BoddaH1994

That's very interesting. I was wondering why we still couldn't do the tour even with the ride being down. Whenever a ride is down, the area immediately around it is all subject to variables such as moving equipment and sometimes it's even a hard hat area.

I'll probably go to the concert. I've never been to a Timberwolf concert before. When I checked ticketmaster, the $15 tickets were giving you section 2 (front section center) in row FF, which I can assume is row 32... not bad for $15 bucks.

Two-time Grammy-winning; multi-gold and platinum recording artist 'Weird Al' Yankovic will make his return to Kings Island's Timberwolf Ampetheatre on August 18th at 7:30pm. Yankovic is the king of satirical music with hits such as "Like a Surgeon," "Eat It," "My Bologna," and "Amish Paradise." Ticket packages vary depending on seating location. Some tickets include admission to the park all day, while others include admission after 5pm. Ticket prices, availability, and online ordering are available here. Kings Island joins its sister park Cedar Point as being ranked one of the top 10 parks outside of Orlando by Travel Advisor LLC. The rankings were based upon Travel Advisor's editorial staff as well as the popularity of the parks' web sites. Kings Island ranked as #7 while Cedar Point ranked #3. Boomerang Bay Water Park Resort at Kings Island will open for five additional days this month (August 20-24) to provide guests a great opportunity to enjoy all the down-under excitement in the park's very own Australian Oasis. Daily operations for Boomerang Bay were originally scheduled to end August 19. Operating hours for Boomerang Bay from August 20-24 will be 12-6 p.m. All of the water park's most popular attractions are expected to be open. Some attractions starting times may vary. Also don't forget about Kings Island's new military discount parogram. All active duty, reserve and retired military personnel can purchase up to four all day admission tickets to Kings Island for just half price! All branches of the United States Military, including the National Guard, are invited to take advantage of the discount ticket offer.Individuals must present a valid military photo ID at the Kings Island ticket window. Military discount is not valid with any other discount offer or on Junior/Senior, Starlight or two-day admission tickets. Calling all those who are ghouls and demons at heart! Kings Island continues to search for cruel characters for Fearfest, their Halloween-inspired celebration. Help transform warm and sunny Kings Island into one of the largest haunting attractions in the Midwest... and make some cash in the process! Remaining open casting call days include: Friday, August 10 Saturday, August 11 Friday, August 17 Saturday, August 18 Friday, August 24 Saturday, August 25 Friday, August 31 Saturday, September 1 Friday, September 7 Saturday, September 8 Each day of the casting call, the hours are 2pm to 6pm. For more information regarding open casting calls for FearFest, please contact the Kings Island Entertainment Office at (513) 754-5740 or visit www.pki.com/fearfest. Don't forget to keep checking KICentral.com for the latest news, rumors, information and photos of Kings Island amusement park! Regards, Ryan

Endless Summer on Ice will have its final curtain call on August 19th.

For those of you who never rode King Cobra, you aren't missing much. It was painful, short, had tons of downtime, and just plain uneventful. For those of you who rode it and want it back... well, the evil that men do lives on after them while the good oft interred with their bones.

During the Q&A session during KIC day, that question was asked. Their response was that they just kind of hang out and take a nap. Doing that show takes a LOT out of them. Especially doing it several times a day, 6 days a week. Of course, if you want to learn more about the Theatre, click here. Scott Hayward (the PT manager) was kind enough to give us a backstage tour a few years ago. Ryan

There's a good reason why it's been years since the built the last stand up. Simply put: no one wants 'em anymore.

I'd put chances of a B&M standup coming to Kings Island somewhere in the ballpark of 1 in 10,000.

Actually, I recall starting school on Tuesdays when I was little because Labor Day was Monday. Of course Kentucky college schedules aren't so bad. Aug 20th to December 5th-ish then Jan 14th until the first week of May.

Have you guys taken any of the exit surveys this year? I did last year and it was pretty awful. Basically it was: What's your zip code? How many visits did you have this year? Thank you. Yep... tells you nothing... maybe where to direct your advertising, at best. Why not ask what they did today? What did they like? They're leaving at 5:00?... why aren't they staying until close? Are they going to come back?

If any of you guys want to send donations, here's the address: Kaitlyn Lasitter Fund c/o Class Act Federal Credit Union 3620 Fern Valley Road Louisville, KY 40219.

For those of you who want to watch the video again, and for those of you who missed it. This was presented in the Paramount Theatre during KIC day last Saturday. It is a video slide show of Americana in its current state. Enjoy!

Nah, it's Endless, just not seamless.

That was an idea we threw around but didn't think would generate much interest. Sice you're one of many who have mentioned it, it'll likely be on the list next time. We tried to get that, but it just didn't work out. Cedar Fair has done quite a bit of cleaning up, and a lot of stuff isn't where it used to be. We'll try next time. If it's doable, we'll do it. However that is another activity that isn't wheelchair accessible.

Due to the fact that the Sean Hannity radio show will be broadcasting live from the Paramount Theatre on Thursday, the Endless Summer on Ice show has been cancelled for the day.

Unfortunately, there are certain 'risks' that must be taken whith these events. If any ride is down, the tour must be cancelled. Regardless of whether or not it opened before the time of the tour, there was no really efficent way to communicate that to everyone, so we just had to come up with an alternative. I'm just glad you guys got to ride Firehawk. That was the risky one.

Also take a look at the Trip Reports section. A lot of people have posted photos in there. I'm still waiting on contributed photos! If anyone wants to contribute any photos of the event, email me...

Way Cool!!

