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And I would honestly be shocked if Tony Carovillano isn't the same way. After all he was supervisor at Vortex during its first few years I believe. I'm honestly sure any park president who knows and understands the park doesn't want to lose any of their major rides especially when they still haven't replaced the one removed years prior.

That accidental plurality on "trains" was a typo, but oh well 😆 Onboard audio could be really nice and would add more to the experience. If a new inverted boomerang was cheap enough I think it would work out well for Vekoma, much like how the family boomerangs are. A set layout that fits on a flat, somewhat compact space might be what parks look for as the prices of other, longer coasters go up. The giant inverted boomerang is another story since it's a higher thrill model, but I think the issues of the original could be somewhat easily resolved with a fresh look at it. Standard 4-across seating (rectifying a major issue with the original), a stronger structure, and a slightly different layout would be a good start. Implementing a turntable station would also be helpful for adding capacity.

We got our second ride in yesterday morning after waiting 120 minutes. The queue seemed to flow a lot faster than it did during the passholder preview. I really wish the queue line loop was a little longer than the 20-30 minutes it has now, though. All three queue line animatronics were louder and worked nicely. The portrait hall characters and Rick (the queue instructions presenter) were also louder and easier to hear. The lights during the ride were dimmer than before but I think they could be even darker. I deliberately noticed some of the behind the scenes stuff in the dark and enjoyed seeing that. We were in the front car for this ride (we were in the back car on Preview Day) and I didn't notice the repeated lines as much, but it's still very noticeable on most of the POVs I've seen. Hilda really needs at least one more line that isn't just her screaming the singular note. I think I'd prefer something more like Madam Leota's loop during the Haunted Mansion where you can't really tell where the loop begins and ends because it's constantly running and has dialogue that doesn't repeat the same thing for each car. Houdelini is also a good candidate for receiving more voice lines since his can easily be heard from both Garbonzo and Hilda's dressing rooms. Anything that sounds like a spell or magic trick could work. I'm a little fine with some of the effects not working for now since this is only the second weekend of the ride getting full-time use, but I do hope they can fix everything in a relatively short time period. The popcorn and boiler smells weren't working during our visit, nor were the screen in the first boiler or the blast of hot air. We smelled the roses at the very end, though. I've come to some more conclusions after thinking some more about doing up the ride for Haunt/Winterfest. I still think they should record a more antagonistic queue loop (closer to the original ride) for Haunt, but for Winterfest I think they should at least put up some Christmas trees and lights. Maybe change out the popcorn smell with a pine needle smell.

This is definitely a hole that the new Six Flags (and Cedar Fair) have dug themselves into by not limiting the Dining Plan usage from the start. That said, I don't think Six Flags should limit or outright eliminate the dining plan. Legacy Six Flags attempted to do that around 2022 as part of their Season Pass structure shakeup and it didn't go well for them at all. We saw a similar backlash when the Diamond Elite VIP members' meal plans were standardized to the Cedar Fair model after years of being some form of the Premium All Day Dining Plan. If they're looking for a solution, I think the only "easy" way to lower food prices would be to raise prices elsewhere. Enchanted Parks saw the price per meal issues with their acquisition and it seems to be working because this kind of change could be expected with a new company managing the parks. The other option would be to reduce the amount of Meal Plan vs non-Meal Plan options throughout the parks over the course of a few years. That would make the plans less valuable or desirable and provide an incentive for guests to either purchase food or bring their own and eat in the car. Another question I've been thinking about is this: Would you rather have the Drink Plans stay as they currently exist (16 ounce cup every 15 min) or trade that to a new plan with less frequency (20+ ounce cup every 30 minutes)? That would remove the need for the drink plan cups and theoretically save the parks some money if guests redeem less drinks.

I was curious, so I googled this expression, which lead me to Wikipedia. It's pretty fascinating! "The phrase is thought to come from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, regarding the discovery of a recipe written by the Pontic king Mithridates to make someone immune to poison.[2] One of the ingredients in the recipe was a grain of salt. Threats involving poison were thus to be taken "with a grain of salt", and therefore less seriously. The phrase cum grano salis ("with a grain of salt") is not what Pliny wrote. Pliny's actual words were addito salis grano ("after having added a grain of salt"). The Latin word sal (salis is the genitive) means both "salt" and "wit", thus the Latin phrase cum grano salis could be translated to either "with a grain of salt" or "with a grain of wit", actually to "with caution"/cautiously.[3] The phrase is typically said "with a pinch of salt" in British English and said "with a grain of salt" in American English.[4]" Source: Wikipedia lol

Not to mention the history of KI with prototypes (lookin at you original Bat :))

I take anything Screamscape says with a grain of salt. Also idk if it would be the best idea to go with a prototype from S&S given the track record of S&S and prototypes as well as the reliability of recent S&S installations. Looking at you Maxx Force and Steel Curtain!

