Erosarrow05

i was being a smart #ss

Im surprised that someone hasnt chimed in with the fact the dates arent on the map means paramount is putting Kings Island down the tube.... here here azguy

give it a rest already. I remember the shows from 'yesteryear' and to be honest there wasnt one show that sticks out in my mind other than the winterfest show that stuck out as absolutely amazing. The entertainment is not less than an industry standard, better than most, the best, of course not. So save the whole 'sigh' thing.... Dont patronize me like i dont know what entertainment is. Furthermore, I think we can all count our blessings that Paramount has control over the park and not some of these former 'managers and supervisors" that are still riding out some fantasy of one day running the park. I have little doubt that any of the general public will see any change in day to day operations. And considering that most of the departmental big wigs have been there since before KI became PKI... i doubt there will be any HUGE mix up in mgt. But of course im sure someone knows some huge consipracy theory. There are very few parks or park chains that go out of there way to cater to the gp. How many park chains have online surveys etc. And of those surveys, physical pojects emerge??? I just get so tired of reading the same messages from the same people - paramount cant do this right - they took this out - this costs to much. Again - its an amusement park, as with malls, movie theaters, putt putt golf centers, parks, lakes, hotels, states, countries etc... If you had a bad time - DONT GO BACK. Why sit here and pretend that some California Media Conglomorate really plays this HUGE role in what you consider the "downfall" of an amusement park. Like Les Moonves visits these places. Kings Island has done nothing but grow and expand. And considering that they still draw in the crowds with the price of admission being what it is and prices to travel so high and obviously getting higher - they obviously have a great product and that speaks well for them. Lastly before i go write my paper.... I all think that we are entitled to our opinions. I certainly have mine. But at one point in time you have to sit back and realize that this place we all go to is there for 2 reasons. To make money and to make smiles. Sometimes I think that some of these disgruntled former employees, and you know who im talking about, just sit back and criticize when they themselves could not do a better job at all. Hmmm.... the most disappointed thing about pki....THE MOST.... BY FAR ..... to me..... is when someone walks out of the park and cant say they had a good time. :-\

This is pathetic.... Its an amusement park

Well, we can only hope that the future owners contact you about the appropriate way to run an amusement park since you can attest to how paramount single hadedly destroyed Kings Island lol For all the damage and destruction paramount has done, they sure can rake in the attendance numbers... I can appreciate your comments though... but lets be real... Paramount hasnt done anything but improve the parks value and reputation however, the 'good ole' boys sometimes wish to live in the past.... i wonder if its even possible for wooferbear or this adam12 to list 5 things that paramount has done to the park they appreciate.... Furthermore... To wooferbear and adam12... When you go to pki, if you go... do you just walk around in complete disgust or do you actually have a good time???? It seems like wooferbear especially just cant stand the taste of paramount.... I like it though.... tastes like chicken :-D

i see... well shrubs and sidewalks are serious business.... If you dont think they are doing a good job.... why dont you write them a letter... its obvious they take what people say into consideration

You make no sense... Why would i go to Paramounts Kings Island to ride the forbidden temple ride or rather... Tomb Raider the ride Parmount parks are not the creators of Kings Island.... they are the owners, which means they get to do what they want ... and that means they get to make there own original rides unique to the paramount branding... I dont think you fully understand the concept of marketing The rides are unique to the park.... you are just complaining about the names?! Just because thematic elements or rides currently arent functional doesnt mean they are beyond repair.... for all you know they could just be deactivated... That is not going to devalue the park, nor will the fact a Coke cup is on the ground. maybe you should find a new amusement park to visit?!

I fail to see how hollywood branding made the park more, as you so eloquently put it, 'wal mart - ish'... An amusement park is an amusement park its not exactly a unique entity. Cedar Point, Kings Island... all these seasonal places dont scream "unique" to me. They may have some unique attractions but the place itself is far from one of a kind. I guess Universal and Disney are somewhat unique but i still personally wouldnt classify any of them to be so far outside of what the rest of the amusement world has to offer. If you were buying the park, and were upset that everything had paramount on it, I dont really think they would be all that interested in selling to you. I would assume, as it has been stated many times before on here, that the purchaser of Paramount Parks will purchase the themes as well. Furthermore, where has it been said that "Paramount Parks has screwed up and is trying to sell" ??? For the record... I personally think that Kings Island is asthetically pleasing. If youre gonna get huffy about the in park marketing, get over it. It is a place of business afterall. I certainly dont think that Paramount has cheapend anything or ruined the image of the park. In fact i like what has been done... every year... and im thankful that i live so close to park that is willing to invest the money they have into what the guests would like to see. Its so annoying to listen to people moan and groan about such stupid things like paramount did this, paramount did that... boo hoo blah blah.... the fact of the matter is, the park is open for business and thriving. What else can you ask for? Need I remind some of the people here that like to poke and prod at the good people at viacom, we could have gone the route of a certain park in texas... so go ahead ... boo me if you want... :-D

