed to FOOTBALL. (I would not put it past Holiday World- they have done some crazy stuff in the past- for example, when they added the free drinks in 2000, people thought then that they were pretty crazy and that's worked wonders for them.) Though the recent hints suggest this could be a bird-themed ride, which could work, and possibly be a flying coaster.

^ Actually, the rest of the ride has pretty much already been tracked, or at least from what I can tell from the various construction pictures...so I'm guessing there can't be too much track left to place, if any. However, you've still got electrical, testing, and all that stuff to prepare. And by June 1st? SFGam is going to need to hurry if they hope to have this open by then, but I do hope they are at least somewhat careful...otherwise something bad might happen and someone could get hurt, which could ruin RMC after the NTG incident last year. I don't want that to happen, as RMC makes some sweet-looking rides and I would hope one day Kings Island could get one. (A brand-new coaster though- they had better leave Beast & Racer as they are, they don't need fancy topper track to run well IMO!)

OK- some factors that should be taken in when trying to "Decode" this: They say this will be "Holiday World's Largest Project Ever". I'm assuming that means "most expensive". The previous record holder for this title is Mammoth, the $9 million dollar water coaster added in 2012. "By Far" could mean a few million dollars more, or we could be talking $20,000,000+. However, since Holiday World is a smaller park, the latter seems like a bit of a stretch. I would not, however, be shocked at something in the $15,000,000 range- though that kind of rules out most B&M's, since they tend to build much larger, more expensive rides than that. (Also: According to Ed Hart's plan to re-open Kentucky Kingdom, he does NOT think Holiday World can add a very expensive large steel coaster- so if they do he is kind of screwed as that ruins his entire strategy...) As for what does Holiday World "need"? Well, 2 things- they need a true family-oriented coaster (more on the level of Backlot Stunt Coaster or Adventure Express) since there is a MASSIVE gap between Liberty Launch, arguably their most "intense" flat ride, and The Raven- their "least" intense wooden coaster. I could easily see them building something for my estimated $15M in this class of ride. The other thing Holiday World needs is a coaster with an inversion, since all 3 of their "thrilling" coasters are traditional woodies. There are many ways Holiday World could go here as well, however, it might make sense to get something Kings Island nor Kentucky Kingdom have- which kind of makes the B&M Flying Coaster make a bit of sense, though I'd wonder how they can afford it unless it is a smaller model. They could in theory kill 2 birds with one stone by building a Cheetah-Hunt like ride, which is family focused but includes inversions. Though it would probably be Premier, Zierer, or Mack because I really don't see Holiday World working with Intamin ever again after how angry they seemed at the Pilgrims Plunge/Giraffica install. This will be interesting...and probably a bit fun too, since it sure was fun to decode Banshee for Kings Island last year...

Great Trip Report- on the subject of Raven winning the GT's best wood coaster award from 2000-2003, you do have to remember that these are the Golden Ticket Awards and they can be pretty biased at times, and stuff like Thunderhead, The Voyage, El Toro, Outlaw Run etc etc. didn't exist at the time. It probably rode around the same then as it does today, it's just it didn't have to compete with the sudden surge of modern wooden coasters that have come up recently back in 2000-2003. Voyage may well have "hurt" the most, given it just so happened to rise up in the very same park and thus it "stole" Raven's thunder. I remember people talked about Raven a LOT more pre-2006 than they do today, but when Voyage came up, it became "DA VOYAGE! DA VOYAGE! DA VOYAGE!!!". I feel even worse for Legend, as it was already overshadowed by Raven even before Voyage showed up...and yet that's the one I personally see as the best of the trio. (Even though all 3 are awesome IMO) Also- and as many have stated before- you should hit the waterpark next time. They have a huge selection of water slides, including 2 water coasters, and darn near every slide they have is massive in size. They also have a awesome lazy river, and 2 wave pools. It's actually a huge draw, and one of Holiday World's major selling points- along with the epic wooden coasters and free soda, of course.

Yep- and they are saying this will be ready by June 1st...I'm hoping they don't plan to work at a frenzied pace, test very quickly, and then "unleash" the ride...because if there's only a week or so of testing, then they may not find all the problems, and should something bad happen it will look VERY bad for Six Flags and Rocky Mountain Construction after the New Texas Giant incident...

And then to further complicate things, you can take a coaster that's clearly wood and put topper track only on high-stress sections, which basically means some of the track is wood and some is steel. Terpy's right- in the last decade or so, the line between wood and steel has really blurred.

