Losantiville Mining Co.

It's a little hard to see anything from the webcams, but the fence is still up and it looks like the central rotor is the only part back on the pad. I did just notice that the path between Coney Bar-B-Que and the Scrambler does line up nicely with the Monster. There is, of course, the planter separating that path from the ride, but it's nice to notice something like this in a park I already know so well!

If the company does it right, I think they could pair raising season pass prices with a rebrand away from the Six Flags name. That would at least give them a visible excuse as to why they're doing it as a "new company". It will be interesting to see how soon any immediate changes come to Kings Island from having the new CEO and Chairman.

I believe some of that pink slime is some kind of soap residue, unless we've been experiencing a Ghostbusters II scenario without me noticing.

If I recall correctly the name comes from Enchanted Forest Water Safari. The park names themselves may be something else (these trademarks feel like a way to get their foot in the door) and could each end up being a secondary name (aside from St. Louis). I would imagine any new names might follow the existing scheme and come out to Enchanted Michigan's Adventure and Enchanted Worlds of Fun (assuming they also purchase WoF). It is interesting that these trademark applications were filed for the IC 025 class for clothing and merchandise instead of the IC 041 class for Amusement Park Services like park names are. This could be to get a little bit of a head start on making merch. I think the IC 041 trademark application will come closer to when any actual sale is announced. There's been a little speculation online about this potentially being an owner-manager situation where Enchanted Parks simply takes over the management of these parks — especially since most of them are water parks — however I don't see that happening. I think it's possible that these parks could be spun off into their own company if they get flipped. There could be enough traction for them to operated independently. The operating budgets of larger prospective buyers would be about where they are now under Six Flags IMO. Most of the larger operators (Herschend, Merlin Entertainment, Six Flags, and United Parks) either just bought up a bunch of properties or are not doing too well financially. This is another reason why I feel like they could be spun off into their own company. This one is hard for me to find a good answer for. These parks are good enough as small to mid-size regional parks and any downsizing could work against them. I don't think it would be a good idea to make the water parks be owned independently from the dry parks in these particular situations, but it's clear that this area of guest experience is not particularly Six Flags' forte.

I'd love to see Kings Island get an Island Nights event, though I don't entirely know how they would make it different from the Boardwalk Nights (CePo), KC Nights (WoF), Great American Nights (SFGAm), Knott's Summer Nights (KBF), Summer Nights (DP) etc. events. The park also presumably still has all of the items for Grand Carnivale, so if they can't get another event it would probably be cheapest to stick with GC for another year. Of course, the cheapest option would be to not hold any festivals, but I think Six Flags would remove festivals from all of the non-core parks before touching KI's. Something I'm a little saddened by is the fact that it looks like California's Great America may not get to have a 50th Anniversary event this year. Both Valleyfair and Chicago's (SF) Great America have talked about their 50th anniversary and have also put out anniversary logos. California's Great America hasn't released anything. Could this be a result of them being late to the party or is Six Flags really just not going to let them celebrate like everyone else has been able to? They already didn't host any festivals in 2025, so it's easier for me to believe they'll do worse than the bare minimum for that park. At least Kings Dominion got to have a little bit of hope for their 50th anniversary this year.

That one would be so easy to expand within the current footprint as well. I think there's enough space to add at least 4 more stalls while putting the sinks in the middle of the room. Only having one stall in your front restroom is criminal.

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I really want to see more 4D coasters overall. The 4D Freespins look interesting, but they feel more like the newest version of a Wild Mouse rather than something that could be special like X2 is. I'd also love to see more innovation in terms of a new suspended coaster (complete with swinging cars). It feels like any issues with the track strain were written off as unsolvable. Manufacturers and parks going with "safe" designs is good for the status quo, but I really want to see some more innovation — even if it's just new takes on old models. As for a Flight of Fear overhaul, I wonder what kind of theming could be added inside of the bowl beyond uplights and maybe a soundtrack. One of the easier options could probably be a light ring "tunnel" on the MCBR and some pinpoint star lights. Something to make it a little more than just a coaster in a relatively dark box. How snappy would the launch out of the station be with a launch conversion? I know it would probably keep the speed and snappiness, but for some reason I have the idea in the back of my mind that it would be weaker. The launch is perhaps the biggest "wow" factor of the ride experience for me and I hope any conversion would be able to maintain that.

