Coaster Community

Sunday Afternoon: We arrived at King’s Island after a two hour car ride from Louisville, we had just enough time to check into our hotel, and register for Coaster Con, which included dinner and ERT that night. 30 minutes later and we would have pushed the entire trip back by a day. We used the hotel’s shuttle and high-tailed it over to the park. When we got there the food line was pretty long and with good reason. All you could eat hot dogs, brats, mets (red brats), and hamburgers. Also on the menu, potato salad, beans and a wide array of condiments for your dogs and burgers. They even had cake for dessert. Kings Island puts together great meals for their catered events.

After dinner we waited about 5 minutes and rode Scooby Mansion (gun/target) ride. Every time we ride one of these things one of us winds up with a bad gun. Blasting targets even at point blank range didn’t register. We walked around looking for something that wasn’t on the evening ERT list and Flight of Fear was the next ride of interest. Once we got inside we saw that it was going to be about a 45 minute wait so we walked back out. We stumbled across the Sling Shot ride and for $15 a person, (which the next morning was only $5 a person) we had a 20 minute wait there. The launch was great, but not enough bouncing afterward. Adventure Express was next up; we walked right on to the front row. This is a great mine coaster and ranks among our favorites. Top Gun was also a walk on for the front row so after navigating the 13 mile que we rode what is now our favorite suspended coaster. The front row was intense. On our way out of Top Gun we noticed only a 5 minute wait for Drop Zone, which is now our favorite drop tower we have ever been on. The force you drop is unreal, and seems to get more intense the further down you go.

By this time it was time for the ERT to start. We walked up and rode Vortex in the front row. Janessa liked this one a bit more than I. She’s a little smaller and fit into the restraints better.

Onto the Italian Job, with just about a couple minute wait, we scored the front row again.

Then up was the Beast, in the second row with a one train wait. This was one crazy ride at night. There were absolutely no lights and you went hauling through the woods. We took the advice to not ride on the wheels and it was a pretty smooth ride, intense and scary, but smooth. We then rode it in the back car (again not on the wheels) and it was not quite as fun.

We wanted to make full use of our ERT, so on to Tomb Raider we went. This is a giant indoor top spin with a lot of hanging with all the blood rushing to your head and a lot of jerking. While we were riding the visual effects were working, but not the sound. It may have been more fun with the sound.

Monday Morning: We got to the park bright and early. Breakfast started at 8:00 and we had ERT from 8:00 – 10:00. Breakfast was not as good as dinner, with eggs, french toast, sausage, fried potatoes and various cold cereals, fruit juices and coffee on the menu.

After a quick breakfast we went over to Rugrats Runway Reptar, the inverted coaster with some major foot choppers.

Fairly Odd Coaster is a wooden family coaster and we took a quick spin the front row and it was quite fun.

The park allowed everyone to ride the kiddie coaster, Lil Bill, and it ranks pretty high in the kiddie coaster world.

Walk-on to Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is a mega-disco. Onto Scooby-Doo Mansion with the lights on, and the guns were very unreliable. Janessa beat me once, unacceptable! We then rode the heli-copters. They needed more air flow, but a cute ride.

When then took a little break, and waited for the park to open so we could be in the front of the line to ride Delerium, the giant Frisbee. It seems like you actually go upside down, it was fun for all, except for Janessa whose stomach was not ready for spinning yet.

Drop Zone again, waited for the circle to come back down. It was just as good today as it was the night before. Top Gun in the back was a walk-on, we found the front was better, but it is fun no matter where you are.

Then it was time for work, we walked around taking photos and video. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, which is one third scale to the real thing. It was just a terrific view of the park, got a lot of great photos and video from up there.

ACE arranged for another little park to open just for us. It was about a half hour away from Kings Island. After riding Teddy Bear and Tornado, both wood coasters, we partook in the group photo. We decided to skip the provided lunch, the line was crazy long and we had passed a White Castle on the way to Stricker’s Grove. After I indulged in tiny burgers, we made a mad dash back to the park to get wet at Boomerang Bay, which was really crowded.

Our short time at the park included a 15 minute wait for Awesome Aussie Twister, another 15 minute wait for Bondi Pipeline and then a 10 minute wait Sydney Sidewinder. Everything else was at least twice the wait. The first two slides were extremely intense and a great deal of fun while Sydney Sidewinder was a bit more relaxed. I wish that we had more time in the park but we had a 6pm tour of Beast that we didn’t want to miss.

The walk back tour on Beast was interesting but it’s so well hidden by trees that it’s hard to see it even when you’re standing right on top of it. After the 45 minute tour we went back up into the Eiffel Tower for more photos. The evening light was perfect.

We left the park once again and this time we were in search of dinner. We found a place just a couple of miles away called Tabby’s. It’s basically a bar with food and it doesn’t get our recommendation.

