Kings Island: Memorial Day Weekend.

[rct2wizard360]

Day 1: May 26, 2007

Yesterday I got to the park to get my Maxx Pass at around 4.
This is where they made a very bad first impression...

First off, you have no idea where you need to go to buy or process.
And then even once you buy, the processing line is filled with people who think they are buying tickets, and its just overal chaos. Now an hour and
$120 later, I'm able to go into the park.

I wandered for a little bit before I decided to go on Top Gun. Now the only other Suspended Arrow I've been on is Iron Dragon, but this was so much better than that, but not something I feel I'd need to wait for. It just seemed a bit to short of a ride.

After this after finding three dead ends, and going in a complete circle, I found Italian Job. Now I've been curious about these three slight clones in the Paramount Parks. It wasn't all that spectacular either. Makes a good family-ish style coaster. It's something everyone should try, but once again, not a Top 10 coaster for me.

By this time I was anxious to get to the back area of the park and see if Firehawk had a big line. It looked like it was broken down...but we'll come back to that later.

I decided to get in line for Flight of Fear. Unfortunatley, I waited nearly an hour to get on this thing, and it was in no way worth it. I didn't like it the minute I walked into the queue, but I decided to wait it out. The ride itself is just, rough. The Cobra roll was really rough, and the whole ride felt like the hill after Eagles first drop. Not something worth remembering.

Now here's where my night really began to pick up.

I joined the queue for Firehawk, after what I thought was it broken down, was actually one train sitting dormant in the other side of the dual loading station. Yes...that means it was only running one train. Now this was a very interesting system. They had a line outside of the queue, and they would have a "grouper" who would take a group of people, rile them up and get them excited, let them put stuff in the lockers, and then they got to go in line to a set of about eight queues where once those ended another grouper would send you to the station. Now with a breakdown, this process took three hours. During the break down, the park handled this very well, and gave everyone one of the "Firehawk: First Rider" T-Shirts that people were getting in the morning. And around a half hour after I got my T-shirt coupon, and after nearly three and a half hours waiting. I got on at 11:45. Now having been on a B&M flyer, I didn't think a Vekoma could match it, but man was I wrong. If you ever have a chance to ride a Vekoma Flyer, do it. It's such a weird experience, and you feel like you are going fall out the whole time. It's just so out of control and you can't tell whats coming next. It's such a sweet experience. This definatley made it to my Top 10.

Well...that was only Day 1, and it was half a day.
More to come tomorrow!

Day 2: May 27, 2007

Got into the park at around ten minutes before opening. I walked over towards where Drop Zone is located along with Delerium and Face Off, and they day began.

First coaster of the day was Face Off. I waited one train for the back car facing out, so a new experience I guess. I don't like the size of the restraints, smaller is better. The ride experience itself was really cool, especially going into the loop the way we did. Good coaster overal.

Next I headed over to Drop Zone. Now as most of you know, I'm a big Giant Drop fan, so I was excited to get on this. Now if there is one thing I like about Kings Island, it's that they have large capacity flats, which is what I liked about this. I like the rotating on the ascent, which is very long by the way. It was such a cool experience being so high for a drop tower. Son of Beast's replacement looks just about complete from what I saw. But I didn't like the drop on this at all. It felt like Giant Drop, just spread out over a longer area, because the brakes are pretty high up on this. Giant Drop is still better to me.

Now having been on Max Air, I wasn't expecting much out of Delerium, but man was I wrong. When I got in line, it looked like about a two cycle wait, but with a really short break down, I got right on the next cycle. Now I know it dosen't seem like it, but this is a lot better than Max Air. It has a longer cycle, and you're vertical for a few extra swings. Really really good ride.

We went on the Eiffel Tower after this. I like it a lot better than Sky Trek tower, considering you can stay up as long as you want. Great photo ops too.

From there we went over to Italian Job...same as yesterday.

We went over to Vortex next. I really like the fact that queue goes over the track first, and that they have all the extra queues in the station, such a good idea. I rode in the second to back row, like I do on most Arrow coasters. Now let me say, this is the best Arrow I have ever been on. The loops are so consistent, and the Pretzel is just amazing. Really really good ride.

By now we were really anxious to get our first ride on Beast. Now I've never seen the layout of this at all, I just hear everyone talk about it. The wait was straight through, no extra queues, and about twenty minutes for the front row. This is an amazing coaster, just because of it's length. It's one of my Top 10 woodies, but not one of my Top 10 coasters, because they trim every other hill. But still one AMAZING ride. I might head back and try and get a night ride, but I don't think so.

Now for my last ride of the day. Tomb Raider. Now I had no idea going into this that it was a Giant Top Spin. So it was about a half hour wait, which was totally worth this ride experience, even if I had to see a kid throw up in line. They make this thing do, things that I never thought were possible with a Top Spin. They have you hanging upside down looking at a lake, on your back looking at a cave, it is just SO CRAZY!

Basically, it's a good park, and it's some place everyone should go at least once. It's got a great old atmosphere for the majority of the park. But the employees need to be out showing guests where to go, and the park could use more signs pointing to the general direction of rides. Service is greats, ops are great, and I give mad props to the park for running Firehawk this weekend, even if it only had one train, and they stuck to their word about keeping it open. I'm glad I went on this trip, and I hope you can get out here and check it out sometime too.

[EagleFan344]

I actually thought S:UF was better than X-Flight. VERY close in my opinion. I do like X-Flights layout more though.

[rct2wizard360]

Added Day Two.

[themanoftheland8]

Sounds like you had a pretty good trip. Was most of your day spent walking around? Also, did you have a park map? How long were majority of the waits for the coasters?

I'll be taking a trip down a week from today to visit SFKK, PKI, GL, and CP!!!

[rct2wizard360]

The first night I spent a lot of time walking around, and I didn't stay the whole time the second day.

The waits were really quick for everything but Face Off, Flight of Fear, and of course Firehawk.

[BullInDaBack4Life]

I actually thought S:UF was better than X-Flight. VERY close in my opinion. I do like X-Flights layout more though.

I'm surprised by your opinion. I've seen pictures and read a description of Firehawk/X Flight, and it looks like something that would make people who've been on it bash Superman. I don't know, it just looks like a much cooler ride, like rct2dude said. After all, in the intensity department, Superman isn't much after you pass the pretzel loop and this looks more intense in the long run. And I've read a lot of posts from people saying SUF sucks, but I think that's mainly the ones who have been on Tatsu, which seems to make it look like a kiddie ride by comparison.

[EagleFan344]

^I did think X-Flights layout was better but the restraints were kinda loose and not as comfortable as SUFs. X-Flight does not do much more than SUF anyway, they both have their loop but X-Flight has a double inline twist opposed to a single and has a small helix at the end. I'm not a big fan of either of em.

[rct2wizard360]

I actually enjoyed the loose restraints on Firehawk, it enhanced the flying sensation. Plus from what I can remember, only my feet were loose.

The other reason I like Firehawk more than SUF, is there are Lie to Fly's, which ever since riding Air, I think are what make a Flying Coaster, because being on your back is quite a sensation to.