2023 General Kings Island Discussion

[Taylor.B03]

Just now, silver2005 said:

I think KI may need to add another Skyline location if tonight was an indication, the one was pretty busy the few times I passed it.  

Agreed, even if they opened a location temporarily in the former subway building, I think it would be much better. All the load has been shifted to the one location, the demand is still there.

[silver2005]

Having worked for Skyline restaurants going on 8 years now, never underestimate the average Cincinnatian's craving for Skyline.

[Tr0y]

One thing I did notice today on Diamondback was while stacked on the break run you could see about 10 seat belts for Diamondback new in the bag placed in different spots on the floor of the storage shed for the trains, as if they were supposed to be installed that day. Another thing I noticed was safety netting missing underneath part of the track to keep objects from falling onto people. I know it’s minor details but things that deal with safety is an ominous sign.

[Taylor.B03]

Did anyone notice the lack of ops saying "Scan". It seems like it is no longer required. It seems to be speeding up the operations.

[FUN&ONLY!]

2 hours ago, kirbias1 said:

Yeah, agreed. this was very odd to me. Park doesn't look very good.Mulch was not even close to being finished and some of the places only had half of it down and it looked sloppy. They cut Japanese Maple trees down in multiple areas that were beautiful just last year.  Adventure Port not open until summer? Weird as well. AE closed for a long time too. They had all off season to finish this as well. Cedar Fair always seems to find ways to close rides down for extended periods of time.  Never seen the park look this bad for opening day either. Worlds of Fun apparently had this issue as well. In the past, this seems like it would all be finished.  Very odd and concerning.

The landscaping is VERY lacking compared to past years. The many trees cut down does not look good as well as the lack of mulching.

[FUN&ONLY!]

1 hour ago, Taylor.B03 said:

Did anyone notice the lack of ops saying "Scan". It seems like it is no longer required. It seems to be speeding up the operations.

Not only is the saying “scan” not required this season, but it technically not allowed anymore. Now, the scan is just started once everyone is done checking and ready to scan without anyone actually saying “scan.” Last season and for years, saying “scan” was required before each dispatch.

[kirbias1]

7 hours ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

The landscaping is VERY lacking compared to past years. The many trees cut down does not look good as well as the lack of mulching.

Is Cedar Fair cutting costs by lowering full time personnel to make up for costs of paying seasonal employees more? Don't get it because park looked so amazing last year. They may be hiring more subs that are less expensive and don't do nearly as good of a job. 

[johnjniehaus]

I think after the pandemic all amusement parks took a pretty hard financial hit and while I would hope that they have been able to recoup some money by now, I also think that park leadership gets a bit greedy and wants to see huge profits and part of making more money is not spending a lot of money. So you know cut things like landscaping that at the end of the day don't get people into the park. I'm assuming very few people go to Kings Island just to look at the landscaping and trees. Or in order to cut labor they only have half of the food locations open. The people who are going to buy food are still going to and they will just have to wait twice as long to do so. To me pass holders with meal/drink plans are the ones who really get penalized with closed dinning locations. 

Unfortunately, I think that Cedar Fair silently has been making some changes that are not totally unlike Six Flags (just six flags has been pretty vocal about changes and has made the news over enthusiast backlash and angry customers) However, preview day this year at KI reminded me of opening day last year at Six Flags St Louis. Kings Island had 4 big rides closed (Adv Express, The Bat, Delirium, and Drop Tower). Six Flags St Louis also had some big rides closed for opening day in 2022 (The Boss, Mr Freeze Reverse Blast, Xcalibur) and both parks had probably half their dinning locations closed. 

I also think that some of the staff didn't seem to be "ready" or very well trained. I do want to say I appreciate all the good staff that typically KI has but yesterday (preview day) there were a few that just seemed unprepared. One of the seat assignment people on Diamondback consistently left unfilled rows, there was no seat assignment on The Racer, and whenever I went to Auntie Anne's in rivertown there was a lot of mistakes. I ordered regular pretzel nuggets and a cup of water but got charged $4 and something for a fountain drink and whenever I asked if the water wasn't free anymore the girl didn't seem to know so the "manager" came over and took it off. Then whenever she filled my order she gave me the "pigs in a blanket" as I would call them but basically the hotdogs in pretzels however, I just took it seeing as they probably wouldn't be allowed to take it back. 

