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I always liked parking in Pebbles. Or Bam Bam. Both seemed...appropriate.

I tried calling the 800 number advertised in this. It's a constant busy signal.

(Courtesy of Greg Scheid - Twitter) "Like the view?" "Or this view?"

Wow is that actually Kings Island in a Kings Island commercial? You don't see that anymore!

Check out this awesome news segment from 1993 out of Columbus. This also includes brief footage of Top Gun's under-queue which has been requested.

Let's start using boats again!

Wow that was a bit harsh and I wasn't whining. Not sure where all of the hate came from on a post regarding something I greatly enjoy about this site, how the members can get on interesting diversions. But hey if I'm whining or complaining sorry, have a good rest of your Monday.

After the initial bobblehead rush is over, probably some of the lightest crowds you'll see all season.

Paint has more functions than just being decorative. See Racer. Sadly.

Great trip report! Tornado and Tip Top were both good rides that really surprised me. It was nice to hear a real working carousel organ again. This park has a lot of charm.

Definitely! Would fit in the Crypt building and does not have a minimum height requirement.

Great report! Yeah, I've always been somewhat of a "ringer" at miniature golf. I probably would have done even better if I had brought my own putter, which gives me a bit finer control over the ball. As it was, I shot 53, RaptorGuy shot 56, ohiocolts 59, Mark (can't recall his screen name) 60, MDMC01 63, and ohiocolts's sister... I'll be nice and not post her score. That's all the scores from the two scorecards I kept; XGatorHead 8904 has the other, which has the scores for him, Mrs. Gator, and GatorGirl. They were all in the 60s.

I went to the Halloween Haunt on Friday last week. I met up with a few friends. We did all of the mazes except cornstalkers and we had ridden Diamondback, Delirium, and Racer x2. Overall, I had a really great time . My thoughts on the rides: Diamondback- great ride, nice floater air, but SERIOUSLY what is up with that roughness at the bottom of the hills. I am quite a skinny guy and in the back seat I felt every part of skin on my body jiggle. I didnt know really how to explain it but that needs to be fixed. Oh and please clean the back of the seats thats nasty and I dont feel comfortable with leaning my head on that! Racer- Awesome ride in first car third row. Awesome ejector air and very forceful. On another note, the last car second row is smoother than last car second row on DB. Thats not good at all... Delirium- always a great flat that has loads of forces and climbs to dizzying heights. On to the haunts: Carnevil- this maze was really fun. I loved the incorporation of the 3d paint, bubbles etc. The actors did a really good job and they made me jump a few times. Holiday Horror- Great, cheesy, and scary. This has always been one of my favorites. It definitely feels like a traditional haunted house and uses lots of jump scares. I liked it. Tombstone Terrtory- The train ride was really nice with some guy blabberin on about robbers. Honestly, the part where they kicked you off the train was not executed very well and it was way too obvious it was planned out because the train stopped long before the scareactors kicked us off the train. This has to be one of my least favorites. It was poorly done with jus a few people hiding behind crates every few yards. Plus there were random Rubbermaid tubs on the ground like what? Had some ok scares, but not the best. Madame Fatales- i just love love love this maze! the incorporation into a wax museum was genius and the actors were amazing! The theming was incredible and it used some new technology I havent seen before in other haunt mazes. One of my favorites. Delta Delta Die- one of the weaker haunts. the actors were pretty good, but half the maze we were just meandering through hung up clothes. Plus there were elves, shouldnt they be in Holiday Horror. It was ok, but Massacre Manor beats DDD by far. Board to Death- This is another one of my favorites. I loveee the animatronics, air guns, etc. The actors do a great job. I think the theming put into each room is very well done and this is one of the more unique haunts. Cornstalkers- didnt do this one, but last year it was just a path meandering around with a few haybales along the sides every now and then. Most of the actors were behind crates, similar to Tombstone Terrtory. Slaughterhouse- Another of the stronger haunts. Scary actors, gory themeing, oh and the chainsaw guy is back! Awesome. Wolf Pack- its an ok maze, not the best but it has a decent theming, layout, and scares. Nice uses of animatronics. Not too great, but I'll still remember it. Club Blood- ... A really good haunt with some very strong scares and nice themeing. This probably stands in the middle ranking up to the other haunts. The bungee person is so cool! Urgent Scare-I really like this maze. It keeps a solid theme throughout and has plenty of gore, animatronics, and great scare tactics. I love the introduction of the elevator effect. That was really cool. Scare Zones- Nightmare Alley- Probably the worst of the scare zones. It definitely is a step up from last year, but i still cant get over how terrible those eyeballs look Cemetery Drive- good every year. I like all the tombstones and how the actors are very versatile and hide in many places. Always a few good scares here. Freak Street-the same as every year, good lasers, lighting, fog, do I need to go on. The actors do a great job. Definitely a solid scare zone. Backwoods Bayou- this was interesting. it was basically a one way trail/scarezone with plenty of good actors and a swamp theme. good scares and animatronics. my only complaint with this one was that the ground was wet. It hadnt rained anytime that day or the day before, but it was slopping wet. I guess they were just washing the path or trying to achieve that "swampy" feel. Had a good time, blah blah blah. Thanks everyone. Sorry for any grammatical errors: written on a phone , of course . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Not all progress can easily be seen.

