Losantiville Mining Co.

I'm shocked that the auto collision shop that has the ride cars right now hasn't put up a wall to block the view of them from the street since it seems folks keep trespassing to see them. Here's to hoping that we'll see the ride ready for the park's Opening Day. That source from Reddit could be right on some things, but I'm still hung up on the idea that it would take two straight months of work to program the whole ride. Would they not be working all week (40 hours) every week to get it ready starting in March? If it was just Six Flags with their contractors then I might understand better, but surely it'd be Sally Dark Rides employees heading the programming efforts, right? I guess what I'm really wanting is to know how fast their other recent dark rides have taken to program — not that it's public information anyways.

While I enjoy the idea of this "perk", I don't think it's very well thought out overall. What's worse is that it's another mid-sales year (starting/ending in August) benefits switcheroo with presumably bad end results. I think it would've been better to give free BAF tickets to those "upgrade-ees" as compensation, but instead we'll now have more people packing into the Preferred Parking Lot and the VIP Lounge(s). This doesn't affect me since we bought my Gold Pass during the MVP Sale (cue the Willy Wonka "You get nothing!" line), but I'm upset for the Prestige buyers whose passes are now devalued anyways. I'm thinking the company is still not seeing pass sales like they wanted and needed to find a new way to get folks buying. I think the structure should be: Prestige — All of the current perks, except at a $300 or $400 price point Gold — All of the current perks, limited to one region (All-Parks Passport eligible), and at a $150 price point Silver — All season access with blackout dates (no more ending access at Labor Day), only access to the home park complex (Regional Park Passport and All Park Passport eligible), and at a $99 price point This structure could help with all of the folks who complain about paying for a perk (go off I guess) that they'll never use while taking the bulk of the pass base back down toward the Silver Pass. You also wouldn't have as massive of a group going for the Gold Pass just for access to Haunt and Winterfest, a reason I believe is why the Silver Pass didn't stick around at Kings Island. I saw a couple of people in the Facebook groups talking about how they're planning to call corporate as well. Do you have any ideas as to what they could give you to make up for it that isn't a partial refund/cost adjustment? Anything I can think of right now is not enough.

Do you think it could have lived up to the hype if it was better constructed and/or had a different name?

If we ever do end up losing any historic buildings/structures on the rides side of Coney Island, I'd love to see Kings Island do something to either move them to the park or recreate them in some way. I know that isn't really something Six Flags would do, but a man can dream. Otherwise I hope someone else can find a way to preserve them elsewhere in the Cincinnati area. Some ideas for relocations/somewhat faithful recreations if it ever had to come to it: Kellogg Avenue auto gate Stays where it is as the entrance to the property. If it would have to be moved/recreated, rebuild it at a new local museum. The Cincinnati area has enough history with amusement parks (between Coney Island, Chester Park, and Kings Island) that I think a dedicated museum would be justified. Picnic Grove gate I think this one could stay where it is while being recreated elsewhere. A similar structure might look really nice either somewhere along Kings Island Drive, in the back half of Coney Mall, or somewhere in a revitalized/rethemed Soak City. For the KI Drive idea, I think an inspired structure could be placed on the corner where Western Row / I-71 come together and there's currently just a giant unused field. Send it to the theoretical museum. Moonlite Gardens Of course this stays and gets revitalized. Could be recreated as a new indoor restaurant at Kings Island (see my other proposals for this). Otherwise the sign gets sent to the American Sign Museum. The other buildings and features feel like they aren't as special. I think Hampton Court served as some inspiration for the Kings Island Theater and might be harder to recreate as faithfully. Are there any known plans for the Administration Building that sits to the east of Hampton Court? It doesn't look the most upkept in photos from the past 15 years.

I think the word you were looking for is switchbacks (or cattle pens). That space could use a good renovation to fit more seats in it anyways. I do fully believe that it'd be best to use that space for any extended queue. The A/C situation would still worry me — we've seen how the Festhaus gets with its doors sometimes always open — so I'd love to see some giant fans in there if it comes to be true. The Reddit source might be right on some of the points. Now that you've mentioned more about it, I could understand how the connection of all of the effects could take that long. If the park decides to do some technical rehearsal soft openings then they might want to look at how Universal and Disney have handled theirs. I personally hope they don't have any because I don't want to choose between soft opening and real opening, but let's be real I think I'd go for whatever is available. Technical rehearsals would also help to sort out any potential issues with the flashlights, animatronics, and screens.

I'd hate to lose that indoor theater space to an extended queue, but it would also mean more air conditioned and shaded temporary queue space. Although, if it does get turned into extended queue the doors would probably stay open and ruin the effectiveness of the A/C system. Does it really take 2 months to program a dark ride of this size? I haven't seen anything from similar projects, but that feels like a long time.

