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I like to say that this is WindSeeker's taking its first fall without Vortex extra hard. After all, WindSeeker was paired with Vortex from its debut all the way through last year. Also, I was one of the lucky ones. It was cold, but the view was excellent.

I’ll take, “Things I didn’t know for $1,000, Alex.” The mysterious Dog Street Cemetery has been an unspoken part of Kings Island since the beginning. This is a great read if you like Kings Island history. https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/october/50th-anniversary-series-kings-island-construction-uncovers-forgotten-cemetery

Kinda like Super Sugar Crisp cereal when I was a kid...the advertising was better than the actual product!

Past ride signs I go with this.

I have to say, the SOB box was one of my favorite signs.

I liked the original Outer Limits: Flight of Fear logo. Kept in style with the ride (especially if you were around for the build up to it when it opened). Has a lot of a Star Wars look with a bit of creepiness with the coloring and the speed-style letters of Flight of Fear. The video in the building is a nice kind of transition from the hype around then to actually riding the thing, particularly with this being the world's introduction to LIM technology and the kind of things it could mean for coasters (we got the first 100 mph coasters a year later with LSM technology). The 80s and 90s were a great time to be an enthusiast with the leaps in technology that happened. silver2005, a coaster/park history buff.

It was tweeted asking a simple question: wood or steel? Do you like wooden coasters, or steel coasters? That was the question being asked. Nothing more, nothing less.

This looks great. Now KD needs a few more coasters to replace the few they have lost. I know with this year it might be a while, but they still need a few more coasters to round out their lineup.

The Beast sign has always been my favorite ride sign at any park. I mean look at them claws!

Kings Island is not hurting in that demographic, and the same cannot be said about the Planet Snoopy areas at the other CF parks that offer this pass. There are days at KI that waiting for a Planet Snoopy ride is longer than the wait at Banshee or Diamondback. The same cannot be said for Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, or Carowinds comparing their Planet Snoopy to their respective "big" rides. There are times you can literally see Planet Snoopy on a favorable weather weekend at CP go an hour between a kid riding a ride - it is unbelievable unless you experience it yourself. Given the attendance that KI gets in Planet Snoopy I doubt we will see it here anytime soon; however, if a study shows they would make up for the loss of passes currently sold in the pre-K range with new pass holders and their pre-K children, then it would happen. Another thing to keep in mind is that surprisingly a large percentage of gold pass holders to KI have no idea of a platinum pass or that other parks offer the pre-K pass. So with the exception of those on this forum, and those that travel and know of the other parks, the typical greater Cincinnati passholder family has no idea about the other parks. I am amazed talking to guests in the park and how many of them are not aware Kings Island is just one of many parks owned by a company. Plus KI is such a season pass heavy park now, they don't really need to entice any more people to buy a pass because that is essentially what the Pre-K pass is doing - enticing families at those other parks with the offer of "hey mom and dad buy a pass and your kid under 5 gets in free." KI doesn't need that. Looking at how busy Planet Snoopy is at KI, they would probably lose money at KI if they offered the Pre-K pass. For the other parks where Planet Snoopy is underutilized, those parks are willing to use the "loss leader" approach in hopes of attracting families and then hooking them in once they are old enough to need to buy a pass.

I did the tasting card today and it was fantastic. Generally good portions for "tastings" and I thought that $30 for six items is a fine deal. All the items I tried were really good, but my favorite would have to be the French Quarter Poutine. Delicious and very rich with flavor!

I guess Haunt wasn't completely cancelled this year. And at 300 feet up, riders can be scared without violating social distancing

Exactly. Since they weren’t able to enforce the specific smoking areas, (and guests didn’t all seem to understand that they needed to only smoke in those areas) it makes sense to me that they would make it clearer for everyone by just making smoking banned within the park. For example there were almost always people smoking in front of no smoking signs of the fest haus. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That new Pipeline Peak paint job looks really nice!

Idk about that. I believe with the pandemic and all, I think that CF and KI are looking more short term right now especially there is no guarantee that they'll be able to resume normal operations next season. Also Mike Koontz at the Orion media day said that the planning for Orion began in 2018. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFBsJU4AbK4

Looks amazing

The waterpark addition is finished! https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2020/coconut-shores-construction-update-october It's interesting to see how these attractions were built on top of the old wave pool, vs a total demo and new build. Also, goes without saying, it's crazy that back in August of 2019, we couldn't have imagined that Kings Dominion wouldn't open at all in 2020.

Always wondered this myself. To me it can only drive up sales. Parents would be more likely to get their child a pass and once they do KI has the children's birthdate and other info. That child will cherish and hold on to that pass, it will be come a treasured key to get into Kings Island, just like Mom and Dad's pass. Right before they turn 6 KI can send the parent's a "birthday" present by offering 50% off the child's first Gold Pass. Once that happens you now have the gold pass in the child's name and renewing becomes expected. To me having a physical pass becomes an incentive to give the birthday information to the park where as now, they just "try and sneak them by" if they are close. Also you could market more toward the pre-K pass holders. Seems like a Win-Win if marketed and done correctly.

