Stoan

Last time I was in the Subway in Soak City, that location (unlike the Coney Mall location) had microwaves and toasting ovens for hot sandwiches, plus a couple of extra sub choices (things that are normally served hot, like chicken). So it might be worth checking out when Soak City opens for the season. That said, if you want to take a sandwich home, you're wasting money by getting it at the park. There are many, many Subway stores near Kings Island, where you can get a much, much larger selection for far, far lower prices. (I'm constantly amazed at the number of families that clog up International Street LaRosa's at the end of the night to buy whole $25 pizzas to take home, when they could stop at a LaRosa's outside the park and get a much better quality version of the same thing for around half the price.) I will have to check out Soak City Subway then, I much prefer toasted (extra toasted) sammiches to cold. Also with I agree with the "why buy in the park" assessment. I personally have the Dining Plan, so I just walk around the park to get my sweet Fitbit steps, a free drink and something to munch on.

So I got the All-Season Meal Plan last year, and made the decision to try to eat every single combo the meal plan had to offer just to see what was a good deal on the Meal Deal. I didn't get around to accomplishing that feat (my wife is a picky eater), so this year with another Meal Deal, I am going to attempt it again. My goal for the post is to essentially track, and discuss what meals are offered with the Meal Deal, how good of a deal they are, and what is the best Meal Deal in the park. Most of my information I am just going to try to remember from last year, and there have been some changes to what the meals are this year so I will be overwriting them as I get around to eating them this year. Feel free to chime in with thoughts and suggestions to what you feel the best deal is. Previous Year's Reviews (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uCiMBKutuBjKg-23n65zuFF_rXUI85TNmxKyV-z5STE/edit?usp=sharing) *UPDATED FOR 2018! Changes have been noted in each area, with the exception that Coney Potato Works simply doesn't exist anymore Reviews will be updated as they get eaten. That way you can make best guesses on what it was like last year. This year I'll try to add pictures of each meal. Current Favorite Meal: ---------------------------------------------------- Chicken Shack (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/kings-island-chicken-shack/) Action Zone Hand Breaded Chicken Tenders with Fries Normally comes with a chunk of Texas Toast as well, though it isn't listed Crispy Chicken Salad with Texas Toast ---------------------------------------------------- Chick-Fil-A (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/kings-island-chick-fil-a/) Planet Snoopy Chick-fil-a Sandwich with Waffle Fries Chick-fil-a Nuggets with Waffle Fries 5-6 nuggets, and a bunch of waffle fries. It is Chick-Fil-A so like all other outsourced locations, they are pretty much exactly the same as outside the park. The breading is a little sweet, the fries are good and crisp. Nuggets are fairly small, so they are good for children who may not eat an entire chicken tender, and the breading is a bit less crunchy for tiny teeth. *This location has Texas Pete hot sauce ---------------------------------------------------- Coconut Cove Cafe (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/coconut-cove-cafe/) Soak City 2 Slices of Cheese or Pepperoni Pizza & Breadsticks Entree Salad with Breadsticks Fresh Grilled Burger with Fries Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Fries *Chicken Tenders meal has been removed (2017) ---------------------------------------------------- Coney Bar B Que Coney Mall Rotisserie Chicken with one Side Tri-Tip with one Side (picture - Tri-Tip with One Side [chuck norris]) Pulled Pork with one Side HEAPING amount of pulled pork. Skip the bun for low carb/gluten free, grab a fork and enjoy. Light smoke flavor, very juicy, some pieces will have a nice crust, good amount of fat mixed in. All and all, a fantastic meal. Smoked Sausage with One Side ---------------------------------------------------- Festhaus (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/kings-island-festhaus/) Oktoberfest 2 Slices of Cheese or Pepperoni Pizza & Breadsticks LaRosa's again. Chicken Tenders with Fries 2-3 Crispy breaded tenders. Pretty much the same as the other locations in the park. Crinkle cut fries, and chicken its pretty basic. Fresh Grilled Burger with Fries Not fresh, I'd argue probably not even grilled maybe griddled. Cold burger with a choice of toppings; tomato, lettuce, cheese, bacon. Bacon was maple syrup bacon which adds an odd sweetness to the burger. If the cheese wilts in the slightest you got a good burger, I've never had one that came close to melting. Gluten Free Pizza Surprisingly good. You have to order it at the counter, then pick up later. Cooks in its own tray in an oven not touching anything else (not the roller ovens for normal pizzas). The dough I can only imagine is standard gluten free dough, crumbly, dry fairly flavorless. The cheese and pepperoni is tasty, but not crispy. The sauce is a little more bold than LaRosa's sweet sauce. Overall it was a very good pizza, and if you have about 10 minutes I recommend trying it at least once. By far the best Gluten Free meal I have had in the park. *Entree Salad has been removed this