disco2000

That doesn't sound like your typical response Who hacked your account? I was expecting you to reply with something like if you can't measure the return on the investment on all the ambassadors walking around, it is an easy cut to help the bottom line, especially in a season pass heavy park...

Welcome back - were you on a cruise with no internet or something? Been awhile since you posted.

Department of Justice (hint - if you opened the article it mentions it....)

An entertainment district would be a great idea and a way to generate more year round income. Would have some of the usual challenges of that property in overcoming the flooding, so it would be interesting to see a cost/benefit analysis on making that happen. Plus something year round would stand a better chance at significant enough improvements to the traffic nightmare that exists on concert nights. Toss in a paddle wagon too and you would frequent it a little more

I am by far not the only one on this thread that gets the property owners can do as they please, so why attack just me... If you don't like people presenting a different view point than yours, then that is your problem, not mine. I am not violating any TOS by providing a rational difference of opinion than your emotionally driven viewpoint. I have as much right to post a differing viewpoint just as you do against mine... Sometimes change happens - many companies or places with historical significance have closed over the years due to a variety of issues and this is no different. If you think I don't have a connection to Coney Island and its historical significance, you are sorely mistaken and my emotional connections may even be deeper than yours... But when I take the emotional aspect away and look at it logically, a property owner's bundle of rights is legally binding and my emotional connection to the place is not... It sucks, but my emotional connection or its historical significance wasn't paying their bills... If someone doesn't like a piece of property is changing its use and thinks they can keep it running as is, then buy it. I have seen groups of people buy something that was going to be demo'd and changed to something else and they bought it and kept it as is. And I have seen others that when they looked at the financials, determined it wasn't worth buying and didn't want to take it in the shorts financially just for their emotional connection... How would you like it if you tried to sell your property and the neighbors wouldn't let you? That isn't the way it works, emotional or historical significance or not. Some people also forget the place was slated to close in the early 70s and in fact a book was written about it saying Goodbye to Coney. The fact that Coney lasted this long after originally being scheduled to shut down when KI was built is just extra years, but outside of Moonlight and Sunlite, the memories disappeared when most of the stuff was sold off or destroyed then...

I don't think the DOJ cares as much about discretionary income mergers as they do something with grocery stores or other basic needs. This is just standard procedure. If for some reason the DOJ balks at it, all the merger team needs to do is tip their hand and say they plan to sell off X number of parks and all is good in the world. It will be no different than Kroger being allowed to carry on with a merger if they sold over 400 stores so as to keep a competitor.

23,000+ signing a petition in the Greater Cincinnati area of approximately 2.3 million people is statistically insignificant in the big picture. No company can make 100% of the people happy. Heck just look at this site and it appears most aren't happy with KI 23,000 passholders probably wouldn't generate enough revenue to have even stayed open. More people from outside Greater Cincinnati will attend concerts than those from outside the area attending Coney Island. A concert venue will have a bigger impact on increased revenue to the tax base, and a much bigger source of income to the local governments than a pool. Granted the size of this would never be able to bring current day Taylor Swift, but ask Cincinnati how much her concerts here brought to the coffers of city hall ($1M), not counting all the private entities that saw a pay day from restaurants to hotels ($92M)... To many people this sucks. But at the end of the day, if these people don't like it, take up a GoFundme and buy the land from MEMI. As property owners, they have a right to do what they want on their property regardless of what others think and that includes selling it. Further, as a citizen you have the right to not attend an event there and not give them your money. But others will and in bigger numbers than Coney saw. The fact of the matter is the concert venue will do well even with a boycott and bring in far more revenue than the outcry of 23,000 people, many of which probably haven't been to Coney in years and many that are not even part of the tax base demanding the city and Anderson Township intervene....

Keep in mind Knott's didn't really own it anymore and sold it to another company that included the rights to use the name. It was Smuckers that decided not to continue with the product. https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Food/jam-brand-jelly-aisle-anymore/story?id=106681493#:~:text=Smucker has discontinued the Knott's,on Nov. 4%2C 2023. So in light of the budget cut driven CF mode, people assume this was a CF or Knott's decision, but it wasn't.

That is correct - I think I saw it range from $5 to $25 in casual observation depending on how busy the park was. Doubt it was lower LOL, but there may have been some days it was higher.

So the crowds at CP are light

And for good or bad, it is this mentality the park banks on. Sure they lose a few that don't renew, but if that loss is made up with new passholders, they really don't have an incentive to improve the product. It is the entire argument that DispatchMaster ran on - he would say it makes good business sense to cut stuff and save money since people like you will come regardless. Thousands of passholders prescribe to your mentality of continuing to buy a pass because at the end of the day, cuts and all, it is still an incredible value for the entertainment dollar. Heck, they could close KI like they did Geauga Lake and probably still sell thousands of passes for a closed park That is how loyal of a season pass base the park has LOL. The question is how much lowering of the value of the product before the masses leave in enough quantity that it makes an impact on the bottom line?

Cause they didn't pay for those for the ceremony

Sadly, I think ambience will continue to be the low hanging fruit they cut in budget mode. Let's hope they prove us wrong, but the direction has been towards cutting anything that they cannot measure a return on, and even then they probably will still cut LOL.

