MDMC01

Great trip report and pictures, silver2005. I'd like to get down to the zoo sometime this year; haven't been in a while.

I rode it last night and found it cool that the drum/cymbal combo instrument played along with the music when its cue came.

Ah, yes. I remember watching the POV's on the old PKI website... good times!

I did not catch the sea lion show, though I did hear it as I walked by. I thought about seeing the 5 o'clock show, but I sort-of forgot and left shortly after 5. EDIT: BTW, sscard01, I thought of you on the trip as I got a Cardinals shirt at a gas station on the way home and it reminded me of your KIC avatar.

Hey all, I went to Kentucky Kingdom for a few hours yesterday and had a blast. Before I tell you how the trip went, I’m going to share a short back story. This trip was originally scheduled for this Monday, but it was raining, therefore I ended up going yesterday (Friday). Here’s what went on: I got to the park a little after 11 and noticed the rides and the barbed wire fencing on the way in. Since I had bought a ticket online, I asked the lady at the ticket counter if it should be redeemed for a “proper” ticket, but she said that they could just scan that (she was really nice, by the way), which they did. Once inside the park, I grabbed two park maps and walked around a bit. I had pre-planned to get a locker near Tornado (a waterslide in the waterpark almost identical to Mondo Monsoon at KI), which was close to the center of the park (at least in my mind). Doing this meant I didn’t have to walk all the way to the front to get my stuff or change. Before I go on, it is important to note that the park’s layout is unusual as you have a highway dividing the park and you have to take a bridge to get from one side (where Lightning Run, thrill rides and the kids area are located) to the other (where the waterpark, a water ride, Thunder Run and other rides are located). Upon getting a locker, I found that the locker system is amazing. You pay to get a wristband that automatically assigns you a locker. Everytime you need to open the locker, you just scan your wristband at the correct station (as in, the one you bought the locker from- trust me, I tried) and your locker automatically opens. No password to remember or anything- it’s great! So, after this awesomeness, I decided to make Thunder Run my first ride of the day. I sat towards the front and had a great ride. It had some cool airtime and unexpected twists and turns and I reminded myself to ride in the back later. After this, I decided to ride the Flying Dutchman as I knew it used to belong to Kings Island back in the day. It was an ok ride and reminded me a bit of WindSeeker, except it was more like 30 feet up instead of 300. The only problem was that it had a super abrupt start and the lowering of the shoes looked abrupt as well, but surprisingly felt OK. After this, I was going to ride Mile High Falls since I was in the area (it’s in the back of the park), but another guest told me that sitting in the back would get me the wettest (as I wanted to sit in the back, thinking I’d get the least wet) but I didn’t feel like getting wet. I instead went over to the other side of the park to ride Lightning Run. So, a little backstory with this: about a month before the trip, I noticed I had been gaining some weight and I heard that lots of people were getting Walks of Shame. So, I decided to start eating better and worked out (mind you, the working out only lasted for a week)and ended up losing 5.5 pounds! So, before I got in line, I tested the test seat and got a green light, which meant I passed with flying colors! J The line itself was the longest I had waited so far (as they were only running one train), but the line didn’t take a terribly long time. Once in the station, I noticed the trains reminded me a bit of Millennium Force as they sort-of have raised seats. I sat closer to the back and had a blast! The first half of the ride was good, but that last half was like a mini-Maverick! There was so much airtime and sharp turns in that section that it was insane! It wasn’t the best coaster I’ve been on, but it sure was a lot of fun! After riding the lightning, I decided to try FearFall. The entrance was really hard to find, but once I found it, I got