
DoomPlague
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Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merge
DoomPlague replied to IndyGuy4KI's topic in Kings Island Central Newsroom
You're definitely right about kids IPs. These days you have so many streaming options, many with exclusive IPs. But "back in the day" everyone was exposed to Disney, Looney Tunes, HB, and even Nickelodeon because they dominated the airwaves/cable. Too bad Universal has Nintendo wrapped up because that's pretty universal and enduring. -
Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merge
DoomPlague replied to IndyGuy4KI's topic in Kings Island Central Newsroom
The idea that this somehow means The Beast is getting removed or RMCd is just irrational hysterics. Even if Six Flags were taking over the park (they aren't), that would be super unlikely. Anyways, I would prefer Hanna Barbara back in the kids area but I would be okay with Looney Tunes. Is anyone particularly attached to Peanuts? I know kids aren't. I don't want to see DC theming at KI but it might be preferable to Action Zone just staying the generic area it is now (as long as Banshee isn't rethemed). -
Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merge
DoomPlague replied to IndyGuy4KI's topic in Kings Island Central Newsroom
I'm sort of hoping they are going with the Six Flags name just to throw a bone to the SF board/investors. Otherwise it seems like CF is taking the lead here. Then again, there seems to be this idea in the corporate world that brand "recognition" is all that matters regardless of reputation. Reminds me of when SBC decided to take on the name AT&T which people had little love for. -
Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merge
DoomPlague replied to IndyGuy4KI's topic in Kings Island Central Newsroom
Good news everyone, Cedar Fair is getting a brand new Intamin next year. Definitely a lot of concern with this news. A lot of potential downsides and few if any real upsides. But I'll try to stay positive: 1. Cedar Fair is the majority holder here. The HQ will be at CF's property in Charlotte and it seems that they are intent with keeping a lot of CF strategies (for better or for worse...but compare that to the the how Six has been ran recently...) 2. Maybe we potentially get Hanna Barbara back? 3. That all parks pass (or whatever might replace it...) may eventually get you into a ton of parks Plus none of us actually know how this will play out. We aren't prophets. Also keep in mind that neither chain, from my understanding, dictates everything about each park. Parks get some level of autonomy at both. Other parks, like Dorney, have been discussed but am I the only one that thinks major changes might come to Magic Mountain? That park continually underperforms for its size, location and continual investments. -
Improve one coaster without altering the layout
DoomPlague replied to SonofBaconator's topic in KI Polls
If its an option, removing or cutting back on trim brakes on certain rides would be my first choice, particularly The Beast. Retheming Backlot would be my next choice. After that, any general theming improvements to other rides (and how bout some station/queue music?). Or maybe a tunnel or two on Orion. Based on my most recent rides on Raptor, I would much rather keep the vests. It would be nice to see B&M just put some modern lapbars on some of their inverting rides. -
It's extreme because it spins at all while on a ride with strong forces and inversions. As badly as I want them to improve Action Zone, and least its not just a big empty plot of land in spot of the park that needs a major attraction to even things out. The Vortex plot has to be the priority...unless they are still somehow catching up on projects planned before Vortex's removal (but I doubt that includes an Action Zone overhaul).
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I was about to say something similar. Putting the name of a current, well known park employee on a tombstone is a nice gag. But putting the name of an employee that recently left? That can be taken the wrong way by a lot of people.
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I'll mostly echo what others have said: -Having to wait in a mass of people, all waiting to scan into the park, was quite unpleasant especially since there's a proven way to avoid it. -Even less fog than last year. Basically none. -We skipped Alien Abyss because of that crazy line. We at least enjoyed Hotel St. Michelle and Cavern of Terror even though I've done both before. -Park was more crowded than I expected for the first Friday Haunt. -Abandoned seems like a solid concept. It's almost like a mini-maze that you can walk through on your way between Diamondback and the rest of Rivertown. -Lines were mostly moving well, including on the rides and mazes. -Unrelated to Haunt but I tried the Korean meatballs and fried rice at G&G. It was definitely the best meal I've had there. -Seemed to me like there were plenty of roaming scare actors. But as others have discussed, I think its best to put more scare actors in the mazes and have more mazes. If last night was as busy as it was, I imagine other days could really use more mazes to spread out the crowds.
