McSalsa's Coaster Adventures: Delayed Haunt (KI Haunt October 14th, 2023)

McSalsa · October 26, 2023

Hey dudes! Yes I am still alive, just been very busy with work and stuff as of late. How busy? Well, I went to Kings Island 11 days ago (October 14th) and am just now posting the trip report. On the flip side, said busy job gave me the money to come in the first place, and since I just had a good check, I was able to buy a Fast Lane so I would not have to worry that much about the giant crowds I was expecting from Haunt. We had 2 kids with us, a 6 year old and my 1 year old baby nephew, and for most of the day I was by myself chilling. We arrived around noon, I got my Fast Lane, and I headed for my first ride.

1. The Bat
Knowing this ride didn't use Fast Lane, I decided to ride it early. It already had about a 15 minute wait just a hour into the day, a sign of how huge the crowds were gonna become- if Bat gets a wait it's gonna be bad. I rode in the 2nd car, and Bat gave a fun and fast swingy ride through the tree tops.

2. Banshee
After The Bat, I headed to Banshee to use my Fast Lane for the first time. The standby line looked to be about a half hour to 45 minutes already, so the Fast Lane was already looking like a great investment. No major vibrations at all this time like my first ride in July, and great G-forces and intensity. Banshee is great fun 99% of the time (the 1% is when it has bad wheel rattle).

3. Delirium
My final ride in Action Zone since Drop Tower and Invertigo were both down. I actually got seat #1, even though that means nothing on this ride. Good fun swinging action. Also weird, the ride felt longer when I was on it versus when watching it for some reason.

All 3 open rides in Action Zone done, I headed to Oktoberfest to do the next section of the park. I hit up one of the new-for-2023 rides at last.

4. Sol Spin
I have ridden Witches Wheel at Cedar Point in the past before it was removed, and this felt similar, save instead of a cage I was in a open seat. The restraints feel very secure, and being able to see it felt very disorienting to see Orion and The Racer from upside down, but it wasn't very scary or intense. I think I liked Sol Spin a bit better than Witches Wheel just from the fact I could see what was going on. A fun addition to the Kings Island lineup.

5. Adventure Express
NOW I MUST PAY! Adventure Express was running well from the middle of car #2. Lots of twists, turns, and out-of-control mine train goodness. Sadly most of the effects and music were not working, except the final tunnel and the last bit of audio at the end. I did notice a few new easter eggs I had missed on my last ride, too, such as "Arrow Cargo Company" in the station.

I then headed out of Oktoberfest and into Coney Mall.

6. Blue Racer
Racer is now a must-ride for me since the Gravity Group retracked it a few years ago and it got its repaint. It has gone from a beat-up looking old wooden coaster that beats you up (especially the Blue side here) and turned into a goregous classic with great floater air. And the wait time didn't look too bad even without Fast Lane, as both sides were running. We lost by a hair, BTW.

7. Orion
I tried to ride Flight of Fear next, but it had a stupidly long wait even with Fast Lane, so Orion it was which had a much faster moving line thanks to the way higher capacity. I sat on the far right side, and I discovered that on this side of the train, you actually get great floater air on the wave turn! Suddenly that element is becoming one of my favorites, even if I still do perfer the one on Steel Vengeance. Orion may not be as long as Millennium Force, but it has no dead spots- every element at the very least does something. And I didn't hear anyone complaining about the ride when we hit the brake run.

After Orion, my group wanted to ride Adventure Express. The kids were not tall enough so we met up at the entrance and I watched the kids while my sister and her boyfriend rode. My baby nephew tried to break her phone so many times (it was playing a video for him) and the older kid gave me some Reese's Pieces he had gotten doing Trick-or-Treating over in Planet Snoopy. That was nice, but it and the smell of Burritos nearby made me hungry.

