Losantiville Mining Co.

I've been thinking about how the chain might change or get rid of the dining plan a lot recently, and I feel like the safest solution would've been to make any adjustments under the "New Management" excuse right after the merger happened. Neither legacy chain probably thought too far ahead on that matter though. The second-best option at this point would probably be to raise the Dining Plan prices and offer a new set of options. Some of the parks now offer both a 1-meal/day plan and a 2-meal/day plan. It might help for the chain to also price things out depending on pass tier. Enchanted Parks decided to not offer a dining plan, and now they're being forced to develop a new DP program. Their meal prices also didn't go down much at all. It's still about $17 for a meal that doesn't come with a drink. It's worth noting that if the parks decide to drastically change their dining plans because guests are "abusing" them, then Six Flags should expect to see lower turnstile numbers after the changes are implemented. Anyone who popped into the park for lunch probably won't do that, leading to lower numbers. Maybe I'll look into doing a deep dive on various park chain dining plans... I know Six Flags (plus the legacy companies), United Parks, and Disney World definitely have dining plans. I believe Herschend and Universal mainly deal in event tasting passes. Enchanted Parks has nothing yet besides their one-time meal voucher tied to their passes. What chains am I missing?

No regular nightly performances in the Carousel Pavilion, please. They turn off the band organ for the entire day when there's a show on that stage. Keep it limited to special events like the recent Celebrate 250 event and Tricks & Treats.

Now that I've been able to properly watch the show, I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous versions I've seen. The jokes and overall dialogue add so much to the show's pacing, which is something you don't really get with Nytewalkers. I'm not bothered by the lack of coordination between the music and the stunts. It would not be a good show without the music. The dancers add movement to the stage that would be visibly missing without them. One part of these shows that I cannot stand is the fake-out audience member (who wears KI merch and is actually a part of the show) who they have sit in the stands and come up on stage about halfway through the show. If you've never seen the show before it really looks like someone decided to hijack the performance. Something that concerned me was the fact that the audience didn't seem very responsive toward the end. I'm not the type of person who audibly cheers (though I clap when I like something) but everyone else was kind of silent during the performance. Part of that could've been from the heat and being tired after the long weekend. Overall, compared to other theme park shows I've seen I'd give this one 3.5/5 stars because it's better than average, but not quite to the four-star rating that I have for other shows. The cast was amazing and the beach ball segment was super fun. I hope the park can continue to bring back All Wheels Sports — albeit in a different venue — in the future.

I had mostly given up on the matter until Cedar Point put the age suggestion (I think it was 14 and up) on one of their shows last season. Of course they will probably change the show for this season to remove whatever made it unsuitable for young children, but the precedent is there. They could also cover up a lot more skin — that's not the part that I'm missing from Hot Blooded FYI — but the International Showplace needs something big and exciting that isn't just a hype show. Now I won't say that the park needs to stop letting little kids through the turnstiles during Haunt, but I do think that catering to families during an event like this plays into its own ratchet theory. Whatever happens with the stunt shows I hope they can move elsewhere in the park after 2027.

The chain has been influenced by Cedar Fair in some pretty major ways, but as you mentioned there is a definite stench lingering from the legacy Six Flags corporation. I think the "integration with Cedar Fair" comment was simply John Reilly calling it how it looks. People see the Six Flags name and don't want to read through a bunch of babble explaining that it's actually CF with the SF name [insert nerd emoji here]. Recent upgrades act as a nice perfume, but the odor still permeates. I suspect his biography was repeated to include everything he provided in addition to everything the press release's writer wanted. There might be a better explanation, but that's what I thought. There is probably a good way to salvage the Six Flags name, but I don't think it can be done without first getting rid of the legacy logo in its entirety. That thing has stuck around for nearly 30 years and has seen bad publicity for at least 20 of those years. It is a literal part of the company's image problem that can't be fixed by moving the words around [for the 7th time in 30 years]. Also, taking the SF name off of parks like Magic Mountain would 100% signal that the parks are in a new era.

I feel like if they would just need to rebuild the entire venue in order to do all of that, and after the reactions to the new festival pavilion I don't think it'd be pretty. If the stunt show is bound to stick around for a few more cycles, I hope it gets moved over to Action Zone. As for the new show this year I haven't been able to see it yet, but it does have a nice set. I still think the video panels could've been better integrated into it, but for something that's been set up since 2022 I don't blame them for something that's worked well for five years. (Hopefully we can see a new Hot Blooded-level show for Haunt in 2028! For an event that's advertised as PG-13 the shows are incredibly geared toward families.)

I think I'd much rather see a super flume like RRF in Rivertown if the area gets a more intense ride. It feels like something that families could do together (and would balance the park's needs if The Vortex successor is a high-thrill coaster).

