My Kings Island Story.

[Elizabeth19]

I didn't really know where to put this, so I figured this was good. I've been thinking about it a long time posting this, but I just couldn't keep any of this to myself. So, I thought I'd share my Kings Island story.

I have to warn you though, it's pretty long. lol

 

Kings Island. It's a place where coaster enthusiast, thrill seekers, and families go for summer break or to just have a good time.
Kings Island opened on April 29th,1972,in Mason, OH. At the time I wasn't born yet. But I would someday get there.

I was born in December of 2000. Same year that the massive Son of Beast opened as the first hyper wooden coaster at 218 feet and the first woodie to have a loop.
I've been to Kings Island 16 times in my 16 years of life, and have spent about 55 hours at the park.

My first visit to Kings Island was on August 13th, 2002. I was 1 and half.
Little did I know that a little over 12 years I would grow to love Kings Island very much.

This is how Kings Island has changed my life.

Kings Island to me is more than just an amusement park. It's everything else with it. Great coasters, food, shows,etc.
When I'm near or at the park, I just feel diffrent. I feel happy, and at peace knowing I'm in my favorite place. The sounds of the anti roll back clacking, people screaming, the whoosh of the ride as it passes by,smell of fresh cut potato fries, chain lube coaster oil from The Beast, Racer and Vortex.
 
I've set goals, and have achieved them on account of Kings Island.When I'm going through hard times in my life, I just think of how many days till I go to Kings Island again and all the fun memories I've had. 

When I walk through those turnstiles, I become a whole diffrent person. Smiling the whole day till it's time to leave.

I didn't like roller coasters that much till the end of 2012, early 2013.

My first big coaster in Hanna Barba Land now Planet Snoopy, was The Beastie, now known as Woodstock Express.

I remember it very well. I was scared so bad! In the ride photo, I'm clinging onto my mother and have a terrified look on my face.

I first rode The Beast, Racer, Adventure Express, Backlot Stunt Coaster on September 7th, 2009.

First time on The Bat, I almost had a bathroom attack, it looked so big!

I don't rememeber my first time on Adventure Express, but I  do remember I always held onto someone's arm and I hated the end!

I don't really rememeber first time on Backlot either but I wasn't scared too much.

I can't rememeber my first time on The Racer.

First time I rode The Beast, because I was so scared and trying to hold onto my mom's arm, I got a huge purple knot on my left elbow. I swore to  myself never to ride it again. Till later...

I didn't ride Beast when I went back the next year on August 26th, 2010.

We never went to Kings Island in 2011.

We went 2 times in 2012 though.

The first trip was July 17th, 2012. I refused to go near The Beast since I remember what happened the last time with my arm. But I did ride Diamondback. The 230 foot, 80 miles an hour hyper coaster. I came so close to telling my sister I didn't want to ride. But I got on, heart beating like a crazy, held a tight grip on my sisters hand. By the end of the ride, I was smiling and wanted to ride it again. Rode it 3 more times that day.

Second trip to Kings Island was on August 6th, 2012.My oldest sister convinced me to give The Beast one more chance. And I did.
It wasn't as rough as I remembered. In fact I loved it! Rode it in the dark that night, and absoulutly fell in love with it.

That following winter I looked up more on Kings Island, park history, ride stats, past ride stats, where past rides used to be. 

My first time back to Kings Island after looking so much of it up was May 21st, 2013.

That was when Banshee was being built but no one knew what it was at the time.
Fast forward to the night of August 8th, 2013. The night Kings Island announced Banshee as the longest inverted roller coaster at 4,124 feet long. I got chills when I first saw the POV and thought "I'm going to ride that next year."

So, I followed along with Banshee's construction. Saw basically every piece be placed, the trains arriving, testing of the ride, and opening day. Saved a lot of conststrution pics from Kings Island's twitter, and saved interviews with the park about the ride. I also memorized basically everything about Banshee, and a lot about the park. I started a Kings Island notebook that has ride stats, past ride stats, where old rides used to be, deaths, ride records, trivia, and a little story of how Kings Island started.

