Paramount's Kings Island
I arrived at the 350-acre
Paramount's Kings Island soon after the rides started at 10
a.m. Kings Island represented the most "themed" park I've visited on this trip.
The skies threatened rain and the temperature was cool keeping the crowds light
-- making getting on rides a breeze. The wait was only about 20 minutes for The
Beast.
King Cobra
I started at the front of the park in the Adventure Village
area riding King Cobra - the first stand-up looping roller coaster in
America, built by Togo, Inc. of Japan in 1984. Lines were virtually
non-existent and I was able to walk right on for a front-seat ride. Standing
two abreast you are taken through a 360-degree loop and a 66-foot wide helix at
up to 50 miles per hour. This was a fairly smooth fun ride with a loop and some
good twists and turns. More photos of King Cobra
Top Gun
Next in line was Top Gun, a 1993 Arrow Dynamics
suspended coaster. Again, there was no line to board the front seat of this
coaster. These older rides just don't draw the crowds that the newer ones do.
But, it was my first time to ride this type of suspended coaster so it was a
new experience for me. This was a fun little coaster riding in 4-person cars
hanging below the track at over 50 mph. I didn't find it as fun as the
suspended coaster with your feat dangling but there were alot of twists, turns
and swaying back and forth on this 1 minute 45 second ride. I would still
recommend this coaster as a different coaster experience, especially for the
novice rider.
The Racer
Located in the Old Coney area, The Racer debuted in
1972 as Paramount's Kings Island's first world class coaster. Designed by John
Allen of Philadelphia Toboggan Co., this classic wooden coaster reaches speeds
of nearly 55 miles per hour during it's 2 ½ minute ride.
The Racer features a double track with the angle of
the first hill at 45-degrees. The Racer was the first coaster to turn around
one of its trains, one traveling forward and another running backwards. Only
one train was running this day (the backward train was not running). Not a bad
ride, but not at the top of my list for woodies. The line to get a front seat
was only about 20 minutes.
Vortex
One of the more comfortable Arrow rides in my opinion,
Vortex takes you upside down six times during the rides 2 ½
minute duration. Built in 1987 by Arrow Dynamics on the site originally
occupied by Arrow's first suspended coaster, the Bat, this steel coaster
features a 148-foot high lift hill that drops you 138-feet at faster than 50
mph at a 55-degree angle into a hairpin turn. You next race into two vertical
loops (72-ft and 62-ft) followed by a really fun 200 foot long corkscrew and a
60-foot drop boomerang turn. Topping of this ride is a 360-degree helix turn.
The line to board a front seat on Vortex took only about 30
minutes and only a little longer later in the day (about 45 min.) for another
ride in a mid-train seat. This was really a disorienting ride and when I got
off at the end I staggered a step or two before getting back my equalibrium.
See more photos of Vortex.
Outer Limits - Flight of Fear
Outer Limits - Flight of Fear is
an SM&C Enclosed, Launched, Multi-Element coaster awarded best new ride of
1996. Once you make your way through the highly themed queue, you are
catapulted from zero to 54 miles per hour in just 4 seconds down a dark tunnel
into an enclosed maze of twisting and turning steel track. The ride was packed
with four twisting loops and twists and turns. I could see faint images of the
track that made me wonder why I was riding this thing indoors. I thought the
ride could be better if it were darker so that you could not see the
approaching elements, but that would probably cause more injuries.
This was an intense ride and the headbanging was excessive. I tried keeping my
head back against the headrest as they recommend but that didn't help. So I
tried keeping my head forward but was still beating my head against the padded
head restraints. I rode in the back seat which may account for some of the
headbanging. As the queue was the longest wait for any ride at the park (over
an hour), I was only going to ride this headbanger once.
The Beast
The Beast (1979), a Dinn Terrain Coaster, has got to be the
granddady of woodies as the longest wooden coaster in the world with 7,400 feet
of track, two lift hills, and nearly 4 1/2 minutes ride time. This legendary
coaster is really difficult to photograph as it is largely built into the
densely wooded area of the park.
Riding in the front seat was an enjoyable
experience and and fairly smooth. The more than four minute ride is really
fast, has dark tunnels, sharp turns and big hills. It features a 135-foot hill
at a 45-degree angle followed by a 117 foot underground tunnel. After cresting
the second lift hill, the ride really gets intense racing through a 269-foot
above ground tunnel and a 540-degree helix. Speeds on the Beast reach about 65
miles per hour.
Be prepared to be literally beat up riding the
back seat. While it's a good ride in any seat, the back seat has got to be only
for die-hard woodie fans as you get a real beating.
Roller Coasters added since my visit in 1997:
Kings Island is now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., and was
part of the former Paramount Parks chain that Cedar Fair acquired from CBS
Corporation on June 30, 2006.
Face/Off is the only face-to-face
inverted roller coaster in the Midwest! Scream your face off as you are lifted
up a 138 foot hill and then released to soar through a 72 foot tall loop and
two inversions at speeds of over 55 mph!
Son of Beast is the
tallest, fastest and only looping wooden coaster on the planet that will send
you screaming down it's 214-foot hill at speeds over 78 mph.
Firehawk
becomes Kings Island 14th roller coaster after the renamed X-Flight was
relocated from Geauga Lake. This innovative flying coaster propels riders 115
feet in the air and through five inversions at speeds of more than 50 mph
– all while facing the ground, experiencing the inconceivable feeling of
human flight. After boarding the four-across yellow and red pilot seats, guests
are lowered backward and begin their ascent up the 115-foot-tall red and steel
gray lift hill, only to be flipped over and jetted at top speeds through
½ mile of steel track over the course of 2 minutes and 30 seconds
Paramount's Kings Island 2005
Very fun, very entertaining trip to Paramount's Kings Island in OHIO.
Very good company with some very good rides in a very good park.
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