Kings Island

Visited: July 30, 2022

Attending: Brian and Doug

The next day, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel, then headed over to the park. We got Fast Lane here again, because we figured it would be needed on a Saturday, even though there’s less of a Platinum discount at this park. It was a nice day, sunny, but not overly hot for July. The goal, again, was to rack up all the credits.

Orion

Since we were not only Fast-Passing, but also had early admission thanks to our platinum status, we headed right for Orion as the biggest attraction in the park. We went front and back again, to make sure we’d covered the bases, and…it was fine. I mean, it’s nice and tall, and it’s a good B&M, but it just lacks anything particularly special to put it over the top. It doesn’t do any single thing exceptionally; it just does everything fine. If Orion were the first giga I’d encountered, I might be more impressed. It’s genera giga. Does what it says on the tin.

Flight of Fear

Flight of Fear is next to Orion, so we did that next. I got to explain to Doug everything I knew about the history of the ride, and my horrible experience with it at Kings Dominion. However, since I expunged that demon a few years ago, this clone version didn’t really do anything for me. I did notice that the interior of the building had a bit more light in it than the KD version that I remember, but other than that, there’s nothing particularly special going on here.

Racer

Getting out of Area 72 requires passing underneath Racer, so we went and did that next. I’d ridden Racer 75 at Kings Dominion, and I figured this would be similar, in the sense that wooden coasters with only straightaway can be pretty smooth. Oh, I was wrong about that. This one was seriously rough and bumpy, even on the straight sections. Other than that, it goes out, it comes back. Nothing much to say about that.

Banshee

From there, we passed into the northern section of the park, where Banshee lives. Banshee was one of my main interest points for this park, because it’s divisive: Some people really like it, whereas others think it’s dull and forceless, and a hallmark of the “new,” less intense B&M designs. Doug and I both really like a good invert, as we have fond memories of riding Batman in its first season. So I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this. At my recommendation, we went front-row, because that’s my preferred way to do an invert for the first time. In the end, I really liked it. It’s massive, so the elements aren’t packed quite so tightly as Batman, but there’s very little dead time. The inversions take good advantage of their height to come way down toward the ground, and the front is a great place to see it all from. I thought it was quite forceful, and I liked it a lot. We also had a new rider in the front row with us, a Dad who apparently wasn’t much for coasters, but he handled this one like a champ.

The Bat

The Bat is more a historical artifact to me than a coaster, exactly. I know the story of the original Kings Island Bat, and I know this one is different, but it’s still interesting. The station is an absurdly long way away from anything else. In fact, I imagine it’s probably difficult to find if you’re not looking for it. That probably contributed to the very short line we encountered. It has the same cars as Iron Dragon, which Doug fit in only awkwardly, so I’m not sure he was a big fan. However, compared to Iron Dragon and Ninja, it makes much better use of its terrain, which is interesting, because there’s not really a lot of terrain going on at this park. It’s photogenic, but not really all that intense.

Invertigo

Having made it back out of the hidden section, we decided to get Invertigo next. Doug regarded it as just an ordinary Boomerang, inverted or not. Personally, knowing how few of these there are remaining made me a bit interested. Bottom line, it’s not really all that exciting. It had an unusually long line, even in Fast Lane, which was odd. We were also paired with a young girl who looked like she just barely met the height requirements, and seemed to be riding by herself, for some reason. She didn’t look scared, but also didn’t look too excited.

Lunch was at the Chicken Shack, which was better than I expected, although we went there more by convenience than choice. We noticed the crowds were starting to arrive, and the rest of the afternoon slowed down a bit, even with the Fast Lane.

Adventure Express

This is the Arrow mine train that every park has one of, but it’s a credit, so we had to get it. And it had been closed the first time we went past, so we didn’t want to miss out. It’s mostly a standard mine train, although admittedly more wooded than most, right up until the end. There’s a second lift, which goes indoors, and suddenly there’s a lot of temple theming, and even animatronics, and then…it’s over. I have no idea why the theming is only at the end, but there it is. It probably would be utterly forgettable, except that we got off saying, “What? What just happened? Why?”

