Kawana

Great line. I love that show, probably a little too much.

Unfortunately, I'll not be able to attend this year as I'm going to be up at Cedar Point that weekend. I had a feeling this was going to be on this particular weekend. Thanks once again for putting this on for us. Maybe next year, eh?

Now when I was a manager at the park, I remember that the food cost of a souvenir cup worked out to be roughly 5 cents. (Not joking about that before anyone brings up a nickel comment.) That sounds about right! I seem to recall the costs for a small soft drink coming in somewhere around $.03 when I was still there back in 2001. That included the liquid, ice, and cup. I have not been to the park yet this year, but I heard earlier this year that CF was going to install digital menu boards at food locations, and that the retail price of food and drinks was to be adjusted regurlarly based upon the hourly alpha. Can anyone confirm if this is or is not happening? I for one would not be too happy if I paid say $3.00 for a drink at noon , but then had to pay $3.50 for the same drink at 7pm because the net had dropped. I kind of understand the concept behind it, but not sure how this would be executed without high guest complaints. Festhaus has digital boards, but I don't know of any price changes. ^^^ Same with Jukebox diner. Everytime I've been in there this year, the prices have seemed to be the same.

Thanks for the TR. Sounds like a good time, maybe one of these years I'll have to make it up there and check it out.

I totally agree with you. Chaos is one of, if not my favorite flat ride ever. It's just too fun. I hope my trip up to the point in August is as fun as yours seemed. Thanks for the TR, guys.

The fact that you need to see the "rules and regulations" is shocking. I understand hooking your people up, but be realistic. I'm by no means a saint but I don't need to have the rules and regs pointed out to me. As a member of society, you should know what is acceptable and what is not. CF may not police it, but I would wager that most reasonable guests that are aware of the deal would report any abuse. I know I would. That being said, I'm sure no one is going to say anything about a father sharing his drink, but if a person is getting 6-7 or more drinks at a time and supplying their family, I would have to say something, not only to the employee at the stand, but also to GR as the employee is not following the presumed established procedure.

This mental giant just doesn't learn does he? At first I was upset that the Bengals got rid of him, but now I'm glad they did. Would've been just more of the same.

I had been planning a trip down to KI for a week or so and when I arrived at around 11:00, I was shocked to see the lot fairly full. "What's going on?" I asked myself. After purchasing my drink wristband, I headed over to Invertigo and a 2/3 full queue. "No, thanks." As I headed back towards SoB, I notice two radio station vans. I ask what the deal is and I'm told that Spirit Song is going on. DUH!!! Why I didn't remember is beyond me, I guess I wasn't paying attention. So after spinning the wheel and winning a CD from the band "Twilight" from Star 93.3 I ran the CD out to my car. I returned to the station van to ask about Twilight and didn't receive any info. Nobody knew anything about them. I asked about who was playing at the concert and was told that Skillet was pretty good. I was told to check back to see if there were any tickets laying around. So then I headed to SoB and met a very nice man from Maryland who said all he wanted to ride was SoB and The Beast. After his ride on SoB, he couldn't stop saying how fun that ride was. Add another to the list. Next was a surpisingly quick wait at Delirium and a nice chat with some students from Atlanta. On my way to Firehawk, I rolled my ankle right next to the pond behind Outer Hanks. I'm pretty lucky I didn't roll into the pond and that someone made sure I was ok. I think I caught my foot in a divot where the asphalt doesn't quite meet the curb. Firehawk was about an hour wait, and was awesome as usual. Heading back to Vortex I ran into a very nice games worker. He was from the Netherlands and he was very friendly and I really enjoyed my conversation with him. He was upset about the conditions that he was in, but said he's making the best of it. It was around time for Skillet to come on, so I headed back to the ampitheatre area to see if there was anyway I could get in to see Skillet. Amazingly I ended up with a ticket and was thouroughly impressed by Skillet, so much so that I bought their CD right there. Big thanks to Neilo from 93.3 The Star for getting me into the show. I think that Timberwolf is a great asset for KI to have and I hope that it can be used more and more. On the way back out to my car, I was able to talk to a higher level executive at KI for about 25-30 minutes. I expressed my gratitude in KI working so closely with KIC and I really enjoyed that conversation. Back in the park I headed towards Vortex and had a great ride in the back car. A younger kid was attempting to convince his younger brother to ride Vortex and I tried to help and it looked like he was going to ride, but at the last minute he went into the pen with tears in his eyes. That bummed me out quite a bit. I don't like to see kids upset, and if he didn't want to ride, he shouldn't have to. What made that wierd is that his cousin, who was considerably younger, rode, and loved it. After a "spin" on the Crypt, I finished off my day the best way I know how. A duskish ride on The Beast. Great ride and I was really flying all over that car. Aside from my face getting burned to a crisp, it was a great day at the park. Thanks for reading.

