gabelogan99

This page: http://visitkingsisland.com/events/events.cfm suggests that they are doing this on Thursday the 15th as well.

I find it interesting that here in the Columbus area there are more TV commercials for Halloweekends than for Halloween Haunt. Of course we all know that they are the same commercial with a few words changed.

What a neat little blast from the past. I remember being in computer class my senior year of high school, which was 2003 and that was when I first went to the Kings Island website. To think that these pages were even before THAT time is a little mind-blowing.

Wow so much for last saturday being the busiest day of the season I guess. Usually Saturday of spirit song is the busiest day of the entire season. I wasn't at KI today but I seriously considered it given the great weather. I think that's probably what drew a lot of people out today, plus the company being there. I'm glad I didn't go. I am instead going to go on Tuesday with my brother. It's going to be a little warmer than it was today--from what I hear it's going to be in the lower 80s which sounds good to me. I'm looking forward to a great open to close vist--possibly my last visit before October!

Well, sort of. At least the no re-entry during Haunt makes sense. And there's not a no re-entry policy at preferred parking, except in certain situations.

Well, I've been away for a while. I have been busy and I was at Spirit Song last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It was great, but I encountered a problem that everyone needs to be aware of. On Thursday of Spirit Song, I parked in preferred parking and paid the $5 to do it. I left the park and when I came back I was denied entry to preferred parking, even though I had my receipt from that morning. I told the security guard that I had left the park and just used my Gold Pass at the tolls to get back in, which is what happened. He then informed me that I needed a re-entry ticket to get back into preferred parking and that I should have showed the parking attendant my receipt from that morning and she would have given me a re-entry ticket. I knew exactly what he was talking about because of my advanced knowledge of the admissions department. So, I was at fault because I didn't show the right thing and he was right not to let me in because I didn't have the proper paperwork, right? Not in the slightest--and here's why: That night I had thought about it and I should have just told him that I drove to Boomerang Bay and was just coming back to preferred parking. I wouldn't have hit the tolls if I did that. So, I figured out that it wasn't because I didn't have the proper paperwork that I was not allowed re-entry into preferred parking, it was simply because I didn't say the right thing. I should have never mentioned that I left the park. (And by the way, I was pretty upset and said a lot of things that weren't necessarily "right" but I thought were necessary at the time. I didn't get out of my car and jaw about it with him like I wanted to do. I know I have to be careful about how I represent myself when I'm wearing the shirt.) It started raining soon after that so I killed some time, got the right paperwork by walking clear out to the car and going out of the park and coming back in, and got back into preferred parking without a problem. Guest relations would not give me a refund for my preferred parking, which I believed I had earned because of all my trouble. The next day, I didn't leave the park but I did drive to Boomerang Bay and back to preferred parking. No problems. It wasn't the same guy, but he saw the time stamp on my receipt when I re-entered and was inquisitive about it. He let me right in and I even joked that I had been lost in the parking lot since 9. My point here is that Kings Island should not have a policy that states that sometimes they will accept preferred parking receipts and sometimes they will not. I have questioned and questioned time after time why in the world this would be, but I can not understand it even with all of my advanced knowledge. My conclusion is there is no reason for it and that is a fact that can not be argued. I have thought of all of the arguments for this and none of them hold any water. The only thing I can really do about it is make people aware of it. Even if you do use your Gold Pass and get the upgrade and you leave the park, just use your Gold Pass to get back in and don't waste paper. If the security guard seems like he's going to give you trouble, lie. I've just told you how to do it. It makes no difference and it hurts nothing.

I sure am liking the music that Kings Island is playing, especially near Diamondback. Starbucks also plays some awesome music. I heard a Blue October song in Rivertown the other day. Can anybody tell me what that song is?

One thing I forgot to mention that is worth noting is the fact that the drink wristbands are not waterproof. This concerned me a little bit when I was thinking about going to Boomerang Bay. It fit loose enough that I actually pulled it off before I got in the car and slipped it back on without ripping it when I headed back to Kings Island.

