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Faulting the park for people not being able to control themselves is incredibly unfair. There was a garage sale in my neighborhood this past Saturday. It's a nice subdivision with home values $200,000 to $350,000 Cars lined on both sides of the street. Moving cars could not pass by. Garage sale cars illegally parked in many driveways. Police had to block off both entrances to my subdivision from letting more cars enter. Then the fights started. And a stabbing....no joke. PGA Championship took place in South Carolina this past weekend. Crowd rushed Brooks Koepka and knocked him around causing more pain & injury to an already injured knee. Crowd was way out of control. We have all seen fights over stupid crap like facemasks, or those butthurt because their entitlement is not acknowledged by someone else. Road rage videos everywhere. There is one similarity of the above examples- no teenagers were involved. They are all adults committing these horrific acts. Covid has mentally affected many people negatively where social interaction was lost. Combine that with everyone's head in their phone for the past decade plus and it's not a massive surprise people have zero clue how to act socially. We all need to just be nice to each other. Not everything is meant or intended to be malicious. Agreeing to disagree and move on is SO MUCH easier than fighting like wild animals. There is no magic wand to solve all these issues and more rules and restrictions will only create more animosity. We all need to take a step back, breathe, and really ask ourselves- is getting mad over the little things really worth it and what is the endgame you are looking for by getting so uncontrollably mad?

When I was a Park Police Officer, it was nice having a few less crowded weekends in April to help the young security officers learn how to handle situations that could escalate quickly. For some, this is their first security job. Some are 18 and having to deal with their peers and people who are much older than them, which can be daunting. Some think they can handle situations like that, until it actually happens. I will not be commenting on how the situation was handled, but I give a ton of credit to those who put themselves in the middle of that mess and tried to take care of the situation and I hope the park recognizes that as well. I fully believe the park will make adjustments to ensure guests have a feeling of safety. Things will get better.

While I understand the frustration of everyone involved and maybe I am reading it the wrong way from some of us here discussing. I don't think blaming the park is the right way to go about this, they hold some responsibility obviously. However, they can only be so proactive with what they have available to them, beyond that it is how they react to that which we will see.

I think one thing is pretty clear here and this is more in response to some of the things I’ve seen elsewhere rather than here really but still Important. this situation got out of control so quickly it isn’t fair to blame the employees for this, does Kings Island have some responsibility yes, however a lot of these kids it was their first or second weekend at the park working. security is understaffed and it’s important to understand that a lot of them are new. The employees always ask for your patience the weekends up to full time season for that reason. my point being not that I think anyone here is, but that it isn’t as simple as blaming the employees for what occurred, I actually think they did brilliantly given the unfortunate circumstances.

^real nice! Let Habah make his or her own determination. We are welcoming community of park fans not unwelcoming.

I agree with your post. Fingers can be pointed all day at KI, but where does that line stop of it being the park not doing enough vs the kids and the responsible party that brought them take ownership of the behavior? They could have had 3 times the security and that may not have prevented the incident any less. Do I want to see a KK policy? No. The 1000's of teenagers that are there every day being respectful and enjoying their summer should not have to loose that privilege. I do feel that park rules need to be tighter and advertised for those under age that are there without an adult in the park. Make it clear: They get caught breaking the rules they are escorted out of the park just like they started doing with cell phones out on rides. Do it a second time they loose their pass for the year.

You are so rude and very inconsiderate. It’s not going to kill you to wait one second for someone to try and see if they can ride a ride. People like you are the reason why people are embarrassed to even try.

Today in history (May 24th, 2021) marks the 13th Anniversary of Robbie Knievel jumping over 24 Coke Zero trucks in the Kings Island parking lot. KICentral was there, and here are the pictures we took of the event. Also, check out the other photos leading up to Robbie's jump by searching Robbie on our phots galleries page! https://kicentral.com/photos/

Look, if they’re not going to say or do anything about people running around with guns, can we at least get the live train robber actors back on the KI&MVRR?

Inaction is not a feasible strategy here. The second statement by the park promises action, but as of today, nothing has been made public. They'll see an enormous crowd this weekend, potentially at capacity again. What will be their changes to ensure a repeat of last Saturday's situation does not occur? As someone who is currently set to travel to the park this weekend with my wife for our first visit of the year, I'm interested to see if any specific policy changes are made public as the week goes on. As of now, I'm skeptical that anything will change, outside of perhaps a slight increase in security presence.

Escorted out of the park to do what? Be upset then start fights in the drop off area while they could be waiting hours for someone to pick them up? Maybe they should get rid of the drop off area, make it less easy to drop a car load of kids off. KI has the most easiest drop off area of all parks IMO.

