Coasterstock Day Two

Wow, it has been over four months since I last wrote in this blog. I am not happy about that as I enjoy sharing with you my amusement park experiences. This post has actually been written for a while now I just haven't had the time to finalize the post. Please keep reading as I plan to post more topics to this blog in the future. 

Coasters in Paris, err I mean Kings Island

It is now time to blog about my second day at the Kings Island Coasterstock event. The second day of the event offered an hour of ERT in the morning on Flight of Fear, Firehawk, and Racer 
starting at 9:00 am. I made the trip to the park solo since Ashley wanted to sleep in. I can’t say that I blame her 
although, for me, nothing wakes me up better than riding 
coasters early in the morning. I arrived a little before 9:00 
am.

I met up with Derk inside the park and we rode Flight of Fear 
twice. This ride always seems to have a long line due to its low 
capacity but it really is a fun coaster. It has a forceful 
launch into darkness as it sends you through three inversions 
and many twists and turns. We then rode Firehawk a flying 
coaster that is very intense. The coolest element on the ride 
for me is going up the lift hill on your back and then being 
flipped into a flying motion 100 feet off the ground. This is 
quite the thrill. I gotta say I am normally not afraid of any coaster but Firehawk is downright extreme and puts a little lump in my throat every time I ride it. I will go as far and say it is probably the most intense coaster I have ever ridden.

Flight of Fear (left) & Firehawk (right) credit Rik Engelen rcdb.com

  
Then we decided to take a ride on the legendary Racer roller 
coaster. They stopped us on the lift hill for what seemed like 
forever. I am still not sure what happened. Racer really is a 
great wooden coaster with nice pops of airtime and minimal 
roughness. I hope they keep this coaster for many years to come. 
I am pretty confident they will since it has been a staple in 
the park for so long. Fun fact: The Racer roller coaster was showcased on The Brady Bunch Show in 1973.

The KI Iconic Racer credit Rik Engelen rcdb.com

   
It was now right at 10:00 am so the park was officially open. We 
made our way over to Vortex and grabbed the first ride of the 
day. In fact, we rode in the front and were the only people on the entire train. Sadly being the only ones on the ride was the most exciting part of the ride. While Vortex may look like a great roller coaster it really is not, unfortunately. It is very rickety and rough and is only good enough to ride once. It was once the only coaster in the world with six inversions.

Cool looking entrance

Looks are deceiving on this one

  
We decided to walk over and ride the Beast a few times. This 
ride is such a classic even in the daylight. We then made our 
way over to Diamondback and there was basically no line. It was 
at this point I knew that the park wasn’t going to be busy 
today. We rode Diamondback 5 times within the hour. It really 
amazed me how the park went from INSANELY busy the previous day 
(Saturday) to extremely low crowds on Sunday. This put a smile 
on my face however, knowing that I would get a lot of rides in 
today.

My face when there are no lines

Diamondback in all its glory

Now this is what I am talking about!

I went to pick up Ashley shortly after 11:00 am from the hotel. 
We went back to the park to have lunch which was provided by 
Kings Island for the event. Lunch included hot dogs and 
hamburgers as well as blue ice cream for dessert! I was so 
excited that I ate two of them. Blue Ice Cream is a phenomenon 
that must be experienced sometime in your life. It is delicious.

We love Kings Island

I am happy

It was now time to get to riding again so we started off with 
Surf Dog a fun ride that goes back and forth while spinning 
slightly over a small hill in the middle. Diamondback was up 
next with a wait of 10-15 minutes! It sure beats the hour plus 
lines it was yesterday. We then rode Beast, Stunt Track, Racer, 
Adventure Express, Viking Fury, and Banshee. That was 8 rides in 
a period of a few hours.

This is not a dog nor does it surf

Skloooooosh!

It was at this point Ashley was getting tired and decided to go 
back to the hotel. I was all jacked up on Mountain Dew (not 
really) so I went and rode more rides. I mean I had to take full advantage of minimal lines! I got back to back rides in on the Bat mostly because it takes what feels like an hour to walk back to. This is a fun coaster with nice speed. I just wish it were longer. 

To the batmobile, err coaster bat car

Bat with Banshee doing its thing in background

I met back up with Derk again and we went and rode Invertigo an 
inverted coaster that goes forwards and backwards through a 
series of three loops forwards and three backwards. It is quite 
an intense ride. The seats also face each other so you get to 
see the people’s reactions in front of you as you ride. We 
managed to sit in front of this older guy and his facial 
expressions during the ride were quite amusing. It looked like 
he was about to hurl with his eyes closed the entire time. Thank-you older guy for not puking on Derk and me.

