Bad day

[KIfan1980]

and the number of DG employees there today also cost them quite a few nickels. I'm sure the NASCAR sponsership costs more nickles than KI

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/275860...0c9c138.jpg?v=0

Not trying to pick a fight, but there is a big difference between a corporate sponsorship of a NASCAR team and the Ohio Dollar General distribution center having a day at Kings Island.

That said, I understand your frustration and am sorry that you had a bad day at KI. I don't have a solution though as in some ways KI should be trying to get this full more often from a profitability standpoint.

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

Again like I have said before it wasnt the crowd but KI had to of known that an abnormal large crowd was going to be at the park, like they do for concerts or other events, they could give a heads up though

[LongliveKingsCobra]

Maybe the park didn't know either. These people can buy tickets online and show up when ever....? correct? or no?

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

Wouldn't the company need to know an number to tell KI, to make room for in the picnic area, since it was a picnic?

[LongliveKingsCobra]

perhaps. But that picnic zone is open to anyone??

[The Interpreter]

No, it is not. It is for catered picnics put on in conjunction with the park...or for buyers of the backyard barbecue during specified hours.

[markr]

Again like I have said before it wasnt the crowd but KI had to of known that an abnormal large crowd was going to be at the park, like they do for concerts or other events, they could give a heads up though

I don't see that this is the park's responsibility. And why should they? As Terpie has continuously drilled into us, Cedarfair has taken on huge debt. Of course they are not going to take steps to drive crowds away. At least we have KI open. As Terpie previously stated, would you rather that it go under and close forever? This could conceivably happen considering the recession, the huge debt Cedarfair has undertaken, and the huge financial debacle of SOB. And if you want more big coasters built, how is that going to be done without big crowds? That money doesn't grow on trees.

That being said, there are steps you can take on your own if you want to minimize crowds. I find Sundays on weekends are less crowded than Saturdays if you must work during the week. Otherwise, it is always better to go on a weekday although I have noticed this summer that they are getting more crowded on the weekdays. ( Which is good from a financial standpoint.) Call the park ahead of time to see if there are any special events.

And even on crowded days, I find that the waits for lines are highly exaggerated. With the high capacity of DB, I would estimate the wait from the beginning near the train would be about an hour which isn't bad for a Saturday. At Firehawk, I have timed the wait from the entrance with both trains running at 1 hr and 15 minutes despite their sign stating 2 hours. If the queues for The Racer were half full, that is still just about a 20 minute wait.

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

Apparently I am in the wrong here for throwing out my very slight disappointment towards KI. I guess when some of the other more "popular" people say something is wrong in the park it cool, but only those people can. I apologize for stepping out of line apparently, I will just quit for the night.

[LongliveKingsCobra]

Oh lord not another Kevin guy....Look they were again just stateing their opinion. Sorry If I made you mad or anything.

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

Again like I have said before it wasnt the crowd but KI had to of known that an abnormal large crowd was going to be at the park, like they do for concerts or other events, they could give a heads up though

And even on crowded days, I find that the waits for lines are highly exaggerated. With the high capacity of DB, I would estimate the wait from the beginning near the train would be about an hour which isn't bad for a Saturday. At Firehawk, I have timed the wait from the entrance with both trains running at 1 hr and 15 minutes despite their sign stating 2 hours. If the queues for The Racer were half full, that is still just about a 20 minute wait.

Did you not read mine and rotag TR's? Firehawk was almost under the X-Base sign not it own entrance. Diamondback was all the way to the basketball games and an employee was there saying 90 mins. It about an hour just from the start of the sign about, at least it was on opening day

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

Oh lord not another Kevin guy....Look they were again just stateing their opinion. Sorry If I made you mad or anything.

Again I did not mean to start a huge debate, again this site does has the cliques and it is depressing. I was also stating my opinion so why did I get grilled by everyone? I'm not upset or angry, or ****ed off, just slightly disappointed, but you would of thought i was sueing KI the way I got grilled for posting my opinion tonight. I'm sorry for doing that

[markr]

Again like I have said before it wasnt the crowd but KI had to of known that an abnormal large crowd was going to be at the park, like they do for concerts or other events, they could give a heads up though

And even on crowded days, I find that the waits for lines are highly exaggerated. With the high capacity of DB, I would estimate the wait from the beginning near the train would be about an hour which isn't bad for a Saturday. At Firehawk, I have timed the wait from the entrance with both trains running at 1 hr and 15 minutes despite their sign stating 2 hours. If the queues for The Racer were half full, that is still just about a 20 minute wait.

