WoodVengeance

All the more reason to go to Cedar Point more often.

New teaser from Kentucky Kingdom hinting at where the new expansion will take place. You can see that they deliberately covered up the rapids ride and Eye of the Storm from the map. However, you can still see Cyclos near Lightning Run.

The rapids makes sense for removal as that ride takes up a significant portion of land (about as much as T3) and I always felt Eye of the Storm was in a really weird spot. It's a shame to see rides like these get removed, but hopefully Herschend makes up for those removals with something well-themed, but we'll see.

I agree. Although some might argue SSBR has the better layout, I think Good Gravy was better executed when you factor in the theming around the area and the near-miss with the cranberry can.

I think many of us have just been spoiled by Cedar Fair with how we used to get big new coasters every 3-5 years. Now that Kings Island is under the new Six Flags chain, it definitely seems like they're taking a more budget-friendly route by hammering in on the family demographic while the chain is investing more into other parks like Great Adventure and Magic Mountain.

The situations involving the removals of Snake River Falls and Vortex are vastly different. Cedar Point stated that Snake River Falls was removed "to make way for future expansion", so it's highly likely that the park already has a plan for that area. Last time Cedar Point said something like that was when they announced the removal of Wicked Twister, and we know that was removed to make way for the Boardwalk expansion with the Grand Pavilion and Wild Mouse. For Vortex however, that was removed primarily due to the high maintenance costs it would've required to keep that ride operational. There was no replacement planned for Vortex, as the park was in the process of building Orion by the time they decided to pull the plug on it. It's also worth noting that a potential replacement for Vortex was likely delayed even further because of the pandemic that affected the entire amusement industry in 2020. Although Six Flags has already announced replacements for Kingda Ka and La Vibora already being built for 2026, some of the other coasters that closed in 2024 might have to wait a bit for their replacements. I imagine the Anaconda plot in particular is going to remain vacant for quite some time, as that was removed in almost the same fashion as Vortex. (Both Arrow loopers that were removed due to maintenance costs on years both parks were in the process of building new B&M coasters next to Flight of Fear) The main difference being that unlike the removals of Anaconda and pretty much every Six Flags coaster that closed for good in 2024, we were actually told of Vortex's closure beforehand.

Current wait time: nope

It's not 100% confirmed, but it's likely going to be the area around Thunder Run and Storm Chaser. It's hard to tell because of the blur, but you can make out Storm Chaser on the top of this image. I believe this is concept art for the new area that they're going to reveal at a later time.

Of those rethemed attractions, I'm wondering if Thunder Run and/or Storm Chaser are going to be included in that as well. Their themes would feel a bit out-of-place if this new area isn't going to be weather-themed.

I brought this up in a previous online discussion, and something I've been told was that most holiday events at amusement parks need to draw more attention from their local passholders since not as many people are willing to travel out-of-state for holiday events. Of course there are exceptions to this like Dollywood and Silver Dollar City, but that's mainly because those parks have the budget to go all-out for their holiday events that no other park in the region can compete with. Because of Holiday World's location being quite out-of-the-way for a lot of people, they wouldn't be able to draw in as much of a local crowd compared to parks like Kentucky Kingdom and Kings Island that reside in larger metro areas. Personally I don't agree with this, as I think it's close enough to Louisville that people would still drive an hour to go to Holiday World regardless, but that depends on how a HW holiday event would compare to Christmas at Kentucky Kingdom. Not saying they would need to go all-out like Dollywood, but just enough to grab attention outside of Indiana.

It makes sense for Invertigo to get the axe. Like the Flying Dutchman, the standard Inverted Boomerang is an old and rare Vekoma model (though not as much of a maintenance nightmare) and isn't really that popular of a ride at Kings Island. Right now Invertigo is the last of its kind in North America and is being kept operational due to receiving spare parts from Stinger at Dorney Park, which closed 7 years ago so who knows how long those spare parts will last.

I looked back at the passholder survey Kentucky Kingdom put out a while ago. In their Fireman's Landing artwork, it showed the Drop Tower being located near Mile High Falls as well as some other new flat rides.

I'm sure the Son of Beast station will just sit there until the park needs the land for something. Probably not anytime soon.

I mean, an indoor family attraction can be a great addition if something like Fire in the Hole is anything to go by. It would be a better use for that building than what it's currently being used for.

Kings Island's primarily role in the chain right now is to be a cash cow for the local family demographic, who is the demographic most likely to spend the most money at the park. The park knows it can get away with not installing major new additions because the local demographic will renew their season passes regardless as there's not much competition within the immediate area. Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World are somewhat close by, but if you're a KI local, you're looking anywhere between 1.5 hours and 3 hours to get to those parks and neither of them are nearly to the same scale as Kings Island. Cedar Point's role will always be to be "the roller coaster capital of the world", building up an elite collection of coasters and rides to attract people from around the world, and that includes Kings Island's local demographic. Cedar Fair/Six Flags wants to keep the elite record-breaking coasters exclusive to Cedar Point so passholders of Kings Island who want to experience that stuff will need to travel north to do so. (and gives them more incentive to buy the all-park passport which is also very important) I do think there will come a time when Kings Island will add a new thrill coaster to the park. Likewise, I think there will come a time when Cedar Point will add a new family attraction similar to how they just added Wild Mouse. Just because these parks focus on different demographics doesn't mean they will exclusively add attractions to cater to those different demographics. With the families being the main priority for Kings Island right now, it may be some time before we see that thrill coaster come. In addition, don't expect the coaster to be an elite coaster that outdoes something at Cedar Point.