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From the Kings Island Facebook Working link: https://bit.ly/2zI4A15

International Street is goin’ blue this week for Autism Awareness.

Cedar Fair does great... But dollywood blew us away... That have a place near the entrance for special needs guests to meet with an advisor who listens to the need and then helps setup your day at the park or advise on accommodations. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

While the other players in the industry are accommodating to autism to some degree, Cedar Fair is the best by far and really seems to understand the condition. My praises and hats off to Cedar Fair. Thank you.

I was thinking about this a bit earlier today and I think they should have a display/museum. Maybe they could add a replica of Banshee and/or Son of Beast. Have some old photos of KI, Son of Beast, and Banshee. Having something like that would be cool.

I don’t disagree with what you say stashua123... But here’s the deal from an employer position and a customer... it takes one bad employee to ruin everything you are building. KI does have a different target that WDW. That’s what I mean by prestige. To work at WDW is competitive and “everyone” wants it. So you don’t have to pay top dollar because if someone doesn’t work out because of attitude you can fire them and have 10 people to replace... KI isn’t pulling people from all over to Work. So you have to raise salaries to ensure there is more people wanting to work there than positions. Then you have to fire the few that are bad. This helps employees like yourself or friends who enjoy their jobs and like being there. You go into Skyline and the employee at the counter is super awesome, you have a great impression. If the employee is short or bored etc then you have bad impressions on the rest of your day... no different at KI... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

KI does not have the same target market for associates and guests as Disney World does. I will say this, I love my job. I take pride in what I do. I worked in food service at LaRosas before deciding to come to work at Kings Island. It was perhaps the best decision I have made in my life in all honesty. You get to know so many amazing people. 85% of the people I talk to are people I have met because of working at Kings Island. You could say that going to work their is no different than other places for those who do not enjoy the job. But almost everyone I talk to enjoys their job and truly enjoy the people you meet while working. I come into work smiling and 99.5% of the time I leave work smiling even more. I would say the majority of people that work at Kings Island consider it a great and special place to work at. The locker policy is something I have come to agree with. Bins signficantly slow down operations and leave a chance for valuable items to be stolen. Fanny packs as of this year have been banned due to now being considered a loose article on some intense rollercoasters.

Hate to say it because it makes me sound like I hate all KI employees.... KI does not have the prestige as a Disney World does. So going to work there for most is no different than working a Skyline or Kroger’s outside of the park. When you pay min wage or lower wage you get lower effort. To really turn employee attitudes around is to increase pay and cut the employees that are rude or slow or don’t care etc.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Something like Town Hall at Cedar Point would be awesome!

Guys don't forget about me!!!! I took a small break but I am back......back with " Steel Storm".

Looks like this will be a new act.

Two votes -- 1 for practicality and 1 for personal preference. Practicality: BLSC takes up some prime real estate that I think could be used much better. Personal: I haven't enjoyed riding Vortex in many years.

The ride photos are still there

I agree that some flat rides or a wild mouse would be a great addition to Kings Island. I would love it if they got a flat ride package like Carowinds got a few years ago. Dorney is a great park. I went there about five years ago. I really enjoyed their classic Whip ride. Talon was good as well. Still need to get there with my wife, but that is on our list of places to go.

If KI gets a mouse, hopefully they operate it with continuous motion instead of the stacked cars that CF is known for.

I went on Friday. I also was feeling pretty tired by the time I got over there (about 9:30), since I'd been at the park all day. I walked, because I barely missed the train and as tired as I was, I knew it was going to be almost 10 if I waited for the single train on the track to get back and take it over. I got there before the train had left the Soak City station again. So, when I got there, sitting and listening to a live band was just the thing I needed, and they were really good. They went on a half hour break once the fireworks started, so I took the opportunity to check out some of the other things going on. There were a lot of things I could see would be fun, but I wasn't really into myself. The decorations were all pretty cool. Toward the end of the band's break, I realized I was hungry and started to check out the food options. Thought it was strange that no prices were listed at the little stands (which were, I believe, some of the houses used as shops under the Eiffel Tower last Winterfest), but ultimately saw they were selling food tickets at one end for $6 each ($5 if you have a gold or platinum pass) that could be used for any of the food offerings. I got the plantain chips (tostones, I think they were called) with ginger lime syrup. I think I am going to have dreams about that syrup for quite some time, it was soooooooo good. If I had attended again, I would have liked to try the barbacoa tacos and Mexican corn as well. I feel like $5 was a very fair price for specialty food inside the park, especially for as much as I got. When I decided to head back over to the dry park for late ERT, once again the train was pulling away as I got nearby. So really my only major complaint about the event was having only one train running.

