violakat03

I don't think it's necessarily that KI is that rough, but more a statement of how the world in general has gotten. Crime has gotten to places that it was absent before, and while KI is still a fairly safe haven, it's true that anything could happen anywhere. However, SFOG, which is in Atlanta in a very crime-ridden area (don't stay in any of the hotels on the next exit!!), there are no metal detectors. My husband was very surprised by this, because even Libertyland, the tiny park in Memphis, had metal detectors before it closed. Cedar Point also has no metal detectors. I don't honestly remember if WDW did or not, because we didn't enter through the main gate at Epcot, we went through the employee entrance for DiveQuest. Either way, I'm not concerned about a confrontation in a ride line. If it were to happen, the parks are crawling with security and other employees, as well as armed park police, that would diffuse the situation immediately, but the best course of action is to be polite and if you aren't comfortable with the confrontation, to alert a park employee to the situation. I'm not a person to sneak about behind someone's back, so I'm more likely to walk up to them and tell them my problem with them, but that's just me, not everyone, and it's perfectly ok to handle the situation however you are comfortable with. I just hope that something is done, because too many people just turn a blind eye to it and let it happen, and the people doing the illegal action continue to do so because they get away with it.

Terpy - I used to live on the "bad side of Elvis Presley" (as some of my husband's cop friends referred to it), and delivered pizza in an area known as "Hickory Hood" because of the high crime rate, in Memphis TN which is one of the murder capitals of the US. Unarmed thugs in Kings Island don't scare me in the slightest. And to be honest, any time you DO hear about a confrontation in a park (which are very unlikely to start - you're more likely to get in a fight during rush hour traffic), it's by the least likely suspects ... remember that incident at WDW a little while back when two mothers got into it? It was a middle-aged mother that started the confrontation I witnessed, which was over a remark by the victim on how the other woman was treating her child. That being said, I'm not implying you should go out of your way to make an issue, but I'm not going to let someone push me around when I paid the same amount of money they did to enjoy the park. Line jumping is against park rules for a reason, and I will most definitely alert security if I catch someone at it or they refuse to get behind me when I point it out to them. I also do not let people cut in front of me by saying "my group is up there" - I told someone in the line for Millennium Force that if that was the case, their group could come join them at the back of the line, since that's the rules. I won't alert security in the case of the boys at Gemini, because they listened and got behind me without making an issue. I wouldn't be surprised if they got kicked out later on because they also pushed and shoved their way through the crowd at the station and I'm betting thought nothing of line jumping someone else that may not have been as forgiving as I was.

lol, at least you found that much! My husband left his phone on the top of his squad car once while putting gas in it, got a call and took off in such a hurry that he forgot his phone was up there. The biggest piece he found, when he went back for it after realizing what happened, was a scrap of circuit board. To this day, he's the only person I know that's managed to destroy a Nokia "brick" phone.

Security will pay more than guest relations, probably about $2 an hour more. I believe most seasonal positions will make $7.30 (minimum wage) this season. They usually pay at least minimum wage, even though they don't by law have to because of the nature of the business, because otherwise they wouldn't be able to keep employees. When I worked there, I actually made 75 cents over minimum wage (which was $5.25 at the time) as a first-year seasonal merchandise associate (with a 50 cent raise for my second season). Security made $2/hr more than I did. Most other seasonal, such as games, ride ops, admissions, etc, all made the same as merch, but food services and ecology got a dollar more an hour. Keep in mind this was under Paramount, but I believe security does still make more per hour. When my husband interviewed for a security position in 05, they were paying $9/hr. 40 hours a week is no problem at all - I was getting 40 hours a week every week and could have gotten more if I'd asked. Everyone I've talked to that's worked for a Cedar Fair park has said, especially towards the end of the season, you'll get anywhere from 40 to 80 hours a week if you've got unlimited availability.

Boys that age are full of bluff and bluster, but pretty much harmless. Besides, how fast do you think security/ride ops/other patrons would be all over the scene? The one assault I witness when I worked at Kings Island (between two middle aged mothers!) was broken up very quickly and the woman who started it went to jail. The victim, who was pushed by the other woman, didn't even get hurt. That was one of my first days working there ... talk about an interesting start to a job! I ended up giving statements to Park Police and Warren County sheriffs before the end of my shift and my manager let me go home early.

