We just got back from a wonderful five-day visit with the Baetzhold’s, Tim’s second cousins in Indianapolis, Indiana. We had a terrific stay, including a wonderful family barbeque with Nancy & Howard, son, Howard King, and wife, Sandy, and daughter, Barbara. It was wonderful to renew these family ties and catch up with the Millard side of Tim’s family.
During our stay, we managed two side trips, one to Kings Island, near Cincinnati, to spend two days riding coasters. While there, Tim’s brother, Jim, along with Julia & Michael, met us and we had another great family visit.
Highlights of Kings Island included the new B&M installation, Diamondback, and the famous Beast, the longest wooden coaster on the planet. Both coasters were tremendous rides, and we caught several rides on both, including nighttime rides. Our ACE cards gave us access to Exclusive Ride Time on these coasters as well, early on Monday morning.
Other high points at Kings Island included Fire Hawk (congratulations to Tim for his fearless flight!), the Racer, Vortex, Backlot Stunt Coaster (formerly The Italian Job), Adventure Express, Flight Deck (formerly Top Gun), Congo Falls, Drop Tower, and Delirium (why does Curt love that spinney-swingey contraption so much!?!?!). The weather was terrific and the lines were not too bad, although Monday (to our surprise) was much busier than Sunday. The only disappointment was that Son of Beast was closed both days for some mysterious reason. This famous woodie will continue to stay on our “elusive” list until the next trip. And Curt had his photo taken with Scooby-Doo, which made his day.
Our second side trip was the 3-hour drive to Santa Claus, Indiana — yes, there really is such a place, Virginia! Destination: Holiday World. This beautiful family-owned park really caters to families — yep, lots and lots of children — but it was immaculate, beautifully groomed, and had some great attractions. The three woodies — Raven, Legend, and Voyage — made the trip worthwhile. Voyage was especially interesting, with its “fly through” in the station, huge drops, incredible air time, and tunnel system which made the return to the station across ascending terrain possible. The disappointment here was that the new Pilgrim’s Plunge, the world’s tallest water ride. At 165 feet tall, its record-breaking 131 foot drop, and its elevator lift system, the ride was certainly one-of-a-kind. However, their blog announced that they were adding boats to the system to speed up the queues, and of course, the day we visited was the day to close the ride to add these boats.
The weather was beautiful and we had a wonderful trip. Thanks again to Nancy, Howard, Barbara, HK, and Sandy for hosting us.
We have more photos! Check our Shutterfly web page to see them all at: http://agadorspartacusny.shutterfly.com/ to see all our albums!
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