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What would be one thing you’d change operations wise?
DoomPlague replied to SonofBaconator's topic in KI Polls
In this case, it would not have. The guy assigning seats got distracted and failed to fill the rows. -
What would be one thing you’d change operations wise?
DoomPlague replied to SonofBaconator's topic in KI Polls
If there were a way to modify the original ride to load the entire ride at once, I would support that. But its one of the original rides relocated from Coney and its still fun. And while the capacity sucks, that's not as much of a problem on lower crowd days and it would be less of an issue if simply more flats were added. Anyways, one operational change I would like to see is going back to keeping water rides open until close. Also, continue to encourage fast dispatches by coaster crews...but find a way to discourage them from allowing a bunch of empty seats. On my last visit you could hear the Diamondback op talking about their dispatch count for the hour...right as a train left the station 1/3 empty (despite there being plenty of people in line). -
Cedar Point 8/29/23 complete with delayed ride openings
DoomPlague replied to DoomPlague's topic in Trip Reports
I didn't even know Magnum was up early in the day. I'm not a big fan of it, so I didn't check often. Maverick did open, just very late. So I guess the Millie and Magnum downtime weren't just weird planning but actual, long lasting breakdowns? -
Sounds like the park could benefit from its own energy storage and solar panels.
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Went with some family to Cedar Point on what, in past years, has been a very light day. By CP standards it was still light but definitely not like I got in 2021 in the final full week of operations. -Wild Mouse was better than I expected. Some decent but not crazy spinning. The restraints were comfy and the ride makes for a good family, step-up type ride. -The Grand Pavilion is a nice building. Large, spacious...almost "bougie." I had steak, which was decent but a little dry and tropical fried rice which was good. Nothing special but still better than my experiences at KI's new restaurant. -Most of the ride operations during the day were pretty good. And for once they were pretty open to letting us wait for front row (nephew kept wanting to ride front). -Got around 15 total rides (including 3 flats rides) which is okay but lower than what I would expect on an 8 PM close day at the very end of August. Some bad things: -Magnum, Millennium Force and Maverick were closed most of the day with a "delayed" sign at the entrance. All three opened around, I think, 5:30 to 6 or so. Keep in mind the park closes at 8. I find it strange to do this with these 3 rides. -MF was 2 trains. I think Maverick was 4 instead of 6. I will say that those crews were rolling trains pretty well at least. -CCMR was running 1 train. Maybe a maintenance issue but that line moved so slow and my niece wanted to ride. -Snake River Expedition: The group had not ridden it before, so I recommended it but now that I think about, I think others have mentioned the ride being watered down. To make things worse it was running with 1 boat (and each trip is like 15 minutes). So it took almost an hour to get on. No actors, just the animatronics and a boat pilot knowingly making bad jokes. Some of the effects didn't even trigger. The whole thing was a bummer. Are these permanent changes or just a late season thing? -The free lockers in the Steel Vengeance crew were completely down. The attendant at the entrance was saying you can't even get in line with any loose articles (that would normally go in the free lockers) and that you would need to use the blue pay lockers near the entrance. We weren't about to do that so we just took a couple turns holding on to the group's things. How hard is it to at least come up with a temporary solution? It's not acceptable to make people buy lockers to ride what some consider the park's premiere attraction (especially considering the three M's were down most of the day). -I can't help but be reminded how uptight the staff is compared to KI. Nothing against the staff. It's clearly a top-down thing. It was still a fun day but some of those operations made the recent cuts at KI seem harmless by comparison.
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It's like the ride has its own plaza...but there's nothing in the plaza. I never understood that. I don't think they would have to turn it around to have a better Rivertown entrance though. You could easily divert the entrance to enter on the side where the big queue area is left of the restrooms. Maybe even divert it to be across from the Killmart building if you're okay with making people walk a little bit.
