disco2000

See my post immediately before your post and soon I can say enjoy THIS cast...

True and maybe we will all be surprised once the road construction is complete, but the bottlenecks I identified for the most part will still be there once construction is complete (So basically what was 3 lanes on Kings Island Drive into KI old south entrance has been reduced to what I call one and a half lol. Further complicating it is with the old entrance, you were traveling in the direction of the toll, whereas you could see ahead of you that the tolls opened up more lanes and and cars would spread out. When not busy you could approach the tolls at speed limit. With the new toll, you have to essentially make a 180 degree turn and head back south to get to the new toll once you turn off KI Drive. This slows people down more than the old entrance so traffic slows on KI Drive even with modest to light entry into the park that didn't exist prior. Further complicating it is that you have to go over a hill once you turn in to KI and you do not see the toll booth and the many tolls until you have gone a good way into the entrance. So the line is bottlenecked coming off KI Drive. Yes there are 13 tolls and multiple lanes, but folks don't know it and cant see it for a while so the bottleneck really constricts the flow. And the flashing signs saying passholder entrance/etc. are too small and folks were constantly being in the wrong lane and when it is all bundled up, it is tough to switch lanes.) And certainly the park coordinated their new entrance with the City and the road construction and yes I think that some additional thought should have been put into the traffic patterns, both inside and outside the park. I believe the new entrance will be problematic long after the road construction is complete. We used to have 3 lanes that made maybe a 30 degree entrance into the park and now it has been replaced with two lanes requiring a 180 degree turn to get into toll and that will not change once construction is complete. And as I have mentioned previously, if they would have shut Kings Island Drive down to through traffic during the offseason, they could have had the roadwork completed before the park opened. Yes some locals would have had detours during the offseason, but the traffic counts when the park is open far exceeds the traffic counts of KI Drive during the offseason.

Decided to give the 11am try again at Tower to observe traffic flow - same results as previously reported Now in addition to the FB slams about the crazy long food lines being longer than ride lines, folks are now venting about the new traffic pattern and how much longer it now takes to enter the park and that yes, the problem they hoped to correct of backing up traffic onto the I-71 off-ramp still happens and actually appears worse than years past observations. For those that like to Putz out of the park around 11am, you may want to Putz on out the north exit as the south exit is essentially coned off now that Soak City is opened and well yes, the traffic pattern to head to Soak City is in direct competition with the south exit (problem didn't exist with the old south entrance). I saw a few move a cone to leave from south exit but I am sure security will end up needing to be at this location during peak Soak City entrance times now.

and now I can say enjoy THIS cast. and soon I can say enjoy THIS cast. and soon I can say enjoy THIS cast. and soon I can say enjoy THIS cast. and soon I can say enjoy THIS cast. and soon I can say enjoy THIS cast. and soon I can say enjoy THIS cast. See if you can interpret THIS

Well the clown coming out on the tri-cycle at KD without the Trevor bike act before it doesn't make any sense lol. I disagree with above regarding tramp wall. I think the tramp wall was better than the act KD had to replace it. The tramp wall is what made our version I believe superior than the version that was at Canada prior to KI and what was at KD. I have seen lots of tramp wall acts and what we had was awesome and superior. The two-wall segment just really isn't seen elsewhere. Lot's of acts have had a tramp wall similar to what we have in Origins. Personally I think our version of Imagine was superior in every act.

Sometimes not having documentation is better than having documentation You did a fabulous job, but the people surrounding me kept trying to video the show, so the ushers were on-top of them, so I was not pulling my phone out for a photo. But the person I saw pulled up didn't look middle-aged but more like a 20-something! Enjoy THIS cast while we have them...

I agree, it should improve once the road is complete, but I think it will still be more problematic than the old entrance/exit. I noticed a few more observations (secrets) that I don't wanna share so that I can take advantage of them And yes, it was fairly obvious from the tower that you get in the far right lane after the toll and move right on in to a close spot.

