All Activity
- Today
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They could probably just keep getting new automatic cameras (someone staring at you on a waterslide with a camera might be too creepy). Having dedicated self-service kiosks for FunPix could be nice to have though. Put one or two at each ride photo stand — especially for when there are no associates in them — and have guests put in their information so it can be ready for them to pick up at the FunPix building by the front gate(s). Do they sell photo keychains? I haven't seen that option in years, but then again I don't look out for my ride photos too often. I do think Kings Island needs to build a dedicated add-on redemption center like Cedar Point has. They'd probably need to either move the FunPix building or put it where the FastLane booth is, but it would be nice to have something like that rather than shoving everyone into Guest Services or sending them on a wild goose chase throughout the park to purchase a meal plan.
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They do already make the longer update videos, yes, but I was referring to quicker posts that can be shot in one take (such as for a Reel or TikTok). Lack of a very poorly controlled narrative is a big part of why I think Six Flags has been seeing so much negativity recently. That, added on top of the vast budget cuts and the "continue as if this is normal" mentality we've been seeing, is damaging to the parks and the company as a whole. I don't think they should need to advertise everything on social media, but they definitely need to fix their PR strategies and start doing things that guests will see as improvements. That means announcing permanent ride closures before the season ends, working hard to get rides opened / re-opened in a timely manner, and advertising things to do in the park beyond one or two quirky short videos per month. Guests both want and need to know what is happening! Just tell them something! Do it before someone else does, because not doing so leaves room for other people to lie! Seen anything from KI about the Monster lately? Remember when it was "reported" to be permanently closed? Any post is a sign of life from the park, and frequent posts about things going on are what can encourage guests to have a positive outlook on the park. Social media may not influence ride choices, but it should be used by the parks to influence peoples opinion of the parks! Thank you for reading my ramblings
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I don't think more people taking pictures is not a good idea. They can't even get staff to work at all the food places. FunPix is what it is, and people will pay for it if they really want it
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Aren't they already doing the construction videos? CP had Sirens Chronical, Great America did Wrath updates, KD is Rapterra updates and Over Texas is pretty much beginning to tease their GiGa dice which will lead to those. Before the announcements, they get soooo much free attention/advertising by the enthusiast "influencer" culture. People will watch band record if a maintenance worker scratches themselves or if a tree is trimmed behind a fence. Whether they are influencers who suck up for media days, or i fluencers who want clicks and aren't afraid to offer unbiased opinion, it's out there for folks to see on YouTube, Instagram, Click Clack and X.
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FunPix at the park could use some improvements. So I came up with ideas on how it could be much better. First off, FunPix at Soak City would be a pretty cool idea (excludes Zoom Flume and Mondo Monsoon since they spin around). How it'd work is that a worker manually takes pictures while your on a slide, meaning they could hire more workers, including new ones that could work at the stands at the dry park. Once you get off the slide, you'd be given a paper with the picture code on it. After gathering your credit card, you can head to a stand near the front of the water park where the worker scans the card, and you can buy the pictures. For the keychains, instead of the Kings Island logo, it would have the Soak City logo. Instead of the stand at the ride exit, they could be replaced with cardholder download machines, but also machines where you select your photo and you get a card with the photo number on it (like the Soak City idea). Then you can go to main stands scattered around the park, where you can buy them. This is so you don't have to carry your pictures around all day, and you could buy them at the end of your trip. REPLACE The Beast CAMERA! Seriously, whenever I think of purchasing a keychain I choose not to get one because of how horrible the quality is. No matter the time of day, the photos turn out dark.
