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I fear that the darkest days are upon us. I'm usually an optimist but all I feel I've read lately from the chain has been about cutting this and getting rid of that. It's like a game of Fruit Ninja but with the chain as a whole. Mega-chains are, IMO, never a good idea. It diminishes quality and seems to hurt the parks as a whole as they lose their identity and the people behind them who make them what they are. This feels like they could SFWOA/GL the entire park system if they aren't careful. Might sound a bit dramatic, but I really don't have much faith in the SF model and so far they haven't exactly left a good impression thus far. I hope the growing pains aren't here to last and I hope I'm wrong.

It has been 3 trains more times than not.

…give it different coat of paint under the track. This was just a concept that @DustinTheNow made a while back that illustrates what I mean: I really like how Fury had the lime green and Valravn had that silver- it felt like a true next step in how coasters were supposed to be painted, but we unfortunately didn’t get that with Orion. Maybe when it’s due for a repaint in 10+ years

Nope. My son and I went a few weeks ago and we each rode in our own tubes

I was back for my third visit last Friday (6/20)—but my first since the park was “officially” open. I had purchased Universal Express for this visit, so my wait time experience this trip probably doesn’t say a whole lot with the exception of Ministry and Dragon Racer’s Rally (decided to skip Donkey Kong this visit—rode it during the AP preview and didn’t love it—especially not enough for the posted wait times). We got in line for Ministry a little before 10a and the wait time was posted at 90 minutes. I’m pretty sure we had at least one break down while in line (still outside), and couldn’t hear the announcements very well (but, the line completely stopped moving for about 15 minutes). However, once the line started moving, it moved at a pretty good and consistent clip. With a 90 minute posted wait time even with the suspected break down we were on the ride in about 70 minutes. (We also had a break down *during* the ride as well—for about a 10 minute stop before resuming.) Dragon Racer’s Rally was posted at 50 minutes (we rode after a weather delay and only one side was operating for the first part of our wait) and it took every bit of that 50 minutes (probably closer to 60)—that ride is a SLOW loader (and personally, I think should probably have at least three—if not four—“arms” for the attendance Epic will have). On another note, I saw both live theatrical shows for the first time. Both were impressively staged, but The Untrainable Dragon’s story was pretty weak. Le Cirque Arcanus was fantastic—impressive both technically and from a story perspective—I haven’t seen a theme park show that good since I saw Festival of the Lion King for the first time years ago. (I also saw “Villains” at DHS this weekend too…pretty “meh” on that one )

I can’t get mad at the hourly employees for being super terrible or unknowingly bad. I blame management. They make enough money to know better.

I've seen some low effort trolling before but this is low. Kids these days.

That begs the question of if the associates would know what to do in that situation. If someone at the refill stand says that, then the guest takes their cup to the next station, how will the LaRosa's associate know to actually let that guest get their drink?

That is why I come here to prove the facebook rumors wrong.

Let me guess, was it green track? lol (iykyk)

I saw a rumor on Facebook that there was Intamin track showing up near Orion. Any truth to this rumor?

I picked up on that pretty quickly Thanks for the answers!

Monsters Unchained is a real people-eater (and not in the monster sense of actually eating people ) so the wait is almost always reasonable.

I’ll ditto what Tim said, posted usually was less. Even ministry was quoted an hour and we got on in 45 min. Monsters keeps a low wait time due to the nature of the attraction.

It looks like they took out the manmade island in the middle of the lake which was originally occupied by the circle swing attraction in the early years. Later the occupied by the famous "Coney Countdown" billboard from the 1971 season. If they're sticking to their word and the Lake is being filled with water again, even as a land mass it is tough to lose it.

Coney as it looked just a few hours ago by yours truly. Most of the park is now fenced off compared to previous visits. And here’s a few from a Facebook group: Hate seeing this, but still have the hope that they’re planning on saving much of which is there. Least they can do. Cheers.

Spent the day at Epcot. The park wasn’t that busy given the heat, and that there were no events going on. Started the day riding Frozen, then afterwards rode the Grand Fiesta Tour before making our way to GEO-82. My girlfriend and I did not have reservations for the bar / lounge and figured we could join the walk up list if we got there at open. Only to find out there is no walk up list due to the high demand for the newly opened bar and that a reservation was required. Fortunately the hostess let us know there was an opening today due to a cancellation. For whatever reason the hostess was unable to reserve the table for us so after about what seemed like forever smashing the refresh button on my phone the spot opened and we booked a table for two. After booking a table for the GEO-82 bar we made our way to the Passholder lounge. Making our way the Passholder Lounge. We stopped and got our Passholder magnet from Connections. The Passholder lounge, which is nothing more than a converted restaurant during the busier months of the season. Was air conditioned and we were provided unlimited snacks, Moroccan mint tea and water that wasn’t from the tap. They also given us a Passholder pin. We also got the option to have our photo taken with the Genie from Aladdin. The lounge also had restrooms and a locker to charge your phone. After leaving the Passholder lounge we went to have lunch at Via Napoli’s.After lunch we rode Guardian's of the Galaxy and made our way to our reservation at the GEO-82 Bar. The GEO-82 bar is the newest lounge in Epcot that is connected to the Ball. The entrance is a small hallway before exiting Project Tomorrow (Spaceship Earth exit). At the end of the hallway you're greeted by a hostess who directs you up the stairs to a pre lounge before being seated at your table. At this spot they provide you a cool lemon zest smelling towel to cool off or wipe yourself down if needed. From here you are taken to your table once ready. The bar had a lot of accents that tied into the Epcot ball theme. The waiter provided a menu with a list of specialty cocktails and a few appetizers. You can also order drinks from the bar. We opted to stick with a liquid diet and not get any appetizers this visit. I had a Brown butter Old Fashion, which was highly recommended by the waiter and for round 2 I got an Electron. The drinks were good, you can taste the alcohol as well. However it is a bit pricey as there are cheaper options in the park. You’re basically paying for the atmosphere. I would do this again but on a special occasion. After leaving the lounge we got a passholder latte from Joffery’s and left the park to escape the heat. Overall it was a good visit.