Invertigo credit Rik Engelen rcdb.com

Next up we got in back to back rides on Banshee. Again, the 
lines were minimal so we took full advantage. We then made our 
way down the Coney Island Mall area of the park and rode some 
rides I had never ridden at the park before. We rode the 
Scrambler and Shake Rattle and Roll both of which are fun flat 
rides. We took another ride on Stunt Track followed by 
Windseeker. Windseeker may not be very fast and thrilling but if 
you are scared of heights this ride is not for you. I am semi-
scared of heights and I still ride it though. It is nice being 
300 feet in the area soaring above the park.

A little Shake, a little Rattle, a little Roll

It was now after 7:00 pm and I was getting hungry. I didn’t 
really want to grab a full dinner so I settled for my park 
staple when I need food: the Pretzel. For the price (around $5) 
this is a good item to eat. I also paid $4 for a 32oz drink 
because I was thirsty and I wanted a soda. The sad thing is, is 
that I actually had a $.99 refill mug but who wants to carry the 
thing around all day? I know I don’t. I would rather just have a 
bracelet or something but for some reason parks have not latched onto this idea. This may actually be grounds for a future blog post so be on the lookout.

Loop de Loop

Awesome first Drop

It was almost time for the park to close so I decided what 
better way to end the day then a ride on the Beast. It was now 
after 8:00 pm and the park was officially closed but not for us! 
ERT was going to start at 8:30 pm. Derk and I decided to ride 
Diamondback first. We got in 4 straight rides with one being in 
the front row. We would have gotten more rides in if it weren’t 
for Kings Island’s policy of no re-rides. They make you exit the 
ride and walk all the way back around. I won’t complain though 
because, well, we still got a ton of rides in. I will say this; 
my opinion of Diamondback actually got better with this visit. I 
had some of the best rides I have ever gotten on it. The floaty 
(I know not a word) airtime on the hills is quite fun and makes 
this ride a top tier coaster in my opinion.

Over the building and thru the trees...

...to floaty airtime we go.

Since we knew we needed to get some night rides in on Beast we headed over there for 4 straight rides. As always the Beast did not disappoint at night. It threw us around in the woods like it was designed to do. I love the screeching noises the train makes as it blasts through the tunnels and massive helix. The Beast still reigns supreme as probably the best night ride on a coaster that I have ever ridden.

 

At this point it was about 9:45 pm fifteen minutes away from the 
end of ERT. We decided to head all the way across the park for 
one last ride on Banshee. We also needed to use our free on-ride 
photo coupons as well. We made it with a few minutes to spare 
and scored a great night ride. Banshee is a great ride at night 
and great ride overall. It was an awesome way to cap off the 
Coasterstock event. I was officially worn out.

Banshee is Scary

Me and my hair are done.

  
What more can I say? Kings Island has come a long way since my 
first visit back in the early 90’s and even after adding 
Diamondback in 2009 and Banshee in 2014. They have really 
improved in many areas and I rank this park really high on my 
list of amusement parks. Coasterstock was awesome. It cost me 
only $25 (with season pass) and $62 for Ashley for this: Two-day 
admission, tons of ERT, dinner Saturday, lunch Sunday, free 
souvenir refill cups, free t-shirts, two free on-ride photos per 
person, Coasterstock pin, and event lanyard. Kings Island went 
above and beyond and they deserve a lot of thanks. Next to 
Holiwood Nights this was one of the best coaster enthusiast 
events I have ever attended.

Here are a few extra statistics: 

Total Rides on Saturday 10:00 am – 10:00 pm: 9

Total Rides on Sunday 10:00 am – 8:00 pm: 25

Total ERT Rides on Saturday: 16

Total ERT Rides on Sunday: 13

Total Rides During 2-day Event: 63

Top Rides Ridden: 12x Diamondback, 11x Beast, 10x Banshee, 5x 

Racer, 4x Stunt Track, 3x Bat, 3x Adventure Express, 3x Flight 

of Fear

Coasterstock

Well it has been far too long since my last blog post. Maybe some of you thought I was done with this crazy blog. Yeah, not a chance! I actually have a ton of ideas left to blog about but I have not put the thoughts into writing just yet aka I have not had the time. It has been a long summer without any coaster riding for me which makes me a bit sad. I usually do not go to Amusement parks in the peak summer months, namely end of June thru August, because of these two reasons; Heat and Crowds. I prefer to go early in the season in May/early June and then again in the fall.

