“Trina, how do you spell ‘zyland’?”
“Can you give me some context, Taylor?”
“I wanna do a cheer for King Zyland.” (Heh, doncha just love 1st graders?)
Well, judiang and I went to King’s Island yesterday. It was mucho fun.
Sunday, when the folks were visiting, Deanna & Abby warned Judi and I about the new ride called Delirium. It spins and swings at the same time. I wasn’t too sure I wanted to do that one. I’m not terribly good at spinning things. (I used to be fine with spinning. But anymore I get nausea. Heck, I spin once around in a wheely chair and I get ill!) However, I told Judi I’d go on that ride (she was looking forward to it) if she’d go with me on the Drop Zone. So when we walked by Delirium, I had to get in line with her. As with the Racer, the wait wasn’t too bad. Only about 20 minutes. (The Racer was probably 15 for the backward, less for forward.) And it was FUN! I didn’t get ill at all, and we LOVED the blasts of air we got as we zoomed back and forth and round and round. Heck, we were nearly upside down at one point – that was pretty cool.
We were heading for the Action Zone where most of the thrill rides were and saw the Drop Zone next. The wait for this ride, alas, was almost an hour. Though I think part of the problem was the crew didn’t have a fast enough turn-around. I would imagine that they could have gotten the number of punters in the line through in half the time had they been a little more efficient. The Drop Zone itself is pretty basic – drop you from a massive height. Still, 315 feet is a damned impressive height. I don’t have a fear of heights, but was willing to have one once we got to the top. The drop itself was fun – though I think Judi had some interesting pressure changes in her head.
Since that ride’s line was so long, we figured we’d best get Son of Beast done before it got too hot in the day for waiting in line. And then were shocked to find the wait was about 20 minutes. Three years ago, when we came to King’s Island on Memorial Day, SOB wasn’t opened that day. The ride was brand new, but they didn’t have all of the rides open yet (season only just started) and that was one of ’em. So, after 3 years of waiting and anticipation, was it worth it? Hell no! SOB is a good name for the ride. Like Daddy, Sonny Boy is a hard ride. Knocks you around considerably. Why King’s Island insists upon wooden rides when the steel ones are so much smoother, I’ll never know! (Millennium Force, which was Cedar Point’s answer to SOB, is a far superior ride. It was even worth the hour and a half wait that Judi and I went through.) We’ve decided that we never have to do that ride again. (The only plus for this ride was the loop – that was the smoothest bit and I love a good loop.)
Since the wait wasn’t long and Top Gun was right next to it, we went on that ride next. Ah, a nice, smooth ride! And thrilling! And only 20 minutes wait! Just what we needed to recover from that SOB. And we also headed over to Face/Off before we attempted lunch. When we got to the line there (again, no more than 20 minutes), the line for front/back seat was the same as for the regular seats. So we went in that line (and then the boys in front of us let us go before them – very nice!) It was fun being in front, even if it was only for half of the ride. Face/Off is another smooth ride and has a wonderful loop that you go on the outside of.
Lunch was at the FestHaus, the only air conditioned eating establishment. We needed a/c by then. I got two pizza slices, fries, and water. Judi just the two pizza slices and Coke. They had ranch dressing packs, which made the already tasty fries even better. The pizza had a crust like a Chef Boyardee pizza but without the yummy sauce). It was good getting food and a/c, but it made me even more susceptible to the heat once we left the FestHaus.
Judi loves the old carnie style rides and decided to try the Monster. I sat and waited while she went on the spinny thing. (Spins three ways – the car spins, it’s on a mobile with 3 other cars and that spins, and then that’s on a mobile with 5 other mobiles and that spins.) She said “wee!” a lot, she assures me.
Next was the Vortex. It used to be my favorite King’s Island ride. (I think Face/Off is, now.) It’s got 6 loops and I normally love it so much, I have to ride it again. But for some reason, my head got battered like nobody’s business on this trip. That, added to the slight nausea I had from lunch/heat/dehydration and I wasn’t feeling too well afterwards. I sat and waited while Judi rode it again. She then rode on the Flying Eagles and whizzed around over my head.