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Cedar Fair in the 2030s?
DoomPlague replied to SonofBaconator's topic in Other Amusement Parks & Industry News
Railblazer could be a possibility because of its size but I know the thing has had a lot of major problems and people say its not really built to be disassembled easily. Patriot is over 30 years old. My guess is that the trains will end up on its sibling at Carowinds instead. But I'm certainly no expert on these things. I'm kind of going based on what some more knowledgeable people have said. -
Cedar Fair in the 2030s?
DoomPlague replied to SonofBaconator's topic in Other Amusement Parks & Industry News
Honestly the only coaster at CGA that seems like to be relocated is a model that both VF and MA already have. -
I never thought it was good. The concept, maybe, but it was always just a big bunch of concrete and some rides named after movies with no actual theming. It still humors me that they were able to keep the Congo Falls name and didn't have to really remove anything significant (if at all?) A theme that fits Banshee and The Bat would be good. Then later on we could throw in a dark ride...
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Yeah, the lines basically disappeared around 6. You're right that it was never that bad (maybe 5 to15 minute lines on the major coasters, 20-35 on the low capacity ones?) but I'm just used to these final weekdays in august being even lighter.
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Went today and while it wasn't packed like people said Tuesday was, it was definitely more crowded than I expect on these 8 PM, mid-week days. Lots of family groups. Honestly, maybe I'm wrong but it seemed like an awful lot of the people were either new to the park or haven't been in years. Lots of people unaware of normal procedures (not that there's anything wrong with that) or you could tell it was their first time on a particular ride. Also noticed the cuts to some of the ride staffs that has been discussed. Mystic was running with 2 restraint checkers. Orion and DB had 3 early but were back to the normal 4 in the evening. Either way, there wasn't a lot of stacking to be honest. They were still pretty efficient. AE was back to 2 trains. Banshee ran the first half of the day and then closed. No other coasters were closed that I noticed. Lastly, the pork loin at Coney BBQ was pretty good.
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Not necessarily related to NFC but I've been thinking for a while that we're to a point where everyone in the park (single day or passholder) should probably just have a wristband that gives them all of their add-ons (except probably FL as that's more likely to slow things if those have to be scanned). Could even be used to access the free SteVe lockers and the like. Side note: it seems almost inevitable that I get stuck behind people struggling to scan their phone at the parking gate or front gate. Not that I'm that impatient but the cards weigh nothing and take no significant space.
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Festhaus on the burger/pizza side but you have to ask for it specifically (or at least I did).
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I had it about 11:30 this morning. However, I didn't realize it would be smothered in peppers. I'm not a pepper lover. The au jus had a nice flavor to it, imo, but was also a bit hot for my taste. No quality problem like yours though. The bun was nice and the meat was decent, though there wasn't a lot of it. I think my brother liked it, as he likes peppers and spice.
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Guest injured by phone on Maverick
DoomPlague replied to disco2000's topic in Other Amusement Parks & Industry News
My sister lost her phone on Banshee and didn't even know it until she went to pull out the phone later on. It definitely varies by the type of clothing and the restraints, etc etc. Like others have mentioned: zipper pockets are the way to go. Though I've always found that when I wear jeans (full length), the front pockets are too tight for anything to ever come out, when sitting. -
I know people on this forum are prone to overreacting to every thing the park does but based on this thread you would think they were closing half the rides all day and running one-train on coasters like a Six Flags park. I'm already used to seeing Racer run with one train on weekdays and I was surprised to even see WWC running after 9 PM last season because its pretty common to close those rides in the evenings. If it gets worse, then you start to have a real concern argument but that's not guaranteed (see: slippery slope fallacy). Considering the big debt that CF currently has, the serious inflation of the past two years and the way many other parks are ran (ie. way worse than this), these changes seem pretty reasonable to me.
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Imagine if SFMM built a 300 foot tall larson loop. I would die laughing.