June 6, 2007

[beastbreakdown]

My friend and I arrived at the park around 9:15, doing so we finally got our gold passes processed. This only took about 5 minutes; I was surprised at the lack of paper work, usually they make you fill out a boat load! Well, after that we made are way into the park where we waited patiently until 10 o'clock for the rope to drop. I found myself participating in "the running of the bulls" back to Firehawk. I must say that is some what impressive, but at the same time I did not like the fact that everyone (including myself) was blowing off park employees who were shouting "do not run!" My friend and I managed to be about 20th in line waiting for Firehawk to open. There was a small mechanical problem, and Firehawk opened around 11AM. My friend and I rode in the front car of the yellow train (I think we were the 2nd train of the day). Wow! was that one hell of ride, something I have never experienced before; thus, making it my new favorite coaster at KI.

After our amazing flight, we made our way to Skyline... 11 dollars for 1 cheese coney and chili cheese fries . The forward racer was our next destination after our brief lunch break. We sat in the back and wow was that painful, I have never experienced that much ouchies from that ride. Once my back found its shape again, we made our way to Vortex. Nice ride, only waited about 5 minutes for it. Making our way down the path, we found ourselves strapped into a white Mini Cooper. To be honest, I'm not impressed with IJST, its just a big blah. Anyways, we both felt a bit light headed, so after getting a nice little cup of ice water, we made our way to the train. This was just what we needed, after the lovely train ride we seemed to be ready for some more body bashing fun. Having completely ignored TR:TR last year, I decided to ride it again. Now I remember why I pass by it all the time, being held upside down for about 20 seconds is not much fun.. I couldn't decided whether my head was pounding so hard, or I herd The Beast calling. So being strapping young lads, we figured we would go Beast hunting. Oh boy did we find it, I must say that ride is still one of the best in the park.

At this point, a nice cup of FREE ice water was in the works. I was willing to pay for a large cup of ice water, but a nice lady working the soda fountains told me not to worry about it. This made me very happy, and appreciate the great staff. During our little cool down, we strayed into the arcade, well if you could even call it that. The arcade seemed a bit empty (game wise and people wise). Around 3PM we realized that we had completely skipped over Action Zone, so of course that was a must.

We threw on our flight gear once again, my friend being Goose and myself Maverick. Oh how we were true fighter pilots, if only there were some Migs to shoot down. After our brief but fun ride on Top Gun, I wondered how people could hate that ride. It was fast and fun, I think it is one of KI's best kept secretes (being that no one goes on it..). Intense lateral Gs had not full filed our adrenaline rush, so of course Drop Zone was in order. I was actually nervous for the first/only time of the day. Having ridden DZ multiple times, I still find it scary! Yet, we were not completely delirious, so we decided to ride Delirium. On our small trek over there, a group of boys managed to rip open a polar bear, oh my those little beans made me feel like it was winter; once again I was impressed with the staff, they quickly cleaned it up. After Delirium, we were finally feeling delirious, so we hit up the Feastus building for some Larosas. $5.01 for 3 bread sticks with a skimp amount of cheese and marinara sauce. Once again I got a nice cup of FREE ice water.

Realizing we had little time left, we made our way back to Firehawk. There was once again a mechanical problem, this time being the rotating transfer track. I figured it would be open in about 30 minutes or so. So we waited and made our way up to the front of the line once again due to people who left. Here we met a nice lady with her daughter, both with preflight jitters. Once the ride finally opened, no one felt like going through all those turn styles/que lines. This was simply the line jumping Olympics of 2007, so much for being up in the front of the line. Its amazing what that ride does to people lol. Oh well my friend and I waited for about 5 minutes and once again sat in the front row, this time in the red train. For some reason the seats on the yellow train seemed a bit more comfy. Oh yea at this point I became a test dummy for trainees. A ride op was training about 5 kids who looked like they were 12 on how to properly check restraints. Once again, the ride delivered an amazing ride, but this time I felt like I was going to fall out. Maybe this was due to the fact I wasn't holding on so tightly and screaming like a sissy like on my first time around.

Our day was coming to a close, what better way to end it on The Beast. We rode somewhere in the middle, this time around it seemed a bit faster, which I loved. Also, there was about a 10 minute wait this time, well worth it. After another excellent ride on The Beast, we hit up Greaters, and then left the park. Overall, this was a great day for my friend, myself, and the park! The park seemed to have a completely different atmosphere, I loved it.

~Lessons learned today~

*If Firehawk is down, I say wait it out. It is worth it, and most likely will be up and running within the hour.

*If riding Firehawk, rent a locker right away, don't be turned away at the gate. I saw about 10 people with this problem today, wow were they furious. Seems like another stupid way to make money..

*ask for cups of ice water, they are FREE; it saved me about 15 dollars worth of drinks.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my fairly detailed trip report, sorry it was long, but it was a great day and I had much to type about!