jcgoble3

Be glad you went home. (For the benefit of others reading this: the tornado, after passing by my house, went through the Walmart parking lot and took out the strip mall next to it.)

I'm on the west end of Laynewood, near Prouty Dr. I was 13 when the 2000 tornado hit. I distinctly remember that I had just set a new high score on the pinball game on my computer when the power went out (of course I lost the score because it wasn't saved yet). Five minutes later, my dad, looking out the west-facing front door, spotted the funnel and yelled for me and my mother to get in the hall closet (the closest thing we have to a tornado shelter in our house). Fifteen minutes after that, I was up on June Dr. looking at the damage. Power wasn't restored at my house for two days. (Apologies to standbyme for hijacking this thread!)

Assuming you mean that literally, I'd like to hear that story. I was working full time in maintenance in 74 helping to construct the monorail in Lion Country and I was putting grout in all the footers. I was wearing boots up to my knees and needed water to mix the grout. At that time, the area was undeveloped and was a mess with mud every where. There was a small creek and I went to feel my 5 gallon bucket full of water. Unknown to me, it was all mud beneath the water. There was no trees or branches to assist me pulling myself out. As I got one foot out of the water, my other foot went deeper in the mud. I keep sinking and al that mud was up to my chest. Everyone was having a laugh at my expense. After about 30 minutes, the supervisor had the guy operating the dozer to lower his bucket and had me grab on it. As he pulled me out, the suction almost pull my shoulder out of its socket as the mud made a huge sucking sound. i was all muddy and was a big mess. Now that area was where the entrance to Lion Country is, right over the bridge. Now it is all covered up as your enter Action Zone. But back then, it was all a muddy, undeveloped field but was grated and paved in the early spring. My last day working in that department was easy to remember as it was when the tornadoes struck the area and leveled parts of Mason, Lebanon and of course Xenia. Wow. Thanks for telling the story. That sounds like the type of thing that you would be embarrassed about when it happens but be able to laugh about it later. I think those make the best memories. And I know all about the tornadoes. I was born, raised, and still live in Xenia. I am far too young to have been around in '74, but I've read about it and listened to my parents' tales about it, and I distinctly remember the 2000 tornado, which passed within a quarter mile of my house. We were lucky to only lose a few shingles off the roof in that one.

My personal list, which includes only those parks that I've been to, is as follows: 1. Cedar Point — I'm all about the thrills and usually don't pay much attention to the little things like theme, so CP wins. This may be tainted by the incredibly short lines I got all five days I was there last June (my only trip to CP thus far). 2. Holiday World — Given what I just said about being all about the thrills, I can't quite put my finger on why HW beats KI, but it does. Perhaps it's the better waterpark, maybe the free soft drinks and reasonable food prices, maybe the overall atmosphere, or quite possibly a combination of all of that. 3. Kings Island — My "home park". This ranking is likely tainted by the fact that I visit KI more than any other park and thus see every little flaw and get over-critical of it, whereas I see only the "big picture" elsewhere. 4. Disney's Hollywood Studios — Why is this so low? Because I only got one evening here during a private event and thus didn't get the "full experience". Not all of the attractions were open during the event, and some of the ones that were (namely Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Star Tours, the latter of which was what the private event was centered around) were frankly underwhelming. All of that said, this park may rise in the rankings when I go back in September. 5. Stricker's Grove — Nice little park, but the key word there is "little". Tornado is good, and the miniature golf course is fun, but otherwise there's not much there. That's not to say I won't go back—it's a great way to kill an afternoon—but there's just not enough there for it to rank any higher IMO.

Assuming you mean that literally, I'd like to hear that story.

Last year's information page is here. This year's site isn't up yet, so it's not yet possible to register; when it does go up, you'll probably register through the link I just gave. Last year, you had to pay a $40 registration fee to register (it's possible to get others to sponsor that fee if you want, like I'll try to do this year), and then raise at least another $35 to participate. There was officially a limit of 75 participants last year, but we only had about half of that. That may or may not be how it works this year; we'll have to wait for the 2012 version of the site to go live.

