medford

I was sitting outside of Adventure Express 2 years back I think while a couple of nieces rode it 3 or 4 times. The ladder climbing game worker, obviously bored by his lack of customers, started climbing the ladder himself. There were enough people that came thru during this 20-30 minutes that I sat there that it was pretty easy to tell what the ladder game worker was doing that made him successful each time, and what the regular customer was doing causing them to fall each time.

I got free water from the little exterior stand outside of the Jukebox diner last sunday; don't know if that is open every day or not, I've never noticed it before, but I've also never stepped foot into the Jukebox diner, so an exterior food service station for malts, ice cream, Coke, etc... could have been missed.

awesome, my son just hit the 48" mark as well a few weeks ago, it gives you a whole new experience at the park. If you get there for ERT, you won't need the fast passes, unless you plan on riding some other things as well that she isn't tall enough for. Get on The Beast for ERT, perhaps a couple of times, then I'd head directly over to stunt track as it opens as lines for that can build up to 30-60 min on a saturday I would think. After that, I'd cut across the park and get on drop zone as the lines for that can build up as well. From there, you should be clear. Flight Deck won't have long lines, might as well get on that while your there. come back across Coney and jump on Adventure Express and The Racers. Then the bumper cars for the 48"+ crowd and zephyr, then on to Vortex. The lines for that might be a little long by the time you get there, but Vortex has always moved quickly. At that point, I believe you have all the 48" tall rides taken care of save the upcharged Sling Shot and skyflyer (my 5 year old wants to do them, we're telling him he's got to wait (mostly b/c we don't want to pay the upcharge). If you're on The Beast during ERT, and hit Stunt track right around 10:00, you may have all of the above taken care of noonish. That gives you the rest of the day to enjoy the park at your leasure, re ride what ever she wants. Personally, I'd use the money on a shirt or something to commerate the day, I bought our son a The Beast T-shirt, which I surprised him with when he got off his 1st ride that night.

I bump, why you ask? Well I was looking back at some old post, wondering what was talked about 10 "back in the day", not surprised to see that for at least 10 years, perhaps longer, people have been asking for another pack connecting either X Base w/ Action Zone or coney mall w/ Action Zone. And some people think SOB is the topic that never goes away

awesome, I thought you did a great job.

How often do you go to the park during the regular season? Do you plan to go back? What does little railrider like to ride? Will you (or others in your party) be riding something while little rail rider waits or does something else? All of those should be factored in. I haven't been to KI, oustide of the haunt, on a saturday since, well maybe ever. No, I take that back, I took my son when he was 3 a couple years ago right before our daughter was born while my wife was doing something w/ her mother. Aside from Viking Fury and Eiffel Tower, we spent all our time in Planet Snoopy. However, I did go last sunday since my niece was in town. The park was very crowded, perhaps not as crowded as the saturday before, but pretty crowded. I typically base my opinion of how crowded the park is based upon how full the parking lot is when I get there. The lot was pretty full. Anyhoo, my son, wife and niece waited about 30 min to ride drop zone, they then did Adventure Express and waited about 10 minutes, maybe a shade less. While my wife changed our daughter's diaper, the rest of us went on Racer, it was a 1 or 2 train wait. We then headed over to stunt track and again it was approx a 30 min wait. Next my wife and son got on Vortex, it was about 25 min w/ the line extending near the end of the railing. After Vortex, my son, niece and myself jumped on The Beast, got in line around 5:15, we were back at the picture stand to meet my wife at 6:00. Finally, my wife, son and niece got on boo blasters prior to heading out for dinner, I think they were thru the line and off the ride in about 20-25 min. I guess I'll throw in a ride on the merry go round, which was walk on as usual. I looked over at Diamondback a few other times as well, around 2:00, it appeared to be about a 30 min wait, when we left The Beast, my niece was thinking about jumping on Diamondback if the lines we're too long, but it appeared to be about an hour, so she skipped that. You might need to add a little time to that, but if you're at the park on a regular basis, and your daughter can wait thru lines of that length, there really is no need to get fast pass unless you want to jump on as many rides as possible. The nice thing about having a season pass and attending regularly, is that you can ride what you want today as your mood or the line fits, and catch something different next time. I'd expect the park to be crowded, but if your there on a regular basis, I don't think there is any pressure to buy a fast pass, little rail rider should have been on everything she loves multiple times this year.

