Stoan

Two outdoor patios, no seating indoor

As expected, they are VERY crowded today. Main park parking is nearly overflowing into normal Soak City parking. Lines to get through parking, lines to get through security. I didn't see any ride times, but even kiddie land has lines. Soak City had some slides closed for maintenance, the two tubes rides in the back. The little kid splash area is closed as well, the one with the canoe looking boat. I didn't see any open seats at the wave pools.

They are offering any meal as part of the meal plan. Each comes with either fries (fries yesterday, wedges today, the upgraded ones from Reds Hall of Fame), baked beans, or mac and cheese. Picked up the chicken with wedges, and pulled pork with spicy sauce and mac and cheese. Chicken is almost identical to Chicken Shack if not exactly, maybe a bit more peppery and spiced (not spicy, just more spices). Very good, nice and fresh, skin still falls off a bit too easy, and it is sometimes a bit cartilage-y. Wedges are plentiful, sight crispy wedges, big thick chunks. They were doing regular, not crinkle, fries yesterday so I'm not sure which will be the norm. Pulled Pork was good, but unremarkable. Not enough crust, was sitting out a while so it started drying out. You can taste a hint of smoke in it but not much, if they cover the pot I'm sure it would benefit the flavor greatly. Two sauce options mild or spicy. Spicy had a sight kick (I like very spicy food so it might be more than sightly) pretty sure it's still just Heinz sauce. Mac and cheese reminds me of Marie Calendars or Bob Evans from the store, loaded with cheese and sightly overcooked macaroni, good pick for kids. Massive amounts of food on both sides, very pleased with everything I've had there so far, only thing left are smoked wings which i hope to get before the special falls off. Not a fan of baked beans so look too someone else for a review on those. Pictures don't show it well, but each basket is probably nearly a pound of food each.

Popped into Island Smokehouse today. The place is designed to handle major crowds. Had the shrimp, 6 pieces and fries. Shrimp is cornbreading breaded, surprisingly well cooked, not rubbery and not undercooked. It was very sweet, not overly so, but sweeter than expected. Good meal really as long as you want to finish the meal a bit hungry. I'll try the chicken tomorrow, but it is different than what it used to be. Looks more like chicken shack breading.

On the first hill sure, but average speed is much slower, but still feels much faster than actual faster rides

I finally got around to riding Mystic Timers today, while I accept and kind of predicted multiple endings after I went through it once, I am still confused to the story behind the theme. So the lumber mill is active, as you approach the loading area the audio says something about "get out of here, its just starting, we still have time". Which to me kind of makes it seem like something literally just took over, and now its under quarantine. There are plants everywhere, which makes me think it is plant related. Plants don't grow that fast to overtake an actively used building, but here they all almost taking over in places. You go up the hill, the audio says "hey don't go in there, turn around, head home, don't go into the shed". So obviously whatever took over is living in the shed. We race around the lumber yard, trying to outrun something I guess, but still end up at the shed. So the 'thing' has mind control? It subconsciously tricked us to driving our truck back to the shed. We get to the shed, the audio again says "whatever you do, don't go inside", but F-the-police, we go inside anyways. Then boom, something is outside, watching us. The lights start to flicker, and you get... bats. The bats come storming the barn to come get us, because, reasons, and we just leave... because, reasons. The tree ending makes a ton more sense to me overall, not fully, but more. An Ent just come stomping up because your killing his friends, and just starts ripping the place up. We stumble on the place Scooby Doo style because our van broke down due to negligence and forgetfulness from all the pot or something. A security guy for the quarantine tells us to skiddoodle, which we try to do only the tree is pulling up roots left and right we are swerving, and tricky tree just leads us back to the shed. What it can do with electricity and making the lights dim I have no idea. But this plot fits. Bats? Are they vampires? How do they make me end up at the shed? Why are they there? It just falls apart there for me. Storywise bats kind of ruin it. Aside from my over thinking the story of the ride, the ride itself is very good. Its only 30-40 per hour, but it feels faster than Diamondback. It starts and doesn't really stop, there no brake track to "reset the pacing", you go and don't stop. Which really makes the ride work. I really enjoyed it over all, looking forward to a nighttime ride, soon as I can find someone to keep my kids overnight.

Got around to Panda Express finally. White rice was surprisingly well cooked, orange chicken continues to be way too sweet, Beijing Beef even cold when i ate it was very good. Pretty sure when i go back I'm going to double down on that, though maybe with the noodles instead. Was a good choice overall, good amount of food.

From another thread with a similar theme https://KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/32850-coaster-restraints-rider-fit/ On a side note, I am guessing that OSTR is the restraint, but I am reading it as "Over-The-Shoulder-Restraint", shouldn't it be OTSR, not OSTR?

Chick-Fil-A ordering lay out is a massive improvement. They still do the "scream your name" thing though. Next best improvement will be adding a pick-up window like Skyline in Coney Mall. But at least for now it is much more organized. Also a plate of some sort would be helpful, but that is just because nobody else in my family wants hot sauce on everything (weirdos).

