McSalsa

WOW. AMAZING. KI at night is the place to be indeed, with all those beautiful lights. The view when Beast reaches the top of the second lifthill (before final helix) has to be AMAZING.

Thanks! I'm sorry about the lack of pictures. Me and my friend(same who went with me) are trying to get them off the camera but we need to find a cable and it's complicated. A neat point, the 3 pictures I do show were taken with a phone! (Yes, it's a nice phone)

It wasn't elite, but it was pretty good. Reminded me of the pizza a local chain nearby makes in flavor.

Next time, I will. I was kinda pressured into helping buy the Pizza.

Disclaimer: I promised you pics prior to this TR, and did indeed take some, but due to some complications I cannot post them ATM. They will be here eventually though. Welcome to McSalsa's Holiday World 5-29-10 Trip Report! 2 theme parks in 1 month. 16 roller coasters. What a month...at least by McSalsa standards. Let's begin the TR. I was with my best friend, his cousin, and his uncle for this trip. WELCOME TO HOLIDAY WORLD, MCSALSA!!! ***** After a very long 3-hour drive through the country, we arrived at Holiday World around 9:00AM. Voyage was the first ride we saw, and looking closely at it, I realized how steep the drop was. Since the park didn't open until 9:30, we had to wait. We waited 15-20 minutes for our tickets, got them, and headed towards the Halloween section of the park. Uncle vanished during this time, and then the park opened. We couldn't afford to let a golden chance for a short line go to waste, so without uncle, we headed to...Raven! RIDE #1: THE RAVEN ***** "Evermore!" Sorry I had to say it. Seeing this ride in the parking lot, I was actually shocked at how SMALL it was. Racer at KI even dwarfs its height. But, in spite of its smallish size...Raven packs a whallop! The speeds, in reality, are no faster than 50mph, but it feels like 70 as this 15-year-old wooden coaster races around its track, mostly buried in the woods, and by Lake Rudolph. The coaster has serious airtime, and it suprised me- this was not the kind of airtime I was used to! It was "Ejector" airtime, where you "fly out of your seat and then come crashing down!". I can honestly say I like this kind of air better than floater air. Raven also pulled some serious G-Forces. It was fairly smooth for a wooden roller coaster. Raven is an amazing ride. The only thing that, at the time, kept Raven from overtaking Beast and becoming my #1 roller coaster was its short length. If it were a few hundred feet longer... RATING: 10/10 After Raven, we decided to head towards The Legend, to ride the "Medium" sized woodie. Though, in reality, Legend is actually pretty big, standing 113 feet tall and over 4,000 feet long. RIDE #2: THE LEGEND ***** The line for Legend was a bit long but the coaster ate through it pretty fast and we were on in 20 minutes. This coaster is the most forceful ride I have ever encountered! The Lateral Gs are VERY high and intense, plus the ride boasts tunnels, head choppers, a savage helix, interacts with other rides, and has a lot of ejector airtime! It was rough, but I like woodies, so roughness doesn't really bother me. Legend simply blew me away. I had a new #1 coaster. Sorry Beast. RATING: 10/10 With Legend behind us, we finally found uncle. Afterwords, we saw Voyage running (it was opening late for some reason, probably due to the recent Timberliner issues) and we headed for it and found a very short line. Due to the shortness of the line, my best friend suggested we ride...in front. I had NEVER done this before, but agreed to do so. RIDE #3: THE VOYAGE ***** Legend's reign as my favorite coaster lasted less than half an hour. Voyage is simply awesome. The first drop is huge, but, it gives zero airtime. This was about the only part of the ride that was "airtime-less" though! Every hill, it felt like I was FLYING OUT. And then Voyage USES the air- getting massive airtime and feeling like your head was going to smash into things only to drop into a tunnel or out of the way at the last second was AMAZING. However, I must warn potential Voyage riders...this CAN be rough. I'm not all that bugged out if a ride causes me some pain (not too much though) but I just felt you should be warned. The airtime and excitement factors, however, overcome any of Voyage's teeny little flaws. RATING: 12/10!!! During the climb up Voyage's lift, I saw Pilgrum's Plunge, and realized it wasn't as tall as Voyage, so we decided to brave what was billed as "a scary ride". But before that, I got some more free soda and bought some postcards, which were 3-for-$1. Then it was off to "The Plunge". RIDE #4: PILGRUM'S PLUNGE ***** Where were the lines? Wasn't this ride added last year? Why only a 2-minute wait? Oh well. (I found out where everyone was shortly afterwords). Pilgrum's Plunge itself is actually...more bark than bite. The 148-foot height LOOKS scary, but the drop itself is no worse than that of a roller coaster. And the splash itself only matches Congo Falls. The ride was really fun, and I no longer fear this ride. In fact, due to the ultra-short line, we rode it twice in a row. RATING: 8/10 After taking a plunge, we lost uncle again. We looked all over the waterpark, and that's when I realized it: everyone had come here! The waterpark was PACKED. We walked around the entire waterpark, then sat down to wait for my friend to find uncle. He did, although this ordeal wasted a good half hour. We then hit up Watubee for our first waterpark ride. RIDE #5: WATUBEE ***** After an agonizing 40-minute wait and climbing lots of stairs, we rode Watubee. It's pretty simple- all 3 of us boarded a circular boat-raft-thingy and slid down a tube, with water splashing everywhere and and a splash at the end. A fun ride but not really worth waiting 40 minutes... RATING: 7/10 After Watubee, we sat down, and uncle asked if we wanted to buy a "pizza meal". We say yes, but I had to give up my $5 I had to do so, and thus was unable to buy fudge. (Sorry Terpy!) The Pizza was pretty good, and came with weird yet tasty "deep fried breadsticks" and 2 Oreos. After eating, we decided to ride the new Wildebeest. RIDE #6: WILDEBEEST ***** The line for Wildebeest was agonizingly long. We waited 2 hours to ride it! The ride itself is pretty good though, it has dark tunnels, splashing