RollerColt

Took my family down to Florida for a 10 day Disney/Universal trip and saved Epic Universe for our last two days. It is a beautiful, and true to its name epic park. It has some flaws, but I think over time it will grow to be one of the best parks out there. I will warn those who plan to travel down: be prepared for lots of exposure to the elements. It’s a new park, so the trees are very young. That means no shade in a lot of places. The summer sun is very unforgiving for those who don’t have a tolerance for it. Nintendo World is stunning but especially lacks in shade. Prepare for rain! One major downside to the park is the fact that lightning shuts down pretty much all rides in the park except for Mario Kart, Monsters Unchained and Battle at the Ministry. Keep that in mind for those afternoon storms during the rainy season. For our trip, we attempted to ride Stardust Racers and Hiccup’s Wing Gliders throughout the day and each time lightning would shut them down. I had almost given up hope when miraculously right at the final hour of operations they reopened them. Hiccup’s Wing Gliders might be for family riders, but it deserves a seat in the world class section of roller coasters. It is simply one of the most fun rides from start to finish. And Stardust Racers? You guys have to ride it at night. It makes the entire experience much more impactful. One of the best night rides of my life. The trains glow and sparkle, so as you’re racing you truly feel as if you’re in a powerful dance / ballet with the other train. Simply magical!

I'm a bit biased being a Hoosier, but man does Holiday World rock the socks off of events like this. I'm very thankful my state has a park like this. I'm thankful for KI being so close as well of course!

"Watch what they do, not what they say".

It feels like our time in the sun is long gone. With so many parks to manage, it seems like KI is becoming more of an afterthought. I hope I'm wrong...

The company in my hometown always had comp days. Like Don said, up to 10 per employee. It was nuts. They'd invite extended family members, friends of their kids and all sorts of other people to come along. Most years practically the entire town was at the park.

Yep. A lot of times there is a thought process with adults that goes something like: “I’m an adult, I know what I’m doing, I’ll be fine”… From what I can gather the individual was attempting to retrieve their car keys. Staff had told them to wait until park closing and they would go get them afterwards. The individual didn’t want to wait…

Great to hear from you again!

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/warren-county/mason/kings-island-1-hospitalized-after-person-believed-to-be-hit-by-Banshee

Yep. How I feel every time I have to go to the town council to get building permits… last time it was a for a small shed.

Sadly the prices have also gone up, but the quality is decaying… @DonHelbig’s post does make me nervous about the future a bit in regards to our park.

Fonix looks amazing!

Well stated, thanks Don!

Wow… 5 years… Walking through the park it definitely is missed. It was almost like a landmark for my childhood… walking into the entrance and seeing it peering from the back… the sound of the train going through the batwing was mesmerizing, and I loved the sound of the chain lift. The wood fence just makes me sad at the moment. It’s like a huge incomplete is just sitting in that part of the park.

I’d happily buy Dollywood and then live out the rest of my days in the mountains. Second choice would be Holiday World.

Incredible. Has it really been that many years? So much has happened and changed since 2019! Love that color!

I don’t see any posts on Facebook about this…

Dang… it was working on Tuesday this week when we rode it.

That's just too cool!

Sadly investors a lot of times are like the Cookie Monster. Constantly feeding and feeding off of profits, never satisfied and nothing is ever enough.

https://www.zamperla.com/product/lightning Yeah I would not complain if we got a multi-launch, well themed ride similar to Maverick in our park. Put that sucker in the old Vortex location and I'll be very happy.

Excellent post! To add to this: The park owns and operates the ride, and is therefore responsible for our safety. Meanwhile the operator of a car, whether leasing or owning the vehicle, is responsible for maintaining it and is responsible.

My bad! Since I was with the kiddos we didn't venture over to Action Zone. I did notice it was pretty quiet around the Eiffel Tower, should've put 2 and 2 together!

Went yesterday and besides The Beast, everything else was up and running. The station teams were really starting to hit a groove in the evening hours and lines were great! Longest wait we had was for Soap Box Racers, but with only 1 train and the track layout there’s only so much they can do.

Correct! Took my kids today for their first ever experience with roller coasters, they rode Woodstock Express quickly followed by Soap Box Racers. We were very surprised with how intense that turn coming out of the station is! My 7 year old daughter absolutely loved it, however my 5 year old son might still be too small as he said it was too much. I personally found it to be a delightful ride, with some good speed and a great view!

I immediately thought of you when I saw the news break… I feel like a piece of me has died today. That was my very first park as a little kid back in 1992. I was only 4 but I remember that summer.