Well, according to their facebook, SFGam just topped off Goliath not too long ago...here are their pictures from it: Yeah, I'm really thinking (even more so) after seeing these pictures that calling this a true wooden coaster is really stretching it...it DOES look like an awesome ride though. Though I must ask, why the heck can't Six Flags have its major attractions ready in time for their park's opening days!?!? (They really did start very late on building this ride and some of their other new-for-2014 attractions as well...but why?)

Looks like Holiday World will be getting a Google Street View in a few months...from their Facebook page:

OK- my sister's friend took these pictures from the Eiffel Tower, and I got permission from her on the way home to share them. So here are some cool pictures from my trip for you guys: The Royal Fountains. Always so purdy. Coney Mall as seen from the Eiffel Tower. Racer was rough but kinda fun, Vortex was rough but fun, BLSC was fun, and WindSeeker just stood there doing nothing all day. Here is the other side of Coney Mall, which still has Racer in it, but also Flight of Fear (very fun but also very violent- beware!), Firehawk (didn't ride), and Adventure Express (fun as usual with all of its stuff working- yay!). Here is a great photo for this year- the newly revamped for 2014 Action Zone! Plus Viking Fury at da bottom. Banshee was epic, and The Bat and Delirium were very fun too. Too bad Drop Tower is still broken, though. And here is a somewhat different angle of AZ, with a better view of Invertigo, aka "The Blender". It was still kinda fun though. Planet Snoopy. You'd think that since it's a kid's area, it's all fun and games. YOU ARE WRONG, for this area contains the scariest ride I have been on in the entire park...a Log Flume!!! (DA DA DUM!!!) Here is Rivertown- possibly the most "fun" section of entire park in spite of only having 4 rides, but they are all really good rides. Especially the 2 roller coasters- an airtime filled B&M Hyper and the legendary wooden coaster Beast. WWC and the KI&MV RR are also great. EPIC Diamondback TILT POSE!!! And also look there, it's...AAAAAAHHH STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU CRAZY LOG FLUME!!! Here is one more pic of Banshee...Hmm, I can't help but shake the feeling that just a few years ago, something BIG would have been the center focus of this shot, hence the bald spots in the grass in the background... And now the only non-Eiffel-Tower pic she took... Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this image. Well, hope you enjoyed these photos from the trip!

Thanks. As for how our boat was set up, we had 3 people riding it- Me (I'm around 200lbs), my sister (around 130lbs or so), and her friend (she's large- around 200lbs as well). We had my sister in front, and we were in the back... Then again, when I rode Holiday World's Log Flume (Frightful Falls) the boat had 3 people who were at or around 200lbs or more, plus a 5-year-old, and it didn't feel crazy out-of-control like Kings Island's did. So I guess KI's Log Flume is more "Frightful" in general than Frightful falls... (And to be honest, since next time I'll be expecting and ready for it, KI's did seem to have a better layout than Frightful Falls did and is probably the superior log flume...)

Well, I just went yesterday, so here are some highlights from that trip: -Nearly everything was a walk-on, and nothing was more than a 2-3 train wait MAXIMUM. Wow. Kings Island becomes so much more fun when the crowds are like this! -Banshee was as epic after a 5 minute wait as it was after 4 1/2 hour one...I'd rather wait 5 minutes though please. -Diamondback was running amazingly well. Very smooth for the most part, and with the best airtime I think I may have ever had EVER on anything outside of my Wildebeest Solo. -The Beast was very fun, even though it didn't quite seem to be running full blast for a section of the ride (Brake shed through middle tunnel- the turns after the tunnel picked up the pace and had nice laterals). But the rest of the ride was awesome. -I won Boo Blasters with a score of 660 versus my sister and her friend. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! -Getting BLASTED on White Water Canyon by the cannons. Can you say "Soaked"? -The chicken from both The Chicken Shack & some place in Rivertown (I don't know where my sister's friend's dad got it) was incredibly tasty. Those are just some highlights from my awesome day. BTW, if you're interested here is a link to the full trip report: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/29451-mcsalsas-coaster-adventures-the-uncrowded-island-may-13th-2014/#entry616101