water sections, tunnels filled with mist, and waterfalls. A great way to cool off. But was it worth waiting 2 hours? No. RATING: 8/10 After Wildebeest, we hit the Bahari Wave Pool... RIDE #7: BAHARI WAVE POOL ***** I'm not sure how to classify this as a ride, but I'll try. It...umm...sends big waves at you and Is otherwise a regular pool. I didn't really like it, the waves were a little too big and it was hard to move. Plus, my eyes were hurting around this time and I was getting tired of water rides. RATING: 6/10 After the Bahari Wave Pool, we re-entered the dry park and headed for Legend once more, as "uncle" had missed it earlier: RIDE #8: THE LEGEND "RETURNS" ***** Pretty much the same as last time for me. See above. Legend was still awesome even after Voyage. SEE ABOVE FOR LEGEND RATING After Legend, we decided to ride the Holloswings. It was a walk-on. RIDE #8: HOLLOSWINGS ***** A classic swing ride, it seemed bigger than Zephyr @ Kings Island. It was very beautifully decorated and swung at speeds that weren't extreme but were still pretty fast. A fun, classic flatride. My friend got a wee bit sick though. RATING: 7/10 After Holloswings, Uncle wanted to watch a show and ride the Antique cars, but we decided to ride Voyage again instead. So it was off to Thanksgiving again. RIDE #9: THE VOYAGE "RETURNS" ***** This time, I was still in the front car, but now the back of the front car. My friend and his cousin rode ahead of me in the very front this time. This ride was similar to the earlier one, but rougher. My back was hurting for a few minutes after the ride. I still loved it though. SEE ABOVE FOR VOYAGE RATING After Voyage, my friend & his cousin rode the Bahari River, but I wasn't in the mood for a water ride again yet and needed a bit of R&R anyway. Afterwords, they hit "The Wave". It was less intense on the waves, so after watching it for a while, I decided I had fully recovered and joined them. RIDE #10: THE WAVE ***** I liked this wave pool more than the other one. Smaller and less intense waves. A great way to cool off and get ready for other water rides. RATING: 7/10 After The Wave, we headed for the Waterpark, to see if any more water rides had short lines. We saw the crazy-named "Otorongo" and rode it. RIDE #11: OTORONGO WHY MUST I CARRY THE HEAVY TUBES UP THE STAIRS FOR THIS RIDE!?!? Oh well. It was a simple ride- you just go in a "helix" and then splash down into a small pool. But it does so in total darkness. A fun little ride. RATING: 7/10 After Otorongo, we headed for Zinga to find it closed. However, ZOOMbabwe was open, so we climbed the seemingly endless stairs that gave some excellent views of Splashin' Safari, Legend, & Voyage and then boarded the ride after a short wait (a lot of people were leaving the waterpark by now). RIDE #12: ZOOMbabwe This ride, like Otorongo, is in total darkness. But it's much bigger! You're at least 100 feet in the air, and thus are going pretty fast this time and there are splashes of water. There are decorative lights in the tunnels, but I didn't see them long enough to know what they all were. A fun ride that can get pretty intense. RATING: 8/10 After ZOOMbabwe, Zinga had re-opened, so we headed for it. RIDE #13: Zinga Your basic "funnel" ride, Zinga was fun but after ZOOMbabwe, it was fun but a tad dissapointing. Though I got a scare from going in the tunnel BACKWARDS!!! The funnest part of the ride was actually watching my friend and his cousin after I got off from outside the funnel through the exit hole (they forced me to ride alone due to ride rules on ZOOMbabwe and Zinga). RATING: 7/10 After Zinga, Splashin' Safari closed. Not willing to get dry just yet, we rode Raging Rapids next, and on the way we met back up with uncle. RIDE #14: Raging Rapids A White Water Canyon-style rapids ride, but with different scenery. There are gysers, rapids sections, and even a heavily themed wild west area that splashes you with a waterfall! It is totally biased though, half of our raft got soaked and the other stayed dry! RATING: 8/10 After Raging Rapids, my friend's cousin really wanted to ride the Frightful Falls Log Flume (she had been saying she wanted to ride it since before ride #2 on Voyage!) and we finally gave in. RIDE #15: Frightful Falls Log Flume It had been quite some time since I had ridden a log flume, so this was going to be a "new" experience. I didn't realize log flumes don't have restraints...and this one had some creepy music, a scary lifthill, and a dark tunnel as well as a big splash finale! A fun ride. It also gets bonus points for interworking with Legend. RATING: 8/10 After the Log Flume, my friend wanted to get home at a decent hour, plus the park was getting crowded, so we got our last free sodas and headed to the car, where we ate some sandwiches, and then headed home. A great trip was, sadly, over. FINAL THOUGHTS Holiday World is an amazing park that has some of the best wooden roller coasters I've ever ridden. All 3 of them either rival Beast or surpass it. The waterpark is also quite fun, but on this day it was quite packed. THE PROS OF HOLIDAY WORLD ***** +Great Wooden Roller Coasters. Raven, Legend, and Voyage have some of the best things going. +Free Unlimited Soft Drinks. Do I need say more? +More Free Stuff. Yay Free Stuff! +Cheap Prices for a Amusement/Theme Park. Still a bit pricey, but it's nowhere near Kings Island. +Theming and Landscaping. All the areas were themed and landscaped amazingly well. This is a true theme park. THE CONS... ***** -No Non-Automated Spiels. They seriously cannot do Spiels!?!? -Slowish lines for some rides. Some of this wasn't the park's fault, but it still sucked. -Early closing of the park (8:30). This means NO VOYAGE NIGHT RIDE. And now, as final thoughts, how do I feel about Kings Island? I still love it, and would happily return, but now also have a soft spot in my heart for Holiday World. Same goes for Beast, while it is no longer #1, it will always be the coaster on which I finally overcame my fear of roller coasters and retains the title of "Beast Finale". Thanks for reading this review. Now, while most of the pictures aren't yet avaliable, I do have 3 of them ready. These were taken by my friend: The Voyage The Raven The Legend Entrance & Logo When they are ready, I will post more pictures. Thanks for reading and looking!

