Kings Island 2018 Memories

[IndyGuy4KI]

Now that we are at the end of the 2018 regular season, lets share some of our highlighted memories either with a story or pictures of the 2018 season. 

I will start by sharing some of my favorite days in the park with friends and family.

Firehawk tour!

Date days!

Visiting with Family.

Father and son rides.

Family rides together.

Sketch School.

Fountain ERT!

 

Coasterstock with friends!

Opening day pictures.

2018 has been an awesome season! Thanks for all the great memories Kings Island!

[beastfan11]

It’s definitely been an odd season for me. Me and the old lady split back in March after three years and I wasn’t planning on getting a Gold Pass because I didn’t really have anyone to go with (my friends aren’t crazy KI nerds like I am). Between that, purchasing a house, and a tough death in the family I begrudgingly decided to take a year off. 

Once the end of the season began to roll around I took advantage of the 2019 Gold Pass deal so I could get a few trips in through Winterfest. 2018 was the first time I had ever done a solo trip to the park. I’m mad at myself for hesitating to do so earlier in the season. It’s an absolute perfect way to zen out a bit, have dinner, and unplug for a while. Much needed, to be honest. 

Overall, a great (albeit short) season for me. Looking forward to Winterfest and the Antique Autos! 

Picture is from my first trip of the season. One of the best nights ever. 

 

 

 

[flightoffear1996]

I didn't get to make it to park as much this year as I wanted to.  I think we visited about 15 times.  The end of the season came up way too fast.  With building a house and some other good family things going on which I will be posting about later we just didn't have much time for the park.

[BoddaH1994]

Where do I begin?

Leaving the planet several times this season.

Reuniting an old friend with his old seat (Beast crew 2004)

Peanuts Sketch School

That time The Bat pooed on me and my friends so the park was nice enough to give us new shirts.

The party in the water park.

 

[MDMC01]

Like Ryan said, where to begin? Here's a few things I've remembered throughout the season...

-Opening Day

-The Various Pokémon Go Community Days I've shared with friends (including the Larvitar community Day with @jcgoble3and @Magenta Lizard where it was super hot out! Also got my first Shiny during the Charmander Community Day)

-Gravity... Gravity... Gravity!

-Getting a FREE ticket to Spiritsong!

-Haunt has been great; it was so much fun to hang out with my scareactor friends and make new ones (like the Plague Doctor)- it was also great to see Sam (@XGatorHead 8904) this year (and it was so generous of Mama to let me take that Solo Trip)! Also, Opening Night was pretty cool as I invited my coworker Luke to "face his fears", so to speak

-My Closing weekend was phenomenal (2 weeks ago, not last weekend)- Haunt was windy, but still fun, The Beast ran great, the Firehawk tour was an amazing surprise (thanks Don!) and even The Racer ran well! Also, Community Day (Sunday) was a blast as I got 2 Metagross and rode Vortex with @VortexBFForeverbefore the event started!

-The great times I've had playing Skeeball and H20verdrive in Coney Arcade this season (which should be open for Winterfest?)

-Getting "stuck" on Delirium (waiting for them to raise the floors lol) and this one person freaking out while most of the riders were calm

-Finally, meeting up with friends last Sunday for "Closing Day"; although I didn't go to the park, I had a great time sharing stories and hanging out with everyone!

Knowing me, I'm sure I missed some stuff, so this post may change periodically!

In Closing, I look forward to Winterfest in the coming weeks and have had a great season thus far!

EDIT: Also, that one day I caught a Hitmonchan in Planet Snoopy and the one time I saw a Snorlax at Zephyr, but just couldn't catch it!

EDIT2: Oh yeah, and that water park party, where I added the lead singer of 3 Piece Revival as my friend on Pokémon Go and did my first Silent Disco.

EDIT3: Also, that one day I met Chef Major for the first time- he was super cool!

EDIT4: Trying the Garlic Bread Grilled Cheese from the "1776 Grill" food truck was a first for me (recommended to me whlist at Spiritsong) and it was amazing!

