This is the furthest west in the US I've been in a while.  Everything in Missouri will be new to me, so, as always, tips are welcome.

Here's the likely plan of things.

CP and MIA- Leave Cincy 6/13, MIA on 6/14, go to Sandusky 6/15, CP on 6/16 and 6/17.  Will be spending some time re-exploring Muskegon and Port Clinton/Sandusky as well.

Missouri Trip- This trip is contingent on the Reds as I want to see a game in St Louis, and with the way my band schedule works and the fact the Reds have a weekend series right after my last band concert of the summer in late July, I will be starting in St Louis, then go to KC, then end in Branson.  For St Louis, along with SFStL, I will be exploring downtown.  The City Museum and the Arch are high on the priority list. 

KC will likely be short and sweet just for WoF.  

I do want to ask about Branson.  Is it as attraction dense as G-burg/PF?  Also, for a first timer, is SDC a 1 or 2 day park on for weekday visits? I can do Dollywood in a day, but I'm infinitely more familiar with it than SDC.  

I saw an associate cleaning the windows in front of Grain & Grill. It wasn't clear if there was something on it or if they were just wiping condensation off, but I appreciated seeing it. Some doors were closed to keep cold air in while others were kept open, which has me wondering if the A/C in those buildings were off/broken. There are some KI-specific Food & Wine Festival metal cups on sale for $24.99 in the Emporium. The little Amusemints candy packages are actually M&M's in a special bag — I don't know why it's separately branded while still including the M&M's name. There is a shirt (selling for $19.99) that says "Kings Island Amusement Park" with a 3-color rainbow. 

The Celebrate America 250 event decorations are out all around International Street and are beginning to extend into Tower Gardens. The main "Where America Celebrates" sign is inside its own little planter, though it's very obvious that the KI logo was pasted onto it. (I'd say to just size it up a little, but I have a feeling that the "Welcomes you to" text was not able to be moved further down, meaning the spacing would be off.) The rest of the decorations look good as well. I didn't get to catch any of the special characters or performances. The fact that there are two very large washers holding the Carousel Pavilion show sign to its post looks bad. 

We got on the train right before Soak City closed for the night, where I saw a guy wearing a Sally Dark Rides shirt. I didn't get the opportunity to ask if he was an SDR employee or anything, but it was cool to see. The blue engine had just been retired for the night when we got to the station, so we rode the green train to go pick up the rest of the Soak City visitors. I'd really like to see more improvements come to the KI&MV RR experience since it looked so good in 2022. After riding the rails we stopped off at the restroom and backtracked a little to eat at LaRosa's in Rivertown. The restroom floors could've use a good dry mop every so often. My LaRosa's experience was good even with no ice in the drink machines. Kings Island has installed ice makers in some of the soda fountains so I hope they can continue that effort throughout the rest of the park. Walking toward WindSeeker made me realize that I could no longer see the holes in the pavers where Vortex's tiny queue fence extension lived. I wonder if those pavers got replaced in 2020? Walking back toward Jukebox let me see that they mostly had the red, white, and blue cars out for the Antique Autos, which was a nice touch for the week. 

Later on I ventured over to Area 72 and once again felt how much it needs a good flat ride. Continuing my walk took me into the Coney Arcade, which could use some permanent doors to keep cold air inside. Monster didn't have much of a wait but I decided to forego that opportunity since it was getting dark out. Could any of you tell me why Monster has two completely separate queue lines? I can't imagine they're worth keeping separate with the way the ride's load/unload procedure works. I was going to make a quick jaunt over to The Bat until I remembered that my gym shorts didn't have zipper pockets. I settled for a look at the Son of Beast station (no changes there). 

Phantom Theater had a sub-15 minute wait so I took the opportunity. Much better than the 45 minutes I would've waited an hour before that. Almost everything was working so I was happy. SweetSpot now has some Boysenberry products back in stock, including the Boysenberry Preserves and the Boysenberry Jam. I really want to try it and wish the park offered a small tasting like some ice cream shops have (but with the jam instead of ice cream). My last ride of the night was on the Grand Carousel. I saw the guy in the SDR shirt again, but I think he looked at the time and got off to go get in line for something else before 10PM. 

My night ended with a viewing of the nighttime spectacular. As much as I love the drones, I don't think the experience would be as good without the nightly fireworks. I've been trying to figure out where I recognize the Maestro design from and I think it's similar to BryanJay's art style with how the hair is portrayed. It would be amazing if the International Restaurant could be opened for an upcharge VIP fireworks viewing. I think that would be some easy money for the park, especially if it's like $30-$40 and includes dinner. Would it sell out every night? I don't think so, but I bet there are enough guests visiting each day that would pay for it. Getting out of the parking lot via the north exit was easy. One thing I like about some of the legacy Six Flags parks is that they have these Disney World-esque directional signage which would look so much better and more permanent at Kings Island than the cheap-looking vinyl(?) signs they have now.

Overall, I had a surprisingly good night at the park. The heat didn't hurt me too much, but it was close to being too much. It would be a very good idea for the park to put up some big water stations in each area with free cold water. The water fountains are useful, but guests might be better about staying hydrated if there were dedicated water stations all over the place.

But last year, we got Gold Passes, figuring that our family is old enough (son's 14, daughter's 10) for us to enjoy Kings Island but also start giving Cedar Point another try. So, this past weekend we drove on down for two days. We knew it would be busy, so we splurged and got Fast Lane Plus for Friday. Throughout the weekend, we were able to get on all the big rides and do a few, like Steel Vengeance, twice. 

In the 14 years I'd been away, Cedar Point has really upped its game. I love the new boardwalk area. Last time I was there, they were just tearing down Disaster Transport and the Space Spiral, and the addition of GateKeeper, Wild Mouse and the Grand Pavilion really make that area special. I especially loved the food options at the Grand Pavilion and the chance to enjoy a meal overlooking Lake Erie (the weather was sunny and 75 all weekend; perfect). I also think their Frontiertown reminds me of what Rivertown at Kings Island used to be. I would never wish to get rid of Mystic Timbers or Diamondback, but I feel like Rivertown is a bit smaller than it used to be. It feels like a quick jaunt from Camp Snoopy to the White Water Canyon station, where the theming starts to peter out. But Cedar Point's Frontierland stretches for so long. I love that they have the shaded stretch with the forts and shops (and live music) still maintained without big rides cutting in. Then you get to the more Western-themed section and you get the two best rides in the park. I loved Cedar Farms as a dining option, and Backbeat BBQ looked like a lot of fun, too. Just such a nice section, especially on our second day, when we wanted to slow the pace down and take it easy. 

The coaster lineup is second to none, of course. Steel Vengeance is possibly the best coaster I've ever ridden -- Maverick is pretty great as well. The Raptor still holds up, and Siren's Curse has the single most terrifying element I've experienced on a coaster with that tilt, followed by a ride that is just so much fun. I think Valravyn and GateKeeper kind of struggle to be more than their gimmicks, but they're fun. The kids rode everything they were tall enough for -- Raptor and Rougarou's restraints meant they were the only things my daughter couldn't ride. She was a little daredevil; Siren's Curse was her favorite. We closed out with a ride on TT2, which might have been her limit ... she was in tears when it ended. I'll admit that while I had no problem with the original Dragster, that spike element might have been a bit much for me. 

I still think there are some things Kings Island does better than CP. The people ops at Kings Island are so much better; all the Cedar Point ops seemed stressed out, and in some cases were yelling at people to get on rides more quickly in a way that felt very rude. Kings Island seems to have loading and unloading down to a science, where it seemed the Cedar Point teams were struggling a bit. And all the big rides went down at least once over our time there -- Maverick, Steel Vengeance and Millennium Force were closed for several hours. And while I think Cedar Point has a much better Frontierland/Rivertown area, Kings Island is still the cleaner and better-designed park...that circular structure really makes it easy to navigate from one area to the next. We met up with our church youth group the second day and trying to check in was a chore because there's not really an easy way to get from one end of the park to the next. Also, I'm not sure if this is a Six Flags-wide change this year or specific to CP only, but the meal plans were wonky. The entrees and sides were self-explanatory, but the included snacks were pretty much non-existent. You could get Dippin' Dots and...that was about it. I seem to remember at KI last year being able to get the Oreo churros, Aunt Annie's, and a few other snack items throughout the park, but none of that was included in our meal plan. 

But still, a great trip. We'll be back! 

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk 6/1

This is somehow my first trip to California in my life and instead of checking out the more popular socal parks, I'm in the SF bay area.

I only had a small idea of what to expect from Santa Cruz, and ended up enjoying the experience.

First things first: cost

We messed up by not buying discounted ride wristbands ahead of time. So buying them the day of the visit would have been about 75/each or 150 total. Instead, since many of the flat rides are just smaller versions of what I've been on before or will on this trip, I opted to start with with one of their prepaid cards which give "bonus points" that can be used on rides. IE $100 can get you $115 worth of rides. The bonus points can't be used on food or other items but fortunately they are automatically used before any paid points where applicable. This system worked out well for us. The wristbands aren't good for the walk through Fright Walk attraction and food. So for the price of two wristbands, we did all the rides we wanted, including 2 rides on GIant Dipper, the Fright Walk and covered one meal. Still more expensive than the other two parks on this trip but...it is a boardwalk park.

The rides:

Giant Dipper is wonderful. It's reasonably smooth for an old woodie and has a couple good pops of airtime. The pre-lift section is also a nice treat as is the more rare, rounded station. Our first ride, we just walked to the front row because the other guests just instinctively filled in the back of the train. So we got front and another ride near the back. Both were great.

The park also has 3 decent dark rides. One is the Cave Train Adventure. It has your usual bright colors with blacklight-effects. The characters are crude looking but there are a ton of them and many animate. There's also a decent sense of humor to the ride and its surprisingly long.

We also hit Ghost Blasters, which is, in fact, a boo blasters ride complete with Boocifer. No omnimover system but the guns work really well.

They also have a Haunted Castle dark ride, which is arguably higher quality than the others but at the same time more generic. It was decent but nothin that interesting.

We tried a couple flat rides, including an indoor Huss breakdance complete with lights and music.

We skipped the EF Miler kid coaster but did ride Undertow, a Maurer spinner. I continue to have bad luck with spinning coasters as this one had almost zero spin. 

We also rode their Arrow log flume, Loggers Revenge. Didn't get very wet and the layout is your typical one where it stays in the air the whole time until the drop.

WIth our remaining points, I rode Tornado by myself. I'm not sure I had seen one of these rides from Wisdom Rides. The cars swing as the ride spins but you can spin them like tea cups.

Crowds were pretty moderate. Enough people that you had to work to avoid bumping in to people but the lines weren't terrible. If the crowds were smaller, I would have wished we had wristbands but it actually worked out pretty well.

We ate at a fish&chips place on the arcade side of the boardwalk. It was decent quality food.

My overall impressions are pretty positive. They actually have a ton more rides there that we didn't ride, including a skyride that covers most of the boardwalk distance. It's impressive how they managed to cram in some things. One end of the park is basically two layers, where they put indoor rides underneath a higher part of the midway. And while its somewhat expensive overall, the park is well kept and maintained and I never felt like anyone was trying to rip me off. So don't overlook this boardwalk if you're ever in the bay area.
 

Foire de Mai in Metz, France: after landing in Brussels we drove about 3 hours through Luxembourg to the town of Metz, France where they were having a large kermis. There were some hard to find traveling rides that we wanted to get some rides on. We started with a wild ride on a Huss Breakdance that had approximately a 5 minute ride cycle and had much more spinning as it would speed up and slow down during the cycle to whip the cars around more than any of the other ones I've ever been on. Pair that with the incredible lighting package and lasers it was such an energetic start to the evening. Up next was a Tagada which I was told are illegal in the USA unless they have seatbelts which defeats the entire point of bouncing riders off the seats and into the floor. The family running the ride were having a great time manually controlling the spin and bouncing as they tried to pop people off the outer ring of seats and into the floor in the middle. I managed to lose my phone one this ride (first time I've ever lost a phone on a ride) thankfully they were able to spot it quickly and climb down under the ride and retrieve it without a scratch. We continued down the midway to the HUSS Magic flat ride. This was kind of like an inverted breakdance that was very unique albeit less intense. We then rode a Schwarzkopf Bayern Kurve which had water and fire effects as the bobsled raced around the track. It was great to actually ride one going at high speed as compared to the one at CGA which is pretty tame. Finally we rode a Mondial Move in Top which is probably one of the most intense flats I've ever done. 

So that I can include related photos of the parks, I will reply to this thread with the other parks and rides we rode while in Europe 

Some positives:

• My pepperoni pizza meal at Hugo's was good, though I'd have preferred a better dipping sauce for my breadsticks. This meal was on the lower side of a "good" rating.
• All of the associates I interacted with were friendly and seemed to do their jobs well.
• I enjoyed the pre-recorded spiels for some of the rides. That said, they need to be played louder and/or find a better soundproofing method overall.
• My second meal of the day was a Hot Dog Basket with Chips from Derby Dogs (hooray! it was open!!). There were four associates working the stand who kept the line moving swiftly. Two of them were assembling the baskets and the other two were manning the registers. The split-top bun (as opposed to a standard side-split) looked very nice and the hot dog itself was good. This meal was on the higher side of a "good" rating.
• Throughout the day I got at least 3 paper cup refills, and only one of them (a Coke from Hugo's) tasted odd. Honestly this is the one time I'll admit to wanting lids and straws offered (when requested) since all of the bugs are 

Some complaints:

• The associates are required to consistently ask about if you'd like to purchase a drink bottle even if you're already redeeming your paper cup plan. I think I saw that this was a mandate from their Coca-Cola supplier (or something like that), but I really wish the park would negotiate something that would let them tone it down.
• There aren't as many "fluffy-friendly" rides at Cedar Point as there are at Kings Island — a category which both parks are severely lacking in. Even Corkscrew (with Arrow's forgiving restraints) didn't look like it could really accommodate anyone with a larger belly or chest. Cedar Point is the thrill park, but I do think they need to have more rides that the entire family can ride together. I'm really just salty that they got rid of the riverboat expeditions.
• The lack of a dark ride is a major hindrance for the park. I think they need something the size of Phantom Theater, though having 50-ish cars in it would be better considering their crowd numbers. I'd love to see a Disaster Transport dark ride near the front of the park. A second good dark ride would be something taking over the plot from Frontier Fling and Shoot the Rapids' station. They would lose that access to the island, but would gain a big dark ride on the Frontier Trail.
• During our meal at Hugo's I saw at least 6 people go in/out of an emergency exit door. There isn't really much you can do about that besides giving it an actual alarm, but it was not a great thing to see. 

This last one gets a bigger point:

Operations were less than stellar for it being Memorial Day weekend. This isn't the issue of the associates that were there, but more of an issue with Cedar Point's hiring practices. Having a group of older, full-time associates around the park who are more responsible and knowledgeable would help to provide a much better experience overall. I won't provide a possibly-AI-but-maybe-not solution though. You're not going to attract people who will stick around beyond a Summer job without paying enough for them to live in Sandusky year-round.

