TR: Kings Island 5/13/2012

[sharondbond]

TR: Kings Island, Sunday May 20, 2012

They say that Mom should get to do what she likes on Mother's Day, so
I did.

Since hubby Matt was off doing the 2nd day of the TOSRV bike ride, son
Ben and I went down to KI for a few hours. So we all got to experience
the steady light to medium rain in the southern half of Ohio. We got
there at 10:00 and there weren't too many cars in the parking lot. On
the way in I saw they were promoting the new Fun Perks program for
gold pass holders, so we picked up a brochure and I'll register our
cards soon. It seems like a program to earn rewards as you buy stuff
at the parks. We'll see how long it takes to earn something like a
free Fast Lane pass.

After stopping in the entrance/exit gift shop to buy ponchos, the
first thing we did was the Eiffel Tower just to see what might not be
running. It appears that the major off-season maintenance activity was
repainting. Invertigo is sporting a new paint job, possibly also
Beastie, and lots of buildings have been freshened up. The op in the
elevator said that they also replaced a large amount of track and wood
on the Beast.

From there we headed into Planet Snoopy to ride Flying Aces/Reptar but
it was closed. The Kite Eating Tree was open, so we got our own
personal ride on it. Everything at the park that day was walk-on,
unless you wanted a specific seat. We wanted to ride Surf Dog/Avatar
but it was closed. Which was surprising, because Ben and I also went
down to KI about 4 or 5 years ago on a rainy chilly day in June, and
it was running then (and throwing off water in big arcs as it turned -
that may be in my trip report from back then.)

We then headed to Rivertown but Ben wanted to ride the log flume (Race
For Your Life.) I started to look for all the Fast Lane lines. For the
most part, they are going to route those people through the exit
areas, similar to the special gold pass member lines they’ve had
before. But since no one had to use FL, we didn't see any of them in
action. It also seemed like they weren't promoting the program that
much. The signage at the gate was still for ticket purchase and season
pass purchase/processing, but no big signs about where you could
purchase FL wristbands (or I missed it.) Instead, it appears that you
could/need to buy them at one of the souvenir shops - all the ones I
saw had *small* signs about buying FL wristbands there. So if you
decide you want one when you're actually in the park, there are
numerous places to get them.

Ben didn't get very wet on his ride in his own personal log, so next
we walked on to Diamondback. All trains at that point were leaving
with empty seats. It's so much fun to ride it but not when you are
getting blasted in the face by rain drops. We chose the last row and
the ride hasn't changed - still glass smooth with tons of air time.
And this time, pain :-) The water level in the old lake was high due
to rain - it was level with the track. So there were awesome
splashdowns and if you were in the back and held out your arm, you'd
get soaked up to your elbow. But that didn't matter because I got
completely soaked on the other side too throughout the rest of the
day.

Ben said he'd ride White Water Canyon as his last ride, and we skipped
the train at that time and went on to Beast (and the Crypt is still
closed.) For this, we did wait 3 trains to get the front seat. Our
train was just me, Ben, and 2 other kids. There is lots and lots of
new support wood and new track work. It is there on a lot of curves,
the areas after curves, and brake runs. And it looks like the majority
of track and support wood has been replaced in the helix tunnels but
someone else will have to ride it multiple times to get a better
report of exactly where the new stuff is.

When we got back to the station, if we wanted to just ride again we
could either stay seated if no one else wanted our seats or just
switch to another open seat. Since this ride also involved facial
pain, we declined the option and headed back out. Ben didn't want to
ride the Backlot Stunt Coaster and we headed toward Windseeker, and
found it wasn't operating. On the way back through Coney Mall, we saw
that the ball toss into various glasses was now Angry Birds themed and
told the op we'd be back at the end of the day.

Ben convinced me to go on the swings, so we did and it was the wettest
ride of the day. Because water accumulates on the top, then spills out
in waterfalls when it starts running, when the ride motion causes it
to dip on your spot, and as it comes to a stop. But the ride ops were
having fun with it "Hi, welcome to the wave swinger, which is now a
water ride which will begin.... just about now!”

Then we did the bumper cars, but it didn't seem like the cars were
running very well. They probably need to devote a little maintenance
time to them. Some were not steering very well and some were
incredibly slow. After I rode once and Ben rode twice, we headed up
through the rest of Coney Mall. By this time, it was still only about
11:30am. We skipped Racer, which was only running the far side, and
Adventure Express.

Ben wanted to ride Thunder Alley, but it was closed (not a surprise).
We did Flight Deck and for some reason, it did not get a new paint
job. You can barely tell what the old color of the track was. I think
they might be just letting it go completely grey. In the rain, it was
swinging incredibly well - I think that's the best swinging we've
experienced on it.

Then it was just before noon and we were hungry and started heading
toward the buffet in Rivertown. But then Ben realized that they have
LaRosa's pizza at the Festhaus and we both wanted to sit inside, so we
changed and went there instead. They have ready-made sandwiches as
well, and they're not bad.

After lunch (at which we ran into neighbors from our street), we
decided to do the Angry Birds game, and the op recognized us and said
"You're back!" Ben was successful at getting 1 of his 6 balls into a
red colored cup, so he won a small red bird. He wanted to get into the
gold cup and win a large black bird but he was cool with winning
something. After we were done, a family with 2 kids played and neither
of them won anything, so it's harder than it looks.

We walked back over to White Water Canyon and Ben rode twice in a row.
You could stay on as long as you wanted. I had no money to blast him
with the water cannons, darnit. They've cleaned back the brush on the
hillside so you can easily see down to the cannons. After WWC, I
wanted to ride the train so we did that, then Ben wanted to test out
the full capabilities of his rain poncho, so he rode Race For Your
Life again and did the water play walkthrough.

Sharon (and then we left and were headed back home at 1:45 with the
car heater blasting) Bond

[Surf Dance Chris]

Sounds decent. I haven't been back to KI since the Con in 2007, but
its actually one of my favorite parks. I love the Beast. Can't wait to
ride Diamondback one day.