May 23rd, 2014. One of the biggest days of my life. I was going to ride my first inverted roller coaster.
I saw Banshee and I just froze. It was one of the most beutiful rides I've seen. The color,theming, size. It was perfect.
Got in line only waited  15 minutes. Nervously I got into the seat, pulled down the overhead, buckled in. I heard "all clear!" then the train started moving. I just thought "I've been waiting since August 8th, 2013. All the times I watched the POV's saw the track being put together, and here I am going up the longest inverted coaster in the world."
I screamed from the first drop to the brakes, and as the ride came  to an end I was all smiles! Got back in line and rode it again. This time in the front row. Oh was it an amazing feeling. You feel like you own the world on the front row of Banshee.

My second trip that year to Kings Island was on August 9th, 2014. Just one day after it had been a year since Banshee was announced. It was a Saturday. So we had to wait almost 2 hours to ride Banshee. It was worth it though. Getting to ride Beast again was amazing too.

I only went to Kings Island once in 2015. It was May 22nd, 2015. The next time I went was May 27th, 2016.
I had to wait a very hard 370 days without stepping one foot into Kings Island. It was really tough going so long without being in my favorite place. But my comfort was that I was only an hour and 45 minutes away, and it will all be worth the wait when I go again.

May 27th had finally came. Not only was I excited about riding my favorite rides again like The Beast.I was very excited to see what was going on in Rivertown across from Red's Hall Of Fame Grille. I knew it had to be a roller coaster. Then Pulling down that lap bar on Beast, hearing the anti roll back, and the smell of the coaster chain lube after going 370 without all of that was just amazing,

I went 5 times to Kings Island in 2016. : May 27th, June 9th, August 9th, October 21st, and October 29th.
Riding 95 rides that year, getting my 40th ride in on Racer.
I've rode 228 rides in my 15 years of going to KI. 368 roller coasters totaled up.

53 miles traveled on The Beast
24 miles traveled on Diamondback
25.9 traveled on Racer
7.9 miles traveled on Vortex
18.7 miles travaled on Banshee
7.6 miles traveled on The Bat
4.5 miles traveled on Backlot Stunt Coaster
1.9 miles traveled on Firehawk
1 mile traveled on Flight of Fear
1.3 miles traveled Flying Ace Aeriel Chase
0.6 miles traveled on Invertigo
0.3 miles traveled on Great Pumpkin Coaster
5.1 miles traveled on Woodstock Express
62 feet traveled on Adventure Express
I have traveled 163.5 miles on Kings Island roller coasters, 73.8 miles in 2016, and 224.4 miles on roller coasters combined in the past 14 years.

The biggest reason I am a coaster enthusiast is because of The Beast and Diamondback at Kings Island. I am who I am today because of Kings Island. I know now that I want to work in a communications department at a Cedar Fair park, mainly Kings Island. My whole  entire room is basically covered in Kings Island stuff and souvenirs. My past, present and future is all Kings Island as of now in growing up, my job career, and when I have a family of my own. I know we'll go a lot when we can.

Again. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Kings Island. I am more patient, more kind, more everything because of this amazing park and the people working in it.I'm so blessed and thankful I have a 2017 gold pass so I can go to the park a lot this year! You'll see me mainly at Racer, The Beast, and maybe even Mystic Timbers this summer.

Thank you for taking your time out reading this. It took awhile to write. I hope maybe some of you can share below what Kings Island is to you, and what kind of person you are cause of it, or just whatever.

What I consider my home.

[jcgoble3]

Excellent story! Regarding your Beast experience: it was during the offseasons prior to 2011 and 2012 that major retracking was done on The Beast, creating a massively smoother ride. In 2010, when I first rode it, it was extremely rough and I could not stand to ride it in a wheel seat. By 2012, it was running almost like brand new, and the very back seat became my favorite seat, even though it was a wheel seat. So that may explain the difference between your 2009 and 2012 rides.

As for my story, here's the condensed version: My mother took me to what was then Paramount's Kings Island about once per year in the early to mid-'90s, but I was too scared to ride much outside of the kiddie land. On my final visit that decade, I decided I wanted to ride The Racer, and my mom tried to talk me out of it, saying that it was much bigger than anything I had ridden before, but I insisted. That ride spooked me so bad that I didn't return to the park until I was an adult. In May 2010, while watching a Reds game on TV, I saw an ad for Kings Island Gold Passes, looked them up online, and decided to give it a try again. I quickly found that like many of my childhood fears, my fear of roller coasters was now gone, and I now enjoyed thrill rides of all kinds. Since 2010, I have been to KI at least three times each year, and have visited other parks as well, including Cedar Point, Holiday World, and Kentucky Kingdom. So yeah, once you realize that you like coasters, there's not really any going back.

