Looking back at Kings Island's 2024 and ahead to 2025
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- The news was like drinking out of a firehose in 2024. For all intents and purposes, 2025 should be the same!
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I just saw Anaconda at Kings Dominion is getting the axe. No more farewell rides anymore? Now I’m curious what will be the next Kings Island coaster to go away to only be replaced with average boring crap.
I do hope the bubble show does comes back. I would liked to have seen it, but I had a vehicle on its last miles and I could not make the trip from Toledo. I got a new vehicle in August and made it down for a Haunt weekend and 4 nights at Winterfest last week. It took me all 4 nights to see each of the many great shows and I got to see Tinker's show twice. Next year, I might also try to make it to Grand Carnivale (if it returns). FYI: I agree with the delicious Meatloaf Burger (I got it without cheese) and also liked the Turkeyball. I also agree with the recent comments that the crispy Turkey sandwich was not very good. Finally, I thought it was ironic that during this episode, there was a King's Island Season pass advertisement (so King's Island is sponsoring your podcast).
Loved the listener story. The world needs more of that!
I remember the first time we went to carnivale they had actual food booths for different countries. Last year the food choices were at the restaurants like larosa'a or French corner.
Ryan is 100% right about KI being too accessible. When Cedar Point introduced the $99 gold pass in 19, that was the worst year, and CP has gone downhill on park experience ever since. Gold pass should be 150 AT LEAST. I payed $117 for a regular season pass to CP in 2013. And that ONLY COVERED ADMISSION. No free parking, no early entry, no water park. Only CP admission. Went platinum in the middle of the year, and never went underneath platinum pass level since. Thank God for having one pass for chainwide use like we do. When i get pissed at CP, I just go to KI, or KD, or Carowinds. Still though...... too cheap of a ticket actually hurts guest experience. Too many people in the park means 3 hour wait times, and at CP, a 2 hour fast lane for the same ride. Its ridiculous.
They need, to the rage of most guests, to implement a limited number of fast pass uses for the big rides
@Calakapepe as long as the season long doesn't have that restriction, I'm ok with it. That's how they were going to do dragster last year, until it did what I said it was gonna do that is. Really, what they need to do, is limit the number of fast lanes they sell. ESPECIALLY CP! There is no excuse for the Maverick fast lane wait to be 30 mins on a Wednesday late May. And for as much as CP charges for theirs, to have Vengeance, and Millies fast lane lines merge with the regular line, about 30 mins from the station, that is ridiculous. It's borderline shameful, and it NEEDS to be fixed.
I honestly can’t think of having to pay for a maze. The way most of them are now, I don’t see how they could justify an up-charge. While the haunt events are fun, they are definitely not at a Universal level experience. As you guys had mentioned, major overhauls/improvements would have to be implemented. Also, what would they do about Fright Lane if they are going to have an up-charge? I just see a bunch of issues that would have to be addressed if they made that decision.
I just won't do it. Once they start up charging, the next thing you know, you are paying an up charge on everything... And your entry ticket ends up worthless. That's exactly how Disney is beginning to be and ONE if the reasons I will never be back to Disney.
I would love for them to charge for the mazes. Maybe then they will realize ALL of their mazes aren’t good at all. With so much competition being in the haunted house capital of the world, Ohio, it would be the worst numbers they have seen since haunt/fear fest started. Why pay 20-30$ on top of admission for some cheap 5+ year old mazes that aren’t staffed when you could pay the same or a little more to go to a world class haunt down the street. They would need to put a lot of money into haunt for it to be worth any up charge.
The goal of haunt shouldn’t be to compete with HHN or Knots scary farm, it should be to better than it was last year. KI’s haunt has steadily gone down hill since 2020 and quite frankly will never be able to compete with those other park haunts let alone any of the multiple nationally known haunts close to kings island. They need to pick a side, make haunt actually scary or call it what it is, Snoopy’s not so scary Halloween.
i liked the parade being at night with the lights. the food being al carte with no tasting card was bad.
I have a minimum dollars spent per visit model i try to follow, including prestige pass and all add-ons. Good way to make sure when i visit parks that they're getting a certain amount of money per visit. Still, my home park ends up being the one that gets the most dollars when you consider they get the revenue from pass and add ons.
Don, with regards to winter fest food this year, try the turkey sandwich at brewhouse it is very much worth skipping the meatloaf sandwich once for. Had it tonight and it was outstanding
I will have to try that. I love a good turkey sandwich.
Great video. I was very disappointed in the new water coaster. They could've really knocked this out of the park and didn't.
If they start up charging for houses, I just won't go back to haunt. They already bleed us dry enough. I said that when it was mentioned last year, and I feel twice as strong about it this year. There's a good chance 2025 is my last year as a kings island pass holder for a while anyway. I'm probably gonna do something different next year. I don't really do the water park... And the regions shortest, least thrilling, water (kinda) coaster isn't gonna get me to go over there this year.
I can't wait for the new season
It will certainly be interesting!!!
How do you define a water coaster? A water flume that uses magnets/ water jets to have an incline upwards... wildebeast has many of those moments.
Typically it’s defined by uphill sections, no matter the propulsion.
@TowerTopics i couldnt think of one that did it without propulsion.. but thats not what I was hinting at ;)
I saw Cedar Point clear out Millennium Island. So CP will probably go 3 years in a row with record breaking coasters and KI gets a shiny new trash can
There are so many things I think they should do to maximize their profits and to put more money back into the parks…I think Soak City should be a separate ticket….or make it a combo add on ticket. Tickets to the park should be like $49.99. Parking shouldn’t cost more than $20. Season passes should start at $99….$199 includes free parking and 25% discounts in park. All six flags parks pass should cost about $500. Discounts should be as high as 50% off merch and food in the parks with that pass. Haunt should be a separate ticket as well…like $25 or something….you could also include a free ticket to season passholders….
I also think with the additional revenue they’d make from pricing things correctly, they could easily invest more into characters, shows, theming, additional maintenance and staffing, and eventually bigger and better rides. These prices aren’t asking too much. Universal and Disney charge WAY more for things…and yes they’re theme parks vs amusement parks, but to really elevate the parks, they need to analyze how they operate.
If I’m being honest, I feel like the merger might not be the best. I’m sure there were business reasons, but it kind of negates any incentive for competition between parks. I realize the era of record breakers had probably ended a while back, but in my opinion, the merger just solidifies that fact. We may see some cool rides going forward, but possible up-charges to Haunts, ride removals, etc, do not seem appealing. We’ll have to wait and see what happens as time goes on, but it feels like this is the start of a profit-based era.
The country music show in festhaus was cool,my daughter got called on stage and it made her day
I can't believe you guys would advocate to price people out of the park. For a lot of people like me, if it goes any higher we won't be able to afford passes for our families.