Coasterville Commentary

Oktoberfest in Cincinnati - 2011 Edition

2012-01-08T18:35:00.002-05:00

As many are aware, I am really into Oktoberfest. Living in Cincinnati, it's quite easy to do, the city has a strong German heritage tradition, and in general I like all the things that go into an Oktoberfest: German Food, Beer, Music/Entertainment and the like. This all culminated for me last fall when I was afforded the opportunity to take that once in a lifetime trip to THE Original Oktoberfest in Munich. (I know, some of you must be getting tired of the fact I pull that out every chance I get)

While Oktoberfest is a 2-3 week fair in Germany,in mid to late September, somehow in Cincinnati we have managed to make it run from late August to early October. Sure, the festival moves every weekend, but you can get your Oktoberfest on somewhere. This is accomplished in part by having several German heritage societies that hold their own Oktoberfest (and are smart enough to not overlap each other), as well as the major communities having their own fests. There are even events in Cincinnati this time of year that bear no resemblance to a German heritage/beer festival, but use the name.

This year - I managed to try out three such events. I'd been to two of them in the past, but decided to try out a new one (for me).

Germania Society Oktoberfest

This is the one that was new to me. I'd heard great things about it, so why not give them a try. This one is just north of the I-275 loop On Kemper Road near Hamilton Avs. in Germania Park. In other words, close enough to be considered Cincinnati, but just far enough out that public transit is not an option.

Germania Park is a picnic grove and also the grounds of the Germania Society. We arrived Sunday right around 3pm and got to the main parking lot just in time to see the FULL sign go up in our face. Parking is free in the official lot if you are lucky enough to get in, not even a handicap palcard could talk our way into the lot. It is hard to turn around, because people park along both sides of the street for at least a mile in each direction. They do set up a rope and stanchion "walking lane" to try to make this easier, and there are, as you might expect, unofficial lots that will let you park there, for a price. Even those were filling up.

We followed the directions given to us by the parking attendant to go to the Pleasant Run school on Hamilton Ave, and from there we caught a free shuttle. Hey, this isn't bad at all. We parked, a shuttle may have arrived about 10-15 minutes later, and we were off to Germania Park where they bus let us off right by the festival entrance. This may have worked out better than if they had let us in the big lot, and we had to park clear in the back.

There is a nominal general admission charge of around $3 to enter Germania Park, and once inside you can either head straight towards the festival grounds (they even name it the Wies'n, in honor of the popular shorthand name for the name of the festival grounds in Munich) or you can head to the Germania Klub Haus for a traditional German dinner. We decided to go eat first, we were hungry and the dinners close before the Wies'n. Its a short walk to the right from the admission gate past their maypole, and flagpoles sporting the United States and German flags, then a left, and down the stairs. At the base of the stairs is a Biergarten with tables, band, bier, and some food (brats/metts) available.

We headed on into the building, inside they had several long banquet tables setup, and as you might expect the room is decorated with German inspired or imported decorations. Off to one side, by the dance floor was a bar with a full line of German biers on tap, next to the bar was the food service counter, and at the other end of the hall was the desert table. There was a long line for the desert table, but surprisingly I walked right up to the food service area.

So, after I got mom seated, I made two trips to the food service area. The traditional dinner included your choice of pork loin or sauerbraten, served over spaetzle, with green beans, red cabbage, and bread - all for $10. Not a bad price for a full meal at a festival, and especially not for a GOOD meal at a festival. The festival stresses that these meals are homecooked meals, not catered in, and the pride shows in the form of a great meal. (We each took a different entree choice so that we could mix/match and taste everything) After getting the food, I walked over to the bar, and I know, I should have just bought the stoneware stein now, and been done with it. But no, I bought the plastic souvenir stein with Spaten. I was delighted that when I ordered a soft drink for Mom, the bartender said to just take the soft drink on the house. So, to recap, great food, friendly bartender, nice musicians, a room full of friendly people, and I haven't even made my way to the actual festival yet. Gemutlichkiet for sure.

After dinner, I went through the desert line in the back of the room and picked up an Apple Strudel and a Cream Puff. The attendant admitted the desert table food is mostly furnished by Servati's which is good, as now I know where to get more cream puffs. It should be noted they had a full line of deserts, for about $3-$4 each.

After finishing dinner, we headed to the Wies'n. For that, we had to backtrack our steps to the front gate, then it was up the hill. Before going up the hill I was called over to the ID check booth to get my age verification wristband, which is pretty standard practice at festivals in Cincinnati. Then right across from the ID check booth is a Warstiener booth, which is convenient as I was in need of a refill. You then pass the Kid's Area before heading up a real steep hill to the grounds themselves.

So, after climbing the hill and letting mom catch her breath, we took a look around. To the left is a huge pavilion with rows and rows of tables, and authentic german entertainment playing on a stage in the center of the pavilion. Mom is more of the "find me a place to sit and watch the band" type person, so I found her a nice seat, and then I went off to explore the festival.

So again, starting from the festival entrance, right when you enter the main grounds on top of the hill there is an information booth for the sponsoring Germania Society
to your left, and the big merchandise tent to the right. Here you can buy stuff related to this event, to the Munich Oktoberfest, to German heritage items. It's a pretty extensive merchandise tent, and I found a lot of the same stuff I carefully hauled back from the Munich Oktoberfest for sale here.

Moving right along, the outer edges of the festival grounds are lined with all sorts of food booths, featuring all your German and Festival food favorites. You want the traditional Oktoberfest Roast Chicken, you can have that, various sausages, they have you covered, pastries not problem, potato cakes, sauerkraut balls, pretzels, Limburger Cheese, all there for the asking. Not that into German food, they have all your festival food favorites as well. In the center of the front half of the grounds they have the major award tent, (you can buy tickets on a Rhine River cruise, or cash equivilant), a bar with wine, schnaps, Jagermiester, etc).

In the very center of the grounds, they have the desert booth, an ATM, and the gambling part of the festival. Instant tickets, poker, blackjack and more are there for you to try your hand at, and help raise funds for Germania Society.

The back half of the main festival area is the rides midway, nothing all that interesting for adults, but for the children, it looks to be like quite a good midway. I say main area, as off to one side, you can leave the grassy area for the gravel area of a more secluded picnic grove. Ah yes, Spaten Dunkel, just what I need, thanks. The big point of interest here is they have an unusual skill game. A Stien Hold game. Essentially, they take a 1 liter (1 Mas) glass stein (If you have been to Hofbrauhaus in Newport, you know what I am talking about) fill it with water (no need to risk spilling good German beer, right, and this way the children could play) You stand in the booth, they hand you to full stein, and you not only have to hold it, you have to hold it with one hand (it has a handle) straight out in front of you, so your arm is perfectly horizontal). That's it. You hold that posture, just like a Survivor endurance contest for as long as you can. Don't worry the men's record when I looked was around 4 minutes, and 2 minutes for the women. Whoever has the record at the end of the festival wins a prize. The clock stops when you either drop the stein, any of the water spills, or you fail to hold the required posture to the satisfaction of the judges (I think you get one warning for this one) For the record, I did not try this game, but I did watch it. Those that seemed to last the longest brought along a game partner to stand just outside the booth, and so they could attempt to carry on a conversation. I'm guessing this is to try to take the contestants mind off of the challenge at hand.

So, I walked the grounds, I tried a currywurst, I had a pretzel, I ate my way through the fair, I lost at blackjack, I won $50 on the instant game. I saw some friends there, I sat with mom some and took in the entertainment in the pavilion.

But, I really wanted to stop at that Merchandise Tent. Which, I did on the way out. I had a couple areas of focus. Event t-shirt, of course. But, while I was in Munich, I bought the traditional hat, and the hat came with a small "hat brush" (supposedly goat hair, at least traditionally), a small feather, and no pins. (The decorations are removable so you can customize your hat) I knew I wanted to better decorate the hat, as I had neglected to get the pins while in Germany, and as this was the first German event I had gone to since the Germany trip, I was feeling some 'hat envy'. So I bought a selection of pins there, sticking to my rule of "you can't have the pin unless you have been to the place it represents", as well as a larger 'hat brush' (Probably a medium size when it comes down to it, as I have seen some that are quite large). I forget prices right now, but I can tell you that in general pins go for $5-$20 depending on the pin, and the feathers and brushes can run well more than that. Yes, it was an expensive trip to the merchandise tent. I can not say, with absolute certainty that the hat decorations are worth way more than the hat itself. Particularly the sentimental value for which each pin represents.

But, I was not done yet, I had gotten into a pretty good conversation with the booth worker, and showed them some of my Munich photos and all that, and I mentioned that I got the souvenir stein. He suggested I needed to get one of their Germania Oktoberfest Steins to add to it. Their steins are made by the same company, Rastal, that makes the official steins, and look very similar in style. He also told me, that if I took it down to the Biergarten, I could probably find the artist and get the stein autographed. So, I did, and he did.

After that, it was a matter of great timing, we walked to the festival gate right as a bus was pulling up. Can't ask for better service than that.

-------------------------
Mainstrasse Oktoberest - Covington, KY.

This is a street festival that takes place in Covington. The area seems German enough with the name Mainstrasse, and it consists of a street that has a wide divider in the middle with grass and a walkway down the center. At one end of the street it ends at a clock tower, which has a Glockenspiel show, sort of like the famous clock in Marienplatz, just not nearly as fancy. This one does the story of the Pied Piper.

Since I go to these festivals almost every year, I won't give the full play by play. What you need to know is this particular festival is primarily a crafts festival. The center aisle of the 'park' in the middle of the street is lined with crafts vendors. Great, if you are into that sort of thing. Along the outer edges of the street are several food vendors, German and otherwise, and there are a couple beer booths on the festival grounds, selling beer, German and otherwise. So let's get our plastic souvenier stein, a Spaten and lets look around.

Of note, in what is usually the parking lot for this quaint European style business district there is a rides midway, and in the city park next to the clock tower there are more rides, as well as the main entertainment stage. I'd have to say this is the least German of the Oktoberfests I have been to in Cincinnati being primarily a crafts festival, but it does have one big redeeming feature. The Linden Knoll Gift Haus. It's open year round, but as you might expect they have a tent right outside their store with a "Greatest Hits" selection of merchandise, and if you don't see what you want, they will even valet park your beer while you go inside the store.

The Gift Haus is literally a house, and the ground floor is mostly open to the public. Here every square inch is filled with German and other European knick knacks, steins, dolls, souveniers and much more. It is the kind of place that if you don't know exactly where something is, its better to ask. They can show you in 2 minutes what would take you half an hour to find. I was again on the quest for more hat pins. Basket at the base of the hat rack in the third room, thanks. Bring the entire basket out to the counter with my selections, sure. Another great selection of pins here.

--------------
And entry 3

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati

This is the big one for the area. Another street festival, it is on 5th Street in Cincinnati, all the way from Race to Broadway. We have been lucky to be able to park in the garage directly under fountain square, which means its just one short elevator ride up into the heart of the festival. Fountain Square (or Platz during the festival) is the center of the festival. Here you have the main stage for entertainment, as well as the main merchandise tent. Another pin, shirt and stein run, then I ran most of the stuff down to the car. I got mom settled with a brat, soft drink and a table to watch the stage, and then took a look around.

From west to east - in the parking lot at 5th and Race, they have some of the rides midway, and a big tent featuring St. Pauli Girl and some craft beers. Fifth street is lined with food booths (German and otherwise), beer booths (German and otherwise) , sponsor booths, merchandise tents, and more. What sets this Oktoberfest aside from the others is the use of actual beer tents. Now, don't think you will mistake this for Munich. We are talking small, plain beer tents, no fancy facades, no wooden tables, no waitress service. They do feature stages and bands, and a walk up beer booth. You want food, go get it and bring it back to the tent. As such it is easier to come and go from tent to tent if you like. If you manage to get here on Opening Day, go to Fountain Square for the opening ceremonies, which will end with a parade that visits each beer tent to officially open it. In general the beer tents are on the side streets, as well as in the big plazas in front of the Procter and Gamble, the Government Square bus station and Chemed buildings. More rides can be found down by the Chiquita building.

So I thought I would be slick and I bought the official 1 Mas stoneware stein with event logo. I took it over to the Spaten booth, and yes they filled it for the refill price. I then quickly learned why that Stein game at Germania park is so hard. Do you have any idea how heavy that gets? 32 ounce curls indeed. Sure it looks cool to walk through Oktoberfest with a German hat and carrying an authentic style stein with real German bier, but not so much on the practical side.

-----------------------------------------

Newport on the Levee - had an Oktoberfest event, but I could not make it due to other plans. Shame as they were also billing theirs as "most authentic" and "Munich Style" Since they have Hoffrauhaus nearby, surely they could get some good advice on how to be authentic. Maybe next year.

TR: WEBN Fireworks "Riverfest" - Sept 4, 2011

2012-01-08T18:09:00.002-05:00

Trip Report: Riverfest
Cincinnati, OH
September 4, 2011

As you may note from my prior blog entry, Eric dropped me off at home early on this date en route to his home in Georgia. Having lost all common sense, I decided to do something I had managed to avoid for about 20 years, the Riverfest WEBN Fireworks. I'd always avoided them due to the huge crowd and traffic, but I thought, since I am taking a bus, what do I care of the traffic nonsense? It is true also, that this year Cincinnati had the wettest year on record, and it went and made sure the record was truly remarkable. All signs pointed towards staying home, but what fun is that?

So around 2pm or so, I caught a bus from Oakley to downtown. My first clue should have been when busses were dropping lots of people off downtown, and not many were catching bus out of town. No problem, I made my way on foot along my usual route (Government Square to Main, Main to 2nd, then walk around the outside of Great American Ball Park and US Bank Arena). At this point, I decided to go over to the Hoffbrauhaus for a brat and a bier. You see, Newport, Kentucky has the first Hoffbrauhaus outside of Germany, and most of the year they brew all the HB Biers o site under the watchful eye of a Bier Master sent from Munich. But, we are entering the Oktoberfest season, and for this, they actually import HB Oktoberfest from Munich.

This slight change in plan is no hassle really, I'll just cross the Central Bridge, cut through Newport on the Levee, then cross 3rd Street and walk a block or so to Hoffbrau. I got to the restaurant and sat at the bar as I drank a couple Mas of Hoffbrau Oktoberfest while having some German food (Bratwurst, Spaetzle, Sauerkraut, and a Cream Puff) The bier, very good, thanks for asking.

I calculated me departure from the restaurant to get me back over the river in time. You see, the bridges in the area all close about an hour or so before fireworks, and don't reopen until the area has been cleared. So, for somebody taking a bus, it is vital to end up on the correct side of the river.

I headed for the Purple People Bridge, but it had already been closed, so I ducked back through Newport on the Levee to find a chain link fence blocking my way, a fence that was not there just an hour or two ago. "No Access to Riverfest" Great, guys, thanks for taking part in the festival. It would appear the Levee was using their area as a VIP area. So, it was back out onto third street to walk the long way to the Central Bridge. So I got to the bridge, and was very happy to be accross the Central Bridge before it closed. I was then going to take the stairs down from the US Bank Arena plaza to the festival area, but those stairs were blocked off. Seems I have to walk to the end of the bridge and then around the outside of the arena at ground level to get to an official entrance.

This all seemed silly but I stopped at a couple booths, one to get the event t-shirt, and the other was to get a soft drink (Riverfest is a dry event) Then the waiting game starts, I have about 2 and a half to three hours to wait. By now most of the good spots have been claimed. Duct taping a tarp of blanket to the ground is enough to stake a claim. One thing about going to the festival alone, is you can slide into small spaces between tarps/blankets that groups could not. It is still 3 hours of sheer boredom. Why am I doing this again?

People start to get excited around 8p when the fireworks barge arrives, and from then about every 15 minutes they fire off a "get you ready" charge. Then around 8:30 (30-40 minutes before fireworks) the rains came in. And did they ever come, I never knew just how many people could jam tightly together underneath the Central Bridge if they really had to.

The rain subsided just before fireworks, and I made my way out and found a space not too much worse than the one I left. The downside of this was that there were not near as many boomboxes this year, so it was hard to hear the soundtrack (not that it mattered, as word has it they played last years audio track for the first half of the show) But, worse, the heavy rain generated a huge fog curtain when the fireworks started. Those of us on the Cincinnati side were lucky in that we got to see a fireworks show, maybe not as grand as we remember, but still a nice show, and Rozzi always saves some surprises to unveil at this event. Those people in Newport with their VIP seating saw, reportedly, next to nothing with the huge fog blanketing their side. So, long hours of boredom waiting, followed by a show that wasn't as great as I remember. Maybe it can be 10 more years before I try this again.

When the fireworks were over, I made my back into town, and I do have to give Metro some credit for having a crew of dispatchers summoning busses on demand to try to get the people out of town as quickly as possible. Mother Nature gave me a final blow by having the heavy rains pick back up as I was walking from bus stop to home.

TR: Van Wert County Fair - September 3, 2011

2011-12-31T15:41:00.001-05:00

Trip Report: Van Wert County Fair (And More!)
Van Wert, OH
September 3, 2011

So, to catch those up who forgot about the Cedar Point TR. Eric and I had just spent two days up at Cedar Point. Eric was in the area for his high school reunion, which was Saturrday night in Van Wert. So we got up from our Sandusky, Milan actually, area Motel 6, after pushing check out time to the limit, then headed, well, not directly to Van Wert. We needed a couple diversions to kill some time. First we topped past Hermes Vineyard for some wine tastings. Their visitor center is in a rustic looking building that you access via a stone walkway from a gravel parking lot. Once inside, the tasting bar is one one side, and some comfortable furniture on the other. Big picture windows provide a view of the vineyard itself. It's a very relaxed atmosphere, and you can sample anything from the sample menu for $1 each. The $1 fee is a formality due to state law forbidding free samples of alcoholic drinks. The samples are 1 ounce each, and though I am not a big wine drinker, the wines I tasted were not bad. They had a red that was real sweet, and I also tried a honey wine, which to my surprise was not as sickly sweet as the one I had in Ireland at the Bunratty Castle Medevil dinner. Once you find out what you want, you just order it from the tasting bar, and, if you order enough of it, they will load it into your trunk for you.

After having spent some time there, we next drove around Sandusky for a bit, particularly along the lake front. Next we stopped in Phantom Fireworks. The fireworks busiess is a curious one, you are legally allowed to purchase, but you can't use the product in Ohio. I am used to seeing fireworks stores along state lines, particularly when you enter states that have no such restrictions. The best example is when you enter Tenesee from the dry counties of Kentucky, where at the first exit you will see a combination fireworks/liquor/tobacco/souvenir/gas station. Yeah, sounds like a great combination to me too. Let's get drunk, light a cigarette, get it too close to the fireworks, then ignite the fuel storage tanks below. Great!

Anyway, Phantom Fireworks is a stand alone fireworks only store. Upon entering you are advised to leave electronic devices, namely mobile phones, in your car. Or, at the the very least, to turn them off. I'll admit I haven't been in this serious a fireworks store before, and the problem is, to the total novice, its just row after row of shells of all different shapes and sizes, with no real idea to now what does what. It would be the perfect product to have those little tiny flat panel monitors showing demonstrations, but then we are back to that whole minimizing the use of electronics thing. In fairness, they do point that you can go to their website and watch product videos there, and then go to their store and pick out what you like.

While we were riding around, we noticed the proliferation of indoor water parks, just like most tourist areas and I'm sure they are even more important in northern tourist areas as they give people a reason to go to Sandusky when Cedar Point is closed. We have everything from Kalahari, which looks to the be big player in town, all the way down to a funky place called "Rain". "Rain" must be so named as that is what they are hoping happens, because I doubt anybody would choose that indoor water park otherwise. It looks tiny from the outside, with one slide tower poking up in the middle of a motel, sports bar, and off track betting parlor complex, I think they may even have a bowling alley in there somewhere. Just a strange complex all around. On the way out of town, I noted the Holiday In Holidome in town looked to have tried to add some waters lides, and they must have failed, as that hotel is out of business. Shame, really in that I think Holiday Inn may have premiered the concept way before its time with the Holidome. I remember the Holidome being a big selling point when we were hotel shopping in my youth. What they essentially did was build their hotel around a big central courtyard, which they put a massive skylight over. Under the domed skylight, you had a pool, hot tub, cocktail lounge, mini golf, putting greens, shuffleboard, pool hall, and arcade games.

Anyway, figuring we had killed enough time, we started heading down to Van Wert, with a stop at Five Guys for lunch. Upon entering Van Wert, Eric gave me the tour of the city, then we checked into our hotel, the Comfort Inn, so that he could rest up and get ready for the reunion. I, of course, would not be going to the reunion, but we discovered that the Van Wert County Fair is in town, and it will be open until 11pm tonight. Perfect. So after showing me more of the city, Eric dropped me off at the fairground, and he went to his reunion.

Eric had told me I was going to THE big event in Van Wert. He dropped me off just outside the parking lot, so I walked onto the fair grounds. General admission is $6 per person, paid to a guy sitting at a card table uder a tiny canopy. No wristband, no ticket, no audit trail Having paid the $6, I walked onto the grounds, and a short distance in I realized I was entering right next to the rides midway. This is certainly convenient.

I walked past the first section of rides, and spotted a Chance Zipper, Darton Hurricane, Maestic Skooter, a kiddie coaster, and an ARM Screamer. Then a pathway cut through the grass lot, and I spotted the ride ticket booth. Let's see, rides are by Kissel Bros, this is ironic, that I have to go this far from Cincinnati to experience Kissel Bros. when they are based in Cincinnati, OH. Anyway, onto more impotant matters, I learn ride tickets are $1 each, and most adult rides take 3 tickets, or I can go with the ride all day special for $14. Hmm, I'm here for five hours, so give me the ride all day special. I'm sure it's merely coincidence that the $6 gate admission, and the $14 rides wristband come out to $20.

I head from the ride ticket booth to a Musik Express located nearby. Unlike Musik Express rides at Oktoberfest in Munich, not only could you not stand right along the edge of the ride while it was in motion, you had to "take two giant steps back from the trailer" while the ride was running. It was a one cycle wait, and while I'm not good at identifying make and model of Musik Express rides (it sees like every self respecting carnival ride company makes one), this is the model where the lap bar release is two knobs in the center of the lap bar that you squeeze togther, instead of the various forms out locing mechanisms on the outboard side of the car seen on other models. What this model lacks in scenery details, it gains back in ride performance. They were giving a long ride time, in both directions, at a fairly good rate of speed, with good music. What more could you want from a Musik Express operation? $3 down, $11 more to go to make good on the rides bracelet. I walk past a Video Funhouse trailer, and like they seem to be, this one was not included in the ride wristband. Neither were the extreme zone things like the EuroBungee or rock wall located opposite the fun house. Coming to the other end of midway, scattered amongst some kiddie rides were a Pharaohs Phury, Big Eli (and Little Eli) Wheels, a merry go round and more. The Pharohs Phury was currently closed for repairs, and the Big Eli wheel didn't allow single riders I walked past some carnival games and found myself in the fair part of the fair.

I looked through some exhibition halls, and found the fine arts, arts and crafts, baking and cooking competition areas. You know, somebody realy ought to set up a bake sale in this area. Looking at all these cakes and pies makes one hungry. There was the building with various antiques, the building where organiztions like FFA, 4-H, Boy Scouts and more have booths. At the other end of this row of buildings was a gourmet old time soft drink vendor. His trailer looked like a beer wagon, with what looked like rows of old fashioned style wood kegs each sporting a tap handle. Knowing fais in Ohio to be dry, I checked this out, and noted selections like Root Beer, Sasparilla, Orange Sode, Grape Soda, Cream Soda, Birch Beer,, Ginger Beer, and more. Wait, did that just say Birch Beer? We have a winner! Birch Beer, while common in New England and parts of PA, is not that commonly found here in Ohio. You can buy a tin stein for $15 and that gets you unlimited drinks from this booth for the run of the fair. That's great, but I don't want to lug that around, and all that. Luckily you can buy single drinks in $2 plastic cups. I had a nice red birch beer, just avoid the bees swarming around the taps.

From there I went up the hill, whih took me past the agricultural parts of the fair, with the animal barns and so forth. Back towards the center of the grounds, past a mini golf course, and I spotted a bake sale. And they had Rhubarb Pie. Well, there goes another $2. I find myself on what muset be Food Road. Trailer after tailer of food. I look around but nothing jumps out at me yet. At the end of food road, I come upon the grandstand. They were having tractor pulls tonight. The noise should have told you. I caught a sampling looking through the fence, then moved on. Passing some more food stands I came back to the midway. Ok, now I can say I have seen the fair.

I took another ride on the Musik Express ($6 in, $8 to go), then headed across the pathway to the Hurricane. The crowds were starting to pick up, and with it the ride lines. Kissel Bros. has signs up warnng that the ride all day special does not give refunds due to weather or crowd conditions. I also like the signs that Kissel has posted at each ride stating "Scared Riders and Young Children should never be forced to ride this ride"

Hurricane is one ride that I think I am done with. Sure, I say that every time, don't I? It's that ride where a cluter of cars spin around a center powl, and then swing out, and continue to spin at a high rate of speed, what makes it interesting is the cars periodically swoop in towards the center pole, then fly back out. (Accompanied by the trademaked noises mae by the blasts of air from the air tanks that perform said dives). The spin rate, though, is so high that it pins you uncomfortably to the outboard side of the car. Like the Musik Express, I also recieved a long ride on this ride. ($9 in, $5 to go)

I walk across the midway and take a ride on the ARM Screamer. It's very similar to the Kamikazee, except that it only has one car. Another difference, is when you get inside the car, the lap bar is not there. You may recall on a Kamikazee, you first lower a shoulder bar, which is double locked by means of a safety bar that lowers down, much like a lap bar, and prevents the shoulder bar from opening, the end of the safety bar fits into a slot on the cage door, so the bar can't release if the cage door is closed. That safety bar does not exist in this model, instead the shoulder bars are fitted with a seatbelt that attaches to the front center of the seat, like on most newer OTSR designs. The ride itself is a modern take on the Loop-O-Plane, where the car goes around in vertical loops, and it just wouldn't be a proper ride if you didn't have ride operators that liked to hold you upside down for extended period of time at the top. ($12 in, $2 to go)

I next start to head to Pharoah's Phury, but I have to walk right past the Musik Express to do that, and I'm really liking the ride the Musik Express is giving tonight. Sure, it was a 20 minute wait, but it was worth it. ($15 in, rides band covered, now just $5 left to work off the gate admission) . I next headed to Pharoah's Phury and found myself in the second row from the top, so it has that going for it. Phury may not be the biggest pirate ship ride out there, but it does swing a bit higher than some of the other models. ($18 in, $2 to work off gate admission)

I take another walk around, looking at the other side of Food Road, and look in the merchandise areas and the main exhibiiton hall. There is a Dave's Dawgs. I can't convince them I should get a free Dawg since i'm Dave. There is a Deep Fried Butter stand, uhm, wouldn't that melt the butter? Buttered funnel cake batter I presume. I finally settle on a Gyro from the guy near the Grandstand. It's sort of the Chipotle of Gyro building, you order, and then a Gyro is made right in front of you to your specifications. It was getting to be around 9-9:30 and the Gyro guy looks at me and as he is about to fix my Gyro says "You hungry?" I say Yes, and I think I got the world's largest Gyro. I mean that pita shell was about to explode it was so full, and stuff was overflowing into the foil wrapper.

I take that over to a bench,and with as much sas what stuffed ino it, tried and failed to eat it without making a mess. Man, it was good though. I washed that all down with a homeade root beer out of wooden keg that was nearby. I then headed towards the Zipper, but the Man held me down with his no single riders rule. I thought I almost had it a couple times, but no such luck. I do take a ride on the Skooters. I'm not a huge fan of the trailer model Skooter becuase I often find the floor has too many dead spots where you somehow lose a good power connection, and get stuck until somebody bumps you out of the dead spot. Since most modern bumper cars don't hit that hard, that can take some work. This is not one of those Skooter rides, this one has cars that work. They are of the lap bar variety which makes the cars even better. ($21 in, now $1 up on admission and rides)

From there it is another Musik Express ride, where the operators were sulking over having just been informed their music selections must have been a bit too edgy for the fairs comfort. They were also having to deal with fair patrons that can't read or understand spoken English, I know this is a common problem at parks. Evidently the new ride safety rules, as interpreted by Kissel Bros state that the companion of a rider who does not meet the qualifications to ride alone mut be at least 18 years of age. Depsite numerous signs and operator warnings during the pre loading spiels to this effect, they had to deal with enforcing this rule many times during loading. All in all, another great ride. ($24 in rides now!)

I then head back to the Screamer. As a single rider, I am placed in the end seat. Why? becuase the other seat in this end pair s already festooned with yellow warning tape. So, it's the perffect place to stick the first single rider who boards. All goes well, until the first time we start to go upside down. At which point the shoulder bar opens up until it is, thankully, held in place by the seatbelt. So, not totally dangrous, as long as the belt holds, but a little more play to bounc around in the seat than I would like. When the ride does stop, and the operator has stepped away from the controls, I unfasten the seatbelt, and raise the bar all the way up, before he can unlock the cage and the bars. I then mention it to the operator upon exiting who already has the scared look in his face. ($27 in)

I don't want to look like I am vulturing around the ride, but I observe the operator checking out my seat as I wait lin line for the Musik Express. (Which, was fine, as always) ($30 in). I then notice the Screamer go down for repairs. I next duck into the restrooms in the main exhibition hall. The exhibition hall is closd, but the restrooms are setup so they can still be accessed. I mention this becuase it was pefectly clear skies when I went into the restroom an pouring down rain when I came out. I waited in th restrooom until the skies let up a little, then dashed over to an entertainment tent. It was disused, but it had lots of folding chiars under a big tent. As you might expect this was a popular gathering spot. The wind, the rain, it was nasty. I saw the midway and the food and game booth operators very quickly stowing their stuff. They would't need to worry about closing on time tonight. I stick around in the tent as long as I could before heading back to the same street where Eric dropped me off. We reunited, shared stories, made a McDonalds run, and went back to the hotel.

Sunday, we actually got out of the hotel early, after partaking in the hotel courtesy breakfast, becuase Eic did not get Labor Day off work, and he lives in Georgia now. So it was a no nonsense trip from Van Wert to Cincinati, where he dropped me off before heading home.

Thanks for the great coaster weekend, Eric!

TR: Cedar Point - September 1st and 2nd, 2011

2011-11-26T16:04:00.000-05:00

Trip Report: Cedar Point
Sandusky, OH
September 1 and 2, 2011

Those who have been reading my trip reports for a long time now, may recall the many coaster trips I took with Eric. Those became fewer after Eric moved away, and lately it seems as if there is always something stopping one of us from meeting up. This year, I received an interesting offer. It seems that Eric would be celebrating a significant high school reunion, at a school in Ohio. He also planned on stopping at Cedar Point for a few days, and had to drive right past my house on the way to and from. Would I like to come along? I think yes.

Getting time off work was at a premium, such that Eric left work, far away right at closing time, and arrived at Coasterville around 2am. He has been using a Garmin, and it is scary how accurate that thing is at predicting arrival time. He doesn't have a Cedar Fair pass anyway, so we figured we would go up for Starlight on Thursday, and all day on Friday. Consider it akin to the Hersheypark night before offer.

So after he got ample sleep, we stopped by First Watch for some breakfast, and was on the road. Remember how I said it was scary how accurate Garmin is? Well Cedar Point starts Starlight at 4pm. We left Coasterville at the time Garmin recommnded, and even with a refueling stop, and a stop to check into our hotel, we still were on the famous Cedar Point Causeway at 3:45.

We first noted the topiary bushes alongside the Causeway, then noted only one toll booth was open. Hopefully, this is a sign of the size of the crowd at the park. We start driving through the parking lot headed towards Eric's favorite section. we were not amused when this family decided to walk five abreast, in the main aisle, slowly, while giving us shit eating grins, because they know, there really isn't anything you can do about it.

We found ourselves in stride, such that we hit the ticket scanners right at 4pm, and I used a Cedar Fair pass, and Eric used a Starlight ticket. We proceeded to breath in the Cedar Point atmosphere as we walked back the main midway. We could see evidence that they were starting to set up for their Halloween event. We get back by Wildcat, and notice it has a pretty short line for Wildcat.

We start our trip with a quick peppy ride on Wildcat, sure its not the biggest, fastest, whateverest, but it does pack a lot in a tight compact package with its sharp drops and helix turns. I note a loading gate has been after the turnstile that is remote controlled by the loader.

After Wildcat, we proceed to the train station and take a quick glance at the display about the historical trains Cedar Point owns. We then proceeded to take a ride on one back to Frontier Trail. The ride back offers you a great view of Lake Erie on one side, and Intamin coaster goodness on the other.

We were seated near the front of the train, which means you exit quite near Mean Streak. We decided to get Mean Streak out of the way. We recalled a couple years ago, before riding The Boss at Six flags St Louis, a coaster that most people don't like that "Here comes the pain", and were then surprised by a ride we actually really liked. I wonder if the same trick will work here. Mean Streak was its usual walk on self, and I took a moment to look in awe at the massive queue area tucked into the middle of the ride. We took our seats in the back of the train and proceeded on the larger of Cedar Points wood coasters.

Mean Streak, the first half is actually quite decent, it doesn't really beat up up anymore, the rides problem is after the mid course brake, the ride is brought to a slow crawl and you just sort of meander through the rest of the course at a crawl. At least we got that out of the way for the trip.

Next, we headed to Maverick. This would be Eric's first time on several Cedar Point rides, and Maverick would be one of them. The signs said 15 minutes, I have me doubts as the most but not all of the covered section of queue was full and the bridge was full almost back to the first section of queue. It does move rather quickly though, and pretty soon we found ourselves at the split. I see they still have the stupid single rider line you can't even get to until after you have waited through 90% of the queue. Anyway, while waiting for our train, we note the complex system. The ride runs very short trains, only 3 cars each with 4 seats in a car. However, it has 6 of these and the ride really runs 3 pairs of trains. What do I mean? When you load, they load two trains at once, so 24 people per load, like a normal coaster. Then, both trains depart the load station, the front train goes on up the lift, the second gets held just short of the life until it gets the all clear. Both trains, now separated, now run their way through the course, and then they pull in one behind each other in a line of trains waiting on the brake run. Trains are then brought into the station from the brake run in pairs, and the next set of trains move up to just behind the station.

We would be in the middle car of the back train. Drop the OTSR, the belt fastens easily. The first gimmick hits when you realize it is a launched lift hill, the second gimmick hits when you realize the drop is at a 95 degree angle, that is to say beyond vertical. The rest of the ride features sharp turns, some nice airtime hills, corkscrew like rolls. Oh, and the mid course tunnel where the ride brings you to a near stop, only to launch you again. I think they got rid of the fire hose that used to spray down the riders, but all in all, still a great ride.

After that, we passed Snake River Falls, and Eric mentioned that he had never ridden it, nor have I, and that he didn't plan on changing that on this trip. He did, however, want to try out Skyhawk, an S&S Screaming Swing. They had the entire queue maze shunted off so you walked right up to the turnstile. This caused the line to overflow onto the midway which is atypical for Cedar Point, but I noted by the tie we had ridden, the queue maze was indeed open. Maybe the park is getting busier for starlight. At any rate, they only had one half of the ride working, and the other half showed signs of repair work in progress. Also, atypical for Cedar Point, we have a non coaster ride that gives an above average ride experience with that weird "airtime" caused by your body still wanting to go up, even after the swing has forcefully started going back down.

From Skyhawk, we went to Cedar Creek Mine Ride to experience a classic. After shoehorning ourselves into the back seat, with both the typical Arrow mine train lapbar that is too tight, and the typial Cedar Point seat belt that is too short, we managed to ride this classic mine ride.

From Cedar Creek Mine Ride, we started our way back towards the front of the park, we got almost to Gemini before we realized we forgot to check out Shoot the Rapids, and figured we would come back to it tomorrow during the day. Gemini is one of the parks other classics. It is one of those Arrow "steel tracked wood coasters" that caused much debate in coaster forums of years past. It is a steel tracked racing coaster that follows a very classical wood coaster profile. Today, only the red/orange side was running, and at least one blue train looked to be partially disassembled. Again with the way too short seat belts that barely fasten on an empty seat, let alone one with riders. We shoehorn ourselves into this one as well, and I thought the ride was running sluggish this year. It didn't seem to have near the amount of airtime that I remember, yet the final helix can still yank you into next week.

Continuing our little tour, we next came to Magnum XL-200, one of the first coasters to break the 200' height barrier. 22 years ago, that was a BIG DEAL, I know, I went to Cedar Point in 1989 to ride it, when the entire queue maze, plus the overflow that runs behind the restrooms was packed to the gills. Lately it seems to be another dependable short wait ride, such as the walk on it was today. That is one thing, except for Maverick and Skyhawk,every ride so far has pretty much been a walk on. Looks like we hit the park on a good day.

Magnum is a great coaster, you start with the 200' drop, and while you go up the lift you get a nice tour of the water park, and they claim on a clear day you an see clear into Canada. After you enjoy the view, its a classic airtime hill laden out and back masterpiece. It has the profile of a classic out and back, just exaggerated for height, with a funky little pretzel turnaround tossed in, and of course those airtime hills were carefully calculated to produce the most airtime possible. And to make sure you get to experience this all undisturbed, all the mid course block brakes are at the end of the ride. We took our ride in our favorite seat, #3, also known as The Ejector Seat. The Joy and the Pain of airtime coming right up. Yes, it is very strong ejector air, and if you don't take precautions it can do a number on your legs. You will feel it after the ride, but you'll be too caught up in excitement of having just finished an extreme airtime coaster to notice.

You may be noticing I have been dancing around some rides, rides like Raptor, Top Thrill Dragster, Wicked Twister, and Millennium Force. Well, it's just that on recent visits we have had negative experiences involving not being able to ride those, and we didn't want to ruin this trip right off the bat.

Well, now we are passing Top Thrill Dragster, a coaster I have never ridden (notice the tense, spoiler alert). I go first in the Test Chair of Doom. Over the last however many years I have really grown to hate this chair. On my last visit, two years ago, I couldn't get the belt fastened, and when I say that, it wasn't even close, like a good inch or so between buckle ends. Well, I have lost some weight since then, I have gained some back since then. Now, I can fasten the belt! Don't start celebrating yet. Cedar Point has this asinine policy I have not seen in any other amusement park. No, they aren't satisfied that the belt is fastened, they want the belt fastened and a certain amount of extra belt through the adjustor. How much extra belt? Well, that's another asinine thing, it depends on who you ask. Anywhere from a quarter inch to an inch. On Maverick, I note they have stitched in a white line, no such thing here, it is all subjective. Luckily, there is not one, but two greeters stationed less than 5' from me. Great I can get two opinions.

I would have probably been better off had their been one greeter. The problem is that the two greeters were very engrossed in a very non park related conversation. How engrossed, they wouldn't even acknowledge our presence when we were looking right at them, talking to them. When they did finally notice us, we were a big bother, obviously they wanted nothing to do with us, let alone help us. Eric tried the seat next, and he managed to get a bit more slack out of the belt than I did. Our two ever so helpful ride attendants verdict, "Maybe". Said with taking about a half a second glace over at the test seat, then right back away from us and into planning their weekend. What you want us to wait 45 minutes on a Maybe. Some help you two were.

But, I figured that if Eric is a Maybe, then I can forget about it. We decide to go and see if the Millennium Force greeter would be any more helpful. He was! It also helped that I think the belt on the MF test seat is a bit longer than that on TTD, as I had a much easier time with it. So great, now we are both cleared to ride MF, but the ride is closed.

Let's see, what areas of the park haven't we been to yet. Oh, Oceana, and it has some changes. The big chance is that Ocean Motion has been moved to the spot formerly taken up by Demon Drop. The beach gate has been moved a bit, the area that was opened up was filled in with their Windseeker.

I think their Windseeker has even less queue area than the one at Kings Island. I wonder if this is because they figure once the initial craze wears off, that its not going to be that popular a ride, particularly since it does handle 64 people a ride, as opposed to the 20 or so on most flat rides. Or, are they trying a tactic learned from Roller Coaster Tycoon, where they have gotten people used to thinking, an oveflowing line is too long. At any rate, they do have a sizeable portable queue area available under the stadium grandstands next door. Today, it was just in the permanent queues, so you walk about a third of the way around the ride, where the only thing separating you from the outside world is a tall fence with spike like points at the top, then back around to the front, where you go through the turnstile and assigned a seat. I want to say the Kings Island ride has every individual seat numbered, where at Cedar Point it is just every row. Same general concept, and same general ride. Right down to the problem with the lap bar lights not being visible.

Windseeker is one of the trendy new high altitude circle swing rides. It's essentially much like Wave Swinger, only the swings go up to just shy of 300' in the air. The height really does make the ride, and its also what makes peoples phobias get the better of them.

I think by now Zamperla, Mondial, and FunTime have versions of this ride to market, and I would not be surprised if its on the drawing boards at other manufacturers. I have not yet ridden the Zamperla version, but I have a feeling I may get that experience with Sparkler next year (see the benefit of writing these trip reports so late), but I have some experience with the Fun Time version both in Orlando at Magic Midway, as well as Oktoberfest in Munich. Kings Island has the Mondial version, and the main difference here is the seat attachment is much more rigid than on the Fun Time. Don't get me wrong the swings still swing, but the main attachment is tubular piping instead of just chains or steel cable. The Mondial also has a fantastic LED light show that gives a park that classic midway experience.

I take my seat, drop down the overhead lap bar, which is similar to the kind used on a chairlift. A safety strap connects the lap bar to the seat base, as a back up to the bar lock. I can tell you, as a larger rider, the rides computer is more demanding than the seat belt, so just because the belt is fastened, doesn't mean you are good. A rule of thumb is to look at the stub end of the lap bar, it it isn't lower than the armrest, your in trouble. Mondial did something dumb here. They mounted two lights on the outboard side of each seating unit. When the lap bar locks, the light goes out. Seems simple enough except the light is red, on a red background, and once you add the sun into the equation the loaders can't really see them. The advice from the control booth isn't much better "You've got a bar open" Gee, thanks. Warning to larger riders, even if your bar is fine, you will be the first ones they target, and will staple you in the hopes that you are the culprit. This is more annoying when they find out you weren't the problem. They really need to add some kind of box around those indicator lights so the loader can see them easier. This ride loads much faster at night than it does during the day.

So once they have spent 10 minutes playing "Which bar is loose?" the ride starts. At first the cars raise straight up for awhile, before the ride starts turning. The ride does offer on board audio by means of speakers mounted to the ride gondola, so the speakers raise and lower with you. At the top the ride spins for a while, and even speeds up. Not too fast, it just gives a slight hint of laterals. It would be a perfect family ride, if people would get over that whole 300' up thing. The Cedar Point ride scores over the Kings Island ride in three categories: Location, Location, Location. Set so half the way around you get a great view of the park, and the other half a great view of Lake Erie.

So, the ride then slows down to its slower spin setting, and then lowers down. Again once it hits some magic point, the rotation stops, and you lower straight down. That was great, in fact I rode it again. This time in the outside seat instead of the inner seat. No, it's not a thrill ride, but it scores high on the just pure fun meter.

From Windseeker, we learn that Wicked Twister is also closed, not a good day for the Intamins, but wait there is another Intamin ride back here. We make our way into the newer Disaster Transport entrance now that most of the queue has been given over to haunted houses. Now it is just the final room, which is kept just dark enough sot hey can try to sell night novelties, I suppose that was better than the 3D glasses that littered the sides of the brake run in years past.

Disaster Transport is one of those old Intamin Bobsled rides in a box. Lots of black lights, and a futuristic feel. You board a sled, go up a lift hill, then the ride is mostly turns and he car riding up a bit as it changes direction just like a real bobsled. There are some ark ride type elements you breeze past, but there are not really important. With that we exit back onto the midway and make our way to Pinks.

Pinks is a new eatery that is supposed to represent the Hollywood hot dog stand. We were going to try it, but it was already closed for the night. We then cut across the main midway to Raptor.

It was a walk on ride on Raptor. In 2009, I could not ride Raptor, but this time, no problem at all. Raptor is one of the earlier B&M inverteds, but it is still a great ride. After the ride, we finished off our night with a ride on the classic Blue Streak.

