Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

Hm, would probably be a good idea to hunt out the locations of them on a hot day to save that bit of money, because the few times I did see water fountains, they were open for people to walk up to. Park does a good job advertising their food/drink stands and telling folks to get free small cups of water from them, which kinda makes you forget about the water fountains when you're dehydrated and desperate for a drink.

^ Although I am sure that Firehawk would be the usual slow-loading, super low capacity coaster - even with FL+. You could walk right up to the air gates with FL+ and it'd still be a 15 minute wait!

 

Just wondering about why I am reading how horrendous the food and beer lines are at this particular park this year? Is it the combo of new (slow) staffing, combined with people that think that they have to eat at noon and 6:00 every day? Are there less restaurants now? \

Yeah, Firehawk would e a concern if we liked the ride, but we despise it. Even B&M flyers make me feel like crap, so you can imagine the effect Firehawk and Nighthawk have on me!

I really hope it's not going to take 20 minutes to get a beer. Like you said, we never had any issues when we go to certain areas of the park. The beer garden has always been a winner for getting a quick beer. I'm going to be truly disappointed if "beer man" takes up too much of our time. I expect it on events like haunts, but not during the regular operating season.

the unlimited drink plan dealie is a real head-scratcher for me. the appeal of drinking unlimited soda all day long completely escapes me.

 

when i'm at a park (or anywhere else for that matter) i'm either drinking free water from a drinking fountain or beer. that's pretty much it.

 

as a general life rule, i won't pay money for drinks that don't have alcohol in them.

I like your style, Dan! Although park days are usually the one exception where Emily and I split a regular Coke. For some reason it seems to literally immediately shake off any kind of low grade headache we get from early day riding. Other than that, I haven't been a soda drinker for years, with the exception of rare occasions or a splash of Coke in my whiskey or bourbon.

^ I was thinking that you said that you didn't care for Firehawk, but couldn't remember if that was you or not!

We have never had any issue at the beer garden with getting beers either - nor had a problem finding a table to sit at. I will be curious to hear how the op's are at the park after your visit.

Same here on the soda. I keep a few of those small cans of Coke, ginger ale and 7-Up in my garage fridge for Michael and any guests that may stop by for a drink, but the only time that I can think of when a Coke tastes good (without alcohol in it) is when we go to the movies and split a bag of popcorn. I don't eat popcorn a lot either, but those two seem to go hand in hand at the movie theater for whatever reason.

Although now that I hear that more movie theaters are starting to serve food, beer and mixed drinks, that standard combo could change for me in the future!

The beer garden and the bar in Reds still don't get lines. Also, they'll give you large cups of water, if you ask, unlike the other locations.

The beer garden and the bar in Reds still don't get lines. Also, they'll give you large cups of water, if you ask, unlike the other locations.

Where's Reds?

^Right across from Mystic Timbers, now!

Is that the large sports bar/sit down place? I couldn't remember if they had a full service bar in there or not.

The beer garden and the bar in Reds still don't get lines. Also, they'll give you large cups of water, if you ask, unlike the other locations.

Where's Reds?

Restaurant with Sports bar type area across from Mystic Timbers (by Diamondback). The one time I tried to go there for a beer was during Haunt and I waited forever and eventually gave up, but I'm sure it's more reasonable during the regular operating season. Plus, it's air conditioned.

Anyone think about the what ifs with Son of Beast? If they didn't tear it down, you think it could had been renovated like Texas Giant and many other wooden coasters?

Anyone think about the what ifs with Son of Beast? If they didn't tear it down, you think it could had been renovated like Texas Giant and many other wooden coasters?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know by the time SOB was torn down, the coaster's wood was already rotting in some places. I believe RCCA used a subpar quality wood, ontop of Paramount dropping RCCA and finishing the coaster themselves. Nobody would have wanted anything to do with the ride by the second time it closed.

The last time I was at Kings Island was in 1984. There are only a couple rides that are still in operation from that time and the rest will be new to me. The ride selection looks pretty good. Not as good as Cedar Point, but decent. Highly looking forward to it.

Honestly despite having a better ride lineup than KI, I prefer KI over CP. KI to me has a much better atmosphere around the entire park, wheras CP felt a bit more cluttered/cramped. I guess that's a sacrifice you've gotta make if you're striving to have the most coasters at one park though Both are fantastic parks nonetheless.

I kind of agree with you. Kings Island seems to have more mature trees spread throughout the park while most of CP's mature trees are in the Frontier Trail area. I will try very hard to get back to KI this season and get on the coasters I missed (mostly Diamondback, Beast, and Mystic Timbers).

Restaurant with Sports bar type area across from Mystic Timbers (by Diamondback). The one time I tried to go there for a beer was during Haunt and I waited forever and eventually gave up, but I'm sure it's more reasonable during the regular operating season. Plus, it's air conditioned.

Thanks. And yes, you have to work a lot harder for your beers at the haunts. Most of the beer stations ran out by 9, with the few remaining beer service places having lines that looked to be close to an hour long.