year (2018) ---------------------------------------------------- Hank’s Mexican Grill (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/kings-island-hanks-burrito-shack/) Oktoberfest Burrito Think Chipotle, but less good. A lot of bland food. They will customize pretty much however you want, but it doesn't quite have the same flavor as any burrito place outside the park. It's like they toned everything down as to not be too much for anyone, and instead just made it too little for just about anyone. If you are in the search for a whole bunch of food for the purpose of filling your gut and you don't care if it actually tastes good, this is the place for you. Granted it does not taste bad, it just needs a lot of help. Choices of pollo (chicken) , carnitas (pork), and barbacoa (probably pork again). Cheese, Sour Cream, Rice, Salsa, Vegetables, and maybe something else Customize everything you want, ask for all three meats and they'll do it. More cheese than a cow can produce in a day and they'll do it. Burrito Bowl Same as above, minus the burrito tortilla. ---------------------------------------------------- Island Smokehouse Soak City Hand Breaded Chicken Tenders with One Side 3 Tenders, some kind of fries (they alternate I think?). The tenders are very similar to Chicken Shack, breading looks to be hand dipped, it is a bit peppery, not super crispy, it also falls off the chicken really easily. It was very moist, with the volume of people it was also very fresh. Fries when I first went were regular straight fries, when I went second it was curly wedges similar to Red's Hall of Fame upgrade wedges. Overall its a lot of food, good value, good flavor. Fresh Shrimp with One Side 6 breaded shrimp, some kind of fries. The shrimp was very well cooked, not rubbery still tender and not under-cooked, the size of the shrimp varied in size greatly as well, so you may get more, you may get less. The breading with the already sweet shrimp makes it a bit more sweet than expected. Fries when I first went were regular straight fries, when I went second it was curly wedges similar to Red's Hall of Fame upgrade wedges. Nothing akin to cocktail sauce for the shrimp though. Overall its a medium amount of food, I was still hungry at the end, very good flavor though, decent value. Pulled Pork with One Side Maybe 1/3 pound of pulled pork, slightly less fries than other meals, and a side of coleslaw. The pulled pork sits in a big pot on the hot table with no lid, so depending on the foot traffic it might be very dried out. The flavor is nice, although not as smokey as I would have expected for their advertised "12 hour smoked". The sauce is as best I can tell generic, though you have two options; spicy or mild. The spicy sauce actually has a bit of a kick to it, the mild probably not. Fries when I first went were regular straight fries, when I went second it was curly wedges similar to Red's Hall of Fame upgrade wedges. Nothing akin to cocktail sauce for the shrimp though. Overall its a medium amount of food, I was still hungry at the end, very good flavor though, decent value. Smoked Wings with One Side TBD *Pulled Pork and Smoked Wings were occasionally on the Meal Plan last year, has been made official this year (2018) *All meals were "with fries" last year, this year they are all generic "One Side" ---------------------------------------------------- JukeBox Diner (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/kings-island-juke-box-diner/) Coney Mall Chicken Tenders with Fries Fresh Grilled Burger with Fries Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Fries Hot Dog and Fries ---------------------------------------------------- LaRosa's Pizza (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/international-street-pizza/) International Street, Rivertown 2 Slices of Cheese or Pepperoni Pizza & Breadsticks Its Larosa's Pizza. Sweet tomato sauce, nicely melted cheese, slightly crispy pepperonis. Breadsticks are no longer cheesey breadsticks, just buttered, which is a bit disappointing, but the pizza is the entree. Good meal, good deal, hard to go wrong. Entree Salad with Breadsticks ---------------------------------------------------- Panda Express (cpfoodblog.com/kings-island-food/kings-island-festhaus/) Oktoberfest (Inside Festhaus) One Entree Plate with Side Fried Rice, White Rice or Noodles, with two choices of protein. I chose Orange Chicken and Bejing Beef with White Rice on my trip. The White Rice is well cooked, not soggy not crunchy slightly sticky. The Orange Chicken is deep fried chicken chunks coated in what I can only assume is orange syrup, super sweet almost unbearably. The Bejing Beef is deep fried beef strips with peppers and onions. Surprisingly good, beef even not super fresh is pretty tender, the sauce isn't very sweet but has a bold flavor to it with a slight heat. Its going to be hard for me to try the other options while this stuff is around. *Was two entrees, has been changed to one entree (2018) ---------------------------------------------------- Planet Snoopy Grill (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/kings-island-planet-snoopy-grill/) Planet Snoopy Chicken Tenders with Fries Its basic chicken tenders and fries. At least the time I went it only looked like they were staging 2-3 baskets at a time, instead of 20 of them. So it was surprisingly fresh. Good meal, probably one of the best tasting overall. Good amount of food comparatively. Fresh Grilled Burger