WARNING: TRIP REPORT HUGE!!! What da? It is time for ANOTHER trip report already? Well, having a season pass has its perks. The group I was with was mostly the same as the previous TR, but minus a few people. OK, now for the ride rating system... 10: Amazing 9: Excellent 8: Very Good 7: Good 6: OK 5: Meh 4: Bad 3: Very Bad 2: Terrible 1: Garbage 0: Garbage's Garbage from the Land of Space Poo! Ready? To quote Mario...Here We Go! We left for the park around 8:00, but due to needing to stop for bathroom breaks and all that, we didn't reach the park until around 10:00 and thus missed ERT. D'oh! But would we need it? Our group split- a few of us wanted to go ride Diamondback, but we heaed for a ride which I promised my sister we'd ride while in line for Beast @ Night (we skipped it in favor of Beast) on the last trip... RIDE #1: Flight of Fear (x2) Wait: 5 Minutes 1st Ride (Needed to cycle 1 train), 10 Minutes 2nd ride Hehehe, after waiting 90+ minutes for this once it is sure is fun to just hop on with a minimal wait. The ride itself is quite turbulent- after reading some discussion about violent vs. rough and then riding this, I realized FOF actually is not so rough but is in fact the former- a very violent, aggressive ride that WILL throw you around. There were some rough spots though, but nothing too drastic. Very forceful as usual, too. A solid ride. We headed outside and found Firehawk broken, so instead of riding that, we decided to head back and ride FOF again since the line was short. We rode in another train, which was actually smoother but we also rode much closer to the back and thus it was even more violent than before! A very fun ride both times. Score: 9/10 After FOF, we found Firehawk was running but the group was wanting to "meet up with us" at... RIDE #2: Banshee Wait: >5 Minutes!!! From 4 1/2 Hours to just 2 trains...wow. What a reduction in wait time your choice of day can make! This time we sat in the middle, since my sister's friend can only ride the ride there, and to be honest the view was not too obstructed- good job on the train designs in this regard, B&M. During the ride, I forgot the loop around the lift even existed, so boy was I caught off guard for a second..."OK, here comes the Zero G...WAIT WHAT DA!?!?" Thankfully, I didn't forget any of the rest of the ride! As for the ride itself...mostly the same as before. Restraints were a bit tight on my shoulders but didn't tighten, very forceful, and very fast-paced. However it was a bit rougher, it seemed, as there was a vibration from the seat but it was still smoother than Flight of Fear. Banshee was worth a 4 1/2 hour wait the first time and thus it was easily worth a 2-train wait. Score: 10/10! With the group re-united, we headed from Banshee to a nearby coaster I have ridden before, but not under its current name/theme... RIDE #3: The Bat (formerly Flight Deck) Wait: Walk-On...unless you count the q-line, then it's 5 minutes. Well, consider me a teeny bit disappointed. The re-theme of Flight Deck is just a new paint job and a re-name, and while it looks great now, I can still clearly see TOP GUN/Flight Deck's old aircraft theme under the new paintjob. As for the ride itself? Same-Old, Same-Old...Fun, Furious, Fast...but a bit too short. Score: 8/10 Our journey through Action Zone continued, as after heading back up Bat's ramp (on the way, I turned and "looked up"...and saw clear sky where previously a mountain O' wood stood), we headed back to the AZ Midway and towards a ride my sister seemed to be leading us to...which was something I have not ridden since 2010... RIDE #4: Invertigo Wait: >5 Minutes (1 Cycle) When Invertigo has a short line, you KNOW the park is dead! This was my first ride on the coaster since its repaint in 2012, and to be honest, I recall my 2010 ride being better. This one was forceful and fast, but also head-bangy rough! Ow! It gave me a headache too. Thankfully, we had painkillers that nerfed it quickly and it was no longer a problem for most of the day. A decent ride in spite of this, but...I can't give more than a 7 here. Score: 7/10 After Invertigo, we hit up Chicken Shack (again- we had done it on opening day as well) and split up a plate O' Chicken yet again. As it was last time, it was delicious, but I took care not to eat too much- I still wanted to do rides. So did 2 of my sister's friends...and they had their eyes on a big spinny frisbee ride nearby... RIDE #5: Delirium Wait: >5 Minutes (1 Cycle) While in line, I saw some dudes using Fast Lane. A waste of money, as they rode Delirium on the same cycle we did, and we were in the regular line. The ride itself, which I last rode in 2011, is still good, airtime-and-speed filled swinging fun. But it's better than ever now, since you can "kick" Banshee now! The only drawback? Ride Cycle could be a BIT longer...the fun ends too soon. Score: 9/10 After Delirium, the group expected to hit Adventure Express next, but after some discussion we ended up cutting across the park...and first up, my sister wanted to ride... RIDE #6: Boo Blasters on Boo Hill Wait: Walk-On The Q-Line is so dark...I could barely see anything. The effects seemed to be (mostly) working, save the chase scene which was broken down and the epic "ghost