Kings Island and its parent company Cedar Fair unfortunately were not immune from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. With Kings Island's Opening Day for 2020 originally set for  April 11th, the start of the season had been postponed for almost 3 months and now set for the following.

Key Park Opening Dates:

Park Open to Season Passholders: July 2 – 11

Park Open to Season Passholders and Daily Ticket holders: Beginning Sunday, July 12

New protocols to create a safe and clean environment include: 

• A new online reservation system; each guest is required to have a reservation prior to their visit to enable capacity management;
• A requirement to complete a pre-visit health screening declaration 24 hours prior to admission; 
• A touchless temperature screening prior to entering the facility for both guests and associates;
• Requirements for all guests, associates and vendors to wear masks as directed by the protocols
• Social distancing markers throughout the park, including ride queue lines; 
• Limited guest/associate contact;
• Enhanced cleaning procedures, including additional deep cleaning and sanitization of restrooms, dining facilities and other busy areas; 
• Additional hand sanitization stations; and
• Capacity management throughout the park. 

More details here: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/park-update

With the addition of Orion this season, the anticipation of the 2020 season has been very high since the closing of the 2019 season. KICentral members and Kings Island enthusiasts from around the country have been anxiously waiting to enter Orion's queue and take their first ever ride on the world's newest giga coaster. 

Although things will look different this season, a date is now set. We can now get back to our beloved park, and return to some normalcy for Kings Island fans. I think every park fan is ready to be in the park creating memories with friends, family, and fellow Kings Island fans.

Link to the 2020 Calendar:  

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/explore/calendar-and-hours

 

Explanation of planning a day at the park.

 

• A requirement to complete a pre-visit health screening declaration 24 hours prior to admission; 

Curious as to what exactly this means?

 

Good news!  Nice for the passholders to have some time before opening to the GP.

42 minutes ago, YOULLBEBACK said:

• A requirement to complete a pre-visit health screening declaration 24 hours prior to admission; 

Curious as to what exactly this means?

Guessing it's just an online form that you fill out saying you do not have Covid-19 symptoms, and are otherwise healthy enough to visit. Then signing your life away saying you will not hold the park accountable if you were to get the virus at the park. 

I added the reservation video to the original post.

The link to the calendar above still shows they are closed LOL.  But it does show Grand Carnival for 2020 as a reason to buy a Gold Pass...

It also shows unlimited visits - can't wait to see if that is true...

Seems like it should run fairly seamless as far as the app goes for reserving your time. 

I wonder if they will have park themed mask available for purchase?  
 

i guess they can list anything as a pass perk as long as the plan on returning it for 2021. 

When do reservations for passholders open? Also, I noticed no mention of a ride reservation system, so with the reduced capacity, I suppose the park feels as if people can stand 6 feet apart in line.

The Orion auction will be July 1st if anybody was wondering. Got an email from Don Helbig.

Watching that Worlds of Fun video: is it just me or does a ton of that look like it was filmed at Kings Island?

19 minutes ago, McSalsa said:

Watching that Worlds of Fun video: is it just me or does a ton of that look like it was filmed at Kings Island?

Yes, that video is just going to be posted by every park, notice how they referred to it as Cedar Fair parks and not Worlds of fun.

21 minutes ago, Benjamin22 said:

Yes, that video is just going to be posted by every park, notice how they referred to it as Cedar Fair parks and not Worlds of fun.

That part TBH I was expecting- Cedar Fair usually just uses a lot of stock footage and will repost videos for every park. I was thinking more along the lines of: "They filmed this at Kings Island yet no one on here noticed them filming via webcams or something"

 

Anyone else wondering how and when they filmed that video at KI?!  That would have been a pretty extensive production.  It couldn't have been too long ago that they would have had the "green light" to do this.    I saw at least the Carousel opening.  Looked to be a lot of covid-related safeguards already installed, looks like they've been preparing for awhile.

36 minutes ago, KIfan73 said:

Anyone else wondering how and when they filmed that video at KI?!  That would have been a pretty extensive production.