Despite being posted at a 25 minute wait time, it took me 60 minutes to make it through the line for Corkscrew. The only thing that might've made it go quicker would be if the three associates working in the station provided a sense of urgency. I watched about three Top Thrill 2 launches between each train being sent on Corkscrew. The second train sat on the brake run for a good 3 minutes each cycle. My main point in saying this is that Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of the Summer season for parks. This is the weekend that a park like this should strive to have everything operating by. There were only two shows set to take place, and their showtimes were all after 3:00PM despite the park opening at 10:00AM. Maverick appeared to be closed until about 1:30PM: it had a line that stretched all the way back near the Stockade Refreshments with no associates attempting to corral guests into a smaller area. (Part of that issue was guests waiting outside of the queue and part of it was the lack of planning/execution on how to contain the line.) 

There are still a few things that I feel are fundamentally wrong with the park operations. Fast Lane has historically been oversold and sales need to be cut off sooner. There's no reason why a Fast Lane line should exceed 45 minutes IMO — so when it gets up there, close that queue for a little bit. The lack of associates on the midways as well as the closed Guest Services locations (on a holiday weekend) is concerning. If there isn't an easy way to fix the ride wait times then there need to be other things for guests to do. Live entertainment and play areas are a good start. A new/reopened park museum would continue the effort. I think Cedar Point is the kind of park that could sustain an all-season Haunt maze (even as an upcharge). More things for people to do that get them out of coaster queue lines.

Ultimately, I still love Cedar Point. The park has one of the best ride collections in the world and still lives up to most of its reputation. It has a lot of things that absolutely need to be rethought. Better staff hiring practices, more boots on the ground helping to direct people and fix things in the moment, and an overhaul on some of how the park works would all do wonders. These are the kinds of things that would make guests a lot happier than another new coaster before 2030.

I will just say this. Never again.

I knew it was going to be crowded. I knew it was going to be insane. And to some degree, that can be worth putting up with when the product meets or surpasses the expectations. But my two biggest complaints? 

Lets just start with the fact that post COVID, people's spatial awareness is completely GONE. The amount of grown adults running into each other without saying excuse me and the amount of un supervised children literally running around and acting crazy just....I can't. Absolutely ZERO regard for anyone around them. I have no tolerance for rudeness and will very loudly announce this with no hesitation. It was around 2130HRS when we decided to take a seat up against the main entrance near the lockers and the gift shop because I felt that was the safest spot to be away from the absolute insanity closer to the fountains. Well, I was right until I was wrong. People started clamoring looking for places to sit or stand and what not. And while I get it, the last straw for me came when a woman with her child got right next to me, bent over IN A DRESS showing everything absolutely no one wanted to see and then proceeded to sit down next to me without asking if that was ok. Her young child then proceeded to kick me in the arm and no apology was given for this action-all the while two loud teenage girls were fighting over a wall outlet on the other side of my fiancé to charge their phones. After getting kicked in the arm by said toddler, I stood up, yelled a few profanities ( not sorry ) and proceeded to leave the park. We intended to still see the fireworks, but we opted to sit in the grassy area in front of the entrance. This was all fine and good for the most part as at least there was room to breath and a slight breeze, but of course kids were running around into people and no supervision to correct said behavior. 

I knew leaving the parking lot post show would be a nightmare as stated above, leaving any fireworks show from anywhere I have ever been has always been an experience in and of itself. But this is where lot attendants are needed. Big events like this ABSOLUTELY NEED to have staff out in the lots guiding and directing traffic to get things moving because sitting in a standstill for an HOUR is unacceptable. I was thinking we would at least be inching along out of the lot, but nope. Literally just sat there. And the amount of people getting impatient pulling dangerous stunts to get out and cutting people off....again...need some traffic control for these large events. Even if it has to be outside help. For safety as well as throughput. 

I realize this may just be a sign of the times ahead. I had a moment while we were inside the park thinking to myself "the appearance of this place really give SF vibes and not CF vibes" because the park has truly let so much slide. The amount of half-clothed, inappropriate attire I saw running amuck gave "trashy" vibes in a way that I can't quite articulate without sounding absolutely judgmental. I'm all for freedom of expression, but there are limits and the park just felt like a cheap sellout in the way that I bet annual Geauga Lake patrons felt when their beloved park sold out to SF.

Unrelated to the holiday weekend but related to my above sentence, we were at the water park a few weeks ago when we saw something incredibly disturbing. It was an incredibly inappropriate tattoo that should have NEVER been allowed to be seen in a public space due to what it stands for. And I realize this individual more than likely came into the park fully clothed and staff wouldn't have seen it upon entry. But the fact is, the tattoo was large and on full display for all to see and staff had every right to ask this person to leave as that tattoo absolutely violated a park policy. The fact that this man was not ejected from the park baffles me. And this just leans into the standards being so low that the bar is in hell at this point. 

I miss the days when things felt more together. Now it seems like anything goes and no one is able to stop it. My memories of this event from 2010-2012 are vastly different than what this past Friday showed. 

So were the fireworks good? Yes. The park did a great job. But after the fiasco that it was, we won't be attending this event again. And I really hope in the future the park finds a way to better manage the parking lot situation at the very least.

Anyone else go and have a similar or better/worse experience?

After a slightly later-than-intended start, I was off to BeastBuzz! My first-ever park event.

We got to the park at 9:45 AM, too late to catch The BeastBuzz/ACE Walkback to The Beast. I ditched my mom at the car (Usually I leave her at the fountains, but usually I don’t have to take time to register for an event lol)

I ran, I mean, RAN to The BeastBuzz registration window in the Group Sales building, parted with 25 bucks since I have a PKI Pass (Hey! I have a GOLD PASS!! I’m important! I should get a better discount! Nah, just kidding.) And got my lanyard, name card (Which I had to write my name on myself since I was not pre-registered, and I wrote my first AND last names on it, not realizing I didn’t have too), my itinerary sheet, and I was off! I hurried through security as fast as the morning line would allow, and through the turnstiles the same way. Why does my line always have to creep? I swear, it always does!

In the gate, I flat out RAN again, trying to get to Beast before 10AM. No such luck. I got to the rope at Rivertown just past the Eiffel Tower, but there was no one to show my lanyard to get through, so I shoved through the group as close to front as possible, and took off at warp speed when the rope dropped. While all the slowpoke GP peeps walked casually, I bowled over a few and ran down the curb and on the grass by the path. I got to Beast and caught the third public train out of the station, in the front on the fourth car, (or was it the fifth car?), and got it.

I got off and flat-out RAN to Tomb Raider, (I know, I’m doing a lot of running today, darned late starts!), and got to Tomb Raider well on time, at 10:20 AM. There was only a small crowd so far, and my mom told me they were taking BeastBuzz people back for the first ride. I had not heard about this, so I VERY hesitantly entered the line. It became quickly clear that it was NOT the first ride, as I was in a line reaching to the cave entrance. SO I ducked out and went back to milling in front of the ride area.

A few minutes later, I saw Dane, Dan, Boddah, and someone else form PKIC enter the group. I was too far from them so I stayed put; I had a pretty good place in the group near the front.

A few minutes later, after a bunch of us chatted with Steve from Marketing, Jeff Siebert arrived and herded us back by Beast’s entrance, and through the service gate next to Beast’s queue entrance. We went back by a Cable TV Box for the queue TVs, and gathered around a fire hydrant (?!?!?!), to wait for the inevitable Jeff Siebert Speech™.

Jeff welcomed us to the Tomb Raider Backstage Tour, and then led us back by the building, where we were told to gather around a fence surrounding the ride’s resistor banks. Jeff climbed up a flight of steps that lead to the control room, and addressed the crowd. He gave an explanation about the ride and basic stuff, and then the resistors started making a horrendous racket. Everyone near them jumped 10 feet into the air. Jeff then explained what they were for, which I already knew due to a recent Travel Channel program that featured Tomb Raider.

He then said that because of copyright issues with the manufacturers and other thing, there was no photography allowed inside Tomb Raider’s rooms. He then came down and started admitting small groups into the first room through a set of double doors.

When I got in, closed cabinets on wither side of the room surrounded my group, housing the motor controllers for each arm of the ride. Jeff explained the each arm is independent, and must communicate with each other VERY precisely. If they get even slightly out of sync, the ride would halt immediately. At the end of the room, there were two desktop PC’s that Jeff said could be used to change the ride’s program, run diagnostics, etc. Behind them, an open cabinet displayed a counter counting down the current ride cycle. Jeff said the timer was part of the equipment that links to two arm’s motor controllers, and we were watching the two parts of the ride “talk†to each other.

Jeff then opened up a door on the left wall, next to the computers. He let people up to the door, where we got to watch the massive Giant Top Spin going through its cycle inside the cave, including several special effects.

After leaving that room, I walked to the third door, where people were being admitted without a guide. This room housed the boiler for the steam, which was indeed live steam, and some fog equipment, as well as steps down to an access tunnel that leads underneath the queue line part of the building.

After leaving there, I went to the middle door, where once again there was no guide, just Kimberly from Marketing standing at the door (Steve was manning the boiler room door), and cycled though. This room contained all the special effects goodies, including the main FX computer, sound equipment, timers, etc. The equipment formed an island in the middle of the room, with more on the walls. We circled around the room, and exited.

After lingering for a few minutes outside the building, and took more photos outside, I headed back out the way we had come, and exited to the midway.

Looking at my itinerary, the scavenger hunt meeting was next, at noon, at the International Street Bandstand. However, it was only 11:25, so I took the scenic route and went over through Coney Mall. Going by Vortex, I photographed the ride with the brilliant blue skies and bright sun, and then rode Troika (Shake, Rattle, And Roll), in Orange Car #2. With no wait, I boarded quickly, and then had a great ride. It was 11:39 by then, so I headed down Coney toward International Street, taking the scenic route through Oktoberfest.

I got to the bandstand, ten minutes before noon, and watched the clogging. Hmmm, clogging? I don’t want to watch clogging! I want to go on a scavenger hunt!!!

I found a group of fellow BeastBuzzers and joined them, not exactly sure about what to do. After a few minutes, the groups got REALLY big, and Jeff Siebert and Maureen Boothe led us into the International Showplace, the concert place to the right of the Eiffel Tower.

After herding into the Showplace, we all got in the closest seats we could. I got in a few rows back, right on the right side of the aisle, and continued taking some pictures.

After every one was down, Jeff introduced his partner in crime, Steve Bohmker, now known as Mr. Steve, or Sadistic Steve. He had been working on this scavenger hunt for a while now. Jeff then started to thumb through the pages of clues, saying, on each turn for dramatic effect, “It’s not one page, it’s not TWO pages, it’s not three pages, it’s not FOUR pages, it’s not five pages, it’s not SIX pages, it’s not seven pages, it’s not EIGHT PAGES!!! IT IS NINE PAGES LONG!â€

After a collective groan, which increased with every page, they instructed everyone not on a team already to raise their hands, which I did. After everyone else was paired (I was late on something YET AGAIN…), I got paired up with a couple one row down and to my left, on the other side of aisle. They introduced themselves as Darcy (Screen Name: Gecko) and his wife, Jennifer (If you read this, HI!)

Then, Free Son of Beast patches and pins were sent around, but not before Kimberly, also from marketing, dumped the box of pins all over the ground. (This was captured on photo, and is in the Extreme PKI BeastBuzz 2004 Gallery).

Maureen Boothe from Marketing then went around distributing free ink pens (Actually, more like fine-point Sharpies), and then Jeff told Team Captains to come up and get their forms. I got made captain due to my sitting on the aisle, so I went and got it. Teams were advised that they had to turn in their forms AFTER 5:50 PM, but BEFORE 6PM, and strongly urged everyone to read their questions completely before leaving the Showplace.

I rejoined my two teammates (Teams could have up to four people, but could have less), and we exited the Showplace, failing to read the questions. Once outside, we paused to read quickly, and we rapidly discovered the first question was to count The Beast pawprints, which we started to do immediately, after agreeing on a group-concensus count method: We would each count ourselves, then discuss our results after the fact.

We walked back to the edge of the International Street paver bricks, and started counting, walking around the Eiffel Tower, down the slope toward the floral clock, down the scenic path to Rivertown by Paradise Island, down by the old Antique Cars station, around the corner, through the Drunk Zone (The area by LaRosa’s where alcohol is allowed for sale and consumption), down past the arcade, hang a left, and up to The Beast entrance, where the last paw print right by the entrance of the queue is BADLY faded, almost not visible!

We discussed our count, and both Darcy and Jennifer had 226, but I had 225! They told me that a print was underneath a sign by the Tower, and they didn’t tell me so we wouldn’t lose count. So 226 went on our forms, and we walked over to the LaRosa’s patio, sat down, and started to read through the questions.

They were very glad I was from the area, and knew the park as well as I do. They were Cedar Point people, and did not know PKI very well. Darcy took his itinerary sheet out, and on the back, wrote down question numbers for Coney Mall, Oktoberfest, Action Zone, and International Street as I told him the numbers. Being the PKI Nut that I am, I identified almost immediately where most of the questions would take us.

Question One: The first question to tackle: counting the light bulbs in Vortex’s Sign (Groan). All the original questions, which we were not returned to us after judging, were in a rhyming format, which I do not remember. So I will just list them in the order my team did them, in simple wording.

We made the short walk to Vortex, and went up to the sign. After counting the “V†by eye, Darcy used his digital camera to take a photo of each letter, and we counted them on the screen, writing each letter’s number of lights on the itinerary sheet.

Answers for this question:

V=44 Bulbs O=34 Bulbs R=35 Bulbs T=24 Bulbs E=29 Bulbs X=51 Bulbs

Total: 217 Bulbs

Question Two: Next up: getting the price of a gallon of gas at Gilmore Gas. This was obviously at Preston Tucker’s Roadside Cafe. We went over there, and discovered that none of the three pumps in the front (Coney Mall Side), were named Gilmore Gas! Two were named Victoria Gas. So we went inside, and found no Gilmore Gas. At the last minute, I remembered that there was a pump in the back. SO we walked out the back door, and, lo and behold, Gilmore Gas! So we got the priceand headed on down Coney Mall.

Answers for this question: One gallon at Gilmore Gas is either .219 or twenty-one and nine-tenths, no way to be sure.

Question Three: Headed down Coney, we had to get the name on the back of the bumper cars. We went to the exit, and could not get close enough. So when the cycle ended, I cut into the exit, and grabbed a car, and read the name off the back, which was also on the dash panel inside the cars. Then, on to next question!

Answers to this question: The name on the back of the cars and on the dash panel is “Azzurriâ€

Question Four: We had to count the baskets on top of the “Basket Case†game. So we started down Coney Mall, and started looking. Guess what we found no game called Basket Case. But on the way we stopped to do…

Question Five: We had to get the high score off of an arm-wrestling game. That is in the Coney SkeeBall Arcade next to Zephyr. We stopped in, found the game, and I got tokens and started the game. Just before my game started, the high score was displayed, and I played a couple rounds before it ended.

Answer for Question Five: The high score of arm-wrestling is… I can’t remember!!! I’ll have to find it and re-post this.

Back to Question Four: Back to number four now. We walked all the way back down Coney Mall down to Vortex, by the last game, and then walked all the way back. There was a Peach Basket game, but no Basket Case (The question made it quite clear that we wanted BASKET CASE), so we decided to skip, and went to the next.

Answer to Question Four: We don’t know. Skipping for now, and will look for a Basket Case game elsewhere during the Hunt.

Question Five: We have to get the name of the military base where Flight of Fear is. So we head back there, and get the name Fort Cooper off of the overhang over the entrance. But then, we headed back out and saw ANOTHER sign, behind a chain-link fence just past The Racer cross-under, to the left when facing Flight of Fear. It said “J.G. Cooper Special Forces Compoundâ€. So, we thought for a while, and went with that.

