KI 5/26/07

[Oldiesmann]

My sister and I hit KI bright and early yesterday for the grand opening of Firehawk. We got there about 8:45 to a nice line of traffic on Kings Island Drive. After sitting in traffic for 15 or 20 minutes, we finally got going, paid our $10 for parking and hiked from Son of Beast 62 to the main gate.

Once in the park, we joined a nice crowd of people waiting near Larosa's, occasionally moving aside to let employees through, and moving closer to the rope as more gaps opened up.

Looking back, we were amazed at how many people had come since we got there. After about 30 minutes, the national anthem was played and we began the mad rush to Firehawk, like most of the other people.

We got there to find that the ride wasn't open yet, but had heard that it would open around 10:30. After hearing another rumor that it would open around 11:30 (I think), we hit Outer Limits (front seat - the only way to do that ride) and The Vortex, then hopped back in line around 11, only to learn that the ride wouldn't be open for another couple of hours (at least that's what the employees told us). As the wait got longer, some people gave up and got out of line, so we moved up - eventually settling in near the Firehawk merchandise thingy (which wasn't open at the time). My sister grabbed us some ice water, and I eventually walked down and got me a strawberry fruit chill (which was a bit mushy, but quite tasty). After a short time, one of the area supervisors came by to talk to us about what was going on, and we decided that if the ride wasn't open by 2, we were going to give up. We watched the vendors come by, and were amused at the lady selling the battery-powered misting fans - every time someone went to look at them, she'd say something about "You know you want to buy one!". While my sister got up to go hit the backwards racer, the line moved up some more, and I was now in line between The Racers and the X-Base sign (near the maintenance gate). We noticed that the tests of Firehawk were getting more frequent, so we decided we were going to stick around since it was most likely going to open soon. A couple of the ride associates came by and explained the rules about loose articles and locker rental. Around 1:30, a kid who had run up to see what was going on came running back and announced that they'd just opened the gates. We moved up, excited that we were finally going to go on the ride.

As we got closer, my sister had planned to buy Dippin' Dots at the stand near Firehawk, but for some unknown reason, they didn't have any (despite the fact that they had the freezers and signs and such).

We finally got up to the "briefing" area, and once again they explained the locker/loose articles situation. We rented a locker, crammed our stuff in there, and hit the queue line.

We got up to the "flight deck" around 2:45 or so, and walked towards the station, looking forward to the ride ahead.

We were a bit surprised that they weren't pairing people up and spreading them out like they did (and, to my knowledge, still do) with IJ, but we chose the third row back ("row 4") since the line for the front seat was ridiculous and we hadn't eaten lunch yet.

The wait in the station was fun - the employees were having a great time (even telling us to ask them if there was any question as to what a "loose article" was), and we watched someone with a laptop tweaking the other car (not sure exactly what he was doing). After a minor delay due to some sort of a problem with one of the sensors or something on the track, the ride resumed, and we finally got on around 3:30.

The ride was an absolute blast, although I was a bit disappointed that I had to close my eyes during parts of it to avoid being blinded by the sun.

We got off the ride and got our coupons to get our t-shirts, then headed out to the car for lunch. By the time we got out there, it was about 4:15, so we quickly wolfed down our sandwiches, then headed to change for the water rides. We hit Congo River Falls first, and it was a walk-on (like it usually is). We didn't get too wet on the ride, and went to get drenched on the bridge, then dried off some and hiked off to Whitewater Canyon. By the time we got in line there, it was 5:15, and we briefly thought about skipping it so we could have time to hit the water park, but the line was moving quickly, and we had only planned to spend about an hour at the water park, so we waited anyway.

35 minutes later, we got off the ride, completely drenched. Great ride like usual.

After this, we stopped to dry off a bit, and walked off towards Boomerang Bay, stopping briefly to watch the elephant at Wild Thornberries soak some un-suspecting riders, and laughing as an associate kept reminding people to put their electronic devices up (two or three times), then had to tell someone (another two or three times) to stop using headphones on the ride.

