Delirium13

Funny you should mention that. This morning Kings Island posted a video on Instagram of PEANUTS 500 going through its morning test runs with the caption: I thought it was hilarious given the recent conversation on these boards about Kentucky Kingdom's practice of "weekly" inspections. Source: KingsIslandPR on Instagram

I dont think its a snob mentality. Its really the fact that you have the opportunity to ride when the line is not long. I rarely like to wait in a line for a ride more than 30-45 minutes long just because of the pass. Only time I did it last year was Diamondback and Banshee. Most others I will skip if the line is long because I can always go back... I found myself feeling the same way a few years back, but it ended up being a blessing, rather than a curse. I have had a gold pass every year since 2001 except 2009, and I noticed myself getting bored waiting in line for a lot of the bigger rides, and just becoming bored with running from roller coaster to roller coaster non-stop... in fact, I couldn't do it anymore, I started to become motion sick just running from ride to ride. But then I started to change things up and take my time. I stopped to watch shows, to sit in the shade and eat, and to ride rides that I often walked past. My visits to the park since then have been longer and more enjoyable since. I rode White Water Canyon more times than any other ride on opening day this year and had a blast.

Based off the article posted in this thread, it sounds like Amusement Dark is basically the initiative to expand the dark ride portfolio in all of the Cedar Fair parks.

I went on opening day and loved it. Ended up buying a caramel apple (which they'll slice for you), and salted caramel dark chocolate fudge. Very delicious, I imagine I'll be back a few times over the course of the season.

I love how they're able to deny the story, but somehow the story of one guest whose credit card didn't scan properly was such a big event on their opening weekend that the marketing dept. was informed of it and was ready to comment. I guess it's easy to keep track of those types of things when only "hundreds" of people enjoyed the park over the weekend.

Looks like a few new beer choices are coming to the park. Can't wait to try them! Via @KingsIslandPR on Twitter.

Wow. That's just pathetic to put it lightly. If all of this truly was to avoid a bad review, then that failed miserably. Most bad experiences in the park that may have been posted here pale in comparison to this. I'm guessing it was mainly done out of spite. The hostility that this park shows towards anyone who would dare criticize (no matter how constructive) their pathetic business practices continues to amaze me. Any curiosity that may have drove me to visit the park is gone. I don't have any interest in spending my money at a place that operates like the Kingdom does. Especially when that money could be better spent at far better and more FUN parks. Good luck Kentucky Kingdom, you'll be needing it!

Got to spend a few hours up at the park yesterday, so I figured I'd join in and share my observations on the day. -- The new shops on International Street look great. Really loved the Sweet Spot. -- The staff at The Sweet Spot were extremely friendly as well (overall, most employees I encountered were very friendly) -- Glad to see that the dinosaur in front of the fountains was removed. -- The Beast was running great, seemed like a very fast cycle... but that could just be since it was my first ride of the season. -- The new rides in Planet Snoopy look very nice, though unfortunately I didn't get a chance to ride Woodstock Gliders. Now for the not so great things (Disclaimer: This section may be longer than the positives I just listed, but that does not in any way imply that I saw more bad things than good, or that I had a bad day. I had really great day actually, and the park looked awesome. Just saw a few things that need addressing): -- Adventure Express definitely needs some attention in the theming department. I'd really love to see that ride get a theming overhaul like the log flume at Knott's... or at the very least, and more realistically, just fix the theming that is there. I'm mostly just annoyed because I saw one of my biggest pet peeves regarding that ride and that would be the door was open on the final lift. Not that any of the audio was working anyway... I feel like I say this over and over, but here goes: I get it, Cedar Fair is not Disney, but a little more effort could go a very long way. -- Still hoping for the return of the old International Street music... actually, the return of area specific music in general would be nice. -- Tower Gardens still needs to be addressed, the little bit they did is a start, but it's still a huge smoking area with poor upkeep. -- Reds Hall of Fame Grille -- Service was BAD. I understand that it was the first day, but whoa. Food came fast once it was finally ordered, but that's about it. Nothing else was fast, or even an acceptable amount of time. Food was good, but I saw a table get up and leave after not being served, another talking to a manager and getting money off, and I'm not even sure who my actual server was. It wasn't exactly what I'd call busy either. -- The Crypt sign is uncovered for some reason. Which brings me to my next point... -- As many of you know, I'm a big fan of Haunt, but completely against building permanent structures around the park for the mazes. Usually the signs are removed or covered in some way, but Slaughterhouse looks like its ready to open for evenings. Please tell me I'm not going to be seeing the gigantic Slaughterhouse sign all Summer. The practice of having all of these permanent structures scattered throughout the park is tacky enough, but really? This is getting ridiculous. We're currently at: 2 sheds, 2 former attraction buildings, an old coaster station, and a former arcade building right off the Coney midway all sitting shuttered until Haunt opens in September. Halloween Haunt is very popular, I understand that. I'm a big fan of Halloween and all the festivities it brings, but that current situation is bad.

