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Wanted to give a shout out to the Banshee crew they have been killing it this weekend! Rolling those trains like I’ve never seen before on an invert!

I thought about a B&M flyer but they are maintenance nightmares having so many components. And CF didn’t purchase one back when they were popular so I really don’t see it happening. Vekoma offers a similar reliability and I just think they would do a flyer way better. I hear that even Vekoma flyers have airtime.

The people on this site really not good examples of what average is when it comes to utilization. The pass price and meal plan price make sense in context with how many times they are used on average, when considering every pass holder, not just a small group of dedicated individuals. Most passes really are not being used more than a handful of times a year. For every pass holder going 20+ times a year there are multiple only going 1, 2, 3 times. This is an old number and I cannot remember the source, but back around 2016 or 2017 I believe, the average was somewhere between 3 and 4. I have never heard any hints at what average use is for the meal plan. But it’s obviously low enough that the chain is making a good deal of money at the current price. I am positive there are guests that get enough meals the park and the chain lose money on the meal plan, do they make it back on merchandise and other spending, maybe. Whatever my meal plan costs Cedar Fair is easily paid for from my in park spending and that I have a prestige pass and season long Fast Lane. Raising the price risks losing those guests who don’t really use it frequently. The price point was decided to try to maximize revenue and profits, using data we don’t have access to. They are selling the idea of unlimited, and using data to support how often it actually is used. Guests are really bad at estimating how often they actually use their pass and meal plan.

I would imagine the service life is as long as the park is willing to put money into keeping it operational. Disney’s Haunted Mansion is over 50 years old.

Sometimes, people like to complicate things more than necessary. But, my viewpoint is to make things simple to save myself hassle. I don't live in their shoes.

Interesting find in Ely Nv in the Prospector hotel. Knotts berry farm.

Is it the 4th of July weekend

I disagree. I think this expansion is 10 years overdue. The SeaWorld parks especially need to shift towards being more theme park than zoo/aquarium--their goodwill with the public as a zoo/aquarium is tarnished, and whether or not they can reclaim that goodwill is a moot point now. And they're dragging the Busch parks down with them. They're doing this one year at a time, not attempting to radically change from one extreme to another overnight (see: Six Flags Ohio in 2000.) SEAS is being aggressive, for sure, but there is at least SOME time to gauge between additions if things are going to plan. Adding 4 coasters to one park in a year did not provide that for early 2000's SIX.

Yeah, and that’s a long & complicated story. Having worked at SEAS corporate during the tail end of the Blackfish negativity and the beginning of the turnaround, I can say that it was a challenging environment on the inside. (Interestingly, the turnaround was just as complicated—but for entirely different reasons.). I’ve long thought that the situation was worsened by compounding events—the spinoff from AB and the explosion of social media. I really think if AB would have still owned SeaWorld during the Blackfish controversy, the response would have been handled very differently, but the company had just spun off and for the first time was a stand-alone corporation. I also think on the inside there was this incredulousness that anyone could ever believe that SeaWorld would ever do anything that harmed animals—it was such an anathema to the DNA of the organization that they just couldn’t accept that anyone would ever believe it. Of course, that was an incorrect assumption…

I recently thought of this and I thought I would share it. I think that CF doesn’t want to top one of their flagship attractions at another park. This can be seen with the addition of Orion that it didn’t top Fury and for some Millenium. That’s why I think KI’s next addition is going to be very unique. CF has been taking a bit of a different route these past few years. Think about how unique the roller coasters they have been adding recently. It all started with Tumbili, the only S&S free spin in the chain. Then Zambezi, the first ground up titan track roller coaster from GCI. Then a spinning wild mouse for CP. Now next year we have the worlds first strata coaster with a spike. A perfectly placed dive coaster with really unique and weird elements. Then we are getting the first family Vekoma boomerang in the US if we open ours up first. My point is CF is looking for unique attractions to bring guests from really far away to experience their new attractions. So that’s why after some thought I think there really is only 3 options that would be smash hits and drive up attendance. 2 that if done right could be the best in the park. 1. A B&M surf coaster. While this wouldn’t be the one I would chose this would be the best option from B&M and there really isn’t anything like this near KI. 2. Mack extreme spinner. I think this would be the best option in my opinion. I think it would need the magnet to control the spinning as RTH is too much for the average guest. 3. Vekoma flyer. I think this could be an interesting choice. It could pay homage to Firehawk. There isn’t anything anywhere near like a Vekoma flyer. This would be the most unique by far but it easily could become the best ride at KI. Let me know your thoughts on what I stated above.

