XGatorHead 8904

Volunteers working rides... now where have I heard about that recently? Oh yeah, He Who Must Not Be Named from the Mason City Council meeting must have gotten Kings Island mixed up with Coney Island!Of course I kid, and know that if Robbie trained 'em, then they were trained right!

Wow... absolutely amazing! I can't believe that you had all those characters to yourselves at breakfast. I could see other parks cancelling the event if they only had one reservation for it, but this just shows you Disney's commitment to guest satisfaction. And you've successfully shown me how you can do both parks in one day... planning well, and of course pick the right time of year! A trip to Disney every 5 years or so was fine for me years ago, but now that we have our daughter, I realize it's been far too long since we've gone. Of course, we went three years in a row ('06, '07 & '08), and the earliest we could go again is '11... that just seems too long now! And I'm with you Gibson, I keep thinking of how my daughter would react too. Thank you for sharing this with us, and I can't wait to see the finale!

Can't wait to see the rest. Disneyland and DCA in one day? Inconceivable! This I've got to see!

The front row of the overflow room... let's see... Oh yeah, that was me! ... and Stalkerchick, windshawne and Beast Man. I'm glad we kept you entertained. And that's why I said I was glad I was in the overflow room, as my reaction would most likely not have been tolerated in the actual meeting room!

If Mr. Stoneking is a politician, he did not say that he was. He certainly does not sit on Mason City Council.

From Mr. Stoneking's website: Incorrect change can happen anywhere, can it not? And what does that have to do with the price of tax in Mason? The volunteer worker program was always used to supplement staffing levels, not replace the park workers already there. And "busloads of volunteers"? In my many years of working at the park, I have never seen the group workers arrive by the busload. As I said to others last night, I was so glad that I was in the overflow room during the meeting, as I could not keep quiet during Mr. Stoneking's string of inaccuracies and mis-facts.

Mr. Stoneking, I have just one question for you. If you were truly there to support the passing of the tax, then why did you not stay until the end of the meeting to see the outcome of the vote? Instead you bolted out of the room as soon as you were done. If you're truly in support of the tax, I have no problem with that, that is your right to be entitled to your opinion. But that single act of leaving as soon as you were done showed me that you were only there for self-promotion, as you mentioned at the beginning of your speech that you authored a book, and from what I hear, your car was quite the promotional tool as well. I have to say I was quite amused when I saw you walk out of the Mason City Council chambers. That just showed what you were truly there for.

The 4th of the big 5 Peanuts holiday specials, A Charlie Brown Valentine, airs this Wednesday, February 10th at 8:00pm. "Valentine's Day finds Chuck pining for the little red-haired girl, as Sally seeks a way to woo a reluctant Linus. Meanwhile, Snoopy takes to his typewriter to author the perfect poem; and Peppermint Patty meets her competition for Mr. Brown's affections." This is a different one than they aired last year, which was Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.

And the award for best quote goes to: I've only been to KK once, in 1998 approximately two weeks before (then-)Twisted Sisters opened and SF took control of the park. KK, along with LaSourdsville Lake (sorry dare-to-fly!), were my two worst park experiences anywhere. With that said, I'm still saddened (but not surprised) to see this happen. After talking to several people from this site about SFKK, and reading many posts on it here, I was almost ready to give it a second chance, and was seriously considering making a trip down for their opening day. I was particularly looking forward to riding Flying Dutchman again (which I haven't ridden since it was at KI) and Greezed Lightnin' (which I haven't ridden since it was at then-Marriott's Great America as Tidal Wave). I'm always saddened whenever I hear about a park closing, even if it was one I didn't particularly care for myself. I know that there are many people who do like it, and I can only imagine what they're going through by thinking how I would feel if one of my favorite parks closed. Hopefully most of the rides will find new homes and not just be scrapped.

You can always call or email the park, you know.... 513-754-5748 is the number to HR, jobs@visitkingisland.com is the HR email address. All I had to do to find these was click on "Jobs" at the bottom of the park's homepage, and the next screen has their contact info.

