Losantiville Mining Co.

I believe the first and second screenshots are for the "Snack Bar" in the queue line where Larry will be stationed with the flashlights. The gargoyle in the third photo would go in the Prop Room (scene 23) which was between the Cold Storage and the first set of skeletons. The last screenshot clearly says it's Scene 6, which is where the tree before the graveyard was. It would be really cool if the "window" into the theater had a Hitchhiking Ghosts effect, but I don't know how that would work within the story since you're supposed to be looking into the theater. As for what may be returning from Boo Blasters, I don't think they'd consider the moving busts to have been a part of that ride. I really would like for them to make a return elsewhere in the ride since their place in the hallway has been taken by screens, but there could be a good spot for them to go elsewhere in the building.

It could be done with only a shallow ramp, however raising the floor 3-4' would affect the viability and view of the "balcony". There are three doors on the ground floor of the queue room with two being emergency exits (one leading toward the Enchanted Theater and the other leading to the left of the entrance facade) and the third being a balcony access door in the opposite corner from the entrance. I'm a little hesitant with it right now due to these photos, though I do recognize the fact that this is unfinished and with all of the overhead lights on. What kind of flooring do you think they will go for? More laminate/linoleum like before or something else? It feels wrong to just leave it at the concrete. I have to wonder how long that post will stay up and if the park will request it be taken down. How often do we see an on-site contractor posting content like this? The electrical plans show fixtures for six screens in the queue hallway (one to replace each bust). I'd love it if the busts could return, but unless something changes it seems unlikely at this point. I didn't see any connections for queue line FunTVs, but there is still a spot on the other side of the room for one.

I think the inverted busts are being replaced by screens (probably better for the guest experience if people are stopped there for more than 30 seconds), but I think the candles returning would be a good theming upgrade over the singular blue light and however many smaller white lights. One major shift we could see is less thematic signs of wear and tear and more "fresh" signs of the theater reopening. I'd love to see some of the grandeur of the original ride brought back. The lobby (loading station) looked so nice in photos. Maybe we'll see some really good easter eggs in the queue and station instead of just during the ride itself. Do you think we'll see any references to the theater's "actual" name, or will they just refer to it as the Phantom Theater every time? I think early concept art had it named as the Palace Theater. It'd be a small but fun detail.

Is GWL typically a nice and/or fun place? I've never been in there, though I think they used to have some kind of MagiQuest (or similar) attraction as well. My childhood experience with a different MQ location was very fun, but I don't know what all goes on in GWL overall. Good on them for adding capacity. I assume the location was chosen because of the connection to the rest of the actual hotel parts. A connection on the south side would require relocating the road onto KI property or down a steep hill, while a connection on the north side would require guests to move through the convention center to get to the rest of the hotel. Connecting through the back of the indoor waterpark probably isn't desirable either. All three options would also likely disturb the retention pond between GWL and Columbia Road. The orange box is where I think the new wing is supposed to go.

I'm far too well acquainted with it, unfortunately. As it's probably clear by now, I'm bad at articulating what I want to say with these kinds of things. Meanwhile my prompting of thought comes off as me being dumb. (That won't stop me though, y'all are fun to respond to either way.) This point was more just to say that I think it's unfair to leave Silver Pass holders hanging like they did. Does it really matter? No, but I think the guests would appreciate attractions opening before July. I also think the Silver Passes should actually be a lower tier of a standard season pass instead of a Summer Pass (go all year with blackout dates and such instead of ending at Labor Day), but that's another conversation. I'd think these parks would want to get projects done around Memorial Day so they can get the bugs worked out before the big summer crowds come in July and August. If the chain and execs don't want that, then fine. They can work out the kinks during the busiest time of the season. Anyways, I'll be diligently watching that webcam to see if they start to do any visible work on the facade and if more ride pieces come in like the doom buggy opera boxes.