I honestly am starting to see a little merit in the "mine-train conversion" theory. It seems like it might reduce the roughness, but I wouldn't mind them to keep SOME roughness in for fun and to make it still "feel" like a woodie (but not so much that it causes pain!). The park would lose the "World's Tallest Wooden Roller Coaster" record but could bill Son of Beast as "the tallest and fastest steel/wood hybrid coaster in the entire world". And it would be different enough from Diamondback to make sense to have 2 hypercoasters. Then we could order a pre-fab intamin wooden hypercoaster (Beast III: The Unleashing?) and take the tallest & fastest records back! Then, Kings Island will surpass all theme/amusement parks! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHOHOHO!!! ...or, they could put pre-fab wooden track or timberliners on it, and then instead of the Intamin Pre-Fab we could get a B&M Invert...or a dueling B&M Invert! BWA HA HAHOHOHOHOHO AGAIN!!! In all honesty, I just want it open so I can FINALLY RIDE THE (Insert curse word here) THING!!!

I agree entirely with Gigacoaster 2K on how much better a job the staff has been doing this year, and also on the landscaping. And you forgot to mention that all remaining theming on most of the rides is now working. When I visited the park on 5/8 this year, Adventure Express had all its sound effects and animatronics working. Flight of Fear had the cool dim lights on and the spiels playing. Backlot Stunt Coaster had all the sound effects, explosions of fire, and helicopter working (the water stuff and MINI Cooper liscence seems to be all that has been removed). Kudos to KI, indeed! Cedar Fair is actually doing a very good job running KI for now, with only a few minor annoyances to complain about (SOB, Crypt, less theming and few other things).

My first night ride on Beast, on May 16th 2009. Wow. What a ride, and I did it with my best friend to boot. Though all 4 of my rides on that coaster have been memorable. (So have both rides on Flight of Fear, my first Diamondback ride, and the early night 5-1 ride on Vortex on 5/8/2010). But Beast still reigns supreme in this category.

Good point, ACE landmark status doesn't completly protect Beast & Racer, but it does help them out. Look at Big Dipper @ Geauga Lake. The other wooden coasters there? Destroyed. But it still stands there, and there are rumors it could be moved to another park. I would assume its historic status is why it was saved when the others were destroyed...or at least why Cedar Fair is thinking twice about it.

