medford

I miss the backwards racer.

I agree, Terp! Believe me, if I could slow down my little girl's growing up, I would! She's 3, and pushing 40 inches tall. She is so excited to go to Kings Island! We will be there opening day. I'd love to be able to slow down time while we're there so I could watch her enjoy herself for even longer. I prefer the slow lane.. you can enjoy life more in it. As we learned last season, the 40" height is a pretty big mark for kiddie land. The Beastie and several other rides open up to them. Nothing beat watching my son's face riding Viking Fury last year when he was 2/3. Make sure to teach her to stand feet together, head up and back straight for the height check. Stuffing some tissues into her shoes wouldn't hurt either

Based upon the new CEO's "talking points" it seems that KIs next major expansion will be more family oriented. Action Zone is the last major area that hasn't seen major improvement in the last decade, and it seems natural that a decision on SOB and adding something to that area would be the next move, however, perhaps a family style transition beyind X-Base involving the dino's could be in the works. I don't know how long they can get away charging $5 a person to walk thru Dino's Alive, but they could certainly use those Dinosaur's to theme some sort of family attraction. A "guided" boat ride thru the woods with the dino's spread out could work pretty well. I'm thinking something similar to what they have at Animal Kingdom. Or you could use the terrain behind DA, both natural and what you can make by pushing some dirt around to create an upcharge "adventure" track with drivers taking you over the terrain, steep hills, etc... in some sort of landrover or hummer style vehicle. I'm not sure where, but I know something like this exists at other parks. Then there's a decent size empty building sitting by The Beast now, that could be a spot for a decent family attraction. The tower gardens are in need of some TLC, not much space, another place you might be able to do something with. Could they install some zip lines in the forest behind the park? There are a lot of different places they can go. I'm not sure much can be done with the Action Zone until a decision on SOB is made. SOB limits a lot of what you can do if it remains standing, however if they tear it down, there is a lot of different directions they could go with that.

I would personally hope not, due to some lunatic may bring in a gun and or a knife, wanting to kill a person, or persons at KI. If some lunatic wanted to do some real damage, what they had in place last year wasn't going to stop anything. We came in about 1x a week in the evenings with our 2 year old son in a stoller. We had a diaper bag packed underneath his stroller with some snacks and water for him, as well as a change of clothes in case he had an accident, plus towels if we were planning going on the log flume ride. I figure we did this approxiamently 15 times last summer, maybe a handful more than that. Never once were we asked to stop so they could examine the bag under his stroller. I'm not sure anyone even noticed there was a bag under his stoller or not. Now, I highly doubt we fit the profile of anyone they're looking for that could/would cause trouble, but last season leads me to believe that was mostly there for a show of security, more than actualy security. At Disney, at least 2 years ago, we had to pull out his diaper bag every time we entered the park so they could visually inspect it.

Everytime I see the lines for that thing (It still amazes me how slowly the line moves) I thank God that my 3 year old son would rather ride Boo Blaster, The Beastie (or whatever its called today), Viking Fury, or basically anything he's tall enough to get on than that thing.

The Zoo certainly does well based upon the attendance I saw last year in my 1st (and last) ever visit to the fesitval of lights. We thankfully got there about when they opened, when we left, the line just to grab a parking spot was beyond belief. King's Island could turn a profit if they did it right. It doesn't have to be the King's Island that we love during the summer to be successful, shut down all rides w/ the exception of a few flats that are very family friendly. Make admission prices low (and free to season pass holders) and charge tickets for all of the flats to keep lines down. Forget about trying to have ice skating in the fountains, weather's way to predictable, move it inside. Focus on the lights and food, entertainment, seasonal shopping, a visit with Santa and a train ride to the "north pole" aka Soak City.

I wonder if there's an app for that now?

Dippin' Dot guy's twitter says they're painting SoB blue and re-opening it later this summer.

My guess is that history kind of dictates that the coaster will be included in the cost of a ticket, while DA can be passed along as an upcharge experience. Have they ever announced the long term plans for DA? My hope is that they will expand behind SoB or X-Base and have some sort of Dino land with those interspearsed around a new set of rides/attractions and walkways.

