RingMaster

Yeah, no nudity involved here, just lots of skimpiness und hot babes in tight clothing/revealing clothing.

So, as of today (as I was working Cleanup Crew), the facades for Massacre Manor and Red Beard's are up, as well as their maze layouts, which look cool. So, um, you might wanna grab the camera and get some Kodak moments this weekend. Oh yeah, and that hearse that was parked out in front of the casting office is gone, and a mini-scene with a skeleton, a couple of hay stacks, and a fog machine, in its place. Apparently, people have been keying it a lot lately.

YES YES YES!! Someone is finally getting it!! .....yep. He's losin' it.

Yeah, it was about as thick as someone's ex-girlfriend last year as I fondly remember.

....that has resulted in extremely long lines for every haunted attraction in the park, continuous lines running inside the mazes themselves therefore ruining the scare experience, numerous complaints from parents over their children being scared too much... Two years ago, I remember going into the Skyline restaurant on Int. Street towards the end of a FF night for some chili cheese fries, when suddenly a monster came in on the same occasion. Now, this was one of the cornSTALKER monsters, which, as you all well know, is well down the road all the way by Rivertown, and this was still back when only the Creepers (knee-sliders) were allowed to roam, so I have no idea how he managed to get all the way up near the Front Gate without getting caught. Anyway, what ended up happening was that a mother's two kids started freaking out and began crying. Mom begins yelling at everyone else who was on the floor laughing so hard (me, other guests, the Skyline workers), about how it wasn't funny, and it wasn't fair that the monsters can scare them while indoors, and stuff like that. Just to add more fuel to the fire, this was also the same family that I had seen while traversing the Gauntlet area by the Sling Shot, also complaining about the monsters scaring her kids too much. Now, I know part of the blame should go to the cornSTALKER monster for bing in there in the first place, but the other 95% goes to that mother for ignoring the warning labels that come with the package. Meaning, if it says 'Event May Be Too Intense For Children,' then, darn it, LISTEN TO WHAT IT SAYS! This is why the event needs to go back to charging people, so that these incidents will diminish and, hopefully, be extinguished. Either that, or the managers should let us kick these people out of the park without a refund (like Karen said in another topic).

Perfect examples of free charging backfires, that I know of, are Route 666, Headless Hollow/Tombstone Terrortory, and Maze of Madness/Asylum/Death Row. Triple 6, back in '03, had four to five hour lines on any given night. Hollow had a three-plus hour wait just for the train, not to mention possibly another hour waiting in WWC just to walk through the maze. And, of course, the infamous Madness of the Maze, the one who, on almost every occasion, managed to close the Zephyr down by blocking both its entrance AND exit and reaching the front doors of the skeeball arcade. And everyone remembers how crowded it was in the Flight of Fear Alley with Psychopath and the Asylum in the immediate vicinity (also with Curse of the Crypt in '04). Just remember that now there's a new ride situated right behind FOF that is a REAL big crowd drawer. Now picture the X-Base Pavilion come time for Haunt to begin, with Flight of Fear, Psychopath, Death Row, AND Firehawk open and running. Or, rather, just think of the crowds gathering back in the GunSon Alley to experience the new Club Blood maze, scantily-clad babes and all. Don't forget that both the entrance AND exit to Blood jet right into Top Gun's queue line, and, now that Son of Beast is back up and running, there should be a whole lot full of people lining up to take night rides on the (smoother) coaster.

...sounds like someone should spend their honeymoon with us at the Haunt.

Well the weather overall is no doubt better in SW Ohio than the shores of Lake Erie. They really do go all out for Halloweekends. I also looked to see what the room availability was like, and at this time there were no rooms available at any CP property (excluding Castaway Bay) for the first week of HW. Oh, please, if you want to see a Cedar Fair park decked out for Halloween, then go to where it all started...the REAL Halloween Haunt at Knott's Berry Farm, now in it's 35th season. Get this: - NINE mazes - TWO rethemed rides (like Route 666 and the Museum of Horrors) - FOUR scare zones (as in they encompass an entire themed area of the park) - FIVE shows (including the cult-favorite Hanging show) - well over 1,000 MONSTERS in the event (one scare zone has a good 150 of 'em just roaming the streets) So, um, yeah, the Haunt at the Farm rocks so bad, and, um, apparently, they're re-designing our FearFest to mirror the Farm's, so, um, yeah, ours should totally rock as well.

