Orion Reviews

[FUN&ONLY!]

12 minutes ago, Captain Nemo said:

I didn't laugh.

If you come out of left field with responses like that when their is little history of that behavior it leaves me to question. If he were running an account like Kentucky Kingdoms twitter a response like that would be much more forgiving.

I was just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I guess none of us know what his real motive was. Even if it was meant to be mean, Don Helbig had a lot on his plate with reopening and whatnot, and while this is never an excuse for being rude, it is human to do things like this in stressful situations (though it is still inexcusable). Like you said he does not have a history of comments like that and after all he has done for the fans of Kings Island, I’ll give him a pass. Remember, like all of us, Don Helbig is a human and he makes mistakes like the rest of us.

[coaster sally]

1 minute ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I was just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I guess none of us know what his real motive was. Even if it was meant to be mean, Don Helbig had a lot on his plate with reopening and whatnot, and while this is never an excuse for being rude, it is human to do things like this in stressful situations (though it is still inexcusable). Like you said he does not have a history of comments like that and after all he has done for the fans of Kings Island, I’ll give him a pass. Remember, like all of us, Don Helbig is a human and he makes mistakes like the rest of us.

If your stressed don't come on social media and be rude to the park's biggest fans especially when a @chibul was correct.

[FUN&ONLY!]

14 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

If your stressed don't come on social media and be rude to the park's biggest fans especially when a @chibul was correct.

Again, if he did it to be mean, that is one thing. If he did it to be funny, that is another. Obviously, some people found his response funny based on the reactions to the post while others clearly weren’t as amused. Bottom line, we are not Don Helbig, and we don’t know what his intentions were. Because of this, there is no point in arguing back and forth whether he was doing it to be funny or to be mean because we don’t know.

[coaster sally]

There was 9 likes a far cry from the response he normally gets.....

[FUN&ONLY!]

3 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

There was 9 likes a far cry from the response he normally gets.....

Let’s not overthink this...

[coaster sally]

17 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

Let’s not overthink this...

 

[dbackdreams]

Ummmm mean Sally you don't need to be taking about some body being rude because you always are. I don't know who the Dan is but maybe he was being funny or have bad day. Be nice and not mean dad says go to park you like and not King's island because you don't like anything they do. Just be nice and love each other and don't be like mean Sally!

[gforce1994]

@coaster sally, the fact of the matter is opening the lot at 10:30 was a smart move. Had they opened up the lots any earlier, people would have congregated outside the main entrance, creating a situation ripe for spreading the virus. 

Attacking one character because you can’t ride a $30 million dollar ride at night, in the year of the pandemic, is extremely selfish and dumb. Posts like what you’ve just typed out is why enthusiasts get a bad rap.

 

[BoddaH1994]

On 8/11/2020 at 1:01 PM, FUN&ONLY! said:

I have to respectfully disagree with you that Kings Island is out of touch with its fans. In my opinion, Kings Island is one of the few parks that actually listens to its guests and and invests in nostalgia. This can be seen with the recent addition of the sorely missed antique cars, the refurbishment of International Street, and the restoration of the Festhaus Glockenspiel. Kings Island knew its long time fans greatly missed attractions like the antique cars and the glockenspiel, so they invested in beinging them back. Also, Kings Island invested $30 million into a brand new giga coaster, answering fans’ constant pleas to add such a coaster. In terms of cutting midnight hours pre-pandemic, Kings Island likely realized that it was more financially viable to operate fewer hours, producing more profit. We have to remember that Cedar Fair is a BUSINESS first and foremost. Kings Island looks at what days and hours they are not as busy, so they can make adjustments in future calandars to make a more sustainable profit. This is also why we saw them running with very limited hours when they reopened. Kings Island knew that attendance would be much lower, and knowing how long guests usually spend at the park, they knew that it made more sense to reduce operating costs to maximize profit. This is why almost every park that has reopened has cut their hours, not just Kings Island. Of course, guests expressed their criticism with Kings Island not being open late, and the park listened to this feedback, adding later closures with less operating days, still trying to maximize profit. The park advertised night rides because they know their fans had been asking for them, and when guests complained that lines were closing early, making night rides harder, Kings Island followed up the next weekend and let guests enter the lines as late as they would like. All in all, Kings Island really does value its guests’ feedback and critisism, and I think the park tries to make descisions that satisfy guests as much as possible while also being financially viable.

