Thoughts on the Current State of Soak City

[dbackdreams]

I miss the beach it was fun. But sand was bad on feet and when sun burned me

[DubVLegend]

On 4/7/2020 at 10:29 PM, King Ding Dong said:

Zoombezi Bay has an adults only lazy river and drinks are allowed on the tubes.  If you want to increase per caps that is a sure fire way.  

The swim up bar at Cedar Point is great as well.

[SonofBaconator]

28 minutes ago, DubVLegend said:

The swim up bar at Cedar Point is great as well.

I kinda feel like a swim up bar at CP is a must because they're a resort but I wouldn't complain if we got one

[dbackdreams]

5 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I kinda feel like a swim up bar at CP is a must because they're a resort but I wouldn't complain if we got one

Why does people here like that stuff. It gross. Give me my water cool aid andegg nog

[stashua123]

In my opinion, the waterpark has needed some TLC for ages and has ALOT more potential than what KI has given it. The additions have been nice but nothing there really makes you say "wow.... thats an attraction I would wait for hours with 200 other sweaty people". 

I worked at Admissions a lot at Soak City last summer and came to kind of enjoy working in the area. I think over half of my supervisory shifts were at Soak City lol last summer. It also really made me evaluate some of its strengths and weaknesses. Its strengths ironically is also its weakness, open areas with few trees. The concrete hurts like heck if you are not in sandals, which I think that KI needs to invest in that less heat concrete that Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom have in spots. People who want to get a tan have PLENTY of space to lay a towel out, especially underneath the power lines. The front gate needs some slight improvements (the sales booth/guest services is from personal experience incredibly cramped.) with like one more turnstile to really make traffic flow in and out at peak. Security also needs to be pushed back slightly to prevent backlogs. The one thing that stands out is there needs to be some of the same amenities at the main park with at least one location in Soak City. Wheelchair Rental or Stroller Rental does NOT exist in Soak City which can cause significant guest inconvenience in having to get one from the main park. The merchandise locations are suprisingly okay, there a couple of stores. First Aid and Security have their own offices at Soak City, which is good, but the other things do not exist. Other than Island Smokehouse, the food options are significantly lacking in quality. Fast Lane only truly skips the line for one slide, Tropical Plunge, and only skips the line to get mats for the others. The wave pools are great capacity wise but also do not have many things that make it anything other than a Public Pool with Waves. The slides are getting very old at this point and a major slide complex has only been added once since 2004, Tropical Plunge. 

They had some good ideas, Island Nights was a great idea for Soak City that was VERY poorly advertised. Keeping the water park open till 10-11 with live music, silent disco, etc was a good idea but was not implemented to its best potential. They should have kept at least one wave pool open during that time. 

Soak City has a lot of land to expand on, even accounting for the power lines. And has a lot of potential that needs to be met.

Hurricane Bay and Splashin' Safari are LEAGUES ABOVE Soak City in any capacity. And out of those two, I actually prefer overall Hurricane Bay to Splashin' Safari despite Splashin' Safari having my two favorite water attractions, Wildebeest and Mammoth. The atmosphere is very tropical, the Big Kahuna is the best wave pool I have been in so far, and the attractions have a bit more higher baseline of quality and are also pretty unique. Deep Water Dive alone is worth it for me to visit Hurricane Bay. Kentucky Kingdom did great by signficantly investing in their waterpark. Splashin' Safari made some hopping investments in the late 90s - late 2000s but was neglected a bit after Mammoth in 2012 until this year's Cheetah Chase, which looks to be an amazing addition. Hurricane Bay has seen a few additions but they started off so strong with 2014's additions they could afford to float for a bit. 

One area that HW and KK have us beat is their water parks, and they have theirs included in admission. 

[King Ding Dong]

@stashua123 what about Zoom Flume for FL or was it removed from FL?

[coaster sally]

Install an Intamin aquatrax.  Problem solved

[SnakePlissken]

5 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

@stashua123 what about Zoom Flume for FL or was it removed from FL?

Zoom Flume was Fast Lane last summer. I used it.

I think King's Island Soak City is a lot more friendly toward single riders than Kentucky Kingdom Hurricane
Bay is. At Kentucky Kingdom I had to ask strangers if I could ride with them on any slide that required 2 or more. At King's Island the employee asks strangers for you and finds someone willing to share a ride for you.

Hot concrete is a huge problem at Soak City and was not as bad at Hurricane Bay. I made the mistake at King's Island of trying to walk around several hours in the waterpark barefoot and by evening I could hardly walk.

Soak City needs a water coaster really bad.

