After six hours Friday night we were back for another 13 hours at Kings Island on Saturday. Let me just say, it was a good thing we had those 13 hours too. The park was hopping, especially once the Halloween Haunt event came alive… or would that be dead? Except for our first ride of the day, every single coaster had at least a 45 minute wait, with bordering on two hours.
All in all, we ended up riding one less ride during this 13 hour day than we did on Friday. We did go in expecting it to be a busy, however, from past experiences at other parks on Saturdays during Halloween events. Still, we managed to finish up four remaining coaster credits and re-rode five of our favorites. Sadly, however, we didn’t end up doing any of the haunts. That did bum us out, but as coaster enthusiasts, we went with where our passions truly lie.
Credit 100 - Kaylee's 4 Options
On Friday we managed to ride all but four of Kings Island’s coaster. The four that remained included: Flight of Fear, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Woodstock Express, and Flying Ace Aerial Chase. Yes, there is technically a fifth with Great Pumpkin Coaster, but since we didn’t have small children with us, we weren’t able to claim that particular credit.
Leading up to this trip, whenever Sam or I asked Kaylee what ride she wanted to make her 100th, she always reply that she didn’t care. With the four options we had remaining, we went with Flight of Fear since it the most intense ride of the bunch and also featured a FunPix exclusive ride photo so we could forever capture the moment.
Flight of Fear
In order to make Flight of Fear Kaylee’s 100th, we first had to ride another coaster. With Woodstock Express and Flying Ace Aerial Chase being located together in Planet Snoopy, we decided to do those later in the day. That left Backlot Stunt Coaster as our first ride of the day. It was also the only ride where we waited less than 45 minutes. It was about a 15 minute wait. If only the rest of the day would have been like that.
As for Flight of Fear, both Sam and Kaylee rode this coaster’s sister coaster at Kings Dominion for their first times in 2021 as well. Both have also ridden Joker’s Jinx at Six Flags America (SFA). Having been to Six Flags Fiesta Texas (SFFT), I’ve also experienced Poltergeist. With the numerous installments of these Premier Rides spaghetti bowl coasters on our credit lists, we all had a chat after the ride, talking about what we liked, disliked, and prefer about the indoor and outdoor versions. Our consensus is that we like the Flight of Fears for theming, obviously, and give Kings Island’s the edge over Dominion’s. As for the ride itself, Joker’s Jinx is our favorite. The mid-course brake run on both Flight of Fear models leaves a little bit to be desired and Kings Island’s came to a full stop on our ride. At least Dominion’s only slows you down to a crawl. I wonder why the Flight of Fear coasters have the mid-course?
Alas, this was still a fun ride and now I’ve been present for Sam’s, Greg’s, and now Kaylee’s 100th credits. I can’t wait to be there for their 200th’s and beyond.
Beast
With our Friday night ride on Beast coming during a downpour, we wanted to give Beast another go. This time a day ride so Sam and Kaylee could at least see the course and layout. There wasn’t any of that going on the night before with us covering our faces to shield us from the stinging rain drops.
Long story short, after this re-ride I had this to say on the We Were Inverted Instagram (@WeWereInverted_IG), “OK. Moment of truth. I love the Beast. But these last two days, Beast has beat me up a bit – especially today’s ride. While I love its setting, length, tunnels, etc., I think it might be slipping down my personal rankings when I look over them next.”
Of course I was taken to task shortly thereafter because Beast is supposed to be rough due to its name, apparently. I don’t get some people’s logic. Anyhow, I don’t mind a ride with some bite or even some roughness, but Beast was bouncing around pretty bad on this second ride. And yes, I did lower it in my rankings, sadly. Both Sam and Kaylee found it a bit unpleasant as well, although like me, they love its setting and history.
Woodstock Express & Flying Ace Aerial Chase
I’m not going to go into too much detail on these two junior-sized family coasters. We grabbed them for the credits, although I do have a special place in my heart for the Woodstock Express clones. I rode the one at Kings Dominion quite a bit growing up. I do miss the whole Scooby Doo and Ghoster Coaster names on these rides though. Kings Island also called theirs Beastie from 1980 – 2005, giving the legend of the Beast even more mystique, especially with Son of Beast also being present during that timeframe.
Flying Ace Aerial Chase, on the other hand, actually rode better than both Sam and I expected. A few months ago we rode Kiddy Hawk at Carowinds. That installment felt a lot more janky, with more head banging moments throughout its entire course. I don’t think I banged my head once on Flying Ace. It also looks like Kings Island is giving it’s Vekoma Family Invert a repaint just as Carowinds recently had. As a matter of fact, it feels like every major park has at least one ride/attraction being repainted right now. Kings Island’s Eiffel Tower is also being repainted as I write this.
Diamondback
After waiting in long lines all night, we lucked out after riding Banshee, grabbing a bite to eat, and scooping up the last of our souvenirs. There was still 15 minutes before the park closed. I asked Sam and Kaylee if we could run over to Diamondback for one last re-ride. I love when parks let you get in line all the way up until close and Kings Island is one of those parks. While I do understand why parks shut lines down early, especially on slower moving and lower capacity rides, something like Diamondback can move the crowds.
Like the night before, I asked if we could wait for the front and we were granted our request. Sadly, this meant that we’d be split up with the staggered seating. Since Kaylee and Sam had been ride buddies for every ride where the three of us couldn’t all ride together, I asked to ride with Sam this time around. And boy, that front row kicked ass!
There is just something about night rides on hyper and giga coasters at night that I love. It doesn’t matter if its Diamondback, Orion, Skyrush at Hersheypark, Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv), or any of the other parks with 200 foot tall plus coasters. It’s just awesome having nothing in front of you but the view and the wind. And on this night, that wind was chilly! What a way to end the evening and technically, start the next day.
Final Ride Counts
Backlot Stunt Coaster (1)
Banshee (1)
Beast (1)
Diamondback (1)
Flight of Fear (1)
Flying Ace Aerial Chase (1)
Mystic Timbers (1)
Orion (1)
Woodstock Express (1)
2 Days With Too Many Memories to Recall
For the first time in a while, as I wrote out these Kings Island trip reports, I felt like I was leaving out some fun, memorable moments. I didn’t talk about every coaster, nor did I mention how the three of us met an employee of the Gravity Group while riding Racer. Then there was also our chance meeting with Evan Ponstingle, the author of the book, “Kings Island: A Ride Through Time.”
Evan just so happened to be inside The Emporium when we were picking up some merch Friday night during the rain. He struck up a conversation with us and asked us if we had seen his book. Funny thing is, I had seen people talking about the book online a few days prior to our trip. I was already thinking about picking it up, but now I definitely was. Evan offered to sign my copy and has been chatting with me on Instagram since these last few days. If you’re interested in getting yourself a copy, you can pick it up on the park’s online shop, Kings Island Gear. Also, be sure to give Evan a follow on Instagram at @Evan_P03. He is a fellow enthusiast and an all around, nice person.
With our two days at Kings Island now complete, we made our way back to the hotel, with dry clothes this time, and got ready for our Sunday visit to Holiday World. More world class coasters and best of all, more great memories with friends.
Kings Island Photo Gallery - October 16, 2021
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): n/a
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): Backlot Stunt Coaster, Flight of Fear, Flying Ace Aerial Chase, Woodstock Express
Kaylee
Lieutenant
New Credit(s): Backlot Stunt Coaster, Flight of Fear, Flying Ace Aerial Chase, Woodstock Express
