Kings Island
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Whether you live in the midwest or not, any theme park enthusiast has at least heard of Kings Island. It's home to famous rides, such as the world's longest wooden roller coaster, The Beast, and has been a staple for thrill seekers for generations. Despite it's place in theme park history, this park is starting to see its luster fade.
A Little History
Kings Island has been a cornerstone of family entertainment in Mason, Ohio, since opening on April 29, 1972. The park was developed by the Taft Broadcasting Company as a modern replacement for Cincinnati's flood-prone Coney Island amusement park. Since its debut, Kings Island has changed ownership five times—from Taft Broadcasting to Kings Entertainment Company (1984), American Financial Corporation (1987), Paramount Parks (1992), Cedar Fair (2006), and most recently to the merged Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (2024). Throughout its history, the park has drawn millions of visitors while continually reinventing itself with groundbreaking attractions and seasonal events.
With many firsts to its name, Kings Island has historically had a reputation for innovation in the amusement industry. The Racer helped spark the roller coaster renaissance of the 1970's as the first racing wooden coaster built in 35 years, while The Beast debuted in 1979 as the world's tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster—a record for length it still holds today. The park later introduced several other industry firsts, including The Bat, the world's first modern suspended roller coaster (1981), King Cobra, the first purpose-built stand-up roller coaster (1984), and Flight of Fear, the world's first launched roller coaster powered by a linear induction motor (1996).
Like any major amusement park operating for more than five decades and serving millions of guests annually, Kings Island has experienced a small number of notable incidents, including ride malfunctions and several guest fatalities, though such events have been rare compared with its overall attendance.
Today, Kings Island ranks #15 on the most visited parks in the USA list. Despite that honor, its attendance has been relatively flat since 1987 (3MM annual visitors in 1987 vs 3.4MM in 2025).
Famous Rides
Throughout its history, Kings Island has had (and still has) many famous rides. Here's just a few that are still around today.
The Beast – Still in operation. This ride gets worse every year. The track is in desperate need of repair – or, more realistically, the entire ride should be demolished and redone before someone gets hurt or killed.
Mystic Timbers – A fun wooden roller coaster that has lots of twists and turned. Theming is still good after many years. Time and weather–and a lack of proper maintenance–are starting to wear on this ride, though.
Banshee – This steel coaster has 6 inversions and is probably the most fun ride at the park. It's starting to show its age and usage, though. And the last time I was there, it was making some very odd groaning sounds.
The Racer – A historic twin wooden coaster. This ride is in very bad shape. Although just on the surface, the paint is peeling everywhere. But that matters is the structure, and that appears to be getting worse every year. Lots of broken boards, cracking and splintering wood. This ride is starting to look flat out dangerous.
Orion – This is the park's newest ride and is a lot of fun. Although it doesn't have any inversions, it's incredibly tall hill and lots of twists make it a must-ride.
A Slow Decline & Rowdy Crowd
Before getting into the current park state, I will state in advance that I am not an engineer and I am just stating what I visually see and the concerns I have as a park-goer. Everything here may be superficial and not impact actual ride operations, but whether they do or don't, they do give me cause for concern. So take it as nothing more than that.
I worked at Kings Island in the early 2000's, back when it was known as Paramount's Kings Island. Back then there were staples such as Nickelodeon's Splat City, the Vortex, lots of movie themed rides, shows, and enthusiastic crowds. Back then, the park felt well cared for and always very busy. Lines on many rides would be 45 minutes to an hour long. There was an aura of excitement and fun that was ever-present.
Fast forward to today, in August 2026, the park feels mostly empty and not exciting. It is beginning to feel as if it is starting to be neglected. Throughout the park, many rides have paint that is peeling or completely gone, wooden boards that are rotted, splintered, cracked, or all of the above. There's gum on the sidewalks. There's bees everywhere. Fountains and water features that were once there are now still ponds of water that attract mosquitos and bees. The sight of these things, especially on the main parts of the rides, has given me cause for concern.
Another concern I have is the mindset of people attending this park. I constantly see people just spit out their gum wherever they are, leaving it for others to step on. I see people get up from tables and leave remnants of food without even trying to throw it away—and after that no employees come around to clean up either. I've also been in far too many lines where people are standing on top of me for no reason – to a point of they step on my feet or running into me. And it's not due to crowding; there's been plenty of available space to stand. Several times I've had to turn around and ask for someone to please give a little space, and more often than not the person gets extremely nasty with me. I had one teenager threaten to smash my head into the ground if I said anything more about him stepping on my heels. There's also been many fights—some involving large crowds of people—that there's now a ban on anyone under 16 being alone during certain hours.
Kings Island simply does not feel safe anymore. I hope management figures something out to return the park to its glory days and make it feel safe again. For now, I will not be renewing my season pass due to the state of the park and those attending it.
Six Flags: The Worst App Ever
Just as with any Six Flags park, Kings Island encourages people to download and utilize the SIx Flags app to look at wait times, manage your passes, etc. But this app is one of the worst app's I've ever used. It's slow, unreliable, and very buggy.
