Probably the most anticipated trip of the 2017 season was my weekend in Mason, Ohio visiting the one and only Kings Island. As a kid I remember watching the various Travel Channel rollercoaster shows that raved about this amusement park. As I grew older, I remember seeing POV's of Diamondback and the Beast through YouTube wishing I had the money to afford a ticket into this thrill seekers paradise. Well the time had finally come and I was more excited than ever. What made this trip even more special was that this year Kings Island was debuting their newest monster, Mystic Timbers. At the age of 25 it is weird for me to admit that I had trouble falling asleep the night before with the excitement that was bubbling up through me. Like a kid the night before Christmas I lay awake thinking of all the possibilities of what surprises awaited me the next morning.
With about 4 hours of light sleep, the sun had risen and the time had come. Except you couldn't really see the sun because of all of the grey cumulonimbus clouds that hovered overhead. Yes, just like every other Spring trip I made in 2017, it was cold with the threat of rain showers. The drive up was a little uneasy with the forecast that was in the cards for Saturday, but this weather threat would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. One of the best presents I opened up that Saturday was the ghost town that was Kings Island. I'm not kidding, there was hardly anyone at the front gate. This damp ugly weather scared off the GP and only the true enthusiast were left standing. As my thrill seeking sister who joined me for the adventure and I entered the park we ran to the first gift shop in sight and bought hoodies, gloves and hats. Our Hawaiian mind set never thought to pack on trips not coats and gloves. We did have near endless supply of flip flops and swim shorts however.
After gathering our souvenirs, we made are way over to Mystic Timbers first. There was one problem, we were walking right past Diamondback a coaster me and my sister had been waiting to ride for years. "We can't just pass this ride up! Look how tall it is!" she argued. All my attempts to persuade her (and myself for that matter) were of no use. So instead, we ventured are way through the queue of Diamondback. We fell in love with this reptile immediately. The only other hyper coaster I had been on before this was Raging Bull and so I was not ready for how awesome sustained floater air is. We rode this rattlesnake two more times before we finally made it to Mystic Timbers. Of course by this time a little bit of a wait had grown in the wood shed forest. Speaking of shed, what was in that mysterious shed that Kings Island had been teasing throughout the offseason? I had avoided POV's, coaster reviews and social media posts about this coaster so that I wouldn't ruin the surprise of was hiding inside. As we strapped into those comfortable trains that are on every GCI (Every wooden coaster needs these), the anticipation grew. We crested the top of the unique lift hill and we raced towards the shed.
"Wait what?"
I won't spoil the shed here, but you will find it on my coaster review later. All you need to know was that reaction to the shed above.
Next coaster on our list was the Beast! For this coaster me and my sister decided to play this great game. It's called "Hands Up, Eyes Closed" (Obviously, we haven't come up with a clever name yet). I hope the rules for this game are self explanatory to anyone reading this. This game is at it's best when you play it on a coaster you are riding for the first time. The one problem with this was, that this would end up being our only ride on the Beast the entire trip. So to this day I have no clue what we did on the Beast. What I do know is, is that I lost because after the first drop I was gripping the handle bars holding on for my life. It was a really fun but sort of painful experience.
At this point I should mention that my stomach was in knots after Mystic Timbers. Why you might ask? Well because I am scared to death of drop towers and I knew that at some point my sister was going to force me on Drop Tower which consists of a 300+ foot rise and then a straight drop to our doom. I figured it would be best to get this terror over with. So I directed us toward the menacing tower. Honestly, I believe I am more afraid of the anticipation of horror than I am of the actual falling. As we rose, I pretended not to be at the brink of s***ing myself from the terror within. "look at the view!" I said when I was really thinking "holy s***! Why am I doing this?" Finally we got to the top and waited for what seemed like a full 60 seconds. I think I yelled multiple times "I hate you Ke'alohi (My sisters name)!"
"Click"
"Oh! My! Ahhhhhhh! God! Ahhh! Yeahhhhhhh!"
