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This week was a very important week for me because I went to Universal and Islands of Adventure for the first time since I was 18 months old... Nearly nineteen years ago. We boarded the Megabus in Cincy at 9:00 pm Sunday night, and arrived in Orlando at 3:30 pm Momday afternoon. We grabbed a cab and arrived at our hotel on International Drive a while later. I liked that the hotel was five minutes from Universal. We could go up to the top floor and see the park from there. Most of this is a combination of the two days spent in the parks, simply because if I wrote out in detail everything we did chronologically, it would be the length of a Harry Potter book. On Tuesday, we left our hotel at 8 am, and we were at CityWalk by around 8:20. Our plan was to go straight for Diagon Alley first. If we could be one of the first in line for Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts, maybe we wouldn't have to wait three hours. The gates were already crowded at 8:30. It wasn't like Kings Island, where 8:30 am means first in line for Banshee. We waited just inside the park where a line was already forming for Diagon Alley. Then, at 9, we waited an extra 20 minutes just to get into Diagon Alley. Just outside Diagon Alley is 12 Grimmauld Place and the Knight Bus. If you watch one of the windows of 12 Grimmauld Place long enough, you'll see Kreacher peek around the curtain. I wasn't even in Diagon Alley yet and I was already amazed by J.K. Rowling and Universal's attention to detail. Everything from the books and movies was accurate in the parks. I stepped over to talk to Stan and the shrunken head at the Knight Bus. It was extremely interactive; the shrunken head made a comment about my hairstyle When I first stepped into Diagon Alley, I was overcome with awe and emotion. Being the huge Potter fan that I am, I started tearing up. Here was my childhood and favorite movies in real life in front of me. Of you're a Potter nerd like me, it's a very awesome experience. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is the first shop on the left when you walk in. They sell all the gags from the books like Puking Pastilles, Fever Fudge, and Extendable Ears. They also carried Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's. Madame Malkin's was also a neat store. They had robes (with a hefty price tag) as well as Harry's and Ron's sweaters that Molly Weasley made for them in The Sorcerer's Stone. There was a mirror that complimented you when you looked at it, and they also had Hermione's Yule Ball dress and Dumbledore's robes on display. The center of Diagon Alley was Gringotts Bank, which looks exactly like the one from the movies, no detail left behind. Sirius's bike! Another interesting part of Diagon Alley was Knockturn Alley. Just like in the movies, the Alley goes from bright and enchanting to dark and mysterious (and air conditioned). The employees working in Knockturn even acted dark and mysterious. Very cool part of Diagon Alley. We also saw a show in Diagon Alley: Celestia and her Banshees. She was based off a popular singer mentioned in the books. Very neat show! After exploring all the shops (and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over every detail), we got in line for Gringotts. Gringotts was, as expected of every brand new intricate ride, broken down when we got in line. Twenty or so minutes later, it was fixed. Total wait time= three hours. Worth it. I won't give any spoilers to the ride, but it was fantastic. The queue was fascinating as well. You walked through the main lobby of Gringotts and down a hall to the "office," and then "down" an elevator to the vaults. Very, very cool. After Gringotts, we walked to Disaster!, which was a pretty interesting experience. The pre-show actors were very talented and very good at gauging the audience, plus the subway tunnel thing was awesome. From there, we noticed the wait for Revenge of the Mumny was only 20 minutes, so we got a locker (very convenient that most lockers were free) and got in line. Revenge of the Mummy turned out to be one of my favorites. It was one of the few rides we made time for to ride twice. Now for the start of our Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit complications. You know, ever since this ride was built it's been on my coaster bucket list. I mean, it's a coaster you get to pick your own music on! However, as we approached Rockit the first day, we were informed that the ride was down and to come back later. No biggie, we still had another day. We headed over to IOA to ride The Incredible Hulk. However, when we came back later to check it, the ride was still down. Throughout both days, the ride was either down, or it had over a two hour wait the entire time. Sadly, I never got to ride it, but maybe next time! I was greeted with the familiar B&M roar as we entered the fifteen minute queue, feeling good about this ride. As we approached the station, however, the ride op announced that they were experiencing a brief delay. I noticed the train had begun to exit the station and go up the lift hill, but had stopped at the third car or so. A few minutes later, a mechanic appeared, hit a few buttons, and the ride was on its way. I'm assuming the ride op must've accidentally hit the wrong switch to cause the train to stop like that. Anyhoo, we boarded the train in row 6. The Incredible Hulk was very different from other B&Ms I've ridden (Diamondback, Banshee, Gatekeeper, Raptor, and Mantis). I have