face wall" ending from before is gone. All 3 of our guns worked, which is a plus. Another plus is I actually won with a score of 660! Not terrible. As for the ride, same thing, but I would not be against a new dark ride replacing it, or at least fixing the broken stuff. Score: 7/10 After BBoBH, we headed for a much larger ride I was easily more excited to ride- but also a little curious, as I heard it has had a recent change since my last visit. That ride is... RIDE #7: Diamondback Wait: >5 Minutes Yeah, the lines were very short all day, as you can see by now! The trains did stack a few times, but it was kinda 50-50'ish- sometimes the crew did perfect, other times not so much, but it was never horrible. As for the seat belts? These things are supposed to save me HOW should the main restraint fail!?!? Seriously, it was so loose on me it may not as well have even been there! I assume these were added just to appease lawyers. However, the plus to this is that since the seat belts are fairly loose, they don't affect the ride at all. In fact, I was riding near the back with my sister and got killer airtime- it started off as floater, but turned into ejector as the ride dropped down nearly every hill, and there were surprise moments where there was airtime and I didn't expect it, and it was nearly always fairly strong...as for "The Rattle"? On this ride, I felt it it at the bottom of the first drop and that was it. Smooth the rest of the ride. Score: 10/10! After the awesome ride on Diamondback, we decided to head for a KI Classic that was for some reason closed on opening day... RIDE #8: The Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad Wait: 5 Minutes (for train to show up) Well, it may lack all the animatronics and stuff it once had, but the conductor on the train was very fun to ride with as he gave facts about the park and other rides, and did point out the various "cool" things that the train still goes by...all while very fitting western music plays. Also, apparently a celebrity of sorts has checked into the Inn...a very fun ride, but I also saw more potential- add some more stuff back there like the train had in its young years, and you're golden. Score: 8/10 After the train, it was off to ride my favorite coaster at Kings Island... RIDE #9: The Beast Wait: 5 Minutes (for front row!) Well, I don't know what it was, but this Beast ride, while still very fun...felt a wee bit disappointing. After the amazing rides Banshee and Diamondback gave earlier, and the downright epic night ride on opening day 2014, I guess I was hoping for more from Beast. The ride started out great as usual- awesome first drop and second turn, then the smaller drop into the ravine. The section where the ride "flopped" was after the brake shed- it felt a wee bit sluggish compared to my last few rides. Thankfully, after the tunnel, the next few turns got the ride back on track with some solid laterals and the helix, of course, was epic. And the ride was pretty smooth for a wooden coaster throughout. Even a "bad" Beast ride is still awesome, though. Score: 9.5/10 After Beast, our journey continued around the park. Up next was a tiny little coaster that I had ridden on opening day... RIDE #10: Backlot Stunt Coaster Wait: Walk-On Odd but true- BLSC was ROUGHER than Beast. Weird. The ride was as I remembered otherwise- packing a punch in spite of being small with great g-forces, and some pops of airtime. The Fire Effect wasn't working this time, though. Still, it didn't need it too much- a good fun ride on a small coaster that my sister's friend's dad called a "Mini Maverick". I can kinda-sorta see that, I guess... Score: 8/10 Our counter-clockwise journey that began with Diamondback continued, leading us to an old coaster that has thrilled KI Fans since 1987... RIDE #11: Vortex Wait: Walk-On There were like, 5 riders on our entire train. Talk about empty trains, eh? I rode in 5-1 again, and got some solid air on the first drop. Vortex is quite rough, though due to my build and the way the OTSR's are, I didn't bother me much at all since I cannot get head-banged by it (and I still feel Invertigo was worse). The loops and corkscrews were fun and forceful, and the ride was pretty good. However, there is one problem for Vortex: Banshee's debut has kind of made Vortex a bit weaker in my eyes, as it does many of the things Vortex does (strong forces, numerous inversions) and does them with an inverted element and with much smoother transitions. However, Vortex is still a very good ride and I do hope the park does keep it. Lapbars, if possible, though would be a HUGE help... Score: 8/10 After Vortex, we took a short break in Coney Mall. Afterwards, we hit up the park's classic wooden coaster. RIDE #12: Red Racer (Blue Racer was SBNO) Wait: 10 Minutes (crew was super-slow in sending out trains at times, WTF?!?!) Yikes- what a difference weather conditions and 2 years can have on a woodie. In 2012, I rode Red Racer from the front seat and had a blast, with plentiful airtime and smooth track. This time? Same seat- but there was much less airtime in most spots (there were still some spots where I did get some decent ejector air though) and it was MUCH rougher- though still nowhere near Vortex or Invertigo