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Reviews of Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare

BoddaH1994

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Posts posted by BoddaH1994

    Top Thrill 2 and Fastlane

    in Other Amusement Parks & Industry News

    Posted

    A couple of possibilities with this “no announcement announcement:”

    - “We know you know it’s testing. Don’t read too much into that.”

    - “This ride will not be open for Coastermania.”

    - “The fix didn’t have the desired results.”

    For the sake of both Cedar Point and Zamperla, I hope it opens soon. Additionally, for the same reason, I hope this doesn’t happen again. 

    • Like 4

    Snoopy's Soap Box Racers & Camp Snoopy Reviews

    in Kings Island

    Posted

    19 hours ago, Stoan said:

    Oh mang, speaking of little things that would have been cool for a "camp" effect. Opening "wke-up" Bugle when the ride first open each day, camp announcement with Lunch and Dinner bells, and a "Lights Out" announcement for last rides.

    As for "Good Gravy", we actually just went to Holiday World for their opening weekend and I had this conversation with my kids. I think everything except the ride itself on Good Gravy is better, the ride for SSBR is probably marginal win. They are very similar rides to me, but the hump on the end spike is great and seals the deal for me.

    Yeah, that’s kind of how I felt. I think SBR is the better ride, but the overall experience with Good Gravy! is miles ahead.

    • Like 3

    With the new app, Pass Perks may go from an undelivered absurdity to a “thing”

    in Kings Island

    Posted

    11 hours ago, Tr0y said:

    Have you ridden TT2?

    Nope, and it doesn’t sound like I’ll have the opportunity to anytime soon.:D

    TT2 is really the only reason why I’m keeping the door open for the APP. Loved TTD, so I imagine I’ll really enjoy this. The temptation is there, but as of this writing, no plans to go. 
     

    To further clarify, I’m not saying CF is a sub-par experience. I enjoy doing all aspects of parks when I visit… rides, shows, food, etc. If things aren’t going to be open all day, theaters are dark a lot of the year, etc etc etc, it just seems like this isn’t the year. 
     

    With that being said, there are some aspects of this season at KI that are particularly buoyant. “Under The Stars” and “Country Crossroads” are both amazing! 
     

    The reason why I mentioned Dollywood in the original post was because, if I chose to travel, I would have to decide between visiting a chain that is going through a rough transition - often at the expense of the experience - vs a park that is firing on all cylinders more than ever. 

    • Like 2

    With the new app, Pass Perks may go from an undelivered absurdity to a “thing”

    in Kings Island

    Posted

    4 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

    I'm curious too.  @BoddaH1994, if I remember correctly, you said in the podcast that you were going to buy your pass at another cedar park.

    So, if you buy your pass at, say Carowinds (either in person or online) but you go only to ki and CP with this pass, do you get zero pass perks?  Are pass perks tied to the park you purchased from?  Or would you get pass perks at ki and or CP?

    No, I bought mine from KI. I don’t even have the APP. Might add it if I decide to go to CP or something, this summer, but no plans now. Not terribly tempted to go to other CF parks for a mid-level experience when I have Dollywood four hours down the road. 

    • Like 1

    With the new app, Pass Perks may go from an undelivered absurdity to a “thing”

    in Kings Island

    Posted

    14 hours ago, Tr0y said:

    I'm curious if some of these pass perks are park specific or chain wide? Any non-KI passholder can chime in on this?

    King's Island seems busier this season than last.

    That, I’m not sure. Another red flag is that they went from marketing the Gold Pass to the Silver Pass, which is their contingency plan for failing pass sales. On top of that, they’ve extended the “sale” an unprecedented amount of times. 

    Granted, I could be wrong about attendance struggles; however, I think no matter where they stand now compared to last year, they desperately need a lot more people through those turnstiles for one reason or another. 

     

    • Like 1

    Snoopy's Soap Box Racers & Camp Snoopy Reviews

    in Kings Island

    Posted

    4 hours ago, brenthodge said:

    Night lighting package looks nice for BSAcres. Subtle shifts that look like a sunset. Franklin is placed too close to the edge in his tower. There are three lights installed seemingly just to illuminate him and he’s so far in front of them they do nothing but create a strong backlight that makes him hard to see. How hard is this stuff? Entry along log ride really dark. Wish they hadn’t taken out the footers from the old signs, but used them to mount posts for string lights, and use added and existing lighting from Winterfest to project “light through the trees” to make that darker entry feel more immersive. Even if the overhead string lights twinkled like fireflies. Purple metal wall had nothing done to it. Would’ve been easy to repaint and add false “dorm doors” with lights above them with characters names on them as “campers” again… not a super expensive way to bring more to the area.  

    I saw the “sunset” effect. I was also told that at 10:00, the lights go to blue to reflect “lights out/night time.” Very cool!!

