medford

So we already had the Reds HOF Grill, now we've got the Bengals Coaster. When is the "Royal(s)" fountain Dive Coaster going to be unveiled

I feel for a park like KI (or most of the CF parks), the simpler the themeing, the better. For instance, gravestones, lights, misters on signs, etc... are all relatively easy to maintain. A functioning rotor on a helicopter and working flames that sit outside 100% of the time, not so much. For Mystic Timbers, they got the outside stuff right, in terms of the Que and the old truck, as well as the backstory. The more complex stuff in the shed is all protected from the elements, meaning they can keep them operational for longer periods of time. The less moving parts, the easier it is to maintain, expenses are more predictable.

I've you've never tried Schmidt's up in columbus, do yourself a favor (assuming you like Sausage/wurst) and try out their buffet. I'd love to see a "regional" tie in associated with Schmidts and KI, it would be a hit I'm sure.

Is Tom & Chee still at KI? Perhaps a more permanent structure for a Tom & Chee at KI.

That is kind of what makes the discussion fun for me; there is no standard. I think another interesting question is The Racer, the park counts it as one, I'll assume there is only 1 entry on RCDB, but while the 2 sides are mirror images, they don't cross paths, you can't ride both sides from the same car, you have to get off, and re-enter line if you want the hole experience, so its should be either 2 credits or 0.5 credits if you only ride one side. Then of course...Surf Dog

You'll see a fair amount of snark on this site regarding the "Kinzel Cups" but I've never had an issue with them filling up any water bottle that I've brought. We've packed our diaper bag with a couple in the past and its useful to get a 16oz bottle filled that won't spill. The family center is immaculate, I've used that a handful of times. If you have season passes, as mentioned above, and can make it mid week, the evenings mid week are usually less crowded. If you're kids don't have to get up at a certain time (my wife teaches, so summer time is sleep in time) Planet Snoopy is practically deserted after 9:00. The families that are still in the park are starting to lineup near the fountain to watch the fireworks; many have left after spending a day in the heat, much of Planet Snoopy is walk on at that point, or a 1 wait cycle. Since we typically go for about 4-5 hours, mid week in the evening, its a nice perk to be able to stay that late into the evening with kids that haven't been worn out by a long day in the park. I've never used it, but KI does offer a parent swap option if you want to ride a ride while your significant other watches the kids, then you "swap" out so that the other person can ride. I'm not sure how similar it is to Disney's plan, but when we used it at Disney, my 9 and 5 year old each got to ride Seven Drawfs Mine ride twice, once with mom (oldest had to sit alone) and once with me (again the oldest had to sit alone). Since it was one of our fast passes, they barely had a wait for either ride, was definitely nice. There are some rides with no height restriction, there are some rides outside of Planet Snoopy with lower height restrictions (Scrambler is 36" I believe, Monster used to have no height restriction, but I think that is 36" as well now). Get your bracelet early in the day that way your kid isn't getting measured several times at different rides; speeds up the process.

Is it not an exact clone? I've never been to Dorney, but other than location, it appears to have the exact same layout. Perhaps there is a slight difference in height or length. Which brings up another question, if they are clones, should riding both Stinger and Invertigo count as separate credits? I'm personally not into counting credits or number of rides; have no idea how many different rides I've been on (though far less than many of you) so it doesn't make a difference one way or another to me, but something that I could see being debated on either side (if they are indeed exact clones, just in different locations).

^^ That picture is amazing. The reflection of the lights from inside the restaurant make it seems like some sort of weird celestial event is going on directly above the Tower. What would normally be an annoying sidetrack to an otherwise great picture enhances it in this case.

So there is an upcharge for skate rentals? Thanks for the other answers

Not sure where to put this, so I'll ask it here, TIA. Was the sledding open last week? (hard to make snow in the 50s), if so, is it an up charge to go sledding? My son is gluten and dairy free. During the season he usually got the chicken fingers and fries from the coney mall potato works (I doubt they are dairy free, but it didn't seem to affect him so it was his "go to"). That is obviously out of the equation, are there other gluten free options in the park? We're planning on going Sunday evening, and thinking I may need to get him something to eat prior, then bring him some snacks to enjoy during the evening. How long were the lines/wait for ice skating last weekend? I'm assuming last weekend was more crowded than this weekend will be, due to it being both opening weekend as well as Thanksgiving weekend, but certainly no guarantee on that. I think I read the wait for Misty was around 30 minutes, much less than I would have guessed.

The best Tex-Mex food I've ever eaten, hands down was at a little place I stumbled across in Bordeaux, France.

