Magenta Lizard

^ I'm curious whether it was a left/right seat issue. I rode left side the first time, and hearing my friend describe her ride next to me afterward made me wonder a bit if we rode the same coaster I enjoy it either side but right side throws you out of your seat more.

Another note: I mentioned before, I believe, that the antipasto salad was out, in favor of one topped with bacon and tomatoes. I'm happy to say I was wrong! The reason the guide says "entree salad" rather than specifying is that there are now two different salads available on the plan at LaRosa's! The new BLT salad (called JoJo's Salad on the menu I believe) and the classic antipasto with an assortment of cured meats, mozzarella (I think? Maybe provolone), olives, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and sliced hot peppers (at least the one I just got, they've often been different depending on the day and LaRosa's location). Each comes with breadsticks (which are soooo good). They aren't doing that random slap of cheese slices on top of the breadsticks this year, and I personally think it's an improvement. It makes for more consistent baking. So, now, with these two salads, the one at Red's, and the build-your-own at Chicken Shack, there are a few nice options for a lighter meal on the dining plan for the times when one isn't as excited about a lot of fried food.

^behind that short wall in the pre-shed is the transfer track. The macaroni & cheese colored train was stored there while we rode during Media Day and First Riders' Auction.

Chick fil A, Planet Snoopy Grille, Red's, and Rivertown Potato Works were all serving as of an hour or so ago when I got my food. Lines are probably long tho, as I don't think you're the only one coming for dinner, judging by the length of the lines for security at the moment. Edit: oh and Tom + Chee was up too

I got Rivertown Potato Works tonight. It was not my first, second, third, fourth, or even fifth choice (because I was at Chicken Shack when I first encountered tonight's power outage and didn't really want to walk to the back of the park, not because I dislike RPW) I can confirm that the trend I have noticed toward more reasonable portions extends here as well. The paper boat they use is smaller, so rather than a redonkulous amount of fries, it is "merely" more than I should eat in one sitting The boneless chicken wings greatly resemble previous years' chicken chunks, to the point I feel I can say they have only been rebranded. I've discovered an unexpected drawback of the paper cups vs the souvenir bottles. I cannot walk and drink very well apparently. My wet shirt is wishing I had a sealed bottle and straw.

^ where is this "Help Center"?

There's a decent number of people here for parking gate open but if it's not just a little slow now until people get off work, I'd say tonight will be a relatively light night for crowds. I brought my long underwear just in case tonight but I'm really annoyed because I thought I could retire it for the year. Ohio weather!

I always find it funny when people (usually on the KI Facebook comments, it's rare I see that attitude here) talk like when they bought their Gold Pass they were purchasing entry into some special-seekrit-VIP society. One was complaining recently that the park was sold out this Sunday, and that the park /must/ be losing money on the deal because it prevents their season pass holders from visiting (and a whole tirade about how they should only sell out the park before the season begins: oh you think going to the work of fully staffing the park for a single day event separated from the rest of the season would make more money somehow?). Anyway, for less than two full-priced single day tickets at the park and parking, I get a Gold Pass that allows me to come and go as I please for the entire season including Haunt and now Winterfest. Add in the cost of a third day ticket or so, and I can eat twice per visit. This is already such a good deal I can barely believe it. It is great that the park adds in other perks for us like early entry but I don't feel like I deserve special treatment for paying far less per visit than the "plebeians" without passes. So I find it particularly ridiculous to complain about what is essentially a Season Pass perk (allowing passholders to bring a friend at a discounted price /and/ let the friend ride with during ERT) like it somehow is infringing on your "specialness" as a passholder.

Worth a note that Cedar Point is not Kings Island and vice versa. Not all rules are chain-wide, and it appears this is one that the individual parks decide upon. Bring-a-friend tickets almost always are going to be cheaper than other deals you might find, anyway. They aren't always as super-cheap as advertised BAF Days, but they can be purchased any day the park is open to the public.

Since they are forecasting rain all day Saturday and the park is closed Sunday, I think crowds will be heavier on Friday than they would otherwise be. How crowded that actually is, though, I couldn't say. Hopefully not as bad as last Friday.

It's not something I personally do very often, but I'd never question others' reasons for doing it. Whenever KI can make some money (especially when it is neither coming from me nor negatively impacting me) I'm all for it. I love the park and want it to succeed. I use my vehicle as my locker, with changes of clothes and shoes, a cooler of drinks, extra bandaids (in addition to the ones I carry), rain gear, etc. It also offers a place to sit and run the AC if needed (although a cool breeze often runs through the lot) and spend a few minutes away from the crowds. If I didn't regularly show up very early so I can get a close parking space in the main lot, it would pay off for me much better to buy the parking upgrade than a locker inside the park.

You're going to definitely need to keep us updated with pics as you go along and of the final product. I know I can't be the only one who is very interested to see it!

^I can't say I've ever heard Rocky Top on it. Wild Wild West, along with those you mentioned, though. And they're the same as the last few years. I guess the thing with the boy passing out must have been sometime Saturday afternoon.

Although I wasn't really paying attention back then, I've seen this referenced as the original Demon logo: In fact, I saw what was purported to be the original artwork for that for sale on either eBay or Craigslist a few years back. They also used this logo later: Out of curiosity, how will you be putting the logos on the fabric?

