bjcolglazier

Now we're talkin'. ;-) I'm liking the outpouring of ideas here...very good. What about Platinum gets an hour, Gold 1/2 hour? I've got Platinum myself. As for Fast Lane, I'm afraid the price has risen to the point the park has out-priced my family in that regard anymore. Too many darn kids, but we used to do it sometimes.

^ I think you're wrong as I've been at the park on insanely busy days and not-so-busy-days. ERT was never as bad as Sunday...and Sunday WASN'T BUSY! But whatever. Heading to bed. I'm sure daily May lines won't be horrible...but a nice weekend, you're gonna see folks adding to this thread.

The lines are wayyyy longer this year. Which means the lineup isn't the 'cup of tea' for a whole lot of folks. The park either made a mistake, or decided to hose most of us who want to ride big coasters. This isn't hard.

Nah I don't have many things that bother me. Plus what's wrong with asking some innocent thought provoking questions... Truth be told this is more fun asking people to explain why they are upset Why am I upset? Same price, less perks. Confusing?

The park is losing nothing offering 10% for the Gold Pass. Nor would they be losing anything to open up a ride or two on the busy days for ERT. Seriously? If ERT is amazing, word-of-mouth alone will sell them more gold passes, and this thread wouldn't exist.

^ It's not solely for anything, but rather everything. The park raises parking costs for Gold Pass..."quit complaining, it's still cheaper than the general public." Discount on items down to 5% instead of 10%. "Be happy." ERT is now 2 rides, and the wait is an hour. "Love it!!!". These points are lost on gold pass members?

If you've been getting 25% off the past several years, and expected it this year, too...yeah...you might be upset.

Imagine you renewed in August/September. Parking has been free every year for GP members. Then the park announces GP only get $5 off parking per visit. That's how I feel.

Of course it's not the only thing I use it for. Have you read all of the food service bashing on this site? Why is ERT a non-starter for so many, but food service is fair game? That's all I'm saying. And...the park is selling ERT. So if you bought a gold pass you bought ERT, just like you bought food service if you bought the dining plan. We don't all have to agree, but it's a forum for God's sake.

Has anyone actually visited www.visitkingsisland.com lately? The first thing you see is the park trying to sell Gold Passes because of ERT! And people try to suggest ERT is a bonus we aren't paying for? I beg to differ. If you don't use the perk, fine. But to bash others who heavily relied on it...not cool. I DID pay for it.

That's a little depressing Sparky, but I hear what you're saying. I shall most certainly avoid becoming the new "GuestRelationsGuy". :-) I still thought the topic was worth discussing here. Some don't think so. Either way, looking forward, I do hope ERT is as great as it's been the past couple years.

I started this thread primarily for those who work at the park and can implement change to hear from those of us who were there Sunday and were not thrilled with ERT in comparison to the past couple seasons. Many have chimed in that the line for Diamondback was beyond excessive---considering it was ERT. Some left the line, some didn't even bother to get in it. Now, in fairness it could be that this is what the park wants. We bought the gold pass, they let us in, and our "Best Day Ever" begins with a 30-50 minute wait for our special "perk". Personally, I don't think that's what they really want at all! It would not make sense to me that this is how they want to start the day for some of their best customers. Nor does it lead to what they really want---happy people dropping more coin in the park. I do not know how much feedback they received in the park about this. I do know they read these threads. How they wish to proceed from here is entirely up to them, and yes I will keep going regardless. Simply put, a great perk the past couple years was not a great perk Sunday, which was my first day in the park experiencing the April/May ERT lineup. Let's see how things proceed. Maybe this thread is not needed anymore. Perhaps Sunday was an anomaly. Or, it could continue to be something folks wish to discuss. Time will tell. My best guess is the park will be keeping a close eye, and continue to evaluate the situation.

Absolutely a first-world-problem. I'm not arguing otherwise. Spoiled? For sure. But I think the park strives to make things like ERT a really nice perk. Sunday it wasn't, and it was unlike any other ERT I'd experienced. Quite a few people I saw besides myself were not thrilled with the situation. A lot of it comes down to expectations based on past experiences. If opening up one other big ride can alleviate the problem, I think the park would be well to make a change. ERT during Memorial Day weekend for instance...with the current lineup and if the weather is nice...you'd be just as well to skip it and make a 10:00 bee-line to another ride.

Agreed. Just not weekends. Especially no-cloud-in-the-sky weekends. :-) (This weekend was amazing weather)

Looks like the rest of the season has more than one adult ride. That might be sufficient. Rest of April, and all of May are pretty hosed though.

I know there could be the usual, "well, some parks don't even have ERT" comments. That's fine, but we've been spoiled, and buy season passes expecting as much these days. I saw so many disappointed folks first thing this morning, and that's unfortunate. I really do think the park needs to recognize the issue, and adjust accordingly, and quickly too. Our family had an otherwise "Best Day Ever" today. Again. I want to put emphasis on that. But it started out with a thud.

I think the year before it was Banshee, Delirium...and maybe one other, "big-kid-ride".

That might do the trick! But wow does everyone flock to Diamondback with no other coaster to alleviate the pressure. I wasn't the only one upset this morning that's for sure. One guy claimed he, "talked to a manager". Another simply got out of line as he looked at his wife and said, "this is NOT ERT!". Total bummer today.

Made my first 2016 trip to the park today. Was there from 9:30am until about 2pm. Take a guess at my longest wait of the day. Food service? The Beast? Any other ride or...anything at all...after 10am "opening"? Nope. Longest wait of the day was for Diamondback during ERT. Ridiculous. Line was stretched clear back practically to the ice cream shop in Planet Snoopy until the light-bulbs went off and they opened up some queue's for Diamondback. This was a non-issue the last couple years. Many ERT rides taken in previous years...great experiences. The difference? Banshee isn't running. This needs fixed asap! Keep the current schedule, but Banshee needs to be running for ERT the entire season no matter what. Really hoping the park sees the disaster they've created. We had a great day today, don't get me wrong. I was just shocked that the worst part of the whole day was ERT. Ugh! Not a good way to start the year.

I just called the park and asked, "If I have FunPix added to my season pass, but my children ride a coaster without me...can I have their on-ride photo added to my account, or do THEY have to have FunPix on their passes as well?" The answer I got back is that if I add FunPix to my account I receive one FunPix card for myself plus one additional card that I can use to get photos of another family member. I failed to ask whether that additional card was interchangeable between family members depending who is with me at the time, but my guess is that both cards would be tied to my account regardless, and therefore it could be used for different people at different times. Hopefully this is somewhat helpful info for everyone. There's five in my family. I figure I'll add the plan to my pass and my wife's pass, and between our cards and the 2 additional cards, that should pretty well allow us to get all the pictures we could ever want depending on how we split up throughout the day. Could be confusing at times, but it appears to be a happy-medium between having to add FunPix to all of our season passes versus one pass covering everyone.

:-) Honesty...throwing it out there...lol. Now back to why we all love Kings Island...unarmed.

It ain't about getting likes. Couldn't care less. I don't think there's a disagreement here, either. Just a different perspective. If someone wants to hurt people, they will. That's not a shock or news to anyone. Someone could drive their car up through the gates and plow down International Street if they wanted, or charter a helicopter and drop bowling balls from the sky. But common sense safety measures shouldn't be forfeited because "Well, if they want to hurt us, they'll find a way." "Better safe than sorry." Do you object to having to pass through metal detectors and have your bags checked at the airport? Maybe you do. The "illusion" of safety? Maybe. But how many have been deterred by the process? If even one, then isn't it worth it? How many guns, knives, explosives have been found during that airport screening? If even one, then isn't it worth it? The attitude we as a society have chosen is that it's worth given up some personal rights and privacies in exchange for the safety and well-being of all. At concerts, sporting events, airports, theme parks, and more, that means if our metal detector goes off, you're going through again until it doesn't anymore. I'm okay with that. I objected to body scanners at the airport by making them waste their time and pat me down. Look, I'm cool with the guy next to me on Diamondback open-carrying. I might say, "Bro, that's on safety, right?", but back to my original point...taking anyone's belt off at an Amusement Park is not making anyone safer. Dumbing us all down maybe.

Yes and if you want to hurt a bunch of people at an airport just stand outside the airport. Sure. But regardless of that cyclical logical, this is a smart step. Maybe it does just provide the "illusion" of safety. That might be enough to dissuade anyone who might've tried something from attempting it. The news article I linked to above mentioned that as of that writing (1993) individuals under 21 wouldn't be allowed into Kennywood after 7PM, noting the significant gang violence that the park was dealing with and how uniformed officers would be stationed throughout the park. And Kennywood is far from the very worst. The experience you encounter at your local suburban park on a friendly summer weekday is not necessarily representative of what's out there. To stop guests at the gate and ensure they don't have weapons might not seem worthwhile at Kings Island, and indeed, it seems that Cedar Fair agreed. They didn't think Kings Island's patrons made it worthy of the extra hassle and staffing that a security check-point brings about. But you better believe it's still in place at Kings Dominion and I suspect it always will be. DC is not Cincinnati; Doswell is not Mason. At least one member here will attest to that. We'll just have to agree to disagree. And that's okay. I'm sure Terp will love your post, and many others. The illusion of safety is just that. :-)

If you wanted to hurt a bunch of people just stand in line outside the gates right before the park opens on just about any weekend and do it. The bag-checks and metal detectors on the way in never has made any sense to me from a "protecting the people" perspective. Maybe it protects the park from a lawsuit, but it doesn't protect me.

Been to Haunt, 4th of July, but not Memorial Day. Never once have I seen a body scanner at the park. Ever. I missed some years in the 2000's...after 9/11, etc, but the past 3-4 years I've been going many times a year and they just scan my pass and let me in.