XGatorHead 8904

No problem, I'm always glad to help, especially on this topic! If you have any questions at any of the food stands, you can ask a worker there and if they don't know they can find out for you. When we asked the worker at The Chicken Shack on Media Day about peanut oil, he wasn't sure but he asked his supervisor who knew right away and was able to help. When we found out that GatorGirl had a nut allergy, we were very concerned since neither of us have food allergies, only environmental (for me: pollen, mold, cats, and oddly enough, elephants... yeah, we found out about that one at the circus when I was a kid. I'm fine with them when they're outside, but I can't go into the elephant house at the zoo for very long when they're in there in the winter). We're very careful when it comes to her allergy, and she has learned to ask questions herself if she's not sure and if that still doesn't work, she doesn't eat whatever it might be. It can be irritating when people put peanut items on the same serving tray as non-peanut items (they've even done this at some of her after-school functions... ugh!... and we've had to educate people there about the need to separate and label items) but those people don't have to deal with these types of allergies every day like we do so they don't even think about it.

^ You summoned me? GatorGirl has a peanut and tree nut allergy as well. As milesharrison said, Rivertown Potato Works definitely uses peanut oil for frying, and they have signs posted at that stand saying that they do. The funnel cake stands do not use peanut oil, and neither does The Chicken Shack (we asked there on Media Day, the worker checked with a supervisor and it was safe). Since GatorGirl's kind of a picky eater, when we eat at the park we mainly stick to LaRosa's and the waterpark food stands, all of which are safe. I don't believe that the soft serve ice cream stands have nuts. We love our blue ice cream, and have had it many times without issues. The park is pretty good at posting at the stands if they use peanut oil, and as far as I remember Rivertown Potato Works and Chik-Fil-A are the only places that do (Chik-Fil-A uses it at their restaurants outside the park too, so we already knew this but it is posted at their stand inside the park). You may want to use caution if you visit Graeter's in the park since they do have chocolate/peanut butter ice cream and they use the same scoop for all the flavors (they do wash them off between flavors, but still...). They may also have walnuts like the Graeter's shops outside the park, but I'm not sure. With that said though, GatorGirl has eaten at Graeter's both inside and outside the park with no problems. Individual results may vary. One area the park could do better at is posting allergy information on their website. Other parks are much better at that, even parks within the same chain as KI. Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland, Dorney, Worlds of Fun and Michigan's Adventure have food allergy information pages on their websites, why don't Kings Island, Carowinds, Great America, Knott's and Valleyfair? (And yes, I just looked up all their websites to see who does and who doesn't. ) You can ask at Guest Relations when you visit, but it would be nice to know before you get to the park. As far as cross contamination from nut residue left in lines or on rides, this hasn't been an issue for us. There's probably far more germs and stuff that you can pick up from those rather than traces of nuts... OK, where's my hand sanitizer? I think it would be safe to say to avoid eating at the tables right outside of Rivertown Potato Works and Chik-Fil-A since these places are much more likely to have traces of peanut oil. We always bring GatorGirl's Epi-pen with us to KI but we've never had to use it, there or anywhere else. I hope this has been helpful. Have fun!

^Another username change?!? I had to look up your username history to see who you were since you replied like you knew me!

Another excellent source of information is allears.net.

^Thanks! Nice, I was only a year off! Summer of 2005 I didn't go at all, 2006 I only went once. That explains why I missed it.

I completely agree with you. I'm not really into Harry Potter, but I did sit through the first three movies before we went in 2011 so I would have some idea what was going on. Forbidden Journey replaced Spider-Man as my favorite dark ride too, the effects in there are amazing. I haven't ridden Dragon Challenge since it was still Dueling Dragons, and that was a month after the park first opened in 1999. They were a walk-on then, but in 2011 the wait was 2 hours thanks to them being rethemed to HP and the crowd that draws, so I wasn't waiting for that.

^Huh. I don't remember that ever playing at the park. I definitely would have ridden that! So with that, I would venture a guess that that was probably 2005, my "year of disillusionment" with the park, in which I didn't visit at all that summer (even though Mrs. Gator swears that we did, but we did go to Winterfest that year though). I assume that was the same movie ride that was at Universal Studios Florida. If so, I liked that one. Here's a link to the picture in question: http://KICentral.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=65&pid=3221#top_display_media I do know one person who could answer. Calling Gordon Bombay, where are you?

