violakat03

I personally still access it via pki.com, which redirects. Call me lazy (and I know Terpy won't miss the chance I left wide open for him), but pki.com is so much easier to type in than visitkingsisland.com is.

Honestly, I went through the week on the last week of July last year and was very surprised at how busy it was. The water park was absolutely packed and I waited 1 1/2 hours for Maverick, even though I got in line during the ERT in the morning! TTD was no less than a 1 hour wait, and Raptor averaged 45 minutes. We spent four days there (Monday-Thursday) and it was pretty consistent each day. I'd say avoid July if possible. Also definitely avoid Halloweekend Saturdays, I went on one of those and it was a big mistake. Giga is not kidding about the wait time. I spent 45 minutes in line for Gemini. The next day was much, much much better - 30 minutes got me on to Millennium Force and many other coasters were walk on.

Cruises = best honeymoon ever. We took one for ours too. They spoil you rotten.

They had that same sign on the registers both times I've been there. Maybe they're waiting for a part for it or something.

Yeah, Skyscraper was still closed. I got the impression it had been closed for a long time.

Okay, this one is going to be kind of fun. Last night, three members of KIC (violakat03 (Kat), Gabe (the ultimate lurker) and gigacoaster2k (Angie)) and some friends (my husband Nick, Gabe's wife Deb, and my friends Woody and Lisa) went to Krazy City in the Tri-County Mall. When we arrived, we were a little surprised at how busy it was, and also learned that it closed at 11 rather than 1 a.m. like we thought. We got our $10 all-you-can-play cards at the counter and decided the mini-bowling alley looked less busy and thought we could hang out in there until it cleared out a little bit. This plan worked quite well, actually. The seven of us overthrew three lanes of the mini bowling and had at it. We learned three things - gigacoaster2k gets better the longer she plays, my friend Woody is very competitive, and Gabe's wife needs bumpers when she bowls. After a full game, some of us got bored with bowling and my hand was hurting (I'd spent most of the day detailing my car since it was so nice out) so we split into two groups. One group stayed bowling and one group decided to go play on some of the rides. We originally intended to go on the MoseRides SpringRide, but there was a line for it. Instead, we decided to go on the Wisdom Industries Tornado ride. Since Angie and Lisa get motion sick and Deb wasn't interested, Gabe and I jumped on it by ourselves. And I do mean literally by ourselves, we were the only two people on the ride. We got it spinning pretty good but I quickly realized I have no upper body strength it was wearing me out. Angie shot a video of us using my camera, seen here: After stumbling off of the Tornado, we hopped in line for the SpringRide. Deb opted out of this one too, giving us a "you guys are nuts" look as we got on. I learned that Gabe has never been on Drop Tower at KI and we decided we'd drag him onto it on opening day. After an invigorating ride and a good adrenaline rush, we decided that the trippy blacklight mini-golf would be fun. It's a really good thing we weren't keeping score, though I have a sneaking suspicion Gabe would have won if we were. There was a lot of entertaining mulligans and a couple of instances of just throwing the ball into the hole and calling it finished. We took a peak at the go-kart line and decided it was still longer than we wanted to wait, and headed for the bumper cars. For such little electric bumper cars, these things get up nice speed and you can get a really good bump out of them. All five of us rode on the bumper cars, along with a couple other people, so we had a lot of fun chasing each other around in them. I shot a POV from my car, seen here: Then we went back and collected Nick and Woody from the bowling alley and headed for the go karts. Gabe and Deb decided to call it a night at this point, though we did discuss plans for our next meet up. There was a fairly long line for the ride, we had to wait for several circuits before getting on. After piling five of us on, there were also about 4 other cars full of people not in our group. Unfortunately, the rest of the people didn't know how to drive and kept causing wrecks, so we spent most of our time stopped or speeding back up from stopping for a wreck. By the time we got done with the go karts we only had about 20 minutes left before closing, so we decided to take a couple more rides on the SpringRide. Angie and I got on it while the rest of the group headed for the concession stand (something about go karts made everyone parched), and I shot a POV, seen here: We jumped off and got back in line, and were joined by the rest of the group (minus Woody, who opted to continue enjoying his refreshments instead). Another POV was made of the four of us being goofs. After this ride, Krazy City was closed, so we headed out. We were all incredibly thirsty (except Woody, who was still enjoying his Diet Coke), and a couple were hungry, so we headed off to the nearest Perkins. I feel very sorry for our waitress and any one else who might have been there, because we were one of those loud, annoying groups who was having way too much fun to be in a restaurant at midnight. Overall, the night was a ton of fun. It was great getting a bunch of friends together, and this was the first time I'd hung out with Angie. We don't live all that far from each other so hopefully this won't be the last time either. There will probably be much scuba diving, KI-ing and other Krazy City nights this summer for all of us.

I could have sworn they had the picnic grove open. This would have been in like 2000 or 2001 or so. I do remember there being a lot of P&G advertising stuff but I thought nothing of it at the time. I know I've been there at least once where the picnic grove was open to everyone that was in the park. I may be remembering two different days though.

