Leaderboard

I only attended WF twice this season, however, both times I really enjoyed it. I felt like it was more flushed out throughout the park this year. Of course, there is always room for improvement and growth as is with any event, but my overall takeaway is that the park did a wonderful job this year and I am grateful that we have this event in a time when other parks have lost their WF or never had one to begin with. I hope that we can continue to enjoy WF in the years to come and see more improvements and experiences added along the way. Also I want to add that the two holiday meals that my partner and I had were really good and we enjoyed the offerings.

I will say, regardless, it truly is amazing how many of our coasters have stood the test of time when others have been long gone. I may not be a big fan of FoF in how it currently rides, but if they were to do any serious upgrades or refurbishments to it I would be happy and pleased to see them invest in what is sort of a cornerstone ride within the park. And regardless of how negatively most folks feel about Invertigo, I know I am one of a few who still love the ride-especially since I know the best seats for me personally are the outermost seats that don't face anyone. I'm glad it's still here and that they are investing in keeping it around for however much longer. Thankful they have put money into keeping Monster around. Not sure what other things they are going to repair/upgrade but of course The Beast is getting more love. We really are lucky that despite all the cuts, our park still gets a lot of love and TLC when others have made cuts. It's a sad state of affairs to have to use this sort of language as I wish all parks invested and cared for their rides as well as KI does, but alas. I might also mention I really hope the next ride to get some serious love is Banshee. She really needs a fresh coat of paint.

IMO this edition of Winterfest was the best yet. It had the most lights, a solid ride lineup, plenty of live entertainment. snowy nights, and (surprising) no major cutbacks to the event despite what is going on elsewhere in the company. The only things that have been lost over the years for this event are 4 Drummers, Holly Jolly Trolley, the music-synchorinzed lights, and upcharge carriage rides. (Cool Yule and Charlie Brown's Spectacular were replaced) While coasters have been added since the 2017 edition where only Mystic Timbers operated. This is probably the most creative of all the theme park Christmas events, with the roaming characters, holiday activities and re-branding just about every shop and restaurant in the park. The weather was the coldest it has been in a while, and it seems to have affected the crowds this year. There were only 6 "warm" days with high attendance. Is that enough for survival of the event? The park did a great job operating on the colder days with low attendance. They reduced operations on those days but kept the park open as advertised. That is the best way to handle this kind of situation. There is a LOT of labor in the park decoration for only 24 operating days (which ended up being 21 2/3) this year. It seems to be an odd decision not to operate the 2 weekends before Thanksgiving when the weather is warmer. I understand that ride permits cause the Dec 31 closure. However, the Columbus Zoo is operating 2 rides at their Christmas event through Jan 4, so wondering what the difference is. It would seem that maximum operating days to recuperate the labor costs would be beneficial. This event would probably be more successful if the park had the indoor infrastructure for the event. At least another indoor theater, dark rides (1 coming soon!), another indoor restaurant etc There are 2 big former attraction buildings sitting empty that could accommodate if renovated. This event deserved the #2 award this year. Better quality live entertainment, continued increases in the lighting and more indoor options would push it to #1 IMO.

Six Flags announced it will not exercise its contractual call option to acquire the remaining non-controlling partner interests in Six Flags Over Texas. https://investors.sixflags.com/news/press-releases/press-release-details/2026/Six-Flags-Announces-Decision-Regarding-Six-Flags-Over-Texas-Partnership-Call-Option/default.aspx

I have not ridden Flight of Fear in many years. Being 6' 4" and size 16 feet, I don't fit in those tiny trains anymore. Got to pace myself and any looping coasters now anyway. Love Banshee, but wow does it hit me hard now. Equilibrium just isn't what it used to be. I remember well when the coaster first opened and how revolutionary is seemed with the indoor launch. Could not wait to ride it. And laughed at how many people would get up to the station, watch the train take off into the tunnel and then turn around and walk out of line. It was quite intimidating when it was a new thing. KI was good at that for awhile...bringing new tech to the forefront with a ride. I was in awe when I first heard about The Beast. And thank goodness they are keeping my favorite coaster going strong. And, when the original Bat was built, as a kid I just marveled at the way the trains on that thing snaked under the track. I am incredibly lucky that I was able to get alot of rides on it. Then came King Cobra. A stand-up coaster, seriously...that's what we all thought at that time. Love Diamondback, Banshee, Mystic and Orion as amazing coasters in my backyard, but KI definitely had a bit different feel in those days it seems.

