“Panhandled!”

Originally, I was going to try to get here somewhat early, like by 1 or 2 PM. Media day changed that, plus I got sunburned, so I decided to wait until evening. Several people I know, including Dave Bowers, Paul Miller and Dave Althoff were going to be here today, which was the only thing that kept this trip on the books at all. I properly applied sunscreen over my sunburn, and headed down at about 7PM.

Got there around 7:45 and texted Paul and Dave to say I’d arrived. I took a full walking lap around the park, going through Nick, Rivertown, across to Coney and down through Action Zone. Turned around at SOB and went over to IS and up by the tower. It was right around there I got a text back from paul saying they were going to Fairly Odd Coaster, so I went over there. They were already on the ramp, so I waited at the exit until they rode.

After leaving FOC, we discussed plans quickly after passing on a short wait for the dark ride, then headed over to X-Base. Firehawk and Flight of Fear were the only credits Paul was missing, and it was after 8PM by this point.

We walked down Coney and paused by the Hi-Striker game for a few minutes. Some went down to the restrooms by Vortex, and Dave Bowers and I went over to the snack stand across from the Dodgems. I got some nachos and stood there eating them while we waited for the others to return.

While there, something I’ve never had happen to me in a park happened: We got panhandled! Some girl came up and asked if anyone had a dollar for food. We basically just ignored it and she left right before the others returned, and we headed into X-Base.

We entered the FOF ride building and found a 2/3 full hanger queue, and it’s almost 9. We bailed and entered Firehawk’s queue which was using about half of the main maze with both stations and trains in use. About 40 minutes or so later after chatting our way through the queue, we were boarding the back car of the train on the left side station.

Had a great Firehawk ride, which was Paul’s first ride on a Vekoma flyer. He loved it and deemed it better than SUF or Tatsu, and we headed over to FOF.

Rideman and another that was with him bailed from Firehawk right after entering the queue and went over to ride Diamondback, so the three of us entered the FOF hangar queue and found it EMPTY. The line only stretched into the UFO, so about ten minutes after entering the building, we were riding. They got 1.2 and I got 2.1 on the same train. Running very well, still a hard midcourse brake but it’s smooth and the trains aren’t rattling/vibrating like last year. Still has those damn foot wedges in the back rows though, by right foot was pinned hard under the outboard side of the foot bar.

It was about five minutes past close, so no chance at riding again. We walked up to the front gate to wait, and after a little while Dave, April and gang arrived.

We discussed food, and decided on the IHOP off the Fields Ertel/Mason Montgomery exit. We all left separately, and arrived at about the same time at the restaurant for a fun post-coastering late dinner.

Rides List

Firehawk (Red Back)
Flight of Fear (2.1)

“OMG”

I totally had not planned on being at the park today, but on Thursday I got an email from the park inviting me and Paul to Diamondback’s media day, so plans were quickly sorted out and we both arrived at about the same time, at about 10:50 AM.

We got signed in and then walked back with another group that had just arrived. The fountains were running and the park was coming to life, but we were the only people around during the walk back through Nick Universe. Once we turned the corner into the Diamondback plaza though, we quickly ran into several news vans and quite a lot of people hanging around waiting for the official opening.

After running into Brian Neal and Raptor Jo outside the “new” DB Trading Post, we mingled a bit before the opening ceremony started. Walter Bolliger of B&M was in attendance and took part in the ribbon cutting.

After some words by Kings Island GM Greg Scheid, the ribbon was cut and we were admitted into the queue. It was pretty neat to be standing here during the ceremony looking at a finished ride, from the exact same spot we watched the press conference back in August from. Back then it was just a bunch of footers and the structure for the transfer track area.

We were in the first group to enter the queue, so we ended up getting to the station and boarding the first train to go out, in the front row of the fifth car. We handed our camera bags off to Brian Kosmac who was collecting things for the loose article bins, then sat down, with Paul in the right side seat and me in the left seat. Probably the most comfortable coaster trains I’ve ever sat in.

Lap bars secured and checked, and we’re off! The ride starts out with a very steep lift hill, similar in slope to Son of Beast’s, but due to the design of the trains it feels steeper. The chain speed kicks up as soon as the back car reaches the base of the ascent, and it takes you to the top very quickly.

Simply put, it’s the best steel coaster I’ve ever been on, and overall is second only to The Voyage. It’s non-stop high speed and plentiful airtime, and it’s also the smoothest ride I’ve ever been on.

