Ride On_17

What's DCI you might ask? Drum Corps International. The best of the best. Indescribable music, powerful themes, and overall incredible talent. And these are only high school and college aged kids. Basically starting in the fall, there are music sessions and tryouts, and all winter and spring involves learning and mastering the music and drill. Then all summer long, the corps tour across the country and compete against other corps. Then in early August, nearly a year's worth of dedication and work comes down to the wire at Finals (that is, if the corps even advanced to finals). Learn more about DCI here: http://www.dci.org/about/ This past Saturday my high school offered a field trip (I guess you could call it that) for any band student interested in going together as a group to the DCi show at the University of Akron. I immediately knew I wanted to go, since I'm basically in love with DCI and many of the corps. I had never gone to a show before so had never experienced DCI other than having my speakers turned way up and watching videos on YouTube. $30 and an hour long bus ride later, we had arrived at the stadium. We arrived early so a couple of my friends and I decided to go across the street to grab dinner at Taco Bell. Well, it turns out that a lot of other people had the same idea. Combine this with a poorly staffed restaurant and we ended up waiting in line for about 45 minutes. We had plenty of time, so we weren't concerned with it. I got each of the 3 types of loaded grillers plus a Dr. Pepper Vanilla Float Freeze. Then it was time to go back to the stadium. All of the corps had booths or trailers selling shirts and souvenirs, so I bought a shirt from my favorite corps, Carolina Crown. We then found out seats with the rest of the group and got ready for the show. What I consider to be basically the introduction to the main show was a group called Rhythm in Blue, a Bluecoats alumni band. Bluecoats is a corps based from Canton, so this is their home field, per say. They just stood still on the field and played a medley of songs and did great, considering some of them haven't done this in a while.

I was just informed from a family friend who works at the park that commercials for the ride will be filmed this week. This is sounding hopeful.

I think this is a great idea, and hope that Cedar Fair might start something like this. I think it will work great. And I agree with what other people saying about the possible issues. Maybe the ride ops can be told to let people through as long as their number is within, let's say for example, above or below 25 numbers of the person in front of them. This system really does sound interesting and I'm surprised it hasn't been tried out before. We'll have to wait to see to find out how well it works.

This sounds like such a fun thing to do!

One time someone in line by us at Millennium Force asked me if Dragster had an underground tunnel, and was freaking out because she thought it did.

I really hope both Zumanjaro and Kingda Ka are both opened by mid July. I've been looking forward to riding both of those!

I did see every photo each time I rode it, but usually I just stood back and looked since the area up close was always pretty crowded.

