VortexBFForever

Hopefully this year's return of Grand Carnivale will also bring back the tasting cards. My favorite part of Carnivale 2023 was the tasting card for 10 items, especially since I could use it over multiple visits! I miss Hot Summer Nights/Royal Rhythms from 2019 and 2021, or just having a live band on Bandstand for that matter. Few moments beat getting to join the conga line as they played "Hot Hot Hot"! I agree that I-Street needs the orchestral music back (NOT the covers that played 2020-21). The jazz was cool but my KD visit last April revealed just how much I miss hearing those beautiful orchestral pieces on our I-Street. This is a long shot at this point, but I still have a tiny shred of hope for Eiffel Tower and WindSeeker to be able to stay open for the fireworks again, sometime in the future. I understand the lasers and drones prohibit their operation during recent shows and that would require a significant change, but I dearly miss being able to watch the fireworks from nearly 300 feet up. Not to mention that unique opportunity had set KI's fireworks experience apart from the others. From my personal experience, WindSeeker fireworks rides are a core memory from when Vortex was still here, and I loved still getting to experience them after Vortex left...at least through 2021. Chalk it up to nostalgia, but I really want those fireworks rides back...

I have counted 664 lifetime rides on WindSeeker since my first flight on June 30, 2011. I actually discovered my favorite movie trilogy, How To Train Your Dragon, by riding WindSeeker! While not the most thrilling ride, WindSeeker has always held a place in my heart ever since I operated it alongside Vortex from 2017-2019. I hope to eventually ride all the WindSeekers. So far I have also ridden Cedar Point's and SteelHawk at Worlds of Fun. I've seen in person the ones at Dominion and Carowinds, albeit closed due to either staffing or high winds, and I still have not visited Wonderland. Hopefully that changes within the next few years!

I'm rather fond of WindSeeker too. I have waited in a full queue on busy Haunt nights before. I believe its 64-rider-per-cycle capacity is the main reason its line is usually short, especially now that there is no massive Arrow looper to help draw guests to the ride.

I’m briefly emerging from my lurking to inform you that my 2000th Bat ride is fast approaching! I plan to take it tomorrow afternoon/evening depending on how many I can get later today between the rain showers and storms. If you’re at the park tomorrow, come celebrate with me! The exact timing will largely depend on how close I get after work today…

Early Ride Times | Season Pass Benefits | Kings Island (visitkingsisland.com) Not yet, but they can be found at this link. Edit: They're here!

I always loved riding WindSeeker during the fireworks, which has been one of my fondest memories especially when Vortex was still here. I like the drones and lasers, but dearly miss these fireworks rides and subsequently feel slightly conflicted when watching the show. Honestly, I hope the drones and lasers eventually get phased out so the WindSeeker fireworks rides can return.

Surely I'm not the only one who loves to compare decades-old speculation to the present! teenageninja had nothing to worry about as Top Gun is still here (sans theming) and a fraction of Oktoberfest still exists (i.e. Festhaus and the Age & Weight game). Top Gun was only 10 at the time, and there was already speculation about it leaving?! 21 years later and it's also still here lol 1 and 3 proved to be correct! If by "significantly altered" he meant "repainted and renamed," Outdoor Man was correct about Flight Deck. Of course his SoB and Crypt claims were correct too. Or 15, for that matter...it's still here!

I'm happy to say that Top Gun is still here in 2024!

Not to mention, most coaster merch is geared toward the same five rides (Mystic, Beast, Diamondback, Banshee, Orion) which I understand are the most popular, but for those of us whose favorites are less represented, more merch of other rides is greatly appreciated. I really like how there were new shirts for Adventure Express in light of its Adventure Port touchup, as well as a few items celebrating Bat's 30th anniversary and even some Phantom Theater merch during the respective show's run! That's definitely a step in the right direction!

Yeah, unfortunately the project got cancelled; I believe that happened in 2020. It looked so promising!

Orion stole my Toothless hat for a day in 2020 It was fine until the last hill, then it flew off right before we hit the brakes. Fortunately, it landed on the top of the catwalk, making it easier for my crew friends to retrieve at the end of the night. Also in 2020, my travel-size sunscreen bottle went missing on Flume (I kept it in my fanny pack but it would fall out very easily) and I didn't remember my boat number, so I ended up marathoning Flume until the bottle turned up. I got six rides from that ordeal I've found, and sometimes witnessed, phones that fly off Banshee or Orion throughout my time in maintenance. If they land on the service road, I try to turn them in at the respective station so they don't get driven over and further damaged. One such time at Orion, I saw a phone fly out of a train going over the speed hill and managed to turn it in as that same train was returning to the station! I've watched plenty of hats fly off WindSeeker especially when I operated it. I watched a white ball cap fly off the head of the guy in front of me mid-ride on Bat last year. A flying cell phone hit me in the arm (would have been my face if my arm wasn't raised) before I heard it hit the nearby structure while speeding over Magnum's bunny hills. When I first got my glasses in 2021, I nearly lost them on a particularly spinny ride on Tsunami at Scene75 Dayton. They flew off my face but landed on the floor of my row! I thought they were for sure in the ride area. One evening after park closing in 2018, my crew and I looked for lost articles under Vortex's turnaround (after the first drop, before the loops). Some of the hats we found had moss/lichen growing on them because they were in that thicket for so long! I also found a phone broken in half on that same expedition. There are perhaps even more stories that escape me at the moment, but these are definitely among my most notable.

