lebeau

The park really did look nice yesterday - especially Coney Mall! I'm glad your pics turned out. My camera tied yesterday so I fear my pics may be lost. I ordered a new one online last night once I was sure it was dead, dead.

It sure was a busy day. But you couldn't ask for better weather. Especially with all the rain we've been getting lately!

Great report! I had two choices for opening day. Either I could take my 6-year-old daughter for kiddie rides or go by myself and ride coasters. I took my little girl and from the sound of things I definitely made the right choice. It sounds like it was a bit of a frustrating day for coaster fans, but we had a great time at Planet Snoopy.

Nice report! I'm torn on this year's cup. I have 2 Diamondback cups from 2009 and 2010. They are identical except for color. The WindSeeker cup is very cool, but it is so much smaller than the Diamondback cups I have! With 2 cups already, I really don't need a third for practical reasons. Especially a smaller one. But it is a very cool design.

Hey guys, Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the report and I look forward to writing up more trips throughout the summer. Joey has a little sister at home. Kara just turned 2 and isn't quite big enough for King's Island yet. But she doesn't know that. She's sure she can do everything her big sister can do. So for now, she stays at home with mom while Joey and I have daddy time. But once the water park opens, we'll make some trips as a family. It'll be a different dynamic, but I'm sure it will also be a great time. When I was a kid, we went to KI once a year summer. My grandpa worked for GE, so our entire extended family met up there every year on GE day. The park was always packed on GE day, but it was a blast! We're a big clan and everyone remembers those trips fondly. I know our little family is making similar memories that will last a lifetime. (And will be documented in pictures and plush toys.) Thanks again for reading!

I've got a lengthy blog post I'll just link to here. http://lebeauleblog....ay-trip-report/ Thanks for reading!

^^^^^^ One shiny nickel to the first person who reads that entire block of text without going blind...

I was very disappointed when I heard about the change. My little girl loves the Nick characters. (Or she did. She's kind of moved on.) But when we saw it, we immediately loved Planet Snoopy. And my daughter has grown to appreciate the Peanuts which is an added benefit.

Thanks for the pics. This is EXACTLY how I remember the park. Good times!

Yeah, you could hand out free money at the gate and someone would still be upset. I'm not upset about this. I hope it's a big hit and I'm glad to see them doing something different. If it was included with my season pass, I'd probably stroll through there frequently just because. But I don't really have any burning desire to see animatronic dinos. And my daughter is afraid of them. So with any kind of upcharge this is an easy "skip" for me.

They had me when I thought it was free. Not paying $5. Something tells me it'll be free eventually. I don't see this as highly repeatable.

Yeah, this article and others have already been linked in this thread.

Hey... This must be the attraction that's being announced this friday!! Great find. That would be so awesome! I used to love Gulliver's. Next to Enchanted Voyage, it was my favorite ride.

I voted Planet Snoopy. That's where we spend all our time. An hour there before the park opens and we'd probably be done for the day!

Unfortunately, you are beating a dead horse at this point. Regardless of what the advertisement said, CF has the right to change things up. They could discontinue the park tomorrow if they wanted to and they'd be totally within their rights to do so. It probably wouldn't be the best decision from a customer service perspective, but they aren't legally obligated to continue ERTs no matter what the advertisement said. If you're unhappy, you are right to let CF know about it. Maybe it will impact a change, maybe it won't. But there's really nothing more you can do. So you may as well try. And when season passes go on sale at the end of the season, remember this before you buy for 2012. The specific perks mentioned on the ad may or may not be the perks CF actually offers when the park opens.

At least not until one of these enthusiasts contacts an attorney and the park is looking at a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the people who got "bait and switched." I hope you're not serious. There is no basis for a lawsuit here. CF has every right to switch or discontinue the ERT perk any time they want. Read the fine print.