^ That and 8 lbs of apples is $1. I can say with certainty that I've never bought 8 lbs. of apples. 10 cans of peas for $1? That would be one of Kroger's 10 for $10 deals nowadays. That's the most detalied description I've read of that planned park. Just think... if that had actually happened, I may never have worked in an amusement/theme park (much less for 22 years) and I probably wouldn't have gone as often (since it's farther than KI is to my house). Right now in some alternate universe, there's someone posting on Frontier Worlds Central about a cornfield in Kings Mill, OH that was supposed to be a new park with a 1/3 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

I would say no. I would hope not, but if so that would really be no different than how they handled ERT for Gold/Platinum passholders who also bought Fast Lane Plus on opening day.

^Another reason Bristol is better than Kentucky Speedway: Bristol lets you bring in your own coolers, Kentucky does not. -Gator, who has has only missed going to one Bristol night race since 1999 (and that was because it fell on Mrs. Gator's 30th birthday).

And yet Kennywood has a fantastic one... I beg to differ. The 1972 brochure lists The Enchanted Voyage as part of HB: http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/197x/pki197x1_2.html ... as does the 1974 brochure: http://KICentral.com/history/photos/displayimage.php?album=8&pid=247#top_display_media The 1989 map lists Smurfs' Enchanted Voyage as part of HB: http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/1989/pki1989index.html Even in the Paramount years, Phantom Theatre's ride entrance & exit are firmly in the pink HB section of the map. 2000: http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/2000/pki2000.html 2002: http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/2002/pki2002.html And with Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle, same thing. The "Attraction Locater" section of the 2005 map even has a pink circle number next to the ride name, indicating it's part of Hanna Barbera Land and not International Street (which has green circles for its attractions). 2004: http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/2004/pki2004.html 2005: http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/2005/pki2005.html

There's already a Haunt 2014 topic, which you've even replied in: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/28937-what-do-you-want-for-halloween-haunt/

I like frightening park guests. The park even pays me to do it two months a year.

It took an incident at Sesame Place, of all places, for me to lighten up on confronting line jumpers. I used to be much more vocal in calling them out, but after a guy line-jumped in front of us for a water slide at Sesame Place and it almost became a physical confrontation with him repeatedly threatening to hit me, I've backed off somewhat. Philadelphia is not Cincinnati, and the people in each are completely different! I now handle each situation on a case-by-case basis, and I let a lot more slide than I used to.

For the time, that's a decent POV if it wasn't for the kid screaming.

Look at all this love for Kennywood... and I agree! Mrs. Gator has a family reunion in PA every year, and since there are so many great parks in that state, we decided a few years ago to go to a different one each year the day after the reunion. 2011 was Idlewild, 2012 was Kennywood & 2013 was Conneaut Lake Park. I had first seen Kennywood on the excellent PBS program, Great Old Amusement Parks. That show features so many places that I want to go to. Idlewild was also featured in that show and we decided to go there first while GatorGirl was still small since it's considered a kiddie park, but next up was Kennywood. I love all the classic rides that they have there. Kangaroo, Noah's Ark, Auto Race, Whip, Turtles & Bayern Kurve (miss those last two rides at KI) are a lot of fun. Ghostwood Estate is leaps and bounds better than Boo Blasters. As far as coasters, Phantom's Revenge was a little painful on the bunny hops (but still fun), Jack Rabbit's double dip sticks out as a high point for that ride, loved racing side by side against the Gatorettes on Racer, and the whole setting for Thunderbolt is amazing... how were they able to build coasters on the side of that hill?!? When we went in 2012, there was a huge thunderstorm the day after the family reunion, so we postponed our plans for Kennywood and went to Carnegie Science Center instead on Sunday and went to Kennywood on Monday. Unfortunately, that was Cheerleading Day in the park, so it was extremely crowded. I was looking forward to my first spinning mouse in Exterminator, but after waiting 90 minutes for it, it wasn't worth it. Full queue on the outside, they were pulsing people into the building and I thought we would be right on once we got inside, but there was an even longer line in there. I'll definitely ride again if the line is shorter though. A then-7-year-old GatorGirl summed up Garfield's Nightmare perfectly: "I wasn't impressed." I would have loved to have seen what it was like as The Old Mill. My coaster credit count currently stands at 127.5 because I only got to ride one side of Racer. The Gatorettes didn't want to wait another half hour just to ride the other side. Because of the crowd size, we didn't get to try Sky Rocket, Aero 360, or any of the water rides. We also didn't try the fries because those lines were as long as the rides (and we didn't want to wait in that line only to find that they use peanut oil, which we didn't know if they do or not. I just looked under their FAQ and it turns out they do not). But despite all of that, we still left loving that park, looking forward to when we could visit again. If only all those teenage girls hadn't been there, it would have been a perfect day (of course, 25 years ago I would have said that having them there was a perfect day). When it came time to plan this year's vacation, we decided to tag it on to the reunion weekend and make a full week out of PA parks, Niagara Falls and Toronto/Canada's Wonderland. When he caught word of this, chugh43 Hydra asked if he could come along and it took Mrs. Gator no time at all to say "That would be fun!" So with input from him, we decided that for our PA portion we would revisit Kennywood & Conneaut Lake, and go to Waldameer for the first time. And hopefully I can finally get my coaster count to a whole number again!

