KIBeast

Absolutely true. RMC could have made it more rideable for others. And added more elements as well

I was fortunate to have rode Son of Beast several times. I never felt beat up by it in the least. The only part that bothered me, but only mildly, was the brake run at the end. I loved the speed, the helixes, and the loop. I never understood the complaints. I do agree, however, that had this project been done by Intamin, it would still be around today. Maybe one of these days, I will get to ride Banshee, it's predecessor. The reason I haven't is, I don't ride anything that my son, who is just shy of 52" cannot.

So, my little family and I, along with my brother, made a trip the weekend of my birthday, July 16th. This was the first trip for my 8 year old boy and my fiance'. So, before I begin this report, let it be known that my son has been obsessed with CP since the age of 3, when he started watching my Roller Coasters of Cedar Point DVD. Having said that, he has really been looking forward to Millennium Force for years, to say the least. His current height is 51 1/2" and thus cannot ride a few rides. We also purchased Fast Lane, which I am liking since I am getting to be middle aged and waiting is not my forte any longer. ;-) Having said all that, we had a great time at the Point. His first experience was Blue Streak, which he enjoyed very much. Next, we made our way to corkscrew and he was really surprised at just how close it is to the midway. He also liked Corkscrew fairly well. Next, we were headed in the direction of Gemini and Magnum. Unfortunately, Gemini was closed at that time, so on to Magnum. This was another coaster that he was really looking forward to as well. We didnt't wait but maybe 15 minutes and we were off. It was personally fun for me to see the excitement in his eyes as we traversed the lift hill. I still enjoy Magnum to an extent, but my threshold for pain seems to be getting lower as I get older. I love the airtime on those bunny hops, but they really beat up my legs. By the second day, I found a defensive way to ride, which helped me. Anyway, Magnum quickly became his favorite of the day thus far. Next, we hopped a lap on the CCMR. My memory must be horrible as I seemed to remember liking it better than Adventure Express at KI, but this coaster is extremely boring. This was the only lap all weekend. After that, we made our way around to the Skyhawk. We all enjoyed this one a lot. I had only been on it the year it opened, so this was a good reminder why I like that ride so well. On to Millennium Force. My son Trey was looking forward to this coaster the most. We went through the Fast Lane line and were boarding within 15 minutes or less. I wondered if he might chicken out as I am sure to an 8 year old, that coaster looks like it touches the sky. But, not my kid. We boarded MF and quickly were at the top of the lift hill. When we came into the brake run at the end, he was stunned and excited simultaneously. This by far was his favorite of the whole weekend. We rode it a total of 5 times and it was our last ride of the night on Saturday the 15th. We boarded around 11:40. I was totally surprised that he hung with us that late as he is usually asleep by 10. The second day, we did not have FL. We never really waited too long for anything as the crowd was lighter. The highlight of my second day was getting to ride Gatekeeper with my fiance' as my brother took him to ride other stuff. I also got to try out Tiki Twirl, which I found to be very cool. Trey also got to ride Joe Cool Dodgems and Troika. We ate at Panda Express the second day and I thought it was really good food. Day one, we ate at a place that I can't remember the name of, but they serve chicken tenders and I had a buffalo chicken sandwich (if memory serves me correctly, it was fairly close to the Museum). I thought the chicken was very good and the buffalo sauce was excellent as well. We all enjoyed those two food places. We also walked through the museum. Trey was impressed with their models and we managed a pic on the Gemini Cars contained within. We never did manage a lap on the Iron Dragon as the few times that we stopped by, it was a 45 minute wait and that coaster is not worth anything above 10-15 minutes, IMO. This trip was really special for me and my family. Not just because it was the first time for two of our group, but because I overcame my own demons (drug addiction) a little over four years ago. PS, we got a decent view of the MS construction and it looks even better in person.

RMC just excites me in general. They do things that no one thought was possible. I would almost compare them to Intamin in that they are pushing the envelope.

Didn't the O.P give them a chance to make it right? And instead of handling it right then and there and be done with the issue, they sent him to guest services (which takes time away from your trip) only to be told that he had to talk to manager of food services whom he would have to wait longer (an email conversation that was actually not an apology at all, really. Nor was the problem rectified)) . He also stated that he had a pic of said bloody nugget (contianed within this very thread) which is as good as taking said product to the counter. Do we expect them to dig through the trash? No, but the pic was sufficient evidence of said bloody nugget.

At the same time, I don't think capacity is the only issue. Seems like popularity would be far more of an issue than capacity

I'm sorry, but I worked in the food industry for 13 years and I have never heard of any kind of chicken that stays looking or being raw, in spite of it being fully cooked.

Then I reiterate my previous statement that raw product does fall on the employees and their apparent lack of training. Just not acceptable

Do KI employees have to be certified by the local health department? I know that they have lots of orders to fill, but the internal temperature of anything meat related has to meet health department standards, no exceptions. And a timer on a deep fryer is not a substitute for that or a 100% indicator that it is cooked on the inside.

^I agree. Put a lighting package to go along with it and it would be a sweet, new ride

Boneless chicken wings are just similar to nuggets, but breaded in a very different way. Yes, these foods are manufactured, but since this food is being cooked or prepared at Kings Island, any kind of bloodiness is completely their responsibility. For them to infer that it is not is pure poor service and lack of proper food safety and training. I worked in food service for 13 years and you had to be certified by the local health department with some basic knowledge, such as food temperatures, proper food handling, and food storage. It's not something to be taken lightly as you are affecting someone's health potentially. Yeah, we all know hot dogs are full of nasty things, but uncooked meat of any kind, especially chicken, is completely unacceptable. Period

Wow! Congratuations! I just got engaged on my recent trip to North Myrtle Beach in June.

Maybe I should have been more clear of what I was getting at. I understand that they are used for haunt attractions. In my opinion, I would like to have seen a ride go in either location as I feel that they would be better used for a ride as opposed to a haunt attraction. Again, just what I would like to see happen.

Yeah, KatieF, my son was asking me what the deal was with the old Tomb Raider building. That and last year, he wanted to know what the Son of Beast station was. They need to clean up more of those kinds of things or use them for other attractions. Especially seems like those two locations could be used. Why not a thrill ride in the old TR building? Or a coaster that uses the SOB station?

I used to try and get re-rides on Son of Beast when there was no line. They made me walk around and get back in "line". Oh well, really it didn't ruin the trip at all for me. Now looking back, I can see why I was made to get back in line on that one. Very turbulent ride, to say the least. Just wanted to say that I thanked guest relations for saving the day on my tickets, but also on my recent visit, the staff at KI made our day a great one. Very efficient and friendly employees. I really don't think they get enough credit for helping guests make memories. It's one of those things that we here in this community notice, but the general public probably takes for granted. So again, if any employees are reading this, thank you for making my Memorial Day weekend a very memorable visit. Singlehandedly, one of the best times I have had there.

My only problem with what I will call anticipointment, is the people who were disappointed are the ones who over-hyped it up in their own minds. Of course, you will hear a lot of hype coming from Kings Island as they are trying to get people to come see their new coaster. The coaster community, for the majority, should know by now that this is Cedar Fair and not Disney, so you are not going to see anything more spectacular in the shed than what is there. KI does not have the kind of budget to have the effects that some are imagining. Also, if you are part of the coaster community and haven't figured it out by now, the company is now being ran with a different audience in mind than when Dick Kenzel was President of the company. They are leaning more towards excitement and thrills for families, not record breaking coasters for a select few. Think of it this way, I easily blew $1,000 in two days there with my little family. When I was more a part of the coaster enthusiast community, I spent far less. CF knows where the money is at.

Yes it did, but not under current management

Hopefully, KI's 50th will equal a Gigacoaster installation. I am really not understanding the hate for Mystic Timbers. It is a brilliant coaster that has wild, non stop pacing, crazy changes in direction and an ending that is far more suitable than sitting outside in the scorching heat while waiting for the next train to leave the station. That first drop is really cool aspect of this coaster. When it comes to wood coasters, although I loved SOB myself, it proved that pure wooden coasters should not be built that high. Now, a coaster like Maverick would be a great addition as well. Not to mention that Cedar Point and Kings Island are NOT in competition with each other. They pull from two very different markets. That is not to say that people like me don't go out of their way to travel further to either park, but the majority of patrons do NOT come from the same market. It's a fact, not opinion.

On my most recent visit, we saw The Vortex 1987 written with rocks. Never really paid much attention much to discover them. A few that are mentioned I have not checked out as my son cannot ride those rides, so I will check them out when he is tall enough. Great eggs though

How did a wheel in obviously poor condition get past morning maintenance?

I was looking for a forum around here that had to do with KI employees. As I am not aware of any, I decided to post this here. So, with my recent trip to KI, I bought the coaster combo tickets. 6 of them in all. I already took my trip to KI, and am looking forward to my trip to Cedar Point in July 15-16th, my birthday weekend. Anyway, I was at work yesterday morning cleaning out my car, which were the remnants of McDonald's and some papers that I was thinking were the preferred parking passes I had bought and used those, so I tossed them in the trash. As it turns out, it was my coaster combo tickets. I panicked and was going to go dumpster diving to retrieve my tickets, except when I got to work, our dumpster had already been emptied. Bummer. I was really stressed out, not knowing what to do about it. I was talking to a co-worker and she said, give them a call and see if they can do anything about it. I thought, yeah, surely they can trace my debit card numbers and see that I had in fact bought them. Minutes before calling them, I had come up with the solution myself...when I purchased the tickets, an email was sent with a link to print out my tickets. If they could email me again, I could print them out again. It's not like I could scam the park and use them at KI again as they had already been scanned at the front gate. I called, spoke to a lady in customer service. She found my order by the phone numbers I had used. It was 2 phone numbers as I had used the same email address for both orders with 2 debit cards used. She sent me the link again and I was able to reprint my tickets. I thanked the lady for saving the day and told her about what a great time we had on our recent visit. Just goes to show you that with the technology and printable online tickets, a crisis has been averted. What has Kings Island done to deserve some praise?

Plus, really, the smoothness of a coaster like raptor has nothing to do with the smoothness or lack thereof with Vortex. Vortex is not a rougher coaster due to the steel, but rather the transitions.

I have often dreamed of buying and renewing Camden myself. The only problem with re-locating coasters from other parks is, there isn't much, if anything at all, small enough to move there. Definitley, you could not fit any old Arrow loopers to Camden. No room for a coaster of that size. They did get Ricochet last summer and it is a superb addition for them. As far as Big Dipper goes, the lap bars are not unsafe and seat belts are a relatively new thing for coasters and are really redundant and unnecessary anyway. I agree in that I would like to see something new and a little larger than Camden open in WV. Maybe more along the lines of Michigan's Adventure.

CF maybe would not mess with Camden, but KI had some kind of tie-in with Camden years ago. That is how the Screamin' Demon got relocated there as Thunderbolt Express

I agree CoastersRZ. I think people who think it's rough now haven't been on the ride with the OTSR's. Now THAT was rough.