Opening Day

[The Interpreter]

a. You are exactly right...but that's the old Six Flags logic, not the people and the company it is today.

b. With all this cost cutting going on, PKI should do what Dorney does (and yes, I am serious). Since much of the park either doesn't operate or operates at reduced staffing and capacity levels at Dorney on early and late weekends, they cut the admission price. I'd have no problem with only one side of the Action Theater running, with the train being closed, with Delirium being iffy, etc., if the park passed along its savings to the daily admission buyer.

Like that's going to happen!

[Captain Picard]

This is what I was talking about when I said they was wasting their time and money on Winterfest. I think they need to get the rest of the park to a 100% before taking on more.

Doing what they are is like giving a car custom paint and drive it before you fix the brakes.

[The Interpreter]

Yeah. Besides, only kids and a few silly adults ride it.

They can ride Racer and Avatar.

May as well close Beast in the early season, too. It takes too many people to run and the maintenance is expensive. No one will notice.

(At PKD, Hurler is closed til late May, as Grizzly was last year. Their FOF is closed for the year. Coincidence? Or a trend?)

[WooferBearATL]

Yeah. Besides, only kids and a few silly adults ride it.

They can ride Racer and Avatar.

May as well close Beast in the early season, too. It takes too many people to run and the maintenance is expensive. No one will notice.

(At PKD, Hurler is closed til late May, as Grizzly was last year. Their FOF is closed for the year. Coincidence? Or a trend?)

WOW

As Six Flags seems to be getting their act together it seems to be Paramount is trying to take their reputation as "how not to run a park."

[Captain Picard]

The thing with the train maybe Winterfest. They was using it for Winterfest when they could have been doing the maintenance on it.

[WooferBearATL]

The thing with the train maybe Winterfest. They was using it for Winterfest when they could have been doing the maintenance on it.

No, they're right.

The train had been open every opening day for 30 odd years. It even opened on opening day when there was the old Winterfest.

[The Interpreter]

Maintenance on Hurler this year and Grizzly last year was also the implied reason.

Yet, in every season before 2oo5, PKD had managed to have existing coasters rehabbed BEFORE the season. It's all in what you want to do and have the money to do. The individual parks aren't the ones making these decisions.

Is there any reason whatever they are doing to Son of Beast, for example, wouldn't be done by now, if it really was a priority to them? Probably not.

[familyman]

At least you got to go. Cedar Point doesn’t open until like May? Just be thankful they gear up weeks before other parks. I am sure it’s hard to staff the entire park when school is still in session. Wish I could have been there. My family went and had an awesome time with absolutely no complaints.

[VortexQueen]

Today while i was at work i heard people complaining about a 30 minute wait to get on to one of many popular attractions. End of last season 30 minutes was nothing! I am content on waiting 30 minutes to ride FoF or TRTR or even Face Off.. All ive herd since opening day is ''omg 30minutes, no thats to long lets come back later''.

What reason is there to run the train? its purpose is to provide transportation to Boomerang Bay, with Boomerang Bay not opening for a little bit there is no reason to run the train. Yeah its a way to cut costs, and its effective, why run two trains to nowhere when you could run no trains and still end up where you started.

Why run Vortex?

It just goes out of a station, through some loops and then back to the station.

It's a great way to cut some costs don't ya think?

OUCH!

Thats alot to say.. its not JUST a ride.. owww, god that was painful! a little harsh, i mean ok its not that great since the breaking system before the two zero-g rolls is there but the rest is amazing.

if KI needs to get rid of something it should be IJST.. i mean, it breaks down everyday, no matter what the reason is, that could go.. it was broken down all day saturday, they couldnt get it fixed.. they should just give up.

but anyways <> i thought opening day was nice.. it was crowded and pass processing was a bear.. 2 hours to get into the processing building!

i know that SOB is being smoothed but they should have had that done.. it looks better though, and hopefully it will be.

oh and Great Wolf Lodge looks nice as well.. it looks like it will be done by WinterFest.. but not opened. the building crew KI hires for stuff, they are super fast.

