Midgetman82

I took the advice of some fellows on the KI thread on which day to hit Kings Island where I'd be able to get in as many rides as I could, which was apparently a Sunday. This was perfect since the park closed at 7pm, which meant I could stay all day and get back to college that same night in time for classes the next day! So on Sunday, October 5th, I woke up early and made the one and a half hour drive north to hit the park by 11am opening. I had missed the mark by 30 minutes, but it didn't matter because it was true what was said: very easy crowd level all day! This contrasts immensely with the previous time I was at the park, which was opening day of this year, and when I had to wait 5 hours for a lap on Banshee. I'll explain more about the day as we go along. Onward to photos! After parking my car and entering the park, I wandered my way to the left of the park to hit the first rides of the day! Did one easy ride on Drop Tower before renting a 2 dollar 2 hour locker and hopping in line for Banshee. Drop Tower closed for the rest of the day afterwards. Yep, virtually no lines. I added more time to my locker rental and went back for it! For quite a while, I got on, got off, saw the line was still short, got back on, got off, rinse and repeat. Honestly, I felt kinda sorry for the people I saw that morning lining up for Fast Lane. This ride was a total walk-on every time I came by it the whole day! As a bonus, they let us choose whichever seat we wanted! So I varied from the front, to the back, to random spots in the middle and so on. I also ran into almost every complaint people had about the coaster. There was a rattle which mostly became harsh in any row after the 3rd. The vests did hug kind of hard on one occasion, but the vest don't ratchet down and lock so I easily lifted them up. Lastly, the lap portion of the restraints did crush my thigh on other occasions. None of these kept the coaster from being #1 on my list of personal favorite coasters, though! I still love it, and so did the many people I saw when they came off of the ride! Gone, but never forgotten. I'll do an amusement park haunt some year... I'm just not into them yet. After that initial lap, I went down to The Bat and gave a lap on it, before coming back towards Banshee to grab my camera. The bat is still a pretty fun coaster! Lots of speeds, and plenty of swinging! Plus, it can be surprisingly terrifying for those who have never been on rides like these before! Once I got back to Banshee's queue, the next picture was what I saw: More laps. Can't get enough! Once my locker rental was close to expiring, I came and grabbed my stuff to take photos. Banshee is extremely photogenic, but you can only get good photographs from certain places. To photograph any other part of the ride, or come up with something original requires some creative thinking... or different lenses. For instance... Fisheyes are a huge amount of fun to use as a walk-around lens, believe me. To all photographers, I'm telling you, it'll transform ordinary places and make them a little more interesting. (This is a Rokinon 8mm, fyi.) Don't use it all the time though, it get's old to viewers quick. "Hey... hey stan?" "Oh god, not again Jerry." "Hey Stan... knock knock?!" "*Sigh*... Who's there?" "Boo!" "Boo, who?" "Aww, why are you so sad, Stan?" "... I hate you Jerry." "Hehehe, good one!" "*From a distance* NOT HELPING!" This view's quite obstructed when you first enter the park during Haunt season. This thing to be exact. I finally tried this for the first time. It took sooooo long for me to realize there were no Scooby Doo characters visible... Hm... weird. I almost did this, but with how long the ride cycle was and how long the line was, I didn't. I opted for this instead, mainly because I needed the credit... What have I become?! The initial helix out of the lifthill was surprisingly fun and the rest of the ride was alright. It progressively got rougher around the turns until it finally ended. Not bad for a family coaster though. I wouldn't mind at all seeing these replace existing family coasters in parks, especially Roller Skaters. Next was Diamondback. This turned out to be the longest wait of the day, with 30 minutes. Honestly, after riding rides that flipped me endlessly and pulled immense amounts of positive G's, it was incredibly refreshing to hit-up a smooth airtime machine! I had forgotten how good this coaster was. Wow, was it splendid! Seriously, I could've gotten back in line and easily marathoned more than Banshee, it was that good. Already rode Vortex. Banged me around a bit, but I survived in one piece. I still love how massive looks compared to almost any other coaster in the park. I got a ride on the Beast after a 15 minute wait. This knocked me around a bit, including harsh slowing on the trims on the first drop and in the first covered straight bit. People still ask me why this coaster isn't in my top ten. I'm not sure how else to explain it. I'll still need to give a night ride on it someday, but until then, Voyage at Holiday World reigns supreme for me. Sweet floater airtime on the first drop! I was assigned row 4 of the train after only a 15 minute wait. Still gave an awesome ride filled with some strong g-forces, two super-sweet rolls, and more inversions than you can shake a stick at (whatever that means)! Pardon the larger-sized cell phone pics. Seriously, this can be addicting! I took breaks from lapping Banshee, and still had quite some time left in my locker rental for my camera bag. So I wandered away for a lap for each side on Racer, did Vortex, and lastly Flight of Fear. Firehawk was closed at the moment, but I'd return to it later. FoF threw me around a bit, but I still absolutely love this coaster to death! It's pretty high on my list of personal favorites! Get some strobes and effects working on it, and it'll hit my top ten, easily. (I have a soft spot for indoor coasters and launchers). A weird contraption. Slow operations, loud lifthill, but also very smooth ride. Plus getting stuck on the brake run wouldn't be so bad because I could easily take a nap on it. Weeee, ow... weeeeee! In all seriousness, praise be to Ron Toomer for creating beasts like this (no pun intended). I'm not a fan of walkthrough haunts, but I absolutely love how haunt events can transform a park. Plus, this was my favorite piece of theming I've seen in the park. Peace, dude. I went back to here for another lap on Flight of Fear, and about the time I got off was when Firehawk was running. Lookin' Down the midway... or the mall, I'm not sure which. Empty train after one of the trains got stuck on the lifthill, forcing them to run tests for a while. Obligatory photo op here Soon riders were screamin' their way down the tracks again. And so was I for a little while, rounding my total to 12 for the day eventually. I wish this was a little better composed, but eh, I still kind of like the action in it. There's not much new angles one can get after shooting the obligatory shots. So I tried experimenting Not bad, but missing a train. It'd be a money shot for certain. ... Eh, close. Soon 7pm hit, and Kings Island kicked everybody out. All in all, I had a pretty good day! LOTS of laps on Banshee and many other favorites! Total lap count: Banshee: 12x The Bat: 1x Racer Red: 1x Racer Blue: 1x Vortex: 1x Flight of Fear: 2x Flying Ac Aerial Chase: 1x Diamondback: 1x The Beast: 1x Firehawk: 1x

... when you recognize the smell of an Arrow coaster outside of an amusement park.