Answer to this question: We went with J.G. Cooper Special Forces Compund, as Fort Cooper sounded too obvious.

Question Six: Well, we got out of Flight of Fear area, and realized we had missed a question at Tucker’s! So we trekked back over there, and we had to fins the sign for Tucker Auto Oil (GULP!), so we started with the outdoor table area on the Coney Mall side by the basketball game. We found it there, on the side of the building near the door. We got the slogan from it, and headed out of Coney Mall, to get the Oktoberfest questions.

Answer for this question: The slogan for Tucker Auto Oil is “Keeps-your-motor-youngâ€

Question Seven: Time for Oktoberfest! Next question is that me have to get the number from something red that floats in the water at a shrimp place, so we hit Bubba Gumps Shrimp Shack. We went on the deck, and looked all around. We saw THREE red boats in the remote control boat area next to the deck, each with a different number, and there was no number on the red wooden boat sitting on the deck.

We realized that it could be something that COULD float in water, and it did not say it WAS floating. So we went around the side, looking around the bar and peeking inside the restaurant door, no luck. Then, we walked around front, and BINGO! A red buoy, sitting on a gravel bank as part of the theming, with a big number 8 on it!

Answer to Question Seven: The number on the floating thing is number 8.

Question Eight: Next up was getting the song that is played on the Glockenspiel every 15 minutes, which is at the Festhaus. We got there just as it quit playing, and we thought is was Chicken Dance. But we had to be sure, so we waited. Darcy and I went inside to get a drink, and saw the annoying $3 price for a Coke. So we walked through the Festhaus back door, and went looking for a cheaper machine, as they are only $2.75 in places. But we were low on time, so we went back and paid the annoying 3 bucks, got our Cokes, and went back outside to wait.

A few minutes later, it came on again, and was indeed the Chicken Dance. Next question time!

Answer to Question Eight: The song played by the Glockenspiel is the Chicken Dance.

Question Nine: We had to go to Action Zone now. First up, getting the serial number from a Giant Frisbee. Well there’s only one Giant Frisbee in the country, so we went to Delirium. The line that greeted us was 40 minutes long, and we had no time in which to spend in a line. I spotted the plaque on the drive box with the stuff on it, so we went to the exit. The guy at the exit booth (which is also Remote Dispatch) had the number written on his hand from helping other teams, so we got it quick, and moved on.

Answer to Question Nine: Delirium’s serial number is 106852.

Question Ten: We had to go to an aviation themed ride, and find the sign that looks like a playing card. Well, this is Top Gun, and I’ve seen this sign many times, but unfortunately had not memorized it before. So we walked down the Neverending-Entrance-Of-Doom, and found a pesky 45 minute wait. Of course, the reride gate to the exit was LOCKED (I think they are trying to annoy us today) so we were NOT going to walk it again. We just hopped over the stupid anti-scale fence, and continued on the Neverending-Exit-Of-Doom.

We got to the station and looked across to the queue, where we found the sign. We then hiked back out the Neverending-Exit-Of-Doom, and stopped to read our questions again.

Answer to Question Ten: The sign in Top Gun’s station is Black Aces 41

Question Eleven: We had to count the black rectangles that surrounded the Paramount Water Tower (Groan, massive crowds are standing on those), so Jennifer stood on the one that points toward Son of Beast, and Darcy and I walked around, each counting on our own again. We got a consensus of 24, and wrote it down.

Answer to Question Eleven: There are 24 black rectangles, however, and we wrote this on the form too, they are technically not rectangles, as they go around a circle, slightly wedge-shaped.

After this, we saw the Beverly Hills Cop 3 poster, and noted the release date of May 25. However, the question seems to indicate the SECOND Beverly Hills Cop movie, so we would figure that out later.

Question Twelve: Time to see a show! We have to get the name of the school written on a megaphone during the Magic of the Movies show. As luck would have it, we got there just as the show was about to start at 2:30!!! We are doing just fine so far, and we go in. once in the door, an employee offers to help and tell us after the show what it is in case I can’t see it, the condition is that Jennifer and Darcy have to be on the show for the Titanic part. So they go backstage, and I take a front row seat, camera with flash off at the ready.

The show started, and it is actually pretty good! This was my first time to see it, So I paid attention. The Titanic part started, and they came on stage, got introduced, and…

SPOILER ALERT: The first thing is for the first guy (The always goofy guy) to give the man in the show (Darcy) a sketch pad, and the woman (Jennifer) gets a cape-like robe thing. If you’ve seen Titanic, you’ll get the hint. Then the screen starts to show Kate Winslet dropping the robe for Leo DiCaprio to sketch, but then the other cast member on stage intervenes, saying NO NO NO!!! This is quite funny! Then the first guy gives Darcy a deck chair, and starts yelling, as the screens hows a guy in a deck chair tumbling off the ship, “AND YOU’LL GO SLIDING OFF HERE,AND…â€, Right then, the other guy intervenes again, and they finally agree to do something else, and they roll out a mockup of the Titanic bow, and put them on it. Stuff including “I’m king of the world!†follows, including a big fan to make wind. I mean a BIG fan. Then the first guy, the goof, suggests doing a sequel. To this, the first guy says, “How? The boat sank, it’s over!†then the first guy brings out Hawaiian stuff, and they put it on. Then, the sequel is done to the theme of “They sink, they hit the ocean floor, and what’s this? A PINEAPPLE?â€

You guessed it: WHO LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA, SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS! Complete with bubbles coming down from the ceiling. Then the show concluded with a trailer for the SpongeBob Movie, coming out this November.

Then, the show concluded, and we rendezvoused near the exit. I had gotten the answer from the megaphone during the wind-fan sequence, so we paused to neaten our papers.

Answer to Question Twelve: The school name on the megaphone is Rydell High.

Question Thirteen: We now hade to count the stars around the Paramount’s Kings Island logo at the front of International Street. We did the group consensus count again, and got our answer, and moved on.

Answer to Question Thirteen: There are 22 stars around the Paramount logo.

Question Fourteen: Heading into Hanna-Barbera Land, we stopped by Scooby Doo and used a trash can as a table to list the question numbers for this area on our note card. Then, seeing the line for Scooby to get our question for that ride, we went on to the Krusty Krab Snack Shack, we needed the price of a Krusty Combo Meal.

Groan, they DO NOT SELL Krusty Combo Meals here! Just junk food at an annoying price. We are NOT walking all the way back to Coney Mall to ride SpongeBob now, and besides, the picnic grove opened a half-hour ago fro the catered lunch!!!

Before going there, we got the price of a Medium Smurfberry Ice Cream at the Huckleberry Dairy, for part of upcoming Question Twenty, which must be completed by adding this price to the price of a Shrimp Kabob in the waterpark later on. The price is $2.34.

Scavenger Hunt Break: Picinic Grove Time!

We were right by the path to the grove, so we walked back and entered. We found The Beastbuzz Shelter, and got in line, giving up out meal tickets we got at registration. We got stuff from the buffet. I got a hot dog, dinner roll, chips and a Coke.

While eating, Jeff Putz came on stage (Actually, on top of a table), and gave a brief spiel. He introduced the Coasterbuzz Staff at the event, including Lord Gonchar, Scott Short, Sean Flaherty, and RideMan. I looked over and saw RideMan sitting a few rown in fron of me, facing toward me. Jeff’s wife, Stephanie Gall, who had been running the registration booth, was standing down by the end of the shelter next to a column.

Then, Jeff Siebert came on, and gave a brief talk before introducing Tom Rebbie from PTC (If you don’t know what PTC is, well, tough beans, you should)

He talked for awhile about The Beast’s original trains, but we left before he was done, to get back to the Hunt.

Return to Hunt!!!

Question Fifteen: We took an odd path at this point, going over to Reptar to get the info from the signs on the back of each car. We went up the exit, got it, and kept moving.

Answer to Question Fifteen: The signs on Reptar’s seat backs say “Do not extend legs, keep feet downâ€

Question Sixteen: We went to the next-door Wild Thornberries, where we had to get the symbol for danger from the first hill. Great. The line was too long to ride, so we hit the exit ramp. In the unload area, we went up the steps, and looked over toward the lift hill. Nothing. Then, I saw a log boat climbing ANOTHER HILL THAT IS REALLY THE FIRST! Right next to the exit steps, out a window. We watched it go up, and go right by a skull and crossbones!

Answer to Question Sixteen: The symbol is a skull and crossbones.

Question Seventeen: We went to the neighboring Wings Diner, and had to count the airplane models hanging from the ceiling. This went quick, and off to the Train!

Answer to Question Seventeen: there are 9 model planes hanging in Wings Diner.

Question Eighteen/Nineteen: We had to get stuff from the train, and go to the waterpark (GROAN), so we went to the train, where we got the train answers from the employee at the station. (Yeah!)

Answer to Question Eighteen: The animal hiding in the woods is a bear.

Answer to Question Nineteen: The price for a meal and whiskey at the old Inn is 30 Cents.

Question Twenty-Twenty-One: Someone had puked on the train when it returned, so they had to back it up and hose it before we could board. Puked on the train??? How motion sick WERE they?!?!?!

We got to the waterpark, and here the fun starts! We have to count the boomerangs lining the roof of the Aussie Outfitter’s Supplies place. We each counted a side, conferred, wrote it down, and counter another section. We got a final answer and wrote it down. Next we had to get the price or that Shrimp Kabob to add to the price of Smurfberry Ice Cream obtained earlier, so we went to Outback Shack, and got the price of the fresh-off-the-barbie Kabob, which is a pesky $7.49. We added that to the previously collected price for the ice cream, and got a total.

Answer to Question Twenty: There are 80 Boomerangs lining the gift shop.

Answer to Question Twenty-One: the total price of a Shrimp Kabob and a medium Smurfberry Cone is $9.83

Question Twenty-Two: We needed the Aussie word for “Slobâ€. So we looked around the eating area by Outback Shack, and fount the Aussie-Yank translation poster.

Answer to Question Twenty-Two: The Aussie word for Slob is “Yobboâ€

Question Twenty-Three: I answered this on by looking at my map in the train station on the way over.

Answer to Question Twenty-Three: The place where the kiddie ship is located is called Kangaroo Lagoon.

Question Twenty-Four: OK, time to leave the waterpark. One question is to count the parking lot row names and numbers, so we considered going out the waterpark gate and doing that there, but our time was getting shorter by the minute, and skipped it. We walked back to the main park, and now we had to find the only non-Hanna-Barbera-themed eatery there, AND the name of the character who had lost his hat. I spotted both while going to Scooby, and we nailed another!

Answer to Question Twenty-Four: The eatery is Busytown Grill, and the poster on its wall is Dingo Dog getting his hat blown off.

Question Twenty-Five: we are VERY low on time now. We lingered in the picnic grove too long, and it was almost 5PM now! We had just over an hour, and very heavy crowds. We debated doing the parking lot one, But we had no time. We just skipped it, and ran to White Water Canyon, where we had to get the US Patent Number from a boat.

Once again, Long Line. I think this was held on Saturday on purpose. They stayed at the start of the exit, while I ran like a bat outta hell down that annoying exit mile err path.

I ran all the way to the Unload area, which is the spinning platform where load and unload occurs. I went to the edge, and asked an employee to get me the number. She told me to hang on a minute. Five minutes elapsed. I asked again, and she said “Just a minute sirâ€, well don’t have a minute to wait! So I asked the other employee to get it, deciding right then that if she told me to wait, I would throw aside the Yellow-Line rule and hop a boat myself to get the number. However she was VERY nice and got on a boat and read me the number, whoich I wrote on my own itinerary sheet with our pen which I had taken with me.

Answer to Question Twenty-Five: White Water Canyon’s US Patent Number is 269082.

Question Twenty-Six: This lead me to the next one, getting the price for 20 shots on the super-soakers along White Water Canyon’s exit, which allow people to drench the riders, for a price, that is.

Answer to Question Twenty-Six: The sign reads “5 Shots-50 Centsâ€, so some fancy math heralded the answer of…Two Bucks.

Question Twenty-Seven: I really had to hurry now. We had 35 minutes left to turn in our papers. We ran over to Tomb Raider and found the sign showing the price of Lara Croft’s Land Rover, Which is parked outside the entrance.

Answer to Question Twenty-Eight: The Land Rover cost $175,200 Bucks.

Question Twenty-Nine: I forgot to write this one earlier. This belongs with the ones in the train station. We had to get the number of days off of the calendar in the Telegraph Office, which is theming by the train station.

Answer to Question Twenty-Nine: There are 32 Days in the month of March.

Question Thirty: Another one forgotten from earlier: We had to count boxes of Scooby Snacks on Scooby-Doo. This belongs just after the Busytown Grill question. We had no time then to ride, so we asked the employee at the Walk-on-Weekends entrance. She thought for a minute, and said there was one per room, and guessed 12 rooms. We heard others say this, so we had our answer.

Answer to Question Thirty: The employee’s guess, and others around us, said 12, so we used that.

Question Thirty-One: Back to real time now. We had to get the name of The Beast Tamer and where he worked. I had a brain freeze, and just could not remember this. We ran over there, got his info, and ran to the Eiffel Tower

Answer to Question Thirty-One: Carl Eichelman used to work for the Internal Revenue Service. He has ridden The Beast over 4,400 times!

Question Thirty-Two: It was almost time to turn in our papers, and we had several blanks. I called my mom to meet us at the tower so I could get my camcorder back for the upcoming Beast backstage tour. Darcy and Jennifer went to the Paramount Story to look for a few thing. I went to get in line for Tower, where I had to get the phone number of the tennis complex across Interstate 71. I got my camcorder, and looked over, and the guy next to me was holding a paper with the various parking lot names and numbers!!! I asked if I could copy them, and he said “Sure!â€, so I borrowed his pen and copied them down. We were down to TEN MINUTES to turn in our papers, so I had NO TIME to go up the tower now anyway. So our 32nd question became the Parking Lot one!

Answers to Question Thirty-Two:

Preferred parking is rows 1-7

Adventure Express Parking is rows 14-24

Beast Parking is rows 32-35

Drop Zone Parking is rows 33-41

Face/Off Parking is rows 42-49

Gold Pass Parking is rows 50-56

Son of Beast Parking is rows 61-66

Top Gun Parking is rows 67-74

Vortex Parking is rows 74-82

Boomerang Bay Parking is 83-91

Associate Backlot is rows 11-25 with no sign.

Rest of Questions: I met up with Jennifer and Darcy in the Paramount Story, and we quickly wrote down the parking codes, which is when I realized I had taken off with the guy’s pen from the tower! Oh well, no time now. We tidied up out papers, and had the following questions unanswered:

The International Showplace Tuned In show, we needed to know which old show they were paying tribute to that included a captain and feathers. We had to guess Captain Kangaroo.

The Tennis Court Phone Number, we had to guess 867-5309 (lol)

There is a car in the park somewhere, who owned the car? We left that blank.

The SpongeBob Krusty Combo price, we had no time to go get it. We guessed $2.50

Basket Case Game, we never found it. Left blank.

What role did George Irving play in WINGS? We could not find that, left blank.

On an original park ride, what is the name on the cracked tombstone? We just had to guess “It was on the train course†due to that being the only tombstones I know of.

The Beverly Hills Cop one, we put the date from the BHC3 Poster, May 25

What coaster has a memorial plaque at the entrance? Oh boy. We guessed Racer.

