I enjoy coming to Kings Island a few times each season, and as a theme park fanatic, it never…read moredisappoints! We use Fast Lane passes and absolutely love the rides. Even though the park was packed during our visit, the lines were short and easy, and we fit in so much throughout the day. Always a fun trip and definitely a park I'll keep coming back to!

My experience was amazing, especially Chicken shack the best place to eat in the world. I would…read morerecommend Chicken Shack to anyone and is only good things. Also there needs to be Chicken shack merchandise or else I will never buy anything.

This was actually my 3rd time at this GWL and my second time I've stayed overnight…read more Don't shy away from this place even if you're an adult without kids. There's plenty of stuff for adults too!

I want to start by saying that we have actually always had great experiences at Great Wold Lodges…read moreso this is location specific to the Mason, OH. From the moment we checked in or tried to this trip has been beyond disappointing and frustrating. Check in is at 4pm, we did not gain access to our room until almost 6pm. The upgraded room we paid for apparently not available for our stay. Ok fine, they put us in another room that we had to wait almost 40 minutes for, also fine, things happen. We finally get notification that the room is ready, we go to check in again, they have assigned us the wrong room and we now wait another 40 minutes for a room to finished being cleaned and inspected. They offered us free breakfast for the inconvenience. After texting with the onsite customer service they gave us a $100 credit and offered late check out on our final day. All oft those things were great but the actual staff when spoken too in person are unable to help at all and it's just "sorry, tough luck". Fast forward to the day we had booked a deluxe cabana for the day, we go the front desk pay the almost $600 and are told to just let the server know what drinks we want in the cabana. We get to the cabana and are told there are no staff for the cabanas today. Ok first world problem, I get it, however we paid for a premium service to help accommodate our son who is having temporary mobility issues. This was to give him a sensory reprieve and assist in that need of us having to run back and forth through the park. Again this was a "sorry tough luck" from the staff. After complaining they agreed to refund a partial amount. This location is one of the busier and larger we have been to and we were excited that it had so many additional amenities. Well, it doesn't, at least none of them are staffed. Overall this was an incredibly disappointing trip especially considering the insane amount of money we paid.

Currently staying here, tomorrow is our final day. Love the pull throughs, pools are great BUT they…read moredo not enforce the adult only, trying to buy a drink Sunday, 10 year old kids sitting at the alcohol bar blocking seats, kids screaming and jumping around (don't advertise adult only unless it is). Very clean park. Good luck finding staff to wait on you at the restaurant. Monday the bar and restaurant to the pool area were closed so no pool side service . Tuesday, bar open, no one around to serve though. Staff is super friendly when you interact with them but just know the perks like poolside bar, adults only pool and poolside service are spotty and you will NOT be enjoying an adults only pool. Shuttle is super clean, on time, great perk for visiting Kings Island. Overall, we booked for certain advertised perks that we didn't get so we would not return at $150 a night.

I am a season pass holder for six flags, and we visit multiple parks throughout the summer. Kings…read moreIsland is a must for us and the highlight of the summer. We live in Grand Rapids MI so its a decent drive for us, especially pulling a camper. Since 2021 we have stayed at what was originally called Camp Cedar for every visit to KI because we prefer camping while we stay. The campground is amazing. We have loved to visit the bar throughout our time there and have dinner at least one of the nights we stay, until this year. This past Saturday, September 5th, we went into KI in the morning. It was a pretty hot day, so we decided to head back to the campground, take a swim in the pool and then grab a drink and have dinner at the pool bar/main restaurant area. We spotted a couple of open seats at the bar, so we went over (inside area looking out into the pool area) and sat down. The area had not been cleaned off and there appeared to be a to go box still sitting on the bar where we sat. It was clear whoever sat there before had forgotten to take their food with them. There were numerous people behind the bar and there was a younger guy washing glasses right in front of us, facing us. He never made eye contact but in my experience as a former bartender myself, I am pretty sure he was just trying to help out whoever was bartending by getting them caught up and that he was not authorized to wait on people. No one ever made eye contact with us or acknowledged we were there for what seemed to be forever. Then an older couple sat down to the right side of us. The bartender, a lady with dark brown hair, rushed over to them to give them a hug and clear the bar in front of them to take their order. We lifted up our things so that she was able to wipe the bar in front of us as well, assuming we were going to finally get waited on. She never made eye contact. She then picked up the to go box and asked everyone around us if it was theirs, still not making eye contact with us. (WHICH SEEMED WEIRD). I said out loud, "It was here when we sat down" so that maybe we could finally be acknowledged. Nope. She waited on the older couple, got them drinks and proceeded to go on as if we did not exist. This was where my girlfriend started to get upset and said, "okay, let's go". I thought I would at least give it a shot and try to get her attention, so I said out loud, "excuse me mam". I know she heard me. She didn't even look at me. Just pretended we were not there. I looked over at the man on the left of me and (he was watching this happen from the start) he said to me, "This is unbelievable!" I responded by asking him, "did I do something?" he shook his head no and was beside himself just as we were. Even the older couple to the right of us that she was so excited to see looked at us with their arms in the air acknowledging what everyone had seen. This was embarrassing. This was humiliating for both me and my girlfriend. My girlfriend wanted to pack up everything and leave for home right then. I just suggested that we do not return to the bar/restaurant again and try to enjoy the rest of our visit as we had paid for three nights and planning to leave Monday. I was wearing a Michigan State shirt. That is the only thing I can think of that I could have done to "upset" this lady. She blatantly ignored us on purpose and it was humiliating. I have bartended as well as been the General Manager of a couple different bars/restaurants in the past. I would never let this person step foot behind a bar that I was in charge of ever again. Pretty sure we won't ever be back. This has ruined what we considered to be the highlight of our summer. Here is my name, phone number and email if you have anything to say or would like to discuss what happened any further. Josh Aldrich jaldrich1124@gmail.com 616-633-2888

