KI Hotel Concept

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

After spending some time looking around at large pieces of land by the park and Soak City, I decided to come up with a hotel concept using some of the large chunks of grassy land by Soak City and the associate road. The biggest obstacle with this concept is that it would require a lot of work on KI drive to accomodate for an entry and exit road for the new hotel. I basically did was that the employee entrance would also serve as a hotel entrance. The hotel would be known as the Kings Island Grand Lodge. It would feature about 200 rooms and suites, an outdoor swimming pool/spa, a full service restaurant and bar, a fitness center, a business center, and a full service breakfast buffet. Plus, a stay at the hotel would get you free entry into Kings Island and Soak City (meaning the cost to stay would be pretty expensive, but season passholders would get a big discount). It would also include a skywalk that connects the hotel to Soak City that would be accessed by your room key. Remember, this is all a concept and just me dreaming. I have absolutely no inside information from the park.  

 

[Cheesy Gordita Crunch]

Exactly where I was thinking!

[coaster sally]

I mean the only reason I Stay at Breakers or Universal premier hotels is due to logistics.  It takes no effort to get into KI IMO.

[King Ding Dong]

No Polar Coaster Hotel? 

[IndyGuy4KI]

5 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

No Polar Coaster Hotel? 

I think a concept idea for KI on KIC would have a better chance of being built first. 

[bjcolglazier]

That whole intersection is very "blah". The city of Mason needs to put up a "Welcome to Kings Island" banner or something. You get off the interstate and yes, sure you can see some of the coasters and all, but rather underwhelming. That land he put a hotel on must be worth a fortune. And yet it sits empty. 

[PKIDelirium]

I'm pretty sure the park owns that land, but at the same time, it seems it would be too similar to Great Wolf and potentially not have enough market for that kind of resort, especially with Camp Cedar coming into play.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

4 minutes ago, PKIDelirium said:

I'm pretty sure the park owns that land, but at the same time, it seems it would be too similar to Great Wolf and potentially not have enough market for that kind of resort, especially with Camp Cedar coming into play.

Well Sandusky has a Great Wolf and multiple hotels that are similar. ie.. Castaway Bay, Kalahari. It likely wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I do agree it isn't likely. 

[JimParker85]

I think a year round smaller to moderate sized hotel with a name brand that the park has ownership of and offers perks with could be very successful. Pair it with the next major coaster debut season. (Similar to Carowinds Springhill Suites)

 

[PKIDelirium]

Scaled back, the concept could work. Perhaps seasonal-only, and less of the "resort" aspects that would be directly competing with Great Wolf. If you have a year-round resort level hotel like that without an indoor waterpark like the GWL down the street, it's not going to do very well outside of the main season, especially with Camp Cedar's year-round operation and winter-friendly lodge and other amenities being promoted.

If Cedar Fair had been in charge when the campground land was sold to Great Wolf, I expect they would have built their own major resort there, with indoor waterpark and all, on that site and a modernized replacement campground behind it.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

5 minutes ago, JimParker85 said:

I think a year round smaller to moderate sized hotel with a name brand that the park has ownership of and offers perks with could be very successful. Pair it with the next major coaster debut season. (Similar to Carowinds Springhill Suites)

 

I was actually thinking of this when dreaming up the concept. Or maybe open the hotel the year of a Soak City expansion (with my concept it is connected to Soak City) and have the Soak City expansion be the year before the next big coaster debuts similar to the last addition to SC where Mystic Timbers followed it. 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Just now, PKIDelirium said:

Scaled back, the concept could work. Perhaps seasonal-only, and less of the "resort" aspects that would be directly competing with Great Wolf. If you have a year-round resort level hotel like that without an indoor waterpark like the GWL down the street, it's not going to do very well outside of the main season, especially with Camp Cedar's year-round operation and winter-friendly lodge and other amenities being promoted.

If Cedar Fair had been in charge when the campground land was sold to Great Wolf, I expect they would have built their own major resort there, with indoor waterpark and all, on that site and a modernized replacement campground behind it.

The concept has no indoor water park. Just an outdoor pool and is connected to Soak City by a room key access (which is more of a pipe dream than realistic part of the concept). The hotel would be year round operation though. 

[PKIDelirium]

That's why I specified "without an indoor waterpark" in that post.

Paramount had no interest in operating resorts, while Cedar Fair was already an experienced operator even just in Sandusky, both on and off the peninsula. Paramount's sale of the campground land to a third party really threw a wrench into Cedar Fair's options down here.

Now, if Cedar Fair were to buy the KI Great Wolf and completely rebrand/retheme it, that combined with Camp Cedar would be a really nice combination of year-round resort options. That said, I doubt GWL would be interesting in selling the location.

