malem

^ If the portions are similar to Frontier Festival/Beer & BBQ at Cedar Point, it will take at least a few tastings to make a full meal. If not for dining plans, I could see myself using a tasting card in one visit.

In recent weeks, we've noticed that the tone on the forum has taken a sharply critical turn, and we'd like to ask for everyone's help in fixing it. KIC is all about sharing our appreciation for the park and the industry, and we want to keep the discussion as open to as many opinions as possible. At the same time, snarky comments make the forum less fun to read and contribute to. It's getting old, and we need it to stop. Specifically, we're asking that critical comments be respectful; sarcasm and exaggeration should be avoided. Ideally, tell the park how they should improve; Kings Island is always looking for feedback here and on social media. Honest opinions and experiences, both positive and negative, are always welcome to be shared here. If you see posts that are creating an overly negative tone, reminding the poster to keep it constructive and/or using the "Report" button would be most appreciated. Thanks everyone for your attention to this matter. -Your KIC mods

^ You've just described every rewards program out there. Increasing revenue while also increasing perceived value is a win-win. My first Pass Perk was the $50 premium cabana discount, which I am not likely to use. I would use the BOGO Slingshot or 50% off a slice of fudge, if I happen to get one of those.

It was set to allow a search every 20 seconds; we changed it to instead allow logged in users to search every 2 seconds. If you're logged out, you still have to wait 20 seconds between searches. Let me know if there are still any issues with the search function.

Boomerang Bay had a small entrance for passholders only. When the waterpark was converted to Soak City in 2012, a full gate was added that supports all ticket types.

The FOF launch uses a lot of power, but it's very short in duration. At the wholesale prices the park pays, the electrical energy required to launch a train is going to cost pennies. A caveat: A capacitor bank is now used to spread out the load over a much greater time period than the 4-second launch, keeping the park's electrical cost down and preventing problems (i.e. brown-outs) for neighboring customers. When the ride first opened, the cost would have been much higher, owing to the very high peak load on the utility during a launch.

Also Eiffel Tower videos. Your friend should go to the park's YouTube channel to take a virtual ride on the coasters, since safety rules forbid picture taking or phone use of any kind on rides except for the train and Eiffel Tower. If you buy FunPix, you will be able to share photos of you on the rides. Hope you enjoy your visit!

If it's a buy-out day when the park is closed to the public, dining plans will scan as invalid. They can only be used when the park is open to the public (and when the pass was used for admission that day). If the park is open to the public, be sure to use your pass for admission so that your dining plan works.

^ Nice days after a rainy weekend can get busy, but storms tonight could keep the crowds down. I suggest watching the Diamondback webcam.

^ Sorry that happened to you and that security didn't end up catching the kid after you reported the incident to them.

The KCK government is hopeful the park will "come under new ownership and branding, and will open next summer." https://www.kctv5.com/news/schlitterbahn-water-park-in-kck-appears-unlikely-to-open/article_d9863b0c-70ed-11e9-a88b-cf2e585c9f16.html However, according to another local news source, buildings at the park have been used for police training, and "the condition of the inside of those buildings indicates the water park will not be reopening." https://fox4kc.com/2019/04/22/with-just-weeks-until-summer-it-doesnt-look-like-schlitterbahn-will-open-in-2019/ Menards is building a new store on land originally intended for Schlitterbahn expansion. https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2019/04/08/menards-schlitterbahn-legends-outlets.html

^ Cedar Fair doesn't release attendance numbers by park, so we don't know if it was 1% or 10%. CF's attendance keeps growing each year; it's safe to say that the parks receiving the most capex are contributing to that. For an already well-attended park like Kings Island, giving people a reason to come back every year is a major goal of new attractions. They might be looking for less of an attendance spike than at a park with significant untapped market potential, such as Carowinds.

We've lucked out on weather so far, but the dicey forecast has been a big attendance factor this weekend.

There appears to be a bug in the InvisionPower forum software that allows guests (spambots, in this case) to create invisible topics in the database, even though they don't have posting permissions. We thought it was fixed in an InvisionPower upgrade, but apparently it's still happening. Until it's fixed, I made a change to the homepage query to hide such invisible topics, so no one should ever see them again.