I think you're right about unpredictable changes with the new leadership. If the company continues to "focus on their core parks" then we will see a new coaster come in once one is ready to leave — even if that means keeping the 3-5 year timeline for coaster additions. Kings Island is often lauded as one of the best regional parks in the country, so I think we'll continue to see regular investment as long as it maintains that status. Why has The Vortex plot sat empty for 7 years now? The reasoning is probably spread between pre-planned investments/more-pressing timelines, investments at other parks, and general struggles with the merger and the economy. The drone pad and fly zone are probably benefiting from the lack of a coaster as well. The real question is how long Six Flags will last in their current state. They might go through the same process of raising standards at the Legacy Six Flags parks as they did with the Paramount Parks, and then we'll have to reassess again in 2035 when that's done. If the company doesn't last then who knows what will happen.

I agree with you on this, I just also wish the parks would give us a set opening date more than two weeks out. Construction projects have deadlines and it mostly just takes good planning to ensure each opening date is reached. AlpenFury didn't open until the middle of July and left Canada's Wonderland Silver Pass holders with only 1.5 months to experience it instead of the full 4-ish months formerly afforded. My questions would probably be better asked this way: Aside from major construction delays, why do the parks feel fine with not announcing an opening date for their "big new thing" until a week or two before it comes? I can confirm it's on their Instagram page!

I think the main question is if we will see a return to the standard of a ride opening with the park or not. We'd been so used to new attractions opening with the park that the recent trend of delayed openings have not been sitting well. It might open "on time" but it'd be good to know when that is going to be. It would be much nicer if the parks would start giving a set opening date again. I feel like they're so scared of setting an opening date only to have to push it back, even though that wasn't an issue for years.

They're still there whenever I look at the Planet Snoopy webcam. I've been looking every so often and the most I've seen is a truck or two parked outside of the facade. Whatever is supposed to happen with the facade, I don't think we'll see much of it from the street or the webcams. We're about 2 months and 7 days away from Opening Day. As much as I hope it's open by then, the likelihood does feel low now. It also looks like there are more opera box doom buggies in front of the Bandstand. I hope we see an update this month. I'd hate it if they did well PR-wise for January only to completely fall flat for February. The shareholder meeting might prompt them to release some updates to pad any bad news that might decrease their stock prices.

I'm very glad parks like Holiday World and Kings Island take care of their wooden coasters as much as they do! There's a segment of the population that thinks it comes at the cost of other new additions to these parks, but it's not an issue for me and it helps keep the park's charm.

I think it could at least be popular for the A/C as long as they also put in new 4-D seats. In reality that building might do much better as a new dark ride these days, though I think it'd have to be a different ride system than PT:ON. Whatever they do with Action Theater, they definitely need to rework the entire queue line. The double queue was fine when it was two separate theaters, but they fill both lines for Haunt and never put an associate at the end of it to manage people coming through at the merge point. What are the two yellow tower-looking things off to the right side of the current entrance path? For the longest time I thought they were for the old sign, but looking back at it now they don't have the same shape at all.

That would be a great little "mini land" that's part of International Street IMO. I'd also include Charlie Brown's Wind-Up (either keep it or move the ride and replace it). Keep the theater and renovate it to hold more guests. There's enough gift shops nearby, but some theming upgrades could go a long way! Could these be 9-10 of the enchanted opera box doom buggies sitting in front of the Bandstand? I see a hint of red on one of them and their shape fits overall. The only question I have is why they're not covered and/or which route they plan to take them into the building (whether to go around the French Corner or all the way down and around Sweet Spot).

I haven't been able to read your article yet (I will read it after work tonight) but I'd like to share some quick thoughts! I do think there is a problem with calling these kinds of projects "replacements" instead of simply "new rides". Anything they build in The Vortex plot will be a replacement in that it occupies the same space, but it will likely be near impossible to replicate the nostalgia people had for Vortex. My personal wishes of a lift hill with chaser lights, some very scenic views, and plenty of inversions are both because I want to see those brought into a new design and because I think they're what the park needs. It's more of an issue at Great Adventure with their 2027 coaster because there are a lot of locals there who are still salty about losing Kingda Ka and keep insisting that this new Mack Tower Spinner will do more than the signs are showing and/or are going crazy telling everyone that it is doomed to fail because it will not be Kingda Ka. They're mainly younger adults saying such things, but I've seen far too much of it.

I think the easiest solution would be to paint the "wall" behind each grate black since that's what it looks like without the walls. Looking back at some of the KIC photo albums I can't seem to figure out when those were added. I thought they were only ever there for Winterfest/general Royal Fountain winterization procedures, but now I can't remember. I've always found it interesting that the left two arches are open to let the water pour into them while the rightmost arch has the curb blocking the inflow of water (for obvious reasons). Maybe if I can find one of my photos from this year to see what it looked like during the normal season. An interesting thought just occurred to me: if those two arches have been barricaded since at least 2019, why were they completely open in 2011? Was it part of the pump system upgrades throughout the years?

How would you choose to handle the queue line as the hill slopes further down toward the ravine? Keep it flat with landfill and overhangs, or put it on tiers with stairs like Diamondback and The Bat? A queue like The Beast's could also be considered "tiered" if you consider all 3-4 parts of it (including the ramp) as an individual "tier". Are you thinking the ravine would also host an actual water feature at its lowest points? I like the idea of adding an artificial creek (maybe it could even flow from a new lake under The Beast) if they can make it look better than Diamondback's splashdown. While it does its job well, the foliage around it is so sparse and it looks more like a bare concrete basin than a "natural" water feature. Does anyone have a photo of Vortex's lower queue that was allegedly under the station? I thought someone shared one a while ago, but can't remember the who or the where.

My best guess is that the open arch is to allow light and a view out on the fountain from the control room, while the closed arch(es) are where the water pump mechanism(s) live and don't need the light or the view. The 2011 Google Street View capture actually shows all three arches being open. You can see the evolution between the three Royal Fountains below. The aforementioned 2011 Google Street View capture from Kings Island. The 2015 capture from Kings Dominion. You can see how their fountain pump house was different than Kings Island's as Taft and their park designers refined International Street for their second park. Lastly, here's the same view from Canada's Wonderland. Their pump house is located under the bridge in front of Wonder Mountain and (I believe) services both the Royal Fountain and the pools at the bottom of Wonder Mountain. I don't know where the access door is for this fountain, but it is certainly the grandest of the three versions of International Street.

Another change resulting from this merger: all of the Dining Plans and Drink Plans have been updated! It looks like they're mostly the same with new logos, but this is another step towards Six Flags actually looking like one company instead of two stacked in a trenchcoat.

Does anyone have some good photos of various Fun & Safety Guides from different parks? I keep seeing the KECO and Paramount era ones in Kings Island home videos and really want to know what those (and others) look like up close!

I'd think the "dropped objects" and slick floor issues might be fixed with some transparent panels or nets (they're more likely to install nets) attached to the top of the deck, would they not? If it works well enough over the pathway under Diamondback then I'd think they could also work for the Eiffel Tower. There's probably also a solution for blocking the walls, but I think they'd be fine as is to start back out. The elevator access is by far the hardest to fix, but it's not impossible to complete. I feel like it could be part of a park improvements year where they improve the park with little things instead of one major addition. While both elevators could probably be retrofitted to access the 50' deck, I think the park would only choose to install it for one of them. The cafe idea would be nice, but I don't think it would work outside of special occasions since the most they could feasibly put up there is a snack cart and some tables. Maybe bump that Sunrise Tour price up a little and include "Breakfast on the Eiffel Tower's 50' Observation Deck" as a perk. Does anyone know what the observation decks on the Oil Derrick at Six Flags Over Texas are like? It's also an Intamin observation tower, so I'm curious as to if it has 3 decks as well or just 1 or 2 at the top.