Cool Logo

 

On that note I give you a blog about the first coaster enthusiast event I attended this year at Kings Island: Coasterstock. The event was held on Saturday, May 16th and Sunday, May 17th. I learned of this event earlier in the year and knew it was something I really wanted to go to when I first saw the itinerary. I suggested to Ashley that we both go to the event and she agreed to go. Unfortunately for her she ended up fracturing a bone in her foot a few weeks prior to the event which slightly limited her abilities. She did manage to ride a lot of rides and have a good time though, regardless of the injury.

Welcome Enthusiasts!

I must say that in preparation for this event I knew that we would be staying in the area (Mason, OH) for three nights so I wanted to get as nice of a hotel as I could for the price. I choose a Hilton Garden Inn within a few miles of Kings Island and it was absolutely awesome. It was well worth the roughly $85 a night price I paid and I would highly recommend it if you are in the area. Also, to our amazement, right next to the hotel was a Greaters ice-cream shop. Yes we had delicious ice cream there Friday night and breakfast there Monday morning.

Nice Hotel

See, so nice

We pulled up to Kings Island around 7:30 am on Saturday to check-in to the event. There were enthusiasts everywhere and the lines to check in looked long however they moved rather quickly. After grabbing our tickets, lanyard, Beast and Banshee on ride photo coupons, drink cup, Coasterstock pin, and cool Coasterstock T-shirt we were ready to enter the park. Seriously the park went all out for us. I was very impressed. We met up with my good friend Derk (for those of you who don’t know I met Derk on my trip to Silver Dollar City in September 2014) just outside the entrance and I introduced him to Ashley. We were ready for some riding!

Pretty

Extra Ride Time (ERT) in the morning consisted of a few rides: Banshee, Bat, Drop Tower, Delirium, and Adventure Express. The ride time started at 8:00 am and ran until 9:30 am with other rides until 10:00 am. This allowed me to get in five rides on Banshee, then a ride on Drop Zone, Bat, Delirium, and Adventure Express. This was the first time Ashley had been in the park since our visit back in 2006 so she got to experience the greatness of Banshee for the first time. Our first ride was in the front row because honestly if you are going to ride a roller coaster for the first time the front row is the best. It just so happened that during that first ride it was sprinkling rain and foggy so it only enhanced the elements.

Scary, Ahhhh

After riding Banshee a few times, then Bat, and Drop Zone Ashley said she needed a break so Derk and I made our way back to where the two roller coasters Flight of Fear and Firehawk were located. We managed to get a ride on each with no wait right after the park opened at 10:00 am (another benefit of being in the park early). These coasters would later have over an hour wait throughout the day. We then met up with Ashley again, as it was getting close to 11:00 am, and decided to grab some lunch at the nearby Festus building. This building houses a few food locations (Panda Express and Kings Island’s food place with pizza, burgers, sandwiches, etc.) as well as a nice entertainment stage and tons of tables where you can eat your food.

Awesome Landscaping

After lunch we went and rode these two rides: Adventure Express and Racer. Adventure Express is a fun little mine train type roller coaster that speeds through the course through some tunnels, twists, and turns. It is quite fun. Racer is an iconic ride for the park as it was first built when the park opened in 1972. At the time it was the tallest, longest, and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. For being 43 years old it is pretty smooth for a wooden coaster and enjoyable to ride.

Racer Thru the Trees

At some point after this we split from Derk and Ashley and I walked around the park noticing how crowded the park was getting. We opted to ride a strange kiddie ride called Linus’ Launcher (pic below) in the Planet Snoopy area. It was actually kind of fun and more so just funny considering the position you have to ride in laying flat on your stomach. It provided for some good laughs from Ashley and me. Since we were in Planet Snoopy I had to get the famous blue ice cream and yes it was delicious! We made our way back up to the front of the park and Ashley left to go back to the hotel and rest. It was around 2:00 pm at this point.

Weird Contraption Thingy photo credit Kings Island

 
As part of the Coasterstock itinerary they had a key-note speaker scheduled in the Kings Island Theater at 2:00 pm so I decided to attend. It was actually really cool for coaster nerds like myself because the speaker was an international theme park representative who had tons of experience in the Amusement industry developing parks in the USA and in other countries. I listened intently on how Coney Island was built on the banks of the Ohio River in 1886 and learned how successful the park was up until the 1960’s. Unfortunately the many floods the park received, due to its location next to the river, caused for developers to select an area of land North of Cincinnati. This was done to develop a much larger park with better growth for the future. He did an incredible job of explaining the process that went on selecting the land where Kings Island sits today and how successful the park has been since then.

