May 29: The Long-Overdue Return to the Island

[VortexBFForever]

Part 1 of 2:

With my last day of school being Thursday (5/28), my dad and I decided to kick off summer vacation together by going to Kings Island the following morning. I knew it was one of the Education Days with school groups, but crowds were relatively light (although they increased as morning turned into afternoon). Even though it was the normal 4 hour length, I only took 74 pictures (my camera's battery was only about 60% charged, so I didn't want to use it too much before the end of this trip). I rode 9 different rides (2 of which were more than once) and had lunch at Hank's Burrito Shack for the very first time!

Well, enough introduction. Let us begin!

Dad and I arrived at the park right when ERT started. It was about 9:34 when we walked in the gate and through the Gold/Platinum Pass entrance. I decided to make Diamondback my first ride of 2015, so we headed there. There was a little line which moved very quickly. I waited about 5 minutes before my turn came to sit in Row 14 on the Red Train. Needless to say, I missed flying down a 215-foot drop at 80 mph! It was a great way to start the visit.

I only did one ride on Diamondback; it was 9:55, the line had doubled in length, and I wanted to be at rope drop to get to a certain favorite once the rest of the park opened. I noticed they didn't do the countdown thing at 10:00 like last year, nor did they sing the national anthem (I assume it was sung when the park opened for ERT?). All that happened at 10:00 was the guard moving back the rope. And just like that, the whole park was open for my first visit of the year!

Just like any other rope drop, a number of people (about half the group) started running. But I decided to obey the rules and walk. Some of the time I speed-walked, but I was not in a big hurry so I just walked normally.

It was a good thing, too. A Diamondback train was ascending the lift hill at the same time. If I had run, I would've missed the opportunity to beautifully capture its plunge down the first drop:

And, of course, an overall shot of the splashdown pool and the Eiffel Tower:

My relaxing post-park-opening walk concluded just inside Coney Mall, where for the first time in nearly 7 months, I was once again face-to-face with my special favorite ride...

..which my entire 6-minute journey from Diamondback to Vortex was only done by walking. The first train was already being sent out when I entered the queue, but the only riders on that train were two employees who were test-riding. I happened to be the first guest to ride Vortex that day!

When I entered the station, Train #2 was waiting for me and any other prospective rider to show up. The gates were closed but were opened, accompanied by the ever-present "Gates are opening; please stand back" as I approached. I stepped into 1-1 as the gates were closed. No one else had come, which meant I had the WHOLE TRAIN TO MYSELF for my first ride of the year on Vortex!

The ride was just as I had remembered, complete with smelling the chain grease on the lift hill, the hang time in the corkscrews, and the overall familiar intensity of the inversions. The one change I noticed was that the pine trees by the first half of the batwing had been removed, now offering any rider a clear, unobstructed view of the rather large element! For me, it was my first time having a clear view of the batwing. I always underestimate its grand size.

Just to make sure the reride policy was still the same, I asked one of the attendants when I returned to the station after joyfully responding to "Welcome back, Vortex rider; how was your ride?" She said that I was allowed to reride as long as I changed seats (just like last year), so that meant it was the same. I walked back and hopped into 7-1, remembering my post in the "Best seat on a coaster?" thread about forgetting what 7-1 was like. The familiarity of the intense and airtime-filled ride in that row came back, and now I no longer forget! (Take that, offseason!)

I went back to 1-1 for the third ride. Once again, I had the whole train to myself as no one had shown up in time to catch my train! In past trips it was already a challenge to get only ONE ride like that, but TWO??? IN ONE MORNING?!??!?? I had never done such a thing until that very moment. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised at that occurrence. While descending the first drop, a nearly full Beast train was making its way around the first turn. I imagined their reaction to looking up at a Vortex train speeding down the drop carrying only one rider above their heads!

Once again, I was greeted with "Welcome back, Vortex rider; how was your ride?" as Train #2 carried me back into the station which now had about 5 other people waiting. I wondered if they were thinking something like, "Hey, there's only one rider on that train!"

With people waiting for the front, I headed back to the back - to 6-1 this time to add a little variety. It was followed by another fun ride. I decided to finish my little marathon with another intense ride in 7-1 before going to some other rides.

I went to WindSeeker. It was open, but with the 15-20 mph winds, at least 32 riders were needed to safely send it up, according to one attendant. She mentioned that if it was more calm, then sending it up with only 1-2 riders would be fine; if there was a little more wind (like at the moment), more riders would be needed to keep it balanced. I fully understood, as I knew that if the ride operated when unbalanced on a breezy day, it would put too much stress on the mechanism and on the tower, which would in turn shorten its life span.

After my nice conversation with the WindSeeker attendant, I headed to the newly renovated Shake, Rattle & Roll to take it for a spin.

I found it funny that I took pictures while in the queue for Shake, Rattle & Roll but not of the ride itself. Strange.

I rode in Car 7, which happened to be on the arm that started spinning first. It was great to ride it again after not doing so for a year!

While heading down the midway I noticed the Zephyr attendant playing games with the riders, so I decided to ride Zephyr next. Like with Shake, Rattle & Roll, I didn't get any pictures of Zephyr either. One thing I did notice, though, is that Zephyr now has green seats along with the red, yellow, and blue seats (or at least it was the first time I noticed them). While I was riding, the attendant played Simon Says with us (like on April 27, 2013!). One of the things "Simon" told us to do was to scream as loud as we could. We did, and then she commented "Wow! You all screamed as loud as Banshee!"

