KI Comms

[BoddaH1994]

1 hour ago, cdubbs727 said:

I think it was a miscalculation, and I think an over-correction. 

My Monday-morning quarterback theory is that they were afraid the stats on MT weren't impressive enough to get the enthusiasts excited (I remember an overall impression that some were disappointed the new ride was a family coaster), and so they tried to goose interest by hyping the shed. The problem? It got everyone thinking the shed was some sort of ride element, particularly as drop tracks were becoming more of a thing. When it was revealed to be just a fun little video to pass the time in the final block, people were let down. 

The thing is, even though MT doesn't have record-breaking stats, it's a fantastic ride. I know it's not as fast as The Beast or Diamondback, and yet the way it's designed, it feels more out of control and wild i places than those. It's a great ride, one of the park's best, IMO (and a night ride comes close to rivaling The Beast). The shed? It's just a fun little thing at the end -- it's better than waiting for the train to prove, and we've ridden it enough where now we like to count how many times we've gotten the tree/snake/etc. 

I think in time the ride's settled into its reputation -- people love it; the shed is cheesy fun. But the marketing was miscalculated. 

Personally, as much as I love the ride, I still wish they'd been able to go with the original theme of it being a derelict roller coaster, where you entered through its ruins. 

It won the Golden Ticket for “Best New Ride.” I do agree that some built up the shed in their own heads and were disappointed; however, I think the GTA alone demonstrates that people walked away from the ride and/or experience overwhelmingly positively. I think if the, “What’s in the shed?” campaign was damaging then they wouldn’t have won. 

[TombRaiderFTW]

1 hour ago, cdubbs727 said:

I think in time the ride's settled into its reputation -- people love it; the shed is cheesy fun. But the marketing was miscalculated. 

Respectfully, I disagree. I think the marketing was very a straightforward and uncomplicated attempt to market something different from the norm of what the last 10 years of ownership had offered. It was a themed roller coaster, not just the tried-and-true Cedar Fair "coasters and concrete" approach--and what's more, it was a marketing approach that proved very successful 15 years earlier for Tomb Raider: The Ride. They told us something was coming, but they didn't exactly tell us what.

What Marketing said: "There's a new roller coaster coming next year with a mysterious shed at the end of the ride. That's all we'll say until April!"

How Marketing advertised the ride: A new roller coaster with a spooky theme and a mysterious shed at the end. "Come ride our new ride and discover the mysteries awaiting you!"

How enthusiasts took it: "There must be a backwards launch*! Or a drop track*! Or a whole second half to the layout that's not shown in the renderings*!"

Enthusiasts, the following April: "What do you mean it's a themed alternative to sitting on the brakes under the sun?! It should've been so much more! I can't believe the park hyped this up so much!"

* = These, verbatim, are things that enthusiasts across the Internet were saying at the time.

I'd wholeheartedly agree with you if the park spent time on social media or elsewhere making hints about elements to expect within the shed, but they didn't. That's why I have a hard time agreeing with enthusiasts who were disappointed with Mystic Timbers--I kinda feel like they played themselves and are blaming the park for it. I don't feel like the public at large had nearly as much beef with the shed as enthusiasts, either.

[IndyGuy4KI]

9 hours ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Elizabeth does a good job with this! 

I have been very impressed with the videos she has been creating. She has an awesome talent. Hopefully she is hired full time when her internship is up. 

[Tr0y]

On 8/29/2023 at 2:13 PM, Orion-XL200 said:

Didn't Mystic win best new ride in 2017? I think the campaign for the ride + the ride experience itself helped win the award. 

Orion could have won best new ride but the campaign aspect was not there from the current KI Comms....if it would have been, I'm sure it would have won best new ride. 

The KI Comms campaign for Orion came up short by roughly 30ft in height and 1000ft in length. 

[Orion-XL200]

Has anyone seen any updates from KI Comms about Haunt preparations? I haven't seen anything on Twitter. 

You'd think trying to get folks excited for Haunt could help drive attendance and potential pass sales. 

[SonofBaconator]

An idea I have that wouldn’t take much effort to accomplish but could get the park some more attention: adding titles to their rides.

For example, instead of saying “The Beast is waiting for you this weekend” say something like “The World Famous Beast is waiting for you this weekend.” Instead of saying “Carpenters are spending the offseason replacing the wood on The Racer” say “Carpenters are spending the offseason replacing the wood on the Historic Racer.” “Guests enjoy their ride on the Record Breaking Banshee.”

This is done here and there with social media posts but I think they should try and capitalize on anything they can to market themselves a little more. Including a few extra words could make all the difference. 
 

1. The World Famous Beast
2. The Historic Racer
3. The Record Breaking Banshee
4. The Mile Long Diamondback
5. The Award Winning Orion/Mystic Timbers

 

[Orion-XL200]

It is so simple...but doesn't seem to be done.

[standbyme]

2 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

An idea I have that wouldn’t take much effort to accomplish but could get the park some more attention: adding titles to their rides.

 

[jdf21972]

Spell check please on the Haunt map !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

^

Regulations apples are a thing in theme park and we have to deal with them.

[jsus]

2 hours ago, jdf21972 said:

Spell check please on the Haunt map !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I prefer when regulations avocado but that's just me!