Unfortunately, some tours like The Beast backstage tour will likely never be wheelchair accessable. I really did feel bad for those who weren't able to do some activities for that reason. However, next time we will work closely with the operations department to see if there is something we can do that is a little better on that behalf. Maybe take a different route or something. Of course, IF there is another KICentral event (and it seems like most of the forum members, staff, and park employees want it to continue) then everything will certainly be mixed up. We certainly NOT going to have the same event each year. Every year we'll find the most interesting, most obscure, most unheard of, most unseen places to bring the crowd. Our goal on this site is to emphasize Kings Island -- not just the rides, but all of the attractions. You'll likely see more work done with the entertainment department as well as special events in future endeavors.

I was bored and started looking at the web sites of other Cedar Fair parks and noticed that Canada's Wonderland offers a very nice set of perks for season passholders. On top of typical perks similar to what you have at KI, they also offer: 25% off food from Thrill Burger, Hot Potato, Java Joint, Medieval Funnel Cakes 20% off merch at Lockerroom, Rock, Funshop, Kiddzville Candy 20% off Pro Golf or City Zoo Golf Lazer Blast and $1 off Skyflyer (before noon) During the conference call at the end of Q1 FY 07, Kinzel more or less implied that he wanted to convert some season passholders to walk-up ticket buyers. Simply put -- passholders just don't spend the money that they once did. It is FAR more profitable for someone to visit the park once or twice, spend the day in the park and spend boatloads of money while they're there. Can you argue with that? How many of you guys leave the park to eat, or eat out of your car? I can tell from pure observation that it's common, very common. However, I think that the variable that was not accounted for was the Paramount Parks, all of which have had a huge season pass base for years now. I've heard figures as his as 1/3 of all people in attendance on any given day are passholders. This certainly strikes me as a 'bread and butter' situation. It is essential in terms of organic growth and the going concern of this company that people NEED to stay in the park, they NEED to spend money in the park, and they NEED a reasonable justification to spend said money. In your opinion (as a passholder) don't you think you would be far more enticed to spend money in the park if you had the small discounts listed above? I certainly would. Think of it this way: in Q2 FY07, Cedar Fair reported per capita spending of $40.54. Which means, that the average person spends $40.54 per visit. Simply put, if a passholder comes into the park for a few hours and spends nothing, it is offset by someone spending $81.08. Under that jurisdiction, if passholders were more enticed to spend money in the park, per capita spending would go up greatly. I'm also willing to bet that although margins on a lot of per-transaction basis are lower, the gross margin dollar would be much much higher. If I had to implement a plan for Kings Island, this is what I would do: 1 - Emphasize guest experience. Allow guests to speak about their day and meet their expectations about what they expect in return for their hard-earned money. Even if they visit once a year, I'm sure they'd like to still make their yearly visit next year. 2 - As stated above, implement an incentive program similar to what is in Canada now. Make the program well known and post the passholder prices along with the regular prices. If a guest sees the perceived value of a pass, they may just upgrade (which would of course raise their per capita pretty darn high for the day). Also as stated above, this would entice passholders to spend more money inside the park and thus raise per capita spending and capital gains. 3 - Emphasize entertainment in the park. Make Kings Island more than a place just to ride rides. Almost all of the rides will be there next year, but the shows are constantly dynamic. Schedule the shows later in the day. This would both gives guests a reason to stay in the park longer, but also create an attractive nightlife, which would also entice patrons to remain in the park after their typical departure time. Having Hot Island Rhythms end right as the Fireworks Spectacular begins is a start. In their latest conference call, Six Flags CEO Mark Shapiro stated that they intend to integrate the Dick Clark Productions into the parks by replacing shows with videos from the intellectual property of the acquisition. He stated that their surveys reflect that people typically don't care about the shows; they just want somewhere to sit down and cool off. I can think of at least three times when I have gone to the park specifically because I felt like seeing Endless Summer, and twice to see Twistin' to the 60s, and I know that studies have shown that people attended the park specifically to see the parade in past years. Sorry, Mr. Shapiro -- it's not that people don't care, it's that your shows are typically just god-awful. 4 - Add more security to the park. Patrons WANT and NEED to feel safe. Having a security presence is vital to such an action. This would also be helpful in lowering the amount of disturbances, locating lost children, enforcing rules such as the smoking ban, and deter potential situations. 5 - Emphasize quality across the board. If you're going to charge high food prices, so be it, but don’t dish them a meal that they don't think is worth half the value in which they paid for it. For example, the high prices at Panda and Happy Days don't sit well with most people, but they'll be far more likely to accept it over the mediocre-at-best food in the Festhaus. I know I'm going to have some mud slung at me for this one, but I saw that page on Canada's Wonderland's site and this kind of came to mind. Feel free to share your thoughts. Ryan

The rides are inspected daily... ALL of them. Boards are replaced daily on all wooden coasters. That's why every once in a while the rides (especially the woodys) open late. That doesn't even necessarily mean that something was wrong with the ride. Sometimes it rains in the morning or the conditions are less than ideal and maintanance will wait until they feel it is best to "walk" the track. All of this is done in the interest of rider safety.

IF the park were to build a coaster and wanted to make it a signature steel, they need something that doesn't have inversions. While we're on the subject. Click here to see a simulated Crystal Beach Cyclone POV.

You won't see another stand up at KI.... or anywhere else for that matter for a long time. It was a trend which is LONG dead and gone.

Yes, they will! In fact, we have a lot more LeSourdsville Lake/Americana photos. Those were just the ones I could cram into 4 minutes! The other promotional videos? I'd have to get permission, but I doubt it would be a problem. Scott Hayward was kind enough to give me his copy of the DVD after the presentation.

Thanks for coming Maureen!!!