shark6495

depends on what your company is built upon. If you are a company that is about the customer first then banning previous year cups would create a minor up-roar. By letting customers use previous years cups you are just showing them that they are allowed to have a great experience at your park. Banning cups just creates bad juju. Making employees happy is always hard to do and expensive, but usually its a great investment to help your park out in the long run. But then again perks dont always have to be expensive, a simple thanks, or a free pop can always go a long way when you are dealing with employees, and like you said, happiness tends to rub off on guests.

bolded, underlined, and italicized. If you are to make an experience a once a year type of experience then by all means take away the season pass. goes back to the article you posted the other day about disney. if you make a park a destination people will go and spend the money, no matter the price (almost). An amuzement park without rollercoasters is a parking lot with popcorn, a theme park without rollercoasters is still a theme park. (I paraphrased a bit from Mr. Disney)

I think you would lose some crossover from park to park. A family who is having a hard time justifying a family vacation & a trip to KI, may find it easier to buy a season pass and do both, but create the family trip around another park. Then again if you eliminate season passes, you would WANT to lower gate prices to entice frequent visitors. People may pay 35-40 bucks for 1-2, maybe 3 visits, but it gets pricey. 70-120 for a season pass and you can go as many times as you want for as little as you want sounds/is better.

Its a math problem, in all reality. for every dollar it rises you lose a certain % point of your revenue. So just for fun lets say, you make the same amount of money (on admission) from a $20 ticket and a $50 ticket. Lets say you make 1 million dollars, well at 20 bucks a ticket you will have 50thousand guests, at 50 bucks a ticket you only have 20 thousand tickets. its all a balance. Some believe that if you lower your ticket prices you will entice more people who may not normally come, but why lower it to make the same amount you do with a high priced ticket..... some say the more bodies in the park the more money you make because its more people buying other goods (food, merch, etc) but if you have less people in the park you do not need to hire as many people (cleaning staff, food vendors, line ops, etc) or buy as much stuff (food, merch etc) which lowers your bottom line. A park is just like any business. It takes a person who is both able to see the bottom line and see what the people want/need. If you price something so high it turns a need into a want, a want into a maybe, and a maybe into a no. Where does 51.99 push the average family? for my family? it pushes KI from a want to a maybe/no.

" “Most of Mr. Disney’s proposed park produces no revenue but it will be expensive to build and maintain,” said the focus group. “Things like the castle and pirate ship are cute but they aren’t rides so there is no economic reason to build them. There is too much wasteful landscaping.” They also found other examples of waste. Spaces like Town Square with its little park, City Hall, and a fire station were not designed to make any money. That was a poor use of real estate and did not add to the bottom line. Even the Main Street vehicles like the horse trolley, fire truck, and omnibus would be money-losers because they also suffered from a capacity issue." If only other parks saw/see what disney sees in the little extras.... reminds me the way a certain park once looked/felt

I believe the quote is this is an investment for the long term. So maybe Dinosaurs Alive is a short term thing (Star Trek thing KI did before). But could it be that the 5 dollar upcharge and the paving and creation of a new areas (in the pictures it looks like they will be paving a nice big walk way) coudl lead to future park expansion?

I hope you are not referring to me..... the park can and does things wrong but seriously how is this bad? if its a dino walk through and it fails who loses money? only the park

Well, to be fair, they did also put a 20 foot tall and 40 foot long T-Rex at the entrance to the parking lot. Pretty huge if you ask me. And it's working - I showed the pic and explained what we thought the attraction was to my 7 year old. His response was "cool, sounds awesome - I love dinosaurs" then he asked when the park opened. ok minus the 20 foot tall 40 foot long t-rex, the lead up to it was not too much... plus now that dino (which is probably standard when buying a dino walk through) that stands out front is attracting a bunch of quizzical looks from drivers who, when they get home, will go "what is that thing at ki?" check online and go hmmm when was i at KI the last time....

or we could all just take the high road and not grumble... if its on the internet someone will hate it and someone will like it... its life people argue... policing a forum can only do so much.... so I will say this, bringing us back to the topic at hand.... Sort of cool seeing a big t-rex being hoisted by a crane....

if your point is marketing I have a question for you... where was the huge marketing? on their webpage? they uploaded a video? some pics? a twitter and facebook update? had a dissolving graphic? I would go with almost 60-75% of their target audience does not even check there web site in the off season, and if they do its just to get ticket prices for a future family vacation... maybe... but If this got a few more hits on their website, drove more people to visitkingsisland.com then great for them. Did it bother anyone that for a few days we had fun hoping and wondering what was going on?

I think the problem lends it self to other rides in the park or around the globe. You have a ride that is fun and thrilling with out seat belts. Everyone knows that you could get hurt/killed if you stand up or try to exit the ride when riding it. 10 years later a new ride is added that is more thrilling, but needs restraints to keep people safe, say for example if the ride does a loop. Well people will think that the first ride is safer and they can do stupid things, like stand up....

minus of course the legal considerations.... thank you terp.... i havnt been around here for a while... hows the winter treating you?

