Opening Day 2009 Video TR

[violakat03]

Alright everyone. I decided a while back that I wanted to shoot video this year, and I gave it a shot for opening day. I used my Kodak EasyShare digital camera and got amazingly good video. It doesn't do well with fast movement and I am apparently pretty bad at holding the camera still while walking, but this was a learning experience and it was a blast. It'll give you a little bit of a feel for how it was in the park during the day.

I shot 18 video clips. They're individualized on YouTube for trip report purposes but I will make a combined one out of them eventually.

April 17:

Gigacoaster2k (Angie) and myself were both riding with the auction winners early Saturday morning. We live fairly close to each other, an hour away from the park, so we decided that rather than get up at 4 a.m. on Saturday, we wanted a hotel. I found us a really cheap (and really clean!) room at the Super 8 in Mason, just a stone's throw from the park.

As we came down 741 into Mason, we got to see Kings Island spread out ahead of us. It was already dark out, but Diamondback's lift lights were on and the park was just an incredibly beautiful sight! I was driving so I didn't get any pictures of it, but we tried to get some video of it from the hotel. It proved harder than expected.

After shooting that video, we started getting things together for the next day (watching Angie pack her pants pockets was highly entertaining) and got ready to crash for a couple hours sleep!

Sadly, at the end of that video, I clicked it off before Angie's quip of "I don't want to go to bed!" I was sure ready. By the time we got everything packed up and ready for the next day, it was about 12:30 and I passed out hard enough that the alarm clock confused me in the morning because I couldn't figure out what was going on. Angie, apparently, did not have that problem and was awake before it went off.

Edit: fixed the YouTube links. Continued in next post!

[violakat03]

Part 2: April 18, morning

After finding a parking spot (not hard at all, amazingly), Rex and I did the phone version of Marco Polo (hey where are you? wave at me! can you see me yet?) and got in line with the auction winners. Angie had to go pick up her entrance pass, but Rex had already grabbed mine (isn't he great?) and we were ready to go. It was COLD outside. I was wearing capris and a hoodie and freezing.

BTW, I found out later, as has been pointed out in other TRs, that line was not for processing. That was the Gold Pass holders waiting to get in.

After waiting around forever, we finally start moving! Through the metal detectors (my camera set them off, grr), through the turnstiles, and.... stop. More standing around, waiting. A good opportunity to grab a quick photo or video or two. As soon as the majority of the group was in the park, we were led down International Street towards Diamondback!

Finally, we were going down International Street! I couldn't believe how big the group is. It seemed like there was a healthy number of non-riders coming, such as Trooper Mom.

After getting to Rivertown Junction, we stood in line! We did a lot of that. Probably more than we would have if we'd just waited in line with the GP. But it was a different kind of waiting and the energy and excitement was just building, building, building. In Rivertown Junctions, we were given shirts, checked in, and assigned our 'seat' number. The seat numbers were not an indicator of where you were on the train, just what order you got to pick. After a little bit of chaos in Rivertown Junction, eventually they got us all outside and in numerical order outside the queue.

After they opened the queue up, it was actually very neat and orderly. We got to listen to the announcements in the station and watch them present A Kid Again with a giant check for $102,000!! I couldn't believe it! They said it's the single biggest check the organization has ever received, and after seeing some of the kids there riding, I know it couldn't have gone to a better cause.

Rex and I decided that the back seat was the way to go, and since we were allowed to pick, we skipped the walk-on middle seats to wait 2 trains for the very back. Jackson got the row in front of us. I got very excited as our train came closer!!

And yes, we did get a little bit wet. Just a little splash on my forearm.

I don't think I need to describe Diamondback. I'm sure you all either experienced it yourself, or can imagine how absolutely amazing it is. I've ridden Goliath at SFOG, and Diamondback blows it out of the water. No comparison. I told everyone it knocked every last one of my top ten coasters off the list and took all ten spots itself. Number 1, Diamondback. Number 2, Diamondback. Number 3, Diamondback, etc.

