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Forgive me for a grumpy old man post... If I'm being totally honest, I'm really indifferent to what coaster comes next. It's going to be what it's going to be. There are great coasters and not-great coasters of literally any size out there. I don't care what it is as long as it's fun. That being said, I'm kind of hoping the next coaster is over 300 feet tall. (I'm really tired of the g-word, haha.) It's not because there's some "hole" in our lineup, but because the discussion about Kings Island getting one is overtaking every corner of enthusiast discussion here and elsewhere. That level of excitement is not unusual in years where there are teaser posters (I was here in 2008, 2013, and 2016--I remember), but this is some next-level stuff. We already decided what we're owed from the park years before there being any hint of construction. That's a recipe for disappointment and outrage whenever the next announcement happens if it's not what we've rallied ourselves behind. I don't know that there's any correlation, but I feel like there was a shift in enthusiast culture in the last couple years when everyone and their dog decided to make a coaster news YouTube channel/Facebook page/Twitter/Instagram/Myspace/series of smoke signals/Broadway play. With those seemed to come this attitude of "more coasters, more height, more speed, nothing is enough!" It's become a bit like living in one of those Ride Warriors commercials from 2009. That attitude change has brought a lot of "discussion" that involves a lot of cutting comments and polarized beliefs--if the park isn't announcing a coaster, then what's the point of having an announcement, amirite? Why do parks bother with B&M when Intamin and RMC make way better rides? Why do parks bother with Intamin and RMC when B&M makes more reliable rides? Why do parks bother with wooden coasters at all when RMC makes more intense rides? Why WOULDN'T the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Epcot be a giga? There's less and less room for nuance or opinion or appreciation for charm, and the pitch is only climbing from here. Carowinds could burn to the ground and (what feels like) the growing majority of people wouldn't mind as long as Fury was still standing. I think the conflicted response within the enthusiast world to the Antique Cars' return is very symptomatic of this change. Had they done that five or especially ten years ago, I think the response would have been more unanimously and enthusiastically positive. That's a bit sad to me. Parks are more than their coasters. But, like, that's my opinion, man. To be clear, I'm not blaming the staff here or anywhere else for any of this. I think this is bigger than them. I just really miss the days when we liked Holiday World for more than just Voyage, y'know?

Not to make fun of you, but this wording made me laugh. I think it's because it gave me the idea of there being a band of Mike Koontz impersonators out there in the world making wildly inaccurate rumors to enthusiasts. Like, imagine someone in one of those Mr. Six costumes walking up to someone at Kings Island, leaning in, and gently whispering, "...We're renaming Vortex to Fortnite: The Ride." Can we please agree to refer to him as The Real Mike™ this year?

KIC is an independent site from official Cedar Fair Kings Island. It has a working professional/political relationship to do this whole thing with them. They give us exclusive media and access to cover things to share with you and sometimes they ask for things to be removed or hidden. Its a give and take. We all volunteer to do this because of our love for the park. Sometimes it is fun and fulfilling, but also many times it can be quite stressful. We try and roll with the punches the best we can.

Side note: I’m so glad that the Wicked Twister removal rumors at CP haven’t come to fruition.

Will the real Mike Koontz please stand up?

Mike is not the CEO of Kings Island...that is Richard Zimmerman...Mike is the Vice President and General Manager of KI.

Mike? The kid from those LIFE cereal commercials?

Worst scare attraction in the park this year. Short staffed and the employees would rather talk to their friends then do their job.

Heard a rumor that the Reds HOF Grille was closing or being repurposed. Is this correct? Would be disappointed if true...always nice to sit and take in a few innings.

I am not sure i'd be calling people out like that on here. Maybe a read over the TOS is in need. I am not sure what kind of positive results would come from this post. Clearly @sixohdieselrage's post was in a joking manner.

Actually, The Real Mike™ stands in opposition to everything the Dippin' Dots guy has to say. The Real Mike™ only speaks truth. It's those fake Mikes you gotta watch out for. You know what? There are going to be Antique Cars at the park this year. Know how I know? I heard it from The Real Mike™.