Interesting article. I'm a league bowler myself with about a 190 average. I'm so used to the occasional calls to the desk for "ball on 54" or "add the 2 on 51" or "set up the 7-10 on 64" (ouch ) that I almost take those little fixes for granted. It's nice to be reminded that there's an actual human back there responding to every such call. One thing I wouldn't have thought of is the noise. The article indicates it's so loud back there he has to wear hearing protectors. I can only imagine what it must be like to be in that loud of an environment for three hours of wall-to-wall league play.

Let me toss something up here. According to the Register article, Jack Falfas was the heir apparent to Kinzel. With Falfas gone, we ended up with Matt Ouimet as CEO instead. Who would have been the better CEO? A lot of us on here have raved about the changes since Ouimet took over (well, most anyway *coughfastlanecough*), but could Falfas have done better? We'll never know for sure, but what do you think?

Or does your search fu leave a lot to be desired? (Don't worry, mine does too.)

Correct link (the ampersand got mangled): http://geaugalaketoday.freepowerboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2564

Those of you who are interested, mark your calendars for Sunday, June 10. That's a whole month and a half earlier than last year. The website is not up for registration yet, but the issue of Streak (GOCC newsletter) I received today had a card inserted in it with the date. I intend to be there, and I look forward to seeing other KICers there as well.

I barely glanced at it, and that was my first impression. *facepalm*

Contact Broadtexter about that... http://www.broadtexter.com/contact/ Also, FYI, it's "TracFone", not "track phone". I have TracFone myself, and while I'm not subscribed to this particular service, I've found on these types of things that selecting "AT&T" from the list will almost always work. It worked for me on Facebook and several other sites.

i don't want to sound dumb, but what is TG? and yeah, i would definitely need someone to ride diamond back with because my family is chicken, oh and also for Invertigo see, they are such chickens, I believe he's referring to Flight Deck, which was formerly known as Top Gun.

alrightt, anyone wanna share their experiences on other rides *cough jcgoble3 *cough* I already did.

Yes, exactly.

i was dying to make this account so i could ask, what is a switchback? Essentially, where you go down one row of the queue, make a 180 degree turn, and come back up the next row. See also Dictionary.com, definition 1 (ignore definition 3). (edited to clarify what I'm responding to)

Yeah, Diamondback moves riders through the line very fast. It's one of the highest capacity rides in the park. A full queue with all switchbacks filled is only about 45 minutes, maybe an hour, if they don't get overrun with Fast Lane users.

As for the ride count thing in my signature, go to http://www.coasterfanatics.com/default.asp , register an account, and then look up each coaster you've ridden on this list and click the "add" button next to each one. Once you've done that, go to http://www.coasterfanatics.com/sec_members/member_personal.asp and copy the code for BBCode forums and paste it in your signature here. As for weekday wait times in June, typically around 15-20 minutes, but there's no guarantee. It could be a walk-on; it could be a lot longer. There's no way to know until you walk up to the ride and look at the physical line.

When your butt comes out of the seat like that, it's called "airtime", which Diamondback has a lot of. That said, even with a small body like you described, you can still get the lap bar pretty tight. As for "almost fell out", if the restraint is properly secured, you will not fall out. Period.

Welcome to KIC! There is no belt on Diamondback, just the lap bar. As for Slingshot, as of August 2010, single riders are allowed (I rode solo that month myself). If the policy has changed since then, don't blame me. As for experiences, I think Diamondback is best in the very back, but you usually don't get to choose seats. I personally love it, but I've heard others say it's "boring", so your mileage may vary. On Slingshot, some have said it's the scariest ride at the park, while others get more thrills out of watching paint dry. I personally fall into the latter category, but I encourage you to give it a shot and form your own opinion about it.

Especially if the weather this year is like it has been the past two years - cold, rainy and breezy. Excuse me? Unless my memory is failing me, last year's opening day was an absolutely gorgeous day, with temperatures in the 70s, little (if any) wind, and not even the slightest hint of rain. Lines were correspondingly long. As for the poll, I haven't decided yet.

A couple hours ago, he tweeted, "How about letting Gold and Platinum holders in every day an hour early? Hmmm....." I like his thinking.

Just hope it doesn't poke back. It's capable of poking with enough force to give you serious neck and back injuries, among other things... wait, what was I talking about, again?

^ How much did they charge you to print it out on your own printer and paper?