Yeah but the roof looks to be at a steeper angle in the older picture. I"m sure that's just the angle the picture was taken at in each picture that gives you that illusion. Just think about how they'd have to alter (either raise or lower) all the support structures w/n the building including how it ties in w/ the chimney in order to alter the angle of that roof? Not only would that be relatively costly, I don't see what benefit would be gained by doing so.

Thanks, I didn't realize that, I was under the impression that the lake was removed long before Vortex. Learn something new every day.

Since The Bat was a hanging ride, and The Vortex is a sit down ride, I guess we can expect "Son of King Cobra" to "pop" up any season now.

Its my understanding that the water around The Beast stunk to all high heavens, hence the removal. Looking at that picture, makes me wish they'd put in some sort of pond/fountain system back there. I wonder how many people have asked why the heck there's a water wheel by the station.

I always remembered the slide being in that area, but have seen a lot of pictures this offseason where the slide was over by The Racers (I assume its original location) so I assumed my memory was failing me. Nice to see a picture of the slide in the location I remember as a kid. I think something like that would still be a hit in kiddie land, I know my son would love it.

Good question. How many season pass holders come on a weekday/saturday/sunday afternoon but jet before dinner and don't come back to the park. How much money is lost b/c they can find better (and cheaper) options 5 minutes away and aren't around to purchase their smurf cone or an extra T-shirt, or whatever. smurf cones are about the only thing in the park that I've heard people crave. They need more items that are "must haves" to your KI experience.

a 3 hour drive each way, I'd plan for a tank and a half of gas, ie you're going to fill up on the way home. Of course depending on the car, mileage, driving habits, tank size, etc... you might be able to get there and back on 1 tank. which direction and what time you come could also make a difference. Try sneaking thru northern Kentucky in the morning at rush hour could leave you in a decent size backup. Parking, plan for 10 (can you come in/out several times a day for 1 price?) Souveniors, they aren't cheap, from ride pictures to t-shirts, to glasses, or whatever. Personally, I skip all that stuff, maybe a T-shirt, but I'd rather spend my money elsewhere. If you want some ride pictures, a couple of t-shirts, etc... I'd plan on anywhere from $50-$100+ depending on your tastes. Food isn't cheap either, but you have options. You can pack a lunch in your cooler, leave and come back and eat for pretty darn cheap. You can leave, head to a local sit down place for lunch and come back (do you have to pay for parking again?) and eat at a mcdonalds (are they rebuilding the one they tore down, or is it gone forever, I assume they're rebuilding it, McDonald's don't tend to go out business, but don't know) like place for $12 or so for 2, or go for something a little higher in price scale in the area. There's nothing in the area I'd consider high end in the immediate area, but in addition to the McDonalds that may or may not be there, there's a popeye's chicken, skyline chili, Chipotle, Bob Evans, Perkins, some mexican place I can't remember, Wendy's and a few more. If you're willing to drive 10 minutes or so, your lunch/dinner options open up quite a bit, but would take away from your time in the park. They talk about upgrading the food in the park; we shall see. Based on last season some stuff is pretty good; some is merely edible, some I wouldn't even try, anyone's guess what new management will bring to food quality, it hasn't been KI strong point in th past. Inside there are several local chains, but their quality isn't as good as what you'd get at an actual restaurant. LaRosa's pizza, Skyline, Subway, chic-fil-a (obviously not on Sunday, I haven't eaten this in the park to know how it compares to regular store). You can buy one of the sovenior cups, and get cheap(er) refills on pop, small cups of water are free all over the park. I don't think anyone mentioned this, but there are a number of attractions that are upcharges as well. Dinosaurs Alive, the skyswing, the Sling Shot (those names are probably wrong, can't recall their actual names), plus any sort of games that you might play. The swing & slong shot things can be rather pricey ($15-$25 a person IIRC, don't know if the website lists the prices or not) if that is your thing. Dinosaurs Alive was like $10 a person or something, I only did it once, its kind of neat, but I had a kid with me, if I was your age, it would be an easy skip. All told, you can get by inside the park for $100 or less for 2 people depending on your eating habits and what you like to do. You could also spend upwards of $500 depending on what you by, how many games you play, how many upcharge rides or fast pass purchases.