We rode 7 times, taking photos from the queue area on each one. After that 7-ride session, we took a break and stepped into the Rivertown Junction Dining Hall for lunch, formerly known as Wings Diner. We took a little while to eat, drink and cool off in the air conditioning, then went back to Diamondback. I got two rides, Paul got at least one, but maybe two as well. We split up a bit for these two, I ended up taking photos while Paul rode once, then Paul took photos while I rode once.

Both of my rides here were in the back car, which is INSANE airtime on every hill, This is where my seat count might be SLIGHTLY wrong. Sometime around here I rode in the front row of the back car (81) with Jeff and Gonch from CoasterBuzz right behind me, but both rides here are listed as being in the back seat. The second ride after lunch is when I’m pretty sure it was, but I can’t remember for sure so I won’t change the list. It’s only off by one row if it’s off at all.

Anyway, that second ride after lunch jarred me quite a bit. I’m no expert but my guess is it had a bad wheel on that car or something, so I took another break from riding then. Paul and I walked over into Rivertown and spent about an hour doing a photo tour, taking photos of Diamondback, The Beast, The Crypt and the rest of the changes to Rivertown.

We then got an escort and went back to join the group of some other media people in the backstage area under Diamondback’s first drop pullout and around the train bridge. We walked out onto the train trestle with Raptor Jo and got photos and video, then walked back to the area around the base of the first drop for even more. Finally, after a LOT of photos taken, we headed back to Diamondback to ride.

What followed was essentially a very exclusive ERT session. While we were starting our tour they went from 3 to 2 trains, and now they went down to one train as most people had left. Less than a trainload of riders remained, so we stuck it out. Later in this session, everyone stopped walking around at all and just played musical chairs on the train in between runs to switch things up a bit. I took what was going to be my last ride, then went out and sat down with Paul and Brian outside the Snake Pit.

Taking out my iPod Touch, that I’d been using after each ride to track my rides in the Notes app, I counted my rides and saw that I had 29. Wanting to hit 30 even, I went back for one last ride in the front of the back car. After that, we thanked Don Helbig and then we walked out. Brian said they were going to Skyline after, so Paul and I checked with our rides and then headed over there. Brian arrived after a while, and I set up my laptop to unload photos and click through them. After eating and chatting for a while, Paul and his dad left, and I stuck around with the others for a while before heading home.

30 Diamondback Rides:

51
Back
12
81
72
Front
Back
Lunch
Back
Back
Tour
62
12
21
81
32
32
32
32
42
32
12
52
52
Back
12
21
Front
22
22
Back
81

“Walk of Fail!”

Since I’m writing this so late after forgetting to do it before, I’ll make this very brief. This was a winter event that started off at Great Wolf Lodge and ended at Kings Island. Long story short, we took a tour through the GWL conference center, through a couple different styles of rooms, through the arcade and then past the windows into the waterpark.

After that, we had to WALK to Kings Island. All the way across a NON-CLEARED parking lot, hence the Walk of Fail quote. It had been plowed closer to the front gate, but it had made it a lot worse since it scraped the hard snow that was covering up the solid layer of ice.

We finally got into the IR by way of the admin lot, and then we had to take our shoes off so we didn’t mess up the new carpeting.

I won’t go into long details here. Food was Subway, and I had a Spicy Italian and chips. Presentations by Kings Island and some others. Once it finally ended about 45 minutes past the scheduled end time, we went back out into the tundra and hiked across the lot. Paul and Zach had to leave quickly so I just followed them over to the passenger dropoff by the marquee, rather than hiking all the way over to Great Wolf again. It had gotten COLD, so it was an interesting walk back.

Ended up driving over to Great Wolf anyway, and loitered around there with Adam for like an hour. Nice and warm in that place, got some hot chocolate at Starbucks and walked all around the building again.

“Bring Back WinterFest!”

Not long before I left, I looked at the clock, looked at the calendar, and since the weather was nice, figured I’d run down to the park for the last day, to get a last ride for the season on Vortex and take part in the last Beast rides.

I got there right about 6PM if I’m remembering correctly, and went straight back to Rivertown through Nick, briefly meeting Al on the way through Nick. Took photos of Diamondback on the way back.

Once I got to Rivertown it was still way too early to sit and wait at Beast, so I headed over to Coney Mall and rode Vortex. I was originally going to ride three times, but when my train got back there was someone waiting for my row, and I didn’t want to bother with walking around twice, so I just got off and headed back to Rivertown with Al, who I ran into on the way out of Vortex right after he got off work at the Vortex photo booth.

Headed over to the Beast plaza and loitered around there. Shortly after arriving, I went and rode Beast as quickly as I could in 1.2, then went back to waiting in the plaza while everyone else slowly arrived.