Considering the amount of emphasis they're putting on the event being graphic, intense, and adult-oriented, and not to mention they're somewhat mirroring this off of Knott's Scary Farm, it's almost a guarantee they're going to require a separate ticket for the Haunt just to get the kids out of the park. http://www.themeparkadventure.com ^ Scroll down to the Haunt Vegas link to get a glimpse of how 'graphic' and 'intense' the Scary Farm is, and you'll understand why I kept stressing that the parents need to make the kids stay home and/or quit complaining about the event being 'too scary for my son/daughter.'

Yeah, I'm sure any of the 1,000 monsters at Knott's will agree with you calling their event's name kiddy and goofy.

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10434 I dunno, just felt like posting this link in here.

There may also be a possibility for our event to last up until 1:00 in the morning, as depicted on Scarowinds' site. That, and the fact that Scarowinds' Halloween Haunt will now be from the 25th to All Hallow's Eve this year. I know quite a few of the returners and all the new hires for FF have noticed this, but is there a chance for a few "Fright Nights on School Nights" this season?

So while I was on Screamscape looking for updates to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, I saw a news update for Kings Dominion saying that they had officially changed their Halloween event name from FearFest to.....the Halloween Haunt. Linky Link: http://www2.cedarfair.com/kingsdominion/events/events.cfm I highly doubt Scarowinds will be renamed because that's actually original and clever, duh. Which leaves Kings Island and Canada's Wonderlands' events, as they both still have the FearFest moniker. Could we possibly see a rename to ours to the Haunt, along with a rumored warning label to leave the little ones at home like Screamscape hinted at for Dominion?

I guess I should make a quick reply by saying that we don't get paid minimum wage as Ecology Associates. Actually, we get paid about two-four bucks more than that. Me and a few of the returning restroom workers this year are at a $10.35 salary. But I guess the only thing keeping me from quitting, aside from the money, is FearFest. Oh, how I love letting out all of my frustrations among the teenage girl population around the park at night in a mask. It amuses me.

And this is why I've had so many people stop me in the park and congratulate me on how clean the park is and how clean the restrooms are compared to Cedar Point and Geauga Lake. Even BEFORE Cedar Fair took over. Now that we're under CF, chances are that, come next year, you'll see the same uncleanliness and disorder at Cedar Point seep into Kings Island, as a good half of the hard-working employees are leaving THIS year. And all because new management is attempting to "fix" what ain't broke with our department. Give you a perfect example: I already mentioned the guests complementing us for the overall cleanliness of the park compared to CP, as well as the BIG bigwigs of Cedar Fair coming down and saying that WE were the best Ecology crew out of the entire theme park chain (Cedar Fair & Paramount) last year. Well, we also got SEVEN Crew of Excellence awards last year, which, apparently, was more awards than any single ride crew in the park (I don't know if this is exactly true or not). But within the past few months, and especially with this heat wave, they're pushing us to the brink of insanity. Like with what DeMoN was talking about, with the associates sitting in the closet for an implied two hours. What, would you like us to check a restroom every three hours or something, so you won't have to see us in the same place twice in one day? Or with not being able to walk around with a cup of water in our hands, because it looks 'unprofessional': "Excuse me, guys, we'd rather you drink your water behind the scenes because it looks unprofessional towards the guests if you drink it in front of them." ....okay. We'll just stand back here behind the restroom, then. Then they come and say that being behind the scenes means that we're 'not doing our job:' "Sorry, guys, I can't have you folks back here. It gives us the impression that you're not doing your job, and we need you guys to look professional in front of our guests." ...............wha...? Okay, fine, we'll just chill for a minute in the restroom closet due to the extreme heat/humidity. Almost like clockwork, they come in and say we need to keep working and not take a quick break because, then, it looks like we're 'slacking off:' "Hey, you guys just sitting in here on the clock? Sorry, but we need you guys to keep moving and keep working out there, so there's no reason to be sitting in the closet or taking a break or anything like that." ................. Oh, and this one's my favorite; the supervisors not being able to walk around with their associates and vice-versa, because then it looks like we're, once again, 'not doing our jobs:' "Hey guys, I'm gonna need you two to split up a bit. It's not that you folks aren't working, I can see that you're working hard out there. It's just that from a distance you guys look like two regular associates just walking together, and we can't have that because it looks unprofessional." ......uhh, yeah, 'cause your 'smart' asses decided to make line associates and supervisors look EXACTLY THE SAME, and, apparently, the big black radios hanging off the back of our shorts isn't a dead giveaway that he or she's a supervisor. In 105-degree weather and we're supposed to keep working, non-stop, without a cup of water in our hands, not being able to drink it either with or without guests around, not being able to sit in the somewhat-air-conditioned restroom closets (I'm a restroom associate, by the way) for two seconds, and you're also expecting us to keep ourselves HYDRATED, too? I'm sorry, but lukewarm fountain water that tastes like raw sewage in the WATER PARK won't cut it. In fact, that won't cut it ANYWHERE in the park. PS: I did not make up those quotes to prove a point; these were actual quotes from full-timers that enjoy eating at the associate restaurant for ten minutes to prove that, oh, they do care about us enjoy being around fellow inferior line associates.

