Losantiville Mining Co.

The only issue with naming WhiteWater to Hurricane Harbor Georgia is that SFOG already has Hurricane Harbor Atlanta back by their Superman and Justice League. Depending on how Enchanted Parks decides to rename their Hurricane Harbor waterparks, I'd be on board for another set of Wildwater Kingdom(s) like they had with Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom. (Of course this will all be messed up if MiA retains the WildWater Adventure name as well). I've expressed my preference for variations of the names "Wildwater Junction" and "Whitewater Junction" for Kings Island, so maybe something like that could work?

Whether the name change surveys were put out earnestly or just to stir up chatter online, they should be taken with at least a little sincerity. Some of the name changes could help the legacy SF parks, since the removal/downsizing (especially the full removal) of the Six Flags name might signal guests that things are changing from the way they've been for 20+ years. A sizeable portion of the general public won't know/care who owns their home park, but they will more than likely notice a change in visual identity. I think the chain would keep the full name for Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Over Texas while removing it from the other parks. The parks I'd be most interested to see the naming direction for (assuming the best option is taken) are as follows: SF Great America — Chicago's Great America; Gurnee's Great America; or Great America. It might be hard to do with California's Great America still in the mix, but it'd be a start. SF New England — Riverside Park; Riverside Grove; something else with Riverside? My personal vote would be for something like Riverside Wonderland. SF Mexico — Honestly I don't know that they would change this park's name. It might be a similar situation to Six Flags Qiddiya City. The broader international audiences seem to not mind the Six Flags name as much as US audiences do. SF White Water — This one could just keep the name, but I think it has a little strangeness because Silver Dollar City's waterpark is also called [Silver Dollar City's] White Water. Overall, the amount of comments I've seen calling for the Six Flags name to be kept as the main branding worries me. I hope John Reilly and the Board of Directors know what a bad idea leaning further into the Six Flags brand would be.

A new survey has allegedly gone out to some Six Flags guests about potential name changes for parks in the chain’s portfolio. Proposals include having independent park names with a tagline, turning to the “Six Flags [Park Name]” system for every park, or independent park names with no reference to Six Flags at all. (Note: These are not my screenshots, I got them directly from the comments of the Facebook post that broke the news about the survey.) You all probably know by now that I hate the Six Flags name and would like to see it removed from the legacy SF park names. I would be more fine with the "[Park Name] by Six Flags" than any of the other options in the third image, but the SF name appears to be cursed no matter which where you put it. Dropping the name entirely might also help these parks in the event of bankruptcy, portfolio reorganization, or park sales.

What would you as a paying guest like to see added or removed from Kings Island's Halloween Haunt in 2027 and beyond? The value of a Haunted Attractions Pass has been increasing as each maze is replaced with something new. Despite the looming threat of corporate instability, I believe Alien Abyss, KillMart, and/or Slaughterhouse may each be replaced in the coming years alongside the possibility of new scare zones and new entertainment offerings. I would really like to see some new shows like Wake the Dead and Fangs After Dusk take up residence in the park very soon as well. Also, I know I didn't vote for it in the poll but I would like to see at least one new maze barn or mid-size soundstage built for haunted attractions somewhere on the outskirts of the park.

The fundraiser (or FUNraiser as they call it now in some of the parks) still exists, but I've seen it more at Cedar Point than here at Kings Island. It's a good program, but you have to have people/organizations who are willing to work these jobs in the park, are willing/able to travel to the park, and the parks have to be willing/able to pay the fundraising wages. I don't know what the rates are these days at other places, but when I did fundraising like this in college a few years ago we were "paid" something around 10% of what the stand made that day or a minimum of $10/hour times the number of volunteers working. All of that said, I can't imagine the parks putting volunteers on custodial duties. Food and beverage service, yes. Custodial work, no.

It was open on Sunday during Tricks and Treats. I wish the park could do a Haunt overlay without having to worry about unruly guests, but maybe another year.

Typically windows would be covered with translucent plastic to keep the air inside and the elements outside, but it's possible that the workers are taking advantage of the "nicer" weather and keeping them open while they continue interior demolition. I believe that back balcony area has always been open-air while the wings of the building were enclosed. It would be more important to have the building partially sealed whenever they start to pour new concrete or begin with new framing for walls and such. I hope they eventually open the site up to the public beyond just concert days and festivals when it's all done. If I can't experience Coney Island as an amusement park then I'd at least like to experience it in some other way.

