Mikewhy

5 hour wait? I would not wait that long for a new state of the art, record breaking coaster, much less one I have already ridden at Geauga Lake after waiting less than 10 minutes! I think I will wait a while until those lines die down and they start using two trains. I do not think there is a ride out there that is worth a 5 hour wait! (I waited an hour for Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point and that is about my limit!) I admire the patience of some people on this board!

Whatever names they choose, I hope they are unique. I do not want the rides given names like Raptor that exist at other parks. The names should be unique.

I definitely do not think that Top Gun should be removed. These Arrow suspended coasters are getting more and more rare, and I would hate to lose another one. And I enjoy riding it every time I visit the park!

I feel the changes are overall positive. Like I mentioned before, I hate the music they are playing on I-street, although I will admit that it LOOKS better than ever!

I like most of the changes and think that things will ultimately be better. The only things that bother me are the mainstream music they started playing on International Street and perhaps Cedar Fair's lack of enthusiasm for dark rides. But I think overall they will do a better job that Paramount!

If all the smoking areas in Nick Universe are the same (and I have no reason to doubt the word of Nickelodeon Universe) then they need to update park map to place them back on it in the Nick Universe section! I am glad they tried to adjust things to place the smoking areas in more out the way areas. That is a positive development!

You are right about people not reading the signs or even the map. People on HERE who should know better have made statements like it is okay to get out of line and then back in if you have to go to the restrooms. Then you have EMPLOYEES of the park telling people they can drink beer in ride lines when it is explicitly forbidden. So when people who work at the park or who frequent this forum are clueless about the rules clearly printed on the park map, imagine how the truly rude or obnoxious people are going to be! They simply do not read any signs or rules, and even if they did, they would ignore them. That is why the park needs to try harder to enforce the rules. The incident at The Beast is a symptom of the park not trying hard enough to change things. I hope they take this event seriously and do something.

I don't really consider the one on I-street part of Nick Universe. Perhaps all the smoking areas are the same, but if you compare this year's map to last year's, there are some smoking areas at least missing from the Kings Island map. I do not know if that means some areas closed, or last year's map was wrong, or this year's map was wrong. (Or the names of the rides in Nick Universe are taking up so much space they can not print the smoking areas on the map!

The music that is played now really clashes with the atmosphere on International Street. It is just not right...

Everyone in line needs to deny the line jumpers their ability to do this. The park is not willing to police the lines, and so the only way the line jumping will stop is when the crowd as a whole does not allow it. I also say that you should report this to Guest Relations everytime you see it happen at the end of your day at the park. Nothing will likely happen, but if enough people complain, perhaps they will police the lines better. Sure, they can not be everywhere at once, but if you add one more worker to the top 6 or so lines that have cutting, you CAN make a difference, and the extra cost is not that much. That is how I see it...

Happy Birthday Kings Island. Here's to 35 more years with things only getting better!

Sadly I see some things never change...

I noticed that the smoking area on the pathway from Coney Mall to the pizza place in Rivertown has been removed. They have also (according to the KI map) removed all the smoking areas from Nick Universe. Also as stated in my trip report posted elsewhere, they have removed the glass blower shop from International Street and have opened a new shop called Thrillseekers which used to be the Animation Station.

