McSalsa

Well, reading through this, one thing that pops in my head- I doubt this will be the shortest Giga. Everyone seems to have forgotten this one which is only 5,100 feet long- shorter than Diamondback. https://rcdb.com/4520.htm Also, I remember in 2010 when that coaster opened. It got a lot of the same complaints about being smaller, slower, and shorter than Millennium Force. Edit: Also, if that Polaris animation is anywhere near how the coaster is actually gonna be...that is gonna be a great ride.

WOW- I leave KIC for one day to do other stuff, and this thread exploded. Leaked images, obvious fakes, etc. and everything. But the stuff I have seen that at least looks legit (and matches the current clearing) makes me think a few things: -This is gonna be a bit more like Leviathan, than Fury 325. And much more out-and-back'ish. -Will probably be shorter than Fury 325 as well, by 1000 feet at least. Might be a bit longer than Leviathan, but probably not by too much. (Leviathan is 5,486 feet long) -Though I do think it will be a bit taller than Fury (330 feet or so). They will probably market it as the "tallest and fastest traditional coaster" while Fury 325 will still be able to claim longest steel roller coaster in the USA. -Depending on how fast the coaster is going, that one helix near the end is probably going to be pretty intense. I would still wanna see the official announcement (for exact hill locations, the size and speed each one is taken at, etc.) and obviously ride the new apparently-a-Giga before I make final judgments on it. It'll probably still be a excellent ride though, even if not quite Fury 325 level. And it should at least be a much better, more reliable and higher capacity ride versus what it is replacing (Firehawk). Also I watched a Leviathan POV and it does give me a sense that it does heavily compare to what the leaks suggest.

Wow- Cedar Fair is just killing it this year with nostalgia and stuff. Cedar Point was already gonna do something retro with Corkscrew going back to its 1976 train colors, but now Mine Ride and Magnum XL-200 are also getting some love. I wonder if Magnum XL-200 in particular will get some "Magnum Fun Facts" boards in its que like Beast did. Also, I imagine THIS is what is coming back to Magnum. Dunno how easily the sounds will be noticed though- I imagine the awesomely strong ejector air will be distracting in the final tunnels.

Yeah, while I had a Dive Coaster at #2 most likely a while back, now I'd drop it to #4 most likely. If not a Giga, this is a HUGE Wing Coaster or maybe Floorless. (I think we could be looking at a 200-foot tall and 5000+ foot long version of those coasters) Though at this size, both of those would also be crazy expensive, so I'm thinking this is a Giga since that's what so many have asked for since 2013'ish. I also hope they keep it far enough from Beast that it doesn't mess with the seclusion that ride has- seeing Diamondback after you do the 1st turn outside the long tunnel mid-ride is already kinda jarring.

I know- I've actually ridden Diamondback in the back before. On this night, for whatever reason, it was running even crazier (even better) than usual compared to all my past rides in that same row. Maybe the cold temperatures had something to do with it, I'd guess (maybe the rails shrunk ever-so-slightly due to the cold). I am definitely going to try and get more Diamondback rear car night rides this year after this.