After reading a topic about Flight Deck's life expectancy, I came along a thought: how much longer will KI's other coasters last? Diamondback is brand new now, but will it be gone in 2030? Will Beast hit 50 or be demolished before then? How much longer will Vortex, AE, BLSC, FOF, or Racer last? Put the year you see it being removed. For example, if you think SOB will be torn down this offseason, put: Son of Beast- 2010 Thus, this poll. How much longer do you think KI's rollercoasters will last? Or the major flats too, such as Delirium, Drop Tower, and Crypt. If you don't think a ride will even be removed (like if it gets protected due to ACE landmark status or something) put "ALKI" which is short for "As long as Kings Island remains..." Enjoy the poll. If you don't like polls, click back.

I don't think Flight Deck's the first ride on the chopping block (that would be SOB) right now, but it is getting older. I would be torqued if it got removed, there simply aren't enough suspended swinging coasters around anymore. When we tear down the last one, will there be regrets? Easily. These rides are great family thrill rides. I would love it if Cedar Fair would realize this and try to save the few they have left. Those floorless trains and updated paint, plus a better name, would wonders do for Flight Deck. Otherwise, the Suspended Coaster will fade off into history, another fad come and gone... I would actually really like someone to build a new suspended swinging coaster with more updated technology...Flight Deck is the youngest one, it opened for 1993. But with Arrow gone, would anyone be willing to do it? B&M (Due to their work with Inverts, Suspended Swinging Coasters wouldn't be too far off)? And what park might be willing to build one? Holiday World (actually, a new family-friendly suspended swinging coaster might be a good choice for their first "big" steel coaster...).

It took 14 hours to make the actual trip, and then 1 to write the report.

