FUN&ONLY!

I would love to see Kings Island debut a new front entry plaza with a renovated front gate, new ticket booths, and new landscaping. Like @Hawaiian Coasters 325 said, they can just upgrade the facade of the front gate building. I would be okay if they completely redo everything else though. It would also be cool to see a legacy walk (maybe in Tower Gardens), a new ivy tunnel, some Oktoberfest love, and new live entertainment celebrating Kings Island.

The lighting is pretty much just upgraded throughout the entire ride, especially in the final tunnel, and all the animatronics are working perfectly. I don’t necessarily think brand new effects were added, but Kings Island did a great job of repairing the old ones that hadn’t worked properly in a while. One noticeable change is that the tunnel right before the first lift hill now had blue LED’s that give it a completely different look than it had before.

I cannot confirm that, but I have seen that Adventure Express got updated effects!

That is great to hear! Now all Kings Island needs to do is put paper maps back by the entrance.

That is good to hear!

I may be wrong, but it looks like Kings Island is just cleaning it up. Last year, Timberwolf was very overgrown, and it looks like they are removing weeds. I don’t seen any part of the amphitheater that has actually been removed.

That is interesting because in this trip report from yesterday, it claims that every other row was being filled. It could be that Kings Island has already changed this policy. Also, for those of you who went yesterday, did the park seem prepared for the crowds? Were most food venues open or was it like last year where a lot of food stands were closed? https://www.themeparkarchive.com/updates/kings-island-gold-and-platinum-passholder-preview-weekend-2021

I am surprised that Kings Island is loading every other row on Flight of Fear. Disney and Universal use every row on their indoor rollercoasters, so it is weird that Kings Island doesn’t. Flight of Fear is the worst ride to have a limited capacity this season as its normal capacity is not good.

I was at Friends and Family night yesterday as well. I rode Blue Racer in row five, and one thing I noticed is that all the non-wheel seats and the front seat were labeled probably to indicate smoother seats. My ride was very smooth, and the airtime on the outwards run was very good. The first two airtime hills, and the airtime hill before the turnaround felt a lot less drawn-out and delivered great airtime. However, the return trip after the turnarounds is still a little rough, and it is noticeable after coming off a such smooth first half. I really hope Kings Island has Gravity Group come back next offseason to re-track and re-profile The Racer’s second half.

I do not think Kings Island is closing any ride lines early this year because after Kings Island started having more 10:00 PM closures last year, they stopped closing ride lines early like they did in the beginning of the season. I guess we’ll find out for sure tomorrow.

There are also people on the roof of Flight of Fear. LOL!

I don’t think it will be near the entrance to Mystic Timbers. That would create too much crowding and block people from entering the ride. I think it will likely be around Rivertown Pizza with a truck pulled up next to the stage.

This is true. In this case, Diamondback, Banshee, and Mystic Timbers are also filler coasters as they filled gaps in Kings Island’s lineup.

It will be interesting to see what they announce but I doubt it will be a new coaster. Silver Dollar City has done virtually no teasing, and I would assume they wouldn’t announce a new coaster this early into the season.

Orion is still not a filler coaster, but if this Gerstlauer was in the works before Orion was moved to Kings Island, I could see it going to Kings Island. I do think it would be a good fit at the park, but I would be surprised to see it added for Kings Island’s 50th anniversary unless its pays homage to Vortex in some way. The May opening makes me a little skeptical, though, considering Kings Island’s usual April openings. If it is meant for Kings Island, we would probably see signs in the coming months.

I could definitely see it being Silver Dollar City with their recent land clearing, but I am not sure how big the area being cleared is. I would love to see Cedar Fair add something new, but it does seem like they want to wait before investing in new attractions. Maybe they will add only smaller rides and not rollercoasters for 2022 besides Kings Dominion’s S&S 4D Free Spin.

I think Diamondback and The Racer need repainted the most, but Banshee is also starting to look kind of faded. It does not need repainted right away, but in a few years, it will probably need a repaint.

I never realized the fourth hill was lit up, but I always thought that more of The Racer should be lit up besides the lift hill and drop. I think the lighting package looks really nice, and I would love to see the fourth hill lit up too. Speaking of lighting packages, I would also like to see Banshee’s working again. Nowadays it seems like there are only a few spotlights here and there along the layout, and it does not look nearly as good as it used to.

Good point! I guess it may be awhile before we can say for certain which park will be getting the new Gerstlauer unless permits or something show up sometime soon for whatever park it is going to.

I guess time will tell.

I don’t really know if this Gerstlauer is truly going to go to Cedar Point. As far as I have heard, there are markers there but no land clearing whatsoever. If Cedar Point is planning on adding a new coaster for 2022, then I think we would have seen some land clearing by now. I am not sure about Dollywood either because they already have Mystery Mine. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if the Gerstlauer was for Kings Island in the Vortex plot of land. It would really fill the sit-down inversion coaster gap at Kings Island in a modern way. The only things that wouldn’t make sense are the May opening and how soon this coaster would come after Orion.

Cedar Point is releasing their new 2021 COVID-19 protocols tomorrow. They will likely apply to Kings Island as well, so that will be interesting to see. https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog/important-updates-for-2021

Kings Island sold Fast Lane last year later in the season. I am also curious to see what changes Kings Island has made to other protocols, if any.

I wonder how the train and walkway from the dry park will work with Soak City requiring reservations. Hopefully Kings Island will still allow guests to enter and exit Soak City from the dry park, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they only allowed people to enter by the main Soak City gate.

Apparently next Monday, April 26, Cedar Fair is going to release their new 2021 COVID-19 protocols according to Cedar Point (I assume Kings Island will follow the same protocols). Those will be interesting to see. I am hoping for no empty rows this year!