BREAKING! The Bat Flies Again at Kings Island! IT IS A WING COASTER!

Can someone explain the gravy thing to a noob?

Once upon a time, a few people link bombed various forums with the words "gravy buffet" to the ACE web site. So for many years, you could Google or Bing the term and the first result was ACE. I suppose the joke is because enthusiasts have a thing for overeating, and are not exactly the most fit group of people.

And the free food on media day served as a very convenient dry run on a training day that would otherwise have been void of customers and useless. The cost was a drop in the bucket. I also have to believe the opening of two additional coasters that day was not just to make the enthusiasts happy.

Perhaps not satisfy enthusiasts but at least entertain them. Much like Gatekeeper: entertaining yes, satisfying maybe.

Gravy-Basted Cheapskates would make a good name for a punk band.

Jeff said:
Once upon a time, a few people link bombed various forums with the words "gravy buffet" to the ACE web site. So for many years, you could Google or Bing the term and the first result was ACE. I suppose the joke is because enthusiasts have a thing for overeating, and are not exactly the most fit group of people.

Aha. Thank you, Jeff.

If KI gets any media coverage out of this, they win. That is the ultimate goal. Teasing the online community and creating buzz through any (inexpensive) means is part of that process. Considering the local news coverage in Cincinatti has been all over this, and the story has trended on some high profile search engines, I'd say KI's time has been well spent.

Just to reiterate Dave's point, I may have very low per cap (probably under $10, easily) but my family and friends (directly influenced by me) have probably dropped between $700-$1000 on Six Flags this season. Not to say that I think we're driving the business, but I wouldn't say we're less valuable than the average customer.

This is the same thing that happened when I saw the Michigan's Adventure Facebook page saying that MA was going to get the face/off ride, before it was announced that it was going to Dorney, for the 2013 season. Then, all of the images vanished from the page. And, they denied it ever existed.

This seems to be the same kind of game playing again. They might build a wing coaster at Kings Island called the Bat, but don't be surprised if it ends up somewhere else. They have a habit of putting coaster on park web pages where they don't belong.

MA had a roller coaster on their website at the beginning of the season, that isn't even close to anything they have in the park. Then it was suddenly gone.

913girl said:

Can someone explain the gravy thing to a noob?

Oh I thought you were new but I didn't check. Welcome, now Carrie isn't the only female!

Thank you! Glad I can add a little diversity. I'm a worlds of fun junkie as well so I suppose that also makes me unique. I figured there was probably more females than wof fans around here(; I'm loving the site so far, you all are quite entertaining!

RCMAC said:

No no no, no no no-no-no, no no no, no no no.

You have two extra "no's" there.

Oh, no no no I don't.

And bjames, let me remind you of Bunky, Bobbie, and Tina before you get into trouble.

Yes, welcome, 913girl, and I'm glad you like it here so far. See? Sometimes not so serious is a good place to be.

RCMAC said:

Oh, no no no I don't.

And bjames, let me remind you of Bunky, Bobbie, and Tina before you get into trouble.

Yes, welcome, 913girl, and I'm glad you like it here so far. See? Sometimes not so serious is a good place to be.

I don't know that I've ever seen any of them post. And even so, if you can only name three others, that's still not much diversity lol.

Thank you again. I very much agree about the seriousness! More fun this way.

And by the way my name is Lexi. You probably can't believe this but I'm sure if I want to go as 913girl forever, haha.

If they go with The Bat, I am officially over anything they the entire company teases us with in the future, because they prove over and over that their clues are nothing more than misdirection, sleight-of-hand, and smoke and mirrors, and that they are making it all up as they go.

Bone-chilling screams? Evil phenomenon? The comb? What does the scarecrow have to do with anything? Then they show us The Bat on their website? What a joke.

I like either name and theme. I am just frustrated with their presentation leading up to this announcement.

It kind of reminds me of the amazing TV show LOST. Just throw some clues out there and make everyone wonder about what is really going on, even though the writers really didn't know what was going on themselves, and they had no idea if the foreshadowing was really foreshadowing or if it was just a red herring.

Edited to correct spelling. You learn something new everyday.

Lord Gonchar said:

Why would you send the media outlets a comb and hair for a wing coaster called "The Bat"? It would probably be the most nonsensical PR move ever.

So you’re saying that the reason this was the most horrible PR move ever was because “The Bat” decoy didn’t make sense with the Banshee comb sent to press? In other words, you called out my earlier post that said this was hilarious, complimenting Don Helbig’s generation of buzz…with “Ha! Oh you’re serious?” because you thought it was a flawed, unbelievable decoy?

I thought you were saying this was the worst PR move ever because it was a waste of effort / time / money, which is what you basically ended up saying (and the reason I responded in the first place).

I see it exactly the opposite.

That’s a surprise! ;-) We’re going to disagree there, and according to you, that makes me a moron (as well as the executives at Cedar Fair and almost all other modern businesses).

In 1985, people found out about new coasters via news, television / radio commercials, printed ads, pop cans, etc. I never found out about new coasters via word of mouth from coaster enthusiasts, and considering they basically talked to one another, they informed very few casual customers.

The verbal word-of-mouth has transformed to Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, forums, and countless other social outlets today, making social advertisement more important than ever. Enthusiasts can serve as mega seeds now. Their pictures, videos, blogs, posts, and comments can quickly spread like disease with a simple “like” or re-tweet.

Before you know it, your enthusiast fan page on Facebook has over 1.3 million likes. It must be working well for Cedar Fair, as they’re reaching out to the enthusiast community with more social media hype and more access to events like GateKeeper Media Day.

Most companies are taking these approaches as well. You’ll notice that Ford no longer advertises during the Super Bowl. Why? They stated their investment in social media has been far more successful. Now they’re advertising cars by giving them to the most hardcore fans with agreements that they’ll document their travels through all the popular social media outlets.

Also, much like Cedar Fair is doing with Tony Clark & Don Helbig, businesses are sending official reps to interact with enthusiasts on other forums. It’s bizarre seeing official reps for Kmart/Sears, Toys R Us, Amazon, and Microsoft interacting with the deal enthusiast community on forums now.

I doubt all these businesses are run by a bunch of morons, wasting time, money, and effort. Somewhere, there are metrics proving that these kind of strategies work.

Hi everyone! Haven't commented on this forum yet but I'm so mixed up in the hype around KI 2014 that I got to thinking earlier today, KI is probably putting in a invert but what if the new coaster is not an invert, wing rider, or giga at all? What if it is a floorless coaster? I don't believe B&M has put one of these out recently and Ohio is lacking in that department since Dominator moved to KD. What are the chances that the park will announce Thursday night that they are installing a record-breaking floorless coaster? Just a thought. I apologize if this was brought up already (I haven't had a chance to read the whole forum yet).

LostKause said:

If they go with The Bat...

LostKause said:

If they go with The Bat, I am officially over anything they the entire company teases us with in the future, because they prove over and over that their clues are nothing more than misdirection, slight-of-hand, and smoke and mirrors, and that they are making it all up as they go.

"Sleight-of-hand."

Sorry, it's an enormous pet-peeve of mine. Enormous.