Well, it's been awhile since my last KI visit (5/16/2009) so as you could expect, I was quite hungry for some rollercoasters. This would be only my 3rd KI visit ever and only 4th amusement park visit (as I said in the past, these are rare trips for me), and thus there was still PLENTY of stuff left unridden by me at Kings Island. I hoped to get a few new rides in. And... I got more than I expected! Let's start the trip report...once I explain my "ride rating system". It's pretty self-explanitory... 10=Amazing 9=Excellent 8=Very Good 7=Good 6=OK 5=Meh 4=Bad 3=Poor 2=Terrible 1=Garbage 0=Fake Dog Poop Got all that? OK. Let's go! PARK ARRIVAL Our group contained me (McSalsa), my sister, and her boyfriend. We left for Kings Island at 7:30 AM from Indianapolis, Indiana, and arrived at the park around 9:50. After the National Anthem played, the park opened, and we entered and headed for the ride Kna Kna wanted to do first- Delirium. RIDE #1: Delirium Ahh, Delirium. An intense thrill ride that swings from side to side and spins at the same time! I honestly didn't think Delirium would be as fast as it was, and there were points were the ride got incredibly intense (reason for below intensity rating). What a fun ride (it gets a 10!), and a great way to start my first 2010 KI trip. It is as my sister's boyfriend said- "it's like jumping from a plane!". He may or may not have done that, as he is in the National Guard... RATING: 10/10 After Delirium, my sister wanted to leave Action Zone as everything else appeared broken down/closed, but I noticed Flight Deck in the distance. And away we went. RIDE #2: FLIGHT DECK After a very short wait, almost a walk-on, we boarded Flight Deck. Last time I rode this coaster, I had to struggle to keep on my glasses, but this time I had them secured beforehand. Thus, I got to enjoy the ride and...what a rush! Flight Deck feels MUCH faster than it really is, and the near misses and swinging pump up the intensity. Only the ride's shortness keep it from being a 10 out of 10 fun factor. A very, very Fun ride. And to leave this section a fun spiel quote: "Enjoy your ride on Flight Deck, Kings Island's coldest roller coaster!" (It was cold out, only in the low 50s). RATING: 9/10 After Flight Deck, we went to Oktoberfest, where my sister wanted to ride Viking Fury. However, I pointed out "We just got off Delirium less than an hour ago" and since the two rides are somewhat similar (Delirium is just bigger, a disc, and spins) we skipped it in favor of a KI favorite... RIDE #3: Adventure Express I was afraid of the line at first, but it went fast and we were on in 15 minutes. And we had Indiana Jones music playing to keep us entertained. That made me think of Paramount a bit, but for only a moment. We boarded the ride, which I dubbed "Indiana Jones: The Ride" and were off. The ride was a bit rough at points (though to be honest I didn't know what rough was yet!), and wasn't ultra intense, but it did hit where it counts- the fun factor. Going through dark tunnels with sound effects, and numerous head chopper moments means Adventure Express deserves its good reputation. And now, you will pay...by reading the rest of this TR. RATING: 8/10 After the fun Adventure Express, we headed for Coney Mall. My sister saw Monster and demanded we ride it. RIDE #4: MONSTER A KI classic, Monster has been there since 1972. A fun, smooth ride that wasn't too intense at all. A good break from the more thrilling rides. RATING: 7/10 After Monster, we checked out Racer, which only had the Blue side running and thus had a long line. We looked around and realized Vortex, Beast, and Diamondback all had long lines. Of the three, Vortex appeared to have the shortest, and so we got in line. RIDE #5: Vortex Last time I rode Vortex, I sat in the back seat and was cramped up, almost ruining the ride. This time, I boarded in the front of a car, and had more room. The wait times weren't bad at all in spite of the long line, Vortex was munching them up today, just like Adventure Express was. I guess Arrows are good at that. The ride-ops were doing fun spiels, pumping everyone up for the ride: "We're gonna send you 145 feet in the air, upside down SIX TIMES, and all at 55 Miles Per Hour!!!" I had forgotten how intense Vortex is, travelling through its loops at crazy speeds. The ride calms down for the corkscrews a little bit but not much. I was much more comfortable this time, and the roughness didn't bother me much at all this time. This time, I enjoyed Vortex. I thought I had seen this ride at its best at this point, but I was wrong. More on that later... RATING: 9/10 After Vortex, we wanted to ride a similar ride, so it was off to Flight of Fear and Firehawk. Firehawk had a 2 HOUR WAIT and I thought "Won't be riding that today!". I would eat my words on that, but for this time, we went to Flight of Fear. RIDE #6: Flight of Fear After a near-agonizing 90 minute wait (the fun pre-ride saved us from going insane!), we were on. Spiel Quote time: "We have had fun exploring your little world. Now, would you like to explore ours?". Flight of Fear launched into the tunnel, and we entered the "Spaghetti Bowl". And the lights were on! But not the Emergency lights, the cool dim colored ones! YES! I was memerizing the ride when my sister yelled: "ROUGH!!! ROUGH!!!" And then, I noticed the roughness. When we got off, and I had a headache and some back pain. However, I enjoyed the ride A LOT (still a 10/10!), but I hope FOF never does this to me again! RATING: 10/10 (in spite of roughness) After FOF, we were hungry, so it was