Jeff's Clipboard and Bitter Taste - Kings Island Opening Day

Jeffery,

Thanks for your explanation.

I don't think I knew until today that brakes have always been there. The ride did seem to run well, except for the squeal. Only problem with my first ride was with the upper seat divider, which seemed to poke me. I try to keep my back off the backrest, so that is probably why.

a_hoffman50,

Thanks for your advice. I don't believe that exercising your constitutional rights is necessarily futile, but understand where you are coming from and appreciate you looking out for me.

But to the other thing you said,

My goal is to find value. Their goal is to make a profit. I respect that goal, and think it is a worthy one. In my humble opinion, the best way to make profit is to add value to a product or service. The more value you add, the more you can charge. The more you charge, the more you can profit.

The goal of a successful attraction is for them to get you to hand them your money with a smile on your face. That is what is so great about Disney. That is probably why Vegas does so well. Unfortunately, in recent years, Cedar Fair does not appear to be as good a value on things like food as in the past. In-park prices have gone up, while the level of service you receive appears to have dropped.

If I was running a park, I'd rather have a guest that spends $25 in the park but sees a value so they return and spend another $25 than a guest that spends $40, feels like they have been ripped off, and doesn't return!

-Sam

What is a "Signal 55"?

If memory serves me correctly, The Beast has been squealing long before CF took over...most notably on run from the station to the lift after it rains. Like Craig said above, it's more of a PTC feature than CF policy.

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Avalanche Sam said:
My goal is to find value. Their goal is to make a profit.

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This is the definition of doing business. Both sides trying to keep as much of the money as possible in their pockets. They want to give you as little as possible for the most money and you want as much as possible for the least money. The compromise is the point of transaction.

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The more value you add, the more you can charge. The more you charge, the more you can profit.

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Too oversimplified. What about when the cost of adding more value outweighs the amount you can additionally charge? Then the business takes a loss by adding more value.

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If I was running a park, I'd rather have a guest that spends $25 in the park but sees a value so they return and spend another $25 than a guest that spends $40, feels like they have been ripped off, and doesn't return!

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I'd rather have a guest that spends $40 and returns to spend $40 again. ;)

Seriously, that last bit is a little over simplified as well. It's not working that way. Their attendance has held relatively steady as of late. People are spending the $40 and regardless of how happy or angry they are the same amount of people come back the next year to spend $40 again.

So I guess they're doing exactly what I'd do - get people to spend $40 and get the same number of people to spend $40 the next day (week, year, etc).

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In-park prices have gone up, while the level of service you receive appears to have dropped.

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I'd agree with this. I'm actually ok with the former, but the latter is where it hits home.

My CP Platinum Pass didn't work for getting us in for parking either. The parking attendant called a blue tag (is that what they are there?) over and he ok'd us going thru anyway.

Our passes did get hubby and I both in-his from last season didn't work getting him in all season.

Beast squeaking like a maniac on hill into helix. Nothing new.

Jo

Avalanche Sam, WERE you speeding? :)

This might help you, http://www.jesbeard.com/s12.htm

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realmadrid311 said:
What is a "Signal 55"?

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It's a radio signal that Rides supervisors use, however I don't know what the 55 stands for.

Two seasons ago, Top Thrill Dragster's Crew made t-shirts that read "Base to 3" on the front and "Signal 22 Top Thrill Dragster" on the back. As you can imagine, Signal 22 is code for "the rides down mechanical. :)

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Parker17, was that supposed to be sarcasm? Cedar Fair needs to add value to their product to be profitable, not raise prices as high as possible on food while attendance keeps dropping, capacity goes down, and guests turn to other sources of entertainment.

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Oh nevermind I thought there was a different reason you were boycotting it. No need to bring it up though.

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realmadrid311 said:
What is a "Signal 55"?

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Apparently one of the signs that he ignored on the highway right before he got pulled over. :-D

Parker17,

Did you think I was a GL conspiracy theorist? Geauga Lake was bound to close sooner or later. But I am not happy with them on how they handled the closing. They could have done it differently, so that people could get "one last ride."

To me, it seems like GL was an embarrassment that they would like to forget about. They pumped a lot of money into the property in 2004 and 2005 to try to turn the place around, and they had little or no success.

Wildwater Kingdom should be a great park, and they have a very talented Interim General Manager, who I think should get a lot the credit for Geauga Lakes only real success in recent years, the quality of the waterpark(s)!

Now back to KI, the staff for the most part was very friendly, and seemed to be willing to go out of their way to please a guest.

I'd say it was a fun trip, but I called Canada's Wonderland today to try to ensure I don't run into the same problem there on Friday.

Anyone else going up there Friday?

-Sam

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realmadrid311 said:
What is a "Signal 55"?

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Walk down...at least thats what it was at GL

oh Sam causing trouble...like always

I was there opening day as well and had an amazing experience. I got my CF Platinum Pass, and although the line for processing seemed like it went on for hours, I actually didn't have to wait for than half an hour.

I have NEVER had a pass processed so fast and efficiently! Once you got to the actual processing it was type/click/scan and you were OUT! They had like what, 12 cameras set up?

I thought everything was running top-notch that day, although I didn't ride the Beast (I can't get away from Drop Zone, er, sorry, Drop Tower and Delirium long enough. ;))

I guess we all have our different experiences, though. Let's just hope the KI Platinum pass WILL scan at Cedar Point and everywhere else.

-Tina

^^For what it's worth, last year my *KI* Maxx Pass scanned with ease and no problem at Dorney, so hopefully that bodes well with CP this year!!

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Jeff said:

The Beast has not been "tamed to hell." I get so tired of hearing that. Its run time is actually shorter, and therefore faster. That's not more tame.

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How is that? Since it was built, the ride has had numerous brakes added. If you're comparing today's Beast to the Beast of a few years ago, I'd agree with you. If you're comparing today's Beast to the original Beast, your statement makes no sense.

What dates, Rob? When were brakes added? Tell me, I want to know. I can tell you that brakes were replaced... hundreds of feet of skid brakes, in fact... but tell me when they were added since I make no sense and you have the answers.

I searched Google but couldn't find any data on when the various brakes were added. I am pretty certain it started after its first couple years.

Brakes were added to the Beast a few years after it opened. I can't give you the exact dates- if it means that much to you, I'm sure you could do a little research and find out for yourself. The simple fact is that brakes were installed where there were no brakes before. To most people, that would insinuate the ride was tamed at some point.

How many of us on this site are old enough to have ever ridden the ride in its first year? Not me.

I hear it was something during those first few years of operation. Wish I could have ridden it.

I was there in 1979. I was eleven years old, and that first ride was the scariest, craziest, most exhilarating experience I had ever had -- right up there with seeing Star Wars for the first time. That first tunnel seemed like an anthole we were somehow, impossibly, going to plunge into. The ride was relentless, smooth (except for the helix, which even then had a tendency to shuffle with all that lateral movement). Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure that with the except of the midcourse trims and the brakes before the second lift, there were NO other brakes on the ride until the station run. And most certainly not on the first drop -- magnetic, skid, or otherwise.