After looking at the video, I don't know if I would call it "extensive".  Appears to be a common cast of around 20 people moved around to various locations in the park.  Obvious setup areas include the MT entrance, MT queue, MT ride loading area, path behind Festhaus leading to Action Zone, path behind Carousel (note no riders on the moving Carousel), I-street bathrooms, with a few others I couldn't readily place.  I would guess on-location efforts at KI took place in a day.  Along with some home shots with different family showing the app, and stand-up shot with Tony (looks like green screen with background drone footage).  Some heavy editing and you have yourself a quick video.  

Have they been heavily planning this to get ready to open? No doubt.  This was probably another action item on their list of many getting ready to open.  I think it shows Cedar Fair has been quietly working non-stop to open as soon as possible.  

I'm wondering at what point will they check your reservation - entry gate?  Parking tolls?  Entering the lot?  Kings Island Drive?

What will they do with people that drove hours to the park and have no reservation?  Hopefully they have plans for some "security" in these situations (Sorry folks, park's closed unless you have a reservation!).

9 minutes ago, KIfan73 said:

I'm wondering at what point will they check your reservation - entry gate?  Parking tolls?  Entering the lot?  Kings Island Drive?

What will they do with people that drove hours to the park and have no reservation?  Hopefully they have plans for some "security" in these situations (Sorry folks, park's closed unless you have a reservation!).

Worlds of Fun has a pdf. also, so KI may put one out sooner or later

https://cdn-cloudfront.cfauthx.com/binaries/content/assets/wf-en-us/general-information/covid-19/wof---welcoming-you-back-guide.pdf

 

oooooooo.... ambassador’s....sounds important.  Is this chainwide or just KC thing?

This is great news! When I am able to, I'm very much looking forward to getting back in the park again. I'll probably wait a week or two before my first 2020 visit just to see how all of this will work in practice. I can't wait to ride The Bat again! 

I have a question:

Will I be able to make a reservation with just a voucher for a Gold Season pass? I had to purchase a gold pass for this season instead of renewing my platinum pass because I knew well in advance that I would not be able to travel to other parks this year. I am sure that Season pass processing will not open early this year, but I would love to be wrong on that.

15 minutes ago, txdrummer said:

I have a question:

Will I be able to make a reservation with just a voucher for a Gold Season pass? I had to purchase a gold pass for this season instead of renewing my platinum pass because I knew well in advance that I would not be able to travel to other parks this year. I am sure that Season pass processing will not open early this year, but I would love to be wrong on that.

From my understanding passes will be able to be processed through the app soon.

12 hours ago, MDMC01 said:

This is great news! When I am able to, I'm very much looking forward to getting back in the park again. I'll probably wait a week or two before my first 2020 visit just to see how all of this will work in practice. I can't wait to ride The Bat again! 

Me too my men!  Want to ride Daimonback with me.

It does make me wonder when pass holders will be able to make reservations. I don’t want to get too anxious worrying about claiming a reservation on opening day, or any of the weeks beyond. 

Diamondback is currently testing,  I hope they fill the splashdown soon,  we're 20 days into the countdown. 

9 minutes ago, Imperial79 said:

Diamondback is currently testing,  I hope they fill the splashdown soon,  we're 20 days into the countdown. 

You meen Dimondback the talles fastest coaster to ever strike King Island?

Don't forget meanest.

10 hours ago, teenageninja said:

You meen Dimondback the talles fastest coaster to ever strike King Island?

And it's a metal coaster!  

He has to get in the stats while he can. Once Orion opens it becomes the tallest, fastest, longest, biggest metal coaster to hit KI

I am SOOOO excited for the park to reopen.  This will be the first summer of my entire life that I don't get to spend my birthday at an amusement park.

- Side note do we know when we will be able to book reservations for July 2nd

- Also is anything confirmed that Orion will be operating July 2nd

1 hour ago, FOFirehawkFAN said:

I am SOOOO excited for the park to reopen.  This will be the first summer of my entire life that I don't get to spend my birthday at an amusement park.

- Side note do we know when we will be able to book reservations for July 2nd

- Also is anything confirmed that Orion will be operating July 2nd

First Rider event is July 1st according to email. I would assume they would open it July 2nd. 

On 6/10/2020 at 9:17 AM, PatchesC said:

From my understanding passes will be able to be processed through the app soon.

I received a response from the park indicating that the 20 digit code on the Season Pass voucher can be used to make a reservation and can be used with the Kings Island app. Then upon arrival at the park a picture can be taken to finish the process.