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Skyline was the same as ever but they gave my sibling so little cheese while on mine, I got a little extra. Instead of often giving guests 2 packs of crackers a whole bunch as they did last year, they only gave one. Thats not a big deal but worth mentioning. Other than that, O tried the neopolitan ice cream sandwich at Sweet Spot. They prepare it fresh for you, having the ice cream stored in their big walk in freezer and everything. It was really good, cookies were warm and everything. The staff at Sweet Spot were awesome and caring and attentive yesterday.

It sucks that it appears they used AI slop to generate recolored versions. (Its best to not say AI made this and that because AI slop doesnt make, making requires deliberate efforts by hands or keyboards/mouses. Something generate isnt made, its just generated. Its like how AI art doesnt exist. Something cannot be art if again, it wasnt made with any actual effort from a thinking mind put into it. They could have just hired someone to recolor it all for the merch. I went to a trade school for digital arts and became a digital arts whiz to an extent. Im sure I could have done it myself to be honest. I dabbled enough on like Adobe Illustrator over the years before graduating to know you can alter images and artworks in ways you can make them all black and white for example with just a few clicks of a mouse. But thats not all. Using the paint bucket tool would have also been a easy way to recolor. It wouldnt really take that long especially with the cartoon style of the promo art. Dang, KI/Six Flags management know nothing about digital art tools, do they? Thats actually a problem. Youd think they wouldnt need to know anything about them but if the last 4 years has proven anything, there is a societal lack of collective knowledge about art related processes. And that affects things in so many ways that I can only dream of fully understanding all of those things at the moment.

Not surprised it isnt as iconic. That said, iconic things dont become iconic overnight. It usually takes months or a handful of years for that to set in. Once its had time to really set in, we shall see. I will be sure to share my thoughts when I finally get to ride it myself. For now, I will remain patient.

Only did Diamondback and WindSeeker. Lines were pretty bad even with at least a quarter to a third of people there consistently being in line for Phantom Theater. I almost completely doubt anyone who came didnt come to at least try to ride it but I know better. Seeing a wide range of possibilities and all that. But yeah, it was still a good time overall. Line for Skyline moved fast despite only one register being open. Disappointed I didnt get to do PT last night but theres a reason my friends know me as being patient. I can wait. Ive been building my patience for well over half my life. Though I still dont like waiting 30 minutes or more for rides. Waiting on long lines when I was a teenager was not exactly enjoyable despite me being such a persistent thinker.

Fair enough. Im being a bit expansive, willing to consider all possibilities when it comes to my reaction to the ride. From what Ive pondered over the things that are my favorites of something, there are numerous variables that determine what one’s favorites are or arent. Ive had the same favorite pizzeria since I was little despite having some of the best deep dish pizza around which my favorite pizzeria does not offer, for example. I could go further. Miitopia, despite me since going on to play Baldurs Gate 3 and other amazing MMORPGs since I first played it in 2017 is still one of my favorite games. Associated sentiments and memories, enjoyment over a long period of time.. So many variables. Anyone liking Phantom Theater over Pirates isnt the most likely possibility but it still very much is a possibility. But in the end, it doesnt really matter that much. I dont really compare things I like that much anyway. I like what I like without thinking much on what I prefer. I have a hard time picking a top favorite in most categories so I just dont do that and choose to say my favorites. I’ll like Phantom Theater for what it is and compare it to Boo Blasters since it replaced it but other than that. Plenty of space for liking a large pallet of dark rides in my noggin. Plenty of space.

I guess I'm the lone dissenter...I really enjoyed the Pickin' On covers and listen to the Spotify playlist often.

Can we discuss Flight of Fear ? Tried riding it yesterday decided too give it another shot this year for 2026 and nope it’s the same 1 and done never again this year. I don’t see how so many people love this ride. It’s super rough throws you around not in a good way and has the most uncomfortable seating ever invented. I hear people complain about The Beasts roughness but in my opinion FOF is MUCH rougher than The Beast. Beasts roughness is fun but FOF roughness just hurts you. I love the theming of it but that’s about it. Wouldn’t mind at all too see this ride disappear but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Ask and you shall receive! Phantom Theater Archives uploaded their Passholder Preview POV. (Also thank you @BryanJay for the archives channel!! I'm pretty sure you said it's yours . It's helped a ton with some of my research!)

