disco2000

As others have mentioned and shared their recollections, I too really liked the park under the early years of Paramount (before the Viacom, CBS, etc. acquisitions). Being a movie lover, it never got old walking through the Top Gun line, and Face/Off, Italian Job, Days of Thunder, Tomb Raider and Drop Zone were great names for those rides. The stuff they showed in Paramount Theatre was awesome, and the Paramount Story garden area place was neat to walk through. I know at least for me, their acquisition paid off - I saw a lot more movies during that time frame. I know some were not fans of the "commercialization" of the park and rides, but to me, since I enjoyed movies, having the theming of the ride being movie related was great - much better than the non-theme rides prior. Were they Disney caliber, no, but the right amount of theming for this type of park. I enjoyed seeing the movie posters, the movie characters walking around, and of course the movie set exhibits they brought in. I enjoyed the Titanic exhibit at Kings Island better than one's I have visited elsewhere. I did always wonder though being such a large season pass park, if all the Star Trek characters walking around didn't have the same appeal as it would in a destination park, but I guess to those that only visited the park once or twice, that would be great to see. Bottom line is this. We live in a society where it is so easy to complain about every little thing. I am far from perfect and complain about stuff as well (rarely enough to elevate it to PR or guest relations) and am trying to do better in just being accepting that change happens, for if it didn't, the fate of the park would eventually turn to being out of business. As much as people hate change, the reality is, if an amusement park stayed the same and never made additions or changes, folks would eventually stop visiting. My advice for folks over say 30 years old, re-live in your mind thinking about the "good ole days" and feeling nostalgic when you see a video from the Paramount days. In some ways, I think life was simpler then - forums and Facebook for people to post criticism or point out negative things didn't exist. For example, I know line jumping and other things people point out happening now was happening then too, but I just didn't let it bother me or ruin my day. My advice for folks say under 30 years old or so, simply enjoy the park, savor the moments you share with friends and family, and just create great, long-lasting positive memories. One day, these years will be looked back by you as the "good ole days", so make them memorable in a good way! The joy is you will have the ability to create entirely new memories as you get married, have children, and share the park with them and reminisce about what the park was like when you were their age. Try not to get caught up in all the negative stuff folks say about the park either on this forum or on the Facebook page. I know there are times that I consider taking a break from the forum just so that all the line-jumping and Fast Lane haters comments don't enter my mind when I am at the park. Personally I am not a Fast Lane fan and I feel like if I used it, I would be missing out on some of the things that made the park great to me growing up. Some of my best experiences at the park have been when I didn't ride a single ride, and other great experiences have been standing in the long lines with friends and just really getting to talk, or meeting new friends by virtue of simply standing in line and starting a conversation. Done with my Jerry Maquire moment (oops wrong movie studio)....carry on..

Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, unfortunately I see this great program having the same fate as Fun Perks. Also, I thought TOS indicates that if you cannot provide an employee's name to information that you are posting, then you shouldn't post it? So unless that employee's name was Guest Services, you shouldn't have posted it (that they said it was acceptable to share)? Then later same poster is either speaking in third person or then indicated that this information was actually heresay told to another member of this forum? (Sorry for rant - someone once criticized me for posting something that a person in Guest Services told me, but I didn't catch a name).

I wonder if the Fast Lane purchasers will be offered entry into this ERT as well?

Saying we have Banshee simply because of Fast Lane may not be correct - what about all the previous rides installed before Fast Lane came into existence - was this just a farm field with tractors and horses to ride until Fast Lane came into existence? It may have been a farm prior to Kings Island, but since it's inception, it has periodically made improvements to keep it relevant and encouraging folks to visit - they had the award winning Planet Snoopy, The Beast, Vortex, Drop Tower, etc. etc. all built before Fast Lane. Heck, Diamondback, adjusted for inflation, is comparable to Banshee spending and Fast Lane did not exist at that time. We will never know for sure what the money goes to - one can assume it is rides, but it could be bonuses to execs, paying down debt, minimum wage adjustments, additional staffing, or any variety of things. It could even be used to help keep daily entry and season passes at the prices they are now! Unless you have seen the accounting books to know for sure that Banshee would not exist without Fast Lane, it is simply speculation as to what the funds generated really go to. Parks have to make these investments periodically to keep them relevant and I think Banshee would exist with or without Fast Lane money.

