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!