time to chow. Rather than pay KI's incredibly high food prices, we went to our car, and ate food we brought instead. We then re-entered the park, and headed for the Eiffel Tower. I failed to notice it was windy... RIDE #7: Eiffel Tower The wind was crazy up here, and boy was it cold! The view was awesome, as usual, but the winds forced us down early. And someone farted in the elevator...TWICE. NO, IT WAS NOT ME!!! Ride Op Quote: "No, It was not me. If it was, we would all be dead." RATING: 6/10 (Winds hurt) After the Eiffel Tower, my sister decided to check out Planet Snoopy. It is even more beautiful in person! As we were looking around, I was showing her the rides. I showed her Boo Blasters on Boo Hill and she demanded we ride it! RIDE #8: BOO BLASTERS ON BOO HILL I suck! My score was only 190! This was a fun little ride, and while not terribly thrilling, it has a lot of charm and I wouldn't mind riding it again. It is also a line muncher to boot! But how to improve score...? RATING: 7/10 After Boo Blasters, my sister wanted to ride Surf Dog. Guess where we went next? RIDE #9: SURF DOG A fun family ride, it was fun but not too intense. My lapbar was a bit tight, but I was OK. During the ride I sang a fun song: "Surfin' Dog." "It's a dog, it's a dog, it's a...Surfin' Dog! (Repeat over and over and speed up as ride gets more intense!)". It's a terrible song, I know! But I still cannot decide...is this a roller coaster or a flat? RATING: 8/10 After Surf Dog, I wanted to ride Diamondback, believing our day was starting to run down (I was horribly wrong!). My sister demanded we ride...WHITE WATER CANYON. In 50 degree weather!?!? I said no (had it been warmer I would have hit WWC). So she and her boyfriend rode it while I watched Diamondback and got all upset. She returned shortly afterwords, and we went to ride another KI Classic...and I learned it was only 4:00!!! 6 Hours left!!! RIDE #10: KI & MIAMI VALLEY RAILROAD I had never been on a train prior to this, so this was a new experience. The KI & MV Railroad shows you places you cannot normally see from within the park. A fun ride that didn't use much time at all. And...are trains supposed to wobble this much? A scary sight during the ride was a possible broken down Diamondback! But, in true B&M fashion, it was back up in 5 minutes. RATING: 7/10 After the KI & Miami Valley Railroad, we decided to hit up Beast at daytime to get some perspective for our planned night ride later that night. I was a bit worried, my back was still sore after Flight of Fear... RIDE #11: The Beast After a brutal wait (it was nearly an hour) we finally got on Beast. My back was sore, and aching from standing for so long. The coaster climbed the lift hill, and I begged Beast "to go easy on my back!". But...Beast decided it wanted to be crazy. The trims...didn't even work that much, if at all. Beast was flying around the track, even giving airtime in some parts! And my back? It was fine somehow! The ride was far from smooth...BANG! BANG! BOOM! I was getting thrown around like a ragdoll, but my back wasn't even complaining! I loved it! And all of this was before the AMAZING tunnel helix finale. I can easily say without question, this was The Beast at 100%. A scary sight afterwords, however: a small ambulance-truck thing was taking someone away from the ride. Anyone got info what this was? Beast didn't close, however... RATING: 10/10 After Beast, my sister wanted to ride Racer. Blue Racer. The rough racer. My back was fine for Beast, would it be the same with Blue Racer? But on the way, we saw a short line for... RIDE #12: Backlot Stunt Coaster "...what a cute little ride. This shouldn't be too intense...OH FUDGE!!!". I didn't expect it, but BLSC is quite intense for its small size! All the effects were working, and the cars looked somewhat better in person than the photos I had seen (of the 2010 versions anyway). A fun, crazy little ride. I also realized during this ride that my back was more comfortable on the roller coasters than it was standing! Weird...I also liked the liscence plates on the "Fake Doorless Headlightless Minis". RATING: 8/10 After BLSC, we countinued as planned towards Blue Racer... RIDE #13: BLUE RACER This ride was just as rough as Beast, but not rougher, and it helps that the coaster uses most of its time going straight or up and down and there are only a few corners. Back was fine. There was a good amount of airtime, and a fun ride to boot. I still perfer Red Racer, but the Blue side is fun too. RATING: 8/10 After Racer, we noticed we were still making excellent time and could wait for Firehawk. So we went to do so. After 10 minutes in line, something happened... It started to drizzle.Firehawk closed.The line cleared out, thinking the rain would come and close the ride.5 minutes later, the drizzle stopped.Firehawk re-opened. Guess who was still in line? RIDE #14: Firehawk After a short wait (WHOOHOO!!!) I was on my first flying coaster. Firehawk ended up being a fun ride, and a new experience. It felt a bit more like "hanging" but it was still fun, intense, and smooth. I really liked Firehawk. I just don't like the lines for it...usually. RATING: 9/10 After Firehawk, I finally talked my sister into getting our group on Diamondback, since we had hit every other major coaster that was open. Off we went to find the Diamondback line at only 30 minutes (it was 60 when I wanted to ride earlier). The school kids and college kids had left!!! YES!!! After a short wait, we were on Diamondback. RIDE #15: Diamondback Diamondback...the airtime king...gave me