I think it was 2 seasons ago that Kings Dominion had a "twelve days of Christmas" theme, where each day they presented a new "gift" to their patrons for the following season. Most (if not all) of them centered around smaller cosmetic changes, the re-introduction of old things the park had lost thru time but remained strong in the memories of those that attended the park in their youth. I don't recall if there was truely anything remotely major announced, but I still thought it was a great way to present the smaller updates changes that are needed, especially during a time when there is not a brand spanking new coaster to hype. If they took the 8th-10th, weekend of operation plus the 15th-23rd week of full operation, that adds up to 12 days and would work perfectly. At some point they've got to say why they are doing work in coney, even if its small improvements, I think that would be a great way to introduce them.

There is a KK billboard (or at least was as of a few weeks ago) on the 48 express way, about 5 miles (give or take) north of Kings Island. I'd venture that a large % of KI's patrons in the south Dayton suburbs pass this billboard on their way home from the park.

A Ferris Wheel would most likely be circular

What is the best theme for a kids area of the park? A theme that the kids will recognize and relate to, or the brand that mom, dad, grandma or grandpa will recognize and relate to? Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and kids all new to KI probably don't care much what name one of the original roller coasters in the park goes by (Beastie, Woodstock Express, The Scobby Doo, etc...) but the older set may be more willing to open their wallet to purchase the stuffed beagle than they would for the stuffed sponge while the younger set doesn't have a wallet to open up. It may be a kids area, but the theme isn't there to stroke the emotions of the kids.

I haven't attended many fairs, so perhaps I'm off base, but I always got the impression that the fairs were about much more than just the midway rides. The Warren Co fair (where KI actually sits) is roughly 10-20 minutes away from KI every summer.

Similar question regarding Friday evening. We went a few years ago on the friday prior to Labor Day. With school back in session, and high school football the park was generally dead, however, that was back when dollar days were just on the saturday, sunday and monday of that weekend (or perhaps a few days less). I see that they are having dollar days on Friday this year, perhaps they did the last couple as well. Weather looks good, should I expect big crowds? Anyone have a feel for what the crowds were like last year on the friday prior to labor day if they did dollar days then as well?

There will be a heating element in the HVAC units. It may be minimal, but there will be heat. Heating is relatively cheap compared to AC. They install the heat for several reasons, 1 as I said, its cheap, your not going to save much money taking the heating element out, even if you didn't run it. 2, they may use the heating element to help control humidity in the space (though I'm guessing they don't worry about the humidity at all). 3, they'll use the heating element to help warm up the building during the early and late parts of the year when the days start out in the 40s or 50s before climbing into the 70s in the afternoon. 4, did I mention that its cheap? All that said, it wouldn't surprise me if they kept it closed simply to keep that part of the park closed off to guest to help control traffic flow, limit the amount of workers needed, and help the offseason maintenance crew start crossing more things off their list. However, being indoors, I'm sure it would be popular and would have long lines during Winterfest, so I kind of expect it to be open as long as they are operating some other rides back in the coney area (bumper cars, scrambler, swings, games, etc...) I'm not sure what Don considers a ride, but I'd guess that just about all of Planet Snoopy will be operational as Families would naturally be the target market over thrill seekers that time of year.

What if they got GCI to come in and both retrack and reprofile parts of the layout along with providing their trains? What if they mixed in some of the elements of Wicked Timbers or their many other rides into the long, straight stretchs of The Beast, the areas where trains that could articulate better could handle some wider swings and quick (minor) change of directions. Sacrilegious or Stupendous?

Cedar Fair, and apparently every other North American park over the last handful of years agrees, that it prefers that its attractions open up on time, with limited downtime and few redesigns. As others have pointed out, there was the redesign on Maverick and re-profiling of I-305. There are the constant maintenance issues on Dragster, there was the constant delays on Falcon's Fury, the discovery that both Kingda Ka and their new Drop Tower couldn't be launched on the same time at NJFTP (which for those unaware use the same support structure), there is the boat flip and numerous othe rissues that have crept up with Intamin designs and installations over the last handful of years. There is a reason major (and minor) parks in the US have been turning to other companies (skyrush in 2012 was the last major coaster install in the US that they handled on their own, though I think they helped out on a few disney style rides). The average park guest neither knows, nor cares who manufactures and designs a particular ride, they only care that its both fun, and open for operation on their once a year trip (or perhaps once a lifetime trip). I consider myself a fairly average amusement park attendee in that I've been to KI, my local park, a bunch of times over my lifetime, been to the Point 3 or 4 times, I've ventured out to a Valley Fair (a park a good distance away) once, and been to a couple of the florida parks (Disney and Busch) a few times spread out over the coarse of my lifetime. Most guests will never ride both Fury and Diamondback, most guests will never attend both parks. I'm probably in the 1% (or less) of the population that has ridden Wild Thing (Valley Fair), Magnum XL and Diamondback, three hypers, built by 3 different manufacturers, build over different time frames. If/When KI gets their giga, it will challenge and likely exceed Fury's stats, and will therefor top Millenium Force's height, speed, drop, etc... stats. That may or may not make it a better experience, but CF is not worried about KI topping Cedar Point with a Giga Install, just as Cedar Fair didn't care that Banshee was a better coaster than Raptor.