EDIT5: Also wanted to add that Sketch School was great... this sounds really corny, but it proved to me that I CAN draw (and inspired me to try my hand at more drawings shortly afterwards), so thanks to KI for putting on this event! 

[McSalsa]

2018 was an amazing year for me as well, to the point I would say, Amusement Park-wise, it was my best year ever! In April, we ended up getting Platinum Passes for the first time because we were also planning trips to Cedar Point and in the long run it would save us money. As a result, I have been to Kings Island alone 5 times this year, more than any season in the past (and we did end up also doing Cedar Point twice and Holiday World once). And IMO, Kings Island was better than ever in 2018. Here are some of my 2018 memories...though I will go a LITTLE off-topic and include stuff from all 3 parks.

(WARNING: HUGE POST AHEAD!!!)

In April, my sister surprised me and we went to Kings Island for the first time without me knowing beforehand for Season Pass Preview Night. Having only a half hour or so to get hyped before we arrived at the park was new, I was expecting to go to Kings Island the week after. We got our passes processed, I was actually the first Platinum done by the lady who took my picture, and my first coaster of the year was...Adventure Express. It was a fun ride to start the year. We rode Racer next, and I got one of my smoothest rides ever on the coaster on the Red side (and I got a equally awesome and smooth ride on Blue months later). Vortex was also running smooth, thanks to new wheels. Beast was fun, but due to sitting on a back wheel, I got a little beat up, nothing terrible (especially compared to what would come later in the year). This was the one trip where the food service was kinda bleh, most places had huge lines due to the big crowds and since the employees were not yet trained, the lines moved slow, so we went for about a hour just looking for food until we finally found Tom and Chee's was do-able line wise (I was actually OK as I had eaten prior to coming to the park, but my friends had not and were starving). Then, towards the end of the day, we spun the Fast Lane Wheel and got tickets for Diamondback and Banshee. We had a fun ride on Diamondback, then went over and got a great ride on Banshee before we went up the Eiffel Tower and watched the Fireworks show from 275 feet up. There was a slight traffic jam when leaving the parking lot, but again, this was nothing compared to what would happen later in the year.

As promised, about a week later, we came back. It was kinda cold, but because of that, there were very light crowds even though it was a Saturday. I rode nearly every big coaster in the park, and when it did warm up a bit for whatever reason it felt like all the coasters sped up noticeably. The day ended with epic rides on Mystic Timbers, The Beast, and The Racer- all at night- and we STILL had time to get to I-Street and watch the fireworks. I rode more on this 1 day than any other day since I began riding big coasters in 2009! It was another awesome trip.

In May, we took advantage of the Platinum part of our passes, and headed North for my 3rd ever trip to Cedar Point. I didn't get to ride too much on the first day we were there due to large crowds and high winds closing some of the rides, but we did end the day waiting about an hour 15 minutes for...STEEL VENGEANCE. This coaster was super-hyped, and it actually lived up to it! SO. MUCH. EJECTOR AIR. Saturday- Day 2- had much less wind, and while it was pretty crowded for most of the day, it turned out to be a lot of school kids because they all left after 8pm and the last 2 hours were pretty dead. I rode Raptor, Valravn, Magnum XL-200, AND Top Thrill Dragster at night that day. And then had some tasty nachos afterwards at TGI Friday's. There was also some rain, and near sunset we saw a BEAUTIFUL rainbow that ended...in Canada. Sunday was our final day for trip #1, and crowds were very light all day so we re-rode a bunch of rides, visited the museum and petting zoo (both were fun), and I got a T-Shirt and some very tasty Loaded Sidewinder Fries from Sidewinder Sue's. They were delicious. We left around 5pm, since CP is so far from our house it takes 4-5 hours to drive home. What a trip, felt like a mini Vacation because it was 3 days long. I also got 3 new credits: Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Corkscrew, and of course Steel Vengeance were all new for me as I didn't ride them on my 2017 trips.

