Orion-XL200

This!! The way they merge the TimeSaver and General line is what I think holds it up. They don't "pulse the station," filling the individual row queues like they should. Part of the problem I think is that they merge below the station floor so they have to walk up the stairs to see if there is enough room to let the next groups go through (at least that's how it was on my last visit).

https://x.com/dollywood/status/1701611625071919200?s=46&t=EVITZdIgEfyA3YhYpqB9Fg

He has not been as a guest since his departure as an employee.

Ahahahaa no!

Tony does such a great job with updates....short, sweet and to the point.

Working in the haunt industry and being trained by some of the awesome heavy hitters throughout the Ohio Haunters Association, I can say that roamers are good to have. At an outdoor attraction, such as KI, to get people amped up to enter the house (maze) or scare zone, you want to have queue actors (aka roamers at KI). Imagine going to a haunted house in the middle of October and there is nothing outside of the house to set the mood that you may get scared including actors. You just walk up to the building and enter with no "setting" being portrayed, no actors giving you information on the place whether rules/history/portraying a character that may be inside...it'd be boring for sure. If they half @** or not even that, the entrance experience you'd likely expect the inside of the attraction to be half @**ed. The queue actors not only amp guests up to head into an attraction, but they set the expectations of how to act within the attractions. Yes you have your greeters at the entrances of the mazes for the rules but in person interactions when a guest touches what they shouldn't touch (actor or prop) queue actors have more flexibility to roam, tell a guest to stop, flag security down, etc. I have not worked a Cedar Fair haunt, but I will say that I do know the haunt industry is way more complicated than what meets the eye.

Not sure, but is this the video that gets played on FunTV?

This was my 250th coaster, I'm excited to see it get some love!

Each park I can assume each park has it's own issues with staffing. From what I've heard this year, there have been over 100 scare actor positions have been cut. While 100 doesn't seem like a crazy number, think about an indoor maze....how many actors are in there? Take about 40% of those actors out of the maze...it is not as immersive. We shall see how it plays out...but I think folks should definitely expect a less than stellar Haunt season.

Always cool to see new additions, but how will staffing change the way we see these haunt attractions? I wouldn't be surprised if the mazes/scare zones have significantly less scare actors in them this year.

Expanding theme can be great. Not sure if it'd be "worth it" for them to add former ride memorials to it, but definitely more tombstones could be added throughout.

All I have to say is, don't get your hopes up for Haunt like it's been in the past.

Elizabeth does a good job with this!

Haha, I just about posted this.

Very interesting. Wondering what if/any changes we'll see in the direction.

What if Kings Island sold more ride specific merch for all of the coasters?

The tropical fried rice is amazing!!! The last time I asked for them to put a little butter on it (that they use on the potatoes) and wow, what a game changer! It's been like that unfortunately all season. From a friend who worked at the park this summer, they may be bringing back the former experience next year, or similar. I hope so. Right when they went down, they were doing zip log baggies...apparently proved to be more of a hassle than it was worth. I'll be interested to see if they get those lockers up and running this weekend since it'll be fairly busy. I want to say that the pay lockers are from a 3rd party so the park may not actually be able to get them working for a "free" program like what is in the queue. It does suck though, but at least the ride is open and not closed due to lockers (unconfirmed but have heard that El Toro went down due to locker failure lol). It definitely is a top-down thing, but I don't think it's bad...I mean the constant having to stop a ride for phones has to be annoying and for some reason it seems to happen more at CP....Blue Streak constantly stops due to a phone out..I can only imagine how uptight I'd be after the 50th time at the beginning of the season and then it keeps happening. Despite the downfalls of the day, it does look like you had a pretty decent day and I'm gad you did!

I wasn't around for the dismantling but never paid attention to the exit side structure when I worked the ride....lol.

Operations wise, it is a Rivertown ride....the location/entrance is in a weird spot. Too bad they can't just pick the entire ride up and rotate it to have a better Rivertown entrance or even a Coney entrance. A retheme is needed for sure.

The absolute worst thing the park did for Haunt that year...when MFCoT was installed they spent a lot of $$ on building it, props, designs, costumes, etc. and then they just turned the lights out. The theme went away and now you're just in the dark trying to find your way around. CP did this with Hexed as well...stupid.

Didn't Mystic win best new ride in 2017? I think the campaign for the ride + the ride experience itself helped win the award. Orion could have won best new ride but the campaign aspect was not there from the current KI Comms....if it would have been, I'm sure it would have won best new ride.

I wouldn't say that it doesn't get affected by water....it's often down anytime it rains, though that could be the CP rain policy. I'd rather see a different ride in place of Surf Dog...doesn't do great with capacity, seems like it valleys more often than not, the floor has had issues rising to the gondola, etc.

I will say, the shed is a deal breaker for me on riding....if it's a hot day or park is crowded, I won't ride. I feel too claustrophobic inside the shed ultimately due to the stacking. I agree with your point though. Still beats the Adventure Port announcement lol.

I think that the campaign did exactly what it was supposed to. "Watch for falling trees." "What's in the shed?" Both items led to mystery. When Mystic was announced, it did not necessarily go into the whole storyline. Doing such, left the "story driven attraction" to unfold on opening day.

Hard pass. Did my time at the park.