6/10/15, First Trip To Kings Island

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VekomaRulz:
First I want to thank everyone from these forums for all the great information posted. I started reading the forums not knowing when I was going to get to Kings Island but wanted to read up on information about the park and the forums were really helpful. My home parks are Great Adventure and Dorney Park and I thought it would be great to try some new coaster types that both of those parks don't have.


The reason for this trip was to go to Great American Ballpark and see the Phillies play the Reds.


We left Monday 6/8 and drove to Cincinnati. The baseball game was on Tuesday and I thought maybe I could get to Kings Island before the game but didn't want to go to the park and not have time for all the rides I wanted to try so we decided to drive to Louisville and go to the Louisville Slugger Factory Tour and Museum. I never expected to go to Kentucky anytime soon and although Kentucky Kingdom was right near by, there wasn't time for it and wasn't really a priority for me. Tuesday night we went to the baseball game and not surprisingly, the Phillies lost 11 - 2 which sounds bad but is nothing compared to the 19 - 3 loss that just happened a few hours ago.

On Wednesday morning, we saw they changed the forecast and it wasn't supposed to rain until 9 pm on Thursday so it looked like we would be able to get to Kings Island and then drive to Cedar Point that night and go to the park on Thursday.

Cedar Fair has a good deal on their site with a 1 day admission to Kings Island and a 1 day admission to Cedar Point for $64.99. Cedar Point discounted tickets were $44.99 so adding on Kings Island for $20 with the combo ticket was a good value. They also offered discounted parking online at $12 instead of $15 and a souvenir cup for $10.99 with free refills all day and $0.99 refills the rest of the year like the red cup at Great Adventure.

We got to Kings Island just after 10 and although it was going up to 90, the humidity was low so it wasn't that bad. I later saw it was 95 in Sandusky with a 99 heat index so I was glad we waited a day to go to Cedar Point.

Banshee was the first coaster we saw but it was broken down. A worker announced to the riders waiting that they suggested we go to other rides as they didn't know how long the breakdown would be. We left about 5 minutes later and then right after we walked away they opened the ride so I got back in line and got on the 3rd train after the ride had reopened. They were not assigning rows and I went to the last row. I was looking forward to this coaster not only because it has great reviews but also because it was my 100th coaster. I have been waiting to get my coaster count to triple digits for a while now and this was a good coaster to be my 100th after my 50th coaster was a somewhat bad coaster- Rollie's Coaster at Morey's Piers.

The new restraints were comfortable and at first I felt like I was about to ride Superman Ultimate Flight with the vest restraints. Banshee was an excellent coaster with lots of inversions and the dive loop was different compared to the immelmann that other B&M inverts have. I also liked the pretzel knot and the in line twist taken at a slow speed. It is a great addition to the park and really complements Diamondback for 2 great major steel coasters.

I skipped Drop Tower for now since it had a bit of a line and thought I would go back to it later if I had time. I also skipped Invertigo since I really don't like Stinger at Dorney and knowing how unreliable Stinger is, I didn't want to take a chance on getting stuck on Invertigo (which turned out to be an issue with another ride later in the report).

Next to Banshee was The Bat. I have wanted to try an Arrow Suspended coaster for a few years and didn't get a chance to get back to Busch Gardens Williamsburg before Big Bad Wolf was removed. The queue was a long walk similar to Superman and Green Lantern both at Great Adventure. The station was mostly empty and I thought for our first Arrow Suspended coaster, we should wait 2 extra trains for the front row. I didn't realize it at the time that it was my sister's 50th coaster and if I had realized it, I would have ridden The Bat first so we could get our 50th coaster and 100th coaster credits at the same time.

The Bat was a fun ride and didn't let up until the brake run where the car was still and a high angle entering the brake run. It's a shame that Arrow didn't build more of these coasters and more parks didn't keep the ones that are open since they are really fun and good for kids who want an "in between" coaster that is more than a family coaster but not a major thrill coaster.

Adventure Express was next with a 2 train wait. It had individual lap bars like Runaway Mine Train and Trailblazer and I liked how right out of the station there wasn't a lift and the train started the circuit right away. The ending lifthill that was enclosed with the moving statues was cool and felt like it could fit in an Orlando park.

Racer only had the blue side running with about a 10 minute wait. I should have waited for a non wheel seat and picked the 3rd row of a car since that was a shorter wait. It wasn't really rough but not as smooth as some other wooden coasters I have ridden and I knew since I didn't like Rebel Yell that much, I probably wouldn't think this ride was that great either. It was still not a bad coaster and Kings Island was a local park, it would probably be a coaster I tried to ride once a trip if the line was short.

