Arriving and getting around
Fly into Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG).
The airport is actually in Kentucky, and Kings Island isn't in Cincinnati either: it's in Mason, Ohio, a fair way out.
💸 Getting there from the airport
The bus saves you about $64.50, but you have to transfer, time the schedules right, and the bus doesn't go all the way to the housing.
💡 For your first trip, I'd still take an Uber.
Just call an Uber or Lyft (check both and take the cheaper one). You don't have to tip on a rideshare if you don't want to.
※ Tipping is still very common in the US, so it's your call.
Route: airport ➔ downtown Cincinnati ➔ Taco Bell/McDonald's stop ➔ walk to housing. Here's how to do it in the Transit app:
Download the Transit app and add a credit card. Apple Pay doesn't work.
[Paying shortcut] At the bottom of the app there should be a Ride now button. Sometimes it shows a QR code with your funds; if you can scan it, just scan it.
[Normal ticket flow] If the shortcut doesn't work, tap Buy tickets at the bottom ➔ pick TANK (Kentucky, cheaper) or Metro (Cincinnati) ➔ tap the fare and pay.
[Airport route] At the airport, take the 2X downtown and get off at the main bus hub (Government Square). Then use the app to transfer to the 71X (Kings Island Express), get off by the Taco Bell/McDonald's, and walk about 15 minutes to the housing.
🚨 Most important: the 71X barely runs! Whether it's arrival day or a day trip downtown, check the timetable in the app. Miss the last bus and you're paying $70 for an Uber.
※ Prices can change each year. Check the current fares.
🗺️ Bus route map (tap a stop)
It's behind the Great Wolf Lodge hotel, and that's where you check in. Don't navigate to the Kings Island park itself, or you'll be dragging your luggage a long way.
When we arrived, someone happened to open the gate for us. If nobody's around, you may have to use the intercom at the gate. I'm honestly not sure. It's that kind of place.
💡 Hidden tips for buses and getting around the park
- Housing ➔ downtown: To take the 71X downtown on a day off, the closest stop to the housing is next to the Taco Bell.
- Park ➔ water park / bus: If your feet are dying inside Kings Island, take the little train next to Potato Works straight to the water park (Soak City). There's also a bus stop outside the water park where you can catch a bus downtown.
Packing list
The housing is like a college dorm: you have to bring everything except the mattress, or buy it when you get there (sign up for the Walmart trip). Your checkmarks are saved on this device, and you can add your own items.
※ Adjust the list to whatever you need.
The housing
The rooms are cramped. Be ready for that.
💵 Housing rent (2026 prices)
Rent is charged per day and taken straight out of every paycheck. Tap a period to see the price:
Here's the dumb part: we were told rent would be halved, but our paychecks still took the full amount. Only after we complained did they say they'd refund it. Check your pay stub, and if something's wrong, ask.
※ Prices may change each year. Go by the official housing notice.
🎱 The rec center (everyone calls it the Rec)
Tap to see what's inside:
🧺 Laundry room
There are washers and dryers, and both cost money:
A full wash and dry is about $3.75.
In 2026 there was a promo for paying with Paze (like Apple Pay, but you need a US bank account (Chase) with your SSN on file to link it). That basically made laundry free. The promo might not run every year, so check when you arrive.
No US bank account yet? See the Banks page →
🚿 Shower temperature lottery
The water is never very hot. Before you get in, you have to run each shower to see which one's usable. It's a lottery. Try your luck:
Not drawn yet
Onboarding
Go to Kings Island Human Resources (it's on Google Maps; about a 20-minute walk the first time). Someone walks you through everything, and it takes about 3 hours.
🗓️ Onboarding day (tap each stop)
🎽 Gear you'll get (tap to collect)
📭 Nobody tells you anything. Ask about everything.
A lot of HR's emails never arrive, so you have to ask about anything important yourself. Even for the SSN, you only find out by asking the people who started the same day as you.
"Time to pick up your paycheck," "time to apply for your SSN," "you have a package": nobody will tell you, or the email just never shows up.
🧮 Biweekly paycheck simulator
KI pays every two weeks, so this calculates one paycheck. Drag the sliders to see how much "no overtime pay" and "getting sent home" hurt.
※ Daily breaks are unpaid and don't count as hours worked. Tax is roughly 9% of gross (federal, Ohio, city of Mason, school district), rent comes straight out of your pay, and actual amounts vary by person. Overtime is counted at 40 hours a week; this assumes your hours are split evenly across the two weeks.
Positions and pay
I worked in Food, so I don't know the other positions as well. After you start, you can apparently ask at resale about switching positions. I switched restaurants myself.
⚠️ KI's five big downsides Tap to openClose
Be careful at amusement parks. Under US labor law, a seasonal park that operates less than 7 months a year doesn't have to pay overtime. Even if you work more than 40 hours a week, you still only get your normal hourly rate.
There's not much around, so on days off you often don't know what to do, and there's no epic scenery like at a national park. And working at KI, you get no tips.
