PTR: KD, I305 First Rider Auction

[coasterer]

Hey everyone,

 

So you may have heard of the first rider auction for I305 they had going on. Now, normally I wouldn't ever have imagined I'd have the money to participate in one of these, but check it out. The minimum bid was $100, and only 108 people participated, meaning you could low ball a spot, and still make the cut. Also, with each winning bid, the winner received two free admission tickets for that day. So my friend Felipe and I figured that we would use two of the tickets on ourselves, and we could sell the two extra tickets we'd receive outside the park to people looking to buy a ticket regardless. This would mean that our auction bid was reeeeally only around 50 bucks, which was the cost of a general park admission anyway. So why not, right?

 

So we started out of NJ at 8 o clock the night before, crashed in a hotel 6 miles from the park around 1 o clock, and woke up bright and early to some pancakes, before heading over to the park around 8. After being held at parking for about a half hour, we were finally allowed to enter, grabbed a spot about 30 feet from the main entrance, and got in the check-in line for the first rider auction. While perhaps not the most efficient way to get people through a line and have rider order sorted out and t-shirts distributed, they got the job done, and we were ready to start the opening ceremonies one t-shirt, certificate, lanyard, free onride photo coupon, seat assignment, and over-active bladder later (I'd be surprised if I was the only one having trouble controlling themselves at this point.)

 

The ride was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. It was almost a joke how good looking it was, and how much it loomed over the rest of the park. The paint job almost glowed it was so bright, and it stood out against the sky in the most wonderful way. It was testing by the time we got there, and it just flew around the course. The first hill, under the lift hill, looked like the greatest thing ever.

 

We were 70th and 71st to pick our seat, and got on the 2nd train of the day, 4th row from the back. There was one pair of seats left we could have chosen on the first train, but it was right in the middle of the train, and we opted to take the better seats one train later. The t-shirts, also, were pretty darn cool. Which we wore, of course.

 

Opening Ceremonies started sometime soon after, and it was nice. They had a community band out to play, had a flag raising ceremony, a few big whigs said a few words, they presented the charity money to the respective charities (over $22000), and the Earnhardts gave a hearty wave.

 

Without too much delay, they let us through, and the cheerleaders formed a tunnel, ushering us into the line. At this point, I had pretty much lost all control of my faculties. I was the hottest of messes.

 

The lift hill was faster than you could believe. In no time at all, you're up and over, and falling forever. The airtime was fantastic, and the whole horizon just kinda races up to meet you as you fall. The airtime, even in the back, wasn't *quite* el toro quality, and the OTSR maybe hinder the experience *a little* more than the lap bars on MF's first drop, but still, it was certainly up there, as far as first drops are concerned.

 

That first turn, though, is the biggest turn ever. You're in that thing for sooooooo long. And like everyone's said, greyout is just about inevitable. And then all the sudden you're out of it, and flying up into the sky, and your vision returns just in time for you to realize that you're flying. Again, while the airtime isn't *quite* El toro, you just kinda soar for forever. Then you're just flying around along the ground, every little pop and turn accentuated due to the speed, and you just kinda race across the ground, ejector air on each slight change in direction.

 

The only thing this ride is missing at this point, is a setting. While MF has that beautiful setting next to the water, through the trees, around the woods on the island, I305 races around a large pool of dirt. If they got some trees or a lake, or anything really up in there, like some grass, this thing's speed would really be enhanced. But I have faith that with time, that stuff will come.

 

In our opinion, and with the opinions of the people we talked to about it, the trims greatly affected the second half of the ride. Maybe they were on a little harder today than on media day, but the air on those two hills was slightly better than floater at best, and the back half kind of lost the balls that the first half had hangin out so far. We noticed though, that you could feel the trims much more in the back of the train than toward the front. But still, the back half was fun. In my opinion, this kind of neutering of the out of control pace, does slightly adversely effect the overall experience of the ride. MF still hauls at the end, even if it doesn't do anything exciting. I305 does stuff, a lotta stuff, but it does kinda have it's speed reduced noticeably.

 

The extreme ejector airtime of Bizarro was what this ride was missing, in my opinion, and I feel like that might largely be due to the trim. But overall, the ride was an incredible experience, and the first half was certainly one of the best, most intense, more-wonderful-than-anything coaster experiences in the world.

