CoasterJack

I assume some of their design work was also used towards SF Qiddiya (another team was the architect and designer, but from what I understand SF basically was a consultant and provided some additional design aid), so now their huge project is winding down, probably less work. Still very sad if this is the case, I've really enjoyed what the CF design team has done in the past decade or so.

Keep getting these old Vortex ads on youtube with links to buy a season pass. Makes me laugh considering the ride no longer operates, but hey I don't mind seeing some old footage of the ride.

This saturday when the ride was down I observed them looking at some of the launch infrastructure, and it occured to me they house a lot of the transformers and power components in the shipping containers nearest to the launch track as well as the storage track. So I really don't think we'll ever see them remove the shipping containers without doing some major work, they basically all either have track winding through them for the second half, or critical launch technology built inside.

Here are some more video bits I captured today. The stairs are cool as well as the red pulsing IMG_6329.mp4 IMG_6331.mp4

Yes DB still running 2 trains today. Racer still one train with only red side open, at least before noon. Park is moderately busy with 15 minute waits on most of the coasters. Lots of school groups here today Edit: Blue side opening now

Great to hear you enjoyed your trip! While I'd love to see something akin to Monsters Unchained, I know KI and SF probably don't have nearly the budget. But doesn't mean they couldn't make a great attempt slightly scaled down. No ICEEs on the drink plan is a crime with those Florida summers!

Well considering they restored/upgraded the lighting in the hanger queue, I think FoF will be sticking around for a few more years. I hope whoever put in the work for these effects can get the credit they deserve! Credit to KI Central for capturing the lighting in action, videos don't capture how great it looks! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIo36bup5Ew/?igsh=MThkdTJkeHRmaDRlbg%3D%3D

I bet permenant. Those new billboards weren't cheap, and I doubt they'd replace them with the faded ones again. And repaint all the other ones

It all looks great! Appreciate all you do for us KI fans and for KIC. The organization of the photos is really helpful, I especially like the categories for certain rides seperating construction photos from opening day, general photos, etc. Excited for what's in store!

Never realized how nice those ride area categories look since the website was updated. Many of those photos are more helpful than the actual park ones! Everything looks really clean and I'll make sure to send these when I have friends/family wondering about their ride options for kids.

I for one am glad and very appreciative of the clarification. Even something as simple as two sentences, they stated why the delay of assembly and I'm glad the park was able to help remedy the rumor situation. Also shows that the park is willing to go the extra mile to keep some of these historic rides going, even if it takes a little longer than they anticipated.

Did we ride the same ride? . I understand it's not great for airtime. If the intensity doesn't get to you, it basically just meanders arounds twists and turns and has a much different layout than any of the other Gigas.

Me and my "a few years back" when it was actually two decades ago

Didn't we recieve a bunch of parts from a similar clone of this ride that was removed from Canada's Wonderland a few years back, actually might have been more than a few years ago at this point. One could also propose the idea that while those extra parts extended the life of the Monster, maybe parts were just becoming too far and inbetween?

Guess I take back my words then, granted what I had heard was a few weeks old. Many of these Eyerly Aircraft Company Polyp models have been on the choping block for awhile. As much as I love the monster, it's loading process isn't the most efficent, and while I know Moser rides fabricates some replacement parts for these older rare models, I'm sure the custom fabrication isn't cheap, and the ride just doesn't recieve huge ridership numbers. While I hope it's not true, I made sure to get my rides in last year as I kept hearing through the grapevine its been talked within park management. Great ride, just with all the other things at the park I feel it gets looked past too often... 55 years was a good run for a flat ride though

I was worried about this as well, but it's a delayed opening. They've ordered some parts that are taking much longer than expected and some port issues from Italy haven't helped.

Yeah I've been hearing countless rumors that they wanted to reduce the show to weekends only, or even entirely outside of the 4th of July show. But I'd be very curious if anyone has more info on this they're able to share. Don't know if it was Koontz and upper management fighting corporate to keep the entertainment funding for it, or if it was someone within the parks upper management with the idea from the start. I'd be willing to bet it might have been the park advocating to keep the show with corporate wanting cuts... Correct me if I'm wrong, are we the only park in the Six Flags chain to do nightly fireworks outside of holidays and park anniversaries?

Dumpster has been there for a few weeks and last week there were like 8 vans, so I'd say they're definitely doing some bathroom refurbishment

Yeah under initial Cedar Fair ownership, I'd be worried it would go the way of Knott's Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, where it sat abanonded for about a decade and slowly decayed past the point of saving until Matt Ouimet brought in the Iron Reef dark ride

The Making of Phantom Theater at Kings Island with RIck Bastrup Stumbled upon this video from only 5 days ago with an interview about R&R with Rick Bastrup himself. Found it an interesting watch, and figured some of you might enjoy a watch...

Whenever I visit with friends from out of town, they almost always mention that KI has a sort of park pride not found in many other places. Whether it's management, employees or enthusiats, we all seem to have passion for what we do/enjoy and are proud of what Kings Island has to offer. While certain other Six Flags parks may have some cool flagship coasters, the experience from the employees as well as the park as a whole often feels lackluster in comparison

I've heard rumblings as well, but where I'm curious here is, if nothing is planned for that plot at the moment, why remove it. Sure it reduces the amount you have to pay for staffing, but I assume on the days it operates, they definitely make more in revenue than they spend on staffing. Assuming the $10-20 range, 4 employees being paid $18 optimistically. After payroll fees and taxes that's like 5-10 guests an hour to make a slight profit. Assuming we factor in a bit more for electricity and upkeep, but even then, I've seen them work through a lot of paying guests on the weekends, so I fail to see how reducing staff on an attraction that brings in additional revenue is necessarily a good thing for business long term. Unless of course the attraction costs more to operate and staff that it brings in. Sure slingshot was removed, but they placed a new land and attraction within a year. I'm curious to hear thoughts from others...

After branching out and visiting other parks over the past few years, I'm very grateful for even KI's normal operating hours. The amount of parks that don't even stay open far past dinner time, let alone dusk is often disappointing

Yes they're full bathrooms like the rest of the normal ones around the park, they are a bit hidden around past Antique Autos

Would have to agree, the "Invertigo Restroom is my go to for #2. The door to outside is usually shut so the AC stays inside the building, it's clean and I'll have the place to myself as it's usually not to crowded. The restrooms back by WindSeeker are never busy for me since they removed Vortex, but it's not as cold or clean usually. Worst would have to be the bathroom just beyond the front gate with only one stall, and it's always packed. Some Runner-up locations include the one before the front gate with the awkward urinal setup, the restrooms by Backlot Stunt Coaster recieves way too much traffic, the stalls are pretty rusty, and it can get nasty on busy days, and then I agree with Festhaus as said above. I agree restroom is a restroom, and most of them at KI are pretty decent, with their only fault being the crowd levels. CP on the otherhand... Other than the ones by the mine ride, every single one I went into was hot, steamy, disgusting, and filled with bugs. Honestly one of the things I took away from my first trip was that their park infrastructure lacks in terms of RRs. Can't remember which one, but the stall doors were so misalligned, when one kid slammed the door, the locks came undone and opened all the other stalls on guests