Losantiville Mining Co.

Here's the real question: Is it cheaper for me to go get a season pass than it is to pay for a ticket and parking? I think the Silver Pass is about $10 more than the highest ticket+parking price, but the Gold Pass would either even out or be less expensive than purchasing the ticket+parking+drink bottle. For reference, it's only $6 more expensive to buy a Silver Pass to Kings Island than it is to get a ticket+general parking.

I think if there's any conspiracy theory here, it's that Coastermania was planned, then the park was told to scrap it because it cost too much. Then when they got tons of pushback and very few ticket sales for Morning Rush someone at corporate said "Fine." and told the park to bring part of it back. My question with the theory of MR being a diversion is why would the park be willing to take the risk of so much bad publicity? The only new thing for 2026 was a restroom renovation and a new event, staffing is apparently nowhere near where it should be, and guest satisfaction is getting lower and lower. Hopefully this new Coasterstock goes well!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Mighty Canadian Minebuster a mirrored layout of Shooting Star? I appreciate that the company decided to give Canada's Wonderland a semi-Shooting Star clone and a Wildcat clone alongside KD and CGA also getting a Wildcat clone and a mirrored Wildcat clone respectively. If Kings Dominion ever wanted to take on an absolutely massive project, I'd love to see them move the park maintenance buildings somewhere else on property and place a new land in that space (connecting to I-Street and Old Virginia). So many things would need to change though. I always thought it'd be a great spot to put an inverted coaster since KD has none.

The guy in question has been responding to comments about it, and, if I remember the measurements he gave correctly, he said he's about 6'2", 220lbs, and works out regularly (meaning his issue is not body fat). I think the most concerning part about this is that the park/maintenance/someone who could check does not entirely mind if guests can fit in one seat but not another. It would be much more helpful if they went the B&M route and provided a few "fluffy" seats/rows with a longer seatbelt option. Either way this is the kind of thing that should have been checked and plans made to remedy it ASAP. Yes the trains would probably need to be recommissioned, but the guest satisfaction would be worth it. The comments also make it sound like not every seatbelt got changed, just a majority of them on various seats — which would throw out the "Intamin required it" theory. That lines up with some people saying that they felt no difference while others notice an incredible difference. ALSO any rides that do have a fluffy person seat/row should make sure their ride ops/queue attendants/etc know which row(s) have that and should make an effort to put the person in that row when asked. (B&M should also make sure their dive and wing coasters have more than one fluffy seat. I had a friend who needed one but couldn't get to it because of the group they were forced to ride with.) Apologies in advance for being passionate about this kind of thing. It breaks my heart everytime I see someone get rejected from riding because of their size.

Well when a company shows they care about the park they run (jk) I think Snoopy's Soapbox racers is really nice for what it needed to be, and I think this is exactly what Kentucky Kingdom needed as well. Kentucky Kingdom needed a good rebuild, while Kings Island has needed to re-strengthen its already-good existing lineup.

I love your proposal! The added/moved events would be a good way to mix things up. I'd opt for a few different things though: Find a way to limit attendance to the Passholder Preview. It being more hectic than Opening Day is absolutely insane and the associates who are able to show up that early in the season don't need all of that. I think Dollywood might've required a reservation for their 2026 preview day? Opening Day: Keep the size and scope, but ditch hosting any shows in the Carousel Pavilion. Anytime they host a show in there means that the Grand Carousel's band organ gets turned off and replaced with a recording. I feel like the oldest ride in the park should be able to keep one of its defining features every Opening Day. Brew & BBQ would be nice to have (especially if it goes well at Canada's Wonderland this year)(and as long as Cedar Point doesn't get jealous of their sister park down south getting a similar event) though I'd contain it to Rivertown. Put the BBQ equipment and a lot of picnic tables next to the Tomb Raider building (where Slaughterhouse's queue partially goes) if a large area is needed for that. No Viva La Fiesta. I'd prefer KI either get its own event or its own version of an existing event. Possibly an "Island Nights" event, or a "KingsFest" (bad name, but the premise is it being a celebration of the park), or something else that's more unique than VLF. I've posted my wishes for Haunt elsewhere on these forums, but my thoughts can be boiled down to a) more + better mazes, and b) more + better shows. As for entertainment I'd just like to outline what my dream scenario would be: Shows that run from Memorial Day weekend until the end of daily operations. No big venue goes dark for more than 7 continuous days during that time. Maybe 14 days if there's a second show that goes somewhere. Big Venue = KI Theater, International Showplace Theatre, the Bandstand, and the Festhaus. Preferably I'd also add two new venues with one going in Rivertown and the other going in either Coney Mall or Action Zone. At least four showtimes each day for each entertainment offering. Being the "family park", Kings Island should have stuff for the whole family to do together for the majority of the day. Currently there's the Grand Carousel, the train, eating, and maybe 3 shows if you visit at the right time of year and if all of the shows aren't happening at the exact same times. I cannot express how nice it was to see that Dollywood had showtimes that started a various times from 11AM to 6PM. If Six Flags doesn't want KI to compete with Cedar Point's coasters, then they should see about having it compete with Dollywood's entertainment. Get the stunt shows out of the International Showplace. Let that stage breathe again and put a KI-run show back in there. Maybe some small stage shows (I saw a small stage set up between Soak City's First Aid and the shop that's right there, so I wonder what that's for) like we had in 2021.

