Kings Island 2016 Discussion Thread

[Kenban]

I was at Six Flags Magic Mountain a little over a month ago.  The line to talk to customer service was over an hour, the line to get through the turnstiles into into the park was an hour long as well (used a discount coupon from ACE which did not allow me to use the regular ticket booths).  Yet the food lines moved, the cashiers knew what they were doing and the food came out at a decent rate.  I also really preferred how Six Flags put in a line with switchbacks at most of the larger food locations.  That way everyone waits in a single line and you don't have groups splitting up with one person waiting in each line to see which one is the fastest.  The ride operations were pretty good as well.  Except not all of the trains were even on the rides you could tell that most of the rides were missing at least one which was likely due to off season maintenance.  Also it was VERY windy so several rides had operations issues and several never opened.

 

Six Flags dining plan is a lot cheaper then Kings Islands, they claim normal price is $199.99 which would be more expensive but it has been on sale all year so far for $84.99.  It is good for the entire chain and includes a snack each visit, and even includes the season long drink cup.  The problem with the plan is that you are required to eat the lunch, snack, and dinner in certain set windows.  You can check out the brochure at Six Flags Magic Mountain.  But I would love a snack option so I could go pickup an Ice Cream, fries, cookie, chips, and I really liked seeing the fresh fruit cups.  I would be willing to eat lunch and dinner in set windows to have that option.  But Kings Island has to work on the food service issues and it feels like 90% of the problems is not food prep but the cashier.

[malem]

Since it hasn't been mentioned here yet, according to the the KI&MVRR spiel, White Water Canyon will open on Memorial Day weekend along with Soak City. WWC's reservoir is currently empty, and there appears to be some work being done on the turntable. The new railroad crossing has yet to be constructed.

[Italian Job 2005]

Is Race for Your Life open?

[malem]

Race For Your Life Charlie Brown was operating, yes.

[MaestroJr]

Disappointing to hear that Boo Blasters is still pretty much the same as it was at the end of last season. I really wish the blasters would get fixed! Was really hoping to hear improvements, sigh.

[vermillionlove]

Woohoo I'm so happy to be back at Kings Island again!

 

my bf and I arrived around 2, we only rode Diamondback, WindSeeker, Delirium, shake rattle and roll, and the monster. we stood in quite a long line for some thick cut fries in rivertown after riding Diamondback.

 

When we stopped into The Beast arcade I was surprised to see a DDR machine in there, the machine from the coney mall arcade at that. But I was happy to see the prize redemption table actually being staffed. we played some games (mostly plucky ducky - we walked away with 5 ducks lol) and also played some points games and got some little knickknacks. About DDR, I was pleased to see it was 50 cents. But not too pleased to see the up arrow was having issues. since the 2014 season I think it's had an issue. I just play on the player 2 side.

 

I'm not sure yet what to think of the game cards. They are kind of cool with how they record the games you played and stuff.. but it was fun sometimes finding tokens on the ground in random places in the park and having a big pile of physical tickets to redeem. P: also, I overheard at least 3 people talking about the cards in a disappointed way.

[vermillionlove]

I forgot to mention that it occurred to me later why they may have moved the DDR machine. The sign outside The Beast arcade says "DDR" and in the last season there was no DDR machine in there. Also maybe they want to put more of the games in there that don't give tickets/points when you play *shrug*

[Hoeter]

They NEED power hours.

In Food Service.

How about 11:30 - 2:30

and

5:00 to 8:00

DAILY?

 

This.

 

We were going to eat at RHOFG after getting off Diamondback. Opening was postponed from 11:00am to 11:30am as they were severely understaffed. Several hours later, I hear hosts and hostesses are waiting tables due to the understaffing. We got to Festhaus about Noon and joined the line for Panda Express. Didn't end up eating my food until mic check for Hollywood Nights began.

 

Later on, the group wanted RHOFG. We go back about 6:00pm. 3 hour wait to eat there at this point. No thanks. We ended up seeing if Potato Works in Rivertown had a line. They did, but all four registers were open with about 5-6 in each. We were greeted with an employee shutting down two of them and doubling the size of the line. Ended up eating at Larosas on International Street, which we waited about 15 minutes for. 

 

Funny thing is, I saw Chef Nathan over by Diamondback shortly after this and should have told him about my experience so far. 

 

Additionally, we ran into Greg Scheid after getting off Diamondback. We made him aware of the issues at tolls and he was having this looked into.

