Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

[coasternut]

^ Thanks Bill I've been missing them....

[AmyUD06]

Quick update from Soak City at Kings Island. I arrived at around 4:30 after my drive from Delaware and checking in to my hotel. Place is packed, to be expected with the holiday weekend and perfect weather. 15 minute wait for the lazy river LOL, and they weren't letting people do multiple laps. Both wave pools now have Hersheypark-style controlled access. Rules pertaining to skinpiness of bikinis are not being enforced at all haha.

More to come from my day and half at the park. 

Update: How the hell is their not a revised Beast review here yet? Full review to follow, but here are some bullet points:

-Yes, the trims still hit. First drop and first hill are just as hard, but the old-MCBR-shed and drop into the helix trims have been softened.
-It's hard to discern the increased drop angle on the first drop, but the pullout and first turn are infinitely smoother. I actually got some air in the back row coming down the first drop.
-There is a little "hump" in the track right before the turn into the second tunnel, which provided a very minor pop of airtime with laterals in the back row. Very surprising.
-It absolutely flies through the course after the shed trims. Instead of creeping into the second lift hill, you now go a third of the way up on momentum alone.
-The helix. Holy shit. This was the best part of the ride before, and is even better now. You enter at a much more extreme bank, allowing the train to carry more speed through it, and it slowly levels out as it ends, leading to some insane laterals. 

All together I'm very, very impressed with the ride. My favorite woodie just cemented it's spot.

Operations are another story but that can wait for my full report.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Mike240SX
Fixing typos from original post on my phone.

[coasternut]

^ I totally agree. I was there last week, and the Beast is amazing! I'm even riding in the back of the train now...

[thrillseeker4552]

Count me in for loving the "new" Beast as well. It's running SO well based on my rides this weekend. Even the wheel seats were totally fine! It really climbed up in my woodie rankings. And, of course, the night rides are superb.

I will also say that Orion impressed me too. Objectively it is probably my least favorite Giga among the 4 I've ridden (the 4 in the U.S.) but it's still a very good ride. I am 100% convinced that if this coaster was located anywhere on the West coast (or really anywhere other than Kings Island) it would receive entirely different reviews.

[haydn12]

We were able to get a night ride on The Beast last night and it was a major improvement from 4 years ago.  Helix was smooth and fast. 

We are in the park again today and park operations on all the rides have been great.   The longest wait we've had today has been 20 minutes which has really surprised us for being a holiday.  We were able to ride the majority of the coasters by 2pm.  Did 4 rides on Orion and a couple on Mystic Timbers. 

Crowds actually seem lighter than they were on the Tuesday after the holiday 4 years ago.

Only complaint we have is the lack of shows.  The shows seem to be starting later this year as well as not as many of them.

[coneyislandchris]

On 5/29/2022 at 5:59 PM, Mike240SX said:

Quick update from Soak City at Kings Island. I arrived at around 4:30 after my drive from Delaware and checking in to my hotel. Place is packed, to be expected with the holiday weekend and perfect weather. 15 minute wait for the lazy river LOL, and they weren't letting people do multiple laps. Both wave pools now have Hersheypark-style controlled access.

We were just out at Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown yesterday, and the same things you mention for Soak City were also in effect here. Single laps only on the lazy river (only one of the two was open), and both wave pools were fenced and gated off. The line for people to get into the westmost wave pool was all the way back to the gift shop at one point throughout the day. Absolutely miserable. I heard mention the reasoning for it was to ensure all guests under 48" had a life jacket, yet I saw multiple kids immediately take them off and throw them on the ground as soon as they came through.

Wondering if these are new chain-wide policies at their waterparks. Anyone else seen anything similar at Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Knotts etc?

[KICoasterkev]

1 hour ago, coneyislandchris said:

We were just out at Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown yesterday, and the same things you mention for Soak City were also in effect here. Single laps only on the lazy river (only one of the two was open), and both wave pools were fenced and gated off. The line for people to get into the westmost wave pool was all the way back to the gift shop at one point throughout the day. Absolutely miserable. I heard mention the reasoning for it was to ensure all guests under 48" had a life jacket, yet I saw multiple kids immediately take them off and throw them on the ground as soon as they came through.

