BoddaH1994

If anyone is buying tickets for friends or family, you may want to wait. Kings Dominion is currently running a flash sale for $19.99 tickets. If history is any indication, Kings Island will likely run the same sale within the next seven calendar days. With Kings Island’s recent behavior, it may be safe to assume that people who purchased at the current “sale” price will not get an adjustment.

Haven’t been up to the old alma mater in quite a while. Would it be worth adding in a splashdown themed to Loch Norse?

If they just themed it to concrete it would work just fine! Make it to e NKU section! (that joke was only for a few of you )

It’s the gift that keeps on giving, Clark. All year long.

If Dollywood had dorms and Kings Island didn’t, they’d use that excuse. Dollywood figured it out. Kings Island devalued the product.

Hahahahah Why don’t they just do they way did last year? There was a wait list! Oh wait.. he was lying… both times. #ChadGonnaChad

Yeah my understanding is that it is replacing Four Drummers.

That was always my point. If terms are subject to change… why not have it both ways?

Eventually, everyone will be affected by the, "terms subject to change, no refunds" mentality that they have. I agree - most wouldn't notice... until it's the person who primarily goes during the week in the shoulder season, or whose kid really enjoys 'Four Drummers Drumming,' and so on. It seems like everyone and everything is subject to change, which will push back the purchasing decisions People not renewing early puts them at risk of not renewing. They are not positioning themselves well for that. They're playing the short game when the long game is almost always what pays off.

“Non-transparent” is the word that comes to mind for me. They stooged off the Prestige Pass thing, and instead of fessing up and apologizing, they kept your money and changed the language on the web site. They sold a a plurality of season passes and then announced they were no longer year-round at KD and Carowinds. They implemented a chaperone policy (for right or wrong) and when people had questions about how that would affect them, their SPX ran and hid. If a woman steals baby food to feed her starving baby, she’s not unethical, but still a criminal. If you have bad news and withhold it until after peoples’ money is locked in, you’re unethical… and a coward. You know what would be the perfect solution? Making things like season passes non-committal subscriptions. Budget cuts for Haunt? You can cancel your membership until December. 6:00pm closes during the early season? Cancel your membership and resubscribe in June. That way there would be accountability and would cut the bait-and-switch tactics that they took up.

We went last year and had a great time! It's just not necessarily an every year thing. Don has been busy with his new ventures and I've already been to Florida 5 times this year. Decided to report from afar. We'll be back next year! Check out our uploads from last November for a report about our experiences: http://attractionsgrouppodcast.com

All I’ve asked for was what was pitched to me when I made the purchasing decision. Again, I’d love to know what business you (poorly) run or who you work for so I can avoid it since you clearly think that getting 40% of what was advertised is ethical. Hey now, it’s a business! So if a bait-and-switch is part of their culture, then I think people should know that.

Thanks for proving my point once again that the park will always have sycophants that will use illogical talking points to respond. No one is arguing that whether the park got away with their bait and switch legally. It’s about the integrity of the business, and this is a business that now relies heavily on pre-purchased products. The guest needs to trust that what they purchase is what is delivered. The web site clearly stated the benefits. They were changed after they had your money. Yes, I know that “terms are subject to change, no refunds” is in the language, and yes I understand that they legally got away with it on that technicality. You keep saying that KI is run like a business. They’ve demonstrated that they are willing to greatly reduce the value of a product after taking peoples’ money. If a consumer sees that, how are they supposed to trust that the meal plan is going to be good for two meals instead of one next year, or that it’s only good at LaRosa’s and Skyline instead of at most locations? The same language is in that agreement. Heck, some parks even changed the game for All Season Fastlane during Haunt. I think the worst part was the radio silence from the park. Mr Selfie couldn’t bothered to address this major change while he was busy not getting media stories. A simple apology would have sufficed, and the option to downgrade to Platinum early on would have been a perfect resolution. They didn’t do that. They blatantly chose the underhanded route. No, that’s not how a business is run. Any business can crunch numbers and determine that being deceitful to their clients will pay off in the short term. Those companies don’t last. I’m sure you’ll stick to your talking point that it’s not a bait and switch when they can squeak it through on a technicality, but normal people will see right through that. This will hurt them in the end.

