King's Island really was a surprise to me. I went in thinking the place would have been worse than King's Dominion, but I walked away knowing it is about 2x better. For one, the operations at this place were astounding. Every single ride, with the exception of Racer, was running at full capacity with a limited amount of stacking. Lines were either very quick moving or non existent, and overall the staff was fairly friendly and seemed to enjoy what they were doing.
Now, onto the rides:
Diamondback: I personally love B&M's mega coasters, but this one kinda fell behind on the list for me. It felt really slow over most of the hills produce limited to no airtime. I highly recommend that anyone riding it sits towards the front, as that is where pretty much all of the airtime is. The back row, while good for the first drop, had an extremely bad case of the B&M rattle, and close to no airtime. This ride was really a let down for me. My current favorite of the B&M hypers, Intimidator, is significantly better than it. Even though it has a terrible back seat, and a bad case of the shakes, it's still a decent ride towards the front, therefore I give it an 7/10.
Beast: This was actually a pretty good wooden, and actually found myself returning to give it another ride later in the day, even in my tight time limit. It does have a bad case of over-trimmage, but even so it still packs a nice punch. The first drop when sitiing in the back actually has a small pop of air, and the rest of the track is just a fun mess of lateral-inducing turns and random tunnels. The big helix finale is also one of the most epic things I've experienced on a ride. This gets a solid 8/10.
Vortex: I am pretty much an Arrow fan-boy, so one could guess that this ride was a big draw to me. Those guessing that would be correct. Those guessing that I walked away loving every second of the ride would also be correct. It has a beastly first drop, several nice moments of airtime, good positive gs in the double loops and the batwing, and really nice hangtime in the corkscrews. This ride is also in really good condition, the track was really nice and smooth. This ride gets a solid 9/10.
Flight Deck: I was really excited about finally riding this, something to match the intensity of my long time favorite Big Bad Wolf. it did not disappoint at all. The swinging was intense, really good speed, nearly perfectly smooth, and with a couple pops of airtime. It was almost like the second half of BBW stretched out to be a full ride by itself. I love it, a solid 9/10.
Racer: Excellent racing woodie. While it's not quite the level of Thunder Road, it is much better than Rebel Yell. I give it a 7/10.
Flight of Fear: Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Premier rides and that FoF at KD is one of my all time favorite coasters, so you know I was excited about this one. I had heard though that this one wasn't as good as KD's. I now have to dismiss that as a lie. This one is slightly smoother, has a quieter launch, has all of its theming, music, and special effects still in perfect working order, and most importantly its track area is air conditioned. I was a very happy person while riding this one. Perfect 10/10.
Firehawk: Originally I was not even planning on wasting my time to ride this. Lets just say, I'm glad I changed my mind. From my past experience with Nighthawk, I was planning on this ride hurting like a mother, i couldn't have been more wrong. Firehawk was amazingly smooth! All the parts on Nighthawk that I'd consider rough were smooth here. All I kept saying the entire rides is, "It's Smooth!" I didn't even get the normal Vekoma headache getting off of it. While it is still no match for the greatness that is B&M's flying coasters, this one is really good. A good 8/10.
Invertigo: This is the first time I have ever experienced this bad of headbanging on a ride. It tops the amount produced from the junior suspendeds tenfold. The seating arrangement is kind of fun, but the ride itself sucks. 2/10.
-Be back to finish the rest later!-
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