I like the idea of After Hours events at Kings Island, they just need to provide a little more than 4 coasters, no flat rides, and only 1 dining location open. See one of my posts above for more on that.  Something I'd do differently is to put the dessert buffet in the International Restaurant. It has more seats and feels more premium than G&G does. If there are more people at the event than it can hold, then I'd make 1 hour time slots that start at 7:00, 8:30, and 10:30. That's 117 guests per seating (180 if they also open the Carousel Room), and 351 total guests (540 guests w/ the CR) for the event if you limit it to just however many fit in the dining room. I'll admit 30 minutes is a little short of a turnaround time between each seating depending on how many associates are dedicated to the event. They could also have guests use the compostable trays and paper cups if washing all of the dishes between each seating is an issue. I'd be interested to see how many guests would be needed to deem an event like this to be viable. I'm sure it's a lot more than 351-540; although maybe 1,000+ would work. In that case, sell the buffet as a slight upcharge.

My lunch trip to the park yielded me two great rides through the Phantom Theater! The wait time was 0 minutes (probably thanks to the rain) and I was able to speed right through. Despite the low crowds there was still a grouper at the accessibility door (likely for that reason), one grouper at the turntable, and two associates on the turntable itself. Something interesting was that my second ride placed me in Opera Box #1: the unpaired ride vehicle. It was honestly a really nice experience and I kind of preferred it to having another car right next to me.  The only screens/effects/things that weren't working today were Hilda's second mirror (the TV was off) and I think there was an issue with something in Garbonzo's scene. Other than that I didn't notice anything else being broken. I'll give the park props on this: it looks like they've finally turned down the lighting so the scenes are lit more than everything being lit.  One more thing for my laundry list of little changes I'd love to see made to the ride is that some kind of dim projection should be added to the Backstage door that opens right before we see Maestro at his organ. I think the original had one that looked like a windy Vortex mixed with an endless hallway behind the door marked "DELIVERIES". That would be a really cool way to spruce up a very rigid door movement — but it wouldn't do much besides fixing something you barely see.

I think it was an idea, that could have work if planned with the customer in mind. The people in charge of planning these events are more or less out of touch with guests. I reckon, because they don't experience the parks themselves as a guest. I doubt they experience other amusement parks as guest either. I think Kings Island could pull off a similar event such as "Morning Flush". It could be something like this: -Have the event on an early closure day like 7pm. A non-passholder guest who has purchased an event ticket will be granted access to the park at 4pm. (With hopes they purchase a meal before the event starts.) Attendees of the event will be provided a souvenir lanyard which will grant them access to the rides and buffet for ERT. -ERT begins at 7pm onwards. -At 930pm open up Grain and Grill and provide a desert buffet that will last 1 hour. -At 10pm have a Special drone and firework show that is exclusive to the event. -The ERT event ends at 11pm. If they’re feeling generous, midnight.   

Yes, the event sold out. Coastermania | Roller Coaster Event | Cedar Point | Event | Cedar Point

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