ReedObsessor

Just a heads up regarding some of the B&M clamshell reopenings. From what I am hearing, Mako at SeaWorld has reopened, with signs pointing to Apollo's Chariot reopening this weekend. Keep in mind that neither of these have seatbelts. At the same time, the fact that those parks are majority owned by private equity (Hill Path Capital) makes me wonder if it's a sign of indifference towards riders (PE firms tend to avoid liabilities placed on their companies). Screamscape implied that the fact that other non-Six Flags parks are reopening their clamshells may provide a hint about where the blame lies with SFOG Goliath.

Ok, this doesn't make sense to me anymore. You can ride Candymonium at Hersheypark. You can ride Millennium Force, just days after a near miss all to similar to the TTD incident. But you can't ride Diamondback, Orion, or the CW and Carowinds counterparts, even though those have seatbelts like Candymonium. This just feels strange to me. I honestly see something like Orion or Fury as safer than Millie right now, based on recent news.

Time to let out my hopes and predictions: The hope: Diamondback and Orion are open again before the end of the season (Winterfest doesn't count as part of the season for this). Same for the Carowinds and Canada's Wonderland rides. And yes, Goliath at Magic Mountain as well. Raging Bull and Nitro will remain closed, just like SFOG Goliath. The expectation: Everything remains closed until next year. The overreac--no, I'm not going to give you one. I was also thinking about something else: dropping the Goliath name from all coasters except the SFMM one. Six Flags has no control over the Walibi Holland or La Ronde Goliaths, but I see a repaint and rebrand of SFOG as realistic, and I would prefer a rebrand of the Great America RMC (I doubt it would happen, though) just to limit the overused name. That said, I can imagine Six Flags Under Private Equity would end up largely abandoning preventative maintenance and sticking to reactive maintenance, leading to an even greater safety risk. The PE firm wouldn't be liable, given the ownership structure, and they would still profit regardless. The burden would remain on Six Flags itself, and any other hope of paying off the debt would be destroyed by dividend recapitalization.

As I said, I am using the "seatbelt defense" when it comes to my opinions on reopening the legacy Cedar Fair ones. And I confess: I have plans to go to KI either this weekend or next, likely with my family in the evening. And Diamondback is my favorite coaster there. Anyway, I stumbled onto news that the victim survived a bunch of stuff beforehand, including a car fire just weeks ago. Are you sure Final Destination is pure fiction?

That location matches the one Theme Park Brandon brought up earlier. Yeah, Carowinds is proving to literally be the best fit for AFO. I maintain that KI needs a modern launch coaster with inversions more than it needs AFO. Canada's wonderland has Alpenfury. Kings Dominion has Rapterra. Carowinds has Copperhead Strike. Kings Island has... uh... Given their financial situation, I am not opposed to bringing in that Intamin multi-launch from that cancelled Chinese plan.

I want to lay low so you don't end up hearing me overreacting to stuff. But some things keep me coming back. Giovanola has two hypers that I know of: Goliath at SFMM and Titan at SFOT. Giovanola was also where Bolliger & Mabillard started before forming their own business. Yet Titan remains open, while SFMM Goliath is closed. Way to kill Cinna the Poet, folks (that's a Shakespeare reference). Personally, the more I think of it, I feel like the B&M hypers and gigas of Carowinds, KI, and CW shouldn't be closed either. As far as I know, those six have seatbelts, while the legacy Six Flags ones don't. As much as I like Raging Bull, I'm defending its closure based on current circumstances. I mean, weren't the legacy Cedar Fair ones given seatbelts as a redundant safety mechanism in case the main restraints failed?

Well, this might be the last post I make here for a while. Given my tendency to overreact to things when I hear this kind of news, I better lay low so I don’t make exaggerated statements about my coaster future or the parks’ future. However, I will say one thing that did come to mind: the threat of bankruptcy, or worse, private equity ownership for Six Flags. After X2, this is something Six Flags could ill afford. My immediate thoughts are that this is likely to happen, but the details of the incident must be made clear first. At this point, have they determined it to be a malfunction and not rider error? And if it is confirmed to be a malfunction, will Diamondback, Orion, and all others of this type remain closed until next year? Or maybe just the ones without seatbelts… But as I look to Texas for 2027, I now feel a huge wave of pessimism crashing into me. Should I be worried about those parks being indirectly affected by this? I know that Texas doesn’t have any B&M Hypers or Gigas, but the financial situation could still have an impact.

I was considering a slight variation on that "a Six Flags park" idea, which would apply it to Over Texas and Georgia (Qiddiya City already feels separate from the others, and it is, like Darien Lake and Frontier City, under different ownership). Six Flags Over Texas -- A Six Flags Park Six Flags Over Georgia -- A Six Flags Park I know that creates redundancies, and risks being mocked. But depending on how this branding works, it might be a way to show that they are truly under the same umbrella. Besides, there really isn't any way to change the names of those two parks (to match the rest of the format) without stirring up the same kind of trouble as calling CP and KI Six Flags North Ohio and Over Ohio. It might sound silly, but I think people would get used to it eventually.

Disappointing, but not surprising. And not the first or even second major coaster I missed out on (I live closer to KI than any other park, and still completely missed out on SoB). I really don't intend to go to Magic Mountain or Knotts in the short term, especially considering I have other places I want to check off, including in Texas, the East Pennsylvania/New Jersey area, and the Southeast (Carowinds/Over Georgia) region. I'm somewhat of a coaster enthusiast, and I still have a lot to cover in America, so I plan around what happens to these parks. I'll wait until they get a headliner to replace the head-basher.

Might as well post something supporting the Carowinds location predictions A map shot from Theme Park Brandon: Add in the flight themed area and the ride just fits there better. No offense to KI. Anyway, in my opinion, KI needs two things when it comes to coasters: A launched coaster that isn't from the Paramount days. More inversions. Only Banshee, Flight of Fear, and Invertigo have them now, and the latter is on borrowed time. ArieForce One may be the more fun coaster, but KI would be better off with the Intamin multi-launch and spinner combo. The optimal location would probably be Action Zone, which includes removing Invertigo, Congo Falls, and Timberwolf Amphitheater. I included the spinner because KI has neither that or a wild mouse. I think I should root for that now. I think it does more to fill in gaps at KI. And I also favor retheming Action Zone into a spooky theme while we're at it.

They will probably do what they did with Cedar Point for this year, and announce restroom renovations and perhaps remodel some of their shops.

I wouldn't take it that far, but would suggest that a smaller investment pool means resources are diverted elsewhere. Still, it would be harder to justify the higher pass prices if you don't have anything new to show for it. And my own pessimist nature is in conflict with this year's reality, in which I rode all non-kiddie coasters at Canada's Wonderland and Darien Lake without issue, along with the Frank n Coaster at Clifton Hill and a trio at Seabreeze. Far better than my DC area trip in 2025, which had 4 SBNOs (riding Ride of Steel at Darien Lake gave me closure with the Six Flags America counterpart being one of them). Definitely taking the salt grains when it comes to TP Brandon. And my consideration of the Missouri alternative is pretty dependent on tomorrow's announcement. So don't start being pessimistic just because of me, please.

Theme Park Brandon took an alarmist take on this news. I'm a natural pessimist, and this feeds in to this. It also seems to me like a sign that certain parks, including both Ohio parks, might not get anything for a while, not even flat rides. It's starting to make me rethink my 2027 plans, which were to buy a Prestige Pass and do a Texas park run next summer. But looking looking at the way things are going, I might not even renew Gold, with my summer 2027 focus being the parks of Missouri, especially if St. Louis gets ArieForce One. Hopefully I can get some better answers before the initial pass purchase deadlines. I just want to get the most out of my passes.

https://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/kings-islands-next-big-roller-coaster-may-be-hiding-in-atlanta A key statement: The coaster is definitely moveable," wrote Darren Torr, president of Rocky Mountain Construction. "Based on ranking by coaster enthusiasts, it's a top 10 coaster in the world. It has angle iron structure, which means it will require new hardware. It has some topography changes, so a new site will need to be modified or the structure will be need to be reworked to match the site elevation. Ballpark, the cost to move is probably ~$10M less than building new. I have no idea what the future holds for AF1, hopefully, it continues to deliver smiles for guests." This tells me that relocation is in fact feasible for AFO. But while many want it to come to KI (and this could be in The Vortex plot), I wouldn't consider it a certainty that it will happen. There's other parks for consideration, including within Six Flags and from other chains including Herschend, United Parks, and Enchanted Parks. I'm not going to look into detail at all of these, but any park that has the capacity for it (and doesn't already have an RMC like it) could be in the running.

Here is a top down screenshot from Google Earth. Of course, when I discuss this with Gemini, it claims that the natural topography actually drops and that the ride features a total elevation change of 180 feet over its course, while the lift hill is 154 feet tall. It also says that some supports integrate with the structure and foundation of the arcade building, and that the complex structure makes any relocation a logistical nightmare. The footers also had to be custom designed for soil density and load bearing requirements. Since I used an AI as the source, the value of this data is limited. But page 16 of this source demonstrates that AF1 had months of delays and additional costs to meet county zoning requirements. I wonder if relocating this would prove more expensive than it cost to build the coaster in the first place. A tax write off demolition may be the only feasible option.

Google Gemini is telling me AFO pretty much cannot be relocated due to the coaster's interaction with the park's terrain, making it too complex and costly to relocate. So tax write off or not, the RMC is almost certain to be scrapped. So forget about ever seeing this in The Vortex plot, or anywhere else.

I am going to have to tell you something about my previous trips to KI: I've had 4 trips to KI in the last 4-5 years, but 3 of them were WinterFest trips, and the other one was a Halloween Haunt trip last year that was only open starting in the evening, and the focus on that was the haunts instead of the rides. I haven't had a traditional KI trip since 2020, when masks were required due to COVID (and I got my first ride on Orion). I've had more trips to Cedar Point (due to a family tradition), and I've also been to places like Hersheypark, Kennywood, Six Flags Great America, and (just last year) the three parks near the DC area, including the now defunct Six Flags America. This year I am taking another CP trip before going to Canada's Wonderland and Darien Lake, and next year I am looking at going to the major Texas parks. I live closer to Kings Island than any of these, but my attendance there has been fairly low as of late. I see an off year after a major coaster year as a common occurrence, but the new Phantom Theater is not a major coaster. Also, I'm not sure how much time Invertigo and Congo Falls have left, and it would hurt to have a potential empty zone next year right by the main entrance (unless there's visible construction for a major 2028 coaster).