Anyway, I partook in this awesome deal on the 11th and my only complaint is my own fault. I didn't mix in any water and I was just crushing Diet Coke all day. I think I had 4 by noon. Needless to say I was feeling not so well later in the day. It's a good deal though, and I love that you don't have to tote around a cup all day. EDIT*** When I got the wristband the somewhat bewildered cashier didn't check to make sure I was a passholder (which I am) which is not a big deal to me. I think everyone should be able to buy a wristband, but if it's meant to be for passholders only, there needs to be some consistency involved.

Spirit Song's last day is Saturday so you may be in for a normal Sunday crowd. I wouldn't think you'd get many stragglers but you never know.

I was there and I saw Skillet too. The interesting thing is I didn't have a ticket to the show but somehow I ended up with one. Skillet really impressed me and I bought their CD. Crazy day...

The slideshow doesn't work for me either on Safari or IE. What's up wit dat?

Good to hear you had fun. If I'm ever up Wisconsin way, I'll have to check that out.

That would have been entertainment enough for me right there alone...

I'm not really sure of anything really... Except that I love KI...

Hello all. Most of my trips are solo trips, and i usually just wander aimlessly until something catches my eye. When I go with someone, I usually hit what they want to because most likely, I'll be back soon enough on my own anyway. So, on Friday I arrived at around 11:30 after breakfast and a stop to purchase the new Shinedown album. I headed over to the Action Zone, like I always do, and Invertigo already had a mad line. Seeing that Drop Tower didn't have much of a line, I bit the bullet and gave it a go. I'm a bigger guy but I felt really crammed into that seat. I was on, and I will say that that ride is definitely unique. The view on the way up is spectacular and the drop changes me. I'm usually pretty collected, but as we dropped, all I could do is let out a deep guttural bark. Laughing at myself, I made my way over to SoB. Line jumping on Friday was out of control. A young man pushed his way past me and I said, "we're all waiting here, you're not exempt." Ignoring me and meeting up with "his people" he pushed through the others in line, giving me a "c'mon try something" look all the way. I'm not stupid enough to try and rumble with some guest, but the line jumping is, in my eyes a blatant show of disrespect for other people. If he would have just asked, I wouldn't have had a problem. Seething, I made my way to the front seat. All in all it was about a 30 minute wait. "Here at Son of Beast the handrails are our friends. We do not sit on your friends, please do not sit on ours." The op in the box, had to repeat this two more times before two younger kids would eventually get down from the handrails. On to the actual ride. The rose bowl makes me feel like my watch is going to fall off my wrist but I still really like that ride. For the third time this year and the second at SoB, I witnessed someone lose their cookies. I always thought that was a good sign of a good ride, but now it's getting annoying to me. Over to Delirium and Adventure Express, with a 2 cycle wait on Delirium and a walk on to AE. Vortex was a walk on as well as BLSC. Entering The Beast's queue, I was greeted by an op stating that The Beast was down due to a mechanical problem. I don't think I've ever seen The Beast down. On to the Crypt, then. It's always funny to me when people walk out of the queue for the Crypt saying the wait is an hour or more when we're already inside. After a one cycle wait, I headed over to The Beast and it was running now. A walk on awaited me and that was that. I had been wanting to check out the shows, so I saw "Endless Summer on Ice." I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet, but I'd probably see it again. After a trip for a biscuit, I was back and ready to see "Flashback Totally 80s." That is a pretty good show and I was impressed with all the performers, especially the female singers. Kudos to them. Those wigs are hideous though. Ready for rides again, I headed over to Firehawk and about an hour wait. There was another line jumping incident, but this time I wasn't close enough to say anything. I did see Josh and another singer from the 80s show in line but didn't get a chance to say hi. I'm totally impressed by Josh. By my count he's done at least 4 different shows at KI and every time I've had a chance to speak with him he's been professional and polite. Boarding the ride, my ride mate decided to attempt to throw her flip-flops onto the station floor. Good idea, poor execution. As her first flop hits the floor, it bounces up and through the gap in the fence between the stations, and down the stairs. "No biggie" I thought, it'll be there when we get done. To our amazement, the flop has fallen down into the space between the stairs and the concrete wall. What are the chances? I would have put them on the floor if she would have asked me, but she decided to throw them and was left walking with one foot bare the rest of the night. I ended day one with a couple night rides on The Beast, which were awesome but I wish the trims could be turned off after the fireworks. I was told that the reason the trims were put on in the first place is because the cars were being damaged by the ride. Also the trims, I was told are not able to be turned off. I don't remember the ops name but it was an op nonetheless. This was a great day for me as I got to spend a great day at one of my favorite places, and not feel rushed in doing so. Sunday was a trip with my girlfriend Erin. After church and a quick stop for a biscuit, we arrived at around 2. Since we were sent away from The Beast due to weather on our last trip, I “owed” her a ride on The Beast, so that’s where we headed first. As we were getting in line, an announcement was made that The Beast would be suspending operations due to weather. “Here we go again” I thought. After a quick 10 minute sprinkle, we were on in the back car. Is it just me, or is CF very nervous about running trains in the rain. I know about the Magnum incident, but it seems that they’re being overly cautious. After a great ride, Erin shocked me by picking Vortex as the next destination. We rode it once last year and she said never again. Well, never again must mean once every few months or so. A last car ride and she needed a few minutes to get settled. That drop really takes my breath away every time. Great ride. She headed us towards the blue racer next. I’m glad we have an original piece of KI still operating. Classic. Next was a walk on to AE, then a 20 minute or so wait for SoB. While in line I had another guest tell me that I looked like the Great Khali from WWE. This guest was also under the impression that he was going to get a re-ride because he knew one of the ops. Sonny is quickly becoming one of my favorite rides. Delirium was next after a one or two cycle wait. That’s another very fun ride. I know I’m sounding like a kid in a candy store, but isn’t that what going to one of your favorite places is supposed to make you feel like? Every time I go to KI, I have fun, doing one thing or another. I just love being there. I wanted her to see the 80s show, so we went to get a blueberry ice cream cone while we waited. That’s quickly becoming a tradition as we’ve done it the last two times we’ve gone. Erin really enjoyed the 80s show, as I knew she would and we were off to FoF. I like to think that I know what’s happening in that bowl, but in reality, I have no clue. I’m starting to recognize different ops from different rides, and vice versa. To some that may mean I have a problem, but I don’t think so. It was getting close to closing time and we hit up BLSC and a 10 minute wait. Then Erin shocked me again. “Let’s go ride the Crypt” she said. This was another of her “never again” rides as she didn’t like it when it was TRTR. After giving her one last chance to hit the chicken chute right before you enter, we waited two cycles. “That was pretty fun” she said. So, there’s one more person who prefers the Crypt to TRTR. Waiting for 9:40 to come so we could get in line for The Beast we enjoyed a refreshing water from Potato Works. Those fries are huge. I might just have to splurge one day. I’m amazed at the amount of people who leave The Beast queue after they close down for the fireworks, but that just makes it easier for me to ride. Finally ending our night with a night ride on The Beast was great, and I really love that ride. Another great day of relaxation at KI, and except for that pesky day of work in-between, a fantastic weekend. Thanks for reading.

