Karen

It sounds like a little girl is singing it and kind of eiry considering where it is sung lol. I kind of think that was lame really but heh to each his own lol You should check out Haunt - would love to see you there!!!

Not to be mean here but really Bodda it would have been a better PR if you had not mentioned his past job experience in here. It is really none of our business. Attitudes are easy to see. As for Haunt, well my opinion of that is always biased as I really love it and I am more than willing to admit that. I went both nights and had a terriffic time. This is just the kind of thing that I really enjoy and in my own opinion, for what it is worth, I think they have made it even better. Urgent Scare really lived up to the HYPE. There are things about Kings Island that I don't like. Nothing on earth is perfect in every aspect. I have been going to the park since it first opened and even went when it was still called Coney Island lol. Yeaaaa showing my age. Trust me in that many years there are going to be things I DON'T like but very few. In all those years I have only encountered two or three people there that I am not fond of or that angered me in some way - omg to me that is a really good average here considering the multitude of people that worked the park over the years ha ha ha. As a whole Kings Island - no matter who owns the place - is a good place to go and spend the day - or night.

Wow great pictures!!! Yes you are right the pictures can not possibly show the true size of diamond back but you sure did a great job of it!! I was there Friday and Saturday for haunt and I was simply amazed at the size and how long it is going to me. Seemed like there were parts of it all over!!!

Oh hun I never referrred to it as anything new just what some of the haunt people are calling me. I thought it was cute and went along with it. If you want to come up with something new or fun just let me know!! I am open to all suggestions lol. As for Club Blood. Well understandably I am a little gun shy about that one. I have been told it is awesome and more intense than last year. My husband and brother went through it Friday and LOVED IT. Maybe toward the end of haunt I will do it again. Yes UncleHenry you got me GOOD many times!!! I love your haunt attire!!! You do great as a roamer! I sat up front for a while watching you and got the biggest kick out of some of your scares!!

I remember you!!!! I have not reviewed my video YET but will look for you in there. You are in Massacre manner right? I saw you Saturday night walking out to your haunts and got you on tape then too. I wanted so bad to go to that one this weekend but could not. Next weekend is a GO for sure!!! If the video is clear and good enough I will post on YOUTUBE for you all to see!! Those I know I can post. The shows not sure and have not gotten permission so I am keeping them off for now. I did tape some of them Saturday. I am not doing anything without park permission as I really love the place!!!

Ok I went on the site to get my 2008 season pass just to go to HAUNT this year and it said free haunt for the remainder of this year???? Please tell me I did not purchase that thing for nothing?? They did not offer a GOLD PASS only the SEASON pass.

Ok I had to respond to this one!!! Now we all know NOTHING scares me right?????

To so very many that keep asking me "Are you going to Haunt this year???" All I can say is "welllll duhhhh!!! Where else would I be???" Yes I will be there both days this weekend. As stated above my new name for this year is MEAL ON WHEELS....I think it is fitting considering I am in a wheelchair and heard that several tried to have me as a meal last year...... I have been hearing a lot about this year so far and everything is that...YES it will be a lot more intense than last year and those asking me to visit their haunts - well if I don't get to you Friday - I will be there Saturday. Only one I will not do and that is CLUB BLOOD. That one is just TOO INTENSE for me lol. I will likely go to all nights of haunt. I certainly hope that if you see me in your haunt you make sure to shout out to me or make yourself known in that way that you do so well!!! Scaring the crap out of me!!! Certainly looking forward to the shows!!! I hope they are as good as they were last year. It will be interesting to see them with new and different singers. I just basically wanted to tell all of my wonderful friends out there that I am sooooo looking forward to seeing you all again!!! One final comment......YES I still have the autographed head!!!! It is still sitting in my office along with the many "gifts" given to me through out haunt!! If you have not signed it let me know and I will try to bring it one night, leaving it in my car and meeting up with you after haunt to sign it!!

Wow looking forward to seeing you there!!! Just look for the woman in a wheelchair. They are calling me "Meal on Wheels" this year lol. Kaaarrreeennnn

