BoddaH1994

Workers at Kings Island begin preparations for Halloween Haunt. The biggest Halloween event in the Midwest features more than 400 blood-thirsty monsters, highly-intense attractions including chain-link mazes, frightening wooded trails, disturbing clowns in 3D and some of the most hair-raising rides on the planet! Halloween Haunt will be open from 7:00pm until 1:00am every Friday and Saturday night beginning September 26 through November 1. The event is included free with park admission and season pass.

Amusement Today Readers Award Kings Island with Golden Ticket for Best Kids’ Area in the World Legendary Beast voted one of the 10 best wooden roller coasters in the world Kings Island, Ohio – For the eighth year in a row, Amusement Today readers awarded Kings Island with the prestigious Golden Ticket Award for Best Kids’ Area in the world. Expanding over two exciting neighborhoods dedicated to SpongeBob SquarePants™ and Dora the Explorer™, Nickelodeon Universe features more than 18 attractions and more kids’ roller coasters (four) than any other park in the world! In addition to receiving the award for the Best Kids’ Area, the legendary Beast roller coaster was voted the eighth best wooden roller coaster in the world. The Beast made its debut in 1979 and still stands today as the world’s longest wooden roller coaster at 7,400 feet. The Golden Ticket Awards are the result of a survey conducted by Amusement Today, a respected amusement park trade publication. Every year, hundreds of well-traveled theme park enthusiasts are chosen to share their expertise to determine a winner in each category. A list of all the Golden Ticket Award winners can be found at www.amusementtoday.com. Kings Island is owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, a publicly traded partnership that is listed for trading on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FUN.” In addition to Kings Island, Cedar Fair owns and operates ten other amusement parks, six water parks, one indoor water park resort and five hotels. Cedar Fair also operates the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in Gilroy, Calif. under a management contract.

The kid was adorable. Knew about every step in the entire show. Very talented, especially for that age.

I mean, of course I'd go, but I wouldn't see it as being successful. You could do Haunt then have some sort of Thanksgiving thing and bring back Winterfest, but what about the rest of the year? The reason why the Florida parks can pull it off is because of all of the vacationers down there between January and June.

Same with Diamondback. It wouldn't have happened without Cedar Fair. Paramount was not interested in making that type of investment in the parks.

Bring it up again once Haunt starts and I'm sure you'll get a big response.

I suppose so. The plan right now is to put it in Tower Gardens, so logic would dictate that it's where they're going.

You can see a brief blurb of each of them on the front page article by clicking here.

What can I say? American southern music, Italian and Japanese food all within a German building? Yeah, the theme's pretty gone. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Festhaus rethemed to something a little more country-ish in the near future. I eat at Panda almost every time I go to the park and have only found it nasty once. Wish I could say the same about some of the other eateries, but Panda has always been guaranteed for me. The Beast is a fickle creature. How rough it is really depends on the time of day, temperature, weight, etc. It also seems to get a little rougher as the season presses on. Or maybe even remove them. Paramount probably intended to use them for marketing, but Cedar Fair mainly plays music videos on them. Many of those things are over 10 years old... and you can tell. That's an improvement that came about two weeks ago. They seemed to have switched from random pop music to classic rock. No complaints here. Nope, it's still there. If you were facing the tower with your back to the fountains, it would be behind the tower to the left, as it always has been. I'm glad they keep that thing up. It's really nice. To the best of my recollection, it's always been just the first hill. I could be wrong. Any takers? Cool trip report!

Thanks. Welcome back! It was nice seeing you today.

