Leaderboard

You might notice there's no footage of interviews with people eating the food. That is because I couldn't find any. They need to bring back the tasting cards. It gave a sense of value and that is missing without it.

Despite the weather earlier in the day, opening night turned out to be quite pleasant! While it's easy to miss the scope of the event in the earlier years, it is wonderful to have Grand Carnivale back at a time when offerings like these are not guaranteed.

MAJOR props to the Entertainment performers and crews on Saturday night! Despite a very iffy forecast and rain right before 6PM they pulled off an amazing (and oh so humid!) opening night of Grand Carnivale.

The first day of Grand Carnivale is complete! Lets use this thread to talk and review Grand Carnivale in 2025. Video of the event:

They released information for haunt auditions today and I think this basically confirms it for me (it seems similar to what they do at the other six flags conjuring houses). Just based off of my assumptions, I think there’s a new traditional haunted house in the blackout building (probably pirate themed from the construction) and this experience goes in the Madame Fatale’s/Crypt building, which is why they had the daytime tours last season in order to test capacity in that space (which honestly would be sad for me if it meant the queue remnants of tomb raider were demolished for this but whatever)

SFGAm TR This was the most relaxing of my 2 days in Chicago. Shorter drive with less hectic drivers. Downtown Chicago is pretty stressful. I got to Gurnee just before park opening (they open at 10:30), from there, I acquired Flash Pass Unlimited and did my first journey around the park clockwise starting from Superman. The idea was to make Whizzer #175, but a combination of Triple Loop being down at IB and Maxx Force being down at SFGAm made me be one short of that, so that'll now occur at Cedar Point (likely Siren's Curse). Little Dipper was 165 and Wrath of Rakshasa wound up being 170 for me. I walked in with kind of medium expectations. I give SIX parks a handicap with some of their reputations at some other parks, but I always hear good things about Great America where I had a bit of a medium bar. It completely surpassed that. It's a great park altogether. Very clean, the theming of the different sections came out pretty strong and were well separated, staff was great (except a very lackluster Demon crew taking forever to dispatch during single train ops). Caught a little bit of the tracked parade they do which was pretty nice. Ate at the walking taco stand by Raging Bull, which, the meat was a bit heavy, but it was alright. Food didn't have any standouts, but it all looked, at the very minimum, adequate. SFGAm also has a thing for long queues, especially among the older rides. Raging Bull, American Eagle, Viper, and to lesser extents Batman and Superman, have very long queues. I wound up doing a mini Viper marathon, which, was kind of a bad idea given it feels like the better portion of a Flight Deck queue in length. Bull is even longer and American Eagle the longest. Luckily most of the newer rides were much better in that department (X-Flight is a bit sus). I also think the park overall could use more shade, only a few bits by Demon, Whizzer and the entrance were any bit shaded. However, even given that, I actually like Great America more than Kings Island. Kings Island may have a better ride selection, but I feel SFGAm does a lot of the other stuff well. The theming was great through the park, even if it was just subtle bits like a few snake hunting props at Viper, and then you have the decked out queues like Batman, X-Flight and Dark Knight. I also like the color pallet of the rides and buildings a bit better. Very colorful park without overdoing it. I will say Bull and Eagle could use paint though. Ride Reviews Non Coasters- Scenic Railway- Only did half the route from the entrance back to Goliath. It sounded electric or gas, but it moves quite slow. The coaches look pretty good though. Giant Drop- 2nd Gen Intamin Towers are freaky to me as there isn't a good way to anticipate the drop and they really haul you up there. Aquaman- It kind of cheats you getting wet by having upward nozzles shoot water on you at the bottom of the drop, but fun. Pretty tall for a flume, too. Sky Striker- This thing is really tall, a bit longer of a ride cycle than Delirum as well Coasters- American Eagle- Ran both sides. Pretty comfy all things considered. The red side has a few more hills while the blue side has a big of a speed section as it crosses over. The helix at the far end has really good speed and laterals, the air was ok but nothing special, and the last helix is very meh as its braked to death. Wish they could fix it up to race (I know why it can't). I don't quite get the padding to the sides, though. Batman: The Ride- The OG inverted coaster. For whatever reason, this one felt special compared to the SFGAdv version. First off, they really went all out for the queue. Pumps the 1989 soundtrack in the queue and station (Danny Elfman and Prince are always welcome). It has a sick lighting package in the queue, they really sell this sucker. I'm always impressed with the early B&M's for being ahead of their time and this was no exception. I felt it runs a bit more intense than the SFGAdv version and it has some nice close flybys of the queue. Dark Knight- Its a mouse in a box themed to the Bale trilogy. The audio isn't very coherent on the ride. Ran with no brakes on before the station, I think GAdv's is braked a bit more. Demon- So, the first drop, the loops, the drop off the MCBR and pull up to the brakes was alright. I really liked the low clearance tunnel, too. But boy it has a death head bang in that transition to the corkscrews. Flash Vertical Velocity- Pretty standard impulse, though it felt more compact than Wicked Twister and Possessed. I wish I could ride one with the holding brake still in tact. Goliath- My 2nd favorite coaster in the park. Really smooth, has that RMC forcefulness without overdoing it. Probably about my 2nd or 3rd favorite RMC. The head choppers and the stall were really nice. Joker- Completely insane. Relentless flipping as soon as it left the chain. Little Dipper- pretty standard jr wooden coaster. Fun for what it is. Raging Bull- My favorite coaster in the park. The compact course is a nice change from most of the B&M hypers I've ridden being out and back, though, the out and backs' more focus on air makes them a bit better. Has insane air in the back, especially off the first drop and off the MCBR. The 2nd half is a nice fast paced figure 8. Superman: Ultimate Flight- Could be recency bias, but it felt more compact and faster paced than the SFGAdv version. I prefer Vekoma restraints on flyers, but B&M's use of pretzel loops is always nice, even with a bit of weightlessness at the apexes. Viper- Probably the best new wooden credit I get this summer. Also, my first clone of the Coney Island Cyclone. Really good twister course, great head-choppers, decent air (especially the back on the double-down), decent laterals. Definitely upper mid-tier to lower good tier for me. Whizzer- the biggest surprise of the trip. Very comfortable and smooth, the spiral lift goes faster than I thought in a good way (probably me playing RCT2 too much where its a slow lift there), did find it weird that the anti-roll backs sound like PTC's. I rather like the more gradual first drop, has great speedy turns at the bottom, all very close to the ground for a good sense of speed. I can see the love it gets, especially for the way they saved it. Wrath of Rakshasa- Surprisingly fast paced for a dive coaster, and despite an awkward kind of shimmy, it might turn out my favorite dive coaster. X-Flight- The first bits are good, though its a bit slow paced, but then it gets a bad rattle as it curves around for the key-hole inversion that lasts until the end of the ride. My least favorite wing coaster out of it, T-Bird, Wild Eagle and GateKeeper.

