The anticipation of the new season starts kicking in when Kings Island publishes their operating calendar for the year, and that time has come again! Kings Island's Opening Day for 2020 will be April 11th. With the opening of Orion, Kings Island's newest roller coaster, this season this is sure to be historic and one to not be missed.

Besides Orion, what are you looking forward to the most ant Kings Island for the 2020 season? I think the changes and upgrades to Area 72 is what I am looking forward to the most this year besides riding Orion.

Link to the 2020 Calendar: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/explore/calendar-and-hours

 

 

An always open Rivertown Freestyle of course!  

Not only am I looking forward to Orion, I am also looking forward to the experience every time I visit this magnificent park. While I visit Kings Island every year, I will actually gain two new credits this year: Orion and Invertigo. I always seem to forget about Invertigo, but not this year! Kings Island is a top-tier Cedar Fair park and a top-tier park in general. Can’t wait for the 2020 season! 

Apollo 13 launched April 11, 1970.... 

Anyways hoping my kid manages to stay awake late enough for night rides this year on all the coasters. We usually only make it till about 9pm with rides, and then she just wants to chill and ppl watch lol

Orion and Vortex will share the same opening/anniversary date! April 11 will also be Vortex’s 33rd anniversary.

April 11, 1965 40 tornadoes strike US midwest killing 272 & injuring 5,000

10 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

April 11, 1965 40 tornadoes strike US midwest killing 272 & injuring 5,000

If I remember correctly, that was the Palm Sunday Outbreak. Guess April 11 has a lot of history to it.

Most any date does.   Though February 29th has significantly less history to it. 

2 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

Most any date does.   Though February 29th has significantly less history to it. 

I'm going to go with about a 1/4 of the history of any other date..... 

Well now we got the calendar for next season . . when do you think we'll get the updated park map?  Sometime in March??

Blog post about opening day. https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/january/kings-island-opens-for-2020-season-on-april-11

Only 84 more days!

However, i have a question: Why for the past few seasons (specifically this year and last year) has the park chosen to open on Easter weekend? Is there a specific reason behind that? I am genuinely curious as last year specifically, I know I almost didn't make Opening Day due to family get-togethers (and I'm aware that if that happens this year, I most likely will still make it to breakfast and I can just go the next weekend).

Also, I'm really curious how Orion will affect other rides' wait times. Like, on my first trip of the 2020 season (not counting NYE lol), I almost want to ride Banshee or Invertigo first before making my way to Area 72, just purely because I believe those ride lines will be dead. Thoughts?

Only 84 more days!
However, i have a question: Why for the past few seasons (specifically this year and last year) has the park chosen to open on Easter weekend? Is there a specific reason behind that? I am genuinely curious as last year specifically, I know I almost didn't make Opening Day due to family get-togethers (and I'm aware that if that happens this year, I most likely will still make it to breakfast and I can just go the next weekend).
Also, I'm really curious how Orion will affect other rides' wait times. Like, on my first trip of the 2020 season (not counting NYE lol), I almost want to ride Banshee or Invertigo first before making my way to Area 72, just purely because I believe those ride lines will be dead. Thoughts?

Why Banshee? That ride hardly ever has a long line anyways haha I’d ride something like Beast, Diamondback, or Mystic


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On 1/18/2020 at 11:04 AM, MDMC01 said:

Only 84 more days!

However, i have a question: Why for the past few seasons (specifically this year and last year) has the park chosen to open on Easter weekend? Is there a specific reason behind that? I am genuinely curious as last year specifically, I know I almost didn't make Opening Day due to family get-togethers (and I'm aware that if that happens this year, I most likely will still make it to breakfast and I can just go the next weekend).

Also, I'm really curious how Orion will affect other rides' wait times. Like, on my first trip of the 2020 season (not counting NYE lol), I almost want to ride Banshee or Invertigo first before making my way to Area 72, just purely because I believe those ride lines will be dead. Thoughts?

I think it is because Kings Island usually tries to open on the second weekend in April and Easter happened to be then. As is this year.

9 hours ago, _capture_the_thrills_ said:

Why Banshee? That ride hardly ever has a long line anyways haha I’d ride something like Beast, Diamondback, or Mystic


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Not sure, probably because it is the latest B&M (apart from Orion). Mystic would be interesting to test though, considering it was our most recent coaster. Diamondback may be another curious wait time comparison as some may say that at first glance, Orion is just a taller version of Diamondback*. We shall see...

80 more days!!!

*On another note, I'm curious about peoples' opinion of Diamondback once they have ridden Orion and comparisons between the two.

11 hours ago, MDMC01 said:

*On another note, I'm curious about peoples' opinion of Diamondback once they have ridden Orion and comparisons between the two.

We don't know yet. But I would imagine that Orion would be more intense than Diamondback.

I don't think Diamondback is intense. It's just a fun ride. 

But I guess what I'm getting at is will fans of Diamondback still think it is #1 in the park after getting off Orion? Only 79 more days until we'll know for sure...

They will if they want remain members of good standing in the Diamondback Booster Club.  

When the park does open, hopefully in may, I am really looking forward to getting some rides on The Beast. I only got to ride it once last season and it was a bad one. It was really hot and sunny outside and I sat in a wheel seat, so the ride felt like it was going a lot slower then usual. I'd love to get some better rides on it this season, including a night and even a rain ride if I can. I also would like to get some better rides on Banshee as both the rides I was able to get last season were kinda painful.

@DiamondBeast Same here. Can't wait to ride my favorite rides and coasters again!

On 1/23/2020 at 5:18 PM, MDMC01 said:

But I guess what I'm getting at is will fans of Diamondback still think it is #1 in the park after getting off Orion? Only 79 more days until we'll know for sure...

I think your count down was off

#1. I'm looking forward to riding The Beast! 2. Riding Orion and seeing how much of a punch it packs. From the video, it looks like it has a lot of speed and airtime. 3. Seeing how the park looks without Vortex in the skyline. That will be a huge change of scenery for me. No pun intended there.

Today would have been Opening Day!

Though I may not have gone because Easter plans (my family celebrates the day before and the day of), I certainly would have been to breakfast at Frisch's.

And to add to the above post, in addition to just getting into the park again, I'm really looking forward to riding The Bat, Adventure Express, Beast, Invertigo and of course, Orion. When I get to go again, I think I may stick to my plan of not doing Orion first (because I wanted to see how short the lines are elsewhere), but now I kinda think that reason is irrelevant as all lines may be short due to social distancing and/or the effects (the "fear factor", as someone put it) of COVID-19. Still, I think I will either do The Bat, Adventure Express (because remember 20 years ago, we got a hyper hybrid in Son of Beast and AE is a hybrid coaster) or Invertigo first before moving over to Area 72.