Okay, so I think we are not in alignment on what I meant by "out of touch."  

So let's use the Glockenspiel example.  Do I think that fixing the Glockenspiel was a good move? Of course.  Would the average guest like they they restored it?  Of course?  Would anyone in their right mind buy a season pass or a $60 ticket because of this?  Heck no.

So farm to table, how does the park a return on investment?  Public relations.  Little moves like that can go a very long way when it comes to awareness.  In fact, you can easily assign a dollar value to each PR "stunt."  Some have a bit more of a lasting effect, for example Carnivale was only for a few weeks so if you had to see it you had to go.  It directly sold tickets.  This works differently.  As you pump out the news stories, live hits, and even blogs in today's world, having "Kings Island" in a headline brings top of mind awareness.  "Oh!  We haven't bought our passes yet!" or "We should go, we haven't been there in years!" or "We haven't been there yet this summer, let's plan a trip!"  That's the psychology behind it.  The fact that it wasn't much covered beyond the local media for one day is a C- effort.  

Literally they could have ridden that PR pony up until Carnivale:

-German-American institutions and publications throughout the region

-Glockenspiel enthusiasts (that's a thing!)

-Clock enthusiast groups and publications

-Story ideas like:

 How does the Glockenspiel work?

 What did it take to restore it?

 Did you know that a man manufactured the KI Glockenspiel in '83 and his son was the one to restore it? 

 The story of the man who designed it.  

 The story of the Festhaus and how it brings "Zinzinnati's" German heritage to life.

 During Oktoberfest season in Cincinnati when they always tried to break the world's largest chicken dance record... guess what plays that song every 15 minutes.

 

...we got a blog about it.  The news stations copied the blog.  Out of touch. 

Now if you're REALLY good... I'm old enough to remember when either Don or Maureen (can't remember when this was) got Fox19 to come out and DO A STORY ON THE PARK PLANTING GRASS SEED!  Think anyone came out to see that new fresh patch of grass?  No?  But I sure bet it made a few thousand people think, "Oh yeah, we haven't renewed our passes yet."  Now that's effort.  And that's like hitting a bunch of singles to win a baseball game rather than hoping the pitcher will walk you.

Honestly, I think the enhanced guest experience from having that thing working is very much a peripheral.  I'm glad we have it.  I really am.  But I think they could have squeezed a lot more out of the toothpaste tube on this and many other things. 

 

 

 

[coaster sally]

5 minutes ago, gforce1994 said:

@coaster sally, the fact of the matter is opening the lot at 10:30 was a smart move. Had they opened up the lots any earlier, people would have congregated outside the main entrance, creating a situation ripe for spreading the virus. 

Attacking one character because you can’t ride a $30 million dollar ride at night, in the year of the pandemic, is extremely selfish and dumb. Posts like what you’ve just typed out is why enthusiasts get a bad rap.

 

You could have social distanced 6' in the parking lot which when we arrived at 10am  for our 1030 am reservation time we were stuck on the main road then we had to wait in a line a long ways out into the parking lot anyways.  So our 1030 reservation time turned into an 1130....so it was probably worse than what you described if the park were to had opened earlier.

Also I was piggybacking off of @BoddaH1994 about the night rides.

 

[coaster sally]

6 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Okay, so I think we are not in alignment on what I meant by "out of touch."  

So let's use the Glockenspiel example.  Do I think that fixing the Glockenspiel was a good move? Of course.  Would the average guest like they they restored it?  Of course?  Would anyone in their right mind buy a season pass or a $60 ticket because of this?  Heck no.

