I took my first visit to Kings Island in 2008 as part of my North of the Border Trip. Now originally, I didn't exactly know what to expect aside from a bunch of roller coasters, concrete, and trash cans. And yes, there is indeed a lot of roller coasters, trash cans, and concrete. But I actually found Kings Island to be a very nice park. Ok, there is nothing insanely fantastic about this place, it is just a big amusement park. But it is still a really fun place to go to. And yes, the park actually has a few original coasters. Though to be honest, the clones were better than the original coasters. But still. Kings Island is actually a nice park with some good coasters, a semi nice atmosphere (The farther back in the park you go, the nicer it gets.), and their kids area is actually pretty awesome. Though it was still Paramount's Kids Area, so Cedar Fair could have possibly changed it. I doubt it though. I would definetly recommend this park to anyone taking a rollercoaster trip in the Midwest. It's a nice fun park with a lot of roller coasters. And since my last visit, they added Diamondback, a B&M Hyper Coaster. So even I have a pretty good reason to return to Kings Island.
Rollercoasters
There is a link to a review of all the Rollercoasters at Kings Island.
Please keep in mind that there is no review of Diamondback because it did not exist since my last visit.
Here are the reviews of all the Flat Rides at Kings Island. The Flat Ride Collection is pretty good at Kings Island. However, I certainly wouldn't call it amazing or anything like that. From what I can gather, the park only has 2 good flat rides. Anyways, let's go through with reviewing them. First off, let's get the star flat ride out of the way. And in my opinion, one of the star attractions within all of Kings Island. I'm of course talking about Drop Zone. Now at Kings Island, Drop Zone isn't just a typical old 2nd Generation Intamin Freefall. This is a huge monstrous Roto Drop. It's huge and it is going to be fast. And not to mention the capacity on this Drop Zone is pretty damn big. Anyways, after rotating up to the top, getting a fantastic view of Kings Island and rest of the nothingness known as the boring state of Ohio. Then right as you're sitting at the top, you drop. And on Drop Zone, the drop is actually different from the other drops. You just sort of going into falling mode, a mode where all thoughts are on halt and all you can think to yourself is "I'm falling." without any sort of emotion at all. Once life comes back to you, a big burst of adreneline bursts to you at the bottom as you eagerly want to just go again. It is without a doubt one of my favorite drop rides and rides at Kings Island. The next flat ride on the list is Delarium. This is the park's Giant Frisbee. And like all giant frisbees, these little suckers are FAST!!!!!!!! They're so fast that you don't even care about the lack of spinning that these rides have. It is just that awesome. I'm a big giant frisbee fan and I am very glad that Kings Island has one of the rides. The next flat ride I have to review would be the Crypt. Now I'm sure many of you guys have heard of this ride as Tomb Raider back when Paramount owned it. And I'm pretty sure you've heard people say "This top spin is so great!!!" "It is so well themed!!!!" "This is more than just a top spin!!! It's like Indiana Jones with an orgasm of flat ride awesomeness!!!!" That may have been true back when it was owned by Paramount, but nowadays, That is all 100% Bullsh*t. First off, there is NO THEMING ON THIS RIDE WHATSOEVER!!!! There's a couple things inside the line, but inside the actual top spin, it's just a giant Top Spin in a box. Ok, so the theming totally blows and is imaginary. But surely it's still a good Top Spin in itself? Nope. This has got to be the worst Top Spin Program I have ever experienced on any Top Spin in my life. This Top Spin just likes to randomly stop and do many things that Top Spins are not supposed to do. And yes, it hurts like hell. This is not even fun. It's just pure pain!! Even if it was this amazingly themed top spin back when Paramount owned it, how could it be fun if it ran such a horrible and painful program? This is one flat ride that I highly suggest you skip on your visit to Kings Island. It's a total peice of sh*t. The final flat ride I rode at Kings Island is Snoopy Surf Dog. (When I rode it, it was called Avatar.) This is a Hump in the Middle Disko. However, this one features Rockin Tug like cars instead of the traditional DiskO seating. This does make a difference because even though it's just a car difference, it just doesn't seem as much fun. It definetly feels more like a Rocking Tug than a Disko. But with that said, I'm actually suprised at how much Cedar Fair notices this. Here at Kings Island, Snoopy Surf Dog is considered a childrens ride and is located in the park's kiddy area. (Which is very good.) Wheras at California's Great America, they market Survivor as one of their thrill rides. And the only difference between the two is the seat. And I know the seat makes a difference, but it's not that big of a difference that it downgrades it to a kiddy ride. But oh well. For being considered a Kiddy Flat, Snoopy Surf Dog is a fantastic one. Those are all the flat rides at Kings Island that I rode. The park is also home to some bumper cars, a train, an octopus, a scrambler, a pirate ship, and some chairswings. I'm assuming those are all average and nothing special. Oh, and they're getting a Windseeker in 2011. So that'll really make their flat ride collection better. So yeah, Kings Island's flat ride collection is pretty good.
