Losantiville Mining Co.

Concerts at Timberwolf would bring in some additional revenue, but I think the venue as it currently exists is not very appealing to modern audiences. It lacks shade, the seats are old and uncomfortable, and the guest entrance experience simply looks and feels bad with concert goers walking through park service areas. I don't think it can easily compete with all of the venues in Cincinnati, even when you factor in all of the fearmongers who swear off going downtown. Carowinds Paladium at least has a roof over the front sections of seats and a direct connection to their front gate alongside more permanent dedicated concessions and restroom facilities. It could work if Kings Island/Six Flags wanted to pour some money into vastly improving the venue, but I don't think we'll see anything long term without that. If they want to test out a new concert program they might want to start by having more events in the KI Theater. The entrance could go through the former Season Pass entrance tunnel and utilize the Front Gate restrooms (before the turnstiles) and/or the Invertigo restrooms. As for KidzBop and Live Nation, the big concert venue at Darien Lake is a LN venue so they might have a way to start that relationship if they haven't already.

I think they could've just gone with "Enchanted Mid-America" instead of wholly shoving Enchanted Parks into the name. They could also have gone with a possessive — the same thing that made both of the Six Flags names work — though I'm unsure what names would've worked best for that. Hopefully it could be an easy name change. The Six Flags Over Mid-America name is actually still visible on their train cars, though the "Over Mid-America" part is now painted to blend in with the background. Maybe someone can add that to the Theme Park Railroad History thread that's here on KIC. Whatever they do, I just hope they don't go with another AI logo like they did with the Enchanted Parks logo. The chain might refine their logos as they design 3D signage and such but I'd hate to see more AI right from the start. I also hope they keep the St. Louis Arch at the front gate. A logo that includes the arch and pays homage to the original SFOMA logo would be amazing! I'm curious about what vibes the new chain will go for as well. Will they go for an amusement park feel or a more magical theme park feel in their parks? Images from Don's article to show the arch and the original logo:

These new B&M family inverts seem to be a nice little addition for any park that wants a family-accessible option compared to their larger coasters! I think Barracuda Strike will work well for what it is and hope to see some more of this model built at parks that need new investment, like Michigan's Adventure and Six Flags St. Louis (soon to be Mid-America by Enchanted Parks).

The wait time sign will be a welcome addition, and may be the first attraction in this building to have one! I suspect the electrical blueprints were able to be released because they don't actually show much about the ride besides scene names and some figure/prop and screen locations — which most of the latter is hard to figure out if you've never seen this kind of plans. It also might be because the company completing the work is (presumably) based in Ohio (and therefore subject to the OPRA mentioned above), unlike Sally Dark Rides who are based in Florida. There might be something about the new PT's potential as a dark ride at other parks involved as well, which would explain the "trade secret" part.

Funnily enough, there is a KIC discussion topic on whether it's time to retire the phrase "Vortex replacement" lol. The immediate slope of the hillsides would make it much harder to install any flat rides there without, again, installing a large retaining wall. Putting flat rides there also reduces the amount of space to put in a coaster (I'd really prefer they not cut down more trees near The Beast), so a coaster is still the best option. For those wanting a new indoor restaurant I think it'd be better to tear down Jukebox Diner and build a Grand Pavilion-style restaurant where KillMart currently is. That would also help to straighten out the midway and remove the awkward bottleneck that exists right there. Let Invertigo live out the rest of its life, replace Congo Falls with a MACK Rides water battle when its time comes, and then build another coaster stretching from Invertigo over to the Timberwolf Amphitheater (but NOT going over the front entrance of the park).

I think some short shows and a ceremony (either on the Bandstand or in the Festhaus/KI Theater if it rains) would be a good way to celebrate Opening Day. They wouldn't need to be high production or anything, just small and maybe including some snippets from previous season's shows! Six Flags Over Texas got to celebrate their Opening Day, although I have a feeling that is because of Jeffrey Siebert and his efforts to transform that park.

That'd be a good place for a facade and small building addition if they decided to use the inside of the big box as a restaurant!

