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All I'm thinking is "yay more fall rides!!!". I am grateful for every season at the park. Spring is exciting because of the long hiatus off during winter, summer is action packed and full of opportunity to visit both the dry and wet side of the park. Fall is just magical. Crisp, cool air, the feel and the smell of crunchy leaves, the earlier darkness leaving room for lots of night rides, spooky vibes. All of that. I am all for it!!! Not to mention I feel fall rides just hit different. They feel wilder, faster and more out of control which I dig. Winterfest was awesome last year IMHO. I felt for what was lacking during Haunt they made up for during Winterfest. I am hoping for a good Winterfest this year too as it has helped me personally with coping with the holiday season.

Carowinds finally has a water ride outside the water park!

A while back, I made this fan concept for a Gerstlauer Infinity coaster that was themed to the Shooting Star at the old Coney Island. The general idea was to include 10 inversions and have the ride split into two parts, with the second lift hill taking place after the fifth inversion as a middle section. (Similar to what Smiler does with its two lift hills) I also included a Coney Mall retheme to Coney Fair, which also included a Gerstlauer Sky Roller and a Jukebox Diner retheme. I hadn't shared this concept before as I wasn't really sure how feasible a Gerstlauer was going to be in terms of capacity, but I'd figure it would be a good time to share it since this type of ride was included in the recent survey.

Corporate isn't making the decision to run one side of The Racer for a third of the day, run only one train on the K.I & Miami Valley Railroad most of the week, have drink stands closed, have the theaters dark for much of the summer. Those decisions get made at the park level. The park is told by corporate what the operating budget is, and they make cuts based on what they're allowed to spend. The reason why Matt Ouimet left Cedar Fair when he did was because the merger between Six Flags and Cedar Fair was not going to play into his strengths. He said a major component of value creation from any merger is the achievement of cost efficiencies. For him, this objective ran counter to his bias towards improving the guest experience. In the near term, with pressure from investors, the cost synergies usually take precedent. and he wasn't in favor of that. Over the past two years, the guest experience at Kings Island has not been as good as it used to be -- what guests had been accustomed to. The product now being offered has been watered down. As long as guests find it acceptable, the cost-cutting trend we've witnessed the past couple of years will continue. They can offer a watered-down experience because people will still come.

https://www.carowinds.com/new-in-2025

^Actually, that is quite awesome. Family launched coasters are something needed throughout the chain, imho.

It's not, this is a clone of Snoopy's Racing Railway at Canada's Wonderland. https://rcdb.com/20343.htm

I think if a high capacity Infinity coaster comed to Kings Island, it should go in Action Zone. It would be great on the skyline, especially with a pop out lighting package. If this coaster was in The Vortex plot, they would likely put the same lighting package on, and this would further erode The Beast ambiance.

Here's the (Basic) math on this using what we currently know.

Out of curiosity, I still wonder what ever became of the sphinx heads that were on the first lift of Adventure Express? I remember an Instagram post showing they had been repainted but they have never resurfaced. I actually thought the new "Mayan" look to them was really cool and it puzzles me why they were never put back up...

I saw the first article earlier, but given that they don't cite a source for their info I didn't really believe it. When I was there last month there was a sign up saying they were refurbishing it for their 50th anniversary season. I didn't see any work being done on it, but I was all over the park as well so I might have just missed it. Wikipedia says the sky ride was made by Von Roll, a company that's still in business, so I wouldn't think finding parts would be that difficult.

One thing I hope happens with The Vortex replacement is using a similar path interaction that Vortex's batwing had with its proximity to the path. Put a giant dive loop, Immelman, or cobra roll there.

I’ll find out tomorrow I’m going to the park tomorrow evening and I’m planning on picking up at least one piece of passholder merch. Stay tuned to BB1’s (not financial advice) merch hunt!

I really like Carowinds' Snoopy area. Great to see them adding to the area. I'm sure the new attractions and the splash area they also announced will be a big hit with families.

They need to bring back the classical orchestral pieces to I street! I don't understand why we're still stuck with the jazz. The 50th anniversary has been over for 2 years now. This isn't New Orleans Square, it's International Street. Orchestral Classical music makes I street feel more grand and adds to the feeling of walking into the park and seeing the Eiffel Tower and fountains in front of you!

I used the forums and discussion boards on here as well as some posts from the Facebook groups to make my Paramount International Street playlist on Spotify. Recently I've been using the Shazam app to pick up and identify songs from YouTube videos filmed during the Paramount era. I also began trying to use Shazam on videos from Taft/KECO/Lindner era. Surprisingly, even if the music was clear in the recording, Shazam sometimes couldn't pick it up. I think it's possible that they used a custom recording of the classical music. Songs that I recently found: "Parade of the Charioteers" by Miklos Roza from Ben Hur (1959) "Seances And Swordfights" by Marc Shaiman from The Addams Family (1991) "Waltz from 'Cousins'" (1989) by Angelo Badalamenti, recorded by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra; found on another playlist, verified by my cousin. "The River" from The River (1984) by John Williams; This is the original recording from the movie, the park played a recording of this theme by The City of Prauge Orchestra in 2018 and 2019. "Water Fountain" from The Secret of My Success (1987) by David Foster Songs from Taft and KECO that are confirmed/semi confirmed: "Sabre Dance" by Aram Khachaturian from Gayaneh "Hoedown" by Aaron Copland from Rodeo "Valdres March" by Johannes Hanssen Songs from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein (There are a couple West Side Story medleys you can find recordings of on YouTube and Spotify) "Jupiter" by Gustav Holst from The Planets "Olympic Fanfare & Theme" by John Williams (Played at Kings Dominion in 1989) "Flight of The Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov "Can-Can" by Jacques Offenbach from Orpheus in the Underworld "Stars And Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa Are there any that I'm missing?

What about turning the Antique Photos building in Rivertown into the VIP Lounge? It's not open every day anymore so why not make full use of the building?

Nope, we start Winterfest the weekend before Thanksgiving (first time since 2019)...unless they decide to yank it by giving an extra week of Haunt. Thus why @brenthodge points out they now have even less time (only two full weeks) between Haunt to Winterfest and he questions will we get more WF decorations up during Haunt or will they scale back Winterfest, or do they hire mega crews to come in and turn the decorations over in two weeks... Now they just need to get the website calendar to match the posters in the park:

I think a Titan Track GCI or ground up RMC Ibox would work great in The Vortex plot, and a sprawling, inversion based steel coaster as a front gate coaster would be incredible