Kings Island Announces its 2021 Calendar

[IndyGuy4KI]

Kings Island has announced its 2021 Season Operating Calendar

The park will officially open its gates to the general public on Saturday, May 15. A Gold and Platinum season passholder preview will happen the weekend prior on May 8 and 9.

Key Park Opening Dates:

• Gold and Platinum Season Pass Preview Weekend: May 8 & 9
• Kings Island Opening Day: Saturday, May 15
• Soak City Water Park will open on Saturday, May 29 (Memorial Day Weekend) The complete Soak City Water Park calendar and hours will be announced soon!
• Fall and Winter operating days and hours will be announced later this year.

 

View the 2021 Operating Calendar

As a reminder, all 2020 Season Passes will be honored during the 2021 season.

Kings Island continues to monitor the ever-changing conditions surrounding the pandemic and is actively working with health experts and government officials to maintain the highest safety standards for guests and associates. Guests are encouraged to go to visitkingsisland.com  for the latest updates on requirements, policies and safety protocols for the 2021 season, as these guidelines may be revised prior to opening day.

Seasonal employment opportunities are available, and our new hiring process helps applicants apply and interview virtually. More details can be found at www.visitkingsisland.com/jobs.  

 

[jsus]

22 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Fall and Winter operating days and hours will be announced later this year.

AKA they're taking another wait-and-see approach based on how the pandemic, vaccinations, and summer season go, before finalizing anything for Haunt and Winterfest.

[IndyGuy4KI]

9 minutes ago, jsus said:

AKA they're taking another wait-and-see approach based on how the pandemic, vaccinations, and summer season go, before finalizing anything for Haunt and Winterfest.

It is easier to announce an event at a later time, than announce now and have to retract later if situations change. I think this is the best move for them.

[CoastersRZ]

Interesting that they are choosing to open at 11am.  Hopefully this is just a temporary thing for this season.  I am sure it is to cut down on labor costs.

[BoddaH1994]

13 minutes ago, jsus said:

AKA they're taking another wait-and-see approach based on how the pandemic, vaccinations, and summer season go, before finalizing anything for Haunt and Winterfest.

They said they were going to put more weight on the second half of the season during their conference call.  This is well in line with that. They believe that vaccinations will be more wide spread by then, which is likely. 
 

I’m actually very content with this, given the circumstances. I was expecting almost all 8pm closes except weekends and few operating days before July. 

[jsus]

16 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

It is easier to announce an event at a later time, than announce now and have to retract later if situations change. I think this is the best move for them.

 

12 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

They said they were going to put more weight on the second half of the season during their conference call.  This is well in line with that. They believe that vaccinations will be more wide spread by then, which is likely. 

Definitely.  I wasn't implying anything in particular (e.g. not holding either event), just that they need to have a better understanding of what's feasible, how willing guests are to come out this season, how profitable this season will be, etc.  I imagine we'll see both Haunt and WInterfest in some form, the details of which the park still needs to work out. 

[BoddaH1994]

27 minutes ago, jsus said:

 

Definitely.  I wasn't implying anything in particular (e.g. not holding either event), just that they need to have a better understanding of what's feasible, how willing guests are to come out this season, how profitable this season will be, etc.  I imagine we'll see both Haunt and WInterfest in some form, the details of which the park still needs to work out. 

Plus they weren’t exactly bullish about announcing post season activities at this point anyway. 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Cp has announced their spring/summer event lineup and when they'll take place. I wonder when KI will announce theirs ie Grand Carnivale and summer nights. 

[Winterfestguy]

The calendar is definitely in line with their conference call of “rigorous cost management”.  It appears CP shortened their 150 year celebration this season by a few weeks from their originally scheduled start date of early June in 2020 to start later start date in June 2021 (June 26 this year, also likely a cost cutting move).  I would expect KI to follow “rigorous cost management” and maybe shorten Grand Carnival time.  Instead of the big evening parade, KI or even CP might consider what Universal has done this year due to the on-going pandemic and social distancing requirements.  Universal has parked their Mardi Gras floats this year in various areas throughout the park and has allowed guests to interact with them at various times of the day (I found this much more effective and fun when visiting Universal this year rather than everyone bunching up and climbing over each other during their one, elaborate nightly parade).  Universal’s approach was very effective for crowd control.

