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To the ride ops on here.... Keep it up! There are tons of people who love the jokes and speils. I personally love it when someone says the wrong ride or park name. I'm smart enough to know what ride I'm on. I'm not going to suddenly think I'm in a totally different park or ride because a ride op joked around. (seriously does anyone really do that?) Keep playing games and trying to get people involved. If someone doesn't want to they can ignore it. When I look around the queue or station most people aren't paying attention. Some are enjoying it and very rarely will I see someone complaining about it. Also speils and jokes do not make a ride unsafe. The ride ops are paying more attention than the guests most of the time. If talking on a mic made the ride unsafe KI would not have the safety record it does. Also the rides themselves have most of the safety checks. You are safe. Ignore the ride ops if you must and enjoy the ride.

Is this really a subject worth getting upset and arguing with each other over? Not one of us here have any pull to change the ride ops job on a microphone because you may not like it. If you don't like it sure we can discuss it. In doing so, how about doing it respectfully. Another idea besides saying it must go is to make suggestions with an alternative solutions that the park might actually take into consideration. Arguing with each other does nothing but make you loose credibility. Please respect each others opinions and respect each other. I don't know about anyone else, but I would like to hear more about the interesting things you have heard ride ops do while at the park.

Looks kind of fun.

Want. To. Ride!

This should answer a lot of the questions.

I fully understand the "keeping haunt buildings around all season" logic but I think a very minor improvement could be to make them less generic and empty-looking in the offseason. The easiest example I can think of would be a paintjob on Slaughterhouse that's similar to MT's lumber company shed but named something like "Losantiville meat and poultry" or something like that. It'd be a little bit f "theming" for The Beast's queue but also still hold up as Slaughterhouse for haunt. Someone with more creativity may be needed to suggest something for SOB/Wolfpack...

^ things like that are almost always, in my experience, started by a ride op as filler specifically because there is something already causing a delay, to keep the people stuck in restraints occupied and distracted.

^^ We all have different experiences and expectations and as I have said the spieling does not bother me much except in the more extreme cases but I have to go along with Silver on this one.

^I completely disagree.

I'd still say that KI has better guest relation capabilities than CP.

I don't care about anonymity or anything so I'll give my short take. Back in 2012, I worked at Racer and Zephyr. I was 17 at the time, fresh outta high school and just buying time during the Summer months before starting college. I did the sorts of spiels that are being complained about here, and 5 years later, I think it is the most obnoxious thing in the world. I even sorta kinda regret doing them because now, I have the experience of going to the park years later and seeing everyone do the same stuff, and seeing firsthand how unpleasant it is. Nobody is dissing you, the jokes and quips really don't represent the park (or hell, even you as an employee) very well. As an added bonus, they aren't clever or funny in any capacity. You can guest relate without making lame jokes about being at the wrong park or the wrong ride. Compliment someone's shirt, have a short discussion with someone on your crew before a train gets back from its cycle. If it's a flat ride, just let people enjoy their ride during the cycle. (I don't even like riding Zephyr anymore because there's a blaring speaker asking people to scream or recite years-old commercial jingles every 3 cycles.) Do anything, really. So long as it doesn't reflect the park in a bad light, annoy anyone, or even more importantly, interfere with your real job -- making sure nobody gets hurt on the ride you're working. Get through the day by doing your job correctly and making someone's experience at the park a pleasant and safe one, not by trying your best to be a comedian.

To be fair, all the crap about ghosts and whatnot is all nonsense anyways. "Legends," pssh, the last thing the park needs is some kid up there going on about how they heard rumors of a ghost. Talk about the train, cool facts about the park, etc, make it entertaining. I think the point teenageninja is making is that oftentimes the joking around, having fun, etc. can improve morale. As someone who's spieled, managed people spieling, audited crews who spieled, etc, I can say that if you get the right person up there they can have a good time and get the proper information out. The truth of the matter is, most people aren't listening anyways. No matter how important or eloquent the message, people in line have their minds on other things. They're not a captive audience. So if you can say "here's where you store your loose articles, fasten your seat belt, and here's a fun quick fact," then who cares? They know safety is the main priority, they're acutely aware of that. Doesn't mean you can't have fun and be entertaining while striking the proper balance. When I was 16, it was always a blast on those final Beast trains to get the guests to play Simon says: "Make a funny face, fasten your seatbelt, quack like a duck, nod your head if you understand where loose articles go."

