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More insight from an industry veteran: https://interthemepark.com/six-crossroads.html?fbclid=Iwb21leAMtbTpjbGNrAy1sPGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEePajEg6SeEnlvug_x_EgeBm0jLq_PynMRLgawu80FvUCWns_-XjO_tcrmZPI_aem_nhKRUrR4xaOQ2I95_xogUA

For the Herschend route: I would expect them to treat Kings Island as one of their premier parks alongside Dollywood and Silver Dollar City. Here are some of the things I could see happening: New (old) logo to differentiate itself from its former Cedar Fair / Six Flags ownership, either reusing the first logo or coming up with a brand new one altogether Kids area removes all the Peanuts or Looney Tunes IP and is rethemed to something similar to Wildwood Grove or Discovery Meadow (Phantom Theater stays as-is) Cinnamon Bread location added somewhere in Rivertown Trams could possibly return to the parking lot, as they're still used at Dollywood and SDC The park adds more family attractions, since that's the market Herschend wants to appeal to the most. It would also help differentiate it more from Cedar Point up north, which would still be owned by Six Flags and catered more to thrill-seekers Either a new resort gets built to attract non-locals, or Herschend buys the Great Wolf Lodge next to the park and converts that into a new Kings Island resort Action Zone gets rethemed to an all-new theme from Herschend, maybe an expanded Oktoberfest section as a way to celebrate Cincinnati's german heritage All of this, however, is completely hypothetical. I don't expect Six Flags to sell off Kings Island considering its one of the chain's top parks. I also don't know if it would be good for Herschend either, since they just tripled their park portfolio due to the acquisition of the Palace parks. It's still fun to speculate on, though!

I know park merch has always been a bit pricey as is to be expected in any of these sorts of places, but man do I miss the days when stuff still felt somewhat more reasonable for what you were buying vs today when most hoodies are $70+. That's not to say there still aren't some closer to $50+, but most of the ones I like are in the higher priced categories. Overall, I miss when merch was a little more reasonable vs being absolutely insane now. I get it though....cheap passes etc etc. I got to see some of this stuff while at the park for PN and saw some cool pieces. Just can't justify the cost for it.

I enjoyed your whole post, but wanted to highlight this specific sentence. It really, really was—but, having been able to see it from every angle as an employee: it was even more impressive from the other side. The loop itself was massive, but even that was dwarfed by the rest of the amazing (in-appearance) structure. I never understood (I mean, logistically, I get why) how the most impressive parts of that ride were faced in a direction no guest could see them even from the tower (outside of special access). Everything about that ride really was disappointing. - I get that there’s a ton of nostalgia for this ride now, but take it from someone who rode it in every iteration and version: it always sucked.

It never gets old seeing articles like this using pictures of the wrong parks and attaching them to misleading headlines. Used photos of Six Flags Great America, while Six Flags America and California's Great America are the two amusement parks set to "permanently shut down". "the final day of operation confirmed and it's just weeks away" is both untrue for SFA (closing about 8 weeks from publication) and for CGA (closing in/after 2027). I understand that publications like this do it intentionally, I'm just tired of the lack of journalistic integrity we've been forced to witness recently. This could also be a consequence of using the Six Flags brand for every park and having multiple parks with very similar names. To me it looks like another good reason for the company to move away from the Six Flags brand name. It would've been nice to see Mr. Speigel add 1-2 more sentences to write about the misinformation and/or fear-mongering being waged against Six Flags — especially since this is the screenshot used in the article — but the Observation article was quite informative either way.

I have a really nice collection of paper maps over the years and do miss having one to either use at a park or take home as a souvenir. And I still use my physical card pass every time I go to the park. Same one I have had for years works just fine (for now anyway). I do not like not using my phone for literally everything and it's much easier just to take my card out and get my meal or drink. Of course, at Cedar Point, I had my pass in my zipper pocket and as I sat down to ride Top Thrill 2, they made me take it out and hand it to an op until we got back. I did not get that...we had our phones, keys, etc in the lockers, but can't have pass in your pocket I guess too.

First drop, amazing. Loop, very cool. The rest was you in one of those paint mixers at the hardware store. It was one awesome looking structure.

^ There is no justification needed. They will charge what the market will bear. They need money. People will pay the money. Others won't. They also charge a huge margin on food and soft drinks, and even more on hard drinks. That has been around since the park opened. Sure, the plans add value, but for the average passholder, they make lots of money off of both plans. What's the justification for charging daily tickets the rate they do for parking?