The yapper is going to yap tonight, so buckle in! I mostly agree with what's been said and will be quoting to add on to y'all's comments. The funny thing is, I noticed a ton more Cedar Fair logos still present around the park (mostly on uniforms) than Six Flags logos (new and old). I understand that they don't want to buy new uniforms when they don't need to — and I know I'd be upset if my job forced me to buy a new uniform out of pocket — but it does make the park experience feel odd. I'm also peeved that they keep using the old SF logo in random places. If Six Flags really wants to look like one company then they desperately need to get their branding in order a whole lot better than it currently is. (OK rant over for now.) I did also notice that the crowds seemed to be lower than last year. We didn't go on any coasters, but there honestly seemed to be longer lines to get food than to get on some rides. Speaking of rides, the Grand Carousel got a really good repaint! And there's a 100th anniversary horse (two in front of the KI 50th anniversary horse)!!!! I think the new section of Prestige Preferred Parking was technically resealed, but that's basically the same as painting the whole thing black. It'll be nice to have more parking spaces over there, but some of them aren't much better than parking in the Banshee section. IMO the parks should just stop selling Preferred outside of being a benefit for Prestige Passes. It was very clear that the parking lot isn't finished, but I really wish the park would've sprung for more than just some new paint and fencing. It also smelled like some of the asphalt in the park was freshly paved as well. While I don't think any of the art within Phantom Theater was made with AI, it unfortunately does look like some of the merch was made with AI... The recolored promotional art in particular looked like someone plugged the original into AI and prompted it with "recolor this". In addition to that, did nobody make any new promo art ever since the one that came out with the ride announcement in August? All of the merch seems to either be the OG promo art in different colors or the ride logo in different colors. Maybe the jacket has something else on it? I really like that they changed the music on International Street. That said, the park does really need to learn how to make a playlist that lasts longer than 3-5 hours. I understand that there's a lot that goes into playing licensed music in the park, but there has to be a better way to do this. The crowds must've really come in after folks started to get out of work and school. I thought it was more comparable to a standard summer day, but we were done with the heat by the time we left so I was focused on getting back to the car. I wholeheartedly second the comment on bringing back the Knott's merch!!! I literally skipped getting the Boysenberry preserves at Kings Dominion because I was about to be at Kings Island! There were two (?) PT treats (the tart and a fudge) but I'd love to see a "Maestro's Crescendo Crunch" chocolate bar like they have in the candy case in the PT:ON queue. Either that or something else that I can feasibly take home or eat as a snack. The dining plan logos and symbols seem to have been mostly changed over to the new versions. There are a few stickers left over from previous years. I'm happy to hear that Hot Rhythm Nights is returning. I'll miss Country Crossroads, but I'm interested to know how Hollywood Hits will be. Unfortunately it looks like we'll be getting yet another two years of the stunt shows. Unless they take the set down and build a new one I'm curious to see what this stunt show will be. I really hope we can see a second show in the Kings Island Theater this summer. I don't think this season will be as bad as others I've seen online have said it'll be, but there are some easy things that I really wish the park would just do. I'm excited for this season to get into full swing! Here's a diagram for those wondering how the Preferred lot got expanded. The aisle in the middle is the new entrance, which has two entrance lanes (one of which is a self-service lane) and one exit lane. That little cut in at the bottom is a new lane going toward the exit of the parking lot directly from the Preferred lot. If you're in a bigger vehicle, watch out for the right turn into that lane though. Our regular-sized truck felt like it was tricky to navigate without hitting the new fence or any cones. The guard shack was moved further off of its pad, so I'm a little baffled as to why they didn't just completely redo the Preferred Parking entrance path. Wouldn't it have made more sense to realign the entrance and get rid of the curve for the service road entrance (that would still be kept)? The parking lot really needs some trees and bioswales, but this is a good start. A ton of the Bus & RV lot signage was bunched up in one parking space, so I have no clue where that is supposed to go. Kings Island's parking lot still needs a massive amount of work to make it even remotely tolerable, but the expansion for Preferred Parking helps a little.

