Kings Island
Reviews and Complaints

Me and my friend decided that this year we were going to buy gold passes for both of our families. We each bought 5 gold passes. We diceded that we would go just us and the teens on Friday and take the whole family Saturday. We should have known not to return just for the incidents from friday. First of all most everyone in that park is incredibly rude. You work at an amusement park, put a smile on and change your dismissive tones. Second horribly terrifying situation was that we decided to ride the (our 2nd ride) Invetago and as we were cranked up and left hanging facing the ground for almost 30 mintues with a 13 and 15 year old thinking they were going to die. The first woman we spoke to after finally getting down was very kind but as we went to guest services to explain the 2 fast passes we were given for "time lost" was the phrase they kept using, just didn't feel sufficient considering they we were thinking about not coming back out of fear. They behaved like we were over seeking compensation. Well if we seemed like that hmmmm i wonder why? What's the price on your child's on own life or just traumatic events.. We were simply asking for something different because we didn't really want to ride the rides anymore. But we were dismissed feeling like we had done something wrong in the end. Day 2, Saturday. We decided to give KI another chance because of the smaller kids and other family members who didn't get to go. Second ride of the day once again. My boyfriend lost our keys on Banshee! Oh no! But someone said they spotted them. I had my baby and 3 small children with me and live an hour away, so i rushed up to guest services and told them what was happening and begged them to please go look or get them. I was met again with a very nasty man saying there was nothing he could do and I'd have to wait till after 10 at night to even have someone go look. I explained to this man that those are the only keys i have for my car and house and what am i supposed to do if come 10 they couldn't find them?! I just needed to know if they were at least mine or not so i could make other arrangements before it became to late to do anything at all and i was stuck. He still dismissed me after this i was angry and sick of all of them. I explained what happened the day before and he rolled his eyes and said that was just a mechanical issue... Actually that was mine and my CHILDS LIFE in the hands of God is how it felt to us but thanks for acting like our trama doesn't matter. So i was getting no where and he said he'd call rides to see what they could do, i couldn't look at him any longer so i left my number and decided to take matters into my own hands and walked over to Banshee. By the time this man called back to say they couldn't help me, someone was there the shut down the ride to look for my keys. They never found them saying they must have fell threw the grate net and that they would look more and then call me. I never received any calls from anyone and ended up spending over 300 dollars to have a locksmith come make a new key for my car. I am a very unsatisfied customer. I know it our fault our keys got lost by not taking proper messures but they could habe been kinder and tried more at guest services. Rather than ask how old my kids were and then basically tell me to fk off. I want something done, I want these situations recognized.

Still waiting on my unwanted subscription to be cancelled! Im owed 42.99 and customer service is ignoring me and everyone who complains apparently. Lawyers will be contacted! You have 24 hours to respond before i contact a lawyer to open a case against loot crate which i can guarantee will be horrible for your business! This is ridiculous! I want my money back!

This year when planning a birthday celebration for myself I thought it would be an amazing day if my family and I spent the day at the water park and then ride roller coasters at night. I experienced the WORST customer service I have ever seen in my entire life. My sister and her boyfriend chose to leave the park to get food for themselves and their two boys (under the age of 4). I chose to stay in the park and have lunch. I went the the Coconut Cove Bar and placed an order for a bacon cheeseburger basket. I was given ticket number 5144 and I went to the pick up area. After about 20 minutes I noticed that people who were several people behind me in line were receiving their food, some of the food was exactly what I ordered. I went to the counter and expressed my concern to the young boy handing out food. I was confused as to why ticket numbers that were 30-40 people after mine were being called and I had still not received my food. He rolled his eyes in response and said that there are only three of them and some food is easier to get out so the numbers don't run in order. I didn't even bother to explain to him that I had watched several bacon cheeseburger basket meals be passed onto other people. I asked if he could please go find out what was going on with my order and gave him my order number. He again rolled his eyes. I didn't say anything because it looked like he was going to check on my order. At least 5-10 minutes went by and the same young boy walked back with several orders for people that had ticket numbers 5180+. At this point I was beyond angry. I looked at him and asked if he even did anything by going back there to check on my order. No response. All three kids who were working the counter just stared at me like they had no idea what they were doing. I kept asking about the food order and they all looked at me like I was crazy and they didn't care to even help me or look for my order. At this point I was disgusted as my sister her boyfriend and their two young boys were back from eating. The fact that they left the park, went down the street to get food, ate, and came back and was walking back to our chairs while I still hadn't even received any kind of confirmation that my food would be coming out shortly was infuriating to say the least. Not one single person apologized. Not one single one of the kids working the counter acted like they had any kind of training or even common sense. I asked for my money back and didn't even eat until I left the park several hours later. It is this lack of customer service that will cause me to question getting a season pass next year. I didn't spend my well earned money on a season pass to worry about how I will be treated once going to enjoy my day off. I expect more from a establishment that has been around since the 70's. I am seriously thinking about cancelling the season pass payment plan and discontinuing going. I can tell you one thing is for sure. I WILL NEVER DINE OR ORDER FOOD FROM KINGS ISLAND AGAIN.

