CoastersRZ

Paramount put its name on all the parks except for Wonderland in 1993. It placed its name on Wonderland in 1994, after they acquired the remaining 80% stake from the two other developers of that park. What do you mean about the Taft/KECO names had been on the park for three or four more years? Taft owned Kings Island, until 1983 when several executives at the theme parks bought out Taft`s theme park division to form their own company, Kings Entertainment Company (KECO). KECO was later bought in 1987 by Carl Lindner. So Taft was in control of KI for ten years, KECO (under its original owners and Lindner) for nine, and under Paramount Parks (Paramount Pictures, Viacom and CBS) from July 1992 through May of 2006 (just under fourteen years).

We have already discussed the exact subject that you asked about in depth Italianchef. You will find out what is in store soon enough...

Cory, you mentioned 15 year olds. I`m fairly certain that in the state of Ohio, ride operators must be 16 years or older. I remember hearing one of my managers at Coney say that they hired a 15 year old (who turned 16 at the end of June, and he was relegated to working the pedal boats and baby bumper boats, because those rides were not mechanical rides, until he turned 16.

Well, I could maybe see one map of each of the ones they produced each year, but ten maps for each one produced? Seems a little excessive to me. Also, unless you were at the park for the corporate sell outs, I doubt you got all of the 2006 park maps, as I know they had special park maps for the P&G weekend.

Yeah, that is what I seem to recall too Bill. Although Ronny said that he apparantely remembers seeing the Maxx Passes being offered for less at KI, I certainly never saw that. But then again, I got mine for $105, and after I had my pass, I didn`t pay that much attention to the price of the Maxx Pass.

A couple of observations based on the Kings Dominion map. The practice of smoking only in designated areas appears as if it will continue. Also, the park has not renamed their Paramount Theater or their Paramount Showplace. Like has been said before, the transition from things with Paramount in the name (excluding rides with Paramount tie ins) may take several seasons to be completed.

While nothing major, I also just noticed that Cedar Fair`s corporate website now states "Cedar Fair Entertainment Company" as opposed to Cedar Fair, L.P. (their legal name).

And why exactly do you need THAT many maps from each year? I have all the general maps since 1998, the first year that I had a season pass to Kings Island. I also have the WinterFest map, and several of the FearFest maps (including the special maps they had for P&G day last year).

Heck, my grandpa stays up most nights to two or three in the morning. A split shift at GL? That seems a little harsh to have just a five hour gap between working. I mean I can understand its use at other places, but at an amusement park? While not completely relevant to the subject at hand, Coney has two shifts. One goes from 10:30-4. The other shift goes from 3:30-9. There are also early break shifts that start at noon and then one would proceed to work a late shift. There are also late break shifts that immediately follow working an early shift. But Coney is slightly different in the fact that ride operators are not assigned a certain ride or rides all season. Instead, each day it is decided who will be running what ride by the manager on duty. Obviousely some rides will be given to operators who have some seniority, like the Wheel, Tickets and Golf, because of the skill and knowledge required to successfully operate them.

Right. I`ve been in the park a couple of times before in the offseason, and not once have I seen vending machines removed. This could mean a couple of things. A, those machines were old and needed to be replaced. B, Cedar Fair wants to remove some of the vending machines that are located throughout the park. Or C, Cedar Fair is switching soft drink companies at the former corporate parks to take better advantage of the cost synergies between the larger amount of parks. I personally think that it will be for option C. Which is something I do not like because I much prefer Coca-Cola over Pepsi, but I will drink Pepsi if I have to.

Yes, you can get the gold pass perks on a Maxx pass. However, the perks are only good at the home park where you bought the pass. So if you bought the Maxx Pass at Kings Island, the perks would only be valid at Kings Island, and not at Carowinds, Kings Dominion or any other Cedar Fair park. But you would get free admission into those parks with your Maxx pass.

No, the Maxx Pass has, since its introduction to Kings Island in the fall, been offered at $125 to the general public. Never was it any cheaper in the fall. I bought my pass the weekend that Procter and Gamble rented out the park in September. Kings Island was offering a special that weekend exclusively for P&G workers and their families. $20 off of a Maxx Pass or a regular Kings Island season pass. Needless to say, that deal was too good to pass up! My dad bought his Kings Island only pass for $54.95!

While both rides feature a figure eight layout, there are differences. For example, the lift on the serpent runs along the edge of the layout. While on the Pepsi Python, the lift runs through the layout. I also believe that the Python is slightly smaller in size compared to the Serpent. Serpent Pepsi Python

Well, if you buy a Maxx pass from Kings Island you will get all the benefits of the Gold season pass from Kings Island. It would be cheaper to buy a Maxx pass, than it would be to buy a general admission to Cedar Point for one day. So it would make sense that if you are going to visit Cedar Point once or twice, it would be wise to buy a Maxx Pass. Heck, I will be visiting Cedar Point a couple of times this summer, and I bought a Maxx pass. Plus, I got my Maxx pass from Kings Island for $105.

Ronny, the Serpent at Americana is NOT the same layout as what the Pepsi Python is. They are very similar, but they are NOT the same layout. There are subtle differences in the layout. Besides, I believe that the Serpent was manufactures by SDC. While the Pepsi Python was manufactured by D.P.V. rides by Daniel Pinfari. Here is the manufacturer`s page for the Pepsi Python model.

Well, it seems that Cedar Fair has updated their main website to reflect the loss of the Paramount name from the former Paramount Parks. See for yourself here.

Give it some time. I`m sure that if the online stores are profitable at the other parks, that they will eventually put similar stores onlinbbe for the former Paramount Parks.

Yikes, that is a slightly major error! I also find it interesting that they seem to be doing the web upgrade over a series of iterations, rather than simply rolling out a brand new website once it is completed.

I dislike the header background. It looks rather bland with just the two rides and mostly hills and trees. It will be interesting to see how the websites evolve over the next couple of months.

Right, they could lower the admission price so that the general public perceives it as being the same cost as it was prior to the tax. However, in doing that, KI would be losing that $2.50 times how many people pay for their regular priced admission. Which would result in Kings Island, and Cedar Fair, getting about $2 million less, according to what Greg Scheid said in that article. $2 million is a lot of money to try and "take away" from Kings Island by imposing an admissions tax. Especially when you had an oral agreement that such a tax would not be imposed.

Kings Island is in the city of Mason. It used to be in Deerfield Township, but the city of Mason annexed them several years ago, as the article mentioned. You`re correct that originally KI stated they were in Kings Mills, Ohio. But yet on the press releases that KI issues, they state that the park is located in Kings Island, Ohio. Yeah, it wouldn`t be uncommon for multiple fire agencies to respond to something like The Beast incident. However, I`d venture to say that Mason is likely the primary responder. An interesting note, is that often times when the paramedics have to be called to Coney, the Anderson Township Fire Department is often dispatched (even for incidents on the Cincinnati side of the park). However, other times the Cincinnati Fire Department responds. Yeah, I too paid a lot of money to the city of Cincinnati through earnings taxes from my work at Coney, and at my co-op jobs. You can`t get refunds on the local earning taxes like you can the state and federal.

Well, the article mentions a 6% admissions tax. That equates to about $2.50 per ticket that KI would be handing over to the city of Mason. Granted, the city of Mason does provide police and fire service to the park, to augment KI`s own forces. Also, the city of Mason did install street lights on Kings Drive several years back. But, one has to wonder what would KI be getting in return if this tax was levied? Some may argue that all these tourists that are lured to the city of Mason are a reason why they have to continually upgrade their infrastructure and roads. Those who are on this side of the argument will say that by default, the tourists should help pay for these infrastructure costs. It is not dissimiliar from the city of Cincinnati`s jock tax that they impose on visiting athletes at both the Reds and Bengals ballpark/stadium. The city of Cincinnati already has an admissions tax in place, which visitors pay when they attend Reds games, Bengals games, or even when they visit Coney Island. As an aside, I`ve always found Coney interesting. Sutton Road is in line with the main auto gate. To the west of this line is the city of Cincinnati. To the east of this line is Anderson Township. The administration building is located within the city limits. So when I worked there, if I spent all day running the Python, which is in Anderson Township, I would still have the 2.1% city earnings tax taken out of my paycheck. Go figure. Back to the topic at hand. I side with Kings Island. If they were given a verbal agreement, the city of Mason should honor that agreement. I mean, look how many tourists KI draws into the area, not to mention how many people it employees which contributes to their earning tax.

Excellent trip report! Just goes to show you how well Disney does their theming! I went in 2004 to Disney World and had a blast. I was amazed at the attention they pay to the tiniest of details! It truely is an immersive environment quite unlike the regional amusement parks.

Yep. The park at one point was even saying that the ride was being completely removed. All of the trough except on the lifts, stations and the final drop and splash down was replaced. They removed all the wood that supported the fiberglass trough, as well as removing the fiberglass trough. They then replaced the trough with stainless steel. After they gave it a fresh coat of paint, they brought in the Thornberrys to call it home. And instantly a classic ride was saved from the wrecking ball and once again able to thrill thousands of visitors to the park and create even more memories for years to come.

Nope. Not Kings Island. I believe that I`ve even stated where it is going elsewhere on these boards. Lets just say that the park that is getting it has had it on property since the middle of summer last year. They`ve already repainted the ride too.