If it hasn't been mentioned already, the start dates for several of the shows are posted around the park. Hot Rhythm Nights at the Bandstand and the new show Hollywood Hits at the Festhaus both open on May 23rd. International Showplace has a sign saying an unnamed show will open June 20th.

The line for the Brewhouse was out of the front door around 3 as we were walking toward Potato Works. Then, we decided to ride the train before getting our food. When we got off of the train around 3:20, Brewhouse didn't have a line so we went inside and only waited about 10 minutes in line due to some register issues (which I witnessed while getting a drink from LaRosa's on I-Street as well). What we actually waited for was our food. We snagged a booth and proceeded to wait 30 minutes for a plain Pub Burger, a Mac & Cheese Dog, and a Hail Caesar Salad. The receipts still say "King's Island" with the wrong spelling and all. I swear it should be as easy as editing the name in a Settings menu, but it's not been done. For those who keep track like I do, the meal plan "price" is $11.00 per meal and the drink plan "price" is $2.00 per SP paper cup. I'm glad that the Brewhouse does still allow guests to refill their cups, but I wish they could find a way to reconfigure the guest flow and partially separate the register exit from the soda fountains. Now for my actual food review: I ordered a plain Pub Burger (no L, T, or O) and a Coke from the Miami River Brewhouse around 3:30PM today. It took about 10 minutes to get to the register due to POS system issues in front of us and about 30 minutes to get our food after ordering. We've waited that long before, but it's not a great experience when we could've just gone over to the Rivertown Potato Works and had our food out quicker. When our food did come out my burger was absolutely steaming hot (mmm yes SuperNintendo Chalmers, those were indeed steamed hams 🍔) and my tater tots — uh, I mean potato barrels — were cooked to perfection. The member of my group who got the Mac Dog received it without the Grippos despite requesting everything stay on it. It sounded like the salad was good as well. I was really close to joining the clean plate club, but I started to feel full right before I could get there. Overall, it was a really good meal!

Why is the park being so secretive about the shows for this year? By now, they should have at least posted a few shows on their website other than the local bands that will be performing before Memorial Day. Like, what’s up with the random Kings Island logo on the International Showplace Theatre billboard with “Coming June 24” in the corner? Do they not have a plan for what’s being performed there? And the fact that Brad Ross had to announce his appearance at the park BEFORE the park did is pretty sad if you ask me. Randomly seeing Hot Rhythm Nights popping up on the digital billboards with zero context, a sign on the FestHaus for Hollywood Hits and the window displays on the Kings Island Theater for Brad Ross is terrible. MAKE IT OFFICIAL!

The yellow and green bulbs below the seats were transferred over from the Scrambler after it's refurbishment in 2016. The current lights look new and appear to be LEDs.

They were. The Eiffel Tower was originally floodlit with bright halogen lamps before switching to the colored LED lighting. The uplighting surrounding the Tower was removed prior to the 2017 season.

Those colors look awesome! Now all we need is for the yellow tubes to return to the rotor at the top (please please please please please Kings Island just do it!!!!!)

I'll post a longer rambling either tonight or tomorrow after I hopefully get my second ridethrough in. This was an amazing ride! There were so many Easter eggs that I noticed and even more new things overall! I don't think anyone who's ridden it could call this a Boo Blasters reskin or anything of the such anymore. Some spoiler-ific things below including both good and bad things! I'll try to not repeat what others have said, but apologies if I do. I think I'll like it more as I ride it more, but I'm glad it's back IIRC for the first few days they had return time tickets that helped the queue line feel quick while ensuring social distancing could be observed. I think I might've waited an hour before my first ride on/around July 2nd or July 7th (whichever day the park opened that year).

Good eye! I always wondered.. Were those fixtures used as nighttime downlighting back in the day? I love the new season threads. I grew up in Cincy but moved to Oregon 4 years ago, so I don’t get to the park very often anymore. It is always fun to recognize small changes like this!

