violakat03

One of my favorite memories was the one employee ride night I had a chance to go to. It was the year Tomb Raider opened and they had it and The Beast open after hours. Everyone went straight for Tomb Raider for some reason so I jumped on Beast and rode it 3 or 4 times in a row with just a 1 or 2 train wait each time. There was so much energy and excitement, it was a whole different experience than during the day when guests are riding it. Another memory is from working at main lockers in the water park during a bring-a-friend-free day. We were absolutely slammed but there were only 2 of us working that day (I think it was the first BAFF day, so they weren't expecting the crowds they got) and at the end of the day we had piles and piles and piles of keys to sort out, so we lined up all the baskets along the back of the booth and started 'shooting hoops' with them. Security called because they thought we were throwing them at each other and wanted us to stop, but laughed when I explained what we were actually doing. I don't know why but that memory in particular just embodied the fun and friendship that was the prevalent mood among employees. And ... last one for now (I'm sure I'll have more - 2 summers leaves a lot of memories!) was helping out a Spanish family. I took spanish in high school (don't remember a lick of it now) so I had "Hablo Espanol" on my nametag. They stopped and asked for directions and were obviously frustrated because they couldn't find anyone to help them since they spoke almost no English. The relief and joy on their faces when I gave them directions in spanish and they could finally understand what was going on meant so much to me.

During PKI days (not sure if it's the same) we had 15 y.o.'s working in merchandise. Just make sure you don't check "willing to work any position" or you'll be in food for sure. I specified merchandise when I first applied. And I can definitely say that NO they do not hire everyone, but they'll hire everyone who seems serious, hardworking and honest. Dress to impress, prepare for your interview with your parents or another adult you trust, and be honest about yourself, and you'll be fine! The only other thing I can recommend is don't work for one of the pain in the butt managers - I worked under a manager who put everyone who quit as "rehire with interview" - and for the next 3 years, they had enough applicants and instant rehires that they didn't take anyone under that status, even though I left on good terms and had been approved for a management promotion when a position opened. I have not reapplied under Cedar Fair management but I've heard that they've cleared out all previous records, so I'm hoping I could work there again if I wanted to, though I'm leaning more towards going up to Cedar Point for a summer.

Yeah, the ride ops on Firehawk weren't very enthusiastic yesterday. At all. I got an "ugh" look from the girl on yellow train that I handed my glasses to, we were left with the blood rushing to our heads for what seemed like 4 times longer than normal and then I didn't even hear so much as a "clear" as we were, as you said, unceremoniously booted out of the station. But, the ride was still as fun as I remembered, and the ops at Flight of Fear were having fun (two of them got into a 'fight' over who got to ride with a single ride before they got off their shifts) and livening it up, so it made up for it.

I didn't keep count (I will next year) but it'd be a close call between Racers and Beast, leaning towards Beast. And Backlot Stunt Coaster was up there too, since it always had the shortest line and it's a fun coaster. I didn't get on Flight of Fear nearly as much as I wanted to.

Just want to post this picture I took at sunset of construction today. I like the American flag at the apex, it's a nice touch.

Aha! I couldn't figure that out because the track was coming from over on the other side of the Crypt. I forgot the helix. That and I have horrible visual-spacial skills and can't figure out what part of the ride is going where until it's built.

Anyone who went yesterday would notice that it looks like someone had too much fun with a chainsaw over by The Beast. All the trees behind the sign, and The Beast's sign itself, are GONE. What gives? I could understand some of them needed to be cleared for Diamondback's track, but not all of them. This may need to go into the rumors section, but is anyone else suspecting retheming?

We're getting a late start because we came across a car accident on our way home last night ... we didn't get to bed until after 3. So now we're on our way. I'll keep an eye for all of you, and anyone who is also heading down around now, I'm wearing a black Ohio State t-shirt and a grey Ohio State hoodie. My husband's going to be wearing a black Ohio State hoodie. You'll probably find us in either Action Zone or X-base. I'll be one of the few people who actually wear their prescription glasses on the rides!

On second thought, we may make a run down there tonight too ... I want one last night ride on The Beast this season.

I will be there on the 2nd until around 4:30 when I have to leave for work. My husband and I will both be there, most likely wearing Ohio State pullovers. I've got waist-length dark brown hair (will probably be pulled up) and he's 6'2" and blond. Say hi if you see us!

exatly.. i HATE that like they cant see that you are right across the station And then they give the ride op this "I don't know what you're talking about" face when they unlock the bars and tell them to get out. My husband (who is not a small guy) started chewing out a kid who stole my seat on The Beast. He was getting off the previous train and decided "hey look, empty seat!" while I was putting our jackets in the bin. The kid had the "oh crap, I'm gonna get pounded" look as he scampered off very quickly.

