brenthodge

I didn't think we were at odds THAT often are we LOL

I’m good with this. I agree get rid of the limits and no variables in price park to park. It is what it is. You live closer to a flagship park than a second tier- luck of the draw. I only offer the “pick a park” as a selfish. Regardless you should get %50 off gate price for any park and free parking. Also I like the idea of VIP add on for all tiers so if you don’t care about those benefits, you don’t pay for them at the platinum level. Dining and drink should still relate to the parks you can visit with total number of clicks being able to be redeemed at any park you can go to on your pass- not with discounted tickets.

I think that’s actually a pretty good idea with the amount of park clicks matching the amount of dining clicks except for unlimited at your home park. I do wish they would get rid of the regional thing and have HomePark SILVER, Pick 3-4 parks GOLD, All Parks PLATINUM (or whatever you want to call them. Dining and drinks would work the same. The Home park could have a true “Summer pass” that’s just Memorial-Labor day, no free parking, no discount. There are people that geographically live closer to parks out of their region than ones in and it would be nice to have that option. Dining and drinks plans follow with dining, dining plus and dining deluxe being an add on for each pass type at related prices. If you have pick a park gold, you have to have gold dining basic, plus, deluxe etc, but it works at the 3 parks you choose.

I was there Monday and it went down for a few minutes, but when back up the first half of the ride till the main theatre stage was silent. Then Friday night the queue area went fully dark except for the chandeliers for a few moments, the “lightning strike” returned it to full bright so I wasn’t sure if it was just a new cycle I’d never seen.

Yeah… I don’t think this played out the way Herschend had hoped. They definitely could’ve tempered things with a nice donation this year to the parks alliance or a special night or two even cheaper for Louisville residents. Unfortunately they did nothing, and now anything they do after all the drama is just going to look like groveling. Bad decisions this week HERSCHEND

Somehow, I never touched a flashlight on 2 rides through on Monday, yet scored on all 3 colors. Different amounts!? Wonder if you don’t shoot at all your flashlights just syncs with the ones in the paired car?

Wonder if it's KI, SALLY or a combo of both still making these tweaks. It seems like theres more dialogue now as well, or at least yo can hear it better. I rode it this week 2x and feel like the ending w Maestro and Larry had different lines each time - both ending with a variation of "You'll be back:"

Music definitely seems better. The entrance area seems to have a track ive not heard previous to this week. The overall sound system seems to be running an underscore based on the original theme, and the in-car audio seems to be carrying Larry's voice over with individual characters having their own dedicated speakers. Sound levels in the queue seem much better as well with both characters being heard in all areas of the queue.

Noodle on THAT for a few minutes.

Which was about as uncreative, and welcome as one could imagine LOL. How they’ve not done a pasta place is beyond me. Noodles are dime a dozen and you just heat some vats of sauce… you’d think they be all over cheap food for the masses.

I found a video from Dorney Park in 2019, but pretty much the same vibes at KI that first year with the international entertainment and walk around characters.

There’s no reason events like this can’t even be on a 3-4 year rotation. The assets are there, but they don’t have to do it every single year. These should be “Signature” events that are major drivers. related note: I had a good conversation with Mike Koontz a few years ago during CARNIVALE (2023, the really bad year when they had the parade at 7:30 so the entertainment staff could all be clocked out by 9 sharp) and he mentioned his frustration around being a “launch location” for events like this where corporate has an idea and throws tons of money and resources at it the first year at a few parks (remember year one it was only at 4 parks total and they shared/rotated a lot of the assets like costumes, floats etc) but then rolls it out and the “test parks” are left to keep the event going with a reduced budget that’s now theirs. He said it’s annoying because people see KI as the ones watering down the event, when in reality without the major corporate budget from the first year, there’s no way to make it sustainable without cutting things.

Ok, I complain, but the churro cupcake is really good and really good looking. AND just watching the parade for the what??? 432nd time? It still works. Kids and adults fill the streets, they dance, they get excited, they make a memory. Whatever they move on to needs this kinetic energy because it really make whole event worth it

Well, as expected, it’s less than before but more than nothing I guess. Makes me sad to see an event that was AMAZING year 1-2 be… this now. First few years there were seating areas all over the park, couches, sectionals, tables. There were food booths located throughout the festival area. There were crafts that related to different countries. It was the framework for an event that seemed custom designed for this park with international street and the Eiffel Tower. Instead of building this event into something unrivaled, they’ve cut and cut and watered it down to the point that I don’t even know why they bothered this year. We are in a major metropolitan area with a rich cultural community. Instead of leaning into that to make this the must do it was year one, they’ve nickel and dined it into a fairly pointless event. Wish they’d just stuck with the 250th stuff and built a “Taste of America” burger and bbq fest with craft beers.