We had just moved to Kentucky in 1971, from Southern California and I went when Kings Island was a new park. I had a great time but it was nothing like I was used to. I grew up and was pretty much raised with Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm. They were awesome. Kings Island was nothing more than a glorified Carnevale when it first opened. It has grown a great deal over the years and gotten better. Hanna Barbera Land was awesome They had that really nice green tunnel into and out of that section of the park. It was laid out so neat for the kids. Nick Town is ok and has some great rides for different ages. I am happy they never got rid of the train ride and at least kept one of the log rides. I think the biggest coaster at the time was the twin racers. Now remember this was a very long time ago but it seems to me that it was not the big coaster park it is now. It was a lot more family oriented back then. The Bat was one of my favorite rides for the short time it was at the park. It jerked my neck so badly once that I hurt all day but still it was a fun ride. That is where Vortex is now which is my absolute favorite ride in the park. One thing I miss - do not remember what it was called but there were two "cages" one on each side - while one was up in the air revolving the other was down on the ground filling with people. I have a terrible fear of heights and it scared me to death but I still loved it!! They took it out and put in flight commander later on and now it has that trampoline. Some of you older ones will remember this but the under 20 set will not. It has been gone a long time. I have been going to Kings Island ALMOST every year since it opened. There are so many things that have come and gone for the new and improved but in all honestly - was it necessary? would love to see the park expand and bring back some of the older rides of the past. I am glad that some things about Coney Mall have not changed. I know this is an old fashioned way to think but really in life, as you mature, you will discover that sometimes new and improved is not as good as the tried and true. Ponder that one.

I will have to hunt that link down but it was from a news paper in the Sandusky, Ohio area.

There are actually several different rumors. Only a few include; they were selling a park to the 49'ers, selling all of Cedar Fair, and a few talking about selling some of the parks. I did see on their "official" site that they denied all rumors but then a lot of companies do that prior to selling to protect their stock. This is not to say that any of them are true - just wondering what others had heard. Taking into consideration that a rumor is just that until evidence to the contrary so please keep in mind that all I want to know here is what others had heard and nothing more.

oops sorry for the mispelled word lol!!

I often search the net for interesting articules and came across one from a newspaper near the Cedar Fair located in Northern Ohio. The article mentioned that Cedar Fair was looking for a private buyer for the park that would keep current management in place. I have been hearing that Mr. Kinzel was looking to retire in the near future and handing the reigns over to his buddy Mr. Falfus. So I am wondering what is going on and if anyone else has heard anything of this nature??

when you go to the site to join look at the left side. There are what I am going to assume are the text messages that have gone out on updates for this particular group. It looks as if this is likely a weekly thing at best and likely not going to get bombarded with things. There is not honestly a lot of things you can put in a text message but seems as if this is a nice little thing to let us know to check out the website for more information if the text in interesting to you. Kind of a nice little heads up that there is an articule on the site with more information. It is a good idea if you are interested in knowing the positive things coming up.

I joined. Figured I would check it out. Have not been to the park so far this year but still intereszted in what is going on with it.

I am trying my best to keep this on the positive side but you know as well as I do that I can get very nasty about what was done and how so please keep those kind of comments to yourself. I felt I was being extremely nice about this.

Probably because from the way you tell it seems they weren't obligated to fix it. Did you go through an insurance company to get this settled? If so, maybe you should keep the matter between you and the park. Various sources? Like kids who work at Haunt? Yes the park was obligated to fix it and that was never in question. No one tried to get out of anything so please do not think that - I have not said or even hinted to that. It was almost impossible to keep it between myself and the park because too many people knew about it that night and several of them post on this site. The accident was broadcast all over the park via their radios. I am a very popular person among the employees of Haunt and very well liked. When they saw me at the front of the park waiting for my son-in-law to come out of make-up several got extremely angry. I spent a lot of time calming people down and telling them the park would take care of this - which they finally did do. Yes it took way too long and I am the first to agree to that one but no one at the park ever once denied their obligation to correct this problem. The employees working that night went out of their way to help me. Don Helbig was extremely nice to me that night and made sure that the report was made and even allowed me free use of their electric scooters for the remainder of haunt because he knew I was wanting to go to every single operating night of haunt. I will say that I worked with one of the moderators of this site, that has posted on this issue, to try to do some damage control by posting a humorous post of what happened. i am sure it is still around on this site in the trip report. It was our desire to keep things calm and positive. I hope these have answered all of your questions about the chair. My real question for this thread was do you honestly think the park is handicapped accessible and have you ever seen anything that might be changed to make it safer for everyone? If so have you possibly told anyone in management to effect positive change?? My experience was not the best and it is my intention to possibly see if people can look around and help others by alerting management to positive changes so that things like this can be avoided in the future. I do not expect everything to be accessible but do think that there should aways be those changes in process to make the park an enjoyable experience for all park visitors. As for why would I go to the park?? Well actually that is a very good question. I enjoy the park, the employees are totally awesome to me and the shows are just done so well I have to give major kudos to Kevin and his entire staff for doing such a fantastic job!!! I have not been to the park this year but have heard they are just as well done this year as last and to me that takes some major talent! Those of you that posted positive comments about this - thanks sooo very much!!! Negative comments are often done out of ignorance of the real situation. I went into more detail than I ever wanted to on this site to give you the knowledge and possibly a better understanding of the issues that the handicapped have to endure. Unfortunately most people do not look at the handicapped as a person - but we are. We have feelings and would love to have the same respect given to anyone else.

