Frustrating Afternoon (6-21-2010)

[tlvtr]

This is my first post on this forum, and I hate to start off with a negative report, but I just wanted to vent.

I took Monday June 21st off work with the plan to spend the entire day at KI and BB. My wife had to go into work for a couple hours unexpectedly so we weren't able to make it for ERT and it started raining around noon when we planned on leaving. We didn't arrive until about 3 as we waited for the rain to die down a bit. When we arrived there was just a little sprinkle and to our delight the parking lot seemed pretty empty. The Gold Pass parking lot has never been as empty as it was at that time and walking around the park it seemed clear that attendance was very light at the time. I've specifically read on KI's site that they recommend coming when the weather is bad because wait times will be shorter and we were expecting a lot of walk-on rides and short waits. To our shock, the line for The Racer was spilling out of the front gate, and wrapped around a couple of the cue lanes. We walked to Flight of Fear and the inside was PACKED. From what the quick look I took inside it looked like all the cue lanes were being used! We turned around to try Adventure Express, which was closed and then tried Fight deck, also closed. Frustrated, we went to Invertigo (which we had seen running from the parking lot) and waited in line. Unlike the other rides we had walked past, the line here was pretty normal—only about 30 minutes. After a fun ride in the front seat we walked around hoping things were opening up more (the rain had stopped by the time we got in line for Invertigo). Frustratingly Flight Deck, Adventure and Back Lot were all still closed. The Racer had just one train running on the red side, no blue train at all. When Adventure finally opened, they only had one train running.

We rode a couple carnival rides, got a pretzel from KI Pretzel and finally the park started operating at a normal capacity. After 2 hours at the park The Racer and Adventure were finally running all trains and Back Lot opened up (we gave up on Flight Deck). We eventually made it over to Diamondback and had a surprisingly short wait for that. We were assigned row 16, our first time in the back and had a blast! The line for The Vortex never got shorter, so we skipped that altogether. Ultimately we got to ride several rides and enjoyed ourselves, but decided to call it a night at 7pm.

I hate to sound negative, but I was surprised and frustrated by the first 2 hours. The rides that were actually running had such low capacity the lines were outrageous. These lines are with what seemed like half the normal amount of people in the park. The most frustrating part of this is that KI's website specifically says a day like yesterday is a good day to come for short wait times, but then when there are fewer people in the park they shut down rides and run fewer trains. If someone can enlighten me with a good reason for such a situation to give me some perspective, I welcome it.

My wife and I are first time Gold Pass members this year and in all we've been loving it. This has been the only poor experience we've had at the park in the 10-12 short visits we've made so far this year. I was also happy to discover that the sewage smell in the tunnels on Adventure Express seems to have been addressed, so there are some positives to report.

[Dbfan]

Sorry to hear you had a bad trip.

Its my guess Racer and FOF were busy becasue both those queues shelter you from the rain.

And Welcome to KIC!

[The Interpreter]

a. Vortex's line moves very quickly...almost always.

b. When it has been raining/is raining, Cedar Fair nowadays runs coasters in rain mode and/or removes trains. It's a safety issue for them, and the way they do business...

c. Rides like Flight of Fear, being sheltered, will of course draw long lines...

[CoastersRZ]

Which is really kind of ironic for a company that seems to obsess so much about capacity. And if it is raining, you will only see ONE train running on The Beast. That makes for a horrendous line, regardless of the crowds in the park. I understand they do if for safety issues, but The Beast is a big enough ride that I would think they could develop a system to run at least two trains when it is raining.

[KI FANATIC 37]

^ Yes I would like that too! But if its a ling line or having a chance to be hurt on a ride...I take the line.

Well sorry you had a bad trip...hope you have some better ones soon!

Welcome to KIC!

[IndyGuy4KI]

I also had a frustrating time Monday at KI. Living in Indy I had a total of 4 hrs of driving and took the kids for the first time this season. My son Korbin enjoyed the park for about 3 hrs before it started storming. The 3 month old did enjoy her ride on Boo Blasters! This was in no way KI's fault due to weather man reporting nothing about this storm, but I spent a lot of hrs driving to get rained out. My son had a good time, but wish he could have gotten more rides in.

[Mr. Coastermania]

sorry about the bad luck.weather is a bit crazy this year.I know they say try to come when there is rain and the crowds tend to be lighter but that is not always true.This is just a stat and people can do anything on any given day or time.It's just a chance we all take when heading over on a wet day.

[tlvtr]

If there are legitimate safety concerns that's fine. I think they shouldn't encourage you to come on a rainy day if they need to reduce capacity so much.

Thanks for replying and shedding some more light on the situation. I'm a lightweight compared to most people here. I only have 3 total rides on Diamondback so far. They've all been terrifying, but I can't wait for more.