homestar92

If it helps make your decision, every trip to KK that I have ever made has been on a Saturday and I've never felt like I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do. Do in a Sunday, you should be fine. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Sundays are weekends, so it's one of their busier days, but the fortunate thing is that they only have a handful of really popular rides, so you should still have lots of time to ride everything you want regardless of how crowded it is. I've seen rides have full queues and then not even two hours later be station waits, so it can also change pretty dramatically as the day progresses.

You could make it last forever, in theory. Every piece on a roller coaster is repairable or replaceable for the right price. One could argue that once every single piece has been replaced, it is no longer the same ride, but honestly the layperson won't know or care either way. The ride seems to still be pretty popular. It regularly has a line on busy days, even if it's a short one (a short line, all day long and a long line, all day long, equate to the same number of riders, as any line at all means that more people want to ride the coaster than its hourly capacity allows). Given that it still draws a sufficient crowd and there is plenty of land available for park expansion, I'd guess that as long as popularity stays where it is and they don't find themselves in need of any repairs too crazy or too expensive, it will be around for many years to come.

So then what of Firehawk and Flight of Fear?

^That pretty much hit it on the head. I won't stand in line more than 20 minutes or so for anything at KI, but that definitely does not apply at any other park.. It's just that at KI, I've ridden everything dozens of times and they just aren't worth it to me because, as Goble said, I can always just come back some other time (it's an 8 minute drive from work, so that's even more true for me than it is for him). Not to mention, many of my favorite rides often have very short waits, while rides I don't like as much are often longer. I won't stand around 45 minutes to ride Diamondback when I can go to Banshee or Vortex or Racer (all of which I find much more thrilling) and wait 10 minutes maximum on most days. I see this trend develop in lots of parks that I frequent. SFGAm is practically my second home park at this point, as I go about twice a year typically and I'm seeing this happen there now. Sure, I'll wait 30 to 45 minutes because I can't just come back any time, but put a 3 hour wait for Goliath in front of me and I'll skip it. The ride will likely be there next year, I can try again then. I've also noticed that as rides become stale, the other parts of the park start to shine for me. I used to go full ride warrior on every visit to KI. Now, I'd almost rather just take a nice walk, blue ice cream in hand, and people watch. Maybe catch a ride on the carousel or read a book by the I-Street fountains. Kings Island is my happy place and I love being there. Not wanting to stand in line isn't a matter of being a whiny millennial, it's just that, there are other theme park experiences that I value more. I could live without roller coasters (if I had to... I guess...) but I'd be very very sad if I suddenly lost my ability to go to the park and just enjoy being there.

Didn't care much at all for the 2016 version of Origins. I went twice compared to probably two dozen times seeing Cirque Imagine in 2015. I was expecting disappointment when I went to see Origins again. I have never been happier to be wrong. I think the show is very much improved and is finally the Cirque successor that I wanted all along. The parts I actually liked were kept and even improved upon while the stuff that I didn't much care for got replaced with acts that were much, much better. All in all, this is a show that I will definitely watch again and again.

I saw that happen in the early days of the dining plans, but I think it's died down as the plan matured and the kinks got worked out. I even remember one park in the chain putting on their social media that there are X number of operating days and therefore you could potentially get 2X meals from the dining plans. So the parks are almost encouraging such "abuse". I think now that the dining plans have had the kinks worked out and seem to not be changing much year after year, people seem to have gotten less persnickety about them.

I think this thread is worth revisiting with the opening of the new Smokehouse. That is seriously the one factor that made me glad I decided to opt for the meal plan (I wasn't going to this year due to poor quality and service last year). The smokehouse is very easy to get to and the food is good and the service is fast, plus it's usually easier to get a good parking spot in the Soak City lot than the dry park lot. I literally went to the park after work today just to eat dinner because I want to try all of the Smokehouse options while they are still honoring dining plans for the entire menu.

I also think I read on a CPFoodBlog article that parts of the menu will be changing. Perhaps they only permanent offerings are the chicken tenders and shrimp and therefore those are the ones that get put on the sign on the door, while it's easier to just make a cheap posterboard sign to indicate that you can get the other items when the menu changes.

Yeah, don't be afraid to rock the strap. Your friends will understand why you have to wear it, and as for all of the random strangers you'll almost certainly never see any of them again. If you do, they will not remember you among the thousands of people in the park any given day. If it really bothers you, do what I do and just keep it in your pocket and put it on when you board the ride and remove it when you get off. I don't really care if people are looking at me (nowadays I'm usually at the park with my fiance so it's not like I have to impress anyone), I just don't like wearing a strap because it's not something I do every day which makes it feel strange and bug me. But for the 5 minutes (or less) that an amusement park ride lasts, I can deal.

