kikid74

What time did they open? 6pm?

1. With respect to the OP, I know I've been on that ride once, but I had to think about where it was located in which park. Now that I can picture it, I did like the ride, but it's not something that we've been on more than once. (We've taken mult-day trips to DW in 2009, 2012, 2015.) 2. The Jungle Book was always one of my favorite animated Disney movies. I also enjoyed the latest live action Disney version. I know there are not a string of sequels planned, but I always thought a Jungle Book themed section of Animal Kingdom would be a good fit. The whole park is almost like the Jungle Book BUT the only reference I can recall seeing to that specific movie is an autograph station with Baloo and King Louie back by the Lion King show. 3. Star Wars doesn't have the same iconic merchandise possibilities that HP does? To quote Yogurt: merchandising is where the real money on the movie is made. 4. Disney attendance. With the announcement of all these new themed worlds, and Hollywood Studios basically being a skipable park at the moment (unless you have a park hopper pass, IMO), I'd imagine people in general are waiting for the expansion before making their next trip there. We've gone once every 3 years...which could have us back there around 2018. But if Star Wars land doesn't open until 2019, we would make plans to go 2019 or later. It is tempting to consider an earlier visit if lower attendance has a noticable impact on crowds...

When we went earlier this summer, they didn't reopen the water park after a thunderstorm rolled through. I believe it was 5pm when they announced their waterpark would close...it's normal closing time that day was 6pm. The dry side opened back up, though, and ran until closing time...7pm, if I recall.

I bought 2016 season passes at the park with "one visit free in 2015", and they deducted the parking fee (keep the receipt) from the season pass $total.

About what time and was the hat wearer sitting in the front row? We saw someone in front row holding onto his hat on down the first hill. Just curious if it was him.

The Red Racer was down for the day at that point due to a maintenance issue. The Blue Racer was the only one going. The ride op said "fireworks", so just going by what she said. Thanks!

Thanks, I appreciate the tips. We did this two years ago, and unexpectedly found that the Blue Racer closed, too. We had already ridden The Beast at night and were hitting the line-less rides on our stroll towards the entrance. But, that was two years ago and didn't know what else in the area closes early. Thanks!

Which rides are closed for fireworks at about what time on a night when the park closes at 10pm? Thanks!

Weekday crowds will start to lighten...some Indiana schools have started this week for the 2016-17 year. Another group of schools will start next week. Then, almost all remaining Indiana schools will be in session the week of August 8th. Do Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area schools follow a similar schedule?

Coasters are opening. Never rained here, but we could hear the thunder and briefly saw lightning to north and west. It just missed KI.

Very short waits all day :-) so far. Thunder has closed many rides. Flat rides (at least in Coney Mall) still open. A lot of people stopped to eat...others headed to concert.

Today: "feels like 100" according to weather.com app.

Metal detector / bag inspections today. Worst part of it is have to get through this line to get to the bathroom :-( Already though, seems to be going much smoother/faster than our May visit.

Metal detector / bag inspections today. Worst part of it is have to get through this line to get to the bathroom :-( Already though, seems to be going much smoother/faster than our May visit.

And things were open during the rain from 10-noon yesterday?

So, Thursday will be more like a Saturday? Just setting expectations since that's our backup plan at the moment.

We ended up canceling trip today. We have 2-2.5 hr drive and it's looking like too much rain/lightning today. Perhaps a dray spell in the afternoon, but too much risk of too many rides being closed. For those that live close, I'll bet it would be a great day to cherry pick the possible dry hours between noon and 3pm. What is the most recent rain policy with respect to ride closure? Some years, they don't close in rain, only lightning. However, we've had some visits where there was no lightning, but they wouldn't open certain rides until "the track dries". So, one day like this a couple of years ago, Surf Dog (for example) never opened.

Hoping the rain isn't too bad tomorrow. Some of our best visits have been rainy days/threat of rainy days.