Blue Streak is the parks classic older wood coaster. The entrance looks like you are going down a service path, but the ride is a classic. In fact, they have done amazing things with it, as in certain seats, like the Schmeck seat, or the back car, it delivers some great airtime.

With that, we stopped by BW3's for wings and beer, then headed back to the hotel.

Day 2: Friday Sept 2.

We got some doughnuts and coffee at Dunkin Donuts, and got to the park right before 10. This time the parking attendants were out, and parking you where they wanted you to park, even though where they send you may not be the best parking available. On the way to the park, we noted that Sandusky, like many toursit areas is begining to have fierce competition from indoor waterpark resrots. Kalahari, Great White, Cedar Point's own resort, and I'm sure a couple more. I noted the Holiday Inn holidome looks to have tried to make the conversion into a waterpark, but has since been closed. In a way that is a shame, since I think the holidome was the forerunner of hotel indoor recreation complexes. The wierd one is the one right before you turn onto the Causeway, going with the trendy one sylable name: Rain, it looks from the road to be a tiny indoor waterpark, attached to a motel, off track betting parlor, and sports bar.

We decided to start the day at Top Thrill Dragster, and true to Cedar Point, it seems to take just under 3 hours to walk from the front gate to Dragster. Well, at this point, for reasons the reader doesn't need to know, we decide to split up, and I fall right back into "Cedar Point Ride Program 1"

Yup, I used the touring plan I usually take with Rideman. I knew better than to try TTD, so I headed to Magnum. Going up the stairs for this walk on ride, I told myself I wasn't going to ride in the Ejector Seat. But, what do you know that's right where I wound up. It's actually an easy seat to get to, because that end of the station is so cramped people can't get around the front seat line to get at it. That doesn't mean you don't have to be agressive, but still. So, I started with a Magnum ride that worked way better than the large coffee I just had at waking me up.

From there, I followed the ritual, on back to Gemini. I think the most noteworthy thing about Gemini is that this time they were running the blue side. I took about the third seat on the Blue side, noted the "Track Brake Open When Lit" sign was lit both when my train left the station and when it returned.

Continuing the pattern, I headed to Mine Ride, but Mine Ride would not open until 11. That's not that far away actually, I use up most of the time riding Skyhawk, which had just about the same line and ride experience as yesterday.

Now, its time for Mine Ride to open, so I was on the second train in the middle seat of the back car. That seat affords more room as you don't have the boxcar front, nor the wheel well behind you. Much better this time.

Now Ohio had been going through a very wet spring, followed by a sweltering hot summer, then it had cooled off the last week or so. Today, over 100 degrees. I decided to see what Snake River Falls was about. Snake River Falls was a walk on seeing as t had just opened. I took a seat in row 1, and headed up the lift, at the top you go through a tunnel, and then down the big drop. Like a lot of the early shoot the chutes rides, this one is no nonsense, also like a lot of the early shoot the chutes rides, it is very effective at getting you drenched.

Okay, now that I am drenched, lets find Shoot the Rapids. The exit for Snake River actually helped put me in the right direction, as Shoot The Rapids is alongside the frontier trail, just across from the closed for the season rapids ride. Shoot the Chutes is an Intamin, like Pilgrims Plunge, but unlike Plunge, the boats do stop in the station which I like. I do find it interesting they didn't motorize the loading gates. They are mag locked, and spring loaded. When it is your turn to board, you are supposed to push them open and board, but there is no signal they are unlocked. You know, for those of us from my era, i they would install a little buzzer that would sound when the gate was open, I bet a lot of us would have a pavlovian response to open the gate. So the boats are about like Pilgrims Plunge with the overhead lap bar and all. The ride is a whole lot more complete than Plunge, first you have a long disorienting lift approach tunnel with misters, then lift 1, then the first big drop and run out. You then go through a rapids like section (hence the name) with waterfalls that all but encourage you to rock the boat to try to avoid getting wet. Then it is up lift 2 for the big drop and run out. My word of advice? Ride BAREFOOT, your feet will thank your for it. After drop two, the floor well of the boat fills with a least a foot or more of water, and stays filled until the unload station. At this point, with the lapbar you can't raise your foot enough to get it out of the pool of water. A minute of this will lead to the squishiest shoes, and soaked socks. That is really the ride's only downside, other than that it really came out great.

After that I took a ride on Maverick. The line for Maverick was just a little longer today than yesterday, with the covered portion full, the uncovered portion closed off, but the line was starting to overflow into the midway. Cedar Point, won't have any of that, so right after I enter the line, they open some of the unshaded queue area. I remind myself that the line really isn't any longer if they open up more sections of the queue after you have entered. I did find it interesting they did not open the parts that would offer access to the vending machines. I know yesterday, I laughed at the single rider queue, but today, when I got toward the covered section of the queue, I noted no one going for single rider, so I darted up those stairs at first opportunity, and bypassed a trainload or so of people. I know, not really a big deal. They have stopped assigning seats, so alll single rider does, is when an odd number group from the main line enter the trunstile, they let one in from single rider. I think it is encouraged yoou mate up with the odd rider. We wound up in row 2 of the front train on Maverick and proceed to have another awesome filled ride of Intamin goodness.

From Maverick, I head over to get the daily Mean Streak ride out of the way. I enter the queue I get about halfway to the turnaround, where, speaking of turnarounds I note people coming my way, I look over and people are coming down the load stairs. This has all the signs of a ride closure. You know, there are some ride closures that you stand in front of the closed ride for 15 minutes sulking about life not being fair, there are some that register as a disapointment, and then some you go :Oh, well". This falls firmly in the "Oh, well" camp.

I head down the Frontier Trail, where I note them getting the old Frontier Carousel building, and Rapids Ride area ready for haunts, as well as general theming in the area. It's the last area of Cedar Point that hasn't been lined with thrill rides, and as such offers that nice relaxing, shaded walk. At the other end, you find Millennium Force. I enter a 45 minute Millennium Force queue, which is to say just the last section fo queue maze was open. I am a biit more nervous than usual, I mean the test seat says I am fine, but what about the actual train. For a short time, it looks like the ride went down to two trains, slowing things down even more. Eventually, I make it to the station and take the first available seat. I fasten the belt, pull the tail, drop the lapbar and hope for the best. I really got scared when the loader got near me, and made the upbar hand signal. Luckily, it was for the rider directly behind me. So, I am cleared for takeoff. The rider next to me asks if I am nervous, and I ansswer, no, just relieved since it has been something like 5 years or so since I could ride this. The ride starts with a very steep, very fast launched lift hill, then into an overbanked turn, before you go through the tunnel to the twisted track that is on the island. Force is 300' tall, but the airtime, while there, isn't near as violent as Magnum. A lot moe gentle floats, and showing that you can do interesting things with curved track. I am real glad I was able to ride this again. I think I did the Dance of Joy all the way down the long exit ramp out onto the midway. You may recall in RCT when the riders would stop at the end of the exit ramp of their favorite ride and jump up and down. I briefly cosidered that.

Walking across the street, I next took in Mantis. Mantis should have been a near walk on, as the line was only back to the top half of the final staircase. A train later and I was positioned to board row 8. That's when it happened, a Mantis train pulls into the station, and one of the riders is puking their guts out. Okay, this shouldn't be too bad, they will unload it, hose it down, spray some sainitizer, run the train empty a couple cycles, but still use the other train But wait, there's more! The sight of the rider in the train puking their guts out started a bad case of chain reaction puking in the load station. When all was said and done, they had to move everybody up into the front half of the load station so they could completely hose down, and wash with some kond of chemical, the back half of the load station The mic man tried to keep those of us waiting entertained. "You want to know what the best thing about working at Cedar Point is? Well, this isn't it!" Some time later, they decide to load a train, and they do something unusual, since they were concerned about people slipping on whatever they used to wash down the station floor, they loaded rows 5-8 all through the row 5 gate. As it was, I was in the back left 'seat' on Mantis. Another eay fit, and its up and away on the stand up rollercoaster. It has the usual B&M intensity, and as usual I spend the next 2-3 minutes walking off the feelings in my lower legs.

From Mantis, I again cross the street, and note that Wildcat has about the same line it had last night, so I grab a ride on the Wildcat. I follow that up with a walk on ride on Iron Dragon. Iron Dragon has not recived the belts that Cedar Fair has seemed to have put on all their other arrow multi element trains, inclding the suspended coaster at Kings Island. That may be becuase Iron Dragon is a lot tamer ride. It is a two lift suspended coaster that was considered extreme when they showed the ads for it in 1987. The part after the first lift is really lifeless, it gets better after the second lift is a bit better but theat may be due to the interation witht the lake below.

After Iron Dgraon, I really need to get a drink, or something, maybe the heat is getting to me. The pepsi cart by Coasters is like an Oasis as I graba soft drink before contining. Next up is Power Tower, and it is a walk on, so I ride both sides. Power Tower is still in Sour Tower mode as there is just no airtime force at the top. S&S makes a shorter ride called the Double Shot that does way better in the airtime department. At least the ones at Ocean City, NJ, and Indiana Beach offer good airtime. Double Shot combines the upwards thrust of the Space Shot, with the faster than frefall downwards thrust of the Turbo Drop. But, Liberty Launch at Holiday World shows that the strong airtime is not a sure product of the Double Shot, as well as Dr. Dooms Fearfall and the Big Shot showing that a Space Shot alone can produce good air, just not on Power Tower. Power Tower is a 4 tower complex, with only three open today, 2 drops, and 1 shot. Makes sense, since the Turbo Drop ride experience is longer, with the having to slowly raise the gondola to the top of the tower.

After Power Tower, I make my way to Corkscrew. Since Cedar Point is in the middle of Big Ten country, you know how Big Ten has Legends and Leaders didvisions? Well, at Cedar Point they have botht he record breaking new technology "The Leaders", mixed with some olde ride technology that was top of the line in its day "Legends". Corkscrew is a legend, and so I took a walk on ride in the back seat. Corkscrew may have been the ride that started putting the belts in the Arrow cars. I'm glad to see they replaced the original installtion with a more customer fiendly version they have used at other parks. Corkscrew is not the generic out of the box corkscrew ride from Arrow. You may recall that one was a compact coaster - turn out of the station, up the lift, turnaround, down the drop, , turnaround, through the corkscrew, then turnaround one last time onto the brakes. No, Cedar Point Corkscrew is more of an out and back. On this one you take one of the patriotic themed trains, and do a turnaround out of the station, up the lift, down the drop, through an airtime producing speedhill that would be great fun if it weren't for the shoulder bars, then a vertical loop into the turnaround. On the way back yoou have the rides signature corkscrew element which is placedsuch that you actually go over a major park walkway, then onto a very long brake run, capeable of holding all three trains.

From Corkscrew, I continue witht the Legends. For a long time, the park has offered a low key ride called the Paddlewheel Excusion. It's a slow, family ride where you ride in a faux paddlewheel boat in the lake around the big island. It seems, this year the ride is closing. Now, it usually closes after Labor Day, becuase they use the island in the middle of the lake as a haunt and use the floating bridge from Geauga to get people to the island, which blocks the route for the Paddlewheel boat. Now, when I say Paddlewheel boat, don't think of the big boat ride at Disney, instead think of Jungle Cruisse size boats. Very fitting analogy, actually becuase the cruise route is dotted with tablueax that the skipper would introduce in comedic fashion, on a pun filled ride. Yes, this was Cedar Point's Jungle Cruise. Well, next year the park is leaving the floating bridge up all season, as the island is about to become a pay extra Dinosaurs Alive attraction. Hey families, we have a new family attraction for you, at the expense of another family attration, and you have to pay extra for it. Great. I hear they just got new canvas canopies for the boats too, that figures, as at Kings Island, King Cobra had been rumoured to be removed for 5 years before it actually was. I think it was removed the season after it got a complete overhaul and paint job.

I don't have the strong nostalgia attachment to Paddlewheel Excursion that some do, but I wanted to get in my last ride on it. I head back to the dock, which is somewhat hidden behind Camp Snoopy. Doesn't this figure, usually when I ride this, I merely have to wait for the next boat. Now that the ride is closing forever in 4 days, the line is spilling out onto the midway. In the hot sun. I think Cedar Point wanted this wait to look as long and uncomfortable as possible. I think they were only running 1 boat as well. I say look, becuase when you finally did make it into the big shelter, they had the line configured to take the shortest route to the turnstiles. 30 minutes later, I was being loaded onto a boat. For the last time - the Svillians (Civilians) from the Barber Of Saville, the Lighthouse (95% lighter than other houses), the crazy inventor and his flying machine that never got off the ground, and much more. They say on these types of riders the skipper makes the show. In this case, the Skipper was doing everything right, he was telling all the right jokes, and seemed into it. it was the riders who sat there stone faced. Come on guys: "Jokes? Funny? Ha-Ha?" I think the skipper almost gave up on them. Maybe it was waiting 30 minutes to be rushed around the lake at full throttle, maybe it was the mourning of their last ride, make it was some kind of silent protest, maybe it was just total exhaustion from the heat. Whatever the case, no more pier pressure.

From Paddlewheel, I pass Dragsters, and grab a Lemon Chill. If I would have known they would have given me the just the little wood ice cream tastig spoon, I may have reconsidered. Also, why do they price their products so after tax, it comes to $5.06. Couldn't we lower the actual price just a few pennies and have a net price of $5. I suck on the Lemon Chill as I make my way towards Oceana. Yes, I've pretty much taken care of the back half of the park, time to move up front. I finish the Lemon Chill just as I am passing Matterhorn. I grab a quick walk on ride on Matterhorn before continuing on.

I head to Windseeker, which has a slightly longer line than yesterday, but nothing too terrible, so I get rewarde with another fine view of Lake Erie, and a swing ride. From Windseeker, I hea to Wicked Twister. Now, I wasn't really seriously thinking I could ride it, but I needed that confirmation. I pole vaulted myself into the test seat, lowered the bar, and just as I thought, "Not a Chance". This one still isn't even close.

By this tie, something started coming over me, and I wasn't feeling that great. I sort of stumble over to MaxAir, and get there just in time to be rider #50. MaxAir should be just like Delirium at Kings Island, except its not. For one thing, they have improved traffic flow with two exit gates as well as the two entrance gates. They have a platform deck that doesn't look lke it would tear your feet up if you rode barefooted, and the cubby holes for lose items look better than the big metal toolboxes that look like they belong on the back of a pick up truck. The queue area looks smaller, but that may be just becuase they didn't try the experiment of mainstreaming wheelchairs through the main queue on this version. Also, the on deck 'bullpen' is the final twist of the queue, which keeps riders lined up in order, instead of the holding areas Kings Island uses. Kings Island has had to resort to painting numbers on the ground, not to keep order, but to get people to keep moving in and filling up all the available space in the holding areas. Note that both parks went to the Cedar Point style bullpen for Windseker. Now, that I have gone over all the off ride imrpovements, let's talk about on ride. In a nutshell, the ride expeiene on MaxAir is much better, its more like the ride program Delirium used when it was first installed. I don't know what happened to Delirium, but the program they run on it now is a shell of its former self. It also is a plus that MaxAir is in the middle of the midway, and not situated where one side of it swings out over a service area.

MaxAir was refreshing, and while in this corner of the park, I note Space Spiral is closed, not that I had any intention of getting in that sweat box, I instead got into a different Sweat Box. Disaster Transport. I should have known I was in trouble when I walked all the way through the queue and into a waiting sled. Last night the line was down the stairs and ust starting to back up into the queue maze. Last ngiht I wasn't riding in the middle of a 100 degree day, in a metal building, with no air conditioning. Trip to Alaska? (Who remembers that stroyline anymore), try Trip to Death Valley! Trip to Hell! That building was roasting inside, which is something I guess the Cedar Point regulars know. I make my way down the exit stairs and dash over to the water fountain. That fountain used to be very cold, not anymore. I duck into the restroom building near Space Sprial.

Wow this was actually a good move, as this restroom building has an air condiitoner! I admit I hung out in the restroom, until it got crowded with 10 other guys all hanging around trying to soak in the air conditioning. Cedar Point has been criticized in the past for nasty restrooms. I do think the park is trying to fix that situations, one tell is when you go into a restroom if it has the sea green/blue walls it's likely been renovated. This one, the one my the Funway train station, Mean Streak, and Mine Ride are all in great shape. The one by Mine Ride even has changing rooms, before you get into the restroom itself, trying to solve the wet floor problem that persists in restroom buildings near water rides. The one by Magnum is still pretty bad, and the one by Raptor is still at "Avoid at all costs".

But, I' still not feeling good, almost delerious. I make a trek through Kiddy Kingdom and into the Coliseum. If it's one place you can pactically guarantee air conditioning, its in arcades and gift shops. Stnding aound in a gift shop tends to bring unwanted attention to yourself, so I duck into the Coliseum. When I see the big fans, I know, no air conditioning here. I do find a table that looks like it came fro a 1970's fast food restaurant and sit down for ahwile. It may not be air conditioned, but its better than outside. I do watch some interesting 4 player air hockey matches going on, on a true 4 sided air hockey table. Yes I know all air hockey tables have four sides, but this one is more square, and has goals on all four sides. I also take a tour of the aracde. It is really neat, its like a time machine, the games nearest the midway are generally the newest games around, and as you go to the back the games get progressilvely older. The back wall is lined with pinball machines, many from the electromechanical era, and many still operate. (When you see cyclometer scoring, you now its an old game. They also have some old shooting games and the like back there. For some even older games, check out the Town Hall Museum back by mine ride. Though, last I checked, none of those games operate anymore, they are all show pieces.

So, its blazing hot outside. If this were during the middle of July or August, I could duck into a theatre and get 30 minutes of AC while watching a show, but I think both the ice show and the show in what was the Centennial Theatre have ended for the season. At least during the wee, anyway. Someobdy suggests the Red Garter to me, but that seems far away. I do decide to venture forth and check out Cedar Downs. Cedar Downs is the park's rare Racing Derby. It's similar to a carousel, except the horses are in full speed race poses instead of parade poses, and instead of focusing on going up and down, each row has 4 horses, and they move back and forwards within their row to crete the sensation of a race, and the ever changing order of the horses. It is also perceived to spin faster than a rgular carousel, but I think somebody has shown that the actual rotational speed of the turntable is actually the same as that of the main carousel up by the front gate. The difeence is the Racing Derby has a big infield in the center, so the turntable is much larger, and the horses are much further away from the center. Which means, that even through the machanism is moving at the same speed as the regular carousel, the horse has to travel a lot farther distance in the same arount of time, which yields to a much faster ride. The ride is sentimental for me, as it is one of the rides I remember enoying together with Mom and Dad, so I try to ride it every time I go to Cedar Point.

From Cedar Downs, I take a ride on Blue Streak, and decide I didn't really enjoy it all that much. On the way back to the main midway, I spot Gameday Cafe. More importantly, I note signs of air conditioning. I'm not sure what problem I was suffering but somewhere between the 45 minutes of air conditioning, the soft drinks with free refills ("Keep Em Coming!") and what was actually a very reasonably priced, generously sized and actually quite good Chicken Ceaser Salad, I was feeling much better. From my table at Gameday, I could watch Raptor run, and right after eating, I went to take a ride on Raptor. If I thought I had a walk on last night, I was mistaken, now this is a walk on.

After Raptor, I took a ride on the sky ride. I hit it at a time when not many people wanted to ride from the front gate to the center of the park, so I esentially walked up on a waiting car and got in. They loaded me in, locked the door, and as they were dispatching the car, the loader left me with a, "Don't forget to buckle up!" I, of course, looked for the non existant seat belt. It was a nice relaxing ride over the main midway, and I recalled a favorite scene from the movie Rollercoaster. In fact, I think I'll give the signal I switched suitcases as I near the north platform. The north platform was considerably busier, with a line of eager skyride riders almost all the way down the stairs. Beore moving on, I took a ride on Dodgems, I am somewhat of a bumper car fan, and Cedar Point actually has a nice set of cars. Of course, Cedar Point is also in Ohio, where most Dodgems operations are in a competition to see which one can be the worst.

From Dodgems, I take stock in what I have accomplished. I have been on all my Tier 1 rides that I am eligible to ride, except Mean Streak. I have een accomplished many of my favorite flat rides in the park, so not really a bad day for a Labor Day Weekend friday at the park. I decide to go pick up the Mean Streak ride for the day, and in doing so decide to ride back on the train ride. As the train is pasing by Milennium Force, I think I spot Eric coming in on a Milennium Force train. Now, even though I know by the time I get back there, he will be gone to some other attraction, I decide to skip out on Mean Streak, and just ride the train round trip. While the outbound leg of the train ride is the Intamin showcase on one side and Lake Erie on the other, the return leg cuts through the center of the park, and I suppose with Milennium Force and Shoot the Rapids is also an Intamin showcase ride, but it is also dotted with animated tableaux that make it much more interesting.

I get in line for Milennium Force, and much have gotten in line just in time, as the line was taking the shortest route possible, and was only halfway back to the entrance. By the time I was halfway up the big ramp, the last part of the queue maze was completely full. I suppose this is with people rushing to get their last ride of the night on the big rollercoaster. Did I mention how happy I am I can ride Milennium Force again? B this time it is almost time to catch back up to Eric. So I go up to the prearranged meet up spot by Raptor, and take a Raptor ride. The "One Last Time" crowd is here as well, as the line is all the way down the stairs and backing up into the maze.

I finish up my ride, and get a text that Eric is running a bit late. So I go over to Blue Streak to get another classic airtime filled wood coaster ride, then I walk next door to Calypso. I like the Calypso, and they have a good example here. For theme, they do play calypso style music on the ride, and they actually give you a decent length ride that spins pretty good. Maybe not Munich Oktoberfest fast, but a good ride none the less. Speaking of Oktoberfest, as I was waiting for my ride on Calypso, I note they have you wait up on the big ride deck just outside of the area with the turntable. Unlike Oktoberfest they have a fence between you and the turntable. It was actually running so nice, I rode it twice.

I finished up with a ride on Blue Streak. This is also being hit by the "One Last Time" crowd, as the line was halfway back to the tunnel under the track. When I got up to the station I realized they had taken the ride down to a single train. After that, I met up with Eric at Ocean Motion, which is now by the main gate, and we headed out. We exchanged notes, and I learned Eric focuses his day on Dragsters and Millennium Force. He noted the actual trains on Dragster are a harder fit than the test seat, that you can't ride the Giant Wheel alone, and more. We stopped by Danny Boy's for some Italian dining before heading to the hotel.

Stay tuned: this trip report continues in a future blogisode with the Van Wert County Fair.

A Duet of Holiday World 2011 Trip Reports

2011-11-19T12:01:00.003-05:00

Welcome back, it's time to continue posting my 2011 park trip reports.

Today, I give you a doubleheader of Holiday World trip reports. Holiday World, located in Santa Claus, IN is one of the parks I have visited most often in recent yeas outside of my home park. Part of the reason for this is the park has long offered a spring coaster enthusiast event, which I have attended every year it has been offered since 1999. More recently, they have also partnered with Coasterrbuzz to offer a fall event as well. I think I have been to almost every one of those. Then, there have been a couple times I have dropped by on regular park days.

With that out of the way, let's get this started with Holiwood Nights 2011. This event is the spring event, which the last couple years has take place in early June. This year it was June 3 and 4, also as usual, I would be traveling with my HoliWood Nights partner, Dave Althoff, JR, AKA Rideman. For reasons that I won;t go into here, both of us had doubts as to our ability to attend the event this year, at least the Friday portion of it. But, as the date grew closer, combined with the park staying open later, combined with the time zone change from Cincinnati to Santa Claus, it all worked out.

In year's past the Friday night events started at 6pm CST, but due to later park hours, this year it started at 7pm, which means that on my clock, it started at 8pm EST. It takes about three hours to get to the park, so that means we could theoretically leave as late as 5pm, and still make it to the park on time. So, bearing that in mind, Dave picked me up a little after 4pm. This did mean we had to deal with a little rush hour traffic, but it gets us to Louisville around 5:30. To ensure a smooth ride through Louisville, we stopped just outside of town for the refueling stop where we filled both the car and ourselves with a snack at McDonalds. This meant, a smooth ride through Louisville, and the construction delays that plagued I-64 a year ago are gone, so before you know it, we were driving the 7 mile road from I-64 to the park.

Over the years, Holiday World has experienced both a growth in the size of the park, but also in attendance. As we rode past the back of Thanksgiving and HoliDog's Fun Town, we noted the new entrance to the Legend lot has been completed and what was the overflow lot appears to now be the main lot as signage tells us that all Holiday Wold parking is straight ahead. We ignored that sign, and turned right anyway, driving past the back of 4th of July and Christmas. Again, another sign directed us that "Holiday World Parking - Next Left". We turned right. You see, we much prefer the old Raven lot to the new Legend lot. The Legend lot is nice, don't get me wrong, as part of the "Guest Comfort" package the park installed this year is a nice shelter for those waiting on tram service. It's just that at an after hours event, there is no tram service at the end of the event, and due to the fact the entire tram station and tram driveway in the Legend lot is lined with fencing, you can (and we have) gotten nice front row parking spots and you still have to walk all the way around the tram station, despite being parked directly in front of the tunnel under the main road. Then, and I presume this is for the safety of the younger guests the park attracts, you come out of the tunnel on the park side, almost directly across from the main gate, but further fencing insists you walk all the way around the perimeter of the parking lot.

So, we enter the Raven lot, and eventually find a parking space almost even with the picnic grove, and prepare to to the salmon run. No, not the ride in the park, but the fact it is about 6:30, the park has just, or is just about to close for the night, so we are heading for the ticket office just as hundreds if not thousands of people are trying to get from the front gate to their cars.

Owing to fact we wee unsure of our ability to attend, we would have to buy tickets on site, so we went up to the group sales office, handed over some money, and received the usual event packet: name tag, ticket sheet, event schedule, and a coupon sheet. We next did the run back to the car to return everything we did not need on night 1, and headed for the front gate.

One of the items mentioned as part of the "Comfort Package" was a new front gate. I saw the construction photos, so I know they actually did redo the front gate, but looking at it, I can't put a finger on just what they did. Wider lanes, perhaps, to accommodate strollers at any lane? I mentioned before that the park caters to younger guests, and I recall the last time they redid the front gate, one of the big changes was to rid the park of all turnstiles. The reasoning is simple, while the crossbar is even with the waist or belly of an adult, it was even with the neck or face of a child.

Friday night ERT ticket scanned and taken, we proceeded into the park. The base package does not include Friday admission, only the ERT session, which makes tonight more like a preview night. As the park continued to direct the day guests out of the park, we made our way through the closed park to the main picnic grove. We arrived just in time for the big announcement that the park is considering a steel coaster proect, not for 2012, but sometime in the near future. More to the point, just like Voyage, and to a lesser extent Legend, the park wants our input on the design of their steel coaster. The parks new president, Dan Koch was introduced, the usual ride safety lecture given, and it was time to head into the park. I think we have the timing for this down, we get to the grove just in time to hear the most pertinent parts of the opening ceremony then turn right back around and head into the park.

Into the park, there are essentially two options you can take: Thanksgiving or Halloween. We opted for Halloween and thus found ourselves started ERT on the Legend. The Legend really does suffer from middle-child syndrome. Owing to the small crowd, we headed for seat 2.1 and though the ride was just okay, nothing special but okay. The ride does seem to be running faster and smoother than it has in recent seasons. I like the description that the ride is everything the Beast (Kings Island) is not, which seems fitting as one of the early coaster shows on Discovery had Will Koch saying he was inspired (for Raven actually) by the Beast. Legend starts with an impressive twisting drop into a tunnel, then you go over a couple hills while getting a tour of Splashin' Safari, culminating in the spiral drop at the far end. This leads you into a series of airtime hills, and a tunnel, that cuts through the structure of the ride, and takes you to the backside of the ride whee the helix resides. This isn't your Beast Helix, it may by a double helix, partially tunneled and all that, but that's where it ends. Instead of the two layers of helix on Beast being neat and one on top of the other in the tunneled portion, on Legend the top tunnel going in is the bottom tunnel coming out, and vice versa. The ride concludes with a rapid fire series of curves, affectionately known as the Four Corners of Doom. We exit the ride and meet Dan Koch on the exit, we make our introductions, notice his birthday button, and proceed on.

Another part of the "Comfort Package" involves more restrooms, and in this case they have converted the Merlin's Castle arcade into additional restrooms. Noting that, we headed up the hill towards Raven.

Raven, the coaster that started it all for the park. We took a couple back seat or near back seat rides. Raven, while being the shortest wood coaster in the park, still packs a punch. The tunneled first drop, which leads to what would appear to be an out and back layout with its turnaround over Lake Rudolph being a low water hugger rather than the traditional high turnaround. The big surprise comes when you encounter the rides big drop about halfway down the return leg, and then, before you know what hit you, the ride goes into a ground-hugging series of curves, before rising to meet the brake run, still with much fury as you head the wheels spinning madly on the brake run.

After our second Raven ride, it was time for the pizza party in Kringles. It's clever, putting the meal and ERT at the same time. Okay, you figure out how you want to spend your time. We head into Kringles and prepare for to feast on pizza, potato chips, veggie trays and Pepsi. This is also where you start running into all the people yoou haven't seen all winter, which means you spend more time at the meal than you probably should. Remember, Friday is the preview, its just to get you ready for the big event tomorrow. Before leaving Kringles, you would be remiss if you didn't stop by the fudge counter to pick up your free block of fudge. It's great fudge, and it gives you the sugar high you need to make it through the event.

After dinner, we headed towards Thanksgiving. On our way down there, we noted Hallowswings was open, and the operator was so enthusiastic at recruiting riders, how could we refuse. It's your typical park circle swing ride, with a custom Halloween theme package, where as the park blog once noted "Even the skulls are smiling" Spin rides, right after gorging on pizza and fudge, the true mark of a ride enthusiast.

We then took the long walk down to Thanksgiving, and enough with the appetizers, now it's time for the Voyage. We headed to Voyage, and upon noting the line for the back seat to be no worse than any other seat, headed there. By now, you know the Timberliners did not make it for the 2010 season, which cause the park to re-engineer one of the Raven trains into the high-performance model required for Voyage so that Voyage at least had two trains. (The park had sold two of the Voyages three trains to Darien Lake prior to the start of the 2010 season, which may have put the very last trailer model PTC's out of our misery) Sure, that left Raven with only one train, which isn't ideal, but I did mention the ride was short right? It also gave enthusiasts something to debate all summer, was the red or blue train better on Voyage, and as you might expect, answers differed. This season, the park took no chances, and ordered a replacement PTC train to give the Raven its second train back, and to give Voyage a second train. Even better, last year the Voyage ran with shortened 6 car trains, since a Raven train is only 6 cars, and you apparently can't run trains with differing amounts of cars, so now car 7 is back.

And with that, we are into car 7. Voyage was everything its supposed to be, sure there is still some potholes on the outbound leg, but overall the ride is running fast and furious. Voyage is essentially an out and back coaster with unconventional turnarounds at either end. Myself, I love the outbound leg and the return leg, but more and more, I am hating the infamous spaghetti bowl turnaround on the far end. It's just unnecessarily violent, and I find myself merely enduring that part of the ride and hoping to get it over with so we can get to the awesome return leg. You get a quick moment to catch your breath on the mid course brake, not that it is on, but it is the only slow, flat part of the entire ride. Then, prepare for triple down heaven, and a return leg that slices and dices through the structure of the outbound leg while generating generous airtime. It's all good until after the drop under the station, where the second turnaround, while nowhere near as bad as the first, is the "Kick you while you are down" turnaround. You have just gone through an exhausting ride, the station is in sight. The ride says "Think you've had enough? WHAM Now you've had enough!" Luckily the two long airtime filled straight sections more than make up for the two brutal turns. The rides other claim to fame, the terrain. As you go out, you go uphill, a very steep uphill. To the point where the mid course safety brake is almost at ground level, which means the return run is all downhill literally, which means each successive drop can be even deeper than the one before.

That was so fun, let's do it again. Voyage Plaza has also been the location of special events during the ERT. Last year, the area sported a prototype Timberliner car for our inspection and photo opportunities. This year, there was a table setup in the middle of the area with laptops. This was so you could participate in the Steel Coaster Survey. Next to the table was a poster about the survey with a QR code so you could take the survey on your mobile device. The poster also advertised the survey would be available at a secret link, so you could take it after you got home (or in your hotel, like I did). On the other side of Voyage plaza, next to the Pepsi Oasis, were more tables where Dan Koch's birthday cake was being distributed.

After enjoying some cake, we finished the night with several more Voyage rides. On one ride, we decided to just grab an empty seat (5.2) instead of waiting for the back seat. Big mistake, as the ride was being particularly brutal in the middle cars, all through the ride. What gives? No more rides in 5.2 for us, from then on it was back seat or nothing for us.

By continued Voyage rides, we soon found ourselves on the last Voyage ride of the night, which also meant we missed our usual tactic of riding Raven last. So, as usual, we engaged in strange coasternut behavior, and stood around and talked on Voyage Plaza until the area was almost empty, then talked our way through the park up to the main gate. I do believe the park has "When Rideman gets to the front gate, the park is clear" as part of their ERT procedures. We then proceese to talk some more at the front gate, then some more out in the parking lot.

Then it was time to find our hotel. We decided to take advantage of the new 231 to Owensboro, KY, and stayed in Owensboro, but not before first making a couple wrong turns before getting out of Santa Claus. The on ramp to 231 from Santa Claus is badly in need of lighting. I don't mean traffic lights, I mean street lights. Right now there is nothing, you practically have to use feel, intuition and luck to make the turn onto the highway after dark. Sure you have headlights, but they aren't shining off to the left to show you where the ramp is. We also make the bad decision that since our hotel was right on the Owensboro bypass, we would be wise to take the bypass around town to our hotel instead of going right through town. Bad call. So we made it to the hotel a bit later than we planned, but hey it is a Holiday Inn Express, so maybe we will become smarter overnight, like their advertisements claim. You know you were very tired when you wake up in the middle of the night, still in your clothes, on the bed clutching your mobile device.

As has also become standard for us, we missed the included morning "Pool Party" at the water park. It's part of the event where they give us access to Bahari wavepool, Wildebeast and maybe Bahari River starting at 8:30 in the morning. Oh, and there is also a free continental breakfast. One of the stipulations, however, is that you have to be at the park by 8:15 to attend the pool party, as they walk the group back to Bahari as a group, and there is no late entry. For a long time, you could not exit the waterpark early either, not until the regular waterpark opening time, but I hear you can now exit via Pilgrims Plunge stating at park opening time. So, with the early arrival time, and all that, while we have made it to the water park pool party a time or two, we generally do not. Instead, while the pool party was going on I was introducing myself to the Holiday Inn Express Award Winning Showerhead, quickly followed by the Holiday Inn Express Award Winning Cinamon rolls at the hotels free breakfast. (Yes with eggs, meat and all).

After getting some driving advice from the front desk, we headed to the park, arriving almost just before the water park opened. We park in Raven lot once again, somewhere in between tram stops 2 and 3. Poor Dave, we get to the front gate plaza just in time for him to realize he has to go back to his car. Once all of that is settled, we head into the park and directly for Splashin Safari. One of the big parts of the "Comfort Package" is the addition of lots of new deck chairs, and lockers to the water park. Yes, this so called "Comfort Package" is really general improvements made to help keep pace with the parks growing attendance.

For whatever reason, I still had my iPhone with me, and not wanting to do the usual "hiding place" method, bought some peace of mind for $5 in the form of a locker. I headed to what appeared to be a bigger bathhouse, and noted the area that had the locker rental counter is just lockers now. Following some signs, I head to the all new locker rental building, which replaced Water Wars (sanctioned water balloon fights). Locker obtained, stuff stowed, free suntan lotion liberally applie, we headed to Wildebeast. This, of course, means a full tour of a rather large water park. I can remember when the whole waterpark was the two slide tower at the very front, a lazy river, wave pool, and a small kiddie area. Now, it is a very large waterpark, and we passed by what I think is the third children's water activity area that was added for this season. Eventually, we get back to Wilebeast. I noted some shade covering has been added to the rest of the slide's queue area, and that the single rider line provides an almost walk on wait.

We head for the single rider line. Wildebeast is the parks first water coaster, and was so successful, they are adding a second only two years later. In this one, you ride in 4 person toboggan rafts, and with a loading area that Henry Ford would be proud of, they handle both the regular and single rider lines with ease, and with their three stage red/yellow/green loading system, they ensure almost every boat goes out full, and on time. First riders from the main queue step out onto the red dots, when the next raft loads, they step up to the yellow dots, and empty spots are filled in from single rider, then another raft loads, they move up to green, and as such are ready to go as soon as the next raft is available. From green, you step onto the moving belt, which provides the illusion the raft is perfectly still as your load into it. From there you move out to the conveyor belt lift, to the top of the ride. There an operator ensures proper spacing between rafts before they enter the slide. Like most of their newer slides you first pass under a water curtain. It robs you of the whole "Maybe I can get through this dry" notion right away. A curvy downward section helps you built up speed before heading into the Dips. The rides feature is a series of steep dips, which produce an amazingly strong dose of airtime for a water slide. Airtime, with nothing but physics and the promise to hold on to the handles keeping you in the raft. It's no wonder the coaster enthusiasts love these.

The other amazing thing are the uphill segments where thanks to some complicated hydromagnetic forces (or magic, your choice) your raft seems to fly up the uphill segments, sometimes even faster than when you were going downhill For this it pays to ride with as light a raft as possible, as the mechanism seems to pull each raft with the same amount of force, the lighter the raft the more it catapults you over the top, which translates into airtime. Another curving helix and water curtain mrk the end of the ride, where your raft is brought to a stop by use of a variable speed moving belt. We manage 3 or 4 rides before the crowd catches up to us.

We then stop by the Pepsi Oasis, I get some fruit punch to go with the whole tropical safari theme, and we head to Pilgrims Plunge. Pilgrims Plunge is an Intamin shoot the chutes type ride, billed as the tallest water ride in the world. I'm sure the concept showed the ride would be a lot wetter, and would drench the riders more than it actually does. For the world's tallest water ride, the splashdown is rather lackluster. But, due to what was promised to be a big splash, the park positioned the ride so while it was in the Thanksgiving section, it was also adjacent to the water park. This would allow them to also offer the ride as a water park ride, and yes you are allowed to ride it barefooted in nothing more than a bathing suit. The ride even has a dual measuring device so that those who ride barefooted are given a one inch allowance on the height requirement to account for the fact they aren't wearing shoes and socks.

We enter the queue and its about a third full or less, and we quickly make our way through the queue and onto the ride. The ride retains the faster speed it gained last season, and runs about the same. Checking that off the list, and since we both have footwear, bathing suits and shirts on, we are able to continue walking into Thanksgiving.

We head to Gobbler Getaway, but the yellow sign and the attendant out front let us know the ride isn't quite ready for us. So, we continue to Turkey Whirl (for some reason I want to call it the Turkey Twirler, for no reason, I guess it may come back to that line from Lion King where the hyenas are marching Zazoo "Hippity Hoppity all the way to the Birdie Boiler" ) We manage to get an above average ride on Turkey Whirl, and head for Voyage, yes in the back seat. Going up the lift for Voyage I note Gobbler Getaway opening, so after a Saturday morning dose of "The Greatest Wood Coaster Ever Built" we head for Gobbler.

The ride had just opened, so there really wasn't a line to speak of. We take our places, grab our turkey callers and head out into the field. The ride goes find through the long stretch to the first set of targets. Soon after the ride stops, for a while. The ride would continue in this start, move a few feet, stop pattern. It was the longest Gobbler Getaway ride we have ever had, as evidenced by our scores. We realized that is an unspoken feature of the Sally system. Think about it, when does most park vandalism occur, when park guests are bored. Look in the queue area of a parks popular low capacity ride for evidence of this) On most dark rides the cars and action stop, leaving people bored, and that's when people climb out of the cars, putting themselves at risk, and possibly damaging the ride, either accidenttaly or on purpose. The Sally system allows you to keep shooting the targets, even when the ride vehicles are stopped, which may keep riders minds and hands occupied while you get the ride running again.

At one point when ride technicians were walking through the ride, we commented that the animatronics are getting to look incredibly life like. At any rate, we eventually made it through the ride, with insanely high scores, and noted that the ride was again closed. Another Voyage ride took place before leaving Thanksgiving.

While still in bathing suits, we next headed for the rapids ride. The line wasn't quite as long as we had feared, and it seems that on this ride you either get really drenched or you come off fairly dry. Last year was our total drench ride, this year was the barely anything ride. I do think one of the side effects of Thanksgiving is the rapids ride was shortened. Now you leave the station, go through the tunnel, come back outside, hit the first rapid, go through a turnaround, pass by the shooting gallery, another turnaround, some more rapids, then the third turnaround to take you through the flooded out western town. You may or may not get nailed by a water curtain, then you return to the station. At this point, Dave wanted to eturn his swim bag to the car and get his camera for the walk back, so we parted ways while he did that, and I went back to my locker. I grabbed my bad and headed into the bath house. I was very happy to notice the men's bath house has been renovated since last season, even more happy to see the communal changing room is now smaller, as it has been mostly replaced by several private changing rooms. Many thanks to the park for this.

I returned the locker key, got my $5 refund, and promptly spent it at the Dippin Dots booth where I got some kind of Dippin Dots that had honest to goodness brownie chunks in them. I ate those as I headed to Legend to meet Dave.

Having met up, we started the "Flat Ride Tour" of the park. First some love to Legend, this time in the back seat. Yes, they is a big difference in the back, and Legend is again performing very nicely. From there I noted the games drop boxes no longer accept paper money, you instead have to buy dollar coins from the attendants. I recall Busch Gardens tried this tactic several years ago.

From there we took the obligatory ride on Frightful Falls, skipped the Scarecrow Scrambler, and of course rode Raven instead of walking up the hill. We then headed for Fourth of July. We skipped Midnight Ride for the long line (and had I known then what I know now, we would have ridden it, as it was best of breed for a Spider ride) , but instead went on the Louis and Clark Trail, where we explored the American west in Model T Fords, just like Louis and Clark did many years ago. It's one of those rides I have been on maybe three times in all my visits to the park. I noted they no longer allow single riders (that whole park attendance thing again), and as we headed out, Dave advised me to drive very carefully. It wasn't a trite warning, as he advised me the hard roof of the car was about an eighth of an inch from my head. I was more impressed with the sheer amount of force you need to apply to the gas pedal.

After driving the antique car, we headed to Rough Riders for a good bumper car ride, then followed that up with a ride on Liberty Launch. This time looking at the lines, we decided it would be quicker to use the regular line than single rider. It's not the best double shot ride out there, but its a fun diversion. We skipped the Star Spangled Carousel that we are too heavy for, and rode the train ride. We were some of the last people onto the train, which meant I got the front seat of the back (open air) car. I may have noted the front and back seats are much smaller than the other seats of car. Some interesting contortions needed to take place, and it wasn't exactly comfortable, but we took our ride through Mother Goose Land. After that we went back and grabbed a ride on Howler.

After that, Dave needed to get to the Voyage photo walkback, something I don't have that much interest in anymore. While Dave headed there, I headed to the glass blower shop and bought Mom a nice (but not that expensive) blown glass Christmas tree to add to her collection. After checking out the other gift shops, I ade my way out the car, following Dave's directions as he had moved it much closer to the front of the lot on his trip out to the car. Upon reentering the park, I headed to Voyage, and while they were taking photos of Voyage, I was riding Voyage.

When I noted the group heading back in, I proceeded to Gobbler Getaway to intercept Dave on the way out of the photo walk back. We ducked into Gobbler to enjoy the air conditioning, if not the longer line. This time we did get the normal Gobbler Getaway experience. After that, as I have note the last couple years, the day is just a bit too long gto go without a meal, so we stopped into the newly enlarged Plymouth Rock Cafe. Yes, booths, a nice indoor air conditioned dining room, restrooms and more have been added. They even had the prime rib that others wee complaining about them not having. It's a great food value in a theme park, where about $10 gets you meat and three sides, bread and of course a drink. Not only that, it's good food. We decided to make this our main dinner, and just snack (yeah, right) at the picnic.

