Way to crowded today..5-19

[WhoDeyForever]

I went to the park for the first time today..It was way to crowded..Me and my friends hardly rode any rides and 2 girls hate me now..Today sucked..Oh well. It should be less and less crowded as it gets closer to summer and they are open during the whole week.

[The Interpreter]

Ha.

Weekends will just get busier and busier as summer approaches.

I, and many others, do not go to theme parks on summer weekends. That's what weekdays are for.

[WhoDeyForever]

Ha.

Weekends will just get busier and busier as summer approaches.

I, and many others, do not go to theme parks on summer weekends. That's what weekdays are for.

Yeah that's what I'm saying..Hardly any people are during there during the week (Mon-Fri) during the summer..Best time to go.

[CoastersRZ]

Well, I wouldn`t say "hardly" anyone is there during the week. There can be weekdays when the park is very crowded. Heck, even at Coney, there would be weekdays when we would get large crowds, especially if the weather was nice.

[The Interpreter]

The best days to go are weekdays when the morning has heavy rain but the afternoon is clear or just drizzly. This works well at Kings Island, which attracts mainly daytrippers. It does not work well at Disney, Cedar Point or Universal.

[Delirium33]

"Way too crowded" might be an understatement. It seemed like every school in the Midwest had their ki class trip today. Add that to the beautiful weather and it being closer to summer and you get 60+ minute waits on most major rides. Delirium, Beast, Drop Zone, FoF, and Vortex all had lines outside their ques at some point, with (I assume) all their gates open. At some parts of the day, the midways where so packed that it took forever to get to where we were going. I rarely go on weekends, and now I remember why. Great business for the park, not so much for us.

I kept wondering why they can't arrange walk-on tickets on days like these, they always have to be scheduled. I say if its crowded, then get the process up and running.

Some other things I noticed:

-AE's crew was working at lightning-fast speeds. The line was to the entrance of the que, and we got on the ride in under 10 minutes. They did a great job keeping the line moving.

-FoF seemed faster to me. I liked it. Also the new "X-Base" themeing is very nice. It definitely hints towards a new section of the park.

-Firehawk is looking VERY NICE.

-The park was pretty clean for how packed it was.

-Food prices are outrageous. I ended up waiting to eat dinner after the park closed because I was running out of $$.

[RWildman424]

I was in the park from 10 am - 3 pm and only got to ride 4 rides. I've never seen a day that busy and I hope I never see another one anywhere near that busy. I will definatley try to scheldule my trips during the week from now on. Does anyone know how long the wait for top gun got? I walked around the first turn and there was the line passed the tunnel that top gun and sob lines share. I thought that it was probably atleast 2 hours long. Did anyone here wait for top gun, or hear how long it was from someone who waited?

[welchce]

That's why you gotta take advantage of the early entrance times for Gold pass holders. I went for that today and it was glorious. I walked on Face/Off, Delirium, and Top Gun.

[RWildman424]

I wish I could have done that. I was with a group of people who didn't have passes, so I had to wait with them at the hotel until they were ready to leave, which was around 9:50. Maybe some other time.

[PKIVortex]

Top Gun's line after you exit the tunnel is about 45 minutes.

[Delirium33]

I can confirm that: today we got in line for Top Gun when the line was just past the tunnel, and we waited about 45 minutes.

[CoastersRZ]

While you may not have liked to see the park that crowded from an enthusiast stand point. I`m sure the park was more than pleased with the crowds that showed up. After all, larger crowds means more people spending money in the park! Hey, Cedar Fair has to pay off the acquisition while still paying the cash distribution to their unit holders somehow.

[PKIVortex]

Yeah and more then likely they lost money yesterday. I bet they were barely even 5,000 people in the park yesterday if that.

[BoddaH1994]

Yeah and more then likely they lost money yesterday. I bet they were barely even 5,000 people in the park yesterday if that.

I'm willing to be anything there was more than 5,000 people... that's a VERY small crowd for the park... like, that's Winterfest small.

[DropZone99]

Im going the 26th. i really hope its not to busy, im sure it will bcs. of the opening of Firehawk. Firehawk is opening saturday isnt it???

