Kings Island’s Opening Day is finally here. Check out these highlights from this morning.
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |
The new Reds Hall of Fame Grille at Kings Island. The Enquirer/Tony Jones
Kings Island is hoping to hit a homerun with its new Reds Hall of Game Grille opening this season.
The Reds-themed restaurant — located in the former Rivertown Junction buffet restaurant — features Hall of Fame memorabilia, framed jerseys and photos and other bits of Reds history, dating back to the 1880s, while video highlights from World Series, playoffs and other games play on TVs through the restaurant.
On the menu: burgers, wings, Montgomery Inn pulled pork, baby back ribs, Saratoga chips, wraps, salads, desserts, draft beer and wine. Full restaurant? No worries. Leave a cell phone number and you’ll be sent a text when your table is ready.
“One of the things our guests have been asking for for a number of years is a full-service, sit-down restaurant,” said Don Helbig, park spokesman. ”No matter where you sit, you’re going to see something different.”
Community reporter Rachel Richardson, Butler/Warren Editor Bill Cieslewicz, photographer Tony Jones, freelance photographer Tony Tribble and entertainment reporter Shauna Steigerwald got a first taste of the grille.
Click through to see what we sampled:
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |
A major winter storm that dumped heavy snow across the region overnight didn’t stop work crews at Kings Island as the Mason theme park gears up for its 41st season.
Crews spent Wednesday morning shoveling and removing snow from rides to continue off-season maintenance work.
A crew of about 50 mechanics, carpenters and welders work year round to conduct testing and maintenance of the park’s 46 rides. The bulk of the work takes place in the park’s off-season months of November through late April.
“I think a lot of people think that you just swing the gates shut when the park closes and swing them open when it’s time to open. It’s completely different than that. This is our busiest time of the year. We’re working right up to park opening,” said Tom Dillingham, the park’s manager of rides and mechanical maintenance.
Kings Island opens for the 2013 season on April 27.
Posted in: Kings Island, News |
A worker operates a game at Kings Island. The Mason theme park is hiring for its 2013 season. Provided
Job-seekers can get a head start on summer jobs at Kings Island starting this weekend.
The Mason amusement park will begin accepting online applications Saturday at www.visitkingsisland.com for more than 4,000 seasonal positions in the 2013 season, which begins April 27.
The park is hiring in all areas of park operation, including admissions, call center, cash control, entertainment, food and beverage, fire and safety, games and rides, guest services, lifeguards, security and warehouse, among others.
Applicants must be at least 15 years of age. The park will contact qualified applicants to schedule an on-site interview.
For more information, call the park at 513-754-5748 or go to www.visitkingsisland.com.
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |
Gary Coleman, pictured front right, of Monfort Heights, celebrates his 7,000th ride on Kings Island’s Diamondback roller coaster on July 4, 2012. Photo provided/Kings Island
Kings Island capped off a successful year that saw the park’s rides and attractions give a combined 25,371,572 rides during the park’s 40th anniversary season, the park reported.
Five attractions gave more than 1 million rides: Diamondback (1,812,311), The Racer (1,372,948), The Beast (1,130,830), Vortex (1,120,052) and the K.I. & Miami Valley Railroad (1,046,644).
The K.I. & Miami Valley Railroad surpassed its 50 million mark in rides given this year. It’s the second-most in park history to The Racer at 97,825, 493.
More than 1.25 billion rides — 1,254,044,426 to be exact — have been given since the park opened in 1972. The Enchanted Voyage (47,380,374) and Kenton County Keelboat Canal (40,069,518) top the list of retired rides.
The Vortex is expected to give its 40 millionth ride in 2013, Dodgem its 30 millionth and Flight Deck is 20 millionth.
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |
Madame Fatale serves up devilish dishes at Kings Island’s new Dead Inn Feast. The Enquirer/Rachel Richardson
Kings Island’s newest attraction isn’t for the faint of heart… or weak of stomach.
Madame Fatale’s Dead Inn Feast made its debut with this season’s Halloween Haunt. For $48.99, diners can enjoy a “high-end” feast inside the antechamber of the new Madame Fatale’s Cavern of Terror, and be among the first park visitors to navigate the haunted maze.
Because, as Kings Island knows, if there’s anything worse than being terrified, it’s being terrified on an empty stomach.
The exclusive dining experience — seating is limited to just 48 diners each Friday and Saturday night — features characters dressed in macabre finery who serve and entertain guests with morbid humor.
But there’s nothing frightening about the multi-course menu, which features dishes like chicken Marsala, beef tenderloin medallions, pasta rustica, garlic shrimp pasta and an array of sweet temptations served family-style.
The Mason theme park had been wanting to add a high-end dining option to Halloween Haunt since 2007, and the addition earlier this year of food director Gary Gochenour made that possible, said Don Helbig, park spokesman.
“It’s a totally unique experience you can’t get anywhere else in the region,” he said. “With the addition of having the most immersive Halloween Haunt, you add something like this and it takes our Halloween Haunt to a whole new level.”
Diners register for the feast online at www.visitkingsisland.com. Doors open at 5 p.m., with dinner served between 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Diners are also first in line each night to tour Madame Fatale’s Cavern of Terror, a wax-museum-themed horror maze, before it opens to the public at 7 p.m.
I stopped by the feast on the opening night of Halloween Haunt with two Enquirer colleagues, fellow vegetarian Luann Gibbs, administrative assistant for editorial and business pages, and omnivore Robin Buchanan in our photo reprint department. Click through to see what we sampled.
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |
Kings Island has swept the competition once again to bring home the theme park industry’s top award for best kids’ area in the world.
The Mason theme park picked up its 12th consecutive Golden Ticket award from trade journal Amusement Today. The award is the amusement park industry’s equivalent of the Academy Award.
The international journal gives Golden Ticket awards each year in about two dozen categories as determined by park fans from around the world.
KI’s Planet Snoopy includes a collection of “Peanuts”-themed rides for children, including four kids’ roller coasters, live stage shows and daily meet-and-greet opportunities with Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus and other Peanuts characters.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Beast was ranked as the seventh-best wooden roller coaster in the world. The Beast opened in 1979 and still stands as the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 7,400 feet.
Diamondback moved up to the No. 10 spot in the steel roller coaster category.
A list of all the 2012 Golden Ticket Award winners is at www.amusementtoday.com.
KI is closed until Sept. 21, when gates to its sixth season of Halloween Haunt opens at 6 p.m. Two kid-friendly Halloween events, the all-new Howl-O-Palooza and Trick-or-Treat with the Dinosaurs, open Sept. 23.
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |
One of the Midwest’s largest Halloween attractions returns to Kings Island this month with even more frights and monsters.
The Mason theme park’s no-holds-barred Halloween Haunt opens on weekend nights from Sept. 21 through Oct. 27.
More than 500 “scare actors” are set to haunt the park in 12 frightful attractions.
New this year is a thriller maze, the Madame Fatale’s Cavern of Terror, a punk rock stomp with blood drums and two new fear zones in Grimm Boulevard and Freak Street.
The park has added a second live show, “Graveyard Shift,” to its popular live show lineup which includes “Hot Blooded.”
Returning attractions include CarnEvil, Club Blood, CornStalkers, Cut Throat Cove, Holiday Horror, Massacre Manor, Mysteria, Slaughter House, Tombstone Terror-Tory, Urgent Scare and Wolf Pack.
Dozens of KI’s most popular rides will also be open, including many of its hair-raising roller coasters and Windseeker thrill ride, along with other less heart attack-inducing rides such as the Zephyr, Scrambler, Monster, Dodgem and The Crypt.
Halloween Haunt hours are 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturdays, except for Sept. 22, when the park opens at 7 p.m.
The park’s other rides and attractions open at 11 a.m. on Saturdays only and close at 5 p.m. to prepare for Halloween Haunt. Beware: Halloween Haunt is not recommended for young children.
Discount tickets are $25.99 on Friday nights and $31.99 on Saturdays when purchased in advance at www.visitkingsisland.com/haunt. Regular ticket prices are $38.99 on Fridays and $54.99 on Saturdays. College students can purchase tickets on Fridays at the gate for $25.99 upon presenting a valid college ID.
Admission to Halloween Haunt is included for 2012 Gold and Platinum season passholders. Those who purchase a 2013 Gold or Platinum season pass can use their one free visit to Halloween Haunt.
Kings Island is at 6300 Kings Island Drive in Mason and can be reached at 513-754-5700 or at www.visitkingsisland.com.
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Events, Kings Island |
Hundreds of pink Snoopys float in the fountain on International Street at Mason’s Kings Island. Proceeds from Snoopy purchases benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Photo provided
The Kings Island for the Cure campaign wraps up Saturday and organizers are hoping to surpass last year’s results
The fundraising event has raised more than $500,000 since it launched in 2010. Proceeds benefit the Greater Cincinnati affiliate of the Susan G. Komen organization’s work in breast cancer prevention and research.
Park officials recently reported it had surpassed $100,000 in this year’s campaign. Last year’s campaign raised $219,000.
Guests can support the efforts by purchasing pink rubber Snoopy dolls at the park, online or at any Huntington Bank location. Snoopys are $5 for one for $20 for five.
All Snoopys purchased will be tossed into the Royal Fountains at Kings Island. One Snoopy will be selected on Aug. 25 with the owner winning a 2012 Honda Fit.
KI will also donate $1 from each discounted tickets purchased online at www.visitkingsisland.com during its “Pink Days” campaign through Aug. 25.
The Mason theme park is celebrating its 40th anniversary this season. The park is open daily through Aug. 26
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Community, Events, Kings Island |
A worker operates a game at Kings Island. The Mason theme park is hiring for its fall season. Provided
Kings Island is hiring for its fall season.
The Mason theme park is accepting applications for positions in the following fields: admissions, call center, cash control, entertainment, food and beverage, fire and safety, games, guest services, merchandise, rides, security, sweeps and warehouse.
Applicants must be 15 or older. Submit an application online at www.visitkingsisland.com. Qualified applicants will be contacted to schedule an on-site interview.
The park is open daily through Aug. 26. Weekend operation begins Aug. 31. Halloween Haunt is open on weekends from Sept. 21 through Oct. 27.
For more information, go to www.visitkingsisland.com or call 513-754-5748.
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Business, Kings Island, News |
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