on the second cycle after entering. The first thing I noticed was that besides the restraint, there are no real places to hold on. Also, there is a roof above the carriage, so there is no way to know when you will drop and it really caught me off guard! One minute, I’m talking to the guy next to me, the next, we’re freefalling! So, after that, I decided to enjoy the 5-D Cinema. Today, it was playing a 3D movie using characters from the movie Rio. Before I get to the movie itself, I’d like to say that the entrance to this attraction was also difficult to find. I waited in line a bit before moving to an indoor pre-show area. The pre-show was interesting and had great music, but seemed to end abruptly. The attraction itself was just meh. Although the moving seats were awesome, it’s like they built the movie to showcase the seat’s abilities and deliberately put it into situations where it would be used. In this way, it was also sort-of random. Put another way, the Spongebob movie included you, and therefore made sense that the seats would react when you were riding the bubble bike or in the final scene with Spongebob and Patrick when Plankton’s robot is attempting to slice at your face. In this movie, it felt you were just watching the action with really cool moving seats. In other words, you felt disconnected from the action or movie. After the underwhelming movie, I decided to take a spin on the nearby Himalaya. I quickly found that I should have chosen the outer seat as forces were pushing me down and to the left (towards the outer seat), but it was definitely an interesting ride. After this, I headed to the other side of the park to change and take in the water park. Although I really wanted to do Deep Water Dive, I also wanted to ease myself into the water by getting on some other slides before tackling the big one. After briefly walking into the wave pool, I decided to try Deluge, which is the park’s water coaster (as in, a water slide with launched hills). There was hardly any line, but unfortunately, I had to get off because it was suddenly down for mechanical problems with the lift. With Deluge down, I decided to wander over to Mega Wedgie, a bowl slide that turned out to be pretty fun. Before I go any further, I’d like to say that I admire the fact that most of the water park attractions allow single rider tubes (as well as double rider tubes), which I as a single rider really appreciate. After this, I decided to tackle Waikiki Wipeout, which is a crazy looking slide that has 3-mini versions of Mondo Monsoon’s giant funnel. It’s pretty crazy and was definitely something different. After this, I finally decided to conquer Deep Water Dive. Now, I’d never been on a water slide with a capsule drop before, so this was all new to me. Basically, you get in a capsule and the door shuts. After a countdown, the floor drops out from under you and you go down the slide. After climbing 6+ feet of stairs (I only know this because there was a sign that said it was 6 flights up from the lower slide on the 2-slide complex), I finally made it to the top. It seemed everyone up there was in panic mode (except for the lifeguard, he was actually pretty chill) as would-be riders were terrified by this ride. I volunteered to go ahead of everyone as the other riders were all nervous and scared. I got freaked out a bit too when I thought the capsule’s hole that I’d be going through was smaller than it really was and I didn’t know where to put my feet. Nevertheless, I was the only brave soul that marched on and took the plunge. It was great!!!! I ended up having a huge wedgie afterwards and my body was shaking from the awesomeness, but I did it!!! J Along with Lightning and Thunder Run, DWD was one of the three rides I really wanted to do on this trip, my “Big 3” if you will. After this awesomeness, I decided to try again on Deluge. I waited a bit longer than my last attempt, but I actually made it this time. It was pretty cool as I got a ton of airtime on the drops and the launched hills gave it even more airtime. After that awesomeness, I decided to change and head out of the waterpark as I was starting to get cold. By this time, the temperature had dropped a bit and it had started sprinkling a bit. After changing, I decided to try again on