Kings Island Trip Report

Leg two of our trip brought us South West to the southern tip of Ohio just outside of Cincinnati. The goal this time was Kings Island. Having gone to Cedar Point last year this was the park I was most looking forward to. I’ve seen multiple people online say that they prefer Kings Island to Cedar Point. Based on what I knew about both park's ride lineups I found that somewhat hard to believe but I was curious to experience Kings Island and make that call myself.

We packed up on Monday morning leaving bright and early from Pittsburg for the four-hour drive to Mason. The route we took ended up having us go through a small section of West Virginia which I didn’t know ahead of time. That made it a four-state road trip rather than the three I knew we’d drive through ahead of time. It was a pretty uneventful drive we arrived around noon. Since we couldn’t check into our hotel until 3 we went straight to the park. Out of the fire and into the flame so to speak. Speaking of fire it was super hot the entire time we were in Mason. Thankfully no rain but both days were 30 but feeling like 40.

The coaster lineup at Kings Island kind of reminds me a bit of Wonderland’s. You have big anchor rides like Orion and Diamondback which fill the same role as Leviathan and Behemoth. The main difference is that after the big three at Wonderland, there is a steep decline in quality whereas at Kings Island there is a very good collection of supporting coasters.

In typical Cedar Fair (now Six Flags I guess) fashion all the coasters were running both days so we were able to get on all 15 of them.

Coasters

Lighting Round (two sentences or less)

Adventure Express

Janky mine train, one ride was plenty.

The Bat

Probably the farthest I’ve ever had to walk just to get into a line. A good suspended coaster better than Iron Dragon but not Vortex.

Invertigo

Your standard boomerang turned up to 11. Wish I had ridden this when it was still called Face/Off.

The Great Pumpkin Coaster

A kiddie ride. Yes, I have no shame thanks for asking.

Woodstock Express

See above.

Woodstock’s Air Rail

See above but suspended.

Backlot Stunt Coaster

The exact same as Wonderland’s version but the fire effects still work on this one.

Flight of Fear

First off I love the 90s alien theme. Sometimes when you leave a ride for 20 years the theme goes from current to dated, but then it all comes back around to being cool and vintage. As for the ride itself decent launch with a pretty intense layout. Things kind of slow down once you hit the mid-course breaks but it does end up finishing strong. I’d call this a more budget version of the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

Mystic Timbers

Was pretty excited about this going in having ridden Gold Striker about a month previous I’d heard that Mystic Timbers was just an upgraded version of Gold Striker which is an already great ride. Now having ridden Mystic Timbers I think that is true but it's way way closer than I expected it to be. After our first ride, I wasn’t even sure if it was better at all and it took a few re-rides to land on which of the two GCI woodies I liked more. Still, it's a great ride for what it is you get that pretty typical out-of-control speed with little pops of airtime mixed in. The theming is pretty good as well (don’t go into the shed, for the love of god stay out of the shed). Ironically similar to the other ride we did with timbers in the name this year I think I might have just overhyped this a bit.

Orion

It's a B&M giga and honestly, I don’t think you can go wrong with this model. You get all your typical B&M hyper hallmarks the best floater airtime, an amazing first drop, and maybe a greyout-inducing helix. But because it is a giga and not a hyper you get an upgraded first drop but everything else is pretty much the same. The other B&M giga I’ve ridden is Leviathan and Orion is indeed very similar. I’d give the edge to Orion. I think Leveiath has a better first drop but it always felt an element short to me. Orion I think has the more complete layout but it is very close between the two rides. The ride lineup at Kings Island is pretty even at the top I think you can make a totally valid argument for five different coasters being the best. For me, however, I think Orion is the best the park has to offer.

The Beast

A true legend. When the Beast was built in 1979 it was the world's tallest, fastest, and longest wood roller coaster in the world. It is no longer the tallest and fastest anymore but it remains the longest with a very unique layout going deep into the surrounding woods. This is probably the most difficult ride I’ve ever had to rank because daytime and nighttime rides are two very different experiences.

Daytime Beast is good. A little rough in spots but you do get a good sense of speed as you fly through the woods. The take of this being a wooden monorail is not accurate. It ends with a second lift hill dropping into a 45-degree drop that progressively gets faster and faster. Just when you’ve reached peak speed you enter a pretty intense double helix enclosed in a tunnel. A truly excellent finale.

