Ashers & kjkjkj PTR/VTR Opening Day!

[Ashers]

First of all I just want to say I was so happy reading everyone else's trip reports. I'm so glad that everyone else seemed to have as much fun as we did on opening day this year! My brother kjkjkj(Kyle) has been to 'opening day' before, but this was my first time going to one! I can't tell you how completely excited I was for Saturday to get here.

On Friday I had to work from 3:00-9:00pm. I think that could have possibly been the slowest, longest day of my life! My brother and I were calling each other off and on all day screaming incoherently at each other about KI and Diamondback. My coworkers were not so amused. Kyle also told me later in the day that my cousin Olivia had decided at the last minute to renew her gold pass from last year, so we immediately made plans to leave even earlier in the morning. So, after my 6 hour day at work that felt like an ETERNITY I finally got home and we started getting everything ready for the next day. My cousin Olivia had decided to spend the night as well, and she wasn't so thrilled to find out we would be leaving between 5-5:30am! Olivia ended up falling asleep fairly early, around 11:00pm. Kyle and I just kept looking at each other and saying "Um....maybe we better TRY and get some sleep." I ended up laying down and I was going to attempt to sleep, and then Kyle came in and layed down on my floor to pet my dog, and he just decided to crash there for the night. Except....we couldn't sleep at all. We kept talking about KI and the anticipation of riding Diamondback, and all of our other favorite rides. Finally Kyle must've fallen asleep...probably around 1:30am. I, on the other hand, had no such luck. I think I ended up posting on here at about 2:00am, and the last time I looked at the clock it was 3:30am.

On Saturday my alarm clock went off at 4:30am. My first thought was....ugghh....soo.....tired. Next thought...Diamondback!!! So we quickly got ready and ended up leaving at about 5:30am. After a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for some coffee,bagels,and muffins, we were on our way. It was so weird to be driving to KI in the dark!

Here we are getting ready to leave.

I look EXTREMELY excited.

Kyle snagged these pictures of KI on the way in.

We arrived at the gate at about 6:30am. We parked in the gold pass lot and headed up to the entrance. Olivia had to process her pass, which we thought would be a disaster, but it really only took a couple of minutes and then we jumped in line. There were a few lines to get through the metal detectors, and everyone seemed to just get in the REALLY long one that branched out from the middle. We got in line all the way to the left, right next to the line all of the auction winners were getting in to register. The middle branch ended up going back really far past the entrance....I don't know why people didn't get in the other lines, but we ended up being pretty close to the front.

Here are some pics of us being goofy waiting on them to let us in. I'm the short blonde one. Kyle, of course is the boy. And Olivia is the brunette.

A shot of Invertigo Kyle took.

We waited until about 8:00am for them to let us through the metal detectors. After that it was a mad chaotic dash over to the roped off area near Scooby Doo. At first everyone ran over that way, then people started running back to Starbucks, and there was a guy standing there near the ropes that told everyone to run BACK to Scooby Doo. Finally we all got situated.

This was the line in front of us.

Me with my gold pass!

They were supposed to be checking the gold passes as people went through the line, but everyone just ended up running past the girl holding their pass in the air. They ended up letting people through in small groups at about 9:00am. By the time we got up there though, everyone was just kind of going as soon as they got up there. I really don't think they had anything organized very well. I wish they would have had a sign or someone directing us when we got through the front gates telling us where to go to line up for ERT. And I know anyone could have gotten through for ERT, you probably didn't even need a gold pass to get through, with the way they were "checking" passes. They did have a couple of people telling you not to run, but nobody was listening to them.:|

This is where we ended up in line. Oh, and there's a $22 million coaster in the background.

At this point we were pretty much jumping up and down, screaming, and I was getting a little teary eyed just because I couldn't believe we were ACTUALLY in line for Diamondback. Here are a couple of videos of us in line, and you can see how many people were in front of us. Click on each one to view the 3 seperate videos! And, uh....ignore the stupid faces we are all making...lol.

And now on to part two, because I have no clue how many pics I'm allowed to have in one post!

[The Interpreter]

I've been waiting on this one. You all have so much fun, and it shows!

Keep it coming!

Terpy

[DropZone99]

I really wish we could of hung out! I'm glad you guys had a good time though! Whens the next time your going?

[Monroe]

Well Terpy said what I wanted to say, but he said it first so I can't say that now. So I will just say some thing different.

Keep it coming PLEASE!

Oh and THANK YOU.

(No knock on you Terpy, just trying not to say what you said.)

[Ashers]

Part 2:

The energy for Diamondback's line was AMAZING. Everyone was so excited, and you could hear everyone cheering going up the lift hill. It was so awesome to be a part of that.