Blue Ice Cream I Love You

 
At this point it was around 3:00 pm and I made my way back into the mass of people in the park. I headed towards Racer since this is my go-to ride when the park is busy as it usually doesn’t have a long line. I waited for around 20-30 minutes which is the most I think I have ever waited for this coaster. I then went over to Adventure Express another one of my go-to rides when the park is busy and noticed a huge line so I decided to go for another ride on Racer instead.

Viking Fury Doing Its Thing

Did I mention the park was insanely BUSY today? Granted it was a Saturday so I knew going into this trip that the park would be busy. Oh and it did not help that they had two HUGE groups in the park today: Various Church Groups and the Color Me Rad running group which probably consisted of over 5,000 people (I am not kidding). It did surprise me that it stayed busy almost all day though since it rained off and on all day and stayed cloudy most of the day as well. Most waits on the major coasters were close to or over an hour long. From 10:00 am (park open) until sometime around 7:00 pm, when I met back up with Ashley, I had ridden a total of seven rides! Now, I might have gotten in a few more rides had I of opted to wait in 45 minute to an hour lines but I just could not bring myself to do that.

Fountains!

This brings me to my Amusement park philosophy - I never visit a park on a Saturday UNLESS: 1. I buy a skip the line pass (Qbot or Fastlane/Fastpass) 2. There is a coaster enthusiast event with good extra ride time (ERT) involved. This gives me time in the morning usually an hour or more before the general public comes into the park and evening when the general public has left the park to ride like crazy. That means during the day I can skip coasters with hour waits that I know will have no waits during ERT.

Insert Corny Music Here

  
The park provided an incredible dinner for the event with rotisserie chicken, ribs, green beans, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and rolls. They also had cookies and brownies for dessert. The meal was delicious. It was now sometime after 7:00 pm when I met back up with Ashley at the entrance. We walked the front of the park by all of the incredible water fountains. It was nice to be there soaking in the atmosphere of the park and listening to the great variety of music playing through the speakers. It felt good to have Ashley back by my side for an enthusiast event. I enjoy seeing her have a good time just as much as I do. If you are reading this Ashley know that I appreciate you coming with me.

Delicious!

  
We made our way over to where Banshee is located and decided to ride Drop Tower. Let me just say that this is the scariest free fall ride I have ever ridden. It takes you up 300 feet in the air and slowly rotates as you go up the tower. Then it holds you at the top for what feels like forever before it drops you in speeds approaching 70 mph. It is quite a rush. This is Ashley’s favorite ride in the park. We rode Banshee next in the dark. Man was it fun. This coaster really hauls and going through the course in complete darkness is quite thrilling. Plus, I never get tired of the Banshee wail!

Now THATS a Drop Tower!

 
It was now 10:00 pm and fireworks were going off in the distance signaling the end of an operating day for Kings Island. It was not, however, an end for us enthusiasts as we had an hour and a half of ERT scheduled from 10:30 pm until midnight! In the words of Mr. Arnold from Jurassic Park, “hold onto your butts.”

I See Fireworks

We started by getting two good rides on Backlot Stunt Coaster. This was the first time I had ridden the coaster at night and I must say my opinion of the ride got a lot more favorable. It was a blast, literally, as it launches you from 0-40 mph in a few seconds. Then you hit an upward helix with some nice forces and into a series of twists, turns, and even an air time hill. Then you stop and get “shot” (noises) at by a big ole plastic (maybe metal?)  helicopter prop following a nice amount of fire. Then you go into a downward indoor section that you really have no idea what you are doing. It is like you are dodging punches from Ronda Rousey maneuvering from right to left to right and then back left again. You come flying back outside as you hit a small drop and turnaround back into the station. I mean this coaster was flat out fun and I am glad we got back to back rides on it.

Kings Island Turned Night Into Day For Us...JK

We followed up with three night rides on the Beast! I mean if you have never taken a night ride on the Beast roller coaster please do myself and yourself a favor and find time to make it to Kings Island, stay until nighttime, and ride the Beast at night! I mean seriously it is a must do. You can ask many enthusiasts about Beast night rides and they will say they are some of the best rides they have ever had on a roller coaster. The coaster goes into a densely wooded forest and you cannot see a thing back there! I mean seriously it is almost like riding a coaster blind. It is pitch black. All you feel is speed and an out of control is this coaster going to fly of the tracks sensation. Yup, it is pretty insane but in a great way.

Yeah Derk and I are Cool

And just when you think our day is finished we decided to head over to Diamondback and catch a couple of rides on this 230 foot giant. It has great speed at 80 mph with lots of great floater air time over many hills and a great splashdown element at the end. I love this ride. It is so fun and easy to ride over and over again. With ERT many rides were possible.

