Halloweekends Kick-off event for club members?

The past couple years there has been a free event for coaster club members the first Friday of HW. Last years was announced very late and still jammed with entitled people. Wondering if it will be offered again this year or if the event tonight (9/11) is replacing it?

Nope and nope.. My understanding is that a lack of appreciation has ruined any chances of enthusiast-inclusive media events for the foreseeable future, at least without some charitable donation to weed certain people out.

Yeah, someone in another thread (might have been TTD Adam I think) reported that Tony Clark said there would be no event this year. I still think this kind of event could be successful and popular, but the park needs to charge for it similar to Coastermania.

If the current status quo holds, attending the Winter Chill Out next year might be your only chance at attending Valravn media day. With that being said, I expect the Winter Chill Out to be very popular next year due to the Valravn construction. This year the event sold out and 600 people attended!

Chuck Wagon said:

but the park needs to charge for it similar to Coastermania.

Are you saying that they should charge for CoasterMania! or that they do? Because they currently don't and your post was unclear. :)

Naturally, I prefer it being a free event but I would completely understand a small charge (or donation), especially with the cruise coming back for next year.

That was me I think that posted about it (you got the TTD part) ;)

When I asked him about it he was careful to say "not this year" and didn't offer any further comments. Maybe they'll bring it back when a new major addition is made to the haunted attractions. I hate to think that these events were discontinued due to enthusiast conduct. One of the best days I've had at the park was for GateKeeper's media day - others on here who went probably agree that it was a blast, and the park went above and beyond anyone's expectations. The same was true for the Pipe Scream/LEE Media preview, except for some reason the entitlement aspect was present with a few of the other guests. Maybe starting at 4 AM kept these kinds of guests from attending?

When I attended the first kickoff event in 2013, I was beyond impressed how over and above the park went in treating us attendees. I even said to a few of my friends that if word got out on this event and they hold it the following year it will probably be heavily attended. So enjoy it!

Last year I wasn't surprised that it was highly attended, unfortunately the expectations were high, too. But long lines for FREE things brought out the nastiness in some people. I really don't understand the mentality. But if I were a park employee I wouldn't want to hold an event like that again.

I really think the way to go is to charge or have donations to GKTW for admission to future events. As someone else said, it weeds out people. And it seems those who happily donate, are genuinely thankful to be there, no matter the crowds.

Unfortunately, last year, I was a witness to the incident that may have shut these preview events down. It involved Tony, and as I was in line for Hexed, and as I approached the entrance to go into Hexed, Tony was there greeting people as they were getting ready to enter. Needless to say, Tony didn't look happy AT ALL. I guess to my knowledge what happened was that a man entered into the line after 8 and Tony said his tickets weren't valid because he didn't show up on time and that he would have to wait in line with everyone else and the guy threw a tantrum and made a scene. I asked Tony if he was ok and he really wasn't happy AT ALL. I felt really bad for him. So, this incident may or may not have added to reason(s) why we are not having preview nights anymore.

topthrilldragster4lyf said:

Are you saying that they should charge for CoasterMania! or that they do? Because they currently don't and your post was unclear. :)

What I meant was, you have to pay admission to get in. The preview events didn't require that.

Gotcha. That's true - you do have to buy your own way into the park for CM!.

Or they could do similar to what they do for Fall Freak Out. It's $28 for season passholders to get in. That should weed out the bad apples. But another reason they quit doing it could be that FFO is in the same week and 2 coaster club events in that short of time span was too much for the park to put on.

^ Erm, that's a club-sponsored event. Not the same as a park-sponsored event at all.

Another idea would be to have a cover charge, but then donate it to a charity similar to the Winter Chill Out and Coaster Campout. Either way, I have no issues paying a fee to attend a great event.

I echo the want for "pay for" events. During Gatekeeper's media day, my group and I were noticing the entitlement that was going on and a friend of mine said, "Watch, these free media day events won't last." Sure enough, we had our first (switch back to) invite only media day with Rougarou. And after recalling how smoothly it went and how successful it was, I have a feeling they'll continue with the low group invite method instead of TONS of enthusiasts and the entitled yahoos that are sure to be included.

It's one thing to have criticism about something, but it's a whole other thing to be flat out rude to people who don't deserve it.

Not to mention the people who don't know how to dress for a media day...

What was that one lady wearing at Gatekeeper? A shirt that said "f cop killers" or something like that?

Execute cop killers.

I agree with all the above about the charity giving Winter Chill Out, a great idea. While still a club card holder, I'm not much of a power rider anymore. Enthusiasts who mostly complain about anything and everything only adds to why I don't attend that many events anymore. A platinum pass seems to hold more value than a coaster club card. Just a random day visit to CP or any park is enjoyable itself.

Tony was asked at Fall Freakout today about a Halloween Event for media/club members and he said it would only be for media members only. It would be held during the day on Friday to allow more media members to attend since it would not conflict with HS football on Friday nights. Evidently media turnout has been low with it being held on Friday nights.

TTD 120mph said:
Execute cop killers.

Yes. That's it.

That was absolutely classless. It's almost like she knew she was going to be filmed. :-/

TrinDawg41 said:
Unfortunately, last year, I was a witness to the incident that may have shut these preview events down. It involved Tony, and as I was in line for Hexed, and as I approached the entrance to go into Hexed, Tony was there greeting people as they were getting ready to enter. Needless to say, Tony didn't look happy AT ALL. I guess to my knowledge what happened was that a man entered into the line after 8 and Tony said his tickets weren't valid because he didn't show up on time and that he would have to wait in line with everyone else and the guy threw a tantrum and made a scene. I asked Tony if he was ok and he really wasn't happy AT ALL. I felt really bad for him. So, this incident may or may not have added to reason(s) why we are not having preview nights anymore.

I really hope that isn't the reason that caused preview nights to come to a halt. That's something every employee deals with every day at the park (and any every day job for that matter).

As great as it is to work at the park, there are days where we all get overwhelmed. But you know what, we still all put on a happy face to deliver the Best Day experience and make the guests happy, whether they feel entitled to it or not. Believe it or not, guests can sense animosity, and sulking in front of them while wearing your name tag because one guest was (in this case) acting like a baby, is uncalled for.

With that said, I absolutely agree that these special events should have a fee or a donation charge. It angers me when I witness someone complaining when they didn't have to pay a thing. Ungrateful people alone are an annoyance to me.

Yeah, but it's not every day a guest tears up a ticket/flyer and throws it in the faces of the people telling them they can't have what they want.

Also, those guests paid to get in, usually. They weren't invited to a free event, given gifts, free food, and even a hooded sweatshirt just because the park was feeling generous.