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Yall realize that sign isn't new right? It was just finally fixed to work like it used to. Sent from my SM-S936U using Tapatalk

Kinda shocked that I didn’t get around to making this before, but here’s my first speculation map (to steal horror nights terminology) of what I think we could see in Opening Nightmare. I hope it’s clear which most of the scenes are but I’ll highlight my base thoughts before anything major is shared about the ride so that it’s impressive if I get anything right: - One of the areas that I’m 50/50 split about is if the Boo Blasters bridge entrance will be reused, or if a new short outdoor section will be built to enter the attraction. I’m not sure if this is feasible or a priority, but it would be cool to make the queue wheelchair accessible so that everyone can enjoy (what I’m very much assuming) will be theming in the queue. -I’m also pretty split on what the actual queue ‘preshow’ will look like. I’m really hoping there’s a Maestro animatronic on organ like the original. Only two maestro animatronics being on the sheet from the construction teaser worries me, but this could also be a more advanced figure so who knows. Also I’m assuming the lightning affects return to this space. -I think the statue busts are repainted and reused, but I also have a gut feeling there will be a tv screen placed at the end of the hallway to explain the game mechanics by Larry. - I’m fairly confident that the ride track won’t be changed in anyway, include the path the car’s face. I’m also reallly hoping at the first scene with Maestro holding the curtain stays with “So you wanted to see the theater did ya?” because that’s just one of those iconic scenes (even being featured on the made to thrill poster they put out). -I think either in the spot for Scooby Doo or the portrait hallway, there’s going to be a flash of lightning that disguises an onride photo. I don’t think it’ll be something they sell, but I think the scoreboard at the end will show photos of each guest and there score. -I don’t have many thoughts on the rest of the scenes individually because they’re hard to guess. I think where ever they put Garbonzo firing out of a canon, it’ll be in a spot where the cars make a 180 spin to see his feet dangling out of a wall or something. -I think Arpeggio (the cat character) could be a thing where he’s hidden in each scene somewhere. -I think the part where the original peppers ghost scene was is going to be the section with the most new scenes, and I’m very confident on the stage section being used in the final room. I think pepper’s ghost is going to be used in someway within the ride, either at the ending stage scene using screens, or with No Legs Larry at some point in the ride. Overall I’m very excited, I’m basically just using two photos and a press release to go off on, so if I got any of this correct I’ll be impressed lol.

From the KI passholders group

The Crypt building is too small by comparison. I did a construction tour today and what Dollywood is building is massive.

Paul Bonifield shared this on Linkedin a few weeks back. For those who don't know, Paul was one of the many who were unfortunately laid off by Six Flags back in May. Also in the comments, Chad Showalter (who was also let go) commented a bit about it. Based on those comments, it sounds like this project was planned for awhile and may have been the "family thrill attraction" planned all along. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/paulbonifield_phantom-theater-returns-to-kings-island-ugcPost-7366851910231855104-Oe2X

This is crybaby stuff. If you don't want Halloween Haunt, don't go to Halloween Haunt.

You just know that some LinkedIN Premium user in Charlotte took their kids to Disney, saw their merch, and said “we should be charging more” without any sense of irony for how poorly comparable the SF product is.

The Golden Tickets 2025 was just announced and Six Flags took home 3 Golden Tickets. Kings Island had a good showing, the Kids Area went back up to #2, RiverRacers took the #2 spot for Best Water Ride and the park came in at #5 for Best Guests Experience. Here is a couple links. Six Flags Entertainment Corporation - Six Flags Parks Win Three Golden Ticket Awards for 2025 2025 GTA Winners – The Golden Ticket Awards | Presented by Amusement Today

We will use this thread for you to post your haunt reviews for the 2025 season.

They’re working on clearing out the props from the building and work is being completed in Florida I assume for Phantom, don’t worry. I think there’s just going to be a week where guests return on a random Friday during haunt and the outside entrance of Boo Blasters is just completely gone. It also is an indoor ride that’s technically a retheme vs brand new ride, so it could be a thing were everything’s taken out of boo blasters over a week (which I’m 80% sure has happened by now), Phantom props are brought in a Winterfest or off season week, and the ride can still be ready for like April. Personal speculation, but I think on October 31 (or maybe October 13 because spooky number and it’s not on a weekend day) we’ll see some major teasers hopefully showing off the designs for the characters we haven’t seen yet properly because I need proper references to draw them!