less airtime this time! WTF? It still had a lot, but this time, it wasn't "OH FUDGE I'M GONNA FLY OUT!!!" airtime. Perhaps some of this was because I had ridden DB before and was expecting it, or perhaps I really did get less airtime. Anyway, Diamondback delievered a very fun and awesome ride nonetheless, and there was still more than enough airtime. It's not, however, the "meanest" coaster in the park. Intensity? Vortex and Flight of Fear easily beat it, and in roughness, well...Son of Beast rules the Island. But Diamondback sure is a lot of fun. RATING: 10/10 Afterwords, we noticed it was still too bright out for a Beast Night Ride. So we decided to ride something else for now. A re-ride was about the only option at this point, and we picked Vortex, which had a short line. RIDE #16: Vortex NIGHT RIDE And when I sat down, I realized something: I was in car 5, row 1! Vortex began to climb the hill. It was dark out, and the lift hill lights were on. The coaster hit the top of the hill and we dropped down...AIRTIME!!! Vortex gave a slightly smoother and more airtime filled ride from this seat! It was an AMAZING ride. Vortex is now one of my favorite coasters at Kings Island thanks to this very ride and joins the "10/10 club". RATING: 10/10 It was an awesome day thus far, and it was time to put an ! on it. We headed for Beast, which also had a very short line... RIDE #17: The Beast NIGHT RIDE The Beast's trims grabbed a wee bit more this time, but they weren't too bad. The tunnels were amazingly dark and scared my sister, I heard her screaming! The ride was amazingly awesome. When we hit the second hill, I noticed the helix was lit-up a little bit. "No problem, it will be dark inside". We viewed the amazingly beautiful Kings Island and headed into the...lit-up Abyss? DARN YOU, EMERGENCY LIGHTS!!! The helix wasn't ruined, it was still a lot of fun, but those lights made this segment of the night ride somewhat pointless. It was a new experience and this was still a heck of a ride, but I hated those lights. Well, it was a fun ride. RATING: 10/10 (Would have been 11/10 if not for the E-Lights!) We had some time after The Beast, so my sister suggested Racer again. As we were going that way, her boyfriend wanted to ride Shake, Rattle, & Roll. It was a walk-on and the ride-ops didn't even notice us at first! RIDE #18: SHAKE, RATTLE, & ROLL This ride was more fun at night than when I rode it previously in the daytime. It was a great final ride to end the night. Gentle and smooth, with beautiful lights to boot. RATING: 7/10 We admired KI's classic flats and how beautiful they look at night as we headed for Racer. When we reached Racer, we found it closed. So we just sat down and viewed the fireworks. Then, we headed the the car. And disaster struck. We were out of gas! Thankfully, KI Maintenence showed up and gave us some, and we hit a local gas station. Then we headed home, albeit 1 hour delayed. Don't worry, we ended up OK. EPIOLUGE What a day! So many rides in so little time! I have now hit nearly everything I would "need" to at Kings Island, save Drop Tower,Invertigo and Son of Beast. Drop Tower was closed most of the day, and when it opened, we were all the way on the other side of the park. Invertigo was broken down all day and Son of Beast...well...you know why I didn't(and couldn't) ride that. A great day overall. FINAL SCORES FOR DAY 18 RIDES TOTAL Beast- 2 Vortex- 2 Diamondback- 1 Firehawk- 1 Flight of Fear- 1 BLSC- 1 AE- 1 Flight Deck- 1 Blue Racer- 1 Surf Dog- 1 Delirium- 1 Eiffel Tower- 1 KI&MV RR- 1 Monster- 1 SR&R- 1 Boo Blasters- 1 CAREER SCORES (3 Visits: 8-??-00, 5-16-09, & 5-8-10) Beast- 4 Vortex- 3 Diamondback- 2 Firehawk- 1 Flight of Fear- 2 BLSC- 1 AE- 1 Flight Deck- 2 Blue Racer- 2 Red Racer- 1 Surf Dog- 1 Great Pumpkin Coaster- 1 Woodstock Express- 1 Delirium- 1 The Crypt- 1 Eiffel Tower- 6 KI&MV RR- 1 Monster- 2 SR&R- 2 Scrambler- 1 Zephyr- 1 Action FX Theater- 1 Antique Cars (RIP)- 1 Boo Blasters- 1 Sally's Sea Plane- 1 (was first KI ride I ever rode!) Character Carousel- 1 Linus' Beetle Bugs- 1 Note: 2010 names used. I didn't ride them all in these forms, obviously, and I cannot remeber all of the rides I rode in 2000. And now, Pros & Cons about the 2010 Park. PRO (THE GOOD STUFF) ***** +Excellent Rides. Almost everything I have ever rode at Kings Island was fun and quality, except for Crypt. Note: I HAVE NEVER RIDDEN Son of Beast AND COULD NOT DO SO ON THIS DAY EITHER, SO I CANNOT TELL IF IT IS GOOD OR BAD. +Excellent Staff. Even when crowds were nearly unbearable, these guys kept the lines moving and had some great spiels. +Clean Park. I don't recall seeing any trash. +Landscaping. It was well done and there were some beautiful locations. +Working Rides. If a ride was open and had theming, it seemed that everything was working. FOF had its dim lights on. AE was working 100%. All remaining theming on BLSC was also working 100%. CON (THE BAD STUFF) ***** -Firehawk's Line. The ride-ops were doing a great job trying to move it and yet it just didn't want to move that fast. Thankfully I got lucky. -Theming. The LANDSCAPING was well done, but the theming has been damaged, especially in areas of Rivertown. Only The Beast's area still looks like it used to there. -Food Prices. Ouch. Thankfully we brought our own. On Cedar Fair's ownership, I am overall pleased with it. If they can improve the theming and lower their too-expensive prices, Kings Island will be hard to beat. Even though it pretty much already is. I hope you enjoyed this very long and detailed TR. Thanks for reading it.

