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We've been posting all week on our Instagram and Facebook "stories" from our current So Cal trip but since I know not all of you have accounts on those platforms, I'll re-post that update here as well. This was our first day at Disneyland Resort and "Avengers Campus." Needless to say... we loved it! Read on... WGOF9088.mp4 XYYJ4029.mp4 TIBJ7315.mp4 WIKV7908.mp4 VZJS1444.mp4 UBRG5890.mp4 EWZC8031.mp4 SWKR9696.mp4 QOLF7396.mp4 LBVJ0169.mp4 FJCK2022.mp4 PQFE2086.mp4

Great meeting you and hanging out for a bit! I ended up leaving around 5pm on Saturday since I had a REALLY early flight on Sunday, and I wasn't sure the weather would ever clear up. You will LOVE the book! So well written and well researched. Hoping KI puts out a 50th Anniversary picture book next year like CP did this year for their 150th. And yes...hoping to do CoasterStock next year too!

the lighting effects on "windbreaker" are amazing tho

^ You're going to love that book. I really don't think a 17 year old wrote that.

Visited the park on Wednesday and while it was 95* I had a great day due to low crowds. I honestly anticipated to ride Orion at opening and maybe Mystic but I was pleasantly surprised to see everything other than FoF at a 20 minute or less wait. Yes Mystic has the music working again. Park music variety is back, it's not just those bluegrass covers all over on a loop. There's actually diversity in the park so idk if they paid up or what but thank goodness. Had the best rides on Orion. I still don't gray out at any point on the ride but I never remember hitting the trim as hard as it did. Which sucks but I really felt some airtime on the wave turn (almost took my ray bans off!!!) And the speed hill was epic. You can look back at my posts not raving about Orion airtime but damn it was hauling. No, it's still not better than Fury, though haha in my opinion. Racer blue is running better than red but they're both running like new. Especially Red. I rode Invertigo for the first time in probably 10 years and it's time for it to go. My head is so skinny how does anyone else fit their head between those padded OTSRs?! Damn that coaster is intense and rough. Windseeker is still playing the Harry Potter theme which is hilarious and confusing. The blue ice cream beer is so fucking good. How good is it? The brewery that makes it can't keep it in stock or on draft so it's pretty much a KI exclusive at this point. Sonder makes all of KI's beer and is close by and it's one of like 2 locations to get it. And on the opposite of good, KI is still experimenting with gourmet popcorn and I think they'll have plenty of chive in stock for a long time

In other news, I visited the park a couple of days ago to find a new net on the dive loop for Stunt Pilot. I would assume to keep any loose items from flying onto the adjacent path. Doesn't detract too much from the aesthetics of the ride...

this is interesting.....https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Doctor_Diabolical_(Earth-Twelve) as Dr D dresses up as a woman and has a lab and made a machine. Looks like we have our first crossdresser themed ride. this is interesting also https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Herman_Cramer_(New_Earth) considering lil Blimpie. Fiesta really working that lore.

I had to pause the video and make sure I wasn't trippin when I saw 7 across seating lol

My condolences.

A solid park adds another solid coaster, sounds good to me.

Some grammar would help here, then this post might be taken a bit more seriously... At the end of the day, whether or not a ride is economically feasible to operate will be the deciding factor on if it is closed or not; barring a legal reason.

Wow, this is a really nice addition for SFFT. I also think B&M might really be on to something here with this "budget" (for them) dive coasters that run about 2,500 feet of track and stand about 150 ft tall. Emperor at SWSD is basically the same thing. Obviously that's still a really big buy for a midsized park or a park in the Six Flags chain, but it does open up the possibility. That B&M door had basically been closed to anyone but big spenders for a long time now.

Just like what constitutes a "new" ride for SFSTL, which will probably just be our delayed flat that was supposed to go in for this year. I'm happy for you all down there but our poor park (one of the original 3 ground up parks for Six Flags) just quietly celebrated our 50th anniversary. I mean it was very very quiet. We got new paint, and some fireworks, and a new kid's structure in HH......oh wait that isn't done yet despite there only being about a month left of waterpark operations. Pfffft. Seriously though congratulations to SFFT and those of you lucky enough to have it as your home park!

To be honest, I think skip-the-line passes should be A LOT more expensive than they are now. They should be a premium service, not an alternative line. This way it's a win-win: park gets a significant revenue yet lines are not that affected because there will be fewer people buying them (of course, parks should really limit available units). I hate when parks basically give away those passes. You either make them completely free, like Disney's FP or Europa Park's return time for Voletarium or just don't bother at all.

