Photo TR: Kings Island, Cedar Point, Waldameer Park

[bpmitchell]

I planned a trip out to Ohio and threw in Kings Island, Cedar Point, and Waldameer. I gathered up my g/f & a good friend of mine from high school for the journey. Here's the TR, Enjoy!

 

 

Day 1: Kings Island

 

We arrived at Kings Island shortly after 9am. We waited about 15 mins until they opened the gates and immediately proceeded to Diamondback. Jason & I got in early before the general public because platinum pass holders get ert 1/2 early before the park opens to the gp.We rode Diamondback 4 times before we decided to purchase our t-shirts because it was just such a great ride. After Diamondback, we rode The Crypt. I wasn't impressed with KI's version because it doesn't spin as much as KD's but with it being inside it was a different experience.After we rode The Crypt, we went over to check out The Beast. It was temporarily down, so we went and rode Vortex. Vortex is similar to Anaconda but has more inversions.

 

This was better than Anaconda and smoother. Jason liked it as well as me. We went back over to The Beast after Vortex and it was open. We rode it and it is a very long wooden coaster with some rough spots. I liked the sharp helix turns and the long tunnels. After riding The Beast, we went over to the Action Zone and checked out some of the things over there. We saw that the X-treme Skyflyer was only $5.00 per person. We decided to do it since it was a good bargain. It was my 1st ever Skyflyer experience and it was worth every penny. After riding the X-treme Skyflyer we went over to ride Flight Deck, a suspended coaster like Big Bad Wolf. This use to be Top Gun in the Paramount days. Flight Deck was a nice little coaster and very quick. Son Of Beast was right next to it sitting quiet as it was closed due to that incident that happened which most of you have probably read about now. We went over and checked out more stuff in the area before doing some more Diamondback.

 

After another ride on Diamondback, we went and rode Runaway Reptar in Nick Universe. It was a fun ride with a quick lift hill. We went back and rode The Racer, KI's version of Rebel Yell. These 2 coaster are not identical as KI's version goes to the right and left and does not keep a straight path. We went over and checked out Flight of Fear and Firehawk to discover the lines were long. I like the X-Base theme at KI and hope that KD does this with their new coaster. After that, we rode Adventure Express which is a mine train ride. We went over and hit up Drop Tower which was pretty cool cause it rotates while going up a little bit. After Drop Tower, we did the backyard BBQ buffet for $10 cause we got a discount for being platinum pass holders. After lunch we did Diamondback again and went over to ride Invertigo & Delirium.

 

This was my 1st suspended boomerang and it was intense. Delirium was great but not as good as CP's Maxair which I have been on before. After riding those rides, we made our way around a little bit, went back and rode Firehawk which was 1 hr wait at the most, and was probably the best of location flying coaster I have ever ridden. After riding Firehawk it was getting close to ITL time so we hit up the red side of The Racer for the credit before heading over to Diamondback. We setup with John Turner & Clint to do a live onride of Diamondback. We rode the 1st time and had a delay with the interview from Dani Swords at Carowinds. We jumped back in line after the interview was over and I was able to text John and we got connected to do the live onride with them. You can find it here:In The Loop live onride of Diamondback.

 

After riding Diamondback we then jumped in line for a nightride on it. The really cool thing about the nightride on it is that as we were going off the lift hill the fireworks were going off in the distance. We were riding Diamondback during the fireworks. It was an awesome day at KI, the employees were fantastic, this park exceeded my expectations on both service, and ride operation. I give this park 5 stars in my books, I hope everyone can make it to KI and experience Diamondback, it is one of the greatest steel coasters I've ever been on.

