First if there is a post that talks about this I am sorry for a re-post.

I just wanted to ask what takes place with the full time employees? Just what is going on at the park during the winter months??

Thanks Josh4958

Obviously maintenance and taking care of the park and its rides is a major focus. Also, security, sales and marketing efforts continue, along with some personnel functions...

Most major parks have quite a bit of activity that goes on at least 11 months a year, and even small parks have more going on than you would think.

They roam around the park and take pictures of themselves doing things like this:

No seriously, Kings Islands new fiscal year starts in January, so in a nutshell - as Terpy pointed out, they begin planning and preparing for the upcoming season. November is the month where everyone is trying to figure out what to do. I was good friends with some of general labor workers (rides maintenance, carpenters, plumbers, etc.) and they were awaiting orders on where to begin work - with some confusion. December is the month most full-time employees are encouraged to spend their vacation hrs. By January the off season is in full swing.

wow, do you have more pictures like that one that you could post for our enjoyment?

wow, do you have more pictures like that one that you could post for our enjoyment?

One of the engineers who was working on DB told me that they would be lifting one of the main support beams on this given day and thought that I would like to see it. Luckily I had my digital camera in my car and grabbed it at lunch and was able to capture a few shots of this happening:

The auto focus was off, but what you see is what you get I have several others that I may get around to posting some day. In the mean time, enjoy!

Thanks for sharing those!

those are excellent, i especially love the picture of the really tall support starting to be rose into place. i would love to see more if you ever have the time to post them.

what the!?!?!?!?!??!

they're taking it down?

no fuwdd, thewe putting them into place fwom 2009; you big silly.

those are excellent, i especially love the picture of the really tall support starting to be rose into place. i would love to see more if you ever have the time to post them.

Here's a quick slideshow for interested parties. All photos were taken with permission with the intent of preserving KI history. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjggm_iVhc0

Much takes place during the off-season. As Terpy said, obviously there is maintenance and marketing, etc. going on. There's also end-of-year reports that need to be completed, the ordering and receiving of supplies, department manual revisions and of course, hiring the seasonal associates, making sure all necessary forms are filled out for them, and training them. There's also budgeting for the upcoming year that needs to be done - and believe me, that in itself takes some time!

I can attest that there is a lot to do in the off-season. A lot of the GP is surprised to find out that there are people who work there year round, as if they closed the gates and turned out the lights in November and magically opened up again each April!

To me, the bigger miracle is the year 'round parks, which close each night and reopen the next morning, ready to go again. No off-season. No time for extended ride maintenance unless a ride is closed to the public. And nearly changeless warm weather. So many love it. I, for one, would not.

^I'm with you there. I rather enjoyed the off-season, and the variety it brought to the job. My last job and my current one are the same thing everyday, all year. After many years of working at least part of the off-season at KI, it kind of came as a shock to the system when I left and got a job outside the park... and learned how tedious doing the same thing all year can sometimes be!