After eating, it was another trip on Voyage, then back into Fourth of July to finish up the flat ride tour with Eagle's Flight and Revolution. We then sort of wandered around the park, went to Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch to look a the new cute kiddie ride. It's one of those rides where you can raise or lower your car, but in this case the cars are Santa's Sleigh. This ride, Turkey Whirl, Hallowswings, Rough Riders, Howler, Reindeer Games - you can see the park has reached the point where just buying a ride off the shelf and installing it is not an option. Custom theming, when possible, is expected. Which makes the park look that much more big time.

We made our way to the picnic grove, looked at what was available in the auction,"snacked" on pull pork BBQ with all the trimmings at their traditional backyard BBQ picnic buffet, saw the introduction of the first ever Pat Koch Bobble head, which sold at auction for $250. Then it was back for more riding.

This time we started with Voyage, and after hearing some advice, tried it up front in row 2.1. I think we manged a triple ride in that seat. You know something is off, when at the start of ERT, you need to wait for the front or back seat, but everything else is a walk on. Voyage wasn't running in top form, and juding rom the crowd you could tell they knew it. Which really opened up a big mystery. Where is everybody? Yes, I know there are far fewer people jut judging by how much less space we take up in the picnic grove. But tonight, its like people left the park right after dinner. Prime ERT conditions for those of us that stayed, however. We rode Voyage some more, we got another birthday cupcake as the cupcake and survey tables were setup again tonight. We rode Voyage until we left Thanksgiving just in time to get the final ride of Scarecrow Scrambler ERT. We then finished the night by marathon riding Raven for the rest of the evening. Careful seat selection proved once again we got to ride for at least a half an hour or more without even getting out of the seat.

From thee we made our way to the front gate, and upon leaving the park, noted the parks attention to detail. They have been using movie themes the last couple years for their Holiwood Nights event, or at least parodies of movies. Children of the Corn became "Coasters of the Corn", "Jaws" became "Claws" and this year "ET" became "ERT". Upon leaving the park, each guest was given a free bag of Recee's Pieces. At first, I thought, thanks for the free candy, I was about halfway to the car when it struck me, the whole ET connection. We then headed back to the hotel.

You may think this is the end of the trip report, but remember this is a doubleheader so stay tune for the second event. I the meantime, we took the much shorter route to the hotel, stayed the night, and while we pushed check out time to the limit, we did roust ourselves out of our room in time to snag the free breakfast. While loading up the car the sky sure was turning ugly, by the time we got to the front desk to settle up the bill, it almost looked like night outside. The desk clerk strongly urged us not to leave the hotel. We watched television in the lobby. Potential tornadoes and strong rain coming our way. Great. We watched white caps appear on the hotel swimming pool. Hey they didn't advertise having a wave pool.

An hour or so later, after things had cleared up, we headed out. Unfortunately due to downed power lines, and flooded out roads, we had to get out of town by trial and error. We more or less took the scenic route back to Cincinnati as we didn't have anywhere to be. We did stop by a Texas Roadhouse for a steak dinner, and then called it a night. We didn't even stop by Kings Island for a couple Diamondback rides to cap off the night.

Part 2: Fall Affair - September 17, 2011

And this is the fall event. The weekend started with good intentions. The night before, Rideman and I exchanged a series of texts that read like a Star Wars script, and he noted he was going to TRY to get to my place by 10, which would get us to the park by noon. Well, that didn't happen. In fact, I had time to grab a Chipotle lunch, and then Rideman picked me up around noon. Things got worse when I-75 through the cut of the hill was a parking lot for no apparent reason, then we hit Louisville. The I-64 bridge is closed for repairs. Adding to this I-71 through th city was down to one lane for road construction. Toss in a fuel, and restroom stop, and we were considering ourselves lucky to be entering the park at around 3:30. Did I note the park closed at 5:30?

We managed to get our usual spot in Raven lot by the picnic shelter, got to the front gate, checked in, got our packets, and headed into the park.

We knew we had the coasters during ERT, and being so late, wrote off Wildebest already. We headed to Fourth of July, the line for Midnight Ride was almost a full queue, so we skipped that and instead rode Rough Riders, followed by a ride on Liberty Launch. From there we skipped the carousel, train, Howler, Revolution, and instead took a ride on Eagles Flight. We decided to skip Thanksgiving for now, and headed right to Halloween where we took a ride on Legend (a bit sluggish today), and Raven (top form as always). From there we headed up to the main gift shop to buy our Pat Koch bobble heads ($10), which, of course, needed to be taken out to the car. On the way back into the park, I picked up name tag #2 from Guest Relations, as Legend ate my first one. The second one was actually stapled shut, unlike the first one. From there we headed to Thanksgiving to grab our ride on Gobbler Getaway. Did Grandma really say it was either the 1700or1800's and we were going to ride through the farm in a car. Anachronism, much? We then went to Voyage, where something happened, that I don't think has happened since the year the ride opened. We were directed to basement level queues for the ride. None of the giant queue maze was open, we just had to go down the stairs, straight through, then back up the stairs. When we got to the Voyage platform, the back car was closed off, oh no, it wasn't but the temporary back seat fence was back. Insection of the train revealed the 7th car was again missing. Out on the ride, that does seem to have helped as the ride isn't quite as violent, that and I think they had the mid course brake functioning as a trim. The brutal turnaround didn't even seem as bad. By the tie we exited, the lower level of the queue was closed and we took another ride. I figure we caught the ride at the worst time, as the water park had just closed. After some Voyage rides it was time to hike back up to the Kringles, no wait, check your ticket - the pizza party is in the picnic grove.

We headed to the picnic grove, and had the usual pizza, chips, veggies, and fudge. The pizza didn't really survive its cross park trip from Kringles to the grove very well, but at least it is food, and it will get us through until we can get better food. The park was also hosting the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards today (think Oscars, Emmy's and the like for amusement parks), so that group had a big ceremony in the Holiday Theatre all day, follwed by dinner at Kringles.

Anyway during the announcements before ERT, it was announced that the Amusement Today group would be joining in on our ERT, and although I don't think it was every announced I think the ERT was extended. So yes, you now have coaster ebthusiasts riding rides alongside park presidents, PR reps, ride salesman, and other high ranking industry figures.

ERT started out with Raven and Legend ERT. We joined the group heading to Raven and started ERT with several Raven rides. We left Raven just in time to get two Legend rides before that part of ERT closed. We were advised to enjoy some free soft drinks while the park moved ride crews from the other coasters down to Voyage

We headed down to Voyage, and capped off the night and event with a Voyage ERT. I don't have a count, but we pretty much rode continuously until the end of ERT, owing to very short lines. After that, it was time to make the long hike back to the main gate, and then the parking lot. We next headed to Denny's Diner for dinner. After dinner and all that, we still had to deal with getting through the mess that is Louisville, and home. So all said, I didn't get home till almost 2am. We put in the back of our minds maybe next year driving down to Santa Claus the night before and getting a room.

And so ends Holiday World 2011 Trip reports. By now, you may be wondering what else I have up my trip report sleeve.

Coming up (real soon now) are:
1. Cedar Point (2 Days!)
2. Van Wert, OH County Fair
3. Universal Studios Florida
4. Islands of Adventure
5. Clearwater Marine Aquarium
and maybe, just maybe, details of my non coaster trip to Washington DC, New York City and much more.

TR: Strickers Grove - Father's Day, 2012

2011-11-13T18:19:00.002-05:00

One of our parish's annual traditions is the Parish Picnic each Father's Day. For the last several years, this event has been held at Stricker's Grove. Stricker's Grove being mainly a small private amusement park in Ross, Ohio that specializes in group outings. Also, since the park has been discovered, the few times a year it is open to public have been steadily getting more crowded.

I typically invite Rideman down to share the picnic and rides with me. It's usually a family outing, but with Mom not feeling well, Rideman and I headed out the park alone. True to form, Stricker's runs two ride sessions with a meal break in the middle. Rideman indicated he would be down for the later session. So around 3:30 he collects me, and we head to the park. It was actually a wise move that we avoided the early ride session, as that also meant we avoided the storm that went through the area.

Oh wait, I spoke too soon, just as we turned onto I-74, the rains started picking up again. Is this really a wise move? We continued to the park. The first thing we noticed before we even got to the park is a swinging pirate ship sitting next to the Tornado that neither of us remembered being there. This will need some investigation. The rain stopped just long enough for us to park, get through the front gate, use restrooms, and get some free beverages. I took the time to sign up to deal blackjack at the Parish Festival in July, and then we realized we got there just as the rides were closing for the break.

We positioned ourselves in the line to enter the big reception hall building for dinner, and at that point the line extended back to the picnic grove. Not long after the doors opened, the rains came back, which greatly shrank the line as some people ducked into the picnic shelter to wait for a break in the action to dash into the building, and also as the crew inside the building rerouted the queue so people could wait inside.

The meal was the usual, burgers, bratts, hot dogs and roast corn provided by the park, served with a pot luck buffet of side dishes and desserts provided by parishioners. We enjoyed dinner, and lo and behold when the rides reopened, the rain was gone for the day!

As I alluded to earlier, first a walk of the midway was in order. It looks like the arcade building replaced the garage doors with real glass doors, and at first things looked normal. On the left hand side of the midway, it started off with the carousel, jumping jumbos, train, Big Eli Ferris Wheel, Tip Top, and Scrambler. On the ride were some midway games, then a big shelterhouse filled with little kids rides (boats, cars, and rockets), the Kiddie Turtle, Kiddie Whip and Teddy Bear coaster.

It was the back half of the midway where some serious rearranging took place. The helicopter ride is gone, and in its place the Tilt A Whirl has been moved fro its spot on the right next to the Tornado, to a spot on the left between the Scrambler and the former spot of the Flying Skooters. The Tilt has a slightly larger footprint than the helicopter ride it replaced, but that is okay, because the new Pirate ride fills in the spot the Flying Skooters vacated, and runs in back of the Tilt.

The new pirate ride is clearly not ready, as it is missing a loading platform amongst other things. Turning my attention to the right hand side, the Electric Rainbow (Super Round Up) has moved to the spot the Tilt vacated, and that leaves one more spot, which is where the Flying Skooters took up the place the Electric Rainbow was, which means the Skooters kind of went back to their original location.

We headed right for the Tornado, and with they very small crowd it would be a walk on all day if you were not picky about seat selection, Most of the day was spent riding the Tornado, and the good news is the ride no longer squeals like crazy going around the curves, so it looks as if the ride has received some off season care, the not as good news is whatever care they gave it has seemed to correct the "mistake". The double down on the third pass through the structure still provides some airtime, but it much gentler than it was in the past. In short the brief bursts of violent airtime seem to be gone.

I was glad to see the ride had gotten some care, as I had some concern about the park the last year or so. Our other favorite ride is the Flying Skooters, which is a consistent performer. It's a ride where you feel like you are doing everything right, and should get that snap and violent tub action, but you don't.

When we weren't riding those two rides, we took a tour of the midway. Electric Raibow got a nice new pad next to Tornado, and they even restored the back gate, so it flush loads. This at a time when most parks are blocking off the back gate. I do wonder if it will ever get its scenery panels back. The ride got some new scenery panels the year Pugh operate LeSourdsville Lake. Stricker's bought the ride soon after but never put the scenery panels in that fit between the spokes of the wheel. Now they have moved the ride, but the panels are still not installed. They even moved the scenery panels and put them underneath the ride in the place they were in the former location.

Teddy Bear gave its consistent ride, and Tilt gave a slightly above average ride. We didn't bother with Tip Top or Scrambler. Their Scrambler never gets up to anything even approaching proper running speed, and Tip Top is not that interesting. It is a classic case of an old ride that people raved about on RRC about 15 years ago, until operators started running them again, then you figured out why they faded away in the first place.

Our Ferris Wheel ride exhibited the usual interesting balancing the park has used, as in they never seem to get it. The train ride is sometimes interesting to take, and this year was no exception. There is a schism afoot with the Hamilton County Fair. It hit all new levels this year when the 4H decide to pull out of the fair, and run its own fair out at Stricker's Grove. While we rode the train ride, we could see work going on for the construction going on to convert the big athletic field in back of the reception hall into a fairgrounds.

Rideman was also interested in the Jumping Jumbos ride, beause it was opeerating only 4 of its 6 sweeps, not only that the other 2 sweeps were completely removed from the ride. And they were right next to each other. He verified the ride did have a State operating permit displayed.

We also learned that the pirate ride was purchased as a fixer upper, and they hope to have it ready by 2012, and that by now LeSourdsville Lake has pretty much sold off or demolished every ride.

With that, we left the park to go get some Diamonback rides to close out the night.

A 2011 Kings Island Trip Retrospective

2011-11-06T14:37:00.002-05:00

How is that fancy title for this Trip Report?

Well, lately, I have been debating if I want to continue trip report writing. I mean, they seem to be out of fad, and when they get to the point I dread writing them, something is wrong. Yet, I love to look back and relive memories.

Also, the problem with Kings Island trip reports, is they fall squarely under the Home Park Syndrome. This means when I go I either do my usual pattern, and ride the same rides, in the same order, and have about the same experience as the last 20 visits. What is interesting about writing or reading that? The other option is I go to the park for about an hour, ride Diamondback for an hour and leave. Again not too much of note there.

But here goes.

You can read the opening day epic here: http://coasterville.blogspot.com/2011/05/tr-kings-island-april-30-2011.html

Other visits include:

Father's Day 2011 - 6/12/11

On this day, Rideman and I had spent the day at Stricker's Grove, which closed at 8p. Being with Rideman, you know we weren't exactly out of the park right on time, and what with the travel time to Kings Island got there around 8:30-8:45, on a 10 pm close. I'm sure you see where this is going. So we entered the park, high tailed it to Diamondback, rode a few times, walked over to Windseeker to check out the construction, and the light show testing, then went back to Diamondback for another ride or two. You can see why I didn't go out of my way to write that TR.

Next visit: 6/26/11

The scene: Windseeker had just opened Friday for media day, and initial reviews were good.

After church, I headed up on a Metro bus to visit the park. It would be a solo expedition, which can be nice in its own way. The bus dropped me off at the drop off area, and I did the National Lampoon's Vacation "Chariots of Fire" dash to the main gate, and then back to Windseeker. Only to be confronted with a "Sorry, this ride will not operate today" sign. After sulking for a bit, I decided to make the most of my visit, and set off do to a lap around the park. I got to the park around 2:30, and had to leave by 8 to get home at a decent hour by bus.

Since I was already in deep Coney, I started the lap with a quick ride on Vortex. Minimal wait as usual, for the usual dependable ride. As you can see this report is going to also be a run of the mill TR, but keep reading, I'll find some noteworthy tidbits. I headed down Coney Mall and looked in X Base, but the usual long lines resulted in the usual skipping of the X-Base rides.

I next headed for Racer and took rides on each side, and while there were minor hints of air, there was nothing to write home about, the usual Racer Experience. I followed the usual Racer experience with the usual Adventure Express experience, and then headed in Action Zone. In Action Zone i snagged rides on Delirium, Drop Tower, and Flight Deck before heading back to International Street.

There I headed towards Planet Snoopy to score a ride on Boo Blasters, Woodstock Express and Flying Ace. Having gotten the Planet Snoopy stuff out of the way I went to Diamondback for a few rides.

Followed up Diamondback with a ride on Beast. It seems to me the track work on Beast does mean its running smoother than it has in a while. I needed to fetch dinner, so I stopped at Rivertown Pizza for beer and pizza.

I then decided to see what Dinosaur's Alive is all about. The park has really been agressively marketing the dinosaur exhibit, both outside the park in print and electronic media, as well as having a giant dino by the toll plaza, as well as in park signs and announcements. They have put Dinosaur's Alive in the woods behind Racer, I'm guessing close to where Trail of Terror was, except now you enter where Cinema 180 stood for several years.

The spot that held the Euro Bungy and then Euro Bobbles is now a dinosaur themed birthday pavilion, but its ticket booth is now the dinosaur exhibit ticket booth, along with some self serve kiosks placed nearby. Another dinosaur marks the start of the path. Ticket in hand ($5), I headed back the path, through a new cut through under Racer to the ticket taker. After the ticket taker, a crossing guard assists you over the parks service road into the exhibit.

The exhibit at its roots is a collection of robotic dinosaur models, if this sounds a bit familiar, its because these same types of shows have played science museums, natural history museums, and zoos for some time now. The park has laid a nice wide accessible concrete walkway through the woods, and even took the time to imprint a fossil pattern into the pavers. I noted they have gone all out but stopped just short of using the term Jurassic Park. I think the park guide dubs it a "Jurassic Adventure"

You are handed a special park guide for this park-within-a-park,and park rangers dressed in kahkis are present to answer any questions you may have, and even give tours. I entered the area around 6:30 so was one of the last admitted before the dusk curfew (no lights), as such, I had an enthusiastic 'ranger' also named David who was all too eager to give me the full tour experience.

The exhibit is much the same as I have seen at the Cincinnati Zoo, Indianapolis Childrens' Museum, Cincinnati Museum Center and the like, maybe just on a larger scale. The larger plot of land does add to the experience, and having the dinosaurs spread out instead of just a row of them one after the other does help with the immersion, and also artificially makes the exhibit seem longer than it is.

Just like in the past incarnations, thee are a couple interactive dinosaurs you can control, and I see they went with the vandal proof heat sensitive buttons instead of the joysticks and mechanical buttons that really take a beating in this kind of an environment. While I think they may have played fast and lose on the science, I bet children will probably love it. I do think its a one time gig, I mean who is going to pay $5 each visit to see it. Well that is unless the park stoops to putting its trick or treat trail back there during Halloween, prompting a second visit for a lot of families.

The trail is dotted with snack carts, and signs advertising an upsell of a 3D companion movie. I think they recycled the Laura Croft jeep from Tomb Raider as a 'not so subtle' Jurassic Park jeep knock off, and they have the kids sandbox fossil dig, just like any good dino exhibit. At the end of the trail, you can either go around again. (It's a one way trail), or cross the service road again, where you reenter the main park by way of a large tent that is the exhibits gift shop.

One really neat thing I noticed, is they have really managed to isolate Dinosaurs Alive. While you are out on the trail, there are only a couple spots you might catch a glimpse of one of the rides, likewise while in the main park, you can't see into the dinosaur exhibit, and that includes from the top of Tower. That really helps with the whole feel of the experience. I may even say the new Dino exhibit may be one of those places you can go to just have a relaxing half hour or so, just like you used to be able to do on the Wild Animal Habitat monorail.

I then headed for the companion 3D movie. It's $4 if purchased separately or $2 as an add on to the walk through. The movie is back in the Action FX Theatre. Due to Windseeker blocking the old Action FX Theatre entrance, you now enter via what was the exit. At one of the tunnels under Racer the ticket taker takes your ticket. When you are almost down to the building a new entrance can be found that connects via a path that runs alongside the Racer to the back of the old queue, so in a sense they have actually extended the queue. They wasted no time breaking up the old queue path, instead of leaving the remains.

The movie is in the left theatre, and up until you enter the theatre, it seems the same as Action FX Theatre: you get your glasses, you are assigned a row, you wait for the automatic doors to open. You go inside, and you first notice the motion bases have been removed, and replaces with what can loosely be called bench seating. There is no motion or 4D effects in this show. The show is a bit longer than a theme park movie, and is more documentary in tone, at least the 3D effects are good enough to keep you from nodding off. Upon exiting the theatre, they collect the glasses, and you can see the walls from Urgent Scare, which means the arcade is gone and the exit path a lot narrower than it used to be, at least until you get outside.

At that point I knew I needed to head home, but that's a long ride. I wisely decide to stop by the restroom building next to Vortex to learn it is closed due to no water. A park rep suggests I go to the restrooms near Rivertown Pizza, but at just about that time, a family comes up and I gather that the person blocking that restroom had sent them up here. Walking down Coney they had hastily put up some yellow caution tape near the Skeeball building, so I'm guessing the broken water main resides around that part of the park. Luckily for all, the restrooms near Racer were open, even if they were sporting a larger than normal line, Having that taken care of, I headed home.

Next Visit: July 3, 2011

Kings Island has long been known for doing something extra special for their Fourth of July fireworks show. It's a night where the crowd gets larger as the night progresses, and people have been known to come and park their car only to watch the fireworks from the parking lot. This perhaps got to its zenith during the Paramount years with their "Nights of Fire" which involved at least 2 fireworks shows going off simultaneously to ensure total park coverage and then packing the Eiffel Tower with fireworks to create a spectacular centerpiece. Sure, it was also a logistical nightmare with them having to shut down parts of the park, but it was worth it.

So, I arrived at the park around 2pm, knowing I was looking at a midnight close, and also knowing my trusty colleague Rideman would be coming later, this sounded to be about a good time to arrive. Repeating last week's entrance, I did the "Chariots of Fire" dash once again back to Windseeker, with the big difference that the ride was open. Now, I also knew Rideman wanted to ride this ride, and I could do the polite thing, go ride some other rides, and wait for him, or I could sieze the moment and ride now. I opted for the ride now option.

The ride, not surprisingly had a full queue and was just starting to overflow out of the potable queue area out onto the midway. Signs had this posted as 45 minutes but I don't think it takes that long. The portable extension is not that long, just sort of helps direct the line. The queue area runs in a semi circle around one half of the ride, as is common for flat rides. It is three lanes deep, and taking a trick from Disney, you start with the lane nearest the ride and work your way out, at least for the first quarter circle, then on the outermost lane, you walk about halfway around the ride. The inner two lanes in the back half of the queue area is the bullpen for the next ride. At the far turn a grouper assigns seats. Now, I made fun of the grouper at Kentucky Kingdom who used a device that looked to be inspired by an abacus, or one of those kids beads-on-a-track toys to keep track of seats assigned in their motion theatre. At Windseeker the park has given the grouper a dry erase clipboard and they mark off seats assigned much like the host marks off tables at a restaurant. It seems weird, but then there are 32 cars each seating 2 to keep track of, and many odd party sizes.

So I get my seat assignment, and they direct me to one of two lanes, for front half and back half of the ride. The park learned from Delirium and Drop Tower - this time there are two entry gates, but also two exit gates. Windseeker is one of the trendy new high altitude circle swing rides. It's essentially much like Zephyr, only the swings go up to just shy of 300' in the air. The height really does make the ride, and its also what makes peoples phobias get the better of them.

I think by now Zamperla, Mondial, and FunTime have versions of this ride to market, and I would not be surprised if its on the drawing boards at other manufacturers. I have not yet ridden the Zamperla version, but I have a feeling I may get that experience with Sparkler next year (see the benefit of writing these trip reports so late), but I have some experience with the Fun Time version both in Orlando at Magic Midway, as well as Oktoberfest in Munich. Kings Island has the Mondial version, and the main difference here is the seat attachment is much more rigid than on the Fun Time. Don't get me wrong the swings still swing, but the main attachment is tubular piping instead of just chains or steel cable. The Mondial also has a fantastic LED light show that gives it some carnival midway flash that Coney Mall sorely needs.

I take my seat, drop down the overhead lap bar, which is similar to the kind used on a chairlift. A safety strap connects the lap bar to the seat base, as a back up to the bar lock. I can tell you, as a larger rider, the rides computer is more demanding than the seat belt, so just because the belt is fastened, doesn't mean you are good. A rule of thumb is to look at the stub end of the lap bar, it it isn't lower than the armrest, your in trouble. Mondial did something dumb here. They mounted two lights on the outboard side of each seating unit. When the lap bar locks, the light goes out. Seems simple enough except the light is red, on a red background, and once you add the sun into the equation the loaders can't really see them. The advice from the control booth isn't much better "You've got a bar open" Gee, thanks. Warning to larger riders, even if your bar is fine, you will be the first ones they target, and will staple you in the hopes that you are the culprit. This is more annoying when they find out you weren't the problem. They really need to add some kind of box around those indicator lights so the loader can see them easier. This ride loads much faster at night than it does during the day.

So once they have spent 10 minutes playing "Which bar is loose?" the ride starts. At first the cars raise straight up for awhile, before the ride starts turning. The ride does offer on board audio by means of speakers mounted to the ride gondola, so the speakers raise and lower with you. At the top the ride spins for a while, and even speeds up. Not too fast, it just gives a slight hint of laterals. It would be a perfect family ride, if people would get over that whole 300' up thing. You also learn Coney Mall is not that interesting to look down on. But that is a problem parks have had for awhile since they use "movie set" style construction that says "If the guest can't see it, it doesn't have to be finished" In this particular case, just adding chaser lights to Racer would do a world of good.

So, the ride then slows down to its slower spin setting, and then lowers down. Again once it hits some magic point, the rotation stops, and you lower straight down. That was great, in fact I rode it again. This time in the outside seat instead of the inner seat. No, it's not a thrill ride, but it scores high on the just pure fun meter.

After that, I started my tour of the park. First I walked over to Vortex, but alas Vortex was closed. Rumors on Facebook indicated the ride ride had broken a lift chain, so I won't be expecting this to open anytime today. I didn't even bother walking back to X-Base and its long lines. Instead of snagged a ride in the Schmeck seat of both Racers, with their usual near walk on waits. I followed that up with a ride on Adventure Express. By that time I was within 15 minutes of my meet up time with Rideman. I did stop at what was Lt. Dan's Bar to have a Sam Adams. It seemed a patriotic thing to do.

I enjoyed my Sam Adams while looking at the patriotic decorations on International Street. I also noticed the Komen Cancer fundraiser is back, but this year instead of just chucking generic pink rubber ducks into Royal Fountain, the park came up with Snoopy in Pink Innertube toys for you to toss into the fountain. Who said Cedar Fair could not theme something, I also got word that Rideman was delayed. I walked over to Planet Snoopy and scored rides on Boo Blasters, Woodstock, and Surf Dog. For once, I hit the seat selection lottery on Surf Dog and got a back row end seat. The ride is much better back there, and it does seem the park is running a slightly better program on this ride, not as good as when it was first installed, but a bit better than what it had been running. The line for Flying Ace was excessive, so I headed back towards Tower as I got the word to head to Windseeker.

This time Rideman and I both ride Windseeker together. He evaluated the ride in his own special way, but I think we both give it a positive review. We then headed to Rivertown to get some Diamondback rides in. After Diamondback we started making our way around the park, picking up a ride on Flight Deck. Flight Deck is noteworthy in that they have done something really inexpensive to the ride that really helps the theming. What they have done is marked up the floor under the final brakes to look like a runway, and you are landing. In slightly more costly upgrades it looks like they are starting to bring a tiny but of the lower queue area theme package back to life. Credit where credit is due.

We proceeded to rides on Delirium and Viking Fury. We got a ride on Adventure Express and instead of heading into Coney, we took a trip to the top of Eiffel Tower to get a look around. After Tower we headed back to Diamondback for some more rides. As it was getting late, we decided the new plaza by Windseeker would probably make a good fireworks viewing area. However, instead of standing around for an hour, we got in line, which by now was back to the Dino's Alive entance. Bad timing as the fireworks started going off just as we were two cycles to load, and the shade canvas over the queue area and the structure of Racer does not give great viewing from the queue. We advance to the bull pen, even worse. The ride cycles, we board, we get to watch part of the extra long show while riding Windseeker. This is a pretty cool view, to be even with, and maybe even looking down on the fireworks. We exited the ride, and the show continued for some time longer.

I can't fault the length of the show, but it had no single elements that really stood out. No tower pyro, only 1 staging area doing one show, and it was more like they just ran the normal show 3 or times with some patriotic music backing it up. Maybe one of the lamest 4th of July fireworks shows I have seen at the park.

At the end of the show, we wound up being with a bunch of other enthusiasts, some who claimed they started the day at Cedar Point, and it had gotten so crazy that by 1, the left Cedar Point and headed to Kings Island. Before we knew it our strange coasternut behavior group found themselves swept up into the Windseeker queue, not a bad thing at all.

After Windseeker, we were going to head to Beast and then finish the night at Diamondback. Well, that was the plan before we ran into the sluggish Beast crew. The line didn't even look that long, but it sure took long enough. Midnight struck as we were out on the course ending the night on Beast.

Next Visit: Some time in 2012. I have a 2012 pass ready to go. I didn't mean for my Kings Island season to end after July 3rd. I even had the curiosity to want to check out the parks new express program, Fast Lane. It wasn't unusual not to go anymore in July as the park is just too crowded, and August was roasting hot, as if to balance out the washed out spring we had. September the park is mainly closed for park buy outs, and what was left? On Labor Day weekend I was at Cedar Point, and on the only other September weekend I was on the East Coast doing my non coaster vacation. October just had too many things going on, and the one day I was planning on going, I decided not to. Good thing, as I was awarded with numerous Facebook posts and Twitter tweets telling me about the insane crowds I was missing, and these posts were from people I know well enough that when they say the park was insane, it truly was. Oh, I did make it to Universal Florida, but that is the subject of another trip report.

TR: Kings Island - April 30, 2011

2011-05-09T21:56:00.002-04:00

Trip Report: Kings Island
Mason, OH
April 30, 2011

+++++++++++++++++++++++++=
"It's opening day, it's the best day Cincinnati has seen in a month weather wise, the park is closed on Sunday, the park has a new ride! What could possibly go wrong!"

Ah, opening day for the coaster season regionally! As such, Rideman and I got a late start and got to the park around 2pm. It's a Saturday, nobody goes to the park anymore on Saturday's its way too crowded. It didn't look bad at first, when we got through the parking toll plaza with little to no waiting, just long enough to remark on the fact Premier Parking is now up to $20, Commoner parking remains $10. Better yet, gold pass parking remains free.

We enter the lot and head up and down rows, my this isn't looking good. They are parking people all the way back to Boomerang Bay, and it isn't even open. We head the other way, and claim a spot that makes the proverbial Clark Griswold spot look great. Yes, we are behind the buses, virtually in Great Wolf Lodges parking lot.

We use the Great Wolf Lodge walking trail to get to the front gate, and noted that $20 looks to be too high, even for those with more money than sense. We also note the season pass processing line to extend back into the parking lot. Suddenly, Rideman is glad he renewed online, and I renewed last fall.

As expected we had smooth sailing through the security checkpoint, and the ticket checkpoint. Once inside, we were even late enough to NOT get photo ambushed, and had smooth sailing all the way to Eiffel Tower.

With Windseeker out of commission, we headed to the finest ride the park has to offer, that being Diamondback. But first we have to squeeze our way through a path blocking cluster at the Chik-Fill-A stand, I don't think I've seen that stand that busy. It didn't help matters that they setup a *portable* carnival game right in the middle of the bottlenecked area, piching the path even tighter while making the game very unattractive to play when you can't hardly get to it. Did I mention the game is portable, and could have been easily moved to a less congested but still highly traveled area? I know its portable because by the end of the night it was in an entirely different location altogether.

More alarming is what they have done to the menu boards, or at least the one at Chik-Fill-A, they have selected a font for the prices that is so small, you have no hope of reading it until you are right up to the service window. By which time, you have wasted 15 minutes or more, and are pressured into the $8 chicken sandwich.

We continued on through a sea of people in Planet Snoopy and headed into Rivertown. Ugh, the line for Diamondback is all the way through the queue, overflowing onto the midway, and wrapped down Rivertown clear past the buffet and getting near the train station. Jaming the walkway in front of the DB Trading Post is a large crowd of people waiting for the single rider entrance to open up.

We pass on that, head down Rivertown to find Crypt to be actually open and sporting a full queue. No thanks. Beast queue is back to Rivertown Pizza, pass, Backlot Stunt Coaster has a full queue maze but no quite overflowing onto the midway. Ugh, is there some other park we could go to?

You now the park needs a nice high capacity coaster like Vortex to help abosrb the crowd, but Vortex is closed as it exits right into the Windseeker construction area. Troika has a full queue for crying out loud. We make the turn by Vortex. As expected the path is blocked right even with the Vortex Entrance on the Vortex side of the path, and by Speed Pitch on the other side of the path. The large closed midway on that side was being used by maintenance guys untangling a long steel cable.

Windseeker isn't near as ready as its last minute closue would have you believe. At least 4 cars sit disconnected from the ride in front of the restroom building, not all the fencing is in place and as I already noted there are some steel cables that still need to be installed on the ride somewhere.

What we saw next made no sense, a queue from the BLOCKED OFF BY CONSTRUCTION FENCING Vortex entrance all the way back to Juke Box Diner. These people are queuing up for a ride that is closed, has been advertised on the boards out front as closed, is sitting in a construction zone, and currently has no exit. Most curious.

The situation got more interesting when a crew arrived to start testing Vortex. Son, a line stretched all the way to Dodgems, with no announcement or any sign the ride would open.

Next, it started to become obvious that by moving some of the portable constrution fencing and some park benches they were carving out a path that would run from the Vortex exit, through a small opening to the left of the on ride photo booth, then run BEHIND the new bank of coin operated lockers, where portable fencing ran until it met up with a bank of vending machines that effetively sealed off the construction zone.

Not much longer, Vortex was open, there was much rejoicing, and fter about a half hour or so wait, we scored rides in the second to last seat. The trims don't appear to be on quite as hard, and the hill right after the two vertical loops has you pointed directly at Windseeker. All in all, a better than average Vortex ride, and a good way to start the season. Park security did have the new problem of having to be over zealous in trying to keep the crowd moving down Vortex's make shift exit path as said path also was cramped but provided the closest in close ups of Windseeker. How cute, the new ride has the Cedar Point style gates, but why did they put the control box such that it obscures an otherwise picture perfect view from the midway. A park associate in suit and tie also filled us in on the fact the Action Theatre entrance is being rerouted through the current exit, so now both entry and exit to Action Theatre will be between Windseeker and Vortex.

Starting back up Coney, the Euro Bobbles while in the park guide were absent, including all signage. Construction is also underway for the new upcharge Dino walk through attraction, which will start using the old Cinema 180 entrance. Fuether up, a snack bar that had been disused for numerous seasons is now an ICEE Mix It Up stand, and Zephyr was closed.

We continued down Coney, marveling at the new cobblestone walkway that has finally replaced the blacktop. Paramount committed several sins, mostly owing to cheap construction practies: blacktop walkways, chain link fencing, and functional but butt ugly lighting - it looks like Cedar Fair is on a campaign to purge the park of all three. Then, there is butt ugly, but ill suited for its use lighting, like the stand in Rivertown that has no lighting on the marquee sign.

Monster and Scmrambler both jammed, it looks like some kind of laser tag thing went in where the House of Darkness haunt resides, and Racer was down to just one side, with a full queue spilling over into the midway.

Will we ever get a second ride? The answer is yes, after fighting our way through a full Adventure Express queue with killer giant bees. But being Adventure Express, even a full queue doesn't take too long. It takes longer than it should due to one train being missing, but still not a bad wait. We were rewarded with a pedictable Adventure Express mine ride.

We headed into Action Zone - Delirum and Drop Tower spilled forth into the midway, but hey you can always count on Flight Deck for a quick ride, right? Not when its closed.

We ducked through Festhaus, and it has gotten its stage back. Really it'snot that far off anymore from returning to its former glory as a German Festhaus - really just change three things: The Menu, The Beer Selection, and The Theme of the Feature Show, and you have a wonderful attraction worthy of being in the Oktoberfest section of the park. We also noted Viking Fury was only through one switchback. We went for what would be one of our shortest waits the entire day, for a mediocre pirate ship ride.

We darted back around International Street, and headed to Boo Blasters. Planet Snoopy was crowded, as you might expect, but hey Boo Blasters is a continuous loader using an Omnimover system. Why then did the line start and stop of often. It appeared that the crew would slow or stop the turnstable at the mere hint of somebody being slow to load or unload. The queue area was also not scare conditioned, leading to a not so pleasant wait, on that was extended with some ride downtime. They are still trying to sell the useless 3D glasses as well. If was a fun ride, and our higher than average scores attest to how slow we moved through the ride. I'm finally glad Rideman won one for once, that way I won't have to listen to the broken boo blaster excuse once agan.

Surf Dog and Woodstock had full queues, the water maze was actually open for once on opening day, Flying Ace had *gulp* a full queue that was posted at 90 minutes. The Race for Your Life Charlie Brown log flume was closed. A glance at Diamondback revealed the situation had not improved there. A glance at the buffet revealed a $17 price tag for a meal of dubious quality.

We decided that since things were so packed and crazy to leave the park, grab a nice relaxing meal at the Outback Steak House, then we returned to the park right around 8pm. We got there just as a huge part of the crowd was leaving. We did score a parking space in Row 1 of Commoner's parking, and re-entered the park. We heade right to Diamondback again, and well the full queue was spilling out onto the midway a little bit. We sucked it up, and a about an hour later were rewarded with a back row, loose lapbar ride. THIS is what I had been missing all winter. This is what roller coastering should be about! Yeah. A slight modification to the exit gate allows for two exit lanes, this benefit is negated by them closing, locking , and blocking the first exit door in the forced exit though retail gift shop, forcing you to walk all the way through the shop. I mean the door is blocked on both sides. Hello, Fire Marshall!

We headed down to Beast, discovered the queue to be a bit longer than we wanted to wait on an overrated ride of questionable quality, particularly since it would mena we would have to give up a ride on Diamonback which is a known winner. We did go look at Windseeker, and the lighting package on the ride is FANTASTIC. IT screams German Carney Ride. It's really a look the park is sorely missing. We headed thhrough the Snoopy Starlight Spectacular and ended the day at Diamondback.

Might not have been the best opening day, but certainly not the worst either.

TR: OVO by Cirque Du Soleil - Cincinnati, OH 5/8/11

2011-05-09T20:01:00.002-04:00

Trip Report: "OVO" by Cirque Du Soleil
Coney Island
Cincinnati, OH
May 8, 2011

========================================
"Let's party with the insect world!"

Background: I am a professed Cirque fan, having attended 6 of their shows to date. "OVO" would make my seventh, a nice lucky number. Unlike my last few trips to see Cirque, I would not have to leave Cincinnati, also unlike my last few trips to see Cirque, I failed to secure tickets in time to receive any benefit the Cirque Club pre sale may have offered.

A brief trip down memory lane is in order, I had seen Cirque on TV, but my first live performance was when "Quidam" played Cincinnati in 2006 under the Grand Chapiteau. I was instantly hooked, and the following year found me at the Ohio State Fairgrounds to see "Corteo" under the big top. In the years that followed I managed to catch "Saltimbanco" at the Nutter Center in Dayton, "O" at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, "KA" at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and "Alegria" at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

In general I think the Vegas shows offer the best Cirque has to offer, and that may be due to having custom built multi-million dollar performance spaces, as well as the seemingly infinite bankroll of a Las Vegas casino backing them up. Next come the tent shows, or Grand Chapiteau. These are performed literally in parking lots using their own custom tents, and the space within provides a very intimate setting. Lastly, are the arena adpatations, so designed to reduce travel costs and setup time. Allowing Cirque to get into cities that don't warrant the Grand Chapiteau, and allow for shorter runs to be more profitable. Compared to a tent, you sit much further away from the stage in an arena, and the shows are somewhat cut down.

When I bought the tickets for "OVO" who would have guessed the strange weather patterns that would occur this spring. Sure, the Ohio River is prone to flooding, it's one of the contributing factors to the original Coney Island moving up to Mason, being reborn as Kings Island. The smaller Coney Island of today proudly sports a flood gauge that illustrated the parks infamous history with the river, and a lot of buildings bear "water line" plaques from some of the worst flooding. That's all well and good, and in fact when we had The Flood of 2011 Pt 1. in March, it was usually safe to assume we had the yearly flooding event in the books. It was a decent size flood in March, who would have thought just one month later the floods would return. The local paper and various news sources had photos of the Grand Chapiteau taking on a new role as pool toy in the Ohio River. As the river kept getting higher, I was genuinely starting to wonder if I'd even see the show. I mean at some point they have to cut their losses, protect their investment and run for the hills, right?

As it turns out, they were able to get in the media preview and one public performance before the river claimed title to the big top. The show went dark from April 22 clear through May 2, wiping out as much as a third of the shows performances. I think they managed to get some back by adding a day here, a matinee there. At first the cancellations were day by day, when they went ahead and called off a whole week, I got proactive and called Montreal instead of waiting for my name to come up in the queue to get reseated. At around 3:00 of the day they called the show off for a week or more, I was able to connect right away to a friendly person who indicated they were in Montreal, who even had some time for small talk about the local situation. It wasn't long until I had new tickets, and as a bonus when they exchanged the tickets, they first refunded the full price (including the Convenience and Service Fees), but when they sold me the new seats they waived all the fees, selling me the seats at true face value. Over three seats, that worked out to be about a $50 savings right there.

I rescheduled for May 8th, which was the next Sunday, same time, and just one row further back than what I had. Sounds like a fair trade to me.

So, May 8th comes, and we head to a, thankfully, dry Coney Island. Parking was $10 in lots surrounding the tent city, Owing to mom's handicap parking permit, we were directed to park in the Tapis Rouge section of the lot, which placed us literally outside the gates of the compound. Shortly after 4pm, we made our way through the gates in the chain link perimeter fence.

You first enter into a little plaza that has on the left a blue and yellow box office trailer, and on the right a white tent for one of the sponsors, as well as the blue and yellow Tapis Rouge tent. Tapis Rouge provides some VIP perks to those willing to pay about double the normal face value of a premium seat.

Straight ahead there are two carts with carnival style barkers selling programs, soundtrack CD's or the combo pack. It's priced such that a program is $13, a CD is $16, but WAIT for $20 you get the combo pack. Why do I get the feeling they sell mostly combo packs. Well, I have these items from every show I have been to, so out goes another $20 bill. Just past these carts the plaza forks with two entrances, on your ticket you are assigned a "door" number, and the two entrances from the plaza are split into even and odd sections. (Ok, idiot proofed into "1-3-5-7" and "2-4-6-8") Our seats were in Door #2 territory, so we proceeded to the even side, here you enter the merchandise tent, or as a friend calls it, "The Revenue Tent". Carnival folk may refer to it as inside money. At the entry point rope and stanchions split the wide walkway into three lanes where ticket "takers" with palm devices scanned your tickets upon entry. The greeter when you first arrived at the gates was imploring everybody to hold their own ticket when going through the entrance, but I don't think that was widely followed.

Here, i do see some improvement, for the other two tent shows I have attended there are two identical round tents that served the purpose of food and merchandise tents. Each one was filled about half with merchandise, leaving the other half open for the food counters along one wall. Here what they have done is filled in the space in the middle forming one big long tent, with entrances from each side.

Inside the tent, the big space in the center is a much larger gift shop, with concession counters at either far end. The corners of the tent closet to the main show tent sported full service bars, and in the center right up against the main show tent was a cafeteria style setup offering, for lack of a better term, upscale concessions like paninis and desert items. The new entry tent buts right up against the main show tent, so if you use doors 1 or 2 you enter the tent directly from the gift shop. For the other doors, you exit the merchandise tent through a big side opening into an outdoor walkway. This walkway sports the all important restroom trailers (yes, fully plumbed, where do you think you are, the Circus?) and smoking areas. It is also worth noting at in violation of every other tourist attraction, the merchandise area is not air conditioned.

We walked around, I looked at t-shirts ($29), and other trinkets. There sees to a big market on character masks and umbrellas for some reason. I thought the kids Grand Chapiteau playset looked to a a good bargain, at $30. No, I did not buy one, but it did look interesting if not quite detailed enough. I do wonder how often they have to relabel items, as the price tags list the prices of the various ites in about a half dozen different currencies.

We did stop to pick up some soft drinks ($5 each - 20 oz. bottles), and headed to join the short queue in front of door 2. Just after 4:30 an attendant comes and loosens the ropes holding the tent flap shut, we then proceeded through the tent flap and up the metal stairways into the tent. Once inside the main show tent, it was just down a few steps to Row K, and aisle seats to boot, I have found the seating in their tents to be surprisingly comfortable, and unlike our trip to see Quidam, the air conditioning was working. I don't think I am overstating it when I say the tent is practically the size of an arena. According to a Cirque Club email, the tent measures 165' in diameter, the 4 main masts or quarterpoles are 82' high. That is quite impressive to behold. On the outside it has a blue and yellow pattern, and is ringed with the flags of the nations the performers call home, and the four main masts sports a Canadian flag, an American flag (or presumably a courtesy flag to the host nation), and two Cirque Du Soleil flags.

