Hawaiian Coasters 325

Anyone else find the mess of old/new concrete in and around Planet/Camp Snoopy an eyesore? While I think replacing old concrete is a good thing, I wish the park spend a little more money last year and replaced all the concrete in Camp Snoopy with the brownish stamped concrete that they put around Soapbox Racers.

Probably would go to the skyflyer area to see what if any activity is going on to warrant a Decoding 2026 thread lol.

Totally agree! I think the best way is to do something like AlpenFury where the turnaround is near the entrance plaza, but it doesn't go over the entrance plaza like Leviathan does. I say put the station where Skyflyer was and then have the booster launch go into the Congo falls area and that's where the main launch would be and the layout would be along the left side of the parking lot area with the turnaround right up against the sidewalk (left of Invertigo).

Looks like the media got a tour of the construction site and a sneak preview of what's in store for Soak City this year. https://www.wlwt.com/article/inside-look-soak-city-expansion-kings-island-new-water-ride/64356266

I don't know for sure, but as of right now there are no concerts planned at Carowinds for 2025. In this article from right before the concert series last year, it mentions that depending on how successful the event was, they were planning on bringing it back in 2025. https://www.charlotteobserver.com/charlottefive/c5-things-to-do/article289514660.html It's also very likely that corporate just doesn't want to host concerts going forward as they are very costly to put on and the fact that parks like Carowinds and KI are surrounded by concert venues. It probably makes better financial sense to focus on new rides, food festivals, and live shows and leave the large concerts to the PNC Pavilion or Riverbend.

Unfortunately I think 2023 was the final one. I feel it was probably only brought back as a last resort for Timberwolf after the 2022 concert series flop. I guess Koontz fought hard to bring it back as it was pretty popular for local church groups, but I'm guessing he lost that battle to corporate in 2024. It also seems like the Carowinds concert series flopped as they aren't planning another round of concerts at that park either. I'm guessing Timberwolf has hosted its last concert and the plan is to use it for Music in the Parks and then eventually demolish it when they find a better use for the land. Also, the Spirit Song website is gone and if you type in spiritsongfest.com you get this error:

The first slide piece was installed on RiverRacers! From KI's Facebook and Instagram story

Nope. I've been single for the last 22 years of my life which is my whole life lol.

No bc I have zero inside information lol.

AlpenFury I believe got a late start as Moosehorn Falls took forever to complete and I believe the same company who did the foundations for that did AlpenFury's foundations.

I've seen people propose on top of the Eiffel Tower as the view is very nice especially during dusk. I also think during the fireworks anywhere, but especially on I Street is great too!

I totally agree. If they can't get a waterslide and a kids area renovation done and ready to open by Memorial Day weekend when they literally have the River Racers structure complete and slide pieces in the parking lot right now, then it's probably time for the head of construction to step down or if it's the construction company's fault, don't work with that specific company again. If I were the park/corporate I would set specific guidelines to have new attractions ready by opening day and if they don't meet those guidelines, I would wouldn't use that company again unless they can prove they can meet the guidelines presented when the contract was signed. Unless maybe, it's out of their control which we don't always know the circumstances. This goes with other parks in the chain too, especially Carowinds as them not having their Camp Snoopy area expansion done right now is completely inexcusable especially since the attractions these new rides replaced didn't even operate last year and the plans were filed last spring if not earlier. They had plenty of time to start construction earlier last summer and they didn't start vertical construction on Racing Railway until winter.

^^Memorial Day weekend is "technically" the start of summer as that's usually when pools and water parks open. However, KI labeled Camp Snoopy as opening in late Spring which ended up being Memorial Day weekend and for the Adventure Port rides being open sometime in the summer and Cargo Loco and Adventure Express opened Memorial day weekend so you never really know.

According to the KI website, the new stuff should be ready for the opening of Soak City Memorial Day weekend (obviously always subject to change) https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/soak-city-opening-weekend

Carowinds has seemingly cut Summerbration from their 2025 events lineup without an announcement https://www.carowinds.com/events

My main question is will they be leveling that grass area that it's going in and pouring concrete and/or adding turf for this or will they just be setting it in the grass? I also wonder if this is where the live music stage will be. Also if it is well received I wonder if they'll keep it for Carnivale too.

Hopefully they're moving the event away from the Festhaus area. I feel like it would be better to keep Food and Wine around the Tower/Carousel area

^^KD I believe built a stage in their Soak City for live music a few years back. I've honestly said Soak City should have live music especially on heavy busy days (ie Memorial Day weekend, 4th of July, most Saturdays in June/July).

I have long requested the park do a bands in residence program. I have several friends who are in bands around the general area (I was a part of School of Rock in Mason for about 3 years so I have connections) and I'm sure they would love the opportunity to perform at KI. Hifi Honey and River City are nice, but I think more local bands in the spring time would be great! Like @Losantiville Mining Co. said, they should consider putting in permanent stages for something like that and tbh KI sorta has that already with the Festhaus (where Hifi Honey performs in the spring) as well as the Bandstand. There's also the LaRosas patio in Rivertown as well as the little gazebo by Diamondback.

As much as I love Holiday World's water coasters, I understand why the park didn't go that route. I feel like with the budget the park was given for this project, they wouldn't have been able to add the other improvements planned to Soak City had they gone with a larger water coaster like Holiday World has

I'd prefer they leave laser tag arenas to laser tag venues around town (ie Main Event) However if I were running the park and was required to install a laser tag arena, I would put it in Area 72 in probably the Chaos building and give it an alien/paranormal activity theme.

I feel like they had one years ago in the building that was demolished for Coney BBQ.

As much as I love the year a new coaster opens, it's probably more fun the season before when construction is going on. 2019 was such a fun season with the construction of what became Orion with the updates from the tower and the teaser campaign. It probably would've been better had the layout not get leaked though as we ended up knowing the layout beforehand which ruined the surprise, but it was still fun speculating the name, theme, and official stats. I was living out of town during Mystic Timbers decoding/construction but I remember following it on social media and that looked like a fun season as well. Banshee I have very little memory of it outside of a few pre announcement videos. All my memory is the animation videos and vertical construction.

Thats a no for me. I could get behind a scream n swing or even a super boomerang (which would make up for a potential loss of Invertigo. But id rather not a free spin.

Another thought if the Vekoma rumor is true is that back in August KI sent a survey with an option for a Peanuts "interactive dark ride" likely replacing Boo Blasters. While scrolling through Vekoma's portfolio, I noticed one of their attractions options is a "D-Ride Interactive Dark Ride" and the description sounds pretty similar to the description KI put out in the Peanuts dark ride survey. https://www.vekoma.com/media-based-attractions/d-ride-interactive-dark-ride Also since I don't think this would be that expensive of an investment, it could be part of a package of new attractions for 2026 like a Madhouse in the Crypt building or even an S&S scream n swing replacing Skyflyer.