Monster appears to be retired ?

[Stoan]

Speculation technically, but...

 

There's a fence in front of the ride with tarps over to block vision. I know they dismantle most of the ride over the winter but I don't recall having seen them take down the main post as well as the arms. 

[johnjniehaus]

Please say this isn't true. 

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

14 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

Please say this isn't true. 

It's true...

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

So it turned out to be a false report. Now I'm curious as to how something like this happens. Did a Guest Services worker read something wrong and think they were being asked about Xtreme Skyflyer? I haven't seen a screenshot of a correction email, but there probably is one out there somewhere. On the other hand — and I'm purely speculating — if the email was not sent via official park channels, how did it end up on Facebook? I think this is the type of thing that warrants some kind of post from the park. Even something like "Family thrills on the Monster are expected to return later this season once our maintenance teams complete their work to keep this 70 year old ride running!" would be better than nothing IMO. No offense meant to anyone who posted about it but an email with the proper signature is often trusted when it comes to these things, and this one turned out to be false. (I also replied believing it to be true)

[WoodVengeance]

4 minutes ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

So it turned out to be a false report. Now I'm curious as to how something like this happens. Did a Guest Services worker read something wrong and think they were being asked about Xtreme Skyflyer? I haven't seen a screenshot of a correction email, but there probably is one out there somewhere. On the other hand — and I'm purely speculating — if the email was not sent via official park channels, how did it end up on Facebook? I think this is the type of thing that warrants some kind of post from the park. Even something like "Family thrills on the Monster are expected to return later this season once our maintenance teams complete their work to keep this 70 year old ride running!" would be better than nothing IMO. No offense meant to anyone who posted about it but an email with the proper signature is often trusted when it comes to these things, and this one turned out to be false. (I also replied believing it to be 

My speculation is that the person who originally posted the news edited an official park email to make it say that "The Monster was being retired". Now why someone would actually go through the effort of doing that is another question entirely.

[disco2000]

14 minutes ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

So it turned out to be a false report. Now I'm curious as to how something like this happens. Did a Guest Services worker read something wrong and think they were being asked about Xtreme Skyflyer? I haven't seen a screenshot of a correction email, but there probably is one out there somewhere. On the other hand — and I'm purely speculating — if the email was not sent via official park channels, how did it end up on Facebook? I think this is the type of thing that warrants some kind of post from the park. Even something like "Family thrills on the Monster are expected to return later this season once our maintenance teams complete their work to keep this 70 year old ride running!" would be better than nothing IMO. No offense meant to anyone who posted about it but an email with the proper signature is often trusted when it comes to these things, and this one turned out to be false. (I also replied believing it to be true)

If said poster photoshopped that response because he is attention seeking, why should the park have to respond?

Do any parks respond to rumors?

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

It's kinda easy to copy/paste an email with its signature, I don't know a good reason to do that though. I don't think the park really needs to respond, but it would be nice to put something up IMO. It would at least answer the question of why there are some fences up around it. One big shrug from me right now

[Stoan]

I mean it does have that construction fencing around it according to the webcams, so someone is afoot 

[WoodVengeance]

20 minutes ago, Stoan said:

I mean it does have that construction fencing around it according to the webcams, so someone is afoot 

It's still entirely possible that it could still end up being closed. We'll just have to wait and see what happens throughout the season.

[disco2000]

8 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

It's kinda easy to copy/paste an email with its signature, I don't know a good reason to do that though. I don't think the park really needs to respond, but it would be nice to put something up IMO. It would at least answer the question of why there are some fences up around it. One big shrug from me right now

The "good reason" (which really isn't) is an attention seeking #$%@# that seeks the likes and replies and feels their only worth in life is to be the first to break the news.  And when they run out of news, they make $#!+ up to feed their addiction.  It's what happens when a then 8 year old with a still developing brain is giving access to social media....or at least that is what the studies say....

Regarding the fence, we have to go on past history - either they are waiting on parts and it will be awhile, so they put up an obvious fence so people know it is closed before going to run to it thinking it is open.  Or maybe it is gone.  Time will tell.  But one thing we have seen, not only from KI, not only from Six, but in the industry in general, is the current mode of operation is to stay silent and not share stuff like they used to.

[DJSkyFoxx]

For what its worth, Monster is still listed in the rides and experiences section of the website, so there's that. I know that doesn't always mean anything, but just an observation for the time being.

Also, I just checked the webcam and I see what you all are saying. There appears to be a blue construction-esqe type fencing around the ride and it is still sitting disassembled at this time.

Hopefully the ol'guy will still be around for some years. I know these types of rides are becoming a rarity. I'd like to think that if it wasn't going to reopen at all that all of the parts would have been removed and not still staged appearing to await reassembly, but who knows. 

[Imperial79]

The one thing we can see for certain is that there are parts of the Monster still laying around where the ride is located on the webcam, if they decided to retire it, then I would think those parts would be taken out by now, and they haven't been. It's also still listed on their ride lineup, so I bet it's still going to be around, hopefully for a long time! 

