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First time riding PT: ON this weekend and I have to say I absolutely loved it! Honestly the POV doesn't do the ride justice you Honestly have to ride it for yourself to have an opinion on it! Honestly I give Kings Island big props for how much effort was put into this ride and playing homeage to the original ride. Now there are some mechanical problems is some parts of the ride but that can probably be fixed easily. Overall I give it a 10/10 I rode it at least 10 times within the past 2 days. My favorite character is Willard Warble in case you couldn't tell by all the pictures!😅 Also I finally got my PT: ON hat! 😁

I finally made it to the park this week on a nice slightly rainy night. So no lines. This ride is just about perfect in my opinion. I cannot believe that Six Flags/Cedar Fair build something of this high of quality these days. Especially considering the absolute piece of garbage that it replaced. I cannot believe that they have that many animatronics and the entire ride is physical sets. Several of the characters appear three or four times. When they announced this ride, I was afraid it was going to end up being a cheap screen based version like Knotts Beary Tales. Especially when they announced the interactive element. That was completely wrong! This ride uses screens exactly how they should be used. As background for the physical sets. Thunderstorms, cracking glass, blazing oven. They are all used for effects that are best achieved with a screen. This is the best interactive dark ride that I have ever seen. Mainly because it does not use screens for the interaction. The ghost notes are projections on the physical sets And one does not have to play the game to enjoy the full experience. The ghost notes actually add to theming if you’re not playing the game. And they are cute the way they are themed. Another nice touche is calling the gondolas ENCHANTED opera boxes. I really hope they take care of this ride this time and it’s a forever ride in the park. All of these parks need more high-quality indoor attractions just like this.

I went to Kings Island last week and was able to get two rides with very minimal waiting. I never experienced the original ride, my hook was the show. I really enjoyed both rides, and liked how they "de-fleshed out the characters." (From my perspective from the show they are static vs dynamic). I think Hilda's personality came through most of all in the headliners. Garbonzo in the cannon was a nice surprise. Sir Pretzel was a nice addition. I like that they kept some of the elements from Boo Blasters. They flashlights were surprisingly fun for the ghost notes. The smell of roses was a nice surprise. On both of my rides, there was a brief stoppage, not sure if that was to allow for the turntable to stop for rider assistance, or a technical problem but even the stoppages were "themed" with the overhead announcement. I was very impressed and look forward to riding again.

I'm keeping a close eye on KK. For the first time in its history, I think its making some amazingly positive changes. From what I hear, the investment shows - and the revitalization will continue.

I liked the concept for the Morning Rush event. The fail for Cedar Point was labeling it as a replacement for CoasterMania, which then draws the comparison. Offering significantly less, charging more invited the backlash they received. If they had just rolled it out as an all-new event with no reference to CoasterMania, it would have been much better received. The concept was good. How it was introduced was not.

I really would like to see the area outside the ride get some sort of soundtrack. I was thinking something similar of the soundtrack heard in this video playing outside of Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle at 2:04-2:15. I think the pathway that goes from I-street to the Phantom Theater entrance as well as down by the Great Pumpkin Coaster needs to have some sort of eerie/spooky soundtrack playing to build up anticipation. You can then move the Planet Snoopy soundtrack to the area by the Whirlybird entrance. I also wouldn't mind seeing the Great Pumpkin Coaster rethemed to match Phantom Theater. Ghoster Coaster maybe? Then turn the Peanuts Showplace into a Phantom Theater meet and greet or an actual Phantom Theater themed theater. Then move the Peanuts meet and greet to Beagle Scout Acres.

