| Thoughts

Action, drama, adventure! The Paramount chain of theme parks used to offer a more in-your-face style of entertainment. Setting the scene with a huge large scale park as the perfect backdrop, adding in the action with an all-star cast of roller coasters, together with a big supporting cast of rides and the backing of well known film and television brands, Kings Island has all the right assets to be a major blockbuster

I visited the park back in the years before it was acquired by Cedar Fair and the Paramount branding and movie tie-ins were removed, back then Paramount's Kings Island has an extremely lively atmosphere, as soon as you enter the park you are greeted by the most dramatic fountain display which anchors a scale model of the Eiffel Tower, a brisk elevator ride to the top offers superb views down onto the park below

Backlot Stunt Coaster is certainly the current star of the show at Kings Island, a true themed adventure this coaster uses scenery and special effects to create the big thrills rather than the LIM launches, which are a lot milder than friendlier than most other launched roller coasters

Speaking of which Flight of Fear, an enclosed dark coaster blasts riders aggressively into a mind-blowing spaghetti bowl of fiendish twists and electrifying inversions. Equally as dark and disorientating, The Crypt makes a simple top spin ride into an intrepid adventure with the help of some impressive special effects

Splinters all round, Kings Island is home to four wooden coasters, from the mild Fairly Odd junior coaster, to the wild intensity of the Beast, a sheer monster of a wooden coaster lurking in dense woodland mischievously concealing the oncoming route deep amongst the trees

The chirpy out n back twin track Racer coaster sits comfortably in between the two extremes, however Son of Beast is certainly at the outer most extreme, at over 200ft tall, its simply a ludicrous scale wooden coaster, the outrageous sized drops and spirals are uncomfortable however the rides climax in a surprisingly thrilling vertical loop makes it all worthwhile . . until this was removed in recent years

Kings Island truly does have an endless collection of rides, so far I haven't covered the Flight Deck suspended swing coaster which hugs the side of ravine, Invertigo suspended face to face boomerang, Adventure Express an interesting themed terrain mine coaster and Vortex a multi-looping coaster which inadvertently simulates been in a train wreck

Not done yet . . . even more rides to cover, such as Drop Tower freefall ride and the children's land, Nickelodeon Universe which is like the size of another park in it's own right with three junior coasters and a log flume, as well as Scooby Doo & The Haunted Castle interactive dark ride

I've only really scratched the surface, the ride collection at Kings Island is extremely overwhelming, everything at the park is so over-sized and theatrical, where the park does let itself down is the presentation of the rides, its not always as well polished or looked after as it should be, however not that this minor detail matters, everybody is too busy trying to conquer everything this park has to offer!