Losantiville Mining Co.

The Texas parks are in a similar situation to the Ohio parks and the Southern California parks. Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Over Texas are far enough apart and are separated enough in focus as to not interfere with each other. The Missouri situation is also similar to the one the 3 Ohio parks were in circa 2006/2007, although there's no way for Six Flags to get SDC in the way Cedar Fair got Cedar Point, Geauga Lake, and Kings Island.

Yes, Kingswood survives at Kings Dominion, though I don't know the last time it would have been used outside of any Music in the Park or other group sales event. Theirs is also on the way to the picnic pavilions, is set nicely back behind trees, and appears to have much better seating and stage arrangements than Timberwolf does. I believe Canada's Wonderland had the nicest out of the three Taft/KECO amphitheaters in their Kingswood, but they appear to have done everything besides demolish it. Carowinds Palladium seems to be here to stay since it was included in recent service road relocations. I think any potential future events would find another venue anyway. One that has covered seating, better backstage facilities, and an actual entrance as well — not just a gap in a fence where you have to go backstage to get to the venue. I think if KI needs a space for the events they currently host in Timberwolf then they should reduce the seating by 50% and build a new stage closer to the top of the hill. Let the rest of the space be used for a coaster or something. Yes please. Or "build" a new one in the old Saltwater Circus plot before that time comes. (I might like that more than putting a new restaurant or flat ride there.) I think there are definitely some ways that the park can make the remnants of Swan Lake look better and more like it used to as well, but that's for another thread. I'm hoping we can see a manufacturer make a new version of the Arrow Mega Looper in the near future. The standard looper is a classic amusement park ride and would be amazing to see brought back. I think Vortex at Carowinds might get Firebird's trains as part of a floorless conversion so they can get at least a few more years out of it. I could see Corkscrew at Cedar Point getting the axe (or maybe the reciprocating saw instead) and leaving the corkscrews standing over the midway. Magnum XL-200 could almost definitely get an easy enough retrack if the park wanted. I would've loved to ride Tennessee Tornado if everything hadn't been closed due to weather on my visit to Dollywood. Hopefully I can get back there on a warmer day.

I went back through that SDR interview video to see if I could get a better view of the concept art and came out with the following. There are 30 pictures on the grid with 6 obscured by a head, but I got what I could from when the camera moved around his head. I've put it behind a spoiler in case anyone doesn't want to see it. Does anyone else have ideas on what these could be? I can update the view and maybe even put them on my ride blueprints file if we figure out likely placements.

I don't recall there ever being any other endings besides the tree, snake, and bat. Having some additional endings would be really cool to see — though it might be more work than the park would like to pay for. If they were to add another ending, I'd vote for a ghost ending to reflect Banshee (since they have MT, DB, and The Bat already).

Using some Illustrator features I just realized could be used like this, I made the following. Here's some improvements that I think would help to improve the often-forgotten back area of I-Street (and a little bit of Rivertown). You can read my thoughts, but some highlights are: New Restaurant Moonlite Gardens new indoor/outdoor seating restaurant maybe close to being like the Grand Pavilion Floral Clock area improvement new fences more shrubs and vertical props International Showplace Theatre steps replace ramps no more stunt show stage (so we can finally return to musical shows) New Trees!!! a new stand of trees in that giant hill area where it wouldn't make sense to put a ride or building bonus: more natural areas in the park

