VortexBFF's Trip Reports for the 2014 Season!

[VortexBFForever]

As you can see I have decided to try the idea of having all my trip reports (except for a few) in one topic instead of one topic for each one. Clearly I am not the first member to try this, but I figured why not try it for myself this year and see how it works?

Since I will be going to Media Day tomorrow, the PTR I will write for that will be in this topic; I would recommend following this topic so you will know when I post a new trip report (or a reply, for that matter). Also, I will have links to the individual reports provided in my signature for added convenience.

Hope you like this as much as I will!

[Ride On_17]

Have fun! Can't wait to hear about Media Day and every other trip you'll take this year!

[fanofFirehawk]

And following

Looking forward to your trip reports.

[jcgoble3]

Looking forward to them as well!

I am NOT following this thread, because I make a point of reading every single post on here no matter what. (I reserve following threads for the rare cases when I want Tapatalk push notifications.)

[VortexBFForever]

Banshee Media Day at the Island - April 17, 2014
First trip report in this thread, and it's of my very first Media Day!
Mom (TurkishDelightBGW) and I woke up just after 6:20a.m., and got ready for the big day.  We left just after 6:40 and arrived at the park at 7:50.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We checked in at the booth labeled Coaster Crew/Other Coaster Clubs and went back to the car to put our shirts and glass blocks/paperweights away so we wouldn't have to carry them around all morning. Then we headed into the park (with our lanyards, of course) for the first time in 5.5 months! Obviously, we headed left into Action Zone, since it was the only section open!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Banshee was the only ride open at the time. I hopped in line. The line was filling up a handful of switchbacks, but it wasn't that bad. Banshee had 2 of its 3 trains running the course at the time. Seconds into the wait I spotted a group of KICers:

 
I remember seeing ohiocolts, Beastie1980, Fire-Beast-OF FEAR, malem, and Katie.Greg (later known as Princess Sparkles) along with a couple others (please forgive me if I do not know or have forgotten the name or exact place of any member I saw that day). I also saw LoraX, faeriewench, and sikkinixx99. (I finally got to meet faeriewench! Hooray! )
And what better time is there to snap pictures and videos than during a wait for a ride?

 

 

 

 

 
There are also some TVs in the queue showing various trivia questions and facts about Banshee:

 
I heard sounds coming from Adventure Express, so I figured it must have been testing for a little while:

 

 

 

 

 
The still-rising sun made for a lot of gorgeous shots!

 
The rest of the queue will be packed full tomorrow...

 

 

 
Part 2 in next post. I may have been there for only about half of Media Day, but I ended up taking over 200 photos!

[VortexBFForever]

Another picture of the KIC group:

Once I got to the top of the stairs, one of the attendants was looking for a single rider. I called out and said I was one. I was assigned to Row 7 for my first ride on Banshee, and that was how my wait time was cut short by a few minutes!

I was on the dark blue train. I saw Matthew (malem) and the others in line for the front as Banshee took me away. I tried to wave to them but they weren’t looking my way. I liked the music on the lift hill, followed by the scream at the top. I was afraid it would get a little annoying after hearing it over 10 times while waiting, but I actually LIKED it! I liked it, even with the repetition. Since Row 7 was just one from the back, I got pulled over the top and through the inversions, all throughout the ride. I absolutely LOVED the last inversion because the train goes through slow enough to make you “fall” out of your seat a little. It was a really cool ride!

I used my complimentary ride photo voucher to purchase the photo of my first ride, and then I exited and saw jcgoble3, MrsNoChickens, and IndyGuy4KI. Jonathan (jcgoble3) was holding Amy’s (faeriewench’s) camera bag. We talked for a few minutes before heading back to The Bat.

It was closed at the moment, but I got quite an eyeful of the new colors. They looked AMAZING! I couldn’t wait to ride it.

While we were walking back to Banshee’s entrance, I saw Delirium testing. It had a very similar orange to that of The Bat, and it had some white and red near the base of the swinging arm.

ohiocolts and Fire-Beast-OF FEAR were by the dive loop. We talked about a variety of things including what we liked about Banshee, what rides we couldn’t wait to ride soon, and ideas for the next Off Season Photo Contest. In the meantime, I got some more shots:

Part 3 in next post

[VortexBFForever]

At around 9:25, they closed the queue line so the remaining people that were waiting could ride in time for the ceremony. Once the last riders rode, the welcome ceremony began at 9:40.

