I am just amazed with the quality of ride that they produced. So these comments below are just comments.   There were a few things that were better about the original ride.    The theater performance scene was more grand.  The talking face projection in the armor The talking gargoyle.  I also agree more music would make it better, especially in the very beginning where the posters are.   The maestro’s organ music throughout the ride would increase the mood.     

I'm back at it.  Went to the water park today for the first time this season. No different over there. Someone mentioned that things weren't always clean in the past. I know, but it really has never been this bad, especially this bad on a consistent basis. I would contend that when. Greg Scheid was Park president, for the most part, the park was an immaculate shape.  When his successor was running the park, and his name escapes me at the moment, The park was in pretty good shape too, albeit by a lesser extent, but still in good shape. It seemed like when they eliminated the park present position and made it a regional thing is when things started falling off the rails.  I had hopes that when. Tony was promoted to Park president that these things would be fixed quickly, but we're 2 months into the season and that hasn't happened yet.   

Swung by the park today after not really being able to go to the park proper. (Studying for the 10 was a beast, passing it was a challenge and now it’s onto my series 9 test in a few weeks) The waterpark finally seems to have some decent operations with getting both sides of various slides in operation to keep up with capacity. The park is really busy however I decided to pass up on the wine festival, I wish we had some more pronounced wines that have some solid regional quality than what we got this year!

Let's not kid ourselves into a delusion that all was perfect from June 30 2024 backwards. The only perfect year under Cedar Fair that I experienced ( and I started following things in 2014 with multiple visits vs once or twice yearly) was 2022.  Every time I went it seemed as if the park was purring along like a well taken care of Mustang GT, although my blinders probably shielded the misfires that year. Before the current lament, there were dirty tables, surly employees, no ice, no soft drink syrup and food issues. There were Cedar Fair SUPERVISORS (emphasis added to reflect the uniform) who stood around and ignored problems or worse yet, tried to maintain a "bestie" relationship with their reports to avoid conflicts.  However, in 2022 around Haunt or WinterFest, things started changing.  In 2023, things ramped up with the park's lack of attention to detail, midways not being washed amongst other things. The veil was ripped open and internal politics were laid bare and incompetence across different areas exposed.  Then the merger news came out and was consummated mid season 2024. All appeared to be going well, and there was optimism about Cedar Fair bringing the Six Flags properties up to standard. And now here we are.  My hope is that money will flow, smart decisions could be made, and the Kings Island legacy will prevail.  For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. Hopefully, homeostasis will prevail and things will return to a new normal. 

Here's a photo of the new Fool the Guesser (Age & Weight) game set up in the Rivertown gazebo. I'm not that upset about this structure being used as a game stand since it's only had a bench and/or an activation point in it for the last few years. The game equipment may be the same from its former location Rivertown across from LaRosa's. It looks nice enough and the name signs are 3D (not printed), so it gets bonus points from that alone.   It's clear to me that the maintenance team is doing what they can with the resources they have, though I suspect that almost every budget across the board has been severely tightened in an effort to help pay off Six Flags' debt. Effects and issues in Phantom Theater have been repeatedly fixed (minus the first boiler TV), rides like Invertigo and Congo Falls have been repaired, and some park leadership have been spotted all over the park. Just today I repeatedly saw a group of people who I believe to be the top Food & Beverage leadership making their way from restaurant to restaurant.  The issues with guests are more noticeable in our post-merger world. There's definitely also an issue with some associates not cleaning the spaces around them, but that can be fixed with better training and heightened awareness. We knew that 2025-2028 would be a rough patch for parks like Kings Island as the company figures itself out and pays off debt. There are a ton of little changes that can happen at the local level and I hope those can start to happen sooner rather than later. I'm not going to shill for KI/SF, but I do think there is still a light at the end of the tunnel.