Update: got the tenders today. A little bland, not as good as Chicken Shack is on a good day. They are, however, very moist. I would probably like them a lot if I liked barbecue sauce, but served plain, they are just a little bland. But most definitely not dry. Also, hypothesis confirmed: I can get here from work and back within my one hour lunch break. This is useful since I'm an awful cook and I'm trying to cut back the eating out budget a bit. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I went on Monday with a my fiance and two other friends and we were all very happy with it. I got the pulled pork, with no sauce. It was a little dry and salty, but that's actually how I like it (I'm weird, I know) so I enjoyed it very much. I had the mac and cheese and it was the best I've had in an amusement park by a mile. My fiance had the fried shrimp and really enjoyed it too. She also got the mac and cheese and agreed that it was really great. She said that the batter was a little sweeter than what she is used to on fried shrimp, but that it was still very good. One of my friends got the wings. I don't remember what side he got, but he got them with no sauce and said that they were one of the best things he's eaten at Kings Island in a long time. Finally, the other member of the group got the chicken tenders and fries and was also very happy with them. They look very similar to the Chicken Shack tenders but the fries looked a lot better. He didn't comment much on the quality, so I was only able to sample with my eyes, haha. My whole group had just been to Holiday World the previous Monday and we all agreed that the food was much better than Plymouth Rock cafe, which we all still really enjoyed. Hopefully that gives at least some here a baseline for comparison. The waterpark was crazy crowded on Monday and the Smokehouse line moved very quickly. Zero complaints on that front. The only complaint that we really have is that one of my friends wanted to buy the season-long drink plan with the disposable cups and the cashier said that they don't sell that plan at that location and he could only sell the souvenir cups or an individual drink. This may be either a training issue or an intentional limitation imposed by the park, but if it's the latter, then I'm not a big fan at all and the park lost a $30 sale because of it.

^ That deal is also available to GOCC members, if that is helpful to anyone else who might be reading this thread.

The following is all my opinion. Please do not take any of this as irrefutable fact. You are free to come up with your own criteria. I'm pretty strict when it comes to what counts as a credit and what doesn't. Renames and new paint DEFINITELY do not for me. Relocations I'm not sure about, as I've never ridden a relocated coaster in more than one location. I'd say I count them as two though. If Flight of Fear at KD and KI are two different coasters, then I see no reason why X-Flight at Geauga Lake and Firehawk at Kings Island shouldn't be. I also consider Mantis and Rougarou to be one credit. I don't think the ride experience changed any more than Turn of the Century's conversion to The Demon or Son of Beast when the loop was removed and both of those examples are almost universally accepted as one credit. Devil's Den and Haunted House at Camden are DEFINITELY credits. It runs on a track, is powered up an initial lift with a chain and then is brought back to the starting point solely by gravity. Just because the parks don't advertise them as coasters doesn't mean they aren't, just as Larson Loops are NOT coasters and RMCs are NOT wooden, no matter what the parks' marketing departments claim. Powered coasters are not credits, because they are not coasters, because they do not coast. I consider racing coasters as one credit unless there are significant differences between the sides. Dueling coasters I always consider to be two. Example: Racer (KI), Gemini, Rebel Yell, and Racer (Kennywood) are one credit. Dragon Challenge and Twisted Twins are two. American Eagle (SFGAm) required much mental deliberation, but I think it's two. The forces in the helix are VERY different between the two sides and the entire last half of the cycle is totally different.

You'll hear that from time to time on some wooden coasters. I'm not sure what causes it, but I'm sure it's no cause for alarm. Mean Streak did that ALL the time, and it even happens once in a blue moon on Racer.

SFGAm also slapped VR onto Raging Bull, which may not be one of the highest ranked coasters in the world, but it's certainly one of the most popular in their park.

I think if the park had not said a word about the shed and it was just a surprise for your first ride, I think people would LOVE it. However, since it was so central to the ride's marketing, many people will be understandably disappointed. Curb your expectations and you will enjoy the shed. Don't expect some groundbreaking thing that's going to put KI on the map. Just expect a fun little distraction from sitting on the brake run and you'll love it.

Absolutely nothing. "Worst" probably wasn't the right word choice. "Least great" is more accurate. It's an awesome coaster, it's just that all of the other GCIs I've ridden are also awesome.