with Fries Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Fries I have never had luck with Grilled Chicken at the park. They always taste like microwaved hunks of meat. They are chewy, not exactly hot, no grill marks. My guess is that "grilled" sounded better than "poached", but it is more the latter than the former. Corndog with Fries ---------------------------------------------------- Rivertown Potato Works (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/rivertown-potato-works/) Rivertown Boneless Chicken wings with Fresh Cut Fries 5-6 little nuggets, large helping of Potato Works Fries. Re-Branded Chicken Chunks from last year. No wing sauce available, no change to the breading, its the same meal but smaller and with a new name. I got 5 measly chicken bits on my meal, but a crap ton of fries. Not a bad deal over all I suppose, but as a diabetic, I would prefer more protein and less carbs. ---------------------------------------------------- Reds Hall of Fame Grille (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/kings-island-reds-hall-of-fame-grille/) Rivertown Hand-breaded Chicken Tenders with Saratoga Chips Slightly different breading than other places in the park. Less surface area, little less crunchy, but more crispy. Its hard to describe, its just different. A massive amount of chips come along with it. Standard orders come with BBQ or Honey Mustard, both are the general Heinz stuff you find everywhere else in the park. Homer Burger with Saratoga Chips @VortexJD - Sandwich was pretty good (although no tomatoes.. thought the menu said tomatoes were included. I could be wrong). Bun was really hearty, I liked it. Chips were thick and either overdone or underdone. Very few were done just right. Buffalo Chicken Salad Chicken Caesar Salad *NEW* All American Dog with Saratoga Chips *NEW* Red Legs Burger with Saratoga Chips *NEW* BBQ Bacon Cheese Burger with Onion Straws. My onion straws were more onion rings by size, and none of them were crunchy like you would expect from onion straws or rings for that matter. The bacon looks microwaved and disappointing, but it does have a bacon flavor. The beef burger and cheese however were delicious, the beef was hot and and juicy and the cheese actually melted which is rare. The BBQ sauce is Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce, so a bit tangier than the BBQ sauce from Coney Mall. Overall the burger was good, but if you are looking for a handmade burger, this is not the place. I am relatively certain every part of this thing was pre-packaged and artificially flavored, which worked well for the hamburger meat because it is what it is, the bacon and onion straws are there for flavor and crunch and they added to only one. Curve Ball Chicken Sandwich with Saratoga Chips *NEW* Pulled Pork Sandwich with Saratoga Chips *NEW* ---------------------------------------------------- Skyline Chili (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/kings-island-skyline-chili/) International Street, Coney Mall Two Cheese Coneys with Fries Its 2 cheese coneys and fries, just like if you got them at Skyline. Hot dog, bun, chili and cheese. 3-Way with Fries 3-way and crinkle cut fries. Its Skyline chili, with Skyline spaghetti, and Skyline cheese. Overall it's a good amount of food and quite filling and tasty. Don't hesitate to ask for more cheese, they are usually happy to oblige. *Coney Mall no longer has "order takers", it is an automated ordering register. Scan your card, pick you food. *Sekrit Menu? International Street if you are adverse to hotdogs, ask for a chili cheese sammich. Some of the workers knows what this means, some don't. You swap the hotdog for a wad of cheese. Giving you a bun, cheese, chili, and more cheese on top. ---------------------------------------------------- Skyline Express Soak City Two Cheese Coneys with Bag of Chips Its 2 cheese coneys and fries, just like if you got them at Skyline. Hot dog, bun, chili and cheese. *Sekrit Menu? International Street if you are adverse to hotdogs, ask for a chili cheese sammich. Some of the workers knows what this means, some don't. You swap the hotdog for a wad of cheese. Giving you a bun, cheese, chili, and more cheese on top. ---------------------------------------------------- Subway (http://cpfoodblog.com/park-food-guides/kings-island-food/kings-island-subway/) Soak City, Coney Mall 6 Inch Sub and a Bag of Chips It is Subway. I haven't eaten it, but I would imagine it tastes exactly how it does out of the park. Filling and uninteresting. Soak City location appears to have a toaster oven for hot subs. I haven't seen the same at Coney Mall. ---------------------------------------------------- Tom + Chee Rivertown Classic Grilled Cheese with Bag of Chips Good meal. Compared to the BBQ Bacon option, there is more cheese. Its just a plain ole' grilled cheese, Texas Toast and 4 slices of cheese. Perfect for a picky kid or something to munch while you walk around the part. BBQ Bacon Grilled Cheese with Bag of Chips Good meal, maybe a little small. Two slices of bread, two slices of American Cheese, a wad of crumbled bacon, a squirt of sweet BBQ sauce, and a bit of crushed BBQ chips. Then a side of chips to boot! Overall it was good, the chips were silly stale since they were just in an open container that was sitting there since they opened. Fresh chips or even no chips would have been it better. But tasty anyways. ----------------------------------------------------