[The Interpreter]

Yeah and more then likely they lost money yesterday. I bet they were barely even 5,000 people in the park yesterday if that.

I'm willing to be anything there was more than 5,000 people... that's a VERY small crowd for the park... like, that's Winterfest small.

I believe that, even though he posted after midnight, PKIVortex was actually referring to Friday being sparsely attended.

And 5000 could easily be 10 times what some nights of Winterfest attracted...(not counting employees, complimentary tickets or media).

[PKIVortex]

Yeah, I was referring to Friday. I worked several days on special evenings when they were only about 2,000 or people in the park, so that's how I was guessing about Friday's crowds.

[Purplehaze]

When isn't a saturday crowded?

[westcoaster]

First most weekend days I'm sure are going to be packed. New coaster New Shows the return of a real owner.

And the Islands 35th anniversary.

During the week the crowds will be up , its a big year for our beloved park:

[bsktgrvy]

Another report - some good, but too much bad -

I was a chaperone for 4 6th grade boys at King's Island on the 19th. They were part of a group of music students from our school.

This was my first visit to KI this year.

I have to say I was disappointed in the state of the park, and not just because it was extremely crowded.

The day got off to a bad start for my wife - she went to the restroom right after entering the park to the right of the main entrance and found it to have no toilet paper and no paper towels. That is just inexcusable when a park opens in the morning.

I found several rides to be looking quite antiquated. I like the feel of an old park as much as anyone but how much does it take to at least hose down cob webs and dirt in the queue lines and on some of the structures, let alone add some new coats of paint?

The food and drink prices are just ridiculous. My wife and I split a fish/chicken meal and a medium Coke at Bubba Gumps and I paid 12.39. The Coke was flat and tasted terrible and the fish was not fit to eat. The chicken, however, was at least pretty good and the fries were hot and good as well.

I also got a pretzel with cheese sauce earlier in the day for 4.50. I do like the fact that you can get free ice water.

The rides - the train ride has become almost pointless anymore. Very little theming, and what little there is is run down and overgrown with weeds.

My daughters waited over 2 hours to ride The Beast, but still loved the ride itself. I mentioned earlier the cleanliness of some of the ride areas - one in particular is the Dodg'em - it would be nice to see some new coats of paint there. There were other areas like this as well.

Landscaping - the park does not look as pretty or nice as in years past. I think it had started to go downhill in the last couple of years but it has not improved much, if at all, this year. I understand Cedar Fair just took over the park so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and hope to see improvement throughout the year and certainly next year.

Smoking - it's obvious the smoking rules are not being enforced. People pretty much smoke whenever and wherever they want, even in queues such as The Beast, as my girls reported to me. They even said there were some people stoned out of their minds and smoking pot in the line! (I cannot verify this, but I have no reason to doubt them).

I do think the ride operators were very nice and professional - so I have to give props to them for that.

I'll come back probably later this year - I hope some things have improved by then.

[CoastersRZ]

A couple comments. The Dodgems building was just repainted a couple of years ago. (2004 or 2005 I believe. Granted, thats not to say that there hasn`t been peeling paint or vandalism of the ride.

But I`d say for the most part, that the park has looked good this year. There is lots of new paint all over the place. Shake Rattle and Roll, the main entrance buildings, the midway games buildings in Coney Mall, to name a few. Are there still shortcomings? Sure. But I think the park looks a lot better than it did last year.

[bsktgrvy]

I will say I am not a season ticket holder, but usually go twice a year. So I do not see the park on a routine basis like many do. And perhaps the fact that the park was so crowded affected my judgement.

I just got the feeling that the park seemed like an "old" park to me - not as fresh as it used to.

[jzarley]

And, to be honest, perception is reality. That's one of the first rules for any business.

I think bsktgrvy posted a well written, concise, and respectful account of his perception of the park this weekend. Whether or not anyone else agrees with those opinions is somewhat irrelevant. It's reflective of his personal experience and honest opinion.

[Karen]

Well mother's day it was very slow but I did not find it too busy on May 20th. If you want to go on weekends it is always better to go on Sundays. Usually the park is almost empty until around 2pm then it picks up for a few hours and slows down again around 5 or 6pm then is almost empty by closing.