Wow... it's funny how things work out. Just last night GatorGirl and I heard "Vacation" by The Go-Go's on the radio last night, and she said "That's from the ice show!" Then I told her that there was going to be a new ice show this year, and I told her that I think Snoopy might be in it. She said "What about Charlie Brown and everyone else?" I told her I didn't know, we'd just have to wait and see. And then I get on here today and see this topic... Sounds like a good line-up. We've loved the shows the past couple of years and can't wait to see these!

Good for you for not taking a check from him! You never know if it could bounce, or he could stop payment on it.

^I'm with you there. I rather enjoyed the off-season, and the variety it brought to the job. My last job and my current one are the same thing everyday, all year. After many years of working at least part of the off-season at KI, it kind of came as a shock to the system when I left and got a job outside the park... and learned how tedious doing the same thing all year can sometimes be!

I completely agree with that. Wii was just one of my ideas. We have exercise equipment in our basement gathering dust, time to resurrect that. The Wii is a lot better than what I've been doing recently, which is pretty much nothing besides watching what I eat. Heck, even after bowling with KIC a couple of weeks ago, and despite going to Cici's, there was a decrease in my weight just from that.

And in case anyone missed it, he just quoted the slogan that Kings Island used in its inaugural season back in 1972. When I read "Come on, get happy!", I thought of The Partridge Family, not Kings Island! Which is funny, considering they shot an episode there...

Much takes place during the off-season. As Terpy said, obviously there is maintenance and marketing, etc. going on. There's also end-of-year reports that need to be completed, the ordering and receiving of supplies, department manual revisions and of course, hiring the seasonal associates, making sure all necessary forms are filled out for them, and training them. There's also budgeting for the upcoming year that needs to be done - and believe me, that in itself takes some time! I can attest that there is a lot to do in the off-season. A lot of the GP is surprised to find out that there are people who work there year round, as if they closed the gates and turned out the lights in November and magically opened up again each April!

Good question. That was a great promotion last year. Somehow I doubt they do it again. I wouldn't be surprised if they want all the paid admissions they can get with Potterland opening this year!

One ride that I always thought was great in the front seat was King Cobra. I loved having no other cars in front of me, just watching the track disappear under my feet. It was like you were walking along the track without moving your legs, or gliding across the rails. I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this yet! I miss that coaster...

^The one on Mason Montgomery is the one I went to all the time, and they cut their classes too. The cuts were chain-wide, I read this article about all the cuts and many people were unhappy because they couldn't get out of their contracts. Luckily we had a month to month contract, so it was relatively easy to cancel... but they still deducted membership fees for 3 months after we cancelled. Numerous calls to their corporate office by us went unreturned, and we just gave up. That's one of my ideas! I recently got a bonus from work, and I'm planning to combine that with a gift card I got for Christmas to get a Wii. Just waiting for a good time to do it, because I would still need to shell out some money and we're still paying off Christmas bills!

I love the reader comments below that Black Book article. They expressed exactly how I feel about the article. I'm not a Harry Potter fan (yet). I've always planned to read all the books once all have been published, but I haven't had time to read since GatorGirl was born! I had the same idea with the movies, see all of them once their all completed. And I will see them all before I go back to IOA, just so I can appreciate the new world there!

No, I haven't gotten mine from working Haunt yet either. We should be getting them any day now. They have until 1/31 to get them out to us.

Oh man... is it already winter training time again? Well, at least this year I'm at a lower weight than I was this time last year. The only thing that sucks is I no longer belong to a gym. I was going to Urban Active, but I quit them in October when they cut back on the hours that their playroom was open. I would pick up GatorGirl from daycare, and we'd go to UA. But then they announced that the playroom for the kids would only be open for like 3 hours in the middle of the day... which would only benefit stay-at-home moms (and dads), not those of us who have to work for a living. It would have benefited more people if they had made those 3 hours they were open be in the evening, after most people got off work. As soon as they made that reduction in hours, I cancelled my membership. A few weeks later, they closed the playroom altogether. I was doing well, and in May I was at my lowest point, having lost 26 lbs. When I quit UA, I was still at about 20 lbs. below my February weight. Now, I'm hovering at about 13 lbs. below that Feb. weight. Now I just have to find a way to work out again. We had gotten a great deal at UA through Mrs. Gator's work, and I haven't seen anywhere else come close to what we were paying there. And paying someone money is a great motivator to work out! I have some ideas on things I can do at home, I just have to implement them.