I've heard the reason for the Coney Arcade lights staying on is because they do a really good job of lighting the midway for security and general purposes. They might also stay on for the same reason The Racer's chaser lights and the Eiffel Tower lights stay on: to retain some of the park atmosphere during the off-season. I can't remember if Vortex's chaser lights stayed on every night, but I'd love to find out.

If it were to be the major expansion for a year then I'd really like to see the park also complete a little refresh of Planet Snoopy as well. Lots of new paint and signage (and maybe a few new trees) would do wonders for the area. Fixing the concrete would help too. As for 2026, another thing I'd like to see the park take on is a renewed effort in landscaping. They always do a wonderful job with the foliage, but it's felt like something has been missing these past few years. Maybe I really just want to see more done with the walkway between International Street, Coney Mall, and Rivertown like we had in 2011.

I'll be honest, this is a much better location for the Farmer Music Center than I had originally thought. I was under the belief that it would be occupying some space on the midway. This location in the West Parking Lot still leaves the original midway and some of the buildings for future use. There's even plenty of space left along the midway for a nice carousel and some food vendors (I'm only somewhat kidding). With the Moonlite Gardens sitting condemned since 2019, I really hope they can do something to restore it and make it useable again. If it's just the floors that are the issue then it may be a relatively easier fix than if the entire structure is having issues. As unlikely as it is, I really would love to see some of Coney Island used for more than just festivals and events at some point in the future. Unless the plans call for more land to be used, there's room for the aforementioned carousel, a couple other flat rides, and a small roller coaster (not that the owners would be into that, though). The massive loss of the Sunlite Pool won't be remedied any time soon, but I think it could still be a nice little family park again. Heck, they could even rent it out for a majority of the year like Stricker's Grove does if the demand is there.

It feels a little too likely that they will either have a random soft opening or announce an opening date within a week of the official opening. One big upset of it opening in May would be not having that heated indoor attraction during the beginning of the Spring season. What do you think could be the holdup (if it is true)? They've been working on this project since September and there were already some pieces manufactured at that point. Is it more likely to be on Kings Island/the contractor's end or could it be a Sally Dark Rides issue?

Kings Island also didn't have the flat ground readily available like Cedar Point did. Maybe if they tore something big out or leveled an area, but that would've taken far too long.

I thought this was the current theme, is it not? Back to the Phantom Theater construction progress: Did the International Street camera used to be higher up where we could see the alleyway behind Sweet Spot, or am I thinking of photos taken from the Eiffel Tower/something else? Also, how do we think the set pieces and animatronics are being shipped? Inside of a semi truck trailer/box truck up I-75? I think that would be the best method of transportation, but I also generally don't know how they could ship everything.

It looks like the structure of Snowflake Lake is now entirely disassembled and crews are back to working on removing everything from International Street. I wonder if there will be any other projects going on around the park this offseason. Last year the big projects were RiverRacers, Splash River Junction, renovations to the security plazas, the KI Trading Co. renovation, the addition of the Carousel Pavilion, and the various restroom renovations. Could we see anything beyond Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare and the KI Essentials renovation?

Oh, don't get me wrong I also have a lot of faith in SDR. Everything I've seen so far makes me believe that they will get it done in time for Opening Day, especially if they just need to install sets and such once it gets to the park. I'd assume that most of the major interior renovations were completed with the electrical work (whenever that was posted) and the rest is paint and installation. The parts that didn't look ready for installation were the lobby (queue) and exterior. As for the set pieces we know how some of the scenes look, like the dressing room hallway, parts of the prop room/boiler room, and one of Maestro's organs. I have a theory that the giant pipe organ that used to be between the living room and the dungeon will be reused in that same spot in the new ride. One thing I'm still curious about is how the scoring system will be handled. Will each score be on a screen at the end like in the Justice League rides, or just in each car like it's always been?

The exterior feels like something that would be last on the list, although I think they should really just get started whenever the weather clears up enough to actually start working. Nobody wants mid-April to come around and there still be a ton of missing paint/stucco/railings. Cedar Fair/Six Flags' track record for opening attractions on time has been absolutely abysmal these past few years, so I hope they're trying their best to keep to schedule. Would the crews installing the interior be the same ones working on the exterior? If not then I'd hope they can work concurrently rather than needing work on one to be done before the other begins. We haven't seen anything about PT:ON potentially being ready by Opening Day either, but hopefully the plan is to have it open with the park. I feel like in years past (pre-2021) we would've heard about a first rider charity auction by now as well.