(if you look closely you can see Don in the middle)

As Don and Greg were talking, there would be a time or two when they’d mention something about Banshee and the scream would sound from the lift hill. It added a nice touch. I stood on the side of the crowd that was the closest to Banshee’s entrance.

I made a good choice, because a reporter from FOX19 (the Cincinnati station) happened to be doing a live broadcast at that time soon after the ceremony started. He interviewed me and asked how I liked Banshee. I said that it was really cool, especially near the end during that last twist when you feel weightless (my favorite part!). Let me say that it was cool being on LIVE television for about 20 seconds!

One of the lights around Banshee.

Near the end of the ceremony, people were starting to form a line by Banshee’s entrance. I ended up being the 3^rd person in line because of my close proximity to the entrance. When the ceremony ended, a security guard led the large group through the line, while they starting testing and opening Banshee again.

I was assigned to Row 2 this time, with 3 members of the media in the same row. I saw Tony (from Cedar Point) there; he was helping check restraints. As I was walking on I told him I’d seen him before and that was in his PointCast (or whatever it’s called). When I sat down I noticed he was setting up a GoPro camera in front of the row. My 2^nd ride on Banshee was going to be recorded, and probably end up on the news somewhere!

Needless to say, that ride was amazing as well. Loved it!

Part 4 in next post

[VortexBFForever]

It was now time to head back to The Bat once again. It was one of the additional rides that were open, along with Xtreme Skyflyer and Delirium. Xtreme Skyflyer was giving free rides, but the line was already lengthy and, considering Skyflyers capacity, very slow moving. Although I have never been on it, I decided to pass. As I was heading through the tunnel, a bright orange and black train swooped by. I was overwhelmed with excitement. I was back, ready to ride it again!
I found a line extending to the flight of stairs before the station. The wait was roughly 7-10 minutes.































































https://flic.kr/p/ncCJTy]

End of Part 4
I got on in row 1-2, for my first ride of the day on The Bat. It was awesome like always! The line was down to about ¾ of its original length when the cycle finished, so I decided to ride again. The line for the front row was shorter so I rode there. It was very nice feeling a 51mph breeze in your face. It felt really good!

[VortexBFForever]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(this was taken when I was sitting down)

 

The 3^rd ride, taken in 6-2, happened to be the start of a 15-ride marathon. I don’t exactly remember the order, but I moved all over the train. I rode in 1-1 another time, along with a couple more in 1-2, 6-2, and 2-1. I also rode in 7-1, 7-2, 5-1, 3-1, and 2-2 as well. Looks like The Bat has a head start over Vortex, in terms of seasonal ride totals!

 

 

On the 13^th consecutive ride, it was my 60^th ride ever on The Bat! Amy (faeriewench) was at the exit and she took a couple pictures of me on that special ride, which I spent in 2-1. On my last ride I saw a few more KICers (including malem) making their way up to the station, and I met them after my last ride. Devan (thedevariouseffect) was there too, along with a couple other members. We made our way back to Action Zone. I went to Delirium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was making my way to Seat 15 (my assigned seat) I ended up right next to Princess Sparkles, Beastie1980 and LoraX. We had a fun ride together. Princess Sparkles and I stayed on for the next cycle, which we enjoyed together. Call me crazy, but I stayed on AGAIN for a THIRD CYCLE! I found out 3 cycles in a row on Delirium was enough for me, as I did not feel the best when I walked off. The rides were still fun, though! (Before this, I did not know I could marathon Delirium! )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TurkishDelightBGW and I decided Banshee’s line was too long for me to take one last ride (we had to leave in about 10 minutes). Meanwhile, the folks at Ice Scream Zone were handing out free cones of Banshee Twist Ice Cream. I had one, and it was delicious!

