Kings Island: Waste of Time/Money?

Dont be discouraged by what im saying, unfortunately i have cabin fever for coasters and my friends and my mom were gonna hit the only park open in ohio this week. I was just wondering with all that hasnt happened this week namely terrbible ride operation, and higher prices for mostly everything in the park, would it be worth it to waste gas and 30 bucks on a ticket.

My friend is already bummed because he just wanted to feel how bad the Son of Beast can really beat a person up, he must be a gluton for punishment. But i dont also see the reason why it takes them so long to fix a ride that has been down since last fall so that they can work on it. Maintenence problems or works front office operation. They are starting to put fear in me that the last trip there last year wasnt a fluke as far as things taken a big fall.

Comments on this might save me money and earn my appreciation.

Well, this trip report indicates that they had a lot of fun this past weekend. I haven't been there this year so I can't comment on price changes, but I'd go just to check out the Nickelodeon Universe for the new Avatar Coaster plus there will probably be lighter crowds this early in the season. And if they open a couple of the rides that weren't open last weekend, you'll be set. It's hard to go wrong with Delerium, Drop Zone and Scooby Doo, let alone the coasters. :)

Based on early trip reports (really really early trip reports) the general trends I see are Beast running better than it has in a long time and Avatar being really good. There does seem to be issues with some rides not opening on time or whatever but its nothing totally unusual for the park just opening. Maybe a little perturbing but not disaterous or anything.

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with all that hasnt happened this week

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Maybe I'm reading the wrong discussion boards, but I haven't seen any overly negative reports about PKI.

Dude, it's open. You've got time. Go there.

I think he may be referring to my TR. And I have to say I believe you should make the trip. My wife reminded me that Delirium was up and running early in the day, and she said it was running just before we left too. SOB being closed! Could be good news to some.

And I really have to chalk up the problems with Avatar/Phantom Flyers to glitches, and just getting the bugs out! Besides Avatar is the ride you want in NU! It ran like crazy all day, (except for that 20 min. or so), and it is awesome. The Phantom Flyers are a mini-version of the carnival-worlds "Cliffhanger", really not a huge deal anyway.

Your trip would still be well worth the money and time in my opinion. If it was me who discouraged you, sorry, that wasn't my goal. I love PKI, it my homepark.

Thats funny, I live five minutes from PKI and HW and IB are my home parks :)

Chuck, wheres Lesourdsville when you need it?

Luddite. ;)

I was also at PKI last friday night with my girlfriend and her son and we had a blast. Avatar was a whole lotta fun and makes a great addition to an already nice Nickelodeon Universe. They did make her son move to an inside seat and said you had to be 16 to ride on the outside of the car. Has any one else heard that yet?

They finally did open The Italin Job as we rode it three times right before closing.If we were not going out of town this weekend (Spring Fling) we would go back so i say go and have a great time.

I was there opening day and we had a blast.
Yes I have to kind of agree with the statement regarding the Son of Beast, however this ride has been so rough in the past that I welcome any extra work that it might take to improve this ride. Also I did think that food was really over priced, than I rembered that I was at an amusment park and food has never been cheap.

Anyway the park was in great shape, yes it was opening day but everything looked really good.
The Beast ran great. It hasen't ran this good in many years.

Flight of Fear ran great. This is a ride that has always had kind of a rough side too it but not anymore.

I was even more impressed with the Vortex, I have no clue what the park did to it during the off season but this thing was running perfect, especially for an arrow looper. Which now makes me question what the heck is wrong with many arrow loopers. I'm not kidding this ride give arrow loopers hope, we'll maybe. But all jokeing aside the Vortex, Beast, and flight of Fear are running perfect. I was very impressed.

I give the park a lot of credit for the work that has been done during the off season, I actually have faith that just maybe the SOB might run good this year, I truly believe that there might be a good chance, but stay tuned.

All in all my group had a great time, money and time we'll spent. Very impressed with the park.

I go to PKI once a year at least, and the last couple of years I haven't been really impressed. But this year the park seems to be off to a great start.

Good Job to the staff at PKI.

The bad thing about SOB being closed is that it makes the other lines longer. Face/Off was closed pretty much the whole day on Saturday, and so was Delirium.

Beast was running extremely better. It's the best its ran in the post skid brake era. As for the other coasters, not really much of a difference to me, still rough. Avatar was really cool though, very impressed.

Food prices, my GOD!!!!! I always eat at the Festhaus. It's always been a little pricier than eating outside the park, but it has gotten a little ridiculous. I mean this is Ohio, not New York. Our cost of living is a little lower here. It cost me nearly ten bucks for two slices of pizza and a small drink.

They are selling Winterfest tickets already for like ten bucks. Think they are trying to make a little extra cash before they might be able to sale it? Speaking of, is it really that big of a deal to them if rides are closed and customer service isn't up to par this year? If they are going to sale the place then what is the big deal about making people happy and just try to squeze some money out of them before the sale. After all, that would be a good business decision for them.

They have a nice carousel. Unfortunately, that's the extent of any positive comments you'll get out of me about that place. I've been there twice in my life and I'll probably never go again (I live 1.5 hours away). Nothing really "bad" ever happened to me there, It just isn't my style. Lesoursdville on the other hand, IS my style. Damnit!

Millrace, Reword that into Been to PKI twice and send it to the americanaamusementpark.com quotes page.

:)

I have always had very good experiences at PKI. I do, however, realize that the staff changes regularly and each day is a different day. I try to avoid the big crowds when I plan a trip there. It is one of my favorite parks. *** Edited 4/18/2006 6:56:15 PM UTC by coasterkitty***

I haven't been over to that page in a long time. Is you know who still cluttering up the discussion forums?

not right now, but you never know when he'll spout off. Good old jl57!

No I mean send it to where Scott Fowler can post it as a public comment about the park :0)

Chuck

But if I say it on the forum, it just may get a rise out of old JL. I'm sure he's missed. ;)

Actually were playing JL57 pretty good on Americans against ARN&R :)

We did not have a very good experience the last time we went to PKI. However, it is possible (you will have to work at it) to have a good day at PKI. Just don't go expecting the best park in the world and especially don't go expecting to not get hurt riding most of the coasters and REALLY don't expect half of the water attractions in the waterpark to be open -- oh and I almost forgot, expect IJ:ST to break down the train right before you get on it after waiting about 2 hours and then be told that you would have to requeue if you want to ride it, no waiting. Other than that, it's a great park! Oh and don't forget that if you order chicken wings there near the front gate that they will come out cold even with the hot sauce on them.

Great park and I highly recommend it!

Ive been to PkI before the problem is that things havent went well and i have been wanting to ride something already its been a long time of cabin fever. I happen to want to get a decent time out of it. 3.5 hours of driving is waiting and with gas and no guarantees of alot of rides and restaurants open and not running up to par i feel that it was against the monetary losses to take a trip. I have asked these questions before just to gage a response because i could lose out and i want a full if not a close to full experience. I know sometimes it is half the luck of going out but this year i dont want to take chances and waste money on gas and other things and completely feel like i wasted over 50 bucks or more to say my experience wasnt worth it but i thank you guys for the imput, it looks like its a go, and hopefully it will be better than past trips, and swoosh amen, to the italian job comments, i have had the same problem, but however i got extremely lucky.

If your going to a park thinking you might have a bad time. You probably will.

Why not go and visit for what they are made for *FUN* and if it goes bad then you could consider it a loss.

Chuck, whos never had a bad time in a park unless outside interfearance or it was overly crowded

This early in the year, Expect neither.