robintodd

So well deserved, honorable mention to the cast and crew and everyone involved with Phantom Theatre Encore!

Everything comes down to scale. My rough estimate is that Kings Island sells somewhere around 200,000–300,000 season passes. So even a 5% decline would mean roughly 10,000–15,000 people choosing not to renew. That's a lot of people, but in a publicly traded company, it's still a relatively small number compared with the interests of shareholders. I can understand why people aren't renewing, but unfortunately, consumer dissatisfaction alone probably isn't enough to force meaningful change. If shareholders really wanted to push for change, they would have to use their voting power—and the shareholders with enough ownership to really matter are the major ones. At around 1% ownership, you're talking about roughly 1 million shares. That's an enormous position for an individual investor. That's one of the fundamental problems with publicly traded companies: the interests of employees and consumers can sometimes take a back seat to the interests of shareholders. The larger companies become and the more they consolidate, the greater that tension becomes. That's where I think government has a legitimate role in preventing excessive consolidation and monopolistic behavior. I actually agree that a private owner could potentially be better for the park. The catch is that a private owner wouldn't have the same purchasing power as a company the size of Six Flags. Food, drinks, supplies, insurance, equipment, etc. could all cost more. Pass prices might have to increase to make up the difference. And eventually, that private owner could face the same temptation to sell to a larger company. So I'm not convinced that public ownership is inherently bad or that private ownership is inherently good. Both have their problems. For all the complaints, though, I'm still grateful that these parks exist. People travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars to visit American theme parks. Getting into Kings Island for around $120 is still an incredible value. As for whether Six Flags makes it through all of this? I think they will. And if they do, it probably won't be because of our measly offerings to the gods of capitalism. It'll be because the major shareholders decided it was in their interest. Rich protects rich. It's the good ol' boys' system—and the number of good ol' boys keeps getting smaller. Eventually, the proletariat will overthrow the bourgeoisie. May we all be around to see it.

So I looked it up and my guess is it goes back to supply and demand. KI has almost double the attendance even though 1/2 as many people live within a 50 mile radius. Their passes are cheaper because not as many people buy them. (from chatgpt) Kings Island Six Flags Over Georgia Approx. 50-mile population ~2.8–3.0M ~6.2M Annual attendance ~3.47M ~2.7M Attendance / local population ~1.2× ~0.44× 2024 attendance Kings Island (Mason, Ohio): ~3.47 million visitors Six Flags Over Georgia (Austell, Georgia): ~2.7 million visitors — this figure is an estimate; Six Flags does not publicly report attendance for individual parks. So Kings Island drew roughly 750,000 more visitors, or about 28% more, than Six Flags Over Georgia. For additional context, the TEA/AECOM report estimated Kings Island at 3.49 million in 2023, while Six Flags Over Georgia was not among the top-20 North American parks that year.

You could be on to somethng actually with The Bat,Drop Tower they could have eye of the dragon open year round....

It all comes down to not only the number of people living around a park but the cost of living. Cedarpoint, and other six properties up north all are close to a coast whereas KI is land locked. That alone means there are twice as many people living within a 50 mile radius of the park (not that many people live on the water). Another factor is how densely populated the area is around the park and the cost of living. Next time you go to CP notice how much farmland there is and the house values when you approach the park. Deffinitely a difference between CP and KI. So going by supply and demand KI should by all means have a higher price for gold passes (we're still for capitalism right?). At one time I thought they would do something similar to what they are doing with the dining plan this year. For gold you'd get in to KI all year but you'd only get 10-20 visits to the other parks in the region (or maybe even all parks and drop the region thing alltogether) combined with prestige having unlimited to all parks. This would keep people from buying a cheaper pass in Canada and going to KI all year. This would mean you could charge $150 for a KI season pass and $100 for the other markets where there are less people in a 50 mile radius with a lower cost of living. Last year my wife and I took advantage of the 99 renewal and the 100 upgrade to prestige and found it well worth it. This year prestige is only $24 more than last year considering the $279 price point for renewal. (200 for the prestige plus 35 for the included drink plan and a 20 credit = 255). I have always said that I would pay $200 for a season pass because I go so often (over 50 times a year) so $279 was an easy buy. The dining plan is a different story. My wife will be getting the 20 meals (I go way more often than she does) but I'l going to wait to buy mine. 399 for the unlimited seems just a bit high I would bite (no pun intended) at 299 and I feel that depending on how sales go they may drop that price. But you'll have alot of people who buy just one and split it. They would get a piece of pizza and a breadstick every 2 hours. Another thing that crossed my mind was how many people in the past have gottent a meal and sold it to someone for say $10. The old way you'd make $10 a day but now that could be over $50 a day easily paying for the unlimited in less than 10 visits. Looking at it that way maybe I do see the reason for the 399 price after all. I would never do that as I see it as taking advantage of the system. (Others may say that once you have it what you do with it is your business) One thing is for sure people generally like to save and/or make a buck and given the opportunity they will. Just my 2 cents.