Aren't they already doing the construction videos? CP had Sirens Chronical, Great America did Wrath updates, KD is Rapterra updates and Over Texas is pretty much beginning to tease their GiGa dice which will lead to those. Before the announcements, they get soooo much free attention/advertising by the enthusiast "influencer" culture. People will watch band record if a maintenance worker scratches themselves or if a tree is trimmed behind a fence. Whether they are influencers who suck up for media days, or i fluencers who want clicks and aren't afraid to offer unbiased opinion, it's out there for folks to see on YouTube, Instagram, Click Clack and X.

Currently turning in after a relaxing day in Cleveland. Had an inspiring tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, made visits to the Arcade, all the stadiums and the beach with the Cleveland sign facing downtown, and had a Polish boy for lunch. Definitely needed after the craziness of Chicago, feels good to be back in Ohio. Cleveland did feel like a Cincinnati-esque city on the lake with a lot of visual differences. I particularly like the vertical-ness of the west area with the bridges. Cool looking city. Ready to top it all off with 2 days in Sandusky.

My son really got into the history of KI during our 50th, so we really wanted to experience the "other KI" during its 50th this year. We went to the park on Sunday evening and all day Monday. It was beyond dead, like park right at the entrance at 5:30 pm dead. Thought we would do a ride or two and dinner Sunday evening, but we almost could’ve skipped Monday with how much we knocked out Sunday night. KD is BEAUTIFUL on approach and walk in. It was wonderful to see full fountains that had mass and noise. It was amazing to see an International Street that looked like a park. There were gas lights. There were more interesting buildings with shaded and covered seating. It’s going to be a shock walking back into KI after being reminded how full and lush it used to look there. The pavement is a bot of a mess where the curbs were just shaved down and the ramps filled in years ago when the blacktop street was eliminated. It’s crazy to realize no major reworking of the pavement has occurred since the major redo. The Eiffel Tower looks like it is literally placed in a landscaped park. It is such a refreshing change from the patch of flat grass our sits in. Turning toward Old Virginia, it was amazing to see a working waterfall, then another one at the entrance to the water rides. That whole area had almost a Dollywood vibe to it. Love the antique cars where they are with the long path and and the dense woods. The view coming back from that ride across the bridge looking at the theatre was just perfect. Grizzly had a super odd entrance. We actually passed it the first two times in the area and had to really look to find it finally. That seems like a big miss for a (now) great coaster. White Water Canyon was also way better here. The setting hasn't been cleared out as much, and it truly feels like a mountian rushing river. The waterfalls look great and depite the odd indoor portion with creepy static mannequins, the entire experience felt way more themed. It was so cool to see a dense vine tunnel as we walked to Twisted Timbers. WOW what a great ride. Its hard to be critical of any operations since we walked right onto almost everything both days, but this was one I would still wait for. We need this - LOVE Mystic Timbers, but I think this actually edges out SteVe for the slower pacing and “you can see it coming” feeling. Candy Apple Grove seemed agin just more shaded and lush. Its odd that a younger park feels more established than its older sister. I like the carousel and ferris wheel there. Give the area a full “old time amusement park” feel. It was great to have CHIPS with a bowl at the burrito place and RED SAUCE with pizza. Victoria’s looks nice after the redo and I love the outdoor seating. Jungle X is what Adventure Port wishes it could be. Great theming and atmosphere. The shop there along with all the other shops had much stronger thematic merchandsing that KI. Food was OK, but the themed atmosphere again was almost Disney level. Rides in this area were all solid, but Rapterra is the odd exception. Rapterra in the front feels brand new - in the back