KIBeast

This year, my brother and I decided to arrive a little later than usual. I am 35, he’s 38 and I just can’t do the 12 hour days any more. We got in about 12:15 and went straight for The Beast. It was about a twenty minute wait which I thought was pretty good for a Saturday in July. The Beast gave us a good ride as always. After that, we thought that we would see what the line for Tomb Raider was like. I think it is a decent ride, but nothing I’ll wait over 45 minutes for. Turns out, it had long lines all day, so we skipped it. We decided to head over to Coney Mall to catch The Vortex, Flight of Fear, and The Racers. First was The Vortex, which gave an excellent ride. I don’t know what it is about that first drop, but it has a gut wrenching drop. This is something that I think is lacking from some of the newer, taller coasters. I like Dragster and Millennium Force, but I just don’t get that feeling that I get from The Vortex. Next, it was on to Flight of Fear. This ride delivered the ususal punch, but we were severely slowed down at the MCBR. I have never experienced this before. Still, it ended great and I just love that last corkscrew. Then, we went over to The Racer for a backwards ride. Not much of a wait and great air time followed. My brother and I got to discussing the fact that it had been years since we rode The Racers forward and we did so later. I had forgotten what it was like to ride the track that veered off to the left. Great air time. Onward to Delirium, which has become my favorite flat ride. Long line, but worth it to me. I think what makes it even more fun is the reaction from the kids riding. It’s usually terrified screaming or unbelievable joy. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell the difference. We decided to then run over to Adventure Express. We had great fun and I have now decided that I like it better than the Cedar Creek Mine Ride. Seems to me that CCMR has a lot more jerky transitions and I think that AE just has a better setting. Another good ride to listen to the kids and how they enjoyed it. We got to laughing because of two kids in front of us who were loving the ride and wanted to keep re-riding. Of course, dad says, but you’ve been on this a hundred times, let’s ride something else. Naturally, my brother and I said, ah well, what’s a hundred and one? Getting to the late afternoon, the sun was really blazing and we headed to the car for some down time and air-conditioning. This really re-charged the old batteries and we were ready for one more run down. We went over to the Italian Job: Stunt Track and waited a good hour for it. One of my favorite parts is the launch up the spiraling garage. My absolute favorite part is the tunnel after the second launch. There are a couple of surprise dips and turns in there. We also ventured over to Nickelodeon Central to check out Avatar, the last air bender. This is a nice little ride and I was really surprised at how much turning the car does as it traverses the track. We then headed back over to Vortex as it was getting dark out. There was a father, grand-father, and two daughters ahead of us who were in line, but the smallest one was not too sure about riding. They finally tricked here into riding telling her, it’s not that tall or that fast. So, we decided to wait at the exit since we did not ride the same train and see what she thought of it. Well, she got off of the ride and kind of froze up. Turns out, Mom had to come get her. Final ride of the night was The Beast. My brother talked me in to waiting for the front seat, which I like, but at that point, was not really looking forward to a longer wait. Well, it was well worth it. By the time that we boarded and got out there, it was pitch black. It always seems that it runs faster after dark. Good day and heavy crowds, which is what we were expecting.

I'm glad to see some plain old Kings Island signage is being changed. I just hope that it will be a total change by next season. Phantom Theater, not sure if you were being sarcastic or not, but CP does have some good landscaping if you take the time to look. Landscaping is not just how many trees you have planted. If you were not, then I apologize.

Am I crazy, or does anyone else enjoy the smell of chain grease? I know, I'm weird and have learned to live with it. I haven't been on AE lately, so I'm not sure about the smell.

Wicked Twister is far better than Reptar. WT has a wicked launch and great twists up both spikes. Reptar can hardly compare. It just meanders.

Why don't you like Tomb Raider? I think Tomb Raider is an awesome ride with great theming! In some ways Tomb Raider reminds of a Universal ride! Sorry you don't like it. But everyone is entitled to their opinion. Because I have been on better. The Texas Twister at Geauga Lake is much better, albeit a smaller version. It does several more flips and is just plain more fun.

Sorry, fusiondude, not me.

Cedar Fair has yet to decide what will happen with the Paramount name and subsequent movies that rides are themed after. I wish we didn't have so many of these same posts. Not trying to be mean, but there are several other threads where this has been discussed and I don't think anything will be decided until after the season is over.

I would like to see this. Mainly, to check out the quality of the video. Wonder how much these videos cost?

That is fantastic news. I would expect more garbage cans for next year as well.

Did the lemon chill guy narrow it down a little? A few years could be 5-10 years down the road. This is also the rumor I've heard from him. Son of Beast is going to be turned in to the tallest, fastest, and only looping bathroom in the world, that way they don't have to tear it down. And,the cars will be retrofitted with toilet seats.

I don't think it is in trouble at all. It is one of the Six Flags parks that is profitable. It also fits in with Shapiro's family image.

Here is the Aqua Trax This would make sense considering that CP was talking about replacing White Water Landing with another water ride, but those plans were pushed back when they decided to install maXair.

Well, some days The Racers actually race. Some days they don't. This is not faulty operation or some kind of mechanical failure.

I would have to say that night rides on The Beast rule. It seems that it goes faster, although I can't confirm or deny this. The thing with The Beast is, it is not your average wooden coaster. There is not a lot of air time, but you can't beat the scenery, tunnels and the helix finale.

For the record, Cedar Point's shows blows Kings Island shows out of the water. KI used to have better shows back in the 80's. This is why CP won awards from the IAAPA. Apparently, Interpreter, you are in the minority when you think KI's shows are better than CP's. Why is this so hard for you to understand? Where are KI's awards for their shows? There were NONE.

Then Disney could sue them for copyright infringement.

Not saying that you are wrong, but, you are the first person I have heard mention that the roughness is caused by the structure and not the track or the train.

Why is it wrong for them to mention that Cedar Point is their flagship park? It's not like that is news or anything. After every park that has been acquired by Cedar Fair it is still mentioned that Cedar Point is the flagship park. Why would they change that now? Yeah, I know that PKI and PCW both had bigger numbers than CP, but that doesn't mean that one of them now becomes the flagship park. Honestly, did you really think that would change?

Dave is a really smart individual. They don't call him the ride man for nothing. I may be in the minority here, but I want Son of Beast to stay. Maybe Cedar Fair will either have the track retro fitted with Intamin plug and play track or maybe new Intamin custom wood coaster trains.

Sorry, I'd rather go to Cedar Point than Disney World. How much more time would be spent traveling to Florida as opposed to Ohio? That is always a consideration for me. .25 cent cotton candy is sweet too!

^It's not steel track on wood supports. It's all wood. Intamin calls it plug and play track. You can read a little explanation here. Intamin Worldwide

I wish that would happen. I heard the rumor that The Beast was going to have the swamp surround it this year. I guess that was wrong as well. It would be cool if that did happen. I heard a rumor from some smelly fat guy on the train said they were going to take out Vortex because he complained that his gf got her ears hurt so they listened and they decided to take it out of season of 2003. That was the most stupid rumor I have heard. It might seem cool to bring back the swamp under The Beast, but it really wouldn't. I don't think most people would enjoy being ate up by a bunch of mosquitos. That's what it was like and why it was removed.

Why must we keep nitpicking the reporters to death? I think the fact that it has been reported wrong by the press is an issue that we have beaten to death. It's great that a structural engineer is now on board for the inspection. Maybe this will help speed the process up a little bit. I could be wrong, though.

^That's what some people were saying over at Pointbuzz. That the footers are too low for a wing ryder type of seat.

I don't think I've seen that posted here before. Good find, tggr.