SonofBaconator

Though KI has somewhat set the standards in some respects for how parks are ran, there another park you would like them to emulate? For me it’s either Dollywood or Hershey. I’ve been impressed with how they balance out their additions while still focusing on the family element-something KI is obviously leaning more towards.

It’s things like this that make me think that the decision to keep the new chain named Six Flags is more than just because it’s a more recognizable name.

Back then, CF was working to get the Paramount parks up to CF standards. Though the chain is called Six Flags, it’s very much CF influenced in its decision making- look how much has happened in the past few weeks alone. Though parks like Magic Mountain and Great Adventure have impressive ride collections, they’re still not up to CF standards in terms of maintenance, operations, and so on. Now that all parks are under one umbrella, priorities are going to shift; why put a large coaster in the greater Cincinnati area when you can place something in LA? Does this mean that we’ll never see a sizable investment again?-no, but as @MysticTimberwolf stated, KI is continuing down the path of family friendly and will invest accordingly. We could see something sizable in ‘27 but I don’t think we should expect the 3-5 year mid-large coaster addition that we enjoyed during the late 2000s-2010s. If anything, this should be a clear signal to parks like KK and HW to spend a little more $$ on one-of-a-kind attractions that could in theory compete with KI in the Indiana and Kentucky regions.

Because Orion was never really marketed as a thrill ride. In the grand scheme of things, thrill rides aren’t as marketable if you’re a regional park. If you’re a park like Cedar Point, Magic Mountain, Great adventure, where people are driving, long distances or even flying in and staying days, you want to try and attract thrill seekers. With Kings Island being a regional park, you essentially limit your target audience if you market your attraction as just a thrill ride. At least when you use the hybrid term “family thrill ride“ you’re still indicating that the ride has some intensities in it, but it’s still something that families can ride together.

Bolliger and Mabillard (B&M) is almost always considered a viable option since their coasters are fabricated in the neighboring county and their reliability has served the part well. I don’t think it would be wise to rule out a Dive or Surf. Vekoma also shouldn’t be ruled out since the park has recently worked with them to build Snoopy’s Soapbox Racers. Premier Rides could even be an option since they’re building an impressive 9-inversion launched coaster for Canada’s Wonderland. I don’t see us getting anything from Mack for our next coaster as they manufacture their track overseas which adds $$ to the bill but it’s not impossible. I don’t see Intamin coming either since both Cedar Fair and Six Flags had basically blacklisted them for years with the later just recently getting a family styled coaster from them for their New England park pre merger. Finally, I don’t see us getting anything from Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) as the former Cedar Fair not ordering anything new from them since 2018. With Kings Island being a high attendance park, whatever they get has to be a reliable people-eater.

I can’t remember where this was officially stated but Cedar Fair was already in the mindset of addressing maintenance heavy/older rides from their lineups before the Six Flags merger. Kings Island lost Firehawk and Vortex in back to back seasons and there’s always rumors of Invertigo following suit. I think it’s a safe bet that Six Flags will prune rides from almost every park (at least ones that haven’t already seen significant removals.)

What about for KI park goers?

I’m sitting here, wondering what is going to be the most obvious change that non-enthusiasts will see from this merger in the coming years.

Buy- 10 years is a long time for a park like theirs to wait to add something, especially if it’s to replace an attraction that was retired the way it was. Buy or Sell?- At least one former Cedar Fair park will get “Six Flags” put in front of their name by the end of the decade: Six Flags Valley Fair, Six Flags Worlds of Fun, etc.

Similar to Airtime Thrills’ “Buy or Sell” videos combined with the concept of the “This or that” thread. I’ll start off by saying “Buy or Sell” followed by the topic. The next person has to reply with either buy or sell and explain their answer then they continue the thread with the next one. Buy or Sell: at least one pre-merger Six Flags park will abandon the Six Flags from their name.

To think we used to have 4 dark rides: FoF, Action Theater, Boo Blasters, & TR:TR and now it’s cut in half.

I just finished watching Beetlejuice (the first one) and an episode from Tales of the Crypt. I’m convinced those two were the inspiration for Phantom Theater. If you click the first two links, you can hear what I mean.

If they’re operating one train, you won’t see collision issues. Even if they went to 2 trains ops, they could space the trains out enough to minimize the chance of rain affecting the breaks. This could happen with any coaster that’s exposed to the elements.

I wonder if taking it to two train ops during rain in future would be the move as it would leave more space between trains.

It does make you think though, if pre merger Six Flags parks will start pruning maintenance heavy rides like pre merger Cedar Fair.