Backlot Stunt Coaster

Speaking of theming, there’s this clone. I’ve ridden the one at Kings Dominion, and I thought it was more impressive when it was new, and had the “Italian Job” branding on it. So I was prepared to be underwhelmed, and in fact I kept forgetting that this coaster was even on our list. Fortunately, it’s right in the middle of the park, so it was hard to miss. I was pleasantly surprised with this version, as all the special effects were running, which made the ride a lot more enjoyable. It’s still more dark ride than coaster, but that first helix is no joke.

Diamondback

Diamondback is pretty easy to see from Backlot, so we thought we could just head right there. Unfortunately, there’s no direct route, so we ended up detouring through Planet Snoopy inadvertently. I’d only heard good things about Diamondback in the past, that it was the best B&M hyper until Mako came along. I’ve realized that what I want out of a hyper is a big, straight camelback with lots of floater, and Diamondback’s just weren’t hitting right. You can see in a PoV that there should be plenty of nice floater moments, but they just weren’t happening. We were in the back row, and the staggered seating meant that we had the outside corners, but we didn’t get the experience we expected. The splashdown was kind of neat, I thought, although Doug didn’t agree. Being in the very back meant we got a little wet, which was kind of nice, in my opinion. I still can’t figure out why this one didn’t work for us. Maybe it’s a front-row ride.

Mystic Timbers

Mystic Timbers is also a bit hidden, but we found it. I didn’t really know what to expect from this one, because I’ve heard mixed opinions, and the stats aren’t all that impressive. However, I was really impressed with the layout. It was wild, but not too rough. The twister section near the turnaround seemed blazingly fast. GCI has really mastered their niche with this one, although lateral forces aren’t Doug’s favorite thing. And then there’s the shed…which was entirely underwhelming. I still have no idea what was supposed to be in the shed, but we didn’t get much. Which is a shame, because without the shed, it would just be a great small-scale wooden.

Beast (again)

Mystic Timbers isn’t far from Beast, and since we’d knocked out all the credits, riding the Beast in daylight was the next highest priority. And…it was good. But that’s about it. Back in the woods, and it was kinda confusing, and it was nice to be able to see the big turn that leads into the helix tunnel, but that’s about it. It’s a good wooden, especially for its time, and no one can deny it’s a long ride. But the night ride is what makes it next-level. It was fun to take the Fast Lane route to the station, because it let us see parts of the queue that we couldn’t see the night before, or had seen, but didn’t know what they were. Which is a tiny thing, but entertaining.

It was mid-afternoon at this point, and we found ourselves at a bit of a loose end. We weren’t sure what to hit up for re-rides, especially since Diamondback disappointed. And we may have been getting a bit weary after three days of parks. So we did something I’ve never done at Kings Dominion, and we went up the Eiffel Tower. It’s really nicely tall, and well-placed on a slight rise. I enjoyed getting to see the layout from the air, and identifying the shot of Mystic Timbers that Jack took once upon a time. We took a bunch of photos and then decided that we could leave early and try to make it home late that night, instead of waiting until Sunday. That meant missing a second chance at Kennywood, but we agreed it was more important for Doug to get home.

Banshee (again)

We decided that our final ride would be on Banshee, back row this time. I’m still holding to my opinion that it’s more forceful than everybody claims it is. We got some solid g’s through the low swoops, kind of like a B&M flyer, really. And without being able to see it coming, that last zero-g roll is a nice, sharp surprise. I don’t know if it’s my favorite in the park, but it’s probably top three.

And from there, we headed out while there was still daylight. That’s still a good 8 hours, so we stopped a couple of times, and I didn’t go down into Cincinnati to get a Hard Rock pin like I’d imagined. A bit shorter of a trip than originally planned, but still pretty darned good. I got to introduce Doug to Cedar Point, take him on his first RMC, and his first giga. And Kings Island was new to both of us, so that was cool. Kennywood is cementing itself as my nemesis, though, and Steel Curtain in particular.