Opening Day Weather

[Mr. Coastermania]

So, the forecast is still looking miserable for this upcoming Friday/Saturday/Sunday. I've been checking Accuweather, weather.com, wunderground, and the local news there in Mason and they're all showing rain all three days.

I'm sure some have experienced rain at the park, are there any rides they run during a sprinkle? Does it ever rain all day, three days in a row? It's sooo depressing to even ask that question

I'm even wondering if I should try to push my reservation back a week, though I would only be able to go Sat and Sun, vs all three days this week...Dont they operate rides in the rain but only with one train on the track?And i would think Flight of Fear or anyother inside ride would be good to go unless there was thunderstorms in the area.With april anything is possible.Lets just hope it dont rain to much and have a great weekend.

[chaddie]

From my experience, rides stay open unless there is thunder/lightning (most of the time). There is always the possibility that it could rain for 3 days straight, Noah had 40 days and night of rain... LOL.

[frisbeefan]

Most of the time all of the rides run in a sprinkle. When I've been at the park during a heavy downpour it has caused the rides to stop operating or run limited operation (i.e. 2 trains running on Diamondback instead of 3). I for one am not a fan of riding many rides in rain regardless of it being a sprinkle or not. During heavy rain you can still ride Flight of Fear and The Crypt, or go to the Festhaus for some food or to get out of the rain.

[Mr. Coastermania]

From my experience, rides stay open unless there is thunder/lightning (most of the time). There is always the possibility that it could rain for 3 days straight, Noah had 40 days and night of rain... LOL.

NO DONT SAY THAT.( I think we need some sunny weather during the day then it can rain over night.when we are all in bed.

[GrandsonofBeast]

I'm just worried that I'm going to take the one trip a year down there, drive 4 hours, spend the whole weekend, and not get a chance to ride any of the rides I've come for. If I knew there was a greater than 95% chance I'd get to ride Diamondback, Beast, and Firehawk, I wouldn't even panic.

I just want to ride them, granted it wouldn't be as nice of an experience as 80 degrees and sunny, but I just want to ride the big rides...

[TheSonofBeast]

I'm just worried that I'm going to take the one trip a year down there, drive 4 hours, spend the whole weekend, and not get a chance to ride any of the rides I've come for. If I knew there was a greater than 95% chance I'd get to ride Diamondback, Beast, and Firehawk, I wouldn't even panic.

I just want to ride them, granted it wouldn't be as nice of an experience as 80 degrees and sunny, but I just want to ride the big rides...

if i were you, i would keep your 3 day week this week. friday is a dead day, rain or shine. even with a new ride last year, everything was perfect. even with the chance of rain, 75 percent of people are no shows. that makes it GREAT for the whole day, regardless of whether it actually rains or not. also, I HIGHLY doubt it will rain nonstop everyday for 3 days... Ohio weather is TOO erratic at this time of year to have that happen... I am going friday and saturday (only if it is still supposed to rain on saturday...)

EDIT: its only gonna be mostly cloudy friday/saturday as of right now, better making your chances or riding MULTIPLE rides on everything you choose.

[bkroz]

I'm just worried that I'm going to take the one trip a year down there, drive 4 hours, spend the whole weekend, and not get a chance to ride any of the rides I've come for. If I knew there was a greater than 95% chance I'd get to ride Diamondback, Beast, and Firehawk, I wouldn't even panic.

I just want to ride them, granted it wouldn't be as nice of an experience as 80 degrees and sunny, but I just want to ride the big rides...

I agree 100% with what your dad said ( Get it? GrandsonofBeast? TheSonOfBeast?!). Kings Island's rain policy is much, much more lenient than that of Cedar Point, who's famous for their rides closing down even before a single sprinkle hits the ground. At Kings Island, some of the rides switch to one train operation (though they technically don't need to, I suppose it's a better-safe-than-sorry kind of thing). Other than that, as was said, it keeps the crowds away.

Recall that much of Kings Island's clientele are locals & area high schoolers who get season passes every year for their birthday, no questions asked, because Kings Island is where they hangout (this, as you may have experienced is not necessarily a good thing). When the forecast calls for a weekend of rain, that large chunk of people (locals) all say "Why would I go if it's going to rain? I'll just go next weekend, and the weekend after, and the weekend after," etc. They have no reason to brave the rain like the ones who travel (myself included).

The rain is really not an issue - it's killer on Millennium. Not so much on Backlot Stunt Coaster. Rain may feel like knives on Top Thrill Dragster, but on Top Gun, it's sort of a non-issue. Not to mention Kings Island has fantastic indoor rides (Flight of Fear, The Crypt, Boo Blasters), unique, much-overlooked shows (you can spend a while in Festhaus and never see the same thing twice!) and some unique food opportunities indoors. And as was said, we're talking a 10 minute wait, tops! And by time you reach a certain level of wetness (see, Elephant on Wildthornberries) you decide "who cares?!" and just ignore the wetness & have fun (see, "Well, we might as well ride White Water Canyon!")

Also know that, at the Florida parks, it rains like clockwork each day during the summer around 2:00 or 3:00 - people deal. And as Kennywood so brilliantly put it, a 30% chance of rain is a 100% chance of fun.

