Ride warriors experience.

[IndyGuy4KI]

I had a great time with everyone. I met up with several I knew already, and met quite a few new faces. One of the biggest highlights of the day for me was rolling up to DB with a group of 22 people, and seeing the priceless look on the ride op's face when we told him how many were in our group.

The free drink wristbands were great, as was having a feeling of importance walking around with our flashy VIP badges and people around us whispering "How did they get those??"

Like Justin said, it was an amazing feeling to walk around with everyone like we've all known each other for years. I wish I'd joined KIC sooner.

When Avatar went back the second time after our almost full train of KICers, he kiddingly told told him we had 55 that time. Poor guy just about went through the roof of the station!

It is amazing how well the KIC group interacts and has fun. I miss hanging out with you guys already, can't wait to meet up with everyone again.

We were definitely the biggest group left at 1AM on Saturday ridding DB.

[Gabe]

as the night wore on for the sat night ert on db, i noticed hardly any trimming on db..by the end of the night you were literally flying through the ride. Speaking of db, I noticed sat that the single rider poicy was being loosely enforced in that groups were splitting up and being allowed to get into the single rider line. They also need a better delivery system to maintain an adequate supply of single rider passes at one time, as I often had to wait 10-15 mins for some to appear during the day on Sat.

I also saw some devious people stuff them into their pockets, then going to the main que, thereby 'banking' if you will a shorter wait the next time they rode. I overheard many of the ride ops grousing that a fair number of passes were MIA. On busy days, I think one of the ride ops should act as a runner, delivering single rider passes to the que line every 5-10 minutes. If they're already suppossed to do so, they weren't, as I noticed the greeter having to physically go up the ramp to collect passes when ones weren't being brought down.

[coasterville]

Im trying to think of the benefit of that scam.

Okay, so you enter the single rider lane, take a single rider ticket, and then jump over the main queue. By the time you get to the point where you see if the SRL is shorter you have waited through almost the entire queue?

OR are you suggesting that they are entering the SRL getting to the base of the stairs, and thinking "Maybe this wasn't such a great idea", and then going to the main queue but not returning the pass. Eve, if they did that, why not just claim another SR ticket the next time they got in line?

I don't see the benefit here, EXCEPT that it takes SR tickets out of circulation, which may help artifiially shorten the SRL.

I like the idea of a limited quanitiy, as I'm sure the goal there is to try to prevent the single rider line from becoming so long its pointless. Give them a few weeks and they can guage how many single riders make it onto the train per hour, then they know how many they can give out and still keep the line shorter or equal to the main line.

[gad198]

^ The last sentence is exactly why I love how they're doing the SRL. I'd hate to examine the main line, see a half hour wait and then see 500 people in front of me in the SRL as I turn the corner, negating any advantage the SRL may offer. It may stink to have to wait for some SRL passes (at times), but it definitely beats the alternative of them allowing anyone and everyone in the SRL without the passes!

[PhantomTheater]

It was a great time, regardless of I had only 3 hours of sleep. It was great being able to grow roots on racer and not move for an hour and a half.

[Tom76257]

Here are my thoughts on this awesome experience:

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...mp;#entry295720

I can't thank everyone enough!

[Diamondback FOF]

^ The last sentence is exactly why I love how they're doing the SRL. I'd hate to examine the main line, see a half hour wait and then see 500 people in front of me in the SRL as I turn the corner, negating any advantage the SRL may offer. It may stink to have to wait for some SRL passes (at times), but it definitely beats the alternative of them allowing anyone and everyone in the SRL without the passes!

My friend went to KI on Saturday (not for RWW) and he said the SRL line was closed for part of the day. I know that isn't true because it was on Saturday and the park was packed. Does he just think the SRL was closed because the gate stays shut, or was the SRL closed for part of Saturday for some reason?

[Gabe]

when there are no srl passes, the gate stays shut to prevent people from going in. once passes reappear, they open the gate again. It was not closed at all sat except durting the above noted times.

[IndyGuy4KI]

as the night wore on for the sat night ert on db, i noticed hardly any trimming on db..by the end of the night you were literally flying through the ride.

