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You speak with great wisdom Woofer as I have seen this progression start slowly, the thing is issues like this do start slowly then gain a great amount of speed especially when there is a proven success as far as the quality of the education goes and the high test scores coming from those communities. Politicians will drive this issue hard now and I suspect that within the next 10-15 years it will be the norm. That’s why I’m saying I hope that the Tourist Industry is gearing up to put a thoughtful plan into motion before it’s too late.

Man just think if anyone else is holding back information or pictures, they just got out scooped. Nice job Shman.You got to love the internet and the flow of information that comes with it.

Keep in mind that when given the facts to parents and they are asked to show support for one or the other, Parents usually look at the educational aspect of the issue as well as the economical and convenience side of the issue. The educational side is that the year-round students retain a lot of their knowledge and study habits better than the now current traditional schedule students. Working parents find it a lot easier to find some one to watch their children for the summer with the shortened schedule or they find it easier to afford a few weeks of camps or day care spread out over the year verses the 10-12 weeks in one long shot. If a family wants to take more than one vacation per year the year-round schedule is great for saving for the vacation and they are well spaced apart. Parents also find that the year-round schedule works well for them as far as keeping the family on a pretty set year-round schedule and love the extended breaks spread-out through the year basically they love the consistency of the year-round schools. Sadly for the Tourist destinations one of the last things that they consider is how it will affect their summer family vacation and their use of swimming pools or amusement park experiences. They see that they will have 5-6 weeks to go on vacation, do all the swimming and to at least get to the parks within that time frame. If you are a student and can read this post you will most likely not be affected by this change unless your parents go out and seek a year-round school for you, so don’t worry too much. But the transformation is already in motion and every year more and more school districts are converting to this Schedule. Administrators like because it keeps their students more focused throughout the year and the test results are very favorable to the year-round schedule. School boards and Superintendents often start half the district on the year round school and offer the parents to voluntarily sign up and they usually go straight to a wait list then after a couple years and with a long waiting list convert the rest of the district to the year-round schedule with little resistance. O Please hear me Tourist Industry change is coming please take note and help your future by getting engaged in this transformation so Florida is not the only destination

My neighbor across the street actually laughed at us when we told her we were going to send our daughter to a year round school. Five months later after seeing first hand the advantages of the schedule she has told us that she is going to try to get her children enrolled in my daughters school for next year. Which requires a wait list now. My position is this; year round school schedule is going to become the more main stream schedule because of its increased popularity. The Tourist industry needs to send their lobbyist to encourage a staggered district start time before this happens otherwise yes they will only have a 5-6 week season (which for the 2007 season would be from June 16 to July 21st). They may not like it but is coming and if they want to survive then they need to get engaged in the new growing in popularity school schedule and quite trying to tinker with an old outdated system. And for all of us who are old enough to remember there are lots of companies who have either went under or are just hanging in there because they resisted change and realized their misunderstanding when it was too late. I for one hope that the amusement industry doesn’t learn this one the hard way. Ohio has a lot to lose so they may be able to control its states decisions but they will learn the hard way as that the surrounding states will convert and the industry will still fall on hard times. I sincerely hope that they try to get out in front on this issue as it is a tidal wave a coming.

Actually it’s not a theory because more and more schools are going to it at the request of the teachers and the parents. Also with the staggered start times everyone family would have at least 5-6 weeks to take their summer vacation and it would be spread out more so it would be a little less crowded at their destination as some school districts would be in school . Also my daughter goes to a year round school now and see gets out for 21/2 weeks in the fall and we went to Orlando for most of her break with huge discounts on air and hotel rates. The weather was between 85-90 degrees everyday and the locals said that they were experiencing an unusually cool temperatures for that time of year. Ohio tourist attractions could reap huge dividends as all students would have at least 21/2 weeks to enjoy the fall festivities at popular attractions and for those fall leaves watchers. It would make it a all season long event not just weekend only events. Plus having 3 weeks for spring break is nice and usually the south has pretty warm weather considering us Eskimo’s are still used to the cold still. Feeding off of Jzarley idea of borrowing resources from one district to another they can share busses and other facilities while one is down there fore saving more money so that they can pay the teachers what they are worth.

