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Looks slick!

Nice new update of the site!

That is exactly where it was going. Now we have to start over. LOL

Possibly, but closing loopholes helps maintain pricing integrity. That, along with the chain seeming to understand that their products are priced way too low, is refreshing to see after too many years of what seemed like a "race to the bottom" strategy of giving away the gate.

Fair enough, but it was a big investment that could be made at KI for a major thrill coaster.

So, on August 9th, my son and I made a road trip for Stricker's Grove. It's rare for us to have a free weekend when he plays soccer year round. Plus, with their limited hours where they are open to the public, it makes a visit there difficult to achieve. So, we arrived at the park around 12:20pm. The park is open from 12-8pm. We did not realize until we arrived, that the rides operate from 1-4pm and 5-8pm. Being that this park is pretty small, I agree in giving the employees a dinner break for an hour. The 1st rode we lined up for is their wood coaster, the Tornado. Since this was going to be my 100th coaster, I really did not want the Teddy Bear coaster to be my 100th. Tornado was built in house and in one particular place on the ride, it was apparent that it was. Still, it was a good coaster. Next, we walked over to my 101st, the Teddy Bear. Amazingly, this kids wood coaster was pretty darn good. They had a small collection of flat rides, including a Tip Top, a Rainbow, a Pirate Ship, a carousel, a junior whip, a boat ride and one other that I cannot recall. My biggest regret of the day was stopping to eat lunch before we arrived. We walked through the front gate and there were people that were grilling food right there. It smelled so good. Also of note, the park gives out free drinks and parking is also free. I took my son over after the Teddy Bear to ride the Tip Top. I had not been on one of those since I was a kid and Camden Park had one. Between the 2 of us, we had our car spinning insanely fast the entire ride cycle. We were both laughing so hard. He marveled at how the car had no restraint of any sort. I told him how back in my day, we rode by the seat of our pants. Next, we walked over to the Electric Rainbow. I also had not been on one of these since Camden Park had one. Great fun. He also remarked how the only safety measure was a chain in front of you. After that, we walked to the front of the park to get a drink. We then proceeded to the miniature golf course, which was also free. I started off pretty strong and joked about how they needed to size me up for my gold jacket. I spoke too soon as I performed poorly later on and he wound up winning by 6. After that, we took another spin on the Electric Rainbow, the Tornado and the Tip Top. We decided to head home after that. We had not planned on staying but a few hours anyway. The tickets were $22/person, so what a great value for a small park like Stricker's Grove. On a final note, I it is of note that this park is mostly a picnic grove with a few rides. Outside food is also welcomed and I saw some had brought their own grills. All in all, just a great park, with a quaint atmosphere and good employees. If you ever get the chance to go there, it's something you don't want to miss.

NightFlight Expedition would like to have words with you!

New design looks great!

But Herschend hasn't invested in major thrill rides lately. To the enthusiasts who are begging for Herschend to buy KI bc Six Flags/CF hasn't built a major thrill coaster at KI since 2020 need to realize Herschend wouldn't be that much better when it comes to appealing to the major thrillseeking enthusiasts.

I'm glad Corkscrew is getting the recogniton it deserves. It's a classic and honestly an underrated ride!

We know KIC keeps going down. We're in the process of building a new server to replace the older one. We are getting close!

So glad to hear that it ended up being a good experience, @RollerColt and really enjoyed the trip report overall!

I'm a firm believer in the idea that 2027 add-ons should not work until 2027 (and so on in the future). Being able to get into the park(s) during 2026 with your new 2027 pass is admittedly a good perk to have, but, for example, guests should not be able to use their limited-meal dining plans until the year they were bought for. The company would then be able to avoid the confusion as to whether or not a 2026 pass is still used alongside a 2027 pass. As for the politeness of employees and quality of service I think most of Kings Island's issues could be resolved with a different management style. Maybe it will be better in 2027, but we won't know until then. One comparison I can make is between the perceived cultures of food service team members at Kings Island, Dollywood, and Chik-Fil-A. A common sentiment made online by Kings Island guests is that the dining staff is neither friendly nor unfriendly: that they're just going through the motions of the job. Dollywood famously has friendly staff that will interact with you during your visit, without feeling forced. Chik-Fil-A, on the other hand, also has famously friendly staff, but the interaction is mostly famous for the term "my pleasure" and feels a little plastic every time I hear it/about it. All three businesses pay about the same starting wages for food service (KI $15.50; DW $16.50; CFA $12-$17), but one doesn't emphasize friendliness in their training while the other two have made it part of their brand connotation. All of this to say that I think Kings Island's management and training teams could easily focus more on employee friendliness as long as they create a good work environment. I can't remember if someone said it on here or another forum, but Herschend also does not take as good care of the parks not named Dollywood or Silver Dollar City. They've certainly been sprucing those parks up, though I'm not sure that we'll ever see Kennywood surpass Kentucky Kingdom in terms of quality. A fear of mine for Kings Island under an HFE ownership is that they would not put it on the same level as DW and SDC. If our beloved park leaves the Six Flags chain then I'd much prefer to see it start its own company with a few other parks. That might also help with the folks who think Six Flags/Cedar Fair should "de-merge" (as if that's a real option at this point). The company has not spent all of this time integrating itself just to say "oopsie" and split without a very good reason. The merger's "calm" year was originally predicted as being 2028 and I'd like to hope that everything will be a lot better by then.

