Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

We stopped at SFKK as a side trip on the way to Holiday World from King’s Island. We didn’t intend on spending the whole day, but since we were in the neighborhood, we couldn’t pass it by, especially since we have Six Flags season passes. We only ended up spending about two hours there.

Overall Thoughts

We didn’t expect much from this park after hearing so many bad things about it, and while it was a pleasant surprise it still wasn’t great. Lots of food stands were closed and we were starving! We couldn’t find a place to spend our money! Thunder Run was surely the highlight, incredibly smooth turns (was expecting the worst) and freaking sweet airtime! Why haven’t I heard more about this coaster?

Monica says: I really had no expectations of this place. I thought it was odd that there was so much barbed wire around the park. Were we in such a high crime area? We only stayed about an hour there and rode two wooden coasters that were each a lot of fun. Hey, what can I say? It’s a Six Flags!

Holiday World

We spent the 4 th of July at Holiday World. The crowds were moderate and the weather was beautiful (hot as…). We stayed at the park from when it opened until it closed with a break in the middle to eat at St. Nick’s restaurant and to return to our campsite.

Overall thoughts

I personally could not wait to visit Holiday World and their two world-class wood coasters, Raven and Legend, but Monica and I were left disappointed with the park as a whole. There was the promise of a theme park, but there was very little theme outside of the named areas. Walking from area to area the theme hardly changes other than the music and the names and colors of the rides. Where were the fake gravestones and cobwebs in the Halloween area? How about some fake snow or more than one decorated tree in Christmas. And why are all the wooden railings in the entire park painted mud brown?

The coasters and water park dominate the park, without them there wouldn’t be much to do.

Monica says: I was psyched to visit Holiday World because I love Christmas and the other Holidays. I love amusement parks, too, so what could be better than a place that combines these two things? I have to agree with Ryan’s opinion of the park. Changing the music and the paint color does not change the theme.

Raven

Our first ride on Raven I was left wondering what the hype was all about, it was good and fun, but #1 in the world? For me it couldn’t compare to either of Knoebel’s woodies. The first half was good, but the second half to me was too lateral crazy and threw us around too much which resulted in a headache

At night things changed and I saw why it was ranked #1 for so long. The ravine drop from the back was wild and it got so dark on my last lap I couldn’t tell which way was which. The rides at night were far better, but were still far too rough for me to rank above my favorites, Twister and Phoenix. That said, I couldn’t resist getting off and running back around to the short line again while Monica waited on a bench drinking a free soda. The atmosphere in the line was electric, with plenty of parents and their kids eagerly waiting their ride cheering the whole way. Good times.

Legend

So this is were the howling we heard in the campground was coming from. Legend is huge! So much larger than I was expecting. It was lateral crazy and again it gave me a headache, but I can’t resist riding it. It must be something CCI added to the wood that makes them so addicting, kind of like McDonalds or Starbucks.

I loved the first drop & trip through the water park and its two nasty airtime hills. The double helix was relentless and the finale was just as intense as the beginning of the ride. While it is larger and longer, there isn’t much to me that makes Legend standout from Raven other than its length.

Splashin’ Safari Water Park

Splashin’ Safari is one of the best water parks the two of us have been to. All of the slides were a blast, the new Bahari wave pool was fun and nicely themed and the lazy river was perfectly paced.

Monica: This place saved Holiday World for me. I had a really good time here. The Congo River was so relaxing and all the slides were a lot of fun.

Food

Nothing here stood out to me as being great, the pizza we ate was better than most amusement park pizza, but most amusement park pizza isn’t very good to begin with. The free soft drinks are a nice touch.

Monica: First off, the unlimited free soft drinks were the best! I love diet pepsi so much and even though I should have been drinking water all day, I couldn’t resist the sweet caffeinated nectar! We ate lunch at Kringle’s Café. I really enjoyed the pizza; it was nice and doughy. We ate dinner outside of the park. The park offered no “must-eats.”

Accommodation

Lake Rudolph

Monica: The campground was located adjacent to Holiday World, but offers no direct park access. It offered paddle boats and miniature golf, but I have seen nicer campgrounds in my day. Santa Claus, IN is a virtual ghost town. There is nothing for tourists outside of Holiday World and the only full-service restaurant was St. Nick’s Restaurant located at Santa’s Lodge. The food was expensive, mediocre at best and the waitress neglected to tell us that there was a salad bar. It wasn’t the North Pole experience that I had hoped for, although we did get a nice photo of Ryan touching Santa’s bum in front of the municipal building.

