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KI Hotel Concept


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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.  

 

KI hotel concept.png

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

 

Untitled-2.png

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  • 2 weeks later...
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?

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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 by Dj325
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