OK, paperwork finished, we have TWO MINUTES! The last riddle says to go to where the flowers tell the time, which was given away when we saw Jeff and Steve collecting forms on our way to the tower. We ran like heck down there from Paramount Story, and turned them in with ONE MINUTE to spare. Whew!

Jeff flipped through our paper and said “Very nice, very nice…†so we considered that a good sign. On the other hand, the PKIC Staff’s team had Jeff going “Shame! Shame, shame, shame!â€

We had 30 minutes before having to meet up for The Beast backstage tour, which was what I had been waiting for all day. With my camcorder back, my camera and two extra sets of batteries, we walked over to The Beast’s entrance plaza, which was the meeting place. We got water bottle and Cokes, and rested our worn-out feet for a few minutes.

This was our first real rest in the last six frantic hours of the Hunt. Jeff showed up at about 6:30 exactly, and led us back through the same gate we used for the Tomb Raider tour, and once again gathered by the Fire Hydrant.

Jeff then said “Welcome to the Tomb Raider The Ride Backstage Tour!†There was a collective silence. Then he said “Just kidding!â€

LOL, he has a tendency to do such things. He gave us a quick reminder to stay on the dirt, gravel, or paved roads, and to not go into the grass for safety reasons. ALL photography is allowed here and at the Son of Beast Tour.

We started out down a road to the side of The Beast’s final brake run, then UNDERNEATH the brake run and lift hill structure, and made a right. Walking parallel to the lift hill, we quickly got to the bottom of the first drop, the first tunnel, and the first turn.

At the bottom of the first drop, we waited for 4 trains… Well, 2 trains to drop and those 2 trains to return on the second lift and run to the brakes. I got a bunch of photos there, of the first drop, tunnel, a train exiting the tunnel, the first turn, a pic of the new track technology on the first turn, the second lift, etc.

After about 10 minutes, we moved on, going underneath the second lift hill, where we grouped into a clearing. We waited for three trains here, and I photographed this side of the first turn, second lift, and we got to watch a couple trains go up the second lift. We also got to see the motor house for the second lift’s chain drive.

We then proceeded down a service road, being cautioned yet again to stay on the road, “So The Beast won’t eat you.â€

This was a long and uneven-terrain walk. We first saw a bundle of cables (TOWER JOHNNY CABLES!!!). For those of you not familiar with Tower Johnny, a kid named Johnny was killed by an elevator on the Eiffel Tower in 1985. The elevator cables from then are rumored to be in the park somewhere, in The Beast area. So I took a picture, and we kept going.

We next arrived at the entrance side of the second tunnel, the long one that curves to the left. We got to look to the left and see two trains enter the tunnel, and then to take pictures to the right as it moved through the COMPLETELY ENCLOSED mid-section of the tunnel.

We then continued, and then came upon the exit part of the tunnel. Once again, we took pictures to the right of the FULLY ENCLOSED TRAIN, and then to the left of the train exiting the concrete section of the tunnel.

We then continued, and here’s where it got rough. We were all slipping and sliding down a fairly steep slope, covered in gravel, asphalt chunks, and other nasties. We got down to the bottom, and got to stand SIX LITTLE FEET from the track of the ground-hugging section following the tunnel, on the way to Lift Hill Number Two. We waited for 3 trains, the group taking turns up close because of the crowd, and I got some REALLY close photos of the part of The Beast not many are able to see, unless they are a maintenance crew.

Jeff then told us that the place in front of us, which was a section between two handrails without a safety cable, is where they start the morning inspection. One person goes left, the other goes right, and they meet in the station.

Then, we started back out, and I started videotaping. I recorded a train on the low stretch, then taped the rest of the way out, getting both sides of the large tunnel, the area by the second lift and second drop, including a train climbing the second lift. Then, we crossed under the lift hill again, and back to the area by the first tunnel, where I videoed more trains.

Then, we got herded back down the road we came, well, not quite. Instead of walking back right alongside and under the first lift, we went over to the side a bit, outside of the structure, and were taken over by the maintenance shed, then underneath the brake run and first lift hill, then back out, where we filed out, and were told to meet for Son of Beast in 40 minutes at the Flight of Fear Plaza at Fort Cooper.

Darcy, Jennifer and I went to the bathrooms by Vortex, then went straight of FOF to sit and rest for a while

We parked on a curb over by the Helipad service gate, and chatter coaster nut talk for awhile. We saw Jeff over there talking to the group, but we were not capable of walking again yet. We hauled up when he opened the gate, and went through.

Jeff welcomed us to the tour, and gave us the same warnings. Stay on the road, blah blah blah.

We then proceeded down the road where the entrance to the haunted trail goes, by some storage trailers, and back into the DEEPEST of the PKI woods. PKI has no land, my foot.

We walked on down, and, WhoooooHooooo! King Cobra! We all hopped over and took pics of the poor thing sitting in the clearing where the fireworks come from, then continued down the road, going around a left curve.

After walking through the old Lion Country Safari land for a while, we encountered, a, well, um, an AWFUL STINK. Jeff then said, “Welcome to Kings Island’s sewer!†Oh GREAT! I would have liked a little warning for that. But too late for warning, so I QUICKLY took a couple pictures, and we kept going, around a gentle curve to the right, and Hello, Helix!

We got to the base of the Rose Bowl Helix, and Holy Crap! This thing is MASSIVE. I knew it was big, but standing under it is different. Most of the people crowded up a slope to hear Jeff, but I hung back, taking a bunch of photos here.

Jeff finished up, and we turned around and headed back Well, that was a short tour! No, I’m kidding. We went down and turn RIGHT, onto a nice paved service road. We followed this for awhile, until we saw Adventure Express to our left. Whoop! So really we are getting three tours for the price of one here: King Cobra, Son of Beast, and Adventure Express!

After quick photos, we are greeted by SoB’s massive wall of wood that is the lift hill and first drop. We walked RIGHT underneath the first drop structure, ogling the huge wood beams used.

We then walked into the heart of the ride, walking underneath the entrance to Helix 2 as well. I was taking rapid-fire pics by this point.

We stood in the middle of the monstrous structure of the ride, and got to stand SIX FEET from the loop, right against the safety fencing.

We watched several trains go, and then Jeff said we would wait for three more. Well, five minutes elapsed, and no train. Then, it cycled empty. Great, someone threw up! It was getting late, and dark was approaching fast. Jeff decided we had to get out of there, so we wouldn’t get stuck in the dark.

We were led out, and I started videoing, just like before. I had also taped at the helix. I recorded the middle of the ride where we were standing, and taped all the way back out.

We went back the way we came, by the sewer again, (Bleh), and out to the Flight of Fear pavilion.

We were told to take the time between now and the 10PM event in the Paramount Theater to go eat, get sweatshirts for later, etc. Darcy and Jennifer were going to do the latter, so I told them bye for now, and went to meet my mom at Bubba-Gumps.

I met her at Bubba-Gumps and had part of a crappy fish sandwich. Also, a few crappy fries. They had no chocolate milk, so she went to International Street (hurry hurry!), to get me a milkshake at UDF.

She got back, I ran to the bathroom by Bubba Gumps, and hurried back out, that bathroom is CRAPPY (It really is, blech), so I grabbed my shake and beelined to the Paramount Theater. It was 9:50 PM.

I got there, and hunted for my team. After looking all around by the theater, I heard someone call my name, and I looked over and found Darcy. I wondered over and chatted briefly, then Jennifer showed up from I-Street, and we plucked down on the wall, my feet now totally dead. I had barely made it to the theater without falling down.

A couple minutes later, they opened the doors, and I pried myself up and we went in. Wow! Red carpet, lanyard ID check, ropes, wow! We went in, and went to the left of the left side aisle, in the front where we could stretch out.

After a few minutes, and everyone was in, Jeff Putz came on stage and did a quick speech, thanking us for such a great event, and thanking the park for making it all possible.

He then introduced Jeff Siebert of PKI (We know who he is, Jeff), and Jeff then came up, saying that the lanyard checkers had counted 170 of us that had made it this far. Not bad! Last year they only had like 75 people at the entire event!

They then got down to business, the Scavenger Hunt Results.

He said: “How many gave up on the Hunt?â€, and a lot of people raised their hands. How many think they can win? Quite a few hands, including my team. How many thought there were 225 Beast Prints? More hands including my own. Sneaky! That sign was there on purpose!

He then said they had a three-way tie for second place, so Jeff announced a Price-Is-Right rules tie-breaker. They would call the team captains of the tied teams up to the stage, where they would be asked questions. They called up three people, the first two I later found out were David Bowers (Coasterville Dave), and Michael Darling.

Question One (Tiebreaker) How many bolts were used to build The Beast? This was done with the Price-Is-Right rules.

David Bowers overbid, Michael Darling overbid more, and the third guy got it with a guess of 35,000. Correct answer about 85,000. In the audience, I guessed to my team and myself 12,000 bolts, which might have won.

Question Two (Tiebreaker) Who was The Beast’s main designer? David Bowers got it with Al Collins, ending it there. (I got it right again)

Question Three (Tiebreaker) How many acres does The Beast occupy? Michael Darling got it with 35 acres, ending it right there. (I got it right again, I should be up there!!!)

Question Four (Tiebreaker) What is the exact track length of The Beast? Answer must be exact.

Dave Bowers overbid a little, Michael Darling underbid a little. The third guy got it right with 7,359 feet, which is WHAT I GUESSED TO ME AND MY TEAM!)

Question Five (Tiebreaker) How many riders had The Beast carried?

Dave Bowers guessed 4,000,000, Michael Darling guessed 5,000,000, and his team took third place.

The team “The ACErsâ€, who had won with 39/40 answers correct, they had missed The Vortex light bulb question, which I found easy.

The scavenger hunt answers were not revealed, which bugged us a bit. Jeff said they would go into the PKI vault.

They then killed the lights, and started The Beast’s 25th anniversary video. It was awesome! It had TONS of historical footage in it, including John Allen sitting on top of The Racer’s lift hill before the ride had even tracked.

It also talked about the guy who has ridden The Racer over 4,000 times, and of course Carl Eichelman, the “Beast Tamer†talked about in the Hunt and on the sign by The Beast.

The video lasted about 30 excellent minutes. I wish they would sell this o a DVD in the gift shops! That would be awesome!

`After it ended, Jeff told us to go outside and take a bathroom break and to watch the fireworks, but those staying for the ERT had to meet back there RIGHT after the fireworks to guarantee being in the event. Park closing was right at that point, which was 11PM, in other words, they had to separate us from the commoners, who had to leave at that point.

Unfortunately, I could not stay. So we filed out of the Theater, and I said goodbye to my teammates, promising to exchange photos by email. We had traded addresses while waiting for The Beast tour earlier.

After telling them bye, I met my mom in front of the main entrance on International Street, and for me, BeastBuzz came to a close after a FANTASTIC day!

Pictures are available at ExtremePKI.com

-Donald (PKIDelirium)

Next stop was Salem's Riverfront Carousel which is a wooden community carved carousel from the early 2000s. Very beautiful and had a wide variety of animals. They had a brass ring machine that they were not using so I'm unsure why but it definitely wasn't working during our visit. Rides are $2 each or $15 for unlimited for the day. $5 minimum charge on a credit card. 

Later that evening, we went to the Albany Carousel Museum which has a Dentzel mechanism with custom carved animals. The carousel also has a ring machine and they had 2-3 brass rings per cycle. $2 per ride but you can ride unlimited for $10 between 4-7pm. The volunteers running this place were very generous and friendly. Wonderful operation. 

On the second day after a stop at Tillamook and Cannon Beach we went up to seaside. There is a small amusement park called Captain Kid which has a small coaster and go karts but they do not operate during the winter. We went to the carousel mall which has a fiberglass reproduction of a Dentzel carousel. It was also $5 to ride. 

The final stop was at Funland Arcade in Seaside, OR. They had a nice size fascination parlor with about 40 tables so we played a couple rounds of that. We also rode their tilt-a-whirl and lusse auto scooters. They were each $5 per ride and fascination was .50¢ per round. The tilt-a-whirl was arguably the best one we've ridden as they speed it up and slow it down during the cycle to make the cars spin more. The lusse auto scooter is one of only two that I know of that particular design with the second one being at Knoebels. There are a couple others by lusse but they aren't the classic scooter appearance or they are kiddy versions. I think this set was a bit more out of control than even Knoebels! Long cycle and lots of good bumping and shoving and skidding!

Started the day with an awesome ride on Viper after seeing that X2 and Revolution were both at an hour wait due to one train ops. Viper is still kicking butt after all these years and I have never found it to be that rough. It desperately needs a paint job but I did hear they recently replaced the lift chain so at least it seems they plan to keep it around a while longer. Probably the last big arrow looper left along with TN Tornado at Dollywood. Loch Ness and Viper at Darien Lake are good rides but they don't hit those high speeds and have the twisting layout of multiple odd types of inversions. Viper is the only arrow looper that actually reminds me of Vortex. 

We hit the magic mover up the hill and grabbed a ride on tastu which is still my favorite flying coaster. Then we headed to Ninja and rode once in the front and once in the back. Next was my #400th credit Apocalypse which I did find somewhat enjoyable after hearing lots of complaints about the roughness from other friends and enthusiasts. We then went to Gotham City and rode Riddler's Revenge, the bumper cars, the round up flat, Batman, and the new wonder woman coaster. At this point it got darker and the Christmas lights came on. We snagged a ride on Goliath and then did the buccaneer and swashbuckler flats. We knew we didn't have enough time to brave the long lines for Twisted Colossus, Full Throttle, or West Coast Racers seeing as they were all definitely over an hour or possibly even two hours. We went back to the front and revolution was walk on so we rode it and it's a surprisingly good night ride. We also did the carousel, two night rides on ninja, one night ride on Viper, and then waited 90 minutes for X2 at the end of the night (still with one train ops). 

Overall it was a good day at the park and we got to hit a lot of the flats that I ignored on my previous visit in 2022. We ended up riding Ninja a total of 4 times because it might be the last time I get to ride it seeing as it's definitely showing age and they are building the new Vekoma prototype suspended coaster. Ninja is my second favorite arrow suspended after The Bat at KI and it's going to be sad when they eventually decide to remove it. 

I think when we go down to LA for the holidays next year we're hoping to go to Knott's. I'm unofficially boycotting them until they get Montezuma's Revenge open so I'm hopeful that we see more progress on that project now that track is reportedly going vertical. Hope everyone is having a great start to 2026 and looking forward to many more exciting trips and coaster riding this year! 

For context, YTD I've done the following parks:

Universal Studios Orlando: 4 visits (2 per weekend)

Islands of Adventure: 4 Visits (2 per weekend)

Disney's Animal Kingdom: 2 visits (1 per weekend)

EPCOT: 2 visits (1 per weekend) 

Hollywood Studios: 2 visits (1 per weekend)

Magic Kingdom: 1 visit (1 weekend)

I'll take the first post to look at Universal's offerings for Mardi Gras as it's honestly something I look forward to every year. 

Mardi Gras, arguably one of the shorter events in the park, it still has a lot of opportunities to bring new food and guest experiences to the park. The Cursed Coconut Club was excellent this year, I loved the theming and decor, but the drink selection was actually not terrible. For those who know the Universal saga on bitters, that's no longer an issue at least with the Aura Glow. Albeit expensive, it was a nice sipper for what it's worth. The theme this year played into the idea you were in the midsts of floats and a Mardi Gras carnival so to speak. With great music to the fortune teller, it is an experience you definitely don't want to miss out on. 

For the food selection I would definitely implore you to try the Pinchos De Lechon, effectively pork skewers with a piece of bread to top it off.  It is honestly my favorite food from the event, the apple strudel was great, the beignets were wonderful. The Category 5 Punch honestly packed a punch, fruity and actually enjoyable, very reminiscent of the goblin juice for HHN. 

The tribute store is arguably one of my favorite ones to date for Mardi Gras. Effectively you are walking through a cryptid museum talking about the lore of the bayou and the cryptids therein. There were plenty of nods to the failures of Animal Kingdom, from a section with colorful dinosaur toys like Dinoland, to the dinosaur relics in the display case, to the coup de gras: Disco Yeti. Yes, you heard me right, disco yeti is in the tribute store. My main gripe is that there wasn't the chance to be in the Tribute Store as like years past, as I would have definitely jumped in on this one after the success of the summer Tribute Store. Another issue is that the merch collection is fairly limited, there were alot of repeats and I feel as if, if they did merchandise in light of the tribute store theme it would go over well with the passholders. Speaking of the passholder offerings, I didn't get a UOAP magnet as I have in years past as the new magnet is one you have to pay for and the design didn't really speak to me. Which was honestly somewhat upsetting as I was looking forward to getting some new bumper magnets for March. 

I think my main take away for 2025 is that even though I have been to the park plenty of times, there is still more to see and do.  Outside of the festivities the park operations are still spectacular, even with the major school groups coming in there is plenty to do around the parks that don't involve waiting in lines. I will say the renovations on the MIB attraction are definitely noticeable, I feel like we got some updated blaster recognition and is arguably my favorite shooting dark ride I've ridden to date.

Tomorrow I'll drop some thoughts on Disney's removal of Dinoland, a review on the EPCOT Festival of the Arts and more!

Between the time our tickets were purchased and the lead-up to our trip, the weather forecast went from 60 degrees and sunny to a dreary cold 30 degrees. Some of the plans we made went right out the window as we packed our coats and layers as we rapidly made new plans to do as much as we could with the things that might be open.

We arrived at Dollywood, paid the $25 general parking fee and made our way over to Section C (Cotton Candy). I really liked that they gave the pneumonic for each parking lot section and that everyone working the parking lot knew them. Even in the snow flurries we were able to see the lines in the parking lot and knew that the tram shelters were where we wanted to be around. The tram was phenomenal, even in the cold! It made me realize what we're missing out on at the Six Flags parks. The driver and wrangler (the guy at the back of the tram) were both charming in their speech and made light of the cold weather on our way to and from the front gate. Their covered tram shelters and butterfly standing points were a nice touch. The wrangler asked a few questions to the few of us riding and let us know that "First Visit" and "Special Occasion/Birthday" buttons would be available at the ticket windows. We ended up having to visit the ticket window and the guest services window before finally finding someone with the buttons at the turnstile. I made sure to pick up the free "First Visit" and "Special Occasion" ones since they were free souvenirs to celebrate my first time at Dollywood. I was also very pleased to learn that they offered paper map booklets throughout the park and accepted cash at almost every register.

As always my first stop was at the restrooms. The front gate facilities were nice, clean, and warm with hot water, paper towels, and multiple stalls in addition to the urinals. Kings Island should really take some notes on this matter (having only one stall available in the Men's room on I-Street is abysmal). We took some photos with the butterflies and made our way over to the Dolly Parton Experience, Dollywood's museum and exhibit area of the park. The big museum reminded me a lot of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (where I saw another Dolly Parton exhibit) and was really well thought out and super cool to see. The dedicated outfit and wig exhibit building was a much smaller, but still well-made museum. Our time in that area came to a close after climbing aboard Dolly's Tour Bus and checking out all of the items within. There were Hosts (Dollywood's title for Employees/Associates) stationed outside each door waiting to let us in. I can almost guarantee that not only would those positions not exist in a Six Flags park, they would be the first staff to be cut on a cold day with such low attendance.

Our entertainment journey for the day began in the Pines Theater with a nice show themed to "The Night Before Christmas". This show ran for about 40 minutes and had a custom storyline. I'd compare it closest to Tinker's Toy Factory in terms of the basic song + story design and rate it just a bit above Tinker's in my overall show rankings. There was a moment during the show when someone spilled their drink — another guest later told us that this isn't uncommon with those cups — and a host immediately came and cleaned the spill. On our way out I also noticed a full concessions stand that was closed for the day. The Pines Theater is a nice indoor venue like the Kings Island Theater, though I think I prefer the KIT overall.

The second show we saw was "Christmas in the Smokies" in the Celebrity Theater. Getting up to the theater was a little treacherous with the snow making the asphalt paths a little slick, but we made it in alright. Since it was a very low-crowd day we were told that we could sit up front in the dedicated Time Saver (Fast Lane/Fast Pass) seats. We ended up sitting pretty much center stage in the second row! The show itself was 50 minutes of song and dance with plenty of seamless costume and set changes throughout. It was full-on song and dance with story elements sprinkled in, but managed to confuse us a little when they started telling the story of the Nativity. I understood the lead into it more than the rest of my group and still managed to miss the part where they went back to the main storyline. The set was a beautiful mix of painted flats with exaggerated 3-D pieces that included a fold-out log cabin, all backed by a digital panel screen. The Celebrity Theater itself is a marvel and looked to be at least double the size of the Kings Island Theater and/or 1.5x the size of the International Showplace. 

Overall, both shows were a step above what Kings Island currently offers. With showtimes well over 30 minutes and casts at least 10-15 performers strong, I was thoroughly pleased with what I saw. Christmas in the Smokies also included a live band in the orchestra pit! I truly wish that Six Flags would focus even a little more on entertainment in their parks so that Kings Island guests could experience such magnificent delights. If you can't add new rides every year, why not give some attention to live entertainment? Maybe I'll go see about adding the Christmas in the Smokies soundtrack to my playlists.

Since I have to get going, I will continue with the rest of my visit in a second post. Stay tuned!

Elitch Gardens - I had heard horror stories about this place to be honest. Lots of closed rides, bad staff, bad food, anything bad you can think of, I've heard it about this park. Funny thing is while I'm sure others have had horrific experiences at Elitch, we had quite the opposite! So to be fair 2025 is the first time all over the coasters at the park have been operational for over 3 years. With the reopening of both Twister and Sidewinder we couldn't not go to the park and we were surprised that most everything was operating that day (the Drop Tower, breakdance, and water rides and water park were closed). We hit up all 6 coaster credits and walked away with mixed impressions. The half pipe and SLC had some pretty bad headbanging but their boomerang is definitely one of the better ones. The kiddy coaster was decent and the two big credits (twister and Sidewinder) were both running great! Sidewinder was my first shuttle loop coaster and I enjoyed the airtime on both drops and got a grey out on the loop. Twister was also fun albeit not quite as good as the Knoebels version but definitely the #1 coaster in the park for me personally. Elitch has a solid flat collection including a beautiful PTC carousel, an Eyerly Spider, a giant wheel with a fantastic light package, arguably the best troika we've ever ridden (got airtime on that thing), Tilt-A-Whirl, and a super rare Vekoma Wave Swinger. We also rode the MeowWolf Kaleidescope ride and it was probably the worst permanent dark ride I've been on to be honest. Overall the ops were not super fast but the dispatches were decent and everyone had a good attitude which goes a long way sometimes. The food and beverage places were all open and everything we purchased in terms of food tasted good. I actually liked Elitch Gardens so much that I'm afraid to go back because I don't want to ruin my wonderful memories of the park if in fact it sucks on other days or years. As I said, I was shocked when everything at the park went basically perfect because of how much hate I've heard about it through the years. 

Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park was one that I have mixed feelings about. First of all the pros is that it has a stunning setting and some solid flats including the Crystal Tower (indoor underground Drop Tower ride). The coasters however were not all they had been cracked up to be. The Cliffhanger coaster was the underrated gem of the park that we lapped about 4 times. Defiance unfortunately was quite a headbanger and very uncomfortable. The kiddy coaster was fine but the mountain coaster had a lot of trims and was definitely not as good as the ones down in pigeon forge. The park in general is pretty expensive but it does include cave tours which we participated in one. The tour we took was Kings Row and while pretty it was much shorter than some other tours I've done done at other caves. Even one of my friends said that it was a lame version of the cave tours at SDC. So all in all we are glad we visited Glenwood Caverns but none of us are in any hurry to return. 

Well that's a wrap on our short but sweet trip to Colorado. I have heard rumors that Lakeside might get the Cyclone running again next year so I might be heading back there for those credits in 2026! 

Epic Universe Lands

Celestial Park: despite not having a movie IP theme, this area of the park is home to arguably the best coaster in FL and a very unique carousel. I much prefer this area at night when the fountains are colored and the lights twinkle on the carousel pavilion. 

HTTYD Isle of Berk: honestly this was my favorite portal. They just did the theming so well and it looks great at night too

Nintendo: this area has a lot going on and I thought that it was a bit overwhelming with how much was moving around and all the different pathways and people. The donkey Kong area was a bit more calm. 

Dark Universe: unfortunately the windmill was broken and had the blades removed during our visit. The other areas such as Darkmoor looked great. I did think the area by Curse of the Warewolf was lackluster

Harry Potter Paris: beautiful area with good attention to detail. Looks great at night but unfortunately doesn't have as many things to do as the other lands. 

Epic Restaurants

1. Mead Hall: located in HTTYD, this place had the atmosphere, the delicious food, and reasonable prices. I don't like alcohol much but the currant boysenberry mead was REALLY GOOD 

2. Le Gobelet Noir: located in the Paris section, I had the baklava and the lentil soup and both were very good. Nobody else in our group ate here because they don't like supporting JK which is their personal preference but they missed out on some good food 

3. Das Steakhouse: in dark universe this is the main restaurant. My meal was very good but others in the group seemed less satisfied with theirs. This one did have a great atmosphere with a live musician playing the violin during dinner 

4. Oak & Star Tavern: this place in Celestial Park would have been at the top of my list based on flavor but the portions and prices left much to be desired. I had a brisket sandwich with the best cauliflower of my life (which was 3 tbs in a tiny bowl for $5) 

5. Toadstool Cafe: so all my friends loved this place but I thought the food was not great with the exception of the princess peach cake. It had a fun atmosphere but my meal was arguably worse than most fast food 

Epic Universe Rides Ranked

1. Stardust Racers: really really good coaster. I wish it had IP theming but it's such a solid ride even without it. The yellow side is slightly better than the green side to me personally because the twist inversion is going down the drop instead of going up. This ride rarely had more than a 30min line and was a really good night ride. Very re-ridable

2. Monsters Unchained: thematically and ride experience this is the best ride in the park. Has the same ride system as forbidden journey but this one has such great new technology of blending animatronics and screens. It's a decently long ride too. This one also rarely had a wait longer than 45min and sometimes was only 15-20min wait. But one must ask, who's the true monster? The monster or the one who puts them in chains? 

3. Mario Kart Bowser Challenge: by far the best shooter I've done. You aim with these VR headsets that allow you to still see the physical sets and props in each room. Again a great blend of practical and digital. This ride had a solid 90min wait all day until about the last hour when it would drop to 15-20min

4. Harry Potter Battle of the Ministry: another fun one that is like a blend of tower of terror ride vehicles with forbidden journey technology. This one brings Delores Unbridge to trial. We rode this twice. Once we waited about an hour because of a break down and the other time the cast member running single rider gave us an escort to the front of the line and let us all go together which was very nice of him and seemed more like a Disney moment than a universal one. This ride gets lines of 2 - 2.5 hours but it also closes early to avoid crowds at the end of the night so if you ride it about two hours before park close the wait is significantly shorter. Usually around 30 minutes. 

5. Donkey Kong Mine Kart Madness: this was a cool concept and I enjoyed the ride but it is a bit shorter than I'd hoped and it also jostles you around quite a bit. This ride had a 2-3 hour line all day and would drop down to 45min for the last hour the park was open. We did not get a day ride on this as we rode it at night both times. 

6. Hiccup Wing Gliders: excellent family coaster by Intamin with a fun tour of the HTTYD land. This is also an underrated night ride. Usually the wait time was about an hour for this but you could get it around 20 minutes at Park opening or closing. 

7. Constellation Carousel: I actually loved this ride as it's a combination of a slow teacup ride and a carousel. It had great music and a nice lighting package. The wait time for this was usually always under 30min 

8. Curse of the Warewolf: this spinning coaster seemed lacking on theming and also was super short. In the morning you can get on on about 20-30min but during the later afternoon and evening it soars to 70min. 

9. Fyre Drill: this was my first water battle boat ride and I thought blasting the targets and getting hit with geysers was alot of fun. I've heard ones at other parks are better but I have nothing to compare it to. This ride always seems to have a wait under 45 minutes. 

10. Yoshi Adventure: average wait time was about an hour during the day but early morning and evening could see it as low as 10-15min. This is an Omni mover type ride that is pretty short. It's cute but not something this is worth an hour long wait 

11. Dragon Rally Racer: this is the typical glider ride where you try and flip except this one has an extremely short ride cycle and you usually have to wait 20-60min for a ride on it. Overall wasn't impressed 

HHN: since some in our group had a ticketing issue that caused a 45 minute delay and we got stuck in Disposable Me Mayhem resulting in an Evac we received 4 skip the line passes per person for the HHN houses which helped us successfully do all 10 as well as grab rides on Men in Black, Mummy, Gringotts, and transformers after seeing a showing of nightmare fuel. I'm going to rank the houses based on my personal enjoyment knowing that others would have vastly different opinions 

1. La Artista: A Spanish Haunting - this one was my favorite for its elaborate sets, good costuming, and good amount of scares. A classic haunted house with a twist and it worked wonderfully 

2. Galkin Creatures of the North - I also really enjoyed the concept of this one and it final scene was the best one of the night with you being consumed by the witch who had transformed into a monster and when you go into her stomach it's full of skeletons and other monsters. 

3. Five Nights at Freddy's - I actually didn't think this one sounded interesting in the description but I ended up loving it. Not as scary as some of the others but still very fun

4. Dolls - this one surprised me. It might have looked a bit cheap but the concept was cool, had some good scares, and the entire vibe of the house was like toy story demented 

5. Fallout - also not as scary but a really fun concept. Others in my group didn't care for this one as much but I was told it included alot of iconic scenes from the show

6. Jason - this one was perhaps more boring in set design but it had some really good scare sections. 

7. WWE - this was one of the darker houses and it also smelled like sweat and p!ss I got one really good jump scare in this one that made me scream much to the amusement of our friend group

8. Hatchet and Chains - this was like a Western demon apocalypse of some kind. Overall this one wasn't as scary and the theme was odd to me. Just an ok house. 

9. Grave of Flesh - this one had a cool concept of what happens after you die but it was dark and sometimes hard to figure out where to go. Also harder to predict where the scares were going to come from. I'd say this was actually the scariest house based on the unpredictability and the number of jumps 

10. Terrifier - ok so this house was very well done in terms of set design and being faithful to the films (which I've never watched but have done a bit of research on after seeing the house). I put this one at the bottom because I enjoyed it the least. This one did make me nauseous from the intense gore. So to be fair I love the concept of art the clown and the actors did a good job at bringing him to life. I was honestly doing ok even with the girl cut in half (which was just a video of a shadow and then a mannequin around the corner) and also the corpse that Art was rubbing with bleach. However when I got to the bathroom scene I wasn't feeling well. Something about smelling poop and seeing sinks full of it as well as seeing art taking a chainsaw to a victim's body was too much for me. (Upon research this was the death scene of Cole and Mia from Terrifier 3). This maze also had water affects that mimicked getting squirted with blood. It was ultra gory and that was more unsettling than any of the scare actors. 