looking at the web cam, looks like they have the transfer steel all staged, w/ a crane in place and ready to go vertical. Looks like some steel will be vertical prior to the park's opening today.

Well for starters, you can't rip on the video for its graphical quality. The games I see promoted on TV today look amazing, makes Mario Brothers by comparision looks terrible. That doesn't meant that Super Mario Brothers wasn't incredible when it was released. with that said, here is how I know TTD wasn't all that influential. It was made in 2003 and held the record for about 10 seconds before Kingda Ka went up. If it was the most influential announcement in the history of roller coasters, we would have seen several more coasters top the 400' mark. Even if they didn't reach 420 or the 456' that Kingda Ka reaches, there would have been several reaching 400' range. You'd see several manufacturers trying to their hand at a 400' coaster. Yet only those 2 reach the mark. It would appeard that TTD has influenced no one but 6 flags to make one nearly 10% taller.

How much did you pay? Just courious, there are $31.99 coupons all over town lately advertising the breast cancer awareness thing going on at KI w/ the ticket discount. Hopefully you didn't pay more than that.

Several schools in this area started school today, crowds might be very light, meaning you might be able to get multiple rides on pretty much anything you want. What you ride is pretty much up to you, Even on a busy day, you can usually fit everything in if you're there the whole day. If you're only there part of the day, then you've got to trim things back to fit what you enjoy. I'll assume the train is a must for you, and since you haven't been since 2004/05, I'd say Diamondback and Firehawk are must since they weren't installed then (perhaps Firehawk, time is slipping away and that might have been there then, or you may have ridden it at Geuga Lake in its previous setting). Then get on things that are unique to Kings Island, The Beast is a natural in this catagory, Invertigo is a dime a dozen, those are all over the country and thus can be easily skipped if your crunched for time. Have fun.

Eiffel Tower. Rides come, rides go. Some get worse with age, some get worse as we age. The Tower is constant, it towers everything as you first approach the park, it steals your field of vision as you cross under the main entrance. It never changes, it never gets worse, and in many regards as I age its developed into an even bigger draw. Its as brillant today as it was the day the park welcomed its first guest. The view from the top is study is motion, constantly changing, day to day, week to week, month to month, season to season. The tower is what we first see at the start of each season as we enter thru the main gate, its often the last thing we view at season's end as the final fireworks fizzle out. As you various rides zip you thru the park, the Eiffel Tower remains a constant pillar of attention at the very heart of the park. I'd miss The Beast, The Racers and Woodstock Express, the long standing woodies, two dating back to the parks opening, the other a true classic that remains on the top of many enthusiasts must ride lists. I'd miss the smooth roar of Diamondback, the blast of air thrust onto the ground each time Drop Zone fails to conquer gravity, and the unknown twist discovered on Flight of Fear anytime somebody takes their first ride. The loss of any other ride would leave a hole in my experience at the park, however the loss of the Eiffel Tower would leave a hole in my soul where so many memories first began and often ended as the backdrop to a fantastic day at Kings Island.

sunburn, don't forget about sunburn, oh and sun poisoning. then there's that former congressman who's afraid guam might tip over and sink into the ocean. Lots and lots to worry about :0 thanks for your service, enjoy your stay.

I was on The Beast when it hit a hawk the other day, the likely hood of that happening while sitting on a bench are close to 0, therefor sitting on a rollercoaster is much more dangerous than sitting on a bench.