We had to wait forever to get our picture. We were given a voucher for a free photo as a gift but it was a madhouse. Trooper Mom (who ROCKS!) got photos for everyone in our car and passed them out while the rest of us shopped, because she is just that cool.

After the madhouse in the gift shop, we escaped to ... another madhouse. Yes, that's right, while we were getting our photos, the herd of Gold Pass holders moved in. Angie, sneaky woman, got a second ride on Diamondback before the chaos descended, but I caught up to her on rides by the end of the day. We escaped to the relative sanity of Rivertown Junction, only to discover that all the food and drinks for our breakfast were gone. Pigs! The employees said they were not expecting as many people as they got (because of tagalongs and it looked like extra riders were added for A Kid Again) so they got wiped out. We got a group of KICers together and headed for The Beast, which was pretty much a walk-on ride for us. We had the whole first half of the train filled with KICers in white First Rider shirts!

As we exited The Beast, the herd had moved on to it as well and it was lined out past the end of the queue. We headed towards X-base, but not before grabbing a clip of the splashdown:

and the insane Diamondback line:

[violakat03]

Part 3: April 18, late-morning

The X-base trip was a bust. Angie, Rex and I stopped to get the above video of the Diamondback line and the rest of the group disappeared. We got to X-base to find Flight of Fear closed and a HUGE crowd of people. Rex split off at this point to go take care of some stuff, and we didn't seem him in the park after that. Angie and I stayed together and decided to head towards Action Zone slowly and hit what we could on the way. Racer was practically walk-on, I think we waited 3 trains for second seat. Red Racer (not racing in the morning) was feeling great and there was NO trim on the turnaround! That was a huge surprised and had me giddy going through the bunny hills.

After Racer, we walked past Adventure Express (broken down) and decided that since Slingshot was only $10 for a ride, we were going on it. This was my first ride on Slingshot.

The receipt for my first Slingshot ride! Nice shot of my "Diamondback red" nail polish that matches DB's track.

This is the first video that I really shot with myself in it, but you can see that I did more of this as the day went on. Angie's random thumbs up next to my ear almost made me crack up laughing.

Slingshot was a lot of fun. Not something I'll go out of my way to do again, but definitely fun and definitely worth trying. It didn't feel like it went as high as I know it does, and we only got one complete flip and only one half inversion out of it.

From there, we continued on our quest to Action Zone. Drop Tower had a 1 hour wait so we skipped it in favor of Xtreme Skyflyer, which was also running a $10 a person special. We quickly bought our tickets:

and got a little video before going on.

Angie pulled the rip cord. I'm glad she did. I don't think I could have done it. I was shaking by the time we got to the top. This ride is the only ride that has ever actually scared me. We split the cost of the DVD because my girly scream coming down the first swing was totally worth it. I've never screamed like that on a ride, ever. Did I mention I want to do it again and again and again?

After Skyflyer, we checked Flight Deck's line. It was long. As was Drop Tower, Delirium and Son of Beast (Invertigo was broken down). We realized about then that neither of us had eaten breakfast and we'd been at the park around 6 hours, so it was time for lunch! I do my best to avoid buying park food because a.) it's expensive and b.) eating when it's hot and I feel rushed will usually make me sick. So we left the park and headed towards the LaRosa's that's a very short distance from the park. Rex ended up joining us there before heading back to his hotel to crash (he's been up at least 30 hours straight by that time), but at least we got to hang out with him over lunch. I'm sure me and Angie frightened him a little - we're good at that.

Heading out to the parking lot, we got a nice surprise - the Diamondback busses were lined up in the old tram area! It was cool to see them in person. And this time, that huge line really was the season pass processing. I felt bad for the people in it, but Kawana said he tried to tell them they could get in on their voucher and come back and they were jerks. So oh well.

[violakat03]

Part 4: April 18, afternoon and evening

We killed a little over an hour at LaRosa's, and then stood and talked to Kawana and his lady in the parking lot. We ended up giving them our leftovers from LaRosa's cause I knew it wouldn't keep well in my trunk and they were hungry. He told us that they only waited about an hour and a half for Diamondback and where the line ended when they got in it. Our eyes got wide and there was an unspoken agreement between Angie and I.

