KI-ORIG-EMP

Sporting venues that draw very large crowds, plan for it. They have multiple access routes to it to accommodate the heavy traffic and ample parking lot capacity and access. Amusement parks like KI does have overflow parking in the grass, which CP does also. But the problem is both the long lines of cars attempting to park and when they do park, there are very long lines for everything in the park, from waiting in line for rides, food and using the rest rooms. I think that heavy crowds will turn a lot of people off and swear never to come or come on those crowded days. I don't see how people can have fun when they have to wait in line the whole day in an attempt to only ride a handful of rides. I will never wait in line more than 2 hours, and then only on a new ride that has just opened. I know from an employee standpoint, it can lead to a very stressful day with long, hard hours and working very late after the park closes. I have seen when KI had reached capacity and signs were posted on the interstate that the park was full and parking was shut down. I am sure that KI has a capacity limit that the Mason Fire Department has set but that is a very closely guarded secret. I am sure CP has one also. Every venue of all types have capacity limits that have been set by the fire department of the city that they are located. But if I was going to an amusement park, I will never go on a day that has extremely large crowds and traffic backups like this. It is not fun being stuck in the huge traffic jams, then parking in the boon docks, and then once inside the park, having to endure very long wait times to ride the rides. That does not count the long lines for the food stands and the long lines for the rest rooms.

As for horror movies, I prefer the movies from yesterday. I prefer the Hammer movies with Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. One of the modern vampire movies made today that I liked was Priest. As for movies like Friday the 13th, I don't care for them. There was a good movie for TV that was called Vampire that stared Richard Lynch as a vampire and E.G. Marshall as a retired San Francisco police detective that was hunting him. Between the music, the lighting and the suspense, it kept you glued to your seat wondering when the vampire was going to pop out of his coffin.

I am not into slasher movies and did not like Friday the 13th and walked out of it. That is why I put Freddy into it. I like horror movies with vampires, mummies and ghouls but when it comes to crazed slasher flicks, not my cup of tea. I only watched 1/3 of that slasher movie and have not watched any other.

Also if parents take their young kids to see Ed Alonzo's magic act during Haunt, they should not complain about the mature content. It is stated that his is for mature audiences and not young kids. It is more of a PG-13 instead of a G or PG that they feel it should be. It is like a parent taking their young kid to a violent, slasher movie like Friday the Thirteenth 15 and complaining that Freddy is too gruesome and has too much blood, even though it is rated R.

What are they afraid of? That this "vampire" might be a real vampire that wants to put the bite on them? Get real. This is not the place to bring young kids to and the park advertises that it is not. Maybe this kid goes to bed with the light on so they can see the monster that lies beneath their bed ready to attack them.

I agree on the petting zoos being kind of smelly. I work in the kennel and during Haunt a few years ago, we had pigs and goats housed in there. Let me say all they did was eat and fertilized the place. Then there are certain birds that go quack quack and are just as loose as a goose. All of which reminds you what a barn and horse barn smells like. You would swear you are in the country with that fresh country air that you inhale.

Yes and no with the hours for Haunt. Friday's Haunt begins at 6PM, but on Saturday's, Haunt starts at 7PM.

If you drive into Kings Mills, along King Avenue, the old school is on the right hand side. The King family mansion is on the left hand side, across from the new KME school and turning right, you will see the old homes on both sides of the road, which were homes for management. The old post office is on the right hand side, next to the house on the left, which were all built in the 1880's. The Kings Mills Baptist Church is still standing and is on the corner of King Avenue and Church Street. Across from it is the opera house. Down King Avenue, before it goes down the hill on the left, is the old trolly station, that ran down to the plants and all the way to Mason. The town house both employees for King Powder Company and Peter's Cartridge. The King employees lived in the houses from King Avenue to Cherry and Peter's employees lived from Maple to Walnut Streets. My grand parents lived on Maple Street and I lived on Oak Street. There is a book about the history of Kings Mills and the area located at both the Mason Library and the Warren County Historical Society. I forget the name of it but if you ask for the book on the history of the plant, they will know what it is.

My grand parents worked down there in the 1920's to 1940's and lived in Kings Mills, which was a company town for both the King Powder Company and Peter's Cartridge. King founded the town around 1880 and they constructed the Baptist Church, an opera house, school and a trolly system that ran from Kings to Mason. The King Powder Company had mills all along the west side of the river, to avoid them all blowing up if one exploded. Now all you find are over grown trees and weeds and worn down foundations of the wood buildings. It had buildings down below where The Beast is now and stretched past the bridge up to the darn that they built up at the bend in the river. There were several explosions and one in the late 1890's was a heck of a blast that was felt as far as Lebanon. There were lots of train wrecks along that stretch of the Little Miami, with the last one around 1970. I used to hike down in that area and all my friends kidded me and told me to watch out for the lions that escaped from the circus train that had derailed. Also, the land that is now Kings Island was owned by the King family and part of their operations. Some of the buildings were rehabbed to serve as shelters for the animals for the Lion Country Safari.

It is easy for the park to enforce gold pass holders from reentering during Haunt. Just a matter of having an IT guy adjust the programming that checks if the pass has been used that day. Now if you want to reenter the park, no problem. Just buy another ticket.

Only at the county jail for all who will go for that event.

The key is not to price it so low that the park is jam packed and not too high not enough people will take advantage of it. But to have a happy medium that works. Employees remember how overly crowded the park was when it was bring a friend FREE day. I remember Boomerang Bay was jammed on that day I worked the front gate.

^You would fit in real good then as an EMT in Chicago. Park injuries are a far cry from combat injuries that a medic is trained for. Combat medics serve in the front lines are the reason why badly injured soldiers have a chance to be stabilized and evacuated to field hospitals for further, advanced life saving treatment. The Air Forces PJ's are a specialized force that besides being trained medics, are a special operation force that can parachute or be lifted in by chopper that can fight their way to a downed pilot or soldiers that need their advanced care. The only training that I received in the Army was basic combat first aid training as compared to the advanced combat first aid training that soldiers being deployed receive or in infantry units.

^Are you wanting a position as a security guard, police officer, communications or an EMT position? It is a great department to work in and all the guys and gals get along real nice with each other. Come December, just select the positions in the Safety Department.

Try to apply for a position for the 2013 season and if hired, you can have a leg up for the 2014 season, which they should start accepting online applications sometime in December 2013.

It was the same way on the Titanic. The owners of the ship did not take the advice of the designer when they eliminated most of the life boats. Their reasoning was it would clutter up the decks and besides, it met the requirements at the time. We all know what happen next. As Terpy said, it was done to save money.

I know all of the sounds and looks that they make when I am watching them. They are all saying the same thing, "take me out and pet me!" What type of dog do you have and what is his/hers name? I might remember your dog. Tom, a fellow KIC member, and his brother brings their dog for me to watch on a regular basis. Because I have Parkinson's, this job is a form of therapy for me, which is why nursing homes brings pets in for the patients to interact with. It keeps the tremors in my arms and legs from getting the best of me.

I recall security bring me a dog for me to look after that had been left in the car during a hot day. Security will open a car's door and bring the pet to pet care if the pet's health is in question. During the summer months, that can and will be every day. You must had met me, Tanna if you had us watch your dog. Security even brought me a blue herring that they had found injured. We placed it in our cage inside and the bird sanctuary group came the next day to take care of it.

This is not a ride that the park has but Kings Island does offer a pet day care center for the guests to board their pets. Over 95% of the people that come to it does not even know that it even exists. They either would have to leave their pets home, where they might get into trouble, leave them at the motel room, leave them at the camp ground or even some have left them inside their car. Here, they know they are being well looked after and make sure they have plenty of cool water to drink and are under cover, out of the hot sun and elements.

What about adding something like an improved version of a Rock-O-Plane? Americana had a nice one before they closed. It could be located right in Coney Mall.

At least in Ohio, there is a bill at the Senate that will prohibit traffic cameras in the state. Once the Senate passes it and the governor signs it, it will become law, as it should be in all states.

I personally saw my security supervisor force a couple of people sitting on the grassy area to dump all of their beer they were drinking and were advised that it is against park rules to drink alcohol on park property. If you are in your car drinking and Mason PD, who actively patrols the lot) observe you drinking in your car will do one of three things: Test you for being DUI if you have physical control of your car, cite you for having an open container or if you are lucky, force you to dump all of your beer. Mason PD will give you no break if you stopped for DUI or are parked drinking in your car if you have physical control. They have a zero tolerance for drinking and driving, as do other police units in the area.

Also the movie discount might not apply to first run showings of big hits during the evening shows. Look for the caveat that saids restrictions apply.

The report said it was caused by faulty wiring that had been corroded by Sandy underneath one of the buildings. When they reconstructed the boardwalk and buildings from the storm, didn't the electrical inspectors inspect all of the wiring for damage from all of the salt water blown in by Sandy? Salt is highly corrosive and does not take much to corrode the wiring. Also, how much of the damage caused by the fire would be covered by insurance and not by the State? I would guess the shops and city would have full coverage insurance, including fire, on the buildings and boardwalk.

I have a saying that "Hurried work, is worried work." Do we expect ride operators to rush from rider to rider as fast as they can to do their safety checks just so they can dispatch that car two minutes quicker? Do we want these workers to pretend they are pit crew workers at NASCAR and Indy car races and get the race car out on the track as fast as they can? I prefer they do their job in a very safe manner and not rush like their lives depend on it or in this case, dispatch that car two minutes quicker. Do we also look at other workers at the park and expect them to work at a very fast pace? Do we expect that sweeper to walk very fast and hurry and sweep up that piece of paper lying on the ground and rush to that next piece of trash? These workers will get themselves burned out very fast if they are expected to have someone crack the whip and have them work at neck break pace, just to have that ride dispatch a couple of minutes faster while the average rider do not care if it is dispatched a couple of minutes faster. If you expected workers to work at this fast pace on jobs outside of the park, these employers will have a large turnover of employees and morale would dropped significantly. This fast pace that we expect ride operators to work reminds me of the turtle and the hare. The hare raced off at a fast, neck breaking speed while the turtle took to a constant, slower pace. The hare burned himself out and the turtle's constant pace allowed him to win the race.