Early Park Closures
- Thread starter Crunchewy
- Start date
Don’t be! It has given me somewhere to move all of the random rants that would otherwise be cluttering up perfectly innocent threads.
I have literally nothing to add to this discussion. I'm a pretty casual observer on this forum outside of Haunt. But my god, this has been amazing to watch the past week or so. Like an off-the-rails segment of First Take, extended out for a week, on a weirdly specific topic that you'd only find on the internet. Great stuff.
Welcome to ParkFans, where topics are merely suggestions and nobody's keeping score
KD has closed entirely or early three times in less than a month. Definitely excessive fir anyone with standards.
It’s a beautiful park turned into a garbage hole entirely by incompetent management. Those that live close can enjoy it for the short hours it operates. That’s not enough people to bring in enough revenue for large investments.
Definitely the same vibes Geauga Lake had in the end by the same company
It’s a beautiful park turned into a garbage hole entirely by incompetent management. Those that live close can enjoy it for the short hours it operates. That’s not enough people to bring in enough revenue for large investments.
Definitely the same vibes Geauga Lake had in the end by the same company
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You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
IMO they close because of attendance. NOT THE WEATHER.
We weren’t at Carowinds in 2019. 50 degrees. Clear sky’s. They closed 5 hours earlier than advertised. FOR ATTENDANCE
we have been to KD in recent years they claimed they were closing for weather and the rain stopped. It was a pure lie. It was for attendance
We have attended theme parks on rainy days and perfectly enjoyed them. With Umbrella and ponchos.
Last decade we were actually at KD for a 10 pm close, it monsooned, stopped at 9 and they reopened the rides. The park wasn’t always so mismanaged.
Additionally where do you get that nothing can operate in the rain? Virtually every ride can run in regular rain without lightning.
If it’s a safety issue such as tornado etc that’s a different story
I think it’s funny the locals at KD actually think that constant closures is normal. But people get what they are willing to accept. A c class operated, shirt schedule, low investment park. It used to be managed so much better
So just to be crystal clear here @super7: You believe that if it's very likely that the vast majority of park attractions will have to remain closed for the vast majority of the remainder of the day, you support a park closing early, yes?
I feel this post is appropriate to be seen again at this point.
I don’t recall anyone on this Forum ever saying that “constant closures is normal.” More importantly, KD does not close regularly for either weather or attendance. That is simply an enormous exaggeration, possibly made up to justify your apparent anger.
Does the park have shorter operating hours right now, likely as a result of the nationwide labor shortage and the lack of international staff? Yes. Is anyone happy about it? No. Do most people condemn the park as mismanaged over an industrywide problem? No. Running fewer work schedules is one way to address labor shortages. There are reasonable debates to be had over whether this solution is better worse than any other. (Note: name calling is not a component of “reasonable debate.”)
Your initial complaint was specifically about a day when the park closed for extreme weather. So, none of that is relevant anyway. I’ve, personally, been to several parks that close early for weather that is either dangerous or will stop operations. So, once again, how is this mismanagement?
Additionally, how do you define “local?” From my perspective as someone who has lived in three tourist towns, very few people her are “local” to KD. As we have pointed out to you previously, Doswell is essentially in the middle of nowhere. So, I’m not sure of your intention, but that comment comes off as very condescending, possibly playing on the dumb Southerner stereotype.
You keep dodging the requests for evidence. What proof do you have that KD is poorly managed? Saying the same thing over and over again is not proof, in case you were confused.
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This thread is like a 50 car pile-up combined with a train derailment, wildfire, and out-of-control fireworks display. It's horrible to look at, and somehow, you can't rip your eyes away.
Please, continue this beautiful dumpster fire.
Please, continue this beautiful dumpster fire.