I went with my girlfriend to Kings Island on Sunday, April 22, 2007. We always prefer to go on a Sunday rather than a Saturday because they are less crowded and the folks there seem a little less rowdy. The park was not dead, but it was not crowded either. We were able to get on nearly everything without a long line! We were there the entire time they were open (10:00AM until 8:00PM) and were able to ride 18 rides that day, and still have time to have a leisurely lunch and dinner and some other long rest times where we just sat on International Street and enjoyed the atmosphere! It was a great day at the park. My trip report will cover some details that I have not seen in the others. Perhaps the saddest thing for me was the fact that they were playing regular music on International Street. I realize that they need to get away from playing the Paramount movie theme music, but hearing "Love Shack" or Billy Joel's "My Life" on International Street is just wrong! Kings Island has the best entrance of any amusement park out there, and it has so much atmosphere with the fountains and Eiffel Tower and the look of the shops. I would love for some kind of International themed music to be playing, but I predicted it would have the same kind of midway music that they play at Cedar Point, and I was right. The same "mix radio station" music was playing throughout the entire park, except for Rivertown, which was appropriately playing country, and Nick Universe, which was playing the kiddie rock they always have. The volume of the music was quite low on International Street and it was relatively easy to ignore, but I was still disappointed. I also noticed that when they made announcements on International Street, you could hardly hear them. On the plus side, I loved the look of the new Kings Island map. The map is larger with the names of the rides placed near the ride. For the first time ever, the park's smoking policy is easy to find and read on it, and the organization of the map is great for finding food, show times, and general rules. It is a huge improvement. I was also pleased with the cleanliness of the park. There were garbage cans everywhere with the new Cedar Fair labels on them. The landscaping was not overly developed yet, and the floral clock and calendar, as well as the topiaries, were not out. However, that is common for April and hopefully by Memoral Day all that will be back. I was happy to see that all the props from the Paramount Story were removed, and therefore that area looked barren and the square stones that had the movie info on them looked rather bad. Hopefully they will more fully landscape and clean up this area come summer. I was surprised to see that they were starting to get some Kings Island merchandise in the gift shops. You could still find many Paramount items, but they also had some nice Firehawk shirts, and general shirts with only Kings Island on them, and even a blanket with the new Kings Island logo on it. Hopefully in the future they will add new things like Post cards, new pins, and other new merchandise. However, It was a little disturbing to see the park selling shirts that clearly violate their own rule against wearing clothing with suggesive slogans on them. At the gift shop in the Adventure Zone, I saw shirts with stuff on them like, "You know that thing your girlfriend does? I taught her that." and other sexually suggestive stuff. Now I am not a prude or overly politically correct, but those shirts do not belong in a family theme park IMHO... I was sad to see that the glass blowing shop was gone from International Street. I can understand this but it was still sad. I realize that the park mainly caters to a younger crowd that does not buy such things, but it was the last shop on I-street that reminded me of the old days. It will be missed. I also noticed that there was a place on the left side (as you face the tower) that had a new sign called Thrill Seekers that sold general KI and ride merchandise. This building was previously called Animation Station. We had dinner from the newly remodeled LaRosa's and enjoyed it while watching the fountains on International Street. The pizza was good, but not very hot. Since the whole pizza and drinks cost $27, they really need to work on keeping the pizza hot! The food prices were high, but I always expect that from larger theme parks and really do not have a complaint about it as long as everything tastes good. The rides were working very well that day. Of course SOB and Firehawk were not open yet, but we already knew that. All the other rides were working except the train (it is sad they still see it as simply transportation to the water park and not a ride in itself). They were two hours late in opening Italian Job and then I noticed it was closed a good portion of the time later in the day. We were able to get in line just as it opened for the first time and so we did not have a line. The ride is still fun, but most of the special effects with the helicopter did not work and they had the lights on in the tunnel (likely because they had just been in there working on the ride.) I also saw them having brief issues with Drop Zone later in the day. But overall things were working well, which I hear was very different from what happened the previous day. The Beast ran well, as long as you avoid sitting over a wheel and chose a center seat! We rode it twice. I REALLY enjoyed Flight of Fear this time. It ran very well and was one of the day's highlights. Top Gun also seemed to run smoother than usual, and was great fun. We even enjoyed our ride on the Fairly Odd Coaster and Adventure Express. However, Vortex was running even rougher than usual, as was The Racer. But I still enjoyed them both! I noticed the new seat belts on Vortex, Top Gun, and Adventure Express. I was not surprised since Cedar Point uses seat belts on their ferris wheel! We enjoyed the Scooby Doo dark ride as always, although there were several targets not working, which seemed strange given it was opening weekend! Is the ride THAT hard to keep working? We also rode Adventure Express, Avatar, the Grand Carousel, Drop Zone, Delirium (which was incredible!), the Scrambler, Zephyr, Eiffel Tower, and saw Sponge Bob 3D at the FX theatre. We also rode Viking Fury, and were really surprised at how crowded and popular that ride still is! Despite the park not being really crowded, it always seemed to have a decent number of people on it. There were a lot of managers around in their ties and button down shirts, but they rarely seemed to acknowledge us. One thing I noticed when we visited Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom during their opening weekend was how often their mangement (also in ties) would say hello to us, smile at us, and ask us if we were having a good time at the park. (Yes, this will likely not last all year, but still...) This did not happen at all at Kings Island. The management seemed engrossed in their own thoughts or conversations and did not really say anything to us. That is not really a complaint, just an interesting observation. (Others may have had different experiences of course.) The ride ops were fast and professional, although again they really did not communicate much with us. The exceptions were the staff working the Eiffel Tower. The guy in the elevator spoke clearly to us going up and down, and did not sound like he was bored reading a script. He was also great with the kids, joking with them and such. The woman at the observation platform was talking to people, telling them about the park and seemed really personable. I even heard her lamenting the removal of the antique cars and Flying Eagles, which was cool. The staff at Larosa's on International Street were really nice as well. Everyone seemed well trained and carefully checked our restraints, sometimes multiple times. Finally, I was happy to see that the general public seems to be using the smoking areas more often at the park. The smoking areas seemed to be more crowded, and I saw slightly less people smoking in places they should not. Of course, there were some. At one point I saw a group of three people walking through the Action Zone and all puffing away furiously. They were walking for over a minute directly next to three managers in ties who did not reprimand or say anything to them. So I see that enforcement is still weak and those determined to break the rules will still easily get away with it. But at least more guests are being polite and using the designated smoking areas. By the way, the one smoking area they had right in the walk path between Coney Mall and the pizza place in the back has been removed, which makes a lot of sense! I love Kings Island and do not mean to sound overly negative, for a I had a great day at the park. I still think that the Cedar Fair buyout of the chain will overall be a good thing, and that we will have many great years ahead. At the end of the day, the sun was starting to set and they turned on the lights on International Street, which looked beautiful. They had the white lights that outlined the buidlings on (although some were not working) and the fountain lights on, as well as the lights on the Eiffel Tower that changed it many different colors. International Street has not looked this nice in many, many years, and it was a beautiful sight to see as we left for the day. Now if only we were not listening to Elton John's "That's Why They Call It The Blues" as we gazed upon this scene, it would have been perfect!