Six Flags appoints Mark Pauls as Chief Operating Officer https://investors.sixflags.com/news/press-releases/press-release-details/2026/Six-Flags-Appoints-Mark-Pauls-Chief-Operating-Officer/default.aspx I wonder how much "operational efficiency and cost reduction initiatives" we'll be seeing across the chain, or if these will actually lead to good changes in operations? Either way, congratulations to Mark Pauls and best of luck to him in his new role.

Despite the parking lot being absolutely packed with cars I was able to snag a good enough spot just north of the divider berm. I maintain my stance that KI needs to repaint the lines to be diagonal spaces but understand how that might affect the layout (it would be very worth it though). My walk into the park was smooth and uneventful. The crowd size didn't require more than one line to be open, but it would have been very nice to have a second line open on the north side. Every time I scan my pass it takes so long for the computer to process. It would be really nice if the park could do something to improve that. I don't know if the issue is internet connectivity (I'd hope the POS terminals are hardwired) or if it's an authentication issue with Six Flags' systems, but it slows the entry process down so much. I saw an associate cleaning the windows in front of Grain & Grill. It wasn't clear if there was something on it or if they were just wiping condensation off, but I appreciated seeing it. Some doors were closed to keep cold air in while others were kept open, which has me wondering if the A/C in those buildings were off/broken. There are some KI-specific Food & Wine Festival metal cups on sale for $24.99 in the Emporium. The little Amusemints candy packages are actually M&M's in a special bag — I don't know why it's separately branded while still including the M&M's name. There is a shirt (selling for $19.99) that says "Kings Island Amusement Park" with a 3-color rainbow. The Celebrate America 250 event decorations are out all around International Street and are beginning to extend into Tower Gardens. The main "Where America Celebrates" sign is inside its own little planter, though it's very obvious that the KI logo was pasted onto it. (I'd say to just size it up a little, but I have a feeling that the "Welcomes you to" text was not able to be moved further down, meaning the spacing would be off.) The rest of the decorations look good as well. I didn't get to catch any of the special characters or performances. The fact that there are two very large washers holding the Carousel Pavilion show sign to its post looks bad. We got on the train right before Soak City closed for the night, where I saw a guy wearing a Sally Dark Rides shirt. I didn't get the opportunity to ask if he was an SDR employee or anything, but it was cool to see. The blue engine had just been retired for the night when we got to the station, so we rode the green train to go pick up the rest of the Soak City visitors. I'd really like to see more improvements come to the KI&MV RR experience since it looked so good in 2022. After riding the rails we stopped off at the restroom and backtracked a little to eat at LaRosa's in Rivertown. The restroom floors could've use a good dry mop every so often. My LaRosa's experience was good even with no ice in the drink machines. Kings Island has installed ice makers in some of the soda fountains so I hope they can continue that effort throughout the rest of the park. Walking toward WindSeeker made me realize that I could no longer see the holes in the pavers where Vortex's tiny queue fence extension lived. I wonder if those pavers got replaced in 2020? Walking back toward Jukebox let me see that they mostly had the red, white, and blue cars out for the Antique Autos, which was a nice touch for the week. Later on I ventured over to Area 72 and once again felt how much it needs a good flat ride. Continuing my walk took me into the Coney Arcade, which could use some permanent doors to keep cold air inside. Monster didn't have much of a wait but I decided to forego that opportunity since it was getting dark out. Could any of you tell me why Monster has two completely separate queue lines? I can't imagine they're worth keeping separate with the way the ride's load/unload procedure works. I was going to make a quick jaunt over to The Bat until I remembered that my gym shorts didn't have zipper pockets. I settled for a look at the Son of Beast station (no changes there). Phantom Theater had a sub-15 minute wait so I took the opportunity. Much better than the 45 minutes I would've waited an hour before that. Almost everything was working so I was happy. SweetSpot now has some Boysenberry products back in stock, including the Boysenberry Preserves and the Boysenberry Jam. I really want to try it and wish the park offered a small tasting like some ice cream shops have (but with the jam instead of ice cream). My last ride of the night was on the Grand Carousel. I saw the guy in the SDR shirt again, but I think he looked at the time and got off to go get in line for something else before 10PM. My night ended with a viewing of the nighttime spectacular. As much as I love the drones, I don't think the experience would be as good without the nightly fireworks. I've been trying to figure out where I recognize the Maestro design from and I think it's similar to BryanJay's art style with how the hair is portrayed. It would be amazing if the International Restaurant could be opened for an upcharge VIP fireworks viewing. I think that would be some easy money for the park, especially if it's like $30-$40 and includes dinner. Would it sell out every night? I don't think so, but I bet there are enough guests visiting each day that would pay for it. Getting out of the parking lot via the north exit was easy. One thing I like about some of the legacy Six Flags parks is that they have these Disney World-esque directional signage which would look so much better and more permanent at Kings Island than the cheap-looking vinyl(?) signs they have now. Overall, I had a surprisingly good night at the park. The heat didn't hurt me too much, but it was close to being too much. It would be a very good idea for the park to put up some big water stations in each area with free cold water. The water fountains are useful, but guests might be better about staying hydrated if there were dedicated water stations all over the place.

