2023 Takeaways?

[SonofBaconator]

What are some takeaways you all have from this season (regular, fall, and winter when it comes time)?

[Benjamin22]

- Prestige pass is not really worth the cost. Lack of soft drinks were a major bummer.

-  The season long dining plan isn’t really worth it considering how much worse the food was this season.

- Thematically the park is doing a great job with how nice the new area looks. Hopefully future additions to the park are themed as well.

- Seasonal events continue to get worse

Overall what could have been a great season for the park turned out to be extremely mediocre at best. 

[super7]

The root of what’s stated above is Cedar Fairs current penny pinching, cost cutting mindset.   They must be mimicking SEAS.  
 

I’m surprised (and thankful) that theming wasn’t a victim   But they did offset that with cheap Zamperla junk  

 

This cost cutting is  impacting the guest experience     And will not increase attendance 

 

[Tr0y]

My biggest gripe for 2023 season was the lack of preparedness and the park not having things ready on time:

-Diamondback’s paint wasn’t finished for opening day.

-None of the 2023 ride additions were ready for opening day.

-VIP lounge not ready for opening day.

-The fog machines were not ready for opening weekend of haunt.

You get the idea. 


Visits for 2023 (as of today)

Kings Island: 27     Cedar Point: 7       Carowinds: 2       Kings Dominon: 1        Michigan’s Adventure: 1

Busch Gardens Williamsburg: 2        Busch Gardens Tampa: 1        Seaworld Orlando: 1

Stricker’s Grove: 1

 

All season Dining Plan redemptions: 72

 

All in all 2023 was a great year! I’m already looking forward to 2024!
 

 

[johnjniehaus]

The ride hours and staffing cuts mid season were very disappointing to me personally. The Monster ops are painfully slow, the Train running with reduced capacity is sad, and no racing on The Racer during the week was just not one of my favorite decisions. I do feel like as pointed out already that most of the improvements were late. That being said the theming and new rides in adventure Port I thought were solid. Zamperla isn't bad (of course the classic Intamin drunken barrels and Huss Enterprise rides were probably better) but those rides fit well thematically and aesthetically. I personally also enjoyed the PTE (seeing as I somehow didn't see it last year) and the Adventure Awaits Fireworks show was a good follow up to the 50th anniversary. 

[SonofBaconator]

22 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

the Train running with reduced capacity is sad

This. Call me biased but in terms of ride associates- everyone should be trained on the train so they don’t have to cut the passenger cars down to 3 like they’ve had to do on some days.
 

I think with regards to train ops, something that happened recently affected it in a negative way: Mystic Timbers. The old White Water Canyon path went over the train tracks but now it had to be rerouted to accommodate the coaster. The problem is, now the pathway is on level ground so there has to be someone at the gate. That might not be a big issue but that’s one less person who could been used to monitor the back part of the train and allow for 6 car ops.

[OverlandTaxis30]

For me personally, I have become more comfortable and less scared of riding roller coasters. 
I have ridden every coaster in the park plus three other Cedar Fair parks (Worlds of Fun, Cedar Point, and ValleyFair). 
And just last week, I did every coaster in Dollywood. 
In all, they don’t scare me anymore. 

Next year, I am hoping to continue conquering coasters in parks outside the chain, as well as continuing to visit my home park here.

Here is to 2024!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[johnjniehaus]

18 minutes ago, OverlandTaxis30 said:

For me personally, I have become more comfortable and less scared of riding roller coasters. 
I have ridden every coaster in the park plus three other Cedar Fair parks (Worlds of Fun, Cedar Point, and ValleyFair). 
And just last week, I did every coaster in Dollywood. 
In all, they don’t scare me anymore. 

Next year, I am hoping to continue conquering coasters in parks outside the chain, as well as continuing to visit my home park here.

Here is to 2024!

Congratulations! You've taken your first steps into a larger world. My sister was always scared of new coasters and cried every time she was in line all up until highschool years and then suddenly just figured out that there's really nothing different about most coasters. Anyway, glasses up to 2024 and hopefully you can get out to some more parks and get on some more great coasters! 

[super7]

36 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

This. Call me biased but in terms of ride associates- everyone should be trained on the train so they don’t have to cut the passenger cars down to 3 like they’ve had to do on some days.
 

I think with regards to train ops, something that happened recently affected it in a negative way: Mystic Timbers. The old White Water Canyon path went over the train tracks but now it had to be rerouted to accommodate the coaster. The problem is, now the pathway is on level ground so there has to be someone at the gate. That might not be a big issue but that’s one less person who could been used to monitor the back part of the train and allow for 6 car ops.

I don’t know why they just didn’t spend the money to build another bridge over the railroad tracks when they rerouted the queue. It would’ve paid for itself by now with the savings in labor cost of somebody watching that crossing.   Plus, there’s much more needed jobs that need filled than that one. 

[Orion742]

I had an awesome year! I still have some visits to KI and Dollywood this October but after that my 2023 will come to a close. 
 

KI takeaways: With last year being my favorite year all time in KI’s history, my expectations I think were a bit too high for this year. Employee moral seemed down compared to last year. Budget cuts were frustrating but not the end of the world. Diamondback’s repaint not being done is probably what frustrated me the most. I know it is hard but I really wish it could have been done for opening day. I would have rather have the ride been closed for repaint than half painted. Adventure Port seemed very rushed. It’s a nice addition definitely better than before but the area could really benefit from some trees. 

Looking ahead to 2024: 

I really hope the park can bounce back and have a better year in 2024, here is what I would like to see. 

