Welcome back to RCPro: Blogged for part two of my Kings Island trip report! If you haven’t checked out the photo part (part one) of my report yet, there will be a link at the bottom of this post to take you there. I also apologize in advance for the length.

Kings Island is a great park that I always look forward to visiting, and I was very excited to get back down to ride Diamondback some more. But beyond the great ride lineup, the park is one of the most beautiful I have ever been to, and I am very happy to see that Cedar Fair is keeping up the natural beauty…for the most part. The entrance plaza as International Street is the most impressive I have seen yet, and the fountains are really what make it great. Enough about the entrance plaza though, and back to my trip report.

After a two and a half hour drive we (my mom and I) pulled up to one of the parking lot gates to find them still closed at 8:25. This was a surprise for us, since we are so used to Cedar Point’s toll area being 24/7, but it wasn’t really a problem. The parking lot opened up a few minutes after 8:30 and we went off to get a spot. This lead to the first problem of the day, figuring out the parking lot. Now if you have been to Kings Island, you know that the parking lot is extremely large and sprawling, and can get confusing pretty quickly. Even though I have been to the park several times I have only driven there and had to park once, and I had the flow of traffic to follow to make things easier to figure out. This time, however we were way ahead of the rush of people, so we were in a completely empty lot that had no one directing traffic and no real signage to mark the different parking areas. The fact that they have four distinct parking areas, none marked very well, led to my mom driving around very confused for about five minutes while I tried to help her figure out where she wanted to go (the Gold Pass parking since we have Platinum Passes). So here we encounter problem number one: the parking lot is in desperate need of signage or traffic direction.

Now that we have our parking spot, we walked the rather long walk up to the front gate area. Once again, getting here early made for more confusion and discussion between us on what needs to be done. Once again, the issue is a lack of signage/personnel directing guests, but I’ll talk about the negatives of the trip at the end. Fast forward to 9:30 and its time for a half hour of ERT on Diamondback (and Beast) for pass holders, and thankfully the entrance setup for this is similar to Cedar Point, which I feel works very well. We were one of the first people through the choke point, and third and fourth in line for Diamondback. After a few minutes at the ride entrance waiting for testing to get done we were on the first ride of the day in the second row. Let me just say that this ride is pure perfection in almost every way! Being the first ride out meant that the trim brake on the hill before the mid-course barely touched the train, and the airtime on that hill is just great. Of course we took advantage of the entire half hour at Diamondback and got three more rides, making it four in a row to start the day. Talk about getting off to a great start! My mom can’t power-ride like she used to, so she took off to take a break and I left Diamondback to ride the rest of the rides.

The first ride I decided to go to was The Crypt. I haven’t been on this since way back in 2004 or 05, so I was curious to see how things were holding up. I knew that the ride cycle had been changed since Cedar Fair took over, but I was not aware that a full-scale decimation of the ride had taken place. Walking through the line everything appeared unchanged, which I was glad to see. I was shocked to find the giant Buddha statue missing in the preshow room, though, replaced by some hideous bat-like creature, and the rolling doors on either end of the room gone. I was really taken aback and disappointed by this, but was still hopeful for the actual ride, so I walked on and got ready to have fun, or at least that’s what I was hoping. I noticed there was still some temple themeing that I could see up towards the top of the building, so I was thinking that maybe the ride experience was going to be similar. I should have known better than that, though, as we all know Cedar Fair seems to have a general disdain for themeing and ride experience in that regard. I ended up riding a painfully short, uninterestingly tame ride that, quite frankly, was a horrible waste of about seven minutes. Once again, I’ll leave my ranting until the end. Unfortunately the very negative experience and thoughts I was left with after riding The Crypt stuck with me for the entirety of the day. Next up was Flight Of Fear, which amazingly has retained a majority of its themeing from what I can tell, or at least that which isn’t related directly to Paramount. The ride is fun, but the mid-course kills the ride for me and keeps it from being one of my favorites. Still its always worth riding as long as it’s about a 45 minute wait or less, and I only waited about twenty five.

After Flight of Fear I turned left and walked into the line of one of my favorite rides in the park, Firehawk. This is where I think I’ve managed to keep somewhat more of a “GP mindset” in regards to liking rides because I absolutely love Firehawk, whereas it seems that a majority of enthusiasts can’t stand the ride. I feel the ride’s restraints are fine, and the ride experience is unique and fairly thrilling, especially during the loop and the consecutive barrel rolls. The family of three I rode with (it was their first time) seemed to enjoy it just as much as I did, and made my flight that much more enjoyable. The day is going pretty well, the Crypt problem aside, and I am really eager to check out Boomerang Bay, as I haven’t been to the water park side since 2000, when I waited three and a half hours for Son of Beast, but that is a completely different story.

I had one thing on my mind going into Boomerang Bay, ride the full-size ProSlide Tornado. So after finding some chairs to use I was off across this ridiculously spread out water park towards Tazmanian Typhoon, at the far end of course. I have been on a smaller variation of the Tornado slide at Kalahari in Sandusky, but was excited to get on the full size model. I am happy to say that I was not disappointed, and I would have gladly jumped back in line had I not noticed another attraction right next to me, Pipeline Paradise, an outdoor wave set. I went to Kalahari five times last year just for their FlowRider, so I was not about to miss out on this chance to get back on a wave machine. The main wave on this felt surprisingly stronger to me, and both attempts I only lasted about 5 seconds. The entry is also a lot more awkward compared to the FlowRider at Kalahari in my opinion, since you only have one small point to get on the wave compared with being able to jump into the middle of the wave if you want to at Kalahari. I had fun, but was obviously rusty on the body board, and unfortunately didn’t have all day to spend getting my skills back and impressing a few girls. Instead I walked back towards the lounge chairs and decided to do one last body slide before lying out to dry off. Although I only spent about two hours in the water park on three attractions I would say it is a great bonus to an already great park and is worth taking a few hours out of your day to enjoy.

