Maximize # of Rides in a day. Advice?

[YOULLBEBACK]

So, I am trying to plan a day with my kids where we ride as many rides as possible as many times as possible.  My kids love it and thought it would be a fun thing to do as they aren't into the shows too much.  I am imagining all the big rides as much as possible, but also the smaller rides a few times as well...everything from The Beast to Amazon Falls:)  We will probably get fastlane+ for obvious reasons (unless it is super slow), but I had a few questions for you pros. 

1.  How are the Fast Lane lines on busy weekends?  I assume they only sell a certain amount?  I'd hate to buy these and find out it is still a 15+ minute wait due to it being a super busy day or something of the sort.

2.  What's the most # of rides you've done in a day?  Any advice on this?  We did about 45 once last summer but think we can do better. 

3.  I know mornings are best for line avoidance, and knocking out Firehawk, FOF and BLSC makes sense early.  Any other ideas? 

 

 

[teenageninja]

Impossible to predict the crowds.  Fast Lane lines, I've heard, can still be up to 15 or 20 minutes, but that'll be with ride lines being in the hour+ range.  I would pick a Sunday over Saturday, if possible.  Weekdays are the least crowded.  Wife and I rode about all the coasters in the park last night and WindSeeker in about 3.5 hours.

I would always suggest doing Firehawk and FoF first.

[chuck norris]

On a weekend. Mystic line can get long... Might want to prioritize that too. If you really want to maximize, get a gold pass and take advantage of the early ride time... Extra 30 minutes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BB1]

Weekends can vary depending on when you go. Usually, Saturdays are far more crowded than Sundays. However, it all depends on the groups at the park. Definitely try to arrive on a Sunday, less crowds and more opportunities for re rides. Banshee usually is dead with a 5-10 minute wait during the day and could deliver more re rides out of the whole park. If you are looking for maximizing thrills definitely try to hit up the Dback-Mystic-Beast corridor before the crowds bunch in because once it hits 11-12 they will have long lines for the rest of the day. I always say this to people, check out the waterpark. Seriously the lines back there are usually small in comparison to what you have at the park. What could be an hour wait for Diamondback could be 5-10 rides on Pineapple Plunge and several on the drop boxes at Tropical Plunge. OH and don't forget about lunch, the Coney Island BBQ is amazing. Definitely try to go around 1:30-2 pm after the lunch rush pours out and don't forget to try the collard greens. But don't forget that weekdays are usually far less crowded than weekends and could deliver more in park experiences than the latter. Lines are usually half or maybe 3/4 gone on weekdays and usually could call for some great re rides on some fine attractions. Hope you have fun when you go!

[d-lo775]

I did 84 rides in one day at the park by myself (9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.). It was an early June weekday, the year Diamondback opened (2009) and about a week before SoB closed for good. So, before Fast Pass even existed. I managed to ride every adult coaster and flat ride at least twice and several laps on Diamondback that day, as they were allowing re-rides and it wasn't busy at all. It was fun at the time, I had recently moved to Mason and I had always wanted to spend a whole day at the park. Now after living here for over a decade and developing a serious anxiety disorder, I find myself only visiting the park with friends and only spending 90 minutes to 2 hours at the park. I'm more than fine with riding just a few rides. Usually it's just 1 lap on Banshee, Diamondback and Mystic Timbers then it's time to make the short trip home.

I also once got a couple of rides on Diamondback with a guy from England who was on a coaster trip of the U.S. He said he had gotten 68 rides on Talon at Dorney before traveling to KI. This was also on a weekday early into the season and before Fast Pass. He said he had already gotten 76 rides on Diamondback that day and was hoping to get another 10-12 rides in before the park closed at 10 p.m. Unfortunately, I don't think he met his goal, as I left the park about 15 minutes later and as soon as I got to my car, there was a massive downpour.

[LuvingKI]

We've used fastlane every weekend this year and yet to see a 20 minute line. We usually stay tops 5 hours, because you will have rode to your hearts desire for the day by then

[jcgoble3]

I, too, have found that as I get older*, I take fewer rides and more time simply enjoying the atmosphere, and my days at the park are often shorter as a result. Rarely do I show up before gates open and stay until closing anymore. In fact, having short/non-existent lines burns me out even faster than standing in 15- to 30-minute lines.

 

*I was 23 years old when I first got a KI season pass in 2010, and am 31 years old now. So this can happen at a younger age than some might expect. It's not exclusive to Kings Island; I did far fewer rides at Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom two weeks ago than I did on past visits as well.

[King Ding Dong]

No kidding Goble.  One trip last year I had to bribe my 12 year old with a pack of Mambas and the promise of ice cream on the ride home to get him to take another lap around CP.    

[malem]

People's tastes change with time, and marathon riding from open to close certainly isn't for everyone. Personally, I've found myself riding even more as I get older.

The presence of gray hair at coaster events gives me hope that I'll be able to continue marathoning coasters for a very long time to come.

[VortexBFForever]

@malem I hope I'm still riding coasters when I'm a lot older! I occasionally see middle-aged/older adults ride Vortex and WindSeeker. I always think, "I hope I'm still into coasters when I'm their age!"

As for rides in one day, I know on some days I've gotten at least 20 rides total in a 4ish-hour visit. As for individual rides, those who know me well know I have ridden Vortex as many as 18 times in one day (October 14, 2012, and October 20, 2017) and I'm planning to ride at least 20 times in one day this year! And yes, my head is/will be okay, as it has been ever since I first rode Vortex almost eight years ago.

