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good one!

I was thinking more if the park wanted to go harder on their loose articles policy. I know The Bat has bins for your loose articles now. Mandatory lockers would be really good if the parks wanted to avoid having to send a security team for guests with their phone out as much as they have been this year. Either that or adopt a policy like BGW has where you have to get your camera approved in order to carry it on a ride. The Bat and the Stunt Coaster probably don't need the lockers as much as other rides, but like I said, it wouldn't hurt to start installing them.

They dropped from second to third in the GTA for Best Kids’ Area. Not panning out is putting it mildly.

I think it was quoted in the Tower Topics episode about Adventure Port. The point was definitely repeated in another Tower Topics episode IIRC. I know I'd have regretted pulling the plug on Vortex if there was a chance it could have lasted a little while longer. At least we got to say goodbye in 2019 instead of it being ripped out without notice in 2024. The idea of something going into The Crypt building in 2026 was also heard on Tower Topics in case you were wondering. I'd personally like to see it come before the 60th for more than the general replacement timeline. I'm a firm believer that the big 10-year anniversaries should be reserved for improvements that don't take up all of a park's budget for the year. Part of me thinks Rapterra — despite being a much-needed replacement — is one of the reasons why Kings Dominion's 50th was so lackluster. It ate up some of the budget that could have gone into restoring their Carousel and repainting Racer 75 in addition to other big park improvements. Looking back at Kings Island's big 10's we've seen: 1982: Winterfest debuts as part of the 10th anniversary season. 1992: Phantom Theater debuts as part of the 20th anniversary season. 2002: Tomb Raider: The Ride opens as part of the 30th anniversary season. 2012: Soak City replaces Boomerang Bay as part of the 40th anniversary season. 2022: Kings Island receives major refreshes across the entire park for its 50th anniversary season. More things like that would be great when the 60th comes around in 2032. Maybe something coaster-related will happen for 2027 now that things are all shifted around with Six Flags. Maybe it will be 2028 or long after that. If Invertigo and Congo Falls do get removed before a Vortex replacement is installed, I don't think they'll be as noticeable as Vortex's absence has been since they can barely be seen from the parking lot and since some well-placed fences can hide their former areas. Diagram below for visualization purposes with the fencing in red. I won't call my reasonings sound, but I also think replacing one coaster is more important than immediately replacing the other. I wonder how Boo Blasters will look when the park reopens on September 19th. If this announcement comes on Thursday (as I hope it does), maybe they'll have banners up for it on the fences.

I overhead Mike saying it at the Cheesecake Factory (cross-threading)

It looked like it said the Deathly Afraid necklaces would only be sold in limited quantities. Hopefully that number is low on a night-per-night basis. Maybe Six Flags should try limiting their No-Boo sales as well and replace the lost NBN profits with another item that doesn't conflict with the purpose of the event. Halloween Horror Nights is one of the biggest and best haunt events for a reason. I hope this is not a sign that Universal will try to make it more family-friendly in the future. The strollers are already bad enough on the midways during Haunt at Kings Island, I can't imagine the literal horror of seeing them at HHN. (I don't understand why strollers are still allowed in Haunt mazes in the first place. Big bags aren't allowed, there's no reason why strollers should be allowed to enter a queue, let alone the event itself.)

Where did Mike Koontz say that? I'm not saying KI managment doesn't regret Vortex's removal since I'm sure their thought back then if you would ask them now is by 2025 a new ride would be there, but then this thing called a pandemic happened basically destroying their 5 year plan and making the ROI on a 30 million dollar investment harder to get. Then you have the merger with Six Flags come into play. I also think while the desire is to replace Vortex before putting a coaster somewhere else, if rides like Invertigo and Congo reach the end of their lives and they have no choice but to remove them, I think they'd change plans and put the next big thing there first as having a giant empty hole right at the front gate is not a good first impression. If that's the case, we may not get a Vortex replacement until around the 60th anniversary in 2032.

I doubt it'll amount to anything "worthwhile." Why hide it behind a fence with screening if people riding Diamondback can see it from above. Likely a queue or something to do with what's coming into The Crypt building.

Okay that is cute. Thanks for sharing! Mason did change the way they are shared. I had emailed and they now list the permits filed for the month....so if it was filed in June, you won't see it until July, July in August and so on. The information is not as good, but it's good enough for info.

I love the guy in the electric chair. He was really fun to see back when he was at the front entrance in front of one of the map holders. It kind of feels like Haunt really started to get too family-friendly after they removed him from that spot. I'll make another guess for that spot: a new temporary stage for Winterfest performances.