I hope if they ever fix the floral clock it can be returned to look like this. The simple but beautiful hedge work and original logo look much better than what is there now. The trees behind it are nice in that they cover the Stunt Coaster, but they are a little overbearing — especially compared to this view and how it looked on the 2011 Street View capture. Anything the park can do to make that whole pathway less barren and dead would be good. As for going back to the front gate: renovating the main building and the side buildings would do so much to help guest perception as they enter the park. Kings Island is often lauded as one of the best parks in the country, but does the current entrance portray the fact that greatness awaits guests who pass through it? Heck no! Even the experience of getting through the parking lot up to the security area does not live up to the rest of the Kings Island experience. I personally believe that — even if the project didn't include repaving — adding trees/shrubbery, raised concrete pathways, and line re-striping would help improve the experience. Of course trams would help as well, but I don't see KI getting any without them coming from another park. (Maybe one of the tram companies will be at IAAPA to convince some Six Flags officials .) After the next major thrill coaster is when I think the park should embark on some of these renovations. With PT:ON projected to cost at least $1 million (possibly more with the design costs) and a new thrill coaster having the possibility to cost anywhere from $20-$30+ million, I think a good amount of guests might accept a multi-million dollar park improvement project instead of a new ride like in 2018. There might need to be some other improvements within the park, but the precedent is there.

I mean, we've seen what is presumably the display that will be at their booth this year. If it is that display we saw then it'll have two animatronics and a video (unless Maestro and Larry are static for that display). This project is also one of the more original (non-major IP) rides they are currently working on IIRC. This would be a good project to show off during that presentation if SDR wants to say "Hey, look at this! We can bring back an original dark ride and give it a new twist using our existing technology. Are you a park that wants to do that? Hire us!". Now while it is unlikely for us to see much more than the display from the illegal video, I think this is a special enough project for them to show off during their presentation. The ride vehicle might be a trickier thing to show off, but it'd also be a way for them to show off the fact that they offer retrofit options for existing ride vehicles.

So now we have unified map styles, new websites, a potential look into new apps via the Carowinds app, and more unified pass systems throughout the merged Six Flags company. I'm still looking for the following changes and if they will ever happen: The Six Flags social media accounts to advertise both Legacy Cedar Fair and Legacy Six Flags parks and events. They currently have mostly Holiday in the Park advertising instead of equal HitP and Winterfest advertising. Updated mobile apps across the chain. I'm greatly hoping for individual park apps instead of one giant Six Flags app. Expanded FunPix and FunTV across the chain. Even just having them in all of the top core parks would be more than nothing. New branding that utilizes the corporate logo over the Legacy Six Flags logo. Having that change might help move the needle of people's feelings about Six Flags. This change would also be a visual marker on the fact that this is not your parent's Six Flags.

The flashlights are another part I wanted to see out of the ride vehicles. I had a similar thought with how they're not directly involved with the vehicles, but I figure they might show something since they will be an integral part of their newest ride. I really hope we can hear a little bit of the soundtrack as well. Having at least part of the original soundtrack in there would help with bridging the gap between the original and this new version of the ride.

I think the Refresh Stations would all need new machines for them to have the auto-dispensers, but it might make more sense to do that if the park(s) switched to associates pouring the drinks. That way you could also have a steady flow since those drink machines sometimes work on a conveyer-type system. As for the mobile ordering, I believe Cedar Fair abandoned the effort soon after implementing it (rather poorly if you ask me). The new Carowinds app allegedly has a mobile ordering feature currently in it or coming soon, so I think that might be a priority for the large parks. The only issue I can see with the food lockers is that they might need a QR code to unlock them and I don't know if I trust a sizeable amount of guests to not lose their receipt to scan it. Also the fact that Carowinds got an update to their single-park app has me hoping we will continue to see separate park apps when the rest are updated/released. With trays, the park would only need to install separate tray returns in places where a trash can is not directly there. I believe the Festhaus trash cans all have tray return slots on top, so those would only need to have a label added and someone sent to collect them every so often.

I think it will be the first look at PT:ON animatronics at IAAPA. I'd love for it to also be a reveal of one of the Opera Boxes, but I don't know how realistic it would be to get one mostly done and shipped by the time the convention starts.

Most would likely revert to their pre-Six Flags name if sold. The only exceptions would be the original three Six Flags parks, but I believe Six Flags St. Louis is the only one that doesn't fit into the company's Core or Almost-Core park category. SF New England could revert to Riverside Park while most other parks might just drop the Six Flags brand as happened with Elitch Gardens and Kentucky Kingdom (notably a park that is in the precise situation you described). I am personally surprised by this decision because I was under the impression that they didn't have the immediate capital required to purchase more parks. If they're in the position to buy anything from Six Flags I would think the package might include a major park (Core/Almost Core) in an area they don't currently service.

