Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

[JJLehto]

Kings Island always seems to be overlooked in discussions about parks with great operations, but they’ve been pretty outstanding for years now (with the exception of Flight of Fear...)

Never been before so it was my first experience. The operations were brilliant. Yes except flight of fear, which was not dreadfully slow but wow... how a ride with no OTSR can give me such a headache. Was worse than vortex! My head hurt for like 2 hours

[coasterbill]

Flight of Fear at Kings Island is terrible, which is weird since I think the one at Kings Dominion is super smooth and generally awesome.

[jonskinny12]

I personally really enjoy Flight of Fear at Kings Island. But I also liked Vortex quite a bit last year, so what do I know?

[JJLehto]

Agreed the one at Dominion is perfectly fine. I don't recall it being rough at all, and was indeed a fun ride. This one, no joke I got an Advil and laid at the water park for an hour to recover! I tried to press on but my head was just throbbing

[JJLehto]

I personally really enjoy Flight of Fear at Kings Island. But I also liked Vortex quite a bit last year, so what do I know?

Well vortex I found not as bad and I prepare for an arrow. I didn't expect FoF to be so bad so I was quite caught off guard. Vortex at least had a neat layout, granted there were those super awkward transitions. Glad I rode it for the history. Same with Racer but I wouldn't mind that getting the RMC. Wasn't the toughest but pretty borderline (and I got a goigh rough tolerance) and it was a bit lackluster. I recall liking rebel yell more. Oh and the joy of low expectations. Beast was quite fun, better than I expected. Not top 10 wooden but fun. Mystic Timbers though good Lord. What a ride

[9Armgeddon4]

I got a quick question to ask. I'm going to the park on the 20 with a friend and I'm buying both of our tickets online. My friend should be able to use the second ticket correct? Now since we only get one day we're going for the Admission & FL+ ticket.

Edited June 1, 2018 by 9Armgeddon4

[ytterbiumanalyst]

After you buy the ticket, you'll be asked to enter a name. Just enter your friend's name on one of the tickets.

[9Armgeddon4]

Thanks for the answer. Normally we buy our own tickets but my friend is a little short on money because of school so I offered to buy the tickets.

[prozach626]

Flight of Fear at Kings Island is terrible, which is weird since I think the one at Kings Dominion is super smooth and generally awesome.

Take it back you son of a b*tch!

 

meh. It's OK. I like FoF. It served us well when it was pouring rain for the last three hours during our Haunt visit.

[VF15]

I’ll be visiting Kings Island next week and one of my priorities is getting a night ride on The Beast since I missed that opportunity when I was there three years ago. Looks like sunset in Mason on the days I’ll be there will be around 9pm (one hour before the 10pm closing time). Will it be completely dark (or at least dark enough) by 10 pm so that I’ll be able to get the full night ride experience if I try to get on one of the last trains of the night?

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Thanks for the answer. Normally we buy our own tickets but my friend is a little short on money because of school so I offered to buy the tickets.

Cool, have fun!

 

Flight of Fear at Kings Island is terrible, which is weird since I think the one at Kings Dominion is super smooth and generally awesome.

Take it back you son of a b*tch!

 

meh. It's OK. I like FoF. It served us well when it was pouring rain for the last three hours during our Haunt visit.

It's no Mr. Freeze, but FoF is pretty fun.

 

I’ll be visiting Kings Island next week and one of my priorities is getting a night ride on The Beast since I missed that opportunity when I was there three years ago. Looks like sunset in Mason on the days I’ll be there will be around 9pm (one hour before the 10pm closing time). Will it be completely dark (or at least dark enough) by 10 pm so that I’ll be able to get the full night ride experience if I try to get on one of the last trains of the night?

Mayyybe? The later the better. Even if it's not pitch dark, it's still a pretty great night ride, but try to get in line just before 10 so that you're in line when the fireworks go. After that's done, they'll clear out the line, though if the front row line is uber long, they may cut it off and have those queuing for the front go to other rows.

[JJLehto]

For me, a little after 9 was getting dark but not pitch. You deff wanna go as near 10 as possible. I don't k ow how often they do fireworks or when, but we got to Beast at 945/950 and fireworks began as we got on line. Took 45 mins maybe a bit longer to get the OK to run the ride. Which we got denied a front row ride, we were a tad bummed that after holding us so long they let like 2 trains run before closing, but yeah later is better.

[JJLehto]

I will say the Beast was better than expected but not worth too lon a wait. Deff find out when fireworks are happening don't get caught out

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

Flight of Fear at Kings Island is terrible, which is weird since I think the one at Kings Dominion is super smooth and generally awesome.

