Soak City 2025 Construction Updates

[Diamondback_Is_King]

They went with green rafts instead of the yellow rafts advertised. I personally think that the yellow rafts would have looked better with the light blue/turquoise side. Also, does anyone know if they will allow single riders to go down the slide, or always two people per raft? I know some places only allow even number riders (2 people in a 2 person raft), and leave odd-numbered families disappointed because they can't ride together or someone has to not ride from their group.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Looks like some media people got a sneak preview this morning:

https://www.wlwt.com/article/kings-islands-soak-city-new-attractions-memorial-day-weekend/64852450

https://local12.com/news/local/soak-city-to-open-for-memorial-day-weekend-with-new-water-coaster-at-kings-island-cincinnati-mason-riverracers-rides-memorial-day-weekend-food-drinks

And just like that we're getting close to calling it a wrap on another construction thread!

[disco2000]

13 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Looks like some media people got a sneak preview this morning:

https://www.wlwt.com/article/kings-islands-soak-city-new-attractions-memorial-day-weekend/64852450

https://local12.com/news/local/soak-city-to-open-for-memorial-day-weekend-with-new-water-coaster-at-kings-island-cincinnati-mason-riverracers-rides-memorial-day-weekend-food-drinks

And just like that we're getting close to calling it a wrap on another construction thread!

"They're going to propel the rider back uphill through tunnels, twists and turns," said Grace Peacock, a spokesperson for Kings Island.

Should Elizabeth be worried she is next since Grace is from Canada's Wonderland...or should the other PR folks at other parks in the chain be concerned as Grace becomes the spokesperson for all the parks...

[DonHelbig]

34 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

"They're going to propel the rider back uphill through tunnels, twists and turns," said Grace Peacock, a spokesperson for Kings Island.

Should Elizabeth be worried she is next since Grace is from Canada's Wonderland...or should the other PR folks at other parks in the chain be concerned as Grace becomes the spokesperson for all the parks...

Elizabeth isn’t PR. She’s social media. She shouldn’t have any worries about Grace coming in today for the media. 

[disco2000]

30 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

Elizabeth isn’t PR. She’s social media. She shouldn’t have any worries about Grace coming in today for the media. 

But in a cost cutting mode the chain is in, wouldn't it be cheaper to let Elizabeth, or Mike, do this instead of flying corporate in last minute due to the departure of the KI PR guy...or maybe the departure was planned for awhile...

[robintodd]

So happy we are getting the funnel cake shrimp!  Those are FANTASTIC at CP.

[DonHelbig]

11 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

But in a cost cutting mode the chain is in, wouldn't it be cheaper to let Elizabeth, or Mike, do this instead of flying corporate in last minute due to the departure of the KI PR guy...or maybe the departure was planned for awhile...

Sure, it would be cheaper, but they made the right call having Grace do it. 

[Orion-XL200]

Grace is valuable to the company....glad she is taking the reigns as the spokesperson. 

[BeeastFarmer]

11 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Grace is valuable to the company....glad she is taking the reigns as the spokesperson. 

I'm trying to figure out how a person from Canada is now the spokesperson for KI.

[Orion-XL200]

1 minute ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I'm trying to figure out how a person from Canada is now the spokesperson for KI.

Well when a member of the regional team is let go, the head honcho of the team has to step in as there likely was no one else able to do so. There really aren't any single park spokespersons anymore.  

 

[BeeastFarmer]

43 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Well when a member of the regional team is let go, the head honcho of the team has to step in as there likely was no one else able to do so. There really aren't any single park spokespersons anymore.  

 

How did a spokesperson out of Canada become the head honcho? Like, of the whole company?  If Magic Mountain was opening their new thing this year would she go out there?

[Captain Nemo]

29 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Well when a member of the regional team is let go, the head honcho of the team has to step in as there likely was no one else able to do so. There really aren't any single park spokespersons anymore.  

