Soak City Parking Lot Idea

[CartersCoasters]

When there is so much traffic that I have to drive to the park on Western Row, or I'm visiting Soak City, it sucks having to drive all the way down to the entrance. My idea is that they could add a new toll near the Soak City end of the parking lot. They could also add a new preferred parking and handicapped section. So I designed a new Soak City Parking Toll, as well as a brand new parking lot.

[Orion-XL200]

There used to be a south toll. I don't believe it really helped much....often wasn't staffed/taken care of from what I remember hearing (I'm a north lot guy).

[WoodVengeance]

13 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

There used to be a south toll. I don't believe it really helped much....often wasn't staffed/taken care of from what I remember hearing (I'm a north lot guy).

I can't really speak for the old north toll, but I can remember the south toll was always backed up. You'd figure the south one would get more priority since groups coming in from areas like Cincinnati and Dayton were coming from the south.

[SPONGEBOB_FAN_97]

Anything that lets me rip cannonballs faster…I am all in!

[disco2000]

1 hour ago, WoodVengeance said:

I can't really speak for the old north toll, but I can remember the south toll was always backed up. You'd figure the south one would get more priority since groups coming in from areas like Cincinnati and Dayton were coming from the south.

It did.  The south was the main toll with more toll lanes than the north and had like 3-4 dedicated lanes off KI drive going to it and when they would close one of the entrances during light times, it would be the north entrance that would close.  

But like you said, it would back up so the decision was made to move the entrance north to hopefully only back up on KI drive and not I-71 also.  But during Haunt it has backed up onto I-71.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I used to be a South Toll guy until they got rid of it. There is a good amount of space where a new set of south toll booths could be built, but the approach from Kings Island Drive and I-71 would be a little tight. The convenience of having one big toll plaza is probably worth the money they put into it either way.

As I've written elsewhere on these forums, the entire parking lot needs a good redesign. The flow is a bit wonky, there are potholes littered throughout it, the surface gets super hot on warm days, and the walking experience in the parking lot is terrible. That first and second issue could be resolved with some good resurfacing efforts. That'd also give them the opportunity to repaint all of the lines nobody can see. The hot surfaces could be mitigated by the installation of solar panel shade structures like other Six Flags parks have. That would help with temperatures and generate some electricity for the park. They might not do as well as they would in California or Florida, but institutions like the Cincinnati Zoo have been reaping the benefits from theirs for years now. That last issue of the walking experience is also solvable if some thought were to be put into it. Kings Island could bring back the parking lot tram service (with unruly passengers being told to get out and walk) or install concrete sidewalks at regular intervals. 

The amount of ADA parking spaces available is also a major issue, although I could believe that is one reason why the whole lot has yet to be redesigned. Once a major alteration is put in motion then the state may be able to hold the park to new parking minimums, which might require an increase in the number of total spaces.

I once tried to redesign the parking lot and came up with space for 7,939 guest parking spaces. I believe the current total is over 8,000 guest spaces, but I can't remember and my note card with the current totals is buried somewhere. See the attempt (complete with parking garage) below.