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- Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!mapike
- From: mapike@sei.cmu.edu (Mary Ann Pike)
- Subject: KI trip report
- Message-ID: <1992Aug25.205329.6268@sei.cmu.edu>
- Sender: netnews@sei.cmu.edu (Netnews)
- Organization: Software Engineering Institute
- Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 20:53:29 GMT
- Lines: 62
-
- I went to Kings Island last Friday, and I thought I post my observations
- about the park. Unfortunately, since I must deal with 2 children under
- the age of 5, I don't get to do things the way I'd like (no getting
- there for the first ride on the Beast or riding after dark, for
- example). But the Beast was awesome anyway, in the middle of the day.
-
- The Beast is such a great coaster...the sections of it are so well
- hidden by the hillsides that you never know what to expect next. And
- it was really flying (I didn't notice much, if any, braking). As I
- mentioned in a previous post, we got some strange up-and-down bouncing
- vibrations in the straight stretches after some fast sections. Someone
- I was with thought it might be because the Beast was running very
- fast, but I don't know if this could cause it. Didn't detract from the
- ride, though.
-
- I rode the racer backwards, my first backwards ride on any coaster.
- This was the first time in 25 years I ever almost lost my glasses on a
- ride (I don't use a strap). It was pretty neat, not being able to
- anticipate the ride; made it a little rough, though (I would think
- that this would correspond to trying to ride a coaster forward with
- your eyes shut).
-
- The King Cobra is only the second stand up coaster I've ridden; the
- other one was the ShockWave (is that the right name?) in SFGAdv. King
- Cobra was much smoother...I enjoyed it a lot more than the other one.
-
- The Vortex was yet another tame, multi-element steel coaster...with a
- very unpleasant break run in the middle. It was ok.
-
- Adventure Express (or whatever they call it) is a very bizzare
- variation on the runaway train theme...rather rough, but I like the
- fact that it keeps twisting and turning. That ending is strange,
- though...seems like it belongs in the middle of the ride somewhere.
-
- Since I was with a party that contained a number of children, I rode
- the Beastie (nice kiddie coaster) and Scooby Zoom. What a cute ride
- Scooby Zoom is! I'd like to build one in my backyard. We were
- speculating on how much one of these would cost...does anyone have any
- idea what the ballpark figure would be to install a micro-coaster like
- this?
-
- Other non-coaster rides...The haunted theatre is an attempt to do
- something like Disney's haunted mansion...good, but not as nice. They
- have an airplane ride there like one I loved as a kid (it was at West
- View park near Pittsburgh)--I don't know the generic name for the
- ride, but you have a "rudder" in the front of the plane that you can
- use to make the suspended car dive and climb. Tame log flume. Lots of
- shows, many other popular amusement rides, great kids section, with
- one of those very tall "double-dip" slides (a good, fast ride).
-
- I like Kings Island as a park because it's not as spread out as CP. It
- doesn't have as many coasters and is not "themed" as well as CP (not
- as many shops and craft demos that correspond to the theme sections),
- but I've had to modify my amusement park tastes to accomodate little
- kids and non-riding spouses.
-
- Hope this wasn't boring.
-
- Mary Ann Pike (mapike@sei.cmu.edu)
- Software Engineering Institute
- Carnegie-Mellon University
- Pittsburgh PA
-