My biggest issue putting any kind of large water feature in Vortex's plot is that you would need a massive retention wall to hold all of that water back from Beast Valley (or maybe it's also a part of Vortex Valley). I've tried to draw a diagram highlighting the three relative elevations that exist right there. The pink is the highest elevation right there, the orange is (approximately) the lowest (and where the ravine is), and the blue is the middle elevation where most of Rivertown sits. The light orange arrows point downhill, with everything emptying into the lower valley. I do think it would be really pretty, I just don't think it would work the best. Obviously no water feature would need to be terribly large and fill out the site like the AI had, but anything that goes there would need to take the valley and all of its slopes into account. I wonder how it might look if Beast's water feature was brought back (yes, I've heard all the arguments as to why it was removed) and a waterfall installed to allow water to flow into a basin toward the right side of the valley where you don't need as big of a retention wall. All of this to say I still think they should instead just make a new Swan Lake behind Diamondback's final helix as part of a Rivertown expansion area. BTW I think Vortex Valley would be a good name for either a Scare Zone along that path or the general area right there

Now that you mention it, the image does remind me of the 2016 website (the second image won't load for me so see below)! The new ads all look like the legacy Six Flags ones to me with how they use different fonts/stretched fonts for emphasis. The differently sized dots (at the bottom) is also a legacy SF thing I've noticed. I think it would be nice to see more photos from inside each be used for promotions (see below for this as well), but I understand that's probably because of how Six Flags does their standardized promotional image templates at the corporate offices. I wish they could've gotten a new promotional image, though. That one from August is feeling a little too overused. I'd love to see how the Silver Pass sells from year to year, especially now that Silver = home park pass, Gold = regional pass, and Prestige = all-park pass. I think it'd be better to let Silver Passes work all year with blackout dates, but maybe it wouldn't sell as well?

I thought EPR Properties are only taking on the ownership of these parks while Enchanted Parks (confusing acronym mix, I know) will be the management company. If they keep the parks where they are I think it'll be fine. I've seen what the non-Six Flags Premier Parks (the new Premier Parks company, also owned by former SF CEO Kieran Burke) has done with Elitch Gardens so their management of La Ronde will be interesting. The $10 credit for meal plans was the biggest slap in the face when I first read it. I really hope there's a way to make these parks/companies honor the 2026 add-ons. Unfortunately, Six Flags can now say that those add-ons are still valid at the parks that aren't being sold so nothing will change. It's $155 down the drain for each meal plan bought through these parks if they're not honored.

While I don't condone the use of AI, I'll admit it does look good. The scale is off, so the parking issues would likely look better by fixing that. An indoor waterpark would not have a big dedicated entrance like it does in the image unless it is open to non-guests. In that case I would position it on the other side, closer to Soak City's parking lot, therefore reserving the hotel parking for hotel guests. The parking lot entrance and porte cochere would probably go on the side facing One Team Way (an awful name for the road IMO) and use Soak City Drive as the entrance coming directly from the I-71 off ramp. There is a traffic light there and another at Columbia Road/Western Row Road, so the traffic could be split between those. I'm not so sure about needing more building setback as the parking lot would likely handle most of it, but we could check that by looking at Mason's (publicly available) building codes. The site might also need a different size water retention pond, but I think the one in the image could work. Something I'd like to note from my exploration on the Warren County property search map: only part of the KI Inn site is owned by Rivers Crossing Church. The parcel where the original hotel stood is now owned by Amerileagues Real Estate LLC, who I can only assume is a real estate company who took ownership of the parcel from the county for development. The City of Mason owns a few little narrow parcels next to the street on KI Drive and Western Row Road. This corner site is also split across three parcels that KI owns. That probably wouldn't interfere with anything too much considering what the park's other parcels look like, but it's something to consider. How would you handle the sight lines for the new corner sign seen from the I-71 off ramp? I think it would fit nicely a little further away from the corner, close to where that patch of yellow grass is and angled to be viewed from the off ramp. That brings it out from behind the traffic light pole while remaining visible for oncoming traffic.

(Prefacing with the fact that I don't like to drink alcohol anyways) Hey I'm sure that brandy is still enjoyable enough after nearly 200 years aging in a plantation house An embarrassing story indeed, but a funny one as well. Is this "jail" just a room in the admin building or where is it? I'm sure the park has something secure, but I don't know which of the admin buildings it would reasonably go in.

I can confirm, Rajun Cajun has been carefully disassembled and is sitting in parts behind its ride pad. There are also a lot of other items in that area that look to be preparing to ship out. If you'd like to go look for yourself the video is by PleaseStopVlogging on YouTube. It's some really good footage and shows off the park from the air. RC is the only large visible change at the park aside from some signage and the park being empty. Other things we know about the site is that the site is still zoned for entertainment and that Prince George's County doesn't want a data center going there.