Please no. The purpose of a themed attraction is to get people to feel as if they've stepped out of the regular world, not to thrust them back into it.

Looks like the gang is here to stay. (Vince Guaraldi’s work outside of the Peanuts is worth getting into if you dig jazz.)

Also very interesting. With the 26 season pass presale, they are cutting way back on the free admission incentives. Last year my son’s child silver got 2 free tickets- next year none and my Diamond got 4, now 2. Guess they don’t need to give away the gate like certain other parks. And passes sure aren’t 99.00. They know they have a quality product and aren’t afraid to price it that way.

I was also there last night! I think it might be safe to say that Thursday nights will be THEE go to nights for an actual good Haunt experience. The low crowds made for a much better experience. The vibes were absolutely vibin'. Lines were essentially non-existent for the rides unless of course you wanted to wait for a specific seat. Even then, seriously wouldn't even count that as hardly anything. Staff seemed in good spirits. I will say my only negative interaction last night was upon entering the park. I had an older lady at the scan in who did not seem to understand two very simple things. One-I still have and use my old Platinum pass card because the QR code is valid due to me renewing my pass each year and their system just recycling that same code for current day. She very rudely told me that they "no longer used those" and I had to explain to her that what the actual pass card said didn't matter, it was the QR code that was still valid and renewed for 2026. She was so rude and simultaneously confused about it I had to take my cell phone out and open the app to show her that I indeed DID have a 2026 gold pass and that it did not matter which QR code I used from whichever source since they were both the same thing. She kept asking me if I "upgraded" to a gold pass from prestige? Common lady... This all became an issue because I wanted to use my free BAF ticket (which is the second and primary reason for this snafu to begin with...) that was invisible to me but supposedly visible to them as I had my partner with me and she has not yet gotten her pass for next season. I explained to her that I bought my 2026 pass during the initial sale for next year's passes and it was to include a BAF ticket that wasn't visible to me, but should be on their side. The lady had to call over a supervisor and thankfully he was really nice about it and didn't make a stink over it and let us proceed. I wish I had gotten both of their names because the woman scanning tickets/passes clearly needs more education on her job as well as a massive attitude adjustment ( rudest person I have dealt with at KI to date honestly...everyone else has always been helpful or at the very least not rude while trying to understand something ) and the supervisor's name for not making the process any more challenging than it needed to be and letting us in to enjoy our night. We caught the pre-closing fountain show too and that really was such a fun and enjoyable display! I see what you all meant now about the use of the pyrotechnics being excellent and the overall use of the fountains and lights themselves was very well done. I look forward to catching at least one or two more Haunts on a Thursday night. It's worth going to bed a little later for the low crowds, low stress and all fun kind of night. Not to mention the weather was absolutely perfect.

I was working in tech services in 2002 when phantom theater closed, we (tech services, ride mechanics and electricians) cleared out most of phantom ourselves. We took out all the animatronics, props, scenes, sound equipment etc. we initially moved all the animatronics to the “schoolhouse” which was located at the employee entrance on western row rd. Picture attached of the old school house and they stayed in that building until they started using them as props for haunt. after we cleared everything is when sally came in to install SDATHM, we worked along side of them installing all the controls, audio equipment etc but they did most of the installation.

That's fine! Many people prefer Chipotle to McDonalds! It doesn't mean I want a burrito when I'm craving a Big Mac.

I I didn't do the haunts but I never did them when they were free but I noticed a lot more scare actors walking around. We a had a great time and an awesome night beast ride.

Then just go to Dollywood? If every park operated exactly the same that would be incredibly boring. Roaming scare actors have been apart of Haunt all this time and even though it might be the "free" scares in today's Haunt, I'm glad they still have them. That also provides part time jobs for folks too which is also a good thing. I will still never understand the mentality of any of this "leave me alone" stuff. Simply DON'T attend Haunt? Go to the daytime event. Or go any other day of the year prior to Haunt when the park is open and stays for night rides. It's like going to any haunted attraction and complaining about getting scared/annoyed. You know what you signed up for as every haunted attraction has information and disclaimers. In some cases, even waivers. There is always going to be room for improvement and room for growth, however, this is the first year with some big changes and things will probably be different next year depending on how things go this year. But at it's core, Haunt has remained the same and therefore successful enough to last 25 years. We never know what the future holds, but I hope for 25 more years and beyond of Haunt at KI and wish it continued success.

Interior demolition of Boo Blasters has begun, in strangely public fashion (Note these were taken in public guest view areas, if this breaks rules let me know) I know they probably wouldn’t tell us, but I’m curious if Sally Dark Rides take all the props from Boo Blasters and reuses them to create another ghost blasters attraction somewhere, considering I think they’re still making boo blasters as of like 2022 I think??

https://www.dollywood.com/themepark/rides/nightflight-expedition This looks VERY ambitious. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

https://x.com/KingsIslandPR/status/1967602933782225241 Spoilers for the new maze, but why does it actually look really good (TBH I know it'll be short, but honestly the clips look to be Knott's Scary Farm levels of setwork). Also very glad the older mazes got some TLC.

I may have already shared this, but the fact that merch pricing has increased a ton over the past season and a half is insane to me. A hoodie at KI that was shared with me was $77. $77!!!!!! Why?!?! It's not Under Armor, Nike, Adidas, etc. it's a generic brand. WTH? Over the past 2 seasons, my in park spending has went way down...because the pricing has went up...the merch isn't worth the cost to me. Usually every visit to any given park, I buy something. This season, 14 times so far at CP, 4 at KI. 1 at KD, 1 at SFA....I have bought 3 shirts. 2 at CP (limited edition 4th of July and a Clearance shirt) and 1 at KD. Other merch purchased = none. The pricing is out of touch IMO and I refuse to spend the extra cash on it.

I saw the new WindSeeker sign last night for the first time and it looks really cool! Although it is a bummer that they aren't running it.

Sounds like something the park should have communicated to people when they took their money, instead of expecting everyone to know about a random policy change that wasn't communicated anywhere except "unofficial" Facebook groups. Apparently, you're supposed to "refer to the instructions on the ticket" to figure out how to redeem it... which, of course, you don't have because it's "on your pass".

Glad this Coney classic still has life in it! Only ride at the park I’ve never been on. I’m not crazy on spinning, but wanna take my kid on it when’s she’s tall enough. Might’ve been easier to just ditch this one given the state of the chain currently. We’re lucky. Brand new revival of a classic dark ride next year and continued dedication to keeping things running. Can’t complain when other parks are experiencing some intense merger growing pains.

Today marks the anniversary of Kings Island’s 2019 announcement that Vortex would be retired, and I’ve published a piece on TPBD reflecting on the ride’s legacy. https://themeparksbydon.com/remember-the-grip-Vortex-kings-island/

Here's a midway point check in on my Medieval Faire redesign of Action Zone! I'll go through my changes below in case anything isn't clear. It's kind of like the Medieval Faire area at Canada's Wonderland in terms of initial vibes, but it could be a little more Ren Faire village than castle village. Chicken Shack gets renamed to Court of Crowns; keeps a similar menu with a new presentation style. The seating areas are enclosed like at KD. Drop Tower is renamed to Giant Drop. A new RMC hybrid coaster called Demon Slayer is built to span I wanted to incorporate an element that would resemble a 40 degree loop (I can't remember the name, but its like halfway between a vertical loop and a helix), but couldn't figure out where to put it. It has a lift hill structure like Iron Gwazi, some nice inversions, and a Son of Beast station pass-through similar to the Yeti scare on Expedition Everest. The track would be black and could have one section with red, orange, and yellow track to call back to the Screamin' Demon. Three new flat rides are added, including an S&S Scream n' Swing that goes over the lake left over from Congo Falls. Knights of Fire (a callback to the nighttime show at some Cedar Fair parks) and Wild Dragons aren't specified because I can't figure out what they could be. Delirium is "moved" to be a part of Oktoberfest and renamed. A small part of Timberwolf is retained and turned into a permanent stunt show amphitheater. Banshee's lockers are integrated into the line under the station. The ride photo booth is put in a new building near the exit (like Orion has). A new building containing a ride photo booth and a new store, Merlin's Lair, is constructed and includes a covered pass-through. A new restaurant (this iteration is based off of Coney Bar-B-Que) is built near Chimera and Wild Dragons. I'd like to also see The Bat's entrance moved in this iteration to go between Demon Slayer's entrance and the new amphitheater entrance. I tried to lay out the pathways a little differently than they currently are. Personally, I'd be fine with losing the center path and turning it into a ring path. The trees would also get saved as much as possible. Take the names and exact locations with a grain of salt. I hope you enjoy!

