PREMiERdrum Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Kings Island, Ohio – Matthew A. Ouimet, recently named President of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, will be visiting Kings Island Wednesday, July 13.Ouimet is a 20-year veteran of the amusement park and hospitality industry, of which 17 years were spent with the Walt Disney Company. During his tenure with the global entertainment conglomerate, he had the opportunity to work in a wide range of business lines with increasing levels of responsibility. Highlights of his tenure at Disney include serving as: • Senior vice president, finance and business development, and chief financial officer of the Disney Development Company, in which he was responsible for the financial management of Disney’s resort, theme park and corporate real estate projects in Florida, California and France. • President of Disney Cruise Line, where his team built the most successful family cruise product in the industry. • President of the Disneyland Resort, where he and his team developed and implemented a comprehensive strategic plan that resulted in significantly improved and sustained performance for Disneyland’s 50th anniversary and beyond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI FANATIC 37 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Its good to see him already visiting the parks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Wow, that was quick! It's nice to see someone who cares about the parks as much as he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TylerRider Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Yes! I am going Wednesday!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Someone PLEASE direct him toward the Crypt. Please. The man needs to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire-Beast-OF FEAR Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Anyone who is there Wednesday Please Direct him around the park and show him the "slight" flaws of the park Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexican Eric Bischoff Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Someone PLEASE direct him toward the Crypt. Please. The man needs to see it. I agree. Maybe he'll see it, ride it and then finally be the person who removes that eyesore from Rivertown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatar Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Anyone who is there Wednesday Please Direct him around the park and show him the "slight" flaws of the park Lets not! How about showing him the potential Kings Island has and letting him know there is a large season pass base who would love to have more reasons to visit more often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyGuy4KI Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Anyone who is there Wednesday Please Direct him around the park and show him the "slight" flaws of the park Lets not! How about showing him the potential Kings Island has and letting him know there is a large season pass base who would love to have more reasons to visit more often. I have to agree with Jesse. The small things will come in time. Secondly, if he is a good CEO he is not going to come in and change a lot of things the first year he is in his position. You have to get your feet wet, find out what is working and not working and then make improvements from there. I would be wiling to bet that we will not see many changes to the CF parks until the 2013 season at the earliest and that is if there is a lot of things he wants to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Oh, I don't think it will take that long. In fact, it already hasn't Terp, who sometimes borders on saying too much (and who doesn't want to throw anyone for a loop, especially not Jeffrey...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKIFlyer Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 How about we leave him alone and let him explore the park as he sees fit. He has a proven track record of seeing the problems and fixing them. Let's give him a chance to do what he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofbeast214(v2.0) Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Anyone who is there Wednesday Please Direct him around the park and show him the "slight" flaws of the park drinks and food first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BavarianBeatle Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Anyone who is there Wednesday Please Direct him around the park and show him the "slight" flaws of the park Lets not! How about showing him the potential Kings Island has and letting him know there is a large season pass base who would love to have more reasons to visit more often. In the end, the thing that will be best for the park is if this man sees both the good and the bad! And when it comes to the bad, if you get his ear, provide constructive criticism, not just "this sucks, get rid of it." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofbeast214(v2.0) Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 i think food and drinks first then a official decision on SOB then Crypt improvements and then Backlot and then Invertigo repainted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 I think before all is said and done you will see far more systemic, cultural, transformational changes than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 decision on SOB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Every generation of posters thinks they're the first, eh? Anyone thinking "the world's largest bonfire" might be a fun world record to break? I haven't heard that one in a while! (Not picking on you, Titan! I've just been here long enough to see everyone and their mother come up with a Pun of Beast). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofbeast214(v2.0) Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Every generation of posters thinks they're the first, eh? Anyone thinking "the world's largest bonfire" might be a fun world record to break? I haven't heard that one in a while! (Not picking on you, Titan! I've just been here long enough to see everyone and their mother come up with a Pun of Beast). The real question is who is truly the first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 And who is truly the last? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagoda Gift Shop Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 You guys are crazy. You do realize he is probably going just to meet the front office staff, right? I would be surprised if he spent more than 15 minutes walking around. I mean, he doesn't start until January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 You guys are crazy. You do realize he is probably going just to meet the front office staff, right? I would be surprised if he spent more than 15 minutes walking around. I mean, he doesn't start until January. He doesn't? To quote Cedar Fair's press release: Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN) today announced that Matthew A. Ouimet has been named president of the Company, effective immediately. Ouimet, 53, will succeed Dick Kinzel, 70, as chief executive officer, who will retire upon the expiration of his contract on January 3, 2012. Even if he were in no official position till January, I would view waiting until then to visit the parks MUCH stranger than visiting them ahead of his acquisition of the role... Meet the front office staff? Why? Don't you think that he wants to visit the park he is now in charge of? Perhaps not to queue up for every ride, but to get a sense of the patrons, the atmosphere, the attitudes, the employees? Mr. Scheid does it. Mr. Helbig does it. Mr. Kinzel does it. Why should Mr. Ouimet decide himself too large-and-in-charge to give a darn about daily operation? I don't think he does... This is a pivitol time for him as he takes over. To become CEO of a company and then look into its day-to-day operation is - pardon the expression - ass backwards. He will soon be the big dog at Cedar Fair's parks. He should be able to know which one "Kings Island" is when it's brought up, and to know what it looks like, who goes, what they want, and what they do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgtoad67 Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Not to sound overfanboyish, but even if he does just meet front office people, Son of Beast is definitely looming over the park in a big way, and it's hard not to notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendrick Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Very excited to hear what he has to say about our park! I'm going to Kings Island tomorrow, but only for a few hours. I figured while I'm in the area, why not stop by? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagoda Gift Shop Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Yeah, that is true that he is "officially" in the position right now. I guess I just assumed that he won't get to make any real decisions/progress until Mr. Kinzel is gone in January. To do so any earlier would seem a little rash as well. Meet the front office staff? Why? Don't you think that he wants to visit the park he is now in charge of? Perhaps not to queue up for every ride, but to get a sense of the patrons, the atmosphere, the attitudes, the employees? Mr. Scheid does it. Mr. Helbig does it. Mr. Kinzel does it. That sounds like very Kinzelish thinking. Mr. Ouimet should care more about the front office staff than he should about anything in the park. They are the ones who run the park daily and they are the ones who should have the ideas for how to make it better. I'm sure Mr. Ouimet wants to learn all about Kings Island, and he should learn it from the people who are in control of it everyday. Obviously, some things are better learned by taking a tour, but if I'm a CEO, I want my managers to be making the decisions. Why should Mr. Ouimet decide himself too large-and-in-charge to give a darn about daily operation? For too long the CEO of Cedar Fair has been way too involved in daily operations. It is rumored that Mr. Kinzel used to demand yesterday's attendance figures for Cedar Point on his desk every morning. That level of detail is WAY too low for the CEO of a company to be spending time on. I'm not saying that he should be staring at the stock price all day; he certainly needs to know about atmosphere, what people think, etc. But, the CEO of a company should not be concerned with how many hot dogs have been sold today at hot dog stand 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 I just think there are many, many valuable things that could be learned on a park level and applied at a corporate level. Perhaps it would do Mr. Ouimet some good to walk along the esplanade from the park's sign on 71 to the front gate around lunchtime. Maybe it would do some good for him to stand at the exit of The Crypt, or to just sit on a bench and listen to comments about Son of Beast by passersby. I'm not saying he should obsess over individual parks or rides, but when he hears a proposal for a change at Kings Island, I think he ought to know the layout of the park, the demographic, the attitudes of its visitors, and the rides already present at the park. In other words, when he hears "Michigan's Adventure" vs. "Kings Dominion" vs. "Dorney Park," he ought to have a very clear image of the park, the patrons, and the products. Maybe he needn't have an intimate knowledge of the park (have you ever heard Kinzel specifically speak about anything at Kings Island, be it The Beast or Diamondback? I don't think I have...), but he should know what each park looks like beyond their main offices. I don't think that the CEO should need a tour guide to lead him from one ride to another in a park, I guess. After a year or so, he should know how to navigate "his" parks, and should feel comfortable that he knows what it's like to visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarketingExpress Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 You guys are crazy. You do realize he is probably going just to meet the front office staff, right? I would be surprised if he spent more than 15 minutes walking around. I mean, he doesn't start until January. Even if your statement was true, he can't get a good glimpse of the regular operation in January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagoda Gift Shop Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Oh I'm glad he is visiting, and you are right, now is the best time to visit to get a good "feel" for the park. I just find some of the earlier posts about The Crypt and SOB humorous. If I'm KI, I would take him to see the newly renovated Coney Mall, as well as the wildly popular Dinosaurs Alive attraction. I would show him The Crypt on his 3rd or 4th visit to the park. Remember that KI is competing with the other parks in the chain for funding for capital improvements, etc. First impressions are important, right? I certainly hope that Mr. Ouimet falls in love with KI. I wonder if the Peanuts area of the park will get emphasis considering it has won so many awards and is a big draw for families. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIfan73 Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Oh, I don't think it will take that long. In fact, it already hasn't Terp, who sometimes borders on saying too much (and who doesn't want to throw anyone for a loop, especially not Jeffrey...) This got me to thinking about my own personal experience of new leadership takes over an organization. Usually there are a few quick, noticeable changes very very soon after the new person takes over... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyGuy4KI Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 (have you ever heard Kinzel specifically speak about anything at Kings Island, be it The Beast or Diamondback? I don't think I have...) Dude, you made a response 2 posts after the podcast in the SOB thread was made (found at this link http://www.KICentral...ndpost&p=429884) that has Kinzel talking about several parks including KI. Would that not count as you hearing Kinzel talk about something at KI? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Right, but I'd call that a company issue that he's tackling. What I mean is, the man has glowing things to say about Cedar Point. He speaks of it often, and references individual rides as he favorites. He talks about his history there and how often he visits himself, and his favorite food stands. He raves about Millennium Force and gets photographed while on it. Have you ever heard him rave about a Kings Island ride? I mean, maybe he has. Maybe I just haven't heard it. I suppose I'm genuinely asking: did anyone hear him happily talk about Diamondback in 2009? Has he ever voluntarily discussed something about Kings Island, or any other park? I imagine the man's had more positive to say publicly about Mean Streak than he has The Beast... Regardless, the rides are turning. Didn't Ouimet call Knott's a crown jewel or something? Sure, he's intimately familiar with that park from heading up Disneyland Resort for so long, but my understanding of that is that he sees the value in its history and theme and family-friendly atmosphere. Maybe parks like Knott's and Kings Dominion really should be the "jewels." They are special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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