My day started, as usual, in Jamestown where my grandparents live on Lake Shawnee. I went to McDonald's there in Jamestown first and planned on eating there but I had forgot my glasses case at my grandparents house. I decided to instead get my breakfast and take it back to the house, get my glasses case, and then leave for Kings Island after that and that's what I did. When I got to the park, I parked in the first spot of the second row of preferred parking. Then I had to apply some sunscreen. As I was doing that, I heard the horn sound for Diamondback. It was 9:22. So I hurried with my applying and headed into the park to Diamondback. I rode in row four or row five. I saw Tom76257 in the car before mine and that would be the one and only time I would see him before he left. I then headed to The Beast and waited a couple of extra trains for the front row, but by the time I got out of The Beast, it wasn't yet 10:00 but it was very close. So, at 10:00 I headed into Coney Mall and into X-Base for a ride on Firehawk. Of course, Firehawk wasn't running yet. I think I have been there only one time where it actually started running at 10. So I instead waited for a few people to come along and a few of them went into Flight of Fear so that's what I did as well. I got on the first train of the day. I don't have a preference of seating when I ride Flight of Fear. After that, I headed once again to Firehawk and it was running so I got in on the first car of that for the day. I rode in the very back for the first time. That was quite an experience and much more different than I would have anticipated. It was still a great ride for me. I figured it would be a good stratetic move to head over to Action Zone so that's what I did. I passed up Adventure Express, which rarely has a line no matter what time of day it is. I rode Drop Tower. This was my first time riding it this season and I had a great ride and had a great view when we stopped at the top. I only had to wait one cycle to ride it. Then I went to Delerium and waited only one cycle for it as well and was on and off in no time. I then went to Son of Beast. There wasn't much of a line. I waited for the very front because any other seat is rough for me. They were running both trains, but were only loading one. Eventually they started loading it and the line moved faster. I had a great ride in the front! Then I went to Flight Deck and rode the front of that as well. There was less than a five minute wait, not including the time it took me to walk all the way there of course. By this time I was getting a little hungry. It was around 11:30 or so, so I decided to get a soft pretzel and a Coke in Action Zone before moving on to my last ride there. I decided for the first time this season to pay the $9.99 and drink all I want all day. I knew it was going to be hot and I would need semi-constant refreshment. (Yes I know that Coke dehydrates you because of all of the sodium.) I finished my snack and I went to Invertigo and waited one full cycle and was on the front/back seat. (Not to be confused with the back/front seat.) I had a very nice ride and I had rode the front/back seat before but never the back/front, so that's something I can do another time. By the time I got off, I noticed that the line was a bit longer, so I got over there at the right time to have a practical walk-on ride in the front/back. When I got off, it was a little past 12 and I had done everything in AZ, besides the paid attractions. I got another Coke before heading to Adventure Express. (Yes, I decided to indulge a little bit. Afterall, I had to get my money's worth.) So I went to Adventure Express and waited 2.5 cycles for the front. I went to The Racer right after that and The Racer wasn't racing--only the red side was opened. I rode the front car and to the best of my knowledge, this was the first time I had done so. I went on a Racer hiatus for a few years and have just started riding it again. I walked down the midway to Vortex. 5-1 didn't really have a line so I figured I would try it to see what all the fuss was about, although I usually ride in the front. I certainly see what everyone is talking about with that seat. It might be my new favorite seat. Then I went to Spongebob 3-D and rode that before heading into Rivertown and I rode Backlot Stunt Coaster in the front. When I got off of that, it was twenty minutes until 2. I decided to go to Diamondback again since it was relatively close. I used the Single Riders Line and didn't wait very long at all--five minutes at the most. Then I went to Scoody Doo and the Haunted Castle. I have never rode it by myself, but I decided to since the inside queues weren't filled up at all. I got a score of 1440, but again I had no competition so it was fairly easy. Most of the guns in that ride work pretty well, but every now and then you'll get one that doesn't work very well or one that doesn't work at all. When you have three to choose from, it's pretty easy to pick a winner. After SDatHC I went and got an ice water at the drink stand under The Eiffel Tower (in a regular cup, because of the wristband) and I sat and drank that and then headed on up the tower to get a look. It was hot at this time. I looked over at Boomerang Bay and it looked ever so inviting. I wanted to go in and get in the wave pool for a little while but, alas, I didn't have my swimwear...or so I thought. Then I remembered that I had put my bathing suit and a towell in a bag and thrown it in my car a couple of weeks ago in case I needed it. So, even though I wasn't planning on it at the beginning of the day, I was now cooking up a plan to take a dip. I had to eat first, though. I had time to catch a ride on Viking Fury before I headed to the picnic grove. I went to the Backyard BBQ for the second time this season and there was actually a pretty good crowd back there, nothing combared to July during Spirit Song, though. I would say