disco2000

Thanks! And I am glad it made you laugh. And you know the answer to that LOL....it is still showing on the website LOL

I am genuinely curious as well, so let's go there! I think the whole PR/digital media landscape within CF is changing. It is just when I see similarities across the chain in that space, it does make me wonder if it is more corporate driven than park personnel driven. Sure Tony Clark may be a little more active, but I think that is more to do with their setup compared to ours. In fact, I have always questioned if having a separate PR person and digital media person was causing internal "turf wars" or conflicts and finger pointing and should they be one in the same person as it was prior? Sadly I have seen that happen when a role is split in two. It takes a couple people removed from the original setup before it smooths out. I mean as of today, Don still shows on the website as being employed and the write-up says: "Don Helbig serves as Kings Island's area manager, digital marketing. An experienced storyteller, Don manages the content for the park's website, mobile app, blog, and social media." So when Don and Chad were both there - who really was responsible for answering questions on social media and writing the blog? Based on that write-up I think most would think that would have fallen under Don and not Chad? Look at the KI blogs. I just went back to beginning of 2022 and Don did the overwhelming majority of them. Kyle and Chad did 7 of them, John Keeter did 5 of them, and then a few one-offs by some others, but Don did the majority. Aren't the blogs where storytelling is done? Who knows who does them now. Credit is simply given to Kings Island and not by a person's name. And then you look at the job posting for Don's old job and look at several of the responsibilities, if I were interviewing for the position, I would ask how is this not a conflict with the director of communications role. Some of the manager, digital marketing roles include: Coordinates crisis communication efforts.... including the development of consumer responses/statements, posting on social media outlets, and answering guest questions/comments on social platforms where appropriate. Assists PR team with media and guest inquiries. Assists as directed by the Director of Communications for programs such as, but not limited to: media and public relations support and commercial/advertising production projects. So I read this and wonder who's job is it really to be interacting to questions posted on social media and interacting with the guests. It sure reads like it is this person rather than the PR person. It just seems like there isn't a clearly defined line separating the two roles and issues will inevitably happen. Now would have been the time to clean the job duties up and make clear delineation on what each role was, but it doesn't appear they did. But we also don't know the official job duties of the position when Don had it - maybe when he left they changed the description to what it is now, so.... Maybe the Director of Communications role isn't to deal with us guests LOL It would be interesting to see the job responsibilities for the Director of Communications and compare and see how many conflicts there are with the two positions. Maybe it would be better if they were one combined and one person? Especially if the line between the two positions are as intertwined as they are. Reading that job description for Don's old job, it looks like the manager, digital marketing does all the work now and the director of communications is simply to be the face of the park to the media? Taking selfies with guests is just a bonus

It is easy to be an armchair quarterback LOL.... If you can do it better, then prove it. Look, I am not friends with Don or Chad and haven't got a selfie with either one LOL, so I don't really care who the PR person is here or anywhere else I visit. I don't let that define what parks I visit or let it interfere with my enjoyment of a park. I visit a park for other reasons. Apparently you do. Don is a friend of yours. I get that and you are defending him. Good for you. But the constant bashing of who is in the role now is wearing thin and probably to your detriment... I try to look at things objectively. Here is my observation. We have no idea what performance metrics or restraints are put on Chad, or were put on Don. Don wasn't exactly ripping out blogs frequently when it was his role either - once, maybe twice per month. But look how much and frequently he blogs now on his other endeavors. Maybe CF handcuffed him in his role. Don is a storyteller at heart, and I think he would have made it a priority if he were allowed to at KI. Look around the chain in terms of PR and digital media communication. Rarely does any CF park do more frequent blogs than once per month. It wasn't even more frequent when Don was responsible for it. Let's take a look at the most recent blogs from the top CF parks: KIs last blog was 9/20. KDs last blog was 9/27. CPs last blog was 10/8, but the last one prior was 9/19 with a TT2 update. Knotts last blog was 9/18. Carowinds last blog was 9/26. Wonderlands last blog was 9/20. We are about right in the middle of posting about the Haunt event. Further, all Twitter and FB posting frequency seems to be about the same for the other CF parks. Blogs across the chain are rarely at a frequency more than one, maybe two per month. Let's look more at the flagship Cedar Point. Their Haunt event started 9/14 and they didn't blog about it until 10/8. Real timely - almost a month after it started. Meanwhile KI Haunt started 9/22 and KI blogged about it two days prior on 9/20. That seems timely and relevant. All the other CF parks had blogs around the time their Haunt event started. Are you knocking CP comms on the Pointbuzz forum? What about Knotts comms? Wonderland or Carowinds comms? Look at one of the most anticipated industry announcements in recent years and was what to become of TTD - and the communication and PR about that was lacking and most would say a dud... In regards to Chad's response to that question, people are always excited about their new job and have ideas they want to explore and do, but sometimes other facets of the job conflict with that. I never put much stock in these Q&A of people in new positions. They don't know the role yet and can have much higher expectations and ideas than their employer will allow. I have seen that too many times. Brad has made it clear as a site we are moving forward from this.

Can't wait to see what you do with the job when hired

Would probably be options of Skyline and Skyline since Skyline pays to be at the park LOL

Absolutely! And there comes a point when having all your eggs in the passholder basket is detrimental. At some point the sheer number of passholders will have a negative effect on the bottom line and operations. Historically CF has said daily admissions and company outings make up almost 50% of their attendance. I think the number has been less post-covid, but it is still a good chunk. If those disappear, where does a large chunk of their "new" revenue come from? Is it squeezing more dollars out of the existing passholders with all these additional add-ons and one time purchases that keep popping up? Is it going to the extreme and the only entry is with season passes so that they truly have all the money up front and can better allocate the spending?