[johnjniehaus]

To be fair the monster has disappeared I believe twice in park history. Once in the mid 1980s it was gone for a season and then returned and then around 2015/16ish it was not assembled for awhile too because of a refurbishment. That was nearly 10 years ago and with possible maintenance cuts maybe the park is behind on getting it ready. Regardless I do hope that they realize that the monster has its fan base and a park original ride deserves to have at a minimum two weeks notice for final rides. 

[Klabergian Empire]

16 hours ago, WoodVengeance said:

My speculation is that the person who originally posted the news edited an official park email to make it say that "The Monster was being retired". Now why someone would actually go through the effort of doing that is another question entirely.

The person who posted that "email" fabricated the whole thing. That poster is a known liar and a disgruntled former employee. Anything that comes from that poster should be discredited.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Ah, so that's what I was missing in my process of wondering. I hadn't paid much attention to any of his other work before this post so I hadn't noticed. Thanks for the (correct) info!

[disco2000]

1 hour ago, Klabergian Empire said:

The person who posted that "email" fabricated the whole thing. That poster is a known liar and a disgruntled former employee. Anything that comes from that poster should be discredited.

And trying to make it so he is never hired back....

[gabelogan99]

You can be first, or you can be right.

[Stoan]

2 hours ago, gabelogan99 said:

You can be first, or you can be right.

If you ain't first you're last!

[BoddaH1994]

The email was faked.

The problem is that the KI Team often has Jim post on their behalf in the Facebook groups rather than communicating with the guests directly.

Jim was duped by the email like many others and made a post about it. When he did that, everyone thought he had gotten the information directly from the park.

The person who faked the email was in the wrong, but I also think this is a glaring example of how this "system" doesn't work.

[BB1]

13 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

The email was faked.

The problem is that the KI Team often has Jim post on their behalf in the Facebook groups rather than communicating with the guests directly.

Jim was duped by the email like many others and made a post about it. When he did that, everyone thought he had gotten the information directly from the park.

The person who faked the email was in the wrong, but I also think this is a glaring example of how this "system" doesn't work.

I’ll even go a step further to say the park should be making statements in blog posts or directly to their Facebook with changes, not a Facebook group or better yet not even making a post about their height requirements changing and policies shifting which I’ll admit I didn’t even know till I listened to Tower Topics on the way to work yesterday. 
 

I 1000% believe he is doing a great job with the FB group, no harm or foul directed to him but for those who aren’t in the group like how I was for years before joining last year, they wouldn’t have a direct answer and hear a rumor. I’ll be the first one to say it was because of his post that I called my aunt who lives in Portland about her favorite ride being shut down, then had to recant after hearing the reality of it all. 
 

The point I’m making here is that it does not take more than 5-10 minutes to make a simple blog about changes to park operations and if PR doesn’t have time to do that then KI management needs to review what they are actually doing because that’s the whole point of the job: communicate news about the park and get guests to be enthused about the park so they have a new reason or a reflection to revisit the park.

 

[WoodVengeance]

25 minutes ago, BB1 said:

I’ll even go a step further to say the park should be making statements in blog posts or directly to their Facebook with changes, not a Facebook group or better yet not even making a post about their height requirements changing and policies shifting which I’ll admit I didn’t even know till I listened to Tower Topics on the way to work yesterday. 
 

I 1000% believe he is doing a great job with the FB group, no harm or foul directed to him but for those who aren’t in the group like how I was for years before joining last year, they wouldn’t have a direct answer and hear a rumor. I’ll be the first one to say it was because of his post that I called my aunt who lives in Portland about her favorite ride being shut down, then had to recant after hearing the reality of it all. 
 

The point I’m making here is that it does not take more than 5-10 minutes to make a simple blog about changes to park operations and if PR doesn’t have time to do that then KI management needs to review what they are actually doing because that’s the whole point of the job: communicate news about the park and get guests to be enthused about the park so they have a new reason or a reflection to revisit the park.

 

Personally, I don't think the park should be using Facebook groups at all for promoting changes. As we've clearly seen with the stunt that was pulled with the fake email, Facebook can be a hot pot for misinformation.

[silver2005]

So no one thought to check that this still exists?

Thrill Ride | Monster | Kings Island

[BeeastFarmer]

2 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

So no one thought to check that this still exists?

Thrill Ride | Monster | Kings Island

Please refer to @Imperial79's post yesterday morning at 10:59.

[Orion-XL200]

5 hours ago, WoodVengeance said:

Personally, I don't think the park should be using Facebook groups at all for promoting changes. As we've clearly seen with the stunt that was pulled with the fake email, Facebook can be a hot pot for misinformation.

Why not? When you have a captive audience, why not utilize them? With people constantly seeking knowledge of happenings/things going on in the park(s) it only makes sense to get the information out where the people are. 

