TombRaiderFTW

The annual retelling of the sinking of the S.S. Gator was one of my favorite traditions here for years. Where will you go to have a pedal boat sink in a lazy river with your family aboard now, @XGatorHead 8904?! This is one of those things that doesn't really affect me but I'm still sad to see it happen. I never went to The Beach since I'm not the biggest swimmer, but all the same, part of my experience of going to Kings Island for many years involved driving past The Beach and seeing people having fun.

I don't have vivid memories of riding Racer backwards, but I've ridden other coasters (namely, Batman: The Ride and Viper, both at Six Flags Great America) backwards since then, and yeah... It was kind of miserable. I have to agree.

I agree with @standbyme. As far as the actors go, there aren't "scarier houses" and "less scary houses." It really depends on who is working when. What DOES change from house to house is things like gore, lighting, or the particular fear(s) that the house is attempting to play on. Slaughterhouse is very gory but decently well-lit and is themed to cannibalistic butchers. There are parts of it where, with the right actors, you can have people approaching you on multiple sides--but again, that depends on how it's staffed. Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror is darker, which can make it harder to see what's a person and what's a prop, but it's not particularly gory. It's themed to a wax museum whose owner has a dark secret (the displays are made from real people!) Cornered, at least in previous years, has been a dark, outdoor path lined with corn on both sides, and the actors are typically dressed to blend in very well with their surroundings. I believe the story behind it is that scarecrows are coming to life and want revenge. I would argue that the set pieces for this one don't really prime it to be super intense (there is zero blood--it's just corn), but again, it depends on who is working. It's moving to a new location within the park this year, and it's unclear what changes (if any) will be made to it with its move to Action Zone. I'm not as familiar with C.H.A.O.S., but I don't recall it being particularly gory or dark. KillMart is on the darker, gorier side (though not as dark as Madame Fatale's and not as gory as Slaughterhouse.) In that one, you are wandering a supermarket that has been overrun by zombies. In my experience, when KillMart is staffed by the right people, they can find very inconspicuous places to hide to get great scares... but that hasn't happened for me very often over the years. Hotel St. Michelle is new this year, so your guess is a good as mine for what to expect! I hope you and your friends have a fun time!

I'm not with this guy.

Having Haunt attractions themed to recent tragedies has never worked in the park's favor. KI is a business. There is a point where "edgy" is too much and becomes tactless for consumers of the park. Also, not sure if you heard, but there was a big medical crisis the last couple years that has become extremely politically charged and led to over a million people dying, so perhaps having a haunted house themed to a medical crisis in a hospital is a particularly tactless idea in 2022. Especially for the kind of amusement park event where there have been nationwide issues over the years with violent guests.

Do we know that Urgent Scare is still standing? And if it is, are we sure the park would WANT to have a hospital-themed maze after the last two years? At any rate, I believe the park should be announcing Haunt details within the next few weeks. I haven't heard anything, but maybe someone else has.

Oh man. I forgot about that thread. That was one of the best moments of this site. It's too bad that tinyPic no longer keeps pictures indefinitely, because a lot of gems were lost to the sands of time.

And if you have seen it, you know that you love it. I'm old.

Oh! I misunderstood. You're absolutely right. Perhaps that's the thing I'm not taking into account here when expecting how many of these things will sell.

Yeah, it all comes down to how many Prestige passes are sold. If they sell a bunch, and I suspect they will, there's a good chance it'll be how you describe.

I could be wrong, but my gut is telling me that the two hour thing isn't that people get in at 8:00am for 10:00am openings. It's that from 10:00am to 12:00pm, Prestige passholders can use a less crowded exclusive entrance so they don't have to wait in a massive line with everyone else to get in. It would be really funny if it's what you're saying, though.

Chain restaurants make sense to me at major parks... in limited quantity. People are picky eaters. You're going to have more food sales if people see a nationally recognized name they feel secure with, like Subway. You lose some number of food sales to parking lot picnics and the restaurants down the road if some people can't find something familiar. What I'm not a fan of is when half or more of the food offerings are chains. I'd say Kings Island has maybe a few too many chains for my preference. I feel like the CF era has, in a sense, seen the park turn into more of a large Family Entertainment Center for the Cincinnati area than a destination amusement park, so there's where having more local chains makes sense. And I get that KI has a ginormous season pass base, so it makes sense to make the park into a collection of Cincinnati favorites so people will spend their Friday nights somewhere where they can get Tom+Chee AND ride roller coasters--parks nowadays are competing against other forms of entertainment rather than each other. I just wish that having a collection of iconic Cincinnati foods meant that instead of getting a 3-Way at Skyline on International Street, you could get Chef Major's unique take on it from a 1960's-themed stand in Coney Mall, where it both makes more sense thematically and isn't taking up a space that could be used for a return of, say, the Rainbo Bakerei that existed there in 1972 and made sense with the German quadrant of IS, ya know?

EDIT: I misunderstood the perks of the base Prestige pass, as someone kindly pointed out a few posts down. I'm leaving this up for continuity's sake, but don't let me confuse you! Base Prestige passes don't give you access to all CF parks. As someone who has bought a Platinum pass almost every year since 2008... the base Prestige pass is catching my attention. Having Preferred parking included with the pass, especially if that's at every CF park, would absolutely make the upcharge from Platinum pay for itself if I visit as often as I have this year. What wouldn't work for me, and I suspicion that this will be a problem, is that the price point for it is low at $23/month. I don't think that's too distant from the price of a Gold or Platinum pass with other extras (e.g. dining) added in, and I feel like the park currently sells more dining plans currently than its infrastructure and staffing can manage. I expect to see the Preferred lot full regularly and the Fast Lane queues only busier next year. Add in that I haven't made a CP trip this year, and this might actually convince me to just get a Gold pass and visit less. In the worst case scenario, these things selling like hotcakes is going to make me not want to visit as often or even have a pass in 2024. I don't say this to have a meltdown; I'm just sharing some fears that I don't fully trust the park to assuage. Kinda hoping for a limit on the number of these things available for sale...

Oooooh. I like this idea a lot. No matter how much nostalgia I have for the Paramount years, Action Zone's theme and design has always been at odds with the rest of the park. Retheming the area to a new and improved Oktoberfest would be a fantastic step back to the park's roots. Removing Congo Falls and Chicken Shack would open up a ton of real estate that would lend itself nicely to reimagining the area and installing some new flat rides. I'm imagining a lot of parallels to BGW's Oktoberfest area when it comes to retheming the remaining rides, though I'd probably leave Banshee as-is. The Banshee/Bat corner would work great as a spooky church/graveyard sub-area. And, dare I say it, they could actually plant some trees throughout Action Zone.

I, for one, would absolutely purchase my first pin of the collection if they made one of the register of the International Street LaRosa's. Your move, Kings Island.