After the group was all there, and the GP had been cycled through Beast, we were led up to the station and chose our seats. I took 6.1 and Paul and Zach took 6.2 right behind my row. We got to ride twice, then we all gathered in the Beast plaza for a group photo before heading out. Some interesting views of the start of post-season cleanup on the way out, including a virtual flood of soapy water flowing out of the International Street LaRosa’s.

Rides List:

Vortex (5.1)
The Beast (1.2)
The Beast (6.1)
The Beast (6.1)

“Thanks For The Memories!”

The last night of Haunt. basically just did shows, as the park was really crowded and I didn’t feel like standing in lines for the haunts when I’d already done them all in previous weeks, actually I did them all on Media Night.

Saw all four showings of Dead Awakening with Shannon Marshall leading. Last show at midnight had all the cast member’s fan clubs and groupies making a lot of noise, that was interesting. I walked around a bit between shows including a full lap down Coney and around through Rivertown and back through Nick to the Showplace just before the 11PM Dead Awakening.

Originally intended to leave after the 11PM show, but since Showplace was opening again for the midnight show 15 minutes after that one ended, I figured I’d stick around for the last one. Headed out within a few minutes of the last show ending.

This was going to be my last KI visit of the season, but it ended up a little differently than I’d thought! Details in the next report…

Attractions List:

Part of Ghouls Gone Wild (8:00)
Dead Awakening (8:30)
Dead Awakening (9:30)
Ghouls Gone Wild (10:00)
Dead Awakening (11:00)
Dead Awakening (12:00)

“That’s more like it!”

Halloween night. I got to the park a bit later than I had wanted to, but still not awful. It was about 7:40 or so when I got in. I quickly went back to Rivertown and did Red Beard’s Revenge with only about a three minute line. After that I got some Diamondback photos (as best I could get in the dark) and went over and did Urgent Scare. I walked up and the greeter was standing there and nobody else. Mind you the last time I was here for Fall Freak Out, the line was two hours from end of line to the greeter position, then they sent you straight in.

Well it’s a bit different tonight. The park’s so dead tonight they’re just using the regular Action Theater line, so the greeter sent me back alone. That was pretty eerie. The line only made it around the first switchback-like turn in the line, so it wasn’t very long at all. Longer than Red Beard, but only about 10-15 minutes at that.

Urgent Scare is still one of the best Haunt attractions, and slowly got better over the course of Haunt. Just like last Saturday at FFO, they were using the cold-water sprayers in the decontamination tent at the end, EVIL!

After Urgent Scare, I started my tour of the shows. Dead Awakening at 8:30 videotaping, but the video came out dodgy because a couple people walked right in front of me while I was taping. After this show, I went straight to Festhaus to shoot Ghouls Gone Wild at 9, then I went and got two coneys at Skyline in Coney Maul after that. I ate as I walked over to Showplace in time to watch the ending of Dead Awakening, starting a couple songs before the finale. I finished eating as I walked from Showplace to Festhaus to watch and tape the 10PM Ghouls Gone Wild.

After that show, I loitered in Festhaus for a few minutes then headed back for Showplace. I got in line so I could get a decent seat for the 11PM show, and ended up being in the second row of the front-center section. Not bad.

Once the show started I was surprised to see that Shannon Marshall had taken over for Natalie Gibson in the lead position in the middle of the night. I’d known she would be doing one of the last two nights, but wasn’t expecting the switch to happen in the middle of Friday night’s shows. She wasn’t bad, a good singer and while she was a little rusty on the timing for the dance moves, certainly did a good job.

Attractions List:

Red Beard’s Revenge
Urgent Scare
Dead Awakening (8:30)
Ghouls Gone Wild (9:00)
Ending of Dead Awakening (9:30)
Ghouls Gone Wild (10:00)
Dead Awakening (11:00)

“Hey Clifford!”

ACE/KIE Fall Freak Out. Went well, although due to not feeling very good when I got up I didn’t get to the park until 3, started out with the Diamondback construction tour. Afterwards we walked around, then I went out with a handstamp to get my 2009 Gold Pass processed. I came back in and met back up with the group, and we rode Monster before going to the Skyline Buffet in the International Restaurant.

Afterwards, we started the Haunt. Urgent Scare was a TWO HOUR experience counting all the line, but we stood through it and had a fun time in line, looking through photos on our cameras and chatting about random things. After that we used our first VIP Haunt pass on Massacre Manor, bypassing an evil line, then I went to Dead Awakening for the 9:30 show. Shot a full video of it so I can watch it over the offseason, same as I did for 80′s.