It could actually be cool if they really did run it right into the closing show. The first year a few of the floats stayed out as set extensions for the dance party. They should run the floats back up around the tower- circle the tower and have the cast fill that whole area for a giant street party vibe. As it stands, the parade ends, the cast just wanders up to the stage while empty floats drive back to storage. They could make it way cooler.

I think they could do 8:30 and get the effect and make parents happy. With how little there is left to do around this event, and stopping all shows a full hour- hour/half before to let the cast prep for the parade, the whole “night time event” feels flat for most of the evening. They cut all the small international shows after year one and got rid of most of the craft booths and went to just one generic tent. There’s just not that much to do to have that long of an entertainment break. Why the hell they never extended this to be adventurer port and added a small live band to the Mercado patio is beyond me.

And that went so well didn’t it LOL.

Overall what I was going with, but I would make the funnel cake/snack option 1 point instead and have a very limited selection of those items - maybe even a smaller size like the drink plan cup is. Could be as simple as small soft serve ice cream, classic funnel cake, plain fries, chips - basically anything the location would be doing anyway but no additional toppings or options. Agree that the "Premium Experiences" should be point-excluded, but you would get a season pass discount on those. I like that it's limited to 3 points pr visit. You could eat 3 classic items, or one classic and one signature, or a signature and a treat pr visit. I also still feel there should be no time limit, so if I want to eat my signature meal and an hour later get my plain soft serve, I shouldn't have to stay 4 hours - it give the perception of a lot of "control" to the customer.

Oh, the idiots would loose their minds. Lol

Wonder if more of a “point” system would work. You purchase a plan based on number of points pr day, 1-4 with no time limit, and have CLASSIC items, SIGNATURE items, and PREMIUM dining experiences. Classic items are 1 point, Signature are 2 and Premium are 4 or 2+ half the cost of the experience. Let people decide how to use these points through the day. If you are at the park less and only want a burger each time you come, buy the 1 point and buy other food on days you stay longer. If you come a lot of longer days, or always want more elevated food, buy the 2 or 4 and eat more, or better each time. If you want that International Restaurant Peanuts Breakfast Buffet, you know you are using all your points for that one experience and will be paying for any other food that day, but as Don said, make each of these tiers truly reflective of their “price”.

the phrase "tripping over dollars to save pennies" comes to mind.

Wonder if more of a “point” system would work. You purchase a plan based on number of points pr day, 1-4 with no time limit, and have CLASSIC items, SIGNATURE items, and PREMIUM dining experiences. Classic items are 1 point, Signature are 2 and Premium are 4 or 2+ half the cost of the experience. Let people decide how to use these points through the day. If you are at the park less and only want a burger each time you come, buy the 1 point and buy other food on days you stay longer. If you come a lot of longer days, or always want more elevated food, buy the 2 or 4 and eat more, or better each time. If you want that International Restaurant Peanuts Breakfast Buffet, you know you are using all your points for that one experience and will be paying for any other food that day, but as Don said, make each of these tiers truly reflective of their “price”.

Again, how is going to the park just to eat abusing it? How is getting it to go abusing it? Scan in, use dining plan, wait 4 hours, use again. That’s the policy.

Interesting that it is Dollywood specifically NOT Herschend. I know they are intertwined, but it will be interesting long term to see if Herschend's growth and expansion affects the experience negatively (I propose that it has a bit), and the muscle the Dollywood Company has in the relationship to drive decisions in their favor. Dollywood in many ways "made" Herschend the company it is today. There is no way, had she followed through with the purchase of the land in Gatlinburg and launched the oark on her own, that a little company that owned Silver Dollar City in two tourism areas would be the major player it is today without her influence and celebrity in that region as well as the world. I would think Herschend would be a bit "scared" of doing anything long term to affect DW's stellar reputation. Not sure how easily the deal could be undone if it ever came to that, but HFE still needs Dollywood more that they need Herschend.