harmony29

I have a close friend that had platinum passes last year, she made the initial two payments and defaulted on the last two. Her passes were deactivated but she never recived collection calls. She purchased passes again this year and she did the payment plan no problem, same credit card even, the only difference being last year she bought them online at KI and this year online at Cedar Point. I dont agree with this but it does show you can get new passes, its not true that you cant.

I personally don't care for Firehawk as I feel like I am going to fall right out. I did ride it when it was at Geauga Lake and don't remember hating it as much as I did last year. Just got back yesterday and neither day did we ride it. Speaking of park policy, is there a policy for riding without a shirt on? We were in line yesterday for The Bat and this guy was right next to us with no shirt AND they let him board, I was shocked, my husband and I both thought it was wrong.

Since this will be my first year renewing the passes, do they have the payment plans available when they go on sale or is that something that's only offered later on? I hope they offer the season dining pass again, it really made things easier for us.

Love your report, just a quick question....I haven't been to Universal in a LONG time, way before Harry Potter was ever there. My dream is to make it to Halloween Horror Nights one year, but you gave me a great idea, take the bus. How was that ride and was it expensive? Air fare has gone up so much since I was a travel agent I have a hard time even looking at flights and I never thought about taking the bus, I'm assuming we could pick it up in Cincinnati or maybe even somewhere here in Kentucky and just was curious how it was.

LOL actually we are already looking back and laughing, we had a great time even with all the mishaps, one lesson learned if don't take a 13 year old that didn't go to sleep until 2am the night before with you, just is not a good situation!

Yeah unfortunately we could never afford those passes, just getting the platinum passes with the meal plan did us in, we just will try to go during the week from now on, I knew it would be busy just when you put all the factors together it got frustrating a little bit, but we still had an amazing time.

Wait, wait guys, I am NOT blaming the park at all, we did have a good time, just much longer waits than we are used to. And yes, this was our honeymoon, it's all we could afford to do right now so it was better than not doing anything at all. Yes, I may be spoiled, but with my hip it is hard to stand in lines for long periods of times, next time I will take pics of the wait time signs, I know they are not always accurate but we could see that the lines were very long. I mean come on, 45 minute wait in the Fast Lane for Diamondback? If I had paid for Fast Lane I would have been ****ed. I just did a trip report that you can read and you will see why it was not the perfect day for us, again no fault of the park. It's just frustrating to be that close to getting on rides, but I am the first one to say close them down for safety in bad weather, so it's no fault of KI, just my bad luck.

