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Kings Island The Next Cedar Point


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I would love for us to get the sheer amount of variety that CP has fit into their park, but I don't want us to become them. I think doing our own thing at KI is the most important goal that they should have. Be a unique park and don't follow suit. I think Banshee is a good step in that direction.

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Hold the beach, resort, and whole "destination park" thing. The only way I want Kings Island to imitate Cedar Point would be by getting a blitz-like coaster someday, and it doesn't necessarily even need to be designed by INTAMIN either...

EDIT: Oh yeah, and getting a couple of more flat rides at KI sure couldn't hurt. (And neither would a Giga, as long as it's more exciting than MIllie.) :)

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I would be very, very disappointed if Kings Island were to increase its resemblance to Cedar Point in any way. Cedar Point is great, but Kings Island is not Cedar Point. Thank goodness.

The fact that Cedar Fair now has a CEO who recognizes the unique identities of each park is an immense relief to me. It's my understanding that Dorney Park and Valleyfair both have the atmosphere of a Miniature Cedar Point East and Miniature Cedar Point West, respectively, except neither has the fame from the rides that Cedar Point got through Kinzel's 1980's through 2005 leadership. Michigan's Adventure has all the charm of a parking lot, with twice as much concrete and half as many trees. The legacy Paramount Parks seemed to be headed that direction prior to 2011. Now, instead of vaguely placing rides like Dominator wherever they happen to fit, we've got rides like Gatekeeper (a coaster that "guards"/intertwines with the front gate to a park popular for its numerous coasters), Banshee (a ride whose theme plays on the removal of an existing ride with a bad reputation), and Wonder Mountain's Guardian (a ride that takes advantage of existing park infrastructure to add a new level of adventure to the park you already know and love.) It's Cedar Fair's legacy focus on great rides, but it's combined with this new sense for each park's identity. And when they aren't adding rides, they're doing things that celebrate the parks' original identities, like Kings Dominion's fortieth anniversary or the Knott's theming repairs.

It's not quite the Siebert-hyped totally immersively themed amusement experiences of ten years ago. It's not quite Dollywood's year-round events. It's not quite Six Flags' "let's make a themed ride and place it where the heck ever we feel like it" personality like what can be seen at Great America. Cedar Fair's new approach has added personality that no other parks really ever really attempt these days. I like it!

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I think that CP has a handful of good rides but isn't the mecca that some like to claim it is. That's why I only go every few years. I found Gatekeeper to be extremely disappointing, by the way. I was far more interested in its restraints than the ride itself. That was just because Banshee is having the same restraints.

I do, however, agree that the lake and the beach and whatnot do give it a special charm.

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I agree with TombRaiderFTW on all of his points. I can also add this. My permanent residence is in Fairfield, so Kings Island is very much my "home park". Nine months of the year, however, I spend my time in Central Ohio, smack dab halfway between Cedar Point and Kings Island. And yet, anytime people see my Vortex poster and I explain that it's my favorite, they always inform me that since I like Vortex, I "would LOVE Cedar Point because they have so many better coasters!" They always seem shocked when I tell them that, yes, I have been to Cedar Point, yes, Vortex is STILL my favorite, and no, I did not think Millennium Force or Top Thrill Dragster were really anything to write home about and that I'd prefer a lap on Adventure Express any day. When describing a typical day for me at Kings Island, nobody understands why I enjoy "some dumb magic show" more than I enjoy most of the rides (for what it's worth, if given the opportunity to trade Banshee away to get Ed Alonzo back, it would be a very difficult decision for me).

I think Kings Island is more "homey" I guess, in that I can visit over and over and never get bored because there's always a way to make it fresh. Cedar Point strikes me as a once a year thrill that I would tire of rather quickly.

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I've only been to CP a handful of times in my life. It was fun, but I wasn't completely sold. I have been there in the spring and I will NEVER do that again....weather is too fickle to depend on it being a dry/warm/snow free day. Summer you deal with May flies....yummy....and huge crowds. Fall is nice.

Yep....KI is my park of choice in the area. I certainly hope that it doesn't become an Amazement Park on the Rollercoast.

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I will say that when people say that "CP has a lot better coaster" it's kind of an uneducated statement. If you actually look at facts, they aren't that far ahead. I think CP's rides are more "in your face" and therefore make it seem better.

Banshee is definitely in your face, and so is Diamondback... So that's a CF era that has closed the differences gap.. Slightly.

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homestar92: And I agree with all your points as well, although I do very much enjoy Millennium Force, Magnum, Gemini, and Wicked Twister. Since 2008, I've visited Kings Island something like 70+ times, and I live over an hour away. In that same amount of time, I don't think I've visited Cedar Point more than 10-15 times. It's not that CP isn't a great park; KI just has that "homey" feeling, like you said. People don't get why I'd ever prefer KI over CP when the almighty Top Thrill Dragster exists, but I do anyway.

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IF Top Thrill Dragster is the ultimate reason to go to Cedar Point, may I present Kingda Ka?

Magnum XL-200. Oh, how I love that ride.

As for Millennium Force, go ride SFNE's Bizarro and get back to me.

and Maverick.

:)

Great Adventure and Six Flags America also have seagulls.

And where are said parks located?

This is coming from the guy who's only six flag experience was in NE Ohio

Six Flags is a registered trademark of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation.

Great Adventure is New Jersey's Finest Theme Park and America's Largest Seasonal Park.

Six Flags America is in Largo, Maryland, a DC suburb.

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IF Top Thrill Dragster is the ultimate reason to go to Cedar Point, may I present Kingda Ka?

Magnum XL-200. Oh, how I love that ride.

As for Millennium Force, go ride SFNE's Bizarro and get back to me.

:)

Now Magnum XL-200 IS a ride that I would write home about.

People are also shocked when I inform them that I enjoyed Magnum more than Millennium Force (by a HUGE margin). I get the feeling that the height and speed stats are the only things that most non-enthusiasts see when they decide what they like in a coaster.

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IF Top Thrill Dragster is the ultimate reason to go to Cedar Point, may I present Kingda Ka?

Magnum XL-200. Oh, how I love that ride.

As for Millennium Force, go ride SFNE's Bizarro and get back to me.

and Maverick.

:)

Great Adventure and Six Flags America also have seagulls.

And where are said parks located?

This is coming from the guy who's only six flag experience was in NE Ohio

Six Flags is a registered trademark of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation.

Great Adventure is New Jersey's Finest Theme Park and America's Largest Seasonal Park.

Six Flags America is in Largo, Maryland, a DC suburb.

I feel Six Flags should name their parks for where they are, I know they do for some, but I hate to have too look up where a park is located.

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Personally I prefer the Point over KI. I am more of a Roller Coaster kind of person and CP seems more "real". KI is a place that you know(with a few exceptions) are at most no older than the early 70's so it feels very fake and made up by a corporation in little over 40 years. CP with the Lagoons, historical architecture, beach, lake, history, and other old-timey quirks well over a century over many families and owners make CP have a real feel too it.

KI is my home park and will always have that place in my life and like said before it does have more of a homey feel and a place to hang out.

Probably one of my favorite moments in my entire life is when I was 11 years old and I gazed upon MF, Raptor, TTD, Mantis, and MXL200 all in the same line of sight made me feel like 5 Christmas' while seeing your favorite Rock star all at the same time.

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