VortexBFForever

Photos Taken: 153 Part 1 We arrived at about 10:45-50. Once we had gone through the turnstiles and to the ERT entrance, we noticed some tents scattered around the park; I wonder if they had anything to do with the Blazin 5K that had just happened earlier. They even had a Bobblehead Days sign ready to go! (can’t wait for the 20th!) Once we passed through the ERT entrance, I headed straight to Coney Mall since it was already 10:52. We arrived at the rope drop with 4 minutes to spare. At 11:00, the rest of the park opened, and we were off. I decided to start the day at Vortex. I was on the first train of the day. Since I had let some people go ahead of me in the queue, the front-most rows were already taken, so I headed back to 7-1. As I boarded, one of the attendants closed bins 1 and 3 on both sets – which meant I was standing on Train #2! Turns out, this first ride of the day was also the first of 7 consecutive cycles I stayed on for. The order of the 7-ride marathon: 7-1, 7-1, 7-1, 5-1, 7-1, 2-2, 2-2. Between cycles, I grabbed a few more pics. After the 7th ride the line was too long to continue the marathon, so I crossed the midway and went to WindSeeker. I was assigned to Seat 31 for the first of 3 WindSeeker flights I would take. I don’t know the name of the soundtrack that played, but I later learned that it was the one that played on the cycle before the Superman Theme. I had a great (and chilly!) flight, 301 feet in the air. After arriving safely back on solid ground, I rode Vortex again. The line had grown, but not too much. The wait was only about 5-7 minutes at most. Part 2 in next post

SpongeBob SquarePants 3D was the only thing I saw as well. I thought it was pretty fun! (note that I rode it when I was 9 and another time when I was 11) In all honesty, I would be more up to doing Dinosaurs Alive! 3D if they still had the moving chairs in there.

I wonder what great things they'll have in store for Magnum's and Blue Streak's anniversaries?

I would've thought of coming, but I was at Kings Island that day If I am able to do it next year, I can't wait to play the miniature golf! I'm pretty good at it...some of you better watch out!

I've figured at least about half the soundtrack out, thanks to a playlist on YouTube that has a few of them. The part of WindSeeker's 18-soundtrack sequence I know is: (from Superman: The Movie) (the Harry Potter movie theme) (from How to Train Your Dragon) (also from HTTYD) (from HTTYD) (from HTTYD; the part that plays on WS starts at 0:59-1:00)Unknown Soundtrack (it sounds really cool! But I don't know the name of it! ARRGH!!!) (from Apollo 13)Another Unknown Soundtrack (once again, I do not know the name, but I recognize what it sounds like) Another Unknown Soundtrack (same as above, I only recognize it from when it played on WS's first cycle of the day on July 23, 2013) (a.k.a. 2001: Space Odyssey theme) Thanks. I know at least one Star Trek soundtrack plays on WindSeeker as well. Update: I FINALLY figured out what that cool-sounding soundtrack after "This Is Berk" was when I rode WS on 9/22. I have edited the list! I also have all the soundtracks I know in a YouTube playlist here:

I wish I could've said this earlier, but WindSeeker is another great night ride. It's one of my favorites. (Sorry if it's too late to say this...)

This past weekend, I had a dream that I was walking around KI. I got to WindSeeker and Vortex and for some reason they were closed. The weird thing was, The Vortex train on the final brake run was all YELLOW instead of the normal blue and orange! I then automatically assumed that the other trains were orange and red... The track and the station were still their normal colors.

I'd go for at least 20! My record right now is 18 rides, set on Sunday, October 14, 2012.

^Only rider as in the only one on the whole train?? I'm so jealous!

Glad you had fun! Wish I could've gone. 2 Questions for ya: Did you or Lucas ride Vortex and/or WindSeeker, by any chance? Did you ever walk by Vortex and notice if it was doing 2-train operation or the normal 3? I'll tell you now, if TurkishDelightBGW and I had made it to the park that day, you'd find me having a blast - marathoning Vortex as long as I could in the rain (decked out in my rain poncho on a day like that, of course!) would be pretty crazy!