I'd like to clarify — at least for my own peace of mind — that I don't enjoy having Fast Lane available at the rate it currently is. It's very good to have for those who don't visit the parks often and for those who want to have a hassle free day, but it has come to a point where I feel like it is oversold for what it offers. When the FL line gets to be 90 minutes (1.5 hours) long and the standby line is 180+ minutes (3+ hours), that "priority access" feels like it becomes another hassle. It functions better when the wait time is kept to 15-30 min Fast Lane / 60+ minute Standby. Is there a good way to make the system work better in both situations without fundamentally changing it like in the survey? I feel like the way that this product has been developed no longer functions as well as it did when it was first introduced at Kings Island in 2011. There is a point to be made about the fact that the program has a high ROI and that the park gains way more money than it spends on the materials/scanners/etc., but I keep coming back to the high wait time issue. Spending $100-$200 to wait in a 90 minute line instead of a 180+ minute line defeats the purpose for me. What I like about what the survey offered is that it would maintain a lower Fast Lane wait time for each ride while still allowing guests who purchase it to ride everything that it offers. I believe there is a way for the survey Fast Lane, Single-Use Fast Lane, Fast Lane Plus, and All-Season/All-Park Fast Lane to coexist, but something needs to be done about the implementation and functionality of the system as a whole. I will also put it out there that good and fast ride operations are not the only way to improve Standby/Fast Lane wait times at each ride. A park could provide good entertainment that draw families away from each queue line for about 30-45 minutes per show. Good, high quality food might occupy about 30-60 minutes of someone's time if they eat at a leisurely pace. Midway games and arcades won't take up as much time due to their shorter durations of play, but they offer another experience. The more good alternatives a park offers, the more they can spread out the guests between all of the attractions they offer without needing to spend the money to add a new roller coaster as often. If anything, I think the parks could look into a "Ticket Book" system for Fast Lane. For example, "A-Ticket" through "D-Ticket" attractions could be unlimited rides while "E-Ticket" attractions could be limited in how many entries they allow. There would need to be some more development in how it might work with wristbands and phones. I'd love to see a Single Rider line or option added to some rides as well. If it were implemented via a scannable wristband system like Fast Lane, a single rider could potentially wait in the dedicated line and scan their wristband at the station with no hassle. Groups would not be able to obtain a Single Rider wristband and would be removed from the line — with their wristbands removed/deactivated — by security if they tried to abuse the system. Maybe I need to watch the Defunctland FastPass video again to jog my memory and revisit this topic with refreshed thoughts.

Did the Phantom Theater line stop at the stairs so you wouldn't spend so much time in the hallway? The effect tends to do better when you're not right next to it for 3 minutes. I hope the park does something to cover the unsightly parts of the building better than they did for Boo Blasters. They don't need to entirely Disney-ify and make it so you never see an exit sign from the buggy, but there were a few spots in BBoBH where you could see orange cones, wet floor signs, and dark mystery door alcoves. The busts also might not have fit in very well with the new art style. As with the loading station, anything that was left over from PT got covered with paint or props. I'd be curious to know if the red eye lights that were installed in some of the busts were drilled through or mounted within. The station turntable room being absolutely coated in black paint will forever haunt my dreams. I really hope they can revive it to look like the original. I can't tell if it is covered in spray paint or wall paint either. You can kind of see the pattern still showing through. One of the largest hurdles might be adding the curtains back into the room, but I would hope the team understands that guests will be looking for a lot of old mixed in with the new. The chandeliers may be harder to bring back since they were sold to local schools and organizations (I know of at least one that's been used in two separate productions of Phantom of the Opera), but their construction is relatively simple if more need to be made. Photo: "Original Phantom Theater Concept Model" by BoddaH1994 Photo: Rick Bastrup https://roberthorsin.blogspot.com/2017/01/phantom-theater.html Photo: Rick Davis https://www.dafe.org/articles/darkrides/phantomTheater.html Photo: Kings Island

There's also the fact that Smoky Mountain Christmas also has 8-12 high-quality shows with two of them being nearly an hour long. Winterfest is a really good time for entertainment at Kings Island, but most of them are outdoors in small venues with little to no dedicated seating.

