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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.

I've lived in the Detroit area all my life, but Kings Island has always been our go-to park. Growing up, we went there because of the kids' area. In my teens and twenties, I was more of a Cedar Point fan because of the roller coasters, and I'd head down to KI ever few years for a concert or a weekend getaway. When our son was old enough in 2015, we started making Kings Island our annual family vacation because, again, the kids' area is so good, and it was a better-paced park for our family (nostalgia didn't hurt). The last time I had went to Cedar Point was back in 2012 to celebrate my wife's 31st birthday. I didn't intend to take a long break, but I also didn't mind because as fun as the coasters are, CP was always the lesser park in my opinion. The food options weren't nearly as good, the park wasn't as nice, and there was a trashiness to it that I didn't pick up from Kings Island. But last year, we got Gold Passes, figuring that our family is old enough (son's 14, daughter's 10) for us to enjoy Kings Island but also start giving Cedar Point another try. So, this past weekend we drove on down for two days. We knew it would be busy, so we splurged and got Fast Lane Plus for Friday. Throughout the weekend, we were able to get on all the big rides and do a few, like Steel Vengeance, twice. In the 14 years I'd been away, Cedar Point has really upped its game. I love the new boardwalk area. Last time I was there, they were just tearing down Disaster Transport and the Space Spiral, and the addition of GateKeeper, Wild Mouse and the Grand Pavilion really make that area special. I especially loved the food options at the Grand Pavilion and the chance to enjoy a meal overlooking Lake Erie (the weather was sunny and 75 all weekend; perfect). I also think their Frontiertown reminds me of what Rivertown at Kings Island used to be. I would never wish to get rid of Mystic Timbers or Diamondback, but I feel like Rivertown is a bit smaller than it used to be. It feels like a quick jaunt from Camp Snoopy to the White Water Canyon station, where the theming starts to peter out. But Cedar Point's Frontierland stretches for so long. I love that they have the shaded stretch with the forts and shops (and live music) still maintained without big rides cutting in. Then you get to the more Western-themed section and you get the two best rides in the park. I loved Cedar Farms as a dining option, and Backbeat BBQ looked like a lot of fun, too. Just such a nice section, especially on our second day, when we wanted to slow the pace down and take it easy. The coaster lineup is second to none, of course. Steel Vengeance is possibly the best coaster I've ever ridden -- Maverick is pretty great as well. The Raptor still holds up, and Siren's Curse has the single most terrifying element I've experienced on a coaster with that tilt, followed by a ride that is just so much fun. I think Valravyn and GateKeeper kind of struggle to be more than their gimmicks, but they're fun. The kids rode everything they were tall enough for -- Raptor and Rougarou's restraints meant they were the only things my daughter couldn't ride. She was a little daredevil; Siren's Curse was her favorite. We closed out with a ride on TT2, which might have been her limit ... she was in tears when it ended. I'll admit that while I had no problem with the original Dragster, that spike element might have been a bit much for me. I still think there are some things Kings Island does better than CP. The people ops at Kings Island are so much better; all the Cedar Point ops seemed stressed out, and in some cases were yelling at people to get on rides more quickly in a way that felt very rude. Kings Island seems to have loading and unloading down to a science, where it seemed the Cedar Point teams were struggling a bit. And all the big rides went down at least once over our time there -- Maverick, Steel Vengeance and Millennium Force were closed for several hours. And while I think Cedar Point has a much better Frontierland/Rivertown area, Kings Island is still the cleaner and better-designed park...that circular structure really makes it easy to navigate from one area to the next. We met up with our church youth group the second day and trying to check in was a chore because there's not really an easy way to get from one end of the park to the next. Also, I'm not sure if this is a Six Flags-wide change this year or specific to CP only, but the meal plans were wonky. The entrees and sides were self-explanatory, but the included snacks were pretty much non-existent. You could get Dippin' Dots and...that was about it. I seem to remember at KI last year being able to get the Oreo churros, Aunt Annie's, and a few other snack items throughout the park, but none of that was included in our meal plan. But still, a great trip. We'll be back!

Tony ran Operations and was over Park Services when I was in that department. Crazy how dirty the park appears to be by comparison. I'm sure it's budget related, mostly.