There was another evening ERT session that we had to get back to the park for and arrived a few minutes early for some more Drop Zone and Delirium rides. Neither had a wait. Janessa needed a funnel cake to get the bar food taste out of her mouth and we found a spot right next to the Eiffel Tower. It’s pretty much what we’ve come to expect from funnel cake… Tastiness.

We started the ERT session on the forward Racer. We rode in the 2^nd row (off the wheels) and were surprised by the quality of the ride. There was a great deal of air-time. Next up was Flight of Fear. We walked right on and took off. The lights were on so you could see the room filled with twisted track. It’s impressive to look at but just not very fun. A lot of people seem to disagree with us though. The theming in the que was definitely impressive. Firehawk was our next stop and since we had been on it when it was X-Flight we knew what to expect. It’s intense and fun but also a little rattley. One ride on FoF and Firehawk was plenty. On our way back to Racer we found the bumper cars and Janessa opted out. Jason did what he usually does on bumper cars and owned the track. His professional driving skills make him a hard target and even more dangerous when you’re in his way. If you ever get the opportunity to ride against him you won’t forget it. Our ERT session also included all you can eat Lemon Chills so we grabbed a couple of those and talked about Magnum sinking in Lake Erie. We finished the night back at Racer with several rides on the backwards side. We found this to be even more enjoyable than the forward Racer and since we didn’t have to get out of our seats we took at least 3 trips.

Tuesday: We decided to sleep in and skip the day’s list of events at Kings Island since we had been on everything already. We found a shopping center just one exit south of the park with a lot of great food choice. Claddy’s Irish Pub wound up being the lunch spot and wins the elusive recommendation from us. I had fish & chips while Janessa had beef stew. Both were great and we would get them again. This made the Tabby’s meal the night before seem totally stupid.

Janessa demanded that we go to the Cincinnati Mills Outlet Mall that she spotted the day before on our way to Stricker’s Grove. Since we had a coupon for a free ride on Boa Squeeze and Wonder Park and I’m a credit ho I didn’t put up much of a fight. She bought a bunch of junk in an effort to increase the weight of our luggage and I complained. The coaster was fun one. We were on the train with several tiny people. None of them could have been older than 5.

When then headed for downtown Cincy for some exploration. We found a lot of cheap parking lots so we got out and hoofed it. We first conquered the Carew Building, which sports an outdoor observation deck on the 49^th floor. It’s a great view of the city. Next was a bar. All of our walking and coaster riding earned us the right to sit down and drink. That concludes our exploration of the downtown area.

During Janessa’s research of the area she read about an ice cream joint that is supposedly top notch named Aglamesis. Janessa really liked the décor. She compared it to dying and waking up the 50’s. The toppings are homemade and I don’t think that I’ve had homemade hot fudge in years. Janessa had something with raspberry sauce on it and the both of them were pretty much bad ass. They also sell hand made chocolates so we grabbed a couple for the road. It’s just a quick 10 minute drive from downtown.

Since we were on an eating kick we decided to cross the street and try Skyline Chili, which was also mentioned in most of the Cincy literature and even by locals that we had spoken with. Even though it’s not the type of chili that we’re used to it, it was still really good. They make a big deal the secret ingredient and to us it just tastes like a bunch of nutmeg. Either way they pile it on to whatever you order and they’re not cheap with the cheese. If you’re in town and you like to try new food then we recommend stopping into a Skyline Chili.

Dinner time was closely approaching and we had been eating all day but we had one more “most do” on the list so we went in search of The Boat House at Montgomery Inn. They are known for their ribs and being a couple of rib snobs from Kansas City we felt like we needed to judge for ourselves. The directions that we got from a parking lot attendant sent us a lengthy journey and actually put us right next to Coney Island. We did not intended on visiting this tiny park but since we were right there our need to credit ho took over. Our lack of intention meant that we didn’t have our free ride vouchers from the ACE packet so we had to pay. The Pepsi Python is comparable to a lot of other small park coasters around the country and can best be compared to Galaxi rides.

Hunger was actually beginning to creep into our minds so we got back on track and headed towards The Boat House. It’s on the same road as the park and was just a 15 minute drive. Once we got there we were told that it was an hour wait unless we wanted to sit outside. They have a great terrace view of the river so we took them up on the outside idea. We quickly ordered a half slab of ribs along with an order of onion straws. The onion straws were on par with pretty much every other place we had ever had them. The ribs were a totally different story. Those things could hold their own in Kansas City. When you pick them up the meat falls right off the bone and the sauce is sweet perfection.

This was pretty much the end of our Cincinnati experience. We went back to our room at Kings Island, packed up and prepared for another day of sleeping in.