CoastersRZ

And there was not a lot of repeatability with DA. Yeah, they added a new dinosaur in, but there just wasn`t a lot to keep people coming back. Now, my son loves dinosaurs, and would have loved to experience DA.

Might have to make it out to the Columbus Zoo this year. Still have not been on the Sea Dragon.

I think a merger like that would be complicated because of the foreign currency. A Herschend takeover/merger with SEAS would be interesting. I have often thought that some of the Sea World parks, particularly the two in Florida, and even the one in Texas could be a good fit for Cedar Fair. Heck, even BGW would be a good fit, although it is close to KD.

https://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/teen-writes-book-on-the-history-of-kings-island

Was there anyone previously in this role? Or are they both new roles? I know that Tim Fisher is COO of Cedar Fair.

Mine is now slated to arrive today by 2:30pm! So excited!

That is when mine is expected to arrive as well. Found it odd that it shipped from PA and was at a USPS distribution center in NJ, only to come back to Ohio!

Still waiting on mine to arrive. Excited for it to arrive and start reading it!

https://kicentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Episode-14-A-Ride-Through-Time.mp3 Join Robbie (Coastersrz) and Brad Perdue (Indyguy4KI) as they interview Evan Ponstingle, author of the new history book about Kings Island, "Kings Island: A Ride Through Time". Be sure to also check out Episode 8, where we previously interviewed Evan. Pick up your copy of the book at the Emporium at Kings Island or online at River Shore Creative here. Here is Evan holding his book at the Emporium.

Hopefully he has the funds/investors to make this a successful long term venture. Could this be the start of a new company that focuses in smaller regional parks? Very interesting development.

I certainly hope not. That would not go over well at KI (and likely will not at CP for that matter). I get the need to control labor costs, but this just seems like a short sighted move. Lets go to the park, but we have to get there two hours before they close to get in line for any big attraction before they cut the line off 90 minutes before park close.

Awesome to see that there is early ride time for the Great Pumpkin Coaster. My son will love that!

I just received the first dose of my vaccine. Second one is scheduled for April 14th.

Stay tuned for an the next upcoming KIC Podcast episode, where we discuss this book with Evan!

The last few years KCKC was around it was definitely showing its age. I remember that there were lots of patches to the fiberglass. And the water had a definite smell to it. It was a very fun ride though. I wish in a way that it was still there instead of the box that is TRTR. Could you imagine Diamondback snaking over the pond for it?

Hopefully they install another ride in its spot. Didn`t they just remove the Tilt A Whirl recently as well?

Yep. Remember when CBS took control of Paramount Parks in 2006? Remember how they tried the process of not starting to scan people`s tickets/passes until 10am? Essentially they kept International Street closed and didn`t open it an hour early. There were no rope drops on I Street at the beginning of the year. It was a disaster. Speaking from experience having worked at a seasonal amusement park for nearly two decades, closing time was just that. When we closed the rides down. At Coney, the only exception was the Paddle boats. We cut that ride line before closing time due to the fact that people would be out on the lake for about thirty minutes. It would start getting dark if we let the last boat depart at the posted closing time. It was assumed that it would take another fifteen minutes or so to cycle off the ride, pick up trash, and do closing paper work for the day. You got to stay on the clock for that. And then in the off chance (it happened quite a bit on River Runner) that someone had a protein spill on the last cycle, then you had to clean that up on top of the normal closing stuff. As a rides manager, I couldn`t leave until all the rides employees were back. Some nights it was an hour or more after the closing time. That was just part of the job. Cutting the ride lines before closing time just looks bad and like a cheap way to try and save on labor costs. In my opinion, it is not in the spirit of trying to give guests "The Best Day Ever."

I don`t recall KI ever cutting the ride lines (with some rare exceptions for special events) before the park`s closing time.

Its hard to tell from that zoomed out picture, but it almost looks like they have reprofiled that hill and lowered it significantly (three or four feet) on the outbound (downhill side).

I don`t like the closing of the ride lines before park close. It screams "being cheap to save on labor". Like you said hopefully this doesn`t happen at KI. Doesn`t Holiday World do this, and have signs out front warning guests about this policy? Lets hope the early ride time at KI returns as well. I missed that last year.

Wow, I never knew that either. Thanks for sharing!

https://kicentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Episode-13-Bill-Mefford.mp3 Robbie (CoastersRZ) and Brad (IndyGuy4KI) are joined by Bill Mefford, who was the Manager of Marketing and Communications at Kings Island from 1982-1984 and again from 1987-1988. Hear about stories from his time at the park, as well as his time at other parks and in the amusement industry. We hope you enjoy listening to this. It was really fun talking with Bill! Stay tuned for Episode 14 coming out soon! Robbie

And starting March 29th, all Ohioans 16 years and older will be eligible to get the shot: https://www.wcpo.com/news/coronavirus/ohio-opening-vaccine-eligibity-to-those-ages-40-friday-most-residents-march-29

But to be fair, there are not currently any Cedar Fair parks that are open to use as a reference. They maybe intending to load full rows, but we won`t know until the parks start to open in a couple of months.

Hopefully that bodes well for Kings Island loading every single row on the coasters.