[The Interpreter]

At least you got to go.  Cedar Point doesn’t open until like May?  Just be thankful they gear up weeks before other parks.  I am sure it’s hard to staff the entire park when school is still in session.  Wish I could have been there.  My family went and had an awesome time with absolutely no complaints.

Uh huh. Six Flags in New Jersey has been open for the TWO weekends before this weekend. And on opening day, virtually everything was open and working, except for the wooden roller coaster (which is being modified for the new coaster being installed).

Six Flags Over Georgia has been open for six weeks. Paramount's Carowinds in Charlotte opened without all these ... issues. Paramount's Kings Dominion on opening day was far, far worse than Paramount's Kings Island.

That all being said, the issues here are quite simple, and mostly a matter of budget. To me, by far the worst is the not opening the parks AT ALL before 10 (10:30 at PKD) (for anyone other than ACERs <at PKI> or people eating breakfast with the characters).

That can be fixed. It needs to be.

Soon.

[Delirium_Guy]

Six Flags Over Georgia has been open for six weeks. Paramount's Carowinds in Charlotte opened without all these ... issues. Paramount's Kings Dominion on opening day was far, far worse than Paramount's Kings Island.

I think you know how I feel on the issue, Interpreter, we know its budget cuts. I guess where I may think a little differently, is I think the individual parks DO make some of the decisions within the Parks themselves. Glad to hear Carowinds opened without a hitch this season, it was lke that last season. Actually, after our visit to Carowinds last March, it was almost depressing to come back to PKI. PKD was a shining star last year for us to, very upset to hear whats going on out there.

I don't get it. I think the current management staff at PKI needs to be replaced. Quite honestly, although I heard he was an ass to work for, the Park ran so well during the Tim Fisher years. The Park shined, it looked great, it operated efficiently. They really started to INVEST in the Park. I fell in love with the Park all over again. Now, I could honestly care LESS if I even go. I bought my Gold Pass primarily because I do travel to the other Paramount Parks, honestly more than I'll be at PKI this season.

And Interpreter, I'm still RAVING over Six Flags over Georgia. Pretty sure we are taking a day trip to Atlanta on Sunday, gotta get ourselves another Goliath fix.....simply a beautiful ride!

[The Interpreter]

Uh....Craig Ross IS gone, moved to corporate.

Tim Fisher is back.

You and I may be the only ones who think this is a major improvement.

Sometimes the bosses that everyone loves are not the ones who make everything work well.

That all being said, I don't see major improvements in the Paramount Parks until ownership changes.

And yes, I, too, hope to be in Georgia soon. Perhaps as soon as this weekend, if I can arrange such with my job...

More than once on Friday and Saturday, I kept asking myself, "What is this world coming to when Six Flags seems to care about the customer so much more than Paramount Parks?" It was never thus before.

The most amazing sight to me was the long line of people STILL trying to get season passes processed Friday night as the park closed. All because they didn't even offer off-season processing.

[rcmaster]

Six Flags does not care more about customers then Paramount Parks. Maybe at PKI that's your opinion, but I can tell you things are different elsewhere. Customer Service is playing centre stage this year at PCW.

So again, people need to stop talking how bad the chain is, and maybe comment on the individual Parks. PCW is actually opening earlier this year for Pass processing then they have in the past, with the lowest prices they've ever offered. Last year, they sold more passes then any other Paramount Park, and yet they still didn't raise prices this year. Each Park's management makes their own decision about how to run. Sure corporate makes decisions about money allocation for each Park and the such, but each Park decides how they will run.

[The Interpreter]

You may well be right. I was amazed at how wonderful Carowinds opening was (if you mean PCWi).

And the park was spotless and service was great. I do have a question, though. Does Carowinds also have the no early opening policy this year?

On the other hand, PKD was truly terrible at opening, as many others have also observed.

