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It's 2012 and just under four more months until Kings Island opens its doors for its 40th season. Like last year's topic, each day I will try my best to post a "vintage" Kings Island photo from my massive collection of media I've gathered over the years through personal collections and online discoveries. You're likely to see some of your photos, so don't be surprised. Anything goes. http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=23316&hl=%2Bflashback+%2Bopening&fromsearch=1'>http://www.KICentral...ng&fromsearch=1 2011 Flashback Till Opening Topic^^

The park just posted this on twitter: "31 + 29 + 31 + 28 = ?" So if you guessed the 28th, you are correct.

This one quote is enough for me to know he "gets" it. They aren't selling widgets, they're selling an experience. That experience can't turn sour as soon as you give your money at the gate. I hate to sound contrived, but "charm" and "nostalgia" keep popping up in my head. It's all in the details, and that's where his Glendale experience will pay off in spades.

Awesome use of the park's original logo!

The thing I have to wonder about, though: why? What benefit does KI get from opening two weeks later than what they used to? I don't mean to whine, but the earlier opening days weren't completely empty--I've seen slower days on Haunt Fridays--so I don't think they were totally losing money a couple years ago. (Not that I'm privy to those facts... For all I know, those days were prone to attracting only passholders who wouldn't buy anything, so the park could have been losing money hand over fist.) It's been mentioned before on here that Paramount's season pass preview days helped train employees and iron out ride kinks prior to the real opening day. The old April weekends could almost be considered a substitute for that--they weren't packed, but they had enough people there that the park was running well by May/the start of daily operations. Maybe it was sheer coincidence, but 2011's opening day seemed pretty hiccup-y. Rides were down left and right, with relatively full queues of people who I personally witnessed complaining a lot. But I'm just speculating.

Here's a little contribution to the Waterworks construction pic. I don't know if this is a common pic, but its an artist rendering of the "coming soon to KI - Waterworks".