never experienced a launch on a B&M, but I must say I liked the combination. A B&M with themeing was a good change of pace from B&Ms just sitting there looking picturesque (don't get me wrong, those are great too). The launch straight into the inversion was my favorite element; it just flipped my insides around and actually took my breath away. Very neat. Very cool. Next stop was Hogsmeade. I didn't cry this time when I walked in, thank goodness. We spoke to the conductor of the Hogwarts express, who had perfectly timed when this mechanical owl would pop out of the owl post like a cuckoo clock. He was very comical and pleasant to interact with After that, we decided to go to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which was at an hour wait according to the Universal Orlando app, but it didn't feel that long. My one problem with Forbidden Journey is how they handle lockers. You're inside a dimly lit corridor, where a mess of people are either renting a locker, trying to get back to their party, taking the castle tour, or trying to exit the gift shop. It's a confusing mass of people. Half the parties would wait for their one person to come back from getting a locker while the other half would move alon and leave their extra person to have to weave through people in the queue to find their group. It was a bit hectic. Again, I was not disappointed in the amount of detail that went into building the castle. The Mirror of the Erised was accurate. Dumbledore's office was amazing. The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was spot on, and the effect with Hermione counter-cursing the weather was really cool too. Finally, the sorting hat told us to "have fun" before we boarded the ride. Forbidden Journey was my absolute favorite ride in the park. Hands down. No others. I was smiling the entire time, getting really into it, shouting "expecto patronum" at the dementors and everything. I loved how close everything got to you as you were riding, like Aragog and the Whomping Willow. Genius. I'm smiling just writing about it. We also got to eat at The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, which I was impressed with. No Pepsi products or soda at all, just how J.K. Rowling wanted it. I ordered the chicken an ribs meal with a butterbeer. Not the best ribs I've ever had, but the rest was delicious! I should also add that I tried pumpkin juice. For $7 a bottle, do me a favor and skip it. It doesn't taste good on a hundred degree summer day, and you'll waste $7. We caught a show in Hogsmeade, "The Triwizard Pep Rally," basically re-creating the scene from Goblet of Fire where the Durmstrang boys and Beauxbatons girls are introduced. Loved the costumes. Props to the actors for doing all that in the miserable Orlando weather. We also rode the Dragon Challenge, both sides, since the line was so short. I loved how it made you feel like you were a Triwizard Champion, showing the Goblet of Fire, the Triwizard Cup (but watch out! It's a portkey. Hehe.) and the golden eggs the dragons protected. Between the Chinese Fireball and the Hungarian Horntail, I liked the Chinese Fireball side more. On that note, why don't suspended coasters have more hills? I would ride a suspended version of Diamondback. Anyhoo... After seeing the rest if the shops and doing the spells in the windows, it was off to the Hogsmeade train station to go back to Diagon Alley. The train ride was very neat, how it included not only events from out the window but on the other side of the frosted glass as well. I liked the ride from Kings Cross to Hogsmeade better than the other way around, simply because of the dementors. I won't say any more to spoil, but here are some pics if the Kings Cross station. We exited Kings Cross to hit Men in Black and The Simpsons. The Simpsons was really funny, and poked fun at amusement parks in general (overpriced stuff, etc) and was really fun. Men in Black was a lot better than the indoor shooter game back home. It makes me wish Boo Blasters had a bit more flare. On our way out of that area, I saw the iconic movie prop from my all-time favorite movie. Great Scott! I mean, the DeLorean in itself is reason enough to come back, right? After that, we buckled down for the 45 minute Transformers Hype Giant Building With Optimus Prime On It 4-D. I like Transformers. I was expecting a lot more. The queue was noisy, and the videos repeated themselves way too often. When they told us to put our stuff at our feet instead of in a locker, I was confused, and then I rode the ride and discovered why. It wasn't exciting. Look, if you wanna sit and watch Optimus Prime aand Megatron fight for a few scenes, just go watch the movies with 3-D glasses on and spare yourself the long wait. It wasn't that great. I know I was told to see the Horror Makeup Show, but we caught it too late. The show was at 8:45, and we got there at 8:50. However, I did get to see Optimus Prime next door We decided to experience Terminator 2 instead. I was excited because Terminator 2 happens to be my favorite of the Terminator movies. It was a show with some really wild effects, where the real actors were put on the screens and the live actors had shadows on their faces so you couldn't tell it wasn't the real Arnold (but I think we knew already). It was some great, cheesy 80s movie fun. All in all, I had a fantastic time. The Harry Potter stuff really took my breath away and it was some of the most fun I've ever had at an amusement park. I can't wait to go again as soon as possible.