And a chain WILL be judged by its weakest park. People remember that it is a Paramount Park. The typical PKI customer will never go to Carowinds. Most don't even know where it is.

Also, don't judge Six Flags now by the Six Flags you used to know. There have been major changes at Six Flags, and they show.

[rcmaster]

I was refering to Canadas Wonderland, but its good to hear PCarowinds is doing well too.

And if so many people have complaints, actually go and COMPLAIN at Guest Services. Believe it or not, they actually do read and listen to complaints. Go and fill out a Guest Action Report, and it is actually sent to those in charge of the problem area. For example, problem with an issue relating to rides? The GAR is sent to the Full time head of Rides, the VP of Operations, and even the GM/VP of the Park so that they can all review the problem. There were even times when the managa of rides actually called people back who left complaints to find out what the problem was and how to make it better. You have nothing to lose when you go and complain. The Park can't know what isn't working unless people do. They will simply assume what they are doing is satisfying people.

[The Interpreter]

I am not about to wait over an hour to fill out a card.

There were tons and tons of people complaining Friday and Saturday.

And Wonderland is a wonderful park I need to get back to SOON!

PCW is used way too often around here. Some people use it when they mean Carowinds, others mean Wonderland. For that reason, many use PCWi and PCWo. Much less confusing!

[rcmaster]

At least people were complaining. Most complaints lead to changes which most times benefit everyone (as long as they have substance to them and are more then "I hate this place" without an explanation why).

[DragonLord]

Wow, people are picky. It's the beginning of the season for crying out loud! It's not like everything can be up and running and open with a snap of a finger. Most of the higher probably isn't even done yet and a lot of kids are still in school. They are going to be doing a "second round" of start ups in June for new employees instead of getting everyone in at the beginning of the season too. That should help keep some costs down b/c they don't have to over staff for training purposes and they can probably count on less employee burnout as well. Give the park a break! It's the beginning of the season, it's not supposed to be perfect right off The Bat. Geezs...

[PKIVortex]

Today while i was at work i heard people complaining about a 30 minute wait to get on to one of many popular attractions. End of last season 30 minutes was nothing! I am content on waiting 30 minutes to ride FoF or TRTR or even Face Off.. All ive herd since opening day is ''omg 30minutes, no thats to long lets come back later''.

What reason is there to run the train? its purpose is to provide transportation to Boomerang Bay, with Boomerang Bay not opening for a little bit there is no reason to run the train. Yeah its a way to cut costs, and its effective, why run two trains to nowhere when you could run no trains and still end up where you started.

Why run Vortex?

It just goes out of a station, through some loops and then back to the station.

It's a great way to cut some costs don't ya think?

OUCH!

Thats alot to say.. its not JUST a ride.. owww, god that was painful! a little harsh, i mean ok its not that great since the breaking system before the two zero-g rolls is there but the rest is amazing.

It wasn't a flame against Vortex. He was saying what's the point of running Vortex? Because of the train not opening till BB does. I hope you can see what he meant by The Vortex comment.

The fact that the train isn't opening till the waterpark does is just silly. ]

Also maybe we should complain about the cost of pop. Why spend $3.29 for a 20 ounce cup of pop. Not worth it at all. I know pop doesn't cost that much. I think even at $1.99 they still make a killing on it.

[Delirium13]

At least you got to go.  Cedar Point doesn’t open until like May?  Just be thankful they gear up weeks before other parks.   I am sure it’s hard to staff the entire park when school is still in session.  Wish I could have been there.  My family went and had an awesome time with absolutely no complaints.

Uh huh. Six Flags in New Jersey has been open for the TWO weekends before this weekend. And on opening day, virtually everything was open and working, except for the wooden roller coaster (which is being modified for the new coaster being installed).

Six Flags Over Georgia has been open for six weeks. Paramount's Carowinds in Charlotte opened without all these ... issues. Paramount's Kings Dominion on opening day was far, far worse than Paramount's Kings Island.