Make sure you do this!! It is f*cking amazing!!! One of Kings Island's best rides.
Dark Rides
Now Kings Island isn't really a dark ride type of park. In fact, you're probably confused as to why I even have a dark ride section for Kings Island at all. Well, back when it was a Paramount Park, Paramount put in a ride called Scooby Doo's Ghoster Blasters. And let me tell you something. This ride kicked ass. Now it wasn't Disney Status or anything. But still. This is a very cool dark ride. And I was suprisingly good at it. Plus the Scooby Doo Theming to it gave it a neat edge that made it cooler than just shooting ghosts. Since my visit, Cedar Fair turned this into Boo Blasters. While the Scooby Doo Edge is certainly gone, I'm still sure that Boo Blasters is a good dark ride for anyone at Kings Island to enjoy.
Water Rides
I never rode any of the water rides at Kings Island. But from what I saw, I didn't miss out on anything. All I saw was that they have a shoot the chutes, a river rapids ride, and a log flume. None of which of which seem that interesting to me. So I'm glad I stuck to the coasters and flat rides that day. Though I will indeed that the log flume did look intersting. During the final drop, the logs seemed to have a bump that really made Logan laugh. So I can at least say that it looked somewhat unique. Oh, and keep in mind that they do have a water park included with park admission.
Dining
From my experience, Kings Island had absolutely nothing special in the food department. I ate lunch at some burger place. It really reminded me of Coasters in the other Cedar Fair Parks. In fact, I wouldn't be suprised if they converted that place into a Coasters. Just to keep the theme going. It was just typical amusement park crap. Though I have heard from other people that they have fantastic blueberry Ice Cream, I haven't tried it, so I can't pass judgement on that.
Theming and Other Attractions
Here are the reviews of all the other stuff at Kings Island. For theming, well...there is none. Ok, I guess there's a little bit of theming in the kids area. Back in my visit, the kids area actually had some good Nickelodeon Theming. And now from the photos I've seen, it looks like they did a good job maintaining the themeing with the new Planet Snoopy. But other than that, nothing. I will say though that the Beast has a good atmosphere set in the woods. I'd probably call it one of the best settings on any coaster. As for other attractions, I'm not sure what else they have at Kings Island. I'm sure they have other cool stuff, but I was too occupied with their coasters. Plus, Kings Island just seems like the type of place that doesn't really focus on much other than rides.
In Conclusion
Kings Island is a very fun place to go. It's not an amazing place that will knock your socks off like a Disney or Universal Park, nor is it a place with an outstanding coaster collection. (Ohio Fanboys are full of sh*t!) But it is still a very fun park to go to with some very fun rides such as Drop Zone, Firehawk, Flight of Fear, etc. And if you are with small children, they will really like the kids area that they have here. It's a really well put together area. I'd definetly recommend coming here if you are in the Cincinatti Area. It's a good park and there's nothing else to do in Cincinatti.
Tips
*Head to Firehawk first thing in the morning. This ride gets hour long lines later in the day due to bad capacity.
*Be sure to ride Drop Zone. It's awesome.
*Ride the Beast at night.
*If Son of Beast is still SBNO during your visit, take photos of it. The structure's not gonna be standing for much longer.