Mile High Falls, simply because I was already wet. For those unfamiliar, this is essentially a taller version of Congo Falls with a straighter drop (Congo has a double drop). I ended up getting the second row (which I thought was the front row until some people had the row next to me, which was really the front row) and got soaked. I thought that the way I got wet was interesting, because it felt like the wave came down in sheets rather than just one big wave (it was like splash-pause-splash-pause-splash). After this, I decided to hit up Thunder Run again, this time in the back. It was a longer wait than this morning, but it was worth it. It was pretty insane back there with all the airtime and being thrown around and whatnot, but it was still good. After this, I had a pulled pork sandwich, some fries and a Sprite at Junior’s BBQ. The food was OK, the man serving up my sandwich and fries was very polite, and I admire that he referred to me as “sir” multiple times. Kudos to you, man who served my food! So, after that, I started to get in line for Tin Lizzies, but didn’t really want to wait and called my ride to let him know I was ready to be picked up. Overall, I had a great day, but might have gotten a few more rides in (Breakdance, Tin Lizzies, another on Himalaya and another on Lightning Run) if I would have stayed longer. To close, I’d like to make a few (mostly good) overall comments about the park in general. First, I enjoyed how friendly most employees were and saw employees stationed at many points along the midway (as well as safety officers) to assist guests as needed. I also enjoyed the park’s music; apparently they have their own radio station, which played country and rock music. When I got to Mile High and Thunder Run (the 2nd time), I also heard familiar songs like “Rude” by Magic and “Latch” by Disclosure, though I think those were from a different radio station. Also, for the most part, the people were somewhat friendly and a guest helped me find Mile High Fall’s entrance as I must have appeared to be lost. This also leads me into my main negative point against the park: ride entrances/confusing layouts. As noted previously, FearFall, Mile High Falls, and the 5-D cinema had entrances that were hard to find. FearFall was especially interesting as I saw people queued what appeared to be behind a gate, but I couldn’t see anything except for a food patio which looked like it had dead-ended at a point (it turns out their pirate ship, Bluebeard’s Bounty was back there too…). The water park was a little difficult to navigate as well as I had trouble finding Deluge’s entrance on my first attempt and couldn’t figure out how to get to the Hurricane Bay Beach Club (the 2nd part of the water park, where Deep Water Dive and Waikiki Wipeout were). I think it might benefit the park to put more signage near places where guests might get lost or confused. A good example of this was that there was a Thunder Run sign above where the ride’s entrance and exit were (but then again, Thunder Run was a little hard to find too…). Although that path used to also take patrons to Twisted Twins, it is now a dead end and people might see it as such (as in, there’s nothing over there). Along the same lines of confusing layouts, it was only in the process of writing this trip report last night that I realized I had missed the Bumper Cars (and apparently, a lot of the midway games) completely because I didn’t venture to the right of the 5-D theatre and Himalaya. That being said, I do feel good about the future of Kentucky Kingdom and really want it to succeed. If I lived closer I’d probably go more often, but because I live a few hours away, this might be my one and only trip this summer. So, as a closing statement, I give you a picture of Lightning Run with a tree in the way (this was taken from the bridge that separates the park). Highlights: Thunder Run, Deep Water Dive, Lightning Run, Waikiki Wipeout, the locker system Ride Count: 5-D Cinema (Rio): 1 Deep Water Dive: 1 Deluge Water Coaster: 1 FearFall: 1 Flying Dutchman: 1 Himalaya: 1 Lightning Run: 1 Mega Wedgie: 1 Mile High Falls: 1 Thunder Run: 2 Waikiki Wipeout: 1 -MDMC01 Edit: I apologize that the picture is really small; I couldn't make it much bigger without it becoming blurry.

