HUGE PTR/VTR: SFKK, Holiday World, Kings Island, Jungle Jim's, and Petland!

[gigacoaster2k]

** DAY ONE: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10: SIX FLAGS KENTUCKY KINGDOM **

Tom and I packed bags for the trip, jam packed a cooler full of food, filled up Stormy (my Sebring) with gas, and we were off to Six Flags! Forecast was partly sunny with temps between the 40s and 60s, so we were excited to have a good day at Six Flags!

Driving down I71 south to SFKK!

The hills of Kentucky are so beautiful, I love driving through them!

We arrived at SFKK around 12:30, I think.

At first we thought this was horse crap that I parked in. It was some kind of muddy grass, and there was a lot of it. I parked there anyway because I didn't care.

Tom and I are hopeful for a good day at SFKK after the fiasco last time.

(Yes, my shirt says I <3 COASTERS.. lol)

Since the last time we went, we hit my favorite ride first (Greezed Lightnin), so this time we hit Tom's favorite at SFKK.. Thunder Run! I high fived Tweety on the way.

Thunder Run has some sweet airtime! It's a tad rattly, but what woodie isn't?

We started walking over to *gulp* Chang's area, and I decided I wanted to ride the Giant Wheel. It was my first time on that.. I honestly like CP's Giant Wheel so much better. Nice views from this one though.

Most Ferris wheels rope off the ones they aren't using. SFKK got creative with theirs.

I'm going to miss you, Chang.

Thunder Run going up the hill!

Park was kind of busy, but not really bad.

After that, it was time to face the reality of Chang being torn down. This pic just makes me mad.. YOU'RE REPLACING A B&M STANDUP WITH A WATER PARK??!!! I mean, are they for real?

Back to Thunder Run we went, as we were both craving another ride on it!

Then it was off to Greezed Lightnin.. my favorite! We rode that, and then decided we were hungry, so we went to the car and ate out of my ginormous cooler instead of spending $946 on a hot dog.

We came back, and rode Greezed Lightnin again, because the queue was empty!

Tom pointed out the logo on this trash can, from before Six owned the park.

Then it was time for my favorite spinning ride.. Enterprise! I like this better than Witches Wheel at CP.

After that, we headed to Himalaya, one of our favorite spinnies! These rides always make me a little dizzy, but worth it because they're so much fun! LOL at the clown riding.

After this, we decided to explore the park for a little while.. because those who stop, look, and listen will often find more than what they are looking for.

FOUR BUCKS FOR A 20 OUNCE BOTTLE OF "VITAMIN" WATER??!!! Why don't you just yank my wallet and run away??

Flying Dutchman.. can anyone clarify if this was the one that used to be at Kings Island? Tom and I weren't quite sure, I don't remember back that far.

Twisted Twins.. I never got to ride you.

I wish.

I like the message on the trash cans. SFKK is probably one of the cleanest parks I've seen. I think I saw two pieces of trash on the ground throughout the whole park. This message is also on the back of the ride ops' shirts.

That's how I feel about it.. Chang is the stand up coaster that made me like stand up coasters.

Tom and I being dorks.

I wanted to ride their swinging ship ride (I love swinging ships!), so we headed toward the front of the park.

Greezed Lightnin, Skycoaster riders, Roadrunner Express, and Giant Wheel, all in one shot!

Bluebeard's Bounty! Of course we chose a seat on the very end.. what other way to ride a swinging ship?

They were having a screaming contest on our ride. This guy was screaming bloody murder like a girl and had everyone cracking up.

Back to Greezed Lightnin we went!

Here is a video I took while waiting for the very front seat!

Back to Thunder Run we went! I took some pics on the way.

FULL QUEUE FOR BREAKDANCE??!!! Greezed Lightnin and Thunder Run were walk ons!

Give it back. Now.

I looked up to see Thunder Run's empty train stuck on the lift, so we walked over by the water park deck to get a better look at when it would be running again.

Hey SFKK.. drain your nasty wave pool.

Who wants to go for a swim?

Thunder Run was up and running again, so off we ran!

We got hungry again, so it was back out to the car for more food, and for our hoodies since it was getting nippy.

Roadrunner Express had a line almost all day, and it had finally died down, so we got in line. This is one fun wild mouse!

We ran back over and rode Greezed Lightnin again, and then it was back to Thunder Run again!

While we were back there, we rode Flying Dutchman.