My parents and I left our house a little after 8 am on Wednesday morning and arrived at Miami University around 12:30 pm. The trip was great and there weren't any issues at all. I was starting to get a little worried especially the last little part of the trip since we were going through all these little winding, country roads in the middle of farms and cornfields. My expectations for the university were starting to drop. However, as soon as we arrived on campus and I saw uptown Oxford, I was relieved. It was very nice and it looked like there was a lot to do. Oxford and the campus itself reminded me a lot of Athens and Ohio University. They were very similar. We started off with some videos and a presentation all about the university. There were a couple other families there and once we were broken off into student-led tour groups, my group was only my family and one other family. It was nice having such a small, personalized tour. Our student guide was great. She was friendly, outgoing, and answered any questions we had. I was really impressed with the whole campus. I love that old, brick style just like OU and was blown away by the dorms. Most of the dorms have either been renovated or are brand new, and are by far the nicest dorms I've seen at any college. Laminate wood floors, high quality wooden furniture, large windows, they were really bright, and they had real walls (no cinder blocks!). After our tour my parents and I walked toward uptown and met some students along the way. Everyone was extremely friendly, and one student even walked with us for a while and enjoyed talking with us. We asked around for some good places to eat, and one of the places that was recommended to us was called Wild Bistro. It was a delicious Chinese and Asian restaurant. After exploring more around uptown Oxford, it was early evening and we decided to head to our hotel. We were staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Blue Ash, about 45 minutes away. We relaxed for a little bit and then around 8 pm I had a crazy idea that I wanted to run through with my parents. I asked if we could take an impromptu trip to Kings Island for the rest of the night. My dad doesn't have a platinum pass, only my mom and I, but my dad said he'd be fine if the 2 of us went. So after discussing it for a little bit, we decided that we'd head to the park! 10 to 15 minutes later we had arrived and it was finally time to ride Banshee. I couldn't wait to finally be back at the park and to try out its new record breaking inverted coaster. We were shocked to see that it only had a station wait. We were expecting it to have a longer wait. We rode it 3 times, in the front, back, and then front again. I love the view you get from the front, and I was absolutely blown away. It exceeded all of my expectations. Then in the back, I was not expecting to have that much airtime over the first drop. I had heard the back was fun, but it was so surprising. I loved it! I think overall my favorite seat is in the front, just because of the view. My favorite element is either the first drop or the inline twist toward the end. This ride is also fun when it's dark with all the lighting. All in all, I couldn't have been more pleased with the ride. I even like it better than Raptor. We then decided to head to Diamondback (no line) and had a great night ride in the back row. Its bumpiness at the bottoms of the hills are a little annoying but the airtime was amazing. Plus I reached out my arm during the splashdown and got a nice splash of water. By then it was almost 10 pm, so I decided to try and quickly head to The Beat. We had planned on making sure to ride it at night the following day, but I thought it would be nice to get a nice bonus by riding it at night even another time. We arrived at 10:02 and it had already closed. I really wish they had a grace period like Cedar Point, where the ride entrances stay open for an extra 8 minutes. Oh well. I still couldn't believe we had even gone to the park in the first place, and was blown away by Banshee. We got back to our hotel around 10:30 and since the pool and hot tub closed at 11, we had just enough time to relax and swim for a little bit. The next morning we had a quick continental breakfast at the hotel and arrived at the park just after early entry. My dad waited around while my mom and I headed for Banshee. By the time we got to it, we only had enough time for 1 ERT ride in the back row but it was still a great little bonus. Then my dad met up with us near the ride and all 3 of us went on. This was his first time on it and we sat in the front. He said he enjoyed it. He's not a big coaster fan and mainly he just goes to parks to be with us, but he did like Banshee. Next we went on The Bat. This was our first time on it since we never went on Flight Deck last year. It took longer to walk to it than it did to actually wait in line. I sat in the front and really enjoyed it. Its intensity surprised me, but I wish it was a little bit longer. Overall though I like it a lot. Next was Drop Tower. I was so happy that it had opened just a few days prior, since I love this ride. It had about a half hour wait, but it was worth it. Following this we went to The Beast, which is my dad's favorite ride at KI. There was only a 10 to 15 minute wait. First we rode in the best seat (the front) and then my mom and I went on it again in the very back. I had never been on the back before and loved it. It feels even more out of control and crazy. Then we went on Diamondback, first in the front for the first time and then my mom and I went on it again in the back. I love how you hang over the first drop when you sit in the front. It's such a cool experience. After this I think my dad needed a break. He had gone on Banshee, The Beast, and Diamondback, and he was happy. Like I said before, he's not a big coaster fan so he enjoyed what he already did. So my mom and I decided to try out Vortex for the first time. We sat in the front and I liked it. I had heard it was rough but I didn't think it was rough at all. I thought it was actually pretty smooth, except it had the signature Arrow jerkiness to it, which I think some people might consider to be its roughness. I enjoyed the ride. Next was Firehawk, which had the longest wait of any ride we went on all day. We waited a little over 45 minutes for it, but I love this coaster. I still think that it's better than B&M flyers. However, it needs new paint badly. The bright green from when it was X Flight is really showing through in many places and looks horrible. But as for the ride experience itself, I loved it just as much as I did last year. It was early afternoon and we wanted to get something to eat. I suggested the Chicken Shack since I have heard about it, and that's where we ended up going. It was delicious, and the food was high quality. I got the 3 piece chicken