Kings Island in Mason, OH

Lot's of things to do for the whole family. Clean park. Enjoy going there with my grand kids. They love it. Would recommend Kings Island!

We had an awesome day! Our granddaughters rode their first roller coaster and loved the blue ice cream!

I’ve been wanting to visit here since I was a kid & finally was able to visit after finding out that the park was closing Vortex! The park is easily accessible from the freeway, just follow the signs. I bought a membership but didn’t know that I had to go to the ticket window/season pass building to get my membership card. Luckily, the person at the entry turnstile was kind enough to give it to me there at the turnstile since I had waited a while in line to get in already. I went during Halloween Haunt so the park didn’t open until 6:00 pm on Friday so I arrived & had to wait at the gate for it to open. I also went the next day too but ended up late & didn’t arrive til noon. The parking lot doesn’t seem to have any signs telling me which is premium parking & regular parking. I just followed the cars in front of me & just asked another park-goer if it was ok to park there as it was really confusing to me. I HIGHLY recommend getting there when the park opens, or just before, because if you don’t, you will end up walking at least a good 1/4 mile or more to get to the front entrance. Believe me, I prefer waiting a while standing in line for the entrance to open up to have a parking spot close up to the front entrance! I had to park VERY, VERY far away on Saturday & i was literally exhausted to have to walk that far back to the car after spending all day at the park! My knees & feet were killing me. After getting into the park, on Friday, I went up the Eiffel Tower to survey the park first. I couldn’t get any decent photos though because it had rained earlier & the metal platform was REALLY wet & slippery so I had a difficult time walking around up there. I did find out though that the park is REALLY small! A lot smaller than I expected it to be but that’s ok though because then it didn’t take as long to walk around to the different areas of the park! A definite plus! After the Eiffel Tower, I rode Vortex! I then just made my way around to the different rides. I never could find the entrance to the Bat coaster on that night. I didn’t realize that it also shared the walkway to one of the haunted houses there so I mistakenly thought I was going to the haunted house. It was really dark & because the signs weren’t lit up at all, I missed out on the night ride. I rode almost everything that evening that was open. The Peanuts area of the park was closed that night so I had to wait til the next day on that area. I had to miss out on the night ride of the Beast although I DID ride at dusk. By the time it got really dark, the line for it was super long. Although the day was pleasant, It started getting really windy & cold then started drizzling while I was waiting in line for Flight of Fear. Some of the rides started to close due to weather so after FoF, I decided to leave & go back to my room at the AirBnB I was staying at & decided to come back to the park on Saturday. On Saturday, I accidentally overslept & ended up getting to KI at noon...big mistake! I not only had to park what felt like a mile away & walk that far to get into the park, it was so crowded! I decided to just finish up riding what I missed the night before. I DID find the Bat so I got to ride it. I wanted to ride Invertigo but the line was long already so I missed out on it. I didn’t ride Diamondback, which had a long line too. Those I think were the only ones I missed. Boo Blasters are fun but please note: the loading station area is dark & has a moving floor so just be aware. The staff will absolutely help you to your ride car & back off again if you just ask. They were really good about that. Because it was Halloween Haunt, the park DOES warn you close to time when the monsters come out. They make a verbal announcement along with smoke machines starting up, sirens & flashing red lights! You cannot say they didn’t warn you. You do have the option to buy a “No Boo!” necklace that flashes to ward off the monsters if you prefer it & they DO work! ;-) I don’t like haunted houses so I can’t provide a review on those unfortunately. I did find it really difficult to find the entrance to the Bat as well as the Flight of Fear & Diamondback coasters. I literally had to keep referring to the park map til I found them. The FoF did not have a sign at all so you actually walk under/through the Racer down a path to the indoor coaster building. They really should put up a sign for it, if they haven’t already, because it just looks like an ordinary building if you don’t know what to look for. I do hafta say that the Flight of Fear needs some serious maintenance or a retracking. I’ve ridden both FoF coasters & one of its sisters, Poltergeist, & this FoF at Kings Island is SO jerky & not smooth at all! Poltergeist is SUPER smooth, I guess I got spoiled on it & expected the same for this coaster. No excuses for such a rough & jerky ride when it shouldn’t be. The Peanuts area is for families to enjoy so it was REALLLLLY super crowded! Most of the rides are for kids but they do have some that adults can ride too, they even have a petting zoo & pony rides! That’s totally awesome! DEFINITELY RIDE THE BEAST!!! And ride it at NIGHT!!! You will NOT be disappointed! Although I only got to ride at dusk, it still packs a huge punch!!! Banshee is a definite surprise, especially that last rollover with hang time! Word of note, 99% of the rides do not have bins, you do hafta rent a locker on most of the big coasters. I did not know this & had to ride Banshee holding onto my bag! Not cool! They should have a sign up at the ride entrances or at least the main entrance to avoid a surprise & having to wait in the que just to be forced to leave at the loading platform, go to the lockers, rent a locker then get back in line! If they have signs posted, I sure didn’t see them. After renting my locker, I had trouble getting back into the locker. I had to go & find someone to help me. I had to wait almost an hour to get someone. My question to the park is, why does the park not train ALL employees to assist someone with locker problems? It’d definitely help me out not having to be forced to walk around trying to find someone just be told they hafta call a supervisor & be made to wait an excessively long time. The food prices were about average for a theme park. They did have Chick Fil’A which made me happy & it was the most popular food booth! They didn’t have very many places to sit & eat though so I just used a park bench. The park was VERY clean overall as were the restrooms! The staff seemed genuinely friendly & willing to help when asked. The Halloween Haunt decor was great & even had an automated troll that intermittently moved & “told a story” & it was a different story every time so that was neat! Just be sure to get there when it opens or just before. It’s worth it not having to walk a huge distance back to your car after walked in the park all day! Can’t wait to go back.

We live close enough to get a season pass and dining plan. If we attend 3 times/yr we break even. We don't have to cram everything into one exhausting day. We can spend a whole day at the water park, come after work, eat 2x, 4 hrs. apart, and of course we always come to Winterfest. We brought our kids when they were toddlers, thru their teens, and now we go with our adult kids and toddler grandkids. It's GR8 FUN!

The last time I was at Winterfest was almost 30 years ago. I know they did not have it for many years and I was excited that it returned. I remember many rides being open back then including freezing my face on the Beast. This time I felt that it was lacking. The only large ride that was open was Mystic Timbers, which had an hour plus wait. They did have a few smaller rides open, but we expected more. I do blame myself since I neglected to check to see what was open. There were many decorations and entertainers, ice skating on International Street, and other seasonal offerings. We got a good discount on admission since our teenage son has a season pass, however we'll probably do something else next year.