dirknowitzki Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 My wife and I arrived at king's island sunday morning right as they were opening at 11am. 10 dollars for parking was expected, there were a lot of open parking spaces. They had halloween music playing which was a nice touch. So right away we decide to head toward the Diamondback to see what the fuss is about. The Diamondback surprisingly had no line so we got right on, it was a pretty intense ride. A couple loops would have been nice but man is this thing fast. it was also really cold so my face was frozen afterwards! Since there was no line we decided to ride it a few more times while we still had the chance. We rode it from the front seat, back, and a few in between. This is really a fun coaster. After that we wanted to try The Vortex but it hadn't opened yet... (too cold maybe?) so we headed to The Beast. Again there was no line, and we were able to ride it twice in a row. 9 straight minutes of getting pummeled by The Beast, awesome. This is probably my favorite roller coaster of all time, just because it's a classic. It was my wife's first time at king's island and she enjoyed it too. We made our way to The Vortex, again no line, and we get right on. Sunday must be a great day to go, there were no lines for anything all day long. The last time i had rode The Vortex i was about 10 years old with my parents and i got really sick on it, and had been afraid to get back on ever since. I decided to face my fear and go for it again, 16 years later. We waited for the front seat and it wasn't as bad as i had remembered it, maybe because that time i closed my eyes the whole time. I still felt dizzy afterwards but it wasn't too bad. My wife loved it, it was her favorite ride. She likes lots of loops and The Vortex delivers. Even though we had tickets to the Fright Feast at 6pm we hadn't eaten and decided to get some pizza on international street. It ended up costing 30 bucks for us to eat 4 slices of pizza some breadsticks and 2 small drinks. It was pretty steep in my opinion but it's an amusement park, i knew what i was getting myself into! The food was average. Back to the coasters we rode Flight of Fear next. Not a good idea to ride this thing after eating. It was both of our first times riding it so we didn't know what to expect. At first we thought it was a motion theater, then some sort of spinning gravitron ride, finally we discovered it was an indoor roller coaster. This ride actually had a small line on it but not bad. Well let me tell you this ride is wild, blasts off fast and has plenty of tight loops. I really liked riding in the darkness, and also the fact that you don't know what to expect until you're actually on it is cool. Pretty good ride, even though we were both a little queasy afterwards! Son of Beast and the Drop Tower were closed, so we had to skip them. Was looking forward to Son of Beast but it was not a huge disappointment. I didn't really care about the Drop Tower. Next came Invertigo, It was actually more fun than what it looked, going forward and backwards. The only downside is that the shoulder straps that went over my head had wet stuff all over it that i kept bumping my cheeks on. I thought it was probably saliva, but i later found out the roof was leaking, so it was water. Still it sucked being waterboarded for a minute while waiting for the ride to start. All in all this ride exceeded my expectations. We made our way over to the flight deck, which took a couple minutes of hiking and stair climbing to get to. there was no line, but what a long walk it was to get over there. This ride was definitely a disappointment. It seemed really short, not even worth the walk back to ride it again. Some people might like it but we were both underwhelmed. The Adventure Express was pretty fun, just because i like wooden coasters. What's up with the ending though? The statues banging on drums were cool, but then the ride just ends? I expected one last drop or something... Either way, i liked the ride. The Hollywood stunt coaster was a fun ride, on the outside it doesn't look like much but it does go pretty fast and the special effects like the helicopter and fire are pretty neat. We rode this a couple more times after that. We only had a little bit of time to kill before the fright feast so we decided to ride one more ride, the crypt. Well, what can i say, this ride is garbage. I had been on it when it was tomb raider the ride and i told my wife it was pretty cool, and ended up having to eat those words. When you enter you walk into a pitch black tunnel, which comes out into a theater. the tunnel is bland, the only interesting thing in it is the giant bat. The ride itself is just moving and spinning a couple times in pitch blackness, no music, no effects, nothing. you can see the guy operating the ride through the wall right in front of you, wich pretty much ruins it for you, even if you were trying to imagine it was a real crypt. As we walked out, everyone was booing and i can't say i blame them. Also i noticed a few people drop cell phones on this ride which shattered on the floor below. I wouldn't recommend this ride to anybody but if you decide to risk it don't bring valuables with you, you will lose them. The fright feast was good and a really good value. All the food was good, and the ghouls were funny and entertaining. They kept sneaking up on people and scaring them as they ate, which was good for some cheap laughs. This was definitely worth 13.99. Also we got early access to the slaughterhouse and i was the first person to go through it. We took of to ride the Firehawk at night, we had skipped it earlier. As awesome as this ride is I do have a complaint. I asked the lady as i was getting the ride if i could leave my phone and wallet somewhere so i didn't lose it on the ride, and she said "No, You have to take it with you." So I had to attempt to hold on to all my stuff while i was flying upside down though the air, and it killed some of the experience because I was worried about losign my car keys. They REALLY need to put some kind of buckets for people to put things so they don't lose them. they have those at much less intense rides with no loops, so why not this ride? Other than that though, this is a really great roller coaster, one of my favorites for sure, you almost feel like you're a superhero flying around king's island. I won't review a lot of the haunt because we didn't get to stay for too long, we were both very tired. But what i did see of it was awesome. There were more ghouls walking around than people! We watched the Hot Blooded show and they had a really good performance. Everybody seemed pleased, and my wife really got a kick out of it. Those scantily clad girl had to be frozen though, since it was about 40 degrees. I was cold just sitting there. After going back to some night runs of The Beast and Diamondback we decided to call it an early night and head home, even though we could have stayed another couple hours. It was even better than the last times i went, and for my wife's first time there she was really amazed by everything. We don't have kids but i'm sure they would really love the nickelodeon area. This was overall a great trip, and we can't wait to return to king's island! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Welcome to KICentral! And thanks for the great trip report. It's always interesting to read others' perspectives of Kings Island! By the way, Adventure Express is actually a steel coaster! It's the type of track, not the type of supports, that governs whether a coaster is classified as steel or wood in the industry. And given how loops affect you, I'm a bit surprised you'd have liked to have seen some on Diamondback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dbfan Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Welcomt to KIC. Looks like you had a pretty good trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirknowitzki Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 Welcome to KICentral! And thanks for the great trip report. It's always interesting to read others' perspectives of Kings Island! By the way, Adventure Express is actually a steel coaster! It's the type of track, not the type of supports, that governs whether a coaster is classified as steel or wood in the industry. And given how loops affect you, I'm a bit surprised you'd have liked to have seen some on Diamondback! You're right about Adventure Express, my mistake. Loops usually don't bother me that bad, none of the rides at Cedar Point bother me, its just The Vortex. I think it's the corkscrew that does it! Still glad I got to conquer it finally. We can't wait to go back. Also what is with the Drop Tower being closed, does it have anything to do with the girl who got her feet cut off on the one at kentucky kingdom a couple years ago? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 No...it does not. There is some speculation it has been closed due to the low temperatures. It could also be staffing issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maverick2007 Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Also what is with the Drop Tower being closed, does it have anything to do with the girl who got her feet cut off on the one at kentucky kingdom a couple years ago? If I'm not mistaken that was a different kind of Drop Tower. I believe the accident occurred on this kind. While our Drop Tower is one of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedarPointer Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Back to the coasters we rode Flight of Fear next. Not a good idea to ride this thing after eating. It was both of our first times riding it so we didn't know what to expect. At first we thought it was a motion theater, then some sort of spinning gravitron ride, finally we discovered it was an indoor roller coaster. That's one of the best things about FoF- you don't know what it is exactly until you've ridden it! I always thought they should put up at least *some* kind of warning as to what the ride is, but it's fun seeing people surprised at what they just rode! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RingMaster Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 Also what is with the Drop Tower being closed, does it have anything to do with the girl who got her feet cut off on the one at kentucky kingdom a couple years ago? If I'm not mistaken that was a different kind of Drop Tower. I believe the accident occurred on this kind. While our Drop Tower is one of these. Both towers are made by the same company (Intamin), just made in different styles (KI's is a Gyro Drop, KK's was a Giant Drop). However, I think the reason for Drop Tower being down is because the mechanism that releases the 'car' is malfunctioning or broken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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