2023 General Kings Island Discussion

[brenthodge]

3 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

By this point, our plan to watch the parade on Coney Mall was derailed, so we wached it across from Graeters.  Fantastic parade...until it wasn't.  I guess its now normal for this stop to literally end the parade.  The performers completed the show stop, laid down beads on the ground and literally jogged up to the end of the route.  Why in the world, besides budget cuts, or poor planning, would they not complete the parade with the performers?  It's literally 5-7 minutes tops.  There were many, many disappointed people on the south side of I-Street.  Also, with the parade being at 7pm, there was a mass exodus of people leaving the park and not spending money.  

 

I HATE THE WAY THE PARADE IS RUN. I've complained about this since we started parades again. It is always like this has nothing to do with budget cuts - they do a show and then its mass chaos as performers run off - people on floats jump down - at Christmas - people anchored to floats just have to ride it out back to coney. It is HORRIBLE SHOW. At least now there is a big red sticker that says PARADE ENDS HERE so supposedly no one stands past that point to see the parade, but it you are at that point you only see a show stop and whatever is in front of you...it ends... people scatter and eventually security clear a path for empty floats to run down. I REALLY wish they had done it right and made the area behind BooBlaster parade and entertainment services. Yes you'd have to move "Park services" and dumpsters etc, but there should be room to store floats as well as necessary trash for the few food places on that block. Then run the parade OUT the Showplace side - run down the path to Coney - push back the landscaping in this area to create wider sidewalks for viewing - show stop 1, turn down coney by Dodgem - down coney - show stop 2, turn down the path to I street by VIP - show stop 3, turn down I street - go further down and wrap across the front entrance - wider for better viewing (worked great for 50th street party) - final show stop, parade travels IN FULL PARADE MODE around other side up to path by Graeters - takes slight right/left back into area behind BOO. Might've needed to relocate a fire hydrant there and a few other things, but would've made for a MUCH cleaner ending, full circuit and not the odd 2 stops in the same zone.

And yes, the saving of having the parade at 7 to get performers off the clock by 8 for a 12-8 shift has to be offset by the loss of revenue when people empty in droves by 7:30, but then theres no real ending show or CARNIVALE characters out after the parade, so I guess there not really anything to stay for. I feel like they are looking for quick savings and not looking at the big picture of overall revenue

[brenthodge]

3 hours ago, kirbias1 said:

Is it just me, or does this feel like an intentional move by CF? Maybe they're tired of KI beating CP in the best park category the last few years. Seems like they are egregiously neglecting KI this year. Port Adventure is not good. Theming is ok but rides are horrible. Park doesn't look as clean. Baynum just stopped painting DB in middle of job only to leave and go up to CP to paint Dragster. CF issues chaperone policy for KI but not for CP even though they have had similar issues. Budget cuts to ride operations and Don leaving. Doesn't look good. 

no - why would any for profit company care about where the revenue comes from. Thats like a Jr Higher running the company and shooting itself in the foot for petty reasons to prove a point (but try using that justification for investors). They stopped painting Diamond Back because IT IS RUNNING during the part of the day that you would actually paint something - Dragster can be painted any time of the day, Budget cuts are mandated across the board to hit margins that may be set be people with little actual operation experience, and maybe Don got tired of dealing with conspiracy theorist and wanted a simpler life - who knows?!?

[Timchat2]

During the first year of Grand Carnivale, didn't some of the floats park around the Bandstand and Eiffel Tower at the end of the parade? I remember how much that added to the party atmosphere with the extra lights, characters, photo ops, etc.

[Old_Bearcat]

19 hours ago, kirbias1 said:

Is it just me, or does this feel like an intentional move by CF? Maybe they're tired of KI beating CP in the best park category the last few years. Seems like they are egregiously neglecting KI this year. Port Adventure is not good. Theming is ok but rides are horrible. Park doesn't look as clean. Baynum just stopped painting DB in middle of job only to leave and go up to CP to paint Dragster. CF issues chaperone policy for KI but not for CP even though they have had similar issues. Budget cuts to ride operations and Don leaving. Doesn't look good. 

Adventure Port is very good, for what budget they had and late timing of it --- a needed improvement for a previously neglected section of the Park. Cargo Loco is fun and the Adventure Express upgrade is nice. Sol Spin has a long wait at times but "ok".