Hey all, I just got back from Stricker’s Grove near Ross (OH) and it was a blast! This trip was a big deal because this was the first new theme park I’d been to in 5 years (last one was Six Flags Great America in 2008). Here’s what went on during the awesome day: I got there around 11:30 and waited until the park opened at 12. As it turned out, I was the first KICer there (and one of the first people there in general). I just listened to some music and then waited for others to show up. NoChickens and Mrs. NoChickens arrived shortly after I did and we talked. Finally, the gates opened and we went in. The first thing I noticed was that the park was divided between the rides area (which opened at 1PM) and the picnic area/food stands/arcade area. After taking a look around, I decided to play some skeeball, which was really fun. I played eight rounds (1 token each) and ended up earning approx. 11 tickets. I then had a hotdog and chips for lunch while chatting with other KICers. The hotdog was really good, but the chips were surprisingly just ok. The gates finally opened and I decided to make Teddy Bear my first ride (and coaster) of the day. I sat in the back because I knew that I got good air on Woodstock's Express at KI (which is a bit similar) and I thought the same would happen here. It was a pretty fun ride and a good pick for the first ride of the day. I then made a beeline to one ride I had been wanting to ride ever since I had planned this trip: the Round-Up (or as it’s called at Stricker’s, the Electric Rainbow). It was a pretty unique ride as centripetal force left you stuck to the wall and it got interesting once the ride went vertical. Although it was fun, I did have to sit and recover from the awesomeness. After this, I decided to ride the park’s second coaster, The Tornado. I ended up sitting in the second to last seat (back) and had heard about the airtime back there. Overall, the first drop was great and “the cliff” of airtime (as it’s called) did catch me off guard, but not really in a good way. Also, I noticed that the turn after the first drop reminded me of Son of Beast’s drop/turn section before the big drop. After this, I decided to do my new favorite ride, Electric Rainbow, again. I then decided to ride the Turtle, a Tumble Bug ride similar to the old Boo-Boo’s Baggage Claim kiddie ride that used to reside in Hanna Barbara Land when KI was owned by Paramount. That turned out to be a bit more forceful than I expected, but it was all good. I then made my way to the Tip Top. It’s basically one of those spinning cup rides on steroids as it raises up and down while you are spinning. I had seen a Youtube video of one of these rides and had watched the ride cycle before I got the chance to ride. I was a little nervous as I’m not typically one to try those “crazy flat rides”. It was not as bad as I thought (it looks a lot worse than it really is), but I found it really hard to spin and therefore didn’t spin much. This all changed when I rode it again with fellow KIC member ZombieNinja, who spun it like crazy!!! It turned into one of the most intense rides of my life, but it was great! I then went back to the old favorite Electric Rainbow for a third time. It was around this time that I noticed that my head hurt due to the lack of padding on the wall that you are standing on (preferably for head support). This seems vital as you are pushed into your “seat” by force and I think more padding would make it a more comfortable ride. After this, I rode the train with NoChickens, Mrs. NoChickens and their nephew. I was advised to ride the train by a friend of mine, and it was worth it! The tunnel reminded us all of The Beast’s first tunnel as the train seemed like it wouldn’t fit and the material the tunnel was made out of reminded me of the concrete used for the third tunnel (after the break shed in the first half of the ride). After this, I decided to brave the tilt-a-whirl. As some of you may or may not know, I had a very bad experience riding a tilt-a-whirl while visiting Michigan’s Adventure when I was younger (I didn’t like it, but had to ride a second time). Thankfully, the results were not the same here; I loved it. I especially loved spinning really tightly and fast, which was the part I used to hate the most. I then rode Electric Rainbow for a fourth and final time (I had to quit because of the head issue I mentioned earlier, which made the ride a bit less enjoyable). I then tried to win a Homer Simpson stuffed animal at a ball toss game, but failed (my aim was mostly too short). It was around this time that Gator and his family had gotten to the park, so after they exited the Teddy Bear, we (as in, all the KICers present) decided to ride Tornado before the line closed down for dinner. Most of us made it on one train and I led a “K-I-C” chant up the lift. The airtime “cliff” was taken a bit better as I was sitting towards the front, but it was still noticeable. It was after this that I wanted to ride the Whip as I’d never been on a Whip before. It was pretty cool and was definitely different. The time was about 4 o’clock and the rides had shut down for the hour break for dinner. During this time, I tried to coordinate all the KIC’ers sitting in the same table (or at least in the same area), which sort-of worked. It was also during this time that I thought we should all have a KIC mini golf tourney as sort-of a team building activity. Most people were cool with the idea, so after we ate (I had another hotdog), 9 of us played a round of 18 holes at the mini-golf course. JCGoble came in first place, RaptorGuy came in second place and OhioColts came in third place. A great time was had by all and I suggested that if we have a KIC gathering at Stricker’s next year, we should definitely do another mini-golf tourney like this (seriously, we should!). After golfing, I decided to ride the Flying Scooters (very similar to the old Flying Eagles there were at KI) and although it was a fun ride (I got a Nickelodeon orange tub), it didn’t really do much for me. After this, I decided to do the tilt-a-whirl again and surprisingly spun more this time than I did the first time. With not much time left (I wanted to get on the road before dark), I decided to ride Tip Top and Teddy Bear (this time near the front) with BeastForever before cashing in my skeeball tickets and calling it a day (by the way, I got a cool frog-hopping toy like I had when I was little and two tops for those Skeeball tickets). Overall, it was a great day and I had a blast. Thanks to all the KICers who joined me on this amazing day of awesomeness and I’m definitely looking forward to bigger and better coaster destinations in the future. -MDMC01 Top Rides: Tilt-a-Whirl (both times), Electric Rainbow (1st and 2nd times only), Tip Top (2nd time only) PS: As with the Dollywood TR last year, I apologize that there are no pictures to go along with the Trip Report as I only took one picture while I was there. Also, here's a breakdown of the ride count: Electric Rainbow: 4 Flying Scooters: 1 Teddy Bear: 2 Tilt-a-Whirl: 2 Tip Top: 3 Tornado: 2 Turtle: 1 Train: 1 Whip: 1

