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Bro, wait another year before you decide to book anything internationally. It seems everyone has been so cooped up, they want to hop a plane overseas. If I were going to that trouble, I wouldn't risk the chance of my experience being COVID filtered whatsoever.

@ice1972 No, I don't support their decision to not offer Flash Pass on the phone for season Flash Pass customers. Yes, they should offer the same system to every paying customer, I'll agree with you there. I don't agree that it has "devalued" what you're paying for. The system operates exactly as it did when you purchased it. Now, if they removed rides from the Flash Pass program, then yes, I'd say you have a "devalued" argument. Mainly, what I don't agree with is the extreme to which you've taken your upset-ness. Your mild inconvenience from them not offering season Flash Pass on the phone app does not give you the right to berate, yell at, or otherwise harass a low-paid, young employee of the park, who has literally no control over the situation whatsoever. Write an e-mail to the GM of the park if it bothers you so much...front-line employees at theme parks don't have any say over how things are done. Was I highly annoyed when CF parks decided to keep their smoking zones to outside the park gates post-COVID? Yes, absolutely. Did I bitch and moan about it to the employees who scan the tickets/passes on entry? No, because they have no ability to change things that are corporate-wide or even park-level decisions. You also realize that this is Six Flags, and the "decision" to not offer what you're looking for is likely as simple as one of their tech guys forgetting to check a box to enable it, right? Again, not someone who works at the park and interacts with guests. Guest Relations might be your only real outlet at the park, since they can take notes that get forwarded on to the park management, but certainly you're a better human being than to "give them an earful." A casual, friendly, "Hey, it would be nice if..." will get you miles further. If the "1972" in your user name refers to your birth year, this is even worse, because a grown-ass adult should not get so bothered by trivial things like this. I hope you never have to face any actual hardship in your life.

Wrong. Worlds of Fun is ruled out by default.

Your memory and ability to recall as much detail as you do always amazes me. I can barely remember what I did yesterday! Can't wait to see the rest!! Eager to see your opinion of nighttime Beast rides.

It's that time of year again.... well, actually it's an EARLIER "that time of year again!" That's right... Epcot's Food & Wine Festival has officially begun NOW... in July!!! This is the earliest the event has ever started and it will run until November 20th, 2021. I don't think I need to explain what the event is as it's been going on for well over 20 years now, but in case you have been living under a rock, in a cave, or simply just don't visit Disney parks because you're a die-hard roller coaster nerd and Epcot doesn't have any roller coasters (yet), it's a event where there is lots of food... lots of wine... and lots of beer! Today we are going to focus on some food... Yep! Today's the starting day for Epcot's Food & Wine Festival! The earliest it is ever started in the history of the planet! We are looking forward to Chicken Potstickers, Pork Sliders, and trying out a few new items! Our first stop was something NEW! Soy glazed ribs were most certainly a WIN! However Elissa looks a bit worried trying the Chicken Potstickers this year.... So it finally happened... After 20 years of having the same "tried and true" Potstickers at the China booth, the have now changed the sauce. Elissa says "it wasn't BAD, it just wasn't a change for the better, and the new sauce has a lot less flavor that the old one." To soften that blow, we made a stop at a new year-round location in italy! You can now get the Zeppole's that have been served at Via Napoli for years at this quick service restaurant, and they are AMAZING!!! It certainly was busy for the first day of Food & Wine! But I can't not get the Hawaiian Pork Slider! Still one of my favorite items! We love that the American Adventure Rotunda is now being used as not only a new food location, but also an indoor air conditioned eating area! This is IMPORTANT when the event now starts in July! Giving the Falafel Pita a try in Morocco... And interesting to see this come back to Canada... Last year with COVID, the Circlevision movie was transformed into a food booth & eating area because it was an "indoor attraction" that couldn't be used, but this year they've decided to close the attraction from July - November to bring back this food booth! However we opted for the fillet from the outdoor Canada booth! And YES! It's another "Fish Free Year" in Canada (thank you) and they bought back two of our favorites! The fillet and the Cheddar Cheese Soup! Trying out some of the wings at the new "Wings & Beer" place that is located inside the Odyssey Restaurant. As always, it's great running into TPR Friends while visiting the parks! And guess what? Single Rider Lines are BACK! So a ride on Test Track it is! We only ended up waiting about five minutes in the Single Rider Line! And I loved that I was able to use my "custom car" again, too! Yay! Was great ending our first visit to Food & Wine on still the FASTEST RIDE at any Disney park! Thanks for reading everyone!