I’ve had the time to reflect and I have my solidified thoughts on the attraction. I don’t think this is as iconic as the original Phantom was, but I think the ride is objectively and physically better. I’ve heard others say that the animatronics look cheaper and worse than the original, and that’s objectively not true. I do think this is more family friendly and ‘cartoony’ than the original was. I think the primary change is that the original was modeled after the Haunted Mansion, while this seems to be based off of the 2000s Universal Studios dark rides. I loved the ride’s use of the gaming aspect, as it felt secondary to the physical sets. Some people will probably be disappointed at the lack of physical props that respond to the flashlights, but I love that I can realistically not even bother with the ghost notes and not loose anything from the experience. Same goes for the screen implementation, except for one area I’ll get into within the spoiler section. I don’t think the ride is fully finished, and I imagine/hope there will be changes made during the off-weeks leading into daily operations. The audio was quiet, primarily in the queue. The ride does have a slightly longer runtime, but I think the 3+ hour wait today was caused by a reduced capacity (They worked at about half capacity today, alongside several stops and slowdowns, but I don’t blame the associates for it.) TLDR: Ride good! I’ll be back to ride it whenever I can. Two claws up!

Okay so some thoughts from today's excursion to the park: I asked for more parking with preferred, we got it! I was pleased with the new space but I wasn't thrilled that instead of repaving the area they painted it over to make it look fresher than what it actually was which was a detriment in my opinion. Merch, eh the PT merch I feel like could have used some better designs in certain spots but I have to give credit where credit is due the new button down shirts are absolutely amazing. I picked up a black Beast shirt on my way out and I will definitely be sporting it in office Monday. I Street finally getting movie cinematic pieces made me and my family very sentimental of the PKI days. Hearing the Godfather theme several times, not so much. I feel like a mix of the old music and the newer music like we had last year would be a good blend to keep the feel of I Street on par with what guests are looking from the park. Beast being down was definitely a bummer, worse yet that I was really looking forward to getting on it today, hoping that it will be open tomorrow or Sunday at the latest! The amount of people at Preview Day solidified what I have been saying since last year, the park really sold the gate. Now of course, last year and year before we saw high attendance but I felt like this year it was worse. Especially for the VIP section, which I didn't even venture to for my free snack as there was a line that I was not about to deal with. My biggest pet peeve, my one request for park management: Please bring back the Knott's merchandise to Sweet Spot!! The fact that we no longer have that luxury really was a bummer today as my dad was looking forward to getting some preserves. Better yet, I feel like the sweet spot was lacking in various spots in terms of topical treats. Now I maybe too used to Universal pumping out treats for everything but I thought we would see PT cookies or PT goodies for sale, I only saw a cake with a nod. I feel like this was a spot of major opportunity for the park to sell some on topic merch so close to the new attraction. I'll reserve my thoughts for Haunted Mansion North Ohio later as I want a few rides to really give a solid review. (Which won't be in here of course but it will be coming soon)

I had the burgundy beef today. I think it was way too salty for my tastes but had really good flavor. Which I feel as if is a detriment to the overall profile as the food itself was delicious but the salt just overpowered everything. Definitely way too hardy for a summer day but would be something I would enjoy in the fall. I hope the park sees value in a rotational menu and maybe starts doing a form of seasonal kitchen out of Grain and Grill as I feel like there is a lot more that can be had from that location. I just wish we had a lemon herb chicken or some form of white meat that isn't fried/processed beyond measure like the chicken tenders.

I had the shrimp po boy and pasta salad and chicken shack tenders today shrimp po boy and pasta same as last year very good hope this location is open more this year during the week it was mostly open weekends only last year. I kept going back and forth what I wanted for my second meal I wanted too try the new footlong hot dog with Mac and grippos at brewhouse but it was a pretty long line at dinner time so I decided too try too get that another day

It did. Check a little higher... 👀

I’m pretty sure that’s what they were doing when I was up there it was either that or they were doing every other buggy. I saw AT LEAST 6 or 7 buggies move forward with nobody on them before I got up but there would be one loaded in between 1 or 2 not loaded I kept thinking too myself why are they not loading every buggy, why are they skipping buggy’s so I don’t know maybe they were doing that or doing something just that moment I was up there for about 5-10 minutes

I actually liked it. Sometimes the soy beef was very dry and this had a good taste and was very tender. The pork was very good today too.

They were not doing that when I rode earlier in the day.