Following my vow to make the most of summer hours and taking advantage of the big half day commencing Labor Day weekend, I received free tickets from a friend at work and was thrilled that Kristin was off work at 1:00 and has a Gold pass - w00t for free parking! We tried on silver shoes to match my bridesmaids dress for her upcoming wedding, shared exciting new news and downed a few Captain + Cokes before hitting the amusement park.
We had a hell of a time! It's amazing how many of my childhood and teenage memories are wrapped up in that place. So many recollections of when my parents were still married (until I was 6 years old) and riding & getting soaked on the log flume, the Smurf ride and scarfing blue ice cream. It took years for me to grow tall enough to ride the "big kid" rides and a few more years to muster up the courage to actually get strapped in and go for it. And spending the time summer in lines, sweating through spaghetti-strap tank tops with Bubba and Danni in junior high. I think we all had a running pad of paper with boys numbers and dead end puppy romances from those days - ha. "Hey girl, what's your screen name?"
Without Paramount, I do think it's lost a lost of the luster. Although I love the Peanuts & Snoopy, nothing will ever top Hanna Barbara land. I'm gutted that the old fashioned cars and the taller log flume are gone... Those were the days! So anyhow, the rides now have lame names and all of the pomp and circumstance that decorated the rides and faded into chipped paint and sagging set ups. For example, Top Gun, my old favorite, is now called "Flight Deck." womp womp. I loved that we didn't stand in any lines longer than 10 minutes but it almost seemed like the place doesn't attract the crowd that it used to. But we rode almost everything I'd had my heart set on - starting with Amazon Falls to get a little wet because it was a scorcher, Top Gun, Adventure Express, skipped a few that didn't really appeal to me (Drop Zone; The Racer and the Beast because they knock the hell out of you); the ride that used to be Tomb Raider isn't half as cool as it used to be without the movie parphenilia - it almost seems like they don't have the funding to keep things up like they did under Paramount ownership. I hated that Rivertown has been replaced with a garb shop for Diamondback - which was an amazing new coaster that luckily doesn't have hills (I didn't vom this year but I did need a break after the Vortex) but it's so neat how it dips down into water in the last dip. And of course we ended the day with blue ice cream - it's tradition!
I definitely feel like I made the most of summer hours and I'm so happy I got to go to Kings Island because it was on my list all along and I wasn't sure I would be able to go - and for free at that! But to be honest, I think the next time I'll go I'll be pushing a stroller :)
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