Last year our good friends the Ordynas got season passes to King's Island in Cincinnati. (They live in Blue Ash, a suburb.) Seeing all of the fun they were having through Instagram made it a pretty easy decision when trying to come up with a small vacation for this summer. Trying to coordinate schedules between two busy families put us coming out the week before summer break ended - which ended up being perfect. This trip was a great last hurrah to summer!
I kept trying to find a hotel room in the area that would sleep 6 people, but couldn't find anything that didn't cost an arm and a leg. So I ended up booking 2 rooms through Hotwire for a pretty sweet deal. Lance and split up the kids between us and I had Josh and Tess. I thought I had booked rooms with 2 queens, but it turns out through Hotwire you can only book the number of people a room can sleep - so Tess and Josh ended up on the couch bed. They found it very unfair that I got the nice, big, comfy bed, but too bad. I'm the mom and that's life.
This is how Tess pretended to be asleep. I think she confused it with pretending to be dead, but either way it was cute! (She also ended up sharing the bed with me on the last night and it wasn't too bad! She used to move around so much that it was a nightmare sharing a bed with her, but she seems to be getting a bit better.)
On Thursday morning we went to the Ordyna's house before heading over to the park. It was so fun to see Cyndi and to see what her house looks like! They were pet sitting a bunny and Tess thought it was just the cutest thing ever. She even got to take it on a "walk". Fortunately (?), the bunny happened to lightly scratch her and hop away, so I don't think she'll be asking for a pet bunny anytime soon.
We got to the park and quickly went on our first big roller-coaster: The Diamondback. It was AWESOME. Well, not for Tess. She was too short (and, let's be honest too chicken) to go on it. So she had to wait, which she was not happy about. Fortunately, we met up with Cyndi and her kids shortly after and she took the littles, including Tess, over to Planet Snoopy, which had all sorts of awesome rides for kids their size.
Cyndi is an amazing friend. She watched and hung out with Tess basically the whole trip, which made life so much easier for Lance and I. We spent the day going on all the biggest and scariest rides, and it was AWESOME. Well, not for Lance. Apparently he's turned into an old man and kept getting sick on the rides. After The Vortex a teenager in front of us totally barfed at the exit, which sent poor Lance over the edge. Poor guy. I really did feel bad for him. But I also teased him a bit. Because that's what you do.
* Side note: on The Vortex you face each other, so several times while we were waiting for the ride to start and for us to get off I made pretend barfing noises as I faced Lance and Josh. Okay, and some during the ride. It's not my proudest moment, but Josh thought it was funny, and when you find something that entertains your 10 year old son you do it. Sorry Lance.
We decided to get 4 all day dining passes for our trip. This meant we could get meals every 90 minutes. Between that and the pass the Ordyna's shared we were never hungry. They also let us borrow 2 of their refillable cups, which was awesome. The kids loved getting soda and Powerade all throughout the day. I thought we'd have to make bathroom breaks every 10 minutes, but it turned out to not be that bad.
We went on big rides and little rides and just had fun being together. The weather was pretty much perfect, and we were there late enough in the season that it wasn't too crowded. The longest line we waited in was only about 20 minutes.
The kids loved this raft ride. We got pretty soaked on it, which is why I opted not to go on it a second time.
I rode alone on this ride and had the backpack beside me. The soda in the cups in the backpack got all over me. (Even with the kids on.) One of the cups actually fell out and I had to hold it between my feet the entire time so it wouldn't fall out and get lost. It was sticky.
The final ride of the day was the Fire Hawk, which hangs you horizontally so it feels like you're flying. Lance loved it, but I didn't. The harness made it hard for me to breathe and totally reminded me of how it felt when I got spinal taps for my c-sections. I wasn't afraid of the loops and corkscrews and super speed - reliving child birth just isn't my idea of a good time.
The park closed at 8pm that night, which was fine because we were all super tired! I walked over 21,000 steps that day!
The next morning we went to Soak City, which is part of King's Island. So many fun water slides and wave pools! I only went on a few water slides because I wanted to chat with Cyndi and catch up. But I did go on one where you stand on this platform that suddenly drops you into the tube slide. It was scary but fun - and really fun watching others wait and freak out while on it! Cole LOVED that slide and must've gone down it 10+ times. That kid is the very definition of an adrenaline junkie.
