bjcolglazier

Can anyone provide insight as to how this works if you are "head-of-household" with a wife and 3 kids? I'm assuming for on-ride photo's I can only get the digital if I was on the ride? But what about other pictures? Can I have a picture of my kids taken without me by one of the photographers and put it on my account? I don't really care to have pictures of myself so much, but how does a family tackle this new option in the most price-conscious way?

Changing up the Early Ride Time rides from month-to-month. Shame to see Banshee off the list until August, but I think I'm more happy to see additional diversity in the choices. https://www.visitkingsisland.com/passholder/offer-detail/Passholder-Early-Ride-Times/?mobile=0

As a full-timer 3 hours away with 3 kids in school I definitely recommend Sundays. Being so far away we can't pop in of an evening, but just about always Sunday mornings are not crazy busy. Often on a Sunday morning we will get up early, make the drive and hit the park for early-ride-time, and then be heading back home by 2pm. 4-5 hours of lots of good rides, and still home for dinner. Always worth it.

We got invited and went up in the restaurant for the Snoopy party at the end of a cold, rainy day this past April. Only time I'd been up there, and it was pretty cool to finally see it. As for improvements to the entrance, I really like how they had it themed for Haunt. Maybe they can change that up periodically for something interesting. Beyond that, I just think they need to put some water features up front before you get in. I like the big dinosaur...maybe a couple other similar somethings. Nothing crazy, but easily maintainable themed items that relate to what awaits inside...and "pretty" features, like the water features I suggested.

^ I may be alone here, but I go to Kings Island to get away from screens. "Times Square-sized Jumbotrons" and other television style screens greeting my entrance to the park would be a turnoff the likes of which I cannot possibly put into words. I'm not saying the entrance couldn't be improved, but I think massive TV screens flashing "exciting" content are a horrible idea. Just awful. There's already a bunch of tv's all above the turn-styles letting us know which lanes are open. That I can handle. They aren't the most attractive thing, but at least they aren't blasting nonsense at me when I first walk in. I absolutely LOVE the idea of a sit-down dining experience overlooking the fountains. Personally, I'd love to see this actually take place outside right next to the fountains...ala a San Antonio Riverwalk experience or something. Probably asking too much there, though.

I appreciate the Subway, Chick-fil-A, and Panda Express offerings in the park. I really do. If done right they bring value to the park. And my wife and most of my kids hit Subway every visit, whilst my son hit Potato Works, and I went to Burrito Shack. Service was decent enough every time we went...but we avoid a packed park. If I was a franchisee I would think KI would be a place to clean up, and rake it in over the other park fare. Which makes me wonder...are these corporate franchises in the park rather than local? Anyone know? A local franchisee---one would think---could outperform Cedar Fair's offerings in the park. Right??

Going back to Shark's post above....basically you could hire an additional food service worker per hour, for the price of two Coke's in that hour. Really makes a person wonder what the issue is, and why they are letting business walk away.

You're darn right on this! There's more to it when you're hiring 16-22 year-olds, but still...I think the park would make more money keeping lines short, taking people's money, and hiring adequately...whatever that means for them.

I think the park cannot staff properly anymore. Demand might have increased, sure. This is just my personal impressions/experiences, but where I live it is SO difficult to properly staff even a small business that needs $8-$9/hour employees. You hire them, they call off, they're "sick", on and on. I can't imagine how tough it is for a big fun park. However, I do believe that "fun"---however you measure it---is what achieves the end goal for the park, which is dollars. Crazy long lines are definitely not fun, and do not bring repeat visitors or word-of-mouth business.

When you purchased Kings Island Christmas tree ornaments from the online store late last December, but the gift shop was closed so they didn't ship until early January. So THIS is the year you get to break them out!

It's been said/speculated/whatever...that the parks make their true profit on soda sales alone. How do long lines at concessions play into that equation at all?

This might---might---be true, if 95% of guests are on the dining plan, and they don't want to sell any of those plans in 2016. As it is, the majority of food customers are not on the dining plan, and some of the dining plan customers this year got upset and won't renew for next year. When lines are crazy long, business walks. The park knows it, I know it, my local McDonalds drive-thru that can't keep up and people drive off know it.