tender basket. We ate under the shaded area in Action Zone and just enjoyed the atmosphere. One sweep in particular was doing an amazing job, and was constantly cleaning. He even went above and beyond his job as a sweep and would talk to guests, and we saw him go and get cups of water for people. We talked with him for a little bit and he was very nice and took his job very seriously. I forget his name, but he was excellent. Some of you probably saw my post in the Kings Island 2014 thread, but I saw ohiocolts. While my family was eating, he came walked right toward out table and then walked around it. At the time I wasn't completely sure it was him since we've never met, I've only seen pictures on here, but I thought it looked a lot like him. If I wasn't in the middle of eating I would have said hi and told him who I was. After our chicken, I wanted to try a Banshee twist ice cream. It was very good and I enjoyed it. The blue is almost the exact color of the supports, which I found pretty cool. We didn't want to go on anything thrilling or intense after just eating so we went up in Eiffel Tower next. I really love the view from the top, and the breeze is great. I had planned on taking a lot of pictures (especially of Banshee) with our nice camera, but unfortunately the battery died and we had forgotten to pack extra batteries. I took a couple with my mom's phone, but the quality and zoom is nothing compared to our actual camera. It was still just nice to be up there to enjoy the park. By the time we got down, it was about 4:45 and we decided to go see the 5 pm show of Cirque Imagine. We had heard lots of great reviews about it and we were excited. Talking to one of the security officers standing inside the theater, we found out that almost every show every day is full, which is awesome. It was definitely a very fun, half hour long show. It was funny, entertaining, and a great way to spend part of the day doing something other than going on rides. It reminded me a lot of Skeleton Crew at Cedar Point's Halloweekends. It had some of the same types of tricks and stunts. It was very well done and we all enjoyed it. Our next stop was Invertigo. We only waited a 1 train cycle and then we were on. This is a fun, disorienting ride, and I liked it just as much as last year. It's more intense than you would think. Plus the ladies sitting across from us were hilarious. Their faces were so funny during the ride. I wanted to ride Banshee some more and did it twice, both in the front. I love how re-ridable it is. I could have kept on riding it, but the line was a little bit longer but still not bad (maybe 15-20 minutes) and I wanted to be sure to get on some more rides. Next was Adventure Express in the front. It's fun and is a little more intense than Mine Ride at CP, but still the 2nd lift hill that ends into the station ruins the ride for me. It's such a horrible ending. Then we went on the Red Racer and I made sure to not sit over a wheel seat and had a very smooth, fun ride on it. Then BLSC was about a 15 minute wait and I still enjoyed it like I did last year. Then I rode by myself on WindSeeker. The only one I had ever been on was the one at CP so it was nice to ride one with a different view. I waited 2 cycles for it. I wanted to ride Diamondback again, so my mom and I went in the back row. Then we went back to Banshee for 2 last rides on it, first in the back and then in the front. It was a little after 9 and I decided to buy a Banshee shirt from the gift shop at the exit of the ride. I found a cool shirt, and then we walked back to Rivertown where we sat down for a little bit until it got close to 10. About 9:50 we got in line for The Beast. I was excited to finally get my night ride on it. It was cool watching the fireworks while in line, and eventually the ride reopened. I was hoping to get the front seat, but there weren't many people in line behind us and the front row line was pretty long. We got in line for it anyways but soon after they announced there would only be 2 more trains so we had to move. We ended up getting on the last train of the night! And let me just say that all the hype The Beast gets about night rides is well deserved...I was speechless. The first half of the ride was incredible through the woods since it was so dark. Plus I thought it was cool seeing nothing but lightning bugs ahead of you. Then I also loved the 2nd lift hill and drop into the tunnel helix. It was pitch black and it was just insane. Overall we got 22 rides in that day, and 26 total if you count the night before. I had an amazing time at the park (including the bonus hour and a half night visit). I was so happy to finally get on Banshee and the wait was worth it. All of the speculation and construction had resulted in an amazing coaster. So the next morning I felt like I could sleep a lot longer, but I had to get up to go to the University of Cincinnati. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel, checked out, and about 20 minutes later we arrived. I wasn't too sure about the surrounding neighborhood. I had heard it was rough, and once there I realized that everything I had heard about it was true. I didn't feel uncomfortable since I have been around rougher, city neighborhoods like that before, and even Ohio State has rougher areas outside of campus, but there are really no borders with UC. Unlike some other places where there is a little bit of area between the campus and the city, UC and the city pretty much merge. It's definitely interesting. However, the actually campus is very nice and I was impressed. Plus I thought it was really cool and unique how the stadium and athletic venues are in the center of campus. We started off with a presentation about the school and were broken off for our student led campus tours. We had another awesome tour guide here and had a nice tour. The campus has a mix of old and new buildings and is nothing like any other college I've been to. Then after the tour we grabbed lunch from the food court area in the union building before heading to the engineering program I had signed up for. It was in Baldwin Hall, the engineering hall, and had a presentation, tour of the engineering buildings by a student, and a presentation with a professor. It was very interesting and was impressed. No other university I've visited has offered anything quite like this. I was extremely impressed with UC's engineering and co-op programs. Then we just explored around campus a little more and then found some of the restaurants and shops. We walked around for a little bit before leaving. I had a nice visit and liked the campus. For dinner we decided to stop near Lebanon to go to Skyline Chili. This was my first time eating there and I liked it. It was very different. Then on the way home we drove through Ohio State just for fun. I had an awesome 3 day college visit and Kings Island trip!

