Trip Report 11/2

[touchdown62]

Holy cow. What a gorgeous day to visit Kings Island! Glad I was able to sneak in one last trip for the year. Gas prices being right around $2 a gallon certainly helped. A friend came with me. She hasn't been since opening weekend and missed The Second Coming and our big trip 2 weeks ago.

We got to the park about 11:10 (yes, Eastern STANDARD Time... glad for the extra hour of sleep) and parked in the Gold Pass lot. Didn't matter. No one there to check passes today, not that it ended up being necessary. I went and processed my 2009 Gold Pass, then went in, made the ritual pit stop (2+ hour trip with no stops), and non-chalantly walked right past the photo hounds without getting stopped. That is so much easier with just 2 people than with 6.

We wandered around for a bit, ended up going around Nick Universe and through Rivertown, wondering who in the heck dropped a roller coaster in the middle of the road. Heck, I'm ready to ride it right now. As I said before, ride the newest sensation in roller coasters, Diamondback, the world's first jumping coaster! We drooled over it and took pictures for about 10 minutes, then somehow ended up walking right into The Beast. Ok, not a bad way to start. Temps in the mid-60s, and Beast was a walk-on! Got in train 3, car 4, Michelle in seat 2, me in seat 3. Didn't want to get into 3-3-3 right off The Bat and get our rears handed to us. Beast didn't give a bad ride considering it was half empty. Helix carried some nice speed, and the coaster was already screaming. Got back into the station, and no one was waiting in our lines, so we stayed on. Little faster than the first. Fun ride.

We got off after the back-to-back rides and drooled some more at Diamondback, then went on the train to see Diamondback's back 40. More drooling. Made Michelle jealous that we actually got to walk back there on our construction tour.

I forgot to mention the close-call on the Crypt. Haven't been on it. Don't desire to go, but I owe my friend a ride on it. She rides Invertigo when she doesn't like it, so I begrudgingly went on Crypt. Just as we got buckled in, the ride op announced we needed to unbuckle and head back to the previous room or exit the ride. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Back to the report. Got off the train, then off toward BLSC. Another walk-on. It's not a bad little ride, but IMO, is not worth more than a 15 minute wait. We got in, got all smashed in with the restraints, then got launched into the face-bending upward helix. Ride seems faster than in the past. Loved the fact the sound and light effects still work with the police cars. Got shot at by the chopper and broiled by the exploding gas tanks, then off into the darkness. I personally like it better in complete darkness than with the lights on dodging the cars. At least I remember the lights being on, or maybe I just ate some bad chicken wings and dreamt the whole thing. Not a bad ride.

Ended up heading toward X-Base. I think I saw some kids from the KICentral days, but not sure. There were so many, but I'm usually pretty good with faces, if not necessarily names. Firehawk was as much of a walk-on as I think you'll ever see on that ride. Both trains were running. We ended up getting sent to the yellow train (I don't like the Red Train/I don't want to be a blood stain... long story. Be happy to elaborate if you want.) Got strapped in and lowered, and felt that refreshing rush of blood to my head. No PA announcers this time, we just got unceremoniously booted out of the station. Like the climb up the hill. You have quite a bit of time to talk to your friends, scare strangers, and update your will. Only problem... EVIL DAY STAR, right in your face. Reached the top and seemed to get thrown right into the false drop. Seemed faster than usual. Maybe I'm getting old. Flying around like Superman until you get to the loop, then get jacked up into the seat. Not sure how many Gs you pull, but you feel every one of them, and then some. Love the rest of the ride... the barrel rolls, and the skin-stretching helix, then back to your back staring right up into the sun. Good ride. Definitely rearranged my hair.

We decided it was time for a bit of a break, so we went for lunch. It was about 1:00 or so. We headed for the Festhaus. On the way, we decided on a quick ride on Adventure Express. We needed our backs cracked, and that's about the most efficient way in the park to get that done. That chain lift is quite rough on the old spine. It's a fun little ride.

Now we went for lunch. We split a pepperoni pizza. Separate drinks. We watched some of the Bungles game, then all of a sudden some strange music started playing. I didn't realize they would still be showing Ghouls Gone Wild after Halloween, but we stayed to watch. I'm glad we did. I really enjoyed the show. I think the singing was much better than in many of the shows the past couple years. Whoever the actors were for the 2:00 show sounded good together. The voices complemented each other. The witch was a bit screechy, and Wolfman squeaked a note, but all in all, very entertaining show. Did see Ryan and Dane walk by, but my mouth was too full of pizza to do anything about it.

