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Hey everyone! Take this for what you will... visited KI tonight as I do many times each season. While waiting for "The Beast" I noticed construction walls behind the old crypt building. There was also a forklift / flatbed truck. The fences said "excuse our mess" or something of that nature. I couldn't tell exactly what they were unloading but it appeared to be flat black metal beams of some sort on a pallet wrapped in plastic. Couldn't grab my phone quick enough before they were behind the fence. Could be haunt related, could be 2026, could be nothing... could have been there a while... no idea. Just throwing it out there.

I know you kid, but please don't say that. It is such a gem of a park to loose.

Exactly. A lot of human interaction and social skills were learned in lines back then. A skill many employers say today's generation lacks because they are always on their phone!

I definitely think that Festhaus needs some TLC (although they might already play "No Scrubs" from time to time). It used to be one of the jewels of the park; you could go in, get a decent meal and watch a pretty good ice show. Now, it feels like a sloppy food court where the entertainment is an afterthought. I tend to like the La Rosa's pizza at Kings Island, but the pizza I get in the Festhaus is reliably cardboard-y and I don't care for Panda Express. I've taken to just grabbing food from Grain N' Grill or Mercado and then joining my group at Festhaus to eat it (that said, I like that you can get beer). Would love them to really restore it to its former glory. Really put an effort into making a great show in there and think about enhancing the food offerings. I said this in another post, but finding a way to make it an international-type of eatery with maybe Mexican, German, Chinese and American fare could be good.

Im like 99% sure the crypt building is for a new Haunt either the conjuring or something else. Im not saying 100% as the park hasn't announced it yet. I think it's very likely what was originally eyed for KI back in November when that press release came out got shifted and something else is planned instead or nothing at all. (think Adventure Port where that wasn't the original plan for 2023 as was decided on later in the 2022 season).

You're right, the loop is REALLY small. It's a couple of POVs, a million ads, and then the weather.

I’ve heard somewhere that the lift cable for the first lift was completely cut/snapped during an evacuation. I don’t know how true this is, but explains the extended downtime and makes sense for the park to remove it instead of fixing it considering it’s low capacity and downtime (I would suspect if they chose to quietly remove a ride, this would probably be one of their top 3 that fit the criteria they seem to have). But hopefully it doesn’t close, especially if it’s unexpectedly, because that means people would be complaining about “the Invertigo plot” for the next 10+ years. Invertigo? Yeah, I hope it invertistays!

I saw that. Hopefully it’s not what it looks like, but i wouldn’t be surprised. Since 2018. That would be a net negative 2 rollercoasters for Kings Island (not counting SSBR). Not a good look. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Beast+ night+ full moon+ no lights after the first lift= Chef's kiss. Also, after riding Diamondback and Orion for the first time since my SFGAm trip, I do think I will be putting Raging Bull above both, and possibly even Millennium Force.

Thats exactly what I was thinking. That wooden fence is usually closed but is very near the entrance for slaughter house. Im *hoping* the fences with the banners are there because this will be an active construction zone during haunt... since its a backstage area and thats the only time guests would be remotely near there!

I wonder if this is how Kings Island would announce it...

White Water Canyon has served its time and is now open!

Too bad you can't bring a deck of cards into some lines at these parks anymore At this point they could just show TikToks that the park has made. They already have some with the AI voiceover trend in it. (also, I would like to see less AI in the parks. It is part of what makes places look trashy and low-budget)

In a previous life I did some Tv programming for a few college stations and a few digital sub stations. It’s not as difficult as it sounds to do. The initial upfront could be but you could do it in a way that creates a fairly easy multi-hour loop.

BRING BACK PDA IN LINES!!!!

That's the only thing that has me in the least hopeful that anything new is coming next year -- but like you said, it could be anything. But I'm feeling more and more that there's nothing "new" coming and instead the big announcement for 2026 will be the overhaul of Planet Snoopy into Looney Tunes World. They can spin it as a big addition to the park, even though it's just slapping Bugs and Friends on existing attractions.

Talked to friends, played cards (saw this a lot), looked at their shoes, panicked about the ride, and made out.

