Point which gives me a better excuse to visit as often as I can. In this blog post I will detail some of my experiences with Kings Island's Coasterstock event.
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| It's Coasterstock! |
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| Fun-filled Itinerary |
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| I'm Happy to be at Kings Island |
The enthusiast event that Kings Island has labeled Coasterstock
is now in its second year. I went last year, of course, and I
knew I had to come back for a second year of fun. I mean how
could I not? This year they even sweetened the deal by adding an
extra evening to the event. The Coasterstock event fell on
Friday, May 20th thru Sunday, May 22nd . There are three coaster
enthusiast events that are at the top of the must try to attend
list and they are as follows: Coastermania!, Holiwood Nights,
and Coasterstock.
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| It's time for Coasterstock! |
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| Lovely |
Why is Coasterstock so great? Well because Kings Island is
awesome, that’s why! But seriously Kings Island is awesome because the park is generous enough to give a group of about 500 coaster enthusiasts two and a half days of extra ride time on their best roller coasters, lunch, dinner, behind the scenes tours, three free on-ride photos per person, a free game, a nice T-shirt, a souvenir
bottle, and an event lanyard. You want to know how much this costs? If you do not have a season pass it will cost you $75. That is not bad considering that is almost two and a half days of admission plus
everything else I mentioned above. The season pass rate is good
as well coming in at about $30.
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| Kings Island was very generous! |
I did not actually get to the event until Saturday morning
because I had driven back from Cedar Point the night before. My
friend Derk was with me and we were poised to have a great time.
The event started on Saturday with an hour and half extra ride
time on the inverted roller coaster Banshee. The weather wasn’t
so great with mild temps and a little rain here and there but we still had a blast anyway. We ended up with six rides on Banshee that morning with a few in the front row. There isn’t anything like rain in your face going 68 miles per hour on a roller coaster. It is quite thrilling.
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| Someone ate all the donuts! |
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| Banshee is loopy... |
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| ...just like me |
We were able to get a ride on Diamondback, the 230 foot 80 mph
steel hyper coaster, and then two rides in on, the longest
wooden coaster in the world, the Beast, before the crowds came
in. Derk and I split up and then I decided to take it easy and
went to watch people play the new Soccer Challenge game in the
area. I took some pictures of this woman from Pennsylvania
kicking the ball towards to goal and showed her the pictures
afterwards. She was so happy that she politely asked me to text
them to her, which I did. This is something that I always find
fascinating about an amusement park. You can pretty much talk to
anyone around you and make friends with anyone because everyone
is there to, leave the stresses of the world behind and, just
have fun.
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| Iconic Coaster |
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| Hello Beast |
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| You're welcome Pennsylvania woman |
It was now time for me to hit up a few rides that I had never
ridden before at Kings Island. The first one was, Race for Your
Life Charlie Brown, a log flume that was actually really fun. It
was pretty fast for a log flume and the drop/following splash
was a soaker. Keep in mind that it was around 65 degrees out and
drizzling rain. I cheated and wore my poncho so I didn’t get that wet on the ride. I would have gotten soaked had I of not been wearing it. Then I went and rode the Woodstock Gliders, a flying type ride where you control how high up you swing. Then there was Boo Blasters, the indoor shoot targets to score points ride. It is a good ride for kids but just OK for me. I am glad I finally rode it though since I had seen it for years but was never able to ride it.
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| This is how you avoid wetness on a log flume |
After a short break in my car it was time to make my way back
into the park for the Beast behind the scenes tour. The park has
done this tour in the past and I never went so I am glad I
finally took the time to do it. The tour was awesome! It was
much better than I thought it would be. Although for non-coaster
enthusiasts I can see where this tour might be pretty boring. You can take some seriously cool pictures of the ride though. It
mostly consisted of Don Helbig (Kings Island PR guy) talking
about the ride and giving everyone a chance to take many
pictures, that most can only see while on the ride itself. The
tour was fun, informative, and gave me the chance to take a lot
of Beast pictures of the coaster I did not have before.
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| I took the road less traveled to... |
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| ...The Beast behind the scenes tour! |
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| Start of the EPIC double helix! |
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| The Beast is long, very long |
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| The Beast has consumed me |
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| Thanks PR guy (Don Helbig) for an awesome tour |
Next up I took a ride on the train which I had never ridden.
Then I hit the parks iconic Eiffel Tower. It is so beautiful at
the top. I mean seriously, more parks need towers similar to
this one! You can get some great pictures of everywhere in the
park. After the tower I was getting a little hungry so I went
and grabbed a pretzel (my go-to theme park food). From there I
went into the arcade to play the basketball game I had been
successful at two years before. Well this year they had
eliminated tickets and went to an electronic card system. I
wasn’t a fan of the change and I didn’t seem to win as many
“tickets” as I had with the physical ones. Oh well, I think I
spent $10 and played the game for an hour or so it was still
fun.
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| Cool Pics you can get from the Train |
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| It's almost as good as the Paris one |
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| Great views from up here |
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| Artsy shot |
I took another car break before dinner to charge my phone and
get rested up for the rest of the evening and ERT session.
Dinner was excellent as always. Kings Island really goes all out
with food for its large enthusiast groups. After dinner I
decided to take a ride on the junior wooden coaster Woodstock
Express. It is a really fun little coaster for being as small as
it is. I then decided to walk around and take in the atmosphere.