A lot of HR's emails never arrive. When to pick up your paycheck, when to apply for your SSN, when a package arrives: nobody tells you. You find out by asking the people who started with you. See the reminder checklist on the Onboarding page →
Ohio summers have frequent afternoon thunderstorms. Outdoor rides shut down, and supervisors start cutting people and sending them home early. They keep whoever is needed to close, not the strongest workers.
💭 Honestly
It felt like I went there to be the lowest-level worker, and I'd have been better off working a part-time job at home. It's still a good experience, of course, and KI isn't truly terrible. I've seen worse. It's somewhere in the middle: worse than the best, better than the worst. If you can pick something better, pick something better.
👨🍳 Line Cook
Highest pay, and cooks at some restaurants can just eat the food. You have to go to resale and ask yourself; people from other countries have switched successfully.
🍟 Food
You're not allowed to eat, so you sneak it. Getting a good restaurant makes a big difference.
⛑️ Lifeguard
Water park lifeguard; requires training and certification. You'll get very tan. 🎬 Video
🛍️ Merchandise Sales Associate
Sells merch in the park's gift shops.
🧹 Park Services / 🎢 Operator
The worst, in my opinion.
🏆 2026 restaurant ranking Tap to openClose
Three things to check when picking a restaurant: air conditioning, how busy it is, and whether it has a dishwasher. Tap a name to expand.
⚠️ Attendance and the point system Tap to openClose
Kings Island tracks attendance with a point system. Everyone has 12 points to lose,
and once all 12 are gone, you're fired.
- Call off / no-show: −1 point.
- Tardy: −0.5 points.
- Unpaid breaks: daily breaks don't count as hours worked (you're not paid for them, so time spent in the park isn't the same as hours paid).
So if you oversleep, don't call off (−1 point). Drag yourself in for the last few hours of your shift and you only lose 0.5.
Get ready for difficult guests
Lots of guests have season passes, and some of them think paying makes them the boss. This job takes a lot of emotional labor. And in Food, every checkout has an upsell (the souvenir bottle). Practice here:
🎬 What an upsell actually looks like
Skip to the survival tips
- Food workers get yelled at all the time for "fries aren't hot" or "this is taking forever."
- Every Food checkout needs an upsell: first ask "Hi, would you like to buy a souvenir bottle today?" If the guest says "I already got one," follow up with "Would you like to have a refill?"
- Ride operators measure kids' heights, and when you turn away a kid who's too short, parents will point in your face and yell.
- Survival tip: if you don't understand, play dumb, or just get your supervisor. Never argue back.
🔥 The real strategy: get a second job
Everything before this was the warm-up; this is the important part. Most people who landed second and third jobs were Spanish speakers, and nobody had written this down before.
KI really isn't good: you can't eat on the job, there are no tips, and there's no overtime pay. Go find a second job nearby.
📍 Second-job map (tap a category)
🐺 Great Wolf Lodge
The closest option, right next to the housing. They drug test when you're hired, so be careful if you smoke weed.
Open in Google Maps🎾⛳ The tennis center and golf course across the road
High pay, and you can eat. I think this is the most worth asking about. But it's pretty far, and you'll have to figure out the way there yourself.
Open in Google Maps🍔 Wendy's / Wings and Rings
Other well-known burger and wing chains nearby. Apply at a few if you're looking.
Search in Google Maps🚶 How to apply
Walk in
Walk into the store and ask if they're hiring. Fastest way.
Apply online / in apps
Online applications mostly get no reply.
The high school next door
I dropped off a résumé and never heard back.
Walk-in cheat sheet
Tap a line to see when to use it, and 🔊 to hear it. Practice before you walk in.
🤝 A second job is also a good way to make friends
If you just want to meet people, a second or third job is a great place to do it. Otherwise, you mostly only hang out with other J-1s back at the housing.
🍱 Tip: bring food home from your second job. Everyone at the housing will love you, and it's an easy way to make friends.
Open accounts, collect bonuses (may be taxed)
Opening bank accounts gets you a lot of free bonus money. This is really important. Tap a bank card to mark it "opened"; it's saved on this device.
📋 What to bring
You can open an account before you have your SSN and add it later.
Bank cheat sheet
Tap a line to see why it matters, and 🔊 to hear it.
🏦 Recommended local banks
Otherwise it takes KI two weeks to switch you from paper checks to direct deposit.
🎢 Surviving and enjoying Kings Island
The biggest employee perk is free entry on your days off (at Six Flags parks). Here are some tips for the park.
Your employee ID gets you into Kings Island and the Soak City water park next door for free.
Every so often there are Employee Ride Nights (the dates are posted on the wall outside HR).
- 🍔 25% off food: show your employee ID when buying food in the park.
- 🥤 Drinks: bring a cup and scan your employee ID to get one.
👥 Weekday vs weekend: how long are the lines?
💡 Tips for getting around the park
- Saving on food: park food is really expensive. Your employee ID gets you 25% off, but it's still pricey. Try Cornerstone (the cafeteria), or eat at a J-1 friend's restaurant.
- What to carry: Orion and Banshee require you to rent a locker, since no bags are allowed in line. On a day off, go empty-handed with just your phone and employee ID in a zipped pocket and skip the locker fee.
Where to go on days off
Filter for the spots that work best for KI employees, tap 🤍 to save the ones you want, and tap the button to navigate.
