BoddaH1994

It was announced two years ago that the Kings Island Campground would be closing for business before the beginning of the next season and that a new resort would be taking its place. A year and a half and $100 million later the Great Wolf Lodge is finally set to open its doors to the public! The Great Wolf Lodge had its grand opening ceremony today and allowed us to take photos of their wonderful new facilities. A special thank you goes out to the staff of the Great Wolf Lodge for their great hospitality. Just incase you haven't been paying attention this past year, the Great Wolf Lodge features 401 all-suite guest rooms featuring 11 different possible themes, a 93,000sq ft indoor waterpark, ammenities such as Elements Spa for the "big kids", Northern Star Arcade, Cub Club with arts and crafts for the kids, the Great Clock Tower with an 8 minute animated show, plus state-of-the-art meeting rooms and conference centers opening soon. The Lodge uses its integrated themeing to give your family the sensation that you are living in an adventure in the northwoods. Click here to see the latest photo gallery update to PKICentral featuring the grand opening of the Great Wolf Lodge! Regards, Ryan PKICentral.com - My fellow Americans, I see another terrorist here: Wal-Mart.

^ It didn't leave the graveyard. I ask an official about that.

I think all of this will improve the ride... one bit at a time. Let's hope that it doesn't end up with the ultimate fate of The Bat.

It's going to be VERY expensive to put anything in the place of the loop. Keep in mind that they would have to basically recalculate everything if they changed such a fundamental element of the ride. Personally I'd live to see a good pop of airtime. Seems like it would be a fair trade.

To answer your question in a preliminary way: yes, it is the only way. Bear in mind that SOB is the ONLY looping woody and they went to great lengths to find a manufacturer and a design that would allow that. Unfortunately, the resulting yield was very heavy cumbersome trains which caused the bad experiences on the ride. I just got off the phone with Maureen and she said they're looking into their options as far as getting new trains or modifying their current design. I suggested millenium flyers or PTC trains. haha

From the desk of Maureen Kaiser:

From ChannelCincinnati.com:

On a cold winter day during a hot summer night Two dead men got up to fight Back to back they faced eachother They drew their swords and shot eachother As the snow falls on a winters' day All of the Christmas presents have already been put away Except one late present you begin to see News from Kings Island and PKIC If you think my tale is tall Ask the blind man, he saw it all

We'll have more answers soon... very soon...

Interesting. Looks like it squashes the rumors of other rides being relocated... at least for now.

PKICentral is proud to be the first to bring you a glimse at the new Great Wolf Lodge! The official resort of Paramount's Kings Island. Inside the lodge you can see photos of the NEW indoor waterpark, arcade, and the AMAZING animatronic show in the lobby! Not to mention much MUCH more after the ribbon cutting at the end of this week. Click here to see the first gilmse into the Great Wolf Lodge! Regards, Ryan PKICentral.com - HOWL!

Dammit... I'm actually touched by this trip report.

I can think of two different hundred million dollar buildings downtown that are only used six months out of the year.

I will say this, please let us know if there is a problem. We might not be aware of the situation. Please share with us. As I said, I love hearing from people. I talk with guests almost everyday the park is open. They tell me good things and things to work on. A stated, please, PM concerns. I will do my best to address them as they come to me. I don't think anyone was attacking you or your associates. They were simply saying that the whole nature of the barking is annoying. (By the way, a 'barker' was someone who would stand outside of shows and say "Step right up folks...!", he wasn't trying to call you guys dogs.) Anyway, I think we can all agree that the games staff is very professional, cheery, congenial, and great at their jobs. There's no question about that. Now, I do agree with whoever said that it adds a 'carnival atmosphere'. I can see that, and I think it's great. It's probably what they were really going for, especially in Coney Mall. Then again, the people who run the Jacob's Ladder near AE will literally chase you down to try to get you to play. I realize they're not associates of the park, but I really think the park should do something about it.

Maybe, but then again maybe not. Very good observation. Take this for what it's worth, but the tram driver a year ago told me that his boss told him that they planned on putting a new campgroup behind SOB. I know it's not a credible source, but it does make a degree of sense.

Scrap metal is worth quite a bit-just hate to see such a beloved piece of history take that route though. Actually from what I understand that low grade steel that they used for it is worthlesss now. Then again, it wouldn't be too unreasonable to think that CF would find any means it can to unload it.

Everything they do is strategic and comes down to what Net Operating Profit (NOP) they can expect. Even if the crowds are big at midnight, it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll turn any kind of profit between midnight and 1am. Bear in mind, it's EXPENSIVE to run the park, so if the 12-1 is hour filled with patrons, but very few people are playing the games, food, merch, etc., then it's still not worth being open. Now, I don't want to mislead you and say that "PKI/CF is a business and businesses are there to make money" because that's on par with someone saying that humans are on Earth to breathe. Sure, businesses need to make money in order to grow and be successful, but it would be unethical to think that any business is in the business of making money. Cedar Fair is a public partnership, so the future of the company is reliant on a successful stock price. Their decisions are made in YOUR best interest. That's why they are both opening later and they cancelled Winterfest. The more profitable the company is, the better experience they can deliver to you as a patron. It has very little to do with cutting losses and stealing a profit. I'm sure they'd love to have a successful offseason program... that's more profit, it just didn't work out that way.

There have been major changes in SOB consistently over the past six years, each of which has been intended to improve the comfort and safety of the guests. I'm not sure what else is going on this year, but let's hope they get everything nailed down so the ride can be as enjoyable as it's supposed to be.

There isn't much Mr. Shaggy can reveal that hasn't been said before. I would take a look around you, some of your colleagues have hit the nail on the head already... and probably didn't even know it.

Toy Factory was in the $500,000 range.... not TOO too bad consider how wonderful the show was.

Winterfest is a fishy subject. As you guys read in the article, the advertising for Winterfest actually drew people to find alternate forms of holiday entertainment which is why the Beach had a 54% attendance spike. Can we all agree that Winterfest was wonderful? I'd pay $25 just to see Toy Factory again, but that's just me. Point and case - overpriced. I think we all learned our lesson from it.

I'm on GW's media mailing list, so I get mail from them every couple of weeks. Almost everything they send me reminds me that they're PKI's official resort. I'm guessing it was an agreement they signed with CBS that CF can't or won't get out of.

Nah, it'll be my birthday present.

No, Winterfest was the worst kept secret ever. Trust me, I think you're leading yourselves down the path which the park wants you to go.

Who's for a meetup at Holiday Fest in a couple of weeks?