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Now what I wish they would do is expand the men's restroom up there so its not just one stall anymore.

Just announced on the official Kings Island Facebook page KI Essentials Is Receiving A Complete Aesthetic Refresh. https://www.facebook.com/share/1FPUk27sKR/

Vekoma has really upped their game. All of their recent designs and track layouts have been stunning.

I don't want anything with the letters B&M associated with The Vortex plot. Give me a Vekoma, Mack, Intamin, or HECK give Zamperla a shot but please no B&M!

I really like how this looks, it's always nice to see the park investing in small things like this that improve the overall experience, even if it's just a store. I really liked the renovation of the trading post they did last year.

I wonder what the construction timeframe will be for that. In my mind the exterior would probably be the last aspect of construction to be completed, but who knows. I wonder if when we get closing to opening daymare, we’ll get more on-site construction updates outside of Curtain Class episodes. Part of me wants them to save any photos from inside the ride to be saved so it’s more of a surprise, but I’m also desperate for any updates so who cares.

^ You may have missed my point which was that there are longer term effects when not investing. They may not see a drop in attendance those 2 – 4 years, but in the long-term the park can start to suffer. Full retracking/refurbishment of steel coasters is exceedingly rare. I can only think of four occurrences off the top of my head. Usually by the time a steel coaster needs retracking it is no longer popular enough to justify a very expensive retrack. There may end up being a longer life for B&Ms and Intamins vs the old Arrows, but that is an unknown at this point. The 8 or 9 year gap between coasters you lay out is just not sustainable if Kings Island is to remain the Kings Island we grew up with. Note that I do recognize the unusual circumstances the park finds itself in right now so this could be understood by the park with this being a one-off.

Kings Island and Six Flags should bring in Alex Honnold to climb the Eiffel Tower. It would be a spectacle—up there with the Wallenda skywalks and Knievel jumps. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/25/sport/alex-honnold-taipei-101-free-solo-netflix-intl-hnk

This would be the most depressing employee eatery. Stuck underground with no place to look outside or get fresh air. That place would be straight evil.

While I imagine it would be super cool. I think his portfolio kind of dwarfs climbing the Kings Island Eiffel Tower. Now I could see him climbing the real one. But if they offered enough money I could see that he would be interested, but even then that does put more liability on the park. But it would be cool to see.

I kind of dig it! Hopefully it helps improve sales. That store was quietly my favorite one in the park.

I'll say it again...the perfect place for a larger climate controlled eatery is the Killmart plot. The Area Formerly Known As Coney Mall needs sheltered dining, even though PukeBox Diner and Coney BBQ are close. It would close the loop, so to say, with sheltered dining and have fantastic views of KMAA and The Racer, and even Onion. They could remove the backstage junk and clean that area up.

Instead of them tearing down Jukebox, I would love to see them enclose the main seating area and figure out a way to rework the line where you exit out into the seating area. Basically put the registers on the right hand side when you enter and move the food to the left. From the registers you would go to the right and enter the indoor seating area. They would have to extend the building into the midway slightly to make a hallway to the now enclosed seating area. This would solve the issue of your food immediately getting cold during those colder nights of Winterfest. If you did that you could put a small indoor flat where Killmart currently is. I do love your idea of a dark ride in the Action Theater space and removing WindSeeker.

Or this, I wouldn’t complain:

I think the best solution would be to make it more like a Buc-ee's men's restroom with urinals on one side, where they are currently; stalls on the other side, where the sinks currently are; and sinks in the center, where that massive open area (that often also gets slippery for whatever reason) currently is. The largest hurdle would be ensuring that there is enough space for wheelchairs to traverse the restroom. I like the idea of turning Build-A-Bear into a second dedicated IP shop, though IIRC the Peanuts characters cannot be shown next to non-Peanuts IP so the park would need to choose which to display. One of the renderings for KI Essentials does specifically show a Snoopy bubble wand on a circular rack. Something to note: The store at the front of the park is the KI Trading Company while the store in Rivertown is the DB Trading Post. Both are fine as they currently exist, but I felt the need to ensure we made the right distinction either way. I'd hate to see BAB go in DBTP because it would get rid of the only large store in Rivertown. It would also feel out of place, like how Panda Express does for some in the Festhaus.

I'm predicting by sometime next month we'll see an update on the entrance. Well I'm hoping! 😅

OK thats not FIXING it

I think it needs to be ESSENTIALS that are park themed. Theres nothing "essential" about a snoopy plush. There should be a dedicated shop for Peanuts there as well as in PSnoopy. I'd like to see Build A Bear go away and a full Peanuts/Loony Tunes shop take its place with a strong store design. They could even keep the "stuff it yourself" idea, just scale it back a bit to allow for other stuff. That might work better in the "Trading Post" spot since they could do some fun IP merchandising on the "porch" EMPORIUM could be current KI ride themed stuff as well as general gift and "topical" stuff like a haunt shop, new ride shop etc. Move the KIGallery to the old Build A Bear location with park history displays and vintage ride themed, park history themed things in a more "gallery" style setting. There just needs to be a reason to go in different shops - as it is now there is the same exact stuff from one end of the street to the other.

It appears that they are slowing updating the retail spaces in the front of the park. Hopefully this trend will continue because they are a lot nicer than before.

Now the question is, will it have about 95% of Peanuts merch as in the past or will it feature more KI themed merch? Will it continue to be a repeat of items found elsewhere on I-Street?

Same things that were said and discussed for the Wallenda skywalks and Knievel jumps. If the park, company and individual wanted to do it, they could make it happen.

It would be awesome but I winder what the parks lawyers and insurance company would have to say about it

I've been waiting for that for YEARS! 😅 Maybe KI will surprise us here in the 2020s.

Looking good!

I agree with that and I think another place would be in Planet Snoopy. I had a concept years back that involved demolishing the Planet Snoopy blue ice cream stand as well as the Snoopy grill there, Tom&Chee, and Cornerstone (the associate cafe) and build something like Harmony Hall or LazyBear Lodge at CW there. Make it 2 levels with a basement and have the basement be the new Cornerstone for employees.

Not to be cynical but it’s comments like these that make me cringe a little; like B&M is this horrible company that plagues whatever poor park it works with.

Biggest fanny pack measuring contest this forum has seen in a long time.

I believe all of this could be done without leveling any of The Vortex plot. Instead of an entirely new themed area, it might be easier to bring back the "Old Coney" name and realign the midway. That frees up space for a larger indoor dining location, fixes the kink in the midway brought on by KMAA, and could still allow for a new flat ride to go back there depending on how everything is placed. Jukebox is replaced by the new indoor restaurant and Coney Potato Works could make a comeback to give purpose to that seating area (and provide another dining location). This all could probably happen for much less money while killing a few birds with one big boulder. Here's a mock-up I've been working on for another topic thread to better show the idea. It does include the removal of WindSeeker and the addition of a new dark ride in Action Theater, but that would come at a later time.

ML Designs created a concept of a Vekoma Ghostrider with an extended layout in The Vortex plot and it actually fits pretty well!