When you bought the season flash pass, presumably you knew how it operated, with picking up the watch. They then later enabled this phone option. You're continuing to receive what you knowingly paid for. Does it suck? Sure. Is it reason enough to go on a ranting, cursing tirade, threatening to berate some poor kid who has zero control over what the park chooses to offer it's customers, which may not even be at a local-park control level? No. If you don't like waiting 90 minutes to pick up the watch, get to the park earlier.

You've got some anger issues bro. Take a breath and get your stupid watch.

I like the discussion here because it shows actual real world examples of how the job situation is much more complex than this whole "people are lazy, cut their employment and they will get back to work" nonsense. Many industries and societal norms were already changing, for better or worse, and the COVID ordeal hastened the change to something faster than many businesses could/can deal with....and it sure seems to me instead of having a conversation about what the real problem may be with certain said businesses, there is just this odd aim to blame "lazy" people which really doesn't accomplish anything. Parks having to combat kids not working because of over-study or too many activities I can see being a real issue. I also do find it to be sad, because so many practical skills are learned at those first jobs. Skills that I'd argue are probably of more value than many of those advanced mathematics or other "impress the college" courses. I'm not sure what the parks are going to do to solve the issue. While Covid may be keeping some of their usual temporary labor at home for this season, I see what Kim says as a trend that isn't going to stop.

^ If they put the webcam dead on it and they're running tests then I'm assuming it will open today barring some other insane breakdown which... probably I'm hesitant to answer this out of fear that it will derail the conversation but it's a legitimate question so... uh... here goes... It's impossible to know. The country (almost) as a whole seems to be pretty much over Covid. Numbers are rising quickly but anyone who wants a vaccine in America can get one within hours and rising numbers are of minimal concern to vaccinated people so the consensus seems to be that we're at the point now where there's seemingly no reason to cater to people who can get a vaccine within an hour if they want one but choose not to get it, and I think that's 100% the right approach. They don't want us to cater to them so why should we cater to them? If the UK goes through with reopening while numbers are surging (and it sounds like they will) then it seems like both countries are basically on the same page. International travel will resume when we all just accept the fact that this virus is never going away and the benefits of an international labor pool and tourism dollars are too much to turn down. I think we're close to that point, but it's hard to know when everyone will throw in the towel since it's going to be totally arbitrary and you really are running out of time. (And as for states putting travel advisories on other states, that's a political move. Zero people are going to listen to that, especially since it only applies to unvaccinated people who already don't care)

We just posted our Storm Runner POV!

