Pez

The crowds are usually pretty light on early season Sundays, especially close to closing time. If it is a nice day, there may be a good crowd, but not anything like you would see after schools out.

We upgraded last year and had to process one of our passes at Carrowinds. We had to go to the customer service desk as opposed to season pass processing. It was a bit of an unusual situation for them, but they got it done. Not everyone knew what to do with us and we did wind up wasting some time with the season pass people. The customer service was able to process our upgrade.

Vortex is great when there's a crowd.

I don't have much sympathy for the complaining residents. I'm pretty sure the area was built up after the park was built. Moreover, very few residents would have been there before the park was built in the 70s. In other words, they moved to the nuisance. I think the stadium shares the parking lot so staying open during games may not be an option.

It's awesome. You get to do what you want when you want. Riding with other people isn't usually an issue. If you are seated next to a group, they will ignore you. You might get a smile and a slight nod. You may get some small talk about Kings Island, which sounds like it is in your wheelhouse. There is no reason to feel like you don't belong. You do.

I'm sure the Charlotte or Ft. Mill police deal with underage drinkers running from the cops regularly. This was unusal in that there were a lot of them and they're foreign. I am not too concerned for Cedar Fair or Carrowinds. If it happened at a university, we wouldn't blame the school. It's just an expectation that sometimes people underage will drink and sometimes they will freakout and run. It happens. On another note, I would rather see locals fill those positions, even if it means paying a little more like Kings Island had to do this year. Unlike Sandusky, I expect there to be enough people in the Charlotte area to fill the positions.

I also have had to no-tip at the HOF grill on one occasion a few years ago. When they're bad, they're dreadful. Food Service is definitely the most problematic part of the Kings Island experience. Seasonal food service is not a job people will take if they have other options so they wind up giving people their first jobs. Too many inexperienced employees is a problem on it's own, but I don't think they've hired enough employees either. They probably can't find anyone. They regularly tweet that they are hiring. KI doesn't use H-1B employees like I have seen at Carowinds and Cedar Point. Most of the restaurants have serving and checkout lanes that are not in use so the facilities are in place to provide better service, just not the people. I am not sure how much money it would take for more qualified people to take a seasonal food service job. Probably a lot more than $15. I don't know what the answer is, but it is frustrating. It's worth saying most of the people I have seen working in the shops and in the restaurants do a good job in light of the circumstances. I expect they will do much better as they become more experienced.

That story doesn't sound right. My guess is she caught some teenage employee who has yet to develop problem solving skills. Kings Island has a lot of those. The employee probably told the lady the only thing he or she knew; The gate does not open without money. I don't know if it is poor training, a unfit employee or that lady not telling the whole story. I don't see any choice for Kings Island other than to let someone through the gate with directions to the exit. If someone comes to the gate and refuses or is unable to pay what is Kings Island going to do? They can't force them to stay at the gate. That's actually false imprisonment. They can't create a situation where the person feels their only option is to back out against traffic. That creates a liability for any damage the driver may cause. The only reasonable option I see is to open the gate with instructions to leave.

The complaints I see about Vortex boil down to "it hurt me and I want it gone." Nonetheless, it is a great ride for those who can still ride it. It also has great capacity and probably is not onerous to maintain. There are plenty of Arrow loopers that are 10 years older than Vortex that are still going strong. I can't say the same about RFYLCB. We have seen a lot of other parks take out their old arrow log flumes. I love the old log flume for nostalgia's sake, but I still never make it over there to ride it. My kids would much rather go on Congo Falls or WWC and I would feel a little strange sitting in a log by myself or with some stranger between my legs. If they take out RFYLCB and Peanuts Playhouse, it looks like they have a clear shot from the mystery fence to an underutilized portion of the parking lot to put in a giga. Kings Island doesn't know what to do with Peanuts Playhouse. I don't even know if little kids get excited about the oddly placed petting zoo. It is closed every time I have ever meandered by it. Peanuts Playhouse was planned when people still thought it was cool to get slime dumped on themselves. Paramount may have been able to do something with it, but it doesn't fit the Cedar Fair era.

These snapchats are looking less like hints and more like statements.

If you are a new driver keep calm and take your time, unless you are in front of me, in which case hurry up. But seriously, coming from the north there is a nice long left turn lane on new pavement. When the light turns green, look at oncoming traffic. The oncoming right lanes (your left) turn into Kings Island. The oncoming left lanes (closest to you) go straight past you through the intersection. When you make your turn, go to the right of the divider poles. These lanes have new pavement. Don't go to the left of the poles because that is the exit. The exit lanes still use the old pavement. For a new driver, stay left and take it slow until you determine which lane you need for the tolls. Some will be for pass holders and others will be for everyone. If you can stay to the left, great. If you have to switch lanes, make sure to use your signal. This is Ohio, so someone will be nice enough to let you in. Once through the tolls, the lanes will begin to peel off to the left into the parking lot. The first one is a good one for crowed days, but it is way to the north end of the lot. The second one is still on the north end of the lot. This is usually the one I use. If I recall correctly, the rest send you to the south end of the lot. Hope this helps.

I think CoasterChick is right. It is a reference to the removal of the log flume. I hate to see it go. It has been a staple of the kids section since the beginning and is one of the few rides transferred from Coney. When I was growing up, a log flume was something every respectable park had to have. Things change and the log ride at KI is not particularly notable like the one at Knotts'. It isn't integral to the park. Nobody says "have you ridden the log ride at Kings Island?" It's just there. It was built when the Dead Sea was just sick and maybe it is time to either make a major investment it or let it go. I expect an announcement telling us to get our last rides in. After that, who knows. Maybe they change the signs to tease what is going to take it's place.

