Park honors man for 1,000th visit
KINGS MILLS, Ohio (AP) -- Don Helbig can't get enough of the Paramount Kings Island amusement park -- or its roller coasters.
"That thrill just never wore out," said Helbig, 41, of Fairfield.
Park officials honored him Thursday for his 1,000th visit to Kings Island, 20 miles north of Cincinnati. Helbig, his wife, Laura, and daughter Maria, 9, walked in on a red carpet and he was presented with an oversized commemorative ticket as a memento.
Park officials began keeping tabs on Helbig's visits in the 1980s because of his extreme fondness for the roller coasters, in particular the long-running Racer wooden coaster, park spokesman Jeffrey Siebert said.
By Helbig's count, he has taken 19,000 rides on the coasters, including 11,673 on the Racer, Siebert said. Park officials don't know for sure whether anyone else has visited the same theme park 1,000 times.
Helbig was granted mention in the Guinness Book of Records when he reached 11,000 rides on the Racer.
"About 8,000 hours of his life has been spent at Kings Island," Siebert said.
Helbig said he was a daily visitor to the park during the 1980s but has cut back to 25 to 30 visits per season.
"I just did it because it was something that was fun," Helbig said. "I went to bed at night thinking about the park. You could say in the 1980s I was a bit obsessed."
His wife is not so passionate about multiple coaster rides.
"She's like most people," Helbig said. "She likes to go ... ride each once and move on to the next attraction. It's not something she'd want to be a priority in her life."
Helbig's passion may be moving into the next generation, however. He says his daughter has taken 821 rides on the park's roller coasters.