[GrandsonofBeast]

Ok. I agree with you guys. I will go, unless the forecast starts to get out of control (like 3" of rain, everyday).

Dad, er, SonofBeast, where are you seeing "cloudy" on Friday and Saturday? I'm still seeing showers/iso t-storms on weather.com (http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USOH0566)

[TheSonofBeast]

haha, its on accuweather.com for mason, ohio.

[count_of_tuscany]

Weather or not we will be heading down this weekend. Heck, we even went down there for the "Thursday" Halloween Haunt that never took place. That was a bummer - driving 4.5 hours to hear "Sorry folks, park's closed!" I wish there had been a moose there at the time! We ended up going across the street to watch "Zombieland" so it all worked out in the end. Plus we had Fri, Sat, and part of Sunday.

[GrandsonofBeast]

I'm still checking weather.com and accuweather every hour. It was starting to look a hair better, using phrases like "partly cloudy" instead of "rainy", but in the last two hours weather.com has really upped their percentages for the chance of rain, Saturday shot from 30% to 70% and Sunday shot from 30% to 50%.

I'm still holding out hope that the storm breaks up a little bit before making it's way over towards Mason.

[bkroz]

And again I say, these weather forecasts are often incorrect even when forecasting an hour or two in advance. You're wasting your time (and coming across as very ridiculous) to reload the weather page every hour and look at rain percentages and such... If it rains, it rains. Knowing about it five days in advance will make absolutely no difference in the way you handle it.

Whether you check the weather every hour, or check it as you walk out the door, bring a jacket and an umbrella and voila - you're all set and ready for each and every situation that could realistically present itself.

[GrandsonofBeast]

^ That cracked me up. Only because it's so true. My wife thinks I'm nuts and developing bipolarism as I text her throughout the day about the various changes in the chance of precipitation percentages, with my mood varying exponentially more than the percentages themselves.

I'm just soooo excited man, I want to ride Diamondback and Beast so bad!

[bkroz]

You will! Rain or shine! I'm confident that, at least one of the three days, the park will be open.

[TheSonofBeast]

You will! Rain or shine! I'm confident that, at least one of the three days, the park will be open.

actually, the park will be open ALL three days, the rides may or may not be operating all day, but i honestly find it but MAYBE once a year you could go a WHOLE day with no rides open at all... id bet youd get multiple rerides all 3 days, at various points in the day...

[GrandsonofBeast]

They wouldn't close the park would they?!

If I come back to my hotel on Saturday night having ridden all of the best roller coasters (most importantly Beast and DB) at Kings Island over the course of Friday and Saturday I will be one of the happiest people on the planet. I need a coaster fix man!

[Fear the Four]

You will! Rain or shine! I'm confident that, at least one of the three days, the park will be open.

actually, the park will be open ALL three days, the rides may or may not be operating all day, but i honestly find it but MAYBE once a year you could go a WHOLE day with no rides open at all... id bet youd get multiple rerides all 3 days, at various points in the day...

If there is not a thunderstorm rides will not close down. If there is just rain showers through out the day, all rides will run with one train with a few exceptions. Diamondback will run two but is actually quite painful in the rain. I think I remember there was another ride that ran two trains in the rain. It's hard to remember it was like a year ago when I played hookey for the last three days of school

And no I don't think they will close the park if there are severe thunderstorms. They have a few safe places in the park where people stay like Flight of Fear, The crypt, restrooms, and shops.

[GrandsonofBeast]

Hey, I have a few more questions before I head down tomorrow, and you guys have been most helpful (patient ). I have two Cedar Point Platinum Pass Vouchers (one for me and one for my wife). I believe I just need to take these with me to Kings Island and they can process (turn it into?) a Kings Island Platinum Pass.

1) Am I correct that they can do this?

2) What all do I need to bring, just the vouchers and drivers licenses?

3) What are the hours for the processing center? I'll be there around 5:00 p.m. tomorrow

4) How long does this process take?

[bkroz]

Haha to everyone, I know they won't close the park. That's why I "winked."

I have two Cedar Point Platinum Pass Vouchers (one for me and one for my wife). I believe I just need to take these with me to Kings Island and they can process (turn it into?) a Kings Island Platinum Pass.

1) Am I correct that they can do this?

Yes! They "recommend" that you process your pass at the park you purchased it from, and it may take a few minutes for the processor to figure out what's going on, but it will work.

2) What all do I need to bring, just the vouchers and drivers licenses?

Yep!

3) What are the hours for the processing center? I'll be there around 5:00 p.m. tomorrow

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that the processing center is open until park closing. This whole week (when the park is not open) pass processing is open from 4:00pm to 8:00pm, and I believe it'll be open til 10:00 on Friday... At least, I'm banking on it, because that's when I'll get there.

4) How long does this process take?

Literally, minutes. If there's no wait, it will take minutes. They scan your e-ticket, take your photo, and the pass comes out of the machine. Last year I had a Cedar Point pass. There was no question on whether or not it was valid, but apparently e-tickets for Cedar Point Platinum Passes hadn't been scanning all day. They entered the code from the e-ticket manually and there you go.