So this evening around 7:30, I decided that I wanted to go to Kings Island. I've been really burned out on Kings Island lately, but I figured I could make it by about 8 and get in a solid two hours of rides, which is better than sitting at home and doing nothing. So I put down the top on my car, hopped in and headed for Kings Island via 275 to 71. I got to the park at 8 and much to my surprise, at some point they stop staffing the parking tolls, because there were no employees to be seen. Not that it matters for me, since I have a Platinum Pass, but I found it odd. Anyway, I pulled ol' Blue Streak into an available spot in row 51 and headed into the park. As is tradition, I headed straight for Coney Mall and the finest steel coaster in the park, good ol' Vortex. Vortex was a walk-on in most rows, but 7-1 was taken, so I went to 6-2. The ride is still solid in 6-2. Good air on the first drop, only slightly less intense than in 7-1. Since there was no line, I made a quick loop around and went for another ride, this time walking right onto 7-1. After another great ride, I decided to move on to something else, so I headed up the midway toward Action Zone. On the way, I got a quick ride on the Blue Racer. I was surprised to see them running both sides today, but I won't complain. After Racer, I continued to Adventure Express and got a very eerie ride with the entire train to myself. It was very... different. Of course, since it's the finest non-inverting coaster at Kings Island, I had to go around and ride it again. And yes, I did say that, and yes, I've been to Rivertown. The second time around, I had to sit in front of a couple who felt it necessary to talk in great detail about how much they dislike both Adventure Express and Vortex. I wanted to ask them why they would ride it if they hated it so much, but I resisted the urge. Even still, my jimmies were thoroughly rustled by their comments. I quickly got over it, though, because a ride on one of the finest coasters in Ohio can cure almost any ail. I decided to go ahead and continue in my path toward Action Zone and got in a ride on Banshee. It was a stair wait and I was on the ride in about 5 minutes. Row 2 needs a wheel replaced, it's a tad shaky, but by no means unpleasant. By this time, it was getting sufficiently dark, so I headed for one of my favorite night rides, The Bat. It was a great ride as usual, and I've decided that 1-2 is actually my favorite row on that ride (odd considering that even numbered rows on two-row Arrow cars are not typically very tall person friendly). Oh how I long for the days when they allowed re-rides. I could ride The Bat all day, but if I am forced to walk all the way back to the shortcut path between the entry path and exit path, re-rides are simply not happening often for me. Anyway, I really wanted to spend the night hours in Coney, so I headed back that direction next. Back in Coney, I contemplated riding Flight of Fear. The line was back to about the first bend leading up to the stairs to the UFO. I decided to pass, as with that ride's capacity, it would be a longer wait than it's worth. I opted instead for the one-train wait on Firehawk. I don't believe I'd ever ridden Firehawk at night before and I have to say, it's a fantastic night ride. I enjoyed myself. But at this point, it was about 9:30, so to finish off the night the right way, I headed back to Vortex for two more laps. At the end of my two laps, it was 9:54, so I got in line for WindSeeker, which was just on its way up the tower. As suspected, it came back down around 9:57, and by the time we loaded and dispatched, the fireworks were just starting. I love fireworks rides on WindSeeker, and this one was no less awesome. Of course, when the ride was done, it was after 10:00, so the park was closed. On the way out, I naturally passed by the International Bandstand where Playlist Live was being performed. The song they were on at that point was Paramore's "Still Into You". I'm glad this was the song they were on as I passed. It made me stop and think for a moment. I had been burned out on Kings Island. Just a few hours earlier, it felt like a chore driving to go there, but I decided to do it anyway. And when I got there, I had one of the best visits to the park I've ever experienced. I'm at Kings Island a lot, and nothing there is really new to me. And even still, like the song says, after all this time, I'm still into it. It's easy to get burned out on something when you do it over and over, but how could I not love a place full of so many special memories with special people, some of whom I'll never get to see again? I'd say today's visit really rekindled my love for this park. And to top it all off, I got to take the long way home with the top down and enjoy the best night ride of them all, then sit down in my favorite chair and type up this trip report with a cold Redd's Apple Ale (By the way, thanks for introducing me to that drink, Devan!) "Mama park", as at least one person here calls it, may have a lot of special things, and is certainly a top-tier amusement park. But there's only one park full of the sentimental value and special memories that I'll never be able to replace as long as I live, and it is not in Sandusky. It's not even in West Mifflin, PA, as much as it pains me to say. No, the park that will always be MY park, MY home away from home, and MY happy place will always be Kings Island. Where else? I will also add that I needed this trip. I've spent a lot of time stressing myself over stupid things that aren't really worth stressing over, and to take a couple hours to stroll through my favorite place and enjoy some of my favorite thrill rides was a much needed break from the scary grown-up world.

I just realized that I left out the water rides. I knew I would forget something! We rode Jurassic Park and Ripsaw Falls. I was just glad that I got to ride the iconic Jurassic Park in my lifetime! I mean, it was on the TV commercials in Florida when I was a kid. When we approached Ripsaw Falls, I saw the speed that those little logs were flying at down the hill and skidding over the water like that, I thought I was crazy for getting in line. But it was actually really fun! I even put my hands up on the last giant drop. Okay, I think that's everything! I think.

The clear perception for the public is that Kings Island couldn't care less about the hassle or inconvenience, it wants the money. Not unlike two years ago, when KD season passes could only be renewed at the park, IN PERSON. No online, no phone renewals. Not unlike holding a guest near hostage at the Carowinds gate for half an hour before the park opened and 15 minutes after--claiming they had already entered with a season pass that morning and trying to reach Kings Island on the phone to "verify" the pass which had been used without incident the day before and ALLEGEDLY that very morning again. What all this has in common is delivering the perception to the customer that the park values its processes and procedures, even when they are clunky or don't work at all, more than it values its guests. Parks' admissions departments sometimes function more like detention monitors than guest service ambassadors.

Meanwhile, the splendid, far superior Magnum XL-200 beckons...

GEE-ah-guh

Opening up the park to others at $19.99, like Fast Lane, doubtlessly in no way degrades from season passholders and full price paying guests enjoying a "best day ever." Of course not. Terp, whose height has not changed since 1972.

"Subject to change without notice." True of admission prices, season pass benefits, operation hours, and children's heights since 1972*... * Some earlier, some later. Subject to change without notice.

I would say Coney is pretty high up on the list in terms of lands that could benefit from a renovation. Could be the most charming area in the park, by far. Buildings re-painted classic white and blue. Racer re-painted in its red, white, and blue. Chaser lights on Racer. Flashing, matching incandescent bulbs on all the family flat rides. Matching trees planted down the center planters. Lights strung up in the trees and retro, geometric sunshades (see Gemini Midway, 2014). Affectionately retro (but not obnoxious) matching marquees advertising "GAMES" "SNACKS" "POPCORN" "RACER" "MONSTER" "TROIKA" "SCRAMBLER." And for those who aren't big into film, Marvel / Disney's new Guardians of the Galaxy in on-track to be a Frozen-type viral hit, thanks in part to its soundtrack... entirely made up of songs from the 1960s and 1970s, played in the film via a cassette "mix tape." "Cherry Bomb." "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." "Fooled Around and Fell In Love." "Come And Get Your Love." To hear those classics playing in Coney Mall would be wonderful. Oh, and you know... accurate. The music of my parents' generation. My mom would lose it if "Come and Get Your Love" played in the park. And, who is it who brings the wallet? Certainly not the Katy Perry generation, and yet...

^I would agree with you to an extent. But perhaps it is not so much Mantis that you rank highly as it is the concept of a Standup coaster. If you rode one that was exponentially better, you could potentially begin to see Mantis as being less good, and since there would be a better coaster to give you the same novelty of a standup, Mantis would cease to be better than those others, as you can get what it once offered you elsewhere. I like to think of it like this. There was a time when I would have ranked Diamondback above the likes of Adventure Express and The Beast. However, as I rode more coasters (specifically hypercoasters) I realized that I really liked the IDEA of a hypercoaster, but began to see Diamondback as being a fairly weak representative of hypercoasters in general. So where it once sat in my list, it has been replaced with Maggie and/or Phantom's Revenge, and upon my realizing that it is a very mediocre hypercoaster, I no longer rank it above those coasters, as I no longer find it impressive. I'm sure that post made exactly zero sense, but whatever. It makes sense to me.

Perhaps the park wisely thinks it best that on this ride riders' faces be distorted such that determining their actual expressions and emotions is not possible.

^^Rita's Water Ice ^If you're going to correct people you might as well be right.

My husband and I were in line for The Bat on Wednesday. We overheard two boys (looked to be about aged 10) discussing the ride. The cute little know-it-all was explaining that they had to change the name from Flight Deck to The Bat because of the big accident on it last year. "Yeah, and I was on the ride at the time! The back car flew right off the track and killed two kids! I was so scared. I was in the car in front of them!"

The most comparable systems are SeaWorld Parks' QuickQueue and Universal's Express / Gate A pass, which are both MUCH less intrusive, obvious, and transparent. I think it's equally important that both of those chains have tiered line-cutting passes. I would imagine that MOST guests who use QuickQueue at Busch Gardens Tampa opt for the once-per-ride option. I'm one of their desired demographic. I visit Busch Gardens Tampa infrequently. When I visit, I do want a hassle-free experience. I want a "best day" of the year. I want to make sure I can ride all the coasters, and I don't want to have to worry in the week leading up if I'll face two-hour lines for each. QuickQueue at Busch Gardens Tampa starts at $19.99 (valid on 8 rides, not Kings Island's "all of them"), and I'll pay that to get priority boarding once-per-ride. Because it's once-per-ride, it's also metered much more than an unlimited option - folks waiting for Kumba may see me pass by once, but they know I won't be by again. I certainly don't know all the math behind it, but in that sense it sort of IS like Disney's FastPass where a certain amount of hourly capacity is set aside for QuickQueue and the wait time is adjusted to match. The difference is that Disney knows exactly how many will be back per hour, whereas Busch Gardens doesn't except based on past patterns. Still, they can know how many passes they've sold and have an idea of how people move through the park, knowing most will ride only once-per-ride. For 250% the cost, Busch Gardens also offers QuickQueue Unlimited. It's a premium version of a premium product, so the guests like me (who just want a hassle-free day and to make sure to get to experience each ride) say, "Well, I don't need unlimited. I just want to make sure to get on everything, so the lower tier is fine for me." And really, even though they make less money off of it, I think that's probably a nice balance for Busch Gardens to have MOST QuickQueue users opt for the lower-tier, once-per-ride version. The catch (for the park) is that once-per-ride options require a way to make sure you only ride once-per-ride. That's a level of investment (in personel, scanners, etc.) that an unlimited ride wristband flashed to an employee who would be there anyway doesn't need.

That's the question from a business stand-point. Measuring losses and goodwill and revenue and profit. There are MANY more questions than that, and most of them are – from a guest's point of view – more important than profit and losses. Most absurd was the initial promise that Fast Lane would not impact the wait times of guests choosing not to use it. Pretend there were no separate queue - that guests with special wristbands were simply allowed to shuffle through the regular queue "excuse me, excuse me," to get to the front. That's really what this is, just dressed up more nicely. And that's fine. I don't think it's amoral or that it's ruining Kings Island or that Kings Island / Cedar Fair is the only one doing it. All I'm saying is that it does impact a typical guest's experience and devalue "general admission." Any promise to the contrary is just silly.

You're probably right. I'm sitting in the theater for the 1:30. What's the point of coming on a Saturday if I don't watch four Cirque shows rather than 3? I wanted to be part of a world record attempt, but considering we only made about half the number needed even after all their campaigning next to International Theater and promising free cupcakes (!!!) around noon on a Saturday, I'm not sure they're going to have more luck in a more obscured part of the park. I apparently should have reserved judgment on today's crowd until after noon. Banshee's queue is about half full, both Delirium and Drop Tower have full queues. The Bat was back to the candy machines.

See also the food line. One pays $12-$15 for A meal. Another little more than four times that and eats all summer. $4 for a soft drink. Or about ten and carry around a nasty souvenir cup all summer. Still others get fresh new no-charge refills in a new paper cup on an all day deal--if the clerk decided to offer the option or they bought that an option as a part of a group.

If it's a good coaster standing, it would be a good coaster sitting, right? The opposite, I would guess, is no where near true!

How could we not be sure.... Who would have ever guess little old Carowinds would get a giga coaster before Kings Island.

This is like a Zac Spin had a baby with SurfDog

Mantis is junk to me. However i do not hate all stand ups. I was not looking forward to my ride on Vortex at Carowinds and it ended up being pretty enjoyable.

To all of the people suggesting that Coney is getting revamped, I for one would be more than a little disappointed. Of all the sections in the park, Coney is least in need of a makeover in my book (besides the newly renovated Action Zone, that is). I'd be surprised if this weren't Haunt related. I noticed today that Tower Gardens is closed off. I'm guessing that they're starting to get things ready. Haunt is the part of the year where Kings Island really shines. It's no secret that Kings Island's Haunt is not only one of the busiest (and therefore theoretically moneymaking) parts of the season. Might as well prepare early. Compared to a coaster, these mazes are cheap and go up quick, but give it a little extra time and you can make something grand without spending a whole lot more money. I wouldn't be surprised if the short-term ROI for a new Haunt maze is actually higher than a major coaster in its first season.

Moreover.. Park was too big too fast under the SIX platform. SIX sold it to get out of debt with it quick. CF took up the easy quick offer because Kinzel believed himself to sit on a huge stack of cash. Then to make more money in momma park, close down a close park that drew most of Cleveland visitors to, and they would flock to CP. I mean think, back then I remember one of the last years having a 25 dollar ride & slide park ticket. You got some great big rides and thrilling attractions, some neat shows, then a fantastic waterpark. Wheras go to CP up the road a bit and pay 40 for just rides, then hey you wan't that water park for an upcharge too right. So gut the park, keep the waterpark that sold well and had a big draw. Put the rides we like and could use in other properties that could use a new ride for just the price of deconstruction, paint, and transportation. Gut the park for stuff we can use elsewhere like Double Loop trains, etc. Then sell and scrap the rest to make a pretty penny. Then to this day they milk the park for cash being just a waterpark, when just about every guest knows the poor history, and I can't tell you how many times people stand by the beach or ontop of the Proslide Tornado and look over to what's missing across the lake. Attendance is for sure dropping I'd imagine, not one new development since the dry side was razed..New for 2014 was..nothing..new colorful beach chairs..oh and dining plans. Geauga Dog is sad..

Kings Island. And the year is 2014. Mr. Hart trying to run Kentucky Kingdom like it's 1998 is much of the problem. It isn't.

I'm also a bit skeptical at the whole "limiting how many FL passes are sold" thing they mentioned doing. One recent Saturday (I think it was last weekend), I heard that there was an hour's wait for MF at CP with Fast Lane (compared to 3 hours in the regular line). Considering that a regular FL gets you skip-the-main-line access on 23 rides at CP, something just doesn't add up here.

I honestly believe much of the grief directed at Diamondback and its ride operators this year can be attributed to Fast Lane and its implementation at Kings Island. Cedar Point does not run Fast Lane like Kings Island.

As upstop mentioned, it was the larger arcade used for a FearFest attraction. It was Curse of the Crypt from 2001 through 2004.

One thing I've always wondered... how is "Geauga" pronounced?

Yes, by goodwill I was trying to say guest experience and value, not goodwill as in intangibles on a balance sheet although those certainly matter. That promise was absurd, and I couldn't believe it when many people on here blindly swallowed the hook. I'm skeptical of the whole system, but only time will tell. I just only see this appealing to a VERY small demographic. My season pass was cheaper than a ticket + pay-to-cut. Very few would opt for the later.

Yikes. Will be making a trip to the area this afternoon that apparently will NOT include a stop at KI.

No one else is doing this like Cedar Fair. Lo-Q is much more managed. At Six Flags, it is far more expensive, and nowhere near as intrusive or in-your-face to standby lines.

A $59.99 admission ticket used to guarantee you priority access to attractions in a very logical order: first-come, first-served. A $19.99 admission ticket used to guarantee that you'd been scammed by a scalper. One thing is true: the fella behind me in line who's having exactly the same opportunities and experiences that I'm having, but paid one-third as much for it is having a better best day than I am! And it is a park of tiers now, isn't it?

Yet they squeeze season pass holders mid season when their kids grow...

I've never ridden Mantis, but I rode Chang many times (front row far left was my favorite!). I always enjoyed Chang, but have noticed many people don't care for Mantis. The two rides are very similar, but people seem to complain more about roughness/head banging etc. on Mantis. I just always found it interesting that two stand-up coasters with very similar layouts built by the same manufacturer within a year of one another could give such different experiences. Then again, the newer Riddler's Revenge and Georgia Scorcher seem to be rated much higher than Mantis or Chang (Green Lantern). Maybe they just learned to make a better stand-up experience with each new project. My first and favorite was King Cobra - just a really unique, quirky ride, and lots of fun!

Except with only partially controlled spinning, whereas Surf Dog is fully controlled and ZacSpins are not controlled at all. Notice the magnetic fins on the track and the way the seats spin more as they pass over them.

Paramount Parks didnt have this problem, furthermore my 6 year old has had an ADULT season for the last 3 years. The reason being....Adult gold passes and jr. Gold are the same price when purchased ON SALE.

The fact you've ridden only one goes far in explaining why you like it. In my opinion, it's the second worst in America, better only than the aptly named Apocalypse at Six Flags America.

I don't question that. I question the whole implied assumption that they determine what guests WILL get, instead of first determining what will thrill and delight the guests and what guests want. It's a mindset.

The park and Sandusky determine who they want to target. Under Mr. Ouimet (as opposed to Mr. Kinzel), they appear to put more emphasis on families, who spend more in the parks, than on solely thrill seekers--mostly teens, who don't.

Really?I would HOPE it depends, at least in part, on what the target market wants. I thought Dick Kinzel retired.

^ Clearly that person has not driven up 71 to, say, Columbus. Cincinnati's probably my favorite city behind New York and San Antonio.

Screamscape just said my a$$ was purple, because I sent an anonymous email saying it was.

I heard someone in line at Viking Fury yesterday say that Cincinnati is the most boring city ever. Obviously wrong, and definitely never been to North Dakota

Mantis's first drop and loop are very enjoyable in the front row. The worst part about a remodel would be losing it as a walk-on ride for busy days.

Clearly you How anyone finds that setup enjoyable astonishes me..At least you didn't say Beast is rougher than Mean Streak like someone else I know.. After a high seat staple..no more.

Shh..not everyone needs to know about Green Train

I may have a new favorite pastime at Kings Island. I'm sitting here outside of Banshee's entrance watching people get told all loose articles must go in a locker. I swear some lady just about cried. I'm a horrible person.

Meh. No thanks.

I heard it when I was at the park on Sunday. I hadn't heard the good news here, but when I was in line I thought that it sounded a bit different. I asked the ride op and she filled me in. She seemed pretty happy about it and so was I. It was great hearing the ol' girl again, though I have to admit, there were a lot of random drum beats here and there not with the music, but perhaps they're still getting some bugs out.

Fast Lane reduced the value of a General Admission ticket (while CF kept the price the same) and the market is reacting in exactly the way that a High School economics class would predict.