Kings Island vs. Cedar Point

[hersheyfan410]

Hello everyone! Recently I have been hearing a lot of praise for Kings Island with many having the opinion that it is the better park than Cedar Point because of superior park operations and atmosphere. Obviously Cedar Point has the better ride lineup, but people also judge parks on more than just their rides. I haven’t been to either but I was curious about this site’s thoughts on how these two CF parks stack up.

 

[RcTmix]

You've summed up my opinion pretty well. Cedar Point has one of the best coaster collections on the planet, but Kings Island is the better park in almost every other way. KI has the better atmosphere, better/more courteous staff, and is a more well-rounded park with a great selection of attractions both for thrill seekers, and for families with small children. Admittedly, KI is my home park, so I may not be able to be completely objective.

Cedar Point is great when it's great, but their management, staffing, maintenance, and operations seem to be less consistent. Anecdotally, last year my very best park visit and my very worst park visit were both at the point. CP also has to contend with the problem that they may actually be too popular for their own good, and they have had trouble adequately staffing the park for the past few seasons, especially during the early and late season. Unfortunately, this means that the park is understaffed during HalloWeekends, which can be some of the busiest days of the year. As you can imagine, an exceptionally busy park that is seriously understaffed leads to a greatly diminished guest experience.

I also think that some enthusiasts, and especially folks who lived in Ohio in the 1990s and early 2000s (myself included) tend to hold Cedar Point to a higher standard than most other parks because we remember how amazing it was during that time. It's still a great park, but in certain ways it isn't what it used to be, and so we nitpick.

 

[Hixee]

I'm unequivocally a Cedar Point fan boy.

Haven't done Kings Island since 2010, and it's fine on leaps and bounds since then, but as someone who visits relatively rarely, Cedar Point is still magic.

That skyline alone, as you drive up the causeway, is enough to change you.

 

[lom.lom.lom]

CP is pretty incomparable and amazing, def will always be one of my favorite parks. I've only been to KI once and it was last summer. I had an amazing day and got on everything with a ton of re-rides (except Bat which was closed because of that wheel). I definitely didn't like KI's vibe as much and none of the coasters blew me away in the same way that SteVe or Maverick did.

 

[Hutch]

Both parks have great staff and great, but different, atmospheres, but the thing that elevates Cedar Point immensely over Kings Island is the coaster lineup. The lineup at Kings Island isn't as good as a lot of people think.

Mystic Timbers is amazing, Diamondback is great, Beast can be great (but can also be bad), and I haven't done Orion, so I'm sure that's good as well. But after that it's a big drop off. Next best coaster is Banshee, which isn't even good, and then you're left with supporting intermediate rides like the Arrow suspsended and mine train, Backlot, and Racer. And THEN you got **** like Invertigo and Flight of Fear bringing it down even more. They've obviously been getting better by removing some bad stuff like Vortex and Firehawk, but for a park with 15 creds, overall quality isn't what it should be.

Cedar Point on the other hand still has plenty to do. Vengeance and Maverick are incredible. Millennium Force is still fantastic. I loved Dragster, but I don't really know what to do with that anymore, so who knows. After that you still got some genuinely good-to-great rides with all four B&Ms as well as Gemini. And that's when you start to drop off, but that's still pretty deep into the lineup at that point.

 

[Steely Dan]

Ohio got so damn lucky to be blessed with the two finest full-fledged amusement parks in the Midwest.

If the proverbial gun was at my head and I were forced to choose, I guess I'd have to go with CP for its world-beating coaster arsenal.

But in reality, they're both pretty fantastic at doing what they do.

 

[Howie]

Cedar Point for me, no contest.
I never intended to be a CP fanboy, in fact I held off from visiting for the longest time, finally pulling the trigger in 2018 when the mighty SteVe opened. Yeah, the place won me over completely and I think it's probably the best amusement park I've ever been to. Awesome coaster line-up and amazing atmosphere.

Having said that, Kings Island is pretty great too. Unfortunately, for logistical reasons that I won't go into (weather, basically) me and Delly P were forced to cred-run KI as quickly possible and so didn't really have time to relax, absorb and enjoy the place as much as it probably deserved. Great atmosphere again and a great coaster line-up too, although clearly not quite as elite as the Point.

Either way, I really look forward to going back to both parks at some point.

 

[Hyde]

Ohio got so damn lucky to be blessed with the two finest full-fledged amusement parks in the Midwest.

If the proverbial gun was at my head and I were forced to choose, I guess I'd have to go with CP for its world-beating coaster arsenal.