We walked down past the picnic grove, and marveled at the sign showing the area's schedule for the day - it was well-booked as you might expect.

We finally got to Boomerang Bay about 6:15, and went to check on locker prices. Seeing that locker prices had increased by $2 this year (last year it was $10 with a $5 refundable deposit; this year it's $12 with a $6 refundable deposit), and that the waterpark was closing in about 20 minutes, we decided to skip the water park, and waited for the train to come back. We purposely took the train back because I wanted to stop at the station and get a Dippin' Dots Sundae (which it turns out they no longer offer). The ride back was enjoyable, although a bit cheesy at times (apparently the fort-like structure is now a "witch's college", but all the witches were on summer break; the bear in the woods wasn't coming towards us and was apparently about to take a nap...). Back at the station, I looked to see how much a Dippin' Dots Sundae was, but seeing that they now only offer the standard Dippin' Dots and a "Dippin' Dots Float", went for the float instead - Mint Chocolate Dippin' Dots with Barq's Red Cream Soda [yes, I'm strange, but this odd combo was surprisingly good].

We headed over to Action Zone and hopped in line for Delirium. The line was short, and we were on and off the ride in about 30 minutes. Nothing unusual here - just another really fun ride.

After this, we jumped in line for Face/Off, and again waited about 30 minutes. We laughed at the things laying in the gravel (including a particularly nice cell phone), and wished that the kids in front of us would stop bouncing their basketballs (why can't they give those things away deflated?).

The employees at Face/Off were also having a good time, which made it more enjoyable, and because it was late in the day, I was able to keep my eyes open the entire time without having to get blinded by the sun.

After that, we hiked out to the car for dinner. By this time it was almost 8:00, but we'd already planned the rest of the night - hit the backwards racers, then finish off the night with the mandatory front-seat-ride on The Beast (even more fun in the dark ).

After dinner, we decided that there wasn't time to hit the Eiffel Tower (as much as I wanted to do that), and headed off to the backwards Racers. The line here was also pretty short, and the antics of the employees made things even more enjoyable (particularly after Maggie, the driver, saw a spider...).

The ride on The Racer was fun, and we decided to go check out the line for Firehawk, in hopes that there might be another chance to do that before The Beast. When we got there, we saw the crowd, and the "From this point, the wait for Firehawk is approximately 3 hours" sign, and decided to skip it.

The ride on The Beast was a blast as usual - especially because it was darker than we had expected. There was a brief delay due to the fireworks (which are now shot off from somewhere near there), but it only lasted 10 minuets, and we still got to ride it.

Following that, we meandered up towards the front of the park, thoroughly exhausted after a long day. On the way out, we stopped by the funnel cake stand for some apple fries, then headed back to the car, wondering who decided that getting rid of the trams was a good idea.

Due to time constraints, the only shots I took yesterday were Firehawk-related, but I did get some great shots. You can view them here.

Notes on the photos:

Dane - feel free to download them and put them in the gallery here.

Everyone else - feel free to download these and do what you want with them. Just make sure that you give me credit for them if you use them elsewhere.

To download the photos:

Click "Add album to Cart" from the main album page

If you only want to download certain ones, check the box next to the ones you don't want to download, select "Update Quantities" from the "cart actions" list and click "Go"

Once you're happy with your choices, select "Download in Zip" from the "cart actions" list and click "Go"

[WhoDeyForever]

Sounds like you had a blast!

By the way, since you were talking about the dippin dots thing..Have you had those Jolly Rancher slushy drinks they got? They sell them at that Paradise thing by IJ..They are pretty good..Probably my favorite thing to buy there.

[DropZone99]

Sounds like you had fun.

I sure did.

Some of the stuff you said happened right when i was there, maybe i was behind you in line or something...???

And nice pictures, i took aton, and made a short video of my trip.

=]

[Smitty]

Sounds like you had a blast. I'm headin up there this Friday. Hopefully I can get a crack at Firehawk :-)