You do not PAY EXTRA for ERT. It's included with a GOLD Pass, or Platiumim pass, not even just KI Plantium passes. Wow! technically you do pay for the ert (from the viewpoint rotag's using), when you buy a platinum or gold pass you pay more than you do for a regular pass. after doing so you get free parking, free admission, and any "vip" perks including ert. If you want to get technical, you pay for the Gold Pass perks whatever they may be as they are subject to change at Cedar Fair's discretion. So, no, you do not specifically pay for ERT. It has just been part of the package of perks that you do pay for. Also, as has been pointed out, most of the people complaining here probably bought their passes at the time when there was no price differential between the regular and gold passes. If these people disagree with the change, that's fine. But they should really stop complaining about having "paid extra" because that is in no way true.

I'll have to take your word for it that it used to name Beast and Diamondback instead of the current rides. But even so, they have the right to change the rides at any time. They can even do away with the perk entirely if they see fit. So it's unreasonable to get too upset if they decide to exercise that right. If you are upset and want to complain, I can't blame you. But I think at best it will cause them to change the wording for next year's season pass advertising. I just don't see how this could realistically have been a deal-breaker in the decision to buy a gold pass for all but a handful of people. And even of those complaining, my guess is they would have bought their passes anyway even if the ERT changes had been known.

As for the downgrade to regular passes, what was the price difference between regular and gold when you purchased last fall? I'm not 100% positive, but I think Gold was about the same as regular for a while. Yeah, if you bought during the fall offer the upgrade to a gold pass was free. Realistically, I imagine the number of people impacted by this change in any meaning ful way will be in the dozens. Most poeple who bought their passes before the change probably won't even notice. I feel for those of you who are upset. But you should know that KI has the right to make these kinds of changes. Was it ever verified that DB and Beast were specifically listed as being ERT rides during the early sale of 2011 passes? If so, maybe KI will stop identifying the rides for next years ERT going forward.

I'll trust you on this Terpy, but I thought that the upcharge was around before Paramount. Per the timeline, the safari/habitat only lasted 1 1/2 seasons after the Paramount acquisition. Sorry Terpy, but I'm with KIfan on this one. I know Lion Country Safari wasn't around until 1974, but I'm very certain that the upcharge existed before Paramount. Before we had season passes, my family only went to KI once a year. My grandmother worked in the park from the beginning, first in the Executive Dining Room, and later in Housekeeping. We used the tickets that she got from working there for our yearly visits. In addition to the tickets to enter the park, there were also separate tickets that she received and gave to us that were for the monorail. And when I started working at the park in 1989, I'm pretty certain that I received those tickets too. I have a friend who worked at Lion Country Safari/WAH for years. I'll try contacting her to see if she remembers when the upcharge started. My only memory of the safari is wanting to ride it when I was a kid (late seventies/early 80s) and being told "no" because of the upcharge. I didn't visit KI during the Paramount years until after they had removed the safari and by then I was on my own dime. So I know my memories are pre-Paramount.

Just found this today! What a great show!

You would think this would be true. But it's actually not. The movies were a thriving business during the Great Depression. And while this summer has been a down one for the movies, they have done very well during the recession. No doubt travel budgets have been slashed though. I would imagine theme parks are less elastic than movies. Movies are, IMO, percieved as a much more "economical" form of entertainment. They also are heavily patronized by teens. Trust me when I say that most forms of entertainment are suffering from huge drops in attendance. Shaggy That's fair.

You would think this would be true. But it's actually not. The movies were a thriving business during the Great Depression. And while this summer has been a down one for the movies, they have done very well during the recession. No doubt travel budgets have been slashed though. I would imagine theme parks are less elastic than movies.

My daughter's been wanting to go to Disney on Ice. Until that rolls through town again, this looks like a nice substitute! Can't wait!

I rode Phantom Theater once when I was in my late 20s. I have to admit, I thought it was pretty cheesy. But I was comparing it to Disney's Haunted Mansion and my fond memories of Enchanted Voyage. I watched a You Tube video just now to try to give it a more fair appraisal. And while I would hardly say the animatronics were Disney-level, they were certainly above what I expect from KI. All these years later, I owe PT an apology. I judged you too harshly.