***TRIGGER WARNING FOR ZACH*** ***THE FOLLOWING CONTENT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT IS NOT CHILL. READER DISCRETION ADVISED, BUT SPECIFICALLY ZACH IS ADVISED*** Yeah, I get that. It's super relevant specifically here more than anywhere else, since Taney County, where SDC is located, has one of the highest infection rates in the US. Definitely people should understand the situation if they're planning a trip here in the next few weeks.

Maybe BGT can use IG's queue and station for one of the haunted houses. It could count toward ridership numbers and they probably won't even have to take the decorations down for next year.

Day 2, the conclusion of CoasterStock: Kim and Joel met up with us at the finally re-opened Beast, and we headed up the FL+ line, and asked if it was OK for us to wait for the front row. With a nod from the grouper, we all headed to the front line, and Zach, bless him, decided to immortalize my front row ride on the Beast with a pic. so I have this GREAT picture, which makes me very happy every time I look at it: how was it? Well, while it was good in the front, I think I really preferred it in row two, only because the front row is a wheel seat. oh, it didn't jackhammer me the whole ride, but it did have a very noticeable vibration, that shook, up my brain quite a bit. Not a head-bang, exactly, but I definitely felt it for the rest of the night. So not terrible, but row two is the row for me, I think! waiting for the others to finish their front row ride let me get some nice pics of the first lift hill, and the returning train from the course. thanks to the photoshop skills of friendly folks online, was able to get my official pic looking fantastic (the original pic was ruined by a woman blowing a kiss to the camera from the 3rd row in the car. . . luckily she was far enough back that it was an easy fix (I was told) to just blacken her out). what completely blows my mind tho, were the handful of very immature idiots who thought it was "hysterical" and "made the picture" seriously. . grow the fuck up. I don't want some woman (probably a local who's ridden this tons of times) - especially a woman I don't know - ruin a picture from my bucket-list trip, and make it not frame-able for me. at least I was informed that if I had gone to the booth, perhaps the operator could have adjusted the pic to remove the "kiss blowing" part of it. . . good to know if I ever do make it back to Kings Island (which hopefully will be for next year's Coasterstock). . . but it still blows my mind that someone would purposely do crap when they are sharing a car with folks they don't know (PianoJohn's pic on Diamondback has a goth chick shooting both middle fingers at the camera) you wanna do it in your own log, or two seater ride? go for it. . but why ruin someone else's picture. . . sheesh. (now get off my lawn!) I may have gotten my timeline mixed up a little bit, but I think we may have headed over to Mystic Timbers for another ride, and then it was time to go eat tonight's dinner in the picnic grove. keeping it 100: I am not a Bar-B-Que fan (and being from Texas, there's BBQ everywhere. . so I'm not even a fan of fantastic BBQ). So I knew going in, this wasn't gonna be my favorite meal. . but I had high hopes. I'll do it similar to the prior meal: the Fantastic: - that corn casserole at the bottom of the plate. it was SO good, went back and got Seconds the good: - the hot dog (that I put a small amount of slaw on along with Mustard) was excellent - Kim raved about the baked chicken (which I passed on, as I had enough on my plate, didn't need any more food, but she said it was the best main available) the mediocre: - the macaroni salad (which really only missed the "good" category because it needed Salt. it was OK tho) - the cookies (some were perfect, some were underbaked and very "raw-doughy" there were enough perfectly baked ones that it evened out, and they did bring out more ice cream for anyone who wanted it later in the night) - the pulled pork was. . . I mean. . it was there. I don't recall if the sauce was an option (I think it was), but there weren't any pickles or onions - which to me make a pulled pork sandwich. not terrible, but not something I'd specifically order again, if I had that option. the horrific: - that Sausage link. Oh, it LOOKED like it was gonna be good, and it was nice and greasy. . but it had no flavor other than "grease" And when you cut into it, the link was probably 40% fat pieces mixed in with ground pork (I think it was pork). I took one small bite of it, and pushed the rest aside - tho I certainly tasted the "grease" the whole rest of the night and it gave me some nausea for an hour or so after dinner. I'm trying not to be mean, but looking around the tables, *everyone* seemed to be taking one bite, and tossing the rest. Yeah, it was that bad. Maybe we just happened to get a bad batch? (tho like I said, everyone around us was not eating it either tho they had it on their plates. .and I think John also took one bite and tossed it - tho he did thank me for recommending the corn casserole - which was quite good). the only way this sausage could be worse, would be if it had been served with the gray onions from the prior day. yes, I know I'm being a bit harsh. .but that one bad part, is what leave the biggest impression, doesn't it? It was still a good meal tho.. I just know if I go back, avoid the Sausage (and the Pulled Pork) and get the baked Chicken. after the dinner break, we met up with Zach and went over to Racer so we could finally attempt to race. I'm sure that Joel/Kim went to Red and we went to Blue to attempt to race - because I remember asking them didn't' they want to ride Blue, since it had been down when we tried to ride the prior night (and we rode Red only, with the one train ops due to the vomit row). . . but I'm also remembering that one train on Red went down while we were already queued up to ride, and so we ended up not racing them, since it was only racing every other Blue. . .and by the time we were ready to go, we raced the train before them. we got off Racer, and Kim mentioned again (she had asked several times) if I was ready to ride Monster - since I had said I was wanting to ride it. but the shaking from Beast earlier, and the sausage bite (again still tasting it) had me really wary to ride anything "spinny".. so I passed and we kept moving. We took another spin on Adventure Express, which was memorable as we saw the floats that would be getting used for the Mardi Gras festival (that just started this week) testing out their LEDs in a backstage area that was viewable from AE's exit ramp. I'm pretty sure Kim didn't ride with us this time tho, because she was at the end of the exit ramp waiting for us - and watching the LEDs on the floats - when an obnoxious Teenager, whom had been bouncing a basketball (annoyingly) in line and got it from the cubby after our ride, lost control of it while bouncing it down the ramp. It bounced right down the ramp, and hit Kim square in the butt (of course it did). the teenager looked shocked (as did his friend) and he quickly pretended the ball wasn't his, and rushed right by Kim as she turned around questioningly as to who's ball it was. no, he did NOT apologize, or say "excuse me" or take ownership. But a park employee did see the ball hit, and when we explained what had happened she handed the ball to Joel and said something along the lines of "well, if he's not going to have the decency