Hawaiian Coasters 325

I came up with a mausoleum concept for Banshee's queue. It goes over the main part of the queue that is usually first to open up when the line gets longer

I mean KD invited Clint Novak as well as Brian Sterowski who are both highly regarded KD influencers and aren't hesitant to criticize the park when things aren't great.

Apparently a meeting took place at Kings Dominion with the new CEO John Reilly with multiple KD media influencers where the discussion was about the future of the park. I really hope we see one of these at Kings Island as its no secret that the relationship between the park and some of the bigger media influencers haven't been the best lately.

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

Are we going to be able to time travel back 20 years with that lol

I think they should at least set up a temporary overflow queue in the peanuts showplace just in case for opening weekend crowds.

Webcams are down lol EDIT: Not anymore

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

I actually had this same sort of thought. Imagine if the Indy 500 could build their own version of COTALand at the Indy Motor Speedway. I don't know if they have space for it though.

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

I mean we've had people on here go down there and get permits/plans before...COUGH COUGH Orion lol.

Banshee they really knocked it out of the park with! Especially the announcement video! Mystic Timbers I thought was well done too! Orion was good, but there were some missed opportunities with the teaser campaign. I liked how Banshee and Mystic Timbers had teasers on the fence on opening day while Orion didn't. Especially with the buzz surrounding Firehawk's demise and the future Im shocked they didn't at least do some sort of teaser on the fence opening weekend. I remember the forum here buzzing the days leading up to pass preview 2019 hoping for teasers yet were disappointed when there wasn't any teasers on the fence.

I heard a rumor that the park turned it down bc they would've had to cut trees too close to The Beast (assuming it was going to go in The Vortex site). I don't remember where I heard it though. Not to mention The Vortex site is not flat so they would've had to do some major work to be able to put it there. I also doubt Mr. Koontz wanted to remove any more major rides for it (which is why it didn't go in the Invertigo/Congo/TW area which it actually would've fit well there). Also the park was already lined up for a waterpark expansion in 2025 which was more overdue than a major coaster. Siren's Curse likely wasn't decided on for CP until like mid summer after Mexico couldn't get it built.

Oh no not this again lol. I thought this horse has already been beaten dead a million times lol. I respect your opinion, but I can't see how people couldn't be excited about a 300 foot coaster lol. Look I know it wasn't Fury or Millennium but it was the biggest investment in park history. Im going to end this talk right here as there's already a million other threads on this subject. Back on topic. I'm very excited about this mainly bc I never got to ride the original Phantom Theater. I was born like a month before it closed. I haven't been this excited about a Kings Island new ride since Orion. I'm also really liking the direction the park is going with updates. It's a much bigger improvement over the very few updates we got for RiverRacers.

That's honestly a very bold thing to say considering we got a giga coaster in that timeframe.

Now what I wish they would do is expand the men's restroom up there so its not just one stall anymore.

I agree with that and I think another place would be in Planet Snoopy. I had a concept years back that involved demolishing the Planet Snoopy blue ice cream stand as well as the Snoopy grill there, Tom&Chee, and Cornerstone (the associate cafe) and build something like Harmony Hall or LazyBear Lodge at CW there. Make it 2 levels with a basement and have the basement be the new Cornerstone for employees.

I don't want anything with the letters B&M associated with The Vortex plot. Give me a Vekoma, Mack, Intamin, or HECK give Zamperla a shot but please no B&M!

^^Not that many people believed Orion would be another Fury 325 when it was announced. Even when the layout got leaked and people with engineering minds and Nolimits2 accounts mocked up the layout most people knew it was going to be more like Leviathan than Fury. Most people thought it would be another Fury back when the KI giga was just fanboy talk on forums and subreddits mainly bc CF historically outside of I-305 made their next giga taller than the previous one and loved to shoot for records. So that's kinda why it caught many people off guard when they decided to go giga at KI, but chose not to go bigger than the previous ones.

I don't see why not. KI and CP used to host grad nites I believe CP hosted one up until like 2017 or 2018 (correct me if I'm wrong). I don't remember the last time KI did. I think KI should host one. It would be a great opportunity for local schools around here. I'm just wondering if the park is scared to host it bc of past "incidents" involving school age kids making front page news at the park and they don't want that to potentially happen and ruin grad nite.

I believe it was a mix of both. Yes there was a pandemic and a heavily restricted season Orion's inaugural year. At the same time when people did in fact get the chance to ride it outside of like the first weekend, the reviews that came in on social media were mixed. A lot of people (including me) praised the ride while a large number of people (including the general public not just coaster enthusiasts) were underwhelmed and prefered Diamondback. If the reviews were on the level of lets say Fury 325 or Steel Vengeance we probably would've seen a huge bounceback in people flooding to the park to experience Orion in like 2021-2022 post restrictions but we did not see that and I think a lot of that has to do with the mixed sentiment about the ride which didn't really draw people from far outside of the general market to experience it. I think in Mr. Koontz and the big wigs in Sandusky/Charlotte's mind when planning this ride was "We could get the same ROI on a 300 foot coaster that appeals to a broader audience as we would a Fury 325 style ride that breaks records while only spending 30 million instead of 35-40 million." And I think they found out that it doesn't quite work that way. Im not saying Mr Koontz and them regret building Orion, but I definitely believe the whole "family giga" idea came back to bite them a bit. Im honestly wondering if there was any pushback from those within the park/corporate in the planning meetings on the whole "family giga" idea or if everyone was fully on board. Personally if I was in those meetings I definitely would've fought back against the family giga thing and pushed for something more thrilling or even record breaking.

The more I think about it, I think a ride like Big Bear Mountain named Shooting Star themed around the drive in display at Winterfest would fit very well in that area of Coney Mall. Imagine the theming opportunities they could have. I would honestly love a 50s themed coaster to go along with Jukebox Diner.

Also the fact 2027 is the 55th anniversary of KI and Over TX is building Tormenta for their 65th anniversary and Fiesta is working on something for their 35th anniversary next year. Also Mystic opened for KI's 45th. I wouldn't hold my breath though as the chain is in so much debt and every project (yes including whatever Fiesta Texas is building according to Jeff) was planned either before the merger or the early days of the merger. It wouldn't shock me one bit if outside of the 3 major delayed 2026 projects and Fiesta Texas that we don't see much more capital outside of park improvements or smaller flat rides.

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

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