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Gift shop apparel.


gigacoaster2k
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I think its kinda wierd that KI has that "girl space" store that sells a lot of things for girls rooms, (mostly junk), but yet they have a horrible selection of womens and girls shirts. I agree CP has a way better selection of apparel merchandise, hopefully the new Diamondback Giftshop will carry some decent womens apparel ;)

Treading carefully here:

Do you mean women's apparel for decent people or do you mean apparel for women that's decent?

(Terpy, deserving an answer of Yes, tee hee)

Wow.. It pretty much just means, something that women would like to wear. No more black tee-shirts with boyish designs. Maybe make some things more femine or at least look better when wearing. Girl space is pretty much for little girls into princesseee like stuff.

that's EXACTLY what i meant

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I have noticed that the coaster apparel in the gift shops seems to appeal to pretty much the male crowd.

(Just like the demographic of this site.)

I completely disagree. This is one of the very few enthusiast websites I have joined that does not treat someone differently because they are female. If I had noticed such a thing, I would have been gone a long time ago.

I think you misunderstood my comment. I was just pointing out that the majority of coaster fanatics appear to be male...and if this site is any indication it is a big majority. If you check out the overall top 100 posters and look at their (supposed) gender you will find that there are 75 males, 24 "not specified" (and the majority of them that I am familiar with are guys) and 1 whole female...and you wanna guess who that is?! (Just go look in a mirror!)

I first noticed that this seemed to be more of a "guy thing" at the KIC get-togethers. Also, don't get me wrong, I think it's great when girls/women are coaster fanatics. (My mom was one...my dad hates them...if it weren't for her I wouldn't have ridden coasters so early in my life.)

When I made my comment it was just a light-hearted observation that the way you see Kings Island's t-shirt selection for being mainly dominated by guys is also the way I see this site...I did not mean to imply that you girls were treated as inferiors either here or at the park...sorry if I offended you...I hope you are this passionate about the park your whole life!

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Speaking of gifts is there a website that sells merchandise for the park? I haven't seen on but I'm sure if there were I would buy from it all the time. Also I think I read somewhere in the forums along time ago the KIC had their own tees are there any available still? I think a KIC tee would be a great way for members to locate each other on days we went to the park. For those of us who want to be located.

KICentral still has the store, but as Terpy pointed out the link from the main page doesn't work. This will take you there: http://www.cafepress.com/KICentral

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I feel like I might be able to explain the entire process of how KI puts out merchandise. I worked at KI in '07 as a merchandise supervisor, so there was a lot of new stuff coming in because CF now owned KI.

The merchandise dept. would get a new t shirt design and/or some other type of merchandise; and depending on how many stores they were planning to put it in they would normally order 50 of each size (or item) per store. They would then wait to see what sells. Some items would sell so quickly that we couldn't keep it in the warehouse, but if that specific design didn't sell fast enough they usally never ordered it again. They instead would try to replace it with a different design. In all if I am guessing correctly KI put out at least 200 different designs of clothing both mens and womens.

In '07 KI did make a huge attempt to have a nice girls line of clothing, but I saw more girls that would buy the guys clothes instead. I worked in Thrillseekers and we had at least 30+ different types of shirts there, along with some other girlish things. At my store they never sold any of them so we never ordered anymore.

So when they tried to put a girls line in '07 it really didn't work and they lost a lot of money, because we marked a lot of it down. Now I think they just stick to a few basic designs but nothing like the the line they tried to bring out in '07.

P.S. personally I think that the girls stuff never sold, becasue a lot of it was not super attractive or even realated to KI.

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I feel like I might be able to explain the entire process of how KI puts out merchandise. I worked at KI in '07 as a merchandise supervisor, so there was a lot of new stuff coming in because CF now owned KI.

The merchandise dept. would get a new t shirt design and/or some other type of merchandise; and depending on how many stores they were planning to put it in they would normally order 50 of each size (or item) per store. They would then wait to see what sells. Some items would sell so quickly that we couldn't keep it in the warehouse, but if that specific design didn't sell fast enough they usally never ordered it again. They instead would try to replace it with a different design. In all if I am guessing correctly KI put out at least 200 different designs of clothing both mens and womens.

