KI-ORIG-EMP

When I joined the Army in 74, I was assigned to a NIKE base in Germany. Did you also know it could handle a nuclear warhead also? Maybe besides the Red air force it was designed to shoot down, it could be aimed at SOB? (Just to keep the topic going) But it gave way to the HAWK.

As a worker, I prefer the P&G day over the GE day as it does not seem like a regular paying crowd.

Sounds like the pigeons did not like the music! Just hope none decided to look up wirh their mouths wide open!

They are nothing but a way for cities to raise revenues, plain and simple. These cases are winding their way through the court systems and it most likely will go before the supreme court on grounds they are unconstitutional. YOU have the right to confront the accuser that issued the ticket, just like if the officer himself stopped you. But all these machines do is take a picture of the license plate and the speed and issues the ticket to the registered owner. It does not mean the person driving the car is the owner. Don't you think Mason has these revenue machines in thier sites? They are just licking their chops on issueing tickets on Kings Island Drive.

I can see the moon...

You just go to the sales window and state that you forgot your season pass and they can look it up for you. It is easy to id the person as you MUST match the person's picture with the picture on the display screen. And after the second time, you must buy a replacement pass. And yes, there is a ticket printed out and it states how many times you have used that function.

If SOB was to be torn down, it should be replaced by another woody and not a "giga" steel coaster. But also rememer coasters are not cheap and it all depends on the expected increase in attendence it would generate. While all you coaster fanatics want to see the biggest, faster, super duper steel coaster, it might be in the past. Alot can be done to increase a park's profitability than buying and building a super duper $20 million coaster.

If you did loose your pass, then there would be a replacement fee. But if you just forgot your pass, they can look you up and allow you to enter the park, usually up to three times before you have to pay. But always check with the park first.

On busy days, you can see them assisting at the front gate taking admission tickets. I worked next to Greg (general manager) as he took the guests admission tickets and greeted them.

Spirt Song is a yearly event that runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday and is always well attended and the park is always crowded and more so on the last day of the event. Unless I had tickets to the 3 day event as a season pass holder and lived locally, I would stay away from the huge crowd. When the park is so crowded to make all lines on rides longer, it would not be worth my effort to take in the thrill of another ride on the roller coasters.

If they did that here, the toll taker will find problems with their till and would not like the variance.

And you guys say the SOB was so bad and rough, wait until lawyers get their hands on law suits over guests injuried on those super duper coasters that are way too fast and way too high. Guests with back and neck problems ride these coasters we have now and do not even read the warnings or do not care less but they can't wait to sue when they find themselves injuried because they don't care. I have spinal issues and I know better not to ride coasters or any ride that might cause me further problems. These rides just cost way too much dollars for parks to justify building them in today's economy plus after the new ride looses it sex appeal after a couple of years and the question then becomes, "when are we getting a new super duper roller coaster?" Parks are going after the family crowd and attracting the vacation traveler that might stay a couple of days once a year. Hence Kings Island atracting guests with their kids area like Planet Snoopy.

Some of the reasons eliminating the trams would be the cost of fuel, cost of repairs and up keep, liability insurance, labor costs and the congestion the front entrance would be with the installed metal detectors.

I lived in Kings Mills all my life and when I did not work at the park, we would bring our chairs to the ball field at Kings High School and watch it from there. You would have to get there early as it gets crowded. Yes, I worked there in 2005 and it was one of the best fire works ever!

First think I would do is rename Planet Snoopy as Land of Oz and install yellow color bricks from the entrance all ther way to Oz and when any guest ask how to get there I woiuld say, "Follow the yellow brick road!" Dorothy, Tin Man, Lion, Glenda and the Wicked Witch would greet guest as they enter the park. But if CF was to go bankrupt, it won't change the park themselves. Just it will have new owners and they will keep the performing parks and sell the others. They will have to reduce costs and waste. Rather than install bigger and faster roller coasters every few years, I would make it more family friendly. Roller coasters might bring in crowds, but it does not mean they will spend while in the park. They will just ride and ride and brag about how many times they rode XYZ ride and can't wait until Super Dooper coaster is built next year. I would entice families to come to the park and enjoy it with their kids. I would lower the gate ticket and reduce the number of season pass sales. I would look at the percentage of season pass scans each day as compared to ticket sales and look at the sale of food and merchandice and see what the revenue is. There is no sense if the gate attendence is made of of mostly season pass holders day after day and the per cap spending is lower then compared when the gate is made up of walk in ticket holders and per cap is higher. Families that come to the park on vacation will perchase food, drinks and some gifts for their kids. Just think about it. Would the Reds make any money if the fans while at the park did not buy soft drinks, beer, peanuts, pop corn and of course cracker jacks? No they won't. That is just what I would do.

