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So, I do know John—I worked with him at SEA both when he was COO under Joel Manby and as acting CEO after Manby was forced out. He was not CEO when Blackfish came out (I believe he was still park president at San Diego when that occurred)—Jim Atchison & the remaining old guard at BEC were still in place when Blackfish dropped. Joel was brought in as CEO (from Herschend) to try to reverse the mistakes that had been made after Blackfish—if I recall correctly, he then promoted John to COO from the San Diego park. Personally, I like John—I thought he should have been named CEO after Joel and before they hired Gus from Carnival (who I was not a fan of). John started his career as a popcorn seller in college at BGW (he enjoyed telling that story ) so he grew up in park operations when SeaWorld/Busch were at their best. I’m a little biased probably, but I think this is a good choice.

Don, I have a ton of respect for you and generally agree with your statements. That being said, why is it bad to get enthusiasts talking about an overall positive purchase? Didn’t you know “what was in the shed” for a year and had park fans talk about it? What is the difference here? It’s fair to be harsh on SF when it is warranted but this does not seem like one of those situations. Would you rather these forums just be silent? Isn’t that the whole point of this website? When people are unjustly harsh it makes statements that are warranted hold less weight.

I felt a great disturbance in the Son of Beast revival fanboy movement, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

Mr. Six is that you?

Humor me as I trip down memory lane for a bit... Most know that the park gave behind the scenes tour to Acer's and members of Dafe when they were loading out PT late in the season after its closure... But in addition, I was fortunate enough to "play" (park personnel supervised - of course) throughout the building during conversion of PT to Scooby. Although it broke my heart to see things in shambles, junk piles, tossed into garbage cans etc (aside from the animatronics - which were all gathered into the maintenance bay in one big bunch.) it was pretty cool to actually handle the props & figures. When they cleared out PT - it was done in stages. They first removed all the figures. then removed all major props (like the cannon, gargoyle, furnace etc) Most of what remained were the wall props, signage, antiques, small chandeliers etc. Those all were literally thrown into garbage cans & dumpsters. I've got a slew of pics somewhere - but here's a handful I found on an old thumb drive. Bear in mind these were taken on a really bad digital camera - in very, very dim light. Not sure these add much to the topic - but figured some might enjoy. I think I shared some of these pics in the past - can't recall for certain. Some notes: The prop room "sword" I'm holding was very light-weight... like a blow-molded plastic or lightweight plywood. It was in a trash can and I pulled it out to fake a "chop" at a friend (whom I edited from the picture for privacy...) The other was still on the wall. If you look, you can see where the loose one had previously been bolted to the mechanical rod on the wall. The washers on the back of the handle were there to help counterweight the length of the sword as it rocked up and down. If you look closely, one of the handle "scrolls" was broken off - a testament as to how they just tossed it in the garbage during removal. As for the "electrical panel" it was all simple plywood panels with aluminum handles hinged and what equivalated to Christmas lights fed through the various holes. You could access the scene other side of it via a hidden passage... it basically masked the back of the figures in the dressing room doors on the other side of the wall. Of all the things in there - I wanted to take the "Schedule" sign home with me... Oh, I begged to no avail. I wonder if it somehow survived. But I doubt it, since most of the non-animatronic props & signage was being thrown away. Everything was filthy. Dust covered, spit on everything, gum blobs everywhere - and lots of real spiderwebs. There were hydraulic fluid stains and grease where the figures were located. So much so, I felt like I needed to shower when I came out after crawling around in there... You could tell precisely where every prop and figure had been - because when they first installed them they used black spray paint to "age" everything - they lightly sprayed all around every item to make it seem like it had been there for decades. By January, the full Scooby install was underway - and PT was a memory by then. The most shocking thing was how they just built a plywood platform over the big pit that housed the Peppers Ghost scene. Every single time I rode SDATHC as well as Boo Blasters, as I passed the fireplace scene I thought "The stage is still under here." When I first saw them building the platforms over the old stage I thought to myself "At least it makes it easy to convert back if they ever wanted to." I wonder if they will..... Most of the scenes were on platforms that were about a foot or so off the actual building floor and matched the level of the omnimover track. The height of the platforms increased as the scenes progressed in order to achieve the height needed for the Pepper's Ghost "performance" scene. There were trap doors in most where maintenance could crawl under to inspect/fix wires and electrical components that powered the figures. The figures were all on independent stands that bolted to the floor or scenic element. Their power cords then ran through holes in the floor to a cable system that ran from scene to scene. I suspect that, with today's technology and the "ghost light" added effect - they will avoid any authentic Peppers Ghost effect. More than likely they'll use large digital screens for those effects. The original was achieved (of course) by giant floor-to-ceiling panels of glass which were (from what I was told) lowered in through the roof for PT. Those large panes were used for the projection/mirror effects but there were separate windows between the guest vehicles and the reflection panels. (I was also told this was done to avoid what happened at Disneyland - where a guest shot a bb gun at the large glass panels in the Haunted Mansion and cracked one. DL later installed a second set of smaller glass panels between the vehicles and the large Pepper's Ghost ballroom panes.) When PT was removed - the large panels were literally shattered and removed. I cannot imagine they'd spare that expense, or go to the lengths required, to re-install them.

