KIghostguy

This wasn't at Kings Island, but I overheard it and thought it would you folks might get a kick out of it. This is part of the conversation. Person 1: Why would someone buy a platinum pass? Person 2: It's for people who travel to Cedar Point a lot. Person 1: Can you use it anywhere else? Person 2: Yea, you can use it at Six Flags too. Earlier, they were also talking about how Kings Island had just bought The Beach waterpark.

I usually go to the park on Sundays during the Halloween season. I'm way too chicken to go to Haunt, but I love walking around during the day and looking at the decorations. Also, I've found that Sundays don't really have big crowds during Fall, and I'm able to walk on almost every ride.

Does anyone know if Winterfest is just coming back for the 2017 Christmas season or will it be held every year after?

I'm actually really disappointed. I was really hopeful that Phantom Theater would be back. I'll probably go, and I'm sure a lot of people are excited. At least I still have Mystic Timbers to look forward to!

I'm hoping that it's a dark ride. I also hope it's Phantom Theater returning. But of course, what I hope for and what actually happens are two entirely different things. If it is a dark ride, I hope it's not a Triotech or something with video screens. Those just don't feel as immersive as something like the Haunted Mamsion or Pirates of the Caribbean. I do think that something old will be back this year. The past few years, old attractions are returning, but in different ways. In 2014, The Bat came back...as a repaint of Flight Deck. In 2015, the Flying Eagles came back...as Woodstock Gliders. In 2016, the vine tunnel is back...but as the entrance to White Water Canyon.

Honestly, I don't really write trip reports anymore because I go to Kings Island so often, it would just get boring writing (and for you guys, reading) the same things over and over. I mostly just save it for when something landmark happens to me, and today just so happened to be one of those days! I was at the park all day with a friend, instead of just my usual evenings, so we had a lot of time, and for the sake of sheer repetitiveness, I'll only talk about the two landmark rides today, Diamondback and Invertigo. I used to have a rule: no coasters higher than Banshee. I would never go on Diamondback, I thought. But after a trip to the Ohio State Fair and some strange dreams the past week or so, I decided to go on Diamondback. We got to the park at about 10:30 and ran straight towards Diamondback and we were able to walk right on. I got in, shakily buckled my seatbelt and pulled down the lap bar. "Clear!" There was no turning back now... The train lurched forwards. It's a long way up, I thought as we began quickly ascending the hill. I was shaking, absolutely terrified, but I had to ride! The train picked up speed a bit, curving over the hill! SHOOM! Down we went! Up and down, twisting and turning, until finally, SPLASH! The train zoomed back up and slowly made it's way into the station. It was amazing! It's safe to say Diamondback is my new favorite steel coaster: 5/5. Because there was no line, when we got off we went on three more times in a row. As we circled the park, we were constantly coming back, until we had ridden Diamondback a grand total of 10 times today. On our final ride, the man standing in front of us had a red Diamondback shirt that said he had ridden over 14,000 times. Just curious, with that many rides, does anyone on this forum know who he is? The other first ride for me was Invertigo. We were able to walk right on, and I sat facing down the hill, so I went forwards the first time and backwards the second time around the track. It was very jerky, shaking my head very hard. On the second time around the track, after the pretzel loop it felt like my head was being forced down. We only went on it once. All in all, I rate it 3/5. Vekoma's idea is pretty creative, and the track layout is fine, but it's just so jerky! I also went on Vortex for the first time in two years, but almost nothing had changed since the last time. The layout is good, but it really slams my ears into the restraints, maybe even more so than the last time. It's fine to ride maybe once a Kings Island trip, but I honestly don't see why people on these threads love it so much. I hope you enjoyed these snippets from my day, because I had a great time!

After some Googling..people supposedly have seen the ghosts of a little girl in the parking lot, a former employee in the theater, a boy riding the carousel, and people in 1800's clothing walking on the train tracks.

Interesting story! I remember Cincinnati magazine ran a very similar article a few years ago. Also, the Smurf Voyage didn't open until 1984, not 1982 like the author says.

Here at Kings Island: Lion Country Safari opened a day after it's incident in 1976 and the Eiffel Tower opened a week or two after it's incident in 1983. Flight Commander was closed the rest of the 1991 season, though.

