slither37

Hey Big Mike, Kayla and I will try to meet up with you at Kings Island. How many credits, other than Diamondback, are you missing there?

Congrats on a great year Big Mike. Had a great time at Coastermania with you and have greatly enjoyed reading your thread.

This thread has made me want to eat.... bacon of course. My nickname is actually 'Bacon" to some of my friends, those poor people who have had the (unfortunate) pleasure of attending a breakfast buffet, which is the only true way to enjoy bacon, lol, with me. The bacon weave looks good, I am going to make that this summer, but it may need some more bacon.

Great TR, here in Ohio there is a festival for everything, zucchini (Obetz, way way redneck) popcorn(Marion) bratwurst(Bucyrus) pumpkin (Circleville) apples (Jackson) tomatoes (Reynoldsburg). Nothing tops the redneck meter like the Obetz zucchini festival. Jeff Foxworthy comes to it for material. Now, as much as I love bacon, I really do, I think I would have to pass on the chocolate dipt bacon. Maybe I could order sans chocolate?

^^Yes, that is correct, I forgot to mention that. That is why I am going the following weekend. I agree with the auction for the first rides. It is a good charity that the money is going to. I will probably be there very early to get our season passes processed.

I will probably go opening day, but do not hold much hope for riding Diamondback that day. Season pass holders will get to go to Diamondback a half hour early daily and an hour early on Saturdays. i will go to ride Diamondback the following weekend. I think the park is open on 4/24, a Friday.

Thanks Big Mike! All except for the cold, it was a fun day. I did not take any pictures of the IKEA store we also went to. Great Coastermania pics. Reminds me to go and do an edit as I left out Coastermania from what Tony talked about... thanks!

This one just looks funny... and hot. Ouch. I hate when that happens.. Thanks for reading....

Ok, on to the news/speakers. Bill Mefford Entertrainment Junction is an indoor train themed attraction. It boasts the largest indoor train display. Looking over my notes.... everything in the attraction is hand made....G scale trains...2 miles of track...1200 cars. forgot how many locomotives... there is also a maze area that is changed from non scary during the day to scary at night for older kids. I am not a huge train person, but if you are, this place would appear to be very appealing to you. Wake Nation I was actually thinking of Elissa while this park was being described..due to the flow rider videos. . Wake Nation is a cable water park in which you will be able to wakeboard, waterski, and some other things while being pulled around a lake by a cable. The video they showed looks pretty cool. There will be ramps set up to do tricks off of, or hit with your head/body parts if you are like me. This opens in June 09 in Fairfield Ohio. If you are an ace member you get discounts on equipment rental and "water time" next up was Coaster Dynamix/Gravity Group. We heard that more coaster models are coming. and were treated to videos of Fireball. Waldameer Steve Gorman with the park told us that the park had all time high attendance (up 30%) as Ravine Flyer 2 was such a huge hit. Disk-O will be the new ride this year......park will go no smoking... Tiffany with Great Wolf gave a presentation, but I busy embarrassing my kid.... sorry Tiffany. Next up was Tony Clark from C.P. The big news at CP this year is Magnum turns 20. (any Arrow fans are required to make a pilgrimage) Magnum gets new signage! The causeway gets a new sign! .....there will be something new near MF.. new show....the "ball" fountain on the midway will be replaced with an interactive walk through type of fountain thingy....Halloweekends will be expanded/enhanced, although he did not say how. Unfortunately there still are no plans to destroy Mean Streak. I can still hope... Coastermania will be 2 days: June 5th Friday evening (ERT) and June 6th (morning and evening ERT). This year no cups, everyone attending Coastermania will get a wristband for free drinks! Don Helbig with Kings Island was the final speaker. .. in addition to Diamondback... which he said will not have a pull through.'It is a B&M, we are just going to hook up the chain and let 'er rip" or something very close to that effect.... testing may start as soon as next week...auction for first 5 trains for a great charity.... Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is coming back...my fave news of the night was that Platinum Pass and Season Pass holders get to ride Diamondback 1/2 hour early every day and 1 hour early on Saturdays... Oh yeah, and there will be many festivities for The Beast turning 30 this year... This was my first TR, so please have mercy on me. Well that is all that I can remember. I do hope that some people buy some Coasters in the Raw Dvds. But before I go.. just a few more humorous labels on hot sauce jars at Jungle Jims. ..... Sounds painful...

There of course was giveaways. I will detail all the news in a minute, but the first speaker was a person who does the marketing for a cool looking attraction near Kings Island: Entertrainment Junction. The winner of the first giveaway of the night........????? Yes, it was my kid. She won a train car that was given out to the media on media day when the place opened in July 08. I think I need to have her buy a lottery ticket....

LaRosa's was the food of choice. Not a huge fan of LaRosa's. Glad Kayla and I had some yummy barbecue before the event. For some time, there were no plates to be had, so people used discarded pizza boxes to eat from.

Ahh,that is better. I did see lots of people walking around with the flyer. Hope they buy.

Flyers....for some cool DVDs. Hmmm, someone brought some Coasters in the Raw flyers. This was the original location, as I did not know there was a table in another room with other flyers. Once I discovered this, the flyers were moved next to the food tables.

So after freezing for abut 45 minutes looking at Diamondback, we all went to the restaurant above the front gate for the speakers and pizza. General view of the room. Event 'sold out", was pretty crowded.

Here is my thread about the ACE event at Kings Island on 2/21. It was very cold, rainy and snowy. Obviously the biggie is Diamondback, which does look very fun. I have some additional information from some of the speakers later on. but for now on to the pics... First stop of the day was actually Jungle Jims. Diamondback..... THROUGH THE TREES AND SNOW!!!! and 90 degrees, well, ok the 90 degrees thing is not true. Speaking of Kayla, here she is. She is extremely adorable, but do not tell her I said that, as she is 11 and "adorable" is not an acceptable word to use, according to 11 year olds. Splash down. Kayla said that any splash down that does not get unsuspecting passers by very wet is useless. I will have to keep an eye on this kid. This is the bottom of the first drop. If it was not for the bleeping snow, you could see the track better as it traverses the terrain. Final turn before splash down, it was getting pretty darn cold by this time. Gravity defying shrinkage going on.. Above the building is the 2nd drop which looks like it should give lots of cool air time. This one is not very good due to the snow, but there are 2 trains on the transfer track on the other side of the station. There is a third train on site. Lift hill. Drool. Loading station and start of lift hill. THROUGH THE SNOW!!!! To the left will be the on ride photo sales. Cold coaster nerds in 30 degree temperatures, some of who have driven for hours to get there, walking back to a ride that is not yet even tested and they will not be able to ride for 2 months. Local news media interviewing Don Helbig of Kings Island. Cold Coaster nerds. here is the other, lots of hot sauce.. Ok. I took other pictures of this place, and it is very fun to visit, but on to Diamondback. Jungle Jims is famous for its selection of hot sauces... here is one side of the display... MMM. not sure who heart kangaroo and antelope.... Kayla heart candy.... I heart beer #2... Mmm. I heart beer.... Jungle Jims has the old Kings Island monorail. I know there is a certain Hurricane fan that has a monorail fetish....

Was cool meeting you at the event. I hope I did not get on any of the TV shots so there is no proof I am such a coaster nerd to get out in that weather to LOOK at a ride.

How about a new name change? Big "Master of Self Promotion" Mike j/k. love the thread. looking forward to the rest of the year and hopefully a stop by the show at Coastermania this year. Had a great time last year.

Great pictures. I can never time the photo right to get pictures such as these.

Fantastic TR, I am looking forward to the Deep South trip to experience the awesomeness that is..... Ice Bat. And once again, someone in the TR is wearing a Maiden Tshirt. I used to have one signed by Dickinson and Harris, if I can only find it to bring on the Deep South trip....If only i could have spotted duckies the way I do Iron Maiden T-Shirts......

Yes, I would say that you will be able to get on all the coasters opening day. I always do, well of course except Mean Streak and Corkscrew, because I like to walk upright and usually avoid these two. Of course if you can get in early with a hotel pass or a Platinum pass, ride Maverick and MF during that hour. If you go to the gate by Magnum, you should be able to get on maverick, MF and then just be getting to Raptor (yes it is a hike) just when the bulls run. then Wicked Twister, which at that time you should be able to get a few rides on right away. If there all day, then ride TTD last ride of the day. Magnum should have a very short line most if not all day as will Gemini.

I go on opening day every year. Usually a good day to go as far as lines go. I am taking at least one day off to go in May during the week before Memorial Day. In my experience, this is when lines are the shortest.

Hilarious update. The video was made for ADHD people like myself. "Internment Camp Combo" < Perhaps one of the most Un-PC things I have ever heard, I love it!

I am not a vegetable eater, I believe that most cause incurable cancer, especially brussel sprouts. But it was an entertaining read. Hmmm, I think the soup needs bacon, what food does bacon NOT improve? So if it were me, leave out the vegetables and throw in the bacon...Mmmmm. bacon soup.....

Wow, are we sure that the ride ops were not transplanted from CP? I despise the rain policy at CP, but this sounds even worse.

Boobs r cool. Great trip report, the park looks awesome. I especially like the themeing on the river rapids ride Home made coaster? Sounds fun, I think.