King's Island

Hey from Cincy!

Yesterday we spent the day at King's Island.  It is a very pretty amusement park, which the kids and I rated second only to the Disney Parks. Lou agreed that it was prettier than the non-Disney parks also.  The kids and I rode plenty of rides.  As a matter of fact, I have really started questioning my "love" of roller coasters.  But, duty calls, and i must support the kids by riding with them.  

The first ride we went on was called the "Backlot Stunt Coaster."  This was totally a cross between a Disney and a Universal Studios ride.  It was a smaller ride with a LIM launch, and it combined elements such as gunfire, explosions, and props very close to the track.  It was great, and a nice combination of fun and exciting (a far cry from Cedar Point).  The kids rated this ride a five out of five. 

Then we went on the "The Beast."  This ride has the distinction of being the world's longest wooden roller coaster.  It was a fun ride, and fairly smooth until the 540 degree helix at the end.  That was also the fastest portion of the ride.  I had been hearing of this ride for over 20 years from friends.  I'm glad we went on it.  The kids rated it a 4 1/2 out of five.

After The Beast, we ventured into the "Vortex."  This coaster is very similar to Magic Mountain's Viper, except this one goes upside down six times instead of seven.  It was good, but a bit rough.  The kids rated it a three (joe wanted to give it a 1).

Next we went on "Flight of Fear."  This was another ride that was a "Disney- light" experience.  The premise was that a UFO had been discovered, and we were trying out the smaller flight vehicles from the space ship.  The whole ride was indoors in the dark (think Rock-N-Roller Coaster).   With the 4 inversions, we were all giggly when we same Lou at the exit.  the kids rated it a 4 1/2.

The Sponge Bob 3D movie was the next ride on the docket.  We wanted to do something with Lou.  What made this movie different was that everyone in the audience sat in motion simulator seats.  I believe these seat were designed by the Iwerks corp.  Sponge Bob was hilarious.  The 3D effects were okay, and the motion effects were very good.  Everyone enjoyed this ride.

Lou and I sat out the next ride, "The Racer."  The kids HATED this ride.  They said it was waaaaaayyyyyyy to bumpy.

An All-You-Can-Stomach buffet was next on the menu.  It was a special (only $40 for all of us) so we jumped at the chance.  The food was okay.  Some better than others.  No one got sick from it, so I would rate it, "A Okay."

After lunch, the chilluns rode Danny Phantom, then Avatar.  They loved both.  This section of the park was the best kids area I had even seen.  

"Invertigo" had been calling the kids' names all day.  This was an inverted face=to-face coaster which went upside down three times, then did it all again in reverse.  TREMENDOUS!!!  One of the best rides I had ever been on.  It rated a five plus from the kids.

Of course, everyone except Lou had been eyeing "Son of Beast" all day.  This is the world's tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world.  It used to have loop (that's right) until there was some accident involving the loop last year.  The Loop was the only reason I wanted to experience it, but the kids still wanted to do it, so I had to, also.

Man, this ride was SHAKY!!!!!!  I rode next to Joe (and had to hold onto him) and behind Alison (she made me hold onto her for the first drop).  I'm sure this would have ben rough enough had I bed able to hold on for myself.  However, I had to hold both of the kids and wasn't able to brace myself.  IT WAS ROUGH!

The Water Park was up next.  Lou stayed in the car and the kids and I went for some water fun.  I sat out everything.  The water park offered the standard fare, except for a pipeline simulator.  When the kids found this, they parked themselves on it.   Joe did really well on it.  Alison, not so much, but she kept trying.  It was a blast to watch them on it.

finally we went back into the regular park and rode on a river rafting ride.  Blah.  We got wet. Blah.

For dinner, we ate at Steak'nShake.  It was okay (the shakes were tasty).  The portions were smaller than Lou had anticipated.  But hey, this was some local fare, so we had to try it.

-Dave 

Most of the links weren't working, so I'll fix them tomorrow.