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Racer crew


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My family hits KI at least once a week in the summer and we ride The Racer multiple times each time we go. The crew this year for The Racer has been a decidedly mixed bag. Yesterday evening we had the worst crew that endlessly gabbed with each other, outside friends who were hanging out right there in the control area, not making any effort to "race" the trains, etc. At one point they held up a train so an employee could argue with a girl sitting on the ride about the pros and cons of Duke University (!?).

I know there's never a line (hardly) and maybe these young crews don't feel they are working a more popular ride but how bout a little enthusiasm and profesionalism?

How do others rate this crew?

How does one go about lodging a complaint to the right person?

I am new to this board...greetings!

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Welcome aboard. The Guest Relations window is on your left as you exit the park, just inside (or outside) the admission gate. Specific details will make your complaint more meaningful. Time, crew names, etc.

It has been my experience this year that complaining to guest relations at Kings Island is only marginally more effective than trying to teach a cat French. You see, Paramount Parks no longer owns the park, and Cedar Fair seems to not take guests complaints and input even remotely seriously.

Know also that it has not been park policy to race The Racers for many years now. It seems to detract from capacity. It has been very rare that any conscious effort is made to actually race them. And if it is, backwards ALWAYS wins...so what is the point?

Your mileage may, and hopefully will, vary!

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It is not policy to race Racer if it detracts from capacity. They will make an attempt if you ask, they have the signals in place, or at least they did last year. I really doubt the train was being held up for that reason as well, I can not see the whole crew allowing that.

As far as professionalism goes, your dealing with 16-20 year old kids, they are going to be chatty and social and they are making close to minimum wage, you get what the park pays for.

If you have complaints lodge them with guest relations and ask to talk to a manager, or ask for the rides supervisor, there is one on duty 99% of the time.

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I agree, Racer crew is one of the worst crew in the park this year. Half the time they don't even check the actual bar, they just tap on them while they are walking down the station. When I was a KI ride op, we had to physically pull up on the lap bar.

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From my experience at The Racer this year, they will try and race, but if there is a delay on one of the sides, they will end up sending the side that is ready. Obviously, you could have just visited when that particular crew was having a bad day.

As for as guest complaints go. While I don`t work at Kings Island, I know that at Coney, guest complaints are taken seriously. If someone files a complaint (or compliment) about a rides operator, the note is often posted in the rides office.

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This has been my first year going to KI. I have to say that I have been disappointed with the quality of the ride ops at KI. Being used to CP, things that are acceptable at KI would never fly at CP. On The Racer in particular, I have been on the ride when they were throwing full bottles of water over the cars that were LOADED with people. Also, as recent as tonight, I have been there when they did nothing but gab, gab, gab...

Then I did get to ride the Son of Beast tonight... and on that ride, a girl in the back car had a cell phone in her hands. One ride op asked the other if she could hold on to the cell phone during the ride because it wouldn't fit in her pocket. Justin, the other ride op, told the girl that it was ok to hold on to the cell phone. However, he told her that she must keep it completely covered with both hands while passing the driver box so the operator would not see it.

While I have seen several ride ops who take pride in their job at KI, I just wish more of them would.

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Here`s your answer with regards to whether or not Son of Beast was open today. http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10189

Thanks. I just saw that post RIGHT after I made my post, my mistake.

no. but dont worrie its really bad now.

Accually I've ridden it three times this month and think it's 2x better than before. It's one of my favorites.

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Wow! Wish I could share your sentiments with the ride. I thought it was only marginally better when I rode it several weeks ago. That one ride on it was enough rides on SoB for me for the rest of the year. As much as it pains me to say it, Son of Beast is simply one ride that whenever I get off of it, I find myself asking me why I rode it and saying to myself I`ll never ride it again.

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Wow! Wish I could share your sentiments with the ride. I thought it was only marginally better when I rode it several weeks ago. That one ride on it was enough rides on SoB for me for the rest of the year. As much as it pains me to say it, Son of Beast is simply one ride that whenever I get off of it, I find myself asking me why I rode it and saying to myself I`ll never ride it again.

It really seems like the ride is hit or miss. My friend who rode it with me agreed with me, saying it was much improved, however my dad who rode in the same train with us would agree with you. He thought it was only a little smoother than before, and one ride was enough for him. I guess it has to do with different body types or age or something.

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The Beast has by far the best crew in the park this year

The Beast crew has been the best while I was at the park. Very, very little stacking, if none at all.

