KIfan73

It is the holidays and I have WAY too much free time. PKI's 2002 website

When the park is open, is there ever going to be any kind of shuttle from the hotel to the park? Just have to drive next door?

I wanted to post my idea for a "history" forum. I hope this has not been brought up before. If so, I apologize. I have posted several, and have more historical photos to post. We have the new guy (Mike?) that worked at KI years ago, and he has been sharing old stories, along with lots of other members that have as well. Instead of the stories and photos getting in the middle of all the other threads, I was wondering if there would be a possibility of a "Kings Island History" forum. I know a lot of people enjoy the sharing/remembering. Even the kids, I think, like seeing the old stuff. Maybe down the road it could even be divided into decades or eras (KECO, Paramount, CF, etc, etc.). Happy Holidays and thanks for all the work that makes this site possible!

Great pictures! What a great Christmas surprise! This site & its staff is really amazing. Thanks!

It was kind of a nice suprise and nice to watch this morning. Sure, its commercialized, but, hey, pretty cool to watch...would like to go there someday.

^Excellent!

Wow, that could be a 'theme' for a new ride j/k....scary situation, I'm sure... I have some pics I'm going to post from my family's trip there in '75 (I was 2)...many pics from Lion Country.

^Hey there, welcome to the site. I for one would love to hear stories and see (hopefully!) any pics you have of the early years of KI!!

Is there any way to get some really dramatic-sounding theme music to play in the background of some of these rumor threads? I think it would really add to the 'experience'.

^That would be cool. I am sort of planning an amusement park cross country trip this summer, and would like to stay in the campgrounds.

^True, but obviously CF wants to diversify.

I think that what mutedarkeness was trying to say that they aren't going to do anything different with the parks just because they are all owned by CF. Each park is looked at as an individual, which seems like the right idea. It doesn't look like CF is going to say about an under-performing park "well, most of our chain is doing well, so lets spend a ton on this park to see if we can bring it up". Geauga Lake is of course not out of business, so they still need capital improvements.

I would love to think its because their marketing team gets together, reads the posts on this site, and has a blast laughing hysterically at what people write.

Nick Universe is going beside FOF? Wait 'til I post this in the rumors section!!

I'd love to see a breakdown of costs of even bringing a pre-used coaster to a park. Sure is one expensive carnival, eh?

Well, I am just blown away! (Will I be soaring away?) Glad I renewed that pass! I am 33 years old and thanks to this site I am a giddy 13 year old looking forward to 2007!

No doubt any business needs to be competitive, and change if it is necessary to be competitive. Part of being competitive though is being unique. I think one of the big things that made KI unique is that area where IJ is. It was a KI trademark. I have nothing against IJ in and of itself, just the location was stupid. I'm sure its very difficult to balance heritage and with-it-ness. You don't want to lose too much of one, but you don't want to fall behind in the other. However, in this case, I think most people will agree they screwed up.

You are absolutely right on that one! That area is not good. I hate unused/closed foodstands. It looks sad like 'there used to be good times here, but not anymore'. I hope CF addresses smaller things like that in the future, not just building huge new rides (which is OK too!)

I would love to see a new flat ride there. Especially something that would refer somehow to KI's history....maybe some type of ferris wheel? Any ideas?

Thats gotten to be a pretty "forgotten" area of the park. I don't know why but its so depressing to see unused/closed foodstands. I wish they'd just get rid of them rather than never using them. Definitely gives me the wrong vibe when I'm at an amusement park.

Yeah, I saw that. I hate that they have to get rid of so many trees. Doesn't seem like they used to do that so much when you see pics of older rides.

Hopefully they cleared extra room for theming!

I think the biggest thing SOB needs is a different queue and/or a touch of theming. Going back to The Beast is part of the experience. Sonny just has such plain jain queue. Too bad the two queues couldn't be combined somehow where you pick which one you want to ride, or at least have to go through some trees or something.

I second that. The holidays are going on right now, but spring fever has been hitting me already. The off-season rumors (and scoops!) on here will keep you entertained, though. Welcome!

Evidently, they can't stop planes from flying over