There's an hourly show with probably the most pyrotechnics I've ever seen in a theme park. Lots of fire, cool music and lights. Would highly recommend anyone at Haunt to try and be on I-Street at the top of the hour. Strange the park has said anything and you can't find anything about it on the app.

Dollywood isn’t decorated RELIGIOUSLY, just with care and attention to detail.

That's how we become DOLLYwood LOL

I think I’m speaking for 99% of guests when I say we’d rather have a Vekoma tilt coaster over a B&M dive. Vekoma tilt coasters are more intimidating in my opinion. They’re also smoother and more comfortable. I still think a Vekoma tilt would be perfect for KI even after Siren’s Curse at Cedar Point.

It was probably a last-minute decision. It's not the first time something like this has happened.

When @teenageninja and I worked at the park, we did a study which found that roaming scareactors had an overall positive economic impact on both the park and the region.

The haunted houses and mazes don't do much for me anymore it seems. I'd rather ride than wait for them. I'm a big horror movie fan and love Halloween and scary stuff though. On a semi related note to scary stuff. When I lived in Texas as a kid, my dad and I visited one of the new caves at Carlsbad Caverns at the time. It was pretty wide open till the end. We had to crawl through a pretty narrow tunnel at the end of the trail to get to a back room big enough for about 30 people called the dark room. The test was how long we could keep our flashlights off the longest back there in unreal pitch black. I am 6' 4" and crawling through that tunnel to get in and back out was one of the scariest things I have ever done. And the weight of total darkness in that back room was unreal. It feels heavy and you lose all sense of where you are. It did not take long for people to turn their flashlights back on. That's the stuff that scares me.

Went Saturday and Sunday and over all I would say this event is better than last year. Overall hard to judge how people are taking to being charged for the mazes on Saturday because from what I understand the Toyota guests got wristbands for the mazes and the park was packed all day. Got there at 6 and was told to go over by the old Timberwolf entrance (behind the smoking area). From there they had you go to whre Invertego was and had it roped off at the restroom across from Amazon Falls. It was a nice large area and having access to a restroom and water fountains while you waited I thought was very thoughtful. At about 6:15 several people were going around checking to see if anyone wanted to purchase an armband for maze access or if they already had a ticket and needed an arm band. Since the tickets were only $10 for a Saturday I went ahead and got them for myself and my grandson (14). We decided to wait on the Conjuring till another night, but did get through all the mazes. Here are my thoughts on the mazes on Friday: At 7 we went directly to Order of the Dragon which had a very small line. I think because it was new and not many people knew about it. The pathway to the maze and the props outside are a nice touch to set up the atmosphere and the outside entrance is amazing. As others have stated I think it may be best to wait until it gets dark outside to give your eyes time to adjust because it was pretty dark. If the lighting was 10% brighter I think the scares still would have worked and you could see and appreciate the work and detail of this maze. I definitely would love to have a lights on walk thorugh of this. The faux cave walls and other details were fantastic. Lots of neat stuff to see and very much worth while. Next we went to Alien Abyss. Very short line (10 min). Pretty much the same without the spinning tunnel. The dark part of the maze is still the worst part and continues to log jam the walk through. In my opinion, this one needs to be the one replaced next year if they replace one. It's old and tired. After that we went to Kill Mart. Short line again (15 min) and over all a little upgrade from last year with 2 (I think) new animatrionics. I always enjoy this one as it has a simple premise that's easy for the scareactors to play off of. Next was Hotel St. MicHELLe. LONG line about an hour. Not sure why but the line looked as long as it did for a normal busy haunt night. Didn't notice anything new, still a nice haunt although I do miss the bed bugs lighting effect from a few years ago. Went to Cornered and it had a decent (30 minute) line. I do like the way it is set up this year with starting at the invertego side and ending at Drop Zone. Seems cleaner and uses the amazon falls queue better. Seemed a better experience than last year. Finally went to Slaughterhouse which was a walk on around 10:15. Great as always and again seemed to be a better experience than last year. For the most part I feel the major "improvements" seemd to be mostly things haning down from the ceiling to bump into and go around. Almost like that was the way they were trying to "enchance" a maze on the cheap. Seemed a bit overdone. A new thing I also noticed was they seemed to be moving away from the bright light in your eyes to help mask a scareactor. Moving instead to using darkness to mask them. Finally rode The Beast at 11 and amazing the difference it make to ride it on a (nearly) new moon in a crisp fall evening. Just absolute bliss and why I continue to love The Beast. Entering the helix tunnel the second time still has about 3 jack hammers, not sure why but hope they address it in the off season. They don't ruin the ride but with as smooth as it is it just seems more noticable. Saturday we went with my granddaughter (10). Didn't do the mazes since she doesn't want to do them yet but the lines for the mazes were considerably shorter than on Saturday. That being said a thunderstorm passed just southeast of the area around 2 which closed down the coasters and seemed to have people exiting early. Rode a couple of rides and unfortunately I forgot my lantern (will try those spots out next weekend). Watched NyteWalkers and this season is the best version of the show I've ever seen in my opinion. The premise is better, the third guy doesn't dissapear, the music is better, they background video is better and at one point all 5 performers are moving on the ramps at the same time, it's simply amazing and hypnotic. The ONLY complaint I have is the same one I've always had with this show. Why on Earth do we need to see "jacked", shirtless devil and company on the screen during the curtain call. It's so distracting when the performers are taking their bows. Focus should be on them, having the wall off in my opinion would be better so people can appreciate the performers making their final bows. Overall the show is so enjoyable and worth the trip on it's own. Well done. Finally I did notice something I haven't seen mentioned. The Royal Fountain has a different song each time playing that has the water, lights, fire and pyro synchronized to the music. It is absolutely INCREDIBLE and a show upon itself. I feel this is what was intended for the royal fountain to do when they refreshed it. It is absolutely a MUST to see and simply put something that is much appreciated because it is obviously a cost they could have avoided to save money, but instead they quitely put in something that is a can't miss. Hope to stay till close next weekend to see the finale. Definitley and upgrade from last season. Over good job on improving the overall experience from last year. Nice job to all involved will certainly be making it out at least once each week this season.