I visited the park again tonight to get another run through of each maze and see if anything might've changed since Friday night. After a brief issue where I was initially handed a regular HAP instead of an Express wristband and didn't notice until it was already on my wrist, I made my way around the park to start going through the mazes. (BTW the associate and the supervisor were very understanding of what happened.) Overall the mazes seemed to have less actors than they did on Friday, but this is to be expected for a Sunday night Haunt. There are a lot of actors who probably need to be home early because they have school or work in the morning. Jason: Blood Reign still had a good amount of actors, though I did notice a few missing. I think there needs to be some more fog in the marsh scene, but other than that it was great. I managed to not hit the pole like I did the previous two times I went through it. There was a family in front of me with a little girl (age 10 at most) who was really scared to go through it and ended up hiding in her mother's shirt for about half of it, but I think the parents handled the situation well and made sure she was okay after we all got out. I still have an issue with children being at Haunt, but this family seemed like one of the good ones. KillMart was still how KillMart always is. I'd have liked to see something new in this maze to spice things up a bit. The actors did a really good job of scaring myself and everyone around me. Alien Abyss was kind of the same as ever. This maze would be my next pick to get rethemed. The hallway that used to have the spinning tunnel (years ago) is now just a bunch of "alien growths" on the walls with not much movement or intrigue. The very middle part of the maze is what needs the most help IMO. It is just a winding path down the darkest hallway you've ever seen. I think there's a story reason for it being dark (especially since the fictional facility is called D.A.R.C.), but it would help guests if the park put some glow tape on the floor along one wall. The science theme can stay, I just wish it was a better maze. Order of the Dragon threw me for a little spin tonight because I think the Express entrance was moved between Friday night and tonight. It is now right up with the entrance to the standby queue. Now for my journey through Metal Massacre: it was a-MAZE-ing! I went through by myself because there were no other groups ready at the entrance and basically got a zen ride through the maze. I have to knock it a little bit because there were no actors in the first half. The record sales room is a personal favorite of mine so far because of the different maze logos used for each record. It's super cool to see these simple references to the history of the event. The second half of the maze is where I really had fun. As soon as I left the first half I walked right into a dense wall of fog and emerged into the concert scene(s). All of the actors went crazy when they saw that I was alone and I even got a "private tour" of the backstage and recording studio sections. One new thing that I would like to see come to the event is an area (preferably Tower Gardens) dedicated to the history of FearFest/Haunt at Kings Island. It could feature signage about each year of the event and old props that could be turned into lantern activation points. Keep the ride tombstones in a separate area — and please put a fence up around them — but this would be another nice thing to have. I'll withhold further comments disparaging the maze queue lines until next week in case anything else changes. We still need more/better shows overall. Despite my complaints I had a good night.