Any bonus should be given in stock and not able to be cashed in for at least for 5 years. If the stock drops then the CEO must do more to increase the stock's value as he will benifit in the long run. All salary must be limited to a certain level and rest in stock and or goals must be met before any bonus is given. Also limit the golden parachutes to prevent anybody from being termnated and walking away with a pot of gold, like the CEO of GM did.

Coke has been giving away Coke Zero with the ideal to increase sales. I used to work at Information Resources, Inc, a market research firm that specialized in tracking data for retail chains and vendors like Coke. If Coke places an ad (yes, Coke pays for the ad in chains like Kroger), it expects to see a spike in sales. An ad might read, Coke, all variets (drinks with Coke in the name) and if Coke, Diet Coke show increases sales but Coke Zero do not, then it shows Zero might not give the same shelf space as other products. I have received this free product and I do not care for it, no matter how many times it is given away free. I will not pay for it and others will not buy it also. Retail chains like Kroger only have limited shelf space and check the amount of Coke Zero products compared to Diet Coke on the shelves. Check the offerings in the vending machines and the offerings at the soft drink stands. Sales will not increase even if Coke gives the product away. Also, how can Kings Island make a profit if they give away soft drinks? Coke will still charge the same for their product.

Almost all the acts require venues with seating near 20,000 and to construct their stage featuring big video screens and allow them to put on their fancy shows. These groups charge admission prices that venues like Timberwolf can't charge. Timberwolf just can not afford to pay these acts to come. Now who wants to have big bands come to a venue that seats only 10,000? Think Madonna will come here and buy a ticket for $30? I last saw the Hollies back in the 80's and they put on a good show.

In my hay day, I loved woody's over any steel roller coaster. i loved the click and clang of the wheels on the track, just like a train makes the same sound on the rails. Steel coasters just don't add the same flavor to the ride's experience. As for the extreme angles of the drops and the loops just does nothing for me. But aside that, with my neck and back problems, I know better than to ride any type of coasters due to health reasons. Now if I was to ride them, like people have done in the past including this past incident with SOB, I also could find a lawyer to file a law suit due to the ride causing my injuries. I say close down The Racer and The Beast, as they are also defective for this same reason. But I would be crazy to blame those rides for me being stupid to ride the rides and them blame them for my injuries. Shame on anybody that ride when the signs clearly state for people with those type of injuries and other illness's to ride. Open of the SOB and anybody that prefers steel coaster's stick to them if you want a smooth ride rather than the click and clang of a wood coaster. And do not settle lawsuits where people sue claiming injuries when they had prior injuries (people that have their spine fused). Doing that is like admitting rides are defective. No reason to tear down SOB and replacing it with another woody (never replace it with a steel coaster) just to have another stupid person with prior injuries to claim that new coaster caused their injuries.

I wish that Buddy LaRosa would inspect the LaRosa's located in the park and make sure they meet his exact standards his pizza outlets are required to meet outside the park. Before he allows his name to be on his product, the sauce, cheese, pepperoni and sausage MUST be the same in and outside the park. If you order one of his pies be it in or outside the park, the pie must be the same. Otherwise it would just be a pizza pie with his brand of sauce and nothing else. Ever count the number of pepperoni on each slice? His pies have the cheese on top of the toppings and not on top. Also, the cheese is provolone. The pies in the King's Island Taft era were way much better. Now would you go to Kroger's and buy Chef-boy-r-dee's ready to cook pizza and put his sauce on it and call it LaRosa's pizza? I don't blame you on complaining about the slice of pizza (other than the price).

Installing WiFi access for guests at the park will not be cheap period. The hardware will cost a fortune plus the bandwidth will cost lots of dollars. Expect this, if it happen, to be a perk that will cost the guest to use it. Just like any business, before it happens, they will do a cost benifit study.

I know some hard core season pass holders that only go for 3 hours or so and are very frugal and might buy a soft drink and nothing else. They ride their roller coaster and leave for the day. Some brag about having been through the front gate 60 or more times. These are single pass holders and not families with season passes.

The FAA might be the agency to contact regarding the height restriction.

If you think about it, pavers have to be laid and set brick by brick while concrete or asphault can be laid down and spread by a machine. When I worked at UC, the mason's had to set each brick by hand. While it looked good, it cost a fortune. Now if the park would do to the parking lot what the state/city did to Kings Island Drive. But then I would miss the pot holes that were custom designed since the park first open.

I remember when working and as a guest of Kings Island that all the areas had thier own music that was geared to match the area. Rivertown had country, HB Land (all name changes through the years) had HB themed cartoon songs,Coney Mall had 1890ish to early 1900ish songs, one I always liked was: "Yes, sir that's my baby, yes sir that's my baby, yes sir that my sweety pie..", Octoberfest had German music, and International Street had French accorian music. Now it is like listening to an oldie radio station. Under Paramount I enjoyed the movie theme music. I would like to see each area return to having their own music geared for each area, like in the past.