Finally got to ride! I love the queue, it kept me pretty entertained for quite some time. The portraits in the hallway are excellent. And the loading area.. Far exceeded my expectations! Its so cool! I was struggling with learning the blaster basically the whole ride. Between that and how many scenes there are, it took some time for my brain to process it all and my love of the ride increased as a result while using the bathroom after getting off the ride. I am really pleased about the castle redesign and the designs of the vehicles and blasters and that they brought the most iconic song from PT: E into the ride. Projecting notes on a lot of the scenes instead of having screens everywhere was a brilliant move. Larry running around the way he is towards the end of the ride is such a clever reference to Scooby Doo/Boo Blasters. The scene that references was one of my favorite things about Scooby Doo/Boo Blasters. I was honestly really shocked at how different the scenes are compared to Boo Blasters to be honest. Overall, it is a fantastic addition to Kings Island and I need to ride it more to fully appreciate and process everything that is there on ride. Way better than Villain Con Minion Blast and Fast & The Furious Supercharged.

In PT:E, during banter about NLL wanting a spot in the show, Maestro tells him something to the affect of "You should never have volunteered for Houdelini's 'sawing an usher in half trick.'"

Our boy’s finger is all good.

Looks like Graeter’s is rolling out a new grape ice cream flavor, “Ghost Notes,” inspired by Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare. Wonder if we’ll see it at the park?

We'll be going to Kings Island this weekend, so I'll finally be able to ride it and make a review! (And fingers crossed that I'll be able to buy a PT:ON hat too! 🤞)

Today is the first time I've opened this thread. I avoided spoilers and POVs from media day. I visited the park for the first time this year, yesterday. I am blown away in all honesty. Hit the ride for Early Entry and the park wasn't too packed, so the wait was not too bad. The only downfall of the queue was the audio...it wasn't loud enough (even with my hearing aids), or people were talking too loud. Seeing it themed and seeing the Maestro up top again was a welcome sight. I loved that the screens in the queue also were not FUNtv. I will admit, I did miss the busts in the windows just before boarding. The audio for the spirits could have been a little bit louder as well. I decided for my first ride, I wanted to do it without trying to score any points and just look at it. It was odd seeing the 2 opera boxes and then a gap, but honestly glad they did that. I loved how immersive everything was from the moment we saw No Legs Larry until the end. I'll skip the play by play. I'd have to say my favorite animatronic was the first time we see Hilda and her hair raised. Some of the scenes did feel a bit far away, so the details were hard to see (being a theater person, I would have loved to look at the tiny details). I rode it again a few hours later and did the game. The flashlights were pretty cool and I enjoyed that they would vibrate when you hit the ghost notes. I enjoyed it enough, that at the end of the night, I did 4 consecutive rides through Fast Lane. Again, was honestly blown away. Great addition for the park!

Invertigo has reportedly re-opened, I have not confirmed this myself however. photo from u/coasterelement

All the props in the window displays are from Encore.

I think Kentucky Kingdom got the better of the three Vekoma family coasters installed in the tri State area in the last two years.