If Mystic Timbers is as good as the WORST of the GCI coasters I've ridden (Prowler, IMO) then it's going to blow Beast out of the water for me. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

You are absolutely right. It was definitely 2011. I remember that summer rather vividly, much to my chagrin. And I don't say that because of Vortex being down, but that certainly didn't help things.

I do enjoy Valleyfair and I agree with your analysis that Renegade, not Wild Thing, is probably their strongest coaster. I also really liked Excalibur, not because the ride is that great but because it was so surprisingly good when I had such low expectations for it. I will admit that the sheer joy of getting to see Ed Alonzo again may have influenced my opinions of the park as a whole. But I digress. Now, I've only ridden Wild Thing a few times and it was years ago, so it's not fresh in my mind. That said, I think for me, the bunny hills are what do it. I'll concede that B&Ms do have more consistent pacing throughout than most Arrows or Morgans. So yes, an Arrow or a Morgan night have spots that aren't as great as others, but when they hit the fun parts, oh man is it incredible! I think Diamondback offers a moderate degree of thrill throughout and never stops being fun, but also never has that one point that it goes from good to great. I guess for me personally, I'm willing to slog through elements that I don't love that much if the ride gives me something incredible to make up for it. That's kinda where I am with Banshee as a good analogy. I HATE really slow inversions. The last inline twist is frankly one of my least favorite elements in any coaster ever but I still consider it one of my favorite coasters because the rest is just so good. I will also admit that I'm not the average park guest. Parks don't build rides for people who have traveled the continent and ridden hundreds of coasters. Most of the people I know who really, really like Diamondback have only been to a handful of parks at most and have little else to compare it to. And I fully admit that before I got big into this hobby and started traveling all over, I was a pretty big fan of it too. It's also entirely possible that familiarity has bred contempt. I know Diamondback like the back of my hand. Nothing on it catches me off guard and I definitely think they can affect one's enjoyment of a ride. Or maybe it's just the fact that I've ridden other B&M hypers that I think are more fun, like Apollo's Chariot and Raging Bull, and knowing that they can do better causes me to be disappointed. I admittedly can't fully explain why my opinions are what they are. I guess it's just very subjective and I can't concretely identify what makes me like or dislike a ride.

^^^Banshee does rank high on my overall list purely out of convenience of being near home, though I'd trade it without second thought for any other B&M invert that I've ridden except for Patriot and the Hungarian Horntail side of Dragon Challenge. As for Diamondback, the only word I would use to describe it is "tedious". It's a textbook example of the "Boring and Mediocre" side of B&M that was so prevalent in the mid to late 00s. I truly don't understand why anyone who has ridden any hypercoasters from Morgan, Arrow, Intamin, or late 90s/early 00s B&M could rank it highly. But I am glad it's popular. It keeps lines short for the better rides. Beast is a ride that I have a huge appreciation for due to its historical significance, but compared to modern, twisty, airtime-filled wooden coasters like Thunder Run, it really isn't very thrilling to me. All this isn't to say that I dislike KI's lineup besides Vortex (I don't at all, I actually think it's very well-rounded), just that I'd rather spend a day at a park with three coasters that LOVE than with a dozen that I think are just pretty good.

Kings Island has no coasters in my top 5 wooden coasters (though perhaps that will change this year) and 1 coaster in my top 5 steel (Vortex). KK has two of my top 5 steel and one of my top 5 wood. So, take Vortex out of Kings Island, and there's a clear winner... Heck, removal of Vortex might make me agree with the general consensus that Cedar Point has a better coaster lineup than KI... But let's not get carried away.

If Vortex goes, so does my season pass. I'm honestly not joking. I would never swear off KI for good, but I'd be a once every few years sort of guest rather than a 15-20 times a year guest (who typically spends at least some money each visit) Get rid of Vortex, and Kentucky Kingdom will overnight have a better coaster lineup than KI in my humble opinion, and will become my new home park.

If the park wants me to not immediately assume they are guilty, then they need to work on not having such a spectacularly bad safety record. It is seriously the scariest park I've ever visited for all the wrong reasons. Visit the park and you'll understand why I feel that way. Perhaps the fences should have been more difficult to climb. Perhaps security should have been faster to notice there was someone in the restricted area and respond. It's similar to the Harambe thing... Everyone defended the zoo, but the inspection later ended up proving that the fence was not up to spec with modern standards. I'll admit that there's little to no evidence to suggest it's the park's fault, but when they've proven that complete and utter negligence for the safety of their guests is part of their style of running the park, I'm inclined to assume that it applies here too. Unfair to them? Maybe. But they've earned a reputation that's going to plague them until they fix it.