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Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

p. 832: Camp Snoopy announced for 2024!

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For me, a little after 9 was getting dark but not pitch. You deff wanna go as near 10 as possible. I don't k ow how often they do fireworks or when, but we got to Beast at 945/950 and fireworks began as we got on line. Took 45 mins maybe a bit longer to get the OK to run the ride. Which we got denied a front row ride, we were a tad bummed that after holding us so long they let like 2 trains run before closing, but yeah later is better.

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Flight of Fear at Kings Island is terrible, which is weird since I think the one at Kings Dominion is super smooth and generally awesome.

I liked FoF at KI and didn't get why people thought it was so rough until I rode the one at KD and experienced how much better that one is.

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I didn't expect FoF to be so bad so I was quite caught off guard.

It caught me off guard as well and near did me in. It was very hot and very humid (raining, in fact) when I was there, and I started my day with Firehawk and that awful hang-n-bang boomerang thing, so I guess I asked for it. Premier rides tend to have some very snappy transitions, and, without the ability to clearly see what's coming up, all of those snaps are felt in your neck / spine. I rode it a few times and it got a little better, but still, not a pleasant ride.

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One odd thing I noticed in the backstage tour at Coasterstock was that some trains come flying into the spaghetti bowl noticeably faster than others. Sometimes a train rockets through the boomerang like a bat our of hell, and other times a train moves slow enough you can actually notice when you're upside down. The faster definitely snaps hard through the rolls.

 

(Side note, I'm a fan boy of this coaster and not afraid to admit it).

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I will say the Beast was better than expected but not worth too lon a wait. Deff find out when fireworks are happening don't get caught out

 

Fireworks are done at 10pm during the summer every night they close that late.

 

Spent a few hours at the park for a few hours today. Overall a really good day culminating in a night ride on The Beast. Only real negative was the Banshee crew late in the afternoon. Several seemed like they were as excited to be at work as they would be to get a root canal.

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^Aw, man. I know you'll hear at least isolated reports like that from over 99% of parks, but the Banshee crew during its opening year was absolutely top-class, even considering that the Ohio Cedar Fair parks are somewhat renowned for their operations. They were right up there with the best corporate crews and parks. I was just going to post recently that I hope they've kept it up, which, judging from recent reviews, I would guess that they mostly have (so I'm not trying to pick on anyone over just a single observation).

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They were a little better late in the evening.

 

Honestly the crews KI had over my 2 day visit back in 2011 ruined KI crews forever for me. They were so quick on every ride. At the time I was a Ride Supervisor at a park and I was there with three of my employees. We spent a good 10-15 minutes at the top of the Eiffel Tower just watching the Diamondback crew just haul absolute a** that day. I mean they had two speeds that day: 'stack a train for maybe 10 seconds' and 'don't stack a single train for like 15 minutes at a time.' It was amazing to watch.

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One odd thing I noticed in the backstage tour at Coasterstock was that some trains come flying into the spaghetti bowl noticeably faster than others. Sometimes a train rockets through the boomerang like a bat our of hell, and other times a train moves slow enough you can actually notice when you're upside down. The faster definitely snaps hard through the rolls.

 

(Side note, I'm a fan boy of this coaster and not afraid to admit it).

 

The launch is all timer based. The computer has no way to compensate for any differences such as train weight. The magnets are activated in the exact same way every time. Small differences get magnified enough to make a noticeable difference.

 

It is possible to get a roll back even. Never seen it or experienced it but have heard about it.

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I had 24 hours in Cincy visiting family on the way back to Chicago and I decided to head up at 9:30 yesterday since rain moved out of the picture.

 

I was only at the park for 90 minutes but I'm so glad I went because I got to do everything I wanted and much much more! I went to Winterfest last year, so I technically haven't been to the park while fully operational for almost 2 years.