I purchased a drink cup with my Kings Island season pass this year. This gives you free drinks when visit. Now I don't expect the soft drinks to be as good as a McDonald's but they are unacceptable. I tried Diet Coke it was bad, so next I tried Sprite at a different station and it tasted just like the fountain water without any sweetener in it., then I got an orange drink at another station and it was so syrupy sweet it was nauseating. This is only my second trip, and both times the soft drinks were horrible. I am really sorry I purchased the drink cup now. My question is, what is going on that they are all so bad?
I am sure this is a big moneymaker for them but I wouldn't recommend it at all.

We visited Kings Island on Tuesday, July 12 and I dropped by phone at the end of the Fire Hawk ride into a fenced area. I immediately told the ride operators and was told that I could not go into that area and would need to come back later to get it. We were told that if we did go into the fenced area we would be kicked out of the park. We complied with what the Kings Island staff told us and left and went to ride a few rides then came back an hour later and the phone was gone. The ride operators were not helpful and said they didn't see anyone go into the fenced area. The security guard we talked to next said they weren't responsible and was no help at all. We then talked to someone in customer service who said she would go check into it and come back and let us know. We sat there for an hour and she never came back. Later we saw her and she totally ignored us and walked the other direction. I know that Kings Island is not responsible for me dropping my phone and any damage related to me dropping it; however, once we did find it and knew it was working but told we couldn't go get it, it became the responsibility of the ride operator and Kings Island. I had only had my new iphone 6 for just over 2 months. It was in a LifeProof case too! No one at Kings Island showed any concern or responsibility and were completely unhelpful. I am now out the cost of the phone and case only because the ride operator wouldn't let me go get my phone. Since no one could go into that area, it is obvious that one of the employees took the phone. It would have been nice if Kings Island would have offered to refund our tickets for the day or give us passes to come back, but no, nothing! Why would I ever want to go back there after this experience and lack of help for anyone at Kings Island? I'm extremely disappointed and this shows that Kings Island and it's employees are not of the caliber they used to be. We've been going there at least once a year for my entire life but unless I receive some acknowledgement from Kings Island, I will never set foot on their property again. I also will be sharing this story with everyone I know, as will all my family members. I think we will be going to Holiday World the next time.

Sad and disappointed

We bought season passes at Kings Island for 2014 season (this season) back in the end of 2013 and now half way through the season they say my son is just over the height and we must pay $36 to upgrade.They measured my 7 year old son at the gate then refused us entry. They claim he is too tall for kid rides at 48" yet all kid rides say 54" or less to ride! That we MUST upgrade his pass to an adult pass to continue our passes. They said if we dont pay the upgrade, we are not allowed back until its paid, which means we lose the $300 plus already paid for two adults and two kids. We were informed that is policy and I requested to see the policy and was never shown one. No where on the back of the card does it say it either. Basically we are being forced to upgrade a SEASON pass because my son may have grown a half inch. ITS WRONG ! I have spoke with some friends that had the same thing happen. The website stated on Kings Island's website and at the front gate admissions window, guests less than 48 inches are "Juniors" and guests 48 inches or taller "adults." Guests who are 48 inches or taller are required to have an adult ticket for entry. Once a guest is 48 inches or taller, they are required to have the adult ticket or pass."
At the time of purchase of our SEASON PASS, NOT A ONE DAY TICKET, the child must be under 48 inches and they even check height at the start of the season when you get your photo for your pass. At which time my son was under the height for the child pass. Customer relations said the upgrade cost was the difference between the $84 I paid and the current going rate of an Adult pass of $120 which came to $36.00
They were doing this to people all day like crazy and going by that same formula, so that would mean all those people were wrongfully charged based on their own admission. Then Second, they refer to buying at the window. Point is at the start of the season you pick up your passes at the process and get your picture taken they checked his height at which point he was under the height and they issued his pass. THERE is nothing that states that if the child grows during that season an upgrade is needed. I could understand it if I bought the pass and when we went in at the start of season he was over then being made to upgrade, but over half way through the season because he grew? Its not like we were just buying that day, we had already bought and was issued the pass based on his height at the time of purchase and processing. Seems to me that the staff is not on the same page there. SO what about all the people that paid the $36 upgrade based on the erroneous rate information that it was being based on? Then the park rep that spoke with the news stated it should have only been a $22.50 upgrade. Im SO TIRED of Kings Island.

