Losantiville Mining Co.

I feel like "wastes" is a strong word in this case. It serves its purpose as an indoor entertainment venue much better than it did when CarnEvil was in there and only being used for a month and a half each year. The theater could use a good renovation to make it more than just a bunch of chairs in front of a stage, but having the shows in there is good for the park. I wonder if they could move the stage further down and have the chairs angled compared to the "back" (exterior) wall. It might help with fitting more seats in there. I'd love to hear some ideas as to what else could go in there besides the theater and indoor meet&greet space? Something interesting I noticed about these drawings is that some parts of it still have artifacts of a past time. The old stairs just outside of the DB Trading Post are still there despite the fact that they were removed in 2009. The differing line weights for all of the different kinds of pathway concrete/paving is also cool to see. Looking at the queue room again, I'm starting to think more and more that the animatronics and their loops shown at IAAPA will be placed here without many changes from what we saw at IAAPA. I do hope there are some more lines of dialogue added to the loop alongside getting some of that sweet organ music back in the line. It also looks like there are no connections for FunTV monitors in the queue room (other TVs/"monitors" are listed elsewhere).

If anyone starts getting recognition on a larger scale, I'd love to see it be the people who work and perform in Kings Island's Live Entertainment department. I've seen some videos from the Taft/KECO era where they listed out the names of the performers, choreographers, and directors and thought it was a pretty nice practice. The park could put signage up near each stage/venue entrance listing out those involved in the show to avoid making someone list out who all is performing that day (anything but a stupid QR code). I really like how the singers and dancers get to say their name at the end of each show, but that really only happens in the Festhaus during the regular season and Winterfest. The AllWheelSports folks don't get any name recognition, nor do the band members who perform in Swingin' Into Christmas. Live Entertainment will be a good aspect for Six Flags to improve upon if they want to attract more families to their parks.

Thank you for sharing this! Some thoughts before I go in and look: I'm curious as to why they went with the Project Barnum name and if it had anything to do with the Peanuts carnival ride misdirect (if you'd like to think of it that way). It's a bit of a stretch to get from PT:ON to the potential Peanuts dark ride from the survey and then also jump to the circus name, but it's something. One thing I'll definitely be on the lookout for will be how the new scenes appear to be handled and if there will be some screens with everyone's scores on them. Otherwise I'm happy we can at least see something technical from this project. I'm not too worried about seeing the scene names or plans yet. For me the real reveal will come when I actually get to see how everything looks in real life. Now to go look — I'll put my thoughts in a spoiler below. Overall, this looks really nice! I could already see where some of the props/sets that have already been shown off will go. It's really cool to see stuff like that and assemble it in my mind like a puzzle. The demolition plans alone will help to show that this is not just another reskin of Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle / Boo Blasters on Boo Hill.

The city building permit portal has become increasingly harder to navigate in recent years. Most of the links I've found either lead to a blank page or to the application portals (the Accela site is particularly egregious). Now, something could be bugging out on my end, but I think it might just be that hard to get anywhere with the City of Mason. The Warren County pages also seem to have gotten cleared out in terms of seeing anything fun. I'm trying to leave some things until opening day, but my architecture brain really wants to see these floor plans. I'd love to either see this or read a little more information as to which link got you closer to finding the documents.

I think the photo is authentic and was sent in from the Sally Dark Rides workshop. It would make the most sense with how the coat is wrinkled (that kind of velvety fabric often wrinkles very easily) and by how it looks like the organ pipes are currently awaiting cuts for the holes (you can see the marking template centered on its green dot on the center pipe). I wouldn't be surprised if SDR has a Santa Claus coat and hat among their collections made to fit their average figures. I hope if we do get a holiday overlay we can see that coat get ironed first This does have me wondering if we will see PT:ON operating during Haunt as well, considering Boo Blasters didn't these last few years. I thought it was open all day pre-2020, but I could be wrong. If it has really good ridership in the regular season (which I would think it will) then it might be an easy decision. I wonder if any more work has been done on the roof or if it still has all of that white tape(?) all over it.