Inside the gate, we decided to stop for a picture. Why not?

We headed straight for Diamondback and found that the line was shorter than where Kawana had entered, and immediately jumped in it. We ended up meeting an awesome lady named Elissa in line (she will hopefully be joining KIC soon) and hung out with her for awhile. This was her second ride on Diamondback. Angie and I rode last seat again. This time, I stuck my arm out to the side on the splashdown...and got SOAKED. From my shoulder to my fingertips, I was dripping. I shook water off my arm while waiting to pull into the station and I could wring my shirt sleeve out. Angie got it pretty good too and it left a little Diamondback bite stain on her sleeve.

After Diamondback, we headed for Vortex with Elissa because Angie and I have been wanting to try out 5-1, and we'd been listening to how beautiful Vortex sounds now. I mean, I really couldn't believe it. It doesn't sound like the rickety old Vortex, it sounds like the spankin' new, hot action Vortex! It even has it's own Arrow roar! I wish I'd gotten video of it running but I was just too in awe of how it's been transformed to get out the camera!

It broke while we were in line.

However, never fear! It was moving again quickly and the breakdown cleared out most of the queue, so we only had a few trains to wait for our selected seat. I have to say, the experience was definitely very different in 5-1 than in 1-1. Way less headbanging, great air time, though the transitions are still a bit violent. However, hearing it roar in the final helix was beyond words. This coaster is still a great Arrow looper and I hope it stays around for a very, very long time with all the love it was given this year!

My favorite ride photo ever.

We ended up running into Phantom Theater in the line and he stopped for a photo op with us.

L to R: Phantom Theater, gigacoaster2k (showing off her DB ride number), Elissa, me

From there, our group set off to The Beast. We got a fairly short wait, 30 minutes or so, and ride close to the front but not very front. Again, it was awesome. As we got off, we found iChase! He was bummed about not being able to ride Diamondback because the test seat didn't fit. We also found pkiruler102! He was excited because he fit in the test seat.

We made a vow to make sure iChase got on Diamondback today.

We tried the test seat. I thought it lied. I had way more room on the actual seat than I did on the test seat. We decided we'd go for it because you never know if you don't try. We grabbed keiko_coaster and then ended up running across Avatar in line! And guess what? iChase rode! I think the quote as we rolled back into the station was somewhere along the lines of "I can't feel my legs, but I don't care!" followed by lots of "woo"ing.

Hey look, it's that weird "omg camera!" face again!

We met up at the end of the exit with Avatar and Ogrmac and got a nice group picture with a couple other folks too.

I actually lost my voice at this point, but a cup of ice water soothed it enough to allow me to talk normally once more. I just took it easy on the "woo"ing and screaming for the rest of the night to try to keep it from happening again. I still sound rather hoarse and am popping cough drops as I write this.

After this, we all split again. Angie, myself and pkiruler102 (Dustin) headed for Drop Tower. 2 cycle wait and we were on that bad boy. Though the drop was amazing, I had the most bizarre thing happen as we started to brake. I suddenly got a shooting pain in the top of my left thigh and the muscle went rigid. I couldn't get out of my seat without help and Angie and Dustin helped me limp over to a bench. I think it was just a muscle cramp because after about five minutes of rubbing and stretching, I was able to get moving again, and then walked it off. By the time we made it to Adventure Express, I was fine, but that was a highly unnerving experience.

Dustin said we needed to experience AE at night, and I'm glad he did because ... wow, totally different at night. It's pretty wicked. Those tunnels are pitch black. It's still just as violent as I remember though. The only effects working, still, were the flickering light going into the first tunnel, the jungle sound effects at the same place, and the angry guys on the second lift. I miss the mist!