Notes from my Thursday ride on PT:ON (mostly criticisms, but I have to add that my love of the ride outweighs my criticisms): The queue felt very empty, but then again the park did as well. I got in line around 1:56PM and was boarding within 20 minutes. The line constantly moved, but I did notice the queue signage is looking worse for wear after less than a month of opening. Each of the emergency exit gate signs need to be connected from the top and the bottom of the gate. The wall sign stickers also need to be replaced with actual signage, but those aren't as important to me. Most of the animatronics are still working really well. I think the first Hilda was the only one I noticed being "wrong". That said, they all still need a B-Mode and everyone needs more lines overall. If I'm gonna hear the noises from 3 scenes away I don't want to hear the same thing three times. The first boiler screen was on today(!) but it showed a "No Signal" screen on. Here's to hoping for it to be fixed Something that keeps bothering me is how easily I can see the ceiling, especially in the turntable room. I think if the lights were pointed down just a little more and had less-soft lighting then it would do a lot of good. I don't think the new spacing of the ride vehicles is working out too well. Maybe it's fine for groups of 3+ people, but I've noticed that everyone seems to "crowd in" on the ghost notes as soon as they can reach them, which lags the flashlight response time. I'd understand if they need the extra time to reset the system but even then I've noticed that the notes just turn off before the cars are out of the sightline. I'd prefer to see the cars spread back out for 2027. How many of the dressing room doors in the shop windows are originals, from Phantom Theater Encore, and/or brand new? I've been wondering what y'all think. Day 14 of quietly pleading for that Halloween Haunt overlay using the original voice lines. Kings Island and Sally you can re-record them if you have to, but they need to have the antagonistic feel for it to work.

Has anyone else noticed that, with the addition to the Preferred Lot, most of the remaining section of Banshee (the part closer to the park) is being blocked off for more bus parking? I tried to park over there a few weeks ago before they got the cones entirely set up and was asked to park elsewhere. Security had it the cones set up as if they were marking the new exit lane so it wasn't clear what it was for, but they were going around ensuring people didn't park there. I appreciate that they're using that as a temporary addition to the bus lot, I just wish they would have signage up for it. If the parking lot ever got a complete repaint I'd love to see KI angle the spots so it's easier to get in and out of them. They also really need to do something about the 4(?) party spots at the front of Preferred and the ends of each row where folks love to park on busy days. It'll be expensive (adding concrete curbs to an area that's long been unbroken asphalt often is), but it would be worth the cost. Some additional notes from my Thursday visit to the park: The park was somewhat empty for the amount of busses I saw in the parking lot. There is a sign on the map across from Peanuts Showplace that still has Boo Blasters on it. I saw a COSI truck at the park (I forgot it was a physics and math day) which was interesting. The 3 car KI&MVRR train felt really nice and filled up remarkably well for how empty the park felt. I wondered if there's a reason as to why there aren't more tables on the order pickup side of Tom + Chee. The gap between the tables and the fence feels very wide, and it doesn't look like the fence has any openings beyond the gate on the International Showplace side. No signs of life (or demolition) in the Son of Beast station. I thought about riding The Bat, but I was already supposed to be leaving so I could get to work on time. Invertigo was testing as I left and sounded a lot better than I remember.

