IndyGuy4KI

The Park map page has been updated. https://kicentral.com/park/park-map/ There is also a link to see the old park maps gallery.

Yes they were painted as well.

New thread made.

Let's put one on your American Express!

Watch the full video on our own site here: https://kicentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/40436-the-50th-anniversary-begins-this-saturday-april-16th/

Kings Island crews are putting the final touches on the park before its 50th Anniversary Season kicks off this weekend. Workers are busy decorating, testing rides, painting, stocking shelves, and more – all to get ready for guests on Saturday who are coming to the park to get their first rides of the season on Orion and their first tastes of the park’s famous blue ice cream. Details about the 50th Anniversary Season are available on Kings Island’s website at visitkingsisland.com. Add your name to our roll call list and join KICentral for a picture under the Eiffel Tower on opening day 4/16/22 at 1:00 PM! https://kicentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/40430-opening-day-and-preview-night-roll-call-2022/ (You must be logged in to kicentral to see the list.) Don Helbig puts together a history timeline of Kings Island with a quote from KICentral's Indyguy4KI: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2022/april/a-look-back-at-50-years-of-fun-and-memories-at-kings-island Here is a look at the work going on at the park this week to prepare for opening day!

With the changes to Sweet Spot this year, and other anniversary food items, the 2022 season is sure to be a great year in the foods department. at Kings Island. We will use this thread to discuss and review food and beverage for 2022 season. KIC looks forward to seeing your food pics and reviews in this thread! Sweet Spot details on the KIBlog: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2022/march/kings-island-foodie-news-sweet-surprises-coming-to-sweet-spot-this-year

Sometimes a surprise, when you walk into the park, is nice. That might be why the webcams are not active on the KI website yet. I know we are all chomping at the bit, but let's save some mystery for opening day!

Unless there is land clearing and is blatantly obvious, I would assume anything new would not be teased until passes start going on sale for 2023. I don't think they will want to take away from the 50th-anniversary celebration.

@malemis very excited about the weather. I bet he has his shorts and KIC Tshirt ready.

I actually love the banner. I hope they do full banners in the future instead of multiple smaller ones. It gives the entrance a lot more sleeker look in my opinion.

That is with fast lane!

Please use this thread to update wait times for the 2022 season! Please remember a ride going down is normal and it's okay to report, but please don't post "Riders are stuck on the lift hill of DB." A vague statement like that is not helpful and that is when the media starts calling the park. We can not wait to get the 50th Anniversary season underway in 2022! The KIC Admin looks forward to seeing everyone at the park on Season Pass holder day and opening day next week. The KIC Admin Team

I agree. That is a gorgeous picture.

They are replacing the skeletons FD with real people? In all seriousness, the train needs its own firefighters?

I wonder how that will work as a show? Sounds like a lot of costuming for it!

2nd drop paint job was posted on KI FB page found here: https://www.facebook.com/visitkingsisland/photos/a.226729858367/10161524564638368/ This looks nothing short of amazing. Credit: KingsIslandPR

I am very interested to see what they have planned for the sign! Keep us posted @BoddaH1994!

Good lord, if they got the same release as KIC, I am not sure how they could mess that up?

We do know for certain now that The Beast will not be open until May.

You are correct along with CF wanted all their racing coaster running the same way, forward. The park could run Racer backwards again if they wanted. I look at it as the same as Winterfest. They held off many years until they felt the time was right to bring it back. I think we will will eventually see the same thing happen to The Racer, some day.

Kings Island’s world-famous roller coaster, The Beast, will break its own World Record in 2022. The coaster, which opened in 1979 as the World’s Longest Wooden Roller Coaster, has held that distinction ever since. When it opens for the season in May it will beat its own record by two feet, from 7,359 ft. to 7,361 ft. due to offseason retracking and reprofiling work, that also includes a steeper first drop. “When you look at roller coaster records, they’re being beat all the time,” said Kings Island Vice President and General Manager Mike Koontz. “But there’s one record that no park in the world has been able to beat for more than 40 years, until now, and that’s the record for the longest wooden roller coaster.” It’s no wonder that guests from all over the world travel to Kings Island to ride The Beast. Its record-breaking features include a 7,361-foot-long track (1.4 miles) and ride time of four minutes, 10 seconds; vertical drops of 137 feet (now at a 53-degree angle) and 141 feet (at an 18-degree angle); a 125-foot-long underground tunnel at the bottom of the 137-foot drop; eight banked turns, some to 45 degrees; a massive, 540-degree helix tunnel near the end and speeds up to 64.77 miles per hour. Last November crews began the massive project of refurbishing 2,000 feet of the coaster’s track. In addition, the first drop has been re-profiled from 45 degrees to 53 degrees so that it can come into the tunnel lower and deliver a buttery-smooth transition through the first tunnel and onto the second drop. The project is expected to be completed in May. Cool info about The Beast! By the time workmen had completed the massive Beast construction in March of 1979, they had used 650,000 board feet of southern pine lumber; 37,500 pounds of nails; 82,480 bolts and washers and 2,432 square yards of concrete. The Beast has given more than 56 million rides since its debut in 1979 – third most in park history behind the Racer and K.I. & Miami Valley Railroad. Each of The Beast trains have traveled more than 1,000,000 miles. Record-breaking features include a 7,361-foot long track (1.4 miles) and ride time of four minutes, 10 seconds; vertical drops of 137 feet (now at a 53-degree angle) and 141 feet (at an 18-degree angle); a 125-foot long underground tunnel at the bottom of the 137-foot drop; eight banked turns, some to 45 degrees; a massive, 540-degree helix tunnel near the end and speeds up to 64.77 miles per hour. Members of the Kings Island maintenance department walk every inch of The Beast track every morning before the park opens. It’s a nearly four-hour trip they start at 5 a.m. The Beast has three tunnels: The first is 125 feet; the second is 269 feet and the third is 628 feet, for a total of 1,022 feet of darkness. It cost $3.5 million to build The Beast from 1977 to 1979. It would cost over $20 million to re-create it today. At 7,361 feet – The Beast is the longest wooden roller coaster in the world The Beast was constructed in less than a year, after two years of research and design – all by Kings Island personnel. Al Collins and Jeff Gramke were the chief designers of the ride. The original design was modified multiple times, so many times in fact that the finished product looked nothing like the one envisioned when the project began in 1976. Coaster enthusiasts consider The Beast a “terrain coaster.” That refers to the way it follows the contours of the land, using the hills and gulleys to add height to the ride.

I had been wondering if we would see recaR make a comeback for this year, but judging by that picture it does not look like it.

Love it! Can't wait to see it in person.