Did you not read mine and rotag TR's? Firehawk was almost under the X-Base sign not it own entrance. Diamondback was all the way to the basketball games and an employee was there saying 90 mins. It about an hour just from the start of the sign about, at least it was on opening day

You never specifically stated how far the Firehawk line was, just the FOF line. And you stated DB was all the way to the basketgames across from the trains (see my quote "beginning near the train."

I and many others on this thread are just trying to give you helpful information. You complain that KI Central is cliqueish. It is not. KI Central has a wonderful bunch of people whose company and friendship has helped me to get through some very recent difficult times.

[pcc]

Ok. This was the worst trip to KI in my lifetime. Seriously. The crowds were unbearable. We parked in the last row at the park. I wish I were kidding. There were 3 parking spots left (The side near the gas station). When we finally made it through the park, the line for the Backyard BBQ spanned past Runaway Reptar.

The line for Diamondback stretched to Potato Works.

The line for Vortex was at the Scrambler.

The line for Delirium was out at the game near Festhaus..

We were there 5 hours before we could get our kids on ANY ride. We waited 2 hours for the Fairly Oddcoaster. I waited half an hour for the restroom with my youngest daughter, who almost didn't make it in time. Waited 1.5 hours for Scrambler.

Regardless of the situation, my kids had fun with what little they could do. And I got my first ever night ride on The Beast. Took from 9:30pm until 11:45pm to finally get through the line and ride. Awesome ride, I will say. However, BB was closed, so we had to walk from the front gate allllll the way to the last row to get to our vehicle. When we arrived at our vehicle, my kids read the back of our windshield. In big bold letters, it simply stated "JACKA$$" We had to get an old shirt to clean it off.

I'm glad we are going home tomorrow. I hope our trip next month fairs better.

In a few, I'll upload some pics from today's crowds.

[goofywdw]

You should be happy Kings Island is making all of this money and staying open for you. Besides, why would you go on a Saturday when it's open until midnight?

[pcc]

I'm in college full time, and my husband only gets one week off each year for vacation. We couldn't come until early Thursday morning, so we wanted to spend more than 2 days at the park. We did drive over 5 hours to get here..We've been to the park on holidays, saturdays, etc...but NEVER have I seen crowds like today. Ever.

[pcc]

Pics from today:

Coney Mall

Vortex Line

Racer Line

Adventure Express line

AE line a little later

Delirium line

Drop Tower Line

This was around 8:30pm

Delirium line

Delirium line

Even this ride had a long line :-/

[BoddaH1994]

I think FF EKU Dawg 4 Life was trying to say that he was disappointed, not necessarily angry with Kings Island. Big crowds can be frustrating, but they're also some of the best opportunities to do things that some people forget to do - like see the shows and just enjoy the atmosphere.

[pcc]

I understand the place has to make $, but it is a problem when one must wait a half hour to use the toilet.

You just couldn't enjoy yourself today. We barely had a path to walk through Rivertown. Compounded by the fact that we had a stroller, and no one wanted to move out of the way to let us through.

We decided to eat at Rivertown Junction since everything was so jam packed...well, the people in line for Diamondback would not let us through. They thought we were gonna skip line, with three small kids. We waited and waited. The lady at the cash register finally asked if we were going to dine in there, we told her yes and she made them move. Not without many boo's from other people. I mean c'mon, was it THAT bad to let a family go in a restaurant to eat?

Shows were a no go as well. KI Theater was packed to the gills.

I am not one to complain about things, especially crowds at parks. I know it can be common...but today was ridiculous. When it takes 28 minutes to walk from the front gate to your vehicle...that's sort of bad, ya know?

