medford

While I'm not particularly a huge fan of "fried stuff" its always felt like coney mall was missing a "fried stuff" booth. I'm think fried twinkies (or whatever the alternative is now), fried snickers, fried cheese, etc... similar to what you see at a lot of couny fairs. I may not buy much, if anything from that booth, but the smell would be great drifting thru coney mall and I think enhance the feel the theme is going for. I'm not particularly a fan of LaRosa's, but KI makes an even worse product than you get at a traditional LaRosa's. I'd love to see an upgrade in the product, even getting it up to snuff w/ the traditional larosa's would be a huge upgrade. On top of that, let the customer pay a few more bucks to get a "cooked to order" pizza w/ different toppings. Pehaps even an addition to the KI Moblie app to allow you to order your pie while in line for The Beast, then pick it up when your done. I'm sure logisitics in that regard could be tough, but if a place like flying pizza can get an order by the slice right, KI could certainly do something similar at a minimum. I never tried that grilled sausages, but that is up my ally. I'd add a few of those stands around the park. I had the burriot once last season. It was OK, but by no means comparable to Chipotle. It certainly could be upgraded, and the made to order concept should be as efficient at KI as it is at your traditional Chipotle. If they could get it right, I'd add another burrito place on the opposite side of the park. I'd add something "different" to the other side of the festhaus. We traditionally only go mid-week, and it typically feels like on the right half (where you get pizza, chicken fingers, etc...) of the restaurant line is in use. Pehaps the use both sides during the weekend; if not I'd look to add something unique (and good) on the other half.

I drive past every morning and again every evening along I-71. You can see Invertigo, delerium, Vortex, lift hill of The Beast, top gun, Firehawk, slong shot, skyflyer, etc... Lossing SOB changes the skyline for sure, but there is certainly plenty to catch your eye as you drive north or south on 71.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought there were coasters that went beyond "straight down" before "looping" back around and up? I know that wasn't your point per say, but I found one here: http://techland.time.com/2011/07/12/just-how-crazy-is-the-worlds-steepest-rollercoaster/ Looks like a ton of fun to me.

I didn't think the argument was which was cheaper to maintain (on average I would assume a steel coaster is much cheaper to maintain on a yearly basis) but rather, once track needs to be redone on a steel coaster, which is cheaper to maintain. I would suspect the retracking of a steel coaster would be significantly higher than a wood coaster, however I have no idea how often (if ever) that needs to be done, nor what it involves. At any rate, I certainly hope Vortex has many seasons left, seemed fine to me the 1 time I rode it last season. My son is pretty tall for his age, may well reach 48" prior to his 5th birthday next summer, and so far there isn't a ride at KI that he hasn't loved. The Racer, Adventure Express, The Beast all seem like naturals once he hits 48", however I've worried that I should wait little longer to put him on Vortex due to the head banging I've always experienced b/w the overhead restraints. May have to throw caution to the wind if next season proves to be its last.

goodbye avatarland, hello star wars land????? I think that has the potential to trump Potter world.

retail, she worked in a shop 1 season, then managed a shop for 2 or 3 additional seasons, don't know which one.

Well that path would certainly open up a "new area" I don't think they'd just put a path in to put a path in, but rather put a path in to take you along a new set of rides, games, shops, eateries, restrooms, etc.... Sure the earthwork would be costly, but if they ever want to use that land in that area, earth work is going to be required anyways, might as well start it in 2013 in anticipation of a couple big additions in 2014, 15, 16, etc..

the maruee stated this morning that 2013 auditions for shows was in a week or two. Can't remember the exact dates, I think Nov 6-9, but I could be off by a day or two.

When my wife worked there in the mid 90s, there were employee nights w/ supervisors operating rides as well as dances in the picnic area.

"Do you want to live in a world with out Coca-Cola?" - Heisenberg.

There are several reasons to update the front gate. For starters, it does have a bit of a dated look. Sure its functional, and by no means a draw back, but it doesn't exactly wow you as you enter the park either. For a park that wants to give customers "their best day of the year" the front entrance is their first interation w/ the park. secondly, the ticket agent station is definently dated. Perhaps I'm missing something since I've only hit that part to purchase/renew season passes, but they have a bunch of unneeded attendee stations to purchase tickets. Get rid of half of them for those that still want human to human interaction, install a handful of ticket kiosks for those that just want to swipe their credit card or ATM card, get a ticket and get in the park. third, they have a restaurant that has ada challenges and is largely unused by the their guests. you could incorporate a new restaurant that would not only be ADA complaint, but could also function as a rentable ball room for wedding, christmas parties, corporate events, etc... in the offseason, perhaps even during the season. fourth, the merchandise stands that they have right under the entrance are small and hard to negotiate. A new front gate could open up more merchandising space, perhaps the opportunity to sell more stuff to people as they leave the park. fifth, the information racks they have against the pillars as you exit the front gate are dated. A new entrance could allow them to great update those information kiosks. Provide those cell phone scanner things to upload information, apps to your cell phone. A person or two at a desk to answer any and all questions. Finally, there are many other things an new, enhance front gate could open up for them. The best part of view of KI is the moment you exit the front gate and catch a full glimpse of the tower and fountains. A new design could open that up even more, perhaps enhance it. You could add areas to sell additional upgrades to park guests, segway tours, walking tours, premier storage space (at premier prices), larger restrooms, bigger offices, etc... If it was me, I'd extend a new front gate out towards the parking lot to provide for more ammenaties. You could likely start building parts of the new entrance/facilities while maintaing the current facilities thru the course of a season, the start the demo/remodel work in the existing gate during the offseason. I'd imagine a new gate is pretty low on the radar, if its even on their radar, but you know it will happen eventually. 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, its anyone's guess.

