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Kings Island
vs
Six Flags America

Side-by-side queue times, ride counts and opening hours for Kings Island and Six Flags America, with a straight recommendation.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Kings Island and Six Flags America compared on live queue times
Right nowKings IslandUnited StatesSix Flags AmericaUnited States
Average wait right now --
Rides open --
Opening hours today --
Longest queue --
Shortest queue --

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Kings Island if…

  • Flight of Fear is on your list - it is Kings Island's longest typical queue at about 69 minutes, so it is the one to do first
  • You want Kings Island's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Six Flags America if…

  • You want Six Flags America's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Kings Island

Kings Island is a huge theme park in Mason, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati. It's one of the Cedar Fair (now Six Flags) parks and runs a strong coaster line-up: The Beast (the world's longest wooden coaster, opened 1979), Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, Orion (a giga coaster), Banshee (the world's longest inverted coaster), and Racer. A full water park operates on the same site during summer.

The Ohio summer school break and Halloween Haunt event drive Kings Island's busiest periods, with weekend queue times on Orion and The Beast often exceeding 90 minutes. Weekdays in May, September and October are dramatically quieter. Check live wait times on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a midweek visit if you want to ride everything in a day.

Kings Island live queue times

Six Flags America

Six Flags America sits in Bowie, Maryland, between Washington D.C. and Baltimore. The coaster line-up includes Superman: Ride of Steel (a 205-foot hyper coaster), Wild One wooden coaster, Joker's Jinx multi-launch coaster, Ragin' Cajun spinning coaster, and Batwing flying coaster. A Hurricane Harbor water park is included with admission during summer.

DC and Baltimore weekend visits, Maryland school holidays, and the Fright Fest event drive most of the park's busy days. Weekdays in May, September and October stay dramatically calmer, with queue times on most coasters dropping to 10 minutes or less. Check live wait times for Superman and Wild One on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a lower-crowd date for shorter waits across the coaster line-up.

Six Flags America live queue times

05 · Questions

Kings Island or Six Flags America?

Which is better, Kings Island or Six Flags America?

Neither is better across the board - it depends whether you are optimising for shorter queues or for the rides you actually want. This page puts live queue times, ride counts and opening hours side by side so you can judge on your own priorities.

Which has shorter queues, Kings Island or Six Flags America?

Queues change hour by hour. The typical figures above are the fair answer for planning; the live table answers today. Mid-week visits outside school holidays give the shortest queues at either park. See Kings Island best time to visit and Six Flags America best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Kings Island and Six Flags America in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Kings Island and Six Flags America for the full ride lists.

Is Kings Island bigger than Six Flags America?

Park size is less useful than how many rides you can actually get on in a day - that comes down to queue times and opening hours. The comparison above shows ride counts and wait times for both.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

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