CoastersNSich

While that's a good theory, it also hurt the perception of the park. Who wanted to wait in long lines because of both a mass amount of guests on top of reduced capacity (trains put away on coasters and/or some rides being closed), and probably even reduced staffing? That's probably why Cedar Fair didn't try it this year. Apparently, COO Jack Falfas claimed that such a practice doesn't bring enough revenue... One perk I would like to (have) seen for season passes, gold or not, is a food/drink discount, like 10% off for passholders. I know that PKI did Gold Pass Meal Deals, but not everyone comes to the park as a family of four. A similar discount on merchandise would also (have) been nice. If KI does a perk program again, it should be like CP's Joe Cool Club, where club members get ERT for 1/2 to 1 hour on select coasters/rides before general park opening EVERY day. They also get some discounts on some merchandise, and $1 off a Midway Market buffet. While there is no bring-a-friend free days (I don't think there was even a friend discount available), nor a special parking area, it's well worth the extra $15. In fact, I plan to get my Maxx Pass through CP because of that amenity.

You would be right. On the PointBuzz forums, a lot of people were upset with this change, that some claimed that they wouldn't even buy a CP pass because the parking stickers would be a hassle.

Yeah, but I tell them to cover it up. its a family environment, not Hooters! Not something Cedar Fair would want any part of, but who here likes the idea of a Hooters theme park?

The quality of the image doesn't look too good... shouldn't the ® come after "Carowinds®" and NOT "Car®owinds"? Looks like somebody slapped a logo together using Photoshop and didn't pay attention to a few details. BUT it's something I might believe...

Surely, public restrooms, especially for men, have progressed. For example, the newer restrooms at Kings Island have urinal partitions, which is excellent. However, many restrooms (outside the park of course) can be worse than even the older ones at KI. Some sports stadiums and other places have the mini-urinals sans dividers (even 2003's GABP) - even "worse," long communal troughs. Beyond this, you'll still find a lot of doorless toilet stalls, especially at some schools, public parks, and fairgrounds. Heck, there's even some restrooms at these places lacking stalls altogether! Why is this? Sometimes, like at parks and schools, it's a way to crack down on illegal behavior, like vandalism, smoking, drug use, and sex. It could also be because of deferred maintenance... But one reason, guys were once probably more open and less shy when it came to bodily functions. It was common in the military for barracks latrines to have no privacy, especially with toilets. Nowadays, people value privacy much more, and often for good reason. We choose to be further apart, which has been proven with today's suburban sprawl development (which isn't as good, IMO). Back to KI, I would like to see the towel dispensers replaced with auto-sensor towel dispensers, or the Xcelerator dyrers that CP has.

I just saw the Lodge's new TV commercial. "at Paramount's Kings Island?" D'oh!... However, the commercial looks GREAT!

It's been rumored that this space may become a TGI Friday's for 2007. Yes, it would take a lot of renovation, including possibly a passenger elevator. The restaurant does have one elevator, but it is really for service/staff purposes, so they would have to put one in that can be accessed by the public, unless they were escorted/assisted by an employee to that service elevator. But overall the one reason to renovate - the elegant passe decor. Guests want a place that looks somewhat "in" and looks reasonably priced - and I think Friday's would fit that need.

