CoasterJack

Watched this episode as well, I agree with somethings... Do I agree with Don that there have definitely been some staffing cuts: yes, I've had the same issue sitting on The Racer brake run for a prolonged period of time. We were delayed as the operator was held up on a call with what I can assume was the rides department. But I do agree it's been rough on some rides only staffing one person for each side of the train. However, I've also had countless visits with better staffing, two on both sides of The Beast, with both The Beast and Diamondback dispatching approx. every 55 seconds. Restrooms: I've been in quite a few that have someone actively cleaning, to which I've always thanked them. However. I will agree I've been in a rough one by the Rivertown Larosas that was quite rough with no paper towels, soap and trash cans. But for the most part they haven't been bad, just not sparkling Path & Park Cleanliness: Have I run into the occasional beyond full trash can, yes. Have I sat in ketchup on a bench in the Festhaus?: also yes . I would say the amount of staff cleaning has been reduced, but I still see many employees wiping down tables, sweeping trash, cleaning spills, far more than I've encountered at most SF parks or Cedar Point. It's not like we've never seen a dirty table before, and might I add, THE AMOUNT OF TRASH SOME PEOPLE LEAVE AT THEIR TABLE IS OBSURD. But I do agree, there has been a time or two I've had to walk to a different trash can. However, I can attest that I've also seen gold tags helping out when things get dire. Even had one ask I they could wipe off my table as there was BBQ sauce on the other side. So, the upper management at least seems aware and is trying their best. I agree with Ryan that the fact they're willing to be in the park helping clean tables does show that they care and are trying with the given resources. Drinking Fountains: Now I can 100% agree I've run into many issues this season. Has ice been an issue in past seasons... yes. Do I think it's devolved as more people get drink plans, also yes. I think a little bit might have to do with staffing. The freestyle location was closed because they literally didn't have any freestyle cartridges stocks on property, which was definitely an oversight on someone's part, but apparently, they're new after a full-time staffer was let go. The ice doesn't bother me, but I agree if I was paying full price for a soda that would be frustrating. I also tried at least 8 different drink locations before I found one with root beer still in stock. That one my friend went to a different location because they were out of Diet Coke. So, I don't think I'd say the park is at the level of a "trashy" Six Flags legacy park, but that they do need to be careful on how corporate decisions affect the guest experience. I've had many great visits this season, and I can tell the staff that is at the park does care and tries their best to make up lighter crew, but not to say I don't notice some differences, granted I do also look for these staffing shortages more than the average guest. It's not like F&B has never had issues with Ice or soda syrup, I've been in that battle for years , I think sometimes their ICEE machines just simply can't freeze enough to keep up with crowds. I personally think sometimes, people are looking for something wrong or unkept to immediately highlight the issue and make it seem it's a terrible miserable experience. That's only true 2% of the time (when getting a drink)

I can confirm it was also open yesterday, went in twice, once around 2 and once around 8. Both times the machines had very few options. When I stopped the second time, there was a F&B supervisor loading the machines, so I asked and they said it hasn't been a lack of staff for the freestyle, but rather an issue of SF changed around some off the F&B full-time positions and the first order from the new position was messed up so the park didn't have any more Root Beer Syrup for the standard fountains, and no Freestyle carriages came in their last two orders, so they've been trying to space things out until the next shipment. He seemed confident it would be a temporary issue

The rumor on the street is one of the pumps is down and they're waiting on the part. It hasn't been functioning during the nighttime shows either. There's only enough flow to run the outside jets.

Still doing the same thing this morning, only powering the side sprayers. Mike's fountain is sad he's gone...

They're at half-staff for Mike's last day . In all seriousness though, there is a banner on the Eiffel Tower today with his name on it. At least I can see it from the webcams. Anyone able to snap a photo today at the park?

Blog Post from his Role at Valleyfair: From 16 Year Old Ride Operator to GM: Meet Tony Carovillano Correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't he our assistant GM and current VP of Ops already? I know he was GM of Worlds of Fun for a bit as shown in the blog post.

I don't have many great photos, but I do have this one I took a few weeks ago. I was watching from The Beast queue and there were two electricians laying wires and working on the power management system inside the door seen open in this photo. Sorry because of the lighting I couldn't capture what I saw from my eye level.

I assume some of their design work was also used towards SF Qiddiya (another team was the architect and designer, but from what I understand SF basically was a consultant and provided some additional design aid), so now their huge project is winding down, probably less work. Still very sad if this is the case, I've really enjoyed what the CF design team has done in the past decade or so.

Keep getting these old Vortex ads on youtube with links to buy a season pass. Makes me laugh considering the ride no longer operates, but hey I don't mind seeing some old footage of the ride.

This saturday when the ride was down I observed them looking at some of the launch infrastructure, and it occured to me they house a lot of the transformers and power components in the shipping containers nearest to the launch track as well as the storage track. So I really don't think we'll ever see them remove the shipping containers without doing some major work, they basically all either have track winding through them for the second half, or critical launch technology built inside.

Here are some more video bits I captured today. The stairs are cool as well as the red pulsing IMG_6329.mp4 IMG_6331.mp4

Yes DB still running 2 trains today. Racer still one train with only red side open, at least before noon. Park is moderately busy with 15 minute waits on most of the coasters. Lots of school groups here today Edit: Blue side opening now

Great to hear you enjoyed your trip! While I'd love to see something akin to Monsters Unchained, I know KI and SF probably don't have nearly the budget. But doesn't mean they couldn't make a great attempt slightly scaled down. No ICEEs on the drink plan is a crime with those Florida summers!

Well considering they restored/upgraded the lighting in the hanger queue, I think FoF will be sticking around for a few more years. I hope whoever put in the work for these effects can get the credit they deserve! Credit to KI Central for capturing the lighting in action, videos don't capture how great it looks! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIo36bup5Ew/?igsh=MThkdTJkeHRmaDRlbg%3D%3D

I bet permenant. Those new billboards weren't cheap, and I doubt they'd replace them with the faded ones again. And repaint all the other ones

It all looks great! Appreciate all you do for us KI fans and for KIC. The organization of the photos is really helpful, I especially like the categories for certain rides seperating construction photos from opening day, general photos, etc. Excited for what's in store!

Never realized how nice those ride area categories look since the website was updated. Many of those photos are more helpful than the actual park ones! Everything looks really clean and I'll make sure to send these when I have friends/family wondering about their ride options for kids.

I for one am glad and very appreciative of the clarification. Even something as simple as two sentences, they stated why the delay of assembly and I'm glad the park was able to help remedy the rumor situation. Also shows that the park is willing to go the extra mile to keep some of these historic rides going, even if it takes a little longer than they anticipated.

Did we ride the same ride? . I understand it's not great for airtime. If the intensity doesn't get to you, it basically just meanders arounds twists and turns and has a much different layout than any of the other Gigas.

Me and my "a few years back" when it was actually two decades ago

Didn't we recieve a bunch of parts from a similar clone of this ride that was removed from Canada's Wonderland a few years back, actually might have been more than a few years ago at this point. One could also propose the idea that while those extra parts extended the life of the Monster, maybe parts were just becoming too far and inbetween?

Guess I take back my words then, granted what I had heard was a few weeks old. Many of these Eyerly Aircraft Company Polyp models have been on the choping block for awhile. As much as I love the monster, it's loading process isn't the most efficent, and while I know Moser rides fabricates some replacement parts for these older rare models, I'm sure the custom fabrication isn't cheap, and the ride just doesn't recieve huge ridership numbers. While I hope it's not true, I made sure to get my rides in last year as I kept hearing through the grapevine its been talked within park management. Great ride, just with all the other things at the park I feel it gets looked past too often... 55 years was a good run for a flat ride though

I was worried about this as well, but it's a delayed opening. They've ordered some parts that are taking much longer than expected and some port issues from Italy haven't helped.

Yeah I've been hearing countless rumors that they wanted to reduce the show to weekends only, or even entirely outside of the 4th of July show. But I'd be very curious if anyone has more info on this they're able to share. Don't know if it was Koontz and upper management fighting corporate to keep the entertainment funding for it, or if it was someone within the parks upper management with the idea from the start. I'd be willing to bet it might have been the park advocating to keep the show with corporate wanting cuts... Correct me if I'm wrong, are we the only park in the Six Flags chain to do nightly fireworks outside of holidays and park anniversaries?