So farm to table, how does the park a return on investment?  Public relations.  Little moves like that can go a very long way when it comes to awareness.  In fact, you can easily assign a dollar value to each PR "stunt."  Some have a bit more of a lasting effect, for example Carnivale was only for a few weeks so if you had to see it you had to go.  It directly sold tickets.  This works differently.  As you pump out the news stories, live hits, and even blogs in today's world, having "Kings Island" in a headline brings top of mind awareness.  "Oh!  We haven't bought our passes yet!" or "We should go, we haven't been there in years!" or "We haven't been there yet this summer, let's plan a trip!"  That's the psychology behind it.  The fact that it wasn't much covered beyond the local media for one day is a C- effort.  

Literally they could have ridden that PR pony up until Carnivale:

-German-American institutions and publications throughout the region

-Glockenspiel enthusiasts (that's a thing!)

-Clock enthusiast groups and publications

-Story ideas like:

 How does the Glockenspiel work?

 What did it take to restore it?

 Did you know that a man manufactured the KI Glockenspiel in '83 and his son was the one to restore it? 

 The story of the man who designed it.  

 The story of the Festhaus and how it brings "Zinzinnati's" German heritage to life.

 During Oktoberfest season in Cincinnati when they always tried to break the world's largest chicken dance record... guess what plays that song every 15 minutes.

 

...we got a blog about it.  The news stations copied the blog.  Out of touch. 

Now if you're REALLY good... I'm old enough to remember when either Don or Maureen (can't remember when this was) got Fox19 to come out and DO A STORY ON THE PARK PLANTING GRASS SEED!  Think anyone came out to see that new fresh patch of grass?  No?  But I sure bet it made a few thousand people think, "Oh yeah, we haven't renewed our passes yet."  Now that's effort.  And that's like hitting a bunch of singles to win a baseball game rather than hoping the pitcher will walk you.

Honestly, I think the enhanced guest experience from having that thing working is very much a peripheral.  I'm glad we have it.  I really am.  But I think they could have squeezed a lot more out of the toothpaste tube on this and many other things. 

 

 

 

that was Maureen & Jeff.  What he's done with park operations at fiesta Texas is a different story.

[gforce1994]

3 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

You could have social distanced 6' in the parking lot which when we arrived at 10am  for our 1030 am reservation time we were stuck on the main road then we had to wait in a line a long ways out into the parking lot anyways.  So our 1030 reservation time turned into an 1130....so it was probably worse than what you described if the park were to had opened earlier.

Also I was piggybacking off of @BoddaH1994 about the night rides.

 

The “me first” mentality of our society would have prevented social distancing from being effective.

Don’t blame the park for the delays on opening day. Blame it on those who did not follow the procedures set up by the park of arriving at the preselected time.

@coaster sally, I’m sorry you had a bad experience, but there’s no need to take it out on park management. Very few things changed since opening days, which indicates the park had a solid plan for reopening.

[FUN&ONLY!]

22 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Okay, so I think we are not in alignment on what I meant by "out of touch."  

So let's use the Glockenspiel example.  Do I think that fixing the Glockenspiel was a good move? Of course.  Would the average guest like they they restored it?  Of course?  Would anyone in their right mind buy a season pass or a $60 ticket because of this?  Heck no.

So farm to table, how does the park a return on investment?  Public relations.  Little moves like that can go a very long way when it comes to awareness.  In fact, you can easily assign a dollar value to each PR "stunt."  Some have a bit more of a lasting effect, for example Carnivale was only for a few weeks so if you had to see it you had to go.  It directly sold tickets.  This works differently.  As you pump out the news stories, live hits, and even blogs in today's world, having "Kings Island" in a headline brings top of mind awareness.  "Oh!  We haven't bought our passes yet!" or "We should go, we haven't been there in years!" or "We haven't been there yet this summer, let's plan a trip!"  That's the psychology behind it.  The fact that it wasn't much covered beyond the local media for one day is a C- effort.  