It was a little harder keeping track of everyone at the water park, mainly because we didn't have our phones on us at all times. But we still had fun and stayed long enough to wear ourselves out and get a little pink.
We headed back over to King's Island around 5pm. I wasn't sure we would all last until the 10pm closing. We were so pooped! But we split up for more big rides and Paul (Cyndi's husband) was able to come and meet up with us for the evening. After getting more fluids and food into everyone we all caught our second wind!
Fun fact: smaller kids can ride some of the bigger rides at King's Island if they have a "responsible person" with them. In King's Island's mind that means someone 14 years and older. So we totally had Spencer lie about his age so he could take the little kids on these rides! Hey, he'll be 14 in a few months, and he's pretty dang responsible. He got a pretty big kick out of this. (He loved it.) And the kids loved it, too. It was so cute to see Sam and Ben grab his hand and want to hold it while want through the park and to get on rides.
Spencer and Eden especially liked the bumper cars. I don't see the draw, but I suspect that has something to do with the fact that I've been driving for 20+ years now.
For a while Lance and I tag teamed with our kids plus David, Ruth, and Eden. (Paul and Cyndi had the twins and Tess in Planet Snoopy.) Lance would go on some of the big rides he had missed the day before because he felt so gross and I'd take everyone else on other rides or to the bathroom or to eat or whatever. It worked out pretty well. Ruth and Cole are just so fun together - Ruth is truly the Cole Whisperer. He usually gets frustrated with friends or if things don't go exactly his way. (If you know Cole you know what I'm talking about.) But with Ruth he was totally relaxed and a completely different kid! At one point she got a couple of free pieces of candy from a machine and shared with him - I'm pretty sure she stole his heart that afternoon! ("She'll ride all the big scary rides
and share illicit candy with me?! This girl's the whole package!)
Meanwhile, Paul and Cyndi were letting the twins and Tess play some of the carnival games. They were playing this game where you throw wiffle balls into buckets or something. Tess wasn't doing very well at all, but then made some sort of miraculous throw and won this narwhal. You've never seen such a happy girl!!
Later we got a text from Cyndi that said we had all been chosen to go to an "exclusive King's Island event, where we would have free food and drinks and watch the fireworks from fancy box seats. What the what?! So Lance and I went on a few more big rides and then we went to our exclusive event.
But first, Cole had to cry and whine for 20+ minutes solid because he wanted to go on one more ride. Granted, he probably could have. But we didn't know that until we were already at the meeting place. And if he had gone then he would've been late. It was rough. But once we got inside to where it was cool and there was food, he did much better.
The free food was... free. I'm pretty sure it was leftovers from around the park. :/ But the kids loved it and I guzzled lots of ice water and had a few decent chocolate chip cookies. King's Island is not exactly a haven for good eating. Most of the dining plan options don't include any sort of fruit or veggies! So by the end of that second day I didn't eat much because I just didn't want to. I wasn't hungry for more junk and wasn't really hungry at all. The kids thought it was great, though!
Before the fireworks started Snoopy came around to visit everyone. Cole wasn't quite sure how to react! But Eden was super happy!
Sam and Ben were as cute as ever.
Spencer, David, and Josh
Cute Ruth
Tess and the Narwhal, of course.
Cyndi and I had to get a picture, too!
The fireworks show was okay from the room, but the kids really enjoyed it. And really, I've seen enough fireworks in my day - heck, in my own back yard! - to not feel like I missed out.
We finally left the park and said our good byes. Paul tried to entice us to come out again the next weekend, but life and responsibilities and all that.
Josh was in heaven because Sam and Ben won some poop emoji plushies and gave him a couple.
And Cyndi sent me a few of the pictures she got with her season pass. Don't we all just look lovely?!
It was such a great trip! Our families just got along so well together and we all had a great time. The kids all behaved for the most part, which plays a big part in how well trips go! I'm pretty sure we've sold our kids on amusement park vacations, which is fine because they're actually a pretty great way to spend time together (in line, walking, etc.) and give you lots of opportunities to talk and just be together. It was the perfect way to end our summer break!
