Saturday, May 27, 2017
What's the best way to spend your first day of summer vacation? At Kings Island, of course (if you can't be at Disney). This has been an annual tradition for us for some time and this year was extra fun because we got season passes and got to get in extra early, Emily was finally tall enough (54") for ALL of the roller coasters...AND we met up with Emily's skating coach, Amanda and her skating friend Addison too! Plus we got fast lane passes so we were basically front of the line for every ride which was awesome too.
We wasted no time in getting straight to the coasters. this year's new coaster was Mystic Timbers, a wooden roller coaster. No loops or anything, but it is super fast, and actually not too rough. We liked it a lot and got to ride it before the park even opened to the public! Pass holders only!
From there we headed straight to Diamondback, the tallest and fastest coaster in the park. Again, no loops, but super fast. It was interesting because there were points on it where you almost get the feeling of weightlessness. Right before you crest a hill and just as you start the downhill slope you feel a little like you are flying. A little intense for mommy, but not for the small curly one. It was her favorite ride of the day.
Next up was Banshee. Emily wanted to ride last year but was still too short so this was a big deal. I love this one for some reason. I guess maybe because it is smooth and fast and has loops. Best seat is definitely the front seat so that was our goal for several of the rides. Banshee was a hit with the girls too - although I don't think Addison ever opened her eyes.
Furthering our need for speed, we hit up The Racers in the coney mall area and the Vortex too. These are both oldies, but goodies. Funny how slow these feel compared to the newer coasters - especially Vortex. Still, the girls loved them.
After the race to all the big coasters it was time for lunch. We waited a few minutes, not long enough it turns out, and then hit Banshee again. Ugh. No one was sick, but everyone agreed it was time to slow it down a bit. So we hit up Snoopy land and rode Woodstock Express, the gliders, the log ride and a couple of other smaller rides. Snoopy land is still so much fun. I'm sad though, because I fear this will be our last trip to Snoopy land.
We also found the petting zoo while we were in snoopy land so we stopped off there as well. So much fun to give the animals a little love and attention.
After some down time the kids were right back to the big coasters again, but we were able to convince them to hit a few smaller rides in between.
It was pretty hot (and considerably more crowded) in the later part of the afternoon, so by dinner time we decided to head inside for dinner at the baseball place. It was a perfect rest and the food was good. After dinner we let the kids ride a few more things and then it was finally time to wrap up our day.
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| Yes, Grandma and Grandpa came too, but they didn't ride so there aren't too many pics with them this year. |
What could be a sweeter end to the day than Graeter's? Nothing. So we all got ice cream talked about out day and split up to head home.
We also did a little shopping on International Street...you can always count on Grandma for a souvenir...(we didn't get the hat, only the owl). Can't wait until our next visit!!