Literally they could have ridden that PR pony up until Carnivale:

-German-American institutions and publications throughout the region

-Glockenspiel enthusiasts (that's a thing!)

-Clock enthusiast groups and publications

-Story ideas like:

 How does the Glockenspiel work?

 What did it take to restore it?

 Did you know that a man manufactured the KI Glockenspiel in '83 and his son was the one to restore it? 

 The story of the man who designed it.  

 The story of the Festhaus and how it brings "Zinzinnati's" German heritage to life.

 During Oktoberfest season in Cincinnati when they always tried to break the world's largest chicken dance record... guess what plays that song every 15 minutes.

 

...we got a blog about it.  The news stations copied the blog.  Out of touch. 

Now if you're REALLY good... I'm old enough to remember when either Don or Maureen (can't remember when this was) got Fox19 to come out and DO A STORY ON THE PARK PLANTING GRASS SEED!  Think anyone came out to see that new fresh patch of grass?  No?  But I sure bet it made a few thousand people think, "Oh yeah, we haven't renewed our passes yet."  Now that's effort.  And that's like hitting a bunch of singles to win a baseball game rather than hoping the pitcher will walk you.

Honestly, I think the enhanced guest experience from having that thing working is very much a peripheral.  I'm glad we have it.  I really am.  But I think they could have squeezed a lot more out of the toothpaste tube on this and many other things. 

 

 

 

You do have a point, and I see where you are coming from. In fact, I agree that I would like to see more behind-the-scenes updates and stuff like that. I am one to look at all of the changes every season no matter how small they are, and I do wish the park shared pictures and videos both with media outlets and on social media platforms. One thing that I wanted to see this past offseason was construction updates with the Area 72 updates and maybe even some snippets of the IMAscore soundtrack for Orion, but the park shared practically nothing. The park never even acknowledged that they were building the Meteor Canteen until the last minute when news stations could have made stories on new dining options coming to Kings Island. I agree that the park may be “out of touch” with marketing and advertising, and I wish they would try to make improvements in this department. However, I do think Don Helbig has done a decent job with the Kings Island blog with interesting stories about the park and it’s attractions, but I know the park can do so much more.

[SonofBaconator]

I don't think anyone's denying that things could be improved. I'm not one to make excuses but these are strange times we live in. I think pointing out stuff like @BoddaH1994 mentioned could benefit the park and I don't think its meant to be a blatant attack on one person, but rather a call to action; a call to improve on something. With technology constantly evolving and social media being ever present in the marketing world, what worked last year might not necessarily work now.

[KI FANATIC 37]

2 hours ago, gforce1994 said:

@coaster sally, the fact of the matter is opening the lot at 10:30 was a smart move. Had they opened up the lots any earlier, people would have congregated outside the main entrance, creating a situation ripe for spreading the virus. 

Attacking one character because you can’t ride a $30 million dollar ride at night, in the year of the pandemic, is extremely selfish and dumb. Posts like what you’ve just typed out is why enthusiasts get a bad rap.

 

I am not one to defend the park or defend Don or any other associate; I think a lot of people on this site hold them to a god like standard that is quite creepy. I also did not get offended by what Don posted. I think it was to be taken light heartedly. I'm not here defending him, but I am also not here chastising him. 

Quite frankly, I'm not like sally that complains about everything, and I am not like you, gforce, that would say the park is doing a fantastic job after they commit a mass genocide. I don't think this is that big of a deal. On the other hand, I do agree with @BoddaH1994 that we can politely say we disagree with actions the park does (i.e. marketing or other aspects). Being a good honest fan of the park is someone who is able to politely suggest areas of improvement while not being rude and also not kissing the parks backside in regards to anything they do. 