I was initally excited about the 'new' Paramount's Kings Island. Paramount Communications had this great concept that they intended to fully implement eventually. Somehow, the concept fizzled... That doesn't describe what Cedar Fair bought. Not the Paramount Parks. Not any one of them. Universal Studio Parks these ain't. No matter what Jeffery Seibert may have thought. If Cedar Fair wanted seasonal highly detailed movie theme parks, they'd have even more work to do than if they decide to go another route... "...seasonal highly detailed movie theme park..." is what Paramount/CBS/Viacom envisioned, and promoted. Seasonal amusement parks with attractions themed on a budget is what later resulted. My real question is, is "...seasonal highly detailed movie theme park..." something Cedar Fair really wants to do, if they were to adequately reflect the Paramount name? Again, knowing CF's history and what they have done so far with the 5 new parks, I'd assume NO. I'd submit there are many guests out there who are looking for an experience not unlike the Kings Island of old: rides, ENTERTAINMENT, landscaping, perhaps a great sit-down restaurant with a world-class view of a happy, fun place--a festival of fun, happy employees, a place to take the kids AND the grandparents. Not just rides. That was the Six Flags mistake. Bigtime. This, I would agree, is what Kings Island used to be up until the Paramount days. KI used to be the kind of place that people of ALL generations went to. The smaller ones went to H-B Land. Older kids and younger adults tamed the coasters. Parents and kids together rode some of the classic flat rides and some coasters. Families, including Grandma, rode the Wild Animal Habitat Monorail together. They would later see a show at Festhaus, International Showplace, or American Heritage Music Hall. Eat great food at Festhaus, International Restuarant, Columbia Palace, or other places. On top of that, there would be great shopping on International Street, with great hard-to-find gifts. So true about the "Six Flags" mistake- they overdid Magic Mountain, while they shut down the monorail and observation tower - something that may seem boring to the teens, but something great to older adults, and their children that can't do quite yet. Mark Shapiro is trying to reverse these faux pas. Cedar Point has its fair share of gentler transport/scenic rides in between all these thrill machines, but could they use a little more, like something more family-friendly and/or a dark ride? Yes, I want a B&M or two, and some more great flat rides. But why not a great show? Sit-down table service restaurants? Attractions with good (but not commercialized) theming that was kept up. Oh, and a Racer that races and has the red, white, and blue color scheme. And what happened to the costumed characters that would greet everyone upon entry into the park? My original second point: Paramount spent good money on theming with OK thrill rides, while Six Flags and Cedar Fair simply used the money on larger coasters, with minimal to none theming. Italian Job and Millennium Force have the same height requirement - which one better appeals to kids who are finally just above 48"? While I would exclude the younger and older of guests from this sample, I would say that most of those who enjoy these rides would prefer all-out coasters to moderate- to low-thrill rides with theming.

Going back to the "One chain buying their competitor" section... Before being acquired by Accor, both Motel 6 and Red Roof Inns did one basic thing - provided budget accomodations- (as they still do). No sister companies that make soap, TVs, or alarm clocks. Prior to acquisition by McDonald's, Boston Market, Chipotle, and Donatos were in the restaurant/fast food industry, and still are. They didn't also have subsidiaries like Kohler, Charmin, or Febreeze. But, prior to acuisition by Cedar Fair, Paramount Parks seemed to do many things beyond what existing Cedar Fair parks did, which was promoting Paramount films and other characters, shows, and themes that Viacom and CBS own. This brings up - why did Paramount choose to buy a chain of five seasonal theme parks? Was their intention to turn them into "movie-studio themed parks"? Other companies, like Universal and Disney/MGM took the approach of building new parks from scratch. Maybe in the 1990s, the idea of building new parks in North America from scratch was not as welcomed as it was in the 1960s and 70s - and the only way to get their own parks going - at least outside of Florida and California - was to acquire existing regional theme parks and transform them into their liking. Also, knowing that Orlando and greater L.A. are of great distance from much of America, why not bring the concept to the Bay Area, greater Cincinnati, the Carolinas, Virginia, and even Toronto? It's possible Cedar Fair entertained the idea of keeping these parks going as Paramount Parks, with heavily themed rides and attractions, shows, and other tie-ins to properties they licensed from Viacom. But for that to work, they'd have to spend a lot more than CBS/Viacom did in recent years. Question is, though, do these things work for regional parks, where guests are looking for reasonably priced family entertainment? If Cedar Point started taking that approach and re-themed existing rides, or built movie-themed rides, would that "fluff" be worth the investment? Using that logic based on CF history, I would assume that they would re-tool Kings Island as a well-run regional amusement park rather than keep it as a seasonal highly detailed movie theme park. Rather, they would use some of the theme money for better rides, improved cleanliness, capacity, staffing, upkeep, etc. Most guests are looking for speed, height, inversions, airtime, sudden change in direction, enjoying a scream or smile with family and friends - rather than playing roles of the likes of Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, or Nicolas Cage. One one hand, it's unfortunate that the movie tie-ins that make Kings Island feel different from other amusement parks surounding it are apparently going away. On the other hand, it's a great opportunity for Kings Island to reach its potential as a great amusement park by adding things that improve the guests' experience while also helping the company's bottom line.