On the inside this tent is mainly black to present an image of being outdoors at night. It seems like the interior of the tent canvas is customized to fit each shows theme, as Quidam sported a cloudy sky. Ambiant music mixed with cricket screeches and other insect noises just to put you in the mood, After we got settled in, Mom wanted popcorn, another trip to the merchandise tent for me. I see they have taken lessons from AMC. You can have this small box of popcorn for $6, or this giant box of popcorn for $6.50. Guys, why even bother with the small.

Popcorn in hand its back into the tent, I knew I didn't want to be anywhere near the last person inside as they have a way of picking on latecomers and last minute entries at Cirque shows, This was no exception as characters dressed up as beekeepers worked the crowd with nets and stuff distracting the crowd until showtime.

At showtime, after the introduction and safety announcements, the introduction starts. The shows name is OVO, which means egg in some language, and the introductory song and dance number features various insects dancing about the titular objet until the lights go out, and then come back on for the first major act.

Up first is the hand balancing act. This time the apparatus included a base that was somewhat remicicent of a fancy corkscrew, which allowed for some graceful iding up and down the corkscrew in addition to all the traditional hand balancing positions demonstrated atop the appaatus. It's a nice act to start the show, not a big attention grabber, but I have noticed Cirque likes to start their shows at a slower more graceful pace, and build up to the high energy parts of the show.

It's worth noting that all through the show there are occasionally performers perched on the stems of giant flowers, and not to spoil it (too late) the flowers to eventually open up and bloom. You can also see the band through an opening to the left of the backstage, it also seems to me you can see other actors performing, through what alost seem like windows to either side of the stage.

While the hand balancer's apparatus is removed, one of the characters hefts the big OVO through the audience eventually making it to the stage , where he gingerly sets it down while letting out a big sigh of relief. I think anybody that has hefted furniture can relate. There is some playing on and around the OVO, while settig up for the next major act.

In the next act a row of red fireflies come out each carrying a giant (to scale) slice of Kiwi. It's a juggling act, but not as you might expect, they lie down on the stage and manipulate the giant kiwi slices and then Corn on the Cob shaped pieces using just their feet. They bounce them up and down, they flip them, rotate them, even pass them from one person to another, all in perfect synchronization. It was a neat take on the traditional jugging act.

Between the acts, taking the place of the traditional clowns, you have the ladybug, and two other characters that slow the pace of the show down, allowing the acrobats to catch their breath, and for the stage to be reset for the next major act, without causing obvious breaks or downtime in the show. These guys love sight gags, and the Cirque tradition of speaking in what seems to be a strange jibberish that through their actions you seem to understand. Ciruqe is also known for using stage tricks, such as rotating turntable floors. OVO does not appear to have a turntable, but does make up for it with an over abundance of trap doors. In one scene only the characters legs poke out of the traps, and in another one, the clown characters are seem trying to ram the OVO down into a much to small trap door.

The Spanish Web act is introduced in a unique manner, as it starts out with a cacooned caterpillar high up on the rope, totally encaed in nylon beaks free of their cacoon, The resulting spanish web act, while being good technically comes across as a demonstration of the art, with seemingly no fluidity behind it other than, let's show you what all we have in our bag of tricks.

What happens next is truly bizzare, the 4 (or more) armed Giant Slinky, snake, Muppet takes the stage, It prances around and contorts to a lot of different shapes, leaving you to wonder just how many performers are concealed inside.

I'm sure I missed something along the line, but the first act ends in a jaw dropping take on the Flying Trapeeze act. It looks, for all the world, like they are setting up to do the same old Flying Trapeeze act you have seen at circuses "since the dawn of time" Let's see two catwalks on either high above and on either end of a large safety net - check. three or four performers on each catwalk, check, what looks like a trapeeze bar, check. What isn't obvious is the center platform that is slowly being lowered down. You see the trapeze bars don't fly out, instead they are rigidly mounted to the catwalks and instead act like giant swings they use to gain momentum, so that they can leap to and from the center platform. The center platform is made to look scarier as it appears to have a big hole in the middle leaving little room for error. Most of the performers have to trudge up the rope ladders to the start positions, while the last few get to ride up to the top. They even make the crickets running out into the audience to take the ends of the safety cables out to be clipped to the masts part of the act. It's a jaw dropping routine that, in my mind is all about saying "Ringling Bros. we see your trapeeze act, and we RAISE you" The act ends just as spectacularly and I was correct in my hunch that this was the high energy act to send you off to intermission thirsting for more.

During intermission, I perused the merchandise tent but failed to buy anything, and the sticker shock of $14 for a Margarita at the bar. I'm glad they had their prices posted to prevent any awkward situations. The gift tent was very crowded during intermission, so I headed outside to stretch and relax. About 20 minutes later (30 minute break) I headed back inside to see what treats awaited us the second half.

During the intermission, they are setting up a huge spider web, this looks promising. Unfortunately except for shaking it, and maybe a couple people bouncing off of it, it is mainly just backdrop for the contortion act that takes place on "The Giant Twinkee" in the center of the stage.

One of the features of the second half is the slack wire act, it looks much like its cousin the tight rope act or high wire act, except as the name implies there is some slack in the wire. They start out walking back and forth across it, as the whole apparatus is going up and down. Then, they kick it up a few notches using some apparatus that looks like it came out of a Dr. Suess book to perform a handstand, ending up with, you guessed it, unicycle riding up and down the slack wire.

The second act also has, what I am convinced is, the required Diabolo exhibition. Don't get me wrong the performers are quite skilled in the art, eventually going from 1 diabolo to juggling 4 at a time, almost quite up to the rafters of the tent. They make it look all too easy. Did I mention they sell Diabolo's in the gift shop, yes they come in Cirque Du Soleil blue and yellow. In fact, I almost bought one, but didn't see spending $30 on a novelty that my totally unskilled hands would play with for all of 5 minutes, get frustrate with, and sit down, never to be touched again. This is, though, one of the times you realize you are not at Ringling Bros. as they would have gone for the full shameless merchandising plug at this point, maybe even to the point of having vendors walking the aisles. No, Cirque is was too tasteful to stoop to that level.

Sometime while you weren't watching, you start to realize the back wall of the set is starting to be peeled away. You get your first clue when a little door in the back wall opens, Muppet Show style, complete with a character appearing to get his hand caught in the small door when it closes.

Here the lights go out, and when they come back on, the center of the stage has been opened up to reveal the powertrack, and the back wall finally fully uncovered to reveal a climbing wall with a grid of handholds. In a version of KA lite, performers seem to jump onto, off of, and around this wall with little effort. Its obvious another large panel has slid open at the base of the wall exposing trampolines. This is the marquee high energy act for the second half.

The show then ends with a song and dance finale centered around a banquet table. Here each type of insect climbs up on the table one at a time, and after the first couple, the audience starts to realize these are the curtain calls. Wild applause commences, after that the band comes out, and the violinist gets a solo part, then the traditional curtain call bows with the cast lined up along the stage lights.

And just like that another Cirque Du Soleil show in the books. While we rate it lower than the two Vegas shows, we do rate it higher than the arena shows we have seen, and it might just get some "fresh in mind" points. Overall, we thought it was a great show. That said, I didn't really get the plot of the story, I got the theme of a celebration in the insect world, and that's all you really needed. In this show, its all about the fun of the thing, the high circus acts come first, with little incect overlay.

However, I must note, that one big question goes unanswered all through the show constant references are made to the egg or OVO. It is shown on stage several times, the clown characters say OVO a lot, heck it is even paraded through the audience, I kept expecting some kind of payoff to the setup, like what the egg was going to open and reveal, but there is no payoff to the constant build up and attention the show directs to the egg.

That said, I can't wait for my next Cirque experience!

My Trip to Europe

2010-11-14T23:39:00.002-05:00

Announcing!

My European Vacation 2010 website is now OPEN!

Photo Trip Report
Text Trip Report
Photo Galleries

http://www.coasterville.com/europa10.htm

Trip Highlight List:

Germany

* Munich
o Marienplatz
o Frauenkirche Cathedral
o Nymphenburg Palace
o
Oktoberfest!!!!!
o Hofbauhaus
* NEUSCHWANSTEIN
o Mad King Ludwig’s Castle
* OBERAMMERGAU
o
2010 Passion Play!

Austria

* Salzburg
o Hellbrunn Palace
o Festival Hall
o Mirabelle Gardens
o St Peter’s Churchyard
o Romanesque Cathedral
o Nonnberg Convent of Benedictine nuns
o Fortress Hohensalzburg
o Soundof Salzburg Dinner Show
* Vienna
o Hofburg
o State Opera House
o Empress Maria Theresa Monument
o Votive Church
o City Hall
o Belvedere Palace
o Prater Amusement Park
o St Stephen’s Cathedral
o Schöenbrunn Palace

Hungary

* Budapest
o Parliament
o Royal Palace
o Heroes’ Square
o Market Hall
o Fisherman’s Bastion
o Church of St Stephen
o Elizabeth Bridge over the Danube
o Buda Hills
o Citadel on Mount Gellert
o Matthias Coronation Church

TR: Oktoberfest Rides Midway - Munchen

2010-10-08T14:59:00.002-04:00

To my loyal readers - yes I have started on the Epic Journal trip report for Euro Trip 2010. I know a lot of you will only care about the coasters and other rides of Oktoberfest in Munich. It is in that spirit that I offer you just that section of the trip report now:

TR: Oktoberfest!
September 27, 2010
The Wiesen, Munchen, Duetschland
(Munich, Germany)

Well, I knew I wanted to go to Oktoberfest to ride the rides, and I also knew Bob did not, so once I knew Bob was going to go with George, I was out ot the Hotel Regent and on my was to Oktoberfest, held at a fairgrounds type park called Theresienwiese, often shortened to just Wiesen. It’s a large fairgrounds at 4,500,000 square feet, and during the 2 week run of the fair, they expect about 6 million visitors. I had done my homework with a map on this one, and so after leaving the hotel as fast as if I were shot out of a cannon, I quickly walked through the railway tunnel (This being a road that tunnels under the train yard, as our hotel was right across from the main train station), coming out of the tunnel on the other side, I simply needed to fall into step with the seemingly unending parade of people headed to Oktoberfest. It was just a right turn, go down one block, take a left turn, then maybe two blocks to a fair entrance, All in all about a 15 minute walk. Oktoberfest is a free fair, which means admission to the grounds is free, nothing else is.

First I took a walk from one end of the midway to the other, all the time my head spinning like it was on a swivel, my jaw almost on the ground. The Oktoberfest grounds are essentially a large rectangle, on one long end of the rectangle is the serious side of the Oktoberfest, this is where you can find the beer tents, as well as most of the food, the other long side of the rectangle houses the rides midway, with all the stuff that comes with it, meaning games and quick service food. Literally about every 10’ there is a souvenir booth, which all seem to sell about the same thing, so if you miss an item at one, or if they are out of stock on the size you need, try the next one, Connecting the beer tent side to the rides side are several cut over walkways, and amusements are spilling over into these cut across paths.

As I get to the other end of the fairground, the big ride in the back center prominent location is the Olympia Looping Bahn. This is a 5 loop portable rollercoaster, its distinguishing feature is that the 5 loops form a likeness of the Olympic rings, with each ring painted in its proper color. Any non ring section of the track is painted pink. In terms of specs, it is 4,101’ long, 126’ high, pulls 5.2Gs, attains speeds of 60mph, and when the fair is finished, travels on a specially built 50 car train. It also has, according to its official website, an exemplary safety record, with commendations by the TUV.

Okay, enough with the dry statistics, let’s go ride. At Oktoberfest, there are no Pay-One-Price plans, there aren’t even universal tickets. Each ride has its own ticket booth and tickets. To handle the capacity of the ride, Olympia looping has an entrance to the queue that resembles the front gate of a small amusement park. I’m talking at least 4 ticket windows that can have open. The entrance routes you up to the 4 windows, where in my case the price was 6 Euros (about $8.35), yes that’s one ride. When you have your ticket (computer generated in this case), you continue through a walkway around the side of the ticket booths and this dumps you into the ride queue area. 12:30 must be early of Oktoberfest as I walked right up into the station. As you enter the station area, they collect your ticket and you head towards a seat queue. As it turns out, things were so slow at the moment, they were only running one train. Slow would not be used to describe what happens when the train parks in the station. The bars pop open as soon as the train stops, the queue gates snap open, riders jump out onto the unload side, riders like me jump in from the load side. Here you pull forward on the lapbar, and lower the ‘shoulder fingers’ Ride ops practically run alongside the train checking the bars, a horn blows and you are out on the course. You start the ride with a long curved flag lined lift, as you approach the top you may take the time to enjoy the view of the Oktoberfest from on high. What happens next is a coaster ride that is so smooth you wouldn’t believe it if I told you. The train tracks flawlessly, you don’t get headbanged on the shoulder bars, and it goes through the loops at high speed with extreme forces. You fortunately don’t do all 5 loops right in a row, on the ends of the ride there are the usual assortment of turnarounds, with the loops being in the center of the ride. Yes, I was giddy with excitement, and I can say “First Euro Coaster Credit!” How fast do they dispatch? I wasn’t down the exit ramp before the train was back out on the course.

We often say on the amusement park or amusement ride safety forums that riders don’t read all the safety warnings on rides, I can attest to that today as all the safety warning and rider instructions were in German. Just goes to show you how far common sense can take you. But next, lets try a German flat ride. The Break Dance right here is just loading, and I’ve heard I need to try one of these. It’s a nicely, for me, themed break dance. Its an American themed break dance believe it or not, the scenery panels behind the riders depict iconic sights in the USA, the center spindle is a rocket that reads “USA #1”, and the ride is lined with Unted States flags. Not quite what one would expect to see at a German fair. Funny thing about the flags, you know those flags they pass out at parades with the dull gold plastic spear tips, surely you’ve seen them. The flagpoles on this ride are topped with what look to be large versions of those plastic spear tips.

Anyway, I walk up to the ride, hand over some Euro, I think 3 this time, and I am handed what looks like a casino chip. This is another common method they use for ride ticketing. Each ride that uses chips must have to coordinate because they were all different sizes and colors, as well as having the rides name printed on one side. I start to walk towards the ride, there is no fence around the perimeter of the ride, and the attendant motions me towards a car. These cars still have the steering wheel in the middle, thought I don’t think you can use it to spin the ar on your own, not that you need to. It also bas a seat horn that goes between your legs, The overhead lap bar comes down and locks into place. Then I sat for a few minutes for them to get enough riders to justify running the ride. So, the ride starts and pretty quickly it gets up to about the speed I am used to, then it shifts into an even higher speed. I’m thinking to myself, the ride is saying “Welcome to Germany! Now I’m going to show you whose boss here!” then just as I think that, it goes from 5th Gear into Turbo Hyper Overdrive. At this point the cars, which can spin on their own by inertia are getting flipped around back and forth like a rag doll. Then the ride comes to almost a complete stop, foolishly I start to reach for the release knobs on the lapbar, then I hear some diabolical laughter from the sound system, its time to ramp right back up to top speed for a bit longer. When the ride slows down again, I hear a distinct clunk coming from the lap bar mechanism, so apparently there is another lock besides the one the release knob controls.

Okay that was an insane ride cycle, but I think I’ll head towards another coaster. I walk past a ride that looks like a Swiss Bob and head towards Hollenblitz. My babel fish can’t help me here, but I hear the name translates roughly to Lightning. The ride is themed as a mine ride. This starts with the little wooden shacks that you buy your ticket at, then I go through the empty queue maze up to the station. It looks like a mine train, I get seated and lower the big bulky lapbar. Soon a horn sounds and away we go. About 96% of the ride is indoors so after you leave the station, it’s a right hand turn into the building. When you make the turn you also realize that even though you are riding on a coaster train with lots of cars, each car is free to spin, on its own. So yes, its an indoor spinning mine ride. Some folks have told me that in a former theme package it was a spaceship themed ride called Star World. I suppose trying to be Space Mountain in that case. First you pass a nice quaint mining scene and for a minute you might be fooled into thinking you are on a dark ride. You then go up the first lift, then you do the brief outdoor segment of the ride where you pop out of a door in the top of the façade, go down a twisting drop which insures the cars are spinning, through a waterfall, then back up a curved hill and back into the building for the duration of the ride. Inside the building, they have it loaded with laser lights, strobe lights and other lighting effects. The trackplan seems to be calculated to make sure you are almost always spinning. The later half of the ride you circle around what, for lack of a better term seem to be Christmas trees, all lit up and doing light shows, You know you are almost to the end when you go through the tunnel inside the building that is lined with a grid pattern of white light bulbs. Wow, what a ride, I don’t think I’ve seen anything else that is quite like it.

After that, it’s time for some more flat rides. I was debating whether or not to ride Techno Power, but after watching a cycle, I was up buying a chip for it. Again no fence, so as soon as the ride is over, people start exiting, and others start entering, they don’t collect the chips until after the ride has started. Yes, first they give the rides a couple nice slow turns during which time the operators collect the chips. I have no idea what happens to the rider that does not have a chip, and I didn’t want to find out either. What prompted me to ride the ride, well or the first 2/3 of the ride, it operates about like it does here in the States, what happens next is the arms that are already at their usual position, that is about 90 degrees, so sticking straight out, raise even higher, to about 135 degrees. Yes this means you are essentially spinning while upside down.

I followed that up with another acrobatic wonder, the High Energy. Looks may have you believe it’s a Mondial ride but it’s actually a Zierer Star Shape. Imagine taking the seats from a Mondial Top Scan (such as Space Roller) , so the ride gondola has 6 arms that stretch out from the center each with about 5 seats along the arm, all facing to one side. The arms are build on swivels so they can do flips as inertia dictates. What differs from the Top Scan is that instead of the main boom being mounted at an agnle , it is mounted so that it forms a pendulum, so the action of the main boom is not unlike a Giant Frisbee ride, except for the fact it can go a complete 360 degrees around. You get a lot of the same type ride movements as on a Top Scan, it just seems more pronounced since you might be coming straight down while the arm is flipped upside down, instead of down at an angle.

Time to head up the midway past games, dark rides, walk through fun houses with appear to be more elaborate than ours. I didn’t feel like testing my agility today. You could hve your pick of bumper car rides (the flags on top of the stinger poles are a nice touch), two or three Wave Swingers, two Top Spins, a Frisbee, a KMG Afterburner. I worked my way up the midway, it’s hard work, but somebody’s got to do it, right?
Next coaster time: Alpina Bahn. (Alpine Road). The ticket booths look like a swiss chalet, so yes, they are big into ride theming here. I walked up to one window and instead of a ticket taker they had a Laughing Sal like animatronic in the window, that was random. Remember all those good things I was saying about how smooth Olympia Looping Bahn runs and all that? Alpina Bahn has not aged as well, it shuffles its way up the lift, exhibits a jerkier more lateral filled ride, but it does have some nice airtime moments. While Olympia Looping feels like a precision machine, Alpina seems to be out of control and free spirited.

Well, let’s forgo trying to remember in what order I did what, let’s get the last coaster out of the way. It’s a Wild Maus, in fact it’s two mirror image Wild Maus rides, Mack I believe. A large ticket plaza stands in front of the massive twin track ride. They have three cars preloaded ready to send out onto the course as soon as the block is clear. I come up the entrance ramp alone and they crew motions for me, and the people in line move out of the way. There is one empty seat left in one of the cars in the load area. I guess I know where they want me to be. The other three riders in my car appeared to be a family, and the young daughter was not particularly liking the strong forces in the turns all that much. They dispatch both tracks simultaneously so that the cars race each other through the course. That means on the top level of switchbacks when you come to the center of the ride you face off as you appear to be headed right towards the car from the other track. I thought the brakes right before you make the big curve turn at the front of the ride to do the lower level back and forth dips were on kind of hard, but that might be due to the fact I think they had every possible car they could on the ride.

Among the other more exotic rides, there was one called the Rocket. From a distance this looks like a modern replica of the old fashioned rocket ship ride. You may remember the ones, silver Buck Rogers style rockets gracefully orbit around a center pole? This is not that ride. The first thing one notices is the riders are being held in by shoulder bars, the next thing you notice is their legs are dangling free. I watched a cycle, and the rockets get maybe 10’ off the ground, then they flip upside down for about a revolution then flip right back up, then the ride lifts the rockets to the top of the tower, and they start to orbit just like the old fashioned ride, except then they start to do barrel rolls while orbiting the tower. When I was riding it, when we got to the part where you are orbiting the tower and doing barrel rolls, I realized “Hey, I’ve been on this ride before! The feeling is not all that different than Flight Commander at Kings Island”.

Also in the weird category, I came across a Rotor, but it didn’t look like a Rotor, instead it looked like a walk through haunted house. They did have a video monitor mounted above the ticket booth showing the classic Rotor ride. I paid my 3 Euros to investigate. What they have essentially done is use a three story tall walk through haunted house as a themed queue area for the Rotor. You first climb up through one side of the house, when you get to the top floor, you walk out back, and up again where you walk along the observation ring above the Rotor, then you work your way back down the other side of the haunted house, at the end you exit out the back door of the trailer and into the barrel of the Rotor. Wooden floor, not much padding on the walls, and I think the floor goes down a bit further than what I am used to seeing. With all the other antics I had been seeing at the fair, I expected some people to try to turn upside down or sideways, but everybody pretty much rode in the traditional manner. At the end of the ride, you exit literally out into the field behind the trailer, get to climb over one of the supports, and then go through an exit door so it appears to those on the midway you are coming out of the haunted house.

By this time, I needed a ride break, so I took the time to walk around Oktoberfest. Having been up way too long, being all alone in Munich, not knowing how well I could trust others, and needing to coherently find my way back to the hotel, you may find this hard to believe but here at Oktoberfest Munich I am walking the grounds drinking a soft drink, which is washing down a bratwurst. I just happened to be walking down the main beer tent road at the right time. It was the parade of horses, here it seems like every brewery has a wagon filled with kegs of its beer, all decorated up for the festival being pulled by a team of horses, also decorated up for the event. Of course my camera is back at the hotel, as I didn’t want to risk losing it on the rides. However, I was getting my Oktoberfest culture moment. I stepped up to the Hoffbrau Beer Tent where they had a stand outside selling Hoffbrau pretzels. My, there are giant pretzels, and then there are giant pretzels. 4 Euro later I was munching on a pretzel while watching the horses parade. The pretzel itself was similar to what I am used to but the texture seemed to be a bit different. I can’t really place what was different, but it was something in either the texture or the salt.

Speaking of getting the culture, I found the big Bavaria statue that everybody gets a photo of, and while in search of a restroom found what has been nicknamed “Pass Out Hill” this is where those people who overestimated their capacity for alcoholic beverages come to lie down. Drinking age at the Oktoberfest is only 16, and I hear that many a youth get their first introduction to beer at Oktoberfest followed by their first nasty hang over.

On the other side of the grounds I found the Top Scan, a legs dangling Polyp called Parkour, I resisted the log flume as it was a bit cold that day, I did not resist a ride called Fire and Ice (or Fuer + Eis). Okay, it’s a powered coaster, so I guess it doesn’t go on the coaster credit list. Generically, its one of those Blauerenzian Runaway Train rides, they just dumped a truckload of theming on it so it travels in and around what appears to be a snow capped mountain. You get around 7-10 laps on it, and each lap seems to go faster than the one before.

Some more rides I found were the HUSS Magic, when I saw the video of this, I thought nice family ride, but in terms of speed, it can sure hold its own. Remember what I said about no ride fences? I had bought a chip for this ride, and the ride had started moving so I was standing in the waiting areas alongside the ride, and a car comes around with an open lap bar an the operator walking along the ride motions me to board. So yes, you heard right, here I am boarding the ride after it had already started. Mind you it was still moving pretty slow, as they hadn’t started to come around and check lap bars and collect the chips yet.

Of course, I would be remiss to not at least try to ride Flip Fly. It’s one of KMG’s newest creations. It’s essentially a claw ride that goes all the way around 360 degrees, but its more than that. It only seats 12 per ride so it’s a real small spinning radius, the main arm has three stub arms that come out each arm seats 4 people two facing each way. The seats themselves can also flip upside down, adding another whole level of demented action to the ride. I was real concerned because Flip Fly uses the same style seats as their Experience ride, and I know what a time I had to get my one and only Experience ride. Not only that, but due to the cold weather, I’ve got a coat on, Oh well, here goes nothing. I figure worst case scenario I have a Flip Fly ride disc I can bring home as a souvenir. The ride is themed to acrobatic flying, and the ticket booth looks like an airport with such signage as “Flight Check In” (yes, in English, which contrasts to the ride area being labeled the Fight Deck (in German) . So I go up to the flight deck and take a seat. The bars come down and of course mine doesn’t lock. But wait, the operator motions for me to sit all the way back. He then does his impression of a battering ram. CLICK. I eagerly hand over my chip, and away we go.

This way, by far, the most demented thing I had found on the midway. Not only doesit swing back and forth, it swings back and forth with enough force to ensure you stay upside down at the top, then they vary the speed so that right as you are flipping right side up, you flip upside down, sometimes quite violently. They weren’t overly busy, so I think the operator was showing off, or that may just be their normal ride cycle. All I know is that when the ride ended, I actually had a case of jelly legs. That or some kind of cramp I had to walk off for a little bit.

On my way out of the Oktoberfest grounds, I couldn’t resist a ride on the Star Flyer. It’s a circle swing ride, that according to the bally on the front of the ride is 52 meters tall, that’s 170’. I think to myself that WindSeeker is going to be almost double this.

After that, I carefully retrace by mental bread crumb trail back to the hotel. It’s not quite as easy as I don’t have the throngs of people to follow, but its just out the same exit, take that road till it dead ends, take a right to the rail road tunnel, take a left and its straight to your hotel. Going back I realized the sidewalks aren’t as wide as they were on the way to the fair. That because the large crowd of fair goers had spilled over into the bike lane. Europe seems to be very bike friendly, so you have the road, then the bike lane, then the sidewalk. Bikers will let you know if you venture over into their territory.

But, after an incident free walk back to the hotel, I walked into the lobby. Following prior directions, I used my tour name tag and passport to get checked into the hotel.

Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coasterville/sets/72157624996054711/

TR: Fall Affair at Holiday World - 9/18/10

2010-09-25T13:06:00.002-04:00

Trip Report: Holiday World - Fall Affair
Santa Claus, IN
September 18, 2010

It has been said the prime coaster season starts with HoliWood Nights and ends with Phoenix Phall Phun Phest. Well, the Knoebels event is a no go for me this year, bt I can still bookend the prime coaster season with a coaster event at Holiday World known as the Fall Affair. Ok, so its not really fall yet, work with me, ok?

I registered through Coasterbuzz, as they and GOCC were the presenting coaster clubs. For a variety of reasons, we got started in our usual way, late. It was a pretty uneventful trip to the park with no real traffic or construction headaches, which is a change from normal. Was that really Vienna Sausages in that rest area vending machine by Louisville, KY. Without a microwave? At least they had moon pies.

We wound up arriving at the park around 2:00-2:30, with free tickets from HoliWood Nights in our hands. At check in, they ask to see an ID or coaster club card, the first one I could find was my Club TPR card, so I went with that. Rideman had a little more difficulty than I did checking in, but soon we had: admission tickets, meal tickets, event schedules, and a coupon sheet. We were glad that this meant we had nothing that needed to be returned to the car, as we were in Legend lot. While we were close to the front of Legend lot, it is still a long walk owing to the fence that forces you to walk around the perimiter of the Raven lot.

We entered the park and quickly chose to start our circuit by going though Halloween. This meant the Raven was up first, and despite it being a Saturday, fantastic weather, and only one train, we walked right onto the back seat of Raven. Nothing wrong with that, and Raven was running in fine form, so a great start to our day.

We followed that up with a trip to Legend. We walked onto the front of the back car for Legend and were rewarded with a double ride on Legend. We thought Legend was beeing a little pokey today. Note that when we say Legend was a little off, it was still running better than the majority of wood coasters out there.

After Legend, we had to make a choice, we could either go to the Lower Level of the park, otherwise known as Thanksgiving then do the flat ride tour, or do the flat ride tour, then head down to the lower level. The risk of going right to Voyage is yoou may not get to the other rides.

We took the flat ride tour, first with a stop at Revolution, then on to Eagle's Flight. It's a flying skooter, and while not quite the best of breed, I think I can fly this skooter about as well as you can. Turbulence is good on a Flying Skooter ride. We took a look in HoliDog's FunTown trying to figure out what might be replaced. I bought a round of Orange Dreamsickle ICEE floats, for only $2 each, at a park. This is a mixture of orange ICEE and vanilla soft serve. Their ICEE machine could use work, or it was just overworked as the orange cream was a lot more on the liquid side than the frozen side. I've had better at this same stand.

We skipped the Howler, Doggone Trail, Pionneer Train, and Star Spangled Carousel and headed for Liberty Launch. It was only a two cycle wait to ride Liberty Launch. It may not be as forceful as other rides of its type, such as up at Indiana Beach, but it's not a bad ride by any means.

After Liberty Launch, it was a full queue and 15-20 minutes to ride Rough Riders. Over the years they have really worked this one out. The cars bump with more force than when the ride first opened, leading to a much better ride. Tehy found a seatbelt buckle style I have never seen before for this ride, it looks like the plastic camera strap buckled where you squeeze the sides together to release, except it only has one button, an automotive style large orange side button. The tounge is plastic though, wierd.

We next headed to Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. The queue looked pretty full but due to what must have been a group riding, we found ourselves the winners of an amazing fast pass to the front of the line. There were really NO groups of 1 or 2 in front of us, really? Or were we just more vocal in answering the call?

We skipped the Lewis and Clark trail, and instead headed to Frightfull Falls, having decided to pass on the Scrambler. It was a walk on for Frightful Falls, and the ride was good with minimal water damage. Next up it was a stop at Hallowswings for a quick but fun swing ride.

After that, it was time to make our way down to the lower level, also known as Thanksgiving. Voyage's line was spilling out onto the midway, but at least it was taking the shortest route up to the station. The temporary back seat queue rail is taking a beating, but after looking it over, the wait for the back seat was just as long as any of them, so we waited it out for the back seat. We were not disapointed. The airtime in the back seat is unreal, the laterals in the turnaround are wicked, the return home is dementedly fast, this truly is a wood coaster worthy of a double black diamond skill rating. Perhaps the only problem with the ride is that it is botoming out on some of the drops pretty hard, slamming you back down into your seat, and I detect a little jackhammer or shuffle or something starting to develop.

From Voyage, we waited through about a half full queue for Gobbler Getaway. Sally is an old Indian word for "The guns don't work most of the time", It's a problem on most Sally rides but seems to be particularly bad here. There are certain parts of the Getaway where I can nail every target in sight, and others I can't hit anything even at point blank range. And what ever happened to the strong hint of pumpkin pie smell that used to permeate the ride.

From there, we skipped the Turkey Whirl, and noted Plymouth Rock was done for the day, and headed to Pilgrims Plunge. They seemed to have beefed up the checkpoint between the main park and the water park again. No matter, we enter the ride building and walk right up to the area where we can remove shirts, shoes and pull stuff out of our pockets and store in free lockers. (Those are fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo for our TPR friends) We then walked right over the loading area. At first they told us to go to Row C even though we were the only ones in the boat, then said we could move up to Row A, so we are moving about the boat as it is continuing to advance and we get to Row A just before it leaves the station, where the driver tells we we have to move back to Row C. So after going through the strange ritual required to board an Intamin ride. Seriosuly, who else could design a ride such that it would fail if you only loaded two riders on a boat, in the front row. Out on the course, we noted the boat is still moving a lot faster than it did last year through the course. We thought me might get spared the shower going up the elevator since there was no other boat on it, but we still got a little wet. Up to the top, down the drop, and nothing, its like that radio show "Wait for it!" then a weak splash. Just enough to let you know the water is cold. We get back around to the station and are offered a reride, which we take. What was interesting is the splash pattern from the two rides, with the boat loaded exactly the same was different. Rideman noted how high the water level is in the trough and how hard the pumps were working and concluded the way the park is getting more capacity out of the ride is to brute force push the boats through the course my upping the water current. After our two rides the park was closed. We changed back into street clothes and then took the usual long, long walk back to Kringles ensuring that once again, we were among the last t be served. It's become tradition for us, ok?

We ate in the banquet hall, which exept for one christmas tree in the corner, maybe the blandest area of the entire park. The meal was the coaster event classic: pizza, chips, fudge, pepsi and a relish tray. For some reason, however, it might have been the best pizza we have ever gotten from the park. I think the fact it looked to cooked more than usual helped, and on my second run through the line, it was still very hot when I got it to my table also helped. After dinner, Pat Koch made some remarks, thanking us for the cards and support through the difficult time, Dan Koch was introduced, Mike Graham of Gravity Group spoke, coaster mechanic Mike spoke, we got intorduced to two genltlemen from Grouna Land in Sweeden who just bought a Gravity Group coaster, and in fact we were lucky enough to have dinner with them. There was no news on the 2011 plans, a brief Timberliner update of not this year, but work continues and they should be ready next year.

After dinner,the GOCC people had a group photo by the Applause Fountain, then it was ERT time. We started on Raven with a couple middle of the train rides, then a back of the train ride, before settling into seat 2. For some reason people wanted seat 1, but we got at least 5-6 rides in Seat 2 without getting up. It may not be our favorite seat on the ride but rapid fire rerides more than make up for it. Additionally, Raven had really warmed up, and was making a strong case for why it's still one of the world's top wood coasters. "Skillfull ERT seat selection"

We rode Raven until it closed at 7:15, then we headed to Voyage for the hour long Voyage ERT. Attendance was announced as 135 people. Voyage can seat 48 between its two trains, another 24 can be on deck to board, and 24 walking down the exit ramp, thats 96. That only leaves 39 people unaccounted for. Considering the people who just talk and socialize during ERT, and those who think Voyage is too intense for them. We had to wait about 4 to 5 cycles for the first ride as Voyage didn't open right after the Raven/Legend ERT ended and had built a backlog, but after two or three rides with having to walk around each time, we finished up with what 3-4 rapid fire rerides in seat 5.2 Sure I felt like I was just in the ring with Tyson after that quadruple Voyage ride, but man was it worth it.

It's well known that Rideman likes to talk coasters and is usually one of the last out of the photo tours and such. We met up with Mike on the midway after ERT and joined in a talk with the guys from Sweeden. The point is by the time we made it up to the front gate, Paula quipped "Ok, ERT is clear, he's made it to the front gate"

So, after some more talking with Paula and Pat at the front gate, saying good bye at least 5 times, I think we finally left when they were talking about turning off the parking lot lights. Did you know it takes an hour to drive from the park to I-64. Yup, due to the time zone, I noted my cell phone made the hour change just in that sort distance. All kidding aside, next we settled in for the long ride back to Ohio.

Next up: EuroTrip 2010!

TR: A duo of Kings Island TR's

2010-09-24T17:42:00.002-04:00

Okay, I want to clear some trip report backlog, so I present to you:

A Kings Island Double Feature!
Mason, OH
August 29, 2010 and September 4, 2010

The first visit started on August 29 when Rideman collected me from Coasterville and we arrived at the park around noon. We had hoped to score a close parking spot from one of those people who always seems to go for a few morning rides and then leaves. No such luck, but we spotted others parking up close in the RV lot, so why not? So we got a nice close parking space, and a short time later had cleared the gauntlet consisting of the security checkpoint, the ticket checkpoint, and the photo ambush.

We started the day with a relatively short wait for a wonderful ride on Delirium, my favorite flat ride in the park, and sure fire winner. We next proceeded back to Flight Deck. The crew at the Skycoaster tried to talk us into a discounted flight, but since a) They wanted $10, and I've flown for $5 a few times now, I don't fly for over $5, b) both of had done this Skycoaster, and c) the time we did fly on it together took ridiculously too long, we declined the Skycoaster offer. Instead we walked back the ridiculously long queue back to Flight Desk. At least thanks to the new alternate entrance for Haunt, it looks like it will always have a shorter reride path now. It was a walk on as usual, and so we collected the consistent, fun and short Flight Deck ride of the trip.

We headed back through Action Zone, but Drop Tower, Invertigo, and Congo Falls just weren't appealing to us right now. We left Action Zone behind and headed into Oktoberfest. There we walked up and took another walk on ride, this time on Adventure Express. It looks like they fixed the sound problem I noted on my last visit. All in all this really is one of the best coasters in the park, seriously, just look at the laterals!

We left Adventure Express and our noses took us to an honest to goodness grill sitting out in front out Outer Hanks. We wend to the stand next to it to find turkey legs and roast corn on offer. If a Bucanneer is a horrible price to pay for corn, whats $3.50 an ear. Behind the stand is the backside of the rock formation that forms the disused fountain in Tower Gardens. Toay the rock formation was getting use as a free, if not exactly approved, rock wall for the kids. See, who needs fancy harnesses and foot/hand holds? Yes, the park did put a pretty quick stop to it, but it was neat while it lasted. We then took a quick walk through Tower Gardens, a very quick walk since its now the smoking area. Most of Tower Gardens is now closed off for conversion into a Haunt anyway.

Next we realized we forgot Coney, so we doubled back past the Carousel, which Rideman noted the real band organ was concealing a sound system playing recorded band music. ("It's Memorex!") We took a look back in X-Base, and as expected the lines were a bit long back there. We did take a near walk on ride on another consistent Arrow coaster, Vortex. I know some say the multi elements are bad, but I kind of like this one. Coming from Vortex, we speculated where WindSeeker may go before deciding we need to ride a coaster not made by Arrow.

We headed to Italian Job, the line was just past the bridge and around the corner by the no chickens sign. So with a quick duck under, it was a short wait. Shame the ride was using a greeter, who sent us to the 5th row. Not a great ride back there, but at least the fire effects in the show still work. I laugh when i read TR's that say, recently even, that all the effects are working. Hello, water sprays in splashdown finale, and show scene, fishtailing cars, on board audio, working headlights in tunnel, subway stair rumble drop? At least enough of it works that it may be the most themed ride Cedar Fair has, and it still goes pat way into creating the movie making experience Paramount was after.

We headed into Rivertown, skipping the Beast for now, but were frightened when we looked at the Crypt. A quick inspection, however, relaxed our fears when we realized the ride was closed, as usual. Next I took a ride on White Water Canyon. It was a hot day today, and I hadn't ridden the rapids ride in a few visits. I can say that as soon as you enter the woodsy, and ridiculously long queue on the other side of the train trestle, the temperature drops like 10 degrees. I'm glad also that most of the anti-line jumping fence has been ripped out. That thing was an eyesore, plain and simple. I was expecting a long line for this, what with the hot weather, but the line extended just barely past the stile over the ride exit.

Rideman decided not to chance his electronics on the ride, so I rode alone. It was a nice ride up until the point where our raft seems to have gotten hung up for a minute or two, right next to a geyser, one that got us like 3 or 4 times before the next raft came and dislodged us. At least the part where the tunnel fills with water didn't get it, then again, I don't recall that nasty surprise happening the last few visits. I got another drenching in the shooting gallery area before finally hitting the end of the ride. A word of caution, they have installed seatbelts that use highly elastic straps rather than regular seatbelt material. You have to stretch them to get it to fasten, so be careful when you hit that release button, as it will come flying.

The nice thing about the long exit ramp is that you a ride of most of the excess water before you reach the main midway. We heard the train pull in, so we took a quick ride on that. The train now has some nice Diamondback photo spots, and for the first time in a long time, I noted they were running two trains on it. Rideman noted they did some work with the audio loop to smooth out the hard cuts between songs.

Next up, time to stop the lolly gagging, its time for Diamondback. The line was just back to the entrance using the shortest route. We were rewarded with a ride in the dead center of the train. Blech. Did I mention I hate seat assigners on coasters? We tried it again and quite frankly didn't get that much of an impovement. Let's come back later. It's not that Diamondback is horrid in the center, its just not as good as on the ends.

Since we are getting all our bad seat assigner karma out of the way, lets go to a ride where it really matters, Surf Dog. I like the new lifeguard chair in place of the pagoda at the entrance. I miss the big character cutout on top of the tub. We landed in row 2, center. Not the worst place to sit, but not even a mediocre seat. What made our loading more interesting was there was a girl in the row behind who clearly did not want to ride. I'm not talking apprehensive, frightened, or fearful. No, I am talking full on panic attack, and the parents at first wee not going to give in. This is the kind of thing that can scar a kid from amusement parks for life. At least the did get her off the ride before it started. It was an okay ride, but not quite what it was when it first opened.

We then did the rest of Planet Snoopy first hitting a walk on Flying Ace ride. Given the significant redesign of the train, and the numerous placards, decals, signas, station announcement, lift announcement about keeping your legs down at all times, there had to have been a problem with this model ride at some park.

We then scooted over to Woodstock's Express for a minimal wait back car ride. Still has its trim brake, but you know how everything old becomes new again? The primary color of the train is back to yellow.

After Woodstock, we headed for what was posted as a 30 minute wait for Boo Blasters. We walked right onto a waiting tub, 30 minutes indeed. Rideman got stuck with a "bad gun" as usual. The fog mist effect wasn't working, but overall not a bad trip through the haunted house.

We then paused for a stop for a snack at Graeters. How can you resist Raspberry Chip ice cream? We took stock in what we had accomplished and started round two.

First to Action Zone, we noted that Invertigo had a reasonable line, which for me means it doesn't extend back into the queue maze. So, we had a relatively short wait before sitting one row from the end nearest the operators booth. Invetigo is another once of the parks consistent rides, plenty of force, but not lots of capacity. We decided against Drop Tower and Congo Falls for various reasons, but for some strange reason found ourselves walking towards Viking Fury.

The first thing I noted about Viking Fury is the loading gates towards the ends of the boat do not line up well at all, leading to confusion at loading time. Looks like they nead to paint arrows on the ground, similar to Beast. Viking Fury still has an annoying loud rattle not usually associated with pirate ship rides, but is a high capacity ride, being able to hold 56 riders per cycle. Of course in this case it isn't like there is a throng of people waiting to ride.

We next noted the price on the SlingShot reflexed up, not to worry as we headed for another walk on ride on Adventure Express. After that ride we watched somebody give the Jacob's Ladder game a try. We first watched the operator demonstrate it in such a way that the game appears to require zero effort. Rideman said "Now watch, the player has just been shown what to do, and will now immediately proceed to fall on his butt" A few seconds later, that's exactly what happened. It took a few more tries in fact, for the player to win, leading others to foolishly give the game a try. While the winner was waiting for his super jumbo prize to be brought out from the closet behind the game, he admitted to us that he had just dumped around $50 into the game. That's at 3 tries for $5 people, even more if he used a gold pass discount.

We took a look at the junk in the "Everything under $10" store and then headed over to Racer. I do think Racer is trying to be a good coaster, but brakes and a rough ride are keeping it down. I have to wonder why the south side of Racer seems to get more care and attention than the north side.

From Racer, we spotted a short line for Monster and jumped in it just at the right time. A queue started forming behind us, to the point they went from using only two arms, to using 4 of the 6 arms. I didn't get as much spin as I did a couple weeks prior, but Monster is more about bouncing up and down anyway.

We declined a ride on Dodgems, but did snag a ride on Zephyr joining a mostly full cycle just before it started. Zephyr set us up well to go back and chek on Flight of Fear. The line was just back to the door, but using the short route. I mentioned, for probably the zillionth time, my idead of turning the UFO room of the queue into a Gravitron pre show. All in all, it wasn't too long of a wait for the front seat upgrade. The seatbelts do seem to be shorter in the front seat, but not so short I can't fit.

After riding Flight of Fear, we checked the line for Firehawk, but it was still longer than we wanted to wait, so we continued our way around the park with a stop at Shake, Rattle and Roll for a walk on ride, then over the Beast for a near walk on ride. I think the love affair for the Beast is coming to an end for lots of people. It just doesn't seem to draw people the way it did, and that's with the slower moving line. My ride in the back seat was, unfortunately, on the train we have dubbed "Ol' Square Wheels" Man that was brutal. For a coaster that really doesn't offer that much, it sure can deliver the pain.

