Voicetek

I take off all my keys except my car key and attach it to a lanyard. I loop/tie the lanyard around one of the belt loops on my shorts/jeans and the slip the end with the key into one of my pockets. Even if the key slips out, it's still tightly secured with the lanyard tied around my belt loop. I have found this method to be a safe and secure way to carry keys around KI.

I think the people who are a legitimately frustrated are people like myself who go to the park the smart way - with cargo shorts and just the bare essentials - who are now forced to pay for a locker rental if, by chance, they decide to buy some kind of souvenir cup or bottle. Now there comes a choice, skip Banshee and enjoy your drink, enjoy Banshee and skip your drink, or the worst - enjoy your drink, enjoy Banshee, and buy a locker. As I mentioned above, I will not be buying a locker so they've lost a souvenir bottle purchase from me and my wife this season.

^ This is a great idea, but unfortunately not a money maker for KI so I don't see this happening. I wouldn't mind paying something like 50 or 75 cents for a locker rental for a couple hours. Just long enough to store something small while I'm in line for the ride.

I wouldn't mind paying, say, 50 cents or something for a small locker near the Banshee entrance/exit, but not the prices they are currently charging for a locker.

I'm not one for taking in or carrying around lots of loose articles. Heck, I don't even bring a back pack. I wear my cargo shorts which is plenty fine to store my wallet and my keys. I always leave my cell phone safely secured in my car, hidden away from sight. However, even after all this, to think that I'd have to spend money on a locker in order to store my drink bottle just irritates me. No locker for me which means no drink purchase this season. I'd rather ride Banshee than sip on a drink anyways. So KI can view it however they want, they've lost both a locker sale and a drink sale from me.

If they will hold souvenir cups as they once did for Firehawk, then that's fine. Everything else I bring with me fits in my pockets. If not, then they can expect to make a LOT less money on drinks from me. Because I'll drink water before I'll pay for a locker. I agree. My wife and I bought a souvenir bottle last season because we liked the 99 cent refills. However, if we can't take it on Banshee or leave it in the station then we will skip it this season. By the time you factor in the price of locker rentals, that 99 cent refill becomes less and less of a bargain. That's frustrating a bit.

^^ I loved those too! I usually got a Yogi Bear or a Scooby Doo.

I was looking through some of my dad's old photo albums and came across a bunch of my sister and me at KI back in the 80s. I will have to scan them sometime and post them on here. I, too, enjoy seeing pictures of old/classic Kings Island!

I absolutely loved the puppet show tree when I was a kid!

1. I was around 12 or so when the Phantom Theater opened and was around 22 or so when they took it out. During that time period though, I loved that ride! I used to ride it every time I was at the park. My friends and I would make it a "must do" ride every time we were there. We'd catch it on the way in, then hit it up again on the way out. As I've mentioned many timed before on here, I'm sort of obsessed with animatronics so I think that was one main draw for me. 2. I think there are some solutions for Boo Blasters in order to make it a little better. First, and probably the most important, give the audience a reason to be there. There needs to be a story and a mission. What I really like about the Buzz Lightyear ride at the Magic Kingdom is that you have Buzz Lightyear in the queue line explaining your mission, giving you backstory, etc. You know that you're going to defeat Emperor Zurg. In Boo Blasters, they need some kind of character in the main entry way where the Maestro used to sit. This character could be any one or any thing. They would explain the history of Boo Hill and why you need to (or want to) defeat Boocifer. I feel this would give the audience something to relate to. For me, I just get bored standing in the queue line. However, I was never bored in the Phantom Theater. Watching Maestro play and hearing him talk kept me entertained the whole time. 3. Yes. If Boo Blasters is going to be as generic as it is already, they need everything they can get to make it appealing. Some of the effects that were there when it first opened were actually kind of cool and distracted somewhat from the half-butted conversion they did from Scooby-doo. Now, it's just nothing. The only reason for me to ride it now is just to see what kind of score I can get. I could care less about the characters and the backgrounds. That, to me, is a problem. 4. I'd be happy with anything else at this point.

Going to KI the night Banshee was announced. That was a pretty cool experience.

I hate seeing my presents under the tree. I don't want to see any of my presents until Christmas morning. So my wife and I have agreed to keep each other's gifts hidden away until it's time to open them on Christmas morning. I don't like to see shapes or feel the weight of any gift with my name on it. I like to wonder what I might be getting and I like to be surprised. Knowing what's wrapped up underneath the Christmas tree already leaves absolutely no fun for Christmas morning, that is, except enjoying the new gift you opened. Just my opinion though That being said, any blu-ray, 3D blu-ray, video game, toy, or art book would be fine by me. I'm not too picky really.