The reasons it took eight months is a question for Don Helbig. It took me almost three months just to finally figure out who to call as I did not hear from anyone for a long time. I reached Don Helbig in January and he told me that they could not look at it until April after the season opened. Don Helbig told me that they were extremely busy with changing signs and getting the park ready for the opening weekend. I called the first part of April and was told to bring it down April 22. Six weeks later my wheelchair was returned to me. For the six months I had it the chair was heavily taped up and I severely limited my social life and any use of that chair that was not absolutely necessary. For the six weeks it was at the park in repair I just did not go anywhere unless they offered the use of a motorized scooter or a manual wheelchair and had someone accompany me to push it as I am not able to do so. So yes I was extremely patient.

It would only hit the news if Karen contacted them. From what I have seen on these boards, Karen is a class act and would only make this a public relations issue if the park refused to repair damage that they had caused. I would have lost patience long before eight MONTHS. My hat is off to you, Karen. Thank you so much for that comment!!! Yes I have been extremely patient with the park and wish the ones I have dealt with would take your opinion of me as well lol. I love Kings Island and Halloween Haunt is my favorite time of the year. I have been as patient and as understanding as I possibly could. Thank you so much for that awesome statement to my character!!

Yeah, I don't undertand what happened? I tried searching for the post but could not find it. As I remember, she was in one of the Halloween Haunt attractions and her chair got stuck somehow. Some park employees tried to free it and broke something on the chair. That would make it the park's responsibility to pay for since it's representatives (employees) were the ones who caused the damage. It is ridiculous that the park would take 8 months to repair the damage. I wonder if management or KI's insurance company tried to get out of paying. The park employee did not damage my chair. There was a design flaw in the attraction. There were bodies that hang from the ceiling in CLub Blood and one of them had their hands tied - the hands somehow got under my toggle switch and somehow ripped the arm right off of my chair. It happened really fast. Suddenly I was slammed against a wall covered in bodies. The security person assigned to me was extremely nice and worked hard to get me untangled. It took about ten minutes to "find" me and get me untangled. With the exception of the manager of that attraction the rest of the employees working that night went out of their way to accomodate me and assist me as much as possible and I owe them a huge thank you. I do not know why the park choose to "wait six months" to even look at it or the six weeks of fixing it. I am looking into that but really don't want to comment until I get more information from my various sources so let's not be unfair to anyone on this one. The park DID finally fix the arm of my chair.

Vortex seatbelts are still the same as last year...you rode it fine with me last year so shouldn't be a problem this year No hun you rode it with my daughter and not with me. If you remember I really did not ride any rides that day. That particular day I just watched the shows. I suffer other health problems and I know my limitations. On those days I do not ride anything. The shows were so awesome last year that I enjoyed them as much as I did the rides when I could ride them!! As for the remarks about the "fake" use of a wheelchair - well hun this is my own prescription wheelchair. It is a medical necessity for me. I can walk but only very short distances without a great deal of pain. I do understand what you are talking about and have seen the abuse of that particular item. The new boarding passes that they started about two years ago has worked to limit that abuse!! As for when I do ride the rides. I do not like being unfair to anyone so what we do is get the boarding passes because it is required to have them to ride anything. I have to show the ride operator that I even have one before I can get on any rides. My family member goes and stands in line with everyone else and once they get to the front then I get on with them. This way I am not getting anything anyone else is not able to have. We do not get multiple stamps - actually I don't get any stamps but the stamping process is very fair. Sometimes you have to wait longer and other times shorter times so it all equals out. As for the damage to my chair - this was a design flaw in the attraction - simply hanging the bodies just about a foot higher will not stop any of the fun and will make the attraction safer for those in power chairs. This was an accident waiting to happen and could have happen to people in their own rented chairs/scooters. There are a lot of things that happened that I have not discussed.

after reading all of these posts I am rather concerned about the real safety of the park - this is not because of the current security people around but it seems like they need more. Isn't it sad that people can not be expected to conduct themselves as adults?? Use their manners?? Maybe if they started to EJECT line jumpers that would at least reduce to a workable level. As for teh smokers do you realize that some people are allergic to the smoke? Smoking makes me very ill and thought I do not feel your rights should be restricted I would like my rights as well. Unfortunately most smokers think it is funny to blow their smoke in your face. If smokers blow their smoke out into the air I am not bothered but often they think it cute to blow it in nonsmoker's faces. Again theat manners factor. Seems to me if parents taught their children those simple manners lessons a lot of this would not be an issue. Whatever happened to being responsible for our own actions?

Try being in a wheelchair and having these same rude people cut in front of you when you do not have breaks!!!

well my line wait is a bit different in that I wait at the exit for my family to go through the line so what do I do? People watch. Look at the expressions of the people as they get on then off the rides. I can be comical. People - men and women - with well done hair come off completely a mess but laughing. Others have these looks of utter shock on their face and yet others laughing - it is never boring!!