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Today was the last day of operation for Lookout Lagoon, which is being replaced by Splash River Junction. It opened in 1997 under the name Buccaneer Island. The name was changed in 2004 to Kangaroo Lagoon, and then to Lookout Lagoon in 2012. Probably the most notable thing about it is that it was featured in a couple shots of the Ghost Hunters episode that was filmed in November 2011. I took these photos a few weeks ago, on August 5. It obviously wasn't the flashiest or biggest thing in the waterpark, but I'm surprised the park didn't put out any notices or anything about it closing today.

I don’t understand why the park won’t use this IP. It can be easily milked for Haunt, a ride, and even merch.

I'm rather fond of WindSeeker too. I have waited in a full queue on busy Haunt nights before. I believe its 64-rider-per-cycle capacity is the main reason its line is usually short, especially now that there is no massive Arrow looper to help draw guests to the ride.

….I approve of Rhinegeist, Sonder not so much. BB1, more than willing to ride the Intamin green TRUTH sponsored by Rhinegeist coaster that ends with a micro brewery where one could get a Truth after riding TRUTH.

Another marker seen in Coney Mall:

Although Firehawk did definitely have its problems, I think it could've been possible to keep that coaster running for a bit longer if the park really wanted to, but when the opportunity came up to put in a giga coaster, it was a pretty clear decision for the park to replace a problematic coaster with a more reliable and popular attraction. I think the "reached the end of its service life" reasoning definitely applied more to Vortex than it did for Firehawk. I'm certain Kings Island would've preferred to keep Vortex in operation until a replacement was ready for construction. It seems the problems with Vortex were significant enough for Kings Island to pull the plug on it well before such a replacement was even conceived. Unfortunately, I think the problems with Vortex just came at the worst possible time. Not just because Firehawk's replacement was still under construction, meaning it would take at least another three years before Kings Island's next major coaster, but also because of the pandemic which delayed that project even further until we're still talking about what could go into that plot five years later.

Still don't think KI could actually pull it off based on the implementation of Wine and Food Festival.

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.

One of the concepts in the passholder survey was to use The Vortex land to extend The Beast and create The Beast 2.0. https://old.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/1eiqazj/passholder_survey_at_kings_island_shows_a_concept/