We originally were going to spend two and a half days at KI and then head up to Cedar Point, but due to the rental car being so expensive and a check we were waiting for never came in, we opted to just head to KI for the day. This was my first time visiting on a Saturday, something I will never do again unless it's during Halloween Season. We arrive to the park about 9am, got decent parking and headed to the ticket booth to get our friends their tickets. We invited a close friend and her 13 year old daughter to go with us which I'm still trying to decide if I was delusional wanting to go with a 13 year old lol. I had purchased their tickets online for $33.99, the kick cancer price but having no printer we had to go to the ticket window first. While we were doing that Jeremy got in line and we were third to get in. By the time they opened the gates the lines were really long and I knew it was going to be a long day at the park. Jeremy and I headed towards Banshee while our friends waited at the rope for the 10am opening. We got right on Banshee with a one train wait, only reason being we wanted front row. This was the first coaster we had ridden together and now that we were married we wanted to make sure it was again our first coaster. It seems the more I ride Banshee the more I love it. The very first time I had rode, I came off a little dizzy and disoriented but I think it just had to do with my body not having done anything like that in a very long time. This time when we got off, I was immediately ready to go back on. We had thought about going to Invertigo but it was not open yet so Jeremy decided he wanted to try Delirium. Originally I was going to have him ride it first to see how bad the spinning was, but at the last minute I decided to just give it a try. I haven't been that nervous to ride something in a long time so at first I was holding on for dear life. The spinning aspect of it really wasn't that bad for me, I could tolerate it and I actually enjoyed the ride, something I was really surprised about, I thought for sure I would hate it. We still had time before the gates officially opened so I decided to take some pictures before the rush of people came. I really do like walking around the Action Zone when it's quiet like that. When the gates finally opened our friends met us at the entrance to Banshee and we had about a 5 minute wait before we entered the station. We had just gotten in the front row line when the ride shut down due to storms. We decided to wait it out, as it looked like the storms would blow over quickly, unfortunately they didn't, it seemed to be very slow moving and we waited close to an hour. I wasn't complaining though because at least we were in the station covered, unlike the people in the line below. At one point they shut the line down and were not allowing people to enter. It was pretty comical to watch our friend's daughter, she said she was afraid of heights so she couldn't do Banshee, which we did try to talk her into it but with no luck. The entire time in line she complained about waiting and how everyone was going to look at her for not getting on the ride, it's kind of funny to see how a 13 year old thinks. She waited at the exit until we finished our ride, which obviously no one really cared that she didn't get on. I had planned on trying to get to Flight of Fear and Firehawk first thing as I know those lines tend to move slow, but with the delay at Banshee that never happened. We started walking and of course the teen was thirsty and hungry already so we stopped at Hank's where Jeremy and I split a taco salad for one of the meals on our plan and the teen got strawberries and cream. She ate not even half of it and complained that her stomach hurt, so Jeremy finished it off for her. She saw WindSeeker in the distance and decided she wanted to ride this. I gave Jeremy a strange look as this is the girl that wouldn't go on Banshee because she's afraid of heights, but she picks WindSeeker, still cannot figure that one out. We waited one ride cycle and got on. It was a bit chilly up there as it had not really started warming up yet. Once the ride was over Jeremy and I decided we wanted to tackle Vortex as we had not done it on our last trip. Our friend could not ride it due to a neck problem so her and her daughter headed over to The Racer while we got in line at Vortex. The line was lined up to the entrance point of the line but it went pretty quickly, we waited maybe 20-25 minutes. The closer we got the more I kept thinking it was not a smart move for me to ride this. I knew it was going to be rough and that it was. We choose a middle row but for me it was just too much, I didn't like it at all and had a headache getting off of it. Jeremy didn't like it either and we both said once is enough for the both of us. After we got off we walked back towards The Racer to meet our friends, which I assumed they would have still been waiting in line as the line was all the way to the front of the entrance, but we actually met up right as they were getting off the ride. It was about 1:10p at that point and I really wanted to see Cirque Imagine so I suggested we walk up that way to the theater. The theater was maybe 3/4 full which surprised me with how bad the crowds were, so we sat on the right side about 15 rows from the front. I loved this show and highly recommend it to anyone. Next it was smoking break time for Jeremy and our friend which gave me the opportunity to snap some photos. I really wanted to try Invertigo so we made our way over there, the sign said it was a 2 hour wait, I was not about to stand there that long and wait so we changed plans. We headed to Drop Tower and the same thing, 120 minutes, very frustrating. We stopped at Chicken Shack to get drinks and another meal with our meal plan. After this we decided to head towards Diamondback but had to first stop at the airbrushing place so our friend's daughter could get a t-shirt. By this time the crowds were super heavy and every thing seemed to have long waits. Diamondback was no exception, again a two hour wait. I decided to try my luck on the spin the wheel game but didn't win so Jeremy and I got in line for Diamondback and figured we would just tough it out as I love this coaster. We thought our friends were right behind us but they weren't. The teen decided to start having a melt down and poor mom was at her wit's end. She decided she wanted to take her to the hotel and let her rest and maybe they would come back later. We debated on going to the motel and just driving back but it was in South Dayton and I really didn't want to waste that much time and energy, I was already tired from the heat and my aging body not being what it used to be lol. We actually decided to not stay over night and save our money and just drive back to Kentucky that night. So my friend and her daughter went to the car to rest for a while and we agreed we would meet back up later in the day. I felt pretty bad for my friend as her daughter was really giving her a run for her money and it was definitely wearing on her. During the teen's meltdown Jeremy and I got a ride in on the carousel as we were waiting for them to decide what they were going to do. We next headed over to Invertigo and just said we were going to suck it up and wait it out, to our surprise the wait time had went down to 60 minutes, in reality we waited about 45 minutes, which didn't seem too bad. I was terrified to ride this for some reason, but once I got on I loved it. We rode in the middle as I was just too spooked to ride on either end. I think this looks a lot worse than it really is. We then decided it was time to get some ice cream so we headed to Graeter's. I thought I knew for sure that I was going to get the Black Raspberry Chip but when I saw their sorbets that was it, I got a scoop of raspberry and mango while Jeremy got a pineapple smoothie. It was nice just relaxing in the A/C for a bit. We decided after this stop we were going to head back over to Diamondback, played the spin the wheel game again and this time I won! I was quite happy and went into the Fast Lane line to find there was a pretty good size line, it took us 45 minutes to board. There was a slight hold up as someone got struck in the neck and had to have emergency service come evaluate. I never did see the person that was hurt but people around me were stating that there was a guy holding his neck with blood, there were about 3 cycles of trains that ran while they were trying to get this man medical help. They were pretty much assigning rows but somehow we did get lucky and just walked over to the front row line. While in line we received a text from our friends that they were back in the park and to meet them at Chik-Fil-A in Planet Snoopy. We made our way over there only to not find them, they decided to go to chicken shack instead so we walked over there and met them. Jeremy really wanted to do Firehawk and I wanted to do Flight of Fear so we headed that way. I did not want to go on Firehawk and neither did the teen so I babysat while Jeremy and her mom went to Firehawk. About an hour into the wait, one of the trains went down when it came back into the station and there were people stuck on their backs for over 15 minutes, glad that wasn't me! I figured Jeremy would want to stick it out, he was two trains away from boarding but after about 10 minutes they left. We checked out Flight of Fear but it said 90 minute wait, it was already starting to get late and I had really wanted to try and do The Beast at night. So we instead headed over to The Racer, the wait was about 10 minutes, we were on the blue train and our friends on the red, blue train won. This was one of two rides that the teen did the entire time, I'm still shaking my head at that one. By this time I was getting really tired and wanted our last meal of the day, I figured we would be coming back so instead of walking to the back to get on The Beast, we decided to head over to Drop Tower and Banshee instead. We stopped to get something at Hank's but the lines were really long so we went to Chicken Shack instead, I had the chicken wrap and Jeremy had the chicken sandwich. We then went over to Drop Tower, leaving the teen on a bench as this was another one she wouldn't do. It was about a half hour wait to get on but I'm really glad we decided to do it at night, I thought it was really cool and they had started the fireworks early due to the approaching storm so we saw some of that from the top. This ride even though I've been on it still terrifies me for some reason. Once we finished our ride we headed to Banshee, which the line didn't look bad at all. It was an interesting wait as there was a woman directly in front of us who we could tell was very drunk, she had a stack of glasses in her hand and was sipping out of another, she could barely stand or walk. This was pretty upsetting to Jeremy and our friend, as they are both recovering alcoholics so to see this was a bit much for them. We all agreed we did not want to be in front or behind her on the train as if she got sick it would end up every where. As we were going up the stairs she stumbled and spilled her beer all over my friend and myself, my friend was livid, not exactly what someone in recovery needs. When we got to the boarding we told the person assigning rows that we did not want to be by her and so we went to the second to front row. We were one train away from boarding when it shut down for storms. We waited about 10 minutes but looking at the sky we knew this was not going to blow over so we left so that we could hopefully beat the rain in getting to our car. The teen again complained that she didn't like walking in the rain, oh well, nothing we could do about it. We got to the car right when it started pouring and we had downpour rain the entire ride back to Kentucky. All in all it was an enjoyable day, just frustrating at times, so I know we are talking about going back in the next few weeks once we get a bit more money and then we can head to Cedar Point as well.