I have to agree with you on this (although from the perspective of someone much younger). It's much more difficult for parks to design and build anything "new" these days without breaking the bank or being gimmicky. We're still dealing with the results from the Coaster Wars as well, so a lot of enthusiasts still have expectations that can never feasibly be met. I think Kings Island in particular could innovate more by adding advanced theming to their new rides until they are back in a position to install another "first of its kind" or similar.

Can you expand more on how changing the hours helps to define a park more as a "family theme park" as opposed to an "amusement/thrill park"? Is it in the fact that families might leave earlier in the night compared to those who go to an amusement park? The line between "amusement park" and "theme park" is very blurry at this scale of company. The new Six Flags lists all of their parks as "theme parks", despite only having a few that could actually qualify with Canada's Wonderland, Fiesta Texas, Kings Dominion, and Kings Island. A few other SF parks could probably also qualify for the title (maybe CePo and Caro) but the Six Flags brand is pretty much "generic amusement park". Other regional parks like Dollywood and other pre-Palace Herschend parks definitely qualify because of their abundant theming, but they also have similar lineups to the Busch parks in terms of balancing theming with thrills.

This is one of the reasons why I'm glad Kings Island has (so far) opted to keep their 10AM-10PM operating schedule for most of the summer. It's a rough time for the amusement industry right now so any changes like this have started to worry me. Hopefully Herschend — seemingly the strongest regional operator in North America — just made this decision because they think it will work better for the park and not because they needed to cut hours.

I feel like turning this area into a "second gate" for Soak City wouldn't be too hard if Six Flags willed it. They would need to relocate the bathhouse and lockers, but the area is big enough for turnstiles and a new waiting area for the train. It solves the issue of managing the different routes as well. A lot of the legacy Six Flags parks already have a similar setup where you enter the separately-ticketed waterpark through the dry park. It would receive a lot of backlash, but so did the upcharge for mazes. This could at least stay as being included for season passholders which would reduce the total amount of backlash. Maybe some if there's any additional profit then it could go toward expanding the waterpark quicker. I bet paying for a relatively cheaper Soak City-only ticket might entice some of the Coney Island folks to at least check out Soak City. Realistically I think SC could also just use more expansion in general with how packed I've heard it's been in recent years. A full retheme would also be up there on my list of wants for the waterpark.

Reply in the spoiler box to separate my thoughts. I'd love to see if the park has anything new planned for 2026 besides the debut of Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare. This year will be the reset of some Live Entertainment 2-year contracts (at least 2 years is the show turnover pattern), so any changes to that lineup would be nice to see. I don't really think we'll see a Phantom Theater Encore 2 show to go with the new ride, but I wouldn't be upset to find out something like that was in the works. More restroom renovations and Soak City upgrades would also be very good. Beyond 2026 I still think the park could find a good way to capitalize on the fact that Soak City still has room to expand its capacity. They might even be able to work on trying to attract some of the crowd that went to Coney Island every summer. Do you think we'll see Soak City be moved to a separate ticket in 2026 or 2027? I feel like the renovations required for this change would not be as hard to complete as others think. Most of it could probably be contained to the Soak City station area as well.