[StalkerChick]

Again like I have said before it wasnt the crowd but KI had to of known that an abnormal large crowd was going to be at the park, like they do for concerts or other events, they could give a heads up though

And even on crowded days, I find that the waits for lines are highly exaggerated. With the high capacity of DB, I would estimate the wait from the beginning near the train would be about an hour which isn't bad for a Saturday. At Firehawk, I have timed the wait from the entrance with both trains running at 1 hr and 15 minutes despite their sign stating 2 hours. If the queues for The Racer were half full, that is still just about a 20 minute wait.

Did you not read mine and rotag TR's? Firehawk was almost under the X-Base sign not it own entrance. Diamondback was all the way to the basketball games and an employee was there saying 90 mins. It about an hour just from the start of the sign about, at least it was on opening day

omfg.... they do warn you... They have this really big sign out in the parking lot. you know the one with the park name on it. OH! and it lights up and if special groups are there, they make them feel special and it normally flashes Welcome *insert group(s) name here* watch it sometime. I have a few pics of those, when i was there with a group. Thats normally a good warning, if you see a list of names.

and ppl aren't "riding you" (i see ppl backing up the park and giving their opinions) And you seem to keep fueling the fire, by repeating yourself or adding more negative comments every time just stating and observation.

Oh, and another thing... look at the amount of money companies such as P&G are worth compared to DG, and their employee satisfaction rate. I guarantee P&G's outranks quite a few companies int he US! In fact PG rents out lots of places. They used to do that to Jillian's in Covington when that was around. thw whole thing.... and every month they rented out the banquet hall there. They do quite a few of those. They can afford it. also, lets look at DG's statewide population. I'll use my county as an example, considering its in the bottom 4th of most populated counties and we have at least 2 (i'm thinking or 4 but for this purpose) There's 88 counties times 2 in every county d say at least 20 employees, and this isn't including maybe just over the border in KY or IN, and not even including major cities!!! OH!! and dont forget to factor in spouses or kids. the national average being a family of 4 ppl... Thats a lot of ppl.

My mom works for Copeland/Emerson and they have a company picnic there every year.. on a sat.. and the lines were always long, and this was in June. she got 4 tickets free and could purchase more at a discounted rate. Now, also these middle weeks in July are the major vacation weeks for ppl. And the new thing seems to be "stay-cations" so parents take their children local for fun (KI and CP used to be our only family vacations for a good 10 years of my life. maybe throw in a reds game or ohio caverns every other year too So yes a nice day in July on a saturday with nothing better to do... crowds will be there. It's a Sat in July! History has provedthat more than enough times

[violakat03]

Saturdays in July are always pretty insane. It's fairly normal for companies to have their picnics at KI on Saturdays in July. They've been doing it for years so anyone who's been going to the park for years should know the park will be packed on Saturdays in July.

But I've seen the park worse than that. At least it was still open when you guys got there. Bring a Friend Free day (also known as Bring a Crowd Free) in 2002 shut the park down. You want to talk about ridiculous? How about an hour wait just to get a locker in the water park? I was working that day. I arrived for my shift at around noon (started at 2) and was planning to grab a ride or two before work. At noon, Racer's queue house was full and out into the midway, past the basketball games and to around where the fudge shop is. Approximate wait, 2 hours. Moved on to Flight of Fear. Inside and outside queues full, and all the way back to the games. Yes, past The Racer lift hill, and almost into the Coney midway. Remember this is pre-Firehawk, and FOF was normally less than a 30 minute wait. Approximate wait time, 3 hours. Vortex was lined up like in the pictures pcc posted. Beast was not only out of the queue house, but past where DB's helix is now, all the way across the midway, alongside then-Swan Lake, and back to about where the restrooms are! Approximate wait, 4 to 5 hours. I headed to work early without riding a thing.

I left the park for lunch around 4 pm. The employee cafeteria was always insanely packed on busy Saturdays, so I just avoided it and hit the fast food on 741. As I returned to the park, I saw something I never thought I'd see, and have never seen again.

PARK CLOSED.

In big flashing letters on the marquee, and on temporary signs set up in front of the toll booths. Park closed due to capacity. I heard horror stories about it all day. People waiting 5 or even 6 hours for Son of Beast. Tomb Raider, the new attraction for the year, was averaging 4 hours. Even running both trains, there was an hour wait just to ride the train over to the water park. We had to set up temporary queues, including a couple switchbacks, for the locker kiosk. That's the one time I ever saw us run out of lockers! We had to send people to the auxiliary locker location out by the wave pool for an hour or two because we were out of lockers. The clean up process at the end of the night, such as putting the keys away, which normally took 10-20 minutes, took us almost 2 hours. It got to the point where the managers had to send some of us home before we finished because of minor labor laws.