Come June, it was time to return to Kings Island yet again. It was HOT on this day, in the mid 90's! The crowds were starting to pick up by now, especially in the waterpark (main reason most of us came) but on the dry side of the park, waits were do-able for the most part (until the waterpark closed and Beast broke down, causing the lines for Diamondback and Mystic Timbers to go bonkers). The rides were all running pretty fast too, and I ended up riding Beast 3 times in a row with little wait. The 3rd time was a bad idea though, as I sat on a rear wheel seat and while I was fine the first 2 rides (in 6-2, the very back car none the less) riding on a back wheel seat was a mistake as Beast decided to go ham on my right shoulder. Didn't even realize how bad it was until later (felt fine immediately after), when I rode Banshee and noticed the vest restraints hurt a bit. A big storm came through around 5-6pm, and due to this, we ended up catching some shows: The JUMP! Dog Show was fun, but Gravity was the one that blew me away. I only managed to see it once, but that 1 show was one of the highlights of my 2018 amusement park trips. This was also during the Peanuts Celebration, so before the park opened for ERT I got some nice free donuts, watched and laughed as my sister did some shenanigans with the Peanuts gang in the former Enchanted Theater, and I also got some of the special Charlie Brown Ice Cream which was pretty good. We ended the day riding WindSeeker as the Sun went down (where I saw Beast had broken down from), and then we rode Backlot Stunt Coaster at night which was actually pretty fun to end this trip.

We were gonna go back to Kings Island in July, but the day we had selected ended up having bad storms come through. However, Holiday World was looking like it would have much better weather, so for the first time in 5 years, I returned to Santa Claus, Indiana. Being a Saturday in July, there were big crowds. Thunderbird- the biggest by far new addition since I last came- had a 1 hour wait, but it was worth it, IMO as Thunderbird is a very good coaster. Raven was running pretty good as well, and Legend has become very smooth after the GCI refurb in 2016. However, Voyage was the coaster highlight: after giving some somewhat disappointing rides in 2011 and 2013, Holiday World has seemed to finally get the coaster back to its old self I remembered from 2010. I even got a night ride for the first time, which was insane in a great way. Didn't get to do too much in the Waterpark- huge crowds there- but I did get both water coasters (both of which are still epic) and the lazy river. Holiday World also felt the cleanest of all 3 parks I have been to in 2018, while KI and CP are far from dirty, Holiday World was spotless, even in the bathrooms. We did have a bit of a issue with Wildebeestro, the employees apparently didn't know what came with their own combo meals and they overcharged us for a cookie, and we got double charged on a locker (but Guest Services came through and refunded us- they are as good as claimed!). I really hope I don't have to wait 5 more years to go to Holiday World again, it's another amazing park.

August was a double whammy month: I got TWO park trips in, to Kings Island and Cedar Point once again. I did not realize it, but on my August visit, I got my last ride on Firehawk- it was fun, and a good final ride to leave on I guess. We also managed to get one of our friends, who was afraid of coasters just last year, to do Diamondback and it became one of his favorite rides ever. I also saw a bit of the epic stunt show they did during this month, I liked the song choice of Rob Zombie's "Dragula" and thought the show was cool. I also ate half of a DELICIOUS chicken wrap at Chicken Shack, possibly the best of all food items I ate at KI in 2018 (so far- I hope Winterfest has good stuff). As we headed for the waterpark, via the Train, I also saw DEER. Real ones! I also took some time to check out and appreciate the landscaping work KI has done on this trip via plants and flowers, etc. The park really did a nice job in this regard in 2018, it was all beautiful. We ended this trip with night rides on Diamondback and The Beast (which I wanted in June but it was broken), both were epic as usual.

