Shark, your first sentence:

All?

Really?

Terp, opponent of over-generalizing.

Without knowing the facts and looking at the ideas of the situation, I am in the middle. I could see both sides of the spectrum, why it's needed and why it may not be needed.

I do know a few families that have used the Pet Day Care Center in the past few years and it had been a great asset to them. A couple of those families used the Season Pass for the care center. It allowed for them to make more visits instead of once or twice during the year because they didn't have to worry about their dogs running away or tearing up their house while they were gone all day.

The partnership with the Red Dog Pet Resort & Spa seems to be in very early planning stages. We don't know the full details....could Red Dog staff the care center on property in the future? My personal opinion is we haven't heard the whole story yet...so who knows.

I feel that this is one of those things we are all blowing out of proportion.

1: we don't know the amount of business this pet care center used during the year. It probably wasn't busting at the seams so it could be considered an acceptable loss.

2: we don't know why it's going away. Maybe a renovation, maybe a front park redo, may they are just not investing money there.

3: almost all good kennels and such require vaccinations and etc to keep the animals safe. Are we implying the KI one did not require this?

4: many doggy day cares and over night care are night and day better than KI was or ever will be without a huge investment.

5: in this day and age, the user who travels with their dog to an amusement park but doesn't check out where to put the dog is becoming slimmer and slimmer. I'm willing to guess over 75-80% of people who travel with a pet don't assume that just because it had it before would assume it's still there. Also if they did, most would drive the extra ten mins to board their dog.

I feel for it but it's not like it was the best dog kennel in the world. Didn't one of the members on here describe that the conditions inside the pet care we're not always the greatest anyways?

I mean, we can make some logical assumptions. Clearly it wasn't doing enough business to justify the cost. Mainly I think that it was a shift in American traveling habits. Fewer hotels are pet friendly now. Great Wolf is not.

By the way, I saw this first on Facebook. Peoples' comments are priceless. Someone was saying that this was another example of Kings Island becoming too corporate. Really? I guess we will all have to miss the days when Kings Island was run by an Ohio-based theme park operator like Viacom rather than a world-wide media conglomerate like Cedar Fair. Oh, wait...

Paramount Parks was at first based in Cincinnati, before it moved to Charlotte. Was Cedar Fair ever based in Cincinnati?

Paramount Parks was at first based in Cincinnati, before it moved to Charlotte. Was Cedar Fair ever based in Cincinnati?

No, but was Viacom? How long was it based in Cincinnati after the acquisition? Not long.

Shark, your first sentence:

All?

Really?

Terp, opponent of over-generalizing.

Touché sir.

Paramount Parks was at first based in Cincinnati, before it moved to Charlotte. Was Cedar Fair ever based in Cincinnati?

No, but was Viacom? How long was it based in Cincinnati after the acquisition? Not long.

Stay tuned. Charlotte's a nice place. Even in winter.

Tomb Raideric Terpy

And doesn`t Cedar Fair have some satellite corporate office space in Charlotte?

Yes, it does.

After it closed Paramount Park's Charlotte office, it opened another.

is Charlotte that nice of a place to run a corporate office or does it have a bunch of tax breaks?

Yes.

Truly.

Have you been to Sandusky, Ohio in dead winter?

Only a Kinzel could find it the best place ever to transact business. But then, he leaves every winter and comes back to the Cedar Point parking lot for the nice season.

Some other things to consider is not only the operating cost of running the kennel, but some of the more hidden costs. Insurance being a large expense, that most large insurance companies don't want to underwrite. The chance of dog bite, harm to the animal or employee or worse yet a park guest is a very real concern. Also the park opens themselves to the possibility of an animal dying while under their care. Todays world of insurance is all about limiting your exposure to risk and liability. Running a kennel on premise is a large risk for the park. From a business stand point I don't blame them one bit for closing the doors.

Cedar Fair is self-insured....

Some other things to consider is not only the operating cost of running the kennel, but some of the more hidden costs. Insurance being a large expense, that most large insurance companies don't want to underwrite. The chance of dog bite, harm to the animal or employee or worse yet a park guest is a very real concern. Also the park opens themselves to the possibility of an animal dying while under their care. Todays world of insurance is all about limiting your exposure to risk and liability. Running a kennel on premise is a large risk for the park. From a business stand point I don't blame them one bit for closing the doors.

This was the post I was waiting on The Interpreter to write.

When I heard of it I thought two things, Insurance and profitability. I'm fairly certain it was operating at a loss or break even after operating expenses were paid.

When a company is self insured, it is often even more cognizant of risk.

I haven't been in the kennel in some time, but I'm sure with a little money, CF could find a way to reuse the building as either a merchandise location or a concession area. Tower Gifts on the way out is pretty cramped and I'm sure they'd welcome some more space.

Or perhaps a location for a New Haunt Attraction.

Flea From Terrier?

Flea From Terrier?

