7/27 and 7/28

[stljason1]

NOTE: I also posted this same trip report on Coasterbuzz, so if by chance you read it there, probably no point in reading again.

My friend and I have made it somewhat of a summer tradition now to visit some parks over the summer months. In 2004 it was Six Flags STL and Great America. Last year it was Cedar Point. And this year we decided on Kings Island since I had not been since 2001, and he had never been there. We began the 300 or so mile drive from central Illinois at 9, and in losing an hour because of the time zone change, arrived at our hotel at around 3:45. I decided to go for basically the cheapest place I could find this time. Turned out that was the Knights Inn in Lebanon. Definatley not the best place in the world, but at 55 dollars a night I couldnt complain. Its not like we did anything there besides sleep, and besides, why do two 19 year old guys need a 4 star hotel? We dont. Anyways the rooms were clean, and the place was only maybe 10 miles from the park. As we were driving to the park from our hotel it was still raining slightly, but that had let up by the time we arrived, thankfully, and it turned out to be a nice, if slightly humid, night.

I usually dont do this, but since I havent been to Kings Island in so long ive decided to discuss all the major rides individually and give my opinion on them.

Face Off - 3 rides, 15-30 minute waits. This one seemed to be a favorite of my buddy for some reason. I thought it was an okay ride, fairly smooth for a vekoma from what im used to. We always rode in the front/back, never did the seats facing each other. It suprised me that the waits were not any longer for the front/back seats. Is facing each other really that cool? I wouldnt know I guess because we never tried it. An interesting thing happened on our first ride on this, at around 5PM on thursday. As soon as we got off, they announced the ride was down mechanical. As I was walking off the platform, some people were saying something fell off the train, and pointing to some spot. I basically ignored this because I thought they were full of it. But sure enough, as I walked down the unload ramp, there was a peice of something down near the fence near the walkway. I shouldve got a picture but I for some reason did not. How to describe what the peice was...It was one of those green coverings that are up near the track itself, with the numbers on them...HERE is a picture. I think it may have been one of the smaller ones that run along the inside. Anyways, good thing it didnt fall out of the fenced in area or I suppouse it couldve hit someone!

Drop Zone - 3 rides, 5-15 minute wait. This is a fun Drop Tower, I think I skipped this the last time I was here, and im not sure why. I like the fact that it spins on the way up, and that the ops can talk to you at the top. One time they said something very random at the top, something like "hi Laura" or something like that. Anyways, still not as good as my favorite Drop Tower which is Pitt Fall at Kennywood, but a very nice view to be sure.

Delirium - 2 rides, 5-15 minute waits. I like these rides. I think I prefer the Screaming swings though.

Top Gun - 2 rides, walk ons. Actually pretty fun from the front seat. Some insane swinging action, especially near the end.

Adventure Express - 3 rides, walk ons. This is probably my favorite Arrow mine train type rollercoaster. I enjoy how half the ride is before you ever hit a lift hill. It's also neat how the ride ends with a lift hill, although a little strange. I enjoy the theming in it though. In fact, the whole ride is themed pretty good I think. This is also easily the most intense family mine train type ride ive been on. A little rough, but very enjoyable.

The Racer - 4 rides, walk ons. First rode in the front row, facing fowards. Not bad. Then rode in the front row (or back?) facing backwards. Even better. The next day, tried it in the back row facing fowards. Pretty rough. Considering my other two rides were not very rough at all, the roughness suprised me and caught me off guard.

This seems like a good place to get something off my chest. Since I had surgery in January, I really tend to notice the roughness on rides more than I used to. I had a spontaneous Pnuemothorax, which is a collapsed lung. I had to have surgery to repair it. They actually had to cut off a small part of my lung, so my lung capacity is now slightly reduced. Sadly I do seem to notice it when excercising, playing sports, ect. I tend to get winded more easily than I used to. I feel fine usually, and do all the things I used to do. Anyways, on rough rides now thats the first place I notice it, in my chest area. I was told by doctors that there should be nothing I couldnt do, that my lung should be solid as ever. But it does worry me slightly how I feel it more than I used to. I mean I used to be one of these people that was never bothered by rough rides. SOB, and the Steel Phantom, just to name two that I have ridden, never really bothered me. Im definatley not going to let a few rough rides stop me though.

Flight of Fear - 3 rides, 15-30 minute waits. I really like this ride, more than I remember. The first few seconds after the launch are so delightfully disorienting. You really dont know which way is up for a few seconds there. I think it maybe does 3 inversions pretty much right off The Bat there, but im not sure because you honestly cant tell if your upside down or not. Then it slows down and circles the room a couple of times, and does a nice 90 degree banked turn. Finally ends in a fact corckscrew at the end. Really fun, and comfortable and not rough at all. I love looping coasters that dont have the OTSR's. Really a lot more freedom without them. But whats up with some of the seats squishing your right foot? One time one of them was squishing my foot pretty bad, my friend commented on it also. My only real complaint, an otherwise perfect indoor rollercoaster.

The Italian Job - 2 rides, 15 minute waits. Not a bad little ride. Slightly short, but actually pretty fun.

Vortex - 2 rides, walk ons. This Arrow looper has not aged well, apparently. Its almost feels like getting your ass kicked. Its a shame too, because its got a neat layout with some good elements. Too bad its too painful to really enjoy. Some seat padding would be the first step in making it a little more comfortable, my buttox just isnt that big I guess.

