Tr0y

Yeah, CP is a different animal being that it offers its own overnight lodging. They should cater to those who book overnight stays. Strickly speaking in terms of Kings Island. I, having no wife or kids have spent enough money to buy a family of 3 a gold pass, with food and drink plans for the season. I guess my argument is the more visits an individual makes at the park, the more likely they are going to spend, hence they will spend more money over the course of the season than say a person who King Island visited 4-5 times.

I mean, in fairness. It's common knowledge and well documented that you don't like the guy. So, no surprise you got the cold shoulder. I say that with all due respect, as someone who watches your show.

Then why make cuts to guest experience versus just asking for more money? If CF was so confident that is the case. What's a $10 increase to season passes across the board? When you have a payment plan system in place which $10 may increase the monthly bill by roughly a dollar? I don't think many if any customers would fuss at that, and it would be a lot less visible than some of the current cuts to guest experience. If KI sold let's say, 1 million season passes with a $10 increase across the board that becomes a pretty good chunk of coin. Likely enough to pay for said cuts, and then some. In a twisted sense, it appears that the current CEO of CF is wanting to keep prices cheap and essentially attract Walmart customers, yet the current CEO of Six Flags publicly stated he's trying to avoid that. It will be interesting to see what happens post-merger.

I guess it would depend on how you look at it. I would think season pass holders spend more at the park for the year versus the annual or semi-annual guest. However your annual or semi-annual guest will spend more per visit. For example, I’ve spent $1055.17 at Kings Island for the 2023 season. I visited the park 34 times, which breaks down $31.03 a visit which in turn is cheaper than a single day ticket.

Leaders seek $20M from taxpayers to help symphony with Coney Island conversion: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/01/leaders-want-20-million-from-ohio-for-coney-island-music-venue/72435678007/

Welcome back Chad!

Yeah falling off one does that to you.

I'm probably in the minority but I'm a bit excited about the potential of what can come from this. $118 Million is a significant investment going into that area. They could repurpose some of the old buildings along the original midway of Coney Island and turn that into an area that has bars and restaurants and really make it a place to hang out before the concert starts. Being that the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra having deep roots in Music entertainment. I can't picture them wanting to bulldoze a historical entertainment venue such as Moonlight Gardens. It would be nice to see them give it the TLC it deserves and make it a place where it can be viewed again by the public versus being left to rot, along with everything else on the dry side of Coney Island.

SEAS didn't want just a piece of FUN, they wanted the whole thing. Why SeaWorld's $3.4 billion bid to buy Cedar Fair parks is a win-win (usatoday.com)\ RPReplay_Final1706379777.mov

I don’t think this Merger will create a monopoly by any stretch. For one, I’d expect post merge that SIX will have a sell off of some of its parks to pay down its debts. Also, with amusement parks being a segment of entertainment, there is still a lot of competition in that space. For example, Kings Island is competing against the Reds, Bengals, AMC Theatre’s, Cincy Zoo and so on.

With some of the ride name changes over the years you can always tell what generation of KI's kids' area you grew up in. I will always remember Race for your life Charlie Brown as: Wild Thornberry's River Adventure Flying Ace Ariel Chase as: Runaway Reptar

They’re getting ready to add additional parks to their portfolio after they purchase some from the fire sale Six Flags will be having post merger.

Yeah, having access to seating for any show is key. I've noticed during the Sounds of The Nativity Show people would stop, listen for a bit then leave. KI should repurpose some straw bales from haunt for guest seating.

I figure I'd see "riding Chad's behind" would be in a lot of people's top rides here.

If I’m not mistaken Coasterstock was originally supposed to make its debut in 2014 but was delayed to 2015 because ACE was hosting its spring conference at the park for 2014.

The Cincinnati Zoo also charges an additional $1.29 for whipped cream. These cups look familiar too. Must be another Merger in the works.

I'm okay with Coney Island being sold, and honestly who here actually frequented Coney Island more than say, Kings Island any given year? I can't even count on two hands on how many times I've been to Coney Island in my lifetime. Nobody likes change, and although it will be sad to see the historic pool go, I am excited to see what the future holds. I do hope that MEMI saves historic/existing structures and incorporate those into the music/entertainment district they are proposing to make. Two structures I would like to see incorporated would be Moonlight Gardens, and the Main gate. If you had to choose a couple structures to be saved, what would they be?

It appears at least for Carowinds they’re attempting to do something similar for Fast Lane. With the exception of it requiring to use your QR code on the band to scan.

I thought KI finished the year strong with Winterfest this season. The Christmas Lights were incredible and were probably the best out of all of the parks I visited with their respective Christmas events. Although I think a lot of people would agree, the coaster lineup for Winterfest leaves much to be desired. The food offerings were definitely a step up compared to the offerings during the regular season. My favorite meal offering being The Shepard's Pie. The second thing that came to mind after "Yum!" was "Where has this been all season?!" The merchandise has been fantastic and, in my opinion, has been that way for the season. It was nice to see merch make its way from Knotts to the park in time for Winterfest.

Stranger Danger!

The current VIP area would make a great place for food trucks

So keeping the holiday spirits up, and already have visited other Holiday events, also being that my schedule allowed I taken an impromptu trip to Carowinds. The drive down, was quiet congested with holiday travelers I assume making there way home on i77. Typically the turnpike for me is faster, but because of traffic the tolls were backed up, and this inadvertently caused me to arrive at Carowinds an hour late. As I entered the park, the first order of business was Dinner. Because of my previous experience I had this summer at the park I chose to eat at Harmony Hall, which is a smaller version of KI’s Fest Haus. One thing I noticed was how the menu was trimmed down. The BBQ restaurant from my previous visit had a variety of proteins. Now only 3 options. Not sure if that’s because of Winterfest or if that’s to be a future trend. I got the carved turkey breast mac & cheese, corn bread and gravy. The food what was to be expected, the turkey was especially moist and tender. After eating I made my way to outside to digest some of this food, and take in the scenery around me. The park was busy, with lines for Fury325 and Copperhead strike being over an hour long. Carowinds uses its Wind seeker for its Tower Christmas Tree. In my opinion it didnt look as great as KD’s or KI’s decorated Eifle Towers. However their Sky Tower ride was open and taking guest up 262ft to give you a panoramic view of the decorated park from above. I did not get to ride this unfortunately due to time constraints. For time I had available I mainly used it for riding their coasters. First ride / coaster of the night was Fury 325. Incredible ride, definitely worthy of number 1 spot in the golden ticket awards. Afterwards I rode Copperhead strike. One thing I noticed was both coasters were operating with 2 trains. This and the crowd level caused longer lines than normal, however Kings Island only operates 1 train for Flight of Cheer. I did not get to ride Mountain Gliders, due to an unruly guest in line which ultimately stopped the ride from operating and security had to be called. I could have waited, but based off time left for the park being opened I got out of line and made my way back to Fury. Doing so paid off big time. The line was much shorter, and after getting off the ride for whatever reason the Ride associate didn’t close the line at 10pm. So I got back in line at 10:04pm. As the train returned to the station to what was seemly the last ride of the night, everyone was chanting: “One more ride!” and to my surprise the Ride Ops granted our wish. I finished my night at Carowinds with 1 Ride on Copperhead strike and 4 rides on Fury325. The following day I took a quick detour to Sevierville to visit the world’s largest knife store, Smokey Mountain Knife works. For lunch I stopped at Buc-ee’s. Once back in the Cincinnati Area, I stopped at KI for Dinner and a couple rides on Mystic. I had a lot of fun during my short stay in Carowinds, to wrap up my travel plans for the 2023 season, cant wait to return there again in 2024!

Agreed, there is also those partitioned off rooms that could be repurposed.

Tis’ the season.