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As we get closer to the end of Haunt and into the holiday season, I wanted to start a thread for construction updates. On 10/23/22 I took several pics of the area to get a pre-Adventure Port snapshot of the area. You will find it in our galleries called: Adventure Port Pre-Construction. Bellow is that gallery. Please use this thread to post your construction pictures and updates as we finish up the 2022 season and look forward to Kings Island in 2023!

This is all posted by memory. I might have missed a thing or two, but you'll get the general gist. There was originally a bell sound and a long train whistle when you entered the first tunnel. This tunnel was supposed to be a like a "dynamite" tunnel I believe - with kegs of black powder in it. There was also mist (not fog as some seem to think) along the section of track just after the train left the station and passed under the queue line bridge. It was sprayed out of misters hoses attached to the side of the track. You would then drop out of the mist down and into the first tunnel. There were animal sounds, most notably monkeys. I believe the second tunnel used to have a long snake in it, and of course always had the spears darting in and out of the "ruins." There were some smaller cobras that used to move around too. There was music/creaking sounds played on the first lift. The third tunnel was the "lava" tunnel and had a flickering/glowing red light effect and (I think) more mist originally. The final tunnel, obviously had the "now you will pay" statues. But the main effect was at the top, there was more mist and the large figure was animated with glowing eyes, and he tilted the basin he is holding and a minor amount of water poured out onto riders. The mist at the beginning and the water pouring onto the train at the end disappeared about the same time, I believed it had to do with rusting track. Back in 1998 they had to replace a few sections of track - which I think they have done again since. Its important to note, however, although most of the theming has gone by the wayside in the past 30+ years, it was never on par with something like Big Thunder Mountain etc. The theming on AE was always sparse, and you went by it so quickly a lot of it got overlooked by riders. Shaggy

The Racer. Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

I'm willing to bet that Slingshot foundation removal is at least part of O'Rourke's contract. Those are some serious foundations as they had to hold everything secure with the spring box at full compression/tension plus the actual ride cycle.

Hopefully the park puts a webcam up for this and gives us of updates on Social media. I'd like to see them do a YouTube construction series

A unique view of Diamondback from Madame Fatale’s queue

Jack. Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

Waiting to get the fun started at Soak City

The big thing for me about Haunt this year is the awful music selection. To me, the use of music really sets the tone for Haunt and adds huge amounts to the overall atmosphere. The death metal at rope drop and basically using standard music used in the summer made it feel less like Haunt and more like it feeling like a typical night at the park that just happened to have Haunt elements which didn't blend.

Wasn’t there a bell once too? Way back when.

Not that CF has used non royalty free music before (IE WindSeeker). Most of the music from TRTR came from paramount IPs. Such as the preshow ambient music, that is actually a snippet from the show Survivor. The only music Cedar Fair owns outright is the ride music, preshow video music, and the loading drum beat as those were created for the ride by Rob Portoff and the park owns that music. Same idea as IMA score. While I would love to see the old outdoor queue music for TRTR to make a return to this area it is music from the (old) Tomb Raider movie, (old) Jumanji, and the film Baraka. I have attempted to try and upload the indoor and outdoor queue music on YouTube but alas the music police always remove the audio. I'm not against the idea of using the music from TRTR though. It would work perfectly for this area!

Guess I'll take a shot

I don't mind the tree going up. I see it as advertisement for Winterfest. The way weather is around here I say do it while you can. Plus there is a LOT of stuff already up around the park if you know where to look (it's just hidden better).

Well-the tree is up so I guess it’s time for hallo-mas. There is NO REASON such a visible element for one event is put up totally blocking a key element for another event. That tree should be the first thing they do AFTER haunt. There seem like way more “easily hidden” things that could be done and ready to go. It’s just terrible show.

I think you might be referring to the loop that was played on the stretch of track before the first tunnel. If so I think I found the sound at 0:20 of this video. I believe there was a rainforest style loop that played up until a few years ago including a bunch of various train whistles and sounds. Rainforest Sounds Loop

The Flight of Fear one is interesting…but the slime one is pretty lame (imho)…once it’s off of the card it will not make a bunch of sense…they should have skipped that one since they couldn’t put Nickelodeon’s name on it.