Could The Real Mike™ be the newest "Dippin' Dot's Guy?"

Toxic Wasteland was okay, but Nightmare Alley was so much better.

When paged I help lol. Yes you can. Ticket windows are open by the time security opens an hour before the park opens. (They are the last building on the left, in front of processing and behind a switchback queue line) Go there, tell them you want to upgrade your ticket to a season pass (If you got a specific dated ticket, it would have to be that day.) And you would pay the difference in price between what you paid for the ticket itself and how much the pass is.(*ticket upgraded passes cant be put on the payment plan, just an fyi) Get there asap, especially on opening day, as when the weather lines up with opening day, sales usually has a line that builds up fast in the morning. Edit: After purchasing, go directly to processing(underneath the red awning), you'll have to fill out a data entry sheet and then you'll get your pass after taking a picture. No hats or sunglasses! [emoji14]

Paging @stashua123 for @Shawn Meyer's question!

That’s a good point, and I really hope so. The Jukebox has been looking a little worn the past couple years, but has the potential of being beautiful, especially at night.

^^^ As am I... It get's overshadowed by the great lineup there, but it's a really fun ride..

I think he’s better off going to the ticket windows. Honestly I’d call the park before opening at 513-754-5700 and ask. I imagine both ticketing and guest services may have lines on opening day so I don’t want you to waist your time either way.

You know it’s the off season when you have dreams about riding the rides at Kings Island. I have a dream that repeats all the time, but it is a good dream, and it involves the (sadly as it was my favorite ride of all time) now gone Firehawk. In this dream while on the lift hill (with the loud anti rollbacks working), the famous dragon from How to Train Your Dragon Toothless appears, and he rides the ride with me and VortexBFForever (we rode Firehawk and many rides together on my first visit to Kings Island). Somehow, Toothless followed us through every loop, and even followed us into the station for Firehawk. After the ride ops saw Toothless, and knowing nobody else wanted to ride (it was a quiet day at Kings Island in my dream), they let us ride over and over again. In my dream we rode Firehawk a total of four times in a row, all with Toothless, and all while having an amazing time (again Firehawk is my favorite ride of all time but sadly it is gone). I love having that dream! I can’t wait to go back to Kings Island in 2019! Here’s to Kings Island’s off season! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BUMP! And with a month to spare. You're welcome. When I marathon my favorite movie because I can't marathon my favorite ride. Seriously. I have already seen How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World four times in the last two weeks, and I'm about to see it a fifth time with my family next Tuesday. Like with riding Vortex, I have not gotten tired of seeing this movie!

To make it cool Their are going to add New LED fountain light too the royal fountain also I think We will see the Plants next to the royal fountain return their!

I'm stoked to see the transformation once the park opens

If it was only that easy...

I think it was to small of an area. If you remember when they had announced Wasteland we all thought it would of been in front of Mystic Timbers. Which I think would be a better location. If they add more props, and more staff it will be great. The dorms, I'm sure, will help that. They were usually spread out. When it's really foggy it's even better. Like @chad_1138 said, I liked Nightmare Alley better. Wouldn't suprise me if they get rid of it and add something else.

For what it was I thought it was ok, decoration wise I thought it was a bit repetitive...but I still had a good time when I went through it. There were a couple of scareactors who were very personable when I went through. I think every haunt has something redeeming if you look around. On a side note, it must be agony for anyone who puts their heart and soul into doing their best, only to be stuck with people who are just there to collect a paycheck...it must seem like a no win situation.

An indoor wooden rollercoaster in the style of Space Mountain? I'm down. Pointless, random factoid: Star Beast was an early working title used for Alien.

^^ You don't make sense? What are you trying to say?

Wasteland is well... I can tell is ok... and that's it a lots of complaint.

Not good. It seemed haphazardly thrown together and it was pretty ovbious where the jump scares were gonna come from.

Huh? ^ Happy Wednesday btw everyone.

I appreciate that.

