Diamondbacker Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 My friends invited me to go yesterday, so of course I said yes. We got to the park at about 11:30, and headed over to Invertigo. The sign said 15 minute wait, but we waited 90. Not such a smart move, but it was a great way to start off my 2012 season. There wasn't as many paint chips as I was expecting, but there were a good amount. A sad thing about the 'new' Invertigo is that they changed the song in the station from Vertigo by U2 to some okay beat. Oh well, I liked the 'blueberry ice cream' color. It stands out from the other rides. I do not like how the ride sign for Invertigo did not change. It was very awkward. Also, while in line I found there is one last Paramount logo in the park. By the Pet Corral at the front gate, there is still a logo above that that says, "Paramount's Kings Island", which had the logo from the early Paramount days. We next went to Flight Deck, which had a 45 minute wait. I had never seen a line that long for FD. There were a great number of people there yesterday. Then we went to Adventure Express. That too had about a 30-minute wait. So my friends and I decided to go to Racer, which was a ten minute wait at best. I liked the new signage on the front cars of The Racers. Only one side of the queue was being used because of Fast Lane. I simply don't like how the new Fast Lane affected the queue. Almost no one was going on Fast Lane, and there was no line for them if they were. It was really strange to have everyone on one side of the queue. After that, we went to Vortex. The line was spilling out of the fence part of the line, but it only took 20 minutes to get on. I sat in 5th car, second row and got huge airtime on the first hill. It was working really well yesterday, and everything was smooth. I actually didn't get my head banged around, which was nice. We decided to try the new Hank's Burrito Shack, but one of my friends only likes Skyline, and doesn't want to try any new foods, so he went to Skyline on I-Street. We decided on the Shack not only because it was new, but also in celebration of the Cinco De Mayo holiday. I had a chicken burrito with everything but the guac. At $7.49 plus sales tax, it was a great deal. We sat out in the Bier Garten, and had a nice spot under the shade, looking out over the lake. Overall, the new Hank's Burrito Shack is an 8/10. My only complaints are that the inside of the building still had an 'Outer Hank's' feel to it, as well as there was only Skyline hot sauce, which is great, but not on a burrito. My friend came back and reported that the price on cheese coneys had been dropped by a dollar, from $3.69 to $2.69. Still too much for a cheese coney, though. Diamondback was next on the agenda. Every switchback was being used, and there was a line into the midway, but we decided to endure the line. They were still filming while we were in line, and I got a picture of one of the camera crews filming DB's splashdown with Mr. Helbig. After about a 90 minute wait, we got on the orange train for my first ride of the year. It was a great ride, and it will be even better as the season goes on. Next up was Firehawk. We looked at the queue, and it was a short line, so we decided to risk it. Sure enough, after about ten minutes it was closed. We decided to run back to Racer, since the FoF line was 2 hours long. After a great ride on the Red Racer, we noticed that Firehawk was open again. So we ran back there to find a long line. We decided to bite the bullet and wait. We ended up waiting about two hours to get on the train, waiting about ten minutes at a singlie spot in the queue more than three times, in the sun with limited shade and a rising level of dehydration for me. We finally got on the last car. As we were going up, I couldn't believe that I was actually on the ride. During the ride, I couldn't help but put my arms out and make myself feel as if I was truly flying. It was a great ride, but I'm not sure how many more times I want to do it again. I can't stand that super long wait. Also, I think they could do alot more with the tunneled exit, like some facts about the ride or about flight, or even some things about Firehawks. Beast was calling, so we ran up there to find both queue buildings absolutely full. I persuaded my friends by saying that it was the shortest was going to be for the rest of the night. So after a nice 90 minute wait(and some weird handshakes with some middle schoolers who were amazed by my height), we were on the world's longest wooden coaster. I took back seat, and actually got a tiny bit of airtime. As I have read from other reports, I agree that The Beast was much smoother than usual. It was unique, and I wished it was always like that. After this, we decided to try Adventure Express again. We got on in about 15 minutes, and we all had a very enjoyable ride. I personally was excited to see all of the arms moving on the statues in the final lift hill tunnel. I think I will like the ride very much this season if all of the arms are moving. It was finally dark, and people had started filing out of the park. We saw an opportunity, and we took it. We went over to Flight Deck for a new night experience. I have to say, FD at night is such a fun ride. The rushing wind, the sharp swinging motions, and not