So, I rode Phantom Theater its second weekend, and it's taken me a bit to process exactly what I think. The ride storyline? Wonderful. It reimagines the original concept of the ride (which, not to be a hater, but I think it wasn't anything to write home about) into something that has a story and a progression and is engaging. The new "guns?" Fantastic. It's such an elevation of the shooter dark ride concept to have you aim at projections instead of specific targets. They can put a target anywhere, make them move, make them disappear when shot--it's an objective improvement over the 20 year-old standard we had from 2003 to 2025. It makes the whole experience much more dynamic. The animatronics? Incredibly well-done. I LOVE the queue. The way the cars have been reconfigured to move in close groups of 1-2 cars (with plenty of space between groups) instead of consistently placing them with one empty space between? SO smart. It allows scenes to reset between groups, which was something the shooter dark rides in that building severely lacked. Giving the scenes the chance to refresh makes the experience feel a lot more intentional, rather than seeing (for example) Boocifer finish his line for the car ahead, reset, and then repeat himself, which was basically always my experience on Boo Blasters and it reminds you that you're on a dark ride instead of on an adventure. However. I feel like Kings Island, across every owner since at least 1991, has consistently bitten off more than it could chew (or, to be plain, upkeep) when it comes to theming. I fear Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare may become one of the more egregious examples of this, perhaps even by the end of the season. Adventure Express, the original Phantom Theater, Flight of Fear, Tomb Raider: The Ride, Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle, Queen City Stunt Coaster, Boo Blasters on Boo Hill, and Mystic Timbers have all opened with theming that none of the owners across those eras could or would put the upkeep budget or staffing into consistently. Boo Blasters infamously had a fog wall effect that lasted maybe a month or two after opening, disappeared, and never came back. The best that's happened (almost all within the last 5 or so years, mind you) is that some of those rides got their theming repaired and refurbished as a capital investment, meaning they became advertised additions instead of, y'know, part of the maintenance budget so the park could consistently offer top-form attractions. Without knowing details, Phantom Theater seems like the most high-tech ride to hit the park since at least 2002, possibly ever. And like, elsewhere in the park... Adventure Express's final lift is basically back where it was pre-refurb. None of Mystic Timbers' lights sway, the Coke machine doesn't move, and more. It's just the tape deck, the lights that may or may not flicker, and the projectors that may or may not properly align audio and video and train location to show you whichever monster. QCSC probably won't use the helicopter at all. Even on my Phantom ride, cracks were showing. One scene, a screen didn't play as our car passed. Another scene, the appearance/disappearance of notes was out of sync with our car. They disappeared as we passed. Neither of those ruined the experience, by any means--I'm not disillusioned with the ride because that happened. I had a great time. But I'd be lying if I said that from an upkeep standpoint, that didn't feel the slightest bit ominous. It was weekend two. I'm supposed to believe that the management who can't keep Adventure Express's final lift fully lit will keep several projectors properly calibrated with the lights from dozens of flashlights and timed with the car groups for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 6 months straight this year? I'm having a very hard time believing opening day 2027 Phantom Theater will feel like the same ride as 2026 Phantom Theater, in an unfortunate way. And it's annoying, because this is a darn good ride that millions of people should be able to experience as it was meant to be experienced. I would really, really like to be wrong. It does make me wonder what the strategy is with new rides. Like, does the ride have to serve a certain ROI the first year to be considered a success, and then it just has to be enough of a semblance of itself to not actively drag down the average guest's day while not demanding too much money? Tangentially related, I've got a hunch we'll see PT replace more of the Boo Blasters chainwide. Much like with Justice League: Battle for Metropolis, I wonder if the cost of developing the ride will be offset by copying and pasting it elsewhere. It certainly wasn't a cheaply-developed ride, and I wouldn't be mad to see it show up at some of the other parks.

That's not acceptable and the fact employees in uniform were around just yapping and not doing anything about it makes it worse! Those employees need to be disciplined! When I worked there ride ops weren't allowed to leave at the end of the night until the entire perimeter of our ride area was clear of any trash or debris. And the area supervisors would hold cleaning audits after park close and if they found just one little candy wrapper, your ride crew failed! Cleanliness was one of the major cornerstones when I worked there and I hope it still is! I think the park needs to have this brought to their attention as I know upper management does not tolerate stuff like this. I know someone last year posted a massive rant on a facebook group of Festhaus being filthy and not long after they brought people over to clean it. We know the park reads the facebook groups. Also I think guests need to take a part in this too. When you're done eating, clean up after yourselves and throw your trash away!

Its sloppy and really just absolutely sick of AI being used everywhere. There is literally nothing good about AI that I can think of. I just want clean air, water, land and for people to use the thing between their ears.

Twenty years after its debut, The Voyage still delivers one of the most intense rides in the world—and remains the best wooden coaster I’ve ridden. Read more: https://themeparksbydon.com/the-voyage-celebrating-20-years-of-wooden-roller-coaster-greatness/

^^Voyage destroys The Beast imo. In fact I prefer Mystic Timbers over The Beast. While Beast has been running better in recent years thanks to the awesome work from the Gravity Group, rides like Mystic and Voyage has that non stop action packed airtime/twisted filled ride while Beast is mainly drops, gradual turns, and straight sections.

I know this was posted as a joke, but I do hope Six Flags keeps Phantom Theater exclusive to Kings Island. I do think the other Boo Blasters will get redone at some point, but hopefully with their own exclusive themes and characters.