I rode Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach this past summer. It was not the most intense coaster I've ever ridden, but it was still a ton of fun.

Alright all-round. IMO, it could have done better. While yes, the theme was good, the scareactors were rarely ever there and when they were, they didn't scare me that much. It could use more staff and more scares.

To be completely honest, I didn't like it at all. It felt like a waste. The theme was good...but felt the small area didn't do it justice. Also wasn't a big fan of the type of scares...what I observed was more of a prop/sound scare than jump scares. It almost felt like an afterthought. It also seemed to be rarely staffed, not sure how many scareactors there were but it felt like maybe 1 or 2.

I really like how the station is looking. I'm curious to see if Jukebox Diner gets spruced up as well since there will be more traffic in that area.

Just imagine the noises that thing makes after sitting dormant for 6 months...

I think that is going in the wrong direction. Coasters are loud regardless of their design and materials. Why would you want to built it towards your new dorms? You are eliminating space that could be used to build a 2nd dorm building, if the demand is there. I think the other way back through the trees towards the river makes more sense. 300’ is going to require a serious lift hill and that will need a bunch of space. I think this is a better idea:

Kings Island just posted some new Tweets from their Twitter page @KingsIslandPR Looks like things are coming together really nice!

If you use the area that I have circled, you wouldn't need to remove that many trees. Diamondback was built in an entire forest. I don't think they'll use the Dino's area. I personally see the Dino's area used for a forbidden frontier type of attraction or they could do a ropes course in the woods. Anyways, if they use this area, they wouldn't need to clear out that many trees. Probably just a few sections for footers.

Ugh, tell me about! I heard a certain Youtuber (not gonna name names) refer to MT as a good ride, "but more of a family-style GCI", which really doesn't even make sense considering that compared to its GCI contemporaries, Mystic actually stacks up very well stats-wise. In fact... So there you have it. Despite the often spouted rhetoric of Mystic being a statistically underwhelming coaster... its actually the second tallest GCI to date, and among the fastest. So my question is if MT is "just a family coaster" then what does make of Gold Striker, Prowler, Renegade, Lightning Racer, Apocalypse etc.? Because MT is right up there with the biggest and fiercest of them. To those who found MT underwhelming, that is fine that's your opinion. But I take you're just not impressed by GCIs in general? If so, then you could probably consider yourself apart of a quite slim minority - of both GP and of enthusiasts - that doesn't love a tried-and-true GCI.

Don't blame yourself. This issue has been bubbling up here for years. At one point mods were threatening bans for users not capitalizing ride names properly. It was directly attributed to an edict from the park. Theres been a number of other things over the years in a similar vein. This was coming at one point regardless. Theres clearly two sides to this issue(three if you count those who don't care either way). Neither is necessarily right nor is either necessarily wrong. As a customer of KI, I am not beholden to them to keep secrets nor am I stuck to their timetables for information being released. While on their property, I am required to, and do, go by their rules. While off their property, if I'm not breaking the law, theres nothing they can really do about it. I'm a paying customer. They don't pay me. Now there are members of this site who are employees of the park, and they have different rules, and I respect that. As for this site, by using this board, we are expected to abide by their rules if we want to keep using it. They have decided that the park has some level of control over what's posted here. How much control is not known to the public. I've seen glimpses of what they've been told, and by who, both posted publicly and private messages. Personally I feel it's an over-reach, but it's not my board. I, like others, would like more transparency. We've been given some vague guidelines, but no one, not even the mods, seem to know when those will change, or be applied to the more important decoding 2020 thread. If that one turns into a "wait for the park to release it" thread..... turn out the lights. As a point of comparison, the Universal and Disney parks have many boards covering them. They typically fall into two categories. One is where the boards post park press releases word for word, post glowing reviews, and generally stop any negative or "non public" info. Those are the ones where the owners get invited to media events, get comps, passes, hotel rooms, etc. The other is the ones that pretty much let anything go except clearly illegally taken photos. Those don't get recognized by the park nor any of the perks.