I didn't know you worked at Banshee's photo area. I don't think I know what you look like, so I'm sure I saw you but never even realized it was you. Yes, that was me! Awesome! I thought it was.

1. Rode Banshee 9 times between last night and today. I love it. Way better than I expected. 2. Ohiocolts, were you at the park today? I know we've never met but I've seens pictures of you on here andI swear I saw you. Were you wearing a purple Coasting For Kids shirt? If that was you, then around 3 pm you walked right next to my parents and I eating under the shaded area in Action Zone. 3. Not only did I get my first night ride on The Beat, but it was also on the last train of the night! I was blown away.

Got to the park at almost 8:45, rode Banshee 3 times in a row with little to no wait! 1 word: AMAZING. Rode the back (incredible airtime on the first drop) and the front twice. It's so cool at night and just in the front in general. Then rode Diamondback in the back Missed The Beast by 2 minutes so that will wait until tomorrow. This was an awesome, last minute park visit! Can't wait for tomorrow!

So my mom and I are heading over for the rest of the night at the park! Thanks to platinum passes and a hotel 15 minutes away!

^Thanks for the information!

I just have a few things to be cleared up. Thursday will only be my 2nd time at KI, and this is the first year I have had a platinum pass and it seems like CP does their platinum benefits a little differently than KI. I have tried to find platinum pass perks on the park's website but can't find any specifics. Is KI like CP and has 10% off of meals and any other special food/shop perks? Also, for ERT I see that it will start at 9:30. Are the rides still Banshee, Delirium, and The Bat? Thanks!

Around 48 hours from now I'll finally be getting my first night ride on The Beast!

Another comment about the day: Customer service and staff freindliness is still as great (if not even better) than it has been on my previous 2 trips to the park so far this year. I'm very impressed. And I have to give a shout out to Maverick's crew, especially during the night ERT. One ride op in particular was amazing, but I forget his name. But he was the one singing the "Maverick Song." He was so hilarious and fun, despite how late it was. Kudos!

IMO Universal has the best locker system. Finger prints and it's free for the duration of the wait for that particular ride. I think that system is incredibly convenient and amazing.

Failures can only lead to successes. Much can be learned from a failed attraction.

We noticed that too. I've seen rumors that it could be for HalloWeekends but I guess only time will tell.