However, the park(s) are not using Facebook groups to promote changes....they do not communicate at all.

Logan was completely in the wrong and he is not affiliated with any groups. Misinformation comes from a lack of communication. 

[disco2000]

5 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Why not? When you have a captive audience, why not utilize them? With people constantly seeking knowledge of happenings/things going on in the park(s) it only makes sense to get the information out where the people are. 

However, the park(s) are not using Facebook groups to promote changes....they do not communicate at all.

Logan was completely in the wrong and he is not affiliated with any groups. Misinformation comes from a lack of communication. 

Are you saying Logan is kicked out of your group?.....

[Orion-XL200]

15 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Are you saying Logan is kicked out of your group?.....

I'm saying he is not affiliated with running any reputable group. But yes...he has been removed.

[WoodVengeance]

4 hours ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Why not? When you have a captive audience, why not utilize them? With people constantly seeking knowledge of happenings/things going on in the park(s) it only makes sense to get the information out where the people are. 

However, the park(s) are not using Facebook groups to promote changes....they do not communicate at all.

Logan was completely in the wrong and he is not affiliated with any groups. Misinformation comes from a lack of communication. 

What I'm saying is people shouldn't be over-reliant on information from fan-made Facebook groups, as those are notorious for having lots of misinformation, so it's more difficult to filter out the real news with the fake news. Just because one person has been removed doesn't mean others won't spread misinformation as well.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

10 hours ago, BB1 said:

I’ll even go a step further to say the park should be making statements in blog posts or directly to their Facebook with changes, not a Facebook group or better yet not even making a post about their height requirements changing and policies shifting which I’ll admit I didn’t even know till I listened to Tower Topics on the way to work yesterday. 
 

I 1000% believe he is doing a great job with the FB group, no harm or foul directed to him but for those who aren’t in the group like how I was for years before joining last year, they wouldn’t have a direct answer and hear a rumor. I’ll be the first one to say it was because of his post that I called my aunt who lives in Portland about her favorite ride being shut down, then had to recant after hearing the reality of it all. 
 

The point I’m making here is that it does not take more than 5-10 minutes to make a simple blog about changes to park operations and if PR doesn’t have time to do that then KI management needs to review what they are actually doing because that’s the whole point of the job: communicate news about the park and get guests to be enthused about the park so they have a new reason or a reflection to revisit the park.

To expand on this, I think it's somewhat fine for the park to be putting some things out through the Facebook groups, but that number is small and the circumstances are super specific. Proxy-posting to generate hype among passholders and park enthusiasts? That's fine (although anyone doing so should be paid in some way). Proxy-posting to communicate official changes? Bad. Very bad. That's how you end up with situations like this. I really appreciate and commend Jim's FAQ and hype posts, but there's a reason why official accounts exist. 

The lack of official information about policy changes, height requirement adjustments, and ride removals are a massive sign of a poorly operated PR team. Speaking from my (frankly limited compared to some, but still substantial compared to most) PR experience, there are a number of massive issues that would benefit the park if they got resolved. I mentioned the big three, but misinformation (like this) spreading showcases how the lack of communication can/does hurt the park's image. 

Nobody necessarily needs to generate buzz around planting new grass these days, but it does not take much time or effort to snap a few good pictures of something, choose one or two, caption them, and make the post. It takes 30 minutes max. to make a one-off post — excluding time for anything that needs to be approved or checked by others. Blog posts posted to the park website should probably take about an hour, but that is more because of the amount of information most people would like to communicate through that medium. If anyone else has PR experience or opinions on the matter, I'd be interested to hear your takes. 

[disco2000]

Sadly, this appears to be the new norm.  I don't recall any other park in the chain do an official PR statement about height requirements changing.

[Orion-XL200]

20 hours ago, WoodVengeance said:

What I'm saying is people shouldn't be over-reliant on information from fan-made Facebook groups, as those are notorious for having lots of misinformation, so it's more difficult to filter out the real news with the fake news. Just because one person has been removed doesn't mean others won't spread misinformation as well.

To be fair people spread misinformation with official posts too. "New for 2016 Kings Mills Antique Autos" ---- random person: "Y'all they announced Son of Beast is coming back! Number Five IS ALIVE!"   

 

I say in jest....but honestly thanks for your feedback. I appreciate the expanded thoughts! 

19 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

Nobody necessarily needs to generate buzz around planting new grass these days, but it does not take much time or effort to snap a few good pictures of something, choose one or two, caption them, and make the post. It takes 30 minutes max. to make a one-off post — excluding time for anything that needs to be approved or checked by others. Blog posts posted to the park website should probably take about an hour, but that is more because of the amount of information most people would like to communicate through that medium. If anyone else has PR experience or opinions on the matter, I'd be interested to hear your takes. 

You're not wrong with this. What we're seeing now is a "are we willing to do the work" and/or "why give any information, people will still come?"  It's definitely not the "we value our loyal fans, so we'll share exciting/interesting information that they would love to see," view point.