DB's entrance sign!

A quick look at the new and improved Rivertown!

DB's lift hill, and you can see the queue shade coverings at the bottom of the pic.

So beautiful!!

Splashdown!

We were SO excited!!!

Pay attention, people!

Kyle caught DB slithering up the lift hill!

Oh yes, oh yes, I AM a Diamondback Fangirl!!

DB Station.

It looks so HUGE when you are standing in line!

Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

I think this is now a signature shot...

We made our way through the line, and it only took about 40-50 minutes. We were too excited to remember to time it. Kyle and I ended up getting assigned to row 11, Olivia was behind us in 12. Kyle and I were hugging each other and jumping up and down as we were about to get on, we were so happy. We quickly got in our seats as soon as they let us through, and they were so comfy. They checked every seat and had us out of there in less than a minute. It's all kind of a blur to me now, because I was just so excited. I had tears in my eyes as we were going up the lift hill. I turned to Kyle and said "Can you believe we are actually on Diamondback after a year and a half of waiting?!" Everyone was cheering, clapping, and screaming on the way up. Like I said, it was kind of a blur, but I do remember the view from the top of the first hill was amazing. After that first breathtaking drop all I remember is just floating out of my seat and screaming in pure joy. The air time was completely amazing. I turned around in my seat as we went through the splashdown, and that was so cool to see that huge wall of water coming at you. Let's just say I loved every second of it, and I cannot wait to ride it again. After we got off, we went down the exit and got our free t-shirts. Ronny was at the exit, and everyone was shaking his hand and saying hi to him. Tried to stop and say hey, Ronny, but you seemed super busy! After that we went to get our ORP. That line was huge. I think it took longer for us to get through that line than it did to get on DB. After you tell them what you want, you have to wait in ANOTHER huge line just to get your picture. It was really crazy in there, but the employees were doing a great job in trying to keep order.

Here are some pics of us with our First Rider t-shirts!!

Okay so after riding one of THE BEST coasters I've ever been on, Kyle and Olivia make me ride.....Plankton's Plunge. Seriously. HA! I guess they REALLY wanted to feel like kids again..lol. It was actually pretty fun, if not slightly embarrassing.

Patrick wishes he had a first rider t-shirt.

After that we decided to go out to the car and put a bunch of stuff back, like sweatshirts and our ORP. We ran into Avatar on the way out to the parking lot and chatted for a few minutes, and then we stopped by the DB buses to get a pic.

Upon re-entering the park, Kyle snapped these shots.

We decided to eat at Outer Hanks for lunch. I don't really like it, but Kyle & Olivia love it.

After Outer Hanks, we went to Adventure Express. There was a wait, but it only took about 10-15 minutes to get on. Great ride, as usual! After AE we headed over to Coney Mall.

We went into the Candy Confections(I think that's what it's called), right as you enter Coney Mall, just to look around, and we saw these.

Scooby Doo shirts seeming to reference drugs.....they said "baked", "munchies", "Scooby Doobie", and something else I can't remember. We found that kind of....odd.

We left that store and went on one of my favorite coasters!

We rode Red Racer, all the way in the back. Having the trim turned off on the turn around was AMAZING. So much air time. I loved it.

A pic of the midway near Racer.

Olivia and I. I bought that hat at Attitudes that day!

After that we headed over to Scrambler.

We stapled all three of us into one car, and that had to be one of the funniest things...EVER. We could barely breathe, and everyone was laughing at us. Luckily we made Kyle sit on the outside, so he was squished the entire time. It was so hilarious. I had tears streaming down my face by the time it was over from laughing so hard.

After that it was time to head back over to Rivertown. Olivia's stomach was hurting, so we decided we should take a nice ride on the KI&MVRR.

On to Part 3!

[kittenpooh]

Those shirts are really odd. I wouldnt have thought KI would have made shirts like that.....

[The Interpreter]

Well, KI didn't make them, but they do choose to sell them in what is a family park. I wonder if they would have problems admitting guests wearing those shirts...which were bought at...Kings Island, where else?

I'm also a bit surprised that the current owner of Scooby would allow his use on shirts like that.

[Ashers]

On our way to the train we of course had to take some more pics of DB & Rivertown.

Waterfall!

Oh yeah, and Dippin Dots got a face lift!

The train was nice and relaxing.

Some shots of DB from the train!

After the train, Olivia still didn't feel good so Kyle & I headed over to The Crypt! Other than DB, I think this was the ride Kyle was most excited to ride this season.

They actually had music playing inside the queue! It made the experience of waiting in line so much better. Sadly, when you got on the ride, it was still the same old 'wind' noise as last year. Fun ride program, though! Kyle was so happy to finally ride it.

