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To preface, I am an associate working in Kings Island's Public Relations Department, reporting to Chad Showalter. After witnessing the reaction and response by my department to the tragic events that occurred that night, I am simply appalled and ashamed to have been a part of such a response. If Brad would like to ban me or delete this post, I understand. It doesn't shine the park and its leadership in a positive light and this site, after all, is a fan site. However, if you choose to let this stay, please read on for a window into how Kings Island's PR department operates. I will be remaining anonymous to protect my position, however it is likely I will be resigning soon. If you would like proof of my position in the department, I have attached screenshots of me logged into our X handle. If you still choose not to believe me, that is your right, but I still feel the need to get this out. Around 8:15 that night, I got a call from Chad Showalter himself (as others did) asking me to come to the park immediately to figure out how to deal with the media in light of a major incident. I wasn't told what it was but I threw some clothes on and rushed to the park. Luckily I only live ten minutes away but others with longer commutes arrived up to thirty minutes later. We all went into a meeting room in the leadership building (adjacent to the operations building) and were soon briefed on the situation. We were told a man was critically injured after being struck by Banshee, and that the media was already reaching out for questions. Chad put each of us on a different method of communication, such as emails, phone calls, and social media messages. This was when things started to get strange. Chad, who had just told us the severity of the incident, told us to play it down and tell the local media that he seemed to have "walked away" from the incident. One of my colleagues told him that the media would find out eventually, but he wouldn't have it. He told us to think about the present, or upper leadership would be on him. So, that's what we did. We gave the media the spiel he gave us, saying that the situation seemed to be under control and that the guest walked away. You will see and probably have seen that when the media initially picked up the story this is what they reported. Of course we were given pushback by some members of the press, as they had heard the fire/ems radio firsthand. We told them that was all we knew. As all of us juggled the chaotic situation, Chad sat in his office, door closed. We were left wondering what exactly he was doing to remedy the situation, as we were the ones doing everything. We stayed through the night, fielding calls, emails, and messages locally and from across the country. We left around 5 AM, just before the local media would begin their morning news programs. I returned to the office at 9 AM, as per my schedule. The day started as normal, with a heightened sense of tension in the air. For all we knew, Chad had never left his office. His door remained closed. At 1 PM, he walked into the office. I figured he was returning from lunch. This wasn't true. He had left around 2 AM the night before and came in late today to get more sleep. Meanwhile we were doing damage control and providing the same story we had provided the night before. I was astonished at this. He arrived with updated instructions on how to interact with the media. Our new command was to say "no comment" to every request. The next day, we got a taste of what it was like to be on Chad Showalter's bad side. He came in at his normal hour as scheduled, this time fiery and explosive. He called a meeting. We were then told there was a leaker, maybe two. Some employees who spoke to the media. He was obviously infuriated that his damage control had blown up into pieces. We were demeaned in ways I had never been before in my entire professional career. He retreated to his office, this time the door remained open, leaving his fiery conversations loud and clear for all to hear. He was talking to people named Dustin and Bonnie, I'm not sure who these individuals are, but I'm led to believe via context that they have something to do with operations, perhaps rides in particular. He barked commands at them. He told them to find the culprit at all costs, and bring them to him. When they seemed to pushback, his voice grew in anger, barking more commands and threats at the poor associates on the other line. The talk around the office now is a search is on for the leaker(s). I hear that supervisors at Banshee are talking to their associates individually, asking them if they were the ones who interviewed. So far, as far as I can tell, no one has been caught. But if someone is, I feel bad for what they're about to endure. To this day, we have not posted a statement on any form of social media. Not even an acknowledgment. After a similar incident at Cedar Point, they tweeted that an accident happened and that their hearts went out to anybody affected. Why couldn't we have done that? It all comes down from Chad, and his fragile ego. He bans people from the park at will, with no regard to who they may be. He is a person who has little morals and no respect for the park he was hired to represent. This disastrous response is not surprising to many within the department. His attitude has been this way for quite some time, now it's just out in the open.