I might need a break from Cedar Point for a while. I still rather like the park. Its more about how they have rides designed to force supposed 'good' operations. I know why Magnum and SteVe need to have faster loads and unloads, but its annoying the way the crews treat guests. And while other rides don't have that, there's this arrogance that the staff has that's been rubbing off on me the wrong way my last few visits. I'll probably swap in either Philly or Gatlinburg next summer instead (probably the former as I've been craving fountain ERT at Longwood, HP and Knoebels something fierce). I'm going to wait until July 4th to make my decision for Missouri. At the very least, I'm planning on keeping SDC to get Thunderation before it bites the dust. St Louis and KC are iffy depending on how gas prices go the next month (can't discuss further as it breaks KIC's TOS). Kentucky Kingdom will be some time before that in case I am making the push to 200 coasters ridden.

You mean geese poop practically part of the floor design at this point at Enrique and Skyline Pavilion is a problem 🤢

^ Don I hope they realize this with the number of complaints they probably get weekly. I was lucky when I went with my newly wed wife a month ago, that I didn't notice too many negative things. The only thing I noticed was unclean tables.

The little things matter. They’re often what separate a good park from a great one. When the small details start being overlooked, people begin to wonder what else is being overlooked. The smallest details often make the biggest difference. Kings Island built its reputation on attention to detail. Over the past couple of years, attention to detail, and the standards that guests should expect from one of the industry’s premier amusement parks has not been there. There’s no excuse for lack of cleanliness around the park. It used to be a priority. Now it’s not. And it shows. I grew up with the park. I care about the park. The small details that are now being missed matter to me.

Is it really that hard to get the name of the park right on the food receipts?

Funny thing about the music. Got three rides in today. First time I could hear the score clearly through the queue and ride. Definitely seems like it’s something they’re working on. Not perfect, but it’s getting there. Appreciate the work that’s going into it, still. Side note, the show looked great. Everything worked perfectly sans the screen in the furnace. Which is a bizarre. Seemingly an easy fix. Not sure what’s up there.

I am just amazed with the quality of ride that they produced. So these comments below are just comments. There were a few things that were better about the original ride. The theater performance scene was more grand. The talking face projection in the armor The talking gargoyle. I also agree more music would make it better, especially in the very beginning where the posters are. The maestro’s organ music throughout the ride would increase the mood.

I'm back at it. Went to the water park today for the first time this season. No different over there. Someone mentioned that things weren't always clean in the past. I know, but it really has never been this bad, especially this bad on a consistent basis. I would contend that when. Greg Scheid was Park president, for the most part, the park was an immaculate shape. When his successor was running the park, and his name escapes me at the moment, The park was in pretty good shape too, albeit by a lesser extent, but still in good shape. It seemed like when they eliminated the park present position and made it a regional thing is when things started falling off the rails. I had hopes that when. Tony was promoted to Park president that these things would be fixed quickly, but we're 2 months into the season and that hasn't happened yet.

Swung by the park today after not really being able to go to the park proper. (Studying for the 10 was a beast, passing it was a challenge and now it’s onto my series 9 test in a few weeks) The waterpark finally seems to have some decent operations with getting both sides of various slides in operation to keep up with capacity. The park is really busy however I decided to pass up on the wine festival, I wish we had some more pronounced wines that have some solid regional quality than what we got this year!

Let's not kid ourselves into a delusion that all was perfect from June 30 2024 backwards. The only perfect year under Cedar Fair that I experienced ( and I started following things in 2014 with multiple visits vs once or twice yearly) was 2022. Every time I went it seemed as if the park was purring along like a well taken care of Mustang GT, although my blinders probably shielded the misfires that year. Before the current lament, there were dirty tables, surly employees, no ice, no soft drink syrup and food issues. There were Cedar Fair SUPERVISORS (emphasis added to reflect the uniform) who stood around and ignored problems or worse yet, tried to maintain a "bestie" relationship with their reports to avoid conflicts. However, in 2022 around Haunt or WinterFest, things started changing. In 2023, things ramped up with the park's lack of attention to detail, midways not being washed amongst other things. The veil was ripped open and internal politics were laid bare and incompetence across different areas exposed. Then the merger news came out and was consummated mid season 2024. All appeared to be going well, and there was optimism about Cedar Fair bringing the Six Flags properties up to standard. And now here we are. My hope is that money will flow, smart decisions could be made, and the Kings Island legacy will prevail. For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. Hopefully, homeostasis will prevail and things will return to a new normal.