Saturdays in July were always insane. They were in 2002. They are now. That is when companies have picnics and few of them rent the park. I wouldn't be surprised if Dollar General was actually one of ten or so companies there that day, they were just the biggest. That is when families whose parents work through the week are able to go. In other words, I do not go to the park on Saturdays. I usually don't even go to the park on Saturdays in pre-season because I know there's a high chance it will look like that.

[gigacoaster2k]

You want to see busy? Find my PTR from Oct. 10-12 at Cedar Point last year.. not only was it Columbus Day weekend, it was a warm sunny HalloWeekend, and a coaster club event going on.

Saturday:

HUGE line waiting to get into the park.

Completely full queues for Magnum, Power Tower, and Raptor.

MF and TTD's lines were out onto the midway even with full queues.

Iron Dragon, Corkscrew, and Blue Streak had 1 hour waits.

Maverick's line was wrapped around the queue and backed up to Chick Fil A.

There were long lines for food stands, restrooms, and even ATM machines.

I heard at one point that the overflow lots were filling up, and Raptor's wait had reached 4 hours on Saturday.

DO NOT,

I repeat,

DO. NOT. go to Cedar Point during HalloWeekends on a Saturday if you hate crowds. I thought I was going to rip my hair out.

[Dvo]

^Agreed. I've spent an entire day at CP on a Halloweekends Saturday, and only gotten on 2 roller coasters and a flat. And that's after the 8-hour drive it took me to get there. Brutal.

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

Again like I have said before it wasnt the crowd but KI had to of known that an abnormal large crowd was going to be at the park, like they do for concerts or other events, they could give a heads up though

And even on crowded days, I find that the waits for lines are highly exaggerated. With the high capacity of DB, I would estimate the wait from the beginning near the train would be about an hour which isn't bad for a Saturday. At Firehawk, I have timed the wait from the entrance with both trains running at 1 hr and 15 minutes despite their sign stating 2 hours. If the queues for The Racer were half full, that is still just about a 20 minute wait.

Did you not read mine and rotag TR's? Firehawk was almost under the X-Base sign not it own entrance. Diamondback was all the way to the basketball games and an employee was there saying 90 mins. It about an hour just from the start of the sign about, at least it was on opening day

omfg.... they do warn you... They have this really big sign out in the parking lot. you know the one with the park name on it. OH! and it lights up and if special groups are there, they make them feel special and it normally flashes Welcome *insert group(s) name here* watch it sometime. I have a few pics of those, when i was there with a group. Thats normally a good warning, if you see a list of names.

and ppl aren't "riding you" (i see ppl backing up the park and giving their opinions) And you seem to keep fueling the fire, by repeating yourself or adding more negative comments every time just stating and observation.

Oh, and another thing... look at the amount of money companies such as P&G are worth compared to DG, and their employee satisfaction rate. I guarantee P&G's outranks quite a few companies int he US! In fact PG rents out lots of places. They used to do that to Jillian's in Covington when that was around. thw whole thing.... and every month they rented out the banquet hall there. They do quite a few of those. They can afford it. also, lets look at DG's statewide population. I'll use my county as an example, considering its in the bottom 4th of most populated counties and we have at least 2 (i'm thinking or 4 but for this purpose) There's 88 counties times 2 in every county d say at least 20 employees, and this isn't including maybe just over the border in KY or IN, and not even including major cities!!! OH!! and dont forget to factor in spouses or kids. the national average being a family of 4 ppl... Thats a lot of ppl.

My mom works for Copeland/Emerson and they have a company picnic there every year.. on a sat.. and the lines were always long, and this was in June. she got 4 tickets free and could purchase more at a discounted rate. Now, also these middle weeks in July are the major vacation weeks for ppl. And the new thing seems to be "stay-cations" so parents take their children local for fun (KI and CP used to be our only family vacations for a good 10 years of my life. maybe throw in a reds game or ohio caverns every other year too So yes a nice day in July on a saturday with nothing better to do... crowds will be there. It's a Sat in July! History has provedthat more than enough times

O yeah thanks for warning people after they have already wasted gas to get there, yeah that helpful and nice of them.

