Kings Island article in Cincinnati Family Magazine

[italianchef]

Good Day everyone. Kings Island in an article in this month's Cincinnati Family

Magazine.

http://cincinnatifamilymagazine.com/2014/05/get-away-kings-island/

[BoddaH1994]

“I would never force a child to ride a ride if they didn’t want to,” Talley says. “Don’t do it. I’ve seen parents do it and it’s disastrous. Kids become afraid. Ask them. If they say no, don’t push them,” Talley says. “They will do it when they get older and when they see other older kids do it.”

I saw a statistic somewhere a few years ago that something like 90% of injuries to kids under 10 are caused by them trying to exit the ride while it's in motion.

[APE]

When I rode stuff with my 4 (soon to be 5) year old niece I made sure as we were slowing down to remind her every time to pay attention to what was being said and going on around her. I also made sure she knew she wasn't allowed to try and get up until we were told to do so at a complete stop.

[thatbandguy8807]

I remember when I was working as a ride op and parents were forcing their kids to ride....even when the kid was strapped into their seat with the restraints down and everything the kids were still trying to get out of the seat. i have never understood the parents that scream at their kid and cuss them out because they are crying and pleading for the parent to not make them ride a ride.

[medford]

I never had that experience (forcing our 5 year old to ride). From the moment he's been tall enough to ride anything, he's always been more than willing. However, after riding drop zone several times last year, all of a sudden he became convinced that he was too scared to ride it, or it made his stomach feel funny. I don't ride Drop zone, but Mom loves it, so she was always with him while I waited with our youngest. Since she is pregnant this year, I guess he gets a reprive as I'll only jump on if he insists and talks me into it, he had to force me on Drop Zone rather than vice versa 1x on that thing was enough for me. We'll see if he stays on past seasons pace and grows the next 4" before the summer is over to ride Banshee. Of course, then we'll have to see if Mom will let us, since she's ride free this summer.

There was a comment in there about the best time to go with small children. One little tidbit, and its not going to work for everyone, but if you kids can stay up late enough, the last hour in Planet Snoopy during the middle of the week is often empty. Since my wife is a teacher and the kids are out of school, they generally stay up a bit later in the summer since they can sleep in and take longer naps. You can get a bunch of ride cycles in b/w 9:00 & 10:00 in Planet Snoopy.

Another thing to note, is pay attention to what you kid can ride, you may not think they're tall enough to do much of anything, but there are some things in there. Our 1 year old was on the obvious rides that most parents would think about, the Train, Merry Go Round (x2), Boo Blasters, but she was also on The Monster, and whatever they call the mini-Whip it last season. Neither have a height requirement. My wife said she didn't look like she enjoyed the Monster, but she loved riding Whip It with her brother last season. I'm not sure if she's 36" this season or not, she'll turn 2 in a few weeks, I'm sure she'll love Charlie Browns Wind Up, The Red Baron and a bunch of the other 36" tall rides in Planet Snoopy.