Sort of back to the original topic, I remember from my 2004 trip, all the highway signs along I-95 for KD said "Paramount's Kings Dominion." On the other hand, pretty much all the highway signs for our home park, on I-275 and I-71,have always just said "Kings Island" - excluding the signs on Kings Island Drive and the brown sign Kings Mills Rd in front of Taco Bell, before the right turn to KI Drive, which said "Paramount's Kings Island". Does this mean that Virginia's highway department might have some work to do...?

Sucks, but hopefully they get all the bugs ironed out by the time the Kings Island season comes around. "Give me a full report!"

Without those darn metal detectors mind you! http://www3.paramountparks.com/KingsIsland/jobs/jobs.cfm Be careful the next time you try to waltz right into the park... they are hiring "Metal Detection Associates" for 2007...

I counted every single "P" word in the... article... Press PRNewswire publicly parks parks plans parks parks parks park parks Pennsylvania president program park Point park's mph. (it contains "per") plenty Point park program park park pool, popular parks, Kings Island (but not some "P" word that usually goes before it) park past park programs parks parks park program parks program publicly partnership park/ parks, parks, park parks Point Park Park, Pa.; (An abbreviation for Pennsylvania) parks press prior press Ohhh... I think the one you were looking for isn't there. Sorry, my bad.

That, or the fact that the company owns three parks in, and is based in, Ohio... and that one of the company's smallest parks is in Michigan.

See, I told you that Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price was a scary, Halloween-caliber movie!

I have to think that it can open sometime in 2007, by June at the latest. Footings may be going in at the KI site already, while dismantling is already underway at Geauga Lake. I could compare this to Italian Job - of course it's a smaller coaster than X-Flight, but it didn't take too long to build, by the time it was completed and ready by mid to late April 2005. I see this coaster going up rather quickly...

[rant]Christkwanzikah? I HATE it when people do that. Can't you say Happy Holidays like a normal person? I mean, what about Wiccans? I don't see any mention of any Wiccan holidays in Christkwanzikah. [/rant] Oh, and Happy Holidays everyone. It's RamaHaunKwanzMas!!

Of course, 2007 might just be a phase-out year for "Paramount Parks," keeping ride themes/names, and pre-Cedar Fair park signage... Interesting to try to see how, or if, things Hollywood will fit in with Cedar Fair's ways.

In '06 Cedar Point lowered prices on things, such as soft drinks (20 oz. lowered from $3.00 to $2.50). Hopefully this idea will extend to all parks in '07. The omittance of "Paramount" in the typed portion of the press release looks promising...

And that is why PKIcentral will take us far into the future. PKIcentral will make your dreams come true. And im not talking about winning the lottery. I could use that right now. LOL When they revamp as KICentral, they should have a lottery - one lucky user will get ONE MILLION DOLLARS!* *Or some stupid old Paramount sign, who knows...

I won't totally dismiss this, because it shouldn't be a big surprise that Cedar Fair is making such changes. But, I'll Believe It When I See Itâ„¢.

I think we may have an answer... http://photos.pkicentral.com/thumbnails.php?album=177

I'm sending this link to Drudge now... (sarcasm off) Seriously, this is BIG. Thanks for the (long awaited) update!

Appropriately... X-Flight has finally been removed from the Geauga Lake website.

Who were the first lucky guests? I'm guessing employees/construction workers and their friends and family...