 

Banshee was open for passholder ERT and there was only a wait for the front line as usual. Great invert with a nice snap in the back seat down the first drop and then a buffet of big inversions. Having been on Afterburn just days before the two couldn't be further apart. I like the old trains and pace of B&M inverts over the modern designs; still Banshee is a fun re-ridable coaster that I seem to enjoy more as I ride it! 8/10

 

With more ERT going on across the park, I was excited to check out Mystic Timbers since my previous rides had been during Winterfest It was running just as well as it did during Winterfest! It's a really fun GCI and the GP do not stop talking about the shed, haha. I prefer this coaster in the front seat, I think the air is stronger there. The train absolutely rockets through the course and hits each element so quickly. Just put your hands up and laugh the whole time. 8/10

**The ops are definitely aware of enthusiasts checking out this ride as on my 3 different rides I was told to "Enjoy your ride on Fury THREEE TWOOO FIIIVE FIVEEE FIVEEE" and "Have a great day at America's Rockin' Roller Island, Ride On!" etc

 

By now it was 10am and the whole park opened, so I went over to the Beast. Skyline Chili, seeing the local MLB/NFL team lose, shopping the world at Jungle Jim's, having a German beer, and riding the Beast in the front seat... it's a must do when in Cincinnati. While the night rides are stellar, the rides during the day are still all around fun. The fast front row ride through the woods was just as I remembered with the final helix being just as crazy as it always has been. 8/10

**They added the Beast claws on both "Don't Stand Up etc" signs at the top of the lifts - anyone know when these were added? Great touch! You'll need a GreatZo lens to get a good photo of 'em from the station exit.

 

The Rivertown area in general (aside from the tacky games) seemed like it was given a refresh and had an atmosphere that reminded me of Frontiertown at CP. The music, greenery, and farming-esque little things made a difference to me.

 

With about 40 minutes left it was time to get reacquainted with the park's B&M hyper, Diamondback! This ride is the most nostalgic to me since I worked on it the opening year and spend a **LOT** of time riding it, walking around the layout, pressing buttons, cleaning bugs off the teeth, etc. Diamondback looks like it shed its skin with those new seat covers and restraints! Looking as good as it did in 2009. It's just a big 'ol floater air machine going out to the woods and back. What I love most about this ride is how you get different types of floater air -if you have time, ride row 2, 4, 10, and 15.

Row 2 is great because you're out on the edge in the front. Hanging over the first drop 230ft in the air is breath taking and each following hill you're pushed up and over the top and float back down.

Row 4 gives you less of a push over the hills, but more floating over the entire hill.

Row 10 is my favorite for the first drop because it's the perfect spot on the train to get lifted out of your seat. The train no longer relies on the chain lift to get over the hill and you really feel that. It's a middle-back seat so you get all of the floaty-ness with a little more of a pull down each hill.

Row 15 is smoother than 16 which is the only reason why I prefer 16. You get yanked over every hill, you know the drill!

 

While I like Diamondback, Raging Bull, Intimidator, Goliath all the same Diamondback gives me the feels.

 

The ops were all doing a great job running each ride at full capacity and sounding off every half hour/fifteen minutes on their pacing. It was a slowwwww Sunday morning with a threat of rain and everyone was crushing it like they have an incentive of unlimited blue ice cream for the best capacity.

 

Oh yeah, blue ice cream (Smurf cone) is still just as great as it always has been. Don't miss this!

 

KI has really improved at every aspect of a theme park since 2000 and is a must visit park in the USA.

-Zz

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Let's check out one of the newest B&M's in the country! Love the colors and no lines.

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How many Easter Eggs can you find in MT's station?

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Fury 325 or Mystic Timbers? Ride the front seat!

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Great day for a trek through the woods

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Still holding up nicely!

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Pure Cincinnati

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my baybeh

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Winterfest or June, it runs very well

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Must get - Smurf Cone!!! See ya.

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By now it was 10am and the whole park opened, so I went over to the Beast. Skyline Chili, seeing the local MLB/NFL team lose, shopping the world at Jungle Jim's, having a German beer, and riding the Beast in the front seat... it's a must do when in Cincinnati. While the night rides are stellar, the rides during the day are still

 

I consider LaRosa's part of my "must do's" in Cincy but other than that you pretty much covered my list haha.

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Just finished a couple days in the park and had a great time! We got there around 6pm on Saturday, spent that night and all of Sunday in the park, then left around noon today to head north to Sandusky. We were really surprised at how light the crowds were, especially yesterday for the first half of the day. The ops were great and I'm sure that helped.