Including a weather forecast that (I don't think) gets updated throughout the day.

It's a fantastic park. Very well run. Don't remember if I've mentioned that I am involved with ACE Northwest since moving out here and there's whispers of a possible event getting planned there next year. If you are an ACEr keep an eye on the events calendar

On an unrelated note, Pantherian opened this afternoon after being down all season, and no announcement on social media advertising its reopening. What kind of PR is that? Truly pathetic.

FunTV's main purpose is to be a space for ads. Some of the park-specific programming is still there (all of the switch-around games use the park logo), but other parts of it are generally similar to what's available overall. I would assume that we aren't seeing any ride reaction videos because Kings Island hasn't installed a major thrill coaster since Orion, and Snoopy's Soap Box Racers and River Racers don't necessarily work as well for that kind of video. The ride POVs are good entertainment for places like the Festhaus and it would be nice to even see some stuff from other parks come to KI's programming loop. My complaint about things like FunTV is that the programming loop never seems to be terribly long — especially in the Festhaus. There have been times when I've spent a morning at the park and seen the same loop three times in three hours. Much like the music playlists throughout the park, it feels like they turn on one playlist/loop with a very limited amount of things on it and replay it every day with no variation at all. It's definitely more work to create different or longer programming loops, but is it not worth it to make some of the guest experience better? The solution to this problem is to start printing physical tickets/season pass cards again while also providing accessible methods for charging phones. Six Flags America had FuelRod stations throughout the park/gift shops that are just a small battery bank. I'd like to see things like that come to/return to Kings Island. If the park could install the smaller free lockers in each coaster line and start printing season pass cards again, then that would take care of two major complaints park goers have.

Oh it gets better, Ive already thought of a "new Family thrill attraction" that the thoosies (that .5% I spoke of) would eat up, even as an upcharge. Put ZTRs in The Vortex plot, the plots around the Floral Clock and ET, and around the SOB station and operate them like KMAA...One lap around the plot in a ZTR with The Vortex plot being the biggest upcharge because of the "thrilling terrain" during the ride! Now why cant all of these consultants and others with six figure pieces of paper on their walls come up with that??

Did they get rid of the park-specific programming? FunTV used to have short features made exclusively for Kings Island, highlighting coasters or just having fun with things around the park. I'm assuming now it's all corporately run out of the central office and it would cost more to program specific KI stuff (CP probably gets an extra focus because it has the longer lines). But it's a bummer to hear that's gone. I remember years (decades) back, CP tried out DJs in its longest lines. I loved that; was a fun way to pass the time. Cost-prohibitive, I'm sure. But I wish KI would find some way to make its lines a bit more interactive. Mystic Timbers and FoF are about as themed as the queues get.

The issue with this is that anything in The Vortex plot would need to deal with the ravine so any paths or ride foundations would be much harder than it is worth to do. Turning the area from KMAA over toward the Rivertown LaRosa's into a new mini-land would be a possibility, but I think Kings Island already has enough mini-lands as it is. A new indoor restaurant is definitely needed. My idea for a Moonlite Gardens replica building could be used to accomplish something like the Grand Pavilion did. Its a bit of nostalgia from Coney Island combined with a new indoor dining location. The Festhaus has not historically done well when serving purely international options. Reconfiguring and transforming it to be set up more like Carowinds' Harmony Hall would do wonders by consolidating the food lines a little and leaving more room for additional tables. The largest drawback to expanding it would be the amount of service courtyard that would need to be taken for it. Any offices in there would likely also need to be moved.