Then came Cedar Point Trip #2, another 3-day trip like the 1st one. Not only did I get re-rides in (often more than once, I rode Magnum XL200 6 times!) on every big coaster save Corkscrew, I rode tons of flats (Including the now-defunct Witches Wheel) and ate lots of good food. Melt Bar & Grilled was awesome, I loved the atmosphere of that restaurant, and their "Chicken Vengeance" sandwich gets my vote so far for best food item I have eaten at a amusement park in 2018. They were also having a food truck contest, and these guys were no slouches either. Thanks to the "renew season passes" promo, on Sunday I had Fast Lane Plus, which enabled me to get 3 more rides on Steel Vengeance in. Still so awesome, but Maverick did try very hard to get its #1 spot back. We did have a issue with the parking lot on the 1st Day, because there was a minor accident and it was crowded it caused a cluster(BLEEP) trying to get to the road that leads to Hotels (we left the park to get some food at the off-site Dairy Queen due to rain and got a message our hotel was ready so we came back). Made the fiasco at the KI parking lot earlier in the year look great in comparison. However, that was the only real bad moment of the trip. I also finally got my sister to face her fear of Top Thrill Dragster, which she found to be more bark than bite, and we got our friend to ride his first Giga coaster, Millennium Force (he liked it but hates how high it went).

Finally, at the end of September, we returned to Kings Island for Haunt. While the park was pretty empty at first (which enabled us to ride nearly everything early on- even Invertigo which I only rode on this trip) it started to get more crowded around 1pm, eventually turning into some of the biggest crowds I have ever seen at Kings Island. I tried the Mac N' Cheese Bar, which was very good but I did feel was overpriced a bit even by KI Standards. I also got another rare super-smooth ride on Racer, this time on Blue, and I got my sister to ride Drop Tower- which was the same as TTD, once she rode it she realized she was scared for no reason. I also randomly saw a McDonald's from atop Drop Tower, LOL. We intended to get one final ride in on Firehawk before it closed forever, but it decided it wanted to throw a fit and keep breaking down, so that was a no-go. Once the Haunt began, the park transformed and IMO, the Haunt Atmosphere was BEAUTIFUL. Of course, since I really am not a fan of the Haunts themselves, me and a small group of friends did rides. We got epic night rides on Beast (cool graveyard in the que, but nothing new added to the ride itself for Haunt- didn't need it though as it was still epic), Mystic Timbers, and Diamondback (A fun moment for this was as we came into the brakes, Blood Drums began and thus we got a epic light show). After one last trip atop the "Evil" Eiffel Tower, we headed out of the park, the 2018 ride season (save stuff that will be open for Winterfest like Mystic Timbers and FOF) over. I have to give the ride-ops for a ton of the rides massive props, they were sending out trains like crazy, and in spite of the crowds waits were somewhat manageable. A good example: Mystic Timbers was claimed to have a 75-minute wait, but we only had to wait 45 because the ride crew was doing such a good job.

So yeah, that was a summary of my 2018 coaster season. It was AWESOME- and I left a lot of stuff out here to save room, see the individual trip reports (I did them for every trip) for more details. Big props to Kings Island, Cedar Point, and Holiday World- all 3 are excellent parks. And, since I have renewed my Season Pass for 2019 (hence how I got FL+ at CP for Trip #2) I hope 2019 can at least give it a run for its money. Kings Island is super likely, and Cedar Point will probably see me again in 2019. It isn't 100% confirmed, but we are looking into Carowinds as a possible new park to visit in 2019 with our Platinum Passes, since they have Fury 325 and new-for-2019 Copperhead Strike.

 

[VortexBFForever]

So many memories from this season...where do I even begin?

For those of you who prefer not to read longer posts, I will condense my many moments the best I can.

(It's a long list though...so please bear with me. )

April 8: Training Day (albeit for WindSeeker only since it was only 44 degrees i.e. too cold for Vortex) where I got to clean two of Vortex's trains and get retrained at Op-2 and Op-3.

April 12: Vortex Training Day - sunny with a high of 75! Now you're talking! Got to hang out with my crew at Vortex and get retrained at every position except Drive due to the limited time for which we had the ride.

