FUN&ONLY!

Did Blue Racer run at all today?

The minimum height is 38 inches.

I completely agree. I think the concepts proposed in the survey are intentionally wild to get a sense of what guests are looking for in a coaster whether that be something record breaking, never before seen, gimmicky, thrilling, highly themed, more family oriented, or a combination of these characteristics. From guest feedback, Kings Island will design a new coaster that incorporates what guests are looking for.

I really hope he is not just talking about the new stained concrete at the entrance to the area and that the park actually stains all of the concrete throughout the area to make it more cohesive. There IS new stained concrete at the entrance to the area, but then the rest of the area is currently a mess of old concrete, new concrete, and orange concrete.

I think they should have honestly just bulldozed all the concrete and started from scratch with pavers or at least fresh concrete for the whole area. The pavement doesn’t seem very cohesive as it is currently.

While this doesn’t necessarily reveal any menu changes, according to the October 2023 City of Mason Permit Report, Juke Box Diner and Chicken Shack (or at least the kitchens) are being renovated for this season, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the interiors of these restaurants look a little different this season. I’m thinking that both are going to now be set up as quick service restaurants like the Corral at Cedar Point or the renovated Coasters diners at many Cedar Fair parks. Also, the October and November 2023 Permit Reports also mention the renovation of retail locations in Soak City and the replacement of the lazy river trough. A massive new $1.25 million bar and shade structure is also being constructed adjacent to Coconut Cove. There are some other interesting tidbits in these permit reports as well, but most of the permits are for work already announced (like Camp Snoopy). https://imaginemason.org/download/PDFs/monthly_permit_reports/2023/Issued-Permit-Summary-October-2023.pdf https://imaginemason.org/download/PDFs/monthly_permit_reports/2023/Issued-Permit-Summary-November-2023.pdf Here is the link to the site if anyone wants to access permit reports from other months: https://www.imaginemason.org/city-government/engineering-building-planning/monthly-permit-reports/

How many markers are in the area? Are there a lot?

The original calendar Kings Island released for last year had that final week in August, but sometime in January or February, the calendar was changed so that those days were removed altogether. With the calendar change, the hours were also cut leading up to Memorial Day. Eventually, the last few days in August were added back but without Soak City operating hours. There is a rumor that talks of a possible Six Flags/Cedar Fair merger began in January of this year, which would align with a lot of the cost-cutting we saw this year. In addition to Kings Island slimming its operating calendar around that time, a Peanuts show was rumored to have been cut before Kings Island opened for the season. Additionally, certain rides started the season with slashed operating hours (the water rides and train) compared to previous seasons, and a lot of game locations were also planned to be shuttered for the season.

https://www.wlwt.com/article/kings-island-winterfest-christmas-lights/45767917?fbclid=IwAR3DxfTjGMFA8vrtN0aypkyyKH82siznn08kGltRetYCbqOg7STSEpExozk Despite the entertainment cuts, at least we can look forward to a big increase in lights for Winterfest! I hope the new lighting is well done!

Honest question. For people who went to Winterfest last year, what’s bringing them back this year. There’s absolutely nothing new and a lot of the good stuff has been cut. It’s really sad to see. With everything that’s been going on this year, I just don’t get excited about Kings Island like I used to.

I am very worried that Kings Island is headed back to the Paramount days but with even tackier themes. I don’t even know where Kings Island could put a DC Universe in the park without ruining the themes of classic attractions. Action Zone seems expendable, but I just cannot see the Banshee name and theme biting the dust. It is probably one of the best names and logos for any ride in the world. All other areas of the park are classic and their themes should not be touched by DC in any way. Vortex also deserves an originally themed replacement and not some DC comics themed rollercoaster.

I don’t know. I think Kings Island’s future definitely looked brighter in 2022 than it has all year… especially now. All we can do is hope for the best at this point.

The biggest thing I am concerned about is the mention in the report about all the possibilities of the new IPs. I would absolutely hate to see DC themes come to Kings Island in any form. I would easily rather have a Kinzel-era unthemed rollercoaster installed than a rollercoaster themed to DC.

Going along with the broken effects on Adventure Express, the state of the effects on Mystic Timbers the past couple weekends is easily the worst I have ever seen. The truck noises that play when a train is dispatched were completely gone. The entire lift hill sequence including the noise it makes when creating the lift hill was completely gone. Furthermore, the “don’t go in the shed” and subsequent “go in the shed” was completely gone from the brake run before wanting the shed. This is on top of the lights being out on the crashed truck by the entrance, most of the shed lights being broken, the backpack with the radio in the queue line no longer working, some of the TVs in the queue not working, and the audio on the stairs no longer working (which goes something like “There’s an old truck in the lumber mill, you got to jump start it, get out of here. Right now.”) These effects not working coupled with the broken effects in Area 72/Orion and Adventure Express is sad to see. Even on Backlot Stunt Coaster, the propellor on the helicopter has been broken all year.

A survey was sent out this past summer asking about new events and parades. Maybe we are getting something new?

While I do not know how much the tournament affects park attendance, Kings Island makes a point of keeping the park open during the tournament even if the park can barely be staffed. Even if people do not visit the park while in town for the tournament, the rollercoasters running in the background of the tennis facility is free adverting and lets visitors become aware of the park (if they were not already) so that they may make future plans to visit the park. I could possibly see a big 2025 addition to coincide with the expanded tennis tournament and increase in visitors, but it is probably too late to carefully plan out a big new rollercoaster for 2025 (assuming one is not planned already). Instead, maybe Kings Island will take advantage of the opportunity and advertise a massive new 2026 addition (which seems more likely) during the 2025 tournament to entice visitors to come back the following year.