I think the best solution would be to make it more like a Buc-ee's men's restroom with urinals on one side, where they are currently; stalls on the other side, where the sinks currently are; and sinks in the center, where that massive open area (that often also gets slippery for whatever reason) currently is. The largest hurdle would be ensuring that there is enough space for wheelchairs to traverse the restroom. I like the idea of turning Build-A-Bear into a second dedicated IP shop, though IIRC the Peanuts characters cannot be shown next to non-Peanuts IP so the park would need to choose which to display. One of the renderings for KI Essentials does specifically show a Snoopy bubble wand on a circular rack. Something to note: The store at the front of the park is the KI Trading Company while the store in Rivertown is the DB Trading Post. Both are fine as they currently exist, but I felt the need to ensure we made the right distinction either way. I'd hate to see BAB go in DBTP because it would get rid of the only large store in Rivertown. It would also feel out of place, like how Panda Express does for some in the Festhaus.

I've always thought of KI Essentials being more of a "forgot something? Get it here" store for medicine and some outerwear for the park.

I once saw a comment (a while ago) that said "Only poor parks buy from B&M. You never see Disney, Universal, or even Herschend installing them these days: just Cedar Fair, Six Flags, and SeaWorld". While it's true that those chains don't buy much from that manufacturer, I don't think it's just because those chains are "rich" while the others are "poor". It doesn't plague whoever installs their coasters, rather, the parks with a lot of B&Ms tend to be more amusement-focused and generally need more variety. That variety is filled by B&Ms in addition to manufacturers like Mack, Vekoma, and Intamin. Either way, I agree that I'd rather not see The Vortex plot filled by another B&M. A wing coaster would be nice and a looping sit-down coaster would fill the hole left by Vortex, but I'd much rather see KI's next coaster be something that doesn't have a direct comparison at Cedar Point. The park also has three B&Ms with one of those being compared to another on public forums. As much as I like this idea, I think that area of Coney Mall needs a major re-imagining that could only really work well with a midway realignment. It would certainly be cheaper to permanently enclose the covered seating area. With what's there right now you can tell that the midway — which has two "lanes" along the rest of its length — is abruptly stopped and cut off by KMAA, leading to a choke point and a dead zone from Zephyr up to Jukebox Diner. Aside from the cost of a new indoor restaurant akin to the Brewhouse and to a lesser extent the Grand Pavilion, the rest of the realignment would occupy already existing midway space. A new flat ride could also fit into the space with the Associate break area (with that being moved). Hopefully y'all can understand my issue with that specific chokepoint.

I don't agree with the statements on the park not needing more attendance at all. While the park may get busy more often than not, we live in a world where consistent additions and upgrades are almost required to keep a place like Kings Island popular. Without that year-after-year constant investment I'd start to think we were becoming more like Dorney Park or Kings Dominion than Cedar Point and Carowinds. We'll see more on how that might turn out after this year if Cedar Point does indeed finally take a year off from additions. As for bringing back Grad Nite, I think it'd be a good thing to try out again. Kings Island has gone through so much change since its last Grad Nite event and the habits of high school seniors has also changed. The park also has a stronger security presence, so if anything starts up there is a better chance of catching it before it's too late. This would also only take up 1-2 nights each year, therefore not adding to the number of people in the park during the day. Any additional guests would likely be those who would already come with their school during a standard park field trip. I personally went on the trip during my senior year of high school and had to contend with all of the other seniors in addition to all of the families who were already at the park for the day. If anything, adding a Grad Nite would take guests out of the park and make it less busy during the day in exchange for it being closed early for a special event one night per year. It would be amazing if we could also get one or two other one-night special events each year to help bring in more money for the park.

I realize some of these photos are posting much larger than intended and I don't know how to shrink them so please bear with me! Kings Dominion still has theirs, although it's been sized down to that little spot between the trees on each side and uses the current logo. It's still big enough for a family photo, though. That park has a much better entrance plaza as well because of how centered it is compared to Kings Island's entrance plaza with how it feels like the entire left side of KI's entrance plaza is cut off from the rest of it. If there is ever a big front gate renovation then I hope that can be resolved with a little bridge that goes across the creek and through the trees (losing those trees is also my biggest issue with the idea of a front gate coaster). The area circled in yellow might not work as well because of the shaping of the hill right there and the visibility as Orion-XL200 pointed out, but could be good if they mirrored it on the other side like Kings Dominion did with theirs. I'd be more open to a sign going in that center circle if they could do it better than Cedar Point and Carowinds did theirs. The one at Worlds of Fun looks much better, although theirs also has the hot air balloon tying back into their park theme — something that Kings Island might not be able to do as well without putting a mini Eiffel Tower up. As for International Street proper, I think an easy way to help it (besides a new front entrance sign and/or more vintage fixtures like it originally had) would be to add two relatively small planters on either side of the giant plaza once you get into the gate. There would still be enough space for guests, parades, and emergency/maintenance vehicles; there would just also be something that breaks up that vast expanse of pavers. It could also serve as a little bench for a few people during the fireworks shows.

