One of the new attractions for Kings Island for this season is a complete re-do of the Kings Mill flume. The new ride, the Wild Thornberrys River Adventure or something like that, will follow the same general layout as the old Kings Mill flume, but the old Arrow Fiberglas flume is being/has been removed, and Hopkins is constructing a new galvanized flume trough. When Jeff the PKI PR Dude was showing us the progress during the NAPHA event last fall, he didn't recall who was doing the mechanical work (he couldn't remember if it was Hopkins or Morgan)...at IAAPA last November I asked a couple of questions of just the right people and determined that indeed, Hopkins is doing the new ride mechanicals.
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Regarding expensive parking...
It's not that I object to parks trying to make some money. I'm a firm believer in capitalism myself. It's just that parking is one of those items which is an utterly unnecessary charge for most parks in that every vehicle entering the parking lot is going to dump from one to 75 people through the park gate. Charging anything at all for parking subjects the customer to a fee that he certainly doesn't appreciate, and probably doesn't have handy as he drives up to the entrance. Charging more than $5 is enough to get most people just a little upset...so now you're hitting customers up for money they didn't know they needed before they even get to the gate.
Since parks know how many cars park in the lot, they know how many people come through the gate, and they know how much money they want to make on parking, why not just work the parking fee into the gate price (and the season pass price, and the discount price, etc.). Then the park brings in the same revenue (maybe even more) to divert towards the parking facility...but can also advertise in big red letters on the brochure, "FREE PARKING!!!". Just like Holiday World does with the soft drinks...the drinks aren't actually "free", they're just included in the ticket price.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.