SonofBaconator
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Posts posted by SonofBaconator
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I think the park was more than happy to let the Son of Beast station stay for as long as they could. It didn’t really cost them any money to keep it, it served a purpose as a haunted house, and it’s mere presence kept enthusiasts speculating.
Now that the building is officially condemned and all of the haunt props have since been removed from it, I think the park can’t keep kicking the can down the road and finally has to address the aging structure.
If many of you recall, there is an actual house that set within the loop of the train. A fort façade was built around to hide the house, and the integrity of the house began to wear overtime to where it eventually collapsed- but you wouldn’t know it because it’s covered by the fort.
The Son of Beast station, however, is 100% within the public eye as guests pass it when on their way to ride The Bat. Heck, even if for some reason, The Bat was closed and they blocked that path off you could still see the station from Banshee, Drop Tower, an to an extent the Eiffel Tower. If bits and pieces of the structure begin to deteriorate and crumble people will be able to notice that. The station itself is close to The Bat so I’m sure that the park has to finally address it.
I honestly think that’s why The Vortex station was never saved, same as Firehawk’s, it’s probably the best interest of the park to tear out a structure instead of kicking the can down the road.
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I’m just gonna leave this here:
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I’m showing my tenure on this site- a long, long, time ago there was a running joke where everything was a diversion.
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This could be a…. diversion.
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Maybe I’m tardy to the party but while riding WindSeeker today, I saw some structural work being done to a part of the backstage area outside of Area 72 near Orion.
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It’s so crazy, if you go on reddit or even instagram you see a bunch of people begging for AFO to come to KI.
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I feel like KI might have to make alterations in a few years. There’s nothing wrong with the Opening Night story, but I feel like plot based rides usually have a shelf life, or at least the story does.
Compare that to Mystic Timbers or Verbolten where there are multiple story possibilities that keep the experience feeling fresh. Then look at more ambiguous rides like the Haunted Mansion and the original Phantom Theater where the mystery allows for deeper lore building and immersion, which is part of what makes them feel timeless.
For more context- for the original Phantom Theater: Maestro is the main speaker where he goes through 6 different spiels in the que, I believe 2 while he’s holding the curtain open, and I believe 3 when you see him before the prop room. There are other characters with minor speaking roles I’m sure @BryanJay can list but what I’m trying to say is that there was variety in the ride.
Compare that now where you hear:
”Are you ready to be an usher?- it’s 10 minutes ‘til showtime” or “with one wave of my magic wand” on repeat.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy the park brought back the IP- I just hope they look into adding more variety in the audio for future seasons to add to the experience.
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I just wonder how hard it is to slap a PNG logo on shirt or hoodie as opposed to asking AI to make something that’ll be sold.
I did this in literally 2 minutes without AI.
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On 8/15/2025 at 1:03 PM, WoodVengeance said:
Also, was the name "Splinter Cat" actually being considered for Mystic Timbers? I remember seeing that name a lot in the 2017 decoding thread, but thought it was mainly rumors.
I’ll leave that to @DonHelbig to answer. I thought the name Splintercat was trademarked and the park actually did some lore building with the sound of buzzing bees and Don posting a picture of a stock splintercat on twitter. From what I remember it was all a diversion.
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I know there’s dozens of Phantom Theater related topics out there but I felt like I needed to isolate this one for discussion sake.
Is there a correlation between Mark Hamill’s Joker and Richard Doyle’s Maestro?
When you listen to how each voice actor voices their respective characters, you can’t ignore the similarities.
It’s also worth noting that Batman: The Animated series debuted in 1992, which was the same year as Phantom Theater debuted Kings Island. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, if both the characters’ voices were based off theatrical individuals, or if there’s something deeper to that.
Thoughts?
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I rode it yesterday and I was thoroughly surprised at how immersive the queue was as well as the ride itself. I do feel like the ghost note element was not distracting and you can honestly somewhat ignore them and just take in the ride itself if you wanted.
A few critiques and some that I hope they fix as a season progresses:
SpoilerThe capacity wasn’t the best- there were a ton of gaps between the opera boxes- I’m not sure if that was intentional, if it was the same number as before but spaced out differently, or if not all the boxes had been reinstalled yet.
The audio in the que- A few people have pointed this out already, but you can only really hear Larry when you’re on the right side of the building as opposed to how you can hear Maestro throughout the whole queue.
The portraits-The portraits could be a little louder too- I like the idea of them interacting with one another, but I’m not entirely a fan of the AI. That might sound hypocritical as I’ve shared AI renderings on here before, but I’m not trying to make money off of it whereas the park/company is using it for one of their attractions.
My two cents in the new ride vs the old ride:
SpoilerThe original ride was meant to heavily take inspiration from the haunted mansion, so it had elements that were slightly scarier, and since the ride was story base and not a glorified arcade game, they packed in as much story in detail as possible.