Interesting to note that Rick Wallenda is not visible on the Flying Wallendas website. Anyone know why this is? The site makes mention of a Ricky, but nothing is present about the walk at KI. The Flying Wallendas

One would assume that it would be. The website makes no mention of a price at the gate if you're really bent on finding out, call the park. (800) 288-0808

Add an all-you-can-eat picnic meal to your ticket for just $12.99 for adults and $6.99 for juniors under 48" tall. Buy your meal ticket in advance and you'll enjoy a picnic-style meal complete with Southern Fried Chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, unlimited soft drinks and ice cream treats! Kids under 3 are Free Refreshments and food are served from 3:00 - 4:30pm. This great money-saving meal deal is available every day in our Picnic Grove but hurry, space is limited. That is straight from visitkingsisland.com. It doesn't specify whether the price is the same at the park or not.

My girlfriend swears that I can wear a 3x, but every time I do, I feel like I'm wearing Saran Wrap. I start at 4 and hope for the best.

They usually don't make T-shirts in my size... Phat XL

I rode with Uncle Henry earlier this season and it was after the sun had gone down. The ride was quite rough. Henry says "I forgot that woodies get rougher after the sun goes down and it cools off a bit." I was under the impression that wooden roller coasters were smoother in the heat due to the grease being heated up. Am I wrong?

I've always found that after people have rushed to Invertigo when the park opens in the morning (after staring at it for 20 mins while walking through the parking lot and entering through the gates) that half of them then head to Drop Tower and the other half head to Flight Deck, making this morning line a little too long for my tastes and compared to later on in the day... Yeah but the weird thing was that this happened at around 6 in the evening. On that day, AE had quite a line going as well.

So the elimination, temporary or not, of the "splashdown" on BLSC, makes the ride "suck?" That is only one part of the ride, which lasts only a few seconds at best. I always enjoy the ride "splashdown" or no.

The way the ops make it sound, it depends on the amount of people in line when given the OK to begin operation. In talking with an op, I was able to glean the fact that they wish to disptach full trains and not just trains with full fronts and backs, and empty middle. I would say that as long as you're in line before the fireworks, you should be fine, but if you prefer one seat over the others, you may wish to time it so that you can guarantee you're close enough after the fireworks. Hope this helps.