Kings Island 2020 Finally Open Thread

[Zader]

On 7/25/2020 at 3:11 PM, MDMC01 said:

it looks like you get massive ejector air on Orion's return hill (before the helix, I think?)

Based completely off of a single ride in row 4, I would say moderate floater

[loganhubbard]

On 7/25/2020 at 3:11 PM, MDMC01 said:

My family and I drove past the park today and it was great to see everything up and running again! Specifically, I saw Orion go as well as The Bat on the lift hill (also, DT was on its way up the tower); everything looked so vibrant! Also, it looks like you get massive ejector air on Orion's return hill (before the helix, I think?).

I've only had 4 rides on Orion, but I only experienced weak floater on the big hill before the helix. The trim absolutely killed that hill and helix for me. I am going back in about 2 weeks to get some more rides, so hopefully the trim has been toned down a bit!

[FUN&ONLY!]

Has Racer’s light package been on this season? I am talking about the color-changing LED lighting that shines up on the structure and not the chaser lights on the lift hill and first drop.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Fall schedule released:

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/explore/calendar-and-hours

[BoddaH1994]

Just now, IndyGuy4KI said:

Fall schedule released:

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/explore/calendar-and-hours

Ah, you beat me to it. 

[bjcolglazier]

1 minute ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Fall schedule released:

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/explore/calendar-and-hours

Nice. I love it when that last day open is in November. Chilly Sunday mornings are my favorite.

[SnakePlissken]

 That fall calendar is terrible. Not open on any Fridays and only open till 8pm on Saturdays. That means the park is closing 5 hours early and it still is almost no night rides. Normally end of September it's getting dark around 7:30pm and fully dark by 8pm. 

Indiana Beach on the other hand is staying open till 11pm and hiring scare actors. Guess where I'm going in October...

 

Editing for the confused person. The last 10pm close is September 19. That is still technically summer not fall 

[FUN&ONLY!]

9 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

That fall calendar is terrible. Not open on any Fridays and only open till 8pm on Saturdays. That means the park is closing 5 hours early and it still is almost no night rides. Normally end of September it's getting dark around 7:30pm and fully dark by 8pm. 

Indiana Beach on the other hand is staying open till 11pm and hiring scare actors. Guess where I'm going in October...

 

Enjoy Indiana Beach’s COVID-19 precautions!

Oh wait... there are none...

We are lucky Kings Island is even staying open in the fall. Obviously, the park cut back hours to stay profitable with limited attendance.

[SnakePlissken]

12 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

Have fun with Indiana Beach’s COVID-19 safety precautions!

Oh wait... there are none...

We are lucky Kings Island is even staying open in the fall. Obviously, the park cut back hours to stay profitable with such limited attendance.

It's been 5 months and it's time to stop living in fear. Also for Bodda's sake fix your quote.

[FUN&ONLY!]

3 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

It's been 5 months and it's time to stop living in fear.

So trying to act safely and responsibly is “living in fear?” There is no excuse for Indiana Beach’s incompetence in its COVID-19 response. They really don’t show their appreciation to their loyal fans by doing nothing to protect them.

[SnakePlissken]

 

4 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

So trying to act safely and responsibly is “living in fear?”

Why should people on here be harassed if they want to go to a park like Indiana Beach. You can still wear a mask and take all the precautions yourself. 

[FUN&ONLY!]

7 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

 

Why should people on here be harassed if they want to go to a park like Indiana Beach. You can still wear a mask and take all the precautions yourself. 

I am not trying to harass anyone. I am just trying to point out that it is not fair to compare Kings Island and Indiana Beach’s fall operating schedules because one is actually taking proper COVID-19 safety precautions while the other one is doing practically nothing at all. The argument was directed towards Indiana Beach and not you.

[SnakePlissken]

1 minute ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I am not trying to harass anyone. I am just trying to point out that it is not fair to compare Kings Island and Indiana Beach’s fall operating schedules because one is actually taking proper COVID-19 safety precautions while the other one is doing practically nothing at all.

2 parks catering to completely different kinds of people then. Indiana Beach has proven this summer that there is still a market for lax or no Covid precautions. Good or bad it is a good business strategy short term. Long term it's gonna hurt them. 

[bjcolglazier]

Get off your high-horse people. Going to ANY amusement park is not proper covid-19 precaution. Hide in your basement. That is literally your best precautionary measure. Stop harassing people on the forum otherwise.

[MoreFogPlease]

10 minutes ago, bjcolglazier said:

Get off your high-horse people. Going to ANY amusement park is not proper covid-19 precaution. Hide in your basement. That is literally your best precautionary measure. Stop harassing people on the forum otherwise.

Nobody is harassing anyone.