DB painting,  shoehorned between weather and park opening, expect them to resume in Late Aug Sept during weekday downtime

I believe CP does not have the 'drop them off' issue (being more isolated) as much as KI did so maybe that's why the Chaperone Policy is not used there

 

[DJSkyFoxx]

17 hours ago, KIBeast said:

I was just there on my birthday and did not know this crucial info. I had blue ice cream for the first time too. 

On another note, it seems The Bat is no longer on the Fast Lane list. On July 16th of this year, it was a 45 minute wait and we just didn't feel it was worth it.

I had seen folks talking about a free ice cream voucher and birthday pin last year on FB when I was still active on there and I wanted to check and make sure they still did it this year considering all these cuts they have appeared to make this year. On that note, I did get my pin and ice cream yesterday and I wanted to give a big shout out to all the staff who made my evening special. My fiancé and I managed to get a nice clear evening in, got a tastings card, did a few coasters, walked around and got a couple of new plushies. 

So the good and the bad about the food tasting card. The good being that you don't have to use the whole thing in one visit. As long as you visit during Grand Carnivale, it is valid so its nice that you don't have to get them all at once. The bad being that of the three tastings we got yesterday, only one of them was truly enjoyable. The panzerotti was the most enjoyable but we both agreed that the house made marinara dipping sauce was not that great so we opted to use LaRosa's pizza sauce instead which was the better choice. The krapfen di carnevale (berry cream filled doughnut ) was just disappointing. It looked so good in the photo but when we tried it, there was hardly any cream in it at all and it wasn't warm. I feel like had it been warmed up with more cream filling it would have been much more satisfying but it just didn't deliver which was sad. The blueberry bits were good and we mostly ate that part of it. And our last tasting we did of the night was the bang bang chicken. This again could have been so much better had it been grilled chicken with a spicier sauce. It was just very peanut forward and sadly just not at all what we hoped for. 

We didn't get to experience the parade last night due to weather so I can't give my personal opinion on the experience yet, but it does make me so sad to hear that it isn't the grand experience that they are selling it as. I would still like to see it with my own eyes despite the fact. 

I'll just say that I am grateful to the kindness from the staff last night and getting a peaceful evening with my human 

[brenthodge]

10 hours ago, Timchat2 said:

During the first year of Grand Carnivale, didn't some of the floats park around the Bandstand and Eiffel Tower at the end of the parade? I remember how much that added to the party atmosphere with the extra lights, characters, photo ops, etc.

Yes. It was a great solution to the “how do we get them back home “ problem they created storing them where they do. They kept the two “self contained “ units (the opening trampoline unit and the dirigible unit that that year was self contained) since they couldn’t really take up space with the two cars needed got the other ones. Since the floats have all been replaced with lesser versions, it’s really not possible to leave them out with the tow units to trip over. 

[Timchat2]

Watching video of the 2019 I was reminded of the self-contained floats, not to mention the larger scope of the parade with so many performers and three Mardi Gras bead floats at the end instead of the current single one.

[brenthodge]

 What we had compared to what we’ve got is pretty telling. The GrandShowcase has been replaced by an hour late “ opening” that actually has a commercial for TASTING CARDS in the middle of it. I’m surprised they didn’t put the cast in CARVIVALE T shirts “on sale now at the EMPORIUM!!!” With a clearance fashion show LOL. 

[Snowball]

3 hours ago, brenthodge said:

 What we had compared to what we’ve got is pretty telling. The GrandShowcase has been replaced by an hour late “ opening” that actually has a commercial for TASTING CARDS in the middle of it. I’m surprised they didn’t put the cast in CARVIVALE T shirts “on sale now at the EMPORIUM!!!” With a clearance fashion show LOL. 

Seeing myself in that thumbnail will always catch me off guard now matter how many times I see that picture. 

[BoddaH1994]

On 7/28/2023 at 7:17 PM, brenthodge said:

 What we had compared to what we’ve got is pretty telling. The GrandShowcase has been replaced by an hour late “ opening” that actually has a commercial for TASTING CARDS in the middle of it. I’m surprised they didn’t put the cast in CARVIVALE T shirts “on sale now at the EMPORIUM!!!” With a clearance fashion show LOL. 

They plugged the tasting cards in 2021 too. That doesn’t bother me very much. 
 

In 2019, they parked the floats around the tower. They got rid of that in 2021. I had heard that a big part of that was the incidents they had been having with unruly guests. They were worried about people climbing on them and stuff. I get that. It probably was a good bonus that they didn’t have to pay someone to stand there to babysit it. I do agree that it is sorely missed. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

Ummm... Riddle this.

[silver2005]

^Didn't someone find socks somewhere earlier this season, too?

Worst new attraction hints ever. 

 

[IBEW_Sparky]

14 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Ummm... Riddle this.

A BRILLIANT way to secure your phone without paying for a locker, I mean, would YOU go pick up some rando pair of shorts to rummage through them?  

 

[BeeastFarmer]

Theming. That person was TOLD not to go in the shed and now look at what happened!

[disco2000]

Now _ _its in the shed 

[Snowball]

3 hours ago, silver2005 said:

^Didn't someone find socks somewhere earlier this season, too?

Worst new attraction hints ever. 

 

I think that was me? I found socks, underwear, and shorts under the tower earlier in the season.

[IndyGuy4KI]

49 minutes ago, Snowball said:

I think that was me? I found socks, underwear, and shorts under the tower earlier in the season.

Now the person has lost a second pair of shorts. Knowing they were going commando by your post, we have a streaker lose in the park.  

[BoddaH1994]

One of the shining stars of the 2023 season is “Adventure Awaits,” Kings Island’s nightly fireworks, laser, and drone spectacular. Check out the latest Tower Topics - a podcast for the Kings Island fan, because that's who we are, and that's who we care about.

https://linktr.ee/towertopics
 

[SonofBaconator]

Here’s a rant: the train running at half capacity during 10-10 business hours is ridiculous. Imagine waiting 15 minutes to get on the train to go to Soak City only to have to wait another 15 minutes because they’re only pulling 3 passenger cars and they’re already full.

[FUN&ONLY!]

18 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

Here’s a rant: the train running at half capacity during 10-10 business hours is ridiculous. Imagine waiting 15 minutes to get on the train to go to Soak City only to have to wait another 15 minutes because they’re only pulling 3 passenger cars and they’re already full.

I agree. Really it is running at 1/4 capacity because only half of one of the two trains is running at a time.

[SonofBaconator]

7 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I agree. Really it is running at 1/4 capacity because only half of one of the two trains is running.

To operate a 6 car train you only need 4 people… I thought there was a waitlist to be hired, surely it can’t be that hard to find one extra person to supervise the back half.

[FUN&ONLY!]

14 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

To operate a 6 car train you only need 4 people… I thought there was a waitlist to be hired, surely it can’t be that hard to find one extra person to supervise the back half.

The back train position, which is needed to run a full six car train was cut as a part of the recent budget cuts. Two train operations on Sundays was also recently cut, and two train operations on Fridays was cut last within the past year.

[disco2000]

27 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

To operate a 6 car train you only need 4 people… I thought there was a waitlist to be hired, surely it can’t be that hard to find one extra person to supervise the back half.

Associates willing/wanting/asking to work isn't the issue...

[SonofBaconator]

On 7/31/2023 at 3:24 PM, SonofBaconator said:

Here’s a rant: the train running at half capacity during 10-10 business hours is ridiculous. Imagine waiting 15 minutes to get on the train to go to Soak City only to have to wait another 15 minutes because they’re only pulling 3 passenger cars and they’re already full.

Still running 3 cars:

https://instagram.com/stories/kingsislandpr/3161385143284147275?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[SonofBaconator]

On 7/31/2023 at 3:53 PM, FUN&ONLY! said:

The back train position, which is needed to run a full six car train was cut as a part of the recent budget cuts. Two train operations on Sundays was also recently cut, and two train operations on Fridays was cut last within the past year.

Here’s my argument: the train is more than just a ride- it’s a service for guests. When the main park and the waterpark are open, even if they’re running one train, there should be six passenger cars. On Monday I saw parents struggling to squeeze their strollers onto the train since there wasn’t enough room. Sure you could walk to the waterpark via Planet Snoopy but sometimes people are tired and just want to sit for a little bit. And that’s another thing- there’s not nearly enough benches in the station for guests who need to sit. Sure they could sit outside of the station but that’s besides the point. 
 

I don’t usually rant, especially about my favorite ride in the park, but the cuts have been made to the train are obnoxious considering the service it provides the guests.

[Orion742]

Anyone know why Orion is closed today?

[KIghostguy]

31 minutes ago, Orion742 said:

Anyone know why Orion is closed today?

Hopefully fixing the speakers in the station, they haven’t been playing the soundtrack since May.

[PKIVortex]

Anyone notice none of the sound effects are working on Adventure Express? The que line stuff is working just none on ride audio.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

[Taylor.B03]

Drainage problems in The Beast plaza

[SonofBaconator]

Since when does the park close at 8 on Friday? It’s the start of the weekend.