[VortexBFForever]

Thank you so much for sharing! I too have a deep Kings Island story, though it doesn't span over as many years as yours. But it's still just as long.

I'm currently typing it and saving it in a Word Document so I don't lose sleep tonight and that it'll be guaranteed that I won't lose any of it in the process. I'm currently in the middle of describing the pivotal events of my July 23, 2010 trip.

 

[Elizabeth19]

17 minutes ago, jcgoble3 said:

Excellent story! Regarding your Beast experience: it was during the offseasons prior to 2011 and 2012 that major retracking was done on The Beast, creating a massively smoother ride. In 2010, when I first rode it, it was extremely rough and I could not stand to ride it in a wheel seat. By 2012, it was running almost like brand new, and the very back seat became my favorite seat, even though it was a wheel seat. So that may explain the difference between your 2009 and 2012 rides.

As for my story, here's the condensed version: My mother took me to what was then Paramount's Kings Island about once per year in the early to mid-'90s, but I was too scared to ride much outside of the kiddie land. On my final visit that decade, I decided I wanted to ride The Racer, and my mom tried to talk me out of it, saying that it was much bigger than anything I had ridden before, but I insisted. That ride spooked me so bad that I didn't return to the park until I was an adult. In May 2010, while watching a Reds game on TV, I saw an ad for Kings Island Gold Passes, looked them up online, and decided to give it a try again. I quickly found that like many of my childhood fears, my fear of roller coasters was now gone, and I now enjoyed thrill rides of all kinds. Since 2010, I have been to KI at least three times each year, and have visited other parks as well, including Cedar Point, Holiday World, and Kentucky Kingdom. So yeah, once you realize that you like coasters, there's not really any going back.

Great story! Well and in 2009 I was 8 and half, weighed about 70 pounds. lol by 2011, I was 2 years older and at least weighed more

 

11 minutes ago, VortexBFForever said:

Thank you so much for sharing! I too have a deep Kings Island story, though it doesn't span over as many years as yours. But it's still just as long.

I'm currently typing it and saving it in a Word Document so I don't lose sleep tonight and that it'll be guaranteed that I won't lose any of it in the process. I'm currently in the middle of describing the pivotal events of my July 23, 2010 trip.

 

Yeah, I actually had a little more to add but this was the main stuff. I also have to put my first experience on Vortex. lol took me till May 21st, 2013 to finally ride it

[Magenta Lizard]

Loved your story. It does make me a little jealous, because my memory is so bad and I only have feelings and impressions rather than any sort of stats. 

Unless I misunderstood, you might want to check your math on Adventure Express. Pretty sure a single ride would put you past 62 feet ;P

[MDMC01]

Good stuff, I enjoyed your story! I too started with The Beastie, and long story short, I liked coasters when I was a kid, but was hesitant. For me, it was about milestones such as Son of Beast (first looping coaster) and Flight of Fear (first indoor coaster). It wasn't until high school that I really became the enthusiast I am today- my first major solo coaster trip was to Six Flags Great America in 2008 and I had a blast. Flash forward to 2 years ago, where I successfully went to Hershey and Dorney with my cousin; and then last year when I took a solo trip to Kentucky Kingdom (I paid for everything except for the hotel). I'm hoping this year that along with Mystic Timbers, I can get to Carowinds to make Nighthawk my 100th coaster. I'd also like to get back to Cedar Point and maybe a trip to The Kingdom.

That's my coaster history in a nutshell

[Thrill_Biscuit]

Beautiful story!

That is the nicest photo of the park that I've seen in my entire 45 years of being a Kings Island fan!

My family and I have been going since I was 3, and it never gets old or boring!

[rhyano]

I guess I'm following everyone saying great story! I'll probably get around to doing something like this, I still have my first on ride photo on Woodstock Express back in 2006 when the area had just became known as Nickelodeon Universe. (I was 6 at the time).

[Voicetek]

Since I first registered as a KICentral member back in 2012, I've shared bits and pieces of my KI story in various threads.  This is a neat idea for a thread and I really enjoyed your story.  So because of that, I'm going to give you all a semi-condensed version of my Kings Island story.

