CoasterJack

would make for a fun haunt maze

It's paid off, and an up charge attraction. As long as nothing large comes up maintenance wise, and as long as nothing is planned to take its spot currently, I don't see it going anywhere. My family from out of town always rides it when visiting KI, and it definitely seems to get enough traffic to pay for the employees running the attraction as well. I would say it still scares me the most out of any attraction at KI. The initial free fall feeling sensation when you pull the cord is unlike anything else.

The thing I dislike about these things and the way the chains are run. Daily ticket holders are the ones you make the money from, the guests you're trying to impress and convince them to return or potentially upgrading to a pass. So why do they make ticket holders feel like such second class visitors... I'll never understand this I know many GP who make a trial visit to KI, pay for a $65 ticket, pay $20 parking, pay full for full price food, walk away spending $400 for a family of 4 and feel like they were ripped off. Meanwhile I family could spend an additional $100 for a pass, visit 10 times a summer and bring much less revenue for the park per visit. Not that you want to make the pass-holders feel lesser, but day ticket holders are really the ones you want to convince as you can convince them to join your park ecosystem. Just my point of view on this matter

Still, it's details like this that I wish the park would work on improving. They've made good strides with the Festhaus clock, I-street, pavers, etc. But if we could get the red roof back, even one of those waters systems where the water goes into rocks which has a pool underneath that pumps the water back up. It's ambiance things like this that really complete the experience. Even if they aren't critical, they're always appreciated and I feel would definitely add to the charm.. I'd always love to see the compass make a return on a certain dark ride roof, ribbons to return in the Festhaus interior, a Boo Blasters queue refurb, but I can only dream so far...

The sign museum is a neat visit for sure. The young train nerd in me loves Entertrainment Junction. I used to love walking around the Cincinnati Mall before it closed. Arcade Legacy moved from the mall to a new location in Sharonville about a year ago. It's a neat place, $10 gets you the day to play all the classic pinball, arcade machines, and they even have old console games from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

There's too many acronyms today, no one has the time for full words anymore

I remember seeing them sold for Flight of Fear for $15 and $20 on different occasions. Reminded me of similar pricing to buying an individual lightning lane for the popular attractions at Disney

I was waiting to see if anyone else brought this up after seeing this video a few days ago. Lanny Smoot of Walt Disney Imagineering recently made news that he's being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. As a fellow electrical engineer, I've followed his work for a little while now, and some of the stuff this guy has helped create is nothing short of breathtaking. Besides creating some notable achievements in the world of theme parks and animatronics, he seems to be a rather down to earth and fun individual to be around. I have a few friends who work within the department of Imagineering who say he's always a hoot to be around. Some of his notable achievements include creating a fully retractable lightsaber for the parks, advanced animatronic eyes used in many modern day dark rides, interactive projector technology seen used in parks and aquariums around the world, and his latest work, the HoloTile, a sort of omnidirectional floor/treadmill rig. I'd encourage if you have a moment, watch this 5 minute video, it highlights some of his notable works: Disney Imagineer Makes History - YouTube

I think even SIX learned their lesson about Larson Loops . Though I thought they learned their lesson from Skyline Attractions... Unfortunately these things are always a byproduct of mergers. On paper, especially from a corporate accounting standpoint, it's an obvious place to cut cost. It's easier for corperate to make cuts when they don't personally see the impact of certain positions. But the financial numbers don't take into account the impact on guest experience. I've had many wonderful experiences with these ambassadors willing to help in any circumstances, so I'm sad to see them cut, and hope any workers affected can find meaningful positions elsewhere in the park or in the industry. My look is still hopefully optimistic for this merger. I think in the long term it'll be good, but in the short term it's gonna be rough. I see lots of cost cutting to payoff the debt, scanning to see where spending can be trimmed. I can see parks going without some major attraction investment for a period, but what really matters is that things are maintained well. These rides are some of the parks biggest assets, and letting things fall into disrepair will only hurt them more in the long run. Additionally, you can only trim staff so much. Going with less experienced full-timers because they're cheaper doesn't always help in the long run either . People are truly the greatest asset to a brand/company, not just the tangible assets. Here's to a hopeful future in which some of these wonderful people and positions can return. Ambassadors were the true stewards of the park experience...

They had something similar in Coney Mall back by the entrance to the arcade I noticed over Winterfest. Same targets and axes

Congratulations, indeed! I believe she was a communications intern this past summer. From what I've seen, she seems very passionate about what she does. Excited to see what's in store!

Plot-twist: Paramount/Viacom, now whole again as Paramount Global reacquires the Paramount Parks, launching a new era of movie magic

As a Cedar Fair shareholder, this does not excite me... However I am a bit skeptical of this going through myself. The Six Flags earnings call is next week too, so it makes me curious if this is true, did one company in particular initiate the conversation? Also, personally, I don't see this merger being a good thing. One on side, yay my pass gets me into more parks. But on the other side, especially recently, the strategy of the companies has been so different, and less competition means higher prices for us potentially. Also that's a lot of regional parks, my fear is some will receive less attention or perhaps some will be sold off. However, if this did go through, would it be an equal merger, or would it be one company assuming the name of another. Too much unknown at this time, but this keeps appearing every couple seasons now, which makes me think one company is gonna go at some point or another.

Appears to be the front car of Falcon's Flight if you ask me

Made my first Haunt trip of the year last night. Would say the new Alien Abyss maze is definitely a step up from CHAOS. The park was packed, but still found plenty of things to do. Arrived around 6:30 to a 3 minute line for the ID and entry process, however my friend who arrived at 7:55 had a less exciting experience waiting for about 15 minutes through entry and security. Abandoned was a fun addition as a scare zone, I enjoyed the props more than the Rivertown Reaping in the past. I love all the decor throughout the park, but I agree that some of it feels a little stale. I love the theming and little details over the park, but some more additions could definitely help freshen up the experience. Again, not saying it was bad by any means, just that as someone who has attended Haunt every year consecutively for at least 15 years now, it would be nice to see a little more than just a new maze and scare zone per year. The DJ in Coney Mall was a bit of a strange vibe, but later in the night the area returned to its normal, demented carnival music. Had the pulled pork sandwich with Mac & Cheese at Coney BBQ, and definitely hit the spot. Rides were all quite busy, with a 30 minute Adventure Express and Banshee queue being the shortest of the night, but I'll never turn down any chance for a KI night ride, especially on AE . Overall, for a 5 hour visit, getting 5 mazes and 4 coasters on a Haunt night ain't bad for the level of crowd. Felt the staffing felt adequate except for Hotel Michelle, but also could've just been myself missing all the scares . Overall, I'd give my Haunt experience an 8.5/10. It felt good to be back in the park, witnessed minimal security problems as KI security was on any situation almost instantly. Food was great, maze lines moved quickly, a decent amount of fog in the main areas, and had a few personal favorite interactions with scare actors I've had in years. Not the best Haunt experience I've ever had, but certainly was a fun night in the park, especially for the amount of people there.

Earlier this year some friends and I were stuck on Drop Tower for about 25 minutes at the top. Needless to say, I won't be enjoying any more company with me on that ride after that experience, none of them will set foot on that ride for the next decade

Agreed, I've seen quite a bit of action going on in the Blackout building. However, they could have repurposed the building for something else, but I'm hopeful for some new mazes this year!

I'm all for sponsorships and advertising if it's done in a presentable manner. For example, how Disney in the past would have rides such as "Space Mountain presented by RCA" or "Siemens presents Space Ship Earth. Like I feel Aeronautica Landing at Carowinds would've been a prime example to be presented by one of the airlines. Like how hard would it be to put signs entering the area saying "presented by United Airlines" or something. I get maybe KI isn't as big of a market as the Disney & Universal parks, and I certainly don't want entire ride vehicles turning into adverts like Six Flags has done in the past, but I feel like there's a good middle ground to be found. I'm all for other companies helping fund the maintenance of these rides. Like perhaps a new Dark Ride presented by I dunno, P&G, TQL, GE, Kroger, etc. If it allows KI to focus funds elsewhere without majorly impacting the experience, I'm all for it. It just would need to be carried out in a strategic way, not just lazily slapping ads over everything that makes it feel like a discount experience. I'm open to anyone else's thoughts on this as well ...

Choosing a different SOB manufacturer over RCCA?

I saw this too. I'm thinking a new app would work better with mobile ordering. It sounded like that was part of the intention, along with promoting other food items, attractions and activities.

Just a heads up, those earnings are for this past winter. If you look at the very first screenshot, it shows that the earnings for the 2nd quarter are still scheduled to come out August 3rd. I haven't seen any official projections as of now, but I'll monitor to see if anything appears before tomorrow

It was actually playing this past Saturday on the climb. I could hear it from the first row at least

I've gathered the same thing from a few short conversations with Koontz. That man truly gives his all for the park, and you can tell he really cares about every aspect. He always has amazing expectations and great ideas, but I feel as if he's sometimes a little disappointed in what is ultimately allocated for them to work with. I feel he's one of the core reasons I feel the atmosphere and apperance of the park so greatly improved over the past few years. KI is very fortunate to have someone so passionate about the park. But this also worries me that with the frustrations of the corporate board mounting, he decides to call it quits, which would be a huge loss for us and for the park

I see two sides to this... On one side, it is disappointing not getting the "full experience" with a racing racer, water rides opening later, etc. Additionally, those whose hours are cut are potentially upset. Though we don't know all the details, they could potentially move some of those workers cut to other positions or rides for the time being. For example, an extra station worker or two at the more popular rides. I get it's a slippery slope of not cutting too much without sacrificing too much of the experience. On the otherhand, I get that they're also trying to use our money wisely. As someone said above, Cedar Fair has always played conservatively when it comes to spending money. They maintain good parks with good infrastructure, but you don't usually see them going on a mass spending spree. Well maybe the Paramount Parks purchase was rather large, but I would say that's been a good investment. What I'm trying to say is I also understand the business side. They want to pay down debt, while still being able to contribute towards new additions and experiences. As enthusiasts, we might not get everything we want. While I would love a huge $30 million dollar coaster every two years, I wouldn't want that to lead to our park being sold off or going under due to overspending (such as Six Flags Ohio). I also understand that things have been rather concerning in the industry on the upcoming condition of the economy. I don't blame them too much for wanting to stay prepared to be able to weather another financial recession if needed. That is their job after all. As the park guest, it's disappointing that I have to wait an extra hour or two for my ride to open, but if that means the park can starve off additional entertainment cuts, ride closures, and better survive an attendance/spending decline, then I'm here for it. Also as a side note, it's been a rough summer season. I help with some pool mechanics at a local pool, and while June started out strong, it's been dead the past few weeks with so many pop-up storms, cloudy days, or scorching days, I could definitely see how attendance could be affected by the weather in addition to other circumstances. Just a though...

Off topic, but the fun that could be had with some simple Photoshop and an "another fine project of RMC banner" hanging on the station. The amount of little effort that could go into trolling the entire coaster community would be a fun time had by the KI marketing department. I'm sure you could honestly get RMC in on it too