Leaderboard

Herschend's massive reinvestment in Louisville is continuing next year with a new indoor coaster in the former 5D Theatre building and two new themed areas. They haven't posted a ton of info about the new coaster yet but everything about this shows that Herschend is committed to making Kentucky Kingdom the family thrill destination of Louisville. https://www.kentuckykingdom.com/explore-the-park/whats-new/ New coaster - 1130-foot long indoor wooden coaster (supposedly from Gravity Group based on renderings) with "11 airtime moments" Two new themed areas - Bluegrass Downs and Happy Valley Farm with re-themed rides. In particular, Lightning Run will be re-themed to "Stampede Run" and the antique cars will be re-themed to "Country Cruisers". It's great to see someone finally taking an interest in investing in the park. Hopefully the partnership between Herschend and the fair board will continue for a long time.

Fascinating...I was correct as a novice enthusiast and The Interpreter was wrong. Lol

Unreal. To think this place was more or less written off. Can’t wait to make it back next year.

Prices went up as expected once the sale ended. That said, I haven't renewed yet. I'm still weighing my options. The 20-meal and 30-meal plans are still good value in my opinion. My holdup is whether or not I want to go with prestige and do unlimited. Being able to travel with the meal plan and also redeem 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) is enticing. However, forking over $600 to a company with a track record of switching things last minute doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence.

2026 Haunt is in the books. I always enjoy the different seasons of Kings Island, and understand it is a local amusement park trying their best with limited budgeting, and staffing. I did not try any of the extra foods, as I do not care for super spicy flavorings, but I did enjoy the mazes, and scare zones. The best maze of the year was Jason, I liked how each area was themed towards a different movie. The ending water effect showed where Jason drowned in Crystal Lake. The numerous Jason's throughout also being different to show the movies was a great details. If not for Jason Order of the Dragon would be the top, the attention to detail on the dead people around the table is awesome, each murdered in a different way. The hanging vampires towards the end is always interesting as well. I don't quite understand the connection of dracula and the dragon, but still love it. Alien Abyss is my third favorite due to the darkness, I wish more were like this. Metal Massacre has potential needs more scare actors, but a good idea. KillMart and Slaughterhouse may have ran their course. I still like Slaughterhouse for all the blood, but Killmart is boring anymore. I did the Conjouring not knowing anything about the movies. I did it three times, and the first time it was just my daughter and myself. It was fantastic. I did not know a Six Flags amusement park could pull something like that off, the young lady who led us through was fantastic. The scare zones are interesting, I think Hooked needs to be its own maze a lot of potential. Pumpkin Eaters with all the pumpkins and village setting is great, Needs to be in a more condensed area to maximize the scare actors. Abandoned is a lot of fun, I see the most people running there due to the chainsaws. It too could be its own maze. With a few tweaks, Haunt can be even better. Less is more, and focusing on making the experience better will make Haunt something everyone can enjoy for years to come.

This has been talked to death on this forum. We understand families spend more per capita. However, what few here ever seem to realize is that the families and the gold pass thrill seekers are the same people! If the park plays its cards right, today's kids enjoying Camp Snoopy are the future thrill seekers who spend less. Later on, they become the parents of their own kids and hopefully bring their own families to the park and spend the big bucks. You cannot exist in the business and only cater to families unless you're on the level of Disney. What also seems to be missed here is that the "family window" is a pretty short span of time. That's going to be parents with kids aged 3 – 12 or so. After that, the older kids will ride what they are tall enough for including The Beast and Diamondback. After this age the kids also tend to want to go to the park without their parents starting around 14 or so [insert chaperone disclaimer]. Regional amusement parks are low margin and must cater to both thrillseekers and non-thrillseekers just to get by. Ultimately thrills are what separates Kings Island from the zoos and museums of the world and even the lower tier amusement parks.

FYI: Pink means temporary survey markings.

This closing hits close to home for me. I served as interim public relations manager at California’s Great America in 2012 and was there for the announcement of Gold Striker. It’s sad to see a park with so much history and so many memories preparing to close its gates for good.

Here's how the new lands are going to be split. (the map is a bit outdated so some rides are missing)

Within the current lineup, I'd say the parks on the chopping block are Dorney, Frontier City, Darien Lake, SFDK, SF Mexico, SFNE, and Kings Dominion. What I'd prefer, if parks are being sold? Kings Island and Kings Dominion are sold to Herschend or United.