Has anyone else noticed that the layout in the brochure for the S&S Axis coaster seems to work with the SOB station if The Bat was removed? https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60be9a2c8c73a085920bb514/63694d27176f1e4564ae7501_Axis Brochure.pdf

Enchanted Parks has eliminated the former Six Flags dining plan and lowered the price of most food entrées by 20 to 30 percent, bringing many items back into the mid-teens after some had climbed as high as $20 to $23 under the previous pricing structure. Enchanted Parks CEO James Harhi said the decision came after reviewing more than a year’s worth of guest feedback before the acquisition closed. Food cost and food quality, he said, were among the most common complaints. Harhi concluded that menu prices had been pushed too high in part to offset heavy dining plan usage, leaving single-day guests and less-frequent season passholders to absorb much of the cost. “The math just doesn’t work long term,” Harhi said of the dining plan model at a park of this size. “While there were people who really loved it, holistically it was not the right thing for the company.”

Unfortunate that not everything is working 100%. Hopefully they are able to troubleshoot it and get it all functioning

First, let me get this wishful thinking out of my head: The clearing of the SoB station means that it will be the station for a multi-launch thrill coaster. This coaster will be more focused on the area where Timberwolf Amphitheater, Congo Falls, and Invertigo are now, so those will be retired before the Haunt stuff arrives. The reason this area is being prioritized over The Vortex plot is the fact that much of it is right by the entrance, and the entrance needs to be improved over what’s there now to make a better front gate impression. (/Wishfulthinking) I am traditionally a pessimist when it comes to a lot of things, and I firmly believe in the off year possibility. I’m talking about a Cedar Point 2026-level off year, where nothing is added and only some restrooms get renovated and a wall is removed between connecting buildings. I can’t see KI getting new flat rides in 2027, since Cedar Point could use them more (there are four spots now that could use one, and I’m not even considering the island). And I’m not sure there’s places that could use more restaurants (or Coke Stations or Dippin Dots) within the park (I haven’t been there outside of Halloween Haunt or WinterFest since 2020). And if a flat ride package or a Grand Pavilion-esque restaurant is in the park's future, that could push the new coaster back into 2029 or 2030.

I have also noticed some effects not functioning. I fully believe it's kinks that will be worked out as season goes on.

I've heard that Mike Koontz didn't want to remove anymore coasters after Vortex during his tenure. Not sure if that had anything to do with it, but he is no longer park president.

I honestly think Festhaus as a whole needs a top-down renovation.

Im amazed Invertigo survived the 2024/2025 off season to be honest. It has gotten so rough in the last few years that the last time I rode it, it was so bad I swore to never ride it again as much as Ive loved to ride it.

The Festhaus men’s restroom has been in desperate need of a refresh for several years now, The men’s near the junkyard coaster(the worst one in the entire park in my view) as well as the Soak City ones too. Its about time for an off year at this poiny.

Think you might be right…

If there's another thing I think could be changed is they should turn off the music on the pathway from I-street to Phantom Theater where the ride exit is along as well as the ride entrance area and have a spooky soundtrack or even the old wind/squawk sound effects that used to play outside the ride entrance playing there. Then transition to Vince Guaraldi music when you get into the main part of Planet Snoopy.

I can say with certainty that it’s not Larry.

Got another ride in this morning. Got to take the kid this time. Still totally love it. Wow. Seemed like everything was working well too. Only had to wait 20 minutes thanks to Fastlane. Glad to see the wait time over 100 minutes. People seem to be excited by it. Hope this sets the standard for future additions. Really special stuff. That said, the enduring mystery of the man behind the curtain between Houdilini and Hilda continues to drive me insane. You can see the feet of whoever’s back there pretty easily. That, coupled with the air blast effect makes me feel like something is definitely supposed to be there. Very odd.

Just had a change to get this together today from last Friday!

It would only be a single new train since it's still an inverted boomerang that can only run with one. I think it would be a cool touch if they did those colors for the top of the lift hills, vertical loop and the cobra roll. Depending on the budget, I think on-board audio like what's on Siren's Curse would also help add some nice theming to the attraction that you don't really have with the other coasters in the park. I don't think it's that unlikely Vekoma would bring back an inverted boomerang, considering they developed a new boomerang model like what you have with Flash at Six Flags Great Adventure. Whether or not Vekoma builds something like that depends on the demand for a new inverted boomerang model.

If Invertigo did get a retheme and new trains would you like to see the loop and/or lift hills painted with the red/orange/yellow color scheme while the rest becomes shades of black and gray? That would make it like The Bat in terms of how it got rethemed, but I'd love to see it. On another note: if Vekoma was crazy enough to design/make a new version of the Inverted Boomerang and/or the Giant Inverted Boomerang, would you want to see one come to Kings Island? Assuming this would be some time after Invertigo was removed. We've seen this with the new generations of the Tilt Coaster and the Flying Coaster, so I think it's more likely than S&S bringing back the 4D Coaster model.

The legacy version of the Six Flags mobile app had menus built into it, but I don't think any of them were nicely formatted or included prices. I suspect that the park(s) expects you to visit the Dining Plan Menu(s) through their website(s) so they don't have to go update more than one document if anything changes. It doesn't look like the Mobile Ordering feature works yet either, so it may be a while before we see a "finished" version of this app.

It appears the broken led lights on the peak of the Grain & Grill swiss building did not get fixed/replaced during the off-season.