Kings Island 2024 Food Reviews and Discussion

[Taylor.B03]

On 5/25/2024 at 11:02 PM, IndyGuy4KI said:

Todays was much better! for me as well.

Looks spot on like how mine did!

[disco2000]

Hey @Tr0y - interesting that they will readily give away extra plates and bowls for people to share the meal, yet ask for sour cream on the side in a piddly little container and they say that isn't allowed...

[DispatchMaster]

Not remotely surprising that they would be more generous with a plate that costs them a few pennies than they would with a condiment that probably costs at least an order of magnitude more.

[disco2000]

Oh but the condiment was free if you let them add it to the food.  It was asking for it on the side in the abundance of containers just sitting there that was the issue.  Maybe need to ask for an extra plate and dump it on there instead lol.

[Tr0y]

10 hours ago, DispatchMaster said:

Not remotely surprising that they would be more generous with a plate that costs them a few pennies than they would with a condiment that probably costs at least an order of magnitude more.

Well if you would have been to the park in the last couple seasons you would know He’s talking about Enrique’s (KI’s chipotle)

The sour cream is included with the meal. He is just asking for it to be on the side instead of it being on his burrito. I can assure you those little condiment cups are cheaper than the bowls they put your food in.

[disco2000]

1 hour ago, Tr0y said:

Well if you would have been to the park in the last couple seasons you would know He’s talking about Enrique’s (KI’s chipotle)

The sour cream is included with the meal. He is just asking for it to be on the side instead of it being on his burrito. I can assure you those little condiment cups are cheaper than the bowls they put your food in.

And they offered it on the side just the day before lol.  So inconsistent.

Speaking of "on the side", Skyline freely puts people's skyline, cheese, and onions in their own containers so they can take it home without it being a big sloppy mess if fully assembled at KI for the ride home...

People talk about the chain is cutting portion size to prevent sharing, yet they freely give away an extra plate for sharing and accommodate folks wanting to pack the food up to take home, yet some sauce on the side to enjoy the meal in the park is a no-no lol.

[Tr0y]

For the first time this season The French Corner was open when I visited. Best believe at 86 degrees outside that I finally redeem a coffee with my drink plus plan.

There are two options. I opted to get the French Roast. It isn’t Starbucks, but caffeine is always good. Their is half and half, sugar and or sweeteners to add at your discretion.

[DispatchMaster]

14 hours ago, Tr0y said:

Well if you would have been to the park in the last couple seasons you would know He’s talking about

Or, you know, if he would have provided context for the complaint.

14 hours ago, Tr0y said:

I can assure you those little condiment cups are cheaper than the bowls they put your food in.

Are you sure about that? Assuming you're talking about the small plastic cups with lids, I would assume those are more costly than the biodegradable paper-based bowls. Seems like a petroleum-based product would be inherently more expensive than something made from a renewable resource, but I don't claim to be an expert.

At any rate, I feel like this is a mole hill out of an atom. There are far more important things to concern oneself about rather than the consistency of condiment availability. 

[DJSkyFoxx]

On 6/4/2024 at 7:20 PM, Tr0y said:

For the first time this season The French Corner was open when I visited. Best believe at 86 degrees outside that I finally redeem a coffee with my drink plus plan.

There are two options. I opted to get the French Roast. It isn’t Starbucks, but caffeine is always good. Their is half and half, sugar and or sweeteners to add at your discretion.

I would have definitely gotten the premium drink plan if iced coffee was an option because that's all I drink as far as coffee goes. Well, that and cold brew. I like the fact that they are less acidic and cold brew offers more caffeine. Maybe next season that will be an option. I don't care if its a house made coffee. Or even one of those machines like gas stations have that you can get your iced coffee out of. 

[Stoan]

On 6/4/2024 at 7:20 PM, Tr0y said:

For the first time this season The French Corner was open when I visited. Best believe at 86 degrees outside that I finally redeem a coffee with my drink plus plan.

There are two options. I opted to get the French Roast. It isn’t Starbucks, but caffeine is always good. Their is half and half, sugar and or sweeteners to add at your discretion.

Ohhhhh, that is where you get coffee. That was going to be a year-long mystery, now I just have to wait for French Corner to actually open

[Tr0y]

6 hours ago, DJSkyFoxx said:

I would have definitely gotten the premium drink plan if iced coffee was an option because that's all I drink as far as coffee goes. Well, that and cold brew. I like the fact that they are less acidic and cold brew offers more caffeine. Maybe next season that will be an option. I don't care if its a house made coffee. Or even one of those machines like gas stations have that you can get your iced coffee out of. 

You can make it cold brew, just ask for ice.

Also this time I tried the house blend. Not as good as the French roast.

[disco2000]

5 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

You can make it cold brew, just ask for ice.

Also this time I tried the house blend. Not as good as the French roast.

They didn't upcharge you for the ice

[IndyGuy4KI]

I had the rotisserie chicken today at Coney BBQ and was probably the next I've I have ever had there. Very juicy. 

[Tr0y]

Say what you want about the food portions this season. The food options so far, are better than last season.

The street taco fries from Potato Works are delicious!

Edited June 11 by Tr0y
Fries*

[DispatchMaster]

Is that a street taco? 

[BoddaH1994]

On 6/4/2024 at 7:20 PM, Tr0y said:

For the first time this season The French Corner was open when I visited. Best believe at 86 degrees outside that I finally redeem a coffee with my drink plus plan.

