Creed Bratton Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Knoebels may have a problem with it as well. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vortex lover Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Just saw a new KK commercial for Storm Chaser, they used Medusa for half of the commercial! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creed Bratton Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Would love to see it. I don't think I'll be seeing any Kentucky Kingdom commercials in Columbus. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldiesmann Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 We likely won't be seeing any in Cincinnati either given what happened the last time they tried advertising in this area. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 What's happening in Mason now? Terp, who likes the Socratic method... 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeastFarmer Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Exactly, The Interpreter. I have no idea what is going to come of all the construction up there, but Kings Island pretty much has to respond to the recent additions at KK and HW. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekidd33 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 KI doesn't have to respond to KK or HW. Quite frankly, nothing short of "Disney's Cincinnati Adventure" would be something KI has to respond to. Under its current ownership, Kentucky Kingdom will never be a viable threat to Kings Island. Holiday World, at one time, was headed down the path of being a genuine threat to to consistently poach visitors from Indy and Louisville. Now... Cedar Fair may have decided that the best use of a sizeable chunck of their CapEx budget is to add a large scale attraction to KI, but to act like if the park doesn't get a Giga/RMC/GCI/actual live dinosaurs/etc. means that everyone in the tri-state area looking to visit an amusement park is suddenly going to head for Louisville or Santa Claus is wrong. Speaking strictly of the Indianapolis market, Kings Island is THE established amusement park option. While Holiday World has (had?) definitely gained a foothold in the area, many people still see it as a water park. To many locals here Kentucky Kingdom is "that place that used to have the Terminator ride." (An actual quote from a co-worker.) TL:DR - Kings Island is the established player in the market. Nothing that KK or HW could do (for the forseeable future) would be enough to shift that balance. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MantisMan Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 But not the same can be said for areas outside Indy......especially to the South. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vortexfan Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 KI doesn't have to respond to KK or HW. Quite frankly, nothing short of "Disney's Cincinnati Adventure" would be something KI has to respond to. Under its current ownership, Kentucky Kingdom will never be a viable threat to Kings Island. Holiday World, at one time, was headed down the path of being a genuine threat to to consistently poach visitors from Indy and Louisville. Now... Resting on your laurels is never a good business strategy... 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekidd33 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 ^And that's certainly not what I was suggesting. Obviously capital improvements will need to be made year over year. I was saying that KI doesn't need a another $20+ million coaster to compete with either KK or HW in their current iterations. ^^That certainly may be true, but the population in what the Census Bureau deems Southern Indiana is less than the Indy metro area alone (1.3 million to just over 2 million). Not to say that 1.3 million potential customers is in any way a small number. However these are largely rural, poorer areas (I realize not all of southern IN falls into this category) though with fewer people that can afford things like amusement park trips. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MantisMan Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 However these are largely rural, poorer areas (I realize not all of southern IN falls into this category) though with fewer people that can afford things like amusement park trips. Oh, my bad.....not sure what I was thinking. We poor folk ain't got no money to be going to no park. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcwizard13 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 But not the same can be said for areas outside Indy......especially to the South. Indeed. When my scout troop went to a summer camp in Indiana, we stopped for lunch at a couple of neighboring fast food restaurants. One was handing out KI coupons, the other was handing out HW coupons. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeastFarmer Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 My point was this: Both HW and KK have changed the market demographics. Neither one is in any way of the scale or dominance of KI. But they have taken away market share. For instance: I visited KI 26 times last summer. I went to KK 5 or 6. Had KK not been in existence, I probably would have visited KI 2 or 3 more times. And each time I visit KI, I spend at least $10, so that is $20-$30 in revenue that the park missed on. Not much, but what if 1000 other people did the same? $20,000.00. I have no idea how many people do this, but I would guess that the reopening of KK and the Thunderbird coaster at HW has taken some of the pie away from KI, enough to warrant what looks like a sizeable attraction. On another note, and I could be WAY off here, because I am no fan of water parks: But the water parks at the other two parks seem superior to Soak City. I was at Splashin' Safari for Holliwood Nights, and walked through Hurricane Bay to get to T3, and they seemed cleaner, better laid out and nicer than SC. Maybe that is why SC got some attention for this year. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoF96" Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 ^ yes, this is why both of these smaller parks make at least some viable threat to Kings Islands business. Let's say you live in nowhere Indiana which happens to be positioned exactly 2 hours away from any of the three parks. It's 95 degrees outside and you know you want to go somewhere that will keep you cool. Are you going to opt for SC which the one time I tried there was a long line for even the lazy river which frankly is ridiculous. Or are you going to opt for SS or HB? Both of which offer a wide variety of choices and if needed, could keep one occupied for the day. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 I have yet to see any ads in the paper touting discounted admission to KK for residents of IN, OH and TN. I did however, see a billboard promoting KK 2 day tickets for $29.99, but with the added incentives of free parking and free drinks. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joncars05 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 KI doesn't have to respond to KK or HW.... Speaking strictly of the Indianapolis market, Kings Island is THE established amusement park option. I'll politely disagree with you. KK is agressively marketing to the general public in the Indianapolis area. Even If they add 50,000 in attendance this year that is 50,000 people that may not make an extra trip to KI. Add in the fact that HW has been averaging well on 1,000,000 people in attendance. This is an amazing fact due to HW's location. From Indianapolis it takes 3 hours to get to HW and only two hours to get to KI and KK. This doesn't even take into effect that HW probably saw a considerable bump in attendance from the addition of Thunderbird. you can see that KI needs to stay sharp. The one positive is that KI are a part of a chain that includes one of the most popular parks in the world so KI has a clear capital advantage over KK and HW. But HW is not the small park is was even just 10 years ago. They have plenty of revenue to spend and are constantly improving the park with additions of rides, changing menu items, or even the addition of Halloween events. KK is, as mentioned before, aggressively reaching into HW and KI territory trying to boost attendance. They have added two brand new coasters and revamped two others in less than 3 years. They have improved their water park as well. I feel like most moves they have made have been very positive and have been enough to pick off visitors from both KI and HW. Trust me Cedar Fair has definitely noticed what both KK and HW have been doing and will respond accordingly. I mentioned this a few posts back but with KK adding a well received RMC and HW adding a $22+ million B&M coaster, competition is heating up in the tri-state area. The winners of this competition will be us, the consumer. Competing parks keep everyone on their toes and make all parks involved step their game up. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekidd33 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 I live in a northern suburb of Indy and I too have yet to see any form of advertising for the Kingdom. Competition is great for the consumer, no doubt about that. I'd love to see a full scale tri-state 'attraction war' continue for years to come. It would seem unlikely though that the other two parks could match KI attraction for attraction given what we know of their current financial situations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoF96" Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Just remember though, adding the larger attraction may backfire on Kings Island, for example many people prefer the Classic HUSS Frisbee vs the Giant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medford Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 I would imagine that its not "us" that Ki is worried about, ie the person who attends an amusement park multiple times a year. KI has a larger collection of rides and more variations, if you are at a park on a "regular" basis, your going to be at KI more often (all else being equal, like distance, which it rarely is) then KK or HW. Sure new attractions there may cause you a few less trips to KI, but that is not their big dent. What they are likely worried about, is the family that makes 1, maybe 2 trips a year to amusement parks in that area. They see a well recieved RMC or new launched winged coaster and think, why not try that this year instead and never make it to Mason. And once that happens, well maybe they don't come back next season either. Its why I expect KI will install a Giga with one of their next major coasters. KK can't build one (height restrictions), not sure if HW has the resources (though the 22.5 mil spent recently may say otherwise). It would be one more ride that neither park could offer and help keep that family coming back at least once. If the current construction is indeed a coaster, I personally am hoping for a GCI, however, the Giga makes most sense for both the short term and the long term based upon the likelyhood that neither KK or HW builds one anytime soon. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Lizard Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 I don't agree that a Giga is likely to bring the non-enthusiast once-or-twice-a-season family visitors, anyway. Most would be too terrified to ride it. The average non-enthusiast is scared enough of DB, Banshee, and Beast. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vortex lover Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 One of the ways I can see a Giga bringing in more attendance is advertising. A Giga is way easier to advertise then a woodie! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoF96" Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 KK cannot build a Giga, however there is a spot that is open that belongs to the Kingdom that is just tall enough for them to build a Hyper. Would that along with the RMC be enough to draw visitors from KI? Maybe, especially if they are able to continue the $60 season pass. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy11 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 I don't agree that a Giga is likely to bring the non-enthusiast once-or-twice-a-season family visitors, anyway. Most would be too terrified to ride it. The average non-enthusiast is scared enough of DB, Banshee, and Beast.Hmm... That's odd. All of my non-enthusiast friends who only go to Carowinds once or twice a year (Carowinds is about 3 hours away form my city), enjoy and praise Fury 325. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vortex lover Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 For some reason I can't quote FoF96 but I was talking about KI not KK. But it would be cool to see a Mako style Hyper at KK. But isn't that spot that they can get 200 ft by Deep Water Dive? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoF96" Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 If you get on the Giant Wheel and look towards the water park the area is closer to where Adventure River is. They own all of the land behind the current water attractions which is currently an abandoned parking lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldiesmann Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Just remember though, adding the larger attraction may backfire on Kings Island, for example many people prefer the Classic HUSS Frisbee vs the Giant. I'm sure KI knows what they're doing here. Their last two large-scale attractions (Diamondback and Banshee) have both been huge hits. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoF96" Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 What about WindSeeker? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freaks76 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 ^Ehhh, I don't know that I'd call it a "hit". More so earlier in its life. Or now in a strong wind. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldiesmann Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 WindSeeker is popular to some extent, but not nearly as much as Banshee and Diamondback. It also wasn't as much of a large scale attraction as Diamondback and especially Banshee. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoF96" Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 As far as what KI spends on attractions, certainly not a large installation, however a 300+ ft tower that cost several million and has significant downtime isn't doing them any favors. I had 5 visits last season, WindSeeker was not operational for any of them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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