OK, i'll bite. I'll try to be realistic in terms of CapEx, but realize I don't have a handle on what most of this stuff costs, so I'll likely be "overboard", hopefully not nearly as overboard as some of these plans calling for $25+ mil in CapEx every season. I'm also working off the assumption that no current ride in the park will be removed/demo'd or become SBNO. Anyhoo: 2014: Banshee is coming, as everyone knows. I'm in agreement w/ others about retheming that area of the park. I love the idea of converting Flight Deck to The Bat, but we'll hold off on that for now, retheming and repainting that ride is going to cost a decent amount. I'd ripe out the concrete where the water tower once stood and create a combination of islands/landscaping that would serve both as the entrance to Banshee, and a visual improvement to the area. I wouldn't convert the name of Action Zone, quite yet, I'd wait until I have more things done. 2015: W/ the most expensive coaster just installed the year prior, not many are expecting huge improvements in the park, so I'm going to list a lot of small things (that will probably add up to a large expense in the end). The Racers get repainted, it needs it badly. I know there are lead issues involved (or at least I've been lead to believe that) and I now that complicates things. As such, no matter how much I'd love to see the original paint job w/ the red and blue railing, I'm just going to leave it all clean and white. I'm also going to open up the final break run. Is there a reason they boarded that up? Kind of makes the end of the ride seem trashy. I'm fixing the clock on the festhause, a working clock there would add some magic to that area. Inside the festhaus I'm going to rename it the international feshaus. Keep the chinese, it seems popular (and is pretty good), keep the larosa's, ditch the burgers that I've never tried but look nasty, add a potatoe works company station in there for fries, and most importantly, bring Schmidt's out of columbus on board. They do a great german style buffet, their creampuffs are to die for and the german fair would bring back to balance the "italian" and chinese food. I love the look of the beirgarten, however the biggest problem I see with it, at least when we go at nights in the middle of the week, its usualy dead. Anyone been to HaufBrau house? Get some glasses like that, put in security to ensure that no one in the area leaves w/ one, sell them at the front gate. You could sell a punch of liter and pint size glasses w/ the KI logo stamped across them. As a "cheap" addtion/money maker, have a different coaster/ride featured each month in a plastic version that you could "upgrade" to and get to carry around with you. In April/May you guy The Beast version, in June you get Vortex, July is Drop Zone, August/September is Banshee, and one w/ a haunt for October. This could carry on, so that in subsequent years you get Flight of Fear, Diamondback, viking fury, etc, etc, etc... And now my biggest 2015 addition/cleanup is the remake of the tower gardens. Once such a pretty walk thru is uterly useless unless your a smoker looking to smoke in seclution. For anyone that's been to entrainment junction and seen their Coney Island project, that is where i'm going. A "to scale" model of KI the season that it opened, complete w/ operational to scale racers, scobie doo, merry go round, etc... A worker at EJ told me it cost them $100k (many of the people who build their models are volunteers), get them on board as a cross promtional item. Set up a shop to sell vintage KI gear, a tshirt w/ The Bat logo, an old The Beast shirt that hasn't been printed in 20+ years, etc... Set up TV screens w/ documentaries on the history of KI, history of a particular ride, etc... Similar to the beer mug idea, this is an area that can be improved over several seasons. Once the original "to scale" model of KI is built, work on a to scale model of The Beast, perhaps a to scale model of what the park looked like at its 25th anniversary, etc.... Take great care of it, and its a place people will come visit time and time again. 