4/25 Season-Opening TR with photos (but not true PTR)

[touchdown62]

This is going to be my first attempt at a PTR, well, partial PTR. What a beautiful day for an amusement park! Our group of 4 had an early start. Me and my friend Michelle left Muncie at 6:30 to meet up with friends Andy and Eric in Noblesville at 7:30 . We left Andy's house, had breakfast at Micky D's, then we were on the road. We made great time getting from Noblesville to Kings Island, arriving in the parking lot about 9:45. Except for KICentral.com event days, we have never been there for the open of the park. I was in the front of the park in time for the National Anthem. Andy and Michelle were in Guest Relations getting their free tickets (Andy works at Fox 59 in Indy), and Eric was there trying to pull up his ticket order (he forgot his ticket in his dorm room at UIndy). While Eric was trying to find his ticket, then subsequently having to buy a new ticket, I started playing with my new LG Versa camera phone.

I don't know what the blue thing is, but it was pretty creepy at 10 in the morning.

Looks like the camera phone is working OK, so tried something a little more picturesque.

Awesome. The Royal Fountain was very lovely.

Well, Eric is in a long line to get a new ticket, so the 3 of us decided to start off with a warm-up ride...

Oh yeah baby, Diamondback!!!

Unfortunately, our friend Michelle couldn't fit in the test seat, so it was just me and Andy riding the tallest thing I've ever ridden. He was in row 7, and I was in row 8, with my left leg hanging over NOTHING. Andy said he was scared. At least half his body wasn't hanging over the edge of the train. We were off climbing to the heavens, then, without so much as a pause, we were plummeting toward the earth. OMG what a rush. The speed and air time were incredible. What a way to start the day and the season.

Then we were off to

The Beast!!!

The new plaza and landscaping look amazing. There was only about a 5 minute wait, then we were off on the longest (and best) wooden coaster in the world. The Beast seemed happy to be running again and giving thrills only The Beast can give. The track work done in the helix in the off-season made for a very smooth ride, which allowed us to enjoy the speed of the coaster instead of the roughness, and it sure was FAST!

We decided to get some pics of Diamondback in the background of The Beast:

And from Beast Plaza:

Next up was Vortex. The orange tube rails look very nice, but would be really nice to see the support structure get a new coat of paint, before the ride completely sinks (wink wink nudge nudge )

Going into the double loop I cracked the back of my skull on the seat (first time that ever happened), so I don't know if that is why I was dizzy at the end, or the mind-numbing G's that scramble your brain.

We decided to head toward X-Base. Flight of Fear had a long line outside the building, so we headed for Firehawk. There we had the longest wait of the day, 35-45 minutes. I almost wonder if FH is faster this year, or we had the benefit of fresh wheels, but I was really sucked deep into my seat in the loop. Very exciting ride.

It was getting on 2:00, so we headed to Rivertown Junction to try the new buffet. The food looked pretty good, but some of the fried chicken looked kinda dry. I found a good looking breast (chicken breast, get your head out of the gutter), smushed potatoes, stuffing, and a turkey slice. The chicken was kinda dry. So was the stuffing, but nothing a little gravy couldn't fix. The potatoes and turkey were good. Round 2. Spaghetti and meatballs and garlic breadsticks. Very tasty, but the pasta was extremely filling. The pasta became a lump in my stomach which lasted a couple hours. This can be a good value for the money if you can get a good amount of food, but with the spaghetti being so filling, I didn't get my money's worth... this time.

With a big lump of food in our stomachs, we headed to Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. A line in air conditioning. You bet! Andy made one of his demonic faces and actually made a kid behind us cry. I would cry too if a balding 30-year-old, 6'7, 300# guy turned and looked like one of the clowns in Stephen King's It.

Eric wanted to get wet, so we went to Congo Falls. Actually about a 10 minute wait, but got into the front of the boat. Me, Andy, and Michelle are not small people (Eric kinda is), so we had about a half-ton in the front row. Man, what a wave. Andy and Eric didn't duck and got blasted. Michelle and I did, so the kids behind us got nailed. Eric and I decided we weren't wet enough, so we played chicken on the bridge. With shoes and socks in hand (behind my back), I stared down the waves. First one missed me completely. Second one nailed me. Even with my head down, I got water up my nose. Eric was completely soaked in front. We took 1 more wave. I took the frontal shot, while Eric turned his back. Got nailed again. Sufficiently wet, we headed out, and I dripped for a bit before putting my shoes and socks back on.

