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Banshee gift shop converted to arcade


chuck norris
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5 minutes ago, chuck norris said:

This has probably been this way all year, but I noticed it tonight... The gift shop at the exit of Banshee has been totally conveyed to a crane machine arcade.


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Not all year...but the switch over happened within the past two weeks.

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1 hour ago, chuck norris said:

This has probably been this way all year, but I noticed it tonight... The gift shop at the exit of Banshee has been totally conveyed to a crane machine arcade.


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Are you still forced to walk through it as you exit, or can you now escape out the gate at the bottom of the stairs?

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9 hours ago, jcgoble3 said:

Are you still forced to walk through it as you exit, or can you now escape out the gate at the bottom of the stairs?

No. I think this is fairly recent. Looks REALLY lame. Retail is an aspect of the park that needs some work. It’s such a good way to increase guest spending, but you have to give them something good to buy. Shot glasses with a ride logo on them can only go so far. “Ride theme” shops are hard to keep relevant for long. 

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16 hours ago, chuck norris said:

This has probably been this way all year, but I noticed it tonight... The gift shop at the exit of Banshee has been totally conveyed to a crane machine arcade.


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Wait...what?

I worked at the Banshee store for my first year at Kings Island way back in 2014. If this is true, it greatly saddens me. You're saying the entire gift shop is nonexistent? What about the ride photo?

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No. I think this is fairly recent. Looks REALLY lame. Retail is an aspect of the park that needs some work. It’s such a good way to increase guest spending, but you have to give them something good to buy. Shot glasses with a ride logo on them can only go so far. “Ride theme” shops are hard to keep relevant for long. 

Also, as more lockers are required, I would expect these end of ride shops to do worse... As some will leave their wallets in the locker.

You can probably jump out before entering the building... But it's not going to save much time as the interior is really open now, so it doesn't slow you down at all to walk through.


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3 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

We were really shocked after scanning FunPix yesterday.   Woah what happened here?   Hopefully they will do something with that room as it just doesn’t feel right at all.  Black lights and spooky music, IDK but something.  

I was thinking about this a bit earlier today and I think they should have a display/museum. Maybe they could add a replica of Banshee and/or Son of Beast. Have some old photos of KI, Son of Beast, and Banshee. Having something like that would be cool.

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17 minutes ago, JubJester said:

I was thinking about this a bit earlier today and I think they should have a display/museum. Maybe they could add a replica of Banshee and/or Son of Beast. Have some old photos of KI, Son of Beast, and Banshee. Having something like that would be cool.

Something like Town Hall at Cedar Point would be awesome!

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The Banshee gift shop was closed and cleared out at the start of July. I believe the arcade machines moved in this week. The station/exit building is a cool space, so it's a bit sad to see the former gift shop area going to waste.

I will say that in all my times riding Banshee, I can't recall seeing anyone buy something there.

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I thought it was a bit ill conceived to add it at the bottom of the staircase like they did below the station.  At least have it after a longer path so the people thin out a bit before entering.  Its one of the worst bottleneck points in the park, especially with Banshee's mass capacity. 

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56 minutes ago, malem said:

The Banshee gift shop was closed and cleared out at the start of July. I believe the arcade machines moved in this week. The station/exit building is a cool space, so it's a bit sad to see the former gift shop area going to waste.

I will say that in all my times riding Banshee, I can't recall seeing anyone buy something there.

I bought a shirt there one time.

I noticed this on Saturday while Pokemon hunting before Cirque; it was really weird to see, but at the same time, the space is more open now. Makes you wonder where all the merch is now, or where it may end up in the future...

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5 hours ago, HandsUp said:

Seems kind of trashy TBH. I very, very rarely buy anything at these (exit through the) gift shops, but to me it is all part of the experience, at least browsing to see what they had...esp. with such a brandable coaster like Banshee.

I agree. It looks like what it (hopefully) is and very temporary. It definitely needs some rethinking in the long run. 

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I wouldn't call an arcade "trashy." I mean, it's not like they've turned it into a "Cash 4 Gold" place. :P

I haven't seen what this looks like yet, but I'm okay with it being an arcade. If I'm not mistaken, you can get most, if not all the same shirts at the nearest shop.

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Not “trashy” as much as just really slapped together looking. Anyone can tell it’s an “out of business” retail store with a few games thrown in. Like a dying mall. It’s not like they even tried to find games that match the “theme” 

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7 hours ago, JubJester said:

I'm pretty sure it's just a temporary thing. I highly doubt it would just stay as an arcade.

I'd venture to say that it's here to stay.  The way that the industry works in this matter is that they figure out the revenue per square foot.  Releasing it to the arcade company was justified because they could either make the same amount of money or more with less labor.  

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23 hours ago, HandsUp said:

Seems kind of trashy TBH. I very, very rarely buy anything at these (exit through the) gift shops, but to me it is all part of the experience, at least browsing to see what they had...esp. with such a brandable coaster like Banshee.

I think "trashy" is a good word to describe most of the merchandise in KI shops these days.

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3 minutes ago, JAHill said:

I think "trashy" is a good word to describe most of the merchandise in KI shops these days.

As I've alluded to in several post this morning, I have many worries about "trashiness" around Kings Island - especially with the extremely low dress code and appearance standards this year.  The merchandise is way, way down my list of concerns.  I'm not one to wear Kings Island shirts or apparel, but I don't think any of it necessarily qualifies as trashy.

Just my opinion.

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