From there, we decided we wanted to get in another ride on Diamondback. Somehow we all got split up though. I think Angie went off to find keiko_coaster, and Dustin had to leave so he went through single riders line. I got stranded by myself so I jumped in single riders also (where the supervisor was a jerk! .. She asked me like three times if I was "sure you're sure" that I was alone, and asked me if I could prove it. I'm like .. um... I have my car keys? How do you prove that, seriously.) and waited about 10 minutes to get a seat. The second time around they were out of single rider passes. I said bye to Dustin, then ran around again to the single riders line as soon as they got passes again, ran into Angie, the supervisor was a jerk again, and waited about 15 minutes. That ride I sat second row, first car - I'm not sure I like it in the front, way too much wind in your face! But still just as much air time. Anyway, as I exited the second time, I completely lost track of Angie, but ran around and jumped back in. This time, when the supervisor asked me if I was positive I was by myself, I looked around me and there was no one in a twenty foot radius of me. I just looked at her and said "do you see anyone with me?" ... ugh. That was ridiculous.

So anyway, while we were standing in the station with a 1 train wait, the fireworks began. They continued throughout the entire ride. It was completely awesome. I think the best part was the final helix with the fireworks going off.

After getting off my sixth and final ride for the day, the queue was closed. I gave up on finding Angie and finally called her, to find out she'd snuck into the queue right at 10 and was in the last train's worth of people. I spent the next 45 minutes wandering through gift shops, and actually found my old boss's sister! That was pretty cool. Apparently she knew who I was too, because she said he'd talked about me before. Good to hear! Picked up our picture at keyhole photo, and sat out at the exit gate where I shot a closing review clip to close the night out.

Angie met up with me in the parking lot so I could return her sunglasses that somehow ended up in my photo bag, and we headed for Waffle House. I got home around 1:30 a.m. and after telling my mom all about my day, started uploading the videos for this TR. My face is slightly sunburned (even though I reapplied sunscreen pretty much hourly and wore a hat), my lips are horribly chapped, my throat is sore from yelling and screaming, my feet are killing me, I realized just how out of shape I really am, I've probably got misspellings all over this report, and I've now been up for 24 hours. But you know what?

It's all completely worth it.

[gigacoaster2k]

Awesome PTR/VTR, Kat! I had so much fun with you this weekend!

I was fine on Skyflyer until I felt it slowing down and then my heart was going like a pinwheel in a hurricane, thinking "oh ____, why the ____ did I offer to pull the cord??!!!" That was an unnerving experience, but it was fun and I would definitely do it again.

I can't believe we forgot to get park maps. Ah well, maybe next weekend!

[beastrider97]

Great trip report. I was hoping to go but couldn't. But I'll be there next weekend!

[kiruler102]

i got 8 park maps LOL

[keiko_coaster]

I had so much fun hanging with you... But there is no comparision of my non-existant voice to yours... At least you could talk haha!

[kiruler102]

Where did you go after we splitted up keiko.

[keiko_coaster]

haha. Me and Seth went to get him a gold pass.... And then just walked around and rode The Racer.. I found Kat and Giga later though.

[coaster_junky]

wow, i can't believe that i missed out on so much stuff yesterday, i was at prom all night and after prom all morning and then slept the rest of the 18th away.

[adventure2007]

Part 3: April 18, late-morning

The X-base trip was a bust. Angie, Rex and I stopped to get the above video of the Diamondback line and the rest of the group disappeared. We got to X-base to find Flight of Fear closed and a HUGE crowd of people. Rex split off at this point to go take care of some stuff, and we didn't seem him in the park after that. Angie and I stayed together and decided to head towards Action Zone slowly and hit what we could on the way. Racer was practically walk-on, I think we waited 3 trains for second seat. Red Racer (not racing in the morning) was feeling great and there was NO trim on the turnaround! That was a huge surprised and had me giddy going through the bunny hills.

After Racer, we walked past Adventure Express (broken down) and decided that since Slingshot was only $10 for a ride, we were going on it. This was my first ride on Slingshot.

The receipt for my first Slingshot ride! Nice shot of my "Diamondback red" nail polish that matches DB's track.

This is the first video that I really shot with myself in it, but you can see that I did more of this as the day went on. Angie's random thumbs up next to my ear almost made me crack up laughing.