Winterfest has been one of the best holiday events in the US and delightfully maintained that status this year. I'd like to point out that there was another show that only ran in 2017 called "Twas the Plight Before Christmas". It was housed in the Skyline Pavilion and had a cast of at least 4-6. That structure feels like it might be an easy option to add the temporary walls and heaters to, especially if they can find an easy way to hang the walls and heaters during the quick transition. More indoor spaces would be very welcome at the park in general. If the Action Theater was ever brought back (either as two theaters or a new dark ride entirely) they could use it again — although I'd advocate for WindSeeker's removal first to bring back the plaza. My current idea is for a dark ride themed to a runaway trolley to pay homage to the historical Trolley Parks that led the way for modern amusement parks. Rivertown could also use an indoor/covered theater. It'd be nice if they could find a spot for an extra indoor warming station like Canada's Wonderland has for their Winterfest. The only idea I won't entertain is that Krampus-themed Winterfest haunt maze people keep suggesting in the Facebook groups. I particularly enjoyed the shows this year. Tinker's Jingle Bell Ball was simply amazing and brought us a new story. What the Dickens returned even better than ever! Despite my questions about the odd change with the costumes, Swingin' Into Christmas remained in my top 3 shows. Jingle Jazz definitely needs either a new setup in that area of Rivertown or to be turned 90 degrees counterclockwise so the audience isn't all in the pathway. The other shows (being Songs of the Nativity, Yuletide Follies, and It's Christmas, Charlie Brown) were all good from what I was able to see. They do need to turn the string lights on in the Carousel Pavilion, though. It was so dark and cold under that canopy throughout the entire event. I feel like the Holly Jolly Trolley would do better if they could have ensured that it would be at certain spots at certain times. I really just wish it would be used during the regular season for scheduled roaming shows (like happened with the Clown Band, except on a trolley). Most of my visits this Winterfest season turned out really well. I think the only bad things I experienced were a couple of bad/ugly dining experiences. I was able to dine at the Brewhouse, enjoy shows with my food at the Festhaus, and have some really good fries at Rivertown Potato Works. I love that both Tricks and Treats and Winterfest have specialty food items available throughout the park. If I had to pick something to change about the event, it would be to update the experience on the K.I & M.V. Railroad and take it away from being primarily based on light displays. Even adding some lights into the trees around the track would be an improvement. I'd also try to see if there were an easier way to switch between using the organ and the track with a button on the Grand Carousel, but I'm just glad they were manually going in and switching between the two during the Fall season. Overall I had a really good time at Winterfest this year. It sounds like it was much better than what Carowinds experienced with all of their changes. I'm also glad Kings Island was able to keep it after Kings Dominion, Great Adventure, and Six Flags Over Georgia lost their winter holiday events. Here's to the return of Winterfest in 2026 and its continued success in a time when we all need more light in our lives!

I think it's entirely possible that they just change the turrets instead of building a whole new facade onto the existing structure. Those look like they might be as easy to change as the top of the big Kings Island sign (like happened after Cedar Fair took over). That would at least make it look less castle-y. Above anything I hope they let it have a good color palette. The original looked nice but I don't know if beige and brown would work as well on the castle without something else being added. I do want the "Featuring" marquee overhang to return though.

The 4D/5D theater looks to be about 16,000 square feet in total, which would be plenty of space to convert the building into an omnimover dark ride (some of the smaller dark rides only need about 6,000 sqft). More indoor attractions could help with attendance for the Christmas event as well. I don't really see a good way to bring more people over to Kentucky Flyer without either moving the wave pool, moving KF itself (very unlikely), or just removing it altogether. They might be able to add another crossing over near the picnic pavilions and turn that into a new area, but either way I have a feeling that we will see even more major relocations and renovations within the next 5-10 years. The "rogue" placement is definitely a consequence of the Premier Parks-era Six Flags expansion of the park when Chang, T3, and the go karts were added in 1998. As nice as it probably was for all of those parks to receive such rapid growth at the time, it has only caused issue after issue after issue for Six Flags and almost every park that they owned.

There do not appear to be connections for the FunTV screens listed in the plans so I think it's safe to say they will be removed. I'd really like to see some of the lines from the original return to the ride, especially in the queue room. The dialogue we saw at IAAPA is probably what will all go in there, but a little antagonism sprinkled in here and there might help with any guests who are so far wary of PT:ON because of its "goofy" nature. The electrician is still named Gus in these plans, though I assume it would be easy enough to sew a new name tag onto any of the animatronics costumes.

I hope Herschend can continue to steadily "fix" the other parts of Kentucky Kingdom after they're done with the additions of Discovery Meadow and Flying Fox. At some point I'm sure they will renovate the front half of the park to be more up to their standards as well. One thing I'd really like to see is if they could do anything to switch around the layout of Hurricane Bay to make the back half of the park less puzzle piece-y whenever HB is closed for the season. I can believe they handle it fine enough, but I also feel like HFE is the type of company that would take on this type of project. I think it's certainly more feasible than my Soak City rearrangement plan

I believe the inverted busts are being removed and replaced with screens for PT:ON. All of the screens (monitors) and projectors are labeled in the plans, and those boxes are labeled as being used for monitors — likely because the inverted bust illusion might not work as well when guests are standing next to them for more than 30 seconds. There will be a lot of digital elements mixed in with the 33 animatronics. The Grand Rotunda will hopefully return to this level of grandeur, though I didn't see anything in those electrical plans about the chandeliers or overhead curtains returning. I think anything will be better than how Boo Blasters felt toward the end.