Thats kind of a dumb thing to say... If you dont have the staff to staff the rides, they obviously cant open... Out my 3 years of servitude i can vivdly remember rides not being open on dry run day, or even the first second or third weekends ... school is still is session afterall. And im sure all the 'negative' comments youve been hearing are from 'enthusiests' so you have to take all of them with a grain of salt.... be it pki cp sfmm who ever :-D

If someone had a bone disease they have no business riding SoB and if they did... all i could say would be "Rider beware"... Amusement parks on the whole do generally a good job of covering themselves with the signs posted at the front of the rides. The list of medical conditions is rather lengthy so one could only assume that if someone with one of these diagnosed or undiagnosed conditions were to ride, it would not be at the companies fault. I had read an article in the AACN (a magazine for critical care nurses) a few years back, and it listed the top 10 ways americans had uncovered an undiagnosed illness or medical condition. Number 6 or 7 was "high adrenaline" activities, and thereafter was listed amusement rides. It made sense though after reading, you have to assume that in certain cases or extreme thrill rides undiagnosed high blood pressure or any cardiac disorder could be set off severely by riding such intesnse rides ... Its definately really late, and im not sure if any of that made sense, but Im up out like a fat girl in dodge ball

What was Titanic Mess correct about??? Did I miss something????

What a funny little website... I had never heard of it, which probably means it popped up within the last month or so and will vanish just as quickly. Although I could be wrong.... It was kind of cute to browse their limited selections of parks and listen to this random guy refer to himself as "ASO" ... oh well, worth a chuckle nonetheless

can you point me to the lido deck?

You know.... The only comment I have would be.... 1. I didnt have enough time to do everything. We got there at 5 oclock and motored around and still didnt have time to do the train ride, santaland, bubba gumps, fest haus, the parade or scrooge. - God it seems like i didnt do much now lol... I did take my time though going from store to store, and of course the ever popular glass blower. So jesus - 4 hours was not enough time. Thats it - I went on sunday the 11th. There was a fairly good sized crowd. I did blow 56.00 on a winterfest blanket. The nice heavy one. After walking around the whole time, I think the event was very nicely done and it has something for everyone. ps... i loved the random wreath on TR:TR

Ill be here eagerly anticipating the arrival of my "i told 'ya' so" ... *rolls eyes* Heres to wintefest 06

Well while you may be trying to be realistic - I think you are being a little, dramatic in your analysis of Winterfest. I think we can all agree that the best word to describe marketing for the event would be "late". In dayton we dont get that many PKI commercials, but the ones we did get in mid october only talked about FF. To be honest I dont remember seeing any WF spots on TV until about a week before WF opened. With that being said... Since then however, there have been 'more than average' amounts of commercials on dayton TV for the event. The posters in the Krogers arrived the same time as the commercials. I know the PPS survey on WF asks rather specifically about marketing so I think they have an idea. Using the word 'salvage' makes it sound like all hope is lost. I can tell you that hope is far... far... far from lost. We are in the second week in December perhaps this weekend will start the big influx of guests. Only time will tell. I think that is a little presumptuous to judge success or lack there of with only a few weekends under the belt. Of course its a lot easier to judge things in hindsight, and PKI has given the SP holders the ability to get the half off tickets which is a good step. But the back of the season pass had said that it was not valid for winterfest since day one. I would anticipate some sort of deal with the passholders for next season. Im going to disagree - Tickets for the shows are a good idea - it ensures that people wont get turned away at the door - assuming the park was crowded. Tickets for meals, why not? Buy it online and have your meal taken care of before you get there. Doesnt really seem like a big deal to me. You have no idea if they turned GE away. I doubt there are few winter events in the area that could handle a GE party. So dont act like you know that the GE big wigs were SO angry at pki they decided to never come back. You and I both know that isnt the case, and we both know PKI has already made it up to them. (And please dont use that stupid quote feature to quote what i say, and then say, "i didnt say that"... because i know) This salvage thing.... there is NO way they are in salvage mode. I just cannot believe it. Its been open for 6 days of 22. its not even half over. Of cousre, i may be eating my words, but I think everything is going to be A ok at good ole' winterfest. The marketing folks are coming up with deals to get people in the park - but they do that in the summer . I see this as no different than the normal summer season. Go to kroger, wendys places liket hat and you can get discount stuff... Of course now its only at krogers but krogers are everywhere. Lastly - Woofer, the one thing you have never addressed is.... THE GREAT BEAR LODGE.... I would be willing to bet my bottom dollar that there will be some serious holiday packages between the two - fearfest/winterfest. We all know that the indoor waterparks are extremely popular and they draw lots of customers in the winter. With the two locations so close to each other, it only makes sense to use each other to get business. So while a lot of people complain about the price etc. And how "if they cant do it right, dont do it at all"... well, a. i think it has been done right, i think its great.... but b. i think they are looking toward the future... Get the word out this year about winterfest and next year start marketing the overnight weekend holiday getaway between the hotel and pki. Sounds like a great deal that i would probably attend. Oh well. thats all i have... im off to study for.... Pharmacotherapeutics

