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Another thought if the Vekoma rumor is true is that back in August KI sent a survey with an option for a Peanuts "interactive dark ride" likely replacing Boo Blasters. While scrolling through Vekoma's portfolio, I noticed one of their attractions options is a "D-Ride Interactive Dark Ride" and the description sounds pretty similar to the description KI put out in the Peanuts dark ride survey. https://www.vekoma.com/media-based-attractions/d-ride-interactive-dark-ride Also since I don't think this would be that expensive of an investment, it could be part of a package of new attractions for 2026 like a Madhouse in the Crypt building or even an S&S scream n swing replacing Skyflyer.

Ok who remembers the first few years when Boo Blasters took over Scooby-Doo in the 2010s those awful Boo Blaster glasses? I never actually saw the point in them considering the 3-D effect never actually worked! (Well at least for me it never did) I actually had some old ones a few years back when I was cleaning out my house, but who remembers them?

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events Grand Carnivale and Food & Wine Festival are both returning for 2025.

Xtreme Skyflyer is being removed prior to the 2025 season! Ride Crew Supervisor placements were released and Skyflyer was not apart of that, no staff will be at skyflyer anymore.

I honestly always thought about how cool it would be to enclose the base of Drop Tower with an enclosed queue kinda like the base of Dr. Doom's Fearfall at IOA!

If I can think of something that could replace Xtreme Skyflyer without using a new ride space and just to expand something, Then this is what I came up with.

I feel Carnivale is here to stay just because it's an International themed festival and KI and KD have International Street. I think Carnivale will return to KD in 26 as just like KI in 22 they're taking a year off to celebrate their 50th. I'd be okay with it as long as they expand on it and keep adding to the event and not cutting back like they've done the last few years. One way to do that is to bring back a Carnivale themed bandstand show (ie Royal Rhythms) and not just have Retrospect as the show. It just didn't have that "International Festival" feel to it. I'm glad they chose to keep Food and Wine as it has a lot of potential to be a staple at the park. It also really works well in that Tower Gardens/Eiffel Tower base area. However, I really wish instead of late May through June, they did it in late April through May. Have it be that springtime early season event instead of Summer. Now my main wish (obviously like we saw with Food and Wine last year where they added it last minute) is we see some type of Soak City event. That's literally where your new capital for 2025 is. Take advantage of it! Do some late ERT on the new attractions as part of like a "glow nite" event like you used to do. It felt like a major missed opportunity to not do some sort of "kids event" in Camp Snoopy last year to help promote Camp Snoopy and no the showing a new "camp snoopy" movie in Beagle Scout Acres doesn't count. I also would keep our eyes on Timberwolf this year. With Skyflyer being removed and Spirit Song mysteriously going silent last year after coming back one year post Covid (2023) with no signs of it coming back as well as no signs of KI hosting anymore concerts after the 2022 concert series flop, I feel like the time to pull the plug on it would be now especially if Congo, Invertigo, Drop Tower, and The Bat are all potentially on the chopping block. That would open up a large plot of land at the front of the park for something massive! Now that's the conversation of another thread lol. As for live shows this year, I'm willing to place a bet that Trailblazers Xtreme and Country Crossroads are returning. I'm about 50/50 on the gazillion bubble show as it looks like KD is potentially getting it, but they show at multiple parks so KI could still get it, but honestly I could also see KI getting Brad Ross as he did a 2 year stint at Carowinds and he was very popular there. The main question is about the bandstand show. Usually KI runs their shows for 2 years. Retrospect has ran for 2 years. However, Off the Charts ran there for several years. However, I really hope they do a live band show there again or at least change up the songs. Finally, not really live entertainment/special event related, but please please please PLEASE NO MORE JAZZ ON I-STREET!!! I know I sound like a broken record here, but the jazz has been playing for 3 seasons now and imo just does not fit International Street. Now, I could get behind the jazz during food/wine fest and Carnivale as it fits those events well, but outside of when those events are going on, I want to see orchestral music playing again! International Street is meant to be grand and revealing not laid back jazzy!

I kind of wish they would do something completely new and different. I agree that Grand Carnivale has run its course. I unfortunately did not get to experience it the first year when it apparently was actually good. The event left a lot to be desired the last two seasons that I have been. Hopefully since they are bringing it back this year they actually devote more resources into making it what it once was. As for the Food and Wine Festival, that's not really my vibe personally. Glad other's enjoyed it though. A refresh of events next season would be nice to see though.

I know the events had already been listed but here is a news story in the Journal-News today. https://www.journal-news.com/lifestyles/kings-island-announces-special-events-coming-to-the-park-this-summer/PU7MNSBWERCQHE5DQ34K6WYDLY/

Yep. It was in the Kings Island Theater. And then they moved Tinker`s Toy Factory into the Kings Island Theater.