Here is a direct link to the pinned Tweet: https://x.com/tower_topics/status/1703949761387044984?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA

…and if you bring it up… well, you’re just another one of those season pass complainer people.

I like how you still try to pretend that offering something on the web site, selling the product, quietly changing the description of the product on the web site, and then offering no refunds to customers isn’t a bait and switch. You’ve already demonstrated that you don’t understand how business works, but I’d recommend that you Google what a “bait and switch” is. If we are treating KI as solely a business, then why did you imply that we should cut them some slack with their cut down schedule because of staffing? How would that be my problem? That’s like buying 10 personal training sessions for $100 and then they try to sell you 8 for the same price. When you ask about the change they throw it back at you saying that they can’t staff personal trainers. I’m with @disco2000. I’d like to know what business you run so I can avoid it. Or if you work for someone else, I’d like to know who it is so I can make sure that they know that their employees think that such unethical behavior is not only acceptable, but it is to be celebrated. Regardless if it’s Kings Island or any other company, unethical behavior will always come back to bite them, whether their spokesperson chooses to be available for comment or not.

No, pointing out that the park is a business does not make you a sycophant; however, when people have reasonable disappointment in getting less for the same price (Winterfest, Haunt, Grand Carnivale) or when people are reasonably upset when the park operated unethically by selling us on one thing and delivering much less (Premier Pass) and you are the first to defend the park with baseless talking points or defense by technicality… that does. Again, if you want to run your business with the model of, “let’s see what we can get away with” then that’s your prerogative, but in the real world it’s very short-sighted and rarely pays off. If McDonalds sold a double cheeseburger and quietly started only putting on meat patty on them, they could save a few bucks.. until people noticed. Then what would happen?

He has walked back a lot of what he has said, but hopefully that’s still his plan. He wanted to go from Wal-Mart guests to Target guests. Probably not the best way to put it, but it’s something that needs to be done. Remember, pre-Disneyland amusement parks were places to be avoided because they were seen as seedy and unclean. Let’s not let that happen again.

Because their business plan is to make the parks radically accessible to everyone. They’ve set that expectation, and it would be a hard, incremental thing to walk back.

$200 is the price I’ve paid the past 3 years. Why would the fact that it’s a destination park affect the season pass price? I would understand for Disney and the likes, but I would see DW as just a park that floated to the top of the seasonal park pool. And I wasn’t necessarily saying it should be $200 for the sake of Winterfest. I meant that overall the product is comparably better than most, and they charge a rightful premium for it.

Oh yeah. My gf and I are APs, and that’s huge on its own, but she got us tickets to the Christmas Party in December which is almost $200 each. You get what you pay for. I don’t think that anyone is arguing that WF or Haunt should be a $200 affair, but having the event overly-accessible and offsetting that by cutting stuff is short-sighted. Sure, I bet people will show up this year. But even if they don’t notice particular things that are cut they likely will notice that there is less to do. This affects the perceived value. This sort of thing affects future attendance and season pass sales that they really want at firs. Dropping attendance will make them rethink the event on the basis of, “lack of public interest” which was essentially self-imposed. Think of it this way: have you ever asked someone if they go to KI (or any park) and they say they haven’t gone in years because because it’s always crowded and the lines are always long. Seems to be common feedback to me. Now imagine intentionally making that perception a reality. Will that end well for them? Time will tell.

I’ve had the same thoughts. Dollywood charges $200 for a Gold Pass and many would say they offer a product in-kind. I wish KI would do the same.

Be careful. If you make purchasing decisions based on the value of the product that they are offering then @DispatchMaster might call you a complainer or something.

And, as predicted, there are mindless park sycophants who will applaud the park for offering much less for the same or higher prices. The Soviets used to call them, “useful idiots.” I hope the taste of that sphincter is worth your integrity.