I'll agree with that, of course its been that way for years as far as I'm concerned. Beast has always had the superior crew in the park. Its always refreshing to actually see the ride ops efficiently check restraints and get the trains out quickly. I also gotta give props to the Firehawk crew, I think they've done a great job this season also given the challenges that are presented at the ride itself.

With that sad, worse crew either goes to Racer or Vortex. Vortex is pathetic, more times than not I see ALL three trains stacked on the brake run. To think, it used to be a people eater. Now I find myself waiting 15-20 minutes to board when the line isn't even out of the station. Sigh.

- Todd

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Know also that it has not been park policy to race The Racers for many years now. It seems to detract from capacity. It has been very rare that any conscious effort is made to actually race them. And if it is, backwards ALWAYS wins...so what is the point?

Okay, stupid question time.

Everytime I've been on The Racer when a conscious effort was made to race them...it has been true that backwards always seems to win. So my stupid question is....is there a particular reason that backwards for the most part always wins?

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The midcourse brake (which didn't even use to exist) at the turnaround is usually not on on the backwards side, or if on is very light. The forwards side is almost always on, and if on, is almost always much more so than the backwards side.

In Racer's first years, it really was a race and the coaster trains usually arrived back in the station within a car of each other, as the operators skillfully applied the big old brake levers!

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While The Racer crew has never been what I would consider stellar when I was there, it appears that not much has changed.

As far as your complaints, if you really want your voice to be heard, don't go up to guest relations, as someone said ask for a manager. It might take them 10-15 mins to get out there to talk to you, but they will listen to your problem and then try to fix it.

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Which is a very polite way of saying that going to Guest Relations under this new management is essentially a waste of time (other than, perhaps, to ask for a manager). And before someone asks, I am not in any way attacking the good people who work there. They have been made essentially powerless. This is one way that Cedar Fair is very much inferior to the way Paramount Parks was run. Paramount Parks may have done some things poorly, and they did...but Guest Relations and guest satisfaction were treated as very, very important (at least until CBS arrived).

Cedar Fair sometimes at least seems to think that intake of cash and credit cards is far more important than guest satisfaction. You can even hear this in the conference calls. Mark Shapiro at Six Flags goes on and on about guest satisfaction numbers and guest reactions to changes in the parks. Dick Kinzel at Cedar Fair goes on and on about per capita spending and EBITDA. The priorities just seem to be different. Then again, only one of those two companies hopes to have all its debt repaid within, at most, five years. And Six Flags under Gary Story was worse than either.

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I agree The Beast crew is awesome, and has been for years. When I worked at the park, I would sometimes be sent to The Beast, and guess what? They left me at The Beast and in the station, checking bars. I loved working at that ride. I was just as quick and enjoying what I was doing, along with the regular Beast crew members. Of course though I would consider myself as a Coaster Person. Some people hated to work at the Coasters, I on the other hand loved it.

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And speaking of The Racer, does anyone have a picture they could post or email of the sign that used to hang right next to the controller station facing the riders as they are about to leave. I am speaking of the one that said "sit on it!" and had some cartoon art of a guy hitting his head.

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Yeah I would have to say Racer, Vortex are by far the worsed crews. Vortex was a people eater, untell they started stacking. Now on racer, I've nerver seen any kind of that stuff the ones before posted about. But they are slow and most times take way to much time.

Good crews to me are, Beast, Firehawk, and Face/Off. The times Im in line for Face/Off it is almost like every min in a half to two mins from unload, load and ready. When The Beast has four on platform, no joke its a people eater.

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SOB crew was doing really well on my rides a few weeks ago. By the time the other train came back, the other train was already dispatched. You can tell that SOB was intended to run 3 trains, when you have that long delay before the next train comes in.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It seems like The Racer crew has not been very good this year. They are the slowest crew I have ever seen, I mean they just sit around and talk. Everytime I was on The Racer last season they were making the effort to race them, etc. This year they do not make any effort to race.

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It is not policy to race Racer if it detracts from capacity. They will make an attempt if you ask, they have the signals in place, or at least they did last year. I really doubt the train was being held up for that reason as well, I can not see the whole crew allowing that.

As far as professionalism goes, your dealing with 16-20 year old kids, they are going to be chatty and social and they are making close to minimum wage, you get what the park pays for.

If you have complaints lodge them with guest relations and ask to talk to a manager, or ask for the rides supervisor, there is one on duty 99% of the time.

if their not required to race them then why call them The Racers! just saying

anyway i think the crew is horrible

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