Joncars05 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Sorry my trip report is super long as usual, but I hope you enjoy it! Coasterstock May 20-22 Coasterstock was back again for it's second year and my wife, daughter, and I headed out for 3 days of adventure at the event. We arrived at the park right at 6. We had an issue with the parking even though we gave them the ticket. It was resolved rather quickly as we showed the attendant the information and they let us through. Once through the gate we found a parking spot and since it was raining I walked up to the registration booth on my own. This was my only issue with the event. There were two windows opened one being for A-M and the other for N-Z. The N-Z line was nearly empty, the A-M line had around 40 people in it. Of course my name begins with a G so I was stuck in the long line. When I got in line it was 615. The N-Z line was empty so people from our line went up to see if they could register there the guy at the window said he couldn’t do it. So basically everyone had to wait. I ended up waiting in line for over 50 minutes in the rain while waiting to register. My only idea to make this better is to either open more windows (1-2 more) or have the full list at each window so anyone can check in at any window. It was an unfortunate beginning but the even built up from there. With the rain ending we quickly entered the park and went to Banshee. It was a walk on. After that we went to the kids section and let my daughter ride until the park closed. After the park closed ERT started so I headed to ride Firehawk. I got in 3 rides in a row but on the 3rd on the rain really picked up and I headed to Flight of Fear to hide from the rain. The awesome part of our Coasterstock experience was they ride ops allowed us to ride with the lights on. This was a really cool experience. The speed of the ride seemed almost the same and the headchoppers were amazing. The room being lit up was amazing especially when you hit the MCBR and had the time to actually look around. I was able to get two front row lights on rides, a trip with the lights on for the first half of the ride, and a couple more regular dark rides. FOF felt like it was running great this year. After I was done I headed to the hotel for the night. Day 2 Day 2 started off like the previous night with rain in the area. I started it off with a couple of spins on Banshee, one on The Bat. After the park opened I was able to get a ride on Invertigo and Drop Tower. The day continued with my wife entering the park with our daughter and heading back to the kid section. Soon enough the behind the scenes tour of Beast began. I was in the 2 pm group. I really liked the way the park did this tour this time. It was way more intimate and with the smaller group I think more people were able to ask questions and feel like they could be heard. Many great facts were learned about the ride and some good photos that are normally not possible were taken. The dinner was actually really good this year! I was simple and had baked chicken and mashed potatoes. It was a much improved dinner than the previous year. Having Dennis Speigel speak during the dinner was a nice touch as we were entertained while eating. This was the first time I have heard him speak and it was really good information on the amusement park industry and what he sees as the next steps park will be taking in the near future. After dinner we stayed in the kid section until the park closed. Once it closed I headed straight to BLSC for a couple of spins. I hit Vortex up for one shuffling ride. I closed the night with a couple of spins on The Beast and Diamondback. I also got to meet one of my favorite park photographers (@Jantzen73 on Instagram)! This guy is amazing if you like my photos you will love his material, it is outstanding! Day 3 Day 3 was a great morning I had a ride on Banshee and Firehawk. The crowds were really light but I was pretty tired so I didn’t really ride too much. The weather finally broke so the sun was out and it wasn’t too hot. Lunch was good with burgers and hot dogs. The baked beans were good. It was a lazy day in the park even with the short line I didn’t ride any rides. I took the majority of the time to take some shots with the sun out. I enjoyed The Racer walk back and I believe the park did a walk back with Banshee in the evening but I missed it due to us eating dinner outside of the park. With the park coming to a close I headed back towards the first drop of Diamondback where I ran into Don Helbig. We chatted a little bit about the event and what I thought about it. He was really nice and attentive. I have talked with some other park reps before and some have not been so gracious to stop and chat for 5 minutes and seem genuinely interested in what I was talking about. He asked me about my favorite part of the event. I told him the ERT is my favorite part because I was able to experience the park with my family and not feel like I had to rush with getting in rides. I was able to get in 41 rides and I believe only 3 or 4 of them came outside of ERT. He hinted at some possible changes to the walk back of The Beast next year and some details of the event. I joked with him and said that who knows, maybe we will have something new to have a walk back around next year! He laughed and quickly and jokingly acknowledged the new entrance to WWC. After shaking hands and leaving I was able to get a couple of rides on The Beast, Diamondback (Where I ran into ohiocolts), and I finished the night off with a front row ride with electricsun, IndyGuy4KI, and I believe one more forum member but I forgot his name (Sorry!!!) Overall the event was fantastic and again is a must do if you are an enthusiast and have the time to make the event! Event Improvement points: The only issues I had with the park were that my ticket didn’t get us in right after 6pm. The booth attendant didn’t know of the event but we were able to explain the situation and they let us through. Registration- I would like to see maybe 1 or 2 more windows opened right at the beginning of registration to handle the “rush” for the first 30 minutes or so. The idea of splitting the booths by last name was great until the lines got really uneven and I as well as others had to wait longer than the other group. That could be alleviated by printing off the full list and having the full list at each window. Event Positives: Food- Much improved from the previous year. The chicken was delicious! ERT- The ERT as usual was fantastic everything was either a walk on or a one train wait. Behind the scenes tours- Great photo ops, behind the scenes information, and coaster viewing. Ride Crews- From the lights on trips on FOF, to the upbeat crew members manning each ride the park employees were fantastic! Moving the event to 3 days: I know it makes it tough for some people with the event spreading to 3 days but for myself and my family we had a great time knowing that we didn’t have to rush to enjoy the park and it spread the ERT and tours out enough that you were still able to enjoy the park as a regular patron and not have to be at ever Coasterstock event. My photos from the trip are below! Vortex! Racer! Invertigo Dino eating the moon. Seriously this is my favorite photo from the trip! Diamondback The Beast The Bat Banshee Banshee Flight of Fear with the lights on! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VortexBFForever Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Beautiful, beautiful pictures! They should be on the Kings Island website! It sounded like an amazing time. I hope I can do CoasterStock sometime! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joncars05 Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 Beautiful, beautiful pictures! They should be on the Kings Island website! It sounded like an amazing time. I hope I can do CoasterStock sometime! Thanks, I have been working at getting better at taking photos of the park. If you get the time to participate in Coasterstock, do it! It is so much fun. I didn't even take full advantage of ERT and I as able to get 39 laps on the coasters! Plus the extra tours, food, and activities put the icing on the cake! Coasterstock is a must do event, IMO. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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