Fit for a King

Sunday, 04 June 2006

By BENJAMIN ROODE
benjaminroode@sanduskyregister.com

MASON, Ohio - Lots of beautiful, green foliage; shrunken world monuments; $3.29 bottles of water.

What does a blockbuster movie studio plus Nickelodeon plus franchise foods equal?

A typical Paramount theme park, that's what.

Kings Island, nestled in the frontier of suburban Cincinnati, is bordered on one side by I-71 and on the other by forest (400 acres of which the park owns and can develop). It offers coaster nuts a taste of the different, carnival game addicts many chances to hone their craft and kids a ticket to escape reality into their favorite cartoon wonderlands.

But how does Cedar Fair's closest acquisition pair up with The Point? A tour Tuesday by a Register reporter and photographer tell the tale of the tape.

Coasters

Kings Island uses movie themes to sell many of their rides. Drop Zone, the park's version of the Power Tower, copies a Wesley Snipes movie. The Italian Job puts riders through a stunt course with a helicopter, flames and police cars racing past the Mini-Coopers filled with riders. Top Gun (The Iron Dragon with a different color) lets you relive the antics of Goose, Iceman and Maverick.

Face Off, also the Nicholas Cage/John Travolta attempt at a thriller, is an inverted coaster that lets riders face one another to see their expressions. The coaster is much like an answer to the Wicked Twister, with riders suspended facing straight down or up when the ride slows down on either end.

On that coaster, starting off forward is definitely best, said Holly Hensley, 42.

"Backward was OK, but forward was much better," she said. Her facial expressions gave away as much during the ride.

The Racer, another wooden classic, is a mix between the Blue Streak and Gemini, with the classic blue and white construction playing venue for a roller coaster race with a twist, one car going forward and one backward. Vortex twists riders around like the Corkscrew on steroids. Adventure Express is the Cedar Creek Mine Ride.

Some coasters escape the branding from Paramount and sell themselves with pure terror. You thought the Mean Streak was mean? Try the Beast family. Two wooden coasters -- The Beast is the longest in the world and Son of Beast is the only woody with a loop -- break records and riders. Don't be surprised if you have to stop and treat a headache after these two.

For the coaster fan, Kings Island offers a lot, said 14-year-old American Coaster Enthusiast Todd Swetnam; Cedar Fair could learn some things from its new Cincinnati counterpart.

"I hope (Cedar Fair) learns to better maintain their woodies," said Swetnam, referring to wooden coasters. Rides like Mean Streak are a little too mean to riders, suggesting some needed maintenance, he said.

Kiddy rides

The Hanna-Barbera and Nickelodeon characters that adorn the rides in Kings Island's children's area definitely work with their key demographic.

"Dora! Diego!" rang Gabrielle Sweet, 3, as she sat in a stroller in Nickelodeon Adventure. Gabrielle's aunt, Cindy Stoner, 35, from Fishers, Ind., brings her niece to Kings Island about twice per year and to Cedar Point once every other year.

Stoner seemed to disagree with her niece's sentiments on the children's area.

"Cedar Point is a better park with more coasters," she said. "They have a better kids area too.

Many of the kids rides are shrunken versions of bigger ones. The Fairly Odd Coaster, formerly known as The Beastie, is a tiny Beast. Runaway Reptar, playing off Nickelodeon's Rugrats, looks like a mini Raptor at Cedar Point. The Wild Thornberry's River Adventure could call Congo Falls its father.

Virtually none of the rides in the children's section are classic, amusement rides like the Dune Buggies, Motorcycles or Sky Fighters at Cedar Point.

Cedar Point doesn't have as many kids rides as Kings Island, said Michelle Bailey, 36, from Cincinnati. Her family, with five children and four under 10 years old, prefers Kings Island for its selection of smaller rides.

"I love Cedar Point and love the coasters but I have a large family," she said as she watched her 5-year-old daughter ride the Backyardigans' Swing-Along. "Cedar Point just has bigger rides that my kids can't get on."

Food

Numerous restaurants dot Kings Island's landscape, many of which play on a theme.

But even food doesn't escape the corporate culture.

The Happy Days Diner has a picture of Arthur Fonzarelli on the sign and doo-wop hits in the background. Cincinnati's own La Rosa's pizza has several stands in the park, including a monopoly in Festhaus, the giant, air-conditioned (yes!) pseudo-gasthaus modeled after an Alpine lodge. Graeter's ice cream acts as Kings Island's answer to Toft's.

The park even has a Starbucks Coffee shop, although not many people ventured in during this past Tuesday's temperatures topping 80 degrees.

On those hot days, guests can expect to pay at least $3.29 for a bottle of water, more for sports drinks or giant souvenir-sized chugs. Two slices of LaRosa's pizza cost $5.29. A beer costs just as much.

That's right: Frontier Town and Festhaus had accouterments many Cedar Point fans would never see in Sandusky. Budweiser, Bud Lite and Budweiser Select flowed freely from several pizza stands, keeping the ambiance of Festhaus alive and reminding you what the frontier was really like.

Like Cedar Point, guests cannot bring outside food or drink into the park.

And don't think about trying to sneak some in; Security officials will probably find out about it and any other banned items when you go through the security metal detectors and bag check before entering the park.

Aesthetics

Entering the park is reminiscent of getting into an airport, but much hotter. Metal detector doorways and wands warn security personnel of any knives or weapons entering the park. Park workers confiscate those items and sometimes turn over their owners to police officials.

Once inside, however, the views of this 700-acre park would make a horticulturist proud. Plenty of grass and flowers make it seem like coaster enthusiasts are walking through a garden and not a theme park in most places, as opposed to Cedar Point's forced reliance on asphalt on its peninsula. Shade trees offer respite from the unrelenting sun on blistering summer days.

Those flowers and maples are contrasted, however, by garish movie posters in the Paramount Action Zone, reminding guests just who owns this vacation land. The park definitely does not have both lake and bay views to offer its riders while chugging up coaster hills.

A ride on The Beast, for example, takes riders through some of the uninhabited portions of the park. It's difficult to see anything else besides rickety old wooden track and trees unless you're on one of its two large hills.

Only about 364 acres of park-owned land are developed and devoted to rides and attractions, said spokesperson Maureen Kaiser. That leaves plenty of room for ride and park development and possibly new coasters.

FunCoast.com is your online guide to summer fun for Cedar Point, the LakeErie Islands and Sandusky area. Our site offers up-to-date information on area attractions, restaurants, hotels, gasoline prices, ferry schedules, swimming, birding and fishing, along with a complete listing of events happening in the Sandusky/Cedar Point area. To use our Webcam and zoom in on Cedar Point's rollercoasters, go to http://funcam.funcoast.com

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