You post many questions that can't be answered, but there is one that I can answer for you. That would be ME!!! But back to all amusement industry serious, which compared to other types of serious, isn't very serious... I truly think that Cedar Fair is doing an awesome job with Kings Island, and hope that they will hold on to it forever. And I have feeling they will, it get some of the highest attendance ratings out of their parks and it is just such an awesome real-estate, I just hope to the heavens that we don't end up like Geauge Lake... If Cedar Fair does sell it I hope that the park goes to family that would take good care of and bring back the feel of old, old days, but right now Cedar Fair is doing awesome. Though things might change when Mr. Ouimet leaves, or maybe he evolves from what he is now. But Long live Cedar Fair, and Long live Kings Island!

And here I thought this would be about the retro commercial, instead we are discussing 800#'s. Awesome, this site never fails to surprise me.

I doubt Son of Beast still has parking spots. He even lost his footings. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk now Free

20 years ago. Two decades. And Paramount was brand new to Kings Island. One must wonder who will run Kings Island in 2033. Will Racer still run? Beast? Banshee? Diamondback? Vortex? None of us know. Some of us won't live to see it. And the GM may be a member here. Right now.

Yes. Terp, who just HAD to.

And just how, oh wise one, is this to be done at Cedar Point? The causeway is what it is, and is not likely to be widened or double-decked. Well?

Great trip report! It was a fun day! We didn't get to play golf. We had that yuk thing called work to go to.

Nice report - glad you all had fun! Perhaps I should make the ~130mi drive next year. Organizing a mini-golf tournament was a great idea. I may have embarrassed myself, though; I had the highest score in a group of ~40 the last time I played mini-golf.