 

We rode 5 times before the crowds hit, taking advantage of all the empty spots on the trains. And lucky we did, cuz when those crowds hit, they hit harder than anything I've ever seen. We got off, got the first rider t-shirt, got the Earnhardt's signatures, and grabbed a quick picture with them. Then, as we were leaving, the stampede hit, and we got out of the way to Volcano, trying to ride the crest of the crowd for the next couple hours.

 

Volcano was a walk on at that point. An hour later it would be a two hour wait. The first half of Volcano was awesome! But as soon as we popped out the top, the momentum was kinda lost, and it was just a really strange, quirky tour of the top of the Volcano, with an occasional awkward token barrel roll thrown in every now and again.

 

Anaconda was enjoyable until the brake, and then it got a little too rough to handle. Rebel Yell was a bit bumpy, but still rather enjoyable. The Wild Mouse was a Wild Mouse, and Grizzly was rough, but had nice setting. By this time the crowds were everywhere, and we got out to grab a bite.

 

Ok, while I305 was fantastic, we did have a few problems with the park that day. They were not at all prepared to handle the crowds. There were one train operations on everything except I305, Dominator, and the Wild Mouse. EVERYTHING had a HUGE line all afternoon, these lines exacerbated by the one train operations, and slightly fumbling employees, most of whom seemed to be having their first day on the job. And on top of that, almost EVERYTHING broke down. EVERYTHING! It was actually a bit of a joke. Flight of Fear, Avalanche, and Stunt Coaster didn't open with the rest of the park, but two hours later. Which would be fine, but there were soooo many people there. And then at around 1, after Avalanche and FoF were supposed to be open, they had already broken down, and we were told to come back later. Shockwave never even opened, and we saw empty test trains running on that blue kiddie woodie almost as often as not. Dominator got stuck on the lift hill while we were waiting in line, and was out for about an hour, necessitating a lift hill evacuation. FoF's line took over an hour and a half, after it finally opened up, and we saw Volcano's queue emptying due to breakdowns at least twice that day. By the evening, while the line was still sticking out of the back of I305, we arrived to see that they had taken off one of the trains, and were only running one... on the first day of operation. Which we thought was kind of poor form. There were mostly no employees at the front of each line to control guests or answer questions, and the whole place was kind of a free for all.

 

And to top it all off, I305 itself broke down for about 40 minutes to an hour right at around 7:15. So overall, there was a lottttttt of room for improvement, as far as park operations were concerned. We weren't really sure why everything was having so many technical problems, but it became kind of a joke after a while. Not to mention that with so many rides down at the same time, it just made other lines that much longer.

 

I did want to say that Dominator was pretty great, especially in the front row. That, and it's such a beautiful ride. That loop is enormous.

 

But the real highlight of the day came at the very end, after I305 Finally opened up for its more committed waiters. We were on the fourth, and second to last trains of the night, one of the times in the back row, and let me tell you, night rides in the back on this thing were absolutely unbelievable. On the hill you see nothing in front of you but stars, and when you crest at the top, the whole horizon in front of you is pitch black, and you plummet into nothing. There are nooooo lights back here at all, and the first half of the course, without being able to see where you were charging, was one of the most insane experiences I've had. I gotta tell you, back row at night, this thing is almost unbeatable.

 

So we left the park with 10 out of the 14 credits, after 22 rides total, 7 of them being on one of the best night ride coasters in the world. So while the park kinda was a joke in terms of operations and break downs, I305 certainly delivered in a big way, and is nestled in my top five somewhere right ahead of Bizarro.

 

Thanks so much for reading, now for some pictures.

Love at first sight

With still two hours left before we'd get to ride, I was already losing my ability to function properly

Soooo close

God, good thing Felipe drove. I don't think I'd have made it.

Oh Thanks, thanks so much Jane NOW DRIVE! GO!!

Oh my God it's John Pagel.

That's right. I rode it first for CHARITY. Not for any other reason.

How lovely

WE'RE HERE! WE'RE HERE!

Look how artsy I am

More beautiful than the most beautiful of newborn babies

More beautiful than the most beautiful of loving spouses.

More beautiful than the... OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE HOW MUCH AIRTIME WAS THERE!?!??!

this is just wonderful

Oh look, a Volcano..

We've all been waiting so long for this moment!! Ten years we've been waiting for this guy

Lovers.