After Beast we settled into Diamondback for the rest of the short evening, wht with an 8pm close and all. Our seat assignments were getting a little better but not quite where we eally wanted. One annoyance with Diamondback is that they went with exit through retail. There seems to be an ongoing war between the park and the photo booth regarding the chain for the gift shop bypass. Lately, though people don't even get to the chain as more and more people are ducking under the rail that separates the exit from the ADA entrance. They really should just get rid of that railing and make it one big exit, that can also be used as an ADA entrance like any other ride at the park. It's most annoying in the final hour of operation when you are trying to cram as many rides in as you can. For our final ride of the night, after park close, the seat assigner just said "Everybody find a seat" we managed to be in the back seat for the final ride of the night, The airtime on this ride, in the back seat, with a loose lap bar is unreal.

After that, we decided to grab dinner at Culver's which is most noteworthy for the fact that Culvers was out of their famous Root Beer.

Then, not a week later, I was back at the park. This time for a speial event. The park was having a reunion for anybody that has ever worked for the park. Registration was free if you had your own admission and only $22 if you needed a ticket. The picnic lunch was an extra $10 either way. The website was vague on this point, however, leading some season ticket holders to buy the $22 tickets they didn't need. I, however, registered and bought the meal ticket and waited until I got the park to see if I needed to cough up te $22.

When I got to the park, I wondered why they even did web event registration. I walked up to a group sales window, I registered again on a paper form, and was given an event wristband (which wasn't valid for free drinks) and a schedule of events. had chosen to wear the KECO era employee jacket as it was a bit cool today, and a Paramount era Star Shirt. Some had on even older park garb and nametags and such.

We met at the metal detectors, where they waved us in, and the first activity of the day is the event wristband got you into the gold pass ERT on Beast and Diamondback. We headed to Diamondback and I think I managed like 7 rides during ERT. The best part about ERT was there was no seat assigner, and for some reason while the line for seat 16 was long, seat 15 was a walk on. I took numerous seat 15 rides, and we even had to wait out a 5-10 minute spot of downtime. As ERT was nearing and end I decided to put my "It's Saturday" park touring plan into operation. While ET was wrapping up, I headed towards Beast in perfect time to hit the rope drop into Coney.

I headed right back to Firehawk. Here is where my luck got real good. I walked right up into the station and took a seat on a train. Presumeably the first train of the day and they were waiting for it to fill before dispatching it. So we took our ride, which was fun as always for Firehawk, and when we returned to the station the ride had gone down for some reason. So I got my no wait Firehawk ride in with the slimest of boarding windows. While in the area, I ducked into the Flight of Fear builing and managed a real short wait for that coaster.

Taking stock in the situation, its now 10:20, and I have already been on the three biggest rides in the park. I knew I should next dart to Action Zone.

Once I arrived in Action Zone, I darted for Drop Tower. It was maybe a two cycle wait at that point, which is very good for Drop Tower. I next zipped over to Invertigo but was stopped by a welcoming committee by the restroom building informing me it was closed. As was Stunt Crew Grill as it is getting its Slaugherhouse makeover for Haunt. I walked back and scored the Delirium ride after a short wait.

After that, I noted Invertigo was open again, so I darted over there, just in time to wait through another downtime. Somebody in line mentioned it was the third downtime this morning. I persisted and some time later I took stock in the fact it was only 12:30 and I had all the low capacity stuff out of the way.

I headed back to the usual wlak on ride on Flight Deck. I did note that some of the fence for Son of Beast's queue is missing, not much, but a little bit. Flight Deck actually had a line that stretched back to just around the re ride gate. I wasn't expecting this. I waited it out, and right around 1pm, I delcared Action Zone done, as it was too cool for Congo Falls.

Next up, Oktoberfest, I was able to get the Viking Fury ride with no problem, Adventure Express had practically a full queue, not that it means much for Adventure Express. I then cleared Oktoberfest off the slate and moved onto Coney Mall. I had a reasonable wait for the Racer, just down to the bottom of the ramp. Let's see this means its 1:30 and I just need Vortex, Beast and Backlot to complete the major coasters. I would never get to Vortex or Backlot.

I headed up Coney Mall and noted an overflowing Vortex queue. Having not had breakfast, and with a 2pm Beast tour scheduled, I skipped Vortex, and Backlot was back into the queue maze which is an instant disqualification. The pizza booth line was flowing back onto the midway and wasn't moving, the potato works line was stretched across the midway and was a slow go. At around 1:50 I bagged on it was well, and went to Beast without breakfast or lunch.

I wasn't there to ride Beast, but part of the day's events, which seem to folow the parks standard special event schedule is a walkback of Beast. It was the usual photo walkback where you walk back the road that goes alongside the brake run, then walk out alongside the lift hill to a spot right around the bottom of the first drop and the curve immeidately afterwards. This particular area is prime photo taking real estate. Some time was given for photos and a Beast operator came bak for a Q&A. While there were some coaster enthusiasts in the group (hey working at a park and becoming a park nut tend to go together) there were enough non enthusiasts asking cetain questions about the Beast which the coaster nuts would answwer in unison. We did get to walk back as far as the motorhouse for lift 2 before turnng around. It's been a while since tours have gone deep into Beast woods all the way to the very back of the ride. This tour, however, did go where no other Beast tour I have taken part of has gone before, we went up by the station end of the ride to take a look at motorhouse 1, the transfer shed, and the first lift.

After that our tour ended and we were escorted back to the midway. Fro there I latched onto a group with Adam and his friends/relatives. e took a look through the Emporium, we took a ride on the Racer, we took another look in the Emporium before headig up to the front of the park by the Kings Island logo for the group photo.

After the group photo, I needed to get something to eat, so I stopped by Cinnabon to try one of their famous cinamon rolls, which I don't think I had ever had in the past. Yum. While in the Emporium, I noted a full size Joe Cool/Kings Island flag. Now, you know I am a flag collector, so I asked at the Emporium, but was told they were out of stock, which led me to the Snoopy shop in planet Snoopy. They had a few of them, and at only $7.95, I thought it was a pretty reasonably priced item. So I bought one, and while waiting in the check out line, I spotted a rack of Peanuts DVD's They had one with all the Peanut's holiday specials, at $65.99 I left that well enough alone.

By this time the park was getting insanely crowded. I walked around a bit looking at the insane lines for rides, I mean it IS Saturday, of a holiday weekend, with perfect weather, after all. I decided to take a ride on the train. It was a shortened ride as they had already closed the water park for the night, so no stop there. By this time it was about 5:10, lunch isn't till 5:30 but I figured it would take that long to get onto any of the rides. I made my way to the picnic grove to meet an already formidable looking line waiting at the picnic grove gate. Between group picnics and the "Backyard BBQ public picnic" the grove is quite popular. So we stood around in a rapidly growing line until 5:30 and entered the grove. They collected the e-tickets but did not scan them, and we were directed to the Firehawk shelter. They have upgraded the soft drink station from a manned booth to having three self serve fountains. I grabbed a free drink while waiting in line for the food.

Teh spread was the typical: potato salad, baked beans, pull pork BBQ, hot dogs, chicken tenders, watermelon and popsicles. I reunited with Adam's group and we had dinner. The best thing on the bar was the pull pork BBQ.

After dinner, we headed back to Beast. Beast had a full queue all the way through all three queue mazes and starting to spread out into Beast Plaza. It must have taken 60-90 minutes in line, to be rewarded with a mediocre Beast ride. The good news it at least it was starting to get dark. We then had some of that strange coasternut behavior where you stand around trying to figure out what to do instead of actually doing anything. We eventually wound up on Adventure Express. A quick ride there and it was time to head to International Restaraut for more food. A quick wristband check, and it was upstais for us. They had all the typical reception foods: cheeseboard, relish tray, fruit tray, quiche, sweedish meatballs, chips, pretzels and soft drinks. We dined on reception foods while we watched slide shows of old park photos featuring staff members, intercut with the parks 20th aniversary TV special. A few brief remarks of thanks were offered, and people had time to mingle and recall park memories and the like. We watched the fireworks show from the dining room, and were then asked to remain there until we were escorted back to Beast for ERT.

I use the term escorted loosely as we pretty much just walked back to ERT as well as salmon trying to swim upstream against the throngs of exiting guests. We got to Beast Plaza and it was hurry up and wait. We got the usual looks like "Don't you know the park is closed" After a bit of this, they moved us into the queue area but held us on the ramp before the line split. All told, I bet we waited nearly 45 minutes to a hour for the ride to close for the day to the public. After that we were initially going to be offered one ride on Beast, but some of us were lucky enough to get two rides. After that it was the long arduos walk through the near empty park to get back to our cars.

Next up: Fall Affair at Holiday World

TR: Kings Island - August 15, 2010

2010-08-28T12:49:00.002-04:00

Trip Report: Kings Island
Mason, OH
August 15, 2010

***************************

"That sky doesn't look good at all"

The day felt perfect. After battling a month of 90 degree plus days, this day finally felt kind of cool and livable. Just the kind of day to go visit your local theme park. It's true that I didn't get to the park until 1:45, but such are the luxuries afforded the season pass holder, right?

So at around 1:45, I effortlessly made my way through the security checkpoint and the main gate and headed to International Street. For the majority of August, the park had teamed up with Komen, a cancer charity. To that end, Komen was selling discount tickets right off the parks web site, where Komen would get a donation for each ticket sold. More visual was the raffle for a new car. This wasn't some low key raffle. You entered the park and to one side of the fountain you saw a giant inflatable pink rubber duck, and on the other side a sales table where you could buy your own, much smaller, pink rubber ducks.

So, I went up to the sales table, and handed over a $20 to get 5 of the small rubber ducks. It's actually a pretty involved process, you have to fill out a registration card for your ducks, all the while the attendant pulls some pink rubber ducks out of a box, and affixes barcoded decals to their bottoms. The attendant then scans the barcodes into a computer system that acts as both a cash register and a tote machine. I say it acts like a tote machine as when the barcodes are scanned it prints out little tickets for the purchaser to retain that shows your duck numbers. The barcode decal sheets contain two copies of each barcode, the other is attached to your registration card. Presumably, the cards head to a data entry pool.

With the handling of cash, filling out of paperwork, and the ducks prepared, you are led through a gate and down a stepping stone trail. At the end of the trail, there is a railing separating you from the royal fountain. At this point you are expected to "chuck" (their term) your ducks one by one into royal fountain. Apparently these ducks are not allowed in the deep end of the pool as a swimming pool style rope has been installed restricting the ducks to the one end of the fountain. Oh, you also get a little pin to show you donated. Apparently, other things around the park also went pink, like the Kings Island flag at the top of International Street. I received a brochure that said to look out for special pink foods, but I didn't come across any, not that Particularly looked for them.

Okay, now I'm feeling good, I supported a charity, I'm at the park, the heat is under control. I turn around from chucking my ducks, look up into the sky and it is ugly. Life's just not fair. I sprint to Diamondback hoping to get a couple rides in before the skies break loose.

I arrive at Diamondback and all three trains are sitting there empty and the ride is closed. Not comprehending the sight in front of me, I start to dash towards Beast. It starts to dawn on me when I notice White Water Canyon is closed. I barely thought twice when I noted Crypt was closed, that's pretty standard anyway. I made it back to Beast and it was closed, and I got the news that all the rides were closed. Checking my watch, 1:52. There is a 2:00 showing of Snoopy on Ice, but that's way up by the main gate. I do a big sprint from Beast to the main gate, and why does there have to be that steep hill by Tower. I plop into a seat at the Kings Island Theatre right around 1:59. The show, of course, starts late as just about everybody in the park, it seems, it finding their way into the show.

I think I like Endless Summer better. Don't get me wrong, they did cover all the great Peanuts material, like the Great Pumpkin, Valentines Day, Charlie brown and the empty mailbox, being called a blockhead, and failing under the pressures of a little league baseball game, in a scenario closer to "Casey at the Bat". I think the scene that seemed to resonate the most with the audience was "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron" where through a rope and pulley arrangement, Snoopy flies across the theatre on his doghouse, then glides across the stage riding atop his doghouse while the song is played. Ironic in that I think that scene has no skating whatsoever. Another favorite scene was the one that innocently starts out with Charlie giving Snoopy his dinner, and what follows is a scene that is pure Las Vegas showroom parody, Oh, and who could resist Woodstock riding on a miniature Zamboni.

When the show ended I headed to Action Zone and noted much better skies. I ended up skipping Action Zone after I noted that Delirium, Drop Tower, and Invertigo didn't have particularly long lines, but I wanted to get on a ride somewhere, with some instant gratification. I know where to head for that, Adventure Express it is.

The ride was a walk on, as usual, but I actually waited a couple trains to take a front seat ride. Paging the show department, I'm used to the effects in tunnels 1, 2, and the special lighting and fog in tunnel 3 to be out of service. What I thought was distressing on this ride is the sounds of the lift hill collapsing under you were not being played on the lift hill speakers. That's the one effect that works even when nothing else on the ride does. The big boss dudes eyes were lit up, but not the molten lava nor did he recite his lines. At least most of the drummers were drumming. The good thing, is that Adventure Express could stand alone as a great mine ride even without all the special effects.

From Adventure Express I headed over to Racer, and wound up taking back seat rides on both the Red and Blue Racers. They were running two trains on each side, and were only able to half fill trains at that. I was expecting them to close one side or remove trains, and maybe they did later. It's no surprise that I have been mentioning the weight loss. I was a little surprised when I pulled back on the safety bar on Red Racer and got three clicks out of it with no effort. Remember last year even getting the second took work. I took more care to stop at 2 on Blue Racer. I'm just glad to report that Racer has airtime this year. No, it won't be competing with Voyage anytime soon, but there were a couple good airtime moments.

From Racer, I headed down and saw that Monster was a walk on, hey maybe the storm cleared the place out. Not only was it a walk on, but they were just finishing up a ride cycle, so I really did walk right in. Monster seems to have been the subject of a performance improvement project. What they have done is paint 4 dots on the ground just inside the ride fence. The way it used to work is the ride stopped, they opened the exit gate (which is right next to the entrance gate) then unloaded the sweep, walked back over closed the exit gate, opened the entrance gate, counted and grouped riders, closed the entrance gate, loaded the tubs, then walked back to their station. This meant they had to visit each tub twice. Now they open the entrance gate first, count off and group riders, have them wait on the dots, then they unload the tubs, and as they unload the new riders load in. That way they only have to visit each tub once. It also saves an extra trip back to their station to close the exit and open the entrance.

From there I headed to X-Base, otherwise known as long line Base. Both coasters were advertising 45 minute waits, and I apparently chose wrong. I went with Flight of Fear first. The wait was entirely inside the hangar, with the room about 75% full. This is opposite the way they had been running the ride earlier this year by holding people in the outdoor queues first. You know, I don't mind waiting 45 minutes for a ride, but it's sometimes the people around me that I have to wait 45 minutes with. Line jumping is rampant, and the people around me had maturity levels about half of what I would guess their age to be, and that might be an insult to 8-9 year olds all over the place.

Whatever, I was much later, in the back seat of Flight of Fear, with a working seatbelt buckle. This is key in that I was able to get it to glide quite easily over the latchplate, and actually latch before the ride operator got to me. That meant I was able to ride with the loosest safety bar I can remember on this ride in a long time. Accordingly, that made for one of the best Flight of Fear rides in a long time, well except for the whole complete stop on the mid course brake nonsense.

I next bought a Lemon Chill, and the Dippin Dots stand person was unable to tell me about WindSeeker. I headed to Firehawk, and I noted that only about a third of the large queue maze was in use, both stations open. So far so good. About halfway through the line, the announcement came that the park was suspending ride operations for weather. We wait it out a bit longer, after most people have left. A second more stern anouncement is made that we really should be moving to Festhaus due to a severe storm on its way. We quickly exit Firehawk's line, and just as I am reaching the greeter booth for Firehawk, the skies open up big time. There is no way I am dashing all the way back to Festhaus, particularly when Flight of Fears outside queue area is right here. I duck under shelter and wait out the storm staying nice and dry. It wasn't even that great a storm for storm watching.

After the rain subsides to a dull trickle, I make my way back to Firehawk when I overhear the greeter comment that their ride is usually one of the last to be cleared to reopen. I decide to head towards Vortex. With the rides still closed, I admit I did roll a few bowling balls, and toss some wiffle balls into goblets. Did you know with a season pass discount, you can get the cost per play of the Goblet Toss down under 50 cents a ball. Mind you the prizes I received reflect a price under 50 cents a ball.

I notice Troika is running, so I head down that way, and after surviving the flooded out queue area, have a 1 cycle wait for Troika, such is the life of being the only open ride in the area. Troika is a steady performer, it's not a bad ride, but I still miss the ride that used to sit opposite it on the midway.

By this time Vortex had just reopened, and I took advantage of the fact Troika exits right next to Vortex entrance to snag a walk on front seat ride on Vortex. Vortex is, of course, another solid consistent performer. I continue the walk on coaster tour with a stop at Backlot Stunt Coaster. Okay, for this one the line was just over the bridge, and the bypass gate was open, so a real short walk to the greeter to get stuck with a crappy seat assignment in row 5. Wait, a seat assignment, I don't recall this ride using a grouper on my earlier visits this year! Backlot is holidng up better than Adventure Express in the show department. At least the major show scene and the police car lights work. Of course, every other bit of show has been stripped from, or was never really installed on the ride. How long till they 86 the show scene, go down to two trains, and just have the trains fly right through the show scene brake?

Continuing my way around the park, I stop at Beast. After all these years, it is so nice they figured out a way to totally shunt off the first queue house. The line was just back to where you decide front or back half of the train. Mind you, that split point is at the top of the big ramp this year, instead of the bottom. So, a short time later and its the second to back seat on Beast. You really thought I was going to ride the back of Beast in a wheel seat? At least I was not, apparently riding Beast in "Old Square Wheels" as we dubbed one of the trains back in April. Beast is still mediocre, but it still feels like no trip to the park is complete without at least one ride on it.

Okay, enough foolishness, time to head to Diamondback. For my first three trips on Diamondback, I employed the single rider line. It wasn't that the regular line was long, it was just back to the greeter using the shortest possible path, it was just that the single rider line was being ignored. The first time there were three people in front of me for single rider, the next two times I literally walked right up to the seat assigner. The seat assigner apparently had me pegged for a Row 13 kind of guy, I swear it was either Row 13 or Row 6 on every ride, with all but one in row 13. On Diamondback Row 13 is perfectly acceptable, you could do far worse. (say rows 7-12). I think the black marker lines on the lap bar columns have been removed or have just worn off, I just don't see them anymore. I pull the clamshell down to what feels right, and I didn't have them need to push down on it once. This is where the airtime is at in the park. It really is once of the best coasters Kings Island has installed in quite some time. On ride 4 the single rider line got long again, as it tends to do. By ride 5 I used the main line queue. Seriously when the main line is that short, and the single rider line is down the stairs and rounding the corner, its not worth it.

After that, I decided I was hungry. I was right next to Rivertown Junction Dining Hall, and they have these LED panels outside the restaurant which were advertising that it is a great place to eat late. Figuring that with the season pass discount, it's just as much as any other place in the park, I headed for the door. To bad it closes at or before 7 on a 10 o clock close. So much for being a great place to eat late.

I looked at Snoopy's Flying Ace, but with a 20 minute wait, I skipped it. Surf Dog was closed, Woodstock's Express (Beastie) was closed. I found it interesting that after 35 years they needed to put a sign at the split between the paths for Beastie and the adjacent car ride telling which path is for which ride. I mean it's pretty straightforward there.

I headed to Boo Blasters on Boo Hill, the sign said it was a 30 minute wait but something didn't look right. From a distance the ride looked to be closed, but when I got closer to it, it was just the rail blocking the old speed lane entrance. I walked down into the indoor queue, passing the 3D glasses vendor, and walked into an empty lobby. Not only that, I walked right up to the ride entrance. I think there were maybe 5 people ahead of me in line. I noted they did put better lighting on the safety signage that I commented was unreadable due to light in my prior trip report, so maybe they do read these things.

It's so easy to just say they merely did an overlay of Scooby Doo by removing any Scooby characters or associated intellectual properties (like Scooby Snacks), and you may recall that Scooby Doo was merely a custom theme overlay to their existing Ghost Blasters ride, One might assume that Boo Blasters is really Ghost Blasters, but it's not. The big change is the ride takes a change of character from being light and funny, lie the Disney Haunted Mansion, into something a bit darker and scarier. A lot of skeletons have been added, and the Ghoul on the fog screen really steps up the fright level of the attraction, but its still kind of kid friendly with no guts, gore, or violence depicted.

I started getting those hunger pangs again. I went to International Street Pizza, and nothing there really turned me on. Particuarly when they want $6 for two slices when I can get a loaded 4 toppings LaRosas pizza outside of the park. The hoagies in the case looked even more depressing than the ones in an actual LaRosas, and I thought those have gone downhill. Didn't really want Skyline either. I wound up grabbing an insanely overprices burger and fries basket from Festhaus ($9) but when they tried to get me for $4.25 for a soft drink, I put my foot down. I asked for the ice water, which they were glad to give me, in a 5 oz. medicine cup, just like Six Flags St. Louis did last year. I just ordered $9 worth of food, and you can't give me a full size cup of ice water. It's not like I'm trying just getting a drink on the midway.

Anyway, thanks to the free toppings bar, the burger was actually pretty good, and I ate it while watching Too Much Television. It's your typical theme park hand waving musical revue, this one set, as you might guess to television theme songs. TV's around the room also played clips from the show being depicted. Yes, they did include some Brady Bunch Kings Island episode clips.

After the show, I headed to Action Zone just in time to see Delirium close down. I headed to what would turn out to be a two cycle wait to ride Drop Tower. I got lucky when I was about 6 from the gate and they called for a single rider. This is another ride it was nice to ride with a loose safety harness, so I could better appreciate the free fall part of the ride. I noted the construction going on at the Son of Beast station, rumored to be for some kind of Haunt.

I finished up Drop Zone,just in time to walk onto Delirium. What timing, and what a great ride on Delirium. I then headed back to Firehawk, where I noted Adventure Express was closed, the old Rock Shop seems to have been significantly cut down in size, and I got a surprise at Firehawk. The park is being deceptive about their queues. I get to firehawk and the queue area right inside the gate that is usually only used when the main queue house is full was in use. I walk around the ride a bit, and can see the main queue house is, in fact, empty. I think Disney calls this tactic at the end of the night stacking. So with only about a 15-20 minute wait, I was on Firehawk. Firehawk at night is a great ride, or as Eric would say "Vertical Loop on Your Back!"

From Firehawk, I took a look around the Snoopy Starlight Spectacular. This time the flowers were open, but they didn't close,so I never have seen them open and close like I have seen depicted in some videos. After that I couldn't help but end the night with two more rides on Diamondback, with the second ride being during the fireworks. Forget riding Beast to end the night, Diamondback is where it is at!

I did make one last stop at Graeters on the way out of the park, who were clearly not staffed for the after park close rush. Then I headed out. Next park, who knows!

TR: Ride The Ducks - Newport, KY - 8/7/10

2010-08-10T12:50:00.003-04:00

Trip Report: Ride The Ducks
Newport, KY
August 7, 2010

**********************************

"Let's see it this duck is all it's Quacked up to be"

First, a bit of background, I was headed to Newport on the Levee to partake of Goettafest. That's one of those local festivals centered around food, in this case the local product Goetta. Since I had the day to myself, I decided to combo a trip to Goettafest with a ride on the ducks.

Newport Ride The Ducks is a relatively new operation, started in 2008. I believe they started in 2008 with one borrowed duck and shared resources with the Newport Aquarium, which happens to be owned by the same people. I hadn't gotten around to trying out the local ducks for a couple reasons. First, I had already experienced the novelty of riding a duck in Biloxi, MS, being possibly one of the last to ride that duck before Katrina hit, and secondly, being from Cincinnati, how much could I really gain from a sightseeing tour of a place I have lived 37 years? Turns out, quite a lot.

They offer several ticketing options: phone, web, in person at both their own ticket booth in the middle of the main outdoor area of Newport on the Levee as well as at the Newport Aquarium. The web based system is pretty straightforward, and the service charges of $1 (I don't know if that's per ticket or per order since I only bought one) is pretty reasonable. The extra $1 is worth it for the peace of mind of knowing for sure you have a seat at the time you like. Just a note for those traveling with small children, if they are under 3 they are free, but they still require you request a free ticket, presumably so they can keep track of passenger count. Parking is also plentiful and located just under the levee for about $2-$5 depending on when you visit.

I noted that they must not put all of their tour times out for web ticketing, as the board posted next to the ticket office had several more options than the website. Again, presumably so that they do have tickets left for walk up or impulse sales. They request for you to arrive at the Duck Dock about 10 minutes before your scheduled tour. The Duck Dock is located on street level next to Third Street right by the bus stop. If you've made it to the Levee and the Ride the Ducks ticket booth, just take the path between Habeneros and Sweet Dreams and go down the stairs by Johny Rockets and you'll run right into it.

The Duck Dock shares space with one of the most bizarre attractions I have seen (and as a coaster enthusiast, I have seen some strange stuff at fairs): a real circus flying trapeeze where they invite you to try your hand at the circus aerial act. I can't imagine the waivers that go along with that. Anyway in the same fenced in area, Ride The Ducks has a greeter stationed in a little booth. He is there to answer any questions, welcome guests, and assist in the loading of the ducks. One important thing to note is he can't sell tickets, so bear that in mind. So I entered the fenced off area, and was directed to a shade tent with benches until my tour time.

I had the noon tour, and around 11:45 we see a duck return and, just like Disney, people dash for the boarding area. The greeter tried to tell people that they wouldn't be loading for another 10 minutes, so why not enjoy the shade instead of standing out in the sun. They have a roped off area directly behind the greeters station where they have the next group line up, and before we boarded te greeter made note that although they don't try to get you wet, there is the chance of getting wet on the ride, and that due to the design of the craft, those in the back rows have a bigger chance of getting wet than those in the front. Choose your seat accordingly.

After that the greeter hands out toys to all passengers that they have dubbed "Wacky Quackers" It's trademarked, just look on the bottom of your Wacky Quacker. This is basically a yellow plastic duck call in the shape of a duck's beak. As you might imagine, they have the inherent property that whomever is handed one can't resist trying them out. Those around me commented that when you have about 20 of these in one place, the sound is similar to the noisemakers used at World Cup games. I'm not sure about using white writing on the lime green lanyards, as it is quite hard to see. One suggested use is as a way to wake people up who are oversleeping, like your teens back home,

Having been properly outfitted it is time to commence boarding procedures. Here is hwere you hand in your tickets, and exit through a gate out onto third street. There is a somewhat unusual situation as you are boarding from a city street, so watch out for those pedestrians as you head to the duck. On the way to the duck, you (or your group) is asked to stand alongside the duck and pose for the camera. They use a strange pose where you are supposed to hold your right hand out, palm up. This is for reasons that aren't apparently clear at the time. You are advised that stopping for a photo is not optional.

After your photo, you are asked to walk around to the back of the duck, climb the ladder, and find a seat. While waiting for the ride to begin they have the Ride the Ducks theme song playing on the speakers, its one of those songs that's purposely designed to roll around in your head for hours if not days after the ride ends. So one by one, people get photos, and board the duck. Once the entire group is on boad, the boarding ladder is raised so the tour may begin.

After the welcomes, where you are introduced to your captain and your guide, come the safety announcements. First off are the required notices you get whenever you ride on a tour boat - life jacket and evacuation procedures. They have said jackets in two rows running all the way from the front to the back of the duck on each side, with children's sizes on one side, and adult on the other. Then the land based safety announcements about being mindful to keep everything inside the duck, don't stick anything outside the windows, to remain seated during the land portion of the tour, and to be mindful of any winds that may steal hats and glasses. With that, the tour can begin. The narration, as you might expect, does contain just about every bad Duck or Quack pun they can think of, as well as some humorous, maybe not quite accurate stories they call Duck Tales.

The tour starts on 3rd street and heads right across what used to be the Central Bridge into Ohio. Here is where you have the icebreakers about where everybody is from, and who traveled the furthest to get here. A family from Pittsburgh won that, with almost all of the other passengers being locals. We didn't have a full load, but it had a nice size group. From there you drive around the base of US Bank Arena on your way to the Public Landing. Not much to see in that stretch, so they play a little music and our guide announces that our captain is very excited, he's been practicing with the ducks all summer, and today is his first trip with passengers, thanks to that license he got from a box of Captain Crucnh, where else do you get a captain's license.

After the laughter dies down, they assure you your captain is,i fact, a certified captain. You start to roll down the Public Landing and they stop, this tie for the water tour safety instructions. One ou tour, we were advised to brace yourself on the seat in front of you for the plunge into the water, and of course to make as much noise as you can. We had attracted the attention of a couple families who were sightseeing from Public Landing. The dads turned to their children, motioned towards the duck with a "Watch This" expression.

There is a pause where they put out a call on the radio, and then blow the air horn before entering the water. We are advised that most boats have the engine in the rear, but ducks have the engine in the front, which means they have to enter the water with a bit of speed. The front has a windshield that flips up to help deflect the huge splash that occurs when the duck hits water. In truth the splashdown isn't really rough or jerky, just a bit unnerving to just drive right into the river.

After a few seconds for everybody to realize that, yes, we really are floating, they put Rolling on The River on the sound system, and begin the water tour.

Points of interest on the water tour are the Showboat Majestic, the last surviving showboat, they mentioned the upcoming show schedule and a bit of the history. It was owned by one family with 11 children. Between them, they would play all the parts, so they had no need of outside actors or other help. Legend has it the boat is haunted when the husband jumped overboard.

Next up is US Bank Arena - home to your Kelly Cup champion Cyclones, and also the second to last place Elvis played before he died (the last place being Market Square Arena).

Then its the riverboat memorial, a free attraction that consists of a giant paddle wheel mounted over a ring of smokestacks. If you can solve the puzzle and visit the smokestacks in the right order, the stacks blow and calliope music plays.

you then pass Great American Ballpark, but there is more on that with the land tour. They did note that the smokestacks in centerfield (where the home run fireworks come from) have 14 bats on top, one of the stadiums numerous subtle tributes to Pete Rose. They also pointed out the Tundra truck that can be won by a fan if it ges hit during the game. Apparently, it has never been hit by a home run ball during a game, but it has seen some abuse during batting practice. If not won in that manner, it will be given away on Fan Appreciation Night. The interesting this is, they hand you the keys, how do you get it home?

The tour then passes under the Roebling Suspension Bridge, originally wood decked, but now has a steel grate deck that is known as the Singing Bridge. They pointed out the tarps we see are from a sandblasting and repainting effort, and the particular shade of blue the bridge is painted has been named Robeling Blue by the paint company. They talked about how the suspension bridge was a fairly novel concept when it was built. At first it wasn't finished because it was built around the tie of the Civil War, and they didn't want any easy access between the North and the South. When it was finished the people didn't trust the new style bridge design. The ducks version of the story goes that they hired PT Barnum to parade his elephants back and forth across the bridge to show it was safe, the bridge climb version of the story says they got people to walk across the bridge by offering free beer in the center of the bridge.

A bit further down, and its Paul Brown Stadium, where they noted that due to the land, they built the stadium as far out and as high as they could, to maximize seating, but they still wanted ore seating, so they claim the football field sits 10 feet under water level, and the stadium is equipped with pumps to keep the water from flooding the stadium.

Shortly after Paul Brown Stadium you turn around, and they point out the murals that line Covington Landing, and show off the new ritzy Ascent. It's condos, its designed to pay tribute to the bridge nearby, and the cheapest condo in the building (ground floor) is around 800 thousand. The most expensive was the penthouse which Ken Griffy Jr sold recently for upwards of 5 million.

We then go past Riverboat Row, a row of historic houses alongside the river on the Kentucky side. It's noted that they are all historic landmarks, so any alterations and rehab work must be approved by the historic district. It was noted that they occasionally offer public tours and that some of the houses still contain secret rooms from their former use on the underground railroad.

Then the interactive part of the tour begins, no I'm not talking about the Wacky Quackers but this is the captain's break time. Essentially this is where they let the "Kid Captains", meaning any children who are interested, to try their hand at 'driving the duck' for a short time. As an added bonus, if you send your camera up with the child, the captain will get a photo for you. So some time is spent while the lineup of children each have had their 15-30 seconds of fame as a duck Kid Captain. After the Kid Captains are finished the real captain explains the reason they are able to offer this opportunity is that you may have noticed the amazing speed at which ducks travel in water, approximately 6mph. Plenty of time for the captain to intervene, particularly when you are cruising in the center of an empty part of the river.

This was when we got to learn a bit about the craft itself. The DUKW, designed in the 1940's as a troop transport vehicle in WWII. Their ducks differ from those used in the military as they have been lengthened to allow more seats to be added, cushioned front facing seats have replaced two long side facing wooden benches, the canvas canopy has been replaced with a more substantial canopy, and the machine gun mount has been removed from approximately where the tour guide sits. The other trivia is that they were manufactured primarily by women, in the Rosie the Riveter era where the women took the places in the factories of the men who had been shipped off to war. Our guide didn't miss the chance to chime in that since they were built by women who actually read and followed the assembly manual, these 1942 vehicles are still operating today for your enjoyment. I note their website claims they make all their own ducks from the ground up, so I'm not sure I'm buying the "this 1942 vehicle you are riding in" line. Anyway to round this back around, due to the slow nautical speed, these were used mainly for troop and supply transport out of combat zones as if they were encountered by the enemy, they would be a, you guessed it, sitting duck. They attributed the ducks to the origin on that saying.

We then passed by another of their ducks, one with a low serial number, an we were informed that duck was different then the one we were riding in, we could note it rides lower, is shorter, and was actually used in the training for Normandy.

Focusing back on the shorelines, they of course pointed out the Newport Aquarium, which they also own, and how it was designed to look like a viking ship, and also pointed out the helicopter tours and the BB Riverboats. In other words, they did a pretty good job cross promoting the area's other attractions, case in point they put in a plug for Goettafest.

You then cross back to the Ohio side of the river, and they point out the Serpentine Wall, and how it has 13 steps, one for each of the colonies, at which point you come back around to the Public Landing, they note use of the public landing as a boat ramp and as parking is free, but it might not be the best parking as you have to be mindful of the markings. When the river rises some of the lower rows of parking can go underwater, leading to some expensive tow and repair bills for supposed FREE parking.

At this point you roll back up the Public Landing boat ramp out of the water. We were asked if we wanted the special Tidal Wave splash effect, but were later told that was only a duck tale, and that as hot as its been, the guide would have welcomed any chance to get wet.

Back on land you drive around the other side of US Bank Arena, get a closer look at the paddle wheel sculpture, "Take me Out to the Ballgame" plays as you pass Great American Ball Park, you are then told you will be rounding third and heading for home. That was Joe Nuxall's signature sign off. The special RED street sign for Joe Nuxall Way is pointed out, then the Rose Garden where the white rose marks where Pete Roses 4192 hit landed. The Joe Nuxall statue in Crosley Terrace is pointed out, as is the Hall of Fame and Museum. It is also part of a combo deal they are offering: a Duck ride, Newport Aqauarium, Reds Hall of Fame, and a ticket to a Red's game, all for $48.

Across the street we can see construction, finally, beginning on the Banks Project. Supposedly they have already built what will be the worlds largest underground parking garage, and it will soon have condos, shops, restaurants, and other entertainment, with the Christian Morlein Barrel House signed on as the first tenant.

They point out our newest skyscraper, with the Tiara on top. So built since we are the queen city. It is pointed out the tiara is actually in the design of that for a princess, but the designers liked the look of it the best. It will stand about 86' taller than the Carew Tower. It was pointed out that for just a few bucks you can ride an elevator to the top of the Carew Tower for a great view of the city.

We turn the corner and drive past the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The exterior is brown copper whih will eventually turn green, and is actually three smaller buildings each connected by gateways. The first gateway is built to line up right with the suspension bridge.

You then make a turn onto Vine Street, and begin the downtown Cincinnati part of the tour. During the week they say the people along the street look less than enthusiastic because they have to work, and you get to have all this fun. So they drive through downtown Cincinnati, blasting YMCA on the sound system and asking you to participate with the Wacky Quackers.

You turn onto Fifth and they point out Fountain Square, then Government Square, before asking if anybody had a banana today, then pointing out the Chiquita building, the Taft Theatre and Procter and Gamble. Yes, they included the story about the origin on Ivory Soap. At this point I think I saw visions of the P&G PR guy running out to the duck with a crisp $20 for the guide. Then its Pike to fourth, and the point out the Taft Museum, Lytle Park, the copper boat on the Western And Southern building, before heading back town towards the river. They point out the Western and Southern parking garage which is noteworthy as it is on the former site of the Ft. Washington ammo magazine.

You then head back to Central Bridge to return to Newport. They ask if anybody on this tour is from Kentuky, and if they got wet, then used the Kentucky joke that you've taken care of your annual bath requirement, you can get the captain to sign off on that at the the end of the tour. Speaking of Kentucky, something you might want to know, it's illegal to put an ice cream cone in your pocket. Not because they are afraid it might melt, but the cones were used as bait by people stealing other's horses. We were advised this will come up later in the tour.

We talked a bit about the 1937 flood, and how it was recorded as 79.99 feet to prevent a bonus payout by the insurance companies who would have had to pay a much higher rate on a flood of 80' or more. You then come to the World peace Bell, the worlds largest free swinging bell. They rang it once and it could be heard for miles around and shattered all kinds of windows. Now instead of the intended daily noon ringing, it's only run on important days at about 1/20th the original volume.

You circle the square, and pass the Syndicate, which was once and is again a Newport nightclub. It was noted how this was Vegas before Vegas and how all the headline acts of the days used to play there. They noted the Gangsters Tour the Syndicate offers as a way of telling their history. We wind down the tour with talk about Cincinnati style chili (Skyline, Gold Star or Dixie depending on your 'religious preference') which is of course follwed up by a stop at Graeters Ice Cream, which was pass next. "And what won't you do with your ice cream cone?"

Then its just a block more to return to the Levee. Here is where they thank you for taking the ride, do a not-too-hard Tip Beg for the tour guide, and encourage you to look at your pictures after you leave the duck. They also inform you that by showing your Wacky Quacker, you can get 10% off at both the Welcome Center (AKA their ticket booth and gift shop) or Sweet Dreams.

With that you pull onto Third, the stairs are lowered, people make an orderly exit as the captain and guide help people unload, add their personal thanks (and accept tips, but this is usual and customary for tour guides on any kind of tour bus) You then step off the sidewalk right towards the photo pick up area. They don't have monitors to preview pictures, so while you are on your ride, they print everybody's complete photo pakage, which is available for $20 cash to the attendant.

And then everybody parts and goes their seperate ways.

TR: Sumerfair at Cincinnati Mall - July 15, 2010

2010-07-17T12:18:00.002-04:00

Trip Report: Summerfair at Cincinnati Mall
Cincinnati, OH
July 15, 2010
Midway Provided by: Amusements of America

****************************

And now we take a detour from our usual amusement park visits to drop in on a traveling carnival. Thanks go out to Brian for setting up a group night for the Cincinnati Area Coaster Enthusiasts, better luck next time on getting interest.

As it turns out the group wound up being Brian, Karen, and myself. Before we dove head first into the carnival, we received a tip from the person working the ticket box for the show to visit the mall food court for some discount coupons. So, that's what we did. I don't think we found one open store from the mall door nearest the carnival to the food court. When I say the mall is dead,I mean it's dead. The food court is down to three vendors, one of the two movie theaters is gone. What's sad is they aren't even bothering to remove the signs of the stores that have left. Anyway, we got our coupons, and needed one coupon per person, none of this "one coupon for up to 6 people".

Coupons in hand, and we entered the carnival through a procedure that is just a little bit more complicated than clearing customs entering Europe. This year they erected a perimeter fence all the way around the carnival area, and were running a gated show. So at one end, they had two ticket boxes flanking the only opening in the fence. You went to one of those boxes, and handed over $3 for which you got a ticket. You took that ticket through the opening in the fence where they had a stick joint setup such that it restricted access in and out to two small lanes. At that point you handed in your admission ticket and received an orange starburst handstamp on your left hand. You were then free to go ahead and you still weren't in the carnival area, you then came up to two more ticket boxes, these sold either ride tickets for $1 each, or an unlimited ride pass for $20. Here is where the coupons came in handy, as they were good for $5 off the unlimited ride pass. So I hand over another $15, I get handed another ticket, and I head between the two ticket boxes to another stick joint set up in the middle of the pathway. Here you handed in you unlimited ride ticket,and they put a big obnoxious blue oval A-6 handstamp on your right hand, and then sprinkled a talcum powder like substance over that. With that you could enter the midway. Whew...

We looked around, and the had the rides and stuff basically setup in a rectangle with a row of rides and games down the middle. The front end of the show was anchored by the giant wheel, carousel, and the sideshow acts. In an attempt to be like an amusement park, the sideshow acts were free, and ran on a show schedule instead of continuous performances. They had a small one ring circus, not even in a tent, as well as a thrill show with acrobats, clulminating in the motorcycle globe of death.

The front half was mainly kiddie rides, which we could walk right past. Bumble Bees, Frog Hopper, Construction Zone, Speedway, Wacky Worm (already have the credit), a dragon coaster and more for the kids. We first noted both the Rocking Tug and the Gravitron were signed as "This ride will not operate today" In the case of the Rocking Tug, the ride vehicle was covered in a tarp. Gravitron was at least useful as a lightshow.

So, its about time we put these ride passes to use. We head to the Ring of Fire, an old classic. Unfortunately they were running a no singles rule. Luckily for us, another group of 3 came up. Things worked out. The hardest part of riding the Ring of Fire is the contortion act required to get into the seats, I'm glad I slimmed down, as between me and my temporary for 2 minutes friend, we just fit into the seat, and after squeezing in for the lap bar to lower, we had about every square inch of the bench accounted for. I remarked , "Well, we're not going anyplace", to which the carnie remarked "Oh, sure you are" and pulled the ride start lever. As a way of differentiating themselves from the Bonzai, they focused more on rapid fire looping, yes in both directions, and minimal stop and hang at the top. It was more fun watching the boys in the seat in front of us who were scared and freaking out.

Virtual Ride Ticket Count: 4, 14 more needed to break even.

We next walked over to the Tilt-A-Whirl. Doing something unusual, we crammed all three of us into one car. At first it didn't appear to be working, and we were getting the Tilt but no Whirl ride. Luckily for us we had an operator who knew how to play with the Tilt, as Brian remarked the ride is slowing down, just enough for our tub to start spinning like a top and then sped back up.

Virtual Ride Ticket Count: 8, 10 more needed to break even.

Not having spun quite enough, we headed next to the Wisdom Tornado. Again, we all piled into one car, and Brian and I did our best to keep the ride spinning. It was clear the tubs did not have tub brakes as we had our tub spinning out of control before the ride even started.

Virtual Ride Ticket Count: 12, 5 more needed to break even.

We did walk down to the Wacky Worm, but did not see an operator, so we headed to the back of the lot. The carnival is a bit bigger than last years as it has expanded into the next section of the parking lot. They used the divider between the parking sections for the generators and the like.

Heading to the back section, I was a bit surprised to find the Euro Bobbles present here, in an even smaller pool than Kings Island uses. They were dubbed the Hampster Dance here, and we didn't give them much thought.

The centerpiece ride in the area was the Bonzai, and we headed for it. Okay, get seated, shoulder bars down, then watch fingers as he slams the lap bar down. Yes its very similar to the Ring of Fire, in that you are in a 'train' that is doing vertical loops, and you are upside down at the top. In Bonzai's case, it uses the open-air legs dangling type cars. Also unlike Ring of Fire, they seemed to like to emphasize the stop and hang at the top part of the ride.

Virtual Ride Tickets used: 16, 2 more needed to break even.

Next up was a ride I hadn't seen, it's called the Traffic Jam, and the nameplate seems to indicate it was made by SBI, but I can't seem to find a web presnece for them. Okay, the ride featured a center turret, on top of which is mounted a big arm, on each end of the arm is a ride car, and in the center is a big stairway for you to climb up onto the arm and walk over to one of the cars. The cars are huge, they are square shaped with each side of the square having a bench facing the center. There are either 3 or 5 seats on each bench. In the center there is a decoration of a signpost, to give the visual (better seen from off ride) of four cars in a traffic jam at the signpost. Restraint is by one long overhead lap bar per bench. When the ride starts the 2 cars start spinning, and then the long arm off the center turret starts spining. The ride is not unlike a kinder, gentler Tempest, or half of a Wisdom Storm, except that the main arm is flat, and not angled. Also, unlike the Storm the operator has the ability to vary the speed, and the direction of either the cars, or the main arm. After spinning one way for some tie, we slowed down, "Now, let's try it the other way!"