Will they be at 7pm again 🤣

I've said it to others on KIC, but I typically place a smiley face after ... forgot this time. I've been critical of the park before and will continue to, but will give credit when it's warranted. I don't have much to say currently because I only went once last year and none so far this year.

Retail on Int Street (and pretty much whole park) is so weak right now. Int street is most noticeable because they have 4 spaces (more if count them broken up) that provide no reason to go in any one over the other because they have the same junk. Why do they even have different names - just call them "crap for sale" 1,2 EAST and 3,4, WEST. There is KICollection that has NO artwork, collectible items, books (other than the ones available in every other shop) or anything "collection" oriented unless you collect plaid pajama pants. Essentials - has a great new interior design (which SHOULD have gone to the "Collection") but has some essentials and again the same books and random things that you just saw in "Collection" then there is an emporioum that has all of the stuff repeated AGAIN and whatever they are now calling the spot on the right that has more "essentials" as well as the same stuff I've already seen. What happened to the idea of MERCHANDISING related ideas together to create different shops? What happened to having a "home" shop that has product that brings the park to your house. What happened to the idea of creating ride-specific "mini shops" where cross-category items helped create a one stop shop if you loved The Beast etc. There is no reason whatsoever to go in any one shop over the other and even my kid who "wantedt o shop" today pretty much said "whats the point". They really need to step it up in the merchandising area. I'd seriously love to apply, but I dont think they are even hiring with an eye toward settng up the shops that way.

The second boiler has a blast of cold air that’s synced to the audio. The first boiler is meant to have ambient heating throughout the whole room, but I haven’t noticed it since the second week. Since the opening weekend, the 2nd Maestro had a weird compression/distortion to the audio, so I imagine the speakers are being replaced.

AWESOME to hear. Individual experiences vary - so Im glad to hear maybe Friday was an off night. Admittedly Ive only been on 3x but each time seems to be more off, so I hope that trend is reversing. Ive noticed the timing seems to consistenly be off with that final blast. Wonder if they will keep trying to get it to synch with the set of cars, or just go to a more generic loop. Highlighting all the things going RIGHT does not you an apologist any more than highlighting the opportunities for improvements makes you miserable negative grump - both just shows you care about the park!

Totally not calling you a liar, or anything of the sort. Or trying to argue. Certainly had some great rides and seen some POV’s of a few bad ones. But today, it looked great. You can definitely tell they’re still tweaking things. I could hear the main theme music a lot more and almost all of the effects were working. Only things that were off were the “pop up” heads in the prop room and the final boiler blast worked, but the timing was off. Not trying to sound like an apologist or a fanboy, but I do believe the inconsistencies are more growing pains than lack of attention. The ride is a month old and I’m sure they’re a lot they’re still trying to figure out from upkeep standpoint. The ride deserves nothing but the best when it comes to things working consistently. We had a great ride today. Feeling optimistic about its future. (Gonna put on my new PT:ON baseball tee now that I’ve made myself sound like a thoosie apologist)

They are filling it up. 😂

Upon looks, I'm very impressed with the new coaster. For its footprint, it has a good amount of path interaction and its got a pretty good length for what it is. I'm excited to try it this summer.

Invertigo is indeed open!

I don't know the reason Intamin and RMC use those stupid style of seatbelts. Even for people who have no issues with the length, it's an awkward reach, especially if the person has range of motion issues with the shoulder. Traditional "make it click" belts like B&M use would be much better.

The guy in question has been responding to comments about it, and, if I remember the measurements he gave correctly, he said he's about 6'2", 220lbs, and works out regularly (meaning his issue is not body fat). I think the most concerning part about this is that the park/maintenance/someone who could check does not entirely mind if guests can fit in one seat but not another. It would be much more helpful if they went the B&M route and provided a few "fluffy" seats/rows with a longer seatbelt option. Either way this is the kind of thing that should have been checked and plans made to remedy it ASAP. Yes the trains would probably need to be recommissioned, but the guest satisfaction would be worth it. The comments also make it sound like not every seatbelt got changed, just a majority of them on various seats — which would throw out the "Intamin required it" theory. That lines up with some people saying that they felt no difference while others notice an incredible difference. ALSO any rides that do have a fluffy person seat/row should make sure their ride ops/queue attendants/etc know which row(s) have that and should make an effort to put the person in that row when asked. (B&M should also make sure their dive and wing coasters have more than one fluffy seat. I had a friend who needed one but couldn't get to it because of the group they were forced to ride with.) Apologies in advance for being passionate about this kind of thing. It breaks my heart everytime I see someone get rejected from riding because of their size.