This is more of a fan fiction so bear with me. Full disclosure, I don’t think that all of what I’m about to say will happen; if any of it at all. Starting off with the updated que, I would put some posters along the line, similar to what you see when you are in line for Mystic Timbers. Here I would do a lot of callbacks to past attractions, as well as tie-ins to other Cedar Fair properties. I would keep the Tomb Raider queue music, but I would also add the outpost five and Station master audio prepping you for your journey. I don’t really know what work could be done to the station interior but adding a few crates and other enhancements: again taking some ideas from Mystic Timber’s station. Regarding the coaster itself, I would put a lot of changes in the tunnels. The first tunnel would include enhanced audio and maybe some vines of sort hanging from the wooden beams. The second tunnel is where it would get interesting. In the second tunnel, I would add a block section that would stop the train entirely. I would have somewhat of a midcourse show scene or story telling audio before ascending the first lift hill (again, fan fiction.) The third tunnel would feature a bunch of spiraling red and orange lights underneath the track to give the illusion of lava. Then finally, we get to the fourth and final lift hill. I would first focus on the animatronics and make sure that they are all working and maybe light them up a little better. After the end of the final lift hill, I would enclose the final break run/storage section (Again, very similar to Mystic Timbers) and have one final show scene before entering the station. This idea pretty much borrows elements of theming from Backlot Stunt Coaster with the mid course break run and Mystic Timbers with the enclosed rides, storage area, providing an extra scene for riders. The only problem with this idea is that you would need to operate all three trains, and to my knowledge they haven’t operated three trains for quite some time with the third one just being used for parts. Train one would be in the station waiting to dispatch, train two would be either ascending the final lift hill or waiting long the final break will run in the final show scene. Meanwhile, the third train would be on the midcourse breakrun scene before the first hill. Again, this is purely be fanfiction, and I don’t think the park would go through all that trouble, especially with commissioning a third train, but it would be cool.

Ok visited Six Flags Over Texas (10/10/22) and here's my thoughts/experience 1. This park is SO CONFUSING to navigate. The Dallas/Ft Worth airport was easier to get around than the park was! I got lost/couldn't find the entrance for a ride on 3 separate occasions. Even the employees couldn't tell me where the entrance to Titan was! 2. Plagued by typical Six Flags understaffing issues. They really need to start fixing some of that. Judge Roy Scream and Mini Mine Train were both closed the entire day and countless flat rides weren't open either. If Six Flags doesn't want to be the Walmart amusement park chain and wants to start charging Busch Gardens and Dollywood prices, they absolutely MUST have all the rides that are able to operate open. 3. They don't get enough credit for their unique coaster collection...I was actually surprised In the diversity of coasters and thrill levels. This was a really good lineup. New TX Giant was a great RMC and I didn't mind that it doesn't have inversions. Titan while not a traditional hyper is still a good ride and one of only two giovanolla hypers. Shockwave is the #1 Schwarzkopf coaster I've ridden and the back row ejector airtime is rivaled only by pheonix at Knobles. Runaway Mountain was a really neat premier rides indoor coaster and La Vibora was my second (and preferred) bobsled credit after Flying Turns at Knobles. Runaway Mine Train was really good for an early arrow mine train and had great pacing and 2 awesome tunnel sections and of course the saloon! The clones (Mr Freeze, Batman, Pandemonium, Joker Freespin) were all running smoothly and were enjoyable as well. 4. The ride ops were really good! Most six flags parks don't have enough ride ops and Over TX seemed to be short staffed but the ops they did have were working hard with a smile on their face. For example, Six Flags Over GA has 5 ops in station and 2 for seat assigning/fast pass line and all 7 seemed to have got up on the wrong side of the bed. Over Tx had 2 ops working Shockwave who were super energetic and were giving high-fives plus they were dispatching trains WAY faster than GA was on Mindbender. The Shockwave ops needed the employees of the year award they were so good! This is probably my last out of state amusement park trip for 2022. Making my list for 2023....any suggestions?

Someone seems annoyed.