Thanks for the pics everyone! Can't wait to go out tomorrow and see everything for myself. The train station building looks great! Going to try and get on the Flyers first thing tomorrow. Regarding the snapability, I wonder if some of the resistance is just from the ride being so new that it needs to break in a little? That's a complete guess coming from someone who has yet to achieve a good snap on any Flying Eagles before, but it seems likely. Either way, the park updates look great!

If a roller coaster were to be removed, my vote would also go to BLSC. It all has to do with its location. Simply put, it is the ugliest ride in the park (in my opinion), in what used to be one of prettiest, most relaxing areas of the park. I'd love to see it and all its crates and gravel leave the park in favor of more aesthetically pleasing rides and landscaping. Could be a nice area for a Ferris Wheel and other family rides. Or in a dream scenario, I'd love to see the area restored to its former glory with the Antique Cars.

I find it odd that the icon for the Soak City attractions is labeled "Bay" in the map filter... Overall though, looks to be a great improvement.

Whoa, that's torn up quite a bit! And less than a month till opening day! Right by Tower Gardens too... Can't wait to see how it turns out! He also posted a new photo of Shake, Rattle, & Roll, it looks great! @KIGMGREG Photo: Greg Scheid (VP/General Manager of Kings Island via Twitter EDIT - Should've looked at the Shake, Rattle, & Roll topic first! TheBEASTunchained beat me to posting it. Oh well, it's relevant in this thread as well I suppose.

Why do companies, people, and other organizations continue to make the mistake of doing a #Ask(InsertNameHere) campaign. I feel like there's a story about these campaigns blowing up in the face of whoever does it. I'm sure it's not 100% of the time, but you would think a company who has any bit of controversy surrounding it would not voluntarily throw itself to the wolves. Whoevers idea it was clearly doesn't read the responses SeaWorld gets to most of its tweets. A lot of them end in #Blackfish... I hope SeaWorld rights their ship soon.

That's hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.

I think you're mistaken on the target, the video was taken on a tour at Warner Bros. Studio in London, not at a Universal Park. And even if it were at Universal, I think the inference of a Disney connection is still quite a bit of a reach, to put it mildly. Especially when you consider PETA's opposition to Disney's Animal Kingdom in its early years. As for PETA, I'm not a fan of the organization in the least. I'm all for animal welfare, but they definitely take things way too far and represent the extremist end of what, at its heart, is a good cause.

And lest we forget, Kings Island's waterpark just received a major update in 2012... It may have disappointed some (including me) that no new slides were added, but the change from Boomerang Bay to Soak City was certainly not minor.

Yes, that is the new Coca-Cola Marketplace. And congrats CoastersRZ!

While I understand this event was a great perk to get people to renew their passes early and has been advertised as such from the beginning, I unfortunately see the potential for a lot of confusion by making the event for such a particular subgroup. Unfortunately, I did not renew my pass until later in the off-season and had actually for a while been under the impression that the preview night was for all passholders, however after a quick search for the forums I found the original post from Don and the part that mentioned it was only for early renewers. I'm not making this post to complain because I cannot attend, but out of concern for the confusion that could be caused. Too often we've seen angry reviews on the park's Facebook page complaining about how a family drove hours to the park only to find that it was not open that day. Even though you'd think if a family were driving several hours to an amusement park they might think to do some research into park hours, etc. they still go on to social media and blame the park. And in an era where news organizations increasingly use social media posts as "sources" instead of doing real research, I'd just hate to see what should be a positive event turn into some PR nightmare where the park is forced to respond to some news story about how season passholders were turned away from the passholder preview night because they had not renewed by a certain deadline. All that and I've also wondered about the same question that TheBeastUnchained posed... I hope the event goes off without a hitch, since we've all been hoping for a preview day to return for a few years now. But in a time when news organizations will apparently run with a story about how riders were stuck on the lifthill of roller coaster for 30 minutes because some kid posted on Twitter about it, I hope that this doesn't turn into some annoyance for the park.

I still need to try Snake Pit. I hear nothing but good things about it.

^ Please no, I love Viking Fury's location.

I'm unsure of how to embed the image because it was posted to Instagram, but Kings Island just posted a picture of the Tower Gardens all torn up. Viewable here: Kings Island PR on Instagram

^ All about that perceived value to the customer. The more rides included, the better it looks.

Glad to know I am not the only one who feels that way about their fries. My friends acted like I was crazy when I said I didn't like them. I tried the Cajun fries, but that still didn't do anything for me. I love their burgers, but they can hold the fries.

Last October, I took a friend of mine from Tennessee to Kings Island for his first visit ever. He's not an industry enthusiast, but he told me he had heard of Banshee before moving up here for school. If it were not for this website or my interest in the industry, I would have no idea that Kentucky Kingdom was even open. If I recall correctly, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom advertised up here. Edit - Beat to the point

Almost looks small until you notice the people standing in there. Very cool.