My biggest gripe is people's lack of respect for others. This includes many things such as: - smoking in no-smoking areas (I'm allergic to cigarette smoke and don't enjoy spending my time waiting in line coughing hard enough to lose a lung) - blatant line jumping and walking under/over the bars to beat the person walking around them (this happened once on Gemini and I made the kids get behind us) - YELLING to the person who's standing RIGHT NEXT TO YOU. Get a darn hearing aid if you're having that much trouble. - flipping off the on-ride camera so the people behind or in front of you can't get their picture - cursing, especially yelling curse words just because you think you're cool. - spitting in any place or form except maybe off into the bushes - holding up the line for something stupid - like your kid is obviously 3 inches too short to ride but you're going to argue with the ride op anyway. Or even better, the "you mean I CAN'T carry my 6' stuffed animal and 30 lb backpack onto Firehawk?!" and then waiting while they deposit their weight's worth of crap into the bins or fight with the ride op because they don't want to leave the line. - stealing someone's seat when they get up to put something in the bins The one that I don't think anyone's mentioned yet that really peeves my husband and I is people wearing obscene shirts. At Cedar Point we saw a guy wearing a shirt that had skeletons posed in various sexual positions. I don't remember exactly what the text on it said but it was something about boning. I found it very vulgar and inappropriate for the atmosphere and we notified a park police officer who had the guy turn it inside out. Any shirts that directly reference sex, violence, or drugs, and some of the more obvious allusions to the themes should not be worn or permitted.

A coworker of mine pulled that in the employee lot. He knew what my car looked like and there weren't usually a lot of cars in the waterpark section of the employee lot. Well, he walked faster than me and opened up the door and sat down in the car, and I looked over at him and said to myself "I KNOW I locked my car..." As I got closer, I realized it was the same color and model, but had no sunroof - and he'd just gotten in someone else's car! Mine was about 5 spaces further down the row. I later discovered my car's twin belonged to a lifeguard when we passed each other at the parking lot entrance gate one day.

Ok, I guess I had my inevitable embarrassing moment on Saturday. Anyone who's been to Halloween Haunt is familiar with the fact they horribly overuse the fake smoke throughout the entire park. While in the Coney Mall arcade, it started getting to me and I started having a coughing fit. It got to the point I couldn't breathe and had to be taken by the in-park ambulance to the First Aid station.

About the worst I've ever had happen was a bird poop on me, but that was years ago. However, I saw a pretty good one at Boomerang Bay. I was waiting in line for the boogie boards and a probably 13 or so year old girl was ahead of me. The water got a little frisky with her top and when she washed out, she was laying on her back with her boobs hanging out for the world to see and had NO idea! The lifeguard had to say something to her about it and she turned red as a lobster. At Cedar Point I was wearing a low-cut top and when we got off of one of the coasters (don't remember which one now) it had pulled down to show a little too much of my bra. They had pulled my photo because my bra was showing, I guess because it washed out in the photo and looked like there wasn't anything there.

I especially love the expression on the guy behind you who looks like he's about to cry!! I wish I could find the original of my Face/Off picture, but all I can find is the one I scanned that's still inside the paper frame. If you take the paper frame off, you can see my brother's friend's hand in the corner of the picture. He was facing me and trying to smack me through the entire ride. Here's my submissions: Me on the left, my best friend on the right - this was her first coaster ever, can you tell? Me on the left with arms up (I ignore the warnings) and my husband with his face all scrunched up on the right. His first TTD ride.

I just want to see if I'm insane or my memories are mixed up. Back in about 1999 or 2000, I got stuck on The Beast for about an hour when there was a malfunction with a train leaving the station. We were in the brakes leading up to the station, waiting for the train in the station to leave, and got stuck there. Now, my question is, was that ever an enclosed tunnel like The Racers has or has it always been open-sided like it is now? Because I swear it was a closed tunnel when I got stuck in it, but I just saw a POV video from the 80's and it was open sided. So am I just insane and have myself all mixed up?

I agree that they're cool when outside, and I think it's kinda cool inside too. I'd probably even enjoy the Crypt if I wasn't still mad at it for being such a let down after a 3 hour wait. That ride was totally over-hyped.

