King's Island Opening Day

While it caused some confusion for the KI pass processors my receipt for a 2010 PP from CP was quickly converted (the whole process took <5 minutes) to a 2010 KI PP yesterday. Looks like I may have been lucky about not being able to upgrade my 09 KI PP at CP this past fall.

I purchased my PP on the internet and printed off the vouture. Worked like a charm, waited only 20 minutes to process my pass and was able to get into the park without processing my pass first. So if you plan on getting a season pass, do yourself a favor and do all the paper work ahead of time and print it out.

Few notes from yesterday, action theater was actually up. Went past it around 2 pm to see a fairly large que, so we just moved on. The crowds were really low like I expected until about 5 PM, when the diamondback line grew to about 45 minutes, up to that point we only waited about 20 for each ride. Got rides in the front and the back, and I must say it's still running great. Got a ride in the back of the beast and it was rougher than ever. Was happy to see that they might have actually backed off on the some of the trims, don't remember it running that fast last year. Took me back to the days when it felt like it was about to fling off the track. My friend next to me was saying "more breaks!!!" the whole ride. The crypt is still a big piece of garbage. It shook violently when it went from rotating forward to backward.

I renewed my CP PP Oct 30th last year, I made it through parking and walked right into the park no problems at all. I noticed alot of people not so lucky.

My job just told me something exciting.. For once work is sending me to Dayton during a time that KI is open. Since its a short drive away, Im looking forward to experiencing Diamondback and getting some comparisons to CW Intimidator.

Oh and billing that to the Gov't of course ;) shhhhh....

I'm so glad my tax dollars are paying for your trip. ;)

My Notes on opening day:

One of the first to come down with a CP Platinum pass.
Parking attendants scratched their head, and just initialed it.
Went to season pass processing...Which was GREAT because they opened it 2 hours earlier than they said they would when I called.
They too scratched their head, and just gave me a Kings Island Platinum pass to get into the park.
I got early ride time on Diamond Back.
They also opened up early on Beast actually VERY smooth for the morning. They redid the the second hill and parts of the helix.
Stunt Coaster mis fired right as it opened and was down for a while.
They did not run Racer backwards and only one side was running.
Xflight (yeah, I still call it that) same problems as always...didn't open until around 2 and kept going down.
They had the rainbow lights on in Flight of Fear.
Woodstock Express (Reptar) Vallied during ERT. They got it up and running around 4ish.
Face Off Vallied between loops at around 12. I got to actually watch it do that while riding Drop Zone....err stunt tower or what ever it's called.
The Crypt...AWEFUL!!!! What the #$@#$ did Cedar Fair do to it!!!!! No effects working. No use of the que doors so you could see right into it. NO Effects on. It was like a ride in a garage with the lights on. And then it broke down for an hour while we were getting on it!
Stunt Coaster didn't have the splash down filled.
It looked like Sponge Bob DID open around 3ish. I saw a lot of people actually in the que around that time.
Way too much TV show...had WAYYYyyyy to many TV songs, but yes, it was entertaining...dinner and show!
Snoopy Area looked GREAT (I was worried after the hack job they did at Geauga Lake!)
Snoopy Boutique is way to small compared to the other parks.
ALL the team members were doing VERY good for opening day. Except the Eiffel Tower attendant who said "S#%%" after getting pen on her self in the elevator while writing. Parents gasped.
I saw a TON of management staff walking around the park.
They had fireworks at 10.
They didn't use the metal detectors.
The place was PACKED by 5PM.
The "average wait" times weren't EVEN CLOSE! things that said 15min were easily 1 hr +
Turkey Legs are AWESOME!

-RollerCoasterGod

Acoustic Viscosity said:
I'm so glad my tax dollars are paying for your trip. ;)

As am I ;)

What are the rainbow lights in fof?

FoF can be lit certain ways:
-"Rainbow Lights" multi colored flood lights
-Fully Lit with standard white lights
-Total Darkness

I entered the park 3 times on opening day, and all 3 times I had to go through the metal detectors. It's time they finally did away with the crypt and turned it into a dark wild mouse or something, anything different from what that POS is today.

You had to go through the metal detectors.

Did you notice anything about the way they were being operated, or the manner in which they were functioning?

Think about it, then get back to us. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Really didn't notice anything unusally. Not sure what you mean by that, it was the same exact process as last year from what I observed. Attendant covering 2-3 of them, if it goes off they search you further..

I do not recall Cedar Point having metal detectors so why would Kings Island have them and Cedar Point not have them? I have always wondered this.

Kings Island is located in a suburb of Cincinnati, Cedar Point is located in Sandusky, OH.

I hope I dont have to explain to you the vast difference between those two places.

Degado, do you recall anyone causing them to go off? Or security even acting like they are looking up at the light bar? Or turning around and looking for the light bar?

I think you should now be getting Dave's point.

Collin Aynes said:
I do not recall Cedar Point having metal detectors so why would Kings Island have them and Cedar Point not have them? I have always wondered this.

KI's metal detectors were added by Paramount after 9/11. Cedar Fair inherited them in 2006.

Hmmm, quiet an assumption. I don't recall metal detectors just lighting up when metal passes through, but also a loud beeping noise. I didn't wait next to them to see if they are actually working, so if you did, I'll take your word for it. Everytime I went through everything seemed like the same old routine

Suffice to say that Kings Island has taken "security theater" to a new level. I believe the "Mode Execute Ready" switch was engaged on the magnetometers, as it has been since last July *except* during the Haunt last fall.

What is really telling is when the SUV-model perambulator goes trundling through with nary a whimper out of the machine. That one officer was monitoring the unimpeded traffic flow through several machines, instead of having an officer at each gate and a line extending out past the tram circle, is itself pretty obvious.

Personally, I think Kings Island is doing the right thing. There is no way to know in advance what kind of security they will be doing at the gate on any given day, or even in any given hour. Last year during the Haunt, for example, they were running the checkpoint the same way they were on opening day this year for much of the day, then at some point they changed gears and got more intrusive about it. The crowd flow into the park is controlled and is examined by a couple of people whose sole job is to investigate anything that Just Doesn't Look Right. And most important, a large contingent of manpower has been redeployed inside the park, where most issues can be controlled before they become problems.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Does anyone know where or if there are coupons for platinum passes for kings island?

We are heading down there this weekend, and it's gonna cost the 3(2 adults and a jr) of us over $400 for passes...OUCH!!!. I know they have the buy 4 get $10 off deal, but we only need 3 passes.

You mean like the deal CP was offering last fall where they were $140?

Nope if there are any deals (minus the group deal thing) they usually occur in the fall and certainly end before the start of the season.