KI 4-27-13 (Opening Day 2013) PTR

[ohiocolts]

We got at the park around 6:45PM, after my baseball game
(Which by the way we won 5-4). We took separate cars, my mom and sister in one
car, and my dad and I in another, in case it rained and my dad wanted to head
home. We waited in the entrance for about 10 minutes, until my mom and sister
came. We decided on heading to the Eiffel Tower, to see the former Son of Beast
sight and check out the lines.

When we got to Eiffel Tower, I saw something I’ve never
seen, the elevator was stuck. Kids were just waving and stuff through the
windows.

We didn’t want to wait for them to get back down, so we
decided to make our first ride of the year The Racer.

There was about 4 switchbacks open which resulted in about a
15 minute wait. Also, instead of just part of the middle fence, the whole fence
in The Racer station was now removed.

We chose Red side and got towards the middle of the train
for our first ride of the year!

The ride was fun, and it was great to get back on a coaster
again! It was pretty smooth for the front seat of the car. You could also see
WindSeeker’s evacuation system in the turnaround.

From here, we kept texting KICers to try to get in a group,
but they were in line for Firehawk.

We decided to check out the Flight of Fear line, but decided
not to do it, because it would probably be the last ride of the night.

They did get a nice, new estimated wait time sign, along
with a few other rides.

We ended up talking some more about what to do, and decided
on trying out the Reds Hall of Fame Grille.

We were surprised to see not many people here, probably
because it was after most people ate dinner, but we were quickly seated and
handed our menus.

The menu had about 6 Reds trivia questions, which were cool
to have.

It took a while for a waitress to come, but in about 10
minutes one did. My dad and I split some ribs, while the girls split chicken
tenders. The TV’s had ESPN, a current baseball game between the Cardinals and
somebody, and a Reds classic highlight thing, which made it a very sporty atmosphere.

We decided to get up and look around while waiting for our
food. The theme was done really well, and there was all kinds of classic Reds
memorabilia.

After gazing around for about 10 minutes, we headed back to
our seats, and an appetizer my parents ordered, which was chips and some dip
thing, was already there. In about 5 minutes, the rest of our food was here.

The ribs weren’t anything special. They were dry and
overcooked. Kind of tasted like jerky. The service was asking how everything
was, and we reported how the ribs were. Everything else was really good. But,
the ribs weren’t as good as what I’d heard from media day. They weren’t awful,
but they weren’t worth $20. I also recalled seeing someone on KIC post about a
10% discount on all food purchases for Gold Passholders, but they said they
didn’t have it. So:

Pros: *Theme was excellent, all kinds of stuff for any Reds
fan to look at. *Service was fairly nice, for me anyway, but I heard different
stories from others. *The rest of the food was all good. *Plenty of TV’s to
watch whatever.

Cons: *Ribs were overcooked, not worth $20. *Wouldn’t accept
any discounts.

After eating, we kept texting a KIC group, and decided to
meet them at The Beast.

A new fence replaced the trash cans and plants and photo
booths that used to block The Crypt entrance. We ran into malem, Beastie1980,
Original, Muppetfan, Beastie’s mom and sister, firebeastoffear, and I believe
that is it. It was around 8:50 and we walked into a full Beast queue, with the
exception of a couple switchbacks in the first queue house and one switchback
on the rear side of the station switchbacks, which I haven’t seen the
switchbacks in the station used in forever.

We kept discussing whether or not we would make it before
the fireworks started. 40 minutes later when we reached the station
switchbacks, we realized we wouldn’t make it before fireworks, and met our fate
that this was the last ride of the night. There was plenty of cheers and stuff
we started in the loud Beast station.

There was a nice 4 minute firework show, which was a great
way to end Opening day. Well, actually, we were ending Opening Day on a Beast
night ride!

After the fireworks, we waited about an additional 20
minutes to get on. Including fireworks, the total wait was about 1 hour 40
minutes. So, that makes me thing a full queue for Beast is only about just over
a 1 hour wait.

Ready to roll! I rode with my dad for my second ride of the
year. The ride was amazing! And on the second lift hill, the people in front of
us were asking if this was another drop, and it sure was! We raced through the
pitch black tunnels, through the dark woods, until we safely made it back to
the station.

We headed out now, cause what else was there to do? They
probably wanted us out anyway. There was lots of texting going on throughout
the day for me to try to get my shirt. At the front entrance, we met Gator and
he had my shirt. We also walked through a nice Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular
on the way. Big thanks to Indyguy4KI and XGatorHead for eventually getting my
shirt. When we left the park, we chatted with Gator and it started to rain. Perfect
timing. A great day.

A couple of notes:

*I think 2 rides in a day might be an all time low for me

*There was all kinds of new little things throughout the
park. I also can’t wait to see what will happen in Action Zone!

*Not quite sure what rides were closed, but I believe many
went down during the day and WindSeeker was not open.

Thanks for reading!

Also, here's a quick video from the day.

[DBInternational]

first night ride of the year was beast? Soooo jealous of you right now

[jcgoble3]

Glad you had fun, and congratulations on winning your baseball game!

[IndyGuy4KI]

Glad you got your shirt from Gator. Thanks for the PTR! Hope to see you soon.

[Dieseltech20]

Nice report, thanks for sharing. I liked seeing the pic of the Menu, the prices are a lot lower than I thought they would be.

[The Interpreter]

Yet another fantastic trip report. Save these things. You'll treasure them later!

Thanks!