1) I assume they were being sarcastic about moving the wave pool. 2) even if it comes back, it will be under new managament, likely thru some sort of bankruptcy with the season pass holder being at the back end of the receivership line, meaning that money is gone forever, you're just wasting money if you pay a lawyer anything. Heard this morning that their season pass was $90. No wonder they couldn't survive. For $90 you could go across the street and get a similar water park, plus a huge thrill park. I would have thought their season pass would be more down in the $40-$50 range.

in 533, the floor looks more orange (and black) in comparision to the yellow jackets. I found an old picture in standbyme's photo thread from the winter where the floor of the monster clearly looks yellow & black.

I thought I've seen an old picture of the monster, perhaps at the park's opening, where the floor was painted yellow & black? Am I imagining that, if so, when was it repainted? Would be nice to see them paint it again, not that I'll ever ride as any high spinning ride makes me want to deposit my lunch somewhere.

Not that it relates to the picture above, but I wish they would (could?) turn the one train back around. I've heard the reasons why they can't, I'm not sure how popular the backwards racer was/would be, but personally I enjoyed having a reason to ride each ride for the different experience it would give.

I doubt she would have gone back on FoF that day, and I'm pretty sure she skipped Vortex when a bunch of people hopped on, but she went on Diamondback several times that day, both before and after FoF, and still talks to me. Since her older sister and step sister of roughly the same age would ride just about anything, I think she began to realize her experience on FoF wasn't that bad, especially since she had survived. We'll see what she's willing to do this year. Her mother gets discounted tickets thru work good any day in the park, so I'm sure they'll be doing a full day in the park again this year.

It had been a long, long time since I had been on Flight of Fear prior to last season (maybe a decade or longer) Last year we got season passes and took our 3 year old a bunch at nights, one day, my brother in laws and their families joined us for a full day trip late in the year. While my wife and my brother in law's wives took the small kids to kiddie land to start the day, we took some of the older kids on the bigger rides. Started out on The Beast, then headed over to Firehawk before it filled up. It was shut down, of course, so we decided to jump on Flight of Fear. My brother-in-law's youngest step daughter (12 at the time I believe) was a little apprehensive, but my fuzzy memory told her it was nothing to be scared of, if she could ride The Beast, she'd make that one no problem. whe was most scared about going upside down, I didn't remember the ride going upside down, and told her there were no loops. Whoops, felt bad when i saw the troubled look on her face as when we left.

height descrepencies aside, I like Diamonback's route better, made only better when passing thru the woods rather than over concrete. However, those appear to be some incredible drops and speed that I would think would have to be felt in person to make a fair comparisson to what you can get thru video.

Aside from the movies, Transformers has a lasting memory as a toy. I loved transformers as a kid, my 3 year old likes transformers, my teenaged nephews like(d) transformers when they were younger. Despite the movies, when I read "Transformers" I'm automatically taken to happy thoughts. I doubt universal is going to regret that investment, at the end of the day Transformers has been a long, well proven success as a toy as much as anything. Anyhoo, I agree w/ goodyellowcorn, in my doubts of Avatar. It was great fun to watch it on the big screen, in 3d, a work of great beauty. As a story however, it was cliched and predictable, rather unmemorable. that is going to be hard to recapture in their sequels, its even harder to translate to your TV at home. There's not a strong toy history to fall back on (though I assume the toys sold well following the release)

great pics, thanks for sharing. Kind of makes me wonder what the long term plan was/is for the area behind Son of Beast. Despite a decent amount of elevation change around the SoB gate area, it looks relatively flat when you get back the double bowl area. There appears to be a ton of room for several large rides, the difficulty would be getting to that area, thru the natural terrain. SoB appears to have completely cut off that area (though the mentioned terrain just to get there would be difficult for many people), I wonder if there's a path that could be forged taking you thru the X-Base area? Would love to be on the inside of any 10-20-30-50 longterm "think type" planning sessions, both past and present just to hear all the dreams of the future and how they could be implemented. I don't even know if those exist like they do for many colleges, but you would assume there are some long term development ideas sitting around. thanks again for the pics, despite your disclaimer about being from inside the plane, amatuer photographer, etc... they are really nicely done.