jcgoble3

Wet 'n Wild Orlando is still open and will remain open through December 31, per their website: http://www.wetnwildorlando.com/

Most days, working didn't feel like work. Getting paid to do it was nice too. Not to mention that I'm sure many employees will grab a ride or two (or more) or a bite to eat before or after many of their shifts, so that at least ought to still count as a visit.

It thought you didn't get a pass this year....? Granted, the food department had a lot of hurtles early in the season, they ultimately were able to smooth it over by June or so. Ironically, I feel as though the food employees were the best department this year. They had some systematic issues (directly associated with the maturation of the All Season Dinning Plan) but individual employees can't be held responsible for that. The food employees used to be the butt of many jokes because of how rude and unprofessional they were. This year, the kids seemed to always greet with a smile and work hard through their long days in those hot restaurants whilst dealing with hungry people. Unfortunately they have handed off that baton of unprofessionalism over to the rides department this year who thought having the mic was play time. Correct, I did not have a 2016 pass. I'm referring to my food service experiences in 2014 and 2015, when I did have a pass with the dining plan, and to the upcoming 2017 season, for which I have a pass without the dining plan. All of my dining experiences at the park in 2016 (spanning three visits: both announcement days and the semi-official Haunt meetup) are at Reds Grille and two visits to dead locations: whatever the food stand over by the wave pools in Soak City, which I did in the early afternoon on a slow day before the masses started migrating from the dry side, and Festhaus LaRosa's for lunch on an 8pm closing day in August when the park was totally dead. So if food service has improved greatly in 2016, then I do not have the personal experiences to know that for myself. I can only base my decision on what I experienced in in 2015. I'm glad to hear that others are seeing improvement, but being naturally skeptical, I will wait until I can see it for myself next spring, probably on opening day.

Borrow a cigarette lighter from someone and burn it. On second thought, the park would probably frown on that. So instead I'll give it to someone who can actually use it and who actually enjoys Vortex.

I, too, have virtually never gotten a broken gun over the past several years. I think sometimes, when claims are made of guns being broken, the cause can be traced back to simply incredibly poor aim on the part of the rider. If you can't aim the gun properly, you won't hit any targets, and if you don't hit any targets, you'll tend to think that the gun is broken when it's not. Pro tip: don't try to shoot one-handed. Use both hands in a proper handgun grip for maximum accuracy.

I did NOT get the meal plan this time around. I made the mistake of doing so in 2014 and 2015. Did I save money? Yes. Was that savings worth the absolutely HORRIBLE service? Hell no. They apparently figured that since they already had my money, and the money of a large portion of their customers, that there was no need to put any effort whatsoever into decent customer service. Next year, Kings Island will have to earn my food money, because I will be leaving the park to eat at nearby restaurants unless and until they prove that they can consistently provide good customer service even though they already have many people's money.

Great report! Sounds like a FUN day. And Korbin is getting big! He's grown a lot since the last time I saw him.

Yay! Two new mods! Both are fine choices.

I assume so.

Present your pass at the ticket window at the park.

That could be good or bad. What kind of machine? For some machines, clicking is good. Hard drives, not so much...

Congratulations, malem! I don't recall whether I actually posted a formal nomination/endorsement of you in this thread, but I do believe you are the best choice here (and if I didn't post one, consider it a clerical error ).

You will have to pay regular price for parking at the toll booths. However, the people at the ticket sales booth may (not guaranteed) be able to refund that fee if you present your processed pass and parking receipt to them.

A little late with this answer, but no. Your Gold benefits are for next season and do not apply for the "one free visit" this season.

Glad you had fun! Regarding the roaming scareactors, they typically don't come out until after dark. So yeah, during the early part of the evening, there indeed are no scareactors roaming about.

It's certainly not the park's fault they had to close for capacity, but from reading the comments on Facebook, it definitely sounds like the traffic situation could have been handled much better. Many people have been complaining about sitting in traffic, sometimes without moving, for a hour or more only to THEN find out the park was closed. FWIW, they posted at 8:20 PM that they were back open: https://www.facebook.com/BuschGardensVA/posts/10154134701033315 The complaints continue in the comments of that post.

You do know that you can ride without picking up the gun, right?

Uh... no. Banshee is much less accommodating than The Bat, and doubly so for someone who carries their weight in the stomach. Banshee has completely different restraints than The Bat. The latter come down primarily on your shoulders and chest, but Banshee's restraints come down on your stomach. I've never seen a "walk of shame" (term for when someone must have their restraint released so they can exit because they couldn't get it down far enough to lock) on The Bat, but I've seen many on Banshee. Banshee has a test seat. Use it. And if it's a very tight fit, know that rows 4 and 5 are modified to accommodate slightly larger people. There's not much of a difference, but it might be enough.

Hint: It's called "Bring a Friend", not "Send a Friend". (If you really wanted to, you could drive to the park, get the ticket for her at the ticket window, and then leave. Your presence should only be needed at the moment of obtaining the ticket. But I don't know if you live close enough to the park for that to be practical.)

A few years ago, they had a show on the Bandstand (Playlist Live!, maybe?) that had a 10pm showing. When the park closed at 10:00, they would start immediately after the fireworks and run until about 10:30.

Welcome to the forums! Keep in mind that this past weekend was Columbus Day weekend, which is always one of the busiest weekends of the year. Many members of this forum did a group meetup Friday night, and it was packed to an extent that I have never seen before on a Friday night. The Saturday of Columbus Day weekend is always insanely busy with some of the longest wait times of the year, and the gorgeous weather only added to the crowds. So don't expect that one trip to be indicative of "normal" crowd levels. Yes, Saturdays during Haunt are typically crowded, but not quite to that level. Fridays often have short waits for most rides and mazes, so that is usually the best time to go if you want to do haunts along with rides. If you just want rides, not haunts, Sundays are often nearly dead in the fall and can be a great time to go. Also, pro tip: Adventure Express has a VERY short queue. If the line is to the entrance, that's usually only about a 15-minute wait. Vortex's queue is also deceiving, in that a line to the end of the black fence is typically about 20 minutes or so.

They have a haunted waterpark now?

And it wasn't his very first. He did Tombstone Terror-tory a few years ago because he didn't realize that you couldn't go all the way around on the train.

Yes. Due to computer issues and logistics, they are not likely to be able to implement the dining plan this season. This was told to us by the workers at the stand immediately after park opening.

From what I understand, it was a maintenance nightmare because of the nine-flip ride cycle it operated with following the license drop and complete de-theme. Those nine flips were seemingly necessary to make it worth riding without the TR theme to support it. But had Ouimet been around then, there might have been an attempt to retheme it in a way that it could work without having to run a ride cycle that basically tore the ride apart, and so it might have survived a little longer.