 

The Spokesperson is Mr. Six
 

This reminds me of a story during my time with Carnival Cruise. They had 2 pro DJs for each ship. About 10 years ago the company realized they could cut one of the DJ positions and have a host do it without any pay bump. Hosts did it because it was now part of their job description as per the men in charge. Now, there are less than half the amount of DJs they had, the pro DJs left with the company have more work with the same pay and the other half is now done by individuals who are not ‘DJs’. The hosts can do an OK job at DJ’ing but you can get that job now without any background knowledge. I’m not here to comment on if this is good practice or not, but it’s a technique that Six seems to be following in the footsteps of.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

It looks like there will be more big shakeups across the whole chain over the next few years as Six Flags corporate makes decisions about how it wants to operate and exist. Some positions may come back as needed while others stay dead. 

Grace was formerly the spokesperson for Canada's Wonderland. She was re-hired as the PR spokesperson for Six Flags' Midwest Region when all of the individual park PR spokesperson positions were eliminated and everyone needed to reapply for the new positions. The company operates in the United States, Canada, and Mexico so I believe any resident from those countries could be hired into a corporate position. I've put the regions map below in case that helps. This one is a little different than what existed earlier this year, so just imagine the Midwest region stretching from Canada's Wonderland to Worlds of Fun.

Unfortunately, I don't think Mr. Six currently exists in the new company other than as a legacy character. I'd love to see him come back, but we'll have to see as time goes on.

[DiamondbackFan]

8 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

How did a spokesperson out of Canada become the head honcho? Like, of the whole company?  If Magic Mountain was opening their new thing this year would she go out there?

No, she is the Regional Director of Public Relations for the Midwest Region.

Tony Clark is on her team and covers Cedar Point, Michigan's Adventure, and Six Flags Great America as a Regional Manager of Public Relations.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Double-posting to separate my thoughts.

Is anyone here planning to brave the cold and head to Soak City this weekend? I'm excited to see what all of the updates look like, but won't be able to get over there for a while. If it isn't crowded this might be a great time to get some pictures!

[Timchat2]

https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ-VI6YxgK6/?igsh=MTRsam4yYWp2Zmw0cg==

Oceans of Fun has delayed its opening weekend due to weather. Six Flags might be quicker to make the call on waterparks on weekends like this if it means saving on operating hours.

[Orion-XL200]

10 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

How did a spokesperson out of Canada become the head honcho? Like, of the whole company?  If Magic Mountain was opening their new thing this year would she go out there?

For the regional team.  

[BeeastFarmer]

2 hours ago, Orion-XL200 said:

For the regional team.  

What region are we in?

[Orion-XL200]

4 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

What region are we in?

I don't know if there's actually a regional name. Elizabeth covers KI and Worlds of Fun for digital marketing. But her position ultimately falls under Grace from what I understand. Tony Clark is at Cedar Point and Six Flags Great America....which I believe is overseen by Grace. The map above doesn't represent the actual teams. 

The information out there is not extremely clear. 

[DonHelbig]

24 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

I don't know if there's actually a regional name. Elizabeth covers KI and Worlds of Fun for digital marketing. But her position ultimately falls under Grace from what I understand. Tony Clark is at Cedar Point and Six Flags Great America....which I believe is overseen by Grace. The map above doesn't represent the actual teams. 

The information out there is not extremely clear. 

Grace oversees PR for the Midwest region. Someone else oversees digital marketing for the region. 

[BeeastFarmer]

Seems convoluted to me. I mean, you are flying someone in from Canada to Northern KY, all the hotels, meals and per diem that go along with it. There is a spokesperson that people around here have likely never heard of.

You have someone else four hours away who wouldn't need airfare and much less expense with travel, hotel, meals and per diem.  He also may have some name recognition since his long time park is four hours away?  

My point is:  cost savings synergies and simplified structure do not seem to be paramount here.  I don't know the expense ledger, however. But prior planning prevents poor performance. 

But then again, maybe no thought was put into it and they just needed a warm body to speak with media. The new six flags doesn't seem to value communication much.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

The thought may have been that it's cheaper to fly one person around a bunch of parks than it is to pay all the former big salaries of everyone at those individual parks. The company as a whole has also been condensing, so why leave one department fully intact when everything else is condensed. I don't think the process was smart or fully thought out. The parks will be suffering a little until the company gets more stable IMO.

[DonHelbig]

3 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

Seems convoluted to me. I mean, you are flying someone in from Canada to Northern KY, all the hotels, meals and per diem that go along with it. There is a spokesperson that people around here have likely never heard of.

