Klabergian Empire

I like how the focus is now on a roof. Because, ya know, everybody's pulling up for the Adventure Port roof

This is similar to what Kings Dominion does during the colder months of the year. I personally don't think its a good idea (for Kings Island) because Kings Island (I would argue) gets hit more by winter weather than Kings Dominion and would thus be closed more assuming the "Winter Weekends" took place during an active winter season. Furthermore, because of climate, Kings Dominion's market for such an event is better. In other words, I don't think that it would be worth Kings Islands money and energy to do "Winter Weekends".

I can see it now... The Coke Coaster. Featuring the regular Coke train, Diet Coke train, and the Caffeine Free Diet Coke train.

All Season Dining?! For a bathroom?! What kind of an upgrade is this??!!

Didn't notice until now, but it looks like the area behind Racer's que as also been scratched up a bit. Probably just for cosmetics...unless... This can only mean Adventure Port Strata Coaster for 2024...

Man, seeing the pics of the Cedar Fair scrolling sign with the closed rides.....takes me back to simpler days. Thank you @TOPGUN1993 for the pics! Also, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm pretty sure its not there anymore. Right?

They were literally closing for a winter storm that became a blizzard! This isn't like closing because of a few rain showers...Like I said earlier, winter weather impact is a whole different animal than summer weather impact. And yeah sure, sometimes Kings Island has closed when there is foul weather and then shortly after it closes the weather fine again. But in this particular circumstance, closing early was the right call because it would be unsafe for guests AND KI personnel to working and/or traveling home in winter storm conditions.

Dude's got the whole collection...

I can't wait to see Adventure Port and the 2 new rides! Not to mention the refurbished theming for Adventure Express...

Kings Island specifically said they were closing early on the 22nd because of the winter storm. I live really close to Kings Island and the storm started around 8:30~9:00pm. Granted it started out as rain but the temperature dropped pretty fast and rain became snow. Kings Island closing early was done from a safety standpoint and not from a business standpoint. Assuming Kings Island stayed open 'till 10pm would mean that people would be having to exit the park and the parking lot in poor and potentially slick conditions. Winter weather impact is a whole different animal from summer weather impact. Heck, there's even been times during the regular season in the middle of the summer where KI closed early because of an approaching severe storm. The park staying open 'till 10pm would have just plainly been unsafe for both visitors AND KI personnel. Keep in mind, lots of KI personnel don't actually leave the park right when it closes. A good chunk of employees leave around 11pm after shutting things down and security sweeps are done. They would be driving home in very hazardous road conditions if KI closed at 10pm. Kings Island made the right call by closing early. Period. Lastly, to argue that Kings Island closed early because of business reasons, such as cutting costs, is wrong. Sure, you could make the argument that they could save money by closing earlier or say that they weren't going to make much money staying open at the beginning of the winter storm or whatever. Kings Island pulls millions of guests every year and with that millions of dollars in revenue. And considering this on top of how much Cedar Fair has invested into the park, to argue that they wanted to "cut costs" is crazy.

Makes sense. Nobody's gonna wanna be out in that kind of weather. To give you an idea how bad its gonna get, wind chill for 7am Friday morning is supposed to feel like -27 degrees.

Another point to consider. Amusement parks have to make so much money per square acre (essentially) in order to not just be profitable, but also stay in business. A big factor that contributes to rides coming/leaving is ridership. High ridership means that, more or less, the park is selling more in tickets and/or passes and it can afford to maintain and operate the ride, which also means more money for the park. Therefore, it doesn't make a whole 'lotta sense to keep a ride around with pretty low ridership, because then that would mean that the park would be paying more to run/maintain and operate the ride than the ride is pulling in riders and revenue. With this in mind, park expansions, for the most part, only make sense if it benefits the park business-wise. With Kings Island creating Adventure Port and adding two new flat rides, the park is essentially taking a gamble. Betting that the money spent on the cost of the rides, construction and other work needed to be done for Adventure Port, and the cost of maintaining and operating the rides will be balanced if not outweighed by their profits for the 2023 season. Granted, I think we all agree that this is a pretty small gamble and that this isn't gonna cause Kings Island any issues. But I think the golden rule for park expansions is the larger the expansion, the larger the business gamble you take.

Hopefully they dont take those huge coy fish out of the pond. They are so cool to look at.

For roller coasters, they have two different shops. They have the wooden roller coaster shop where the trains for Racer, The Beast, Mystic Timbers (after Winterfest), and Woodstock Express are taken to. And for all the steel roller coasters there is also a shop. During the off season, the trains on all the roller coasters in both shops are disassembled completely, cleaned, inspected, and then reassembled for the next season. For flat rides, as far as I am aware of, most if not all the maintenance is done right there at the ride. I know that Monster is virtually disassembled at the end of every season and I believe the logs in the log flume are taken out and stored in the picnic grove as well as other parts to other rides. The buildings these are most likely maintained in are the buildings on the north side of Racer outside of Area 72. And the steam engines on the KIMVRR are maintained in the engine house on the railroad. The buildings at the front end of the park are office buildings as well as warehouse space for other departments of the park. Fun fact: If I remember correctly, I saw somewhere where Kings Island spends a good $100,000 on just wheels for the roller coasters.

Despite the fact I have to flip my laptop over to see the view right side up, those views are fantastic!

More track work? Even smoother ride next year? God I love The Racer. Just make sure they paint the new track so it all matches lol

Coney Mall is technically 50's themed. Remember, Coney Mall is themed after how Coney Island looked in its heyday. Personally, I feel the Mall should be extended to the turnaround on Red Racer, add a few flat rides, and use the rest of Vortex's old spot for a new coaster. I also feel that BLST should either be moved somewhere else in the park (like to Area 72 with a retheme) or removed entirely so that its land could be incorporated into a new coaster that also takes up some of Vortex's old spot. And maybe add a new skyride that traverses the length of the Mall.

Eh, I would not like this lol. What's the point of the ride then if you're not experiencing the ride itself but rather a reality outside of the ride and in VR?

If you look closely at the still frame here, you can see someone standing in front of the Kings Island sign. Imagine of his photo was taken at that moment. What an absolute rare pic he would have lol Also, dang I had no idea DT was having a huge lightning issue this year. Definitely explains all the downtime and early winterization.

No it didn't LOL Looking back in this thread, I now think something along the lines of a Coney Mall skyride going along the strip is the best option now. @SonofBaconator had some good illustrations as to what that could look like.

Guess I'll take a shot

Here is something else to consider: Looking closely at the concept art, I can see a few (what appear to me as) Palm trees. What kind of landscaping changes could be done for the retheme?

Ngl this what telling a drunk person to build a Ferris Wheel would look like But on a serious note, this honestly looks really fun and I can't wait to ride it!

My genuine thoughts: When I first learned of this, I was a little shocked. Oktoberfest is one of the original areas of the park, and seeing it go is a tiny bit sad, for me at least. However, this isn't the first time an area of the park has been rethemed (just look at the kids area and all the rethemes it has gone through in 50 years). I've made a thread and several others on here have made threads on theming in Oktoberfest and I think we all agree that the theming in Oktoberfest has been very lacking for many many years. Frankly, considering the rides already present, this re-theme not only makes sense, but I honestly like the concept. This will be the first major update to this area since 2002, and AE is getting refurbished theming as well. Im excited.

Maybe they could do two skyrides. One over the original path now that Sling Shot is gone and a second over Coney Mall.