Pagoda Gift Shop

New trash cans that say "50" on them.

This seems like a good addition to the area. Apparently up-to-date blueprints and aerial photography is not a necessity, as the ones included in the plans are very old. They list much of the land as previously belonging to Taft, which I highly doubt at this point.

That website is likely pulling the wait times from the official park app somehow, but it also lists historical park attendance numbers, which the park has never released. That makes it hard to accept any of the data they are showing. I recently found this site and it seems to be pretty good. https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/park/cedar-fair/kings-island/

I'd rather see Surf Dog replaced by a wild mouse coaster than Flying Ace Aerial Chase. Seems like there is plenty of space in that area of Planet Snoopy as well.

It took years for the old Diamondback seats to look like they did before being replaced. I don't think it is so easy to have a material for the seats which is comfortable, durable to withstand being outside all summer, and permanently resistant to stains.

It is somewhat ironic also that the roof of Diamondback's brake run is covered with bracelets, etc. Millennium Force also had a similar issue when it first opened, as part of the queue was very close to a wall. That wall became a "gum wall" and shortly afterward, that section of the queue was almost never used. People will mess up anything if they are stuck waiting somewhere and have the opportunity.

I agree about the hand sanitizer, although I personally would like to see it directly after each ride instead of before. It would be nice to see more permanent installations of dispensers at major ride exits.

I suppose it is a good thing that John Materese's slogan is "Don't Waste Your Money" instead of "Don't Waste Your Time."

What does Candymonium win?

Oh my goodness the music in that video. I never rode any other Togo stand-up coasters, but I thought King Cobra was great. It had some big air time moments, and overall was less intense and painful than Mantis. I was sad when it left, but also not surprised given how odd the trains/restraints were. "The idea of riding in a standing posture surpasses common sense." There is some ironic foreshadowing in that quote.

I like the ferris wheel idea. I also think it would fit in the space between the Eiffel Tower and Diamondback, or alternatively in front of Adventure Express where Skylab used to be.

I thought the one color trains went well with the other theming elements of "piles of gravel" and "shipping containers". Brutal. (Image from https://www.themeparktourist.com/content/images/backlot-stunt-coaster-trains-0)

I think due to the likely multi-year gap that there will be before another coaster is built at Kings Island, it is probably a bit premature to make a solid prediction. My guess is that the next one will be either a Mack or an RMC. What other Cedar Fair parks receive in the years before Kings Island gets their next one will likely have a strong influence.

I wonder if the company did a survey to see if employees were interested in attending. There was a recent national survey that found that about 70% of people don't feel comfortable going to an amusement park right now. I could see the majority of employees not wanting to go, which would really defeat the purpose of the buy out.

Was at the park this evening. Orion was a 20ish minute wait around 5:30pm. Mystic Timbers, Beast, and Diamondback all appeared to be between 15-30 minute waits.

Whew, there are some hot takes in this thread. I like it. I figure the 10pm closes were just an idea to try to drive up attendance. I wonder if it is actually working?

It's an interesting question how much interaction the park has with B&M about the ride and trains. Again there is a lot we just don't know. It's very possible that the "new" style trains are costing the park a lot less in terms of wear and tear. Until the ride experience becomes uncomfortable enough that complaints are being made, it seems unlikely they would make any big changes. Until then, reliability and maintenance costs would likely be more important.

There are some nice YouTube videos online from Cedar Point's Winter Chill Out events where the maintenance staff talk about roller coaster wheels, etc. Based on a lot of that information, it would seem to be very unlikely that "the wheels" would be the cause of roughness on Banshee, at least not in a simple sense. The wheels are definitely inspected nightly, with any that are too worn being replaced. The wheels used on at least GateKeeper and Rougarou are a mix of nylon and polyurethane wheels. This is mostly to regulate speed, as all polyurethane wheels would be much more likely to result in a valley on cold weather days. All the trains are stripped down to basically nothing during the offseason. I wonder how much changes to the track outside play a part in the roughness on Banshee, as well as on how often some of the more internal parts like bearings are replaced. It is also worth noting that Banshee has the "new" B&M invert trains, which could also being aging differently than the old variety. These are all interesting topics that maybe someday a Kings Island ride maintenance person could be asked or talk about during a Q&A session.

I think there was more data behind the name changes than you think. It certainly seems like they did not think the Boomerang Bay name was a good one, as all the other Boomerang Bays have all been renamed as well. Valleyfair had its water park (Whitewater Country) changed to Soak City, but Canada's Wonderland, Michigan's Adventure, and Worlds of Fun all retained their existing water park names. I agree that the name Soak City is too generic. They have chosen more distinct names for more recent re-brandings (Cedar Point Shores, South Bay Shores, Carolina Harbor). A lot of other Cedar Fair parks also include the water park on a regular season pass. At Worlds of Fun, they actually changed the water park from being a separate gate to being included on the season pass when it was renovated in 2013. I wonder if the sale of meal plans has anything to do with that change.

I hope they put a security guard next to the Orion line attendant around 9pm...

We are very fortunate. I can imagine there are many disappointed season pass holders for the parks that didn't even get to open this year who would have loved to have the chance to go to their park even while wearing a mask and doing social distancing. I think it also makes the lawsuit that Cedar Fair began to file back in June look silly. I have not done an exact count, but it looks like less than half of amusement parks in the United States are going to open at all this year. Back in April, I would have guessed that either all the parks would either open or stay closed. It is so strange that we ended up with quite a mix of what opened and what did not.

Seems like the rain threat on Saturday pushed a lot of people to wait until Sunday.

I don't think Holiday World will have any problem with adjusting to having masks be required. I cannot say the same for Indiana Beach.

Kings Island has always been challenged to keep people in the park until closing time. Families come in the morning to go to Planet Snoopy (and during normal years, Soak City), but by dinner time are often ready to go home. In a year like this, the number of people who would still be in the park after say 8pm has likely been estimated to be very low. I agree that it is a bummer. Unfortunately the "families with kids" crowd is likely a lot larger than the "visit in the evening" crowd.

I think the only reason they had slots to begin with was to limit the arrival times as well as total park capacity. Indications are they are coming nowhere near to their limited capacity cap. Worlds of Fun has dropped the need for a reservation completely. I think Kings Island is not far behind. They likely have a capacity number for the health check tents and probably have not been close to it, thus there is a lot less worry about being "overwhelmed".