robintodd

I think that the weather had ALOT to do with the crowd. With the cooler weather the dry park will be more crowded. When the heat index in 100 people either stayed home or were in the water park. This could be easily deduced by the line at either the season pass sales booth or taking forever to get in the park because of people getting their pictures taken at the gates. Too many people are concerned with spending on school supplies and will likely wait till the last minute to buy new/renew their pass. I do have a theory that there may be alot of pass holders that buy every other year. Thinking about it they would only miss Mid April - July (4 months) in a 2 year period. They buy a pass now for the rest of 25 and all of 26, take off mid-April - July in 2027 and buy a pass when they go on sale in 2027 for the rest of 2027 and all of 2028.

Looks like a twist on an escape room. I can see the reason for the upcharge, otherwise the lines would be ridiculous.

Simple mathmatics. With a population base of 500,000 - 1,000,000 within a 30 minute drive of KI (compared to 100,000 for Cedar Point) helps. People who still find it a better entertainment value. For example an annual Cinemark move pass is $132 that get's you 12 movies a year, even at 2.5 hours each that comes to $4 an hour. If you go KI 10 days and stay all 8 hours (or 20 days at 4) that comes to $1.24 an hour. Bengals and Reds season passes are even less of an hourly value and neither of the others have rides/coasters. (The Cincinnati zoo is the only thing that competes and it's $160 for unlimited visits and rides on the carousel and train. But it's a different audience entirely). I think that even not adding anything over 90% would renew. It's now part of their routine. For me it's a great xmas gift to my kids and grandkids that I know they will use and is much better than any toys I could buy them. With the park getting bigger and more expensive to upkeep let alone add attractions it's a different time. The addition to Soak City was 1 ride but the facelift of that area as well as the new fence completion on the path from Camp Snoopy and painting of the lazy river was desperiately needed and looks great. Like it or not KI is and always will be a family park due to its location. Most on this board are in a different mindset than the average park goer. I would suggest we are less than 5% of those that go to the park. KI will never cater to us, nor should they. For everyone who "is done and not buying a pass this year" there will be more to fill their spot.

I'll be buying my 2026 next week. last year when I bought my 2025 pass BOTH 2024 and 2025 showed on the screen, that leaves me to believe the same will be true. I'll update once passes are bought.

Did he go to guest services? The addons clearly show an expiration in the KI App for the passport as well. I'll be renewing next week so I'll see what the app shows. Last year it still showed my 2024 and 2025 vouchers till the end of the year when my 2024 vouchers disappeared once no longer valid. The only problem with the app is it shows no difference between the drink voucher and the drink voucher with the Icee and hot beverage add on. Hopefully they fix that this year.

2026 passes are for sale on KI's website. MVP sale till Sept 1st. GOLD is $115 New or $99 Renewal All 40 parks, Free parking, Haunt and Winterfest included. PRESTIGE is $199 for New and Renwal Drink Plan is $36.99 or $53.99 for Icee and hot beverages. Looks like only paper cup is available. FunPix is $56.99 FastLane $699 for home park, $999 for all park Gold Home Park Dining is $135 Gold All Season Dining Gold - All Park Add-On is $155 Gold All Season Dining Gold - All Park Upgrade is $25 Presige Home Park Dining is $135 Presige All Season Dining - All Park Add-On is $155 Presige All Season Dining - All Park Upgrade is $25 Still pretty confused on the 2026 All Season Dining Gold - All Park Upgrade ($25) and the 2026 All Season dining Gold - All Park Add-on ($155) Looks like they're trying to get more prestige (making it less prestige). I'll pass and keep's me GOLD

Looked at Gilroy Gardens website and it looks like a fun little park. Love the themeing of the rides! If you look at Gilroy Gardens website they have FastLane (which is a copyright thing for Six, I think). Interestingly enough I think this is a play to have Gilroy Gardens take some market share from Six since Great America will be closing by 2027. At Gilroy they call it a "membership" and you get all season for $104. Since Gilroy is ran by a 501 (c) the membership is tax-deductable. Could be that Six has a deal where they "purchase" a membership for each season pass holder and get to claim that amount as a tax deduction. Either way, great move on Gilroy's part to try a syphin off some people from Great America while it is still around. They probably will be getting an attraction or two from them considering the close proximity of the parks.

AGREE Hopefully the extra cost to do the indoor haunts will help this. I wonder if they'll refuse sale to small children. Back in the day people wouldn't dream of taking their kids to haunt. Turning the event more intense slowly over till should get it back to that. Kind of hard for parents to complain that it was too intense for their 5 year old when the event is clearly marked "intended for mature audiences and not recommended for childeren under 13."

It must be noted that 90 - 95 % of pass holders at KI will never go to another park, let alone all 40+. I see this as away to drive early pass sales and I prefer it to the "Fast Lane pass that can only be used when the sun is out, it's and odd number of degrees and there are more women than men in the park (over exageration). Point being that fast pass that could only be used at certain times was confusing, this is not. As I stated in another post I have always had a platinum/passport because my wife and I go to CP 3 times a year but if we are near another park because of business or pleasure travel we will go because we get in free and will end up buying merch for that park since we don't go all the time. Yes we got in free, but we bought merch the time we went where as we don't always buy merch at KI or CP every time we go. I think the most confusing thing may be the way the drink/meal plans will be structured. If I understand it correctly, one drink plan will be for your "home park" and another will be for all parks. Same thing with the meal plan. Even at $200 or $250 the pass is absolutely a value for me because I go about 50 times a year at $120 or just $2.40 a visit, close to your $2.50 per park . Either way we'll find out tomorrow, all I know is I will be purchasing my pass. Still the best deal in the entertainment industry IMO.

Not sure what happened, but yesterday I took my 2 grandkids and went to the Ice Cream in Planet Snoopy. I ordered 2 regular cones with sprinkles and 1 without, the casher rang it up and upon giving us the ice cream said "You don't have to pay." I insisted (I can afford the $22 dollars) and he let me pay for my purchase. I observed a different cashier and that group got 2 ice creams and 2 paper cup refils. I can't be certain but I think the cashier just scanned for the paper cup purchases. Do they give away ice cream when it get's above a certain temperature/humidity? I didn't report it to HR, but it is concerning that if this is happening alot it could mean less budget and less employees having jobs. Wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

Just got back from CP and had a great trip. Despite the call for 40% rain it only rained Friday Night (after park close) and about an hour Saturday at 8pm (our party was at Tomo's during that time). Anyway, rode Sirens twice and it is a FANTASTIC coaster. Way better than expected. The sound helps so much to create an immersive experience and the lights on the train at night are incredible. Never saw an issue with the tilt and the first time I rode it got last row and it was INTENSE. Such a great ride. It exceeded my expectation just like Mystic Timbers did when it first opened. Waited 1.5 hours around 11am on Saturday and got in like at 10:30pm and waited an hour. The line keep moving only to be delayed by people who had metal on them and had to be wanded after the detectors, despite the repeated announcements. Fantastic addition, congrats to all involved as well as the ride ops! In an interesting note, it's been noted the several paintings of snakes and sunflowers around the old Snake River Falls site. Could it stand for S&S??

After thinking about it, you can only physically be at one park. The old way if you didn't have the all park passport and were near another park you probably wouldn't go in, but with the early purchase deal you would and be more likely to boost attendance at all parks, therefore increasing spend at the parks. The bigger picture is if more people are going to the different properties, you'll get more reviews/word of mouth so you better be on your best behavior. Being a former platinum/current passport holder, this is great news personally. That money I'm saving on the all park passport will end up being spent in the parks. As far as "giving away the gate" it seems that it may be a reversing trend in attendance if it keeps declining. Alot of people have been laid off and things are getting more expensive and with insurance preminums increasing and the cuts in federal programs people will start having less to spend. The reduction in attendance is not just a KI thing, it seems to be industry wide.

I would expect the roamers and the scare zones to still be around.

I always thought it would be ideal to have three categories, an Entree, a Side and a Desert. That way the prices would be consistent and you could "make your own meal" from different offerings of different countries.

True, also as is any of us being here for next yeaar. Which is why I enjoy it while it's here now. I'm more thankful for having Phantom Theatre Encore alebeit for 2 years in my lifetime than for not to have had it.

Went to Grand Carnivale last night. Having no tasting cards is definitely a miss for the park and I fear they may never come back. I always got one (or two) but after a 2 year hiatus I don't ever see them returning. I do, however, continue to be amazed by not just the parade, but those involved in it. There are just as many as I remember and EVERYONE did a fantastic job. The crowd was light but the energy from the performers and everyone in the parade (drivers included) were smiling and giving 110%. It really helps the energy and the enjoyment and everyone watching was having a great time as well. After all the years I've seen it I'm still not bored with it. This parade is a very special and we should consider ourselves lucky to have it. For that half hour it truely to me transforms KI into the happiest place on Earth. Well done KI!

I'm assuming no tasting cards?

The main reason I enjoy Haunt is The Beast night rides. That alone is worth the price of a gold pass in my opinion!

The other benefit I could see is it may stop the hoards of children and adults pulling kids in wagons thorugh the mazes. If charging keeps so many kids who just giggle and run through the mazes only to bump in to an adult pulling two toddlers in a large red wagon, I'm all for it. It puts the scareactors at a disadvantage because who can do a proper scare job under those cirmumstances. I'll hold off judgement until I experience it. Another thing I've noticed is (I didn't check them all) that at Kings Dominion Cedar Point Magic Mountain Six Flags over Georgia Six Flags Great America Six Flags over Texas Six Flags Fiesta Texas All have their halloween events presented by Snickers. Kings Island Knots Berry Farm Valleyfair Darian Lake Canada's Wonderland Don't have it. Probably just haven't updated the websites yet, but I found it interesting.

