alluna

Railrider, I'm late to the party, but I am so glad I looked at this trip report. Or maybe not because now I'm positively hurting for a Disney trip. Couldn't believe your good fortune at having all the characters to yourselves for breakfast, and the look on your daughters face in that photo with Princess Aurora is priceless! My kids loved meeting all the characters, but you can bet my chatty little girl blushed just like Zoe when she met Belle at EPCOT for the princess brunch. I had no idea that meeting a princess is so monumental until we went to WDW. In line to see Ariel at Magic Kingdom, my girl had time to sketch a picture in the autograph book. After an hour, we found out why the wait was so long... because once she got up there, Ariel chatted with her for a long time, gushed over her sketch and told her she was going to put it in Prince Eric's castle. There is nothing like a Disney trip, they really do take care of everything! You guys looked like you had so much fun and your little girl will thank you for it all her life. She is entirely too cute, by the way.

I'm in Dayton. I actually had to Google maps this to find out how far away it was. We just hop in the car and go the 'back' way past Traders World and the prison.I never thought about how far away it was!

The jingle turned out better than I though it would. Sounds much better than me saying it. Loved your good grief, took me a second to get it though! Around our house when someone is disappointed, we also say 'I got a rock.' in reference to Charlie Brown's trick-or-treat experience. I can already see my kids deadpanning this when they win deformed stuffed animals in Planet Snoopy this year.

Less people lining up in front of me. I don't mind it when people choose not to do something they find distasteful, but I can't stand it when said groups feel the need to shout their decisions from the rooftops in order to make the rest of us feel like scum. There are worse things in the world to campaign against than a clearly adult event at the local theme park.

Did anyone listen to the Fun & Only jingle on YouTube? Good grief.

Yep, the price is just too high for a few stolen minutes on a lame oval of track. I remember riding it once in Jr. High, then pitying my mom for having paid for it. Is it bad that I just want them to put some trees there? does that mean I'm gettin old? My chief complaint about this park since childhood has been the lack of landscaping. I'm ready to just drop a truck load of trees off at the front gate, or start an initiative to get plant donations from park guests. It has been a long time since anyone in ownership of Kings Island has given a care to what the park atmosphere is like. Don't they understand that people love The Beast for the trees? That people would delight in a fully dedicated River Town with actors on the train and gun fights in the streets? People love the stuff that gives a park tradition, theme and character. The whole park would benefit exponentially if each area stuck to it's guns and thrived on guests getting lost in the theme. The areas are there to help people navigate the park map more than they are to enrich the culture of the park. It's not all twisted metal and obnoxious basketball games, Kings Island! Sorry. The landscaping/area theming is one of those issues where I just want to shake someone silly.

I have to vote lights on/flickering for a scary factor! I have megalophobia and if I saw all that twisted metal inside the building, it would call for a major freak-out. Even looking at pictures of it gives me the creeps. In the dark I can pretend it's like any other coaster, but with the lights on it's just like a huge monster. Sadly I can't even ride it anymore, but my junior high memories serve me well in remembering it as a good alien-themed thrill. The launch is the part I miss the most.

This sounds terrible, but to get the latest news from the site, my best bet is to always go to the Media Center section of the site. I use it for work, but also when I just want to know what's going on with the park. They may be slow to update the sections for the regular site visitor, but you can bet that they keep the media updated! Press release page: http://www.visitking...fm?item_id=1010 Edit: the GWL info is actually on the 'E-Newsletter Articles' section of the media center: http://www.visitkingsisland.com/news/list.cfm?mc_id=113

No one wants to see this mad scientist expression behind the controls of a giant metal monster. At the front gates I'd probably frisk visitors in ways they could sue over, and I already put in time as a ticket taker at the Ren festival (fun and at times a little weird). For me, Kings Island is strictly for holding on tight and cruising for funnel cakes!

Is it bad that I nearly cried when I watched this? I remember many summers in Jr. High of hitting up the line over and over on slow days. We must have ridden it at least 15 times in a day. Watching this video makes it seem like the ride was a lot longer than what it was. I forgot about that part after the lift where you rotated slowly around to enjoy the view and squeal at the big hill ahead, but I still remembered those three little hills at the end. Those were great times. RIP king cobra...

Just a quick 'Congrats' to everyone who got jobs at the park.I always wondered what it would be like to work one of the rides or take tickets. Sounds pretty exciting!

Really wish the sit-and-eat and museum ideas could meet in the middle. It would be sweet to have the International Street restaurant open with old photos on the walls and even a bit of track or old ride cars here and there ala Planet Hollywood, but themed after Kigns Island history. It's big inside there and already in need of a face lift, I could tell it needed a paint job and a little love last fall.

I am all for a humongous Ferris wheel. Everyone underestimates those things until you're at the top!

Sad. Maybe they'll keep some of those Scooby pieces and put them out for us during the Haunt so we can lament over them nearly as much as the Phantom Theater cast.

All of these developments are exciting... even the new pretzel stand and counter tops! I suggest we all get at least one photo with those new counter tops and post here.

Pokin my head in here to see if anyone's gotten any insider pics of the Planet Snoopy area? Have we got a 2010 park map, yet? Hmmmmm. Maybe my cabin fever is worse than I thought.

Here is the story. I found a hard-to-watch council meeting video from the 9th where they did the 1st reading of the taxes. Kings Island, Great Wolf Lodge and The Beach may all cost more in 2010 gotta run out for a lunch now, if anyone finds any typos in this article, I can revise later today.

I can post about this at The Examiner site if you think it would help? I'd like to include the photos of the marquee if that's okay with you, Boddah?

Just poking my head in here to proclaim my love for AE! I really hope that this is one coaster that they just maintain and leave in place!

These photos are fantastic! I love seeing pics of the decorative displays. Things have moved around a bit since opening night, and I didn't get to see any of it in daylight. I wonder why the Eiffel Tower was closed? Might be a good idea since it gets so cold up there.

Gotta say it was Cornstalkers because it just wasn't that scary! They all looked like potato sacks with feet. I went opening night, so perhaps they got better with time... Cutthroat Cove wasn't scary, but it was at least a little funny and entertaining.

This was fairly cool, but the fog machines and fog juice jugs were also out in the open all over behind it. It was cool from the front, but the illusion was ruined the second you walked around the tower. Hopefully they did things a little differently wherever they moved it to.

I agree, windshawne, there is a lot that can be said for patrons sticking together about things like line jumping. It's hard to get away with something like that when everyone else has been waiting 'patiently' for near half an hour! No way is anyone getting in front of me!

I know some theme parks don't sell gum for this reason. (I think Disney is one?) It's a pretty good idea, really, when you think of the gross mess it makes inside the park, and I can't think of ever being in the park just DYING for a stick of gum. Who knows, though, maybe all that revenue from gum sales paid for the scraping and painting!

It's terrible that in these kinds of tough times, people go to shameful lengths to make a buck. Don't businesses have enough to worry about without people like this hanging around?