True his questions have been responded to! Selective posed a situation/question about food being placed on an app and it was answered/rebutted. Selective posed another situation/question about dietary restrictions and claiming it was law too and it was answered/rebutted. Selective posed another situation/question about pizza boxes and FestHaus being quick and efficient and food options that don't even exist anymore and it was answered/rebutted. Selective posed another situation/question about discrimination and it was answered/rebutted. Selective posed another situation/question about attendance going down and it was answered/rebutted. Selective posed another situation about eliminating water fountains and it was answered/rebutted. Selective then says posters are not answering him or taking him seriously. Nobody is teasing you. We answered your questions and ended each response with it has been 3 years since you have visited KI and things have changed and changed drastically. I mentioned I thought you were trolling because you constantly were bringing up situations that were at least 3 years old and do not reflect current practice at KI. When you mentioned the discrimination part, that is when I called you out for trolling because what does that have to do with Food Service Ideas. It seemed to me you were not getting the invoking response you wanted, so you kept going. Your concern and interest is valid and I would love to see them implement your suggestion on the App but as has been pointed out, they do not seem to care about food service. It would be great if they had dietary and allergy information available on an app, along with menus, and which ones are open on the app. But the app cannot even get your number of visits correct, have reliable ride times, and says that there were no Origins shows today (which there were). They have a lot of other issues with the app that need to be fixed before I see them doing the food thing, even though that would be easy because the menus rarely change.

I made this statement back on April 17th. Gave it over a month to see if people got used to the new pattern. So I went to Tower today at 11am to observe traffic patterns. Granted it is a one time observation and construction is still on-going, but my predictions rang true. Traffic still backed up to interstate. It is controlled by the light at Western Row. And at 11am, the backup was all the way from the new entrance to the interstate. It was a one-lane backup. During my observation, the majority of people know the far right lane is a turn only lane into KI. The second available lane was mainly being used by those going straight although quite a few were using it to turn into KI. So basically what was 3 lanes on Kings Island Drive into KI old south entrance has been reduced to what I call one and a half lol. Further complicating it is with the old entrance, you were traveling in the direction of the toll, whereas you could see ahead of you that the tolls opened up more lanes and and cars would spread out. When not busy you could approach the tolls at speed limit. With the new toll, you have to essentially make a 180 turn and head back south to get to the new toll once you turn off KI Drive. This slows people down more than the old entrance. Further complicating it is that you have to go over a hill once you turn in KI and you do not see the toll booth and the many tolls until you have gone a good way into the entrance. So the line is bottlenecked coming off KI Drive. Yes there are 13 tolls and multiple lanes, but folks don't know it and cant see it for a while so the bottleneck really constricts the flow. And the flashing signs saying passholder entrance/etc. are too small and folks were constantly being in the wrong lane and when it is all bundled up, it is tough to switch lanes. Even from tower it was obvious which ones were pass holders because they would drive past the bottleneck as soon as the lanes opened to 4. I hope once construction is complete and once people get used to it that it will improve. But I think the reconfiguration will always be more problematic than the old entrance/exit. I think an expanded south entrance would have been a better solution.

^yes they do show how many bottles have been saved!

And water fountains have been increased in recent years, many with a touchless water bottle refill to encourage you to bring an empty bottle to fill. You have clearly identified that it has been 3 years since you have been at the park. Your data point of reference is no longer valid and comments are not helpful to this topic. I think you are simply trolling at this point...

^and the cardboard pizza boxes are available. Many families of 4 will use said meal plans at I-Street LaRosa's at close to take home a whole pizza and 8 breadsticks in said cardboard box. FestHaus is now consistently the slowest line in the whole park. Terp is trying nice to tell you that what you experienced 3 years ago since you last visited the park has got worse. Much worse. Visit park and see for yourself.