April 14: OPENING DAY YAY!!! Got retrained at Drive and picked up on my work as if Closing Day 2017 was the previous week. Also my first guest visit of the season was that same day!

Most of May, June, July, and half of August: Working and dealing with the many different things happening each day, from cleaning up the occasional protein spills at both rides to riding out numerous summer thunderstorms. Nothing like seeing those dark clouds in the western sky and knowing that at any minute your ride will be called to close for inclement weather...

Also, I got trained at Racer sometime in May or June, but I don't recall which day at the moment.

May 4: 500th ride on Vortex at long last!!

May 16: I got trained to drive WindSeeker! While it is not as fast-paced as driving Vortex, it's still pretty fun!

May 18: I got to work during Coasterstock ERT (for which Vortex was open). It was fun meeting a lot of fellow coaster enthusiasts, as well as engaging in my crewmates' slap-happy shenanigans while waiting for riders.

May 19: Got trained at Monster, Scrambler, and Dodgem this fine morning. My favorite part about working those rides is getting to see the riders' faces as they ride. It's so much fun to watch them having fun!

May 20: First of my few shifts at Firehawk! I had fun learning how to work another of my favorite rides. This day also brought the first of many beautiful rainbows that I would see over the course of this season appeared in the sky following one of the first of many summer thunderstorms.

May 26: I got re-Trained at Train, my Winterfest ride! I saw a lot of my crewmates from Winterfest, and got to meet a few people from other rides who had come by to help as well! I got to help out twice more at Train during the summer, including one shift where I ended up staying at the Soak City station for a couple of hours due to the Train closing for weather, during which I danced to the on-board music. Now that's how one spends a weather downtime while working!

May 27: Visited with some school friends after work, which included us seeing Gravity for the first time and attempting to play "I Spy" while riding Vortex. That was interesting to say the least. It was also our first time eating at Coney Bar-B-Que, and all of us thought it was really good!

June 4: Visited as a guest with my parents, cousins and nephews, including parking in the guest parking lot for the first time since 2016. I got to relive some of my early Kings Island memories by riding a few of my first favorite rides, including the Fairly Odd Coaster (Woodstock Express) and Plankton's Plunge (Kite Eating Tree). Also very nearly snapped my glider while riding Woodstock Gliders, but didn't go for a full-out snap out of fear of being yelled at. I don't know if that 2015 snapping ban is still in effect.

June 6: Got trained at Race For Your Life Charlie Brown (a.k.a. Flume) which would become my "second home ride" this season as I would pick up several shifts to help the crew when they were low on numbers. I also got trained to drive Linus' Launcher!

June 12: Made a quality drawing of an angry Snoopy at the Peanuts Sketch School, and rode Diamondback, The Beast, Shake Rattle & Roll, and Vortex in the rain. My last ride (also my 537th ride) on Vortex was in a torrential downpour and I got COMPLETELY soaked. It's a good thing I enjoy the rain!

June 19: Three momentous occasions happened on this day: my incomplete 547th ride/my 1/3 ride on Vortex occurred (and I did get to take my 547th complete ride later, in the same seat as my 1/3 ride!); a (double?) rainbow appeared after a late afternoon storm, and I got a fireworks ride on Vortex that same night!

June 27: My first ever DOUBLE RAINBOW RIDE on Vortex, with a couple of my crewmates! The rainbow was beautiful to watch in between inversions.

June 29: Got trained at Flight of Fear! Thankfully, my back didn't ache too much from having to bend over to check bars  Also I got to go to Flume later in the day to help out. Long story short, working at Flume is a lot of fun when both stations are open. I even got my first night ride on Flume and watched the fireworks from the queue bridge (which actually offers a really nice view of both the Tower and the fireworks!).