it feels like it’s as old as the park. A few month old coaster shouldn’t bee this rough and janky in the back. I don’t remember Wild Eagle having this much vibration and bounce in the back. It was actually very painful. The load process was also a mess. There’s a separator at the outer “temple” telling you to go to right side or left, but they have to keep leaving and walking to the station to see the balance of people on each side. Then when you get to the station theres a single switchback to the gates. People clump up at the first gate, then you have to force your way past them to get to the other gates that are wide open. There seems like there needs to be station associate assigning people to gates, or loading the train back to front. It just gets messy and people get attitude like you are cutting around them, but there would be people in front of us just standing there not filling in empty gate slots, so we went around them to take a spot for the next train. BooBlasters was WAY better. KI should be embarrassed by the state of the exterior and queue of ours. The guns with lasers were great. The outdoor queue set the mood. The placement seemed super odd of that and Dominator just plopped along a path. Planet Snoopy could easily be Camp Snoopy as it already feels like it is deep in the woods. Just a much more relaxing setting with shade for rides with kids. Entertainment was beyond disappointing. There’s a key theatre (Peanuts Showplace) sitting empty. There’s action theatre unused, and even the KD Theatre was unused as they could figure out how to not have slipper aisles after only 2 bubble shows on Saturday when the last show, all shows Sunday and Monday were cancelled. It sounds like thats running again, but that should even BE the signature entertainment for the 50th. The “closing light show” was lame and no one seemed to be paying any attention to it. Its just music and lights on the tower and I street buildings. The bandstand show was weak. There was no parade “street party” even though the ap shows images of our 50th parade like they were going to do it there. Two left over floats from ours roll out with people on them in rainbow outfits (not the matching gold and blue). They hop off, twirl some ribbons, sing songs from the decades of KD, hop back on the flats and ride off twirling ribbons. It comes off as very amateur. I was really hoping for a “magical 50th”, but the park itself more than made up for that. I give the physical park edge to KD hands down. I give the “whats left of live entertainment at 6flags” award to KI. Definitely make the trip to this park if you want great rides, minimal waits and a beautiful reminder of how wonderful KI USED to look. WATERFALL!!! Adds so much to the area. Wonderful theming in the restaurant. International PARK more than street. Beautiful view... to a sadly underused theatre. CHIPS with a burrito bowl. Wht's up Enrique? Throw us some chips! Tight merchandising and solid theming in retail spaces.

FunPix at the park could use some improvements. So I came up with ideas on how it could be much better. First off, FunPix at Soak City would be a pretty cool idea (excludes Zoom Flume and Mondo Monsoon since they spin around). How it'd work is that a worker manually takes pictures while your on a slide, meaning they could hire more workers, including new ones that could work at the stands at the dry park. Once you get off the slide, you'd be given a paper with the picture code on it. After gathering your credit card, you can head to a stand near the front of the water park where the worker scans the card, and you can buy the pictures. For the keychains, instead of the Kings Island logo, it would have the Soak City logo. Instead of the stand at the ride exit, they could be replaced with cardholder download machines, but also machines where you select your photo and you get a card with the photo number on it (like the Soak City idea). Then you can go to main stands scattered around the park, where you can buy them. This is so you don't have to carry your pictures around all day, and you could buy them at the end of your trip. REPLACE The Beast CAMERA! Seriously, whenever I think of purchasing a keychain I choose not to get one because of how horrible the quality is. No matter the time of day, the photos turn out dark.