At this point I'm hoping that in 2027 the park takes a break from any new ride and puts their capex towards live entertainment and special events. More like what Kings Dominion is doing. Great Adventure started their Safari Spring Break celebration on opening day and had multiple shows starting opening day. No reason KI can't do the same. I'm going to put my wishful thinking hat on and list what I would do if I were in charge of the park in 2027 while keeping things realistic. I will use the 2027 calendar as a reference for dates. Friday April 16th - Perks and Play Season Passholder Preview Day: I wouldn't change much from this year, but I would add some special activities like what Carowinds did. I would partner with a local charity and invite people to donate certain things towards it and would offer special rewards based on what and how much was donated. I would also hold a Q&A/presentation event in the Kings Island Theater and would show off what is new and what is coming up in the season and maybe drop a few surprises or hints about an upcoming new attraction (2028) Saturday April 17th - Opening Day: This I would make into more of an event. Think Reds Opening Day! I would start by inviting all the local High School and College marching bands and local organizations and would form an opening day parade. The parade would take place around noon and would run the Grand Carnivale/Winterfest parade route. The park would open with a special opening day ceremony right before 10 and would feature speakers like the park president, the executive chef, and more. Then an honorable family would be chosen to come up and help count down and press the "button of fun" to open the park where confetti and ribbons would be shot out announcing the park is open for the season! During the day both Hifi Honey and River City along with a few other local bands would be set up doing sets on stages throughout the park mainly the Festhaus, Bandstand, and Carousel Pavilion. I would also invite multiple local food trucks and have like a food truck festival going on around the Eiffel Tower. I would also invite a bunch of local radio stations to exhibit and broadcast live at the park that day. Saturday April 24th - Sunday May 16th - Food and Wine Festival: First change I would make is moving Food and Wine up earlier. Most parks that have food and wine hold it during the springtime and not early-mid Summer time. This would also help free up space later for more events which I'll get to in a moment. What I would do is make food and wine more immersive. Instead of being just contained to the Tower Gardens/Carousel area I would expand it to around and under the Eiffel Tower as well as down both sides of International Street. I would also add a tasting card and focus more on the food than the wine like what other parks do. I would also add more activities outside of the few lawn games and the mural painting. I would do other crafts like tye dyeing a F&W festival T shirt, decorate your own wine glass (plastic glass), as well as more games and would host some sort of eating competition or try to break some sort of record (like what Carowinds did with the whole hopscotch thing) Fridays from April 23rd through May 21st - Food Truck Fridays: This was an event the park had in like 2016-2017 where every Friday in the spring time select food trucks would come and set up around the Eiffel Tower and the Showplace. This was a cool limited time event and a good opportunity for local food trucks. Surprised this hasn't returned. May 29th (Memorial Day weekend) - June 13th Brew and BBQ Festival: This would be a new event. This would be held in the Rivertown area starting from the Carousel Pavilion and would go through the area in front of Diamondback's entrance. This event would be set up similar to Cedar Point's upcoming Barrel's and Bites event. This one though would be partnered with local breweries. Similar to Food and Wine it would be very immersive and would be family friendly where there would be live entertainment and lots of activities for everyone to enjoy. June 5 - June 20th - Kidzfest: This event would run alongside Brew and BBQ but would be held in both the Planet and Camp Snoopy areas. It would be more geared towards kids but everyone would enjoy it. While this would be hard to do, I would attempt to get some outside IPs to come and do meet and greets and stuff like what Canada's Wonderland does. I would also have Tie dyeing parties, dance parties, crafts and would also have a lego station where kids could play with legos. I would also partner with Crayola and would allow kids to use sidewalk chalk and draw on the concrete in the area. Obviosuly there would be rules and limits with it and parents would have to supervise it and the chalk would have to be either given back or thrown away when done. But I think back to my elementary school days where at the end of the school year some kids would get to write on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk and I remember getting real excited for summer break when seeing that! July 2-4 - Star Spangled Celebration Basically Star Spangled Nights, but I would make it 3 days instead of 1 and would make it a whole day thing instead of just a bigger firework show. Think what Cedar Point will be doing this year. I would bring in stunt performers along with roaming actors and stilt walkers/entertainers and would have extra live entertainment outside of the summer show lineup with some local bands. July 17th - August 1st - Viva La Fiesta Yes I would retire Carnivale. I feel like it has run its course and its time for something new. What I would do is would bring in Viva La Fiesta in and it would take place basically in the Adventure Port area and would run from there to the area around the Eiffel Tower and Carousel and would have the bandstand be the main stage. It would be a lot like the other parks that do it so nothing to really explain here. I would also bring the Splash Water Parade in as the Carnivale Parade replacement. It would likely run through July into some of August. I would also bring in some sort of 5k/color runs and would try and hold some dive in movies/afterhours in Soak City. I would also try and bring back passholder ride nights after park close. I would also bring back Coasterstock as it was under @DonHelbig as well as Coaster Camp Out! I'm not going to get into Haunt and Winterfest here. I would likely add an Oktoberfest though that would run alongside Tricks and Treats and would take place in the area in front of Festhaus near Viking Fury's entrance and would run to the entrance to Action Zone. Hope everyone likes my proposal. Just a reminder it is just an idea of mine and likely won't happen.

