Diamondback_Is_King

Also, looks like 2026 ticket plans at Epic came out, and no season passes

Cool concept @ethancoaster! Did you use custom supports?

Rode this twice over my two or three visits to Lagoon and always thought of it as a very unique coaster...it always struck me odd there were no real restraints and just a seatbelt. But definitely sad to see it go, as it is for any ride really except for maybe Skyrush pre new restraints (although I'm not a fan of the new ones either). Hopefully something new and exciting will replace this ride!

I've been to the Universal parks 50+ times, and here's what I would do: If it were me and I had never been before, I would choose Studios and Islands. Velocicoaster, Hagrid's, Hulk, Spiderman, Forbidden Journey are all super fun rides that you should definitely do. Over at Studios, Mummy and Gringotts are my faves. Sure, Epic definitely has some great rides and attractions and some of the best in-land theming I've ever seen, but it is REALLY hard to get everything done in one day. We chose to go 2 days so we didn't necessarily have to feel rushed to get everything done in one day, and we were even rushing then to get everything done. With breakdowns, weather, and long lines it is really hard to get everything done. If you can afford an Express, it would definitely be worth it and would let you get everything done much faster and you could get everything done for sure. That doesn't mean it can't be done though. I had a friend go about a week ago and did most things, while skipping some others. If I was going to skip rides, I would skip Curse, Yoshi, Dragon's Racers Rally, Constellation Carousel, and possibly Fyre Drill if you didn't care to get wet. The HTTYD show is much better than the HP one in my opinion, and I think you could skip the HP one. I would recommend the HTTYD show if you have time and it's not broken (I had a rough experience with this show. Tried 3 different times over 2 days to do it before it finally opened). I did not see the HP show fully, as it broke down right before it started. I did get free Express though! Sadly no Ministry with the Express card we got. The reason I would choose Studios and Islands though is simply because there are more rides and more big hitters there. You mentioned wanting to get on Velocicoaster, which is an absolute amazing ride. I just feel like you would get more out of Studios and Islands than you would from Epic. Epic might even be frustrating if you can't get everything done you wanted to do. Not sure what the crowd trends have been lately, but the best day to go to Epic was surprising the weekend. As of right now (7:50) the wait times are actually pretty good right now (everything under and hour with Monsters and Fyre Drill on delay). All that said, if it were me I would choose Studios and Islands over Epic, but Epic is a great park too. You didn't ask for all of that, but maybe it helped. I love talking all things Universal! Let me know if you have any questions, I'll probably have an answer

Same ride, just different screen scenes

Based on what I've heard about AlpenFury, I wouldn't mind a Premier multi-launch either.

Let's go! I love the idea of a new gen Vekoma! So much potential with that type of model. Not sure if I like the concept layout, but it's just a concept. But another strong launch coaster would be great, even better if it has multiple! Looks like they are still wondering if people want the indoor/outdoor attraction, as it makes it's way onto another survey. So is it possible they are still considering using the Crypt building for something other than the Conjuring?

The Racer may not have a designated story, but the ride has a story built into it. The Racer is perhaps one of the most iconic rides at KI (behind Beast) and has such a rich history with the park. If anything, the ride tells a story about the park. The Racer needs no story, the ride is a story itself

Now that I think of it, both Thunderbird and Voyage utilize queue use under the station. There's not really any theming under the station (maybe flickering lights on T-Bird) but it definitely saves space and adds more queue space.

M&M's!

This is exactly how I would rank them. Although I might move Drop Tower and WindSeeker down to the "Just There" category. Very cool idea for a topic @Cedar Fair Fanboy!

Which side do you guys like better: Green or Yellow? I prefer yellow, but that's just me. The front is definitely better on both sides

I was noticing the same thing. It seemed like there were way less scare actors out and about especially on Coney Maul. There were just a few clowns and a stilts guy, but no slider guys or any of those other ones. I don't even know if I saw a chainsaw guy in Abandoned. Maybe one. But I definitely noticed there were not a lot of scare actors in the scare zones, and I don't think they went into the houses either...