there were probably 50-60 people total, which is pretty light. I wasn't expecting that many, though, on a day like that. I had two hot dogs, two hamburgers, four chicken tenders, and a drumstick for dessert. I'm still overall pretty satisfied with the deal and I thought it was better than having to leave the park and come back. I then decided to go and get my gear and head into Boomerang Bay. Actually, I decided to simply just drive over there. When I got out of the car, a strange little wind was blowing. I couldn't see it until I got in there, but something was cooking up in the skies. I sat there and waited for a bit to see what the weather was going to decide to do and then it started to sprinkly and I headed back out to the car. Shortly after that, I heard them clearing out all of the slides and stuff because of lightning in the distance. I drove back over to the main gate and my spot in preferred parking was still waiting for me. I realized that they shut down everything over at KI as well--so I got an ice water once again and went into the Festhaus for a little shelter, even though it wasn't really doing anything. I saw a good deal of Down Home Country while in there and then headed back out and down the midway once again. The rides were still closed, but Dodgem wasn't. There wasn't even a long line for it. So I headed over and did that while the weather situation was still up in the air at that point. They're not very thrilling, but they were all right with me. I walked around a little more and saw that the rides were running again and so I headed to Diamondback again. Linejumping Incident at Diamondback! It seems to be a pretty common occurance, I know. So I get in the SRL again and in front of me I see about three kids 12-13 years of age jump from the main line into the SRL. This is what frustrates me. I don't really care if a relatively small group goes in the SRL, but just don't linejump in the process. I get to where the end of the line is, which is about halfway up the steps and notice that there are actually around six total in the group. Now, I didn't exactly huff off to guest relations when I saw this, but I will admit that it did make me a little mad. Again, it wasn't the group that bothered me--it was the jumping from one line to the other. There was security presence at the beginning of the line, but that doesn't do much good when kids are able to very easily jump from one line to the next. I was thinking they could fix this by closing up the hole in the handrails. Unfortunately, it didn't just end at the linejumping incident. The kids clearly had no clue as to what line they had just jumped into. When the seat assigner assigned one of the boys to pair up with an odd group, two of them went and it messed everything up. Now it was the time to say something, unless of course the two seat assigners couldn't figure it out for themselves, and they did. The kid came back into the line, in front of me and one of his friends and I just kind of stood there and acted like I couldn't believe what I had just saw and what a bonehead move he just made. I even said something that wasn't so nice under my breath--and even though I wasn't looking at him at the time I knew he was looking at me and could probably pretty easily read my lips. It did make me mad, but it wasn't really complaint worthy. The SRL was moving very well and it didn't actually hold me up hardly at all, so that was partly how I kept my cool. It all goes back to what I said before--they need to find a way to make it impossible to jump from one line to the other. It's just too easy to do right now. One of the seat assigners was Cory Butcher and I informed him of the issue right before I boarded my seat. I decided to once again ride SDatHC after Diamondback, there was no line once again. I got a score of 1560 this time. When I got out of that, I knew the rain was about to come and it was about to come harder than it had all day. I got a Coke in the Festhaus and once again took shelter. I caught a little bit of a performance of The County Line. (Yes, I do mean The County Line.) and then Down Home Country started, and so did the rain. It poured buckets for about 5-10 minutes and that's all it did for the rest of the time I was there. I headed out of the Festhaus and noticed they weren't running any of the rides so I went on SCatHC once again, figuring it would be my last ride of the day. I only got a 1290 this time. It was nearly 7:30 and I figured that they might not be opening the rides up again for the rest of the day. I was about to head out but then I heard Diamondback's horn sound. They were opening it again. I thought there was no harm in riding, especially since a lot of people were cleared out and it would practically be a walk-on. I was right--and even more right due to the fact that the SRL was open. I got assigned the back seat and talked to RWildman424 (Ryan) for a few seconds before heading up for my very first ride in the back row. (I saw Kitten riding in the front row of the same train--I had met her earlier that day along with Justin and Kawana.) The back was awesome. Ryan had told me it was a great seat, his favorite in fact, and that I would have to decide for myself when I got back. The back of Diamondback is just incredible. The way you go down that hill is really quite a thrill. I'm not so sold on it that I'm quite ready to say that I like it better than the front, but it's very very close. I rode SDatHC one final time on my way out of the park. I got a 1290. This turned out to be a great day because I got to do so much. It didn't bother me that it rained a little either because every time that it clouded up and looked like it was going to do something and they shut the rides down, a small chunk of the crowd left. I don't see how I could possibly top this trip and probably won't any time this season until October perhaps. All of the ride crews did a great job as well.