No clue Interpreter, I couldn't believe it was that long of a wait, but at least they let us pick front row. I had no idea you didn't have to wait for the passes you win, that's what I did, spun the wheel and won, geesh I guess I need to pay better attention!

I was there last night too, we were the next to board Banshee when they shut it down. We stayed for about 10 minutes and kept looking at all the lightening and knew it would not reopen. We were lucky we were in the parking lot when the storm hit and thank goodness only got a little wet. Was a very frustrating day at KI though, I know why I never go on Saturdays, every where we went it seemed like two hour waits. I won a Fast Lane pass at Diamondback at about 6:00 and it took 45 minutes to board in that lane. We were in line for Banshee in the morning only to have it shut down for an hour due to the storms, but we did wait it out. And then my husband waiting over an hour for Firehawk when it went down, he was about two trains away from boarding. Nothing of fault of anyone, just frustrating not to mention we were dealing with our friend's very temperamental 13 year old who didn't want to ride any rides or walk for that matter. Jeremy and I have decided this was not our honeymoon and we will be going back in the next few weeks alone lol.

I THINK the way mapquest is taking me is 71 to 250, but it just seems like there are a ton of turns in between which seems a bit odd. I will have my GPS on my phone but I try not to rely on that as it seems to sometimes not be too accurate. Hope no one minds but here is how mapquest put as the preferred way to go: 71 north towards Columbus Exit 101A toward I-670/W Clevelan Exit 69 (OH-13) Left on State 13 Right Lexington Ave/US 42N Right E 1st/US 42N Left S. Diamont Left US HWY 250 S Right E. League/US 250W Left Milan Ave Right State Route 13 Merge OH-2 W Exit Rye Beach/US6 W Left Cleveland Rd Right Cedar Point Dr Seems really confusing to me!!!

I apologize if Ive asked something that has been asked already, there are a lot of threads on here and it's hard to read through all of them. I was simply asking what would be the easiest since I've never driven it before.

