5 Tips for Taking a Little Kid to King’s Island in Mason, OH

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you already know this, but if you’re new: my husband is obsessed with roller coasters. He has been ever since he was little & his affection for them simply grows. He started an Instagram account (go follow him here!) as an outlet for his roller coaster knowledge and he also has a YouTube channel (go subscribe to it here!) that he posts to & has big plans for!

His roller coaster obsession simply means that our “family vacations” are always centered around one question: “Where are the nearest roller coasters?”

Thankfully, I enjoy amusement parks & riding coasters too (they’re just not at the very top of my “vacation priority list”). And after being married for 8 years, I’ve definitely come to grips with the fact that our trips will always include at least a coaster or two (or 10 if Derrick can help it).

Last summer, as sort of a “joint” birthday gift to Derrick & my brother Steve (we actually went to the park on Steve’s birthday) we made the trip out to Mason, Ohio to visit King’s Island. Derrick had never been there before, so he added 14 coasters to his official coaster count that day.

We took Braelynn with us! Last summer she was 2 1/2 years old and we still hadn’t left her overnight yet, so we decided to bring her along. She was so excited to go & see all the big roller coasters! She was still too little to ride most of the rides – even in the kiddie land area – so we hopped on the carousel at least once every time we walked by (it was her favorite).

We had taken Braelynn with us to local amusement parks before, but never to a “major” park, so we learned a lot about taking a little one into a “big” park on that trip. And we wanted to share a few of those lessons-learned here – just in case you are planning a trip to an amusement park with a little person who can’t quite ride all the big rides! While these tips are specific to our trip to King’s Island, most of them can be applied to any major amusement park!

5 Tips For Taking A Little Kid to King’s Island, in Mason, OH

Parent Swap For Big Rides

Every major amusement park has the option of a “Parent Swap” – where one parent stays with the little one while the other parent waits through the line to ride. Once Parent A gets off of the ride, they “swap” spots with Parent B, who then typically enters via the exit or “fast pass” line and almost instantly gets to ride.
We brought my brother with us so that the parent who was waiting in line wouldn’t have to wait alone & so the parent riding second wouldn’t have to ride alone (one person from the first set of riders could ride twice).

It’s a brilliant idea for families with small children, however, there are some tricks involved in making it work best!

• Research ahead of time how the Parent Swap works
  Every park’s Parent Swap works slightly different. So, a little bit of research on the Park’s website before going will definitely save you time & frustration when you arrive at the park (especially if you are going with a roller coaster obsessed husband who enters the front gate & then runs to the first coaster).
  Unlike other Parks that we’ve been to, the Parent Swap at King’s Island requires an authorization slip (an actual piece of paper that you have to carry around). Once you enter the gate, make sure you stop at the Guest Services Office to pick up your authorization slip – it’s the only place you can get it! Don’t do what we did – where we forgot & hiked all the way to the back of the park, only to realize we had to walk back to the front to get that authorization slip.
  There are very specific instructions on the authorization slip: Parent A hands it to the ride attendant as they are leaving the ride & the ride attendant signs off in a small box. Parent B then brings the form back up the exit line & hands it to the ride attendant, who seeing the first signature, will allow Parent B to get on the next available ride.
• Our Experience
  Even though that’s how the instructions are very clearly stated – our experience was that the ride attendants for each ride, each handled the Parent Swap differently. Some followed the instructions to the letter, others simply waived us on without signing, and once, we were completely forgotten about, standing at the exit of the ride for about 15 minutes before we flagged down another attendant who let us ride the next round.
  It’s a brilliant concept. But we found it’s functionality a bit faulty. Some ride attendants would give Parent B the choice of what seat they wanted to sit in, while others simply sat Parent B wherever they wanted.
  Our best advice regarding the Parent Swap is to simply be patient. The ride attendants are busy & trying to dispatch the ride as quickly, safely, and efficiently as possible, so having someone walk up the exit & want to ride can throw a “kink” in their rhythm. Simply smile & be patient with the ride attendants & it’ll be a good experience for everyone!

Plan To Take It Easy

Going to an amusement park with a little one presents a unique set of challenges. When Derrick & I go to a park on our own, we literally run thru the park (well, he speed walks and I run to keep up with him). We hit as many rides as we can, as quickly as we can. We grab water as we walk between rides, split a light lunch (so as not to get sick) and pretty much just hard-core ride rides all day long.
Going into a park with a little one will not give you that luxury. And I think, as long as you know that ahead of time (and plan for it), you’ll be fine. If we had walked into King’s Island, planning to ride all 14 roller coasters before lunch time, we would have arrived at lunchtime frustrated and stressed out at having missed our “goal”. Taking a little one into an amusement park will slow you down – but is that really a bad thing?

Bring A Stroller/Wagon To Haul All The Things

I think the best part about bringing Braelynn along was bringing her stroller! She might not have sat in it all day (we let her out to walk & run around a good bit), but it was so nice to have something there to haul all of our stuff!
Under normal circumstances, Derrick & I go into a park as minimalists. We don’t bring bags. Derrick has specific shorts he wears to amusement parks that have big zipper cargo pockets and we put our phones & wallets there when we ride.
Bringing a little person though means bringing a whole slew of items (diapers, wipes, a change of outfits). And that’s fine – when you also bring a stroller or wagon to carry all of those items along in!
Having a stroller also allowed us to bring along some light snacks (trail mix, goldfish, granola bars, etc.) and water bottles. It was so convenient to have snacks & water right there at our fingertips! Plus, because I always bring my camera along to shoot fresh photos for Derrick’s social media channels, having the stroller allowed me to bring my camera along all day long, instead of only having it at the end of the day. (If it had been just me & Derrick, I would have locked my camera in a locker & only retrieved it at the end of the day during “golden hour” – when I would have run around the park like a mad person shooting like crazy.)
Additionally: a stroller gives your little one a place to conveniently fall asleep! Running around all day in the sun at an amusement park is exhausting!

Cool Off By Watching A Show

King’s Island might not exactly be known for it’s entertainment (outside of roller coasters), but they did have a nice lineup of pretty cool shows. They’re the perfect way to get out of the heat & into some air conditioning, to sit down & relax for a little while.
Additionally: if you’re a nursing Mama, sitting in the back of a dark show is the perfect & cool spot to nurse!

Watch The Fireworks From The Top Of The Eiffel Tower

If you make it all the way to the end of the night (and sometimes, with little ones, it can be tricky to do so!) King’s Island has a firework show that is a really fun cap to the day. We heard from many King’s Island employees that the best place to watch the show is from the top of the Eiffel Tower. However, if you want to get a good spot up there, you have to plan for it. They only allow so many guests up at the top at a time, so you have to jump in line a bit early. We missed the cut. So, we ended up watching the fireworks from the base of the Eiffel Tower. It was still a fabulous show & we had an amazing view! Plus, we were able to scoot out of the park a bit faster than if we had had to wait for the elevator to ride us back down from the top of the Tower.