    • Like 3

    Article: Someone claims Canada's Wonderland sold them a gross uncooked burger for $25

    in Other Amusement Parks & Industry News

    Posted

    2 hours ago, DispatchMaster said:

    If someone is going to charge $1 for a burger, it shouldn't be dangerously undercooked. Hell, if someone hands me a free burger, it should be cooked, and anything less is unacceptable.

    Again, I don't understand the focus on the cost, since that suggests there is some price point where it's expected that one would be served food that is liable to give them food poisoning. It should go without saying that there is no price point where that is acceptable. I mean, we're not talking about the quality of the lettuce, or the staleness of the bun, or some other detail like that.

    Citation needed. And random Internet quotes don't qualify as citation. :lol:

    If someone charged $1 for a burger and it was dangerously undercooked it would be unacceptable. 

    They served a $25 burger AND it was dangerously undercooked. 

    If you buy a brand new Ford and it has problems right off the lot, that’s bad. If you buy a brand new Porsche and it has problems right off the lot, it’s also bad. 

    By saying that something shouldn’t go wrong at a certain price point, it’s not implying that it’s acceptable at a lower price point. It means that if you charge a premium, delivering a sub-par product is even more unacceptable. 

    I know that both you and the person from the park who feeds you lines don’t know much about PR, but having a public news article where people are quoted as saying to not buy the food at your establishment is a bad thing. I don’t think you need a pie chart to demonstrate that. 

    • Haha 1

    Article: Someone claims Canada's Wonderland sold them a gross uncooked burger for $25

    in Other Amusement Parks & Industry News

    Posted

    I’m not sure what the original poster’s intentions were, but here are my thoughts:

    I agree that normally simply asking for a different burger would be ideal, but she never claimed that she didn’t get to eat, got sick, walked away hungry, etc. Her point was that if you’re going to charge $25 for a burger, the least you can do is cook it so it’s not raw. Was this a warning to others? A vent of frustration? Malicious intent? Who knows? 
     

    You have to shop out of others’ pockets sometimes. $25 CAD is about $18 USD. If you bought an $18 burger outside of the park, and after the sticker shock, it came out raw, what would your reaction be? I imagine many would be baffled as to how such a big mistake could be made when charging those prices. The typical consumer doesn’t sympathize with “theme park prices.” Especially in this world where everyone is extremely price sensitive, charging a premium for a sub-part product ain’t gonna fly. 
     

    I do think this was an honest mistake. I also think that her reaction was a bit knee-jerk. I also think that her being upset first rather than wanting to take it upon herself to fix it is not the reaction that many people would have.

    Unfortunately, articles like this a VERY damaging to the park. Not so much the, “don’t buy a burger there. They undercook them.” Reaction, but things like this:

    Quote

     

    Others felt that the customer should have just asked for a new burger rather than filming and posting about the item, writing things like "Just ask for another one and stop complaining" and "you're at an amusement park, they ain't know for fine dining, your cook is 16 and probably stoned."

     

    A few also chimed in to say that buying an actual, very overpriced meal at the park was the individual's mistake, as they personally "only eat snacks down there [and] wait 'til it's time to go home to eat real food," and purportedly "no one buys food there except tourists."

    "I'm more turned off by the price than the color of the meat," one added.

     

     

    • Like 1

    Snoopy's Soap Box Racers & Camp Snoopy Reviews

    in Kings Island

    Posted

    6 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

    From the conversations I heard that were going on, I think they're assessing on what is needed for the area. Hopefully some umbrellas and more seating areas have been put on 2-day delivery on Amazon. 

    I’m going to hold a lot of my opinions for Tower Topics, but some feedback I got was that parents didn’t like how there was no seating in Beagle Scout Acres. Fortunately, that’s an easy fix. 

    • Like 2

    New Coke Refill & ICEE Stand Coming To Action Zone

    in Kings Island Central Newsroom

    Posted

    On 5/15/2024 at 11:00 PM, Kenban said:

    As far as I know all Coke freestyle machines, new and old, use those cartridges, the different shapes of machine are just where did they hide them.  At Kings Island the bottom half of the machine is a door and they are all located down there.

    The secret to the whole system is the sweetener is separate.  The calorie free sweetener is located inside the machine down near the bottom typically, and the High fructose corn syrup is a traditional bib located in the back room.

    The machines might appear to be free standing except for the water, power, CO2, but in reality they still have one traditional bib not in the machine.

    I think that it’s also worth noting that, at least according to Coke, this way of creating the drinks makes the taste “fresher” than they do out of a normal fountain… or even a can or bottle. Can you taste the difference? I feel like I can. I’m a big Coke Zero guy. Out of a normal fountain it’s drinkable, but out of a freestyle it’s delicious. 

    • Like 1
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