disco2000

And that is the thing. If someone buys this thinking it is truly a free pass to get a refund if they don't go and then have to provide doctor notes and mechanic bills and act of God weather events in order to get a refund, people will badmouth KI, not the third party.

Wonder if they will change closing early due to "weather" to what it is "low staffing" as apparently low staffing won't qualify as a refund but weather would

Don't forget about the Bring a Friend Free promotion they did as a last ditch effort to try to bump up Q2 results. Well based on this tweet, KI is fully staffed with a waitlist, so the cuts are not due to staffing issues: Let's do some quick math - remember that in the annual report, they noted that "In 2022, we sold a record 3.2 million season passes and generated more than $450 million in revenues from our suite of season-pass products, including all-season dining and all-season beverage....Operating costs and expenses for 2022 totaled $1.29 billion" So lets assume that each of the 3.2 million passes were all $100, that is $320,000,000 + $450,000,000 in pass add-ons = $770,000,000. So that leaves $520,000,000 that needs to be made up in resort revenue, single day entry, food and drink purchases outside of the season pass add-ons, and merch. Now we know that isn't the case due to Platinum and Prestige Pass prices, so the total revenue from pass sales alone is somewhere between $320,000,000 and $640,000,000 if everyone bought a platinum pass at $200. So that means it is somewhere between $200,000,000 to $520,000,000 that they need to make up in resort revenue, single day entry, company outings, food and drink purchases outside of the season pass add-ons, and merch. As a perspective, last year they made $213,000,000 in out of park revenue, so that further brings down how much they need to generate from the other sources. And this doesn't take into account all of the season passess and add-ons sold this year, so that would bring that number down more. Granted that is still a chunk of change LOL. So if as a chain they are really that far behind on non-season pass related revenue, then maybe it is showing that they cannot sustain the season pass model of operation without significant changes in the model (increase prices to close that gap or decrease prices to sell more passes to decrease that gap). How many of these record number of season passes sold would have instead been a single day entry that would have spent more as a single day guest than they did with their pass? If they are not careful, all these cuts will decrease the number of people purchasing passes for the following year. While it is true that some thought went into which ones to cut to minimize the appearance of cuts and impacts to the guests, those cuts do impact guests and will cause some to not renew - but what is that number and it is less than the savings by the cuts? Even with all the cuts, we will see some discussion here and other social media, but to the majority of the guests, it really won't be an impact. Here will be the typical guest: Shows up to Racer and only one train running - "dang buddy I guess we can't race" and they ride the single train op and have fun and continue about their day not thinking twice about it. Shows up at WindSeeker and not open in morning - "oh I guess they had trouble this morning". Shows up at WindSeeker at 9:05pm - "I guess they have to shut it early for fireworks and drones." Shows up to Planet Snoopy and sees X ride down -"thats okay mommy" and darts off to an operating ride. So end of year the board will be sitting around and be like "look at all the hours we cut and didn't get much pushback" and that is how we see reduced hours next year. Mon-Thurs 8 or 9pm closes with no fireworks those nights is probably on the table. Other parks have gone down that path. Now one could argue maybe that is why revenue is down.... And that is why the Board and CEO get paid the big bucks to play the what-if games.

WindSeeker has been opening at 11am and closing at 9pm as well.

As someone here used to say "they already have your money"...

Don't look now, but there is the return of two coolers capable of providing fruit...maybe tomorrow the return of infused water

You mean how B&M consider them hypers, yet parks market them as "giga" coasters, that really is a name from Intamin LOL

But the media and general public still consider it a coaster LOL https://apnews.com/article/crandon-wisconsin-roller-coaster-trapped-upside-down-42640640cc2e4e7513489efbe396e9a1

It comes down to how much is by gravity and how much is by an accelerator. The more it is going to rely on gravity, the higher it needs to be.

If only a well-known PR person was available in the coming years...

The are allowed, until they aren't LOL. I saw people today turned away or having to take the fanny packs off. Comes down to the associate at the time.

Only if you have a tasting card

I never got a survey to vote for a giga

Or Maverick at CP!

Yep it is KI as that is our actors and WindSeeker wouldn't be seen in KD pictures from that angle (it would be to the right and blocked by all the trees of KD lol). And yes I have friends seeing different BAF prices as well.

Here is the ad I get on my phone with a local IP lol. An ad for Carowinds showing Grand Carnivale (that ended 3 days ago) with the tag "go global, not broke". I don't think that is the right marketing line lol

Maybe he leaked the pass to the media before the park was ready to implement it...by a presser of course without a refernece to the spokesperson https://www.fox19.com/2022/08/04/kings-island-debuts-two-new-passes/?outputType=amp

So car manufacturers never tout the safety rankings they get? They never produce videos showing what goes into making their cars safer? I think many took his comment a little too literally. He wasn't saying to actually call out Fury. A park coming out with a video showing how they inspect rides can be done respectfully and without mentioning Fury by name would be good not only for said park but for the whole industry. Given all the events happening this year, such a video is needed in the industry. I seem to recall when KK Drop happened, that parks were quick to point out they had a different model.

Sad thing is even with the bait and switch and lowering quality of the Prestige, folks will still line up in droves to buy the 24 pass when it becomes available. Thus proving to the park they don't have to make improvements.

I have pointed this out before, but when was the last time his name was referenced in a local media news report. It is either Mike with the quote or they say "whatever the item is" was provided to us by the email by the park's spokesman and didn't mention his name. It is clear the local media doesn't respect him as he hides behind pressers and not actually engaging in conversation with them. They don't know him, so they don't reference a sterile presser by name. Almost every media report I have ever seen, whether is was an amusement park or Duke or AT&T or whatever, where they get a quote they name the spokesperson by name. I bet the local media still think Don is the spokesperson...

Probably an early indicator of what the Q2 results are going to show...

How about their Drop Tower, Eiffel Tower, Delirium, and show in the theater

#concertsreturning confirmed LOL

Corporate world does weird things sometimes. Sometimes you end up becoming a replaceable number to a bean counter in the HQ that doesn't know you from the next person. Sometimes they put up barriers preventing you from being able to do your job and they let you go when you can't do your job. Sometimes the corporate BS starts making your job miserable and you quit. And sometimes it is a combination of above.

Sometimes in instances like this, it is best to let the person be the one to break the announcement. Plenty of people knew about this before you posted and chose to remain silent. There can be issues with sharing personnel actions publicly that didn't originate from either party. Depending on circumstances, you may have now just put your mom's job at risk if she is a park employee...