It’s rare that I poop out so early. I’m going to blame the heat on this one. Judi will back me up on this – the heat was miserable. So with my tender stomach and now aching head, Judi and I moved on to the Tomb Raider ride. I needed a/c and bad. I knew there would be a/c in an indoor ride. And, thankfully, there was. We were only waiting outside for 15 minutes or so, but inside – ooooooh! It was wonderful! The ride was fun too. I probably wouldn’t have gotten any nausea in normal circumstances, though I got a twinge this time. And you get to dangle upside down! And belly down! It’s pretty cool. Literally. Heh!
Feeling a world of better, Judi and I compounded that good feeling with a mango smoothie and an ice cream cone, respectively. The mango smoothie tasted good, but I needed something a wee bit blander. And the vanilla ice cream cone was just what the tummy ordered. Once replenished, we returned to Monster so that Judi could ride it again. This time with cooler seats. (Did I mention it was hot?) By now, it was finally starting to cool off.
I went on the Scrambler with Judi – this is an old carnie ride that I used to go on at the fair. I sat in the fat people seat and Judi whammed into me several times during the ride. It was mucho fun. We then got in Dodgem cars and whammed into each other and other peoples cars. On our way to the next carnie ride, Judi paid $5 to see how well Curves was building up my arm muscles. I did the ol’ sledgehammer thingy. Scored a 76 (out of 100) on the first hit, an 83 on the second, and a measly 70 on the last). Judi got a stuffed shar pei out of the deal, at least. And then we rode the Shake, Rattle and Roll. It didn’t shake, rattle, or roll, but it did spin. So Judi talked to me to get my mind off the slight nausea that was starting, and we survived the trip.
Well, by then it was after 8pm and we’d ridden all the rides we wanted to. (We avoided The Beast and Flight of Fear because we’d done them before and they were just too hard on our old bones). So back to the car for the drive home! Only to discover that Trina had left her window open! Silly gurl! Thankfully, my car was full of crap that no one in their right mind would want to steal, so everything was just as it was when we left it.
When we got near the Dayton Mall (which is in Miamisburg, go figure) area, we looked for someplace for supper. First place we saw was Steak & Shake – so we were about to head there when I saw the Atlanta Bread Company. Hmmmm, a restaurant I’d never heard of. I drove there instead and we arrived 15 minutes before they closed. I got half a chicken & pesto panini and a half bowl of baked potato soup, plus an IBC cream soda. Ah, just the type of comfort food I needed. And since we were at a bakery, I bought us croissants and cheese danish for breakfast. Best of all, they were buy one get one free since it was closing time. Mmmmm!
We finally got back to the cottage around 10:30 and promptly crashed. By 11:30, we were in bed.
This morning, we slept in until 9:30am and had our lovely baked goods. Then we putzed around (oh, OK, we slept, all right?) until 12:30. I started a fire and we grilled hot dogs and ate grape salad. Then we picked up the place (though I still need to go back and vacuum the place) and packed the car. Onto my house and then to the school. We had shirts to tie-dye!
This was Judi’s first time at tie-dying and it’s been a few years since I last did it. But we did it and we think we’ll have some pretty cool shirts when they’re done. I’ll find out tomorrow evening when I rinse them out. I’ll have to take photos for Judi – and might even put them here as well. 🙂 After the job was done, we drove to Friendly’s for supper (which is becoming a tradition by now) and had a nice meal – carribean grilled chicken & shrimp with broccoli & garlic bread. Very nice healthy meal – only it had a free sundae attached to it. Which, of course, we both partook of. I got the hunka chunka PB fudge ice cream with hot fudge topping for my sundae. Judi went for traditional vanilla with chocolate topping.
After a short stint at Meijer where Judi bought a couple of computer games (what, Diablo isn’t enough for you?), we headed for the airport. I dropped Judi’s sorry butt off and returned home, where I’ve since been reading e-mail and LJ and writing up this long piece. Judi’s home, BTW, and hopefully will be posting about a VERY interesting sight that we both had the misfortune to witness at King’s Island. It was a great weekend (as I expected it would be) and I thank Judi for coming! PS – don’t forget to order your MSP tix!