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The increased scrutiny coming from social media may cause some parks to choose more proven options when selecting their next ride, however I believe it may affect something else more. We've seen an increase in comments and posts about ride closures, but I believe those comments are due to a change in ride reliability — not because of ride models themselves. Some recent shut downs have been due to unforeseen circumstances. Intamin forced the temporary closure of their straddle coasters (like Darkoaster and Quantum Accelerator), leading Six Flags to move the QA opening date to 2026. Looking at social media, Cedar Point has had an awful year due to ride closures; however, a lot of those can be accurately attributed to weather and possible lay-offs in maintenance departments. What we may see from the increased scrutiny is some of the larger chains shifting their strategies around for all operations in general. If new rides won't open until mid-season, yet guests still come to the parks in similar numbers overall, we may begin to see this trend continue. If the attendance numbers are perceived to be harmed by the delayed openings, then the chain may choose to spend more to ensure an attraction opens much closer to opening day. A park like Cedar Point may begin to hire more maintenance staff if multiple of their coasters continue to experience consistent or increased downtime. There might also be a flurry of new infrastructure projects at some parks to increase their reliability. Imagine if Cedar Point, Carowinds, or Kings Island built solar panel shade structures over their parking lot to increase electrical capacity and get a boost of positive media coverage (not to mention some solar credits if those ever come back). To avoid major backlash, places like Magic Mountain may rebuild their wheelchair/stroller capacity as they try to entice new visitors: including families whose day at the park may be ruined if the park didn't have enough for rentals. Some parks may make subtle changes to their logos and marketing strategies to bring something new to their social media pages. We've seen this at a few Six Flags parks where they've introduced a new logo where the "Six Flags" branding and the park name are much closer to the same size and vertically aligned to each other. Great Adventure's (second) new sign has this format, while some parts of the park are dropping the Six Flags branding (Great Adventure's Sweet Spot and Great Adventure's Holiday in the Park come to mind). Something we will hopefully also see is parks or chains getting back in front of the narrative with their media and PR teams. This is something that Six Flags is greatly suffering from this year. What they should not do is continue to hide and cower behind closed doors. If an incident happens, then the park or chain needs to be there on the front line. If a ride is experiencing a delayed opening, then the park or chain needs to say so. That could be something as simple as: "Heavy rains have stopped work here at our construction site, but we hope to get back on track soon!" or something more invested like a short video update showing off an interesting aspect of construction. Will we see a change in attraction choices due to social media? I don't think so. That will probably be caused more by external factors such as tariffs and ride erection costs. Will we see a change in operational strategies due to social media? Uh yeah, I sure hope we will. (reference intended)
- Yesterday
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I agree it is a miss not having a tasting card. It would even benefit them if they allowed a tasting count as one of the meals on the all season dining plan or provide a nice discount to tempt you to buy the tasting card.
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^I will say that is the one area SFGAm could do better in is with the kid's area. Its only one small Vekoma coaster (same model as KK's) and a very small assortment of rides. Little Dipper is there, too but it's by itself next to Batman. Whizzer is a very good family/step-up coaster though (and very, very popular).
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I've heard Great America's Superman has more foliage/stuff around it than Great Adventure's version has, so I wonder if that could be a part of it. This seems like an awesome park! I wonder what fun things we might see next year for their 50th. My guess for their new kids area is that Camp Snoopy will replace their Yukon Territory (where CGA also has their Planet Snoopy, funnily enough) and replace their go karts with a SSBR or SRR clone. I think Mexico is getting a SSBR clone as well. It'd also be a great time to introduce a new logo more in line with Six Flags' new branding strategies, but I don't know if we'll see that happen.
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The amount of trees and shade that Kings Dominion offers is always astounding to me. I constantly hear people talk about how nice Kings Island looks because of the nature and foliage, and have to wonder what they would say if the park still had as much foliage and trees as Kings Dominion has. They've definitely been shorted on their 50th celebration, but I hope the park can maintain their improvements and can continue to at least maintain the level they are currently at with the park. I'd love to see more improvements to the entertainment and operations in coming years as Six Flags adjusts further into its new form. The fountains, foliage, and small-element theming are what Kings Island needs to re-introduce to improve their International Street. Making some small (in the grand scheme of things) changes would help improve the atmosphere a ton until the park gets some more money to do a larger project. Things like angling the outer fountain jets inward or outward, replacing the grass with white stones/expanding the flower beds (similar to what existed from 1972-1982), and placing some static information kiosks near the front entrance would do so much.