The saying goes something like it only takes one person to make change happen - maybe this thread will be the one that re-aligns the moral and ethical compass of those who got out of alignment. What a great story Avatar - so many people don't realize the consequence of a simple mistake like accidentally being given back too much change. As Terp pointed out - folks are quick to make a scene and point out if McDonald's shorts them some food, but get an extra Big Mac or a $10 instead of a $1 in change and these same folks can't get out of the parking lot fast enough!

I like the bar code idea - that would slow Fast Lane down tremendously! Anyone ride the train at the zoo - they scan every pass and it takes some time to board. Unfortunately, I do not see Cedar Fair at the moment spending any more than they have to in order to accept the cash cow from Fast Lane. Heck, on several occasions, I have witnessed employers not even looking or acknowledging if someone indeed had a wrist-band. I watched The Beast employee just motion folks right in and I watched his eyes - they never left head level as he was simply counting folks he was letting through. I saw several go through with no wrist-band. Watched this for a good 20min+ as I saw 2 regular line get through with the rest Fast Lane during every cycle, thus preventing me from riding before the nightly stoppage for the fireworks. I do agree with malem - this thread should be avoided/disappear as it is giving folks ideas on how to re-use the wrist-bands (copy cat villians if you will). Someone wasn't smart enough to think about using tape to piece it back together, but now from an above post, they now do.

Make the individual meal price high enough and you drive the day-long meal plan participation, and to some extent the season long meal plan for passholders, which may be the intent - overall they make more money because some will be set against purchasing the daily meal plan and will thus pay more after two meals than if they bought the plan.

Rumor was once upon a time that due to electrical demands, Flight of Fear couldn't launch at the same time as Drop Zone was in motion and they had a phone between the two rides where the FoF op would call for clearance to launch. Rumor was also that was fixed with a dual electric feed into the park. If the rumor is true, maybe similar issues with Banshee and Drop Tower. Again probably no truth to rumor, but I seem to recall that one once upon a time...

To add to your gripes of ride ops not doing anything about camera's on the ride, we had a ride-op get on the speaker on the way up the lift hill with their spiel (indicating they see the offender), said offender keeps recording, ride keeps going. Nothing done to him after ride concludes. Reasons why I couldn't work here or a gas station - I would enforce the rule and then the customer would complain and then I would be out a job. It burns me (and could be literally at some point), the amount of people that jump back into their car while filling up with gas - has anyone seen the videos of what happens. Oh well, I digress from KI. Back to KI - I proceeded to watch the ride op at Beast on Saturday night not take one look at the Fast Lane wrist-bands of a single person he let through. I watched the entire duration we were in the station area queue (over 30 min cause he would let two regular line folks in and the rest were Fast Lane at every loading interval). Not once did his eyes look at a wrist-band. Even when folks would raise their arm up to show him, zero acknowledgement - I don't think he could do two things at once, so instead of confirming they had wrist-bands, he was more concerned about counting how many he was letting through. Saw several with no wrist-band go right through.

Stop it! Posting bogus information like this forces the park to field unnecessary calls, emails, Facebook and Twitter messages. As we have seen from threads elsewhere, we have called out crazy things posted on Facebook. Being a fan site, the general public may believe that what is posted here is correct if they stumble across it in a Google search. Personally I would rather the park field complaints about real issues than have to address rumors.

They were strict this opening weekend on loose articles - to the point that my friend not riding Banshee was not allowed into the line as she was carrying our stuff in a backpack for us. She planned on walking with us through the line and then at the ride just walk through to the exit - wouldn't allow it. Not that I am complaining - they have no idea if she really planned on not riding it, but since we had a non-rider, it didn't make much sense to pay for a locker, so she waited by herself while we rode. If enforcing this policy ultimately results in faster dispatch times, we need it to make up for the time lost on Fast Lane users

That is true. There is nothing wrong with selling your first rider shirt. There IS something wrong with selling your first rider shirts. For those that missed my follow-up, I clarified it in the original post that the issue are those that acquired multiple shirts simply for the fact of then selling them. I do not believe the intent of Cedar Fair is to allow one individual to collect multiple "first rider" t-shirts and allow such person to then sell the excess on ebay. Now to the defense of these Fast Lane folks that did that, I am assuming (and I don't recall seeing) that nowhere did it stipulate it was one shirt per person - if there was such a statement (as opposed to implied), then they should go after them. Folks like this why we see so many rules, stipulations, and cautions on things like coffee cups from fast food establishments, etc. People throw common sense and simply good ethical and moral decisions out the window all for the sake of scamming a buck or two or millions. Folks like this are why Fun Perks disappeared and why I am sure the season long dining plan will be abused and will disappear as well. It only takes a few abusers to ruin it for us all. So how does that affect us, the enthusiast? Well, if too many media day give-aways show up on ebay, as well as an individual selling multiple first rider shirts, well then parks may decide to not give away those things. Of course they would probably have media day, but would greatly tighten who can attend - and I would bet that coaster clubs and the like would be limited to officers of the organization and not just any member. It is nice that they do first rider shirts and it would be a shame if future give-aways disappear because of abuse of the system.