BGT Hallo-Scream

So we happened to hit BGT and I FINALLY got the credit on Shiekra which is my second favorite dive coaster. We also lapped Kumba which is running good as new smooth since the refurbishment. We also grabbed rides on Montu and iron Gwazi. We did the Mars haunt and the stranglewood haunt and both were good. Since it was Halloween night the park wasn't very busy and the longest line were in was 50min for Gwazi because of the one train ops. 

We had been planning out our trip for awhile and it so happened to work out that it fell on Halloween weekend. At first I was slightly nervous that the crowds would be overwhelming on Halloween night so we bought our FL+ wristbands just in case. Ended up not being crowded at all actually. So while it felt silly spending the money on the wristbands, they did come in handing for making re-rides easier on TT2 and SC. Everything else was quite literally no more than a 15 minute wait. The longest wait of the night for me was Millie because I wanted the front seat as always. But even then, with them only having the red and blue rain operating, that two-train dispatching was much more fluid than when they have three on the track. 

While we ended up having dinner and riding other favorites, my main focus will be on TT2 and SC, so here goes.

Top Thrill 2. I had a lot of complicated emotions around this one and I think there might be those of you who would agree with that. As a long time fan of the original hydraulic launch, I wasn't really sure how to feel about a swing launch. I had both the feelings of being glad they kept the ride at all, but simultaneously I felt the swing launch would be a cheesy replacement for the in your face original hydraulic launch. I realized when walking up to it and seeing it operate with my own two eyes that I was actually growing more excited to experience it. My fiancé was incredibly nervous as she never got to ride the original and this would be her first time ever going this high and this fast. The station op was chill about my request for the front seat as I wanted to see if it all reminded me of the original as the front seat was my favorite spot. We got on really quickly and I was met with seats that felt comfortable, but honestly it felt strange not being able to place my feet firmly on the floor. I'm not very tall but I'm not super short either, so I was able to sort of place the balls of my feel on the floor, but then I sort of realized it was neat to be able to swing my legs a little. It was dark outside which added to the excitement and I realized as we were lined up for the first launch "wow, its been a long time old friend". I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was keeping an open mind. I wasn't at all scared, but more nervous that I would be disappointed. Boy was I wrong. The first launch was nice since it was just fast enough that it felt exciting, but slow enough that for the first time my brain could process what was actually happening and I could sort of take in the scenery and admire the structure. That changed very quickly when going backwards. Holy WOW. I was absolutely NOT expecting those LSMs to have so much pull and bite to them. That backwards launch....you could really feel the train being pulled with some seriously force in a way I was not expecting. It was amazing. And the view from the front row on the spike was absolutely incredible. That hang time feeling didn't last long before absolutely blasting through the LSMs again and again WOW...I never thought any launch could feel more forceful than the hydraulic launch system that the original Dragster had...but it actually RIPPED through and up the top hat with such a force that I quite literally couldn't help but giggle and smile. It felt similar in some ways and yet so different, but I was actually very pleased with the outcome. Albeit always holding a candle for the original Dragster, I am incredibly happy with this new version and I am really thankful that it not only lives on, but absolutely carries the torch. And watching them dispatch the trains Saturday night was a thing of beauty. Well oiled machine that night. So big kudos to the ones operating it. Also, good job CP with making sure Republica's "Ready To Go" was playing outside of the ride. Really added to the nostalgia for those of us who grew up with the original. I managed to get 2 rides in and was about to get a third, but sadly it broke down and I chose to divert my attention to Siren's Curse. TT2 now sits solidly in my top 5 for sure though because it's truly just so much fun. 

Now onto the absolute highlight of the trip for me and my fiancé'. I am going to start with the fact that I have ALWAYS been a major fan of Vekoma. Despite their flaws with their earlier designs with shaky-rough tracking coasters, I always believed in their vision. They were always kind of the budget and space friendly coaster manufacture, but I always admired their unique take on coasters while also providing big thrills. They always just came in at a different angle than others and I have always rooted for the underdog. In a world where B&M and Intamin reigned as kings, Vekoma was always in the shadows making their moves and providing thrills where the kings could not fit for one reason or another. But could they survive with their rough reputation? Vekoma has done something incredible in my eyes. Guys they really have absolutely showed up and shown out. When KI got SSBR, I knew even for that being a small family coaster that they found their groove. Even for such a small coaster, it packs a punch and guess what? Its SMOOTH. I knew when CP was getting Siren's Curse I not only wanted to experience it for a new coaster experience, but also to experience a grown-up Vekoma installation and I was absolutely BLOWN away as was my fiancé'. Let me break down why. And pardon me, I am going to Vekoma fanboi hard here so let me have my moment of pride for them. Heck one of my online screen names in high school lovingly showcased my support for them. 

For one, the trains. My goodness how absolutely insanely comfortable they are. If KI gets a new grown-up Vekoma looper we are in for a real treat because hands down this has to be one of the most comfortable trains I have ever sat in personally. 

Secondly, the lighting on the trains themselves is gorgeous. I love how the lighting matches the storyline perfectly and the fog/light changing and all the little nuance along the way. Just brilliant. Oh, and the actual metallic shift in the paint is something to behold. All of the details in this thing just took me aback in a way I did not expect. 

And of course, for those of you who have ridden it, you already know how absolutely great the onboard audio is. It really does add something special to the ride. From start to finish the audio matches the entire ride experience perfectly. I won't spoil any of it for those of you who haven't taken the journey yet, but its just special. Truly.

Now the ride experience itself. I was actually more excited to experience SC than TT2. I realize they are two very different kinds of coaster, and albeit loving TT2 now, SC really stole the show for me. This thing is absolutely 110% infinitely re-rideable. Its insanely smooth, glossy transitions and just so much fun. This ride is just absolutely a blast. From the appearance, audio, comfortable trains...goodness I am obsessed you could say. I will also add this. For those who may be scared of being tilted forward and hanging in the restraint, if you ever rode Firehawk or any Vekoma Flying Dutchman and felt fine, the best way I can compare the hangtime is to that of the Flying Dutchman...but actually more comfortable. I can't really explain it any other way, but the audio might also be soothing too while you're tilting and then the hang time isn't very long and it's comfortable. I know most of us here do not fear coasters as a whole, but for anyone second guessing themselves over a tilt coaster, this one is not one to miss. Seriously. This is now our favorite roller coaster. I had high expectations for this ride since reading about it and my expectations were far exceeded. I am so incredibly proud of Vekoma. Also, side note. After riding many of the coasters that day, it was easy to tell that a lot of them were on their final set of wheels for the year and were riding as such. You could easily tell SC was also towards the end of that set of wheels and it STILL rode like silk. I can only imagine what a fresh set of wheels would feel like. 

There is my long review of the two new coasters and my personal take on them. I am already looking forward to going back next year and taking a few more rides on TT2 but definitely lapping SC as many times as I can.

As for the rest of the time we were there, Saturday was spent doing SC for early entry, having lunch, looking around at the stores and then coming back later that night for some shows since it was the last night of Halloweekends. Our main focus wasn't coasters on Saturday as it was Friday night and it was far busier as to be expected. Sunday I literally popped in to grab a couple of surprises and leave, but I got to observe the sheer amount of people coming in for the last day of the season. I was glad I got in early because holy wow....no thank you!

To anyone reading this, thanks for taking time to do so. 

8/30: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom was the first park in our list. We joined ACE Northern California for an informal meetup to celebrate the reopening of Flash Vertical Velocity. This was definitely my favorite impulse coaster and they were a great bunch of folks! Highly recommend you check out some of their future events! The Boomerang was closed this particular day and my partner rode Batman (s&s free spin) without me because I was dehydrated and not feeling well. I got all the other credits including Medusa which is arguably in my top 3 floorless coasters and Joker which was an ok RMC. Fun and a good fit in the park much like Storm Chaser at KY Kingdom. Definitely not SteVe or even Twisted Timbers. I did ride Kong (the SLC) and it was definitely one of the worst. It was relocated from opryland so that was the only significant thing about it. Superman (the original skyrocket 2) was running fantastic and didn't have the stupid comfort collars making it a much more enjoyable experience. Two hidden gems in the park are the flat rides Thrilla Gorilla and Monkey Business. Both are older zamperla flats and both kick butt. Definitely check them out. 

8/31: In the morning we drove down to Gilroy Gardens for about 4 hours. The Morgan mine train coaster was pretty amazing. Definitely one of the better mine train coasters. We also loved the variety of vegetable and fruit themed flat rides. The train was cool considering it went through a conservatory area and provided transportation from the front to the back of the park. One ride that is not to be missed is the 1920/1950 auto car ride. This one has an electric rail but you still get it steer (much like Dollywood) the course is about 4 minutes long and has a tunnel on both tracks. Definitely one of my favorite car ride attractions. They also had a gorgeous Illions Supreme Carousel that we enjoyed very much. 

   That afternoon we made our way to California's Great America. We had decided to buy fastlane because we knew we didn't have an entire day to spend at the park. We started with Berserker which is the Schwarzkopf Byrne kurve. It was fun but definitely one of the weaker Schwarzkopf rides I've experienced. We hit up railblazer which was definitely not as good as stunt pilot at Silverwood but still enjoyable. Next was demon which was running better than it's clone in Chicago. We rode the Drop Tower and the redwood rally rides before getting on Grizzly. We rode front row so we didn't notice any roughness but rather that the ride is just plain boring. Up next was Phyco Mouse which reminded me why it's a shame Arrow never built more of these. They have good laterals, smooth profiling, and a few airtime pops. Hope this ride finds a new home after the park closes. We then grabbed the skyride to the front of the park and got a ride on Rue le Dodge which is one of the better dogems style rides because it still has the old fast moving cars. Flight Deck is definitely the best of the older inverts. Such an underrated ride! Super forceful and I got a grey out for several seconds. We rode Mass Affect New Earth which was cool considering I never got to experience Days of Thunder at Kings Island. Next we tried to ride Centrifuge but it broke down and we were told it would remain closed the rest of the day. We grabbed the Woodstock Express credit and rode the kiddy breakdance (Peanuts Pirates) before moving back towards the front of the park for a ride on Orbit which was a stunning Schwarzkopf enterprise and the only one currently operating in North America. We snagged a ride on Patriot and then did a wonderful night ride on Gold Striker. We watched the fireworks as it was a special show for the holiday before heading out for the night. 

9/1: On Labor Day we drove down to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk to spend about three hours at the park before our flight home. The Giant Dipper was running fantastic as were their other coasters, we enjoyed numerous flats including a rock o plane and their Looff Carousel with the brass rings and iconic clown. What surprised me about the boardwalk was their good dark rides. All 3 were fun and well executed in their own ways. The ghost blasters was better than any boo blaster ride I've ridden, the cave train had a Hanna Barbara feel to it, and then the haunted Castle ride did have some pretty grotesque animatronics and jump scares. All I'm all we enjoyed our short time at the boardwalk and definitely want to return in the future! 

Just a regular GP, no Fast Passes for our group.  We take two days at a relaxed pace and enjoy all of the park.  This is typically an annual trip with friends, and I've to the park many, many times.  New rides for me on this visit: Siren's Curse and TT2.  

Siren's Curse: Was able to ride 3 times total, back seat is by far the best (highest point on tilt lift).  What an incredibly smooth ride, and quiet while waiting in the queue!  The restrains while firm, do have some type of stretch mechanism over the shoulders, so you feel secure while vertical, but they don't hurt.  Vekoma engineered this well.  Theming was really nice, and the on-ride audio amped up the experience.  This has become one of my favorite rides in the park.

TT2: Enjoyed the replacement--but miss the original.  I had the chance to ride front and back seats.  Consensus from the group was it was surprisingly rough the further back in the train you go.  I think the new trains being higher off the track enhances some of the vibrations.  I feel like you whip over the top and through the spiral faster, my arms almost gave my friend a black eye .  Overall, still a fun ride, but I just miss the initial launch.

We were able to hit most of our favorites on this trip--but had to work around numerous ride downtimes to make it happen.  Steel Vengeance delivering unrelenting forces, Maverick whipping you back and forth, GateKeeper flying through the uprights are some nice highlights.  Unfortunately, Millennium Force was down both days .  We used to hit this up many times during our trip, so it put a damper on our visit, and we never saw it moving.  

Some notable concerns... Knowing this is the last week of full operations we typically experience some minor staffing issues.  But it was very much apparent this year on our trip throughout various points of operations.  Hotel Breakers had only one agent in the lobby checking in guests, which if you're familiar with this front desk know that it can make some long lines!  Breakfast at Perkins (inside Breakers Hotel) was only seating half of the dining room, as they were short waitstaff (server was nice, but obviously very stressed and mentioned it many times).  Early entry into the park only had one security line open at the resort gate, with two gate staff for tickets, and we waited 26 minutes before getting into the park after rope-drop (typically, this had been fully staffed during early entry).  Food locations were running okay, but most were down to one cashier for checkout--this seemed acceptable and matched park attendance.  Ride ops appeared a little lean, with only one scanner at the metal detectors in TT2 and SteVe.  The usual locker assistants in these queues were non-existent.  Many of the flats were single attendant run--which we've been seeing occur over the past few years, but it adds to the wait getting on/off these rides.  Park seemed cleanish.  But where I typically remembered seeing non-stop mid-way sweepers and bathrooms attendants working, I barely noticed any this visit.  A few bathrooms could have used some more frequent attention, while not disgusting, just not spotless clean either.  Maybe it was just me, but I noted more mid-way gum spots than ever before.  The evening Bar at the Hotel didn't have any bar-backs, so with only one bartender when product ran out it was out for the night (bartender also mentioned this multiple times while there).  

I kept my word and did not renew my season pass this year.  This Cedar Point trip was my only park visit to the chain (just got a 2-day pass with the hotel reservation, wanted to still go with the group for this trip).  Some friends in the group already renewed their passes for 2026, but two others are now considering taking a year off as well.  On the drive home we were talking about making a trek elsewhere next summer.  For what we spend, our magical place has lost some of its shine, maybe one day it will return.

I get it, Six Flags has to deal with some debt and cut spending, but for me it is starting to impact the park experience.

As for planning, I am pretty set with Cleveland as I have a lot of college friends in the area to help me with that, but I could use any Chicago tips (particularly good pizza spots).  It'll be a 2 day stay there, one for exploring downtown and one for SFGAm.  SFGAm and IB tips are also welcome, especially trying to do the former in one day. 

From Animal Kingdom I got back to my car and made my way to Disney Hollywood studios. The beauty about the LL Multi Pass is that it’s good for any park that day. So I was able to ride pretty much everything with the exception being Alien Swirling Saucers during my visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios because I opted for a second ride on Slinky Dog which I finished the night on.

Day two in Orlando I spent the first half of the day at Magic Kingdom. Due to a ticketed event they had that evening the park had an early closing time. The benefit of that however was the crowd was light compared to a normal day at the park so I ended up not purchasing a LL multi pass. I got a lot of rides in at Magic Kingdom then proceeded to park hop back to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to finish the night.

Day three in Orlando I spent the entire day at Epcot. It was at Epcot that I have noticed some budget cuts made by Mickey Mouse. Normally there are two people working the Lightning lane lines. Other than their most popular attractions, they were only using one cast member. Also on some of the rides the animatronics were not all completely working. For example an arm not working or a mouth. The worst was the day before while riding Tianna’s So many issues, with the animatronics and screens not working, I was surprised it was even allowed to be opened at all. Although some budget cuts were apparent, (Slow time of the year likely?) The customer service was top notch as always. I experienced a rollback on the second hill of Guardians of the Galaxy earlier that day and was granted a single use lightning lane ticket for the ride. Being that I had a reservation at the GEO lounge, I was not going to be able to use my single use LL ticket. Guest relations granted me a ticket to be used the following day.

My final day in Orlando, I started at Epcot again. And again, I purchased the LL multi pass for $19. I rode everything and had time to grab a drink and some food at the Space 220 lounge. From there I hoped on the monorail and made my way to Magic Kingdom to finish the night and the trip altogether. Bad weather was on the forecast for the evening so I assumed the crowd would disperse when the bad weather hit, because as you know. It’s a sticking point for Six Flags during their quarterly meetings every time they don't perform well. The hard rain and lightning came, but the crowd didn’t waiver. Instead, Disney was all but prepared for bad weather. There were plenty of indoor attractions to choose from. With lines stretching outside its indoor queue, with  wait times over an hour. For the folks who had purchased Lightning lanes were given “Wildcard” LL single use tickets that were available to use for a wide selection of rides Disney deemed comparable with the LL ticket that was affected. And it was done preemptively without me ever having to make contact with someone from guest relations. The bad weather lasted a few hours and eventually went away. I finally got a night ride on Tron. I finished my night at Magic Kingdom by purchasing the popcorn mix from the Main Street Confectionary. It is essentially a chipotle for popcorn lovers. With a variety of options of popcorn and toppings. The line was quite long, I probably waited about 20mins to get mine.  I wish this was something that was an option and KI. MY girlfriend and I get one every visit we have made to Magic Kingdom.

All in all, I had a great trip. 

I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive about going this year, as the reports about cleanliness and operations haven't been encouraging all summer. But honestly, it felt like a good, normal Kings Island visit. The park was clean, trash wasn't overflowing, and there weren't any operations issues we noticed as out of the norm. It's a bit of a bummer that some of our favorite restaurants -- the French restaurant on International Street, particularly -- weren't open and there were no shows, but that's just the reality of going at the end of the season when staffing is a bit limited. Lines were down, particularly Thursday, when I don't think we waited longer than 15 minutes for anything except for Boo Blasters and the log flume. The Beast was running ridiculously smooth for the most part, aside from what felt like a nasty bump going into the double helix. I was worried about being too big to ride Banshee, but the expanded restraints in rows 4 and 5 were fantastic. 

Food was largely great. The pub burger at Brewhouse was just standard, but the tots were good. We ate at Chicken Shack for our first time and really enjoyed it. The burrito bowl at Enrique's was fantastic. But I think the honey-soy glazed beef and Brussel sprouts I got from Grain and Grill might be my favorite meal I've ever gotten at Kings Island. We did the dining plan, which saved us a good deal of money, and you get a lot of food for that price. We did a final ride on Boo Blasters, several great runs on Mystic Timbers, and what will probably be my last ride on Adventure Express because that one decided to give me unrequested chiropractic work. 

Staff was great. There were many people who said it was their first week -- assuming they were moved over to different locations when staff went back to school -- and aside from a few minor exceptions, they were friendly and on the ball. 

A good trip; I was glad to see my worries from earlier this season were unfounded. 

Silverwood 

When we arrived at the park we sprinted to the log Flume which often gets a rather lengthy line. This log Flume isn't particularly tall but has a fun layout that includes a shed/tunnel and winds through the foliage. Not a super soaker but a refreshing amount of splash on the drop. 

Next we hit the paratrooper. This is the carnival model that doesn't automatically lower so they load one car at a time. This results in super bad capacity and lengthy waits. It took us 45 minutes to experience this ride which ended up being the longest we waited for anything the entire day! Still a very nice breezy ride over the bumper boats

Up next was the first coaster of our visit, Stunt Pilot. This RMC raptor is smaller than the Six Flags ones but is still whippy and fun. We rode it again later in the day when they project lights onto the track. 

Next we rode Tremors which has been completely retracked with metal track now and runs GCI trains. This ride still runs as great as ever and has higher capacity than ever with the addition of a second train. This coaster is my favorite in the park and is solidly in my top 10 woodies list. It also gives fantastic night rides. We rode this 4 times - twice at night! 

Timber Terror was up next and is the other wooden coaster at the park. This one is more of an out and back layout. This ride also runs fantastic and gives some good airtime in the classic PTC trains with ratchet bars. We rode this once during the day and once at night. While not as good as tremors, still a ride you can't miss! 

Aftershock is the only giant invented Vekoma Boomerang left in the USA and it is definitely a beast! I would recommend riding on the inside rows for a slightly smoother ride experience. Last year this was my 300th credit so it'll always hold a special place for me. 

We are at the Chuck Wagon buffet which was unlimited all day food for $29.99. this was a great deal and we filled up once around lunch and again around 7pm. They had pulled pork, hot dogs, chicken, and all the fixings. 100% worth it! 

The other water ride in the park is Thunder Canyon which is a wonderful rapids ride though a wooded section in the center of the park. This rapids also has a tunnel full of splashes and rapids sure to drench you if the geyser and waterfall didn't soak you first! 

The train ride at Silverwood is a classic experience with live actors including a train robbery. This ride is about 35 minutes long as it stops at various show scenes. Beware of the Sasquatch! 

We then went to see that Magic Show put on at the park pizza place. It included numerous card tricks and disappearing acts. One of my favorite tricks performed was the floating table. All in all a wonderful show. Reminded me of the old magic show at Kings Island when I was a kid. 

Before the evening set in, we grabbed a ride on the Corkscrew which is the oldest operating Arrow looper/modern looping coaster. It still rides fairly well for its age. We also rode their round-trip ride and scrambler which are both classic flats. Finally we grabbed a couple more night rides on the coasters and called it a night. 

Riverfront Park Looff Carousel (Spokane, WA)

The next morning, we stopped in at Riverfront Park in Spokane, WA to ride the 1909 Looff Carousel. This park also has a sky ride but we didn't end up and ride it. We bought the all day wristband for the carousel which was around $10 vs a single ride for $4. This carousel is very beautiful and also moved at a decent clip. The ride had a ring dispenser and the garbage goat target to throw unwanted rings at. They used plastic rings on this carousel as compared to steel ones like they do at Knoebels with one yellow ring representing the brass ring which you can redeem for a free ride. We rode probably a dozen or so times and I did manage to catch the brass ring once. My partner would have also gotten one had I not missed a ring grab. I'd definitely recommend anyone traveling through the area to stop in and check out this amazing piece of history! 

Kings Dominion 

We arrived at Kings Dominion a little later than expected and immediately used the front restroom. It was a lot better than the front men's restroom at Kings Island and had an appropriate number of urinals and stalls compared to the one at KI. Then we went to the front two stores and explored the merch to see if anything called out to us. I thought about getting a magnet, but I opted to save my money. I tried to get a drink from the new Biergarten but there was nobody at the (open) register window. We walked up International Street and caught the tail end of their 50 Years of Fun Street Party. It was... lackluster... when you compare it to the quality of shows we're used to at Kings Island. The performers seemed to be doing exactly what they were taught to do, simple dance moves with pop songs from each decade the park has been open. The two parade floats flanking the stage seemed to be what made it a "street party" and mixed the 2022 50 Years of Fun Street Party with Club KI from Kings Island's 50th celebration. I won't swear to it, but I also believe their big "50" setpiece came from Kings Island's front I.D. sign and had all of the sequins removed. It looked like the kinds of muted colors and textures that would come with that treatment. We were able to go up their Eiffel Tower to the 264' (lower/left elevator) observation deck and noticed the differences between it and the 278' deck. The view from up there was spectacular, but we didn't stay up there too long since I started to feel some slight acrophobia. I noticed that on the elevator they didn't say any of the typical spiel about dropping items over the edge or the height of the tower. 

On our way around the park we went from International Street to Old Virginia where I got a Coke (with bees on the machine  ) and perused the Grizzly Gulch gift shop. I enjoy the rustic feel of OV, but the area feels a little disconnected from itself and the rest of the park. We rode the Carousel in Candy Apple Grove and explored the land, including the new Victoria Gardens Patio. The Carousel looked like it needed a lot of love and I wish KD could have gotten some funds to at least clean and re-paint it. The Singing Mushrooms were very nice as always and I wish we had something similar at Kings Island. Jungle Xpedition is probably one of the best themed areas in a Six Flags park. Rapterra looked stunning and will look even better once all of the queue line foliage grows in more. Their version of Boo Blasters is also probably one of the best in the chain because it has working guns with lasers to show where you're pointing. I maintain that Kings Island should commit to remaking Phantom Theater or a similar new high-capacity dark ride though. KD's Planet Snoopy could easily become a Camp Snoopy with all of its trees and foliage. Dominator looked stunning as usual. The curbs appeared to have been replaced, but whoever did it did not do a great job cleaning up the path afterward. Kings Collection (their Emporium) was all decked out for the anniversary and had some awesome architectural drawings all over it. I even saw a Kings Productions (KECO subsidiary) item, which is a hard find. 

At that point it was time for dinner. I had the Pepperoni Pizza basket at Victoria's Pizza, which consists of one large slice of pizza and two breadsticks. It was fine, but I think I would've rather had something else. The restaurant feels kind of sterile and/or liminal/dead. They did a fine job with the new bar though. After dinner we went and saw part of Light the Night, took a night ride on the Blue Ridge Tollway (very dark, I wish the cars had functioning headlights for the ambiance), and rode the Carousel one last time. To end the night we watched the Street Party one more time and walked toward the park exit as Light the Night played in the background. The fountains were very nice to see and I wish Kings Island had something as grand as they appear to be. 

In conclusion, I enjoyed my time at Kings Dominion. It would have been made better if the park were able to put on a more substantial 50th Anniversary celebration like it deserved. I'm glad they got all of the ribbons and the giant Eiffel Tower medallion, but where Kings Island refreshed the entire park for its 50th, Kings Dominion was only able to put up some decorations and have some downgraded shows. And they built Rapterra, but I don't think that is what took all of the budget from the celebration. If more items could have been sent from Kings Island's 50th to Kings Dominion for theirs I think it would have at least looked a lot better. I understand why Kings Dominion is on a lower tier than Kings Island, I just wish they could have been allowed a better anniversary. Maybe they'll do something bigger and better for their 75th in 2050. 

Six Flags America 

Pulling up to the park was a new experience for us. Only one member of my group had ever been to a Legacy Six Flags park before, but we were relieved to find out that a Legacy Cedar Fair pass QR code worked for entry into this park with zero hassle. The approach, the entry I.D. sign, and the parking lot were all surprisingly nice/good looking. The main I.D. sign is large and situated toward the back of the split where the entry/exit driveways meet for the intersection. It is also surrounded by some lush foliage, nice fencing/stone pillars, and large gates. The other two signs (one tall sign along the road and a Hurricane Harbor sign) kind of soured the approach due to how unfinished they looked. We made our way through the parking toll and found a nice parking spot right up by their front entrance. The main section of their parking lot is situated on a hill with grass and trees between each row. We walked through their new-ish security line and noted that it was only one line for everyone coming in, and there may have been a second line they temporarily closed but that's it. I used my Six Flags app and barcode for my pass and we made it in smoothly. Something I found interesting was that it looked like all of the turnstile attendants and others throughout the park used an old smartphone for the barcode scanner. 

First stop: the restroom. It was not great but seemed mostly clean. There were no dividers between the urinals and the sinks did not work too well. The replica of the Liberty Bell was fun to see. Flags Emporium held some general Six Flags merch, some specific Six Flags America merch, and a Fiesta Texas shirt toward the back of the store. I'd compare it to how a Five Below would look if it only sold clothes and magnets. There was an abundance of poop emoji hats of all colors and faces. Going further down Main Street 1776 I noticed that their Flash Pass Headquarters is just a counter inside a dim alcove. The main fountain was nice to see, as was the scenery around the bridge to the rest of the park. For those wondering, the infamous digital clock on the Food Hall was actually showing the correct time! We rode their antique cars, followed by a ride on the Carousel. The cars were remarkably nice for this park and had larger seats than those at KI or KD, though the scenery was very blank once you left the wooded part of the track. The Carousel surprised us because it's only about 40 years old (constructed in the 1980s) and was decorated with circus animals. I remarked about how that might be from before the park became Six Flags America in 1999. We walked around more, looking at show times and taking in the sights, eventually going through Movie Town and Mardi Gras. It was nice to see Wild One while it's still operating. If I'd have ridden any of their coasters I would have gone on that one. After realizing that the train now only operates on Saturdays and Sundays, we walked into Gotham City and made the loop. We saw The Bat Mobile, the old arena with its bat-shaped fences, the large The Penguin themed dry slides, and the blocked-off plaza for Superman and Batwing. I didn't realize that they were both "waiting" on parts. The smallest stand-alone restroom building you'll ever see is also back there and is the only reason the path is open so far back. Heading back toward the front I once again stopped into the restroom, this time in Gotham City. Those restrooms were bad to say the least and the hand dryers didn't work. I ended up wiping my washed hands on my shirt. If anywhere needs A/C it's the restrooms. 

We watched Firebird run a few cycles and noticed it smoking a little, then remembered that it has a fire effect. I didn't look to see if Roar was running, but it looked like a big wooden coaster so good job on that. We saw "Steam Heist" on our way over to another show and I thoroughly enjoyed it for what it was. We were surprised to see them wielding daggers, swords, a bucket full of yellow water, other props, and a fire effect. It was genuinely a nice little 5 character stunt-ish show with a message of "dream for tomorrow" and comedic gags throughout. After that, we went to the main theater in the park — only to learn that there were no shows there that day. Not even any Looney Tunes characters like the sign next to it said there would be. Having been disappointed by the show sign we made our way into the New-for-2024 Steamtown. The area looked nice enough, the store had some anime and Fright Fest merch (Kings Island should sell some Haunt/Winterfest merch all year IMO), and the new NebulaZ ride looked like fun. That being said, a majority of the buildings in the area were very clearly permanently closed off with graphic boards replacing the doors and larger windows. Walking back to the front of the park I noticed a bridge to nowhere (I later found out that it used to be a return path from a demolished water slide for Hurricane Harbor). On our way out I took a few more pictures and walked into the Looney Tunes store. It was without a doubt the biggest and nicest place in the park with full air conditioning, nice paint schemes, and big statues of the characters. Before leaving the park I went and got my magnet and paid with my passholder discount using my Six Flags app. It didn't take off a lot of the price, but it was nice to see that it worked. I noticed that they also had Pride magnets/merch and was thoroughly pleased to see it. Pride merch is something that I hope comes to the Legacy Cedar Fair parks from the Legacy Six Flags chain. Even just a rainbow magnet would be better than nothing. As we left the security area we decided to take a photo with the "That's All Folks" wall mural and the wonderful security officer offered to take our photo for us! That was really nice of him and I personally appreciated it a ton. 