Does anyone know the easiest way to go from Kings Island to Cedar Point? I did a mapquest and the first route to come up looks a bit confusing, I'm wondering would we be better just going straight up 75 instead of 71?

Thanks Magenta, that's exactly what I was looking for, we will definitely do The Beast for our night time ride and if time permits go to Banshee, but if it doesn't I will be fine with getting Beast in.

I'm so glad to hear this, I was really worried that this event was going to make the crowds huge and with it being a weekend I figured we would be standing in long lines. Now I think the biggest thing will be dealing with the weather, looks like it's going to be hot, which I don't do well in, I will have to be finding shade spots whenever I can and just pace myself. Is it possible to get night rides in on both The Beast and Banshee when the park closes at 10p? We really want to do both of these at night but I'm thinking we may have to pick one over the other since we have pretty much decided to leave Saturday during the afternoon so that we get to Cedar Point and can close the park there.

I'm wondering how the crowds will be as well. We wanted to do Banshee Bash but it unfortunately sold out before we have money to get the tickets. It bums me out a bit but I'm sure we will have a blast anyway, I'll be so excited from the wedding that not much will effect me that day. I did see there's a high chance of rain for Saturday which I'm taking that with a grain of salt since it's still over a week away, but if there are a lot of storms that day I think we will head to Cedar Point in the afternoon so we can hit the park Saturday night instead of driving after KI closes.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! I think the entire problem is this music fest in Cincinnati, so almost everything around the park is either sold out or so ridiculously priced that I would never pay it....$284 for the Super 8. So we will stay at the Red Roof Dayton South, I really don't mind driving and knowing I can have a yummy breakfast at the Original Pancake House (see I capitalized is worth it for me. We have stayed once already this summer at Red Roof, so we should be getting a free night soon with this trip. Cedar Point I'm pretty familiar with since I'm from Detroit, so I know the hotels in the area and I'm pretty selective, we are staying at the Motel 6 there, that one gets good ratings and it's cheap, I just want more money to spend on fun things. Anyone that will be at KI Friday the 25th, we will have extra wedding cake to share

Thanks everyone, I have stayed at that Red Roof in Blue Ash and I liked it, it was clean and comfortable for the rate. When I had checked there was no availability, I don't have a phone at the moment (my minutes are up) so I have to wait until the 23rd to call. I don't have a problem with the Red Roof for our first night, we are not even checking in until after we finish the park Friday night. We are getting married at 1pm in Kentucky and then immediately heading to KI. I figure we can have dinner there (we have the meal plan) and get in some rides, we want our first to be Banshee since that was our first ride as a couple. For how long we are going to stay in the room a Red Roof really is ok. The one I booked is on Byers Road, Dayton South. I love the idea of the original pancake house for in the morning before we head to the park. Even though this is our honeymoon we are having to do it as cheap as possible so when we can eat at the park we will, although when we hit Cedar Point it's going to suck not having that meal plan but I think we will probably leave the park during the day to cool down and get something not as pricey as the park food.

Thanks for the tip Medford, I did a mapquest and it looked like there was a back road you could take and bypass the freeway, so that's good to know. I wish it could be closer but oh well, at least we are celebrating the way we really want to, at Kings Island!

Thanks everyone, I ended up going further out to Centerville and got the Red Roof Inn Dayton South for $69.95 for the night. It sucks that it's 26 miles from Kings Island but we will just have to make sure we are up a little earlier to get there by 9am. Thank goodness I looked more closely at that Motel 6, it did get some awful reviews.

What city is that Microtel in? It looks like I'm going to have to go towards Dayton South to get anything decent that isn't an outrageous price, ugh.

I know that is getting me pretty worried actually. How far out do you think I can go? It's only for one night but we are going to the park Fri afternoon and all day Saturday then leaving right from the park to go to Cedar Point. I wish so bad the Red Roof was available, that's where we stayed last time and it was perfect. darn music fest! lol

Oh thank you so much dtk! I was so worried that this other event was going to overtake Kings Island. I don't mind staying further out but it does suck that the only room I could get for our wedding night is a Motel 6!

We are planning to spend our first day married together at Kings Island on July 25th. However, I am getting really concerned as I had to get a motel 13 miles away and the only ones left now are really outrageous prices. I know there is another theme park site having a private event that day, would this be pulling in that many people to sell out all the hotels? I'm not starting to second guess going that day as I don't want to stand in line after line and barely get on anything and I unfortunately do not have the money to spend on Fast Lane passes.

That's why I love this group so much, I would love to meet some of you in person, our next trip to KI is July 25 (our wedding day) and 26 and then we are heading to Cedar Point July 27 and 28, my fiancee has never been there, so I'm really looking forward to it!