I have to disagree with you on the trims, being that I rode with Giga most of the night she grumbled every time we hit them. The MCBR brakes were grabbing quite hard as well. Both seemed consistent the whole evening to me? I will agree though we seemed to be flying very nicely through the rest of the course.

[DropZone99]

It was great but the person who took me, didn't take me til' noon Saturday so I missed all the morning ERT and Beast Tour. Went to Q&A, it was nice. Beast's Birthday Party was okay I only stayed for 10 Minutes and decided to go ride Vortex. Saturday Night ERT was amazing, I rode Diamondback 16 Times in those hours, I stayed on 8 Rides in a row, 5 Rides in a row, and the rest where getting back in line rides. By my 29th. ride I wasn't feeling to good and a skunk sprayed back there so I only stayed on 2 More times and left (and it was already past 1:00am.) On Sunday I set my alarm for 6am. but my ride turned it off and woke me up at 9am. so I missed all that ERT and was super furious, and we got to the park at 9:50am. But my ride was slow and left all his stuff in the car and didn't know how to register so we Didn't get into the park til' 10:20am. I missed Racer Tour cause I got there too late. But I made it to SOB tour and that was amazing. Than we left at 7:45pm. It was pretty good.

[IndyGuy4KI]

a skunk sprayed back there so I only stayed on 2 More times and left (and it was already past 1:00am.)

Oh, HA! I forgot about the skunk odor. I guess the snake scared him!

[UnrealNightmare]

Sorry you missed most of the ERT Nick. My g/f and I had a good time hanging out with you and your cousin and riding a few rides. Hope to do it again.

[gad198]

as the night wore on for the sat night ert on db, i noticed hardly any trimming on db..by the end of the night you were literally flying through the ride.

I have to disagree with you on the trims, being that I rode with Giga most of the night she grumbled every time we hit them. The MCBR brakes were grabbing quite hard as well. Both seemed consistent the whole evening to me? I will agree though we seemed to be flying very nicely through the rest of the course.

Yeah, the trim before the MCBR was really hitting hard. I'd love to have just one ride where it wasn't trimmed in either spot, but I realize that's unlikely. I wonder if they'd ever be able to modify the systems for one day, say an ERT, where the settings would be adjusted. Thankfully, you still get air on the trimmed hill (unlike, say, Raging Bull) but the air would be out of this world without it!

[Oldiesmann]

I'm not sure how easy it is for them to modify the ride programs. However, all we'd really need to do is convince maintenance to come out, flip it into manual and "accidentally" leave the trim and MCBR brakes open...

[CedarPointer]

Flight of Fear's seemed to be on full blast on Sunday too.

[dare-to-fly]

Since we're talking about trims here, I feel like this is a perfect opportunity to jump in. Since I'm not the one that brought it up, I can now say that I was rather disgusted that there wasn't a single trimless ride to be found on anything during the entirety of ERT. (And not even upon nice request...but Flyer of course wouldn't request such a thing...not a peep, Jackson!)

[Tom76257]

Well, If Firehawk would have been running on its ERT you'd have been guaranteed a trimless ride until the final brakes. That's one of the few things I like about all the Vekoma rides in the park - NO TRIMS! Maybe someone from that company understands you, Flyer!

[dare-to-fly]

It's one of many reasons that I like Flight Deck as well! I was meaning a trimless ride on a trimmed coaster, though, of course.

Flyer, who's waiting in fear for a trim to show up on Blue Streak or Millennium Force, his favorites at CP.

[Tom76257]

Don't think that's too far off. Kat and I were discussing how The Beast, Son of Beast, and Mean Streak ALL have trims either on or just before the first hill on Sunday. Kat ended by saying, "What company would do that? OH, Cedar Fair!" I sincerely hope they don't put trims on the Force, though. That would absolutely KILL the world's 2nd best steel roller coaster.

[CedarPointer]

Didn't Paramount add the ones to The Beast? (and Mean Streak and SoB need them... maybe not Mean Streak's midcourse ones, but still...)

