Oldiesmann

I could see one of the MIssouri parks going to Herschend (maybe Worlds of Fun), but I don't know if both of them would. I haven't been to either of them (though SF St. L is on the agenda for next year's summer coaster trip - unfortunately I won't have time to do WoF as well since I'm also doing SDC and want to have time to actually see some things besides amusement parks in both Branson and St. Louis) but both are far enough apart from one another (about 4 hours) and SDC (3½ hours for each) that they wouldn't be overlapping too much if both ended up in the hands of Herschend, especially given that there's nothing of note in Kansas as far as amusement parks go.

I'm glad I ended up making an unplanned visit to that park this summer (KD was closed due to a water main break, it was too late to change hotel reservations and I already had a two-day ticket for BGW later in the week). I didn't get to see everything because of the drive (I was coming from Beckley, WV and it took me 6 hours to get there with stops), but it was still a fun visit and I got a lot ridden in the 6 hours I was there. Hopefully someone else will buy the property and keep it an amusement park, though it also might depend on how many rides Six Flags wants to relocate to other properties

Great to see Herschend going headstrong into improving Kentucky Kingdom. I never made it down there this year, but will definitely find my way down there at some point next season. The fair board seems to have finally picked the right folks to run the park, and I hope they get a good return on their investment for this. KK has been a bit of a mess since Six Flags left and needs stuff like this to revive it.

I'm not sure what's worse - this or the one I got yesterday about Oprah. At no point have I ever had any desire to see either one in a bikini

These ads just keep getting more ridiculous.

Apparently the contract between Palace Entertainment and Cartoon Network has ended and isn't being renewed, so they're retheming the hotel to Dutch Wonderland Inn instead: https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/the-cartoon-network-hotel-to-become-dutch-wonderland-inn/article_547e3068-f210-4aaa-bfda-f9a2f76e4304.html

Nice to see a theme other than "haunted <something>" like what is so common with the legacy CF parks (Mystic Timbers, Iron Menace, Siren's Curse, etc.), though I'd imagine a bull fighting theme would be far more meaningful in Texas than in the midwest or eastern PA. Either way this looks like a fun coaster, and I might have to venture down to Arlington to ride it at some point in the next few years (already have Missouri on the list for next year and possibly a Canadian trip in 27, so maybe 2028?)

These ads are getting a bit weird/crazy...

I'm not surprised at all. Yes, they have Looney Tunes already, but slapping Bugs and friends on all the Peanuts themed areas/attractions is not at all cheap. New signs, new costumes, significantly more new merchandise (instead of just replenishing existing stock - for instance they'd need to completely clear out and restock the Snoopy store), updating websites and marketing materials... It would be a significant investment. When Cedar Fair switched everything over to Snoopy, they only had 5 parks to deal with and they didn't have much of an option besides just making them generic kids' areas.

Also a corporate sponsor apparently, which will likely help cover the costs of the service

Silver Dollar City is partnering with O'Reilly Auto Parts (based in nearby Springfield, Missouri) to create a new "transit department" to shuttle guests between the parking lot and the front gate. There will be three types of vehicles, each with a different theme - stagecoach (typical smaller shuttle bus), carriages (full size flat-front school-style bus holding 40+ passengers) and welcome wagon (traditional tram type vehicles). I haven't been to SDC (yet - that's on the agenda for next summer's big amusement park trip), but this seems like a great addition, especially with the new resort opening next year. More info here: https://www.laughingplace.com/parks/silver-dollar-city-reimagined-parking-transport/ It's nice to see a park focusing on making it easier for guests to get to/from their vehicles instead of taking trams away like so many other parks have done over the years.

Apparently you can now rent hourly lockers at KI from the comfort of your phone. Signs popped up at all the locker stations with a QR code that you can scan to rent a locker at that location. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that you can rent the multi-ride locker from the mobile site, though t does appear that once you've rented one you can use that QR code to move it to that location.

What group? I'm in quite a few KI groups so either I'm not in that one or I just don't pay enough attention to it

I think a big part of it was people coming back from Soak City. I ate dinner at RPW and there were a ton of people coming from the train between 6 and the time I got in line for MT around 6:45. Even so, having a posted wait time of 35 minutes and waiting twice that long (yes, seriously - it was almost 8 by the time I finally got on) was annoying. Diamondback's line apparently ballooned around that time too as the app said it had a wait time of 80 minutes while I was in line at Mystic. By the time I got off the line for Mystic was much shorter and the line for Diamondback looked to be closer to 20-30 minutes. I don't know if wait times at other rides increased dramatically around that time or not as the wait times thing wasn't working properly in the app (I got Diamondback's wait time by switching to map view and tapping on the icon for that ride). I ended up cramming a lot in in the last two hours though - Boo Blasters, Soap Box Racers, Woodstock's Air Rail, Diamondback and Woodstock Express all within about a 90 minute period.