Virtual Ride Tickets used: 20, 2 to the good,

Next up was the KMG AFterburner/Fireball/Claw whatever you want to call it. The ride has an integrated queue area on the platform, but they weren't using it, instead holding people on the blacktop until the next load cycle. Brian was off taking pictures, so I took the first ride myself, and it actually wound up being a solo ride. Yeah, not many people at the big carnival tonight. My last ride on this very same Afterburner was very short as I did not fit the ride. Thanks to my weight loss program, not only did I fit the ride, the bar dropped and locked all on its own at the start of the ride. The ride program may not be the longest on the show, but it is a very intense program. Unlike the one at the Minnesota Fair that takes forever to get up to speed, this one starts out kicking butt and taking names, and doesn't let up. And hey, this is a FIVE tiket ride.

Virtual Ride Tikets used: 25, 7 to the good.

But wait, there's more! Her come Brian and Karen to the ride, oh well, it's a tough job but somebody's got to to it. Afterburner ride #2!

Virtual Ride Tickets Used: 30, 12 to the good

But wait, there's more! Karen wants a re-ride, Brian isn't so sure. I ride it again with Karen, pushing my stomach spin tolerance to the limit!

Virtual Ride Tickets Used: 35, 17 to the good.

We then slow things down, we skip the Skooter but tour the Mardi Gras Glass House. It's 3 tickets, and consists of a mirror maze on the lower level, some fun house mirrors and a spiral slide on the upper level, and that's it. I didn't make the most graceful slide down, but we aren't scoring style points, are we?

Virtual Ride Tickets Used: 38, 20 to the good.

We cross over the the MTV Video Funhouse. Okay this has the sliding steps, a maze, the roller walk, vibrating floor, spining discs, crazy mirrors and more. The spinning barrel at the end was shut off, as I think they always are in Ohio. I did almost Wipeout! on one obstacle. It looked like yet another roller walk at the end right before the barrel. What I didn't notice is that it isn't flat, it dips into the center, so as soon as I stepped onto it, I rolled at quick speed to the center, then started up the other side, but didn't have enough oomph, so started rolling backwards. All in good fun, right?

Virtual Ride Tickets Used: 41, 23 to the good.

By this time, we were getting ready to leave, but they couldn't resist the Spongebob Squarepants walk through in the kiddie area. "Good Times!" Its a single trailer single floor walk through, but it packs a lot of stunts inside. Air gun, shaking floor, poles to squeeze betwee, crazy mirrors, spinning discs, floor stunts, the back and forth sliding floor planks, and more,

Virtual Ride Tickets used: 44, 26 to the good.

We next headed to the carousel, but upon reading the 155lb. weight limit, moved on from that. We finished up with a ride on the Giant Wheel. Brian took some photos and we got to get a nice overhead view of the carnival.

Virtual Ride Tickets used: 49. 31 to the good.

And with that, it's time for dinner!

TR: HoliWood Nights - Holiday World - June 4/5 2010

2010-07-05T19:08:00.002-04:00

Trip Report: HoliWood Nights @ Holiday World
Santa Claus, IN
June 4 and 5, 2010

"A most interesting HoliWood Nights"

It's been called the Coaster Enthusiasts Spring Reunion, and so on June 4 it's time to travel, once again, to Santa Claus, IN for HoliWood Nights at Holiday World. This time it would be interesting as Cedar Point decided to hold Coastermania on the same weekend. Although it seemed like most people were claiming to be going to the Cedar Point event, more than a few of them actually showed up at Holiday World.

The event package includes ERT with the associated pizza party on Friday, then a full slate of events on Saturday, We liken it to the Hersheypark night before preview offer. As such, we have tried to work out the timing so as not to get to Holiday World too early or too late, and yet make it through Cincinnati and Louisville without getting stuck in traffic.

So Dave picks me up around 4om, which meanswe have smooth sailing out of Cincinnati, and get down to right around Louisville when the traffic guys tell us there is like a half hour delay. We outthink ourselves with mapping software and the like and take one of those shortcuts that turns into a longcut. We saw the University of Lousiville, we got lost in the University, we passed Churchill Downs, we drove through some neighborhoods. Eventually we wind up on I-264 just west of the I-64 bridge. So we get into Indiana,and after a brief pit stop were just as relieved to discover the road work on I-64 is apparently done, so it was again smooth sailing on in to the park.

As we neared the park and got to the traffic light, we noted the signs directing all Holiday World traffic to go straight ahead down the new road to the Legend lot. We ignored that sign, and turned right. We approached the turn into the park, again all the signage is telling us to turn left, so we turn right. We enter the Raven lot they seem to be going out of their way to direct us away from. I still think ventually park expansion will claim the Raven lot. So we go through the drill, find a parking space,do a salmon imitation trying to get to group sales while everybody else is trying to get back to their cars.

We get up to the windows, and I didn't think we were that late, but they had already switched two lanes for those buying tickets and only one lane for checking in. This worked well for me since, due to family issues I don't wish to get into here, I needed to register. Simple affair, I handed them a C-Note and my Club TPR card, they handed me a registration form. While filled out the form, they printed off a strip of tickets and made a nametag for me. I was then presented with the sheet of value coupons, an event itinerary, a nametag, the ticket sheets and a surprise. They made sure to point out to me the changes to the itinerary, which were adding some more rides to the evening ERT's and adding a Wildebeast photo walkback during the morning ERT, and adding 15 minutes to the morning ERT. The most welcome surprise was that I was handed a free ticket to come back later in the season to enjoy the Timberliners. I'd say that, yes, the park went over and above the call of duty to make up for the fact the new Timberliner trains for the Voyage weren't ready yet.

Unfortunately they were out of t-shirts, not that I lack for Holiday World shirts. So, we make the usual run back to the car to drop off all the stuff we don't need tonight, then another salmon run (and here I always thought that was one of the parks kiddie rides) back to the main gate. We entered the park and more or less were funneled to the picnic grove. We got to the picnic grove just in time to catch the end ofWIll's talk about the Timberliners, specifically the Q&A. Suffice to say there are still some adjustments to be made before the Timberliners are ready.

We were then dismissed into the park,and Dave and I headed to Kringles Cafe for the pizza party. I admit I didn't see the loaded baked potato pizza I heard other crave about, and in fact on my first pass through didn't even see the sausage pizza. But we quickly found David Cornell so we had an All Dave table at Kringles. Pizza, chips, veggies, and pops flowed as we had dinner. We all joked about the heartburn inducing qualities of their pizza. I have, for the last several years, eaten at an Indian buffet for lunch the day of the event and claimed that it was all the curry coating my stomach lining that made me immune to this heartburn. This year, no Indian buffet, so the theory is about to be tested. Of course, no stop to Kringles would be complete without redeeming our tickets for a free block of fudge. I tried the mini chocolate this year.

After that, it was back into the park to ride some rides. The way towards 4th of July was blocked, so it was towards Raven for us. We noted they blocked off the path that runs from Raven directly down by Hallowsings, I guess to get more traffic past Legend, So we started the event off with a quick and peppy ride on Raven. One of the benefits of Raven not having the second train is a faster trip up the lift. I wonder how much capacity they really lost. Anyway, it was a nice peppy back car Raven ride to get the party started. I was also glad when I could pull about a foot of belt through the adjustor. Living right is showing benefits at yet another park.

After Raven, it was down past a Pepsi Oasis, and then down to Legend. Legend was getting the amount of love it usualy gets during ERT, which is to say minimal. We sat in seat 3 and managed to get a double ride on it. I keep saying Legend is back and better than ever, and it gets better every year. I can't see why it isn't getting more love. They also seem to reserve the Don't Look Back and wolf's howl just for events now.

But enough with the appetizers, next it was down to Thanksgiving. Our immediate dash to Voyage was halted when we came across a Timberliner car sitting right in front of the ride entrance. This was an "open house" with Will, the Gravity Group guys and more. They were more than willing to talk about the ride, the train, give under the hood tours of the train, let you test out the train, get photos, etc. The lapbar controls were a simple power strip on/off switch. They seemed to like to play with this at times. I had gotten to try the train out at Gravity Groups headquarters in January and had some lingering concerns, these concerns were soon dashed when I sat in this train car, pulled down the much heftier side mounted lapbar. Ah, yes, I can where I now get that complete ring of enclosure. The lapbar is longer, its heftier,it has a huge grab handle, but the unsung hero is a little flat extension that comes down at the end of the bar and helps ensure that complete circle of restraint.

We spent quite some time with the Timberliner car until I just needed a Voyage fix. I got in line, and it was a walk on unless you wanted prime seats. I waited a bit longer to ride in the back seat. The two trains are both missing a back car, but a trash can blocks the old back seat line, and a new wooden fence forms a temporary new back seat line. My first ride would end up being in the red Raven train, nicknamed the Ravage train. I quickly pair with another single rider and is off on the course. The airtime on the outbound leg was there, maybe not in the quanitity I recall but it was there, the secod tunnel had a serious odor problem, the turnaround was just as fierce, and the return leg, complete with odor in the triple down tunnel was just as vicious as alawys. Hence, the ride retains its "Greatest Woodie Ever Built" title.

I liked it so much, I rode again in a middle of the train seat, and got the red train again. After this ride, I could finally pull Dave away from the Timberliner andwetook a middle of the train ride. Red train again. On our way out, I noted the unusual interest in the test seat outside the ride. (Referring of course to the Timberliner) Dave remarked that test seats ususally do generate a lot of interest, but usually from persons too small to ride in them.

We go for a ride in the back of Voyage, and in fact take a couple more rides after that. Each ride is in the red train, through no manipulation on our end. We remarked how improbable that was. Eventually we exit, and the entrance door is closed, meaning day 1 is over. We chat near the Timberliner some more, which means by this time we are about the last people out of the park, and have to make the long arduous uphill trek to the parking lot. We then make the drive to Tell City to the Days Inn whose best feature is the low low price.

Saturday morning comes, and Dave isn't feeling that well. We sleep a little longer and eventually arrive at the park around 10:00. By this time we are pretty much funneled onto the new road and into Legend lot. The park has trams and parking attendants guiding you to a space, not that the parking attendants were doing a particularly good job of it. I have to wonder why parking attendants like to get right in front of the car they are directing, I noticed this same behavior at Cedar Point, they are standing right in front of you waving you forward. At any rate, we park for free, take a free tram, and are soon headed into the park. Rideman gets detained briefly when the ticket taker asked to see his nametag to use a HoliWoodNights ticket, which he had left in the car. "Be sure to stop at Guest Relations for a new one" We head right for Splashin Safari and get our hopes up that maybe they have opened the water park early as we are permitted past the checkpoint. Apparently they allow people down into the locker and changing areas right when the park opens, but don't let them back to the water activities until 10:30. Finally the rules about not being able to return to your locker or leave the morning ERT make much more sense when I see this.

The one thing not on this side of the ropes is a Pepsi Oasis. We head back to Legend to get a drink, and while there take a ride on Legend. It would be the longest we would wait for a coaster the entire trip. Legend had two of the lower switchbacks and the upper switchback open. They need to do something with the entrance as this makes the second visit I have seen people get lost in the queue maze going down paths they didn't need to use. Then after waiting nearly a half hour we get to the station and they are begging for front of the train riders as poor station design makes it hard for people to get towards the front of the train. We take our Legend ride and hurry back down to the water park. We high tail it at high speed all the way back to Bahari and find a spot to hide our stuff. Then wepass avid Cornell on the way to Wildebeast who comments we just missed some downtime, and to be sure to use single rider line.

Single Rider line for our first trip takes about 30 minutes, and I comment "Enjoy your one and only ride" Those in the regular queue report waiting much longer. When we get up to the conveyor belt I note Paula and Will hanging out by the ride getting people opinions and the like. This is a single rider line that works the way it should really work. It goes around the side of the queue area and comes in to the loading area at the back, whereas the regular riders enter from the front. They stage the riders on the red circles, then once a boat loads, they step forwards to the yellow cirlces, any unfilled spots are filled out of single rider line. Then you step forward to the green circles, and then into the slow moving raft. Four persons toboggan style, with backs between each rider. I comment that this is what the Mountain Slidewinder would be like if it were built today. You glide forwards out of the station on a conveyor belt, and out onto s spacer and stop. When the spacer is satisfied there is enough distance between you and the raft ahead it starts and moves you onto the main lift belt. You go up a rather slow belt up to the top of the ride. At the top of the ride, in true log flume style is the attendant responsible for keeping the rafts sperated. This person can stop the lift belt if the raft ahead hasn't made sufficient progress. So you go under a waterfall and into a tube. The slide starts off like any other except that it proceeds to take a series of steep drops, followed by equally steep rises, what's more, some of the rises are way higher than the drops, in a clear nose-thumbing to the laws of physics. What's more you go up the hills faster than you go down the drops. I could mention the science behind it all, but I like Will's answer better - it's Magic! Whats more the slide goes through underground tunnels, there is netting above you to ensure a raft won't fly off the trough ala Roller Coaster Tycoon, but all in all it's a very amazing waterslide. At the end of the ride you come up onto a conveyor belt that slows down after your raft lands on it and eventually comes to a stop for you to unload, the raft then goes around a corner back to load. Due to the way the station is built, there can be no rerides. Does the slide have airtime, oh yes, in abundance. In fact the lighter the group you can get in the raft, the stronger the air is.

After exiting the ride,I note hardly anybody in single rider line, so we duck in there for a quick re ride. I got a lighter load than the first one and got seated more towards the front of the boat, Dave mentioned he thought he was the lightest person in his boat and commented the ride wasn't as good for him.

After this, Dave decided to check out the Bahari wave pool, and I decided to check out Bakuli, the one slide here I haven't ridden. Bakuli's line was only down to just before the split, which meant it was a lot shorter than last year when I looked at it. Waterparks, they just haven't figured out how to beat that whole low capacity problem inherent in water slides. Bakuli is a gimmick ride to be sure, but with three hefty guys in my raft, and owing to luck I got the fun of going down the big steep first drop backwards. Than you swirl around the signature bowl. I don't think the bowl swirling is as random as you may think, with sensors and water jets there to influence your rafts behavior. I think its two times around and then down the poop chute in the center whih leads to the splash pool at the bottom.

I follow this up with a no wait lap around Bahari River. Ah, much better this time now that the lazy river isn'tas log jam crowde as last year. After that I meet back up to Rideman, we retrieved our hidden stashes, we get a free drink and head to Pilgrims Plunge. The line for Pilgrims Plunge way maybe about a third to a half full, still not bad as fast as this ride can move a line. What has changed is he loading area, some minor changes to the way the railings are done, so now the queue lanes instead of all exiting towards a railing, and then all heading through one gate in the waiting area, now function as queue lanes, without gates. A sliding gate has been installed at the bottom of the stairs before the seat queues. We get expressed into the back seat, and I am happy for myself that I was able to self load while the boats were moving. Last year, owing to a depth perception issue, I had a mental block on this and always asked for the boat to be stopped first.

Out on the course, it seems the ride has been given a pep talk, the trip out to the elevator seemed shorter, you still get rained on by the other boat going up the elevator ahead of you. Then its down the drop, and a new windshield is there to help protect the front seat riders from the wave that comes up over the bow. The return to the station has really sped up over last year. We exit the ride, find a seat wall, towel off, then I put on a magic shirt, see with Aquasox on and shorts, the shirt is magical in that with it I can cross over to Holiday World.

We next decide that since we are in swim gear, to head to the Raging Rapids. According to the signs it was about a 20 minute wait. Didn't seem that bad, again owing to the fact the line really never stops moving. Instead of pairs of seats, each person sits alone. I don't know why I put my shirt on here, other than the fact the park rules require it, because we got absolutely soaked, I mean wring your shirt out soaked. I suppose this makes up for last year when we commented about the lack of water damage we recieved. We deicded to follow this up with a ride on Frightful Falls to complete the water ride set. Frightful Falls was a walk on, we commented how rough the concrete trough must be on the logs, and we got some more water. We scared some arriving riders away as they saw us and thought all the water were were currently dripping came from the log flume. It was also the first time my Drachen Fire shirt got noted. A sure conversation starter for coaster enthusiasts.

We then air dried with a ride on Raven, and I note the high dive show is back, and being a flag oollecter I just enjoy the high dive show for all the international flags they use as theming. After Raven, we head to the main gate, get hands stamped, hike back out the parking lot, take the tram to the car. Hey Dave and I got a solo on the parking tram! We changed out in the parking lot, yes this was G rated thanks to thinking it out ahead of time, Then we moved our car up to the front of the Legend lot. Most of the front rows are handicap parking except for an area off to the end that we noted was empty. We had to walk around the tram circle, but were sure it would pay off at the end of the night when there were no trams.

Upon reentering the park, a stop at Kringles for a drink, and then it was the flat ride tour. First up was Paul Revere;s Midnight Ride (Spider) which had a surprisingly short line. Yes, their spider is still high quality, where if you even look at the tub wrong, you start spinning. We, as usual, walked right past the Louis and Clark trail,but also the Liberty Bell Shop. I stopped at Udderly Blue for blue ice cream, in a waffle cone, for about half the price Cedar Fair charges, fora much larger serving.

Next up was the Rough Riders, the cute themed dodgem cars. When they were installed we had comented they must not be getting enough juice as they move sluggishly, but that has been corrected as now they bump each other with authority. Yes, another ride in the park has been given a pep talk.

Next was another test to my weight loss program, I have not been able to ride Liberty Launch the last few seasons for size. I ducked into the single rider line, and took the seat offered to me. Not even a doubt, I easily fit on the ride this year, making me one happy camper. I did note the old liberty launch canvas is now the shade cover for Frightful Falls operator. Liberty Launch may not be as strong as the rides at Indiana Beach and Ocean City, but today it was performing pretty well. Perhaps another pep talk.

We looked at the Star Spangled Carousel, but with a 200# weight limit we knew we were both out of play on that one. Every couple years, we take a ride on the Freedom (or Pioneer) Train and this was one of those years. Yes, we sat in the rear open air car, but as Dave noted, the enclosed car has padded seats. We also noted the front and back seats of each car are smaller than the rest of the seats. It's the parks original ride, and the engine bears the number 1946 in memory. The ride itself is a ride through Mother Goose land, with the characters and telling of those famous rhymes.

From there it was into Fun Town, where we eventually made our way back to the Howler, and then even took a ride on the Howler. Even with reduced size it took me everything I could muster to getmy self contorted into that seat, and the lap bar locked. We got split up, so first Dave rode in the back seat of one ride, then Iwas in the front seat for the next ride. On the second pass through, the operator told everybody to put their hands in the air, and since Dave used this chance to get on ride footage of the ride, since men photographing kiddie rides just causes too many issues. Ayway, I decided to ride like I was in a Robb Alvey video, meaning just act real crazy on the kiddie coaster, waving my hands in the air the whole time. I admit I got a bit nervous at the helix, but we can now confirm that even a 6' adult can ride the ride, hands up, and still have clearance all the way through the ride.

From FunTown,Dave left to go on the voyage photo walkback. I took rides on Eagles Flght with a third full queue. Once gain, I get the feeling I am doing something right, Ijuset can't get the satisfying hard snap. Next up was the Revolution, a fun ride as always. I then headed down into Thanksgiving where I saw the HoliDazzles interacting with the guests, then took a ride on the Turkey Whirl and was lucky to get a Turkey that seemed to want to whirl upon command. I finished up with a particularly low scoring single ride on Gobble Getaway. A check of the watch revealed the alloted one hour tour time had just about elapsed. I usued that knowledge to make an informed walk over to Pilgrims Plunge where I met back up with Dave.

We joined a group and thenhad a full carload i Gobbler Getaway, in fact I think the whole tour group headed into the air conditioning of Gobbler Getaway meaning we were just ahead of the crowd. I had another poor performance. We followed that up with a few rides on Voyage, making sure to get back to back rides in different trains, in the same row. Our verdict is the blue Voyage train is much more violent than the red Ravage train. After all the Raven train hasn't gotten the crud beat out of it by Voyage for 4 years. I can just imagine the red train looking at Voyage and thinking "You want me to do WHAT!"

From Voyage, we decided we needed food even if dinner was a scant hour or two away. We stopped at the Alamo for some Mexican. I had a full platter with a burrito, refried beans, spanish rice, a churro,and a Mt. Dew (closest thing to a Magarita) for all around $6 with splurging on the extra cost salsa and sour cream upgrades. I doubt if I could eat that well at Taco Bell for that. Sure the refried beans were almost like soup, but the rest of it tasted pretty good. We also appreciated the fact they now have legitimate hot sauce as a condiment. We followed that up with Deep Fried Oreos for desert. We ate the Oreos while standing in line for a rie on Eagles Flight. It was a full queue now, with the water park closed, and again almost but not quite. We walked back to the picnic grove to check out the auction, and decided there was nothing there I couldn't stand to lose. Lift hill flags, the usual ride parts, old brochures and media kits, same stuff most of us have from years past. What was noticeable was the auction was now in the blue shelter, meaning the group has shrunk down once again,

Leaving the acution, I caught Dave as he finished up a ride on Revolution, we then headed to get a ride on Hallowswings, then a Legend ride and it was time for diner. We got back to the shelter and for the first tie in many years were seated before the cattle call to go get your chow. The usual buffet complete with condiments before you know what yoou are going to have. I helped myself to some fruit salad, mac and cheese and pull pork sandwiches, along with some brownies and christmas cookies. The Beachcombers provided dinner music, and a relaxing dinner was had by all, There was no live auction this year, and the after dinner remarks were about the shortest I can ever recall, then it was back out to ride some more.

We headed to Voyage, an got a few more Voyage rides, and poked around the Timberliner some more. As Dave noted, the Timberliner is really eating into his ERT time. We rode Voyage until about 10:00 as we had run into an operator earlier in the day who told us to be sure to meet him for Scarecrow Scrambler ERT. We did keep that apointment. Scrambler attracted a surpringly good line for ERT. We were rewarded with a ride on a Scrambler that had just received such a massve overhaul that it rides like it was fresh off the showroom floor. After that it was a couple Raven rides, then several Legend Rides,before heading back down to Voyage.We gota few more Voyage rides this time making sure we got to Raven in time to not have to walk up the hill. We finished the event with two or three rides on Raven, including the last ride of the event.

We exited the park just as they litup the giant Christmas tree by the main gift shop. Of course, this didn't stop us from talking at the main gate with Will, Pat, Paula and the others until we were, once gain among the last to leave the park. By the time we got back to the Legend lot it had total of three cars in it. We then headed back to the Bates Motel in Tell City. Okay,not really, but one end of it a single story motel that looks dead on like the Bates Motel from the movies. Dave points this out to me just as I am about to climb into the shower, he has a strange sense of humor that way,

And so ends another HoliWood nights, and we have no real plans for Sunday.

TR: Stricker's Grove - 6/20/10

2010-07-05T17:20:00.002-04:00

TR: Stricker's Grove
Trip Report: Stricker's Grove
Ross, OH
June 6, 2010
***********************

Every year on Father's Day, our parish holds their parish picnic at Stricker's Grove. So somewhere between 1:30 and 1:45 we pull into the Stricker's Grove parking lot, and walk through the simplese main gate of any gated park. No ticket booths, no turnstiles, no ticket takers, just a sheltered opening in the fence with a security guard overseeing the gate. First stop one on the grounds, into the big hall to drop off our contribution to the pot luck dinner, then to the beer booth for a free beer.

I enjoyed my beer while walking down the midway, not much has changed at the park this year. The main arcade in the red building got real doors instead of using garage doors, and perhaps some air conditioning That's really about it as far as changes to the park go. I more or less head right back to the front row of the Tornado. The Tornado is the parks big wooden coaster. Standing maybe 60' high, its not as big and intimidating as today's rides, but it does have a family resemblane to the long gone Mighty Lightning. The classic red and white paint job is fading and peeling badly, going around corners it can now squeal with the best of them, seat 8 has been closed off for I can't remember how long, it's like your country cousin, a little rough around the edges but overall it provides a good ride.

Out of the station,you make a turnaround to the lift hill, up the hill, down the first drop, back up to a turnaround. The sceond pass through the structure is a series of low to the ground speed hills, that end with ou going up into another turnaround. The third pass has the ride's signature moment. It's an elongated double down, that in the back car provides an instance of violent airtime on a ride not known for strong airtime. It rides like a mistake, but oh what a good mistake,
After that surprise you come back up into the final turnaround, and a classic view of the first turnaround structure to your right side. A couple more dips on the way home, and perhaps one minor airtime moment on the final dip. Then it's into the brake shed, and back into the station. At the time there might have been 4 or 5 of us riding a coaster that seats 18, but they make you walk around each and every time. In the past, I have seen them give double rides if nobody was waiting, but not this year. It took a couple more rides to work my way bak to the back seat. Not only is that where the strongest air is, it also has a shorter than average seatbelt. Just another test for the weight loss program that I passed.

So after several Tornado rides I went to see the rest of the park. Next up was a Tilt-A-Whirl ride that had both plenty of Tilt and plenty of Whirl. I hate Tilt-A-Whirl rides that don't have any Whirl, don't you? In direct contrast to the Tornado sitting next to it, the Tilt-A-Whirl just finished a massive make over a year or so ago and looks almost factory new. After that was a solo ride on the Electric Rainbow, which in this park is a Super Round Up. This ride has a couple non-mechanical issues that persist. One, the park recently bought a bunch of stock ride safety signs that are so generic they are meant to go with just about any ride. These replaced the old signs, which were the very basic just what you needed to know variety. So, the sign for the Round Up, says, plain as day "DO NOT STAND UP ON THIS RIDE". The other issue is the park never installed the center scenery panels that have the rainbow the ride was named after. A lot of Sricker's rides are transplants from other parks,a lot of which have since closed, for example this ride came from LeSourdsville Lake. When I boarded the ride, I was givin the directions to give the thumbs down symbol when I wanted the ride to end. Hmm, a spin ride enthusiast and the chance at a long ride, this should be sweet. While riding, I did note the scenery panels are still sitting under the ride. So I span for quite some time, then I feel the ride begin to lower, when I get off the ride its a different operator altogether.

Continuing the tour of the park, I took a token ride on the Teddy Bear, which is the park's junior wood coaster. When I say junior wood coaster, it makes Kings Island's Faily Odd Coaster look big. It's maybe 20' tall, and has more in common with the former Chicago Little Dippers which have both since moved on,
The rest of that side of the park contains the kiddie rides - mini versions of the whip and the turtle along with kiddie cars, kiddie boats, and kiddie rocket ships.

Starting back down the other side I admired the band organ on, but did not ride the carousel, nor did I ride the Dumbo ride next to it. I have to give Stricker's points for having he nerve to call their elephant ride Dumbo and not Jumbo as most parks and carnivals have done to avoid issues with that major park operator. I passed on the Ferris Wheel (Eli Wheel pointed the wrong way where there is almost nothing interesting to see), but I did take a lap on the train ride. Every now and then you can see something interesting back in the athletic fields, for example one year we saw the former Cedar Point Schwbinchen sitting back there. Not so much this year. But it does take you from the park, all the way back past the athletic fields, alongside the Great Miami River, then alongisde the neighbors farm, then you go through an impossibly small tunnel underneath the parking lot entrance. When they say to keep arms and legs in the train, they mean it. You then circle around the Tornado, then back to the station.

Working my way back to the Tornado I made stops at the Tip Top (Bubble Bounce), this, at one time, was one of those rides of legend you would read about on rec.roller-coaster, then when I finally got to ride one, I realized why they aren't made much anymore. Once the ride gets up to speed, the oval shaped tubs swing out with the heaviest person to the outise, and it jus takes way to much energy to get it to spin. The bouncing action is kind of neat, however. I also stopped at the Srambler. The operator was taking real care to make sure nobody burned themselves touching the metal car bodies, even wiping down the black seat cushions before yoou sat down. All that care, and the ride still shakes and rattles its way through a cycle, making nasty noises, and never getting up to speed.

I passed the Helicopter ride and instead decided to fly a Flying Skooter. I got a solo ride on the Skooters. The first ride I had just figured out the pattern to get snapping like motions (without the loud satisfying Ker-Chunck noise of course) ,the ride is very similar to Holiday World's in that respect that it makes you think you have gotten it, but no payoff. Anyway I had just started getting into the paternw hen the ride stopped. At first, I though I was getting kicked out for rough flying, but the operator comes out and asks if I want another ride. Sure, why not? The ride is like when Kings Island had it set on the busy day timer. Just when you start to get into the pattern the timer expires.

From there, it was back to the Tornado for several more rides. I rode till about 3:45, then I walked through the arcade to note that it hd nothing of real interest to me. Then I grabbed two lemonades from the free soft drink stand. (college dining hall size cups) This got me into the big hall just in time to be towards the front of the food line. Stricker's furnished the drinks, as well as hamburgers,hot dogs and brats, and even the roast corn. All the appetizers, salads, side dishes, and deserts were from the pot luck. They also close the rides during the dinner hour. So good food, good times, good conversations. Then once dinner was over, another beer in hand, it was back to the Tornado for a few more rides before heading home, the second ride session was busier than the first, with a two train wait for the Tornado. Then it was time to head home.

TR: Kings Islad - June 6, 2010

2010-07-05T17:17:00.002-04:00

TR: Kings Island
Trip Report: Kings Island
Mason, OH
June 6, 2010
***********************
June 6th was the day after HoliWood Nights. Our ambitions for the day were low after having just spend two exhausting days at Holiday World. Really, the big goal was to see Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular. With that we pushed hotel check out to the limit, and learned while in the process of checking out we weren't the last.

Then we left Tell City and headed into Kentucky for a certain IGA that has proven itself to be dramatically cheaper for gasoline.

Not being in any real hurry, we took back roads all the way back to Lousivile, the highlight of which was driving through the civilian roads in Fort Knox. We eventually got back to Lousiville, and around Le Grange KY got the munchies, a stop at Arby's cured those needs, and we even got to see some sort of craft festival in the La Grange town square.
So, again, not really pushing it, we arive at the park kind of late in the day. As usual no problems getting parked or into the park. We head through Planet Snoopy. I, being the flag person, noted the flagpoles have been moved from side of international street to right at the top of the royal fountain. In addition more blacktop in the front gate area is giving way to pavers, and there is some more work going on to finish off Planet Snoopy.

We start the day off with some Diamondback rides, what else? You may find this a little nuts, but after spending the last two days on Voyage, Dimondback just didn't seem to be up to par. Continuing our way through the park, we check in at Crypt and confirmed that yes, it still sucks in just about every conceiveable manner. We continue on to Beast, and I note it got its US flag back at the lift approach, and Dave notes the two click rule is back in force. Oh well, at least Beast got some new wood, and seems to be performing better than it did in April. The line was back to the greeter stand, but I didn't really notice any problems caused by removing the center handrail on the big ramp.

We headed towards Italian Job, looked at the line, and gave it a pass. We did, however, decide to take a quick spin on the Troika (Shake Rattle and Roll) not a bad ride. We rode Vortex, and got the hardest slam to a stop either of us could recall on the mid course brake. We noted, and were a bit surprised Euro Bobbles is still operating, we kind of figured the extrmely hot summer we are having would have killed the enthusiasm for those.

I know Dave doesn't care for Firehawk, but we do take our usual front seat, overbraked ride on Flight of Fear. I'm just glad the seatbelt doesn't seem to be of concern for me anymore. We note they moved the exit gate of Dodgems so it's right next to the entrance gate, which causes some confusion as people run to the padlocked shut gate they have exited through for years. Eventually we make it down to Racer. I was just starting to notice that airtime is coming back to Racer, when Rideman notes the lapbar has again gone places no lap bar should ever go. Yep, he got his annual battle of Torque Lock. While he was letting Guest Relations know his feelings on the matter, I was helping myself to a free soft drink, at a Cedar Fair park. What is this world coming to. (Thanks to the Coke Zero sponsor booth)

When he came out of GR, we headed to Action Zone, where there was another sponsor booth for the KIN phone, a cell phone idea that was so well recieved it lasted less than two months. You now, I thought one of the things Cedar Fair did last year was get rid of a lot of these county fair style vendor booths. I appreciate a free drink as much as the next person, but I don't think a $50 a ticket theme park should look like a $7 a ticket county fair.

We headed to Invertigo, one of those rides we generally skip because the line is too long. The line was a little on the long side, but we waied it out. We were rewarded with a forceful, an surprisingly smooth for Vekoma inverted boomerang ride.
After that we got as far as the Drop Tower queue area before deciding we really didn't want to wait that long. We looked through the On Location shop and found a bunch of pac man themed candies, and commented that of course, each piece of the game is sold seperately.

From the gift shop, we headed to Flight Deck on got to the boarding area just in time for the rides to go down for impending severe weather. We decide to try to put some distance between us and the ride and on the way out, I noticed the new entrance for Halloween Haunt is still there as a re ride gate. We make our way to the Festhaus without getting wet. We get a little dripped on on our way to the Emporium, then it really started to come down. I'm glad we were in the Empoium. We reclled when Jeff Johnson jumped about 20' when he was sstanding under Tower during a lighning strike. While in the gift shop, I noticed they were now selling Kings Island car flags. Hey, I'm a flag collector, and at $4 the price seemed right, I'll pick one of those up on my way out.

When the rain subsided we headed to the area by the Floral Clock to epereince the Starlight Spectacular. Where Cedar Point has big inflatable characters, Kings Island used 2D light up characters. Thereis apatriotic section, there is a camp section, I liked the statue of one of the Peanuts blowing bubbles, and there is a bubbler right there. The staff in this area wear Charlie Brown shirts, anat certain times a more organized light show takes place on the back side of the eiffell tower that eventually spreads to the whole Starlight Experience area. We walk back and forth and look at it a couple times. I mean all the rides are still closed for the weather delay, and truth be known since the rides had been closed for about a half hour now, and it was only aabout 20 minutes until closing, the park had just about totally emptied out.

We saw life at Diamondback, and who needs the single rider line when you can just walk right on to the ride. We were really surprised they kept the seat assigner there, but so we got a few more Diamondback rides in near ERT like conditions. For my last ride of the night, I lowered the lap bar just to the line on the column, hich is supposed to be the minimal accepted position. Last year, I was lucky and sometimes needed help just to even get the bar down that far. Now there are one or two clicks further I can pull the bar. With the lapbar a loose fit, Holy Canoli!,
That is some scare you quality airtime. Wow, Diamondback is still the best ride in the park.

So after we left Diamondback, we returned to the Emporium, I got my flag, , and we just got to the parking lot when wave 2 of the big downpour started. We were nicely drenched by the time we got to the car. We concluded the weekend with a stop at Steak and Shake.

TR: Cincinnati Zoo - 5/28/10

2010-07-05T17:14:00.002-04:00

Trip Report: Cincinnati Zoo
Cincinnati, OH
May 28,2010
***********************
"Zoo Babies"

One of the attactions I had been meaning to see for some years now, but never quite got around to seeing is "Zoo Babies" Zoo Babies is a special event put on by the Cincinnati Zoo. Yes, you can see the babies all year, but in May they run a theme where they specifically point out all the births in the past year. Essenially you tou the zoo as normal, and wherever there is a zoo baby to be seen, there is a wooden cutout of a stork pointing to the exhibit and announcing the birth.

I learned a few things since last months trip to the zoo. For one I didn't use Metro Route 1, the Zoo route. It's a nice bus ride to be sure, that's long on passing our city's tourist attractions and scenic spots. I figured I could shave at least a half hour off my trip time by using a more local route, even if it meant walking a long block once I got to UC down to the Zoo.

I managed to get to the Zoo around 8:45, which was before opening. I thought they might open Historic Vine Street Villiage a few minutes early, but no luck in the entry building in the parking lot doesn't open until 9AM. "Now, I am going to raise this door, but don't come in until I have the chains locked off" It so happened while people were milling about taking photos with the rhino sculpture, I had planted myself to be directly in front of the up escalator, so was among the first to get up to the bridge at opening. I quickly headed towards the main gate where my progress was slowed down. They have the "Keyhole Photo" type people setup right before the main gates and they have essentially embedded their photo station so you have to stop and get your photo taken before getting to the turnstile. They take your photo in front of a green screen which sort of defeats the purpose of getting a souvenir photo of yourself at the attraction.

I entered the park, and upon checking my iPhone, I looked at both the zoo's new App that has amongst other features an interactive zoo map, an ineractive event schedule,and more, as well as the zoo's website to fill in the gaps. Looking at the zoo's website, I noted the first Zoo Baby was down in Wilflife Canyon. I headed down the hill and soon realized I had the whole area basically to myself. I paused for a while to watch the Sumatran Rhino feeding before continuing to tour the area. When you first get to the zoo its hard to strike a balance between how much time you can spend watching an animal and still see everything you wanted to see.

Coming up the stairs from Wildlife Canyon, the second Zoo Baby was the still nusing baby eagle. I entered the eagle Eyrie and noted the roll down grate as still down, and the eagle and babdy were apparently still in the nest. I then noted a similar hut a short distance away that looks into the condor exhibit. I had not before noticed the big flight cage was actually devided in half. I then decided to reveerse my normal pattern and instead went to the Elephant Reserve next. All the elephants were outside, thus the elephant house was closed, after spenidng some time watching the elephants, I walked the rather dull trail around elephant reserve, walking past Discovery Forest and makig pretty much a bee line towards the new Children's Zoo area.

The new and improve Children's Zoo had reopened, an I headed to where the entrance has been for decades now to learn that entrance is no longer there, and the gift shop was closed. Instead I had to back track to the entrance by Gibbon Islands, which is for now the only entrance to the Children'z Zoo. They reconfigured the boardwalk entrance to wind itself around the little penguins. Upon entering the children's zoo, we found the rathey noisy peacocks in this area today, and I noted the outer wall and shade has been removed from the nursery, so now you just walk along the outside of the building looking in windows. I noted the UC stuff around the bearcat exhibit, and the Wallaby exhibit cleverly sponsored by Kanga-Roof.

Several zoo babies were present in the enlarged petting zoo area I also noted the petting zoo area now has a queue area for those busy days. Continuing on past the petting zoo you come to a barn you can walk through, and then another area beyond the barn. Cows, horses and other barnyard animals are in this area. On the other side of the area the playground has been enlarged and the various play elements have signage tying them to an animal. "Swing like a Monkey", "Leap like a frog", etc. The area now ends behind the gift shop, so in effect the new children' zoo is smaller, by making Wolf Woods its own stand alone exhibit now.

I left the children's zoo, and just got to Wings of Wonder to see the sign the Meet the Keeper talk had been cancelled "Sorry, but our keeper's need us" I decided to walk through Wings of Wonder anyway, and this time noted how on the few exhibits with glass, the glass has a fine graph paper like drawing on it, barely noticeable. I suspect this is toprevent birds from flying into the glass. At the endof the area I encountered a Meet the Keeper giving a talk about the penguins. He hada penguin out of the exhibit so we could take real up close looks, but no touching. He mentioned how they have tried to work King into the name of every King Penguin somehow. He also noted the clever camoflage, they usually swin white side down, so to a predator from above, they blend into the dark of the ocean, to a predator from below, they blend into the dazzling white sky.

Leaving his presentation, I proceed down Bear Hill and take a tour of Jungle Trails. Ahh they have the storks out, perfect for Zoo Babies. I also noted the Gibbons and stuff were inside today for some reason. I left this area, noted the food areas were closed, and made my way to Manatee Springs just in time to watch the Meet the Keeper talk there. From Manatee Springs I toured Rhino Reserve, and saw the zebras, as well as most of the other animals were out this time. This allowed me to double back to see Lords of the Artic and the Bear Hill areas. I made my way back around to where Rhino Cafe is and followed the signs towards Cheetah Encounter. You first head into the old parking lot and then after passing the new flamingo exhibit you make your way to the new cheetah run which was the old main parking lot. I got there just as the first sho was ending, so I hung back waiting for the huge crowd to exit the area. I noted construction on a new pedestrain gate in this aea. I sat and relaxed in the new grandstand waiting for the Cheetah show, as it was pretty hot out today. The cheetah show is essentially the old cat show, right down to some of the same animal acts as the old cat show that was presented next to the Elephant House, what has changed, of course was the addition of a full on Cheetah run. One of the largest Cheetah runs in a zoo, they said. It's an impressive show of pure speed, the cheetah may not have endurance, but they do have speed.

From there, I headed up the new ramp to look at the new giraffe exhibit. From there I caught up with seeing the rest of the zoo, first stopping off at Gibbon Islands and the Red Panda exhibit. I then took a break myself with Skyline's new Walking 3 Way. It's essentially everything you would get in a three way mixed together and served in a large diameter cup. I noted most people, like myself, still walked their walking three ways right over to a table to sit down and seat.

Continuing the zoo tour, I decided I really didn't need to see the Reptile House, and did a quick walk through of the Cat House tosee the Zoo Babies. I did make into Gorilla World just in time to see the Meet the Keeper talk there. From there, it was the Insect House where I noted the construction work in the middle of the exhibit looked to be complete, the Nocturnal House, and passed by the speical exhibits building where the Kimodo Dragon is coming next month. Always give your visitor a reason to come back! I toured Lemur Lookout, then headed towards the 4D movie but the next unsold showing was later than I wanted to wait. Continuing on, it was the Sea Lion exhibit, then Wolf Woods, then back to the giraffe exhibit so I could feed a giraffe for just $1.

They have this organized real well, you get there and there is a queue area setup. After you wait in line but before you enter the feeding area, there is a push through lane for the strollers so they don't have to take the strollers into the animal encounter area. As you enter the encouter area, a worker with a big old bag of giraffe crackers sells them to you for $1 each. Two rules, don't break the cracker trying to get two feedings, the giraffe expects a whole cracker. Don't try to pet the giraffe, this will only cause them to shy away and may cause the feeding opportunity to end early. Think about it, you don't want people messing with your food an trying to pet you whie you eat. So after buying the cracker you enter the fenced off animal encounter area, sort of like a zone between the normal viewing area and the animal enclosure. A guie directs you to a giraffe, you feed the giraffe, okay the giraffe sticks out its tounge, you drop the cracker onto the tounge the giraffe eats the cracker and prepares for the person behind you. It's a real quick process, and they have the "Keyhole Photo" person there to get a photo of you feeding the giraffe. You then exit and there is a sink with soap there waiting for you.

From the giraffe feeding, I toured the gift shop, bought some souvenirs,and then headed home.

TR:Kings Island - 5/9/10

2010-07-05T17:12:00.002-04:00

TR: Kings Island
Trip Report: Kings Island
Mason, OH
April 30,2010
***********************
This visit was what I call a season pass holder special. That means arriving late, even if the park is promising an early 8PM close. So we got the park around 4PM, just Dave Althoff and myself. We note that at this park you can arrive late and usually score a good parking space, and lo and behold we did. We made our way up to the gate and headed down International Street. I wanted to give Boo Blasters on Boo Hill another try.

The wait for Boo Blasters was somewhat longer than my last visit, with most of the indoor queue area open. I noted it was a little bit lighter in the main queue area, but the area with the ride safety sing is still too dark to reasonably expect anybody to read them. My main point in riding was to find out what the great new scene is that wasshut off for Math and Science day. Essentially the first 80% of the ride is the same as it was when it was Scobby, except for obvious references to the licensed characters removed. Towards the end of the ride you hit a real fine fog screen with a menancing image projected on it such that it looks like you are going to run right into the ghoul, then at the last moment the fogger shuts off and you slide through unharmed. The main lights in the next three areas have been turned off. The first area is the same as it was just dark, the next two areas all the old scenery has been ripped out leaving two bare bones rooms with a bunch of strobe lit skeletons (with targets of course) It's a little upgrade that makes the haunted house ride just a bit more haunted.

