Losantiville Mining Co.

IIRC that might have been a model of one of the Sesame Street dark rides at IAAPA. It does bear a striking resemblance to the original Phantom Theater facade from this angle.

If this is the same scene board as in the SDR tour video, I posted my thoughts on each scene a little while back. I might try to go find that post and share it again since this is a better view than before.

They're looking good so far! I hope they can achieve a little more of a glossy red for the final product, but even the current finish looks like a nice change compared to the Boo Blasters "oozy" look. The fact that the roundels are still on there is a little strange since they went through the trouble of rendering the rest of the doom buggies without them for the teaser art. Image: Kings Island / Sally Dark Rides via KICentral.com Photos: Rick Davis via DAFE (https://www.dafe.org/articles/darkrides/scoobyDooHauntedCastle.html) These same ride vehicles in their original form. The ride vehicles in their Mystery Machine scheme, complete with front-mounted "tire". A view of the initial castle construction that shows how the new was built over the old.

I bet those parts of the calendar (like July 4) might be released with the events schedule. With the park already putting out the America 250 merch I could see them having a longer Independence Day celebration than normal as well.

You can add your pass to the other parks using that 20(?) digit number. The only thing I haven't been able to do yet is add any new passes to my Apple Wallet.

Dollywood has begun the process of switching their drink program over to microchip/QR code cups and bottles. According to Jonny Amusement on Facebook the new drink system will use QR codes with the all-season plastic cups already having them, the season refillable mugs getting them soon, and older tumblers and mugs being fine for the rest of the 2025 season. From what I've read there are QR codes available for people who have already picked up their season refill mugs as well. There have been some complaints online about how the system is being complicated while other comments praise Dollywood for taking a stand against soda stealers. This change has already been implemented at some Disney and Universal properties with the "smart" soda fountains reading either a microchip or QR code and then providing a timed window to get their drink and go. Good luck to the park as they embark on this new drink program. I would not want to be there getting drinks during the inevitable period where they have to straighten out all of the kinks in the program implementation. I already read enough comments about "soda stealing thugs" and "un-mannered children" who abuse water cups, I don't need to hear adults complaining about a "newly-complicated" drink system too. Do you think Six Flags should look into implementing this kind of system? Personally, I think it is not a good idea for a company that has long struggled to keep its soda fountains fully stocked and functional. A better solution — at least temporarily — would be to continue installing pressure plates at the exits to Refresh Stations and to install more water stations that provide cold, filtered water throughout each park. The pressure plates help to ensure nobody can come in through an exit while the associates manning each point of service are able to control who gets a cup. The water stations (with water cups next to them) would help keep guests who want to drink water from needing to go to a restroom just to get said water. These could come in the form of new bottle fillers placed at each dining location or a push-faucet that closer resembles the functionality of a soda fountain nozzle. Sure, something needs to be done to improve things at SF parks, but I don't think microchips would help much right now.

There is a button for it that pops up when you're in the park, but it currently just pulls up all of the dining locations. It looks like they may be using the Sand Bar in Soak City as a testing location if you look on the website.

That's certainly possible, but if it's anything like Mystic Timbers and that is not accounted for to begin with then I'd guess it won't happen.

John Reilly is now officially CEO of the Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. I'm curious to see if any (relatively) immediate changes come through compared to what happened right after the merger around this time last year. The release of some parks' operating calendars yesterday is certainly different, even if was in the works under Richard Zimmerman's tenure.

There will be screens used throughout the ride. I find it highly unlikely that the Pepper's Ghost effect will come back — especially not on the scale it was in the original.

I've often wondered why the park didn't include the Kite Eating Tree or Snoopy's Space Buggies in Camp Snoopy. There's a case to be made for SSB not fitting into the camping theme, nor might the other four rides on that side of Planet Snoopy, but I feel like there's a way the park could've made them fit without changing much at all. That would've at least made two more equally-sized areas. Given that it felt like they ran out of money I think adding more might've been a little out of the question. As likely as it might be that no exterior work will happen until after Winterfest, I'd love to see the park or Sally Dark Rides put out a December teaser with either some material/set close-ups or another look at the inside of the building. They've been releasing a new piece each month and I hope that can continue. I wonder if there will be screens for the scores like on the Justice League dark rides or if the scores will only be shown in the ride vehicles like with SDatHC and BBoBH.

