Magenta Lizard

Missing the park in the off-season is not a new thing. From the 1978 employee yearbook, Kings Jester: For me, these boards are what are helping me make it through the off-season.

When I was about 13-14 years old and new to wearing contacts, I had to pay for them with my own money and they cost about $70 each eye. That was long before disposables, so if anything happened to one, I had to pay that much to replace it. I knew there was a big splash on the observation deck of (then) Amazon Falls, so I closed my eyes as the water shot toward me and my friends. Unfortunately, one eye must have been slightly cracked open, and the wave was almost as intense as a firehose shooting in my face. I thought my contact was washed away, and was not happy with the idea of spending the rest of the day at the park only able to see properly out of one eye. Fortunately after a minute or so, it became apparent that my contact had just gotten folded and shoved up above my eye behind my eyelid, and I was able to take it out and replace it. That splash is no joke.

It definitely reeks. I'm still waiting to see what the actual ploy will be, but if it's not /some/ sort of scam I will be floored.

Oh, I'll share now. 1978 and 1987. I'm really looking forward to seeing them. '78 is called the Kings Jester, and '87 has The Vortex logo on the front cover an is called A View from the Tower.

No, the small one is still there. It's called "Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown" now. There's still a nice little trip through the woods, and I got surprisingly wet when I rode it last summer.

...I'm searching eBay daily for KI souveniers. I just bought a pair of Kings Island yearbooks. I have no idea exactly what they are yet, but the single picture looks like they're like high school yearbooks, only presumably for the park employees. Do they still do these every year? Anyone who worked there before have any info? I guess I'll find out more soon enough when they get here

Seven "new" rides.

1. I don't remember what I picked because it really doesn't matter to me. I like most coasters I've ever ridden, and have found appreciation for some I initially didn't like. So, they're all great options with me. 2. Yes (if I had restroom privileges) but it would have to be for a good reason. Every time I go up there I am pretty much ready to come back down a minute later. I like the view from Drop Tower better, not so much pressure to enjoy it. 3. 1972-1979 I presume. I was born in 1976, so I don't remember but chances are very high my family took me at least once in those four summers. Wouldn't put it past them taking me in '76 after I was born in July. I don't have any memories predating '81 tho. 4. I picked Phantom Theater. However, I do like what they did to the outside of the building when they changed from it.

I hear it's delicious! Don't believe me? Ask the dishes.

They already have charging lockers. They probably will add more.

I think that parenthetical was meant to be "(not just resort guests)"

I wonder if they'll snail-mail us invitations. That would be pretty cool

Oh my goodness, how did I miss the vulture? I had a distinct memory of it (and only it) and thought about asking on the forums, but couldn't remember if it was even from Kings Island.

I've been thinking more about this. Other than setting up an enimical relationship with their customers by changing the rules after purchase, the major effect of the time windows as they were given would be to increase food traffic at a time when it already is heavy. What could be the purpose of this from a business point of view? One possibility is the hope that people with the plan will see long lines and say "screw it, I'm not going to take advantage of my plan at all." However, I don't think it is likely this would really work to any great degree, though. People who feel they have already paid for their meals are actually /less/ likely to balk at a long line. It has been suggested before that one of the reasons season passes are set at such a reasonable price (cheap, even) is to increase traffic in the park, allowing KI to sell more Fast Lane and Fast Lane Plus. Considering a ticket, parking, and FL+ can cost nearly the same for a single trip as I paid for my Gold Pass renewal (minus meal plan), this is a very lucrative trade-off for the park. So, it seems entirely possible to me that restricting meal plan usage to peak hours may have been a precursor to a "skip the line" at dining to be either added as a feature for FL, or in addition to it. And, if as I presume, they change the rules to the restricted hours for 2016 plans, I expect to see something like Fast Lane for food to come in 2016 as well.

I'm worried they'll just wait till the fall and implement it for 2016. At least I will know about it BEFORE buying if they do. That's only right.