 

 

Next we checked out the Chicken Shack. To my surprise, the food and drinks they had there were free as well! We each had a plate of two chicken tenders, some fries, a piece of butter/garlic bread, and a small cup of dipping sauce for the fries and chicken.

 

 

 

They were really good! I loved them! I definitely hope to eat there in the future (even though the food won’t be free then…).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, it was time to leave. I hope we can visit on Opening Day! (if we do, it will be during the evening hours, approx. 7-10pm)

 

 

Thanks for reading!

+Banshee: 2

 

+The Bat: 17

Overall: 62

 

+Delirium: 3

Overall: 16

 

Notes:

-Sorry for not being very mobile-friendly...I take a lot of pictures!

-As you can tell, I did a bit of continuous photography during this trip!

-loved the fog, especially when it engulfs the sign!

-Festhaus's back entrance has a new look

-free refreshments!

-Some other rides were testing, including Adventure Express, Vortex, and WindSeeker

-The Bat’s line really shrank when I was riding it; in all honesty I never thought I would marathon it on Media Day!

-it was my first Media Day, and it was amazing!

-Thank you to Kings Island and everyone who helped put this event together!

 

Mom's pics of the day:

Getting ready for my first ride on Banshee! I'm the one with the penguin apparel.

 

The first ride on Delirium. We (myself, Princess Sparkles, Beastie1980, LoraX, etc.) are seen on the upper right part of the circle.

[fanofFirehawk]

Your five part Media Day epic sounds like a fantastic way to start the season! Looking forward to more trip reports from you.

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

Yep, I do believe that you took all of the pictures that need to be taken. I won't take my camera to the park this year, lol.

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

And sadly, that free Banshee cone was about the size that they were selling yesterday for $4.59. Sheesh. They used to be at least twice that size.

[VortexBFForever]

I do wish the price was lower. They're really tasty!

I'm very thankful that I was able to enjoy one for free on Thursday.

[KIfan73]

Thanks for posting all of those fantastic pics! Can't wait to see all of that in person!!

[silver2005]

Is that Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce I see for Chicken Shack?!

Mind=blown.

[VortexBFForever]

50^th ever Kings Island Trip! – Saturday, April 19, 2014

Kings Island served as a much needed break from working in the kitchen at home for nearly 4 hours! We headed out at around 6:50 and got there at about 7:45. I was expecting the crowds to start tapering off at this point, but it turned out that it was a bit more that crowded than I thought. It wasn’t too crowded to be enjoying the park, though!

It felt great to be inside the park again on a normal operating day!

Once we were inside we headed toward Planet Snoopy and Rivertown. My original plan was to start on Diamondback, and I was going to check on the line.

I saw that the Prize Wheel was back! It was by Diamondback’s entrance. Since I didn’t have $2 on me at the moment, I decided to pass on it for this visit. (I did not even THINK of trying to win a front of the line pass on the wheel so I could possibly get a ride on DB. Oops…) I looked at DB’s line and it was a little too long (we only had about 2.5 hours until closing).

Race for Your Life Charlie Brown, on the other hand, had NO LINE, so it ended up being my first ride of the evening!

I got Boat 17 to myself for the ride. I only had to wait one minute because there were a few people on the boarding platform when I got down there. It was a nice ride through the woods, and I didn’t get too wet when I zipped down the drop at the end! Loved it! (I obviously need to ride this more often…)

We headed straight to Coney Mall, and I bet you know the reason why.

It was the first time in over 5.5 months that I was “reunited” with my beloved favorite, Vortex!

But I decided to stop by Shake, Rattle & Roll first to multi task: I was going to enjoy the ride all while getting myself more excited for Vortex by simply watching it. I waited only one cycle length since I had gotten in line right when they finished loading. I was able to get some good shots of Vortex:

Part 2 coming up

[VortexBFForever]

I got on the ride in Car #7 (one of the yellow cars). It was fun, and yet another nice way to start the trip!

Then came the part you’ve all been waiting for: my first ride on Vortex since Closing Day. I was pretty happy to be there again! The line was just outside of where the ride’s sign is. I started timing the wait on my watch.

