BoddaH1994
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Posts posted by BoddaH1994
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1 hour ago, johnjniehaus said:
Can someone explain to me exactly what has been restructured with the retirement of Koontz? What job positions have been eliminated/combined by having Tony as the new manager of the park? I'm assuming there has been some restructuring and that Koontz wasn't simply replaced. Any explanation is appreciated. I do like the idea of our new manager having ties to the park from back in his early career so hopefully we are in good hands
Jason McClure is the General Manager of about five parks. Tony will be park manager. Think of him as the manager on duty, while all decisions run through Jason. The park manager is well-below the rank and pay grade of what the General Manager/VP was. The park manager will be a point man, while still maintaining their duties - in this case, Tony will also be VP of Operations along with Park Manager.
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Welcome VP of Ops/Park Manager Tony Carovillano!
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10 hours ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:
I stumbled upon an old video of Marty's Party. I didn't even know this was a thing granted I was only like 6/7 back then and never watched shows at KI then lol. Throwing marshmallows on the stage sounds interesting to say the least. Does anyone here remember more about Marty's Party? It's hard to find stuff about it outside of the photos on this forum. Maybe could make for a good topic for a future Tower Topics episode @DonHelbig @BoddaH1994
That show was fun! I remember a big problem with the marshmallow fight was that they would reuse the marshmallows from show-to-show and it would be very apparent, which wouldn’t stop some kids from taking a bite!
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On 5/22/2025 at 9:25 AM, disco2000 said:
Exactly!
I had said the same thing in a wall of text post in 2023 after a certain event happened and many thought I was crazy LOL. Excerpts below:
Just like social media has changed the landscape of the traditional news outlet, where in the past the TV news and newspapers needed two separate sources to confirm news before they would publish it, I think it has changed the direction parks are going. Now it’s often as simple as re-tweeting somebody else. The immediacy of X, Facebook, TikTok, and Google searches in this new 24/7 world of news has created this rush to be first, albeit now with typos, inaccuracies, and whatever else.
Has this same immediacy phenomenon resulted in differing skillsets and has the need for the traditional top notch “marketing professionals” in amusement parks been diminished over the years as a result of social media, bloggers, influencers, etc.
Let's face it - all the free publicity and answers to questions KIC provided over the years, and all of the questions fielded on the Facebook season passholder page is basically doing the job of paid employees for free!
How many less positions are needed to be staffed in the call center now that many of these answers are provided by people on social media sites answering the questions for free?
It is clear people would rather go to Facebook and ask random strangers the hours of the park rather than opening a browser and finding the official park website and pulling up the hours LOL. And you are very well aware many will respond with the wrong answers as well, yet that seems to be where people are going for their information.
Jim is putting out more frequent information and marketing on the FB season pass page than KI does. As such his stuff has higher visibility.
Is it possible that things like the FB season passholder page and influencer channels are a better marketing tool than the official KI social media channels? Way more traffic on the passholder page or even KIC than the official KI FB and twitter pages.
And then let’s not forget about the countless bloggers, influencers, channels, etc. that all have a larger audience than the official park social media sites.
And many of these influencer channels do a great job of “marketing” a park and their new attraction that reaches a far broader audience that the park isn’t paying for!
At what point do you let that type of marketing/Q&A be handled for “free” by overzealous employees and park fans on social media sites and eliminate a PR role and some staff in guest services and roll “marketing” up under the GM umbrella for those rare occasions something happens that a spokesperson needs to be provided to the media? Or simply hire a PR firm for the couple times a year marketing blitz on new attractions and special events or when something goes south and an incident requires damage control?
Don’t get me wrong, I think there will always be a need for a guest services call center and park marketing staff as not everybody is on social media LOL, but has social media influenced the amount of money a park needs to spend on marketing and the type of professionals needed in those roles, or maybe a redirect on how that money is allocated? Maybe the park should be paying you and your admin staff for your FB page!
Or put another way, should parks make an investment in being more active on their social media channels? Is the old marketing way of not over-saturating the public with constant material to the point that it becomes background noise and no longer paid attention to relevant anymore in the social media age?
Just using CF as an example, it appears to me that the amount of posting and interacting by park staff is somewhat driven by CF policies. The parks generally post about the same frequency and while some of the parks interact with guests on social media, it certainly isn’t constant, and far more posts are not responded to than responded to.
From a social media perspective, would a park be better off to adopt some of the social media methods that influencer sites have? Look at Don as an example – he is way more active on social media now and providing content more frequently than when he was at KI – was that CF driven or did he have so many other duties that social media was a backburner?
For example, while it may hurt the FB season passholder page, would KI be better off posting to their social media channels and responding to comments at the frequency Jim and the admin crew does on the pass holder page? And maybe that role isn’t a PR person but a guest services type person?
Or would KI posting at that high level of frequency cause people to tone out and not pay attention to the official social media sites?
Would daily posts by KI on park hours, if there are fireworks etc., be a good thing or should they stick to the infrequent posting and as such end up getting buried and lost amongst all the other influencer channels?
Just a bunch of random curiosity thoughts LOL.
You’re correct that KIC, the SP Group, TT, etc all market the park for free.
It was someone’s job to harness that. Instead, they alienated all three. Even when two of the three made very concerted efforts to reach out to them when they were new to the park.
That whole department has been a liability to the park for years now.
Bye Felicia.
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30 minutes ago, disco2000 said:
Tell them Don sent ya
You don’t need to do that. The promo code says it all.
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7 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:
I'm not following...it takes you to a link to enter a promo code. What is the promo code?
Promo code DON
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Is it typically an original design or a, “we have too many of these” situation?
