emileeee Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I've made several friends this year who have pretty much accepted my dedication and appreciation of roller coasters and KI in general. This past Saturday night, I got off work at 6. What?! Crazy that I didn't have the closing shift. So I asked one of my friends if she wanted to go to the park with me to ride Beast one last time before the season ended. "It's 35 degrees," she said. "It's closed after this weekend," was my reply. So we donned our gloves. Our headbands. Our scarves. Our hand and toe warmers. Just like the Ohioans (and born Floridian, still not used to that Ohio chill after thirteen years) that we are, and we headed to the park. Got there at about 8, which was nice because I had been arriving at Haunt all season no earlier than 11 pm, thanks to all the 9:30p closing shifts I get every weekend at the pet store. For once I didn't have to rush around. We headed straight for Beast, joining the other bundled up brave souls who so dared to tame The Beast in the sharp, piercing pre-winter air upon us. I imagined families with Saturday tickets, who put off Haunt until the last weekend it was open, putting their Halloween decorations in a box and heading to Kings Island a tad too late. I know my friends aren't like me, who wake up on the morning of a planned trip to KI to a monsoon and say, "it's just a little bit of rain! Imagine how short the lines will be!" I totally get that some people are turned off by inclement weather... Which is why I am so grateful my friend decided to put herself through what we went through. After about twenty or so minutes in line (and catching the SNL digital short "When Will the Bass Drop" on FunTV... Nice!) we sat in the front seat, pulled our scarves up over our mouths, and braced against the bitter air. Do you know what was going through my head about halfway up the lift hill? "There was snow on the ground this morning, Emilee. SNOW. You dingbat. You dingus. This is a bad idea." And as much as I loved it, it was a bad idea. Little blades of frigid air whipped under my nose and over my eyes, each second more piercing than the next. I put my gloved hands up to my face instinctually, like I was repeatedly getting hit in the face by snowballs. Tears rolling down our face (not the usual Beast front seat tears. These were icicle-stabbed-my-entire-face tears), we crested the second lift. "This view from here seriously never gets old!" My friend said. She'll see it later, honey. Her eyes are frozen. I winced and covered my face again as we helix e's through the tunnel, the brain-rattling ride somehow more intense than anything I've experienced this season. Maybe it was the cold, but it felt like we were going faster than any other Beast ride all summer. We halted at the brake run and turned to each other, faces raw and frozen, and sighed with relief. "It is 35 degrees outside... And we just rode The Beast," she said. Yes. Though it was 35 degrees and borderline excruciating, night rides on The Beast are always worth it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Excellent!! It's the days like this that you'll remember forever! I bet your friend is glad she came. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outdoor Man Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Myself, a 33 degree rider of Banshee... so cold I was numb and figured with walk-on conditions... I'd ride 3 more times. Would have loved to tame The Beast- but those days are likely in my rear view mirror. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoraX Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 We rode front row last train of the night Saturday night. It was freezing. I actually had brain freeze from it being so cold. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emileeee Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 We headed for Banshee after that but it was closed. We were prepared for it though! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XGatorHead 8904 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Love the story, so descriptive! I rode it during the day Saturday & Sunday, then again Sunday night on one of the last trains of the season (3rd or 4th to last... close enough to the very last for me!) No matter what the weather, there is no other way I'd close out the Kings Island season than a night ride on The Beast in the last few minutes of the last operating day, as I have every year since 2007. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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