I liked FoF at KI and didn't get why people thought it was so rough until I rode the one at KD and experienced how much better that one is.

[Arthur_Seaton]

I didn't expect FoF to be so bad so I was quite caught off guard.

It caught me off guard as well and near did me in. It was very hot and very humid (raining, in fact) when I was there, and I started my day with Firehawk and that awful hang-n-bang boomerang thing, so I guess I asked for it. Premier rides tend to have some very snappy transitions, and, without the ability to clearly see what's coming up, all of those snaps are felt in your neck / spine. I rode it a few times and it got a little better, but still, not a pleasant ride.

[Midgetman82]

One odd thing I noticed in the backstage tour at Coasterstock was that some trains come flying into the spaghetti bowl noticeably faster than others. Sometimes a train rockets through the boomerang like a bat our of hell, and other times a train moves slow enough you can actually notice when you're upside down. The faster definitely snaps hard through the rolls.

 

(Side note, I'm a fan boy of this coaster and not afraid to admit it).

[LiftThrill]

I dunno, I liked FoF, Invertigo, and Vortex, but hated Firehawk. To each their own.

[thrillseeker4552]

I didn't think either of the Flight of Fears were particularly smooth, but the one at KD was better in my opinion. I like Joker's Jinx more than both of them though.

[CoasterGuy06]

I will say the Beast was better than expected but not worth too lon a wait. Deff find out when fireworks are happening don't get caught out

 

Fireworks are done at 10pm during the summer every night they close that late.

 

Spent a few hours at the park for a few hours today. Overall a really good day culminating in a night ride on The Beast. Only real negative was the Banshee crew late in the afternoon. Several seemed like they were as excited to be at work as they would be to get a root canal.

[cal1br3tto]

^Aw, man. I know you'll hear at least isolated reports like that from over 99% of parks, but the Banshee crew during its opening year was absolutely top-class, even considering that the Ohio Cedar Fair parks are somewhat renowned for their operations. They were right up there with the best corporate crews and parks. I was just going to post recently that I hope they've kept it up, which, judging from recent reviews, I would guess that they mostly have (so I'm not trying to pick on anyone over just a single observation).

[CoasterGuy06]

They were a little better late in the evening.

 

Honestly the crews KI had over my 2 day visit back in 2011 ruined KI crews forever for me. They were so quick on every ride. At the time I was a Ride Supervisor at a park and I was there with three of my employees. We spent a good 10-15 minutes at the top of the Eiffel Tower just watching the Diamondback crew just haul absolute a** that day. I mean they had two speeds that day: 'stack a train for maybe 10 seconds' and 'don't stack a single train for like 15 minutes at a time.' It was amazing to watch.

[kenban]

One odd thing I noticed in the backstage tour at Coasterstock was that some trains come flying into the spaghetti bowl noticeably faster than others. Sometimes a train rockets through the boomerang like a bat our of hell, and other times a train moves slow enough you can actually notice when you're upside down. The faster definitely snaps hard through the rolls.

 

(Side note, I'm a fan boy of this coaster and not afraid to admit it).

 

The launch is all timer based. The computer has no way to compensate for any differences such as train weight. The magnets are activated in the exact same way every time. Small differences get magnified enough to make a noticeable difference.

 

It is possible to get a roll back even. Never seen it or experienced it but have heard about it.

[PKI Jizzman]

I had 24 hours in Cincy visiting family on the way back to Chicago and I decided to head up at 9:30 yesterday since rain moved out of the picture.

 

I was only at the park for 90 minutes but I'm so glad I went because I got to do everything I wanted and much much more! I went to Winterfest last year, so I technically haven't been to the park while fully operational for almost 2 years.

 

Banshee was open for passholder ERT and there was only a wait for the front line as usual. Great invert with a nice snap in the back seat down the first drop and then a buffet of big inversions. Having been on Afterburn just days before the two couldn't be further apart. I like the old trains and pace of B&M inverts over the modern designs; still Banshee is a fun re-ridable coaster that I seem to enjoy more as I ride it! 8/10

 

With more ERT going on across the park, I was excited to check out Mystic Timbers since my previous rides had been during Winterfest It was running just as well as it did during Winterfest! It's a really fun GCI and the GP do not stop talking about the shed, haha. I prefer this coaster in the front seat, I think the air is stronger there. The train absolutely rockets through the course and hits each element so quickly. Just put your hands up and laugh the whole time. 8/10