Next up, Adventure Express. Actually a line here too. 10 minute wait. Coaster is jerky as usual. Animatronics at the end weren't working, so we took over the duty of beating the air drums.

Next up the road, naturally, was Racer. We decided on Blue since I haven't ridden that much since the re-reversal of the Red Racer. Love the classic down-back nature of this coaster. Got off and had to take this picture:

Oh my. Ummmm, wow. So much to say, much of it inappropriate, so off to Viking Fury.

Even over the immature screaming of school-aged girls, we were able to do our adult-aged immature Ruffio chants. Not many people got it. Get off your X Boxes and PS3s and watch some movies, for crying out loud.

A crane stalking its next meal.

To complete the drying cycle from Congo Falls, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. Elevator was running quite slow. When we asked why, they said it was because of the wind. Makes sense. On the way to the top, Jennifer (pkipoodle) was our guide up the tower. Last year she was a good little company woman and didn't disclose any information regarding the Swan Lake project. I remembered, so when she asked if there were any questions, I asked if that construction project was going to be a new roller coaster. She played along, even sharing some of the rumors started about the project, like a 3-tiered carousel, where all 3 levels moved in different directions at the same time. I liked that one.

It was quite windy on top of the tower. Perfect for drying off clothing and prevent crotch-pot cooking. Not so perfect for taking pictures with new camera phone. Got some decent shots, as seen below, but was scared of losing the phone to the big blow.

You can actually see all of the Wild Thornberrys ride since the leaves aren't fully out yet.

Boomerang Bay is WAAAAYYYY out there!

After we came down off the Tower, we went to the Grand Carousel.

There were 2 little squirrels poking their heads out of the Living Liberty Bell support. Hard to see in pic, but they were very cute.

Got to the carousel, and ran into Jennifer again. She gave me a bit of cr#p for not being able to get on an uppy-downy horse. Here's the horse I rode:

After this, we wanted ice cream, so we tried going to the ice cream stand in Nick U, but they didn't have chocolate, so we went to the one in Action Zone. I got my chocolate twist cone. Andy got one, but we think he got hosed. Had a kid-sized amount of ice cream, but had the height of a regular cone. He and Michelle also had chocolate twist. Eric went for the full blueberry.

While there, we went for Flight Deck. Practically a walk-on. It's an OK ride anymore, and I'm to the point now where I can sleep through the ride and not miss anything. Sorry, FD fans, but I don't see the thrill in it anymore.

To kill time, we decided to cause a little mayhem on the Dodgem bumper cars. People try to avoid contact. Forget that! They're our targets!! We took 3 trips on the bumper cars, chasing people the whole time. To kill more time, we headed back to the Grand Carousel. We all wanted our rides on the moving horses. Here's the second horse:

The park really does do a good job in keeping these horses looking beautiful.

After that, we went on cruise control and ended up on the path between BLSC and DB, just eye-h***ing (sounds like: thumping) that sexy new coaster :wub: . Michelle wanted to ride the Crypt, and the rest of us wanted to ride DB again, so we went to our respective rides. The DB line was about 30 minutes. Not bad for a brand new coaster and the park overrun with middle school bands. We saw a group of people smoking and boozing in line and ran into a supervisor right before the stairs to the platform. We told him about it. The group was only a few feet ahead of us. When we were talking to the sup, one of the guys tried to start ciggy #3 for the line. He didn't get very far. They quickly sharpened up and didn't smoke or drink anymore. I have pics of them if anyone wants to see them. We got to the platform and told the toll booth person, ummmm, I mean ride op we had 3. Andy and Eric were put into row 1, and I was put in row 2 with a random single rider. He ended up being a cool kid. He was going for his 3rd ride of the day. It was our second, and obviously first in the front car. Totally different experience the second time around. The climb was amazing. I haven't brought myself to look around the park on the way up yet. Then we got to the top and started going over the edge. Being in the first car, we got to hang looking almost straight down for what seemed like an eternity. What a feeling. Then gravity took over, and it was one of the most thrilling rides I have ever been on. 80 mph with nothing in front of me to deflect the wind. That, plus I'm hanging over the right side of the car. The air time was amazing. I have never felt so much air time, and considering I needed an extra push for that 3rd click, the air time was surprising. It felt like I would never get back in my seat. What an awesome ride, and so incredibly smooth. Diamondback is a keeper.