Well, I first heard about the AI slop merchandise being sold at Cedar Point a month or two ago. Not surprisingly, Kings Island is doing the same. Mystic Timbers' track is going wacky. Banshee looks like Diamondback. Orion has three seats per row and a vertical spike. Those are just a few examples. And the longer you look at them, the worse they get. I wonder... have you seen anyone actually wearing this slop, whether it be from CP, KI, or other Six Flags parks?

First, let me get this wishful thinking out of my head: The clearing of the SoB station means that it will be the station for a multi-launch thrill coaster. This coaster will be more focused on the area where Timberwolf Amphitheater, Congo Falls, and Invertigo are now, so those will be retired before the Haunt stuff arrives. The reason this area is being prioritized over The Vortex plot is the fact that much of it is right by the entrance, and the entrance needs to be improved over what’s there now to make a better front gate impression. (/Wishfulthinking) I am traditionally a pessimist when it comes to a lot of things, and I firmly believe in the off year possibility. I’m talking about a Cedar Point 2026-level off year, where nothing is added and only some restrooms get renovated and a wall is removed between connecting buildings. I can’t see KI getting new flat rides in 2027, since Cedar Point could use them more (there are four spots now that could use one, and I’m not even considering the island). And I’m not sure there’s places that could use more restaurants (or Coke Stations or Dippin Dots) within the park (I haven’t been there outside of Halloween Haunt or WinterFest since 2020). And if a flat ride package or a Grand Pavilion-esque restaurant is in the park's future, that could push the new coaster back into 2029 or 2030.

The private equity ownership is the problem. Hill Path Capital owns 49.7% of the company, creating significant influence and putting greater focus on share buybacks and driving value. The ownership structure of private equity means that any losses from this lawsuit will go against United Parks, not against Hill Path Capital. At least I think that's how it works, but unlike the other cases I've heard about, this isn't a leveraged buyout. Still, the priority is financial gain for Hill Path, not for United Parks. Customers don't matter. Employees don't matter. Only the shareholders matter. If the parks go downhill (and they will), possibly even bankrupt, Hill Path Capital may just sell off the remains while keeping the profits they made from stripping apart the parks. Private Equity has a large (and incomplete) list of bankruptcies on Wikipedia, and I wonder if United Parks could eventually join it.

Try this link. I didn't see a paywall when I first opened it.

This thread hasn't been updated since March, but I don't see any others. The one topc that had a more recent post focused specifically on Falcon's Flight. Anyway, Six Flags Qiddiya has an official opening date that just barely opens this year. I'm talking about New Year's Eve. Here is the link to the video. Huh. I feel like at 25 seconds, this turns into a ripoff of another commercial. I'm talking about that Visit California commercial. That said, I would love to experience that, but I don't see it as feasible in the short term. Also, for next summer, my eyes are on taking a trip to Canada, which includes Canada's Wonderland, Niagara Falls (both sides), stuff in Toronto, and a stop (back in the US) at Darien Lake before I return home.

If it goes private, things will be even worse than legacy Six Flags could do. Wikipedia has a list of companies that went bankrupt under private equity ownership, and I know there's at least one example (Chuck E Cheese) missing from the list. If Six Flags is acquired by private equity, expect a lot more downgrades to the parks, and an even worse debt load.

I was thinking about the rumors regarding ride relocations and stuff, and when you think about it, the amount of saved rides will barely exceed the amount saved from Six Flags New Orleans if these rumors are true. And that's considering the fact that SFNO was drenched in salt water! With the exception of Ragin Cajun, Great Chase, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, and Steamwhirler, I see it possible that everything else could just get torn down. It's all older stuff, and there's nothing really unique about it except for Wild One, and even that likely gets scrapped.

I feel like discussing something that hasn't been discussed in this forum as far as I know: the music. I actually went to Cedar Point last month (it's a long story, and I wanted my TT2 and SC rides). When I was there, I got curious about the music and used Google to identify tracks. With the exception of the intro, which used a remix of Crazy Train, I found that most of the music came from Midnight Syndicate. I researched them, and found that their music was often used across major amusement park chains, and that there were times that the duo performed live at Cedar Point. (BTW, I opted not to go to the Conjuring thing there). My parents decided to go with me last weekend to the KI Haunt. It seemed like the music there was quite different, with more traditional songs. The fountain played instrumental music, but my app indicated a different source: Rok Nardin. Some tracks included Rumbling, Apocalypse, and Destroyer of Worlds (the first two seem to be inspired by Attack on Titan). I've been building a Halloween playlist on Spotify, and both Midnight Syndicate and Rok Nardin are part of it. Have you heard any other notable Halloween music at Kings Island? (BTW, we did do the Conjuring there, and I ended up carrying Annabelle)