Firehawk had a posted 90 minute wait with even the Fast Lane Plus line being 30 minutes (I decided against Fast Lane since the lines were so short except for Flight of Fear and Firehawk). The coaster wasn't worth a 90 minute wait to me and I didn't feel like even taking the chance on how I would feel knowing how the pressure of the pretzel loop at Superman Ultimate Flight can be forceful and didn't want to possibly get a headache with the warm weather.

Flight of Fear had a posted 45 minute wait but took about 30 minutes. I was looking forward to Flight of Fear since I never rode Batman and Robin The Chiller and the launch into the cobra roll would probably be the closest I would get riding the Robin track of Chiller. The ankle grabbers were kind of annoying not leaving a lot of room for your feet but I was glad that the ride had lap bars as I can imagine that this ride was brutal when it had OTSR's. The launch into the inversions reminded me a little of Rock N Rollerocaster and I wasn't expected a complete stop when the train got to the MCBR. Overall the ride was fun and I'll have to get to Six Flags America to try Joker's Jinx and see what the ride looks like outside.

WindSeeker was closed which didn't matter to me since there was no way I was going to try it with the problems they have had at other parks. Vortex was next with a 5 minute wait. I was looking forward to Vortex because I miss Scream Machine at Great Adventure and other than Viper at Magic Mountain, Vortex looked like it would be the next closest ride to Scream Machine.

I liked how after the drop there was a hill and a turnaround before going into the double loop and I also liked how the corkscrews weren't at the end like most Arrow loopers to make the ride a little different. The batwing reminded me of how much I miss that inversion from riding Scream Machine. It was a little rough but not too bad and another good coaster.

Backlot Stunt Coaster was next with about a 10 minute wait. I could see this ride having a very slow moving line on a crowded day with the low capacity, I had seen a POV of the ride before a few years ago and never expected to like the coaster as much as I did. The uphill helix was fun and the show scene with the helicopter and fire was cool. I forgot from the POV that there was an indoor section. This was probably the surprise coaster of the park for me.

Next was a coaster I have been wanting to ride after a friend from school told me about Kings Island in 2nd grade and how great The Beast was. There was just under a 10 minute wait. While it won't be overtaking Boulder Dash or El Toro, it is a top 10 wooden coaster for me with the great ride time, a great first drop and the forceful helix during the ride. I hear that night rides are even better but sunset wasn't until after 9:00 and there was no way we could stay until closing since that would have meant getting to Sandusky at around 2:00 a.m.

The train was next with a great ride op at the microphone giving lots of information about the train and the park. From what I could see from the train, Soak City looked really nice and not very crowded and if we had more time, I would have spent a couple of hours there.

We had lunch at the Reds Hall of Fame Grille. The prices were reasonable for an amusement park with most sandwiches under $10. It was themed nicely with lots of Reds memorabilia. They had multiple TV's in the restaurant but for some reason the Reds vs Phillies game was not being shown, maybe because the game started at 12:35 which isn't that common so no one realized the game was being played then?

I was going to try Diamondback next but it had broken down with riders stuck on the lift. The train was not that far out of the station.

I kept checking back while we were in Planet Snoopy and the riders still hadn't been evacuated. We later found out that the riders were stuck for 90 minutes before being evacuated. While it wouldn't be pleasant to be sitting for 90 minutes in the train, I didn't think it would be a news story that we later found out many of the local news stations and papers were reporting on.

Race For Your Life Charlie Brown was next with about a 5 minute wait. I was glad to see Kings Island still had a log flume with so many parks removing them. I also wasn't expected to get drenched on the final drop with it being a smaller flume and then have a Snoopy figure at the end shoot some jets of water at you. With the warm weather, it didn't matter though.

Flying Ace Aerial Chase was the next coaster. It only runs 1 train but today that didn't matter with it being a 2 train wait. I had heard the earlier Vekoma Junior inverted coasters were rough compared to newer models like Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot with a lap bar but the coaster was mostly smooth with just a few spots of headbanging. I'd rather ride this version over a regular SLC any day.

We saw Woodstocks Whirlybirds and were happy to see no rule about needing a kid under 54" to ride. At Dorney, the only ride in Planet Snoopy that has that requirement is the rocket ship monorail even though other parks in the chain don't require a kid to ride. The difference with Woodstock's Whirlybirds is that they are pedal powered although they still move without pedaling. They were running 9 cars and loading 3 at a time. It was about a 10 minute wait and this is another ride I can see having a very slow moving line on a crowded day.

