CoastersRZ

And the thing is that all those season pass holders that are eating in the parking lot is a MISSED revenue opportunity. Give pass holders a blanket discount on food items that entices them to actually eat in the park. (Coney Island gives pass holders a 10% discount on food and Platinum Pass holders a 20% discount). Make it so that the prices are reasonable, and they will likely generate more revenue from some of their most loyal customers, which will positively impact the in park spending levels. I know when I went down to Disney World in the fall of 2008, I didn`t think twice about buying 20 oz. soft drinks. Why? Because they were $2.50 a piece. That was far cheaper than the $3.50 that KI was charging for the same item. Yes, Disney is a destination park, but I can`t remember the last time I bought a 20oz. soft drink at KI. I almost always will have a cooler in my car with soft drinks for the drive home. Minimum wage is currently $7.30. Most amusement parks make only minimum wage, so if they were to buy a meal in the park, it would take them nearly two hours of work just to pay for THEIR portion of a meal, not to mention if they were buying for others!

Precisely. I have only been to the GWL two times, once to eat in their eatery, and the other time to get a tour of the water park when I was working on my thesis on indoor water park resorts. I have never actually stayed at the resort over night. I know there are a few posters on here who have stayed there. Some of those posters are NOT from the Cincinnati area, which makes a difference. Especially this time of year when there are ample opportunities for water park experiences besides the Great Wolf Lodge.

The building in the background of that first image is Moonlite Gardens. The image was taken looking to the south, with the now demolished shelter for the stage on the right. The two story portion of the building that stands today is barely visible on the left side of the image.

Notice the last line that was quoted. Granted when KI lost power, the entire park wasn`t evacuated. But it still shows good customer service to those who spent their hard earned money at the park that the park truly cares about their experience.

Sadly, I have never ventured to the Wisconsin Dells. (Even sadder considering my thesis topic was on indoor water parks and Wisconsin Dells is arguably the capital of indoor water park resorts). Someday I hope to make it out there. When I A) have some money for a vacation, have a girlfriend to go with, and most importantly, C) have vacation time from my job.

Well, I`m going to chime in on this article, but not because of the afore mentioned food prices. Rather, I`m going to mention that this Knoxville article mentioned Coney Island! And for a tip for those interested in visiting Coney, be sure to check their website for the "Deal of the Day" this year. They have been having some pretty good discounts on there. Today`s was rides admission for $6.95 (a savings of $5) and yesterday was a pool and ride admission ticket for $16.95, again $5 off). Yes, Coney doesn`t have all the big rides that Kings Island has, but for the price, Coney offers a lot and can certainly make for a nice afternoon visit. And as an aside, this summer so far has been really good to Coney. Records were actually broken on July 3rd this year!

Yes, they are a live feed. But a lot can change in a half hour. Especially if you happened to glance at the webcams shortly after the park opened. The park can fill up rather quickly in the first few minutes of the morning.

I did think I spied a wireless hub mounted on the side of the roof of the candy shop building at the entrance to Coney Mall (near The Racer) when I was at the park this past Wednesday. I can`t confirm as I did not have any wifi devices with me that day. I too spotted one of those odd signs. Not sure what its for, but I`m sure they are there for a reason, and someone knows it.

Through my limited travels, I`ve only managed to ride Diamondback and Intimidator at Carowinds (on opening weekend). I like the turnaround better on Intimidator, but I like the airtime, and setting better on Diamondback. And of course the splashdown is an awesome element on Diamondback. Intimidator is a borderline parking lot coaster as it runs adjacent to the parking lot throughout most of its course. The way Diamondback interacts with the midways, and runs along side the train just makes for an awesome experience, both for those riding it, and those wandering around the park or on board the Kings Island and Miami Valley Railroad.

That is not correct. While The Beast does temporarily suspend operations at approximately 9:45 or 9:50, the line does in fact remain open all the way up until 10pm. Once given the all clear from management after the conclusion of the fireworks, everyone in line will be able to ride, barring of course mechanical issues. They do NOT close the line before 10pm, unless of course there are mechanical issues that prevent the ride from re-opening that evening.

Actually, the live shows offer the same amount of show times as they have had in the past years. In fact, there are the same amount of shows every week as there were when I first started working at Coney in 2002. Also, you forgot to mention one major change on the rides side for this season. The Bumper Boats have reopened (they reopened late on July 3), with a brand new dock, replacing the old twenty year old dock.

Well, technically they painted Vortex`s rails last season. And just because a ride receives a new paint job does not mean it will be around much longer. King Cobra was painted in late 1998 for the 1999 Action Zone addition. The ride was removed in the spring of 2002 (although it last operated in 2001).

Well, for some amusement parks, fire isn`t the biggest enemy. For some parks, flooding is a bigger and more consistent threat. Hopefully everyone ok, and damage is minimal.

"Give `Em the pickle!" Coney subscribes to that philosophy of customer service, and even has "Pickle cards" for its employees with five tips for great customer service.

And I`m kind of surprised that no one has mentioned something. Last year, the park added some power lines that are visible when riding the train ride (near the train house and White Water Canyon`s loading area). Granted, these additional feeds may not have been tied into the area affected by the power outage on Sunday, but it does show that KI has upgraded at least part of their electrical system.