Well, I have rested up, and now it is time for another trip report- Part 2 of Opening "Weekend", Opening Day (For Part 1, which was passholder preview night, see "McSalsa's Coaster Adventures: Drenched"! Since the ride rating system won't be used here either, I won't add it to this post (you can see it in Part 1). Let's begin the trip report! My group (Me+Sister+Same 2 Friends from before) woke up at 6:15AM at our hotel (The Baymont near The Beach) and then we headed over to the Big Boy across the street for breakfast. I got the breakfast burrito combo, which was very good, and I also met many KIC members for the first time. After that, we finished eating and returned to our hotel to grab our stuff and put it up since our stay there was over. Then we headed over to the park at 9:15AM. There was a big line just to get into the park, and then when it opened, we headed in to the renovated Interntaional Street (I miss the pedestals but think everything else looked much better than in 2018 BTW) and then went towards The Beast, as the park was celebrating its 40th Anniversary on this day and was giving out free T-Shirts. We found they had actually made a seperate line for T-Shirts versus ERT riders, too. RIDE #1: The Beast We waited 2 hours for The Beast- 30 for ERT to end, and then 1 1/2 to actually get on the ride. They were eventually using every que (when we got in line it was in the house before the ramp but it got longer), something I have not seen in a long time, and eventually the line even got as far back as Planet Snoopy, I am told. Woah, Beast has not had a line like that in years, I bet! They were assigning seats (due to huge line I expected it) and I was given...the very back seat, 6-3. Oh boy. Lucky for me, it wasn't too painful (maybe a tiny bit of back pain at most) but WOAH, was this ride intense. I was thrown around quite a bit in the turns, and the double helix was pure insanity. Also luckily, there was no rain this time so no rain bullets which kinda hurt the ride yesterday. I'd say this was probably the best ride I have ever gotten on Beast outside of night rides! And yes, I got a T-Shirt, Extra Large though (I wear a Large normally- I can wear the shirt but it is kinda big on me). After a epic ride on The Beast, I broke off from my group (who wanted to smoke for a bit), since I wanted to ride... RIDE #2: Diamondback There was about a 20 minute wait for DB, which was nothing compared to what I just waited for Beast. I rode near the back, and had a fun ride with good airtime, but this would be nothing compared to later. Read on... After Diamondback, I called my sister to check with her and we agreed to meet at Racer. Somehow, I beat her there from Diamondback, AND SHE WAS AT SCRAMBLER. Man sis, how were you so slow, LOL? Afterwards, since we were there, we rode Racer. I chose Blue because now I had my glasses on (didn't wear them Friday due to rain) and wanted to see the clearing... RIDE #3: Blue Racer Holy cow, that is a huge clearing! Whatever is coming in 2020, it is gonna be huge. Also Blue Racer was once again running great, smooth (even more than Friday because I was on a middle seat this time) and with good airtime. And still no trims on the turnaround! After Blue Racer, we decided to go up the Eiffel Tower to get a even better view of the clearing. RIDE #4: Eiffel Tower Ahh, the Eiffel Tower. Such awesome views of the park- even on a cold day like this. From up here, you really get a sense of how much space has been cleared- there's a spot that seems cleared in the old SOB area, Firehawk's old spot, and then more clearing near Blue Racer in the old Dinos area. You also get a better view of the "S" shape on the updated fountains from up here. After we came back down, we did some shopping on International Street looking for cheap items. I found a awesome fridge magnet of The Beast celebrating its 40th Anniversary for under $5, so I got that. Heck, there was tons of awesome new Beast stuff in the shops. My sister and friends then decided to smoke again, and I wanted to join the KIC meetup, so I headed off. It was not quite 2pm yet, so I headed into Action Zone to find Delirium a walk-on... RIDE #5: Delirium Ahh, Delirium. Such good spinning swinging fun. Kinda cold going 76mph though when it is only 45 out, though. After Delirium, I found Drop Tower had no wait either. I hesitated a bit- this ride still scares me a bit- but talked myself into it by remembering the clearing, and that I could get a great view of the "SOB section" from this ride. RIDE #6: Drop Tower I didn't hype myself up for nothing- Drop Tower did indeed give a great view of the SOB clearing. As well as great views of the rest of the park. Before I knew it, we were at the top, somewhere about 290 feet in the air. And then we dropped as I was distracted looking at something. A very fun drop, as usual. From Drop Tower, I walked down Coney Mall to the Antique Autos. I got my first good look at them earlier when "racing" my sister to Racer, and got another good look here- as well as seeing the huge line (main reason I didn't ride the Antique Autos on this trip). Even if I never ride these (unlikely- I'll probably do them at some point) I must say this ride has made this section of the park MUCH nicer. Then I met up with the KIC Group, and joined the group photo. I also got to meet and shake hands with Don Helbig. Afterwards, we rode... RIDE #7: WindSeeker If Drop Tower gives you the best view of the SOB Area clearing, WindSeeker gives the best of the former Dinos clearing (Blue Racer kinda whizzes by it a little fast). Looking around at various things also helps here, as well as it did on Drop Tower. It was also pretty cold and windy up top, but nonetheless, this was a fun ride on WindSeeker, and it was also fun to ride with other KIC members for the first time. After WindSeeker, we headed for Mystic Timbers, but that ride never happened. After passing by...uhh, I won't say it because we vowed to keep it a secret from King Ding Dong...we decided to ride the train. RIDE #8: Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad Riding this with the KIC Group was fun. In addition to the sights and sounds of the train, including the Goose family, we pointed out random stuff and made up fake(?) 2020 coaster rumors based on the random stuff. LOL. We got off the train, and it had begun to rain, and we had gotten kinda cold so we headed over to Boo Blasters to warm up and dry off. RIDE #9: Boo Blasters on Boo Hill There was a short wait for Boo Blasters, about 10-15 minutes or so, as I guess we were not alone in wanting to warm up and dry off here. One of the other KIC members I was riding with didn't wanna shoot stuff, so I used his gun too: I ended up going "Terminator" on the ride, and scored 1800 on my "main" gun (right hand) and 900 on my 2nd gun (left hand). The 1800 alone was my highest score ever on this ride, but someone else from the KIC Group scored 2800, which beat my COMBINED score. Holy cow some people are good at this ride! After Boo Blasters, we headed to the fountains. I checked in with my sister, and she was about to eat, and since I was hungry I decided to go meet them again. I bid farewell to the KIC Group- it was fun hanging with you guys- and headed back to my main group who were at the Antique Autos. They waited about a hour to ride it, and I saw them on the ride. Afterwards, we headed into Rivertown for food. FOOD: Miami River Brewhouse New-for-2019! The food service here was decently quick, we got through the line at a decent pace. There was a slight issue with my sister's debit card, which could have been opening day woes on the park or her bank. But it was resolved. We got some of the pull-apart bread, since it was cheap, and it came to us pretty quick. I must say- this is some good bread. Nice dipping sauces too. Would eat this again, no question. I finished eating first, and headed outside to see Diamondback running empty test trains. One of our friends, who loves Diamondback, came out and suggested since it was testing often that we should go get in line because it was probably gonna re-open. RIDE #10: Diamondback #2 It did, and we only had to wait from the stairs because it had broken down. We rode from near the back yet again (for me), and got good airtime, but still nothing compared to later (keep reading). After Diamondback, we headed over to Mystic Timbers, since it was also in this area. RIDE #11: Mystic Timbers There was about a 15-minute wait for Mystic Timbers, so not too bad. We ended up riding in the front 2 rows, and the ride gave some nice airtime with aggressive turns and twists as is usual for Mystic Timbers. We got Bats in the shed...again, same as we got on Friday. After Mystic Timbers, we headed over to Action Zone, because unlike me my group hadn't done anything over there yet. On the way, we stopped near Festhaus, and the Glockenspeil played- It felt amazing to see it working! In my 10 years visiting the park since 2009, I had never actually seen it run...until now. Thank You Cedar Fair for fixing