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Newcomers to Kings Island

Kings Island: What to expect

From Tom Walljasper
Posted April 27, 2010 at 1:09 PM
I am surprising my wife and two daughters by bringing them to Mason, Oh in August. They have no idea we are even going anywhere. :)
We are from Illinois. None of us have been to Kings Island before and I was wondering what we can expect. We are staying at the Great Wolf Lodge and I am anticipating walking back and forth at our leisure. Any words of advice. Daughters are 7 and 17.


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From Melissa Donahue
Posted April 27, 2010 at 7:28 PM
Hi Tom,

I live in Mason -- about a 5 min. drive from KI, but I am more of a Cedar Point junkie myself. (Mainly due to the coasters.) I had not been to KI in several years until we finally went last summer in order to ride Diamondback. Loved it! KI doesn't offer as much in the thrill department, but if you're into coasters, you must check out Diamondback and The Beast. KI is a nice park, and the kids area (formerly Nickelodeon) has always been regarded as one of the best. It has now been converted into Planet Snoopy.

I haven't stayed at Great Wolf; however, I've been there for a banquet, and it's quite nice. I'm not sure how the walking back and forth goes, but GW is literally right next door to KI. I'm sure it's a very short walk. Have fun!

From Derek Potter
Posted April 28, 2010 at 5:59 PM
If you are going more than one day to the park, you might bring your water park gear and check out the free Boomerang Bay. It has quite a few attractions. If it's a hot weather weekend, chances are that Boomerang Bay will be packed. When that happens, I usually don't bother with it because you end up waiting in huge lines for all of the slides. The Great Wolf has some indoor water park action for you if Boomerang Bay is crowded.

I very strongly suggest that you get to the park as soon as it opens, especially if it's a weekend. Don't take your sweet time getting there in the morning. You will lose valuable "short line" time if you stroll in late. If you've never been, I assume you will want to do a whole lot of stuff. A lot of attractions will have relatively short lines in the morning. I would get there early and take advantage of shorter lines. The summer crowds can be really thick in the afternoon, and even thicker after 5 PM. Check the Kings Island page on this site for a good (ahem) plan to start out the day.

From Mark Newman
Posted April 28, 2010 at 12:12 PM
You might reconsider staying at Great Wolf Lodge. While it is very nice, you may find it difficult to get you daughters away from the indoor waterpark to go out in the heat and humidity, especially if they don't like coasters.

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