OK thanks I actually have always wondered that. And, actually, I thought that when someone said 5-1 it meant the fifth row of the train, inside seat or outside seat--didn't know what the 1 meant. Turns out, I guess I didn't know what any of it meant.

For being a low quality pic, the last pic is really good. Can you or someone clarify where 5-1 is on Vortex? I usually ride the front but I might have to see what all the fuss is about this 5-1 the next time I go. By the way, every time I have rode Vortex this year, I have heard the ride ops refer to it as The Vortex. Is anyone else noticing the same thing? I got to thinking about that after reading Andrew's signature.

That is the best advice and he's been told that, by my count, a million times. Maybe a million and one will finally sink in.

Wait, how could Justin's have been taken only if he was a Ride Warriors participant? It was never stated in the rules that the photo had to be of the Ride Warriors activities. Simply that it must have been an original photo taken at Kings Island during Ride Warriors Coaster Weekend. And how do the reps at KI and others that did the judging know that the pictures were taken furing RWCW? Diamondback FOF just havin' fun and being curious like always. Right, there is absolutely no way to tell when a picture was taken, so they had to just assume that it was taken during Ride Warrirors Weekend I suppose. (And I'm not suggesting that it wasn't taken during Ride Warriors Weekend.) And I meant that Justin's picture was clearly taken by a Ride Warrior, unless there is another way to get that shot without being behind the scenes of The Racer.

I'm not saying it's not a good picture. I actually think that it is a very good picture. The only problem is, this isn't exactly a "Ride Warriors" picture. I figured that something would only win if it was clearly a picture that only an exclusive Ride Warriors participant could have taken. (For example, Justin's.) I guess that wasn't part of the stipulations, so I guess I figured wrong.

The photo clearly could have been taken on any date besides the dates of Ride Warriors Weekend.

We need to start a petition about this guy or something. This is ridiculous.