Ryan: The atmosphere here was great, and pretty typical of a campground located so close to an amusement park, it felt similar to Knoebel’s. Of course we got stuck with the only two noisy families in the whole campground both nights who insisted on arguing with each other or yelling about a game of cards. There was only one small pool however, and due to the excruciating heat it was packed with children.

Reasons to go Back

• Free soft drinks
• Free Parking
• Clean
• Good capacity
• Great water park
• Really nice, and usually enthusiastic workers

Question Marks

• Lack of creativity in their themed areas
• Lack of unique flat rides

All that good and still disappointed? Its weird but yeah, there was just something missing for us. The employees, coasters and waterpark were all outstanding, but the park’s atmosphere was lacking and just didn’t feel right. That said, I am already craving Raven and Legend, and The Voyage looks too great to pass up. So we will be back. Even if I have to drag Monica kicking and screaming.

We started the day early and got to the park about 45 minutes before opening so we could participate in the ACE walk back. After a touch of confusion about the ACE discount, and a crowded wait to get in the park we were in. While we were waiting, we met another Pittsburgh area ACEr, Brian, from the North Hills. Another guy and a family showed up for the walk back and we all decided as a group that we wanted to ride the Italian Job rather than The Beast as the first ride. When we got back to the Italian Job, the ride operator informed us that the ride would not open on time, but we were free to wait. The group decided to take the first ride on The Beast. I think we accidentally stole Brian’s first seat ride and for that we apologize.

The ACE walk back is a really nice thing the park does every day of the season, I can’t belive how lucky we were to get a good discount and a nice perk such as the first ride of the day.

We wanted to ride Tomb Raider as the second ride, but it was closed and the ride operators had no idea when it would open. We would have to check back later in the day. It was a hot and busy day and we were there until the park closed. It was Monica’s decision to go up front and ride Scooby Doo rather than the rides in the rear of the park…it had the same long line it would have all day, and Brian later on said he was treated to an exit ride on Flight of Fear and a quick ride on Italian Job. We would wait over an hour each later in the day!

Overall Thoughts

I hadn’t been to Kings Island since I was about 16 and was looking forward to getting back to ride The Beast and their newest ride The Italian Job Stunt Track. The day as a whole was a good one, but I don’t feel the need to rush back like I do with Cedar Point. Their coasters are good, slightly better than average, but not one of them steps over the line into being great and the constant advertising really got my nerves. We saw the same music video, movie clips etc all day long.

Monica: I was really looking forward to visiting PKI. I saw it on the episode of the Brady Bunch where Jan swaps her cartoon poster with Mike’s architecture plans. I was looking forward to seeing the themed rides that came about after Paramount’s acquisition of the park. I was somewhat let down by the movie aspect of the park and I don’t think it compares to the Florida parks, but they are in a league of their own. I had a great time and would visit again if I were in the area, but I am not aching to go back next summer.

The Rides

The Beast

Our first and only ride was the first ride of the day in the front seat. After waiting at the start of the queue with no notification we could head back an operator walked up, gave us a funny look and nodded that we could head on. We entered the station to see the crew standing around twiddling their thumbs with all the lap bars down, they made no effort to aid anyone on board and never really acknowledged anyone was boarding their ride. Oh well.

Well, mark me down as one of the ones that doesn’t get it. The ride is fun, but after the first couple of drops and turns it just doesn’t do anything. The double helix was cool, but I don’t like that there is an entire lift hill just for that purpose and nothing but a brake run after it. I don’t see it as a top ten ride, but I never criticize anyone for having it ranked that high. We never got the night ride we were planning on since they closed the lines at 8pm for the fireworks.

Monica: I am not really a fan of wooden coaster built after 1940. The Beast was a nice long ride through the woods, and I wasn’t thrown around as much as I thought I would be. We only rode in the front seat so I may have thought differently had we sat further back in the train. We didn’t get a chance to ride it again, but given the chance, I would.

Racer

The Racer was sweet, well cared for and a blast to ride. We only got on the reverse side since we ran out of time in the day.

Monica: I really liked this ride. It was the type of ride that raced, but one car was forwards and the other one backwards. It was the first time I had ever ridden backwards on a roller coaster. It was an interesting feeling.

Flight of Fear

I thought this would be more than just a coaster in the dark, the thematic elements of the queue sure made it seem that way. We were treated to a great launch and a really disorienting ride, but I can’t help think there should be more to it.

Top Gun

The theme of this ride makes it seem outdated and lame, including the 80s soundtrack, but the ride packs a serious punch. I only wish it were about twice as long. Great ride!