++Kings Island is now closed. The park will reopen on Sept 19th and 20th with special Bring-a-Friend discounts for 2008 and 2009 pass holders.++ Many Cincinnatians end their summer with a bang on the Ohio River, but Kings Island did things a little differently this year. Labor Day Weekend was one of the most eventful weekends in the history of Kings Island which featured everything from competitive eating to Olympic gold! On Labor Day, Kings Island welcomed Major League Eating for the first time in history. Joey "Jaws" Chestnut competed against many others in a Skyline Chili eating contest which was measured by the pound! Chestnut is the reigning world champion but was outdone by “Humble” Bob Shoudt. Stoudt narrowly beat Chestnut by eating thirteen and a half pounds of Skyline chili. This was just one quarter pound more than then reigning champion. "Having mouthfuls of the Skyline Chili was a little hard to swallow." said Ricky Howard, a Dayton-area native who finished in 6th place. "I think if I do it again, I'll mix the chili with the water and more or less drink it. That's how they do it in the hot dog eating contests." Click here to see photos of Major League Eating at Kings Island! The 1970s saw a Cincinnati Reds team that was nothing short of legendary status. The Big Red Machine proved that they were the best team in baseball in both 1975 and 1976 by winning back to back World Series. Two of the most prominent men on the team were George Foster and Pete Rose, who were both on hand at Kings Island to do two Q & A shows where they answered questions, told stories, and gave aspiring baseball players advice. Photos from the Pete Rose and George Foster Q & A sessions can be seen by clicking here. Who doesn't love the Olympics? It makes it even easier to love the Olympics when you see Americans take home the gold. Receiving an Olympic Gold Metal is an honor that's second only to the likes of walking on the moon. Patrons of Kings Island had the opportunity to meet Kerri Walsh, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser and ask them some questions about their Olympic experieces. All three athletes competed in Beijing in the sport of beach volleyball and proved their greatness to the world by brining the gold home to America! To see photos of all these athletes appearances at Kings Island click here! In 1973, The Brady Bunch filmed one of their most cherished episodes at Kings Island entitled "The Cincinnati Kids." Exactly 35 years later, members of the Brady Bunch returned to Kings Island to sing, dance and tell old Brady stories. Hundreds of Brady fans, young and young-at-heart, packed the Kings Island Theater to capacity to see Barry Williams (Greg Brady), Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady) and Mike Lookinland (Bobby Brady) return to Kings Island on the anniversary of the filming of the show. Williams performed some classic Brady songs including "It's a Sunshine Day" and threw in a twist of humor with a song entitled, "The Real Greg Brady," a rendition of Eminem's 'The Real Slim Shady." Williams, who was the star of the "Growing Up Brady" show, brought Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland on stage to help teach a select group of lucky fans a few classic Brady dance steps. Click here to see photos of the "Growing Up Brady" show. On Saturday, August 30th, Kings Island began a new tradition. Former employees of Kings Island who have gone on to do remarkable things can now be inducted into the Kings Island Walk of Fame. The first three inductees were immortalized in the Walk of Fame at a ceremony in the International Showplace Theater. Inductees included Carmen Electra, who began her acting career in the show "It's Magic" in the early 90s and has gone on to star in such films as Epic Movie, Date Movie and Meet the Spartans. Electra made special cameo appearances in the show Flashback Totally 80s as part of the ceremony and even answered some questions in front of a very enthusiastic audience. Dennis Speigel began his career at Coney Island and helped in the transition of Coney Island into Kings Island in the early 1970s. He served as Assistant General Manager of Kings Island and then Vice President and General Manager of Kings Dominion, Kings Island's sister park, before moving on to International Theme Park Services, a major amusement industry consulting firm where he now serves as President. Janeen Coyle began her career as an actress on the Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad. After the show ended, she began her career in the radio industry and is currently a a well known DJ on the Cincinnati radio station WGRR. Click here to see photos of the inaugural induction ceremony of the Kings Island Walk of Fame and click here to see photos of Carmen Electra's cameo appearance in Flashback: Totally 80s! Standing 230ft tall, Diamondback will certainly be something to see at Kings Island in 2009! Sitting in open air stadium seating-style trains and traveling at speeds in excess of 80mph it will be the tallest and fasted coaster in the park! Are you excited about 2009? Be one of the first to purchase or renew your Kings Island Gold or Cedar Fair Platinum Pass by clicking here! Do you want the latest information sent directly to your cell phone? Sign up for KICentral's official mobile club and receive text alerts with the latest news and information about Kings Island! Signing up is fast and free! Click here for more information about KICentral's official mobile club! Are you an avid Kings Island fan or do you casually visit once a year? It doesn't matter! KICentral.com is the site for you. Why not register on the forums of KICentral and tell us about your thoughts and experiences involving Kings Island! Registration is fast, FREE, and easy. Don't forget to keep checking KICentral.com for the latest news, rumors and information about Kings Island amusement park! Regards, Ryan

Fixed -- sorry about the Brady mix up.