That statement is really gross. Disability is a broad term and plenty of folks who have what would medically be considered a disability have insanely amazing creative outlets. If anything, the same people stanning such an absurd statement should realize that AI is stealing from the very people they think they are defending 🙃

The concrete islands that were put into the three Taft International Streets are ugly, tacky and do not tie into the lands. However, the lush landscape helps to disguise them. KI did not have lush landscaping...it was linden trees with some rose of sharon and ornamental grass. And because people, people, often trash was thrown in. KD has to compete with BGW. Taft had to appease the local opposition and has maintained that charm. I'll take today's IS at KI over the 2018 IS any day.

More water features and a new soundtrack.

Behind and on the counter is on the employees 100%. Tables, floors etc are still on the employees, but as @Hawaiian Coasters 325said, patrons should do their part and clean up after themselves. You can say what you want about the under 18 children, but this entitlement rears it's ugly head up to the boomers. And it's not isolated to KI, look at hotel room check outs, restaurants and shopping carts. It's all pure laziness. In 2020 and 2021, I would had much more empathy for things like this . But those years are way behind and the company wants to lean staff and make the parks "comfortably (very) crowded."

If I were to do a piece on the 10 dirtiest parks in the amusement and theme park industry, Kings Island makes the list. It’s sad because for decades it was among the top 10 cleanest parks.

The park NEEDS to address this. This is horrible, terrible, gross. What's worse is that while enjoying our Skyline, no fewer than 4 employees in Supervisor attire were nearby standing, talking, walking by, etc... addressed nothing. I didn't take a picture of the Brew House mens room... which I felt like my hands would have been cleaner had I NOT washed them. Water all over the floor.

I think the Larry on the turntable is the static figure and the gargoyle counts as a prop.

Exactly this. The Voyage is the one and ONLY roller coaster on the planet that, if magically placed side by side with SV, would make the decision hard on which to ride if I only had time to ride one.

RMC has made some amazing rides with impressive technology but Will Koch and the Gravity Group brought that special spark of creation to make The Voyage such a unique and incredible ride.