If we can't get an RMC any other way, then I want it for KI. Maybe that's me being selfish for our park.

When you go to watch BeachBlast X-Treme! and you see the last Vice President and General Manager of Kings Island, Mike Koontz, in the audience with you. Mike says he is enjoying retirement and doing well!

Wow, I can't believe Six Flags got the city of Mason to condemn the Son of Beast station as part of the elaborate teaser campaign for an RMC! They've outdone themselves! My hopes are UP, baby!

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.

Another "wish" I have which won't happen this season and likely won't happen in the future as the ROI likely isn't worth it to those in charge is to see popular rides with very little shade get a shaded structure. I mocked up some "queue house" ideas for Diamondback and Flight of Fear (the old Firehawk queue which is used more than the current indoor queue). Diamondback's is based on the old Rivertown Mining Company building that used to be there and FOF's is based on the theme of Area 72

Some things I expect to see happen with John Reilly as CEO are ticket and season pass prices being raised, a stronger focus on customer service, and less regionalization with departments. It will eventually get back to the way it was and should be with more boots on the ground at the park level.

I regularly check the permit reports for Mason and I’m skipping past the 600,000 dollar haunted house investment, but I had to post about the Son of Beast station being condemned. Happy reading! LINK: https://www.imaginemason.org/download/PDFs/monthly_permit_reports/2026/MONTHLY-ISSUED-PERMIT-REPORT-JUNE-2026.pdf

William C. Price, Kings Island's third general manager, passed away recently at the age of 89. He was originally hired by Taft Broadcasting in 1974 to be the marketing director for Kings World, their planned park in Chicago. When plans for that park fell through, Taft moved him to Kings Island as the park's director of corporate sales. In 1975, he was promoted to the marketing director position. He was Kings Island's vice president and general manager from September 1976 to October 1980, when he was promoted to a position in the Taft corporate office. On a personal level, he was the second person that I ever interviewed for my book. He was so supportive of the book project throughout my entire writing and publication process, which meant a lot to me. He had been hosted at the park a few times in recent years, including for the park's 50th birthday on April 29, 2022. His legacy includes bringing Evel Knievel to the park for his record-breaking jump, and spearheading the projects to bring The Beast and the original Bat to life. His tenure helped put Kings Island on the map, and established Kings Island's position as one of the world's most prominent amusement parks.

