johnjniehaus

I too like some of the others on here thought the Phantoms were too "cute" or "friendly" when I first saw them but the design has grown on me. In the original they were borderline creepy and I think that's the difference in the two attractions - original phantom they were meant to be creepy and haunted. The new one they are supposed to be engaging characters once again but they are a bit more family friendly. I think it has the potential to be a great ride and as I have said before I think it's great that people are being creative and not just bringing back a 30 year old ride. I know we still have beloved old dark rides at Disney or Knoebels but when you are creating something new for today's audiences I think it's natural that it changes a bit from what the expectations of a dark ride were in 1992. Oh I also don't think I've mentioned yet that I think the red "box seats" or doom buggies look better than even the original ones did. The greyish blue was classic of course but the red gives it a real restored theater vibe. Really digging the red ride vehicles

Absolutely they don't look the same but I think everyone knows that even if they create a carbon copy of the original somehow it still wouldn't be as good in the eyes of the original fans. So pleasing the original fans is not the goal. The goal is to bring back characters that are popular in park lore and to create a ride that original fans will enjoy because it's a new version of the original and create something that appeals to the average guest and to kids because while I know phantom theater is located on international Street technically it's so close to Planet Snoopy that alot of kids go through that building

Oh I don't disagree but let's face it times are changing and they aren't giving parks new additions like they used to with the exception of Cedar Point. I'm not saying I agree with them not investing in a other major coaster I'm just saying it can always get worse. At least they are still improving our water park, giving us a "new" section of the kids area, and bringing back a beloved dark ride. I look at a park such as Great Adventure that lost nearly 8 rides I believe since 2022 and I say, I'm so thankful we're not that park because there's always a worse end of the stick to get. Kings Island might not be the top flagship investment park it historically has been but at least so far I would say they haven't screwed us like they have some of the smaller parks and how they did great adventure

Isn't that the truth! We might complain because Kings Island has historically gotten new coasters more often but looking at some of the other parks like Michigan's Adventure and Six Flags St Louis - yeesh it's been almost two decades since they got anything good

Orion has been successful but when it comes down to giga/hyper comparison, Cedar Point and Carowinds have a better grasp on two different rides. I think Orion gets hate amongst enthusiasts me included for being too similar to Diamondback. The large airtime hills just do the exact same thing. For example let's take Cedar Point - hyper is airtime machine and the giga is the positive g speed machine. Take Carowinds - hyper is light floater airtime and Fury is low to the ground speed mixed with some airtime. Orion suffers from not having that speed element distinction from Diamondback much how behemoth and leviathan feel very similar (so what if one of them is a little bit taller?) point is that layout wise Orion and Diamondback are both modified out and back layouts that focus on big airtime hills. Literally very few difference and that's why it gets all the hate it does. Having said that it's still my #3 in the park and it was an improvement from Firehawk albeit less unique in the lineup. So I think for me it was a more than worthy replacement and if CGA hadn't run into permits and permission issues one must consider that we very well might not have gotten a giga at all so their loss was our gain

Great to see some progress being made in dragon coaster... hopefully Lakeside in Denver can get their cyclone coaster open again too

Yeah I think that $350 seems fair. As with most collectibles it's only worth what someone will pay for it. Probably not a gold mine but definitely a very cool piece of history from the park!

Any updates on monster recently?

Sorry y'all I've been busy and haven't been able to get a trip report in for when I went to Magic Mountain Holiday in the Park with my partner on black Friday. So here it goes - Started the day with an awesome ride on Viper after seeing that X2 and Revolution were both at an hour wait due to one train ops. Viper is still kicking butt after all these years and I have never found it to be that rough. It desperately needs a paint job but I did hear they recently replaced the lift chain so at least it seems they plan to keep it around a while longer. Probably the last big arrow looper left along with TN Tornado at Dollywood. Loch Ness and Viper at Darien Lake are good rides but they don't hit those high speeds and have the twisting layout of multiple odd types of inversions. Viper is the only arrow looper that actually reminds me of Vortex. We hit the magic mover up the hill and grabbed a ride on tastu which is still my favorite flying coaster. Then we headed to Ninja and rode once in the front and once in the back. Next was my #400th credit Apocalypse which I did find somewhat enjoyable after hearing lots of complaints about the roughness from other friends and enthusiasts. We then went to Gotham City and rode Riddler's Revenge, the bumper cars, the round up flat, Batman, and the new wonder woman coaster. At this point it got darker and the Christmas lights came on. We snagged a ride on Goliath and then did the buccaneer and swashbuckler flats. We knew we didn't have enough time to brave the long lines for Twisted Colossus, Full Throttle, or West Coast Racers seeing as they were all definitely over an hour or possibly even two hours. We went back to the front and revolution was walk on so we rode it and it's a surprisingly good night ride. We also did the carousel, two night rides on ninja, one night ride on Viper, and then waited 90 minutes for X2 at the end of the night (still with one train ops). Overall it was a good day at the park and we got to hit a lot of the flats that I ignored on my previous visit in 2022. We ended up riding Ninja a total of 4 times because it might be the last time I get to ride it seeing as it's definitely showing age and they are building the new Vekoma prototype suspended coaster. Ninja is my second favorite arrow suspended after The Bat at KI and it's going to be sad when they eventually decide to remove it. I think when we go down to LA for the holidays next year we're hoping to go to Knott's. I'm unofficially boycotting them until they get Montezuma's Revenge open so I'm hopeful that we see more progress on that project now that track is reportedly going vertical. Hope everyone is having a great start to 2026 and looking forward to many more exciting trips and coaster riding this year!

Whichever doesn't smell like p!ss these days sorry to say. When I went to Carowinds last spring they had spotless bathrooms and I saw at least three different employees cleaning them and wiping down the mirrors and sinks while I was there...KI might have better coasters but Carowinds has the best bathrooms in my experience

Interesting because in my experience the CP one tasted better. But I think we can all agree panda express is better portions and flavors outside the park. KI just has so many better options these days. The food has come a very long way in the park even from when I started going regularly in 2011

Did anyone else interpret the new teaser video of mentioning a new exterior for the building? (I thought they said something about it)

It might do well but it's arguably the worst panda express I've ever been to. I sometimes go there and every time regret using my dining plan on it because KI has much better options

It would be wild to me to imagine KI removing FoF before removing Invertigo or The Bat but obviously anything is possible... I do wonder if they removed FoF I'd hope they would replace it with another indoor coaster using the same building.

I'd say you are right but somehow we still have Invertigo even after the six flags cuts...so maybe there's hope

I think FoF should get a refurb sometime soon like Adventure Express did. I think that mini area 72 land is nice but obviously FoF is showing its age and it used to be one of the best coasters in the park but it's been slipping slightly over the years because it's rattle is pretty bad now. The KD version is still amazing albeit feels slightly slower to me. I think we all know Invertigo doesn't have a ton of time left although thankfully they do seem like they are trying to baby it along and keep it running. Don't see that ride getting any sort of major refurbishment. We're just lucky they haven't removed it yet

Hopefully they at a minimum change the facade

Any way to post that here with a spoiler heading so those of us who want to see can and those who want to keep it a secret can not see it? Or maybe start a new sub discussion in a different thread? I like most people have never been able to find the info on Mason's permit office

One can wish right!

Part of me really does hope the pods get a different color paint other than black. Black of course is classic but having an additional color could be very classy

I pity the social media person who is working so late

So....where is it? Nearly 4pm and we still got nothing?

So....where is it? Nearly 4pm and we still got nothing?

Who's ready for the next reveal?

Definitely looking more classy already