2016: W/ 2015 behind us, and many small improvements made, its time to go w/ two new additions. Holiday world built their latest water coaster for a reported $9 mil, KI needs something similar in the water park. That will be the selling point for season passes, but the front gate is what you'll notice when you first arrive. A revamped front gate, figure out a way to make access to the restaurant above work, then add a 2nd sit down restaurant. Add outdoor seating on a patio above where you walk thru, perhaps offer a $100 fireworks and dinner feature that garuntees you a table for 2 (or 4 or whatever) a great view of the fireworks and a choice of items off a select menu. Reservations start at 9:00 so you get an hour to enjoy your meal prior to the fireworks kicking off. As far as the entrance goes, they need more electronic ticket windows. In this day and age, a simple credit card scan can be done w/o any human assitance. Let me come up scan my card, get my tickets and walk on in, give me the option to purchase fast pass right there if desired, purchase a meal plan, reserve a table in the new restaurant at night if so desired, etc... 2017: Again small additions, but this time for the smallest of guests. Snoopy Junction, sorry but you're not all that popular and tucked back into a section of Planet Snoopy that few take use. ripe our snoop juntion, and part of the picnic area (does it really need to be that big? I don't know I've never been back there, but it seems rather large), add a new kids coaster, something for the 40" and above crowd that families can ride together. I'm also going to add a tea cup style ride in that area, something the family can ride together, a fairly standard amusement park attraction that has been missing for some time. Oh, mice are pretty small are they not? I'm also going inside action theater or whatever that place is called, ripping out the movie screen and installing an indoor wild mouse. Or perhaps even use the covered canopy section to make it part indoor/part outdoor. KI is in need of a wild mouse, and it could help fill that gap b/w the 40" coasters and the 48" rides. 2018:Hmm.... its been 4 years since Banshee came into play, I talked about revamping Action Zone, is it time for the next big thing? Not quite, but we are getting back to Action Zone. The name is changed, flight deck gets renamed The Bat, takes on a black paint job and everyone feels like its the 80s again. Dinos have also meet the end of their run, at least Dinosaurs Alive. Timberwolf has long since outlived its usefulness. Aside from the jesus festival, I don't think it holds anything else. Time to make use of that land, congo falls comes down (kind of) and is converted to an (partially) indoor boat ride w/ the dino's moved into that area. Several lifts, several falls (including a backwards decent or two) take you around to a new lift hill coming out of the area and splashing down into where congo falls splashes down today. Add a couple more flats in this area and the Action Zone is almost complete. 2019: Not much is done, some cleaning up/sprucing up of different areas but all season long speculation is running rampant that x-base is getting bathrooms, and they must be huge because footers are showing up everywhere. 2020: KI's 300'+ giga finally arrives (plus some bathrooms in X-Base) The mainanence sheds are relocated, the station sits to the south of Firehawk, while the lift wraps around Firehawk and the ride takes you back to SOBs old stomping ground, close to where Banshee is going in. The Beast maintains the title of longest wooden roller coaster in the world, while KI gains the title back for all coasters w/ a hill hopping, terrain hugging, sky climbing thrill ride. There is my 6 year plan.

