medford

with that said above ^^^ as a future addition/enhancement, a kids version of the season long plan would be a smart addition. Some people hate wasting food as much as they hate wasting money, you might turn some people off if they feel like they are wasting food everytime they get the meal plan for their 5 year old kid.

Does the no sharing policy apply to 2 year olds w/o passes? I was planning on buy an all season pass for myself, wife and 5 year old son. Our daugher is still 1, turns 2 later this summer and admitted to the park for free, hence no pass. If I saw the menu correctly, and using Larosa's as a reference, you get 2 pieces of pizza, 2 bread sticks as part of the meal plan. Based upon last season, 3 of those would be plenty to split b/w the 4 of us, the youngest doesn't eat much, a "meal at subway" consists of eating the turkey and cheese off the sandwhich (and usually not all of it) ignoring the bread, having a handful of chips and finishing it down with milk/water. If giving her the piece of pizza my son isn't going to eat plus one of the breasticks I'm not going to eat is grounds for potential dismissal from the park/revoking of season pass, then its really not worth it. Then its a question of buying the season meal plan plus food for her and wasting some of it, or skipping the season meal and going back to eating Chipotle outside of the park at the end of the night. I know there are a lot of grey areas still being ironed out, and its still new to everyone involved. I also realize there are likely stated policies and policies that are generally ignored as long as they are not being grossely abused (I'd say buying 1 meal plan for myself, splitting it with my wife, then 90 minutes later buying another meal plan and splitting it again would be a gross abuse), but it kind of feels like this was thrown together at the last minute and there wasn't a ton of thought put into it. I always got that impression from FUN perks (though the website is an obvious signal that it was more than just "thrown together") and it never lived up to the potential that it could have had based simply on a lot of confusion about what counted, if things got counted, what the perks were, etc... I think this is a good idea, and don't even mind being the guinea pig, but seems like were getting different stories every time I read a post.

Different strokes for different folks; my 5 year old has loved it since he was 2 and up to the point where he was big enough to get on The Beast, Racers, Drop Zone, etc... last season, it was a must ride, often multiple times, often first thing in the park. Our soon to be 2 year old daughter loved it on her first ride last season. I wish the guns/target system worked better, was a little "friendlier" seeing as its right next to the kids area and considered by most to be a kids ride (even if the park list its location as International Street, the average park attendee is going to tell you that you enter that ride in Planet Snoopy), heck in a perfect world you'd have an option to adjust the sensitivity like a video game where you could have an easy setting, medium, hard, etc... modes that would require you to be more accurate. The scenery is more than a bit cheesy, but its come to grown on me having been on that thing roughly 100 times the last 3 seasons. With all that said, if the new dark ride experience is a hit north of the border, I fully expect that building will see a transformation in the next offseason or two to a system that incorporates the technology used in that experience, perhaps even expand it to include the area used for storage and the haunt in the other half of the building. I will miss the memories I have of riding that thing with my son, and on the rare day that there was little to no line getting to take him on that thing 2-3 times in a row or switching off with mom. Its always a refreshing experience on a hot summer day to get out of the sun and into the cool air. Even if its technically on IS, and the wait time isn't the best way to compare popularity of a ride, it feels as if its the most attractive ride in the general Planet Snoopy area as I'll occasionally find lines out the building, and rarely see that on any other ride.

yes, you are correct, typo....or perhaps a combination of Adventure Express and Outlaw Run thanks.

Kings Island has the most kids' coasters of any park in the world. A wild mouse would be great, and Soak City NEEDS new slides. There was a chain of parks that like to fly a certain number of flags that claimed their new kids coaster at one of their particular parks would give that park the more "kid coasters" than any park in the world (or perhaps country/North America) despite the fact that their coaster count would only equal KI's "kid coaster" count. I can't remember if that total included Surf Dog or not, which KI counts as a coaster, so I count it as well. I said at the time, KI might as well go ahead and build another small one for kids, perhaps on the level of The Great Pumpkin coaster to keep it cheap, or even better (for me) something similar to Firechaser Express. But there are severl routes KI could go with their next coaster. A water coaster is an obvious hole in the water park's lineup. A wild moust would be a solid, classic addition. I wouldn't mind a new woodie once rides like Outlaw Express have a proven track record over a handful of seasons. There are many, many routes they could go with their next coaster installation, some relative small, some big, and many in between.