@BoddaH1994, I do agree with your post. When I spiel, I like to insert a cool fact about Vortex here and there, including how it is the first coaster in the world to go upside down six times, and how it was the world's tallest coaster when it opened in 1987. I also like to use the ride's stats, sometimes saying things like "Enjoy your view from 148 feet in the air before plunging 138 feet into six inversions at speeds of up to 55 mph." Sometimes I feel up to doing something interactive with riders, including the "How loud can you be?" and "Everybody clap your hands!" if I think the riders may be up to do it. I don't do it to every single train though, because then it would only get annoying. But the first thing I say to oncoming riders is where to put/secure their loose articles and a polite reminder that their seatbelts should be buckled (and shoes should be on their feet) to ride, and when a train arrives I do ask how the ride went; after they respond, I always say "When the train comes to a complete stop, you may unbuckle your seatbelt, pull down and push up on your restraint, and exit to your left. Have a wonderful day here at Kings Island!" Occasionally, if there is a holdup and it's taking us extra long to dispatch a train, one of us tells a joke to keep the station atmosphere up. But that doesn't happen very often so don't fret.

IMAscore released a small portion of the soundtrack today

My friend texted me around 6:30ish and said that SpritSong was currently suspended b/c of the weather (I'm assuming the show is still going on now as the weather has improved since then). Also, I didn't end up going to the 7 PM Cirque show as planned (due to some unforeseen circumstances...), but I will for sure be at the 3:30 and 5 PM shows tomorrow. Also hoping to get a night ride on Adventure Express as well as ride The Bat, among other rides!

Got it. Yes, the single lift on KCKC used two belts. It's also worth noting that for at least the last few years of operation only one drop chute was operational.

That's just food. Good anytime.

I think overall KI has better guest relation skills, but CP has better teams on some of their coasters. I've been on flats at CP where it seemed like no one spoke English.

I love The Vortex and I think new trains would could give the ride a nice upgrade even though there is just something about the nogastic factor I love about the old trains. Upgrades down the road I would love to see something new that has powerful launch. Maybe something like an blitz coaster. Something that has lots of turns and airtime with an inversion or two.

Actually 19 (Lew's favorite engine) was delivered in October 1971, then Ken Williams (founder of Crown) died, and his son Bert delivered 12 in February 1972. They tried out 19 for the press using pond water in October and when I first saw it in the enginehouse, it was a mess. 19 always was a better riding engine, but 12 fired better in the early days. I always preferred 19, but Lew liked having his grandson firing for him, so I usually worked with Kenny until I was moved to the right side of the cab. However, it was 19 that had a driver out of quarter and broke a crankpin in 1973. I personally put Kenny's name and a cartoon of a ghoul driving a dragstrip car on the right hand side of the headlight on Kenny's 12 (long since painted over, as well as the roadkill cartoons that we drew on the right side of the cabs). By the way on the other topic, they are converting #3 from oil to coal. It will have a straight stack and extended smokebox with stubbier pilot and round cab roof, so it will look a bit like a Tweetsie 4-6-0.

The Freestyle location by the train was open yesterday.

Green was out with Green cars yesterday.

I think that is overstating. If the park wanted to move them, they would.

For those that are ride-ops here, I don't think it was anyone's intentions to hurt feelings or say you are not doing your job well. The take away I get from this discussion is the content of the spiel you are asked to say. As @CoasterOhio stated, it seems the managers and supervisors are okay with this practice. The best course of action for guests (if this is something that upsets you) is take your concerns to Guest Relations. Getting back to the topic at hand, which is interesting things Ride-Ops do. When I got on Banshee last night one of the seat checker ops was trying to get the station crowd to do the Let's go clap. He had quite a bit of participation.

Hopefully for many generations to come, will or does the Beach still have anything.

Truthfully, I'm not sure soda fountains would function outdoors in 25 degree weather. Maybe there will be a hot drink selection.... cocoa, coffee, spiced apple cider etc. i hope that there will some special food treats too.

But KI sure can meet CP's standards being that they are in the same chain. CP's ride ops blow KI's out of the water. I would put CCMR's or CP's Scrambler's crew up against Banshee's anytime, any day. Heck, MIA, CF's smallest, most neglected park, is closer to CP standards in ride operators and their relation to guests than KI's currently do, and they still do quips and banter with guests. They mix in professionalism and efficiency much better.