 

Photos:

 

 

Eiffel Tower

 

 

Diamondback in the distance

 

 

Fountains on International Street at KI

 

 

Brian & Jason at KI

 

 

Brian

 

 

Jason

 

 

Jason sees Diamondback

 

 

Diamondback going up the lift hill

 

 

Diamondback's Splashdown

 

 

Diamondback near the crest of the lift

 

 

Diamondback going down the 1st drop

 

 

If you eat White Castle the night before and go to Kings Island, they will warn you about this new rule

 

 

Nickelodeon stuff is 50% off at KI too

 

Day 2 (7/14/09) Cedar Point

 

We started our day leaving the Comfort Inn at Kings Island at 5am. Our goal was to be at Cedar Point around 9am for the ERT for Platinum Pass holders but we did not arrive until around 9:30am due to a late start. We arrived at Cedar Point and immediately headed for Maverick. This was Jason's first time at Cedar Point in 6 years so he wanted to do Maverick straight away. I rode Maverick last year and it was incredible. We rode in the front row and the ride is pretty quick and I love the quick turns and launch the best. After Maverick, we were going to head for Millennium Force when I saw that the line for SkyHawk was a walk on, so I asked Jason if he wanted to ride that and he said "sure".

 

We ended up riding SkyHawk 2 times since it was a walk on before heading over to Millennium Force. We got to Millennium Force to discover it was 1 1/2 hr wait at the most so we waited for it. The ride has gotten shaky though in some places but it is still a great ride. After riding Millennium Force I was getting hungry for some lunch, so Jason decided to stay in the park and I went out of the park and met up with Sara for lunch. We went to Chet & Matt's for some pizza and it was delicious. They have a buffet and they bring out different pizzas while you are there. I think my favorite was the taco salad pizza. I did go write on the chalkboard and I wrote some funny stuff on it such as: 434 Coaster Chronicles Brian was here, Reece is a little whimp for not riding Dominator (you would know the story by now if you were at the kdfansite event), Diamondback rocks without a ball, and some guy went in there and wrote SOB which many of you will probably be able to crack what it means. It was a lot of fun and the food was great. After lunch I called Jason and he said that Top Thrill Dragster was down, so I asked if he wanted to do some Raptor really quick since the hotel room was not ready.

 

He said that Raptor sounds good. I went to Raptor immediately upon entering the park & I actually got there before Jason did so he was able to catch up with me in line later on, I know its line cutting but he was able to catch up and I am a bad guy for letting him cut in line. We rode Raptor and discovered that after riding our room was ready for us to check into. We checked into the hotel room, I fell asleep as well as Jason, and Sara woke us up to go back to the park. We got back to the park, rode Raptor again before heading over to the Wicked Twister. Wicked Twister was around 1/2 hr wait so we waited to ride it in the back. This ride is intense in the back, and its one of my favorite rides at the park. We went over to ride Maxair and it was a lot of fun.

 

After Maxair we decided to check the line for Disaster Transport and it was long. We decided to go ride Power Tower space shoot before I saw that Dragster was testing, so we immediately proceeded to Dragster after riding the Power Tower. We waited roughly 25 mins or so and they opened it. We waited around 1 hr or so for the front row and this thing is the best in the front. I bought a ride photo after the ride and will post in this TR. We went to ride Mantis after Top Thrill Dragster and Mantis is a nice B&M standup. I got tired after Mantis and it was around 9pm or so and we headed out. On our way out of the park, Jason wanted to ride Demon Drop so we went and rode that. We arrived at the hotel a short time later and I passed out immediately. Jason & Sara went to Steak & Shake while I slept like an old man in the hotel room and they were kind enough to bring me home a pepperjack sandwich and some fries.