I quite enjoyed tonight's first night of Haunt despite a few hiccups! We went through four of the six mazes included with the Haunted Attractions Pass, with those being Slaughterhouse, Jason: Blood Reign, Metal Massacre, Order of the Dragon, and then once again through J:BR. It was a little hard to find an open HAP location beyond the front gate, but I believe they opened more as the night went on. We used our Haunted Attraction Express Passes for two of them and then stood in the standby queue for the other three run-throughs. I can use my Express pass during the other nights of the year when I don't have friends with me, so it was fine. General thoughts below with spoilers in the spoiler boxes. Slaughterhouse — Pretty much the same house as years past, but the experience was good with a nice amount of actors in it. This queue wasn't really an issue for me since it's so small. Jason: Blood Reign — A really good house that improved from the already-good Hotel St. Michelle. I was curious about how they would manage to bring the outdoor environment indoors, and was pleasantly surprised to see each scene play out how it did. There is one part where I think the park needs to add something to physically block guests from trying to go through. It is around the 1/3 point in the maze where you make a right turn around a post, and I managed to run into that same post twice. I can't remember enough of Urgent Scare to know exactly how it stacks up to that, but the back hallway is better now than it was before. The biggest thing that I would generally change about this attraction is the queue line. It would probably be hard to accomplish but I'd take one big set of cattlepens instead of the dual zig-zagging standby queues. Anything that makes the standby queue less agonizing to wait in would be better than what is there now. Spoilers for Jason: Blood Reign Metal Massacre — This is the other new house for this year. I'll say now that part of my experience was dampened by the daylight environment, but it only made me more excited to go through during the nighttime! The references to all 26 years of FearFest/Haunt are really fun to see. I appreciated the fact that the greeter (the guy who sends you into the maze) had a themed speech whereas all of the other greeters just went through the rules. Spoilers for Metal Massacre Order of the Dragon — One of last year's new houses. Just as good tonight as it was last year. The extensive theming continued to be a major highlight, and the mix between scare actors and animatronics is one of the best in the park. My biggest complaint about this maze is the queue line. It either needs something that feels a little more permanent than the yellow ropes or it needs a second rope installed halfway between the top rope and the ground. The little section between the merge point and the actual maze entrance also needs something to make it feel less barren. I'd build a new fence near it that looks like a stone wall and put that around the exit too. Overall this was a good opening night with only a few hiccups. The "new" phone scanners up at the front gate were odd to see, there need to be more Haunted Attractions Pass stands open when the park opens, and some of the maze queues need to be rebuilt/rethought. All of the Jason queue needs to be rebuilt from scratch for the aforementioned reasons. The 2026 Opening Ceremony either started before 6 or didn't happen how we expected it to. This also happened at Mid-America Adventure when their 2026 Fright Fest opened, so it isn't unheard of. We saw most of Ghouls Gone Wild and I enjoyed it a little more than I did last year. It looked like some of the set changed this year (likely following the Hollywood Hits redesign), but it's still basically a family show. We didn't watch Nytewalkers or Dr. Nightmare. The 8PM fountain show (Sweet Dreams) was really good. The 11PM fountain show was interrupted by a No Smoking message, but all of the lights and fountains kept going. I'd love to know if those are automated or if someone has to press a button to play that message. Hopefully it won't happen again during a fountain show. Nytewalkers did not have a full audience at 11 when I passed it. Part of that is probably because the set blocks the view from the two outermost sections. I really hope this show moves to a different venue in the future if Kings Island will be sticking with All Wheel Sports. The park needs more entertainment during Haunt in general, but they especially need either a new show like Hot Blooded or a show like Dead Man's Party that's proven itself at other parks. If the park doesn't want families to see the skin on display then either put up curtains around the venue or beef up the costumes to be less scant. I'd absolutely LOVE to see a new show like Fangs After Dusk come to KI in a newly-built venue.

My pass scanned pretty quickly when I went through. That said, I'm curious why they've switched to the phones instead of using the QR code scanners that have worked well enough for years. All of the Micros POS terminals were still set up and I think the QR code scanners may have even been sitting on the stand as well. Maybe this is a test to see which system works better at each park? The phones look less professional to me, but honestly the entire system needs an overhaul. Does anyone know more about how other chains handle their pass/ticket scanning these days and care to provide some insight? Another update regarding using my new Prestige Membership vs my 2026 Gold Pass: I haven't gotten a response from Guest Services yet for my most recent message trying to sort things out, but I was able to get through the parking tolls, get into the Preferred Parking lot, get into the park, and use my add-ons all without fail. There were some things that I would've liked to see more of and other things I'd like to see done better. I still think none of the next year add-ons should work until the next year regardless of pass type, but it was nice to be able to use my new stuff tonight.

It indeed seems to be for those who have purchased a 2027 Dining Plan while still having a 2026 Dining Plan. Mine was marked "Ready to Use" since it is tied to my new membership, which for all intents and purposes seems to be a new pass. Tonight I was able to start using my 2027 Dining Plan Unlimited with the new 2 hour limit between meals. I decided to start out easy for my most expensive meal(s) of the season, so first I got some pizza from the Festhaus and then got a Classic Chee. Both meals were good and hot, and there were associates actively filling the soda fountain ice compartments (where applicable) while I was there getting my food. A pretty good start to the Fall season at Kings Island!

I took that to mean whether or not your 2026 versus your 2027 dining plan was ready to use, though I'm waiting for a response from Guest Services to know for certain. It has been said that they are adding a way for guests to see how many meals they have left for 2027.

