Ride On_17

I'd definitely do that.

Haha yep, that's it. I even said something in the middle of the scenario like I didn't feel very creative and that was the 1st thing that came to mind. But after rereading it, I decided it sounded too corny and too much like a video game so I decided to change it. I knew tornadoes would probably be a good one to choose (and my belief has been confirmed by reading through these posts) since this scenario would feel more real to people, especially with the history of tornadoes not too far away from the park. Since I changed the scenario to something more realistic and something more people could related to (but still keeping the fictional feel by allowing the park to remain open and claiming that a tornado's exact path could be predicted), I believed it would be more interesting. I thought it would be fun to see how many people would rather get in one last ride in their beloved park and risk their safety or who would immediately get out. At first I felt like I'd want to spend a very short amount of time in Eiffel Tower and then leave quickly, but now I'm not so sure. Let's all just hope KI will never be threatened by a tornado!

I love hearing about amusement park ghost stories.

It seems like any ordinary day at Kings Island. There's great weather, crowds are average, and all the rides are running well. You just arrive at the park and have just passed through the front gate. Suddenly a worker runs past and yells that there is a a massive tornado approaching the park coming from Cincinnati. You are told that there is exactly 1 hour before the tornado is expected to reach the park, and NOAA has confirmed that there is no chance of it weakening or changing direction. There have been reports that many people in Cincinnati have been killed, and many buildings have been destroyed. Since this is your first trip to the park in several years you are very upset. Should you just leave at that very moment, knowing you'd never get to go on any ride at the park ever again since the park will soon be destroyed but you'd ensure your safety? Or should you risk getting trapped in the park if the tornado soon arrives since you'd rather get one last ride? Here are your options, since you discover many rides have already been shut down and the park is starting to evacuate guests. Keep in mind, the park will be completely destroyed following the tornado, so there is absolutely no possibility that you will ever be able to ride anything at the park again. -Diamondback, but it has a 45 minute wait. You could be cutting it close if you decide to ride it, and there's the possibility that the tornado could reach the park sooner than 1 hour. -Eiffel Tower, you'd be able to get one last view of the park as you now know it. You'd rather skip the long lines for the coasters since this only has a 20 minute wait. As long as you don't spend too much time at the top, you should have just enough time to leave the park before the invasion. -Vortex, but like Diamondback it has a 45 minute wait. You run into the possibility again of not being able to leave the park in time. -Flight Deck, however you check your phone and find out Cedar Point has just announced the removal of Iron Dragon, and that it would be closed starting today for the remainder of the season. That means Flight Deck's coaster type is even rarer, and this would be the last chance you ever get to ride a coaster like this in this area of the country. But it has a 50 minute wait. -The Beast, the most iconic and probably most well liked coaster at the park. It also has a 50 minute wait, but if you sprinted there and back you might be able to make it. -You last option would be to leave immediately. No rides, but there is no possibility of being trapped in the park. Keep in mind it could also be possible to be on the ride when the tornado hits, not able to seek any shelter. Your heart begins to race, and you start to sweat. What will you do? Time's ticking, and now there are only 59 more minutes...at the most... This will be interesting to see what everyone will choose. EDIT: I changed the storyline to a tornado. I just didn't like the other one.

Other: Banshee, but with The Beast in a close 2nd.

This really blows.

It must have opened back up after you left. I'm not exactly sure what time it started running again, but it was going around 6.

If you sit on the right side of the train on Magnum and the left side of the train on Blue Streak, I feel like if you reached out your arms would hit the supports. I still put my hands up, but I try not to let them go over the side of the car, since I feel like they could hit the supports. I'm not sure if it's just an optical illusion and the supports look closer than they actually are, but I swear that they look close enough to do this. Someone could probably break an arm, their hand, or fingers if they actually hit a support while riding.

Thought about going on Wicked Twister and Maverick but sort of ran out of time. I'll be sure to go on them my next visit (maybe Labor Day). As for Witches Wheel, I can't go on rides that spin. I'm fine on coasters, but put me on a spinning flat and I'll turn green. Yes, believe it or not. A lady in line in front of us said that the day before it was down for a long time too. It really must be jealous of Banshee.

Same. I know what I'll be doing during lunch... I'm so glad I can use a cell phone (limitedly) at my school. How else could I get through my day when there's an amusement park announcement going on?