We stop off at Woodstock's coaster to confirm the ride is pretty much the same as it was as Fairly Odd Coaster, with just a little cosmetic chnage. Still a great classic John Allen kiddie wooden coaster. From that we head to Diamondback, and manage to get a couple rides in. We decide to use the Single Rider Line, which Dave pointed out means "You can either use the long line that moves fast, or the short line that moves slow" On our first ride, through sheer luck I get sent to Row 1 out of the singles line, Dave does not have near as much luck. But that's okay because we take advantage of a short regular line to take a secod ride. Diamondback, its the greatest ride the park's ever had.

But a park is more than one ride, so we take the obligatory coaster tour. We head towards Beast and upon encountering a full queue maze, we are soon seen retreating from Beast. We take a ride on Italian Job that requires the usual ducking under the railing or walk clear out of your way. Stillno seat assigner, so we sit towards the front to get what little air there is to be had on this family ride.

From Italian Job, we snag a ride on Vortex, which was running about like it always does. What we did next was to stop so we could watch Euro Bobbles. With a 200 pound limit, there is no channce either of us will be able to try Euro Bobbles. Essentially you climb into an airtight plastic ball, the ball gets inflated while you are in a kiddie wading pool. For about 3 minutes or your keel over from heat or lack of air, you an run or walk around, or fall down an tumble inside the giant bubbles. This is called fun!

We next take a walk through the arcade, still no pinball, and then a quick spin on Zephyr, the wave swinger. Ahh, more benefits of the weight loss program, as I fit a lot more comfortably in that seat We head back into X-Base, but upon encountering two bad lines, quickly retreat out of there. The next stop is of course Racer, and we both agreed that Raer was running about as good as you could hope for with Racer in recent years.

We next made the turn into Oktoberfest, and after scoring the usual walk on Adventure Express ride, we went to ride Delirium. Man, I love Delirium. At about this time, I note the time is getting late, so we make a mad dash to Diamondback to try to get one last ride in. We get to Diamondback with about 5 minutes to space, we race through the queue, we get to about where the cell phone display is when the ride goes down. Bummer. We note the time as 7:58 and are sure they are going to send everybody home with a "Sorry, but the ride is broken down, and the park is closed" message. But they allow us to remain in line. Lot's of folks bail, in fact by the time the ride reopens, we are at the top of the stairs just shy of the greeter station. We were a bit surprised they still assigned seats, but figured that would at least prevent everybody from heading to the front and back rows. A great way to finish off the night. We did make sure to let Guest Relations know how the crew went out of their way to get everybody a ride. Then we headed to Culvers for dinner.

TR: Kings Island - April 30, 2010

2010-05-01T14:50:00.000-04:00

Trip Report: Kings Island
Mason, OH
April 30, 2010

“My season opener!”

I had really planned on getting to the park around 9:20 to catch the KIC group at the Gold Pass ERT, but with traffic and other delays in my morning, I was happy to be walking in the front gates of the park around 10:10 ready to start another season. No problems at all with parking gate, security checkpoint, and main gate with my shiny new Platinum Pass, and soon I was at the head of International Street deciding on a game plan.

I decided to start in Action Zone and head towards Diamondback. Today is a “Math and Sciences” day for the local schools, and in the past could years the park has combined the Math and Science day with the spring Friday evenings promotion to make a full 10AM to 10 PM day. However, the Math/Science day FAQ on the website seemed to indicate Planet Snoopy would be closed until 5pm,so it made sense to make quick work of the rest of the park, particularly the low capacity rides, and then marathon Diamondback.

It appeared International Restaurant was the base point for the teachers during this event, and as I was arriving lots of students were heading into the Kings Island Theatre for a presentation. I, headed to Delirium. It was a one cycle wait for Delirium, and I did notice the new signs guiding people to the correct bullpen area. This would also be the start to see if the off season weight loss program was a success. On closing day last year, I needed operator assistance to ride this. Now I realize I had a bulky coat on then, and warmer clothes. Today I had plenty of slack in the belt, and needed no assistance with the bar. In addition, I was rewarded with a great spin ride to start the season.

After that, I headed to a real challenge, Drop Tower. Drop Tower for me last season was a no go in anything more than a t-shirt, and that was with a great deal of operator help. It was just a wait for the ride in session to stop kind of wait, and then I was headed to a seat. Lower the bar, loosen the belt, and it slid right into the buckle with no problems, and I could pull a half inch of strap back out, so overall, there are signs of improvement. That doesn’t change the fact I don’t think Drop Tower is a particularly good drop ride. Give me one of the portable ARM drop towers that travel the fairs, those things are much more effective. Even the drop tower that goes to the Ohio State fair is more effective.

I decided to skip Flight Deck for now and come back later. The go karts and Skycoaster, as well as the On Location shop and Stunt Crew grill were not open. Congo Falls was, but I didn’t feel the need to get that wet, however Invertigo was not open.

I headed into Oktoberfest, and walked past a closed Slingshot and a closed Adventure Express. The next open ride was the blue side of Racer, so I headed up and the line was just about halfway down the ramp, but they had both trains running. I soon climbed into seat 1.3, fastened the belt, and pulled the lap bar down. Two fast clicks, in the past I could get the first no problem, but the second took work. Unfortunately, a lot of the operators require two clicks at Kings Island, so in the past this ride caused me some minor grief, but now, as with the other two rides, everything is right with the world. Racer seems to be sporting a lot of new wood, and even some minor airtime on the outbound leg. For Racer in the past few years, that’s acceptable.

I started walking down Coney Mall, and I see life. All the flat rides along Coney Mall seemed to be open, even though Juke Box Café, all the merchandise, the arcades, and some of the games were not. In other words, exactly the opposite of what you would find in a Six Flags park.

I next headed to Firehawk but it was closed, there were technicians working on it, so I killed some time by riding Flight of Fear. Flight of Fear was using half of its outdoor queue area but once inside you took the quickest route. I did note the $2 per use coin operated lockers. The same lockers they have used for years at first 50 cents, then 75 cents. Suddenly they jump to $2.00 all at once. All the work lights were on in the queue area but they were running the preshow. Not that I saw much of it, I entered the hangar right when it started with the Auto-Reboot and entered the UFO when it got to how indestructible the material is. I headed for the back seat, and Flight of Fear was another ride I struggled to get on last year, but this year, I lowered he bar and the belt easily slid home with some slack left in the belt. It was really nice to be able to ride this without the lap bar embedded into my gut. Someday, I need to try one of the “floor panel” seats, but not when it is a 40 minute wait. As an added bonus, the bright white service lights were on inside the bowl, making for a truly special Flight of Fear ride, Sadly, the to brake the train to a complete stop on the mid course brake. Outside, some of the rides, they had extra signage related to Math and Science day, the one for Flight of Fear boasted to the LIM system, of course, but here is the last sentence of that sign “Here at Kings Island, Flight of Fear was the first roller coaster in the world to use this technology to move the train throughout the ride.” Note it doesn’t say to launch the train, or just to get the train up to speed, it clearly stated “move the train throughout the ride” It also looks like Kings Island outsourced the educational components of the event to COSI.

Ah, by now Firehawk is open, and sadly has a 1 hour wait. I decide to bite the bullet now and get this over with The queue area did not look that bad, maybe two or three switchbacks open, but with only one station open, the line was solid all the way to the loading area. That, and the crew did not seem to be in any particular hurry, and of course you had to factor in at least one downtime moment in that wait. I wind up in row 4, and Firehawk was never a fit problem before, so of course it isn’t now. In fact, now I think they don’t push the lap bar down enough as I have plenty of room to slip and slide around in there during the ride Remember to close your eyes going up the lift due to that bright sun. Firehawk is still one of my favorite rides in the park. Finishing that up, I was glad I had all the low capacity stuff out of the way.

Next I walked right onto the back seat of Vortex. No more squeezing with all my might to get the belt fastened, life is good I tell you. Vortex was, well it was Vortex, same old reliable ride as always, and the back seat float is still there in abundance. As I returned to the station, there was a group of girls in the seat queues practicing screaming on demand at the top of their lungs in a high pitched shrill. I was glad I was not going to be on that train, it was miserable enough the short time I was being unloaded. I did a soft drink machine check, $3.75 this year, and credit card swipes have been added to the soft drink machines, I next checked out EuroBobbles. The Bobbles are basically an oversized kiddie pool placed where Flight Commander and Euro Bungy used to be. I say kiddie pool because it is to big to be a kiddie pool, but not deep enough to satisfy an adult swimmer. Imagine four giant beach balls floating on said pool, now put a person inside each beach ball and you have EuroBobble. The ads on the web say “Walk on Water” from what I observed its more like crawl on water, and if you do get daring and try to stand up, its more like fall on water. The humor value in watching this is immense, and an observation area has been setup along one side of the pool. Also funny, as soon as the unseal the ball to get the rider out, it instantly deflates, so thee is humor in seeing them try to get in and out of the balls. This seems to be aimed at the kids, as I noted the safety signage, which is ride specific in nature, has a 200 pound weight limit I may have lost some serious weight in the off season, but 200 is still a far off memory. I also shudder to think, we teach kids and parents not to put plastic around child’s face, here we are sealing them up in an air tight plastic ball.

Back on the park tour, next up is Back Lot Stunt Coaster, a ride that has received a lot of changes. The line was just back to the bridge over the final drop, we can’t call it a splashdown right now. No greeter, and I was soon in seat 2. Okay, we heard all the BMW mini cooper detailing is gone , as are the doors so they look kinda like generic car shaped cars. They even used the excuse to get rid of the windshields and everything. Yes, they look hideous, particularly in their all red, all blue and all white trains. What was wrong with doing a red, white, and blue patriotic motif? They did manage to add Flight of Fear style seatbelts that hook into the lap bar however they did it way better than they did on Flight of Fear. In fact flight of fear could learn something from this,. They mounted the belt up towards the top of the sidewall of the car, and closer to the opening so the belt is a lot more obvious and easier to get to while seated, then they put the latch plate almost at the top of the lap bar support rather than down near the bottom. I’m sure this has to better for everybody, as it is easier for the rider to reach, and the loaded doesn’t have to kneel or bend down far to work with them. That said, they are absurdly unnecessary, I mean its operated since 2006 without them, and how many people were held in by the now missing door?

Next it was another walk on experience, this time for Beast. I guess they realized Beast is nowhere near as popular as it used to be, probably due to Diamondback helping even the locals realize its really not that good of a ride. When Cedar Fair took over they started letting people enter through what used to be the greeters gate, then they took out all the queue before the greeters gate and made that the entrance, then last year they totally redid the entry plaza. This year after 31 years, they finally put in a gate where they can totally shut off the first queue house. You know, the one they only used on very busy Saturdays, but you still had to walk down to and then back up. Then they took the center railing away from the big ramp from the middle queue house to the top queue house. The line splits into two as you enter the top queue area. I’m not as sure about taking out the center railing but we’ll see how that works out for them.
Anyway, I did wait two trains for a front seat ride. Same as Racer as far as fit goes, but that’s not a shock. Beast in April already gets a penalty for uneccesary roughness, but at least the work they started last year in the helix is continuing to show improvement in that area of the ride. We got back to the brake run, and we stopped all the way at the back end of the brake run, great that means all three trains are stacked. I knew things weren’t good when the operators came back along the brake run to comfort the riders. That’s never a good sign. So we sat for awhile while they sorted out whatever problem they were having, eventually they were able to cycle the trains around, so they could unload everybody, When I got back to the midway, the ride was indeed closed, as was Crypt, but who is surprised to see Crypt closed.

The train ride was open but I skipped it, White Water Canyon was closed, so I headed to Diamondback. Things seem great, the ride is only back as far at the cell phone container. We see a train stop on the brakes right after the splashdown. Then we see operators go out to comfort said riders. Uh-Oh, not again, Ride closed, which immediately sends so many people away we advance to about halfway up the stairs, I decide to wait it out for way too long, maybe half an hour, by which time I am at the top of the stairs almost to the grouper. It was about 2:30 when they totally cleared everybody out.

I headed to Race for Your Life Charlie Brown (log chute) to see what that is all about. The line was all the way down the wooden ramp, but I waited it out. It’s amazing how little they did to Wild Thronberries in this conversion. Change the ride name, chang some signage, put a status of Charlie Brown with boat paddles out front, remove the camper from the pond, change the name of the camp on the mill building, replace elephant with snoopy, put up a finish line and a big scenery oanel to disguise the water feature. I get in a log, and the theme at the top of life 1 is shamelessly left over from Thronberrys, badly faded now, but left over. All the theme elements along the course between lift 1 and 2 are gone, the next theme element you see is the scenery panel hiding the snoopy water feature. I did get a little bit of water damage from this ride, but except for the t-shirt everything was dry by the time I finished up with Flying Ace.

I did a Diamondback check, no progress there, I don’t even see people working on it! I head for Planet Snoopy. A Snoopy has been added to the top of the Kite Flyer and Linus décor elements have been added to made it Linus Launcer. The impressive signage for Reptar is of course gone, and the ride is now a hideous yellow and orange. It was also a 1 cycle wait so I can’t complain with that. I did note some neat synergy in that in most of the park the QTVs are starting to disappear, but on Flying Ace they show peanuts cartoons on the QTV’s and they also advise the DVD is on sale in the gift shop. I’ also happy to note, getting the belt fastened on Flying Ace was a breeze, which is an improvement over last season.

I then did a cursory walk through of Planet Snoopy. Plankton’s Plunge is now Kite Eating Tree, while not as detailed as the old theme, it looks nice. The park is really getting used to reskins of the kids area. For the most part it all came out looking pretty sharp with vibrant colors and all. The character carousel is still generic horses, Blues Clues has reverted back to being the biplane ride it was before Nick, however now all the planes are red, and a big Snoopy flying on his doghouse has been added to the center of the ride, Surf Dog came out looking better than I had heard, I especially like the lifeguard chair at the entrance. I didn’t ride Surf Dog or Woodstock’s Express (Beastie), but instead headed right for Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Some minor touches to the outside and adding the ghost in the window, I declined the $1.00 upsell on the 3D glasses, and proceeded to walk right on the ride, The indoor queue looks about the same as it did, except maybe darker, no characters or narration on the balcony, and of course the bookshelf and secret passage switch are gone, The whole queue area and loading area is much darker than before. I climbed into a car and is off to the races. Most of the ride is really just a minor reskin of Scooby Doo, just get rid of the boxes of Scooby snacks and get rid off all the Scooby characters. The guns seemed to work a lot better than they have in years. But just when you think it was all cosmetic work, you encounter a real cool special effect at the end of the ride. I mean something more like Disney or Universal would do, and you would not expect out of Cedar Fair. Basically using a fog screen as a projection screen they project a scary image onto it so that your car appears to be heading right for it, its animated it moves, it talks to you, and more. Then right as your car gets near it, it totally disappears. You then go through about 20 seconds of pitch black hallway with nothing happening. Then you hit the final sequence where you get to make up a lot of points. I expected a bigger payoff coming out of that pitch black tunnel, particularly after the treats of the projected image.

Leaving Boo Blasters I headed around the front of the park to check on food and Invertigo. I mean we are getting up on 4:00 so I’m starting to get hungry. Skyline was closed, pizza shop was open, however, if you like bad pizza. Into Action Zone, Stunt Crew was still closed. I am upset that I paid $3.50 for the world’s smallest ice cream cone of Blue Ice Cream. I mean I have sent the ice cream cones they used to sell, this is a pure insult to charge so much for so little for so cheap a product.

I did go back and get my token ride of Flight Deck, again a lot easier time with the belt, the giant painted flag is still there, and the ride is its old reliable self. While riding it, you can see the back of the Great Wolf Lodge. I know there is a pathway between the park and Great Wolf Lodge, my dining plans came more into view.

I noted the Go Karts, Slingshot, and Skycoaster were starting their day, but with non discounted prices for SkyFlyer and a long line for Slingshot I stayed away from them, I cruised through Festhaus and saw the roller coaster projects from math and science days. Panda Express was open, as was the regular Festhaus food, but that’s not what I really want. I head towards Outer Hanks while taking a walk on Adventure Express ride along the way. Fit on Adventure Express has never been an issue, but I like the fact the final tunnel seems to be fully restored. Outer Hanks was closed, so next I decide to take the trip to the top of Eiffel Tower. Walk on here as well, and up top I note a few interesting things First was Diamondback was still close with no end in sight, second was the path that goes from Dodgems, past the floral clock, to Backlot Stunt Coaster is closed off and construction equipment is all around the area. I noted Subway and Chic-Fill-A looked to be open, but those again, just didn’t do it for me. I completed my tour around tower and headed back down. I went to Diamondback to check on status, and unchanged since two hours ago, I admit to sulking, yes the park had 10 other coasters open and other fine rides, but “I want to ride THAT one!!!” I checked out Rivertown Junction Dining Hall, I mean it promises a salad bar, carved meats, real veggies, and probably the healthiest food option in the park. It was also closed. That sealed it, Great Wolf Lodge here I come.

It took awhile to backtrack to the main gate, get a hand stamp, then do the walking trail to Great Wolf Lodge. I mean that walk is a haul and a half. I get into the lodge, make my way through the lobby and first head to the big buffet type place, but I am an hour early. I head to the bar and grill type place, where at the time they did not appear to be interested in me. I check out the game room in the basement. The bowling machine was neat fun, and I noticed but did not try one of those two rider coaster motion simulators, but interestingly enough, they weren’t the coasters of Cedar Point like you are used to seeing in those machines, instead the choices were: Phoenix, Twister, Thunderbolt, and Phantom. I was going to try to wait it out till 6 for the buffet, but decided to try the bar and grill again. Besides it looked like a large convention was already lined up for the buffet 45 minutes early. This time, I there was staff a plenty at the Bar and Grill (Chuckles was it), so I got “the dreaded booth by the kitchen” well I’m in a coaster shirt and shorts, and eating alone, I’m used to these bad table assignments. I did like the tent like coverings over the booths to continue the camp feel, and it had a window out to the hallway where I could watch people playing Magic Quest or whatever it is.

I ordered up a diet pepsi, grilled salmon, baked potato, asparagus and a field green salad with Italian dressing. All very good food, attentive service that wasn’t in your face but seemed to be right there right when you needed something, and yes I paid more than any meal in the park, but I ate a lot better than I would have anywhere in the park. I mean the dinner was filling, and hey with a 12 hour day to work with in the park, and hour and a half rest break is not much to ask for. As I was leaving the restaurant I peered through the picture windows into the water park which looks quite nice if also quite empty at the time, however I suspect that would change fast as the line at registration rivaled that of a Disney or Vegas hotel at check in time. I then got a text that Diamondback was OPEN!. I didn’t run a sprint, but let’s just say I made it from the lobby of Great Wolf to the Diamondback entrance in 15 minutes including some annoyance at the front gate. Note I said the front gate not the security checkpoint. For years and years you reentered the park at the reentry lane by the hand stamp lane. Now I was informed I had to enter through a regular entrance lane, just as the two lanes they had open were being swamped by the after work crowd. Grrrr.

The timing could not have worked out better as I descended on Diamondback at the same time as Dave Cornell, Brian, and their party. Diamondback was just through 1 switch bank in the second queue area. So about 20 minutes or so later, and what luck, row 16, thank you! We get in the train, I pull the bar down, I see the line is clearly visible with room to spare, last season I was struggling to even make the line visible. But wait, “We are not running this train, please return to the station area. Not Again! Luckily they do load us onto the very next train, Oh, Diamondback, where have you been all winter. Great strong airtime! Easily the best ride in the entire park. We liked it so much, we rode it again, this time in row 3. It’s pretty good even up here!
From there, we decide to take a ride on Beast, still a walk on, and we get seated in row 4, we get the “Thou Shalt Be Two Clicks” operator. and get rewarded with a train we have named “Ole Square Wheels” That’s train 3, avoid it at all costs.

Next we go to Backlot Stunt Coaster, the line is about halfway back to the queue house, so a duck under the rail is in order, Still no grouper, so we hold out for the front seat. Bigger flame effects than my first ride, and we are in the white train. Anecdotal comments would appear to reveal the red train is the best and the white train is the worst.

We head back around to Firehawk, and this time its only about a 20-30 minute wait. Both stations are open, none of the switchbacks are open, and the line was just from the grouper halway out to the midway using the short route. We board Brians favorite row (5) from the side you have to go down and back up stairs to get to. Yep, still a great ride. We continue our tour with rides on Racer, Adventure Express and Delirium.

After Delirum, we return to Diamondback and first take a ride (row 2) through the normal queue, then enter via Single Rider Line, and I get tow 6. Not a bad rid, but not that good, Then its just Dave Cornell and I and we manage to squeeze off two or three more rides using SRL (which was a real walk on), winding up in seats 2 or 3. It was a great ending, On my final ride , I got to watch the fireworks while riding to end the day.

Then it was the long haul back out to the car , picking up a park guide on the way out of course.

And so starts another fine season!

TR: Cincinnati Zoo - April 3, 2010

2010-04-20T23:21:00.001-04:00

Trip Report: Cincinnati Zoo
Cincinnati, Ohio
April 3, 2010

“More Animals. More Fun! sure makes more sense than More Flags, More Fun! as a slogan”

It’s almost amusement park season here in Ohio, but not quite, so to fill in the weekend I decided to visit the Cincinnati Zoo, which is a type of amusement park, albeit one that features animals instead of rides and games. Not only that but it looked like it would be a sunny day in the 70’s, a nice change from the cold winter months we just finished up.

When I was growing up, our family had a zoo membership and we were frequent visitors, but over time, we stopped going. In fact, the last time I had gone to the zoo during the summer season was 2004. So, you may be asking yourself why I got interested in a trip to the zoo, other than the promise of nice weather. Well, I went with the family to the Festival of Lights, which is a very nice event, but is really all about seeing lights and having a warm fuzzy holiday feeling, and yes they have some animal exhibits open but that’s really not the focus. However, while walking around the Festival of Lights, I saw that there have been a few changes since my last visit, which piqued my curiosity.

This report may sound like a walk down my memory lane, and I may spice this report up with some zoo history as I understand it. The first part of any amusement park or zoo visit is the parking lot and main gate. It just so happens that the Zoo recently totally redesigned the parking and gate. I know when most parks redo a front gate, its mainly a cosmetic change, along with updating of front gate amenities, but in this case it’s a major change.

The big change is that at one point when the zoo needed to start furnishing parking, they built parking lots along the perimeter of the zoo, and decided to put the perimeter fence outside the parking lot so you paid the parking and admission fees all at once as you went through the toll booth. Now, since the zoo is landlocked in an urban area, and they want to expand the zoo, the only place to expand is into the parking lots. To this end the zoo just completed construction of a huge off site parking facility. They decided to go for a nostalgic feel by reinforcing the fact the main gate is moving back near where it was when the zoo first opened. This gate never closed entirely but became known as the pedestrian gate, and was only open on busy days.

So, welcome to “Historic Vine Street Village” as the new entry way bas been named, All persons must enter via the Vine Street parking lot, no matter if they walked to the zoo, took a bus, or parking in one of the other off site lots. The only exception to this is they sometimes open the remaining few on site parking lots on peak days and for those attending one of the zoo’s educational programs.

In the interest of safety, since the main parking lot is on the other side of Vine Street, a rather major street, they have built an entry building in the parking lot that leads to a nice bridge over the street. When you approach the entry building there is a sculpture of a rhino, one of the zoo’s signature animals, as well as the zoo’s flagpoles. The parking lot itself has been the subject of some ridicule in that when they first opened it they quickly realized that with only two toll lanes and a short driveway, causing traffic to back up for miles. The zoo quickly changed to a pay-as-you-leave model for parking, which means you still wait in a long line to pay the toll, but now you wait inside the parking lot. As my uncle said at Festival of Lights, “This means you leave the park 15-20 minutes before closing”

Okay, so now you have parked your car, you make your way up to the convenient entry building based in the center of the lot so all the parking aisles radiate from it. You pass, and probably take photos with the rhino statue and head into the building. The building is made so that the main walkways funnel you right to the escalators that lead up to the bridge. That’s all well and good, except for those families with strollers, wagons, wheelchairs or bulky items. They are accommodated through a doorway to the side which leads to two elevators. As I approached the entry, there was a medium length but steadily moving line towards the escalators, and over to the side a much longer line that only moves occasionally for the elevators.

Now, I am trying to live a healthier life, so I avoided the line for the escalators, and sheepishly excused my way past the long line for the elevators for a stairwell that wraps around the elevator shaft. What I noticed is all those people waiting for the various labor saving means of getting up to the bridge, and I had a nice wide stairway all to myself. It’s very much legal line jumping as I merged right back into the crowd crossing the bridge at the top of the stairs way ahead of where I would have been any other way. Remember, I climbed the Carew Tower in about 15 minutes, I could knock out one flight of stairs to the bridge in no time.

As I got to the other side of the bridge, I followed the signs for those already holding tickets to the main gate. When you approach the gate the ticketing plaza is off to the right, and they have gone with a lot of self service kiosks to try to make the process as fast as possible. The office is straight ahead, and the main gate is off to the left. I was worried when I saw a line up of people from the turnstile all the way to the ticket window. I started to grunt and get in line with the lemmings until I looked at the main gate and there were 4 turnstiles with far shorter lines. What was ironic about this, was the longest line was labeled “Members Express Entrance” Here we encounter yet another issue with the new main gate. There are 4 gates in the main gate area. The one to the far left is the exit, the middle two each have two entrance turnstiles, and the far right has one turnstile for members and a barrier free lane for wheelchairs, strollers and wagons. Remember all those people with wheeled items that were waiting in the slow moving elevator line, well now they are in that one barrier free lane to enter the park. And to think back when parking was on site, you would drive into the parking lot, get out the wheelchair or stroller, and walk into the park without any delay.

So I get to the turnstile, hold the barcode of my print at home ticket under the self service turnstile scanner and push through the turnstile into the park. I also observed numerous families who were hefting the strollers and wagons over the turnstile. And for those reading, yes this is page three of this trip report and I am just now pushing through the front gate turnstile. Yes, this is one of my diarrea of the keyboard trip reports.

The Victorian themed front gate area extends into the park, They followed the natural traffic flow ideas by having the stroller rental and services to the right hand side on the way in, and in contrast the brand new giant gift shop is on the right as you exit the park. It’s a classic way to take advantage of American’s natural tendency to keep right. Disney and Kings Island and several other parks have used this same idea. When you go into Kings Island, note the convenience corner, bakery and Starbucks are on the right on the way in, the Emporium and other big gift shops are on the right on the way out. Disney is an anomaly now since so many official and unofficial park hint guides have pointed out to keep left to avoid lines that now crowds at Disney tend to keep left.

So, the first thing I noticed in the plaza is a long line of little kids waiting for one of the Easter activities, such as egg hunts and treat tables spread throughout the zoo. Ignoring the throngs of people headed straight on the main path, I ducked into a smaller path located between the new main gift shop and a little hut that has served as a snack bar as long as I can remember. Well, now I think we can just call it a bar, I mean when it is named the Watering Hole and its claim to fame is the draft beer selection. Not that there is anything wrong with that, in fact I think its kind of refreshing that adults can have the privilege of walking around the zoo seeing the animals while enjoying a beer. The stand also has the traditional sausage sandwiches so the zoo is staying true to its German roots.

Anyway, if the path had a sign, I must have missed it because it looks like a service path, but is actually a U shaped walkway down to Wildlife Canyon. When the Vine Street entrance was at street level, this was a Y shape pathway with a branch leading down to the original gate and the street. A clue as to the age of the Wildlife Canyon addition can be had when you gaze at the retaining wall on the way down, engraved in the wall is a marking that it was built in the 1940’s as part of a WPA project. On the other sie of the path is a row of animal exhibits. These were built in what was then the new “bar-less” design where they resemble outdoor grottos with the walls around the exhibit looking like rock formations and the animal pen is lower than the public walkway so you get a pretty nice view of the animal without fences or bars in the way. First up is one of the zoo’ signature exhibits, the Sumatran Rhino. In this area fabric sun screens have been built over the enclosure to protect the rhino from the sun. From what I understand this is a very rare animal for American zoos to have, which may be why it’s the only animal in the Wildlife Canyon to get its name on the park map. A row of other exhibits in the area include camels, gazelles and more, with the path dead ending into a emu exhibit (“If I had a $1,000,000 starts rolling around in my head for some reason) Opposite the Wildlife Canyon you can see into a huge bird flight cage, and on this side of it the signs indicate there is a condor to be seen, and luckily for me the condor was at rest on a branch quite near the sign. From what I recently discovered from old zoo maps, this path used to extend beyond where the emu is currently blocking it, but fortunately there is no nee to turn around as there is a stairway from here up to the main path.

Coming out of the stairs, I look on the other side of the flight cage, known as the Eagle Eyrie. There is a wooden carved eagle outside a little hut like building, and you are invited to enter the hut whereupon you are actually entering the flight cage. The hut has some interactive exhibits in it and a balcony from which to observe the eagle. Here progress is impeded by roll down grate blocking the balcony. A sign indicated the eagle is nursing and to please be quiet. Speaking of signage, I noticed a campaign is underway to standardize the interpretive signage for each animal exhibit. That way, once completed, the same type information is available about every animal in the same place on every sign.

Leaving the Eagle Eyrie, I found myself in what I refer to as a “Florida Theme Park” storm, this is when the winds and rain pick up from out of nowhere, wreck havoc for about 15 minutes, then go away. I overheard a staff member say “This will really clear the place out” and indeed I could see families who did not think ahead making a fast parade towards the exit. I deiced instead to make a fast dash towards the Reptile House.

The Reptile house is historically significant in that it dates back to 1875, making it the only original building left on the site. From the outside its an octagonal building with a bump out on one side. On the inside it’s a rotunda with domed ceiling and two vestibules on opposite sides. History indicates this was the monkey house until a big expansion project in the 1950’s rearranged a lost of the exhibits. The line was just backed up into the vestibule, so not a bad wait at all. Owing to that human behaviors thing again, I notice that without guidance, people tour the exhibits along the outside wall of the rotunda in a counter clockwise fashion, in other words keeping right. Here the outer walls have a bunch on enclosures with glass on one side, and walls painted up, and area decorated to either recreate the natural habitat, or for some other thematic purpose. Here is where you can see the snakes, including the King Cobra (I recall they made a big deal of this when Kings Island opened King Cobra, but I forgot to check and see if they had a Diamonback. They do have a python and a rattler, both well known in their coaster incarnations. The area also has turtles, frogs, lizards, geckos and more The centerpiece is an alligator pool.

Leaving the reptile house, the rain had subsided, and you could see the people who had just enough time to buy those rain ponchos. Heading further back I passed Monkey Island, where snow monkeys sit atop a big rock formation surrounded by a moat, hence Monkey Island Old photos show this as a big bird cage area, for those keeping score. At Monkey Island a couple volunteers were trying to decide if it was clear to set up their candy distribution station again, Across from Monkey Island is a station for the parks in-park transportation system, the Safari Shuttle. For those who can’t or don’t want to handle the large amount of walking the zoo requires, for $2 they can get a wristband entitling them to on and off privileges on the Safari Shuttle, with stops conveniently located around the zoo by key exhibits. Further signs at this stop indicate the shuttle service would not be running today. Just past that are two snack carts (closed) and some soft drink machines. ($3 for those keeping score) There is a seldom used path tucked behind the vending area that is great for cutting across the zoo as it takes you right to what was the African Veldt section and towards the Red Panda in a pat that takes you to to the other side of the zoo. If you look at the general layout of our zoo a a Duell loop layout, which it essentially is, this is your cut across path.

Ignoring that I head to the net exhibit, the Cat House. Alongside the outer wall are cages with small cats like lynx and bobcats, on the other side of the path forming a barrier from a drop off are rock formations, and I can remember playing on those same rock formations when I was young, The Cat House is also has the first restrooms if you missed the ones at the main gate, beyond here it seems like you pass a restroom building every five feet, It is worth noting they have signage in the restroom buildings giving interesting trivia about how animal waste is used in the world. Yes, kind of making the restroom buildings an exhibit, kind of like how when I visited a science museum, they had signs in the elevators explaining how elevators worked.

The cat house is from that big 1950’s expansion project, and when I was young it was your classic stereotypical example of a zoo exhibit building: a row of cinder block cages fronted by steel bars. The focal point of the building was a rotunda which had at either side entrances to a loop walkway that went around the perimieter of the building while the animal exhibits were along the inner wall. I also recall in the summertime the odors in this building made it to be not such a pleasant place to be. The rotunda used to have a ig flower arrangement in the center with a sign to “Please pardon our perfume: Also the main entrance used to be through several roll up doors on the main walkway side of the building, with a back door along the path by the restrooms and outdoor cages. Now the former back door is the only entrance and they have gone from a free exploration model to a fixed tour path model. Once in the building which since the 1983 renovation has ha carpet laid, the cinderblock walls covered over with drywall in earth tones, and the steel bars replaced with thick windows that also help to dampen the smell. The exhibits have the same treatment as the reptile house with the painted walls and decorations in the exhibit to simulate a natural habitat. They even kept the floral arrangement in the center of the rotunda. So now you enter and head right for the rotunda where the exit on the other side is now a service door, so you circle around the rotunda looking at small cats, then you head into the long loop path where you encounter some bigger cats. The outer wall houses the interactive exhibits, mostly to keep the little ones entertained, They big tenants here are leopards, ocelots and the like. At the other end of the loop path, an exit only door leads you to the main walkway.

It also just happens to put you right next to Gorilla World, home of their famous western lowland gorilla exhibit. There is a big gorilla statue marking the entrance and you down and through a gate as if you are entering their world, You cross a bridge by a waterfall ad then come along a BIG enclosure of the bar-less type employed by Wildlife Canyon, rock formations all around, with pools of water in the exhibit and other plant life. In the middle of the spectator area there is even two tiered walkways to allow more people to view the gorillas. Now, though it looks like the upper tier has become the interactive exhibit area. Its also the platform for the zookeeper when he gives his “Meet the Keeper” talk. You see, similar to how theme parks have show schedules, the zoo has “Meet the Keepers” as they have mostly done away with animal shows. Instead they hand you a meet the keeper schedule and you can go to those exhibits at the appointed time and a zoo keeper will stand by the exhibit and give a shot presentation on the featured animal and might even take questions. In a weird tie in, the Gorilla World is also sponsoring a used cell phone recycling project, and there is a bin in Gorilla World to recycle used cell phones

Leaving Gorilla World, the next exhibit is the Passenger Pigeon Memorial. It’s one of those off the beaten path exhibits that most people race right by without even looking at. It had become somewhat of a joke in our family as the pigeons name was Martha, and my grandmother’s name was Martha, so whenever we’d go to the oo, we’d say we saw Martha. Out on the main path is a sculpture of Martha the passenger pigeon, the back a short walkway is a small Asian themed building. Inside the small building there are a few displays, one is about passenger pigeons, another about Martha’s story (the last passenger pigeon one earth, which was promised to the Smithsonian and was returned to the Cincinnati Zoo in 1974), a bigger exhibit on animal conversation, extinction, and endangered spieces fills most of the building. The stuffed passenger pigeon sits in a centerpiece exhibit. Then the building itself is an exhibit, it along with the Reptile House and the Elephant House are all on the Historic buildings register. In this case the passenger pigeon memorial building is the last surviving example of what used to be a row of bird aviary buildings at the zoo,

Around the corner is a building called “World of the Insect” I know some people that get so weirded out at the thought of being in the same room as insects their reaction is “I’ll just chill on this park bench while you go through there” This building was on the forward edge when they were moving to exhibits that have an interactive component. From the scale up front that give you your weight in insects, to the science lab type thing at the end. In the middle there is some renovation going on. However, I like the ant exhibit where there are two or three of these exhibits connected with long plastic tubes so the ants an move from one area to the other. I quipped that they are seeing the exhibit along with you as the tubing goes right past a couple of the other exhibit areas. Another feature item is the butterfly room. You go into a room and walk down a narrow path in the same room as the butterflies. As you leave the butterfly room there are some sternly worded signs warning you about the laws you would be breaking if you attempt to remove a butterfly from the room on purpose.

Next door to that is the Nocturnal House, its not obvious anymore since its been mostly hidden by a special exhibits building they put right in front of it, then they put an outdoor lemur exhibit in front of that. You can tell there is nothing in the special exhibits building right now because they used the time honored theme park technique of making the building disappear on the park map. So I use a real tiny walkway from the World of Insects to the Nocturnal House, walked in the oversize front door. You enter through a building that looks like a barn inside complete with barn owls and past the barn owls exhibit is the start of a cave themed hallway. Very obscure purple lighting inside so its real dark. Remember the idea is these are animals that are most active at night, so during the day they make this exhibit area look like a darkened cave. Sure they have aardvarks and bearcats in here, (yes UC fans, if you are looking for the bearcat, you won’t find it in the Cat House, its over in the Nocturnal house) This is another “I’ll wait for you outside” type exhibit areas as they have a bunch of bats in the area complete with vampire bats whose exhibit features a bowl full of blood.

Leaving the Nocturnal House, I past the empty special exhibits area that features a sign indicating a komodo dragon coming coon, then I looked though Lemur Lookout but failed to se a lemur. Leaving the area I came to an amphitheatre that features bird shows in the peak season, and puppet shows during Festival of Lights but otherwise sits mostly unused. Just beyond that is an area that must be the halftime rest spot. This is the area with the picnic grove and lots of food places. In other words, this is about where they figure you will want lunch. Recently, the zoo added a carousel in the center of the picnic grove. ($2 a ride) and it had a queue overflowing out into the picnic groves. Next to the carousel is a pathway that goes back to the area that used to be Playland when the zoo ha a full amusement park section. Now the area is a special events area, and the dark ride building has been converted into a safari lodge type special events building. Beyond that is the animal research, conservation, and animal hospital arms of the zoo.

After a quick walk through this area I came to what was once the Ape house and latey the animal nursery. Again it was one of those stereotypical buildings with the cinder block walls and steel bar cages. Now the original entrance have been walled up and what was the side is now the front of the building. Inside the building has been converted into a 4D movie theatre, gift shop, atm and restroom building. I walked into to check out the movie theatre, and they have both films that appear to have a bit of animal educational content as well as some that are purely entertainment. I almost turned around when I saw one fo the movies was Funhouse Express, but the other was some African jungles themed show. I got in line to buy the movie ticket ($5) and after standing for a bit in a line that didn’t move one inch I bailed on that with the notion of coming back later. Well you know what they say about “be backs”, they hardly ever are. During Festival of Lights they show Polar Express in here.

The zoo is dinged in reviews for all the hidden charges and extra cost activities and as such have moved forth with what they call the “Ultimate Adventure” ticket, which runs about $11 above general admission but includes a wristband good for rides on the safari shuttle, carousel and train ride along with a voucher for one free 4D movie. What I noticed in the line is that most of the people had these vouchers were waiting in line to exchange for a real timed entry ticket. It should be noted the ride wristband itself is $8. So in effect the add on is the member pricing on everything ($7 ride pass and $4 movies for members) If you aren’t going to invest the time to wait in line to get a movie ticket, then spend the time to watch the movie the deluxe ticket option makes no sense for you, and today wit the safari shuttle not operating you would have to take multiple train and carousel rides to get even on it. It’s an option, but to me not a very attractive option. So I’ll stick with just the general admission ticket I bought. Passing this area, its back to animal exhibits.

The next building on my tour is what was the Aquarium when I was growing up. It was a straight forward affair with a one way through path. You started with smaller fish in the front room and worked your way up to sharks by the time you got to the very back room. Also of interest was the tide pool which went through an entire day in a matter of minutes. Sometime in the 1990’s the building changed to Manatee Springs. About the same time, Newport on the Levee opened up with the Newport Aquarium as its first tenant. At about that time the zoo decide to get out of the full scale aquarium business and let the Newport attraction take care of that while they focused on just Manatees, which are highly restricted, so only a small number of zoos are allowed to show them. It’s still a one way path, but first you pass through a hot and humid room that shows off alligators and crocodiles, then you go into the air conditioned area. There are a few small fish areas up front, but to be brutally honest the only attraction that gets any attention is the manatees visible through two gigantic picture windows and a bubble window. It just so happened that the week of my visit the zoo received a new manatee or two, making this exhibit quite popular. After the manatees you go through an interactive exhibit room before exiting to the outside.

At that time I crossed over the main pathway into what I remember as the African Veldt which is now apparently called the Rhino Reserve. It’s a circle path around a number of anumal grottos. The guide says I can see Rhinos (Idnian and black), bongos, zebras, okapi and flamingos, but I noted that most of the animals were “training their keepers” at least that’s what their signs said. Who knew flamingos made noise, though. Also in that area I went down the little side path into “Tiger Canyon” an area I remember as Big Cat Canyon. At least its residents were there, and I could see two kinds of tigers and cheetah. I exited the area just as a keeper was doing a “Meet the keeper” presentation on the rhino. I stopped to listed to it before continuing on.

I next went to see the lion exhibit, and I could swear the lions and tigers have changed places. The lion exhibit consists of a wooden walkway that runs above and along the perimeter of the lion area. One of the lions was walking through the grass land, the other was in full Lion King mode on a wooden platform posing all “Yeah, I’m the lion king, now take pictures”

A quick walk past another food area leas to the Lord of The Arctic. Here the zoo makes use of the topography of the land. From one side you look underwater in the polar bear exhibit through giant windows, walk around to the other side and you are up over the polar bear exhibit and can see the land area and the top of the pool. I also spotted the bald eagle in his cage right next to the polar bear.

Across from the Polar Bear is a 1990’s era expansion that is really neat. It’s called Jungle Trails and is meant to simulate a hike through the jungles, so much so that the path is cleverly made to look like a dirt trail and not a paved path. It was still too cold for many of these animals, according to the signs, but the orangautans were quite active, as wee the bonobos. As you hike through the jungle you come to two builings where you see indoor animals, the fist is the asian building, where you too can see a gibbon, and the second, larger building is the African building. During Festival of Lights, and maybe in the winter they cut this exhibit down to being only the African building by having you enter via the exhibit exit.

Finishing up Jungle Trails, its time for the dreaded walk up Bear Hill, which is an extremely steep hillside up by the bear grottos. Most wise zoo visitors plan to walk down this hill, or use the safari shuttle to ride up. But, there are three kinds of bears to be seen: Polar, spectacled and black.

Now I’ve gotten to the back of the zoo, I’ve walked across the back of the zoo, and now I’m starting my way back to the front. What is odd is that I am nearing the area that was the front of the zoo for many years. Next up is the Wings of the World building, yes, it’s the Bird House. History says the bird house was built in the 30’s as the Reptile House and became the Bird House during the 50’s expansion. It used to be just a hallway with glass cases built into the wall along both sides with doors near each end. A kiosk with interactive exhibits was later added in the center of the hall. Speaking on interactive exhibits, the Zoo Key program I grew up with is all but gone. I can remember every kid pestering their parents to buy them their own “Key to the Zoo” at the gift shop. Once you had that key you could insert it into machines all around the zoo to unlock secret recordings which explained the animals in a kid friendly fashion. Some cool thing about the bird house were the penguins on one end, and the big bird exhibit on the other where birds could fly into an outdoor section as well.

This building must have been redesigned by the same people that did the aquarium as it has a similar look and fell. Now its strictly a one way only maze with two walk in bird aviarys, some more traditional bird exhibits, but still use penguins as the calling card exhibit at the very end.

After leaving Wings of he World, the bird theme continues next door. For as long as I can remember the Walk Through Flight Cage was next to the Bird House, and still is, in a different form. It’s now Lorikeet Landing, and as I approached it I noted a stand selling bird feed. This is unusual as I had though animal feeding, like camel and elephant rides, was a thing of the past. I, for one, am glad I got those elephant and camel rides in while I got a chance.

Getting closer to the exhibit, I noted the old entrance doors have been locked and blocked with benches, and the old exit is now the one and only door into the flight cage. What’s more is they have an attendant monitoring the door. They did reconfigure the walkway so that it forms a loop instead of just one path from one door to the other. I did note some guests who were sorely disappointed trying to feed lorikeets who didn’t want to fly up from the ground to the platform, let alone nibble on any of the feed products. That didn’t stop the guests from buying the feed products despite the pile of previously purchased, ad obviously uneaten from feed sticks. The keepers were vigilant in warning you that shoe laces, pant legs are commonly nibbled. I looked around the area, then headed out.