While working at the Haunt last Friday night (October 11), I had an encounter with a wild animal. It was very dark and with the fog that was being produced, the visibility was not very good. I was by the entrance to the season pass building when I saw what I thought was a large white plastic trash bag in the grassy area. I walked over to it to pick it up and when I got within 10 feet or so of it, it began to move. This "white" trash bag was about 3 feet in length and had a very white bushy tail. Needless to say, I calmly began to back away and it saw me and calmly walked over to the trees and disappeared. This was one of the Park's almost all white skunks and with me being about 10 feet away, I was well within range of its smelly weapon and with the skunk's deadly aim, I would had been a real stinker. You can bet I would had called first aid and have them come to my aid. I would had advised them to bring a gas mask and a new set of uniforms for me and several gallons of tomato juice along with soap and a scrub brush. I heard that tomato juice will help in getting the smelly oil and scent off of you and I am glad I did not have to see how well it worked. If you have ever driven along the road and seen and smelt a skunk on the side of the road, you know how I would had smelled. And besides, on a bright note, I would not have to ask someone to make room as I sat down at a crowded event. They would had given me the entire section!

Here's some more pictures from last night. No new track work, but lots of supports are going up for the loop and the immelman. We rode Diamondback twice (full queue is 1 hour 10 minutes with a crew that was constantly stacking) For the record, the main queue house full only takes 25 minutes to go through. We rode Top Gun, Racer, Adventure Express, WindSeeker. We also did Backwoods Bayou, Cornstalkers (worst maze/actors), Board to Death (What's up with the lighting in the first half? It was so dark you couldn't see jack sh!t.), Slaughterhouse, and Wolfpack just for giggles. Seriously, Wolfpack is one of the worst haunt layouts ever. It's so bad it's hilarious. Holiday Horror was the best. We did it around Midnight, no one was in line. It has the best animatronics and the actors were great! Thanks for providing an awesome Haunt! This Holiday Horror actor is awesome Train ride. Weeeee yay Diamondback. What the f*ck is this. Viking FURY! With light swords! Love this picture, Drop Zone going up, people walking through. Bulb setting.

Terp, just playing the field.

No. It's a private road. People paid a lot of money to live on that private road. What WILL happen: * Dynamic pricing. Tickets for days expected to be busy are going to cost more. Perhaps much more. * Dynamic pricing: look for passes with black-out dates for less, and much more for passes that don't. * Upcharges for some or all haunts. * Remote parking off the peninsula, with buses, trams and yes, perhaps even boats.

From a quick scan of Saturday night's Twitter posts about Cedar Point, it seems that many had a good time despite long lines at attractions. Tweets turn rather angry in hours 2, 3, and 4 of waiting to exit the parking lot. With ~11,000 parking spaces (according to cedarpoint.com) and ~2500 cars/hour maximum causeway capacity, traffic management could only do so much. If the park's near capacity at the scheduled closing time, they should keep attraction(s) open later to spread out the exiting crowd. Running Millennium and Gatekeeper until 2:00am might have prevented much frustration at a relatively low cost.

Those cars reportedly do not swing as much as the Arrow cars. Plus, why would we need those when you get the same feeling on Banshee?

You can define a region however you want (read: whatever gives you the most seemingly impressive marketing claim). A few minutes from my house sits Kil-Kare Speedway, a 3/8 mile paved oval short track used for weekly grassroots-level auto racing. At one point, the sign out front advertised the track as "the fastest 3/8 mile oval in Greene County". In fact, it is the only auto racing track in Greene County of any length.

^They can just like KI does, but I have never seen it happen, and I don't think that happened this weekend either This is practically what happens EVERY Columbus Day weekend...Me and Lindzey met up and had our first CP trip together in 2011 during this weekend while I was still working, needless to say we really didn't get to hang out and do anything as the park was ridiculously packed. Traffic was backed up to rt 2/rye beach and even on 250. They were even parking people in the grass on the causeway before the tolls it was that crazy... I avoid this weekend like the plague

^The poles are the same as from Der Spinnen Keggers. The arrows point to the current location of the poles (shielded by trees in the picture, but visible from ground level), and the two poles as they were when it was Der Spinnen Keggers.

^yodawg lol I'm still surprised by the changes in parks over the years...back then, brochures, packets, commercials, and press releases about the next year...now we watch facebooks, twitters, and websites.. Man have times changed

i really wish they would clean off that smudge on the webcam and also maybe zoom in a little more. I know if would mess up the time lapse a little, but i would prefer to have a more detailed look than have a "perfect" time lapse.

That was a commercial fulfillment house. A lot of companies used those back then. Companies would have them mail out information packets.

Thanks for the comments on the crowd size from the regulars. I thought that it might have been more crowded than a normal Saturday but I didn't want to seem like a drama queen, haha.