No, they stopped carrying turkey legs. The stand was taken down if I remember correctly. We do also have another thread about food, which is slightly more up to date, though generally more focused on the Meal Plan meals it does include talk about food in general at the park. I am attempting to eat at every meal plan location in the park, so you can see some basic thoughts on the food at each place whether it be on the Meal Plan or not.

I think arguments for and against speculation on the rework of The Bat are both clever attempts at trying to distract from the facts. Illuminati is real, Putin is buying Kings Island and transforming it into USSR Coaster World, CLEARLY the tree is being removed to make room for a Bat, Banshee, Face/Off merger super coaster. Then they are going to rename it Top Gun and the lower deck is going to have some odd flight control aircraft carrier motif with bad smelling fake fog.

Its a dead ash tree... BECAUSE THEY KILLED IT FOR A PROPOSED RE-ROUTING OF The Bat TRACK! Pre-hype Bat 3.0, super inverted mega coaster! Banshee was just the beginning! VR Batman, BatCave Marvel partnership!

Probably why I never see them. I almost never leave Planet Snoopy any more, so I don't see the other-side of the Planet Snoopy restroom.

Now that I have kids and all, for the love of Woodies, make more family restrooms. There is one that I know of which is at the entrance. I'd also like to see family restrooms include a child sized toilet. My daughter is just now learning how to use the potty, and she get scared of the giant toilet and it's super loud flushing, so she doesn't want to go, and tries to hold it and usually fails. In grand scheme terms, I love to see them cover the parking lot in solar panels. Maybe not the whole lot cause it is massive, but some of the lesser used areas could be put to good use. Hell even a wind turbine would be good. The lot being as big as it is lessens the risk of turbulent air and a turbine would work pretty well in the grassy area near the south end. In theme-ing terms, I'd like to see them make the old western town and Old Coney Fort more of a visually appealing part of the ride. I knows it's just a facade for storage, but come on, you can do better than some 1950s B-Movie prop work. I really like the amount of theme-ing they did for Mystic Timbers, not every ride needs that much, but something would be nice, think Banshee level of theme. There isn't a single snake related item in line for Diamondback. Racer could actually race each other when the ridership gets high enough. Put some walls up under the deck for The Bat and hang some dollar store bats from the ceiling to make it look like a cave.

They should tell employees to encourage all the speculation on new stuff, just to confuse people and generally keep hype levels increased.

Got the Gluten Free Pizza at Festhaus today, pleasantly surprised! I mean the crust is horrible, unless you really like crumbly bread. But the fact it is cooked fresh helps a lot. Good cheese, only a few pepperonis, and is actually a little less sweet than LaRosa's. I might get it again, once I decide I hate good crust again. Tried out Red's Hall of Fame too. I like the new system, the wing sauces are still pretty dang good, and the chips are still satisfying. The Chicken however was the driest I have had outside the desert. Forgot the breading in RHOF for the tenders was a bit different too.

Oh yeah, the chips are worlds better than the fry upgrade. You get more, they are unique to the place and they go really well with the hot wing sauce for dipping. Don't upgrade.

A nice thing to note. If you lost last year's pass, but renewed it for 2017, they will give you one free since you could have opted for a new one for free anyways. Lost one once, called Customer Support, they just said to swing by processing for a new one, they will mark it in the system.

Last time I had a grilled chicken sammich it almost appeared microwaved, no grill lines, no carmelization on the exterior, just uniformly hot. It was kind of an odd sensation, just a magically heated chicken breast patty with no indication of how it was cooked. At least it tasted like chicken, so I can't complain there.

Let's not make it seem like meal plan sharing is the only reason the cut portion sizes. Based on the other changes they are looking to increase profits on food across the board. The fry situation alone shows that. To be fair, i only went to two plans this year because my daughter is old enough to eat actual food. I can split two ways, not three.

Anyone else get the Red Powerade from in front of Adventure Express? Last year it seemed to always taste like dirt.

Its sekritly built in. It isn't clear at all, BUT when you are asked if you want to add a drink, just scan your cup (possibly pass for disposable) Also I do like how they eliminated 1-2 employees from the ordering process, but kept the same amount in the back, so it still takes 10 minutes to actually get your food.

Well, chicken tenders at the Festhaus are exactly the same as they were last year. Unfortunately they also moved to fries instead of mini wedges. It also turns out "Fresh Grilled Burger" was a bit of a fantasy in my experience. They still pull it out of a steamer pan, so they are luke warm at best. A choice of toppings make it a bit better, but still not hot enough to even put a glimmer of a thought of melt on the cheese, they also use this wildly offputting maple syrup bacon on the burger, so the whole experience is just a sad cold oddly sweet tasting bite. Then they finish with generic fries which at least were crispy even if unsalted, yay!

While we are on the topic, does anyone else really like Banshee's restraint system? Granted I am a dude, so I don't have certain things that may be bothered by it, but it seems like a sturdy, comfy, not-overly-snug fit. Backlot, Mystic, Beast, Racer are all lapbars. Beast is a snug fit for my knees (and other things), all the others are fine.

Not that it may apply, but it might. If you have little kids, not everyone can fit on the Kite Eating Tree. My daughter HAS to have an adult with her, but I am too big at 6'2" 220. My torso is too big for the should restraint to click on the first lock so the ride won't operate.