Losantiville Mining Co.

It looks like they've also been adding some more weathering to the facade! I appreciate that they did more than just changing out the windows (as happened with the conversion to Boo Blasters). I'm not terribly upset by the lack of more structural changes considering whatever might've replaced the castle could've had the same goofy look with a different shape. I wonder what they're hiding in the entry portal besides the No-Legs Larry Drama Masks and the rest of the repainted facade? Maybe a new marquee or a special surprise? The staircase was counted as one of the "scenes" on the plans that we got from the city of Mason. The semi-permanent extended queue will be really helpful and looks so much better than what the park normally does. Even the Fast Lane line looks like it has a little bit of extended queue! That's probably not as good for the standby line, but hopefully the priority ratio is handled well.

I agree with most of your points except for these ones. The area between Diamondback and the log flume, in my opinion, has no chance of being cohesive unless they are in the same thematic area and/or there is some serious work done to make those two plazas feel like one. Kings Island started this process by including that area in Camp Snoopy, but it still feels disjointed. The Diamondback theme is fine — even though it doesn't fit into the "History of Cincinnati" theme as mentioned — but it does need more trees and foliage around it. Anything to make the splashdown look less constructed. The gravel is probably good for drainage and isn't really affected by any (presumed) chemicals in the water, but there's so much manicured grass around it that makes the basin look empty. This image from Kings Island History on Facebook shows a comparison between the area in 1972 and 2019. This photo from Robbie Zerhusen shows just how many trees were still in the area around the time of Diamondback's construction. Now that I'm thinking about it, most of my problems with the splashdown are with how manicured it is. Is a giant patch of neatly cut grass good theming for a historically themed area? (Side note: The theme of Rivertown as a "History of Cincinnati" based concept is not rigid, as shown by The Beast and more by Mystic Timbers. That being said, I would still love to see more nature incorporated into the area.) As for the big box, I'd much rather it be demolished and replaced with a new expansion of Rivertown than try to shove something into it. A small but natural-looking lake, an entertainment venue and/or dining location, and a new ride would all fit around that area with ease. The largest issues would come up with the parts of the building that are directly adjacent to Diamondback's track and supports.

As long as they remember to take the Cedar Point logo and decals off and do some extra painting I think it'd be cool. The one thing I couldn't stand about Cedar Point's monster was that it had the eyes and goofy sign. I like how KI's Monster looks more old-timey (at least with the sign). One thing I really hope we get and see installed are all of the lights from their ride. It looked like they still had the lights on the rotor and some of the ones on the arms, which would help give ours more visual life!

Nice upkeep of foliage, trees, tables, trash cans, and paint all help guests feel so much better in a park. What's sad here is that — just as Matt Ouimet said — not enough industry professionals seem to understand that fact. Some things can't be immediately helped, but change can happen over the course of a few years. Something Kings Island really needs is a renewed interest in trees and foliage. Little displays like the floral calendar, carousel horse, and season-marking Eiffel Tower display (behind the Grand Carousel sign) are really nice. On the other hand the Floral Clock has been broken for a while, the Eiffel Tower topiary often looks like a... well a... poorly kept topiary. The park could also place some non-foliage-based displays if they don't want to put strain on the gardening teams. If I had to choose three areas of Kings Island to plant more trees, it would be Camp Snoopy, specifically near Franklin's Flyers Rivertown, specifically near Diamondback's entrance and near the path at the area formerly known as Swan Lake Vortex's plot (this one is very specifically foliage that a new coaster would go around and/or that would compliment a new coaster) Action Zone is somewhere on this list, but I would tie any new trees and foliage there directly into a larger area redevelopment rather than somewhere as a quick fix. I'm sure there's a worry about obstructing some sightlines and getting trees too close to coaster tracks as well.

I'm still hoping that Wild One can be saved — even if it's as a complete rebuild like the Zippin Pippin had after Libertyland closed. This also has me wondering if Six Flags will clear the site of everything they can before the ownership transfers (move all of the the operable rides and sell the rest for scrap) or include some rides in the sale and let 35V and TPA Group deal with scrapping/reopening them.

I saw a tweet that claimed [almost] nobody from the Cincinnati area has been invited to the Media Day preview: is that true? I'm not going to put much stock into it, but I've also only seen a few content creators with the invitation boxes — none of whom live in the tri-state area. The first person I saw with one was Marcus LeShock, the newscaster from Chicago; then I saw Kerney-cation, who live in Cleveland; and then I saw Jonny Amusements, who lives in the Sevierville area near Dollywood. Would it be normal to send one of these packages to local news agencies? It's been so long since they've done this and I can't remember what happened with the Mystic Timbers packages.