When it comes to season-pass value, the lowest price doesn’t always mean the best deal. Dollywood, Holiday World and Kennywood continue to stand out to me because of what guests get beyond rides: friendly guest service, clean and well-maintained parks, strong seasonal events and an overall sense that the guest experience matters. There’s also something to be said for integrity—delivering an experience that matches what was promised and making visitors feel valued after they’ve spent their money.

Unless more property’s are sold. I can’t envision Six Flags avoiding bankruptcy at this point. Too little too late to be jacking the prices up to what it is so far for the 2027 season. Not suggesting what they are asking for is wrong per se but doubling the price on add ons is going to be a hard pill to swallow for most folks. This price point should have been achieved by steadily increasing the prices on these add-ons and passes since post-covid when the parks saw a boom. But the past is the past and I hope this works out for them. Considering Legacy SF attempted to jack up their prices only to reverse course doesn't give me much hope that it will.

I feel weird about all of this. I totally understand the reasoning and justification for raising prices to basically give a better experience for guests. But as a teacher with a young family... it's hard out there right now financially...

Hahaha goodness me I can't believe I forgot the ending to that part of the story! So it's raining pretty hard, quite windy, but we don't mind too much since we're still in our swimsuits. We get to the locker and I select the option to open... and then I stare at the screen for a long moment. My wife, puzzled, asks what's wrong and I just point to the screen: It's asking for a PIN. Standard procedure right? Completely normal. Only problem was, I didn't recall the darned thing asking for me to create a PIN... Uh oh... I start putting in stuff like phone numbers and birthdates... nothing worked. A staff member happened to walk by and must've immediately noticed the looks of dread on our soaked faces hahaha... Within minutes she's got guest relations talking with us and after we explained our situation they got one of the service support staff to come unlock the locker for us. And this guy was fantastic. Very humorous, light hearted and smart. He asked us a few questions about what was in the locker: we tell him the exact brand of backpack and color, even the make and model of the vehicle we were driving. He told us this stuff happened all the time and most likely someone before us initiated the locker rental process but stopped just short of paying. He said a lot of people see the price, not realizing lockers aren't free so they just walk away when it asks for payment. It went from a very stressful experience to one we've been laughing about for weeks now. And when we came back the second time for our worry free weather day, I made sure to check the screen asked for a PIN before paying! Live and learn!

The thing I liked about Cedar Fair vs Six Flags was the simplicity of, for the most part, the CF pricing structure. Platinum pass= all park access. Drink plan= choose paper or plastic and get a refill every 15 minutes. Meal plan= two meals per visit with four hours in between. Six Flags was more convoluted. You can buy a pass at Labor Day but it has to be activated at that park by November first ( but the park is closed the majority of that time frame) You have to have a plastic cup. I never really used the meal plan extensively, but the year I had it, it was fairly easy, but the food choices were limited. With many things, the company is making things more complicated. If you change the meal plan to be more complicated, it would add to that. Once the company stabilizes, and can actually start to "premiumize" as Bassoul called it, that would be the time to pivot, not now. Current strategy is to pivot to the lowest common denominator, which is cheap pass prices. I would conjecture that they still make a killer profit from the meal plan. Not every park is KI with a huge season pass base, they likely use the law of averages. And with moving away from locally sourced food to national distribution for bulk prices, the cost per meal is probably lower now, even with increased prices in general nationwide. They have made a killing on me, as I have only redeemed it four times because I just don't go often enough, and I bought it last year out of habit, not thinking I would continue staying away from the parks.

It’s not much different than being on a payment plan for the pass and add ons. Breaking up the overall cost of a pass with add ons makes season passes even more affordable than they already are. However, include all season Fast Lane for an additional $1200+ to the overall cost of the pass. Now payment plans become much more attractive. Especially at 0% APR. The confusion and complexity comes into play when they do last minute changes to pass perks and such. But, that’s been going on before this new membership.