Slingshot was a lot of fun. Not something I'll go out of my way to do again, but definitely fun and definitely worth trying. It didn't feel like it went as high as I know it does, and we only got one complete flip and only one half inversion out of it.

From there, we continued on our quest to Action Zone. Drop Tower had a 1 hour wait so we skipped it in favor of Xtreme Skyflyer, which was also running a $10 a person special. We quickly bought our tickets:

and got a little video before going on.

Angie pulled the rip cord. I'm glad she did. I don't think I could have done it. I was shaking by the time we got to the top. This ride is the only ride that has ever actually scared me. We split the cost of the DVD because my girly scream coming down the first swing was totally worth it. I've never screamed like that on a ride, ever. Did I mention I want to do it again and again and again?

After Skyflyer, we checked Flight Deck's line. It was long. As was Drop Tower, Delirium and Son of Beast (Invertigo was broken down). We realized about then that neither of us had eaten breakfast and we'd been at the park around 6 hours, so it was time for lunch! I do my best to avoid buying park food because a.) it's expensive and b.) eating when it's hot and I feel rushed will usually make me sick. So we left the park and headed towards the LaRosa's that's a very short distance from the park. Rex ended up joining us there before heading back to his hotel to crash (he's been up at least 30 hours straight by that time), but at least we got to hang out with him over lunch. I'm sure me and Angie frightened him a little - we're good at that.

Heading out to the parking lot, we got a nice surprise - the Diamondback busses were lined up in the old tram area! It was cool to see them in person. And this time, that huge line really was the season pass processing. I felt bad for the people in it, but Kawana said he tried to tell them they could get in on their voucher and come back and they were jerks. So oh well.

Hey hey Kat, it is me Brian the red head that rode the first morning rides with you and the gang . I am really happy to see that you rode Slingshot , I know you were looking forward to it. Wish I could have rode it with you guys. Hope to see you at the park again !! It was fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheCryptRaider]

I saw you! I didn't recognize you though. The guy with the "I AM MCLOVIN" shirt was one of the many people I saw over and over. I do remember him being with a big group, which was you guys, and then being alone.

[keiko_coaster]

I was in the neon colors.. ahah. I was wearing a neon green jacket with zebras on it and then a bright blue polo from american eagle.

[DropZone99]

Great videos! Nice seeing you yesterday too! I saw alot of KICers.

[goofywdw]

Loved your VTR! I read the whole thing and watched every video because I wasn't able to go into the park to ride until 7:45.

I totally agree with you, the park is just amazing. I was able to ride The Beast at night front row and it was AMAZING! I don't remember it being that fast and it was so smooth. I left the park at about 10:30ish after getting the last ride on Delirium! (woot! not as good as giga's last train on Diamondback. I wasn't able to ride it today though but loved watching everyone having so much fun on it while I was out at the parking tolls. Can't wait to head into the park again as a guest! Too bad it isn't open today or I would have definitely been there.

I wish I could have met up with you guys and finally meet some KIC members in person but maybe another time. Enjoyed your report! Thanks for taking the time to do that!

[TopThrill]

Yeah nice video trip report, I remember standing in the station for the front seat and see that line snake back around to RiverTown. lol

[RexandtheBeast.com]

Great report, Kat. It was great to meet you Angie and the others...I'm just sorry my day had to end so soon (due to the circumstances to be expanded upon later)! Rest assured, Rex and The Beast will be planning another blowout day at KI in the near future and we hope to have a huge group of KIC'ers out with us when we have that trip. We will let you know when our podcast and video go up on our site. Thanks again, and we will see you around the forums!

[Rollercoast19]

That is me, second from the right. I planned on wearing the KICentral shirt you designed, but I kept messing up while making the shirt. The first time I unknowingly printed the logo on the wrong side and then tried to iron the transfer. Which caused a lot of white transfer ink to become stuck on the iron. Then I finally got one of the transfers to exactly where I wanted it on the back, but it didn't transfer completely. I don't think I had the iron hot enough. I still plan on making the shirt, and I will wear it on future trips to Kings Island.

[violakat03]

That's what happens when sports fanatics try to do crafty stuff.

