FUN&ONLY!

The sky ride running the Coney Mall midway would be nice, but I think that would mean the removal of many of the trees which would be sad. I am all for California’s Great America’s sky ride to come to Kings Island, but I think it would be better in its original location.

The old SlingShot pad is pretty ugly just sitting there along the Oktoberfest midway. If Kings Island does not have any immediate plans to replace it, it hope some nice landscaping goes in there for the 2023 season.

For a Tuesday evening concert with a group like the Avett Brothers, the crowd looks pretty decent. I hope the concerts are successful enough to warrant future concerts being held. Kings Island should also do more in-park advertising for the concerts. Even in Timberwolf’s heyday, the concerts were not necessarily always sell-outs. However, Timberwolf brought in bigger names back then. I assume weekend concerts have the potential to be more popular as well as bigger names. I hope Kings Island can bring in some more popular groups next year if this year proves to be successful.

Not going to lie, I just lost a lot of respect for Cedar Fair. I know, I know, it is a business first and foremost, but this news is in stark contrast to one of their 2018 earnings reports when they mentioned that Cedar Point, Canada’s Wonderland, Carowinds, and California’s Great America were their parks of focus.

Usually the data is only from the previous night during the first 1 or 2 hours of operation the next day. I assume the 45 minute wait time for Mystic Timbers is from today, but still, that wait time could have been reported an hour ago and now be rather outdated.

Those waits are from a website called Queue Times which pulls wait time data straight from the Kings Island app. However, since the app is not always accurate, the website is not always accurate. I have noticed that early in the morning, the app and Queue Times still show wait times from the previous night, so those are usually inaccurate.

It wouldn’t shock me if Kings Island quit on the concert series for next year if they aren’t selling well.

I have not yet seen the Street Party? Have some of the characters already been removed?

@Oldschool75, would such a project require some documentation with the City of Mason or Warren County? I know just surveying probably does not require anything as of now.

If a big project is in the works, I don’t know if Kings Island has to file a Notice of Commencement super early like they did for Orion (they filed it in 2018). For Mystic Timbers, the Notice of Commencement mentioning Great Coasters International was filed around the same time the ride was announced while land clearing was already obvious. I assume land clearing does have to be filed somewhere, though, whether it be in a past Notice of Commencement or a permit. Permits are different than Notice of Commencements. Kings Island has to file permits for small things like the VIP tent in Oktoberfest. At this time, Carowinds has already filed a slew of permits related to their 2023 Aviation themed area. In addition, Cedar Point has filed a permit for their new 12,000,000 Grand Pavilion building. Attached below is a City of Mason website listing all permits filed by month. Unfortunately, this website does not go back beyond 2020, so we cannot see when Kings Island would have filed permits for past additions like Mystic Timbers and Orion to see if there is a pattern that could possibly match the pattern of a future addition. I know people are going to be eager to dig through these permits, but there really are not any intriguing permits filed by Kings Island unless I missed some. I remember seeing permits for fireworks, the VIP Lounge, renovations to Coconut Cove, a new ticket window awning, and modifications to Kings Island HR. However, I assume all past permits are available in person as well as recent permits not yet published on this website. Also, if any plans have been submitted to the City of Mason, those would also be available in person. https://imaginemason.org/city-government/engineering-building-planning/monthly-permit-reports/

Could the land clearing be for the waterline? I remember the markers at the front of the park were said to be for a waterline.

Not all weekdays have been walk-one, but many have been recently due to storms and now excessive heat. While it can be fun to marathon rides on a dead day, I personally enjoy the atmosphere more when there is a more healthy crowd. Also, if Kings Island was dead on every weekday, Cedar Fair would likely consider slashing operating hours on weekdays. Good attendance is not a bad thing but rather a good thing for Kings Island.

