italianchef Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Does anyone think that PKI will have a HUGE sale to rid the park of all merchandise with the Paramount name after CF finishes the purchase? How different do you think merchandise will be after CF takes over? Will they still sell Eiffel Towers? Ideas anyone? Brainstorm. Have a great day! Italian Chef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 I think they'll gradually intigrate regular merchandising into the mix as just not replenish things with the Paramount name on it. I'm guessing that they are likely not ordering anything with the Paramount name on it at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersNSich Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Too bad no such sale has started yet, I forgot my towel at home and had to buy one at Boomerang Bay today. At least I have what may be a collectible souvenir... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cewldre Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 they may sell some stuff, but a lot of things just get put aside until it is discarded many years down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Cedar Fair is a VERY conservative company. I don't see any fire sale coming. The average member of the public won't even realize the park name changed, if it does change to Kings Island. Ironically, twenty years from now, some people will STILL be calling it Paramount's Kings Island. A few others never stopped calling it anything but Kings Island. One reason I had suspected a coming sale for about the past 18 months to two years is the fact the parks themselves were starting to occasionally call themselves just Kings Island, Kings Dominion, etc. At one time last summer, PKI tested calling itself just PKI. Strangely, they even ran a few radio ads in some markets that used the ride names Racer, Beast, etc., then referred to the parks as PKI. They didn't run very long, though. Then there was that survey about renaming the parks after CBS took over... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 These days, with all the cut-backs and penny-pinching, I would't be surprised if you see a truck load or two of White-Out heading into the parking lots of Paramount parks near the end of the year! (just trying to spread a little humor this morning, ok?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 The first year Paramount owned the parks, the store on Coney Mall (right-side when facing Vortex, across from The Racer entrance...don't know what it's called now) sold leftover KECO KI merchandise at a discount. The first few years, I thought the Paramount Parks had great merchandise...near Disney quality. (The gift shop on the Paramount Studios tour in Hollywood had pretty good stuff too.) That's also when they were gearing up for their chain of mall-based studio stores that never made it beyond the prototype on Michigan Ave. After that, the retail at the Paramount Parks fell back into the "ok, but nothing special" (IMHO, anyway) category. You can pick up some theme park merchandise in really odd places. For instance, I bought a Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris tee shirts at a close out store (called Gabriels) in Zanesville, OH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erniebald57 Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 It all depends on what Cedar Fair decides to do with the Paramount rights. I wouldn't be surprised to see some clearance at the end of the season. Paramount might want those last few bucks. If not, than we will see Cedar Fair slowly move in new merch over the next few years. Cedar Fair has a far better variety and quality of merchandise than Paramount. People don't always want a t-shirt...Cedar Fair knows this. You can buy just about anything, from patches and pins to park videos to a Cedar Point monopoly game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveTheSmurfRide Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 The average member of the public won't even realize the park name changed, if it does change to Kings Island. Ironically, twenty years from now, some people will STILL be calling it Paramount's Kings Island. A few others never stopped calling it anything but Kings Island. I don't know that people will be still be calling it Paramount's Kings Island even after this year. I honestly don't know anyone from the general public who calls it Paramount's Kings Island already. I mean, they know it's owned by Paramount usually, but it's just so hard to say Paramount's Kings Island when you could just call it Kings Island, and everyone will know what you're talking about. Some of my friends who write me e-mails about going to the park will type PKI, because that's its abbreviation right now, but in public when just talking, they just call it Kings Island, and so do I. In the same respects, I don't know anyone who calls Six Flags parks by their full name. Whenever I'm in California, they just call it Magic Mountain out there. I bet whenever Six Flags sells their parks, if that happens, people will still just call them by their normal names, disregarding whatever new company owns them. I'm curious about Geauga Lake and how people refered to it when Six Flags bought it and then CF bought it. Since that was a huge name change, I wonder how quickly people adjusted to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 ...I don't know anyone who calls Six Flags parks by their full name. Whenever I'm in California, they just call it Magic Mountain out there. I bet whenever Six Flags sells their parks, if that happens, people will still just call them by their normal names, disregarding whatever new company owns them. Good point...you hear both Magic Mountain and Great Adventure mentioned somewhat frequently on TV shows (because of their proximity to LA and NYC I'm sure) and they're never mentioned in these instances with the Six Flags pre-fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Cedar Fair is a VERY conservative company. I don't see any fire sale coming. The average member of the public won't even realize the park name changed, if it does change to Kings Island. Ironically, twenty years from now, some people will STILL be calling it Paramount's Kings Island. A few others never stopped calling it anything but Kings Island. One reason I had suspected a coming sale for about the past 18 months to two years is the fact the parks themselves were starting to occasionally call themselves just Kings Island, Kings Dominion, etc. At one time last summer, PKI tested calling itself just PKI. Strangely, they even ran a few radio ads in some markets that used the ride names Racer, Beast, etc., then referred to the parks as PKI. They didn't run very long, though. Then there was that survey about renaming the