kikid74

The KI log flume doesn't have a spinning platform. I don't believe that Americana had a log flume ride until the early 1980's. Or at least I remember the new one that was installed then....did that replace an older one or was it a new ride type to that park?

I'm guessing that the August 3 night rides of Racer, Delirium and Adventure Express will be one of the lighter attendance nights? Especially with some rain in the Thursday forecast.

Some Indianapolis area schools were back in session last week. Another group of them went back today and and will go back tomorrow. Most of our remaining schools will be back in session next week, coinciding with the normal August drop in online ticket prices (everyone pays a kid's rate.) I also see that the low $16 bring-a-friend price will be offered every day starting next Tuesday. Is that something they've done in past seasons? I do recall that August GA prices always drop but didn't recall the BAF price drop.

One article I read on the Ohio State Fair accident led to another article about an accident within the past two weeks on a ride called "The Wave Runner" at The Island in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. The ride was new (or at least new to The Island) in June of this year, and they've already decided to remove it. If you've been to Pigeon Forge in recent years, this location is the site of the large Sky Wheel. There are several other rides there. I've not ridden any of them personally, but they struck me as more of a temporary/fair type ride as opposed to the permanent rides you'd find at Dollywood.

1. I loved KCKC as a kid and was very disappointed when they removed it. I loved the two conveyor belts to get to the top of the lift and the height of the ride amongst the treetops! 2. I agree with SOB on Congo. Wonder how much feasible it would be to move Congo to the old Crypt building spot (is there room there?) and then put a dark ride building on the spot of current Congo?

Lines have been much better this afternoon. Banshee was just 11 minutes from end of line to off ride. Bat and Racers are walk-on. 5 min Adventure Express. Seems like a normal early June weekday after all.

I had to upgrade the app today since the last time I was here...Do wait times no longer appear on the KI app? I see the list of rides, and a message that wait times have been updated...but no times are listed.

Vortex was a 1-2 train wait, though. That was my first ride on that in a couple of years. It's still rough and unpopular with most of my gang.

Another seemingly busy mid-week day. 35-45 for Beast already. Hopefully folks will head over to Soak City soon. :-)

Tower drinks is open today

Mystic Timbers/new coaster. A number of schools ending before Memorial Day this year (though there are still some in session). Beautiful, non-rainy weather week. I wonder what the lines are like at Soak City this week? With it only being in the 70's, and low 70's in early afternoon, it may be on the cool side of attracting folks away from the dry side of the park.

Thanks! Indianapolis Kroger had them for $40.

I used google chrome, but also just clicked her link. I opened up google maps in a separate tab, did a separate search, and still see SOB/no Banshee

Try mapquest.com. Based on the sat images at Kings Island and on my property, I'd guesstimate those images are only 12-18 months old.

School bus doesn't necessarily mean school is still in session...my nephew is there today via school bus with his Indianapolis-area junior high band. Their school year ended last Thursday.

Thanks! Do you know offhand how much gold pass "bring a friend" cost at the gate?

Is Kroger the best/cheapest place to get a single day pass? Looking to bring a friend this week. Online prices are $43 (for gold pass members). I live in Indianapolis, not Cincinnati, if that matters for where to buy. TIA!

When is the last day of school for many of the Cincinnati area schools? Most kids are still in school this week?

Certainly continue to monitor it, but currently the Mason, OH forecast for next weekend is lows in the upper 50's and highs around 75. Cloudy and intermittent showers possible. The cooler temps will probably have fewer people heading over to the waterpark, but if it also rains it could keep some of the crowd away. If you are staying until close on Saturday, wait out a late afternoon/early evening rain. After it passes, you will likely get a ton of walk-on rides.

Wow! Thanks for the great history lesson! I remember most of those things...at least those that were still there in the late 70's. I really loved walking through the plant tunnel at night!

I had never been to the circus as a kid. However, I did go to B&BC once two years ago with my wife and two kids, ages 6 and 9 at the time. I didn't have anything to compare it to from its previous years, but I agree with your disappointing description. The crowd was small, the crowd wasn't into it at all, and everything was extremely overpriced. You think the $4 cotton candy at sporting events are bad? I saw a mother almost choke on her tongue when the concession stand worker told her it was $14. They already had an attendance problem that they couldn't resolve....perhaps there was no solution. But the ticket/concession price spiral (not drawing enough customer, raise prices. Higher prices keep people away, need more money, raise prices again) also had to contribute to their demise.

It sounds like fun! We were just there last month and could see the volcano under construction. I'm very interested to see how this ride reservation thing works out. They had one ride in the IOA park that was using a ticketing system...it was the glider ride back in Jurassic Park area. The first and last hour of the day was standby, but outside of that, you HAD to have a ticket to get into line. One of the workers back there told me that more rides would be going to that next year, including this water park, Despicable Me, and the new USF rides: Fast and Furious and Jimmy Fallon thru New York.

My experience has been a little different than yours in that I would have said that Sunday weekends as you get closer to Halloween have been more crowded than Sundays in late September/early October or any Sundays after Halloween. For example, we went on the Sunday, November 1 last year and dealt with very little waits on rides. Sunday, September 25th this year also wasn't too bad (though we renewed and used our FastLane.) My past speculation for this was the Halloween activities for kids draw more families to the park, especially closer to Halloween, as kids have their costumes and want a fun, safe Halloween activity. As always, cannot make broad statements about specific weekend dates without also accounting for (1) the weather, (2) the Bengals schedule and (3) school schedules. A nice October Sunday Bengals off-day with school closed on Monday is a bad combination for wait times, while a home game versus the Steelers on a cold/rainy non Columbus day weekend will have little-to-no wait. What is Fall Break schedule like for kids in Ohio? A larger number of Indianapolis area schools have gone from a 3-4 day weekend (used to be just Thursday and Friday off for my kids) to a full week off. Some schools here even start in late July and then take two weeks off in October. I read recently how bad the October crowds have been at Disney World the past week or two relative to prior years. (There are multiple compounding issues there, too, including a change in annual passes with summer blackout dates and Hurricane Matthew, which could have altered vacation plans and pushed two weeks worth of visitors into one week.)

Many Orlando area theme parks are closing this evening and all day tomorrow due to Hurricane Matthew. This includes Universal, Disney, Sea World, and Legoland. WDW is also moving guests from their campgrounds and certain other accomodations (like Saratoga Springs Treehouse) are being moved to safer resort rooms. Current projections have wind estimates for Orlando in the 85-130 MPH range! The storm is also projected to go back out to sea and could potentially double back for another landfall in Florida next week.

Has this happened to anyone else? We had 2 of the orange (free refill every visit) souvenir cups all season. This past Sunday was our final visit of the year. Two hours before close, we come back to our stroller from a ride, and one of the cups were missing. It was just sitting a cupholder, just recently filled with Powerade. This is our 4th year as KI passholders and have never had anything stolen. Just curious how bad it is for anyone else, and particularly with respect to souvenir cups. Seems like a weird (unsanitary?) thing to steal.