If you haven't seen it:

Looks like they're basically keeping the Cedar Fair style of branding which I'm happy about. I thought the old Six Flags logo/branding was pretty ugly and outdated and the current CF branding felt pretty modern to me. Hopefully we see the current Six Flags parks drop the old Six Flags logos in their names and get new modern CF style logos in their names. Honestly this is giving me Paramount to Cedar Fair vibes and instead it'll be the current Six Flags parks that go through the transition and will see the most changes in the near future. We'll just have to wait and see, but honestly I'm digging the new logo.

You’re absolutely right. Someone broke park rules, trespassed, and paid the ultimate price for it- that’s not on the park. If I was in charge of PR, I’d want to get the facts out as soon as possible so that media personnel don’t have to speculate. “At approximately (insert time) last night, a park guest entered a restricted area in the Action Zone area of the park and was struck by the Banshee roller coaster. At this time we are unable to provide information on the condition of the individual nor the riders who were on the ride at the time of impact. We are working with the state of Ohio as well as local law enforcement as they conduct their investigations into this matter. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the individual and their family, as well as the riders on the train, park staff and others who were involved. We will provide more information once it becomes available. All inquiries should be directed to info@visitkingsisland.com.” What I said was transparent and to the point. It took me 5 minutes to come up with that and it A.) acknowledged that an incident occurred. B.) Provided information. C.) Expressed cooperation and sympathy. D.) Redirected inquires to the park’s email.

I headed up to the park for a few hours late this afternoon to visit one last time before the merger was official tomorrow. I typically just ride based upon how busy certain lines or where I am at in the park on a particular visit. I rode Cargo Loco first and then decided to head over to Action Zone, where I decided to ride Congo Falls then headed over to The Bat. While I was in line for The Bat, I realized that unintentionally I had ridden a Cedar Fair addition (Cargo Loco), a KECO addition (Congo), and was getting to ride The Bat (ordered by KECO/opened by Paramount). After I rode The Bat, I headed over to towards International Street and stopped to ride the Grand Carousel (Coney/Opening Day Taft). While riding the Grand Carousel it hit me how much history this Carousel has seen throughout the years. From being at Coney to an opening day Taft attraction through all of the subsequent owners and changes, the Carousel has been one of the few constants since 1972 (or 1926 in the Carousel's case, even if it moved a few counties to the north). Throughout all of the changes, there have been good and bad and curious changes, but Kings Island has always weathered those changes. Change is one of those constants in life that we can't do much about. I have enjoyed the Cedar Fair era overall and if Cedar Fair and Six Flags take the best of both chains, we could be in for another good era. Just like all of the eras before it, there will be some good, some bad, and some curious changes, but I'm hopeful that Kings Island will be the same outstanding park it has been these last 52 years.

That concludes the longest ownership tenure of the park. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake up. I’m guessing it’ll take 2-4 years for things to be really harmonized across the new company.

New slide structure and deck expansion/shade structures shown:

As a warning, I suspect it will not be that difficult for management at the park to figure out your identity. But you likely knew that before you made your post. I agree with you. The park has handled this incident terribly. The park being more transparent would have done no harm to the parks reputation. I have spoken with a number of people about the accident and everyone I have spoken with has placed all of the blame on the individual. The park should have made a statement when the accident occurred basically saying that an individual entered a restricted area, and was injured and transported to a hospital. The ride has been closed to perform inspections and that the state will inspect the ride before reopening. The park could also wish for a quick recovery, etc. The park could have said something and shown some humanity, instead of trying to bury its head in the sand and act like nothing happened. Personally I have had minimal interactions with Chad, but what I do know, makes me think he is the wrong person for the job.

Thanks, I appreciate it. And thanks for the post link. I was trying to go back and find it because I knew they said something. The unfortunate thing is it would’ve been so easy for Chad to have us do that. But a different approach was chosen and here we are.

