Given it’s the end of the year, I thought I’d make a list of 5 things I thought the park did well this year and 5 things I think they need to improve upon. It’s been a great season but there is always room for improvement!

Nice List

1. Ride Operations: second to none, look no further than their top 5 coasters all doing over 1 million riders this year.

2. Decorations/Atmosphere for festivals and events: this is mostly awarded for Haunt and Winterfest. The park looked better than ever this year for the two biggest annual events.

3. The introduction of the premium drink plan: Icee availability was a bit rough at first but they’ve ramped it up considerably and I love love the hot chocolate/coffee refills in the fall and for winterfest.

4. Better Pass Perks: Still not as robust and user friendly as I’d like, but they made great improvements this year. You actually receive discounts and rewards on a monthly basis now lmao

5. Bigger ride selection for Winterfest

Naughty List:

1. Drink stations: it was a hot mess just to get a soda sometimes this summer, my god. Ice almost always out at the coca-cola freestyles. This is ridiculous and needs to be fixed for next season. More locations that are actually open would be nice too.

2. Lockers: continues to be one of my biggest pet peeves for Kings Island and some other corporate parks. I should not have to throw extra money at you to keep my stuff safe on some of the most popular rides. Parks like Hershey prove you can offer lockers for guests while they ride free of charge. Most of the time I try to go into the park light with zipper pockets but it would be nice to be worry free when I want to bring more.

3. Hour cuts (less 10:00 pm closes): they’re annoying, pretty simple.

4. Halloween Haunt Bag Policy: this suuuuuucks. As someone in my twenties, you can keep the chaperone policy but please end this.

5. Better Communication: for things like longer than usual ride closures for staple attractions. The Beast’s two weekish closure at the beginning of the summer was poorly managed by the PR team for example and wasn’t acknowledged on Twitter or Facebook until a few days into the ride being closed. For those traveling long distances for these marquee attractions for the first time, I’m sure advance and well publicized notice is much appreciated.

Thanks for reading!!! Let me know what you think and if you have anything to celebrate or wish the park to improve. Happy New Year and happy riding!