Day 1 continued. . . so it hit ~11am and we had joined what seemed like almost everyone at Coasterstock on the train - I mean, pretty much every seat was full Kim had never been on the Train at KI, and I was up for it, so while we waited to leave the station - which was about 10-15 minutes late moving out - we got to see that clearly the front gates had opened and we watched the "running of the bulls" for those coming to this side of the park for Mystic Timbers, as we could see the queue entrance to that from the train station. (as I witnessed from the front of the park the next day - where I was wanting my Starbucks at rope drop - just as many, if not more, headed to the left side of the park for Orion as headed to Mystic Timbers). see how packed this train is? it was so heavy, that the train barely - and I mean barely - could move. It was as if the train had never had so many people on it. . . as it slowly inched along, and I started muttering "i think I can, I think I can". . . .it was so hysterical when a slow moving van from Planet Snoopy was inching along next to us, seemingly trying it's best NOT to pass us, so we would seem like we were moving faster. anyways. . . as we slowly inched our way along the short, relatively unexciting track, I gave Kim a ton of crap (good naturedly) about what a waste of time this ride was. . LOL. being honest here. . it's a terrible ride, and not worth your time, tho it does have some saving grace in that you get some lovely shots of Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and some of the woods that Beast Runs thru as you make the short circuit between the station near MT, and the Water Park. oh the engine is lovely, and the people operating it were great (tho it was very odd to me that the full train - full of Coasterstock folks, because remember, we were 1st ride of the day), still made a stop at the Waterpark - where no one exited, and a few folks did their best to squeeze on from that stop to join us on the train. I'd say the train really just functions as a mode of transportation to get to the park from the waterpark, if you don't want to walk it. so. . yeah. not worth your time, unless you really have some little ones who enjoy trains. But you can get some nice pics on the short length track - that takes a good 20 minutes due to the waterpark stop, and how slow the train was moving. you also cross over the rapids ride, which is nice, I suppose, tho this early in the day no one was riding it yet. got a pic of an empty raft tho. I had seen Chad about an hour earlier as we were exiting Mystic Timbers (and he made a valiant attempt to answer my question and explain to me why Kings Island doesn't have an apostrophe in it - the grammar nerd in me STILL disagrees, and thinks it should be "King's Dominion", LOL, but at least he tried to explain it to me in a way that made sense. .I just don't agree still), and I had asked him if the park would be opening their rapids ride, since the accident at AdventureLand was still fresh in the news. and he told me they would be operating it, so big Kudos to the park for this - they inspected their own ride, found no issues, and opened it up. what's this? OH MY GAWD. . . what's in the shed ?????? after the too short/way too long train ride, it was time to head to "the Beast" we had ERT on it later tonight, but I had held off long enough, so it was time to go over that way for a ride, and to finally - after wanting to ride it for decades - get a ride on this bucket list coaster. but first? had to stop and get some pics of Diamondback's splashdown feature as we headed towards Beast's queue. are we going the right way? these wonderful pawprints on the pavement indicate YES! still not quite to the ride yet, but the infamous sign was there, so of course I had to stop and get a pic. I noticed the lady behind me and tried to figure out what she was doing, and it turned out this was a "funpix spot" where you scan you card, and pose for the camera on your own. so I eagerly scanned the card, stood on the beast footprints like it tells you to, posed . . . . . and: um. . yeah. The camera doesn't capture the ride sign? whut? I laughed my ass off when I saw this come thru on my Funpix account about 20 minutes later. . . I mean. . what is the point if you get a shot of . . . grass ??? I guess the camera had moved and no one has ever reported it, and so you don't get the Beast sign in your picture? (it made me really glad I had taken the prior picture to get the sign). by the way, the only other self fun pix location I noticed in the park was over in Planet Snoopy, where you are supposed to pose in front of a green screen with arms up - and we did it. . but that picture never came thru. So maybe this is a thing that KI used to offer, and what's left are just the remnants of that, and the two spots are simply not maintained anymore? it was a little weird. but anyways. . . we were on our way just a little further up the hill to get in the queue for Beast! Orion across the park, certainly stands out.. whee! really love all the signage all over the station and queue for the Beast. This area of the ride/queue was really well themed and maintained. off my ride - row two - and I LOVED it (you can see Kim (in her pink hat) standing in line for Row one, as she and Joel waited for that row, while I walked onto row 2 the line was a good 20 minutes - so longer than it looks here, as the grouper was holding the line at the center of the station and only filling up each row as the prior train was getting ready to pull out. the only exception being row 1, that they were allowing folks to wait for. the girl in front of me put up her hands and that kinda blocks me. . but a big ol smile on my first ever ride on the Beast (and I kinda love how the girl sitting next to her in the front row appears to be ducking to avoid the piece of wood in the photo frame). after Kim and Joel got off their ride, I was really starting to get ready for some Starbucks - it was just late enough that I thought the line would be diminished - but rather than cut thru the park, we decided to go around the outside to get it - hitting a few things with really short lines as we passed them. the Troika (Shake, Rattle, and Roll here) was running a super intense cycle, and finished just before I started to get nauseous from it. the Windseeker had a 1 cycle wait, so Joel and I took a ride on that and I think it's the most intense Windseeker cycle I've ever been on. . oh, you can't beat the location of the one at Cedar Point, but man, this one really rotates fast, and I'd recommend a ride on it for anyone visiting KI. we bypassed Zephyr, the antique cars (we had ERT on them anyways the next day), and I was excited to see a Monster, as those are few and far between these days - tho never did get back to that or the Sizzler, as every time the opportunity arose, my stomach said "no.. no more spinning right now".. . all the more reason to go back next year again for CoasterStock Racer had a bit of a line (and again, knew we could ride it later) so just stopped for a pic or two as we passed it: the Starbucks menu was fairly short with mostly iced drinks, but they had a note at the bottom saying that if you don't see something ask. So I did ask for my Hot White Mocha Latte, which they made for me. And although my thought of "it's already past Noon, the Starbucks shouldnt' have much of a line" was accurate? I unfortunately got stuck in line behind a group of 8 or so young teen girls, who all ordered super-complicated drinks - and apparently one girl was paying for all of them with a handful of $50 bills (I said nothing, tho personally, her parents should have told her not to be flashing around handfuls of $50s - the park goes cashless this week, so figured it was a short term issue and stayed out of it and minded my own business). but yes. . after about 15 minutes.. finally: we discussed what to do next - there were still a couple of areas we hadn't been to (area 72 where Orion/Flight of Fear are was an area we bypassed, but we decided to head over to the front left of the park to check out Banshee - tho not ride it as we had ERT the next morning -and the Bat, to maybe ride it if the line wasn't bad. Joel was convinced the Bat would have no line, because it's kind of hidden, and he was mostly correct. what a beautiful ride, tho the line was pretty long at this point.. so as noted we walked by it. Joel wasn't kidding about the Bat entrance being rather "hidden". . I mean, it has a big sign, but wow, that queue goes on forever. . . lots and lots of walking before the station even comes into view. so we weren't sure how long the line actually was. . but we made it all the way to the 'final' downwards staircase before we hit any kind of line, and at that point we'd walked pretty far, so just decided to wait in line. love the logo design on this: I thought this was one of the most bizarre stations I'd ever been in for a ride. Looking it up online I see that it was themed to an Aircraft carrier from when the ride was originally introduced at "Top Gun" Having learned that, now, I can kind of see it.. . tho it was freaky and weird and made no sense to me what any of this had to do with a Bat. . LOL we went for Back row for this, and man, does this sucker haul - after one of the slowest lift hills I've ever been on! But in the back, we felt like we were getting almost 90 degree vertical swings, and the speed just never lets up once you leave the lift hill. I really loved this and ended up getting a front row ride the next day during morning ERT. and hey, look who it is in the front row! our friend (minus an itinerary badge) from Diamondback Tho the ride is hidden really well from the rest of the park? some fantastic views of it from the exit queue line: it wasn't quite yet time for the Group pic meet up in front of the Eiffel Tower at 2:30, so we cut across the front of the park, back thru Planet Snoopy to get a ride on Woodstock Express. These things reminded me very much of a Japanese Park - as rides like these seemed to be in every Japan park (other than Disney) that I went to back in 2019 with TPR. Adorable, tho they seemed powered, rather than pedaled (as most of the Japanese versions are). . so no, I didn't try to squeeze my fat ass into this to ride it. it was interesting to learn that Woodstock Express - the junior woodie - was the first of these that had been built, and this one opened with the park. More interesting to learn that it was once called "Beastie" and had a tunnel at the bottom of the 1st drop, to tie it into the Beast elsewhere in the park (the operator dispatched us calling the ride Beastie). it was rough. . the roughest version of this Junior Woodie I've been on. . . tho we still did get some pops of air in the back, so it was fun (and we got a great picture out of it). but wow. . it smelled over there in the queue. like. . bad. like animals poop. someone said - "oh, that's just the petting zoo right over there" . . but the Petting Zoo was closed, and no animals there at all. So I believe Kim when she said: "that's kids. . . kids smell". . . .bwaaa-haaaa-haaaaa. . .I'm sure there are more than a few full diapers that make it on to Woodstock Express, so I believe her. but I've now ridden Woodstock Express at KD, Carowinds, and KI (listed in the order I preferred them): by the time we got off the coaster, it was getting close to 2:10 pm, so we decided to head toward the tower for the group pic. . . to be continued. . .