The answer may change as they continue to refine the system, but when I bought mine yesterday, they said you get 2 meals and had to be a 2 hour wait between them for the season long dining plan. Oh yea, and no surprise here, like Fun Perks, this is being tested at Kings Island only this year to figure out if it makes sense (or cents) and to work out the issues before going chain-wide. If it has the issues of Fun Perks, expect that this will be the only year we see it!

I mean... they own the shirts. They never signed an agreement not to sell them, and Kings Island never said they couldn't. Heck, I don't think Kings Island ever even said that it would be one per customer (though I may be wrong). Being that they own the shirts, they have the right to try and sell them. Basic economics will say that if people object to the idea of them being sold, nobody will buy them. Evidently, that has not been the case. I have a Media Day shirt, and I assume there are a lot less of those out there. I probably COULD sell it if I wanted to for a quick buck. But I enjoy having it, and as far as I'm concerned, I rode the ride before any of those 5,000 "first rider" shirts were given out. I have the REAL "First Rider" shirt. On a side note, I wore it on opening day and someone in line for Diamondback commented that the colors on it look girly. So I just kept my cool and informed him that he may be right, but I had lots of fun screaming like a little girl on all six of my rides on Banshee before it was even open to him. That shut him up real quick. OK - for clarification, I meant to say those with Fast Lane that took multiple shirts. Hey, if you waited 4 hours and wanted to sell your shirt, that is fine. But to buy a Fast Lane simply to be able to get 6 shirts and then sell them is wrong, but I assume there probably is no mention anywhere that says one shirt per person, so I guess they get away with it. But that is life, which can be very unfair sometimes.

The plan is still being worked out, but what I was told in Guest Relations was that the plan ended with the regular season calendar (Labor Day weekend) and is not good for Haunt. They also said that drinks are not included because the souvenir cup deal is a better value (ie they are pushing that upsell heavily). I think what will make it confusing for a while for those in food is that now KI offers these meal deals with a drink, so some on here may get an offered drink for the early part of the season. At the Chicken Shack, the workers at the time I was there knew for a fact the drink wasn't included. What is strange is you do have to tell the cashier that you have the meal plan, at least on my experience, because when it was used it came up with a price. When I explained I had the meal plan, they had to void that sale and ring it up differently.

Would be nice if KI would find out who the sellers are (of those selling that had Fast Lane simply to acquire multiple shirts to sell on ebay) and if they have a season pass, revoke it and ban them. But I doubt that would happen.

I can't get the link to show, but studies have shown that air dryers are unsanitary (do a search). Estimates are it puts a 250%+ increase in germs on your hands - guess where that air is coming from - you guessed it the restroom. These filters are usually never or very infrequently changed. In some states, Universities have been required to remove such air dryers after flu outbreaks occurred and were tied back to those that used restrooms with these air dryers pumping flu onto their hands.

just be glad we live in a country where we are given freedom of speech and the right to question - in many countries, a lot of posts throughout this forum (not just this topic) would be under continuous censorship and would never see the light of day; public flogging of those with posts deemed questionable; and perhaps death in other parts of the world. Personally, I try not to worry about things outside of my control (but even that is tough to do). For every show-whale SeaWorld has, how many other whales and animals have been rescued and given proper care to then reenter nature - maybe show-whales is a small price to pay for the overall good being provided to countless other wild animals that were injured and brought back to health and then returned to the wild. Same with zoos. Being an animal trainer is dangerous. So is being a firefighter, police officer, or astronaut - should we eliminate those jobs as well because people have been killed in those jobs? Do we really need to risks peoples lives to go into space? The fact of the matter is that things learned in space has made our lives better. The things being learned about animals at SeaWorld and zoos can ultimately save an animal from extinction. Some will find that acceptable, while others will say if they were meant to die off, then we shouldn't interfere. Taking that logic one step further, then we shouldn't be trying to find cures for cancer, AIDS, etc. and we shouldn't allow people to undergo experimental treatment that furthers the science so that perhaps in the future a cure can be found. I will end with if you make the argument that animals shouldn't be displaced from their natural habitat, period, then I think you have some serious soul-searching to do. The native americans probably say the same thing about you and I, so unless you are 100% native American, you should go back to England, Europe, Japan, Africa, Korea, China or whatever country your ancestors came from and return this land back to those that were first here. We will not see many people do that. Not everything humans do is perfect, and unfortunately there have been stumbles along the way, but as long as we grow and learn and make the world a better place and try to learn from mistakes and rectify when possible, that is all we can ask for in a modern society. The alternative is to go back to living off the land with no phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury.

It is most likely eye trickery - I tried to paste a link but it isn't letting me do it, but google "same color illusion" and many examples come up demonstrating this

I would like it to come back as much as some others have posted here, but I suspect Winterfest never brought in a fraction of what Haunt brings in (even adjusted for inflation. And let's face it, a longer operational season is nice for those wanting to enjoy rides. Given the option of having a Kings Island operational season Memorial to Labor day with a Winterfest and no Zoo Festival of Lights, or the "April" to October (and sometimes first or second day into November) Operating calendar of Kings Island with a Zoo Festival of Lights, I choose the latter (and the zoo doesn't stink as much in winter ) Given the options that exists today, the economy, and other factors, it would be a near impossible task to pull it off and make money in the process, especially if included with a season pass. Doesn't mean we can't wish it would return though....I have fond memories of it as well...

Yup just get over it. That will fix things.... There is a difference between normal (expectations) and abnormal situations. A coffee kept at 150-160 = normal. A coffee at 180 = abnormal. Coffee being spilled by you in your car = normal, coffee being spilled on you by the drive thru attendent = abnormal. A coaster being a little rough = normal, a coaster causing multiple injuries and possible lifelong debilitating injuries = abnormal... With your thought process, i should know people are bad drivers and if i get hit, just get over it.... I have been hit by 4 "bad drivers" over my driving lifetime - none had insurance - I had to get over it and pay for the repairs to my car damaged by someone else (well my insurance did, but I indirectly paid for it with increased premiums even though it wasn't my fault and the insurance company said the claims didn't cause the premiums to rise (yea right)...

Plus it said it was a 46 year-old employee - and some folks on here complain it is not safe for Kings Island using teenagers to run rides...just saying - sometimes age is just an age.

Nah, they've done this a few times. It's just a way to draw people to the park. Yep - not extra merchandise - the bobbleheads will in all likelihood have the logo of the company sponsoring it (Springdot one week and TWC the other) - just like they had Great Wolf Lodge last time...Simply a way to pull in extra crowds on a low turnout Sunday in October - it was crazy last time - line was soo long...

Too funny considering I typed it on mobile - and along with where this thread seems to be heading - what you may think is too long, don't read may be deemed too short by others to properly convey/understand what is trying to be said. Thanks to Goble for expanding on what I said - I wanted to expand more, but when I filled up the screen, I thought it was enough.

I look at it this way, every person does or enjoys something that someone else thinks is stupid or should "get a life". Whether it be marathon riding a coaster, posting to forums, playing a sport, collecting comic books, spending time on Facebook, or in the case of youngstud, if his physical dimensions are what he says, spending too much time in the gym. The singer Adele has stated that smoking is her single most pleasure in the world and she will not stop, even to the detriment of her voice. What somebody does with their own time is their choice - you may decide to build big muscles and someone else may decide to ride a ride X number of times. The point is, regardless of what the activity is, it obviously takes time and dedication to achieve the goal. Those mentioned about being the king of a certain ride all have led tremendous lives and by no means are losers and certainly do not need to get a life - many of them have experienced things most of us could only dream of. Ask the Diamondback king how many different roller coasters he has rode - you would be amazed and impressed with the number, as well realize that he has been all over to hit that number of different coasters. YoungStud, I would be shocked if you have rode more Intamin coasters than he has. We are all unique - if everyone was the same, it would be a boring place. What floats your boat, may not be of interest to anyone else, but if you enjoy it for whatever reason, as long as the activity isn't illegal, I am not one to criticize it just because I personally wouldn't partake in it. If more people followed their passions and enjoyed life instead of disrespecting and always finding the negative in things, the world would be a better place. I leave you with this, Babe Ruth was known for many years as the home run king; he could have just as easily been known as the strikeout king as he led that stat for many years (haven't followed it in a while to know if anyone else has taken the strikeout king total). Point is, it is all about what you focus on - positive or negative and that will ultimately determine how you live your life. (edited to better convey intent)