With everyone carrying a smartphone, theme park guests can capture and share ride issues instantly. A breakdown that once went mostly unnoticed can now go viral within minutes, drawing attention to something parks might prefer stayed behind the scenes. This shift raises an interesting question: will parks start choosing rides differently because of how easily things can be filmed and spread online? Take Siren’s Curse at Cedar Point. It’s had frequent issues, and nearly every one has ended up on TikTok or YouTube. The ride might be perfectly safe, but repeated videos showing breakdowns can create a negative perception. In this environment, should parks avoid rides that are complex or mechanically risky just to avoid bad PR? On one side, it’s easy to imagine parks playing it safe. They could stick to proven ride types or reliable manufacturers to avoid becoming the next viral “ride malfunction” clip. Even if a ride is innovative and exciting, the threat of a public relations headache might not be worth it. On the other hand, social media may not actually change much. Parks have always dealt with ride downtime. Most guests don’t follow coaster drama online, and many parks still invest in massive, cutting-edge rides. A viral video might sting, but it probably won’t stop die-hard fans from visiting. So what do you think? Will social media eventually affect the kinds of rides parks choose-or is this all just part of today’s fast-moving digital world?

I agree it is a miss not having a tasting card. It would even benefit them if they allowed a tasting count as one of the meals on the all season dining plan or provide a nice discount to tempt you to buy the tasting card.

I bought a couple items off the Italy menu. It is a miss not having the tasting cards.

That makes perfect sense and explains why the “daytime tour” randomly returned. But only there, and returned with a “story driven” idea with a tour guide and “pre show” host. It also has way better queuing capacity than the blackout location. I could see them adding black out back in as a way to compensate for the loss of MadameFatales as a self guided maze

I have always loved Raging Bull’s layout. I was hoping our Orion project would’ve been sometime more akin to it, but it is what it is! Glad you’re having a good time!

No tasting cards. Prices for the food items range from $6.99 to $14.99.

^That one shows they are looking for theatrically trained folks, whereas this one is just the random anyone can apply, so maybe it will be a few paid mazes and a few that are free...

I'm assuming no tasting cards?

It’s trippy. Things are the same… but different. It’s hard to orient yourself because the all the markers you are used to are totally off. I’d definitely say make the 8 hr treck. It’s really like a step back in time at KI in a lot of good ways. This is actually the view from the queu of the waterfall switchback of their white water canyon amazing this is man-made.

I am a little sore, especially my left knee. I had to nurse it on the trip to Cleveland a bit. Going to take it easy tomorrow before 2 days at Point of Cedar. Doing the R&RHOF, stadiums, the Arcade, and grabbing a Polish Boy.

This ride is great in front and bordering on painful how much vibration it has in back. Its BAD for a brand BRAND new coaster.

I'm down here currently in Orlando and visited the Studios and Islands the last two days - didn't do Epic this time around but look forward to doing this in the future. My last visit was in 2009, most things were different, but some were the same as I remember, especially ET, The Simpsons, and Men in Black, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk. Had high expectations for VelociCoaster going in based on what I've heard from other people who've ridden; Maverick at Cedar Point is one of my favorite rides, so I'm sure that it wouldn't disappoint. I got three rides in - two on Thursday right at open in the front row and back row, and one yesterday at open in Row 2. Front row was fun but for me, the best ride out of the three was in the very back, especially after that second launch into the top hat. Tried to get a night ride last night however lightning kept the ride down - lo and behold, from the time it took me to walk from the back of the park to CityWalk, it began operation. My opinion, blows Maverick out of the water. Hagrid's was another ride I heard about but didn't really research before I went, fun little ride, especially the drop track. Got my credit on Rip Ride Rockit, but found it to be a tad too rough, especially for a steel coaster. I'm no Harry Potter fan but the theming for Hagrids, and the sections over in Islands and the Studios were top notch. Hogwarts Express was phenomenal and was well presented. Based on my experiences on Gringotts, Hagrid's, and VelociCoaster, Intamin didn't disappoint - here's to hoping Six Flags/Cedar Fair start to put more of their rides in. I'll be at Busch Gardens Tampa Monday or Tuesday, especially looking forward to comparing Iron Gwazi to Steel Vengeance.

How about a Coke Freestyle stand that isn't always closed or crowded? On a more serious note, I'd like to see a sit-down dining location in Area 72, if they have room for it. They could call it the Mission Control Café and have pictures of all their old 'flight tests' on the wall, and it would have a bunch of random sci-fi memorabilia decorating the walls. Toward the back, it would have a small NASA-esque control room with screens showing the current position of the Orion test vehicle. I don't know what it would serve, though...