Terp, you may have the next million dollar idea for KI.

Yep, a 10 cent idea that may be a million to implement--but only if it were a truly grand house.

Terp, who knows flea collars are not to be used or worn by homo sapiens.

...however I have heard of some people that like to wear dog collars as they go ruff, ruff...

I found out two weeks ago when I was informed about it. I visited the new Red Dog Pet Resort & Spa and it is like comparing a Motel 6 to the Ritz, there is no comparison. While one is just basic place to stay, the other has far more luxurious amenities and with a higher price to match. I will see what happens between now and when the park opens up in mid April.

I was ask to stay in Guest Services and I requested to stay in the same department in a job that I had performed in the past at the park and prior to rejoining Kings Island.

I'm glad your staying on, you were my first thought when reading the post.

The KI Pet Day Care was great, and I really appreciated it, and my dog loved the attention, but if the employees are treated fairly, I can accept it closing.

I looked up the Red Dog Pet Resort and Spa on the web, and was glad to see they had separate areas for small dogs and old dogs. (They have a Reds Fan Suite!). I loved the KI Pet Care because I knew my dog was safe, with his things in his own separate clean kennel, and we could take a break and have lunch with him, but the Red Dog looks promising, we'll just drive to dine with him.

Shark, it was a nice little kennel, with good size space for each dog and tall separation fences between the dogs. It was always clean when I saw it. Once, I went to walk my dog, an attendant had just brought him in from walking him, she didn't need to do that, but she did. The employees knew we loved our dogs, and the AC was a godsend for my Scottie.

We used it when I was little. We had a Husky/Shar Pei that had major separation anxiety. I would have sworn someone on here said the inside was getting dated and that there were parts that were not ACd? I could be getting my kennels confused....

But in reality, the doggy day cares and dog kennels have grown so much in the last 5-10 years. Gone are the days where a nice sized concrete slab with cage are the norm. PetSmart offers "suites" with tvs and beds. As you mentioned this other place has a Reds Suite. Long fenced in runs, air conditioning, dogs talking on the phone, day camps where the dogs play all day. This is what is happening. Personally, I am not surprised to see it go as there is just too much competition these days.

I know (a small part of) the kennel was used to care for some of the animals in Ed Alonzos show before- wondering if its being closed to the public this year to be used for some of the petting zoo animals?

And that's actually the first time I heard that idea. That probably makes the most sense

Except that IIRC the petting zoo is going in way back where Peanuts Playhouse used to be in the back of Planet Snoopy. That's a long way to lead those animals to and from the petting zoo each day, and and even longer if an animal suddenly needs care in the middle of the operating day and they have to use backstage areas. It would make far more sense to build a new structure near that area, which is reasonable since they are also upgrading the Picnic Grove and the back of Peanuts Playhouse butted up against the side of the Picnic Grove.

Curiously, I just looked at the original press release that Don gave me on a USB drive right after the announcement to verify whether Peanuts Playhouse was being removed, and the release actually does not make any mention of the petting zoo whatsoever. Odd.

Except that IIRC the petting zoo is going in way back where Peanuts Playhouse used to be in the back of Planet Snoopy. That's a long way to lead those animals to and from the petting zoo each day, and and even longer if an animal suddenly needs care in the middle of the operating day and they have to use backstage areas. It would make far more sense to build a new structure near that area, which is reasonable since they are also upgrading the Picnic Grove and the back of Peanuts Playhouse butted up against the side of the Picnic Grove.

Curiously, I just looked at the original press release that Don gave me on a USB drive right after the announcement to verify whether Peanuts Playhouse was being removed, and the release actually does not make any mention of the petting zoo whatsoever. Odd.

It is odd. KI has been somewhat quiet about the petting zoo.

I thought the petting zoo was nice, they rotated the animals. We didn't see the joey because it was too cold for him, too windy, but we saw a lot of pretty calm animals not bothered by kids.

Yah, I know, PETA would accuse me of not knowing what the animals think- but the camels didn't spit, there was no flinching, it was clean.

There were plenty of attendants around to supervise.

I could see where KI would be quiet about a petting zoo; the whole "animals in a park" gig has been taking a beating in the media lately.

Some petting zoos are stinky and run down, with the animals in bad shape. I didn't see that at KI.

It would be a long walk to the Pet Daycare from Planet Snoopy, though. I'm thinking it's just a shift of finances. The Pet Daycare was never crowded when I went there, and as it's been stated in this thread, the view of dogs on vacation has changed.

The last three Scottie shows I attended were in a hotel, and the dogs stayed in the rooms.

It'll be called Snoopy's Barnyard Friends and will open May 21. More information here: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/article/media-center/Snoopys-Barnyard-Friends-new-for-2015.

From their website- "Snoopy's Barnyard Friends are friendly and highly interactive." Sounds like they're describing the latest animatronics On a side note, if this is a petting zoo, will Brian Fellow be making an appearance daily to talk about the animals?