 

 

Jason & Brian conquer Top Thrill Dragster in the front row

 

That concludes Day 3

 

-Brian-

 

Day 3 (7/14/09) Cedar Point & Waldameer Park

 

Today is the final day of our trip, and we have a lot planned for all of our readers. We woke up early, packed our stuff, and left the hotel room around 8:45am. We arrived at Cedar Point a little after 9am & proceeded to the challenge park gate to get our early entrance with our Platinum Passes. I had trouble getting in though. This guy is my nomination for douche of the week on ITL next week, and I will break it down for you guys reading my TRs. I walk up and I hand him my pass, he looks at my picture and as I proceed to enter he tells me to hold on a second because he couldn't verify that I look like the guy in the picture. I said well what do you mean I was just here yesterday and I am returning for a few hrs this morning. He says that the guy in the picture has longer hair than I do, I said well this is ridicious, and I don't understand why I would be held up like this. He then gets his supervisor to verify me and they both look at me together and his supervisor gives him an ok to let me in. Ok, now to get down to all of this, what change would I make to myself in 24 hrs, I mean why is it so ignorant that I look the way I am, was this guy trying to protect his job? Was this guy trying to take out his fustration on me or something, I mean come on Cedar Fair, hire employees that can show dedication to their job and all. I was not happy about the whole situation and I am going to address my concerns to CP management staff about this issue as I have been a passholder for consecutive seasons now and have never had this problem until just now.

 

We got into the park after that interruption and our ert was only 15 more mins before the GP arrived into the park. We got to Millennium Force and the wait was around 25 mins or so which wasn't bad. We rode it and afterwards went over to check out the line for Mantis. We discovered it was a walk on so we rode it. After Mantis, we went over to check out the lines for Magnum XL200 and found out its a walk on. We rode that and went over to Gemini, and found its a walk on so we rode that too. After that it was getting to be around 11am so we had to leave and get on the road for Waldameer. On our way out we did the skyscraper flip swing thing for $10.00 per person and we had the buy one get one free with our Platinum Pass discount. We rode it 2 times and it was a lot of fun. We left for Waldameer and arrived at the park around 2:45pm.

 

Waldameer scores bonus points in my book. The park was nice, free parking, free admission, and the wristband for the rides was only $20.45 flat. We rode Ravine Flyer II 2 times upon getting to the park. After we rode that, we checked out the Whacky Shack dark ride and rode that. This ride is really crazy, you enter all these doors shrinking in boxes, and at the end this truck horn blasts a light in your face. I say if you want to experience it get up to Waldameer Park in Erie, PA. After we rode that we went and checked out the Steel Dragon, a spinning wild mouse coaster. This ride was a lot of fun, as it has a big drop and some twists and turns all while spinning. After we rode that, we went and rode X-Scream, their drop tower. This was very quick and fun. We went and checked out Pirates Cove, a walk through dark ride fun house. After that we rode The Comet coaster which is an ACE legend. We also rode their rainbow ride, their newest addition the Mega Vortex Disco ride, the log flume which is much better than any log flume I have been on, and we rode Ravine Flyer II a few more times before leaving a little after 5pm.

 

We headed for home and we arrived at home around 2:45am the next morning.

 

This concludes the trip & Day 3, thank you guys for reading

 

-Brian-

 

Cedar Point Photos

 

 

Millennium Force line on our final morning at the park

 

 

Jason is ready to ride

 

 

Me

 

 

Millennium Force

 

 

Millennium Force riders

 

 

Me in front of Mantis sign

 

 

Jason in front of Mantis sign

 

 

Mantis inclined loop

 

 

Me & Jason in front of Millennium Force sign

 

 

Back of Top Thrill Dragster

 

Waldameer Park Photos:

 

 

Ravine Flyer II time

 

 

One of the shows featuring Wally & Wendy, the park's mascots

 

 

So Wally, wanna know what I did last night?

 

 

So, what did she tell you?

 

 

Time to ride the Whacky Shack

 

 

Wee

 

 

Weirdest dark ride ever

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

-Brian-

[FeelTheFORCE]

Awesome! I'm going to Kings Island a week from tomorrow! Can't wait!

[LJGoBlue]

I went to Waldameer yesterday and all I can say is that Ravine Flyer II is awesome. My favorite part is going over the bridge after the turnaround, that hill gets you by suprise. The ninety degree section is nice as well. Nice TR btw.