I think that would be a very good precaution to take. It looks like this event at the Legacy SF parks is monitored with some parks requiring chaperones to drive to/from the park in addition to simply being there to watch the children. This certainly might help with some of the worries. The park also bringing in Mason PD may discourage anyone from being intoxicated prior to entry, lest they wish to get an underage drinking citation. The Six Flags Grad Nites seem to be successful. They also occur more than Holiday In The Park as well now. I personally think it'd be a good idea to start hosting them again as an easy revenue generator (and Six Flags needs the money). It's been 20+ years since KI's last Grad Nite and a lot has changed in that time too.

I really enjoy having the lantern during Haunt, but I could understand how it could also be nice to have a magic band-style item that you don't need a locker for. The only thing I think the parks would need to do more of is adding interactive elements during the main season (could change between festivals) and make them usable in the water parks (like the now-dead TapuTapu system, but for passes and such).

Magic Mountain has released some of their 2026 seasonal festival lineup on their website (https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/events). Their calendar looks pretty standard so far (I believe Holiday in the Park will be added after the current event concludes). The only interesting thing I can see so far is that there is only one night with a 4th of July celebration. While I personally think the chain could use the anniversary as an excuse to expand the Star Spangled Night(s) event to be a week long and drive some more attendance by way of "here's a length of this event you don't normally get", the company might not want to spend the resources it'd take to do any more for a new/expanded event. DC™ Heroes and Villains Fest June 19 - July 25, 2026 Star-Spangled Night July 4, 2026 Fright Fest presented by SNICKERS® September 18 - November 1 Tricks and Treats September 25 - November 1, 2026 Oktoberfest September 25 - November 1, 2026

There's a few very easy steps to remedy the Preferred Parking situation. Make the lot for Prestige Passholders only. No more parking upgrade at the tollbooth. Some people use Preferred when the Handicap Lot is full, but frankly that's another can of worms on its own. Have the system count how many cars have been scanned into the Preferred lot. If the number of passes currently scanned in exceeds the total number of parking spaces, then the lot is full. The exit gate lifts for each car that leaves. That can decrease the number of cars currently scanned into the parking lot by 1 with each lift. If the preferred lot is full, then the associate puts up the block against the entrance and turns on/puts out the "LOT FULL" sign. The lot remains "full" until 10+ cars have left. I believe there has to be some way for them to track the number of cars in the lot without building a new parking toll system from scratch. Someone online claimed that the Preferred lot attendants were too lazy to check the lot (which, granted, this user probably didn't think it through before commenting). In reality, they shouldn't have to go look for spots or keep track on their own. Cedar Point could use a better Prestige parking lot setup as well. Theirs is even more packed and confusing to get into/out of. In other news, last night was super crowded. The thing I noticed last night was that, much like with the Bandstand, the standing room for Jingle Jazz was interfering with the walking path. I'd love to see if anything could be done to help with that, whether it be moving it further back into that alley or reworking the logistics of how much of the pathway is dedicated to thru-traffic.

Does anyone know why purchasing a pass at the park costs about $74 more in person than it does online? Is that extra money entirely to pay for the staffing required at the ticket windows, or is it just a cost that's passed off from somewhere else in the park? There's no way (in my mind, at least) that all of that money is entirely for "processing fees". Yes, there is a form to fill out and payment to be made, but why does that cost $74 more than doing the same process online? There's not even anything physically being given out or exchanged now that the season pass cards are gone and they don't even bring any guests inside the building. I'm not trying to imply that these associates don't do anything meaningful or that it's easy work, but I don't think they're getting paid more than the standard Kings Island/Six Flags hourly wage. This could be some weird industry standard or a crazy fee structure that only exists in-person, but I simply don't understand why that added cost is so high. Any help to understand this would be appreciated.