this! Afterwards, we headed into Action Zone, and saw Delirium still had no line. RIDE #12: Delirium #2 This was running pretty similar to earlier, save now my sister and a friend were riding with me, and the kid next to me (a boy who screamed like a girl) kept screaming which was VERY ANNOYING. After Delirium, we saw Invertigo was running, which was not the case when I was back here earlier. So we went over to ride it. RIDE #13: Invertigo There was about a 15-20 minute wait. I was hoping for a "smooth" Invertigo ride, but alas, it was shufflin' noticeably. I did figure out that I could stick my head forward and avoid the headbanging on the return trip, though. Probably my least favorite coaster ride of the day. Which is typical for Invertigo. Also, I didn't realize it had gotten Stinger's train. I honestly felt the Invertigo train was running better last year during Haunt versus this. While we were in Invertigo's que, we saw a Squirrel/Chipmunk (not sure 100% which) eating nuts. As we left Invertigo, we saw it again, and then some dumb kid comes CHARGING out of the que, sees it, and he RAN INTO IT ON PURPOSE...THEN CLAIMED IT WAS A "ACCIDENT"! What a Jerk! Thankfully, a kind-hearted old dude grabbed the now-hurt animal with his coat and took it to guest services in the hopes something could be done for it. Everyone around us felt the same way as me. I hope the animal was OK. Afterwards, my sister and friend decided to ride Drop Tower with me, since there was no wait still. RIDE #14: Drop Tower This time I ended up facing Invertigo as we dropped, and the ride op gave us a fake countdown that stopped at 7 (then we dropped- but we knew he was gonna do this because our other friend saw him doing it during our Invertigo ride). Otherwise, same as before, another fun drop. After Drop Tower, we decided to ride Banshee next, as it was now 100% dry. Our friend who does not do inversions held our stuff and saved us a locker fee. RIDE #15: Banshee Ahh, Banshee is so much more fun when it isn't dumping water on you (aka what happened Friday). There was no wait for regular seats, but we waited 5 minutes for front row. Great speeds, huge inversions, and strong G-Forces as usual (just a bit cold because 45 degrees). Another excellent ride on Banshee, which I have come to expect given the last 5 years. After Banshee, we headed to Chicken Shack to get a wrap, but it turns out that it was removed from the menu! One of my favroite food items from 2018, gone! NOOOOOOOOO!!! So we got nothing. After that, my friends headed for the Bier Garden in Oktoberfest to smoke, and I went to ride Racer while they did. RIDE #16: Red Racer Might as well try Red Racer and see how it is comparing to Blue...and while in 2018 I thought Red Racer was better, now, Blue is. Red felt noticeably rougher, and had less airtime. It was still a good ride, just not as good as Blue. After I rode Red Racer, I rejoined the group, and headed directly back to Racer. RIDE #17: Blue Racer #2 I tried to race my sister and friends, but a walk of shame ruined that as my train stayed in the station while theirs left. Oof. Still, even with no racing, Blue Racer had enough airtime to be a good ride by itself. After our failed race, we headed down Coney Mall. We checked out the line for Flight of Fear, but it looked to be about a 30 minute wait so we said no since we rode it on Friday. We then decided to ride... RIDE #18: Shake, Rattle, & Roll No wait, but we did have to watch 2 test cycles, as the ride was coming back up after a breakdown. But whatever broke was fixed, the mechanics left, and the ride re-opened. Then we got a fun, spinny ride on Shake, Rattle, & Roll. This was also one of our friends first ride on it because he feared it might make him sick, but it didn't. After SR&R, we headed into Rivertown, as we were hungry and had decided on... FOOD: TOM+CHEE We got some Mac+Chee sandwiches, and split them up (we got 2, and each of us ate half of one). These sandwiches were very good, too. Nice and cheesy, and the mac tasted great on them. Tom+Chee has become one of our go-to food spots at KI, for good reason. After we ate, it was getting dark, and thus it was...NIGHT RIDE TIME! First up, Diamondback! RIDE #19: Diamondback #3 (Night) OK, where earlier in the day Diamondback was running normally, for some reason when the sun went down, it decided apparently it wanted to do a Steel Vengeance impression. Granted, we rode in the very back, but the ride was giving actual EJECTOR AIR. SUSTAINED OVER THE HILLS. I was not expecting to get yanked over the lift hill, and then launched over every other hill, but it happened. And I even had like a inch or so of free room via my lap bar. Add in the fact it was dark, and you have probably my best ride on Diamondback...EVER. After the Diamondback epicness, we got a locker for Mystic Timbers, but headed to The Beast for now instead. RIDE #20: The Beast #2 (Night) Beast is known for its epic night rides, and this was no exception. Crazy fast speeds, loud and dark tunnels, and a general out-of-control ride in the woods are the norm and this was no different. This coaster has been doing this for 40+ years now and probably won't stop anytime soon. After more epicness on Beast, we headed over to Mystic Timbers. RIDE #21: Mystic Timbers #2 (Night) Another great night ride, but compared to the other 2 we just had, Mystic Timbers felt like a slight step back. It still had good airtime and awesome twists and turns, but the short ride hurts it. It was still a great ride, just not epic. We also got Bats yet again! After Mystic Timbers, we split up as part of our group wanted to ride Banshee and then see the Fireworks, and the other part wanted to ride Diamondback and Beast again. I stayed with our friend who didn't do inversions, and made up the latter. RIDE #22+23: Diamondback #4+5 (Both Night) There was no wait, so we rode twice in a row. Once again, epicness and ejector air, even when we moved up a few rows. I still have no idea what made Diamondback run so great, but if we are getting a B&M Giga and it runs like this with even more height and speed...it is gonna be one of the best coasters in the world, easily. After Diamondback, we headed for Beast. However, when we arrived at the station, it had closed for Fireworks. My friend went to meet our group, while I stayed alone to ride. I had a nice chat with the ride ops and a lady in line, and learned that apparently in 2007 MaXair at Cedar Point had a disastrous engine failure and the ride swung in free-swing for a good period of time, while dripping oil on riders. Can anyone verify if this actually happened (the lady claimed to be a Raptor ride op)? After the Fireworks (which was still the 2018 show I learned) I got a last ride of the night (for me)... RIDE #24: The Beast #3 (Night) I rode from 6-2, I was kinda gonna do 6-3 again but a small line had formed for it. From 6-2, the ride ran about the same as earlier, I was kinda hoping for some extra craziness but it was more the same. Still, that same was a epic night ride, so no anger. When we reached the 2nd lift, I sang "Happy Birthday 2 Beast", and when the final drop happened I was on the last line so I didn't say the last "Beast" until we entered the double helix. Happy 40th Birthday Beast! Still such a epic coaster. After riding The Beast one last time (for this trip), I headed out towards our car. Walking through Kings Island at night with next to no one around is eerie. The fountains had also shut off, which made I-Street very quiet and calm. I arrived at the car, got in, and we headed home. What a trip! Friday was a bit bad due to the heavy rain, but Saturday was MUCH better and actually ended up being one of my best KI days ever. 24 rides is just shy of my personal record of most rides in a day, which was 25 (in April of last year). Not bad, especially since it was opening day. The crummy weather was actually a plus then! Though I do hate that it never hit 50, so the Arrow rides could not open. I will have to give Bat, Adventure Express, and Vortex extra love on my next visit. I rode just about everything else though (I got BLSC and Flight of Fear on Friday). Now, for Saturday's Pros and Cons! PROS +The New-for-2019 Revamps Look Beautiful Including Antique Autos +Not as many ride breakdowns as you'd expect from Opening Day +Almost all shops and vendors were also open +Rides were running great, especially Beast and Diamondback at the end +Very Light Crowds, Only T-Shirt Beast had a signifigant wait all day +Riding rides with other KIC Members for First Time CONS -Removal of Pedestals on Royal Fountains (Mostly "countered" by the rest of I-Street looking much better and the new founatins are OK IMO, but still...) -Still Cold (But Thankfully Much Less Rain) -Thus No Arrows Could Run (I Like Arrow Coasters) -JERK KID RUNS OVER SQUIRREL/CHIPMUNK! (Thank Goodness for Old Man) And that does it for this trip report, and my opening weekend trip report in general. I really am looking forward to more KI trips in 2019. Also, as usual, Questions and Comments welcome!

