KIfan73

To be fair, Kings Island is simply mirroring food service circa 2015. At one time, serving freshly cooked food while busting your rear end to serve it quickly was probably what you had to do to make a good profit. Nowadays it is just too easy to reheat something...there's still a lot of people that will buy it. I remember working at McDonald's in the early 90's, and there was a lot of pressure to greet people as they entered, and to move...quickly. Not sure about all of the societal dynamics, but everywhere I go anymore, everyone from management on down seems to be a lot more casual. I try to wrap my head around what my boss(es) even 20 years ago would have done had I pulled out a mobile phone and did anything on it while I was at work. Managers seem to have a lot less authority now, for whatever reason.

Is Coney Mall going to have a gravestone at HH this year? Sad if it does, but it would be joining some elite company.

Hard to imagine, as well, that if it weren't for Coney there may not be things such as...Season Long Dining Passes, Fast Lane, or even...KillMart. What a long, strange road from then to now.

Really??

Well, the "two things" could be both sides of The Racer. On a possibly related note, the "Coney Mall" sign did strangely not return this year. Could they be "going in a different direction" with Coney Mall? Hopefully this isn't the case.

This is the Kings Island nerd's enthusiast's version of the NFL draft!

I would imagine his job was to help sell a boatload of pre-paid meal plans.

I must just be too easy. Things don't always go perfect when I visit KI, but I'm always just too excited that I'm actually at Kings Island (even after all of these many years). If I lived closer and/or visited a lot more often, I'd probably be a lot more critical.

I would be shocked (given the somewhat short notice, limited amount of truly unique experiences, and timing - just when summer is winding down) if this wasn't some kind of test or data-gathering experiment for something in the future. Something tells me the park probably wasn't surprised at all by the low turnout.

Wow, that would fit in nice next to Juke Box Diner and SR&R. A huge hurdle, of course is the large and still-mostly-loved steel coaster that's already there.

Ok, so entities owned by CF that are not actually in a park. I was thinking about Kings Island, so that confused me. I was trying to figure out how or why they would be able to track what people spent down the road!

What would "out of park revenues" entail?

Aren't they probably just going to leave the building there and just change what's inside?

I bought one of the "opening spring of '72" shirts a couple seasons ago and have worn it to the park a couple times. I had a few park associates ask me about the shirt, they thought it was really from 1972!

Yes, it's amazing how Diamondback keeps people coming through the front gate. Keepers of the park have probably taken note of this!

I ate more food in the park this visit than I have in years. One of the places was the new frozen yogurt shop. I really enjoyed what I got there. I think the landscaping at Kings Island is so underrated. It's too bad most people just run past a lot of this to go stand in line for an hour for a ride. Obligatory Banshee shots. I really liked how these turned out, though. Another nice vehicle on display: I think I take a picture of this every visit. Love this view. Nice Diamondback shots: More great landscaping. I hit the Reds Grille for lunch. This is such a good place to eat, in an amusement park or not. I still think they just went all out in this place, and it always has great service. An always relaxing ride on the Train. I have to say the announcer we had on this ride was hilarious. He did a great job. A few Dinosaurs Alive shots. I found every dinosaur to be working great. The only thing was it seemed like there was a lot less shade back there this year. Could be my imagination, though. Could not get enough pics of the Tower today. It had been almost 9 months since my last visit!! The new candy shop looked really nice. Some great fountain shots! Tried to ride The Bat, but turned around when I could see it was sporting a circa 1994-length wait. Took a few minutes to check out part of a show in Festhaus to cool off for a moment. Some people knock these shows, but, seriously, how could you beat that kind of show while you nibble on pizza or Chinese food in an amusement park? I think they do a great job. Corvettes and Kings Island...is there any better combination? (Well, I've been lucky enough to run a couple 5ks through the park, and, to me, running + Kings Island is right up there!) By total accident, I ended up leaving and driving right past the cemetery in the parking lot. I've never taken the time to check this out before. Hope to see you again soon, Kings Island! Thanks for reading!

Finally, last Thursday, July 16, I made my first trip to Kings Island for the season!! The most amazing thing that happened today was that it dawned on me that I had visited on the exact same date last year...and that wasn't planned at all. I was actually planning to go the day before, but things fell through. I snapped this picture on the way to the park while driving down Kings Island Drive...I would be lying if I said this didn't bum me out a little. So many of my trips to Kings Island over the last few decades has involved the good ole Kings Island Resort. I really liked this display. I am a big fan of Dinosaurs Alive. I took advantage of the Gold Pass ERT on Banshee, and got one ride in with virtually no wait. And then I headed straight to...Starbucks. I am definitely a "coffee achiever" and I had only had one cup at home at this point. It's about a 1.5 hour drive for me to KI, plus the time I spent walking to and riding Banshee, I really needed a cup of coffee. I have to say the new Starbucks is the best addition to International Street since I've been visiting the park. I really seems like that spot was meant for it. I also thought the windows out the back were really neat to look out of. I wonder if those windows have always been there?? Plus, this Starbucks probably has one of the best views when looking out of its entrance: Always an important shot: The park was especially photogenic today: The new Coca-Cola Marketplace in Coney Mall seems like a nice addition, although I didn't buy anything there this trip. Having the option of buying something healthy when you're walking around the park for hours is a good choice to have. They also have coffee here, but didn't see any price on the board, and the poor guy working seemed a little overwhelmed at that point to even ask. I know I may be in the minority, but I like seeing new vehicles displayed in the park. This was a nice truck to boot! Some general shots from around various areas: I really love this area around the Tower: Great seeing the Liberty Bell: Some nice shots from the top of the Tower: (continued)

First, I will say that I can be too quick to jump on the Kings Island jump-to-conclusion-future-development-speculation bandwagon. Having said that, based on my first visit of the season last week and seeing all of the improvements to International Street, I can't help but think that the park is expecting increased foot traffic in that area sometime in the near future. To what or from what those people will be walking to/from is the big question!

I wonder how long it will be before amusement park rides are built around the parameter that people will refuse to put their cell phones away (much like car manufacturers are; see: Lane keeping assist systems, auto braking, as well as self-driving cars in a few years).

This article has been floating around on Facebook. It's a few months old, but has a lot of information if you're not all that familiar with the Geauga Lake saga (like I was). Amazing.

The scale. Growing up in a small town, and not going to places like Kings Island, the size of things like The Eiffel Tower, etc. It still blows my mind even though I'm in my 40's and have visited regularly for 20+ years. Things are just HUGE at Kings Island.

I have to agree. The Beast is amazing. Many might say it lacks "theming", but I would totally disagree. It has a very strong theme, and I think it's a large part of what has made it be so popular for so long.

You'd think they'd want to capitalize on that, and maybe even build a follow-up...oh, wait. Sorry, just couldn't resist.

I'm trying to figure something out from this picture: Is the closest looking "family trickster" on Kings Island Drive? Or are the cars further in the distance?