WoodVengeance

I also agree that I would much rather see a Tilt Coaster at Kings Island over a Dive Coaster. I rode Siren's Curse last month and it just completely outclasses Valravn in my opinion, from the holding you over the first drop gimmick to the actual layout. I would love to see more of these pop up throughout the chain. With the current economic climate, however, that does give B&M an advantage due to their track being manufactured locally as opposed to Vekoma rides that have to be shipped from overseas. I'm wondering how much that's going to affect American parks choosing between B&M and Vekoma. Again, I would much rather see Six Flags move away from B&M and work more with Vekoma, but these are business decisions that have to be taken into account.

It was probably a last-minute decision. It's not the first time something like this has happened.

I could see Six Flags wanting to put B&M Dive Coasters at most, if not all of their top-performing parks. They're safe additions for any park that adds them, as the ride model is extremely popular with the general public. Six Flags parks with B&M Dive Coasters: Cedar Point: Valravn Canada's Wonderland: Yukon Striker Six Flags Fiesta Texas: Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger Dorney Park: Iron Menace Six Flags Great America: Wrath of Rakshasa Six Flags Over Texas: Tormenta Rampaging Run Top-performing Six Flags parks without a B&M Dive Coaster currently: Kings Island Kings Dominion (may not happen because of Griffon at BGW) Carowinds Knott's Berry Farm (may not happen because of land and Hangtime being marketed as their Dive Coaster) Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Over Georgia As for Kings Island specifically, I think a Dive Coaster is a definite possibility for our next coaster. Even though Valravn already exists at Cedar Point, I don't think that's going to be a deterrent for Kings Island. Both of the Six Flags Texas parks will have Dive Coasters next year, so the same could also happen with both of the Ohio Six Flags parks. Personally, I don't think Kings Island needs another B&M, but it makes sense from a business perspective. I should also add that with the current financial situation for Six Flags, I wouldn't expect the chain to build Dive Coasters as often as they used to. I would only expect 1 or maybe 2 more to be built by 2030.

As Kings Island reopens for the Halloween season, it seems Invertigo is still closed for maintenance. Considering what's been happening throughout the Six Flags chain, I would be surprised if the ride somehow reopens after all of this.

I'm certain of those three, NightFlight is probably going to win.

Just a reminder that this is a $50 million attraction Dollywood is putting in. I can't imagine Kings Island ever investing that much in a new ride, especially under Six Flags.

Indiana Beach already has enough trouble with All-American Triple Loop.

For the Herschend route: I would expect them to treat Kings Island as one of their premier parks alongside Dollywood and Silver Dollar City. Here are some of the things I could see happening: New (old) logo to differentiate itself from its former Cedar Fair / Six Flags ownership, either reusing the first logo or coming up with a brand new one altogether Kids area removes all the Peanuts or Looney Tunes IP and is rethemed to something similar to Wildwood Grove or Discovery Meadow (Phantom Theater stays as-is) Cinnamon Bread location added somewhere in Rivertown Trams could possibly return to the parking lot, as they're still used at Dollywood and SDC The park adds more family attractions, since that's the market Herschend wants to appeal to the most. It would also help differentiate it more from Cedar Point up north, which would still be owned by Six Flags and catered more to thrill-seekers Either a new resort gets built to attract non-locals, or Herschend buys the Great Wolf Lodge next to the park and converts that into a new Kings Island resort Action Zone gets rethemed to an all-new theme from Herschend, maybe an expanded Oktoberfest section as a way to celebrate Cincinnati's german heritage All of this, however, is completely hypothetical. I don't expect Six Flags to sell off Kings Island considering its one of the chain's top parks. I also don't know if it would be good for Herschend either, since they just tripled their park portfolio due to the acquisition of the Palace parks. It's still fun to speculate on, though!

I created this concept for a new front gate. I designed it based on the Grand Pavilion at Cedar Point, so you would have the gate on the bottom level and a new International Restaurant on the top level. Not sure if the park would have the budget for something like this, but it's an interesting thought nonetheless.

I could see those restrooms becoming more crowded if they put in a new ride to replace Invertigo and Congo Falls. Maybe by then they will choose to renovate them.

I'm not at the park currently, but you can see the line spilling out of the Boo Blasters building from the live cam.