Much like Vortex, I gravitate toward 7-1 on Bat. I don't need the extra legroom, but I enjoy the slightly better view that odd-numbered rows offer. A side benefit of riding in the last car (especially when it's full) is a little extra swing at the bottom of the second drop, which makes the already underrated night ride experience even better! I also agree that Bat is a strong front-seat ride. The unobstructed view of flying low to the ground through the trees and past Banshee (and its train if you're lucky!) is unparalleled, and the high swinging into the brakes (sometimes reaching 90 degrees if the first car is full!) is unmatched. If I find the first row open, I will take it, no questions asked. If it's busy (i.e. at least a one-train wait for every row), all preferences are dropped and I pick whatever is open. I'm just grateful we still have a ride of this kind in the first place.

if you've worked at KI for 7 years and still love visiting on your days off... ...and riding your favorite ride over 1,000 times in a season in the meantime

Here are my 10 most ridden KI rides, backed up by my counts on each of them: 1. The Bat - 1,512 2. Vortex - 1,221 1/3 3. WindSeeker - 600 4. Orion - 580 5. Diamondback - 316 6. Adventure Express - 300 7. Banshee - 231 8. Flight of Fear - 208 9. Invertigo - 177 10. Boo Blasters - 173 For the record, Vortex had remained my most ridden ride for nearly 13 years, since October of 2010. The Bat overtook it at approximately 10:50 a.m. on August 10, 2023, in a bittersweet but pleasing moment.

I was there! I saw the last tree lighting, What the Dickens twice (and got to be Tiny Tim in the second show!), and Tinker's Toy Factory one more time before working my last parade. After the parade I joined @Sixflags82 and @Hawaiian Coasters 325 for the balloon drop, one more ride on the sled hill, two more rides on Cargo Loco (to get my count to 50!) and the last ride of the year on KMAA. We originally wanted to end the year on Sol Spin or Flight of Cheer, but it got a little too cold for the former and the latter's entrance was already closed by the time we checked at 10:40 (I figured that would happen with one train) but I'm just glad we were the last riders of the year on something. And of course, the fireworks show was amazing as well as the dance music leading up to it. Nothing like dancing to the Macarena and Cotton Eyed Joe with friends in the last moments of the year and The Greatest Show which played right before the countdown reminded us once again of how amazing the 2018 summer fireworks show was! Happy New Year!

BUMP! I am now at 580 rides on Orion, but that is miniscule compared to a couple regulars I know, including @Vince Overfield who got around 2100 Orion rides this year alone!

BUMP! Mystic Timbers this past Friday (12/29)

I went to Nights of Lights on Friday night and it was great, yet a little bittersweet. It was weird seeing the same waterslides I rode in 2012 and knowing I would likely never get to ride them again. I waited too long to return to Coney for the rides and now the pool, which is sad, but at least I got to experience them in 2012 as well as my other Nights of Lights trip in 2020. I'm hoping Coney gets saved, but unless something is confirmed I will assume Friday night was my final visit. I'm grateful I got a chance to say goodbye, unlike the rides and the pool...

My reply in here from 2020 still stands. As much as I enjoyed the jazz music, I still dearly miss the orchestral pieces (NOT the pop covers) and hope they return next year! I'm glad some movie soundtracks/orchestral pieces still play on I-Street during Winterfest. "Flight to Neverland" from "Hook" fits I-Street's atmosphere so well, and hearing it the last couple Winterfests was an absolute treat!

I got to go to SeaWorld earlier this month, and I agree about Pipeline being surprisingly fun! It's my new favorite stand-up! I also really enjoyed Mako, Kraken, Ice Breaker, and Manta, especially Mako since it gave me a very similar experience to Orion and I was missing Orion's airtime and drop. I even nicknamed it "mini-onion"

California's Great America had it for RailBlazer and (I think) Gold Striker when I went in August. Kings Island also had it for Invertigo and Banshee

I also went on August 29! I enjoyed the light crowds (who doesn't) and had fun even with some interesting things I noticed. Most coasters started the day with two trains, but several of them had gone to one by mid-afternoon. Maverick was down the whole time I was there, and I got a morning Magnum ride before it too went down in the afternoon. Gemini started with two sides but ran only Red later on. My friends and I were among the last to use Steel Vengeance's free lockers before they went down, so at least they were working for part of the day! I tried Cheese-on-a-Stick for the first time, and we got evacuated off Millie's brake run WindSeeker ran consistently all day due to the minimal breeze, and Rougarou continues to grow on me as it gave me fun rides in the front and back rows. Of course I had to ride all the Arrow coasters, and I still love Corkscrew. No complaints as I got to ride most of what I wanted! Definitely an interesting, fun day to say the least.

I finally bit and bought a ticket. I’m looking forward to my first Coasterstock!

“Valentine” by Wintergatan The song preceding it is “That’s Christmas To Me” by Pentatonix.

My overall best is 6240 in August 2020, with the help of a ~5ish-minute stop from a delay in the station. My highest score without a ride stop is 2980, from sometime last year.