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Cedar Point is gearing up for their 2026 season that begins on Saturday, May 9th. There are no new rides or roller coasters for 2026, but the park has nonetheless been working to improve things across the peninsula. The folks at the City of Sandusky are hard at work constructing a new roundabout at the intersection of Cedar Point Drive and US-6. It is expected to be mostly completed by Opening Day. The 2026 Park Map has been uploaded to their website (https://qr1.be/LYDT) with some nice changes compared to the 2025 map PDF. Instead of a purely phone-oriented PDF that's very tedious to scroll through, the new map is designed to fit on a large sheet of paper. All rides are now listed on page 2 with their requisite height and safety information. The regular season entertainment offerings are also listed (see the image below). There is only one new show, but it seems everything else has returned from 2025 including the Henceforth Comedy shows in the Palace Theater. I will certainly be trying to go see their Country Crossroads show now that Kings Island's has been replaced. Some comparisons with the 2026 lineups and map from Kings Island: I really wish KI could have more entertainment offerings than just 4-5 shows that don't run longer than a month. If Kings Island really is "the family park" then why doesn't it have more that the whole family can do together? Cedar Point's map has trees, which would be so nice to have back on KI's online map. It would also be really nice to have the paper maps back in the park, but I don't see that happening if we're not getting physical passes back either. If John Reilly wants to know an easy way to improve guest experience, getting guests off of their phones with those would be amazing. The new Barrels and Bites event looks like it'll just be a reskinned Food & Wine Festival like the Brew & BBQ event at Canada's Wonderland. Another thing I'd still love to see come from Cedar Point to Kings Island (because there are still things that they can learn from each other) is a dedicated sensory quiet room in each of the First Aid locations. The legacy Six Flags parks were certified as autism/disability friendly, which would be good to have at KI.

I have had mixed feelings about fireworks over the last 8 years and have generally come to mainly dislike them for how loud they are, especially after some of the neighbors started spamming fireworks many nights in 2024 which continued last year as well. If they do cut the fireworks, that would be a shame but at the same time, the drone shows look really cool and there have been studies on the disruptions fireworks have on the likes of pets and wild animals such as the development of trauma.

The current Living Liberty Bell planter does look like it was installed as a Winterfest tree spot, but looking through historical imagery I don't think it lasted very long. Either way it looks much better now with all of the new plantings. Google Earth shows a tree there in 2017, but a real tree seems to have been planted there a few years later. It's hard to believe that next year will be 10 years since Winterfest 3.0 began. If the event makes it to 2030 then it will be the longest running KI Winter event.

I was telling @teenageninja this after our first ride, but if I’m being honest—I miss Boo Blasters.

Wasn't that originally a foundation for a WinterFest tree? I wonder if the delays on Zephyr are because they were busy working on Monster, because Zephyr is always ready at open.

Officially, yes. Carowinds has their Boo Blasters in their Crossroads area, Kings Dominion's is officially part of their International Street (though the 2026 map has it listed under their Planet Snoopy Rides list), and Canada's Wonderland has theirs fully inside Planet Snoopy. I believe the distinction is more or less an issue of being "officially" part of an area as opposed to general proximity. Phantom Theater, SDatHC, BBoBH, and PT:ON have all been a part of International Street. Even with the Peanuts exclusivity clause saying the parks cannot place other IPs in their Peanuts areas, the Boo Blasters rides might be grandfathered into the areas since a) they're not a major IP like Scooby-Doo and b) most of them were physically separated from the Peanuts IP on a map.

Wasn’t Boo Blasters considered IS as well?

Yes but this predates Snoopy, this goes back to the original Phantom Theater when it was built and considered part of International Street even though it was mostly in Hanna-Barbera Land

A day of rides, animals, water park fun, and a Chris Janson concert? Wild Adventures is turning its 30th anniversary into a full-scale family getaway. Details: https://themeparksbydon.com/chris-janson-wild-adventures-concert/

The Peanuts company wants to keep Planet Snoopy exclusively Peanuts

You got it. He was an audience member in the Pepper’s Ghost scene. His look was inspired any Andy Warhol.

I've been trying to figure something out for a few years now and realized I can just ask y'all. Who is this gentleman from the original Phantom Theater? The only character I could think it would be is one of the audience members during the Pepper's Ghost scene. His static, non-exaggerated face tells me that he wasn't any of the main cast.

I thought I mentioned that I understood that, but yes. I figured they might mention fireworks being nearby as part of flying conditions. Most of my worries stem from the lack of announced entertainment offerings. We've been close to losing the fireworks before so it's not entirely out of the question, especially as Six Flags continues to cut costs.