Heading back to the front of the park, we skipped out on the haunts because there was an up charge.

So we hopped on Giant Wheel for a night ride.

I don't have a good photo of it, in fact it's a terrible photo, but it was so cool to see the Louisville skyline at night from atop the wheel. I absolutely love big city skylines.

We ran over and got a night ride on Greezed lightnin (which was totally awesome!), and ran back and got a night ride on Roadrunner Express.

Back to Greezed Lightnin we went.. check this out! EMPTY station, AT NIGHT! I was one happy giga!

We sat in the very back, and got 3 rides in a row without leaving our seat!!

Our last ride of the night was Thunder Run.. again, EMPTY queue at night! We chose the very front seat this time.

I found someone's LG Dare in the front seat.. unfortunately she had run out of the station before I could catch her, so I handed it to the ride op.

We left SFKK cold, tired, and happy, and passed out for the night.

Ride count:

Greezed Lightnin - 8

Thunder Run - 5

Giant Wheel - 2

Roadrunner Express - 2

Flying Dutchman - 1

Bluebeard's Bounty - 1

Enterprise - 1

Himalaya - 1

STAY TUNED!

[gigacoaster2k]

** DAY TWO: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11: HOLIDAY WORLD CLOSING DAY, AND Kings Island **

Driving down I64 west toward *drumroll* HOLIDAY WORLD!! (with a nice close up of my fuzzy steering wheel cover lol)

We saw a hitchhiker with a sign that said ANYWHERE BUT HERE.. lmao!

OMG

OMG

OMG

OMG

Getting closer.. it's around the bend somewhere!

LKLSDLJKFHSJFS w00t

WE'RE HERE!! And check out the sweet ride in front of me!

We were almost to the gate when I decided I was cold, and wanted my hoodie. We were walking back to my car when this guy in the parking lot offered Tom a one day ticket for $20.. he had four of them he couldn't use! Tom took him up on it.. our day was off to a very good start!

First stop: Raven!

Raven's empty station! Look at that, Terp.. don't you wish you were there (or were you)? hee hee

We got 2 rides in a row without getting out of our seats!

Then it was off to LEGEND!

Tom loves his lats.

We got THREE rides without exiting the station, and the school bell was working!

Kat, this pic is for you. (inside joke)

Then it was off to..

*intense drumroll*

VOYAGE!

The most beautiful thing I've seen at an amusement park..

VOYAGE'S EMPTY STATION AS SEEN FROM THE VERY BACK SEAT.

THREE RIDES IN A ROW WITHOUT LEAVING OUR SEATS!!

Yeah, we pretty much got 8 rides in 45 minutes.. the park was THAT dead.

After all this, we were thirsty! Off to the Oasis we went, for some of Holiday World's free drinks.

Walking around a bit, Tom pointed out this plaque dedicated to America's heroes.

We ran back and rode Raven again, then Legend again, and decided it was time for Liberty Launch!

We then decided to explore the park a little bit.

Kat, I took a pic of the kiddie carousel for you, haha.

I took this opportunity to take some photos.

LOOK AT THE LINE FOR SCRAMBLER!!

We rode Raven, and decided we were hungry, so it was back out to the car to eat.

Got a little busy while we were in the park!

My sweet tooth was driving me crazy, so we headed for Mrs. Klaus' Kitchen.

I bought: a bag of candy corn flavored taffy, a giant chocolate chip cookie, and two candy sticks.. guess how much it cost total?

$2.38.

That's right.

Back to Voyage we went!

I've never eaten at Plymouth Rock Cafe (I've hid out in there LOL), but I need to.. this menu looks GOOD!

Mean looking Voyage track! *shudders* YUMMY!

We rode Voyage, which was killer sweet awesome amazing as usual, and then it was off to Turkey Whirl (yes, I have found out I can ride Tilt A Whirl rides!).

And then it was back To Voyage, you know, since it WAS right there.. hehehehe

We saw a kid wearing a shirt that said WHO NEEDS HALLOWEEN.. MY SISTER IS SCARY ENOUGH. lol

Then we were both craving a ride on Legend, so off we went!

z0mg LEGEND

(can't tell, but we are both wearing DB shirts haha)

We stopped for food at Goblin Burger.. which may have been a mistake. The food was a little greasier than I liked.

Sitting in GB's eating area, I noticed we were right next to Legend, so I snapped a few photos.