I feel like if it was a manufacturer change then it'd be the same situation for any other coaster with that type of restraint. Someone online mentioned that the fastening point was moved, but that would still result in a tighter fit for everyone. Allegedly at least two ride supervisors "confirmed" that the seatbelts hadn't been shortened, but if that's the case then why are so many people having issues now when they didn't last year? I'm not entirely certain that maintenance would tell ride supervisors about a seatbelt length change. This company already hasn't necessarily been the most forthcoming about changes that impact guest experience. There's been a metric ton of comments fighting back and forth about it in the Facebook groups and a lot of those either saying guests got fatter (there's evidence to say otherwise) or that the guests who can't fit already need to lose weight. Trust me, bigger folks already know how plus-sized we are. The empirical evidence exists that something changed about the restraint clearance. I highly doubt that many people all grew that much since October.

That would be a good thing to have in one section of KI Collections. They could put out some more FearFest merch (beyond just the singular pin) as well for the nostalgia points. It doesn't need to take up an entire store, just one part of one store. A Winterfest section could also work well.

What would a good reason be to shorten the seatbelts on a ride like this? The coaster seemed to function just fine (in terms of seating) for 25 years with longer belts. This is a situation that will definitely lead to lower guest satisfaction — something that Cedar Point is already struggling with. Hopefully it can be resolved with new seatbelts that are at least the same length as before.

I think they're redesigning it, but I don't think they should bring back the Coastermania name if it doesn't include most of what Coastermania had. If they do in fact bring back most of CM then I wonder what operations/events will suffer because of it. I can't help but believe this was a cost cutting demand from the corporate offices, so it feels like another cost will need to be cut.

I guess the question then is: would it be worth replacing those for theming or not? This isn't really something I think can be measured like a ride addition or new restaurant would be. KD has/had similar light towers. I don't remember if Canada's Wonderland had lamps and/or light towers. There has to be something the park could do to add more theming to the area and make it feel better. As I've said before, if Cedar Point is going to be the thrill park then Six Flags should make Kings Island the theme park. If they're brought back then I'd love to see them include a way to hang the colorful banners and medallions. Kings Dominion did this a little last year by putting 50th anniversary medallions on the lamp posts, though I think KI could do that mixed with something similar to what currently exists near the Grand Carousel for the floral baskets. A single lamp, two arms to hold the top of the banners, and a spot for the medallion in the middle.