Holy first rider t-shirts we look good.

The most beautiful sight of them all

Oh look, Volcano again

Robb put it best. TWISTYYY

Too big for one picture, too big for one bladder

Personal favorite. For obvious reasons

Fresh from the trim

During this part of the ride, you're flying

A beautiful patriotic salute, and the hairiest tenor sax player of them all

While the ceremony was nice, the location of choice made it rather hard to focus on what was being said.

A few opening words.

Holy cow is that the CEO of Cedar Fair? I believe it issssss!!! Dream job.

Thank you, thank you, you're welcome

Thank you, tha oh GOD there it is it looks so GOOD!

Oh Gosh look at you guys! The Earnhardt children themselves

Check #1.

Check #2, God bless America

Check #3 and...

WHOA no time to take a picture of check #4, done and done let's GO!

Some cheerleader action

Entering the queue

In three minutes, our lives were about to change

This thing is so far and away more advanced than anything else in the park, it's ridiculous

Got to shake Earnhardt's hand... pretty fantastic. The person with the highest bid, Alan H I believe, got to ride with him in the front row on the first ride. Lucky SOB

Inside the STATION!

Pre ride 1

Thar she blows. The train of destiny

After five rides we realized we were on the same train as the Earnhardts again, and got both their autographs and a picture. This is that picture.

And just when we were questioning whether it would be worth it to get in line again or head elsewhere we ran into THIS!

So while everyone else had other fish to fry, we headed to Volcano!

And then to the wild mouse.

Not forgetting Rebel Yell. All while the rest of the park was gettin there first rides on I305

We decided that while Dominator is still a pretty solid name, it sounded a bit too much like a German strip club, if said in a gruff European accent.

But man what a beautiful looking ride.

Holy biggest loop ever.

After about a half hour of waiting, a train got stuck on the lift hill, and we eventually decided to bail when they had to evacuate the train. It was well over an hour since they got it back up and running

So we got a little closer on Avalanche instead, both our first bobsled coaster, which was surPRISingly fun.

After an hour and a half in the FoF line, we saw Dominator back up and running, and headed back down to the front of the park

The line was significantly shorter, and the front row was significantly better than any other ride in the park, barring I305

And so we made our way back, once more, to end our journey on the King of Kings [dominion]..

After an obligatory ride on this little guy.

Intimidator, as seen through the sun protecting queue tarps

Please, please go ride this at night in the back row. It'll change your life I promise

Last ride of the night, thanks for reading! We had the most incredible time.

Edited April 3, 2010 by coasterer

[JEAPUgrad]

I thought the trims along the course were not only set for speed but also magnetic so I'm not sure if they can be turned up or down, no?

 

Nice photos...you guys sure do jump around a lot.

[kidcoaster 2]

Nice TR

 

But is it really a good idea to be climbing on the grizzly statue?

[pkdcoaster]

Nice Report

 

Most opening days for parks are rusty and I think most of their resources went into making sure I305 was running and at full capacity. They did add a 2nd train to Rebel yell and I think you guys are spoiled by El Toro cause Rebel yell is running Awesome! They have retracked about 75% of both sides in the last 3 years.

 

JEFF

[FeelTheFORCE]

The line was significantly shorter, and the front row was significantly better than any other ride in the park, barring I305

 

I agree, Dominator kicks ass in the front, such an awesome ride.

 

Great report! Can't wait to ride I305!

[coasterer]

Thanks for the comments

 

^^JEFF, I completely agree, we are completely spoiled by El Toro. It's hard not to be, from NJ. But while Rebel Yell did shuffle, I was taken aback at how fun it was. I wasn't expecting much, but it did have a nice first drop, some good pops throughout, and it was significantly longer than I expected.

-Danny

[Kingsislandfreak]

about Intimadator 305 laterI went on again I went through the single ride line(Bad idea) then Intimadator broke the two tpr members behind me left I did'nt while I normaly just dont mind this so I just dealt with it then they took 1 of the 2 trains on the switch train and it ran 1 ride and then it broke again. The single rider line was very slow I finally got on the front train but the line was horrible. Intimadators front is awesome it had no head banging, intense Gs you pull someone even told me a kid passed out early morning and sat next to someone who liked coasters and the whole time in line I talked to him even though the line was rediculous I loved the ride. The air time was incredible. Grizzlys line was horrible also,