Flat Freak

Here's an interesting thing ride ops (all park employees for that matter) do: the great majority of them are happy, cheerful, pleasant, and polite at any time of the day. Working double shifts as I know some do, dealing with the same "stupid tourist" guests doing the same "stupid" things repeatedly, asking "stupid" questions, and the like must be extremely tiring for them, yet they usually manage to do it with aplomb. I always try to put myself in the other person's shoes - this year, having made as many KI trips as the previous years of my life combined, I really noticed what they were doing. I've learned how to be the best guest I can be as I've watched them handle the worst of the guests well.

I hadn't been to Kings Island for a few years before this summer. My daughter loved Beastie (sorry, I refuse to call it anything else) but was too short to ride anything bigger. Then life got in the way and we kind of forgot KI for a while. I never got to ride SOB. At the beginning of this summer, her mother tells me she needs a season pass because she had a couple of visits planned with friends. What the heck, I love rides, I'll get one for myself too and take her down as well. We end up going every week on Tuesday or Wednesday when I can clear my work commitments. She started the summer at 54.00000001 inches in shoes, depending on which ride op measured her. Perfect. We started on The Racer and worked her up from there. She is now the undisputed Princess of the Diamondback ™, 10 year old division. I got to ride Diamondback, Invertigo, Flight of Fear, Firehawk, Vortex, and Adventure Express for the first time. I added a dozen or so more rides on my favorite flats - Drop Tower and Delirium, and an additional Sling Shot. I rekindled my childhood love for Beast and Racer (I am old enough - barely - to have ridden Beast in its first year of operation). I have a new top five rides: 1) Drop Tower, 2) Diamondback, 3) Delirium, 4) Beast, 5) Invertigo. What a great summer! I feel like a kid again. And the summer's not over. Still six weekends left.........

Awesome news. Platinum passes, check. ERTs, free parking, 4-6 visits to CP and 12+ to KI. A summer to remember. [/newbie]

We've established that a Platinum Pass does include parking at other CF parks. Does a KI platinum include ERTs and other similar Gold Pass benefits at the other parks? If not, does anyone think it would be worthwhile to buy KI Gold + CP Gold for $170 just to get the ERTs if you plan on 6+ CP visits for the big rides? That's only $25 more than a KI Platinum, and the ERTs alone might be worth that. (There is virtually zero chance any other CF parks would be a possibility).

Three ~12-year-old boys are approaching Drop Tower. Middle boy (leader of the pack) says "this ride is lame. Let's go somewhere else." Other two boys instantly respond "okay." You could almost hear their thoughts ("Oh thank goodness. I didn't want to look like a wimp.") My 10-year-old and I laughed about that all the way through the line (when of course she rode too). The fear is what makes the ride FUN. Drop Tower may be a lot of things, but lame it's not.

Female ride op on either Beast or Diamondback: When I say Hillshire, you say Farms. Hillshire! Crowd: Farms! Ride op: Hillshire! Crowd: Farms! Ride op: Go meat!

So for 2010, regular passes were $100, and platinum were $160. I did not foresee a trip to any other CF parks this year, so I bought a regular + parking for $140 for myself and a regular for $100 for the kid (we bought them later in the summer). Can I buy 2011 golds for $69.99 now, and pay the difference to upgrade to platinum later (as we will definitely be going to CP next summer at least two days)?

Thanks for all the great (and fast - wow) responses! The one that stands out the most is "it is scary." That's really all I needed to hear. At age ten, I'll let her wait a year or two, and we'll stick to the daylight hours on Saturday and Sunday. Maybe we'll go on Saturday and leave shortly after Haunt starts, getting a minor scare or two in first. It's the first year she's been tall enough to ride everything, so she wants to go as often as possible. I think I have a future member of ACE on my hands, which is not a bad thing. Jasper - I may contend for the title of "KIC's number one Drop Tower fan," but since I'm the noobie, I'll defer to you for now.

Hello KIC! First post. I'm a long-time KI freak, and I've just found this forum, and I wish I had a long time ago. Great stuff here. I have some questions about October in Kings Island and appreciate all responses. My daughter and I often go in the summer (11 times this year), but we've never been in October (we went to Nick or Treat when she was little and only did kiddie stuff and stayed a few hours). She's too old for the kid stuff, but not old enough for teen+ attractions like probably the haunted things. 1) How intense are the Haunt attractions? She is 10 years old and fearless when it comes to rides (DB, Beast, Drop Tower without blinking), but I don't think she'll do well in haunted house-like attractions (yet). Are there some "lamer" ones where she can experiment and ease into it? 2) Are all the rides open (the big ones, anyway) most of the time? 3) If you want to go to the park on a Haunt night, can you avoid the "scary" stuff and mostly just ride? Is it true that scary characters get in ride lines, scare you on rides, and the like? I'd like to be able to reassure her that this doesn't happen, so we can go to ride, ride, ride, and I can ease her into some of the tamer haunts. 4) I see the park hours are 7-1, 12-1, and 12-8 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday respectively. Am I right that the "scary" haunt stuff happens in the evening, and that going from 12-7 or so, we could avoid it? Is the full park open on Sunday, or is it just kiddie stuff? 5) What are the lines like for the rides? I was going to ask the Dippin Dots guy all these questions, but he was on break. --Flat Freak and his daughter, who both can't wait to ride WindSeeker.