After The Crypt Olivia felt better, so all three of us headed to The Beast.

The new entrance area looks great!

The area near the Crypt entrance looks really beautiful too.

Another pic of DB! You just can't resist taking pictures of it. It's so pretty.

We ended up waiting about an hour or so for The Beast. By the time we got through that line we were all pretty much falling asleep standing up. I would have stayed longer, but I knew that if I had to make it for the drive home we had to leave soon. The Beast was awesome as usual. I love hearing the clicking noise as the train catches when it goes up the lift hill. And I LOVE the smell of the grease! We really felt the improvements from the trackwork that was done. It was such a smooth ride, and it felt like you were going 100mph through that helix! No matter how fun DB is, riding The Beast always feels like coming home.

Even though we all wanted one more ride on DB, we were just so exhausted that we knew it was time to go. Only we had to make ONE more stop before we left.

Blue ice cream!!!!!!

I think we ended up leaving the park at about 5:00pm or so. It was such a wonderful day. My only regret is that we didn't get to meet up with anybody, but I'm hoping that we can meet up with people throughout the summer or at RWW. I did introduce myself briefly to Angie, and talked for just a second to Avatar. I saw a few KIC members from afar, but I would have really loved to spend some time riding with people and just getting to talk and get to know everyone in person. But anyway, the park looked great. I saw so many employees cleaning all day in their snazzy yellow jumpsuits. The DB crew was awesome, getting everything done so quickly and efficiently. I wish more people would have been cheering while riding The Beast, though. It's not every year he turns 30! Rivertown looked absolutely stunning. I felt like I was walking around a completely different park. The atmosphere was just buzzing with excitement. I love the changes to The Beast entrance, and around the Crypt. The new DB Outpost and Snake Pit look great as well. I didn't even know how much work was going into that area, and it really just made me so grateful for everything CF has done to this park. I wish I could've stayed longer that day, but I'm so glad we got to ride the things we did, and just to be a part of the opening day DB rush was awesome. I can't wait to go back again, and hopefully I'll see some of you next time! But it was definitely like a great big sigh of relief to see my baby again after so many months of waiting.

~Ashers & kjkjkj

[Ashers]

I've been waiting on this one. You all have so much fun, and it shows!

Keep it coming!

Terpy

Thanks Terpy! Yes, we always have so much fun everywhere we go. Sometimes it shows a little TOO much.... Thanks again, hope you enjoyed the TR! And I have no idea why they had those shirts in that store. I think I saw them last year too.

I really wish we could of hung out! I'm glad you guys had a good time though! Whens the next time your going?

Thanks angrybeaver for reading! I know, I can't believe we texted all day and never hung out. It looked like you guys had a great time from your TR too! We're going on Sunday!

Thanks Monroe for reading, too!

And Kittenpooh.....are you in our picture of the crowd waiting for ERT? I see a blue bow on the back of someone's ponytail, and I just wondered if it was you!

~Ash

[DropZone99]

Sadly I'm not going this weekend, But I'll be there next weekend the weekend after.

[gigacoaster2k]

I love the hat, that looks really cute on you! Your enthusiasm seems to be about the same as mine, which makes me even sadder that I didn't meet up with you to ride anything. Those Scooby shirts are hilarious.. which store did you find them in again? I might get one for my brother.

AMAZING pics of Diamond, by the way.

[kjkjkj]

Yeah, the day was AMAZING! We had such an awesome time. The park looks great this year, especially Rivertown. I LOVED Diamondback! It had so much airtime! I had a great time at the park, and enjoyed the day. I wish we could have met up with some people, but there's always the whole summer to do that! Diamondback is my second favorite ride in Kings Island as of right now, however that might change when I get to try it in some different seats.

I also enjoyed taking TONS of pictures of all the changes we saw, and the park in general.

Angie, those shirts were in Coney Confections, the old fudge shop.

I can't wait until we get to go again this weekend!

[Ashers]

I love the hat, that looks really cute on you! Your enthusiasm seems to be about the same as mine, which makes me even sadder that I didn't meet up with you to ride anything. Those Scooby shirts are hilarious.. which store did you find them in again? I might get one for my brother.

AMAZING pics of Diamond, by the way.

Thanks! I usually don't wear hats, but I thought it was cute too! I know, Kyle and I were just talking about how we were watching the videos that Kat took....and when you were screaming in the hotel room we said "Um, that sounds awfully familiar." We were doing the exact same thing all Friday night and Saturday..lol. I wish I could've met up with you, too! Next time I want in on the Skyfler action! Yeah the Scooby shirts are funny, I just can't believe they actually sell them!

And thanks, we both love taking pictures. And DB is so photogenic and beautiful!