I'm waiting until after I visit Cedar Point in a couple of weeks, just in case the 2025 all-season addons don't work at other parks after renewal.

Weather was definitely a factor - even BGW was dead when I went in late June (granted, during the middle of the week, but still) - but I doubt it was the only factor. It'll be interesting to see what attendance figures look like for the rest of the year - especially once the weather stays cool for more than a week.

It is, and I already saw one person on Facebook who claimed that the statement from the park is them "admitting to their mistakes" even though we don't have all the details about what happened.

Image from the park's Facebook page. More info: https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2025/07/25/hersheypark-death-what-we-know-about-child-drowning-at-boardwalk/85370065007/

If it remains an amusement park, how much would Six Flags see it as competition with KD being two hours away and Dorney being three? I don't see United buying it at all since BGW is two and a half hours away. Herschend would be nice but I doubt they're looking to acquire any more parks at the moment given that they just picked up Kennywood, Idlewild, etc. earlier this year.

Interesting development. I wonder how many rides Six Flags will want to relocate, and of course there's the issue with having to re-theme everything, but there's a chance the park could be saved. https://attractionsmagazine.com/six-flags-america-for-sale-2025-washington-dc-largo-redevelopment/

I was out at Riverbend for the Cincinnati Pops concert on the 4th. It was weird not driving through Coney to get to the lot and not seeing any rides.

I used my KI pass for parking but had the pass added to the Six Flags app to use for entrance. I've heard others saying they had no problem using their pass from a legacy CF park to get in and my sister and husband didn't have any problems when they used theirs at Great America earlier this year.

This past Sunday I made my first (and very likely last - because of distance) trip to Six Flags America. I had considered adding it to this trip since it's only two hours from KD but decided I wouldn't have time since I wanted to do two days at each of the Virginia parks and allow a day of free time. However, with the news coming Saturday that KD wouldn't be open on Sunday and it being too late for me to change hotel reservations to allow for an impromptu return to Carowinds instead (because Carowinds is closer to Beckley, WV than SFA is), I decided to make the trip, especially since SFA's 8pm closing time meant I'd have plenty of time to get back to the next hotel in Ashland, VA before it got too late. I left Beckley around 8:30am and headed north. The drive there wasn't too bad, though I will say that DC traffic was an adventure (tolled express lanes for instance). After stopping at a rest area and stopping for gas (I managed to find the one Speedway in northern Virginia so my extra discount that was set to expire before I got back to Cincinnati didn't go to waste), I rolled into the park at around 2:30. I grabbed lunch at the food court near the front of the park and hit the various rides as I came to them, also meeting up with a fellow coaster enthusiast who lives in the area. Likely due to the extreme heat, the park was dead and I managed to get all the coasters plus a few flat rides and dinner all by 8pm. There are some interesting coasters at the park: Firebird - the original B&M. Originally a standup coaster but converted to floorless and given its current name in 2019. Originally at Six Flags Great America from 1990 to 2011. Quite a wild ride. Batwing - a clone of Firehawk. Joker's Jinx - outdoor version of Flight of Fear but with no MCBR at all and no separate unload area Wild One - an old PTC woodie that originally opened at Paragon Park in Hull, Massachusetts in 1917. Moved to SFA after Paragon closed in 1985. Professor Screamore's SkyWinder - an intense Vekoma SLC originally known as Mind Eraser. Quite a thrilling ride, aided by the new trains that were added last year. Ragin' Cajun - a spinning wild mouse coaster from Reverchon that originally operated at Six Flags Great America Roar - a wild and somewhat rough woodie Superman Ride of Steel - Intamin hyper coaster Great Chase - a kids' coaster. Didn't ride this because I didn't know about it and never made it to that part of the park. There are some good flat rides there as well - a carousel, antique cars, a Zamperla NebulaZ, two different swing rides (one like Zephyr and a StarFlyer), an older Intamin Drop Tower (like the one that used to be at Carowinds), a train ride that's apparently only open on weekends and an assortment of kids' rides Overall I thought it was a nice park despite its reputation. With some investment it could be even better, especially since there isn't any competition really. It's a shame that SF chose to close the park instead of holding on and investing in it in the future.

An indoor coaster would be fun, but I don't see that happening. They've already added 2 family coasters in the past 6 years (Dragonflier in 2019 and Big Bear Mountain in 2023) and I think we'd already see evidence at this point. At KI footers have shown up for coasters a year before opening. Of course that's for larger coasters, but even so, you'd think we would see something this time.

I'm not too surprised given that park's reputation. I'm sure there are other factors in that decision as well - most likely annual revenue vs cost of operation. I do feel sorry for the residents of Baltimore and surrounding areas who are losing their local park though.