There can, and should, be a middle ground between hiding in your basement, and taking no precautions whatsoever. Kings Island has, on the whole, done a pretty decent job of achieving a good balance.

[brenthodge]

On 8/15/2020 at 9:48 PM, FUN&ONLY! said:

Has Racer’s light package been on this season? I am talking about the color-changing LED lighting that shines up on the structure and not the chaser lights on the lift hill and first drop.

No. Not that I’ve seen but they may just not want to steal focus from Orion. It looked like the other night Banshe Lighting wasn’t on either. 

[bjcolglazier]

7 minutes ago, MoreFogPlease said:

Nobody is harassing anyone.

There can, and should, be a middle ground between hiding in your basement, and taking no precautions whatsoever. Kings Island has, on the whole, done a pretty decent job of achieving a good balance.

Until you can pinpoint an outbreak at Indiana Beach, or any amusement park for that matter, you're just blowing wind.

[MoreFogPlease]

3 minutes ago, bjcolglazier said:

Until you can pinpoint an outbreak at Indiana Beach, or any amusement park for that matter, you're just blowing wind.

Who's doing the harassing now? "Do as I say, not as I do."

How exactly am I supposed to point out cases that were contracted at Indiana Beach? I'm not a contact tracer. I don't follow the news at Indiana Beach. Not everyone who gets the virus even knows where they got it from. It doesn't mean we shouldn't take the common sense precautions that many other countries have implemented (and who are now in a much better place than the US).

[wabashcr]

9 hours ago, MoreFogPlease said:

Who's doing the harassing now? "Do as I say, not as I do."

How exactly am I supposed to point out cases that were contracted at Indiana Beach? I'm not a contact tracer. I don't follow the news at Indiana Beach. Not everyone who gets the virus even knows where they got it from. It doesn't mean we shouldn't take the common sense precautions that many other countries have implemented (and who are now in a much better place than the US).

Whether there has or hasn't been an outbreak tied to Indiana Beach doesn't seem like the best assessment of their approach.  Hopefully there haven't been any outbreaks there or anywhere else.  While so much is still unknown about this virus, from what little we do know, at least about effective measures to reduce its spread, any lack of outbreak would seem to be in spite of their approach.  You can factor in that it's located in a remote area with very low known virus presence, but they certainly draw visitors from Indy and the region, which have seen significant transmission.  They gambled, and so far it seems to have worked out for them.  That doesn't mean it was a good or smart bet.  Just because I've hit the hard 6 or 8 at a craps table or a six team parlay doesn't mean it was a smart place to put my money.  Eventually bad bets are always losers.  Considering the stakes of Indiana Beach's gamble, let's hope they make it through the season before their luck runs out.  

Unless anyone here is involved with Indiana Beach's ownership or management, I don't see how anything in this thread could be construed as harassment.  I certainly won't be visiting Indiana Beach, although I probably wouldn't have gone there anyway.  It's never been my cup of tea.  I wish they were taking more precautions, because outbreaks that start at places like that tend to impact lots of other people who weren't anywhere near the place.  

[alsoran]

99.6 percent survival rate per CDC website, if you take the number of people in the US compared to the number of deaths.  That number is not a true number either as it is based on the number of deaths of people that died with covid, or with symptoms and not died from Covid.  I wish I could find the video I recently saw on this as I believe it was asking the CDC on how they deemed the death rate.  Anyway, I know it sounds like I don't care, I do, but where do we stop asking questions to why are we doing all the things we are doing?  Please ask questions, we need actual answers and we are not getting them.  The way this has been addresses is wrong, will I take precautions, yes, as needed.  Would I go to Indiana Beach, not because I am not a fan.  Does there policy scare me? No, there park there choice.  If you don't feel safe going, don't go.  We can all wish everyone thought the exact same way we all do, but that will never happen.  At least I hope not.  I will state my opinion for others to question, but I will not live in fear, nor will I let a .4% death rate dictate what I do.  

[Gordon Bombay]

2 hours ago, alsoran said:

We can all wish everyone thought the exact same way we all do, but that will never happen. 

Yeah, the difference here is that we're not talking about matters of simple opinion. We're talking about the recommendations of educated doctors and scientists vs those informed by their (this is the kind of their you meant to use, by the way). Facebook feeds. 

[BeastieFanatic]

Also worth mentioning that 0.4% of the worlds population is a little over 3 million people. I know it seems like a small percentage but when its viral and you realize just how many people could die, it becomes obvious why we are taking so many precautions

[Gordon Bombay]

3 minutes ago, BeastieFanatic said:

Also worth mentioning that 0.4% of the worlds population is a little over 3 million people. I know it seems like a small percentage but when its viral and you realize just how many people could die, it becomes obvious why we are taking so many precautions

Not to mention, even if you don't die—there's a myriad of other reasons that make this a serious issue whether it's long term effects or simply not spreading it to those who can't afford to be out of work or are the only ones providing for a family, etc. 