Camp Snoopy finished and ready by opening day. It would definitely help having a new attraction at the start of the year. I’ve already mentioned this but I would really like to see more trees in AP next year. Not really an improvement but I hope we get to see the start of our next coaster in 2024!
I know how good KI can be something just felt off about this year and I really hope the park can bounce back next year and the first step would be opening SSBR on time next year.

My 2023 achievements: 

I had 0 RMC credits at the start of the year and now 4 which is amazing. Visited 4 new parks this year got a new number 1 and doubled my credit count.
 

2023 was an awesome year and 2024 theme park season looks even better!

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

1 hour ago, johnjniehaus said:

 The Monster ops are painfully slow

I worked Monster a couple times this year and heres the thing, those pod doors (especially for someone who is short and out of shape like me) are HEAVY to lift up. Not to mention the control operator manually parks the ride and they have to park it perfectly to safely load and unload people. You also can only load and unload one at a time so that slows everything down. Not to mention on low crowded/short staffed days they only staff 2 operators (drive and load/unload) and since there is only one operator loading and unloading they can only load one side which reduces capacity even more. 

[johnjniehaus]

59 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Not to mention on low crowded/short staffed days they only staff 2 operators (drive and load/unload) and since there is only one operator loading and unloading they can only load one side which reduces capacity even more. 

Hey thanks for running one of my favorite flats! I totally get that the Monster is not an efficient loader and never has been. It wasn't designed for efficiency at all. However, the 2ops in my opinion is a terrible plan. I was there on some Fridays and Saturdays this year and it still only had two ops. I remember just a few years back they would have all 6 arms loaded on Saturdays. I'm not telling you anything you don't know first hand but I definitely think the monster deserves 3ops. 

[super7]

Monster is not designed for efficiency unfortunately.   Like ferris wheels. 
 

The Huss Magic has a similar motion to monster but loads all gondolas at once.   Plus it has 4 person gondolas suspended from above.  Huss just introduced a new version of it, so hopefully some parks will get one.  It’s a great ride.

 

 

(This is not wishing that monster would be replaced with a magic.  Monster is one of the original heritage rides that needs to stay)

[KIBeast]

Well, I was able to visit Dollywood for the 1st time this year. Pretty good park, although the narrow midways were definitely not something I enjoyed. I love Lightning Rod, but the slow operations (which is apparently due to one train ops) was just unacceptable. Really glad they are going to do a high speed chain lift to cure that problem. Really loved their new coaster Big Bear Mountain.

As for my KI visit, I had a great time. I didn't feel like the operations were lacking and I attended in July. I tried the blue ice cream for the 1st time and I loved that. I like the new additions and was really pleased to see Adventure Express with added effects. My son and I keep saying that we are going to try something new in food, but somehow we can't get away from LaRosa's in Rivertown. Also would like to commend them on opening The Beast when it was stated at the front gate that it would be closed for the day. I was disappointed as I was extremely excited to ride it since the re-tracking/re-profiling. Gravity Group did an excellent job with that. In addition, I feel like the Red Racer delivered the smoothest ride I have had on it since likely the late 80's/early 90's.

[Tr0y]

On 10/4/2023 at 8:33 PM, Tr0y said:

My biggest gripe for 2023 season was the lack of preparedness and the park not having things ready on time:

-Diamondback’s paint wasn’t finished for opening day.

-None of the 2023 ride additions were ready for opening day.

-VIP lounge not ready for opening day.

-The fog machines were not ready for opening weekend of haunt.

You get the idea. 


Visits for 2023 (as of today)

Kings Island: 27     Cedar Point: 7       Carowinds: 2       Kings Dominon: 1        Michigan’s Adventure: 1

Busch Gardens Williamsburg: 2        Busch Gardens Tampa: 1        Seaworld Orlando: 1

Stricker’s Grove: 1

 

All season Dining Plan redemptions: 72

 

All in all 2023 was a great year! I’m already looking forward to 2024!
 

 

Id like to add that theft seems to be rampant in the park this season. At least from what I have seen and from what others have told me. The park doesn’t seem to give much thought into the issue, which leads me to believe the registers are actually just donation boxes. It’s not a good look, considering theft is a security issue. It gives off the impression of the park being less safe.

[BeeastFarmer]

19 hours ago, Tr0y said:

Id like to add that theft seems to be rampant in the park this season. At least from what I have seen and from what others have told me. The park doesn’t seem to give much thought into the issue, which leads me to believe the registers are actually just donation boxes. It’s not a good look, considering theft is a security issue. It gives off the impression of the park being less safe.

Having employees interested in stocking shelves ( socializing mostly) with backs turned to the register at closing doesn't help the matter. 

[SonofBaconator]

On 10/4/2023 at 10:37 PM, super7 said:

I don’t know why they just didn’t spend the money to build another bridge over the railroad tracks when they rerouted the queue. It would’ve paid for itself by now with the savings in labor cost of somebody watching that crossing.   Plus, there’s much more needed jobs that need filled than that one. 

Something operations wise that interested me- the last time I was at the park on a Saturday, they were running 6 passenger car trains. This isn’t entirely a surprise considering they gained back some associates back with the WWC and and SC closed crossings closed but in the past they only did 3 passenger car ops for fall. 3 car fall ops were common in the past because the Haunt platform could only hold 3 passenger cars so with the platform gone, they didn’t necessarily need to limit ops to 3. What’s interesting is with the train running 6 cars during fall, you need one associate at both ends of the train- you’d think they would just operate at minimum and use that spare associate in a location that could use an extra person. 
 

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it seems like a complete 180 from the summer season when the park would occasionally run a single 3 car train while the waterpark was open.