I will illustrate my opinion of today's merger with what I'll call "A Tale of Two Great Americas". In 1976 Mariott opened two largely identical parks, themed to the different regions of North America. In the 1980s, both were sold off to different owners, where they remained until 2024. Each of the Great Americas received a new themed area in the 90s, one very much in line with the theme and identity of the park, one not. In one park, the new themed area was the Southwest Territory, with buildings and rides designed to look like the American Southwest. One of them got Action Zone. Each of these parks had a beloved and rare Schwarzkopf Jumbo Jet coaster named the Whizzer. One of them has been preserved and remains a park staple. One was removed and replaced with... nothing. One of these parks' owners purchased the 1950 Schmeck Wooden coaster from another local amusement park when it shut down, so as to keep a classic in the same metro area. The other park's owners sold the land from under it to a real estate investor. One of these parks still maintains and operates its train ride. The other removed the train to build a small swing ride. One of the parks in this story has been controlled by Six Flags all that time. The other by KECO/Paramount/Cedar Fair. Do you know which is which?

https://investors.sixflags.com/parks/default.aspx

Officially official! https://investors.sixflags.com/news/press-releases/press-release-details/2024/Cedar-Fair-and-Six-Flags-Merger-of-Equals-Successfully-Completed-Creating-a-Leading-Amusement-Park-Operator--2024-Gg6DYOdKRH/default.aspxThis

Hopefully they have a "if its not broke don't fix it" attitude regarding the names. The top 3 seasonal parks, by attendance, are all Cedar Fair parks (including KI) while SF parks underperform when you consider their size, operating days and proximity to major metro areas. I would like to think the only CF parks in danger of getting branded are the small-to-medium sized ones. It could very well have the opposite effect. Why go to "Six Flags" on your trip when you have "Six Flags at home?" While the Six Flags brand isn't as tarnished to the gp as it is to enthusiasts, much of the public does see Six Flags rather generically. Trying to turn Six Flags into a trusty, reliable national brand has backfired, imo, and is not a great strategy to begin with when the experiences vary so wildly.

First off thank you for sharing. I agree with Kenban above. Obviously the whole thing is a terrible situation mostly outside of the control of the park. However doesn't that the park couldn't make better light of it in certain situations. Agreed that an updated statement assuring people the ride was properly inspected, out of the park's control, etc. As park PR, you want to setting as much straight as you can legally, as it prevents customers from being deterred from wild stories. My friend from California even mentioned that from the national ABC story he read, it was based off exclusively by witnessed and a "supposed park employee". That's not the fault of the whistle blower, that's fault on the park for not clearly things up sooner. I understand you can't report everything to the news stations for legal reasons , but also they can't be doing the bare minimum every time. Again, I'm sorry you've had to go through all of this, and it sounds like it's been a rough enviroment for a lot of the PR team at KI, as well as members of some other departments . It sucks to be damage control, man I understand the mental load can be mind shattering, especially when covering up a truly tragic incident, it feels terrible. Even if Chad was recieving critisim from higher up, still shouldn't be dishing it out to the entire team like that, sounds very unprofessional and something like that wouldn't stand one bit where I come from. This takes courage. I wish you the best in finding a position elsewhere, it seems like you have a great work ethic and most of all a very strong moral judgement. Sounds to me like the park could be using a whole lot more people like you, less like a certain other representative.

If I had to guess, I would think that they would go this route. Keep the branding, and just add a tagline "A Six Flags park". Gets the point across that it is part of the Six Flags company, but no need to brand it as Six Flags. I mean, look at the work that Cedar Fair has done with their water parks. They have slowly been removing the ubiquitous name of Soak City from all the water parks with things like Cedar Point Shores and Carolina Harbor. Kind of surprised we haven`t seen more of that.

There is almost 0 chance they rename any of the big 5 parks to Six Flags _____, the whole strategy under Cedar Fair management was focus on locality to appeal to guest. Renaming the parks to a bland corporate name would be a MAJOR set back to that imo. That being said the smaller parks would benefit more with the Six Flags compared to the larger parks.