Here's a photo of the new Fool the Guesser (Age & Weight) game set up in the Rivertown gazebo. I'm not that upset about this structure being used as a game stand since it's only had a bench and/or an activation point in it for the last few years. The game equipment may be the same from its former location Rivertown across from LaRosa's. It looks nice enough and the name signs are 3D (not printed), so it gets bonus points from that alone. It's clear to me that the maintenance team is doing what they can with the resources they have, though I suspect that almost every budget across the board has been severely tightened in an effort to help pay off Six Flags' debt. Effects and issues in Phantom Theater have been repeatedly fixed (minus the first boiler TV), rides like Invertigo and Congo Falls have been repaired, and some park leadership have been spotted all over the park. Just today I repeatedly saw a group of people who I believe to be the top Food & Beverage leadership making their way from restaurant to restaurant. The issues with guests are more noticeable in our post-merger world. There's definitely also an issue with some associates not cleaning the spaces around them, but that can be fixed with better training and heightened awareness. We knew that 2025-2028 would be a rough patch for parks like Kings Island as the company figures itself out and pays off debt. There are a ton of little changes that can happen at the local level and I hope those can start to happen sooner rather than later. I'm not going to shill for KI/SF, but I do think there is still a light at the end of the tunnel.

Based on attendance increases and pass sales and general survey sentiment reports the chain puts out, yes, sadly the average visitor doesn't notice some of these things. Most are not looking for the artistry and functionality of a fountain. It is "oh a fountain" or "that mist feels good" and only the enthusiasts are counting how many nozzles aren't working. Look how many are too lazy to pick up after themselves and leave cups and plates on the tables. And many that do cleanup after themselves will simply try to shove it into an already overflowing garbage can rather than be inconvenienced by walking 20 feet to an empty or less the full garbage can.

I have a feeling that low quality flags will keep Congo Falls for a while since they're making so many cut backs. They seem to be fine with older rides and not fixing them like they should.

After reading some of the comments today, what's the parks deal? Why do they have to cut back on so much stuff? Do they think the average visitor isn't going to notice some of these things? Makes me miss the Cedar Fair days from 2006-2024. All I can say is Six Flags, you wanted to merge so badly, now make the parks like they were when Cedar Fair was running the show. Bring back the Quality in things. That's what brings the guests back.

I distinctly remember how grand the theater reveal felt on the original Phantom Theater, particularly with how the music seemed to fill the space.

It's not very family friendly to leave a dead cat sitting out there for everyone to see. 😂

Back up! FB_VID_2027701799472995025.mp4

Ah, I get it now. I never noticed the smaller gaps between vehicles on Boo Blasters or just never paid attention. I would like to see something about the flashlights too. My best guess is that there are cameras in each scene that spot your flashlight and a computer calculates the angle and distance (game consoles have done this for years) The same computer would also be tracking the notes and their point values. while adding the colored light to the display, while removing notes as needed and assigning points, like a video game.

At this point they should just attempt to restore the fountain similar to how it was before. If corporate isn't going to give them the budget to have a fully working dancing fountain 24/7 then they should just axe the "bellagio style" fountain altogether. Also while I understand the purpose of lighting, Im not a big fan of how the park has slapped multi color LED lighting and trusses everywhere on all the buildings and along the fountain. I personally think I-street would have a better atmosphere if they just go back to just having the white light bulbs on the buildings and the gas lamps while still lighting up the Tower and fountains in multi color like before.

Story logic, the peppers ghost effect makes no sense (it didnt in the original either, but it was trying so hard to knock off Haunted Mansion so its expected) since we have already seen the "ghosts" fully formed it never made sense why we went back to them being transparent. But I agree that the figures and the whole scene is too big and squished for the space. The turntable was clearly just a budget move where they "wrote" a scene just to use the turntable. The whole space - as you mentioned - should be zoomed out a bit - with a few rows of seating, then the stage with footlights and the characters a bit smaller - using forced perspective to make it feel like we are at the back of the theatre. The way it is feel like looking at a display window trying to be a theatre.

As was said before, it's the same number of vehicles as before, just spaced differently (2 blanks between the 2 vehicles. This helps the experience with the spacing. Also I'd love to see a short on how the flashlights work. Several things are taken into account. If you try to point it to far ahead the system get's confused (your light may be a different color) also if 2 people it the note at the same time, in my experience neither get's the note point. Also there are different point values for different notes. Maybe we can get everyone on here to try and find out if that is true and what the values are.

I'm saving my opinions on this park until some more full-length videos of this park are released, but I don't think I've read many good reviews at all. While it is a park completely dedicated to children I can already tell that they leaned a little too far into that prompt and didn't leave much for the parents to enjoy.