Magenta Lizard

I believe I saw two people get arrested in the parking lot on Saturday. I was out there in my vehicle eating my lunch and talking to my husband on the phone, and at some point noticed a large police and security presence farther down the aisle I was parked in (two security vehicles, a police cruiser, and ultimately an unmarked police car joined as well). They were milling around talking separately to two individuals, and I assumed they were taking statements about theft from a vehicle or something, but after a bit, one of the individuals was escorted (no cuffs) to the rear of the unmarked car which drove off, and somewhat later the same happened with the other person and the cruiser.

I don't remember what it was called now, but the retro store is on the right side of International Street after entering the gates. I was glad to see it hadn't been entirely phased out.

MarkB. I think I got caught up in that same tour, only it was near the front of Coney Mall by that point (around 11). I was a little surprised by it, because it seemed like they should all be working already for the day by that time, weren't they needed? It has to be hard for the new hires, especially in food service. Many are probably in their first jobs, food service is already a hard thing to work in, hungry people are often not in very good moods to begin with, and it felt like a lot of them were thrown to the wolves this weekend without enough prior training, or enough supervision to help them learn on the job. I hope they start to iron things out and it becomes easier on the employees (and guests of course) as the season moves on.

You know, even though I got one, and I think it's cool to have a First Rider T, ultimately I agree with you. I think it would have been good to make it a kids only giveaway too, to make it even more special for the new kids to make a connection with the park. I didn't examine things too closely, but I saw navy t-shirts over there too, so I think the kids ones were different than the adult ones, at least.

Which seat was best? I was pleasantly surprised. I had planned on more or less avoiding the ride until the excitement died down and it was a day when the park was fairly empty. Then they mentioned the first rider ts, and I decided to go. I may have posted about this in another thread, but I've gotten so used to rides where about the only control you have over your experience is where you choose to sit. Being able to control the glider was more of a thrill than I imagined it would be. I got a good rhythm going, and was swooping and soaring, and having an excellent time. I look forward to being able to ride it again, it may be my first stop during ERT more often than not this summer. Not a photo of the ride itself but of me in my first ever First Rider t-shirt. I can pretend I rode Space Buggies too I guess.

The Gliders' capacity stinks, and is going to continue to reek if they don't get hard about pairing up riders. Which I know the operators really don't want to have to do. When I rode yesterday, I would have understood if they paired me up with a stranger (but obviously preferred not), but even people who were together all wanted their own glider. So, each cycle is like ten people maybe? Just before my ride cycle, one of the workers told the young man working the line that they needed to start pairing people up more, so as the previous cycle ran he came into the line trying to figure out how many would make it on the next one. I was at the front of the line and a single, he didn't make any attempt to pair me up. Then there was a woman with her two young children behind me. He asked how many in their group, and she said three but they each wanted their own. Considering every cycle we had seen while we waited in line had a single in all but one or two gliders, I could see her point of wanting to get her own way on that. She was strongly determined to do so. The young man kept trying to cajole her: "can't two of you ride together?" and she wasn't having any of it. "They both want to ride alone." Trying to lighten the mood he said "oh, then each of them alone and you not ride?" which I thought was funny but she was in full combat mode and didn't even crack a smile. Finally he gave in and walked farther back in the line. Almost immediately afterward, one of the children spoke to her in a small voice, and while I didn't make it out exactly, from the mother's responses it seemed that child didn't actually want to ride alone anyway. I didn't notice if she ultimately rode with the child or stuck to the results of her fighting for individual gliders. It is not going to be fun working that ride this year, I can tell that much. Either they are going to continue letting everyone who wants to ride alone (disappointing everyone with slow long lines), or they are going to have to push the issue of making people ride together (disappointing everyone not getting their preference). Both of which put the workers in the position of dealing with a lot of unhappy people.

Do they have fudge push pops at the fudge shop like they did last year? I cruised through it, but if they were there they didn't catch my eye.

Thanks for the suggestion. I already use Tapatalk to post images, I will look into making it tell me I have a PM. I didn't know it could do that.

Gosh darn it! There's no sign on the mobile site that I have a message unless I happen to check the menu, which I never think to do.

The long lines and my own lack of sleep combined to make my day less than stellar, but getting to spend some time with people from KIC and get to know them a little better was the highlight of my day. Although I wish I could have finally met The Interpreter too. It was also nice to be surprised by what may well turn out to be a new favorite ride. I never rode the old Flying Eagles (that I remember, although I may have once or twice as a passenger when I was small). So, I wasn't all that excited by the Woodstock Gliders, and only decided to ride them to get the t-shirt. I really had a lot of fun! I've gotten so used to rides where the only control you have is (sometimes) what seat you choose. It was exciting to get the Glider into a rhythm and make it swoop farther and farther. I will certainly be giving it many more tries this summer. I need to do more research into snapping.

My husband asked me a question tonight that I couldn't answer but wish I could. Does Kings Island have a maximum capacity? (Pretty sure the answer is yes to that part) What is it? Have they ever met it? If so, how often does it happen, and what have been the dates?

From the other thread: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/images/uploads/file/2015%20KI%20Dining%20Plan%20Details.pdf A full listing of dining plan choices (for the moment)

Chicken Shack was relatively fast (and tasty) when I was there around 11:15. They knew how to use my season long dining plan which was an improvement over Rivertown Potato Works last night.

I hate that theyve added FoF back to Fast Lane when the capacity is still down by a car per train. It is even more important to go to it right after rope drop if you don't want a long wait. It was about a half hour wait and I was here about 10:15.

I'm sorry I came off a lot more snarky than I intended or felt, and you're right to call me out for it. I know they're still learning, and have every likelihood of becoming a great crew as the summer progresses. I wouldn't have said anything negative to their faces, so I shouldn't be so negative sounding here for the same reason. Even Banshee stacked last night. It was actually pretty dramatic the way everything shook as the train came in behind my stopped one, especially since I was in the back row. There were a surprising number of technical difficulties last night, too. I never have been to an opening (or pre-opening) day before, so I didn't realize how many kinks arise during the offseason. I just assumed the rides that usually work smoothly would continue to (and ones that are usually temperamental would continue to be). I'm sure a lot of the problems got worked out, which is why I think this pass preview night is a really good idea for the park. They get to work out the snags with a group of attendees that are happy just to be allowed in the park. Since we didn't pay specifically for admission to this event, it's low pressure. Most of us will be back several times over the summer so if we don't get to do something or something goes wrong, it's really not a big deal. And we feel (rightly) that we've received a special perk by helping them debug.

That reminds me that I need to look through the shops to see if they have any KI branded collapsible water bottles. I want one to use with the new water bottle fillers, and would prefer a KI one if I can get one. I would buy the souvenir bottle, but it would be such a pain to go out to the truck to get it and take it back every time I want a drink. I certainly wouldn't want to carry it around.

About the Woodstock Gliders first riders t-shirts: someone on Facebook was complaining that people with Fast Lane were getting multiple t-shirts on Banshee last year, which stinks, but what I want to know is did they start giving t-shirts during ERT or once the park officially opened? I ended up not riding them tonight, and now that I know about the shirts, I'm eager to make them first tomorrow, but wondered if I should wait till 10? Edit: heh, posted at the same time about the same thing

Could be but if more than one person got off, it wasn't me, because I was the only one on my cycle. Why is it only after I get home, and should be sleeping so I can be fresh for tomorrow, but instead am going through Facebook, that I find out there were $1 pretzels and blue ice cream tonight?! I would so have gotten some blue ice cream if I knew!

I'm in front of the not-really-a-line wait for The Beast line to reopen. An employee came out and said the lift hill is dark and they need to fix it before they can start back up.

I rode SR&R alone and they shut it down when I got off. I think /I/ may have broken it, because that was around 5:30.

I apologize if it was mentioned, but the back car of Flight of Fear IS still roped off. I got the front seat of the first train to go on it today I miss the back seat tho

I had Rivertown Potato Works, and it was really tasty, but they said I'll need to check with Guest Services about my meal plan because it didn't work. I think he locked it out by ringing and scanning it wrong twice before doing it right, but I guess I will visit GS anyway. They gave me my food and that's all I really cared.

No fooling about Diamondstack. Just saw them make a whole train get back off and in line, too.

Hey, Terpy are you here in a red shirt? I have only seen one group shot with you but I could swear I passed you near BLSC...

I'll be over in a bit. Wanted to sit in the shade for the moment. Invertigo is down for tonight according to the LED scrolling sign.