My Coasting For Kids 2012 photo report

[standbyme]

Where has the time gone…it doesn’t seem like it has been a year since I wrote my last Coasting For Kids trip report. (What a drag it is getting old…but I am fighting it!)

I was thrilled when it was announced that Cedar Fair & Give Kids The World would be once again give me the chance to marathon The Racer AND help a VERY worthy cause. (And in my opinion those are getting harder and harder to find.)

Just like last year I signed up during the first week that this event was announced to make sure I had my spot reserved…and just like last year I was/am amazed that it didn’t sell out. All that I can say that if you had the means & opportunity to attend this event (And the stamina.) you were a fool to have missed it! A better time at the park can not be had…it is as if all the planets align to let the real coaster enthusiast in you come out, all the while being surrounded by like-minded fanboys who not only do not ridicule your behavior, they join in!

Be forewarned, not only am I going to be posting over 80 photos of the event..the quality is NOT great. I REALLY have to get a new new camera, I bought my most recent one last year and I STILL am not happy with it!

ALSO, since I am the king of not wanting my picture taken/posted, if you see a picture of yourself that I have posted that you don't like just PM me and I will remove it!

For posterity, here is a screen grab of the event:

And just like last year KIC had an “official” team!

I still do not all of who was who…but there’s always next year!

For me, this year’s event began just like last year…me walking to the park from my room at the Kings Island Resort across the street. (I could have driven…but I love walking across the empty parking lot looking around.)

It’s about 7 AM…here comes the sun.

Quality over quantity, I love the simplicity of this sign.

Mr. Don Helbig & his assistants wait to check the riders in.

After signing in you receive a cool free t-shirt to wear during the event!

The crowd is gathering. What is cool for me this year is that unlike last I hardly knew anyone…this year I recognize quite a few familiar faces.

A couple of “fashionably late” arrivals…Indyguy4KI/Brad & Avatar/Jesse.

The ultimate Fast Lanes.

Don officially welcomes us, and thanks us all for our participation.

“Let’s bump up the lights and see if anyone has any questions”…let’s see how many people get that reference!

[standbyme]

Time to head into the park!

I don’t think it’s possible for any Kings Island fanboy not to snap a photo of the tower & the fountain every time they are at the park.

I do like this shot.

Walking through the park empty is STILL something that I enjoy. (I’ll take “Things most park employees don’t say” for $500 Alex.)

We arrive at our destination!

Now, it was time for the official group photo. This year I must admit that I was/am disappointed in Don. SURELY by now he knows how I feel about having my picture taken…and that it ain’t gonna happen willingly…I asked him if we had to go through the charade of me getting in the photo even though I wouldn’t be seen…and he STILL told me to “get in there”! SO…instead of me being able to take some nice group shots also, here is the view I had while sitting down behind the crowd…not quite the Kodak moment I would have preffered:

(I did cheer during the video sequence though.)

Being in the back of the crowd DID have one advantage though…I was first into the station. I had my choice of seats…I chose the very back seat…something after 5 rides I began to regret.

Everyone picks a seat for the first train out.

The Racer’s crew seemed to be just as happy to be there as we were…so I’m guessing that they are all pretty good actors.

I was glad to see that both Savannah & John were here again for the event.

This year I got super lucky…and super smart! Last year, since I never got off the coaster I wasn’t able to get hardly any pictures of everyone else…this year I handed my camera to one of The Racer’s crew members and asked them if they would mind taking pictures. Throughout the day I noticed different crew members picking up my camera and taking pictures. SO, a really big thanks goes out to all of them for taking most of these photos…if it weren’t for them this trip report would not only be boring…but I personally would not have gotten so many great shots to remember this event…thank you, thank you, thank you…

Jonathan, this is the downside of sitting with me when your picture is taken…since your photo came out so good I thought you deserved to see it…I just had to do a little “creative” editing.

I suspect Cody took quite a few of the shots that you are seeing…but obviously not this one.

[standbyme]

Eva’s heart was in the event big time! She did her best to get us all singing along…Ice Ice Baby…

I am sorry that I can’t remember all of The Racer crew’s names…this is the operator who started us out for the morning…a real nice guy. (Next year I will have to bring a notepad!) As a side note…if you are wondering how I do know some names and not others…I cheat and zoom in on their name tags in my photos.