Legend structure shot!

Then it was off to Eagles Flight!

Hard as we tried to snap ours, they just wouldn't do it. We did get going pretty high, though!

We hit Raven and Legend, and then back to

We rode that, and Liberty Launch.

It was getting close to closing time, and I wanted more rides on Voyage, but the food was getting to Tom and he sat out while I got 2 rides on Voyage without leaving my seat.

He came with me for a third ride, but Voyage's train started smoking in the station, and it was about 5:10 pm CDT (park closed at 5:30), and Voyage showed no sign of reopening. So we said screw it and booked it for Legend. Tom rode with me once, and got off, then I got a solo ride.

As Holiday World closed, I couldn't leave without some fudge. I went to Mrs Klaus' Kitchen and got some fudge for me and my family, then we went to a gift shop and Tom got the Legend shirt he'd been wanting.

As we walked toward the exit, we were greeted by Pat and Will Koch.. Tom and I got our photo with Will!

I'm going to miss you.

Goodbye, my precious baby.. see you next year. *stifles a sob*

STAY TUNED!

[gigacoaster2k]

Back across the time zone we drove.. to Kings Island! We got caught in a nasty traffic jam about 75 miles south of Cincy, and encountered a few more slow clogs. We finally made it to KI around 10:45-11 pm. No one was at the parking tolls.

We met up with Ryan (BoddaH1994), Robbie (CoastersRZ), Aaron (pkiVortex), Adam (pkiboy), and Dave (DaveStroem) and his kiddos, and got 4 rides on DB! Tom sat out and I rode DB a 5th time, then the group split off and some of us headed to Beast. Nick (dare to fly) was working so we waved at him and made faces at him LOL. Then we all ran back to DB and got last train of the night.

Ride counts:

HOLIDAY WORLD:

Voyage - 8

Legend - 8

Raven - 5

Liberty Launch - 2

Eagles Flight - 1

Turkey Whirl - 1

Kings Island:

Diamondback - 6

Beast - 1

** DAY THREE: MONDAY, OCTOBER 12: JUNGLE JIM'S AND PETLAND **

I had never been to Jungle Jim's before, so we went even though we were almost flat broke from the roller coaster weekend LOL.. hey, why not?

Coney Island bumper cars now double as candy aisles!

And it was off to the famous bathrooms!

Using the hand soap in the glorified bathrooms hahaha

The big cheese.

I wouldn't have noticed these signs at the exit if Tom hadn't pointed them out.

Monorail photos.

Then we stopped in at Petland to say hello to the animals that we love so much.

The budgies I was playing with.. I love birds.

Tom was playing with a cat.

And finally, the coaster shirt photo.

If you made it this far, guess what.. you've reached the end!

Thanks for reading.. I hope you enjoyed it!

<3

Giga

[BoddaH1994]

I couldn't tell from the photo -- had they started dismantling Chang's track?

[Tomkatt7]

Very cool pics. I am usually beat after one day at KI.

Hitting all those places in one trip would kill me!

I like seeing all the support pics of The Voyage. The company that my wife works at did all the galvenizing to the steel, to protect them from the weather. It was a huge job!

[gigacoaster2k]

I couldn't tell from the photo -- had they started dismantling Chang's track?

Yeah, they already started. There was some kind of tarp wrapping around the fence so I wasn't able to get very good photos.

[pkiboy]

Very cool pics. I am usually beat after one day at KI.

Hitting all those places in one trip would kill me!

I like seeing all the support pics of The Voyage. The company that my wife works at did all the galvenizing to the steel, to protect them from the weather. It was a huge job!

I've Done 3 Cedar Fair parks in one day. Talk about a Crazy OHIO trip .

[PKIDelirium]

I couldn't tell from the photo -- had they started dismantling Chang's track?

I would say yes.

[Jamesv7]

Great trip report and yes the Flying Dutchman is the one from KI.

[trint2004]

wow, great trip report. I love the voyage too, best coasteron earth. I just cant wait tell next tuesday when i finally get my first trip to dollywood.

[PKIVortex]

Thanks for the Shout out!! Looks like you had a great weekend, it was nice seeing you on Sunday night.

[The Interpreter]

...Thunder Run has some sweet airtime! It's a tad rattly, but what woodie isn't?..

El Toro, for one. Cannon Ball at Lake Winnie for another...

