2012 Improvements, Additions, and Changes. Leaks and Announcements

Sure, but encourage each one to buy one extra burger, and suddenly it's a no-brainer expense.

The Dinos are showing up. I saw a pic on the Facebook page.

Or encourage more people to purchase season passes, then buy an extra burger. It really starts to make sense in an ROI. I am curious if they own the new systems or are renting them? If they are renting the new systems it may be harder (or easier) to get more barcode readers, depends on whether the rental company has them in stock or not.

Also while looking around I found a few scanners that are both barcode and magnetic stripe. So as long as the barcode is printed as a strip near the bottom (or top) of the pass, they could just replace all their credit card readers and be done with it. Though these cost in the $150-250 range so probably cheaper to just add more barcode readers :)

You guys might also be aware that Kings Island has created another program for rewarding employees. Gee, wasn't this another complaint on these forums that has now been addressed?

@KIGMGREG
"KiCare program is being rolled out which is 8 initiatives focused on higher guest service and associate incentives to ensure the service."

I'm wondering if Cedar Fair will try out the season pass & employee incentive programs exclusively at KI for the coming season (and then roll out to all parks next season), or if the other parks just haven't announced this yet.

The season pass system, I think, will probably stay at Kings Island for 2012 but I could see the employee system rolling out to all parks. Have they released the rewards of the employee program?

I just read the new beach improvements for 2012......cabanas, tents, etc. I dearly hope they get rid of the roped in area for swimming. PLEASE :) I plan on actually swimming out into the lake this summer :)

seriously....they say they want to draw visitors to the beach, lol Start by letting us swim in deep water......

^Id say start by actually advertising it and letting visitors know its there. Most do not even realize there is a beach literally a few feet from the park. I already answered in another thread but the roped off areas will not get any bigger or be leaving anytime soon as long as they keep Ellis lifeguards on the Beach.

so Ellis lifeguards are basically pool trained, where they must stand guard over the smallest swimming areas possible, while at the same time make sure an adult or child, who is only wading 50 feet away from the rope in ankle-deep water on a sand bar, stays out of the water at all costs? :)

funny one time my friend and I were wading over by windseeker by the jet ski area, just standing in the water, and a guard came racing over to us and a few others telling us to get out. She was just about out of breath too. It's like the water was toxic or something.

The thing is, you have to go out fairly far from shore before that water gets any deeper. It's shallow for quite a ways.

Ralph Wiggum said:
The thing is, you have to go out fairly far from shore before that water gets any deeper. It's shallow for quite a ways.

What they need to do is to use their loader to remove sand along the beach to make it deeper and spread the sand all along the beach. We saw them doing this a few years ago on opening day while we were in our suite. They were loading dump trucks full of sand that they were bringing out of the lake from the rocky area at the far end of Breakers beach by Soak City and taking it down the beach along Sandcastle and Light House Point.

The problem with the beach is that unless you are staying "on-property", gaining access to the sand is difficult. If people were allowed to gain access by only paying a parking fee - you might get some additional customers to Beaches & Cream. JetSki's, or TGIF that would stay away entirely while the rest of the group visits the parks.

Of course, if these same people just paid the admission to SC, CF makes more $ in the long run - and they get a fairly similar experience. But let's face it - these aren't the big spenders, and they can go elsewhere for lake access if that is all they want. The beach area offers nothing special that you can't get elsewhere except close proximity to the park.

I don't think its particularly difficult to use the beach without staying at the resorts. You can pay to park, go to the Soak City lot, and just go down to the beach. I park in the lot next to Gemini every time I go for just the day and no one has ever asked if I was a guest or not. Granted I don't spend much of my time on the beach but I've definitely walked up and down it for pictures on those days. The beach was a big reason for CP's early growth and sustainability. I agree with others in these forums that more attention should be given to that area.

I am pretty sure the Beach is open to anyone who will pay the parking fee. I have never seen it printed that the Beach is reserved for hotel guests, the pools however are. The park just doesn't advertise the Beach outside of the resorts, that is the problem. Plus it is not that easy to get to unless you know where you are going.

As far back as I can remember, the beach has always been advertised as being open to guests of Cedar Point, Soak City, the Resorts, as well as season passholders. The beach page on the park's website indicates that as well. That said, I've never heard of anyone checking credentials.

Just happened to take a look at the CP webcams today, and it looks like site prep has begun in earnest for the Luminosity stage. There doesn't appear to be anything green left in front of Iron Dragon at the moment. :P

Since they are doing all this to get people on the beach. what are the rules for the beach. can you take a cooler out there?

It's is easy to access the beach if ur not a resort guest. I go out there all the time just to hang out in the sand and take pics. Just exit through the beach gates from the midway, get a stamp, and you're off.

But the beach to me is like a big sandbox to play in. Since you have no quality water access, most people just go out and play in the sand, then go back into the park to ride. You have more freedom standing under that foot rinse shower if you want to get wet :)

I can't wait to just see how the new lights look on Milly, Power Tower, and Giant Wheel will look!! Bet Millennium's will be 40xs better than before!

My calculations predict only 37.56 times better than before ;-)

Well, when's the last time you calibrated your betterometer?