Woo-hoo! They've changed everything on the website back to "four hour wait", so it sounds like what shark was told was true! I'm so happy I don't have to mess around trying to get a refund!

True. But, so far, no mention of four hours has creeped back into any of the descriptions. So even the ones they've removed the actual hours from are much more similar to the new "lunch from blah to blah" and "dinner whenever we say depending on when the park is open" than the old "two meals seperated by four hours". Which is why I think it may be just a way to minimize complaints until later and/or sell more plans until season start by keeping people unaware of exactly how they are planning to implement the plans this season.

Just wanted to mention they've renewed the EnterTRAINment Junction offer, now through 3/1.

Well the good news is someone is working on changing what it says on the site. The bad news is that, while it doesn't list specific hours anymore, it does say "one lunch and one dinner" on the season pass "more info" pop-up (or simply "lunch and dinner" on the meal plan page pop-up). And the big pop-up at the top of the meal plan page still lists the limited times. As does the FAQ. However, earlier today they /all/ listed the limited hours, so fingers crossed they will all eventually change back. Although changing to "lunch and dinner" isn't exactly going back to the 4 hours we were told when we bought or shark was told over the phone. They may just be mitigating complaints until the beginning of the season, when they enforce the limited hours.

I've been sort of stewing all day about this, and it finally clicked what bothers me so much about it. Years ago (ok, honestly, a couple decades, I'm getting old), when I first had a Season Pass, I felt it gave me sort of a VIP status. Like they appreciated that I sank a large chunk of my entertainment budget into their park that they could count on before the season even started. With things like the passholder's special entrance (to bypass the regular line), they reinforced this feeling. Last year was the first time I've used a pass again in around 15 years. Many of the rules, shortened ERT, and the difficulties I had in obtaining even the small discounts given with the pass left me feeling less like a valued customer and more like someone who was begrudgingly allowed to "get away" with things. Like they feel passholders are people who are already getting more than they deserve for their money, so they have to watch closely to make sure we don't take advantage of them. When all we are doing is using the benefits we thought we signed up for. This rules change on the dining plan reeks of that, viewing passholders as attempted moochers rather than VIPs. Oh, they thought they could just get meals whenever someone paying full price could? We can't have that, better make them wait in long lines to really /earn/ that meal they've already paid for! Think they could choose to have two meals later in the day separated by four hours rather than being at the park when WE say? Got to put a stop to that!

Mine still has its featured place behind my drivers license in the "window" pocket of my wallet. When I'm actually at the park, it often ends up in front of the license for quicker removal.

If true, excellent. However, I'll reserve judgment until the season actually begins.

It is what they TELL you it is, and you'll be happy to get it! Seriously though, I think it was 5% on food, 10% on merchandise. Edit: trying to find out definitively at the site, I found the FAQ still has significant data from 2012, including FUN Perks.

It seems to me that the "popular offers" section would be better named "everything else" because it basically contains the things that aren't covered by their nation-wide discount ticketing group sites, or lodging. What is shown under "popular offers" really are all of the offers available right now, that aren't the chain or lodging ones. There aren't any hiding elsewhere. All the truly local offers have always been listed in that section.

At first I wasn't too bothered by this but the points made in this thread made me realize the many ways this will probably negatively affect my utilization of the meal plan. I'm not going to try to get a refund, but it does make me much more likely to go back to eating out of a cooler again in 2016. Especially if I encounter other problems with using it even under the new rules. Considering the lack of training and coordination there has been shown previously, I assume that there will be more. Last summer I had problems nearly every time I tried to buy something using my season pass discount. The employees knew to ask if I had one, but their training stopped there. They didn't know what things it didn't apply to (which was pretty much anything I was buying it seemed: although from experience I determined if something was on sale or otherwise discounted like the "buy 2 get one free" on fudge, the season pass discount didn't apply) until tap tap tapping at the cash register for a long time. It got to the point where I would tell /them/ before they started that it probably wasn't going to work. I guess I should have just said "no, I don't have a pass" to speed it along.