Ashers

I noticed the friendly service as well. I heard a lot of employees say "How are you enjoying your trip today?" or "Have a great day at Kings Island!". When we went to Skyline for dinner the service was really good. A lot better than in the past years when we went to the Skyline in Coney Mall. All in all the workers seemed to be enjoying themselves! It might be a different story though come October...lol. ~Ash

LOL!!! Yes I think that is the most beautiful foliage I've ever seen KI add! ~Ash

I believe it was WCPO 9 that were with Don on account their van was parked next to the big sign and also a recap of Don was on their news that evening when I got home. I enjoyed my time at the park yesterday...Hung out a bit before and after work and saw 2 KICers being kwindshawne and Aaron (PKIVortex). Appearently mr Uncle Henry saw me, but didn't say hello so his loss This might be a dumb question....but how do you all know what everyone looks like on here? A lot of people don't have their real pics posted! Just wondering. My brother and I kept looking around wondering if anyone from KIC was lurking around..lol. ~Ash

I know! It's not that hard! I accidentally dropped my gum on the ground (while I was trying to open a new piece) and I almost got ran over and trampled trying to backtrack to pick it up! LOL! Seriously people are just plain lazy and don't appreciate anything. ~Ash

I agree, I can't wait either! That's what my brother and I were trying to tell my mom when she was so upset about Swan Lake. She said they are ruining the park because they take every piece of foliage out. We tried to tell her not to get mad yet because it seems like Cedar Fair is trying really hard to maintain the quality of the park. We told her that they may (or may not) put Swan Lake back together again..lol. But you have to really appreciate the time and effort CF is putting into Kings Island. One of the biggest differences I noticed was how all of they employees are actually CHECKING the restraints this year. Not once did I get the old 'swipe one pinky finger over the lap bar' move. That, along with all of the landscaping, paint retouches, the new guest relations, and all of the new shows,etc,etc....I think that KI is only going to get better and better! Now if only they would bring back some of the old picnic areas, I would be a happy panda ~Ash

Well since we're not talking about if it was forward or backward...I will say the ride on the Red Racer was awesome! I swore I would never ride frontwards again after the last time when it felt like my spine was BROKEN....but it was *SO* smooth this time. Everyone who went with me thought so! I'm so glad for the work they did on the track. It was great ~Ash

I saw a few people smoking along the pathways too. I'm a smoker and I managed to find the designated areas..lol! While I was standing near the one behind Festhaus I noticed this woman walking past Delirium smoking and some guy said "hey the smoking area is over there,lady" and she just gave him a dirty look, looked around at the people she was with and started making fun of him and talking about him as he walked away. Then she continued to walk and smoke. I was just staring at them like seriously lady, it's like TEN feet to your right, just walk over here and finish it! Some people are so rude. Yeah it's an inconvenience to have to find one of the areas but not everyone wants to breathe that in! I know it's disgusting! I don't know why some people have to be so lazy. Oh and the FIFTY million trashcans they put out around the park....I still saw people throwing their trash everywhere. We saw like 3 cups laying in the grass in line for SoB about 2 feet from a trashcan. There was a younger girl walking in front of us on Int. Street and dropped trash in the middle of the path, looked back at it, and then kept walking. My mom got so angry! And her parents saw it and didn't even say anything. I just wish people would take the time to realize that if EVERYONE in the park acted like that then Kings Island would look scummy and dirty and then those SAME people would probably complain that the park was trashy. Ugh. Sometimes you just want to do the V8 BOP on some people's foreheads. ~Ash

I agree that The Racer was running 10 times better yesterday! It's so smooth! Although I do have to admit I miss it running backward! But at least I gave it a shot. I probably won't ride it as much as I used to but it's still a fun ride! They were racing all day too! Except for one time...right before we got on....they let the red one go while the blue one was still in the station. Maybe somebody was stuck or something. But other than that, races all day long. I do have to say that it didn't crack my spine in half this time..lol! ~Ash

That's what I was thinking! We didn't end up getting there until about 12:15....we had to wait in the season pass line after that for about 45 minutes, but once we got in I honestly didn't think the park was "packed". When I think of the park as being packed I think of the days when people used to park in the grass all the way in the back and the entire parking lot is full. Our wait time on all of the rides was really minimal. Top Gun was maybe about a 10 minute wait. SoB was about 45 minutes. I think the longest we waited was for Firehawk and not even half of the turnstyles were full. We walked by FoF and they said it was about an hour wait so we walked away and went on Vortex instead. We walked right on BLSC at the end of the night. Beast was maybe 5 minutes. I definitely didn't view it as being "crowded". Yeah there were some annoying people there, but there are annoying people everywhere! I don't really care....I'm not much older than a high school kid myself. The only time I got really annoyed was when there were high school kids behind us that kept repeatedly bumping into us and never said sorry. For literally 45 mins straight while we were waiting for SoB. But you can't really expect high school kids to not come to the park! As for the food....we packed our lunches and ate in the parking lot before we came in. Ice water is free! We ate at Skyline for dinner and my cousin and I each got 2 cheese coneys....my mom and brother each got 4-ways and we filled up our two souvenir cups and it was only about 20 bucks. For 4 people that was pretty good. You just have to find the right place! It's always cheaper just to leave the park and get your hand stamped. There are fast food places and even Frisch's and Perkins which would be cheaper than eating in the park. There are a lot of ways to avoid paying high prices for food. By the way thanks everyone for the info on the Wings Buffet. I'm always wary of eating at buffets because the food is never that great but it does sound like a good value if you want a lot of food. I was pretty happy with my overall experience! THe park looks GREAT of course. The only thing that sucked was the weather....I didn't dress warm enough either! We got on every major ride except for Delirium and FoF in about 6 1/2 hours! We even had time to go ride The Beastie and a couple of flat rides. As for the restraint thing....I can see why you would be frustrated but you can't make outbursts like that in the park with kids around. You just have to help your wife out and maybe both of you can quit your addictions together. I am a smoker too and I know how hard it is....I still haven't been able to quit! And of course I can't say I don't love food! But like you said she only needs to lose 10 pounds to fit in Vortex and after she loses the first 10 she will get a huge boost of confidence and it will get easier. She'll think oh well if I can lose enough weight to ride the rides I want to, then how far can I go? Just be positive! And walking around KI all day isn't a bad way to exercise either! We had a lot of fun on opening day. My mom was pretty upset about Swan Lake but hopefully she'll be happy once we all figure out what's going in its place! I love how they put those potted plants on top of all of the footers. They're trying to hide them! LOL! I hope everyone else had an enjoyable first day at the park...I know we did! ~Ash

My eyes!!! I would have to say that would freak me out to get on a ride and see THAT.

Apr 20 Tomorrow Partly cloudy early followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers later in the day. High 67F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%. This is the latest weather.com forecast. Now the showers are supposed to come later in the day. But since this is the forecast it will probably be 110 degrees in the morning followed by a tornado and then a blizzard in the evening. LOL. Either way every forecast I've seen so far says 30% of rain & partly cloudy with a high in the 60's. Sounds good to me! ~Ash

We're going right to the Crypt tomorrow to see if it's open. If so, we'll get on that...if not we're going to get on The Beast. Then check out the mud hole. After that...who knows! We usually go to Drop Tower first every time we go but apparently we're changing that this time..lol. ~Ash

That *IS* interesting! It's making me so excited! ~Ash

Wow!!!! Thanks for the amazing pics,Ryan!! And BTW-are you having a happy birthday? My b-day present to you will be to tell you how The Beast is running tomorrow I am so excited to see the new changes in the park in person! Everything looks great. The trashcans in the midway do look pretty funny. It reminds me of when we used to screw around on RCT and put like 80 trashcans in one section..lol. Hopefully people will actually USE them though! I am so excited for tomorrow. I can't wait to try The Racer and (hopefully) the Crypt. And of course the huge footer in the middle of the midway.....that's a great pic! It makes me so excited to see what's coming. That is awesome how they are going to let us see what is going on all year. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight either! And the weather looks pretty promising for tomorrow too. Can't wait! A couple more hours! Woooo! ~Ash

So, if you COULD care less, then you do care some about seeing another poster with Tom Cruise in it....I suspect you meant you couldN'T care less. Terpy, trying to help, because he does care Nitpicker!

