How crowded is Opening Day? My friend is coming into town for Spring Break and he really wants to go to Kings Island. He is leaving on April 19, so Opening Day is the only day we can go. Is it worth it to go if the weather is going to be bad and lines too long?

It certainly won't be empty but the bad weather might help out a bit on crowd levels. Most of the attention will be around Diamondback so outside of that the park might not be to bad.

It's going to be really busy I would recommend not going at all the people pushing and shoving to get in the park......... I must joking it's pretty busy but should not be like 4 of july or anything.

It will most likely be unrealistically crowded, but the bad weather forecasts may cut down on the amount of people to go on opening day (As if that'd stop anybody on this site from going...)

It's much too early to count on (or fret over) weather forecasts. At this point, such a forecast is about as reliable as a stock market forecast for November 2010. Probably less so, actually.

This reminds me of a post that went something like...

...how crowded will the park be on July 24th at 2:23pm (or something to that effect).

Last year I attended my first opening day and was pleasantly surprised by the size of the crowd. I was expecting at least an hour wait on all roller coasters. I will be at the park again this year for opening day. Working or not. If your friend has never been to the park, opening day might be an excellent first visit. I imagine Diamondback will draw the crowds away from the other wise more popular attractions meaning less lines for you and your friend. This of course is just speculation. If you want a really good guess, you should check back on April 19th. But seriously, crowds or not, I'm sure you will have an excellent time in the park if you decide to go.

I always assume the park will be crowded. That way I'm pleasantly surprised whenever it isn't.

So crowd density on opening day is basically hit and miss...people either flock or they don't, right? So based on that is there any real way to tell how slammed it will be due to the big red beauty?

Yes. Go see.

And don`t forget that opening day will also feature the debut of Marty`s Party and Down Home Country. Additionally, Parrots of the Caribbean will perform at the park on opening day!

A little tidbit of trivia, but Jimmy Buffett used to play at Timberwolf before Riverben Music Center was built. It was at a concert at Kings Island that the phrase "Parrot head" was coined!

^^AND don't forget most opening day's have frequent ride operation kinks resulting in downtime...anyone remember opening day in 07?? YIKES!!

However, I feel confident D-back won't be nearly as susceptible.

I mean, I actually think non-Diamondback rides won't be that bad, but Diamondback will likely have a 3 hour+ wait most of the day completely regardless of weather excluding a non-stop down pour or all day thunder and lightning.

Remember season pass preview days? They open the park and you enter to see every ride in the park closed and two hours later they announce the park will be closing early because of weather without a cloud in the sky.

Last year I attended my first opening day and was pleasantly surprised by the size of the crowd.

But remember that last year's opening day was on Sunday. Then again, actually, the following Sunday was more crowded than opening day if I'm remembering correctly...and I am.

Flyer, who remembers opening day in 07, but doesn't remember that many kinks.

^^I'll dig up the TR's if you'd like, but in short, many rides, including ol' reliable stand-by's had significant downtime (i.e. longer than 1 hour). Seeing Vortex stuck on the lift with riders for an hour and The Beast being stuck on the break run for an hour (with me on board!) wasn't that lovely...in addition, Delirium only ran half the day...it sucked to be honest. Trust me, I wish I was making it up!!

Same happened to me but it's a little different. I went to KI with some friends and SOB,FOF,BLSC,and Delrium were all closed and the lines really bulked up and it was on a monday so it's not that crowded, but i know some people that work there and they said that Kings Island had a electrical problem and even the fountains were shut off.That day was horrible!

Ahh I remember that day because I remember us not having power at my ride either. It was a rather sucky situation for the guest but there was nothing we could do.

^^I'm glad some people are backing me up!

You're still cool with me, Flyer, but trust us...Saturday, April 21st 07 was NOT that glorious, unfortunately!

I think I was there that day,

I hate it how guests yell at the poor teens standing at the line saying, "We're closed due to technical promblems."

Then they yell its quite stupid realy, come back another day?

Was it someones TR that they said the guy at the ride said, "We tell them it will be open the next day, because they don't come back the next day" lol.

With the debut of Diamondback - all bets are off

Not all bets...weather is still a major factor. If it snows and is 15 below zero, the park will not open. If it is very nice, low 70's, no humidity, the park will almost certainly be a zoo.

What if they did come back the next day? I think this years opening day will be different. There has been serveral times I visit a park on back to back days.

The next day is a sell out day...there is no Sunday the next day for them to come back to...

I'm going to the sell out day the next day with that company. I can't wait, I hear it won't be crowded at all!

^^I'm glad some people are backing me up!

You're still cool with me, Flyer, but trust us...Saturday, April 21st 07 was NOT that glorious, unfortunately!

I would hope one glitch in the memory wouldn't make me "uncool" with someone. At any rate, I just failed to remember it being that bad. What I do remember was that I waited too late to go and it was a mad house to get into the parking lot close to opening, I was not able to take my opening ride on The Beast due to downtime, the lines were very lengthy, and that there were quite a number of opening day kinks that surfaced throughout the day. I don't remember anything with regards to a lack of power, but I've slept since then and am going to take your word for it. Perhaps the person I was with at the time was able to make it an enjoyable day despite the problems. Who knows?

I'm going to the sell out day the next day with that company. I can't wait, I hear it won't be crowded at all!

I'll be there too.

^^AND don't forget most opening day's have frequent ride operation kinks resulting in downtime...anyone remember opening day in 07?? YIKES!!

However, I feel confident D-back won't be nearly as susceptible.

I mean, I actually think non-Diamondback rides won't be that bad, but Diamondback will likely have a 3 hour+ wait most of the day completely regardless of weather excluding a non-stop down pour or all day thunder and lightning.

Yes I was there, I swore I'd never go on opening day again!

According to www.weather.com, the opening day forecast calls for a 60% chance of rain. I don't know if this will cause the ride to shut down or the park to remain open with fewer people

I'd sooner believe a forecast today of who would win the 2012 presidential election than I would a weather forecast today for Kings Island opening day. There's more reliable data available for the former than the latter; though neither has much accuracy . . . yet. Even as late as Wednesday, the KI opening day weather forecast will still be rather iffy....

Well I know that, all weather thingy's are not 100% accurate until the day of...so I hope it changes.