Now THAT is the kind of show Im talking about... THAT is what I want to see when I sit down for a show!!

Being the first night of Haunt and just as expected, many season pass holders came out including lots of families with their large buggy wagon strollers, children under 10, and even saw several babies maybe 1 year old in their mothers arms. There did not seem to be many lines at the houses unlike other years likely because like me, refuse to pay for something that used to be free and pretty much the same every year. However, I do agree it is worth the money to do the Conjuring Beyond Fear experience and wanted to see for myself after reading about experiences at CP. Conjuring Beyond Fear was very well put together and you could tell a lot of thought went into it. I was disappointed in the scare zones as the scareactors were playing up to the little kids instead of scaring folks walking through like me. I walked behind a father of a 5 year old filming his little boy going through Hooked as the little boy chatted with each pirate instead of being scared by them (or maybe they are supposed to be very friendly pirates and in pumpkin eater, friendly pumpkin gut eaters?). Ghouls Gone Wild and Nyte Walkers seem to be more G content rated for families and pretty much the same with a few different songs (and there were lots of kids and families in the audience of both, so seems like Haunt has moved away from the adult theme for mature audiences only. I do miss Dead Awakenings and Hot Blooded for sure.) Exceptional pub burger at the Brewhouse as expected but the place wasn’t super busy. The longest food line seemed to be at Skyline but then again, that place always has a long line being so slow. Considering all the budget cuts lately, my Haunt experience was just okay, not the best and not the worst.