My cousin had a meal plan this season and we got our money's worth out of it. Seeing as he doesn't go all the time he barely broke even but we definitely didn't take a loss. I personally seldom eat at an amusement park so meal/drink plans have never held any appeal to me. I'm that guy who after breakfast went to magic mountain and survived the entire day on a soft pretzel and free water. If I go to Kings Island directly after work I can skip dinner and not have second thoughts about it. Tell you what though, that crepe cake at Grain and Grill is my new favorite Kings Island food item. My dad got a slice last time he went with me and I've been very tempted every time I walk past grain and grill now.

Food prices have always been high at KI, or most amusement parks in general. It is generally cheaper to get comparable food outside of the park. People are paying for the convenience of not having to leave. And supply and demand comes into play as well. If they offered up "fair" or "reasonable" prices like one could get going thru McDonalds (even though that is getting high too), then the food lines would be crazy long as not enough supply for the demand. People already complain about the long food lines now - imagine if now nobody left the park cause they could get a $1 burger... So by having the prices higher, they can trim the supply and demand need. They know people leave or go their car to eat, but they run the numbers and the costs to provide enough food places to keep everyone in the park exceeds the return. Plus, if X number leave the park at any given time to eat in the lot or go down the street, that lessens the demand of everything in the park as well. I am sure they make more money on the meal plans than anyone can imagine....

There is this CRAZY thing called weather. It affects artificial fog. I swear, do we need to turn every windy night into a budget cut conspiracy theory?!?

It was extremely windy last night. The fog just blew away as soon as it came out of the machines.

Exciting addition. I just made my first visit to Young`s this summer. Our kids loved it.

Just a thought . . turn The Vortex area into a lake (return of Swan Lake). Add a flat or two, restaurant, shops, ie . . another Adventure Port like area. Build the new coaster in Action Zone. I do not think we can get two 25 million coasters for both areas.

It will be interesting to see who takes over this position at the very least

Meals in most parks have always been expensive relative to the outside world. It's part of it. As far as Winterfest, I hope it doesn't evolve into WinterCut.

I'll do it for free if they let me and my partner live in the SoB station.

Oh yes. I’d take a pay cut for that. Especially for the work environment!

This thread has been going for 4 months now. For a while the park implement some of the ideas posted here. We thought this was a beneficial thread for its members and the park. As time has gone by, it has just become a thread of nit picking. We have now beat this dead horse to a pulp. While I was making the videos that I have uploaded to YouTube the last 24 hours, I was adding the voice over of "Kings Island's ultimate fan site." I stopped and thought about that line. Has the site been living up to that mission? Have I lived up to my end of the the ultimate fan site mission? As I reflected (even on my own actions) I am not sure I can say yes to either one. I want to first apologize for not holding myself to the standard I want to maintain. In letting my emotions take over, I forgot to let in my intellect to balance out my thinking. Yes, we are emotionally attached to the place we all love. We can sometimes forget that it is a business and they are going to make decisions that we won't understand. Staying in that emotional state does not allow us to enjoy the park or the forums. To that end, I am going to lock this thread. It is time to look forward, enjoy the park and continue to make memories and talk about the place we love.

The scareactors are simply following the lead of Mr. Selfie

Keep in mind atmospheric pressure has a huge affect on artificial fog. When the air is damp and heavy like last night, it can hang a lot more.