**The ops are definitely aware of enthusiasts checking out this ride as on my 3 different rides I was told to "Enjoy your ride on Fury THREEE TWOOO FIIIVE FIVEEE FIVEEE" and "Have a great day at America's Rockin' Roller Island, Ride On!" etc

 

By now it was 10am and the whole park opened, so I went over to the Beast. Skyline Chili, seeing the local MLB/NFL team lose, shopping the world at Jungle Jim's, having a German beer, and riding the Beast in the front seat... it's a must do when in Cincinnati. While the night rides are stellar, the rides during the day are still all around fun. The fast front row ride through the woods was just as I remembered with the final helix being just as crazy as it always has been. 8/10

**They added the Beast claws on both "Don't Stand Up etc" signs at the top of the lifts - anyone know when these were added? Great touch! You'll need a GreatZo lens to get a good photo of 'em from the station exit.

 

The Rivertown area in general (aside from the tacky games) seemed like it was given a refresh and had an atmosphere that reminded me of Frontiertown at CP. The music, greenery, and farming-esque little things made a difference to me.

 

With about 40 minutes left it was time to get reacquainted with the park's B&M hyper, Diamondback! This ride is the most nostalgic to me since I worked on it the opening year and spend a **LOT** of time riding it, walking around the layout, pressing buttons, cleaning bugs off the teeth, etc. Diamondback looks like it shed its skin with those new seat covers and restraints! Looking as good as it did in 2009. It's just a big 'ol floater air machine going out to the woods and back. What I love most about this ride is how you get different types of floater air -if you have time, ride row 2, 4, 10, and 15.

Row 2 is great because you're out on the edge in the front. Hanging over the first drop 230ft in the air is breath taking and each following hill you're pushed up and over the top and float back down.

Row 4 gives you less of a push over the hills, but more floating over the entire hill.

Row 10 is my favorite for the first drop because it's the perfect spot on the train to get lifted out of your seat. The train no longer relies on the chain lift to get over the hill and you really feel that. It's a middle-back seat so you get all of the floaty-ness with a little more of a pull down each hill.

Row 15 is smoother than 16 which is the only reason why I prefer 16. You get yanked over every hill, you know the drill!

 

While I like Diamondback, Raging Bull, Intimidator, Goliath all the same Diamondback gives me the feels.

 

The ops were all doing a great job running each ride at full capacity and sounding off every half hour/fifteen minutes on their pacing. It was a slowwwww Sunday morning with a threat of rain and everyone was crushing it like they have an incentive of unlimited blue ice cream for the best capacity.

 

Oh yeah, blue ice cream (Smurf cone) is still just as great as it always has been. Don't miss this!

 

KI has really improved at every aspect of a theme park since 2000 and is a must visit park in the USA.

-Zz

Let's check out one of the newest B&M's in the country! Love the colors and no lines.

How many Easter Eggs can you find in MT's station?

Fury 325 or Mystic Timbers? Ride the front seat!

Great day for a trek through the woods

Still holding up nicely!

Pure Cincinnati

my baybeh

Winterfest or June, it runs very well

Must get - Smurf Cone!!! See ya.

[Hilltopper39]

By now it was 10am and the whole park opened, so I went over to the Beast. Skyline Chili, seeing the local MLB/NFL team lose, shopping the world at Jungle Jim's, having a German beer, and riding the Beast in the front seat... it's a must do when in Cincinnati. While the night rides are stellar, the rides during the day are still

 

I consider LaRosa's part of my "must do's" in Cincy but other than that you pretty much covered my list haha.

[jonskinny12]

Just finished a couple days in the park and had a great time! We got there around 6pm on Saturday, spent that night and all of Sunday in the park, then left around noon today to head north to Sandusky. We were really surprised at how light the crowds were, especially yesterday for the first half of the day. The ops were great and I'm sure that helped.

 

Mystic Timbers seemed to be faster and even better than last year, especially later in the day when it really warmed up. That crew was also doing a great job, as were all of them, but this crew seemed especially good at times. It is a really fun ride!

 

Diamondback in the back row was great. I finally see the awesomeness of this ride.

 

Banshee was great as usual. About the ops, they were up and down. Sometimes great, sometimes just pretty good. But they were always moving.

 

I've had a few night rides on The Beast and they're always good, but this one was the best I've ever had. It's so much fun at night. We got the second to last row at about 11:15 or so and it was plenty dark.

 

Speaking of night rides, do they turn off the lights for the rapids ride later on? We went on Mystic Timbers last night at 10:05 and it would be awesome on a late summer night if they turned those lights off.

 

In all we had a fantastic time, as I always have at this park. It's one of my favorite places to visit.