Food: Enrique's Burrito
I didn't realize you had to buy the Premium Dining Plan online, which meant I ended up standing to the side and using my fairly-new phone (my phone from the July trip got a cracked screen so I got a newer one) and buying one on that. With it purchased, I got myself a Chicken Burrito and drink, and ate my lunch. The Burrito was delicious and huge, so it was worth the slight minor hassle. After eating, I went back to Flight of Fear since now I needed to wait in line to digest anyway.

8. Flight of Fear
I ended up waiting about 20 minutes even with Fast Lane, and I was told the main line was over 150. Yikes. Dispatches were a bit slow here- instead of trains coming straight in after a launch, there was a 20 second gap like they needed the launch to cool down or something. While on the ride itself, while it was not too rough and very violent and intense, a weird thing happened. The train SLAMMED into the midcourse break run HARD, and came to a dead stop for 2-3 seconds, and I could feel the whole brake run swaying. The ride did release and then continued on as normal. I thought that was weird.

My rides in Coney Mall now done, I headed for Rivertown. And yes for some reason that includes...

9. Backlot Stunt Coaster
...this according to some park info. I hadn't ridden this in a while and almost forgot how punchy this little coaster could be. That first helix is pretty crazy. A fun ride, and it felt like it had way better capacity than its older big brother in spite of shorter trains due to way more launches per hour.

10. The Beast
No trip to Kings Island is complete without a ride on this, IMO. I got a front wheel seat, and to be honest, it was pretty dang smooth- still a bit bumpy, but that's just The Beast doing Beast things, and nowhere close to painful. Gravity Group has worked wonders on KI's old woodies and I love it. The final helix is probably the best ride element in the entire park. And I was sure gonna come back for a night ride later.

11. Mystic Timbers
Last time at KI, I never got to ride Mystic Timbers because a storm came in right as I was about to board the ride. This time, that didn't happen- I got my ride. Mystic Timbers is a pretty aggressive roller coaster- the airtime isn't as strong as some of the B&Ms, but it hits so suddenly and fast. I sat with a little girl who seemed a bit nervous, and told her I had been on Mystic Timbers 20+ times before which calmed her down. She loved the ride BTW. We got Bats in the shed, and the song played was "Cars".

12. Diamondback
With Invertigo down, for what seemed like the whole day, Diamondback was the last open major roller coaster to hit up. I rode towards the middle and got some pretty good airtime, but TBH I remember my later ride on this coaster a LOT better than the daytime ride I had.

My first lap around the park completed, I met up with my group and we talked for a bit before I began Lap 2 with...

13. Banshee (2)
This was pretty much the same as earlier. Which was far from a bad thing. Good ol' Banshee was just giving great rides all day I assume. After this, though, I was hungry again so it was time to put my meal plan to use!

Food: Chicken Shack Spicy Sandwich
Chicken Shack didn't have much of a wait, so I ate there since it was also close and I have had good things in the past. This sandwich was pretty good, as were the fries it came with. Haunt began as I ate (it was 6pm) and the Pumpkin Eater music became a little annoying. The sandwich was a bit spicy but nothing crazy btw.

After the sandwich, I headed to Area 72, wanting to snag some more Orion rides. I found the Fast Lane line was basically dead and even the standby was looking under 45 minutes- that Orion capacity was showing even on a slammed Haunt Saturday.

14. Orion (2)
15. Orion (3)
Yep I rode it twice in a row since Fast Lane had no wait. I also took more notice of the posters on the Fast Lane side of the building- they were pretty cool. Orion felt like it was getting even better every time I rode it. Also, I kept looking at WindSeeker and feeling like it was saying "HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU COMING UP HERE!?!?" as I reached the top of the lift hill.

After a double Orion, I decided to go back and re-ride Racer, this time hitting the other side.

16. Red Racer
About the same as before on Blue, but a wee bit smoother still, so this is still my favorite side even post GG retrack. We also didn't race because something went wrong with Blue for a bit, though it reopened soon afterwards.

After riding Racer, I decided to return to Rivertown, as it was now becoming dark and those rides are all epic night rides. First up was...

