Forums

The flag poles could probably look a lot better out in front of the turnstiles rather than bringing them back to "block" the view of the Eiffel Tower. I don't think KI necessarily needs to do what Dollywood and Dorney Park have with a secondary park sign a little further away from the gate, but it could be fun to have a Kings Island sign made out of foliage somewhere else in the park. The 50th anniversary sign is probably one of my favorites because of its overall shaping and how the ribbons span outward. If designing a new sign were up to me, I think I would start by trying to keep it on flat ground unlike the first PKI sign (seen below) and Kings Dominion's current sign. So far my guidelines are: overall shape should compliment the Eiffel Tower and draw eyes up to it needs to be able to be modified for seasonal festivals and removable for Fall and Winter events must say "Kings Island" spaces for foliage should be included in the design Paramount's Kings Island sign circa 1993 (CoasterAce on YouTube). As one of the first (if not the first) front gate signs at Kings Island, I think this iteration did exactly what it needed to do. It certainly fits in better with all of the mature trees lining International Street, far more than it would with the current trees in their still-smaller forms. I think the reason why this setup works better at Kings Dominion than it did at Kings Island is because KD has more trees along the front of their fountain that help to build up to the berm. 2006 Paramount's Kings Island sign (Reddit). This sign solved the issue of how much the berm blocked the view of the fountains, but is a little too low for my liking. I definitely appreciate how much the current setup both allows for guests to sit in front of the sign while also raising the planter bed up away from curb-level. The fountains being set to barely on doesn't help the view, but you can see where the shape of the sign compliments the Eiffel Tower rather than being a flat line below it. If I could find a photo of this sign from Fearfest, I'd also include it to show the decorations; however, if I recall correctly the decorations were really just placed around the planter rather than anything special being done with the sign. Paramount's Carowinds front gate sign some time after 2000 (https://www.screammachine.net/parkinfo.php?parkcode=PMCS); the same sign in 2012 ("Carowinds Classic Footage - 2012" by XtremeCoasters Network on YouTube). This sign accomplishes a lot of good things while remaining incredibly simple. It's one of my favorite park signs for a few reasons. It's big and was prominently featured as the vista point at the end of the path from the park entrance, something Carowinds now fills with a giant empty stage; the sign supports are designed rather than being simply functional, especially with the three bars behind the Paramount logo; and the foliage behind it both frames the sign while also allowing it to stand out. I have a feeling that this sign and planter were removed in 2017 to make way for an expanded stage (possibly to coincide with Winterfest), which is a shame. The current Celebration Plaza area is very disconnected design-wise and there is no longer a direct vista to be seen from the main entrance to the park. After the Paramount logo was removed from the sign it did lose some of the height that made up its good shaping. I don't know that making the Kings Island sign any wider/taller would help its current predicament, but this iteration of the Carowinds sign might provide inspiration in other ways. Paramount's SCarowinds front gate sign (https://www.charlottenc.gov/CS-Prep/City-News/Experinece-at-SCarowinds). You can see here how it was decorated for the first years of SCarowinds, likely sometime around 2001-2003 since neither the old Emporium building nor the Borg Assimilator are visible behind the trees. The decorations are simple and plentiful but don't distract from the sign itself. They also add a third layer with the sign and the trees behind it. I haven't been able to find any photos of it from Paramount's Carowinds 2005 iteration of Winterfest, but this specific photo of the SCarowinds decorations looks so good. The Halloween Haunt and Tricks & Treats decorations over the last few years have strayed away from the "classic frights" genre seen below, but at least the current Haunt sign is custom-made with special effects included.

I've always said that KI's 4th of July event should be more than just "come for what's already here and stay for a bigger firework show". Add specialty food offerings, have special activities and entertainment geared towards the holiday. Give the locals something that would make them decide to spend their 4th of July day at KI rather than their local July 4th festival. Bc locals can go to KI pretty much anytime over the summer, but they can't go to a local 4th of July event any other day. Also since Soak City usually gets the most crowded on the 4th, I wouldn't mind spreading some of the "special activities and entertainment" over there. Like set up a stage and do live bands over there. I also think doing some sort of camp fire/s'mores thing in Camp Snoopy as the sun goes down would be kinda cool. I believe Knotts used to do something like that as part of Summer Nights. Like imagine spending your day in Soak City then coming back after the waterpark closes and seeing special camp activities and campfires/s'mores going on. As a kid I would've LOVED that. 

Oops, sorry for the confusion, I was referring to Kings Island's/Six Flags' social media team. I think the whole KIC team does a great job with their social media   Maybe the KIC team could also make a post about it! Especially if y'all have a more recent photo with all three rides in it.

100% agree on using actual bluegrass music in Rivertown, although I think they could also have some of the covers still in there. I wonder if there's a rule about using license music in a park or if they just choose to go with the covers.  Having some more limited-run events return would be fun and could encourage attendance. My personal choices would be for the Food Truck Festival and Grad Nite to come back. The former would work similarly to the Food & Wine Festival and the latter would work like the other Grad Nite events at Six Flags parks. Island Nights would be a good Grand Carnivale replacement. KidZFest on the other hand might push the limit as it seems Kings Island only does 2 big Summer festivals alongside Star Spangled Nights. As small as the Food & Wine Festival is compared to an event like Tricks & Treats, I'd hate to lose it. Speaking of longer events, I think it would be nice to see a little longer run for Star Spangled Nights this year for the special anniversary. maybe running it for 5 days instead of 2 or adding some specialty menu items would make it seem more special. As for this point, I think they should construct a new building for an indoor VIP lounge instead of shoving it into one. I'd place it in a new section of Rivertown as part of The Beast's 50th anniversary Rivertown expansion that I've posted elsewhere on this website. A new building would allow them to also make it two floors like the one at Kings Dominion. My issue with the places you've listed is that putting it in the International Restaurant would effectively cancel out its ability to be used for private events and for public events like the Winterfest Wonderland Buffet. It's also far too close to the park entrance to be used as a non-Special Events space IMO. The Antique Photos building in Rivertown might be a little too small for an indoor VIP lounge. I think a VIP lounge being indoors would attract more Prestige Passholders to it, meaning the space might be filled before too long anyways. Graeter's is probably the one that I could get behind, I just also think that it would be unfortunate to lose the ice cream parlor space.