100% while I'd much prefer them to hire a real artist or graphic designer the could have at least done their due diligence to make sure AI created realistic designs based on real photos or artwork. These look amateur at best and like they only prompted AI once and did not editing of whatever it spit out the first time. They shirts and designs look horrible and I've even seen some merch in the pass holder group with the park name spelled incorrectly due to AI merch errors....like what the heck literally nobody checked this before they hit print because the amount of errors is insane! The only way to send the message tho is to not buy this merch and let it all hit the discount racks next season when they realize they couldn't sell it. As long as people buy AI slop like this there is no incentive to stop creating more AI slop merchandise

After a couple visits this year so far a few thoughts: Phantom Theater is great. The sound of Larry could be better in the lobby but overall a solid addition. It is not the original but is also its own great thing. I think with it being more family friendly it will hopefully have more staying power. I'd love to see more merch for it as time goes on. The music being improved in different areas is a definite upgrade and the food I have eaten so far has been good. As far as constructive criticism, I like some of the new merch but some of it too pricey. For example if The Bat shirt was $25 I'd have been tempted. At $30 it was a no for now. I've long thought the park would be smart to have a screen printing shirt shop. You could have basic colors (think the Kings Island logo shirts) with 20 to 30 logo options. People would pick their size shirt and then a logo of their choosing (not made until they select the color shirt and size and purchase). This would allow you have shirts for things like Invertigo or White Water Canyon or Woodstock Express. You could even do classic defunct rides as well. From a food service standpoint sometimes the chain (this isn't limited to KI) chases pennies only to lose dollars. For example we were eating lunch at Juke Box yesterday and the line was well out the door. It was because they had one person serving food. If they had one person doing sandwiches/tenders and another doing fries/onion rings it would have significantly sped up the line. On a day when there were a ton of school groups I wondered how many $20 meals they lost out on because people said "I'm not waiting in that line." Two meals would have easily paid that salary for the hour. I do want to point the worker did a great job and was working as hard and as fast as she could. We have the meal plan but I'm certain a significant number of the school groups did not. The park drastically needs another indoor restaurant. Tear down the Killmart building and build a nice efficient food court. There are multiple reasons why Brewhouse and Festhaus are so crowded but on days like yesterday where it was cooler, people want a place to sit down and want to be inside.

They will be announcing Phantom Theater clones coming to the other Six Flags parks to replace the Boo Blasters/Justice Leagues trust me.

I see this as an improvement for KD considering they had very few regular season shows, and will now have roughly the same amount as Kings Island when you include the Grand Carnivale entertainment. What KI needs is more shows with longer runs overall. An entertainment lineup that runs for most of the summer season (at least from Memorial Day to mid-August) and has additional opportunities for performances around the park. Some of those additional performances are already in motion with high school marching band parades going throughout the park, band/orchestra/choir performances on the bandstand, and the occasional youth dance group also on the bandstand. This all ties into something I've been talking about for a while: people want Kings Island to be a regional theme park despite it currently acting more like a regional amusement park. More shows, more theming, and more comprehensive areas. I don't think KI needs to immediately become a Midwestern Dollywood, but something closer to Busch Gardens Williamsburg would be much better. Speaking of KI entertainment, it looks like the lighting trusses are going up on the Bandstand right now. I'd much rather see The Vortex plot filled before anything major gets done in Action Zone. KI can start the Action Zone redevelopment now, but I think they need to fill the hole they have before patching an area that isn't yet letting in water (if that makes sense). Timberwolf and the KI Theater get used for Music in the Parks/Festival of Music in the beginning of the season as well.

It’s really a shame. Herschend is making huge strides with Kentucky Kingdom-I hate that they face this setback. Ive heard from a good source the build is completely fire-ravaged on the inside and the roof is a goner. It will likely result in a ground up rebuild. The good news is, if they have to start from scratch- it will likely be an even better restaurant than originally planned. Im hoping a good outcome for the park. I think Flying Fox is going to be a hit for them.

I have a friend who actually loads and shoots the shows at the park sometimes, and no, they are not going away. They are posting the hiring for one specific aspect of the show (which incidentally is the more expensive aspect to run) drones. This does not affect the fireworks component.

A beach themed stunt show I think can be a very good show!