Kings Island November 2025 Food & Beverage Write-up For a park that once had laughably uninspired dining options, Kings Island has come a long way since Cedar Fair introduced meal plans and hired Chef James Major to improve the park's dining. Now with Chef Perez at the helm, we have continued to see specialty food options added to compliment the rest of the regular-season food. Festival food items are advertised outside each location and Chef's Plate items are announced online. This year has not been all sunshine and rainbows, though. Despite online posts from the park about the specialty festival foods, there has been a notable lack of a complete list of items and even less transparency on which of those items are included with the Dining Plan. Chef's Plate items are also often announced via a Facebook or Instagram story in the middle of the day about 1-2 hours before the item becomes available. The beginning of the season saw continued challenges with the quality of fountain drinks. More complications arose when refill stations and restaurants started running out of Drink Plan cups and refused to provide an alternative even after the pass had been scanned. Guests visiting Cedar Point and Kings Dominion received 10oz cups — down from the standard 16oz — for about two months in the middle of the season. Another issue has presented itself as various KI dining locations have begun to use Sysco (or similar generic commercial food supply brand) chicken tenders. This is a notable change from the higher-quality tenders still found at the Chicken Shack. Standardized options are good for saving time and money, but the lower quality should be made up for by it being hot and freshly prepared. Daily ticket holders may not know the tips and tricks of buying a One-Day Dining Plan to share amongst their group. These are the guests that will (rightfully) complain about the high price of food and often mention the quality after bad experiences. Yes, us passholders understand where the good dining locations are, but the gap between the good and the bad seems to be wide. Third-party dining vendors have changed over the last few years as well. While Chik-Fil-A and Subway have unceremoniously left the park, LaRosa's, Panda Express, Skyline Chili, Starbucks, and Tom + Chee remain. Most of these offer a few basic options as part of the park dining plans and allow out-of-town guests to experience a version of local cuisine. My personal experiences with my 2025 Kings Island Dining Plan have been considerably good so far. Out of 39 dining plan meals at Kings Island, only 5 have been what I consider to be sub-par. Out of 86 drinks I think I've encountered at least 20 instances of soda fountains being out of syrup. There have been even more experiences of fountains being out of ice. I haven't been able to achieve my goal of eating at most restaurants in the park, but I have eaten at most of the big ones and a few of the smaller ones. With my All-Park Dining Plan I would've "spent" $716.25 on food and $215 on drinks across 5 Six Flags parks throughout the 2025 season. To get all of that for a total price of almost $200 is a very good deal. Some might argue that myself and others have "abused" the dining plan, but the reality is that most normal guests will not even reach the 10-12 meals it'd take to break even on it. So I've analyzed these different parts of the KI dining experience: what now? I have a few suggestions for if the park would like to improve their dining even more. Let me know your thoughts and if you have suggestions for how the park might continue to improve their food and beverage experience. Transition to an order number system for counter service dining locations that already require guests to provide a name for their order (Rivertown Potato Works, Skyline, Tom + Chee, etc.). Each guest would be given a receipt with their order number on it and a monitor next to each pickup window would display the progress of each order. This ensures that each order will be tied to an identifying number and that guests receive a list of items they purchased. Implement an Order Slip feature on the park's mobile app that includes the order number and details. This would show guests how many times they have used their meal plan, what time they used it at, and what they got with it. It might also provide a function for guests to rate their meal, giving direct feedback to the park about the quality of their food. Provide trays for larger orders and install tray return locations at each dining location. This already happens at some locations, but there are no dedicated tray return spots. The tray return spots could be placed next to each pickup window for convenience. Guests would then be able to see the return location when they pick up their food. Dedicate at least two associates to restocking Coca-Cola Refresh Stations each day. These associates could ensure each machine has ice and proper carbonation/syrup. Consider installing food lockers at some locations for mobile/kiosk ordering. Guests would still get a receipt and an order number. The largest hassle would be with ensuring total unfulfilled orders do not exceed the number of available lockers. These are not all of my thoughts, but they're enough of what I could get out right now.