I had a wonderful time at Halloween Haunt at Kings Island presented by SNICKERS tonight! Most of the haunted attractions had a 3 minute (or less) wait time and there are some good improvements and some definite let downs to talk about. I'll also give some thoughts on my Haunted Attractions Pass and ticket for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear that I purchased online. A couple of things to note: tonight is the Homecoming football game for some local schools (so staffing might've taken a hit from that) and it is opening night for an event that is going through a big change (so some guests may be waiting to see if it is worth paying for). Spoilers ahead, if that wasn't obvious. I decided to be one of those people who waited for the parking lot to open and found out very quickly how nice it was when trying to park near the central berm (between the big sign and the entrance). The park opened security lines relatively quickly and seemed to be doing well at moving people through them. It looked like there are somehow still some issues with the chaperone policy though. Turnstiles opened around 5:30 or 5:45 and they let everyone onto International Street with the paths out roped off until 6:00 PM. Our good friend, The Undertaker, was back to calling himself "The Undertaker" this year — something I haven't heard in years! The new set on the International Street Bandstand looks really good; although it'd look better with a real show to go with it. At 6 they blasted the cannons and rolled up the ropes, releasing us into the rest of the park. My first ride of the night: el baño next to Diamondback. As good and clean as it's been since its renovation. Next, I went to the DB Trading Post and got my HAP wristband. It was a quick and painless experience. Next stop was an ice cold Coca-Cola from the Refresh Station. Spoilers for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear are hidden below in case anyone is trying to avoid them like I did. Throughout the night I was able to do all of the mazes and will do my best to give a rapid-fire review starting... now. SLAUGHTERHOUSE: 0 minute wait. This was my first time going through and I was pleasantly surprised. I know this is normally a good maze, and it was nice and long. Bonus points for getting to go back near the old exit for The Beast. I think I might've even seen a werewolf in there... HOTEL ST. MICHELLE: 15-ish minute wait, felt longer because we were already getting tired. A splendid haunted maze, but Kings Island really needs to do something about the queue line. They should find a way to redo that queue to be one big line with zero merge points (besides the Express lane). ORDER OF THE DRAGON: 15-ish minute wait. This is the new one and it is absolutely amazing! The actors and animatronics combine with all of the static stuff to provide one of the best mazes that I've experienced in years at a Cedar Fair park. Very happy to see vampires back at Haunt again as well. My biggest gripe with it is this: the queue line is horribly set up. They are strict about crossing through the stanchions, but they're all made up of flimsy yellow cord and posts in buckets. It's a good solution for something that is quick and cheap, but it's awful in practice. The associate did make a kid (who cut in line to be with his friends) go to the back of the line, but had to warn everyone to not go under them at least 20 times. CORNERED: 0 minute wait. Allegedly an entirely new path this year. It takes you to the right back toward Drop Tower instead of to the left toward Invertigo (go crazy with what that could mean for the inverted blue boy). Very nice sets, not as many actors as I would've liked. KILLMART: 1 minute wait. Same old KillMart. Good to walk through it again after taking a break from it in 2024. I would not be sad to see this one go, although if it does I hope they put its replacement in a different location. Not enough actors for ALIEN ABYSS: 0 minute wait. I didn't know they got rid of the spinning tunnel and was kinda sad about it. The alien design is always good and cool to see. It's VERY dark in there (no wonder they call it an "abyss" bah dum tss). Kind of anticlimactic without the mirror maze or the tunnel. Turn off any more lights and add a safety rope to get Blackout 2.0. REDEEMING AND USING YOUR HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS PASS, HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS EXPRESS PASS, AND CONJURING TICKET: FINAL THOUGHTS: Get a ticket for TC:BF. Pay that $15-$30. It is so worth it. If you'd like to see what the mazes have to offer in 2025, buy the normal pass. I hardly waited for anything tonight, which is good for me and a little concerning for the park. Hopefully once October rolls around we'll see higher wait times for the mazes. Setting up a return time system for TC:BF is a great idea. I wish I would've gotten the All-Season express pass for $59 just so I could do The Conjuring once per visit (would've paid for itself rather quickly). Good news: each Haunted Attraction ticket is more money than they directly made off all the mazes over the past 15 years combined. Bad news: if everyone stops buying Haunted Attraction tickets then this whole thing fails and we either go back to boring and free or start on a path to losing Haunt forever. I'm all for up-charging for the mazes if it means we'll see more improvements over the years and more changes from year to year. If the trend that's been happening since 2021 continues, though, I can't imagine anyone would want to keep paying for sub-par scares. I didn't have an Interactive Lantern with me tonight to try anything with it, but I tried to keep an eye out for interaction points. They are still selling the 2024 versions (spider decal) with the new 2025 versions (ghost decal). The 2025's can do a few more things than the 2024's can, including vibrating with the effects. I don't know if it is just this weekend or if it'll be like this all season but Poe's Garden is gone, the giant troll is gone, and it seems a lot of other interaction points may have been removed as well based on Facebook comments. Overall, I had a really good time because of The Conjuring: Beyond Fear and the short lines for every maze.

Which is unfortunate for Kings Island, but it's not like Six Flags really cares about winning any Golden Ticket Awards anyways

And also, Woodstock's Air Rail is labeled as simply "Woodstock's."