I'm actually kind of stunned no one made this poll yet! Oh well, that's my job here on KIC...here I go: How well done do you think Planet Snoopy is, and do you perfer it or 2009's Nick U? Note, YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE BEEN TO THE PARK YET, but please look at the pictures and images at least to get a fair comparison. Enjoy the poll. If you don't like polls, click back.

WOW. Looking at these pictures, Kings Island in Beast's opening season was beautiful and had amazingly well done theming. Then it had to be screwed up starting in the 1980s with ride after ride being removed, and then Paramount showed up, then Cedar Fair showed up...I'm not saying the park doesn't look good or that it's bad today, but just looking at this...wow. PS: Wild Animal Safari>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(this 1000 times over)>Action Zone

My opinion on the new website? Epic win. There are typos, yes, but it looks so much better and having a "history" section for all the rides is cool. I wish they would add a list of all the rides, ranked in order of how many rides they have given in their careers. (Discovers Poll Section) OH NO! THEYZ HAZ POLLZ TOO! ME AM OUT OF JOB!!! LOL

Nice pics! Makes me even more eager to visit KI again. Also, does anyone have any old Ki skyline pics? I want to see what the park looked like BEFORE all those huge rides spawned in the 90s.

Just had a thought- if the GG did do a overhaul of SOB, it might be cool to have a section where the ride stops, enters a tunnel, and then uses the "Launch" Timberliner feature into either a new loop or a helix. It would probably be expensive, but it would attract guests...I can just see the marketing: After 1 1/2 (mid 2009 through 2010) years, Son of Beast has returned. And it now has even MORE world records: -Tallest Wooden Roller Coaster (218ft) -Fastest Wooden Roller Coaster (78mph) -ONLY Looping Wooden Roller Coaster -ONLY Launched Wooden Roller Coaster -2nd Longest Wooden Roller Coaster (Or they may just surpass Beast...) -etc etc etc...

A Gravity Group total overhaul of Son of Beast? Uh-Oh. We have seen what those guys do with a 160-foot drop, ala Voyage. Imagine what they could do if they kept the current lift hill of Son of Beast. Although, if any modifications involving removing large sections of the ride and replacing them with new ones, then we have to consider it a "new" ride...I think. Then again, don't we already have to consider SOB V1 (2000-2006) defunct because the loop is gone? And the "new" SOB would probably have timberliners...but only if the Gravity Group is willing to overhaul the ride. As for a new name, if that happens...Son of Beast: The Revenge?

If so...that means...Mean Streak with Timberliners!?!? Texas Giant overhaul is waste of money!?!? (I looked at list list and most Dinn coasters are viewed as abombinations or demolished. Of course, there are some good ones but not many...) Of course, SOB isn't Dinn Corporation either...it's RCCA and it's unusual wide track may present a problem.

Good point...that coaster IS even closer to The Beast, being a CCI. In fact, all 6 woodies in Indiana are thus pretty close to The Beast, since 5 of them are CCIs...and one is Gravity Group... Yet SOB is NOT CCI or GG, it's a RCCA...and I don't think it has PTC trains like its father, though I may be wrong on that...and it is even made of different wood...it isn't a terrain coaster at all...it has zero tunnels...WHY WAS THIS RIDE EVEN NAMED Son of Beast!?!? (I know, the reason was marketing).

To Terpy- I agree about the CCI coasters possibly getting Timberliners, and yes, only TGG can truly awnser that. Living in Indiana, that means up to 6 wooden coasters in my state appear eligable (Voyage, Legend, Raven, Cornball Express, Lost Coaster of Superstition Moutain, and Hoosier Hurricane)...and yet none in Ohio! Weird. Alsol, here's something a bit off topic, but I just realized- The Beast may have a connection to modern Gravity Group wooden coasters... #1-The Beast is designed and built in part by Charles Dinn and other designers, in 1979. #2-Charles Dinn's daughter, Denise Dinn Larrick, co-founds Custom Coasters International with Randy Larrick in 1991. They build many awesome coasters such as Raven, Legend, Cornball Express, etc etc. #3-In 2002, CCI goes out of business. 4 of its former engineers form the Gravity Group, which has built some of the world's top wooden roller coasters, though Denise herself forms a wooden coaster division at S&S...but none of their existsing woodies are very famous, and there are few of them. Interesting stuff. Guess it seems that Voyage @ Holiday World is more closely related to The Beast than the ride billed as "Son of Beast".

I meant will the Gravity Group install these trains on Custom Coasters International Coasters, such as Raven & Legend, etc. since the engineering team from CCI remains at the Gravity Group. The trains were tested and worked on Raven, after all (see video). Because if they will only install Timberliners on their "new" coasters, then only 5 roller coasters in the world are eligable, plus a new one in 2011...which I honestly would bet money will have them by default.

Good points. I do remeber the Gravity Group did make a comment that they would only put these trains on their own coasters (does that count the coasters built by the company that came before them, CCI, that built Raven, Legend, and others that eventually became the Gravity Group or just their "new" ones?). But, if they work really well, the Gravity Group would be pretty foolish not to sell/equip rides not built by them with the trains. They could very well save various rough woodies and make money at the same time. Terpy, you always get me thinking...somehow. PS: If you do not think SOB will ever get Timberliners, Poll #2 is a "What If?" poll.

It was a joke, but I edited it out. The trains I was describing were fictional. PS: We will KNOW how well these trains work when Holiday World and Voyage open, but that's 2 months away...