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I finally got to this episode recently. First let me say I love both Tower Topics and The Attractions Group podcasts. Always interesting stuff... That house has fascinated me for some reason. At one point not too long ago I went down the rabbit hole of seeing what historical information might be available about the property online and learned quite a few things. None of that is super exciting, but perhaps a few details might be worth sharing... Based on various property records, I believe the house was built sometime between 1954 and 1956. I can't speak for or against the accuracy of the supposed agreement to not tear it down, but FWIW it was actually one of three houses side by side all along what was the east side of Columbia Rd that Kings Island left standing, and apparently used in some capacity, for many years. Each property had different owners prior to Taft purchasing each of them separately in early 1970. All 3 houses were still standing at least until 1986. 2 of the three until at least 1993. By 1997 only the one in the fort remained. Hopefully I'm attaching these images correctly... The first one is snip from a survey from 1984 showing each of the original property boundaries of the three houses KI kept around. The house in the fort is the southern most of the three plots in the red circle. The other images below are all snippets cropped from aerial photos made available online by the Ohio Department of Transportation. In each one the "fort house" is circled in red. Here is 1956. Fort house is recently built. The middle of the 3 houses is being built. No sign of the northern house yet. The old farm house further north in this photo would not survive the park opening. Here is 1957. The middle house is now complete. The fort house has added a pond. Still no sign of the northern most house. Here is 1964. The northern most of the 3 houses the park would keep is now present. The middle house has added a garage or large shed. Here is 1970, the year Taft purchased each property. All 3 houses were purchased on different dates in Jan and Feb of that year. The northern most house looks to have added an addition to back since the 1964 photo. This one is at an angle that gives a reasonable idea of what the housed looked like before the park owned them. Also of note the old farm house further to the north is still standing at this point. Here is 1972. The park is open now. All 3 homes are still standing. The older farm house that was further north is gone. This photo shows what Don described in the episode that the train did not originally come particularly close to the house. Here is 1974. Cars parked at all 3 houses. This one is angled to show a bit of the front of the houses. Here is 1975. Another one showing a decent look at the houses. Here is 1986. All 3 houses still standing and appear to still be used in come capacity. Here is 1993. The middle house is now gone. It would have been in the way of the re-route of the train for the water park. The fort is now build around the southern house. The northern house is still standing though. Here is 1997. The northern most house is now gone, only the southern one inside the fort survived this long.

This may be controversial, but I feel like a front gate coaster does not make sense for the park. I feel like the Eiffel Tower is our front gate coaster because it is the icon when you are pulling up the park. Other parks like Cedar Point and Carowinds do not have such a structure like the Eiffel Tower that is visible from all around so a front gate coaster makes sense for them. But I feel like pulling up and seeing the Eiffel Tower is so iconic for the park and would not want to see that change.

If it hasn't been noted elsewhere, the official app is now listing The Racer and Snoopy's Soap Box Racers along with other WinterFest attractions like Flight of Cheer, Snow Flake Lake and Holly Jolly Trolley.

You guys, Winterfest has already started.

I'll probably go to this event too. Also waiting for their winter walkthrough/offseason tour if they do one this year! I did last years tour and it was cool as heck!! Also ended up acquiring a Lightning Run wheel while I was there too.

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.

Rarely if ever I come to the forums to just post an honest tilt thread but low and behold after last night I feel as if this needs to be addressed. If you get the upgraded drink plan with the hot chocolate/icee addition, you would assume that you would get free hot chocolate at every location where they serve it. Boy was I wrong, For context I tried to get hot chocolate 6 times last night, 4 times at the I street icee stand, french corner, the last visit being a success, 1 with Auntie Ann's and one at Sweet Spot. I went to Auntie Anns, saw the hot chocolate machine and thought hey maybe this is it. Nope, I waited probably 10 minutes to be denied, then proceeded to be told that I don't even have the hot chocolate add on. That prompted me to go to guest services; you know when the last time I went to guest services? I honestly don't know because I never have issues at the park. I was then told that Auntie Ann's was not on the list, which makes absolutely zero sense to me, and then was given a list of places where I could get hot chocolate. So It listed coney's drink station, the i street locations mentioned, the funnel cake stand and Graeters. It also listed "sweet treats" which I assumed was sweet spot as I've never heard of that name being used before. Went there, saw the glorious hot chocolate machine infront of me, only to be denied by the worker after literally holding it because they are merchandise not food and bev. That absolutely just made things worse, I finally wound up back at the french corner, got my hot chocolate but this experience left one of the worst experiences I have ever had in my life. Now look, I know this isn't a direct line to the park, but I know park officials watch this. Mike Koontz literally talks about being more family friendly with Orion, then puts out a million and one bars which were open. YET when I try to get hot chocolate when it actually gets colder out I get the run around from broken down machines, denial of service and yet I could get an alcoholic beverage just fine. They even made merch for the new bar when we don't have any decent merch for a few of our coasters. Like if you really want to be family friendly then give us access to the hot chocolate as we requested. Kings Island needs to be better than this, I had to try 6 times to get a hot chocolate last night and the fact that I've spent the money and was denied the service at several locations is absolutely ludicrous. It's one park, every location should satisfy this request if they can satisfy my icee and my regular drinks. Which I don't even think it's a tech issue, I honestly believe at this point the park is just that backwards right now because on one hand they're pumping out alcohol stands that never have a line while the main draws aren't getting the attention they deserve. I'm already communicating this to other friends of mine for the inevitable winterfest rush as believe me this will only become more of a problem. So for those who want hot chocolate on your visit, I implore you to go to guest services get a certified note on where you can use your pass perks and bring that with you; as at this point I just don't trust this system anymore which is really upsetting. Yes, I'm making a formal complaint today at the park as I'm honestly baffled as to why this is even an issue to begin with.