I have fully archived this post as well, in case any site admins are pushed by Kings Island leadership to delete it. You can find it on various archiving sites like archive.org or by reaching out to me on other platforms (same username) where I can provide a link. If what you say is indeed true, then I feel terribly sorry that you had to go through that. Something tragic like that should not be kept hidden and quiet, it is a major event that requires transparency to show that the park even cares a little. Sure it's not fun to deal with but it's not something that you should be required to lie about when you know the actual truth.

So excited for the water coaster. It is exactly what the waterpark needs attractions-wise!

A chain with a history of financial troubles marrying a chain that had financial troubles on the horizon... Solution: let's make the Titanic bigger; what could possibly go wrong?

Standing at the Kings Island security, I felt a pang of something bittersweet. This was it, my last hurrah before the park became associated with Six Flags. The coasters rattled in the distance, the familiar roar a comforting rumble against the undercurrent of worry churning in my stomach. The day was a whirlwind of nostalgic thrills. I screamed through the inversions on Banshee, relishing the white-knuckled drops and the wind whipping through my remaining hair. I indulged in the sugary sweetness of a blue ice cream, the cold, gooey goodness a perfect counterpoint to the humid summer air. And I was captivated by the mesmerizing dance of colors in the bubble show, even though I wish the Maestro and company were still present, while Hilda Bovine's musical talent echoed in my memories. It is over, Hilda. You've sang. The people in C-suite mentioned the scariest thing. A shadow lingered beneath the surface of the fun. Kings Island, a place woven into the fabric of my summer memories, felt like a patient entering hospice care. The park that once pulsed with youthful exuberance now exuded a sense of uncertainty. Six Flags loomed on the horizon, an enigma wrapped in a coat of roller coasters. Would it usher in a new era of exhilarating rides and dazzling spectacles? Or would it erase the park's quirky charm, turning it into a generic theme park indistinguishable from its brethren? As I left, I stole one last glance back, a silent plea escaping my lips. Please, Kings Island, let your transformation be a paradise, not a purgatory. The park's future hung in the balance, and only time would tell if the metamorphosis would be a glorious ascension or a soul-crushing descent.

hi, i'm new as a registered member of king's island central but i have been on the site on and off for many years. The registeration question i was asked is 'what amusement park company owns kings' island' I answered six flags and was denied registeration, haha. I'm 63 years old and visit king's island maybe 10 times a year and worked at the park in the late 1970's. looking forward to participating with you.

Especially because at Six Flags, it's not Flash Pass, it's "The Flash Pass" because the character's name is "The Flash" So, "I purchased my The Flash Pass online" is actually the grammatically correct version of that sentence.

Very rarely do I hear it called correctly. Even at a Six park.

^There are 14 FAQ and 8 of them relate to passes from one chain are not valid at another chain. Somehow that still won't be clear enough for people and social media sites will be taken over with questions asking if passes are valid at all parks now lol.

An updated FAQ about the merger https://www.visitkingsisland.com/frequently-asked-questions#Merger

Koontz informing the KI staff:

Not a 50th pin but I just bought this beauty on Mercari

I guess it's a good sign they're still using the Cedar Fair font for the logo?

Sure! Google keeps enabling new "Ad Experiments" and makes it difficult to disable them. I've gone through and turned them off wherever I could find them. I'm not sure if it happens instantly or if it takes a few hours for the changes to take effect.

For me Orion has the edge by quite a bit. Maybe I've just had bad rides on Millie, but Orion just seems so much crazier and more forceful. For me Orion has stand out moments (the speed hill, the wave turn, the twisted hill, and the pop into the brakes) and moments that don't necessarily hit nearly as much as they should or could (the turnaround, floater hill, helix). Millie is more consistent in having fun elements one after the other, but they just aren't that forceful. I have the same "problem" with Fury 325, though Fury does it much better.