Unfortunately you know they are right - regardless of the product offered and conditions changing, people keep coming and keep renewing. As long as "new" passes sold every year exceed the number of existing passholders that don't renew, the number of passes sold show an increase and that is good enough for them with their model. Being a regional/local park in close proximity to so many that has a very strong season passholder base, people will renew even if nothing is added because the value is too great, especially now with the meal and drink plans. Where else can you be fed 2 meals a day for roughly 170 days (all summer and weekends in spring, fall and winter) for $130? People spend more than that in a mini quick trip to the grocery every week. Assume something like a lazer tag or putt-putt costs around $10 dollars and you spend an hour there, or a zoo or museum that is roughly $20 and you spend two hours there, the value to the consumer is $10/entertainment hour. And one will probably buy food or drink as well. For a daily admission to KI the cost/hour for entertainment is $3.5/hour, based on a daily admission that is $42 for 12 hours of entertainment (say a 10am to 10pm open to close), and the cost/hour of entertainment value is even less for a pass holder – far less. As it relates to Halloween, depending on the day, Dent Schoolhouse will be around $30 and Land of Illusion is around $60 for a daily or $100 for a Haunt season pass. On a cost/hr basis, KI beats that and offers more. Now it terms of scares and experiences during Halloween, the others will be better, but that apparently isn't the audience KI is marketing either.... Simply put, the cost/hour of entertainment value is a fraction of almost any other entertainment venue. The chain knows this. That is their model. Of course if enough time went by with no new additions and the park started to look run-down and not being kept up, then yeah they will start to see a decline in pass renewals. Unfortunately I think it would take about 10 years of absolutely nothing being added before an appreciable attendance drop would occur. Unfortunately, warts and all, KI is still an incredible value and hard to beat on cost/hr of entertainment value. As an example, people spend 4 times the amount of a gold pass per month for the privilege to belong to country club. Heck some swim clubs monthly dues are the price of a gold pass. So why spend on marketing and improvements other than some bare minimum? Until people speak with their wallets and take their discretionary spending elsewhere, the park has no incentive to do more than is necessary. They will still pull their 3.2million guests plus/minus 100,000 or so.

Contrary to popular belief, but Don hasn't been the "PR person" AKA comms director since late 2017 when they hired Chad Showalter and Don moved over to the position of Area Manager, Digital Marketing. We even had a thread about it when it happened:

The one thing the park is good at is being inconsistent with implementation/enforcement of policies!

Maybe that is operational issues or guest issues causing that but they are allowed to unload/load while moving and you simply haven't experienced it? Or maybe an older design with different manufacturer recommendations.

Wild Mouse at CP move in the station while boarding. At least they have every time I rode. What about Boo Blasters and White Water Canyon and a few other rides at other CF parks...not coasters lol but they do allow it.

Appears it will be getting a new name as Western & Southern backs out of sponsoring. Here is an interesting quote (and cross-threading about marketing dollars and that it isnt always about a tangible number one can tie to ROI that some here are adamant has to be the case LOL): “It’s not really about a return on investment for those title sponsors or expanding your brand reach. What naming rights deals are really about is you’re paying a premium for the perks of entertaining your clients, rewarding your consumers and there’s nothing better than sealing a deal with some courtside seats.” https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/i-team/the-tournament-stays-but-not-the-name-western-southern-steps-down-as-title-sponsor-of-cincinnati-masters

Welcome back! It's been a minute.

And this is exactly why they have the mentality of not having to spend any more on the event - people come regardless...

What if that meant Winterfest started two weeks later? Would that be a crowd pleaser? Would it be worth the investment for a shorter duration?

Bah humbug

Only Starbucks LOL. You think CF would use milk on the drink plan

@ Home store starts in July LOL

For as long as I remember it was as you experienced. If you entered the park any time prior to Haunt and left you had to return to the park before the no entry time. If the language is confusing, well seems to be the norm with Cedar Fair lol. They always figure out a way to make it confusing even though they think it is clear LOL. But yes, according to that screenshot, it is different than what they enforce. Yet the FAQ says something different:

Is it the 4th of July weekend

Scrutinize the quarterly and annual reports. Per caps are up since meal plans were introduced. Really dig into the numbers and you will see F&B has higher revenue with meal plans than pre-meal plans. Sure there are some like you that maybe spend less now, but it is more than offset by other people, along with how they allocate costs and revenue. While 2022 attendance was down 4% (over 1.2 million less guests) compared to pre-covid 2019, full year 2022 revenue was up 23% compared to pre-covid 2019. That is meal plans, buying snacks, other pass add-ons, t-shirts, etc.

Food prices have always been high at KI, or most amusement parks in general. It is generally cheaper to get comparable food outside of the park. People are paying for the convenience of not having to leave. And supply and demand comes into play as well. If they offered up "fair" or "reasonable" prices like one could get going thru McDonalds (even though that is getting high too), then the food lines would be crazy long as not enough supply for the demand. People already complain about the long food lines now - imagine if now nobody left the park cause they could get a $1 burger... So by having the prices higher, they can trim the supply and demand need. They know people leave or go their car to eat, but they run the numbers and the costs to provide enough food places to keep everyone in the park exceeds the return. Plus, if X number leave the park at any given time to eat in the lot or go down the street, that lessens the demand of everything in the park as well. I am sure they make more money on the meal plans than anyone can imagine....

At least they aren't blaming it on a certain person

Just a little windy LOL. Like you could literally see the fog completely dissipate within feet of leaving the machine.

Well they made it thru the regular season without lots of complaints of the closures...