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Coney's last major overhaul was 2011 with the addition of pavers, WindSeeker and Dinosaurs Alive. It also got a boost in 2018 (Coney BBQ) and 2019 (Kings Mills Antique Autos). It also lost a major attraction in 2019, Vortex (RIP). Action Zone's last major overhaul was in 2014 with the addition of Banshee. Rivertown had a major overhaul for 2009 with Diamondback. It got a boost in 2013 with Reds Hall of Fame Grille and then another major boost beginning in 2016 with the removal of concession stands and then in 2017 with Mystic Timbers. I'm not sure Oktoberfest even actually exists anymore to the park. Not counting the kids area, the next section that I think that would need an expansion/refurbishment would be Action Zone (based on time of last addition/refurb). To me the only section that is acceptable to be filled before that is The Vortex plot.

Very much in agreement with you here.

Decided to check out trademarks... I know this has been discussed, but ValleyFair's waterpark has the trademark Superior Shores Waterpark

Sometimes when I look at a photo of Monster like the one above, I appreciate how complex the ride is, especially considering the time from which it came. I realize its complexity is also kind of its downfall in some areas, but really its such a fascinating hunk of machinery for how old it is. I will be glad to hear all the little motors whirring in sync again next season!

I'd be happy if they put a pause on adding more mini-lands in favor of focusing on improving the original areas of the park. Area 72, Adventure Port, and Camp Snoopy are nice but I hope we see an Old Coney, an Oktoberfest, and a Rivertown expansion/refurbishment before the park carves them up even more. Some of my previous iterations for this area included a new flat ride in the Saltwater Circus plot, but I've been really set on a 2-level indoor restaurant or a small pond surrounded by a lot of nature (to make up for the lost Swan Lake). After some measuring, I've found that a 1 story building around 8,000+ square feet could fit there and could be larger depending on the footprint. It'd be half the size of the Grand Pavilion at Cedar Point (16,000+ square feet on the ground floor), but you'll be hard pressed to find a space for something of that size at Kings Island that could also fit into its surroundings. A flat ride might do well though.

After having visited Kings Dominion last month and seeing the Candy Apple Grove area (the equivalent of Coney Mall at Kings Island), I really loved the charm it was giving and how, for the most part, it felt like a little carnival-ish/midway themed area. When coming back to Kings Island a few days after being at KD, I couldn't help but admit that I preferred Candy Apple Grove over Coney Mall. There are some parts of CM that feel like a classic theme park midway, specifically Coney Island. However, at CAG they have these giant candy apples with the land's logo printed on them sticking out of the ground up and down the midway. Plus you also have the singing mushrooms in that land, which just adds this level of quirkiness and charm that you can't help but respond to with a big smile on your face. You don't really see that level of charm while in CM, or at least I don't. I'm not saying that they should copy KD, but they should at least do something on a similar level. Here are some of my ideas. Posters: Something that the park could possibly do would be putting vintage style posters around the CM that would advertise the different rides food options in that land. They could even be made by Made To Thrill. They already have a poster for The Racer, one for the Blue Ice Cream, and one for the Coney Mall area. Color scheme: Another thing the park should do is give some of the buildings in CM a new color scheme. The one I think would look really cool would be a red and white (and maybe a little bit of blue) theme. They could paint red and white stripes on the top of the Dodgem building. The big letters on the arcade building that are currently white could be colored red, with the blue walls changed to white and would have a red outline.Think of something like in the image above, but recolor the blue parts to red and put lights around the edges. They could also WindSeeker a red and white theme, and maybe redo the ride's logo to give a more carnival/midway feel to it. Bring back the old entrance sign: For those who don't remember, there used to be a cool entrance gate that separated CM from Oktoberfest (now known as Adventure Port).I really can't think of any logical reason why the park even removed it in the first place. It looked so charming. During the Haunt season the park would even change the sign to read "Coney Maul."It was so unique and charming. However, for some reason the park felt like they didn't need it anymore . I honestly think they should bring it back. Please tell me your thoughts on this part. Vortex replacement: I'm gonna try to make this as short and as simple as I possibly can, since this subject has definitely been discussed a million times on this site. I honestly think the park should go with a Gerstlauer infinity coaster, like a miniature version of Hangtime at Knott's Berry Farm. Nothing too extreme, but not too tame either. Maybe a few inversions. If possible, a height requirement of 48 inches, since the park is missing a family coaster with inversions due to Vortex no longer being there. They could give it a cool light package to make it look very photogenic at night. Backlot Stunt Coaster retheme: This idea is more of a maybe. If the park were to retheme BSC, I think they should make the ride vehicles look like vintage hot rods. Maybe the police cars that you pass by after the helix could be replaced with vintage cars with possible fake spectators standing on top of or peeking out from inside, watching and cheering you on. They could also repaint the helicopter to look like a news chopper that is trying to capture the race live, or a police chopper telling you that you've entered a dangerous restricted area and that you need to leave immediately, only to get interrupted by some explosions, resulting in your vehicle making an escape into the sewers. You would still come out of the giant billboard, but now there would be a camera on the que line bridge that would take a picture of you as you're busting out of the billboard. Depending on why they removed it, they could bring back the splashdown effect that the ride used to have during the first few years it was open. However, I currently don't think it's mandatory to make BSC fit with the style/theme of CM. That's all the ideas I currently have in terms of a retheme of CM. Please let me know what you think of all of this and if you have any suggestions.span widgetspan widget

I'm fully with you on the "too many areas" idea for the dry side of the park. The Moonlite Gardens project might actually get moved in my headcanon now that I've been developing an "Old Coney" revamp of Coney Mall. Some of the things you listed are unfortunately par for the course as Kings Island continues to toe the line between amusement park and theme park. I've stated my desire for a Medieval Faire or Oktoberfest retheme for Action Zone while my hopes for Rivertown rely on it becoming more town-ish again. I'll have to see if I have any more ideas once I get home from work.

Couple thoughts: - in the image above- I like the Coney throwbacks in the park- but some of this seems misplaced since "Coney Mall" is somewhere else in the park. I thought they should dismantle one of the original Coney Island entrances from the old park (not sure what they'll be used as now) and reconstruct them at KI.... and build a replica of Moonlight Gardens as an indoor eating experience with a feel like the Grand Pavilion at CP. As for the themed area overhauls listed above... KI has too many "areas". International Street- one of the best environment entrances, but hardly "international" anymore Planet Snoopy- should be overhauled and incorporated into Camp Snoopy Camp Snoopy- great start (will it be expanded?) Action Zone- no cohesive story and has some aging rides in their last stages in prominent locations Octoberfest- basically a German-themed hall with American-Italian as well as Chinese fast food... and a swinging ship Adventure Port- two spanish themed rides... and arguably the best themed ride in the park Adventure Express Coney Mall- annoying pop music with a large scar in the back coming to it's 7th season Rivertown- Nice "rivertown'ish" feel with coasters that point in another direction Area 72- a good start but with a lot of concrete and nowhere to expand. Did I miss any?

I like this idea. I also think what they could do is move Shake, Rattle, and Roll to the empty grass area in between (what was) the Jukebox diner and Coney Treats then make SR&R's plot into a grand entry plaza for the Vekoma ghostrider. That way it isn't as much of a bottleneck like it was on Vortex's last day.

@Losantiville Mining Co., I like your ideas. That side of the park really needs a climate controlled building. Juke Box Diner is disgusting, so a complete replacement would be ideal. How would you tie the "feel" of the existing Area Formerly Known as Coney Mall into this area? Would you do anything from AP to the renovation zone... cosmetic, major infrastructure, rides, etc? I'd enjoy seeing your ideas for a master plan the includes the removal of The Junkyard Coaster, renovation of the grass area, and while you're at it, renovation of The International Showplace and dress up the area surrounding the Eifel Tower, similar to KD. ( I guess this would necessarily need to put Tower Gardens in the mix, too!)

Currently working on an Old Coney redesign for Coney Mall and am looking for some suggestions. So far I'm looking for a good way to make this path junction less awkward. One of my ideas was to remove Jukebox Diner (moving any restaurant needs into an expanded/replaced KillMart building) and create a new small area with something in the center. The largest issue that I'm finding with that is that it doesn't address the fact that a two-path midway is jarringly cut into a one-path midway between the game building and KMAA. Unfortunately, I think the best option would be to realign the midway to have it continue the trajectory of the rest of Coney Mall (outlined in white). This would fix most of my issues but would also require so many large trees to be removed. I'm slowly talking myself into the latter option more and more. The park has already lost so much of its natural shade. Part of the charm of the older sections of Coney Mall and all of Candy Apple Grove comes from the trees and all of the stuff they have along the midway. The current (peach) and former (green) pathways of this area. My initial redesign, leaving the trees while requiring the demolition of Jukebox Diner. The "perfect alignment" option, requiring the removal of Jukebox Diner and the large trees while fixing the path issues. Shake, Rattle & Roll would become the new southern viewpoint — a role formerly occupied by the Action Theater plaza and WindSeeker until the pathway was bottle-necked. A new dining location would take the place of Kill Mart and the functionality of Jukebox Diner. This might even be a good spot for my Moonlite Gardens dream with its nearly 15,000 square feet of available space. The games building would be moved to be in the middle of the new alignment. A new activity (maybe a stage?) would be built in the remaining area left by JbD's demolition and new restrooms would be built between the 3-Point shot and the new activity. Vortex's plot would be filled with a Vekoma Ghostrider launch coaster sporting a more 1980s-ish "classic" theme as opposed to anything like the cyber-themed thrill glider coming to Magic Mountain or Siren's Curse at Cedar Point. I'd like it to have a launched lift hill (like Maverick) with chaser lights to pay homage to Vortex. The pink is an existing associate break area for anyone wondering.

From aerial photos I've seen this year, it does look like the ground is painted again.

Or just an expanded IS to include a few new attractions. I can think of a certain set of flyers in the Carolina’s that would fit well in that area…

IMO, there should be a sub section behind the Eiffel Tower like how you showed.

The removal of the Old Dominion Line not withstanding, Paramount at least had the sense to build their Italian Job somewhere else in that park and not remove their original antique cars for it.

I think KI had the blessing AND the curse of being a flagship park of the Paramount era. YES, we got a lot more investment, but Paramount was not always (almost never) good about respecting the past of the park as they moved forward. In fact they almost WANTED to obliterate the past and make the parks their own. KD wasnt a top tier park so in many ways they were spared some of the butchering (same w the first few years of Cedar Fair)

I can’t believe how dramatically Diamondback altered/ruined that area of the park. They quite literally removed every tree they could for that project. Definitely removed some of the charm from Rivertown.

Okay, I mentioned before I had a plan for redoing Backlot in a way that would establish it fully as a Coney ride and also make it look a lot nicer, so I'll actually type that up here. - Bust up all the concrete, remove all the gravel, and remove the "parking garage" facade. - Ditch and replace the shipping containers or paint them to look like normal buildings. - Repaint everything in bright colors and put a bunch of nice landscaping around everything, including the removal of the former water feature at the end and all the gravel around the final turn and brakes. - Remove ALL existing theme elements, and bring in someone like Daniels Woodland to totally re-theme it to a large, classic funhouse. A full size coaster version of the carnival-like "funhouse ride" attractions. Put some glass or mirrors around the existing "police chase" area, leading up until the "subway stairs" drop, which could be fully enclosed (potentially all the way until the midcourse stop) with light effects to become a dark ride-like element. - The midcourse stop scene becomes a suitable, theme-matching scene, without any fire or water effects. Funhouse-like light show and classic effects. Tunnel entrance could be a clown like Enchanted Voyage had inside. - Tunnel becomes the main dark ride element with lighting and projection effects. - Billboard exit stays the same but no more hunk-of-concrete abandoned pool or gravel, theme accordingly with elements around the drop and entrance/exit bridge, and then perhaps one final tunnel is added for the last turn. - Station area is completely redesigned to theme, same with the shells for the trains. - Entrance plaza loses majority of the concrete, with the access point closest to Rivertown being removed and the brick wall put back in place, entrance and exit gain theming as well and only uses the access point on the Coney side, potentially even closing the other existing one and routing it in place of the Three-Point Shootout, to firmly establish the ride's place in Coney instead of the strange halfway-down-the-path situation. - Plant a bunch of trees all around, including the now-removed parts of the entrance plaza to bring the old feel back to that pathway. - No new named area, but Rouse is brought in to spruce up the existing "back 40" of Coney including the redone entrance to the now-formerly-Backlot, and Vortex's replacement could join "Funhouse Coaster", SR&R, WindSeeker, KMAA and Jukebox in the still-Coney-Mall, but revamped, back section. - The restored serpentine brick wall leading over to the restrooms and midway intersection is now a more well-defined transition into Rivertown.