parks after CBS took over... Well ya'll know that I'd sooner throw myself from the tower than to put Paramount in front of any of the parks fine names. Just my opinion though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 ...I don't know anyone who calls Six Flags parks by their full name. Whenever I'm in California, they just call it Magic Mountain out there. I bet whenever Six Flags sells their parks, if that happens, people will still just call them by their normal names, disregarding whatever new company owns them. Good point...you hear both Magic Mountain and Great Adventure mentioned somewhat frequently on TV shows (because of their proximity to LA and NYC I'm sure) and they're never mentioned in these instances with the Six Flags pre-fix. In turn, everyone down here just calls it Six Flags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 ^ Yeah...that makes sense. The alternative would be just calling it "Over Georgia"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 ^ Yeah...that makes sense. The alternative would be just calling it "Over Georgia"! LOL Ya gotta understand the South to understand that, though. People say it as if it's the ONLY "Six Flags" park out there. If you say which one, they are like "The Only One.' But I suppose pride in the park is good. I know that I feel the same about Kings Island. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam12 Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Cedar Fair is a VERY conservative company. I don't see any fire sale coming. The average member of the public won't even realize the park name changed, if it does change to Kings Island. Ironically, twenty years from now, some people will STILL be calling it Paramount's Kings Island. A few others never stopped calling it anything but Kings Island. One reason I had suspected a coming sale for about the past 18 months to two years is the fact the parks themselves were starting to occasionally call themselves just Kings Island, Kings Dominion, etc. At one time last summer, PKI tested calling itself just PKI. Strangely, they even ran a few radio ads in some markets that used the ride names Racer, Beast, etc., then referred to the parks as PKI. They didn't run very long, though. Then there was that survey about renaming the parks after CBS took over... Well ya'll know that I'd sooner throw myself from the tower than to put Paramount in front of any of the parks fine names. Just my opinion though. I'm so thankful for you being a member of this site. It is nice to know I'm not the only one that feels this way! Just let Kings Island be Kings Island!!! -adam12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Well ya'll know that I'd sooner throw myself from the tower than to put Paramount in front of any of the parks fine names. Just my opinion though. I'm so thankful for you being a member of this site. It is nice to know I'm not the only one that feels this way! Just let Kings Island be Kings Island!!! -adam12 Well I'm a Traditionalist Progressive. You have to understand and keep your history to understand not to make the same mistakes in the future. Paramount in so many ways tried to reinvent the wheel. I really don't think there will be a learning curve with CF as they are in the park business. They know the things that don't work and why they don't work for a reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam12 Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 I really don't think there will be a learning curve with CF as they are in the park business. They know the things that don't work and why they don't work for a reason. I can't wait to get things back on track! I don't know if they will make Kings Island a total amusement park again, but it will be more of one than it is now! -adam12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 I'm ready for more of a concentration on Entertainment and on the landscaping. I think the ride mix is pretty good, but would be happy to see more easy going rides to balance out the high thrill rides. I don't like to move from one high thrill to the next. I like balance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 I think this belongs in this thread: PKI Merchandise. Today, I noticed many, many Top Gun: The Jet Coaster T-shirts....established 1999 (yep, the Jet Coaster, 1999, that's Carowinds). But the bottom line of the T Shirt said: Paramount's Kings Island. Never saw these before. Wrong coaster name, wrong established year and/or wrong park. You get to pick! They had many different designs, all with this same error. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 That's sad. I really hope that you're kidding that they were selling shirts that were so incorrect. That's so much of an example that Paramount cares nothing about the Parks history. Good Riddence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 I wish I could say I was kidding. I am not. They also had CBS cups--$8. MADE IN CHINA. If that doesn't say it all, I don't know what does. And CSI ones, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenban Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 I enjoy visiting theme parks and I have to admit PKI has one of the worst selections and worst prices of any theme park I can think of. The only other park that comes to mind as NEEDING better merchandise is Universal Studios. I know one of the comments about the difference between Cedar Point and PKI is that on average a guest spends $4 more dollars at Cedar Point. I suspect once we get decent food prices, better merchandise, and lower merchandise prices that the amount spent per a guest will be a lot closer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraderJake Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 I think a fire sale is contingent on the will of Cedar Fair and whether or not they change the park's name. It's going to be really hard to market PKI merchandise if the park is Kings Island. But, should PKI stay PKI and all properties stay for the immediate seasons then I would not see a fire sale coming, but rather a gradual phase out and mark downs that fall in line. Should the park change names and should they need to sell out all of the Park Name merchandise, expect a sale that is similar to what happened when Waterworks "closed." All WW merch was heavily marked down up until the closure of the park, and after WW was gone I believe the remaing merchandise was given to chartity or transferred to other properties with WaterWorks parks still in operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersRZ Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Well, I know in past years, the Emporium on I-Street has most merchandise discounted at 50% off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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