Amazing!

Wow! What a wonderful first day at the Coasterstock event. I just realized I have written over four pages and still have yet to write anything about day two so please stay tuned for another blog post. If you have read this far I am impressed. Ashley and I had a blast. It was also cool to get to hang out with Derk again. Kings Island is an incredible park with so much to do. I managed to get a total of 25 rides in this day but only 9 of those during the parks operating hours of 10:00 am – 10:00 pm. So that means that 16 of my rides came during the ERT sessions! It goes to show you why I love coaster enthusiast events (especially on Saturdays). Ride on and read on!      

Force vs. Fury

It is time to pit two of the best roller coasters that I have ever ridden up against each other. Which one is better? You will have to keep reading to find out! I had the fortune of riding both of these coasters within a period of one month from one another. This was good because it has allowed me to be able to give a more accurate comparison between the two since the rides since they are fresh on my mind. If you would like a more detailed explanation of both coasters please refer to these two previous blog posts: Millennium Force My Favorite Roller Coaster, and The Furiosity of Fury 325! You will get a lot of great specifics in those posts.

The first time I rode Millennium Force was in 2007 and I instantly knew it was the best coaster that I had ever ridden. I mean there was really no debating it. At that point I only had around 50 or so coasters on my track record so that helped as well. When I rode Fury 325 it was the 166th coaster on my track record so needless to say I have greatly increased my coaster count with many great roller coasters in between. When I got off Fury I had a hard time deciding whether it was better than Millennium Force or not. I knew that it was clearly right up there with Millennium Force once I got off of it though. So which Coaster is better you ask? Keep reading and I will tell you.

Force

Fury

What is the difference between the coasters? Let me lay it out for you here:

Millennium Force                    Fury 325

Make: Intamin                       B&M

Built: 2000                         2015

Type: Giga                          Giga

Height: 310 feet                    325 feet

Drop: 300 feet                      320 feet

Max Vertical Angle: 80 degrees      81 degrees

Top Speed: 93 mph                   95 mph

Track Length: 6,595                 6,602

Capacity: 1300 people per hour      1470 pph

Location: Next to Lake Erie         Middle of the Park

When Millennium Force was built in the year 2000 it was built to specifically be the first coaster to pass the 300 foot tall mark and beat world records. It did just that and then some. Fast forward to 15 years later and you get Fury 325 built just 15 feet higher and 7 feet longer than Millennium. I, for one, never thought the Cedar Fair Company would ever build a coaster to surpass Millennium as the tallest, longest, and fastest giga coaster in the world. I mean Millennium Force has been forever known as the world’s first giga coaster and standard on which all of the other three giga coasters have been built. To see Cedar Fair build one to surpass the original that set the standard was surprising.

What makes these two rides different? That is the million dollar question. They are made by two different companies and with that comes a different track and train design. Millennium Force track is slightly smaller than the B&M track. Millennium Force’s trains seat two across where Fury seats four across. Millennium Force’s train holds 36 people while Fury’s train holds 32. The drop, length, and speed on Fury are all bigger than Millennium however it really isn’t that noticeable. Both drops are incredible, as well as the speed, and ride duration.

The major difference between these two rides is the track layout. On Millennium you get four airtime hills including the first drop. On Fury you get six airtime hills with more airtime moments overall. You get three huge speed turnarounds on Millennium where you only get one on Fury. However Fury has two low to the ground high speed banked turns that are fun as well as a helix with head chopper effect. There are two tunnels on Millennium and one on Fury. The lift hill on Millennium is awesome because it gives you great views of lake Erie to the left and sweet views of all of Cedar Point to the right. Fury also has a nice lift hill without the lake and the layout of the ride interacts with the front entrance of the park with is pretty amazing.

 

 

Better Location: Force

Better Airtime: Fury

Better Night Ride: Force

Better Track Layout: Fury

Better Drop: Equal

Better Brake Run: Seriously?
Most Nostalgic: Force

So which roller coaster is better: Millennium Force or Fury 325? To be completely honest it is hard to decide this because they both offer incredible yet different rides. If I could rank them 1a and 1b I would. They are both up at the top as the best coasters I have ever had the privilege of riding. Seriously, if you enjoy a good roller coaster you should make an effort to ride either one. I promise you that you will not be disappointed. Really I can’t rank these coasters 1a and 1b? I have to decide?! If that is the case I will let my track record ranking do the talking.

Force Wins! 100.00 to 99.99