Lets be real for moment and pretend they would shoot an episode centered around KI (which they probably wont but w.e) They could shoot at any park and call it KI. They dont have to edit out anything. KI wouldnt be the star of the show, it would be a backdrop a set piece. You wont have the cast of GLEE running around the park, ala the bradys (which probably had more to do with the parent company than the show itself).... but back to the point. if they would shoot a show at "KI" it probably wouldnt even resemble our park, because to be honest, outside of the tristate no one would notice. Plus there has to be better looking parks to shoot at?

Soooo CF will just let them use the land and make money on it? Some how I think CF would change their minds when/if this thing brings in a good amount of money.... any info on the geauga lake park side of the park yet?

the number does not and after a quick google search that number has been used for Bahamian Diet (1985) and also Sakrete concrete in 1985....

If I am reading this right, then its similar to what I have been saying for a while (not just about SOB). CF will invest in the parks they own but not enough to make them look better or have bigger better rides than the home CP park.

the magnum crew was awesome. If there was a wait for the ride I would not have been sad about having to hear them talk and have fun... oh and that launch holy cow.... i bought the on ride photo cause the fiance's hair went straight up and my face looks all weird from the wind..... yea we skipped Millie... the fiance had rode it before but by the time of the day we were at it was just about over in our heads.... next time.... keeps us coming back ya know?

it really was dead. The only reason we skipped out on Millie was because by the time we both talked ourselves into riding it we were dead tired and were all shaken up on the inside. I had not rode that many coasters in that short of time in a long time. So sadly Blue Streak, Mantis, and Millie were on the short stick of the day. Plus since we got tickets for free we figured hey why not leave when we want to, so as to make it feel like fun and not a job to ride every ride.... the only disappointing part about CP were most of the shows were closed. The park was ramping up for halloweekend and there were some cool stuff to look at but just no real shows to go and sit inside to re-catch your bearings.... oh well