Does anyone care for Congo Falls anymore? Yes this guy. At the start of last season, our then 4 year old was in that wierd height range 46" until shortly after his 5th birthday when he finally hit 48" and gained access to The Beast, Vortex, Racers, etc.. In was in those first few months of the operating season that I was re-introduced to KI's 2 46" mark rides, WWC & Congo Falls. I probably had not been on either ride in nearly 15-20 years (how long has Congo Falls been around?) and had forgotten the experience of each. Congo Falls provides proably the most air time of any ride in the park, nothing to hold you back but gravity as you fall down the hill. My son and I had a blast riding that thing many times. Then on top of that, as I'm sure many parents can attest, there is no way to completely describe the joy you get watching your 4/5 year old standing on the bridge waiting to be drenched by the splash and the look on their little faces of pure joy. Those moments are far more important to me than anything I've experienced on an actual ride inside the park.

thanks, I always thought 5-1 was referring to the seat, that makes it much simplier.

ok, someone help me here, I've read the 5-1 a lot, but haven't ever been completly sure which seat that is. With my wife pregnant, that means 100% of the coaster riding with our 5 year old is one me. That is generally not a problem, but as much as I love Vortex, 1 spin on it pretty much knocks me out for a while. My wife likes to sit in the very back of the train, so getting into the 5th car isn't as easy, and generally we're there with the kids, so if our oldest wants to get on, I let her take him. This year its on me, so I'm aiming for 5-1 so I can continue on to other rides with him right away since Mom won't be able to do anything with him (well aside from Boo Blaster, train, and things like that.) so is it 4-2 4-1 4-4 4-4 -------- 5-2 5-1 5-4 5-3 --------- 6-2 6-1 or is it 4-2 4-1 5-2 5-1 6-2 6-1 or is the alternate variation on each of those possibilities w/ 5-1 being closer to the exit side of the station and 5-2 being closer to the gate side of the station? TIA.

The lift was sitting up at the top of the tower this morning, presumably going thru phases of testing. My guess is that Jeremy is on the right track. With the terrible winter/early spring that we've had in this area, there was likely a time crunch to get everything done for opening day.

Is Auntie Anne's an option?

The dirty old man in me has several responses, the family man in me will keep it repsectful

Was The Bat open today? I'm interested to hear how the que looks. I'd love to see them decorate the bridge that you walk under to resemble a cave entrance, though that may be asking for a bit too much. I seem to recall Don hinting that there would be some surprises that wouldn't be revealed until opening day regarding The Bat, however I may have been reading into a way he worded something that wasn't really there. Don't think the 5 year old is going to be quite tall enough for Banshee this year, maybe by the end of the season if he hits the same growth patterns he has the last handful of seasons, but The Bat should be a staple of our summer for sure.

Any more details (or directions to said details) would be appreciated. We attend pretty regularly, usually get a pretzel (or 4 for the family of 4) when we get to the park in the evening, around 5:30-6:00 then debate b/w eating in the park later in the evening around 8:30 or heading over to Chipotle to catch dinner there. If we could get a handful of pretzels (youngest daughter isn't two yet, so she won't have a pass this season, but we could split 3 pretzels 4 ways pretty easy) then hand around and catch some pizza for dinner, that would probably be a great value in the long run. For the 3 of us, that would be $216 total, we'd easily spend that much on food in the park thru the summer.

Yes, somebody does! But maybe China?

I have nothing to back this up, other than my gut, but I think that POV video was "released" on purpose, just as I believe the "Bat website" right before the Banshee announcement that was live for an hour or so was released on purpose to gauge the interest in bringing back The Bat theme, just as I believe all of those blueprints that were shown on the one guy's youtube sight were released on purpose. I believe them all to be various forms of viral media/advertising intended to build hype for the things they are doing/have done over the last year or so. Considering their instance of limiting the amount of videos/pictures that pop up on this site outside of officially released KI videos, I find if hard to all measures weren't taken to ensure that an employee couldn't "sneak" a recording device and take a decent POV of Banshee w/o the park knowing about it.