By law, if a customer/guest asks for such information, then the place of business must provide all allergy information, or they can be sued. It's only after they provide all allergy information, that they would no longer be liable. But almost every place (not within KI but in general) that provides the information has a disclaimer that they cannot guarantee and are not responsible for cross contamination issues and the risk is on the eater. Then eater can decide based on information provided and apparent knowledge or lack thereof whether to eat there. KI on the other hand doesn't understand the issues of folks with allergies. Go to guest services and they give you handouts of some stuff that is basically useless. You ask a question and they tell you to ask a manager at the specific food place. Try to find a manager lol at the food place and if you do they have no idea if the fries are in a dedicated fryer or what oil is used. Ask about cross-contamination potential and you get a blank stare. They cannot tell you the ingredients of a bun. I could go on and on. Went into Reds Hall of Fame Grill and asked for manager. Asked for ingredients and what was in the bun and how fries were made. Was handed a menu. Really! Talked to the Executive Chef of park about allergies - he said PotatoWorks is their gluten free and allergy free location. Asked what about people with peanut allergy and blank stare. For those that don't know, PotatoWorks uses peanut oil. I frequent parks with folks with food allergies. Dollywood gets it. Cedar Point gets it. Wonderland gets it. Carowinds gets it. Disney gets it. KI doesn't. I use my meal plan and my friend goes to parking lot or a restaurant down the street that gets it. As Terp says, they don't care. They have your money. They are understaffed. They close early. So they lose a few people to go outside the park because of allergies or the long lines. They don't care. They are still making money or they would care. Email KI ahead of visit about food allergies and never get a response. Email Cedar Point and a response is usually provided within a day. Cedar Point asks you to check back day before visit and Cedar Point asks you to give them every opportunity to try to prepare a safe meal before deciding to leave. That is a difference. A big difference. Same Owner.

Crowds and lines were minimal for a Saturday. I would expect much lower crowd numbers than KI anticipated/hoped for.

None of the performers are from last year...subject to change that may happen...or may not...interpret as you feel...but at some point you may recognize someone from season 1 of imagine.... Show times and off day are same as last year. Off Tuesday and 3, 5, 7 remaining days except Saturday as noted above

^spoiler above does a great job of explaining and expanding on the differences between the two shows and really hits to the "hard to explain" component of my post. Well done!

It was a shame a lot of food places and refill stations were not open on a holiday Friday with free entry for military active and veterans. Food lines were crazy today, albeit better than opening weekend. And like others with the dining plan, I actually left the park to go eat somewhere else because of the long lines. First time I have done that as a dining plan holder. However, I did eat lunch at the park and a shout out to Will at drinks at Rivertown LaRosa's - he was specifically calling folks out that skipped the line through the exit for the drink only and wouldn't serve them. Most were ticked and expressed frustration, but that was met with a "yes" from those in line with food in hand stuck because of a large group that came through the exit for just a drink. Food service speed suffers when this happens. I know there are some on this forum that don't see it as a big deal, yet they complain about food service. Spend some time in one of these places and watch the line stall when a group comes in through exit or skips past people getting food. It does create a bottleneck and slows the overall line down. Maybe if they had more cashiers this wouldn't be a problem. But when the line is progressing well and someone gets their food, then gets drink (either refill or water) and proceeds to cashier it flows, but when a group bypasses the food either cutting past people or through the exit, it now restricts and halts the line and now instead of 1 or 2 waiting at cashier, it is now 6-8 people.

It was a good show that will become great as the season goes on. This is the first time this has been shown and was specifically developed for KI. Some of it worked and I think the parts that were a little rough will be modified and/or get better now that they have an audience to perform for. Certainly different than Cirque Imagine and hard to really compare the two. Personally I think Cirque Imagine was better (well I liked it better), but this is no slouch and I will be seeing it again and maybe my opinion on which I like better will change as the season goes on. And definitely awesome that CF invests in bringing in this type of talent. Although I liked Imagine better, Origins does show how Haut Vol has grown and expanded and matured, if that makes any sense. Hard to explain.

^The other LaRosa's locations in the park need to follow that model then! Obviously I am not in those places the entire time, but in the times I have been in, the line stalled when someone ordered a whole pizza.

