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Kings Island & Cedar Point. But I do have some merchandise from Disney World still. I still have this picture of when I decided to freeze my 2008 Mickey Mouse toy from when I was a kid! (I'm not sure why I did that...🙃)

Not a construction update but Kings Island just released this Phantom Theater Opening Nightmare Valentine on their Facebook page! 😀

I stayed there last month with a group I was with. The thing I like most about the GWLs I've stayed at (Mason and Sandusky) is that the rooms are quite large and nice. The waterpark itself is fine, though it isn't really that big so it can get quite crowded in there. Apparently there used to be a water coaster there, but it seems it was removed due to maintenance issues and I wasn't really impressed by the slide they replaced it with. (Weirdly enough, it's named River Racer, though it opened before Kings Island's River Racers) The food there is also okay, but it is overpriced. There is MagiQuest there, though I personally didn't do it. Personally, I do think the GWL in Mason is better than the one in Sandusky since it has a slightly larger water park. The thing with GWL is that they have a lot of locations across the country, but I find their waterparks to just be okay. There are better resorts out there that give GWL a run for their money, like with Kalahari and the Wilderness Resort. However, those you have to go out of your way to travel to, whereas GWL is a lot more accessible, especially since it's right across the street from Kings Island.

Too much time has passed for whatever might eventually go in that spot to be a Vortex replacement. There wasn’t a plan for that spot when Vortex was retired in 2019 like there was with other rides.  If Kings Island could go back in time, they wouldn’t have retired Vortex. They would have done what Busch Gardens VA did with Loch Ness Monster and put the money into it to preserve the ride for future generations to enjoy. 

Is GWL typically a nice and/or fun place? I've never been in there, though I think they used to have some kind of MagiQuest (or similar) attraction as well. My childhood experience with a different MQ location was very fun, but I don't know what all goes on in GWL overall. Good on them for adding capacity. I assume the location was chosen because of the connection to the rest of the actual hotel parts. A connection on the south side would require relocating the road onto KI property or down a steep hill, while a connection on the north side would require guests to move through the convention center to get to the rest of the hotel. Connecting through the back of the indoor waterpark probably isn't desirable either. All three options would also likely disturb the retention pond between GWL and Columbia Road. The orange box is where I think the new wing is supposed to go.