When a few of us were waiting to ride Vortex, a woman in front of us said this was the first ever roller coaster for two young boys she was with. We all looked at each other dumbfounded and then asked if she thought that was a good idea. I'm told that one of them actually passed out on the coaster, and we all felt bad imagining him ragdolling through the ride. That's a perfect example of how not to make a new coaster enthusiast I guess. On the other hand, we also saw a young woman get off Vortex, go puke in the bushes, then happily ask her friends if they wanted to go ride WindSeeker

It was particularly bad because I feel familiar with you, I had just misassociated your name. Sometimes I store multiple people on the same brain cell I guess. Worse is when people call me by name with perfect familiarity as though we're friends, and I recognize neither the face nor name. That happened a couple times over the weekend: I figured out later one of them is someone I "know" through Twitter though.

Also, there should be a code on your receipt that you print out after completing your order. That can be used to enter the turnstiles one time, so you can come out later and process your pass (or do it your next visit) if the lines for processing are longer than you'd like when you first get there. Welcome to KIC!

Now that opening weekend is over, I had been thinking about Coasterstock and looking forward to it. I am going to be doing another Twitter countdown, with little trivia about each of KI's coasters, starting on 30 days until Coasterstock - which is Wednesday already!!!! Only about a month to wait!!! (@maglizrd is my Twitter handle)

I know, @upstop and that would make a little more sense to go with the other four, but it most definitely was not a disco version of Can't Take My Eyes Off of You. I think it would be fun if there was something disco tho, because while I think it was supposed to be officially "dead" by 1984, I enjoy the disco holdovers that I remember from my childhood.

In addition to the three mentioned so far (Cars -1979, Maneater -1982, Total Eclipse of the Heart -1983), I've also heard Can't Take My Eyes Off of You. It presumably is the Frankie Valli version, which is a little odd because that is from 1967.

Just a note: Miami River Lumber Company (not Miami Valley). It's easy to remember because it is in Rivertown. Its not that I personally care what other people call it, but I know I personally feel embarrassed when I get names wrong. Like repeatedly saying "Total Eclipse of the Sun" this weekend, or calling John "Neil" and later finding out "Neil" is actually Noah anyway Felt so stupid and rude.

The salad at LaRosas this year is not their awesome antipasto salad anymore (which I suspected when they changed the name to "entree salad," I believe, on the website). I got one Sunday and it is lettuce with a large amount of bacon (the same kind they used at Chicken Shack in years past) and diced tomatoes. I enjoyed it (note: large amount of bacon) but it's not as good or special as the antipasto salad had been. Portions across the board have been reduced significantly, from what I've seen so far this weekend. This isn't something I can really complain too heavily about personally, because in years past I have often gotten enough food to eat three meals out of one "meal" at KI. This will hopefully reduce wasted food but I know some people are going to be upset, and probably some will be hungry after expecting the same amount of food they got in previous seasons. At Hanks, they no longer include chips and salsa with the burrito bowl, and to be honest were rather stingy with the meat. That may have been down to the individual making my bowl, but obviously five small chunks of chicken breast aren't really going to fill up anyone. I did really enjoy what grilled chicken I had. I'm told by others in my group that got the beef that it is REALLY spicy, so keep that in mind if it is something you like or would like to avoid. At Panda Express on Sunday (after having a normal experience there Friday), the young lady at the register started to inform me the meal plans only cover one entree now but she wasn't going to charge me this time, then backpedaled after I said I had seen a printed listing that said otherwise (the meal plan flyers next to the printed park maps specify the two entree and side meal) and said she wasn't sure it was really supposed to change although it's what their registers say and a phone call was going to need to be made (at which point I was thinking "make both our lives easier and only start telling people once you're sure and tell them at the entrance not the exit, yanno?"). After seeing how other things have been reduced though, I expect this wasn't just a mistake in programming the registers and that it is a change that will stick. Even the smaller size of the container used for my salad reduced the amount of lettuce from previous seasons, although fortunately it still comes with their excellent breadsticks, for the moment.

There are apparently no AC units visible on the building from what a friend at the park told me. I know I noticed it already getting a little stifling when it was only mid-70s and sunny, so I think they're going to have to at least add some fans for the tech if not the riders. However, this weekend, no AC was running in the park from what I could tell (like in Festhaus or the arcades) so it is possible there is already some sort of hidden AC unit that wasn't switched on. The songs (I believe there are five or six of them, although I can't think of all of them at the moment, only What I've been finding interesting as I ride more often is just how much is actually going on in the shed, that I didn't notice at first and from what I hear other people say, they don't seem to consciously notice either (but I suspect it is subconsciously adding to the effects whether noticed or not). At first, I was focused on the but there are a lot of subtler other things going on, that add to the mood, and I'm not just talking about lighting changes in the pre-shed.

I rode Boo Blasters tonight, and they've put some work into it on the offseason. It's only the second time I've seen the screen with the face in the first part of the ride (the cemetery) working. The display on the TV in the cold storage area toward the end was also working which I had never seen or realized should be there. Nearly all of the targets were functional (a large change from the end of last season), and the animated pieces worked smoothly. The only thing I noticed was non-functional was the photographer tourist being chased in circles, it didn't move.

In addition to Oakley, Diamondback, and The Bat, I think that The Beast (in the form of a groundhog maybe?) and Banshee, maybe Firehawk or some aliens from FoF, need to make appearances too. Maybe special for Haunt or something. One complaint I have is that if you're in or near the front of the train, you can often see the front screen doing its thing for the previous train before you even enter the shed. Also, I feel like there isn't enough randomness between the shows (or just too few options so far). Out of 16 rides now, I've gotten bats the vast majority of the time, the tree three times, and the snakes maybe five times. Tonight I could see that the prior train had bats and we still had bats too.