That all being said, the issues here are quite simple, and mostly a matter of budget. To me, by far the worst is the not opening the parks AT ALL before 10 (10:30 at PKD) (for anyone other than ACERs <at PKI> or people eating breakfast with the characters).

That can be fixed. It needs to be.

Soon.

I can't say much about Six Flags New Jersey, but all the other parks you named open earlier than PKI because of their locations. All of their locations have shorter winters than Cincinnati. Let me explain:

Six Flags Over Georgia- Georgia is way down south, just west/northwest of Florida, need I say more?

Carowinds-North Carolina/South Carolina, once again warm states.

PKD-Virginia is warmer than Ohio.

So those are the reasons they open earlier. So yes we are lucky at how early they get PKI open due to its location.

And also I'm sure PKI, cost-cutting or not, will get its act together soon and once again deliver a great season.

[Mrs. G.]

I doubt it's solely weather-related although it's probably a factor. SFGA isn't opening until the end of April and the weather is virtually the same as Cincinnati. They're raising their single ticket price to $55(!) too, and everything else there is SO much more expensive PKI's prices don't bother me.

I'm just happy I was able to get to PKI for opening day. My daughter scheduled her UC campus tour for Friday morning so we could make the trip. Got to PKI about 5:00, waited an hour in line for our passes, but no complaints. All the processing stations were open and they appeared to be working as fast as they could.

We were disappointed that Face/Off, Delirium and SOB were all closed but we walked the park twice and rode everything that was open. We did the same thing Saturday. I found it strange that the train wasn't running but was pleasantly surprised that all of the water rides were. I'll miss the footlongs, but we ate at Skyline on International Street and it was very good. Yes, mistakes were made; yes, you could definitely tell that some employees were nervous and inexperienced. But they were all polite and apologetic and trying to learn their jobs in a very busy environment.

No problems on any rides; IJ was working fine when we rode Saturday. I don't think I could have a bad time at PKI if I tried. My only complaint is that I can't go back until June.

[WooferBearATL]

Wow, people are picky. It's the beginning of the season for crying out loud! It's not like everything can be up and running and open with a snap of a finger. Most of the higher probably isn't even done yet and a lot of kids are still in school. They are going to be doing a "second round" of start ups in June for new employees instead of getting everyone in at the beginning of the season too. That should help keep some costs down b/c they don't have to over staff for training purposes and they can probably count on less employee burnout as well. Give the park a break! It's the beginning of the season, it's not supposed to be perfect right off The Bat. Geezs...

Yeah, it really can be.

Yeah it really has all been up and running at the start of the season in the past.

Yeah, you really can expect to have things in working order when you're paying the parking and admission that you pay.

And speaking as a former supervisor (and I'm certain that any current supervisor can back me up on this one) doing hiring in waves will be a huge failure.

you want all of your people up and running full force by the time you go to daily operation.

[DragonLord]

Well, I'm not an expert in HR or staffing, so I really don't now about the hiring process... but I do know that a second wave is supposed to be happening in June.

As of the rest of it... the park never every gaurentees anything will be up and running when you visit the park. Read the back of the pass... all they really have to do is open the front gates. It's all in the fine print.

I'm not going to get all ****ed off about a few rides not being opened yet, and others shouldn't be either. I had a great time just riding the rides I did, and that didn't include other things like SOB or F/O. My day isn't ruined because one or two rides are down. If people are going to be that picky about needing all rides up and running at all times, then they should just stop going to any park. It's doable, but not always possible. There will be down times, all year long, beginning, middle and end. Deal with it.

The park has usually always opened in April, for as long as I can remember. I also remember the park opening when the wind chills have been below zero with freezing rains, so weather is a factor, but it's probably not the biggest.

[WooferBearATL]

The year I was supervisor at International Ice Cream Shoppe, it snowed and sleeted on opening day.

I remember having a portable heater out for the person that was in the popcorn cart.

I remember the entire stand made something like $30 and the park closed by 6pm.

That was one cold day!