To visit cities further away (Chicago, Columbus) or do bigger shopping runs, renting a car is by far the easiest. Get an International Driving Permit in your home country before you leave (and bring your original driver's license with you too).
🚌 Don't want to drive? Greyhound buses go to Chicago and Indiana.
🎲 No idea where to go?
Picks one from the category selected below.
🎯 Deerfield Towne Center
The go-to spot for errands and eating out.
- Supplies: a huge Walmart Supercenter
(from July to early August, the housing runs a free Walmart trip every day!) - Food: Rusty Bucket, Firebirds and more
🎬 Regal Deerfield Town Center
Inside the Deerfield shopping center, with comfy recliner seats. The top pick for a movie on your day off.
🎬 Theater tour
🛍️ Kenwood Towne Centre
The Cincinnati area's most popular indoor mall, with every major brand plus high-end and unique shops. A must for shopping on a day off.
Open in Google Maps🥫 Mason Food Pantry
Lots of free food and household supplies, but check the expiration dates when you take things. Fill a car with friends and go stock up together!
🎬 Video walkthrough
💊 Dollar Tree & Walgreens
Your friends when you're broke. Everything at Dollar Tree is super cheap; Walgreens is handy for medicine and emergency supplies.
Open in Google Maps🍝 Skyline Chili
The Cincinnati food you have to try, or you haven't really been to Ohio. Skyline Chili is what the city is famous for. Personally, I think the burrito is the best thing on the menu.
Open in Google Maps🍰 The Cheesecake Factory
The classic American chain: a menu as thick as a dictionary, huge portions, and cheesecake you have to order. (Inside Liberty Center.)
Open in Google Maps🥩 Outback / Eli's Sports Bar
An American steakhouse and a local sports bar. Treat yourself on payday, or see what watching a game in an American bar is like.
Open in Google Maps🦛 Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
One of the oldest zoos in the US, and home of Fiona, the internet-famous hippo!
🎬 A day at the zoo
🏰 Loveland Castle Museum
A little medieval European-style castle tucked away by a river in the suburbs, but no bus goes there.
Open in Google Maps⛳ Five Iron Golf
Indoor golf simulators with a bar and food. A fun place to go with friends.
Open in Google Maps🃏 Mavericks Mason
A local trading card game shop. If you're into Pokémon cards, Magic: The Gathering and so on, drop by and hang out with the locals. You'll need a rideshare to get there.
Open in Google Maps🛒 Jungle Jim's International Market
Food from all over the world, including a huge Asian section, so you'll probably find a taste of home. The place is decorated like a theme park and is so big you can't finish it in half a day.
🎬 Store tour, part 1 🎬 Part 2
🛍️ Liberty Center
A big, pretty outdoor shopping center close to Mason, with lots of clothing stores and restaurants. Great for shopping and eating well on a day off.
Open in Google Maps🥘 Seoul Korean BBQ & Hotpot
For when you miss Asian food: Korean BBQ and hotpot, near the Walmart.
🎬 See the restaurant
🛍️ Cincinnati Premium Outlets
Fairly close to Mason. Ohio has a sales tax holiday in the summer that saves you the sales tax (around 7%), and stacked with outlet discounts it's a great deal. The dates change every year, so look them up.
🎬 Outlet shopping video
🎰 Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati
The food inside is pretty good. Take the 71X downtown on a day off and check out the atmosphere. You have to be 21 for the gaming floor, so bring your passport.
Open in Google Maps🌿 Ascend Cannabis Dispensary
Right next to the casino! Recreational cannabis is legal in Ohio, so you can take a look when you're downtown. You must be 21 or older to buy, so bring your passport. Keep in mind it's still illegal under US federal law, which is what governs your visa.
Open in Google Maps🍗 Findlay Market
In the Over-the-Rhine (OTR) neighborhood downtown, Ohio's oldest public market. Busy on weekends, with lots of local food and snack stands.
Open in Google Maps🌉 Roebling Suspension Bridge
Walk across the bridge to Kentucky, then stroll along Smale Riverfront Park and take in the skyline.
Open in Google Maps🖼️ Cincinnati Art Museum
Free entry to the permanent collection, with air conditioning and quiet. Walk around Eden Park next door while you're there.
Open in Google Maps🏃 Activate
A really fun indoor game arena. Great for burning off energy with friends on a day off.
Open in Google Maps🥘 KTOWN BBQ & HOTPOT
If you're craving hotpot, this one is better than the other hotpot places around here.
Open in Google Maps🍸 Wiseguy Lounge - Pleasant Ridge
A bar with great drinks, and the pizza downstairs is pretty good.
Open in Google Maps🥟 Corner Dumpling House
If you miss Asian food, their soup dumplings (xiaolongbao) are great.
Open in Google Maps🍜 Banh Lao & Thai Cuisine
The dynamic wings are great, and the noodle soup is good too.
Open in Google Maps🕹️ Arcade Legacy Sharonville
The drinks are so-so, but there are tons of arcade games.
Open in Google MapsLeaving the US
Take care of these before you fly home. Check them off as you go; it's saved on this device.