When it was converted to Scooby-Doo in the haunted mansion you at least had the advantage of the Scooby Doo IP that you’ve got to interact with while the shooting element was introduced.
Then when the park lost that IP and went with a generic one, you pretty much solely focused on it as a laser tag ride.
Now that it returns to its original IP the park decided to keep the interactive element intact so they had to do it in a way to where little kids can still interact with via the flashlights while the older generations can focus on the detail of the theming itself.
I knew the story was gonna be different- you essentially went from touring an old abandoned theater, where the actors literally died, returned as phantoms, you’re disturbing their slumber, etc- to a more family friendly setting where the characters are already phantoms and the theater is open for business. I think this story follows more along what Phantom Theater Encore was doing where you have a bunch of live people attending a ghost performance.
I think that honestly, the ride itself is just fan service for people who remember the original and something entirely new for the young generations so in that element I think it works well.
I would honestly give it a B+. There are a lot of technical things I still think they need to work out, but overall the ride isn’t bad – I think there are a few things that I mentioned in the spoilers that kept it from being an A+ ride. I went in knowing that it wasn’t going to be a carbon copy of the original, and I have to give credit to the park and Sally for reintegrating the original IP into a layout/concept that had been altered well over 20 years ago.
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A follow up- I wonder how things would’ve been if Orion was built equal to or larger than Fury in 2020.
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From a thrill rides standpoint- the RMC makes the most sense.
- Even though KD has Twisted Timbers, what BGW is “proposing” is completely different enough to not rally draw any comparisons.
- A giga on the other hand doesn’t seem needed right now. Even though it would be a completely different experience from Pantherian, I think people would be quick to draw comparisons.
- I honestly think Tampa would get a giga first and is arguably more deserving of one: Florida’s tallest/fastest/longest coaster is extremely marketable in a state with so many large parks.
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Orion is a fun ride but has become a meme in the enthusiast community. It’s safe to say most people expected Orion to surpass Fury 325 in some capacity, or at least have similar stats.
I think Orion’s biggest flaw isn’t its stats but rather its timing- being built 5 years after a larger model was built in the same chain.
This ultimately begs the question: How differently would Orion have been received by the community if it came before Fury 325?
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I kinda wish we got this- we’re the only park to not have a wild mouse of any kind.
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This move is somewhat on brand with how the timeline of this resort. I have my own opinions of it, having a hospitality background.
There’s a reason why Cedar Fair never built/acquired any hotels/resorts when they bought KI..
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CP ordered a small ride from Zamperla then got a large thrill ride from them soon after.
KI ordered Snoopy’s Soapbox Racers from Vekoma so would it be a reasonable assumption that they might receive something large from them next?
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4 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:
What's funny about KI using slogans is that they currently don't have one. Where parks like Cedar Point has "A Place Like No Other", Carowinds has "Where the Carolinas Come Together", and Kings Dominion has "Virginia’s Premier Destination for FUN", Kings Island's website just has the park name. I like the sound of "Where Fun Reigns" (although Six Flags might use the uppercase "FUN").
During the Kinzel Era you had the generic copy and paste terms across multiple CF parks: “Kings Island: Where Else?” “Kings Island: The Fun and Only”, etc.
Having a permanent slogan would be a good way at maintaining a marketable identity in this new chain as opposed to “hey, we’re big-we have rides”
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Marketing experiences is better than marketing stats in my opinion.
Disneyland and Walt Disney World are both marketed as “The Happiest Place on Earth” and “The Most Magical Place on Earth.” Cedar Point is often marketed as “A Place Like No Other.” These types of titles emphasize the experience rather than statistics.
If you apply that same idea to Kings Island, you could have: Kings Island: Where Fun Reigns
The message stays intentionally broad, but in a good way. When a park claims to be the biggest or the best, people often rush to critique those claims. A phrase like this focuses on the feeling of the place instead of something that can be easily disputed.
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On 2/24/2026 at 1:23 AM, Losantiville Mining Co. said:
Change the billboards to reflect Cincinnati highway signs.
I 100% claim credit for this
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With the merged chain, their reach is pretty limitless- with exception of Florida. Prior to the merger, neither chain had any active properties in the sunshine state. It makes you wonder if the merged chain would have a chance in Florida or not.
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7 hours ago, BryanJay said:
I have absolutely no clue what the quote is referring to, but glad to have an update finally. I can’t wait!
Possibly what’s quoted below
19 minutes ago, MaestroJr said:Looks like the Hallway has possibly 6 portraits
They might bring the following busts back. IIRC, there were 4 originally (I thought 6 in the original ride’s concept art).
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“The Most Disgusting Waterpark Ever..”
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