From Amusement Today: Kings Island’s Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare scored with fans and snagged the prize for the first time in the category of BEST NEW FAMILY ATTRACTION. Kings Island Central wants to congratulate Kings Island on its well-deserved latest Golden Ticket Award. Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare has revived a beloved dark ride, which includes new technology and a storyline that features a fresh way to interact with the characters The original Phantom Theater opened in April 1992 as the third incarnation of Kings Island's dark ride in that building, which included Enchanted Voyage and Smurf’s Enchanted Voyage. Learn more about the original Phantom Theater on our past attractions page here: https://kicentral.com/parkhistory/past-attractions/phantom-theater/

Thanks beastfan. It's been a rough two years. I lost my dad a year and a half ago to liver cirrhosis... It was a very long and painful process, and I think I'm still dealing with the grief and coming to terms. He was the one who got me into my love for amusement parks and roller coasters. Been dealing with a lot of financial trouble too lately. Things just keep snowballing, but I'm trying to be strong for my family. This website helps me from completely losing it.

I just got off a little bit ago and I must say the attention to detail was a very good . The interactive flashlights (which I was unsure how that would work) turned out very fun and kids are going to absolutely love it. All in all, I think they now have a new hit at Kings Island that will create family memories for generations to come.

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

Love the new precedent of announcing Curtain Call episodes in advance so I don’t have to stress about a random drop on Thursdays. Starting the new year off right.

Calling out to all of the Monster lovers... WE HAVE PROGRESS!!! I spotted a notable change behind the fence this evening: the rotor (spinny middle thingy whatchamacallit) has been reinstalled in some manner! We didn't get to go over that way to peer over the fence, but this is an amazing change after nearly 8 months of nothing except a new fence and paint on the ride pad. I'd love to see it in the daylight if anyone can get a good photo in the park (without breaking rules or trespassing) or even on the webcam! I'm so excited to see this small bit of progress <3

I'm a couple days behind on posting this, but for anyone curious, here is the video that they were playing on the side panels. And the posters that were displayed on the monitor as well. There was more concept art displayed on the monitor during the press announcement, but I wasn't able to get good pictures of it from where I was standing. Sorry! IMG_6602.mov

They’re perfect. The music. The voices. The posters. The dialog. Thank you Kings Island. This is better than I expected.

A friend shared these with me. Taken near a work area with the door wide open that employees could see. If not allowed, sorry, please delete. Seeing the rid system is neat, it's so much simpler than I imagined it to be.

I for one am glad they bought it. It could have just been demolished and that be that. Parks do stuff like that all the time. The fact that it has been bought and has a chance at living on somewhere else is great. While a ground up RMC has always been a dream for a lot of us, if this ends up at our park, I know I for one wouldn't be upset in the slightest. In fact, quite the opposite. I never got a chance to go down and ride AF1 and with all the hype about how great it is, having something of this caliber have the potential to take up residence at our park would be a great thing. Something that people have raved about having a second chance at life at a well traversed park wouldn't be a bad thing. It would strir up a lot of hype and give KI something that truly packs a punch and fills a void in our already great line-up. Imagine being able to ride 3 RMCs in just a few hours of each other. Steel Vengeance at CP, Wind Chaser down at KK and if AF1 ends up at KI, we'd have that as well. I see no negatives here if we get it.

I’d much rather have Kings Island build its own RMC from the ground up.

GIVE IN? In our moment of denial? I think you over estimate their chances!

The little things matter. They’re often what separate a good park from a great one. When the small details start being overlooked, people begin to wonder what else is being overlooked. The smallest details often make the biggest difference. Kings Island built its reputation on attention to detail. Over the past couple of years, attention to detail, and the standards that guests should expect from one of the industry’s premier amusement parks has not been there. There’s no excuse for lack of cleanliness around the park. It used to be a priority. Now it’s not. And it shows. I grew up with the park. I care about the park. The small details that are now being missed matter to me.

The Kings Island website has been updated with a fresh new look. It’s easier to navigate and find exactly what you’re looking for. https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland

Here just to post about my excitement!! I still struggle to grasp the idea that they brought Phantom Theater back. It is something I never thought would happen! I can't think of any theme park ride given a second life like this. I always thought it was dead and gone. I fly up there from Orlando on Friday, at the park on Saturday. Just, wow. I will be buying a lot of the merch!! My mind just wont give it a rest haha

Today (Dec. 13, 2025), entertainment icon Dick Van Dyke celebrates his 100th birthday. He’s a memorable part of Kings Island’s history. In 1977, Van Dyke became a key face of the park’s marketing, starring in TV commercials for Kings Island (and sister park Kings Dominion). That same year, he officially dedicated Kings Island’s outdoor International Showplace.