Story time: We even had one bar tender in the Fest House kind of freak out. We paid him our money for our last beers of the night after waiting 15-20 minutes and settling for the only thing they had left which was a dark Yuengling. Every line beyond that looked an hour long. He goes to pour our beers and the keg is completely tapped. He yells "AW FUCK! FUUUUUCK!!!" We just laughed and he told us he'd have to find a supervisor to get our money back or maybe find some more beer, which he thought was a long shot. We told him we didn't care what kind of beer we got as long as we got something, since the park was drying up. He delivered (literally) and came back a couple minutes later with a couple tall boys of something. I think maybe Budweiser or Bud Light? We were pretty buzzed and beyond caring. He was pretty irritated as he told us "All they hire is these F**king kids who aren't old enough to handle beer and we're F**ked when we run out!" We talked to him about how packed the place was for a few minutes. Seemed like a nice older guy who had had about his limit with the Haunt crowds, haha. We decided he was our favorite "beer man," since he came through in a clutch situation despite completely excusable meltdown. Seems like the bad thing about the late opening is that the majority of patrons left behind are teenagers who are all jacked up on sugar and caffeine. By 1030 we looked around at what seemed to be literally a 10 (teen) to 1 (adult) ratio and GTFO of there! I hope that isn't the case this Saturday when the park is open until Midnight.

Pro tip for the Haunt: Discretely drink parking lot booze at your own risk. I emphasize discretely, as I was busted by a couple overtime duty plain clothed cops working the Carowinds Haunt last year. Very sneaky. It was an 'oh shit' moment as we were caught red handed drinking a few ice cold Yuengling bottles after dinner. (Keys out of the ignition, car in park, no intention of driving for many more hours) Luckily we were sent on our way without. Sometimes you take desperate measures when beer lines surpass 45 minutes.

Sorry, but I got a bit of a laugh out of this. Most people say someone comes up clutch when they make a last minute play in a sport. But prozach say the beer man came up clutch to get a beer when the kegs were kicked...

Not saying I disagree, just struck me as funny when I read it.

He came up clutch for sure!

#2ndfavoriteparkemployeeEVERRRR

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Kings Island is always a phenomenal park to visit. Plus, this was my first time riding Mystic Timbers - it's such a great addition to this park.

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I just saw KI has a promotion for free admission for past and present active military. FML. How much of a chance is there that we'll be waiting in 20+ minute FL+ lines with what will probably massive crowds?

I am not sure about fast lane but be prepared for massive crowds. last Saturday the parking lot was full and we didn't even bother going in. We went last night and the dry side of the park was surprisingly crowded with hour waits for Mystic Timbers and Diamondback.

F***! I'm debating calling off my trip for the second time this year. Has anyone ever experience FL+ during crowds like this? I just don't want this trip to be a waste. Although when we went for the haunt I still don't think we waited longer than 10-15 minutes from entry to being on D-Back with FL+ and the park was packed at that time.

Anyone think about the what ifs with Son of Beast? If they didn't tear it down, you think it could had been renovated like Texas Giant and many other wooden coasters?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know by the time SOB was torn down, the coaster's wood was already rotting in some places. I believe RCCA used a subpar quality wood, ontop of Paramount dropping RCCA and finishing the coaster themselves. Nobody would have wanted anything to do with the ride by the second time it closed.

I think we're all excited by the possibilities of an RMC as big as Son of Beast would have been, but that's kind of what we're getting with a hyper-scale Mean Streak conversion. (I guess it wouldn't be so bad to have two such coasters, though. Oh, well, Banshee is a pretty fun ride.)

F***! I'm debating calling off my trip for the second time this year. Has anyone ever experience FL+ during crowds like this? I just don't want this trip to be a waste. Although when we went for the haunt I still don't think we waited longer than 10-15 minutes from entry to being on D-Back with FL+ and the park was packed at that time.

I remember using fastlane on the Sunday around the 4th a couple years ago and we had no issues getting on anything. The park was mobbed and the regular lines and food lines were crazy but FL+ was great!

Honestly I think you will be fine with FL+ as the majority of people that seem to visit Kings Island are season pass holders and we don't buy FL.

It is rare for fastlane lines to get too long at Kings Island. The only time I have seen them have more than a few minute wait is in the fall when they give free fastlane bands for annual pass renewals. The ride ops are very good about monitoring the length of the fastlane line and giving it more of the rides capacity if the line gets long.

I was at the park a week ago and other than the thirty-minute waits for both laps my wife and I took on Mystic Timbers, the other rides we rode (Banshee [once with her and once more by myself], Diamondback, The Bat, The Beast, and a solo lap on Vortex) had lines that really amounted to either just a few trains or probably sub-fifteen minutes.

Also, as those were my first laps on Banshee and Mystic Timbers, I'd have to say that Banshee is spectacular and, counting the B-TR clones as one for ranking purposes, it's my #3 invert behind them and Afterburn, and Mystic Timbers was beyond exceptional. Kings Island finally got themselves an epic wooden coaster. *ducks*

Sounds like you went on a really good day.

You and I must have similar tastes in inverts, since I can't figure out which is my favorite invert, Banshee or Afterburn.

I definitely went on a great day. I was bracing myself for a potential Fastlane purchase, but it thankfully wasn't necessary. I kind of wish I'd have taken the time to maybe ride a few more of the park's coasters as it likely wouldn't have added more than just a few minutes to our various laps around the park, and it also would've been nice to take my wife on a wider selection of rides, but given the limits of her endurance, the approach we took was probably for the best.