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Hoping we'll see some big news tomorrow that can offset any potential woes caused by the bad earnings call. This would indeed be a great time to announce the new CEO and/or make any other attraction announcements for 2026. Valleyfair's new waterpark theme and an America 250 adjacent event for the big parks could be a start.

Anything they could do to fix Rivertown would be a good thing in my book. Maybe the easiest things to do would be making [the former] Swan Lake look better/more natural and enclosing the top cattlepen of Diamondback's queue line (and making it look like a town again). Back to Winterfest: If there's anything the park can do to to get a Winterfest 1.0 look on International Street, I think that would be a nice change and, if done with some proper planning, would be a great little "show" like the Haunt fountain shows were (but without using the fountain jets which are currently being covered). Think of this view with more warm white lights (this view shows cool white) and more foliage in and around Snow Flake Lake. Finding a way to color in the rest of the stars might also help. It might also elevate the feel of the event while removing some of the stuff that makes it feel manufactured — which in turn could help it rise to the level of similar events at Dollywood and Silver Dollar City. Image: Journal-News Photo: ParkFans

There's a good chance that it will be worked on from January to March 2026. If it's just going to be a redressing of the castle (hopefully with some structural changes), I don't think they'll need terribly long to change the facade. I personally hope they'll at least take down the Boo Blasters signage before Winterfest. Keeping it up is probably nice in that it won't look blank, but it also feels like there's nothing happening with the project.

I'd love a good indoor entertainment venue in Rivertown. The general lack of an entertainment venue in that area takes away from its potential. There used to be the Rivertown Reel amphitheater (where the arcade is now) and then the Back Porch Stage (where Diamondback's station sits now), and now there's nothing. FYI: the Red Garter Saloon is approximately 60' x 70' and the Rivertown Arcade is roughly 60' x 90'. With some good, thoughtful, extensive renovations (and maybe a facade-ectomy) it could be transformed into that kind of venue. Alternatively if the TR:TR building were to be demolished that would open a good amount of space for a Rivertown expansion where they could add a new entertainment venue, a flat ride, and some buildings that could return the "town" to Rivertown.

I think you may have just been there for one of their bad shows. When I saw it earlier in the season (once during their open rehearsals and again for the full thing during HalloWeekends) they looked and sounded awesome! It's definitely one of the best rock n' roll shows I've seen the parks put on. The live band helps a ton as well. It also has a cult following that packs into the Red Garter Saloon most nights which amps up the energy big time. I wish Kings Island could get something even close to Fangs After Dusk, but it seems the chain is content on repeating the same Live Entertainment options at KI year after year. Nytewalkers is probably the best show we had this Haunt season and it felt stale. Ghouls Gone Wild also feels like it should be a daytime-only show since it's so family-friendly. The Festhaus atmosphere also seems to suck a lot of energy out of the show. Dr. Nightmare's Game Show is... yeah. I won't beg and plead for the return of Hot Blooded — although this would've been the year to do it — but Haunt is an event that thrived with energetic and risque shows. Maybe we'll see a better lineup next year and Fangs After Dusk can continue to energize crowds at Cedar Point.

The floral clock used to be over where the International Showplace is now and got moved when the IST was built. There also used to be a floral thermometer, a floral Flinstone in Hanna-Barbera Land, and a floral representation of new attractions and the park name out to the right of the front gate. I don't think we'll see the front gate one return anytime soon (unless the security posts get moved much further out), but it would be nice to see the thermometer and maybe a floral Snoopy go somewhere. Kings Island really used to pride itself on its landscaping, though that outward pride seems to have faded with the Six Flags merger.