[Winterfestguy]

On 8/11/2020 at 1:01 PM, FUN&ONLY! said:

I have to respectfully disagree with you that Kings Island is out of touch with its fans. In my opinion, Kings Island is one of the few parks that actually listens to its guests and and invests in nostalgia. This can be seen with the recent addition of the sorely missed antique cars, the refurbishment of International Street, and the restoration of the Festhaus Glockenspiel. Kings Island knew its long time fans greatly missed attractions like the antique cars and the glockenspiel, so they invested in beinging them back. Also, Kings Island invested $30 million into a brand new giga coaster, answering fans’ constant pleas to add such a coaster. In terms of cutting midnight hours pre-pandemic, Kings Island likely realized that it was more financially viable to operate fewer hours, producing more profit. We have to remember that Cedar Fair is a BUSINESS first and foremost. Kings Island looks at what days and hours they are not as busy, so they can make adjustments in future calandars to make a more sustainable profit. This is also why we saw them running with very limited hours when they reopened. Kings Island knew that attendance would be much lower, and knowing how long guests usually spend at the park, they knew that it made more sense to reduce operating costs to maximize profit. This is why almost every park that has reopened has cut their hours, not just Kings Island. Of course, guests expressed their criticism with Kings Island not being open late, and the park listened to this feedback, adding later closures with less operating days, still trying to maximize profit. The park advertised night rides because they know their fans had been asking for them, and when guests complained that lines were closing early, making night rides harder, Kings Island followed up the next weekend and let guests enter the lines as late as they would like. All in all, Kings Island really does value its guests’ feedback and critisism, and I think the park tries to make descisions that satisfy guests as much as possible while also being financially viable.

And KI listened to their fans and added a few restrooms in Area 72, ah finally relief! (Granted not the high crowd capacity kind but any restroom in the area is most welcomed when you gotta go)

[BeeastFarmer]

4 hours ago, coaster sally said:

If your stressed don't come on social media and be rude to the park's biggest fans especially when a @chibul was correct.

I guess you are stressed all the time when you are on KIC then...

[BoddaH1994]

8 hours ago, coaster sally said:

that was Maureen & Jeff.  What he's done with park operations at fiesta Texas is a different story.

I remember now.  This was right before Diamondback opened so it had to have been Don.  Also, side note - I still see Jeff about once a year when he's in town and I always tell him that y'all miss him.  He's doing very well for himself.

8 hours ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

You do have a point, and I see where you are coming from. In fact, I agree that I would like to see more behind-the-scenes updates and stuff like that. I am one to look at all of the changes every season no matter how small they are, and I do wish the park shared pictures and videos both with media outlets and on social media platforms. One thing that I wanted to see this past offseason was construction updates with the Area 72 updates and maybe even some snippets of the IMAscore soundtrack for Orion, but the park shared practically nothing. The park never even acknowledged that they were building the Meteor Canteen until the last minute when news stations could have made stories on new dining options coming to Kings Island. I agree that the park may be “out of touch” with marketing and advertising, and I wish they would try to make improvements in this department. However, I do think Don Helbig has done a decent job with the Kings Island blog with interesting stories about the park and it’s attractions, but I know the park can do so much more.

You see, you can't throw everything at people.  You don't want to have a "I've already seen this" mentality going into opening day.  Keep a few things under your hat until they're public.  In fact, I think that it's almost a gift to you to let you actually experience it for yourself for the first time.  The easy choice would be to get a ton of blog content with "Oh, here's the meteor" and "Oh, here's the new restaurant."  Plenty was seen as far as track installation and stuff like that, but you didn't know what you didn't know on opening day, which is kind of a cool thing.  Notice how a few days after they opened they started putting out stuff about the themeing.  That was a good move.  The Glockenspiel stuff would have been similar except the part where they actually tell the story never came.  

6 hours ago, KI FANATIC 37 said:

I am not one to defend the park or defend Don or any other associate; I think a lot of people on this site hold them to a god like standard that is quite creepy. I also did not get offended by what Don posted. I think it was to be taken light heartedly. I'm not here defending him, but I am also not here chastising him. 

