Kings Island & Soak City-August 4, 2012 (Late-VERY LONG TR)

[VortexBFForever]

Let's see what I remember 12 days after the 4th!

Okay, so it was my friend's brother's birthday, and since her brother was bringing a friend with him to KI, I was like, "Why not me?" So they let me come with them as the friend my friend brought. (I know them anyway; we go to the same martial arts school together, all of us are at/around my age) There were four of us riding the rides that afternoon and evening, except they got there at about noon and I had something going on in the morning so I didn't get there until 3. I was SO ready to go to SC too, I already had my swimsuit on.

When I got there, they were having lunch, so I decided to spend that time riding solo before I met up with them. The Grand Carousel was my first ride. I ride it just because of the music. It still sounds "magical" even if they're only CD tracks. I rode a beautiful black jumping horse just behind one of those blue carriages. Quite pleasant.

After the Carousel, I was just dying to know if that one train on Vortex still had the screeching problem it had when I was at KI on July 10. Believe it or not, that particular train was running the course when I got into the line for my next ride, Shake Rattle & Roll. It was a moment of truth when that train made its incoming onto the brakes. Guess what? No screeching!! Yay!!! (I did report the screeching to The Vortex ops on July 10, so in the meantime they must've taken action and fixed the train) That was actually enough to make my day, and it was only about half an hour into the trip. I sat in Orange Car #5 on SR&R. During the ride, I thought of 2008, when this ride was my favorite before riding Diamondback in 2009. After SR&R, I took flight on WindSeeker (after waiting 20 minutes, of course. )

My single WS ride of the trip was in Seat #57. Nice flight, like usual. I thought I would do it again at night but unfortunately it wouldn't be the case then. (I've had night rides on WS before, on July 10)

After WindSeeker I met up with my three friends (they're not KIC'ers ) Since the three of them just ate at the Rivertown Buffet by Diamondback, they decided to stay off of most upside-down rides at the moment, which eventually led to the bypassing of Firehawk and Flight of Fear (and Vortex being the only looper ridden on this trip). Meanwhile, we rode Zephyr in the blue seats. I thought it was funny when the op called the ride "WindSeeker Jr.," especially considering the fact that I was on the real WindSeeker only moments ago. I had a nice "mini-flight" on Zephyr (in '08 this one was my fave before Shake Rattle & Roll)

Next was Racer. This was the first time since last August on this ride. I decided to ride it even though I thought it was "mediocre," but I knew about its historical significance. Little did I know, my thoughts about this ride were about to change. I actually had the best Racer ride ever! The wait was only 5-10 minutes. Our first Racer ride of the trip was on Red Train #2 in row 3-2. Is it just me or is flying over those hills more fun with a group? Especially when we're chanting "USA, USA" on the way to and from the station? Anyway it was really fun. The Red and Blue trains were really racing. Better yet, we arrived at the stations at the exact same time. It got us all hyped up about Adventure Express, our next ride. The wait for AE was about the same as Racer, 10-15 minutes. We ended up on Train #2 and I rode in row 2-1. This time, my friends decided to chant "Canada" on this ride, but I kept on shooting back, "But we're not Canadians." During the ride, my friend's brother's friend was doing a simple commentary. For example, right after the first lift hill he was like, "We're dropping, we're dropping, now we're turning..." I was already having a blast, and it cracked me up so much, I was laughing hysterically up until the second lift hill. When the train was just about to engage the final lift hill, my friends were chanting "Canada," then right before I heard the chain, I shouted "No, we're not Canadians!!" I was sure the whole train could hear all of us. We did the Tiki dance on the way up. I was so hyper that I was doing a combination of the Tiki dance and putting my hands up, because despite the fact that the ride was almost over, the final lift hill is actually one of my favorite parts. Craziest Express ride I've had, ever. We went to Action Zone. Delirium's line was too long, and they didn't want to risk going on Drop Tower or even Invertigo with a full stomach.