I was born in September 1980, so I was fortunate enough to grow up in the park when it was strictly Hanna-Barbera Land.  My earliest memories from the park are riding The Enchanted Voyage (yes the original one BEFORE it was the Smurfs) and attending Winterfest while being pushed around in my stroller.  Since I was so young, I can't tell you the actual dates, but even at such a young age I can still remember enjoying the park and being excited by it.

Moving on from there, I've got extremely fond memories from the 80s growing up at KI.  We were extremely fortunate to have a pass every summer and visit many times.  As a kid, I absolutely loved Hanna-Barbera Land.  I loved everything about it: The rides, the music, the characters - just the whole atmosphere. Here are some memories I have of that area.  First and foremost the dark ride.  I loved the Enchanted Voyage and even the Smurfs Enchanted Voyage.  I think my early experiences with these rides contributed to my love of dark rides for my entire life.  I still remember the smell inside - classic dark ride/boat ride smell!  I also remember riding the trains you had to crank with your hands, I remember Scrappy's Farm, the Hanna-Barbera Carousel (I always rode Scooby Doo or Jabber Jaws!), and of course many other classic rides from the area. One thing that sticks out from my early days in the park is how awesome the train ride used to be.  I loved riding the train and seeing the pioneer villages and the fort and the indians shooting and stuff like that.  It was so cool how well it was themed.  There are so many memories from that decade in the park that I can't possibly list them all.

Let's move on to the 90s, shall we? This, for me, was a great decade in the park.  It was during this time that I would learn to love roller coasters.  Let me explain how that happened.  Ever since I could remember, I was terrified of "large" rides.  This included every coaster except The Beastie.  I would not get on one to save my life and no one could convince me otherwise!  However, when Adventure Express was introduced, it was just too cool not to ride.  I knew there were no "drops" so I decided to give it a shot. Once I rode it I was hooked!  I loved it and I wanted more!  From there my next adventure was The Racer.  I told my dad one Saturday before we were headed to the park that I was going to ride The Racer.  He didn't believe me.  He told me that if I did ride it, that he would buy me an Adventure Express hat that I had been wanting.  Cool, a bribe!  Well, we made it to the park and, just as I had promised, I rode The Racer and loved it - and I also got my hat!  One particular weekend my family was in line for The Beast.  Even though I was confident enough to ride The Racer, I was still a little iffy about this one.  My plan was just to wait in line with my family and then step through when we got to the loading area and just wait for them.  Well, we got to the loading station and I went to step through the train.  I was having trouble with my footing, so I sat down for a sec to straighten things about.  Just as I sat down, the lap bars came down and locked.  I was trapped!  Looked like I was going to get a ride on The Beast whether I wanted to or not!  So, I rode it and ended up really liking it and that's when my love for coasters took off.  From there I conquered other coasters like The Vortex and King Cobra and then others that would be added in the future.  I was hooked!

This decade was also when I moved into my teen years.  These were great years and I visited the park with my friends and made memories that I'll keep for a lifetime.  I also got to witness the transition from Hanna-Barbera Land to Nickelodeon Central.  This was a sad time for me, but I loved the Nicktoons, so it was sort of bittersweet.  This was just such a great decade at the park that I couldn't possibly list all the memories I made there.

Fast-forward to today, I'm 36 years old now and I'm getting ready to visit the park in a couple weeks to celebrate the 2017 season.  I'll be taking my wife and we'll both be enjoying the park together.  Looking back at the last 3, almost 4 decades I've visited the park, it's amazing to me how many memories I've made and how many I'm still making.  One of the first dates I had with my wife was a visit to the park, we visited while we were dating and now we continue to visit after we're married.  I've taken my niece and nephew and I've watched them grow up there and move from kiddie land to the big rides.  In a few short years I'll be taking my own kids there and we'll be making all new memories together as a family!

It's amazing to me how a local park can become such a big part of your life.  You can look back and see how it was a big part of shaping your past and you can look to the future and know that it will be a big part of that as well.  There are lots of feelings associated with it too.  I can think back and remember smells and sounds and partially relive how I felt in that moment in time at the park.  I'm excited for the new season and everything that it's bringing.  I'm excited to get back to Winterfest and experience that once again. 

So, here's to Kings Island and everything it has to bring us in the future!

[VortexBFForever]

Be warned: I wrote A LOT. If you don't have more than five minutes on your hands, I would suggest reading this at a later time. You have been warned.

