Kings Island 2015 Discussion Thread

[TheCandyManCan]

Your definition or a "Stack" is right. Anytime the train is stopped in the safety brake, it is stacked. That brake is meant as a means for blocking, not as a holding brake. See Magnum on this, quite similar concepts in operations. It's not fun or encouraged to see Magnum sit there on the safety brake before the transfer table.

 

Limiting Fast Lane should not be a major issue. The job of crowd control is exactly that. Keeping two people per row is generally not difficult. I never understood why Kings Island stops the main line and lets Fast Lane walk through, then opens the main line. Let the main line keep filling the station and taking available rows, while the person at crowd checks bands and admits those with the correct bands to the platform. If a guest needs to be checked for height/issues, it's quite easy to look down the ramp and stop the line if needed. This delay back & fourth causes an issue with empty rows, and then causes a hustle, and abrupt stops in the line. Steady calm flow is key. Keep the station full, keep the rows full, pair up when and if you can, problem solved.

 

The newest ride in the park isn't going off of Fast Lane Plus. Part of the marketing & strategy is to get people to spend money to get the new ride in. They'd be fools to lower the money spent to get Fast Lane access on any new ride that still hasn't provided anywhere near it's ROI yet. That isn't happening, at all. Again, the Fast Lane isn't a problem regarding operations. People entering the queues and Fast Lane guests who enter the station waiting behind station gates has nothing to do with a train sitting on a safety brake. 

 

No loose articles would be nice, and I'd love to see this method adopted. However, I will go out and say this: In the past with bins, the ride rocked out numbers, pushed up right at capacity, and kept trains moving. Yes we have seatbelts now, but I refuse to even come close to believing that's a major issue, especially when you have literally the easiest restraints in the market to work with. The first year with seatbelts I could understand being confusion and some difficulty to relearn what was just turned into muscle memory by that point in the season, or especially for returning crew members. However, we're a full year in with these belts at this point. How to efficiently and safely work this restraint should be cakewalk at this point. The bins do increase dispatch times, but generally there are far worse things in terms of dispatch intervals.

 

Here's some last minute things to consider. We notice the stacking issue, for years now evidently. 

 

1. Management hasn't corrected or worked on the issue, clearly

2. A new training regiment, IROC, was implemented which changed many things in terms of operations, many for the worse

3. Kings Island already had added extra filler to it's SOP compared to other parks (ready, clear, station clear, all clear, etc.)

4. Lackluster crews of minors. I know the parks can't staff 18+ in all areas of the park in terms of operations. I'm happy enough that only adults are the only ones in controls at least this year, that's a beautiful improvement. How many times have people said on here that employees are lethargic, or don't have pep in their step, or seem to be preoccupied.

 

The bottom line is, management is following **** poor SOP's created by a third party auditing company, mixed in with some extra KI exclusive filler, and they don't care to correct the issue. I know they see our forums and see these posts. The Diamondstack moniker has existed for quite some time now and I have yet to see any acknowledgement or correction over the past few years. This is a management level issue. Not a bins, not a ride, not a seatbelt. It all stems from park leadership. Change starts top down at Cedar Fair, and in this area, I haven't seen a single thing.

[thoe124]

Just wondering did anyone else see the skunk by Delirium today?

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[jcgoble3]

Saturday night, the skunk was at the White Water Canyon exit.

Either there's more than one, or he sure gets around.

[Italian Job 2005]

Could someone enlighten me as to what IROC is?

[Thrill_Biscuit]

International Race Of Champions. A Camaro one-off of the mid 1980s.

[kblanken]

Have you ever played the game in school where people alternate turns, each sequentially louder, shout a dirty word? Take that concept, and apply it to brainstorming 'safety concepts' to perform on rides.
Then imagine that somehow that game is turned into something viewed as considered a credible way to give the illusion of safety///


(oh, and to re-write the rules of a terpyism, I'll say that anything I just mentioned probably has nothing to do with anything that was or was not written above my post, regarding anything that does or doesn't not really not exist)

[jcgoble3]

Could someone enlighten me as to what IROC is?

International Race Of Champions. A Camaro one-off of the mid 1980s.

I've also seen IROC used in reference to Cedar Fair ride op training recently. I'm guessing that's what he meant.