I actually had the opposite ride on Invertigo versus what @MDMC01 got, I got headbanged on the first go-through (was going backwards) but when we went forwards I leaned my head out a bit and that really helped. I also had no idea it was Stinger's old train at the time, but I thought it felt weird. Not a fan of the restraints on it, the "ears" attached to the OTSRs feel really un-needed and just cause more headbanging IMO. I actually don't remember if the old train had them or not, though.

My sister actually had some register issues on Saturday at the Brewhouse, her card wouldn't read. We ended up just using a friend's card and she paid them back. The workers were very nice about it though. Also, the pull-apart bread is delicious, but do note it comes with very hot peppers on the side. Be careful if you eat them.

I saw that new building multiple times when at the park on Saturday (I rode Blue Racer on Friday but without my glasses on due to the rain) and wondered what it is. Also, I have to wonder if the 2 big clearings (there is another near where Son of Beast's helix used to be) are for 2 separate things, or if they are gonna eventually merge into 1 huge clearing possibly along with the Firehawk plot. If they do merge, if this isn't for a Giga, it's the most monstrous wing or floorless coaster ever built (which I would still happily ride probably). A Dive Coaster taking that much land doesn't make much sense to me.

Hello! Welcome to the first McSalsa trip report of 2019! With KI finally back open, the offseason is now over, and the trip reports begin (for KI at least). I have decided that rating old rides I have been on multiple times is kinda odd, so I won't be doing that on these anymore, but I will still talk about each ride we rode and how I felt it was running compared to past rides, etc. New rides I have never been on will still get rated though. Here is my 2019 ride rating system anyway, I have gone back to a 0-10 scale. RIDE RATING SYSTEM (For New Un-ridden rides or major updates- not used here) 10=ZOMG THIS RIDE IS EPIC 9=I Adore This Ride 8=I Really Like This Ride 7=This Ride is Fun, I Like It 6=It's OK Enough, Will Ride Again 5=Meh, No Feelings Either Way for Various Reasons 4=Ehh, Kinda Bad 3=Yuck, Bad 2=POO, THIS RIDE SUX 1=SUPER POO, THIS RIDE SUX EVEN HARDER! 0=WHO MADE THIS MONSTROSITY!?!? Anyhow, with that outta the way...on to the trip report itself. We actually went to Kings Island for 2 days, both passholder preview night and opening day. So let's begin with the 1st day, passholder preview night! (Note: Due to how huge the TR will be, Opening Day will get its own Trip Report a bit later) PASSHOLDER PREVIEW NIGHT: April 19th, 2019 We (me+sister+the 2 usual friends from 2017+2018) left for the park around 1pm and arrived at our Hotel, the Baymont across from the Beach, around 3:30pm. It was a cheap (we paid $70 for our room) and nice hotel, and the window just outside our room had a nice view of the park. Around 4:30pm, we arrived at the park itself, and waited to get in. After the national anthem played we headed in and I got my first look at the "new" International Street. It's awesome! I do miss the fountain pedestals, but the new fountain nozzles seem to be more flexible, and the buildings truly have all seemed to get updates. I love that the old flags are all back up. I took all this in as we headed for The Beast, which celebrates 40 years of Terror. RIDE #1- The Beast 10 years ago this ride was the one that got me over my fear of roller coasters, so it was a celebration for me as well. I love everything they have done with Beast this year- the repainted trains look awesome, the paw prints are BACK (though only in The Beast's actual area sadly) and I love the fun facts in the que now. We boarded The Beast, 1st ride of the year on Train #2, and...it began pouring rain as we climbed the 1st lift. I had never ridden a roller coaster in the rain, and now I finally know what "bullets to the face" means. Ouch. This meant I couldn't really enjoy the ride too much, which is sad because it had good speed and the helix was awesome as usual (the tunnels offered some relief from the rain bullets as well). By the end of the ride, we were all pretty wet. We ran into the nearby arcade to dry off for a bit, and threw on our emergency $1 ponchos we had bought the day before. I also removed my glasses as I could actually see better WITHOUT them due to the rain on my lenses. Hoping we wouldn't get much wetter we headed over to another ride that wasn't nearly as big or fast as The Beast. RIDE #2- Backlot Stunt Coaster BLSC was a walk-on. Thankfully, this one wasn't as bad for rain bullets since it only goes 40mph versus 64.8mph for Beast, but it was still kinda rainy and the bullets were there, just much weaker and more tolerable. The ride itself was pretty normal for BLSC besides that. After Backlot Stunt Coaster, we decided to go to the indoor roller coaster, Flight of Fear. We passed the Antique Autos but I didn't get a great look at them without my glasses on. When we got to X-Base, even without my glasses on, I could tell that there were no teasers yet on the big fence. RIDE #3- Flight of Fear The line for FOF was just outside the main station area, just after you enter the UFO, so we waited maybe 5-10 minutes tops. The ride was running pretty well, smooth for Flight of Fear and with some nice G-Forces. It was also nice to ride something dry. After FOF, we went and headed for Racer, wanting to see how well Blue Racer was running since GCI did some re-tracking on it this past offseason. But we also stopped to ride a flat I somehow missed during all of 2018. RIDE #4- Monster Ahh Monster. A fun flat ride- I kinda do regret not riding it in 2018. Well, in 2019, that isn't a issue. Fun spinning and going up a down for the most part. RIDE #5- Blue Racer Blue Racer had no wait, and was actually great. It was decently smooth (I was even sitting on a wheel) though not glass smooth like