I was just at Kings Island a week ago, but at the moment my choices for roller coaster entertainment are somewhat limited. Accordingly, since the park really doesn't change a lot in a week (particularly a week of non-operation!) I'm not going to re-hash the whole park again this time. But there are a few things worth noting that I didn't get to last time.
I was a bit later getting to the park this time, so I had to park in the not-at-all-preferred spaces just below the Great Big Sign™. I dumped all the change out of my pockets and proceeded to the main gate [Footnote 2]. This time I counted. There are twenty-four magnetometers, and they have completed the fencing between the units that was missing last week. Last week they had pushed the bag tables into the gaps between the units which was really convenient for passing cameras and stuff through; with the fence the tables were pulled back a little, making for a slightly longer reach. I still think this addition is an expensive mistake. I was happy to see, though, that there is an official list of prohibited items. It's not published to the public, but it was laying on the end of the table and nobody seemed to mind me looking it over as I entered the secure zone.
Once inside the park, I started a circuit. Flying Eagles was a good place to start. With a bit of bouncing and snapping I could feel my long dormant flying skills returning after their winter hiatus. Speaking of hiatus, Tomb Raider was actually functional when I walked by. I noticed the spelling error on the warning sign still has not been fixed [Footnote 3].
As I worked my way around the park, I noted the new meet-and-greet service for Scooby Doo fans, and I noted the long line for the new dark ride. I figured I'd return later. Instead I headed over to The Beast, which had a line extending out of the station and partway down the entrance ramp. As expected, with all riders expected to go up the right-hand side of the ramp in order to accommodate the presently-disused Gold Pass entrance on the left, the left-hand side became the preferred path for queue jumpers. The park needs to either put a gate at the bottom of the ramp so that when the gold pass entrance is closed people can go up both sides, or the railing in the center of the ramp needs to be turned into a big nasty fence.
From The Beast I went on to ride Vortex and Flight of...wait a minute, why are all these people coming out at once? Once again, I managed to arrive at Fort Cooper just as the ride went down mechanical.
Okay, so I'll ride the Racer instead. Again, the lap bars have not been fixed, but this time after the attendant checked it, I hooked up a safety belt to keep from repeating last week's incident. The recaR was still not operating, but there was a train in the station...a significant improvement over last weekend when neither train was present. Someone told me later in the day that one train was operating backward on the recaR later in the day.
The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company is coming along, with corrugated galvanized sheet metal siding about to cover the gable on the front of the Oktoberfest Gardens building. Corrugated galvanized sheet metal siding? Is Kings Island now taking design advice from Cedar Point?
Adventure Express was my next stop. No real changes to report here, but as I was standing on the loading platform I looked over and saw the Delirium tub go flying through the air. But something didn't seem quite right. Ten seconds later, it whizzed through the air again and I realized what was wrong: legs. There weren't any. The ride was running, but either it was filled with attendees of a double-amputee convention, or it was running empty. Logic, of course, dictated the latter, and on a third look I noted that the ride was indeed empty.
I took a quick trip through the Action Zone, and declined to wait in the very long line for Son of Beast, still running the not-yet-modified Train #1. Delirium was operating, but not carrying riders. It looked to me like they were having problems getting the ride to center itself for unloading. You would think that it would center itself if the motors kicked into freewheel, but apparently it isn't quite that well balanced. Interesting.
Leaving the Action Zone I cut through the Festhaus and verified that the menu has not changed in there...still bad pizza, bad burgers, and a couple of expensive deli sandwiches. Kings Island has a corporate chef this season, and I am expecting good things to come from the various food joints, but clearly he hasn't had a chance to fix the menus just yet. As I came out, I noticed that the Viking Fury was out of service as well as Delirium, leaving both pendulum rides out of service [Footnote 4].
I finally got my Flight of Fear ride. I had to stand in a long line to do it, though, waiting through most of the queue house. I noticed that during the "Imagine a world..." segment of the preshow video, there are a couple of speakers near the South side of the flying saucer that are running about two seconds out of sync with the show. Very odd. But the important thing I noticed is that THE ANNOYING RUMBLE IS GONE!!! Praise the Lord! For two full seasons now the ride has been fun to ride, now it isn't such a chore to wait in line for it anymore!
There is another neat change on Flight of Fear. It has a new on-ride photo system this year. Now, all riders are digitally positioned in the front seat of a car, riding with a pair of "greys" sitting behind on the photo. It's very cool-looking. If I'd gotten a good photo I might have bought one.
I guess this was the time for me to wait in lines. After Flight of Fear and another Flying Eagles ride where I put on a more impressive air show, I finally opted to wait for Scooby's new dark ride. I almost didn't make it into the car. I think they need to adjust the rail that opens the cars so that they get returning riders out of the cars earlier. Anyway, I was asked to investigate the possibility that the #3 gun in my car was "dead". It was, worse than the one I had last week. But the center gun worked well, and I scored more than 1,100 points. 8-)
As long as I was waiting in long lines, and since I was by myself, I took advantage of a small crowd at Ghoster Coaster and took my once-or-twice-a-year ride on that thing. I have lost a little weight but it didn't make it any easier to get into or out of the car. But I do have some good news about this thing. The brakes on the ride have somehow been adjusted so that they are far less sudden than they were in the past.
8 pm was coming fast, so I took a ride on The Beast, then decided to end my night on my favorite flat ride in the park, the Flying Scooter. It was overcast and grey all day, and the crowd was bigger than it was last Sunday. But there was no rain, it was warm, and it was a great time to be in the park.
Hmmm...I guess I'll probably be back there again next week.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Footnote 1: ...'Cause it ain't got that swing. You'll see soon enough. [Return to text]
Footnote 2: In Kings Island's case, "main gate" is appropriate as there is a second public entrance leading directly into the waterpark. [Return to text]
Footnote 3: There is no "a" in "turbulent". [Return to text]
Footnote 4: It don't mean a thing...[Footnote 1] [Return to text]
--DCAjr
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