There's no question that a vast majority of the delays in operations I experienced were caused by the riders themselves. But on DB the guy with the mic requested the height stick to re-check the height of 2 short kids who got on, and in both instances they passed, and rather easily. And with WindSeeker, I had no idea what the hold-up seemed to be. But every other delay I witnessed was certainly caused by rider "ineptitude".

I bet the Thirsty Pony ran out of beer that night.

here's the trucks unloading some supports.

I won't even mention Fruity Pebbles. Oops.

She will be staying here when I take off for Guam, unfortunately. As much as we'd both love the opportunity for us both to go this year, it's not in perfect timing for our careers/finances/ect. Theres no saying later on while I'm there things could change or whenever I come home post Guam or leave during my time there, but as of now there are no plans to go to Guam jointly.

If they painted it black, it would inevitably be confused with Batman: The Ride. Even though most of them are no longer black. T2. Uh...

Now, now. Even then the parking lot had all too many Pebbles. As for Bam Bam in the parking lot... SECURITY in Bam Bam 4, please!

Great report! It was awesome seeing everybody, and getting 3rd in Mini Golf!

I would absolutely LOVE an old-fashioned Ferris wheel in Coney; it doesn't have the be the world's largest, just something in the lines of what the Coney area is.

At a destination park. Yep. That's going to go over real well.

The haunt inside of the crypt has you walk down a flight of stairs.... I also saw them tell a few guests in wheel chairs that they would not be able to go through a few haunts while in wheel chairs.... As someone else stated, there's an elevator for guests unable to go up/down stairs. Here ya go. Not sure where I found these, but I think it might've actually been on this website a couple years ago. When I worked Flight Deck back in 2008 and part of 2009, we'd sometimes go under the station during some off-time. The doors could be opened with one of the ride's keys, but there wasn't much to see inside any of them - just some dusty old props and displays. Hopefully whatever goes in instead is more exciting.

This is the latest facebook post from Cedar Point. It is just a cover photo update from a family that they posted yesterday morning. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151665111211463&set=a.10150582435226463.375429.10625691462&type=1&theater Not sure if you can see these comments or not but there are about 154 comments as of now (10:30PM) and I have yet to read one positive review about what happened saturday. This is seriously making me consider NOT going to CP this upcoming weekend. Part of CP response to this situation was "While guests were attempting to park their vehicles, and subsequently, leave the park at the end of their day, they experienced a longer than normal delay in our parking lot and on our causeway. Like sporting events, concerts and other events where large crowds gather, guests leave around the same time creating a backup." I have been to many sporting events Pacers games, Colts games (including a bar outside across the block from the Super Bowl that was in Indianapolis), and large concerts such as Lollapalooza (Which hits capacity around 70,000 concert goers, not including the employees and volunteers working the concert) and I have NEVER had to wait more than 45 minutes (that was at Lollapalooza) to leave an area by car. I understand there are few ways in and out of CP but they have to have a better plan in place to accommodate crowds like this. I feel terrible for the families that had young children stuck in their cars for 4 hours...and for the people who decided to come with their families, spend hundreds of dollars (stories say anywhere from $300-$700)to run into a mess like this past Saturday. Just awful.

You are probably right, but when I hear stories of Kings Island's past, and look at the map in the First Aid Station, that has always been one of the most intriguing aspects of the former life of the park. I really enjoy canoeing, and I think that would make for a great family ride, in Rivertown. The Canoes always seemed one of the things that made Kings Island so unique, and such an awesome park, with just such variety, and if I owned Kings Island that is what I would want in my park. If I had more time, and wasn't force to come up with these ideas on the spot for Razzy's entertainment, I would probably do things differently and really figure out how to tie all of these unique things that made Kings Island such a special place, and bring them into a 21st century Kings Island and what makes it so special today.

Boy am I glad we switched days for my wife and my trip to CP. We were going to go up there this weekend and decided not to on Wednesday this past week. We ended up doing a 3 day trip to KI (which Fri and Sat were pretty bad). I would rather spend a packed day at KI (takes us 1:50 to get to KI) than travel 4:30+ hours to CP and be met with record crowds... We are headed to CP next weekend and expect similar crowds on Saturday. But the weather should hold some people away (Mid 50s for high and low 40s for lows.) Though after reading this I doubt the crowds will be that much smaller... :-/ All I know is we rode two rides after 4pm at KI and I hated it. But I took it as a positive as well because days like this past weekend are what puts rides like Banshee in the park (FL,food, parking sales were through the roof).