After that fun ride, I headed to X-Base to check the lines for Firehawk and Flight of Fear. Flight of Fear's line was already outside the building (probably because it was warming up fast) but Firehawk's line only filled half a switchback. I joined the line to see that they were testing the yellow train, which slowed things down a little. But things got back up to speed not long later. I waited about 10 minutes before being assigned to Row 5 on the yellow train. Meanwhile, I started using the new in-park wifi and checked the Kings Island app. The listed wait times helped me some bit on deciding which rides to go for today.

I absolutely loved getting to fly again. I had not ridden Firehawk in over a year either!

I headed back to the midway and rode Dodgems and Scrambler. They were each a cycle wait (about 5 minutes) and they were each fun, although I didn't know if it was just me or the cycles seemed a bit shorter. Hopefully it was just me.

I wanted to ride Racer, but I opted for Adventure Express instead since my longing to ride it was stronger (sorry, Racer ). The app said the wait would be 15 minutes, which was pretty accurate since I waited almost that long to get in the back row of Train #2.

The back was just as fun as I remembered it - especially during the second half of the ride! It was really flying, and I loved every second of it.

After this ride, I decided to wait until after lunch to ride again. It was about 12:30 - having not eaten or drunk anything since 8:30 (other than a cup of water) I was beginning to feel a little tired/"fuzzy" discomfort around my eyes. It was really uncomfortable, but thankfully it didn't stop me from ordering and eating a taco salad along with a 20-ounce cup of cherry vanilla Coke at Hank's Burrito Shack. I'm glad I could at least eat even with the discomfort I was feeling, since I knew it was what I needed to feel better. Sure enough, I was starting to feel better when I was eating my last bite of my first meal at Hank's! The taco salad was really good; I had beef, sour cream, lettuce, diced tomato and cheese in it, as shown:

Once I was back to normal (or at least very close to it), I returned to Adventure Express for another ride. This time, I rode on Train #3 in the first row of the last car for another fun, wild ride through the woods!

End of Part 1

I will have Part 2 finished within the next 48 hours. Meanwhile, enjoy reading!

[KatieF]

You've made  me so excited to go back tomorrow!

[acfinn]

Thanks for this report. I love this part of the forums. I wasn't planning on coming to the park today until reading this report. It gave me the itch to come for the third consecutive day.

[VortexBFForever]

You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!

 

Part 2 of 2:

 

By this time, Adventure Express's line had shortened, therefore shortening the wait down to 10 minutes. I still had a small sinus headache (due to my hunger/dehydration that was mostly cured by my taco salad, water and Coke) but thankfully it was too small to impede any fun I was having as I enjoyed Adventure Express with the other riders. I definitely got my dose of lateral G's on the turns; it sure was flying today!

 

The line had lengthened again by the time I was done, so we moved on to Action Zone to see how the lines were there. The KI app told me it was a 35 minute wait for Banshee, a 25 minute wait for Delirium, a 60 minute wait for Drop Tower, a 15 minute wait for The Bat, and a 45 minute wait for Invertigo. Knowing Banshee's line moved quickly (and it was the ride I wanted to ride most at the moment), I joined Banshee's line, which filled up one full switchback. Even though the app said 35 minutes, I only waited about 15-20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I LOVE the 20x optical zoom on my camera!)

 

My favorite element on Banshee

 

 

I see you, Diamondback!

 

Caught a Banshee train whizzing by in this pic of SoB's memorial

 

 

 

 

I ended up in Row 2 of the aqua green train (aqua green is my second favorite color!) and I had a blast screaming through those elements, especially the dive loop and the in-line twist, which are my favorites!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was now 1:30, the time that Dad and I agreed on bringing our father-daughter end-of-school celebration trip to a close. Even though Dad didn't ride any rides, he still enjoyed the trip! It was AWESOME to finally be back at the park after 7 entire months!!

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much for reading my trip report. And for those whom I've inspired to make return trips of their own, HAVE FUN!! And maybe write a trip report too; I'll surely read it if you do!

 

+Diamondback: 1

Total: 80

 

+Vortex: 5

Total: 265

 

+Shake, Rattle & Roll: 1

Total: 14

 

+Zephyr: 1

Total: 16

 

+Firehawk: 1

Total: 11

 

+Dodgems: 1

Total: 5

 

+Scrambler: 1

Total: 11

 

+Adventure Express: 2

Total: 36

 

+Banshee: 1

Total: 9

 

Notes:

-I unknowingly took my 80th ride on Diamondback during ERT. My goal will be to take my 100th ride on Diamondback this year!

-I completely forgot to see if Beastie1980 was working at Dinosaurs Alive! yet or if she was there the same time I was. Sorry!

-The food at Hank's is really good. I'm so glad I finally got to eat there!

-LOVED playing Simon Says on Zephyr! I always love how most Zephyr attendants play games with the riders.

-Note to self: eat lunch and/or an actual, complete breakfast the morning of (and drink plenty of fluids, possibly from a newly purchased 2015 souvenir cup!)

-The music that played on Banshee's lift last year went unheard this time. I was looking forward to hearing it!

-I also took my 5th ride on Dodgems without knowing it (I know, not as big as my 265th ride on Vortex, but it is still a landmark number much like Diamondback's 5th anniversary last year!)

-New in-park wifi!! Never before had I been able to check things on my iPod while at the park like the Kings Island app, the weather app, iMessage, Flickr or Instagram until now. I should have thought of sending a message to my mom (who wasn't at the park with us) via iMessage while I was there since I will finally be able to. I'll try to remember to do it next time!

[acfinn]

I loved this report. Thanks for doing this! I do wish I knew how many rides I've taken on each like you posted. I think I've done 9 total Banshee rides and around 6 on Diamondback but other than that I am not quite sure.