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I would also be heartbroken if The Bat were to get removed in the near future. It's a coaster I try to ride every time I go to the park and I don't really mind the long walk it takes to get there. It usually doesn't have that bad of a wait and it's a pretty enjoyable ride experience even if it is a bit short. I would be shocked if it got removed before Invertigo.

KICentral extends its warmest congratulations to Grace on her new role. We look forward to a productive collaboration with her and her team, sharing our passion for Kings Island and inspiring others to embrace their love for the park. Follow her on X here: https://x.com/gracepeacock

Maybe we can just replace The Bat with a B&M family invert named The Bat: The Bat's Revenge... For real though, I think The Bat has some time considering Invertigo is probably also on its way out. I don't think The Bat is going to last forever and I do not see the park making any big investments in it like BGW did with Loch Ness but, I don't think it's being removed anytime soon. Hopefully KI doesn't prove me wrong on that...

On the way to a test last week I am pretty sure I saw the track for the new coaster at the steel plant in Batavia. It was getting dark out and I had to primarily focus on the road, but knowing they manufacture B&M track is common knowledge, the track appeared to be the same shade of red as the mock up imagery proposes and the pieces looked like invert track. So about 99.9% sure that's what I saw. Pretty neat either way. Only a coaster nerd could appreciate seeing new coaster track chilling in a lot

The "what if?" has always gone through my mind had they built Top/Flight/Bat somewhere that wasn't so far off the path, would it have a longer line and more love in general? I mean it really is an awesome-well balanced coaster that fits somewhere between moderate to thrilling. I mean heck, there have been days I have ridden it where that thing just absolutely HAULS through the course and takes me by surprise being mildly planted against my seat. And with there being so few of these Arrow Suspended coasters left, I am grateful we still have ours. I don't mind the walk back to it because its really pretty being back amongst the trees and sometimes its a relatively more peaceful being away from the crowds. But I often wonder due to the lower foot traffic, how much longer will this area be known as it is? I feel deep in my heart of hearts there will probably be a massive overhaul to that area some day. But I think we have awhile before that comes to be seeing as there are still more glaringly obvious plots needing attention first ( Vortex plot-I'm lookin at you!) Until then, I look forward to as many Bat rides as I can get and will cherish it while we have it.

My understanding is that Grace is the Regional Director, but she will have Regional Managers (yet to be named/announced) who will report to her.

Let's face it, this is issue is not just about hot chocolate. The meal/ drink plans across all the CF parks have zero consistency. Guests paid for something they are not getting in return and the reasoning given muddies the water even more. This has been an issue for a number of years and should have been addressed by now. Due to inadequate training by the park, I do feel for the employee that has to tell a guest "no" and then gets the brunt of the frustration.

Before my move to northern KY, I used to live on the East side of Cincy and would take a ride by the plant every once in awhile to see if I could spot any track outside. Coaster nerds unite! Ha!

To everyone who think The Bat is going away. Your dead wrong!

I would assume they'd want everything filled by end of calendar year. From what I understand everyone who has had a position in a park through "corporate" such as Digital Marketing Manager, Director of Communications, Marketing & PR Professional, etc. have to reapply and interview for positions with the newly merged company. Not only does this help "trim the fat" but it also helps the company restructure into more effective operations.

To be fair, there was a shipping document that was posted online a month or two before AlpenFury's announcement that showed that the manufacturer was going to be premier rides, so it wouldn't exactly be accurate to say "nothing got out". Also, we've had Notice of Commencements and blueprints found in public records for several past additions, so I'm not sure if that's going to stop with a new director of communications. However, I do hope that future additions do become more "secretive" from now on to help fuel speculation throughout the season. I feel as if the decoding season for Orion back in 2019 was somewhat ruined by the fact that the blueprints were posted on here very early in the season. Going back to the 2020 decoding thread, there was only a period of 19 days between the start of the speculation on passholder preview day (April 19th) to when the blueprints were posted with the full layout (May 8th), so at that point there wasn't really much left to decode other than debating if the name was going to be Polaris or Orion.

The pastry team produce the stuff for Sweet Spot and they are the ones in the kitchen. But the people in the front are still merchandise it is a joint store. But the register is still run by merchandise so merchandise is the one that does the hot chocolate not the food people in the back. At least that is what I’ve heard and what it seems like based on when I was there.

Tbh I really hope this means future additions to the park can be kept under wraps better. Her and her team at Wonderland did an outstanding job keeping AlpenFury under wraps and nothing got out until announcement day. Also she has a great relationship with social media channels (specifically Amusement Insiders). As for Chad and Elizabeth, I wish them nothing but great things in the future for them as for me personally I have not had any bad interactions with either of them.

From various people who visit Canadas Wonderland, there have been nothing but good things said of Grace. Elizabeth’s position has essentially been eliminated, as has the director role that Chad was in. While they haven’t been let go, they have to reapply and interview for positions within the greater communications/marketing departments under a regional director. Whomever ends up at KI in comms would essentially be a point person and wouldn’t have a big say in PR at the park.

In the event of a ground-up RMC coming to Kings Island, I would expect the park to use an all-steel support structure similar to ArieForce One. Kings Island has played it safe with their recent coaster additions as of the time Cedar Fair took over, and I think that would apply here as well by minimizing the risk of any potential structural issues like we've seen with Steel Vengeance for example. I wouldn't be surprised if no wood ended up being used at all. However, it's also because of the park playing it safe with their coaster additions that I believe an RMC at Kings Island is unlikely to begin with.

I personally do think the final helix and airtime hills on fury 325 are weak compared to the injector and the really forceful helix near the end of Orion. However, all things considered, Fury is the superior ride. Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland while still run is clearly the worst of the B&M trio of gigas. Having said that, I personally will take an Intamin giga over a B&M giga any day. Millennium Force and I-305 (now pantherian) are both in their own league. The sense of speed and the low to the ground elements are unmatched and the speed is really showcased. You could argue that Fury has the best collection of elements on a giga coaster and also has the highest top speed but the intensity of I-305 blows Fury away for me. Even millennium Force still has a crazy amount of straightaways and turns that highlight the pure speed of the coaster. You do have to treasure milli for not having a single trim the entire ride

Like Son of Beast, Don's not coming back.