I will have an epic PTR soon. Today was even more epic than my last KI trip if that's even possible. EDIT: I may do 4 separate posts to cover everything (one for each day at the parks, 1 for the CP ride reviews). Otherwise, it'll be an incredibly long post (yes, photos will be included). I'm also armed with TONS of photos from this trip for the off season photo contest (which, I am going to go to KI specifically for photography plus Kennywood later this summer). I spent 2 hours of day 2 at CP doing nothing but photography. Hope you guys are ready for extra competition.

Just don't go on the same day I do. I am convinced they close it down as soon as my pass is scanned in at the toll booths.

Yeah... you shouldn't expect Disney level stuff except for at Disney. That ship didn't even come close to docking when Paramount owned the park. But regardless of how some feel here it's a minority feeling. Sure certain individuals could use some training, but if someone calling a ride the wrong name at the end of a spiel is the biggest thing we have to complain about, that's just beyond nit picking.

I just returned from Doe River. The Crown passed its boiler test with flying colors! They now have the tender jacked up off the trucks for sandblasting. It is a volunteer shoestring operation, but it is going to happen, and maybe even more things that I can't discuss right now. 1.4 miles of track can support a light train (with two black powder blasted rock tunnels in use), and we were able to take a light speeder out to the far end of what at one time was called "track" (another 1.1 miles). Then there is bridge/tunnel/bridge and the end of the property. A civil engineer has given his blessing to the first bridge but not the second. The scenery was spectacular. It is going to be exciting to see a Crown come around the Pardee Point retaining wall someday! (OK, you are going to have to lay on your side to see the picture. It was right when I saved it, I swear!) There will never be a picture in the world that will give justice to the beauty of the gorge and the thrill of that piece of track.

I think what he was referring to is that the lift had two conveyor belts. One lift, but it had one conveyor belt on the bottom and one on the top. I remember KCKC having two conveyors as was mentioned above. It also had dual drops. The last couple of years the ride was at the park, it was in rough shape and in need of some tender loving care.

The park is still running the Fast Lane program in this way? As in, it's just a shorter line, but still a line? Are they still using the wristbands? Six Flags of all companies, STILL has a better system for this type of perk than Cedar Fair? Sad.

I understand why the argument just came about, but also keep in mind that when you do the same thing over and over again, from our standpoint as ride operators, we would get super bored. No matter what you say, we enjoy this job because we make our guests happy, and we also enjoy our time spent at our very rides. Jokes are what keep people going, and for the guests who have never been here before they look confused, and start paying attention to the speakers so they can hear the safety spiels they need to hear next. Yes, our higher-ups, are okay with this. They know a lot, they know everything. Typically every day, there is always one supervisor at every ride. There are a lot of ride operators on this website, and you basically just yelled at us on here. You guys certainly made me upset reading this, because obviously this is my home job, the main thing I do during my summers, and prepare for in winter. This is what I love to do. Yet you guys are sitting here dissing us about what we do to keep guests entertained and happy through the day. (It's called guest relating...)

One possibility is to replace the trains on Vortex with Vekoma MK 1212 trains. They use a vest restraint instead of the current OTSR restraints. Most of the roughness people complain about on Vortex is due to the headbanging so if you remove the solid object for your head to hit I suspect people will find it more comfortable. If anyone is wondering Vekoma and Arrow used the same track design so the Vekoma trains will just work on the ride without modifications. Is the steel on the ride in good enough condition to justify the cost of new trains? Arrow is known to have used low quality steel and Vortex is 30 years old. I remember a few years ago park maintenance having to replace some rails. If the park is going to spend 3-4 million on new trains I suspect they would also want to spend money on painting it. It would be an expensive upgrade.

Guess I will come out of lurking and participate. Real quick, hi my name is JR. You can call me Jon. Showed up about 1PM. Walking in, I noticed Banshee was down. I headed towards Diamondback to try to get my airtime in, but she was down as well. I walked across the way and hopped into a 30 minute wait for Mystic Timbers. I was given 10 and got the snake. Still in love with the building intensity going into the tunnel. I checked Diamondback again and decided to head to White Water Canyon. If you have not been back there yet, go take a look. You get a really great view of Mystics trains and I wish I could bring a camera. I was paired up with a group and younger kids. I got a little bit of magic to happen at the first set of cannons after one of the boys complained they weren't wet enough. I respond "You just said you weren't wet? Don't say that! the woman that controls the water is right there" as she lets loose her charges. The rest of the ride was uneventful but I noticed the turntable getting backed up. Finally my time had come and Diamondback was, err, back. A short 20 minute wait and I was given a seat in 1-2. I still love that air machine. So I decided to head to the grandfather, The Racer. Blue was getting work done, so I had to wait 2 cycles for Red. I grabbed 2-1 and had a great time. Back in the station, Blue was up and at it so I turned around for 2-1 on blue. As Blue was getting ready to dispatch a shower turned it into a water ride. I need to remember to sit and listen to the station music. I absolutely love the playlist. On my way to check on The Beast, I noticed Backlot was a walk on. I must have timed that just right because getting off it was back up to 15 minutes. I finally checked on The Beast and she was nearly an hour wait. I decided to use my season pass to show up on a lighter day and headed for Banshee. I thought it might be a long line after the breakdown but she was a walk on as well. I guess the operator wasn't in a good mood because instead of actually saying anything he just sort of warbled as we left the station. I took a quick ride on Invertigo and by that time I was drying off again so I fell onto Congo Falls. Dinner called and I don't think I had ever eaten at Hanks before. It was an okay burrito, but I like a little more heat in my tex mex. I decided for some long needed flat rides, so I took a pod on Monster, drove around Dodgems, and had a whirlwind ride on Shake Rattle and Roll. Monster was only loading 4 arms, but I just had to wait for the cycle to end. Dodgems was a walk on as well, but Shake was a full cycle wait for me. Finally, I took another 30 minute wander through the woods to ride Mystic Timbers one last time. I already noticed building crowds for Songfest. The RV lot had a good crowd of Campus Life busses. Ride crews were top notch on capacity though. If you are looking for your KI fix this weekend, it looks like some big crowds though. Somewhere in that day I saw the Dobermans show and it was so mediocre I don't even remember when. I have seen the old Ringling dog acts and it was night and day.

If that building isn't going to be torn town in the future for something else, I hope they find a regular season use for it. I feel like it's too big of a building to be used for just a haunt attraction IMO.

Looks insane! Congrats to the folks at The Gravity Group and Fun Spot!

You can do it! As you ascend, focus on the scenery and the backstage areas you can't see from the ground. When you get near the top, the speed slows greatly before reaching the actual top. Look at one of the tall structures like a coaster nearby, and compare it to things behind it so you can see you are still rising even though you don't feel it. Soon it will actually stop, and there will be a mechanical clank. Start counting. At about 6 or 7, you will feel the addicting adrenaline rush of descent. Expect to walk out the exit gate ready to take on the world!

Kinda like the time I heard "Let it Go" inside the queue for Boo Blasters. I kind of wish KI would decide whether they want custom theming, or music videos on flat screens. However, having both of them at the same time can be quite jarring.

I believe, in a separate post, someone was questioning his whereabouts. Mr Harsley is a legend of Cincinnati's Coney Island and early Kings Island. He is to be thanked and congratulated on all the hard work and dedication he showed in the design and creation of so many facets of the parks and attractions. Shaggy

I rode Mystic twice today and I guess they now refer to the Orange Menace as "Butterscotch". I like his new nickname; it has a nice ring to it. Also, I got to meet @Drummermattk before exiting after my second ride.

I visited Winterfest back in 2005. I didn`t find anything wrong with the actual event. There could have been a few more entertainment options, sure. But the parade was top notch. The entertainment on the train was also very well done. The big problem that I had with the 2005 version is they wanted to charge pass holders close to $25 a person for admission. Not to mention you would have to pay for parking... With this years incarnation of Winterfest free with Gold and Platinum pass holders that will be a big benefit for the event. Not to mention, from all accounts I have heard of California`s Great America`s version of the event, Kings Island will have a hit on their hands that will continue for years to come. Unlike with the 2005 version (where most of the decorations were rented), Kings Island is apparently upgrading a lot of the infrastructure to make this even successful for the long haul. I am eagerly awaiting Winterfest this holiday season.

Hopefully this Winterfest is better than the attempted revamp back from 2005.

Did you know the Eiffel Tower "Tree Topper" from the one and only Paramount's Kings Island Winterfest is still in use? It's located on the exterior of the Entertrainment Junction building facing I-75.

Hmmmm. I heard Spoonful of Sugar by Mary Poppins in the MT queue line. That kind of broke the suspension of disbelief a touch.