I don’t know what this gentleman’s usual title is…but for today I think it was “babysitter”.

At last year’s event we rode the Red Racer, this year it was the Blue…which means that we were the kings of losing…it was a little disheartening. Out of the 109 rides I took we only won maybe 5-6 times. We did not sing Queen’s “We Are The Champions” very much that day. (What’s even sadder is that John would cheat and send us a little early and we STILL couldn’t win.)

If you think I have a lot of photos of this event…if you happen to be over Don’s house one evening and he says “Let me show you my photos & videos of Coasting For Kids”, you better run for the exit fast! He seemed to always be filming…and me attempting to duck.

A nice shot of KingsIsland1972

This was one of the biggest shocks of the event for me…I had NO idea that ohiocolts was so young. I was riding with Jennifer (jlopez) and asked her if she had run into ohiocolts because he was supposed to be here…she pointed forward to him getting into the train and said “Oh yeah…there he is”. She was as surprised that he wasn’t an “adult” as I was. (ohiocolts…your posts make you appear much older than your age…yes that’s a compliment! )

Just like last year, The Racer crew could not have been nicer.

Yes that is KIC's own jlopez in the second row...it was really nice to meet her at the event.

The “break area”…something that I was determined not to use…no offense to those that did.

Having The Racer crew take pictures for me was awesome...when I got home it was like digging in a box of cereal for the prize to see what it was! This picture was a nice surprise, an excellent picture of Gary (XGatorHead) & Brad (IndyGuy4KI).

Cody seemed to really be enjoying entertaining us with trivia and "jokes".

[standbyme]

One of the more amusing sites of the day…reading a book while riding a coaster! (Yes he DID do it…even down the hills.) I was sitting right behind him, he did a great job at holding the book steady.) It didn’t last TOO long though…once the ride ops noticed it they did ask him to stop. (Safety first!) Next to the guy holding the book is muppetfan1999…I didn’t find that out until after I got home and was reading this board…had I have known it was you I would have introduced myself.

Have I mentioned that all of The Racer crew members were great?! It was interesting watching how they roated around during the day.

It was now time for lunch…unlike last year it was mandatory. (Last year I was able to sneak in about 10 extra rides.) In this photo we are all wating around to walk as a group to The (former) International Restaurant. (Yay!)

I always, always enjoy the view.

Don congratulated and handed out prizes to the top three people who collected the most donations…and he handed out a special prize to jlopez for the money that she collected having a rummage sale for Give Kids The World.

The Racer crew joined us for lunch!

Now to honest I am not a fan of the Kings Island’s biggest fan campaign…maybe I am too sensitive but I feel as though many of us are being mocked. (Yes. me included.) With that said, I will say that “the fan” was very nice…almost shy…unless that is what he was “going for”. He went from table to table giving each of us a 40^th Anniversary commemorative Racer coin. (A very nice touch!)

I think these coins are great. I purchased 2 of them in The Emporium the night before! (Be sure and pick up one of the 40^th anniversary park one’s also!) I love it when the park makes items that are unique to the park…it doesn’t thrill me as much when I know that the same item is being sold at all of the Cedar Fair parks.

Fire-Beast-OF-FEAR meets “the fan”.

The KIC group shot.

Here is the same shot with the names of the members…anyone want to fill in the gaps?

[standbyme]

With lunch over it was back to The Racer! I was happy that I finally had the time to have a real conversation with Sam the Butcher.

Fire-Beast-OF-FEAR & ohiocolts enjoy the front seat!

It can’t be said enough how much the enthusiasm of The Racer crew helped make this event the great time that it was!

Matt/m2raptor & Sean?, we spent most of the event checking and double-checking our ride numbers…Matt had his counter and I had my sharpie. Between the three of us I think we kept a pretty accurate count.

I have no idea what these are or why one of The Racer crew members took a picture of them…not that I mind…anyone want to enlighten me?

Brian?…he looked like he was having as much fun as we were.