Quite frankly, I'm not like sally that complains about everything, and I am not like you, gforce, that would say the park is doing a fantastic job after they commit a mass genocide. I don't think this is that big of a deal. On the other hand, I do agree with @BoddaH1994 that we can politely say we disagree with actions the park does (i.e. marketing or other aspects). Being a good honest fan of the park is someone who is able to politely suggest areas of improvement while not being rude and also not kissing the parks backside in regards to anything they do. 

You probably figured out I have a background in the marketing/pr stuff, which is why I mainly either rag on or praise that aspect of the business.  That's why I don't have much to say about things like operations or security.  I can only speak to my personal experiences with those things.  I do agree that politely disagreeing with some decisions is the best route.  What does make me mad is when these decisions either directly or indirectly damage the park.  So, as a non-employee, I couldn't care less how badly the Glockenspiel opportunity was stooged off, but what does bother me is when a series of these failed "efforts" lead to things like an over abundance of bring-a-friend-cheap days that just devalue the product and slowly implode the park.  

9 hours ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I was just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I guess none of us know what his real motive was. Even if it was meant to be mean, Don Helbig had a lot on his plate with reopening and whatnot, and while this is never an excuse for being rude, it is human to do things like this in stressful situations (though it is still inexcusable). Like you said he does not have a history of comments like that and after all he has done for the fans of Kings Island, I’ll give him a pass. Remember, like all of us, Don Helbig is a human and he makes mistakes like the rest of us.

He was a jerk in the post but... he's also a jerk in real life so technically if he posted a nice response it would be far more dishonest. 

[malem]

On Opening Day, if everyone had shown up at their reservation time as instructed, there wouldn't have been the logjam that there was.

[LovinMeSomeBanshee]

10 hours ago, malem said:

On Opening Day, if everyone had shown up at their reservation time as instructed, there wouldn't have been the logjam that there was.

Exactly.  You even had people on the Facebook page bragging about being there since before 6 AM in line, when they had reservations for 11:00 AM.  You're the reason people with 10:30 reservations didn't get into the park until after 11:00.

[coaster sally]

4 minutes ago, LovinMeSomeBanshee said:

Exactly.  You even had people on the Facebook page bragging about being there since before 6 AM in line, when they had reservations for 11:00 AM.  You're the reason people with 10:30 reservations didn't get into the park until after 11:00.

Why would someone want to wait 5 hours when they could have came later and waited 3 hours.

[SnakePlissken]

1 hour ago, coaster sally said:

Why would someone want to wait 5 hours when they could have came later and waited 3 hours.

It is the same people that stand in line for a new iphone for 24 hours.

[raggedman07]

Soooo....ummmm.....hate to say it....surprised to say it....but....ummm....Candymonium is a better ride than Orion....Orion is great...but...Candymonium wins.

[ThrillKingsFitzy]

8 hours ago, raggedman07 said:

Soooo....ummmm.....hate to say it....surprised to say it....but....ummm....Candymonium is a better ride than Orion....Orion is great...but...Candymonium wins.

Not surprised. Some like Orion's qualities better and some like airtime. 

But either way:

.__________.

[Pagoda Gift Shop]

What does Candymonium win?

[TheBEASTunchained]

30 minutes ago, Pagoda Gift Shop said:

What does Candymonium win?

A new car?

[raggedman07]

4 hours ago, Pagoda Gift Shop said:

What does Candymonium win?

Best new coaster of 2020 I suppose...

[Gabe]

According to NASA, Orion will once again become visible in the night sky later in September, so hopefully as the sun sets earlier, someone can snap some pics with Orion above "Orion!"

[silver2005]

Just out of curiosity as this is a bit pertinent for me- how are the positive G's on Orion?  Particularly, in comparison to Invertigo and Banshee?

[VortexBFForever]

4 hours ago, silver2005 said:

how are the positive G's on Orion?  Particularly, in comparison to Invertigo and Banshee?

From my experience, Invertigo and Banshee are noticeably more intense/have more positive G's. Orion is not very intense outside of its helix, a.k.a. "Orion's Belt," where you will likely gray out to some extent.