Now going in I knew two things about The Beasts. One weird layout and two legendary night rides. I was a bit skeptical that the exact same ride could be that much better at night but now having done a night ride myself I’m a believer.

So after dinner on the first night, we came back to the park for a few night rides. We did Orion wrapping up around 9:15 and headed for The Beast. Now Kings Island does fireworks every night during the summer right before the park closes at 10 pm. When we entered the line they announced that they would cease operations at 9:35 pm for the fireworks. If you didn’t get on by 9:35 then you could stay in line for about an hour delay before they reopened the ride. Unfortunately, we were one train short and ended up having to stay in line till about 10:30. It was so worth it though Beast night rides are a religious experience. The pitch black adds to the already great sense of speed. You can barely see a thing so you have no idea where you’re going next. The train hauls through the forest and the tunnels go from dark to pitch black. But the best part of all is still the double helix finale. At night it might be the best element of any coaster I’ve ever experienced. Night Beast is right up there with the best rides I’ve ever had on a coaster and it was easily the highlight of the entire trip. A truly legendary ride that lives up to its reputation.

Banshee

Similar to B&M hypers I don’t think you can go wrong with B&M inverts (or really anything made by B&M for that matter). Banshee is somewhat of a unique invert. Unlike all the other versions of this model, I’ve ridden instead of bombarding you with quick punchy elements it instead paces itself a little more. It tries more to set up grander versions of the elements you’d see on your typical invert. For example, this is the only invert I’ve ridden that doesn’t directly go into a vertical loop after the first drop. Instead, you kind of do an inverted dive loop before doing a vertical loop around the lift. For the most part, I think it works well. However, what doesn’t work well is the rattle this ride has. Our second ride right in the back was painful to the point where halfway through I was praying for it to be over. I don’t know exactly what it is about B&Ms that gives them this pretty unbearable rattle but whatever it is Banshee has it bad. To the point where this will come nowhere close to my top 25.

Diamondback

This ended up being my 100th credit so it will always hold a special place in my heart. Solid ride again B&M hypers are pretty much all great. It is most similar to Behemoth but similar to the Orion v. Leviathan comparison I detailed earlier I think Diamondback just has a bit more variety in its layout. Rather than the camelback spam Behemoth features Diamondback just does a few more things so I’d give it the edge despite the forces being pretty similar. The splashdown is cool as well but like pretty much all splashdowns it is more for off-ride than on.

Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers

Normally kiddie rides are either omitted from trip reports or feature in the lightning round. However, since this is one of the first of its kind in North America and it's brand new for this year I thought I’d give it its due. Solid ride for a kiddie/family coaster. No real forces of any kind but it looks great and it's buttery smooth. Don’t think I’d ride this again since it is pretty small scale but I’m a fan. Would be improved if instead of being Snoopy-themed it was instead themed to a Thanksgiving dinner perhaps.

The Racer

Another historic wood coaster, somehow historic woodies kind of ended up being the theme of the trip. You know what they say it's the wood that makes it taste good! Good layout kind of like a mini less rough version of Shivering Timbers with just a bunch of airtime hills before turning around and coming back. Slightly preferred the red side over the blue.

Conclusion

Kings Island is great and this may come as somewhat of a shock but I think this is my favorite park overall. The argument is a little more nuanced than that and I’ll go more into detail in my Cedar Point trip report but I do see the argument for Kings Island over Cedar Point. Kings Island is still missing the one truly elite standout ride but the lineup is still very deep with great rides.

The biggest pro for coming to Kings Island is it feels way easier to have a great time at Kings Island than at other parks of a similar size. The park gets busy but it was far from slammed. The park is just incredibly well run. It has probably the best operations of any park I’ve ever seen. We were there on a Monday-Tuesday but the longest we waited for all trip was half an hour for Invertigo. We ended up not even needing a fast pass which is a testament to how well they keep the lines moving.

Everything else about the park is excellent as well. The food is good (shout out to Skyline Chili and the blue ice cream), the park is well maintained, the atmosphere is excellent, and the park has a good layout. I don’t have any complaints about Kings Island it is truly an excellent experience. We’ll for sure be back at some point and I for one look forward to it!

Next up we get back to the point!