I’m a newer pass holder, 2nd year here and we drive approximately 3 hours to get to KD. I’ve raised this question before, not about the weather, but the shorter hours in general. We are here this weekend. Yesterday was weird being open only 9-5. I don’t understand how that is helpful to locals who want to come but are working until 5. I may be missing something. I completely understand weather closures. They cannot help that. But to keep prices the same, or even increase them and give people less overall is a common business practice in a lot of today’s markets and it’s just not right. For me, I get all of the perspectives from both sides but for me it’s not as much about a 12 hour day as much as it is about atmosphere. We stayed as late as possible tonight to just enjoy a few of the lights before we left around 815. I would rather have a 12pm-10pm day and have the evenings in the parks rather than a weird 9-5. We went but it was just weird knowing we had to leave around 515. I miss the night time atmosphere KD offered in the past. Remember the snoopy light spectacular they did a few years ago? Stuff like that is just charming to me And my kids. I know they have to make a lot of decisions with information we are not aware of. I get it and I try to give the benefit of the doubt But at this point, things just begin to seem like an excuse for giving less and charging the same rather than giving what is expected or “normal” for a summer day. I’m personally disappointed in the 9pm summer closings. I think it’s just an excuse to cut one hour of labor, not for labor shortage, but to increase the bottom line. If they can run 11am to 9pm, which is a 10 hour day in May, it is not due to a labor shortage. That is a 10 hour workday which means either staff is working overtime OR they are still running two shifts. They are charging the same and giving less. That’s not right in my opinion. If you are going to give less, charge less. With that said, all of the staff have been amazing this weekend and we noticed very few closures. It has been a lot of fun but I would prefer a little more flexibility in the evening, even if it means giving up one more hour in the morning. Again, I’m not saying poor management or anything. I just think at this point, “Covid” eased a lot of business practices and it has become an excuse to give people less and charge people more. Weather, totally understandable. Summer? Not so much when you are already running a 10 hour day which is two hours more than the normal workday.
To be fair to KD, charging the same right now as a couple years ago is, effectively, charging less than a couple years ago. BGW (and the rest of the industry) has seen ENORMOUS price hikes over the last couple years while Kings Dominion has managed to keep their pricing stable. This is despite notably inflated staffing costs—particularly at KD.
It's inevitable that something is going to have to give in this scenario—whether it be quality, hours, prices, etc. Thus far, Kings Dominion seems to have selected hours. I, personally, would rather see prices rise as I treasure KD at night, but I also assume that Cedar Fair has metrics and statistics that I do not that are guiding their decisions here.
It's inevitable that something is going to have to give in this scenario—whether it be quality, hours, prices, etc. Thus far, Kings Dominion seems to have selected hours. I, personally, would rather see prices rise as I treasure KD at night, but I also assume that Cedar Fair has metrics and statistics that I do not that are guiding their decisions here.
This is my final post from this website. I have asked for my logon to be deleted.
I am just happy I can afford to go other places than the trashy Virginia parks. It’s obvious the people there are as trashy as the parks
I am just happy I can afford to go other places than the trashy Virginia parks. It’s obvious the people there are as trashy as the parks
Great points here and I wouldn’t be opposed to paying a little more if I had the confidence they would keep the more normal hours. If you remember, they posted the hours at the beginning of the year with the summer showing the usual 10am-10pm closing. We renewed our passes. It was then changed to 11am-9pm. That’s why I think this is a play to make more of a profit. I understand they are not a charity. But when you purchase a season pass with that information and then it changes, it kind of makes me lose confidence in the leadership. As you stated, they have metrics and stats they use to make decisions and as consumers we are not aware of the information they have. I would believe the labor shortage line if they were sticking to 8 hour park days. But shaving an hour off the beginning and the end seems like just a play to make more money. I’ll happily pay a little more if it means we get back to normalcy and the ability to have confidence in future plans.
I actually sorta agree with you on the changing hours after they've been published thing. Obviously parks have the legal right to do it, but it certainly doesn't feel great—especially if the new hours are less compatible with your schedule than the originally advertised ones.
It's honestly sort of a problem with season passes just in general in my opinion. You're often paying for things on faith—there's very little these passes ACTUALLY guarantee you.