If I had to guess I’m 99% certain it’s for a Phantom Theater thing, since people have already posted a display being made for it. Would not be surprised if lighting was added to it or if there’s a small speaker that plays audio from the original attraction (along the lines of the lantern activation, which I’m also very curious to see if that returns this season/anything for Boo Blasters being acknowledged or put on display) Honestly, I would think it would be really fun though if they just straight up had another ride closure announcement to surprise people on the first night of Haunt. Especially something like Congo Falls or Invertigo where they closed without last rides given lol.

^^Or could that be the Phantom Theater tombstone and the lighting effect could be for the "phantoms" rising from the dead for Phantom Theater Opening Nightmare?

They are able to keep costs down because they do not order for one restaurant and do not have different suppliers for everything. They are still producing enough food to be able to have the cost of the goods be low enough. But if you are operating as smaller individual locations you are not able to get the bulk discounts since you are ordering for one location and not able to use the same type of chicken. You aren't getting the discount you get when you order a full pallet of chicken breasts as individual locations and that would cause the cost to make higher and thus less profit. Also if they franchise food locations they make less money since they are renting out the location versus running it. If the park runs the location they get all the profit and all the loss. But if they rent it out they only make money on the rent which would have to be less then how much the stands make or else it wouldn't be profitable for an outside person to come in and run it and that means the park loses the money they would get if they just ran it themselves. While it seems like a good idea on paper at the end of the day the park makes less money since they don't run the stand. The chain wants to make as much money as it possibly can so keeping food at the park level helps to bring in more revenue.

Yes, I recognize that there are benefits to what you're proposing, but that's beside the point, which is that any benefits are outweighed by the challenges. What you're suggesting for regional parks is that a local restaurateur would have to open, efficiently run, and then close a restaurant every single season that is capable of serving thousands of guests every day. That you think this is no big deal suggests an unfamiliarity with what it takes to open and run a successful restaurant. Could it be done? Sure, it's possible. Could it be done while providing equal or superior quality at a similar value proposition compared to what can be achieved currently? No, there are just too many inefficiencies trying to serve food at scale without any of the infrastructural benefits of operating at scale. One of the few things regional parks, at least KI and CP, have actually gotten better at in recent years compared to the 90's/00's is food.

So feel like it’s worth talking about in this thread. I just got out of Cedar Point’s Haunt fully prepared to talk about my experience walking onto every normal haunt maze with zero waits because no one wants to pay for the upcharge and it’s going to be a disaster for Six Flags grr!!! But then at the end of the night, after waiting 3 hours for the Conjuring where everyone apparently spent their money, assuming it’s mostly the same at Kings Island it’s by far the most immersive and best haunt attraction I’ve experienced outside of a Universal park. I’m not going to give my full reviews on it because it’s an experience best done without too many spoilers, but I can say it’s 100% worth the upcharge cost. Also other haunt info which I assume will be similar/the same for KI (feel free to ask anything else if you’d like): The whole sponsorship thing really wasn’t noticeable besides a small sign outside some of the mazes (there wasn’t huge “presented by snickers” signs infront of the maze signs). The wristband process was really smooth, no issues there. And tips for the Conjuring, don’t do it first if you’re doing the other mazes because it’s literally so good it’ll make the other mazes look cheap in comparison (I swear I’m not paid to say this by the park lol) Also because the park isn’t saying this anywhere to my knowledge, the line shut down 2 hours before park close. I know Cedar Points’ a bit more strict on closing rides before park close, but it wasn’t posted anywhere so beware incase it’s the same case at KI.

Paint each one a different color and call it m&m's brought to you by m&m's

I was just saying it as a dream scenario. Not that it would or could actually happen. Everyone takes this stuff so seriously Chill. Also Apex was running the park in 2018 and doing a horrible job at it so they definitely wouldn't have been interested in purchasing Firehawk.

Well that's quite the accomplishment considering that they got 3 out of a chain that includes over 40 parks while some individual parks like Dollywood took home three all by themselves. So great job SF, you'd think that with 40 properties you would be able to beat out Dollywood

I wouldn't expect anything new in the crypt until at least 2030 now that The Conjuring is going in there. I would think that they'd want to get at least 5 years out of Conjuring in there before they even think about doing something else there.