It looks like we'll have to wait a little longer to find out what festivals and events Kings Island will host in 2026. For the past two years the list dropped on March 4th, but if you check there today all you'll find are the same four Group Events that have been there since December. I'm a little surprised if they get much outdoor work done this week with all of the rain. Last time I looked at my weather app it showed pretty consistent rain all day and all night.

Massacre Manor was in the original Dodgem building (later repurposed for the laser maze and Attitudes gift shop) and was demolished to make way for Coney Bar-B-Que. CarnEvil was the maze in the Enchanted Theater next to Phantom Theater/Scooby-Doo/Boo Blasters and its space is now used for the Peanuts Playhouse theater. They've been hosting more Tricks & Treats and Winterfest shows in there lately, but for the main season it's often an indoor Meet & Greet location alongside any shows they host in it.

The tree uplighting on International Street looks to be cycling or in a testing mode. They are "moving" up the left side of the street and down the right side in rapid succession. I hope this can be used for future hourly fountain shows! Those were really cool during Halloween Haunt and would be nice to have during the regular season. The lights would be harder to see toward the end of June, but it might work with just the music and fountains as well.

I think that $900k number was just for the renovations to the building, though I'd be curious to know if that also included the cost from Sally Dark Rides. Designing a new dark ride with custom animatronics and sets (even if they're pulling from existing concepts and animatronic skeletons) must cost at least $1m, right? I'd love to know how the cost of PT:ON compares to the cost of Camp Snoopy or Adventure Port as well.

There's a nice, large plot of land slightly to the south of the big box. It's large enough to for a Slaughterhouse-sized maze barn while still having plenty of space leftover. The biggest constraints look to be the slope of the hill and the service road. Some paint would go a long way for it IMO. I'm shocked they haven't tried to put a big ad up on the side of it like they did with the KI Theater. If Kings Island is looking for a space for a new dark ride I think a better location would be in the Action Theater because of the additional square footage in that building. Whatever goes in the big box should utilize as much of it as possible, meaning either a two-story omnimover dark ride or a one-story dark ride of similar size to Boo Blasters at Carowinds or Kings Dominion. It would be about half the size of Phantom Theater. A Vekoma Madhouse would also fit with room to spare. I think a Danse Macabre ride would fit really well in there, though I don't know what they would theme it to. For more sizing context: The Haunted Mansion and NightFlight Expedition both look to be about 40,000 square feet while the main portion of the big box looks to be a little above 10,000 sf. It was built for a big flat ride, so the smaller size limits what kinds of dark rides could go in there. I would agree more on turning the building into a restaurant (even temporarily) if the interior was completely gutted first. A new floor would need to be built to be level with the queue, which would also require sprinkler systems and such for the lower level (where the Haunt attractions currently are). It's larger than the Red Garter Saloon at Cedar Point, so they could also host a small show in there. For a KI size reference, the main box is near the size of the Brewhouse. The largest question with any of these ideas will be what to do with the excess height of the building. It would be very expensive to cut off the top of the building and lower the roof line, so that's off the table. All of these are nice options or they could tear the building down and make it a new part of Rivertown with new paths and buildings. Anything to not make it feel crammed into the park's current layout like some other additions have been.

This new system looks like it will be entirely done through guests' phones instead of those devices you had to use at Magic Mountain. Some parks are upgrading their WiFi capacity for it, but we'll have to see how that works out since guests seemingly have to use their phones for everything now. Tickets, season passes, FastLane reservations, wayfinding around the parks, etc. are now forced onto the phones. This point is a little funny to me because early on in the merger all I'd heard was that legacy Six Flags had the superior technology of the two chains. I agree that they're making customers' experience far more difficult that it needs to be. I feel like the company who made the new FastLane tech was named something similar to Q-Bot, but I'm almost certainly misremembering. It'll be interesting to see how all of this works out and if we'll be able to figure out what companies they use for the new system. I remember someone on here at least found the make/model of the scanners.