You hit the nail right on the head before I could finish my post tonight. Orion with more airtime is just a faster Diamondback with different trains. A lot of folks online already compare the two heavily, so making them more alike would've only made it more underwhelming for guests IMO. Leviathan and Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland are in a very similar boat to Orion and Diamondback, and yet aren't as similar. The biggest difference between Leviathan and Orion seems to be the layout with the former's L-shape and the latter's straight out-and-back shape. They both have a near-90 degree wave turn, some airtime hills, a similar turnaround, and a tall brake run. Leviathan doesn't have a helix and Orion has one less airtime hill. I wonder if Orion could've done better if it was more L-shaped and 100' longer?

I see now where I was getting confused. I keep reading about ROI and take it to mean official numbers like attendance and ticket sales while others are talking about how Orion doesn't "live up to what it should have" in guest sentiment. The argument of enthusiasts vs. general public is well-beat, but I'd like to propose another question. If the upper management had the data on how well their 4 other giga coasters had done overall and what made guests enjoy them, why did they approve a design that a) barely reached the "correct" height to qualify as a giga, and b) did not include enough airtime/speed/forces? Guests enjoy the speed and forces of Millennium Force and Fury 325. The general public doesn't enjoy the forces of Pantherian as much, but the height and speed are still there. Also, would a few more feet on the drop really have made it any more intimidating for families? If Millennium Force can do so much with its 300' drop, why was Orion designed with the same 300' drop and yet apparently does so little? I'd love to read some thoughts as to how Orion could've had more airtime while only having 100' less track length than Leviathan. I'd argue that Carowinds was in the same "family park" boat as Kings Island before they added Fury 325. Kings Island had an answer for most of their large coasters before Fury 325 was added as well with Afterburn/Banshee, Intimidator (Thunder Striker)/Diamondback, Thunder Road/The Racer, Nighthawk/Firehawk, Carolina Cyclone/KI's Vortex, and even Carolina Cobra (Flying Cobras)/Invertigo. Carowinds didn't have an answer for The Beast and Kings Island didn't have an answer for Carowinds' stand-up Vortex. What factors made one family park so different from the other? Is Kings Island going to continue to receive middle-of-the-road thrill coasters because it's a "family park", despite largely having the same lineup as Carowinds? If the guest sentiment is that Diamondback is better than Orion, why do we keep saying that the next KI coaster should be a family coaster with examples that pale in comparison to Diamondback? Y'all can tell me that the overall cost was prohibitive (it was) and that the company didn't want to upstage Millennium Force and Fury 325 (that probably wasn't a factor but go off I guess), but I feel like there were more factors that led to Orion being stunted than have been put together in one post. I really want to understand all of the factors while unpacking these arguments and questions. I'll also maintain my thought that adding a nice inversion to Orion's layout would've made it more interesting for families and enthusiasts alike while differentiating itself from other gigas.

This is part of what I found interesting with my earlier posts to this topic thread (and what I was attempting to point out). I thought the light strands came down much sooner while the Winterfest sign stayed up later. Last year I feel like it didn't come down until the beginning of March, though I could be misremembering that. There are also more lights turned off across the park tonight than usual. The big signs on the Coney Arcade are off as well as some of the lights in Planet Snoopy that are normally on. I also find it curious that there are still some Christmas lights on in the trees — those seem like they would be easy to unplug and cut their relatively minimal power usage out from the electric bills. I wish I'd gotten on sooner to see that potential ride arm on the pad! It's been a busy few days for me so I've really only been looking at the webcams at night. It looks like the crews didn't get all of the Snowflake Lake structure removed, which makes me wonder if they're coming back tomorrow morning or if they just wanted to get most of it down sooner.

I'm disappointed that they didn't do anything to change the theme, but I think that's to be expected from Universal and Disney these days. At least the new Six Flags might be stepping away from cloned themes like this for the forseeable future.

Yes but imagine the possibilities that could come true if they tore down Jukebox Diner... My issue with a Big Bear Mountain-style ride is that it would't really add anything back to the park's skyline and would be another family coaster that adds zero inversions to the lineup. Also, as much as I really like adding Coney Island references (as you can see), I feel like Shooting Star and a drive-in theme is not entirely the direction the park should take. I named the Ghostrider "Wildstar" because it seemed like a good placeholder that combined both of Coney's big wood coaster names from "Wildcat" and "Shooting Star". While it could attract some nostalgia points, I don't think it would be the best move. That being said, it would fit with the precedent set by Adventure Port coming from Hank's Burrito Shack. Despite not being what I'd personally like, it would use that precedent of theming an area after a restaurant rather than the other way around.