Back to the Trip Report Archive
Back to Dave's Adventures
Back to Dave's page.
"It's a little chilly up here!"
It was raining when I left Columbus, so I wasn't in any real hurry to get to Kings Mills. I thought Kings Mills had been annexed into Mason, but apparently the message has not reached the folks at Accu-Weather who still offer forecasts for Kings Mills. Anyway, things didn't look good until I crossed the Warren County line, at which point the sky cleared and I had beautiful weather for the rest of the day.I entered the park and went in the usual direction. The park was more crowded than on my previous visits, and after a couple of rides on the Flying Scooter, the line was getting out of hand. But it was there that I met up with...er...James, I believe, and his buddy, Silent Todd.
The Beast delivered the best ride I've had on it all season. I don't know what has changed, but it is running better. Maybe I just got a better train this time around. In any case, I missed out on the jackhammering that characterized my rides on it a month ago.
The three of us adjourned to the waterpark. Please forgive me, I don't remember the new names for anything. But they really have done a nice job with the place. It is still not particularly shady, but on this sunny afternoon that wasn't a huge problem. In fact, the wind was more of an issue, as we climbed the tower to ride the Big New Attraction. This is a Proslide creation which uses cloverleaf rafts for a trip down an enclosed chute and into a giant funnel. It turned out to be a pretty fun ride, with actually a little bit of weightlessness on the high points of the funnel. Not having to carry the gigantic tube up the tower is a nice bonus. But while the air was warm, the wind made me think twice about climbing the tower. Instead, I opted for the wave pool.
Kings Island's wave pool is as it has always been: too shallow to swim in (if it is 6'0" deep, then why can I, at 5'12" tall, stand on the bottom and only have water up to my neck?) and with a wave action that barely qualifies as "waves". I hung out in the warm water for a cycle or so, then grabbed my shirt and towel. See? I really DO know where my towel is.
I spent some time watching the surfers on the FlowRider. It used to be called "Wipeout Beach." There seems to be a double standard at work here. People call us strange for spending time honing our skils on the Flying Scooter. Meanwhile, over in the waterpark, there are people who invest in their own FlowRider boards and related equipment and spend their whole day getting roughed up by that thing...nobody seems to think THOSE people are "strange"...!
I wandered through the rest of the waterpark. There isn't a lot more shade, but there is a lot more water. There is a new lagoon where kids can play in a foot and a half of water while their parents lounge in the deck chairs in the perimeter of the pool. Behind that lagoon is one of those ubiquitous climbing structures with the slides on the back and the dumping bucket on top.
In all, what Kings Island has done is to completely change the concept of their waterpark. What was originally designed to mimic the traditional amusement park, only with water slides instead of traditional rides, has been re-tooled to function more like a public pool, where the focus is primarily on hanging out by the water. The difference is striking, and from the looks of the people in the waterpark, apparently much appreciated.
Back in the ride park, I got back to (what else?) riding. Beastie's back seat was roped off, probably because it is simpler to just close it entirely than it is to explain to a kid that he can ride in this train, but not that train. Anyway, I rode in the last available seat. In many ways, it's the best wood coaster experience in the park, but I still prefer the Sea Dragon.
Vortex is back up to full strength, running all three trains, unlike Adventure Express which is still short one. Also at full strength, unfortunately, was the Flight of Fear queue, so I missed out on riding that one.
Over in the Paramount Action F/X Theater (not to be confused with the Paramount Theater which was extensively overhauled this season [Footnote 1], Spongebob Squarepants has been joined by another Iwerks ridefilm. While Spongebob still plays in the left-hand theater, the right-hand theater is now showing...er...wait a minute, that can't be right, can it?
(user looks at the sign again to be sure)
Apparently it is. Surprisingly enough, the new film in the right-hand theater is, "Days of Thunder." That film is notable for two reasons, first because it was the original film for which the theater was built, second because it was the first Iwerks ride film to intentionally violate the single-point-of-view rule. It's worth noting that breaking that rule was so successful that the Spongebob movie follows the rule exactly.
A front seat ride on Racer was the best ride I have had on Racer this season. I'm not sure if it is running better, if it gives a better ride in the front, or if it is because I chose the train wisely. Perhaps further study is called for.
I finished my day with rides on Top Gun, and...yes, I'll admit it...with an almost-no-wait ride on Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster. Beware if you ride that one that the first trim brake hits REALLY HARD. Fortunately there are no rough edges on the seat!
In all, it was an interesting day at Kings Island. I do think the "new" waterpark is a significant improvement, one that should be quite successful this season.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Footnote 1: Refer to my trip report from 04/18/2004. [Return to Text]
--DCAjr
Back
to Trip Reports 2004
Back to
the Trip Report Archive
Back to Dave's
Adventures
Back to Dave's page.
