CoastersRZ

Unfortunately, I don`t think many people will catch that reference in your last sentence. A few old timers that post here may get it. Have you made it to that place yet this season?

I suppose the grass is always greener on the other side. How do people treat Texas? I have been in Texas one time (flew into Houston and took a cruise that departed from there). I`ve also driven through the Texas panhandle on my way out to Phoenix, AZ back in 1998 for my cousins wedding. Hard to believe that 1998 was 12 years ago. My how time flies.

And the reason for that is that Kings Mills Log Flume (now Race for Your Life Charlie Brown) essentially uses pool water, that is drained for every off season. Kenton`d Cove Keelboat Canal was situated in a lake/pond that was NOT drained every year. In fact, there were fish in that pond, and you could often see them when you were in the queue. I still remember riding Kenton`s Cove Keelboat Canal very fondly. It did not operate the last month or so of the 2000 season, and was in the process of being removed at the beginning of the 2001 season. The ride was certainly showing its age in its last few seasons.

I know that I`ve had snug fitting seat belts on Dragster before last season. And those of you who have met me know that I am not above average in height or weight. I shudder to think how much shorter the belts have gotten. And I have to wonder why they continually want to decrease the size of the belts?

But in which case it would not be utilized in the same manner, nor called the same as in Snoopy`s Starlight Spectacular. The same musings were posited for Cedar Point`s Starlight Experience last year. Not sure what parts, if any, were incorporated into their HalloWeekends event.

Of course, you can only see Starlight Spectacular through Labor day, September 6th (ie the regular amusement park peak season).So don`t wait until October to decide to visit the park to see it, as you will be disappointed.

And the puns just keep on coming!

I had a blast at Islands of Adventure when I went back in 2004. Hard to believe its been six years now. I firmly believe that they have a real winner on their hands with the new Harry Potter area. It will be interesting to see the reviews of the new Harry Potter dark ride once it opens. I have a feeling it may make Spiderman look simplistic by comparison.

Wow, just wow. I saw that one coming though. Be careful of what you speak. Sometimes people can interpret them quite literally.

What are the four corner stones that Cedar Fair wants to instill in its employees? Isn`t customer service one of them? It sure sounds like it is not a top priority. I know at Coney the last few years, they have been really big on customer service. This year, the push is again on customer service, but also keeping the park clean. After all, good customer service will keep the paying customers coming back again and again. And once you loose a paying customer to a bad experience it is incredibly hard, if not impossible, to get them back as a paying customer in the future. Having been a temporary rides manager at the end of last season, I was often called to guest relations or to certain rides to deal with guest complaints. Often these focused on height checking issues, but sometimes these involved rude employees. One particular instance stood out to me. I was able to use the customer service training that Coney had given me (the "LAST" technique of Listen, Apologize, Solution, Thank). The particular customer complaint I fielded was upset about some rude employees working the Ferris Wheel. I listened, apologized and offered him a solution. All he wanted me to do was for me to talk with the employees, and make sure that I was aware of the situation. He was very courteous about it. And I did speak with the employees about the situation. But as is often the case, there are often two sides of the story. Unfortunately, I am not a rides manager again this year (at least not yet). But I am running the rides (particularly the Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel) again at Coney on weekends only. Well, I certainly went off on a wild tangent there. Sorry for straying off topic!

I still find it odd that Holiday World was so quick to unload 2 of the three PTC trains. Given that the new Timberliners are a prototype, it is surprising that they allowed two PTC trains to be sold off before the new trains were clear to take riders. Seems like they would have put a clause in the sale agreement stipulating that the arrival of the second train would be contingent upon receiving their new trains. Fortunately for Holiday World, they did not sell the third PTC train. And for those wondering, it is not possible to run both a Timberliner and a PTC train at the same time. That is according to Holiday World`s head coaster maintenance person (I forget his name, but he was at the Q&A session for Holiday Hustle). Essentially, the computer programs are different for the two trains, since the Timberliners has more brake fins (one per car) versus the PTC trains.

Well, Coney didn`t actually have to break any ground on the Eurobungy Dome or Turtle Parade when those rides were installed in 2008. Eurobungy was installed on the old location of the helicopter ride (which was moved to its current location in 2002). The Turtle Parade was added to the location of Kiddy Circle Freeway, which was retired after the 2007 season. Both of these rides used the existing ride pads from the previous rides. One thing to note, one of the cars from Kiddy Circle Freeway (the firetruck to be exact) has returned to the park this season as a photo opportunity. It is located on the side of the administration building, near the restrooms. This had been a plan since the ride was removed after 2007, but only was implemented this season!

Yes, I need to have a great adventure too. But I`m rather limited in when I can have days off right now, since I`ve only been at this job for a few months now. In due time though, I`ll take my own great adventure.