Actually, the Cedar Point park guide from 2006 clearly states that alcoholic beverages are NOT allowed in any ride line. Of course, people do not bother to read the rules or if they do, they ignore them. Personally, I do not look forward to people roaming the park with their beers. I do not look forward to that at all...

Parking at the KY Fairgrounds where SFKK is costs $5. Enjoy your visit, although anyone going during SFKK opening weekend will be freezing! The weather should warm into the 60's though by mid week.

Thanks for the great trip report! I love Dollywood and really can not wait to ride this. I agree with your comments about Italian Job by the way. I love IJST, but it sounds like the Mystery Mine ride is truly amazing in quality and excitement. I look forward to my Dollywood visit this summer!

Dollywood is worth every penny in my opinion. The park is beautifully landscaped, is well run, has some of the friendliest staff you will find, and has an incredible atmosphere. If you like country, you will love the shows. Even if you do not, the bird show is great, and they have a 50's show as well. During different times of the years they also have special shows in conjunction with special festivals. (I have heard the shows they have during their Festival Of Nations in the Spring are amazing.) All the crafts are interesting to see, and the food is better than at most parks. (Their funnel cakes are the BEST and I have also enjoyed good fried chicken here.) They do have incredible water rides like Smoky Mountain Rampage, Daredevil Falls and the incredibly fun Mountain Slidewinder. Then their coasters are great: Thunderhead, Mystery Mine, Tennessee Tornado and Blazing Fury. I also love the Timber Tower, their train ride which is long and really scenic, as well as the Disk-O coaster and some other flats in the Country Fair section. I think Dollywood is one of the best 5 parks in the country. I always find it worth the money!

