MaestroJr

While in line for Mystic Timbers, someone behind me claimed that Top Gun was torn down and replaced with Mystic Timbers. I wanted to tell her that Top Gun is still very much in operation but now know as The Bat, but I just thought nah.

Hey guys, I had a good time at Kings Island about a week ago with my Brother, and would like to tell how my day went! Rode lots and stayed late, hope you enjoy reading. Left KY at about 9:30/10 and arrived in Mason at about Noon. Lines were mostly short so I first headed to get my gold pass processed and then to Flight of Fear as tradition would have it. A quick ride on Flight of Fear, fairly smooth and fast. Then we headed to Beast for an early ride which was pretty good, then Vortex which we rode the most of during the day which is great since last time we visited, it was unfortunately closed all day, so great to ride it again and the Vortex crew had it running very well and we got in a couple rides and Vortex has still got it and its nice to see it being treated good for its 30th birthday! We then got a quick ride on Racer which we rode blue train, my personal favorite! I think we won the race but I'm not sure. Fairly smooth and fast trip on Racer. Then we traveled to Action Zone for a walk-on ride on Adventure Express which I thought was a lot of fun, and also seemed to look really nice this year with all the animatronic bits running as intended. We then got a locker as Banshee was next on our list and we needed a place to stash our drawstring bag. A nice trip on Banshee after a quick 5 minute wait. The lines were still slow so we knew that The Bat probably wouldnt be that long so we headed to have a flight on it! A walk-on and would have been easy to ride multiple times but we took only one trip on The Bat. A fast paced ride on The Bat and we sat front seat which I think is best on The Bat. Lunch at Festhaus with some La'Rosa's was next and then headed to Viking Fury. A fast line and I am not a huge fan of Viking Fury, but its an old-school ride and always gives you a interesting feeling in your stomach. Then we headed to Boo Blasters to hunt down some ghost! We rode Boo Blasters twice, and both times were about 25 minute waits, and all the talk I've heard on KIC about its improvements was 100% true. Its like its almost brand new. Our blasters were good, but the ride looks great and everything works fantastic including the tourist, all 4 Boocifer's including the much infamous fog screen effect which is now projected onto the old money safe from its Scooby days. And even Boocifers grave worked. We rode it twice and its great to see Boo Blasters receive so much TLC in the off season and hopefully it will stay like this all season. Then Mystic Timbers was on our list so we headed over there for an afternoon ride on it. A 45 minute wait, sat near the middle. My Brother hadn't ridden it yet but I had for its First Rider event so I tried to give him some pointers and info on it! It was a great ride on Mystic Timbers with lots of airtime and he had a lot of fun on it as well. We got The Bat for the Shed ending, and his opinion on Mystic Timbers was that it is a great, fun coaster, but that the shed was lacking something. I think I kinda agree although I dont really mind the shed. We then rode Vortex twice more, Red Racer, and Flight of Fear which was a fairly rougher ride near the back of the train but a very quick wait considering they shut it down for a while shortly before we rode. One more ride on Banshee near the middle same as our first ride and had a fun, g-force thrilled ride on Banshee! Then as we entered The Beast queue, the time was 9:00, a quick ride at twilight and then we waited in line for a late night ride after the fireworks! A nice show and then we waited about 15 minutes to get to the front of the line. We then waited for the front seat however they announced they would only be running a few more trains so we stepped back a few seats and rode the final train of the night on The Beast! I had never experienced a last train ride before except Thunder Run at Kentucky Kingdom so it was very cool! Probably my favorite ride on Beast as you couldnt see anything and it was absolutely fantastic! We headed to the exit after a quick photo in front of the Eiffel Tower and then headed home after a great, fun day at the Island! I took a few photos and like usual they are mostly of Boo Blasters so sorry for no real great pictures! A Vortex afternoon! Boo Blasters and Eiffel Tower A Kings Island night! A fun day at the park and should be headed back real soon! Thanks for reading! MaestroJr Total ride count Beast-3 Bat-1 Banshee-2 Boo Blasters on Boo Hill-2 Mystic Timbers-1 Racer-2, Blue-1 Red-1 Adventure Express-1 Vortex-4 Viking Fury-1 Flight of Fear-2

That's me on Invertigo every time!

It's not rough now but the over the shoulder restraints banged your head around like a rag doll with very little you could do to prevent it. I think it's fairly smooth now but I can see why people may think it's rough.

It'd be cool to see a park similar to what we have here in Kentucky with Kentucky Kingdom or even Beech Bend. The problem is that Kings Island is in Ohio and Kings Dominion in Virginia so the competition is high and appeal would be hard to get unless you provide enough rides and at least three or four coasters. I would love to see a medium sized park come to West Virginia but I think Camden is it for now unfortunately. MaestroJr

Raiders of the Lost Ark theme was played throughout much of the Paramount era, used to love hearing that while in line for Adventure Express as a kid but Tomb Raider music works well too.