levels, but well beyond Beast. I slammed my legs into the lap bar a few times. Ouch. It wasn't too bad, but this was a far cry from Racer's best. It just was not a great day for the wooden coasters of Kings Island... Score: 7/10 After Racer, we hit up another nearby coaster in Oktoberfest... RIDE #13: Adventure Express Wait: Walk-On While the jerkyness and rough transitions hurt Vortex pretty bad, on AE, due to the decreased speeds of course, they are OK and add to the charm. This is a very fun mine train coaster, and today all the theming and effects were working. AE basically did its thing, and was its usual fun self with good forcefulness and twists and turns. (I also turned my head to check what the view to the left from the 1st lift is like now that SOB is gone- it's mostly air now. Banshee really doesn't use much of the old SOB land...) Score: 8/10 And then, after Adventure Express, we hit up the park's icon- a long overdue ride, since my last one was in 2010. RIDE #14: Eiffel Tower Wait: Walk-On The Eiffel Tower gives such great views of the entire park- and being up there clearly showed me why WindSeeker never opened. Boy was it windy! Banshee looks awesome from up here, as do many of the other rides. It was also cool to try and see how far away I could see stuff. The Eiffel Tower- yeah, it's almost always fun. Unless it's freezing cold out. Thankfully, that was not the case this time. Score: 8/10 After the Eiffel Tower, our next ride ended up being a re-ride on Diamondback. RE-RIDE: Diamondback #2 Wait: Walk-On Rode from 1-2 (First Car, 2nd Row) this time. Was expecting a good drop in the amount of airtime, due to being in front, and while it was a drop-off it was not a big one at all- I still got a LOT of air. Also, this time the ride was very smooth from start to finish- no "Rattle" at all. Heh, Diamondback was just awesome today. Score: 10/10 again! And we followed that up with a ride on a much wetter ride... RIDE #15: White Water Canyon (x2) Wait: 5 Minutes due to path, otherwise walk-on White Water Canyon- the wooded setting alone makes this ride awesome IMO. Then you have the pure fun of spinning and wondering "Who will get soaked the worst?" Well, that's hard to answer- because during our 2 rides (we got off and back in line) we got DRENCHED. In part due to the water cannons, because Friend's Dad was using them on us! Score: 8/10 After this, my sister took me and her friend through... RIDE #16: Snoopy's Splash Dance Wait: None I am not sure how to rate this- basically, it gets you wet with hoses and nozzles. It really is more aimed for kids, but it does drench you...ehh, I'll give it a 7 since it was kinda fun. Score: 7/10 And then we hit our last ride of the day, another water ride...and a Kings Island staple from 1972... RIDE #17: Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown Wait: Walk-On The name for this ride makes so much sense now- this ride was easily the scariest of the day. No lap bars, OTSRs, none of that to keep you in. Nor even a seatbelt. Just a metal bar on the side of the log...hang on. And our log rocked and shook A LOT during the ride down the canal...then came the final drop. Is this the Log Flume, or did Pilgrims' Plunge/Giraffica somehow come to Kings Island, because the wave was much bigger than expected...yeah, as far as "scare factor" goes, this made me quite the nervous wreck while riding it. It was fun though...I wonder if maybe we were too heavy or something. Ride alone next time, perhaps? Score: 7/10 After hitting RFYLCB, we did some shopping in the park (I got some nice Postcards) and then we headed to the car. It was only 6:30'ish...wow, never thought we'd be done with Kings Island so quickly. Yeah, we didn't ride Firehawk (couldn't get enough people to want to do it) and Drop Tower & WindSeeker were closed all day (DT due to needing parts apparently, and WindSeeker due to...Wind...) but other than that, what an awesome day at Kings Island. Totally makes up for only getting in 3 rides on Opening Day. Grand ride totals... RIDE TOTALS FOR TRIP Flight of Fear x2 Diamondback x2 White Water Canyon x2 Beast x1 Banshee x1 Vortex x1 The Bat x1 Adventure Express x1 Backlot Stunt Coaster x1 Invertigo x1 Red Racer x1 Delirium x1 Eiffel Tower x1 Boo Blasters x1 KI & MV RR x1 RFYL CB x1 Snoopy's Splash Dance x1 Total: 20 Rides 20 Rides in 1 Day...could have likely done much more had we had a smaller group, but it was still awesome. Now for the good and bad of the trip... PROS +NO LINES!!! +The B&M's were running amazingly well +Food was delicious- hiring a head chef seems like it was a good call thus far +Park was pretty clean and tidy +Staff was friendly and- mostly- efficent CONS -Wooden Coasters weren't running 100%, however -Racer crew was VERY slow at times Overall, this was a very good visit to Kings Island. I am SO looking forward to more visits like this in the future. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this trip report. Comments/Questions are welcome. See you!

Uhh- actually the rides kept their Paramount names for at least 2007, which is when Firehawk debuted. See the 2007 Park Map, for example... http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/pimages/Kings_Island/2007_Park_Map/IMG_0012.jpg