[BeeastFarmer]

Heading to the park today with a friend and her teenage son.  Wish us luck!

 

Hopefully the restrooms will be in better shape than last week.

 

Finally,  saw I bad a bacteria mat in my refill cup from 2 weeks ago.  (I had left it in the garage, it had about 1" of drink left).

 

Fortunately, I had saved the straw from my shriveled Banshee cup and have some Clorox on hand,

[gad198]

The newest ride in the park isn't going off of Fast Lane Plus. Part of the marketing & strategy is to get people to spend money to get the new ride in. They'd be fools to lower the money spent to get Fast Lane access on any new ride that still hasn't provided anywhere near it's ROI yet. That isn't happening, at all. Again, the Fast Lane isn't a problem regarding operations. People entering the queues and Fast Lane guests who enter the station waiting behind station gates has nothing to do with a train sitting on a safety brake. 

 

KI may never switch Banshee and Diamondback on Fast Lane/Fast Lane Plus due to financial reasons, but if they want to back up the rhetoric about minimizing the Fast Lane effect on standby lines they need to strongly consider this as an option.  I'm guessing that I've seen 3 to 4 times more Fast Lane guests going through the Diamondback queue versus the Banshee queue.  The key reason for this IMO is that the list of attractions on regular Fast Lane - outside of Diamondback - is just OK.  What's the next best ride on the regular Fast Lane after Diamondback?  Delirium?  Backlot?  Invertigo?  None of those other rides are nearly as popular as Diamondback, ergo, it draws the most Fast Lane guests.  Switching Banshee and Diamondback on the Fast Lane system will divert a decent number of those Fast Lane guests to a ride that's better equipped to handle more guests, both Fast Laners and standby.  

 

No loose articles would be nice, and I'd love to see this method adopted. However, I will go out and say this: In the past with bins, the ride rocked out numbers, pushed up right at capacity, and kept trains moving. Yes we have seatbelts now, but I refuse to even come close to believing that's a major issue, especially when you have literally the easiest restraints in the market to work with. The first year with seatbelts I could understand being confusion and some difficulty to relearn what was just turned into muscle memory by that point in the season, or especially for returning crew members. However, we're a full year in with these belts at this point. How to efficiently and safely work this restraint should be cakewalk at this point. The bins do increase dispatch times, but generally there are far worse things in terms of dispatch intervals.

 

I agree with everything here.

 

The bottom line is, management is following **** poor SOP's created by a third party auditing company, mixed in with some extra KI exclusive filler, and they don't care to correct the issue. I know they see our forums and see these posts. The Diamondstack moniker has existed for quite some time now and I have yet to see any acknowledgement or correction over the past few years. This is a management level issue. Not a bins, not a ride, not a seatbelt. It all stems from park leadership. Change starts top down at Cedar Fair, and in this area, I haven't seen a single thing.

 

Interesting points about the operating procedures.  I was at Six Flags Great America in Chicago twice during the past week.  We got there before opening on Wednesday and booked it straight back to Goliath.  We were given a ticket with a number (similar to the numbers you receive if you're waiting at a deli) that had to be turned in order to ride.  We were given 108 and 109, so we were the 108th and 109th people to enter the line that day.  We were out on the 8th train and it took us 25 minutes.  That's 3 minutes per dispatch!!  The reason for the super-long dispatch times is due to the asinine procedures the ride ops had to follow.  The ride ops had to wait until each rider had their seat belt buckled, at which point they would walk down the train to check the seatbelts only.  Only then could the lap bars be lowered.  The ride ops would then walk down the train to check lap bars, at which point the train was dispatched.  The ride only holds 24 riders, so you're talking maybe 500-600 people an hour capacity.  Ugh.  It does put the issues at Diamondback somewhat in perspective though!

[WindingSon]

Maybe swap Diamondback for The Beast. Beast was normal Fast Lane last year.

[BeeastFarmer]

And the entrance men's room still has a bad smell. And I hope it was the guest and not the employee, but as I was washing my hands, someone (either the man in a closed stall or the employee mopping in the next stall yelled: "(explicative for coitus) guys, learn to aim your (same explicative with 'in added at the end) (slang for external male external genatalia). Geeze!"