I prefer Millenium Force. I like that you get to enjoy its high speed with areas lower to the ground passing trees and other things at 80+ mph. Orion feels too similar to more typical hyper coasters with some extra height. Orion is still a good coaster, its just I want a little more out of gigas with the added speed they have to play with. I like a balance between higher elements and low to the ground elements. For me, Fury is the creme de la creme of gigas, and for me, MF is the next best example which does with Fury does (which, I have high hopes for Leviathan whenever I get to CW). I do prefer Orion to P305 as the KD ride, while nice, focuses too much on sheer intensity for me. I prefer a giga be a scaled up hyper coaster over the hyper-intense focus of P305.

Yikes not a good look for the park. The approach to down play an incident like this is kind of bizarre especially when the park clearly isn’t at fault for what happened.

Certainly not the first time this has happened at VF. Renegade was designed with additional flood protection by GCI, including slab foundations in the flood areas. Excalibur is also a wood structure and has been dealing with floods since well before Renegade existed. Obviously the rapids ride isn't a concern, unless they didn't have the rafts secured...

I personally am not surprised. I do know one of the two people you mentioned that he spoke to, is in operations. You are not the wrong in the least about the door remaining closed. Best of luck to you, I can't imagine the situation you've been put in. Also: Cedar Point - At approximately 5 p.m., a guest entered a... | Facebook

They do And no I won’t trade lol

"We saved hundreds on power by switching the rides off and still allowing people to come in and spend money". Their version of a popular insurance commercial.

SIX budget cuts starting early

Anybody else still actively collecting KI pins? I like to pick up one or two a visit when I can. I’m hoping they make more. Here’s my collection so far: Started way back in 2018 from what I remember. Also big into the Disney Pin Trading/Collecting. What KI pins would you like to see?

Yay! A dueling watercoaster that probably will only have one side operating on any given day, with 5 tubes. Although it will be a fun experience, the not operating all the attractions in the waterpark at full capacity is what gets me.

For me it's a really close call between the two, but I'm going to say Millennium Force due to the additional length and the view you get right next to the lake.

I’m curious how people think other chains like Sea World, Palace Entertainment, Herschend, Universal, and Disney reacted to the Cedar Fair/Six Flags merger. Are there chains that feel legit threatened, chains that are indifferent, or even chains that see this as a win for them somehow.

The only “competitors” Disney and Universal really think about are each other. SeaWorld (AKA United Parks), Merlin, Palace and Herschend will most likely see an opportunity to pick up some parks that the new Six Flags will want to sell to pay down some of the debt resulting from the merger.

Going by the blueprints, it shows it's going in the Pipeline Paradise plot.

Does this count as back to back coaster additions?

It’s not unusual in these types of mergers/acquisitions to sell off some of the remaining assets after the close of the sale to avoid market duplication, or (more importantly) pay down some of the assumed debt. Has there been any speculative conversation here about which parks we think could be up for grabs? I have to assume they’ll do everything possible to keep the “marquee” parks (KI, Knotts, CP, Wonderland, SFMM, etc.) under the new SF umbrella, but there’s still a lot of others that could possibly be sold to help pay down debt. Of course, to sell something you also have to have a buyer—I’m assuming both SeaWorld (excuse me—United Parks & Resorts) and Merlin would both be in the market to acquire some parks (I’ve worked for both, so feel pretty comfortable in that prediction), and also think Palace Entertainment would be in the mix. I think potential buyers will relate directly to what is offered for sale. For instance, I don’t see SeaWorld or Merlin having a lot of interest in Michigan’s Adventure, but that park does seem like a good match for Palace. On the other hand, SF Fiesta Texas could be a good match for SeaWorld (ahem, UNITED) since there could be economies of scale for a market where they’re already operating a park. Just some random speculation (but it’s always fun to speculate )

I think Cedar Fair started doing Six Flags practice last year with reduced staffing, dirtier midways and continued forward to this year with shorter hours, reduced operating days, Sysco "hand breaded" tenders and vastly reduced entertainment options!

Really like the vibe of the new logo! I might be a bit biased with blue and black being my colors of choice. But kudos to the work put in for the refresh!

The new site looks great!

As a Graphic Designer and site designer too, I know the hard work and decisions that went into all this. Great job and I'm so happy to be part of this group that enjoys this site on a daily basis and loves King's Island like a second home.