Couldn't resist.

Hope you get it to work out better. For the best results, turn the iron ALL the way up. I had mine on setting 8 out of 9. DO NOT go back over it. Leave it sitting for 15-20 seconds in one spot and then move it and do not come back to that spot or it will scorch the design and turn it a little yellow.

[Rollercoast19]

You're right. I can't do crafty stuff, never could

I will have to try your technique. On the instructions it said to do 1/2'' circles, but that obviously didn't turn out right.

[violakat03]

You're right. I can't do crafty stuff, never could

I will have to try your technique. On the instructions it said to do 1/2'' circles, but that obviously didn't turn out right.

When you do, make sure you clip off all the excess paper around the design. The less you have to stick on there, the better. Do it on a hard surface (I used my dining room table) covered in an ironed pillowcase. Wash and dry your shirt so that if it's going to shrink at all it'll do it then and not after you get the design on. Iron the shirt first and then let it cool down before you put the design down. If you notice some spots that don't look like they are sticking down as well, you can hold the iron on them for just a few seconds.

If you want to do a design on both sides, don't take the paper off of the first side before doing the second or your design will crack a little bit (learned this the hard way).

[Justin_M17]

Very nice idea. I'd never thought to do a video trip report

I really wish I could've met up with you guys/gals. I was doing my best to keep a keen eye out for KIC members (But having not been to any KIC events I can't recognize anyone on sight) so I was limited to looking for KIC shirts

[Tomkatt7]

WOW, so jealous.

It looks like everyone had a great time! The videos were really cool.

I will see everyone on the RWW in May!

[violakat03]

Great report, Kat. It was great to meet you Angie and the others...I'm just sorry my day had to end so soon (due to the circumstances to be expanded upon later)! Rest assured, Rex and The Beast will be planning another blowout day at KI in the near future and we hope to have a huge group of KIC'ers out with us when we have that trip. We will let you know when our podcast and video go up on our site. Thanks again, and we will see you around the forums!

I guess I should stop obsessively checking your site for updates then, shouldn't I? I've been looking at least once an hour to see if you've posted anything.

And your forgot to text me when you got to your hotel yesterday.

[Ogrmac]

Awesome report Kat! I really enjoyed hanging out with you guys, even if it was for a short time!! Glad you had a good time!

[Tom76257]

Great VTR, Kat. I especially liked the video of the fountains. It was a pleasure meeting you, Angie, and all the other KIC'ers yesterday. I hope to see you all on Ride Warriors Weekend!

[RexandtheBeast.com]

Great report, Kat. It was great to meet you Angie and the others...I'm just sorry my day had to end so soon (due to the circumstances to be expanded upon later)! Rest assured, Rex and The Beast will be planning another blowout day at KI in the near future and we hope to have a huge group of KIC'ers out with us when we have that trip. We will let you know when our podcast and video go up on our site. Thanks again, and we will see you around the forums!

I guess I should stop obsessively checking your site for updates then, shouldn't I? I've been looking at least once an hour to see if you've posted anything.

And your forgot to text me when you got to your hotel yesterday.

Sorry about that...I ended up going straight to the airport to catch an early flight back to Denver and totally forgot....so...I made it back!

[Kawana]

You're right about the single rider supervisor. She was kind of a jerk to me too. I love how she told me that you have to prove you're a single rider. I still don't know how that's going to go. Seems like there are still some kinks that need to be worked out. I mentioned Maverick's single rider line and that perhaps it should have been split like that and her response was "We're not Cedar Point, we're Kings Island." I said that both parks were owned by the same company and her response was the same, "We're Kings Island." That was fairly rude I thought. I hope to be able to use the single rider line when I go alone this season, but I may need to check with the park to see what criteria is being used that day.

[Ashers]

Great report, Violakat! I really love how you did it in video form! I wish I would have gotten the chance to meet up with you guys on Saturday. I'm glad you guys had fun. I definitely need to ride DB in the back row! I love the video you did at the end....you pretty much summed up everything I was feeling that day with your introspective words by the fountain!

~Ash