Do you mean on your back (like you start out on Firehawk) or on your stomach (facing the ground)? Either way could work, though I think laying down on your stomach on a ride would be really cool.

I'll start by saying this list was a little tough to come up with, not only because of having to narrow it down to only 10 rides, but I wasn't sure in which order to rank the rides or if some rides I chose should even be included at all. That being said, here is my current list: 10. Delirium -I remember the first time I got on Delirium and was a bit nervous to ride because it looked really intense. To my surprise, it wasn't that bad and I loved how high you went. Although I do enjoy riding it, I also like watching it from the midway as it looks like a giant UFO thing. 9. Pineapple Pipeline (formally known as Bonsai Pipeline when the water park was known as WaterWorks) -When I was younger, I always liked the straight down (now teal) slide, but I now prefer the intensity of the left (orange) slide that spirals downward 8. Thunder Falls (formally known as Sidewinder under WaterWorks) -This one's a fun tube slide in Soak City. The last time I rode, I preferred the left side (green) because it seemed longer. 8. Firehawk -This was my first flying coaster and (in my opinion) a great addition to the park. Even though we now have Wing Coasters and B&M flyers, I think about how revolutionary this ride's technology was back in the early 2000's and enjoy the ride that much more for it. 7. Drop Tower -This is a great ride that is one of the only rides in Action Zone that hasn't been given a repaint or complete rebrand since the area's debut in 1999. This is one ride I don't mind standing in line for, not just for the ride experience, but because over the years, I've gotten great views of Action Zone's other all-stars like Xtreme Skyflyer, Son of Beast, and more recently, Banshee. EDIT: Here's a tip that I learned before launching up on Power Tower the last time I was at Cedar Point: Put your hands up (like you're riding a roller coaster) on the drop- it's a crazy awesome feeling! 6. Son of Beast -This ride was my first looping coaster, and despite its issues, was a pretty awesome ride. I mean, talk about revolutionary technology of the new millennium. It broke so many world records including the first (and currently only) wooden coaster to go over 200 feet and the only modern wooden coaster have a vertical loop. Although we now have Rocky Mountain Coasters that can invert wooden coaster track with ease, back in 2000, a loop on a wooden roller coaster was a groundbreaking technological breakthrough. Unfortunately, the awesomeness didn't last as it got rougher and rougher and eventually was closed for a few years before being completely demolished to make way for Banshee. 5. Adventure Express- at night (last car, 2nd row) -When I was little, this and the ride that is #4 in the countdown were my go-to rides. I really liked it during the day and enjoyed racing through the jungle with the occasional jerkiness. Nowadays, I love it at night with its pitch-black tunnels and the speed you get from sitting in the back. 4. Top Gun (under Top Gun/Flight Deck) -As was Adventure Express, this was my go to ride when I was younger. I loved everything about this ride: the walkback to the ride itself, the layout, the turn over the lift, and, during the Paramount years, the theming and cool Top Gun soundtrack music in the queue. When I heard the rumors that my beloved Top Gun/Flight Deck would become The Bat, I rode it in the front seat on Closing Day to get one last ride on it before the eventual retheme. Although I did ride it as The Bat once this season, it just wasn't the same without that gray track hanging above me. 3. Tomb Raider: The Ride -I rode this ride twice in its original state and it blew my mind. I remember being both freaked out and amazed by what this ride was and could do. At the time, I'd never been on a Top Spin (much less a Giant Top Spin) and have never ridden another since. As years past and it became The Crypt, it was still a good ride but just a shell of what it was. I remember always wanting to ride The Crypt when I went because it was just a unique ride, even though it wasn't in the form that it once was. I will say that this is only higher than Son of Beast because of SOB's continual roughness in the Rose Bowl. 2. Banshee -I decided to take my first spin on Banshee on April 25th, 2014 and after that ride, I tweeted that it was "crazy awesome". 13 more rides later, I still think it's crazy awesome and currently my favorite roller coaster at Kings Island. The speed and the barrel roll at the end make it the park's finest coaster. Long live Banshee!!! 1. The Beast -Ok, so I know I just said Banshee is my favorite roller coaster at the park, but The Beast is just a great classic ride. It's a Kings Island icon and still gives great rides 35 years later! Because of it's reputation and great ride experience, it totally deserves the #1 spot on my list. Before I end my list, I'd like to give Vortex an honorable mention just because experiencing that first drop while sitting in the back seat is amazing. Plus, it's a classic coaster with a lot of inversions.

Lines weren't terrible yesterday but still a bit long. I only went on 3 coasters, but I was mostly there for the dinos, so the lines didn't bother me too much. Vortex's line looked long-ish, but moved quickly, and Firehawk's line was approx. an hour and a half and semi-slow moving. Adventure Express at night was literally a walk-on ( ) as the park was pretty dead around midnight and Cirque (7 PM show) was packed.

Probably a little more than an hour. I got in line around 10 and our group didn't depart the dino pavilion until at least after 11 PM (I'm thinking somewhere around 11:20ish).

I did it tonight and it was pretty good. I enjoyed seeing Jurassic Park as sort of a "pre-show" to the trail and a few unexpected things made me jump as it was so dark, even with flashlights. To add to previously mentioned ideas, I thought that the trek was educational as I definitely learned a lot from our tour guide. He also made references to The Land Before Time (specifically Spike and Duckie- Spike was/is my favorite character ) and the Jurassic Park movies, which was cool. I also like Ryan's idea of having to walk through the exhibit alone at night. Afterwards I made the last train of the night on Adventure Express, which was an awesome night ride as usual.

I had split off from the group at this point in the trip (no one else was interested in riding Mean Streak; they all rode Millennium Force again instead) and I was just extremely delighted that Mean Streak was running a lot better than the last time I came (hence why I rode twice). However, I did end up convincing them to ride it for what was then my third ride. Corkscrew was sort of a last minute choice after our night ride on Magnum.

I went to Haunt last year on a Friday night and I was able to get a decent amount of rides in. I only did one maze (Slaughter House) and the line was really short only because the sun was still up and it was the second thing I did that evening.