Mother's Day I saw a number of mothers smoking outside designated areas. Including one woman in a wheelchair smoking while watching the bumper cars. That's how we noticed, as everyone riding could smell the smoke. Perhaps mom had a free pass on Sunday? :-)

Following up on my Mother's day info question, I thought I'd give feedback for anyone else who was interested. Take into account also that there was a 50/50 threat of rain, temps started upper 40's/low 50's and was forecast to top out around 60, and there was a lot of rain during the day in SE Indiana and Northern KY. The radar also showed rain off-and-on downtown Cincinnati, though it only barely sprinkled once during the day at KI. The crowds were pretty light. The longest wait we had all day was maybe 15 minutes (on Banshee/Bat/Adv Express) around 2-4 in the afternoon. We did skip ride lines that seemed to be much longer than that(and traditionally slower), including Flying Ace Aerial Chase and Delirium. We got there with plans for ERT at 9:30, but were held up for 15-20 minutes at the security line check-in. We were in the Diamondback line for about 5 minutes and were riding for the first time at exactly 10am. When we exited the ride, the line was gone. It was a walk-on in the station, so we rode it again. Those morning hours were great! Diamondback 2x, Stunt Coaster 3x, Beast 2x, SRR 2x, Bumper Cars 2x all by 11:30am. Everything we wanted to ride was pretty much a "wait for the next cycle wait" in the morning. The food lines at around 1pm, though, ugh. We didn't think would be a problem given the ride lines up to that point. Chicken shack had a long line WAY past the door. Festhaus packed. LaRosa's on International the line looked ridiculous. So, we headed back to what has become our traditional short wait place to eat. LaRosa's by The Beast. No wait to grab your pizza. Only a slight wait to pay after I had my food.

We were at the park and went through the new entrance for the first time this year last weekend. As someone who comes of I-71, it seemed like a LONG drive to the gate and felt like a lot of backtracking to get back to the parking lot. I'm not complaining, it just felt weird of decades of using the entrance nearest the waterpark. I did like the self scan gold pass lanes.

We love going to BGT when we spend a week in Clearwater. Unfortunately, we haven't been in a few years. Maybe next spring. Does FL have looser height restrictions (or Ohio stricter) with respect to amusement rides? Coasters like Scorpion are only 40-42" and it goes upside down. While at KI, you have to be 48" to ride Adventure Express. The log ride at BGT has a shorter height limit, too. That was the only "bad" part about traveling to parks in other states with the kids...coming back to rides at KI. They could ride a lot of rides out of state that there were not permitted to ride at KI because of height.

If it is a coaster, I hope for a longer ride. The new coaster at Holiday World is fun but was really disappointed in how short the ride is.

Great trip report! I wonder if they would have done things differently (with respect to Skull Island instead of JP expansion) had they known the Jurassic World would have been as huge at the box office as it was. I agree with folks here. I love the ride and the area, and it feel completely underutilized. If you want to take advantage of the HP stuff on your return trip, I recommend getting there before rope drop, and heading to that area first. If you have a hotel that includes the early hour admission, you can ride the ride in diagon alley twice before the rest of the park opens. We did ride the train once, and thought it was "meh". And my wife and oldest are big HP fans. The overall wait and then lack of visuals I think does it for us, too. Overall, we really enjoy these parks. I think Spider-man is still my favorite of the park, and really love the log ride!

As someone who has historically taken advantage of the ERT, this is disappointing. I'm glad I found this thread though, as I didn't realize they had a rotating schedule this year. Looks like there is no reason (for our family) to show up for ERT in July. I did like that Diamondback was in the ERT lineup two years ago (the last time we had Gold pass), as we could get a ride (or two) in first thing before the line got longer later in the day. And I did pay for ERT. It isn't "free". It is one of the benefits of buying a Gold Pass. Just because there isn't an explicit cost savings associated with it, like say the parking benefit, it is a benefit of having the card. Any time they change or alter their passholder benefits, it is a viable discussion point of pros/cons of the change. Not sure why bringing this up as a con for some or discussion of how their changes impacted the lines is that big of a deal. Seems like a topic that should be discussed, IMO. And I appreciate the OP for bringing it up!