In '07 KI did make a huge attempt to have a nice girls line of clothing, but I saw more girls that would buy the guys clothes instead. I worked in Thrillseekers and we had at least 30+ different types of shirts there, along with some other girlish things. At my store they never sold any of them so we never ordered anymore.

So when they tried to put a girls line in '07 it really didn't work and they lost a lot of money, because we marked a lot of it down. Now I think they just stick to a few basic designs but nothing like the the line they tried to bring out in '07.

P.S. personally I think that the girls stuff never sold, becasue a lot of it was not super attractive or even realated to KI.

I'll give my input, and I know this not the case for everyone, but only what I went through.

My family was in Thrillseekers last year, to get a shirt for my daughter. She is 13.

We ended up with no shirt, even after visiting the other shops too.

Her problem is, she likes the "girly" fitting shirts, but was not happy with the designs on them.

She will NOT wear anything pink, yellow, or girly in color. Same goes for hearts. Put a heart on a shirt, and fogret about it.

She was wanting a "girly" cut T-shirt, with The Beast logo on it. We were in every shop in the park that we could find, but did not come across one.

Maybe we were just frustrated because we couldn't find what we wanted. But I remember getting upset about the fact that there seemed to be 20 gift shops, all carrying identical merchandise. Whats the point of having different shops, if they all carry the same stuff?

Anyways, we are hoping that this year we'll find her one, maybe with a 30th logo on it as well. I know I'll be stopping in Thriiseekers to get my Diamondback T-shirt this year!!!

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Standbyme, you're all right, I was sure you meant no offense.. I'm just one who always feels the need to state my opinion. :lol:

Clarification on the topic: By coaster apparel meant for girls, I meant something I can proudly wear that screams Kings Island. I would just like to see something in my size that simply shows I am a KI enthusiast, and a fan of the rides and coasters, but not too girly.

I have three shirts from Cedar Point that are a great example of this.

DSC00106.jpg

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I'll give my input, and I know this not the case for everyone, but only what I went through.

My family was in Thrillseekers last year, to get a shirt for my daughter. She is 13.

We ended up with no shirt, even after visiting the other shops too.

Her problem is, she likes the "girly" fitting shirts, but was not happy with the designs on them.

She will NOT wear anything pink, yellow, or girly in color. Same goes for hearts. Put a heart on a shirt, and fogret about it.

She was wanting a "girly" cut T-shirt, with The Beast logo on it. We were in every shop in the park that we could find, but did not come across one.

Maybe we were just frustrated because we couldn't find what we wanted. But I remember getting upset about the fact that there seemed to be 20 gift shops, all carrying identical merchandise. Whats the point of having different shops, if they all carry the same stuff?

Anyways, we are hoping that this year we'll find her one, maybe with a 30th logo on it as well. I know I'll be stopping in Thriiseekers to get my Diamondback T-shirt this year!!!

You could always buy that special paper for your printer that allows you print things off, then iron the design to a shirt. Just go to walmart, target, or any other store where you can find a plain shirt, whether it be fitted or whatever, then just iron whatever design you printed off onto a shirt. That way you could make a fitted Beast shirt for your daughter and you can customize it to your liking. Also, I think you can buy the special paper at Staples, but i'm not sure. I'm sure you could find it online.

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Cedar Point does have the most merchandise, for signature Cedar Point stuff. now for shopping well i would say other parks, but for general cedarpoint stuff its the point, I mean out of all the amusement parks, Cedar Points has the highest selection...Knotts doesnt even have as much but they have a great 40-50 shop ghost town that is great,,,,,,,

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One thing I noticed about CP's gift shops versus KI's gift shops, is a lot of KI's gift shops have non-KI related clothing. Stuff you could buy at Hot Topic or even Wal-Mart. That makes no sense to have at a park, IMO. If I'm paying the increased price for clothing at a park, I want it to relate to the park, not be something I could buy anywhere out in the general public shopping world. When I worked at the park and had a really nice discount, I did buy quite a bit of that sort of clothing (especially in the store that used to be called The Rock Shop, not sure what it's name is now) but only because I had a nice discount. I'd never buy it at KI's full price.