I don’t know where they get their data but mine comes from sentiment reports — the same kind of reports used by theme parks throughout the industry and decisions get made from. I’ve done several sentiment reports on Orion since it debuted in 2020. The sentiment is it’s a good ride, but not a ride that drives attendance. It hasn’t delivered the expected ROI. The Beast on the other hand continues to drive attendance going on 47 years since its 1979 debut.

Really, multiple holiday overlays could be beneficial to KI as a passholder park the same way Haunted Mansion Holiday draws big local crowds to Disneyland. Especially with the state of the chain and the canceling of seasonal events. Would be a great way to drive attendance with something “new.” Whether or not that attendance would affect revenue is another story. Would be cool to see!

Found these on Reddit thanks to /u/Mirahtrunks

Another set of interesting notes from today's video: Most of the black ceiling tiles in the queue room have been removed. The FunTV screen(s) are still up in the queue room alongside the hurricane-style lamps on the right hand balcony wall. The fake windows, queue railings, and center part of the linoleum tile floor have been removed. Some of these elements are leaned up against the front wall. The door nearest the photo room is painted white on the inside. Both the extended cover and the underside access panel for Maestro's queue room balcony have been removed. (This could be an awesome sign for what's to come!) Maestro's curved stage right after the loading station is still in place and looks like it is merely dirty and only received a little bit of paint. The door to the left of the photo room ("Not An Exit") leads to a backstage hallway that appears to either be painted to resemble a cave or to have a tarp over the wall. The wall to the left of this door is labeled as the "YARD" scene with "A-17 [up arrow]" (presumably denoting the scene and prop element that goes there. Scene #8 | Kitchen I think walls have been removed from the back of the BBoBH bedroom scene. A new pallet-looking item is leaned up against the wall where No Legs Larry once beckoned guests into the theater. The turntable and platform still exist, but there is a big cutout in the wall that leads to the former theater stage. The newer interior walls use metal framing, if anyone was curious. The only remnant of the large parlor scene appears to be the painted checkerboard floor. Everything else looks to have been replaced by new walls. Scene #13 | Pipe Organ Scene #15 | Dungeon Lab The ride operator's telephone and black curtain remain in the loading station for now. You can still see the old Phantom Theater wallpaper and paneling that has been painted over, especially now that the house lights have been turned on. The upper wallpaper will need to be replaced or removed if they hope to emulate the original station. (Which I very much hope they do!) The only look into the bust hallway shows that the floor and queue dividers have been removed. This final interior shot also shows that the wall formerly used for the camera has been replaced. Boocifer lives on in the spot where Boo Blasters defeated him, now removed from behind his stone arch. The green "grass" paint remains under his unmoving figure in another room that appears to have been given new drywall. Metal wire chasing boxes sit beside Boocifer. Some of those will presumably be used to send the scoring system data to new screens at the end of the ride, similar to the Justice League attractions at other Six Flags parks. No work has begun on the exterior facades. Even the Boo Blasters Safety Guides are still posted. Areas of the building that we didn't see include the bust hallway, the graveyard, the portrait hallway(s), the former PT electrical room, half of the now-former dungeon, both skeleton scenes, and Boocifer's last stand. Some parts of the track also look to have been pulled up, possibly to change which direction the opera boxes will face. The completion of the demolition phase and the beginning of "intricate" electrical work give some insights into the transformation process. The article (posted above) in Amusement Today states that there will be 26 interactive scenes with 1 static figure and 33 animatronics inside. The new character of Sir Pretzel joins the now-named Arpeggio (or Archie for short) and Rick the Electrician. The ride will end with "...a grand on-stage musical finale with all cast members" — I believe this might go in either the larger skeleton room or the leaderboard room. Lauren Wood Weaver, VP of marketing at SDR, also stated that the company was approached several years ago and that this project was approved in November 2024. This just goes to show how much time and planning goes into these attractions before they are even announced. Tuesday, November 18th can't seem to come soon enough! I think they might show off the first functional animatronics and maybe another little glimpse into the new attraction or two.

