GrandsonofBeast

Since when does Marvel mean 100% error free? Marvel: One that evokes surprise, admiration, or wonder; Strong surprise; astonishment. Son of Beast is a Marvel, it was engineered. Son of Beast is perhaps one of the best examples of a marvel in the roller coaster industry. Its problems have only added to that legacy.

It sort of feels like a way to try and force yourselves into being KI's most important fans. That said I would love to be a member. I think that, if anything, it should be difficult for people to become members, to keep the rift raft (probably extending to me ) out. Not saying people would have to be fanatics, but they would have to know a decent amount about the parks history, financial situation, past failed attempts, past succesful attempts, etc. etc. And there should be a fee. I could see a group that helps the park, is knowledgable about the park, organizes rallies (taxes) in support of the park, makes donations of some talents, focuses on fun projects like "get 1,000 first time KIers to KI this year", having a major place in Kings Islands heart.

SoB is much rougher than other coasters. If a person has been on numerous coasters, and had no problems, than rides SoB and has issues due to a unknown prexisting condition it is the riders fault? the thing is, there is no proof that Son of Beast caused the problem, just going by her word. the truth might have been she hit her head on the otsr while riding Invertigo or Vortex, and didn't realize it until later. blaming the injury on Son of Beast isn't fair, especially when the ride cannot be proven at fault. I actually agree with that, a lot. I have a HUGE bruise on the inside of my left knee from this past weekend at KI. I can't even tell you which ride it's from. Had I ridden an extremely bumpy ride like SoB is (was?) I would just naturally blame it since it stands alone as the roughest. That's where my agreement ends though, there is something more wrong with SoB than just this one lady. Heck, a man died shortly after getting off of Firehawk and it is running fine now.

I saw you at The Beast shortly after 10 Sunday morning. I didn't even make the connection that it was you until I saw the Intimidator 305 shirt. I'm a pretty slow thinker on Sunday mornings! Nice TR. There were a number of enthusiasts there on both Friday and Sunday so you know it was a pretty good weekend crowd-wise at the park. I also agree with the DB>Maverick sentiment, but just barely. I think the difference is that you can reride DB all day long where with Maverick you need to take a break after two or three rides. Speaking of DB, how about those trim-free fourth hill rides this weekend! I've been dreaming of getting just one of those rides since DB opened and this weekend I got 6! Man, is that air fantastic over that hill with no trim! I just hope that wasn't just a one weekend occurrence. I thought about this exact same point. I actually asked it to myself this way, if I had to ride one coaster all day, which would I pick? Diamondback, easy, you'd need a few bottles of Advil over the next 2 or 3 days if you rode Maverick that much. Then I asked the more appropriate, 'what if I could only ride the coaster once, which would I pick?' Still, Diamondback. I dunno, maybe the trip out to CP in 19 days will clear some things up. Maybe I'll get off Maverick singing praises and calling myself crazy for doubting Maverick. It'll be a fun debate/question to answer. As it stands now I would give the nod to Diamondback over Maverick.

^ I believe Racer was only running one side the whole time, all three days. I may be mistaken, but it appeared that way everytime we went by. I only like Gemini at CP because of the race between the blue and red trains, I was just sort of figuring if there was no race going on at racer, what's the point? It is worth noting two things again... - The park was sooo empty. When we got in on Friday Diamondback was beyond a walk on. I ran into a couple of KI fanatics in line for the front row taking a picture on their cell phone of, literally, completely empty queues. It was just these two guys and me and my wife waiting for the front two rows as the car with maybe 6 people on it pulled back into the station. I feel like, in all seriousness, we could have ridden Diamondback over 100 times this weekend if we really wanted to. - I was so impressed with Diamondback. In that same brief conversation with those same two fanatics, they told me that Diamondback "doesn't compete, at all" with Millennium, Dragster, and Maverick, so "don't get your hopes up". I think this sort of stuck with me subconsciously during the trip. My wife and I would say things like "Yeah, it doesn't compete" or "as much as I want to say it's in the same category, it's not". But then I broke it down, Diamondback's hill is better then Maverick's hill, the airtime is much more enjoyable than the whippy, wild ride that Maverick is, and although the tunnel is a better special effect than the splashdown, that doesn't make up for the big stuff...Diamondback isn't only in the same category, it's better than Maverick. I told my wife, "You know what? I would take Diamondback over Maverick" and she said "That's so funny, I was actually thinking the same thing just now." I'm interested to get back on Millennium now and compare.