Terpy, who is surprised pkiboy didn't already give that first answer! (And, yes, an empty Raven station with a running Raven is a beautiful thing!)

[rotag]

Best tr I read in a while, yet I was sad that you didn't come to play with the body parts in my tunnel at urgent scare; you made up for with this tr. There where points you had me crackin up into tears (while the people @ goodyear (I'm gettin an oil change)gave me weird looks). Which bears me to ask another question, was it national boycott coasters to ride flats weekend?!?!?!

[TombRaiderFTW]

Hahaha, what a great TR! Your reactions were priceless. The OMGs had me laughing.

By the way, did you happen to see how far constructed the monorail track at Jungle Jim's is? I haven't been there in a while; last time I saw it, I think it was just beyond the stationary 'model' monorail (for lack of better description).

[Stewart32]

great TR

anybody know where Chang is going to end up?

[Dvo]

Nice TR.. very jealous of the HW trip again. And yeah... those Eagles out there are strange. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the cables to snap. I even tried adjusting my method. No dice. And I was a pretty darn good flyer back in the day at KI... Here's to hoping I get to Carowinds sometime

[violakat03]

Angie -

Great trip report as always. I appreciate the photo shout outs.

By the way, I'm really glad to see Tom got the awesome Legend shirt he was wanting most of the season.

Posted from my BlackBerry mobile device.

[beastrider97]

Great trip report! I can't wait to go to Holiday World next year!

[gigacoaster2k]

Angie -

Great trip report as always. I appreciate the photo shout outs.

By the way, I'm really glad to see Tom got the awesome Legend shirt he was wanting most of the season.

I saw carousels and spookies, and I thought, z0mg Kat. Must snap photo.

I'm glad he got it too! I got him a discount with my season pass too. w00t

[KI Kevin]

LOOK AT THE LINE FOR SCRAMBLER!!

When I was there, we were over in that area, with the Scrambler in plain view. A kid goes, "LOOK MOM, IT'S THE SCRAMBLER!" Really loud. My cousin and I started cracking up. I guess it's one of those, "you had to be there," stories, but it was hilarious.

And by the way I'm really jealous that you guys go to Holiday World so much! I've been there once. 4 hours. 3 Voyage rides. 2 on Raven and Legend. Meh.

Oh and their scooters are not very good.

[The Interpreter]

You forgot the totally forgettable bumper cars!

[KIfan1980]

It's trip reports like this that I'll miss in the off season

Thanks for sharing another fun Giga/Tom#'s trip. Every time I read one, it causes me to increase my committment to visiting a certain park next year!

[gigacoaster2k]

It's trip reports like this that I'll miss in the off season

Oh trust me, I can and will find something to do a PTR about during the dreaded off season that is worth reading, and may emit several LOLs from the members of this site. XD

[Tom76257]

By the way, I'm really glad to see Tom got the awesome Legend shirt he was wanting most of the season.

Looks vaguely familiar, doesn't it, Kat?

[KI Kevin]

It's trip reports like this that I'll miss in the off season

Oh trust me, I can and will find something to do a PTR about during the dreaded off season that is worth reading, and may emit several LOLs from the members of this site. XD

You could go to Orlando. Or LA. Or Tampa.

[CoastersRZ]

There is no need to go that far to get a coaster fix in the off season!

Dollywood is open through December for their Smoky Mountain Christmas festival. And yes, their coasters are open as long as the mercury stays above a certain threshold. I went last year (my first visit to Dollywood) and I was really glad I went. The shows are amazing, and I absolutely love Thunderhead!

[KI Kevin]

Wow. I knew Dollywood had a fantastic Christmas event but I didn't know the coasters were open!

[CoastersRZ]

Yep, the coasters are all open, provided the temperature stays above a certain level. (It might have been 40 degrees). I don`t recall exactly. I just know that it was awesome riding Thunderhead at the end of December last year. And the temperature was right on the threshold where had it dropped one more degree, they would have had to shut it down!

[Jasper]

Very nice trip report Giga. I have read many TR's about Holiday World but this one was by far one of the best. Sadly, I have never been to Holiday World. For as close as it is to me I should have been there many times already. As far as seeing those pictures of Chang being dismantled, it breaks my heart. Chang was my very first, innovative coaster I ever rode. I was scared to death the first and only time I ever got to ride it. Could they possibly be moving it to KI? (Dashes for the door)

[frisbeefan]

Didn't you hear, Chang's replacing SOB