I visited Forbidden Frontier for the passholder preview yesterday with @MNFriedOreo . An entrance plaza is accessed from the Frontier Trail (near Frontier Fling), consisting of much of the former Shoot the Rapids. Some of the walkways are slippery due to water effects, so be careful and don't run. To access the main area, you can choose between following a winding path, pulling yourself across a moat on a floating bridge (groups of 4 at a time on the bridge), or crossing a wobbly bridge. Overall, the area is nicely done and is somewhat reminiscent of Ghost Town at Knott's and the (former) Adventure at COSI. If you stop to talk with one of the characters while exploring the island - you may be given a task to complete, a mysterious item to deliver, or a puzzle to solve. As you go from adventure to adventure, more of the Forbidden Frontier story is revealed. It looks like it will be popular with the younger crowd, but it's intricate enough to entertain adults too. I do have to wonder if they can keep the staffing up all season, as much of the area is focused on interacting with the characters. There are also animal displays (emus, chickens, and goats) and a large multi-story play structure that acts as the centerpiece of the island. Adults have plenty of seating and a few hammocks near the play area. Since it's on Millennium Island, there are plenty of great shots of Millennium Force to be had. Definitely worth checking out!

The park isn't very busy today. Looks like a good day to be there, with the storms holding off so far.

^ Cedar Point's "Camera 1" webcam is currently aimed at the parking lot. Looks really light for a Saturday; hope the rain holds off for you today! https://www.cedarpoint.com/explore/live-video I was there yesterday, and Steel Vengeance opened late - around 2pm. Raptor was also having mechanical problems for much of the day. Other than that, everything was open except for weather delays (on Blue Streak, Gemini, Magnum, Dragster and Mine Ride) during a brief pop-up shower.

^ For gold or platinum passholders, they were $45 not including the online processing fee. For those without passes, a ticket including admission to the park both days was about $40 more.

^ If you click the circle (or star, if you have posted in the thread) to the left of the thread title, you should be directed to the first unread post.

As of last weekend, there was a Spin-The-Wheel game for single-use front-of-the-line passes in Action Zone. Each $5 spin "wins" a pass good for one specific ride. Some prizes (Banshee, Beast) are more valued than others (Scrambler, Zephyr). I haven't seen Plinko this season.

Food/merchandise locations are typically in limited operation on early and late season weekdays, as it's impossible to staff everything with so many seasonal employees at school.

The schedule of events has been released: https://cdn-cloudfront.cfauthx.com/binaries/content/assets/ki-en-us/general-information/play/events/ki---pivip-strategy-guide-and-map.pdf

^ Platinum pass benefits are the same no matter which park you purchase from. Your pass number should work to buy bring-a-friend tickets on Carowinds' website or at the front gate. Hope the club members wanting ERT at Kings Island got Coasterstock tickets! Since they're only doing one, having some of the enthusiast crowd spread out to Indiana might help with the coaster lines.

^ The WiFi worked well enough for me to stream high-definition video on Saturday. The only issue was having to reconnect almost every time I pulled my phone out. The blank login screen should stay up for less than a second before directing you to KI's mobile website. If the login screen sits there and does nothing, there's probably a connection issue. Considering the number of teenagers in one spot today with the school-group heavy crowds, I'm not surprised that networks couldn't keep up.

I experienced the WiFi captive portal issue yesterday. Even though you only have to enter your name and e-mail one per season, the system requires that you visit a (blank) login page each time you sign into the network - which should be once per visit. The problem seems to be that sessions are expiring out too quickly on the gateway, so your phone has to visit this page far too often. Even if your phone stays on all day, it will go out of range while riding most coasters and in some areas such as The Bat's queue. As a workaround, on a newer phone with the latest updates, look out for the network sign-in required device notification, and tap it to get back online. Older phones may require you to open a web browser to a non-secure, non-cached (http, not https) website to get directed to the login portal. Nearly all websites are secure and/or cached these days, so it's best to bookmark a special connectivity check page such as http://connectivity-check.ubuntu.com The WiFi worked really well last season, so hopefully they get the problem fixed as this season gets underway.