4/24 Trip Report (or story)

[Tchu]

This might more accurately be a story, and less a Trip Report… is so, I apologize in advance!

It had been an interesting start to the amusement park season. I've always been a big fan of Kings Island, and have been enjoying the heck outta roller coasters since I was about 12 or 13 years old. It has been in the last couple of years that my enjoyment has crossed over into that "enthusiasts" territory. And in that spirit, for the first time ever, my wife and I bought season passes (Platinum) and, also planned for the very first time to be at KI on opening day.

I had been following Diamondback's life since the beginning and was practically salivating at the thought of April 18^th. It was going to be fantastic.

And then came the evening of March 28^th. One fall, cracking the back of my head on my parents' deck, while home visiting for the weekend, and my plans were changed. I was diagnosed with a concussion and told that it would be wise to stay off of roller coasters until the symptoms were more or less gone. Meanwhile, I walked around with a constant headache, dizziness, and occasional nausea, and kissed my April 18^th date with DB good-bye.

The weekend of the 24^th – 26^th rolls around. Feeling much better (though not perfect) and getting the thumbs up from my doctor, my wife and I planned for a trip to the Island on 4/25.

Friday afternoon at 2:45, I'm out running errands in the beautiful weather when a thought hits me… it would be a gorgeous evening to go to the park. At 3:00, I called my wife up at work and said "would you be able to, and would you want to take the rest of the day off, sneak out a couple hours early and go to Kings Island tonight instead?"

At 3:30, she got the go-ahead from her boss, drove home, and we were off, hoping to enjoy the great weather and a less crowded park than we were likely to find on Saturday.

Not ten minutes in the car, and we hit the dreaded Columbus traffic on I-270 and I-71. Not only that, but the sunny skies quickly turn cloudy… big black storm clouds. And all of a sudden, I'm apologizing to my wife for dragging her outta work early.

We finally get to Mason, traffic lifting outside of C-bus, and find that the sunny skies have returned. We grab a bite to eat at Wendy's (to save a couple bucks) and then head for the park at a out 6:15 PM.

And it's dead.

I've never in my 15 years of going to Kings Island seen the park that empty. The parking lot was showing a lot of empty spots, but the line for Season Pass processing led me to believe the park would still be fairly crowded.

We stepped through the gates and International Street was a ghost town. We power walked all the way back to Diamondback (probably not passing more than a dozen people along the way) and hop in line. It's just under the lift… maybe 8 or so minutes, and we're quickly seated in row 12.

Unbelievable ride. I'll post my review of the coaster in the appropriate thread, but this thing lived up to all the hype… and there was a LOT of hype and expectations.

Loved it so much, we jumped right back in line. Though the general consensus seemed to be that DB was a "back seat" ride, I had heard a couple people mention that the front was where it was at… so this time, we requested Row 1, and the ride op was kind enough to grant our request. Front seat added about 3-5 extra minutes to the wait, but it was worth it. Count me among those who think the back is incredible, but the front is just a little bit better!

Taking a break from DB, we headed to what had been my favorite KI coaster, The Beast. New sign looks great, though I still would have preferred walking under the sing (ala Diamondback) as the entrance. Nonetheless, the redesigned entrance area (all of Rivertown, for that matter) looked fantastic.

Walked on to The Beast and immediately felt claustrophobic after having ridden on the amazing DB trains, which are literally just elevated seats on a floor. Funny little story…

As we're waiting for the train to dispatch, on of the ride ops gets on the intercom and goes into the whole "Just a reminder, the use of electronic devices while onboard The Beast is prohibited" speech. And though it's kept general, he's looking directly at someone in the very front of the train. Whoever it was who was trying to text or set up their phone to record video, they didn't seem to care, and kept the phone out in their hands. The Ride Op now goes specific, looking right at the person and sternly saying "Put the Cell Phone Away. Put it away so we can dispatch the train". This prompted a young child (girl, I believe) who sounded no older than probably 8, to yell "Hey, putchya cellphone away! I wanna ride!" Got a laugh out of several of us on the train (and apparently did the trick for the offender, b/c the train dispatched immediately afterward)

Beast was a blast, but felt rougher than ever before. Likely because of the smoothness of DB. Still, I contest that the Double Helix is the greatest finale on any coaster anywhere.

Got in line for Firehawk, but they were only running 1 train, and so despite only a couple hundred people in line, the attendant at the entrance said it was about a 40 minute wait. No thanks… especially with the remnants of a concussion… that forces of that loop would not have done me well. Nearly black out as is even when feeling fine.

So it was on to Vortex. Newly painted rails look great… sound awful. The screeching while stuck in the block brakes on Beast for ten minutes (of which the crew was extremely apologetic. Thumbs up to The Beast crew who were working at about 7 o'clock on Friday night) was painful on the ears. Still, a fun ride, but some of the classic Arrow-transitions banged my wife and I up pretty good. And neither of us were feeling too great after getting off that one.

So we took a break, walked around, got my better half a six-dollar cup of Dip N Dots…

And then it was back to Diamondback. This time, we got the very last row… better than Row 12, but still not quite as good as Row 1. I think it's the ejector air that you get over hill 5 in the front row that separates it from the back, in my opinion.

Arm got soaked on the splash. Soaked.

A night ride on The Beast (probably still the best night ride ever) and then finally, a night ride on Diamondback. Had just gotten in line when they stopped the train on the lift and announced "technical difficulties". I couldn't believe the people that immediately flocked from the line. There were two young kids with their father waiting just behind us. The dad wanted to leave, the boys wanted to stay and try to ride DB. The father told them "we'll wait it out a couple more minutes". Thankfully for the youngsters, the ride was up and running again about 5 or 6 minutes later and they got to ride.

We went Row 2 this time… incredible ride at night. Perfect way to end the evening. Had a nice chat with the gentlemen in Row 1 as we sat parked in the brakes and strolled back to the station.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening. So worth it to take off from work early and head down. Perfect weather and no waits for anything (other than Firehawk).

Hoping to get back in a couple weeks. Just a wonderful evening at the park. Next time, I plan on taking the camera and getting some pictures. But for a three hour evening in the park… dedicated to riding our favorites… amazing night.

[The Interpreter]

Great trip report! I am thrilled you got to experience Kings Island's newest attraction!