Orion-XL200

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.

Not much remains inside. From what I gathered, the ride was dismantled inside and removed in pieces from the building. There were a few seats in FOF not sure if they are still there.

Gone are the days where gold tags would step in to help operate rides. It always made me giggle seeing the suits on platforms.

Aww how nice. Looks like suggestions were used.

This is what passion for the park looks like, even a mild interest.

It's definitely still relevant, I mean if it wasn't why would they include any reference or Barry Williams in the season last year? I'm in my mid 30s....have friends in their 40s and 50s who regularly watch The Brady Bunch on streaming and especially look for the Cincinnati Kids episode when it airs on MeTV and stations like that. The point of only being open weekends would apply to the idea you shared earlier of posting when it actually aired in November. Working in marketing and communications myself and knowing the former comms director/staff extremely well for years before I joined KIC, shows me how far comms has went from stellar to mediocre at best. Storytelling is one way to show an effective communicator/marketing professional (there are many other ways)....when your brand goes from storytelling to almost radio silence, the brands marketing/comms department is not effective. Does stock footage that includes other parks, an ad featuring a removed ride or a selfie drive attendance? The first two, maybe, but those will lead to disappointment for those who see a roller coaster that they want to ride is not at Kings Island or they go to ride Pipeline Paradise after Soak City Opens. Storytelling doesn't even have to be elaborate...share footage of The Racer on the show and then how it looks today with a message that conveys lasting thrills through the 70s to today which includes a "get your gold pass before prices go up!"

There's a difference between in park entertainment featuring the history of the park (not set up by a comms department) to have Brady Bunch featured as a portion of the fireworks show as well as Barry Williams narrating the show and a post/blog/etc. acknowledging "on this date...." a year later. As long as I remember there was a fairly consistent post about the filming being made and posts going out when the park would be aware of "The Brady Bunch episode of "The Cincinnati Kids" filmed at Kings Island will be on ____ at 7:00 pm." Not only do posts increase park awareness, but they have a reach....reach translates into potential sales/financial growth. How hard would it have been for KI Comms to make a post "Today is the 50th Anniversary of when The Brady Bunch arrived at Kings Island, make sure you grab a gold or prestige pass to ride The Racer like the Brady family, throw a football like Greg Brady, enjoy food like Cindy and Bobby," etc. Folks who grew up watching The Brady Bunch would eat that crap up, see the photo below. It's all about marketing to your audience. The 3rd quarter of the year can use a boost in sales due to shortened operating schedules....the anniversary hits in 3rd quarter....why not try to boost sales for season passes coinciding with a famous event at the park?

"And yet SOMEHOW Chad remains..." .... Oh wait you meant from the episode: "Well, ice cream isn’t eating, it’s licking. Right?" - Bobby Brady.