Giving away the gate, in and of itself, is not a terrible strategy. In fact, its a tried and true strategy that parks started a long time ago because the real money was in concessions and merch, etc etc. But now they basically give food away (to locals that visit often at least) and that's a big chunk of the revenue. Of course if we're being honest: It's not like KI or CP or KBF or the other top parks are losing money. The real problem is that successful parks are being used to pay off a debt that they didn't create to and to subsidize struggling parks. Since the dining plan came up, I think it would have been smarter to offer a food discount add-on instead of the dining plan. That is, to pay like $70 or something to get 50% off any and all food items in the park up to a certain amount per visit. I doubt many would see the appeal but it would work better for those of us that can't visit the park as regularly and it guarantees that the park gets not just up front revenue but revenue for every use.

Has anyone else been watching old POV videos of the original PT getting excited for the new ride? 

@IndyGuy4KI can this thread be pinned to replace the Soak City 2025 Construction Progress thread? The one in the KIC Newsroom might work for general discussion, but I'm wondering if this one would still be good to pin.   It was really nice to see the park post the picture of the heads today because I think it shows that there may be a higher willingness to share updates for this than there has been for the past few years' additions. I'll be very curious to see how everything looks as people get back into the park during the park buyouts and when 9/19 rolls around. Will the castle be gone yet? Will we see nothing yet? Who knows  

I always said countless times I wasn't going to try and play and get mad at the blasters for not working, but I always ended up playing anyway 

Add to that the fact that some of the heads are still missing their hair, hats, and some of the facial hair. I think this new art style is a better way to differentiate between the two versions and prove that this is indeed a new ride. Either way, I think the new heads look a lot better than the older ones and look like they could potentially hold up a lot better as well. The only one I'm on the fence with right now is the rabbit since it looks like the little rabbit villain from Hoodwinked. Their design also makes me wonder if they're being made to work under black light — and I don't think they are.  I wonder if any of their eyes or mouths will be able to move...   I personally am hoping they mix it up a little while sticking to the same overall sequence of big scenes. I'll have to finish my little prediction map soon and post it to show more of what I'm thinking.