Last summer, we hit Cedar Point. This year, we saved our Coke Reward Points and scored tickets to Ohio’s other theme park, Kings Island. I like to pretend to go to the park an re-enact that one episode of the Brady Bunch. However, no one else in my family knew what I was even talking about.
Ready to rock the Banshee!
The park opened at 9 a.m. and we got there around 8:30 a.m. While they let everyone into the park, we weren’t able to go to rides at this point, although they were running. Apparently passholders get an extra half hour in the park, so they got to ride everything while we watched.
We first wanted to hit the brand new ride at the park, the Banshee. The ride officially opened in April and features 4,124 feet of track making it the longest inverted roller coaster. I felt like I was upside down the entire time. It was an intense coaster, but oh so much fun!
Did you know that a few of the band members of 98 Degrees (including Nick Lachey) got their start singing at Kings Island? It’s true. I know things. They all hail from Ohio and Nick worked here in high school singing for park guests. Well, it’s a tradition that King’s Island is still holding on to. And these guys, were not as good, in my opinion. The singing was fine. It was more of the skanky dancing girls that really got me annoyed. Why is it ok to have girls dancing in skimpy clothes around some “boy band?”
Anyway- back to the rides. We hit almost everything in the park and nothing really disappointed! The weather was HOT. Our only real complaint was a lack of water fountains. We ended up sending over $50 in water for the day because the temperatures and humidity were out-of-control!
By the end of the day, we had a few clear favorites at the park. Banshee was pretty great. We also enjoyed The Beast. This ride has been here forever. I rode this one when I was at Kings Island in high school! When it opened in 1979, it was the longest, tallest, and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. It is still the longest wooden roller coasterlasting more than four minutes and sprawling over 35 acres. It’s amazing because you don’t even see the track when you are standing in line – and then once you are on you are just in the woods somewhere and see nothing else. It’s a great coaster!
I think our favorite of all, was Diamondback. I assumed it was just a normal coaster. But it’s totally not. I was not prepared at all for this ride, and really wished I could do it again. The weird part about it, you are not in a normal seatbelt restraint. There is nothing over your shoulders and the lap bar is anything but normal. It is the craziest feeling as you hit these non-stop drops! The coaster has a 230 ft lift hill with a 215 ft-drop, featuring 10 total drops and a top speed of about 80 mph (130 km/h). It’s insane and totally awesome!
We had planned on staying at the part from open until close. But the heat changed our minds. Once we reached a point that we felt we did everything we wanted to, we went back to the hotel to cool off and relax with every intention of coming back to the park later in the evening. That never happened!