In conclusion, it is very obvious that Six Flags America is a park that is preparing to close. We are glad we didn't purchase a meal plan for the day since a lot of the stalls were either closed or did not interest us like the ones at other parks do. It's a nice little park that is suffering from a severe lack of funding and a disjointed planning scheme. If another company could take over this park I think it would do a lot of good. The only downside would be that Six Flags would not receive the huge sums of cash that they are trying to get out of selling the land. I made a joke about the federal government (you know who) buying it and turning it into The Most Patriotic Theme Park since it is called [Six Flags] America, but now I unironically think he'd try to do something like that. 

Dorney Park

Driving four hours up to Dorney was a fun little trip. We decided to go so we wouldn't be driving home all night and since we could get dinner with our meal plans. Getting into the park was a little odd since the ticket scanner broke right as we pulled up to the turnstile, but the nice associate quickly remedied the situation using what looked like a barcode scanner gun (as opposed to the square-ish QR code scanners). We watched one showing of their version of Hot Rhythm Nights and I thought it was way better than Kings Island's version. Afterwards we rode the carousel and got some pictures of/with the MVP sale billboard/podium setup because it was funny. Next, it was dinner time. I went to Clucks and Franks, ordered a Jumbo Hot Dog (and my drink) and proceeded to wait about a half hour while it cooked. Having worked in food service, I know food always feels like it takes forever to cook, but the timing seemed a little off. I think they had to thaw and boil the hot dogs. Luckily, all of this meant that once I got my food it was nice and hot and fresh. It was a really good hot dog and fries, and the wiener probably actually measured out to be a foot long. Eat your heart out Jukebox Diner  Before the park closed for the night we saw another showing of Hot Rhythm Nights, except the set list had changed a lot between these last two shows of the day! I was so confused and pleased at the same time! It was amazing. There were also properly blended harmonies, the dancers weren't just doing a step and repeat dance move the whole time, and the live band was AWESOME! I've said it before and I'll say it again: Kings Island needs a live band for both Country Crossroads and Hot Rhythm Nights. 

In conclusion, my time at Dorney Park was well spent. I enjoyed my dinner and got to see two different versions of the same show, of which I'd seen a third version of at Kings Island. If I had to suggest one improvement for the park to make it would be to install either a funicular or cable cars to bring guests from the lower section of the park up to the main midway. Those hill paths are brutal and could at least use more level areas for people to stop on. 

EPA (Early Park Admission-EPA rides are GateKeeper, Millennium Force, and Iron Dragon. We got in the park at around 9:15 or so and headed for GateKeeper. We waited around 10 minutes. Then, we headed for Millennium Force. While walking across the midway, we saw TT2 was running with people on it. I thought that was strange because I hadn't heard or saw TT2 being a EPA ride. After looking it up just now, it is still not listed on the website as an EPA ride. But it did seem like some people knew about it. Anyway, we waited about 15 minutes or so for Millie. They were only running 2 trains. Red train was being worked on.

A Rough But Fun Start-When we got off, it was around 10:10 and we decided to do Siren's Curse since it was right there. The line didn't look too long, and the person up front said 45-60 minutes. I thought that wasn't bad at all. So we got in and let me just say the whole ride and queue looks really cool from the outside. The way you can see the entire coaster, the tilt, the water effects, and even the queue was somewhat cool. So we waited about 25 minutes to get halfway through and.........the ride broke down. It may have not gotten stuck on the tilt, but it was a LONG delay. The ride finally got up and running again after 8 test runs. I thought for a second, "Maybe the media is right. Maybe this ride is problematic" It only went down one other time that day. Anyway, what should have been a 50 minute wait was 95 minutes. The operations were great on this ride, but the breakdown was a big part of the wait. So we got past the lockers after having to wait for a guy to go through the metal detector THREE different times because of things in his pocket and got to the station. We got put in the middle, which was disappointing, but I was all for getting on after 95 minutes. Siren's Curse Review: Ok. That 95 minutes might have been worth it after all. That ride is so freaking good! The ride is short, and it's not super tall or fast. But, oh my word that on-board audio. By far the best part of the ride. I would rate the ride 7 out of 10 without the audio (maybe on-par with Valravn or GateKeeper) but with the audio, this ride goes to a 9 out of 10! After the ride, I said it was better than Maverick. Today, I'm not sure. It's pretty close with Maverick. The tilt element was super fun, but the reason the ride is so good is the audio. When going up the lift and hearing the crackling and the Siren's lure I was like, "oh this is WAY better than Rip Ride Rockit" . Then when we started tilting and I heard, "prepare to meet your doom!!!" and we dropped and I heard the rock music, it was great! So much fun! A long wait, but worth it for the first time on that ride for me. By now it was like 11:35

A Long Day-After a fun ride on Siren's Curse we headed for food. I didn't eat, but the rest of my family did. So while they got food, I grabbed a table. We were a party of 5, and I got a table with 6 chairs. While I was sitting there, a dad and his son just sit down at this table without saying anything or even looking at me. They just plopped down and acted like they could just sit there if they wanted to. Then seconds later the rest of their family (total of 6 people) sat down around me and stared at me like I was the outsider that sat down next to them. I was like "whatever, I don't want to pick a fight" and moved to another open table. After lunch we checked to see how long Valravn was and to our surprise it said 80 minutes. So we decided we would come back later. Instead, we wanted to get on TT2 since we had never done it before. We entered the line and that's when I realized how many people were actually in the park. If CP was broke on Friday morning, I swear they would be billionaires by the end of the day. There were SO MANY Fast Lane people. Like we were counting how many times each person rode TT2. Because there was no line for the Fast Lane, they just kept coming back in line. It was ridiculous. I've never seen that may Fast Lane people at a park ever. We waited an hour for TT2 and it was super fun! I think I might like Siren's Curse just a bit more. Then we went and checked out Maverick, which was posted at like 75 minutes. We waited about that. It was fun, glad we did it then because it broke down later. But while we were in line for Maverick, a big group of teenage boys at the very top of the stairs right before you scan your Fast Lane move from the Fast Lane line to the standby. Clearly they didn't want to wait in line with everyone else and waited in the Fast Lane until the switch over point. Then we looked at SteVe and saw it was at 120 minutes and decided to see if it went down later. So then we went and did Magnum which was a 20 minute wait. After Magnum we did TT2 again but this time it was about 75 minutes. By then it was past dinner time and we hoped the crowds would die down...they did not. So we went and did Valravn and waited about 65 minutes. But while we were in line, that same group of kids from Maverick were there and one of them cut to "catch up with their friend". When the group entered the line, they said, "oh heck no. This line is long. Where do you think we can cut?" KI isn't the only one with this issue. Anyway, rode Valravn and it was 8:45 at this point.

A Tough Decision-SteVe was a 90 minute wait and so was Siren's Curse. Both of them we wanted to do, but could only do one. Technically, we could have done both, but it would have been an even later night. Plus, some of us wanted to get merch too from certain places and there was no guarantee that they would still be open around 11:00. We were already by Siren's Curse, so we decided to do that a second time and skip Steel Vengeance, which was unfortunate. But, I did get to do a night ride of Siren's Curse, which is what I was hoping for. But I was confused as to why the person up front said it was 90 minutes. The line was just one switchback longer than when we rode it the first time, and it wasn't down, so I didn't understand why it was so long of a wait. I looked over to the locker area and finally understood why the line was listed so high...

The Epic Night Ride-...The Fast Lane was SO BACKED UP! Everybody and their mother came to ride this at night with Fast Lane. The line was so long, they had to open up switchbacks, for the Fast Lane!!! But I knew I wasn't going to get another ride in anyway, so I enjoyed the time in the queue. And I didn't totally mind the wait, because the longer we waited the darker it got. By the time we were halfway through the line, it was dark and the lights were on the trains. The light package is super cool on Siren's Curse, and I love how it changes throughout the layout. When you leave the station it's green but when the train gets "cursed" and the track tilts, the lights turn red. And then when you come out of the tunnel, the lights turn back to green. Very cool. It was fun seeing the park from the top of the ride as well. I wouldn't say it felt any faster or it was a super amazing night ride, though. You could have as much fun during the day. It's more about the visuals outside the train. Besides, you can't see the lighting when your riding. So when I go back, I would choose something else for my night ride. Probably SteVe or TT2. Anyway, loved the ride and got off and headed out. Another fun day at CP. The only thing that was a little disappointing was that basically all the rides were at least over an hour. Parking was a nightmare leaving. Here was my ride count for the day:

GateKeeper-1

Siren's Curse-2

TT2-2

Maverick-1

Magnum-1

Millie-1

Conclusion/Rankings-A very fun time at Cedar Point as always, and enjoyed riding two new rides! Here are my new rankings for CP:

1. Steel Vengeance

2. Maverick

3. Siren's Curse

4.Top Thrill 2

5. Millie or GateKeeper

1. Ride of Steel  

This was my favorite ride, it is an Intamin coaster that flies through its course. It is a very forceful coaster with good pops of air, and strong helixes that made me gray out. It does have  weird straight piece of track that gets the ride over a lake. I rode this twice, and it was a blast. 

2. MindEraser

This ride was a lot of fun. It was intense and whippy. It had new restraints and was very smooth.  I had a lot of fun on this ride, and wish I rode it again. 

3. Tantrum

SFDL newest coaster,  it was quick and whippy as well. Very short, but packed a  punch. If it was longer may be number 2 on my list.

4. Viper

Rode like Vortex of my teenage years. Fun, and brought back a lot of memories. Those old arrow restraints sure do hurt now days. Is it old age or new coaster restraints are so much better. 

5 . Predator

A fun woodie with titan track on some of it. Parts that do not have it are extremely rough. Runs by the lake and is fun, but the rough ride knocks to to fifth place.

6. Boomerang

I am not a fan of these. I rarely ride Invertigo, and this was rough.

7. Motocross was not opened while we were there.

Moose on the Loose was  a lot of fun. Everyone rode it and laughed through the track. Highly recommened it. 

Overall I enjoyed my time at Darien Lake. We were able to ride everything we wanted in 2 hours. With our meal plans and drink plans unavailable we did not participate in those activities. The park is small, and easy to navigate. However I would not spend more than a day here or make it my main objective in the area. If in the area again I would love to catch a few rides on Ride of Steel and Minderaser. The staff were very friendly, and the operations were one train, but quicker than expected after slow dispatches at SFOG, and Great Adventure.  The park ranks in my Michigan's Adventure, Dorney Park tier. Which is enjoyable but glad it s not my home park. 

Bansheelover tiers

Home Park Tier (Best of the Best I've Been to)

1. Kings Island

2. Cedar Point

3. Carowinds

Visit Again Tier (Fun but not the best)

1. Kings Dominion

2. Six Flags Grand Adventure

3. Six Flags over Georgia

Glad I went, but glad not my home park Tier

1. Michigan's Adventure

2. Dorney Park

3. Six Flags Darien Lake

KD is BEAUTIFUL on approach and walk in. It was wonderful to see full fountains that had mass and noise. It was amazing to see an International Street that looked like a park. There were gas lights. There were more interesting buildings with shaded and covered seating. It’s going to be a shock walking back into KI after being reminded how full and lush it used to look there. The pavement is a bot of a mess where the curbs were just shaved down and the ramps filled in years ago when the blacktop street was eliminated. It’s crazy to realize no major reworking of the pavement has occurred since the major redo. 

The Eiffel Tower looks like it is literally placed in a landscaped park. It is such a refreshing change from the patch of flat grass our sits in. Turning toward Old Virginia, it was amazing to see a working waterfall, then another one at the entrance to the water rides. That whole area had almost a Dollywood vibe to it. Love the antique cars where they are with the long path and and the dense woods. The view coming back from that ride across the bridge looking at the theatre was just perfect. Grizzly had a super odd entrance. We actually passed it the first two times in the area and had to really look to find it finally. That seems like a big miss for a (now) great coaster. White Water Canyon was also way better here. The setting hasn't been cleared out as much, and it truly feels like a mountian rushing river. The waterfalls look great and depite the odd indoor portion with creepy static mannequins, the entire experience felt way more themed. 

It was so cool to see a dense vine tunnel as we walked to Twisted Timbers. WOW what a great ride. Its hard to be critical of any operations since we walked right onto almost everything both days, but this was one I would still wait for. We need this - LOVE Mystic Timbers, but I think this actually edges out SteVe for the slower pacing and “you can see it coming” feeling. 

Candy Apple Grove seemed agin just more shaded and lush. Its odd that a younger park feels more established than its older sister. I like the carousel and ferris wheel there. Give the area a full “old time amusement park” feel. It was great to have CHIPS with a bowl at the burrito place and RED SAUCE with pizza. Victoria’s looks nice after the redo and I love the outdoor seating. 

Jungle X is what Adventure Port wishes it could be. Great theming and atmosphere. The shop there along with all the other shops had much stronger thematic merchandsing that KI. Food was OK, but the themed atmosphere again was almost Disney level. Rides in this area were all solid, but Rapterra is the odd exception. 

Rapterra in the front feels brand new - in the back it feels like it’s as old as the park. A few month old coaster shouldn’t bee this rough and janky in the back. I don’t remember Wild Eagle having this much vibration and bounce in the back. It was actually very painful. The load process was also a mess. There’s a separator at the outer “temple” telling you to go to right side or left, but they have to keep leaving and walking to the station to see the balance of people on each side. Then when you get to the station theres a single switchback to the gates. People clump up at the first gate, then you have to force your way past them to get to the other gates that are wide open. There seems like there needs to be station associate assigning people to gates, or loading the train back to front. It just gets messy and people get attitude like you are cutting around them, but there would be people in front of us just standing there not filling in empty gate slots, so we went around them to take a spot for the next train.

BooBlasters was WAY better. KI should be embarrassed by the state of the exterior and queue of ours. The guns with lasers were great. The outdoor queue set the mood. The placement seemed super odd of that and Dominator just plopped along a path. Planet Snoopy could easily be Camp Snoopy as it already feels like it is deep in the woods. Just a much more relaxing setting with shade for rides with kids.

Entertainment was beyond disappointing. There’s a key theatre (Peanuts Showplace) sitting empty. There’s action theatre unused, and even the KD Theatre was unused as they could figure out how to not have slipper aisles after only 2 bubble shows on Saturday when the last show, all shows Sunday and Monday were cancelled. It sounds like thats running again, but that should even BE the signature entertainment for the 50th. The “closing light show” was lame and no one seemed to be paying any attention to it. Its just music and lights on the tower and I street buildings. The bandstand show was weak. There was no parade “street party” even though the ap shows images of our 50th parade like they were going to do it there. Two left over floats from ours roll out with people on them in rainbow outfits (not the matching gold and blue). They hop off, twirl some ribbons, sing songs from the decades of KD, hop back on the flats and ride off twirling ribbons. It comes off as very amateur. 

I was really hoping for a “magical 50th”, but the park itself more than made up for that. I give the physical park edge to KD hands down. I give the “whats left of live entertainment at 6flags” award to KI. Definitely make the trip to this park if you want great rides, minimal waits and a beautiful reminder of how wonderful KI USED to look. 

WATERFALL!!! Adds so much to the area. 

Wonderful theming in the restaurant.

International PARK more than street.

Beautiful view... to a sadly underused theatre.

CHIPS with a burrito bowl. Wht's up Enrique? Throw us some chips!

Tight merchandising and solid theming in retail spaces.