If there's ever an attraction or event to be first at, this seems like the one! Everything looks awesome!

That plane ride you had was WILD LOL. Great trip report! I have come to the conclusion is so relentless, it doesn't matter if you're front middle or back it's so much fun. Looking forward to more!

I thought rabid-fox attacks were offered as an upcharge during Howl-o-Scream. Just saw on Twitter that reservations are no longer required to visit the park.

Also that guy with the beard in the DB photo that is trying to hold onto his Coasterstock lanyard lost that battle, the thing ripped off halfway round and flapped right past me, first ride on day 1. What kind of enthusiast doesn't know how to tuck it in his shirt? Amateur.

Ha, I didn't notice that kid behind us on MT grabbing his Dad's arm all terrified before! And I am still totally butt hurt that the radio in the shed wasn't working.

Looks fun! Kings Island is highly underrated.

Two gigas in one city?!?! But all kidding aside, this has been a highly entertaining read thus far. It's always great to see Diamondback getting the heaps of praise it deserves, and having Mystic Timbers right next door just adds to the experience.

I've been looking forward to Coasterstock TR's. Thanks for sharing.

Friday, 7/9 - So I didn't sleep all that great, despite how tired I was, due to a mix of excitement & being in a room directly across from a stairwell. That typically wouldn't be much of an issue, but remember the hotel was sold out *and* one of the two elevators was not working. So that resulted in folks going in and out of that stairwell - and the resulting door slam behind them - up to ~3am. (I didn't complain, but I did, on the next night, put a towel down at the bottom of the door, so it won't slam shut, and that helped a lot. I believe we had planned to meet down in the lobby/breakfast area at 7:45, but I was up and ready by 7:15 anyways, so got ready (got peer pressured into wearing my Coasterstock shirt, even tho I felt like the kid that wears the concert shirt to school the day after the show!), and headed down to the lobby to partake in breakfast offerings. honestly, not bad at all. The Coffee left a LOT to be desired, but the omelettes (pre made, I'm sure) were decent and the hash brown patties and sausages were quite good. Lots of fresh fruit, oatmeal, dry cereal & waffles offered as well, but I didn't want to over-do it, since I tend not to be a breakfast person anyways. And we knew that there would be donuts offered at the ERT this morning by Diamondback anyways in a couple of hours. eventually Kim made her way down, then Joel, and by 8;20 we were in the car for the short trip across the freeway to Kings Island. I was so excited, I missed having my camera out to get the main entrance sign - even tho I was sitting in the back seat (thanks again for driving to the park each day, Kim!). But here's the view from the toll entrances at ~8:35 am. Coasterstock gets you free parking both days, and the parking opens ~2 1/2 hours before the park officially does. we parked pretty far up in the lot, and here's my first view of this wonderful place from the parking lot: yes, I'm a nerd. . even the Kings Island logo on the trash can excited me. . LOL we made our way up to the front gates, stopping for pics along the way (well. . I was stopping, and they kept waiting for me - hey, they'd been there before. . 1st time for me!) and we got thru the security gates eventually, and lined up for the main gates to open up for us right at 9am (during that short wait in line, Don & Chad - who organized the whole shebang went up and down the line saying good morning to everyone, and double-checking that everyone had their coaster club membership card (for whichever club/clubs they are a member of) . . Don and I briefly chatted about Carousels (we had discussed via email how excited I was about the Carousel ERT/anniversary) and then the gates were officially open, and I stepped foot into Kings Island. and who do we meet literally seconds after going thru the turnstiles into the park? Why we bump into Stacy Gretchen - who I last saw at Cedar Point on the TPR 2018 USA tour I introduced her to Kim & Joel, and we ended up seeing her (and her friends Adam & John many times during the event - including sitting with Stacy and John at dinner both nights. TPR representing! the morning's first ERT was at Mystic Timbers and Great Pumpkin Coaster (and then overlapping with Diamondback & Flying Ace Arial Chase), so I / we followed the crowd thru Camp Snoopy, and headed over to Diamondback. Yes, I rode Wilderness Run at Coastermania! at Cedar Point back in 2017, but that was historical as the 1st Intamin. I really had no interest, whatsoever, in riding a roller-skater loop kiddie coaster (tho it did get a bit of a line, as those with no shame lined up to get on it). I didn't *need* the credit tho, so we kept walking towards Diamondback. I'm not familiar with this charity "A Kid Again" but it seems to be a similar organization to "Coasting for Kids" - and I loved that they have a dedicated statue just outside the Camp Snoopy area. .so of course I snapped a pic of it. the design work on this (Boo Blasters, I think it's called) was so great. it wasn't open yet, but we would ride it the next day, and it surprisingly is an Omnimover type ride, that's also a shooting ride) as many of my friends know. . I'm a photo-op whore - it's very difficult to get me to walk past a character photo opportunity (especially at a park i've never been to before). and remember, we were getting to Diamondback THRU Camp Snoopy. . . soooooooo edit: just noticed you can see the line for Great Pumpkin Coaster behind me in this pic LOL but we did eventually make it to Diamondback, and got in line for my first ever ride in Kings Island. and what a great ride to start with. Diamondback is an airtime machine! especially in the front car.. wow, your butt doesn't even touch the seat for the majority of the ride after the 1st drop. for 1st ride, I waited for front row, but it was so good, that we immediately got off and got back in line (something that's rather odd for me. . I usually ride once, move on to next thing, and then go back for rerides on things I liked later. . but this one was so good? twice in a row!) Front Row: and Row 2 (which was a little more rattly, due to wheel I think, but still amazing): after two rides (and a quick hop into the Donut line - which had gotten way shorter by now. . they had lots of varieties too - I had an eclair - and I remembered to pop some Tylenol to prepare myself for the day using the frozen orange juice they were handing out as well), we headed over to Mystic Timbers. it was time to find out what was in the shed! a peek at Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown's flume. . still empty this early in the morning. .but looked like a fun flume ride (and wet, as we would find out the next day) Ok, so "what's in the shed?" is way, way overhyped - even if Kim was disappointed that I didnt' get the full "experience" - although the tape deck lit up, there was no 80's music playing, and it didn't play for the whole time we were there, even tho I got multiple rides (I think 16 total) on MT. But I did get to see all 3 ending options for the Shed multiple times. but yes, even overhyped, and kind of silly - tho I liked the use of the screens - the ride is absolutely incredible. Sustained speed, tons of airtime, and I adore how it hops over the rapids ride, interacting with it. To say nothing of that incredible banked 1st drop. Easily jumped to the top of my Wooden Coasters list. . . and I think it will be my #1 for a long, long time (probably forever). we laughed at our FunPix and I asked the guy whom I had shared front row with how it works, and he directed us to go back to the Diamondback funpix (which we had missed, since it was in the giftshop and we bypassed it to get back in line) where they had staffed the counter to set up CoasterStock attendees with the included FunPix accounts. so a quick trip back to Diamondback, and we had Funpix set up - as well as stopping to get our all day drink bands (also included). .then right back in line for Mystic Timbers: there's not a bad seat anywhere on this coaster - and I rode it in many of the rows - but I think I preferred it most in Row 2. But really, any row was great! it was getting towards the end of ERT, and the only other coaster open in the morning ERT was Flying Ace Arial Chase - a Vekoma Junior flyer. . . I knew it would suck. (and I had ridden the same ride at Carowinds). . but using the logic of "it's my first time here, i wanna ride everything" we headed over that way to find: no line. literally. . . Joel and I rode it in the front row with a train all to ourselves. ~600 people at Coasterstock, and no one in line to ride the Vekoma. LOL the operators were joking with us about how I kept saying I knew it was gonna be really shaky and rattly, and they were laughing and agreeing, and even took a pic of us for me, since no photo op on this ride. Glad I rode it this one time tho, during ERT, as it was down the entire next day. So if hadn't done it, would have missed my chance. but yes, it stunk. and oh yes. . it stunk to high heaven. Even in the front car, it was so headbang/shaky that I was glad I had popped those Tylenol! man, did this suck. .and what's funny, is that the two worst coasters at Kings Island are both Vekoma Suspendeds (this, and Invertigo). Coincidence? I think not! ERT was coming to an end, and the park was about to open to the public. One of the promoted options this morning for CoasterStock was to spend an hour in Q&A with the Train engineers (with a photo op at the engine) and then to take the 1st ride on the train for the day. since Kim had never been on the KI train, and I like trains well enough (tho not enough to want to do the hour Q&A . . I wanted to ride things) we headed over to the train station to get on the 1st train ride of the day. heading that way, one gets this fantastic view: but what's that I see coming up on the right? yup. . LOL: . . to be continued. . . .