All the positivity and love being poured into this park has been wonderful to see.

I saw this is the current service animal relive area in Rivertown. Could this be a bathroom reno in the making or just something for WinterFest?

Looking at where this is it makes me wonder if they are rerouting the queue for Queen City Stunt Coaster. The existing queue is one of the least efficient queues in the park. There was a permit back in June to modify a queue (although that was listed as being in Planet Snoopy). I know we have all seen people going in that queue the wrong way. If they get rid of the overflow portion of the queue they could use that flat concrete pad for something else as well.

Sad but inevitable. Considering the location, this is a valuable real estate. I need to get out there next year.

Maybe I'll run into ya next year! Can't wait for Cannonball!

Unless your parent company is operating your park with a "they'll come anyway" mentality lol

This is great to see. Local competition will only drive nearby parks to keep up with the investment.

If I could afford it that would be amazing. Maybe one day. In the meantime I’ll live through your Facebook adventures (and be jealous every time you get food from Buc-ees lol…)

The International Street Restaurant does get booked for private events, so maybe there isn’t a known availability yet. Or, new for 2026, the International Street Restaurant will become a mock stage for Tik-Tok and Facebook videos. 😜

With the cost of everything currently, I would expect decreases in attendance & even more decreases in guest spending across every park in 2027- especially Disney. For most families, planning & paying for a Disney vacation is at least a 6 month process. Nobody planned for everyday expenses to remain high or increase over the past 18-ish months but at that time the Disney vacation was already set & payments made. Now that the high expense reality has set in- one of the first things to go is an expensive vacation. Knowing many families tie-in a Disney vacation to holiday gifts, it would be interesting to know how many vacations/ rooms reserved there are into 2027. I expect to hear "staycations" more in 2027. The financials for SF look terrible. I would like to see less spending for a major attraction and increase in spending to "refresh" parks with: great cleaning, coats of fresh paint, focus on ride uptime etc. Get back to the basics- similar to how KI looked for the 50th- but even better.

Thought the same exact thing. I guess it’s not all doom and gloom after all. Who would’ve thought? Excited for the expanded hours this year. Going to be fun to get to do everything!!!

Go to the link in his post and scroll all the way to the bottom.

The Winterfest webpage is now up! The shows and activities seem to be mostly the same as last year except it looks like the Coca-Cola DJ and ice carvers were cut. Kings Island - WinterFestKings Islands' WinterFest is Cincinnati, Ohio's best thing to do for Christmas! Plan your visit today and enjoy all that the holiday spirit has to offer!

What new credits did you get in 2026? If this topic needs moved, understand. My new credits this year. Cedar Point Top Thrill 2 - finally got to ride it. I value my time, and refuse to wait in lines over an hour for any roller coaster, and finally went a day where I waited about 20 minutes. This ride was incredible. Went into my top 15. Siren’s Curse- Did not get to ride, but worth mentioning. Made it all the way to the loading area to have it break down on me twice, and shut down for extended periods of time. Kings Dominion Reptilian - A bobsled coaster, very unique one and done for me. Too uncomfortable. Was closed on my first visit for the Jungle Xpedition expansion a few years back. Tumbli - first time I have rode a coaster like this. Absolutely terrified me, my daughter loved it, I will only ride it ever again if she wants to. Rapterra - my favorite new ride at Kings Dominion. Nice and smooth, good speed, good inversion, good theming. Kings Island needs a ride similar to this. Dollywood Thunderhead - a lot of fun, seems to be a bigger faster version of Mystic Timbers. Top 2 favorite there. Big Bear Mountain - Great story, launches, and smooth ride. This roller coaster is what they are all about. Just a lot of fun. Mystery Mine - cool story, boring coaster, and I need to be a lot smaller human being to ride it. 6’2” 250lbs doesn’t cut it. Fire Chaser Express - I had high hopes for this one, I did not research the rides before going, major let down for me. Thought it would be a more aggressive like Maverick. Wild Eagle - beautiful views, just a nice sweeping ride over the mountain. Might be my favorite winged coaster. Tennessee Tornado - an old arrow that gives Vortex vibes, sure do miss Vortex when I come across coasters like these. Blazing Fury - Fire on the mountain fire, fire in the hole. Corny campy ride. Lots of fun. Told my kids and nephew it had a huge drop. I had no idea what it was just making stuff up to put fear in my nephew. Lightning Rod - Fun ride, love the quad down, and ejector air. Not my favorite RMC. 12 new credits to draw closer to 200. I am at 174. Hopefully next year make it Six Flags Great America, and Canada’s Wonderland. I do not ride kiddy coasters, so that hampers my numbers a bit. However a great 2026 season.

My credit count jumped from 68 to 120 this year because of the new parks I've visited. I'm not going to list them all, but here are some of the more notable ones: 70: Cornball Express - Indiana Beach 74: Pantherian - Kings Dominion 76: Twisted Timbers - Kings Dominion 79: Rapterra - Kings Dominion 85: Pantheon - Busch Gardens Williamsburg 86: Verbolten - Busch Gardens Williamsburg 89: Alpengeist - Busch Gardens Williamsburg 94: Flying Fox - Kentucky Kingdom 95: ArieForce One - Fun Spot Atlanta (being relocated to Six Flags Magic Mountain) 100: Goliath - Six Flags Over Georgia 108-120: Various coasters from Cedar Point, Dollywood, and Carowinds that I still needed the credit for I would post the chart, but there is an issue with uploading images at the moment. I already have my trips planned out for 2027 and going to try getting above 200 credits.

Sounds like you've had a summer full of fun! This year was the first time I've been to Kentucky Kingdom. So here is what I got from that trip: -Woodland Run -Windchaser -Lightning run -Kentucky Fyer -Flying Fox

Like many of you, I’ve been watching the fallout from the massive Cedar Fair and Six Flags merger with dread. We are seeing classic corporate cost-cutting play out in real-time—trimming live entertainment, letting maintenance standards slip, and chasing the quick sugar-high of short-term profits to try and cut the debt incurred to create this beast. The root problem here isn’t necessarily the people running the parks day-to-day; it’s the public company model itself. When a corporation answers to Wall Street, leadership is forced to chase infinite, quarter-over-quarter growth. In the theme park industry, that pressure almost always translates to the exact same playbook: cut expenses, hike prices, and squeeze the guest experience until the seams tear. Take a look outside our industry at Nordstrom. When they went private, they were able to step off that relentless quarterly treadmill. Reports show they are doing quite well because they don’t have to panic over every single earnings report—they can just focus on running a great business and making a healthy, honest profit. It makes you wonder: what would it actually take for a flagship park like Kings Island to go private? While a standalone park like KI isn't sold separately under the current corporate umbrella, premier regional parks with massive attendance, huge real estate footprints, and water parks easily generate immense annual revenues. Valued on an EBITDA multiple, buying a crown-jewel asset like Kings Island would likely require a half-billion-dollar-plus war chest. Sure, running a seasonal park privately comes with massive hurdles—weather dependencies, economic shifts, and heavy capital expenditure needs for multi-million-dollar coasters mean you need deeply patient private equity or a dedicated buyer group rather than a fast exit strategy. But imagine what a private owner could do if they weren't obsessed with infinite growth. What if they were simply content making a strong, sustainable yearly profit while restoring pristine landscaping, fully staffing entertainment, and ensuring rides are maintained to the gold standards we used to expect? Regional parks used to feel like local pride-and-joy crown jewels rather than faceless corporate assets. If a private ownership group ever stepped up to carve out a cluster of these parks and run them with a guest-first, long-term mindset, I think they’d find an intensely loyal fanbase ready to support them from day one. What do you guys think? Could Kings Island ever go private and regain it's reputation?

I like the design. Not crazy about the new name.

@electricsun and I are talking about a trip in 2027.

I don't see a reality where Six Flags sells off Kings Island unless they absolutely have to. And in that event, I'm not sure they would sell us off without weighing Cedar Point too--SF has a huge influence on this region with both parks which is perhaps more valuable than just the parks themselves.

I’ve been a Holiday Season Passholder the past three years and have made 30 visits over that span. As a guest, I feel valued there versus processed.

If they sell some parks that remain parks, those $600 all season dining plans may not have the value they once appeared to have for guests who travel.

I was there three weeks ago and it was still closed.

#whatsinthebuilding 🤣

I think Six Flags will fight until the bitter end. "Do not go gentle into that good night". They'll defiantly use this free over 65 campaign to inflate their attendance numbers. As such, as much as I selfishly want Kings Island to get out of this mess of a corporation, I doubt they'll sell. It'll be the smaller "non flagship" parks that get the axe. What we can look forward to in the future is probably more staffing cuts, and even less customer experiences and general park care.

I think about that mentality of those at the park level and It has seemingly rubbed off on corporate with all the layoffs and cuts made. Ironically what’s the need for full time staff if the general public “Will come anyways.”

For Holiday World, maybe. For Kings Island... well...

I’m getting the Disney Incredi-Pass so I can visit often in 2027.

^Or because of the lack of local folks, it is just a repeat of last year's website for now? Wouldn't be the first time something like that happened....

That is the real kicker. So many people have gotten burned by this. Will they actually deliver what they promised once you’ve already purchased their product?

For Valleyfair, they could use the park entrance like the classic logo did. However, I'm not sure what they would use for MA since their classic logo was basic and had an old lion mascot the park no longer uses. Maybe they could bring that mascot back and incorporate it into the logo? Minneapolis and Muskegon don't really have any notable landmarks that I could think of either.

I've been using my new Unlimited dining plan (that was a big ouchie to my bank account since it all came out at once) to the fullest extent I can since I know Six Flags' track record of changing benefits. If nothing changes then it will be really nice to have throughout next season since I'll be able to use it at the parks we plan to visit. This is definitely going to sting for the company right now, but I hope someone there has the foresight that this may end up being better overall in the long term.

Flight of Fear added to ERT

They were still closed throughout October even with the seatbelts. I honestly see all of the B&M hypers and gigas remaining closed until the investigation is complete, even after Goliath, Nitro, and Raging Bull get their seatbelts. If this investigation continues well into 2027, then there's a risk the closures could extend into next season.

