There's never been a hotel there BEFORE....

billb7581 said:

Not true.. we went there last year, for a swim team trip.

And that was your first visit in 17 years, IIRC.

It's just not a park we choose to frequent.

Which would suggest to me that you're not the expert you think you are.

RCMAC said:

Nope. No there isn't.

Now, there have been days when parks have had to close their gates, ballparks and theaters have had to announce sellouts, and restaurants have had to stop taking reservations. But they never did that with a frown on their face. And you can bet that before doing so they waited, and waited,... and waited until the last possible minute.

And who's dropping 300 bucks for four rides, anyway? If that happens to anybody I dare say it's not the park's problem. For that kind of money I expect FOL access!

And here we go!

None of those things effect the experience in the same way as an overcrowded amusement park. At a ballgame you don't wait in a que line to share the seat, at a restaurant you could have a reservation.

Family of 4, with a coke can... 200 bucks? Parking and 2 meals for 4 another 100 bucks. On the day in question you needed a fastpass for the line to buy your admission pass... something like 1.5 hours to get through the gate and a guy remarking to me "I'll never go to that friggin place again"

Anecdotal, absolutely, but a crowded theme park isn't superior to a not crowded one from the patrons point of view.

Anecdotal, absolutely, but anecdotes, apparently, equal facts over on the east coast, where things are very different than they are wherever the heck Kings Island is.

A non rebuttal couched in a snarky comment. Awesome.

So you're saying an overcrowded theme park is superior to a less crowded one from the customer's point of view, or that no demographic or geographic differences exist between the Phila/NYC metro area and the Cincinati metro area?

Restaurants existing outside of a theme park gates is somehow proof of something? LOL.

KI draws from as large a population within 90 miles etc etc.

Anecdotes dont equal facts, on either side. You're arguing for something that may never exist. I'm merely pointing out why it may not. I don't see where you get off with this superiority complex with respect to your position, the only FACT we do have, is there really is no lodging near GA so the demand may not be as great as an enthusiast would believe.

Billb's posts make my head hurt.

All I'm saying is that you, by your own admission, don't actually know what you're talking about. That's all.

slithernoggin said:

All I'm saying is that you, by your own admission, don't actually know what you're talking about. That's all.

You don't either. You just behave as if you do.

You know what I haven't had in a while? Big league chew.

High five!

Tekwardo said:

billb7581 said:

Not true.. we went there last year, for a swim team trip.

And that was your first visit in 17 years, IIRC.

It's just not a park we choose to frequent.

Which would suggest to me that you're not the expert you think you are.

What do coaster riding credits have to do with this?

I live 45 minutes from the place and am familiar with the local population, and people's travel habits vis a vis traffic congestion and the like.

Ah . You live close by and are familiar with the population. Thus making you an expert on all things Great Adventure. I stand corrected.

Discussions with billb never fail to amuse me.

Just a harmless observation:

billb is like if Timber-Rider was angry and surly.

I'm dividing my time between answering billb and driving my cat apesh*t crazy with a laser pointer. Both are entertaining.

To his credit, billb is more succinct than Timber-Rider.

And he doesn't start three consecutive sentences with the word "though."

I do think that selling out a park is great business, but I think that you have an obligation to still more or less give people that for which they paid. If I buy a ticket to a Paul McCartney concert that sells out, it's not like I go in and they tell me to pick four songs out of the setlist that I want to hear or like I go to an Orioles game that sells out and I'm only allowed to watch three innings.

It's like the contrast between my Europa Park trip last year and my Cedar Point trip this year. Europa Park was a sea of people but none of the waits were in any way unreasonable. Cedar Point didn't seem nearly as crowded, but you felt every agonizing minute of waits that blew my Europa Park ones out of the water.

I know that may have run off on a tangent, but what I'm trying to say is that while I think that parks absolutely should try to hit their maximum capacity as often as possible, I think there's an obligation to still give those people a decent experience (I'm not saying twenty laps on Nitro before lunch, but I'm saying that it shouldn't be impossible to get a lap each on all of the good rides even without Fastlane). It's that concern that I think is driving Bill's desire to avoid seeing a park that doesn't seem so adept at handling wall-to-wall crowds find some way of getting those crowds more often than they already do.

With that said, I'd give my right arm for a nearby hotel. I think it'd be a nice convenience.

sirloindude said:

I know that may have run off on a tangent, but what I'm trying to say is that while I think that parks absolutely should try to hit their maximum capacity as often as possible, I think there's an obligation to still give those people a decent experience

Back before it was Six Flags or CNL [or whatever it is now], I stayed at Darien Lake's Lodge on the Lake [which was a cool name that it was called at that point] and the perks you got for staying there was entering the park really early. I remember going to the Beaver Brothers Cafe (inside the park) for breakfast with my family and then getting onto rides before the unwashed masses were allowed in.

sirloindude said:

I do think that selling out a park is great business, but I think that you have an obligation to still more or less give people that for which they paid.

Agreed. However, all you paid for was admission to the park...and you got that.

I suppose there's something about reasonable expectations with regards to access to rides, but we could debate that grey area all day.

If I buy a ticket to a Paul McCartney concert that sells out, it's not like I go in and they tell me to pick four songs out of the setlist that I want to hear or like I go to an Orioles game that sells out and I'm only allowed to watch three innings.

These analogies made me laugh a little. Weird choices. Obviously, the crowd doesn't affect things in the way you're trying to connect them.

To me a better analogy would be that your ticket only guarantees you admission to the venue - it guarantees nothing about the quality of the show that Paul or the Orioles might put on that day.

I suppose there's something about reasonable expectations with regards to quality of the performance, but we could debate that grey area all day.

I don't see not being able to ride all the major attactions as any different than catching Paul on a bad night or the Orioles in a snoozefest of a ballgame.

slithernoggin said:

Ah . You live close by and are familiar with the population. Thus making you an expert on all things Great Adventure. I stand corrected.

No it just makes me more informed of the dynamics in the area with respect to travel, and provincialism and the like.

For example if you look at a map, the east west roads from Philly (30, 168,322 ACE,) funnel you southeast towards Atlantic City, because people from this are typicaly vacation in AC or points south when vacationing at the Jersey Shore. NYC people come down the GSP and typically only get as far south as Seaside Heights. Being a straight shot east of seaside, and along 195 and the turnpike GA is seen as NY territory, and Philly people hate all things NY. I'm not saying they dont go there, but for daytrips mainly, you'd have to have a lot more going on for people to vacation there.

I think it's ingrained in us as a culture dating to the time before Willis Carrier invented air conditioning. That people headed east to the coast when it got too hot and humid inland. You have generations of people who rent the same hotel room or condo that their parents did at the beach in the summer.. but I am getting off track now.

Well, I'll be darned, and ya learn something new everyday. Here, I always thought Joe Frigidaire invented the air conditioner. Thanks for that (one) little fact, billb!

Hmmm, things were going so smoothly until someone had to go and get billb all worked up again. I guess the devil's work is never done. ;)