As soon as I boarded Train #3 in Row 2-1, I stopped the watch and it said 14:54, just a few seconds shy of a 15 minute wait! Even the small things, such as pulling down the harness, made me so happy I was finally back! (especially since I didn’t ride Vortex enough times on Closing Day )

Earlier in the trip I had noticed WiindSeeker testing. By the time I had finished riding Vortex, it had opened. I’m glad I got my ride when I did, because after I rode it didn’t open again for the rest of the night.

While I was taking photos of WS, I switched to the "Super Vivid" setting on my camera to bring out its colors.

I only waited a couple minutes since the cycle was ending. I got assigned to Seat 60.

Since the previous cycle had the “Hedwigs Theme” from Harry Potter, this one was supposed to have “Romantic Flight” from How to Train Your Dragon. It did start playing at the beginning, but for some reason it went to the next soundtrack – “Test Drive”. I like that soundtrack too, so it was no biggie. It was a very nice (and chilly) flight uptop. Why did I leave my hoodie on the ground with my shoes?

This particular cycle was really interesting! When the ride was coming down, it suddenly stopped when it was still about 10 feet off the ground. When I felt the gentle yet abrupt halt, I thought, “I don’t remember this being part of the ride…” as I slowly took a moment to realize that this normally didn’t happen, and the other ~40 riders and I were stuck!

I was actually excited. Not scared at all, to be honest! You see, I had never gotten stuck on a ride before until now. Plus I already knew that WindSeeker was having the hiccups (this was only the second and last cycle it operated with people that night).

The extended ride was caught on video on both my camera and my mom’s. Mom (TurkishDelightBGW) even took a picture of me when I was up there!

The ride didn’t move for about 3 minutes. It turned a typical 3-minute ride into a 6-minute ride! It was rare, and interesting, to say the least. After the 3 minutes, maintenance attempted to restart the ride, in which they succeeded on the first try! Then, they lowered it slowly to the ground, to allow the riders to exit. There were some attendants at the exit apologizing for the minor “inconvenience”. I told them I actually enjoyed it! After all, it was the first time I had ever gotten stuck on a ride!

Now that my extended flight on WindSeeker had concluded, I started walking to the other rides. Like always, I planned to return to Vortex during the last hour. The next ride I rode was Zephyr.

Part 3 in next post

[VortexBFForever]

There was no line, since they had just let people on to the next cycle. There was only one person in front of me while I was waiting.

The wait was a cycle-length. When I was let on, I chose a blue seat on the outside. It felt great to fly on Zephyr again! It felt just like when I rode it on Opening Day 2013!

The same thing happened with Scrambler. Since they had just let people on, the line for that ride was nonexistent as well!

I rode in Seat 7. It felt great to ride Scrambler again too! Plus, I don’t think I had ever been on it at night, so I was also experiencing my first night ride on Scrambler!

After that always fun ride, I headed to Racer. Both sides were open with a station wait. I hopped into my normal spot, row 5-2 on the Red side, after waiting only 3-5 minutes.

Needless to say, it too was very fun. I forgot how much I missed riding those hills on a wooden coaster!

This ride was also like when I rode it on Opening Day ’13. It started out with Red just ahead of Blue, but it ended with Blue ahead of Red! Once again, I was truly baffled, but the ride was still fun!

I saw Adventure Express as I was heading through Racer’s near-empty queue, and I automatically made that my next ride. I had not had a night ride on it since May 26, 2013, so I was very eager to do it again!

I almost jumped up and down when I saw how short the line was – only a station wait!

I got in line for the very back row.

I ended up on Train #1 for my 3^rd ever night ride on Adventure Express. I knew I was in for something when the train took off into the darkness!

First off, the first two tunnels had no lights on in them. It was PITCH BLACK!!I couldn’t see a THING until we were out of the tunnel. I enjoyed my favorite part (that small drop to the right before that turn that comes before the part where you go under those low beams). Love those laterals!!

The last two tunnels did have the lights on, including the final tunnel. The effects were working in the last tunnel, were myself and several other riders did the Tiki Dance!

Believe it or not, it was the best night ride I ever had!!!!! It was AMAZING!!!!