I often feel old while working at Coney sometimes too. Since this is my 9th season there, the new hires that are 16 this year were 7 years old when I started working at Coney! I hope to find the time to make a visit up to Cedar Point this summer. It will be difficult with my new job, and working at Coney on the weekends. But I`ll find time at some point, I`m sure.

It was certainly a fun day! I can`t wait to go back to Holiday World and experience the Timberliners. I also would like to go to CP and Kings Dominion this year. I know I`ll likely make it to CP this year. Not sure about Kings Dominion. Surprisingly, its been ten years since I was last there (2000).

I work two rides at Coney where we technically assign seats as well. Ferris Wheel and Rock O Planes load one car at a time. So naturally the guests go into whatever car I stop the ride at to load. (And yes, there have been times at the Ferris Wheel when I have started the ride with an empty seat or two, even though there was a line. The reason behind that was to ensure that the ride stayed balanced so "Bad Things" didn`t happen.)

And I`m sure others can correct me if I`m wrong, but I`m fairly certain that The Beast had a separator the first few years it was open, regulating the flow of guests on the loading platform. And as others have stated, the single rider line is a standby line. Entering it, you take your chances with the wait time, as it depends in part on how many odd numbered groups there are in line. And Terpy brought up Disney World. At those parks, it is rare you get to pick your seat on the rides, as cast members will assign you rows as well (even in off peak times like the middle of September). Come to think of it, all the times I`ve ridden Maverick (and I`m still not a big fan of that ride), I have been assigned a seat.

Good grief. It is still early in the season. Give the new hire sometimes to iron out their jitters. I see it all the time at Coney with recently hired employees who are nervous until they get comfortable with their job. By the end of the summer, they are fine. The same thing will likely be true at Diamondback.

Please leave the moderating to the moderators. Thanks. From what I have heard, while there were rampant rumors that it had received a trim, it appears there is no trim in place. Yet. Will there be one? Who knows.

Well I was having no problem on the lights on tour. In fact, I wasn`t really even trying to shoot at all the targets, as I was also snapping some pictures. Then for the second ride, when I was actually trying, no such luck. I really enjoyed my visit to Holiday World. And I WILL be using my ticket to experience the Timberliners on Voyage at some point. And Jesse, my left side has been sore yesterday and today from where my side was hitting the seat divider after those marathon rides on Voyage. I would do it over again in a heartbeat though.

And I believe that it is also Kings Island policy that you are not allowed to leave valuable items in the bins. Kings Island is not responsible for lost articles left while riding. However, Holiday World will NOT let you take anything on rides. At all their coasters and rides, they have storage shelves. And if you have valuable items such as cameras, they have free lockers. Essentially, the way it works, is you hand your item to the rides ops. If you ask for a locker, they will place it in a locker, and give you a key during the ride. When you return to the station, you use your key to unlock the items you safely stowed away. The system really works well at Holiday World.

They assign seating when the line extends past the top of the stairs. The entire reason behind this, is that they fill up the trains completely more often which increases capacity and decreases wait times.

Very true. Its unfortunate that a once grand concept has become such a boring ride experience. And it could still be a great experience if some simple improvements were made. Unfortunately, I don`t see anything being added to the ride room to enhance the experience. And I doubt we see changes made to the ride program, since the park seems happier with its uptime since switching to the "lamer and tamer" ride program towards the beginning of last year. I know I certainly don`t have any interest in riding The Crypt this year. I rode it once, and it was essentially a once and done for the year ride for me. If I want an intense Ferris Wheel ride, I`ll simply ride the Rock O Planes at Coney. Those can give an intense ride that even would have given The Crypt`s intense ride program a run for its money. The question will be how long does the ride remain in the building before the park decides to switch out the ride with a different type of ride and keep the general theme? Only time will tell, and obviously, the park is more concerned with the fate of Son of Beast right now. (Not to mention their true focus right now is gearing up for daily operation and getting Snoopy`s Starlight Spectacular set to open.)

Exactly. It would be hard to trust a guy saying it was the best deal for unit holders when the one doing the explaining would have benefited significantly had the deal gone through. And there were errors in that article. See: I assume it was meant to say at the end of 2010, then the distributions would resume in 2011. And I hope that Kinzel is ushered out and does not remain on the board past his contract length. He is, in my opinion, out of touch with current industry trends, not to mention not doing anything to adjust the food prices, which are obviously pushing some people away, and have resulted in lower in park spending. There reaches a point where you can`t keep raising the prices on food items and expect people to continue to pay for them. Will change be coming soon? That is the Q.

Well, speaking of 125th anniversaries, next year is Coney`s 125th anniversary! Although the Charles Jacques Jr. book is a fairly comprehensive and complete book up through the date it was published. While some rides have been added since it was published, nothing ground breaking has been added to Coney.