Kings Island Tracking Spreadsheet

[Beatles]

Hi - I’ve been lurking on the forums for just a little while.  My family and I have Kings Island season passes this year and I, like my true obsessive self, have created a spreadsheet to track our visits, rides, meals, and overall trip value.   

1) Just wondering if anyone else has similar tracking mechanisms they would like to share; and

2) Here is the Read Only link to my spreadsheet.  I’m not great with excel so I’m sure it’s inefficiently drawn up.  Let me know your thoughts/suggestions

https://1drv.ms/x/s!AklRwRpH_Q5PuGsfnBI4MsHuOurD

 

 

[Magenta Lizard]

Yeah, I have a spreadsheet I originally started to track the change and other strange things I pick up off the ground when I’m at the park. I’ve expanded it over the years to include things like how many meals I get and from which locations, and I try to make a short note of something unusual or interesting about that day. I also have calculations for how much cost I’ve averaged per meal and per visit. This early in the season I’m already down to it costing less than $10 per day admission and $5 per meal. 

[chad_1138]

I have a google sheet that breaks down our per visit and per meal cost as well.  

[standbyme]

It sounds cool to be able look back in the future...I’m sure things would appear cheap...but, right now, I wouldn’t want to know how much I actually spend when I come to the park each time! 

[Hoeter]

This looks good!

I did something similar to the 2016 season where I tracked my visits between KI and CP. I also tracked usage of the drink and meal plans as well as admission and parking at both parks. As I amassed close to 30 visits for the season, the final numbers in regards to what it would have cost and what I saved was an eyeopener- it was several thousand dollars once all was said and done.

[harmony29]

I think more people do this than we realize. I don't have a computer so I only am able to use Google sheets on my phone, but I've started tracking everything for meals, drinks, merchandise, money found. I'm anxious to see at the end of the year how it turns out. I don't live nearly as close to the park as some of you do but I'm already seeing I'm saving quite a bit with the dining and drink plans.

[DonnaFan]

That spreadsheet above is incredible. I've only been to KI once this season, for the first time since the 90s, so this has given me an idea to start. My type A side is excited to learn so many people track their visits.

Do you all take notes through the day on each visit? I would probably forget what we did, especially the number of rides.

[MDMC01]

That is a really well organized spreadsheet! I only track rides and stuff I do. I use a Word document to track all the rides, shows, etc. that I've seen and done (I've been tracking my rides since 2010) and I also have an Excel Document that shows the yearly totals for only the rides. In the Word document, I break it down by Coasters/Flats/Water Rides and also have special categories like Night Rides, or ERT (which actually doesn't count towards the overall #; for example, since my first ride on Autos was during ERT, it doesn't count in my overall total of how many times I rode Antique Autos). I also have other categories like Shows or Haunt mazes. My Excel document just tracks yearly totals for the rides (and groups the water rides with the flats) as well as the first and last ride of the season(s) were (used to have a Worksheet for the Top 3 most ridden rides in a category, but I don't have that anymore). Finally, I used to write trip reports after each visit, but that proved to be too time-consuming. While at the park, I write down the rides I've ridden on my phone (in order), which I use to help me enter the stats after each visit.

[Hampshire24]

Might be good to consider you can get parking for $17 online. This way you get a truer number on costs.

[Beatles]

13 minutes ago, Hampshire24 said:

Might be good to consider you can get parking for $17 online. This way you get a truer number on costs.

This is a great point. Will incorporate it. Thanks!  

[IndyGuy4KI]

Would some of us visit as much as we do if we did not have a drink and meal plans? I know my visits went up after buying meal plans for the family. You want to get your moneys worth out of your investment, plus it makes it easier to know drinks and meals are already taken care of for the day on your visit.

[flightoffear1996]

We actually dropped the meal plan this year and talked about going to the park Sunday but opted out because we didn’t have the meal plan. 

[Hampshire24]

This is a good article I read from one of the personal finance sites I regularly frequent outlining how someone could eat 2 meals a day every day for about $160 by getting a season pass and dining plan at a year round Six Flags. Article

Of course this wouldn't work as well at Kings Island, since it is not open year round, but you could certainly cut your food costs down if you live close to the park by getting the meal plan. I left the comment on the article where I figured the cost per meal would be about 70 cents per meal if you ate two meals per operating day.

[Bansheelover]

On 5/19/2019 at 7:49 AM, Beatles said:

Hi - I’ve been lurking on the forums for just a little while.  My family and I have Kings Island season passes this year and I, like my true obsessive self, have created a spreadsheet to track our visits, rides, meals, and overall trip value.   

1) Just wondering if anyone else has similar tracking mechanisms they would like to share; and

2) Here is the Read Only link to my spreadsheet.  I’m not great with excel so I’m sure it’s inefficiently drawn up.  Let me know your thoughts/suggestions

https://1drv.ms/x/s!AklRwRpH_Q5PuGsfnBI4MsHuOurD

 

 

Very interesting concept here, I do not track anything at all. I am however disappointed in the low number of Banshee rides you have taken. 

[Beatles]

4 hours ago, Bansheelover said:

Very interesting concept here, I do not track anything at all. I am however disappointed in the low number of Banshee rides you have taken. 

Ha! I too am disappointed.  So the first two visits of this year, our 9 year old was a little skittish of any of the bigger roller coasters.  Ergo a large number of rides on BLSC at the beginning.  I am proud to say that In the beginning of May, she rode Banshee and it is now her favorite Coaster.  

We are working hard to drop BLSC in the rankings.

 

15 hours ago, DonnaFan said:

That spreadsheet above is incredible. I've only been to KI once this season, for the first time since the 90s, so this has given me an idea to start. My type A side is excited to learn so many people track their visits.

Do you all take notes through the day on each visit? I would probably forget what we did, especially the number of rides.

I do keep a running list in the Notes on my phone, just of what was ridden, how many times ridden, and who rode it.

But the other responses here are full of ideas that I hadn’t thought of.

[VortexBFForever]

I have a spreadsheet too! Mine is titled "Amusement Park Data" because I use it to keep track of ride counts at not only Kings Island but other parks as well!

I keep track of how many times I ride the rides each year since my first KI visit in 2007. In fact, back in 2010, I would make Top 10 lists of rides I've ridden the most after every visit, which was how I was able to keep track of my rides early on. I also have made a bar graph as a visual representation of how the years' counts add up from 2007 through the last completed season (2018), below which I have the most important feature: the date it was last updated. I added that in 2017 since I started going to the park nearly every day and I had nearly lost count way too many times.

You will notice that I still have a number of Nickelodeon Universe ride names on my spreadsheet. Another notable observation is that since 2017 (my first season working at KI), one particular ride has triple-digit counts...