Erik Johnson

I now have proof that I rode Diamondback! Thanks for hanging out with us that day.

Lets head on over to Holiday World. We had an awesome visit to the park. The coasters were really running great. Raven was running just as good as always. Voyage really surprised me on this visit. I rode it back in 2007 and I honestly thought that the coaster was way over-hyped after riding it a few times. It just was too intense with all the jackhammering that occurred that year. I understand that it is now running very close on how it did during its opening year. Plus the mid brake run was turned off as well. Other than one pot-hole moment heading up on the third hill, I found the ride to be very re-rideable. Which was something I could not say two years ago. Legend was running good as well. It too seemed to be running much better this year. Crowds were very light this day due to the news channels reporting that there was an above 70% chance of rain/thunderstorms for the day. Well, that was pretty much proven wrong. It rained lightly for about 10 minutes. We had a really nice conversation with Pat Koch for about 10 minutes while were we eating lunch. She came over and said hello and asked us how our day was going. How many other parks can you say that the owner/director of the park comes over and greets guests in this manner? As for Pilgrim's Plunge, I enjoyed quite a bit. I think it is a solid ride for families. I will go into more detail with this in my photos. Holiday World Part 1 Everyone loves Holidog! Cha-Ching! Ha ha ha! There is still one more credit to get. A little shout out to Gainesville. Even Death likes to ride coasters. "Voyage Hair" I really enjoyed my front row ride as well. Voyage was running GREAT that day. It is now in my top 10. It was time to move on since some people needed a credit. Legend was running really well too. It certainly moved up my list. I am sure there is already one of these in the index. But it is here just in case. I needed a photo of this. Don't you guys agree? Raven is so awesome. Santa Claus is really cool. Plus he likes to ride coasters. Make sure you go talk to him. Candy Christmas Tree. This was Andrew's and Chuck's first visit to Holiday World. This is the new area. Here is a closer look. Andrew presents us with this year's map. Raven is still my favorite coaster in the park. Its in my top 5. We were pretty much the first people at the park that morning. The iconic Holiday World watertower. We will be riding it soon. You really get a good look at Pilgrim's Plunge as you approach the park. We see you Holiday World.

I was feeling quite ill last night which prevented me from finishing this up. So I am back again. KI Part 4. This photo represents how awesome our night rides on Beast and Diamondback were. Since I do not like Top Spins, I passed on this. Any idea how to say this? The rapids ride is REALLY buried in the park. Good luck in finding it. Not too sure what that is. Fort Kinzel? The train ride had all kinds of theming. Guy must have filmed about 15 hours of footage that day. The train is stull stuck up there. In fact, the train runs right under Diamondback. Look it is Diamondback. I discovered that KI has a train!! This is certainly the best of these rides I have been on. Scooby Doo shooting dark rides that is. Backlot Stunt Coaster. Those poor people. Son of Beast. Adventure Express. The only drop tower that makes my ears pop. KI is really a nice park. The park was very clean and had great operations that day. No catch car slipping on Invertigo this time. Racer doing its thing. We skipped Firehawk today, the line was just way too long. Odd Coaster. Here is the kid's area. Diamondback went down for about 3 hours, but they got it back up an hour before park closing. Looks like a train got stuck on the mid brake run. Things do not look right in the station, that train has been there a while. Lets go to the top, shall we? Drop Tower kicked all kinds of butt today. Andrew and Zack's second ride. Andrew and Zack's first ride. Invertigo was my missed credit from my last visit, thanks to Casey breaking it.

Kings Island Part 3 Guy on Flight Deck. This line only took about 15 minutes. At least this one is right next door. That good eh? Yeah, that is much better. Why do you smile Chuck? Blue Train. Red Train. So what did these water dumies do in a past life to deserve to be here? What were these footers for? It is still at the bottom of my wooden list. Why am I going to ride this? Oh no! We are next to ride. Someone looks happy to be riding. Station photo. While its a great mine train, they seemed to have the final theming area turned off. (If you ridden it you know what I am talking about). Both sides were running, and they were racing as well. ACE seems to like it. Racer was fun today.