There are two options. I opted to get the French Roast. It isn’t Starbucks, but caffeine is always good. Their is half and half, sugar and or sweeteners to add at your discretion.

They also have coffee in Graeter’s. I had it there, although they only had sugar to put in it. It would be nice if they had more options for creamers and so on if this aspect of the drink plan takes off. 

[CedarPointer]

7 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

They also have coffee in Graeter’s. I had it there, although they only had sugar to put in it. It would be nice if they had more options for creamers and so on if this aspect of the drink plan takes off. 

That would imply that they want you to actually use your drink plan, rather than just buy it and accept the bare minimum.

[DoomPlague]

I tried the street taco fries. They were decent but I'm not a big fan of the large cut fries they use at Potato Works, to be honest.

Also tried the cheesy mettwurst. That was pretty good. Lots of bacon and cheese. The "saratoga chips" were decent. Nice spicing on the chips but the larger chips were soft rather than crispy. The smaller chips were crunchy at least. So far, I'm actually pretty happy with the 3 new items that I've tried this season.

[disco2000]

21degrees and colder is open for those looking to partake in drinks not on the drink plan.

[IndyGuy4KI]

1 hour ago, disco2000 said:

21degrees and colder is open for those looking to partake in drinks not on the drink plan.

Can you get us a picture?

[disco2000]

9 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Can you get us a picture?

 

 

[chad_1138]

What is this sorcery???

[IndyGuy4KI]

2 hours ago, chad_1138 said:

What is this sorcery???

It's actually still open just now but RiverTown freestyle is now shut down. 

[brenthodge]

I think

1) all self serve drink stations should move back behind counter for quickservice. With consistent limited options for efficient operation-see PigPens “beer style” dispenser.

2) always have water cups at all locations 

3) all pop stations in quick service become water only

4) all drink stations are open for drink plan/ individual drink purchase with monitored entry point and are all self serve with multiple options. 

You could still get drink plan/refill at all food locations- just have to have them fill/give you the cup maybe BrewHouse and any future “table service” restaurant is different in that you get unlimited drinks, but drinks there cost a bit more. 

you don’t ever have “free reign” in an area away from the pay station with anything but water. What you would make up in list revenue would cover additional payroll needed. 

[BeeastFarmer]

I think

1) Raise daily and season pass prices.

2) move to a "free" soft drink model like Holiday World.

[brenthodge]

2 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I think

1) Raise daily and season pass prices.

2) move to a "free" soft drink model like Holiday World.

That would work as well. Never will though. I think they see too much money on the table. 

[BeeastFarmer]

They should trial this at a second or third tier park.  Say Michigan's adventure or Schlitterbahn.  Or throw in just about any six flags park if the merger happens. 

[BoddaH1994]

16 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I think

1) Raise daily and season pass prices.

2) move to a "free" soft drink model like Holiday World.

Holiday World offers free soft drinks and has every spout working and ice consistently full.

Kings Island charges for drinks but there is rarely ice and the machines are rarely fully stocked. 

How much worse will this situation be if the drinks are free? 

Heck, some drink stations are rarely open due to self-imposed “staffing” issues since they already got your money.

If drinks are free, do you really think they’re going to staff people to refill ice, change the soft drink bags, etc? I doubt it. 
 

Also, Kings Island (and Holiday World) won’t and don’t give away free drinks. They build the cost into the price of admission; however, the difference is, at Kings Island, anything that is labeled as “free” is something that you should be grateful for and to which they have no obligation. 

[BeeastFarmer]

33 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Holiday World offers free soft drinks and has every spout working and ice consistently full.

Kings Island charges for drinks but there is rarely ice and the machines are rarely fully stocked. 

How much worse will this situation be if the drinks are free? 

Heck, some drink stations are rarely open due to self-imposed “staffing” issues since they already got your money.

If drinks are free, do you really think they’re going to staff people to refill ice, change the soft drink bags, etc? I doubt it. 
 

Also, Kings Island (and Holiday World) won’t and don’t give away free drinks. They build the cost into the price of admission; however, the difference is, at Kings Island, anything that is labeled as “free” is something that you should be grateful for and to which they have no obligation. 

There are solutions if the park would investigate. There are machines that automatically make ice, thus reducing the need to ice refills.  This would also reduce the risk of contamination. Also, the syrup bags are beginning to get phases out, being replaced by concentrated cartridges, from what I remember, they require changing much less often and are less labor intensive. Not being an expert of course, but I'd conjecture the labor savings from not having to man a drink station would be made up quickly. One person could be assigned an area and rove to ensure things are working.

Of course, this is theory world, not reality. That's why I think a trial run would benefit to see if it would work in the real world in the CF, perhaps soon to be Six Flags entity.

Finally, I realize Holiday World doesn't really offer "free" drinks.  That's s why I used the quotation marks around the word free in my original post.

[DoomPlague]

Now that the chain will have 30+ parks, they may have more pull with Coke and could ask them to create some sort of higher capacity machines (though I'm not betting on that happening). Not sure about the ones at the park but its common for soda fountains to have ice makers but many probably can't keep up with demand anyways. Also, it seems like the freestyles are refilled with those flavor cartridges from the front and have to be taken out of service for a moment, which probably discourages park staff from refilling as needed.