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Rarely if ever I come to the forums to just post an honest tilt thread but low and behold after last night I feel as if this needs to be addressed. If you get the upgraded drink plan with the hot chocolate/icee addition, you would assume that you would get free hot chocolate at every location where they serve it. Boy was I wrong, For context I tried to get hot chocolate 6 times last night, 4 times at the I street icee stand, french corner, the last visit being a success, 1 with Auntie Ann's and one at Sweet Spot. I went to Auntie Anns, saw the hot chocolate machine and thought hey maybe this is it. Nope, I waited probably 10 minutes to be denied, then proceeded to be told that I don't even have the hot chocolate add on. That prompted me to go to guest services; you know when the last time I went to guest services? I honestly don't know because I never have issues at the park. I was then told that Auntie Ann's was not on the list, which makes absolutely zero sense to me, and then was given a list of places where I could get hot chocolate. So It listed coney's drink station, the i street locations mentioned, the funnel cake stand and Graeters. It also listed "sweet treats" which I assumed was sweet spot as I've never heard of that name being used before. Went there, saw the glorious hot chocolate machine infront of me, only to be denied by the worker after literally holding it because they are merchandise not food and bev. That absolutely just made things worse, I finally wound up back at the french corner, got my hot chocolate but this experience left one of the worst experiences I have ever had in my life. Now look, I know this isn't a direct line to the park, but I know park officials watch this. Mike Koontz literally talks about being more family friendly with Orion, then puts out a million and one bars which were open. YET when I try to get hot chocolate when it actually gets colder out I get the run around from broken down machines, denial of service and yet I could get an alcoholic beverage just fine. They even made merch for the new bar when we don't have any decent merch for a few of our coasters. Like if you really want to be family friendly then give us access to the hot chocolate as we requested. Kings Island needs to be better than this, I had to try 6 times to get a hot chocolate last night and the fact that I've spent the money and was denied the service at several locations is absolutely ludicrous. It's one park, every location should satisfy this request if they can satisfy my icee and my regular drinks. Which I don't even think it's a tech issue, I honestly believe at this point the park is just that backwards right now because on one hand they're pumping out alcohol stands that never have a line while the main draws aren't getting the attention they deserve. I'm already communicating this to other friends of mine for the inevitable winterfest rush as believe me this will only become more of a problem. So for those who want hot chocolate on your visit, I implore you to go to guest services get a certified note on where you can use your pass perks and bring that with you; as at this point I just don't trust this system anymore which is really upsetting. Yes, I'm making a formal complaint today at the park as I'm honestly baffled as to why this is even an issue to begin with.

I am fairly positive that these 2 seats are from TR:TR/Crypt inside of FOF.

Some photos from my trip with my brother and his daughter yesterday!!! Guess my favorite part!!! Lol.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but I'd like to aknowledge the huge improvement to Cornstalkers this season. It's practically a new maze and I absolutely love the upgrade. Last weekend my grandson and I noticed a small burlap "sock puppet" with eyes and a mouth on the hand of a scareacter in a corn stalk suit. It was simply funny that people would look at the puppet and the actor would pop at them. I felt compelled to tell the yellow shirt I saw at the entrance that I appreciated the extra effort that brought a smile to our faces. Well played.

I would like to say I was impressed with one of the chefs at French Corner today. They took our order we got the fall special the tomato soup and the open fsged grilled cheese. Well apparently they were out of soup as apparently it's made in a different location. The chef came out to apologize and offered us free cheese cake for our wait. We did get our food finally but I appreciate him going above and beyond. Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

This is a question for someone who was at Coney Island pre 1972 or for someone who really knows the history and layout of the park. I have been trying to look at some old footage and photographs of Coney and I cannot figure out where the scrambler and the monster were located in the park. If any of you remember, where were they located in relation to everything else? Obviously I see many pictures of the main midway with the shooting star, skyride, the log flume, lost River, tumble bug, Ferris wheel, and the flying scooter (some older photos obviously have the spook and the wild mouse along the Midway as well) So I know where all those rides were located but I haven't been able to find good photos or footage of the scrambler or the monster to establish where they were in the park. Actually now that I'm thinking about it, I believe Bavarian Beetle was moved to KI from Coney and I'm not sure I've ever seen photos or footage of that ride being at there either. Does anyone know where in the park it was located or what it's name was when it operated at Coney (and please correct me if I'm wrong about thinking that it came from Coney).

Name leaked. Reddit is Soooo not invited to media day. https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/s/vUJIGa3h7A

I mean listen at the end of the day I’m taking Kings Island literally by the horns in how much I get out of my pass. I’m effectively making money at this point based on my tables I’ve been using. *However* the park just keeps letting itself down. I hate saying this, honestly as someone who worked at the park I do, I wish that the park does see a dip in revenue from the constant upkeep of the new bars as I think they’re a honest waste of space. I’m sure they’re going to become tax write offs but I have yet to frequent a single bar at the park because I honestly don’t have the need for it. I just feel like there’s a difference between straight up lackadaisical and living up to this so called world class experience I keep hearing about. As the great Don himself (paraphrasing) said in a recent Tower Topics episode it just takes a few people to really spearhead for something to make serious changes in the park; which I feel is lacking anymore with what I’ve seen over the past few years.

I agree that is ridiculous and I can answer the question for you right now on why does the park invest in bars and not invest in hot chocolate while saying they want to be more family friendly - Answer: alcohol can be marked up a ridiculous amount at theme parks and sports stadiums for the sake of just making more money. As for the hot chocolate, why would they care about that because they already have your money. Same issue as them never having ice in the drink machines. Why have ice and invest in a good product when you already have everyone's money? With alcohol, they have to make a good product because they have to actually sell it and make the money that day and people aren't going to pay a ridiculous upcharge on alcohol if the product sucks. As for being family friendly, what is more family friendly than Mom and Dad having a few drinks while their hooligans are off unsupervised line jumping and fighting with other teens? I personally don't drink alcohol, I have nothing against anyone who does and I have some good friends who usually go buy an alcoholic beverage at Kings Island when they visit however I agree that it's hypocritical to say we want to be more family friendly but then have a garbage product on things like hot chocolate and soft drinks that families want during their visit. If not every location is going to honor a season pass hot chocolate drink plan, you shouldn't have to go to guest services to figure it out. There should be a sign outside the dining location advertising the hot chocolate drink plan or at the very least put out a sign that says it can't be used at that location.

The fog is rolling tonight!!

How did the customer not get anything out of it? Depending on their home park, they got an extra year to almost two years for the price of one year. KI did open in 2020 and all passholders got 2021 for free - how is that not getting anything out of it? Sounds like they paid for one year and got almost two years.... The parks had to take revenue for one year and spread it over two. The still had fixed costs even with a closed park. Remember that in the 2022 annual report released 2023 Q1, they noted that "In 2022, we sold a record 3.2 million season passes and generated more than $450 million in revenues from our suite of season-pass products, including all-season dining and all-season beverage....Operating costs and expenses for 2022 totaled $1.29 billion" Based on the most recent Quarterly call, 2024 is poised to set new records as well. So they have more than made up with new customers any they lost that felt they were not treated fairly by getting more than a year's worth out of their pass. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I bet looking back on it, they think they made the best decision in offering the next year free based on how well the parks have performed since. I think we would be looking at a seriously different park had they offered refunds in March 2020 - I think too many people shortsightedly would have asked for the refund concerned that the park would either not open or would go bankrupt. And then these same people would complain about now having to buy a pass in July 2020 when the park opened and having to pay more than they paid and was refunded 3 months prior due to the pricing of passes being cheaper in the fall when they originally purchased. We can knock the chain on many things, but most feel CF was more than fair in how they handled this extreme situation.

I never received this...but even if I did, I'd let it go. They were more than generous to add 2021....while 2020 wasn't the best year in the park, it still was there and fun was still had.