Could be worse, Fury has the parks junkyard under the first drop.

Trip is all booked. Got decent hotels in my price range right next to Carowinds and right on the Pigeon Forge strip. Hitting Carowinds on a Monday, Dollywood on a Thursday. Going July 11-17. EDIT: Routing is very convenient- there is one route I can take to Carowinds that goes by Gatlinburg. Makes navigation easy.

Still my favorite day in KI history.

I can’t disagree with this statement more. IMO the problem is their risk managers have been ignoring the problem for years and have failed to take the steps to prevent these types of incidences. Starting with shoulder shrugs at running, smoking and line jumping. Not suggesting tossing their asses out on Columbia Road for a first offense but taking proactive deescalation measures. Short story back in 77 or 78, a year or so before the infamous Skyride accident at SFSTL my buddy an I took the long bus ride out to the park for a summer day of fun probably in 6th grade. We got the dumbass idea to have bombing runs with ice cubes, got reported and 2 security guards were waiting for us at the station. They chewed out as for a couple of minutes but then lightened up and just started talking to us about what fun was to be had the rest of the day and shortly let us on our way. We probably passed them half a dozen times the rest of the day and they always waved or stopped briefly to ask what we had just ridden and maybe made a suggestion of where we should go next. We also knew if we screwed up again they would have our parents on the phone or just boot us out. They problem as I see it is the total Laissez-faire approach KI has taken towards the small incidents in the past years is leading to these kids to think there are no consequences for their actions. So when the park does get overcrowded and there is nothing to do but wait in ginormous lines for the simplest things problems will arise they can’t control. The old idiom “Idle hands are the Devil’s tools.” comes to mind. IMO what the park needs is more security roaming the grounds, not out to bust heads but getting out ahead of the situation with small talks with guests about expected good park-goer behavior. If management remains laser focused on only next quarter earnings and not the long term health of the park unit holders need to start thinking about an exit strategy.

I would imagine what happened is probably in their top five worst nightmare. Give them a break they did not throw a punch. I would imagine that most of us would have the same reaction. I don't think their risk managers could have prepared for this, but they can learn from it.

I'm with you 100% on this statement. I've made 3 trips and it was a dumpster fire each time. I really wish I could've snapped a few photos of the gold tags and upper management Saturday night. The looks on their faces was shocking. They were totally unprepared and it showed. I've said for years that management at KI is lacking in so many ways. This is just one more transgression in a long list that shows me just how inept they are. Edited to add: Many many years ago in another lifetime I was head of risk management and also part of the team that developed our security protocols for a very large entertainment venue. So I do have some knowledge on the topic.

We all, in some form or another, take ownership in the park. Every single one of us should be outraged that this happened at a place as beloved as Kings Island. The mere fact that this has occurred makes me sick on my stomach. For the love of God there were families and little, little children there. Its simply disgusting. I trust in the park's leadership enough to know this sort of thing will not be tolerated. If that means hard rules must be instituted, fine by me. I support any measure the park takes to ensure the safety of ALL guests, and ALL employees.

I know you’re joking, but to be fair the security guards were outnumbered, understaffed, and have no real authority. I think the last job on earth I’d want to have is being a security guard during something like this.

Don’t know if this has been posted. I’m just now getting up to speed in regards to what happened. If this was truly a reoccurring situation that wasn’t addressed until it got out of hand... That’s pretty shameful on the parks end. Pretty incredible that an officer had apparently been pepper sprayed? Did they hire their security guards from Intamin?

If this is your version of help, don't bother. You're being rude.

He is either a liar, or they have bad processes and training. Because it is unacceptable. It shouldn’t take that long to hand someone a cup to fill a fountain drink.

Not taking questions is a strategy that is common for incidents. This is clearly far, far beyond that. At this point the park just seems like it doesn’t intend to take action. That footage looked like the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was not a good look for the park. I know the place is safe. I think most of you do too. But how does the average person see footage and assume the same? If only there was a person whose one job is the park’s Relationship with the Public who could put a positive spin on this…

CF business model for the most part chooses to give away season passes at a low price, and cater mostly to a high thrill seeking market (which tends to be younger, have less disposable income, and more likely to have incidents like this). This has been brewing for a while. All it took was one overcrowd day. Another reason to not return back to the traditional Halloween Haunt. It’s a recipe for this kind of trouble as well.