Bringing this topic back for those of us who are still on the larger side of life The variation of height and weight are definitely a factor in calculating how well someone will fit into a ride seat. For example, one of my issues is with how some of the B&M seats pinch my legs on the sides. I think the seat size limit for a lot of coasters is around 275-300 lbs depending on how you carry your weight (speaking from what I've seen and experienced). Some RMC seats and other seats like those on Flight of Fear are even more restrictive. Fat Tested Travel on YouTube completed a walkthrough of Kings Island this past year. He goes around to all kinds of parks to squeeze into ride seats so us larger folks will have a better gauge of what we can do. IIRC he's about 375 lbs and was somewhere near the limit of riding/not riding. The most forgiving coasters were The Bat and Snoopy's Soapbox Racers, and maybe also Woodstock Express. Those Arrow restraints seem to be really good for fitting into since he also did Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood. I'd love to see more test seats put in throughout parks like Kings Island, especially for the wood coasters. It would be harder to accomplish but could improve guest experience by assuaging some fears about fitting into a seat.

I wonder if there's something Kings Island could do to revitalize that little section of the area (specifically from the DB Trading Post over to the log flume) outside of just putting up a sign that says "Rivertown". A sign would be nice, but it wouldn't help in the way the area needs. It's a bit of a shame that the seating around the Snake Pit/Tom + Chee booth was expanded into the back of that planter only for it all to become a bar that doesn't need any seating. The loss of that foliage isn't too bad, but there's still something off about it. I think it would do just fine as a dining location again, though. That way the tables might actually serve a purpose again.

If anything can be done for Banshee's queue, I'd love to see the ride photo room/arcade/former gift shop be turned into some in-line lockers (with the ride photo booth being moved somewhere across the path). After that they could see about installing some kind of better shelter in the rest of the queue. A haunted shed might not be the best thematically — I'd imagine a mausoleum might fit better — but the station is designed in the "Cedar Fair 2012-2016 big bricks" style so any major thematic choices won't matter as much as they would have for Mystic Timbers. This would be a great opportunity to continue the paranormal park storyline officially established with Area 72. As big as this theoretical project is getting, I'd also love to see more thematic cohesion brought back to Rivertown overall. Bring the log flume back into RT, put up more nautical (in the riverfaring sense) theming, and find a way to bring the "town" feeling back. [Also tear down the Tomb Raider building and replace it with a Beast Canyon expansion] Stuff like that.

The Diamondback queue structure is so badly needed! It'd help bring the "town" feel back to Rivertown while refreshing the DB experience. Drawing the view back down to the ground will also help this section of Rivertown overall. If they do anything for the FOF queue I'd hope they would choose a design that keeps the trees or plants new ones nearby. Area 72 as it currently exists is so devoid of plant life that it'd be a shame to lose more.

We bought my $99 Gold Pass during the MVP Sale and — aside from my previously stated displeasures with the company — the only benefit that has so far changed for me is the inclusion of free Haunt mazes. My add-on all-season dining and drink plans have yet to be altered, I'm still getting the free entry to all Six Flags parks in North America, and the Kings Island operating calendar appears relatively unchanged from last year. Would it have been nice to have a list of all of the 2026 seasonal festivals and events when we bought the pass? Yes, but the park also didn't release that until March 4th for the past few years so nothing changed there. As a shows/entertainment person I'd also really love to know if any changes will happen there, but I would've bought my pass anyways. It seems the folks in my same MVP Gold Pass boat have made it through all of this unscathed. I also think changing the real/perceived benefits of the passes after purchase is incredibly bad. We'll never see the exact numbers or reasonings to help understand why this is happening but I imagine they would show some striking revelations.

I think this is a consequence of pass sales not being where Six Flags wants them as well as the new leadership potentially pushing more for the regional pass structure to come quicker. There's a nice chance that the 2027 pass sales will look very different to the 2026 sales, but we might have to go through a whole lot of experiments this season before finding out. It feels like the largest regional park operator in North America keeps trying things out to see what works for both companies instead of working out how they could make everything function without shifting the strategy every three months. One of the biggest changes might come if Six Flags ends up selling off parks for 2027.