~Ash

[BavarianBeatle]

As always a great PTR!!! And I must agree that riding The Beast always feels like "coming home"!! As a matter of fact, it was our first ride of the season, as always, and as we went over the top of the first lift hill, I said to my kids, "We're home,...."

That started last year after their first CP trip. When we got back to KI and did the first Beast ride, they both said "there's no place like home...." I told them they sounded like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, they told me I was the wicked witch, I said they were the winged monkeys, and it was on from there.....

But our tradition now includes "there's no place like home" at the top of the first lift hill on The Beast....

[Monroe]

The pleasure is surly all mine when it comes to reading trip reports. All of them on this site are always great, because they have one major thing in common, family and friends. You and your brother remind me of my sister and myself, we do an awful lot together still. When I am away, as I am now, it is always nice to read about some one having a great time. I always pull out the web cam and call home, my wife and daughter will sit and talk with me for hours. This past week has been one of the best weeks, because it felt like I was home with all of the trip reports, and all of the cam talks (as my daughter calls them) we had. I just have one thing to say to close out: Never stop being you brothers/sisters best friend, to have a family is one thing, to have a friend is another, to have both in the same person is irreplaceable. Thanks to all who have written trip reports this week and keep them coming PLEASE.

[Ashers]

As always a great PTR!!! And I must agree that riding The Beast always feels like "coming home"!! As a matter of fact, it was our first ride of the season, as always, and as we went over the top of the first lift hill, I said to my kids, "We're home,...."

That started last year after their first CP trip. When we got back to KI and did the first Beast ride, they both said "there's no place like home...." I told them they sounded like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, they told me I was the wicked witch, I said they were the winged monkeys, and it was on from there.....

But our tradition now includes "there's no place like home" at the top of the first lift hill on The Beast....

Thank you! No matter how many different, amazing coasters I ride, The Beast will always hold a special place in my heart. It holds so many memories for me! I love that you and your kids say that every time at the top of the lift hill! Once again I have to say that I'm so disappointed that I didn't get to meet you guys on Saturday. But I will definitely look for you on Sunday! Thank you for reading!

The pleasure is surly all mine when it comes to reading trip reports. All of them on this site are always great, because they have one major thing in common, family and friends. You and your brother remind me of my sister and myself, we do an awful lot together still. When I am away, as I am now, it is always nice to read about some one having a great time. I always pull out the web cam and call home, my wife and daughter will sit and talk with me for hours. This past week has been one of the best weeks, because it felt like I was home with all of the trip reports, and all of the cam talks (as my daughter calls them) we had. I just have one thing to say to close out: Never stop being you brothers/sisters best friend, to have a family is one thing, to have a friend is another, to have both in the same person is irreplaceable. Thanks to all who have written trip reports this week and keep them coming PLEASE.

Monroe, thank you so much for writing that. I seriously got misty eyed reading it. You said it perfectly in this line..." Never stop being you brothers/sisters best friend, to have a family is one thing, to have a friend is another, to have both in the same person is irreplaceable." Even though my brother is so much younger than me, I feel like we are kindred spirits sometimes. I always say that he's the teenage boy version of me. It is so nice to have someone not only to share a love of KI with, but many other things as well. I know it is very rare to find a best friend in a family member, and I never take it for granted! Our cousin Olivia fits nicely into that category too.....although she's not nearly as obsessed with KI. But really thank you for writing that, and thank you for reading and appreciating our TR and everyone else's.

[gigacoaster2k]

The pleasure is surly all mine

[Monroe]

The pleasure is surly all mine

Carnac the Magnificent says that you are the master of taking statements out of context. Your future is bright to be a reporter, defense attorney, or comedian. (Monroe who thinks all 3 are funny)

[Gordon Bombay]

Great report guys! By far the best brother/sister report team on any fan site!

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm319/K...09/IMG_3040.jpg

^That though, is quite ridiculous. Come on, you gotta be kidding me. What surprises me even more than KI selling these shirts is that they are licensed Scooby Doo merchandise..

[tigellinus]

Really great TR!! Although, it will be even better when I can actually see the pictures, which are currently firewalled by my work

But the best thing about this summer is hopefully going to KI with my fam and friends who haven't been in a few years...I'm going with my younger sister at the end of May and I hope we get along as well as you did! We went to CP in 07 and had an awesome time, but being there for her first D-back ride will be priceless along with everyone else I go with this year!

[standbyme]

Looking at these photos it is obvious that you guys are having the time of your life…it is great seeing that much enthusiasm! These photos should be of great comfort to you in the future when you are old & decrepit and sitting in a nursing home reliving the “good ole‘ days“. (How’s that for a mood swing compliment?!)