This is the statement from the park:

Make that 2 nights if incidents now. If Kings Island does not take action and make their intentions very clear then we must reconsider our faith in the leadership. https://www.wlwt.com/article/videos-public-records-reveal-more-details-about-disturbances-at-kings-island/36523793

Kings Island did not have any notable staffing shortages this past weekend in the dry park. When the park reaches capacity, lines are just going to get really long whether the park is well staffed or not. At Halloween Haunt, for example, Kings Island receives very high attendance, and almost all food lines are pouring out onto the midways. Kings Island never has every single food and drink stand open, and only a few were closed this weekend. Chad Showalter even said that the park was appropriately staffed in the article linked below. Cedar Point had multiple rides closed and many more food stands closed than Kings Island has had, and that is what prompted them to require reservations and limit capacity. Kings Island really has no reason to start requiring reservations because even in a normal year, the amount of food locations open would really not be much different. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cincinnati.com/amp/5231933001

I have no inside information, but sodding the entire course of Orion would be cost prohibitive with more detriment than benefit. It would add quite a bit to the mowing bill too. It does need a covering, so maybe they will seed it with pasturegrass (KY 31 Tall Fescue) and sweet clover. That solves the erosion problem, it will look good, and they can just bush hog it monthly. Then again, they may seed it with turf-type fescue and mow it like they did with Diamondback. It will have vegetation eventually.

Not yet, but I imagine that’ll happen over the course of this week!

Also have to remember this is only their second weekend open to the general public. In normal seasons this is like the 5th or 6th weekend in with most of those weekends spent doing real world training for the busier weekends like this past weekend. Also have to remember last season was very different than a typical season and a lot of the security team wasn't around for a "normal" season where their main focus wasn't social distancing and masks over noses. I have faith KI will correct things, it'll take some time though. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

I think Kings Island has been improving each week operations wise. Lines have been moving faster and almost all food locations have been open. Kings Island could have done nothing to prevent what happened yesterday. Let’s just hope an incident like this never happens again. I know Kings Island will now probably do everything in their power to prevent such an incident.

I agree, this seems to be mostly a one off incidence. If this keeps happening sure institute new policies but this situation really seems to be blown out of proportion in some respects, especially with the video calling it an “extremely violent brawl”. While having fights in an amusement park is despicable, this fight didn’t seem like it put any guests in danger besides the ones engaging with the fight.

Although I don't think it holds true today, I found this very funny. Generational thing, perhaps. In the early/mid 90's Gurnee was rough. And not one bad night rough, like Boyz N The Hood rough. (aging myself for sure). Or at least "we" thought so at the time. Certainly a much more violent time, as hard as that is to believe for some kids today. The videos from the past weekend were not good by any means. But nobody died/stabbed/shot/etc. Let's move forward!

ERT begins this Friday at 1030. We are planning on arriving at about 10. Not going anywhere near the park Saturday. Just going to stay home and watch Fight Club.

If you look at the first quarter CF results and comments, management fully expected a record demand and attendance at all parks (So KI just like the CP management knew as they admitted in March that record crowds would flood the gates once parks opened in May). KI knew they were not fully staffed for May weekend openings based on their labor numbers, but went ahead anyway and opened the park to full capacity of everything acting like it was open (which is another issue in itself as it makes lines, especially for the limited food and limited drink refills extremely long). The park was also overcrowded so not sure how adding extra security can help prevent such an incident because they can’t be in every single queue and every place at the exact same time (not to mention rules at KI are never enforced). I am surprised that no official action plan has been made public by now, only casting doubts for some that KI can adequately address their issues in the coming weeks (overcrowding, lack of food/drink, re-entry policy, security, etc.). It’s probably too late now, but KI should go back to reservations on the dry side that matches what the park labor numbers can actually provide for the best day ever experience (which is why Disney World each week slowly increases its reservation amounts based on their labor numbers to staff things). Hopefully, the required reservations are being limited on the wet side to help the overcrowding and incidents such as this, but have my doubts (and will see this weekend how crowded Soak City actually will be).

(Credit: Cincy Shirts)

One big difference between this weekend and a busy haunt weekend was the absence of food trucks. Typically during haunt, the park brings in some food trucks to increase food capacity. The park was as busy this weekend as it is on a busy haunt night, and the extra food capacity probably would have made a big difference on the food lines. Hopefully they can make some phone calls and get a few trucks to show up this weekend, couple potentially be an easy way to quickly increase food capacity.

You should be able to walk up the exit of any ride that doesn’t have a test seat and ask to test the seat seat and restraints. If the restraints secure then you will have to wait through the regular line to ride I know this is true at Cedar Point and Carowinds as I have done it at both parks.

My statement is not rude at all. So you are telling me if you get a walk of shame on Diamondback and then go back the same day and keep trying that is okay? What if you try a 3rd time or a 4th? What if you know you can't fit on other rides and keep doing it? That is okay too? There is already lots of people in this forum complaining about operations and long lines these past 3 weeks. Some users posting words like "****show". For anyone posting and complaining about these things lately . You can not think my statement is rude. You can not have it both ways. To be fair I was not one of those users who complained about lines or poor ride operations these past 3 weeks but many have. Also if I was rude would I have bothered to suggest Mystic Timbers or let you know about Premier trains being small? No. But then statements like the ones above calling me rude make me wonder why I even bother trying to help.

It really is surprising to me that the dry park does not have reservations right now. With their inability to staff food and beverage, it seems a no brainer. Cedar Point turned around their in park experience in one week simply by throttling back the reservation total. Reservations are also required right now at Dominion and Carowinds, if I'm not mistaken.

See, Here's where I disagree. I was there that day and it felt like a powder keg just waiting to go up. There were plenty of things KI could've done before things got out of control. It starts by enforcing the rules, I think everyone can agree that the park is way too lax when it comes to enforcement and their consequences. They could've restricted capacity based on staffing. 40+ min wait for food or drinks is unacceptable and those kinds of delays only increase the temperature. They could...you know..improve the visibility of their security staff. Cuz gray shirts really stand out well am I right? Not even going to mention training or lack thereof. It amazes me to be honest because I've read countless times on here people defending the park because they have all this data and metrics and they know so much more than us, then y'all come back and say "this is unexpected, how could they have known?" The line that you refer to Brad never stops because it will always be on the park to provide a SAFE environment on their property. And they failed to do so on Saturday night. Edits made to clarify some points.

I agree that Kings Island could have more security guards roaming the park, and that would likely deter most violent incidents. However, once the fighting started yesterday, Kings Island really could not have done anything to stop it besides closing early.

Agree with what you're saying regarding their blaise attitude. Every. Single. Interaction. I've had with senior management has left me scratching my head.

Not if the chaperone was stuck in a drink line or waiting an hour for a $14 slice of pizza.

Several Mason PD cops and Sheriff deputies parked out front right now as well as a large congregation of security. Seems KI is going to do everything in their power to prevent another incident tonight. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

As a person who absolutely loves this park so much, it hurts my heart to see some of the videos of the fighting that happened. This is a place of families and happiness and great memories made. And now this, makes me sick to my stomach. What is going on in this world? I never thought I'd see this type of behavior at the park...I just don't get it.

All great points. On the other hand, if the gate is being given away, the entertainment value per dollar spent spread out over a season cannot be beat and that is a great motivator for many people to keep coming back. Where else can you get fed two meals per day all summer for the price of the season long meal plan? At this point, I think the larger crowds not allowing for a Best Day ever experience will turn people off more than the chaperone policy. Time will tell if that policy comes here. Has anyone done an analysis of attendance and revenue for parks that have implemented similar policies - if any exist with a long enough history to see a trend? I would hope though that KI doesn't knee jerk this and implement the policy that then becomes another policy they cannot enforce. I'd rather see a beef up of security and enforce the policies already in place. I mentioned here many years ago that instead of having ride-op's station the front of rides and the occasional roamer in queues, the changing behaviors of guests over the years probably needs to make those positions as security personnel instead. The abuse ride-op's take trying to enforce the policy of no bags for example is horrible. Now these same people would probably mouth off to a security guard as well, but it would stop some from making a scene and those that do make a scene can truly be dealt with. A 16-year old wants to be a ride-op not a security person...

Some things I noticed. Parking is an issue during busy days for the back of the park. A lot of people go to Cedar Point Shores and they end up having to park in overflow and sometimes on the grass. A parking structure for back of the park would do wonders. I too would increase the gold pass price to $150 I would try to incorporate some attractions off-peninsula via a second park. They used to have a challenge park and the concept was cool but it took up too much peninsula space. If they could have a separate park for go karts, high ropes, and other attractions, they might encourage their resort guests to spend more days in Sandusky-much like how Disney does it in Orlando. I know that's a lot to ask but its just a thought. I would work on their front right side of the park. These boardwalk and Planet Snoopy concepts are perfect examples of what I mean. More things geared towards families. I really think they should look at a family coaster. Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Blue Streak, and Iron Dragon represent the few non kid coasters that are geared more towards families; Gemini is debatable. I think adding the coasters in the concepts I linked in "4" would work out well.