Pagoda Gift Shop

I plan to join in the Fall to see what ACE is all about. Then I can at least have more of a point-of-reference for comparing ACE to other coaster clubs.

I don't think I ever knew what that Banshee first rider shirt looked like. It seems like a pretty plain shirt compared to the ones they gave out at media day which were blue with a colored logo.

I agree. I was at the Banshee media day as well, and thought that despite the very large crowd; everyone was very well behaved. My theory has been that the park didn't get as much of a social media boost as they were expecting, and decided to focus media days on the main stream media. There were some behavior incidents at both of the media events held at Cedar Point in 2014, but I don't know if those really impact Kings Island's decisions or not. Both of the ACE-related events this year seemed to happen with little mention beforehand on these forums. This surprises me because I know that so many folks around here have relationships with Kings Island staffers, not to mention this is probably the only forum where Don would login and post once in a while.

Does anyone have info about the relationship between Kings Island and ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts)? Last week, ACE members were apparently invited for ERT on Mystic Timbers and The Beast for National Roller Coaster day (tweet). Earlier this year, they were also invited to media day for Mystic Timbers. I would love to be able to attend special events like these, but I've been a Coasterbuzz member for well over 10 years now. I know a lot of people around here are in Coaster Crew as well. Events like Coasterstock are open to a variety of clubs, just curious if anyone knows why ACE is getting special treatment. It certainly makes me feel like I'm in the wrong coaster club because we don't get invited.

I think Vortex is the best Arrow mega looper ever built. Those that were built after it were all too tall and too intense. I think it will be around for at least another 25 years. Talking about which ride will be removed next is always a popular thing to do. I think The Bat and Backlot Stunt Coaster will both be gone long before Vortex.

My guess would be that it was some sort of mechanical issue with the lap bars. Unless there are reports that the front car is closed off on other days, I would imagine that would confirm that theory. Closing off the front car of any coaster is going to be very unpopular, so I'm sure they would avoid it otherwise. And I've been of the opinion for years that they need to move the fireworks launch spot. Having them in a place which closes the most popular night ride in the park is just silly. Move it over near Firehawk or Banshee.

I admit I am no expert in the food industry or restaurant business. I just don't understand how having a nice sit down restaurant isn't a great opportunity for the park to showcase excellent food and service. Maybe they haven't run it well enough? Maybe the food simply isn't good enough to be a draw by itself? Maybe they needed to go with a franchise that is recognizable and appealing? I also wish they had some plan to re-open the International Street Restaurant. My understanding is that it closed about 20 years ago because it simply was not profitable. That's too bad because being able to sit and watch the fountains seems like the perfect location for a mid-day break.

I didn't pick up on the change to how the Reds Hall of Fame grill operates until just today. I have to say, it is definitely a step backwards. The whole point of that place was to actually give Kings Island a location where they have full table service dining. The changes cheapen the experience to being yet another "place your order at the counter" place. I honestly have no idea what they are thinking in the food department. A table service restaurant is an opportunity to cook higher quality food at a slower pace, and to offer something different than the dozens of walk up locations everywhere else in the park.

It's hard to predict what the immediate future of DA will be. Back in 2011 when it opened, there were many who thought it would be gone by 2017. They might just be downsizing the size of the gift shop. They have downsized DA to the point where I believe only 3-4 employees are needed to staff it. KI has a ton of surrounding land available to them, so it certainly is not a "need" to use that land for something else.

I tried to use the app the other day with no internet or cell connection. It barely worked at all. You could view the blank, gray map, but not any lists of attractions or locations. There was also no error message or warning about not being able to connect to a server somewhere. No wonder it kills battery life so much, it is retrieving virtually all of its information from online all the time. I can understand the need to retrieve daily/weekly events and things like ride times, but the attraction information, images, etc. is all static content that should be included in the base app. Under the current design, it would honestly work better as a specialized mobile website.

In defense of the park, there are trees in every direction. So anytime they build anything, there are going to have to be trees cut down. I thought they did a nice job with Dinosaurs Alive of not taking out more than was needed. I also thought Mystic Timbers was well done. As for Diamondback, there were people who were most upset about changing the lake to a splashdown pool, but I didn't think that was all that bad. I just don't understand why the entire middle of the ride was 100% cleared of trees.

Kings Island has added a lot of great rides in the past 15 years, but it has come at the expense of how nice the park looks in areas. RIP trees.

I dropped by this evening and the park was busier on a Tuesday evening in June than I can ever remember it being. It felt more like late July. At 8:30ish the wait times I observed were: Delirium: 20-25 minutes Adventure Express: 10 minutes Racer: Station wait Diamondback: 30 minutes Backlot Stunt Coaster: 20 minutes Eiffel Tower: 10 minutes At 9:00 PM, I got in line for Mystic Timbers. The wait ended up being 45 minutes. It really hurt that they were only running 2 trains. The orange train was in the pre-shed. I bailed before the gold/platinum pass ride time since I knew the wait would be at least 30 minutes. The majority of the queues were open and in use.

I'm with you. I had the same issue where I had to force stop the app to make the "searching" notification go away.

How about the same thing they did for the 40th anniversary? New trash cans! Honestly, I don't anniversaries really mean anything to the park in terms of capital improvements or planning.

Based on the info on the following page, it looks like Linus' Beetle Bugs was the only ride which had the height requirement changed (that I can tell). https://www.visitkingsisland.com/play/rides-kids This is a very disappointing turn of events. It ultimately means someone didn't do their job, because the height requirements recommended by the manufacturer and then set by the park should prevent this sort of thing from ever happening.

I'm glad you stopped at guest services. That is the way to make sure your concerns are properly reported. I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience.

This Friday will be more busy than a normal Friday due to the holiday weekend. However, just how busy it is depends on the weather.

Nice photos, thanks for sharing. I miss those trees where Backlot now stands.

We bailed as well when the rain rolled in at around 9:45 PM. From looking at Twitter, it looks like some (rainy) ERT did happen from 11:30-12:30 for those that stayed. I'm glad that those that stayed were rewarded. We didn't attend a whole lot of the various events at Coasterstock, but we still had a great time. Maybe next year can be the "rain-less" year.

I think weather can play a more significant factor for a weekend like Memorial Day than later in the season also. If the weather is bad, more people will stay away. It's still early in the season, so many people will just plan to go another weekend in June/July/August.

Maybe this thread should be re-titled "No Survey Markers by The Bat".

So, who went to the event on Tuesday night? How were the crowds?

It's not that hard to fake your location on your phone/tablet if you really are interested. I think it would be more worth it if the wait times listed in the app were actually accurate. They still don't seem to have a good system for keeping the times correct.

Yeah tonight around 8pm the app said the wait for White Water Canyon was 90 minutes. I don't think so...