I felt like something was missing, but then again we were down a ride with the Phantom Theater revival. Overall I don’t feel like much was different which was somewhat of a negative for me personally. The train ride needs to be worked on for next season- they continue to do the bare minimum and it’s gotten increasingly stale….

The Skyline Patio is not a good place for a show, unfortunately. The show that was there, "Twas The Plight Before Christmas" while a great/fun show suffered from bad sight lines with the various poles holding the roof of the structure up. Then you also have the issue of seating being limited with the round tables with some seats not there (handicap spots). I would have loved for this show to find a new space, but sadly it didn't. Part of the issue of ensuring that it would be at certain spots at certain times was that the trolley itself suffered the issue of not wanting to start/move/stay on/etc. The other part of the issue was that they didn't have any notice of "the trolley show will be by Diamondback entrance at X:XX" other than at that spot on a sign that were often off the main path or in spots that weren't really visible.

Six Flags will probably opt to renew or extend the the Texas Partnership and still has majority ownership of the Texas partnership. By declining the buyout, they can avoid taking on another $344.2 million in debt to pay for the buyout. The End-of Term Option from the last quarterly report: https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001999001/6109e747-0c95-451d-91e6-6687f18de9f3.pdf

IMO, a ride overhaul is as good as a new ride. If in 20 years if the park would ask, would you want us to either give Diamondback the same treatment Universal did with Hulk, or just replace it with something new entirely?- I’d go with the former. Some rides are meant to fade away because they didn’t have a strong enough legacy or they had a problematic history and there are some that deserve to be preserved. Flight of Fear, I argue, is one that deserves to have be preserved.

100% agree on this. I would actually like a little different color scheme, similar to what they did when they repainted Diamondback last. The colors remained the same, but the shade was slightly different. I feel like Banshee's blue columns have gotten more purple over the years, and I would definitely like to see more of that dark blue. But to follow the topic, I think that whatever they do to FoF, they should make it less janky and shaky. I'm ok with a little shake, but not to the point where I'm getting hurt and not feeling good when I get off the ride. Not sure whether that means fixing the track or trains, but something should be done to this ride.

I think they're referring to the new chain that was spotted on the station platform

The front half of the park will obviously undergo an overhaul and retheme over the next two years. For 2026, there's not only the new Flying Fox coaster, but the restaurant (Casa Mia) at the front of the park is getting a massive overhaul. For 2027, the current 4D theater will be repurposed as an indoor coaster/dark ride that I've heard has yet to be chosen. The area around it will no doubt be overhauled - ala what they did with Discovery Cove. There's also a floating rumor that the giant swing ride (Skycatcher) may be relocated to the front half of the park. I'm sure the focus will then turn to the back half of the park for 2028 and beyond. I have also heard that the park has been eyeing what to do with the rogue/poor placement of Kentucky Flyer. This is due to the fact that its often "missed" by guests who don't know how to find it, or even know its there. If the rumor of moving Sky Catcher to the front of the park holds true, that will leave it as the only dry ride in that back side of the park. It would also be the only attraction negating waterpark expansion into that land area. It will be interesting to see its eventual fate. Finally, the Fairground's West Wing and West Wing Pavilion - adjacent to the park's entrance - are being demolished in the coming year or two. New wings are being built to replace them. That will affect the entire lot directly in front of the main entrance and will likely prompt a major overhaul to KK's entry plaza. BTW - I was at the fairground this week and got to see the Flying Fox construction site up close. Probably only about 1/4 of the footers are poured. The station foundation is present, Once the park closes their Holiday event this week, I'm sure they will begin tearing up the midway for the underground tunnel. There's lots of prep work still left, so I'm sure it will be a month or two before any sort of track arrival/vertical construction will begin.

I'd say you are right but somehow we still have Invertigo even after the six flags cuts...so maybe there's hope

Such a great man. Happy Birthday to Dick Van Dyke. His brother was funny as well.

I've been questioning this permit for a while. Is the $900,000 supposed to be the entire cost? It seems very, very cheap for a complete overhaul. I'd expect this project to cost in the neighborhood of $5M - 10M. Maybe the amount shown here is for the exterior work? That seems about the amount it would likely cost for the entrance overlay...