My Kings Island story began in 2006. My brother used to go with his friends All. The. Time. I remember him mentioning this place called "Kings Island" many, many times between his bouts of motion sickness, yet I had no idea what "Kings Island" was. I obviously knew it was a place, but what kind of place?

2007 came, and the start of my curiosity came with it. Early in the year, I discovered RollerCoaster Tycoon, as it was one of many games available to play on the computers at my daycare. I later discovered that my brother had his own copy of RollerCoaster Tycoon, which launched me into endless hours of building and managing my virtual amusement parks...all while my fascination of roller coasters grew. At the time, I was eight years old, and had never ridden a single roller coaster in my entire life except for the mini coasters found at the county fairs.

Around August/September of '07, my mom (a frequent blood donor at the time) had entered a drawing for two Kings Island tickets...and she WON! By this time I grew more and more curious about Kings Island to the point where I wanted to explore it for myself. On the morning of Sunday, September 30, 2007, she revealed to me the two Kings Island tickets she won and asked me if I wanted to go to Kings Island later that day. Of course I said yes! While we got ready to go, I danced and jumped around the living room, excitedly exclaiming, "WE'RE GOING TO Kings Island!!!!"

Around 3:00 p.m., my mom and I set out on my first ever Kings Island trip. I remember lying down in the backseat of the car, as the fifty-minute trip felt like an eternity. Finally, we headed down Interstate 71 and I spotted the very top of Son of Beast's lift hill, exclaiming, "Hey! I see roller coaster supports!" As more and more of Kings Island came into view, more and more of my excitement showed as I pointed out every ride that I saw. At long last, I was now seeing Kings Island for myself, the place that my brother knew so much about and where he had even ridden every ride! I still remember my mom seeing the $12 parking and saying how expensive it was. At the Front Gate, our tickets were scanned and I stepped through the turnstiles, awed at the majestic Royal Fountains. I still have both ticket stubs to this day.

Long(er) story short, that afternoon/evening consisted of riding my first ride, the Grand Carousel, five times before we took a walk around Coney Mall and Rivertown. I got in line for Dodgems but I decided not to ride it, and for some reason I wasn't interested in many of the rides, if any, because they looked intimidating. Even rides like Scrambler and Zephyr I turned my nose up at because I was fearful of even those rides. I was interested in looking at the big rides, but not riding them. This rang true when I came face-to-face with the iconic, well-known view of Vortex. Vortex stuck out from the other rides I saw, purely because it was/is basically a real-life rendition of the "Steel Corkscrew Roller Coaster" design in RollerCoaster Tycoon, with which I was well acquainted from my hours of playing. From the track to the trains, Vortex matched its RollerCoaster Tycoon design counterpart. Alongside that, just watching the trains grace each inversion with ease brought amazement and wonder to my eight-year-old eyes and imagination. My inner Aspie (short for someone who has Asperger's Syndrome, which I have) accepted Vortex without hesitation – visually, of course. I told my mom, "Someday I'm going to ride this...but not today" once my ten minutes of oogling over Vortex had lapsed.

And yes, the area I did favor was Nickelodeon Universe. There, I took a few rides on my official first coaster -- Little Bill's Giggle Coaster -- and bravely conquered the Fairly Odd Coaster ten times, each with my mom riding beside me. The line was getting shorter as the sun was starting to go down, which made a great opportunity to get that many rides in! I also played in the suds at the SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom Bash, took a swing on Backyardigans' Swing Along, and watched most of the other rides, including the Rugrats Runaway Reptar that I would ride the following season. When it came time to leave, I burst into tears. The slices of LaRosa's pizza that we enjoyed by the fountains cheered me up a little bit, though, as I asked my mom if we could go up in the Eiffel Tower the next time we visited (we actually wouldn't until 2009). It may sound cliche, but yes, I had already fallen in love with Kings Island. It was just so...happy!

Of course, if I described my other trips like this (which I can), I would be up all night (I've been to KI a total of 80 times so far!). But I will briefly describe the most memorable trips and first rides.

2008 was when I dared to try some larger rides, including Delirium, Drop Tower, Flight Deck, Adventure Express, Zephyr, Blue Racer, The Beast, and Shake Rattle and Roll. Shake Rattle and Roll and Zephyr were my favorite out of those rides, as I was still antsy about the big coasters.

Then August 14, 2009 came - I nervously stepped into Row 10 of Diamondback's green train for the ride that conquered my fear of tall, fast coasters. From that one ride forward, Diamondback was my new favorite ride. HOWEVER...