It would be simple LOL. Just swing the Banshee cam that is looking at Orion and swing it back to Banshee LOL (might need to angle down a little and maybe to the right, but it probably was close)

The restored Carousel and Wurlitzer 157 4/29/2022

That's a perfect way of putting it. While it never had the level of the Orlando Parks, for KI, it's always had its charm and beats many attempts made by other regional parks. Also, Arrow Mine Trains have always had their charm, but I feel Adventure Express takes this another level with it's theming and character. While maybe not a Beast level night ride, the terrain style coaster gives amazing night rides. I hope KI can bring back some cool lighting effects on the tunnel, as well as on the arches, but at the same time the dark forest atmosphere is part of what makes it an interesting night ride

Yes! I am so excited for Adventure Port. I was looking for signs of progress when I went Sunday, but I didn’t see anything new except for the billboard by Coney.

Deleted

If you renew all of your 2022 add ons are valid until the end of Winterfest. Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

I think this will be a great addition to KI. As much as I hate to see Octoberfest go, it seems phasing it out has been happening over the years. I do like suggestions that I have read about including it more in the International Street part of KI. Seems very fitting and I would love to see it become more international like it was, years ago.

My son and I visited SFoG on 8/28/2022. This is our "home" SF park and visit here about once a month. Unfortunately, Acrophobia is closed for the day. Twisted Cyclone always opens early before the park officially opens. This RMC is one of the better ones. These smaller RMC retrofit coasters are much more re-ridable than larger ones. Dare Devil dive coaster capacity is very low so that wait time is normally quite long. I always try to ride this early. Mindbender is my favorite Schwarzkopf coaster over Scorpion at BGT, Revolution at SFMM or Sooperdooperlooper at Hershey. This is much smoother since refurbishment in 2021. I love Goliath. This almost hyper B&M coaster has been growing on me. I love the double helix and triple airtime hills at the end. This coaster is getting somewhat rattly. Batman the Ride and Superman Ultimate Flight are clones of the rides at other SF parks. I do find this Batman to be more intense than others for some reason. Great American Scream Machine was retracted this year and much smoother. I wish they kepted 3 row PTC trains for this coaster. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable wooden coaster. This park needs some TLC and in need for a new coaster. Many rides need new paint job. One positive is that it was cleaner than my other visits to this park. This park certainly has potential. There are some unique coasters along with good flat rides. They do need to expand the kiddie section.

#33 and #34 Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

Yea they are the only ones in there own contest... no one else is even considered...the basically just make a story and pay the news folks to run it lol

They could of been, or a train whistle sound? Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

Station master returned, the flashing light return on Track 2 closed sign first tunnel. Audio restoration throughout the ride. Final lift restoration. Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

I love the addition last season of the Tomb Raider loading drums in the station. The downside is that it's difficult to hear, with the other outside noise and FunTV. An updated sound system would really help. I would also love some themed music in the queue line itself. I don't know how copyrighted it is, but I wouldn't mind them recycling some of the other TR:TR soundtrack pieces:

I wonder if this area will get a show similar to Kings Dominion's Lets get Wild. Looking at one of the pictures of the renderings, it looks like there is an art designed circle in the midway across from Sol Spin that looks similar to the circle lets get Wild sits on.

Ngl this what telling a drunk person to build a Ferris Wheel would look like But on a serious note, this honestly looks really fun and I can't wait to ride it!

I think we will get the 48 person version like this one.

Ok so at first, I was thinking why the heck are they talking about moving a 30+ year old ride? Like either leave it alone or tear it down for something better.... however your art here has sold me on the idea. Tear down the monstrosity of an eye sore previously known as The Crypt and move Congo Fall over to Rivertown. Looks amazing but sadly this will probably never actually happen.

Watch Beverly Hills Cop III and it will really make you scared of the chains.

I have always found it very difficult to put into words the "feel" that KI had in the '70's & '80's. Its like there needs to be a new word created to encapsulate it all. The park was, indeed, magical back then. There was a mystique to it, and excitement, a vibe. As a kid, just riding down the interstate and seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance sent hearts racing. Going there was on the same level as Christmas morning. That having been said, although they can never replicate that same feel (so much of it had to do with the era, quality of life, and general persona of the public then), I do think that current management has made great strides to bring back certain components that made KI great all those years ago. It has a much better "vibe" than it did, say, 15 years ago.