Best ride in the park. Amazing start middle and end. The ambiance is fantastic with an excellent…read morefinish.

This ride hurt! I never felt so much like an old man than on this one and I swear I think I got…read morewhiplash. This one beat me up. Line was long. By far the longest wait. Inside was cool and loved the atmosphere. We rode it in the evening and it was so dark and jarring that it was hard to enjoy myself. I survived and I would probably ride it again now that I know what I was in store for.

My favorite B&M invert!…read more Tip: Ride it immediately after a rain shower. The ride seems to go even faster afterwards due to the slick track!

I used to love this ride so much as a kid but as an adult this ride is so rough. Once I rode…read morebanshee and I had a massive headache when I got off and had to leave the park. Another thing that happened was when my son first turned 52 inches tall (which was during Covid) we went to Kings Island to ride Banshee for the first time. When we got off he loved it so much that he said that he wanted to do it again. I said ok let's go but this time we should take our face masks off for the picture. We got off to get our picture and the lady working there said that she couldn't give us our picture because we had our masks off! So I responded with "so you wouldn't even give us our picture if our masks blew off" she responded with "yes". My son started crying and said that he never wanted to come here again during Covid so that's what we did.

So, if you don't want to get too beat up on this ride, try not to sit in a wheel seat…read more I love the theme for this ride, although on my most recent ride, the audio on the first lift hill didn't work. :(

This is janky old mine train coaster with some pretty hilarious theming. The helixes aren't half…read morebad but if you're like me you won't have your hands up but on the safety bars just to brace yourself for bumpiness. I was cracking up at the several levels below Disney and Universal theming on the second lift hill but was then let down upon discovering it was a lift hill to nowhere... or rather back to the loading station. Was this early Kings Island theming the inspiration for The Shed™ at Mystic Timbers? So riding The Beast many years ago made the Indiana Jones wannabe lift hill very anticlimactic to me as it instilled in me the expectation that a second lift hill meant more ride. Even if I hadn't ridden The Beast before I think I would have expected more ride, cause why wouldn't there be, but The Beast heightened that expectation. Then that damned second lift hill spoiled the one on The Beast for my friend Derek. Derek was going into The Beast blind, even more than most people riding it into the dark forest at night. Never ridden it, not the stereotypical roller coaster enthusiast who would have seen a pov video or review on YouTube, Derek had no clue The Beast had a second lift hill and I had closely guarded the secret, eager to experience his reaction in the dark Ohio woods. Well, Adventure Express instantly normalized the idea of a second lift hill for him and not only was Derek not surprised but he correctly predicted it wasn't just a tease like last time but we had more ride ahead of us. "Oh, it's not like last time! We're not done! We're not done! We got more Beast ahead of us!" Still pretty awesome I'm thinking as I'm typing this out but I can't help but wonder if he'd have some astonishment at the layout were it not for Adventure Express. Adventure Express is an okay family coaster, though it's moderate roughness takes away from even the family element, but really what does it say when I spend half my review talking about The Beast?