But in reality, they're both pretty fantastic at doing what they do.

First, this. Very lucky to live equidistant between both parks!

To @RcTmix, the biggest downfall to Covid was the suspension of visa programs, which is partly why Cedar Point has faced more dire staffing issues the last three years. Compared to most major amusement park's, Cedar Point is not situated near a large metropolitan/city (Sandusky is only 25,000 and declining), and relies heavily on international workers.

I too am the resident CP fanboy, but also like to think it is pretty easy park to defend. The coaster lineup remains one of the best (even with TTD closed), and atmosphere has been on a general upswing with more TLC-focused upkeep across the park (albeit, I still don't care for dropping in barbequeue food stalls ever quartermile). Kings Island too has seen some much-needed love in the causeways and atmosphere, such as the renovation of International Street (but also, boo removing that large tree canopy), but Paramount did the park no favors in the design and aesthetic choices that were made (placing roller coasters on far-brink edges of park, ride selections that were highly dependent on IP), which still leaves more to be desired for better rounding out the park line-up and sightlines. It's no surprise Diamondback was the first, major Cedar Fair attraction - putting a proper hyper coaster right in the middle of the park.

That all being said, and has been alluded to, Kings Island remains a premier amusement park in North America, and one of my top five favorites.

 

[witchfinder]

I'm just going to quote myself from last year's trip report here...

Inevitably comparisons have to be made to Cedar Point and in my opinion, Kings Island is a better park in almost every respect. The park is big but the circular layout makes it easy to navigate and you can get from one side to the other in 10-15 minutes. The setting surrounded by the woods is lovely and the landscaping is immaculate. They have nice themed areas and even mild theming on some of the rides. The food was much better and the overall atmosphere seemed more welcoming. The ride operations were phenomenal across the board, with almost all coasters having shorter wait times than advertised and the ride ops being efficient but also happy to accommodate requests for riding front or back row. Even little things like the all-day lockers only being $5 instead of $10, the Peanuts shop being better stocked and the security guys at the entrance being nice and chatty whilst checking our bag all added up to give the feeling that guest satisfaction was of the utmost importance.

The one aspect where KI does fall short compared to CP is in the coaster line-up. The parks three top-tier coasters (Diamondback, Orion and Mystic Timbers) are all very good but they can’t compete with Steel Vengeance, Millennium Force and Maverick (and again, presumably TTD when it’s open). Having said that, personally I found the KI supporting creds to be much more fun and re-ridable than the CP ones. Banshee beats Raptor, The Bat beats Iron Dragon, Adventure Express beats Cedar Creek Mine Ride and either side of The Racer tops Blue Streak. KI has nothing to compare with Valravn or Gatekeeper, but then CP doesn’t have anything like The Beast and Backlot Stunt Coaster.

What KI has in abundance that CP doesn’t though is space to expand. Build a ground-up RMC I-Box on the old Vortex plot and replace Flight of Fear with a multi-launch coaster from Mack or Vekoma that heads off into the old Son of Beast area, and suddenly Kings Island could have the best coaster collection in Ohio, if not the world. If that happens then I would be back in a flash, but even without those elite rides this is still a park that everyone should visit if they have the chance.

I should throw in the caveat that I was suffering from COVID during the 2 days I spent at CP and several rides there were closed due to it being weekdays at the end of September, but I still got a much better vibe from KI than CP. I would love to revisit both parks and if I had to pick one I would probably pick CP for the elite coasters and picking up the creds I missed, but that day I had at KI was one of the best days I've ever had at a park

 

[Nitefly]

Imagine having VelociCoaster, Iron Gwazi, Kinga Ka and Intimidator 305 in a single park

Cedar Point is just too ridiculous and enjoyable conceptually to be bested - a giant rollercoaster ‘island’!

I love the execution too; each ride had a designated ‘hype person’ when we visited, to get everyone in the station pumped and onboard quickly. When there were breakdowns, ride ops descended to chat with guests about the park and favourite rides…. and the female ride ops always complimented my wholly unremarkable British accent, making me feel very attractive

Of course, Kings Island is no slouch, but I’d prefer it with more compliments.

 

[StampidaRMC]

Sadly, I have not been to any of the two parks because I am from Europe and have not been able to do a trip to the USA yet. I would say that Cedar Point seems like the superior park because of the ride collection. I do not really care for atmosphere or teaming, usually I go to parks for the roller coasters and that's the only thing I do all day.