You have someone else four hours away who wouldn't need airfare and much less expense with travel, hotel, meals and per diem.  He also may have some name recognition since his long time park is four hours away?  

My point is:  cost savings synergies and simplified structure do not seem to be paramount here.  I don't know the expense ledger, however. But prior planning prevents poor performance. 

But then again, maybe no thought was put into it and they just needed a warm body to speak with media. The new six flags doesn't seem to value communication much.

The person four hours away was opening a new roller coaster in Chicago. 

[BeeastFarmer]

19 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

The person four hours away was opening a new roller coaster in Chicago. 

Prior planning prevents poor performance.

How much of a buzz was generated by having him there and her?  I'd argue that, if she is the area supervisor, she should have been at the park they are really trying to build up if she is that good at her job. Kings Island is penetrated, so having her here and , imho, not making much of a splash, may have been the plan though. She didn't build much hype. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

3 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

Prior planning prevents poor performance.

I think your may be judging Grace before we get to know her more. She made a judgement call that her being here to promote the current addition to Soak City was as or even more effective than letting the now former communications director stay to promote it. That move speaks volumes to me. 

I am hoping when the dust settles, that KIC and the season pass page can have a working relationship with the communications department again. Chris and I would love nothing more than to order a new card and present it to the next Communications director at a future Coasterstock. 

[DonHelbig]

25 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

I think your may be judging Grace before we get to know her more. She made a judgement call that her being here to promote the current addition to Soak City was as or even more effective than letting the now former communications director stay to promote it. That move speaks volumes to me. 

I am hoping when the dust settles, that KIC and the season pass page can have a working relationship with the communications department again. Chris and I would love nothing more than to order a new card and present it to the next Communications director at a future Coasterstock. 

There won’t be a next communications director at Kings Island any time soon. The position was eliminated last year at the park level.

For those attending Coasterstock, be sure to tag the park in your posts and use #Coasterstock so they continue to see the value and want to bring it back next year. 

[BeeastFarmer]

29 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

I think your may be judging Grace before we get to know her more. She made a judgement call that her being here to promote the current addition to Soak City was as or even more effective than letting the now former communications director stay to promote it. That move speaks volumes to me. 

I am hoping when the dust settles, that KIC and the season pass page can have a working relationship with the communications department again. Chris and I would love nothing more than to order a new card and present it to the next Communications director at a future Coasterstock. 

I'm not judging Grace, but rather the wisdom of corporate, unless she is the corporate decision maker. 

Truthfully, this addition is " just good enough" to satisfy local passholders, the majority of whom get the information bombarded to them. Just seems to me, looking from the outside in, that the "big cheese" should have went to Chicago, a much bigger opportunity for market penetration and a much bigger investment.  

With Lindsey wooley britches winter here, they should have postponed Soak City's opening a week and waited for warmer weather for a bigger splash. 

[DonHelbig]

6 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I'm not judging Grace, but rather the wisdom of corporate, unless she is the corporate decision maker. 

Truthfully, this addition is " just good enough" to satisfy local passholders, the majority of whom get the information bombarded to them. Just seems to me, looking from the outside in, that the "big cheese" should have went to Chicago, a much bigger opportunity for market penetration and a much bigger investment.  

With Lindsey wooley britches winter here, they should have postponed Soak City's opening a week and waited for warmer weather for a bigger splash. 

The person that was at Great America has been working on the media event for the new coaster for the past few months. They’ve been there for construction tours with the media throughout the winter. They have relationships with the media in Chicago. But since you’re the smartest person on this forum, they probably should have contacted you on what to do in this situation. 

[BeeastFarmer]

55 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

The person that was at Great America has been working on the media event for the new coaster for the past few months. They’ve been there for construction tours with the media throughout the winter. They have relationships with the media in Chicago. But since you’re the smartest person on this forum, they probably should have contacted you on what to do in this situation. 

I never claimed to be the smartest person here. I was only pondering the rationale of why they do what they do. As I said, I'm on the outside looking in.

You seem a little sensitive today, maybe a Pub burger could help.

[DonHelbig]

10 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I never claimed to be the smartest person here.

You seem a little sensitive today, maybe a Pub burger could help.

While a Pub Burger does sound good, I’m on my way to Buc-ee’s for a Club Melt.