RailRider

A rule of thumb from someone who has worked in Marketing and Event Planning for a few years. A person who does their job well is unknown by those attending the event, because it is about the event and not the person.

Some other things to consider is not only the operating cost of running the kennel, but some of the more hidden costs. Insurance being a large expense, that most large insurance companies don't want to underwrite. The chance of dog bite, harm to the animal or employee or worse yet a park guest is a very real concern. Also the park opens themselves to the possibility of an animal dying while under their care. Todays world of insurance is all about limiting your exposure to risk and liability. Running a kennel on premise is a large risk for the park. From a business stand point I don't blame them one bit for closing the doors.

A person who is willing to leave an animal in a hot car during the Summer would more than likely be a person who would not have used the pet care facility at KI. Plus I have never understood traveling with your pet, in my opinion it is more work than traveling with a child. Leave the poor thing home, where it will have a more enjoyable stay and less likely chance of picking up a disease. Kennel Cough and who knows what else.

I think Disney has somewhere around 30,000 onsite hotel rooms. That number is mind blowing and yes I agree Disney will continue to focus on Vacation Club Offerings plus hotels that fall between Value and Moderate like Art of Animation. We must remember that average daily attendance at Magic Kingdom is 50,000 guests. To put in to more local terms as to how large that crowd is, it equates to 12% of Kentucky Kingdoms attendance goal for the entire year.

I assume single day ticket prices will be set dependent on the number of season passes that are sold. Direct from KK FB How do you not go in to the season with a set single day ticket price?

A classic Disney Movie with great music. One of my favorite least experienced rides at Disney World

Between the room only promos, free dining packages, and free park days there are very few times that you can go to Disney without a discount. You should never pay full price for a Disney Trip, deals are typically around. Check out the historical deals and release dates here. http://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/#2014

What is truly amazing is that Kentucky Kingdom ceases weekly operation after the first full week of August and the cost of opening for a measly 5 hours a day during the majority of the fair is digging a big hole to over come with discounted Kroger Admission tickets. My head hurts.

Donald is in Mexico because of the 3 Caballeros attraction/movie. This is what happens when a country no longer wants to support its World Showcase Representation and get on board with one of the biggest Disney movies of all time. I hear the Disney cruises to Norway have sold tremendously well and yes they are advertised as a Frozen cruise. Also I would expect the new meet n greet to include the Olaf character that has been included in parades and such. Not to mention he has done some media previews to rave reviews. He will draw larger lines than the sisters. Also with Frozen 2 in the works this franchise is not going anywhere anytime soon. This gives Disney purists something besides cinnamon rolls to get upset about.

Kentucky Kingdom had a rocky first year, I have a feeling they ain't seen nothing yet. Sorry for the poor grammar, but I have Bachman Turner Overdrive song in the head this morning. B-b-b-baby

And depending on the oversight regarding the accurate reporting of attendance figures. Sorry if I'm a taxpayer I will not trust Mr. Hart to accurately report attendance especially when his tax breaks rely on it.

And he will ride that Donkey till the end.

What a hot button topic this is and should be. 2 main thoughts on Mr. Kinzel. First the business side. This man was at the helm of the RollerCoast during the coaster arms race between Cedar Point and Six Magic Mountain. During this time the only real concern at parks was bigger, faster, and greater # than the competition. Do you think Kinzel would have ever let Six overtake the most coasters record? Family, atmosphere, and satisfaction were not an important part of operations, plus he has a slight ego that he is the best and does it the best. The market changed drastically in the early 2000's as the family became the key market. Kinzel never understood or accepted that and wanted to keep doing things his way. Something about an Old Dog comes to mind. On a personal note Mr. Kinzel was kind enough to assist me in gathering information for a school project and provided me a tour of Millie during construction on a cold February day. Also he was nice enough to correspond via letters in helping me make some connections with a former coaster company based in Mason. I am thankful for his time and assistance, that is what I would call going above and beyond. In summary as a share holder Kinzel had overstayed his welcome, was out of touch, and his ego would not allow him to heed critique. He did many great things for Cedar Fair and did many dumb things as well. His reign is now part of the long and storied history of Cedar Point and Cedar Fair.

They will be hard pressed to meet the measly attendance goal. The newness has worn off and the new attractions this year will not be enough to jump attendance 50,000 - 75,000 visitors. The reduced staffing will impact in-park experience, the fair attendance is on a downward spiral, and Marketing is not their strong suit; these are just a few factors that will impact this season that Hart and company have no idea how to compensate for.

This is what I picture and Im a bit creeped out

The Newness of Lightning Run and Kentucky Kingdom may have worn off or will wear off midway through this season. Are these 5 (err 7) new attractions enough to drive attendance up this year? After all the park didn't even pull in 600,000 visitors last year and it will look much better during an election year to hit your attendance goals. Maybe... Nothing is guaranteed in this industry and honestly I expect Kentucky Kingdom to throw pricing integrity out the window midway through the season as they struggle to meet the measly 650,000 goal. Think they are not worried? There is a major issue when expanding the footprint of the park yet reducing seasonal staff by 20%.

Something else of note from the article. Compared to last years article on the job fair. http://www.wlky.com/news/local-news/louisville-news/kentucky-kingdom-holding-job-fair-this-weekend/23739092 Say what you will, but if true the park is going from hiring over 1,000 seasonal employees to under 800 in a years time. That is quite the reduction in workforce. Then again Im sure the lack of visitors and drop off in attendance this upcoming year won't necessitate as large a staff. Come One, Come All, Ride the Run before the Fall

The Gaston video is awesome. We were at Disney this December and met Gaston for the first time. He may be my favorite character interaction ever. Still debating the merits of a Trip Review.

This only reaffirms my hatred of all hand dryers. As has been stated and I will state again, hand dryers do nothing more than recirculate hot bathroom air on to your freshly washed hands. If paper towels are non existent then my hands will air dry.

Keeping Mr. Hart's mouth shut this off season is very effective PR for the park. Should have thought of that one sooner. Kentucky Kingdom would have never opened without the vast amount of concessions and deals they received, if these disappear the park will meet its end much sooner than later.

The interesting part is there is no reminder that is sent out your pass is going to automatically renew. Seems like the right thing to do from a customer service standpoint.

Ambitious? Expensive? This is from someone who entered the space tourism industry. That is more of hobby than industry currently. While expensive there is not much competition. The cruise industry on the other hand is costly to enter, very competitive and has an established clientele.

Starting from scratch and entering the cruise industry. That is an ambitious project and a very expensive one. Especially entering a cruise market that has a great diversity of ships and lines to choose from. Disney, Royal Caribbean and Carnival are the big 3 that meets the demands of your average cruiser. Then you have more upscale and specialized like Norwegian, Princess and Celebrity. Then very specialized luxury lines like Regent Seven Seas or Seabourn. Not to mention the plethora of other lines that have an established market share and customer base. Should be interesting, good luck Sir Branson

Opryland, Opryland, Opryland... That park was a gem. Thanks Gaylord, how is that mall working out for you?

From my understanding the only updates will be in the preshow and queue and then once the new areas of the park go online they will take it down for a major update. The park cannot afford anymore attractions offline right now, which is why they are slow rolling this.