Several Six Flags parks have released portions of their 2026 operating calendars. Knott's Berry Farm (January 1 - March 15) Schlitterbahn Galveston (May 2 - September 7) Discovery Kingdom (January 1 - March 8) Great Adventure (March 28 - September 7) Magic Mountain (January 1 - March 12) Six Flags New England (April 11 - May 24) This one is likely not finalized yet. Six Flags Over Texas (May 16 - September 7) Six Flags St. Louis (April 25 - September 7) Worlds of Fun (April 25 - September 7) All of the calendars released so far look normal — aside from SFNE — and none appear to include random days off in the middle of the summer season. I suspect the parks with no operating dates past March will release their calendars with parks like Kings Island. The most surprising calendar for me to see is Six Flags Over Texas with its mid-May opening. That might be normal for them, but I would've assumed they'd at least open earlier in the month.

Have there been any official updates on this? I know it's only been a couple of days, but there's a lot of people acting like this is a done deal with different buyers listed depending on who you ask. I think the Warner Bros IP is safe at the Six Flags parks. If the licensing term somehow got cut short I think there would be a grace period like with the Paramount IPs. While this would be a nice way to fix the errant theming across all of the legacy Six Flags parks, it might be a little upsetting for guests to suddenly lose both DC and Looney Tunes so quickly.

I think most of my opinions on it have been soured by current events, but putting my political opinions aside I'm glad to see that it's currently limited to this little section. Kings Island has a lot of fun park merchandise — even if some of the same items are available in most stores — that I'd rather see filling most shelves. I still don't understand why they brought in the "lifestyle" products this year. The America 250 logo is kind of nice and contemporary while keeping one or two things from the 1976 celebration logo. Any issues I have with the look of that is not with the park. US Bicentennial Logo Link to the America 250 website: https://america250.org/ Does anyone know if any parks (aside from maybe the Great America parks) had Bicentennial celebration merchandise? I know Cedar Point added the patriotically-themed Corkscrew and Kings Island added the American Heritage Music Hall (which could be a cool thing to rename it back to for next year), the living liberty bell, and a bunch of other patriotic displays for 1976, but did they have any special merchandise?

My question with adding that to the Fast Lane ticket benefits would be this: would it be handled differently than they did with The Conjuring: Beyond Fear? I think it could work, I'm just not entirely sold on it being worth the effort. It certainly shouldn't be used as the "major project/addition" for any given year.

I sure hope they don't change too much about this second half (aside from the roughness). The banking and the closeness of the tunnels are indeed one of the best parts. In terms of adding anything I'm not entirely sold on the idea of Beast eyes in the woods/in a tunnel, but I'd love to see anything they can do to improve the entrance area. Fixing the exit/handicap access/Fast Lane areas would definitely be a good start.

I don't know why I thought they just rebuilt the entire double helix not too long ago. If they change anything about it I'm wondering if they'd build the tunnels to be a little wider so it doesn't feel like you're gonna hit the wall — even though that is one of the best things about the second half of the ride.

I don't expect to see more than 1 post about it per month, but this would be a really cool thing to document in preparation for it's 50th anniversary in 2029. On the KIC post with those photos there was even someone calling for The Beast to be removed because it's rough (which tells me they haven't ridden it with any of the recent retracking efforts).

Tonight's visit to Winterfest was short and sweet! We only popped into the park for dinner, but still got to experience some of the magic of Winterfest during our time there. I used my Six Flags app in the park for the first time since the big v5.0.0 update and it worked every time I used it. We got to see about the first minute of Yuletide Follies on our way over to the Tannenbaumhaus for Swingin' Into Christmas. The line for LaRosa's felt a little long, but not enough to warrant opening the second line. We saw the show twice and I noticed that two of the performers were wearing the same costume. That's odd because normally all of the performers are wearing outfits that go together, but nobody normally has the same exact outfit. It's just something I noticed was different and led me to believe that someone else might've called in sick with this being a quick change. (Side note: I think I heard that the Cedar Fair costume department is based out of Worlds of Fun/Kansas City in general. Is that true?) I really enjoyed Swingin' Into Christmas and thought it was very energetic! The live band really helped and might be what was missing from Ghouls Gone Wild that made it feel so bland for me.