Then they use it as a lame excuse to shut rides down and save money on staffing.

That makes sense. I wasn’t at the park last night or even in the area and was just blindly going off posts and footage from last night. I am glad Kings Island has not backtracked on the decision to pump more fog. It really makes the park atmosphere as good as it is.

The fog was lacking again last night, which was very disappointing. Last week, it was a million times better.

It would be kind of neat to have a setup where you have the option to ride in the front half of the train for a less extreme ride with the magnetically controlled seats or the back half of the train for more extreme ride with the uncontrolled seats. This setup would require a very good separator, though, as he/she would be bombarded with requests. A single rider line could also be implemented to boost capacity and ensure that there are not empty seats being sent out.

There is only so much Cedar Fair can do to get guests to spend more and increase per cap spending at the rate they have been. The company has introduced Fast Lane, raised the quality and price of food, introduced the Prestige Pass, and introduced Single-Use Fast Lane in recent years in an effort to get guests to spend more. There are only so many more money grabs that Cedar Fair can think of in order to continue seeing guest spending increase at a high rate. The company really need to focus on driving demand whether that be through expanding its portfolio of parks (which is extremely expensive) or attracting new guests to its existing parks by improving the experience whether that be by adding new rides and attractions or just improving the guest experience. It depends on how you look at it. I would say it definitely is a regional park compared to Disney or Universal as most of its visitors are from Ohio and surrounding states. While it may be a destination park for enthusiasts all over the world, it still attracts mostly regional guests. Compared to smaller Cedar Fair parks like Worlds of Fun or Dorney Park, Cedar Point definitely has a much stronger regional pull, though, as guests will travel 4 hours to go to Cedar Point but probably not as much for Worlds of Fun or Dorney Park. In this sense, it could be viewed as more of a destination park.

Attendance figure are VERY important for Cedar Fair. Investors like to see year over year growth in attendance as that indicates Cedar Fair is reaching new people and growing. That’s why Cedar Fair’s stick did not perform too well in 2022 despite record revenue. Attendance did not meet expectations. Of course investors also care about revenue and profits, but those numbers can only go up so much year over year without attracting new people. Much of the increases in revenue and profit we have seen from Cedar Fair over the past couple of years were a result of investments in food and beverage facilities that drove guest spending. Higher prices on tickets and basically everything else also greatly contributed to this growth. The issue is that Cedar Fair can only build and renovate so many new restaurants before new ones no longer attract as many new guests to spend more on food and beverage. The company can only hike prices so much until guests stop purchasing altogether. The issue is that Cedar Fair is approaching the ceiling on how much money they can squeeze out of current guests. Once they reach that limit, revenue and profits will be relatively flat if attendance remains the same. In order to enable future growth, Cedar Fair needs to increase attendance and bring new guests into its parks.

I actually think Carowinds will get a mid-sized addition in 2025 as well that will tide them over for a couple more years like with Snoopy’s Soapbox Racers at Kings Island. After all, they did send out a survey around the same time as Canada’s Wonderland about a potential new water ride. If planning for that started this year, there is a good chance it is for a 2025 addition. Also, Carowinds seems to be getting nothing for 2024, so a decent 2025 addition makes sense following a complete off-year even if Canada’s Wonderland and Kings Dominion are getting something the same year. After all, Cedar Point and Dorney Park are getting big new coasters for next year, but Cedar Fair is also investing in a decent-sized family coaster in Snoopy’s Soapbox Racers. We also have to remember that Aeronautica Landing was a big investment for this season (bigger than Adventure Port), and Cedar Fair cannot be happy with the return of investment considering the poor performance Carowinds has had this year.

New Vekomas are actually like B&M’s in terms of reliability. They really don’t have much downtime at all and are very smooth. I think part of the reason why downtime is so low is because all the programming for their rides is done in-house, so there is likely more collaboration between the designers of the ride and the programmers. The only drawback to new Vekoma coasters is that they generally lack the intensity and “punchiness” of Intamins. While Lech Coaster is an exception, practically all their other rides are on the more graceful side even if their POVs seem to indicate otherwise. Abyssus at Energylandia, for example, is kind of in the tame side. Mack launch coasters are the same way. I don’t think there is a launch coaster from Vekoma or Mack (besides Mack Extreme Soinners) that enthusiasts would generally rank above a ride like Maverick, which is what a new launch coaster at Kings Island would be compared to. But a reliable, smooth, and crowd-pleasing launch coaster may be exactly what Kings Island wants. I honestly wouldn’t mind it either, especially if the layout is long and creative, but I would take an Intamin multi-launch or a Mack Extreme Spinner over a Vekoma any day. Imagine how cool a Mack Extreme Spinner would look from the Coney Mall midway. It would honestly probably look cooler than Vortex, and that is saying a lot. Also, with a new B&M Launched Wing Coaster basically confirmed for Kings Dominion in 2025, in addition to Canada’s Wonderland’s likely new 2025 coaster, I am thinking 2026 is Kings Island’s year, which means planning will probably start next year. If this is the case, Kings Island is definitely going to keep a close eye on Snoopy’s Soapbox Racers’ performance next season.

I think the fog machines have definitely been dialed up, so the areas where there are fog machines area similar to years past. However, there are definitely a few places where there are not fog machines, and it is unfortunately noticeable. I think part of the reason why is because the fog machines are mainly concentrated in scare zones, but there are not nearly as many scare zones as in the past. Also, I feel as if the park just does not have as many machines out as in the past. While there is still room for improvement, though, I am glad to see Kings Island listening to feedback and upping their fog game.