the ride sometimes randomly gives out, except on the retracked turnaround which oddly no longer feels like it is trimmed anymore, though I am not 100% sure if it is or not. Nice airtime to boot. There was still some "rain bullets", but not as bad as earlier on Beast. A fun ride. Also, one of our friends spotted the huge clearing, though I couldn't see it without my glasses on and was focused on the ride. After Blue Racer, we went into Action Zone, and made a HORRIBLE mistake... RIDE #6- Banshee As we got on Banshee after a brief station wait, the rain picked up again, and we hit the lift hill and got water DUMPED on us like it was a water ride. Welcome to the New World's Longest Water Coaster, Mammoth can shove off! And not to mention since Banshee goes 68mph...yay, more rain bullets. I actually shut my eyes for most of the ride, due to this. The ride itself felt like its usual self, with great speeds and g-forces, but all the rain bullets and soaking kinda ruined it because it was also cold. We got off Banshee, pondering our life choices, and we went to check out the Miami River Brewhouse to find a line out the door. Nope! This was also where I was gonna meet up with other KIC Members but that would have to wait for the next day. We saw Mystic Timbers and Diamondback both had short waits, so we decided to ride them and then leave the park and dry off. RIDE #7- Mystic Timbers The rain had started to back off, so only minor rain bullets on Mystic Timbers. The ride also felt a bit more aggressive than usual, but it was fun and did have good airtime. We got Bats in the shed, which seems to be my usual ending. RIDE #8- Diamondback Thank goodness- when we got on DB, the rain stopped! So we just got a cold (made worse due to wetness) but airtime filled ride on Diamondback. We rode near the back, and got the usual "starts off weak and then gets stronger as you drop" airtime Diamondback has from back there. It was a fun ride, in spite of the bitter coldness. After Diamondback, we got our stuff, headed to the car, went to the Hotel and changed/dryed off and then went to Perkins outside the park and got food. It was a fun day, but the cold and rain TBH made this probably my least favorite trip to Kings Island so far- even 2014 Opening Day was better- but it's not really the park's fault for that. However, we had ANOTHER day lined up after this, as we also planned to visit for public opening day 2019. Would that day fare better? Find out in the next Trip Report (coming soon'ish)! But for now, this day's Pros/Cons: PROS +International Street and the new fountains look awesome +Beast's 40th Anniversary Paint Job and Extra Goodies in the Que are awesome +Blue Racer's retrack has it running better +Very Light Crowds, we got in a decent number of rides in just 3 hours CONS -Rain Rain, Go Away! (Rain Bullets suck) -And the Cold can go away too! -Banshee in the Rain is a nightmare and WILL soak you, in spite of being a great ride usually And that does it for the first McSalsa trip report for 2019. The next one- for Opening Day- again, is coming soon (I am still a bit exhausted from the trip and wanna recover before I write it- minor spoiler again, it's a big one- and a few KIC members will know some of it...). I hope you all enjoyed this trip report, questions and comments welcome as usual.

I have actually never ridden any of the coasters at Kings Island in the rain in spite of 19 total visits since 2000. Even if it was a rainy day, when I got on anything it stayed dry, oddly. I have ridden Delirium and Drop Tower in the rain though, and would like to ride the woodies in particular since I expect they would be running fast due to the wet track.

On the bright side, this is probably gonna drive a lot of people away (so much for the massive preview night and opening day crowds if true), and unless it rains super hard or there are thunderstorms all day, I'm sure at least some rides will remain open (though probably with fewer trains than normal).

This video, perhaps? (The Beast is at 23:00 in the video)

(Sees what day it is...) Oh...HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY BEAST!!!

This latest discussion has inspired me to share a 2nd Beast story. This happened to me last year, on a particularly hot day in June. We were at Kings Island, it was about noon-1pm and my friends wanted to ride White Water Canyon. I didn't want to get wet- in spite of the 90 degree temperatures- so I went over to ride The Beast since it was close by. Found a super short station wait, which was awesome (park was crowded but everyone was in the waterpark most of the day so you saw stuff like this in the dry park). I went and got in line and rode in 6-2, the middle of the very last car. The coaster was running great- very fast and not too rough. I get off and decide that was so fun, and since there was next to no wait, I'd ride again. I go back, get in line for the same seat, and go around again no problems. Then I went back and met up with my friends who had ridden WWC only once. Hearing Beast had no wait, we went over and found it had a 10-minute wait now but we waited and then I rode in 2-3. Wheel seat this time, but I figured it would be OK as it was much closer to the front of the train. Nope. Ride was still very fast, but simply changing seats made it ROUGH. My shoulder kept being slammed into the headrest, in particular. I thought I was OK at first when getting off, but a few hours later I rode Banshee and suddenly felt the pain my shoulder start to creep up due to the vest restraints. Ouch. It lasted for 2 days after, too. I'd also had a fairly rough ride on a back wheel seat earlier in the year, but this was worse. I avoided back wheel seats (front wheel is OK but I prefer middle) since on the rest of my 2018 Beast rides. So basically I am cool with riding in one of the back cars on Beast (in fact 6-2 is my favorite seat to ride in), but riding on a back wheel seat has given me some not-so-great memories.