I stopped at the Soccer Challenge game again watching kids and
adults try and kick soccer balls in the net. It was really
amusing as some people were better than others.
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| Delicious! |
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| This is Woodstock...Express |
It was at this moment that I had a crazy experience. Out of the
blue this older guy comes up to me and just starts talking to me. I
was a little surprised at first and then started talking back
with him. I quickly noticed that he had to be drunk because his
breath smelled of booze and he was just acting crazy. He wasn’t
loud or obnoxious just crazy with some of things he was talking
to me about. He said he was a regular at the park and that he
didn’t like the direction the park was headed in and blah, blah,
blah. I just stood there and listened to him for what felt like
forever. Finally, he left and I thought to myself, how can
anyone talk that badly about Kings Island? Then I realized he
was just some crazy drunk guy (haha).
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| Drunk Guy had a Problem the Rubix Cube could not solve |
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| Love these shirts |
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| Yup...Coasterlife |
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| Cool Retro Shirt |
After that experience I went and got some blue ice cream. This
stuff is awesome and a must get when at Kings Island. I walked
all the way across the park and rode The Bat twice and then hit
up Banshee for a front row ride. Then it was time for ERT. They
were scheduled to start ERT at 8:30pm but instead let us start
riding at 8:15pm instead! Thank-you Kings Island. Here is what
we were able to get during the hour and 45 minute ERT session.
Four rides on Diamondback, two on The Beast, two on Stunt Coaster,
one of Vortex (UGH Derk, why are we riding this?), and two more
rides on The Beast. Now that is what I call a great first day of
Coasterstock!
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| Mmmmm, Blue Ice Cream, MMMMMM |
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| I see a Bat |
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| I see a Snake |
Day two was good because there was no ERT worth going to in the
morning so I got to sleep in a bit before heading over to the
park. I was at the park by the 10:00 am opening time and headed
over to Flight of Fear. This coaster is an indoor launched
coaster with a few loops, many turns, and drops. It normally
always has a long slow line so I decided to get as many rides on
it before the crowds rolled in. I ended up with six rides and then
headed over to Racer, the oldest ride in the park. This wooden
coaster packs a nice punch with lots of air time hills. I ended up with four rides and then headed over to Adventure Express, the mine train coaster, and got a ride in on it. Adventure Express is one of the better mine train coasters out there.
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| Beautiful start to Day 2 |
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| No Lines! |
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| The Aliens got me... |
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| ...But released me just in time for my coaster launch |
Lunch was next and it was great as always. It consisted of Burgers, hot dogs, pasta, chips, and dessert. From lunch we went and rode Banshee and The Bat before the Behind the Scenes Racer tour. The Racer behind the scenes tour was nice and something I had never done before. I was able to get some neat shots of the drop and side of the coaster. After the tour I decided I needed to take a break so I went back to my car and sat in the air conditioning. The park was fairly busy on day two so I wasn’t looking to wait in lines. I went back into the park and rode Banshee and then grabbed two rides on the Blue Racer. I hope Kings Island never tears this ride down. It is a great wooden coaster for its age and looks great along the Coney Island midway.
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| Seriously Kings Island's catered food is awesome! |
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| The trains are hitting my head |
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| Racer Behind the Scenes |
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| Hills |
I am just now realizing that this blog is very long. I cannot help it. There is just so much I want to share with my readers. If you
are still with me I give you a virtual cookie and high five. If
you aren’t then there is nothing I can say to you (haha). I
ended the night watching the Soccer Challenge game again. Did I mention that this game was awesome and fun. I often found myself here because it was really entertaining watching people play the game. My favorite quote of the day was from a father of his daughter who was about to play the game. He said, “Chloe you gotta make all six (goals) or you are walking home.” He was joking of course but it put a smile on my face. Kings Island gave us free tickets to play the Soccer Challenge game so I decided to give it a shot. I made 1 of 6 goals. You have to make 2 to win a prize and it really wasn’t easy. There is a big animatronic goalie that moves back and forth that will stop your ball. I was bummed because I wanted to win a small prize for the girls. Derk came through though and gave me his
free game ticket to play. I made the most of it scoring 3 of 6
goals this time and winning a small plastic soccer ball. Thank-
you Derk!
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| I played and won! |
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| This guy lost. He has poop on his head. |
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| Ohhhh |
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| Ahhhh |
It was now time for the closing ERT session. We made the most of
it by riding Diamondback four times, the Beast three times, and
Banshee three times. It was a great way to close out the event.
I must comment on this because, well, it is what Kings Island is
known for. The Beast night rides. I have said it once and I will
say it again that they are some of the best night rides you will
ever take on a roller coaster, if not THE best. You get the most
out of control feeling as you ride through the dark woods in
what feels like the middle of nowhere. It is so much fun.
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| Diamondback Splashing |
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| Beast Nightriding |
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| Noted! |
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| Great Night Ride |
What more can I say than I love Kings Island. It is a fantastic
amusement park and it is only getting better. The park just
announced they were adding their 15th roller coaster Mystic
Timbers to their lineup next year. You know what that means?
Coasterstock 2017 here I come!
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| I believe I can fly |
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| Yeah! Thumbs up! |
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| Beast Night Rides Rock! |
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