Of Whiplash and Wind

King's Island was great. It was better than I had remembered. It is nearly on par with Cedar Point for sheer number of great rides, including the classic, rickety, thrillingly terrifying Beast. We got a chance to ride all of the major rides, even though the crowd was quite solid the entire day. Our first stop was at the newest ride, the Diamondback. The experience was Millenium Force lite with wide, sweeping banks, smooth climbs, and some wicked drops. It felt very open and floaty with a good amount of air time. The final stretch, which used water as a breaking system, was a unique experience which soaked my shoulder. A solid 8.

Other than the Diamondback, I had never ridden the Stunt Track or the Firehawk so we eventually made our way to these throughout the day. Stunt Track ended up being a fun little romp through the set of an action film (since it was formerly called The Italian Job this makes sense) which involved a few special effects and some unique features, including a powered launch up a spiral and a stop mid-coaster where an antagonizing helicopter "shoots" the car, causing jets of flame to shoot from the scenery.

The Firehawk has its own story to tell. It started with the end of the Outer Limits ride. I headed off to the bathroom and tried to empty my clogged bowels for the fifth time that day and once again met with failure. I cut my losses and headed to the queue with Rayya and Rob for what appeared would be a thrilling ride. The line was long but the excitement was high. I had never ridden the ride while it was installed at Geagua Lake and known as the X-Flight and had never experienced such a feeling as appeared to be offered by this ride so as I stood it was with anxiousness and a little apprehension in my heart. People were also line-jumping. Rob eventually had enough of this and told a little girl with horrible teeth and a grating voice off, and let the entire line know of her misdeed. Unfortunately it was to no avail as the "honest person" ended up getting in a train ahead of us anyways, but we struck up conversation with the people behind us and it made the line move a little faster. We never learned their names but the adult of the group was a stereotypical ginger redneck from West Virginia. He was full of stories about bar fights, traffic accidents, and previous amusement park experiences and kept us entertained through the long wait. Finally, it was time to strap in. I climbed into the seat, clamped down the harness, and waited with trepidation. We were hauled up the hill backward, taken to the top, and flipped. From then on, it was a bit like what I'd imagine flying like Superman would be. I would have loved another go, but the line was prohibitively long so we declined another wait and instead traipsed over to the Beast for a final night ride. My feet aching, I gimped off to my car with Rob and Rayya close behind and, saying our final goodbyes, sped off into the night.