Actually, the lady working Order of the Dragon told us to cut under the ropes because there was no line at the time. But there was a staff member yelling at people at KillMart because they were cutting under the ropes

Foreword: this is basically spoiler-free, so don't worry about me spilling the beans Also, this is coming from a guy who doesn't like to be scared, and has only ever done Killmart and Hotel St Michelle before this trip. Went to the Haunt last night and bought the Haunted Attractions Pass online. When we entered the park at around 6:45, we scanned the QR code given to us and received our wristbands. It was a super easy process, and only took a few seconds. NOTE: You do not have to redeem your online order at the main Fast Lane location, you can do it anywhere that sells Fast Lane. So don't wait in those really long lines when you can go to the height measurement kiosks and have no wait. After that I had dinner at Chicken Shack for the first time and thought it was ok for KI food. Then we did Order of the Dragon first and I liked it. The theming and the whole house was definitely done better than the other ones. I think we took a wrong turn and cut some of the maze off, but I can't be sure. We hardly waited for this one, and moved on to Cornered. Cornered was fine, but definitely one of the weaker mazes. For those who have done it in years past, is the theming a little different? I thought Cornered last year was a hay-maze type thing instead of the greenhouse-type theming this year's Cornered seemed to have. Anyway, we didn't wait much for that one either. Next we did Alien Abyss, which I had mixed feelings about. We basically didn't wait for this one. I really liked the story of the whole thing, especially the pre-show type room before you enter the house. But it was just way too dark for me to enjoy it, because I was constantly lost and trying to continue walking though. The scare actors had to keep telling people where to go. But it was a good maze idea in my opinion. KillMart was the same as always, with a few animatronics. Waited roughly 5-10 minutes. Not much needs to be said, it was the same old KillMart We did Hotel St Michelle next which we ended up waiting roughly 30 minutes for because they were using both lines, but there was no one evenly splitting the lines, so our line took way longer. Good maze overall, probably one of my faves. But basically the same as previous years. The last house was Slaughterhouse. Not necessarily scary, just gory. I also felt like there weren't very many scare actors in this one like maybe 5-7. There were definitely some parts that could have more scare actors in them. Probably my least favorite maze overall, but that's just my opinion. We did Racer (10 minutes) and Diamondback (15 minutes) for rides. And watched the show (twice)! The show was really good and I really wished they advertised it. Overall, very fun night at KI Haunt!

I saw the new WindSeeker sign last night for the first time and it looks really cool! Although it is a bummer that they aren't running it.

Last night when entering the line for Hotel St Michelle: "Huh? Where's Timberwolf? It's supposed to be here. Interesting. I guess we'll do this one first." I swear Kings Island needs to take down that Timberwolf sign because I'm tired of hearing guests think that TImberwolf is a ride! Maybe if they replaced that sign with "Buy your passes today!" they would see many more passes bought!

Yes, I tried to use one (about two months ago) at the front gate and they told me I had to go to the ticketing area to get it. Then they scan your QR code for your BAF ticket and print it out. After that you just scan it at the front and your good to go-not sure why they changed it but they did. It wasn't a long or hard process, but if the ticket lines were long then I can see it being frustrating.

I'm going tonight so I will tell all of you how it goes. I'm expecting it to be moderately busy tonight.

From the webcams, it looks like Haunt is empty. Curious if they will stop operating on Thursdays if crowds are this low...

For those that went this past weekend, were the lines for buying the Haunted Attractions Pass as long as they were during opening night? Did they figure out an efficient way to give everyone a bracelet who bought one online?

Can't wait to check it out on Friday!

Great to hear! They must have more food than they can sell-must not be as busy as they thought...

Iron Menace had it too and it ruined the entire ride for me. I have doubts that this one will be any better.

I agree, something like this would fit well in the plot. But I would much prefer another type of ride. A Vekoma tilt would be nice!