^Yea in that scenario I am ok with someone (notice one) going around if they stood in line and when it got to the point of get food and/or drink and you only were getting a drink, yea you will be long gone before I make it to cashier. The problem is the group that comes through the exit or someone that comes through the entrance and skips past everyone in line just to fill a drink and then almost everyone in line just for a drink decides to do same thing. Last year this happened every time I went to Chicken Shack - maybe I just have bad luck lol, but a group would come through the exit just for drinks just as I was getting my plate handed to me, so I forego getting a drink and bypassed them and went to cashier. When cashier would try to upsell the cup - you know the line - "Would you like to buy a souvenir cup and save money on drinks?" I would simply reply that until KI gets this line jumping of drinks controlled why would I want to stand even longer in a line to now fill up a cup behind 6-8 people that came through the exit simply to fill drinks.

True - the whole pizza order is a puzzler - like why not have that person/group continue down the line and get drinks and pay and then hand them the pizza in a box at the end. That way the line keeps moving. I mean there are times I have ordered fries at Skyline and they were out and the worker simply told me to continue down the line and they would bring the fries out to me instead of bringing the line to a halt. That has happened several times. If only one side of LaRosa's is open, it is easy for said person to step aside, but when both sides are open, that person standing there creates quite a bottleneck.

So I have been doing an unofficial study lol and this week the majority (90%) of folks I have seen smoking in non-designated areas also are carrying around orange drink cups. Presumably these folks would also be pass holders to have purchased a season long drink cup. Obviously they have been going to the park and should know better - it is observations like this by management that could lead to a park-wide ban on smoking - I mean if frequent visitors disobey it is reasonable to assume the one time visitor may be even more likely to disobey. Last year my unofficial study showed more violators had FastLane passes so they obviously felt they paid for the right to smoke wherever they felt. Your observations may vary...

^ I agree - I don't know what the "cut off" should be - going through the exit should be serious no-no. But is bypassing 10 people standing in line appropriate just to get to drinks - what if some of the people standing in line are in line just for a drink? That is usually how the big pile up at the drink station occurs. Someone standing in line witnesses someone go past them and directly to drinks and next thing you know almost everyone in line just for a drink refill follows, thus the big pile up KI should really promote the drink station when people purchase the cups - "please refill at drink station if you are only getting a refill and leave the food stands for those purchasing food". Of course, if KI is selling these cups, then they should have the refill stations open everyday. Hopefully this becomes less and less of an issue as people realize and use the refill stations.

^I hope that would speed up the process, but if the FunPix self-serve kiosks are any indication, it will be faster going to a person. For those not aware of what I am referring to - when you get off the ride, the photo operator can immediately pull up your picture and scan your FunPix. If you go to the self-serve, it takes minutes (could be 2 could be 10) before your photo pops up. I have had more than one worker say to me "just give me your card, I can add it to your account before it even shows up at the kiosk".

Ironic that your tag line is "You don't butt in line" as that is really what said person has done. Is it ok to let someone line jump a ride line cause they say they want the back row and you want the front row? Now if I am at Chicken Shack and my salad is being made and the 1 person behind me asks me politely "do you mind a go around I just have a drink" maybe then. But what if I am just getting a meal and not getting a drink and said person jumped in front of me and is now at cashier getting drink paid for or scanned when I could have been the person at the cashier checking out - now what happens when 8 people jump the food line just to fill a drink. Now I am waiting for 8 people to finish at cashier - and this happened to me ALOT last year. There is a reason the food places have a sign that says "place order here" and "pick up order here" or an entry and an exit. KI is making good strides at preventing this as I posted in another thread. Adding queue lines to I-Street LaRosa's makes it a lot harder for a drink refiller to jump the line. Chicken Shack keeps exit locked from outside entry and stops a lot of what was happening and re-configured the queue line to make it harder to bypass. The drink stations should help as well, as long as they are open and people use them.