In other food news the big dog of the month at Brewhouse is a chili dog. It has chili, beer cheese and fried onions. I had one and it wasn't bad, I'd give it a 7, chili could have had more flavor and to be clear this is NOT CHILI, it's chili with beans as Sheldon would say. :)

Might be why they put up the SOB station to be demolished. Add a sit-down restraunt and spuce up the area a bit in 2027 and then add the coaster in 2028. Eltoro is always very careful about rumors more than most. Might explain why we haven't heard anything till the sale was final. Of course the same reasoning could be why Magic Mountain delayed thier announement by a week...........

Not sure if this has been mentioned but I was having my smoked wings and green beans sitting between the Coconut Cove Cafe and the changing rooms when I saw someone go up to the side of the Cafe (on the outside) interact with a screen and 4 doors opened. Seems as though they used the mobile app to order food and there is a wall of hotboxes that can be opened with a code from the app. Wonder if there are any more of these in the park. Looked very efficient.

Festhaus has new menu screens (not tvs, but the design/artwork on them), they look great, French Quarter does also. Not sure if all of them have been done throughout the park but the look much better than before.

Like the new site but it took me until now to notice the next pre/pages (they kind of blend into the background. Also would be nice to have it show the forum content from the newest to the oldest (maybe a setting per user?)

Metal health will drive you mad.........

The way I look at it is since I've hadd Platinum/All-Park/Prestige I've been to Cedar Point (I go every year and always stay at Breaksers, eat at Bay Harbor and Tomos, etc. so I'm spending money to SIX) Carowinds, Knotts and Six Flags Over Texas. Each time I visited the other parks besides CP I've spent money on magnets, shirts, etc. I believe others would do the same, because KI (and to a point CP) are my home parks I don't tend to spend at them. I would think that people who go to other parks also get some kind of keepsake that otherwise they wouldn't get. "I didn't spend anything to get into this park so might as well get something to remember the trip by." kind of thinking.

I agree with your points but theres one issue. Renewals for season passes are STILL $99. They didn't up the prices. IMO the renewal should have been $120-140 and the non-renewals $20 more to help the "giving away the gate" situation. Season long dining plan at 399 is a bit steep. I could see this price coming down to 299 by christmas once they see how they are selling. (I would pay 299, but find it hard to justify at 399). Evreything else is prices well (if they raised prestige cost why didn't they raise gold???) Prestige went from $200 to $279 however looking closer it now includes the drink plan ($40 plus renewal gets a bring a freind pass (don't need) and a $20 credit (MUST BE USED BY 9/7/2026!). so I look at it as a $19 increase. Looking further you can upgrade the drink plan to the drink plan plus (icees, coffee and hot chocolate) for an additional $15 so looks like I'll be in at the Prestige at 294 all in. This season I've never not found a VIP parking spot nor have I seen the VIP lounge full. Granted I tend not to go on days when it will be extremly crowded but by them pricing Prestige for an additional $100 last year they did convert me and I find it to be a great value.

the whole reason for my "unlimited use at the park site you bought from and 20 visits to other parks" was simply because the sheer amount of people who live around KI. The more people the more you can drive up the price (we do still believe in capitalism, right?). However not only does Cedar Point have less people living around it (much less), the cost of living within a 30 mile radius of the park is lower than that around KI (or Canada). It's a way of trying to avoid "giving away the gate" without hurting pass sales at other SIX properties.

Completely agree. This year the meal plan was over 200 for 2 meals 4 hours apart. If what was seen on Canada's website is to be believed it is now $399 for unlimited meals each day 2 hours apart (almost double the amount of meals but you could theoretically get 5 meals a day (6 during haunt). This is the kind of thing they have to do to get rid of "giving away the gate" in my opinion for season passes. For example getting a gold pass should cost $150-$160 and bee good for the "region" but only with unlimited visits to your "home park" (the website you bought the pass from) for the other parks in the region you get 20 visits each (drink plans and meal plans would work at all regional parks). This would keep people from taking advantage of the Canada exchange rate hack or buying a gold pass from another park. In my opinion KI could easily make more money even with a 20% drop in gold pass sales and it would keep gold passes + meal plans from being used as a cheap baby sitter during the summer. Just my 2 cents.