[BeeastFarmer]

I think the only way for a resort at KI is if CF were to buy GWL and renovate it.  Unless they have renovated it in the last three years, it is still a faux resort.  The plot that @Hawaiian Coasters 325 is discussing might be good for a hotel property, similiar to what Carowinds did, but I don't think a resort would do well there.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

1 minute ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I think the only way for a resort at KI is if CF were to buy GWL and renovate it.  Unless they have renovated it in the last three years, it is still a faux resort.  The plot that @Hawaiian Coasters 325 is discussing might be good for a hotel property, similiar to what Carowinds did, but I don't think a resort would do well there.

My concept is more of a hotel than a resort. More realistic would definitely be a smaller hotel more like Carowinds' new Marriott. I definitely think they should do something in one of these large grass plots as that is prime land right on KI drive. Either a hotel or even some more expansions to Soak City would be nice. The biggest obstacle would be the associate roads there, but I think those can easily be rerouted. 

[BeeastFarmer]

^Zoning could also be an issue.  I am sure the neighbors on down Western Row Road would not want to have additional traffic blocking their quieter neighborhood. 

[Oldschool75]

Here is a crude diagram I put together I think would be beneficial for KI and the area. 

Adding a Hotel Breakers style Hotel and enclose the wave pool to be used in the winter time by Hotel guests. Also add a Kings Island Convention Center that can hold regional events.

 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Looks great! How big would this convention center be compared to let's say the Duke Energy Center or Sharonville Convention center nearby? 

[Oldschool75]

I used the Sharonville Convention center in this image

 

[Kenban]

For people not familiar with the Sharonville Convention Center.  You grabbed the convention center and the directly connected hotel next door.

[Dj325]

On 5/31/2021 at 2:21 PM, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

The hotel would be known as the Kings Island Grand Lodge.

If the hotel would be next to Soak City, why not give it some kind of beach themed name. Example: Castaway Harbor: hotel & lodge. Also, do you think they could add a water maze attraction themed to being stranded on an Island and your goal is to try to get off of it?

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

2 hours ago, Dj325 said:

 Also, do you think they could add a water maze attraction themed to being stranded on an Island and your goal is to try to get off of it?

Boy would my supervisor Nick love that lol. He hated working water maze lol. 

[Dj325]

13 hours ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Boy would my supervisor Nick love that lol. He hated working water maze lol. 

Yeah, I know.

Again, I think if they were to add this kind of hotel next to Soak City, I think it should be named this:

Castaway Harbor Hotel

I would love that!! I think it could a good job in terms of marketing. But that last part might depend on how Camp Cedar does, whenever that thing is opening!

Edited June 22, 2021 by Dj325

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Did a little hotel mockup idea

 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

On 6/1/2021 at 10:04 PM, PKIDelirium said:

Now, if Cedar Fair were to buy the KI Great Wolf and completely rebrand/retheme it, that combined with Camp Cedar would be a really nice combination of year-round resort options. That said, I doubt GWL would be interesting in selling the location.

I think either a strong partnership with or an outright buyout of GWL would be the best option. It would be great if Kings Island could also go back to having a partnership with Camp Cedar, but CC still needs a little more time to develop IMO. It definitely still needs more trees. Ironically (or unironically, however you see it) I think the other best spots for a KI-associated hotel are either on the Great Wolf Lodge site or on the former Kings Island Inn site. The latter is currently owned by Warren County, but may still be zoned for hotel usage. If they really wanted to put it on that corner site then they could build something as big as Hotel Breakers if they really wanted to. The area to the west of the former Columbia Road is a little over 11 acres and the hotel portion of HB is less than that (the parking lots would probably fill out the rest of the space). I'll put some nearby hotel site acreage below for reference.

• Residence Inn by Marriott: 2.57 acres
• Comfort Suites: 1.74 acres
• Hampton Inn: 1.47 acres
• Tru by Hilton: 1.81 acres
• Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham: 1.26 acres
• Baymont by Wyndham: 1.02 acres
• Quality Inn: 5.02 acres
• TownePlace Suites by Mariott: 2.22 acres
• Great Wolf Lodge: 29.27 acres (w/ parking lots); 10.88 acres (hotel, waterpark, & convention center only)
• available development acreage on this plot: 11.24 acres (see below)

As for that site at the corner of KI Drive and Western Row Road, I think it'd be great for more waterpark expansion. I keep hearing that Soak City is always packed so why not add more where you have the space. It's also away from the high voltage power lines, so the development can be denser than elsewhere in the waterpark. For more sizing reference, the area of Soak City on the left side of the power lines is also 11 acres. The corner with the on ramp also definitely needs a welcome sign. I'd advocate for building it up more than the one near the parking lot entrance as well since there's nothing else currently there.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

The KI Inn site is basically off the table now as Rivers Crossing announced a few weeks back they are going to be expanding onto that site. I believe they're developing half the lot into parking. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Oops, I didn't realize they'd already purchased more of that site since I last looked in November.