Wondering if these are new chain-wide policies at their waterparks. Anyone else seen anything similar at Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Knotts etc?

I saw a post on one of the Kings Island's fan Facebook pages talking about Cedar Point having this as well, haven't heard anything about the others. 

[KBrylczyk]

I've been seeing the fenced-in wave pools become much more common in the past couple of years.  I get it, there's been too many easily-preventable drowning deaths due to overcrowded pools and distracted life guards, I just wish there were a better way to control it.

[YoshiFan]

Dorney hasn’t allowed multiple laps on their lazy rivers since I started visiting the water park (2008) with the rare time you get someone who will says you can stay. I guess similar to their coaster re-ride policy where I have been allowed a re-ride a few times total in 15 years of having a pass (I stopped asking but will re-ride when offered).

 

[prozach626]

Life jackets under 48"? Wow.

[AmyUD06]

So I'm back home; I'll get up a full report when I get a chance.  But there's some notes I wanted to make for anyone shooting for a front-row night ride on Beast:

1. Operations at Beast just drag.  The train inches its way forward upon arrival at the station until it is in the proper load/unload position; this takes a solid minute and then some.  According to three of the restraint checkers, it's programmed to do that, and is not in the operator's control.

2.  They shutdown for fireworks at 9:30 on the dot; I got in the FL queue at 9:25 and only saw two trains go out before they stopped loading guests.  It also wasn't until after 10:40 that the ride got running again; the new fireworks/drone show for this year is a lot longer than the old one.

3.  Finally, the worst news:  a complete lack of honoring row requests after the fireworks shutdown.  Maybe I just encountered some grumpy employees, but the grouper denied my front row request and the control panel op made an announcement that "row requests may not be honored."  They weren't sending out trains less than full.  Really hoping that it was just those employees, since row requests were being honored the rest of both days I was there.

So, if you're dead set on getting a front-row night ride, you have to time it so you're lined up in a row in the station prior by 9:25 to be safe.

 

[bert425]

5 minutes ago, Mike240SX said:

So I'm back home; I'll get up a full report when I get a chance.  But there's some notes I wanted to make for anyone shooting for a front-row night ride on Beast:

1. Operations at Beast just drag.  The train inches its way forward upon arrival at the station until it is in the proper load/unload position; this takes a solid minute and then some.  According to three of the restraint checkers, it's programmed to do that, and is not in the operator's control.

 

 

 

correct.

Don Helbig and Chad Showalter are aware of it, and were NOT happy at Coasterstock when they experienced it for themselves.

I fully expect they have/will have folks working on it (it's only been a week since they were made aware of the issue)

[AmyUD06]

12 hours ago, coneyislandchris said:

We were just out at Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown yesterday, and the same things you mention for Soak City were also in effect here. Single laps only on the lazy river (only one of the two was open), and both wave pools were fenced and gated off. The line for people to get into the westmost wave pool was all the way back to the gift shop at one point throughout the day. Absolutely miserable. I heard mention the reasoning for it was to ensure all guests under 48" had a life jacket, yet I saw multiple kids immediately take them off and throw them on the ground as soon as they came through.

Wondering if these are new chain-wide policies at their waterparks. Anyone else seen anything similar at Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Knotts etc?

Which lazy river was open?  Please tell me it was the good one (the original) near the entrance to the park, not the smaller, weaker one in the back?

4 hours ago, YoshiFan said:

Dorney hasn’t allowed multiple laps on their lazy rivers since I started visiting the water park (2008) with the rare time you get someone who will says you can stay. I guess similar to their coaster re-ride policy where I have been allowed a re-ride a few times total in 15 years of having a pass (I stopped asking but will re-ride when offered).

 

I can third the fact that Dorney hasn't allowed multiple laps on either of their lazy rivers since at least when CF took over the park in the early '90s.  I don't think they did before then either, but that might've just been my parents not wanting to do multiple laps LOL.

1 minute ago, bert425 said:

correct.

Don Helbig and Chad Showalter are aware of it, and were NOT happy at Coasterstock when they experienced it for themselves.

I fully expect they have/will have folks working on it (it's only been a week since they were made aware of the issue)

That is great news!

[AmyUD06]

Photo TR:  A quick trip to Kings Island, Memorial Day Weekend 2022.

This year I decided to forgo my normal Wildwood MDW excursion and instead headed to Kings Island for Sunday and Monday.  After my long 9 hour drive to the park and checking in to my hotel, I headed over, arriving at around 6:30 PM.  Looking nice around the entryway and International Street for the 50th!

I of course immediately headed for The Beast to check out the new renovations.

I won't repost my review from a few posts back, but yeah, it's still awesome. 15 minute wait with FL for the front, 12 minute wait for the back.  11/10.

See Kings Dominion, this is how you light up a scrambler!

I then hopped on Racer; one train wait for the blue side, row 2.  Still smooth with the recent retracking working, and t he new paint job looks nice, but is already starting to get affected by grease coming off the wheels.  8/10.

They also had this cool poster out front:

Making my way up into Action Zone, I snapped these pictures of the "50th Anniversary VIP Zone," which was just as populated as the one at Cedar Point last year (read: not at all).

And the Slingshot is in fact gone:

The dedicated Squishmallows store is no more, but you can buy them in most other shops.

I ducked out for a quick smoke break, and on my way back in headed to Rivertown, noting that KI has implemented their own "win a skip the line pass" game:

Hopped on to Mystic Timbers (one train wait for back row), and after running all day in the 80 degree heat, she was absolutely flying.  Probably the best ride I've ever had on it.  11/10.

After that, it was around 8:45, and I was dead tired from my long drive out, so I just went back to the hotel and crashed until the next morning.

I got back to the park at opening, and hopped on Woodstock Express as part of the early entry (walk on for back row, 6/10) and then made my way over to Racer (one train wait for front row, red side, 8/10), and then backtracked over to Diamondback for a half-train wait on row 2, 7/10.  Along the way, I snapped this picture of this big open area which is just screaming for a ride:

I then hopped on Flying Ace Aerial Chase (half-train wait for back row) against my better judgement.  1/10.  I did realize why Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot Orlando is so much better than this:  These cars don't swing at all and are hard-mounted to the bogies.  The new paint looks nice at least.

Then I took another lap on The Beast (two-train wait for back row); still awesome.  Still nothing going on with the Vortex site:

I then jumped on Backlot Stunt Coaster (two train wait for back row, helicopter did not move nor did blades spin, but everything else seemed to be working, 6/10) and Bat (19 minutes for row 4, 7/10).  I then ducked over to the water park for a bit; man was it packed.  This was the line to get in at around 2:00:

After about two hours in the water park, I took the train back to see the "revamped" scenes.  Meh, just looks like they gave everything a solid power washing and maybe a fresh coat of paint:

And here's a video that I shot later in the day:

After that, I ducked back to my hotel to take a shower and quick nap, and went back to the park around 7:00.  Hopped on Flight of Fear (15 minute wait for front row, 5/10), Orion (two train wait for back row, left edge, 8/10).  It is growing on me, but I still doubt it'll ever be a top 10 steel coaster for me.

Banshee was next (two train wait for back row, left edge).  Still as incredible as always, despite a slight rattle.  9/10.

Camped out behind the Miami River Brew House for a little break, and caught this awesome video of Diamondback's splashdown.  Rainbow anyone?

I then grabbed another ride on Mystic Timbers (2 train wait for front row).  Finally got the Tree Monster ending, which I hadn't seen since some of my first rides on it back in 2017.

I then basically did laps on the train waiting for it to get dark, snapping a few cool pics along the way:

Still had a bit of time before it was dark enough, so I snagged another ride on Mystic Timbers (half-train wait for back row), and finally it was time for my night ride on The Beast.  Got in line around 9:25 and saw two trains go out before they closed for fireworks, yadda yadda, didn't get the front.  Total wait of about an hour and a half, including fireworks shutdown, for row 2.  Not as awesome as the front, but still awesome.

And that about wrapped up this trip.  Back to the hotel and into bed, for my long drive home the next day.

So long, Kings Island!

Thanks for reading; my next planned trip is a rather large road trip including my first ever visits to Idlewild, Camden Park, Kentucky Kingdom, Holiday World, and (fingers crossed) Stricker's Grove.

[prozach626]

Great TR. Thanks for sharing.

[swfan1988]

Whoo Hoo! It looks like I'm finally going to get to go to KI for the first time this summer, and I can't wait! I've heard so much about this place, and it looks amazing. Some "first timers" advice would be really appreciated!

Yes, Yes, I know...Fast Lane Plus....and....It's just not gonna happen. Period. I have tried finding a way to get it , but for budgetary reasons outside of my control it just isn't.

So, that being said, I have a couple questions:

Is it better to go right first and hit Mystic Timbers, Beast, and Diamondback first, or go left and hit Flight of Fear and Orion?

What should we do for food here? Is Coney BBQ the same/similar as Cotton Blossom at WoF (I'm going there on the same trip as well)?

Can you ride the train without having a ticket to the water park?

 

Any additional advice would be really appreciated! Thanks in advance everyone!

[bert425]

Orion is a people eater.  even a long line on that moves fast.

do Diamondback, MT, and Beast first.  (that's the order you'll get to them if you go right).  
if you go straight back behind the Tower, you'll hit Beast, MT, then DB in that order.

there is a Skyline Chili near the front gate, that was good.   the "Tom & Chee" (grilled cheese place) in front of Diamondback is really good too.  I'd recommend both of those.
the menu at the french restaurant near the tower looked great too, tho we didn't try it.
 

yes, you can ride the train without getting off and going into the waterpark.

dont' sleep on Adventure Express . a very fun mine train, or the Bat - never has much of a line, since it's such a walk to get to the station (it's near Banshee for entrance to the Bat queue)

you should move heaven and earth to figure out a way to get FL+ tho. .. even if not too busy, FL+ will cut out a TON of the walking in the queuelines.

[prozach626]

2 hours ago, bert425 said:

you should move heaven and earth to figure out a way to get FL+

This. Then, you can go in whatever the hell order your heart desires.

[PKI Jizzman]

Major bummer, Bat lost a wheel and beat up the track finishing to the brake run from the looks of reports. 

 

[Midgetman82]

Poor thing. It was having some issues that had it closed for a decent chunk of time when I was there on the 12th.

Also, briefly gonna mention, the new Phantom Theater Encore show is a pretty good treat! Was actually my first show to see in that theater and didn't disappoint! Worth a watch if you're at the park!

Edit: Also adding, The Beast back row on the first drop is actually pretty fun now!  The work done on the huge turnaround is fantastic as well!

Edited June 23, 2022 by Midgetman82

[Rai Fox]

Ouch.  Going to be there in a little over a month and the Bat is still one of my favorites there...I imagine it's going to take longer than that to get track replaced, even if it doesn't turn into a major investigation like El Toro did.  At least it looks like just one section of track, and no injuries, so hopefully it doesn't get the ride shut down for too long...

[CaptainUnknown]

Here's hoping beyond all hope that it can reopen later in the year. My first visit to the park is in late September and I'm looking forward to the Bat.

[Dan the Coaster Man]

I got 70 rides between all day Tuesday and the first half of yesterday with no fastlane. God I’m in love with KI.

Beast was solid. Row 17 for smoothest and 15 for roughest. I also thought Racer was running really well (I did ride last year too). I somehow had the best rides on invertigo I’ve ever had.

Hopping for a speedy recovery for the bat! I left before it happened but it was my last ride of the day.

[haydn12]

We rode row 17 a few weeks on the Beast and was amazed how smooth it was.  Park looked dead yesterday. 

[Danrarbc]

I'm visiting for the first time in 24 years July 18th - how intensive are Ohio ride investigations compared to New Jersey?

I'm pretty sure Kings Island can get the track repaired fairly quickly as they've already been doing rail work on Bat this year. But since there was an actual event that could trigger a state investigation if the safety laws are strict enough. The train doesn't seem to be to bad, repair the wheel, maybe the derail bar and inspect every axle - plus they can run a single train in the short term with just an inspection of it. I suspect the ride itself can be repaired and read to run by my visit with no problem - but if the state wants to do their own investigation that could certainly be an item that pushes a potential opening into late 2022 or even 2023.