I love true ghost stories, but of course those stories are utterly ridiculous. I have read online vague reports that the bumper cars are actually haunted by the ghosts of the eight people killed in the Haunted Castle fire in 1984. But I take that story with a grain of salt.

This year I actually took my very first ride in Flight of Fear and it is an extremely enjoyable ride! The theming is great, especially the lights in sync with the video and the music, and the ride and launch are extremely fun! It is a bit jerky, but it's still a very fun ride. I definitely agree with the other users that Flight of Fear is a very underrated coaster at the park.

Sad news, but not screaming in a rage sad like DCA's Tower of Terror. Mean Streak is (was) on my amusement park ride bucket list (yes, I actually have one). I have never been on Mean Streak, so I can't say how rough I think it is. But one thing I can't stand is when people complain about wooden coaster roughness. I have several friends who won't even go on The Racer or The Beast because they say it's so rough. News flash: a wooden coaster is supposed to be rough. It's what makes it fun IMHO. I do hope they replace it with something really good.

Was at Kings Island today, here are some observations. Thrilling-type music was still playing in The Bat queue. Classical music is still playing on International Street as well. I could not hear the final hill audio on Adventure Express at all. Flight of Fear is looking great, the lights in the queue even flicker at corresponding points in the video they play in the hangar area. They may always have been like that though, this is actually only the second time I've ever been on it. Boo Blasters is probably the worst I've ever seen it. Many effects broken, such as Boocifer behind the fridge only popping out halfway, tourist being chased by skeletons was still, skeletons in bed not coming up, etc. Also, in the front lobby, there are now bright light bulbs inside the chandeliers and a very bright light in the back of the queue hallway.

Am I the only one who heard the guy from GCI guy briefly bring up "a second huge drop?" Maybe I'm just hearing things.

I can't wait! I'm not really a big fan of heights (won't go in anything taller than Banshee) and I love wooden coasters, so I have no doubts this will be a fantastic coaster!

I was thinking...they were talking about creatures in the woods-what if the Splintercat is going to feature on Mystic Timbers?

There was classical music playing today on International Street. Pop music was still playing in the rest of the park, though.

Can somebody please tell me what Guardians of the Galaxy has anything to do with California?

Yes, I've seen that post before, I think it was on Theme Park Expert? Or something like that.

Sine you all wanted to hear the White Water Canyon story, here it is. This was told to me by Lee Allen, who is a member of the Paravizionz ghosthunting group who has investigated the park three times. If this sounds familiar, Jim Wilson, another Paravizionz member, told this on the disappointing Ghost Hunters episode, but skipped a lot of the details that Lee told me. Lee and his group were having an EVP session up in Tower 2 at White Water Canyon. EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomona-paranormal investigators ask the ghosts questions, hoping that the ghosts will respond on their tape recorders. Anyways, they were up in the tower doing an EVP session and heard the voice of the ghostly little girl talking on the other side of the closed door to the stairs leading from the tower. Eventually, they wrapped it up and Lee reached out to grab the door. But the door wouldn't move. Lee said it felt like someone was standing on the other side of the door holding it closed. But of course, no one was. Meanwhile, they could hear the sound of a little girl laughing. Lee kept on asking her to open the door, and then finally the laughing stopped. The group could hear the sound of someone walking down the stairs, then they heard three footsteps in the gravel path, and then silence. At this moment, the door popped open, revealing no one outside or on the path.

Ah yes, Tower 2 at White Water Canyon...one of my very favorite ghost stories from the park comes from there. One of these days I'll have to do a "Clearing Up" Missouri Jane post. Unless, of course, you guys want me to post the story here.

Just got back from the park about an hour ago. Swan Lake (do they still call it that?) was filled and splashing.

I don't know the history of the claws, but you can see them in the KI 20th Anniversary Special, and they were yellow. As for the other prints, I unfortunately don't really know.

Very strange seeing the splashdown not filled. I'm planning on going to the park tomorrow or Wednesday, so I'll see what's going on.

I like Shanghai Disneyland's Pirates ride, especially the skeleton to Jack Sparrow transformation. I still prefer the original Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, though. I still think the best dark rides are the real, physical kind, not 4-D movie rides. The real kind just feel so much more immersive and real. IMHO the best dark ride ever built is the Haunted Mansion. Completely immersive and has head-scratching effects, but doesn't have a hint of video screens (at Disneyland at least, unless you count the Hatbox Ghost's face).