I spent the day at Kings Island today and had a great time at the park. While the first day of the season brought a decent crowd, I was fortunate enough to be able to ride nearly everything in the park that I had my eyes set on, including Diamondback, The Beast, Firehawk, Flight of Fear and Backlot Stunt Coaster. As this was surprisingly my first visit to a Cedar Fair park, I had some mixed reactions about the way some things were run, but I’ll get to that later!
It looks a lot larger in person!
Unfortunately, this was the only time I would see Invertigo operate in the day. My main gripe with the park’s operations was the number of attractions not operating: Son of Beast (obviously), Invertigo, Flying Ace Areial Chase, and one side of the Racer (I’m a stickler for one-side operations). However, I understand this was opening weekend – hopefully many of these will open by the time the summer season really sets in, except Son of Beast.
Diamondback, the first ride of the day, can bee seen here protruding from the treeline.
I was pleased to see that Diamondback still had its new coaster shine!
Prepare for landing and…
…Splashdown!
I’d say that’s a pretty steep drop.
Planet Snoopy or a “Nickelodeon Universe with a new coat of paint.”
No, it’s not warm enough to ride the log flume.
I wonder if these could be recycled.
Don’t disturb the snake!
Who would’ve thought that Kings Island would have the world’s greateast funnel cakes?
Though I passed on taking a spin on “The Crypt,” my friends did not give the ride high remarks. Their complaints were that it was too short. Who knows?
I feel this is a great shot to advertise “Ride Warriors.”
Backlot Stunt Coasters, with newly-disguised cars.
Vortex was an enjoyable Arrow looper, far from the worst I’ve been on!
The corkscrews weren’t nearly as bad as some of Vortex’s sisters.
The ride has a spiffy logo as well, what more could you ask for?
The Beast changed everything I thought I knew about the wooden coaster experience. And after riding it in the dark, I can say with confidence that it is now my number one wooden coaster, bumping Dollywood’s Thunderhead to the number two spot.
She doesn’t know what’s about to happen.
It’s definitely unchained… except for the lifthill. It has a chain.
I’ve always had an interest in Backlot Stunt Coaster – I was excited about riding it and while I wasn’t expecting much, it turned out to be a pretty fun little ride.
This coaster has been Snoopified.
X-Base. Firehawk and Flight of Fear were both great rides but I don’t have a burning desire to reride either of them.
Firehawk is a very photogenic coaster, or that’s what it wants us to believe.
I was assuming it would be similar to the B&M flying coaster but the significant amount of “laydown” time really made this a unique ride experience.
The loop sure threw me for a loop.
Slingshot wanted $20 from me. No thanks.
Vortex seemed to get more orange as the day progressed.
This ride brought back the “holy crap why did I do this?’ moment for me. At what I’m guessing was the 200 foot mark, I began to tell the ride that it was alright to stop. I then realized I wasn’t on Giant Drop or Acrophobia, I was on Drop Tower, and while it might have a painfully generic name, the shock of being 315 feet in the air is not generic at all. Side note: do your feet hurt when you step off the ride or do I have a serious medical problem?
This was a sad sight. It looks like it has the potential to be a fun ride. Hopefully Cedar Fair can pull a miracle and turn it into greatness someday.
After the untimely closure of Big Bad Wolf, I made it a priority to ride one of the few remaining Arrow suspended coasters in the country. Flight Deck was a short but sweet coaster.
Delirium dominates this area of the park.
The sun begins to set over the park and that means it’s time for rerides!
Diamondback was definitely more powerful later in the day!
The Backlot Stunt Coaster was one of the last rides of the day, before another couple of nighttime spins on The Beast.
Overall, the day was a total success. Despite missing a few rides, I felt like I covered all the major parts of the park. The staff was friendly and, for the most part, seemed prepared. I’d say it was a smooth first day of the season, from a guest’s perspective anyway!
Feel free to share your own Kings Island experiences either in our forums or in the comment section below.
My opinions (based on last year):
Diamondback is the best coaster in the park. The Beast is #2 (and my #1 woodie, beating out Thunderhead, Blue Streak, and rough ones like Mean Streak and Gwazi (at Busch Gardens Tampa))
Firehawk: there’s something you should ride at night! I didn’t have time last summer for Flight of Fear.
Vortex: one of the reasons I miss Arrow Dynamics. And a six inversion attraction that wasn’t a B&M.
Flight Deck: I was disappointed. It was surprisingly rough and very short. The Big Bad Wolf (which was torn down) was better, but the best is the Iron Dragon at Cedar Point. You should consider going there sometime.
Backlot Stunt Coaster: Indeed a fun attraction, but could somebody please GIVE IT A BETTER NAME?
Drop Tower: It was an interesting thrill, although I like the Power Tower at Cedar Point and the Tower of Terror at Disneyworld better (those go back and forth while DT just drops).
Son of Beast: I myself have never been on it, and I am angry that they shut this down when it did nothing wrong. The incidents on SoB and Firehawk last year were both results of preexisting conditions, but the latter was reopened the next day! And the woman who called in about SoB did it 16 days after she rode it, meaning that people rode SoB after the date of incident. The ride did nothing wrong but it is being punished as if it beheaded a rider.
I feel my right to ride was violated here.
“Not satisfied with the ride experience?” That’s for the riders to decide, not the operators. If there was a safety concern, things would be different, but the state officials determined the ride was safe. Well, I guess I can never really be a ride warrior.
Everything thing has a limit. There were times on SOB I thought I was going to break a bone. I have friends who have quit jobs to go park hopping and even they say “Ill pass”. Look for a major rework of this attraction before it reopens. But It should reopen.
