dankeykang

Agreed that we shouldn't go too far down the rabbit hole here, but from my (brief) visit on Saturday, employees and some of the guests were wearing masks, but other than that, it was as if there was never a pandemic in the first place. I did not see any enforcement of mask-wearing at Orion or Diamondback. Things may have been different on indoor rides like Flight of Fear, though. Personally this doesn't bother me too much but I could see how it would make others feel uncomfortable.

Awesome, that's good to know about the park's layout and the lockers. Much appreciated. I'm thinking Flash Pass during Friday's regular hours won't be needed, since I'll have 4 skip the line passes plus 10 hours worth of Power Hours on Thursday and Friday. Since it's my first visit, I was thinking of spending the regular hours on Friday casually exploring and getting to know the park a bit rather than riding as much as possible.

Cool, good to know, guys. I'll be a first time visitor; any other basic tips I should be aware of before going? Keep in mind that this would be advice for someone who completely missed the Flash Pass entrance for Iron Rattler and made it all the way up the crowded ramps before realizing his mistake... so anything and everything is helpful. Thanks in advance.

Question - is preferred parking actually worth it here? I made a reservation for it online but got the classic gibberish confirmation email that doesn't have an actual voucher...

I'm sure they were trying their hardest to avoid another situation like Hagrid's. They say the best way to learn is through your mistakes, right?

^^ Yeah, unfortunately Saturday was quite packed. Even the FL waits were pushing 15-30 minutes per ride from reports I've seen elsewhere. I would expect opening Sunday to be similar (remember, this past weekend was passholders only). Without Fast Lane, expect to wait at least an hour for Orion, Mystic Timbers and Flight of Fear (still only loading half the rows on that one since it's indoors), and at least 30-45 minutes for everything else. ^I only had one ride on fully-loaded Orion but it was definitely hauling, and quite smooth as well. Maybe it's purely psychological. Who knows. It was also nice to hear some of the reactions from the other riders, most of which were probably riding for the first time. Many were blown away.

^It would appear that way. Looking at a few operating days at random from the past couple weeks (I'm looking here), it has had the occasional brief period of downtime but nothing too substantial. Also, expect the next 2 or 3 comments here to be something along the lines of "well that means it'll probably spontaneously combust next week"

Yeah I think people underestimate just how many passholders Kings Island has. I stopped by for a few hours yesterday but once I saw that the line for Chick-fil-A had nearly reached the Eiffel Tower, it was definitely time to bail. It was nice to see full trains on Orion and Diamondback back to running all three trains.

Mouse Trap at Wonderland. Surprisingly powerful airtime in the back row.

^ For other parks in the chain, you can reserve as many days as you want. I would expect BGW to be the same. Each reservation is given a separate order number within the confirmation email, so it's definitely possible to have multiple simultaneously. This also makes it easy to cancel if you need to. As for #2, I'm not a local so I'm not as familiar with capacity limitations, but their FAQ page does say that they will modify protocols based on evolving conditions, so loosening restrictions between now and July doesn't seem totally out of the question IMO.

I believe Steel Curtain has been testing all preseason, so it should (knock on wood) be open this year. 5 hours should be fine at Indiana Beach, although to be fair I've never visited on a weekend. I would prioritize hitting Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain as soon as possible, since it has very poor capacity and slower dispatches (but on the plus side, it's uniqueness is truly something to behold)

Nah, personally I wouldn't feel sorry for them. Thinking that a line skipping pass is necessary on a Wednesday in April (not during spring break) is fairly poor judgement at almost any theme park IMO. Sounds like most people have been having pretty positive experiences at Dollywood so far this year, which is good to hear.

Seems pretty consistent to me... Totally agree that Mystery Mine is just a rough ride that's saved by the theming. Easy one and done for me. The biggest difference I noticed on Lightning Rod was the speed hill after the quad down, feels much smoother after the retrack (not that it was bad at all before, just definitely feels like I-Box now). Still an incredible ride though, and although it's early days, it does seem to be operating more reliably this year.

^Ahead of Millie, of course, because "where is the airtime on that thing?" *be sure to like and subscribe as it helps with the algorithm*

^^Gotcha. Yeah, I think the only way it could realistically go to Cedar Point is if it had larger trains. The Eurofighters and Infinity Coasters we're currently used to just wouldn't have the capacity to suit the park's larger crowd levels.

Fast Lane is back this year as well. Here's the blog post describing the updates.

I've heard that Steel Vengeance is adding free lockers this year for smaller loose articles like phones/wallets/keys, while bags and larger items will still require paid lockers. Maybe Six Flags could have something similar?

Gotcha. Yeah, it might be best to call the park in advance to confirm, but in my case, I purchased the pass through San Antonio and then visited both SWO and BGT before ever setting foot in Texas.

Nope, if you purchase the pass online, it is immediately active at all locations.

Seems like a pretty decent deal. Would a platinum pass through Sea World San Antonio be another option? It's a higher cost up front ($200) but it does get you free parking, food discounts, plus access to the other parks like the San Antonio location or Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Yeah it was running two trains today, and by noon it was a walk on for the remainder of the day. Timesaver definitely not needed if you visit during the week.

I believe the obvious solution is to just move to (boring) Ohio, where you can make 4-5 day trips to Sandusky every year without having to worry about airfare, lodging, or really any planning whatsoever

^^I ran into the same issue with the one-time Quick Queue use last month (no wristbands at guest services), but I just entered the QQ line at Wave Breaker, showed the ride operator my pass on my phone and explained the situation, and she was happy to let me on the ride. I'd say as long as you're honest and the employee is friendly enough, they *should* let you enter without a problem.

At this point, I would think that most parks are willing to provide guests with a new mask if it gets lost while on a ride.

Interesting that as of right now, you can currently purchase power hour tickets during May, but you can't make a general reservation during the same month.