Boo Blasters on Boo Hill was another ride I was looking forward to as I really like dark rides, especially interactive dark rides. I liked how it had an omnimover system for faster loading. The ride was very well done with lots of show scenes, lots of targets to shoot at and when shot at, many of the props moved. I still hope that Great Adventure gets the Justice League Dark ride since I'd like to have an interactive dark ride closer to home besides the one at Hersheypark.

Woodstocks Express was running 2 trains with no wait. Other than the Junior PTC trains not having a lot of leg room, it was fun for a smaller coaster.

Diamondback's riders were now evacuated but the ride was still closed. They weren't sure when or if it would re-open that day so we left the ride area and went to some of the shops at the front of the park. We were ready to leave when we saw a couple of trains test and then 2 trains with riders. We quickly walked back to the ride and it was open with a short wait of 10 minutes. I knew Diamondback was supposed to be good but thought it would probably be equal to Nitro. I liked the different seating with the last row of each car away from each other so you don't have any seats close to you on either side giving the ride a more open feeling. I ended up liking the ride a lot more than Nitro with the better hammerhead, lots of air time hills (it seemed like more than Nitro, not counting Nitro's smaller hills after the MCBR) and the splashdown. I was disappointed that I was going to miss Diamondback but thought since it's a B&M Hyper and not something I have never ridden before like some other coaster types in the park, it wouldn't be a huge deal. After riding Diamondback and seeing how great it was, I would have really regretted missing it now knowing how great it was.

It was around 6:00 and with the drive to Cedar Point, we decided we should leave now to get there at a reasonable hour so we wouldn't be tired the next day.

Kings Island was a very nice park with some signature attractions and a good collection of other coasters as well plus some great family rides. It was a better park than I had expected. I also want to mention that I really liked Kings Island and Cedar Points bins in the station for loose articles. Although I didn't use them, I thought it was great how they used a seatbelt buckle to close the bins for the train running the circuit and that could only be opened with a key from a ride operator similar to the seatbelts used on the kiddie rides.

violakat03:
Awesome trip report! I really enjoyed reading it. I love seeing my home park from the perspective of someone who's never been there before and I really saw KI through your eyes when reading this. Glad you enjoyed our park and I hope you can get back here again some time in the future for a legendary Beast night ride. It really is amazing and it's a huge difference from a day time ride.
MDMC01

Great stuff; I too like hearing from a first-timer about the park that I also call home. Speaking of home parks, I'll be heading up to Dorney (and Hershey) in a few days, and I'll be sure to post a trip report soon afterward detailing the trip. Also, next time you visit KI, you should check out Drop Tower (it's really a great ride) and Cirque Imagine. Cirque Imagine is an amazing show that a lot of people on here (including myself) love. Again, I'm glad you had a great time!


EDIT: Congrats on making Banshee your 100th coaster; I'm hoping to hit 100 next year!

electricsun:
I agree with violakat03 and MDMC01 - it's nice to hear someone's experience with Kings Island. I find myself at times taking what we have for granted. It is good to reminded that we are pretty lucky. (My niece and nephew's reaction tend to serve as my reality check.) Thank you for sharing!

I too will be at Dorney Park and Hershey later this week/weekend. (What a coincidence MDMC01!)

VekomaRulz - will you add a trip report for Cedar Point? I'm curious as to how that experience was and how you would compare the parks.

VekomaRulz:
Thank you all.


I don't know when I will get back but next time I am in Ohio, I'm going to try to return to the park. Besides trying Drop Tower and to stay until closing for a Beast night ride I also hope I can spend some time in Soak City.


I'm going to write a Cedar Point trip report sometime later this week. I found Kings Island to be more relaxing of a park, that might have been because of the lower crowds though.


Dorney and Hershey are both nice parks. Although Dorney doesn't have a lot of coasters Talon and Steel Force are great (although I think Banshee and Diamondback are much better) and the park rarely has lines except for the water park. Hersheypark has one of my favorite coaster collections of any park I have been to.

 

[VekomaRulz]

Thank you for reposting this. I'm still going to post a Cedar Point report as well, I'm about 1/3 done writing it and hope to post it sometime next week.

[marth555]

The irony of somebody that calls thereself VekomaRulz skipping 2 of the 3 Vekoma coasters