Kings Island - 07/15/14

[WindingSon]

This trip was much more of a "spur-of-the-moment" but just as fun. We arrived at the park around 3 PM, having a few arrangements in the morning before we could head to the park. This day, the park was much more crowded than I expected. I'm not sure why, I just figured that a weekday would bring in maybe just about the same amount as the trip in May did.

Walking into the park, we decided the best use of our time would be to make our way over to the Planet Snoopy area. We had never really dove too far into this area in any of our past trips, so this seemed like a good way to go. Woodstock Express is back this way, and I had never taken a ride on it before. It's a small, blue wooden roller coaster that seems like it's a perfect fit for families to have a go on, as the height requirements are much lower than the other coasters in the park.

Woodstock Express ended up being a fun ride for what it is. Nothing too special but much more fun than you'd expect from a ride in the back of a children's area. Getting off that ride, we decided to head over to the Boo Blasters on Boo Hill but decided the line was just a bit too long to have a go.

Diamondback is always a good choice to head to next but its line was also very long, with the sign out front noting it may be as long as 90 minutes in line before I got to have one ride. This was now the standard I considered must be the same across the park. As we walked along the park, I noticed The Beast with a 90 minute wait, Backlot Stunt Coaster had a big line and Vortex's almost extended past its available queue.

Seeing as how all of this walking had taken up a lot of time, it was nearing 5:00 quick, and we wanted to see Cirque Imagine. Cirque Imagine is a show featuring all sorts of stunts inspired by the Cirque Du Soleil sets of shows. A bicyclist performer climbed a mountain by jumping with no momentum, clowns jumped up and down on trampolines and hung from the ceiling. It was great fun, and included in the standard admission price. Well worth the 24 minutes.

At this point, all the walking had made us hungry so we made a pit-stop in a few stores, nabbing a cheap snow-globe in meantime. The Festhaus was close by and had a sign for Panda Express so it seemed to be a good choice for lunch. I had chow mien with orange chicken and crab Rangoon. The food was delicious, but it also featured a good performance by the Rock 'N Roll Never Forgets concert. They played lots of old music by late artists such as Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, as well as a medley of songs.

All this time we'd come to Kings Island, we never tried the park's signature attraction, the Eiffel Tower. A ride to the top had a short wait, and we decided it was time. You can see some of the photos I took atop the tower, and it's quite a view. A little terrifying to know just how high you are when up there, but worth at least doing once.

From the Eiffel Tower, Boo Blasters on Boo Hill isn't far and it's a ride just about anyone can enjoy, so that was next. The line seemed a bit shorter than earlier in the day, so we decided to stay this time. The line also moved much quicker than we expected, and we didn't even notice why until it was our turn to ride. The boarding process is a snap because of a revolving floor as the cars never stop as you board. The ride itself was fun, and a bit of a game in that you try to shoot targets with your guns with the person scoring more points "wins". A little scary at times but clearly designed with the smaller rider in mind so the spooks were kept light-hearted for the most part.

A stall selling the famous Kings Island blue ice cream was also not too far off, and it was worth the small wait. This treat has a slight flavor of blueberries and was very good. Definitely worth it if you go but maybe get a small dish instead of a cone if you can help it. My cone ended up melting into almost nothing all too quickly.

The day wound down and I hadn't really hit any big rides yet, so I decided to take just one ride on Banshee. Banshee seems to be getting better with age. That day, she was flying faster than I remember, and the queue wasn't bad. Despite most other coasters taking between 60-90 minutes, Banshee was flying through people in under 20. I attribute this to the "no-bin" policy which speeds up the boarding process tremendously.

A good day at Kings Island that was light on rides, due to the long lines. Luckily, there's more to this story and another day to report on at a later time with tons of rides ridden.