[The Interpreter]

No. Paramount did not add new brake locations to Beast. All were there before Paramount bought theme parks. Ollie Linden, who worked coaster maintenance for the park for many, many years, always claimed that Beast has the same linear footage of brakes that it has since the day it opened to the public.

[coasterville]

In fact, in terms of linear feet, I would submit there are LESS brakes on The Beast now, thanks to Paramount.

Recall a few years ago when they upgraded The Beast safety system from the old fashioned skid/sled brakes to the new magnetic brakes for trimming. (You may have heard Gramke mention the problems with the skid/sled brakes, and the benefits of the magnetic brakes at the Q&A saturday).

Anyway, the former brake shed now has just one magnetic caliper at the end instead of along the entire run.

It may be trimmed in all the same places it was before, but in terms of linear footage, its less. The magnetic brakes get more done with less length. At the same time the mission critical skid/sled brakes were replaced by modern fin/squeeze brakes, which are also have a more compact profile.

[StalkerChick]

ugh while we're at it can we fix FOF midcourse?! what was up with that this weekend?!

[CedarPointer]

No. Paramount did not add new brake locations to Beast. All were there before Paramount bought theme parks. Ollie Linden, who worked coaster maintenance for the park for many, many years, always claimed that Beast has the same linear footage of brakes that it has since the day it opened to the public.

I was more thinking of the magbrakes, since some people say that those slow the ride down more.

[coasterguy15]

ugh while we're at it can we fix FOF midcourse?! what was up with that this weekend?!

I completely agree. On all 7 of my rides, we came to a complete stop in the MCBR. The whole structure was shaking from the sudden stop.

[AgentSoB]

I had a great time at RWCW and it gave me an opportunity to write my second trip report.

As far as FOF goes... I only ride it a few times a year due to the line. Each time I've rode, except for one instance, it has screeched to a halt at the midcourse. The only time it didn't do it was my first ride on it in 2003. The ride went straight through the midcourse and hammered on...

[Justin_M17]

ugh while we're at it can we fix FOF midcourse?! what was up with that this weekend?!

Honestly (And I know i'm going to get flamed for this) but as long as i'm sitting on the left side of the train on FoF I don't mind the MCBR all that much. Going slower around those over-banked curves (Not sure what the appropriate name for them would be) makes them so much better.

[John Anthony]

The entire weekend was awesome and I can't wait until Kings Island does something like this again.

I'll admit, the braked rides were a bit of a letdown - but even braked, The Beast & Diamondback are still great rides. A lot of unbraked rides at other parks can't touch those two.

And I love the new program on The Crypt! It's weird how so many seats were removed from the ride, but maybe it helped (for the ride experience at least).

The park will probably be paying off Diamondback for a bit. Maybe they'll get a few spin rides in next. The Avatar is a lot of fun (I can't believe it's in the kids section) - a Disk'O version of that ride would be cool to see. Or a return of the Flying Eagles would be nice.

Overall, had a great time hanging out with a bunch of new friends. If Kings Island does this again, I'll definitely be there. Maybe I'll even get to go on the Son of Beast tour next time (a bunch of us were 3 minutes late in getting there and missed out - oh well). And I missed out on Firehawk too - definitely next time, so don't get rid of that Kings Island!!! I rode it at Geauga Lake and it fits in perfect with your park!

[StalkerChick]

Welcome to the site John Anthony!!

[dare-to-fly]

(and Mean Streak and SoB need them... maybe not Mean Streak's midcourse ones, but still...)

Well that's a matter of opinion. My very best rides on Son of Beast have been the rare trimless ones. It's nice when the second half of the ride is more than just a crawl and actually has some force to it. Even with absolutely no braking at the mid-course, there are no forces even close to that of some of the other coasters even in the same park, so no SOB does not "need" the brakes. Nor, I might add, do most if not all of the coasters I've ever been on.

I tend to prefer the airtime on Cyclops at Mt. Olympus - must be 18 or older to ride in the back car. Yes, they have a sign in the station that says that! And NO it's not trimmed, nor are any other of the parks 4 wooden coasters! Parks can actually let the coasters move, if they desire them to do so.