What about for KI park goers?

With the “Giga” we got, and the “Water Coaster” we are getting. Mid-level is the new norm for KI.

I think it’s still too early to tell. However, I will say the park experiences I have had this season is better than last.

Here's my take. KI has the same mindset as Phil Castellini with this very clear comment a while back when fans were making comments about expecting more for their money: "Well, where are you going to go?” Exactly what motivation does Cedar Fair have to do better? Who is going to stop going because of issues with hot chocolate? Let's keep going. What about people holding phones on rides, which literally puts us in danger, yet if you get smacked by one the park isn't liable in any way? What about people fist-fighting? Food portion complaints? Dissatisfaction with park upgrades? I saw a kid slam a soda off the side of a trashcan in line for Banshee yesterday all because they told him to make sure to finish it before trying to board the ride. It splashed at least 4-5 people, and an employee watched it happen and did exactly nothing. Whatever the issue may be. It is a business, and business is good.

June 6th here. Excited!

What it boils down to is that the company is clearly eager to move forward with this restructure. The director level will not be Chad, at least in the Midwest Region. Both he and/or Elizabeth may be one of the positions below that, but as Don said, they won't be exclusively for Kings Island. This may mean that they get placed in roles that are within the region or they may get "future endeavored." If I were to guess, I'd say that we'll have a pretty good look at what this where people will be by the start of Winterfest.

Wow great investigative work! I never knew there were 3 houses! Thanks for sharing!

THIS is why I love the internet! This made my day! In regards to whether or not the house had that tear down agreement, I always thought that sounded a bit absurd. I always assumed they since they actually used the house, and had it disguised, no one wanted to foot the bill for tearing it down and the “agreement” was just urban legend. The same day we recorded this episode, we spoke with a former park executive from that time period to verify the story. He said he “remembers something like that.” So that gives some indication that there may be some truth to it.

Very awesome find! I didn't realize the house was that young. It's also strange, and a little spooky in a way, to see aerial views of the site before Kings Island was built.

I might not do a TR on my visit for the 90% last day, but I'll throw out a few observations- - Mystic Timbers was absolutely HAULING at night, it's the kind of ride I've been hoping for as it's aged. Hopefully it's not too much of an outlier - Loved the marches and Dixieland music in Coney Mall, please keep that KI - The KI Haunt music lineup is abysmal this season - I hope the lighting at night was only indicative of Haunt and not during normal operations and they just didn't change it to normal lighting out of convenience, otherwise- the park needs better lighting at night.

So it’s safe to assume “Haunt” as a name isn’t going anywhere as all of the Haunt merch is still full priced. Which is unfortunate as I was somewhat hoping it would be discounted on the last day of operations.

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.

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

I'm on board with them doing a "sequel" or "requel" as people like to call it nowadays. But that's also just cause I wanna see another new wood coaster added to the park lol :p

I agree that is ridiculous and I can answer the question for you right now on why does the park invest in bars and not invest in hot chocolate while saying they want to be more family friendly - Answer: alcohol can be marked up a ridiculous amount at theme parks and sports stadiums for the sake of just making more money. As for the hot chocolate, why would they care about that because they already have your money. Same issue as them never having ice in the drink machines. Why have ice and invest in a good product when you already have everyone's money? With alcohol, they have to make a good product because they have to actually sell it and make the money that day and people aren't going to pay a ridiculous upcharge on alcohol if the product sucks. As for being family friendly, what is more family friendly than Mom and Dad having a few drinks while their hooligans are off unsupervised line jumping and fighting with other teens? I personally don't drink alcohol, I have nothing against anyone who does and I have some good friends who usually go buy an alcoholic beverage at Kings Island when they visit however I agree that it's hypocritical to say we want to be more family friendly but then have a garbage product on things like hot chocolate and soft drinks that families want during their visit. If not every location is going to honor a season pass hot chocolate drink plan, you shouldn't have to go to guest services to figure it out. There should be a sign outside the dining location advertising the hot chocolate drink plan or at the very least put out a sign that says it can't be used at that location.

YOU of all people, are advocating for removal of vegetation at a Six Flags park? I NEVER thought I'd see this day!