 

Mystic Timbers seemed to be faster and even better than last year, especially later in the day when it really warmed up. That crew was also doing a great job, as were all of them, but this crew seemed especially good at times. It is a really fun ride!

 

Diamondback in the back row was great. I finally see the awesomeness of this ride.

 

Banshee was great as usual. About the ops, they were up and down. Sometimes great, sometimes just pretty good. But they were always moving.

 

I've had a few night rides on The Beast and they're always good, but this one was the best I've ever had. It's so much fun at night. We got the second to last row at about 11:15 or so and it was plenty dark.

 

Speaking of night rides, do they turn off the lights for the rapids ride later on? We went on Mystic Timbers last night at 10:05 and it would be awesome on a late summer night if they turned those lights off.

 

In all we had a fantastic time, as I always have at this park. It's one of my favorite places to visit.

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Oh yeah, blue ice cream (Smurf cone) is still just as great as it always has been. Don't miss this!

Maybe I'm missing something, but with a Graeter's inside the park, why would you want to eat any other ice cream?

 

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not

 

Preference! I like soft serve and the blueberry vanilla flavor. Graeter's is very good but I wanted something else. I can get Graeters even in Chicago.

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Glad you guys had a good time in what might be my favorite park. I've still haven't tried blue ice cream, yet. Dairy makes me bloated and feeling like shit, despite my love for ice cream.

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  • 3 weeks later...

^They are currently building dorms at Carowinds

 

I must say I had a great first visit at Kings Island last Thursday and Friday. The only thing that would have made it even better is if the weather had been cooler. It was just HOT. We were spoiled at Cedar Point earlier in the week with cooler temps and the breeze off Lake Erie. Both days consisted of mostly walk-ons for most of the coasters. The longest wait I had for anything was 20/25 minutes for Flight Of Fear. The only troublesome one I almost didn't get the credit for was Backlot Stunt Coaster. Everytime I walked by the first day it had just went down. Same thing the next day until after lunch when I hurried up and got on as soon as I went by again and it was running. I will say that ride operations weren't as on point as it was at Cedar Point the prior 3 days. They were pretty good for the most part, but didn't have the same hustle as CP. Since crowds were light, no big deal; just a comparative observation. Food operations were decent since the park wasn't too crowded. I had read stories in here of hour waits for food. I waited maybe 5 minutes at Festhaus and Tom & Che...lol

 

Some quick ride observations (in order of riding):

 

*Firehawk: Definitely better than Nighthawk. No headbanging or shaken to death. Not a top 10 or 50, but re-rideable.

*Vortex: Tear It Down. This was the 2nd most miserable ride experience among my Carowinds, CP, KI & KK trip (T3 worst).

*Beast: Great ride. New #1 woodie. I sat in the middle seat, back car (non wheel). Sadly no night ride (too tired).

*Mystic Timbers: Packs quite a punch. That shed however? Pointless. Maybe if it was at the beginning of the ride?

*Woodstock Express: Just a fun ride like it's siblings at Carowinds and KD.

*Bat: Great suspended coaster. Not as good as BBW was, but much better than Iron Dragon.

*Invertigo: Not bad, not great. Definitely better than the standard sit-down boomerangs I've been on.

*Banshee was great. The only thing keeping it from being my favorite invert are the tightening vest restraints.

*Adventure Express: Enjoyable mine train coaster with unexpected "theming".

*Racer: Great pair of racing woodies. Not as good as Thunder Road to me, but rode fairly smooth.

*Flight Of Fear: Love the one at KD. This one was ok as well...a bit more "jerky" in places. Nothing horrible though.

*Flying Ace Aerial Chase: Better harness than some of it's clones. Still a bit shaky for a kiddie coaster.

*Diamondback: Quite surprising. I have it almost tied with Mako for favorite hyper. Definitely better than Intimidator.

*Backlot Stunt Coaster: Great family ride. It had a few nice surprises as well and was better than expected.

 

*Great Pumpkin Coaster: I was denied for not having a child. I already knew this, but since there was no line I tried. Oh well....lol

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^Beast at #1, from only a day ride in the back car? I like your taste. Yeah, you know the deal about night rides on it, but I have much respect for day rides as well. It still has that dreamlike quality for me in daylight.

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