I don't think we changed our spending habits much, if at all due to fun perks, but the $40 (total) in savings on next years passes were well appreciated. There are obviously some wrinkles that need to be ironed out, as was to be expected, but there is a ton of potential there for the park to individualize things a bit and reward their most loyal customers in ways that the individual customer will appreciate.

I'm guessing the park would be happier to notice that jcgobble found a whole in their system, and was willing to share it, than that he got a day's worth of free pop. If I get a coupon for pizza and the dilivery guy falls to ask for it or take it with him when dropping off the pizza and I use it again next week, is that stealing?

I used the $20 reward on my gold pass, a $10 reward on my wifes, and a $10 reward on my son's pass. They let us retain our current gold passes, which were all purchased in 2011 and renewed for 2012 (and now 2013). There was some confusion during the process and the lady who processed the order had to call over several people, one of whom had to phone someone else, but she was dilligent and got everything to work, including the discounts and even swipped our cards at the end to double check that everything was in place. It probably took 10 minutes longer than it should have, made me wonder if we were amongst the first people to use those funperk reward vouchers, but they got it right and were very friendly; apolgising several times for the dealy (even though we were as patient w/ them as they were with us). My funperks account doesn't show the application of those rewards, so part of me wonder if they just used a price adjustment to knock off the price, either way, consider us happy, repeat customers, which I'm sure the park considered the ultimate goal.

It is applied at atmospheric pressure. Some claim The Beast runs best immediatly following a water treatment.

Water is applied to the track on an unregular schedule both prior, during and after the operating season. There is no machine capable of producing this water on such a large scale, but scientist are eagerly working on that solution.

There has been some sort of trailor parked outside of the slide near I-71 off/on for the last week or so, looks like they're going a lot of "cleanup" type work.

I'd venture a guess that DummerKid is actually correct. Most likely Don does "own" King's Island, as well as Cedar Pointe, Knotts, Carrowinds, etc.... I've been told ownership is a lot of FUN.

I would imagine The Racer was my 1st "big" coaster, but I can't swear to that as I have no idea. If it wasn't The Racer, then it was likely Big Thunder Mountain, or perhaps Space Mountain at Disney. Loved the backwards racer. Absolutely loved it, wish they could still run it backwards, though as I've aged, I reserve the right to change my opinion on which is better backwards or forwards should they ever switch it back. At any rate, I'm sure some would argue that while this doesn't belong on the rumors page, it probably belongs on the poll page, and has probably been asked many, many times before on this forum.

Nope, some do have hydraulic fluid though.

I doubt what, if anything happening in the future is dicating the speed at which they're demo'ing SOB. They're going to tear it down as quickly as safely possible with their current crew so as to get equipment in and back out as quickly as safely possible.

Medford - What is your total visit count? I am thinking, based upon my last two visits, that visits are about 12.5% of each level per visit. Sorry for the long delay, didn't see the question until today. I've made 10 visits on the season.

Cool! We are very excited. I am perusing the forums now and learning a lot. We have been to the October weekends in Cedar Point, but never at KI. Is there a lot of functions/activities for kids in the 5 year range to do? I am familiar with the rides, but do you guys recommend some shows or other activities for this age group? During the days, most everything is open, if not everything that a typical 5 year old would enjoy. If your kid is easily scared, be warned that the haunt workers start roaming the park prior to the opening of the haunt as they work their way from makeup to their designated areas. Its pretty cool to see. The dino walkthru where they handed out candy last year was great. I assume they're doing it again this year, but don't know for sure. I belive the have a seperate thing at Soak City that is geared towards kids. Just hope on the thain and jump off there.

My son went from 2 to 3 last summer, so we got him a pass at seasons' end for this season. His 2012 season pass allowed him in for the 1 visit we took to the haunt in 2011. I assume you'll get the same deal this season.

I wonder how many were complaining about the $1.47(??) per gallon gas price at the time of this picture?