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Coasterstock: 9 Months To Plan, 12 Hours To Sell Out The Event


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Going into its 6th year, Coasterstock gets more popular each year and has become a staple event for coaster enthusiasts from around the world. For the hundreds of guests that are attending, they are in for hours of morning and evening ERT on the park's favorite coasters. Other items on the itinerary of the event include a catered lunch one day and dinner on the next, guest speakers, behind the scenes tours, photo contests, and scavenger hunts. The most important part of Coasterstock are the memories and friendships that are created at the event. We have even had at least one marriage from a couple that met at Coasterstock. 

What does it take to put on an event like Coasterstock?  The coasters are there, Chef Major can just whip up some lunch and dinner for hundreds of guests pretty easily right?  Well, for the normal guest and even enthusiasts it sure seems like this would not be a big deal for the park to put together easily and then we just show up. When I spoke to Don Helbig, Area Manager, Digital Marketing at Kings Island about what it takes to put on a two day coaster event, this is what he had to say: "There is a lot involved in putting together an event like Coasterstock. It touches every division. Planning begins nine months out, starting with establishing the lineup for the morning and night exclusive ride sessions. We have to stay within a certain footprint with the ride groupings so we can get the rest of the park ready to open the next day or morning after a day of operation. Once the ride schedule has been set, then it’s on to adding in the behind-the-scenes opportunities and catered meal times. We have participants representing more than 20 states, Canada and Europe every year, so we want to make sure that we’re allowing enough time around the Coasterstock activities for everyone to enjoy and experience the rest of the park. In January, the event gets published on our website and we begin the process of setting up the ticket packages in the online store. Once tickets are set up, we’re ready to announce the on-sale date and begin promoting the date on our owned and shared channels. The event t-shirt and lanyards are ordered around the beginning of March. Once the t-shirts and lanyards come in, we begin the process of fulfilling the pre-check orders. This can take up to a week to complete."

With the addition of Orion and the quality of the event put on by the park, KICentral members knew that this year's event would be more popular than ever before. KICentral admin worked closely with the park to get accurate and informative information to those that were interested in the event leading up to the day tickets went on sale. On February 3rd tickets for the sixth Coasterstock went on sale at 10:00AM. Within 12 hours of them going on sale, the hundreds of open spots for the event were gone. This was the fastest the park has sold out for Coasterstock since it started. Here is what Don Helbig had to say about it selling out so quickly: "The anticipation and excitement surrounding the debut season for Orion combined with Coasterstock selling out further in advance last year than ever before made it a recipe for tickets to sell out fast this year. There was a fear of missing out so people were ready to get their tickets the moment they went on sale on Monday."

A lot of KICentral members are very excited about the 6th year of Coasterstock. The admin team at KICentral hopes this is another memorable event making memories and creating friendships that last a lifetime. What are you looking forward to the most about Coasterstock this year?

 

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