I've also thought about an A-E Ticket style Fast Lane system (I think that's similar to what you're thinking) and the biggest issue would be how guests keep track of how many points/"tickets" they have left. Is it entirely a phone-based system that shows your remaining point totals or is it wristband-based with kiosks available for guests to check their points. Refunding points could be accomplished by enacting a "prime then process" system where a scanner at the entrance "primes" the pass (checks that it has enough points to be used) and a scanner at the merge point "processes" the pass (takes the points out of the account). Anyone in the FL queue would not lose their points as they exit the line and anyone past the merge point would be given an immediate return ticket to come back and ride (since their points had been deducted). I think being able to earn a free Single-Use Fast Lane would be cool, though I don't know how that would work with the new Perks & Play system.

Is this similar to the TapuTapu system that Volcano Bay just got rid of? I'd think a better system would be to keep the wristbands and have a system that lets you scan it at a kiosk. Basically TapuTapu but with disposable wristbands instead of reusable bracelets. That might be closer to one of the original FastPass systems, but the idea is there either way. Some of Great Adventure's big coasters have in-line lockers (I think at least Flash, Jersey Devil, and El Toro have them). Batman, Superman, and Skull Mountain don't have in-line lockers IIRC. I don't know about Nitro's locker policy. I'm against forcing guests to use their phones while also forcing them to get a locker, but it's much better if there are free in-line lockers.

Double posting to update: I wrote to Six Flags about the issues with loading my pass within my Six Flags mobile app and am now waiting for a response. In the meantime, I decided to see if deleting the "expired" pass would work. It didn't immediately delete that "expired" Kings Dominion pass, but it did delete it from the Kings Island page of the app. Once I did that I was able to finally enter my pass number, confirm using my last name, and add my pass back to the app. It is now populated on each park page within the app, though some of the parks are missing the All-Park Passport and/or the All Season Drinks add-on badges. I suspect that the missing drink plan badge is due to specific parks not having their paper cup plans built in the app yet. Maybe they will have it fixed by their respective opening dates. I'll still see what Six Flags says to do and if they ask for more information.

From what I've understood your MVP Sale Gold Pass will get you most/all of the benefits advertised to you at the time of purchase. All-Parks access, free general parking (except at Knott's), early entry to parks that offer it (excluding Cedar Point), and access to seasonal festivals like Halloween Haunt, Tricks & Treats, and Winterfest. The only benefits that may have changed for you are how All Season Fast Lane will work at other parks and that Haunt mazes will still be an upcharge. Six Flags will hopefully have this all sorted out for 2027. I suspect it'll be the new system from then on; or until they decide that they still aren't getting enough people buying passes. I'm not excited that I'll probably have to buy a 2027 Prestige Pass for all parks access, but if that's what it's going to take then I'll probably do it. Watch out when you go into the Six Flags app and look for your pass under non-Kings Island park pages. Mine is showing up as simply a Gold Pass for parks like KI, Cedar Point, and California's Great America; a Gold Pass Midwest Region for Chicago's Great America; and a Gold Pass East Region for Six Flags Over Georgia and Great Adventure. For parks like Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, and Kings Dominion it only shows my 2025 Gold Pass under the "expired" tab. There are some parks that don't show my pass at all. The app shows people's Prestige Pass(es) across all park pages, just not Gold Passes. I intend to reach out to Six Flags to find out more about this before my potential trip to Kings Dominion for their Opening Day. If I don't get a clear answer or get a different answer at the gate, I'm also preparing myself to have a nice and civil conversation with KD's guest services.

The phone and internet requirement is my biggest gripe about this new system. I'd be more fine with the reservation concept if it worked more like one of the FastPass systems did where you got a return time ticket. It currently sounds like you'll only be scanning anything at the merge point, which would be awful for anyone who doesn't understand how the system works. This new system just has me begging for in-line lockers at every coaster even more. I don't like needing to use my phone for everything, but apparently it's more cost effective for Six Flags than using physical pass cards and wristbands.

I think if the numbers don't go up anymore then the buildings will slowly deteriorate back to how they were in/before 2024-2025 and the park will be a mix between low-tier Cedar Fair and middle-tier Six Flags. It'll take a couple of years to actually find out if all of the upgrades do what they're supposed to, though. 2026 will give a notion, but SFOT needs a lot more than just a few restaurant renovations and a massive coaster. If it doesn't work out then Jeffrey Siebert will probably just try to keep his parks where they are. Otherwise I'd love to see him come back to the Midwest Region to work some more magic for Kings Island and Cedar Point.