So needless to say, so far I am unimpressed by the 2023 season seeing as many of the off season projects are incomplete and the park overall is just not up to previous years standards. I feel like it's extremely noticeable though because we just came off one of the greatest seasons at the park where everything looked amazing and staff was excellent and frankly it was the 50th so it was supposed to be amazing. However, the golden standard has definitely relaxed quite a bit for the 51st season. 

After all of that I'm still excited about seeing the new projects completed and obviously with more experience the staff will improve. I'm just hoping they can get some of the closed rides up and running or at least give some descent reason that they aren't. It makes me a little more understanding if there's a "reason" behind an action. 

[beastfan11]

I’m regards to the landscaping… Isn’t it typically sparse this time of year? As spring progresses into summer/daily operations, the landscaping work tends to expand quite a bit. 

[PKIDelirium]

Yeah, I mean, first weekend is still usually a work in progress cosmetically. They went all out last year for the 50th so returning to a more typical early season situation is probably just tossing people off.

I would say Adventure Port is probably behind schedule, but that was already announced to be a summer opening. I'm sure they'll get Grain and Grill and the relocated TomChee open soon, and Diamondback's paint will probably get completed before daily operations. Lots of weekdays to get stuff ship-shape.

[disco2000]

Would everyone prefer if they waited until mid-May or Memorial Day to open.....

[PKIDelirium]

Weather is also a factor. Landscaping in April in Ohio? You never know if it might be freezing again. To me it looks like the usual April conditions for the landscaping.

[KIghostguy]

In my opinion, there would be less blowback if this was advertised as a preview weekend instead of opening day. Advertising something as opening day sets the expectations that most or all major off-season projects are completed. Advertising it as a preview weekend(s) would better keep guests' expectations in-check for this year.

[gforce1994]

44 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

In my opinion, there would be less blowback if this was advertised as a preview weekend instead of opening day. Advertising something as opening day sets the expectations that most or all major off-season projects are completed. Advertising it as a preview weekend(s) would better keep guests' expectations in-check for this year.

Firehawk opened at the end of May. Are you advocating the park throw away two months of profits and a potential employee pool just to open with every single ride?

 

[silver2005]

Could be that I haven't ridden Mystic Timbers in a while, but to me, it's running wicked fast in a good way today.

[chad_1138]

Just now, silver2005 said:

Could be that I haven't ridden Mystic Timbers in a while, but to me, it's running wicked fast in a good way today.

Agreed.  Got a ride last evening, and she was moving!!

[CoasterJack]

  I was gonna say, I think we need to remember the rather rough winter comparatively, I mean they had water pipes burst during Winterfest which closed the park. Also, I get people making the claim about cost cutting. On one side I see from Cedar Fair Corporate's side. They carry more debt than their company is currently worth in market valuation. They had $2.34B of debt last I checked, and only had a company valuation of $2.13B. Some of this comes from COVID, some comes all the way back from them purchasing the Paramount Parks, SF WOA, etc. As one sees increasing interest rates, it would make sense to prioritize paying this down before the cost of debt continues to rise. (alright enough business talk)

  It's the first weekend people, I think people (myself included), show up expecting the best experience we had from the previous year, when in reality it's the first few days. Look at Haunt as it transitions to opening. Any park or business that operates seasonally obviously has a lot more work to do. Additionally, I've worked for a landscaping company in the past, and mulching is never done by now across the board. Sure, some places might be a little ahead of others, but also it rained for like a week straight at the beginning of April, which will definitely delay maintenance and landscaping.

  Also, while I don't love the removal of trees, their landscaping is still a significant improvement over the later Paramount years. Also, many trees in the park haven't even fully grown their leaves back. I believe once the trees behind Adventure Port fill in, as well as they properly finish the area, it'll look so much better. And the real VIP area actually looks to be really nice once completed. And in Soak City, I'll take any free seating I can get , that place is always so packed. I get some things might not be up to expectations, but come on guys, the whole point of KI is to be a place of fun, a place to relax with family and friends. Not to stress over a few things not being quite ready in April of Ohio. From watching the live cams, the amount of cars in the parking lot the past two months, and word of mouth from some friends, the park has been full of people hard at work. I sure enjoyed the preview, and it sure was a heck of a lot smoother than our friends at CP last time I went.

 

 

[IndyGuy4KI]

1 hour ago, KIghostguy said:

In my opinion, there would be less blowback if this was advertised as a preview weekend instead of opening day. Advertising something as opening day sets the expectations that most or all major off-season projects are completed. Advertising it as a preview weekend(s) would better keep guests' expectations in-check for this year.