Gosh I'm not even sure how they got video while on The Vortex. From what I remember, camcorders back in 1991 were fairly large. That's insane. Anyway, I love to watch Kings Island videos from the past and was even more excited to see the old theming on the train. Very nice!

I think a floating menu would annoy me, but I think the suggestion for a link at the bottom of the page is great. I've thought about this on numerous occasions.

I've never really kept a tally of how many of which ride I've ridden each season. I just go and get on whatever I can in the time I have to be there. If I get to ride a lot, great, if not, oh well. There have been some visits where things have been so crowded that I mainly just walk around and take in the sights and the sounds and enjoy the atmosphere. The only game plan I have for 2014 is to snag at least one ride on Banshee. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to do that. One other thing might be to visit the water park at least once. Other than that my game plan is just to have fun and enjoy my time in the park!

Gosh I must have really missed something. Maybe it was the week or so I was off of here because of my wedding/honeymoon, but I am so lost as to what this whole "donkey" issue is. Maybe it's a good thing that I missed it? Who knows, but reading through this thread has left me just a tad bit confused. Oh well. Perhaps when I read BB1's upcoming post about it, I will be enlightened. Until then, I guess I'll just keep wondering.

I'll be the first to admit that if Winterfest came back, I'd be thrilled! However, I understand that this is not happening and I'm ok with that. Do I miss it? Of course I do, but there are plenty of other local Christmas activities to keep me busy through the Christmas season. I think the reason people want Winterfest back so bad is mainly for nostalgic reasons. Who hasn't looked back and remembered things with great fondness regardless of what you thought about it at the time? These types of things have the ability to make you miss certain time periods in your life and sometimes you want to relive those experiences that you had when you were younger regardless of what they were. I think this is why there is such a longing to have Winterfest back. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of great memories from going to Winterfest with my family and I'd love to experience that again, but that is not an option. I'm not quite sure why there are some people who just won't quit asking if it's coming back, even when various sources, including Don himself, have stated very plainly otherwise. Yes, I understand how much you'd love to have it back, but there comes a time when you need to let things go and look ahead to the future and not the past. Find other types of Christmas activities that are still ongoing and create new memories with friends and family. Perhaps we will see Winterfest again someday. I'll be the first one in line. But until then, let's remember it for what it was, a great time in our past, and now let's leave it at that, enjoy the present, and look forward to great things in the future.

I love this response. People don't often stop to realize how much we actually take in just on faith. Some people ask me, "How can you believe in God, or in creation...were you there to see it happen?" My answer is no, I wasn't there, but I have faith. My response, "How can you believe in evolution? Have you ever seen something evolve into something else? Were you there to witness the 'Big Bang' or see the first creature crawl out of the the ooze?" Nope. They take that on faith as well. Without faith, most of us wouldn't believe anything at all.

Leave the train alone. However, I'd like to see the scenery spruced up and the characters put back in. I'd like to see it return to the way it was when I rode it as a child in the 80s.

I see "ethancoaster" removed his post. I came here through my e-mail to respond to it. I'll respond anyway. For those of us who believe in the bible, we believe that we are living in the last days. The bible says that the last days will be like in the days of Noah. That people will be participating in things that God finds unpleasing. The guy from the article wasn't necessarily "judging" anyone. He was just stating what he believed the bible was saying. Now if you don't believe in the bible, then you won't agree with him. And that is your right.

LOL thanks! I appreciate the compliment

Here are a couple of my engagement photos I found on Facebook

We don't have our wedding pics back yet, but I will try to post a few engagement pics on here

I was unaware that they had cut the "Blood on the Saddle" song at one time. It was actually a part of the show when I saw it last week. I guess they put it back in.

Thanks for the response! To answer your questions/comments: 1. Did I say jubilee? I totally meant jamboree lol. It's a Monday and I'm sitting here at work after being on vacation for a week. My brain isn't quite functioning normally yet! 2. I wasn't fortunate enough to see the original "Tikis" show. The first one I ever saw was "Under New Management." So when I saw the show last week it seemed pretty close to what I could imagine the original show was like. From what I've read online, people are saying it is close to the original show. I think I had read something about it being slightly shorter though. 3. What is Saratoga? I don't believe I mentioned anything about Saratoga. 4. They had two people outside of the Be our Guest restaurant the day we were there and they wouldn't let anyone go in. I heard them tell multiple people that the only way you were allowed to go in and look around was if you were eating and had a reservation to do so. 5. The cemetery was open, but we didn't go through. I didn't realize it was open until we passed it up. I thought we might come back and do it again later, but we got busy with other things. Maybe next time! 6. They had some concept art (or what looked like concept art) posted around what looked to be construction areas. Disney Springs looks like it will be nice place when it's all said and done.