Kings Island: The Summer Fun-time Place!
Written: Jun 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Coasters, Rides for all Ages, Pretty and Well Maintained Grounds, FUN FUN FUN
Cons: Long lines, Pricey food
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| AmyKlees's Full Review: Paramount's Kings Island |
Ahhh yes... The summer time... A time for children of all ages to take life a little slower, to relax in the warm summer months, and to take your annual trip to Kings Island! As a child growing up in Columbus, Ohio, our yearly trip to Kings Island was the highlight of our summer! The excitement and anticipation would build from our sleepless night before the trip to the moment my sister and I would spot the blinking light of King Island's Eiffel Tower over the tree tops from the freeway. Yes, this was a little contest we had every year.. Who would be the first to see the Tower light. As we parked our car, we would even get excited trying to guess which of the Row of the Hanna Barbera Characters we would park in. Then there was the moment you walked through those turn stiles past the chain length fence. Your heart raced faster at your first sight of an enormous, absolutely beautiful water fountain that extended the entire length of the main street shops and ended at the foot of the replica of the Eiffel Tower. You would be greeted by life-size Hanna Barbera characters, and peddlers selling those must-have items like the giant tissue paper flowers that you use for a parasol. Of course, we always had to wait to make such purchases until the end of our day. At that point we didn't care, because the race was on... to the RIDES!!!
Kings Island is where I developed my love of Roller Coasters! They have some truly awesome coasters, and are always developing ones to be better, faster and more scary than the last. My all time favorite coaster has got to be The Beast! In its heyday the Beast was quite a marvel for a wooden roller coaster, and I would wait hours in line for just one ride. Now I see that they have actually made The Son of the Beast which is a wooden coaster with a loop! Unfortunately since I live in NY now, I haven't been on this wonderful new coaster yet, but I can only begin to imagine how spectacular it is. My other coaster favorites are The King Cobra, the Racer, Vortex, and the Outer Limits: Flight of Fear. The Racer is an old-fashioned wooden coaster that you can ride forwards or backwards, and still has great appeal. The King Cobra is the first Stand-Up Looping Roller coaster, and I will tell you there is nothing like being in the first car on this coaster! It takes your breath away! The Vortex is a FAST coaster with loop after loop of thrills! The Outer Limits is an indoor coaster that catapults you to 60 mph on ground level into the coaster! It is truly intense! On some of these coasters, shorter people like myself do have to be aware that your head may get banged around a lot on the bar that protects you. I found I had a slight headache after the Outer Limits due to the banging, but I do sacrifice for the sake of an awesome ride! There are other great coasters that are just as fun, but these are a few of my favorites.
Besides coasters, King's Island is very focused on Family Fun. Hanna Barbera land is their children's park, which is a magical place with rides for children of all ages. The Beastie is a fun little coaster for older children, but they also have those slow-paced rides for the really young ones. As an adult, I can now say that Kings Island does have some great Shows. My mother and grandparents would drag my sister and I kicking and screaming into the shows, so that we wouldn't drop from exhaustion and the excitement of our day at Kings Island. I will admit once we got into the shows we did enjoy them every much. I still have vivid memories of seeing Buck Owens and the Buckaroos!
Kings Island does have some great thrill rides that are good for the whole family. We use to love getting all wet (especially on those really hot days) on the 2 log rides and the White Water Canyon. There is now even a large Water park, which is included in the admission price. As a kid, I missed out on that fun, because they didn't have it yet. We loved going to Coney Island and riding the Carousel, the bummer cars, and the Octopus. Coney Island also had those great carnival games where you could try to win a huge stuffed animal. There is also an indoor air-conditioned Arcade, which is a nice relief from the summer heat... plus it was tons of fun! Near the end of our action packed day, we would go to the top of the Eiffel Tower and look out over the park to show our family all of the rides we had been on that day. There is just sooooo much to do at Kings Island that I could go on forever and ever!
The Food is typical for amusement parks, which is mostly junk food and burgers, etc. Our family use to eat at the Bier Garden, because there is a lot of room and it is has a large shaded area with ceiling fans. The food is a little pricey in the park, but of course they have you captive. Besides the food, be careful to not get too carried away with those junky souvenirs. My sister and I would always beg and beg for everything under the sun. My mother in her infinite wisdom let us pick one thing and that was it! Otherwise we would have looked at this junk for the ride home and tossed it in a heap when we got home.. never to play with it again. The other part at Kings Island, which can be frustrating is the long lines for some of the popular roller coasters. I remember waiting in a line for almost 3 hours for the Beast, when it first came out. As a kid, we grew to realize this is just something that goes hand in hand with coming to an Amusement Park. It just isn't an issue at Kings Island, but at all parks that are similar.
Admission price these days is $38.99 for adults, $19.50 for kids/senior, Free for under 2. They also sell 2-day passes, and season passes. I think these prices are very reasonable, especially when you consider all of the fun and life-time of memories that you get for the price. I HIGHLY recommend taking a one day get-away to the Fun-filled Magic of Kings Island!! Your day at Kings Island ends with a spectacular Fireworks Display that leaves you wanting to come back for more!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
AmyKlees
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Member: Amy Klees
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Reviews written: 46
Trusted by: 33 members
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