Big post incoming because I have lots of thoughts. According to my Haunt wristbands I visited Kings Island's Halloween Haunt 9 times this season, with one additional visit to Cedar Point's HalloWeekends. I thoroughly enjoyed having a Haunted Attractions Express Pass, and am happy that I was able to get one this season — especially considering the fact that I might not be able to get it again next season. I saw a ton of packed maze queues and hope it continues so Kings Island can keep upgrading the event. Maze Rankings: Jason: Blood Reign Order of the Dragon Metal Massacre Slaughterhouse KillMart Alien Abyss Jason: Blood Reign is by far my favorite. The sets and scenic design alone brought it to the top, but the actors only added to it. Order of the Dragon remained high on my list in its second year, though I would've liked to see the sewer fog/laser effect working more often. Metal Massacre has so much potential. It really just needs to be packed full of scare actors for it to work better IMO. I think Slaughterhouse is a classic that can keep sticking around. There needs to be one more maze on the right side of the park that isn't The Conjuring, but I also think that TC:BF is a nice thing to have. KillMart was definitely hit or miss this season, but I will say I enjoyed it more than in previous years. Alien Abyss is my least favorite for the same reason J:BR is my #1. The sets and scenic design were good in its previous iterations, but didn't do much at all for me this year. I would like to see Alien Abyss and/or KillMart rethemed next year to original (non-IP) themes. Shoutout to Diablo: The Infernal Path at Cedar Point for being another really cool maze. I only had two complaints about it, with one being a hallway that I found repetitive and the other being something at the very end that took me out of the immersion. Some of the other mazes also had bad things. Jason's queue situation is by far the worst in my opinion. The park needs to either completely re-do the queue in front of Action Theater or just eliminate/close off one side (or shorten it and use it for Express). They used WindSeeker's queue for particularly busy nights, but there should've been a sign directing guests on where to enter. All of those A-frame signs the park uses are quite easy to change out from night to night. Order of the Dragon also had a flexible queue entrance, but it was for Express instead of being for Standby. That one really needed a sign because you had to walk all the way around toward The Bat's entrance depending on the night. Any of the mazes with the yellow rope queue also need either more yellow rope or some kind of barrier to prevent guests from ducking under to get further in the queue. The various Interactive Lantern points continued to be good. I wish they would bring back the Poe's Garden experience in Tower Gardens. Our friend in the electric chair could use some more touching up before next season, but he's always one of my favorites. The troll (Everest the Elf) has also been missed in recent years. I can understand if he broke and was too expensive at the time to repair or replace, but I'd like to see him return to KI. All of the people who get speculative over the Son of Beast tribute interaction point are always very fun to see. That area with the ride graveyard is in desperate need of fencing to keep guests out. It might make bringing the decorations in/out harder to accomplish, but it's better to keep guests out than let them where they shouldn't be. I've been going back and forth on the lack of a bag policy this season. On one hand it makes security move faster, yet on the other hand it was a good way to keep people from bringing various items into the park. If there was a way to both not have a bag policy while also ensuring the park isn't stroller/wagon central during Haunt then I'd be okay with its absence. The area in which KI's Halloween Haunt is lacking the most is its entertainment. The park only had two regular shows, a set of fountain shows (always welcome), an opening ceremony, and a trivia game. I enjoyed Ghouls Gone Wild a lot more this year than in previous years. It does a nice job at bridging the gap between daytime/nighttime entertainment, though it suffers from the same ailments every show in the Festhaus has to contend with. Nytewalkers has gotten stale — even with the songs being changed from year to year. This is not a dig at the AllWheelSports folks (y'all do a great job), I just wish there was a newer, better show in the International Showplace. It doesn't have to be all blood, sex, and rock n' roll (I miss you Hot Blooded), but the event is in desperate need of a show that's a mix between Hot Blooded and Fangs After Dusk. It will probably return next year as part of the standard 2-year entertainment contracts, but I'd prefer to see it relocated within the park. You all probably know my thoughts on the trivia show if you've read my other posts that included the matter. The fountain shows remained a wonderful addition to the event even with the Royal Fountain's issues this Fall season. Lastly, the fact that the Kings Island Theater is still remaining empty during the Fall is a travesty. The park's premiere entertainment venue has nothing in it for half of the operating calendar? That's probably one of my biggest gripes about Haunt. Despite all of the complaining I've done in the above paragraphs, I really did enjoy this year's Halloween Haunt. While it generally needs more elements to change I understand that this has to be an incremental process. Not every park can be HHN and put on a totally new event every year. I didn't hate the removal of the International Street Fear scare zone this year since I was tired of people asking how to get through the park without going past scare actors. That said, I don't think it would be a good idea to remove the scare zones entirely and put those actors in the mazes. If the company is going to charge for maze access then there need to be good scares that are included with the price of a guest ticket/season pass/membership. $15-$25 isn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but when people are already complaining about being priced out then it becomes a big deal.

It's nice to see the major seasonal events like Barrels & Bites and Boardwalk Nights listed with dates already.

Its not the initial cost to get in the game and play, its the cost of keeping the machine (park) operating every day, year over year, regardless of how many dollars come in. Would I Love to see someone be able to come in to KI for you-all's sake and pull a Nordstrom? Absolutely, but I dont think there is anyone in the country with both the money and the interest to buy and operate KI for more than a year or two privately.

After a while this sounds like a talking point. When they spend money they are "a home of world class thrills," when they invest small they are "catering to families." When they invest nothing it's we just had "[name investment] ____ years ago." The fact of the matter is that Kings Island used to invest in both families and thrills and they used to invest a lot more than they do now. The "off years" used to be the waterpark or a kids' area revamp. Now the off years are nothing. Non-ethusiasts realize this too. People realize when the park acts like a politician, marketing itself in whatever way is convenient at the moment. Also, the 6.9% attendance decrease for Kings Island from 2024 to 2025 is more relevant than where it is ranks in the chain attendance-wise.

I hope they rebuild it in the parking lot. For old times sake.

Kings Island should check into tapping into the retirement community. If it works for Dollywood to have a 70 year old lady on Thunderhead ops booth, it would work for Kings Island. No, retired folks can't do a lot of restraint checks on the Woodies, and long hours in the food places, but I seem to remember lots of them in 2021 being litter gitters and loving it. Could free up those positions to have others in various roles. Maybe having them as Cedar Fair SUPERVISORs would bring a level of maturity to supervisor role.