By this time, it was just after 9:40. We started heading back to the far end of the Mall so I could get my last rides of the night on Vortex.

It was about 9:50 by the time I got back. The station was almost empty, just like I predicted. I waited a few minutes to get on 7-1; I ended up on Train #2.

It was a very thrilling, airtime filled, intense ride. Just how I like it! (and do I even have to say I loved it? )

After that ride, it was 9:58. It was either stay on for a re-ride, or find out for sure if WindSeeker would open for the fireworks (my main goal was to try to get a fireworks ride on WindSeeker).

I rushed over to WindSeeker’s entrance, where a security guard was standing. I asked her, and she nicely responded and told me that WindSeeker was not going to open for the fireworks. After thanking her, I went back to Vortex (I had a backup plan in mind; if getting to ride WS during the fireworks didn’t work out, I would go straight back to Vortex and get a fireworks ride there instead). I entered the queue just as an attendant was moving the trash can to block the queue line entrance. My “backup plan” had worked! I was going to get a fireworks ride on Vortex!

As I was boarding Train #3 in row 2-1 (where I sat on the first ride of the evening), the fireworks began! Not long after that, Train #3 was dispatched and we were sent on our way. I watched the fireworks lighting up the sky, as well as the ride’s classic chasing lights running up the railing of the lift hill.

This magnificent ride turned out to be my 230^th ride ever on Vortex! The fireworks were a fabulous way to celebrate as I was flown, flipped and twisted all over the place for the 230^th time. At the end of the cycle, the trains stacked (since I was on the last train, it was on the first of the two brake runs. It was a great place to watch!), allowing everyone on board to enjoy the last few moments of the fireworks before they ended.

It was a great way to end my first trip of the year (on a normal operating day)!

I said “good night, sweet dreams” to Vortex and WindSeeker, then started the journey out of the park.

+Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown: 1

Total: 2

+Shake, Rattle & Roll: 1

Total: 13

+Vortex: 3

Total: 230

+WindSeeker: 1

Total: 57

+Zephyr: 1

Total: 16

+Scrambler: 1

Total: 10

+Racer: 1

Total: 13

+Adventure Express: 1

Total: 31

Notes:

-Prize Wheel’s return

-“extended flight” on WindSeeker, as I have explained already

-WindSeeker was testing at various times throughout the trip, but did not reopen other than when I was riding it

-I heard “Happy” by Pharrell Williams playing not long after I entered the park

-I saw a couple of people smoking while walking around…while walking around…

(yes, I know it was opening weekend, but still…)

-I heard the “F-bomb” being dropped way too many times (I heard a bad word spoken about 10 times total, at least). Not. Fun. At. All!!! I did not let that spoil all the fun I was having, though. As a Christian, I know I have to deal with hearing the occasional bad word once in a while, but just so you know, I completely detest bad words 120%.

-Fireworks ride on Vortex! Amazing!

-Got to see Banshee in person at night for the first time. The colored lighting on that ride is really cool!

-No trace of the Starlight Spectacular left

-Fountains were lit up! (there were some nights last year when that wasn’t so)

Part 4 (Mom's photos) in next post

[VortexBFForever]

Mom's photos from the trip!

First ride of the evening on Vortex

Getting ready to ride WindSeeker (I'm in Seat 60, on the inside)

Looking around from where I was perched ~10 feet in the air on WindSeeker.

Waving from 7-1 on my second Vortex ride

Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this!

[vermillionlove]

looking at your thread has been fun, love your photos and joy of retelling your day (:

[LoraX]

I love your trip reports. Great pics too. I wish I had the ability to remember the details like you do.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[VortexBFForever]

May 16: Making the Most of 90 Minutes!

 

Although we only had an hour and a half to have fun at the park, I knew I would still have a lot of fun with…KIC members!

 

After posting on KIC about possibly meeting at the Eiffel Tower at 8:20, TurkishDelightBGW (Mom) and I left at about 7:30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got to the park just after 8:20. Once we got in, we headed straight to the Eiffel Tower only to find that no other members were there! TurkishDelightBGW then texted momofbeastie1980, who immediately replied that they were at Adventure Express! So we immediately headed over there.