Man, did I ever see a big wreck last Saturday. First the guy/girl, can't remember which one, got spun and then immediately got slammed into. No ejections resulted though. I love how there's a four strikes and you're out policy, I say two strikes and you're out...or...call me crazy...three. A lot of times I'll sit there on the bench near SkyFlyer and "call" the race. I'm a fan of racing, what can I say. I've never done anything as crazy as after the race interviews or anything like that...yet. If someone ever slammed into me on purpose, they would either find themselves spun out at some point, or find themselves smashed or slammed into the back of at the end like they do in the pros. I'd probably exchange some not so nice words with them afterwards, but try not to get physical or anything. I've never been on Thunder Alley myself. I've always thought it would be neat but I'm not sure if those little cars are much accomodating to a person of my size. Guess it wouldn't hurt to try sometime, I love the thrill of the race.

Truer words have never been spoken. Although for me it was only a few months instead of a decade. And it was usually a ride on The Beast or Top Gun at the end of my shift.

On opening day I heard Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" over the loudspeakers right before the Gold Pass holders were unleashed to Diamondback. Anyone find it ironic that this song is on the Forrest Gump soundtrack?

I would like to point out that I am not trying to directly challenge any certain individual or their ideas. I'm simply stating that what's done is done and it will remain that way whether we like it or not so we had better get ourselves used to it. A lot of time was clearly spent in developing the system and it takes a lot of dedication and work to employ the system. I just can't imagine a scenario where they would give all of that up.

I'm not really sure that the park will be quick to take something away just because it's being abused by a few groups. It has been open less than 20 operating days and they've already got rid of the passes. They're trying to perfect the system. They realized it didn't make any sense having not one but two lines. At least, that's what I'm assuming. From what I can tell, the passes are gone for good. The SRL itself still lives. If a group chooses to go into the SRL knowing full well that they will be paired with a stranger, that's their prerogative. Of course, it's stupid for them to do so because a group of say 4-5 people wouldn't have to wait that much longer to ride together on an average day. A group of six or more using the SRL would be even more stupid because they will end up waiting longer than they would if they chose to ride together. I don't think it will take too long for this illogic to sink in, and groups will eventually stop using the SRL. What I do have a problem with are the reports that at least one ride op has sent two single riders at a time. Hopefully that is an isoloated incident and will not occur again. (Again, I'm having patience with the new system.) If I ever saw that, it would be cause for an official complaint, because it's obviously not acceptable and I don't think anyone would agree that it's acceptable. I would compare that to a ride op on any other ride allowing someone else to go in front of me without any given reason. At this point in time, I don't have a problem with the Single Riders Line. It was made for a purpose, it's serving that purpose, and it will stay.

Hey Tom it was great to meet you too. I can't quite remember where exactly we met, but I want to say it was over near the Coney Mall sign on Saturday when you were with Giga and the gang. I definitely remember your face...as far as your name, though, I think I met about three or four people named Tom!

The other day I did see a much much better KI commercial. It was talking about the benefits of having a Gold Pass and it actually showed rides from the park. It's crazy that these two commercials are basically night and day in terms of quality and in terms of actually obtaining real information from them. What I mean is sending the message to buy a Gold Pass because of all the perks is a lot better than saying come and smell the funnel cakes.

It was really nice to finally meet you, Gator. I'm glad we got to have a few words, even though it was brief. I would have thought that our paths would have crossed a lot sooner than the end of day two, but I guess that just goes to show just how much there was to do and how much freedom we had to do whatever we wanted basically. Plus I know that you had some unexpected circumstances that came up and you couldn't be there for everything, but I'm glad I did eventually get to meet you and I'm glad you had a good time. I sure had a great time as well. Major props on the weight loss, also by the way. I had to slim down just a tiny bit for Diamondback, but ten pounds surely isn't as noticeable as 25. The strange thing for me was, depending on where I sat, sometimes I had to be stapled in and sometimes I didn't require the extra assistance.

Even though I was operating under basically no sleep on Saturday, I do distinctly remember that you were eating ice cream when I saw you near the Coney Mall sign and this was, I guess, when I officially met you for the first time. It was great to meet you and I'm glad you liked your ice cream. I had no idea at the time that it was your first ever blueberry ice cream experience.