Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

Being so new and much shorter in length, I presume MT requires a lot less off-season maintenance than Beast.

Aside from location and visibility, I think this is the main reason. We all know how much work Kings Island does on the Beast every off-season, both to the trains and the track. A new, well-designed GCI likely involves much less work, at least for now. We'll see what happens several years down the line.

Just a question, not a complaint...Mystic timbers is a great ride, but I wonder why they chose to run it over the beast?

If I had to guess I would bet that beast doesn't run because of potential snowfall. There are spots where trees are overhead and then you have the risk of snow falling off of a tree and hitting a rider. Also looking at a pov there is the tunnel out in the woods that looks like it could fill up easily with snow and would be difficult to clean out.

^ kind of what I was thinking too, or falling icicles but I guess icicles could happen on any of them.

I know I already asked, but do they do anything to MT to give it more of a Christmas feel from the midway?

Last year I don't recall seeing any special theming or lights. Only major change I saw was converting their Fast Lane to single-riders line.

Does anyone know the average wait time on a Winterfest night for MT?

I'd look back to last December in the thread, but I remember some saying they had multiple re-rides without a problem. The event isn't catered to thrill seekers, so I would imagine the wait wouldn't be terrible.

^^On fair-weather Sundays, the line generally peaks at about 45 minutes, but it'll be <5 minutes after 9 PM. I can't speak for Saturdays, but there were reports of much larger crowds.

Fridays and Sundays were around 30-45 minutes at the worst on a good weather day. They also offer a single rider line those days. If the weather is good on a Saturday I've heard waits were hovering close to 2 hours and no single rider line on Saturdays. But as stated in a previous post, the line dies down about an hour before closing.

If you get there at opening I'd plan to head straight to mystic, enjoy the lights for a couple hours, then head back close to closing for a few extra rides.

Awesome, thanks for the help!

We were able to visit kings island for the opening night of winterfest. The crowds were heavy(and that's a good thing). At one point, mystic timbers had over an hour fifteen wait.

It seems that they added here lights this year, along with decor. A few highlights...

Lights....there were more lights this year.

Weather...it was in the low 50's.

Shows and entertainment...top notch.

Rides...several more were open this year.

The overall ambience of the park was very emercive.

Firehawk has not been touched.

The only cons....

Prices...prices were a bit steep for certain items. It was $7 for a blue hot chocolate.

The reds dinner...The food was decent(the ham was amazing), but items kept running out and were not replenished for quite a while.

The hot chocolate mugs. Last year we spent over $60 on 3 hot chocolate mugs. This year you have to purchase all new mugs. They do not offer the $5 reactivation option or $1 refills on last years mugs. The mugs this year are identical to last years, but have a blue cap instead of a white cap. Last year we may have refilled them maybe 3 or 4 times tops. I just cant justify the cost of this.

Here are a few shots I took..

Sounds like a good time. I think you have the worst luck with food, ever!

Nice report! I don't think I've seen an ugly park for the winter season.

I took my first trip ever to Winterfest on Friday night. It's a fantastic event, the park is beautiful! I managed to be on the first train on FOF. I only took one or two pictures, neither turned out very well. We only rode FOF once, we rode Mystic twice. Once we went to the regular line for Mystic, which was about an hour long. The second ride we went to the single riders line, which was about 20 minutes. There's a lot to do, but I think that if lines are minimal, you can squeeze everything in in just a few hours. The park only being open 5-10 isn't a big deal. Once again, it's a great event and I'll be back a lot.(Yeah, I know, I should start taking more horizontal pictures. )

Did they change Mystic Timbers shed into Christmas theme?

I wouldn't call this a TR but i wanted to show some things from my visit last Saturday to the park for Winterfest.

[youtu_be]

[youtu_be]

Firehawk is still standing and the only thing that has been done that I know of is the proxies where removed along with the trains and sent to Carowinds.

Racer is getting a complete retrack in some sections for next year!

Speaking of racer for 2019 new LED lights have been installed around the lift and drop and hopefully more will be installed through the entire course!

Overall the park continues to improve every year since its triumphamt return last season and it is easy to see that this is a guest and season pass holder hit and I highly recomend it

Here is a brief photo report of our trip this past weekend. The pictures are from the park, and a side trip to jungle Jim's market located about 20 min from the park. This is a very unique market, that carries foods from every country around the world. We found some really interesting items in here, along with the old safari monorail from kings island.

The monorail looked to be in working order, but was not running while we were there. Does anybody know if the monorail actually runs?

Anyway, onto some pictures...

Ever wonder what foods are offered in the restaurant above the parks entrance?

But I chose the kielbasa, sour krout, and peorogi platter from the fest house. It was actually pretty good, even though the peorogis were a little dry. It's also included on the dinning plan.

The funnel cake stand had some delicious treats as well.

The park is decked out in over 5 million Christmas lights. Just about every tree, bush, and building had lights.

Boo blasters doing its thing.

The kids enjoying the petting farm.

They have tons of stuff for the family to do together, like crafts...and they are included in the price of admission.

A sneak peak at one of the new antique cars.

The cinnamon bread was delicious.

Reds dinner live entertainment.

The main entrance

Now, let's take a look at jungle jims. And also, one of the monorail stations and track sections.

One of the first things you see is the monorail

They also have some antique cars. Not sure if these are from kings island as well.

They also have an interesting entrance

Once inside...

They have a HUGE selection of wine and beer.

And you can even sample them all if you choose.

This is the bathrooms. You have to walk thru a porta john door to get to it.

Coolness everywhere you look.

Looking for hot sauce? They have you covered. They even have adult themed hot sauce.

I really cant show most of them on here, but here is a sneak peak at a few.

They even have hot sauces named after cedar fair coasters.

High end hot sauce.

And this...

Everywhere you look, there is something cool to look at.

They even have a theater with a movie about the history of jungle jims.

Foods from every country

Lol....you can easily spend half a day walking around this store. We were in here for 2 hours, and didn't see it all.

Let's take a closer look at the monorail

This monorail operated at kings island back in the 80's when the park had a safari attraction.

Somehow it found it's way to jungle jims.

There were 3 or 4 monorails on the track

This looked to be the main station.

The backside had a covered area that seemed like it was maybe a q line at some point.

That's it for this mini trip report. So next time you visit kings island, take the time to check this place out.

Oh cool, I did not know about Jungle Jim's, but adding it to my next Ohio itinerary. Thanks; it looks fun.

The monorail works and is used for special events. The other station is next to the event space on the second floor. It is extremely rare to see it being used.

The monorail works and is used for special events. The other station is next to the event space on the second floor. It is extremely rare to see it being used.

Thanks for that info. I would love to take a ride on it.

Oh cool, I did not know about Jungle Jim's, but adding it to my next Ohio itinerary. Thanks; it looks fun.

They have 2 locations. We went to the Fairfield ohio location. I guess the other location is not as big from what we were told.

Jungle Jims looks neat. Emily has this weird thing with enjoying browsing in different grocery stores around the country, so I'm going to have to remember this.

Jungle Jim's is the 8th wonder of the world.

Jungle Jims looks neat. Emily has this weird thing with enjoying browsing in different grocery stores around the country, so I'm going to have to remember this.

If you are ever in Connecticut, do not miss Stew Leonard's. They have better animatronics than some theme parks.

Oh cool, I did not know about Jungle Jim's, but adding it to my next Ohio itinerary. Thanks; it looks fun.

 

They have 2 locations. We went to the Fairfield ohio location. I guess the other location is not as big from what we were told.

Good to know,thanks. That looks decently close to KI too.