Orion-XL200

I hadn't been back to Kings Island except for a short visit before heading to Holiday World in August. Initially I was not planning on making a fall visit to KI, but the opportunity to visit presented itself. Arrived just at 11 am to a sunny and not incredibly busy park (at that point). ^Checked out the progress on the new drink stand. After redeeming the Fast Lane wrist band, our group headed over to Action Zone for a ride on The Bat and then Invertigo (the best inverted coaster in the park IMO). Grabbed a bite at Chicken Shack and I decided I wanted to have more than my 2 dining plan meals, so I bought the tender meal. Unfortunately, the portions were quite small and just felt like a waste of my $. After lunch, we ended up walking toward Rivertown. We of course grabbed rides on Diamondback, Mystic Timbers and The Beast. Because the opportunity was available, we decided to do the "paranormal tour" of Madam Fatale's (name of the experience escapes me). Walking through the queue again was insane. Many emotions, especially at the pre-show and walking into the ride area. I reminisced of the shifts I worked at The Crypt. I know that the experience wasn't catered toward my age, but I personally could have done without the story and "guide." Walking out, we were greeted by great views of Diamondback. We then made our way around to Coney Mall....stopped at Backlot Stunt Coaster and then went to Orion! I always love my rides on it. We grabbed a ride on Racer (Blue), attempted to go to Adventure Express, but it was down for most of the day. I felt a little bit hungry and decided to get my second meal. I stopped at Larosa's on I-Street and got the specialty flat bread, Monster Mash. It was wonderful! Mashed potatoes, bacon, cheese, green onion and sour cream. We pretty much, spent the rest of the day/afternoon roaming, with a ride on Banshee (I'm becoming less and less of a fan), a ride on Boo Blasters and a handful of others including Snoopy's Soap Box Racers (didn't get any fun comments on my Good Gravy Coaster t-shirt sadly). We did a early evening ride on Orion and then as the sun really began to start setting, we hit up Alien Abyss. The haunt itself was alright...but I for the life of me cannot understand how it's safe or okay to have what I could count between 50-75 people in such a small pace to just have a "pre-show" video and then full out conga line everyone from the room to the actor yelling to "keep moving" as we all start moving into the dark. That really kind of made my experience of that haunt feel as if the goal was just to get people through and not entertain/scare. The group headed over to Antique Autos for a fun ride around the track. Once we hopped off, we decided to head to Hotel St. Michelle. As we made our way, I had to stop and take this pic: Hotel St. Michelle overall was okay. Didn't feel like there was near enough scare actors inside and I've always felt like the haunt is just too quick of a walk through. It had gotten dark enough that we decided to get a ride on Beast. As we got to the station, we found out that the ride had went down. That was disappointing, but we decided to stick it out for just a little bit in case it were to reopen. After a short delay, the ride reopened for the guests ahead of us at the airgates to sit down on the ride and to then be told to get out and head back into the gates. We stood around for a little longer, but the ride operator in the booth announced that it was going to be a lengthy delay. So we headed to Slaughterhouse. Slaughterhouse was probably the best maze of the night for me. It was a highlight seeing Sam The Butcher and being threatened by him. The rest of the family were great and even gave me several scares (which doesn't happen easy). Upon exiting Slaughterhouse, I saw another opportunity for a great photo of Diamondback and took it. Next up, we hit up Madame Fatale's. It was well executed and there were a few little jumps I got from the scare actors. We ended up doing another Diamondback ride before heading toward Coney Mall again. We wanted to hit Adventure Express since it did open. We decided to hit up Killmart. Unfortunately, it was probably the weakest haunt for me. Not enough scare actors, some of the former automatic scares/theming items weren't working and it just feels like this haunt has run it's course. I wanted to hit up Orion for a full out night ride, so we headed that way. Orion always gives a great night ride, especially in the back. We had one remaining haunt that we wanted to do, Cornered. As we approached Action Zone and the entrance, we were told by security that the entire area was shut down and that we needed to head toward Festhaus. Never did hear why. We ended up grabbing our last meal at Enrique's. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it did fill me up. So, what way do we end our night? The Beast! We made our way toward The Beast, but walked through Hooked. It may be because it was the end of the night, but it didn't feel like it was well staffed nor did the "story" really come out. Not to mention, the space was extremely small. Hopefully next year, it has a bigger area and more actors. We got to Beast and it felt so cold riding through the woods. It was a lot of fun though...nothing beats an almost pitch black ride on The Beast. We got off of the ride at 10:59p and I didn't feel like running down the ramp to try to get back in line, so I headed back toward the front of the park. It was a gorgeous walk up front. Even watching the little bit of show on the tower. Exciting the park, I couldn't help but to think how exhausted I was, but how great the day was overall. The best haunt experiences for me were: Slaughter House and Madame Fatale's. The worst haunt experiences were: Alien Abyss and Killmart. I'll be finishing my fall season at Cedar Point and then will be back at KI for Winterfest at some point.

KI's Winterfest Tubing Hill could never be that tall. Sad.

Just sharing from my visit yesterday!

To which bathroom?

What concerns me is that the monsters/octopus type rides are becoming more and more rare. The original manufacturer is no longer in business the business who took up for them afterwards apparently was acquired. I'm kind of concerned that as these rides continue to age, the parts will start becoming scarce.

Ohio Liquor laws do allow a permit holder from offering tasting cards or flights, depending on the type of liquor permit. Pretty much, if you've got a permit, you have certain parameters of where alcohol can be consumed, where it cannot, who can be served it (of course 21+), and types of alcohol allowed to be served., who can serve the alcohol, etc.

I have heard, though cannot confirm, that they are adding a copy of RiverRacers.

I'll be first to admit, I don't like this guy. But I will say, I'm 99% positive, he had nothing to do with this display....so it's not him "pulling on the heartstrings."

Having worked haunted attractions, often times these caskets are beat up and don't close properly. More than likely, no other reason behind it.

How would a Son of Beast themed house be achieved? What would it look like? What would the characters be/look like? What would be the scare? Would be an interesting concept, just not sure I personally would be able to answer my above questions. The one thing I noticed when I visited the park last, was that the bridge heading to The Bat has been completely painted over...no more stars. I didn't go through the main Bat queue, so I didn't see if the flag was still painted on the wall or not.

The problem is, the kids don't vote and unless they travel a lot with their parents, they are completely unaware of what actually is out there for them.

They just have to convince the right people. Like you @disco2000 I've heard about "better" kids areas in the chain at KD , Carowinds and CP. I mean at CP you've got 3 total kids areas....one is almost entirely shaded, one is the basic "fair" type feel and the other is in the middle of the two as far as "thrills" for the kids. KI is almost all exclusively in the sun, the number of rides is good...the theme almost stops completely with the ride names, with a few having a little theme beyond the name. Wildwood Grove at Dollywood is not only immersive in the theming of the area, but the individual rides (alongside the names) and general feel. It's well deserved. Maybe one day, KI will get the hint.

There used to be a group on Facebook for KI Team members.....if anyone can find that, it may you best bet and get the correct information you seek.

All I can say is LOL.

I 100% agree with you. I just wish that the loading/unloading of the trains were quicker...especially if they are 2 train and ops are 2 train operations....which means you've got a train sitting waiting for the train in the station to dispatch and riders laying down "on their stomachs" facing down to the ground without much support.