FUN&ONLY!

Since this is a topic about the remembrance of Don Helbig, all those new ride (and event) announcements and teaser campaigns with Don Helbig and Greg Sheid back in the day were really awesome! In those days, the park would tease like crazy and hold in-person live announcements for basically all new additions no matter how small. Off-topic, but Greg Sheid is also a big reason why Halloween Haunt was as good as it was. He absolutely loved the event and helped make it one of the best Halloween events at a regional amusement park in the country. It is sad to see the event’s slow decline over the years.

I am not going to go on a rant about it (I have before), but Kings Island needs to start paying attention to detail when it comes to props and theming. It’s pathetic that Kings Island invests in custom soundtracks and theming props only to not maintain their investment. I wish Kings Island would care more about that.

This is unrelated, but is there a Vortex tombstone yet?

I think you’re being a little extreme here. We all miss Don Helbig, and it is sad that he is gone. However, why would the Kings Island employees setting up the gravestones intentionally do something like this? And why are you creating the narrative that Kings Island hates its fans? It’s not “them” against us. You kind of sound like Alex Jones saying that.

I would agree that Wildwood Grove is still probably going to be better than Kings Island’s kids area after Camp Snoopy opens, but we have to remember that Amusement Today’s rankings are not always the popular opinion. Even if Kings Island does not win back the title of Best Kids Area next year, the Camp Snoopy addition is certainly going to improve the kids area immensely. I wonder how Kings Island feels about not having a single steel roller coaster crack the top 25, though. Maybe the park’s “poor” showing in that category will drive park leadership to invest in a new steel coaster that would make the list.

Kings Island historically has fewer staffing issues compared to other Cedar Fair parks, but staffing can get rough once people head back to school. Nowadays, however, Cedar Fair will intentionally staff its parks less than it theoretically could in order to save money. For instance, Kings Island was not scheduling some employees many hours this summer, which caused them to quit to find another job where they could actually get scheduled more hours. I don’t know what the staffing situation is going to look like for Halloween Haunt, though.

It seems like all the mazes and scare zones are returning or being replaced, which is good to see. I am looking forward to seeing the new maze replacing CHAOS and the new scare zone. I am disappointed by the show occupying the International Street Bandstand, though. I feel like that location warrants a much grander show than a trivia game.

Interesting that this display was placed here as this is not a part of the area that I thought would be a part of Camp Snoopy.

The Woodstock Gliders/Snoopy’s Space Buggies announcement was in-person inside the Festhaus. The Tropical Plunge announcement was also in-person outside Soak City.

It’s VERY possible, especially depending on what is added. A kids area addition with a Camp Snoopy retheme AND a water park addition seems like a lot, but it is still possible. Maybe we will just get additions in both areas without a Camp Snoopy retheme, but I really hope Planet Snoopy is overhauled. It needs it. What is exciting about the prospect of both areas receiving something new in 2024 is that Planet Snoopy and Soak City were the two areas Mike Koontz wanted to focus on before Kings Island added a new coaster. Of course, things change, but maybe it is now more likely that we will see a new coaster in 2025.

So… do we think tomorrow will be the day?

I would disagree. Ride operators can check empty seats way faster than loaded seats on most rides because there are no guests to deal with. Most rides also don’t need to have empty seatbelts buckled, so all the operators have to do is push the restraint down. I know Mystic Timbers can get tedious with buckling the seatbelts in all the empty seats (because the seatbelts are not retractable), but two trains on that ride is pretty inefficient with the shed sequence programmed into the ride. With two trains on Mystic Timbers, operators are constantly stuck waiting for the next train to come into the station because it has to stop for a certain amount of time in the shed when the music plays (even if the station is empty).

Besides with The Bat, the only time Kings Island will intentionally run a ride with fewer trains is if it saves money on staffing (like with The Racer and the train). Running one less train on Adventure Express and Flight of Fear does not accomplish this. Therefore, I believe the issues with Adventure Express and Flight of Fear are maintenance related and not staffing related.. We saw one train ops on Diamondback in 2019 and on Woodstock Express in 2023 until maintenance got the other trains ready.

It’s sad we have to deal with all these budget cuts with attendance up 7%.

I have heard the exact same. From what I have heard, Kings Island has not been having as bad of a year as people seem to think. Unfortunately, Kings Island is still being affected by budget cuts because of the chain’s poor performance as a whole. If a park isn’t pulling its weight, Cedar Fair cannot just close down half the park to recoup costs. Instead, all parks have to suffer a little to minimize the effects across the board.

The whole park kids of feels dirty right now with the grimy midways. I don’t know how much money Kings Island saved by cutting the water truck everyday, but it feels like a poor decision. Nobody wants to be in a dirty park.

The back train position, which is needed to run a full six car train was cut as a part of the recent budget cuts. Two train operations on Sundays was also recently cut, and two train operations on Fridays was cut last within the past year.

I agree. Really it is running at 1/4 capacity because only half of one of the two trains is running at a time.

While I agree that Kings Island won’t be topping Big Bear Mountain, the family coasters (only Dragonflier was open at the time) are not the only reason Dollywood won the award. Wildwood Grove is simply much more beautiful than the tacky and outdated Planet Snoopy at Kings Island. Kings Island somehow still has the title of the second best kids area, which is crazy to me. Planet Snoopy at Kings Island looks way more dilapidated and tacky compared to even other kids areas in the chain (the Camp Snoopy’s at Carowinds and Cedar Point). I guess the Golden Ticket Awards value the classic rides and a log flume in the kids area.

I’m not sure about the black light, but some effects are definitely broken in the shed. Most of the swinging lights are dark and barely swing (if at all). The lockers also no longer bang during the shed sequence. On top of that, the audio loop on the stairs has been out for a least a year (the one that goes “There’s an old truck in the lumber mill. You got to jump start it. Get out of here! Right now!”). In addition, one of the TV’s is dark in the queue that is supposed to show the video footage and one of the speakers that plays the soundtrack is out near the Fast Lane line. I hope Kings Island fixes these things some day.

From my understanding, Adventure Express and The Bat are not on one train for cost-cutting reasons but for other reasons. I believe Adventure Express’ second train is awaiting repairs (which have been taking a long time), which is why it has only been on one train on even busy Saturdays. The Bat, on the other hand, has been occasionally running one train over the past few years. Every time I have seen it on one train was on a day with rain in the forecast, so I wonder if there are potential issues with two trains running in the rain.

This is why it sometimes pains me to criticize Kings Island for being cheap with all these budget cuts. While the park has been cutting a lot recently, I am fully aware that the budget cuts are almost entirely out of the park’s control. It is obvious that the Kings Island team is really passionate about the park and wants to operate it to its full potential. Unfortunately, Kings Island is limited by the corporate bean counters.

On top of the broken effects during the ride, some of the speakers in Adventure Express’ entrance plaza still don’t work. The audio loop in the queue line is also very quiet, and I am not even sure all the speakers are playing it.

Does anyone know why Adventure Express has been on one train for like the past week?