Kings Island: Part 2 Look Chuck! No Haunt Maze stuff in KI's version. Any idea why the train now makes a full stop on the mid-brake-run on Flight of Fear? Guy was hard at work as always. Does everyone flash gang signs now? Vortex, through the steel. Another group of happy riders. They do look pretty happy. Random Vortex photo. I find it better than most other Arrow multi-loopers. Next was Vortex. The launch into the helix is still quite intense. I guess no water means no splash down effect. Notice anything missing? I rode this under the Italian Job banner. So does this count as a new credit? Yet another splashdown photo. They were running all the trains they could on all the coasters that day. One thing for sure, KI's operations were quite strong for the day. Noted! Chuck tries his best Beast impression. The Beast. Too bad for those darn magnetic brakes. While walking over to the Beast we were greeted by some random marching band. Next was the old woodie. I think Chuck remembers his previous adventures with other Junior Hang and Bangs. This one is not as bad. Next we took on the kiddie coaster credits. Here is one for the index, Larry.

My main coaster goal this year was to return back to Ohio and go ride Diamondback. I was simply impressed on how it looked so I made a special trip up there this past weekend to go check it out with some friends. This past weekend also was Holiday's World's opening weekend so we visited that park as well to go check out the new Pilgrim's Plunge ride. Feel free to add comments First up Kings Island. So, how was your ride Chuck? This is what it looks like from a distance. It just hides the train. The splash is really huge. It is certainly a top tier B&M Hyper. I still give a slight edge to Behemoth. This part, in particular, is really awesome. It does have a lot of that floaty B&M airtime. Especially in the back. It is true. The lift hill does move really fast. Almost like a cable lift. A Group of riders heading out of the station, they look happy. Anyone a Ride Warrior? Sign over the entrance. Good to know we are in the right place. We first went on over to the new coaster, Diamondback. Ohhhh......pretty. And we are off!!! Even park characters respect the flag. It was time for the National Anthem. We see you James. Seas of People. We got there before park opening. It was perfect park weather so it brought people to the park. Chuck had been to the park once before, but that was during Winterfest sometime in the 80's. KI Trash Can: 2009 Edition. I would have been really sad if it was not. Just in case you wanted to know. What is that in the background? Guy made sure that he was full of coffee for the day.

I once made a fool out of myself in Tatsu's station because of this. I hope never to do it again.

Part 2. I finally got to touch it. The side entrance is still open! While these are a few days late, I wanted to go ahead and post them. I think you can find the other picture in the RRR thread. The Bryan and Adam Show. In Hulk Green Who watches TV previews after spending a lot of money to visit a theme park?

It has been many months since I have been down to Universal Orlando in order to do an update for this thread. Thank goodness there have been a lot of you Orlando people that have been doing a great job in keeping us updated. Anyways here is an update! I should add this to the beer thread. Ok, here is a ton of new Potter construction photos. The current menu. I guess Mythos has gone green. Just like what they did with the water tunnel. At least he is still around. I am sure the park was packed later that evening. WOW! Prices have gone WAY up! I finally can add RRR track photos to this thread. This is why digital cameras were invented. Just in case you guys wanted to see what the toll booth looked like.

^ They said that they will add the tunnel in another year or two.

It looks like some rain this weekend, anyone know what KI's rain policy is?

I am pretty excited over this one. Thanks for posting these pictures.

Awwwww...I miss hanging out with you guys.

Some type of crane looks to be back. I stole this photo from Screamscape, just to give it due credit.

Wow, the park was packed that day. I have never seen Ninja's queue full like that before.

I am pretty sure they will have Manta on the Quick Queue service. I imagine its going to be super busy that weekend.

Nice photos, but can you please reduce the size to about 640x480 or 800x600. It makes things easier to see.

I totally forgot that the dog's voice is the exact same as Tigger's.

Oh cool. Thanks for posting this.

^ That is most certainly the ride that needs the single rider line the most in that park, so I am glad they added that. Cajun has such horrible capacity problems in that park.

I went the same time as you are going last year and the park was not crowded at all. We did get there before opening, but we were able to ride all the coasters (including El Toro 3 times/Nitro twice) in about 4 hours. This was without the Qbot.

Any word if Afterburn is running again after the valley?

I too also have to say that the last one is the best one.

I must now buy a park shirt to go with my Flight Deck shirt.

Hooray for Gators references.