Oldiesmann

Unfortunately this is one of those "no win" situations. No matter how hard you try, you will always end up offending someone at some point, and it turns into a PR nightmare when those offended become vocal about it and try to spin it into a "you're not being sensitive to my issues" story rather than trying to see why the park does things the way it does. The old policy that Gordon described seems great on the surface, but it's a huge logistical problem. Two different employees might evaluate the same situation in completely different ways, and, as others have pointed out, a lot could also depend on the environment - if the child is having a good day it may seem like a mild learning disability, while on other days the severity of the autism might be much more visible. It's also very difficult for ride ops and managers - they have to remember the specific policies for each pass, all while trying to pay attention to the ride and ensure they don't overlook their normal responsibilities, especially when the "driver" is the one doing the evaluation (since they're often the most experienced of the employees currently working at a ride, though this varies depending on the specifics of each ride). On top of that, some people with disabilities may feel that you're not treating them fairly - someone in a wheelchair who has trouble walking has to return in 30 minutes but someone else can ride immediately without a designated wait time. The new policy clears up a lot of the issues with the old one. Everyone with a disability is now treated equally, so there's no more confusion about which policy goes with which pass, no possible problems with two employees diagnosing a situation differently, etc. While it unfortunately does cause problems for people with severe autism, it's much simpler for the park to do things this way. I'm sure the park, with enough advance notice, would still be willing to work with families to ensure that they have the best possible experience (especially given Ouimet's emphasis on giving guests the "best day ever"). Getting back on topic here, it's hard to say what KI and CF can do differently in this situation without knowing all of the details from both sides of the story (something which we will likely never know). I do get tired of the "it's their fault because I didn't know about it" excuses, but I also get tired of the "it's on the website" excuse as well. Sure it's easy to put everything on the website. That way you can't say you didn't at least make an attempt to publicize the changes. However, not everyone visits websites, nor do those who do take the time to see what policies might have changed since they last read up on them. KI and CF need to evaluate this situation and figure out what (if anything) they can do differently in the future. I find it hard to believe that the park and CF have been all but useless in the area of addressing the concerns/complaints (under Kinzel I might have believed it, but certainly not under Ouimet!).

Here's the original thread: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/20856-a-whale-attacked-and-killed-a-trainer-at-seaworld/ (If you're wondering how I found it - I searched this site for "dawn brancheau" via Google)

Seems they've worked out any issues they might have had. Both engines were running yesterday.

Last bulleted item:

This whole thing is turning into nothing more than a media show. Ed is trying to convince people that he's doing all he can to reopen the park, but 3 weeks away from the deadline to sign or walk away, he still hasn't laid out specific plans, and is still being really vague about the amount they plan to spend ("more than $20 million" when it would have cost $17.5 million just to reopen the park a year ago doesn't sound like he's very confident). And now they're going to tax employees to help Ed pay back his loan? Whose bright idea was that?

How did we get from accidentally referring to Lake Erie as the ocean to West Virginia being boring? I personally found Camden Park to be quite an enjoyable place, and John Denver liked the state enough to mention it in what is likely his most well-known song...

Let's hope that guy doesn't plan on visiting Kings Island again anytime soon. Funny how he referred to it as Drop Tower even though Beast and Racer have had magnetic brakes far longer than that ride has been known as Drop Tower.

You should have let him ride on Flight Deck so he'd realize that it doesn't even come close to going upside down

The crew at Flying Ace was full of bad jokes today...

Here are my construction pics from today (I also took several other pics - those are in my main KI 2013 set on Flickr): For those who don't have flash: KI Construction 6/5 Interesting to note that our beloved triangular footer now has grass growing on it. Perhaps it was not meant to be part of a ride but rather part of some nice landscaping?

Screamscape hasn't confirmed anything. It's still just speculation. Until we actually see ride pieces or the park confirms it, we still don't know much. EDIT: Ninja'd

I'd love to come, but it's too late for me to request that day off. If I had seen this sooner, I probably could have come.

More fun comments... Uh, because that's where they've always done them? Remodel the entire park except for three coasters? That could get expensive! "Much cooler" and "better rides"? Surely there's something else besides those three coasters that this person finds cool and/or worth riding. And perhaps the strangest one I've seen so far...

New for 2014, KI's all new area, the "Dangle Zone". So that would make I-71 "Highway to the Dangle Zone"?

I must be thinking of my most recent trip when I just had a burrito alone, but I thought it was $9 and some change for a burrito and a drink.

I still think Hank's Burrito Shack is one of the best values in the park. $10 will get you a Coke and a burrito - not as many items as $13 in Festhaus, but the burrito is more filling than the two slices of pizza and the breadsticks.

Coney "almost" got another coaster? That would have been a great addition (Python is fun but it's a bit rough).

Hopefully one of the admins will be along to fix this for you soon. It probably just got overlooked

It used to not detect them, but it does now. The video embedded below was created with a copy/pasted youtu.be link: Didn't realize that it worked with those now. I was able to get it to work as a titled link, but only if you use something other than the URL as the link title: [url= ]link to video[/url]

Thanks Crypt. That's the only movie in that list I've never seen (though I love Weird Al's song about it).

Madagascar is DreamWorks, Happy Feet is Fox, Nemo and Monsters are Disney, ET is Universal and don't know about Jurassic Park.

Convenient how they bring up this investigation a couple weeks after the situation was first made known - right at the start of peak Orlando tourism season.

It's things like this that make me glad I'm not a high-level business exec. How do you tell someone that they have to step down or change positions because a court ruled that their predecessor was wrongfully terminated and must be given his old job back? Too bad Kinzel isn't the one having to sort out the mess he created.

Use the short youtu.be link for now, as the forum doesn't detect that type of YouTube URLs.

I've seen assorted birds, groundhogs, squirrels, chipmunks and skunks. I don't think I've ever seen any deer. I am curious about "Olaf" though - he's always around early in the season, and is the only one of his species I've ever seen in the wild.