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I think the problem with food is that they, as a chain, are trying to do two things, which are diametrically opposed: Act like their food is "elevated", "fancy", etc to try to get people to pay out of pocket for it Continue selling hugely underpriced dining plans because (as Disenchanted Parks is finding out) passholders will not pay out of pocket for food after having dining plans for 11 years, and raising the prices will only get the people they actually make money off of to stop buying them The thing is that a lot of the issues with food don't have anything to do with the chef or even really the park, it's corporate budget cuts due to the failure of the merger. Even the worst chef would admit that, say, selling a $20 burger that doesn't come with any toppings is an obvious fail, but the parks do it because it saves a little bit of money.

Curious if Joseph stepped down, got the boot, or was promoted/demoted? While I hate to see anyone lose their job, I cannot deny that food quality has declined at KI in recent years. Just look at posts/comments on the KI pass group/other fansites including on here.

Yes they did, with executive chef Joseph Perez.

Didn't they just post a video with their other chef yesterday? 🤔

Kings Island is looking to elevate its food and beverage program with the search for an Executive Chef. The role will oversee all culinary operations throughout the park, including quick-service locations, full-service restaurants, catering, and special events. The successful candidate will serve as the park’s senior culinary leader, helping shape dining experiences for millions of guests each season while driving innovation, quality, and operational excellence across the resort. Hungry for a career in the amusement and theme park industry? This could be the ultimate recipe for success. Apply online: https://jobs.sixflags.com/job/mason/executive-chef/42509/96527403440

I always suggest the Fantasmic dinner option at 50's Prime Time Cafe. If you plan the meal(s) well, the VIP seating (center of seating/ stage) for Fantasmic is virtually free. We did change it up this year and are going to Brown Derby for first time.

Meanwhile, MLB. NFL, NHL, NBA teams, restaurants like Burger King, Wendy’s and a number of amusement and theme parks continue to make social media and fan engagement a priority.

This is happening across a lot of companies and organizations, not just KI. The school I work for used to highlight students and their achievements mixed with updates on future events. But now? It’s just bland generic crap mixed with AI about enrollment. It really feels like less and less people take pride in their work. There’s a specific term I’m thinking of… online quality continues to degrade over time…

Ah, here we go. This site hasn’t had a good Uncle Festhaus glazing in a while.

Steel Vengeance and Magnum are understandable why they load quickly as they can't stack trains due to how their brakes were designed (Magnum was built in 89 and they didn't think they'd need the first set of brakes out of the last tunnel due to practically designing it to force efficient loads, Steel Vengeance's final brakes are actually too short). But that training trickles down to the other rides and there has to be a way to load efficiently without treating the guests like crap. I used to bare it because Magnum and SteVe are 2 of my favorite 3 coasters at CP (the other being MF). But yeah, I felt that kind of arrogance throughout the entire staff in some way. I think normal guests and most enthusiasts view sheer throughput as 'good operations', but for me, if you have to yell at your guests to do it (especially with the speakers on SteVe turned up so high), then it is certainly not good. I also had a weird FL experience on Gemini where they'd send like 2-3 cycles before even acknowledging the Fast Lane line.

The thing about the Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare promotion/marketing that I still can't wrap my head around is the fact that they never made a (real) second promotional image. Every time you saw it, it was Maestro in the exact same pose. Another question I've had is about why the main corporate account still prioritizes the legacy Six Flags parks in terms of what they post and what media they use for their profile banners. We haven't seen too many examples of that this season, but then again there hasn't really been a legacy event like Haunt/Fright Fest and Winterfest/Holiday in the Park that the chain will promote in their social media banners yet this season. As for the rest of the content that Six Flags posts, I (normally) see the various corporate/park accounts reposting guest interactions — though I don't know that I've seen many in the last month or so. They seem to be mostly doing trends and basic interaction posts at the moment. Some parks made a Happy Father's Day post on Sunday. I know that California's Great America had one — and it didn't even have a season pass promotion on it!

I’m not sure if it’s still like this, but the audio quality of the ride was perfect this weekend. Hopefully a fix to the furnace scene (especially the heat aspect) can be found soon. I really appreciate the commitment to fixing other issues with the ride (such as the on-and-off functionality of the second Maestro).

Sounds like a good mix of dining 😊. For future trips I’d recommend a few often underrated restaurants that are my favorites (and not just for the CM discount 😀) — Flying Fish (at the Boardwalk), Toledo & Three Bridges (at Coronado) and Jiko & Sanaa (at AK Lodge). These aren’t necessarily the most kid-friendly favorites but the food is really good at all of them. I also really like Topolino’s Terrace—I’ve been there for dinner, but heard they have a really good character breakfast as well.

We rode the attractions, watched the shows, and made unforgettable memories—but some of the best moments of our Walt Disney World vacation happened around the dinner table. Here are five Disney dining experiences my family loved as much as the rides. Full Story: https://themeparksbydon.com/walt-disney-world-cant-miss-dining-experiences-family-vacation/

The stair tread pieces are used to hide the front end of each stair tread and protect it, so it's really just a matter of maintenance and appearance. It would be amazing if they could also put some anti-slip grip tape down on those stairs and the ones leading down into the queue for rainy days when everyone's shoes are wet and slippery. As for some additional dialogue I think adding a "How about some heat!" line (or something similar) as you pass the Boiler Room sign/as you rotate toward the exploding boiler would add some nice variation to the dialogue.

I personally wish the park meaningfully engaged with its audience way more. The promo for Phantom Theater has been so stale that I feel like having a brand new ride hasn't even made waves within the park. Given that that ride hasn't changed the landscape of the park, they should be way louder and way more creative about its presence so more guests ride it and are excited for it. I fear the depths of this issue go so deep. Has anyone seen the sign by the highway? It cycles through the same ~3 images all day, and some of the images have been the same for years. It's almost like they go out of their way not to make an effort with any community engagement.

I think it looks better without the other screen honestly because the fire on the tv screen looks so fake so the way it is right now with just the coils looks better to me, the strips at the bottom of the stairs are small potatoes to me, I honestly do not even recall what they looked like when they were in place, the only thing I would change right now is giving the gargoyle dialogue again because I think even if his lips don’t move it would be a welcome addition, same goes for our boiler boys as I think more dialogue is a almost always better, I also have found that the flashlight messes up for me the most on the second Maestro scene towards the middle of the ride, not sure why that scene specifically but every time I’m going through there the flashlight gets stuck but overall the ride is still absolutely amazing

You’re not wrong. They should have published content about the shows. And they should have posted wishing dads a Happy Father’s Day. They could have asked to share photos of guests with their dad at the park.

What about the shows that got nothing over this past weekend? Am I wrong that would have brought more bodies through the turnstiles to see them and spend money?

What’s changed is having people that know the difference between storytelling and messaging in the PR and social positions at KI and within Six Flags. You can tell the people doing it now don’t really know the park or their audience with the content that gets published. Disney Parks and Universal still do it as they’ve done it for years. They create emotional content, not marketing content. Disney and Universal routinely post content that makes people feel something: Family moments. Character interactions. Guest reactions. Behind-the-scenes stories. Cast/Team Member spotlights. Nostalgia. Vacation memories. Kings Island and many Six Flags parks often default to “The park opens at 10.” “Buy tickets now.” “Here’s a ride photo.” “Food item available this weekend.” When I was running social media, people knew there was a person behind the account. The Beast Groundhog Day tradition is a perfect example. It wasn’t an advertisement. It was a personality-driven tradition. Today Kings Island and many other Six Flags accounts feel corporate and interchangeable. Disney and Universal make fans the stars. Look at Disney and Universal feeds: Guest photos. Fan videos. Influencer content. User-generated content. Vacation stories Disney even has dedicated influencer and creator programs built around sharing guest experiences. Kings Island and Six Flags needs that. Kings Island and other Six Flags parks now operate as if every piece of content has to come from the marketing department. The smartest social strategy today is letting fans tell your story for you. They are part of the conversation. Universal is particularly good at this. When something is trending, they join in. When fans joke, they joke back. When someone posts something funny, they engage. They feel like a participant in the community. Kings Island and other Six Flags accounts feel like a digital billboard. Disney and Universal are masters of teasers, construction updates, countown content, behind-the-scenes reveals, and sneak peeks. Kings Island used to be. Epic Universe is the perfect example. Fans were invested years before opening because Universal constantly fed the conversation. Kings Island and Six Flags parks often go from announcement, construction photo, opening day. There’s no story arc anymore like there used to be. (Scroll back to Banshee and Mystic Timbers teasers, announcement, construction updates, ride opening, and post-opening content.) The biggest difference is Disney and Universal tell those stories constantly. Kings Island and Six Flags often tell people what they can buy, what time the park opens, and what ride is operating. One builds a community; the other shares information. Bottom line: PR and social media in the industry hasn’t changed. Kings Island changed from what they had successfully been doing, which was taking a page from Disney and Universal.

The music was very noticeable in the stairs going down to the queue yesterday morning, which included Toccata & Fugue in D Minor. I didn't notice anything after that. The strips on the stairs in the portrait hallway are also still missing, but that issue may be low on the totem pole. If I had to take a guess as to what the issue with the first boiler is, I think it is a physical issue with the TV that cannot be easily fixed. If it's something to do with the outlets/cords/internal components/etc then it would be hard or impossible to fix without taking the rest of the boiler off/apart. It looks somewhat fine without the screen IMO.

I am going to lay this out a bit and hopefully @DonHelbigcan explain a few things for I simply don't understand. I'm no way it's this too be disrespectful to SIX PR. I am just asking questions to learn. I was at the park Thursday through Saturday. During that time of me just relaxing and enjoying the park I was posting on the KIC socials. I highlighted merch, promoted the outgoing magic show, mentioned Congo being back open (with over 113,000 views and still counting as of this post), made 5 posts about the Opening of BeachBlast. All of this is just fun for me to do and I enjoy it. I looked at the Kings Island Facebook page and saw only one post about the Halloween haunt. I thought that was odd timing with it being a holiday weekend. I don't understand why the outgoing magic show and the opening of the BeachBlast show were not highlighted. It seems like that would have made a great social media post over the weekend. As much as it cost them to bring those two shows to the park, you would think they would want to get the highest ROI on them. So my question would be, has PR and marketing changed in the industry, all industries? Am I wrong in thinking that a social media promotion and highlight of the outgoing and incoming show would be a benefit for the park, or is that not how PR works now? Is data showing it not benefit the parks to do such things any longer? It seems they're relying 100% on fan sites and Facebook groups to do the promotion for them? I realize SIX is trying to save money and may not be the fault their PR staff themselves for I don't understand all they are doing. Any PR majors want to jump in here and help me understand? Obviously this is to spark conversations so everyone else give your thoughts as well.

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Thrill seekers will have to wait a little longer to experience Tormenta Rampaging Run at Six Flags Over Texas. The record-breaking 309-foot dive coaster was expected to welcome its first riders this Friday, but the park announced that commissioning and testing are taking longer than anticipated. No revised opening date has been announced as crews continue preparations for the coaster’s debut.

Im thinking it's a mix of budget/staffing as well as employees not caring to clean up. Like I've seen stories on here as well as in the facebook groups that employees were standing around doing nothing/yapping with each other when they could be cleaning. Imo that's a discipline issue. When I worked in rides, our supervisors would get onto us daily almost to make sure we were cleaning after park close and not standing around talking the whole time.