There's a big question of whether or not the Peanuts will even be in the park next year. It's likely more cost efficient to remove all of the Peanuts characters from the Kings Island than it may be to renew the licensing for all of the parks it's at. The sign shop is able to produce new signage (whether it is Looney Tunes/DC or de-themed entirely) for all of the rides until a full refresh can be budgeted for. It's not unheard of for parks to have an IP-less family area, as is the case for Wildwood Grove at Dollywood and Jr. Thrillseekers at Great Adventure. I'd personally prefer to see KI try out a non-IP themed kids area, but I can understand the issues it may have getting the idea off of the ground. He's good to watch when you need an idea for a layout in Planet Coaster I've stopped clicking on his videos for the most part, but at least the ideas are fun to hear no matter how wild the theories are. Maybe they could've taken back the Golden Ticket Award if Camp Snoopy had opened on time and taken over more/all of Planet Snoopy. I think the delayed opening is one of the reasons why Siren's Curse has no chance for a Golden Ticket (even if Epic Universe hadn't opened this year). Orion, on the other hand, might've been a product of when it opened and the fact that it was seen as barely being a giga coaster. Mike Koontz also said that the decision to remove Vortex was regretted since it wouldn't be replaced in a decent amount of time. Maybe we'll get another coaster by 2028. I'll put it back out there that Kings Island while may be a "family park", its history of thrilling and record-breaking roller coasters should not be ignored. It would not have gotten where it is today without rides like The Beast, Vortex, Diamondback, and Banshee.

May I ask where you got this information from? Also was the planned 2023 SC expansion the same that we got in 2025 and was Pipeline planned to be retired at the end of 2022 for it?

Interesting take shaggy, I just hope that if we do get a “new” PT, that it is done with TLC, it would be nice for the new generation to experience even a little of what made the original Phantom special

That's all it was... a rumor. A "new" Phantom Theater attraction was not planned for previous seasons. The waterpark expansion was supposed to be 2023. It was pushed back (first by a year, then by two) when Koontz decided an Octoberfest facelift was a bigger priority. That's why AP opened late, because it was a last minute switch and rides/theming outsourcing were not contracted well in advance as they typically are. The following year, the Camp Snoopy expansion took priority, in part, to try and regain the "Best Kids Area" title. (Didn't quite pan out.) Koontz was very up-front in that no major coaster install was planned for the forseeable future. That is because they did not see a significant return on investment with Orion. BTW - For those questioning if the Crypt building has something to do with a "new" PT... it doesn't. Boo Blasters is closing early for a reason.

That is interesting. I think that you should only go to HHN if you want to be scared. I maybe understand if it's your vacation, but HHN is meant for horror fans. I don't enjoy being scared that much, so that's why I never went to HHN. I do go to the Haunt though, but that is on a totally lower level than HHN.

Interesting to see that Universal is offering new "Deathly Afraid" necklaces equivalent to the Cedar Fair/Six Flags "No Boo" lanyards for HHN this year.

Update:

Those electric chairs always freaked me out lol. One time when I was walking past, I was like, "what's that smacking noise?" and my friend said, "oh that's just the guy in the electric chair". I looked over and saw the animatronic doing some weird motions and looked quite terrifying

Knott's Scary Farm has reportedly cut Wednesdays from the schedule for this year, along with Six Flags Magic Mountain removing Thursday nights from the Fright Fest schedule. Those dates were originally on the calendars when the events were announced.

Oh I really don't like Brandon. Not anything against the guy, just that he makes the wildest and craziest guesses that will never happen. I used to watch his stuff all the time but stopped after hearing a park was getting a giga coaster for the millionth time. Anyway, I do think two attractions in 2026 is not totally out of the realm of possibility. What would be wild is if we had two planned attractions for 2026, and then an attraction from SFA (the Zamperla Nebulaz), which would go in the Axe Throwing game plot. Probably not gonna happen though. And I don't know if there would be enough space for a flat ride and a queue line.

Theme Park Brandon also mentioned that there is fencing where the axe throwing/soccer game was. I'm wondering how that will be a part of the new experience

The clearing behind it is what has me curious. As I mentioned in another thread it could just be work on a water pipe or other utilities. There's also a chance that it could be a check-in/sales area for The Conjuring if they for some reason need that. We haven't exactly heard how getting into the experience is supposed to work, so maybe there has to be a check-in area for some reason. If the clearing in the back is for a path, I'd be curious as to why construction wasn't begun sooner. It also appears to be on a hill, while there is a perfectly flat area between the corner and the games shed that a path could've gone on. I think it would be a great spot for a water feature and/or a new activity if it's not for Haunt. I'll be sad if the electric chairs are completely gone this year, hopefully they'll still be used somewhere. Side note: I wish they'd have either gotten rid of the "exciting new offerings" bit or chosen a different design for the construction wall vinyl covers. This fence is probably the best-constructed I've seen of them being used — none of the fence panels are askew or bumped out of place — but the way the vinyl has consistently been poorly hung makes it look bad IMO. It's one of the reasons why I'd like to see wood fencing/gates go up around Boo Blasters after it closes.

Theme Park Brandon just covered this, and he brought up the idea of both a Boo Blasters replacement and a new ride in the Crypt building. Though the possible ride coming to the Crypt building might not be "new"...

I think an interesting take would be a Phantom Theater with flashlights as the “blasters” and the goal is to find the maestro and his crew hiding in the darkness

Those days are over lol. I won't message him like that again. I learned my lesson during the Orion thread lol.