Hawaiian Coasters 325

The first slide piece was installed on RiverRacers! From KI's Facebook and Instagram story

Nope. I've been single for the last 22 years of my life which is my whole life lol.

No bc I have zero inside information lol.

AlpenFury I believe got a late start as Moosehorn Falls took forever to complete and I believe the same company who did the foundations for that did AlpenFury's foundations.

I've seen people propose on top of the Eiffel Tower as the view is very nice especially during dusk. I also think during the fireworks anywhere, but especially on I Street is great too!

I totally agree. If they can't get a waterslide and a kids area renovation done and ready to open by Memorial Day weekend when they literally have the River Racers structure complete and slide pieces in the parking lot right now, then it's probably time for the head of construction to step down or if it's the construction company's fault, don't work with that specific company again. If I were the park/corporate I would set specific guidelines to have new attractions ready by opening day and if they don't meet those guidelines, I would wouldn't use that company again unless they can prove they can meet the guidelines presented when the contract was signed. Unless maybe, it's out of their control which we don't always know the circumstances. This goes with other parks in the chain too, especially Carowinds as them not having their Camp Snoopy area expansion done right now is completely inexcusable especially since the attractions these new rides replaced didn't even operate last year and the plans were filed last spring if not earlier. They had plenty of time to start construction earlier last summer and they didn't start vertical construction on Racing Railway until winter.

^^Memorial Day weekend is "technically" the start of summer as that's usually when pools and water parks open. However, KI labeled Camp Snoopy as opening in late Spring which ended up being Memorial Day weekend and for the Adventure Port rides being open sometime in the summer and Cargo Loco and Adventure Express opened Memorial day weekend so you never really know.

According to the KI website, the new stuff should be ready for the opening of Soak City Memorial Day weekend (obviously always subject to change) https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/soak-city-opening-weekend

Carowinds has seemingly cut Summerbration from their 2025 events lineup without an announcement https://www.carowinds.com/events

My main question is will they be leveling that grass area that it's going in and pouring concrete and/or adding turf for this or will they just be setting it in the grass? I also wonder if this is where the live music stage will be. Also if it is well received I wonder if they'll keep it for Carnivale too.

Hopefully they're moving the event away from the Festhaus area. I feel like it would be better to keep Food and Wine around the Tower/Carousel area

^^KD I believe built a stage in their Soak City for live music a few years back. I've honestly said Soak City should have live music especially on heavy busy days (ie Memorial Day weekend, 4th of July, most Saturdays in June/July).

I have long requested the park do a bands in residence program. I have several friends who are in bands around the general area (I was a part of School of Rock in Mason for about 3 years so I have connections) and I'm sure they would love the opportunity to perform at KI. Hifi Honey and River City are nice, but I think more local bands in the spring time would be great! Like @Losantiville Mining Co. said, they should consider putting in permanent stages for something like that and tbh KI sorta has that already with the Festhaus (where Hifi Honey performs in the spring) as well as the Bandstand. There's also the LaRosas patio in Rivertown as well as the little gazebo by Diamondback.

As much as I love Holiday World's water coasters, I understand why the park didn't go that route. I feel like with the budget the park was given for this project, they wouldn't have been able to add the other improvements planned to Soak City had they gone with a larger water coaster like Holiday World has

I'd prefer they leave laser tag arenas to laser tag venues around town (ie Main Event) However if I were running the park and was required to install a laser tag arena, I would put it in Area 72 in probably the Chaos building and give it an alien/paranormal activity theme.

I feel like they had one years ago in the building that was demolished for Coney BBQ.

As much as I love the year a new coaster opens, it's probably more fun the season before when construction is going on. 2019 was such a fun season with the construction of what became Orion with the updates from the tower and the teaser campaign. It probably would've been better had the layout not get leaked though as we ended up knowing the layout beforehand which ruined the surprise, but it was still fun speculating the name, theme, and official stats. I was living out of town during Mystic Timbers decoding/construction but I remember following it on social media and that looked like a fun season as well. Banshee I have very little memory of it outside of a few pre announcement videos. All my memory is the animation videos and vertical construction.