Thanks for the clarification. We made the Carowinds trip for spring break and my Wife had to get her card down there making it her home park. This helps.

I would be happy with a decent bar. Someplace where I could hit happy hour before a stroll through the park or hang out and watch the fireworks as the crowd clears out.

The biggest gap in the coaster lineup is a giga. Kings Island and Knotts are the only Cedar Fair parks with over 2 million visitors a year that don't have one. Cedar Point, Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds and Kings Dominion each have a giga. At this point, it's expected for a major Cedar Fair park (Knotts is a bit of a different creature. It is landlocked and has a nice niche in the same market as Disney, Universal and Magic Mountain. Even with that kind of competition, they are the place in October.) Kings Island consistently hitting 3.2 million visitors per year definitely warrants the investment required for a giga, even if it will only be 3 years after Banshee. After that, I would love to see a blitz coaster, or even just a high thrill launched coaster. I have my suspicions about the future of Flight of Fear. I'm pretty sure they removed one of the cars from the trains after that smoke incident a couple years ago. Because of this, I suspect the maintenance costs of the ride are going up. At some point, the costs won't warrant keeping it. They made changes to SOB and the Crypt before removing them because of safety and maintenance costs. It seems once the park decides to make these kinds of changes, the ride doesn't seem to be long for this world. If Flight of Fear goes before we get another launch coaster, the lack of a high thrill launch coaster would be the park's biggest gap.

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of a B&M sitting giga. What Banshee is to Raptor, the new ride would be to Millennium Force; an updated, more refined version. The ride needs to be different enough from Diamondback so that it complements it so maybe more elements that push you into your seat instead of eject you out of it. Kings Island could also use another launch coaster. Backlot and Flight of Fear have slow lines so I don't ride those too much. I think the park is set on woodies with The Beast and Racer. Cedar Fair has been pretty good about putting in coasters at Kings Island and Cedar Point that compliment each other so I don't see a Top Thrill Dragster/Xcelerator clone, wing coaster, dive coaster or Maverick clone coming. 3 million visitors a year could justify a substantial investment. Of course, we would all go regardless of what the next big investment is. A new Giga could be huge. Kings Island has the real estate and the manufacturing facility is local to save on transportation costs (probably marginal savings, but something). I think it would be cool to have both the longest steel and wooden coasters here. I wouldn't add length just to be long (a la the long, straight covered part of The Beast), but if they can make it work, it would be cool.

The Train Stop bar, not far downriver from the Kings Island property, had a smoking chimp named Sam until sometime in the 90's when he was sent to a sanctuary. Locals still refer to the place as the Monkey Bar. I thought the 90's was way too recent for those kinds of things to still be going on. When I first heard about a bar that used to have a smoking money caged up for peoples amusement, I assumed that it ended no later than the 70's. How the heck does a bar wind up with a chimp in the first place?

You're welcome. I'm going to miss Boothy and Son of Boothy though.

The toll booth theory makes sense, especially since there is road work planned. The Western Row off ramp directly southwest of Kings Island is one of the worst in the area and the current south entrance and exit to Kings Island is a cluster. How many of us regular visitors/locals have seen someone turn left at the light into the exit instead of going the few hundred feet down and turning into the entry plaza. You can see it coming too. "Don't do it, don't do it" ... sigh ... That needs fixed and relocating the toll booths is probably necessary. The current booths are showing their age and are kind of crappy. They would probably be better off with one wider entrance too. Of course, this wouldn't be a major announcement, so god knows what that is. I would consider what they did last year with the two new kiddy rides and store revamps as course-of-business rather than "major" for a park the size of Kings Island. A major announcement is probably an investment worth at least a few million. Maybe a couple pretty good flats or one big one. Perhaps they are going to open up the area around the Carousel to be for the classic flats that Cedar Fair has those guys scouring Europe looking for. The space surrounding the Eifel Tower from Tower Gardens to the International Theater is a lot of prime real estate not doing much. They could add a few flats and still have plenty of greenspace.

I agree with CoasterOhio. They wouldn't get rid of The Racer. It has too much history. It would have more of a goodbye tour than just the last few weekends of the season and the haunt. It may get some treatment at sometime, but that wouldn't qualify as a removal.

It took a while, but my comment finally got posted. One point I wish I had made was that he can't expect Kings Island to acquiesce in the removal of a prescribed medical device in order to ride one of their rides. The converse of that is "Kings Island made me take off my medical device to ride their ride." If something went wrong that argument would be used against Kings Island by both the injured person and Kings Island's insurer, and it would likely prevail. I am disappointed that the Huffington Post lets this guy use their website to vent his personal issues. The article is anything but objective. He is writing about a bad experience he had personally and not something that affects the disabled community at large. Moreover, he makes no attempt to understand the reason why Kings Island has the policies that effected him.

There is a fire station at Columbia and Kings Mills. If you're at the Chipotle and look straight out across the empty field, you could see it. It is within a mile of KI. The nearest hospital/ER is probably Arrow Springs one off ramp to the north. Probably 5-6 miles, but it is unlikely emergency vehicles would be substantially impeded by traffic. Wide lanes and few lights. If a lot of people are injured, they probably go to UC West Chester/Cincy Childrens - West Chester, maybe 8-10 miles, but traffic would be much more of an issue.

Los Angeles

Glad to see you gentlemen are coming to Lebanon. We moved here from LA 11 years ago and love the whole small town thing it has going on.

I'll second the Shaker Inn. I've known two groups that have stayed there over the past ten years and both have liked it for the same reason. The people there really do seem to care. It is modest, but clean, functional and safe, and you definitely don't feel like you're staying in a chain when you're there. Lebanon is a lot quieter than Mason and has a nice downtown area if you are hungry, thirsty, or are really into antiques.