Let me see, I paid $192.00 for tickets to get in after calling Kings Island ahead of time and being told I could get a 2nd day ticket for $15.00 each ticket, so I get a hotel room for 2 days cost at $140.00 a night, go to the park with the 3 kids and wife, lady takes our tickets and again informs us yes, before 6 o'clock go get 2nd day tickets for $15.00 each.We got ride the coasters, no lines at all, riding Banshee and Diamondback without a wait (even got the boys on the Beast) which is a HUGE accomplishment. Spent another $175.00 on drinks, food, everything. Then it's time to go get 2nd day tickets, And after an hour and a half, and 2 supervisors (who by the way probably weren't any older than my kids) they inform me those extra day tickets for 15 dollars are for if we came to the park after 5 the previous day for a half day, and the only way to get a 2nd day ticket would be to purchase them for $26.00 each, which is not what was informed to me by the lady when we called Kings Island before we even came or by the lady at the gate who took our tickets that morning. In no part of my conversations did I ever state I'd like a half day and full day pass. 2 days simple. So now I've wasted almost 2 hours at the park while my family is getting rained on (It was fitting after the crap that was going on). So now I'm highly upset, nothing they can do about it. So I make one last attempt to see if there was anyone else I could try to call and salvage what has turned into a mess. I call Kings Island as i'm walking back to the family and getting soaked, at this point it's the principle of everything, i'm not paying an extra $11.00 a ticket after being told 2 times it would be $15.00. I get another person on the phone who after explaining everything, just up and calls me a LIAR on the phone, I stopped in my tracks saying " what did you just call me" as she tried to backtrack, but in the end the conversation got me nothing. Went back got the family, it was raining still and the coasters were shut down, so we left. The kids and Shannon and I got to swim in the hotel pool the next day instead of Kings Island water park. Moral of this story is Kings Island more than once misunderstood the difference between 2days at your park and a day and a half at the park and would not fix their mistake and instead of looking at what we had already spent and more than likely spent again, were more worried about getting the extra $11 per ticket than fixing a problem and now in return has lost a family of 5 from going back again. Thanks for the wonderful memories Kings Island It was a vacation my family and I will always remember. Can't get photo of our day says to large. 6/24/14 photo at kamansart.com [protected]

Wonderful experience. But today has been different. He is 17 yrs. old and enjoys life to the fullest. Today he was insulted, embarrassed, and humiliated on the new ride the Diamondback. He waited in line like everyone else and when he was ready to get on, the young man told him he was to heavy to ride. He sat down and the seatbelt fastened. But he was told he was to heavy. I wasn't there but he immediately notified me about what had taken place. Needless to say, I am a very upset parent who believes that this young man needs a lesson in how to treat others. I don't know his name because my son was so upset he just left. I know it was around 10:30 this morning. I would expect young children to say something about someones weight but not an adult. I hope this young man is reprimanded over his comments and actions.

My wife and I have been fans of Kings Island for quite some time--in fact, my

wife has been to the park for the past 15 years every year with friends and

family. We've started to take our kids as of the past few years, and last year

was the first year that our oldest was able to ride the "big" roller coasters.

To say the least, we've started to make some great family memories there.