My hands immediately go in the air because the wait is over and my adrenaline has kicked in to high gear and now I feel like a bad ass.
And like that it was over. I survived.
Next up was Bat which was my first suspended coaster. Not the most thrilling ride but still fun. Then we headed over to Banshee which had a dreadful, brutal, obnoxious, 5-minute wait. What is so great about Kings Island is that even though the crowds were light, they had a three car operation going and their employees made a serious effort to dispatch trains in under 30 seconds. And they were succeeding. This was a welcomed change from the operations at other parks I had been to (*cough* Six Flags *cough*). The ride itself was really fun and had a nice duration with some forceful elements. My personal favorite is the first drop in the back row. It provides you with some awesome airtime which is a feeling that I am not used to experiencing on inverted rollercoasters.
We took a break to get food and then made our way through the rest of the parks numerous flat rides and rollercoasters.
Delirium - Really fun
Racer - Rough, Painful
Vortex - Well I definitely have a headache now.
Firehawk - Weird. But like a fun weird. Like a "I don't feel safe but I made it out alive so it is cool" weird. Still have that headache.
Adventure Express - Nothing like cresting a lift hill to find out you have made it to the end of the ride.
Backlot Stunt Coaster - Short but the launches are really fun and you pull some serious G's on that first helix.
Invertigo - "Do you think banging my head back and forth against the shoulder restraints will make the pain go away?"
Somewhere between that marathon was the biggest surprise of the day. Flight of Fear! Aside from its intriguing sci-fi theming the ride is an absolute blast! Literally a blast because that launch is fantastic. The best part was how disoriented I was after the cobra roll (At least I think that's what that element was). It took me a bit to figure out if I was upside down or sideways. The ride has some great speed and a nice unexpected corkscrew at the end. This was easily my #2 coaster at Kings Island.
it was only 5 o'clock and we had gone through all of those rides and then some. That should give you some perspective on how light the crowds were. What was even better, was that the sun had made an appearance and all the rain that had been forecasted never came to pass. The temperatures had reached the 60's by this point which made this the most perfect theme park scenario a rollercoaster enthusiast could ask for.
As darkness swept across the park, we made our way to Mystic Timbers which by now had almost an hour wait. I guess the season pass holders realized this would be the perfect night to get some night rides in because the park got noticeably busier as the evening went on. A night ride on Mystic Timbers was intense. The speed you feel as you fly through the layout is a complete rush. I definitely recommend waiting in line to get a night ride on this bad boy. By this time we only had about 30 minutes left, so we decided to ride our favorite Kings Island coaster Diamondback another two times.
This is when the most memorable moment occurred. The clock had struck 10 p.m. as we crested the first airtime hill and all of sudden "boom!" bright flashes of red, green and gold light filled the horizon. The parks evening fireworks show had begun mid-ride on Diamondback. This was a spectacular and surreal scene as each floating hill gave me a birds-eye view of the beautiful display. As we swept through the splash down and into the break run it really hit me. In this moment I realized how perfect this trip was and how lucky I am that God has given me this life and these gifts to enjoy along the way. How fortunate am I to be riding rollercoasters. An experience that many people in this world may never get the chance enjoy in their lifetime. This was a great way to close the chapter on day one. And yes, there is a day two but I think at this point my eyes are getting tired from writing out day one so I will sum up day two in a single paragraph.
In short, day two was just as awesome with multiple rides on Diamondback and Banshee. Crowds were larger so we decided to play the really fun wheel game to win skip the line passes. I spun the wheel and won a ride on Monster and my sister who nearly landed on Winner's Choice, won a skip the line on Backlot Stunt Coaster.
Overall this was a wonderful trip. Hats off to Kings Island who had phenomenal operations and top notch guest service. I will definitely be planning another trip to Kings Island in the future. But right now, I am already building excitement to unwrap the next theme park experience in two weeks at Six Flags Great America
Until then, hang loose!!!
Kalaheo B
