FUN&ONLY!

That is all speculation, though. I don’t know why the park would be putting markers down for a ride removal. I don’t recall any markers for Firehawk or Vortex before they were torn down.

Where are you getting this? Are there any rumors a ride is on its way out?

Maybe they are redoing the entrance plaza? I think the entrance could use new ticket booths and guest services as well as an overall facelift. I don’t necessarily want them to tear down the old entrance, but it would be nice if they redid the facade. Also, the ticket booths, season pass processing center, and eating area could all use a complete overhaul. It would be a great new for 2021 addition in my opinion.

New Blue Ice Cream Milkshake!

This is great news! It eases the hassle of having guess when the lines will close, and it allows for guests to get more night rides in. It is great the park is listening to guest feedback.

Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain are more regional parks compared to Disneyland and Universal, but what arguably helps these parks the most is tourists coming from across the country to go to Disneyland and Universal that have a better chance at visiting other local theme parks while on their trips. Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain still get plenty of local traffic though, but the general tourism in the area also greatly drives their annual attendance.

That 80% of revenue figure is correct. I followed Cedar Fair’s conference call yesterday, and Brian Witherow confirmed that statistic. For what it’s worth, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Canada’s Wonderland, and Knott’s Berry Farm all reported record performance last year.

I am not a fan of the colors, but an RMC like that would look really good there and be a great ride!

Canada’s Wonderland is Cedar Fair’s second highest attended amusement park behind Knott’s Berry Farm. I doubt Cedar Fair would be willing to give up so much annual revenue simply for some quick cash in selling it. They are currently trying to grow attendance even more through new rides, new events, and a new hotel, and it is really working. Knott’s Berry Farm also sits on highly valuable land, so if Cedar Fair hasn’t opted to sell that yet, I doubt they will try to sell Canada’s Wonderland anytime soon. It is definitely not going anywhere right now.

I was REALLY looking forward to Winterfest this year. After the success of the Winterfest Wonderland Parade at Carowinds last year, Cedar Fair said earlier this year in a quarterly earnings call that they were going to roll the parade out to two additional parks this year. It was almost a guarantee that those two parks would be Canada’s Wonderland and Kings Island. I would have loved that! I hope they still add the new parades next year.

I have not noticed the Liberty Bell this year unfortunately. Maybe the park is waiting for the plants to grow in on it?

I would LOVE an Intamin Blitz, but I still don’t see Cedar Fair working with them anytime in the foreseeable future. From what I have heard, Cedar Point doesn’t even use Intamin replacement parts for their Intamin rides, and they are now having parts custom manufactured just so they can avoid Intamin. I have also heard that disagreements between Intamin and Cedar Fair are what lead to Volcano’s removal. I can’t confirm any of this, but this is just what I have heard.

I would love to see the park get something insane like an S&S 4D coaster or an Intamin Pre-Fab, but I just don’t see them investing in anything like that. Anything from Intamin or RMC seems unlikely unfortunately. I guess Cedar Fair is working with S&S, but I don’t know if we would receive a major S&S coaster. Aside from B&M, MACK Rides, and Gerstlauer, the craziest thing we could MAYBE get is a GCI Hybrid if they start making them, but that is also very unlikely unfortunately.

A MACK Rides extreme spinner would definitely be different enough from Backlot Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear. I would love something like this one supposed to open next year. This would make up for many of the lost inversions and give Kings Island another “unique” coaster as I know some people have been disappointed over the years with Kings Island getting basic rides like a B&M invert and a B&M hyper (though these rides are still very good).

Do they at least let people still get in line up until 10:00 and let them ride after the fireworks are over?

Beer themed launch coaster!

https://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-amusement-park-2020/ It looks like Kings Island came in fourth place behind Silver Dollar City, Cedar Point, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Silver Dollar City came out from nowhere and pulled out on top.

The Vortex plot is situated in between some of the most popular rides in the park (Orion, Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and The Beast), so a new major ride in the middle of these rides would just add the traffic in Coney Mall and Rivertown. I have noticed that Coney Mall and Rivertown are consistently more crowded than Action Zone and that is because the majority of guests’ favorite rides are in the back left sections of the park. Banshee still draws lines, but most people just ride it once and leave the area. In my opinion, Action Zone just needs a new standout attraction, more scenery, and new food offerings. Coney Mall and Rivertown just offer so much more for families to relax and hang out compared to Action Zone. Also Coney Mall has many ride for the whole family, Rivertown has Planet Snoopy nearby, but Action Zone really only has The Bat for the whole family to enjoy, and I think it could really benefit from some small family rides.

I don’t know how this is going to be received, but I think Kings Island should focus on putting their next major coaster in Action Zone rather than replacing Vortex. Action Zone needs a lot more love than Coney Mall and Rivertown which are probably already the two most crowded areas of the park. I think that with a new Action Zone addition, the park can completely re-theme the area and make it look really nice. We have seen Cedar Fair recently do this at Carowinds with Blue Ridge Junction, Canada’s Wonderland with Frontier Canada, and now at Kings Island with Area 72. In their 2019 4th quarter conference call, Cedar Fair mentioned that they want to start doing even larger investments that will take longer to pay off (new themed areas). After this, Carowinds even sent out a survey to guests about what new themed land they would like to see in the park. This was Cedar Fair’s plan before they were hit hard by COVID-19, but I would love to see them follow through with it.

If they wanted to put the ride in Coney Mall, I think they would probably put the entrance and station near where Vortex’s entrance was. If they choose to put the ride in Rivertown, I could see them maybe taking out the arcade and putting the entrance by The Beast. If I am being honest, Rivertown needs a LITTLE more love than Coney Mall (which looks really good now), and with a new Rivertown attraction, they could maybe repaint The Beast’s dilapidated station and give it some love and give Diamondback a repaint. The area where The Beast is does kind of look a little bit ugly with the arcade and the backside of Tomb Raider, but that is just my opinion. I would love for a mini renovation of that nice little area.

I could see them making it a part of Rivertown, but I couldn’t see them putting the entrance across from Backlot Stunt Coaster. The midway is already super compact, and unless they widen it, I feel like it will be a major bottleneck. Also, like @Hawaiian Coasters 325 said, there is a decent valley there, so they would need to build an elevated pathway leading to to the queue though an element under the pathway would be pretty cool.

This is so true to be honest.

I don’t know how I feel about a disco theme. I am afraid it might look too tacky like the launch coaster right next door. I think the park should make the ride fit the theme of Coney Mall, so it ties in nicely. Honestly, they could just go for an old-school theme and have it playing off the other existing and defunct rides in Coney Mall (think the interior of Coney Bar-B-Q but on a larger scale). Like you said, a nice lighting package would look really good on the ride, and it would fit in so well with all of the other Coney Mall attractions that are already illuminated at night. Coney Mall has a cool night time vibe, and a good lighting package like on Hangtime would make it just that much better.

That would be cool to see the track pieces used as theming, but people thought the same thing when they kept the top piece of Firehawk’s loop, but to this day, I still don’t know what happened to it. I would like a Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster, though. Something like a longer Hangtime would look imposing and awesome in the skyline, and it would also look amazing at night if they decide to give it a lightning package. It would be awesome if they tried to go for the inversion record too.

Maybe one day the park can pull the two track pieces aside with some steel cutters and sell small pieces of track as souvenirs along with a certificate of authenticity. Ideally, they would just do what they did with Son of Beast.