I remember being pretty darn disappointed when I got to ride it for the first and last time in 2011. I have a TR here from that trip where I mentioned that the intricate theming in the queue built me up to nothing but a huge dark box with a ride inside. The ride did exactly as Fat-G mentioned. I am a bit let down that it's now gone and wish the park could have added some spice (theming) to make the ride somewhat interesting, but I suppose removing it was for the better. I'm still crossing my fingers that KI (or Cedar Fair in general) will take a year out from installing new rides, go back to select old rides with inoperable theming, and simple clean or refurbish that aspect of them. Add some theatrical/strobing lights to certain coasters, at least (*CoughFlightOfFearCough*).

Oh man, what a huge mess... I couldn't even imagine being on that ship with the woman or the panicking passengers. Scary stuff with all of the panicking going around about the virus, though I'm certain the virus doesn't last long outside of the body and isn't airbourne.

If they had banked the track so it wouldn't crash into the rails every time it went past 90 degrees, I'm sure it would make for a frighteningly epic suspended coaster! Flight Deck/The Bat sort of does that right before it lands on the brake run, but only if you're in the right car. Looks like an awesome concept that just needed more time in work and precision, which I'm sure a company could achieve today.

A tight and winding two-lane road, pitch black and raining, yet you have the nerve to tailgate me with what seemed like your brights turned on for the entire way. When we got on the highway and you slowly drove past me in the left lane, that was the first time I ever felt like rolling down the window and flipping someone off.

I guess it was popular enough at Water Country to come south! Even if the park hasn't received an addition since 2006, I always found it to be quite enjoyable. I do wish they would've varied the layout a little to make this stand out from the one in Virginia (and in hopes of avoiding the "copy/paste" method), but still, it's a great addition to the park's 8-year-unaltered lineup.

Holiday World hopefully. I gotta see Thunderbird for myself (and get some more laps on Voyage ).

Ultratwister ... +200 (Still surprised there's still one running.) Anaconda ... -100 California Screamin' ... +100 Psyclone ... -50 New Texas Giant ... +500 Do some maths: 650!

Thunnnnderrrbiirrrd @ Holiday World.

Its one of the reasons why theres so many strict standards in the US for rides, and partly to blame for the phrase "never in the US."

I'm pretty certain my first was Banshee at Kings Island on opening day. Started out the year with a bang, I guess.

I can see an A frame for the side of the loop facing the construction camera.

Well, I'm totally sold on making a weekend trip to the park sometime this October. Funny how when people were before complaining about the coaster, they included the color scheme. This coaster's gonna be funky, but very cool and photogenic nonetheless!

The tubes at Mt. slide Hai (the original slide complex) do vary in size, but only slightly. If it's any other slide, then I second what ratdog said above. I'm not sure how an "incorrect" tube could've been the cause of an injury, or cause one in the first place. Besides, it's mostly up to the guests to make sure they don't end up in situations like this in the first place. Hopefully the lifeguards didn't just stand there and stare when the actual emergencies came up.

It should be. She and Dan are in Alabama working on the park together.

Thought you guys might like to see what updates Dan has on Rampage as of late. Basically, if you want to know the latest, follow Dan on Twitter (@SplashinDan).

^Agreed, that is going o be one photogenic ride!

There was a trim on Banshee?

Do you suppose wing coasters have more drag than other types? I mean, they don't look very aerodynamic.

^Very valid points. Also, that shot of Thunderbird from the highway sold me on trying to plan one more visit to the park before they close for the season! I'd love to get a glimpse at it, if not just to ride more coasters before November sets in.

Only got two "new for 2014" rides. Respectively within driving distance from where I am. Banshee - I waited 5 hours on opening day before boarding front-row on this coaster. Very, very happy to say I was not disappointed. I wish it had twists fast enough to disorient me, but I think that's the only thing I thought was missing from it being an "old-school" B&M. This ride currently sits pretty at #1 of my list of overall favorites, and I had that reinforced last weekend when I got 12 extra rides on it (rounding-out my lap count to 13). Intense forces, fast, many inversions, and just a simply fun layout (the first drop, zero-g roll dive into the valley, and inline twist were my favorite parts of it )! Lightning Run- This is a spectacular little roller coaster! My first ride on it had me in a laughing fit once I hit the brake run, and there were plenty of other times in between my many re-rides where I was the same way! The ejector airtime on it is absolutely insane, and it progressively become more intense until you reach the end!

There's a lovely circular now-vacant spot between Vortex and Stunt Coaster where a previous flat used to be.

^Considering they've topped off the tallest part of the coaster well before winter (and before their 2014 season ended) It looks like they're comfortably head of schedule. So not much worrying there. I don't know their schedule, so I'm not sure what more they have after track completion, train installment, wiring, testing, etc., but I bet this coaster will go hot well before the next season starts.

Got to hit Kings Island on a dead Sunday. Mixture of short lines and walk-ons for Banshee finished me off at 12 laps for the day, putting me at 13 total.