Maestro is allergic to dogs.

This is from the drone person. He is not looking for pyrotechnics people, but drone specific. This would be akin to seeing a job posting for a clarinetist in a musical, but seeing no mention of a Hilda Bovine in said ad. The fireworks could be cut. They could erect a second observation tower beside the original. But in both scenarios, the chances are low.

I know this has been discussed before but why is Phantom Theater considered part of International Street when the ride entrance and most of the entire ride is in Planet Snoopy?

Rozzi Fireworks is looking for a local drone pilot to help with the nightly drone show at Kings Island beginning May 22nd. The post didn't mention anything about fireworks, but it's entirely possible for that to be a result of the job not requiring interactions with any fireworks rather than it being a sign that the fireworks have been cut for 2026. The starting date lines up with the beginning of 10PM closures. I'm a little worried that this will be the year we lose the fireworks, especially since there's not much official information available from the park on entertainment offerings. Most of the stuff we know about is either from Brad Ross' posts and signage around the park that only says show names and start dates. Source: Jonas Jakeway on Facebook.

There were a ton of $50+ hoodies in every store I looked in last weekend. I really want to get one of the nice button down shirts that they keep adding, but there's no way I'm going to pay more than $60 for a shirt like that. I'd love to know what the markup is on those compared to the production cost. They seem like a nice quality, but I simply can't justify that high cost. My thought process on upping the drink plan cup size is that it would lower some costs while lowering the amount of possible redemptions per day. I'm fine with the current model though. I'd be open to seeing a higher cost for the all-season drink bottle if they switched that one over to a "mug" like Dollywood has. Theirs at least look like they're higher quality. Something that keeps drinks colder for longer and is generally sturdier would be good if Six Flags wants to increase the quality for that. I hope they do keep the meal plan around as-is. What they could do is bring the 1-meal dining plan to more parks, but that might result in even more people purchasing them overall. Upping the price (maybe to $200/per all season meal plan) would definitely generate more money for Six Flags and could help them move toward slightly higher quality food items. IMO there's not a ton they can do about the Sysco food products since the commercial food supplier game seems to have less players every few months. Maybe they could get higher quality Sysco food, but from what I've heard that's about it unless they want to change suppliers entirely.

The multiple voice lines in the previous Phantom Theater was absolutely a strength of that version. I was hoping for that to show up in this version so the story would feel less canned and more robust. That repetition ended up being a huge detriment to Boo Blasters because the audio was a) poorly timed and b) well heard throughout the ride, so you never really felt like the show was tailored to you. They definitely fixed the timing on this go around, but I do yearn for some variety.

I absolutely agree with the voicelines. I think Larry at the beginning is also noticeable. I think more voicelines and having the animatronics run on a loop instead of being triggered would work nicely. I believe they’re triggered because SDR is more familiar with that style of dark ride instead of the omnimover. It seems constantly running animatronics are better suited for the omnimover.

I will continue to say that the merchandise is priced too high....I'd venture to say, they'd sell even more if the prices were brought down. Do I buy a $48 shirt (spitballing atm) or do I buy a snack at Sweetspot for much less?

I'd rather keep the current drink plan. Especially on hot days. As for the meal plan, I really would rather they keep it since that helps make for a smooth and easy trip without having to budget that cost into my day. They could raise the price if they needed to and it would still be an incredible value for anyone who chose to purchase it. Things are priced far too low, period. If they raised the prices some that would help offset costs on their end and also enhance the quality. Then if the math mathed, they could lower the price some for those who don't have the meal plan to where it falls into some reasonable range.

When did they add Garbonzo standing behind the Gargoyle that wasn’t there opening day?, actually never mind maybe it just wasn’t working when I went but it was there!

I think it wouldn’t really work since it’s Maestro’s line that’s meant to be menacing, and “Are you ready to be an usher? It’s 10 minutes until showtime!” is already iconic due to the excessive amount of times it’s repeated. I would give it at least a month before saying that the music or any effects are absent (even though my quote omissions feel like something that wasn’t built into the ride.) They’ve been adjusting the audio to address guest feedback, and hopefully they’ve taken notice of the lower volume of the music since multiple people have commented on that. I think the original theme should be playing during the “dressing rooms” and storage area sections of the ride, and the audio is too low for most guests to hear.

The lack of a full musical underscore throughout the ride is one of the most curious design choices of Opening Nightmare. We should absolutely be hearing a big full version of that iconic theme by the time the ghost notes return to the Maestro's organ as a finale.