Which is why this year's trip (July 29th) was even more disappointing than we

could have ever imagined. We had not written previously because we have been on

vacation away from home the entire time. But we felt it necessary to discuss

these issues with you.

First of all, the customer service at the park is a vast difference from what we

have seen in the past at Kings Island. Many of the workers were not friendly,

some rude, and my oldest son even was upset by how one of the ride operators

spoke to him. It is acceptable--and this is stretching it--to have perhaps one

experience where you felt the person or persons could have been a little more helpful or friendlier throughout the day at all of the

venues and rides, but this was a common theme. Hardly anyone smiled, most people

were bossy and just not customer-oriented. An example--when we went to wait in

line for Firehawk, a person at the beginning of the line was there to, we

assume, making sure that people were tall enough to go on. Our youngest is not

yet tall enough to go on Firehawk, so we asked if we would be able to have him

wait in line with us, we would ride, and he could stand off to the side and wait

until we got back, to which the teen just kind of shrugged us off and said

"yeah, it's fine". We waited for almost an hour to get to the ride--and then

when we got there, one of the workers told us that he could not wait there, that

he would have to be accompanied by an adult. This was the first time this had

happened throughout the day at any ride like this, as we know most rides have a

separate area (i.e. the cage in the Vortex and the waiting area for Flight of

Fear). My wife then basically had to get off and stand with our youngest while

myself and my oldest son rode. However, there was another boy waiting there a

little older than our son, and there was no adult. My wife questioned why there

was no one with him, and one of the other workers said "Well, can you just stay

with him?" To which my wife basically stated that she didn't know who he was and

that it was irresponsible for them to even ask that of her. It took her saying

that then for another worker to ask the boy who he was with, and then another

person had to get off of the ride to stand with

him. The only silver lining was that my wife asked then because of the

inconvenience if she could be in the front car for the ride after us, to which

they told her that if they had less than four riders, she could. It's safe to

say that this was a very poor experience just in this situation alone.

Secondly, we must go on record that we understand that the changes made with the

transferring of ownership was understandable in terms of the name changes for the rides, etc., but one item that we

were considerably disappointed was the Crypt, which we had previously known as

Tomb Raider. The line was not organized well, inside of the "Crypt" it was very,

very dark--too dark for the theme, in our opinion--and the ride itself was a

joke. To go from the stylings that Tomb Raider brought with the "theatrics"

involved to basically going to a big open warehouse with a ride that flipped you

a bunch of times, why even bother with it? I certainly hope there are some major

changes to this ride to make it as entertaining as Tomb Raider was. This was my

oldest's favorite from last year, and now he has said he doesn't care if he ever

rides it again...

Lastly, our favorite roller coaster is the Beast--in fact, we waited all day

long and organized our trip through the park so that our youngest--who is

finally tall enough to be on many of the 48" coasters--could ride it at night

and it be the "climax" of his day at Kings Island. However, when we went to the beginning of the line at 8:45--1 hr and 15 minutes before

the park closed at 10--we were greeted by a worker who said that the Beast was

closed for the day, that they were cycling the last people through the ride and

then it would be done. My wife was obviously upset--this has been her favorite

ride ever since she started going there--but the teen just basically cut her

off, stating "I'm sorry for the issues, maam, but it is closed." Several people

walking up were told the same thing, and they were too upset by this move.

This type of thing is unacceptable, in our eyes. We paid a lot of money to be in

the park, and the posted hours are the posted hours. I know that one of the

things we loved about being able to stay all day is that even if you are in a

long line, you are queued if you are in line before the park closes. This was

not even close to the time, and it was one--if not the most--popular rides in

the park. I cannot understand any justification of this, and again--the service

was abhorrent.

We just can't help but get the feeling that the correlation of the changeover in

ownership and these issues occurring is just too coincidental. Perhaps the

company philosophy is different in terms of how to handle things at Kings

Island, but we've been to Cedar Point and did not feel this was the way this

company operated, but that was several years ago. Perhaps it is merely bad luck

on our part, but I doubt it.

We are considering, sadly, canceling our forthcoming trips to there in light of

all this. This was, hands down, one of the worst experiences we've ever had in a

theme park, and no one should ever walk away from a place that is supposed to

bring a lot of fun into someone's life feeling this way. I believe we, as loyal

customers of this park, deserve more.