That would be even worse. I can't dedicate an hour of my life to listening to people talk. I can read a transcript of a podcast in about a quarter of the time it would take to listen to it, maybe a little less than that.

Thank you so much for this! I have to say the show just gets better and better each time I see it.

I started fountain ERT with @pianoman , now we have train station freestyle ERT.

Oh my word...it’s open again!!!!!

Regardless of the promotion title, the price being shown is the same online at $39.99 whether you are in the park (as I am now) or Columbus or elsewhere...However the Everyone Pays Kids Price promotion is valid thru 9/3 whereas the other $39.99 offer is valid thru 8/19...

I got to attend the Soak City Glow Party that ended its 3 night run tonight. I now wish I could have attended the first night so I would have time to recommend that others check it out. This was a fantastic event that involved a live band, a very interesting “silent disco” and tons of other activities. The water park really did look great with extra lights and decor. Hats of to KI for an awesome event. Hopefully it will be back next year. Did anyone else get to attend?

Maybe a podcast would have worked better.

Columbus, if it wasn’t obvious to everyone already. Maybe not exactly “everyone”

Well I know several times my husband has said something about portion size and it's fallen on deaf ears. I dont know, for some reason the staff seem to not care and really don't want to be there. I understand food service is difficult but a smile or taking an interest in your customer goes far. I did take a pic of my sub, but because of how really bad it was I felt I needed to go to guest services. The staff that day at subway looked like they could have cared less if you were happy or not. I am not someone that just runs to GS, I am in there every visit for a personal reason and I just shake my head at how people treat the staff. If I'm going there about bad food, you know there's a real problem. I guess it could also be that yesterday was our 20th visit and we've had lunch and dinner every time, so we probably are more likely to have a bad meal. I still love having the season dining plan cause I never have to worry about paying for food and it's paid off ten fold for us. I guess my biggest issue is how much they've promoted coney and it's mid July and the staff still seems to not really have their act together.

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.

Their are no discounts unforunately if you have a Knotts Gold Pass.... if you have a KI Gold Pass Member or a Platinum Pass Member with you you can get a discounted 45$ ticket on non bring a friend days. IF you are going back for two visits I highly recommend the gate ticket. While being $70 it does include two non consecutive visits. You can use your second visit any day we are publicly operating through October 28th for free.

From some of the stuff I've been reading tonight, this ordeal could could be on account of pretty much anything. Not making any guesses, but with all things considered, it's slightly concerning that we haven't gotten an official response yet. Then again, it could be nothing.

Here’s the thing that kills me. At 958 we were waiting to watch fireworks. People were saying they weren’t going to happen. I went to guest services to ask and they had no idea why. As we were walking out at 1004, no announcement had been made and there were still hundreds of people sitting and waiting. Whoever made the official call should have to go tell everyone waiting that the show was cancelled. Extremely poor handling with no communication tonight.

I also find it interesting that they pulled the link for the live cams off the website.

Very interesting.

So the rides all shut down at 945 tonight. Ride ops had no idea....

I have been told a couple of times at KI this year I have two drink plans on my pass. All three of us purchased drink plans. Well today at a FreeStyle here at CP the associate told me my pass has two, Ryans has three and Kiefers has one but has option to be converted to Souvenir Cup for free. So I have been testing it out. (Never getting more than three cups at a time so not cheating CF in any way) Several times I have gotten 2 cups with my pass. It turns out Ryan can get only get two cups not three. Weird. But all the the half dozen times I have done this the employees don’t bat an eye and it seems perfectly acceptable to them. Now I would never really get more than 1 flavored drink in 15 minutes as I would want water in between. Will be interesting to actually try this at KI. Again never actually getting more than three at a time. Scouts Honor. Who knows maybe this is a temporary glitch. I did have to replace Kiefers pass today because he lost it at KI the other week. (They didn’t charge me). The sales associate also ended up replacing my pass because she messed something up a supervisor had to fix. But Ryan’s was not touched. To bad that meal plans don’t have the same glitch.

I got drinks there all the time last year. That location has never been open anytime I visited this year. I was beginning to wonder if they were going even open it this year. Sent from my SM-S727VL using Tapatalk

It depends I think.. I ride all the rides regularly, but twice this year, Banshee has made me nauseous. Only ride to do it.. and only did it twice... And on another note, I miss the smooth Banshee

I've realized that any coasters that bang you around-esp. your head-get me a bit rattled. The effect is multiplied if I haven't had enough to eat. In bad cases, it will linger all day and I won't feel like riding much more. Maybe my worse experience of this was a day that started with Invertigo...but Firehawk has done it as well. I stay away from both. It really happens whenever I ride too much too fast. A nice greasy breakfast and 2 alleves seems to numb things up so that it doesn't happen.

I would jump in my car and drive down for the occasion but I am at CP today.

I have sympathy for guests with belongings, especially women with purses, when it comes to not being able to take them into the Mystic Timbers and Banshee lines. I understand that suposedly it would be difficultor impossible to maintain efficient three train opperation if guests were allowed to put their stuff in bins and retrieve it. Nevertheless, there has to be a better solution than paid lockers. Even if what has been claimed regarding lockers not being feasible for efficient opperation is 100% true, people will feel like they are being nickled and dimed.

This act should be booked for Haunt.

Yes, I know that, I was just wondering what caused it.

Coasters get stuck places all the time. Not to make that a bad thing - it's just a normal part of operations. Really nothing to worry about.

I just hope nothing bad happened to row 5-1.

The extreme heat may have been to blame for some of the issues yesterday. All the rides (except BLSC, which was down for several hours) were operating most of the day. One lucky train of riders disembarked from the brake run of Mystic Timbers, walking back to the station via the shed.

Don't know why it happened, but I do know that one of my friends on Facebook was all excited that she got to walk down the stairs.

Anybody know what happened to D back. I know rides go down all the time, but tonight there is/was a train stuck on the mcbr. DB on testing now, still curious though Sent from my SM-S327VL using Tapatalk

I'll admit I go on about certain topics of interest (Pokemon, roller coasters) at times... -MDMC01, fellow Aspie (Aspie is short for Asperger's).

3rd sign of the apocalypse...

Great job Brad! I too was intrigued by the "making old things new again" comment. I think there are plenty of things that it could mean but I can't see them RMCing The Racer. If it were up to me there are several things I would do along that route: 1. Turning the old Action Theater into a year round facility. Something like Plants vs. Zombies at Carowinds (with stationary seats) would be something nice to do on hot days plus it could also be used during Winterfest since it would be indoors. You could still use half of the building for Haunt and the other half for a P vs. Z type attraction. 2. Using the old arcade by Zephyr for a flat ride. I would love to see them gut the front part of that building and put a Musik Express / Himalaya there. That ride would totally fit Coney Mall and would be a great addition. 3. Using the Flight Commander pad for something/anything. I'm really hoping next year the park adds some flats. I think an Electro Spin would be great there. I personally probably wouldn't ride it (fear of protein spills) but that area could use a thrilling flat. 4. The other thing I thought of was the Antiques. There are some locations around the park where you could put an Antique Car ride. The area between Chicken Shack and KI Theater is an underutilized spot and would a good area for a family ride (if the area is big enough for it). Grandparents also wouldn't have to walk too far since it is close to the park entrance. 5. Re-doing the Festhaus to make it more like Carowinds' Harmony Hall. Yes this would probably involve adding on to Festhaus but having a more efficient and effective set up along with more food choices would make a ton of sense.

OMG! I can’t believe it! Rivertown Freestyle is actually open! First time in 2 years! Now let’s see about that crafty WindSeeker. Maybe if I am warry, warry quite I can sneak up on it.