So we agreed on Flight Deck. While walking through the queue, I was still so hyped up from AE and I was also excited to ride FD so I was skipping ahead while flapping my arms and saying, "Swingity-swing, swing swingity swingity swing swingity swing swing." because I love the swinging of an Arrow suspended coaster. This time Flight Deck actually had a line! The wait was about 10 minutes. We rode in row 5-1 on Train #2. I just loved that first drop and turn, it really gives you the sensation of flight. Fun ride. Afterward we drank some water while sitting on the curb watching Thunder Alley (it actually had a line, too) as well as the dormant and potentially defunct Son of Beast looming behind it.

At this time it was now about 5:30, and Soak City closed at 8, so we walked back over to Rivertown to ride the train over to Soak City. We ended up on Blue. By the time we arrived at SC it was already almost 6:00. We found a spot over by Tidal Wave Bay to put our stuff, then the boys and girls split up. (including me, there were two girls and two boys in the group)

But first, all four of us enjoyed Splash River together. I loved the various sprinklers, and those cones that dumped water, not to mention the interactive stuff. Anyway, after relaxing in SR, we split. I didn't know where the boys went, but at least we agreed to meet back at Tidal Wave Bay at 7:30.

As for us two girls, we went on Pineapple Pipeline next. My friend took the green slide in the middle while I took the orange slide on the left after waiting only five minutes in line. I liked it, except for getting water up my nose.

After that, we headed to the neighboring Tropical Twister. This turned out to be my favorite body slide. After waiting nearly 15 minutes I was on the light blue slide and my friend was on the dark blue slide. The ride started out slow, then I just twisted faster and faster and faster until....SPLASHDOWN!!! This time I was pinching my nose so water wouldn't go up like it did on Pineapple Pipeline.

I wanted to do Rendezvous Run, and my friend wanted to do Mondo Monsoon, which she called "the Big Toilet." But the lines for both of those rides were long, so we agreed to head back to Tidal Wave Bay, even though it was only 7:15. We got in just as another round of waves was starting! I decided to wear my goggles and nose plug, but later I could have known I may be the only one w/goggles, let alone a nose plug. There was an awkward moment during the waves, when literally EVERYONE around me was staring at me!!! It was the last straw. I just took my goggles and nose plug off as I climbed onto a tube to ride over the waves. I could see Diamondback, WindSeeker and all the tall rides, but not Vortex. I guess it was hidden behind the trees. I mean, you CAN see it from the parking lot though. Just wondering. So we spent about 10-15 minutes in TWB before finally checking on Rendezvous Run to see if the line had shortened. By that time it was about 7:30.

Turns out, Rendezvous Run's line had shortened just a bit, but it was enough for us to get in line ourselves. We waited 3-5 minutes to get slide mats, then another 10-12 minutes before actually sliding. I was in Chute #2, while my friend was in Chute #1. The tunnel was dark with some lights, and when all the slides came together, I was the first one out! It was really fun. Both my friend and I agreed that RR was our favorite slide, out of all the ones we rode.

It was just after 7:45 by the time we got back to Tidal Wave Bay, so we spent the remaining 15 minutes in there. The boys were chilling in there, too. Every time the timer wound down to the start of wave time, we and the other guests in the pool always counted down from 10, which was fun in itself. My friend got out early, but I stayed until the last round of waves occured from 7:55-8:00 before I finally got out right when they announced that Soak City was officially closed for the day. We met up with the boys and put our clothes back on. This time, we decided to walk back to Kings Island instead of taking the train. We ended up in Planet Snoopy. All of us were hungry, so we ate at the Chick-Fil-A on the "border" between Planet Snoopy and International Street. I was about to go crazy of the fact we had only two hours left and I still hadn't rode Vortex. In fact, neither of us had yet. (I'm used to riding Vortex early-mid trip, not late like it was on 8/04) I just got a regular chicken sandwich (fresh!) at the unreal price of $6.59 or something like that, along with a free 7 oz cup of water, just to save some cents. I also shared some hot and fresh waffle fries. Now came the moment I was waiting for: We were going to ride Vortex next! I was literally jumping up and down. See, this is what happens when I don't ride Vortex until later. The excitement stayed cooped up inside me in this case, and all the time that we were in line and on Vortex I just totally UNLEASHED all of it. I was like, "OMG OMG OMG I'm excited!!!! what if I end up on my favorite train???" etc. So we finally made the trek to Coney Mall, just to ride my specialty ride We got in line at 9:00, the wait was around 20 minutes so at 9:20 we were next. Since there were four of us, we just took the entire fifth car just 'cause there were less people waiting for it. I was in 5-1 on train #2 (!?!?!?!?!?!??) When I found out it was #2 I was like saying to the ride, "Are you serious? Are you absolutely serious??" since Train #2 is my favorite train. The ride was a blast, not only because it was usual for me, I was also riding with a group, and I was super-excited, and it was at night. So excited, in fact, that I was screaming my heart and lungs out on the batwing for the fun of it. When we got off I stepped on the side of the train and jumped off, just to make the most of doing something as small as that when I've had so much fun.

