DavidB

^^I saw this on the news Thursday and didn't know if you'd want it pointed out or not. Very cool!

^ If only

All these pictures have me excited to visit the park! I'm going to try and make it out Friday or Saturday. They do have the winter wheels on Batman at this point don't they? I'm really looking forward to that, as I love the intensity of Batman under regular conditions, and it's supposed to be relatively warm both days.

^That's awesome! I didn't make it to the Holiday in the Park last year, but the Eagle running will make me way more likely to get there this year.

^ I wasn't suggesting that they weren't running or shouldn't run Flight of Fear due to the theming. Sorry if it sounded that way. I agree with Bill that it seems silly not to run an indoor coaster, regardless of theming. I was only saying it seems like it would be easy to throw some intentionally cheesy Christmas theming at it and call it Flight to the North Pole or something.

Seeing it on the map just makes it seem even more ridiculous that they're opening Zephyr and not the indoor, temperature controlled coaster right next to it. It even seems like it would be pretty easy to set up some holiday "theming" in the building and rename it a la "mystic mine ride". Even if they used a couple of those cheesy christmas light laser projectors to put pictures on the walls of the building and play some festive music... Either way it seems like a missed opportunity.

Yes, Batman is ridiculous...but I watched the queue pov since it's been so long since I've been to SFGAM, and I'd have to say American Eagle is worse. At least Batman's queue is (rundown) theming. This thing is just weird!

This expanded boardwalk thing feels like an extension of the stuff the park has been incorporating into projects for the last few years now. They have been redoing/improving the entry areas to the park starting with the main gate for GateKeeper, the marina gate for Valravn, and the Magnum gate when doing the work for CP Shores. It seems like they are working to enhance the "first impression" guests get when coming into the park. This boardwalk will provide a fresh, new way for people to park in the main lot and access the beach, entrances along the lake, restaurants at Breakers etc.. In fact, the Gatekeeper plaza looks more like an entrance from the beach than just a normal ride area; maybe it was part of the long term plan for that to be an entrance area from the boardwalk. I know it seems redundant with the Windseeker entrance there, but it really has that appearance. I'm very interested to see what the extent of the boardwalk project is!

^I have the credit, but my friend doesn't, we'll see how it goes...

I was definitely going to ride Beast in the front and assumed that was the play, but open to suggestions. Glad to have my thoughts on that confirmed. Same with Diamondback and Mystic Timbers, I assumed back seat is where it's at. I always enjoy the front seat on inverts so planned on riding Banshee in front. And intensity and lack of smoothness is almost a non factor for me. I am a big fan of The Boss. I don't like being beaten up for the sake of being beaten up, but if a ride has a good layout and is going to tear ass around the place, I could care less if it isn't glass smooth. And there's no way I'd skip The Bat...big fan of the Arrow suspended coasters, especially those that are more intense than Iron Dragon. I've ridden this one as Top Gun or Flight Deck and same with the one at CW and love them. Thanks for the suggestions on the beer and food places as well! I'll definitely post at least a mini report to let you all know how some of the rides I haven't ridden in a LONG time compare to how I remember them, and how the GREAT selection of coasters I haven't been on stack up!

^^^ Thanks, I didn't notice The Bat wasn't on Fast Lane and I'll keep that in mind. ^Awesome, I'll definitely keep the middle rows in mind on The Beast. I have ridden Vortex but my friend hasn't, so we'll probably go once and call it good on that!

Alright Kings Island frequent visitors. I will be going to the park this Saturday 10/21 with a friend. I am appealing to you for any special advice for my first visit to the park since like 2000. We are definitely going to get Fast Lane Plus. My plan is mostly to knock out some of the less appealing and lower capacity stuff earlier in the day. Most of these seem to be on the left side of the park (Invertigo, Flight of Fear, Adventure Express, Firehawk, Racer, Backlot Stunt Coaster). I almost want to save Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, Beast, Bat, and Banshee for night time. Is there anything specific you guys would recommend I should plan for ride wise? Or just do whatever as I please, because the Fast Lane Plus is so advantageous at KI? Are there any food or beer places that would be strongly recommended if we want to grab something to eat or drink in the park? Most importantly...What are your favorite/special seats on any of the coasters? I intend to hit some front and back seats obviously, but are there any "magic seats" I should be aware of? I haven't been to a ton of parks in the last 15 or so years, and I'm more excited for this one than I have been for any park in a long time, and I want to make the most of it. Thanks in advance for your help!