Still on a time-killing mission, we went for a ride on the KI&MVRR to try to get a few pics in the remaining light of the day. Here's what I was able to take, kinda haunting in the wee light of twilight:

Hard to take clear shots on a moving train.

After the train, it was time to get in line for one last ride on The Beast, so we thought.

The wait was about a half-hour, so we got on with the hopes of getting through the ride and running back around before the (alleged) cut-off of 9:50. Beast held up its end of the bargain by giving us a very dark, very thrilling, extremely fast ride, and we had 6 minutes to get in the start house, get off, and book back to the entrance. Well, we were third in line. One in the house, one in the brake run, then us in the secondary brakes. Yikes. We're boned. First train goes, we move up. Second train has some issue with the kid, errr, ride op talking on the phone. Get off the phone. What's the deal. AARRGGHH now you're checking seats!!!! MOVE IT!!! Second train finally goes. We get in and teleport from the seats to the exit ramp. We have about 60 seconds to get back into the line. 3 fat people and one skinny fart. I'm surprised we didn't hurt ourselves or other innocents. Michelle found the emergency exit gate, which was open. Cheater.Not sure when the line officially closed because about 30 people got in behind us between 9:50 and 10:00. We were in a position in the queue to watch the fireworks, then wait impatiently for Beast to reopen and cycle us through. At 10:00, we saw some kids try to get into line, but was chased off by one of the ride ops sent down to close the line. We were concerned people would try to sneak into the queue's emergency exit, and sure enough, after the first train came back and unloaded, 2 people snuck in that door. We were about to get ticked off until I recognized Cory B. I told my buddies it was OK. He worked in the park. I didn't know the female with him, but I'm assuming she works there also. Sorry if you're a KICer. If you are, let me know your name so I can forget it the next time I see you there. We talked for a few minutes before we got in position to take one of the last rides of the night. Cory actually remembered the conversation we had waiting for The Beast ERT at the inaugural KICentral.com:The Event. Eric wanted to ride in 3-3-3, so we waited for a bit. Train 3 was second-to-last for the night, and what a ride it was. No moon. No lights. Dark tunnels. Fog rising off the ground. Magical. We took a nice quiet walk back to the front of the park and took a few final pics to cap off the day.

Very haunting in this light.

Good night, Kings Island. See you for Ride Warriors Weekend!

[touchdown62]

Some more pics from our day:

REPTAR!!

Now for Diamondback shaking its tail feather!!

And splashdown from the Eiffel Tower

Geez this thing is tall

And now for some unintentional artistic photography:

[touchdown62]

Sorry, too long?

[The Interpreter]

Why on earth are you apologizing? It's a fantastic trip report with great pictures!

[standbyme]

^As The Interpreter said, there is CERTAINLY no need to apologize...your trip report was a lot of fun to read...you have a good sense of humor! (Even without the pictures I would have enjoyed it...which says a lot.)

Thanks for taking the time to do it!

By the way...have they sped up the bumper cars since last year?

[Thrill_Biscuit]

This is one of the most excellent PTRs I've ever read! Nice job! The Royal Fountains being feathered by the wind is one of my faves. I think yours is probably the first picture of a crane at Kings Island that isn't used for construction!

Good show!

[touchdown62]

^As The Interpreter said, there is CERTAINLY no need to apologize...your trip report was a lot of fun to read...you have a good sense of humor! (Even without the pictures I would have enjoyed it...which says a lot.)

Thanks for taking the time to do it!

By the way...have they sped up the bumper cars since last year?

I don't think they're any faster than last year, but it does seem like the ride cycle is a bit longer. Gives us more of a chance to get the ones who drive around and don't want to get hit.