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Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/15/2018 in all areas

  1. Nope. Food service must have been tipped off I was coming. But I was asked about 5 or 6 times if I want “both” cups when I went for a refill. We also got a clarification on Kiefers drink plan. Apparently his second drink plan has not been “redeemed” yet so he as asked several times if he wanted to redeem it. He told me about this later and said he kept saying no and then asked me what “redeem” means. I guess we should go ahead and redeem his second plan to get these hosts off his back. So two of the kids in our group were visiting from KC so are WoF patrons. The boy about 13 is a real enthusiast and knew tons of stuff about all the coasters at KI. Even enough that he had no interest in riding Vortex and was rather indifferent about Invertigo and ended up skipping it after he and Kiefer both had a protein spill after The Bat. We had been hitting the coasters pretty hard with the only non coaster ride WWC for a cooloff. It was really muggy today but bearable except when the sun broke through. It was really funny becuase not 10 minutes latter those two boys were famished and both chowed down at Panda. Mom is trying to rope us into going along to CP on a Friday. You don’t have to twist my arm to hard for that the only problem being they don’t have CPS tickets and my boys are not very thrilled about that.
    3 points
  2. It does seem to be industry wide with many other parks I have been to not having as much people as one would expect. Theme parks have been posting incredible growth since 2010... its bound to have a down year after so many successful and growing years. The 2018 Season during the initial Opening Weekends was incredibly slow, we did not get busy in the park in a day up until Early-Mid May... I blame this entirely on the incredibly cold spring Ohio had up until the second weekend in May. You may not think weather affects operation and attendance but it truly does. The hot weather in late June and early July discouraged many to go to the main park. Soak City was incredibly crowded but it does not "soak" in as much people like Kings Island does. The remark during Coasterstock that 2017 had the best attendance since the 1998 season is not surprising to me if found to be true. 2017 was incredibly busy. Mystic Timbers was a big part of that. The park was great and fairly consistently busy. This year has been more affected by the varying weather than last year.
    3 points
  3. I have spoke to upper management on many occasions and I am very well aware of industry standards and speculations. For example, from what I have seen, I believe KI had better attendance in 2017 than Cedar Point did (and some prior years btw). So yea, KI GM probably is upset their park isn't shown higher and simply says the order is wrong and lets you infer from that as you choose... You mention "using TEA’s own numbers they claim the smallest 7 Cedar Fair parks only have a combined attendance of 10 million and had a combined attendance growth of 426k or 4.5%. In a year when none of those parks opened a coaster, does that seem reasonable at all?" Yes possibly. As I referenced, at Coasterstock this year KI mentioned that 2017 attendance was its largest since the 1998 season. What did KI install in 1998 - Hanna-Barbara Land got a makeover and rides were added to that area - no major coaster. Look at all the major additions since 1998 that could not top that year's attendance - Drop Tower, Invertigo, Son of Beast, Tomb Raider, Delirium, Back Lot, Firehawk, Diamondback, WindSeeker, Banshee. One could argue that adding family attractions drives attendance since the two highest years in 20 years were kiddie/family additions (many people consider Mystic Timbers as a family attraction)...Think about that if our next attraction is more family related and not a giga... As I mentioned, if the numbers are that wrong or not selling the story Cedar Fair wants sold, being a publicly traded entity, they would dispute the numbers if it wasn't portraying their product in the way they want as anything less than that would devalue their stock price and investor potential... So if the individual park numbers are wrong but company-wide they are accurate, then the wrong numbers for the individual parks is casting what Cedar Fair believes to be a good sell to investors. For example, if the Cedar Point numbers are actually lower and its ranking within the Cedar Fair family of parks is lower, they probably don't want to bring that to light as that could be perceived negative to shareholders. Or if one of the smaller parks is estimated higher than actual, that would be a good sell to investors on why they are making an investment to that particular park.
    3 points
  4. I do too. You make so many of these, eventually you're going to hit on the actual plans and they'll say, wait we can't do it anymore because it isn't original
    2 points
  5. Or perhaps the investors are simply smart enough to see through the TEA's bull****, and Cedar Fair knows that. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why one shouldn't rely on those numbers. Facts: TEA claims to have per-park attendance numbers. Cedar Fair does not publicly release such numbers and keeps them as an internal secret. Conclusion (that anybody with half a brain can figure out): TEA's numbers are wild speculation at best and bull**** at worst. Cedar Fair has no need to state the obvious.
    2 points
  6. This is the best idea I've seen! I've been to Soak City twice this week and both times I said I wish they had a lazy river. I just can't with the Splash River. Between the wild children and having to dodge buckets and sprayers every 10 feet, I am always left wishing they had a relaxed one that parents could just stay in all day while the kiddos slide. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    2 points
  7. Today's concept requires removing the latter game and the basketball game in Oktoberfest/Coney. It really spruces up Oktoberfest and the world premier weekend, would be an Oktoberfest celebration. I give you schellenrock! (Schellenrock is a German creature).
    2 points
  8. After trying lots of times (including at least five times during the same performance before it finally came up with something) Shazam finally identified the music from the laser act: Even the Best by Invasion from Mars:
    2 points
  9. I rode The Bat last night and one of the spiels I heard was chock-full of Top Gun references. The original name/theme flies again as well as The Bat! I also rode Adventure Express and loved hearing "Enjoy the most Adventurous and Expressive ride in all of Kings Island!" My crewmates at Vortex didn't really do anything overly interesting when I rode, but then again there were only two of them checking restraints (one on each side of the train) and they were concentrating a great deal on moving us through efficiently and safely...which is obviously more important. By far, my favorite spiel I have heard at The Bat was last year's "You'll go up, down, and all through Rivertown! Enjoy your ride on DiamondBat"
    1 point
  10. TL;DR I don't have the time or interest to read this wall of text. Please try to be more concise.
    1 point
  11. I forgot to mention in my post about the music from the show, Shazam has suggested that Pushing the Boundaries by Ian Livingstone is the percussion from the bar act, and World Challenge by Satnam Ramgotra is the one used during the tumbling. But I've been unable to find a source to listen to those pieces to double check. Also, they've added a new thing for the woman alien in blue during the preshow
    1 point
  12. I would be so happy for Dorney Park if they were to get something new for once instead of some other parks hand me downs. That park has so much potential and it's sad that hardly anyone visits Dorney Park. As for Kings Island, maybe they'll finally get Les Taxi back.
    1 point
  13. I would say for most of us would at best describe the food situation as inconsistent. Some seem to think everything is just fine all the time and the lines are never long and the food always good even though they go frequently. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe it is just some people’s tastes/standards are different. This year I have not experienced any actual food that I thought was bad but I have certainly pointed out some service deficiencies. But I have only been to KI 4 or so times this season. If I did receive something bad (cold, burnt, ridiculously small portion etc.) I would likely try to be as polite as possible and try to take care of the situation right there before running to GS. If the portion size was to small simply state that I beleive it was much smaller than standard and could I have some more or possible speak to the supervisor. If it was over cooked or something like that and was obvious politely refuse the plate and ask for something else or just leave. Maybe grab a photo especially if I was met with resistance. They way I look at it is them handing you a plate is an offer to sell you something and as a consumer I have the right to refuse that offer if it doesn’t meet my standards. Taking the issue to GS is kind of a last resort because it takes so much time.
    1 point
  14. According to the Kings Island Blog, Mystic Timbers has surpassed 2 million riders, as of today. https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2018/july/west-virginia-youth-is-2-millionth-rider-on-mystic-timbers-at-kings-island
    1 point
  15. I did get to go to Kings Dominion this season and ride Racer '75 which was running very smooth. If they can get our Racer to run that well I think most people will be happy. It does not need RMC'd.
    1 point
  16. I just want to know how many Gold passes they sell year-to-year.
    1 point
  17. I have to say this season, Racer is running the best it has been in years. It also constantly leads the park in rider count, so its still doing something right even though the GP isn't exactly thrilled with it anymore. If it had the trims taken off on the turn arounds, it'd be an airtime monster on the return run. I've encountered bits bordering on ejector air on it this season. Now if we could only get the park to repaint it and get the trains to sync better on the lift hills.
    1 point
  18. The questions up to my last post in this thread have been sent to the park. I am not sure how long it will take to get back for I doubt they know all the answers quickly or can answer everything. I will post when I get the responses and start compiling the next set of questions. Thanks for all the awesome questions!
    1 point
  19. It is not all speculation, next time you are at a park in the report, if you run across a member of upper management on a midway like Mike Koontz who is the general manager at Kings Island ask what they think of the numbers from the TEA report. Over the last several years I have asked several individuals and every single one has said the numbers are wrong. None of them will share real numbers but when I say that the order of the parks is sometimes wrong I was told that by a park GM who had access to the numbers for that chain. Large natural fluctuations are part of the reason why Cedar Fair does not release individual park attendance figures. But Cedar Fair does release chain wide attendance. That’s how we know 2017 attendance was 25.7 million and was 25.1 million in 2016. Let’s compare that growth of 600k admissions to the guesstimates in the TEA report. The report shows the growth as 596k, so I will use that. Combined the Cedar Fair parks featured in the report grew by 170k. So that’s Knott’s, CW, CP, KI, and the water parks at Knott’s and CP. The report states those parks account for 15.7 million of the entire chains 25.7 million guests. Which means using TEA’s own numbers they claim the smallest 7 Cedar Fair parks only have a combined attendance of 10 million and had a combined attendance growth of 426k or 4.5%. In a year when none of those parks opened a coaster, does that seem reasonable at all? The only new coaster in the entire chain last year was Mystic Timbers plus Kings Island was open for Winterfest which added somewhere around 20 additional operating days. Yet the claim is that attendance only went up by 85 thousand.
    1 point
  20. Coney Mall sign and if its ever going to return and where its at?
    1 point
  21. Please noooooooo….I love our fountains just as is. They can tweak what they have, but please no dancing waters type of stuff.
    1 point
  22. When i worked at Ki, older rides like Racer and what not they have a computer they count the empty seats b4 they disp the ride
    1 point
  23. Can we expect any kind of upgrade to the Royal Fountain in the next few years? Kings Dominion’s and Canada’s Wonderlands fountains have been upgraded. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1 point
  24. I would want to know how accurate is the rider count on rides that don't have counters. For example rides like Racer.
    1 point
  25. Since nobody has asked it and some is being discussed in other threads elsewhere, here goes: What is the year and attendance number for the record year? What are the yearly attendance numbers for the last 5 years? What are the yearly KI gold pass sales numbers for the last 5 years? How many season long meal plans have been sold each year since inception? How does CF allocate funds per park for platinum passes? For example, does the park that issued the pass get all the revenue or is it split evenly amongst all the parks or the parks visited? Is it an advantage for KI to have people get their platinum passes issued from KI as their "home park"? Does KI capture data of people that went from gold pass to platinum the following year and if so, what is that annual number of people that upgrade? Is there a capacity number that KI will close the gates and not allow additional entries? What percentage of daily entry into park leave park and re-enter with the stamp? What is the record for most visits by an individual (season pass holder) over a season? Given past history, I suspect none of these will be publicly answered lol
    1 point
  26. You could keep the fountain elements in it too and you have to get wet during the splash down. Most popular coaster in the summer lol
    1 point
  27. I love how you guys make jokes about removing the fountain and putting a splashdown there for a giga. That would be one of the most unique splashdowns ever[emoji23]! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1 point
  28. I heard this when I was at the top of the Eiffel Tower by the same person: "Oh, look! There's Snoopyville." "I believe that's Son of Beast right there." "The Son of Beast had loops in it." (With an "s") "Actually that might be Woodstock Express." "I'm pretty sure it's that. Lets get a map." Here's the view they were looking at: Assuming they were referring to Mystic Timbers. I hope...
    1 point
  29. Here you guys go. Going around the whole park and splashing in the fountains. I give you Park Patrol.
    1 point
  30. ^^^^ it's on my other post about the music (and the same song that was used during the Rola Bola act) Et si c'etait un veau (which seems to mean "and if it were veal", but I feel something may be missing in translation)
    1 point
  31. I am back......back with a " King Cobra's Revenge" Added midway to connect Oktober Fest and X-base and addess restrooms to old FoF picture building. I am trying to make my hills seem realistic and not 1,000 feet tall haha.
    1 point
  32. Just love putting gigas in places they won't go in. Today's concept splits The Bat's queue line. The left side is for the giga and the right side is for Bat. They'd add a Fast Lane path as well. Obviously, the pathway would have to be widened. I give you Timberwolf to go along with GWL right next door and Timberwolf theatre.
    1 point
  33. Today's concept involves removing Congo Falls and Timberwolf and travels over and under the road to the toll plaza. I give you Centurion.
    1 point
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