CP had tons and tons of shirts with their name on them, and lots of shirts for each coaster. The only thing I had a problem finding was one that had the 'skyline' of the park on it rather than just the name. I got a towel and a magnet with the design I wanted but they only had the fitted girl's shirts with that design. I asked a merch supervisor about it, they call the design "Diamond Dust" and it's one of their most popular designs, yet they only put it on clothes that fit a small percentage of the population (they only carried 'teen' sizes - Angie, you might have been able to wear it, but I sure couldn't), which makes no sense to me.

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I have noticed that the coaster apparel in the gift shops seems to appeal to pretty much the male crowd.

(Just like the demographic of this site.)

It seems that about 98 percent, if not all, of the coaster apparel is a mens size L - 3XL.

The problem is all inside your head she said to me the answer is easy if you take it logically...just start packing on the pounds and you will have a whole new world of t-shirt choices!

every time i go the largest shirt is in a 2x i would love to find the 3x

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One thing I noticed about CP's gift shops versus KI's gift shops, is a lot of KI's gift shops have non-KI related clothing. Stuff you could buy at Hot Topic or even Wal-Mart. That makes no sense to have at a park, IMO. If I'm paying the increased price for clothing at a park, I want it to relate to the park, not be something I could buy anywhere out in the general public shopping world.

I am glad we share that perspective. I think the issue here is that KI's gift shop apparel is mostly aimed at the general public, with little thought for coaster enthusiasts. With Diamondback now here, I think it's time that a change is made.. there are people driving from far and wide to Kings Island this year, and I'm sure many of them will want to see some coaster apparel in their size.

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  • 3 weeks later...

New Kings Island Insider Blog update includes infromation about the new Diamondback Gift Shop!

With the addition of Diamondback to the Rivertown area, an exciting line of merchandise items will be offered at the new DB Trading Post store. There will be T-shirts, hats, glassware, buttons and much more, all displaying the Diamondback logo. General park merchandise, including Beast 30th anniversary apparel and souvenir items, will also be available at the DB Trading Post.
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New Kings Island Insider Blog update includes infromation about the new Diamondback Gift Shop!

With the addition of Diamondback to the Rivertown area, an exciting line of merchandise items will be offered at the new DB Trading Post store. There will be T-shirts, hats, glassware, buttons and much more, all displaying the Diamondback logo. General park merchandise, including Beast 30th anniversary apparel and souvenir items, will also be available at the DB Trading Post.

I will be thrilled (no pun intended) to say the least if the point (another unintended pun) I have been trying to get across has been noticed.

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^^Yes, but as Terpy has pointed out, all the merch in the world means nothing if popular sizes aren't available and the designs suck!

I saw some pretty good stuff for Behemoth, so I remain hopeful! However, other than that first D-back shirt last year, I thought the others after that were meh in design...

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am bumping this thread to give mention to the merchandise in the DB Trading Post gift shop, and whoever did the sizes for the first rider tees. I am very happy.

In the DB gift shop, I noticed junior's DB shirts in my size. I didn't buy one on opening day, but I will definitely be buying at least one.

And when I requested a size small for my first rider tee, it was a perfect fit. It wasn't a huge mens size small, it was a womens size small. I was ecstatic that I could proudly wear a first rider shirt that fit me.

Thank you, Kings Island. :)

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My g'f noticed the shirt that says Save a Tree Ride a Steel Coaster. She almost bought it. I don't know if any of you girls noticed it or not?

I saw it and almost bought it. Still contemplating that purchase, actually. I really liked it because it looked so different from all the other shirts.

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  • 10 years later...

Has anybody seen The Beast mini basketballs or the Yellow and Black Charlie Brown mini basketballs in the Emporium lately?  Last time I was at the park, they only had Diamondback and Banshee ones, but I'd really like to have The Beast one?  I made the mistake of not purchasing it earlier in the season when I saw them and have not seen them since.

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