I just love Monster Plantation! I plan to ride it again when I go to Six Flags Over Georgia next weekend while taking a little trip to Atlanta!

I think Kennywood clearly shows you can keep some old rides around, and STILL be fresh and still have new attractions while stayng true to your history. Kennywood is not "defunct" in any way. And they do this having very little land for expansion. Kings Island has tons of land and still removes rides to add new ones. If you know of a good reason why the Eagles were removed then by all means share it with us. I can't wait to hear it! I have read many accounts on this very board of why they removed (from some very knowledgable members of KICentral), and I have yet to hear a good answer.

I am afraid that Cedar Fair does not seem to be into dark rides. Cedar Point has not had one in many many years and none of Cedar Fair's other pre-paramount parks really has one either. For some reason, they do not seem to believe in them... I hope they change their minds! I love dark rides and would love to see another high quality one at Kings Island!

So only the people who work on the ride have a "right" to whine about a ride's removal? I loved that ride and saw it many times a year since the park opened in the 70's. I have as much a right to whine as anyone. Of course, whining does no good and it not productive in the least, but the removal of that ride (The Eagles) hurt and I therefore I REJECT your opinion that I am not qualified to give an opinion about it. Kings Island has been an important part of my life for 34 years, since I was 6 years old. I think I am qualified to express an opinion about a ride at my favorite park! And the park did NOT have a good reason to remove the Eagles. We now know it was not removed for space for Italian Job. It was removed because one Paramount bigwig wanted it at Carowinds at all costs. The space it occupied at KI is now just a game and empty space. One can very strongly argue for removal of the Tiques, but not for the Eagles. (By the way, I do visit Carowinds once a year in part to ride the Eagles. But it is a 7 hour drive for me.) Paramount did do many positive things, and I would never deny that. I do not mean to only bash them for one could also argue they kept the park alive and healthy during their ownership. And I also happen to really like the IJST ride. I just disagree about its location and the rides removed for it. But I also agree that Paramount did many good things for the park as well.

Well, I AM going to whine about losing both the Tiques and the Eagles for IJST. IJST should have been placed somewhere else and those beloved rides saved. If the Tiques were low capacity, they always could have opened the other side like the old days, this doubling capacity. As for the gasoline, they could have always updated the ride to use electric cars like you see at some parks. There are always options, especially when trying to save a great family ride that helps round out the park's offerings. I also feel a heavy heart when I see the old area where the Eagles were and the Tiques. I doubt I will ever stop "whining" about it! (I only do that because I DO love the park.)

Actually I have been to Disney World many times and while I love the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, I love the entrance at KI just as much. The main reason is the fact that KI was the only park I went to as a kid, and so I get a warm, fuzzy feeling everytime I see International Street. Plus I love the fountains! As for the music they used to play, I remember it being instrumental music from the various European countries represented by International Street. At least I think that is what I remember!

I really am curious what they plan to do with the music that is played on International Street. I know Maureen was asked this question during the ACE Winter SOAR and she did not know yet. I hope once someone finds out, they will post it here somewhere. I think the music played here is really important for creating a mood when you enter the park. I love the entrance to Kings Island, and think that International Street is the best theme park entrance I have ever seen. I assume that eventually, if not right away, they will remove the Paramount movie music and replace it with something else. It is my sincere hope that is remains instrumental and something that adds to the overall atmosphere. I know I would be rather sad if I entered the park and heard top 40 music or something like that on I-street. (I personally would like something 'International' to be played!) Just wondering what everyone thought!