Ive got a good compromise.... do you remember or did you ever see the stunt show at CP? Id LOVE to see one like that at KI because here is the thing with me and what makes me enjoy Cirque and GB for instance, the stunt show they put on there spent 90% of the time showcasing the skills of the bike and board riders and as a former of each, THAT is what I want to see. I understand your point and you make a good one, especially with my example using 2 outside shows, and if the park can keep one show like that, and one "in house" show of that level Id be in 100% all day, every day along with the bandstand show you mentioned. Im a high energy person as some here may have noticed, and if Im going to spend 30 minutes sitting outside watching a show I need to be locked in with action like Dive at HW or the former stunt show I talked about at CP. And of course for the most part Ive always enjoyed the shows at Festhaus because yes I CAN throttle myself back from Mach 12 and relax sometimes, and its always been nice to be able to cool off for an hour or so and enjoy Kis very good performers in that type of environment. Also, with the exception of the guest segment that makes up about .5% of total guest headcount, being able to have SOMETHING to place marketing emphasis on (new or solid returning shows) is always better than "Hey check out our new addition, GRASS, because thats all thats coming!".

I'm beginning to wonder if you're right. I feel like the company has to know consumer sentiment has been in the toilet this year, coupled with the disastrous earnings. Announcing a new ride at the same time passes went on sale would be an attempt to say "hey, there's a reason worth showing up next year." But given that it's been quiet, I wouldn't be surprised if either nothing is coming or if it's going to be an addition that is largely underwhelming, so they'll just low-key announce it. That said, I could be wrong. They've announced things later in the season before. Something's going on at the former Tomb Raider location, but whether that's a new ride, updates for Haunt or they're just getting ready to tear the eyesore down, I don't know.

I'm not quite sure about that. Peanuts has low-key maintained some popularity, and has stuck around also because of its holiday specials. But Looney Tunes are iconic in the same way as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. They're always around. HBO Max had some new shorts (that were really funny) a few years back, there was a recent Space Jam movie and a Porky Pig and Daffy Duck movie, and next year there's a Wile E. Coyote movie. Of course, the ironic thing would be that WB is licensing these characters and has tried to bury them in recent years (Ketchup Entertainment is releasing the movies). But I think there's always a cultural awareness of the Looney Tunes. Tonally, maybe this is just my overall distaste with Six Flags, but I've always felt Looney Tunes to be slapdash additions to the park. I like the gentleness of Peanuts, and it's always been a good fit to the park. I'd hate for them to lose Planet Snoopy unless the parks really want to find a way to invest in the Looney Tunes branding and theming.

It's hilarious because it only would have benefited the shareholders, and it turns out it's not even benefiting them. Oops! I really would like to see more shows on the scale of Phantom Theater Encore, especially if it means the park's main theater is occupied for more than a month. I think the problem with outside shows like the Cirque shows and Gazillion Bubbles is that they eat up a good chunk of the year's entertainment budget, so while those shows are great, it means we're missing out on, say, a daytime bandstand show or a kids' show. KI is a lot better off with entertainment than, say, KD, but it's also extremely important when the park doesn't have anything else exciting and new to offer its guests.

I been thinking: The people (we), we need our voice heard. I’m tired of these corporate guys coming in and being blah blah synergy this cost cutting that, more like how bout you shut your mouth and build us a T. rex? (Eeeeessssh) Thats why I’m proposing, industry legend Don Helbig takes a hold of the ship as the CEO of Six Flags. See Don knows the parks, he would be approachable, his office is international street for crying out loud! Concerned about food quality? All corporate employees are given a dining plan and that’s the only thing they can use tk eat year round. Try cutting back hours and food quality now… Rides…I mean Don rode The Racer a couple hundred times back in the day, I don’t think anyone knows rides better than this guy. Now for the COO, we’re going out of the industry, and we’re bringing in Ryan Suhr. This guy works in finance, he can crunch some numbers and use blender, unstoppable. Anyways these guys would totally change the game kinda like that scene in step brothers when the two guys interview for jobs. thoughts?

I agree. I wasn't a fan of this merger when it was first announced and I'm still not convinced it was a good idea. Cedar Fair would've been just fine without Six Flags. And I think our own dear park would've been far better off without being sucked into the corporate conglomerate nightmare. It's basically catching strays from someone else's mistakes and choices...

Peanuts are definitely more popular currently, especially with new shows on Apple+ and the peanuts are incredibly popular overseas in Asia and within Gen Z, specifically Snoopy

I'm planning to buy Holiday World passes for next season honestly. Even though I live 3 hours away we've had a lot better experiences at Holiday World this year vs. KI...