In order to let the food settle, and to take more pics, we headed up the Eiffel Tower. Always a nice view. Again, I think I saw someone from the site on here (the kid who takes such awesome pics), but again, not sure. Face looked familiar, but I see a lot of faces at KI and for our KICentral.com events. Spent about 10-15 minutes snapping pictures. Got some good progression shots from 2 weeks ago to today.

We happened to get off the elevator and ended up wandering to the Carousel. I'm all nostalgic and junk, so I love antique, historical rides and stuff like that. I pointed out to Michelle that the horses are PTC horses and showed her the ID medallions on the bridle of the horses. So cool so see that history. Focus on one spot, or you get dizzy. We got off an watched another ride cycle, watching and checking out the old horses. We saw one that was a little worse for wear and thought we saw an old medallion that might have had the horse's name on it. Couldn't see it, so we got back in line and jumped right back on. Turned out it was another PTC ID tag, but still. Nice horse that needs a little TLC. Hope he's next.

We hadn't been on Racer yet, so off we went. I love that coaster. Classic wooden down-and-back. and Racer didn't disappoint. There was hardly any screaming on this ride, so I just held my hands up and enjoyed the air time.

We wandered up to Action Zone, and on the way, passed AE again. What the heck. It's here, so let's ride it again. After our second AE ride of the day, we continued to AZ and decided to do FD. Long walk, no wait. It's another fun coaster, but not sure it's worth such a long walk. The first drop makes your stomach go into your throat. Speed isn't bad. I like the dogfighter feel of the coaster.

Back across the park to Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. Another walk-on. A little girl was scared by the sinister laughter and tried to run out the entrance, but her mom, laughing the whole time, grabbed her and told her there was nothing to be scared about. It's Scooby Doo after all. Guns are always balky at best. This time I had the one that worked and won 780-330. 1 shot away from "Like... Wow!"

It was closing in on 5:00, and we were quite satisfied with the day. We decided to end the day and the season the only way you can... Beast. Again, sat in car 4, seat 3. Didn't catch train#. Didn't want to be all beat up in 3-3-3. Had a 2+ hour drive back home to Muncie. Captain Nemo checked our seats. Did get his name right (phew). Did a little taunting to The Beast. I was like "Is the widdle Beast ready for a nappie-poo, or do you have a couple hours of rides left in you?" Answer was B. Faster than the morning runs, especially in the second tunnel. Up the second lift hill, then the turn for the helix. The Beast was ready for another thrill. It didn't jump out of the trim brake, but it sure got out of it in a hurry. Beast showed why it's the best coaster around, has given 29 years of thrills, and will continue to give thrills well into the future. Beast gave us as good a ride on the last day as it did on the first day of the season. Arrived back in the start house totally satisfied.

It's sad to think about The Beast all alone with no one able to ride it over the winter, The Beast missing its fans as much as its fans miss The Beast. Come April, we all know The Beast will be ready to thrill its thousands of devoted fans once again. Oh yeah, there's also that snake thingy.

[CoastersRZ]

Ah, The Beast will be taking a much needed rest over the winter break (and of course going through its annual winter rehab) so that we can once again be thrilled by it again in 2009, its 30th anniversary year! And it will likely still be the longest wooden roller coaster in the world, and the longest coaster in the United States of America, even after thirty years!

[Keysersoze]

I was there in the morning, yes it was a great day for coaster riding.

[violakat03]

Got strapped in and lowered, and felt that refreshing rush of blood to my head. No PA announcers this time, we just got unceremoniously booted out of the station.

Yeah, the ride ops on Firehawk weren't very enthusiastic yesterday. At all. I got an "ugh" look from the girl on yellow train that I handed my glasses to, we were left with the blood rushing to our heads for what seemed like 4 times longer than normal and then I didn't even hear so much as a "clear" as we were, as you said, unceremoniously booted out of the station. But, the ride was still as fun as I remembered, and the ops at Flight of Fear were having fun (two of them got into a 'fight' over who got to ride with a single ride before they got off their shifts) and livening it up, so it made up for it.

[Ki Man]

^Yup, I saw Firehawk with a one train op and the line out of the station...hahaha NO WAY!