July 4: Worked all day, which included getting to see the park's Fourth of July fireworks for the first time. I had always wanted to see Kings Island's Fourth of July fireworks spectacular, even if it meant not seeing the fireworks at home (which I had seen every year since childhood). Vortex and WindSeeker were closed for the fireworks, so my crewmates and I got to watch the fireworks with the guests! Also in honor of my very first time driving Vortex (on July 4, 2017), one of my drive hours was the 3:00 hour, which was when I drove for the very first time last year!

July 6: That morning, I got to see one of Vortex's trains in the train storage shed (which is a rare sight since 99% of the time all the trains are out) which was definitely a huge #geekmoment to experience! Part of that #geekmoment also included getting to watch Vortex operate in maintenance mode! Also later that day I got trained at Adventure Express!

July 12: I got trained to run Vortex's startup tests! I would do those on a number of mornings more throughout the rest of the season. One more reason to love the opening shift! Also it was the Build-A-Bear "Pay Your Age" day and that night I met a new riding buddy who had his own Toothless plush; we enjoyed a few rides together on Vortex!

July 14: Work day at Firehawk! Also watched the fireworks from International Street for the first time!

July 20: A strong thunderstorm (plus the threat of more) forced the park to close at 5pm. It sure made for an interesting work day!

July 23: Eight year anniversary of the first ride that started it all, celebrating by working half the day and then riding it eight times afterward.

July 25-26, and some of 24: Darien Lake! I had not been back in five years so it was great to back again and be able to stay the ENTIRE DAY (for two days!) this time. I really want to write a report about this; I just need the time!

July 28: After a fun (and busy) work day, I enjoyed some park time as a guest until 10:30, including watching the fireworks from a prime spot in front of the fountains!

July 30: 600th *complete* ride on Vortex with @whengodsaysgo! Also my third (and my last ) time seeing Gravity. Earlier, I went with one of my crewmates to Build-A-Bear, where she got a plush cat and @Beastie1980 restuffed Toothless for me!

August 5: Watched the fireworks from the top of the Eiffel Tower!

August 15: Went with one of my crewmates as guests and spent the whole day together, including my first time binge-riding Flight of Fear, which we rode seven times! We also rode Xtreme Skyflyer for the first time (and I ended up riding a second time as well!)!

Most weekends in September and October: working! Best study break if you ask me.

September 23: Cedar Point for the first time in two years! I revisited my old favorites including Magnum, Gemini, Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, and Corkscrew, and I got to ride Steel Vengeance!!

October 12: Visited Haunt with one of my school friends (I wrote a trip report about this) including three failed attempts to ride Firehawk. No worries though, as we had fun on Xtreme Skyflyer, The Bat, Drop Tower, Invertigo, and Vortex -- all in 40-something degree weather and a drizzle!

October 19: Visited Haunt with two more friends (I hope to get that report written soon!). I used my complimentary Fast Lane Plus (from renewing my Platinum Pass) and bought two more for my friends, so we got a lot of rides in including two Firehawk flights!

October 20: My last time working for the regular season. I was at Vortex for much of the day (especially since WindSeeker was closed) and helped out at Firehawk at the beginning and end of the day, including getting to test-ride it! I loved my last "shift" at Firehawk and it was so much fun!

October 21: A fellow Arrow fan and I rode Vortex 32 times (plus WindSeeker twice) between 2pm and 7pm! I managed to grab the first train of the day on Vortex (as it was just opening at 2 since it had gotten warm enough) and rode in the back row with @MDMC01! Nothing like a great Vortex binge to ride the day away, if you ask me.

October 28: Ninth Closing Day in a row which I have attended! I brought along two friends (@Daisy1380# and the friend whom I brought on October 12) and enjoyed one last Firehawk flight with them (and for them it was their first flight as well) as well as two more rides later after catching Vortex's third-to-last train of the season with @Hampshire24. That day showed me that even if I end up changing all the plans which I had planned weeks ahead, it still makes for a very fun day! I could not have asked for a better way to end the 2018 regular season.

WINTERFEST, HERE WE COME! 20 days! I can't wait to see what memories I make at Winterfest...and the list that will come from that!