I grew up just off of Fields Ertel, very close to where I live now. As a kid, it was exciting to live so close, especially in the summer. We would hear the the fireworks go off every night, and if we looked out our windows or happened to be outside, we could see the flashes in the sky from them. My family could only afford to go once a year, and that was only possible because we used the tickets that my grandma got from working there. So hearing those every night was a constant reminder that someplace so fun was just a few minutes away, and it built the anticipation up in my sister and me. That was the 70's and 80's. Now, I live off of Fields Ertel again. I can still hear the fireworks at my house when they go off, but thanks to the amount off growth the area's seen since I was a kid, you can't see the flashes in the sky anymore. Thankfully, my family is a little better off than we were when I was growing up, and we're able to afford season passes. Sometimes I wonder if going so often diminishes the anticipation my daughter feels about the place. But based on her reaction, I don't think it does. She gets excited every time we pass through that gate, and she still asks "When can we go to Kings Island again?" And you know, I do too. Is it April 17th yet?

I rarely remember my dreams, but I had one this morning that I do remember. I dreamt that it was the first night of Haunt, and all the scareacters, myself included, had been living for several days in Kings Island Theater. It was getting close to opening time, so I brushed my teeth. When it came time to spit, I accidentally spit it on another scareacter (I forget her name, but I see her a lot at our late night Stake 'n' Shake outings). It was time to get into costume and makeup, but then I realized that I was never told which haunt I would be working in, and I hadn't even been fitted for a costume. That's when my alarm went off again and it was time to get up.