 

I have been to Guest Relations more in the last two days than I have in the last 9 years of visiting the park.

[The Interpreter]

The more I think about it, the more I realize that the park MUST do something about the old South Exit.

A. It looks like an entrance. I saw (and heard of) many cars entering there. That's dangerous, and someone is NOT going to have a best day ever there. Perhaps soon.

B. You risk your life, limb and property trying to

exit there if cars are entering the parking lot from the new tolls. Plus, those coming in mistakenly think you are trying to cut line and try to cut you off. Even with a police officer, I and Scooby nearly got hit. I'm not sure, but I think the driver was texting on top of that.

I'd suggest closing the south exit and removing its signage, but the park's exits and traffic problems wouldn't allow that. Getting out of that lot at 10 PM is worse than 90 percent of the parks I've been to. That's sad.

This needs fixed. And soon.

[jdawg1998]

Can someone give me a rundown exactly of what's wrong with the new parking tolls and exits? 

 

On my way out last night around 10:40 I saw that Kings Island Dr. was completely full of cars, at a standstill. 

[The Interpreter]

Part of it is the road construction on Kings Island Drive. That part will eventually go away.

Part of it is guest unfamiliarity. That, too, will go away. More slowly.

Part of it is guests, mostly early in the day, either accidentally or on purpose, sneaking into the exits. ( Saves $18 if you don't have a parking pass. And it's faster. Or a honest mistake) This is a SERIOUS problem. To add to this, to exit the south exit that time of day, you must cross incoming park traffic that thinks you are trying to cut line. It gets really ugly really fast.

[stashua123]

Wish I could swing by their today Terp!

KIC Group Photo Opening Day 2016

Missing a couple of people but it was nice meeting new people!

Forgot to name everyone, sorry I was on my phone at the time and could not look at the picture on Tapatalk without posting it.

 

Photo Credits: IBEW_Sparky

From Left to right: Back Row: Stashua123(me), Malem. Second Row: MDMC01, IndyGuy4KI, Thrill_Biscuit, (I met this guy and he was very nice, but for the life of me what is his username!)EDIT: Thank you, MDMC01, Dr. Zhark.

Fron Row: IndyGuy4KI's son, Cousin of IndyGuy4KIs son.

[disco2000]

Can someone give me a rundown exactly of what's wrong with the new parking tolls and exits? 

 

On my way out last night around 10:40 I saw that Kings Island Dr. was completely full of cars, at a standstill. 

 

It seems like they should have made the new entrance/tolls at the old south entrance - the south entrance was used every operating day and every hour park was open whereas the north entrance was only used on peak days and/or peak hours.  If you arrived in afternoon or evening you would rarely see the north entrance open.  So almost everybody is aware and used the south entrance.

 

Now that south entrance is gone, people will mistakenly use the south exit as an entrance - some by mistake and some as a way to avoid paying parking - that happened in the past as well but not to the extent seen so far because in the past the entrance was in close proximity.

 

A claim made is the entrance was moved to the north to avoid backups onto I-71 - guess what - that is going to be dictated by the light at Western Row - unless that light stays continuous green heading towards Kings Island, traffic will back up to the interstate regardless of where entrance is located.  There are also several lights between Western Row and the new entrance, all playing their part in stopping traffic that will still back up to the interstate.  Yesterday, the lights at the south exit would switch as soon as someone came to the exit - I watched 5 cars get through the short green cycle on Kings Island Drive because a car came up to exit just as the light changed back to green on Kings Island drive.  This didn't happen last year as the entrance was south of the exit - another opportunity to stop traffic on Kings Island Drive that didn't exist last year.

 

Speaking of backing up to interstate - why in the world was Kings Island Drive backed up from new north entrance all the way to the Western Row light (and partly onto "off" ramp from interstate) at 10:20 at night - that's right at 10:20pm it looked like cars were lined up to go to Kings Island.  Maybe a lot of these were parents coming to pick up kids and now to get to the north entrance, they have to fight and compete now against the exits with lights on Kings Island Drive that they didn't have to compete with previously because the south entrance was south of the south exit?

 

Light at Soak City exit was flashing - there is an accident waiting to happen as the traffic heading north was at standstill so someone trying to turn left (south) out of that exit risked driving into moving southbound traffic.