I'll use pre-made cut-through areas like the ones on WWC and FD. I do wait until there's no one in sight walking from the entrance at Rivertown, because it would be rude to knowingly get in front of someone just joining the line. I also have jumped from FD's exit to SoB's entrance at the tunnel when there was no one coming. I've even gone from the exit (where they have shelves for loose articles) directly to the station on FoF, but only after asking and receiving permission from the ride ops (this was back when I worked there and they all knew me anyway). However, I WILL speak my mind to others trying to purposely jump me. There were two tweenie boys that tried to jump in front of me and my husband on Gemini - in the area where you have to walk around a wood divider before the stairs, they went under when we went around. I said "excuse me, but we were in front of you." They gave me a dirty look but got behind us again. They ended up 1 train ahead of us anyway because we waited for front seat and they took an open spot in the middle, but I wasn't about to let them pull that crap. I'm not afraid of a physical altercation - if they're stupid enough to start it, then they're stupid enough to deserve being kicked out of the park and/or put in jail for assault.

It's funny when stuff like that happens, it's almost like time slows down. When the girl in front of us lost her hat, I watched my husband snag it like he had all the time in the world. I tried for it but couldn't reach it. She was very very glad when he handed it back to her as we were pulling back around to the station.

Congrats on the already significant loss. Double digits is nothing to sneeze at! Just take it slow and remember that you didn't gain all of it in two months, so you won't lose it all that fast either! It's taken me about a year and a half to drop 20 lbs but I've done it and I'm dropping more each month. I'm hoping that with less weight on me, the coaster blackout (which I NEVER experienced before this past summer) will go away and the wooden coasters won't feel as rough. When you're squeezed tight into the seats (my hips barely fit in The Beast - I can get the lapbar down without a problem though, I'm just built wide!) things are a lot more uncomfortable and seem rougher than they really are. My goal for this season is to get into The Beast without having to do any wiggling to get comfortable.

Oh, I completely forgot - I HAVE lost something to a ride! I lost my season pass to Mean Streak - luckily it got turned in at the end of the night, it had gotten stuck in between the seat bottom and the center divider. I was nicely panicking for quite a while - because we were in the middle of a week long trip and I wasn't sure I could replace a King's Island platinum pass at Cedar Point. Oh, and I wear contacts on the rides too - but I usually wear my sunglasses with an athletic strap to keep the wind from drying my contacts out. My picture on TTD shows my stylin' shades that kept me from crying in the front seat due to wind. I also keep a bottle of re-wetting drops in my cargo pocket!

That makes me laugh. It also reminds me of a story a customer of mine told me back when I was selling cars. He had rolled his SUV and was coming back to buy another one because it protected the family so well - the only injuries sustained were from flying tokens. They were on their way home from an arcade and his daughter had her cup of tokens in the back seat, so when the car rolled, they went everywhere.

Only thing I've lost is a quarter out of my pocket on Tomb Raider. After that, all changes comes out of my pocket on that ride. My husband, as a child, lost an autographed Houston Astros baseball hat on La Vibora at Six Flags Over Texas. They mailed it back to him at the end of the season. When riding Snake River Falls at Cedar Point, the girl in the row in front of us lost her pink Ohio State hat and my husband's reactions were lightning fast. He snagged it out of the air and handed it back to her at the end of the ride.

I found some more slides from inside Enchanted Voyage - but they are all too dark, even to be fixed in Photoshop. I'll keep looking!

Not to step on toes, but I didn't want to start a new thread for this. It's nicely ironic that I just found these pictures yesterday and was going to post them, but them saw this thread so I thought they'd be a great addition! My mom recently scanned some of her old slides onto the computer, and she has some from the park in 1979 (sorry footballfreak, none of Beast's entrance). It's neat to see what's still there and what is gone. The dolphin show: Monster (the blonde woman with shoulder-length hair and wearing glasses right in the middle of the picture, on the ride, is my mom) - look at that line! Lion County Safari: Kings Island Railroad - all that lush green grass!