How is me giving my opinion on my ONE bad park opinion adding fuel to the fire?

You guys are telling me that saturdays in July are bad, BUT I have been going on saturdays in every month since 1994 and nobody is believeing me when I say that this was the worst I had ever seen the park. Everyone else can't get it through their heads, even after a few people backed up my claims, that this was n abnormal crowd even for a saturday in July.

Again you act like that I thought DG was a small company and wouldn't bring a crowd, NO I never knew it was DG day until we had driven 30 minutes to the park.

Again I'm sorry for posting about my ONE BAD PARK EXPERIENCE. It clear I was in the wrong, not sure what I did wrong, but whatever it was I'm sorry. I will stick to facts for now on and leave my apparently worthless opinion out of it

[The Interpreter]

It is not true that no one believes you. I, for instance, do. And I understand your frustration and disappointment. It could be even worse. And for many it is. Imagine, for example, if you were a family of four who drove 10 hours for your one day at the park. Perhaps your only getaway for the entire summer. And you paid full price for your tickets, and your spouse and your two kids are both livid with you, the park fan. Next year, when it comes time to plan the vacation...you will say Kings Island. They will likely say "No." "Where else?"

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

Thank you terpy, i do understand that there are a few people, like you, who understand what I went through.

[Touchdown]

I also believe you. I think the main thing most of us are trying to tell you, is that even though you had good luck on Saturday up until this weekend you should expect this every time you go on a Saturday (because you should always plan for the worst case scenario while hoping for the best.)

If you want to drastically reduce your chances of running into a crowd like this you should choose to not go on a Saturday. If you can only go weekends, Sundays are a much better choice, in fact you can sometimes luck out and have the park be dead on a Sunday.

[RollerNut]

Would you complain if it was 10,000 children from Make A wish or some other equivelent?

Yes, I would likely complain even more...I worked Make-A-Wish day at Carowinds in 2005. I understand days like this are money in their pockets, but comeon. Days like this(Overly crowded) are part of the reason some people to come back to Carowinds(and I imagine KI). At Disney, tourist expect the park to be crowded, the lines long, and will stay all day. At Carowinds, a regular park guest may get annoyed and leave. How hard is it to put on the website and sign out front of the park, either "Welcome, _____Employees" or "Picnic Area Rented - Expect long lines". Better yet, since the pass holders are the bread and butter of the Paramount Parks, send out cards to season pass holders that "For your future enjoyment, ____ day is a "black out" day due to Special Event, no pass holders will admitted. We apologize for the inconvenience, and look for to your next visit."

[Dvo]

So should I hope for a list of 50 "blackout" days throughout the summer where I can't go to the park because a large company happens to be attending that day? I think I should at least have the choice to go and fight the crowd, which is the way it is right now. Imagine if KIC becomes a rather large community, and we decide to have a group outing to the park for a day (similar to the gathering in June). Should KI close the gates to season pass holders just because of that? I don't think so.

[Fear the Four]

That's really horrible. Those lines are too long to ride anything. I would of been frustrated just like you maybe even more because that's just ridiculous. I would of left the park at noon. Just go during the week the lines are very short maybe like a 15 minute wait for Diamondback.

[KIfan1980]

So I had the night to sleep on it, and the more I think about it the more I understand the point FF EKU is trying to make here that I think is being missed by some. Kings Island has a fine line to walk with attendance - you want it as high as possible (profit), but you also don't want it to be so crowded that people do not enjoy their day and may not want to return.

While it was possible for many to enjoy the day, despite the crowds, and while it probably will not stop most people from KIC who went yesterday from returning (and/or buying a Gold Pass again next year), I think the insane crowds yesterday could impact the park more than the extra $ made yesterday makes worthwhile. I met non Dollar General people from Tennessee, West Virginia, and Canada yesterday that may look at the trip as not worth repeating and there were likely local families that looked at the weather and decided to go to KI that won't do that again.

I'll again say I don't have a solution - but think there is a valid point here that management at KI/CF might want to look at as an opportunity area to improve upon in the future.