Outdoor Man

I think local "chain" restaurant-only selections would be great but understand the dynamics. I like Chick-fil-A for the same reasons BB1 pointed out earlier. That said, Sunday is typically one of the most attended days of the week and it doesn't serve the park or guests well to have a location closed. The only other rub I really have, is take Panda Express OUT of the German-themed Festhaus. Why not contract Hofbräuhaus to operate in the Festhaus. Now THAT would be festive!

feel bad for the construction crew over the next week or so.... some REAL crappy weather headed this way with daytime highs of ZERO. is there a temperature where they effective halt work till another day?

Are those crickets I hear?

1) depends if I have a funnel cake and a Coke between lines 2) not sure 3) I have never seen or experienced anything of that nature in KI (or outside for that matter). That said I believe that certain things happen that defy explanation. If not mistaken the land KI is built on had a catastrophic explosion back during WW2, didn't it? As for #3- I would be interested to hear Don's take on this. Someone at KI/CF contracted SyFy Network to have the Ghost Hunters show come out. I am SURE there was more found.witnessed than was shown in the 21-minute segment on TV a few years ago.

KI really needs to install some of these cameras for some good time killing fodder for these boards: (in case it doesn't come up properly in the link... Perfect North Slopes "Live" cameras. http://perfectnorth.com/snow_cams.php?view=2

Just a thought, the low level of season pass marketing could be intentional. Maybe. It could be that they want more people paying the gate price than fixed one-time pricing. As essentially a start up they don't want customers like me and my family that pay for 10 admissions months before at the price of two then use their facilities all season long. Probably would rather discount admission at the gate and make a certain dollar amount for each person all season. Ed is in media so very likely he knows more about timing than most of us... or at least knows people that do. They probably hired the agency of record to contract their media buys for maximum impact to put bodies in the park when open. Remember, they don't need 3 million the park like ki to be a success... More like a third of that. Aggressive season pass sales will be more important after this season.

leave the wet-suit in the car.

Speaking of webcams... December 21... Spring-like weather... The rain is filling up the wave pool. Crank up the wave machine, don the bathing suits its time for a NEW Kings Island tradition- a 2013 POLAR BEAR PLUNGE! I know, not on topic... but there is a usual spattering of webcam photos on this thread.

A transit line from the suburbs- say from Monroe running parallel with I-75 to Downtown and through to Florence. Then from Fields-Ertel to the same along I-71 would make more sense to tackle than a street car in a small downtown footprint that doesn't have any major stops.

there is one. it's called I-75 in an automobile. No mass transit system could come close to that time. Guaranteed "IF" such a system were developed from... maybe Downtown Dayton, there would be the following stops (at a minimum): UD West Carrollton Dayton Mall Springboro Franklin Middletown Monroe Liberty Twp. So, get off on the eighth stop and pay a taxi to get you to Mason.

My opinion. its a bad financial deal. Unfortunately, unless I'm mistaken there are none, if precious, few hotels located on the route, doesn't access Fountain Square and only gets 2 blocks away from the Horseshoe and is NO WHERE near the convention center. It seems a better route would have included the aforementioned. Downtown just isn't touristy enough to support. Now, it may give cheaper access to parking for downtown employees to park at the Riverfront to their jobs up on, say, 7th street... which will suck on the Business Day Specials.

don't know. probably a park employee, possibly an intern. I know with 100% certainty, that's not John though.

That's not John Mulcahy.

touche'

Terp- not doubting the info, but where did you hear that from? We knew people that worked in that division of Great American Insurance (or whatever they called it)- their take on it was that they couldn't believe that Paramount wouldn't allow KI to continue the event.

Group me in with this crowd. Winterfest did absolutely nothing for me, especially for the price (albeit that I never paid, but my parents did). The star and lights on ET were kinda cool but you could see those just by driving by, no need to get price-gauged just to see it up close and ice skate by the fountains. I love KI because of the rides, not because of International Street. So going in the winter and seeing all the rides and not being able to ride them was probably worse as a kid than not going at all! I think you are mostly referring to the 2005 version which WAS overpriced. And those who didn't like going didn't- but the pre-1992 versions were well attended.

me thinks that KD is being creatively positioned, if you know what I mean. I think Terp is spot on that long-term, CF purchased the Paramount Parks footprint for profit. Meanwhile I don't think that 6-flags and CF will merge, I think that a few Six parks could switch into CF hands and opposite in the coming years. The only reason I could see Kings Island staying in CF hands is so they can "manage" the in-state competition. I think there was a little of that going on when they bought GL and when they tried to right-size it they bought the Island and GL became an expendable source of new rides for the chain to weather a rough economic climate.

according to lunch-time webcam visit another piece has been added.

As far as presenting both sides of a coin in a debate I'd give the film in question a D+. If not mistaken, PETA is listed as a credible source for factual information. Not that they are not a legitimate organization, but they do tend to present very one-sided arguments.

thinking there will need to be some SERIOUS trim-break action before this section. ABORT!!!!!!!!!!!!

agree with your point about profit. and they are a "for profit" entity. But to my point, there are a lot of parks that do Christmas/December events that are profitable... otherwise they wouldn't do it either. Someone can correct me, but I believe it was profitable in the first run. I don't believe it to have been profitable in 2005- because it was, effectively a startup (most startups don't profit the first time around), and the price-points were ill-conceived. I think Paramount believed they could make it profitable in 2006 or they wouldn't have planned a year #2. When CF bought it- I'm sure it was an easy decision, as outside of Knotts, I don't think any CF park had a December event going. Ride maintenance wouldn't be affected since a very small percentage of rides would be open (no coasters or thrill rides)- and those maintenance workers would be mostly unaffected. My only point (with several sub points)- yes, they wouldn't do a program if unprofitable... however, there are a lot of park organizations that do- and they're profitable. They did it once- I'm sure they could do it again. to name a few: - Busch Gardens, williamsburg - Dollywood - Kennywood - Columbus Zoo - Cincinnati Zoo Now, that all said- I'm a bit surprised that a park named: Holiday World... in a place called: Santa Claus, IN- doesn't.

Personally, I don't see why Kings Island/CF could not make a run at it. There are a number of parks that do Christmas/Winter events that are seasonal parks... and most have Halloween events. Some that are open year-round make the transition while the park is in full operation. Besides, not that I spent a lot of time looking at the webcams- but the Haunt props disappeared off the webcams FAST. Someone may correct me on this, but if not mistaken- during the first run of Winterfest they may not have had a "Haunt" event, but they didn't begin decorating for Winterfest until after the regular season ended. There are a lot of places that do it and do it well. Kings Island did it well for 10 years... and arguably well in 2005. Perhaps the best indicator would be to gauge the number of future attractions that can operate in diverse climates: dark rides and low "impact" rides. If Banshee is any indicator, I'd rule out a 2014 Winterfest event... and with that big of an addition, we can probably expect some paint and general bolt tightening for 2015 as new attractions.

Holy Lottery Winnings, Batman. Seeing some of these wish-lists for summer '14. over ten park in 8 states in 5 potential months. Whatever job you're working, let me know when they're hiring.

You can love or hate British Invasion, but let's be honest - the Festhaus is German in name only at this point... agreed. I never actually saw the show, as I'm certain it was likely another musical review with no plot or story line. Granted, they weren't German-themed either, but Kings Island of old used to have some killer shows in there.

Its probably the film speed, but those turnpike cars look like they zipped through the course faster than their late 20th century counterparts.