Our Thursday night visit to Winterfest was rather nice because of the small crowds and friendly associates. The operations were remarkably slow in some areas and perfectly fine in others — both of which are completely understandable and acceptable for me. I had expected high crowd levels because of the warmer weather, but it looked like the rain kept a lot of them away. We had dinner at Rivertown Potato Works where I had a nice Coca-Cola and some Bacon and Cheese Fries while my group member got the Honey Ham Fries and a drink. My fries were a little under-cooked, but the bacon bits and cheese improved them a lot. Personally, I like the under-cooked fries a whole lot more than the burnt Potato Works fries I've had in the past. I had wanted to get some ice in my Coke but the nice associate had already started filling the cup with pop before I could request any ice. We rode the train and got to enjoy a break in the rainy weather. There were more lights out this week than before, but it looked like there were associates out along the route that were working to either get them lit or to get them ready for heavy rainfall. The engineers had us absolutely hauling our way along the track, but we still had to make the stop at the end before Mystic Timbers despite being the only train operating. I'm curious to know why they started making that scheduled stop this year when it hasn't been made most other times. Also, if that stop becomes a more permanent feature then I'd love to see either more decorations along that guardrail or some kind of display to entertain guests while they're stopped. A little stop into the Rivertown LaRosa's led me to find out that the ice machine in there was dispensing about 5-8 oz of ice with the quickest of presses. It was also interesting to find out that my Coke was nicely mixed while my group member's Coke was not well mixed at all. The Shooting Star section of Winterfest Way was very nice to walk through again. I did notice that the small back-most passenger window of the purple car is now missing — which certainly cannot be good for the interior and the longevity of the car's life in the park. The version of A Christmas Carol playing was one that I've never seen before. It was older and had a staunch difference in quality compared to the chopped up version of It's A Wonderful Life that they play. We walked over to Area 72 to look around and I noticed that there was a Firehawk oil can just like the one found up front in the Kings Island Trading Co. hidden among the display at Flight of Fear's exit. The last part of our night consisted of sitting on the warm Coney Bar-B-Que porch to catch up on some messages and decide our next steps. The two announcements for the early closing were clear and concise, but seemed to be presented awkwardly. I'll chalk that up to the fact that some information was accidentally skipped in the first announcement. It was super rainy as we exited the park, so we stopped into the Starbucks dining room (which should definitely be connected to a park-owned restaurant instead of Starbucks). I'd forgotten how nice and large that room was. Getting back to our cars was very wet, and I wish there was an easy way for the park to fix all of the drainage channels so there wouldn't be as large and deep of puddles everywhere. Overall it was a good night despite all of the rain and leftover snow. The only things I think the park could easily do to improve guest experience on nights like this would be to make sure the french fries are fully cooked and to have associates with dry mops in the restrooms every so often to make sure the floor isn't so slippery. I nearly slipped a few times around the park with how wet all of the indoor floors were (particularly in the arcades, restrooms, and shops).

I'm fully with you on the "too many areas" idea for the dry side of the park. The Moonlite Gardens project might actually get moved in my headcanon now that I've been developing an "Old Coney" revamp of Coney Mall. Some of the things you listed are unfortunately par for the course as Kings Island continues to toe the line between amusement park and theme park. I've stated my desire for a Medieval Faire or Oktoberfest retheme for Action Zone while my hopes for Rivertown rely on it becoming more town-ish again. I'll have to see if I have any more ideas once I get home from work.

Thank you! My Eiffel Tower area that I made might change a little if this turns out to be a better location for the large restaurant, but the Salt Water Circus plot would probably receive either a flat ride or a smaller food stand. The International Showplace concept also mainly includes the return of a proper stage and the addition of chairs, but there are a few other things I can also think of for that space that I won't go into here. One way I'd tie it all together is to go back to using a mix of the early 20th century architecture once found throughout Coney Mall and the feel of pre-Paramount Coney Mall. Think of buildings like the former Coney Potato Works and Coney Bar-B-Que, signage like is found at the Scrambler, and lighting packages like used to exist on Monster. As for cosmetic changes, major infrastructure, and rides, the Moonlite Gardens dining would be the largest non-ride project. I think it would be really cool to move SR&R and place the new coaster entrance right there, but I feel like it might be a little too much to do in this specific scenario where so much else has to be done. The fountain doesn't need to be a fountain. It could be some other kind of centerpiece or even a raised planter bed with new trees to replace the ones lost in the realignment. All of this could either happen in conjunction with a Vortex replacement or one year removed from it. I'd personally prefer it all to come in one package (like the Boardwalk at Cedar Point).