17. Diamondback (2) (Night)
The sky was black and clouds ominously loomed above the park. A light misty drizzle began as I was in line, but it was not enough to close any rides. We boarded and began to climb the 230 foot lift hill. I think I saw Cincinatti in the distance. Then we plummeted into the darknes- I could not see any track up ahead after the first drop, it was so dark out. The airtime was also pretty strong. And the mist made it very chilly. This was just pure epicness, hence why I kinda forgot quite a bit about the earlier daytime ride.

18. Mystic Timbers (2) (Night)
After Diamondback, Mystic Timbers was next. The drizzle had subsided a little bit, and I was assigned front row! Woohoo! I promised everyone I would drive safe. I proceeded to drive like a crazed madman going all over the woods, unable to see most things save the White Water Canyon station which was lit up. I then drove us to the Shed, where I stupidly parked us and let Bat monsters eat us up while Maneater played. 2 epic rides in a row!

After Mystic Timbers, I headed for The Beast, prepared for a epic night ride. I found a worker in the plaza guiding people, saying that while Slaugherhouse was open, Beast was having technical issues and was down. D'OH! I hoped it would re-open. I headed for Orion, aka "Plan O". I got in line and waited for a few minutes and it went down too. Double D'OH! I met back up with my group, and I watched the kids while they did the Alien Haunt nearby. I decided to grab a snack while I waited this time.

Food: Meteor Canteen Pretzel Bites
These were on the meal plan, and snackable, so I got some while I watched the kids. They were tasty and worked as a snack. While eating and watching, Orion began testing again and then re-opened. When the group reunited and I split off again, I knew what I was doing next.

19. Orion (4) (Night)
Orion truly just got better with every ride. Since Orion has lights, unlike Diamondback I could sorta see the track up ahead but it was all "glowy" and stuff. And some sections were still very dark. 3 epic rides in a row!

After Orion, I went to check if The Beast had re-opened...

20. The Beast (2) (Night)
IT DID! This was my longest wait of the entire day with Fast Lane, at 30 minutes, but Beast at Night is worth it. Somehow, as epic as all the other night rides were, Beast surpassed them all with its crazy rampage in the dark forest. It was like the coaster was roaring as it rushed through the tunnels, and the final helix was utter mayhem. I was prepared to end my rides with this, it was so good, but...well there is more.

After Beast, I rejoined the group ready to watch the kids so they could do some haunts, and I saw Invertigo had finally opened as we passed International Street. As our group wanted to hit up a haunt near it, we checked it out and found there was basically not much of a line- everyone had just gotten used to it being closed all day I assume. I was honestly a bit shocked to see the park work so hard to re-open it just for the last hour or so. My group went and rode it, and as they did, the 6-year-old began to randomly cry. I was confused why at first, as he can't really speak very well, but I soon discovered it was the stupid PUMPKIN EATER music again! When my sister and her boyfriend returned, they did a quick haunt, and I decided for the heck of it to ride...

21. Invertigo
...yep. I rode Invertigo just to get to claim that I have ridden all the adult coasters in a single day, and because it is the only coaster in the park I lack a night ride on. Invertigo was pretty shaky but I kept my head out so I would not get blended, and it was a fairly intense but short ride. TBH I ended the day with my worst coaster, LOL.

After Invertigo, we headed to International Street to prepare for the closing ceremony. I didn't even realize there was a show when Haunt ended! I bought a Beast T-Shirt I found for a decent price, got a drink, and watched the closing Laser Show. It was epic, until the final song cut out in the middle of the show, and then for some reason the smoking section ad played. Tech Guy done goofed! It was then time to leave the park.

I had an awesome day- Fast Lane was a butt saver, it allowed me to work at my own pace and still ride everything I wanted. The rides were all running great, save Invertigo's shakiness and Flight of Fear's odd midcourse wobbly action. The kids also had a great time, the 6 YO was only scared by the pumpkin eater music, the 1 YO was fearless. The food was also great, and I loved the Haunt atmosphere. And now, here are some pictures!