The lockers outside of TT2 are free, (at least last time I was there this year) You also have to go thorugh a metal detector for TT2.

Resistence???? They ARE speaking their minds. Guess you only want to hear what they have to say when you agree with it. As far as twitter goes, I've never had a twitter account nor will I. I could care less what happens on twitter. The only thing worse than being a shill for the the park is being the anti-shill for the park. Why must everything be one extreme or the other? I've listened to every episode and was getting tired of the constant negativity. Go up around where Geauga Lake was and ask them if they miss having a park, no matter how poorly run. Consistantly amazes me the "entitlement" of some people. Not only do they expect and amusement park nearby, but it must have the biggest coasters, best drinks, coldest ice, manageable crowds, cheap merchandise and friendly employees to cater to THEIR needs reguardless of anyone else on the planet. Most of the time when I have gone (I've been over 20 times) things have been fine. I have noticed an uptick in not only more trash cans (they don't even have branding on them) but haven't noticed any overflowing since it was brought up on the podcast. As for the ice I can't tell you how many times I've went and seen a mountain of ice under the dispenser where people have gotten "too much" and then dumped some out wasting ice. Sometimes you can't even get a cup under there. That along with people who come through the exits to refill really messes up the count of how many cups have been sold so they can't even go by how many drinks have been sold to get a guess when to refill the machines. Every year they have to learn from scratch. In my opinion, with 4 drink stations you shouldn't have to have 1 full time employee manning the ice at one location because of the lack of common sense and following the rules of others who waste ice and circumvent lines. Bottom line: There are about 8.2 billion people on the planet (it was 3.7 billion in 1970!) About 1.5-2.5 billion people live within a two hour drive an amusement park. In my opinion, having a park to shill or non-shill about is a privledge, not a right. One that I'm very greatful for and consider myself to be part of the 20-30% of the population to be within a 2 hour drive of an amusement park. It's a shame that some people can't be happy with what they have before missing what they no longer have. As far as the podcast goes, I'll keep listening no matter what. I find it entertaining and whereas I may not always agree with the views I'm open minded enough to allow them their opinion and the way in which to express it rather than labeling them. The podscape is a much better with their show than it was without it. Keep up the work gentlemen, some of us out here appreciate it and won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Just my 2 cents.

The Hotel Breakers, while a little pricey, is in my opinion the ONLY place to stay while going to CP. The staff is always very helpful and does their best to make your experience the best it can be. The time saved alone in getting on and off the causeway is worth it in my opinion, not to mention walkable access to your room. We always go up and take some "adult beverages" and once we park in the Breakers parking lot, we don't drive again until we are ready to leave. One big tip on the Breakers is to take a small kurieg coffee maker as there are none in the room. You also get easy access to the early entry at the rear of the park near Magnum which gives easy fast access to Steel Vengence and Maverick if they are offered as early rides. Another bonus is the ability to go to the room and leave any "loose objects" when planing to ride the bigger rides and to go back and get them after the ride, taking away the need for the pay or free lockers. You also can go to the room, change and go to the beach easily. One of my favorite things to do is get up at dawn and watch the sunrise over the lake and take a walk to see the park "wake up" especially walking down the boardwalk toward the parking lot to see GateKeeper get started up. There is a breakfast offering on the dining plan at the Grand Pavilion, The Farmhouse is also fantastic. Tomo's inside the Hotel Breakers is a fantastic hibatchi grill that is reasonably priced and a blast. For a little higher dining experience Bay Harbor Inn is a favorite of my wife and myself (we go to CP 3 times a year). And, of course Famous Daves BBQ is off property and is now located at Castaway Bay. It's good, but not worth leaving the property in my opinion. Don't miss the shows (especially the Red Garter rock show). The rock show is consistently the best show in the park in my opinion, such great talent. All in all it's a great park. One thing to know is that most of the rides are people movers, meaning that the line may look long but they do move quickly. Take note of all the signage around the park telling you about the history and make sure to take time yourself to enjoy the beauty of the park and the beach that people have been enjoying for over 150 years. Have a great trip, and let us know how it was!

I believe the only thing the park can do is raise the price of season passes. Giving away the gate may have something to do with what you experienced. The amount of entitlement of people is just unbelieveable. It's definitely a sign of the times that civility seems to have taken a break in our current climate. In my humble opinion, just as it comes from parents, it comes from the top. Just my 2 cents.

I'ts now actually a quarter pound hot dog, back to the normal hot dog size, but bigger diameter. The best footlongs in the park are at Brewhouse (the Big Dog) or a plan footlong can still be found at Soak City's Coconut Cove Cafe (although no relish at that location )

Ryan's latest video did say it was indeed a crack in the structure that needed repaired.