At the moment, it was about 9:35. We played the Peach Basket game, except I wasn't willing to spend my money then. We went back to Adventure Express for another ride. The wait was about the same as last time, 15 minutes. Here's the memorable part: We didn't chant "Canada" this time, nor was there a color commentary. Right before Train #3 arrived in the station so we could board, the fireworks started!! We were excited. This was going to be our very first fireworks ride on AE ever! I rode in row 1-3. It was pretty much as fun as when we rode it before, especially looking back and seeing the rest of the train behind me.

We watched the rest of the fireworks from the midway, then when they were over, we decided to take advantage of a bit of the "after-hours" since the park was open until midnight. We rode Racer one more time before we had to leave. This time, I was with my friend in row 5-3 on the same Red Train #2. I gotta admit, it is SO INSANELY BUMPY IN AN EPIC WAY!!! We all had our hands up and I managed to keep my hands up the entire ride. I actually love rides that bump you around, which is also one of the reasons why I love Vortex. We finally left the park at 10:30 pm.

I know this report is so long but I spent seven hours total at the park so if you read all the way through, good job!

Grand Carousel: 1x YTD: 1x Overall: 13x

WindSeeker: 1x YTD: 5x Overall: 13x

Zephyr: 1x YTD: 1x Overall: 9x

Racer: 2x YTD: 2x Overall: 4x

Adventure Express: 2x YTD: 2x Overall: 11x

Flight Deck: 1x YTD: 1x Overall: 9x

Vortex: 1x YTD: 11x Overall: 86x

Splash River: 1x

Pineapple Pipeline: 1x

Rendezvous Run: 1x

Tidal Wave Bay: 2x

Tropical Twister: 1x

P.S. I've mentioned July 10 quite a bit. Do you think I should post a TR on that? (Don't worry, it'll be shorter)

[stashua123]

Thanks for sharing! Nice TR!!!!

Edit: 300th post!

[jcgoble3]

Wow, you have a detailed memory! Great report! Thanks for posting it!

[The Interpreter]

Your giddy excitement with Vortex, the park and your friends is delightful. Thanks for sharing!

[VortexBFForever]

^You're welcome! I guess the reason I always get giddy around/in line for/riding Vortex is because I remember so much from past experiences. Plus, I love it like it's a best friend. I'm a person who gets attached to THINGS as well as living beings...Vortex is only one of them.

[VortexBFForever]

note: double post! sorry in advance.

It's been a long, long time, but I finally got around to uploading some pictures from the trip, along with a video I took in AE's station when the fireworks started at 10pm.

EDIT: The video won't post!

This one was taken when my three friends and I were watching Thunder Alley. I'm on the far right.

IMG_2560 by KIC-Vortex_BFF, on Flickr

IMG_2566 by KIC-Vortex_BFF, on Flickr

IMG_2567 by KIC-Vortex_BFF, on Flickr

IMG_2575 by KIC-Vortex_BFF, on Flickr

Enjoy!

Edited August 30, 2012 by VortexBFForever

[Original]

It still sounds "magical" even if they're only CD tracks. I rode a beautiful black jumping horse just behind one of those blue carriages. Quite pleasant.

I always ride the same horse . Its white with purple 'clothes" and a big purple gem on the thing on its face (I wish I knew what these things were called!). It has a grey mang. I think you can actually see it in this picture if you look closely. You cant see the gem, its on the other side.

[The Interpreter]

Do you mean the bridle?

http://i.word.com/idictionary/Bridle