I'm gonna base my advice on my trips to Cedar Point I took in 2017 and 2018, though mostly 2018. The 2018 trips were on 3-day weekends. First up, I second doing Steel Vengeance first if you have ERT. While they began running 3 trains in late 2018 (after my last visit), and it shouldn't be as crazy in year 2, Steel Vengeance was by far the longest wait time of all CP coasters in 2018. Everything else in the park could be 15 minutes or less (aka park is dead in terms of crowds) and Steel Vengeance would still be 90 minutes or more. If you don't have ERT, then expect to wait quite a bit for Steel Vengeance. However, it's also my favorite so far of all the coasters I have ridden, so I'd wait it out if needed- if you have to do this, I'd say wait until night before the park closes, as SV is a epic night ride. If you have ERT, after riding Steel Vengeance, I would do Maverick next as it is next door and it can also get quite the line even on not-so-busy days. You might also want to do Millennium Force if you can get the first 2 done during ERT, but there may not be time to walk down to it. Otherwise, I'd suggest getting in line for Top Thrill Dragster early because it is yet another ride that can get a wait, and it sucks to wait for it for 1 hour and then it breaks down (and it loves to break down). If you stay long enough to get ERT on 2 days, I would split them up and do Steel Vengeance and Maverick on the 1st ERT day and then do Valravn and Millennium Force on Day 2 ERT. There is some good news if the park begins to get crowded- not everything usually gets monster lines. The "popular" coaster almost always do (Steel Vengeance, Maverick, Valravn, Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force, and Raptor) but the others almost always have noticeably shorter lines (I have seen days where the popular rides are 1 hour+, and the less popular ones were only 5 minutes or less), some of them barely having lines at all. Also it does help that most of Cedar Point's rides are very high capacity. There are also lots of flat rides (If you're looking for a quick thrill, Skyhawk and MaXair both typically had short waits compared to most of the big coasters) as well as the beach, a museum, a train ride, and a petting zoo which IMO are all worth checking out.

Ahh, The Beast. What a epic and legendary coaster- and yes, a very important one to me as well. I'll have to explain some backstory on that first though. In 1999, at the age of 9, I rode my first "big" coaster- Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach, with my dad. I remember loving it. However, when we went to Paramount's Kings Island in 2000, I saw Son of Beast for the first time (which to me as a kid was immense- Hoosier Hurricane is only 77 feet tall, versus 218 for Son of Beast). I got scared just from seeing such a huge ride, and then when I got airtime for the first time on The Racer later that day (and didn't know what it was) I became even more scared. I didn't go on any other roller coasters or big rides for 9 years after that. Also I never really even saw much of The Beast on that trip, even though I did look for it- all I remember seeing was the 2nd lift, from Monster around sunset. However, there was still some interest- I recall reading magazine articles about roller coasters (I remember the 2003 Top Thrill Dragster magazine ad), and watching TV shows and documentaries about them. As I got older and bigger, I began to think "I'm older and bigger now- maybe soon I should give roller coasters a 2nd chance". Around 2007'ish, I began to wonder what Kings Island was up to- so I did some Google searching. Found out Cedar Fair bought the park, which made me think "oh cool now Kings Island is gonna get crazy good roller coasters" (I knew about Cedar Point at this point) and eventually found this site, where I became a lurker (I also found you could watch POVs of rides on Youtube at this point). My sister then went to Kings Island in 2008, and she returned having ridden most of the roller coasters. She also brought a 2008 park map (which I still have!) and spoke of the construction fence in Rivertown that would eventually lead to Diamondback. When Diamondback was announced (I learned of it via KIC) my sister decided to go back to Kings Island, and I decided it was time to return as well. I figured we could ride Beast first, because based on the POV's I had seen, I noticed it only had a few big drops and stuck low to the ground. About a week before going to KI, we went to a local carnival and rode a few rides there as warm-ups. On May 16th, 2009 we arrived at the park. We went up the Eiffel Tower first, as it was raining a bit and to get our bearings as to where everything was, as well as too see all the new stuff that had been added since 2000. Then we went on The Crypt, which I didn't know went upside down (my sister tricked me) but I ended up disappointed it was so short. Then, since we were in Rivertown anyway, we got in line for The Beast. I smacked my sister on accident with one of the que line bars, and then we waited about 15-20 minutes to get on. I remember the lap bar was tighter that I expected, and I forgot my seat belt (oops). Then we got the all clear, and I took my first ride on a large roller coaster in 10 years. The train left the station, and went around the turn. Bump, Bump, Thunk, Thunk. At this point I got a bit worried- was this gonna be painfully rough? Because those thunks at low speed seemed like they'd be much worse once the ride got to full speed. I looked over to my Mom as we climbed the lift (she was riding with me) and I joked "Look mah, we are higher than da treez" to relieve tension. Then we reached the top of the first lift, and I saw that legendary visual. "Oh THAT is where this picture came from...wait...uh-oh!" The train dropped into the tiny tunnel and roared through it, into the hard left turn. Up, over the hill and into the ravine (no airtime though). Right turn, into the brake shed. At this point I realized "I AM STILL ALIVE SOMEHOW!" and we turned into the right turn that leads into the LOOOOOOONG tunnel. A girl's scream echoed through the tunnel. I realized though, I wasn't afraid of this, I was enjoying it! A few turns later after exiting the tunnel, and we are on the 2nd lift. I looked at my mom and sister, and told them I loved the ride. My sister looked back at me and said something that briefly brought the fear back: worst part was yet to come! We reached the top of the 2nd lift, and I saw the 2nd epic view of the entire park, and I wondered why that view wasn't more famous like the one of the 1st drop. But then the train suddenly turned, and I was staring a tiny hole in the face. Faster, faster, faster, faster, faster...ROAR!!! We were into the helix. It was so loud and chaotic, I wasn't even able to think, much less be scared. Then it happened again! After that though, we left the helix, dropped one last time, and came back up into the brake run. I was a little shook up from the helix, but I thought "that was a bit scary, but very fun, would ride it again". As we exited the ride, I looked up at Vortex, and thought "OK- I can handle roller coasters, and going upside down (Thanks to Crypt)...I guess it is time to try combing them..." I rode Vortex, Diamondback, Flight Deck (now The Bat), The Racer (made up for the scary ride in 2000), and Flight of Fear the same day to truly conquer my fear of roller coasters. Since Son of Beast broke down (I tried to ride it) we decided to ride The Beast again after dark- my friend just assumed it was good at night because of the wooded setting, we didn't know anything about how legendary the night rides were. But we found out, as that night ride on The Beast was my favorite ride of the day. As good as the daytime rides is, the night rides are just something else. Another memorable ride came during Halloween Haunt 2010- it was running very good that night, and it was kinda cool outside, so my friends all lost their voices from screaming the next day. LOL. I have not gotten to too many parks since: in the "Beast Era (2009-Today)" I have only gone to Kings Island, Holiday World, and Cedar Point and have ridden 33 roller coasters at those parks. But I have made many memories at amusement parks, and made lots of friends and rode many other huge roller coasters, and have come to love most of them. I would say I truly got over my coaster fears once and for all in October 2017, when I finally rode Top Thrill Dragster. If I never rode The Beast on May 16th 2009, all of this may not have happened. Looking forward to The Beast's 40th Anniversary season, which will also be my 10th anniversary of said 1st ride ironically. I am excited to see the new retro paint scheme they have on the trains this year, and hopefully 2019 will have many epic day and night rides on this legendary coaster for me. We are planning on trying to come up for passholder preview, and I am aiming to ride The Beast as my first coaster of 2019 because of the anniversaries (40 years of Beast, and 10 years of coasting for me). And to end this post, here is the POV of Beast I saw in 2008'ish that made me wanna give it a shot in the first place. Video is by Discovery Channel, posted to Youtube by 2448Trolley:

My Votes (and my reasons for each): Most Anticipated 2019 Feature: International Street Renovations The Antique Cars are a great addition for families, but based on rides I have done at other parks similar to them, they are probably not for me (though they probably will make the back of Coney Mall look and feel much nicer). So I am looking forward to the I-Street updates, particularly how the Royal Fountains are going to look and function in 2019. Favorite Non-Coaster: Delirium I love this huge flat ride. Swinging 137 feet in the air, spinning slowly, and dropping at 75+mph while getting airtime is just so fun to me, and is actually a bit relaxing at the same time. Favorite Coaster: The Beast Largely for the epic night rides- by day, I do find Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and Banshee more enjoyable but after dark even though those 3 all get better, The Beast becomes something else and crushes them all. Being buried deep in the woods behind KI, racing through dark tunnels, the awesome views from both lifts, and the double helix finale at the end are all big reasons I find this ride to be awesome. Least Favorite Non-Coaster: Boo Blasters on Boo Hill This attraction just feels kinda cheap and gimmicky to me. The guns often being tricky to use doesn't help much at all. From what I have seen, I probably would have liked Phantom Theatre a LOT more than this. IMO, Kings Island needs a better dark ride. Least Favorite Coaster: Invertigo I didn't vote for any "kiddie" coasters because I think including them in a poll like this is a bit odd, since they are clearly aimed at younger riders. But of the "adult" coasters, I find Invertigo the worst- it is still a good enough ride, but something has to be the worst in the park (I don't think KI has any truly horrible coasters ATM). Invertigo is a short ride, and while it has great forcefulness, but when Invertigo gives a rough ride (I feel you have a 50% or so chance of getting either a smooth or rough ride here) I get headbanged no matter what I try, which sucks. And is enough for Invertigo to get my vote here.

Ooh, these are neat looking. I will be sure to look for them on Preview Night and Opening Day. I'd like to get The Beast 40th Anniversary and Son of Beast ones, myself. Aka the "Father-Son" combo. I love The Beast, hence why I want its pin, and while the Son no longer exists and I never got to ride it (so no real opinion on how good/bad it was), it would be nice to get a pin with that awesome classic logo. And SOB is one of the most interesting defunct coasters ever IMO.

Having seen the "official" pictures of the new I-Street on Facebook, as well as some posted by @Shaggy there via the Sit-On-It page, I would say I am liking how International Street is looking. It does kinda suck a bit that the old pedestals and trees are gone, but the concrete pavers look awesome and I love how close you get to the fountains now. The new paint on the buildings also looks great. Plus, I am sure the new fountain system they installed is gonna be able to do stuff the old pedestals never could, like go in patterns, possibly in sync with music (if color changing lights were also installed, I imagine the 2019 fireworks shows will be epic from I-Street. I also imagine blood red colored water at night for Haunt). Though I still wanna see the updated fountains in person before I make my final opinion on them.

FYI: The smoking section near Flight of Fear was there during Winterfest 2018. I know because my friends+sister I go to KI with usually smoked there while I rode Flight of Fear 4 times in a row (thank you single rider line!). Looks like it's staying there for the 2019 season at least, though.

IMO, my rankings of what I want vs. what I think we'll get of the B&M models looks like this- not counting what I think are super longshot models: WHAT I WOULD WANT- #1- Giga #2- Floorless #3- Wing #4- Dive WHAT I EXPECT CF TO ADD- #1- Giga (Most likely, as it has been the most demanded by many, and KI's GM was noted asking for one a while back) #2- Dive (I think it's one of the more possible options for 2 reasons: The GP adore them, making them good additions in that sense, and they are much cheaper versus all the other B&Ms here.) #3- Wing #4- Floorless #5- Flying (Super Longshot, IMO possible but less than 1% chance)

Well, I have some kinda crummy news. Turns out a concert my sister (aka the main person I get to go to KI with) is going to for a friend's birthday happens the day before Coasterstock, and because we were unable to plan for it early on (a bunch of bad big family things came up in early February) it looks like I won't be able to make it to Coasterstock this year after all. Can't make it that day. Still, even if I can't be there in person, I do expect to see a lot of videos and pictures from the event. So I will still in some form be able to enjoy it. I do hope everyone else has fun at the event. We did also set aside money for the hotel before we learned we couldn't make Coasterstock, so we will probably do a 2-day trip to KI (have never done this before, ironically) at some point instead. We are thinking Passholder Preview+Opening Day at the moment.

