Soak City does not appear to be short staffed in food service at all.  Today all drink stands open and well staffed.  Food stands all open and moving efficiently with reasonable wait times.  

 

Did the freestyle by the train station open yet? 

I haven't seen it open yet.  The only drink stations open yesterday were the Freestyle by Hanks, ET and DBack refresh stations, all others closed.  Fortunately most of the food lines were reasonable so it wasn't as huge a problem as it normally is.  

Well, they opened 2 new ones in Rivertown (one by Diamonback and one by LaRosa's) so the one at the train station is pretty much useless.  RT doesn't need 3 stations.  A bit of oversight by management. 

 

But what's needed is Freestyle which neither the DB and LaRosa's filling stations do not have.

23 minutes ago, chugh43 said:

But what's needed is Freestyle which neither the DB and LaRosa's filling stations do not have.

Exactly!

1 hour ago, silver2005 said:

Well, they opened 2 new ones in Rivertown (one by Diamonback and one by LaRosa's) so the one at the train station is pretty much useless.  RT doesn't need 3 stations.  A bit of oversight by management. 

 

Especially when Action Zone has 5 major attractions and zero refill stations.  

So with it being close to the end of June, have they opened that Freestyle location yet?

It was open this past Saturday.

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It is currently open

Yay! The next time I go to Kings Island, I may throw a party! Lol

Just don't go on the same day I do.   I am convinced they close it down as soon as my pass is scanned in at the toll booths.  

Not having things open has nothing to do with a conscious decision - it was a result of being short staffed. A few weeks ago they made the starting rate in foods $10/hr and ramped up hiring 15 year olds. Although neither of these is an ideal choice from a business standpoint, it clearly has made a big and positive impact on food stands and drink stations being open.

Honestly, I think that a lot of little strides have been made as far as capacity is concerned. Last year I waited in a line that stretched out towards the Action Zone entrance of the Festhaus for Panda. This was about a two hour wait. A few weeks ago, I waited in a similar line for only about 45 minutes. I really think that putting the drinks on the outside as a self-serve has helped greatly. 

It seems like the bottleneck now is the register system. It seems like the employees get confused and maybe even frustrated at times. Often it takes upwards of 3 to 5 minutes to ring someone out. Fortunately time, experience, training, and maybe a few software tweaks will greatly reduce this.

8 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Not having things open has nothing to do with a conscious decision - it was a result of being short staffed.

But how they allocate those limited employees is a very conscious decision.  I have certainly seen no shortage of beer stands open with absolutely no lines, while at the same time only 3 drink stands open in the entire park.   A conscious decision to not service the commitments they have already made.  

22 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

But how they allocate those limited employees is a very conscious decision.  I have certainly seen no shortage of beer stands open with absolutes no lines, while at the same time only 3 drink stands open in the entire park.   A conscious decision to not service the commitments they have already made.  

I believe at some of the bars they are hired as Bartenders, so that changes things a bit.  I'm not 100% sure on this.

So they hired of bunch of people whose attitude is "That's not my job"?   If you can run a register at a shop, food stand, dipping dots stand or whatever you can scan bar codes at a refresh station.   

Just now, King Ding Dong said:

So they hired of bunch of people whose attitude is "That's not my job"?   If you can run a register at a shop, food stand, dipping dots stand or whatever you can scan bar codes at a refresh station.   

I think that is overstating.  If the park wanted to move them, they would.  

There were posts here that some of the bars were not open during the other times. 

Also the bartenders are more than likely the ONLY people that are 21+ and can have that location open. You have to weigh not having any beer in the biergarten vs. having an extra cashier at the chicken shack.

Something else a lot of people aren't mentioning is that a good chunk of the food locations are not staffed by KI but by outside contractors.