KI Parent Swap?

Does KI have a parent swap and has anyone tried it? Any tips or thoughts on it?

Yes.

You have to go to guest services at the front gate to get a parent swap slip.

Don't make the same mistake I made, and get all the way to the back of the park and THEN be told that you need to visit guest services. For some reason ki is differant than all other cedarfair parks when it came to this. Cedarpoint for example, has parent swap slips at all the rides. You just have to ask for one.

Last year when we took my daughter to ki, we wanted to ride diamonback and the worker told us to just have one person wait at the exit with the child while the other parent waits in line. We did this on diamondback and flight deck. But when we attempted the same thing on the beast(after one of us waited in line for a half hour), we were told that we had to go to guest serveces all the way in the fron of the park to get a slip. After arguing about this with guest services, we had to wait in line again at the beast....even after explaining the disaster to them.

Yes, there is a slip you need to get when you enter. We had no problems...I love PS. :)

Does Kings Island no longer use the "penalty boxes" on most of the coaster platforms (exceptions are the two Premier coasters and Diamondback)?

--Dave Althoff, Jr., who thought those were a brilliant idea and a great way to manage a parent swap)

We used the system 2 years ago at KI...and I was asked to wait outside the exit with our daughter while my wife rode, and vice versa. This happened at every coaster. So I was no where near the platform, obviously.

When I was there a couple of summers ago, the "penalty box" was used when a family wanted to ride, but the youngest (presumably) wasn't tall enough. The parents both rode with the other kids while the shortest kid waited in the box until they returned.

It was like a loose articles bin for humans really. Awww... :( (;))

I think it was in the Monday Night r.r-c chat group that we started calling it the "penalty box," probably because two of the regulars in that group are from Minnesota where they play something called "hockey". :)

Anyway, the idea is that the kid gets three minutes for being too short.

A few years ago I was at Great America and noticed that small children have a certain fascination for the B&M test seats, but they are too small to actually use them as intended. One kid locked himself into the Raging Bull test seat only to find that his leg was too short to reach the release pedal; another kid locked herself into the Superman test seat only to find that her arm was too short to reach the release handle. I thought at the time that this would be a great way to deal with the little kid problem: just have a row of three or four test seats in the station, strap the kid into place while the rest of the family rides, get 'em out when the train comes back.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

"Kings Island is not responsible for lost or stolen items left in the penalty box."

"We left him right in that box..."

The penalty box doesn't work for kids too young/whatever to be left alone--unless a parent also goes into the box.

Was/is there an age requirement to be left in the box?

KI Parent Swap..

Sounds like a crappy FOX reality show.. I suspect it will be soon..

I've seen the box used three different ways--

1) Too-short kid goes in the box, everybody else rides.

2) Too-short kid and selected additional family members go into the box, everybody else rides. Then the too-short kid and the family members who rode exit the ride while the remaining family members emerge from the box and take their ride.

3) Kid who was big enough to ride but really shouldn't have exits the ride and sits on the bench in the box for a couple of cycles to recover.

It seems to be a versatile platform accessory, and yet I can't remember seeing this feature at any other park anywhere. Not even at other KECO parks.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I believe that Hulk at IOA has a kiddie box.

^LOL, that's the parent swap waiting area. There's also one at Mummy, Dragons, MIB...and Rock'it too now that I think about it.

Yeah, the "boxes" at Universal Fl are a bit more advanced than the chain link dog pens at Kings Island. They have a real room with chairs, water fountain, other? to wait in.

Now that I think about it, the one for Men in Black at Universal is actually constructed to look over the boarding platform, kind of like a control booth, only without the controls.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.