Possible Kings Island trip, any tips or recomendations?

If we make it down this would be our first time to the park. We would be leaving from the far, far west side of Cleveland and the plan at this point would be to leave in the morning, go to the park in the afternoon get a hotel for the night and go back to the park in the morning for a few hours before going back home. Basically since we have platinum passes I'm thinking we could spend time equivalent to a full day or a bit over and split that time between two days to make it a more relaxing pace. We're going to need a hotel anyway because of the distance. I'm just wondering before we start looking online for hotels and motels are there any places that really should be avoided or any places that are much nicer or more convenient than they may appear online? I'm only starting the planning phase at this point and don't have any dates in mind yet. It wasn't until last week that we had a vehicle good for that long of a trip so the possibility of going is just now becoming a reality. Other hurdles to deal with but it's looking like we may actually be able to do it this year.

Both of my regular Kings Island hotels closed up. There are some hotels close to the park across the bridge on the other side of the highway. A few look nice enough.

Hyatt Place is a pretty nice hotel, and is maybe 5 or 10 minutes away from the park. It's not too incredibly expensive either. I think it was like $100 for a one night 2 double bed room.

If we focus on coasters and maybe some flats we don't have an equivalent to at Cedar Point should one day pretty much cover it unless there are huge crowds or bad weather? Is there anything in the waterpark that is unique or is it mostly more of what there already is between Cedar Point Soak City and Wildwater Kingdom?

With platinum passes, you can get into the park a half hour early, so you could do that on the 2nd day. They change up the early entry rides on a monthly basis: Here's the link.

I usually stop at KI for a few hours on the way to HoliWood Nights. For the past several years, Flight of Fear is always closed or had a long line. So when I was there a few weeks ago on a Wednesday, I did FoF first and got on right away. Firehawk also tends to get a line. Of course if you rode X-Flight at Geauga Lake, you could skip it... amusingly, FH is badly in need of a paint job and a lot of the original neon green is showing through!

Banshee, on the other hand, is a real people-eater and also fantastic. My fave is front left (usually they'll let you wait for the front or back if you ask).

Things you could skip in the interest of time would be WindSeeker and Delirium (MaxAir). Don't dismiss The Bat because of Iron Dragon though -- it's much more exciting, despite being shorter.

I'd think you could spend the equivalent of one day and have a very satisfying time. I didn't do any shows, kiddie coasters, or water rides while I was there, but I was also distracted by Banshee's 10-minute wait, so...

^^Yes, I think so. You don't mention, and maybe you don't know, if the trip is weekend or weekday, or if it's closer to now or late-season. As you know, all those things affect crowd conditions.

But the park, while still packed with attractions, is an easier walk than CP. It's a wagon wheel with a couple of sections on the edge and a cut through the middle. I'm sure you've seen a map.
As for unique flats, none come to mind particularly. Drop Tower offers a different experience than Power Tower. Delerium, Windseeker, Monster, Scrambler, Troika, (and others, I'm sure) are duplicates. Dodgem is round and kind of slow. The Eiffel Tower gives a great stationary, stay-as-long-as-you-like view of the landscape. There's three water rides that are unique in layout if nothing else.
I'm sure you have all the coasters on your radar already, so 'nuff said. I get a kick when CP fan persons make comparisons. I think the rides there are good, and offer several different from CP, some better than others I suppose.

I can't speak about the waterpark, as I rarely include it in my experience. I know it can be very crowded on a hot summer vacation day. I'd say there are a few slides you don't find at CP, but I prefer to let folks stand in line over there while I stay on the dry side and bust out some rides. There are two ways to access it from the park, and it also has its own pass holder entrance from the parking lot which I would prefer to use. It's another option for morning of day 2, especially if your previous evening was successful. But it's a nice environment and well done, so if you're a waterpark person then go for it.

If you're considering late season, look at the op calendar carefully for dates and hours. Early closings start happening and daily operation usually ceases the week before Labor Day. It's a little strange, but once high school commences they lose their daily employees and staffing is a real issue. I haven't looked for myself, but I can't imagine this season would be any different.

What Mac said about the early weekday closures in August. For the last week and a part of the month, the park will be closed Monday through Thursdays.

This would be a weekday trip if at all possible. I'm off for the summer and because he works a firefighter type of shift my husband can take off two days of work and have an entire week free. M-F means nothing to us once the school year is over. We're actually considering rescheduling an appointment or two and trying for sometime this week if we can get someone to watch our dogs. We're now considering combining this with a stop at at the Air Force museum in Dayton since we've been wanting to take the kids there sometime too.

Recently stayed at the Marriott near the park (last weekend). Couple of housekeeping hiccups but it's a very nice property and it was $83 a note after taxes and fees on Hotwire.

I recently went and stayed at the Super8 in Mason, a few minutes drive there. It was a very nice Super8, and I have seen some pretty sketchy ones. Extremely nice room, nice pool, about $90 for the night. Have a great time!

Unfortunately the van we recently bought because we don't want to drive my car (nice shape but 31 years old) too far from home turned up a possible issue while we were checking it out today so we have to put the trip on hold. My husband was stranded once when he was younger with a blown engine out of state with hardly any money and no credit card so he's got a bit of a thing about long trips and cars. My husband has vacation time again the 2nd week of August which I noticed is shortened hours but maybe if we manage a Friday that won't be so bad. I've heard night time rides on The Beast are great and I don't think it's going to be dark at 8pm but we'll see. I actually just cancelled reservations at the Mason Super 8 which was a decent deal through hotels.com double room for 4 people was under $100. It wasn't the cheapest thing out there but I thought that was a reasonable price considering how close it appears to be to the park. I can actually be happy with those small old 40s-50s motels as long as they're clean and the air and heat and everything works but I didn't see anything like that without leaving Mason.

Paisley said:

Unfortunately the van we recently bought because we don't want to drive my car (nice shape but 31 years old)...

Ok, I'm curious.

You're driving an '85 what?

1985 Buick Electra Estate Wagon.

Good lord, what a boat! Hang on to it.

That is awesome.

No wagons in the TV spot, but it's so deliciously 80's that I can't even.

I love huge old cars. We have an '86 Caprice wagon too. Other women have too many shoes I have a full driveway. I wish I could have my own parking lot.

8.8% financing!? EGAD!

I watched the video just to see those terms. Yikes! I don't think I've ever had a rate higher 4% in my adult life. On the other hand, my students loans were all 8% (graduated in '95), which is why I get annoyed about the "crushing" debt complaints from kids graduating today.

My parents bought a house in 1983 and the original terms had a %12 interest rate. And that was DOWN from the %18 average in 1981!!

It's cheap to borrow money these days... if you do it correctly.

8.8% would have had people flocking to the dealerships in 1985.
My first financed car in 1981 carried a 21% interest rate.

The good old days weren't always good.