...my main reason for riding Diamondback was because it did not go upside down. Inversions still deterred me...then I remembered Vortex and that first encounter back in 2007. Every time I rode Diamondback I would watch Vortex on the way up the lift hill. This would continue through the early 2010 season, when I had commented on KICentral's old Vortex information page, saying word for word, "I WANT TO RIDE IT AND I WILL!!!" In other words, I promised myself that I would ride Vortex on a near-future visit. Consider it a pre-Koaster Kids "Be Brave Challenge," if you must.

May 23, 2010 came and went, complete with one “warm-up” ride on Reptar/Flying ACE, nine rides on Diamondback and my bravery to ride Vortex falling just shy of the desired level. The next visit (which was actually an impromptu stop at the park after heading to downtown Cincinnati only to find that the event we were there for was actually scheduled for the next Friday (July 30)) happened on the evening of Friday, July 23, 2010, which would become one of the most pivotal nights of my life. We were Gold passholders for the first time in the 2010 season, which furthered my cause for visiting the park on the way home from an otherwise fruitless Cincinnati trip. I felt rather weird wearing a nice blouse and gaucho pants to an amusement park, but that didn't stop me from having fun! I still remember walking onto Diamondback wearing those gaucho pants, while all the other riders wore jeans and shorts.

After a few rides on Diamondback, park closing was drawing near. Still unsure about riding Vortex, I decided to ride my still-favorite flat ride Shake, Rattle and Roll which bought me more time to think. Finally, I declared I was going to try Vortex. I took my first steps into its queue line, cautiously climbing up and down the stairs and into the station. The non-existent line brought me to the front row, where a train was getting ready to dispatch. As my train arrived, I thought, "When I get off, I will have gone upside down six times..." When the gates opened, I climbed over the side of the train and stepped down into the lead car, where I took my seat in the left of the front row, slowly pulling the harness down in the process.

The attendant checked the harness, and moments later “All Clear” rang in my ears. As my train departed, I heard “Enjoy your ride on Vortex…at night…” and thought “I sure hope I do” in response. I could not turn back now; I was going to go upside down whether I liked it or not! I listened to the chain and anti-rollback which comforted me slightly, smelled the already-familiar chain grease smell, and watched the chasing lights, saying, “At least the lights are going faster than me” as the train got closer to the 148-foot summit. When I finally got there, I then said “Here goes nothing…” as the train dipped into the turn and into the drop. The drop was fun! All too soon, the loops stood in front of me. I braced myself for my first inversion as the train sped right toward it. The forces in the loops jerked me forward unexpectedly, as I obviously did not know what to expect. Even though I ended up staring at the train’s floor for the duration of my first two inversions, I felt great! “Going upside down isn’t too bad after all!” I said as the train slowed at the mid-course brakes and twisted into the corkscrews, in which the hang time officially had me won over. Going into the batwing, I was all smiles and white knuckles, as in the meantime I was gripping the harness so tightly that my hands went numb. And of course, the batwing was amazing, along with the bright flash of the on-ride photo camera briefly disorienting me. Minutes later, my train arrived back at home base, where just earlier I had left, wary and nervous of what was to come. I came back as a brave, newly-blossomed thrill seeker whose last fears of coasters and thrill rides had just been vanquished. When I exited, I ran to my mom and told her “That was fun! I can’t believe I just went upside down SIX TIMES!!” After that, I rode Vortex again. This time, I wasn’t as nervous, and I found that I didn’t jerk forward in the loops if I leaned forward slightly, which is a technique I still use to this day.

This momentous visit ended with my very first viewing of the nightly fireworks, although my mom and I were already walking back out to the car ahead of the crowds, so my viewing experience mostly consisted of looking back constantly.

Wow, what a lot of detail. If you’re still reading my novel, I’ll only give brief descriptions of my other memorable trips, so don’t you worry!

September 26, 2010: Rode Vortex 13 times in a row, including two double rides I took after being told “You can stay if you want.” This also made for two rides where I had my very own train!

October 23, 2010: We thought the park opened at 10 but we got there to find the gates still closed and a line gathered outside. As it turned out, we had arrived early for the 11:00 ERT, which inadvertently made it my first ERT visit, complete with my first marathon on Diamondback followed by a quadruple ride on Vortex once the rest of the park opened!