Paul, Zach, Ty and the others had gone off toward Red Beard’s when I went to DA, and since they weren’t waiting outside Showplace when the show ended, I went and did my VIP pass for CarnEVIL. After that, I went over and sat down in Festhaus to watch some of Ghouls Gone Wild. Paul called a couple minutes after I sat down, and headed to Club Blood to meet back up with them.

We used our VIP passes for Club Blood, then I went to see the 11PM Dead Awakening, stopping to get a soft pretzel from a cart in Wasteland on the way. It wasn’t that great, so I didn’t eat much of it. I shot the 11PM DA as well just in case there were any issues with the first video.

After that show ended, it was time to gather outside Showplace for our early entry for the midnight Dead Awakening. It’s FREEZING out here by now, I had trouble holding my camcorder previously due to the cold. Met up with David Bowers outside Showplace and then joined the rest of the KIE group at the ropes with Evan. We were let in shortly afterward, and took our seats in the front row right on the center aisle. It was pretty darn cold, but we managed.

As soon as the show was over, we filed out of the Showplace and headed up to the front gate. The restroom inside the front gate was out of service, so we went over to the restroom by Invertigo instead, before heading out of the park. I walked with Dave up to the dropoff point to wait for a few minutes, then headed back to the Gold Pass section of the lot to catch my ride home.

Attractions List:

Monster
Urgent Scare
Massacre Manor
Dead Awakening (9:30)
CarnEVIL
Few minutes of Ghouls Gone Wild
Club Blood
Dead Awakening (11:00)
Dead Awakening (12:00)

“Time for a 3-way and more Dead Awakening!”

Yeah, I didn’t do very much. I got to the park and went straight back to Coney Maul and got a 3-way and a cheese coney at Skyline, then sat in the Skyline patio between Skyline and the Worksite haunt to eat. Afterwards, I went to Dead Awakening at 8:30 and then almost immediately turned right back around to enter the Showplace for the 9:30 showing.

Attractions List:

Dead Awakening (8:30)
Dead Awakening (9:30)

“That’s not very bad”

Met up with David Bowers and did some riding and Haunting. Overall a fun night. Urgent Scare was improved from Media Night with the addition of a bouncing platform and more detail on the outdoor portion after you exit the Action Theater building.

Son of Beast ran remarkably well for that ride, although we did spend a decent amount of extra time in line to wait for the front row. Lines overall weren’t very bad, and since we went to Urgent Scare right after park open at 7, we walked straight in with no waiting. We got in line for Cornstalkers but then saw a very short line for Invertigo, so we bailed and rode Invertigo first. Invertigo’s line only reached partially down the ramp into the station platform. Afterwards we did Cornstalkers with a pretty much non-existent wait.

Attractions List:

Urgent Scare
Vortex (7.1)
Firehawk (Second car, driver end)
Trail of Terror
Racer Red
The Worksite
Son of Beast (Blue 1.1)
Invertigo (1.2 – Midway End)
Cornstalkers

“Dead Awakening!!!”

Media night for Halloween Haunt. Started off in the admin lot with Paul Bonifield and Zach Hardin from KIE. We got to ride in a rental ambulance from the admin lot back to Wings, where they’d set up a very well-done Fright Feast this year. Got to sit in the waiting room of the Rakes-Helbig Memorial Hospital, before being called back to go through the show part of the setup and then into the eating area.

After eating, monsters attacked the building and then rushed in, and we were led over to be first in line for the Urgent Scare haunt. Well done Haunt attraction, though it had the feel of being not quite done yet.

We proceeded to have some mini-ERT on Vortex as we were right by it before the GP got back to Coney, and we had the first train of the night all to ourselves for the first ride.

Afterward, I’ll let the list speak for itself for the rest of the night. We did every Haunt attraction including both shows, thanks to having our VIP Press Passes that allowed us to go to the front of the line on all of the indoor and outdoor mazes. Lines weren’t actually that bad for some of them, but others were plenty long enough to make us glad we had said passes.

Attractions List

Urgent Scare
Vortex (1.1)
Vortex (6.2)
Vortex (6.2)
Massacre Manor
Club Blood
CarnEvil
Red Beard’s Revenge
Dead Awakening (8:30)
Cemetery Drive
Trail of Terror
Death Row
Urgent Scare
The Worksite
Finale of Dead Awakening (9:30)
Ghouls Gone Wild (10:00)
CornStalkers
Tombstone Terror-Tory