Yes 15 years.... I have not been to CP since 95, and I was well 10 years old at the time. But not today. Today I felt like a 10 year old. And what an awesome trip... Day 1: The fiance and I left weds at 11 and had our blood drawn (blood drive) and got our free CP tickets. Hey they are free why not? By 2 pm we were on the road and making our way to Sandusky OH for a mini 2 day vacation. We arrived at our motel around 4:30 or so. And now I remember why I do not like the drive to Sandusky, and that area, there is no direct route from Columbus. Bummer. But we stayed at the Plantation Motel, just outside of Huron. Very clean but slightly old. But it did have a brand new flat screen tv on the wall with extended cable coverage, and was located a stones throw from the water. I would rate the Hotel a 3 out of 5. The only negatives were the shower, way too small, and the room felt like it was straight out of the 70s or early 80s. After looking our place to stay we decided to trot our way into Sandusky, Port Clinton, and Marblehead. Sadly most of the little shops were closed by the time we started our little afternoon trek (5:30ish) but we did not let that sway us. First we went to the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton. It seemed like a total boor but in reality it was the complete opposite. Our motel offered us a free admission so we payed the 18 bucks for the other admission and drove through the park. Yes its a drive through park. We had Emus, deer, buffalo, big cows, and some other deer like animals press their faces to our cars windows. We were able to feed them carrots and some sort of corn meal. We also fed giraffes straight from our car windows and saw Zebra and Elk. Awesome little side trip. Plus, it made the fiance uber happy, so it was a win-win. African Safari Wildlife Park gets 4 out of 5, the only negative was the price, 18 bucks per person and "food" for the animals that ranged from 2 - 8 bucks. Then it was time for our dinner so we went to Bootleggers in Port Clinton. A nice little bar and grill located right on the water front. Good food, good atmosphere but the prices, ouch. Between the fiance and I we had a burger, Walleye fish, Coke and water and the bill was 35 plus tip. The Walleye was good, the burger was good but not sure it was 35 good. However we saw many boats pass by us as we ate and even had a fellow eater pull his boat up to the dock, tie off, then sit down and order. Awesome I want to do that. The waitress was not great, when asking her what the best thing on the menu was she said "Well what do you like?" Blah... I just wanted to know her personal favorite, or something to avoid. But cant complain. Bootleggers gets 4 out 5, again the prices are steep and the waitress left a sad taste in the mouth. But the food was good. We then patrolled around the peninsula for a while and came across Marblehead Lighthouse. Its a light house. Fun to walk around and get so close to the water. Sadly the sun was setting on the other side so we didnt see much but we saw across the bay and saw CP light up the night sky. Awesome evening to the day so the lighthouse gets 5 out of 5 romantic points. The night was almost done it ended with Toft's Ice Cream in Sandusky. The fiance and I shared a small, Mackinac Island Fudge Brownie, ice cream in a dish. What huge servings. The ice cream was great and the price was low. Toft's is just as good, in a different way, than Greaters. 5 out of 5 on this one. We make it back to the motel to crash and get ready for day 2. Day 2: We wake early, around 8 am, to get showered eat and make our way to CP. The day starts off well as we eat at Beradi's and huge portions for reasonable prices. I say it was a must eat at if you are in the Huron Area. 5 out of 5. We then drive over to the park and get a close parking spot (row 3). We enter the park around 10:45 and we have to wait around till 11 since we did not have ERT, but no worries here. As God Bless America played most were respectful but a few of the youngins I wanted to teach them a thing or two about respect, but whatever. Some even chanted USA USA, annoying but I blame their parents. Based on your helpful hints my fiance and I avoided the main rides at first and went around the right side of the park. We walked onto Disaster Transport (a sign of things to come). Disaster Transport seemed like a nice ride but it was 1. way to quick and 2. way to dark. I am not sure if it was a ride or what happened. But it was a good ride to get the heart pumping and there was no wait. Disaster Transport gets 3 out of 5. Walked over to Wicked Twister and walked onto the second row of the train. Fun little ride but left more to be wanted. Not my type of ride. But it was near the lake which was awesome. I just personally dont like rides that dangle you for long periods of time. (same thing with face-off). Wicked Twister earned 4 out of 5. The fiance and I walked over to the midway, cutting next to the employee cafeteria. We were going to see what sort of wait there was for TTD. On the way there we saw Power Tower but didnt want to ride it. The fiance and I both agree roller coasters are good but some flats (the spinning or the dropping ones) are not our style. So we walked onto Corkscrew. A nice fun little ride. Somewhat rough but good over all. It earned 3 out of 5 from us. The time was about 11:30 or so. We then continued our walk and made our entrance to Magnum XL and with no wait jumped on the ride. Just as scary as I remember it. The airtime hills had me out of my seat. The ride op who did the announcing at this ride was the best we have ever seen. Magnum gets 5 out of 5. We continue our walk around the park and hop on Gemini encountering our first wait of the day. 15 minutes. The ride was a nice little ride. The crew was not awesome but did their job well. But we did not race anyone. Only the blue side was running. 3 out of 5. We then hit up Mean Streak, with no wait. What a nice woody but it reminds me of why they call wooden rides back breakers. Fun but caused a good headache. Mean Streak earned 4 out of 5 for the trip. The fiance however gave it a 2 out of 5. Needing a rest we hit up the train while regaining our wits. The skeleton scenes actually added to the ride and blew KIs out of the water. Train gets awesome cred for this and earns the 4 out 5 ranking just for that. So by 1 pm we had ridden 6 coasters and the train. We then hit up Maverick which was only a 35-40 minute wait. That first hill is amazing. Totally surprising and caught us off guard. The ride was smooth and enjoyable the whole way through. Mav gets 5 out of 5 wild horses. Strolling through Frontier Town, grabbing a hot pretzel we make our way to Raptor. No wait but a station one. The ride was fun and intense. The only negative was the person losing her lunch next to us. 5 out of 5. The coaster count continues and its only 2:30. We then make out way to Top Thrill Dragster and experience only a 15 min wait so we decide to get in line for the very front row. This added another 30 mins to our wait but it was well worth it. The fiance and I never rode it before and had no clue what to expect. We even gained some cred from the ride op when he asked who had first rides and was surprised to see us in the first row. The ride? AWESOME. AMAZING. HOLY SH..... Worth the wait and more. new favorite ride? check. On ride photo? check. Memories? Check. After that awesomeness we hit another lap on raptor and called it a day. We skipped out on Blue Streak and Millenium but managed double digit rides in less than 5 hours.... Overall CP gets 4 out of 5 for being a park that I had not experienced in over 10 years....

wow what a day... a TR is on the way soon, and thanks guys for the wonderful tips and helps

my thoughts on the ride, well I have none on the ride since its not open yet... but I have thoughts on the premise... 1. Great addition for the thrill seekers, this ride screams fear of heights to me. 2. I will not be riding it, or if I do it will be later in the year. I am not a fan of rides that do circles and go real high (Delirium and the Swing ride come to mind). 3. I hope the next installation will be less for thrill seekers but more General Public type ride. 4. Overall I like that the park is adding, but I will watch you all have fun while I lap Vortex or Racer.....

oh terp.... i feel so dumb sometimes... sometimes i feel like i have only been a member here for a few days and forget about the wonderful search feature.....

The fiance and I are about to make the trek to CP. I have not been to the park in about 10 years (or w.e. year Raptor opened). What are some of the must ride rides the park has this year? Also it will be a thursday what sort of crowds should I expect? With a reg admission ticket can we leave and re-enter? Any off the wall food spots in the park or outside the park we should stop at? any help would be awesome...

^ couldnt agree more. If the kid needed surgery in 06 (hes 21 now) that would have put him at 17 at the time. Kid could have been an athlete and a shoulder injury is devastating. Not to mention the growth plates dont stop growing till a male hits 24(ish). So if he was injured and needed surgery to fix it would be worth the lawsuit. Plus lawyers always sue for more hoping to settle anyways. We all need to remember the ride broke and failed to do what it was intended to do and that was keep riders safe. KI was responsible because it is there ride....