I live near Kings Island and if you had seen the park in it’s Paramount years you’ll know that Cedar Fair is beginning to pick this park back up. Paramount practically ran it into the ground. I remember when this park was owned by Kings Productions and they and Cedar Point had a great rivalry for new coasters.
I’m sorry you didn’t get to experience Son of Beast. I rode it when it first opened and would only ride it once a season since. That coaster was the roughest woodie I have ever been on and even I was sore after riding (and I ride alot of coasters). Even after the first fixes (speed adjustments) and a major fix (removing the loop and attemtps to smooth the track) the ride was still very rough and manhy people I know would get off of it very sore. I think they tried taking a woodie a bit too far when Son of Beast was built.
Romur here is that Cedar Fair is looking to replace the tracks with a new steel track that is currently being installed at a big woodie (in Texas I think). Hopefully the Son of Beast will be back in the coming years in some form.
And as for Ohio declaring the ride safe, it was….structurally. Unfortunatly test riders where still coming off the ride with some pain.
If you want good coasters go to Six Flags Great Adventure. They have to have the best coaster collection ever. El Toro is my number one woodie ever because of the amout of air time that it delivers. Plus they have Kingda Ka, Nitro, Bizarro, Scream Machine, Superman its a great park overall.
I live 30 miles from Kings Island and have a season pass and have had one for the past 10 years, Son of Beast was a crazy ride and was one that I loved while I was on but hated afterword, As for Chris’ comment about Great adventure, you’ve obviously never been to Cedar Point. Cedar Point is coaster Nirvana.
Kings Island is a park I grew up going to. I remember going there when I was a little tike and Top Gun (flight deck now) was new. It was so exciting as a kid to get to go on a “big” coaster (I was 4, OK). Even then, the best part about the ride was the atmosphere (the music, the station themeing, the treeline). I also remember King Cobra too. That’s something K.I. should look into to: getting a new Stand-Up coaster or better yet, a floorless coaster. There’s hundreds of acres for them to expand, so it’s not like they can’t build it somewhere. Anyways, I love Kings Island and I’m going to miss going there when I move to Connecticut next year. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to live with just Six Flags New England and Six Flags Great Adventure. (Boo hoo moment)
It amazes me with these parks having rides closed when they are first open. These parks wonder why the crowds can be low, and a big reason is because not all the rides are open at the beginning. If you are paying full price, why shouldn’t all the rides be open (except for water rides because it’s freezing out!!).
Opening a new ride for Memorial Day is an idiotic thing. Why wait to get people into your park?? Get more people to work on the new ride or something.
Rain might be a problem, so buy a huge tent and put a truck underneath it so the workers don’t have to stop working. This is for groundwork – NOT for putting up the coaster supports and track.
Very good trip report. I’ve been going to KI for about 11 years now and enjoy the fact that it looks like very much like KD, except for the rides. Agreed: The beast at night is amazing…..The Voyage is even moreso(in my opinion) and hands down, El Toro is the best woodie is this country. Josh: Iron Dragon is terrible, and widely made fun of as “the park’s monorail.” The BBW was well themed and gave a great ride. Top Gun/Flight Deck is okay…Chris: Great Adventure is incredible. The selection is almost unbeatable…El Toro and Nitro make the trip worth it..KK, not so much. Cedar Point’s TTD is soooo much better than KK, and their ride selection is king. Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA has a pretty good assortment of coasters too. Nathan: SFNE and SFGAdv have great rides and with you living in CT, ride Boulder Dash…another night ride that destroys The Beast!
As for SOB….well, I rode it with the loop, then without. It flat out sucked. The height was great, but 78mph in PTC trains didn’t feel so good. 70 mph on an Intamin plug-n-play is glass-smooth, yet powerful and aggressive without any jarring moments. I would rather see KI tear it down and put something better in its place.
I love kings island!!!! I have grown up there. My top three are 1 Diamondback (before you say you dont like it try riding at night, in the front seat now theres a experience) 2. Firehawk (my friends moms face in the pic it takes waz epiv) 3. Delierem (all around great ride) I love rollar coasters. Also Nathen
(person who posted here) they should get a stand up roller coaster like the one at six flags. Every time i go to kings island, i cant help but leaving there with a smile!!!
I love to talk about amusment parks, if you just want to talk email me at [email protected]
Use to take my family to KI many years, its a great park
do they still have a lot of the old rides running.
Now that we live closer to Cedar Point I have not been to Cincy for a while
we really miss Geauga Lake too, sorry that was tore down.
but we really don’t blame cedar fare company for that.
Six Flaggs ran it into the ground before they sold it to cedar fare.
everyone enjoy your summer and keep riding..
I’ve been to KI many years, and I agree that Diamondback is one of the best. SoB was actually my favorite for a while until I rode it in the rain:(. Tomb Raider was pretty cool until they turned it into a kiddie ride. It was soooo much better when it was a show. I got the first glimpse of it when they were building it since my dad programmed it and the ride sequence. Don’t yell at me for ruining the ride! That ride has had many many problems with the motors holding the gondola. Both are undersized, and extremely hard to get in sync. If they aren’t, it puts major stress on the gondola. There was a ride sequence in 2009 that they had for like a month that had a double topspin and a reverse topspin. *Sigh* That ride will never be the same.
Oh, one more thing. Alex Hopkins: there was a stand-up coaster named the King Cobra. They tore it down to put in Delirium, which my dad also programmed. Totally awesome ride, but the brakes are too small for it to go all the way around. THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!