It does to remain to be seen what the vaccination rate progress will be by summer, and will likely vary considerably by each state, another big variable for KI (or any Cedar Fair park) 2021 attendance.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

14 minutes ago, Winterfestguy said:

The calendar is definitely in line with their conference call of “rigorous cost management”.  It appears CP shortened their 150 year celebration this season by a few weeks from their originally scheduled start date of early June in 2020 to start later start date in June 2021 (June 26 this year, also likely a cost cutting move).  I would expect KI to follow “rigorous cost management” and maybe shorten Grand Carnival time.  Instead of the big evening parade, KI or even CP might consider what Universal has done this year due to the on-going pandemic and social distancing requirements.  Universal has parked their Mardi Gras floats this year in various areas throughout the park and has allowed guests to interact with them at various times of the day (I found this much more effective and fun when visiting Universal this year rather than everyone bunching up and climbing over each other during their one, elaborate nightly parade).  Universal’s approach was very effective for crowd control.

It does to remain to be seen what the vaccination rate progress will be by summer, and will likely vary considerably by each state, another big variable for KI (or any Cedar Fair park) 2021 attendance.

According to the no coaster con meeting with Tony Clark, they are planning on holding their 150th parade this year. However, knowing how things can change, it is very possible things could change by then. 

[Jeorby Nanpa]

4 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

Interesting that they are choosing to open at 11am.  Hopefully this is just a temporary thing for this season.  I am sure it is to cut down on labor costs.

If shorter hours are to cut down on labor costs (vs. sales) then how does the place operate at all?  I may be missing something.

A few more 10PM closes would be nice but this is the new normal.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Tbh as a KI employee I kinda hope 11 am openings stick around because I kinda would rather have to be there at 9:30-10:30 rather than 8:30-9:30 since I don't have to get up as early. However, not holding my breath. I do hope early ride time returns this year or next year though.

[IceePirate]

3 hours ago, Jeorby Nanpa said:

If shorter hours are to cut down on labor costs (vs. sales) then how does the place operate at all?  I may be missing something.

A few more 10PM closes would be nice but this is the new normal.

The park is also expecting lesser attendance with the continued capacity restrictions and mentality. These times are likely profitable still, but not as much as their core hours they posted this year. It's also interesting to note a lack of midnight closes in the schedule this year as well

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

17 minutes ago, IceePirate said:

The park is also expecting lesser attendance with the continued capacity restrictions and mentality. These times are likely profitable still, but not as much as their core hours they posted this year. It's also interesting to note a lack of midnight closes in the schedule this year as well

I believe the plan last year before covid hit was there was going to be less midnight closings with them wanting to respect their neighbors who complained about the coasters being too loud when they were trying to sleep. 

[Snowball]

1 hour ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

I believe the plan last year before covid hit was there was going to be less midnight closings with them wanting to respect their neighbors who complained about the coasters being too loud when they were trying to sleep. 

Not to restart this discussion buuuut...

 

WHY WOULD YOU BUY A HOUSE NEXT TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK AND THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT NOISE

 

That is all.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

39 minutes ago, Snowball said:

Not to restart this discussion buuuut...

 

WHY WOULD YOU BUY A HOUSE NEXT TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK AND THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT NOISE

 

That is all.

Normally I would agree with that, but the one guy's family owned the property before the park was built so he does have a little bit of room in there. However, let's not get into an argument on this and stay on topic. 

[NightlyBeast]

Limiting hours during the part of the season I visit the most is a great way to get me to just write off the season. 

 

16 hours ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Normally I would agree with that, but the one guy's family owned the property before the park was built so he does have a little bit of room in there. However, let's not get into an argument on this and stay on topic. 

He's free to move whenever he wants... 

[jsus]

9 minutes ago, NightlyBeast said:

Limiting hours during the part of the season I visit the most is a great way to get me to just write off the season. 

Sweet, shorter waits for the rest of us.

[FUN&ONLY!]

Cedar Point is reopening their indoor theater. They are also bringing back early entry, and they are opening at 10:00 AM for the general public. It is too bad Kings Island isn’t doing any of this. However, if attendance is good at Kings Island, I could see indoor shows returning in the Fall and Winter, and I could see 10:00 openings resuming.

