Our Brazilian friend Raphael’s back with the fourth report of his 2016 travels to the US! Let’s hit up… KINGS ISLAND!
You know that your day is going to be special when you arrive at one of the best-known theme parks ever and the music that is playing is “Don’t Stop Believing” by the Glee Cast (which happens to be my favorite TV series of all time). That is how Kings Island welcomed me. I felt a lot more excited than I thought I would be, and Invertigo doing its thing next to me gave me the energy to run through the gates, grab my FastLane Plus and go to Banshee, my first coaster of the day.
Banshee has an amazing seven inversions that fits incredibly right. The ride is more comfortable than Montu at Busch Gardens Tampa, having nothing but a great and continuous intensity, leaving riders euphoric and without headaches. A lot of points for B&M because of this purple creature. I must say that the scream at the end of the lift is something that I can’t get enough.
The next one was The Bat, the most exciting suspended coaster that I rode. Iron Dragon at Cedar Point couldn’t make it to be better than Ninja at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but The Bat has the perfect combination of speed, turns and hills. I even screamed out of fear! The layout is fabulous and the coaster is indeed a hidden gem in Action Zone.
Invertigo was another good surprise. The comments that I received before I rode it were not encouraging, but the experience was okay, with little headbanging.
I couldn’t resist and I stopped my coaster tour for a moment and went to Delirium, an awesome HUSS Frisbee ride. For the first time, I did not get sick on this type of ride, even with the numerous spins.
Resuming my little journey, I rode Adventure Express, a decent family coaster with a very solid theming. That was my first contact with “the Paramount past” of Kings Island. I doubt Cedar Fair would built something like Adventure Express in the near feature, but it is nice to see that they are maintaining it. I was very anxious to ride The Racer “racing”, but unfortunately only the blue side was operating. The coaster is okay for its age, but only a few people seems to love it, as the ride was walking-on during all day.
In the hot summer of Ohio, Flight of Fear’s air conditioning turned out to be one of the best attractions of Kings Island. However, the coaster showed to be much more. The launches are astonishing, the inversions are in the right place and although the smoothness was left to be desired, it seems that after riding Flight of Fear, I just love spaghetti bowls. I feel sorry for Cedar Fair does not look beyond the things they already do. The exit of Flight of Fear could easily have a giant shop instead of just benches.
Another model that I couldn’t wait to ride was the Vekoma Flying Dutchman, being represented by Firehawk. This coaster has a unique meaning to me because I remember spending many days researching about the history of Geauga Lake and I felt very connected with the fans that miss the park until today, especially because of the similarities with the Terra Encantada (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) story. I even saw some green spots on the track! Firehawk was strangely amazing – the laydown position is one of the weirdest thing I have experienced, and although the ride had a little rattle, it was very exciting all the time!
The first time I see one of these at a Cedar Fair park!:
Before Vortex, I had to go on Windseeker. My fear of heights is a very strange one – I only have fear with I am without anything to protect me, like a lap bar. Because of that, Windseeker was a peaceful experience. The view from the top is breathtaking!
I cannot say a lot of things about Vortex, solely that this coaster is something that I want to forget, just like The Beast. I thought I was going to die from pain on both.
I wish I could feel all the greatness of The Beast that I have always heard of, but I couldn’t.
Fortunately, Diamondback was right next door ready to make me feel alive again. This hyper coaster has airtime that I will never forget, as well as its splash, turns and hills. I had a hard time trying to choose between it and Banshee for “Best Coaster in the Park”, but I had to stick with Banshee because of the perfect combination of all elements: inversions, speed, height and length.
I checked the Mystic Timbers site, but the only things that were there were some trucks and dirt.
I just loved Planet Snoopy. I am not surprised that this area has won a lot of prices recently. Everything is so colorful, bright, warm and happy. Points for Snoopy and his gang! 
After finishing my walk through the entire park, I went to the Eiffel Tower to take some pictures. It was amazing to observe every detail of Kings Island amazing atmosphere: clean, calm and upbeat. By this moment, I have already fallen in love with this park.
Feeling refreshed, I rode my last rollercoaster: Backlot Stunt Coaster. Do you know when you look to a ride and you enter in it assuming that it would be boring? That was me before Backlot. Surprisingly, the coaster is pure fun and I loved the launches and the effects. I repeated it several times, as Flight of Fear, Banshee and Diamondback.
Before I left, I rode some flat rides like the sickening Shake, Rattle and Roll, and bought a pizza and an ice cream to eat in the International Street.
That was one of those special moments that I will carry with me forever. Suddenly, the park’s radio started to play some of my favorite songs of my favorite bands. After a day with so many good memories, things like that just make everything magic. And Kings Island thought me that day one important lesson: a theme park does not need a billion dollars to make everything looking like a high-class dream, it only need special touches that can touch someone’s heart.
Loved the fountains with that soccer balls!
Let’s finish off with a Vortex shot, because it’s an Arrow looper, and we all know how much CCK loves Viper. The superior looper to Vortex! 😛
Thank you for following along with Raphael’s adventures! His Cedar Point report can be found here! His Six Flags Great America report here! And his Kentucky Kingdom report, here! If you haven’t read about his amazing travels around California last year, or would love to read his first-timer outsider point of view again check out any of his Californian articles:
- Raphael’s Lego Orcas Seaside Adventure
- Raphael’s Universal, Ghost Town, and Radiator Springs Adventure
- Raphael’s Twisted Beach, Six Flags, and Disneyland Adventure
- Raphael’s Northern California Adventure
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