I've been trying to work out comparisons between these various separately ticketed special events and haven't entirely come to a satisfying conclusion yet. So far I have: Morning Rush | Cedar Point $95 per ticket (does not include daily park admission). 3(ish) hours of exclusive ride time. 1 Premium All-Day Dining Plan wristband for after the event. 1 Single-Use Fast Lane Plus ticket to use after the event. 1 event t-shirt featuring the featured coaster and event name. Coastermania | Cedar Point ~$60 per ticket. 2 days of park enthusiast activities. [I haven't been able to look too far into what specifically the event offered, but from what I do know] Special tours, exclusive ride times, and catered meals. Holiwood Nights | Holiday World $150 per ticket 2 days of park enthusiast activities including special tours, exclusive ride times, and catered meals. Disney After Hours | Magic Kingdom Starts at $175 per ticket. Multiple nights (each separately ticketed); 10PM - 1AM, guests may enter the park beginning at 7PM. Unlimited popcorn, ice cream products, and select bottled drinks. Halloween Horror Nights | Universal Studios Florida Starts at $87.99 per ticket. Multiple nights (each separately ticketed); 6:30PM - 2AM, depending on the night. Unlimited access to haunted houses and available rides. Halloween Horror Nights Premium Scream Night | Universal Studios Florida $399 per ticket. 2 nights (each separately ticketed) 6:30PM - 1AM, guests may enter the park beginning at 7PM. Unlimited food and non-alcoholic beverages. Unlimited access to haunted houses and available rides. Universal Fan Fest Nights | Universal Studios Hollywood Starts at $74 per ticket. Multiple nights (each separately ticketed); starting at 7:30PM. Includes access to special experiences and shows, and the opportunity to purchase specialty food items and merchandise. From what I'm gathering, Morning Rush in its advertised state is a new format of exclusive ride time with some fancy add-ons included to justify the price. I think this new event was the result of Cedar Point being told to cut down Coasterstock into a new (smaller) event because the overall budget was reduced. In my opinion there's a really easy fix to make the event actually worth the price: make it a nighttime after hours event, make the t-shirt design something that you can't already get a near-exact copy of from a store, and open a few more flat rides. I understand that those four were chosen because they're in close proximity to each other, but I don't think this was thought through beyond that. What will guests do after they've ridden the four coasters? Can they use the dining plan for a treat during the event? Event admission does not include park admission for the day. If this is the "replacement" or "successor" for the enthusiast event, don't you think most guests might already have a season pass/dining plan/drink plan? I think the inclusion of the dining plan is good no matter what since you could use it to get snacks that you wouldn't normally get throughout the day. The price breakdown works out for the most part. $50 for the Premium All-Day Dining Plan, $25 for the shirt, $12 for the Single-Use Fast Lane Plus ticket, and $8 for anything else that might be needed. The cost breakdown may not be 100% how the park broke it down, but it's what I gathered from the available 2026 prices. It's not clear if the staffing costs are included in the ticket price or not. What I think this event really wants to be is an after hours event that's hosted 1-2 times per month after the park closes to the general public. Call it different things each month depending on where it's held. Midnight Midway / Shoreline Mania / Wild Frontiers / Gemini Thrills $100 per ticket. Unlimited access to one area of the park depending on the event (Main Midway, The Boardwalk, Frontier Trail + Frontiertown, and/or Top Thrill 2/Gemini Midway) from park close-midnight (3 hours). 1 Premium All-Day Dining Plan wristband use before and during the event. 1 Single-Use Fast Lane Plus ticket to use before the event. (No FastLane availability during the event.) 1 event-specific t-shirt displaying the featured area and event name.

I agree that they could do a much better job of making the islands look good. KD used brick for some planter walls and stone for others, everything else is mismatched concrete. If KI ever brought back some of the planters then I think we'd see a simple concrete curb. The islands couldn't be as high as the old ones were without taking out the trees since you can't just bury the bottoms of tree trunks and keep them healthy.

It's no Coastermania, but it does feel like a nice event. That said, if this comes to Kings Island I hope they change the times so it can be a nighttime event. Exclusive ride times would be much better from 10:30pm-midnight since the rides would be warmed up after a day of being open. The event has a $95/person ticket price that goes up to $100 after taxes and fees. I also don't think the shirt looks like it's anything special. It should be something more than just a ride logo and the event name (not even an event logo). The inclusion of the Premium All-Day Dining is incredibly good and takes up a good chunk of the price if you plan to have more than 2 meals at the park. EDIT: Ok I take back most of my saying that it feels like a nice event. I didn't realize that a Coastermania ticket usually cost about $30 less while including more. I still think the ERT and included dining plan are good, but it includes less and costs more overall.

I'm almost certain that KI could've had some of those landscape islands and the parade route if the table area was extended further toward the fountain. That's what Kings Dominion has in addition to the islands that make their I-Street too narrow for a parade float to pass through. Their path is also much less uniform with a ton of different paver designs and (for lack of a better word) undulations. It looked like they simply placed pavers over the old asphalt when they completed their International Street renovation in the 1980s. I believe another big difference between KI's and KD's street design is that KD has trees and foliage on the fountain side of the tables. If KI didn't have the lighting towers then I'd advocate for more trees. They could do more foliage on the ground either way. If all of the jets are functional then it's not been when I've looked; although, I also only ever see one or two that appear to be broken. Now that I'm thinking about it, how much are the lighting towers used for besides the banners and lighting up the ground below them? Do they help light up the fountains at all? I only remember the lasers being projected from them in 2022. If they're not being used for anything besides ambient lighting and banners then I'd prefer they just get replaced with [electric] gas lamps that banners and medallions can be attached to.

I don't think the park needs to stay true to the ride theme (it's already so loose as it exists right now), they need to bring back some variation of the Rivertown Mining Co. building and give it some good and powerful fans. Copy the structure concept over from Beast's queue if it needs a reference. Diamondback can keep its snake name, but KI should make the queue look more "Rivertown" themed when viewing it from the pathway.