Something very interesting that we noticed: there are various flags and dots that seems awfully similar to what would appear before the start of a new project. What intrigued us is that they were not quite in the area we would have thought...I thought they would be around the Cedar Dorms area, but they were all around the Point Pavilion, and the area outside of Raptor's exit all around the restrooms and in that general area. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures, but Rcoaster10 did. Random markings? Or the first signs of Project 2015? Only time will tell, but they seemed pretty suspicious for just ordinary markings...

Arrived at the park around 7:30 after leaving home at 6 to about a 20-30 minute line for registration. Unfortunately by that time the Jet Express cruise tickets were gone, but I still knew the day would be great. It was my first Coastermania (and my mom's who I had brought along as my guest) and I couldn't wait. The lanyard was a nice surprise and it had the day's itinerary. I was thinking that the giveaway would be given out during this time but I was wrong (more on that later). Also sometime during the day I wanted to meet up with someone who I've never met in person but we've talked and have found out we have a lot in common, Rcoaster10. This was also his first time at Coastermania. We went straight to Millennium to start off the day, and we were surprised to see that it had a half hour wait. For ERT I was expecting maybe 15 minutes, but 30 minutes still isn't too bad. Rode in the front seat and loved it. It was a great way to start the morning and to wake up (I'm not a morning person at all, but for an event like this I'd wake up as early as necessary). We got back in line and after texting with Rcoaster10, realized that we were both in line. I told him I was wearing a red Ohio State hoodie and soon after we saw each other in line and said hi. We could only stop briefly so we planned on meeting up after the ride. This time we rode in the back and loved it just as much. The front and back are so different but are both awesome. However, I hate the rattle that the back half of this ride has, while the front is glass smooth. After riding there was a family group that asked for their picture to be taken in front of the CP&LE Railroad station, so I happily did so. Right after I finally got to meet up with Rcoaster10 and his grandpa. It was great to finally be able to meet up person, and we ended up spending the rest of the day together. All 4 of us headed to Blue Streak where I had the smoothest ride I've ever had on that coaster. As long as you don't ride on a wheel seat, this ride is amazing. I love it so much. We headed toward Giant Wheel since there was supposed to be a Coaster Crew group picture at 10 am, but nobody was there. Oh, well. Wicked Twister next. As we crossed the main midway, we smiled at the barricade of the GP, only to be returned with a mix of hilarious confused faces and jealous glares. WT provided a nice punch as always. It was starting to get pretty warm so we all went back to our cars to drop off our hoodies and jackets. Once back inside the park we went on both Power Tower drop and launch. I love the airtime at the top of the tower on the launch side but I will never get tired of the drop side. And that tiny drop as it clicks into position at the top always gets me. This was followed by a fun yet painful ride on Magnum's ejector seat, and a ride on Sky Ride to take us to the front of the park. We all had the noon lunch time slot and were shocked to find the line wrapping all the way from the pavilion to the main gate and starting to come back along itself. But once lunch officially started the line moved pretty quickly. I was very impressed with lunch, and the park went above and beyond what any of us expected. There were chips with I think a crab salsa, steamed citrus mussels, wings, ribs, brats, and more. Plus there were lots of Coke fountain drinks, and Blue Streak cookies and cupcakes. There was also a Blue Streak ice sculpture honoring it for its 50th anniversary which was really cool. Now let's get to the giveaway--I would be happy with anything. Heck, I even would have loved to have just received the lanyard. But the park was far too generous and gave us an entire box of souvenirs. The top of the box said "Coastermania Survival Kit" and we got to pick our size. Included was an amazing Coastermania jacket, 2014 Cedar Point shirt, fun sunglasses, a glasses strap, and a glass cup. This was a very nice surprise receiving all of this, so the park deserves a HUGE thank you not only for the lunch, but for the giveaways and just for the entire event. Tony announced that since Dragster would remain down for the day, Millennium Force would replace it during the night ERT. Following the delicious lunch, we took our boxes back to our cars. Next was Mine Ride, Skyhawk, and the smoothest ride