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It has had a lot of potential for many years. When/If the land around it ever develops, then it may finally follow in KI's footsteps. The issue now is the debt the company carries and eventually they will have to dangle a nice carrot to entice the purchase of the next wave of parks and sadly this would be the likely candidate from the portfolio.

Just an FYI, Six Flags St. Louis originally opened as Six Flags over Mid-America. Though just having the name Mid-America doesn’t really make sense without having more to that. Maybe having a name like “Worlds of Mid-America.” That kind of sounds like a good name and it help ties it to Worlds of Fun. Or maybe just name it “Lands of Mid-America.” Either way, it would be nice to have the park return to it’s original concept of being themed to the countries who once occupied the area.

I love how the entire ride blueprints were allowed to be public record, but this isn’t. The fact that this needs a ride wait time sign scares me though, I wonder if they’ll sell single-use Fast Lane for it.

caveat emptor They are giving enough reasons to wait until the day you actually decide to go to a park to buy a pass. In the past it always cost more, now not so much. And they will wonder why come July/August the 2027 season pass sales are off to a slow start. Heck at this rate, they may start selling 2027 passes in May - "buy your 2027 pass and get in the rest of 2026 free"

My brother in Christ, I’ve out drank you in the park 10-1, I guarantee it. The difference between you and actual adults is the fact that I’m not a sloppy kid who can’t hold their liquor. Brandy? Are you the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner in the 1800’s? Cheers!

I could see it going if they become desperate, but I believe John Reilly mentioned it as a park with lots of potential at his meeting with a few KD fans a few weeks back.

Did you ask it to create a saloon for giants? EDIT: note that I'm just poking fun at the AI's sense of scale.

That's a bold strategy of building support and demand for future stories by condescendingly misusing the language of mental healthcare and calling us geeks and virgins, Cotton. Let's see how this one plays out. Quick detail for the room: Raise your hand if you've ever been told, unsolicited, by KI's security team that you would "end up in some sort of trouble" by the end of your visit when you otherwise weren't being disruptive. Surely with the number of people here and the high frequency with which we triggered geeks and virgins visit the park, it would've happened to someone else here...?

Permits were filed for “KI Dark Ride” and “Ride Wait Sign” in January. I did a records request and they were denied as:

There was a time pre-merger when a hotel was in the future plans.

I truly believe KI already has a HUGE hit on their hands. This has as much, if not more, buzz than virtually all new attractions in the past twenty years. If this succeeds, as I think it will, I expect it will set the trajectory for all future installs at KI.

Yep. That's pretty much what I remember. I thought I was just telling a funny story of my nonsense. I didn't recognize that it would trigger so many of these geeks.

You absolutely have not outdrank me. That is an absolute fact.

Is it just me or am I getting serious 2016 vibes with this ad on the website? Reminds me a lot of the banner on the entrance back in 2016 Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122124750639113270&set=pcb.2797682560564843

They probably would, but Sandusky literally has like 3 indoor waterpark hotels near each other including a Great Wolf. Competition can be a good thing. Plus I'm not envisioning a major indoor waterpark on the size of Great Wolf. I'm thinking something more along the lines of the little indoor waterpark that used to be connected to the thirsty pony years ago or the indoor waterpark at the YMCA in Lebanon.

Honestly, I laughed. The whole "jail," aspect is hilarious and I've heard of a few folks going there *cough season visitor cough cough.* If I remember correctly, it is off of guest services in a conference room. Maybe not.

6 months since HH and this is the best you can come up with? Next time start with: "This one time at band camp...I got a fifth of E&J brandy stuck........."

Yes, I believe it was determined the $900K was for building modifications alone. (I was confused by, and asked about, the low amount months ago.) I guarantee the entire project is more than likely in the range of $5M+.

Biggest and largest doesn’t move the needle. Experiences that are worth repeating do.

Here's to the last full month of the park being closed!

Personally I want to see more merchandise come out of this. Plush toys would be awesome! Fingers crossed that we get some hats as well with the PTON logo to add to my hat collection.

I can respect the 90/10. Knowing it needed updated, why not let the show steer the decision a bit. A totally different experience would most likely (totally assuming) cost more money than brining back the PT characters.