I agree! I don't think I would care if it went in Action Zone or in The Vortex plot, but I definitely want a new gen Vekoma coaster (a tilt would be an added bonus!). Siren's Curse is so good and smooth, and the on-board audio makes the ride so much better. A good punchy launch coaster would be really good too, preferably from Vekoma. I love the things Vekoma has been coming out with lately, and they can do some pretty cool theming as well. When I rode Siren's Curse the first time, I was surprised at how much theming went into that ride. If KI does get a new coaster eventually, I hope there will be room in the budget for some decent theming.

Agreed. Or how about a launch coaster with a Siren's Curse esc layout.

I'm somewhat confused as to what the justification for the markups on hoodies are in the parks considering they'd probably only cost $30-$40 outside of the parks. A near 100% markup might help to make the park more profit on merch sales, but it also reduces the amount of guests who are willing to buy said products. I'm glad we're seeing more Haunt merch though. That was something it seemed Legacy Six Flags had been good at. I could be happier if they actually commissioned real artists to make the artwork, but for now I'll take what we have.

I rode the new one at Hershey this year. Being up on that hill is so fun to ride. I would love to get a screamin' swing at KI.

Fiesta Texas released their daytime Fall events map, and I thought I'd share it here to give a glimpse into what our Tricks and Treats map may look like. They have a lot of similar things to Tricks and Treats at Kings Island ranging from the specialty food to the shows and crafts.

Maybe that could go in the south end of Sweet Spot where they currently have all of the plushes.

Announcement on September 17th! Super excited! We pretty much know what it is going to be, it's just a question of what it will do. https://www.wbir.com/article/entertainment/events/dolly-parton-new-dollywood-attraction-2026-launch/51-01d4e487-b48c-47ae-9c02-8b3efb16ba7b

They could do it very easily without much backlash; they'd just have to phase in the change by making meal plans unattractive. If the guest "decides" not to buy it they won't be as upset. 1. Slightly lower the food prices across the board so that the meal plan is less attractive. Make sure this is announced to the media. 2. Increase the meal/drink plan price to where it is no longer the "deal" people think it is. If they doubled the prices of each how many people would buy them? 3. Quietly remove the meal plan by announcing mid year that it will no longer be available the following year. Regarding food... every time I go to Indiana Beach—which has independent food vendors—it makes me wonder why Kings Island bothers to be in the food business at all. Why not just have independent restaurant operators paying rent? Yes, they'd lose flexibility on the operating calendar since the vendors will depend on them to be open, but the market competition just results in better food and better service. If the restaurant isn't up to the level of it's competition it fails. Why bother with it at all—just become a landlord and collect the money.

Part of the reason why I think any company with the Six Flags name keeps failing (or getting close to it) may be because the company has never fully cleaned house or fully remade their image beyond being the cheapest parks with the most thrills. Through the different expansions and bankruptcies and financial struggles, it seems that they've never been able to shake off the consequences of rapid expansion from the Premier Parks/Six Flags of the '90s/'00s. I appreciate the fact that both Six Flags and Cedar Fair have tried to keep ticket costs down while others continually skyrocket, but it simply is not a winning strategy for a company that has been circling the drain for years. Legacy Six Flags tried to reimagine their pass system but failed by trying to do it all at once instead of gradually raising prices. Now, the people who tried that are heading the new Six Flags and are probably scared of repeating their past mistakes. I'm hoping the Six Flags execs choose a candidate for CEO who will be able to at least provide and execute a clear vision to downsize the current company by selling parks to potential competitors (instead of selling them for their potential land value).

Are still missing The Vortex in 2025.

It should never have been named "Son of Beast." Product Development 101: Avoid direct comparison to existing devices. In doing this, they immediately put themselves in a hole because everyone has their own opinion on the original "The Beast." So now expectations of this ride are always based in comparison to the OG. It never had a chance to stand on its own merits. It was a massive wood structure, and the concept of a loop on a wooden coaster was really cool. If that was the primary focus and the ride properly designed around that element first, I think it may have succeeded. But a Beast 2.0 with a loop was doomed to fail. Regardless, it was a bad ride, practically beat you to death, and my friends and I basically rode it just for bragging rights to say we conquered it. Just like the Swiss Army knife, looks cool, does everything poorly, practically non-functional.