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That perk used to be reserved for member of ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts). Apparently, that perk is no longer exclusive to members of ACE.

Essentially what happens, is a member of the guest relations will walk guests that meet at a designated area (it used to be the ACE block on I-Street) back to The Beast about ten minutes before park open. This is not exclusive ride time. You simply get to be first in line for The Beast when it opens. When walking back, you used to go through some of the employee shortcuts to avoid the mass of people waiting at the ropes. However, once Cedar Fair took over, that changed when the location of the ropes changed. You had to duck under the ropes right in front of everyone, amongst a series of nasty looks!

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The walkback thing was something that was supposed to be discussed at No Coaster Con, but since the cat's already out of the bag, I'll give you the lowdown.

The walkback has been a tradition for several decades now. It started with the late PR director for Kings Island, Ruth Voss. She used to take a morning spin because she believed that it helped her arthritis. She began to invite certain members of ACE to join her, and the tradition of having a morning walkback to The Beast has been in place ever since, in honor of Mrs. Voss.

Times have changed with Kings Island. Back in the late 70s and early 80s lines for The Beast were hours long by noon, now you can ride The Beast with a minimal wait on almost any day. There's simply more to do at Kings Island... more ways to disburse the crowds. Anyway, believe it or not, it is a hassle to do the walk backs. They have to have certain people in certain places in order to have guests backstage before the park opens. Despite that, the staff at Kings Island really values the tradition and really wants to continue to do this special perk for enthusiasts. Since numbers range from having one person wanting to do the walkback to dozens, it's difficult to justify doing it on many days. There are many credible coaster enthusiast groups out there now, so in the interest of modernizing the tradition, Kings Island has chosen to allow all major coaster enthusiast groups to participate in the walkback. Please note that the list of eligible groups is TBA.

All participants must have a current coaster membership card in order to participate. Membership cards will be checked daily.

Hope this helps,

Ryan

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