As we approach the beginning of Winterfest and roll ever closer to the new year, Kings Island has published a couple of 2026 group events to the park's new website. For reference, in 2024 and 2025 the seasonal events calendar was released on March 4th. The current lineup is still missing seasonal festivals like Food & Wine, Halloween Haunt, and Winterfest, but even the PSM days are more than we knew about this time last year. PitP days may also give some insight into the park calendar once more is published. Haunt and Winterfest are listed as benefits of the 2026 passes so it's reasonable to assume they will both return in 2026. So far the 2026 events calendar includes the following group events: Physics, Science, and Math Days — April 24 & May 1, 8, 14, 15, & 22, 2026 Performance in the Park — Any Public Operating Day During the 2026 Season Unless something changes — which there is a chance that it might — we now know that the season will start by Friday, April 24th, 2026. Could we see Grand Carnivale return in 2026? How do you think the park could improve the Food & Wine Festival? When do you think the rest of the 2026 events will be revealed? Next year might be big for new seasonal events as the United States celebrates its Quarter Millennial. A number of parks have already revealed special events, shows, and rides as part of the America 250 campaign. Exciting times await Kings Island in 2026!

The MVP Sale has finally come to a close after more than three months. Now a Kings Island Gold Pass is priced at $130 total without the All Park Passport while the Prestige Pass is priced at $225 total with the All Park Passport included in its price. I've been unable to access the purchasing page, but the APP at SF Great America is currently priced at $55. Personally, I believe the Prestige Pass is still priced far too low for the benefits it provides, but the Gold Pass is getting back to a more reasonable price. Should Six Flags have cut off the MVP sale after its first extension? Yes. Is it good that they have finally removed the APP from the Gold Pass? Also yes. I hope we can see more reasonable sales and minimal extensions in the future. Also, if the Silver Pass is brought back for any reason I think it should include blackout dates as a replacement for not including Haunt and Winterfest. Let everyone experience the whole year of events while making sure there is still a good reason to upgrade to a Gold Pass.

I'd love to see the security posts get a nicer cover in a potential front gate redesign. Something like the Six Flags St. Louis turnstile structure or Carowinds South Gate structure would be really nice to see. Both of them have a little bit of architectural detail and generally look better than the plain prefab structures we currently have.

A lot of things on the new websites are incorrect/outdated. It would've been nice to have a complete list of correct information with these new websites, but it seems Six Flags' historic [lack of] quality control has been retained by the merged company.

CW's website also has a dedicated Winterfest tab, while the Kings Island and Carowinds websites don't. You'd think the extra 3-4 months they had to work on these websites (considering they were originally slated to be published in July) would've allowed them to fix these mistakes. Has anyone had the chance to go through and see what might be new and what looks like it isn't returning to Winterfest this year?

I thought those were the sponsors, although it's odd that they don't have Sharefax (the credit union/bank sponsor) on there. That's where the sponsor bar was on the other website. I've had a much worse experience using the Six Flags app, but if it works and feels like the new Carowinds app then it should be fine. The legacy SF app has issues with pulling up passes, takes too many clicks to switch between parks, and has a number of "buttons" that look like they should work but don't let you click them. That new Carowinds app also appears to have a mobile ordering feature, though. I may be in the minority on this, but I prefer having separate apps for the different parks/resorts. Cramming them all into one app feels like it will either decrease the amount of in-app features per park (favoring app size over functionality) or make the app a puppet of the website (meaning more in-park Wi-Fi usage through an already strained system). I feel like having all of my different park passes together in my phone wallet makes it easier to switch between them and negates any issues with having separate mobile apps. A majority of passholders might not even need more than one app if they only ever go to their home park/resort. I'd love to see the other parks get separate apps. So far whenever I try to use the new websites it gives me a 403 error and says there's either too much traffic or a configuration error. Hopefully this issue gets resolved quickly, because a company this large should be able to handle website traffic like this. FYI to get to the Six Flags America website you'll need to type out the link in the address bar since it is not listed with the other parks. www.sixflags.com/america