I got the Android Softpass last year, and used it once just for funsies. It works, i like it just because it tells you how many time you go each year (47 for me)

Pretty funny how many people drove in the drive clearly marked with a "no right turn" sign

Pretzels and chocolate dipped cookies and pretzels.

Turns out the drink voucher actually was on my Gold Pass. I bought it online last September as part of the season pass as a whole, I guess in that case it gets loaded onto the pass as a single use voucher. Although... Meal Plan didn't appear on my pass until 6:45. I added my pass to the app and kept checking which is how I knew. Not sure why food places didn't open until nearly 630. Most of the dollar day deals were super understaffed. Almost every meal plan location were very crowded as well. There is almost nobody at the park, and some how they managed to schedule just enough people today to make the entire park seem like it was half full, instead of maybe 1/10th

@jcgoble3 I didn't get a voucher, they took my paper when I got my pass picture taken and handed me a card

My meal plan isn't on my pass. My drink plan isn't on my pass. Credit cards are accepted at a bunch of locations. Snoopy ice cream has two people working, one machine and it is broken. There is just a bunch if of minor problems. Rides work though

So far it is not going well

Split up when you walk in. I tested it a few times last year with my wife; out of about a dozen occasions with the two of us together we get stopped every time, unless we run past a group getting their picture taken already. If she walks off to the bathroom (she is pregnant) and I walk past the photographers while I wait for her, I only got stopped once by myself out of about a half dozen times.

I actually tracked how often I went to the park in the 2015 season with the meal plan, so I could count up my total cost per meal by the end of the year to see if it was worth the money. Granted I live very close to the park, less than a 5 minute drive without traffic, so at least once a week, I would pop over for dinner and leave. If I remember correctly, when I ordered the meal pass it was something like 87 bucks. From that 87 dollars I got 49 meals out of it, so I essentially paid $1.75 per meal. Even counting the cost of my pass into it (~$97 I think), I still ended up paying 3.75 a meal. Plus if I think of it as a 184 dollars of pre-paid food, all the rides really are free! I already signed up for next year's meal plan. Even if the food does suck, it is hard to beat that price scale.

I have this year (obviously) and the last for copies the guest experience lady could track down in the office

I always preferred Diamondback front seat at night with the lapbar a little loose. Towards the back end it is dark enough you can't see anything, coaster or train, and the hills with a loose bar give a nice bit of airtime where you actually come fully off the seat. One hell of a ride

As old as you got. I found that website earlier, I'd prefer physical copies since I can look back and see what ridiculous shows and stuff they had going on. But if all I can get is a printout of the map I will live (hopefully)

I like to collect brochures from places I visit, and I thought earlier this year it would be cool to have old maps of KI and look through them to see how it changes over the years, only I didn't think of this early enough in my life. I know some (most) of you guys on here are long time fans and visitors and I was hoping some people might have some old maps they would be willing to part with, or at the least upload a copy for me.

I can't even describe how disappointed I would be if KI went to Crapsi

Personally I would add a bit of paint to everything at KI. A lot of the park needs some TLC and that is about it. As for specific changes: Fix up and add to the little Western Town and Fort Coney on the Miami Valley Railroad. Actually turn off the lights in Flight of Fear, being able to see the track kind of kills a lot of the ride for me. I really enjoyed the original path of Tomb Raider. Add a few more small paths around the park to make getting around a bit easier. BRING BACK THE BACKWARD RACER! Boo Blasters is a shadow of how great Phantom Theater was. Instead of doing manual time tracking for each of the rides, I would really like to see more advanced digital system. Picture if you will, one of those number in line things they use at butcher shops. Only on the back of each ticket is a QR Code that is scanned when you pull your number. When you get up to the front of the line hand it to the person standing there and they can scan it in. This would allow them to get exact times that can be averaged out to show real-time waits. They would only need a few people every so often to do this and now that a lot of the bigger coasters have people at the start of the line checking heights, they could easily assign the task of handing out the tickets to that employee to hand out to avoid unneccessary waste. This also allows them to track the times in other areas of the park. How awesome would it be to walk into the park and see a big signboard that lists the current wait times for all the major attractions in the park. You can see what has a short line and go to that ride, promoting a more even spread of people in the park as well.

I'd really like to see Cedar Fair fix up some of those buildings on the train ride, Fort Coney is looking really ragged.