Well, at Coney, there is only ONE exit from the West Parking lot (by Moonlite Gardens). When I left Coney on the 3rd of July at 11:45, the west parking lot was STILL a mess. (The rides closed at 11pm, and the fireworks were at 10pm. There were still cars backed up into the parking lot all the way back to Moonlite Gardens. And that was with about ten cops standing in Kellogg directing traffic out of the parking lot. (And the rides stayed open until 11pm this year, to try and avoid EVERYONE rushing to their cars immediately after the conclusion of the fireworks).

Exactly. I can`t remember the last time I`ve ridden White Water Canyon or Congo Falls at Kings Island. Its been several years, because I typically do not wish to get soaked. I have however, ridden Race For Your Life Charlie Brown this year.

Unfortunately, I have never had a great adventure, and thus have never ridden the ride, and never will be able to. On a side note, the other day when I was at Kings Island, the DBack crew was trying to break the capacity record and break 1600 riders for the first time. They fell one train short, and achieved 1,568 riders. They were literally sending trains through at amazing speed, and were typically waiting on the trains to make their way around the block brakes outside of the station.

Well, if rumors hold to be true, I suppose it makes more sense for a CHANGe to come to SFGAdv which has no stand up coaster, than to go to a park SFGAm that already has a stand up ride. This means thought that yet another Arrow mega-looper is biting the dust. One that is a few years younger than Vortex at Kings Island.

Well, I can tell you that people showed up in droves at Coney this weekend. From what I have heard, Saturday the 3rd, balloon glow day, was a record day for Coney. And yesterday was a lot better than last year`s 4th of July. Last year, it rained nearly all day on the 4th of July (Coney actually closed two hours early last year on the 4th because there was no one at the park because of the weather).

I don`t think KI should have given a straight up refund. I think what they should have done is given comp tickets to those who wanted refunds and had a proof of purchase. That way, the park still gets to keep the money that those guests spent on that day`s admission, and the guest gets an opportunity to enjoy the park on a day when things should run more smoothly, and in turn will end up spending more money in the park. And besides, its not like Cedar Fair is still big on the integrity of the gate price, as they are practically giving the gate away with all the deals and specials they have going on right now.

Exactly why I think it would have been smart on KI to issue refunds to those who requested it and paid for admission. Yes, they would be loosing the admission fee when that guest returned at a later date. But they would be getting at least them in the door again, where they can spend money on food, games and merchandise. And as you stated, they may well bring other people to the park, purchasing admission tickets that they did not intend to buy this year, thus creating even more revenue for the park. Not to mention the good vibe that the guests would have about the park knowing that the park truly cared about their experience and valued their time and money in choosing KI over other entertainment options.

I agree. I would tend to think, and this is just my opinion, that they likely would have given out comp tickets to all those that had paid for their admission (with proof of purchase).

Actually there is a huge difference and of course you would have to have a ticket stub or something to show proof. If it is something out of their control I could see it being under the same umbrella, especially when someone else can be blamed. Mother nature, power company, etc. To cite the article that The Interpreter quoted: So this was a problem with Kings Island equipment not the power companies. I understand where you are coming from that KI has disclaimers stating operating hours, attractions are subject to change, and that they state they cannot issue refunds or rainchecks. However, seeing as how it was the 4th of July holiday, and it resulted in a lengthy inconvenience for guests, and was apparently a park equipment failure, it seems like refunds would have been the right thing to do (for those that paid for admission and had proof of purchased, ie a ticket stub or receipt). And the pickle reference Interpreter is referring to Coney Island with is Coney`s customer service initiative they started last year. All employees have "pickle cards" that state "Give `Em the pickle" stemming from when a restaurant tried to charge for a side of pickles. That upset the customer. The end result was that had the restaurant given the pickles away, they would have had a happy customer. The Coney pickle cards includes the following among others: I`m not disagreeing with what you said Brad. I just think that in this particular situation, the park`s reaction left a bad taste in people`s mind, and resulted in them not liking what happened last time. That will likely result in them NOT returning as customers. It is hard to regain a customer once you have lost them.

Well, I saw a skunk at KI near the Diamondback splashdown a few weeks ago right before close. At Coney, I have seen many animals. There are numerous Blue Gill, Carp, Crappies, and Catfish in Lake Como. In fact, today the fish were eating a pretzel that had been left over from balloon glow the night before. (It was a very slow morning so we were being entertained by the fish feeding frenzy while waiting for our first riders of the day). Then the highlight came when one of the rides mechanics came by with a half of a large pizza he had found from the night before. He threw the pieces into the lake, and the catfish devoured the pizza in about a minute! Coney also has a lot of Canadian geese in and around Lake Como. There also have been known to be lots of skunks around. In fact, we saw a skunk tonight when leaving the park near Scrambler, and skunks have been known to run around Dodgems and Famous Fairways mini-golf once the sun goes down. Once the skunks found their way into the womens restroom in the picnic grove a few years back and that certainly resulted in a foul situation.