Losantiville Mining Co.

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.

It's also hard to gather any definitive reports that would compare well to other major coasters because it a) opened during the middle of the pandemic when a number of guests were hesitant to travel/return to the parks, and b) operated for half of a "normal" season during a time where park attendance was limited and guests had to have a reservation to visit the park. I think one metric that hurts Orion's standings is that it is easily comparable to a small set of giga coasters and is a similar model to a larger set of hyper coasters (which are both the same model to the manufacturer). My data comes from this site and other park enthusiast community forums I think if Kings Island fans are looking for a coaster model that might do better in terms of ROI or guest sentiment, they should look to coaster models that are not as easily comparable to anything Cedar Point or Carowinds has. The new Vekoma Ghostrider model from the survey only has one installation that is still under construction. That could be compared to Maverick or Copperhead Strike, but even then, the Ghostrider model shown has a grouping of elements not seen in either of those. Comparison is the thief of joy.

I believe all of this could be done without leveling any of The Vortex plot. Instead of an entirely new themed area, it might be easier to bring back the "Old Coney" name and realign the midway. That frees up space for a larger indoor dining location, fixes the kink in the midway brought on by KMAA, and could still allow for a new flat ride to go back there depending on how everything is placed. Jukebox is replaced by the new indoor restaurant and Coney Potato Works could make a comeback to give purpose to that seating area (and provide another dining location). This all could probably happen for much less money while killing a few birds with one big boulder. Here's a mock-up I've been working on for another topic thread to better show the idea. It does include the removal of WindSeeker and the addition of a new dark ride in Action Theater, but that would come at a later time.

What do we think these white tarps (?) at the bottom of Mystic Timbers' drop are for? Maybe some new wood (already though?) or general coverings for some reason?

I have a little hope for a Back To The Future coaster, but I did see the speedometer and immediately think it'd be Fast & Furious. The needle did look like it could be going to 88mph though. A semi-cloned ride with a cloned theme does feel on brand for Universal/Disney these days. At least this might mean an end to Fast & Furious Supercharged.

I think this is just the existing rule of "You must have the wristband on your wrist and cannot use two at once" written out and posted publicly. Technically with the season pass meal plan you're supposed to have everyone there to scan each pass with the passholder present, but it doesn't always get enforced because parents don't want to have to deal with their kids being in a food line. In reality, the policy saying "no sharing" probably means "no giving your wristband away" rather than "we will watch you eat and make sure you don't share food with your family and friends". There are quite a few people online who like to leave dining wristbands in bushes if they leave early enough in the day and make a post saying to come get them. This new policy might be trying to cut down on that. Associates are already supposed to throw away discarded wristbands and nobody needs more plastic littering the parks/harming the foliage or animals that might get to them before humans do.

I think the ornaments are from either a small holiday photoshoot that Sally Dark Rides did or it's from a potential holiday overlay mock-up for PT:ON. There were also some photos with Maestro in a Santa costume, but all of these photos were taken in the SDR workshop so we probably won't know much until later this year. As much as some commenters like to say the art style is "too cartoony" I really like the new looks for everyone. It's taken the original characters and mixed their appearances with No Legs Larry's puppet form from Phantom Theater Encore. Either way, isn't it better for everyone to look more "lively" in preparation for the theater's grand reopening? I'd much rather that than going to see them in their less mortal, more corrupted state

Some additional details have been revealed for the 50th anniversary changes at Chicago's Great America. All of this information comes from a Facebook post by Marcus Leshock after he attended the ACE No Coaster Con yesterday. The front of their entrance plaza is being renovated to look more like California's Great America, complete with the planter and sign occupying the front of the fountain. Their "Flags" store near the front gate is getting a Kings Island Trading Company-style roof extension and renovation. New 50th anniversary merchandise is on its way. (They have a set of merch that looks like it's supposed to be Kings Island's 50th logo but with the Eiffel Tower replaced by a carousel horse and I think it looks so bad.) An Anniversary Brick Program is coming and will be installed to the right of the park's main entrance. (I'm still a little salty that Kings Island hasn't started one.) The front of the Columbia Carousel is being refurbished (why not just do the whole thing? Unless this is referring to the new sign). New food and beverage options are on their way with a potential anniversary tasting pass. Other F&B upgrades and renovations are also coming. Whizzer is receiving 14 new pieces of track. Raging Bull is receiving a new staircase (I've heard the current one is very rickety). The park's go karts have been fully demolished and removed. A nighttime spectacular and parade are in the works. From June 20th - August 9th the park will be open until 10:00PM every night. New parking lot signage and toll plaza upgrades are being installed. Hopefully Six Flags can pull all of this off a lot better than they did with Kings Dominion's 50th anniversary celebration. Sadly there is still no information out of California's Great America hinting that they will even celebrate their 50th anniversary. I think they might have a Facebook post or two out that acknowledge the fact that the park has been there for 50 years, but nothing even close to what SFGA or even Valleyfair have out. Not only would it be so sad for CGA to go without a celebration, it shows that Six Flags would rather let this park die with a whimper rather than a celebratory bang.

Bringing back some kind of Fourth of July barbecue or cookout might be the best option for "specialty" food. It would definitely help any additions if the event ran for a week instead of just two days. Cedar Point is supposed to host a one day America 250 event (info from the ACE No Coaster Con), but no other information like potential food offerings was given.

Kings Island has held "Dive In" movies at Soak City before, they just stopped either due to COVID or logistical issues. If they were to do it again I'd rather see it held in a different area of Soak City in case the fact of it being in a wave pool was one of the larger problems. I could believe that it's harder to perform wave pool lifeguard duties at night, even with somewhat adequate lighting. Maybe it could be held in one of / across all of the lounge pools or in a new large lounge pool.

I've really enjoyed Orion every time I've ridden it. For me, it's fine as is. While I love finding ways to re-imagine parks and rides, most of what Kings Island has to offer is good enough as is. That being said I do really want to know how feasible it would have been to put an inversion or two somewhere in Orion's layout. What would change overall? Different trains and a little more steel for the extra track/supports? The world's/North America's first inverting giga coaster might've had a nice ring to it. Now that title will be taken by Tormenta at SFOT (which is also taller than Orion), though we'll have to wait to find out how the ride experience on that coaster turns out.

The flag poles could probably look a lot better out in front of the turnstiles rather than bringing them back to "block" the view of the Eiffel Tower. I don't think KI necessarily needs to do what Dollywood and Dorney Park have with a secondary park sign a little further away from the gate, but it could be fun to have a Kings Island sign made out of foliage somewhere else in the park. The 50th anniversary sign is probably one of my favorites because of its overall shaping and how the ribbons span outward. If designing a new sign were up to me, I think I would start by trying to keep it on flat ground unlike the first PKI sign (seen below) and Kings Dominion's current sign. So far my guidelines are: overall shape should compliment the Eiffel Tower and draw eyes up to it needs to be able to be modified for seasonal festivals and removable for Fall and Winter events must say "Kings Island" spaces for foliage should be included in the design Paramount's Kings Island sign circa 1993 (CoasterAce on YouTube). As one of the first (if not the first) front gate signs at Kings Island, I think this iteration did exactly what it needed to do. It certainly fits in better with all of the mature trees lining International Street, far more than it would with the current trees in their still-smaller forms. I think the reason why this setup works better at Kings Dominion than it did at Kings Island is because KD has more trees along the front of their fountain that help to build up to the berm. 2006 Paramount's Kings Island sign (Reddit). This sign solved the issue of how much the berm blocked the view of the fountains, but is a little too low for my liking. I definitely appreciate how much the current setup both allows for guests to sit in front of the sign while also raising the planter bed up away from curb-level. The fountains being set to barely on doesn't help the view, but you can see where the shape of the sign compliments the Eiffel Tower rather than being a flat line below it. If I could find a photo of this sign from Fearfest, I'd also include it to show the decorations; however, if I recall correctly the decorations were really just placed around the planter rather than anything special being done with the sign. Paramount's Carowinds front gate sign some time after 2000 (https://www.screammachine.net/parkinfo.php?parkcode=PMCS); the same sign in 2012 ("Carowinds Classic Footage - 2012" by XtremeCoasters Network on YouTube). This sign accomplishes a lot of good things while remaining incredibly simple. It's one of my favorite park signs for a few reasons. It's big and was prominently featured as the vista point at the end of the path from the park entrance, something Carowinds now fills with a giant empty stage; the sign supports are designed rather than being simply functional, especially with the three bars behind the Paramount logo; and the foliage behind it both frames the sign while also allowing it to stand out. I have a feeling that this sign and planter were removed in 2017 to make way for an expanded stage (possibly to coincide with Winterfest), which is a shame. The current Celebration Plaza area is very disconnected design-wise and there is no longer a direct vista to be seen from the main entrance to the park. After the Paramount logo was removed from the sign it did lose some of the height that made up its good shaping. I don't know that making the Kings Island sign any wider/taller would help its current predicament, but this iteration of the Carowinds sign might provide inspiration in other ways. Paramount's SCarowinds front gate sign (https://www.charlottenc.gov/CS-Prep/City-News/Experinece-at-SCarowinds). You can see here how it was decorated for the first years of SCarowinds, likely sometime around 2001-2003 since neither the old Emporium building nor the Borg Assimilator are visible behind the trees. The decorations are simple and plentiful but don't distract from the sign itself. They also add a third layer with the sign and the trees behind it. I haven't been able to find any photos of it from Paramount's Carowinds 2005 iteration of Winterfest, but this specific photo of the SCarowinds decorations looks so good. The Halloween Haunt and Tricks & Treats decorations over the last few years have strayed away from the "classic frights" genre seen below, but at least the current Haunt sign is custom-made with special effects included.

Oops, sorry for the confusion, I was referring to Kings Island's/Six Flags' social media team. I think the whole KIC team does a great job with their social media Maybe the KIC team could also make a post about it! Especially if y'all have a more recent photo with all three rides in it.