Also, this is off-topic, but it looks like Cedar Point updated their website design. Knott’s Berry Farm did the same thing, so I could see this being rolled out for all Cedar Fair parks.

[SnakePlissken]

You now have to hover on each date to see the hours and that is just dumb.  I hope that gets fixed or doesn't roll over to other Cedar Fair sites.

[jsus]

22 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

You now have to hover on each date to see the hours and that is just dumb.  I hope that gets fixed or doesn't roll over to other Cedar Fair sites.

 

It's really poorly designed, both aesthetically and functionally..  The aesthetics of the overall site are bad - vast white voids without even a dark mode.  The calendar in particular is poorly designed and built.  I'd rather use a static PDF than this "interactive" calendar.  They need to revert to the old design, IMO, as I don't see any benefit from the new design.

In month view, yes, you have to hover over/click each date to view hours.  There's a clock icon that's supposed to tell you they're open if it's blue, otherwise closed if it's gray?  But it doesn't show you all the hours?  Why?  And there are star icons for each event on the calendar, but you have to look below to find what that even means?  It's neat they tried to integrate the event calendar with the hours calendar, but this is bad design..  You also can't drag/swipe to get to the next month, unlike..

In week view, it does give you daily hours.  But week view doesn't show the full week.  It shows no more than 6 days starting with the current day of week, and you have to figure out yourself to drag the days across.  When you use the arrows to jump by week, it jumps to the current day in the next week.  When you get to the end of the month, it doesn't continue seamlessly - e.g. it'll show Sunday, Feb 28, and then... nothing.  Dragging/swiping doesn't pull up March 1 and on.  You have to use the week arrows; if you drag/swipe past the end of the month, you get blank days.

20 hours ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

They are also bringing back early entry, and they are opening at 10:00 AM for the general public.

Am I confused or did CP's calendar list 11a opens when it first went live?  Currently KI still lists 11a opens through the summer season.

[FUN&ONLY!]

46 minutes ago, jsus said:

Am I confused or did CP's calendar list 11a opens when it first went live?  Currently KI still lists 11a opens through the summer season.

I seem to recall Cedar Point also opening at 11:00 AM like Kings Island, but I may be wrong. Now their calendar has 10:00 AM opening every day.

[jsus]

28 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I seem to recall Cedar Point also opening at 11:00 AM like Kings Island, but I may be wrong. Now their calendar has 11:00 AM opening every day.

Yep, they've changed it already..  3 days ago

vs. today.

[FUN&ONLY!]

3 minutes ago, jsus said:

Yep, they've changed it already..  3 days ago

vs. today.

I hope Kings Island does the same thing. I also hope they bring back Early Entry like Cedar Point.

[SnakePlissken]

Looks like Frontier Festival is starting really early this year.

[jsus]

20 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

Looks like Frontier Festival is starting really early this year.

Yep.  Starts mid-May instead of June from way back in 2019.  Also starts 2 hours earlier.

This year: "Weekends May 14-16 and May 21-23, Daily May 28 – June 13"

"The festivities begin at 2 p.m. so don’t miss a minute of finger-lickin’, foot stompin’ fun. "

Source: https://www.cedarpoint.com/events/frontier-festival

2019: "The festival will run daily from 4 to 10 p.m. June 7 through 30 in Cedar Point’s Frontier Town section"

Source: https://www.toledoblade.com/business/development/2019/02/22/frontier-festival-event-cedar-point-old-west-sandusky/stories/20190222105

[CoasterFan3180]

Worlds of Fun has announced their operating calendar for 2021, they will be bringing Haunt back but they are not having Winterfest this year, I wonder why that is and what it could mean for Kings Island and other parks’ Winterfest.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

I wonder why KI hasn't announced anything on Grand Carnivale yet. 

[CoastersRZ]

I am kind of surprise that Worlds of Fun made the announcement that WinterFest will not be returning this year.  Seems kind of early to make that announcement.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

20 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

I am kind of surprise that Worlds of Fun made the announcement that WinterFest will not be returning this year.  Seems kind of early to make that announcement.

From what I saw on an instagram story, he contacted WOF and asked and the response he got was it was to help with investments and stuff in the park. I believe it has to do with CF making necessary cost cuts to help with recovery. 

Link to story: https://instagram.com/stories/rideallnightofficial/2522353621652653069?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igshid=4u1uoedsopxx