Haha I meant next year. Ride On_17 was struck yet again by The Interpreter.

I had to play with the other marching band Section and Squad leaders at freshmen orientation in the morning, and then had to stay for a short meeting with the director immediately after. By then it was around 9 in the morning, and I headed home to get changed and pack some sandwiches. Previously my mom and I had planned to go the park once I was finished with what I needed to do, so once we were packed and changed we left for the park. My dad had to work so it was just the two of us (I've said it before, but I'm so glad to have a mom who loves to ride coasters.) We arrived around 11:45 and were greeted with blue, sunny skies, temperatures in the low 70s, and a light cool breeze. Perfect amusement park weather. 1st ride of the day was Millennium. Waited about 45 minutes and then waited just a little more for the front row, which is the best place to ride it (except at night--bugs!). I really don't get how people can call this coaster forceless. At the bottom of the first drop I sometimes gray out. This is such an awesome ride. I never get tired of going on it. Next we decided to hit up Magnum since we haven't gone on it our last few trips. While we were walking over my mom felt a splat on her shoulder, and it turned out that she got crapped on by a seagull. Luckily it was just a small amount, so she easily cleaned it off. But it was still funny and we both laughed about it. Once we got to Magnum we were surprised to see that it had a 1/2 wait, but it was nice to see a classic coaster getting some love. We just picked a random row toward the back and had fun. It's a little rough and jerky but I still love it. The ejector airtime is so much fun. After this we went to Dragster, which had the same wait time as Magnum (hard to believe you could wait the same length for these rides). But we waited in line for the front row so the total wait was a little longer for us, but the front row is the best place to ride on it and is totally worth it. Hands up the whole time! (as always on coasters). Since the line was pretty short compared to some days, we got back in line and rode it again, except this time in a random row toward the back. I forgot how much airtime you can get over the top of the hill when sitting in the back. What a great ride, and it will always be better than Kingda Ka, IMO. By then we were getting hungry and all morning we were smelling Panda Express, so that's where we had a late lunch. The food there is really good, and I'd recommend it if you've never been there before. It was nice just sitting down, relaxing, people watching, and watching all the birds eat crumbs. We then walked back up toward the front of the park and after an unusually long line for Dodgems (almost a 1/2 hour, but there was only 1 employee at this ride), and a fun ride on Cedar Downs, we went over to Gatekeeper since by now the line should have died down. When we got over there we discovered that it was down with an empty train partway up the lift. We waited in the growing line forming outside the entrance, but soon a worker told everyone that it would be a while before it would be running again. She really stressed the words "a while" and advised people to leave and ride other things. So my mom and I went over to Raptor, and 15 minutes later we were riding in the front row. The front is the best place to ride on this coaster, too. Now I really can't wait for KI to get Banshee, since if it's anything like Raptor this is gonna be an awesome new ride. It will not only be a new experience to the park, but will be a ride that will please guests for years to come. I can only hope it's just as intense as Raptor, which it looks to be, however I do love corkscrews/flat spins on inverts but the heartline roll looks promising on Banshee. Even though hardly any time had past since we were last over there, we decided just to check out Gatekeeper one more time before moving on since we saw it testing empty trains. Lucky for us as soon as we walked into the plaza, they opened the line back up. So much for the ride being down for "a while." So we got right in line and 5-10 minutes later were in my favorite seat, the back left. Then we went on it again with only a lightly longer line and rode the front right. Had great rides as usual. I really do love this new coaster. Now I've been on it I think 12 times so far this year and I still enjoy it as much as the 1st time. Then we got a quick ride on good 'ole Blue Streak before moving on. After this we went to Power Tower and noticed that all the midges and bugs were starting to come out. We rode the drop side, since I prefer it out of the 2 sides. We got lucky and got seats 11 and 12, which are the seats facing toward the midway and the rest of the park. The view from the top is awesome, and it's just a fun ride in general. It was around 8:30, and we wanted to make Millennium our last ride of the day like we always like to do. So we just wanted to have a low key end to our day and leisurely strolled from Power Tower, back around into Frontier Town, and went through Frontier Trail and admired the Starlight Experience. Even though it's not officially called this anymore, I still do. People are mesmerized by it, and I hear tons of people saying how cool it is. It's not as good as when it was the official Starlight Experience, but it's still really nice. Just as we were about to walk into the line for Millennium, a man got our attention and did something extremely kind. He offered to give us a Front of the Line Pass valid for 2 people that he had won at the Plinko game set up right outside the ride's entrance. He was with his family and told us they had already been on the ride and were done for the day. We were very lucky, since if we would have been there even 30 seconds later he could have already given it to someone else. We were very thankful and told him how kind he was and how much it meant. So we headed back to the exit. It felt really weird walking up through the exit, especially when getting strange looks by people walking past us getting off the ride. Once at the top, we gave the coupon to a ride op, and he opened a gate to the line and we got in line right at the station. Since the front row is horrible at night due to bugs, we rode in the last row. We had an incredible ride, and at night you feel like you're going even faster than you already are. This ride is always a perfect way to end a day at the Point. We were planning on leaving, but while making our way toward the front of the park we realized Luminosity was about to start, and since this would be our last opportunity to watch it before it was done for the season, we decided to at least stay and watch some of it. Even though we've already seen it before, it's a fun show and is a nice way to end the night. We ended up staying for the entire show, and even stayed for the entire dance party after. There was a group of incredible dancers, and everyone formed a circle around them. The performers from Luminosity even went over to them, shook their hands, applauded them, and one of the performers even got on his knees and bowed to them. Seriously, they were that good. I think they and the performers even exchanged numbers or something. Overall we had an awesome visit to the park. It was my last CP trip of Summer Vacation, since I'll be in school the next time we head out. Other than Gatekeeper being down for a short while, there were really no problems we encountered. All other rides seemed like they ran great. And we still can't believe how we were given front of the line passes, it really made our day.

^Thankfully. I still have a few more days of freedom!

Hey, I love Tony! I think he's awesome at his job. No, right now the teasers are nothing like the ones for Banshee, but Cedar Point is not getting a new world record breaking coaster this year either. The picture at least gets your mind spinning as to what it could be.

Yesterday Dragster had a 1/2-45 minute line, Millennium had a 45 minute line, Gatekeeper had a 15 minute line in the early evening (but much longer at the start of the day), and Maverick was 1-1 1/2 hour.

Wait until you get to the park before buying Fast Lane. You never know what the crowds will be like, but I'm guessing that Maverick will have 1-1 1/2 hour wait, Millennium 45 min-1 hour, Dragster around 30-45 minutes...I don't consider these to be long lines but if you want to get on each ride multiple times and get on many of the park's rides, then maybe consider Fast Lane. They're sold at various locations throughout the park, just look for the bright signs advertising for them. Here are some suggestions. Arrive at the park 1/2 hour early just to be on the safe side. Here's the order of rides I'd suggest going on. 1. Maverick: It's at the back of the park, so many people (except coaster enthusiasts) won't come back here right away so it will probably have its shortest line of the day. It's a fun ride with lots of twists, turns, and airtime. It's my 3rd favorite coaster at the park. And many people find headbanging to be an issue on this ride, but hold onto the restrain about shoulder level, push your head back against the headrest at all times, and lean into the turns. This should help. The 1st drop is awesome (My favorite seat is the back row, you should ride it there--great airtime.) 2. Since you're in the back, if you feel like it then ride Mean Streak. I personally don't like it since it's very rough. 3. Work your way up to the front of the park by riding Gemini (it's a little rough but it's fun to race each other). 4. Next stop is Magnum. This is a great, classic coaster. It has amazing ejector airtime, and despite being a little jerky, I still love this ride and it usually doesn't have a long line. 5. Again, if you feel like it, ride Corkscrew but I usually skip over this one. It's very short, and I find it very rough. 6. Now it's time to ride Dragster. It's an adrenaline rush that might have you anxious and nervous at first, but as soon as you get off you'll want to get right back in line it's so much fun. 7. I'd personally skip Mantis since I hate that ride, it's my least favorite at the park. It hurts my legs and it makes me nauseated. 8. Now it's time for the #1 coaster at the park, Millennium Force. Don't miss out on this ride, it's very fast and thrilling. I prefer the front seat but sometimes this row could have a decently longer line. Don't forget to put your hands up! 9. Heading back toward the front of the park, I'd next go to Wicked Twister. It's an underrated coaster but it's very fun and packs an unexpected punch. It's more intense than it looks. 10. Then go next door to Gatekeeper. Hopefully by now it should hardly have any wait. My favorite seat is the back left, but if you go on it multiple times, also ride the front right. Some people have issues with the restraints such as collarbone pain, but if you hold the vest about 1-2 inches away from your body about shoulder level before the train leaves the station and hold on like this for the entire ride, you should be good. I love this ride so much it's my 2nd favorite at the park. 11. By now Raptor should also have a fairly short line. It's intense, slightly disorienting, but fun. 12. Be sure to ride Blue Streak, too. It's small, but I love all the airtime. It's a fun classic coaster. Iron Dragon and Cedar Creek Mine Ride are fun little rides, so go on them if you have time. Other fun rides to do (time permitting) are the Cedar Downs Racing Derby, Giant Wheel, Antique Cars, WindSeeker (great view), and Power Tower (I prefer the drop side). As mentioned in another post, currently SkyHawk and Shoot the Rapids are closed. Lastly, if you're able to I'd go on Millennium again at night. It's a completely different experience but I love it (just beware of bugs ) Have an awesome time!

Iron Rattler reopens with new seatbelts. I still haven't heard anything recently about Texas Giant.

On a more serious note, I'm afraid of death. It would be my worst nightmare if in any time soon I was in a situation that resulted in possible fatalities, whether it be my own, a friend's, family member's, or even a complete stranger.

That YoungStud will turn out liking Banshee and will be 1 more person in line whenever I go to ride it.

When I was at Universal and Disney over spring break, almost everyone was taking pictures of the screens with their onride photo on it. Never once did an employee ask anyone to stop, remove the image, etc. The employees just smiled and let people continue to do it. To me it didn't seem like the parks cared about whether or not people took pictures of the screen.

^I love how you had this under your Interests: "Kings Island is my home and my house is my home away from home."

Before anyone starts going crazy, I just wanted to take a second and say that this was posted on Screamscape. It may be true, it may not be true, but it's still interesting nevertheless. Here is what was posted on Screamscape: 2014 - Two New Attractions - Rumor - (8/12/13) According to the rumor mill, Worlds of Fun may add two new attractions for 2014. The first one is rumored to be a new high capacity addition to the Oceans of Fun waterpark, who saw attendance go through the roof this season as the two parks were merged into one. One possible rumor is a new multi-lane mat racer slide, which is about a good a people eater as a waterpark can get. The second rumored attraction is a bit crazy and comes with a bigger story… but this rumor is spreading like wildfire and I’ve got a feeling it may be true. Last week we mentioned that the Grand Prix Raceway may be removed this winter, and according to the rumor mill, it will be replaced by a WindSeeker ride. Not just any WindSeeker, but the barely used at all WindSeeker tower from Knott’s Berry Farm. Knott’s WindSeeker has sat closed for nearly 11 months now, ever since it hit the national news when riders became stranded at the top of the ride for nearly 4 hours on September 19. This was the second breakdown that month, where riders were stuck for a couple of hours less than two weeks prior on Sept. 7. The fallout from these two incidents saw all WindSeeker rides at Cedar Fair parks across the nation shut down until the 2013 season… and all of them have since reopened… except the Knott’s ride. At first Knott’s excuse for not opening WindSeeker was that they were busy with their big Boardwalk expansion, which featured three new rides, plus the complete refurbishment and updating of the park’s famous Timber Mountain Log Ride. It made sense that their hands were a bit full for the first half of the year, but with the busy Summer season coming to an end in a few weeks as the park gears up for their huge Halloween Haunt event, it seems odd WindSeeker is still just sitting there, forgotten. According to the latest scuttlebutt, CAL/OSHA has re-inspected WindSeeker and the new evacuation system and is rumored to have refused to sign off on it, despite the fact the system has been approved for use at the other WindSeeker rides across the country. This has left Cedar Fair will really no other choice than to remove WindSeeker from Knott’s Berry Farm. So what is Cedar Fair to do with a nearly brand-new WindSeeker ride? Install it in one of their parks that has yet to get a WindSeeker yet… and Worlds of Fun is said to be at the top of that list. What are everyone's thoughts on this? As much as I'd hate to see a ride that's barely been used at a park that I feel this type of ride would be a great fit at, if it doesn't get approved then I don't see the company having any other option.

Cedar Point used to have a ride named Shoot the Rapids. Several years ago they unveiled a new ride called...Shoot the Rapids. Just because there was a ride in the past with a certain name doesn't mean that the same name can't be used on another ride. It's been done before as I've just pointed out.