I feel like both of these issues could be solved with a little re-imagining of both areas, including a new Kenton's Cove subsection of Rivertown replacing Tomb Raider's building and a realignment of Coney's midway to help shake out that awkward junction in front of Jukebox Diner. The issues with Stunt Coaster's theme could be resolved by giving it a hot rod theme. I like the idea of the fun house coaster, but it might be a little much to do either in conjunction with the subsections I already have in my head canon. Personally, I feel like there are three sections of Coney Mall: the original 1972 section (includes Zephyr), the remains of the 1975 section, and the Coney/Rivertown pathway. A visually-present Vortex replacement would help to tie QCSC back into the area while a midway realignment would fix the transition that got wrecked by KMAA. I love that they brought back the antique cars and that it was placed in an under-utilized space, but the area feels so disjointed now.

Currently working on an Old Coney redesign for Coney Mall and am looking for some suggestions. So far I'm looking for a good way to make this path junction less awkward. One of my ideas was to remove Jukebox Diner (moving any restaurant needs into an expanded/replaced KillMart building) and create a new small area with something in the center. The largest issue that I'm finding with that is that it doesn't address the fact that a two-path midway is jarringly cut into a one-path midway between the game building and KMAA. Unfortunately, I think the best option would be to realign the midway to have it continue the trajectory of the rest of Coney Mall (outlined in white). This would fix most of my issues but would also require so many large trees to be removed. I'm slowly talking myself into the latter option more and more. The park has already lost so much of its natural shade. Part of the charm of the older sections of Coney Mall and all of Candy Apple Grove comes from the trees and all of the stuff they have along the midway. The current (peach) and former (green) pathways of this area. My initial redesign, leaving the trees while requiring the demolition of Jukebox Diner. The "perfect alignment" option, requiring the removal of Jukebox Diner and the large trees while fixing the path issues. Shake, Rattle & Roll would become the new southern viewpoint — a role formerly occupied by the Action Theater plaza and WindSeeker until the pathway was bottle-necked. A new dining location would take the place of Kill Mart and the functionality of Jukebox Diner. This might even be a good spot for my Moonlite Gardens dream with its nearly 15,000 square feet of available space. The games building would be moved to be in the middle of the new alignment. A new activity (maybe a stage?) would be built in the remaining area left by JbD's demolition and new restrooms would be built between the 3-Point shot and the new activity. Vortex's plot would be filled with a Vekoma Ghostrider launch coaster sporting a more 1980s-ish "classic" theme as opposed to anything like the cyber-themed thrill glider coming to Magic Mountain or Siren's Curse at Cedar Point. I'd like it to have a launched lift hill (like Maverick) with chaser lights to pay homage to Vortex. The pink is an existing associate break area for anyone wondering.

It'd never fly today with the (good and justified) safety standards, but I'd have loved to see the painted ground return. Were the red fences in the background replaced for a reason or were they just a casualty of time? I've seen them in so many early KI pictures and think they look a whole lot better than the black bar fences currently found around the park.

I'd be happy if they put a pause on adding more mini-lands in favor of focusing on improving the original areas of the park. Area 72, Adventure Port, and Camp Snoopy are nice but I hope we see an Old Coney, an Oktoberfest, and a Rivertown expansion/refurbishment before the park carves them up even more. Some of my previous iterations for this area included a new flat ride in the Saltwater Circus plot, but I've been really set on a 2-level indoor restaurant or a small pond surrounded by a lot of nature (to make up for the lost Swan Lake). After some measuring, I've found that a 1 story building around 8,000+ square feet could fit there and could be larger depending on the footprint. It'd be half the size of the Grand Pavilion at Cedar Point (16,000+ square feet on the ground floor), but you'll be hard pressed to find a space for something of that size at Kings Island that could also fit into its surroundings. A flat ride might do well though.

