Rivertown Rider

I wonder if it would make sense for the smokehouse rumored to be coming to Coney Mall to be like a version of Harmony Hall at Carowinds. This would serve several purposes: you could have several different food areas (like a BBQ section, an Italian section, a fresh grill, maybe you could even move Skyline in there as well); it would also give you additional indoor entertainment space; and it would give more indoor seating. Festhaus is typically busy and it would make sense to build another indoor space for the reasons stated above. If they also put a space in there for Skyline it would allow them to gut the current Skyline building and patio area and use those areas for expansion as well as being able to have a more efficient Skyline space. If they take the Attitudes building and the Potato Works building that gives quite a bit of space plus they could also use part of the Gardens area to build a Harmony Hall like building.

I think should tear down the arcade building that is now used for KillMart. Between that space, the old Flight Commander pad, and the Dino's store you could put several flats in there.

I hope they keep the Coney Mall name as well as it is an important part of the park's history. It will be interesting to see what we get next year and where in Coney Mall it will go.

I enjoyed the instrumental music being brought back this year and hope it returns. It brought back the majestic and escapist feel that the parks has been lacking for several years. If I want to hear pop music I can hang a left and walk towards Action Zone. If you really watch the people sitting around the fountains and the tower for long periods of time it is not generally teens and college kids, it is their parents and grandparents. Music is not going to make anyone come to the park but it can really set the mood. If I had control over what music was played IS would have instrumental, Rivertown would have a Country Western vibe, Coney would be 70-90s, X-base would be alternative, Oktoberfest would be German, and Action Zone would be current pop.

I stumbled upon this Eiffel Tower video from 1980. It has a lot of great views from around the park as well. It is crazy how different some areas of the park look now.

The park has been a little snake-bit with some of their additions over the past 15 years or so. Timber Tower suffered problems and downtime and Adventure Mountain was also there a very short time. That is not to say anything about the constant up-and-down problems with Lightning Rod. Hopefully whatever they add has very minimal downtime.

I could see Wild Beast at Canada's Wonderland eventually getting the RMC treatment.

Attitudes was open last night with some additional merchandise that they probably cleaned out of the warehouse. I also saw the VP of Food and Beverage along with another person who was holding a notepad in front of the Attitudes building. I didn't get close enough to overhear what they were talking about although I did think about going up and asking them where the Antiques were going to be next year. Another thought came to mind today when looking at the KI Instagram and seeing them talk about the old Skyride. Cedar Point's Skyride adds a lot to that area of the park and I feel like a similar length Skyride would add a lot to the Coney Mall area as well as providing great views of the park. If they put something in like the Skyride and brought back the Antiques somewhere along with another smaller flat (maybe something like the Winnie Witch Cauldrons) and maybe something like CW's Shockwave it would really improve the overall feel of Coney.

Dollywood has announced they are closing River Battle on September 4. While I enjoyed the attraction and hope it get relocated somewhere else as opposed to demolished the ride never seemed to be super popular. The other three water rides in the park always have enjoyed longer lines that River Battle even though River Battle was the youngest of them all. It will be interesting to see what the park does as there are rumors that this will start the long rumored expansion from the River Battle area up to the train loop which will really open land up for future expansion.

I would love to have our Eagles back. I agree with Shaggy that they are historical to KI and would be a welcome addition back to the park.

For me I'm more excited for Winterfest. I haven't been since the late '80s Winterfests so I am looking forward to it.

With these announcements, Canada's Wonderland further cements itself as the flat ride capital of the chain (and maybe the world). Carowinds additions look very nice and would love to see us eventually get a teacups ride again. The coaster additions all look very nice, I think the CGA coaster will have capacity issues but the other two RMCs look very good. Hangtime looks very fun as well. It will be interesting to see what we get.

