Photo TR: Cedar Point, Kings Island, Holiday World

[The Big So-So]

This summer, I went on my first significant theme park trip, leaving behind California so I could ride some real roller coasters. Okay, California has a pretty nice assortment, but I wanted to go on those rides I see on the top ten lists. Voyage, Millennium Force, Maverick, Diamondback!

 

My biggest worry was the weather. I've read so many horror stories about Cedar Point in the rain, and I sure didn't want to miss out on any rides. Luckily, the weather was gorgeous the entire time, and I did not see a single raindrop over the course of the trip.

 

The first stop was Cedar Point, where I stayed at Hotel Breakers and spent two full days at the park. I began with hotel guest/season passholder ERT on Millennium Force and Maverick. While both rides are great, I must admit my first ride on each was underwhelming. Millennium Force is, well, forceless, and Maverick is not as intense as many make it out to be. I re-rode both rides, and after forgetting the hype, they are both great coasters. Millennium Force is especially good at night, though I do wish it had some air.

 

Next up was Top Thrill Dragster, and this was the only time I waited in line for an hour during my trip. It is a great ride, though I don't feel the extra height and speed make it much better than its smaller cousin in the West, Xcelerator.

 

The rest of the roller coasters:

Blue Streak, Gemini, Magnum XL-200 - These were my favorite rides. Tons of airtime on each, though after repeated rides I experienced some lapbar soreness.

Cedar Creek Mine Ride - The worst ride of this type I've been on.

Disaster Transport - Underrated, tons of fun.

Iron Dragon, Corkscrew - weak

Wildcat - fun for what it is

Raptor - a solid B&M invert, though I'm not a huge fan of these in general

Mantis - I hate these things, rode it just for the credit.

Woodstock Express - decent kiddie

Mean Streak - The most hilarious ride of the trip. Yes, it's rough as heck, but after the ridiculously trimmed first drop, we trudged through that course so sluggishly that I didn't feel any pain. The whole train was laughing through the whole ride.

Wicked Twister - I did not ride this one due to the 6'6" max height restriction. For the record, TTD and Maverick also post this restriction in the station (not on the entrance sign), but I was allowed to ride because I fit in the seat and my head did not exceed the headrest. Wicked Twister actually posts the restriction on the entrance sign, so I didn't bother trying to ride. I assume the issue there is with the dangling feet, and I don't want to take any chances.

 

Overall, I had a blast at Cedar Point. The rides are great, and the park is huge. Despite it basically being a big slab of concrete, its peninsula setting adds to the charm. The hotel is great too and well worth the cost.

 

 

 

Park number two was Kings Island. I spent two half days at the park, with the other halves spent driving. The park was very quiet, with Diamondback never having more than a 15-minute line. Oddly, the longest lines were for Firehawk and Flight of Fear in the back of the park.

 

The roller coasters:

Diamondback - The greatest steel coaster I've been on. The floater air is pure bliss, with lots of hangtime over those hills. It is also one of the most comfortable coaster cars I've been in. Overall a fabulous ride, and I got to ride it over a dozen times because it hardly had a line.

The Beast - I'm surprised I don't hear more about this coaster's roughness. This thing hurt me like no other coaster besides GhostRider. I planned on making this the last ride of the night, as I've heard so much about its magical nighttime rides, but after the painful daytime ride I made Diamondback the night ride instead.

Firehawk - Much better than expected. It wasn't rough at all and was pretty fun. Not as good as Tatsu, of course, but darn solid.

Flight Deck, Adventure Express, Backlot Stunt Coaster - solid, if unspectacular

Flight of Fear - Excellent indoor coaster. I generally don't care for rides with lots of inversions, but without OTSRs they are so much fun!

The Racer - Decent woodie

Vortex - Typical pain-filled Arrow looper. For comparison, I enjoy Viper much more.

Woodstock Express - The best kiddie I've been on. Fun little woodie.

Invertigo - Did not ride due to max height restriction.

 

Kings Island is a fun park, mostly due to Diamondback being so sweetly awesome. The park lacks charm, but I still liked it.

 

 

 

The final park on the trip was my most anticipated, Holiday World, and it did not disappoint.

 

The roller coasters:

The Voyage - My new favorite coaster, even though I can't say it's perfect. Everything up until the last 1,000 feet or so is pure heaven, enough to put it above Diamondback for me. I do wish the ride ended there, though, as the silly series of quick turns at the end can be pretty headache-inducing after a few rides.

Raven - A fun coaster, but a bit overrated. Not really much to say about it.

The Legend - And this one is underrated. I like this one a lot more than Raven.

 

I did not ride Wildebeest as I did not want to get completely soaked. I'm sure I'm missing out, but I don't mind. I did ride Pilgrims Plunge and did not enjoy it all. The drop is unspectacular, and it lands HARD, causing a bit of butt pain.

 

Overall, Holiday World was fantastic. The cheap food, free drinks/sunscreen and friendly atmosphere make it an A+ park.

