Haha, I've had my ears pierced since I was in like 5th. grade!
First of all, sorry for the delay. I've been extremely tired every day and I'm trying to catch up with my sleeping pattern.
So after Grizzly me and Alex went to Ricochet since it's just right down the midway. We passed the closed Hurler, I wish I could of ridden it but atleast the next day I rode the one at Carowinds.
Closed Hurler...
Ricochet was a pretty weird mouse coaster. It seems a little taller than most, and has the drop at the beginning (I'm sure everyone knows this already). Every single trimmed area I expected the ride to stop, but it never did. We just kept on going faster and faster though the layout and never slowed down. Than kinda towards the end, OUCH... It stopped, instantly. And it was the one break run I didn't try to protect myself since I didn't expect it. Besides the painful stop, It was a great mouse but Dark Knight is still my favorite.
I really wanted to go ride Volcano so we headed back over to Congo. I love this area, bongo drums playing, random crates, over grown plants, and jungle themed buildings. Seriously, I didn't expect to see this in a CF park. I could see it being in the park back in the Paramount years, but I'd think Cedar Fair would want it all gone since they don't like parks with nice atmospheres. Anyways, we were getting close to Volcano when I saw flames, water jets, mist, and a gondola swinging all over the place. It was Tomb Raider: Firefall (not Crypt... lol). The line looked to be only 3 circuit wait so we decided to ride. While in line there were like seven hundred and fifty two thousand carpenter bees. They don't sting you but they still intimidated most people but not me (I'm scared of every bug except bees). It actually scared some people out of line which I thought was pretty hilarious. Before I get too off topic, let me tell you what I thought about TR:FR. It was very intense, much more than the only other two top spins I've ridden. I still prefer Kings Island's as it was back in 2002 and 2003, but this one is way better than the one at KI now. I think I counted 9 inversions total.
This is the only photo I got, pretty sad right? I didn't even take the cool signature photo showing off the theming.
After Tomb Raider, Volcano closed for a while with a full queue and than ran one train so we opted not to ride yet, and went to Intimidator 305. The queue line was full and over flowed a little bit which really isn't too long but we decided to use the single riders line instead. It ended up being about 3 minutes and the seat assigner sat both of us together near the front! My first ride was in the back, so I wanted to compare. It was just about as intense as the back only you get no airtime dropping down the first drop. Still a great ride, we decided to reride. This time the line got a little longer but was still only like 10 minutes. We got a middle seat and the ride was still great but didn't have the airtime coming out of the first drop. I still wasn't intimidated enough so I wanted to ride once again. Alex was thirsty so he said he would go get a drink but wait for me at the exit. Well while we were on the ride, the single riders line got significantly longer. It was about a 20 minute wait. So to pass up the time I called my best friend fellow coaster enthusiast Mitchell (also a forum member). I told him how amazing I305 is and the day so far. Than I was close to the station and told him I would call him back because I'm about to get on. So I either put my phone in my pocket, or wrapped it up in my first rider tee with my camera and wallet. I got assigned a back seat with a little girl who was just about crying. Had a great ride (minus the little girl next to me screaming)! I get back into the station and grab my shirt which has my camera and wallet in it. I'm about half way down the exit ramp and I hear something drop and the people behind me start laughing. I figured it was a lose article that fell from the ride since a train just flew above us. Than I'm about in the gift shop and realize I don't have my phone. So I go back to the station and look for it. Couldn't find it so I filed a missing article paper. I than look around the exit area to see if I can findout. No luck, so I went back to meet up with Alex. By now it's been well over 30 minutes since I got in line and hes gone. I don't blame him though, he probably thought I left without him. I didn't know his phone number so I couldn't get a hold of him.
For the next hour or so I spend my day freaking out because I'm all alone, it's about 3 hours til' close and I only have like 3 credits and I can't find anyone. So I have this weird idea of going on to the Eiffel Tower thinking I could see them from there! Obviously I'm retarded because you can't.... So I took some photos from the top (I already showed a few, the rest aren't worth showing).