Two thoughts about the possibility and the reasons why they would remove the loop on the Son of Beast. 1.) They may want to slow the attraction down to give a more smother ride and need to eliminate the loop to make this happen, as it takes a certain amount of speed to accommodate for the loop. 2.) If they felt that the current restraints were to confining and led to a rougher ride or increased the level of injury due to the constraints. They may have decided to go with a different type of constraints in the existing cars or in a new design style of car. Either way it’s possible that the new constraints may not be suitable for any inversions, there for the need to eliminate the loop on the Son of Beast would be necessary Disclaimer: I not saying that either one of these ideas have any truth to them but I am only putting them out there to give possible credence to the suggestions of the removal of the loop. If I had to guess as to the possibilities on one of the two above choices I would say the second choice is a more possible choice. Just my opinion let’s hear others idea’s as well.

Let’s all be honest here for a minute, when we got out of school for the summer after about 5-6 weeks we were kind of bored. I think if you ask most students during the middle of winter if they would be willing to trade one of their summer week off for a week off now that you would get a lot of takers. I don’t think the solution to the problem is when the schools all end and start, but of one that is in line to the logic of our current times in the 2000 era and not one that was created and was suited for the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Where am I going with this? Well let’s just say it time to stop look around and think outside the box for a moment. Currently most schools start, end and follow pretty much the same schedule. This then creates spikes in several industries such as travel, medical, day-care, camps and museums ECT. Major business finds its self scrambling to cover request for time off for their employees and granting it on a seniority basis so they can have family time together. Something to consider: Have a year round school schedule and have the entire different school districts stager their start time. Most year round schools have 21/2 weeks for fall break normal winter breaks 3 weeks for spring break and 5-6 weeks for summer break. My thought would be if they staggered the start times out then there would a lot of students out all the time instead of all of them out at the same time. Such as in middle of September to the end of October a lot of students would be out for fall break and then Spring break season would be spread out over 8-10 weeks instead of the current 4-5 weeks. This would help out all the above mentioned Industries and could result in more year round jobs and not just seasonal jobs. Of course the teachers unions don’t like it and some teacher’s like to get a second pay check for working over the current summer months. I would counter that with a lot of school districts are short good quality teachers and if the teachers wanted too they could fill in as a licensed teacher at other districts while they were on break from their current teaching obligation for extra pay. Also a lot of teachers that currently are following the year-round schedule say they like it much more and that they don’t get burned out during the winter months. At first people resist change and won’t even give thought to such a change but I would say to those who at least say maybe it’s worth a look, I would strongly encourage you to look at all the communities that have gone to this format look at the positive impact that it has had on students and the community. Then look at the few drawbacks to make your own judgment and opinion about this issue. After all they have been running the current schedule for over 100 years, can’t we just look at this idea or entertain other suggestions instead of trying to put lipstick on the old outdated schedule.

Sadly most losses to business is from the result of theft by an employee, but not always by the employee taking the money directly, but by passing on security information to others to do the job for them. It’s not always the person on the front lines but also those at or near the top of the company that feel that great temptation from stealing. I worked as a bank teller for a short while in my younger years and took security training classes as part of my employment. It was preached to us over and over “you can not stop the thieves who have planned to rob you, you can only put up preventive measures to detour them†BUT “you can prevent most of the Would-be robbers from stealing as a customer or employee by not putting them in a temptation situationâ€Â. Where as I saying most people don’t go in to the bank to steel from them but if a teller puts a thousand dollars down on the counter in plan view of the customer then left the area, the temptation to take that money is too hard for some to resist. There for business should always be looking for ways to keep temptations down to a minimal from all levels.

Also links to the other events can be found at this thread Season Greetings Welcome home when you get here and have a great time. Let us know how it was>

I wish we were able to see the states inspection report, does anybody know where to find a copy or a link to the report?

I think PKIMaureen posts should be breaking news on the PKI Central’s front page. I am so happy for Cedar Fair, Kings Island and everyone involved as to the Son of Beast misfortunes. I’m glad the investigation is over and that the park can move forward with their 2007 plans.

By then The Great Wolf lodge will be well established and associated with Kings Island, so I don’t think that GWL will spend large amounts of money just for what they are currently getting.

The Great Wolf Lodge Mason Ohio does use this logo and message on their front page. I don’t think they would use it on their web site if they did not legally have the right to do so. It could have been part of the deal that the Great Wolf Lodge would be able to make the claim that they are the official Resort of Kings Island before signing the deal and then building. When Cedar Fair LLP bought the parks they were still obligated to honor the deal that Kings Island and the Great Wolf Lodge Mason Ohio previously had.