Oh I agree on using characters that were already created but how would they truly know if those characters were still relevant or engaging 20 years later if they hadn't done the show? I think it was a great way to honor the history of the park but if that show had bombed do you think we'd be seeing them invest a sizeable amount in a new Phantom Theater ride? I think not. So I agree the motivation behind the show was probably 90% let's pay homage to the history of the park for its 50th anniversary but I do think they always had it in the back of their mind to "test" the audience of how many people remember and still enjoy these characters.

^^^ Very this. And at a regional park, no less.

I understood the All Park Passport thing from the sale, I'm still partially confused on what exactly this is so I can only imagine what the GP must think, but this is cool I suppose.

Fiesta and Over Texas websites indicate all season, all park Fast Lane is now $450.

Six Flags has unveiled a new pass structure for their parks. Gold Passes will now allow access to parks in certain regions, whereas Prestige Passes will allow access to all Six Flags properties. If Gold Passholders purchased an All Park Passport for 2026 (excluding ones given out during the MVP sale), their Gold Pass will be upgraded to a Prestige Pass for 2026. edit: It seems the All Park Passport will still be available as an additional add-on for Gold Season Passes. Though it remains to be seen what exactly the prices would be for a Gold Season Pass with the All Park Passport compared to just buying a Prestige Pass that already has that included.

But no one has so far (other than CoasterJack for PTON). Last year I was able to get the permits/project info online (I don't live close enough to just hop on down there to do this) including the cost of project and construction documents. Now, they list permits issued monthly....so January will be available sometime in February.

If it were to be the major expansion for a year then I'd really like to see the park also complete a little refresh of Planet Snoopy as well. Lots of new paint and signage (and maybe a few new trees) would do wonders for the area. Fixing the concrete would help too. As for 2026, another thing I'd like to see the park take on is a renewed effort in landscaping. They always do a wonderful job with the foliage, but it's felt like something has been missing these past few years. Maybe I really just want to see more done with the walkway between International Street, Coney Mall, and Rivertown like we had in 2011.

I mean Magic Mountain is basically doing that this year and I don't believe they're adding any new rides to that area. In fact they're removing a couple of rides in their kids area. If the budget allows, I think they would do it and they could make it marketable. I think families would be very excited about an expanded Beagle Scout Acres. BSA is nice, but I think they could add more to it. A multi level play structure and splash pad immediately come to mind.

I’d love to see that happen in 2027.

I'd LOVE all of that - so much of what really brought that area "together" in the concept art was cut. Would it move the needle as fr as attendance goes, no - so theres no way they will do it. But I really wish they did some of this - especially incorporating KET and Buggies and a light re-theme of the drink/snack location right there as CampSnoopy Canteen - that would at least make the whole entrance to Camp so much cleaner, even if they didn't add the stuff behind surf dog.

I know this is about 2026, but I kinda wanted to look ahead a little bit to 2027 when it comes to capital. I think if 2027 is going to be another mild year in terms of investment at KI and they want to do something to market for 2027, my wish would be to "finish" Camp Snoopy. Hear me out: Camp Snoopy while they did a good job on it it feels unfinished to me. Ways they could finish it without needing to invest too much money would be: stain the concrete in the area to a more light brown color add Kite Eating Tree and Space Buggies into Camp Snoopy (retheming buggies to Pig Pen's Mud Buggies) add the 3 rides behind Surf Dog into Camp Snoopy add another playground to Beagle Scout Acres. More specifically a multi level play structure like what Cedar Point used to have on Forbidden Frontier. You can put it in the open space behind Pig Pen's Mess Hall If there's still space and/or budget left, add some sort of splash pad Finally, add a Camp Snoopy sign at the other entrance to Camp Snoopy right behind Snoopy's Boutique. Make it like the sign that was in the original concept art: Basically do what Magic Mountain is doing with their new Bugs Bunny World coming this year

This reminds me of the last time I went to SeaWorld Orlando. My mom got her, myself, and one of my siblings a 90 minute meal plan each and we were at the park for quite some hours.. We made so many stops to get food. It was genuinely ridiculous, all that food getting thrown away while I made it a point to eat all of it and thus “felt it in the morning”. I think we got meals with the meal plan like 6 times at least. My mom made it a point for us to stop at most of the major restaurants in the entire park. We could have just shared one meal plan. Oh well, I got to have a bunch of the foods I like most at least. So by Knott’s having a “no sharing” rule, some interesting consequences may happen on occassion like someone staying in park with their family for hours and just munching on a whole bunch of entrées with sides. I can see some people redeeming the meal plan and just giving the meal to someone else out of sight. Actually, thats definitely bound to happen. Especially amongst groups who visit a lot.