Yeah. I cringed a bit when I saw that post.

Haunt Scareactors - has leadership continued to do the nightly/weekly award to the house with best performances or scares? Winning that gross bloody little man statute and having it presented at the house your represented was a badge of honor and something we all strived to win every night.

Ahh the good old days of Fearfest! It has become quite a bit tamer it seems over the years. I can remember the fog being so dense quite a few years back that while riding Drop Zone at the time, you could not see the ground halfway up. It was like you went up into the clouds. It lent a fantastic and a bit scarier ride with all the fake fog covering the ground. And walking through the park, some areas were completely shrouded in fog so you couldn't see a scare actor creeping up on you in the midway. Loved that aspect and believe that adds so much to the ambience of the event.

Emphasize the "mature audiences" part more, and maybe ditch the no-boo necklaces. If it means doing the KD method of separate ticket but passes are still good, I'd be all for it.

So I've though about Haunt and what all has been said here (as well as another thread) and here are my thoughts: Kings Island's Haunt (or Fearfest when it started way back in 2000) has always been an event where the purpose was to take most of regular Kings Island and add a Halloween twist to it in the form of later operating hours, scare zones and scare mazes, and scare actors roaming a fog covered park. Boiled down, Kings Island infused with haunted houses (sorry if this sounds rather simplistic; I really don't know how else to say this lol) The point is that its supposed to be scary. Halloween is the holiday of fear. Scary and fear is not family friendly is most instances. A scare maze themed to a shopping mall overrun with zombies is NOT family friendly. Haunt in general is not a family oriented event and its not supposed to be. If families want to experience Kings Island during the Halloween season but do not like the gore of Haunt, there is literally an ENTIRE family friendly event that takes place 11-6 (which is a little over half of the operating day) on Saturdays and basically all day Sunday. So families with young children should plan accordingly or else not be surprised when 6 and 7pm come around. Kings Island literally advertises that Haunt is not suitable for younger audiences. Families dragging their kids around Haunt and then complaining about the intensity of it is just ridiculous. Its the same logic as bringing your family through Dent Schoolhouse and wondering why all of your kids have soaked pants and then blame the people who run Dent Schoolhouse. In this specific regard, Kings Island should not catch flak for the poor planning of families. Tricks or Treats Fallfest is family oriented. Haunt is not. Period. Anyways, getting to some more specific details, roaming scare actors have been a staple of Haunt since its inception. Having scare actors themed to their respective areas is the best possible use of that resource. It adds to the areal theming of each haunt area and it adds to the atmosphere of haunt itself. The fog at Kings Island is also a staple. Walking around the park when its covered in fog (with the scare actors roaming around) as well as getting the LEGENDARY night rides with the fog is something that only can be understood by experiencing it. To end this off, I know that Kings Island has been facing budget cuts this year. I will say its certainly affecting and has affected the atmosphere of haunt so far this year and in the last several years. All I can say is that hopefully Kings Island doesn't cut any more budgets and that hopefully in the near future they can raise budgets.

Wow that is so unprofessional so sad

https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA Park’s response: Animated gif saying “we do not care” Source (before it’s taken down): https://x.com/kingslslandpr/status/1705798389969875455?s=46&t=Zl4tfOSUx8ou9AWrqZJlzA Looks like Mr Selfie is saying the quiet part out loud.

I fully support them cutting the Peter Peter pumpkin eater song that’s on a 10 hour loop in Action Zone from last season.

The one thing that immediately comes to mind, is Mystic Timbers. They could change the movie in the shed to something a little more sinister during Haunt with relative ease, I would imagine.

Rivertown Rider, I wonder and daydream about the same thing! I cannot explain how much I miss the Eagles still. Every time I am at the park all these years later, I go by that spot and still envision them there and how much fun that ride was. I could only dream of them coming back.

I sure hope that is going to be an off season to do list item.