[Orion-XL200]

 

Almost feel like this should be "off tickets" instead of "of tickets"

[Old_Bearcat]

Slash the price of tickets is correct.  Saying slash the price off tickets would remove all price from the tickets

Compare "slash the ear of Van Gough" to "slash the ear off Van Gough"..... in which instance would his ear, or a portion of, remain?

[Orion-XL200]

I can see that...almost doesn't feel complete to me though. Oh well.

[BoddaH1994]

https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA

 

Park’s response:

Animated gif saying “we do not care”

Source (before it’s taken down): https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA

Looks like Mr Selfie is saying the quiet part out loud. 

 

[Kifan91]

4 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA

 

Park’s response:

Animated gif saying “we do not care”

Source (before it’s taken down): https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA

Looks like Mr Selfie is saying the quiet part out loud. 

 

Wow that is so unprofessional so sad

[Benjamin22]

That’s very unprofessional. What is with the parks management this season? Everything seems to have fallen off a cliff.

 

Edit - This is a fake account, although I still think the park is not being ran all that well atm.

[gforce1994]

22 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA

 

Park’s response:

Animated gif saying “we do not care”

Source (before it’s taken down): https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA

Looks like Mr Selfie is saying the quiet part out loud. 

 

Or it looks like someone else made an account trying to have an “ah-ha” moment.

The name of the account is KingsLslandPR. It’s a fake account.

[BoddaH1994]

25 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA

 

Park’s response:

Animated gif saying “we do not care”

Source (before it’s taken down): https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA

Looks like Mr Selfie is saying the quiet part out loud. 

 

I want to leave this up in the interest of fairness. This is not the real KI account. Is a very crafty clone. I apologize to the comms team. This time it wasn’t them.

[BeeastFarmer]

Since this is a fake @kingsislandpr account, I've deleted my post.

Edited September 24, 2023 by BeeastFarmer
Fake news

[SonofBaconator]

The fact that someone went out of their way to create a nearly identical burner account to discredit the park is beyond petty.

[jsus]

17 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I want to leave this up in the interest of fairness. This is not the real KI account. Is a very crafty clone. I apologize to the comms team. This time it wasn’t them.

If you look closely, the account is Kings[L]slandPR.  The display name is Kings Island (spelled as the park's name is).  Common scam all over Twitter to play on the fact that a lowercase L often looks like a capital i.  They're all over the more well-known pages, often peddling crypto scams, including with the guy who executed a hostile takeover then wanted to back out.

However, the original post was from the actual KI PR account, this spoof account is just replying to it while impersonating the park account.

15 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

The fact that someone went out of their way to create a nearly identical burner account to discredit the park is beyond petty.

Especially when they don't need help with that...  But that's a subject for another thread.  Oh wait, this is that other thread.

[Taylor.B03]

Kings Island can easily afford to get their checkmark back. If I can do it, they certainly can. 

[PKIDelirium]

And so can anyone, including fake accounts.

I know the corporate-level checkmarks are gold, but how many people will notice anything more than the typical blue-check on a very close fake?

[Taylor.B03]

4 hours ago, PKIDelirium said:

And so can anyone, including fake accounts.

I know the corporate-level checkmarks are gold, but how many people will notice anything more than the typical blue-check on a very close fake?

The whole point for paying for one is that anyone that is impersonating you will be removed much faster than if you don't. Also, if Kings Island gets any of the 2 check marks, anyone with a fake account will not be able to get a blue check mark since each account is manually reviewed before the checkmark is given. If anyone who has a check mark decides to change their name or profile picture, their check is removed and needs to be reviewed in order to ensure that they are not trying to change their profile to be deceptive. Anyone who has a check mark essentially gets a claim over the name and can much easily report accounts for impersonation since if pay for any checkmark (Especially Gold), you get priority within customer service. 

[Ki Man]

 

[Delirium13]

Best thing you can do is report the account. It is clearly impersonating, right down to its bio, so it is not what X/Twitter would consider parody.

[SonofBaconator]

 

[Tr0y]

1 hour ago, SonofBaconator said:

Obviously whoever made that post for Kings Island, didn’t watch the playoffs last year. Jabroni!

[IndyGuy4KI]

This thread has been going for 4 months now. For a while the park implement some of the ideas posted here. We thought this was a beneficial thread for its members and the park. As time has gone by, it has just become  a thread of nit picking. We have now beat this dead horse to a pulp.

While I was making the videos that I have uploaded to YouTube the last 24 hours, I was adding the voice over of  "Kings Island's ultimate fan site." I stopped and thought about that line.  Has the site been living up to that mission? Have I lived up to my end of the the ultimate fan site mission? As I reflected (even on my own actions) I am not sure I can say yes to either one. 

I want to first apologize for not holding myself to the standard I want to maintain. In letting my emotions take over, I forgot to let in my intellect to balance out my thinking. Yes, we are emotionally attached to the place we all love. We can sometimes forget that it is a business and they are going to make decisions that we won't understand.

Staying in that emotional state does not allow us to enjoy the park or the forums. To that end, I am going to lock this thread. It is time to look forward, enjoy the park and continue to make memories and talk about the place we love.