Kings Island has put out its first round of America 250 merchandise in preparation for the national Quarter Millennium celebration coming in 2026. The new merchandise comes complete with the official logo (as seen in other park chains' celebrations) and a new park name/skyline design. Other patriotic apparel is available from previous releases. There are currently: a new America 250 t-shirt (big design on the front, logo on left sleeve) a new America 250 hoodie (big design on the back, logo on the breast) a new America 250 cross body bag (logo on front pocket, no KI logo) a new America 250 baseball cap (logo on front, no KI logo) an older patriotic Kings Island t-shirt (KI logo on the front, no America 250 logo) an older patriotic Kings Island baseball cap (KI logo on the front, no America 250 logo) I think the flag might be the only piece of AI art on the new merchandise (given it has 11 stripes at most and does not follow regular physical conventions between the obverse/reverse sides where visible) but overall looks very nice.

I think someone said these "visitor cities" were where people visited from, not the cities where parks are located. My question is this: how do they know the home cities and how is NYC 2nd on this list? I believe the numbers, but it's interesting to see. Kings Island being in the top 5 overall is not surprising. As much as I want the other parks to also increase, I very much hope KI maintains its top 4 status overall. We have a very special thing going on and I'd hate to see anything happen to it.

They were having a Winterfest Media Day either yesterday or today. I think it might be today because I saw posts with all of the specialty food posted today.

Rivertown Expansion V2: Most of this is the same as before, but now with better visuals and a new reason for being. For its 50th anniversary season, the world's longest wooden coaster receives new surroundings and brings some of the old Rivertown back to life. What this expansion trades in quantity of attractions, it gains in long-term beauty. I'd love to see a small food stand — like Rivertown Potato Works but smaller — added somewhere in there as well. The mystique of walking down a dead-end path to The Beast would be lost, but I think this expansion would be better than nothing. These photos could serve as inspiration for what the new additions could look like. Image: Bob Joiner / KICentral; the old Rivertown | The bottom of the photo shows the old Rivertown Reel amphitheater. The lake under KCKC would serve as the basis for the new lake. A new gazebo next to the lake might also be a good option for smaller shows like Jingle Jazz. This would also be an opportunity to add a few more trees and shrubs back next to the railroad tracks. Image: Bill Rinehart / WVXU; Kemper House in Heritage Village, Sharon Woods Park | New Indoor VIP Lounge or other building. This style would play into Rivertown's "History of Cincinnati" theme. Credit: Google Street View; Rivertown Junction at Dollywood | New Indoor/Outdoor VIP Lounge. This kind of building would be closer to the VIP Lounge at Kings Dominion and would include some outdoor seating for the nicer days. Credit: Google Street View; Wilderness Theater at Six Flags Great Adventure | New Outdoor Amphitheater. This would provide a venue with covered seating and the potential to be somewhat enclosed for Winterfest. Credit: Google Maps; Red Garter Saloon at Cedar Point | This building would be a good basis for a new indoor entertainment venue and is about the same size as the Rivertown Arcade. Its smaller stage would provide a more intimate environment for shows.

I could've sworn there was another one after that. If not, oh well then. I just saw a photo from the earliest Festhaus setup that had the old logo in that spot and realized it was no longer there. The sign for Diamondback also has the park name on it but the Banshee sign doesn't. The Diamondback logo might also be the only one with the park name that does not have the park logo on it. I know part of the reasoning is so they can use that logo in ads and such so people associate the MT name with KI (which is funny since the MT initials are also now used in Dorney Park). Queen City Stunt Coaster has the logo on its billboard. Orion has the park named just about everywhere except for the sign. Neither The Beast nor The Bat have the KI name on their main signs. I'd love to know the reasoning behind those choices. Side note: does anyone know when/why the capital "I" was changed on the classic Kings Island logo? I always thought there could be people who mistook it for a capital "J" and that might be why. Personally, I feel like it changed whenever the park started to use the classic logo more and made the dot of the first "i" into a Cedar Fair flag and especially when they remade the logo for Phantom Theater Encore.

Does anyone know when they removed the big Kings Island sign from over the Festhaus stage? I noticed its absence recently and realized that it hasn't been there for a while.