^They definitely do(or did as recently as a few years ago) limit the number of fastlane they sell. I tried to spend multiple hundreds on them and they wouldn't sell any more.

To the initial post: You are a regular here and allowed your group to walk in the gate and ride the newest ride closest to the front of the park? As a regular visitor to CP and against all of the advice repeated here ad nauseam? Flex your enthusiast muscle and help your "guests" out a little! I get that it's awful on Saturdays, absolutely awful. I've posted a couple times about naively going on Columbus Day weekend 2013(I think). The weather was perfect and the crowds were unbelievable. 3+ hours for Maverick and Millennium Force. They sold out of Fastlane by the time I tried to get them for me and my girlfriend. We didn't ride hardly anything because of the lines and ended up stuck in the back parking lot for 3 plus hours after the park closed on Saturday. I didn't know what I had gotten us into, I wasn't following this forum at the time and was only just getting back into the hobby. I went again with a friend last year. Made sure to at least avoid Columbus Day. Were the lines long on Saturday? Absolutely. But after riding Maverick and Top Thril first, as is often suggested, we were standing in line for Power Tower early in the day, I made the call and we got Fast Passes, and avoided the food stands. You still can't walk on, but at least you're cutting lines to 1/4 of what they might otherwise be. To me that doesn't seem unreasonable. That said, the parking situation is not one I had to deal with either time as I stayed Friday night at Sandcastle Suites one time and Lighthouse Point the other. Nor am I interested in the haunted houses. The Halloweekends situation can be frustrating, but it's not a surprise to anyone in this forum, and if you're prepared and funded enough you can still have a good time. Hopefully next time will be better though, because I've been where you were Saturday...and it blows!

I'm kinda in the same category with you guys. I don't really have any interest in waiting in line to go through a haunted house when I could be riding coasters at night. I've gone through some of the scare areas at Cedar Point where there isn't a line, like that one by Raptor where herds of people just wander through, or cornstalkers, but not any of the houses. I will say that when I was there last year, I was a little disappointed with the lack of scare actors in the steampunk area on Frontier Trail, but mostly because they do such a good job with the decorations in that area and then there were few actors to add to it. For the most part I just like the atmosphere with the music and decorations and fog...and extended night time hours for night rides. The houses are zero draw for me.

Excellent report! I enjoy the amount of detail you include for the parks you enjoy. Especially the ones I haven't visited, such as BGT. I remember Kumba being one of the first coasters that really intrigued me that wasn't at Six Flags Over Mid America or Cedar Point. Glad to hear it's still as awesome as it looks 20+ years later!

Eh, the boomerang at WoF at least has the better trains, I was pleasantly surprised by it....not that I did it again or anything...

The first Bat was the first one if it's kind and they didn't bank the track at all, if I remember correctly. This led to the ride wearing out very quickly and not being sustainable, so they had to remove it after a season or two. They learned from building the first one and the subsequent ones worked better, obviously.

^I don't get the hate for the "forceless" rides either. I like all of the big coasters at CP quite a bit, Millennium Force being one of my absolute favorites. Just can't beat that speed. I've thoroughly enjoyed all of the reports on this thread. Great job!

Caffeine is helpful for headaches because it helps to expand or contract blood vessels, can't remember which. And I believe that's why you get caffeine withdrawal headaches if you are a heavy user and stop cold turkey. It is so effective that it's one of the ingredients in Excedrin, the headache medicine.

Another major positive to a cooler day as opposed to a hot one in my opinion: when standing in the switchback mass of humanity in hot, humid weather you get that smell like the whole queue is one big armpit...

That's kind of what I assumed from looking at the park on maps, but I've only been to King's Island a couple times so I thought I'd ask. I'm going on the 21st for the first time in almost 20 years and getting excited for my first rides on Banshee, Diamondback, and Mystic Timbers...and my first night ride on The Beast!

I would hope Vortex would be removed before The Bat, as it could be replaced with a much better seated/floorless looping ride, while The Bat is a pretty unique ride. I know replacing rides with similar rides often isn't the MO though. Any idea which has better ridership?

I'm going to throw out a recommendation for Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder. You'll probably have to wait for a bit, the options are kinda limited, and they only take cash. It's somewhat different, cooked in a bowl with the bread on top, then they flip it over to make a bread bowl kinda deal when they serve it to you. Damn is it good.