I just did a bit of math, and TBH, I agree with a possible 3.6 million in 2020. I took 1% off the 2017 attendance (2018 was a drop, but due to a increase in Haunt/Winterfest attendance it I don't imagine it was a huge drop-off) so 2018 was still probably over 3.4 million. If the Antique Autos can pull a extra 2-3% in (and they may well do it, given how well family rides did in the last decade when they were added) that will get KI very close to or over the 3.5 million mark. At that point, the Giga just needs to bring in another 2-3% increase to hit 3.6 million, which should be possible because the GP adore Giga Coasters due to their huge stats (and they are very easy to market). Though it could still not happen if something fairly unpredictable, like terrible weather or another economic crisis (Diamondback likely would have gotten KI a big boost in 2009 had the economy not crashed) happens.

We actually do have some data for Kings Island attendance- thanks to the TEA Reports. 2018 isn't posted yet from them, and some do question how accurate these reports are (Stuff like KI beating out parks like Magic Mountain or Great Adventure- which are in 2 MASSIVE markets- was suspicious to some), but I decided to check them out since they are really the only source I could think of. The reports for KI go back to 2007. I got the numbers from this page on Wikipedia, but TEA was used as the OG source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amusement_park_rankings#North_America Here is how Kings Island did year-by-year, I also list what big new attractions were added, if any: 2007- Firehawk: 3,050,000 (2006 Data Unknown) 2008- Cedar Fair Re-Themes and Forwards Racer (No New Rides): 3,126,000 (+76,000) (+2.49%) 2009- Diamondback: 3,000,000 (-126,000: Recession Seen As Part of Drop) (-4%) 2010- Planet Snoopy & Boo Blasters: 3,112,000 (+112,000) (+3.7%) 2011- WindSeeker/Dinos: 3,143,000 (+31,000) (+0.9%) 2012- Soak City Retheme/Expansion: 3,206,000 (+63,000) (+2%) 2013- Reds HOF Grille (No New Rides): 3,206,000 (+0) (+0%) 2014- Banshee: 3,238,000 (+32,000) (+0.9%) 2015- Woodstock Gliders & Snoopy Space Buggies: 3,335,000 (+97,000) (+2.99%) 2016- Tropical Plunge: 3,384,000 (+49,000) (+1.4%) 2017- Mystic Timbers/Winterfest: 3,469,000 (+85,000) (+2.5%) Decade (2007 vs. 2017): +419,000 (+13.7%) If attendance did drop in 2018 (which it may have for KI- Cedar Fair themselves seem to hint at this- but the TEA report hasn't come out for 2018 yet), it will have been the first since 2009 (which was the only "down" year until 2018 under Cedar Fair). Of the coasters, not counting Firehawk because 2006 data isn't available so we can't see what kind of effect it had, Mystic Timbers saw the biggest jump with a 2.5% increase. Though that also came paired with the much hyped return of Winterfest- and a extension of the operating season. Banshee saw only a 0.9% increase, but that same year Kentucky Kingdom re-opened and that park got about 500,000 guests, and I have to figure at least a few of those were Louisville area locals who went to KK instead of KI (possibly even up to 50,000?). Diamondback ironically saw a BIG 4% drop, in spite of it being one of the most popular rides in the park in the past decade. Though the fact it opened in a bad year for the economy probably didn't help at all. What I find really shocking though is what years did the best in terms of attendance increase. A few may have claimed that Snoopy replacing Nickelodeon was a bad move in 2010, but apparently no one cared too much because a whopping 3.7% increase in attendance happened that year. Pretty impressive, especially if you consider there were no new rides, as Planet Snoopy was just a re-theme (even Boo Blasters was really just a de-themed Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle at its core). The economy was also better in 2010 versus 2009 though, so I guess a lot of people suddenly had some money for once and wanted to go back to KI as well. Probably also to check out Diamondback, as I bet a lot of people missed it in 2009, and coasters typically remain draws for many years if they are good. Heck- The Beast probably still has decent "drawing power", and it is turning 40! 2015 was also a huge year. Add a $24 million B&M Invert KI fans have been asking for the past few years- get a 0.9% attendance increase. One year later, add some kids rides (granted one was also a "return" of a KI Classic, the Flying Eagles) for probably about $1 million tops and...AN ALMOST 3% INCREASE!?!? Yeah, totally not a drop as may have been expected. Stuff like this is probably why Cedar Fair is probably gonna start doing more smaller additions to its big, developed parks more often and not do huge coasters as much. Also, based on this, I am expecting a decent attendance boost from the Antique Cars in 2019. Family rides seem to be big draws for KI in the past decade. I expect more of them in the near future, after the rumored but likely 2020 B&M. Also worth noting though- Kings Island has been around the 3 million attendance mark for a while now. When Vortex was added in 1987, Kings Island saw its first 3,000,000 guest season and while 2017 may be the current record-holder, I recall reading somewhere that prior to 2017, 2004 was one of the best years for attendance as it had around 3.4 million guests as well, and have also heard there were some years in the 90's like 1999 doing almost this much as well. At best, I think a Giga might get KI past 3.5 million (since MT and Winterfest got the park close at 3.469m as long as the 2018 drop isn't too huge), but not by much as Kings Island does seem to attract about as many guests as it can already. But a Giga could also very likely be marketed for at least 3+ years, probably even 5+ the way Diamondback was during the years leading up to Banshee, allowing the park to focus on smaller, cheaper things like improvements, flat rides, and waterpark additions while Cedar Fair spends its big money on its other parks that actually do still show they have room to grow, like Carowinds.