Leaderboard

In other news, Weebles Wobble, but they don't fall down..

Ringmaster has a point when he talks about finding the scaredy cat. Their fear can reverberate down the hall. Whenever I see a person riding the Monster with an expression as if they were reading the New York Times, I laugh. Who goes onto rides to diss them? Or keep themselves as cool and reserved as possible? Riding an amusement as if it were a bore? Hardly anyone. That's why they stand out so much when they do ride as if it were a mere distraction in their busy day of lurching. (When I see an expressionless person on a ride ( and they are usually alone, for a reason), I think of Lurch from the Addams Family.) But when it comes to Haunted Houses, the patrons sometimes begrudge themselves the party they paid for. They go through the maze yawning, bragging that they are not frightened, etc.. It's a bore. I hate to be with those sort of people in my group. They spoil the fun that I bought a ticket to have. I try to winnow that type away from me. If only there were a way for the Gatekeeper of the houses to lead that sort into a different door, that led into an empty alley. They would get what they wanted, a completely scare free experience, and the patrons that want to join in the fun can have the scares that they want. Sometimes I scream because I'm with someone who's easily scared, and it's fun to watch their faces. A monster scares me, I scream, my scaredy cat friend screams, and it's fun. I'm a patron scaring a fellow patron, imagine the fun of being paid to do the same thing? One has to accept the mindset that the world has been taken over by these monstrous things, and allow themselves some fun.

So what was the park supposed to do when a storm was approaching? Safety is paramount. It makes no difference whether the park is open to the public or has been bought out for a private event. The park, and not the private group, will decide when rides are safe to operate.

It was a beautiful Service, and it was no surprise to me to see the parking lot, and the church, overflowing with people who's lives Keith touched at some point or another. I will re-iterate what I said to a few of us who spent time together afterwards to be support for one another, when I say that: A)41 is WAY too young to die. B)As nice, and humble a Man Keith was, He was likely looking down upon the full church during the Service and said "Wow, I truly didnt know I had that many Friends and people who I meant so much to".

The park DESERVES distinctive music, not the same stuff I can more easily ignore while walking by American Eagle (the store) and Abercrombie & Fitch and Wet Seal.

I haven't been on here lately, and this was so shocking when I read this. I feel like I knew him from reading his posts. I am sure he will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

^ THIS. There's no better way to say it than that. Nothing gets under my skin at Haunt more than being trapped with a herd of people--of any age, really--who go out of their way to announce they aren't scared, then try to either scare the scareactors or deadpan and then get in the scareactors' faces in an attempt to intimidate them. You're at an amusement park during Halloween, for goodness sakes! On the other end of the spectrum, I get a kick out of watching groups of people/couples where one person is terrified, but all members are still having fun. It's not like they're making fun of the scared person, because the scared person is still laughing, too. That's the point of a scary Halloween event for me.

If it woobles, I think they should just taer it down. I'm not sure. It's just a theroy.

cuase he got his memory wiped out because of the accident. Badum shhhhh!

^Yep, the drink was named "Magnum" and it was featured on both the attraction sign and on queue TVs, alongside some physical cans in the attraction too I think. Some performers also shouted out things like "Magnum did this to me!", which was a nice touch. For Insanity, the same idea would be applied but in more detail - maybe have some queue TVs in the line playing some a news story on the drink and the chaos it's causing, constantly mention the drink in the house, etc.

Stay strong my friends. Those who cannot be there will certainly be thinking of the family & all of you.

Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down. That brings back memories. I had a Weeble Disneyland castle/ set as a child.

If you think about it, rag time music would be a perfect fit for Coney Mall as it is supposed to be what an amusement park was in the turn of the century to the 1920's. On the topic of music geared to the guests, listen to the music played at a bar and compare it to when last call is near. The music is fast and lively and then it changes tempo to a slower beat. They want you to buy more drink, as you are in a more festive mood and then when they want you to go home, they slow it down. I did a lot of research in my hay day on that subject. I made great friends during my research, Jack, my good friend Bud, Mr. Miller, Mr. Coors, Jim, and my good old grand-dad and all paid for my uncle Sam.

And the Tacoma narrows!

They wouldn't stand for long. Harmonic vibrations and such.

Watch what they do, not what they say. The music they play speaks volumes as to who it is they are targeting, regardless of what they say.

I prefer the music the park had when Kings Island first opened in 1972. Each area had music geared for each section: IS had French accordion style music;Coney Island (Coney Mall) had rag time music;River Town had country music;Octoberfest had German music; and Hanna Barbara Land had cartoon music. Now all they have is generic pop music throughout the park. Music is not to be listen to but is to be felt as background music.

I would love to tour Kings Island during the offseason, hopefully when they'd have a lotof projects going on.

Old-school computer nerds like me call them "lurkers."

It appears the attempt to generate interest has fallen on deaf ears.

I wouldn't try to redeem the VIP Fireworks viewing though. If you don't know why, just trust me.

I think we are seeing a case of potato tomato.

I don't think I've heard any rap on the playlist. The type and era of music isn't as important as the mood it sets. Songs like "Rumor Has It" and "Somebody That I Used To Know" definitely should have been left off. Mixing in some popular, current hits can be a positive thing, as these are the songs the current generation can sing along to. Just pick those hits that will set a festive mood, even in those who don't sing along to current Top 40 songs on their ipod all day long. Also, if the soundtrack needs to be audible throughout the park, more and better speakers should be added to avoid uncomfortable volume levels in certain places.

I always pictured Terpy as this:

For real! If someone who was so miserably desperate as to want to end his or her life broke into the park, and was dedicated enough in their sad endeavor to get past existing barriers, they could achieve their terrible goal. I'm sad that there are human beings who come to such despair; however, I'm glad that there are other human beings standing on the line to help prevent such tragedy.

Did they buy these Wax Museums at Sam's Club?

^They are the exact same slides. Omit faded paint. I'll take The Crypt for 5,000.

And the back of the ticket saids no rain checks in the event of bad weather. The rides close for your own safety in case of lightening and other bad weather. Ever see the movie, Caddy Shack when the priest playing golf in the thunder storm when he was struck by lightening? Same thing with roller coasters in a thunder storm.

With all due respect... are you serious??? Come on, if the park offered 50% off every time the rides closed for a lightning event (they close for lightning within X miles, NOT just rain) Cedar Fair would be broke. The coasters were closed for a total of 15 minutes.. no more, no less.... and did so only ONCE during the event. I was there.

Wow, the rides close when bad weater is approching, it was your choice to leave the park.

This is proably what Son of Beast was like

Really, they're using a generic feed?! There are plenty of commercial music services that allow custom playlists, so they really don't need any infrastructure at all for this. Many businesses do extensive research to figure out which background music will cause their patrons to buy more and stay longer. I'd like to think that a very loud soundtrack at an amusement park would have a bigger effect than the music piped into Meijer stores. After all, the entire point of operating an amusement park is to keep people in high spirits - and spending money - all day long. Even if not at the individual park level, someone could be in charge of music chain-wide. There's really no excuse at all for throwing on a CHR feed and calling it a day, from an investor standpoint or from a guest standpoint. By the way, I don't think themed music in each section is essential - it would be much better to have a great playlist parkwide than bad playlists done by section. Still, Coney Mall really shouldn't be playing any music newer than the 80s.

I saw The Wiggles at Great Adventure, but management changed and they woobled away!

Everything wobbles, even people. Well maybe not a wobble, but a jiggle here and there.

But does it wooble?

Note complete absence of news, opinion and noise. This is either the lull before the storm or not good at all.

As cliched and cheesy as it sounds, that's actually the best method of scaring people (minus simply going RAWR). The quick in-and-out is key when dealing with a haunted house, because you want to not only scare them, but scare them QUICKLY. It's also done so as to keep your audience's suspension of disbelief in check; ergo, they'll be more afraid of something they only get a glimpse of rather than an extended period of time. If there's a situation when a monster is in view of guests and stalking, it's more used as a distraction so another monster can pop in and out and catch the audience off guard. The other key aspect of haunted houses when it comes to scaring is scaring FORWARD. You need to keep guests continuously going forward so as not to cause multiple groups to crash into each other in a section. Therefore, most scares are directed at the middle or back of the group. This is why you hear so many people offer advice in the guise of being at the front of the group if they are scared. Of course, people are inclined to not be front and center when walking through a haunted house, and believe the middle to be the safest. That brings me to the final point in this mini discussion that's more out of place in the current conversation than a vampire at Olive Garden, which is that none of what I just said is laid in stone. Why? Because people are SCARED when they come through a haunted house. It's our JOB to weed out and find those in the group that are the most scared, even if that means splitting up the entire group to get to the one person, or even if it's the ENTIRE group that's scared. Happy Haunting...

Me either-but here we are

TheCrypt: It's pronounced fuh tal. With the tal rhyming with pal.

Some did not find the breaks on Son of Beast amusing. Others thought that ride could have used a few more breaks. And at least a few riders would have been glad to not get the breaks they did on that coaster. Terp, who will put the brakes on this break stuff, for now.

I was reading! Very nice PTR. And no, that isnt my horse! Here she is! Pictures2 608 by KIC-Original, on Flickr

Cedar Fair needs to purchase lots of advertisements in Amusement Today. Problem solved. Next!

Remember, if you do go for an after glow party at your local tavern, make sure you do not drink and drive. Police will be on the look out, as they always do at that time of night for drivers that have had too much to drink. You do not have to be falling down drunk to be arrested for impaired driving. So be safe and do not get behind the wheel.

And on land it owned, not leased from a difficult, cranky political board.

Ahhhh, Bakery! I remember when Bakery was built. It was the first area of the park (other than maintenance and entertainment) that had to deal with a union. The Bakers were actually part of a union.

Stop making sense! The marketing department has no time for things that make sense, are logical or are customer friendly. Jeesh!

Many people didn't know what had happened until after the concert was over. Very, very sad situation.

I remember the very same situation at say "Who Concert." It happend in the middle of MASH - yes when MASH Episodes were new. <G> I remember them breaking in to report the happenings at the Coloseum.