I'm near Anaconda than I find Jared! I guess he was separated from the group like me. We decide to go ride Volcano since neither of us have ridden it yet. The ride was closed but they were letting us in line. The actual line was just the station and a little bit of that indoor ramp. They got rid of one train and tested it a few times. About 10 minutes later the ride opens back up with one train. Fifteen more minutes later and were on. Sadly Jared couldn't ride, but I stayed on since I really wanted this credit. I loved the launches, and all the inversions were great. It's now my #1 invert, and my #5 steel in general (above Diamondback)!
Volcano= 10/10
After my amazing ride on Volcano we walked towards Grizzly to meet up with Tom and Angie. Rachel and John were in line too. The line looked short but they were running one train so we had to wait a long time. While we were waiting, I actually fell asleep sitting on a planter and had a dream that I was at Kings Dominion... Than I woke up and they were getting off the ride.
From there we went to Intimidator 305 and met up with Adam, Sean, Dave, and Matt. Adam's phone got Dominated on Dominator. Adam told us to meet up back at I305 at like 7:30. So we all waited in line for a few minutes but I305 went down to one train so we decided to go ride Avalanche. We waited over 30 minutes and the line never moved, the whole country of Mexico line jumped us, and honestly there was better credits to get so we got out of line.
After our bad Avalanche queue credit we found James Cole which now has over 100 rides on I305 already! None of us had Anaconda ridden (besides James since it's his home park) so we got in line. The queue was almost full but we only waited 10 minutes. I ALWAYS ride in 7-1 on Arrow loopers and Vekoma loopers. Anaconda started out great! The drop was really fun and smooth. The tunnel was a neat element. The loop was pretty fast along with the immelman type inversion after. Than came the pain. Those weird turns hurt like hell, and they looked like a stop sign because instead of being a smooth circle, it was cut into pieces. Ouch!
Anaconda= 4/10
After Painaconda (Someone called it something like that) we met back up with our group and I think stopped for some food near Drop Zone. I didn't eat and instead I was going to get on Drop Zone since it had been testing for a while. I waited a few cycles and the ride opts. said go ride something else than come back. So I went to Rebel Yell. Only one side was open but it was running two trains and was a station wait. I normally like front seat on old woodies, but rode near the back on this one. Rebel Yell had NO airtime, it had tons of jack hammering and wasn't even that fun. The only part I liked about it was the awesome view of I305.
Rebel Yell= 5/10
Americana was randomly closed
I met back up with the group and we went to Drop Zone since it just opened and waited about two circuits. There was about 15 of us total, so we took up a big portion of the ride. I have to say I like Kings Islands just a tad more... KD's looks cooler because the neat colors and the huge ring, but it doesn't spin and it doesn't hold you at the top as long. The actual drop is almost the same as KI's only this one feels a little more intense.
♥
It was about 7:30 by this time so we all headed to Intimidator 305 to get one last ride on it. It somehow took us like 25 minutes to get there because we were one of the very last people to get in line. This was the longest I305 wait of the day for me (about 30 minutes). Once we got into the station there was only a few people behind us. I got assigned the very front seat and rode with Matt (or was it Adam?) Who ever it was, it was freaking amazing! Front seat night rides of my favorite coaster in the world with some of my best friends. Could it get any better? Yes, but it's probably against the rules to bring Pepsi on the ride... The ride seemed to be running FASTER at night, and the faster, the more intense! This was the best ride experience of my life (better than MF sleet rides, Beast last train of the season double ride, and even Son of Beast with the loop during Fearfest with fog rides)! Once we hit the brakes I almost wanted to cry. I wish I could of stayed all night and just rerode I305 with all my friends. But sadly, Kings Dominion was over. Even though I didn't get but half the credits and didn't get to enjoy the park as much as I wanted, this WAS the best park of the trip and probably my favorite park ever. I will for sure be coming back to KD, hopefully for more than one day. I want to experience everything this wonderful park has to offer, including Water Works.
I305 Queue
Already showed this, but I'm showing it again because it was taken during this time period.
Group photo at I305's entrance area.
Rides I rode...
I305: 5
Volcano: 1
Tomb Raider: 1
Anaconda: 1
Eiffel Tower: 1
Drop Zone: 1
Rebel Yell: 1
Ricochet: 1
Grizzly: 1
Flying Eagles: 1
Dominator: 1
Treasure Cave: 1
I will try to have Carowinds up tomorrow...
We happen by KI almost every year, including 2010. 
