It was said in jest, Don. 

Some don’t give the park a free pass, nor should they. 

Definitely this. This spot is usually packed, but still seems like a waste of a great indoor seating area. It’s a shame it’s on the same side as Grill and Grain in that it would be great to have a full sit down Italian restaurant “featuring” LaRosas pizza but that also had pasta dishes and salads. Wonder if the “Italy” side could ever be reconfigured to add that and use the Starbucks space for the displaced retail, then site build a new “Garden Cafe featuring Starbucks” where Shooting Star standing now. Nice indoor/ outdoor seating. Busy path, yet slightly “out of the way”. Great place to have featured breakfast items. 

I think the main issue here is that Cedar Flags doesn't know how to treat this kind of area in terms of stores. Most of the other parks have 1, maybe 2 merchandise shops in their entrance areas — Kings Island has 4, with one of them being the size of two shops at other parks. There's 5 shops if you count Sweet Spot. Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland's shops feel more spread out due to how their entrance areas differ from KI's I-Street, so even if you go to all of them they still seem different enough. Part of that is also probably how few times I've been there, but my point still stands. Cedar Point has (I believe) 4-5 shops along the main stretch of the Main Midway, but one of those is completely dedicated to Peanuts merch while the rest are more varied overall between the Pagoda Gift Shop being the most like Emporium, the Button Stop shop selling buttons and pins (and being a stand more than a shop), and the Point Plaza shop being like KI Collections. The small CP Ride Shop has historically sold the same items as the other big shops, but seemed very focused on nano-coasters and ride plushies. Hopefully the merch situation will improve as the company's financials improve and as Tony Carovillano gets more comfortable in his new position as Park President. My biggest wants are for KI Essentials to continue having items that guests might've forgotten at home (medicine and cheap shirts/shorts/hoodies/pants) and for KI Trading Company to have merch from around the park (items from each area of the park collected there because it's a trading depot). Would the situation also improve by Herschend buying KI? Probably, but they just bought a ton of properties and don't need to expand again just yet. Imagine how this would feel if Starbucks' dining room was still a store too... (That space needs to be used for a different restaurant as well. Put Starbucks somewhere else that doesn't have a giant indoor dining room attached.)   A lot of the issues I've seen/heard/read about in the park feel like things that have been happening for years now, and are only compounded by the poor financial situation Six Flags is in. The merchandise issues have only been worsened by the inclusion of the AI shirts and magnets. The F&B issues have been the same since 2023, though I will give the park credit because they've changed up the menus a little and have consistently had stocked fountain drinks. 

Nope- just observing. Had a great day.