Kings Island

We spent the weekend and Kings Island and had a great time. A couple of things I noticed were the interactive maps around the park were pretty cool. It would also show coaster wait times and I thought they were pretty close. Another thing I didn't expect was park wide wifi. I had a strong signal throughout most of the park and the speed was good. The only area the signal was weak was over by the Beast.

That was the first time we had been to Kings Island in several years and really had a great time. Banshee was great too....

DSShives said:
Another thing I didn't expect was park wide wifi. I had a strong signal throughout most of the park and the speed was good. The only area the signal was weak was over by the Beast.

The WiFi was just enabled. Coverage seemed good despite a few weak spots.
The Beast has an Access Point directly above your head right as you enter the lower que.
I had low signal strength but my brother had excellent. The APs are dual band so I may not have been connected to it properly. He knows more about it than I do.

There was no wifi on Friday. The only thing that came up was "management" and it was locked. So it sounds like I'll be much happier on future visits.

It's been probably 11 or 12 years since I've been to Kings Island but we're planning to visit again sometime this summer. I think while I'm there I'll have a moment of silence for Son of Beast.

I was at KI on Sunday and there was WiFi. I was completely and utterly shocked. This new regime is making me forget that I'm at a Cedar Fair park.

I just went to KI this past weekend for the first time and loved it. I really liked Banshee, Diamondback and The Beast. The park was really nice. I wish CP would do theming on their attractions as good as KI. But I wish they were more efficient with their operations. I noticed almost all coasters were stacking all trains in the brake run, something that doesn't happen as much at CP.

You can see my trip report on this visit at CoasterBuzz.

Thabto-I would agree wholeheartedly with your comment about operations efficiency. I enjoy my trips to KI but they also make me REALLY appreciate the ride ops crews at CP. There seems to be no motivation at all to move people through the lines. We once waited 20-25 minutes for Diamondback from the bottom of the stairway.

I'm not sure why they are slower at KI. They would even say "scan" before giving the all clear. I really enjoyed KI, I think it's an incredible park, but the operations could use an improvement.

I was at Canada's Wonderland last week for the first time. I thought it was neat (and helpful) how on Leviathan they have a 60 second countdown clock that starts during train loading. And there are 2 panels (one for each side of the train) that you can also see a light illuminate that corresponds to each seat being closed. The ride operator would says stuff like "We've got 30 seconds to get you out of here" and declare "10 seconds to dispatch." They also yell (or proclaim) at riders not to lower their own lap bar. Nonetheless, seemed to keep them on their intervals.

What happens when the timer runs out and everyone isn't ready?

Anyone who has been to KI recently, was there security checkpoints?

They used to have magnetometers at the gate until a few years ago.

I'm wondering if it's an Ohio specific security increase or just at CP, or even chain wide?

No, there was no checkpoints or metal detectors at the front gate.

Thanks Thabto, that's good to hear.

I never liked the old magnetometers at the gate.

CPNostalgia said:
What happens when the timer runs out and everyone isn't ready?

Not sure if serious or not, but it's for the ride ops to know how much time they have left to efficiently hit interval.

Kings Island only brought the wands and bag check out during Haunt last year, and not even in the mornings those same days. They also don't allow reentry once the evening's Haunt has begun.

It certainly doesn't help that they allow guests to bring their bags, etc. into the queue on Leviathan. The guests hand their bags to the ride hosts on the other side of the platform who would then place them into the bins. Fury 325 (same style train) doesn't allow any items to be left on the platform.

Another thing I notice is that they don't assign seats on Windseeker or Psyclone (MaXair Lite). Kind of a free-for-all, which stressed me out. Do they assign seats on Windseeker and Delirium at Kings Island?

I also was at Canada's Wonderland last week and noticed the same thing on Leviathan (btw, what's up with the ridiculously short queue?). However, the timer seemed pointless as trains were constantly stacking, and other coasters throughout the park for that matter. I also noticed that Canadians (I stayed in Toronto for a few days) LOVE to carry backpacks and all the rides have bins. I'm sure that didn't help efficiency.

I've never had that problem at KI, but it's never as great as CP ride ops.

Speaking of security and CW, they have metal detectors at the front entrance and the line was very slow to get in the park. Being a season ticket holder to many sports teams throughout the years and dealing with arenas and stadiums security, I'm very shocked more amusement/theme parks aren't equipped with them. I do recall a few years back a guest showing a gun at CP in Frontier Town, although I could be mistaken.

Before the seatbelts, Leviathan used to have a 45 second countdown clock (which they could actually hit)... Now they never hit the 1 minute clock :(

We just did a three day, end of summer hurrah to Kings Island this weekend, too. We arrived Friday evening and the park was EMPTY. A walk on to everything. Needless to say, it was wonderful. Saturday was a promotional day for EMTs, firefighters, cops, etc., so it was busy, but I sprung for Fast lane Plus, so it wasn't much of an issue. I ahve decided that I absolutely love Kings Island. This is the third year in a row I have gone, after having not been since 1996. I love that you can get a reasonably priced room that isn't in a sketchy neighborhood. Sketchy neighborhoods don't bother me, but my fiance is a bit of a worrier about certain things. Hell, she doesn't even like it when I drive through bad neighborhoods. Maybe I am just used to them, since every rail yard at which I work seems to be in a bad neighborhood. I concur with everyone else. Kings Island is indeed a beautiful park, with some great rides, but they seriously need to work on operations. Some of the procedures I observed were not only inefficient, a few were even just bizarre. I can't count how many times I witnessed lots of empty seats on a roller coaster when there was a huge line. The way they control the number of people on the platform at any given moment, there really isn't much of an excuse for sending out any empty seats, unless someone is a single rider. Seven on one train is downright inexcusable.

All in all, we had a great trip. The weather held out for the most part, with the exception of one rain delay Saturday of about an hour. I am already looking forward to returning next year.

Thabto, I also went about 2 weekends ago for the first time. When you first walk in the front gate, were you just as amazed as I was? The front of the park looked so amazing. I was in complete awe when I walked in.