[rcmaster]

Yeah it really has all been up and running at the start of the season in the past.

Yeah, you really can expect to have things in working order when you're paying the parking and admission that you pay.

And speaking as a former supervisor (and I'm certain that any current supervisor can back me up on this one) doing hiring in waves will be a huge failure.

you want all of your people up and running full force by the time you go to daily operation.

I used to think the way that many here thought, but that was until I saw just how much work needs to go into each and every ride. Simply put, the maintenance staff go out ech and every day and put a ton of work into every ride. Nobody likes when something isn't open, but there are some things in life that can't be controlled. Every ride in there is a machine, and like it or not, machines break down even with the best of maintenance staff. Cars break down, household appliances break down, etc. Rides are very complicated pieces of machinery. I hate it when stuff is broken down, but I no longer blame the Park. Even when there doesn't seem to be somebody fixing something, they are. But safety always comes first, not second. So, when it comes down to a choice of opening an attraction with a 1% chance something could go wrong, the ride stays closed until it is deemed OK to open.

You take your chances anyday you go that things won't be operating. Opening days are the worst to go, because the majority of times things will break down. Go later on, into late spring and summer and things work the way they should.

As for hiring in waves, the Park is thinking ahead. By the time Summer rolls around, there are always a few who quit, because the job is too much work for them, or they don't like it anymore. By hiring in waves, it ensures that there is enough staff for beginning of the season, as well as beginning of summer. It's better to have less staff now then in the heart of the summer when the crowds are huge.

[Captain Picard]

Just think what maintenance would be like at a 365 day operation park. The thing here is they had all off season to fix things and it looks like the park opened just as it was when it closed.

If you go all the time you would let it slide but if you was going and it was your first time there you would probably not want to return.

[WooferBearATL]

And the thing is that in the past, there never seemed to be as many issues with breakdowns (save The Bat and Flight Commander) that the park seems to be experiencing now.

[Delirium13]

Of course you could also pay attention to the positive things that are being said about oppening weekend instead of only focusing on the negative, which seems to be the case with so many of us. There are always going to be complaints, especially this early in the season, but a lot of good things did happen and a lot of people had great visits this weekend. So I wouldn't be so judgemental of the park and saying that this will be a bad season, because I can guarantee it won't be.

And you can say things have never been this bad in the past, but have you ever considered that it may just have been a bad opening weekend or that you just had a bad visit and that it won't be this way the whole season? So give them a break they had to redo a whole area over the winter and I'm sure you'll begin to see the PKI that you all know and love.

[thejoker8388]

To me it just sounds like what other people have been saying. This is the last year Paramount will be operating the parks and they're probably trying to spend as little as possible on the parks as a result. Hopefully when the new owners take over PKI or KI will be back to the way it was that made us all love the park in the first place.

[The Interpreter]

One of the most unbiased people I know is Dave Althoff, Jr.

He posted this on the worldwide web. I think the last paragraph echoes what you said (the rest is at the link for reading):

http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/da...06/uspki01.html

...Overall, it was a good visit to Kings Island. There are some issues, though, that concern me. As we are all aware, the park is for sale, and it shows all over the park. Parking has gone from ridiculous to obscene, the operating hours have been cut, cosmetic maintenance clearly got cut back a bit, and the price of a 20-oz bottled soft drink from a machine is up now to $3.25. It is obvious to me that Paramount is taking steps to artificially inflate the profitability of the park this season, and if a buyer doesn't appear pretty quickly, I can see this situation only getting worse. It's something I hope the park operations people watch very closely, because Paramount is doing things that look good on the balance sheet, but only at the expense of actually showing the customers a good time. It's the same kinds of issues we've been seeing at Six Flags and even more recently at Cedar Fair. It's the kinds of things that lead to short-term gains, but result in chasing away good customers. I simply hope that Kings Island keeps balancing the books versus the customers this season so that once the sale is complete, Kings Island will still be the nation's most-attended seasonal amusement park.