I keep thinking that Intamin should have taken over Clermont Steel after B&M pulled out, but they seem very hesitant to open any manufacturing facilities in the US. That could help with all of these parts delays they keep having. I would also like to see some kind of Intamin coaster at KI but only if they can fix their reliability issues. Another result of the merger: more parks are now adopting the Tricks and Treats event name, with only a few retaining the Kid's Boo Fest name. I'd love to see some more variation in event names (please bring back the FearFest name) in an effort to diversify the company's offerings. There are still a ton of people who are blaming any and all issues in the parks on legacy Six Flags either spoiling the proverbial stew or on them cutting corners to save a quick buck. I don't think we would've seen as much of this if the merged company had chosen to retain the Cedar Fair name or even sprung for an entirely new name. The brand management isn't helping either, with legacy SF logos popping up in the legacy CF parks in small but noticeable places. There are also still a vast number of people who are still convinced that Six Flags "bought" Cedar Fair.

It makes me wonder if it would be easier to unpair the vehicles or to just add new voicelines into each scene. I'd personally vote to add new voicelines.

I think the coaster is on a flat plot of land, is it not? It wouldn't fit in Vortex's plot or over in Action Zone either due to both locations having ravines/steep hills. The steel structure also feels like it would be much easier to relocate than a wood structure as well depending on how much can be shipped intact.

This park closure isn't very surprising. As mentioned above the park was not big enough for a coaster like AFO. I've been seeing a rumor going around that Arieforce One (and the rest of the rides in the park) will be demolished as part of a tax write-off scheme, though I don't know if I entirely believe that. If the rides do end up getting sold and relocated I think AFO will go to a park with plenty of flat land like happened with Siren's Curse.

Halloween Haunt has officially been added to Kings Island's special events webpage. The event will run select nights from September 25th through November 1st, 2026, and will feature scare zones, entertainment, and upcharge mazes. The webpage for this event at Canada's Wonderland also mentions The Conjuring: Beyond Fear, so it feels safe to assume we'll be able to brave the experience once again. The event sponsor is also still Snickers. https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland/events/halloween-haunt I miss how the old version of the website had a customized look for the Halloween Haunt webpage. This version is probably much easier to code though. The webpage for Tricks and Treats lists its dates as being from September 26th through November 1st, 2026. This event is not currently listed on the Special Events webpage, but the updated webpage exists for it. https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland/events/tricks-and-treats Winterfest also has an active webpage, though it simply lists that "2026 Dates [are] Coming Soon" alongside the generalized event details. https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland/events/winterfest Still no updates on when the Celebrate America's 250th event will specifically be held. The event webpage lists activities such as fireworks and drone shows, specialized food and drinks, special entertainment offerings, and America-inspired games that will take place during the celebration. https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland/events/celebrate-americas-250th

The thing about the Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare promotion/marketing that I still can't wrap my head around is the fact that they never made a (real) second promotional image. Every time you saw it, it was Maestro in the exact same pose. Another question I've had is about why the main corporate account still prioritizes the legacy Six Flags parks in terms of what they post and what media they use for their profile banners. We haven't seen too many examples of that this season, but then again there hasn't really been a legacy event like Haunt/Fright Fest and Winterfest/Holiday in the Park that the chain will promote in their social media banners yet this season. As for the rest of the content that Six Flags posts, I (normally) see the various corporate/park accounts reposting guest interactions — though I don't know that I've seen many in the last month or so. They seem to be mostly doing trends and basic interaction posts at the moment. Some parks made a Happy Father's Day post on Sunday. I know that California's Great America had one — and it didn't even have a season pass promotion on it!

The stair tread pieces are used to hide the front end of each stair tread and protect it, so it's really just a matter of maintenance and appearance. It would be amazing if they could also put some anti-slip grip tape down on those stairs and the ones leading down into the queue for rainy days when everyone's shoes are wet and slippery. As for some additional dialogue I think adding a "How about some heat!" line (or something similar) as you pass the Boiler Room sign/as you rotate toward the exploding boiler would add some nice variation to the dialogue.

