Big Woody

Even during a regular day at Universal,you may enjoy a drink in line. Busch Gardens is a family park. We have Seseme St land,and plenty of elephant dung for the whole family. And yet,Im able to enjoy a brew while in line. Its nice.

Im just sayin that the argument that drinking in line causes fights,line jumping,etc, just diesnt hold water. These drinking policies have been in place here for many years. And with prices like these,youll go broke before you get drunk. Also,if someone still has a half cup of draught beer to leave at the station after standing in line for 2 hrs, that my friend, is what you call a drinking problem. :-)

Yeah....its 6.95 for a 16oz bottle of Bud Lime here at BG Tampa. They have alot of the beer stands by the ride entrances so you can enjoy it while waiting. Makes sense...especially in the FL heat. Plus makes waiting more bearable. At horror nights in Orlando, you get souvenir pint AND shot cups you can refill throughout the night...which you may drink in line.

Not a big deal...Im looking forward to my visit. Just wierd thats all. People drink in lines down here and nobody thinks anything of it. Ive never witnessed the behavior thats mentioned here. If someone got drunk and acted out,Im sure security takes care of it. Maybe thats why Ive never seen it. But changing a park policy and confining beer drinkers to limited spaces like smokers to deal with the occasional idiot is rediculous.

You cant drink a beer in line because youre standing next to people and your beer might spill causing people to line jump which may start fights? Ooooook Must be an Ohio thing.

It's a close proximity thing. You have your own personal space and can stick to it outside of the line. You're forced to wait in very close proximity to other guests while in line, and not all guests appreciate being exposed to it. Add in that people who are loopy tend to be a little bit more unruly, you get into being run into, stepped on, drinks spilled on, fights breaking out, line jumping - and fights over that, etc that can happen. Therefore - no alcohol in lines at Kings Island...period. Halloween Haunt or not, rules are rules - and no none of them change.

My favorite response was- "sorry folks, parks closed. The moose out front shuda told ya." :-D

Im goin July 4th and will be hitting The Beast after the fireworks. Is the Reds grill near there? Also, Im assuming that the fireworks for the 4th is a longer show than usual..?

Does KI at least loosen up at hallloween? At HHN we have vampire nurses in fishnet stockings walking around selling shooters, as well as red jello vodka shots in IV bags. Lol

Speaking of drinks...whats with the no beer while in line rule? With the way you guys describe the lines these days,sounds like thats the perfect place to have one. At BG here,you buy a beer at any number of stands,and take it wherever you want.

Thanks Jr that sounds great

Hmmm ok was kinda lookin for a place to sit with family.

Havent been in a while. Dont even know where they shoot them now.

The Old Man- "what the hell is a smurf?"

Id like to see what this would go for on Pawn Stars.

Or how about they make the water in the fountains a pretty toilet water blue...like at the mini golf places.

Well said Zombie. Watching this thread for the past 6 pages gives the impression that alot of people here havnt been outside of Ohio. Why is CF doing this? Because they're watching the other parks make money off of it. Relax..everyones going to get to ride. As far as Kings Island not being a vacation destination as stated earlier, my family will be visiting from FL in July. Guess we're the only tourists.

Listen.. Pertaining to the Bengal comparison... Nobody is taking your seat from you. You pay your general admission,go stand in line. You will ride,just might take longer. Youll get a seat at the game..just might be farther away.

That's not what Fast Lane is. Fast Lane is the equivalent of you buying a seat for a Bengals game, showing up for the game, and having an usher remove you from the seat, giving that seat to someone else, and telling you, "That guy slipped my a $50 for your seat, try again next week." But at KI it's a revolving seat. It comes around again. When I see Fastlane wristbands, I see pavers, I see ride improvements, new restaurants, cleaner walkways. Look at how much the park has improved, and some of that money is coming from Fastlane. For me, waiting in line is the same as it always was, except sometimes I get moved up the line to fill two seats in a car.

I remember the Raging Wolf Bobs. Really miss that thing. I dream about building an amusement park that collects old coasters and refurbs them. "Cmon down this weekend and ride the Screechin Eagle! "

The fact that all of the poor people on here are able to go to KI in the first place makes me realize how reasonable KI's prices are. My last NFL experience was a hoot. All of these rich people out spent me and got to sit close to the field, as well as having their food and drink brought to them. Meanwhile, I had to stand in a mile long line for a $8 brew. They also paid more for parking,while us poor people had to walk a mile, up hill, both ways, to our car. But ya know what? Thats life babe, and I hated it so much that come next September,Im gonna do it again...even though the Bucs suck and are qb should be shown the door. Hey,did I ever tell you about the time at the airport where I had to wait for the first class people to be seated first?

Here at my home park, Busch Gardens Tampa, we have something similar called "Quick Queue". There are two tiers. The lower tier, which cost half as much as the upper, allows you to skip the line ONCE at the major attractions. They give you a punchcard pass with a lanyard, which gets punched everytime you use it. You can use it for every ride, or to ride one over and over until your card is all punched out. Which is great because lets say one coaster is slammed,while the other has just a short wait. You get the idea. The upper tier is unlimited and cost twice as much. It was trial and error when BG started this a few years ago. People got ****ed when the operator would tell them to hold up while a QQ was sitted and they had to wait for the next train. So BG actually ROPED OFF a car just for QQ. They stayed roped off till a QQ came along...while everyone in the meantime watched this empty car make the line even longer. Now, a QQ gets to skip the major line, then "blends in" when they reach the front. Which kinda sucks, because the old way you went up the exit queue away from everyone else. Now it feels that you really are cutting in front of people...but usually its so busy, and everyone else is happy that they're at the front as well,so I really havent had a problem. I grew up near KI. I remember when The Beast served refreshments at the snack bar in line...sodas,nachos,pretzels etc. Problem was,as you're standing there waiting for your grub, the line was moving. Try to run and get your spot back..good luck. Even trying to just get back in line there at the snack bar sucked... you werent in front of that person before, but you bought an ICEE, so now you are...lol. Since I live here, I know when to go and when not to. The only time I get the unlimited upgrade is maybe for a bday present for my son, and we go marathon everything. Even with the QQ, the lines here run pretty quick. However, most of our coasters sit four wide. So thats something to consider. I can see where a pass would have a bigger effect on a park like KI with just 2 wide coasters. I dont blame tourists who get the QQ. Its the best way to experience our park in a day. BG has a great deal for locals. You pay the regular admission,which now is $90. Then you get to come back for the rest of the calendar year. Considering BG is open 365, pretty good deal. Point being,BG takes care of the locals, so I dont mind if the family from Toledo wants to shell out extra so they get to experience in a day what I get to do all year. The idea of fast pass does make me feel cheated in a way. Cheated in the sense that its been a long time coming. I wonder how many more times I couldve rode the King Cobra, or The Racers backwards, or The Beast just one more time on the 4th of July. I have great memories of KI, and all the fun I had on my favorite rides,some of the rides of which will forever be memories. I also remember waiting 2 hours in lines in the sweltering heat on a Saturday afternoon. Its nice to know I can go back and relive those memories,with the option of not reliving the long queues. I'm coming up there this summer with my son, and guess what? It's his birthday!