Man did you sit-up all-night to think up all those ideas or what? I like alot of your ideas but, two of your ideas I wish could come to fruition. #10 Redo half of Action Zone into Stunt City. I think it could add a wonderful fresh new addition to the park. Plus it would encourage them to expand out around the Flight of Fear area. #13, Around the new coaster make a Downtown Disney like area that is accessible from the park and the Great Wolf Lodge. Oh how I wish this could happen, but in reality know that their just isn’t enough hotels to support an area like that. Oh how nice that would be, top notch restaurants, retail shops, night clubs, Cirque solie’, Grand movie house, mega arcade and boat rentals. Well we could always dream I guess.

So then it begs to be asked, what do those three parks have in common?

So basically your saying that they care more about making quick money than giving a quality annoyance free experience to their paying guests. Sounds like a long term loss or a negative attitude towards the park from their guests.

As reported in another artical.

What would YOU like to see in Kings Island? Entertainment!!! What would YOU like to see in Kings Island? Entertainment!!! What would YOU like to see in Kings Island? Entertainment!!! What Else would YOU like to see in Kings Island? Well I’m very hopeful and will be glad to see a new coaster come to Kings Island. Something that concerns me in the process though, I really enjoy going to a theme park and take in the atmosphere of the park without the need to see all the service zones behind the scenes. I’m concerned that if Kings Island does get a new coaster and places it at the rumored location by Flight of Fear, then it will subject the riders to the unsightly so called behind the scenes service areas. Don’t get me wrong I would prefer Kings Island to get the new coaster but if I was to suggest to the powers to be, I would suggest to please consider making sure that the guest do not see those area’s of the park. I will add that I do see hope for this as Dick Kinzel was quoted as in saying I honestly believe that the paying patrons do enjoy a nice themed atmosphere over a working atmosphere while enjoying the parks.

I wasn’t going to say anything. Because I didn’t think you all would believe me, but I have rode FaceOff backwards once.

Sounds good to me too. Maybe even before or after we could go by Heritage Park to see Carson Williams musical light display. It would also be good to see how many members we can cram into a car so that we would know how many vehicles that we will need for the trip. My guess would be that Ronnie’s car can hold 10 members with Santa hats on and 11 without Santa's hats. This will be great! Anybody else want to take bets on the capacity of Ronnie’s car at The Beaches Holiday Fest?

I can report to you only one thing that I like about the way to loud promptings to play the games at the Midway. My daughter tends to be a very slow walker and when we get to this area, she miraculously and magically no longer has that problem. She just puts her hands over her ears and instead of following behind she leads the way. I have been so shocked at her transformation, I often thought maybe I should invest in a portable PA system.

Season’s Greetings my fellow PKIC members! If you find yourself at the front gates at Kings Island this season and you discover that Cedar Fair has tuned out the lights this year for Winter Fest, don’t worry just go down the road to Cincinnati Zoo’s Light up your Night's for your festive holiday light shows. But if you really wanted a more hands on holiday experience, don’t just stand there shivering go meet up with shivers the penguin at The Beach for their Holiday.Fest. Now those are two great outdoor evening options and could leave you with a bit of chill. So then reserve a fireplace suite at the Great Wolf Lodge and warm up with their Grand Opening Special Rates . Hey also if you like to get up and get out early for you Holiday activities or just looking for a unique experience then I would suggest going over to the Newport Aquarium for their Santa's Water Wonderland. As you can see there are plenty of Seasonal holiday activities to get us all in the giving spirit. If any PKIC members attend one of these seasonal festivities won’t you please take a moment and share with the rest of us your experience. So with that my family and I would like to wish all the PKIC members a holiday season filled with family warmth and holiday cheer!! Happy Holidays

As far as the parking stickers go, there is nothing to stop a family of four from getting 4 stickers and put two on their own cars and then give the other two away to other family members or friends. If they are so worried that some guest are going to get one over on them, then maybe they should just raise the park entry tickets by $2.50 and then advertise that they offer free parking.

Did you notice the wording in the season long Parking Pass description? It says; “A season-long parking permit vehicle sticker will be issued for each Individual Season-Long Parking Pass purchased. This parking permit is valid at Paramount's Kings Island only.†I was hoping that they would not go to the sticker it is so 1970 and 1980ish. Time to catch up to the rest of the industy as to the parking situation Cedar Fair. I really don’t know which company vehicle that I will be using from one week to the next and it also depends if I'm bringing the Family from Indianapolis or if I am comming by myself, as to the size of vehical I will need.

Well how about the Rock n Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror at MGM Studios and hey how about breakfast with Cinderella at the castle before the park opens at Magic Kingdom then since you won’t have family with you I would for sanity sake leave that park.