I've been mad at that ride ever since the first year it opened. I rode it on OPENING DAY that year and no one really knew what it was. There were rumors flying everywhere and most thought it was an indoor roller coaster a la FOF. I waited in line almost 3 hours for it. Biggest waste of 3 hours in my life.

My favorite memories ... Going down the first hill of The Beast with my best friend who was terrified of roller coasters, and had a death grip on my hand the whole way down. When we got off, she was all smiles and said "I'm not afraid of them anymore." We rode 6 more coasters that day. And Drop Tower! Riding The Racer, red train, 8 times in a row without getting off on the first night of Halloween Haunt, even though my husband gave up on me after the 2nd lap. Our random trip to Boomerang Bay one hot summer day when we wanted to go swimming but the YMCA didn't have any open swim hours. A last minute decision that ended with my first ride on Flight of Fear in 4 years. The scarer that got my husband really really good just outside X-base! The very last day of regular season, I went with two friends, one of which had never been to Kings Island before. We left the park for a late lunch (cause my pass would let us park for free again) and right as we left, it started POURING down rain. It stayed that way for about two hours, so we killed a bunch of time outside the park. When we got back, we walked on Son of Beast front car, but most of the rides didn't reopen. We ended up marathoning Flight of Fear for the last 2 hours.

I think Paramount really killed a lot of what Kings Island really was and CF is in for a long road to bring it back to it's glory. The overabundance of commercialism (every single new ride except SOB being themed after a movie) and the focus only on 'bigger and better' took out the family aspect. I personally think Cedar Point is a great family park for rides - they've got a good amount of little kiddie rides (more than Kings Island) and lots more flat rides. I definitely enjoyed CP's flat rides more - from the high thrills like Chaos and Witch's Wheel (PKI took out Skylab the year after I rode it the first time) to the family oriented things like the Antique cars/turnpike cars/Cadillac Cars (yes, they have THREE car rides at CP), and the spinning rides like Matterhorn, Calypso and Super Himalaya. I'd like to see a wider variety at King's Island, because now that I've visited Cedar Point several times, I find KI lacking in flat ride variety. I still think it's a great park with great coasters (and there is no coaster in existence that even compares to The Beast, IMO) but there's only a small handful of flatrides that adults can really ride and enjoy - Monster, Shake Rattle n Roll, Scrambler and a few others. They could benefit from a lot more flat rides that are family friendly. I do think they're an excellent park for 'growing up' to coasters. I started out on The Beastie when I was 10, being absolutely terrified of the idea of coasters but loving it once I got up the nerve. At 11, I rode the forwards Racer and Adventure Express. The summer I turned 12, I started out on Flight of Fear and never looked back. CF has also brought back shows - I don't even remember them having shows (though I know they did have one or two) when Paramount owned it. Now I can actually name off a few of the shows, and they have live entertainment on the International Street stage again, which has been done in a while. The park overall is cleaner, security is more visible, and the staff seems much friendlier. I think they're taking giant steps towards bringing Kings Island back to it's former glory. Though we'll probably never see a return of the monorail or zoo area, I think they'll do some good things if we give them time. My biggest hope for next year is that they return some of the theming that's been left to rot - the old western town on the train route is barely even there anymore because it hasn't been touched by maintenance in so long. A return of the fog and strobes to Flight Deck would make that ride exciting again. And could someone PLEASE dust in the queue area of Flight of Fear?!

I worked in the Emporium during off season (big store on International Street), and at least once a week, I got "Where's the Eiffel Tower?" .... Umm .. walk outside, look up. Can't miss it. I have no idea where the whole "they took out The Bat because it killed a bunch of people" got started, but I've heard that for as long as I can remember. Two pre-teen boys in line for The Beast: "Wow, this ride was built in 1978 (reading from a sign)." "Yeah, they're takingit out next year because it's illegal to have rides that are over 30 years old."

darn, I won't be there on Sunday. However, I think it's totally doable. The weekend before last, I did 8 rides on red train in less than an hour on Saturday night and never had to go back around. This was in the last hour before close and every seat, including front, was walk-on. There was me and 3 other people that kept switching seats around and trading seat partners and no one else even got in line while we were there.

I've only ridden TTD twice. And in 6 days total at the park this season I never once saw a rollback, so my hopes are fairly low of getting one. And I never noticed the radar while on the ride. I'm usually too busy watching excitedly at the hill and grinning.