That’s truly all I’m saying. If people take it as criticism of them or their team personally it isn’t. It’s more of a comment on the amount of funding and resources the park and corporate are giving to these type of events. It’s simply not enough, and my point is they are pushing these as the “new drivers” for attendance and pr cap spending, yet not properly funding them in a way that makes set up and transitions effective

To be fair, I feel like your implication is that the issues listed had something to do with incompetence or malfeasance (although I do not know if that’s your intention, but it reads that way.) That’s likely not the case. Look at the holistic situation: you had the relatively small decor team trying to simultaneously take down 50th stuff, plus do the massive feats of setting up Haunt and Tricks and Treats. I can tell you that these people work long, hard hours to get the changeover done. They do a great job. Some things are out of the control of the park. For example, I remember someone having to rush two flame heads up to the park from the Reds smoke stacks (yes - that’s what those are) because there are only so many to go around. They barely got it installed in time for the opening ceremony. If they hadn’t, it would have been an understandable situation but the park may have looked unprepared if two of the totems didn’t work. Plus, there’s third party stuff. Ever wonder why the 50th cartouche is still on the tower during Haunt? Doesn’t that look out of place? The company hired to take it down couldn’t make it out in time for opening day of Haunt. Is that the park’s fault? Does that make the park unprepared? What about the labor? No one wants to work. It’s hard enough to get and maintain Haunt actors, how is this year any different, if not far far worse? On a side note, anyone who thinks that Haunt’s budget was slashed (no pun intended) from last year is out of their minds. Have you not seen the two new shows? Love them or hate them, they’ve spent more on shows this year than they have in a while. The cost of those is far more than any maze. Also, I’m going to go out on a limb and say I’m glad a lot of the fog is gone. How did we have it as long as we did with the crowds… and types of crowds that Haunt attracts. A lot of the set pieces and scenery for Haunt is really creative and cool. You can’t see it with the fog. I know I’m probably unique in that though, but that’s okay.

Found! It was Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park. Mods feel free to delete this if needed or keep it for anyone else looking for it

I’d love to see what they can do. Talk about a dream. Phantom Theater may have been the best ride in the history of the park. What a treat. You kids have your Orion. I’m ready for my slow moving Phantom Theater.

Or how about sticking with R&R Creative Amusement Designs…they designed the original and are still in business.

Killer topic bump. Kings Island is severely lacking in the dark ride department. It’s a glaring issue given the history of their past dark ride attractions leading up to Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. In turn, Boo Blasters comes across as pretty lame. It’s not the worst dark ride on the world, but in comparison to the former occupants of the space it certainly doesn’t live up to the standards of the past. So… what would I do? Well, I don’t know if Planet Snoopy is the ideal location for a traditional, haunted house style dark ride. The space would be prime for a sort of revival of The Smurf’s Enchanted Voyage but with the Peanuts characters. Each scene would highlight the different seasons/holiday celebrations. It’s a great concept that would highlight the popularity of the Peanut TV specials. I’m posting they could include the shooting aspect of the attraction since it seems to be popular enough. Who wouldn’t want to shoot Snoopy? A second dark would do well in Coney Mall. This could cover the haunted house gap left by the removal of Boo Blasters. It could be generic, or tied in with an IP. RL Stine has a storied history with the park. It’d be cool to see either an original or existing story adapted into a dark ride. This is from 2008, but I’d be curious to see if Sally has the ability to create these attractions: https://www.attractionsmanagement.com/index.cfm?pagetype=products&subject=product&codeID=90873 All that said, I’d rather them develop their own idea: They’ve showed with Mystic Timber’s and Orion that they can sort of take a stab at themed attractions. They do have an issue when it comes to story telling. To this day, I honestly couldn’t tell you what the story behind those rides are supposed to be. So if they were to create and original dark ride, they’d have to put work in creating not only and impressive experience, but also a cohesive and easily understandable story to go with it. And for the love of god, screen based attractions are not the way to go. No one is expecting Disney level quality attractions at a seasonal chain park, but not everything has to be screen dominant. It’s possible to create a fantastic dark ride without them. Or at least without the ride being 90% screens. A fantastic example of a classic dark ride that’s considered one of the best in the country: Also, Sally is capable of doing incredible work if you look beyond Boo Blasters: A high caliber dark ride would do well at Kings Island.

2 words - Sky Ride