KIBeast

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.

Great pic! I am not sure why they would have thought Mystic Timbers would have inversions. As far as the shed goes, I think it's good. Sure beats sitting in the sun while waiting for the next train to leave the station. I saw two different endings myself. What I thought was amazing is the pacing of MT. It does not let up for a single second of that ride.

So, my little family made a trek to KI over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. We bought Fast Lane passes for Saturday only. Crowds were only moderate on both days. The FL passes were still completely worth the money. We rode the new Mystic Timbers 3 times on Saturday and twice on Sunday. This coaster surprised me in how smooth it is. I also love the fact that once over the lift hill, MT does not let up the entire ride. As far as what is in the shed, I was not disappointed at all. The theming is exceptional and it was pretty much exactly as I expected. The coaster cars themed as trucks were really cool as well. My son, who is 8, absolutely loved it, as did we all. I enjoy these family trips as we like to take in rides other than coasters. My girlfriend had not been in 25 years, and she loved all of it as well. Bought a drink cup on the second day, which I had wished I had done the first day. These are well worth the money and we all 3 shared one cup. We got in several rides on both days. The weather forecast had been calling for some rain on Saturday and 90% chance of Thunderstorms on Sunday. Did not get any rain of any kind either day. This is the 2nd year that my son has been able to ride a lot of the major coasters. He was in fact brave enough to ride Adventure Express, The Racer, The Beast, Woodstock Express by himself this year. When we had him measured at the front gate, he looked to be about an inch shy of the 52" mark, which he is excited about. He also did the Guessing Game and won himself a frog, which he was terribly pleased with. We stayed at the Super 8 in Mason and same as last year, they have extremely nice rooms and great service. We checked in around 3:30, after lunch at LaRosa's in Rivertown. That place is always a must for us. When we left the park at 10, we went back to our room and took showers. Wasn't long before my son fell asleep. I was able to stay up not much longer than him haha. The crowd on Sunday morning was so light, we had been on 15 rides between 10a-1p. Then the crowd picked up. We bought 3 on-ride photos and a front gate photo as well. Now I see why CF has shifted their focus to families. We easily spent $1,000 in two days there. We also all bought a t-shirt and I got the preferred parking on-line for $25 each day. That is something that I will pay for every time. Well worth not walking a country mile to the car when you need a break. We also got in night time rides on MT and Beast. We all agreed Beast is still #1 night ride. MT is cool, but Beast still has that seclusion that MT seems to lack. Not a knock on MT at all. Also introduced my kid to a back seat ride on Vortex. He loved being whipped through the course and we all experienced air time on the first drop. Never remember getting air time on Vortex. Also, of all our rides on The Racer, I am of the mindset that this coaster should never be replaced. I know we experienced air time at least 6 times on it. Also got a little bit of air time on The Beast on the drop down into the valley. It's so funny to listen to my son explaining nuances of these rides to my girlfriend. He knows a lot about them for an 8 year old. My girl thoroughly enjoyed several rides which were new to her. She loved BL:SC. That launch always seems to make me gray out until the top of the spiral. Still a great coaster. All in all, we had a great time at KI and it was probably the best time I have had. Probably has something to do with enjoying some family time together.

I happen to like Khol's haha. Anwyay, are they somewhat pricey? A little, but their clothing quality is better than your standard Wal-Mart fare.

I would not mind seeing Intamin make a return to Cedar Fair. As far as there being another Inatmin giga at Cedar Point, that is not an issue. Cedar Point and Kings Island do not pull the majority of their crowds from the same market, so it is not competition with themselves.

I know this isn't an exciting addition, but the parking lot does need some new paving. After the makeover and re-naming that Cedar Point's water park received, it makes me wonder if all of their properties will receive the same re-naming as it seems they like to be uniform across the chain. I also could see some of WWK's stuff coming here, although some of it is slated to be re-located to Michigan's Adventure.

I never knew that fill dirt would be such a hot topic! I would love to see the Son of Beast station used for an installation. Not sure if there is room for any kind of coaster back there, but I always did like that station.

I think you can add most inversions on a hybrid as well

I remember seeing the Goodyear Blimp up close when I was a kid. It came around to an airport where I live. Different looking than that one in particular, but cool none the less. I remember having a Goodyear blimp inflatable toy as well. Was really cool. I have not seen it over KI that I can recall.

Awesome video. This project is looking like one heck of a ride. Wondering what records this will break? CP seems to do that with every installation. Any thoughts, ideas?

So, I just purchased a Fast Lane Plus pass for that Saturday only. I figured it will really help with the long lines for Saturday. Sunday wouldn't make sense since the crowd will be lighter and we are not staying all day anyway as we have a 3 hour car ride back home. Also purchased preferred parking for both days. I have done that in the past and could not tell you how much the extra money for the preferred parking is so worth it. YOULLBEBACK, thanks for the compliment on the signature. I was on a forum getting advice as I was going through a divorce and was going for primary custody of our son. It helped being able to talk to other guys going through or having been through similar situations. In a discussion, I stated that very phrase. Someone suggested that I use it as my sig and I decided to use it here as well.

Those are some great photos! Lorax, then the subliminal message has achieved its' goal! On a side note, I went as a kid during the time that The Racer was the premier coaster. It had quite the line, back in the day. I remember when The Beast first opened, it was the tallest, fastest, and longest coaster. I did not ride it until after about 3 years open. I think the name alone terrified me. But boy, was I sure glad when I did. That coaster has brought a lot of good memories for me. My grandfather rode it as it was the wildest coaster he had ever seen. I remember the really long lines to ride it, the night time rides where people in the station were chanting, "Bring on The Beast! Bring on The Beast!" Good times and great memories.

By my own admission, I am a bit crazy haha. I am sure that we are going to have a great time not matter what. I just may have to check out a show. I figured Sunday would be less busy than Saturday. This will be my first trip with my girlfriend and my son. The first of three vacations together. We also have Myrtle Beach and Cedar Point ahead of us as well. I am looking forward to Mystic Timbers and some new on-ride photos. I guess one of us will have to ride alone, since there's three of us and we'll want to ride in the same coaster car or next row of next car. I am sure it will be hot as blazes, so plenty of sunblock and water will be the order of the day. It will be interesting as I have never been on any holiday weekend.

This is probably a rhetorical question, but how crazy am I for going to KI on Memorial Day Weekend? I had originally planned on going the weekend of May 20th, but my son's last soccer game is that Saturday. Anyhoo, I pushed our trip back by a week, not realizing the holiday weekend. I figure we will see a good crowd that weekend, but I am also positive we will still have a great time. We are staying the night at the Super 8 Mason, which was really nice last year. Not real expensive and a short drive. Great rooms and service as well. Has anyone been on this particular weekend in years past and how was it? Does KI do anything special on the Memorial Day weekend? We will be there that Saturday and Sunday, not Monday. Thanks for any responses and help or tips you would care to share

Truly sad incident. I pray for her family as no one imagines another family member passing away on a day that should bring lots of joy and good memories. Aren't the seat belts on WWC velcro? Not sure that kind of restraint would have prevented her from standing up if so. I may be remembering incorrectly though. Not sure how you can change the restraints to prevent something like this from happening.

Stand up coasters do have height adjusting seats. Saw many ride ops adjusting seat height on Mantis and King Kobra. I think the novelty of standing on a roller coaster is long since past interesting to most of the general public. I don't believe a new train design is going to change that, and it is unfortunate as I never had an uncomfortable ride on either of those two stand ups.

I wouldn't be surprised to see it wind up at Michigan's Adventure. Perfect fit for that park.

Personally, I like the Vekomas that I have been on. I enjoy Invertigo and Firehawk at KI. I rode Firehawk when it was X Flight at Geauga Lake. Also enjoyed Thunderhawk at GL as well. I really enjoy how Invertigo doesn't look like it would be that intense, but actually delivers a really intense ride. No matter how many times I ride Invertigo, I always picture the train going off the spike like some of my creations used to do in RCT.

Welcome to KIC! Glad to hear you are willing to go with your daughter considering your comfort level and anxiety. I have seen a lot of great responses, so I don't have anything to add other than I take my kid and the look on their faces created from the excitement of being there is something you do not want to miss. I got some really good advice recently and that is make memories with your children. You can buy them things, but the things most treasured as they get older are the experiences, not what you bought them. That is why I have four trips planned for this year beginning with a concert in Columbus, a trip to KI in May, a week at North Myrtle Beach in June, and a trip to Cedar Point in July my birthday weekend.

I think Mystic Timbers is going to be an awesome addition. A night ride may even rival The Beast. But, it still seems that The Beast is much more secluded. I would also add that MT is hardly a cookie cutter ride. The shed at the end is not the only unique element. Read the interview article located on this very web site.

Maybe the "They" is referring to the announcement and what the stats will be