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[LadyCulinare]

So I'm thinking to myself, perhaps a wicked, awesome, dark ride to replace the quick fix boo blasters?

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[thoe124]

Personally I think they should put in a dark ride in the Crypt's old building .

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[TheCandyManCan]

The Fast Lane deal can be corrected by following the procedures I listed. The Fast Lane line doesn't guarantee VIP access, front of the line, 0 wait. All that band allows you to do is enter a separate queue line aside from the main queue. Thatiterally is it. If someone on Fast Lane has to wait for a few seconds to get a band checked or let the main queue fill a good bit of the station so be it. I can understand how this would negate a best day practice, however, it does work, and other parks outside the chain do follow this. 

 

Be happy only the current implementations for Fast Lane are it so far. Other parks, notably Cedar Point, now have handheld scanners for Fast Lane wristbands to prevent fraudulent activity. Again I still stand behind the notion that this has nothing to do with stacking or capacity issues. Those issues stem from platform operations themselves. However yes it can cause stutters in the line and holdup due to switching back and fourth. That is an easily correctable issue though. The platform issues are not, and as stated, probably will remain as such for now..

 

IROC is a new third party ride operations training company and "insurance company" of sorts. It's a huge joke, and somehow has huge ripples across the industry, especially Cedar Fair. I have likened them to the Knee Jerk reaction of Texas Giant as their audit and training did kick in just a bit after that incident. Cedar Point retrained their staff halfway through the season with this company as a result.

 

Here's a good quote from a friend who did some investigating on their website: Also, website for your viewing pleasure

 

"I read their "Who we Are" page. It reads more of a bloated resume than anything else. Ms. Beazley includes awards that are 10 years old, it begs to question what has she done since that time. She also lists she serves as an "adjunct faculty member", which is a fancy way of saying part time.

 

Ms. Huddy lists awards from 8 years ago, again what has happened since then. Also listed is the "prestigious American School of Protocol". When I looked that up its a 5 day etiquette course. Of special note that you will receive a corporate inquiry package along with sample marketing pieces and other correspondence items are included and discussed so trainees can ‘jump start’ their own etiquette business.

 

I find it odd that in their partial list of clients Valley Fair is listed, Cedar Fair is not. But Six Flags has their own column.

 

I don't see them as a joke, these Ladies are running a scam."

[Fisher]

I saw TWO people loose their phones out of their pockets on Firehawk yesterday.

[purdude86]

So I'm thinking to myself, perhaps a wicked, awesome, dark ride to replace the quick fix boo blasters?

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I'd rather have a Peanuts dark ride replace Boo blasters and be more of a classic dark ride for families. Then put in a wicked, awesome dark ride in the old Action Theatre building., I think it could give a better ride than Crypt's building.

Then use the Crypt building to put in a themed roller coaster similar to something like Mystery Mine at Dollywood to fit in with a mining theme for Rivertown.

[gad198]

 

IROC is a new third party ride operations training company and "insurance company" of sorts. It's a huge joke, and somehow has huge ripples across the industry, especially Cedar Fair. I have likened them to the Knee Jerk reaction of Texas Giant as their audit and training did kick in just a bit after that incident. Cedar Point retrained their staff halfway through the season with this company as a result.

 

Your whole post was enlightening and I wanted to follow up on this portion of it.  Do you know what specific measures this outfit recommended and/or implemented?  Were they the ones who recommended the addition of seatbelts on Diamondback?  After digging around on their website I didn't see anything that specifically mentions exactly what they do or specific examples as to how they have actually helped their clients.  I'm very curious to find out more about this. 

[disco2000]

Using the logic of Banshee is newer and therefore will not be dropped from the plus list and replaced with Diamondback, then why isn't their newest ride Woodstock Gliders on the plus?

 

BTW - Diamondback crew last night around 7pm was pumping out the trains like I hadn't seen in a long time.  Many trains were dispatched before the previous train hit MCBR.  One ride I had we didn't stop until we came back into the station.  "Normal" operation seems to be to sit out on the track near the transfer station  and we slowed but didn't stop.

[TheCandyManCan]

Woodstock Gliders probably isn't on it because it's a small investment, not a 30m+ investment. I was shocked by that too, considering Cedar Point has a Fast Lane for theirs.

I will stand behind my ROI explanation. They want and need that ride to make money.

[Gabe]

For anyone going this coming Monday, It's Reds day.  Frazier, Hamilton, Cozart and Mesoraco are all slated to appear. 

[Magenta Lizard]

A hint for keeping cool, for the women who visit the park on these sweltering days:

Get one of the little cups of ice water. Drink the water. Dump as much of the ice as will fit in the cleavage of your bra and just let it melt over time. It really helps with cooling off.

[Nancilee]

Hello, I am sure this discussion has already come up somewhere in this forum, but I cannot find it for the life of me. I am planning on making the long journey to KI from Mansfield tomorrow, and was wondering if the Fast Lane system works like the CP one? At Cedar Point, Platinum pass holders can buy a Fast Lane plus pass for the cost of a regular Fast Lane pass. Does it work that way at KI as well? Thank you for being patient with me for asking.

[malem]

^ That platinum pass deal is only for Cedar Point; it doesn't apply at Kings Island.

 

I'm not aware of any current Fast Lane (Plus) discount promotions at Kings Island. Some users of Kings Island's mobile app were offered a discount earlier in the season, so I'd recommend checking the app on the day of your visit if you have it installed.

[WindingSon]

Hello, I am sure this discussion has already come up somewhere in this forum, but I cannot find it for the life of me. I am planning on making the long journey to KI from Mansfield tomorrow, and was wondering if the Fast Lane system works like the CP one? At Cedar Point, Platinum pass holders can buy a Fast Lane plus pass for the cost of a regular Fast Lane pass. Does it work that way at KI as well? Thank you for being patient with me for asking.

I have not heard of that discount, so I don't think it applies.

 

The only thing I can suggest is to have the KI app. There could be some sort of deal there.

 

Does anyone find it odd The Bat does not have Fast Lane at all? Or do its shorter lines indicate that there's no need?

[The Interpreter]

I saw TWO people loose their phones out of their pockets on Firehawk yesterday.

Quite literally.

oo

[jcgoble3]

I'm guessing that The Bat does not have Fast Lane only because there isn't a reasonable way to implement it without some significant construction to add a second queue. The short line is certainly not why, as otherwise rides like some of the small Coney flats wouldn't have FL.

 

As for the app, I have twice received Fast Lane discount offers in the afternoon. The latest one came on my most recent visit on Saturday; at 3pm, I received a push notification offering me $25 Fast Lane Plus after 4pm. The fine print noted that the offer was only given to persons who were inside the park at 3pm.

 

On a related note, the app is a bit creepy. On both of my last two visits, it has produced a push notification saying "Welcome to Kings Island!" immediately upon passing through the tolls. What kind of sorcery is that?

[jsus]

I saw TWO people loose their phones out of their pockets on Firehawk yesterday.

Quite literally.

oo

 

 

They should've tightened their phones instead!  *sigh*

[shark6495]

Went to the park today and everything was great till the end. kI managed to ruin our day in the park by one little goof.

At 9 we went to renew our locker at the Banshee locker. The locker lady said we would be fine even if we rode Beast at 10.... Well at 1015/20 we went to go collect our stuff. The lockers were cleaned out. So we had to wait for 30 mins at the front gate for our stuff to be taken to Lost and Found...

Look if you can access the lockers past 10:15 then that needs to be stated. That needs to be communicated to the guests.

The machine is no more than a glorified ATM. You could make it not allow a renewal after 815 so no machine is rented out past 1015. Or something. Just aggravated because I didn't know where my personal gear is.

On a positive. 7-1 on The Vortex is glorious and The Beast front row at night is beautiful!!!

And... I got a sort of snap, a baby snap(?), on the new Gliders.... It actually caught me by surprise. It was awesome.

As an Edit: I did fill out a complaint form before leaving...

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[jsus]

Well, that sounds really early to be clearing out the lockers.  It's easy to get caught up at a ride and not get back to your locker for a half hour or more after close.  Grr.

[Italian Job 2005]

I'm not sure why but I just looked at the live Banshee cam and Delirium is still running consistent cycles at this hour of the night.