What time are they opening the gates?

[katreina]

I haven't been to KI in a couple years, so I was hoping someone could tell me exactly when they open the gates to the park. I remember when it was owned by Paramount, you could get into the park and hour before the actual "opening time" but you couldn't go past International Street until the posted opening time for that day. Is that still the case or has CF changed it so that you can't get into the park at all before the posted opening hour. I was really hoping they hadn't changed that because I liked having that hour to look around the shops or grab breakfast and plan out where I was going when the rides opened.

[DropZone99]

The park opens at 10am. but you can walk around in international street for an hour until security guards tell everyone when you can go to other sections.

[katreina]

The park opens at 10am. but you can walk around in international street for an hour until security guards tell everyone when you can go to other sections.

So the park opens at ten and you can't get to the rides till eleven now? Or is it the same as before that the park opens at 10 but you can get into International street at nine?

Sorry, I know I sound really dense but I'm trying to coordinate a trip with a lot of people coming from different places and I want to make sure I tell them the right time to be there since we want to get there as early as possible.

[The Interpreter]

Uh, I thought it was NEITHER. The park opens at 10 (except on certain gold pass early entry days, when ONLY gold pass holders can enter into the designated gold pass rides before 10). Rides start at 10. The public is now held at the head of International Street, without access to any of the International Street shops, until 10. Seems perfectly silly to me, but that's the way I believe it to be.

Also, this silly practice was even worse under CBS. They didn't let people pass the magnetometers until park opening! Cedar Fair at least loosened up on that.

Angryemobeaver, you explained the old Paramount Parks practice, pre-CBS cost cutting. Put another way, pre-2006....

[KIfan73]

They hold you until 10 towards the front of IS. You can actually go in and shop at the first shop on the right (by the mens restroom). Not sure how far up you can go on the left.

[The Interpreter]

Well, that's a wee bit better. I wish they'd let you get to the European Bakery...Oh, wait...

Sigh.

[KIfan73]

If they had a nice place to eat breakfast that early in KI, they would get my money every time.

[The Interpreter]

On the other hand, based on their other food choices and pricing, they'd have Egg McMuffin Clones for $7.95, including hash browns whether you wanted them or not; coffee/tea/hot chocolate would be $3.39, and they'd have nice cookies for only $3.49 each. Or Krispie Kreme Donuts for a mere $2.49 each.

Sigh.

[KIfan73]

...which wouldn't be a bad price to pay if you were eating somewhere overlooking, say, the Royal Fountains and the Eifel Tower. If the they played up just a little bit of the park's mystique, people wouldn't have such a hard time with the prices.

[The Interpreter]

Agreed. This would be an excellent place to point out, yet again, that Kings Island is perhaps the largest park in America without a single full-service restaurant (with wait staff). Pretty sad.

[katreina]

Well, that's a wee bit better. I wish they'd let you get to the European Bakery...Oh, wait...

Sigh.

Actually, I used to have breakfast at the bakery while my friends and I looked at the map and planned our day. I was hoping to still be able to do that. Oh, well, looks like I'm planning in the car over egg mcmuffins or something on the way down from now on.

[The Interpreter]

Then you may not know that the European Bakery is no more. Replaced by...a Starbucks. Some see that as an improvement, some don't. In any event, you can't get to it most days until the rides start.

[katreina]

Then you may not know that the European Bakery is no more. Replaced by...a Starbucks. Some see that as an improvement, some don't. In any event, you can't get to it most days until the rides start.

The starbucks was there the last time I went, but I thought the bakery was too. Guess that shows how much attention I paid since I spent half an hour standing in front of starbucks so I could get to IJ:ST as fast as possible.