it was running any time I looked over in that area yesterday, so whatever problem they had, was only temporary. I wouldn't worry about it being down on your visit.

The one that no one has said, that I think would be a good starter (if you go w/ the start small plan) is flying Ace Arial Chase. I enjoy The Beastie Woodstock Express as much as the next guy, there's even a little bit of air time on it, I love riding w/ my son, look forward to riding it with my daughter and am sad for the time they grow out of it, but there is no question that its a coaster designed for kids. The seats are small, don't know how long/big your legs are, but the great thing about riding w/ my son is that I can turn my legs sidewards into "his space" since 1) he won't care, and 2) his legs don't use up all that space. Two (I'm assuming here) teenagers may not fit all that well. So you kind of insult him by starting off w/ a clear kids ride, and you're squeezing into something that will make it less than comfortable. Meanwhile, Flying Ace Arial chase leaves you a little more exposed, it feels older (it has a taller height requirement), its very smooth and while your appear to be traveling slowly when watching from the ground, you feel like your moving pretty quickly when you ride it. He won't get jerked around like you do on Adventure Express, won't get tossed up and down like you do on The Racer, and don't get banged around like you do on stunt coaster. From there, I move on over to the Stunt coaster. The launch is fun, while most of the ride moves at a steady pace. You get jerked around a bit, but that will prepare him for something bigger. From there to Adventure Express, which jerks you around a ton, but builds up pretty good speed and no noticable high elevations. Now head back to The Racer. He's been on it before, so he'll know what to expect, and better yet, the whole track is in front of him, so he'll know what to expect. Since you said you were going to be honest with him, from there you've got to ask him what he liked about each ride, what he disliked, and use those answers to move to the next ride. Did he love the launch? head to Flight of Fear (do you mention the inversions or not?) Did he like the lift on The Racer and the sound/feel of wood? Time to climb back on The Beast (sit in the middle of your car so your not over a whell, much smoother). Did he like the laterals that Adventure Express provides? Head back to Flight Deck for a lot of side to side swinging. Do those 3 in order of what experiences he liked the best. At that point, its time to make another decision. Did he enjoy the inversion on Flight of Fear? Did he like hanging below the track on FAAC & Flight Deck? Head on over to Invertigo for a little of both. While your in that area of the park, hop on congo falls for some of the best air time in the park. Did he hate the inversions but like running thru the woods on The Beast? Head on over to Diamondback. I'd save Vortex and Firehawk for last. For my money, Vortex packs the most punch in the park. Firehawk is a unique experience to everything else in the park, hagning there below the track w/ only a harness b/w you and the ground. Another tip, take some time b/w coasters, you don't have to coaster, coaster, coaster. Find a flat or two he might like, take time for lunch or a snack of some sort. Take in a show, cool down on boo blasters, etc... KI offers a lot of diversions from coasters, take advantage of them. Get him up on Eiffel Tower so he can relate to the height of everything in the park.

Do they still check the track for debris? My son took his first spin on The Beast about a week ago with my wife. They were stopped for fireworks, so after the fireworks ended, and knowing no one would be coming down the exit ramp, I wheeled our daughter in her stroller up the exit ramp so I could see where they were in line/see my little boy's face after he was done riding The Beast. From the end of fireworks, to however long it took me to wheel here thru the exit line was how long it took them to load up the 1st train and dispatch it for the post fireworks ride. They could have been walking the track during fireworks, or perhaps they have monitors now to see if any problems arise. Or perhaps wind direction dictates if they need to walk the track or not. I don't know, but shut down was minimal, any other time I've ridden The Beast at night, I've always gotten off prior to the fireworks going off.

A continuation of the trip report, to answer some questions above. Our Niece was in town for the weekend from C-Bus, so we used one of th $19.99 passes sent out to funperks users last season and spent about 6 hours in the park yesterday. Other than the Haunt, its been a long times since I've been to the park on a weekend, and it was packed. When we got there, my niece wanted to get on drop zone w/ my son, so my wife and them waited about 30 minutes to take the plunge, then on over to Adventure Express, which also had a short (10 min maybe) line, that's always been walkon on during the middle of the week, new territory for me. After that we headed over to The Racers for a ride on the blue coaster, Racers were near walkon. Finally, it was time to take on the last 2 coasters our 5 year old hasn't been on yet, and is tall enough for. Backlot Stunt Coaster was first (anyone know why they have the 143 mph speed limit sign? I assume its tied into something, but I'm not sure what, perhaps from the movie, been awhile since I"ve seen it. My son loved it, he always likes looking at the helicopter and flames from the top of the tower, now he got to see them up front, he was surprised by the pitch black tunnel, I don't think he was expecting that, and I think it was his favorite part. From there, we headed to Vortex. My niece sat it out, so my wife took my son for his first trip upside down. He said he enjoyed it, didn't seem like he likes it as well as The Beast. From there we headed to The Beast, where it claimed its latest victim. My Niece and son were sitting in the 1st car, 2nd seat. I was directly behind them in the 3rd row, seating by myself. After the double helix, we were heading down the little dip at the end that takes you under the hill leading into the final tunnel(s). As we were coming down, a decent sized hawk landed on the hill going up into the break run, we obviously weren't too far away and I was anticipating the hawk taking right back off, must have been a mouse or something, cause you think it would have felt the track vibrating. Anyways, as we started back up the hill, the hawk remained on the track, surely it would fly away now, but no, a split second later (or however long it takes you to climb that last little hill) the hawk came face to face w/ The Beast and meet its end. I don't know the people in the 1st row on the 1st car, but they told me they hit it (don't think anything came up above the car themselves). When we got off the train, about half of the train came up to the 1st car to see if there were any remains sitting there (there was not) so I think pretty much everyone on the train saw what happened, those in the back probably saw the hawk being thrown off to the side after impact. From there it was on to Boo Blasters, then a quick bit outside the park before meeting up w/ my mother in law who was driving our niece up to C-Bus to take her back home. I think the only thing that remains for my son in the 48" catagory, are the 2 upcharges, skyflyer and Sling Shot, and the dodge-em cars. Can't think of anything else in the main park that he's missed.