I don't even like the name preview. Especially if the new stuff is not ready to be previewed. I think a better option would have been for the park communications department to invite media and fan sites the week before about preview weekend and what delays have happened in to getting the new area open. I am sure that would have alleviated a lot of the disappointment. 

Everyone is experiencing construction material delays. What park has been successful at getting stuff open on opening day this year? Look at Dollywood and their new coaster. 

[standbyme]

2 hours ago, disco2000 said:

Would everyone prefer if they waited until mid-May or Memorial Day to open.....

I know…if they did that, then people would be saying stuff like “I wish they would open earlier…I wouldn’t even care if all the rides were running…I just wanna ride something!”

[Imperial79]

I think they're doing pretty good at the time they had to get ready, only 3 months and 13 days, that's not a lot of time, taking down Winterfest and especially with how much the park is working on for this year, Adventure Port is going to look really nice when it's done, with the greenery still to be added. 

[PKIDelirium]

Yeah, once the rides are installed they can get to the landscaping and theming, and like I said there are plenty of weekdays before daily ops start to work on the various projects. Adventure Port with AE theme job is the major thing but there's still the Diamondback paint to complete, a new restaurant to open, a restaurant to complete relocating, VIP lounge to finish building, etc.

I think by the start of daily operations everything will be in order, Adventure Port might not be open right then but they can really crank out work during the weekdays this time of year so it's too early to judge.

[CoasterJack]

Also, went to the top of Eiffel Tower this morning. Anyone else notice there's definitely some changes to Adventure Express? Like specifically, it seems to me there's a new track piece laying in the woods next to the initial turn out of the woods

[DonHelbig]

16 hours ago, Tr0y said:

I’m amazed how much work there is still left to be done in the park when tomorrow is “opening day.” We already know Adventure Port won’t be ready, but I was surprised Diamondback is only partially painted. Any track beyond the Crypt building still needs painted. I didn’t see any boom lifts nearby, I hope they don’t do Diamondback like they did The Racer. The Beast was down multiple times today, I thought last season The Beast had more downtime than usual as well. I wonder if the re profiled hill might have something to due with it. I know today was basically a “soft opening” I am hopeful that today was just a one off and not a continuation of the issues from last year. 

Diamondback is a steel roller coaster. You can't paint a steel coaster when it's below a certain temperature which it is the majority of the winter and early spring months. 

[PKIDelirium]

It's like the painters and construction crews know what they're doing. Crazy, huh?

[gforce1994]

52 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

Diamondback is a steel roller coaster. You can't paint a steel coaster when it's below a certain temperature which it is the majority of the winter and early spring months. 

Perfectly said. Rapid temperature changes and new paint don’t mix well.

[Benjamin22]

I think Kings Island needs to seriously consider a chaperone police like WoF. If they felt the need to close Action Zone on day one due to an incident I can’t imagine how many other times it’s going to happen this season. 

[Taylor.B03]

a chaperone policy is a great permanent solution. There are numbers of things that can be done to prevent and discourage these things from happening. If such policy was added, I wouldn't be able to go to the park with my sisters, I could go but they couldn't since I am between 18 and 21. I think some bans need to be put in place. Anyone who incites or is apart of such behavior should be given a 45 operating day ban. After that time, a 30 day period of time is taken where if you do something again, you get a year ban. Bans should be given out more frequently as well as things like crowd prevention. Any crowd of 5+ underage teenagers shouldn't be allowed in the park unless there is 1 adult per 5 children (Or they are apart of a visiting school / org / church / ect. A chaperone policy ruins it for the rule abiders and still can be averted if the adult is just as careless as the minors. 

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

This is me with Don, nothing unusual at all...

[LuvingKI]

20 minutes ago, Benjamin22 said:

I think Kings Island needs to seriously consider a chaperone police like WoF. If they felt the need to close Action Zone on day one due to an incident I can’t imagine how many other times it’s going to happen this season. 

What happened? I was there earlier today, didn't know a incident happened

[Taylor.B03]

7 minutes ago, LuvingKI said:

What happened? I was there earlier today, didn't know a incident happened

I'm not there today but from the information I have at the moment from various here say sources, someone in Action Zone may of had a weapon on them, security allegedly told people in the area to leave the area asap while police allegedly went to the scene. I cannot confirm anything at this time.