It ran at Kings Island from 2017 to 2021.

I'm excited to see that Food & Wine, Grand Carnivale, Haunt, and Winterfest are all back this year! If the wealth of resources does get shared around, I think it would make the experience better overall. Hopefully F&W and GC both get more advertising this year (and hopefully something that is not just posts with 25% event details / 75% season pass promo). Maybe the tasting cards will come back as well More details or changes for Tricks and Treats, Halloween Haunt, and Winterfest will probably released closer to August/early September, so I'm curious how those will look now that events and experiences are being shared between parks. This will be the 25th year of Halloween Haunt too, so I'd like to see if the park does something cool for that!

I’m just happy Winterfest is back! 2025 will be the year to come out and participate in events to make sure they keep coming back. The numbers, at the end of the day, will probably influence the likely hood of future productions.

Looks like KI is the only park doing Grand Carnivale this year. Fingers crossed they are able to pour more money into it this year as they have more resources with the other past Carnivale parks not doing it. Please please please KI and Corporate bring back the 2019 version!!!

Super hyped for Food and Wine returning. Had a great time last year and looking forward to enjoying it again. Hopefully these events only get better with time.

Glad to see both Grand Carnivale and the Food & Wine Festival returning, hopefully they get the word out more about it this year. Also, we can see WinterFest is on the table so that's great to see!

No lie, this is kind of disappointing. Grand Carnivale has ran it's course imo and the Food/Wine Festival did not have stellar reviews. An additional celebration day for 4th of July is good...but other than that, nothing new, nothing real exciting.

Last year the special events and most of the live entertainment were posted on the same day. The entertainment page (which usually includes the fireworks) hasn't been updated yet.

I forget do they typically announce if they are doing fireworks every night during regular operation at this time as well?

While I'm disappointed in the lack of response form the park on this, I'm extremely excited to see what is to come on the land.

Carowinds recently posted their 2025 park map and it looks like their skycoaster is staying (at least for now). Bc of this, I'm starting to think maybe ours was removed with a plan in place. Maybe the 2026 attraction is going there afterall. Or they just decided to keep it bc of the other stuff removed (ie Nighthawk, Drop Tower, and Scream Weaver)

I see a perfect pad for an S&S Screaming Swing if this is true.

The Vortex and Son of Beast plots aren't really flat areas at all, so I can't really see a flat ride going there. A coaster could work in those areas, but for this discussion I want to primarily focus on flat rides. The Skyflyer plot in Action Zone would probably be the safest option for a flat ride. The last time Action Zone added anything notable (besides a Coke stand) was in 2014 with Banshee, so over a decade ago. Once Skyflyer gets removed, there will be a nice, large, flat plot of land to work with that most types of flat rides could fit in. Another area I would like to give attention to is in Rivertown. As of right now, Rivertown does not have any flat rides and the last time that area has added anything was Mystic Timbers eight years ago. It could go either in the area behind the Eiffel Tower or the park could remove the Crypt building to make room there. Personally, I think it would be better for Rivertown to add a new water attraction like what Carowinds is adding next year.

As much as I'd love a Scream n Swing in Skyflyer's plot, I don't see that being the 2026 family thrill attraction. I feel that has Crypt building written all over it. Or it could be a Boo Blasters upgrade (wasn't there a survey about a Peanuts dark ride back in August?) I think Skyflyer is part of a long term plan to redo Action Zone. Here's my prediction for how things could go this season if these rides are removed (take with grain of salt as it is just my speculation and I really hope this isn't the case). * Skyflyer is gone by opening day and the area is fenced off * Sometime in June/July after Music in the Parks is over, we see Timberwolf start to come down. Those who attend music in the parks would notice markings in Timberwolf * Mid August, the park announces the 2026 family thrill attraction with no mention of the activity going on in Action Zone * Also in mid August, rumors start to fly about Congo Falls closure after Labor Day * Labor Day weekend, Congo Falls closes for the season with tons of rumors/speculation about the ride being done, but no announcement comes * Haunt season, rumors about Invertigo, Drop Tower, and The Bat potentially closing start spreading like wildfire (like GAdv this past year) * Final weekend of Haunt, enthusiasts flock to Kings Island to ride Invertigo, Drop Tower, and The Bat one last time with all the rumors surrounding their potential demise while the park remains silent on the whole situation * Early-mid November, the park announces the retirement of The Bat, Invertigo, Drop Tower, and Congo Falls and teases a new major coaster for 2027 while hyping up the 2026 attraction to offset the loss (like GAdv is doing with Flash) * Sometime in December, demolition begins on The Bat. (with it being far out from the rest of the park, demolition of The Bat doesn't disrupt Winterfest operation 2025-26 off-season * Sometime in January, while demoltion continues on The Bat, demolition of Congo Falls begins and is completed a few days later * Late January, the final piece of The Bat comes down and Invertigo demolition begins * Early February, the final piece of Invertigo comes down * Late February/early March, Drop Tower gets imploded