Me: I haven't been to Kings Island in 11 years, and even then I didn't ride many of the rides, and many of the new rides today weren't there then, so the whole experience this past weekend was completely brand new. Weather: The weather forecast was rain all week but we lucked out, big time, the weather stayed adequate and when it did start to rain later Saturday we were so whipped from Friday and Saturday we were ready to go anyways. Same thing Sunday, when it started to rain, we were spent and ready to go home. All and all the forecast kept the crowds to a minimum, what a blessing! You guys know enough about Kings Island, so I will just throw in my two cents about all the good and bad in my opinion. Take it for what it's worth...nothing... Good: Diamondback: The more I rode Diamondback, the more I liked it. The airtime is so impressive, and "the back is where it's at". The great negative G airtime over the hills and crushing weight of the positive Gs in the valleys make Diamondback a great experience. Two thumbs way up! I would even go so far as to say that I would prefer Diamondback over Maverick (but shhh, don't tell the guys!) Crypt: I loved Crypt, so did my wife. It helped a lot that we had no idea what it was. I thought it was a dark roller coaster, and we didn't get a chance to see the ride in action before we get on because it was a walk on. So when we got on we were thinking "what the..." and it was a lot of fun. I heard people complaining about it afterwards, and how lame it was, but we loved it. Drop Tower: I would trade Power Tower for Drop Tower in a heart beat. So much higher, so much slower on the way up, I got off and my knees were shaking. What a thrill. Invertigo: While Invertigo wasn't a favorite for me, I would prefer it over its closest comparison at Cedar Point, Wicked Twister. Backlot: What a fun little coaster. Adventure Express: Another fun little coaster. Boo Blasters: People ask what kind of coaster can a kid and grandparent ride that a 15 year old brother would also enjoy. To me, Boo Blasters is hard not to like, at least a little. Who doesn't like shooting and trying to get a high score? Well done! Oh, 1650 was my tops. Entrance: Wow, just wow. Walking in and seeing what I would describe as the mega pool fountain and the Eiffel Tower is so beautiful. Simply awesome. Too Much TV: Great play, I'm not terribly familiar with all of the older shows but there were some darn good singers. It was funny because on Saturday my wife and I were debating going and watching a movie at the theatre across the street, when the announcement was made for Too Much TV in 20 minutes. $9.99 souvenir cup: For one day this deal may suck, but for a 3 day trip it was great. After confirming with security we could bring the cup back on Saturday and Sunday we took full advantage. We re-filled the cup a total of 8 times for the 3 days, for a total cost of $26. Effectively $13 each, all you can drink, 3 days? Great deal. Bad: Firehawk: I was so pumped about this ride, and it was just "meh". Beast: As much as I hate to bash Beast it was just too rough. The first time we rode it, we rode it in the front and it was great. That evening we rode it in the middle and it was bone rattling. We tried to give it another chance on Saturday, figuring that towards the front would be much less rough. We rode it in row 3 and got roughed up again. Flight of Fear: Meh Chilli Dog: Looked forward to this and it came out like 3" long and loaded with too much cheese. Ride totals for all three days: Diamondback: 10 Crypt: 4 Beast: 3 Drop Tower: 2 Invertigo: 2 Flight Deck: 2 Backlot: 2 Firehawk: 1 Flight of Fear: 1 Boo Blaster: 3 Delirium: 2 Adventure Express: 1

^ there is no reason to retract so much, CP having the most coasters (until this year) and some of the highest is the very reason they win the award. Take away those two things and they would not win it. They would be up there, sure, but the coasters (and amount of record breaking ones) is the reason they top the charts.

^ again, not my point. Be the king of the kids areas all you want, my arguement was in response to this statement. At the very least, we were on par with Cedar Point in the thrill ride category those years.

I'm not saying CP focused on Family Rides, nor do I want them to. But the poster was suggesting that Kings Island was able to keep pace with CPs thrill rides while adding family rides. A standing ovation for adding a few family rides, but lets not start pretending Kings Island was keeping up on a thrill level. And your right, there is no comparison in the example I gave, that is my point.

Recall that, for seven years, Kings Island saw a larger expansion than Cedar Point had even dreamed of - Flight of Fear, Drop Zone, FACE/OFF, Son of Beast, Delirium, Tomb Raider: The Ride, Scooby Doo & The Haunted Castle, Nickelodeon Universe, and The Italian Job... In seven years. I don't know, I think from 2000-2007 Cedar Point makes a good run at that...Millennium Force, Wicked Twister, Top Thrill Dragster, MaXair, SkyHawk, and Maverick. In fact, I would go so far as to say, that CP wins this arguement hands down (not only ever "dreamed of") when comparing thrill rides/coasters over a 7 year period.

Hey, I have a few more questions before I head down tomorrow, and you guys have been most helpful (patient ). I have two Cedar Point Platinum Pass Vouchers (one for me and one for my wife). I believe I just need to take these with me to Kings Island and they can process (turn it into?) a Kings Island Platinum Pass. 1) Am I correct that they can do this? 2) What all do I need to bring, just the vouchers and drivers licenses? 3) What are the hours for the processing center? I'll be there around 5:00 p.m. tomorrow 4) How long does this process take?

With his father crippled and humiliated from years of lost battles and wars, the third generation arises as the phoenix arises from the ashes to stake claim (insert extremely brief coaster roaring by clip) as the fastest (similar clip) tallest (3rd similar clip) and only double looping wooden roller coaster in the world (fade to black)....GRANDSon of Beast!!!

They wouldn't close the park would they?! If I come back to my hotel on Saturday night having ridden all of the best roller coasters (most importantly Beast and DB) at Kings Island over the course of Friday and Saturday I will be one of the happiest people on the planet. I need a coaster fix man!

^ That cracked me up. Only because it's so true. My wife thinks I'm nuts and developing bipolarism as I text her throughout the day about the various changes in the chance of precipitation percentages, with my mood varying exponentially more than the percentages themselves. I'm just soooo excited man, I want to ride Diamondback and Beast so bad!

Major failure. Agreed! Wow... I thought I was bad! I just left a five year old and wife at home to go to KI opening day with KIC friends. Of course, after the birthday party they went to that afternoon, they met me up at KI for a few hours. So yep, you're worse than me! Or the middle of work... Or at a buddys funeral from your blackberry

I'm still checking weather.com and accuweather every hour. It was starting to look a hair better, using phrases like "partly cloudy" instead of "rainy", but in the last two hours weather.com has really upped their percentages for the chance of rain, Saturday shot from 30% to 70% and Sunday shot from 30% to 50%. I'm still holding out hope that the storm breaks up a little bit before making it's way over towards Mason.

People are always knocking the seats at Cedar Point. Millennium Force and Dragster are the tightest around the waist and Wicked Twister is the tightest around the chest. I see people taking the walk of shame a lot, I feel so bad for some, others though, I think should take it as a wake up call.

Ok. I agree with you guys. I will go, unless the forecast starts to get out of control (like 3" of rain, everyday). Dad, er, SonofBeast, where are you seeing "cloudy" on Friday and Saturday? I'm still seeing showers/iso t-storms on weather.com (http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USOH0566)

I'm just worried that I'm going to take the one trip a year down there, drive 4 hours, spend the whole weekend, and not get a chance to ride any of the rides I've come for. If I knew there was a greater than 95% chance I'd get to ride Diamondback, Beast, and Firehawk, I wouldn't even panic. I just want to ride them, granted it wouldn't be as nice of an experience as 80 degrees and sunny, but I just want to ride the big rides...

So, the forecast is still looking miserable for this upcoming Friday/Saturday/Sunday. I've been checking Accuweather, weather.com, wunderground, and the local news there in Mason and they're all showing rain all three days. I'm sure some have experienced rain at the park, are there any rides they run during a sprinkle? Does it ever rain all day, three days in a row? It's sooo depressing to even ask that question I'm even wondering if I should try to push my reservation back a week, though I would only be able to go Sat and Sun, vs all three days this week...

^ I agree with you, to an extent. Generally the weather forecast is right when it is predicting clear weather. This make sense because if there are no storms/showers to the west, how would it rain the next day? I agree that predicting rain/snow is a little tricky, if there is a storm, it could break apart. Having said that, seeing a clear forecast is obviously ideal (and for the reasons mentioned above, pretty much a lock), seeing a rainy forecast sucks, because while it's not as ironclad, it does say that there's trouble brewing to the west that may or may not strike (chance of precipitation).

Noooooo! They are calling for rain on my weekend trip the 23rd-25th!!! Why me!?

Just some feedback for everyone. I called Microtel in Mason to book and wanted the standard Queen room, she told me it was going to be $65 a night for two nights with tax for a total of $130. I told her that online it said $39.99 a night. She then (and only then) told me "oh yeah, but that's only online". So basically, by just going online, booking and getting a confirmation number (which I called her back and she confirmed I was good to go), I paid $89 with tax instead of $130. Quickest way to save almost 33% for anyone interested. I chalk this one up to the help I received at KIC.com man, otherwise I would have just booked unknowingly.

Umm if you already have the pass from CP you have to get it processed at CP. If you haven't bought it yet, buy it at KI and get it processed there if you're going before CP Are you sure about that? I thought I could process the CP Vouchers at Kings Island? Basically converting the CP Platinum Pass vouchers into Kings Island Platinum Passes that would in turn work at Cedar Point anyways. If you still have the Vouchers you can Process at any CF park. Keep in mind when you process at that park your pass will say that parks name on it. Yes, I have two sheets I printed online right after purchase for my wife and my platinum passes. They have a barcode on them. So I just take them and my drivers license to Kings Island to process right??? I'm nervous now I'm going to get there (4 hours away) and be screwed...

Umm if you already have the pass from CP you have to get it processed at CP. If you haven't bought it yet, buy it at KI and get it processed there if you're going before CP Are you sure about that? I thought I could process the CP Vouchers at Kings Island? Basically converting the CP Platinum Pass vouchers into Kings Island Platinum Passes that would in turn work at Cedar Point anyways.