Kings Island

Hello everyone! Although I’m a tad sun burnt, let me just say that Coasterstock was amazing! From meeting all of the coaster enthusiasts, the guest speakers, delicious food and going on the behind the scenes tours, especially the Flight of Fear tour, it was my first Coasterstock and I’m hoping it won’t be my last. I think my favorite part of all was seeing a group of people come together, who all have a passion for roller coasters and amusement parks in general and celebrating that passion. Along the way I did get asked some fun questions, my favorites being, “Are you Don Helbig’s assistant?” and “Aren’t you the girl that modeled the Beast t-shirts? We may never know the answer to the first question, but yes in my downtime I model Beast t-shirts.  Thank you to everyone that made my first Coasterstock one to remember! As a side note, during the Flight of Fear lights on tour, I was amazed and slightly thankful that they keep the lights off during the ride. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would’ve never guessed how close to the ground you actually get when riding this roller coaster.

Now onto this week’s walk in the park. I wasn’t totally sure what I wanted to do this week, BUT I have had something on my mind, again it’s not about land clearings and dirt. When my fiancé, Eric and I were at the park for the first time, we stopped at Emporium on International Street to escape the rain and buy some ponchos. One shirt immediately caught my eye. It was a cream colored shirt with a bear on it that said “All good in the woods” and also had Mystic Timbers on it. Now another random fact about me is that I adore animals, and bears are probably one of my top five favorite animals along with two-toed sloths, sharks, cats and quokkas. (You’re welcome.) SO in honor of the “All good in the woods” bear shirt, I’ve decided to go on a mini shopping adventure to see what catches my eye as I browse the shops. Also don’t forget if you are a Gold Season Passholder, you get discounts on merch!

Let’s get started. My first stop was Coaster Connection in Action Zone. Something interesting about this shop is that they are the only one in the park to sell FOX, Roxy, and RVCA. They also sell Under Armour, as does one of the shops in Soak City. If you’re into collecting pins or patches, every shop has them, I even found a pin that would show off my love for blue ice cream. Also, while I’m thinking about it, why isn’t there an All Season Ice Cream Pass? Unlimited blue ice cream!  Don’t worry y’all, my food blog is coming and I’m way too excited about it.  Since Coaster Connection is right next door to Banshee, it’s obvious that they offer a ton of Banshee merchandise. Also I consider myself more of a knick knack person than a t-shirt collector when I go places, so don’t be surprised that most of the things that catch my eye aren’t t-shirts, minus the “All good in the woods” shirt.

Next on my shopping quest was the Trading Post, which is located to your right as you walk through the main gates of the park. You walk in and the first thing you see is The Beast merchandise staring back at you. To your right are rows of Kings Island t-shirts in every color you could possibly want. One of the items that catches my eye every time I’m in the Trading Post are the ceramic ice cream cones with blue ice cream dripping around the edges. By the end of the season, I hope to have one on display at my desk. I also discovered something really cool. You can buy miniature versions of some of the roller coasters and put them together. I’m a huge fan of Legos so I’m very excited about these. You can also snag a CDX Blocks set of The Beast!

My next stop was over to International Street to check out the Emporium. My bear shirt was there! I think most of the Mystic Timbers attire is very versatile as to who can wear it as is all of the attire that Kings Island sells. Another thing about the Emporium is that it has an entire section of the store dedicated to Simply Southern and all things Cincinnati. To top it off, there was also a display of the CDX Blocks set for The Beast that had been put together with original renderings on show.

Are any of my blogs really complete without a trip to Planet Snoopy? Absolutely not, so our last stop is Snoopy’s Boutique! In here, it’s a whole other ball game, everywhere you look is PEANUTS. My favorite thing was probably all the coffee mugs. If there’s one thing I love more than coffee, its coffee mugs. With that being said, Snoopy’s Boutique is filled with them and of course any item the little ones could possibly imagine. With that being said, this place should definitely be on your list when visiting the park.

Also a fun tidbit about the shops in the park, all of them sell sunscreen and to my knowledge all of them sell ponchos. Sun burn is not a joke, just ask me and some of the people who were at Coasterstock. Also if it weren’t for the ponchos that we bought on our trip to the park, we would’ve left four hours early. That wraps it up for this week’s walk in the park. Comment down below and let me know some things you’ve gotten from the shops that were a total lifesaver or just great souvinors while you were there!

See you all next week!