The rides I would imagine will operate would be Boo Blasters, Flight of Fear, and honestly I don't know what else, possibly some kiddie rides or maybe Mystic Timbers would be cool. Winterfest will be very cool this winter! Looking forward to it.

Interesting.

Mystic Timbers for its fast terrain and the shed is better at night. The Beast for its unexpected jerking and dark ride through woods, especially during Haunt. I think its a tie for third between The Bat, and Adventure Express. They are both great night rides and The Bat is fun for Haunt as well. MaestroJr

Hey guys, I havent gotten to Kentucky Kingdom yet this year and would just look to know if the new trains for Thunder Run are comfortable/feel different then the old ones for those of you who have gone to visit the park this year. I rode Thunder Run several times last year and look forward to riding this year with the new trains. Any information or details on the ride experience with the new trains is greatly appreciated! Thanks, MaestroJr New trains look very nice by the way! Image courtesy of Kentucky Kingdom's twitter page

Nice report and pics, look forward to hearing about Holiday World!

If you look towards the bottom of the photograph, you can see a canoe I believe, thats probably what there doing and defiantly an awesome picture and would have been a cool thing to watch The Beast get built back then. Nice photo, Magenta Lizard!

Sorry to bring up a thread this old but I was just reading and got bored and noticed that in this Shaggy said that Maestros balcony was being ripped out however it is still there today. I just wanted to know shaggy if you saw some of it being removed and if the "lightning windows" got boarded up then as well. Again sorry, just curious. MaestroJr

1. Banshee 2. Beast 3. Invertigo 4. Flight of Fear 5. Diamondback 6. Firehawk

No I mean at the same park, to me if you ride Flight of Fear at Kings Island and Kings Dominion it is 2 ride credits because they are at different parks, but The Racer is at Kings Island and it mirrors itself, so if I counted it, to me it's 1 but I don't keep credits so that's just my opinion. I don't consider new restraints as new credits unless the actual track is changed, I don't claim to be right or wrong its just my personal opinion. MaestroJr

Vortex does look nice and sounds good as well. It's nice to see them do some work for it's 30th anniversary. The new Vortex sign looks great as well.

If you ride only the Blue Racer once and never experience the red train, do you really miss out on that side. In my opinion The Racer is one credit only because it's the same coaster just with two sides. Both do the same and are identical. Either way if you ride either color train, you've ridden The Racer regardless.

Great report and photos KatieF, good to hear that most of the rides are functioning great, especially Adventure Express and Boo Blasters which have gotten some nice work done during winter. Glad you had fun!

I figured the whole time that it would be a dark ride type ending, so it really wasn't that much of a surprise and while I do think it may have been a bit overhyped in ads, with #whatsintheshed being on all merchandise before and after the rides opening, I think that the previous statements are correct in that Kings Island wants as many as possible to ride Mystic Timbers and when they do, I think they'll agree that it's a fantastic ride! I certainly have enjoyed Mystic Timbers and I know most everybody else has too.

Mystic Timbers to me comes close to The Beast but the shorter ride length and okay shed ending makes it a close second. I will say that Mystic Timbers is much more thrilling then The Beast in terms of twist, turns and airtime! Two great wooden coasters regardless.

That's nice to see! It's good to see them put work into Boo Blasters because last year, I rode it 9 times throughout the year and every time most everything was broken. The worst was Boocifer at the organ who turned around and said "dance to my phan" not being able to finish the word phantom. He then turned around and said nothing as we passed by. But if you remember this happened to Maestro on Phantom Theater a lot as well. He would get stuck and not turn all the way so he would face the wall and talk and taunt the wall instead of people basically. I'm a lover of Boo Blasters, so I look forward to many rides this year and hopefully it will work well for me too.

That would be interesting to see new technology as time goes by.

My opinion is that Mystic Timbers is a terrific coaster but the shed is also a nice touch, but do you guys think that Mystic Timbers shed will receive regular maintenance and care for the long run or do you think it may go the way of Adventure Express. And also do you think that losing the shed to any technical problems will make Mystic Timbers any less appealing?

On First Rider night, we all started clapping and dancing when "man eater" came on in the shed! Did anybody notice the old Coke machine that glitches up?

Hey Jarrett, I don't know if you remember but I took a ride with you on Mystic Timbers during the First Rider event and I really enjoyed our little chat about some things that I didn't know about the ride, you sure know your stuff man! It was a fun night and Mystic Timbers is awesome!