I had a dream last night that they painted three of the arms and their cars one color and the other three arms another... I don't recall what those colors were, but could it be a premonition or just a dream?? (probably just the musings of a dream )

Did the website go down yesterday? I wasn't able to reach it, but that might be due to some of the quirks of my Wi-Fi system and I'd like to make sure which issue it might've been.

As much as I think Cedar Point could add more attractions on the peninsula, I don't think they should replace any of the parking spaces until a satellite lot and shuttle service are built on the mainland. If Cedar Point wants to increase their attendance even more they should find ways to make the day-to-day experience better. Maybe continuing to improve the dining offerings and making it so the rides have less overall downtime would help while they wait for their next big addition. When it does come time for a new major addition, I think Cedar Point should look at the feasibility of creating a mini-land on Millennium Island with a wide and level path crossing from Frontier Trail over to Camp Snoopy. One of the big reasons (in my mind) of why Dinosaurs Alive! and Forbidden Frontier "failed" was because they were too out of the way and were each a closed-loop experience. Something like I have below would be an amazing way to cut through the center of the peninsula while opening up another 4-ish acres of space for new rides and a new midway. Paving a wide path across the island would also save those parking spaces that would help contribute to more attendance each year. This space is big enough for at least four new flat rides and a small coaster (depending on how feasible it is to get it around Millennium Force.

I believe the newer models do that, but from what I've seen this particular model/manufacturer (the Monster from the Eyerly Aircraft Company) never did. The other EAC model (I believe it was called the Octopus) might have, but I haven't looked hard enough to find video of one. There is one model on Zamperla's website called the Octopus that is the same ride with a slightly different configuration and a decorative figure on top. This particular model also appears to have five arms compared to our Monster's six arms. While I suspect that Kings Island could purchase and install a newer model, the fact that our Monster came to the park in the move from Coney Island makes it special. Photo: Zamperla | https://www.zamperla.com/product/octopus

The weather update spells it correctly (yet also didn't show Saturday's closure), but it would be nice if they could find someone who knows how to spell the park name correctly on the banner. There were a lot of people online complaining about how "back in my day, the park wouldn't have closed for this" and "they closed the park for Winter weather during Winter fest". I for one am very grateful that the park closed on a day when the roads got really bad really quickly. I nearly lost traction about three times driving the three blocks home from work, so I'd hate to imagine what the highways would've looked like in that weather.

The issue for today and tomorrow are more that the road conditions will be bad rather than the park not having indoor activities.

Calling out to all of the Monster lovers... WE HAVE PROGRESS!!! I spotted a notable change behind the fence this evening: the rotor (spinny middle thingy whatchamacallit) has been reinstalled in some manner! We didn't get to go over that way to peer over the fence, but this is an amazing change after nearly 8 months of nothing except a new fence and paint on the ride pad. I'd love to see it in the daylight if anyone can get a good photo in the park (without breaking rules or trespassing) or even on the webcam! I'm so excited to see this small bit of progress <3

I suspect they did that because Huron, Ohio is where the Sawmill Creek Resort (where this group met with Jason McClure) is located. At least they're doing something there since that resort's holiday festivities were cancelled for this year. I don't know how much giving away the gate (at least through the MVP sale) bumped the attendance numbers, but either way I think increased attendance is good either way. If there's nothing "big" coming next year — which it seems there isn't — I hope they can use some of their funds to add shade to the Cedar Point Shores and plant more trees throughout the rest of the park. Maybe they could even do some work to improve the parking lot! Best of luck to Cedar Point as they ride the wave of their newest coasters! I'm hopeful that they can keep up the attendance and maybe even set a new record soon enough.