to claim it or acknowledge he even hit her? you can have it" So Joel took it and offered it to a little girl who was with her family on the main walkway - and was THRILLED to have a basketball. What thrilled me tho? watching the teenager whos ball it *had* been, watching this sullenly from around the corner, and watching them slink off towards the park gates, when they saw Joel give away the basketball. Can't recall if we went back over to MT or Diamondback, but I think we stayed over on this side of the park, and Zach asked if anyone was ready for a drink - and we went back over to the Beergarden behind the Mexican place across from Adventure Express. We sat and sipped on either beer, mixed drink, or water. . and as Kim mentioned earlier. . we "oldies" (her and I) sat and rested, and i tried to will my stomach to settle, as Joel and Zach headed over to Drop Tower for a ride on that. We noticed Banshee hadn't cycled in quite a while at this point, and when they came back from Drop Tower, Joel mentioned that there were maintenance guys on the lift hill. what was most interesting, is while we were sitting in the Beergarden, a small cast (4-5 performers) came out and got up on the stage, and performed a show. It reminded me of the Italian show at BGW, in that it involved the performers banging on tubs, bottles & cans with Spoons, and spatulas. It was also pretty interactive, with them choosing a few folks sitting in the area to bang with them in rhythm. it was nice to see a live performance show in a park again, and really nice to see them interacting with the crowd. by this time everything had settled, and it was getting "dusky" so we decided to head back over to Area 72 and get some rides on Orion. and it turned out we timed it just right that as we were entering the area, we saw they had just started the Evening show that happens in Area 72. yep, so we saw two shows in just under an hour.. . . this one is pretty cool, with dancers, hula hoopers, and jugglers, all using neon/LED accessories. I snapped a couple of pics as we passed by and got a couple of rides on Orion. Orion is so pretty at night. . . . and wasn't pulling too much of a line. We knew it shut down at ~9:30 for the fireworks, so it must have been ~9:10 at this point, cause we got several rides on it in different rows. and by the time we got off, it was getting nice and dark, and almost ready for the fireworks. I believe Joel/Zach went around once more to get a ride before the park shut down, and Kim and I found a perfect bench to sit down on to relax and wait for the fireworks (and for me to call home and check in with Spouse since really hadn't talked all day). We also got the extra show of a SUPER drunk frat-bro/italian guy with FL+ who was yelling at the top of his lungs about how great the ride was - punctuated by lots of "whoot" and "that's what I'm talkin about!" complete with fist pumps, and he was getting encouraged by those standing waiting for the fireworks to go around and keep getting back in line. it was amusing, tho I'm not so sure those who had to ride the train with him were overly amused that he kept getting back in line. soon enough, the lights on Orion dimmed, and we got to see the evening fireworks from a wonderful seated position! Interestingly, they shut down Orion before the fireworks, but Windseeker kept cycling. . that must be an amazing ride during the fireworks! and then it was over, and the park was closed for the General public. We said our goodbyes to Zach, gave him a hug (it really was SO great to see him and spend the day with him), and we waited for Orion to open back up. we still had a couple of hours, but there was bad weather coming in so we weren't sure if we'd be able to get the full ERT. Secretly, Kim and I both were hoping it might get cut short (or at the very least, we were ok with it if it DID get cut short, since I still had to pack tonight, and be up pretty early for a flight). for some reason, it did seem to take them ~15 minutes to get Orion cycling again, and we hung around this area, because Joel was hoping to get one more ride on it during ERT. which was fine with us. . sitting on the bench was doing my body good. But they eventually did reopen the line for ERT and began to flush out those that had waited out the Fireworks shutdown. it took about 20 minutes tho we started to wonder where Joel was. There was a commotion on the loading platform (which ended up being someone who was having issues getting the green on the restraint, and there appeared to be an argument that she had ridden it many times, and she fits. I'm sure that's true, but we'd also had that big dinner not too much earlier - since we were in ERT by now, she was a Coasterstock attendee - so for some reason they couldn't get the green, and it held up the train for maybe 5-10 minutes. we then heard a collective groan come from the station and folk started coming down the steps - they had shut down due to that major storm cell / lightning in the area. I only even mention this, because she was apologizing to folks around her as they were leaving the area, because she knew that the coaster could have cycled a few more trains before the shutdown, if the station hadn't shut down trying to get a green light on the restraint. Oh, and because Joel was on the next train that would have gone out. . but didn't because they shut the line down for lightning. Whoops. checking radar (and we had gotten an alert from Don on the FB group a little earlier that there was a big cell coming in that might impact ERT) we saw the big cell, and debated if we should leave to try to beat any rain. It was already 11pm, really, so we wouldn't be cutting out too much of Coasterstock. But we decided we'd head over to Beast/Mystic Timbers and see if they were open. Logic being lightning might not shut down lower to the ground wood structures, as opposed to Orion's tall metal one. But as we passed Shake,Rattle,Roll - we came across a crowd heading towards us. . . Beast & MT had shut down too. . . so they were heading to the only operating coaster: Flight of Fear - which is indoors. I had zero interest in riding that again, and Kim & Joel weren't too excited about the prospect either, so we made the decision that we'd just head out ~11pm, and use that extra hour back in the hotel to relax/pack. so we headed up to the front gates, and my adventures at Kings Island and Coasterstock came to an end. i had an incredible time, and loved this park.. and I got a new #1 wooden coaster out of it in Mystic Timbers (and Diamondback and Orion both make my steel top 10. . Diamondback actually makes my top 5, I think). I definitely plan to try to get tickets to next year's Coasterstock and do this again. This bucket-list park absolutely lived up to my expectations. couldn't pass up an opportunity for some pics on the way out tho. . especially all lit up, and with literally no one around! the picture I'm using as my desktop. . .love it: we were back in the hotel by 11:15, and I was packed and in bed by 12:30. and, of course, never even got a drizzle, and the lightning quickly passed -and we did hear that everything opened back up by 11:30. . so we probably should have waited it out to get another night ride on Beast. but at the end of it all? I didn't need it. I had a great time and it's OK we left when we did. thanks for reading along, hope you enjoyed viewing Coasterstock/Kings Island thru my eyes! a follow up post with swag purchased will be up in the next couple of days!