Brief update on my pass situation now that we're closer to Haunt beginning. I hadn't heard anything new from Guest Services since our last correspondence, but more questions have come up. We aren't entirely convinced that my 2026 Gold Pass will still work, so a family member decided to buy a Haunted Attractions Express Pass for my new Prestige Membership (could be a stupid decision, I know, but it's done now). I've sent a new message to Guest Services asking for an update and will await a response tomorrow. In the best case scenario, since I wasn't able to use the HAP tied to my Gold Pass they will allow me to transfer it to another pass/membership. That probably won't happen. In that case I will have only lost $30 that I would've wasted elsewhere. We are also trying to figure out if I will be able to use my 2027 Dining Plan or if there's some shenanigans where it won't work despite being connected to a different pass number. I have a fear that someone might get strict and/or power happy and claim that I violated TOS and attempted to have two passes at once — in which case I will show them the email from Guest Services that implied this was a special situation as both were active. Hopefully my anxiety will not be justified. I would really like for all of this to work out without any major bumps in the road, but my anxiety will keep my on my toes until I get a response.

I think adding the minimal upcharge with the Haunted Attractions Pass is doing wonders. Some folks will continue to refuse to pay for something that they used to get for free, but I can't imagine Haunt would be doing any better continuing down the path it had been on.

I wouldn't call Wild Mouse a major addition by itself, but as part of the broader Boardwalk renovation I think it was a major enough investment to justify the saltiness from fans of other parks. There isn't really anything pointing to Cedar Point receiving something new in 2027, though I do think they could add a flat ride in 2028 to appease some of their rowdier guests. Kings Island is a park that definitely deserves something custom that fits better as well. Arieforce One would fit better at Carowinds or even a smaller Six Flags park. Carowinds especially since enthusiasts already flock there for Fury 325. The coaster seems to be getting dismantled now, so I guess we'll see where it ends up soon enough.

I've been wondering what JANA's specific issue has been with her since they seemingly also forced her out of the chair position. It would be foolish of them to push out John Reilly unless there is someone else in mind who will somehow change things even faster. I'd like to think they've seen what private equity ownership has done to United Parks & Resorts, but then again I think the debt could still be there either way even after a sale. This could be a nice opportunity for Six Flags to start spinning some parks off into a new corporation(s) if they really care about the parks. That might at least save a few parks from the immediate wrath of private equity while netting some quick money for Six Flags (depending on the method of spinning-off/sale).

Apologies for the Facebook screenshot clutter, but kudos to Kings Island and Six Flags for finally snagging the kingsisland.com URL. It redirects to the sixflags.com/kingsisland website, but the thought is there. The visitkingsisland.com URL also still works/redirects in case you're wondering. I remember typing that into the address bar when I was a kid and it coming up as either a tourism website for somewhere in Australia or a domain for sale. (It entirely could've been registered before the merger, but I would've thought they'd used it on ads and such if that was the case.)

I think we should also consider the events that are/aren't happening at other Six Flags parks this year. Carowinds, for one, held a ton of one-off events earlier in the season for things like meteorology. Canada's Wonderland held a whole host of events that included park-sponsored leadership conferences. I agree with Tr0y to an extent because Cedar Point was at least planning to have some kind of event, whereas Kings Island got nothing. It might be easier for the parks to put the park event organization responsibility on enthusiast clubs, but I think that really only works to satisfy the enthusiast crowd. Events like the Mother's Day Brunch could spur more in-park guest spending each season depending on how well they are put on. One of John Reilly's goals for the company was to improve guest experience, wasn't it? Short one-off events feel like a good way to do that. I think it would be nice to make Coastermania/Coasterstock each a bi-annual event that switch off between even and odd years (like D23 and whatever it's alternate was), but that would require communication between the parks as well as communication between the parks and their guests. In other news, does anyone know if/when the Six Flags America land deal is supposed to go through? There are still a ton of (seemingly) salvageable rides there that Six Flags would be a fool to leave behind — especially if the park's land is going to be almost completely redeveloped. I've heard that the county/buyer does not want another amusement park there so I'd assume they wouldn't keep all of the rides.

I think I'd support this layout even more if the park were able to either keep some of the structures from the old South Carolina entrance, or use some of the space under the lifthill for a new SC entrance/exit. That gate isn't really used much at all anymore, but I think it added a unique feature to the park. If anything, it might just be good to have something there as a way of future-proofing in case they ever decided to bring the south gate back online for any reason. I could see AFO taking the place of whatever ride these parks were supposed to receive next, just as I'm sure Orion took the place of whatever might've theoretically been planned. In reality, I don't think most of the parks that really need something new and exciting will really have the chance to get anything since it seems that the totem pole has only been slightly reorganized. A lot of flat rides and such might still be coming out of Six Flags America, but that remains to be seen. The next few months will probably be very crucial for Six Flags in terms of attendance, appearance, and overall sales; so I hope the company will be doing all that it can to be positive in that time.

Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri has announced their 2027 Season Passport Pre-Sale with lower prices across all three tiers! Guests who renew/buy new will receive benefits such as free Bring-A-Friend tickets, discounts on food and beverage items, and additional resort discounts alongside unlimited visits to SDC in 2027. Gold Season Passport holders will also receive a Souvenir Cup with discounted refills, while Diamond Season Passport holders will get all of that plus unlimited access to SDC's White Water waterpark. Lastly, a 2027 Season Passport provides guests unlimited opportunities to ride the all-new Miner's Mountain Express, dubbed by the park as "America's most legendary family coaster". The new Silver Dollar City 2027 Season Passport Pre-Sale runs from now until Monday, November 2nd, 2026. Link to Silver Dollar City's 2027 Season Passport Pre-Sale: https://www.silverdollarcity.com/tickets/season-passes Silver $11.99/month for 10 months $119.99 one-time payment (down from $174.99) Gold $19.99/month for 10 months $199.99 one-time payment (down from $234.99) Diamond $25.99/month for 10 months $259.99 one-time payment (down from $294.99) Similar passes for Missouri's other two major parks will set guests back either $75.99 for an Enchanted Hero Pass or $130.99 for an Enchanted Legend Pass. Similar passes from Kings Island cost $99 for Silver (down from $140), $125 for regional Gold (down from $175), and $289 for all-park Prestige (down from $350). The inclusion of access to other parks in the Six Flags chain definitely makes these passes a better value for families, but the sheer quality of experience that Silver Dollar City offers may entice some guests to spring the extra money for this award-winning theme park in the Ozarks.

The new 2026 Halloween Haunt map has been posted! I'm happy to see that it finally only includes Haunt stuff again. From what I can see there is only one issue on it where the icon for Outpost Frozen Cocktails is in the wrong spot, but other than that it's just the gray vs green grass areas that look weird. It's too bad that Phantom Theater will be closed during Haunt and won't have an overlay. Kudos to the KI team for posting it more than 36 hours before the start of the event! Link to the map: https://qr1.be/AS58UZ

I could see the smaller Drop Tower happening as a way to further cater to KI's family audience, but then again I also think it should instead be a space shot tower that shoots you up instead of dropping you down. It would probably be less intimidating for younger riders than the 300ft tall one as well while being more able to hold adults than the froghopper tower. Switchback is an interesting case right now. I saw some planning diagrams from Valleyfair that made it look like they were going to prepare a SB-sized plot for construction, meaning Enchanted would've bought it. Then again this could help with Six Flags' "head turning" announcements.

Arieforce One could to Carowinds' DA! plot or elsewhere in Aeronautica Landing. I feel like that could mean the loss of their Crossroads area, but to me it's a better option than sending it to GAd, KI, or CW. Has anyone done the size calculation for that $15 million Intamin launch coaster? Also I thought it was $15M for all four rides. I'd still prefer something custom, but it would be cool to see the larger coaster and the 157ft tilting Drop Tower come to KI. The smaller coaster's description made it sound like it has a lower capacity, so I'd send that to one of the small parks.

Well said! John Reilly was able to make some good improvements after the legacy CF/SF execs left. I hope whoever has/will take over Tony Clark's position is able to do better than he did these last few years — especially with his apparent bias toward Cedar Point. Even Bob Iger seemed to stop doing good innovations at the end of his tenure as Disney's CEO, which is why we're seeing some nice changes in the parks with Josh D'Amaro in the CEO position. Overall, I really hope we see folks who are comfortable changing the company in positions at all levels.

My mom recently got a survey from Kings Island where some of the questions were about our thoughts on Phantom Theater and the future of attractions at the park. After writing about how much we love PT:ON and otherwise want to see a big thrill coaster come to KI in the next few years, we wrote about how we'd love to see a second dark ride installed. I have my personal wishes for the location and potential theme(s) for another new KI dark ride, but in general I think it would do really well and give families more to do overall. If we see a slowing down of major investments for the park then I'd really like to see more area refreshes in addition to general infrastructure upgrades around the park. Guests might not mind the lack of a new ride every year if they see more trees/shade, benches, and better staffing strategies. That said, I would still like to see a second dark ride, Rivertown expansion/upgrades, an Action Zone retheme, and a Soak City retheme in the near future. I bet at least some of those upgrades could help Kings Island climb the rankings in each year's Golden Ticket Awards.