For today's review, we have Mystic Timbers at Kings Island. Now, on paper, you look at this ride…read moreand are like "Oh, typical GCI, nothing special." WRONG, WRONG WRONG WRONG. This is one of the best wooden coasters EVER!!!! I'm serious, this ride is so freaking awesome, it's in my top 10 overall coasters! So yeah, we're in for a TREAT with this ride! :) First we sit down, get our seatbelts on and lapbars down and th.... oh, the train dispatched before I could finish my sentence! Yeah that's typical, Kings Island ops are amazing! Anyways, we have some small dips and turns before heading up the lift hill. We are told by some speakers to turn around and to go home back to our video games. But since we're f*cking stupid, we don't! We then hit the drop and into a big left turn, so far this isn't anything special. But don't worry, the real madness begins now! We then drop off and have a SHARP moment of ejector air. Yeah, I preached about how Prowler and Thundehread have airtime better than some RMCs, yeah, Mystic has that as well. We then hit two back to back bunny hops which provide AMAZING ejector air. We then hit a s bend that hits us with some good laterals with EVEN MORE AIRTIME! Along with another curved hill. Yeah, you get the idea. This ride has a lot of amazing airtime with laterals thrown in. Prowler has this as well, but Mystic adds the insanity that Thunderhead provides, making this the overall stronger ride. We then turn into a tunnel that provides some exceptional laterals followed by more airtime. And you do NOT slow down. You are just FLYING through this layout. After some more strong airtime and laterals, we hit one last double up into the brake run. And then.... THE SHED!!!! Yeah, this ride has a mini dark ride section, SWEET! So we enter the shed and we hear some music play (if only it was Justin Bieber or Misha, THEN it would be scary). After the train ahead of us leaves the station, the lights start flickering and we move forward. And a screen shows us a TREE MONSTER who attacks us, and then back in the station. So yeah, that's Mystic Timbers. Sure, the Shed scene isn't that great, but I do appreciate the fact that it exists. It still adds on to the ride and makes Mystic Timbers stand out even more. And on top of that, THE RIDE IS FREAKING AWESOME! This is seriously if you took Outlaw Run, Thunderhead, and Prowler, and combined them all into one coaster you get Mystic Timbers. This is easily my favorite GCI (Sorry Thunderhead) and my 2nd favorite wooden coaster (Only Behind Voyage). So I obviously recommend riding Mystic Timbers. It's the best ride at Kings Island and one of the best coasters ever made! Final Score: 100/100 Opened: 2017 Built by: Great Coasters International Last Ridden: August 9th 2025

The Twelve Days of Yelpmas Day Twelve…read more I didn't get enough coastering in down in Florida so on the spur of the moment I decided to drive down to Kings Island Winterfest. I knew there would be three coasters running and expected Mystic Timbers to be the star of the show. It took awhile to get on, as it was sitting idle after several test trains right after rope drop so I decided to knock out The Racer and Flight of Fear first. Then when I got back to Mystic Timbers it went down shortly after I got in line. So it was back to the supporting cast. Third time was a charm, though. I ended up barreling through the woods five times on Mystic Timbers. It hauls pretty well through the cold air but wasn't quite as marathonable as I expected. Don't get me wrong - MT is a blast but as far as Great Coasters International rides go I was hoping for a little more White Lightning airtime and a little less Renegade intense laterals. That's just my taste for elements and the quick side to side motions were probably exacerbated by the fact I was a single rider going crashing into a stranger every time Mystic Timbers did a sideways whip. MT is definitely smooth enough for a wood coaster but it kinda doesn't matter when the turns are that hard. Still fun, I rode it 5 times but eventually I found myself desiring another ride on The Racer which I didn't think was gonna happen. The ride ops were on point. Much better than the laggards down at Busch Gardens Tampa. And the theming is cool but I can take or leave it. I like the cheesy 80s music appearing to play from a cassette on a vintage boombox better than the video screen in the shed. At least it's something for the dead time on the brake run. I recommend Mystic Timbers even if it wasn't quite the masterpiece I was hoping for.

The Bat was the first ride Derek and I hit on our recent Friday evening trip to Kings Island. I…read morecould not believe how far back into the woods it was, especially being near the front of the park. The ride sign seems like it's a half mile from the station and the queue resembles a paved nature trail at times, only with guardrails. Our Fast Lane was useless on this one so it was good we got it out of the way first. I love the look of this one set against all the foliage. Orange seems appropriate for The Bat but black or dark purple supports instead of the very light gray, almost white ones would fit the theme better especially at night. The Bat was surprisingly intense and smooth. I've now ridden 3 of these old school suspended Arrow coasters and I think The Bat is my favorite. Vortex at Canada's Wonderland might be a little more intense but The Bat is decent in that department, too, with a better setting and smoother, too. Both of them blow Iron Dragon out of the water, which I guess would be the little man made lagoon it sits above. I guess The Bat is still a family coaster but it at least trends more to the thrill side of things. I'm very curious about night rides on The Bat. I guess I should have thought about that previously as bats are nocturnal and Kings Island is known for its night rides. And the first four letters in the name are "The B" just like a certain epic wooden roller coaster at the back of the park. We skipped Invertigo and Stunt Coaster. Adventure Express didn't quite live up to its name but The Bat did. All hail the King of the Also Ran Coasters at Kings Island. As much as I wanna ride Orion and Banshee at night along with the mandatory post dusk lap on The Beast I think The Bat is now second on my list of most desired night rides at Kings Island.

If you're a taller person, definitely sit in the front row of a car as the back row has a lot less…read moreleg room.

This drop tower is so unpredictable, which makes it fun! Always funny to hear kids try to countdown…read morebefore it drops, and be wayyyyy off!

When I visited Kings Island with my wife we did many of the rides and this one is not one of my…read morefavorites. All they do is take you up high in the air and drop you and you wait in line for that so it's not anything exciting that is take you high up in the air and drop you so not too fun comparison to what they have