October 31 (Closing Day), 2010: My mom rode Adventure Express for her first (and currently only) time. It was wild to say the least. I still remember welling up while taking my last Vortex ride of the season. A few tears fell while going up the lift hill. But I still had a great last ride of the season and was ever so excited to return on May 20, 2011!

In late 2010 and 2011, I returned to the rides I first rode in 2008 and began riding them again. Flight Deck, Drop Tower and Adventure Express were my most “What have I been missing?!” rides. I also ride Invertigo for the first time on June 4, 2011, and loved it!

June 30, 2011: My first ride on WindSeeker, taken in Seat 13 and to the tune of the Superman Theme. Strangely, I haven’t ridden in Seat 13 since, nor have I ridden in Seat 7, which I rode in a lot in 2011.

May 24, 2012: My first race against time. I was riding WindSeeker and I got off at 7:59, and raced to Vortex still in bare feet with my sandals in my hands. I made it just in time! Since I stepped through the train before putting my sandals back on (with the attendant reminding me to do so just in case) it would be the only time my bare feet have ever touched the floor of a Vortex train. Yes, I know that a coaster train floor isn’t clean, which is why I’ve only done this once. Have a good day.

August 4, 2012: My first all-day visit and first midnight closing visit, complete with Soak City, summer crowds, my very first fireworks ride on Adventure Express, and many rides to go around including a ride on Racer right after the fireworks. Unbeknownst to us, my soon-to-be-fellow KICers were having a ball at their “KIC Day” at the park.

August 15, 2012: I join KIC, while somehow mysteriously escaping being welcomed by fellow members in the process. I guess I'm sneaky.

September 3 (Labor Day), 2012: First Dollar Days weekend, and also the day I took my 100th ride on Vortex! Also, my mom rode WindSeeker with me a couple of times, and she sort of liked it but not really since she doesn’t like heights. With the drizzle in the air, I LOVED my ‘Seeker flights that included a 30 mph mist in my face!

October 14, 2012: A big storm was supposed to hit Kings Island but missed the area completely; the park got a rain shower instead. The lack of lines enabled me to take a whopping eighteen (18) rides in a row on Vortex, most of which were WITHOUT even having to exit!

October 28 (Closing Day), 2012: My first time riding with KICers, including riding Sling Shot with Lucas (ohiocolts). Also 2012 was the only year that FunPerks existed.

April 27 (Opening Day), 2013: My first Opening Day visit, and also our first season as Platinum passholders! The lines were shorter than I expected, probably due to the rain that had hit just prior to my arrival. Plus I enjoyed a fireworks ride on Vortex for the first time!

May 26, 2013: Spectacular night ride on WindSeeker was enjoyed to the tune of How To Train Your Dragon’s “Romantic Flight.” I could not have asked for a better way to end any night.

September 8, 2013 (a.k.a. Dollar Day Sunday): KIC’s 10th Birthday Bash including behind-the-scenes tours of Banshee and Diamondback, plus some Q&A with Don. Fun evening to spend with my KIC buddies, and thank you to Kings Island for hosting the event!!

September 22, 2013: 200th ride on Vortex!

April 17 (Media Day), 2014: Thanks to Coaster Crew membership for my mom and I, we got to see and ride Banshee one day before Opening Day. I of course loved Banshee, my fifteen-ride marathon on The Bat, my three-ride marathon on Delirium (my first marathon on a flat ride!), and the free Banshee Twist ice cream cones and Chicken Shack meals! Plus I was interviewed on one of the live news channels, which was cool.

April 19, 2014: First and currently only “stuck-on-a-ride” instance happened during my ride on WindSeeker, when it stopped roughly 40 feet above ground for several minutes in the midst of its Opening Weekend hiccups. It was interesting to say the least!

May 16, 2014: First train to myself on Vortex since 9/26/2010, which was just one of the many things that happened on a trip which included riding Banshee, Express and Racer with Beastie1980, Princess Sparkles, and ohiocolts plus a few other fellow KICers on this day plus the following Friday, May 23!

May 29, 2015: Starting off my 2015 season with another train of my own on Vortex! What a nice surprise...