Hey all, This is MDMC01 and I went to Cedar Point on Friday the 13th and had a blast. I might even say it was my best Cedar Point trip ever. Before I begin, I'd like to first apologize for not having this up sooner, but I was a bit of a procrastinator getting this done Also, since the original trip report from my computer is way too long and involved, I'd just like to hit the highlights. Went with a group of 5 other people (including fellow KICer SnakeAttack! who doesn't post much anymore), one of which had never been to Cedar Point before I gained two new coaster credits Gatekeeper was fun, but it would be more of what I call a "chill" coaster rather than a "thrill" coaster Even after being gone from the park for 5 years and riding Banshee, Maverick is still my favorite roller coaster ever!!!!! The girl who had never been to Cedar Point rode all of the adult coasters in one day (something even I've never done, and didn't do on this trip because I skipped Raptor and Blue Streak); she only disliked Blue Streak and Wicked Twister Took part in the Luminosity after-show dance party, which was amazing (we seriously need this show at KI, or at least something like it!) Mean Streak ran great (which is weird, because it was super rough last time) Iron Dragon was fun Got a fireworks ride on Corkscrew plus night rides on Magnum and Power Tower (up side) Got a "zen ride" on Shoot the Rapids, which was actually pretty cool Unfortunately, I did not get to ride Pipe Scream or the Eagles Here's my total ride count: Cedar Creek Mine Ride: 1 Corkscrew: 1 Gatekeeper: 1 Gemini (Blue): 1 Giant Wheel: 1 Iron Dragon: 2 Magnum XL-200: 2 Mantis: 1 Maverick: 2 Mean Streak: 3 Millennium Force: 1 Power Tower (Up side): 2 Power Tower (down side): 1 Skyhawk: 1 Shoot the Rapids: 1 Top Thrill Dragster: 1 Woodstock Express: 1 Wicked Twister: 1 Witches Wheel: 1 Also, to give this trip some context, this was a part of the Secret Trip my friends and I take every year (the destination was Toledo, Ohio), so even though I had a hunch we were going, it was still somewhat of a surprise to me. We also went to a Toledo Mudhens (baseball) game (they won!) and played mini-golf. I now leave you with this picture of my newest coaster credit, Gatekeeper: -MDMC01 EDIT: I don't know why my Gatekeeper photo has buttons on either side that let the user go through my entire Flikr album...

I'll probably be going next Saturday and I was wondering; is all of Jurassic Park shown during the event or just parts of the movie?

I went to Six Flags Great America in 2008 and had a blast. I reccommend Viper, Whizzer, Revolution and Chubasco (the teacups). Have fun!

It was between KD and Carowinds for me (since I've only been to Michigan's Adventure, KD and Carowinds- in addition to KI and Cedar Point of course! ) and I chose Carowinds as I've been there twice (I only went to MI and KD once) and I remember it being fun. That being said, I would love to go back to KD (as I enjoyed myself there) to ride Dominator and The Crypt. I've also never been to Canada's Wonderland and would love to go there someday.

I'm actually eating some Kraft Mac n Cheese right now lol. But seriously, this is a bummer that #jonathan is leaving us in a few weeks. I'm so used to seeing it on International Street and it's going to feel weird with it not being there. Oh well...

Hey all, thanks for the feedback. I am in the video and had a blast making it. The dance moves were a bit hard to master at first, but it got easier as time went on. For those wondering, I am in a yellow shirt and hat and can be seen in The Beast and Breakers Bay parts as well as in the grand finale.

Good stuff gyk and thanks for posting.. I haven't been to Kings Dominion since 2001 and one of the reasons I want to go back is to ride their version of The Crypt. I will also add to the idea that Tomb Raider was a unique and a "go-to" ride; I only rode it twice in its original form, but even during the years of The Crypt's 2-flip cycle, I rode it often. Although it was a shell of it's former self at the time, it was still enjoyable simply because it was something different.

Forget the view from the queue. The view of Banshee from around seats 5 to 10 at the top of the tower is AMAZING! A shame that there's no way to legally take a picture from up there. I agree, the view of Banshee was pretty cool from what I saw (I was a little less than midway up the tower when I saw it). I was in either seat 22 or 32 (I can't remember), so at the top, I was facing Congo Falls and the parking lot.

I rode it yesterday after hearing it got fixed and it was awesome as usual! I will say, however, that seeing Banshee from DT's queue is going to take some getting used to as either Son of Beast or blue skies (after SOB was removed/during Banshee's construction) are the views that I've been accustomed to seeing in the past.

Great stuff so far! I love the Cincinnati Zoo and I'm also a big fan of Jungle Trails.

I'll write something: This coaster is so very fun With thrill seekers young and old But when the lights go out There's no doubt That this coaster really gets going Through pitch black tunnels and colored lights Deeper into the jungle we fly Until we face the tiki men Who tell us "Now you will pay" because we've crossed the line!