That's what I say, but Mrs. Gator doesn't feel the same way. With those restraints, she doesn't feel comfortable with GatorGirl riding DB yet since she's so skinny, but the new seatbelts may help the cause of getting her on. Mrs. Gator was the same way with The Beast when GatorGirl hit 48", she felt it was too rough for her to ride but she relented fairly early in the season (May 25th of the 2012 season, to be exact).

They were sold in the park, at least the first one was. My one year working Merchandise (1994) I worked at The Leather Shop in Rivertown, which is now the building with the Olde Time Photos. We were also repsonsible for the merch cart at WWC's exit and the merch stand at the exit for The Beast (that stand is no longer there). Along with Beast shirts, magnets, cups, etc., we sold The Beast by R.L. Stine there. I read The Beast during one of my shifts out at that stand. (After a little bit of research, it looks like The Beast was first published in June 1994, so it was brand new that summer. The Beast 2 didn't come out until 1995.) One day last year GatorGirl came home from school all excited. She said "Guess what book I got from the library today!" and pulled The Beast 2 out of her backpack. All three of us read it that week, but she still hasn't read the first one. Hmmm... birthday gift?

I keep ride counts for one reason and one reason only... Any excuse to make a fancy spreadsheet is A-OK in my book! You and me both! I have Excel spreadsheets for my coaster credits, GatorGirl's coaster credits, my ride totals for every KI ride from 2008 - present, and my ride totals from all other parks from 2012 - present. My next ride on Diamondback will be my 150th, and I'd like that to be the same time as GatorGirl's first ride on it, since she finally hit 54" (as long as Mrs. Gator is willing to let her ride it, which right now she isn't).

Happy birthday, Kings Island! You're exactly 222 days older than I am! Too bad you're not letting people visit you to help you celebrate your special day today.

Finally made it all the way through this topic. I've ridden it 4 times, 3 on Media Day and once on opening day. The three Media Day rides were all on the blue train in seat 4-3, and the opening day ride was on the blue train in seat 4-4. My first ride was before the sun came up, and I was completely disoriented; I loved it. Ride 2 was awesome, and Mrs. Gator & GatorGirl finally made it to the park in time to join me for their first ride, which was my third. GatorGirl rated it her new favorite ride, which had been Gatekeeper before that. Ride #4 was excellent. Even though it was only one seat over from where I had ridden before, it was a completely different experience being on the end of the row. Even though I'm currently confined to riding only row 4, Banshee is my new favorite steel in the park, rating #2 in my overall steel rankings (behind Kingda Ka... I really, really, really love speed!). I love how it just never lets up, and the last inversion is my favorite, with the way it just takes its time flipping you over. I had to think about it for a little while about how it compared to Montu, with its themeing making a huge impression along the ride's course, and Dueling Dragons, which I only rode back when they actually dueled and provided some great near-miss moments. But it didn't take long to rate Banshee above those.

DiamondAceExpress, the one that the Gatorettes and I go to when driving through Columbus is just south of downtown in Grove City, at 1944 Stringtown Rd. From 71-North, take exit 100, turn left, and it will be about a half mile down on the right. I find it funny that it's right next to KFC. We go to this one because we can't wait the extra time it takes to get up to Polaris for our Cane's fix. They will be opening one at the former Five Guys location on Tylersville eventually. A little birdy (not Jr for Birdy, and not a chicken... nor a NoChicken for that matter) told me recently that it's been delayed a little while, so I'll keep waiting and it will remain a roadtrip fixture for now.

Okay Once-ler, don't tell LoraX that. She speaks for the trees.

Original post removed because the tone of it was the result of the second of two bad days at work. Please proceed.... there's nothing to see here.

A waste of who's money? KI's? Because I highly doubt they paid anything to bring it to the park. Kraft's? Because I think it's a good, unique way to promote their brand, much like the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile as silver2005 said above. Now I want hot dogs and mac & cheese for dinner... Hey, I guess it worked as intended!