After changing back into my shorts and shirt I realized I was really hungry, and when you’re hungry at Kings Island there is one place to go, LaRosa’s Pizza on International Street. This is some of the best pizza I have ever had, no questions asked, and a trip to the park without some LaRosa’s pizza isn’t really a trip at all. So one slice of glorious pizza and one strawberry milkshake later it is time for a spin on Adventure Express, a surprisingly thrilling Arrow mine ride with an ending that always makes me laugh. This is a ride that is always on my must ride list. Top Gun Flight Deck was next up, and one that I really did not appreciate until last summer when I took my first ride in the back tub of the ride. Let me tell you, my opinion on the ride changed dramatically. In the front the ride isn’t much better than Iron Dragon, but in the back it’s a completely different ride. Back Lot Stunt Coaster is another coaster that can be a pleasant surprise, with its quick turns and constant speed. The effects at the second launch have also thankfully been maintained, and it is still hot as ever when the flames start going off. Always a delightful ride experience, and one I think a lot miss out on because it doesn’t go very high.

A trip to Kings Island would be incomplete without a ride on the Beast, no matter how much I really don’t like it. That’s right, it really isn’t that high up on my likeable rides list. In fact, I was extremely disappointed I wasn’t riding Son of Beast at all more so than I was looking forward to riding Beast. It really wouldn’t be as bad if they didn’t trim it to death, bring it back to life, and then trim it to death again. The roughness would be an almost non-issue for me if the trims didn’t take away almost all of the thrill of the ride. As it stands right now, I can’t consider it a great ride, no matter how historic it may be. History doesn’t get a ride many, if any, points in my book. After having my obligatory ride on the beast I decided that I couldn’t pass up Racer. I think the main reason I like Racer since the red side got turned around is that it is pretty much a larger version of Blue Streak, just without as much airtime. Regardless it was a fun ride, and the red side won, which is how it should always be.

With all of my required riding out of the way, it was time to start taking some pictures. I worked my way back to Diamondback, but had to stop at the 80s show for a few pictures. What can I say? I’m an absolute sucker for 80s music. Once I got back to the exit of Crypt to get some pictures of the back half of the ride I noticed that a train had stopped on the midcourse. The first thing I did was finish taking the pictures I wanted to and then walk rather quickly over to the entrance. Of course as is usually the case half of the line had emptied and there was a short line forming at the entrance. Within five minutes the ride was back up and running, and I was on in another twenty minutes for my fifth ride of the day. Next up was a ride that I have actually never bothered to ride for no real reason at all, Drop Zone…I mean, Tower. My first thought once the ride started was “What did I get myself into!?” The car got to the top and I counted to seven, and then it dropped…and it was great! Far better than the drop side of Power Tower, and I am definitely willing to wait to ride that again. I really can’t believe I have been missing out on it all these years.

By the time I got off of Drop Tower it was eight, and time for two hours of nothing but Diamondback, which ended up being three more rides, bringing me up to eight on the day. To make a long description short, this ride is the absolute object of perfection, keeping you hovering out of your seat for most of the time while not throwing you violently against the lap bar. Night rides are also a different kind of experience as well, with an entirely pitch black back half of the ride. I just cannot say enough good things about this ride, as each car seems to provide just a slightly different ride. If you haven’t gotten a chance to ride it and you can make it out to Kings Island, do so because you will not be disappointed!

Before I end this trip report, I have to take some space to talk about things that definitely need some addressing, not the least of which is the neutering of The Crypt, but I’ll start at the beginning of the day. The parking lot, which I mentioned before is in need of either signage or consistent, reliable traffic direction from employees, neither of which was there. Despite operations being improved across the board inside the park it seems to stop just inside the front gate. The only parking area that is close to clearly marked is the preferred parking area, other wise you could be stuck for several minutes figuring out where you can park. Now inside the park we have the Crypt...which is now a sad excuse for a ride. Having ridden it while it was Tomb Raider I was entirely let down by a park that otherwise is top notch, and it really is noticed by a lot of guests. About half of the riders on my ride got off going “What happened to the ride? That sucked, it used to be really cool.” If they’re going to kill the ride, at least do it properly and remove everything, because leaving fragments of the former experience visible and in tact further detracts from the experience. A ride in the dark with little to no effects is ok, even if the ride was once an amazingly well done experience. But a ride that was once a great experience that is left half in tact leaves a bad impression, and I saw it with about twenty riders. I know the theme has no chance at coming back, its Cedar Fair after all, so it would be best to just get the rest of it out. The ride cycle is a completely different situation, and if the ride can’t be thrilling in a non-themed environment, then is it really worth having it there? It just seems that the ride is unfortunately heading for Disaster Transport status, which is really sad, especially for something that was such a solidly good ride experience. This is the one thing at the park that makes me hang my head in disgust and dismay because it is so inconsistent with the rest of the park experience.

All of my gripes with The Crypt aside, I really did have a wonderful day. Of course, eight rides on Diamondback could make even the worst of days bearable. I am glad to see that as a whole the park is holding up very well despite the lack of the former Paramount related themes that added to the park experience. The landscaping remains just as good, and as I said, operations have greatly improved. Kings Island is always a fun park to visit, and I had a generally pleasant visit with good food and fun rides. Once again, sorry for the extremely long report. I hope you enjoyed the report and the pictures. Until next time sit down, strap in, and hold on!

Click here to check out my pictures from the trip.