Fuck it, maybe it is going up at Fun Spot Atlanta too. They will be the next Energylandia!

That's correct. As long as someone can count you as a dependent, you cannot collect unemployment. That should be obvious but I actually did have to explain that to more than one person that wanted to know if my son collected unemployment while the park was shut down due to Covid.

Dorney already looks abandoned on a regular basis, so they don't have to do much for Haunt.

I had to run to the store, and just got back and checked it out and. . . the queue IS open. but there are also a lot of folks headed *out* of the queue. . . so seems like maybe they did open it, and it's already having issues? (as Bill predicted). . LOL

EDIT: CP's Calendar is showing midnight closings for Thursdays/Fridays/Saturdays in October! This bodes well for Kings Island's Halloween festivities, which I anticipate will be announced shortly. They haven't had half of the staffing problems this year that CP has had.

I can't wait to see what five rides are open on Thursday nights.

. . and now the 2nd train is rolling back into the station. . . . LOL. . . TTD blue balls (!) tho there are several maintenance folks at the actual launch position (just before the stoplight). . . . so maaaaybe something is being worked on this morning?

YES! I love my parents to death, but they are still in the group of people saying "people are still just sitting at home, making more doing that than actually working." I really just want to bring up that the enhanced unemployment benefits ended a month ago and places are still short-staffed and that if they are still sitting at home making more, then it should be a bigger problem that their job was paying them so little. What the previous user said as well with suburban teens and such, as a college student in Springfield, Missouri, I am seeing fewer and fewer of my classmates working jobs through school. Granted, I go to a private college where most of the families are upper middle class or just rich, but many of them do sports that require training through the summer. This is a bit obscure, but many of these kids train all throughout the summer just to ensure that they get and then maintain sports scholarships that pay more towards their schooling than what they could have earned from a summer job. Through school, I've been working about 35 hours a week, and I am exhausted all the time and it really does detract from some of the quality of my school work. Granted, I am still pulling a 3.8 GPA, but I know that other students struggle a lot more than I do and really do need to spend all the time they have on studying and schoolwork.

