johnjniehaus

I would love to see holiday overlay however, I would settle to just have more rides/coasters operating during WF. I'm not extremely knowledgeable about the older rides VS Ohio winter temps but if there was any way to have additional coasters running, I would love to see that - especially Adventure Express as winterfest is usually more family focused and it would fit that target audience extremely well

Would have been nice if somehow they had all the drummers working for the new pov (I noticed at least two that were sleeping on the job). Also, does anyone have any idea what ever happened to those spinx looking heads/masks that were formerly on the first lift hill? Back in the winter/spring KI posted a picture of them repainted on social media and they haven't been seen or heard of since as far as I know...

I am really excited to see what future years hold...vekoma is making some really good looking coasters and I hope we see a return of their projects to the US.

Don is a great guy and I'm glad there's going to be another buc-ee's in the neighborhood. Whatever Don is doing now or wherever life has taken him I just want to say he was one of the best in the industry and he will be missed but I'll always remember his blog posts, interviews, and updates on the park!

Did we ever get any announcement from Knott's?

I personally think they will push off The Vortex plot even longer. There's been no hurry to fill it thus far and I don't think they will be in a hurry in the future either. I personally think we see a Soak City addition next year or perhaps a boo blaster revamp/new dark ride in crypt building come to fruition in 2025. I could definitely see them holding off until 2027 or 2028 before filling the hole left by Vortex

Looks like a really cool book! There's so many untold stories in the amusement park industry. Just imagine if someone like John Allen or Anton Schwarzkopf had written a book about the different coaster projects they completed.

I rode the boo blaster at Carowinds and while I can't speak for CW or KD I can say the Carowinds one seems better maintained and the scoring system is better. It shows that boo blaster at KI was a repurposed Omni mover formerly known as phantom Theater. I have thought all year that maintenance on boo blaster at KI has been bad with a lot of animatronics and strobe lights not working, guns not working, scoring system not registering type issues.

I personally think that we will see something big for 2025 but it won't be a rollercoaster. I think the park is in no hurry to replace Vortex at this point and 2026/27/28 is probably more likely. I could see them doing Phantom Theater 2025 as a big expensive addition or perhaps they do a new dark ride with the tomb raider building. Obviously we have no Idea what rides could be removed in the coming year....

My only concern is that they will require you to have a kid to ride this... hopefully it's like flying ace and Woodstock Express where adults can ride too without stealing someone's kid

I'm curious as to where the line is drawn on what rides are in Camp and what rides are in Planet. I would love to see flying ace and log flume in camp but I think they could also repaint Linus launcher and Woodstock gliders to incorporate them into camp snoopy so that everything in that back corner from Soap Box to Log flume would then be in camp snoopy

Wouldn't it be ironic if Snoopy's soapbox racer closed at 9 due to budget cuts since it'll be in the back of "Planet Snoopy"

I've been for it all along too! Part of me wonders if they could do a phantom Theater themed madhouse in Rivertown using the crypt building and giving it a new facade. It would tie in nicely with the antique photos anyway! Again I'm not sure if you could cover the amount of story/characters of Phantom in a satisfactory way with a madhouse but it's just one of those ideas you have when you're up till 3am on the eve of the Kings Island announcement day

Alright, well after KI disappointed all us Phantom diehard fans with the 2024 Camp Snoopy announcement today let's keep this topic alive and hope for Phantom Theater 2025!

As for Camp Snoopy, I think it was predictable and my hopes are that a smaller addition in 2024 means a bigger one in 2025 (Phantom Theater or Vortex replacement). The new coaster looks fun and I really hope they repaint flying ace to incorporate it better into the new area. Obviously if log ride can be tied in that would be ideal as well! I guess holiday World no longer gets the bragging rights to opening the only junior boomerang in US now.

Absolutely! If vekoma does well with this coaster hopefully the park would consider building one of their next gen coasters for The Vortex plot in the near future

Anyone have any clue what time the announcement will be?

I've always been a bit curious about having a dive and floorless in the same park seeing as to me anyway they are similar rides. However, this little dive machine looks like it'll actually be pretty sweet! Dorney is a great park as it is but this will give them another coaster that is different than their competitors. Congrats to Dorney Park on a coaster many years overdue!

First, I would change the fact that the train runs only one train with 3 carriages (cut capacity 75%). If you are going to only use one of our beautiful engines please use all the carriages. I hate when they don't race The Racer. I understand not racing when it's not busy bet there's plenty of weekdays they could race it and don't. One train ops are terrible I don't care what coaster it is but it sucks!

If Kings Island monitors these forums at all they know that the true fans of the original attraction would never settle for an all screen version with no physical sets or characters. There was an interesting POV posted on another page that shows how screens and physical props could be used together however a ride with this much nostalgia behind it needs to be done right or not at all.

I personally expect a waterpark or Planet Snoopy addition or both. Definitely not a new coaster (unless it's a kiddy one) seeing as Top Thrill Two is opening next year at CP. Of course my personal pick would be a return of phantom Theater but I hardly see that happening unless it was already in the works following 2022 anniversary season and was delayed for some reason causing them to scramble for something new for 2023 resulting in Adventure Port. So unless the "phantom project" of the delayed phantom Theater is actual fact, I don't see that happening this year.

Yeah that ride looks great but I agree that there's something about everything being physical animatronics and props. I'm not 100% opposed to a mix of affects but I'm still in love with the "old school" way of creating dark rides

"This path is disgusting!" "The litter here is very bad" "Guests are complaining about the amount of litter in your park"

I'm excited to see how this compares to the original. Some aspects I think I'll prefer on TT2 but others I'll prefer the original. I know I'll enjoy the longer ride time and multi launch elements because I did really enjoyed Pantheon at BGW. However, I think I'll slightly miss the 0-120 in 4sec because it was such a rush. Telling you right now that name is terrible! "Hey guys let's go ride Top Thrill Two!" isn't happening I'll still refer to the ride as "The Dragster" like I always have.

There's pros and cons I think. Will it be a great ride yes! The new design still delivers 400' tall top hat and speeds of 120mph and I think capacity has potential to be better. I like that the ride time is extended seeing as the original was over so quickly. The ride is going to be huge (literally) when it opens. Here's what I find disappointing, (1) The "rollback" element won't be a a full rollback because the launch won't send you as high up the top hat before rolling back. (2)The name is terrible! So tacky and unoriginal. If they were going to be lazy they should have just called it Dragster and been done. Everyone I know always shortened the name to The Dragster anyway. Now I have to say "hey guys let's go ride Top Thrill Two?" Doesn't roll off the tongue very well. (3)the launch is obviously more gradual so while I'll enjoy the new ride, you won't exactly get that rush of 0-120 in 4sec anymore. (4) obviously with Zamperla we don't know what to expect but if this is anything like Pantheon or other mulit launchers with switch tracks, it will have a ton of downtime. Dragster already had its share of maintenance and downtime issues but I have to say I'm not looking forward to standing in a 2-3hr line and this breaking down.