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4 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:
Looks like Juke Box has removed the grilled chicken sandwich and the patty melt.
Tom & Chee has added a Pep and Chee sandwich - a pepperoni/cheese sandwich.Those are the major differences that I see at this moment.
There is no shortage of chicken tenders at the park...now which location will have the best out of the 10 locations (including Soak City)?The grilled chicken sandwich was the “replacement” for the Double Chicken Sandwich that they had got a few minutes on Pass Preview Day last year. Maybe grilling chicken just isn’t in the park’s wheelhouse now?
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3 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:
That's how I interpret it....and correct snack items are only snack items.
Okay, thanks for the info!
Also: I edited the title since it looks like it’s figured out.
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4 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:
@BoddaH1994 from what I gather, anything with a bullet point is on the meal plan. *subject to change*
So they’re adding to the Tom + Chee options?
And I take it that the snack options aren’t included, right?
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5 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:
Not extremely clear on listings but:
For those who visit Panda Express this year it is 1 entree and 1 side (I didn't visit last year to know if this is the same)
Have you been able to find the info for which actual meals are included?
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Kings Island has posted the foodie guide. The web site says to refer to this guide for dining plan options. It then links to a map that only shows snack options. Am I missing something?
Link: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/frequently-asked-questions?#FoodBeverage
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The email was faked.
The problem is that the KI Team often has Jim post on their behalf in the Facebook groups rather than communicating with the guests directly.
Jim was duped by the email like many others and made a post about it. When he did that, everyone thought he had gotten the information directly from the park.
The person who faked the email was in the wrong, but I also think this is a glaring example of how this "system" doesn't work.
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6 hours ago, Orion-XL200 said:
I had hoped for more...Gazillion Bubbles is only playingMay 31 – July 6, 2025....so maybe a full month and some odd days of the KI Theater being used....and not during the hottest part of the season.
HiFi Honey is only playing 4 dates.River City is playing 3 dates.
Country Crossroads playing May 24 – August 10, 2025.
Hot Rhythm Nights playing May 24 – August 10, 2025
Trailblazers X-treme playing June 21 – August 3, 2025Yay Six Flags?!
You have no idea how critically close we were to losing the nightly fireworks...
For that reason alone, I'm okay with it.
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21 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:
Unfortunately I think 2023 was the final one. I feel it was probably only brought back as a last resort for Timberwolf after the 2022 concert series flop. I guess Koontz fought hard to bring it back as it was pretty popular for local church groups, but I'm guessing he lost that battle to corporate in 2024. It also seems like the Carowinds concert series flopped as they aren't planning another round of concerts at that park either. I'm guessing Timberwolf has hosted its last concert and the plan is to use it for Music in the Parks and then eventually demolish it when they find a better use for the land.
Also, the Spirit Song website is gone and if you type in spiritsongfest.com you get this error:
Did Carowinds’ concert series flop? I didn’t exactly follow it very closely but I was under the impression that it did well.
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The floral clock?
It’ll probably be fully functional by Memorial Day when all of the flowers are in.
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10 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:
Has Kings Island or any legacy CF or SF made a statement about the alternate access program in the past?
Yes. A quick Google search yields dozens of articles about Six Flags and other chains implementing systems like this. It takes a fair amount of planning to utilize this program. The program requires getting the pass and having a doctor’s note. You can’t just register at Guest Services. Not putting this out there as early as possible is a huge disservice to guests who are affected by different abilities. Many will be disappointed who do not have this new policy properly communicated to them and get turned away from the needed accommodations.
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ICYMI
Kings Island, along with the rest of the Cedar Fair legacy parks have adopted the same disability system as the legacy Six Flags parks. If this affects your party, it’s important that you have the information before you go because it involves pre-registration. We reached out to the park spokesperson, Chad Showalter, but he chose not to respond, despite the communication of this information being critical to those affected.
Check out our Tower Topics on this:
For more information:
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17 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:
Speaking of events that might help bring in some cash flow: Dollar Days.
While the prices would probably need to be increased and the event be renamed to "Value Days" or "Discount Days", it could be an easy way to increase guest willingness to purchase from the park. I decided to make a mock-up poster for a re-done Discount Days event for everyone to enjoy. I won't claim the ideas/prices to be realistic for what Six Flags is willing to do, but I know I would be more inclined to spend money if items were briefly discounted. The Discount Days Booths would be two or more of the small sheds, each stocked with cotton candy and ice cream machines.
In short: increased park attendance for one holiday weekend; more money spent per guest (as opposed to normal operations); good park publicity; and a "new" event with a relatively low upfront cost. Send the event around to other parks in the chain (like with Grand Carnivale) to get more use out of certain equipment and branding if need be.
You could still call it “Dollar Days,” I suppose.
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Thought you guys would find this one particularly interesting.
On the latest Tower Topics, we welcomed Taryn Harrison, Kings Island’s first-ever guest.
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I'm thinking they want to do something in there for their 40th, and they'll be back next year. Just speculation.
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This is paywalled, but Alex wrote a really flattering article about us.
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Food & Wine 2025 Reviews
in Kings Island
Posted
I checked it out briefly on Sunday. It looks like the food options have been expanded widely. I did not indulge in the food but members of my group did. They seemed to enjoy it. The area looks nice and the new shelter by the carousel turned out well.
The critiques would include:
1. Still only Fri, Sat, Sun
2. Only in a small area of the park so it's not immersive
3. I still feel like people who would come to the park anyway may see it and only know they're doing it because they happened to be there
With that being said, there were actually people in the Tower Gardens eating and drinking so it seems far more successful than last year, which was a disaster.