[BB1]

On 6/21/2020 at 9:12 PM, stashua123 said:

(Insert tirade about waterpark here)

This is exactly what I have been talking about with this waterpark since SC was installed. You used to have some serious foliage at the park, then they ripped it out and put in a parking lot (Bonus points to you if you got that reference). The waterpark needs a lot of things, critically. A decent water coaster, a new set of speed slides, a new water slide complex, heck even a new kiddie area would be an upgrade to what we got. Even just some TLC in adding some new theming would do wonders for the park. I have said it once, and I'll say it again the waterpark gets attention ever so often and it is honestly upsetting as it deserves more and better options. It is what most season pass holders tend to go to and it honestly needs work to compete with local waterparks. 

As for @coaster sally no we don't need an Intamin Aquatrax and no we don't need a shoot the chutes either. 

BB1, one of the few who actually knows that waterpark like the back of his hand. 

[Diamondback230]

On 4/9/2020 at 4:48 PM, 139Signal27 said:

The water park’s main purpose is to drive season pass sales and repeat visitation from passholders. The hope is people choose a Gold Pass over a membership to their local pool. The park can then generate revenue through food & beverage sales, locker rentals, cabana rentals, etc. To most everyone, a wave pool is a wave pool and a water slide is a water slide, so major capital investments simply aren’t needed as regularly. Guests are going to care more about things like changing room cleanliness, food stand lines, pool chair capacity, etc. than an objectively outdated slide complex.

The biggest quality of life improvement I think the water park could make would be to plant more trees! It’s like a barren parking lot over there right now.

I couldn't agree more. The Waterpark currently generates enough attendance not to warrant anything major added. If they were to expand I would imagine it would involve adding a lot more infrastructure so support the park that is already bursting to it's seams on a hot day. And I couldn't  imagine  them making an expansion to the area of the park that dosen't generate much revenue as it is.

[silver2005]

I kind of want it renamed back to Waterworks entirely for that cool sign that used to be above the lazy river.  Most of the old Waterworks signage are among my favorite theme park logos. 

[disco2000]

2 hours ago, BB1 said:

..... You used to have some serious foliage at the park, then they ripped it out and put in a parking lot (Bonus points to you if you got that reference)........

I get the reference LOL...What do I get as bonus points 

[BB1]

Honorary membership of the Unofficial Boomerang Bay Fan Club, duh. But seriously though that song almost describes to a t what CF did to that waterpark. 

[silver2005]

Another thought is along with upgrades to Soak City, the park could use a new water ride in the main park.  

[SonofBaconator]

I think with the parks losing a substantial amount of revenue, I think its likely that we'll see more water park additions across the whole chain in the future

[super7]

Rebranding it to generic Soak City was idiotic.   It was reasonably themed (at least the names) as Boomerang Bay.   This was previous Cedar Fair mgmt that didn’t care about theming and wanted uniformity across parks.  
 

The water park should have been a separate gate. .  They missed a lot of revenue including it all admissions.   A small upcharge would have not turned anyone away that likes the waterpArk (Something like $5 on a daily ticket Amy and $25 on a season pass).   The precedent was set by previous ownership and its hard to charge for something once it’s included. 
 

 

[SnakePlissken]

13 minutes ago, super7 said:

Rebranding it to generic Soak City was idiotic.   It was reasonably themed (at least the names) as Boomerang Bay.   This was previous Cedar Fair mgmt that didn’t care about theming and wanted uniformity across parks.  
 

The water park should have been a separate gate. .  They missed a lot of revenue including it all admissions.   A small upcharge would have not turned anyone away that likes the waterpArk (Something like $5 on a daily ticket Amy and $25 on a season pass).   The precedent was set by previous ownership and its hard to charge for something once it’s included. 
 

 

If the water park cost extra I would never use it. I would rather drive an extra 2-3 hours for a much nicer water park in Kentucky or Indiana.

[super7]

1 hour ago, SnakePlissken said:

If the water park cost extra I would never use it. I would rather drive an extra 2-3 hours for a much nicer water park in Kentucky or Indiana.

As long as people still buy season passes to the ride park,  having a separate water park gate still generates more revenue. It doesn’t matter if people don’t go to the waterpark and still buy season passes for the regular park. That actually just means less use of the water park and less cost. 

[Pagoda Gift Shop]

I think there was more data behind the name changes than you think.  It certainly seems like they did not think the Boomerang Bay name was a good one, as all the other Boomerang Bays have all been renamed as well.  Valleyfair had its water park (Whitewater Country) changed to Soak City, but Canada's Wonderland, Michigan's Adventure, and Worlds of Fun all retained their existing water park names. 

I agree that the name Soak City is too generic.  They have chosen more distinct names for more recent re-brandings (Cedar Point Shores, South Bay Shores, Carolina Harbor).

A lot of other Cedar Fair parks also include the water park on a regular season pass.  At Worlds of Fun, they actually changed the water park from being a separate gate to being included on the season pass when it was renovated in 2013.  I wonder if the sale of meal plans has anything to do with that change.

