Kings Island rebrands water park as Soak City

I'm pretty sure that option "c" on the comparison page is Coney Island. With 8 water slides and 1 roller coaster it's a perfect match for "Cincinati Area Water Park Options."

Second wave pool = win. Changing a lazy river into an action river - HUGE win. This is a great move for KI all around.

Now the advertising in Columbus will not only reuse the same footage for Cedar Point and Kings Island, but the same name too. :) "Now which Soak City had the new wave pool??"

Agent Johnson said:
Totally forgot about Great Wolf. You would think Ohio tourism would embrace and promote being 'the waterpark capital of the midwest' or something. There are some incredible choices for 2012.

That honor would have to go to Wisconsin Dells

It just may, but two tourism entities could claim, and while the Dells is something special, in theory so would be all the waterparks in SE Ohio.

I know some owners in the Dells, and they are great people, but they can't hold a candle to the old Coney Island in their prime, or Kings Island today. Both are very strong parks.

Rihard said:I'm pretty sure that option "c" on the comparison page is Coney Island. With 8 water slides and 1 roller coaster it's a perfect match for "Cincinati Area Water Park Options."

Oh jeez... I never even saw the coaster mention. Good catch!

I don't consider Great Wolf to be a waterpark, and I suspect that Cedar Fair doesn't either...and I don't think they count Castaway Bay as one of their waterparks, either. Great Wolf is a *hotel* which happens to have a really elaborate pool facility that looks like a waterpark. I don't know if they sell day passes or not, but I am pretty sure they do not sell season passes, and most people who are looking for a waterpark aren't likely to consider it if it is the time of year in which Soak City is actually open.

On the advertising angle, this year they *did* run a Windseeker spot in Columbus that showed footage from both Kings Island and Cedar Point, and at the end of the spot actually showed two Windseekers side by side and pointed out that you could ride the new ride at either Cedar Point or Kings Island. It's the first time I have ever seen them promote the two parks together, and as late in the season as it was, I don't think they suggested getting a Platinum Pass and visiting both.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Maybe in 2012 they'll finally start a "The Fun & Several" campaign instead of "The Fun & Only".

That is a shame they are making a themed section of the park generic. But CF loves generic parks for some reason. Boomerang Bay was one of the better themed water parks in the nation. It had a nice feel to it with the Aussie references.

It (park C) is definitely Coney Island. CI has 8 slides and their SP is 89.95. I don't think Great Wolf even sells a SP? There's another small indoor water park in Sharonville but I don't think it's on KI's radar.

Like all comparisons, this one is a bit biased. Claims zero kid's attractions for Coney, despite the fact Coney has a bunch of good "dry" rides for kids. Of course, dry coasters make the chart for KI... Gotta love marketing :) I don't think this expansion will impact Coney Island much, but the Beach will be hurting. Hope they can stay afloat... *ba-boom*TISH*

Super7*, I didn't read anywhere that the theming already at the Kings Island water park was going to come down. The Soak City parks in CA are heavily themed, as far as I know, so maybe that is something that is not going to change. One can only hope.

Removing pretty stuff costs money. It would save bank to just keep it up, and that is the biggest reason that I see it staying.

Edit - Now that I think about it, I don't really remember a lot of extensive theming at Hurricane Harbor the few times that I passed through.