Wash your hands. Wear a mask. And just give a darn about your fellow human. 

The more we do all that, the sooner this is all over. 

[BoddaH1994]

1 hour ago, Gordon Bombay said:

Not to mention, even if you don't die—there's a myriad of other reasons that make this a serious issue whether it's long term effects or simply not spreading it to those who can't afford to be out of work or are the only ones providing for a family, etc. 

Wash your hands. Wear a mask. And just give a darn about your fellow human. 

The more we do all that, the sooner this is all over. 

The last line of your post, although I admit that it’s the most selfish reason, is the biggest motivator for me to make sure I mask up. I’m so over this. I’m sure all of you are too.

[SnakePlissken]

I wasn't really sure where to ask this. I thought a couple months ago Cedar Fair decided not to sell any fastlanes this year. I understood the only ones able to use it was people who purchased 2020 Fast Lane in 2019 or winter or spring. I just got an email stating they are for sale for $90 a day. Anybody know when or why they changed their minds?

[wabashcr]

6 hours ago, SnakePlissken said:

I wasn't really sure where to ask this. I thought a couple months ago Cedar Fair decided not to sell any fastlanes this year. I understood the only ones able to use it was people who purchased 2020 Fast Lane in 2019 or winter or spring. I just got an email stating they are for sale for $90 a day. Anybody know when or why they changed their minds?

They started selling the full year Fast Lane again right after they opened, and single day Fast Lane a couple weeks after.  I'm not sure they were ever set on not selling Fast Lane this year.  I think they were just waiting to see how crowds would be, and how Fast Lane would work with all the new restrictions.  They seem to have determined it would work just fine, in relatively short order.  It's a nice source of incremental revenue that costs the park very little.

[FUN&ONLY!]

Has anyone else noticed that Drop Tower is no longer rotating on the way up? Does anyone know why it is no longer rotating?

[BB1]

So it looks like I might have beat a few people to the punch but a few key notes from today's excursion. (I may not have, but I'm not about to search for hours when I'm lacking a few hours of sleep from HWN)

1. They added a new easter egg in the Shed recently I guess as they have a piece of Vortex's rail laying up to the right wall of the Shed. I rode it like maybe 3 weeks ago and I didn't notice it then but it looks pretty cool nevertheless.
2. Banshee was running 2 train ops today, with purple train disassembled with the seat backs laying up in the train storage area. My guess is that it might be back soonish? I don't know, but for those who are planning a trip soon, that's a FYI.

[DeltaFlyer]

17 hours ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

Has anyone else noticed that Drop Tower is no longer rotating on the way up? Does anyone know why it is no longer rotating?

I did notice that. I just chalked it up to be because it’s a product of that company in Liechtenstein. 

[BeastForever]

While I think the park overall has done a pretty good with everything this year with regards to precautions, and commend them for it, if I were to make a couple suggestions, they would be:

1.

I know this would be hard to enforce, and perhaps even harder to get the memo out given how far into the season we are, but I really wish they'd consider nixing the allowance of having your face covering down while eating/drinking and walking in the midways. Because when you have as many guests doing that as they are currently, it partly defeats the purpose.

It also makes mask enforcement that much harder otherwise when you have guests walking with their souvenir cup by their side, who aren't drinking or necessarily even about to drink from them, use that as an excuse to have their masks down (while walking). I've seen countless times guests being told to put their mask up, and them responding by just holding up their bottle, despite the fact that they're clearly not drinking or even about to.

Disney instituted this rule very shortly after they opened for the season:

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/faq-guide-face-masks-disney-world/

Quote

If I walk around all day with a Starbucks latte or premium Mickey ice cream bar, can I keep my mask off? 

No. In response to guests attempting to exploit this “loophole,” Walt Disney World has updated the text of its official policy, updated in-park audio messages & signage, and deployed Incredi-Crew Cast Members to enforce the ‘no walking and eating/drinking’ rule.

Would really like to a see the same policy here. I've never understood why so many like to eat while walking anyway. Just sit down to enjoy it.

2.

I think mask enforcement in lines needs to be upped a little. From my observations so far, that seems to be where the highest prevalence of rule-bending takes place, which is unfortunate, considering its probably one of the areas where particles in the air fester accumulate the most.

On a side note, I'm glad that they're now skipping not one, but two lanes of switchbacks on Beast to keep guests farther away. Certainly a wise choice considering how close together they are normally.

--

As I've said, I think they're doing overall a good job, just thought I'd give my thoughts on what can be done better.