You said it better than I did. I hug the lap bar to me, and when I drop, of course, it's going to pop up a bit. I never felt endangered at all. In fact, I always feel safe on DB. In my case, I don't think it's clicking a notch loose, but that it's held close, and then when it snaps back to normalcy, there's a sound of it hitting it's normal state. U described what I think happened with the restraint, it didnt drop a notch it just never was quite in the notch and moved back to we're I'm used to it. I'll put it this way, I was so concerned, I rode it again about two hours later. In hindsight perhaps I should have said something, just in case mt instincts of what happened were wrong.

So we finally took our five year old back to entertainment junction today, he's been adkins for awhile, and with school starting back up next week, figured today was a good day. Place was nice, as always, but I can't emphasis enough how blown away I was by the coney mock up. The shooting star really worked, simply amazing and it definitely wasn't a tiny model, this thing was pretty long and high. The wild mouse worked, the flume ride worked, ferris wheel, carousel, sky ride, car ride, it all worked. Blown away. One of the workers told me they put $100,000 into it, not including the volunteer labor. I,ve mentioned in the past, and after seeing this I'm more convinced than ever, but if KI were to take tower gardens, and put in a couple of these mock ups from different eras, throw in a nastolgia store with old KI shirts and stuff, it would ne a huge hit. If you haven't seen it, it's worth your effort. Amazing.

When I went last week, the bar came down lower on me than in the past. I've lost a little weight, so when it was tighter than usual, I figured it was just at one notch lower than before. One the first drop, the lap bar wrnt up to where it normally is. Didn't think much about it at the time, figured what I thought wad one more notch never actually locked in, but who knows, figured I'd share my experience.

Wrong, the only way to replace sob, was to install something that was missing from the parks lineup, looked beautiful and most importantly was reliable and going to remain popular for several decades. A 320 ft giga might have done that, but I have no doubt they,ve accomplished that tak with Banshee

by the way, if your reading this, and can get to Action Zone now, don will give you VIP seats tonight if you can be the 1st 8 people to show him the tweet he just sent out stating such.

It could stil be the world's tallest invert, or perhaps world's tallest full circuit invert (more likely of those 2 records). I'd venture a guess, that if you're going to put a banner advertising a new ride, telling the general public that your putting in the longest coaster of its kind is an easier sell than putting in the tallest of its kind if both statements are true. I'm guessing that the 1 thing the general public hates the most is a 2 hour wait for a 30 second ride. Another thought is that no one is scared of a coaster that is longer than another coaster, many are timid of heights, and would shy away from something they're sold as the tallest. Not to mention that World's tallest full circuit invert...new in 2014 is a lot wordier for a banner like that than world's longest invert...new in 2014. Either way, based upon the layou that we've seen so far, I think this is going to be great, another home run for KI.

I was really hoping it would be the world's shortest coaster. Come on people, more track is better, everything is pointing towards an invert, anyone on this site that is bummed out by the announcement has been refusing to pay attention.