It is interesting that the amount of stops varies each cycle. I assume it depends on the amount of people in the train which affects the train’s weight. For example, while it never stops, a train on Mystic Timbers comes into the station much slower when the train is emptier. It is still a million times faster than The Beast’s entry into the station, though. Last year, while in The Beast’s station, I heard someone comment that The Beast’s brakes needed to be re-programmed in the station because it stopped about 3 times before parking in the right spot. I agreed with the comment as I thought it was bad for the ride to be stopping at all before parking in the right spot. Fast forward to this year, and the problem is worse than I could ever imagine I don’t understand how The Racer, a ride older than The Beast, manages to have trains park in the station instantly compared to The Beast. While the work Kings Island did with The Beast was overall positive, the new control system by Irvine Ondrey Engineering is really bad. Not only is the ride more unreliable now than ever but also it’s capacity is hurt with the poor station programming. The restraint programming is a nice change, though, and the system is probably a lot more streamlined. I just wish that the station programming wasn’t so bad. Hopefully, Kings Island addresses the issue it soon.

Slingshot ride operators did work for Kings Island. Really, any ride operator in the park could work Slingshot as long as they were trained when they got there (which is the case for any ride). Also, if Kings Island planned to end a lease of Slingshot, why would it be repainted just to be removed? I am pretty sure Kings Island owned Slingshot.

I could very well see it opening tomorrow. In addition to the big Eiffel Tower in the background, I see 9 miniature Eiffel Towers in that picture. Pretty cool!

That is great news! I understand things break, and it is okay as long as Kings Island is working to fix them. I hope that Kings Island is also working on fixing the lights in Area 72 and the security footage in Mystic Timbers’ queue. I also noticed a speaker out in Mystic Timbers’ Fast Lane queue that plays the soundtrack.

I feel like if Phantom Theater were brought back, it would be in the style of Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. I think Cedar Fair would use a similar screen-based system. Also, Mike Koontz mentioned Toy Story Midway Mania which is a shooting dark ride very similar to Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. I personally have not ridden Knott’s new dark ride, so I personally cannot express my opinion on it. However, I am inclined to think that a new Phantom Theater would be very similar to it.

I also miss the instrumental music on International Street. The jazz music isn’t terrible, but the instrumental music really made walking into Kings Island fell larger than life. The jazz music kind of feels out of place in my opinion for such a sweeping entrance. Hopefully, Kings Island brings back the old music sometime soon.

I think @Shaggy was referencing the location of the drone launch not a new ride though.

I assume now that those shipping containers are for setting up the drone show based off other comments. I think @Shaggy was just trolling with saying he caught wind of something and to set our expectations high. He was probably alluding to the Vortex site being the launch area for the drone show as others have indicated.

How can we set our expectations for anything, though? We know nothing and nothing has been teased, but I guess @Shaggy heard something. @disco2000, is Kings Island just using Vortex’s plot of land to launch the drones?

Are you trolling or being serious?

While Mystic Timbers does use Southern Yellow Pine for the structure, at least some of the track uses IPE wood that is supposed to be much stronger than Southern Yellow Pine.

I didn’t notice any markings around the area, but I doubt a future attraction for that area is that far along. The marking are usually seen right before digging is done, but I think Kings Island might just be taking soil samples in the area which is conducted way before digging occurs. It will be interesting to watch what happens over the next few weeks and years, though.

I agree that Kings Island looks way better than it has in years. However, I noticed that the Orion soundtrack is not blasting around Area 72 like it once did. It seems like some of the speakers are out because it is hard to hear anything. Also, the Orion soundtrack no longer plays in the station for Orion which is disappointing. Hopefully the park notices, so these things can get fixed soon. Also, I noticed that The Racer’s turnarounds were not completely repainted. Sure the track has been repainted, but the actual structure looks pretty bad. Only parts of the structure visible in the park were repainted. I hope that Kings Island is holding back because they are planning track work for next year, but it is noticeable that the whole ride was not repainted when riding. Lastly, the Fun TV’s around the park and even some of the TV’s with theming in Mystic Timbers’ queue are not working. I personally think it looks bad that so many TV’s are out in addition to the interactive display boards around the park. It gives the effect that Kings Island is negligent with upkeep. These criticisms are not merely digs at the park. Kings Island has been doing a great job with making the park look great recently, and I want the park to look the best it possibly can.