With Don doing the Instagram live video from Dinosaurs Alive today, Dinos not being listed as a perk on the Season Pass perks, and the store having BOGO sales, I am convinced that Dinos is going away after this year. I would expect them to announce in the next couple weeks that the Dinos are going extinct and to see them before they are gone. I think you might see a big Coney Mall expansion go back in the Dinos Alive area with Antiques, an Electro Spin, and then a couple smaller flats like a Music Express, and then a family ride like what Canada's Wonderland is getting with Flying Canoes or Tea Cups. To cap it off I think they should try to find a way to connect that area with X-Base. I would tend to put the more extreme rides like the Electro Spin on the side closer to X-Base. If they put a ramped bridge connecting the area similar to the bridge that goes over the tunnels leading to The Bat, then maintenance could still easily to access the maintenance buildings. They could also put bathrooms in the area for X-Base and the Coney expansion and maybe even a quick service restaurant. While part of the area is rather hilly towards the back part of the park, the area toward X-Base where the T-Rex and Triceratops are more level which would be a good place to put the Antiques.

I find it curious that the park hasn't teased anything at all. Here's hoping for the Antiques, a Top Scan, and a Music Express or Tilt a Whirl or the Barrels (or all of them ). I figure we will have a better idea tomorrow sometime on if there will be an announcement on Wednesday or not.

Or take a long walk back to the rest of the park.

I went to the park yesterday and visited Attitudes which is looking pretty bare. My wife asked the worker and the worker said that they are tearing down the Attitudes building and Coney Potato Works for the Smokehouse. She did not say anything about them tearing down Coney Confections but I could see all of their merchandise at Confections being easily relocated throughout the park's other stores. After walking around Tower Gardens I don't think that area is going to be used for the antiques unless it is just the back part closest to the attitudes building, especially since they have already started putting up candy canes. I think they could increase the seating with the Smokehouse compared to what it in Soak City and tear down the current Skyline Patio and using several of those areas with bridges to build the Antique ride. (The more bare Attitudes) (Pic taken from the tower. This area could look a lot different soon.)

That post was great. As I don't ever really remember the monorail or animals at the park since I was young, the article was very informative.

Looking at the approximate size of the building of the Smokehouse I don't think it would take up all three buildings worth. I think they could easily use the back part of where the Attitudes building for the Antiques and possibly put a small flat like a Tilt a Whirl or Music Express on the midway side right beside of Scrambler.

On the Cedar Fair conference call they mentioned that all parks would be making next year's announcements on the 16th. We only have one more week until we find out. I could see see them using the Confections and Potato Works area for another smoke house and the Attitudes building area plus Tower Gardens for the Antiques.

I think the big thing in B&M's favor is the reliability. I don't want KI to build a giga that has constant downtime and I think that is why they would probably go the B&M route.

I thought they removed it when they put up the Coke Freestyle location and then never put it back up. It is one of the those simple things that adds a lot to an area and I hope they put it back up.

I always thought of the Coney Confections building as more of the entrance to Coney Mall rather than the Attitudes building. I would love to see the Coney Mall sign come back where it used be though.

Thanks Liz. Yes I just found some old Haunt maps online and that is correct. Do we think it is possible if Sorority House is going away as mentioned in another thread that they could just demolish that whole building and use that area plus the Tower Gardens area for the all-new Les Taxis. That would also allow them to keep the Skyline Patio area as it is. They could always relocate the arcade game and put the Attitudes store somewhere else (maybe combining it with the Coaster Connection store in Action Zone).

While looking up the satellite images of the park online, I noticed that the building that Attitudes is in is massive. I know that part of the building is arcade, part is the old lazer maze, and then the other part is Attitudes. Is that back part just used for storage or did it formerly have some other purpose other than the lazer maze? When you look at the overall building it looks to be three-to-four times the size of the Coney Confections building.

It is great to hear that Kings Island is on track for a record year of attendance. I think focusing on the families is smart as not everyone is going to ride Banshee or Diamondback. I have seen several older people in line for Mystic Timbers this year that probably aren't frequent riders of the more extreme coasters. Hopefully whatever additions we get next year takes this into account and we get some family attractions along with thrills attractions as well.