@ice1972 No, I don't support their decision to not offer Flash Pass on the phone for season Flash Pass customers. Yes, they should offer the same system to every paying customer, I'll agree with you there. I don't agree that it has "devalued" what you're paying for. The system operates exactly as it did when you purchased it. Now, if they removed rides from the Flash Pass program, then yes, I'd say you have a "devalued" argument. Mainly, what I don't agree with is the extreme to which you've taken your upset-ness. Your mild inconvenience from them not offering season Flash Pass on the phone app does not give you the right to berate, yell at, or otherwise harass a low-paid, young employee of the park, who has literally no control over the situation whatsoever. Write an e-mail to the GM of the park if it bothers you so much...front-line employees at theme parks don't have any say over how things are done. Was I highly annoyed when CF parks decided to keep their smoking zones to outside the park gates post-COVID? Yes, absolutely. Did I bitch and moan about it to the employees who scan the tickets/passes on entry? No, because they have no ability to change things that are corporate-wide or even park-level decisions. You also realize that this is Six Flags, and the "decision" to not offer what you're looking for is likely as simple as one of their tech guys forgetting to check a box to enable it, right? Again, not someone who works at the park and interacts with guests. Guest Relations might be your only real outlet at the park, since they can take notes that get forwarded on to the park management, but certainly you're a better human being than to "give them an earful." A casual, friendly, "Hey, it would be nice if..." will get you miles further. If the "1972" in your user name refers to your birth year, this is even worse, because a grown-ass adult should not get so bothered by trivial things like this. I hope you never have to face any actual hardship in your life.