June 12, 2015: My first trip without a Vortex ride since July 23, 2010. Also the first Kings Island ride evacuation I’ve witnessed. In a nutshell, it was a very interesting trip thanks to an impending storm…

November 1 (Closing Day), 2015: Due to the change in the re-ride policy effective the middle of the season, my rides had slowed down in count. Nevertheless, with the help of my complimentary Fast Lane Plus, I binge-rode Vortex ten rides before a technical delay sent it 2-9 (operation suspended) just a mere half-hour before park closing, during which the crew on duty found out my mission and volunteered to help me accomplish it. Once Vortex reopened roughly fifteen to twenty minutes before park closing, the crew went full speed ahead to help me get the number of rides I needed prior to stepping into the front seat for Ride #300 just mere minutes after closing. With the crew and the other KICers who joined my celebration (including Beastie1980 who sat with me in the front row of a ride she normally avoids), 11/01/2015 was most definitely the best Closing Day I’ve ever had so far! And it didn’t end at Vortex; I also had a blast taking my first ever Diamondback night ride and my first Banshee front seat night ride at the park's inaugural Renewed Passholder ERT!

July 5 and August 11, 2016: First trips with two of my friends from school. On the latter of which, I took them on Firehawk for the first time. According to their account, they were traumatized at first but ended up loving the ride. Mission accomplished. That night was also the first of hopefully many Exclusive Ride Nights that I would attend, which came in handy since the park closed at 8 when we thought it closed at 10, Ooops.

August 18, 2016: Another friend from school and I enjoyed both parks, while only staying dry for 10% of the time! Nothing like riding Drop Tower in a downpour, having our own train on Adventure Express, and of course experiencing my 315th ride on Vortex. This trip is definitely my favorite to talk about!!

October 22, 2016: Longest wait for Vortex to date at a length of roughly 90 minutes, all but 15 of which were spent with the ride 2-9 for the most part, testing on and off. My dad was about to literally drag me out of line when at the last second they announced “Vortex is operational!” as the gates opened. I was so close to not taking my 316th ride on Vortex that day!

October 30 (Closing Day), 2016: Shortest trip ever made during public operating hours, with a length of only five minutes. With my newly renewed 2017 Platinum Pass in hand, I speed-walked through the Front Gate and did not stop until I reached Vortex just in time, at 6:57. After taking a breather in the station, I was ready to take the last ride on the last train of the season the moment they announced the last train. I took row 3-1 as I and the other riders scrambled to claim our seats on the last train of the season, after which no more riders would be accepted. Of course, I made the trip more complete with three thrilling night rides on Diamondback during the renewal ERT to help say goodbye to the 2016 season.

December 12, 2016: With my parents' approval and encouragement, I applied for a Ride Operator job at Kings Island, unaware of the grand adventure on which I would embark simply by typing this and clicking that. Sit upright and hold on tight, indeed...

January 25, 2017: I attended a group interview in the Rides Department. I walked into the Operations Office as an applicant, and came out as a newly hired Rides associate!! All that happened with a cool view of a dormant Kings Island on the side.

9.5 years, 10-going-on-11 seasons, 80 trips and 317 Vortex rides later, and just mere days before the 2017 season begins, the curious 8-year-old who first wandered Kings Island on September 30, 2007 is now 18 years old, with a job in Kings Island’s Rides department as a member of her favorite ride’s crew, with said ride turning 30 on April 11! Maybe she’ll end up as driver on Vortex someday, which is something she’s dreamed about since taking that first ride that changed everything at age 11...

…and to think this all started with my mom winning a ticket drawing! It’s amazing how things work out in interesting and often seemingly coincidental ways. Not to mention, it sounded pretty much as if Vortex really was meant to be my special ride right from the get-go, as I appreciated it differently from the other rides even on my first visit! I can’t be more thankful that I live just fifty minutes from this wonderful place we call Kings Island! Now that I am an associate this season, I just know 2017 will have a lot up its sleeve for this season, especially now that I will have to ride Mystic Timbers if I still want to say that I have ridden every coaster at Kings Island!

To more memorable memories, for every person who steps through the gates!

There, my novel is done for this time being. I hope you didn’t fall asleep.

 

[jcgoble3]

Excellent writing, @VortexBFForever! I wish I had had that level of writing talent when I was your age.

1 hour ago, VortexBFForever said:

August 15, 2012: I join KIC, while somehow mysteriously escaping being welcomed by fellow members in the process. I guess I'm sneaky.

Is it too late to welcome you? If not, then welcome to KIC!

[shadow9542]

A very well written and good story! It's really refreshing to me to see someone with such similar experiences as I have with KI!