It was now 5 o’clock...actually a hair after…and the event was over…

My goal before the event started was 100…I managed to get in 109 rides. I was on the first train out in the morning and never left it except for lunch! (Sean and I even snuck back from lunch a little early and got 2 extra rides in.) I am totally happy with my end count…and it made me appreciate Don’s 112? one day record even more…I don’t know how anyone could ever keep getting out and back in line and make it to 112!

At 5:30 we were all invited to a behind-the-scenes tour of The Beast...something that I usually would like to do...but I had family waiting for me in the park so I decided to pass this time...so for me this event was officially over.

I would like to thank Give Kids The World, the park & The Racer crew for a great time. It will always be one of my best memories doing these marathons.

[ohiocolts]

Thanks for what you have so far! You took a picture of me taking a video in that first picture on the 2nd post. Great photos!

[jcgoble3]

Great job with what you've posted so far! Keep it coming!

Jonathan, this is the downside of sitting with me when your picture is taken…since your photo came out so good I thought you deserved to see it…I just had to do a little “creative” editing.

I LOVE it! I am a huge Star Wars fan, so that's awesome!

[TheCrypt]

At first, I thought standbyme actually wore that Darth Vader mask while on the ride!

Remember Standbyme, this PTR is wonderful and greatly appreciated.

It sounds like you had a great time, can't wait to read and see how the rest of your day went!

[jdawg1998]

I hope I can come next year! Looks like fun!

[beastrider97]

The more I read about the event, the more I want to get out to the park for the event next year. I really hope it's on a Sunday I will be available!

[standbyme]

Thanks for all the comments. I do enjoy putting things like this together...but at the moment I am hurting for time so I am kind of rushing this report just to get it out there while it's still "current".

[jcgoble3]

Nice photos! And that's as much a compliment to you as it is to The Racer crew. As for ohiocolts' age, I wasn't surprised; his profile page clearly lists his age. Apparently nobody else thought to check that.

[ohiocolts]

I was checking everyone's page before the event so I would know what to expect. And thanks for the photos and the compliment, yes that kid truly is me! And lots of other KICers were shocked too!

[jdawg1998]

Does anyone not labeled in the group picture want to label themselves? I'd like to see who everyone is!

[TombRaiderFTW]

I'm kind of impressed with myself. I've seen everyone's pictures, and with the exception of Don's official group photo taken right at the beginning, I avoided getting my face in any of them. I wasn't even trying! Like, your shot of the KIC group? Yeah, apparently I managed to stand right behind Fire-Beast-OF-FEAR so all you can see is my right ear in your picture. That's more or less all you can see of me in everyone else's versions, too. Apparently I was wrong when I thought I was visible enough standing there, haha!

Ninjaness aside, you took some pretty cool pictures, standbyme. It was great getting to meet you!

[IndyGuy4KI]

Great PTR Standbyme! You and the ride ops got some great pictures. I liked your green border around the pics!

[Guest KingsIslandPR]

Great photos! You got a lot more than I did.

If you liked this year's event, wait until next year!

[Avatar]

Phenomenal trip report Standbyme!!!

I love how you started the day with pictures all the way through to the end. Somehow we missed you at the end of the event so we all could catch a few rides together and talk as a group in line. You are an asset to the community and so glad you travailed so far to for such a worth while cause and meet-up opportunity.

Thanks for such a quality report and the time to make it so much fun to read!!!!

[bkroz]

Awesome! Great job everyone!

[KIfan1980]

Thanks for taking the time to post these pics and Trip Report - an interesting and enlightening read (never would have guessed ohiocolts either).

[CoasterGeek101]

Now I know I am not the youngest person here. I didn't look at ohiocolts profile and I figured he was in his twenties!!

Great trip report. I might be going next year! Someday I want to meet all you people!

[coaster_junky]

Great photos! You got a lot more than I did.

If you liked this year's event, wait until next year!

I know that the event was just a few weeks ago, but is there a date already set for next summer's? Every year I end up being out of town for the event and I really want to make it for 2013!

[jcgoble3]

No date yet. This year, we got the date only about three months in advance.

[fanofFirehawk]

Does any one no why they picked The Racer?

I asume it is because of the capacity.

[jcgoble3]

Because it has two tracks, meaning they can keep one side open to the public.