Photo TR: King's Island

[DrachenfireOP]

So I've never done one of these before, and my camera skills certainly aren't on the level as most of the posts here, but I had a pretty good time (mostly) at King's Island yesterday, so I thought I'd share! I've been to King's Island a few times before, but I actually had 3 1/2 credits missing due to a variety of unfortunate circumstances on my previous visits (those being Banshee, Adventure Express, Firehawk, and the blue side of Racer).

 

So I actually wasn't planning to go to KI this summer, but due to other summer travels and a few plans falling through, I happened to be in the Cincinnati area with a sudden free evening, so I went over to take advantage of their after 4pm rate. Let me start by saying that the first pleasant surprise of the day was DEFINITELY the admission price. They advertised $29 after 4pm, and that's what I paid. I was bracing for some sort of service fee, or crazy tax, but the evening total per person was $28.85 post tax! It was a pretty warm day (high of 92, but slightly overcast at times) so I was glad to be getting there in the evening, and the park was open to 10pm on a Monday, so I assumed (correctly) that I could still get plenty of rides in!

 

The first stop was supposed to be Diamonback. However, this was the first bad news of the day. Even though the park was near empty and they were running three trains, the wait was filling up much of the queue. I stood and watched for a moment to see if it was at least moving fast, but the trains were MAYBE going out every 5 minutes. The train would finish the circuit and sit on the safety brakes for 2-3 minutes fully stacked before they would get a new dispatch out :/

 

My next try was the Beast since it was right there, but it too had a long line. This didn't surprise me, and they were going pretty quick, but I decided to save that for later since night rides are my favorite on that anyhow.

 

So, with Diamonback and the Beast both busts, I started my day exactly the same way that most TPR folks don't, with a back seat ride on Vortex!

 

I gotta say, I'm a pretty big Arrow fanboy. I'm tall so headbanging doesn't really happen to me, and I really enjoy the "you vs. the ride" experience that is getting on one of these old deathtraps. I had never done Vortex in the back before, and was bracing for the worst, but honestly it was actually smoother in the back than I expected! There was great air time whipping over the first hill. The turn around before the vertical loops sucked, but the rest of the ride was actually pretty enjoyable! Whipping on the MCBR was actually pretty fun in the back, unlike the "oh crap what the hell" whipping you get in the front.

 

I took more pictures of Vortex than most of the other coasters, because lets face it, no matter what your take is of the ride, it's beautiful, extremely photogenic, and pretty fun to watch.

 

Not the way most people start their day, but I actually love these old Arrows.

 

I love the old tear drop verticle loop. Very intense!

 

 

Empty cars on just about every train today on many of the coasters.

 

 

 

After Vortex was done with me, I decided to head over to another TPR favorite: Firehawk. I didn't have this credit because every time I've been before, they're running only one station and the wait is over an hour. Couple that with the less-than-stellar reviews, and I decided to skip it in the past.

 

Today I was very surprised to see both stations running, and a very short wait, so I went for it! I must say, while it's not as fun as a B&M flyer, I was SHOCKED at how much I liked this ride! I was prepared for the worst, but I actually enjoyed it. The G forces going into and coming out of the vertical loop were some of the strongest I've ever felt! This didn't really feel like I was "flying" so much as "a large drunk man was slinging me around," but I didn't leave with a headache or bruises, and I did get an adrenaline burst from it all! Perhaps it was my low expectations, but I enjoyed it. I doubt I'd wait more than 20 minutes for it and will likely skip it in the future since it's a capacity nightmare, but I'll certainly scope out the line from now on and get on if it's not too bad.

 

Woah both stations running!

 

I swear there's no way to look cool while riding this thing.

 

Looks like some X-flight is starting to leak through...

 

Next up was the racer, blue side. This was also a walk on. It was running pretty ok today. Not the smoothest ride at all, but I mean, it's a 40 year old wooden coaster, what do you expect? I never got on this when it ran backwards, but I image it was similar (read: identical) to Rebel Yell, which I grew up riding. I really wish they left one side backwards...

 

I watched this thing throughout the day, and red won every time. Rigged?

 

Many coasters were a walk on all day, and this was no exception!

 

Now that I had 1.5 more credits, I decided to hop next door and scoop up another missing one, Adventure Express! This is DEFINITELY my new favorite mine coaster. I understand that's not a high bar to set, but this was really quite fun! I'm a fan of coasters with the lift at the end for some reason. That said, could someone please explain to me what in the hell is up with that final lift? That was seriously out of left field!

 

Big shout out to KI for running all their trains all day even with low guest count. Walk ons for days!

 

 

I really enjoyed this one in the back. I guess no one else did!

 

Now it was finally time to check out what everyone has been talking about: Banshee! I gotta say, this ride looks and is great, and is a big win for the park! That said, it's not really my new favorite... anything. However, I don't think that stops it from being a good ride. The ride is smooth as glass, and the slow-roll is a hell of a lot of fun. I did get my hopes up for a BTR style intensity on the smaller vertical loop, and was a bit let down, but oh well. High G-force, intense B&Ms are clearly a thing of yester-year. I would still take Alpengeist, Montu, and BTR over this one just because I like high-intensity, but it's far from a bad ride, and beautiful to look at! Also, the ops were on point and kept this thing moving.

 

Slingshot photobombing my crown shot!

 

Wouldn't be a Banshee TR without this shot! I love the dive loop shape, and the lack of net on it!

 

Couldn't help myself

 

 

Seriously though, I love the lack of net here! Really cool!

 

Next I went over to Top Gun...err Flight D...errr... The Bat! I really like these coasters a lot. I wish someone would take up the charge and make a non-inverting free-swinging suspended coaster again. It's a great family ride, and provides a nice low-to-medium thrill. I have several friends who don't go on looping coasters or ones with big drops, but eat rides like this up, and it's sad to see them going away. With BBW and EF gone, this (and the other Vortex) are definitely the best ones left... which isn't really saying much given the pool to choose from... In any event, I got a few rides in on this walk-on as well, and enjoyed every one! Also, while I know it's not new for this season, this was my first time seeing the new paint, which I think looks just fantastic! Way better than the derpy old grey it used to be. One other interesting thing of note (which I sadly couldn't get a picture of)... There was one set of break calipers that did not appear to be from this ride, and was painted red. I wonder if there's any chance BGW sold them some spare BBW parts when they scrapped it? It would make sense if they were still serviceable and compatible. Who knows?

 

Oh hello there

 

Such a fun ride

 

Definitely past 90 degrees!

 

Little up-skirt action

 

I decided to suck it up and wait for the front

 

Got one more on the way out. I love that you can see daylight between the upper guide wheel and track! Oh Arrow...

 

I guess they're keeping this around in case anyone wants to remember SOB existed...

 

Looks like they use the old station for a haunted house. I'm sorta bummed I never got the credit. I missed it by 1 season.

 

Next I decided to see if Invertigo was a walk on, since that's about the only way I'm interested in riding it. It wasn't, so a snapped a few pictures, then smiled and backed away slowly, hoping it didn't see me.

 

 

 

I just don't understand why people wait in line for this capacity nightmare...

 

I guess it's not the worst ride ever (looking at you Meanstreak), but just not worth waiting for...

 

Grabbed another ride on Banshee before leaving the area, and it was now a 1 train wait to get on. Such a great crew! I thought about doing red side of racer, but it looked like they weren't bothering to time them anymore, so I skipped it. I decided to go see if FOF was shorter now (it was an hour wait when I rode Firehawk) and strangely, the line was LONGER now. I just don't get how that ride always has such a long line. In any event, I've done FOF at both Kings Island and Kings Dominion many times (hell, I did KD with OTS restraints!) so I decided to pass, even though that AC probably felt great in the 88 degree heat!

 

Since it was a one train wait for the front, I went ahead and got a front seat ride on Vortex. I was going to hit the stunt coaster next, but I noticed there was no line at the Beast while I was at the crown of Vortex, so I ran over there next! I had perfect timing for the Beast. I waited one train somehow, and by the time my train got back, the station had filled up and it was over 20 minutes again, and getting longer. I guess I just hit a sweet spot! Unfortunately, it was far from my best ride on the Beast. The trims were on full blast, which I find makes the ride a bit rougher, and takes a lot of the thrill out. Still my favorite woodie, and my favorite night coaster, but I've enjoyed it more in the past.

 

God I love this logo!

 

Double coaster shot!

 

Ok, rant time. I'm sorry, but what the hell is wrong with the Diamondback crew? I haven't been to the park since the seatbelt-pocolypse, but none of the other rides seem to be having the trouble Diamondback does. The KI crews are way slower than the CP crews, but even the other KI crews blow the Diamondback Crew out of the water. It might as well be a different park. With Gwazi closed, I really think Diamondback gets the "flat out, hands down, indisputably worst crew in the world" award. They were still cranking out trains at roughly 5+ minute dispatches. I really like this ride, but choose to skip it to avoid standing still in the heat while the employees raced along at the pace paint dries :/

 

Worst crew on the planet. All three trains stacked so consistently, they mine as well have taken one off...

 

Oh dear lord they actually got one moving!

 

I think the guy in blue in the back is realizing how long he's going to sit on the brakes in the sun, and is trying to bail!

 

It's a great looking ride, if you're lucky enough to actually see one of the trains go by! It's like trying to photograph endangered animals...

 

At this point my phone died, so that's it for pictures. Basically I just went to the Stunt Coaster next, then cleaned up some re-rides while I waited for the park to get dark for my Beast night-ride. I will say, as far as non-coasters, basically everything is back up now. I know a lot of stuff was down earlier in the year. Also, Delirium is really fun! Definitely worth the somewhat-slow loading time to get on!

[LiftThrill]

Nice TR! Even though I've never been there, I personally think that King's Island has a very balanced coaster lineup.

[TunaSled]

Well done, thanks. But I'd never skip DB for any reason whatsoever.

[SoCal_Coaster]

^ Lol I agree. Diamondback is definately my favorite of the four B&M hypers I've been on.

[PKI Jizzman]

Well done, thanks. But I'd never skip DB for any reason whatsoever.

 

I love Diamondback, but he's absolutely right about the crew. Painfully award winning slow. If I was at a park and every other ride was a near walk on, I'd probably be skipping the ride with the hour wait as well. I'd go nuts in that line haha

[Ape]

It's sad they have gotten that bad. Before Banshee came along the Diamondback crew would do an excellent job and a mostly full queue would go by quick.

[DoinItForTheFame]

Nice TR! Great photos too! Your trip report has me super excited for our visit next month!

[CpBluestreakCp]

Really nice TR. I went last year and even then the Diamondback crew was slow and the line was one of if not the longest in the park. They need to fix this.

 

Surprised you liked Firehawk, I just can't get into those coasters. Maybe I'm riding wrong but I feel like I'm just saving myself from flying out and dying....

[DrachenfireOP]

Thanks! I was surprised too. I think part of it may have been that I had such low expectations for Firehawk, that when I didn't leave in pain and actually felt some REAL g-forces on it (somethings sorely lacking from too many modern coasters) that I said "huh, yeah, I'd do that again!" That said I doubt I'll wait more than 20 minutes for it.

 

Also, I'm seriously confused how the diamondback crew can be so bad. I was at BGW earlier this year, and the AC crew was so good they had to hold dispatches because the block ahead wasn't clear yet when they were done loading. I'd blame the seatbelts, but every coaster at CF seems to have them these days (except weirdly the Bat, which used to have them but they've been removed). The load times were noticeably slower than the pre-seatbelt days, but not THAT much slower. The CP ops seem to have it figured out, and while the KI crews are slower, it's still not that bad. I think the crew is just lazy and slow (and I say that as someone who was a ride-op for years, including on B&Ms).

 

Then again, I do miss the good ol' days of the 90s and before when people didn't really have cell phones/cameras they were trying to take on the ride, parks weren't making ride ops stand on presence pads, guest would actually get right on the ride and right off, and by and large would have read the signs before getting on. Just look at this old Vortex footage where they basically are sending trains out the moment the one in front got off the lift...

 

 

On Arrow coasters, we call that "Christmas Treeing" the ride, because when you have all three trains out on the course with none in the station or ready brakes, all the block indicator lights read occupied, and bleed a little extra light into the red and green sides of the indicator and it looks like a Christmas Tree. You NEVER see that happen anymore :/ The ops just seem slower, there are new precautions that don't actually increase safety and are there to ward off a frivolous law suit, and the guests have tons of crap with them that makes it go slower, plus they're playing on their phones and not reading the sign

[tanthonyam]

Seriously, Firehawk and Vortex are not bad rides at all. Enthusiasts have become way to picky.

[coasterbill]

Awesome captions, please do more trip reports. I enjoyed hearing about your days of operating Vortex also. It's great to get a ride ops perspective on things, especially the ridiculous ways rides are now operated at every American park not named Knoebels.