exactly knowing what's coming next is such a cool way to ride FD. One thing I noticed on FD was that there is no "Kings Island" sticker on the front car of the train, unlike last year. We also took a night ride on the Red Racer. All I have to say is: "Here's to another 40 years!" As we crested the lift hill on Racer, I looked out into the park and saw how beautiful it looks at night. It was a great chance for a photo op. As we were walking out of the park, I was amazed by the beauty of the lights on the Eiffel Tower. We got picked up by my dad just as the fireworks started to go off. All in all, it was a wonderful day at Kings Island. Some things I noticed: The floral clock, Liberty Bell, and floral date/year display all were not up yet. I would have thought that they would because we had very high temperatures in the off-season. The Crypt seemed to have more plant growth on the sides of the entrance. I hadn't noticed this before. Also, you theoretically could still get in line for it, because the garbage cans and photobooth don't fully cover the entrance to the queue. Drop Tower and WindSeeker were both closed. WindSeeker seemed to have no activity going on by it, while Drop Tower had workers trying to fix it earlier in the day before finally leaving. The purple lifter that takes the gondola up the tower was just sitting at the top, while the gondola was at the bottom. The Fast Lane addition on Vortex also took out half of the possible waiting space in the station, which also made me angry. There was almost no one entering that side of the station. It also adds a head-chopper effect to the start of the ride. Fast Lane, for me, is an interesting topic. I don't like how the new FL lines interact with the queues and stations. It is a good deal, though. If I had Fast Lane yesterday, I probably would have ridden most of the rides 3+ times. My friends and I are considering buying them in future trips. Some photos from my trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76097690@N03/7002706238/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIBOB Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 It's beginning to look as though WindSeeker could be added to the bucket list of unreliable rides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccarthysnerd Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Wow, great trip report, It sounds like you guys had alot of fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacker Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 It's beginning to look as though WindSeeker could be added to the bucket list of unreliable rides. It's quite unreliable. Except for a nice view and cool lights, it could be called useless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiruler102 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Great Trip Report! Since when did Diamondback have a Orange Train? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 It's beginning to look as though WindSeeker could be added to the bucket list of unreliable rides. It's quite unreliable. Except for a nice view and cool lights, it could be called useless. Apparently, Cedar Fair does not agree. They bought more. Which is more than can be said for Top Thrill Dragster at FUN or Ka at Flags, for that matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacker Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 Great Trip Report! Since when did Diamondback have a Orange Train? Wow, oops. Red. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacker Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 It's beginning to look as though WindSeeker could be added to the bucket list of unreliable rides. It's quite unreliable. Except for a nice view and cool lights, it could be called useless. Apparently, Cedar Fair does not agree. They bought more. Which is more than can be said for Top Thrill Dragster at FUN or Ka at Flags, for that matter. It didn't open up until June last year. It's not open yet. Maybe it's just the Kings Island WindSeeker that is having problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 For everything there is a reason. Oddly, though, WindSeekers don't like wind. Odd, given they are the next to last Kinzel legacy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiruler102 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Apparently they were having shock issues with the CW WindSeeker so they decided to check and make sure all of the '2011' WindSeekers were fine. Should be operating before the end of may.... I recieved this information from a friend so i could be wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedarPointer Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 The Pet Care logo only has the bottom half of the PKI logo, it doesn't say Paramount on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacker Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. I just thought that it was interesting that they still had an old logo more than 5 years after Paramount permanently left the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacker Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 Wow, great trip report, It sounds like you guys had alot of fun! Yes, yes we did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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