Does make you wonder, if Mr O or someone else was down here recently, saw the paint job on Invertige, Skyflyer and The Bat, as well as the installation of Banshee and said "you know, this ride here really could use a change to help it blend into the area better". If so, that would be an awesome display of "paying attention to the details" that often got overlooked in the recent past.

While we're talking about paint jobs, I haven't seen it mentioned, but as I drive past KI in the evenings, it has struck me more than once how nicely the paint job on Invertigo last season blends in the with visuals on Banshee from 71. I don't know if it was planned out that way (I assume it was), but those 2 coasters, plus the rethemed Bat look really make that area "pop" so to speak, as you drive up/down 71 imploring you to come into the park. Very well done.

I'm not attending media day, but another solution, cheaper than buying something new, turn that hoodie, Tshirt, etc.. inside out. Yeah it may look a bit strange, but are you there for a fashion showcase (if you're wearing a champion hoodie, I'll presume the answer is no) or are you there to ride a roller coaster? Rare is the hoodie/Tshirt with a logo printed on the inside, may have to cut the tags out of the back.

There was a lady on Diamondback last year about 2 rows up from my wife and I. I don't know how old she was, but she appeared old enough to potentially be a grandmother, but probably not quite 71 & 79 like the ladies in this story. She appeared to be a "single rider" but looked like she was well known enough to people around KI as I saw more than 1 person come up and say hello to here. She rode Diamondback like a 15 year old teenage, hands up the whole way, allowing her body to be tossed from one side to the other in transitions, etc... It was awesome to observe. She must be a regular, we were at chipotle following a trip to KI a few weeks later and saw her come in with a group of friends. My wife's 73 year old mother has a pass to KI this year, she's had them in the past and used to ride roller coasters when she was a bit younger with my wife and will still do smaller stuff with our kids as well. She asked about Diamondback the other day, its now our goal to get her at least 1 ride on it this year.

I've never been to KI early enough to make use of ERT, we are typically a late afternoon thru evening in the middle of the week attendee, but IIRC, a handful of rides were part of ERT time last season, Flying Ace Arial Chase for one, I think the helicoptor ride and a handful of others in Planet Snoopy. I'll throw my guess into the ring and say I think The Bat will be the other ERT ride (or perhaps they'll add a few rides in Action Zone in addition to Banshee. The Bat was often walkup last season, at least at the time frame we were typically there, but a large roll in that was its location in the park. Its not a ride that is visable from much of the park, so it doesn't call out to you to come ride it the way Vortex or Diamondback does, and unless your a fan of Delirium, Drop Zone or Invertigo, there wasn't a lot back in that area to attrack people to take the long walk back to a ride thats been around for a long time. Throw in the crowds expected at Banshee this season, as well as the retheming of The Bat, and The Bat should see a significant boost in lines this season. ERT would allow gold pass members to get a quick ride on the rethemed ride, then get on with the rest of their day.

I would be shocked if it wasn't. Mainly b/c they spent the time to make the prop last season, it would be wasteful not to include it amongst the tombstones for the ride (unless they just shipped it to Terpy and gifted it to him, which would be pretty cool as well)

They had to replace the rails in that section of track; hasn't been painted yet.

I'm guessing if you took a poll of people walking off Adventure Express, an overwhelming majority of people getting off the ride would tell you it was a wood coaster. Not many people pay attention (or care about) the rails that the train runs on, or what differentiates a wooden coaster from a steel coaster.

Why? I'm guessing finances play a large roll. Maintance, operation costs, replacement parts, reliability, etc... are all factored in I'm sure.

Quick life lesson: The less you worry about other people's opinion of your "style", the more freedom you'll have to live your life in the style you prefer. If you find a "fanny pack" convinent and useful, there is no sense worrying what someone else is going to think about it. But if you don't like the fanny pack, here's an idea, go find a zipable small bag that is large enough to carry any possesions you want to have at the park, wallet, ID, phone, keys, etc... and still fit into your pocket. If you hit up a Dicks or golf store, you can find something along these lines designed for golf tees. I'm sure there are a bunch of other similar bags designed for other uses that can be used for a "KI" bag Then find a clip that you can use to hook that bag to your pocket.