 

Regarding south exit, I mentioned it earlier but may be able to sum it up better and probably more understandable now after dealing with it twice this year.  In the past, KI set up cones at the south exit to allow unrestricted flow to allow two lanes from different directions to enter into exit continuously (only having to stop at light), meaning cars didn't have to stop for traffic from another direction to enter exit.  Now, because of new traffic patterns, KI needs two security guards at the "entrance" to the south exit (roughly 100 feet from light) to stop traffic to allow those to enter the exit from the other direction - this was not a problem in the past and it worked.  Also, the south exit went from 3 lanes out (one dedicated left turn, one dedicated right turn, and one in middle to go either way) and now is one lane left and other lane right out.

 

As Terp points out, with time some of these will work its way out, but I think some just can't because of the new configuration.

[BeautyandtheBeast]

Leaving the lot at close has been terrible for as long as I have been going regularly.  Maybe it's just me but the light at Western row really needs reprogrammed or it needs more than one left turn lane when heading east.  On preview night, going after work, I got to that light around 6:05 or so and it took probably close to 10 minutes to turn left to head to the park.  The line was backed up a long way and the cycles were far too short for the turn lane.  I get that you want to make sure the 71 exit isn't backing up, but there has to be a better balance than what it's been lately.  It'd be faster to go straight through the light, which brings up a question, judging by the map, is there an entrance and or exit on Columbia Rd?  I feel like it'd be faster going that route to head back west on Western Row than trying to get on KI Drive first.  

 

Anyways, preview night was bad on food to continue that thread.  We stopped in Festhaus and the line was basically to the end of the queue.  Got up to the cooler just about to grab pizza and the line just dies.  Multiple people were waiting for presumably a gluten free pizza.  Why they weren't told to wait in a certain area is beyond me.  Instead the line was just standing there waiting to move on while they made a pizza.  Then the cashier took forever as well.  I really wish they would let you preload money on your pass or maybe do the Holiday world thing and give you a wristband with preloaded money on it to shave down time counting out change on top of the other things that slow down a cashier.  By the time we got to the table the pizza was cold.  

 

On an unrelated note, The Beast on preview night had lights on in the helix tunnels.  Is that new or just a maintenance light that should have been turned off?  They weren't giving much light so I thought it might be new theme mine lights or something, but of course it was 7pm so it was still plenty bright to the point the lights might not be showing like they would at night.  Just curious 

[diamonbackandbeastlover]

The enterence at Columbia is One Team Way and for associates only. That too was mistaken for a normal enterence although clearly marked for associates only last night.

[MDMC01]

@stashua123: I believe that the guy in the grey next to Thrill Biscuit is Dr. Zhark. By the way, yesterday was a blast, the highlights being the Banshee rides (all three times for different reasons), Beast, one of the musical numbers in Hollywood Nights (I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen the show...) and walking through Dinosaurs Alive. And that Skyflier ride was memorable, too

[Magenta Lizard]

To add to a previous post I made talking about how I enjoyed what seemed like a renewed focus on theming:

The new funnel cake house looks excellent, and fits in beautifully as an addition to Rivertown. Someone pointed out to me that the roof had been pre-rusted, and I noticed such touches on the other metal pieces like downspouts and flashing. It gives it a worn-in look from the very beginning.

Re-riding Adventure Express in daylight, I'm not sure how much work was done on the theming in the earlier tunnels, but on at least one ride I noticed the sound effects were finally loud enough to be certain of. I only remember ever hearing the rushing wind in the second tunnel in recent years, but I clearly heard snake rattles in the snake tunnel on one of my rides. It makes me long terribly for accompanying sound on the final lift hill, and gives me greater hope for its eventual return.

[MDMC01]

I noticed this a bit too. When in line for Beast, I saw some new "Beast Containment Area #" signs that I thought were a nice touch.

[stashua123]

@stashua123: I believe that the guy in the grey next to Thrill Biscuit is Dr. Zhark. By the way, yesterday was a blast, the highlights being the Banshee (all three times for different reasons), Beast, one of the musical numbers in Hollywood Nights (I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen the show...) and walking through Dinosaurs Alive. And that Skyflier ride was memorable, too

Thank you!!! I had a great time on the Skyflyer, too, you should have pulled the ripcord  . I had a great time too.

[MarkB.]

My 2016 KI opening weekend was pretty much as expected,with a few surprises---

 

 It was opening weekend so I figured there would be some issues with food service and some ride downtime.

 

 Boo Blasters---The sensors were "flashing" at random resulting in my lowest score in years.

 

 KI railroad---Not running for the (at least) 2nd opening weekend in a row.

