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Well, I think the real thing at play is the increase substantially of cost of living involved, with less disposable income means that people would spend less time at Wonderland. I mean seriously, go look at the price of renting anywhere in southern Ontario, you’ll probably be shocked. Many of the associates at Wonderland now have a very low customer service attitude, this has been especially true since the pandemic, and I presume this has caused patrons to stop going. Combine that with more recent situations of teenagers acting up, and the line jumping often without consequence, and the customer is upset. A friend of mine from university who formally worked at Wonderland as a ride op for years told me that Cedar Fair had brought in people from their headquarters to Wonderland by the end of last season.

Dirty tables have been an on going issue for awhile now. I remember back in the day they are people assigned just for the flood patios. Cleaning tables emptying trash etc. It's frustrating when all you wanna do is sit at a clean table and enjoy your meal. Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

It's true that Intamin has been problematic when it came to rides like Top Thrill Dragster and it's definitely possible that several of those issues may still be plaguing Top Thrill 2. I cannot confirm this to be the exact cause of TT2's issues, but it definitely appears that at least some of the issues stem from the new lightning trains provided by Zamperla. If this is the case, then I don't think it's really fair to blame Intamin for this, as they had no involvement with the lightning trains.

Made my first trip to Cedar Point in over 6 years, on Saturday August 17th. Left Northern Kentucky at 6:00AM and arrived at Cedar Point shortly after 10. As I have a Prestige pass, we got to park in the preferred lot, which is to the right of the front gate, literally right next to the beach and to GateKeeper. Went into the park to get my FLP wristband and were able to get quite a few rides in between 10:00AM and our departure around 5:30PM, we got quite a bit in GateKeeper - 20 minutes Raptor - 15 minutes Valravn Front Row - 15 minutes Blue Streak - 5 minutes Rougarou - 15 minutes Steel Vengeance - 30 minutes Maverick - 30 minutes Magnum in Magic Seat - 15 minutes Gemini - 15 minutes Steel Vengeance - 15 minutes Maverick - 15 minutes 1 ride each on all of the coasters except Iron Dragon, Corkscrew, Cedar Creek Mine Ride, and Millennium Force, 2 rides each on Maverick and Steel Vengeance Takeaways Upgraded from a Gold Pass in 2024 to a Prestige Pass in 2025 and now currently get the benefits of the latter; the Preferred Parking up there is worth it and especially the Prestige entry lane into the park as the other turnstiles had sizeable lines at open Old style B&M restraints are not friendly to folks with broad shoulders, had to use the double belted rows on Raptor and Rougarou - I can use the standard belt on Banshee and their B&M's with vest restraints - GateKeeper and Valravn Have All Season FLP at Kings Island for 2024 and upgraded to All Park FLP for 2025 - FLP cost for those buying single day was $200 so the difference basically has already paid for itself. FLP is worth it if you are coming up on a Saturday and are driving back same day. Millennium Force was closed all day, apparently with a catch car issue or sensor issue according to what I'm seeing on Facebook, was concerned about the belt buckling but looks like test seat is a go, hope to be back up sometime in September or October Rode Steel Vengeance twice (prior visit was 1 ride in its opening season) - both Maverick and Steel Vengeance are high up on my top 10 and favorite rides up at Cedar Point Ate at Corral and had the thai chili chicken tenders - does Kings Island have anything similar? If going up I-71 to Cedar Point and taking SR 13/US 250 into Sandusky, be advised there is a detour as SR 13 is closed - you will need to take US 224 to US 250 and continue into Sandusky If taking SR 13 across to SR 2 and coming in via US 6 past Sawmill Creek, be advised the overpass is out Arrived back at the house here in Northern Kentucky about 10PM but contemplated stopping into Kings Island and closing out the night

Like literally two steps away is a trash can.

New dive coaster for SF Great America! Looks like a great fit for this park that I'm unfamiliar with. The teaser is giving off Cedar Fair vibes.

It's worth noting that the TEA attendance report is an estimation and not based on figures released by parks. If that's the only data point we're discussing here, we don't have definitive proof that Wonderland's attendance dropped that significantly. That being said, it's my opinion that the TEA report does an okay job of estimating overall attendance trends for parks based on the events of the year. I'm curious, @MisterSG1, what do you think happened this year at Wonderland to cause an attendance drop? Admittedly, I don't specifically follow what's happening at every park beyond big announcements, but I haven't been aware of anything big happening at Wonderland this year.

I will be fair to Intamin when they do good, and they pulled off winners with VelociCoaster and Pantheon, I've seen them have success overseas recently, and I will be watching the SFNE 2025 coaster to see how well that does. I am choosing to hold Falcon's Flight as an outlier since that's on the realm of insanity, but I've seen their more practical rides do well recently. If Intamin can show improvements in reliability, I would be open to them putting in something for KI.

I'm all fairness. Zamperla took on a very big problem child. I don't think the TT2 project should be held against them. Yeah, it has been a real drag, but that Intamin aura, energy, bad juju, etc. might still plague it.

A few things: Track width: 8 and 10 seater trains require a wider track width in order to accommodate wider trains- mini dives use track that’s closer to the standard B&M gauge. At minimum an 8 seater standard dive train can hold 24 riders- a mini dive can hold a max of 21 riders with a smaller track. That’s gotta save money somewhere. Closer to a traditional looper: a lot of the larger dives feature large drawn out elements to burn off the speed of a 200ft+ drop. Not only that but the point of your standard dive is to be large and intimidating. A mini dive isn’t as tall but it can make up for that elsewhere. Track that isn’t being used for the lift hill or drop can be used to create more elements. Basically, a mini dive is somewhat of a hybrid between your standard B&M dive and a traditional looper: you get the holding break, train style, and 90+ degree drop of a dive but you get the layout of a traditional looper. TL;DR: Less is more.

I think it will be a great addition to this park. I look forward to driving up to experience it next season.

That's funny, my first thought was that the color scheme was great. It's a rare combination, and the colors are pleasing to the eye. To each their own.

I do think that some guests might get disgruntled or choose not to renew passes but it's probably not enough to negatively affect the park. I don't think anyone should be told they have to be happy about some of the ways the park has cut corners in recent years such as less staff on the rides (I'm looking at you monster and at you dogem!) and reduced operating hours/days but despite some things I think the park could do better (have ice in the drink machine), Kings Island is still holding an above average standard in the amusement park industry. I understand the age old argument of "you could have Michigan's Adventure as your home park" but if I did, I think I'd just drive 4hrs to Cedar Point. Eventually long periods of not investing in a park or subpar investments results in some people just taking their business elsewhere. If Kings Island became Six Flags America bad in terms of ops, food, and investments, I could see myself looking into going to other parks in the area instead. However, KI is nowhere near that point for me. I renewed my pass the other day, added on the all park passport, and got both the drink & meal plans. I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the end of this season and I look forward to making new memories next year too!

There's a difference between complaining and fair and frank critiques of the park.

I'm an enthusiast and proud to be one. I think enthusiasts can be picky but they are also the ones devoting much of their time traveling all over the country and in some cases internationally and in general hold the industry to a very high standard. I think the addition of river racers was needed, it was good, but it could have been better. Other parks have clearly done it better. I often judge how successful an attraction is by if any of my family mentions it or if people at work or church walk up to me and mention it. For example when Mystic Timbers was announced literally everyone was asking me if I'd heard about the new coaster Kings Island had announced and then when it opened everyone wanted to know if I'd ridden it and what I thought. In 2018/2019, again there were many people asking if I'd heard that they were bringing back the antique cars. Then the Orion announcement dropped and everyone was sending me povs and news articles and asking me what I thought about it. When adventure port was announced I had less people approach me but people were still interested. So far I've only had one person bring up the new water coaster to me... I'm not sure if that speaks to everyone I know being uninterested or maybe the park hasn't effectively reached them and they are uninformed. Keep in mind these people I'm talking about are not enthusiasts. My family members, coworkers, and friends go to KI maybe once a year and CP every couple years and never go to parks outside of Ohio. It doesn't take an enthusiast to tell you Diamondback and Orion are similar rides or that the park needs to have ice in their soda machines. Heck everyone I know was upset about The Vortex closing and they probably couldn't even tell you what year it opened or who manufactured the ride. I think the general public has feelings about things they just don't always have the platform that an enthusiast might have to make their thoughts known.

It's always impossible to meet enthusiasts' expectations. KI is getting not one, but two water coasters for next year, and people are complaining about that. It's like trying to please a spoiled child, who opens their gift, sees that it's in the wrong color or whatever, and tosses it aside in disgust and whines that it's not what they asked for. It's just ridiculous. At least ride the darn thing before moaning about how it didn't meet some set of arbitrary "expectations". Or, better yet, don't set expectations! Just enjoy the hobby for what it is, and find joy in the fact that we're fortunate enough to have sufficient disposable income that we're able to spend time indulging in the hobby. Lots of folks are far less fortunate, and as such are not nearly as spoiled.

Same can be said when Maverick and Mystic Timbers was announced....and many people will now say those are incredible coasters in their respective park...

Probably an old point, but one that I feel nonetheless. #1) The average Kings Island guest is pretty disgusting. #2) Park Services and Food share the patios. The window being disgusting at Skyline is on them. Guessing with budget cuts, Park Services staffing is probably pretty low.

Or this when there are literally 4 trash cans within 20 feet

Yeesh, that service counter being that gross is despicable. How is keeping that counter at least somewhat tidy not drilled into employees from day 0?

Going to beat this drum many times until something is noticed- and I know several from the park (& a few from corporate) peruse through these forums occasionally. Yes, I know, I may be an "entitled" Annual Pass Holder- but I'm betting guests who pay retail for admission and food with their discretionary income are more critical observers. I know people are gross and can't be counted on to throw their things away and clean up after themselves, but at some point the park needs to do something- this isn't an isolated observation. In addition to cleaning at regular (or more regular) intervals- maybe install sanitary wipe dispensers near the outside sit-down eating locations so guests can clean it for themselves (since who knows how many times those towels get used and on goodness-knows-what). The picture at the Skyline location, though, is really unacceptable...

Another piece of signage infront of the actual location for River Racers. They also added checkered flags on the main sign as well! Should anyone wish to use these photos please feel free to! Just credit me in one way or another!

Some signage from the waterpark, ironically slapped smack dab in the middle of the main causeway to the other side of the waterpark.

No. Just no. Please no.

Banshee starts with the letter B, Bizzaro starts with the letter B. Banshee is 7 letters, Bizzaro is 7 letters. Banshee is purple, Bizzaro is purple. The Shoe fits the foot.

Searching for info on Facebook, I found this post in an Erie group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/668392443222569/?multi_permalinks=8213398108721927