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The Conjuring House Coming to Kings Island - RUMOR
Losantiville Mining Co. replied to SPONGEBOB_FAN_97's topic in Rumors
What do they do for the Conjuring mazes at other Six Flags parks? Is it a guided tour through a maze or a separate experience altogether. This could lighten the blow with the introduction of the Haunted Attractions Pass if it's a heightened experience as well. I'd like to note that the posting does not include the word "maze" anywhere on it. They call it a new "nightmare", an "experience", a "world", and the "horror". Is it a new maze or another kind of attraction? Could we be seeing some version of Universal's RIP Tour coming to Kings Island for Haunt? Great Adventure recently released a new VIP tour experience, and it seems this model may soon come to other parks as well. This makes me wonder if they would do The Conjuring at some parks but use another IP at other parks. Last year, Fright Fest had a bunch of different IP mazes including Stranger Things, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a maze for the Saw 20th Anniversary, The Conjuring, and Trick r Treat. Some of Magic Mountain's mazes seem to be going through a complete overhaul as well. I wish they could have built a "stage" in there so you wouldn't have to go down and back up those stairs, but I have a feeling that might also require the installation of fire sprinklers under the stage. That's a lot of extra storage space the park could have under a maze if they wanted to do it. I've also always found it interesting where the parks choose to use "Halloween Haunt" versus just "HAUNT". The only difference between the two logos is just the inclusion/omission of "Halloween", but you'd think there would be some reasoning behind the use of one versus the other. The front entrance sign they put up says "Kings Island HAUNT", they use "Halloween Haunt" for the online postings, and there is even a difference on those job posting flyers. It's just an interesting thing for them to do. -
Currently turning in after a relaxing day in Cleveland. Had an inspiring tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, made visits to the Arcade, all the stadiums and the beach with the Cleveland sign facing downtown, and had a Polish boy for lunch. Definitely needed after the craziness of Chicago, feels good to be back in Ohio. Cleveland did feel like a Cincinnati-esque city on the lake with a lot of visual differences. I particularly like the vertical-ness of the west area with the bridges. Cool looking city. Ready to top it all off with 2 days in Sandusky.
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I bought a couple items off the Italy menu. It is a miss not having the tasting cards.
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With everyone carrying a smartphone, theme park guests can capture and share ride issues instantly. A breakdown that once went mostly unnoticed can now go viral within minutes, drawing attention to something parks might prefer stayed behind the scenes. This shift raises an interesting question: will parks start choosing rides differently because of how easily things can be filmed and spread online? Take Siren’s Curse at Cedar Point. It’s had frequent issues, and nearly every one has ended up on TikTok or YouTube. The ride might be perfectly safe, but repeated videos showing breakdowns can create a negative perception. In this environment, should parks avoid rides that are complex or mechanically risky just to avoid bad PR? On one side, it’s easy to imagine parks playing it safe. They could stick to proven ride types or reliable manufacturers to avoid becoming the next viral “ride malfunction” clip. Even if a ride is innovative and exciting, the threat of a public relations headache might not be worth it. On the other hand, social media may not actually change much. Parks have always dealt with ride downtime. Most guests don’t follow coaster drama online, and many parks still invest in massive, cutting-edge rides. A viral video might sting, but it probably won’t stop die-hard fans from visiting. So what do you think? Will social media eventually affect the kinds of rides parks choose-or is this all just part of today’s fast-moving digital world?
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The Conjuring House Coming to Kings Island - RUMOR
brenthodge replied to SPONGEBOB_FAN_97's topic in Rumors
That makes perfect sense and explains why the “daytime tour” randomly returned. But only there, and returned with a “story driven” idea with a tour guide and “pre show” host. It also has way better queuing capacity than the blackout location. I could see them adding black out back in as a way to compensate for the loss of MadameFatales as a self guided maze -
Grand Carivale 2025 Discussions and Reviews
IndyGuy4KI replied to IndyGuy4KI's topic in Kings Island
You might notice there's no footage of interviews with people eating the food. That is because I couldn't find any. They need to bring back the tasting cards. It gave a sense of value and that is missing without it. -
No tasting cards. Prices for the food items range from $6.99 to $14.99.
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The Conjuring House Coming to Kings Island - RUMOR
disco2000 replied to SPONGEBOB_FAN_97's topic in Rumors
^That one shows they are looking for theatrically trained folks, whereas this one is just the random anyone can apply, so maybe it will be a few paid mazes and a few that are free... -
I'm assuming no tasting cards?
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The Conjuring House Coming to Kings Island - RUMOR
BryanJay replied to SPONGEBOB_FAN_97's topic in Rumors
They released information for haunt auditions today and I think this basically confirms it for me (it seems similar to what they do at the other six flags conjuring houses). Just based off of my assumptions, I think there’s a new traditional haunted house in the blackout building (probably pirate themed from the construction) and this experience goes in the Madame Fatale’s/Crypt building, which is why they had the daytime tours last season in order to test capacity in that space (which honestly would be sad for me if it meant the queue remnants of tomb raider were demolished for this but whatever) -
Despite the weather earlier in the day, opening night turned out to be quite pleasant! While it's easy to miss the scope of the event in the earlier years, it is wonderful to have Grand Carnivale back at a time when offerings like these are not guaranteed.
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The first day of Grand Carnivale is complete! Lets use this thread to talk and review Grand Carnivale in 2025. Video of the event: