BoddaH1994

I think the reason they aren’t using RFID in the wristbands is that it would increase the cost. Not significantly, but a meaningful amount. For All Season FL, One Time FL, etc it maybe an infrastructure thing. Maybe the app doesn’t support it yet.

Yeah, but in their defense, it’s an unavoidable storm on the horizon. On Friday they ran out of the double stack chicken sandwich, but in their defense, it was tens of thousands of season pass people, with a high percentage having the meal plan, all of which have tried every other item on the menu. I don’t know if there’s a great way to plan for that. I do agree that the Icee thing was a bit of poor planning and poor communication, but from the looks of it, a lot of the issues were corrected throughout the day on Friday or Saturday. Rides went down, lines were long, food portions were inconsistent… but name an opening day where this wasn’t the case. As somebody who was admittingly pessimistic over the past year or so, I was pleasantly surprised.

We were turned away, along with about 3 groups ahead of us. Then Saturday I ran into someone with an orange slushee and asked where they got it. They said the place next to French Corner. Seems like there was a quick policy change.

They got rid of bottled drinks because “people were stealing them” but managed to figure out how to have canned beer for sale.

By “games” they VERY likely mean midway, not arcade, as pictured.

If its two sides like Coney BBQ that would be a terrible waste of money assuming they open both sides as often as they do Coney BBQ, which I’ve maybe seen twice in that building’s history.

Dear lord…

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/kings-island-opening-this-weekend-for-first-season-since-six-flags-merger?fbclid=IwAR0hnITo9o5x4Zo-XfQqjxBiYuEETh0kKvJc5vh2x30kZQNBAOgBhwONqHg_aem_AeuqnkKZSYft3_JVNHJUDzOP8dx3DMN2ufwnseLOSmSQ3UCUsJxmgw8zov1GejM9vus Misleading title (I don’t need to tell you why), 2/3 of the article as about hours and days being cut. Glad we have the real pros controlling the narrative.

I can ask Don to write a blog about it so they can come out with the same content 48 hours later if that helps...

Hello friends - This is an invite to join us for a Kings Island Opening Weekend Kickoff Party! This will be on Tuesday April 16, 2024, at 7:00p ET and will feature a panel of Kings Island super-fans, including KICentral's own IndyGuy4KI! We will be talking about the park, what we are looking forward to in the 2024 season and taking questions from the YouTube chat. We would love for you to join!

I thought about that too, but do you think they have the capacity to revolve this into an unsecured loan? If so, what are your thoughts on the inherent increased rate? Rate will be higher, plus a premium for unsecured. I suppose we’ll find out the truth soon enough, but if you’re right then it leaves a lot of lingering questions.

They said they are selling a "limited quantity" in the stores.

Cedar Fair borrowed money. Unlike a loan like you or I would get, a corporate raises large amounts of capital by selling bonds. When someone buys a bond they will receive their initial investment plus interest. This interest rate is dictated by the rate that The Fed sets. So the company is responsible for replaying the initial investment plus the interest (probably defined as "debt servicing" on the conference calls.) Some bonds are "callable." This means that, although the bond matures on a certain date, the company can choose to repay it early. This is a bit of a financial risk to the bond purchaser because they may not receive the anticipated interest amount, so the interest rate is a few basis points higher for these bonds. Cedar Fair's bond matures in May of 2025, but they chose to call the bonds now. For long term debt, you simply pay off one bond by selling another. Problem is, the rates are WAY higher now due to soaring inflation and a hawkish Fed. So the cost of servicing the debt will be a very heavy burden on their balance sheet. I'm just speculating, but I see a few possibilities for why the debt would be called: 1. They believe they can revolve (buy another bond) at a lower interest rate (unlikely) 2. They believe interest rates may be even higher in 2025 3. They are concerned about being able to secure financing in 2025 (probably post merger) If they didn't have this note coming to maturity and/or the rates were lower, the merger would never have been on the table in the first place.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240410882251/en/Cedar-Fair-Announces-Conditional-Full-Redemption-of-All-Outstanding-5.500-Notes-Due-May-2025 This article does not list out reasons and there’s no way to know what happens behind closed doors, but revolving this a year early implies to me that CF may be bearish about the economy as a whole in the short term and fears rates might be higher than they are now. This also may have something administrative to do with the merger, as they may not have a lot of cash on hand when it goes through.

He works there. He's also being fed some pretty bad lines about season pass holders by someone who wears a different colored name tag than him. If you want to enjoy the park because you love the park then you should still go. If you want to go somewhere that you will honestly be valued as a guest then you should get a Dollywood pass.

I really like this. I like how Cedar Point has collectible pins, so this could be KI’s version of that. I know they say that limited quantities will be available for sale, but I can imagine if this goes well that they’d just make it a “thing” and I’d be all about that.

I was thinking the same: the sign was just there for the photo op. But with that being said, how did no one think, “we should probably do something about the unused footers sticking up in front of the sign.” If you’re going to create a photo op you probably shouldn’t inject eyesores into them.

Couple of thoughts: 1. It’s going to be an interesting social experiment to see people standing around for two hours without their phones. 2. So the lockers, free like SteVe or charge like Banshee?

But remember- they did change the rules on the All Season Fast Line add-on last year. Carowinds (I believe) made you choose between Tricks and Treats or Scarowinds Fast Lane. This was unprecedented in past years and was not in the original terms. To Cedar Point’s credit, they are allowing All Season Fast Line purchasers to ride TT2 on an unlimited basis while the daily Fast Lane is a one-time thing… although I’m sure that if they changed the rules so that if the All Season Fastlane people had to deal with a condition that was not disclosed at purchase the same culprits would be defending them.

I don’t know if you were “around” for this, but please jog my memory if you remember. In 2014, wasn’t the All Season Meal Plan originally advertised for being through Labor Day, then they back pedaled and made it actually all season? There might have been a few days between the policy changes (which is implied by the post you shared) but I’m pretty sure they changed it that year.

Someone on one of our social posts for the pod mentioned off-hand that they visited another park first, so they bought their pass there. Then they said they went to other parks in the chain and had problems with the add-ons. Someone replied that it was their own fault for not buying their home park pass. You’re going to have a few sycophants and people who are seemingly being fed lines that would make that argument, but that’s not going to fly with the vast, vast majority of guests. Park apologists often cite the statistic that a fraction of park guests are enthusiasts. Pretending that this statistic isn’t terribly misleading, assume that 2% of guests are “enthusiasts.” How will the “your own fault” argument fly with the other 98% of park visitors?

None is asking YOU to willingly engage with complaints. We expect the person who fed you the line, “as adorable as it is predictable” to engage with complains. But we all know that they won’t bother to do that. By the way, as promised, here is the latest Tower Topics discussing the lessons learned from this latest antic: https://linktr.ee/towertopics

Kids were invited to come unveil the trains with Snoopy. https://local12.com/news/local/kings-islands-camp-snoopy-snoopys-soap-box-racers-cincinnati-derby-club-kids-join-unveiling-cars-mason-latest-coaster-adrenaline-track-thrill-seekers-updates-reveal-late-spring-visit-shaded-play-space-beagle-scout-acres-season 10:1 says they put it on social tomorrow and claim it just happened. Any takers… anyone?

They used to do a kids walk-through for Halloween with the subject of fairytales. This reminds me of that. Cool thought!

Although this debate is as adorable as it is predictable, we learned some valuable lessons about the new season pass program. This is discussed thoroughly on the Tower Topics that drops tomorrow, April 5, 2024. https://linktr.ee/towertopics