I remember that time we were in line, and it was one of the last rides of the season, and they were having cheering contests, and giving away thing out of the Lost & Found! That was one of the best times I've had while waiting in a line! I remember that now! Yeah that was probably one of the times I was talking about. That was so much fun. I can't wait til Sunday! Make sure you call me and get me up on time..lol

I still can't get over how Swan MUD HOLE looks now! It's sad! Those poor geese! I hope they aren't too disgruntled......I've already been chased by one goose this year....I don't need one chasing me around KI. LOL! It is so weird to see all of those trees gone. Yeah it doesn't look like they are trying to hide the construction at all. They just want to tease us all year until they finally make some kind of formal announcement..lol. The changes to The Beast line look great. It looks a lot nicer without that fence there. I'm very happy with all of the changes I see....can't wait to see them in person in just ONE MORE DAY! Woot woot! ~Ash

I'm glad Coke is going to stay at KI! There's nothing like an ice cold fountain Coke. Although I do agree with some people that Pepsi tastes better than Coke when they come in cans. I wish we could have Coke, wild cherry Pepsi and mountain dew. Yum!! The one thing I wish they did serve was some Brisk raspberry iced tea....I loooove that stuff! So refreshing! But then again I usually stick with ice water all day. But nothing tastes better with LaRosas than a big cup of Coke! By the way.....does anyone ever get yelled at for calling it 'pop'? I have friends in Cali and they always say "What's a pop? It's SOOOODA!" I'm like, um no....POP! I think it's funny we call it pop, they call it soda....and in places down south they just call everything 'Coke'. LOL! ~Ash

I don't know how much they are now....but 3.00 sounds pretty accurate. I don't buy pop from the vending machines when I go.....I get the free ice water all day and then we refill our souvenir cups for dinner. It's pretty outrageous how expensive it is that's why if they have something free, I go for it! Besides water always tastes better esp on those lovely 90+ degree days Ohio gets..lol.

Same for me! I thought they had the roars last year when I rode it.....although when I try to think back I can only remember them at night. Then again we try to only ride at night so I'm no help! Remember when the vending machines in line for The Beast were only 1.50 for a 20oz?

You can still do that. Just sing it anyway and the people who knew that it was ONCE Top Gun will sing it with you! This is kind of random but do you remember those certain nights when you would get on The Beast (it might have been during the anniversary) and the people who worked the ride got everyone so pumped and cheering the whole time? Those were some fun times........one of those nights they let us stay on and ride again which is probably the only time that's ever happened to me on a roller coaster. ~Ash

>>I also liked the girl who said people only went to the park because of the "Paramount Themes". << Exactly! Apparently she thinks that Paramount is the only one that ever owned Kings Island. Some people are just stupid. Like I said who really cares about the Paramount themes? The only rides that actually had 'themes' were Top Gun,TR, and IJ. Tomb Raider will actually probably be better this year. I couldn't stand watching the pre show...I hated the movie Tomb Raider anyway! Although....does anyone know if the music they used to play when you actually walked in and got on the ride was from the movie? I liked that music Drop Zone & Face Off weren't exactly themed after the movies they were named after either..... And Top Gun....I could care less if I never see another poster with Tom Cruise on it again....although I love LOVE that movie I can't stand him anymore so it's fine by me! The only thing I am kind of sad about is the music they play now during the fireworks. I always liked hearing the Top Gun music,etc. during the fireworks and the one time I actually payed attention during the fireworks last year the music was LAME! Other than that...meh. I don't really care who owns the park as long as they do a good job with it! ~Ash

"I think the fact that it was owned by Paramount had something to do with (Kings Island's) popularity," she said. "Rides like Top Gun refer to movies, and I think it's a possibility that it will get less popular." Obviously some people like to ride rides because of their names and not the actual rides themselves. It's not like Top Gun had such extensive theming that we're going to really care that it's renamed Flight Deck. So....they took out the movie posters and the music? Who cares? It's still going to be the same ride. And it's been years since I rode Top Gun to where I actually waited through the part of the line that was 'themed' so really. Whoever said this is an idiot. It's the same coaster whether or not we see Tom Cruise before we go on it. ~Ash

But I like posting repeatedly after myself! After myself! LOL

It is? I'll be keeping all of my fingers (and toes!) crossed that it's open for Sunday. If not...oh well...I'm just happy to be going! I need my KI fix!