Tomb Raider - 2 rides, 20 minute waits. I had read about this so I basically knew what to expect. It still managed to suprise me though. I enjoyed it, its certaintly different to say the least. I image there are a lot of people who ride this not really knowing what they are getting into. I mean, I know my parents wouldve hated it, but I also know I would have no trouble getting them on it either, mainly because they cant actually SEE it. The coolest part was the water effects, one spray went right up in my friends face, he said it was really close, acted like he couldve touched it...im not sure if thats true or not. My only complaint is the jerky transitions...they really get you on the crotch region.

The Beast - 5 rides, walk on - 20 minute wait. Our first ride was the back seat. Quite rough, but enjoyable. Came back later for a night ride and rode in the front row. Much smoother. On Friday night, we were again able to get in a few more night rides. Maybe you Beast people allready know about this, but by chance we ended up on Train 3, Car 2, Row 2. I could not believe how much smoother it was here than the back row. It was even noticablly smoother than the front row. I had my hands up the whole time, with ease I might add. They had some sort of a hold up in the station, so my friend and I had some time to talk to two nice looking young ladies sitting behind us. It was a glorious ride and at aroud 9:40, I shouldve just ended it there, it couldnt have been any more perfect. But I got greedy and went for another ride. I was planning on going for the same seat again, but I saw an open queue in car 1 row 3, and I couldnt pass it up. Bad Idea. Another rough ride. The fireworks were allready going off by the time we hit the second lift hill, so I didnt have another chance to try for that glorious seat 2-2 again. But in my opinion, that one amazing ride made up for all the rough ones. If you get a good seat, The Beast at night still ranks right up there with any coaster ive ever experienced. I dont know, maybe all middle seats are smooth like that? Someone fill me in on this, it intrigues me.

On Friday morning, it looked like rain but we decided to try our luck at Boomerang Bay anyways. After a quick and delicious breakfast at Perkins, the skies had cleared up nicely and we were in the waterpark. We both agreed that this was one of, if not the best waterpark we have ever been to. Or at least we really enjoyed ourselves. They have an impressive collection of slides, and a really nice wooded setting for parts of the waterpark. We especially enjoyed their 4 man slide, snowy river rampage. It was nice and long, fast, and it was in a really nice wooded section. The only slight damper on the day was when they told my friend he couldnt ride a few of the slides because of his buttons on his shorts. They said he could turn them around backwards, which he did, got a few laughs from me, but at least he was able to ride all of the slides. Those one twisting ones really suprised me how fast they were. A little too fast for my liking, actually. Overall, we were very impressed by the waterpark.

That night I decided I had to try the skyline chilli. I remember eating some from the grocery store a long time ago and not really caring for it much. I was either just really hungry, or it was that darn good, because I loved it. I had the 3 way. Delicious. My friend on the other hand did not care for it and didnt even finish his, saying it tasted cinnamony. I said I dont think that taste is cinimman. Or maybe it was? Someone knows. Either way, I loved it.

To conclude, I was pretty impressed with the park. Yes food is a little expensive, and yea maybe the ops arent quite as quick as some of those at Cedar Point. But its hard to be better than the best, and I saw places where employees were really hustling. Special props to the FOF crew, they were good. We both had a really good time, it was nice to get back to PKI after a 5 year absence.

[The Interpreter]

Great report.

Yep, middle seats of cars on The Beast are by far the smoothest.

And yes, that's cinnamon in Skyline Chili. Not a lot, but some!

[Reclaimer]

Skyline is pretty amazing

Glad you had a good time! Great TR.

[GrandPoobah]

Cincinnati chili does indeed have cinnamon in it, and it tastes great

Really nice trip report, glad you enjoyed your trip.

[Hank]

Very well written.

Since 1973, I have ALWAYS stayed at the Knights Inn in Lebanon - and always in room 120. Last year, it was the pitts. I know you only sleep there, but I'm gonna look for a different place. By the way - go online next time and get a better deal for Knights Inn.

I always eat at Perkins too! We must have the same astrological sign or something. Such a nice place.

One question - how crowded was the park? Being a Thursday and a Friday, I would think it would be "shoulder to shoulder" - but maybe the chance of rain kept some away. I know last year, we were there this same week - on a Wednesday and Thursday - and Thursday was quite crowded. Some of the park employees said that the beginning of the week was slower. I know - it's a crap shoot. Just asking.

[stljason1]

Thanks Hank. I actually did go online, and initially my rate was 55 dollars thursday night, and 65 on friday. My friend had a AAA card , which made the price something like 45 the first night and 58 the second I thought...anyways after taxes, the total room price was 120 bucks. Still pretty reasonable I say, its hard to complain when you get a room that cheap, at least in my opinion. I was in room 109.

Perkins has some delicious Pancakes. That, and its kind of a local favorite around here with some friends of mine, we always meet at our local perkins at odd hours of the night, mainly because its open 24 hours on thursday, friday and saturday nights.

As for crowds, you can look at the wait times I listed for the rides to get a general idea of crowds. They were VERY reasonable, especially on Thursday. On Thursday Beast was walk on after 9 PM. Many other coasters were also. I think that the fact that It rained in mid afternoon may have made some people go home, that or the chance of rain made people decide not to go alltogether. Same thing on Friday actually, to a lesser extent. In late morning on Friday the clouds did look pretty ominious for awhile, but it never did rain a drop. But Friday was noticabally more crowded that Thursday was, but still not bad at all for late July.