I'm conjecturing it will be insanely busy, but I'd love to hear others saying it won't be. I'd love to go Saturday night, and Sunday...I'm just not sure about Saturday.

There's a pretty good video on youtube of closing day, 2014. Wasn't busy. However, it was A LOT colder closing day last year than it's supposed to be this year.

I suspect the crowd next Sunday will be highly weather-dependent. Looks like it'll be relatively warm for November 1st...but will it rain? I'll probably be there either way, just not sure how long.

Plus a bye week for the 6-0 Bengals...

True story. And I suppose it could work that way with the parks, but then the park is cutting checks right back to Coca-Cola. Which...still doesn't fully answer the question of who is paying whom? Nevertheless, the leverage Coca-Cola has is unique, and I'd be highly skeptical that they are "giving away" money and soda just for branding and advertising rights. I'd bet both parties are making real money in the parks.

I can just about guarantee Coca-Cola is not paying KI/Cedar Fair. Whether Coca-Cola is making actual profit on sales in the park is another question altogether.

I guess I'm fairly new, but this is as ridiculous a thread as I have read on this site, from start to finish...lol. From RMC'ing The Beast (blasphemy), to Son of Beast dying a martyr's death. Hilarious!

This has probably been covered before, but why does the first tunnel on Adventure Express smell rather sulfuric? It's been that way for quite awhile.

By this rationale the entire park experience would be horrible because a bunch of us bought Gold Passes. Of course, the truth is they want our money next year, too---for park entrance and dining upfront. They want us to keep coming back and enjoying it so they can keep getting more money. And the folks who experience a lack of urgency and better service are not just dining plan buyers---it's also anyone visiting the park for one day who wants food or beverage. I'm sure the park is trying to do better. By what means I have no idea, but I doubt a shrug and, "well, we already got their money" is the long-term plan. I suspect it's just an ongoing battle to keep employees trained and motivated. I'm not sure what else they can really do.

Yeah, making it a $1 flat would make a difference for sure! Hopefully next year will be better with all-season free refills. As has been mentioned before, I think I most notice the...uh..."lack of motivation" by employees when getting refills. Not much incentive for them to hurry it doesn't seem.

Was at the park last night (packed) and today (definitely not packed). Have meal plans, and we ate both days without a substantial wait---even last night when Beast and Diamondback had ~45 minute to 1-hour queues. Today we ate at...12:45pm. Took son to Potato Works in Coney for a corn dog meal, nobody in line. Wife and daughters took about 10 minutes to get their subs, then we took all that food to the picnic tables by the pond behind Hank's. I told them how I wanted my burrito---which did take a few minutes---but that was that. I would like to throw out another possible reason for clogged food lines. It's not always the meal plan folks---it's people wanting their soda's filled! My gosh...we have a couple of those refillable cups and I swear it takes FOREVER for them to take my money and fill the cup. We've had good luck getting food, but I'm always shocked at how much time I spend behind people getting soda's refilled, including my own. It should not take 2-4 minutes just to fill up a refillable cup---especially if the person has money in hand (sometimes people don't, which is inexcusable as well).

I'll either call or renew on-site to be sure, but this would mean KI Gold passers upgrading to Platinum would get 1 free Fast Lane for 2015, AND 1 free visit to another Cedar Fair park in 2015? I will not likely make it to another park in 2015 other than Kings Island. And I'm not by any means trying to milk the system. But I do want my KI Fast Lane. But...if a free trip to Cedar Point is in the offering, I might take that up as well. :-)

Last season, you were able to do this on visitkingsisland.com or at the park as a simple renewal (gold->platinum or platinum->gold). You would then need to get your pass replaced at the processing center so that it has the appropriate pass level printed on the front. As I understand it, regular passes can't be renewed as gold or platinum. (They expire after Labor Day, and next year's gold or platinum pass would be considered a new pass.) So...if I upgrade from a KI Gold pass to a Platinum pass...do I get the free KI Fast Lane pass this fall? I'm assuming so, but it's not really 100% clear since it's sorta like buying a new pass for everywhere rather than renewing what I've already got at KI.