I'd say a Giga is inevitable. I was fully on board for Misty, actually once I rode Renegade at Valleyfair, something similar to Misty is pretty much exactly what i wanted and felt like KI needed for their next coaster install. KI's last handful of installs, Diamondback, Banshee & Firehawk all played to the thrill seeker side of the revenue equation. It had been a while since KI added that 48" coaster that would serve as a good inbetween coaster for both the 7 year old kid who hadn't grown into Diamondback or Banshee yet, as well as their parents and "chicken" older siblings that didn't want to experience something so tall, or so many inversions (or in the often heard complaints about The Beast and The Racers..."too rough"). Renegade absolutely blew both myself and my then 7 year old son away on our trip there. I think something similar to Firechaser express would have been a good add, something in the 44" height restriction range that the entire family could enjoy. KI has Woodstock Express and Flying Ace Arial Chase, I still think that lineup could be expanded for a park that caters largely to families. With the addition of Misty, I now feel like KI's biggest hole is a Giga. Cedar Point, Carowinds, CW and Kings Dominion all have a giga, KI as one of their higher revenue generating parks is screaming to potential thrill seekers... "wait and visit me some other time when we get something as tall as Millennium Force". They've seemingly shown to be give good return on investments for Cedar Fair as the additions in both Canada and the Carolinas have shown. With B&M coming in with glowing remarks on their gigas, KI will eventually get the "best of the bunch". As far as other rides reaching or exceeding Diamondback, I think that is inevitable as well. "Ever" is a really long time, but even if I just narrow it down to my children's coaster riding lifetime (they are 1, 5 & 9 today and lets say they are riding into their 50s, so another 50 years) we are looking at another 10 or more additional or different coasters at KI. If dimondback can last that long (?), what is to prevent them from adding a 200'+ floorless, a 200'+ dive coaster, a 200'+ wing coaster, another try at a 200'+ woodie. I think those versions of coasters are all likely over the next 50 years of KI's history (though perhaps not all topping the 200 foot mark). Throw in rollercoaster types not yet invented or made popular, or B&M expanding to the 400' mark comfortably. Even if you ignore what I think is the inevitable Giga coming in the next 3-5 years, I think its highly doubtful that nothing else will challenge Diamondback's height over its lifetime at KI.

If you look at a map of what they did up at Valley Fair w/ their car addition, I think you could fit that into the Tower Garden areas. The car ride at Valley Fair sits on a rectangular plot of land, while Tower Garden's is more of a rectangular space, its shorter in width, but longer in height if that makes sense, in total square footage, it appears to be roughly equal, which would just require an altered layout, but I think they could make it work. The 'Tique ride at Valley fair takes a decent amount of time to get thru, not terribly long, but not short either, if they had to trim a little bit of length off it to make it fit, I still think it would be a good add.

KI's guest services probably knows the answer and probably knows what procedures you need to follow while carrying it in the park with you (I assume its allowable, but perhaps with some sort of restrictions). I'd also venture a guess that you can probably find their number on KI's website www.visitkingsisland.com. For something like this, I wouldn't fully trust any posters information as policies and restrictions can change, even mid season, so one person's experience may not reflect your own. Aside from that, its pretty easy to find where you can get direct answers from the park.

You are entitled to nothing at another park with your gold pass. However, 2 years ago, we were in Minnesota and found our way to Valleyfair. We bought a couple of souvenirs on our way out (Ironically I'm wearing the shirt I bought that day at the moment), and the clerk asked if we had a season pass for their 10% discount. I jokingly said "I have my Kings Island gold pass, but I don't think I'm in Ohio at the moment" The clerk smiled and said, hold on, got his supervisor and they knocked off the 10% discount.

I don't think there is anything preventing a park from opening up a brand new roller coaster every season, if both their budget and projections allow for it. While I agree that 2 seasons seems too short, it has been done in the past, and can be done again in the future if a park (KI or otherwise) decides its the best plan for their park). Just looking at the current Cedar Fair management, they opened up Gatekeeper in 2013, renovated Ragarou (no idea how much that cost) in 2015, then opened up Valraven in 2016, and are in the midst of a huge overhaul of Mean Streak for next season. In 6 seasons, that 2 brand new coasters, one remake (now sure how much the conversation cost to call it "small" or midsized") and one huge remake. While KI and CP are 2 different parks, generating different revenues and should be treated differently, on the surface, 2 large installations (Banshee and project 2019) plus another new coaster with a "smallish" price tag (allegedly $10 mil) would seem to be a similar expenditure over a 6 year time frame as CP got over their 6 years. All that said, I'll repeat that I still think 2019 is too son, 2020 at the earliest, and it may be another year or 2 beyond that if the next major install is something on the scale of 300'+