 

We saw ohiocolts and momofbeastie1980 by the entrance to the Express, and the others were riding. I went ahead into the queue to see if I could catch up with them, but it was no surprise that they were not part of the almost non-existent line in the station. Clearly, they had been swept away by a train before I showed up.

 

 

I walked right onto Row 5-1 on Train #2. The attendants were really quick in checking the seat belts and lap bars, making it go even faster. A very nice ride on AE followed!

 

After exiting, I met the rest of the group, which included UnrealNightmare, ohiocolts, LoraX, Princess Sparkles, and Beastie1980. After sharing a large number of ohiocolts’s potato fries, we proceeded to Racer.

 

 

 

Both sides were open. Well, they were until it was time for us to board. ohiocolts and I had boarded the Red side. Most others in the group had lined up for the Blue side, but it just had to be the time that Blue went down with a technical delay. So they walked over to Red and ended up being one train behind us.

 

After a fun ride on Racer, I found that there were still some potato fries left.

I ended up eating them all. My apologies to those who had wanted some more.

 

 

 

 

After the rest of the group had re-joined us, we decided to check out X-Base.

 

We weren’t interested in waiting in Flight of Fear’s lengthy line, and Firehawk appeared to be having troubles. So we walked right back to the Coney Mall midway without riding anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then headed to Vortex, which had no line. And I mean NO LINE whatsoever! When I got there, the station was literally empty except for a couple attendants. Of course, a few others including the group had arrived by the time I was about to board.

 

We were on Train #3. I rode with Katie in the front seat. It was a great 231st ride ever on the favorite ride.

 

I really wanted to ride WindSeeker, but no one else wanted to. Except for ohiocolts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I followed the group to Backlot Stunt Coaster. Even that line was short, so we only had to wait a few minutes. We rode on the Blue train in the first 4 rows. I was in Row 2.

 

 

 

 

It was my very first night ride on BLSC, and it was great!

 

 

 

After that fun ride, I told the group that we should do a group picture in front of Vortex, since it was nearby.

 

 

 

We took a few pictures, including the best one that had a train flying through the batwing behind us:

 

[jcgoble3]

Nice report!

One request: In the future, if you're going to post this many photos with each trip report, could you please create a new thread for each one? When you bump a thread after more than a few days, browser caches of the photos have expired, which means that anyone attempting to load the thread to read the latest report must re-download every single image from every previous report on that page. That is a massive data drain for anyone on a mobile device that doesn't use Tapatalk and isn't on Wi-Fi. Even on desktop, I had to wait a full minute today for everything to load before I could get the page to stay still so I could read the report. New threads each time would be appreciated.

[VortexBFForever]

We decided to head to The Beast next. I wanted to go to Diamondback, but I decided to stay with the group.

During the 10 minute wait, we listened to a Veggie Tales song played backwards on Katie's cell phone. According to ohiocolts, part of the song sounded like “Deeee-turtle! Sleeeee-po man!” I also took an audio recording on my iPod, and we watched some FunTV. And don’t forget, we all hugged ohiocolts not once, but TWICE! Or at least twice; I forgot to count.

I sat next to LoraX on my second ever Beast night ride. I didn’t keep track of who exactly sat where; I do remember that ohiocolts sat in front of me (I know this because he was waving back at LoraX and I when we were going up the first lift hill )

It was great flying through those pitch-black tunnels again. It was a chilly ride through the fog and stillness of the woods!

After that ride, we split. I wanted to get more rides on Vortex while the others rode something else. I told them that we could meet at the big noodle a.k.a. #Jonathan after closing.

Since it was just after 9:50 by the time I got back to Vortex, I only had time for one ride. I rode in row 7-1, on Train #3 again. I decided to check if WindSeeker was open, but unfortunately it had gone down just minutes before and wouldn’t open again for the fireworks. Oh well, maybe next time

I ran back to Vortex’s entrance right when the fireworks were starting, but the attendant who was moving the trash can to block the entrance would not let me through. Since this was the very first time I had this problem, I started to panic and was near tears, since 1. This was NOT what I planned, and 2. This had never happened with me before; I act very strangely to unfamiliar situations like this.