EDIT: Already did, Browntggrr. Thanks for telling me that. Being mad also means being cloudy-minded at times.

Why do people keep saying that the park is cleaner now, with CF in charge, than last year, or the year before when Paramount ruled? Look, I know I can't attempt to say what it was like back in the days of the Taft family reign because I was not born then. In fact, the only memories I have of Kings Island are from when Paramount owned it. So it would be unlawful for me to say Paramount was the best thing that ever happened to KI when I have never been to the park pre-Paramount. I will, however, say that we've maintained a very well-kept park in terms of the Ecology department since I started working there back in 2004. We've been at the top of our game when it came to the Nights of Fire event in July, the Spirit Song concerts right after that, and even the three years that the Nick Parade was in town. We've even had the managers of Cedar Fair come down and flat-out tell us that our Ecology crew was the best crew out of ALL of the Paramount Parks, even better than....you guessed it, Cedar Point! ....now, why they need to, all of a sudden, decide to take away ALL perks and incentives (no more meal tickets for working all-day, no Funcentive Points going towards free tickets to other, non-Cedar Fair/Paramount Parks for doing a good job, etc.) and assume that, oh, we need to be steered in the right direction because, apparently, we're not doing a good job in our department, is beyond me. I shall list the occurrences for my typing all this up: 1) We received a new Operations manager because, somehow, two of our really good managers left Kings Island in search of other jobs (gee, I wonder why THAT happened). From what I've been told, he used to be a Park Services manager way back when in, like, 2000, or something, and managed to get back into KI by means of Cedar Fair (IDK, I'm not a psychic). Anyway, he decides that we need assistance and that we can't do our job proper without HIS help. Meaning that, oh no, we need a SEVENTH crew just to help detail around the park by washing CARS. We've got several attractions and large pieces of scenery that need cleaning, repainting, and repair, and they're frickin worried about the darn TOYOTA SUV s that no one ever bothers to give a glance toward. Oh, and to start that seventh crew, we need to promote almost EVERY pan and broomer we have to the Truck/Utility Crew, which means that we've had a total of about, oh, ONE pan and broomer opening every area of the park and about two to three pan and broomers closing each area of the park. Need I also remind you this is also usually on Saturdays? 2) These other managers aren't very likable, either. They always feel they need to check up on us CONSTANTLY to make sure we're 'doing a good job.' Um, yeah, I think they need to be checking up more on a few ride associates or some food associates to make sure THEY'RE doing their job instead of us. Not to mention it was Cedar Fair's decision to make both regular associates and their supervisors wear the same outfits. Meaning there are no more white shirts to tell whether or not a person is a supervisor (dang-blasted Admissions peeps stole all the white shirts, and even then it's hard to tell who's a sup and who's not). And they have the nerve to go and tell us that our supervisors can't walk with line associates while on duty because, oh, then it looks like it's just two regular associates walking together, and we can't have that. Which means that sups can't talk to their other people while in the park, so that leaves us to 'fend for ourselves,' so to speak. Oh, I forgot to add, and you'll LOVE this, we can't be seen carrying a cup of water while in view of the guests on duty. A CUP of WATER. We have to go BEHIND THE SCENES in order to drink our water, and then, get this, we get in trouble for BEING behind the scenes, because, apparently, it is implied that we aren't doing our job. 3) Which brings me to what godfather was already talking about with our other new manager, who had been with the lifeguards in Boomerang Bay at the beginning of the season, and has also been a Park Services manager up at Geauga Lake. Just like an impressionable little brother, he feels like he, too, needs to change Ecology so that it fits HIS standards from his experiences at GL. Okay, I'm sorry, but I've been up to Geauga Lake several times already, and, I must say, Geauga Lake is a completely DIFFERENT park than Kings Island. I don't understand where these people get the idea that KI needs to be managed in the same perspective that Cedar Point and Geauga Lake are, because they are totally different parks to begin with. Kinzel blatantly pointed out I don't know how many times that Cedar Point was a thrill park and Kings Island a family park, and that it needed to be kept that way. From what I can conceive from this, managing a thrill park has somewhat different needs and qualities than a theme/family park like Kings Island, so those two should get it through their skulls that Kings Island is DIFFERENT than Cedar Point. For instance, our new manager and the other full-timers should have darn well known how the weather is down here; it's completely unpredictable. The past several days have well reached into the 100s with the heat index, and there have been days when freak storms have made the temperatures drop into the 60s in the blink of an eye. They should know that we need to sit down and rest for ten minutes in the restroom closet whenever the weather, or the intense amount of crowds, gets too much for us, especially when working the restrooms at the Front Gate. So, um, yeah, all of this has made pretty much every good worker we have, including me and godfather, leave at the end of this season, which includes: -all three of our current Eco managers -six of our twelve Eco supervisors We'll only have one real Eco manager next year (one sup is getting promoted to manager) because the other two managers are coming from Rides. And to add to the mess, the other managers want to have 21 SUPERVISORS for next year's department (counting the new Truck Detail Crew), which puts three supervisors with each crew for each shift (Open, Swing, and Close). So that means we'll have to promote a total of about 15 new supervisors for next year. Which, unfortunately, means that the department'll be run by a bunch of newbs (this doesn't count for the new manager and however many sups there are that do come back).

Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, didn't they move it because of one of the fireworks went off too close to the ground next to Hawk and FOF during the 3rd of July fireworks? I remember it, too, because it was a BIG firework as well.

As am I, a Roamer I have become. Where at they'll place me, I have no idea yet. I may get to roam Coney or Rivertown, or possibly Action Zone. I may even be able to become a Creeper, although the chances are against me. Either way, be cautious when trudging around the darkness....I could be right in front of you...or right behind you... ...or maybe I could be right above you, if you're not careful enough.

Whoa, wait a second. New management's only given us four tickets this year. JUST four tickets. For the entire year.

For now, you can expect this: .....it will be big. ....like, REALLY big. ....like, frickin' GINORMOUS big. ...and you will love it. Oh yes, you will LOVE it.

Actually, this year FearFest is opening up a night early on the 28th (Friday), which is why Pride Night had been pushed back to the 21st. Pride Night's usually on the last Friday of the month.

You're getting warmer, but, unfortunately, no Pirate Jack & the Legend of Halloween this year.

Nah, Freddy's already checked into Halloween Horror Nights this year at Universal. Nother crappy hint: -It's not really a horror movie, although at some points it could be considered one.- EDIT: And no, it's not a maze themed to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Although the Oompa Loompas and Depp as Wonka is scary enough on their own front.

Yay, I get to be a roamer, walk-around, scary-actor-type-person for FearFest! Hopefully I'll get to be in a big area of the park, like Coney Mall or Rivertown or Action Zone. Oh, speaking of which, I know a little bit about what they're planning to do this year (KI Man already let one cat out of the bag with the maze in AZ), but I'm NOT telling what it all is.... ...but I will give a really crappy hint about one of the new mazes debuting this year: -Johnny Depp's in it, but he's not actually in it.-