This is a great article...thanks for sharing. I’ve often felt the same way about any “enthusiast” community. It’s almost like people “love” something so much, they criticize it mercilessly for never being able to live up to the imaginary expectations they’ve set for it. Star Wars, Star Trek and Marvel “super fans” are very similar (when was the last time you heard a Star Wars fan say they actually enjoyed a Star Wars movie?) The Disney super fans are pretty intense too...Disneyland paints a bench a new color and people freak out :-) It’s nothing new...back in the old rec.roller-coaster days I used to read the boards and think “these people actually love coasters?” I used to read and post a lot more on this site, but for multiple reasons don’t do so much anymore. Mostly because I’m in a job now where its not appropriate, but also because after many years on the site (going way back to when it was PKICentral and was the merger of two competing ethusiast sites...I can’t recall the name of the other one), the conversations and debates never really changed. (Still, as far as enthusiast sites go, I still enjoy this one more than a lot of the others...)

This is great! What an awesome read that was. Coasters are coasters and I love every single one even if they bash my skull wide open and my spine breaks in 65 places ( im looking at you corkscrew). I love them still. I am happy that I got to ride them. it sucks a lot when people team up against others based on an opinion or what they like. Hell people get mad even if you talk about something they are not talking about at the moment. We are here to share the joy we have for coasters. We should not be against each other. Yes we all have opinions and they should be respected. You can delightfully disagree and have a civilized conversation. I would also love to ride with a person who hasn't been on the coaster we are about to get on. I can tell you this much. I have a smile on my face and laugh on every coaster I ride....good or bad. It would be a totally coring world without coasters. Lets enjoy what we have. I am also proud to be a member of this site. I think we have fun and have great conversation. We just need to respect each other and our opinions.

And going off what @IndyGuy4KI said, I think its important to remember that, as with many things, all it takes a few bad eggs to give a community a "bad reputation". I'd say the vast majority of enthusiasts are well-meaning, and positive. I'm happy to say that every time I've met up with people from here for example, whether at KI or at other parks, the experience has been great. Some of my most cherished memories at the park have been had with fellow KICers. -- Also, with regards to those "enthusiast" comments on Gwazi, I would say that YouTube commentary is not necessarily a good representation of overall sentiment, nor is it something that brings out the best in people.

I don't think anyone is being disrespectful. Most people are just asking for clarification and consistency going forward. Personally, I don't care if aerial photography is allowed or not. I just want to see consistency across projects and threads. If aerial photography is a no go, blueprints should also be a no go.

Well, this topic has derailed. I won't add anything except to say that the moderators/administrators have every right to moderate as they see fit. Reading and/or contributing to this site is not a free speech issue. The original poster (who asked for the post to be removed if not ok) was perfectly in line, and the staff was fine to ask not to post those pictures. Sometimes in life, there is grey instead of black and white. I trust the folks at the park and who run this site. I don't think I have seen this much drama on this site before, but I have only been around about 5 years.

Since this reads as though you receive directive from the park regarding their wishes 'per project'. To help people here understand, why don't you share them (directives/wishes/policies) with us directly? Make a sticky or something so people can be pointed in the right direction. People come and go on this site. To expect everyone to follow this ambigious policy and understand this ambigious relationship with the park is just a wish. Giving everyone some clearer upfront guidelines would prevent up a number of back and forth discussions under the various topics. I don't post much, but I'm a regular lurker on this site, and even I l'm confused at times what the mods consider acceptable.

I think you guys are SEVERELY over analyzing a cartoon map version that is rarely accurate for how that area is going to look.

We've got the time. You can't open the door and then not walk through.

^^Not every space at the park needs to be filled in with a roller coaster. If they do that then we just have another Cedar Point on our hands. Let’s look at what the park really does need instead of what we want. To me they need more flat rides in the adult sections of the park. They’ve taken more flat rides out of there than they did adding. The only ones added in this century was Delirium and WindSeeker. I’m not counting the Crypt/TR:TR since that’s gone now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk