jcgoble3

Well said. A few years ago, I convinced my mom to buy a ~$40 ticket to come to the park with me, even though she can't or won't ride a lot of stuff. Once there, I took her to see the 3:00 (first) show of Cirque Imagine that day. She was absolutely blown away by it and declared that it was worth the $40 admission ticket by itself—which I had been trying to convince her for weeks. She insisted on going back to the 5:00 show to see it again.

Regarding non-rider discounts, The Beach Waterpark has an interesting way of doing that, per their FAQ: http://www.thebeachwaterpark.com/park-info/frequently-asked-questions/ I like that: pay full price up front, get the wristband, and then trade the wristband for a partial refund when you leave, with the caveat that the wristband is lost if you do any rides. At Kings Island, I would say that the Eiffel Tower and KI&MVRR should be exempted from such a program, but otherwise I like the idea.

When I do Soak City solo, I show up as early as possible to park as close as possible, and wear my swim trunks as shorts on the way down. I leave everything in my trunk and enter the park barefoot with nothing except my swim trunks, waterproof car key tied to the drawstring of my swim trunks, and a small credit-card-sized beach safe containing my Platinum Pass and credit card, attached to the loop inside the pocket of my swim trunks with a carabiner. Everything else (phone, house keys, towel, shirt, shorts, shoes, etc.) stays in the trunk of my car. When I'm ready to dry off, I walk out to the car and get my towel out, dry off what hasn't already drip-dried, gather my clothes, and head back in to change for the rest of the day. Also, I think late in the day (after 5pm, maybe?) all-day locker prices drop significantly, to where they're much more reasonable. I've done that too: go over in the evening and grab a cheap locker, especially for Gold Pass Slide Nights.

Here's my Sally from the 6:30 show yesterday:

I spent eight hours at Kings Island today and never entertained a thought of riding anything other than the train. I played a little Pokémon GO, watched Gravity, spent three hours playing more Pokémon GO for Community Day, ate at Reds Grille, and then did two sessions of Sketch School (Sally at 6:30 and Pig-Pen at 7:30). Then left and stopped at Gold Star Chili in Lebanon on the way home. Yep, I'm getting old already.

Hey, I was at the 7:30 session as well. I was sitting in the front row, far right side. Here's my attempt at Pig-Pen:

Shouldn't that third bullet say August 1?

I, too, have found that as I get older*, I take fewer rides and more time simply enjoying the atmosphere, and my days at the park are often shorter as a result. Rarely do I show up before gates open and stay until closing anymore. In fact, having short/non-existent lines burns me out even faster than standing in 15- to 30-minute lines. *I was 23 years old when I first got a KI season pass in 2010, and am 31 years old now. So this can happen at a younger age than some might expect. It's not exclusive to Kings Island; I did far fewer rides at Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom two weeks ago than I did on past visits as well.

I check my zippers multiple times before a ride. I check them in line, when I'm next in line, when I sit down, and often again on the lift hill. If your zipper is not zipped, that's purely your own fault for not checking to be sure.

Show information and times are available on the website. The JUMP! page is here: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/play/shows/jump-the-ultimate-dog-show Thursday appears to be the day off for that show.

On the contrary, I love our current entrance. As you approach you see hints of rides sticking out above, giving clues about what is to come, but when you walk through you are suddenly bathed in the majestic splendor of International Street, with the Eiffel Tower straight ahead. It's as if you pass from one world to another on entering the park. It's a wonderful first impression that reminds me of the Magic Kingdom entrance as you pass under the train station. I would be sad to see it replaced with a coaster.

Many separators and greeters only have one of those height sticks with the colored tape on it. That's good enough in most cases, but if it's really close (say a millimeter or two), you might need the thing with the swinging horizontal bar to be perfectly precise. That thing is usually only available in the station. There is a kids admission, and the cutoff is 48 inches. Which is also the cutoff for most of the "adult" rides. So I can definitely see the possibility for upset parents here. EDIT: Also, a difference in measurement can sometimes be the kid's fault. Kids are usually just told to "stand straight", but there's a significant difference in height between a kid standing straight in a casual posture and a kid standing ramrod straight with feet together, knees locked, head up, holding a deep breath. I myself can gain about half an inch via the latter method.

I find most advertised wait times at most parks to be unreliable. The best way to estimate the wait time is to be familiar enough with the ride to look at the queue and estimate the wait yourself. For most rides at KI and some at other parks, I can ballpark the wait time just by seeing how many switchbacks are open and where the end of the line is. With a little experience you will be able to do the same.

It's been hot and/or raining most of the time the past few weeks. With such weather, indoor air-conditioned rides will always be popular.

I think it's worth mentioning that all of the "good" things you listed were originally introduced either last season or this season, under Mike Koontz as KI GM. While all of the "bad" things you mentioned are pre-Koontz at least a few years old, if not right out of the Kinzel era. Perhaps Koontz has decided to put in the effort to maintain "his" stuff, while letting older stuff slide. For example, the Starlight Spectacular is gone, and Boo Blasters may have other plans for its future that make it not worth fixing everything at once.

Now if only I could get a chance to ride it. This year I visited on the one day it was closed for an accident. Last time I visited was four days before T3 opened. ARGH!!!

Paula made a blog post about the event: https://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2018/06/08/au-revoir-gopher/ The silent auctions raised $1,430 for Give Kids the World.

I don't get it?

So what would happen if a stupid guest (the kind we all know exist) just got out of the car during the ride? Or more to the topic of this thread, what if the fire occurred in the middle of the ride and the rider in that car scrambled out of the car before the operator noticed and could hit the e-stop button? What if said rider lost their flip-flop in the scramble to get out of the burning car and hit the electrified floor with their bare foot, or tripped over the side of the car and planted their hand/arm on the floor?

Wait, the floor is electrified during the ride? I didn't know that.

I was browsing open jobs at KI out of curiosity, and noticed that they are hiring for a Restaurant Manager for Coney Bar B Que: https://jobs.cedarfair.com/job-detail/8236569/restaurant-manager-coney-bar-b-que-cincinnati-oh/ Did somebody get fired? Seems odd to be hiring for the restaurant manager position for your newest restaurant right AFTER after it opened. The job was posted on April 22, which was the Sunday of the second weekend of park operation. It's not an assistant manager or shift manager position, as it reports directly to Chef Major and the Director of Food and Beverage.

Early in the day today, there were several people in the station at T3 looking at various things. Later in the day, there was no sign of activity at the ride. Near the end of the day, we did see (from a distance) one train cycle empty, but only one.

I got a bunch, but I need to sort through them. Hopefully I can get to that tomorrow (i.e. today since it's past 2am).

Perhaps such a restaurant could be handled by the catering department instead of the regular food and beverage department. Oh wait: this is the department that produced rock-hard ribs a few years ago.