Thats a no for me. I could get behind a scream n swing or even a super boomerang (which would make up for a potential loss of Invertigo. But id rather not a free spin.

Another thought if the Vekoma rumor is true is that back in August KI sent a survey with an option for a Peanuts "interactive dark ride" likely replacing Boo Blasters. While scrolling through Vekoma's portfolio, I noticed one of their attractions options is a "D-Ride Interactive Dark Ride" and the description sounds pretty similar to the description KI put out in the Peanuts dark ride survey. https://www.vekoma.com/media-based-attractions/d-ride-interactive-dark-ride Also since I don't think this would be that expensive of an investment, it could be part of a package of new attractions for 2026 like a Madhouse in the Crypt building or even an S&S scream n swing replacing Skyflyer.

I honestly always thought about how cool it would be to enclose the base of Drop Tower with an enclosed queue kinda like the base of Dr. Doom's Fearfall at IOA!

Easy answer...NO!

Some of that land in the top right was actually recently sold to the Kings Local School District. It is intended to be used for a new athletics complex for the new Kings High School that will soon be built on the current softball/baseball fields. https://kingsfacilities.org/portfolio-item/kings-hs-2/

I feel Carnivale is here to stay just because it's an International themed festival and KI and KD have International Street. I think Carnivale will return to KD in 26 as just like KI in 22 they're taking a year off to celebrate their 50th. I'd be okay with it as long as they expand on it and keep adding to the event and not cutting back like they've done the last few years. One way to do that is to bring back a Carnivale themed bandstand show (ie Royal Rhythms) and not just have Retrospect as the show. It just didn't have that "International Festival" feel to it. I'm glad they chose to keep Food and Wine as it has a lot of potential to be a staple at the park. It also really works well in that Tower Gardens/Eiffel Tower base area. However, I really wish instead of late May through June, they did it in late April through May. Have it be that springtime early season event instead of Summer. Now my main wish (obviously like we saw with Food and Wine last year where they added it last minute) is we see some type of Soak City event. That's literally where your new capital for 2025 is. Take advantage of it! Do some late ERT on the new attractions as part of like a "glow nite" event like you used to do. It felt like a major missed opportunity to not do some sort of "kids event" in Camp Snoopy last year to help promote Camp Snoopy and no the showing a new "camp snoopy" movie in Beagle Scout Acres doesn't count. I also would keep our eyes on Timberwolf this year. With Skyflyer being removed and Spirit Song mysteriously going silent last year after coming back one year post Covid (2023) with no signs of it coming back as well as no signs of KI hosting anymore concerts after the 2022 concert series flop, I feel like the time to pull the plug on it would be now especially if Congo, Invertigo, Drop Tower, and The Bat are all potentially on the chopping block. That would open up a large plot of land at the front of the park for something massive! Now that's the conversation of another thread lol. As for live shows this year, I'm willing to place a bet that Trailblazers Xtreme and Country Crossroads are returning. I'm about 50/50 on the gazillion bubble show as it looks like KD is potentially getting it, but they show at multiple parks so KI could still get it, but honestly I could also see KI getting Brad Ross as he did a 2 year stint at Carowinds and he was very popular there. The main question is about the bandstand show. Usually KI runs their shows for 2 years. Retrospect has ran for 2 years. However, Off the Charts ran there for several years. However, I really hope they do a live band show there again or at least change up the songs. Finally, not really live entertainment/special event related, but please please please PLEASE NO MORE JAZZ ON I-STREET!!! I know I sound like a broken record here, but the jazz has been playing for 3 seasons now and imo just does not fit International Street. Now, I could get behind the jazz during food/wine fest and Carnivale as it fits those events well, but outside of when those events are going on, I want to see orchestral music playing again! International Street is meant to be grand and revealing not laid back jazzy!

Yep! I'll never forget Coasterstock 2022 when it stormed during lunch and lightning struck Diamondback I believe and the thunder was so loud everyone in picnic grove jumped lol!

Looks like KI is the only park doing Grand Carnivale this year. Fingers crossed they are able to pour more money into it this year as they have more resources with the other past Carnivale parks not doing it. Please please please KI and Corporate bring back the 2019 version!!!