brent

Odd detail that (of course) I caught. Check out that awesome trash can with the lattice sides. I love when parks care enough to theme something as “mundane” as trash cans. Remember the “house” ones on I Street?

That seems like a major fail in the planning department. I can’t believe a major entertainment venue wouldn’t have a real time backup of all of the data for a signature entertainment offering so that there would simply be a “reinstall” of the show instead of “programming from memory”.

Oh no. You can’t go around making intelligent suggestions like that. It’s tine to those pitchforks back out! I still don’t understand why a shopping center with free fountains can make this work better than a major regional theme park.

There’s no reason there couldn’t be 6-8 pre-timed shows (like on the hour) that “take over” the general play list. Look at what they do with the island in pigeon forge. It’s set up just that way. And I agree. Companies can only do the work they are given the budget for. And really? They can develop a full playlist for a day of operation? You make it sound like it’s Gary’s iPad plugged into the stereo just shuffling through a few songs.

I think they see both of those as more “cross generational” money makers that don’t have some of the “operational issues” of haunt (you don’t see “no re entry” at winter fest to cut down on excessive “consumption” in the parking lot).

Totally agree. It’s not BAD. it just seems to me it was overall a lateral move. I just wish if they are only doing patterns, they would slow it down during the day and let it just be s fountain, not a “spectacle” open to close. By doing that, it’s not special. Heck, just running the center jets with the arching jets (if they could reposition them to all arch the same like originally) would be nice through the day.

Food “management” was way off last night. At CONEY BBQ at 8:15 they were out of rotisserie chicken and telling people “5 min”, no big deal, but it IS a big deal when half the place is waiting for that and the line keeps growing with people who don’t want that, but no one is telling them to go ahead, or CRAZY IDEA telling the chicken people to queue in the never used second line, then they can get all the other people taken care of, and see how many chicken people the have waiting. Then when chicken is done in 5....10...15...wait, how long? You can have those people all go through in the order they were in. Did I mention 20 min later and no chicken, no management, no info? So I took charge, announcing “anyone who’s waiting on chicken raise your hand, now everyone else, go past us and pick your other entree. All chicken people, the chicken will be ready in 5 min 20 min ago” all the non chicken people thanked me. All the chicken people thanked me. And “ magically” a manager appeared and told me “we can’t get the chicken to cook right. I want it at 170 and we hope we can get there by 9, but I can’t promise when it will be done” and turns around and leaves. Still never announces anything. So once again, my PA kicks in and I let everyone know the chicken “may” by done by 9. Which clears most of the place out. But cmon? Really? His hard is it to run a place? Oh and how hard is it to check your milk expiration date BEFORE a person orders milk with their cookie at Sweet Spot? They had an entire cooler full of expired milk. Oh and at a “pretzel only” place why do you run out of pretzels and tell people its a 20 min wait while you have a trash can FULL of expired pretzels. They clearly have no idea how to anticipate demand and start prepping the next batch before the current one expires. They are leaving money on the table with poor operations. Oh oh and I shared my concerns with a nice guest services person who used an official PostIt note to document my concerns, so I’m sure THAT is going to be shared LOL.

Going to add this here since there’s no winter fest, but I think it’s going to raise the bar again this year. They are adding tons of lights in the shrubs and lower level trees. Now, I’m not sure why they are putting them in a big coleus that will be dead and removed by winter fest though.

Sorry, I don’t see subtle and quiet. I do agree it’s less “grand” but it seem chaotic with water shifting up and down non stop. I think they need to “dial down” the non stop patterns and just run a few arrangements that look good and hold for 15 min or so, then shift to another arrangement (like before) then maybe do 2-3 choreographed shows during the day (not even announced, they just happen) and one big show at night with crazy patterns and lights etc. by the time 10 rolls around, they’ve shown off all of their “tricks”

Now 4 on the LaRosa side are out. Wish they would vary the patterns more and do some lower, some with only a few nozzles etc. it seems like a lot going on all the time. I wish they would maybe not even use the full s curve except in the show. Keep it more like it used to be through the day then pull out “the stops” for the finale.

I know from just walking around on a super busy day sat, I heard numerous times game ops say “no, you have to have a card, I can’t take cash”. I can’t say how many of those people did go get the card, but based on the low crowds at the games on a busy day, I’d say not many.

I think auto spike should be instituted for every ride. I’m so tired of the off brand remarks that I hear all the time. It’s not your job to decide what’s funny and what’s not. The experience should be consistent for each guest. I don’t care that “hey, it’s Lisas birthday, when the boat stops rocking everybody go ask Lisa what her favorite fish is on your way out” It’s just uncalled for and unprofessional.

Plus PLUS the first weekend 2020 on sale with unlimited 2019 visits (why we were there last night) so yeah, busy day yesterday.

That picture reminds me how much I hate those sun shades. They have NOTHING to do with the context and look of “Rivertown”. Wish they would replace with something like a wood pergola or metal roofed building.

Don’t forget today was free day for health care workers. TONS of park comps today. Was there and still had fun doing “little things” with the kids.

For this weekend only. It will be interesting to see what they go to after this weekend. I didn’t say the NEVER give this perk, only that last season they seemed to “sweeten the offer” by the week to try to move the needle for pass sales.

Yes, surprisingly it seems like the overall GP reaction on media sites is negative at worst and apathetic at best. Sure there are extreme “lives” and “hates” but there’s an awful lot of “seems like a taller Diamond Back” for a new addition. Can’t be the reaction the park was striving for.

But that comparison to Firehawk illustrates what I’m feeling. Was FH a GREAT coaster? No. But the “flying” aspect seemed “unique” and totally unlike anything at the park. Again, maybe it’s just my personal feelings, but it feels like “slightly more of the sane but bigger, faster. Not “broader”.

The whole thing is underwhelming to me. The teaser campaign felt more interesting than what it led to. I could care less about stats, but if you are only breaking your own in-park records, at least be innovative. It’s a taller Diamondback with less interesting seating. I’d rather not break world records, but give us a great theme, or something never seen before. TRTR certainly had issues, but that to me was a great example of taking something “typical” and using it in an innovative, immersive way to create an experience that was greater than the sum of its parts. This looks like a tarp shaded queue, an open air station and a nice, big ride. Seems like we got that many years ago with diamond back. I may be surprised. There may be more to the overall experience than what was “revealed”, I hope I eat my words, but so far...ehhhh ok. Nice I guess.

THAT would be a fairly minimal change worth marketing.

Interesting that they came “home” to KI. Maybe this bodes well for a return next year (or we are just the storage site for one of these event sets that will be allocated elsewhere next year) wonder if the floats from Kerns went back there. Those seemed to be “rented” since they were slightly different between sets. The floats made here in blue ash were the same for both parade sets.

2019 season pass sales were very slow.... at the end of a soft 2018 season. It seemed like every promo they did was like a never ending going out of business sale at a rug gallery with end dates being pushed back time and time again, and perks being added (like one visit for 2018 quickly changed into “awww what the hell, just cmon over now, for haunt.... and winter fest... as much as you like.... just PLEEEEEASE buy passes”. With the “announcement” this week I don’t think they will have to “sweeten the pot” as much.

I hate “live spiel” for that reason. You need to stay on brand dude. I don’t find it funny, just unprofessional.

That’s why I think parks like Dollywood have been smart in avoiding IP tie ins, or like with Wildwood grove, they create their own characters. And a park like Dollywood could probably tie into a wealth of literary characters through Dolly’s imagination library and their partnership with penguin publishing. No characters, yet kids have a blast in well themed, well designed area.

It’s been in use for quite a while. Its use at Knotts predates Cedar Faire. They must see value in it since they have kept it this long. I don’t know if they are even concerned if kids “watch” it or not. My youngest had no idea who snippy was the first time he saw him, yet lives to say hi all the time just because it’s a cute giant cuddly dog. Sometimes NOT chasing after the latest hit thing is smarter. Hot cools fast.