I remember during a middle school field trip to Kings Island, my classmates were talking about this coaster the most (this was after Diamondback was put in). I could see why the flying aspect of Firehawk could be appealing for the general public (although not for everyone), and I do think it was good for what it was. There aren't that many flying coasters in the region, with the closest one being Superman at Six Flags Great America. With that being said, however, it was often a coaster I forgot was even at the park, especially in its later years. It was just plopped in the back of X-Base (now Area 72) with very few places in the park you can actually see it. Of course, The Beast is also a coaster that's well-hidden at the park. However, The Beast still manages to be arguably the most iconic coaster in the park despite that because of it's status as the longest wooden coaster in the world as well as having famous night rides. Firehawk didn't really have anything like that going for it, other than just being a flying coaster. Also, Firehawk's capacity wasn't the best for a park like Kings Island either. Unlike Firehawk, Orion has far more of a presence in the park given that it's a giga coaster that can be viewed from many vantage points in the park. In addition to that, Orion's ride experience is more appealing to a larger portion of the general public, since not everyone found the flying/laying position on Firehawk to be that comfortable. The capacity is also a huge improvement over Firehawk. I appreciate Firehawk for what it did for introducing people like myself to flying coasters, but Orion is just a better ride for the park.

Very fitting for Six Flags.

Unfortunately, I believe Xcelerator's fate is pretty much inevitable regardless of any rumors. It also doesn't help that Knotts' is extremely land-locked, so they need to remove attractions if they ever plan on putting in any new ones. I would hope that Xcelerator could get the Zamperla treatment, given that TT2 has been running pretty well now, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

You're going to need a bigger drop than that...

Shipping documents were posted a few months back that described what type of attraction it is. Other than that, I think there's a possibility we may see a second attraction where breakdance was, either a new flat ride or a relocation of Skycatcher would be my guess. It seems the park is going to give this area a farm-based theme. In a similar fashion to Wind Chaser and Woodland Run, I imagine Lightning Run might also get a new name to fit with the new theme.

Since the ride is going to be indoors, we won't be able to see most of the construction. However, I think a good chunk of the Boo Blasters props will be taken out by the time the park reopens on September 19th. We may also see some removal of the haunted house facade at the front of the queue assuming the park wants to build a new theater facade in its place.

Looks to be a fun twist on the original Phantom Theater ride that also incorporates the interactive elements from Scooby Doo / Boo Blasters. If I were to guess, my bet would be that the original characters like the Maestro and No Legs Larry will appear as animatronics in the queue and ride, while the ghosts you're trying to catch will appear through screens.

So any ideas what this was about? Sally Dark Rides is the manufacturer behind Phantom Theater.

Probably, but given how much Six Flags has used A.I. with their promotional material and signage on several rides, I would expect there to be at least some A.I. used for the final product.

I saw that during my recent visit to Cedar Point as well at the Top Thrill 2 lockers. I take it those were just added?

I was fortunate enough (well, more like unfortunate) to get a ride on Son of Beast in 2008. Let's just say the experience was so bad, that it made me hate wooden coasters with a passion and I used to refuse riding any of them until 2013 or so. As for 2009, I was only 12 years old at the time and don't really have the most vivid of memories from that time period (other than being traumatized by Son of Beast the year prior), but I'll try my best. Similar to how it is today, the park still had a younger demographic of teenagers back then too, but without any chaperone policies in-place. Although there were a lot less smartphones, many still carried flip phones and iPods, so loose articles were still a major concern. Banshee, Mystic Timbers and Orion didn't exist yet, so the most popular coasters in the park were usually considered to be Diamondback, Beast and Flight of Fear. Diamondback was brand new with the red and yellow paint scheme before that faded shortly afterwards. Since Fast Lane wasn't implemented in Cedar Fair parks yet, Diamondback's Fast Lane line was originally used for single riders. Nickelodeon was also big at the park as well, their shows had a major presence in the park, not just with the kids area. It's rather hard to believe that only a year after that, Nickelodeon was completely scrubbed in favor of Peanuts. Several currently defunct rides like Son of Beast, Vortex, Firehawk, The Crypt, Thunder Alley, etc. still operated at the park. Son of Beast closed for good partway into the 2009 season, though that wasn't known at the time and many people were still optimistic that the ride could be "fixed" and reopen by the following season.

I just got my first ride on River Racers today. The first drop and upwards section was fun, but everything after that felt very slow. Most of it felt like a kiddie slide, but I did go to Splashin' Safari last month, so that might also contribute to the ride feeling underwhelming for me. Families would definitely get more enjoyment out of it, but thrill seekers will probably get more enjoyment from something like Tropical Plunge.

I still think Polaris would've been a better name than Orion. Also, was the name "Splinter Cat" actually being considered for Mystic Timbers? I remember seeing that name a lot in the 2017 decoding thread, but thought it was mainly rumors.

There's not enough space for something like that in the Boo Blasters building.