I feel like it would not be too hard (especially if it were more of a free-spin model) since the biggest change might be the train design. The weight and length of each train may also affect some things.

I wish there was more innovation like this in the coaster world these days, even if it were just modern manufacturers trying to improve greatly on models that mostly died with Arrow. Imagine if B&M could make a 4D coaster like X2 using the Wing coaster model as a base, or if Vekoma began to test a new version of the swinging suspended coaster like Iron Dragon or The Bat. This pipeline model would be particularly interesting to see improved because of how it might change further along in the design and testing processes.

The 2025 season has officially come to a close for Kings Island and 2026 is starting off strong with a new Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare update episode from the park. Some notes about the upcoming season are as follows: 2026 will be the second full season under the new Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, with all-park add-ons now working across every North American park in the chain. Kings Island will open for the season on Saturday, April 18th, 2026. A Passholder Preview event may be held on 4/17, but I haven't seen anything official on that matter. Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare is set to debut this Spring as a revival of the classic Kings Island attraction that occupied the same building from 1992-2002. There is hope that Monster will reopen after being down for all of 2025 while a little further north Invertigo has received a new lift chain, hopefully to also reopen in 2026. The 1926 Grand Carousel will celebrate its 100th birthday this season. Similar carousels at Carowinds and Kings Dominion received informational plaques and an anniversary horse design for their 100th anniversary. No plans have been released about other park projects, but we may see survey markers and site clearing for a potential 2027 or 2028 attraction. I believe we might also see some upgrades elsewhere in the park like we have in previous years with the Festival/Carousel Pavilion and other retail location renovations. With new leadership at the helm of Six Flags and changes being made across the board, I will be very curious to see how this year turns out for Kings Island.

I thought somewhere it was stated that the electrician's name would now be Rick, and that that would be the Rick Bastrup feature, no? Maybe in one of the text articles from October/November? Although looking back at the plans it does say Gus. Are Marty and Ralph the stage hands? So many characters are listed that I hadn't noticed before. According to the video, exterior work should be starting any day now. I wonder how much of it we might be able to see from the webcam. Very exciting times!

Was the building built around FoF like with Tomb Raider or was the coaster built inside? I'd be curious to see how they would complete a refurbishment and if they could fit any size of crane in there.

New trains and an overhaul may also come with the addition of a test seat — a feature that I wish more coasters had overall. There is something to be said about just how much cheaper it is to upgrade the ride as it currently stands than it would be to replace it. A track repaint and some new/simple props and lights in the bowl would help to elevate the ride experience. Now, if the park could add a new flat ride and some real restrooms to Area 72 I think they'd have a much better mini-land. Kings Island fared the 2024 ride purge a lot better than other Six Flags parks. They removed Xtreme Skyflyer (alongside the one at Cedar Point) and have been working to repair Monster and Invertigo. Where other parks were forced to cut events and make mid-season changes to their pass benefits, the most Kings Island really dealt with was the addition of the Haunted Attractions Pass. I've got my own gripes about this company, but I can't really say that Kings Island was worse off in its 2025 season than in 2024. I don't know how different Six Flags will look under John Reilly, but there have already been some good changes compared to previous years. The websites and mobile app have been updated and consolidated, the 2026 operating calendars have been released, and some parks have even begun to release their 2026 festival lineups.

An LSM conversion paired with some new trains alone would be very welcome for both versions of FoF. Keep the video (they've already been able to update it without touching the speaking parts and that 90s interface) and add new lighting to the show building and it'd be better then as well. I don't think it would need the subtitle or name change unless a major change was made to the ride experience like adding an outdoor section or replacing an element within the building with a different one. (Even then, I hate when attractions have unnecessary subtitles — just change part of the name like TT2.) An Adventure Express-style upgrade with new less-intrusive trains would help so much. Maybe adding an outdoor section could also help increase capacity as well! Is it smart or reasonable for a coaster from the late 90s? Probably not as much as I'd like, but it might be fun.