From The Dayton Daily News.

Kings Island a thousand times

Man to reach milestone at park today

By Kimberly Webster

MASON | When Don Helbig first visited Paramount's Kings Island, no one had ventured on Adventure Express, Face-Off was faceless and even The Vortex was simply a void.

Helbig of Fairfield has seen many changes at the amusement park, but he has remained a constant guest. Today will mark his 1,000th visit.

The occasion will be celebrated in high style, with Helbig receiving "true Hollywood treatment," spokesman Jeffrey Siebert said.

The day has been officially designated "Don Helbig Day," and during a ceremony, Helbig will receive an oversized commemorative ticket, highlighting his 1,000th trip.

Helbig has always paid for his own park admission and is annually on "automatic pilot" to purchase season tickets, so his entrance will be through the turnstiles, as usual. His meals for the day will be on the house, though.

For the 21 days preceding the event, Helbig was allowed only three visits so that he wouldn't prematurely pass the 1,000 mark.

Helbig first visited Kings Island in 1981.

The day was spent with his brother. They received season passes as Easter presents from their parents, and were eager to ride The Beast.

Unfortunately, it was closed for the day, so they instead turned to The Racer (which didn't really race then, as there was only one track).

Diana Kelly, who had just graduated from high school with Helbig, was new on the job and operating the coaster.

After having ridden it about a dozen times, the Helbig brothers asked Kelly for the one-day record of Racer rides. She found it to be 96.

They managed a mere 54 spins on that occasion.

Helbig's persistence paid off, though, as he and park officials worked together to keep track of his total rides and visits. He earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records when he reached 11,000 rides on The Racer alone; his total is now at 11,670.

The world title, though, "was never a reason to do it," Helbig said. "I just did it because it was something that was fun."

The first decade as a PKI guest provided special memories for Helbig.

"I went to bed at night thinking about the park," he confessed. "You could say in the 1980s I was a bit obsessed."

Not that he's not obsessed now. "I like it as much as I always did, maybe even more," Helbig is quick to add.

His wife, Laura, is not so passionate about multiple coaster rides.

"She's like most people," Helbig said. "She likes to go . . . ride each once and move on to the next attraction. It's not something she'd want to be a priority in her life."

**Dane: Here is the PKIC page for this story. http://www.pkicentral.com/Parkinfo/editori.../1000visits.htm

Ummm...Racer had only ONE track? I think not!

Ummm...Racer had only ONE track? I think not!

Yeah I was also wondering about that. Typo? Or wrong information. The Racer always had 2 tracks, both sides used to run Forwards until 1982, so i'm not sure if that's what they are referring to or not.

Yup your right in 1982 they had one side of The Racer turned backwards but in 1981 was the start of the smurf invasion in the park.

I read the same article on PKIU and was confused by the whole racer with one side. I'm quite sure that there were always two tracks. If there was only one, why would you call it The Racer? Who's it going to race?

wow that's a lotta miles walking around PKI!!!!!

Perhaps I should start keeping track of the number of my visits and my ride times on select rides.

That is VERY cool of PKI to treat one of their guests that way.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

:chef:

I have added a page on the story. Ity can be accessed here... http://www.pkicentral.com/Parkinfo/editori.../1000visits.htm

Groovy 1000 times that would really put a hurting on your feet!!!

I have beent there almost 400 times and im only 17.

The funny thing is that I know of someone who has only missed about 20 (!) operating days since 1985. She passed that 1000 milestone YEARS ago!

Some of you here know the person I'm talking about. I'm sure Dane knows her....as well as basically EVERY employee at the park.

I wonder if she'll get a special day?

Karen will get her day once she breaks a scooters cable and safely skids to a stop in Coney Mall. It's a matter of time.

Karen... She is the bond that holds our Snapping family together. The Mother and the grandmother... it's magical... like Disney.

And than Todd is everyones little brother...

Dane and I are the illegitimate children on which Karen gets custody a few times a week.

Todd as the little brother? Dane, do you realize that he's older than both of us?

Growing older, not up.

Dane and I are the illegitimate children on which Karen gets custody a few times a week.

That puts me right in that family somewhere..... as Karen has recently claimed ME as a son, too!

I wanna family reunion!

She's my dating advice guru How crazy is THAT? Gotta love her though.