Why must you all ask questions about why they closed the park? The fact is, it was closed due to the weather. Get off your high horse talking about "winterfest is for winter weather". Well of course it is but when it is 16 degrees with a windchill placing it at 5 degrees. Thats not comfortable. There was snow everywhere. Get off the parks back, they closed, its not a big deal... The fact of the matter is, that some of you people can never be pleased. If they were open last night, and there were car accidents in the lot, or on KI drive or some old lady slipped on a path and broke her leg the same lot of you that are complaining about how the park was closed, would be the first in line to say they should have closed the park. And FYI to all you just now recently coming out of the woodwork former employees you should know that KI/PKI has a very good rapport with GE as well as a whole list of cincinnati / dayton companies. Im sure, that the PKI we all know is already in the works to make it up to them. Its a real shame that a few people continually judge the park and refuse to shut the hell up and let the rest of us just enjoy winterfest. Opinions are great but the constant negativity sucks. Opinions are one thing, but chastising like you could do a better job, is a little rediculous. So thats just my two cents - and its not worth anything - but i just get a little hot and toasty when some folks keep moaning about winterfest, when we all are excited to have it back.

Above all that ... I know where I am (30 minutes from pki) that the side roads are still covered in a l good 2 inches of snow. I would venture to say most people that have tickets tonite, might have reconsiderd going in the first place. While some may disagree with the choice... I think PKI made the responsible choice here. Considering that woofer bear is 7.5 hours away, hes obviously not standing in Cincinnati weather, which most of us are. But good for you for coming to support the winterfest event living so far away.

Could you point me to the reported attendance figures??? speaking of which does anyone know what is considered good / avg / poor attendance figures for the event.... ? or what the 'sellout' number is?

That was well put. I wonder what the percentage of people who attend the event actually purchase tickets at the gate. I guess the one positive thing that we all can pretty much agree on (with the exception of sinking titanic) is that the only thing that people have really been commenting on is that the price is a little high... which obviously has been adjusted. From what I've heard from people that have already gone, they have enjoyed it. To bad PKI is having a snow day.... oh well

Who says it hasnt been priced appropriately? and furthermore... what is an appropriate price?

... me

How is not owning the Ice Maker a telling sign? I think that if PKI would have outsourced the whole kitty so to speak, then I would definately be inclined to think something fishy was going on. But the city of dayton has had ice skating at the riverscape park for the past 4 or 5 years and they outsource. As im sure many places do for the main reason that its probably a pain to deal with. Does anyone know if the beach owns the ice machine it uses. It just seems to me that if i had two options and they would be 1. Hire someone else to do it and trust that it will be fine 2. Do it yourself, and purchase everything and try to do it in house. I would want to choose the one I knew would go off without a hitch. As this is probably the first or second most single visible item of winterfest. Remember, the winterfest "know hows" (you know who you are) are obviously no longer working there so current employees cant use their bat phone and call you up and ask. And besides that, i remember PKI advertising this new technology that allows the ice to remain useable with temperatures reaching the 60 degree mark or higher (i cant remember) So, maybe that is reason enough to outsource. After all, pki's ice maker would have been 20 years old or so. And by the way, i have no idea what an ice machine is nor do i care, but i get the idea its not exactly like a string of lights. In fact when i was at the park it looked like they were lining the fountain with this network of coils (which im assuming freeze the water, im so clever) .... Anyway... thats all i have....

It makes more sense to me if they contracted it out. As long as they contract the rink out, they dont have to worry about making the rink or maintaining it. The refrigeration unit itself is somewhat down on the totem pole in the grand scheme of "the whole ice skating rink". What if the machine broke or needed an overhaul, if they contract it out, they arent responsible for those kind of costly repairs. Makes much more sense to me to contract out. But alas, you keep finding things that just might get winterfest to not come back. Afterall 'leased ice machines' could be a telltale sign... lol. Someone needs to get Human Resources on the line, we have got to get this guy rehired so Kings Island can get it together with how they run things. Winterfest is just falling apart at the seams.... and now, i flick the sarcasm off.... So this is one thing that I am surprised hasnt been discussed. And this would be my main reason to refute all of titanic messes... well, mess of comments. That would be... The great wolf lodge. Unlike the park, it will be open all year. Im sure that the pki marketing and GWL marketing folks will be in cahoots to come up with some vacation packages. This water park is more than likely going to draw in quite a few people considering this isnt sandusky where there is one per city block. So I would not be surprised to see GWL and PKI work toghether and both promote holiday mini vacation escapes.

Per your request, Im reading it over and over again as Im ordering my 3rd set of winterfest tickets. (Illustrious Club? Like Christmas lights on Swan Lake) (( was that you being funny, becuase i couldnt tell if you were beings serious or you didnt know what illustrious means))