You just blew my mind @Rivertown Rider!!! A Screamin' Swing would fit so well with the "family thrill attraction" phrase. S&S labels the Screamin' Swing as a "moderate thrill level". To me, we just found a piece of the puzzle that makes the picture clearer than ever before. It all makes sense, that Screamin' Swing has KI written all over it. I'll bet lots that that'll be it. The question is, where will it go? Vortex? Action Zone? Son of Beast? Somewhere else? We'll just have to wait and see!

You know what, that would be HILARIOUS if the 20 year theory continues and KI gets a multi launch in 2027 lol.

I agree. @BoddaH1994 made a great point on the Tower Topics episode above about how flat that piece of land is. That does make it ideal for a Screamin' Swing. I know we frequently joke on here about the 20 year gap between CP and KI: Magnum in '89, Diamondback in '09 Raptor in '94, Banshee '14 Millennium in '00, Orion '20 Ironically, Skyhawk will have its 20 year anniversary in '26. Even more telling is Maverick has its 20 year anniversary in '27. We could get the Screamin' Swing next year as the "family thrill" attraction. It has a 48 inch requirement after all. It is also something they could work with S&S on and probably get a package deal to put a Screamin' Swing in several parks over the next few years similar to what Busch just did. Then we could get a new modern Maverick-like multilaunch in '27.

Actually a scream n swing would look great in that spot. Could totally swing out and over the gift shop. I do wonder if it's too close to Delirium to have another swinging type ride though

It's definitely possible. I could see the Skyflyer plot being used for whatever that 2026 family thrill attraction is. I think something like a S&S Screamin' Swing would fit there well there as a fitting replacement for a Skyflyer attraction. That's just mainly an idea though, so we'll have to see what happens with that plot of land come this season.

It has now been moved to our Past Attractions page on KIC. https://kicentral.com/parkhistory/past-attractions/ I am going to move this thread over to the Kings Island Forum. On topic, that area would make a nice queue for a new coaster!!

It's gone for me. You could be seeing a cached page on your local machine. I hope it's gone really, that would leave the opportunity for them to finally remove Timberwolf and Congo Falls. Also opens up a nice piece of real estate for future additions and improvements.

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/rides-experiences/xtreme-skyflyer Sorry if it’s been shared already, but it seems that it’s been removed from the website, which I’m taking as a pretty bad sign for it staying open. My thoughts on its potential removal are that it’s probably the best attraction to close if they needed to choose one.

Vortex enters the chat.

While I enjoyed doing it from time to time, I'm actually more excited for its removal than it staying. To me, if it's demolished that means they probably are planning to do something with that area (like when Slingshot was removed). And I always felt it's placement was horrible for any new updates or rethremes to Action Zone. It takes up a lot of space and is right in the middle of the land breaking it up. Taking it out really open the land and gives it a lot of space. This gives me hopes for a revamp (and hopefully retheme) of the area soon.

I have no source so I'm not calling it a done deal however we saw plenty of rides and coasters removed at the end of 2024 without a source so it wouldn't surprise me especially considering that paid attractions seem less and less popular with guests and the age of the sky coaster model can't be in its favor

This was moved to rumors since we don't have any official news.

I got it confirmed by park staff too!!

Here’s the information

Guessing it'll be completely last minute...it's not like they don't know what events are going to happen this year. They could also be waiting until after the potential layoffs happen.

I feel like KI usually waits until like a few weeks before opening day to release their event/live entertainment lineup for the year.

The flooring on the left side (snoopy theme shop) is in horrible condition, and both sides look terribly dates and... well... terrible.

What would that make it, like 5 bars now? Also, what's going in that stand they just built in Action Zone next to Chicken Shack? I thought I knew at one time but must have forgotten because I can't remember now.

They are adding a bar

I'd guess this is one or both shoppes at the front gate. If they are spending almost half a million dollars, it sounds like significant reno. Truthfully, they need to so this to Germany and Italy. Switzerland has been redone with Grain and Grill and Starbux, Spain has been redone with Sweet Spot, France had a light remodel with The French (Cajun) Corner Bar and Bistro and Worlds Greatest Funnel Cakes.

Jesus a $450k remodel for a merch stand?

Looks like one of the front gate merch shops will be remodeled before the season begins.

Looks like Opening Day is Saturday, April 19 from 10am-9pm! And Passholder Preview Day is Friday, April 18 from 12-9pm as well!

Looks like lights are being removed from the trees in the Coney Mall area (cherry pickers near the back of Dodgem):