KIfan73

They must have felt that the discussions on here have gotten too boring recently. Nothing like some demolition to get the speculation rolling!

Based on the many posts about the food service staffing last season, would there be any reason to expect it to be any different for the photo department?

My first trips to Kings Island (early 1990's) were a lot like yours is going to be. No matter what, you're going to have fun. Take lots of pics.

The photo version of the Season-Long Dining Plan. What could go wrong?

I remember when "Days of Thunder" was new. It's one of the things that got me hooked on going to Kings Island.

Kings Island can brag about not only having more than 80 rides and attractions, and also the largest collection of empty buildings (especially during it's main season) of any amusement park. All kidding aside, do other parks have as many empty buildings sitting around as Kings Island?

I surely hope they soon add (especially the empty-during-the-regular season version of) KillMart quickly to that list of things they no long have/do.

It would actually probably be fairly shocking how much has changed if you took pictures at the present time standing within 3 feet of...2011.

Here is a picture from July 1992, just before Paramount took over (of course, at the time, I had no clue about who owned Kings Island):

One of the most amazing things about Kings Island is...that it's still operating.

Anyone else checking out the webcams on this beautifully unseasonably warm day thinking how neat it would be to take a stroll through the park today??

I'd say that's arguable. I flew to Orlando for IAAPA for like $29. Of course, a flight to a similar city a few days later could have cost me $450. It makes me wonder what the actual cost is to fly a jet 1,000 miles. According to this article, it looks like a 747 burns about a gallon of fuel a second...but it does also argue that jet travel is fairly economical.....

So, this becomes the new entrance, as well as an exit, also?

I have to wonder if the issue of employee safety is what really ended the trams. This is a much different world than in 1972 ( as well as up to and including whatever year they ended the trams).

I have faith that Kings Island has this new toll booth all figured out, but WOW, will that be a lot of traffic all going into that single entrance. Will the light for this entrance be at the intersection of (what I think is) the church across from Kings Island and Kings Island Drive? It is kind of unbelievable that Kings Island has operated all this time without a dedicated light at either entrance.

I have visited Kings Island around 40-50 times since 1992. I have never left the park thinking about how I wished they would fix the parking lot. If there's enough people like me, that might be why it's in the shape it is.

The main thing I took from that article was the different perceptions of those that wait in line (or queue). So much more attention to detail used to go into queues, and I can't help but think that has played a part in the enduring popularity of some attractions (and vice versa).

This is actually relevant to the new topic I just submitted. Kings Island Drive, at one time, added to the anticipation of visiting Kings Island. Anymore, not so much.

VERY interesting article. I posted it in the general Kings Island discussion forum, as I think it is so relevant. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/27/what-you-hate-about-waiting-in-line-isnt-the-wait-at-all/

I took this photo on November 1: This looks like Kings Island Drive's version of a year-round Haunt building. On a more serious note, this definitely does not set the right mood when you see it so close to Kings Island (especially those of us whose trips to KI in the past included the Resort). Worse yet, it still has "Kings Island" on the sign. Wonder if there's many casual park visitors who see this, read this sign, and wonder if there's problems within Kings Island itself. I think it's a real shame for the park to have this eyesore so close to it. So ironic, too, with the hotel originally being being such an important part of the "resort" vision of Kings Island.

I have heard some stories from friends that experienced ETAE. Some of them COMPLETELY freaked out on it.

Really, I was meaning the idea of building something that costs a fraction of the price of a new ride that would attract similar numbers of guests.

Amazing. Kings Island is able to draw huge crowds to its park in the fall to have people stand in longer lines for $2,000 attractions than they would for a $20,000,000 attraction. Then they figure out a way to charge even more for people that want to go to the front of said lines, and then charge even more so you don't have to fully experience the attraction that you just stood in line for, or possibly paid extra to go to the front of the line of the attraction you don't want to fully experience. Brilliant. Seriously, that is unbelievably brilliant. The scariest thing about HH to me is that they will somehow carry the concept over to the regular season (Which, in a way, they have. How many dormant HH structures are now visible during the regular season?).

Based on some of the posts above, I wouldn't be surprised if Dollar Days disappears in 2016.

A really cool article about the Carousel... http://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2015/09/06/kings-island-wurlitzer-band-organ-carousel/71642452/