Alright. So my fiancé and I finally took a ride on River Racers yesterday afternoon and yeah...it was honestly...mid... Here is my personal analysis: -Color scheme is fun, bright and probably the most exciting part of the whole experience to be honest. It gives early Y2K Action Zone vibes, but not in a bad way. Maybe because I am someone who enjoys the bright "pop" and loud colors that scream excitement and invite you to get in. I am a product of my time I suppose. -The "kaleidoscope" section of the slide was neat to see and I wish that there had been more of those kinds of light tricks along the way...but since the slide itself was already so short, that wouldn't have been possible without making the entire experience enclosed. -I will emphasize the shortness. This slide was just too dang short ya'll. We chose to wait for this since it's new and of course we were curious, but also...this slide did not fall into the "short but sweet" category that some rides tend to offer. This thing really could have had some serious wow factor to it had they decided to add a few more uphill launch moments or even some speed sections to really make it feel like you're on a true "water coaster". -Like many of you have already stated, other than the initial uphill launch, this was such a slowwwwww ride. Even with two adults inside this thing, I could not get over how slow it was after the initial launch. -The only good thing about the ending of the slide was that since there were two of us adults in the raft, we got a really decent splashdown, but I saw that with smaller and single riders, there wasn't enough of a splash factor for them. I think a nice waterfall at the end of the slide would have made for a nice effect to guarantee at least one good soaking for everyone before hitting the splashdown. Overall, I know we both wished that this slide was more than what it offered. It's fine. But definitely not the caliber of slide that Soak City deserves. Curiosity has been quelled, but a re-ride will only happen if it's practically a walk on for us. We''ll stick to Mondo Monsoon and the body slides.

Go on days with rain in the forecast they say...maybe Zimmerman has some social media plants to make the park comfortably crowded on historically light days lol (about 40min wait)

