Went on my first trip to Kings Island today. Since it isn't much covered I thought I would give my 2 cents.
I thought the park was really pretty good for smaller park. Not really a theme park as the themeing is minimal but not really specifically a thrill park either. I was with my 5 year old so we stayed in Snoopy land most the time. I thought the mix of rides was great to get my son into thrill rides. First you have the basic fair rides which he loves. Then you have actual kids roller coasters each one increasing in thrill in smaller steps. First the but pumpkin ride. Then Woodstock. Next would have been flying chase, a hanging style coaster. He decided he wasn't ready at that point. I still went on it and thought it was great for kids ready for the next step.
My mother in law wanted to do some roller coasters but my son was ready at that point so we had to keep it quick while my father in law kept him busy. I only rode 2 "big kid" coasters. Vortex was the first. A little rough but fun. The Bat was the second. Not super crazy but great fun and smooth definitely my favorite. Next time I plan on doing much more in terms of bigger rides.
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Thanks for the input Russell. I wrote the post originally on my phone late at night which is always a mistake. I was so busy until I got home I didn't have time to improve it. So I edited it to make a little more sense and hopefully a little better flow.
I hadn't done much research and I am definitely more of a themed ride fan than a thrill ride thanks to easy motion sickness, which also accounted for why the second ride was the Bat and nothing else that goes upside down. And as you mentioned I didn't want my son to be bored.
Awesome to hear you and your family had a good time, David. I went to Kings Island for the first time this summer as well, and I tend to agree that it is a very good regional park. It also seems to be a very good home park for people with children or who aren’t all about huge roller coasters for all of the reasons that Russell covered. They have a very clear top tier group of coasters but also a good secondary tier of roller coasters, and in my opinion, most of them are very accessible to people who aren’t major coaster riders. For example, my girlfriend won’t ride any roller coasters that are too tall or too crazy, but she rode 8 out of the 15 roller coasters (including top tiers Beast and Mystic Timbers) there compared to just a handful of coasters at Cedar Point.
You handled Vortex a lot better than I did. I would consider to the be the worst there, and it’s too rough for me. The Bat is a nice, little ride though. Hopefully you’ll get to conquer a little more next time.
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I wouldn't consider Kings Island a "small park". Unfortunately you rode probably the 2 worst coasters in the park (Vortex and Bat). I'm not sure if that's all you could do because of lines or because of your 5-year old, but those 2 would have probably been the last 2 rides I would have spent time riding on a day-trip to Kings Island.
Planet Snoopy at Kings Island is consistently rated as one of the best kids area in any theme park. I like the diversity of rides along with the gradation allowing kids to slowly progress to bigger and bigger rides. The log flume is one of the better ones at a Cedar Fair park (Timber Mountain is easily the best).