Now this is the type of leak I can get behind. Funny how history repeats itself

So this is my personal thoughts to start out with, I really don’t like that this got leaked. I know that the TikToker nor person who shared it on Facebook meant anything wrong by it, but personally it would’ve been cool to see these in action at IAAPA (With the stage setup I do think for sure we’ll be seeing them.) Below, even though its probably out there here’s my thoughts on these:

This is definitely feasible for KI to accept its relocation. The ending of it can be changed, much in the same manner that Wildcat's Revenge was changed. I also think it was stated that it can be altered. Now, to what extent, I'm not sure. Since it won't be installed until 2028 at the earliest, I'm not even sure where it will be re-located to. I would not mind this being moved to KI for sure. IDC if it's not a ground up RMC. It seems to be considered a great coaster widely by the public, so I'm all for it being moved to KI.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

I might be wrong but I noticed this in the ride and Isn’t that the original bust from the queue? Picture and video courtesy of melanin coaster network

Small Spoiler alert this takes a sneak peak at the look of the indoor Queue portion. I came across this posted on Facebook tonight from the flooring company working on the indoor Queue not too much revealed in the video/picture. just gives a little more excitement knowing work is going on and things are coming along!

WinterFest 2025 starts November 28th and runs through December 31st . Lets use this thread to discuss all things WinterFest 2025.

Fox 19 did a fantastic story on Gary Wachs, who was recently inducted into the IAAPA Hall of Fame. https://www.fox19.com/2025/12/03/how-kings-island-was-born-founder-receives-hall-fame-honor/

I'd have to disagree with the thought about budget appearance. Adventure Port is very well done. Camp Snoopy is well done. The new part of Soak City spruced up the area. I don't think they skimped in the appearance, the aesthetic is good. It's just that the areas they did do are small.

IAAPA's Funworld has released this video with new information from Sally Dark Rides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIPiFcuFBxs This video also has the full press conference: It was a great day. I was very moved being there for this.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/172ixz2eAY/?mibextid=wwXIfr Close up of the flashlight/blaster

BBoBH cars spotted in Lebanon, per the Season Passholders Group on Facebook.

Why would I vote for an event that no one has been to yet?

WinterFest preparations around the park:

They also stated that it will be replaced with a different show. I don't believe Winterfest is going anywhere. People spend plenty of money there. I see several boxes of cookies being carried around, plenty of people skating, buying the specialty hot chocolates and pulling out credit cards at restraunts. There seems to have been several misses this year. At the beginning of the year people were talking about cutting hours and or days and instead we got extended hours (sundays till 11 for haunt) added days (thursdays) and an additional weekend after Haunt. (strange that if you are expecting anyone to admit missing those points you'll only hear crickets...) We are fortunate enough to have enough of a population around the park to keep it going with little to no competition. Kings Dominion competes Bush Garden Williamsburg an hour away. We have no major park that close to us. We compete against animals inside their shelters in a zoo and drive-through attractions. People during the winter tend not to drive too far away from home. If you want a sign of Winterfest going away I believe the first sign will be when Ice Skating is not offered one year. It takes ALOT of money to do that and since they have already seemed to drain the fountain in preparation for Winterfest, I think it's safe to say Winterfest is safe for the foreseeable future.

Hot take (and I’m sure there’s a better thread to post this on I apologize): I really don’t like the fear-mongering some people do of Winterfest being cancelled every year. I’m sure on one hand it could be scaled back a bit (I can see that slide thing not being brought up this year) but also I think Kings Island is a park Six Flags sees as valuable and I think it’s still favorable to have the park open for a winter event.