FUN&ONLY!

Does this mean that the security really isn’t that great right now especially on some of these very crowded fall days?

We’ve come a long way from this time last year when everyone had to empty their pockets and put their items in the bins and all bags having to be taken off and inspected. I think it was last Winterfest, Kings Island must have upgraded the metal detectors or something because guests were allowed to keep their phones and other items in their pockets without having to place them in bins. Now bags don’t even need to be checked with these new metal detectors, creating a seamless process. While COVID-19 has mostly had a negative effect, it has at least pushed innovation in the coaster industry.

Here is a surprisingly smooth and clear point-of-view video of Son of Beast in its original form that was just posted to YouTube within the last 24 hours. I have never seen such a good POV of this ride on the internet until now. Enjoy!

I don’t see next year being as bad as this year for Kings Island because they should at least still be able to open in April instead of July. I think attendance will be OKAY for what it is, but I do see limited park hours for sure. I wouldn’t expect to see 10:00 PM closings every night in the summer anymore, but I would love to be wrong. I also hope that Cedar Fair’s other properties can resume operations, so the whole chain can be profitable next year. This year Kings Island and the other parks that opened were profitable, but Cedar Fair still saw huge losses with so many other parks being closed.

I agree that it was a simple question, but the nature of Kings Island fans is to automatically create speculation out of small things like this hence the creation of this thread. I am not saying the park was trying to troll fans, but it is not a total surprise that people have started jumping to conclusions with the tweet. I, personally, never saw it as much, but judging by the comment section on the tweet and this thread, many people have begun speculating even though it most definitely means nothing.

Kings Island definitely tweeted this out knowing the response they would get. I doubt they are planning anything, and they probably just wanted to have some fun with their fans.

I do trust in Kings Island’s COVID-19 prevention measures myself, but with the recent spikes in Ohio and Warren County, I am honestly shocked it is still so packed. You would think the general public would consider theme parks to be the more unsafe places. I am glad Kings Island is getting good business, though, as I in know they do a great job of keeping people safe.

The new update looks great! I now am noticing no problems with the formatting, and the new interface looks cleaner than ever. Great job to all who helped work on it!

I respect your opinion, but if Kings Island takes out The Bat, they lose the only family oriented coaster in Action Zone. That is part of the reason why people don’t currently spend much time in Action Zone. There is only The Bat and maybe Congo Falls in terms of rides for the whole family, so families don’t feel the need to spend a lot of time in Action Zone. If they do remove The Bat, I think they will likely replace it with a family coaster like Firechaser Express at Dollywood.

I think Action Zone needs a lot of work. As it stands, it is my least favorite main area of the park. Even when Paramount owned the park, Action Zone looked bad. I think they should do a Black Forest type theme which would fit well with Banshee and The Bat. The walkway leading into Action Zone would really set the mood for the new themed area with all the trees especially when they are illuminated at night. In the area itself, it would be nice to see new names for rides that fit with the new theme, new buildings and food locations that go with the theme, and more trees. I could potentially see Action Zone getting a major overhaul when it gets its next major coaster.

Out of all of the markers you have shared, you should have definitely shared these (these were a really good find on your part). The timing of these markers makes sense because the land surveying for Orion was likely done during the 2018 season. I have heard @KIghostguy mention that Kings Island usually starts planning a major new attraction two years before they plan to open it. For future large-scale projects, survey markers will likely also pop up about two years before a major new attraction is about to open. This doesn’t mean that all survey markers we see around the park will be for major projects, though. Some are likely just for basic infrastructure upgrades. But if we see markers on The Vortex plot of land in a few years, that could potentially be a good indication that something is in the planning phase and will likely be opening in two years. Until then, new markers around the park are likely not for a new major coaster.

At this point, I am hopeful that they are doing some significant GCI re-tracking on The Racer this offseason especially given the proximity of the new wood to the ride, but I wouldn’t be expecting anything more than that. Maybe they are repairing a fence or something. I really don’t think they are building anything new.

Technically, on Kings Island’s latest Notice of Commencement submitted to Warren County, they do have GCI listed as a contractor for 2019, 2020, and 2021 additions and improvements which likely includes The Racer’s re-tracking in 2019 and 2020, but it could also include 2021 re-tracking. For anyone interested, here is the full document filed last December for 2019, 2020, and 2021. It and more of Kings Island’s filed documents are accessible on the Warren County Recorder’s website.

Honest question, how do we know if GCI is scheduled or not this upcoming offseason?

I heard in Reddit that there was a crack in the track down the first drop, so it would make sense if they are welding it.

Does anyone know why Banshee has been down recently? While it has only been down this weekend so far, there are boards and equipment underneath the ride per a Coaster Nation post which is unusual.

I really am questioning if Kings Island is still greatly limiting the amount of guests allowed into the park. Also, they have got to hire more staff and open up all food lines if this is how it is going to be. Also, next season they need to run all rides with their usual amounts of trains because rides like Mystic Timbers and Diamondback now have terribly slow moving lines. I also wonder if they should do what Universal is doing and start using every row again with only one part per row. That would double the capacity of almost every ride.

I heard lines were absolutely crazy yesterday with the line for Diamondback stretching all the way to The Beast and the line for Orion overflowing the queue line into Area 72.

Good point about the curved track pieces. Also, hope everything works out for you, and you are able to get a track piece.

Actually the amount of track Kings Island could have salvaged for this is not as high as you would think. For the collectible they are selling, each 1.5 inch slice of track would have to be cut from a flat piece of track in order for it to work. While areas like the station, brake run, midcourse break run, transfer track, and lift hill will work, the majority of the track won’t work in the way they are making these mementos. Also, areas of the track where there are cross ties can’t be used.

Does anyone know if Kings Island is going to continue replacing segments of The Racer’s track this offseason? I know Timberwolf at Worlds of Fun is going through a 7 year GCI re-tracking, and I thought Kings Island may be doing something similar with The Racer based on the track work completed the past two seasons.

If the Chef’s Plate continues to be this popular, I could very well see it moving to a new location next year if they choose to continue with it (which I really hope they do). Right now, it is cool where it is because guests entering the park can see the chefs grilling everything in front of them, but it really creates a lot of congestion on that side of International Street. The Wishbone Grill wasn’t really meant to handle this many people.

I do think the Son of Beast station has served its last Halloween Haunt and is probably going to be demolished in the off season, but why? It doesn’t make sense to spend money on demolishing the station when they can just not spend the money and not lose anything. I don’t think they are putting a ride in there anytime soon, but this will an be interesting development to watch if the station ends up being demolished later this year.

One thing I am going to miss this year is the tombstones they usually set up behind the Eiffel Tower. I love looking at all of the defunct rides, and I was looking forward to seeing a new Vortex tombstone this year. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if they do it next year.

It really takes away from the efficiency. Banshee, Mystic Timbers, and Backlot Stunt Coaster are also only running two of their three trains this season.