I'd be shocked if the Winterfest dinner in the International Restaurant doesn't at least make its money back. That feels like the sort of thing that is priced to make a profit. It's also the one thing I feel like I can definitively say: if it doesn't make a profit, someone is grossly mismanaging something. A train is indeed a very important part for any holiday event. I think if Kings Dominion had more experiences for their guests overall, corporate might've deemed it worthy to keep (although that idea of someone wanting to do away with these events is lingering in my head). You are correct in saying that Winterfest should be an ad for the season pass. I'll have to find the GreenTagged video that said it, but basically guests should enjoy the park(s) during the summer and then be enticed to come back for "free" to the Fall and Winter events. Removing the meal plan from Winterfest would probably not go well. They could reduce the regular menus to add new options, but removing it entirely would give guests a reason to spend less time in the park overall. They should want guests to stay in the park instead of arriving late or leaving early to go to dinner. Mismanagement is the word of the day every day at the Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. They do some stuff right, but for management to be this faulty so often feels like something is seriously off. Dollywood and Busch Gardens Williamsburg also almost definitely pay enough in wages for adults to come work during the week in December. Dollywood's food and beverage appears to start at $16.50/hour, which is a lot better than the $11-$15/hour for the same position at Carowinds. If the challenge is that a sizeable chunk of your workforce is made up of students who can't work during the week then perhaps the solution would be to find out how you can hire more adults.

Didn't the train have an "I'll be home for Christmas" theme during Winterfest 1.0 or 2.0? I think it'd be pretty cool if they were able to make 12 Days of Christmas only one part of the ride, then go into other storylines about the holiday season.

RIP to Six Flags America. I wonder how soon the chain plans to remove it from their maps and such. IMO it would be a disservice to leave the website up as-is with no indication of the fact that the park is closed (though I wouldn't put it past SF to leave it up as-is). The earliest that anything will happen is tomorrow when people are in their offices. If any rides get relocated then I could see announcements coming in about a month. Most of the fixtures (at least racks and such) will almost definitely be sent to other parks to be reused. The logistics part of me would love to see the plans for what's moving, and how, and when — though realistically those plans would never be released.

The final day has arrived for Six Flags America. After 50 years of family fun, the Maryland amusement park will permanently close tonight at 6:00 PM. A councilmember from Prince George's County spoke with a local CBS station about the future of the site and what could come to it.

Why not try to gain some more visitors who are displeased with their local Six Flags park? Good on Dollywood for advertising themselves so far out!

I have to wonder who in SF corporate wants to get rid of the winter events because (as we've said) it's looking that way. Fall and Winter events are the prime time to bring guests back and have them spend more money. They also, notably, add a lot of value to a season pass! So many people have remarked about the perceived value that Haunt and Winterfest add to their season passes, so why take that away (genuine question)? I cannot believe that most of the winter events held on that long without making enough money. It feels like it'd be a very slippery slope to cancel even more events next year. I could more see them scaling the event down like this, first closing the areas outlined in red, then the ones in green if they need to cut even more. Cutting more than that would probably jeopardize the quality of the event too much (after already taking it down to the size of the 2005 event). As for changing up the ride lineup, I'd vote to add Woodstock Express over Adventure Express if it needs another roller coaster. Losing the most accessible indoor attraction for this year's event is sad, but I think it's well worth it for Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare. I'd love it if they could turn one of the arcades into a warming station, though moving all of the equipment into temporary storage might be too much work. Maybe I'll try to come up with my own Winterfest wish list and post it somewhere here.

Order of the Dragon was by far the best maze this year. Some of my praise might be rooted in recency bias and are further colored by the fact that the rest of the mazes are between 3-16 years old (they could never make me hate you, Slaughterhouse). I hope we can see more work from Plague Productions continue with future events.

I hope we can see the event details released on Monday because I'm so excited for Winterfest!

There might still be a decent amount of people in the park, just spread throughout it. The maze upcharge definitely helps the numbers too. I think they should keep Thursday Haunts at Kings Island.

I wonder if they will move the ice carver to the new pavilion. With the potential for a downsized Winterfest this would make a good second location. Although, if the event maintains its size or is expanded this will be a great spot to have another show. I think the stretched covers have to be removed once it starts snowing though.

I haven't been noticing the music too much this year, but I do remember wishing there were some older songs mixed in there. There are some specific tracks that used to play every night (I can't remember what they were called) that I think suited the event very well.

You'd think they could play carnival music in Coney Mall during Tricks and Treats. I'd support the move but it does need to have at least 4 hours of music on it.

I'd welcome the orchestral music back in full force any day. I wonder if there's any chance the park would play instrumental patriotic music (like they have on Main Street 1776 at SFA) next year for the Quarter Millennial? Major props as well if they can figure out how to put more than 10 songs on a playlist that's supposed to play on repeat for 12-14 hours.