Hawaiian Coasters 325

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.

That's my thing here. I often wonder that if the CGA coaster happened and with the eventual pandemic soon to come would we still be waiting for the next big thing after Mystic Timbers to be added and would the old giga thread still be going with the constant arguments about one and the paint concepts? Tbh Im glad we got Orion for that reason!

I've always said that KI's 4th of July event should be more than just "come for what's already here and stay for a bigger firework show". Add specialty food offerings, have special activities and entertainment geared towards the holiday. Give the locals something that would make them decide to spend their 4th of July day at KI rather than their local July 4th festival. Bc locals can go to KI pretty much anytime over the summer, but they can't go to a local 4th of July event any other day. Also since Soak City usually gets the most crowded on the 4th, I wouldn't mind spreading some of the "special activities and entertainment" over there. Like set up a stage and do live bands over there. I also think doing some sort of camp fire/s'mores thing in Camp Snoopy as the sun goes down would be kinda cool. I believe Knotts used to do something like that as part of Summer Nights. Like imagine spending your day in Soak City then coming back after the waterpark closes and seeing special camp activities and campfires/s'mores going on. As a kid I would've LOVED that.

Do you know anything about that soundtrack and was it discussed being used on the lift? I also think some sort of "mission accomplished" soundtrack on the brake run would've been cool. Kinda like the old "Awesome Great Job folks!" thing used on the Italian Job brake run back in the day.

Wonder if @DonHelbig can answer to why this soundtrack wasn't used on the lift. I mean he was digital marketing manager at the time.

My 2026 "wishlist" for KI: 1) New music in the park. While I think Area 72 and Adventure Port should keep their own soundtracks I think it is time for a reset on all the music in the park. The jazz on I street is outdated and just doesn't work with I-street. I want the orchestral soundtracks back. Or maybe since 2026 is the 250th birthday of America, celebrate that with patriotic music on I-street like what is played during Tricks and Treats in Coney Mall. Speaking of Coney Mall, it is time to ditch pop music there and do a custom soundtrack. I think you could split it into two areas. If you want to keep jazz in the park, you could have it in the front half of Coney Mall near Racer's entrance. Then in the back half by Jukebox Diner and Antique Autos, have 50's/60s style music playing. In Rivertown, please ditch the bluegrass covers of pop/rock songs and do actual bluegrass/country songs. Sorry, but as someone who likes rock music, hearing a bluegrass cover of "Enter Sandman" just makes me want to puke lol. In Snoopy, it's time to add a custom soundtrack for Camp Snoopy. I say move the playlist that plays in the Soapbox Racers queue line and have it play in the rest of Camp Snoopy. I just think it is a missed opportunity hearing Kidzbop in that section of the kids area. If you want to have Kidzbop in the Planet Snoopy section that's fair, but have it cut off right around the Snoopy's Boutique and transition to "Camp Snoopy" music. Finally for the rest of the park, I think pop is fine, but change the playlist. It's been the same list of songs the last couple of years so I think it's time to add more and maybe remove a few current ones. 2) More limited time special events. No I'm not talking about Food and Wine or Carnivale. I'm talking about pop up weekend events like the park used to do in the past. Like food truck fridays, dive in movies, etc. I also really would like to see the park bring the color run 5ks back. I don't understand why the park doesn't do that anymore. They could get some local organizations to sponsor it and/or have it raise money for a good cause. KI already does the JDRF walks and the A Kid Again Family Festival so they still do stuff like that, but I think a family friendly fun 5k in the spring time would be perfect. I like the color run idea as it really adds to the fun especially at a park like KI. KD still does Run and Ride so it's not like legacy CF has abandoned events like this. I also would like to see Grad Nites brought back (which tbh would kinda sting to fairly recent HS grads like me who didn't get a grad nite at KI). Multiple legacy Six Flags parks do Grad Nite and I believe I saw somewhere Carowinds is doing one so I think doing a grad nite would be great. 3) More New events: Now I'm going to talk about actual seasonal events. While nothing is confirmed, I'm willing to bet Carnivale is not coming back so something needs to go in its place. Obviously other parks in the chain have introduced "La Viva Fiesta" and while I think that would do well at KI, I want to see KI do their own take on a "Summer Nights" event. Like Cedar Point has Boardwalk Nights and Knotts has Summer Nights. Even Worlds of Fun calls theirs "KC Nights". So I think a custom event for KI would be perfect. I think "Island Nights" has a good ring to it and KI has used that name before, but in Soak City. Another event I'd like to see come to KI is some sort of Kids event like Kidzfest at Canada's Wonderland which is very popular there. Worlds of Fun also introduced their own version of Kidzfest and it seems to be doing well there as well. It would be a great way to show off our large kids area. When it comes to timeframe I think Food and Wine should be moved to late April through Memorial Day. That just makes more sense as Food and Wine feels more like a spring time event instead of a summer event. Then hold Kidzfest in June and Island Nights in July/August. Then Haunt and Winterfest during their normal timeframes. 4) A New Indoor VIP lounge: I know I'm not the only one who thinks this, but our VIP lounge is an embarrassment when compared to other parks in the chain. Plus with more people buying the prestige pass, a glorified patio next to the dumpster and restrooms is not going to cut it. It's time to take a page out of Kings Dominion and move it indoors. I personally think the best location for it would be the International Restaurant as it is a large indoor space with a great view that isn't used that often, but there are some obstacles that would likely prevent them from going that route. The next potential location is the Antique Photos building in Rivertown. The final location I thought of is the Graeters building. Idk if it is just me, but I don't usually see that many people in Graeters at KI. I personally wouldn't mind them moving Graeters somewhere else in the park like Rivertown and converting that building to the VIP lounge.

Sorry, but just no. That looks ugly imo.

Is the site made by Intamin or something?...jk it just feels like every couple of days the site crashes lol

Maybe KI is getting their own event? Like Cedar Point with Boardwalk Nights and Knott's with Summer Nights. I wouldn't mind seeing something specifically for KI over some copy and paste event from other parks.

I believe it was sometime around opening day of Soak City.

Had a dream last night that Food and Wine festival was held in Soak City

Pops is one of the best people I got to work with! I always enjoy seeing him and hope he returns in 2026! He's been there since 2018 I think. Also his real name is David Maupin, but he likes to go by Pops. Also the Grand Carousel is paired with the Eiffel Tower as a crew! It's also paired with the Viking Fury as well!

They said "work on the facade would begin after the first of the year" so yeah that was mentioned. However, based on the blueprints it seems like the current entrance and bridge will remain, but I'm guessing they'll do some work on the castle itself to make it more like an opera house. I believe someone on here created a couple of mockup ideas awhile back on this thread or another thread.

Could the explosion/blast in scene 24 be what Rick pitched back in 2022 during that Q&A at the park?

I mean Carowinds and Knott's have been waiting longer. Knott's I understand as space is so limited there, but Carowinds was under a rapid expansion plan up until Covid that included Intimidator, Fury 325, and Copperhead Strike. Also not to mention Orion didn't perform the way they expected and we're likely in the "coaster penalty box" bc of that. The merger just made it longer. Ik it opened during a pandemic, but the park didn't see as big of a bounceback in 2021/22 as you would expect for a giga with more people being able to come check it out. The last time legacy CF invested in a giga and didn't get a good ROI (I-305 at KD) the park went 8 years without a coaster and ended that drought with an inexpensive conversion of Hurler (Twisted Timbers). It wouldn't shock me one bit if KD is about to see another major coaster drought as Rapterra didn't seem to bring the ROI they wanted with it. I think we were lucky to get at least a family coaster as KD didn't even get that between 305 and TT. I also think KI fans took the every 3 year timeline for granted so I think it was time for us to sit back a bit longer and enjoy the current lineup. Even before covid happened I suspected it would be a while before we got another major coaster after Orion as it was such a big investment for the park and CP was the only legacy CF park that didn't have to wait 4+ years for the next big thing post giga addition.

Looks like Maestro is returning to the balcony in the queue!

I actually have this little idea I brainstormed of FOF getting a full makeover with new style premier track, trains, and LSMs as well as theming/lighting upgrades. They could even change an element or 2 if wanted. It would cost the same as a new coaster though, but I think it would be great if done right. FOF really fills a major need at parks in the summer time with an indoor ride so I think once FOF starts to reach the end of its life instead of tearing it down they should completely renovate it.

I like this idea. I also think what they could do is move Shake, Rattle, and Roll to the empty grass area in between (what was) the Jukebox diner and Coney Treats then make SR&R's plot into a grand entry plaza for the Vekoma ghostrider. That way it isn't as much of a bottleneck like it was on Vortex's last day.

Even then the employees (where a good chunk of them are teenagers) have to drive in these dangerous weather conditions to and from work. Trust me if I still worked there and the park stayed open with this weather I would've called off bc I definitely would not feel comfortable driving in this weather.

I am very happy to see this considering the very few updates we got for RiverRacers this past year.

Here we go!

They just shared an Instagram story.....it was just a Six Flags post about a pass giveaway lol.

Was there an outage this morning? I couldn't access the forum at all.