BeeastFarmer

Thunderhead is a great coaster! I like Thunderbird better than Wild Eagle (I got slightly nauseous on Wild Eagle.) I really enjoyed Tennessee Tornado. If all Arrows were like it... And speaking of Arrows--I really like the sound of the lift chain on Arrows like Tennessee Tornado and Vortex.

Are the straps of a plastic type or a cloth type? And to be fair--lice of all sorts can find there way into many nooks and crannies in roller coaster seats. Lots of moist, dark areas that appeal to many critters and varmits.

Well, shoot! I was hoping it would be open next week when I go! Thank goodness for a Gold Pass to Dollywood! I reckon that means I will HAVE to go to Carowinds again. Tragic.

Alcohol wipes will not sanitize these headsets. In the hospital setting, we have no less than four different sanitizing wipes to prevent the spread of infectious agents. All require a minimum of a five minute drying time. One is used for general cleaning and gloves must be worn, there is a risk for skin cancer. Another is used for c difficile because this bacteria is resistant to the previous one and is basically extremely long bleach (side note: hand sanitizer is not effective on c. diff, soap and water must be used. Yet another one is used for respiratory issues. Theme parks are not hospitals, but people are loaded with germs. Not every person who carries these germs around is going to cause others to get sick, and not every person will get sick upon exposure....BUT... I personally don't think I could use this tech unless I could be assured it was completely clean and dry before going on my face. The germaphobe that I am has to go on hold on coasters when I think of where the hands have been , the personal hygiene of the riders before me, and the human grease stains on the Diamondback seats.

Dorney is on my list. Forgive my ignorance (and I will do more detailed digging once I am finished with my last class in 8 weeks), but what about Knoebels, Waldameer and I am sure there are many other small parks in PA that I can't think of after a LONG day at work. I'm doing a Dollywood and Carowinds trip in 8 days! So excited!

The Interpreter: Funny you say this. I just got my summer vacation request approved: 2 weekends off in June which equates to about 19 days to travel to Virginia, PA, and maybe NJ to visit parks! Any "must see parks" besides Camden, KD and BGW?

When the park posts a short clip of The Beast doing a test run with water dummies and your HR increases substantially.

I got my monthly e-mail from Kings Island, and no mention of the season pass preview for the dry side. It did highlight info for the waterpark preview. I am somewhat dismayed by this.

I don't want to violate any TOS, but it from another message board dedicated to reviewing theme parks. EDIT: I only wanted to quote Vortex lover, not the entire thread, and my comment ended up in the quote box. So I retyped my comment outside the box and deleted it inside the box.

Nice that they plan on doing that, but do they really have to wait 90 years?! Nice catch! It must have been a Freudian slip in that I am confident that the park will be around in 90 years.

Saw a "leaked" 2016 park map online today. Looks like the sky swing (mini WindSeeker type ride, can't remember the name) has been moved from the back of the water park up closer to the Giant Wheel/Picnic Pavilions. Edit: to correct the year from 2106 to 2016. Thanks for the good eyes, Goble!

I'm not sure of the artist, but the "Best day of our lives" song has played twice as I was going from my car to the front gate. Had to chuckle a little at the marketing.

Not that I am in favor of this, but a brick phone comes before the latest Android/iPhone/Windows phone. I'm not personally one to try it, but it may be the future, or it may be an experiment that may fail. Only time will tell.

I laugh to myself when watching webcams...Action Zone is kind of like InAction Zone, while Rivertown is buzzing with activity. Is there anything going on in the area formerly known as Coney Mall/Maul?

Fortunately, CF via KI seems to care well for Racer (except needing paint) and The Beast. Having never been to Magic Mountain and never ridden Colossus, I can only conjecture based on internet reading that it was a shadow it its' former self due to destruction by neglect. If I ever make it to the park, I will be glad to have the current version of the ride, than no ride at all.

Granted, Racer ushered in this age--but coasters have a shelf life. When costs outweigh benefits, the owners will look at options. That's why it's important to ride and support coasters like Racer. It would make me feel more confident about the future of this coaster if it were to receive a thorough paint job (not just the que house) I'm not advocating for changes to either ride, I am just presenting my opinion of a worse case scenario for Racer.

As we saw last year with Carowinds loosing Thunder Road, icons are fluid. I'd rather have a topper tracked Racer or a (gasp) Twisted Racer than no Racer. Now The Beast-I'd have to chain myself to it. haha

RMC--please don't ever touch The Beast (except for retracking). You can touch The Racer, and maybe even put topper track on it, just don't convert it! (Like my opinion has ANY pull!)

I'm not a Haunt type person, but I want to share an experience from 2015 that stands out. I work weekends. I was able to swap a shift and get off work for closing day 2015. So after working a 12 hour shift, I drove to the area, checked into The Shaker Inn (can't remember the name of the town) and went to the park with the intent of riding The Beast as many times as I could in 2.5 hours. It was raining, so the crowds were leaving as I entered the park at 10:30. With thinning crowds, almost everything I saw was a walk on. After riding The Beast, I decided to try out Slaughterhouse. No one was in the que. While the haunt itself was campy, the scareactors were great. I then decided to try out Urgent Scare (as an RN, I just HAD to!). Every scareactor was awesome. On a night that was not at all crowded, miserably rainy, and the last night of the season, the scareactors were excellent. The ride ops and (gasp) food service folks were great, too. Overall, I was able to eat at Street Pizza, do Urgent Scare and Slaughterhouse, ride Diamondback twice and The Beast 7 times AND had 100% positive interaction with incredible KI associates. Positive outweighs the negative.

I'd be happy with the Coney Mall sign making a return.

Sorry, The Interpreter. Did not intend to leave you or others out who do not have the dining plan. Please share your experience. And if anyone has any ideas as to why this seems to plague Kings Island, please chirp in.

I get the fact that most workers do not want to be in food service, and have other opportunities, and there is only a certain pool to select from. But my goodness, take the best and make them examples and have others aspire to be like them. Motivate with raises or awards for compliments. Dismiss the elbow leaners. Or do something simple like add a cashier and open up a side for drinks only---or add drink stations (they beat me to that!)

I ate at Panda Express a few times last year, and it was mostly a good experience, besides the long wait times. However, on the last day of the season, an employee was so busy on his phone that he almost dropped a load coming out of the wok to the serving pan. That is not multi-tasking, that is being inattentive. Not to mention the thoughts of the phone and how many germs reside on it...

So, I ask platinum passholders who have season long dining-is this slow speed of service/poor caring evident in other parks in the chain, or is it Kings Island specific? It seems strange that they do not appear to do much to correct it, especially since it seems to be the biggest complaint on the list. (At least from my perspective.) For reference: Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom-minimal wait times. Dollywood-very long lines, but having only been twice, and during the Christmas event, not a fair sampling. And the employees were trying to do the best they could, and seemed concerned. Unlike the 25 minute wait at Skyline in the area formerly known as Coney Mall where there were only 3 in front of me and the workers were leaning on their elbows making orders.

I was quite satisfied with my All Season Dining plan in '14 and '15 and will probably be so again in '16. I was not satisfied with the speed of service/motivation of some workers (Skyline on IS and the area formerly known as Coney Mall, to be precise). But disappointment passes, and the positives almost always outweigh the negatives. Now, I would be really ticked if I did not have a meal plan or a gold pass and had to wait that long. It'll be interesting to see how Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Cedar Point and possibly Dorney compare to Kings Island in terms of speed of service.