Thurs, 7/8 after going back and forth about if I had to get up super early and park at the airport or not, my Spouse (who tho said it was OK to go, had gotten a little passive/aggressive about it) had decided the day before that he would drive me to the airport and drop me off - so I got to sleep in until 7:15am. the trip to the airport takes about 40 minutes and was uneventful, so after dropping me at the terminal, I fairly quickly made my way thru security (no checked bags, since this Southwest flight had a connection in Denver - yes, I went a timezone in the wrong direction before going two time zones in the other direction to get to Cincinnati. But at least it was only a ~2 hour layover in Denver instead of a ~5 hour layover at the Orlando airport. 99.9% complied with the masks must be worn in airport mandate, tho i did see TSA have to tell one family to put the masks on or they would be asked to leave the terminal and would not be allowed thru security. It's a rule people. you may not agree with it, or like it, but it's a rule. . you wanna fly somewhere? you gotta wear a mask. not too crowded this early on a Thurs (it was ~8:20am) but still not everything open yet. so I sat down to read until the coffee place opened (no Starbucks here, because. . . Austin. . gotta be local coffeeshops only) but eventually the local brew place opened and got me some coffee. some very interesting art in the Austin airport. . such as the Space BattleShip Yamamoto giant metal sculpture on the wall: there was a woman on our flight (just 1) who was sitting at the gate area, fanning herself furiously, and keeping her mask in her lap. The Gate agent asked her to put her mask on, and she kept telling her she was getting overheated. I thought to myself, "great. .this woman is going to cause problems on my flight. . we BETTER not get delayed" but she did give in and eventually put on her mask, and was allowed to board towards the end of the boarding process after most of us were already seated on the plane. she immediately asked the Stewardess for a glass of ice (who told her she'll get her one once they do the safety spiel), and then she loudly started to explain how she can't wear her mask because she's overheating. Many of us on the flight started nervously eyeing each other, but the Stewardess said "oh, I have some very light paper masks, I'll get you, you can wear one of those" and she went and brought her a light mask, along with a cup of ice. then we sat for about 20 minutes waiting for . . something. . who knows. But the moment we started to back away from the gate, this woman got up and headed for the bathroom - the Stewardess got on the speaker and said that everyone MUST be in their seats, and she went back to her seat. she made it thru the safety presentation, and then the Captain told the Stewards to buckle in , and we'd been cleared for takeoff - and this woman BOLTED up the aisle, both hands clasped over her mask and into the bathroom (thank goodness no smell of vomit tho). . and she was in there for the entire take off. about 15 minutes into the flight, she did eventually go back to her seat, and the Stewardess gave her another mask.. . which lasted about 30 minutes then another "clasped over mouth" bolt to the bathroom.. . happened a couple of more times during the flight. . . AND during the landing. I'm still kind of shocked that we weren't diverted to land elsewhere, if she was that ill. . . but I kinda think that she was faking so she could hang out in the bathroom with her mask off. regardless, even with our late start, we did make it to the Denver airport and landed on time (they made up time in the air), and the I got to hang out at the gate there for a bit (no, I wasn't hungry after watching this woman purge for a 2 hour + flight). . . . flight from Denver to Cincinnati wasn't eventful, tho we did leave about 40 minutes late, and that annoyed me a little bit because it meant that we landed later and I was hoping to drive in the daylight (not realizing that it was gonna stay light until 9pm in the Timezone that Kings Island is in). no luggage, so off the plane pretty quick, and made the walk to the Ground Transportation and got there just as a shuttle was loading up for Hertz - but I noticed it had a "Thrifty" and a "Dollar" logo taped up on the windows too, so I asked the driver and he said he goes to all. . so was the last one on the full shuttle, and off to the Car Rental place. prices are NOT cheap for car rentals nowadays, but I lucked out in that 1) my trip was a few days *after* the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and 2) I booked via Priceline, so got a decent deal. it turned out tho? the reason the shuttle serviced Hertz, Thrifty, and Dollar, is because the Thrifty and Dollar locations had been shut down, and all were being handled from the Hertz location. which had three desk clerks (since it was the Hertz location), and all Thrifty or Dollar customers had to get in a line at the far end to deal with the one counterclerk - who I guess drew that short straw. so yeah. .that took about 25 minutes (with only a few folks in front of me, but way more behind me). . tho I did get the amusement of watching a young guy insist on getting a mustang convertible (he "had PAID for that and he wanted that!") and then he promptly drove forward over the high curve, ripping off the front bumper completely (instead of backing up to exit as EVERY SINGLE SIGN POSTED said) so that was amusing. eventually I got up to the counter for my turn, she upgraded me to a nice SUV with no extra cost as an apology for the wait (and we had been chatting about the Mustang-idiot so we bonded while I was waiting in line) - I carefully backed out of my spot, and was on my way to Mason - home of Kings Island. oh, I could tell I was in Kentucky. . . lots of bumperstickers referencing an ex President, lot of Rebel Flag bumperstickers, and very few drivers going the speed limit! Not even close, either. . the speed limit was 65 in most places on the way to Mason (about 40 minutes from Airport), and people were going 40. really. the SUV was a new one that kept making noises and dings every time I passed a bad driver who moved over close into my lane (or could have been me drifting, I suppose, since i was looking at directions while I was driving - - yes, i printed them out. . I'm an teh old). but soon enough I pulled into the Hampton Inn (*by Hilton) across the freeway from Kings Island. I can't really describe how I felt when I saw Banshee, Diamondback, and Orion from the freeway as I exited for the Hotel - no picture from that, as was driving - but it really was a kind of Euphoria. check in was easy/peasy - I did it thru the app, so had my room and key on my phone already. The lobby is lovely, and the food options were nice, tho the room was a bit older and certainly could use a refresh: for a place to sleep tho? was reasonable, and really close to the park. Kim and her son were staying there too - she's who had recommended this hotel, and I grabbed it so we could be together and go to the park together - I knew we were hanging out all weekend. was a really good call, and the hotel was sold out for the weekend, so if you do go, pre book! she was driving from St Louis (think it was 6 1/2 hours she said) and they weren't there yet. . so i made a quick trip to grab some snacks from the CVS just up the street and realized I hadn't eaten all day, really. . so since they weren't in yet, I went to a Wendy's - they were advertising all over the sides of the restaurant to try the new Bourbon sauced options. which, of course, they were out of that sauce when I tried to order something from those options (go figure, right?).. . . so I ended up with a Jalepeno Popper Chicken Sandwhich (something we don't have in Texas Wendy's, but was pretty good). I wolfed it down, and got a text from Kim they had arrived. Her son was watching some video game competition (I think that's what it was about? maybe it was a coding competition?) so she came up to my room on the 3rd floor to visit - and I could send proof of life to my spouse. . . LOL we visited for about 45 minutes, and then made plans for the morning - Kings Island opens gates for parking at 8:30 for our event, so we planned to meet at 7:45 to eat down in the lobby, and then I would finally be able to check another park off my bucket list. until then tho? took a shower, relaxed in the room for a bit, and then tried to turn in for the night. . wasn't very successful. I was too excited for the next day! more to come. . . .