^I fell behind schedule and didn't get there until about 4:30...sorry

I believe she snuck in #199 while the rest of us were getting last rides on The Beast, then got #200 a couple weeks later. That is absolutely correct!

I probably can (I'm kind of on my way there!)

Sounds like you had fun. Thanks for sharing!

Racer: any seat in the last car Flight Deck: first or last car Vortex: 1-1, 2-1, 7-1, 7-2, 6-1, 6-2, 2-2 (they're just my top picks; I'm absolutely fine with any row) Beast: in/near front or back Adventure Express: back seat, or usually in/around 1-3 Invertigo: either end (for me, it's the end of the train that faces toward Drop Tower when in the station) Firehawk: back row, outside seat Flight of Fear: in/near the front Diamondback: in/near the back

Thanks for sharing, but I can only see 2 of them. The rest say "Sorry. This person moved or deleted this image." Edit: But at least I can see all of them on Photobucket Edit #2: Yay! I can see them all now! Thanks! And I think the ones of Vortex are AWESOME!

Part 4: It was about 7:05 by the time we were let in to the International Restaurant. I was really hoping Don's Q&A would start right at 7 (and a few of you know the reason why ), but I guess not... The Q&A went until just after 7:50. As soon as he was done answering questions, my mom and I left the restaurant. We didn't even stay to listen to what Don was saying about the final Beast ride. It was because...............I was not going to do The Beast ride. *everyone gasps* This is really hard for me to explain. I had hoped to achieve my 200th ride on Vortex on 9/08. Even if I was already at 200, I would still catch its last train of the day. Yes, I understand that some people may think, "But you can catch Vortex's last train on any day." Call me crazy, but if I had to choose between the last ride on Vortex and the last ride on The Beast, I would most likely choose Vortex. It's just that special to me. And don't get me wrong, I like The Beast! I went straight back to Vortex after the Q&A, and got there at 7:56. As I was walking back, was playing in my head. I rode my last Vortex ride of the 100s (and the summer season, too) in row 2-1. It turns out that I only had time for 1 ride. But hey, 1 ride is better than none! And the 200th ride will for sure be something to eagerly look forward to on my next trip (which may be on 9/22!)! After doing my normal lingering and photo-taking (which is what I do right when the park closes), I started heading to The Beast plaza for the Banshee media day invite drawing. I got to the plaza just before The Beast riders came back from their journey through the woods. Don drew the lucky winner out of a bag (congrats to the member who won, by the way!), and then the day was over. We headed back to the Front Gate. +Grand Carousel: 1 YTD: 4 Overall: 23 +Vortex: 7 YTD: 64 Overall: 199! Just one away from 200! +Flight Deck: 2 YTD: 18 Overall: 35 Notes: -while at the Q&A I noticed most if not all of the guests were leaving the park (yes, I know, the park generally empties out during the last hour) -It was a great event! Thanks to all who made it happen! -my next KI trip will be my 45th KI trip EVER! (maybe it IS a good thing I only had time for 1 ride on Vortex after the Q&A) -it was very nice hanging out with some KICers at/around my age! (thank you ohiocolts, beastie1980 and Fire-Beast-OF FEAR!) -I saw a groundhog while I was riding Vortex -I'm being totally honest here: I was at least half-expecting ohiocolts and jcgoble3 to write PTRs about 9/08! (wink wink, nudge nudge...) (note: I'm not forcing any of you to write a PTR about this event; I'm just trying to "inspire" you to!) Mom's (TurkishDelightBGW's) pics:

Part 3: During the Diamondback photo opportunity, I did a few things most other KICers didn't: 1. Doing cartwheels whenever a Diamondback or KI&MVRR train passed by 2. Lying in the grass with my eyes closed, listening to DB 3. Taking a picture of DB from the ground by putting my camera in the grass and pointing it toward the moving train On the way back to The Beast plaza I used "Continuous Shooting" on my camera for a Vortex train speeding toward the first loop: ...and a few more, right before we went back into the plaza. Once we got back, the large group separated into smaller groups. Fire-Beast-OF FEAR, ohiocolts, Beastie1980 and I went straight to Coney Mall. We stopped at the Juke Box Diner first and got a cup of ice water each. Then the four of us headed straight to Vortex. We wanted jcgoble3 to ride with us, but "he wasn't in the mood." We rode Vortex together 5 times. I rode in 5-2, 7-2, 7-1, 4-1, and 2-1. They were great; the weird thing was, whenever we got back to the station there would be no empty rows in the queue, but when we had gotten back in line and to the station, the queue would be empty again!. I think we had started riding at the "wrong" time... Anyways, I got some pics in between rides: Unfortunately, after my ride in 2-1 the others wanted to head to the International Restaurant. I had to resist a slight urge to reride (because NOW there were empty rows...) just to follow them!

Part 2: The Diamondback tour began just after 5:30. As we were walking back, a lot of guests waiting in line for The Beast were watching us (I'll bet they were curious about what was going on). Don instructed us to stay in the grass. The KI&MVRR was just departing when we reached our destination. I heard the announcer on the train mention us, and I put on a show for the passengers by doing a few cartwheels! Like in Part 1, the pictures will do all the talking.

Photos Taken: 180 Part 1 of 4: This was my first late afternoon/evening trip to KI since July 11. TurkishDelightBGW (my mom) and I left our home in Beavercreek at 2:40 and got to the park at about 3:40. Needless to say our first stop was Guest Services, where we were checked in and handed our lanyards. After that we walked up the left side of International Street and went to our first ride: the Grand Carousel. (note: this was taken BEFORE the ride started, like always) We had a good ride, although the music is still pretty quiet (ESPECIALLY compared to last season). We had plenty of time to go all the way to the end of Coney Mall and get my first ride of the afternoon on Vortex. It had a station wait of about 3 minutes. Train #1 took me on my 193rd ever Vortex ride, which was experienced in 3-2. Since I was so used to going in the morning (the last 5 trips of mine before 9/08 all started in the morning!) when the rides were first starting their operation, I had to get re-accustomed to evening trips. The difference: in the late afternoon and evening the rides have already been constantly operating for hours (about 5 hours, in this case). And yes, it was enough for me to tell the difference! I had a pretty wild ride in 3-2, and I absolutely loved it! After a fun filled 6-inversion ride on my long-time beloved favorite, it was 4:15. We headed to Action Zone, where we met up with the group. DiamondAceExpress, jcgoble3, and IndyGuy4KI were 3 of the members I talked to. The Banshee tour began at 4:30. With Don leading the way, we proceeded into the construction site. For now, I'm just going to let the pictures do all the talking. Part 2 will come as soon as tomorrow; I don’t have time to work on the PTR anymore tonight.

Actually, I've heard it's 16.

Just checking, but does it mean that you can check in at any time after 11 a.m.? I'm asking to make sure because my mom and I won't be at the park until around 4. (and yes, she'll be joining KIC in the next 24 hours, so she can attend the events too. )

Edit: BoddaH's post...disappeared?!

I've found that out by experience! In 2010, I went on the Sunday that was right in the middle of Labor Day weekend (Sunday, September 5) and I waited a WHOLE HOUR to ride Vortex! The park was the most packed as I had ever seen it; I was there for 3 hours and rode only 3 rides (Zephyr with a 20 minute wait, Vortex with a 60 minute wait, and Delirium with a 40 minute wait). In comparison, I went on Labor Day last year (September 3, 2012) and it was nowhere near as crowded (granted, it was drizzling a lot of the time). To this day, 9/05/2010 still remains the most crowded day out of all 40+ times I've ever been to the park. (and 60 minutes still remains the longest time I've ever had to wait for Vortex) There's a Labor Day weekend insider tip for y'all

My mom doesn't have a KIC account, but I have my own email to RSVP in case the two of us decide to come. Would my mom have to join KIC just to attend the event? (keep in mind I'm too young to drive so Mom will have to come with me if I'm going to the event)