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Park employees definitely deserve some special recognition for their efforts. Not only for putting the park "back together" after such a storm but for putting the park in front of their own needs. We had gusts up to 65mph on the southern shores of Lake Erie. Lake Erie reportedly had waves around 15', which is pretty crazy for how shallow the lake is. Although nothing compares to what happened to the people impacted by the 30+ tornados Friday night/ Saturday morning. I can only hope their will rebuild quickly & come back better than ever.

That is Kings Island saying they don't want you to fly over the park, doing so doesn't make you a criminal. Kings Island unfortunately does not own the air space above the park, as long as you are taking off, and landing, from property you are permitted to be on, and not trespassing there. You can legally fly over the park as long as you adhere to the FAA drone rules! The same way i cant keep you from flying a drone over my house, Kings Island can not punish you legally! Yes, as stated, they can revoke your visitation privilege's, as they can do for any of their patrons that were to break any of their rules.

Yes. Apple announced the iPhone almost 6 months before it launched because they knew that their "secret" would be revealed before they could announce it due to the fact that the they had to register it with the FCC. I'm sure they would have wanted to announce it on Tuesday and release it on the following Friday like they do now, but unfortunately, such is life. The park is well aware that as time goes on, it is more likely that stuff will leak out. What DIDN'T we know about Orion? We even knew the two possible names. We knew the height. We knew the theme. We knew the queue. What didn't we know? The color? I bet if they had waited another week we would have known that. Certain individuals at the park made the decision they made and it clearly has backfired. Once it's announced, it'll be mildly interesting rather than big news. This is the world we live in, either you can relate to the public or not. It's not on your terms, it's on theirs. The park was well aware of what you were doing. They somehow both didn't endorse what you were doing, but also embraced it. The synergy was amazing between the site and the park for a long time. I remember writing the front page article, "Action at Fort Cooper" and that was the media's first alert of any action. This was before track even started showing up. The article highlighted your photos of land clearings in the area which lead to the speculation. The whole thing was brilliant. It seeded interest and was a total, "You know that I know that you know...." situation. See also, "Two original things being removed from the park" back in late 2014. It wasn't Racer. (It was the parking tolls) It wasn't going to be Racer. We knew it wasn't. You knew it wasn't. But there was pictures of The Racer along with the article, so you HAD to stop and think... the media noticed. Maybe if there was more creative communications now and less Tweeting out selfies with news reporters then more things like that could happen again.

For someone to be labeled a criminal, I believe they would have to do something illegal!

Totally agree! Thank You KI employees for putting everything back so fast and making it look easy. It does not go unnoticed.

I do agree, in this day and age the park should know this is going to happen. What will be the next technology that comes out to make it even easier to get aerial pictures of the park? It will not get easier for the park, only harder. Like @silver2005said, at this point everyone know it's is going to happen. If the park has no legal ground to stop them, like it or not, the park has to adapt and plan ahead. Just like when phones got video and photo capabilities. The park had to make adjustments, now they have to do the same for drones and whatever comes next.

^What would the incentive of the drone operator be if the park announced the re-tracking ahead of a single piece of wood being removed and then providing pics of the work before the drones could? And yes, the park should adapt to that stuff. That's what a good PR staff is for. They're letting the drone operators walk all over them otherwise.

We would probably know a lot more about the project by now, but the surprise got ruined by someone with a toy.

Well, we're getting closer and closer to personal satellites...

Per KI's website: All drones (Unmanned Aerial Systems) are prohibited at (in) all Cedar Fair parks, including Kings Island, and any unauthorized drone(s) observed over Kings Island will be reported to the FAA and local law enforcement, regardless of its point of origin or operation. Drones may pose a potential safety risk and may violate Federal Aviation Administration guidelines. Unauthorized flight may result in revoked visitation privileges.

My fiancé and I were there last night. I was genuinely surprised at how well everything looked. Not for cynical reasons, but because of the sheer force of that storm. They did a great job getting everything up to snuff! We had a great night. Kudos to the staff for their work!

There’s a special place in theme park jail for folks like you. I can’t imagine how you can sleep at night. /sarcasm This is the most confounding argument on this site. It’s time for everyone to move on. If this is the most unjust thing that occurs in your life, consider yourself lucky.

Oktoberfest was originally full of glare rides. That area is in need of the mist attention. One flat ride could fit where Spinnen Keggers originally sat and another where Flying Dutchman sat (modifying AE exit). A third could be installed instead of that rusty eyesore Slingshot. Real Oktoberfest is all about flat rides. A Himalaya/Music Express would be a great fit for that area.

Even then, someone would've taken photos of The Beasts first drop from the Coney Mall area near Rivertown, as it's pretty obvious there without any track.

I kind of take offense to this because back in 2006 I flew over the park a snapped the construction photos of what was to become Firehawk and posted the photos as a front page announcement of this very site. It was not formally announced until February. At that time no one knew that was happening or that we were even getting the coaster. Even more-so, the then park PR Maureen communicated to me personally they they were ok with it after the photos were posted of the constitution progress.

Park could've gotten out ahead of it and announced before there was even track work. They should be aware this is going to happen time and time again and just embrace and get out ahead of it. We need to quit being naive and surprised the drone stuff happens.

Just came up with an Action Zone expansion concept. This is if KI/CF just wants to keep it "Action Zone" and make it just a standard area of the park with no "theme" other than it just being an area with lots of Action. What I did here is removed Congo and Timberwolf along with the buildings behind it and made a new midway with a few new attractions. Congo Falls is replaced by a giant wheel and a Mondial top scan. The timberwolf plot is used for a new food stand and tables, a nice fountain with LED lighting, a ropes course (upcharge), a zamperla discovery, and a skyscraper ride (upcharge). As you can probably tell, this was inspired a lot by The Island in Pigeon Forge. Even if unlikely and not what a lot of us see or want to see in Action Zone, I think an expansion like this would be pretty cool. Just a concept like always.