I went down to Coney today to take a look at the work. I took the time to look at the vendors that had set up their displays, but my main focus was getting a look at the site. What was confirmed by Jonathan Martin, the CEO of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO), last spring: The iconic Kellogg Avenue auto gate, built in 1924, will remain. Lake Como, the manmade lake in the front if the property, which was dug out and filled in 1892 (some sources say 1896), will also remain. The picnic grove, shelters and playground will also remain. This was where Coney Island got its start in 1870 when apple farmer James Bell Parker was approached by a Cincinnati church group requesting to set up a picnic on his apple orchard. I have included photos below. Sunlite Pool: This is still a surreal visual. Once the site of the world's largest recirculating swimming pool is nothing more than a field of gravel and dirt. According to Coney Island Central, the pool was designed by W.J. Lynch of New Haven, Connecticut and was 200 feet wide by 401 feet long. The pool could hold 3.5 million gallons of water and could clean and filter 47,000 gallons of water per hour the year it opened. Sunlite Pool would have celebrated its 100th anniversary this season, originally opening in 1925 as simply the Natatorium. The name Sunlite Pool would come later in the 1930s. LaRosas Pizzeria: While it was home to Cincinnati's staple Italian eatery during the park's "modern era" (Post Kings Island), the LaRosas Pizzeria at Coney Island had originally opened in 1967 as a souvenir and gift shop on the Mall. It had replaced the old Penny Arcade. I took a visit to Coney for Summerfair in 2024 to get a look at the site. Last season the building was open for restroom use and concessions. This year it was closed with concessions being located on the patio next to the building. A quick peak in the window revealed that the building is undergoing renovations. For fun, I did a side by side comparison of this building to a photo I found in the book "Cincinnati's Coney Island" by Charles J. Jacques Jr. The photo, taken from the book, shows Bingo the gorilla from Hanna-Barbera's "The Banana Splits" entertaining people on the Mall. To the right is my photo taken at a similar angle (and similar lighting). This was taken in the early 70s following Taft Broadcasting's merger and acquisition of Coney Island in 1969 to begin the development of Kings Island. I had previously made a comparison using a photo I took last year, but the way the sun was shining today influenced my decision to recreate it. Mini Golf: The mini golf course was visibly torn up from construction equipment. MEMI had set up barrier fences to keep people from going into the area (This didn't stop some people though). I think it is safe to say that the Cincy Mini Golf is not long for this world. Moonlite Pavillion & Tivoli Fountain: Moonlite Pavillion, named after the famous Moonlite Gardens just down the Mall, was originally built sometime in the 1960s and served as the rides shelter for the Cuddle Up, Whip and Dodgem. It was renovated in 1976 and renamed Moonlite Pavillion to host special events. This was part if the initiative by Taft Broadcasting to redevelop the site as a non competitive alternative to Kings Island. For Summerfair, this was the congregating place for the vendors and crafters as well as a lost and found station. The building is being put to great use and is most definitely going to stick around. It was most recently used for a Memorial Day party this previous week: The little fountain pool on the Lake Como side of the building once featured bubbling tubes, mimicking the fountains of Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark: below is a screenshot from the 1968 film "A Dream of A Park:" This was no doubt influenced by Gary Wachs' 1963 trip to Europe. Today, however, the Tivoli fountain is gone, replaced in later years with simple cascading jets. Now it's empty and void of water, but it does not look like it's going anywhere anytime soon. On a side note, if there's one feature I would love to see revived and replicated at Kings Island from Old Coney, it's the Tivoli fountain. EDIT: A fun fact about Moonlite Pavillion/ Rides shelter is that it was replicated in smaller scale at Kings Island in 1972, housing the Dodgem and Cuddle Up. While the children's Whip ride, now called Linus' Beetle Bugs, made it to Kings Island, the full sized Whip gave its last rides on September 6, 1971 was presumably scrapped. Moonlite Pavilion's little sister building was demolished in 2017 to make way for Coney BarBQue. Rivergate and Lighthouse: Steamboat travel was a common early method to reach Coney Island, dating back to its beginnings as Parker's Grove. Many steamers would land here and deliver passengers. Steamboat captain William F. McIntyre, who bought the property from James Parker in 1886 renaming it to the Coney Island we know it as today, ferried people from Cincinnati's Public Landing to the park on his ship the Guiding Star. Eventually others joined the mix. The Princess, Island Maid and even the Delta Queen. The most beloved and remembered, however, were the two Island Queens. The river gate at Coney Island had seen several changes over the years, but the most iconic version, the one standing today, was built in 1925 using stones and rocks from the riverbank of the Ohio River. With the increased popularity of automobiles, and the disastrous explosion of the second Island Queen in Pittsburgh on September 9, 1947, guests would begin to drive to Coney Island. This would eventually lead to the problem of limited parking, a major factor in the development of Kings Island. **HERE TO STAY** Following the press release in Spring of 2024, I sent a follow up email to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's CEO Jonathan Martin inquiring about the lighthouse and river gate. In a response email, Mr. Martin confirmed the preservation of the iconic river gate. "Current plans are to save the lighthouse and storey pole near the river which marks the many historic floods." On top of this, I had received a double confirmation from an employee sitting near the river gate. She was preventing attendees from going down the ramp to the river as the Ohio River had risen overnight due to the large bouts of rain this past weekend. I had a pleasant conversation with her regarding the future of the site. Which is a perfect transition to the information I'm sure most people are interested in. Moonlite Gardens: Built in 1925 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, Moonlite Gardens was the park's ballroom. In its heyday, Moonlite hosted some of the nations biggest acts. While Moonlite Gardens was built in 1925, the current New Orleans French Quarter style front entrance was built in 1947. The old band shell and dance floor was made from wood and had seen severe damage from years of flooding by the Ohio River. The band shell was demolished shortly after the opening of Kings Island in 1972. In its later life, Moonlite was used for wedding receptions and small concerts. **HERE TO STAY** The employee I had talked to today confirmed that Moonlite Gardens isn't going anywhere. The Symphony had expressed interest in restoring the building, stating in response to my email inquiry: "The venue, its history and its use are aligned with our mission to serve the community through music." With that said, the building is apparently in sorry shape. The floor has deteriorated and is crumbling and the building was denied an occupancy permit by the Cincinnati Fire Department a few years back as a result. But from the news that was shared with me, Moonlite Gardens is slated for restoration and preservation as the new amphitheater is taking shape. Skill Games building/Hampton Court/ Moonlite Square: Neighboring Moonlite Gardens on the shore of Lake Como, this building was designed by UC architect Darrell "Dusty" Daniels and constructed in 1966. This building is a steel frame structure and a brick exterior, designed in the French Normandy style of architecture. Complete with a slanted roof and a cupola with a clock tower, this building is probably one of my favorite buildings on the site. While the building was primarily used for Skill Games for the guests, the building also housed the Group Sales offices for the park. The offices inside the building are now occupied by MEMI, so this iconic beauty is definitely safe from the wrecking ball. Sorry for the long post. I know it was packed with information, but I hope this helps answer some questions. There are a few photos that show land clearing beginning. I plan to share those as well. If need be, to cite my source, I can provide screenshots of the email I had received from the CSO last year.

Still holding on tightly, but I made a Hero's Forge photo of one of the Madhouse Le Defi de Cesar (Challenge of Cesar) enter the world of Defunct Madhouses.