That’s.... what I said?

Thanks Paramount. (From multiple sources on Kings Island' fan pages on Facebook)

They could put it where it was before they removed it.

Bring back the waterfall in Tower Gardens!

@DonHelbig does not use his personal account for park hints. There are no hints to be had in his tweet.

Tomb Raider The Rides sign and Plaza continues to be my favorite!

That's OK! We have Mexican and Asian food in Oktoberfest!

The problem is when you have so many people in the park it becomes harder to stay socially distance. If everyone wore their mask then Id agree with you more but from my personal experience at the park there is still a sizable group of people who don't wear their mask or don't wear it properly. If you just watch this video you can see how crowded its gotten at Cedar Point,

I think at this point both Kings Island & Cedar Point should probably limit their capacity even more. Considering how bad the midwest is getting hit right now it seems a little irresponsible to be letting such large crowds in. The measures they have in place are good however they don't seem as effective when you have so many people inside the park.

People do realize that Banshee is an Irish spirit, right? Not German?

Ditch the separate name entirely and blend it with Oktoberfest, then you have a proper Oktoberfest area like Busch Williamsburg with both family and thrill rides, and both "fest" theming area and the creepy forest area. It would involve a lot of concrete removal but could certainly be done.

I think Action Zone needs a lot of work. As it stands, it is my least favorite main area of the park. Even when Paramount owned the park, Action Zone looked bad. I think they should do a Black Forest type theme which would fit well with Banshee and The Bat. The walkway leading into Action Zone would really set the mood for the new themed area with all the trees especially when they are illuminated at night. In the area itself, it would be nice to see new names for rides that fit with the new theme, new buildings and food locations that go with the theme, and more trees. I could potentially see Action Zone getting a major overhaul when it gets its next major coaster.

I believe we are yet to see the damage shutting our country down. Many small businesses are done, and will not be able to recover. Many people have lost jobs and may not find new ones soon. Unemployment went higher than it has ever been and now those are not getting the extra $2400 a month and may now be struggling. Progress has been made on the effectiveness of the treatment of the virus and we are seeing most recover fairly quickly. Do we need to go backwards? IMO, Absolutely not! We are in for a huge upsurge in other issues soon. We have not let our immune system work, so be prepared for many things to come. With a nearly 100% survival rate for those that are not already compromised, there is no reason to go backwards. I will not live in fear!

Sadly, I think as long as the number of new passes sold is greater than the number of passes not renewed each year, we will see this "overcapacity" trend continue. Has anyone forgot how large the crowds were during last years fall season at CP or KI for that matter? What fun is it to get an access pass for a certain time and STILL have over an hour wait? What fun is it to be at a park all day and get in 2 or 3 rides? After last years debacle, I decided I was done with CP for awhile - might try an early summer weekday, but with all the gold passes sold, I think even those light days will be a thing of the past now. CF now has to bring in the revenue for all those notes they continue to issue this year....so I expect to see them follow their traditional model of giving away the gate to fill the parks the rest of this year and next year. And when that day comes that the new passes sold is less than the number of passes not renewed for a season, we will see gate giveaways like we have never seen, but that just exacerbates the crowding problem that put them in this situation that caused people not to buy or renew passes. It will be an interesting cycle to see if they try to mitigate this before it becomes that problem where people decide it just isn't worth their time to visit a park...

Cedar Fair doesn't like transport rides. They're usually a disaster.

There's already a fire fighter themed Gerstlauer coaster, I'm suggesting breathing new life into a ride that was heavily themed around a Paramount movie

I have a cool one, so hear me out on this. Cincinnati, Ohio is home to the 1st professional and paid Fire Department. Why not retheme BLSC to a fire-fighter theme? Repaint all the trains red or have them all be tiny little fire trucks. Repaint the shipping containers next to the launch and the helix structure with a brick texture to look like a firehouse. Change the billboards to reflect Cincinnati highway signs. They could keep the fire scene and make it look like you're driving through the burning building (the inside of the tunnel could have red lights. Riders then escape the building and return to the station. They could keep the helicopter- just remove the shooting aspect and repaint it to look like an EMS helicopter. @DonHelbig @Kyle Kruthoffer I know you all come up with your own theming ideas for your rides but this would be a cool way to pay homage to Cincinnati's somewhat forgotten fire fighter heritage.

They announced a revamp of waterpark and adding 3 new attractions.

enchanted voyage !!!!!!!!! and the trams in the parking lot .

It tested for the entire day.