 

 Eiffel Tower---Possibly the highlight of my trip----On Fri. I (as well as 3 other guests) had my first ever evac. from the ET as the elevator doors were having issues.(We went down the stairs to the lower top deck and then took the 2nd elevator down to the ground---that still counts though.)

 

   I am just happy that my "happy place" is open again for the season.

 

                                                           Later,

 

                                                                  Mark

[PKIVortex]

The train was actually open, I ride it yesterday. Was wondering why the Eiffel Tower was closed all day yesterday.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[Creed Bratton]

I got to ride the train twice, love that thing! 

Had talked to Greg Scheid just around 11:00 yesterday morning and asked why the Eiffel Tower wasn't open (our group had a thought that it may had been due to what happened in Gatlinburg last week but realized it was open the day before). Greg said it needed a replacement part and they were waiting for it to be flown in. He was quiet candid, said things like we had a few hiccups during passholder preview but things are getting smoothed out. Banshee had went down Friday night and Greg said it blew some kind of electrical component and they had it up and running by 10:45 that night to get it ready for yesterday. 

 

[MarkB.]

Good to hear that the train was up and running. I kinda guessed that it wasn't running yet as they may have been working on/with the new crossing for the WWC path.(I saw it leave the station on Fri. with no passengers.)

 

 I hope the next time I get to KI I will get to do my (since I was a kid 3)ET, Boo Blasters and KI & MV Railroad.

 

                        Later,

 

                             Mark

[HotSauceJunky]

My Daughter and I had a great time preview night and opening day.   Our first ever Beast night ride was just incredible, with fog and luckily for us no lights on in the helix.

 

The new entrance looks great, but I think it should be sponsored by an auto insurance company as the merge down from the gate to parking is going to be a problem.  

 

Liked the new swipe card system for games and was glad I was still able to get the buy one get one Ring Toss bucket deal with my Platinum Pass.

 

Fountains for filling water bottles.  Did they have these last year and I simply overlooked them?

 

Given the number of kids and adults that play soccer I was not surprised to see that the soccer goal game was popular.  Definitely going to try that next time.

 

Didn't The Racer cars have logos on the front before?   Also the ride operators were measuring the distance between the front of the car and the lap bar with a small metal rod.  I can't remember this before.

 

Can't wait to go back going to be another great season!!!

[Creed Bratton]

My Daughter and I had a great time preview night and opening day.   Our first ever Beast night ride was just incredible, with fog and luckily for us no lights on in the helix.

 

The new entrance looks great, but I think it should be sponsored by an auto insurance company as the merge down from the gate to parking is going to be a problem.  

 

Liked the new swipe card system for games and was glad I was still able to get the buy one get one Ring Toss bucket deal with my Platinum Pass.

 

Fountains for filling water bottles.  Did they have these last year and I simply overlooked them?

 

Given the number of kids and adults that play soccer I was not surprised to see that the soccer goal game was popular.  Definitely going to try that next time.

 

Didn't The Racer cars have logos on the front before?   Also the ride operators were measuring the distance between the front of the car and the lap bar with a small metal rod.  I can't remember this before.

 

Can't wait to go back going to be another great season!!!

Glad you had a great time. 

I had wondered the same thing about Racer and the logo. The front of the train seemed awfully bland!

[stashua123]

If I remember correctly, they put on the logos about a month or two after the open as Opening Day last year, Racer did not have its logos on the trains yet. 

[Magenta Lizard]

Measuring with the pin (the same tool is used to unlock individual lap bars from the side of the trains, I believe) is a way of determining if the lap bars are down the required two clicks. I've had it done to me in past years, which is kind of funny to me, because I'm not particularly large, but I also do try to keep as much room under the bar as I safely can. Using the tool to measure is generally a sign of a new ride op. After they've been working for awhile, they can judge the distance by sight and don't need the confirmation of the tool.

[stashua123]

^Which is why I had the walk of shame on that ride.... despite being down two clicks it still was not far enough for some reason..... 

[Oldiesmann]

As far as the water bottle fountains go - they did have a few last year, but have put them at all of the restrooms and drink refill stations this year.

[Magenta Lizard]

Oddly enough, the drink machines in International Street La Rosa's have no option for water. I guess the bottle fillers will be even more important this season.

I hope they start selling foldable water bottles at the park. I have one I got at a dollar store a couple years back, but it is showing its age, and I've wanted one that says Kings Island instead, all this time.