The music was very noticeable in the stairs going down to the queue yesterday morning, which included Toccata & Fugue in D Minor. I didn't notice anything after that. The strips on the stairs in the portrait hallway are also still missing, but that issue may be low on the totem pole. If I had to take a guess as to what the issue with the first boiler is, I think it is a physical issue with the TV that cannot be easily fixed. If it's something to do with the outlets/cords/internal components/etc then it would be hard or impossible to fix without taking the rest of the boiler off/apart. It looks somewhat fine without the screen IMO.

Here's a photo of the new Fool the Guesser (Age & Weight) game set up in the Rivertown gazebo. I'm not that upset about this structure being used as a game stand since it's only had a bench and/or an activation point in it for the last few years. The game equipment may be the same from its former location Rivertown across from LaRosa's. It looks nice enough and the name signs are 3D (not printed), so it gets bonus points from that alone. It's clear to me that the maintenance team is doing what they can with the resources they have, though I suspect that almost every budget across the board has been severely tightened in an effort to help pay off Six Flags' debt. Effects and issues in Phantom Theater have been repeatedly fixed (minus the first boiler TV), rides like Invertigo and Congo Falls have been repaired, and some park leadership have been spotted all over the park. Just today I repeatedly saw a group of people who I believe to be the top Food & Beverage leadership making their way from restaurant to restaurant. The issues with guests are more noticeable in our post-merger world. There's definitely also an issue with some associates not cleaning the spaces around them, but that can be fixed with better training and heightened awareness. We knew that 2025-2028 would be a rough patch for parks like Kings Island as the company figures itself out and pays off debt. There are a ton of little changes that can happen at the local level and I hope those can start to happen sooner rather than later. I'm not going to shill for KI/SF, but I do think there is still a light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm saving my opinions on this park until some more full-length videos of this park are released, but I don't think I've read many good reviews at all. While it is a park completely dedicated to children I can already tell that they leaned a little too far into that prompt and didn't leave much for the parents to enjoy.

The amount of ride vehicles (27) is the same as it was during Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle and Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Where the original Phantom Theater had 55 vehicles, 28 were removed for SDatHC and BBoBH, and then half of those were moved up one space for PT:ON. There is one lone vehicle (I believe it's opera box #1) for those who are lucky enough to be placed in it. Honestly I'm shocked at how fast this queue goes when I remember waiting a lot longer for Boo Blasters. As for the lack of a pepper's ghost scene, my complaint lies more in the fact that they went with two "small" scenes instead of either one large auditorium scene or one turntable scene and a more zoomed out stage scene. The old library looked a lot bigger because it had more depth and didn't have all of the stage wings on either side. Fun Fact: if you look in the background of the stage scene, you'll see the Boo Blasters castle painted as the background with the entrance gate and fence as a physical set piece in front of it.

Is the complexity/unfairness that you have to pay the initiation fee again if you want to upgrade between memberships? Is it that if you're already paying for a pass and upgrade to a membership then you'll lose out on any money you've already paid? Something isn't making sense to me with this scenario.

Something I've noticed recently is that whenever there's an event logo used across different parks, Kings Island has started using the generic version instead of adding the park name over it. For example, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, SFNE, SFOT, both California's Great America and Chicago's Great America, Magic Mountain, Frontier City, and Knott's Berry Farm all have their park names integrated into the Celebrate America's 250th logo — Kings Island just uses the one with the Six Flags logo. I've also seen it with the Star Spangled Nights logo (even after it was updated from the singular night logo) and the Food & Wine Festival logo. I can excuse the Grand Carnivale logo missing the park name since KI is the only park it's at. Is that something that the local PR folks are in charge of or is it more of a corporate thing? All of that said, I'll be very curious to find out just exactly what this event will look like at Kings Island. The press release lists a ton of cool stuff, but I can imagine a world where only half of the stuff gets implemented depending on the park. It's also interesting how late the information for this celebration was released considering we're about two weeks away from the actual 250th anniversary.

During my recent visit to Soak City I noticed that there's either very little or no Soak City branded merch. It may not be a standard practice for waterparks to have specialized merchandise, but I think it would be cool to have some specific stuff beyond the name-brand swimwear and the generic tropical print items. It would be especially nice to have if Soak City ever gets a Carolina Harbor-style rebrand (insert another Wildwater Junction pitch).

Or if you're like me and know the illusion a little too well, so it doesn't work. It's like when you know how a magic trick works. IMO the bust is not in the best setting since you can tell it's a box on a pedestal.

Not to mention that the price of B&Ms might go up even more now that they're no longer being manufactured 30-ish minutes away... No AlpenFury clones, but I could get behind a good AlpenFury successor. The capacity would be bad, but it would be very thrilling. As for the color I've been thinking about some dark green supports and yellow/gold track a lot recently.