I really wish they could just move one associate from one of the five alcohol stands in Rivertown over to the Coke Freestyle. The bar by Diamondback already needs to go back to being a food stand, so maybe that one? I think they should put a new grill location there since they removed the hot dog from Jukebox Diner and the Brewhouse. Speaking of Rivertown, is there anything y'all think the park could do to improve the ambiance of the area that won't cost a million dollars? My vote would be a queue building for Diamondback and more trees/natural foliage. I feel like there has to be something they could do beyond that, though. I'd love to see more river-related theming as well.

The worst part is that cleaning like this is a simple training issue that can be solved with a bucket, a rag, and a command to wipe the trash from the table/counter into the bucket. Sweeping is a little harder since you can't carry around a broom/dustpan as easily. It would be best if the park hired more dedicated custodial staff (dedicated as in specific, not dedicated as in better). That might actually be coming sooner than you think as (from what I've heard) Six Flags just increased their capex budget specifically for maintenance and park services. John Reilly really wants to improve the guest experience beyond what it has been for the last few years — I hope we can see some good benefits from that at Kings Island.

I'm hoping that food lines will be less extreme as more associates come in after schools let out. A lot of people said that yesterday was a wash for Cedar Point because their operations were insanely bad, but I feel like they really just experienced a slightly worse Opening Day than normal. Should they be able to get everything done during the off season and have it all running in May? Yes, but I also don't think that would necessarily improve the food lines or the nightmare that was the VIP lounge. (At this point I really think the park should consider rebuilding the DA! bridge and turning the Forbidden Frontier space into a giant outdoor VIP Lounge.) I think it's good that the All-Season Fast Lane is starting to sell out at each park. Leaving it up and available all season isn't great IMO. Hopefully we will also see the total number of daily Fast Lane pass sales reduced.

The associate at the register told us to put it on the sticker when he handed it to us. I think your experience might've just been someone forgetting to say it since those are new.

Double posting because I'm full of ideas I'll just put this out there: assuming there won't be a major attraction next year, 2027 would be a great year for Kings Island to finally receive a non-coaster focused front gate renovation! It could also be a good year to update some more signage around the park and/or to bring back some unique looking signage to the park. I'd love to see the old height signs and some of the green text on a cream background signs make a return. A new event would also be nice. Will any of this happen? Probably not. All of the Opening Day footage I've seen so far from Cedar Point makes it look like they really only got a renovated restroom in Frontier Trail and a new pass-through between the Pagoda Gift Shop/Sweet Spot/Peanuts at The Point (oh, and some new anti-Vortex shearing stuff on TT2). I hope Kings Island would advocate for a larger renovation or a new restaurant if it's set to be an off-year, but who knows what will happen at this point.

Yesterday I had my eighth meal of the season at the Miami River Brewhouse. I got a Pub Burger and a Coca-Cola (with ice) using my meal/drink plan. It was a decent meal, though I rated it as being on the lower end of "good" (4/5 stars on my meal plan scale). The tater tots could've been cooked a little better. I think they might've also changed the bun? It was hard to tell, but it didn't look like the same flavor/brand of bun as I've had previously. The service was very good and they had the associates calling out the order puck number when they brought each tray of food out. I didn't pay too close of attention to it but I did also think the metal tray looked/felt different. Something interesting we saw was that the Brewhouse has new order locator pucks! The old ones had the sticker with a number on top and just buzzed when your order was ready. The new ones have a digital number display on one side and there is now a sticker on each table that you're supposed to put the locator on. It seems to be nicer than the old system, but we'll have to see how it works out over time. I did my daily check of whether or not mobile ordering is available and it was for Rivertown Potato Works and at least one more dining location. We didn't get too far into that menu since we'd already gotten in line for the Brewhouse, but I'd be curious to know how well it works and if you can order your drink in the same transaction. Kings Island definitely still needs to implement the order number system and install order number screens outside of each location though.

A funny glitch on Carowinds' website. The "Rides & Experiences" tab has been relabeled as "Fast Lane". It still contains all of the normal content, only the tab name at the top of the page changed for some reason. Also peep the new park logo 👀