If they did that I would absolutely make sure to make it the most awkward situation ever. Straight eye contact, chewing slowly but aggressively, a few growls maybe. Assert dominance.

It looks like the structure of Snowflake Lake is now entirely disassembled and crews are back to working on removing everything from International Street. I wonder if there will be any other projects going on around the park this offseason. Last year the big projects were RiverRacers, Splash River Junction, renovations to the security plazas, the KI Trading Co. renovation, the addition of the Carousel Pavilion, and the various restroom renovations. Could we see anything beyond Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare and the KI Essentials renovation?

Looks like the usual "cold weather tunnel" for doing trackwork, but trackwork on a GCI less than ten years old seems odd. That section is higher-stress though so maybe a new top layer and fresh steel? I haven't seen a Notice of Commencement for a while, so I'm not sure if GCI has a contract open with the park right now. Most parks have GCI do tracking on their GCI rides (SFMM being a notable exception, but wood track seems to dry out quickly there and Apocalypse got retracked down to the ledgers by a third party a number of years ago now.)

That's adorable! Do they plan on having someone watch you eat, or...?

^True, but with being a company that offers passes across the continent, they already have that problem. Passes at over Georgia might be $79 while KI might be $129. My point was about ticket add ons, specifically the daily dining.

I think this is just the existing rule of "You must have the wristband on your wrist and cannot use two at once" written out and posted publicly. Technically with the season pass meal plan you're supposed to have everyone there to scan each pass with the passholder present, but it doesn't always get enforced because parents don't want to have to deal with their kids being in a food line. In reality, the policy saying "no sharing" probably means "no giving your wristband away" rather than "we will watch you eat and make sure you don't share food with your family and friends". There are quite a few people online who like to leave dining wristbands in bushes if they leave early enough in the day and make a post saying to come get them. This new policy might be trying to cut down on that. Associates are already supposed to throw away discarded wristbands and nobody needs more plastic littering the parks/harming the foliage or animals that might get to them before humans do.

What does it even mean and how would it be enforced? Are they gonna watch you eat the meal?

Wonder if this new "No Sharing" policy will make it to the other parks....

KI did have a 4th of July event in Picnic Grove https://cpfoodblog.com/kings-island-4th-of-july-bbq-2015/ The question is, would it actually be worth it to do it now with meal plans being available, better quality food around the park, etc?

Years ago I went to Holiday World around July 4th and they had an all you can eat buffet cookout in their picnic area. I think that could be something KI could look into and they could sell tickets to it with a discount for those with a dining plan.

Bringing back some kind of Fourth of July barbecue or cookout might be the best option for "specialty" food. It would definitely help any additions if the event ran for a week instead of just two days. Cedar Point is supposed to host a one day America 250 event (info from the ACE No Coaster Con), but no other information like potential food offerings was given.

KI doesn't need to be more crowded on the 4th of July. What exactly would be a specialty food for 4th of July? Brats? Adding specialty foods, activities and entrainment is a lot to do for 1 day. Sure if they'd do the entire week, that would justify it.

I believe 2017 was the last time KI hosted dive in movie nights. However, they hosted the "Island Nights" glow party with ERT on select water rides in Soak City in 2018 and 2019. I believe 2020 they were going to introduce a new "Summer Nights" event in Action Zone, but Covid messed that up and that whole concept was shelved and never revisited. I also would like to see Coaster Camp Out return in some form which was held up until Covid.

Kings Island has held "Dive In" movies at Soak City before, they just stopped either due to COVID or logistical issues. If they were to do it again I'd rather see it held in a different area of Soak City in case the fact of it being in a wave pool was one of the larger problems. I could believe that it's harder to perform wave pool lifeguard duties at night, even with somewhat adequate lighting. Maybe it could be held in one of / across all of the lounge pools or in a new large lounge pool.