A park buyout. Read: A private group has in effect rented the park, and guaranteed the park revenue for the day, in exchange for exclusive use of the facilities. Wow - would be nice to be part of that private group with DB opening this year. I went during P&G's buyout day several years ago with a friend. Considering the companies that are big enough to buyout the park invite all their employees and usually a close to unlimited number of guests, the park will be pretty much just as crowded as a normal early-season Sunday in the park. I didn't even realize that P&G had the park to themselves until later in the day when we went to the picnic grove and they weren't checking tickets to get into it, since everyone in the park was with the group using it. To return to the topic at hand, I learned last night that my ride buddy for the day has never once ridden Drop Tower, so that will be a high priority. So now the plans include: 2 rides on Diamondback (one in front seat, one in back seat), a ride on Xtreme Skyflyer, and a ride on Drop Tower.

If you go back and read the first post, you'll see that the goal of this newsletter is to not repeat things that are already available on the site. It will be all exclusive content.

If they're only going to be there for 2 days, a season pass wouldn't be worth it. 2 tickets from AAA or many other local merchants such as Wright-Patt CU would be around $50, and parking for two days would be $20. If he pays full price for the tickets it would be $120 each person. Right now they're selling 2-for-1 tickets good any day of the season on KI's website. So for $47.99, you get two days in the park. If he stays for three days, a season pass becomes more feasible, though you can get discounted tickets easily enough that it still may be more expensive for just 3 days. For 3 days, the biggest reason to get a season pass will be the free parking. There is also the consideration of the ERT and extra perks that come with the gold pass. They don't have a specified monetary value, they're more whatever the passholder makes of them. If there is no interest in the ERT, and they don't play any games and don't eat any of the foods that are discounted, then the upgrades are worthless. To me, the ERT alone would make it worth an extra $10-$20 to get the gold pass.

I'll third it. I'll be very happy to make regular submissions whenever I can.

Ah. Then that's understandable. It tried to kill me with the old trains. The lapbar clicked down one more notch going around the bottom of that helix and it was one notch beyond the point I could breathe. I spent the rest of the ride in pretty much sheer terror fighting to breathe. I never rode in the front seat of the car after that.

Stupid question. Which portion of SOB is considered the "rose bowl"?

Hands up, almost always. I can think of two times I put them down - Vortex in the corkscrew (brace position) and Magnum in the bunny hills (painful ejector air). I love the freedom of hands up. Even on rides where you can't really get them up very well (Invertigo, Raptor), I still put them up. I'd much rather not hang on. Oh and I'm guilty of elbowing my husband in the head on The Beast in the helix. We now always ride with me on the right, since he's a hands down rider. Removes the problem completely.

Pout. I finally get to see the webcam during the day (usually it's not working when I look at it) and it would figure that they don't appear to be running tests. I have yet to catch a train on the track on the webcam.

Only 8 hours? I was thinking it was longer than that. Well, that's not bad at all - less than it takes to get to Memphis, actually! Definitely a one day's drive. I've never driven just to Atlanta from Ohio. When we went, we came from North Carolina and returned to Memphis.

The park itself is open to the public both days. Just the ERTs and other special events involved in RWW will be closed to the public.

Yeah, I noticed the same. We always either bring our own food or go out to eat off park property. I can't handle eating greasy, hot food on a hot day in the park.

Man, 16 cents a share. I should invest.

I agree DeLorean Rider. I want to take a Disney cruise for the experience that only a Disney cruise can offer.

That was cool, seeing all the employee costumes, though I'm glad they don't look like that anymore! Also cool seeing the balloon release and fireworks.

My guess would be up I-Street till you get to the theater and then go through Nick U. That's the way I went to The Beast at the opening last year since the other walkway was closed. That is how we walked there during the tour, so I'd have to agree with you.

What an awesome video. I really enjoyed seeing the construction of The Racer (a very under appreciated ride now a days), Eiffel Tower, International Street, and everything else. How amazing.

Ryan said that Nick will not fade out, it will be up and gone. Although he also said that "There may or may not be a day that Nick is gone", so if that effects your judgement in any way...... Or as Terpy would say "It'll be there until it's not!"

I went to SFOG in 2006. It was absolutely amazing and I'd say totally worth the drive. Do not stay at the hotels that are on the same exit - I took this advice, luckily. Every time I go to Atlanta I stay at the Microtel next to the airport. It is a very clean hotel, seemed pretty safe, and is a very good price. I've stayed at it three times and had a great experience each time. I think it took 15 or 20 minutes to get to the park from that hotel. As for the park itself, park in the park's lot and just suck it up and pay the fee. You're likely to not have a car anymore if you use one of the shady lots. When you get there, if it's crowded, get a FlashPass, if it's not, don't bother. Definitely make sure you hit Goliath, Georgia Scorcher and Superman: Ultimate Flight. I rode everything there and those three were my favorites. Mindbender, Georgia Cyclone and Great American Scream Machine are great. The drive down isn't all that bad, but you may consider breaking it into two days and staying in TN one night. I don't know how long you'll have available for the trip though. If you take 75 down through Kentucky and Tennessee, it's a beautiful drive. Knoxville and Chattanooga are both nice cities for a pit stop. I can even recommend a hotel in Knoxville if you decide to stay there, I've been there many times through the year. I'd consider the possibility of waiting until next weekend (28th) and hitting SFOG and Dollywood in the same weekend. Or staying two days at SFOG. You can buy a second day ticket at the park for $15. That's what we did when we got rained out the first day of our trip, and the second day we got everything that we hadn't gotten the day before. Using the Flash Pass, we hit Goliath, Georgia Scorcher, Batman and Mindbender in 2 hours.