Somehow I ended up with Sunday off, after working late Haunts on Friday and Saturday. The admissions department end-of-season party was planned for Sunday after closing so I decided to get in a few last rides before the party.

Last year I was at CP for closing day, which turned out to be a cold and rainy day... made worse when I returned home to everyone telling me what a beautiful day it had been at KI.

Sunday's weather was clear and chilly... not cold, but hey, it's November!
I arrived at the park around 4PM and the place was nearly empty.

First stop "Drop Tower", where four people waiting were waiting in line. The seats filled up quickly, but the crew seemed to take a while to get us going. My main objective was to see if "Flight Deck" was running.

After the drop, I headed over to Invertigo, which had an equally short wait. The front seat was already taken so I first rode in the third row, but when exiting the ride saw the front seat had no one waiting so hopped on for a re-ride. I've been avoiding this ride for the past few years... the wait is usually too long, and with age my back sometimes has trouble with the seats.

The ride was as intense as ever, with the return thru the loop in the "5G" seat making me feel near blacking out. I was wearing one of those fluffy headband earmuffs for the cold, and it really helped cushion my head from the OTSR's, making the ride much more tolerable than in the past. Lots of memories on this ride. It's one of the few rides that we have an on-ride photo of the family from years past.

Next back to Flight Deck. I feel obligated to ride this as much as possible while it's still standing. This is probably the best suspended and most under rated coaster in existence, though it's always been plagued by the long walk back to the queue. Again, there was no wait for the choice back seat (everyone was waiting for the front, which I find rides okay but not the best). Unfortunately as the train was nearly empty, the train shook a lot (as seems to be common on Arrows). Normally I would re-ride but today my time was short. I'm going to miss this ride when it's gone, which is bound to happen in time.

Next on to Adventure Express. Always a fun ride, with again no wait. The front two rows were taken but just about any seat is fun on this ride. And surprisingly, most of the effects on the final lift were working.

Racer seemed to be closed. The entrance was blocked with an associate posted there giving non-answers (though I could see a full train unloading in the station). So I headed back to FOF. There were LOTS of people streaming out of the walkway back to FOF and I hoped they were coming from Firehawk (which I had NO intention of riding) rather than from FOF.

FOF was the first line I encountered of the day, though certainly a short wait for any other day (about fifteen minutes). The ride in the last seat was good and fast, but the train stopped completely at the midcourse brake (bummer) but picked up speed quickly thereafter.

Outside, it was nearing sunset - unusually early, being the first day of returning to standard time. Racer appeared to be running again, but that would be backtracking, so I headed to Vortex, which once again was a walk on (or "hop on"). Being tall, I have no headbanging issues that others complain about. And after years of riding I know when and how to brace for the rough transitions. This is the world's most disorienting ride and IMHO best Arrow looper. Another ride I'll miss when it's gone, given its age.

On the crest of the lifthill I was treated to a beautiful sunset straight ahead. I've seen a lot of sunsets at KI but none that I recall from this particular spot. It must be from the time of year. It also occurred to me that this is the only time of year you can get nightrides at 6PM!

My plan was to get my 25th ride on Diamondback, then head back to close the season on the Beast, as I have historically done. But as I walked past the Beast entrance it occurred to me, what if there's a line at DB? Not wanting to miss my Beast night ride fix, I detoured to the Beast station, where there was again practically no one waiting. The crew was pumped and very enthusiastic, as most of the riders would be ending their season there. I hopped into my favorite row two and had a nice twilight ride. But as I was leaving the station I saw the back car empty and so hopped in the next to last (non-axle) seat.

Wow! This was probably my best Beast ride of the season! The accordion effect of the train seems to smooth out the mag trims that are felt so prominently up front. Going thru the long tunnel (following the brake shed) the screams of kids/girls always adds tremendously to the thrill of the ride (the secret is to be sure you're NOT seated in front of them!) The bottom fan curve where the track hugs the ground is my favorite "speed" moment on this ride, just before the final lift.

From that second lift I could see just a tip of the sunset and Diamondback's double humps and MCBR silhouetted from behind by a gorgeous crimson sky. The helix was as spectacular as ever, and as we sat on the final break run I could see DB and this beautiful red sky off to the left, and to the right a gigantic silvery full moon shining thru Vortex's lift structure. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of all this. Got me thinking how wonderful life can be... even tearing up a bit. The closing monologue from the film American Beauty came to mind. Okay, maybe that's a bit of a downer, but that's how touching this moment was.

From the Beast I finally made my way over to DB for my final rides of the night, and the season. Again, there was little wait, and I generally had no trouble finding my way into choice seats. Thru the season, I've been riding DB in spurts of 3, 4, or 5 rides at a time, starting with five rides before it opened to public and the media day, so I knew this would ride number 25 for me. (Some of the locals I know from CACE have had over 300 rides, and one kid was in the newspaper with over 1000 rides).

What can I say about Diamondback? The ride is pretty much always the same. I'm not not a tremendous airtime freak, so I don't get all gaga over this ride. But it certainly is fun. And each time I exited and returned to the queue the line was shorter and shorter, until eventually there was no line at all and only a single train wait for seats. Here again, the crew was pumped and cheering everyone on.

I saw a few familiar faces ending their season on the same note as myself. Many of us would be seeing each other again on Thursday for the CACE monthly get together, before Laurie and I leave Friday for Orlando. My fourth and final ride on DB was number 28, and even though another train was boarding, I decided to call it a day, and so much for DB this season.

And the weather was about as good as could be expected. Chilly of course... it would have been too cold without the headband and some light gloves, but the short wait times, clear sky and that beautiful sunset made this an evening to remember.

>>> My plan was to get my 25th ride on Diamondback, then head
> back to close the season on the Beast, as I have
> historically done. But as I walked past the Beast entrance
> it occurred to me, what if there's a line at DB? Not
> wanting to miss my Beast night ride fix, I detoured to the
> Beast station, where there was again practically no one
> waiting. The crew was pumped and very enthusiastic, as most
> of the riders would be ending their season there. I hopped
> into my favorite row two and had a nice twilight ride. But
> as I was leaving the station I saw the back car empty and
> so hopped in the next to last (non-axle) seat.

> Wow! This was probably my best Beast ride of the season!
> The accordion effect of the train seems to smooth out the
> mag trims that are felt so prominently up front. Going thru
> the long tunnel (following the brake shed) the screams of
> kids/girls always adds tremendously to the thrill of the
> ride (the secret is to be sure you're NOT seated in front
> of them!) The bottom fan curve where the track hugs the
> ground is my favorite "speed" moment on this
> ride, just before the final lift.

>No BEAST rides for the Beastmaster this year. Hopefully next year, and I hope to meet up with you again. Enjoyed the trip report as always, Rob!

Mike

Nice trip report. We were at the Island on Sunday too, and I must say that the weather was definitely more than cooperative. It only really got chilly once the sun went down, and wow, what a great show once it did! Just a spectacular sunset we were treated to. It was easily one of the four or five best sunsets I've ever seen. Ironically enough we were on the Racer when we got a full glimpse of it. The only issue was that you had to be above all the buildings to see it (so two of my group didn't really see it), but what a show!

Closing day was easily one of my best days there this season. The ride we had on the Beast (second to last row) was really good and our DB rides were outstanding. I generally find that B&Ms that have inversions are usually all backseat rides but that their hypers are generally front seat rides because of the more abrupt airtime you catch. What a great addition to KIs lineup.