I've ever had on Mean Streak. We chose to skip Maverick due to its long line, knowing we'd get to on it a lot during the night ERT. Rcoaster10 and I raced my mom and his grandpa on Gemini, and the 2 of us won on the red train. This was followed by another ride on Magnum, Power Tower drop, and then a ride in the front row on Raptor. Then we rode Gatekeeper in the back left for a pretty bumpy ride. I miss how consistently smooth all older B&Ms are. It seems like most of their newer coasters are bumpier. Not necessary rough, but just with an annoying rattle/bumpiness to them. Another ride on each Blue Streak and Millennium was next, and then we rode Iron Dragon in the back. I have never been on this coaster in the very back before and it surprised me. I wouldn't call it intense, but it was more thrilling that I thought it would be. Then we rode Power Tower drop again before getting a chicken finger basket at Dragon's Inn. It was nice to just sit in the shade for a little while. After dinner Rcoaster10 and I rode Millennium in the front seat. While in the station, a train stopped on the lift and a ride op confirmed to us when we mentioned it that it indeed was a "passenger error," either a seatbelt issue or someone with a phone or camera. But it was a very short delay and we were on the ride soon. We had planned on buying this on-ride photo so Rcoaster10 and I agreed that we would each make a crazy, funny face for the camera. It turned out so hilarious and we each bought the picture. By this point it was around sunset and we decided to head back to our cars to put on our new Coastermania jackets so we'd be good to go for the rest of the night. We noticed thousands and thousands of muffleheads swarming above our car and above all the trees. There were massive clouds of them. It was crazy! Upon reentering the park (yet again), Rcoaster10 and I rode Raptor in the back. Surprisingly it was the first time either of us had been on this coaster in the back row, and we both loved it. It was so intense, crazy, and disorienting. We wanted to ride Power Tower drop side again and when we were walking back to it, we looked over at Luminosity. It seemed like it's a fun show again this year. I was really excited to ride PT at night since I never have before. It was an incredible view and it was cool looking right down on Luminosity. PT at night is a must. Then for our last normal ride of the night before ERT we chose Magnum, which is fun at night. Right after this, we went back to Maverick and got in the line that was quickly forming outside its entrance. We just sat down on the concrete since our feet and legs hurt, but it was all worth it. Before we knew it, the ride opened and we were among the first on it for ERT. We rode in the front and immediately thought we would regret it since the restraints were completely covered in muffleheads. It was disgusting. But the ride itself actually wasn't that bad and really wasn't too buggy, surprisingly. We also rode in the back and middle. In total, we rode Maverick 6 times in a row and it was so awesome. Next we went to Millennium to finish off the night. The line was so much shorter than the morning ERT so we figured a decent amount of Coastermania people must have left. We ended up riding 3 times, and for our last ride, Rcoaster10 and I rode in the front. It was the perfect way to end a perfect day. None of us wanted the day to end since it was incredible. In total I got on 34 rides (including rerides), which is something I have never even come close to doing before. My feet were absolutely killing me but I'd had the most fun I ever have at the park. Plus it was great to finally meet Rcoaster10 and I got to spend the day riding with him and his grandpa. My mom really loved the day too. Already I'm looking forward to going to Coastermania next year! Thanks again to the park for putting on such an amazing event! A few pictures from the day: My mom and I waiting in line for registration: Rcoaster10 and me: All of the awesome giveaways inside the Coastermania Survival Kit: The Blue Streak ice sculpture: A cool shot:

I compliment every user on here for contributing to fun discussions and speculations. (Cliché, I know, but it's true.)

Coastermania was AMAZING! I will definitely plan on going every year from now on. I'll write a trip report later, but the entire day was so much fun.

I can already tell that my first Coastermania will be my first of many and that it will be amazing!

The first part is the actual Luminosity show itself...with the performers, musicians, singers, acrobats, and dancers. Then (I'm assuming it's the same format as last year) a DJ rises out of the stage and mixes the latest hit music for a while. Depending on the crowds he may play for a little longer or less, but it usually seems it's at least for a 30-45 additional minutes. This is the time when everyone in the crowd really dances around has fun.