The north end of the Emporium would be a great place to do this. It already serves at the Haunt Store during the Fall season and only receives partial direct sunlight through the doors that face International Street. I could see The Shakespearean statue (in the case above) and Houdelini head be placed in there: probably in the corner where the lantern activation point has been. If the park still has the rest of the artifacts from the exhibit, this would be an opportunity to turn this area into a mini-museum with items replacing a few shelves. The model could also be displayed if there is room to do it. I hope the back wall from the KIT lobby display survived as well since it could serve as a backdrop again. The inverse busts will probably go back into the ride building and some of the description boards might not fit in the new space either. There will also need to be space in this store/mini museum for things about the new ride. I don't know how much Sally Dark Rides can provide, but photos of new concept art and a filmed interview with some of the creative team would be an awesome start. I really hope this new Phantom Theater does really well. Six Flags is currently looking through their portfolio as they "optimize" to figure out their priorities, and if they don't see a good ROI with this major addition for Kings Island I might be worried about how "major" future additions will be. It's bad to fear monger, but this is a situation that is actively developing with the other parks as well.

Do you think he could be projection mapped like Victoria Frankenstein in the queue of Monsters Unchained? I can't tell if static means fully static or if it's face could move/it could move on a platform.

Would any of you support adding a third FL tier that only allows one ride per attraction instead of changing the two that already exist? I'd rather have the changes as listed on the survey than adding even more complexity to the system. There could also be a functionality where the system is set up as the following: Single-Use Fast Lane One time priority access to one attraction. Fast Lane (standard) [Alternatively as a new FL Lite tier,] One time priority access to each Fast Lane attraction. Unlimited priority access to each Fast Lane attraction. Attraction list may vary for this pass. Fast Lane Plus Unlimited priority access to all Fast Lane attractions. All-Season Fast Lane Unlimited priority access to all Fast Lane attractions all season long. All-Park All-Season Fast Lane Unlimited priority access to all Fast Lane attractions at all Six Flags parks all season long. I would only ever think of getting Fast Lane if I had a strong desire to ride everything at a park in one day. Kings Island is a park I visit enough to be able to get through everything throughout the season. I might get it for a visit to Cedar Point, but even then I don't have the strongest desire to [Pay] More so I can Wait Less.

I figure it was an unforeseen circumstance, but it's a temporary sacrifice I can support if it means keeping the organ longer (less wear and tear per day) and getting more shows in the park.

For now I think we can just hope that the efforts from the portfolio optimization and some good boosts from improvements to core parks will help Six Flags in the long run. If the chain does indeed get itself down to 15-ish good parks, I think that "Great Reset" that's was foretold with the merger could become reality. Awesome article, Don! It's got me thinking of what could have been and who would've won out in terms of names and how the company would present itself. Right now I'm thinking the Cedar Fair name would be kept or a new name chosen entirely, but I can't figure out whose branding might've stuck. Much to ponder!

I'm hoping it will be repainted if/when Action Zone gets rethemed. Hopefully it'll be the Oktoberfest retheme I've been advocating for so Delirium could get a Bavarian blue and white diamond pattern that breaks from the normal color scheme of this kind of ride.

I'm kind of hoping the static figure is the Centurion! He was such a small part of the original, but I think he added to the vibes as much as the Gargoyle and the other living props.