A long time ago, I had a complete coaster list. Then, in October of 2004, an event occured that made me not really care for KI or parks in general. I went into 2005 (or what I refer to as my "Year of Disenchantment"), and the list was destroyed. Now, after five long years, over this long, cold off-season, the list has finally been re-created! Below is my list in as close to chronological order as I could get. It lists the name of the coasters as they were when I first rode them (and if I rode them again under a different name, that name is also noted), the name of park as it was when I first rode them, and when my first ride was. 1. Scooby Doo/Beastie/Fairly Odd Coaster – Kings Island – 1970's 2. The Racer – Kings Island – 1970's 3. The Beast – Kings Island – 1980 4. The Bat – Kings Island – 1982 5. Screamin' Demon – Kings Island – 1980's 6. King Cobra – Kings Island – 1980's 7. Space Mountain – WDW Magic Kingdom – 1980's 8. Big Thunder Mountain Raliroad – WDW Magic Kingdom – 1980's 9. Demon – Marriott's Great America – 1980's 10. Tidal Wave – Marriott's Great America – 1980's 11. American Eagle – Marriott's Great America – 1980's 12. River King Mine Train – Six Flags Over Mid-America – 1980's 13. Screamin' Eagle – Six Flags Over Mid-America – 1980's 14. Vortex – Kings Island – 1987 15. Adventure Express – Kings Island – 1991 16. Top Gun/Flight Deck – Paramount's Kings Island – 1993 17. Blue Streak – Cedar Point – 1990's 18. Cedar Creek Mine Ride – Cedar Point – 1990's 19. Corkscrew – Cedar Point – 1990's 20. Gemini – Cedar Point – 1990's 21. Wildcat – Cedar Point – 1990's 22. Disaster Transport – Cedar Point – 1990's 23. Iron Dragon – Cedar Point – 1990's 24. Magnum XL-200 – Cedar Point – 1990's 25. Mean Streak – Cedar Point – 1990's 26. Raptor – Cedar Point – 1990's 27. Carolina Goldrusher – Paramount's Carowinds – 1995 28. Thunder Road – Paramount's Carowinds – 1995 29. Carolina Cyclone – Paramount's Carowinds – 1995 30. Vortex – Paramount's Carowinds – 1995 31. Hurler – Paramount's Carowinds – 1995 32. Outer Limits: Flight of Fear/Flight of Fear - – Paramount's Kings Island – 1996 33. Dragon Fire – Paramount's Canada's Wonderland – 1996 34. Mighty Canadian Minebuster – Paramount's Canada's Wonderland – 1996 35. Thunder Run* (powered) – Paramount's Canada's Wonderland – 1996 36. Wild Beast – Paramount's Canada's Wonderland – 1996 37. Bat – Paramount's Canada's Wonderland – 1996 38. Vortex – Paramount's Canada's Wonderland – 1996 39. Top Gun – Paramount's Canada's Wonderland – 1996 40. Mantis – Cedar Point – 1990's 41. Python – Busch Gardens Tampa – 1997 42. Scorpion – Busch Gardens Tampa – 1997 43. Kumba – Busch Gardens Tampa – 1997 44. Montu – Busch Gardens Tampa – 1997 45. Vampire – Kentucky Kingdom – 6/10/98 46. Thunder Run – Kentucky Kingdom – 6/10/98 47. T2 – Kentucky Kingdom – 6/10/98 48. Chang – Kentucky Kingdom – 6/10/98 49. Face/Off / Invertigo – Paramount's Kings Island – 1999 50. Dueling Dragons Fire – Universal Islands of Adventure – 1999 51. Dueling Dragons Ice – Universal Islands of Adventure – 1999 52. Incredible Hulk – Universal Islands of Adventure – 1999 53. Son of Beast – Paramount's Kings Island – 2000 54. Demon – Paramount's Great America – 2000 55. Greased Lightnin' – Paramount's Great America – 2000 56. Grizzly – Paramount's Great America – 2000 57. Vortex – Paramount's Great America – 2000 58. Top Gun – Paramount's Great America – 2000 59. Stealth – Paramount's Great America – 2000 60. Giant Dipper – Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk – 2000 61. Hurricane – Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - 2000 62. Rugrats Runaway Reptar – Paramount's Kings Island – 2001 63. Millenium Force – Cedar Point – 2001 64. Manhattan Express – New York New York Hotel & Casino – 9/9/01 65. Rebel Yell – Paramount's Kings Dominion – 2002 66. Grizzly – Paramount's Kings Dominion – 2002 67. Avalanche – Paramount's Kings Dominion – 2002 68. Anaconda – Paramount's Kings Dominion – 2002 69. Hurler – Paramount's Kings Dominion – 2002 70. Volcano, The Blast Coaster – Paramount's Kings Dominion – 2002 71. Hypersonic XLC – Paramount's Kings Dominion – 2002 72. Screechin' Eagle – LeSourdsville Lake – 2002 73. Serpent – LeSourdsville Lake – 2002 74. Blazing Fury – Dollywood – 2002 75. Tennessee Tornado – Dollywood – 2002 76. Raven – Holiday World – 2003 77. Legend – Holiday World – 2003 78. Italian Job: Stunt Track/Backlot Stunt Coaster – Kings Island – 2006 79. Firehawk – Kings Island – 2007 80. Little Bill's Giggle Coaster – Kings Island – 4/20/08 81. Voyage – Holiday World – 8/4/08 82. Rock 'n' Roller Coaster – WDW Disney's Hollywood Studios – 9/17/08 83. Diamondback – Kings Island – 4/18/09 84. Pepsi Python – Coney Island – 8/1/09 85. Trailblazer – Hersheypark – 8/14/09 86. Wild Mouse – Hersheypark – 8/14/09 87. Great Bear – Hersheypark – 8/14/09 88. Vapor Trail – Sesame Place – 8/16/09 89. Maverick – Cedar Point – 9/19/09 90. Mystery Mine – Dollywood – 11/14/09 91. Thunderhead – Dollywood – 11/14/09 The only one I have a potential problem including is #35 since it's a powered coaster – but it's on RCDB so I included it. I also didn't list racing or twin coasters separately, except for Dueling Dragons which are neither mirror images nor side by side.