There's actually been some speculation on this matter and a few people have reached that same conclusion. More specifically, that's one of the reasons why folks like the hosts of GreenTagged (on YouTube) think Marilyn Spiegel was ousted from her Chairman of the Board position. It's thought that JANA Partners published their letter calling for more change because they saw certain board members that were holding the company down and were acting as a roadblock for John Reilly and his ambitious plans for Six Flags. Even if this decision was somehow too sudden for a social media post, what's the reasoning behind not putting anything else out besides a comment to the local news? Better late than never applies here too.

I know he talked to the news and that it was published in the article, I just think parks should formally announce this kind of thing on their channels via either a blog post and/or a social media post. They don't have to do exactly what Silver Dollar City is doing for ThuNderaTion, but a short blog article from the park is all I'm asking for. It's obvious (to me at least) that Silver Dollar City is doing what every park should do for a standard ride retirement. Announce the retirement at least a few months before its last day of operations. Sell some ride-specific merchandise. These don't need to be new designs, just something for the fans. Make a blog article and social media post to announce the closure and thank the ride for its service to the park. Nothing big but something to remind guests that it's the last time they'll be able to ride it. If this was not a planned closure — which it sounds like that's the case — I still think they should make a post via their official channels.

Isn't there another Eyerly Monster model that has something slightly different? I thought the other one had more/less arms or cars. It might've had a different overall shape as well. I'd be curious to know if Battech manufactures parts for that other model or not. I doubt it will be replaced with anything anytime soon. Unless they get something from Six Flags America that pad will sit empty. We also still haven't seen anything official about the ride closure directly from Cedar Point.

Owen Varga on the KI Season Pass Holders group on Facebook shared his media package and here's what he said about the secret message: I think it's probably better viewed in person, but either way it's a nice little media package!

I believe so. Their online map (on the attraction page) has already changed to reflect the new green paint.

Ok another new KI dark ride idea has popped into my head and now I must share it with all of you. A space themed dark ride could fit in Area 72 if the haunt barn and maintenance building were relocated. There is enough space at the bottom of the hill next to Orion for those relocations if the park really wanted to make it happen. This would also give Area 72 the third ride that it needs to feel more complete. I would use the suspended dark ride system from Vekoma as the conveyor and have the scenes and theming done by Sally Dark Rides. That said, I don't entirely enjoy the idea of suspended dark rides, but I think it would give it a different look and feel compared to PT:ON and my Action Theater dark ride concept. This one could be another interactive dark ride with or without some screens to save on cost. I wouldn't entirely be upset if it were a slightly upgraded SDatHC or BBoBH cutout style dark ride either now that we'll have PT:ON as the "flagship" dark ride. The space theme could be either an alien-based storyline or something related to getting out beyond the park's Orion project storyline (or whatever is left of it).

Do you think Phantom Theater is testing yet? The park has about 10 days left to get it tested and commissioned, so I'd assume they will start soon if they haven't yet. I wonder how much of the testing is getting the vehicles and animatronics moving again and how much of it is getting people in the cars to test out the flashlights. It would be interesting to know if they get enough people to fill the ride to capacity and test it or if the first time it'll be at capacity will be on the 17th. The promotional photoshoot could be one of those times to get everything tested and working as well.

I was wondering if that survey I saw online yesterday was an April Fool's joke, but I guess not. Was it too challenging to find a real photo of these types of attractions? A photo of Iron Gwazi perhaps for the hybrid coaster would've been better than the AI slop they presented. What's even weirder is that some of these images have two Google Gemini logos in the bottom right corner, slightly overlaid on each other. Do you think any of these would be a retheme for the Sesame Street Forest of Fun? The new Italy Gardens concept looks like it could either be part of that or replace another part of the Italy area. Either of the two dark rides could replace DarKoaster. I think there are also two of a ride type and two concepts for the same plot(s).

The company's all-park map has also been updated to reflect the newly completed sale. Still no official word on how Dining Plans and All-Season Fast Lane will work at the parks that were sold, but Enchanted Parks CEO James Harhi did say that if EP can't get the technology working to make add-ons work at these parks then they will offer a full refund to the affected guests. I think that would only apply to anyone who bought a pass through those parks though, so anyone who did the Canadian dollar loophole wouldn't get any money back. Enchanted Parks also said that they would like to have their new website and app ready to release around Memorial Day or early summer. Something interesting I noticed was that the press release states that EPR "intends" to partner with Enchanted Parks. I feel like "intends to partner" is a very odd way of putting it, even if it doesn't mean anything. Hopefully the meal plan issues get worked out because I want to visit some of these parks this year but don't want to buy food/drinks that I've (technically) already paid for. That would be one more factor we'd need to account for in an already tight budget.