But knowing that I had told the attendants in the station about wanting to know (and check) if WindSeeker would be open, I knew they knew what I was trying to accomplish. So I ran back to the exit in one last attempt to get to ride Vortex during the fireworks. The last train was still waiting and had not left yet, so it didn’t hurt to try.

But, to my delight, they let me on! One of the attendants opened the exit gate and let me back onto Train #3 (which had been waiting since I left to check if WindSeeker was open) right as they were starting to check the restraints. There was no one in line, so I wasn’t cutting anyone. I was really happy and very thankful that they let me back on even though it was technically closing time. If they didn’t, I would’ve had to miss the last train, along with another shot at a fireworks ride, and that would’ve made me unhappy. I know there are many other opportunities during this season, but still…

I ALMOST missed the last train and that fireworks ride, but I made it! It was undoubtedly one of the closest races against time that I ever faced.

There were five other riders on board. I sat in 2-1 next to one of them, and we enjoyed the last ride of the night together! It was my 233^rd Vortex ride and my fourth Vortex ride during the fireworks!

After that experience, it was now time to say good night. I said good night to the attendants, and also to Vortex and WindSeeker and the rest of the park.

Although the park was closed, we weren’t done yet. We still had to meet the rest of the KIC group at #Jonathan! So we headed there.

After taking a group photo (or two) of us in front of #Jonathan we started heading towards the Front Gate, walking past all the brightly lit shops and the majestic Royal Fountains. Meanwhile, someone had the idea of walking like a dinosaur, so for half the journey we were all walking like dinosaurs! (well, all except the grownups )

Nice report!

One request: In the future, if you're going to post this many photos with each trip report, could you please create a new thread for each one? When you bump a thread after more than a few days, browser caches of the photos have expired, which means that anyone attempting to load the thread to read the latest report must re-download every single image from every previous report on that page. That is a massive data drain for anyone on a mobile device that doesn't use Tapatalk and isn't on Wi-Fi. Even on desktop, I had to wait a full minute today for everything to load before I could get the page to stay still so I could read the report. New threads each time would be appreciated.

Thanks for the tip, jcgoble3. It will be effective starting with the next trip report.

Don't worry, I'll be still using this thread (to link to the full-length PTRs); I just won't be posting 100+ photos in here.

[VortexBFForever]

(I have explained another time that I use Handheld NightScene mode on my camera for pics like this. That is why Katie almost looks like a ghost. )

I gave hugs to all the other group members. The last words I said to them that night were “See you next Friday!”

+Adventure Express: 1

YTD: 2

Total: 32

+Racer: 1

YTD: 2

Total: 14

+Vortex: 3

YTD: 6

Total: 233

+Backlot Stunt Coaster: 1

Total: 2

+The Beast: 1

Total: 12

Notes:

-Met a KIC group for the first time since Media Day!

-Met UnrealNightmare for the first time (nice meeting you, by the way )

-Didn’t get to ride WindSeeker

-Short lines!

-Chilly, and the slightest bit rainy. It didn’t rain very much, though.

-WindSeeker was open all evening until it closed sometime during the last hour.

-There was an ‘80s song playing in line for The Beast (think about it…a song from the 1980s on a coaster that opened in the 1970s.

-Crew was really quick in checking lap bars on Adventure Express

-the potato fries that ohiocolts had were REEAALLLYYY good!

(P.S. ohiocolts, LoraX, Beastie1980: I’m also expecting trip reports from 5/16 and/or 5/23….that is, if you want to write them )

[VortexBFForever]

Last part, I promise!

This was my first trip that I took my new iPod with me. I took a few pictures from there as well:

There are a few photos I have on Flickr that are not featured in my PTRs. You can always visit my Flickr Photostream.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Per jcgoble3's request, I will be sharing PTRs a little differently, starting with the one from 5/23. Just letting everyone know.

[VortexBFForever]

I have now started to post the PTR from 6/02! I'm also working on the 5/23 one, but I have decided to post the 6/02 one first while the details are still fresh in my mind.

As a "preview", I'll show a few pics of a couple of the things I did: