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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.

And this is exactly why I am going to return to my previous days of "Goal 0 per-cap dollars spent while in the park" when I am there this weekend. Im going to be happy if/when my pass scans at parking tolls and turnstiles, I can get my FL wristband smoothly, and my drink plan scans smoothly, hell I am not even taking a chance of getting an ICEE or hot chocolate with mine even though I do have the upgrade. It is genuinely sad when those thoughts of "Is this interaction going to end well or not?" have to even be in one's head every single time you pull your pass out to use it when attempting to spend time at a place designed to be relaxing and fun.

It's the fatigue of always having to fight for stuff we've already paid for. Granted I didn't purchase the premium drink plan. I can see how and why this would be frustrating to encounter so many snafus over such a simple transaction. Yes, they already have your money, but whatever happened to the integrity of business' taking care of their customers? This seems to be rampant everywhere, hence the fatigue with having to deal with so much headache over the simplest things.

I'm not even mad, honestly, I'm disappointed in just how childish/backwards this whole situation is.

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.

I wonder what they would want for the restraint pad................. Or possibly a bolt or something or another........................................ Lol. I'm not gonna lie, I'd buy it if I could.

Chad, is that you?

I know you’re being facetious, but to give them kudos, the fountain seems to be drained later every year. Had they not added the weekend, they would have done all of Haunt with it, which is impressive based on previous years.

FoF and BLSC really stick out now in Jungle X-pedition.

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

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.

Coney Freestyle is where I’ve always seen them. I’m not big on sugary drinks, so I haven’t tried it. I’m a big fan of the coffee. I’ve had success at French Corner and Graeters. I was on the fence because I bought it more out of curiosity than anything, but now that it’s coffee season I think I’m happy enough buy it again next year. I think the Hot Chocolate thing will “fix itself” during Winterfest because of the prominence of that option during that event. I do agree, the poor communication, which has been indicative of the park the past several years, is frustrating. I remember when the park opened and they were telling people that it only worked at the place by the Dodgem and Planet Snoopy, and that the “Mix Up” places didn’t count. A day later, it was, “LOL jk you can use it there. We just didn’t have the cups yet.” I understand that the “first day stuff” is going to happen, but being so grossly unprepared gets harder and harder to excuse every year. …but as… wise man… man once said (repeatedly, about you - the most loyal park guests) “Your complains are as adorable as they are predictable.”

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

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

I enjoyed the Undertaker Trifle at Sweet Spot.

It's a rough sketch, but I came up with this concept of a B&M Surf Coaster named "Moonwalker". The main theme of this ride would revolve around an early 20th century experiment to test how it would feel to walk on the moon. The inspiration I had for this theme mainly came from the standing airtime you get on a Surf Coaster like Pipeline at SWO, making it feel like you're hopping in a low gravity environment. I also included the early 20th century "Art Deco"-inspired theming to help it fit in with the early 20th century theme already present within Coney Mall.