[coaster sally]

14 minutes ago, Pagoda Gift Shop said:

I think there was more data behind the name changes than you think.  It certainly seems like they did not think the Boomerang Bay name was a good one, as all the other Boomerang Bays have all been renamed as well.  Valleyfair had its water park (Whitewater Country) changed to Soak City, but Canada's Wonderland, Michigan's Adventure, and Worlds of Fun all retained their existing water park names. 

I agree that the name Soak City is too generic.  They have chosen more distinct names for more recent re-brandings (Cedar Point Shores, South Bay Shores, Carolina Harbor).

A lot of other Cedar Fair parks also include the water park on a regular season pass.  At Worlds of Fun, they actually changed the water park from being a separate gate to being included on the season pass when it was renovated in 2013.  I wonder if the sale of meal plans has anything to do with that change.

Licensing issue with crocodile dundee?

[SonofBaconator]

I think we needed our water park to he included to give guests more bang for their buck. I don't think the numbers would favor seperate admission given its placement. Heck as mentioned earlier, Worlds of Fun included Oceans of Fun in their park admission back in 2013.

@Pagoda Gift Shop @coaster sally I think the name change was just too easy not to do. Its included in park admission so I'm assuming they didn't want to go overboard with rebranding. I'd still like some updates though, especially since I mentioned it would be a smart move following the pandemic.

[SOBwasaSOB]

I would love a swim up bar and adult lazy river soooooooo much!  A rum and punch or strawbery daiquiri while floating in a lazy river would be amazing.

[coaster sally]

A water coaster is a must.  

[dbackdreams]

Well mean Sally when you president and owner of Kings Island you put in a water caster since you know everything about how to do everything beteer than all the other people

[brenthodge]

19 hours ago, super7 said:

As long as people still buy season passes to the ride park,  having a separate water park gate still generates more revenue. It doesn’t matter if people don’t go to the waterpark and still buy season passes for the regular park. That actually just means less use of the water park and less cost. 

And the additional revenue could fund improvements, making it more attractive to pay extra for it. Positive round and round. I totally support a “nominal” add on for the water park to season pass, a nominal additional charge to add a second “day” to a purchased ticket, or a more “hefty” water park only season pass for the few people who would want that only. Even if they kept season pass costs flat one year (no cost increase) and made the water park add on about the amount it would’ve increased anyway might ease the blow. 

[SonofBaconator]

Unfortunately the way the water park was built, you can't do separate admission. The train plays a big role in the whole "two parks under one ticket" thing. I think the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to keeping the parks single admission.

I do want more focus on the water park this next decade. A lot of the original water slides are still there and they could use some new attractions. A water coaster seems like a necessity at this point. There's a ton of stuff the park could get that could excite guests.

I mean look at what Splashin Safari has

 

 

 

[NegativeGs]

On 4/8/2020 at 10:28 AM, King Ding Dong said:

Do parks in wooded and farmland areas come off as cheesy when themed to Paris?

I first visited KI in 1991. As a Brit, I did find International Street a bit cheesy. Now I live in Ohio and as a KI regular, I enjoy International Street, the Royal Fountain and the Eiffel Tower replica.

[HandsUp]

It's really hard to enjoy yourself there TBH. Every time there it has been extremely crowded which is made worse by not running the slides at full capacity. Add in the criminal lack of shade and it makes me typically skip the whole place. I don't really have a solution, and I'd love for it to be an enjoyable water park, but compared to places like HW it is night and day. 

[KI Guy]

On 8/7/2020 at 8:53 PM, brenthodge said:

I totally support a “nominal” add on for the water park to season pass, a nominal additional charge to add a second “day” to a purchased ticket, or a more “hefty” water park only season pass for the few people who would want that only.

I understand what you're saying, but this would just make a lot of people angry.

Remember when they tried to make Haunt not included with the Gold Pass? How about the time they wanted to take free parking off the Gold Pass? You can't give someone something for "free" and then start charging for it. 

If they want additional revenue to invest in the water park, it's best to just raise the season pass and ticket price.

I think it's understood that for most people, the park is the draw and Soak City is a nice bonus.

[brenthodge]

3 hours ago, KI Guy said:

I understand what you're saying, but this would just make a lot of people angry.

Remember when they tried to make Haunt not included with the Gold Pass? How about the time they wanted to take free parking off the Gold Pass?You can't give someone something for "free" and then start charging for it. 

If they want additional revenue to invest in the water park, it's best to just raise the season pass and ticket price.

I think it's understood that for most people, the park is the draw and Soak City is a nice bonus.

I’d rather (personally) not pay more for the dry park to add more to the water. Not a big water park person myself. I’d say if you loose people, loose them, but improve it enough to make the add on price worth it. If it lowers overall attendance, but raises pr cap spending because it seems “worth it” then I would think it would be a win. I guess it’s just the way it is so removed from the main park that it seems like a different experience, and you could rework the entrance experience to wrap around to where the train lets  off, push the “taps tiles” back even past the retail to allow for the inflow of guests.