Vortex

This is probably the only Arrow looper I would consider riding again. It still offers a thrill while giving only a slight neck thrashing. The crew was a bit of a disaster though, there was a kid that may or may not have been tall enough to ride. So rather than dispatch the train while measuring him, they spent about five minutes with three trains parked debating weather or not he was big enough. He was finally allowed on, but they dispatched our train without him anyway! So the waiting was for nothing.

Monica: I really don’t remember this one, but Ryan said that I didn’t like it. Not memorable = not good in my book.

Italian Job Stunt Track

What a great ride, after hearing the lackluster review I was shocked at the pep it had. The launch was so intense I knocked my elbow on the side of the car. The ride by itself was a blast, but the theme is what made it great. We would have only waited an hour for it, but break downs made the wait much longer.

Monica: This ride was a lot of fun. As a fan of theme parks and over-the-top theatrical rides, I thought this ride had a lot of great elements. I liked the mini cooper trains and the theme of the police chase. The ride was rather short and the line was very long, but it was worth the wait for the first-time ride. If I ever ride it again, I will wait until an off-peak time.

Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle

Monica: I really like this ride. I am a huge fan of dark rides. This was similar to Men in Black at Universal, but not as big of a production. It was cute. I made Ryan go on it in the morning, I think he would have skipped it if I weren’t there (Not true, I loved it and beat you! – Ryan). Even though there were a lot of kids in line, I would still recommend it. It was neat to walk through their children’s area. It was nice to see the themed areas representing all the Hanna Barbara cartoons that I watched when I was a young.

Drop Zone

Monica doesn’t do drop rides, so after waiting in the hour long line she took the camera and waited for me. Man this thing is big! I was facing the old campground and couldn’t get over how high we were…and how freaking long we were sitting…ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, and so on through the longest free fall I have ever experienced. What a rush.

Boomerang Bay Water Park

This water park was decent, certainly better than Sandcastle but lacked anything memorable. The lines were crazy, and some managed poorly where they split in two making the wait seem even longer since we had to stand around more.

I agree that this park is better than Sandcastle in Pittsburgh, but that is not very difficult. I liked Snowy River Rampage a lot. We really lucked out; it broke down right after our turn.

Food

Monica: Food at an amusement park is just as important as the rides. There was nothing special at PKI and nothing especially vegetarian friendly. We had fresh cut fries for lunch at a place near Tomb Raider and mediocre pizza in the Octoberfest building for dinner. There was no nice sit-down place to dine. We really enjoy a nice full service dinner at a park to take a break from the craziness and enjoy some A/C and some good conversation. We did stop at the Oktoberfest for a Michelob Amber Bock, our cheap beer of choice, but it was loud inside with the same advertisements that we saw in each of the lines. It did not compare to Busch Garden’s Oktoberfest experience.

Reasons to go back

• Drop Zone was ridiculous, Monica was too afraid to ride it.
• The wood coasters were in great shape and were really fun.
• The park was clean and easy to navigate.

Question marks

• Tomb Raider was closed all day
• Lines for all major rides except for Italian Job closed at 8pm, including The Beast which we planned our entire day around getting a night ride.
• Advertising all over the park and in every line with no variety. We saw the same five bands, video clips and ads the whole day.

Accommodation

TownePlace Suites Cincinnati Northeast

Monica: I would recommend this place. It was really homey and the price was reasonable. The pool featured adults-only swim from 10PM – 11PM on weekends at the adjacent SpringHill Suites which was an added bonus. The park was one exit away and it was a quick and easy drive which took us past Cracker Barrel where I was able to indulge in some pecan pancakes and real maple syrup.

See all photos from our trip

We took Penelope to the August Pittsburgh Pug Meetup at the Frick Park O.L.E.A. Saturday morning. Only two other pugs came, Baxter and Liu Liu, but they all played and had a great time. Penelope continued her trend of wanting to play with the bigger dogs rather than the pugs her size, and Liu Liu was beating up on Baxter pretty good. Good times were had by all the pugs and their owners.

See all photos from the meetup

8PM—2AM, $4

ZOOTY’S (second floor)
4104 Penn Avenue, Lawrenceville (corner of Penn & Main)

Music provided by DJ Shirtless Fatdude, Food and quality beer provided by Incredibly Thin (Full bar downstairs)

Found out while working on a project that comments are not allowed above your document type declaration and IE Windows will revert to quirks mode. I found this out after about 300 pages were created and depending on said comments (Dreamweaver templates) so I had no other option than to hack the css to fix the problem. Lesson learned.