Actually, it'll be located in the Tower Gardens. Paramount Story is a thing of the past.

Carmen Electra's mother unfortunately passed away as a result of a brain tumor in 1998. Typically it's just a random person they pull up on stage for that segment.

In 1973, The Brady Bunch filmed one of their most cherished episodes at Kings Island entitled "The Cincinnati Kids." Exactly 35 years later, members of the Brady Bunch returned to Kings Island to sing, dance and tell old Brady stories. Hundreds of Brady fans, young and young-at-heart, packed the Kings Island Theater to capacity to see Barry Williams (Greg Brady), Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady) and Mike Lookinland (Bobby Brady) return to Kings Island on the anniversary of the filming of the show. Williams performed some classic Brady songs including "It's a Sunshine Day" and threw in a twist of humor with a song entitled, "The Real Greg Brady," a rendition of Eminem's 'The Real Slim Shady." Williams, who was the star of the "Growing Up Brady" show, brought Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland on stage to help teach a select group of lucky fans a few classic Brady dance steps. Click here to see photos of the "Growing Up Brady" show. On Labor Day, September 1st, Major League Eating will make its debut at Kings Island! Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, the number 1 ranked competitive eater, will be on hand to defend his title by eating Skyline Chili... by the pound! This event is FREE with park admission and will be featured on the International Showplace Theater at 2:00! Also on Labor Day, two of the greatest baseball players in history, Pete Rose and George Foster, will be on hand to do Q & A shows in the Kings Island Theater at 3:00 and 4:00! This event is FREE with park admission and autographs will be given at random by means of a drawing. Click here to see a full schedule of events for Labor Day Weekend at Kings Island! Kings Island will once again be the place to be this Labor Day Weekend with several special activities planned for all three days! All weekend Kings Island will be hosting their first ever Employee Reunion! Kings Island has employed more than 150,000 since its opening in 1972 and if you were one of them, Labor Day Weekend will be the time to see some faces that you may not have seen for years! The Employee Reunion happens all three days of Labor Day Weekend, August 30 - Sept 1st. The weekend will feature a slide show each day to bring back some old memories of days past! Former employees are also welcome to purchase a special meal ticket for an amazing meal in the picnic grove. The Kings Island Employee Reunion is FREE with park admission and special discounted admission rates are available to former employees and their families. Click here to RSVP for the Kings Island Employee Reunion, Purchase Tickets and purchase a meal ticket! On Saturday, August 30th, Kings Island began a new tradition. Former employees of Kings Island who have gone on to do remarkable things can now be inducted into the Kings Island Walk of Fame. The first three inductees were immortalized in the Walk of Fame at a ceremony in the International Showplace Theater. Inductees included Carmen Electra, who began her acting career in the show "It's Magic" in the early 90s and has gone on to star in such films as Epic Movie, Date Movie and Meet the Spartans. Electra made special cameo appearances in the show Flashback Totally 80s as part of the ceremony and even answered some questions in front of a very enthusiastic audience. Dennis Speigel began his career at Coney Island and helped in the transition of Coney Island into Kings Island in the early 1970s. He served as Assistant General Manager of Kings Island and then Vice President and General Manager of Kings Dominion, Kings Island's sister park, before moving on to International Theme Park Services, a major amusement industry consulting firm where he now serves as President. Janeen Coyle began her career as an actress on the Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad. After the show ended, she began her career in the radio industry and is currently a a well known DJ on the Cincinnati radio station WGRR. Click here to see photos of the inaugural induction ceremony of the Kings Island Walk of Fame and click here to see photos of Carmen Electra's cameo appearance in Flashback: Totally 80s! Standing 230ft tall, Diamondback will certainly be something to see at Kings Island in 2009! Sitting in open air stadium seating-style trains and traveling at speeds in excess of 80mph it will be the tallest and fasted coaster in the park! Are you excited about 2009? Be one of the first to purchase or renew your Kings Island Gold or Cedar Fair Platinum Pass by clicking here! Kings Island may be ending daily operations but that doesn't mean you can't squeeze out one more week of fun in the sun! The Beach Waterpark has reached out to the KICentral community to offer a special discount valid August 25 - 29th... days that Kings Island is closed! Click here to download the discount coupon and to see some photos of what The Beach has to offer! Do you want the latest information sent directly to your cell phone? Sign up for KICentral's official mobile club and receive text alerts with the latest news and information about Kings Island! Signing up is fast and free! Click here for more information about KICentral's official mobile club! Are you an avid Kings Island fan or do you casually visit once a year? It doesn't matter! KICentral.com is the site for you. Why not register on the forums of KICentral and tell us about your thoughts and experiences involving Kings Island! Registration is fast, FREE, and easy. Don't forget to keep checking KICentral.com for the latest news, rumors and information about Kings Island amusement park! Regards, Ryan

Celebration had a portion of the show dedicated to "Singing in The Rain." Do you happen to have any footage of that show crammed away in your closet or something? I always hear how great it was but haven't ever seen footage of it. The possibilities are absolutely endless at the Kings Island Theater. You are right about Endless Summer, though... it was great for two seasons, but it's time for something new. BTW, the guy in County Line isn't really playing. It's just a prop. Don't tell anyone I told you!!! Oh yeah... my vote goes for another show like School of Rock. LOVED that show. I'd like to see something like that with a storyline rather than just having a concert though.

Thanks for coming out today!!! Make sure you thank your mom for being a Cindy for us!

A VERY VERY VERY special THANK YOU goes out to everyone who came out and participated in the Brady look-alike Racer ride!! I hope everyone had fun! This is the photo that's now on the AP wire: http://www.KICentral.com/photos/albums/use...h_%231_copy.jpg

It's a slightly different world now with Cedar Fair since it's a publicly traded partnership and their business is almost entirely reliant on the theme parks. Some stuff will be made public, like the cost of Diamondback, and some things aren't. You can get a ballpark amount if any of the shows are submitted to IAAPA because each category is broken up into costs. Most would agree that Winterfest was priced out of the market. I thought that the price you'd pay (which was rarely the gate price, not unlike the regular season) was pretty fair for a night out. Unfortunately when local papers would compare the different holiday events available, Kings Island looked like the bad guy because their regular admission price was twice as high as things like Holiday Fest and Festival of Lights, who in turn both got a surge of business that year as a result of the publicity that Winterfest got. Certainly not a fair comparison. Disney is the best of the best and no one can really deny that to one standard or another. The program is however getting better every year.

So, you can sing better than them? No, he complains a lot but brings nothing to the table. Myself, and most of the KIC community, have conditioned ourselves to simply ignore him. Well for someone who "brings nothing to the table" I certainly get an awful lot of private messages from KIC members asking me questions about KI, so some on here do find my knowledge of KI helpful. I just won't sugar-coat everything like you and so many others do on this site. But hey, I understand, you have to keep in the good-graces of KI so they will feed you a bone every once in a while so you have some news to post on here for the groupies. I plan to continue to post my opinions and experiences with KI, so just keep on ignoring me. Have a great day! So... Aren't you one of the ones who claimed that you were once a full timer? Why so disgruntled? Did they fire you?

So, you can sing better than them? No, he complains a lot but brings nothing to the table. Myself, and most of the KIC community, have conditioned ourselves to simply ignore him.

Miss Electra enjoyed a very nostalgic day at the park following her performances and induction into the Kings Island Walk of Fame. She was not required to sign autographs... she did it because she wanted to. The security guards were simply trying to keep control. She certainly would have been rushed if everyone started getting onto the stage.

On Saturday, August 30th, Kings Island began a new tradition. Former employees of Kings Island who have gone on to do remarkable things can now be inducted into the Kings Island Walk of Fame. The first three inductees were immortalized in the Walk of Fame at a ceremony in the International Showplace Theater. Inductees included Carmen Electra, who began her acting career in the show "It's Magic" in the early 90s and has gone on to star in such films as Epic Movie, Date Movie and Meet the Spartans. Electra made special cameo appearances in the show Flashback Totally 80s as part of the ceremony and even answered some questions in front of a very enthusiastic audience. Dennis Speigel began his career at Coney Island and helped in the transition of Coney Island into Kings Island in the early 1970s. He served as Assistant General Manager of Kings Island and then Vice President and General Manager of Kings Dominion, Kings Island's sister park, before moving on to International Theme Park Services, a major amusement industry consulting firm where he now serves as President. Janeen Coyle began her career as an actress on the Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad. After the show ended, she began her career in the radio industry and is currently a a well known DJ on the Cincinnati radio station WGRR. Click here to see photos of the Kings Island Walk of Fame induction ceremony and Carmen Electra's cameo appearances in Flashback Totally 80s! Kings Island will once again be the place to be this Labor Day Weekend with several special activities planned for all three days! All weekend Kings Island will be hosting their first ever Employee Reunion! Kings Island has employed more than 150,000 since its opening in 1972 and if you were one of them, Labor Day Weekend will be the time to see some faces that you may not have seen for years! The Employee Reunion happens all three days of Labor Day Weekend, August 30 - Sept 1st. The weekend will feature a slide show each day to bring back some old memories of days past! Former employees are also welcome to purchase a special meal ticket for an amazing meal in the picnic grove. The Kings Island Employee Reunion is FREE with park admission and special discounted admission rates are available to former employees and their families. Click here to RSVP for the Kings Island Employee Reunion, Purchase Tickets and purchase a meal ticket! In 1973 The Brady Bunch was the show that everyone was watching. As many Cincinnatians know, the Bradys filmed an episode entitled "The Cincinnati Kids" at Kings Island that year in which the father, Mike Brady, was to deliver special plans for an addition to Kings Island. Little did he know that his plans were mixed up with a poster that was won by his daughter Jan! That was over 30 years ago but the time has come for a very Brady reunion! Barry Williams (Greg), Susan Olson (Cindy) and Mike Lookinland (Bobby) will be on hand in the Kings Island Theater on Sunday, August 31st to sing, dance and tell old Brady stories! This event is also FREE with park admission and will be in the Kings Island Theater at 2:00pm, 4:30pm, 6:30pm, 8:00pm! On Labor Day, September 1st, Major League Eating will make its debut at Kings Island! Joey "Jaws" Chesnut, the number 1 ranked competitive eater, will be on hand to defend his title by eating Skyline Chili... by the pound! This event is FREE with park admission and will be featured on the International Bandstand at 2:00! Also on Labor Day, two of the greatest baseball players in history, Pete Rose and George Foster, will be on hand to do Q & A shows in the Kings Island Theater at 3:00 and 4:00! This event is FREE with park admission and autographs will be given at random by means of a drawing. Click here to see a full schedule of events for Labor Day Weekend at Kings Island! Standing 230ft tall, Diamondback will certainly be something to see at Kings Island in 2009! Sitting in open air stadium seating-style trains and traveling at speeds in excess of 80mph it will be the tallest and fasted coaster in the park! Are you excited about 2009? Be one of the first to purchase or renew your Kings Island Gold or Cedar Fair Platinum Pass by clicking here! Kings Island may be ending daily operations but that doesn't mean you can't squeeze out one more week of fun in the sun! The Beach Waterpark has reached out to the KICentral community to offer a special discount valid August 25 - 29th... days that Kings Island is closed! Click here to download the discount coupon and to see some photos of what The Beach has to offer! Do you want the latest information sent directly to your cell phone? Sign up for KICentral's official mobile club and receive text alerts with the latest news and information about Kings Island! Signing up is fast and free! Click here for more information about KICentral's official mobile club! Are you an avid Kings Island fan or do you casually visit once a year? It doesn't matter! KICentral.com is the site for you. Why not register on the forums of KICentral and tell us about your thoughts and experiences involving Kings Island! Registration is fast, FREE, and easy. Don't forget to keep checking KICentral.com for the latest news, rumors and information about Kings Island amusement park! Regards, Ryan

Additional photos...

I'd say the vast majority of people who got a confirmation emailed him from the park on KIC Day via cell phones. He said that it's first come, first serve and the first to respond would get a confirmation.