Same for me. I actually applied at KI the day before I got the call for the interview. Well, I haven't gotten the job yet, but I'm pretty hopeful.

Hahahahahaha! ... I'll probably end up doing the same thing. I have one word for SFOG Ninja ... OW!

You might be a coaster addict/KIaddict/KICaddict if when you're checking out at Barnes and Nobles (where you purchase a roller coaster calendar), you end up having a long discussion with the cashier that you noticed admiring your calendar and giving him links to KIC and other websites of coaster addicts... true story! ETA: You might be a KI addict if you spent 45+ minutes researching and writing an article for a different amusement park website about The Beast's 30th anniversary. At almost 5 a.m. (see article here: http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/roller...html#post777492 )

Thanks for bringing this back up. I remember this video as well. Great link, great video, great reminder of why The Beast will always be my number 1.

Yep. Best bet is to go on either a Sunday early in the season (like April or early May) or Tues-Thurs shortly after it opens through the week but before local schools are out for the summer. You should be walk-on for almost every ride during those times. Same goes for end of season - Sundays are fairly deserted in October. We went on closing day (a Sunday) this year and walked on almost every single ride in the park. The only ride with a wait was 30 minutes for Firehawk because it was only running 1 train. We had to leave before close because I had to work, so between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. we rode every single coaster (Flight Deck, Flight of Fear and BLSC multiple times) and several flats.

My recommendation is to go on a Tuesday or Thursday when the park is fairly empty. You should be able to ride everything then, because really, it's hard to say which ones you shouldn't ride - all the coasters at KI are great.

Well, not a day after I applied at KI (which is not my first choice of jobs - it's 1.5 hours from where I'm trying to move to), I got a call from a job lead that I'd rather given up on. They set up an interview for Tuesday, and if all goes well, it'll be significantly more money than KI, getting back into the field I was in before moving up here from Tennessee, as well as being in Columbus so that I can get back to school at Ohio State. So, here's hoping I get it! If not, King's Island will definitely still be in the cards if they'll hire me.

Um, Paramount did rehire people with a "rehire with interview status". I know because I was the one that had to conduct those interviews for my department. Some I rehired, some I didn't. It all depended on the situation. Now, there may have been a couple of departments that didn't rehire any people with that status, but a majority did give them another chance to interview for possible rehire. When I reapplied in 2005 (so that'd be two years after my last time working there), I was told that they had enough applicants that they weren't hiring anyone that wasn't on a direct rehire status and that it had been that way the year before and would probably be that way the next year. However, I also applied after the season started, so that might have made a difference too. And now it's been over 3 years (pushing 4) since I had any activity in my employment record so hopefully it'll be a clean slate either way.

My husband and I both applied at KI yesterday. Him for investigations/park police (he's got police certification from Tennessee, we aren't sure they'll accept it) and me for HR Trainer or Ride Op. Since it asks on the application if you have any relatives working there (which was a no, currently at least) I'm not sure if they'd let us both work there. I'm also hoping that they don't hold old Paramount employment records against you - I was listed as rehire with interview and Paramount never rehired people with that designation, even though I worked there over 5 years ago. Cross your fingers for us!

Yeah, I've seen it three or four times before today too. It was made post-Maverick, so it's 'fairly' new ... I mean, Discover has been known to show things that are so old they talk about when Millennium Force was brand new... or even still in planning!

Check it out! Features Firehawk at King's Island, as well as Cedar Point, Kingda Ka, the Stratasphere and the indoor coaster at the Edmonton Mall. It just started at 4 p.m. This is the second time I've watched it today.

El Toro and The Voyage. I'll hopefully be getting credit on both this coming season. As for Millie .. I appreciate it for what it is. I think it's just fine with the fast high positive-g curves and little air time, because that's how it's supposed to be and that's how I enjoy it. It still ranks as my favorite at CP and second favorite overall. That, and I don't like all the airtime on Magnum ... it hurts my legs.