Those clouds look threatening, but the rain did not come.

I was this close to an Intamin cable and I live to talk about it.

They took the tunnel... and came out with bruised legs.

This here's the wildest ride in the wilder... er, this side of the Pecos!

I thought this ride was supposed to be twisty.

I thought this ride was supposed to get you wet.

Woohoo! Airtime! Oh, wait, never mind. This is Millennium Force we're on.

I was surprised to discover they officially changed the name of the ride.

Chugga chugga choo choo!

Sit down, people. You're on a roller coaster!

Either Raptor is super fast or someone can't hold a camera still.

I drove south from Cedar Point and somehow ended up in Paris.

Splaaaassshhhhhhhdown!

I do like how Vortex starts out, heading into that straight drop.

The Beast looms in the forest...

...while his mutant offspring prepares for the end.

Though no Tatsu, this was a surprisingly fun ride.

This great junior woodie has more airtime than Millennium Force! In other words, it features very brief airtime.

decent log ride with a little Peanuts theming

Red takes the lead! Can Blue catch up?

Nah, Red's pulling pretty far ahead.

I drove southwest from Kings Island and somehow ended up at the North Pole.

They call this the Lewis and Clark Trail. Didn't realize those two had a car.

Holiday World doesn't have Dippin' Dots, so I had to go to the Mini Melts guy for the lowdown on those Timberliners.

Second best coaster in the park!

Sorry, Raven. You were fun, but you disappointed me.

Oh, Lord, please accept this football as a token of my faith.

Okay, I cheated the angle a bit. This turn is only banked about 45 degrees.

Almost time for a dusk ride on the Voyage amongst the fireflies.

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

Very humorous report! Sounds like you had fun!

[jynx242]

I really enjoyed this! The captions were hilarious and I'm glad to see Voyage lovin', even though it is pretty damned rough at this point. It's still my #1 - that layout is fantastic.

 

It's also nice to see someone who feels the same about Maverick and Millennium Force.

 

David

[Lenaapple1974]

I had some nice airtime on MF last weekend. How tight were the lapbars for you? The drop to me was forceless though, unlike Nitro's drop at 100 feet less. I was actually worried about the drop and it took all day for me to ride. Let's just say that It took me two years to get used to the force of Nitro's drop. So naturally I was worried. But (for me) I was pleasantly surprised and it made the ride so much fun! Maverick was just about my favorite ride in the park.

 

I cannot wait to make my way to KI. The only thing that will stop me is that it is 4 hours from CP.... does Diamondback prove worth it for that type of ride when I have Nitro in my home park?

[cal1br3tto]

I agree with you wholeheartedly about Holiday World and its coasters. I mean, practically word for word--it's uncanny!

Enjoyed your reviews, photos, and captions. Glad you had a good trip!

[KI Kidd]

Very funny TR! Thanks for sharing!

 

Beast is best enjoyed in the second to last row as riding in the first or third row of any car makes it a very rough ride. Glad you enjoyed Diamondback, it really is a great ride!

[The Big So-So]

I had some nice airtime on MF last weekend. How tight were the lapbars for you?

The lapbars weren't too tight. Though I didn't experience any air, I did enjoy the speed of the ride.

 

I cannot wait to make my way to KI. The only thing that will stop me is that it is 4 hours from CP.... does Diamondback prove worth it for that type of ride when I have Nitro in my home park?

I haven't ridden Nitro or any other B&M hyper besides Diamondback, so I can't say for sure. From POVs, they look pretty similar, though I know those can be deceiving. All I can say is it was well worth the trip from CA, though if it wasn't for Diamondback, I'd have little reason to return to KI.

[mightypotato]

I cannot wait to make my way to KI. The only thing that will stop me is that it is 4 hours from CP.... does Diamondback prove worth it for that type of ride when I have Nitro in my home park?

 

To be honest, Diamondback actually disappointed me. I found that the air wasn't as strong or as sustained as the other B&M hypers I've been on (Apollo's Chariot, Behemoth and Goliath [La Ronde]). That, and I found it quite shaky during the turnaround. It's still a pretty good ride, but it ranks 4th out of the 4 B&M hypers I've ridden.

 

Maybe I caught it on a couple of bad days, I dunno. I hope your experience goes better than mine did.

[ilrider]

^It is definitely worth riding, but it wasn't as intense as I thought it would be. Loved the first drop (airtime all the way down in the back), the trains, the smooth ride, and the sustained floater air, but based on the POV videos I thought it would be more thrilling, with more ejector air. It is still a very good new coaster, though, and I enjoyed my two rides on it. It's a nice addition to KI.

[FeelTheFORCE]

^ Well said. I, too had my expectations set a bit high for Diamondback and thought it was a bit tame. I like the older models, such as Nitro, a LOT more.

 

The Legend - And this one is underrated. I like this one a lot more than Raven.

 

I'm glad someone else thinks this. I loved Legend, it was awesome! Definitely one of the most underrated and overlooked coasters I have ridden.

 

Great pics too!