Crossing the main path by the train station, I noted some changes to the train station. This year the loading platform area was fenced in with proper entry and exit gates installed, and real queue areas. This means the old method of train stops, then there is a free for all for the train seats, then the operator walks down the trainside collecting tickets method of operation is no more. I addition to this, crossing gates have been installed wherever the train crosses park pathways. I swear none of these safety upgrades wer here as recently as Festival of Lights. What makes the crossing nearest the train station unusual is that the gates are manual instead of automatic, and by manual I mean not even motorized. Also for many years the zoo is known for a family of peacocks that seem to have free range to walk about the park as they see fit. You never know where you are going to see them, and I have seen them on the clear other side of the zoo. As the train was approaching the track the peacock was standing on the tracks, and remained standing until it got uncomfortably close as in, “I shouldn’t be watching this but…” But one blast from the train whistle and the peacock darted off to, well at least far enough away to be safe.

For as long as I can remember its been a tradition to ride the train ride whenever visiting the zoo, I mean to not ride the train is not to see the zoo. So, even though I was touring the zoo alone, I headed to the ticket booth in the center of the train station to pick up a $3 train ticket. Remember what I was saying about natural human behavior? The queue area to the right of the ticket booth was packed full, the one on the left, not even a quarter full. Yes, I picked the one on the left. Soon I was on the CP Huntington train for a quick overview of the zoo, and I do mean quick as in some parts the train seems to travel at mach 5. Of course the uninteresting parts like behind the sea lion pool and bear caves and wolf woods is taken nice and slow. When you start to go over the trestle over Rhino Reserve is when the train goes in to hyperdrive, and remains there as it goes past the children’s petting zoo, monkey island, and reptile house. It then slows down as it does its graceful signature element as it glides along a trestle that runs the perimeter of swan lake, before returning to the station. As I say, now it’s a CP Huntington, but sources say it used to be a NAD train, and I do remember a completely different looking train with zebra stripes along its sides. Then again I also remember when the safari shuttle also had the zebra motif and only had one station, next to the train station. We did have an interesting time leaving the train as guests had parked so many strollers right in front of the next exit gates that we could not get the gates open until they came and removed them. Perhaps going out of your way to make the gate blend in to the fence was not such a great idea. After riding the train, I had a Dave Althoff moment, it seemed like the train ride was over in 2 minutes when you are riding it, but I timed it to learn it actually takes 5:30, which by sheer coincidence was also about the time it took them to unload ad reload it,

After the train I headed for the children’s zoo. I remember when the children’s zoo was little more than a big rectangular area with animal pens along the border. Oh sure, it had a barn, and a pond with a bridge over it, and one or two of the pens would let you enter the pen with the animals, and there was an animal meet and greet show area. That all changed in the late 80’, early 90’s At that time the children’s zoo as greatly expanded and it incorporated the nursery, two special activities buildings, a playground, some interactive exhibits, and the current sea lion pool (walrus then) and more were incorporated into the much expanded children’s zoo, What didn’t change was the changing of an extra fee to get into the area. I guess the idea was to really make the thing like a little zoo with a main gate and all. Perhaps even get the children used to the idea of having to pay to see the zoo. I suspect what really happened was the extra fee agitated the parents who were already getting agitated at the rising general admission fee and all the add on fees inside the zoo, this was one that just made sense to eliminate. Doing so also means that’s a ticket booth and ‘main gate’ they don’t have to staff, and they were able to remove a couple fences and open up the area so it now has an entrance by gibbon islands, tiger canyon, ad the sea lion pool, as well as the original entrance by the train station. I start to enter the area but the entrance by the train station is blocked off by substantial barriers and cute MAN-ATEES AT WORK signs. I cruised through the gift shop that used to serve as the children’s zoo exit through retail so I could both see what they had, and also so I could look out the back windows to discover the children’s zoo is pretty much gutted right now. It is a major renovation going on, and to be fair the park mp did make it clear the area was closed.

I went around past the funnel cake stand to both look at the sea lions above and below the water, as well as to get another glimpse into the massive construction zone. I past what appears to be an underutilized activity building that was in Children’s zoo but owing to the way the park has been redrawn is now between the sea lion pool and wolf woods. I followed the arrows to enter Wolf Woods via the river otters exhibit. There is a walk through cage where you get to walk with the turkeys, then I passed the otter exhibit which was being cleaned by a keeper, to eventually hit a big deck that overlooks Wolf Woods. I paused to look at the wolves before heading into a cabin looking building that offered more viewing opportunities. Right after that was a strange bird aviary, it looks like another walk through flight cage, but once inside they have an inner fence, which seems to totally nullify the whole walk in concept.

After this I backtracked some and headed to the area that for at least 30 years has serve as the de facto entrance plaza. The cafeteria, now named the Rhino Café (I remember Safari Room) and the main restrooms are still open, but the gift shops, stroller rental, guest relations and all that has been abandoned for now, It also looks like the big parking lot right outside this entrance is torn up pretty bad,

Before continuing on, I took a slight walk out of my way to look at the often missed Red Panda exhibit and Gibbon Islands. Can a zoo visit by complete without a walk out on the bridge past Gibbon Islands. Imagine two islands with big jungle gym looking things on them, monkey bars quite literally. In the heyday they would seem to have two opposing tribes of gibbon monkeys on the two islands that seemed to be in a constant war to outperform and outyell the other island. I mean at times you could not hear yourself think in this area. Unfortunately only one island was in use today, and the two gibbons on display, while active to be sure, were also quiet.

Next I passed the old education building which seems to be a special event space now before heading towards one of the newest exhibits, Giraffe Ridge. Down a short path behind the old education building sits Giraffe Ridge. Here, depending on the weather and all that you can either look at the giraffe through windows in their building or out in a clearing behind the building. I got both as they were inside when I first arrived, but soon moved to the outdoor clearing. I spent some time looking at the giraffes and noted another feeding opportunity exists here in certain hours. I also noted a big ramp down to the lower level of the education building and parking lot which looks like it will lead to the cheetah run they are rumored to be building in the old parking lot area. I also failed to go up the steps to look at the green roof on the giraffe building.

From there, I walked around the elephant building, and noted the show venue where I watched the cat show in 2004 is gone. The elephant building is the third historical building and has been painted up in an African theme. But that can wait, I noted a very interesting glass building behind it. I mean glass dome looking thing. “Discovery Forest” I walked inside to discover its really the new education building and theatre but in the grand foyer is a multi story simulated rain forest under glass, even the stairs look like they are hewn out of the rock. On the lower level, I also noted a sign explaining the animals that are usually in this area are off display today. It’s a real neat lobby for what looks to be a big upgrade for the educational arm of the zoo.

I continued to walk around the back of the elephant house where I notice the door on this side has been sealed off. You get to gaze at a little lot where they park their distinctive company cars, and then walk along a long dull walkway back to Historic Vine sStreet Village, Right before you get back to the front they do have a going green display in a little garden. Near there you can enter the elephant reserve and gaze upon the elephant with lots of your fellow park guests, or you can do what I did which was to look into the outside enclosure from the end nearest Discovery Forest and have a ring side place to yourself.

After that I had finished a lap around the park, and again trying to be health conscious headed to the “Natural Selections Café” sounds like the best odds of a healthy snack, right? Might have been at one time, but now it’s a Skyline Chili. This backs up my earlier statement as to why Wonders of Life at Disney failed, and that’s simply people don’t want to be reminded about their own health while at en entertainment attraction, I mean I get it, “I’m at the zoo, I can live a little bit, particularly since I just walked around this hilly place all day” I’ve noticed healthy fare options don’t tend to last long at amusement parks which must be the chagrin on food service directors that get beat up by guest complaints to offer such healthier fare.

So, just for grins and giggles, I set a stopwatch and did one lap around the grand circuit of the zoo for time, not jogging or running mind you, just a brisk pace. 12 minutes. Then it was time to browse the gigantic main gift shop, and his the restrooms before departing. In the going green restroom, they have the waterless urinals, but I noticed a sign indicating how much water was saved using motion sensor sink faucets, then I noted the electric faucets have been replaced with more traditional manual models.

After that, it was time to head out the main exit, where I didn’t notice any readmission options available to me, despite over an hour left until closing. If you do want to take advantage of the zoo’s policy as stated in the website FAQ’s of coolers and carry in food being allowed, I’d go for the remaining on site parking lots if at all possible so you have access to your car during the day. Just outside the gate, I noticed the cleverly placed stuffed animal vendor right by the exit bridge, meaning every child who is heading to the vine street area lots or the bus has to pas s right by them. It was then just across the bridge and down the stairs.

Don’t you love it when I get in the mood to see how long a trip report I can write?

TR; ACE Winter SOAR 7 - Feb 27, 2010

2010-03-03T21:58:00.003-05:00

Trip Report: ACE Winter SOAR 7
EnterTRAINment Junction
West Chester, OH
February 27, 2010

"Don't be saying coaster enthusiasts have a one track mind!"

February 27 was the 7th annual Winter SOAR, which is a regional off-season event for our ACe region. The event was born out of the simple idea of getting together in the middle of the off season for dinner and some presentations by parks, entertainment venues, and ride manufacturers, and other related businesses. The first two were held at local dinners, and after the presentations were over, we'd all head to Wonderpark to get a ride or two on the Boa Squeeze kiddie coaster. Hey, in Ohio,in February, you do what you have to do!

In 2006, Kings Island upped the ante, primarily because they wanted to show off their new kid's area. So the event was moved to the International Restaurant and featered a park construction and off season tour, followed by the dinner and presentations. It worked out so well we did it the same way in 2007 with a Firehawk construction tour. In 2008, Kings Island had nothing to show off, so it was back to scrambling for a banquet room we could use for the dinner and presentations. 2009, Kings Island wanted to show off Diamondback, so the event returned to the park with a construction tour.

In 2010, the event went a whole new direction, this time being hosted by local train themed FEC, EnterTRAINment Junction, and I noted Kings Island really has nothing to show off this year. That follows the trend of past years. One of the changes that came with the move is the event became an all day event - during the day you got a wristband to enjoy the activities offered by EnterTRAINment Junction including special behind the scenes tours, then after the place closed for the night, we took over the Junction Cafe for the dinner and presenations. So Rideman and I pre-registered for the event. Looking over the schedule we noted the tours start at 1:30, and the dinner is at 6. It was advised to arrive by 2 to ensure you could take full advantage of all the activities offered. With that, more by chance than by planing, we arrived around 1:40.

Our first problem would be dealing with the full parking lot, I mean all the parking spaces seemed to be taken and people were starting to form creative parking spaces. We did find a single spot left along the side of the building, a spot that most probably didn't want to bother with due to the tight turn in caused by a creatively parked van. Rideman suggested that the building is probably infested with a lot of small children, just look at the dispropotionate number of vans and SUVs (aka soccer mom mobiles) in the parking lot.

So we park and we head around the front of the building where we could get a look at the outdoor hand car ride that is only open in the summer months, then headed around to the front doors. Big signs on the front doors alerted us to the fact this was Thomas the Train month. and an all inclusive ticket is just $12.99.

We step inside and the SOAR reigstration table is front and center inside the front doors. We seemed to arrive at a popular arrival time, so after waiting in a bit of a line, we were checked in. Upon check in we were issued all day wristbands, a door prize ticket, and then invited to some giveaway items. SOAR really got its start with Jeff Siebert who is now with Schlitterbahn. Jeff still keeps in touch with the group, and sent a lot of swag to the event. It was a "Choose one item from column A" which had eithter a keyring or a Squueze/stress toy of the iconic Schlitterbahn lighthouse/caslte thing, this toy also doubles as a business card holder or photo holder. Knowing my love of flags, Rideman suggested the photo/card holder on top of the building could be a flagpole. In column B it was a choice between two styles of Schlitterbahn patch, then every body got a mysterious Schlitterbahn envelope that was marked top secret, and not to open until instructed. Further down the giveaways was a Kings Island magnet with the Scooby charaters, and an EnterTRAINment junction brochure. After collecting all the swag, we were informed of some optional activities we could sign up for. One was a behind the scenes tour of the train layout, and we took spaces in the next available group (3:00), and then a tour of the haunted house (we got a 5:00 time, to be fair there were only two offerings, 4 and 5), in addition you could enter a scavenger hunt to win a jigsaw puzzle froom EnterTRAINment Junction. We picked up our list of clues .

Then, in accordance with coaster event time honored ritual and custom, we did not go charging into the park, instead we went charging back to the parking lot to drop off all the swag and any event materials we would not actually need in the event.

We re-entered the building, and deicded since the Funhouse Junction is right up front, to go through the funhouse first. I noted there was nobody at the ticket check barrier, so we went on in. The first thing we noticed is that the work lights seemed to be on as the whole funhouse was lit up brighter than I remember it being last year. The layout was basically the same as last year. First you walk down a forboding hallway (not so much in bright light), then through the mirror maze. I like the big wall mirror across from the exit to the mirror maze so if you look out the exit from inside the maze you just see more maze. The vortex tunnel was on and working well, so well that Rideman forcefully resisted my efforts to clog the path so he could enjoy the effect some more.

After the Vortex tunnel things do downhill in the middle section. The dark laughing hallway isnow a brightly lit room, the speakers shut off and the partitions that made you zig zag through the darkened room are gone, so basically no stunt in that room, then it was into the psychaellic room which just seemed to be another waste. We then headed into the industrial chain link fence maze. We could see some trip sensors that were supposed to fire off some effects, none of which seemed to be working, and I noted it didn't seem near as forboding with the bright lights on. They have added some fabric to the lower half of the chaink link fencing. It's a real smple maze, and another waste. Next up was the real maze where you go through a maze of cubicles with red and white fabric seperatig each cube. When you push through the fabric will you find a passage or a wall. There seemed to be no dead end paths, howeer. Things are getting back to normal except for the light, I recall this being very dim before.

Perhaps the best workig stunt was the claustropia room, where two big air pillows inflate so they are right next to each other and you have topush you way through the center of the two. The last room, the hurricane room with the strong fans seemed to be working, then you exit back out into the lobby. Okay, that was good for all of three minutes.

We entered the train station, showed our wristbands at the ticket barrier and went out the back door of the station into the Train Journey. Train Journey is a very impressive 25,000 square foot model train layout. Not only that its highly detailed with attention to historical detail, and the whole layout follows a chronological organization, so you start with the early years of railroading and by the end you are looking at a modern downtown city and major railway cargo center. We pull out our lime green scavenger hunt papers and get to work. I was reminded of a tip I was given back in April "The items on our scavenger hunt are listed in the order they will appear on the layout, so if you see an item further down the paper, you know yo have to go back and look for others. " We did a quick rundown of the list, and noted the bonus tiebreaker at the bottom. "How many dinosaurs are there in the exhibit?" This is another gae they play, sometimes its easter bunnies, sometimes its little models of the owner, this time its dinos. They are well hidden and provide a good challenge to find. Well, it would have been a good challenge if Dave didn't note that right before we entered the layour, there is a rack with 6 or more different scavenger hunt lists and a sign with other things to watch for. One of the signs read "Can you find the eight dinosaurs hidden inside?" We never spotted a dinosaur, but we put down a pretty good scientific guess.

Another neat thing they do is free loaner step stools so the little ones can see the layout better. You pick one up off a pile at the start, and drop it off at the end. I didn't grab an extra copy of the hunt, but the questions were mostly straightforward. Well except they were also tricky. One asked for the year off of a dry goods store, and its the second dry goods store you come to, you have to match the full name. I showed Rideman the civil war encampment which you would never see from the ground if you didn't get up on a step to look over part of the layout.

Further along we were mesmerized by a switchback railway, the train went up the hill empty, and then came back down with fully loaded cars. Just after the switchback, you come to Imagination Station which is the kids area of sorts. Here they have the kids climbing structure (decorated with lots of american flags), a toy train big enough to play in, a handcar yoou can play with, a crafts area, some smaller layouts, thomas the train tables to play with, and even a small coin operated kiddie train ride. We ooked around before continuing. For the next portion of the layout the outer wall of the exhibit is lined with the "America Railroading Museum" which gives the history side of railroading. You go through a tunnel which takes you from the early days into the middle period. Now its the 1940's50's. Rideman spotted a poster for the Fox Theatre on a trolley stop in the city and spent quite a while using a camera with zoom lens and magnification to try to read the little poster (for the scanvenger hunt of course) I continued around the corner where I came face to face with the Fox Theatre in the model city with a large and easily legibile marquee. Rideman even noted the poster advertised a diffeent show than the actual theatre. Further along we came to a drive in moie scene, and being an AV guy, Rideman indicated it would be neat touse a mini projector to actually show a cliip from Zorro on the screen.

We also noted the automation in place with trains stopping at stations and the like, sound queues such as the alarm bell ringing at the jail where a prison break is occuring, The exhibit is interactive with buttons ever now and then to activate a sound cue or cause some minor part of the layout to function. After the drive in, you go up a flight of stairs to take a look at the layout from the impressive vantagepoint of a huge glassed in gallery. Also upstairs they had a model olt time hand carved circus model that is o loan to them. Back down the stairs the exhibit continues, Antoter tunnel and you are into the modern era. The level of detail in the modern era goes down as a lot of the buildings in the modern downtown are flat cardboard stand ins for future handcrafted fully detailed buildings. We noted the changing expo hall where you can watch the volunteers at work has been taken over by a Thomas The Train kidie train ride. We continue through the layout and Ido hope the one skydiver towards the end pulls his ripcord, theskydiver next to him is lower than him and has already pulled.

As with any good tourist attraction, you exit out into the gift shop. We though we were cutting it close on our tour time, so we rushed through the shop just to find out the tours are running late so our time had been rescheduled for 3:30. We taled a bit with the registration table people. I thought they were nuts for wanting to run the marathon, they thought I was nuts for wanting to to the stair race at the Carew Tower. We also looked around the hobby shop to kill some time and got into a conversation with a man who was working in the hobby class workshop area. 18 birthday parties today, no wonder it is so crowded.

Around 3:30 we make our way to the train station to meet Don Oeaters for our behind the scenes tour. A year ago at SOAR we had heard that a lot of theme park design principles went into this project. The first one you see is upon enterng the building the lobby area is done up as old time small town USA. The party rooms, shops, and the like are all in period storefronts, and being a train display, the main entrance and ticket sales area is the train station. Besides it only felt proper that if we had to wait, it should be at the train station.

Now, given those 18 parties and the crowd today, talking in the main lobby was not ideal, so even before pleasantries were exchanged we were wisked into the gift shop. Don proceeded to walk behind the checkout counter, and the group paused and waited to be sure it was eally OK. I mean, it does feel sort of awkward to walk behind the counter. The train station is setup with the ticket office on one end and the gift shop on the other. In between the two is sort of a front line office. We quickly ducked through the office, and through a doorway and then we were into a different world.

Remember those theme park design principles I talked about, well in the center of the layout is a mountain, and I'm not talking any mountain, I'm talking the Mt. Everest of model railroad mountains. From outside the mountain, the mountain serves as a pretty scenic backdrop, and also serves as visual shielding. As you progress through the layout, you porgress through time, and the mountain visually shields you from ever being able to see two conflicting time eras at the same time.

When we got inside the mountain, Don Oeters first gave us the introduction. The idea behind Entertrainment Junction is that members of the local model railroading club got together and thought that it would be a really neat idea to pool resources and build one giant layout that the public could enjoy. It all sounded very good, except, in Don's own words "Who would be DUMB enough to buy the building"

Well, guess what, Don is the guy who was 'dumb' enough. He tells us he had been fortunate in a major local business, and got together with a few like minded individuals and were able to secure the current building. The current building was a furniture store, and as Don said, he started out looking at a much smaller building. It would come as no suprise that every time he started looking at a larger building, the costs also went up. But, he also figured out that the larger the building the more money making potential it had.

He decided that they could buy a small building, and just put a model layout inside and call it a day, but then they would be limiting their audience to just model railroad people. Look around the current building, besides the model layout, their are also major profit centers in the party rooms during the day and meeting rooms and banquet rooms at night. For the hobbiest there is a hobby shop, lessons in building models, and the like. For the kids there is Imagination Station with a big climbing structure and smaller kid sized layouts, along with child appropriate crafts and activities. For the railroad history buff, there is the American Raildoading Museum, To build a repeat business, there is the expo hall with changing exhibits along with the walk through attractions. For most of the year it is an old time style funhouse, in October its a haunted house, in December its a holiday 'department store' style display, and a telling of Christmas Carol as only they can tell it. Even the railroad model can interest multiple groups, from those that appreicate model railroading, to those that appreciate the craftsmanship of the layout, to those that appreciate the historical perspective presented.

Yes, the model layout is a walk through lesson in US history. For example, in scene 2, you will notice what I think is the only area in the whole display with a raised platform. That is becuase unless you are really tall, it is the only way you can see the US Civil war enampment. In front of the civil war encampement is a long bridge where both ends look to be properly built and the center looks to be build with anything they could come up with. Don let us know this comes from a true story. There was a key bridge over a valley the confederate side burned down in the name of military strategy. The union side rebuilt that bridge overnight using literally whatever they could find. He claimed there are little lessons like that all the way through the layout.

We talked about the mountain, and how its made with spray foam, and since they use so much spray foam, they had a method setup to collect the excess so they could reuse it. In some areas the mountain is paper thin, and in other places its very thick. That's how they are able to carve in the texture. We learned that inside the mountian is just as important as outside the mountain. He said there is just as much track in the mountain than out. The idea is the train comes out a tunnel, goes on its merry way through its part of the show, then goes back into another tunnel, where it cycles back around inside the mountain back to its start point, He noted we may see switch yards and the like out on the layout, but those are purely for show, and real functional switching and the like takes place on a switch yard inside the mountain.

We talked about how on some tracks there is only one train, one other tracks there are multiple trains traveling in the same direction, and yet others with multiple trains heading in opposite directions. The key to making this work is a computerized system quite similar to a block safety system on a rollercoaster. He admitted at first the system didn't quite work right, and they had 4 head on crashes in one day. The kids loved it, those responsible for maintaining the trains, not so much. This works on a logic based system where each train has magnets under it that trip sensors that tell the computer where the trains are.

We walked around inside the mountain and we saw ever now and then the control consoles. Each tracks panel has some computer chips that have that tracks program buned into them. He said for the tech geeks, the programming was done in C++. Also on the console are the manual train controls so they could run the system by hand if they had to. He noted at first it took 20 minutes to get the layout turned on or off, now its down to 5 minutes, and eventually when they get all the tracks computer systems are networked together it will be almost instantaneous. It was also noted the system has a battery back up now that it didn't originally, this allows the system to remember the last position of all trains in the event of a power failure.

Of course, we all know that eventually the layout will need hands on care in the process of improving it or maintaining it. If the area is close to the walking trail, the plexiglass shields coe out very easy to allow access. But sometimes that just does't work. In those case there are trapdoors in the layout. Certain building or other areas that are hinged and open up like a trapdoor. This allows them to climb up through the trap door and work on the layout. Talking about climbing up on the layout, anyplace in the layout that is flat is strong enough to support a man standing on it, yes this includes the track. The track pieces are soildered together.

The theming is good, I mean we are inside the mountain, and what does it look like, a cave! That's good. Just like a cave, you have to look out for low clearances, tight and narrow spaces, dim lighting, 'mine track' running all over the place and the like. Also just like a cave it is massive, and allows them to get all around the layout part of the attraction without using the seerpentine walking trail and fighting their way through the crowds.

We walked a good portion of the cave, being careful not to get to close to the trains running on tracks right next to where we are walking, He noted that we might have noticed the trains and the layout might be bigger than we are used to seeing. We would be right, as most model layouts are built to HO scale, but this layout is built to G scale. G for 'garden scale' hearkening back to the days when the model railroad people put them in their gardens. Now most of the sets here are built in house, but he noted in the modern city they are building a subway system, well it just so happens no commerical firm makes a G scale subway train. We then got to watch a train come in, park itself, and another train go out to take its place.

I noted he at least inferred to the fact they have no debt, and a lot of the skilled work (train layout design, maintenance and construction) is volunteer help, you can see how they can make a go of this. In fact, he noted they were voted the top FEC in the state.

We walked out a door and looked at part of the layout. He noted parts of the layout that have been added in recent months, as the layout is constantly being improved upon, and as he said will never be finished. He noted we might have noted the modern city scene has far less detail than the other parts. Its mostly off the shelf buildings. He said instead of changing over one part at a time, they are going to save it all up, and do it all at once. He pointed out one of the dinosaurs, and pointed out there are also little miniatures of him on the layout. It's there version of "Where's Waldo!" a fun inside game. Since he told the first group, he is telling every group there are 8 of the dinosaurs. Speaking of the scavenger hunt, he commented that they have 6 different ones, and that some people thing its just a way to keep the kids occupied, but in reality they are for everybody as a tool to get them to look at the detail in the layout.

He then showed us monitor that shows us when they put a microcamera on some of the trains to create POV video, and what coaster enthusiast doesn't like POV video. He also pointed out we should go upstairs to the overlook gallery to look at the circus layout. Its not a train layout perse,but its a hand carved turn of century circus that is now an antique. Its on loan here till september.

Next he pointed out the tour we are getting is not the usual tour, but he is opening up to us. He next took us into the train repair shop, which is not part of the tour. In part of the room is the shop. He noted that even if a train is deemed beyond repair, it can still serve as a static display. In the same room are to big black cabinets, one houses the audio cues, the other has the automation. Next to the second one is the computer used to program the system. Don noted eventually they want to add all kinds of lighting to the layouts so they can have day/night cycles, and even smell cues.

Don then said the next part of the tour is the expo hall, but owing to the fact it has a Thomas Train ride in it right now, we have to go the back way. We can either walk as a group along the trail all the way to the end then out to the back door, or we can use the cave. Problem is, the cave entrance from the repair room requires us to crawl under part of the train layout. He said he was cool with whatever we chose. Well, since we aren't kids anymore, and deep down nobody wants to be responsible for damaging the layout,we opted to walk around the trail. When we got as far as the door we used to come out of the cave, Don realizes we could enter the cave their and so we quickly zoomed through the cave, out through the cashiers area, through the gift shop, down the lobby, and then through a doorway that went into the expo hall.

In a corner of the expo hall, he had the blueprintts, topographic maps and scale models so we could see how everything was designed. Next to theat there was a working animated amusemet park that he let us look at for maybe 15 seconds. Not to blame him, as this was our chance to walk through the active ride area while it was being loaded. We even blatantly ignored signs saying NOT to do this, I guess when you are with the owner, its OK.

We saw the board room, and then went to watch the artisans at work. In the back half of the expo hall is where the sets get built. From there, we went into another area that is not usually part of the tour, the warehouse. The first part is a workshop tool crib with just about any tool they could ever possibly need, then there is the warehouse. Some interesting points is they recently acquired a famous Lionel train layout, I won't reveal the name as to not spoil there thunder, but the parts of that layout take up one end of the warehouse, along with the big 40'x40' tent it used to be diaplyed in. Another part of the warehouse has all the stuff from Winterfest the one year PKI had Winterfest. When they decided to discontinue it after one season, he went in with an offer to buy everything. Some of it he resold through the gift shop, other stuff he is keeping just waiting for a use. It was noted that most of the management and upper level staff came from Kings Island, so if you note a theme park influence, now you know why.

We then caught the opportunity to walk back through the expo hall, and here we got more time to look at the amusement park part of the layout. We were then dismissed back into the lobby, Here, Dave and I walked the train journey again, this time it was Dave's video and photo tour of the layout.

When we re-emerged we learned the haunted house tour we had booked for 5 had been moved to 5:15. We decided to use the extra 15 minutes for a sit down and relax break. This tour was much shorter, and took us through the back haunted house area. This is actually a clever haunted house as with just a few minor changes in props, it can become the setting for a comical two man telling of the Christmas Carol, a kid friendly tirck or treat path by day, or a frightening haunted house by night, We walked through the haunt with him pointing out the scare effects and what they do, or how each room has double purposes for the two events. It was moderately interesting ifyou are into that sort of thing, and I don't really think our group was. I did note how they have two rooms that look exactly the same to fool the person into thinking they are going around in circles, and I recall Kings Island used the same tactic with slaughterhouse.

Again the tour exited to the lobby. Here the event turned into a working event for Rideman as he brought the A/V stuff. I got to sit around, socialize and chat and Rideman got to figure out how to setup equipment in a strnage environment and deal with what looked like a stubborn laptop. Don't worry everything came together.

We were all sitting there talking when we heard an old time bellows whistle. Dinner is served. We all rush up to get in line to claim our one slice of pizza and a soft drink. It didn't take long before people were taking two or three slices in a trip, which really caused the line to move at a painfully slow pace. Not to worry, because Rideman and I have come to expect that we will be getting dinner again after SOAR. The bigger problem with being in line all that time was that was when the showed the videos for both Intimidators, Shoot the Rapids, and Wildebeast. You may have thought they would have showed them again as part of the presentations, but no such luck. By the time we got seated they were showing an EntetTRAINment Junction PR video.

So we have our dinner and settle in for the presentations. First up is Gravity Group. This is by far the best presentation of the evening. First up is all about the new roller coaster coming to Quassy in 2011. They discuss at length the trials and tribulations of getting this project off the ground, as we can see some of the material has 2007 dates on it. Its a big case like Waldemeer where the powers that be are doing just about anything they can to scuttle the project. It will look like a kiddie coaster, mainly due to the 35' height limit, but with good use of the terrain they expect a nice airtieme filled ride. They also mentioned the ride will have Timberliners, which was a good seque into the Timberliners part of the presentation. For those of us who went to the Timberliner tour in January, this was a repeat. They pointed out how the cars can steer around curves for a smoother ride,how the seats are actually suspended in the cars for a smoother ride., they talked about the safety bar system and how it will have no seatbelts which they acknowledge is the biggest deterent to getting good dispatch times. Oddly enough they said a train with the same capacity as the Voyages PTC train will actually be shorter than the PTC,which means Holiday World could add even more cars to the trains. They finsihed up by showing the video that is making its way around the off season event circuit. It was a bit humourous as they didn't have sound, so they were trying to ad lib in the soundtrack. The first ever Timberliner axle was given away as a door prize.

Next up was Coaster Dynamix, and we could see a working Griffon model they had on display at the event. We talked about the current product line, and how they will have a $40 shuttle loop coaster this year, as a way of making the product line affordable to a much larger segment of the population. They commented how they are starting to get better exposure at trade shows, even being put next to the Lego booth. They also talked about the statics, which are model coaster trains that are meant to sit on a display shelf.

After them, most of the presentations were done via proxy by the event staff. They talked briefly about Kings Island. Yes we know they are getting Planet Snoopy, but they have no details ready for us. They confirmed April 17 is opening day, and that the early rides on Beast and Diamondback. Of interest to this group are two things. One they are giving away the ACE paver that used to be next to the flagpole. "Paramounts Kings Island salutes ACE" It will be given away through a raffle, so every time you go to Kings Island this year, you can go to guest relations, show your ACE card, and get a ticket in the drawing. So the more visits to Kings Island the better your chances. Of more importance, it was noted that Ride Warriors Weekend is not coming back this year. Instead, the park is going back to holding a seperate event for each club. Seems stupid to me, but that's what they are going for. They claim by April 1, we will know about ACE's event. Lastly, the park donated the 30th anniversary Beast sign, and it was given away as a door prize.

Next was Holiday World, also by proxy. This is when they should have shown theWildebeast video. Instead they gave out some prizes donated by the park and that was it. The ever populat lift hill flags, souvenir cups, and free tickets.

A quick note from the Holiday Drive In, mostly that the ACE free ticket offer is still valid. They mentioned Wake Nation, how it was succesful, how the ACE deal will go on this year, and they are adding a second pond for practicing fundamentals before taking on the real lake.

The last was the Entartrainment Junction presentation, which is mainly a summary of the tour I described above. They did announce the scavenger hunt winner for a jigsaw puzzle from Entertrainment Junction.

After the presentations, we did a group photo by the train station, then we went to the table for more giveaway items. Gravity Group gave out sets of their famous postcards, Holiday World had their brochures and Holiwoo nights flyers. Lastly they set out any of the welcome good packet items that were left over. We gave Rideman time to pack up his stuff and then we headed out to Culvers for dinner.

Just a little bit over a month till Kings Island opening day!

Climb the Carew: Fight For Air Climb - Feb 28, 2010

2010-03-02T22:14:00.002-05:00

Trip Report: Climb the Carew: Fight For Air Climb
Carew Tower
Cincinnati, OH
February 28, 2010

"And now for something totally different, or, What is it like to do a Stair Climb"

Prologue: What in the world has gotten into you now?!?

It's true I let my weight and girth get away from me, as readers of my trip reports know. November 1, 2009 was closing day for the amusement park season, and I also stepped on a scale, saw a milestone number, screamed, and resolved I needed to do something. I started by making serious changes to my diet, then one day a co-worker asked me if I would like to join the daily stair climb. I thought, why not I'll try it out. Our office building is 9 floors, and truth be told it wasn't that awful. So, I started doing stairs once a day, then we started doing it twice a day.

All was going well until we got wind of the Climb the Carew event. It was one of those things we instantly took a liking to. By January we were registered, then our group got fanatical, going from two stair climbs a day to doing the stairs twice, or more, each time. Truth be told, by mid-Ferburary, we had reached stair burn out, but our commitment to the Carew Tower climb kept us going.

Pre-Climb Activities

The people who run Climb the Carew are very good with emails. You get a welcome email as soon as you reigster, quickly followed by a packet full of fundraising materials in the mail. Event registration is on a sliding scale, the earlier you register the less you pay, then each climber is expected to raise at least $100 over and above the registration fee. So I hit up the family and friends and wound up exceeding my $100 goal. Periodic emails came with fundraising advice, and then the notice about packet pick up. We decided to do the Friday pick up Carew Tower. Each packet contains the typical materials: an event t-shirt, bib number, last minute instructions, a discount parking coupon, as well as some promotional materials from event sponsors. Like several teams, we decided to replace the official event shirt with our own team shirt.

Day of Climb

According to our packets, we had been assigned a 11:43 start time, and were instructed to be checked in by 10:43. SO, I was up by 9, dressed but took as little as I could so as not to be weighted down by too much. We made our way down to Tower Place, which is a shopping mall inside the Carew Tower. We deicded to park in the official parking garage, which was the Tower Place garage, and here the event organizers had posted a lot of signs leading you practically all the way from your parking space to the check in tables. I did get a chuckle when I saw the sign in the garage that said basically: "Carew Tower Stair Climb - Take elevator to 2nd floor"

The signs led us through Tower Place which is a shopping mall built inside what was one one of those giant old time downtown department stores. From Tower Place it was a short flight of stairs down to the Hilton's lobby, then a longer flight down to the Carew Tower Arcade, a grand art deco masterpiece of a foyer in the center of the first floor of the building. For the uninitiated, the Carew tower is 49 flights of stairs to the roof, of which the climb only involved the first 45, owing partly due to the fact that is where main elevator service in the building ends, and only one tiny stairwell continues up from that point.

I enter the grand foyer and head right to the registration table. It's a real simple affiar, they check your name off a list, collect your pledge packet, and have you sign the typical event liability waiver. The whole check in process took about 60 seconds. Then I walked around the foyer where booths were set up, the typical event stuff: radio station booth, which was providing music, a booth from some juice drink company, an education booth on the American Lung Association, a political action booth for the charity, a banner to be signed by all the climbers, and a booth where you can preregister today for next years event, for only $10. On the other side of the lobby they had a team photo area, as well as the first water station, so you can make sure you are hydrated before starting the climb. The water station had signage telling you what types of race services you can expect along the way up the tower. Branching out from the lobby, one end had an area for chair massages, and the other had the official starting area. Down underneath the lobby (yes more stairs) climbers had access to the towers gym for any warm up/ cool down needs, as well as areas for gear check, restrooms, and a banquet room for the post climb reception.

It wasn't too much later I spotted Mark and Teri from our group. Teri's husband Dave was there and became the official coat and bag holder for the group. Some time later we saw Brett, Christa and her son Chris check in and they joined us. While waiting to climb, we had lots of time to mingle in the lobby where we met a large group of firefighters who had just done the climb in full gear. Their time? 22 minutes, and they remarked that was slow. Another group, though not as large, were some military types with backpacks. Don't worry there were plenty of normal people there too, and it looked like even some families getting in on the act. Of course you get to see a fair number of people who are in top physical shape that remind you how out of shape you are.

Around 11:30 we stop past the water station, then find a place to wait. Feelings in the mood ranged from aprehension about what we had gotten our selves into, some fear over poential embarassment and can we do it, to slap happy giddyness, to high level energy. As I mentioned, they use a stager start, where they send one person in about every 10 seconds. To make sure they keep interval, they have two rope lanes leading from the door to the stairs, that way they can have one chute filled with the climbers the starter is proessing and have the next group in the other chute waiting to go. When they call the 11:43 group we are over there like we were shot out of a cannon. Once the group is in the chute, a race official comes down the line writing your official start time on the tear off portion of your bib. I was first in our chute so they wrote 11:43:00 on mine, 11:43:10 on the person behind me, and so on. Right before you go through the door they have another photographer. The starter is guarding the door into the stairs, and has both a hand held stop watch along with the big time display. When your official time cycles around on the display, he sends you into the stairwell as he punches your bib number into the race timing system.

The Climb Begins!!!

At the Carew, the stairwell is entirely done in battleship gray, the wallsand the stairs themselves. The doors on the landings are mostly black but there a few minor variations there. Remember the stairs aren't usually a visual focal point of a building. All along the stairs they have signs with trivia related to the ALA, signs that tell you how far you are from the next water station, but most clever of all signs that look to have been done by school children and others offering encouragement as you make the clinb. In the Carew you exit the lobby through an art deco door, and are immediately trust into the no nonsense industrial looks of the stairs. I briefly consider going up a floor or two then letting the rest of our team catch up, but thought whats the fun in that, besides knowing my own abilities and that of the group, we'd probably bunch up naturally anyway.

I noted no door for the second floor, and thought, I wonder just how many flights comprise the climb to the second floor given the unusually high ceilings in the lobby. The first door I spot is labeled "3". I think we all got a chuckle when just after passing Door #3 we see the sign "You're Almost There!" The first 7 flights are your standard switchback flights of stairs common in most public buildings. The next point of interest is the 4th floor, here the landing door is open and here you pass the first First Aid station. I have to think this is the planned escape hatch for those who got peer pressured into this, or thought "That sounds really neat" until you actually start to do it. I know I have heard from several people who have said they wanted to climb the Carew when they were young, then again it could be there for the unfortunate case when you get started and something cramps up and its just not going to happen. It was reassuring while we were waiting that the EMT crews on stand by in the elevator lobby did not have to respond to any calls while we had been waiting.

Things get unusual on 7, here instead of the double switchback, you go up one or two steps then a long flat section, then turn around and do one long solid flight of stairs up to 8. Here the wierdness continues as you come out of the first stairwell, go down a short hall and into another stairwell. Not like you had a choice as one ends and the other begins. Not a real long hall more like possibly wrapping around an elevator shaft or support column.

These are the stairs you will be taking from 8 to 21. Again the usual double switchback, odd for us in that it travels in the opposite direction as the ones at work. The next point of interest is the 10th floor, here the door out of the stairwell is open, a volunteer stands at the door handing out water, and behind the volunteer is the second first aid station as well as a building security guard who is there to escort anybody that wishes to quit to the elevators. It's not a written rule, but I would hope moral code commands that if you were to see somebody down or struggling that you would alert the volunteers at the next service area. This all worked out well for us since our own building is 9 floors, and its 9 flights ot stairs from 1-10. Thus right when we would usually be ending our climb, we are getting handed a cup of water. We don't get that kind of service at work. We take a couple moments to rest and then start what we dubbed the second rep.

Okay, the first 10 floors were a novelty, it's a new building, and all, the second set of ten floors is where you have to start to bear down and work. The next point of interest is floor 18, again the door off the landing is open, this time there is the volunteer passing out water, and they also have an oxygen tank, in case anyody needs that from doing exercise at a higher altitude than they are used to, not to mention stair climbing is no joke, it will take it out of you. 18thfloor is just one floor short of a "double climb" in our building, and look there is another friendly volunteer handing us another cup of water. At least we don't have to do the 9 flghts back down... Don't laugh, once you've been going up enough flights, down is actually harder!

The wierdness resumes on the 21st floor. The 21st floor is like halftime, okay its not really halftime, ita's a few floors short of half but on this floor, the stiarwell you are in ends. You enter the 21st floor and walk down a long hallway on the 21st floor. Here you get a service area deluxe - they have just about anything you would want: water, oxygen, gatorade, first aid, restrooms, and it's an authoirzed exit point for those that need that. After your halftime stop on 21, it is into a different stairwell to resume the climb up Mt. Carew. I was glad for this rest stop because I was starting to really feel it.

Here the stairs go up in a much more confined space, and start going in something like sets of 6-3-6. Call me nuts, maybe it was the halftime on 21, but the trip up to the next part of the climb, up to the next service area on 30 was easier than the first 21. Besides 21-30 is 9 flights, that makes rep 3. Again just we would normally be finishing a set of nine flights, a friendly volunteer is there with more water. 30 is your next chance at a security escort out if you need it. At this floor, I took advantage of the restrooms provided before continuing on.

From here the interval between rest stops keeps getting shorter. The next one is 36, at 36 while I was getting my water, I noticed Christa sitting down to rest a bit. We stayed a minute or so to make sure she would be okay before continuing our ascent up Mt. Carew. We also noted somebody not in our group taking advanage of the oxygen tank provided on 36.

From here on out the water stations become every three flooors, we totally skipped the ones at 39 and 42, The water stop at 36 made 45 the final 9 floor rep. From here the thrill of finishing kicked in and you may say we caught our second wind.

Somone evil designed the stairs for the 44th and 45th floors, I swear they got a lot steeperand the stairwell widens back out again for some reason. One of the last things they tell you before you enter the stiars back down on 1 is NOT to stop as soon as you get to the top of the 45th floor. Continue to walk until you are out of the stairwell, down the hall and have passed the finish line taped on the carpet. When you come out of the stairs on 45 they have used yellow caution tape to block the stairs up to 46 as well as the small auxilliary elevator that leads to the observation deck, lest you be confused about where to stop climbing and which elevators to use to return to the lobby. You continue along the hallway on 45 and cross the finsih line just as you enter the elevator waiting area. Here a race official tears off the stub on your bib, notes the time, and spikes the stub while another official punches your bib number into another console for the race timing system. Round one more corner and its into the cheering of the finish line crew congratulating you. Here they have one last first aid and oxygen station, then the finish line crew hands out medals as you enter the elevator waiting area. While you wait for the elevator they have a hospitality table with water and gatorade setup.

The Summit of Mt. Carew!

When we first started talking about doing this stair climb, we had no idea how long it would take us. We were half joking about it taking an hour, we though 30 minutes would be way too ambitious, and were guessing about 45 minutes. Imagine our shock when we found out we finished right around the 15 minute mark. Okay, my time was 16:55, and if we knew we could actually be that good for time, we wouldn't have rested so long at the rest stops. Our best climber, Mark did it in 12:20.

The elevator waiting area is not large and they have signs posted to enjoy the moment, but please make it only a moment up top and to use the next available elevator to return to the main lobby. Of course we waited up top for our entire group to finish, yes even Christa who arrived only a few moments later. We snapped a group photo of us up top, then headed into the elevator. In an effort to maintain building access control, they were using elevator operators to ensure everybody went to the lobby, and voluteers went to their assigned floors and everything.

Let me tell you, the ride down in the elevator was a LOT faster than the climb up. When you exit the elevators, you see the EMT crews on standby, as well as more volunteers congratulating you and pointing the way to the lobby, where you come out of the elevator area right across from the doors to the stairs where you started. Here you can offer encouragement to those who are just about to begin their climb.

Post Climb

Then it was down to the banquet hall in the basement. The reception had all kinds of breakfast foods mostly sponosred by First Watch, so they had fruit cups, siesta Key cocktails (think a mix of fruit, yogurt and granola), muffins, OJ, coffee. Vitamin Water had a table passing out free bottles. Did I mention the climb down from the lobby to the basement was atually worse on the muscles at first than the climb up. Muscle memory, they tell me is to blame for that.

After celebrating, we returned to the lobby for a team photo, and then all headed our separate ways proud of a job well done.