Another set of interesting notes from today's video: Most of the black ceiling tiles in the queue room have been removed. The FunTV screen(s) are still up in the queue room alongside the hurricane-style lamps on the right hand balcony wall. The fake windows, queue railings, and center part of the linoleum tile floor have been removed. Some of these elements are leaned up against the front wall. The door nearest the photo room is painted white on the inside. Both the extended cover and the underside access panel for Maestro's queue room balcony have been removed. (This could be an awesome sign for what's to come!) Maestro's curved stage right after the loading station is still in place and looks like it is merely dirty and only received a little bit of paint. The door to the left of the photo room ("Not An Exit") leads to a backstage hallway that appears to either be painted to resemble a cave or to have a tarp over the wall. The wall to the left of this door is labeled as the "YARD" scene with "A-17 [up arrow]" (presumably denoting the scene and prop element that goes there. Scene #8 | Kitchen I think walls have been removed from the back of the BBoBH bedroom scene. A new pallet-looking item is leaned up against the wall where No Legs Larry once beckoned guests into the theater. The turntable and platform still exist, but there is a big cutout in the wall that leads to the former theater stage. The newer interior walls use metal framing, if anyone was curious. The only remnant of the large parlor scene appears to be the painted checkerboard floor. Everything else looks to have been replaced by new walls. Scene #13 | Pipe Organ Scene #15 | Dungeon Lab The ride operator's telephone and black curtain remain in the loading station for now. You can still see the old Phantom Theater wallpaper and paneling that has been painted over, especially now that the house lights have been turned on. The upper wallpaper will need to be replaced or removed if they hope to emulate the original station. (Which I very much hope they do!) The only look into the bust hallway shows that the floor and queue dividers have been removed. This final interior shot also shows that the wall formerly used for the camera has been replaced. Boocifer lives on in the spot where Boo Blasters defeated him, now removed from behind his stone arch. The green "grass" paint remains under his unmoving figure in another room that appears to have been given new drywall. Metal wire chasing boxes sit beside Boocifer. Some of those will presumably be used to send the scoring system data to new screens at the end of the ride, similar to the Justice League attractions at other Six Flags parks. No work has begun on the exterior facades. Even the Boo Blasters Safety Guides are still posted. Areas of the building that we didn't see include the bust hallway, the graveyard, the portrait hallway(s), the former PT electrical room, half of the now-former dungeon, both skeleton scenes, and Boocifer's last stand. Some parts of the track also look to have been pulled up, possibly to change which direction the opera boxes will face. The completion of the demolition phase and the beginning of "intricate" electrical work give some insights into the transformation process. The article (posted above) in Amusement Today states that there will be 26 interactive scenes with 1 static figure and 33 animatronics inside. The new character of Sir Pretzel joins the now-named Arpeggio (or Archie for short) and Rick the Electrician. The ride will end with "...a grand on-stage musical finale with all cast members" — I believe this might go in either the larger skeleton room or the leaderboard room. Lauren Wood Weaver, VP of marketing at SDR, also stated that the company was approached several years ago and that this project was approved in November 2024. This just goes to show how much time and planning goes into these attractions before they are even announced. Tuesday, November 18th can't seem to come soon enough! I think they might show off the first functional animatronics and maybe another little glimpse into the new attraction or two.

I think the chandeliers will stay, but I hope they add more in the loading station like there were in the original. I know they sold some of the load station chandeliers to schools in the area. The glow in the dark cobweb fabric was added for Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle. You can see how much they've faded in your photo comparing the balcony setups. The Amusement Today article mentioned that there will be 26 scenes as well. I'll have to go through my layout to see how they can have them organized. It's super interesting that you can still see where the Maestro sign was on the balcony. 100% not happening IMO. I don't know how well it did in the 90s, but so many people already sit on the metal rails and break them that I don't think they would risk something like the nice stanchion ropes. Carpet would be really nice to have but they'd need to clean it often and well. It gets way too wet and slippery with the linoleum floor, so I hope they get the carpet.