FUN&ONLY!

This is interesting. At Kings Island, a ride operator could work let’s say food and beverage or park services, but they wouldn’t be allowed to work anything that involves money. On the flip side, no other departments could work in rides. Also, at Kings Island, all employees are not allowed to play games as a guest at any Cedar Fair park. So even a Kings Island food and beverage employee would not be allowed to play games while visiting as a guest at Canada’s Wonderland. I believe this policy is the same throughout the chain.

Let’s not act like this is anything new. In 2019 when most people bought their season passes, Soak City was a free for all every day. People enjoyed the reservations this year because Soak City was less crowded, but now we are back to normal crowded days. I agree that Kings Island should have given people a notice yesterday that reservations were being dropped, though, but it probably would have encouraged more people to show up. Ideally, they would give a notice like a week or two out saying reservations are no longer required after a certain date. Kings Island was probably eager to drop the reservations as soon as possible. Also, this is still a year like no other. While the pandemic may be subsiding, the effects are still being felt from it. Camp Cedar is out of Kings Island’s control, the staffing shortages were out of Kings Island’s control, and the reservations were likely never going to be permanent. If we give credit where credit is due, Kings Island has resolved their staffing issues and Kings Island has brought back their late closings. How many other amusement parks are open until 10:00 PM every night? Cedar Point and Kings Island are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

This is interesting. At Kings Island, it is not that uncommon for let’s say a ride operator to get sent to food and beverage or park services when those departments are understaffed. Some positions, however, can’t just be filled by any employee because additional training is required.

To be fair, Soak City would have been packed no matter when they decided to stop limiting capacity. As long as it is a hot day, Soak City will be crowded. I am surprised they chose today to do away with reservations, but I know Kings Island has some passholders who can’t stand the reservation system and have been desperately waiting for it to be removed. Unfortunately, Kings Island can’t please both the people wanting the capacity limit dropped and the people in favor of it It was inevitable, though, that they would drop the reservations and capacity limit. Again, today may have not been the best day to do that, though, and it would be nice if Kings Island gave guests a heads up. The larger issue is that Soak City really can’t handle the crowds it gets. Unfortunately, Kings Island has no incentive to up its offering because there really isn’t much competition. Ideally, Kings Island would GREATLY expand Soak City to accommodate the crowds better like California’s Great America did. I am hopeful, though, that Kings Island will invest more into their waterpark soon as Mike Koontz has stated that he wants to add something to Soak City and to Planet Snoopy according to @KIghostguy’s book. I really hope that they rename and retheme Soak City to something more authentic.

The rides are designed by the same manufacturer, Intamin, but I don’t believe the layouts are the exact same. I am not sure if the rafts are the exact same.

We don’t know what happened. It could have been an isolated issue or it could have been an operator error. Let’s not jump to any conclusions and start assuming White Water Canyon is no longer safe.

What happened at Kings Island today is what I thought would happen at Kings Island this past Saturday and on the Fourth of July.

Today was a very hot day, but even then, the crowds you described at Soak City seem too large for the capacity restrictions. I know in a normal season, Soak City would be slammed on any day as hot as today, but I would think that the reservations would prevent this from happening.

Not just Soak City, but the entire park was very crowded today. To be fair, today is coming off of a holiday weekend, and most other days this year Kings Island has not been nearly as crowded. While it may have been busy, the park’s staffing issues seem to be mostly resolved which is great.

This does not mean that Kings Island’s White Water Canyon or any other Intamin River Raft rides are unsafe. At this point, we don’t have an exact reason as to why the accident occurred, so until then we cannot point the blame at anyone.

I wouldn’t look to much into it. He designed Mystic Timbers and appeared to be there with his family. I really don’t think it means anything.

Winterfest takes the cake for my favorite time to be at Kings Island, but I love when the park gets decked out for special events!

Was Kings Island busy today or yesterday? It seems like crowds were light today.

I think the blueprints are for something new, but it could be anything from a restaurant to a new ride. I don’t think the blueprints are for anything major like a rollercoaster, but I do think they could be for something new. I really hope Kings Island does a big 50th anniversary announcement like Cedar Point did, and if so, I can’t wait for that.

To be fair, the weather is really nice today, and it is a holiday weekend. Also, for the past few days, Kings Island has been deserted due to the forecasted weather. When I attend as a guest, I try to go on days when it is supposed to rain all day because it usually doesn’t actually rain all day, and everything is sometimes a walk-on.

I think the blueprints are notable, but I don’t think we can draw any conclusions as to what they are for. The truss structure could be for the roof of any building for all we know. I honestly hope these blueprints are for a front gate renovation.

Occasionally Kings Island does have employees walk around the queue lines for some of their major rides, but it is inconsistent. When there are employees watching, either people are scared to line jump or they easily get caught. However, when there is not an employee in the queue lines, line jumpers often get away with it. I believe the policy is that if two separate parties report line jumping to an employee (most often this happens in the station) then the line jumpers get kicked out of line. Unfortunately, most park guests don’t report line jumpers, and they get away with it.

I think it is kind of a cheap shot by Cinemark to blame Kings Island for their security problems. They tried to make it sound like their theater has had no issues, but they wanted to be extra safe after what happened at Kings Island. I know Cinemark doesn’t care, but it just isn’t a very respectable move. It is bad sportsmanship, especially when Cinemark and Kings Island are barley competitors. I guess the teenagers who got banned from Kings Island decided to make Cinemark their new stomping ground? LOL!

Keep in mind blueprints need to be drawn for basically all construction projects and not just new rides. The blueprints could be for something like restrooms or a restaurant. I assume the blueprints are not for a past addition because they wouldn’t have to hide them, but they could also be trying to mess with us. Anyone want to go and check Mason’s offices for new blueprints? LOL!

I would love to see a large immersive dark ride for Kings Island’s 50th anniversary. I think there is a very good chance we get a new ride for next year like Cedar Point and Knott’s Berry Farm did for their anniversaries, but I don’t think it would be a coaster or anything major like that. A new immersive dark ride might be pushing it, but Cedar Point really went all out with Snake River Expedition.

I am probably the unlucky one. I have only seen The Bat with one train this season, but it seems like everyone else has only seen it with two trains. I have literally seen Rivertown Freestyle open more! LOL!

Hopefully Kings Island has fixed whatever issues they had with The Bat’s second train. I also agree that The Bat gives a phenomenal night ride.

This doesn’t have much to do with your comment, but The Bat has been running one train off and on a lot this season. I hope nothing is wrong with it, and Kings Island can start running two trains more regularly. Also, Backlot Stunt Coaster’s last row is blocked off for all three trains. I guess Kings Island finally realized that those trains are too long! LOL!

I haven’t really payed attention to the soundtrack in Mystic Timbers’ entrance plaza recently, but I know for certain it was working in the beginning of the season along with the “do not enter” and “mandatory lockdown” voiceovers. I hope it still works or Kings Island fixes it if it is not working.

I believe the radio in Mystic Timbers’ shed hasn’t been working for about a week now, but the screens seem to be working fine. I hope the radio can get fixed soon because that is probably my favorite part of the shed.