[BeeastFarmer]

12 minutes ago, VortexBFForever said:

@malem I hope I'm still riding coasters when I'm a lot older! I occasionally see middle-aged/older adults ride Vortex and WindSeeker. I always think, "I hope I'm still into coasters when I'm their age!"

As for rides in one day, I know on some days I've gotten at least 20 rides total in a 4ish-hour visit. As for individual rides, those who know me well know I have ridden Vortex as many as 18 times in one day (October 14, 2012, and October 20, 2017) and I'm planning to ride at least 20 times in one day this year! And yes, my head is/will be okay, as it has been ever since I first rode Vortex almost eight years ago.

Egads!  You are probably talking about me!  And I see people who are lots older than me and I hope I still spry enough at their age to still ride roller coasters!

[McSalsa]

At 28 years old, I still try to ride as much as possible. I can confer with Jcgoble on days with no waits being exhausting at times though- it can get tiresome to keep walking around all the time. But I did set a new personal record at Kings Island this year for myself for most rides ever ridden (includes re-rides) in 1 day, with 25. On a Saturday no less, shockingly (it was kinda cool and chilly though).

Going back to the park tomorrow for my 3rd trip of 2018 (which will tie my record of 3 visits I made in 2014), since it is another Saturday this time in June and it will also be Father's Day, I am expecting big crowds so I do not expect to push for maximum # of rides in a day this time. My sister wants to do the waterpark, and it is forecast to be 90+ degrees, so I expect the waterpark to get packed. Part of me hopes that the crowds who do come go there, though, so that the waits on the dry side of the park will be more manageable since the dry side of the park is the one I like better. Plus even if there are crowds on both sides, I know Vortex, Racer, Adventure Express, etc. usually have much shorter waits than other big rides due to their age and high capacity, so I can always fall back on and ride those if it gets crowded since that works usually during Haunt. Plus just getting out of the house and going to Kings Island again will be a fun experience. (Though with the forecasted temps, I am gonna have to drinks lots of water and use lots of sunscreen.)

[harmony29]

Well I think I may be one of the people you are talking about, I'm 48, have gray hair but you can't tell because I color it. Some of my friends my age just don't even care to ride anymore, me I want to go often. We have 15 visits in this year at KI and 3 at CP. If we lived near KI we would be there daily. I only like to marathon certain rides...MT, DB and beast. Only one I can't do back to back anymore is Banshee. I pray that I will be able to ride coasters for a long time to come.

[King Ding Dong]

My father (72) went with us to SFSTL Wednesday and first ride got Batman.  He was done, poor guy.  It was hot and muggy and we all ended up leaving after a couple of hours.  The park was dead as everyone was at the waterpark.  

[jcgoble3]

I spent eight hours at Kings Island today and never entertained a thought of riding anything other than the train. I played a little Pokémon GO, watched Gravity, spent three hours playing more Pokémon GO for Community Day, ate at Reds Grille, and then did two sessions of Sketch School (Sally at 6:30 and Pig-Pen at 7:30). Then left and stopped at Gold Star Chili in Lebanon on the way home.

Yep, I'm getting old already.

[medford]

If you have a season pass, and are flexible on the days/times you can go, you could always try to "risk" it on a day that looks potentially rainy.  We went Wednesday night last week, rain was in the air, but the 2 main cells looked like they were going to pass one just north of KI, and other just south of KI.  I figured it was going to rain a bit while we were there, but we weren't going to see any of the heavy rain, and it wasn't going to last more than an hour (assuming of course that the future radar was reasonably accurate, which is a big assumption).  Not only did we avoid the big cells that was definitely in the area, we didn't get any rain at all on Wednesday at KI.

Mystic Timbers was a walkon, with a couple of people marathoning it in the middle rows.  My wife and son went to ride Diamondback sometime after 9:15 just after my son and I rode Mystic twice in a row, I told her the line looked short as we were walking back to Planet Snoopy and if she wanted to ride Diamondback twice (or more) with our son, I'd be good with the 2 youngest.  They ended up riding Diamondback, Mystic and got to The Beast just a shade after 9:45 or whatever time they close down the line for fireworks and track clearing.  She didn't want to wait that long, so they meet us back in Planet Snoopy for fireworks.  If not for the fireworks, they could have been on Diamonback, Mystic and The Beast in under 30 minutes.

[silver2005]

Here's a trip report of a trip I did last year.  This includes some stops for food and shows, including walking from Bat to the SC smokehouse.  I didn't walk all that fast either, at least, compared to malem and stashua123 (except for riding Beast, AE and Banshee all at night). 

 

[lifetimecoaster]

 We went Monday, rode every coaster in the park, then DB, MT, Vortex, Beast and Banshee a second time, 2 times on Delirium, 1 time on WindSeeker, and 1 time on Boo Blasters (2 adult men on Boo Blasters with no kids) so by my math, that's 21 rides. We didn't hurry through the park by any means, and had Reds for lunch and Coney BBQ for dinner, so both were sit down and enjoy eating the food meals. Got there at open and got off our second ride on Beast at about 9:15 ish. I had time for a few more rides, but I live in Indianapolis, and the thought of not getting home til 1AM and having to be up for work at 5:30 Tuesday had me a little apprehensive about staying later. That being said, Monday was dead around the park, and I don't think I waited more than 25 minutes for much of anything we did. I think that if I really wanted to push it and hurry around, we could have pulled off 30 plus rides.