jcgoble3

Right, I get that too. What's supposed to be there is an embedded image linked to the Flickr page. The embedded image part is failing because of the KIC server error, so it falls back to some text (in this case, the filename of the cached image on the KIC server). In either case, left- or middle-clicking brings up the Flickr page in a new tab. Right-clicking brings up the browser's context menu. Because it's supposed to be an embedded image, one of the options in that menu is "View Image", which if the server were working properly, would load the image by itself in the tab with nothing else (you can see this working with your profile picture). Instead, doing that currently brings up the 500 Internal Server Error page.

The KIC server is acting up. When I right-click one of the links and select "View Image" (in Firefox), I get a 500 Internal Server Error page from KIC. Paging @malem...

So that's why I didn't get my day ruined by a headache. It was nice seeing you again!

I only glanced at the (small) menu board as I walked past talking with my mom, so I don't recall for sure. I wanna say $5, but I could be way off on that, so don't assume that's right.

That's interesting, because the CP website actually says that picture taking is only permitted on the CP&LE Railroad. Check here under Loose Articles: https://www.cedarpoint.com/help/ride-policies

That is available at the Turkey Legs stand next to Starbucks, across from Auntie Anne's.

Well, it is a fact that some people, for various reasons, have accidentally ended up with multiple drink plans on a single pass, and have been able to use all of them at once. So that should not be an issue. I would imagine that dining plans might work similarly, but only the park can tell you for sure. (If I had to guess at why multiple drink plans on one pass are supported, it would be to allow a parent to have one for themselves and one for each of their kids, so that they can control how many sugary drinks the kids get, rather than the older kids having it on their own pass and going crazy with it when off on their own. A similar rationale could potentially be applied to dining plans as well.)

First, the driver can watch the train as it exits the station. A lot of the time, the person with the phone or camera already has it out by then. Failing that, I assume there are cameras mounted on the lift hill that the driver can watch the feed from. Uh... please stop. Immediately. By having a phone, camera, or other electronic device out while on a coaster, you are jeopardizing the safety of everyone else on the train as well as committing a misdemeanor by failing to comply with posted safety instructions. If caught, you could be ejected and/or banned from the park, and/or lose your season pass. Don't risk yourself or others. Please.

Whoa. Where did you store the time machine?

That was there for part of last year. My issue is that at some points last year, you could not order your food and drinks at the same time. You had to go through the food line to order your food only, then get in the drink line to get your drinks separately. I hope they're not doing that again. It's fine to have an express drink-only line, but drinks should be available at the food line also so you don't have to wait through two lines.

Visa and MasterCard both charge the credit card company a 1% fee to perform a currency conversion. Most credit card companies pass this fee on to the cardholder. Notably, Capital One does not pass the fee on; they just eat the fee instead. Check your cardholder agreement for details (look for a section titled "Foreign Transactions" or something similar). If paying through PayPal, who performs the currency conversion is dependent on your payment source. If you pay with a credit card through PayPal, you have the option to have PayPal perform the conversion and charge your card in U.S. dollars (which is the default), or charge your card in the foreign currency and let your credit card company do the conversion. However, PayPal's conversion fee is 3%, which is quite high. You're likely to be better off telling it to let your credit card company do the conversion. On the other hand, if you use PayPal to pay with your bank account or PayPal balance, you must let PayPal do the conversion. Also note that if you have a non-zero balance on PayPal, PayPal will force you to use up that entire balance before it will allow any other source to be used. If you don't want that (e.g. because of currency conversion fees), the only way to avoid it is to withdraw the entire balance to your bank account prior to purchasing anything.

I rode Congo Falls yesterday evening around 6pm. It actually was warm enough that the cool water felt good. Not at all. I got to the park today at 2:30, by which time the rain had stopped. There were a couple of sprinkles after that, but it was mostly dry all afternoon and evening. And everything was walk-ons or station/stair waits. Excellent day to be at the park!

Beast station right now:

If you want the ranch cotton candy, get it tonight or tomorrow. Flavors will rotate weekly.

Zephyr has all new black seats. Also there's a new game across from Coney Bar B Que: Object is to land the token on the plate. $1 buys four tokens.

And I completely understand that it's usually not the front-line associates' fault. Rather, I have said time and time again on KIC that the problems with food service are management's fault. Management in food service has created an environment for their subordinates where the associates cannot enjoy their job, and when a person cannot enjoy their job, you get issues like what you mentioned. You touched on this in this response: "long hours" and "long lines". Both of those are management's fault. If they can create an environment where associates feel valued and are able to enjoy their jobs, then service will improve, then the reputation of food service will improve, then it will be easier to find people willing to work in food service, then understaffing will be less of an issue, then lines will be shorter, then there will be fewer rude guests, then the associates will enjoy their job even more, then the reputation of food service will improve even more, then it will be even easier to find people willing to work in food service, and so on. It's a cycle that has to start with management. Or management can continue to do what they're doing and work their few associates to the point that they can't enjoy their jobs. In that case, service will continue to be poor, so the reputation will continue to be poor, so it will continue to be difficult to find people willing to work in food service, so understaffing will continue to be an issue, so lines will continue to be long, so guests will continue to be frustrated, so associates will be even more unable to enjoy their jobs, so the reputation of food service will continue to go down, so it will be even more difficult to find people to work in food service, and so on. Either way, management creates the cycle.

Well, the message that *I* am sending the park is that the amount of money they get from me in food service is directly proportional to how much they give a **** about their customers. And that includes all the things you mentioned plus quality of service. I'm tired of the park trying to lock me in to this dining plan when I can leave the park, drive to a nearby restaurant, get better quality food at lower prices with better service, and drive back to the park, and often lose less time out of my day that way than I would have waiting in the ridiculously long lines inside the park. No thanks. Do they think I'm stupid?

And this is exactly why I stopped buying the dining plan. Wake up, sheeple.

Five "B"s... and Sam. Why Sam? Why not another "B" name?

Looks like it's time for this year's reminder that amusement rides go down for various reasons all the time, and usually are back up and operating within a short time. As such, routine ride closures need not and should not be reported. Generally speaking, although we post individual ride wait times in this thread, those individual times aren't usually what most people care about. They are only a means to an end, that end being a gauge of how crowded the park is in general, and thus helping someone determine whether a quick afternoon/evening visit to the park is worth the trip. This is why posting routine ride closures is pointless: because they are useless for determining crowd levels.

Which is why I do not intend to eat in the park Friday evening. If I go Saturday, I may very well not eat all day and just survive on the Frisch's breakfast and McDonald's or Waffle House after I leave. I'll probably give it until at least May before I seriously consider eating in the park. Past seasons have turned me into a pessimist on food service at Kings Island. I know it's going to be bad, so why bother trying?

As @silver2005 explained, that's actually a very accurate analogy to what really happened. Please read the indictment all the way through before jumping to conclusions. There is a ton of eye-opening stuff in that document.

If you get far enough into the checkout process, it will show you what the processing fee is before you actually initiate the payment (it would be illegal not to). I think it's a flat fee per transaction, but I'm not sure on that.

When you visit the park to switch your Gold Pass card for a Platinum card, then two hours later on your way home, drive down Kings Island Drive again and get excited over seeing Delirium running. Six more days!

I'd guess they won't let people in until 5. The purpose of letting people in 30 minutes early is to allow access to Gold Pass ERT, but on Friday, the whole night is Gold Pass ERT. So I don't see why they would open the gates a half hour early that night. But parking lot gates at 4 is a reasonable guess.