I think a main reason is the difference in audience. We get it you like brews and music, but the typical season passholder at KI just doesn't seem to be into that. The sad thing is more times than not, when River City (great local band) played in Action Zone a few years back, they had more entertainment associates watching than guests. Those playing on Coney Mall stage wasn't that much better. Same with Hifi Honey - when they aren't on the Festhaus stage but instead on the makeshift stage outside, the guest numbers just aren't there. If people can't sit, they don't seem to attract the numbers. With guest numbers like that, it is hard to justify continuing. But at the same time, the shows were not really advertised either and were on temporary stages, so it was a hit or miss thing. Maybe an event like you are suggesting would work well in the early and late part of the season in Festhaus, but having a temporary stage in one of the areas for a new local band every week to play just seems like we would see more of what we have seen with the established local bands that are kinda known by some KI guests due to their many years performing here. Just based on numbers, I could see outside bands be an easy target for cutting from the entertainment scene.

Maybe the responsibility will fall under the PR team to be out and about more and talking to guests

Exactly!!! Plus their "controlling stake" isn't but a few percentage points. Further the board initially is split equal numbers between the two companies and it will only take one CF board member to side with SIX on an item or agenda or whatever and the "controlling stake" is tossed out the window.... And the Chief Integration Officer assigned to develop plans to bring the two organizations together is a SIX employee....so when the decision is made on who to put where, this person is going to go with who they are comfortable with and have an established working relationship with...and that will be a SIX employee. Sure some CF folks will get some key positions, but whenever there is room for an either/or, human nature will be for the Chief Integration Officer to put in a SIX employee that they have a working relationship with.

Apparently it is easier to hide in a bathroom stall for part of shift and text than it is to hide in the food freezer

Food has been one of the higher hourly rates for the last several years. Almost everyone wants to be a ride op. You can get a food job anywhere outside the park. So to try to staff food and pull some seeking higher wages over the type of job, they offered them more.

One way to force a labor shortage...

Wasn't Opening late Spring the same language used for Adventure Port?

Yeah I thought that was kinda odd too, but there isn't a whole lot to see so I can give a pass on that, but I was expecting to see more than 30 seconds on the dot and a little more talk. Was that sentence cut off mid-stream when the video ended or was that poor editing and the intent?

The ending just seemed to get cut off. I would hope that was just some uploading glitch? I have seen some podcasts have an abrupt ending to that I don't think was intentional. Hopefully we see a revised one that has an ending.

Many here would have hoped Vortex would have been a special one to get that treatment! Question is will The Bat be considered a special one or will it see the same fate at some point...

The difference is people with a lackluster dinner experience are not claiming to be chefs, yet many here complaining about the park PR claim to be in marketing... If people are that passionate about the park and think they can do a better job and produce better content, apply... sometimes that tremendously flawed argument is a valid argument...as an example, it is the very reason why many people enter politics because they are fed up with the direction it is going. I know many people passionate about a company and sought out a job there because they felt they had the credentials and ability to do a better job than the person they replaced. Maybe those in the position are that bad at their job, or maybe they are simply doing what they are being told, or maybe their bosses don't have a clue how to PR/market and have handcuffed the creativity of those in those positions. Or maybe it is a little of it all. At the end of the day an employee (regardless of industry) has to keep their boss happy and meet the job performance metrics assigned to them to keep said job. Obviously we don't know what metrics the staff is being evaluated against or what criteria they used to hire the opening that was filled, but someone developed those performance metrics and criteria for filling that position. Maybe the anger should be directed towards the higher paygrades and not the messenger (in this instance the PR Team)...

I think some of you give Chad too much credit in his role and responsibility with the park LOL. I am sure he is not the final go/no go decision on Coasterstock. If the GM or corp wanted it, they are doing it despite his objections. He can either be on board and participate or be shown the door. Everyone knows Coasterstock was Don's "baby", but was the coordination of the event the duty of the area manager, digital marketing position (which is not Chad's role) or was the responsibility given to Don the person due to his recognition in the industry? And if it was given to Don the person and not the position, then what position within KI would take it over when Don the person left? Did anyone complaining apply for the open position when it was posted? Many have put the park in a tough situation. If they decided to not have Coasterstock, what would happen is what we are seeing now with folks saying that the current staff isn't competent and can't put on the event. If they held Coasterstock and put on the best event ever and due to the upcoming merger brought in the actors that played the roles in the DC Universe and we all got to personally sit next to Gal Gadot/Wonder Woman and Superman for a ride people and they brought Beyoncé in for a private concert many would still say the event sucks because Don isn't working for the park and didn't host the event.... If you were the park GM and saw the enthusiasts community bad mouthing EVERY move the park makes, would you be willing to want to invest and put the time in to hold an event for them that is clear they wouldn't be happy regardless? Based on podcasts and appearances Don has made at several events, it appears many take the loss of Don working at KI harder than Don himself.... Unfortunately, Don leaving KI is one of those events that some people are never going to get over and will badmouth everything the park does moving forward. Don't get me wrong, constructive criticism for the park we love is fine as we all want more out of the park and know there is always room for improvement, but there are also many that believe this bashing has gone on long enough and it is no longer constructive criticism but rather personal attacks for the people left to fill Don's shoes. And really, how many enthusiasts events does a park really need to host in a year? If Don were still at the park and ACE did their thing and Coasterstock did their thing, people would probably complain the events were too similar. I thought in one of the podcasts Don said the reason for doing Coasterstock was to eliminate multiple enthusiasts events and just have one big one. These events are a lot of hard work behind the scenes and maybe Don wouldn't have wanted to put both on in one season if he were still at the park? If you are going to attend the ACE event with a pre-meditated mindset of not enjoying it and nitpicking every little aspect of it, maybe you shouldn't attend the event and let people that are going to enjoy the event have that opportunity to attend...it is hard to believe, but there are people that don't know who Don is and would attend the event and have a wonderful time...