And of those three the only one currently known that has a construction fence up in a "challenging" location is SDC by the Pumpkin Nights/Former Waterboggan area. While it was dismissed that they were just widening a pathway, they have done other pathways without needing a construction fence in the past. It would make sense from a logistics standpoint to get the pathways and infrastructure modified in this area first before installing the attraction.

Do me a quick favor and read the topic title again, please. I'll wait. Done? Cool. Now we're on the same wavelength. Please allow me to retort...

It has gotten a bit better but I know they are still having a high turnover rate. I didn't mean it as a criticism to the park just that I know they have been having a very hard time staffing like they need to. I just posted on this over on the Dollywood board where it was stated that just raising the pay and getting rid of the enhanced unemployment would solve the problem, that it isn't that simple. Teens just don't work traditional summer/part time jobs like they used to. This is what I posted there: As a just retired teacher and parent of an 18 year old that has worked at SFSTL for the last three seasons I can tell you that teens working traditional teen or summer jobs has been on the decline for a long time, the pandemic just exacerbated it. The parks were already having trouble filling spots before the virus hit. Many suburban teens are being pushed to spend summers doing extra classes and unpaid internships, in my opinion to their detriment, in order to beef up college admission resumes. Unfortunately, they are missing out on real world skills that no amount of extra classes can give you. But it has become a bit of a "looked down upon thing" to work that summer type job a lot of us did as kids. I actually had parents in my neighborhood quite shocked that I was "allowing" my son to work. Crazy. I don't think a lot of them can see that we are raising a lot of people that look good on paper but cannot handle day to day challenges. And for some dumb reason they cannot seem to make the connection of continual school/too many activities with the fact that we had two successful suicides and and multiple attempts at our very well off, large suburban high school. On the other hand students in very poor areas, with few job opportunities, that could really use the money; have a very difficult time actually getting to the park. Let's face it, parks in large metro areas are not usually near the more inner city neighborhoods. I worked in a very poor district but it is easily a 40-50 min one way drive to the park IF you don't hit traffic. Not feasible for most. SFSTL has a bus that brings employees from one of the metrolink stops in a disadvantaged neighborhood to the park BUT not only is it a hell of a long ride, the employees have to pay for it which cuts down on their paycheck. I know that is a long winded answer but the changing morays of teen life and the realities of the economic divide all affect staffing at the parks. Would a pay raise help? Sure. Somewhat, they did raise the pay a bit here, but the problem is too complicated to be solved that easily.