My friend works at PKI during the summers and she mentioned to me that Kings Island owners are selling the park to new owners and said that people were getting fired or something... And the park was going to run poorly on schedule... I just wanted to know if anyone else heard about this.

Paramount Parks is being sold by CBS. The new owners, we will hopefully see IMPROVED operations, not worse.

Current plans, it will stay Paramount Parks, just a new parent company.

my friend works at PKI during the summers and she mentioned to me that Kings Island owners are selling the park to new owners and said that people were getting fired or something...and the park was going to run poorly on schedule...I just wanted to know if anyone else heard about this.

There are currently no new owners for PKI or any other Paramount Park. I'm sure there are potential buyers, but nothing definitive as of yet. So there are no new owners, and nobody is being fired because of the sale.

As has been mentioned, the parks are in the process of being sold. Where they are in this process has not be discussed outside a very small group of very important people I'm sure. Now, that being said, they estimate this sale will be finalized late '06 probably after August (that's just based on the very small info I have seen.) This being said, the park will be well into full swing and not many, if any changes would occur in the remainder of the season. You would most likely see a change beginning of next season at the earliest.

I do not know the position your friend is in at the park, but I do know that they are a seasonal employee and not one of the parks many full time staff due to the fact you said they work summer only. This being said, there's a very small, if any, chance they would get fired once this sale is complete. I am not trying to offend them in any way, but they are probably to far down the ladder to be affected by any firings that take place. In fact, I don't even think much of our full time staff would have to worry, except for the very top of the ladder. This is all just my assumptions based on what I know about the park and general business practices though.

As far as the parks schedule, yes it does have reduced hours, but this was Paramount Parks decision and not some potential buyer. There are reasons for us opening later and closing earlier, but I do not think they need to be shared here. I assure you the limited hours was not due to another company and the hours are always subject to change, but unlikely.