SonofBaconator

Hmmm.....Antique Cars or a new restaurant?

Speaking of Don, I found a picture of him at Coasterstock from a couple of years ago

This is all the potential parts of the part that can be used for something. I didn't star the far left part because that's just too obvious If you notice, a lot of them are in or near the Coney Mall area. I think the area that could use the most work is the area that BLSC encompasses. The coaster's placement makes trying to put attractions around it awkward. I don't hate BLSC but I feel like getting rid of it would free up so much land for future attractions and a possibly a better coaster. I think the only reason why the park keeps it is because its a good family coaster. A multi-launch coaster like Blue Fire, Helix, Maverick, or even Verbolten would be an awesome replacement.

Do you ever notice that Kings Island has ridiculous amounts of land within the park that are underused or aren't even used at all? I'm talking about the excess land surrounding Backlot, the land between Racer and Flight of Fear, the old Flight Commander area, and I could make an argument for Crypt building and Tower Gardens. I understand not every single patch of grass and concrete needs to be used for an attraction but I find these pieces of land to be... underutilized.

I know which one you meant!

I think it's cool, I guess I just wanted some more theming interaction between the train and the coaster

I was kind of hoping to see some Mystic Timbers theming added to the train. I thought we'd be treated to signs advertising the Miami Valley Lumber Company, maybe some vines on the buildings, logs laying beside the track, scattered hard hats, warning signs or something. The closest thing we got in terms of theming was the same audio that MT riders hear before going into the shed.

You got it, boss! I might take me a day or two

KI's trains are much, much bigger and make a lot more noise. The bell's louder as well as the whistle. Crown did a great job making those trains and I wish there was more of them out there. I have however wanted to get an upclose lool at Cedar Point's Porter collection. Luckily I'll be interning at Cedar Point this summer so you bet your lucky stars I'll be riding that train constantly.

As much as I've wanted this for years I'm gonna have to say nay on the animatronics. They're hard to keep up, especially in the elements. Unfortunately I don't know if the park would be able to keep up with maintenance on outside animatronics as well as ones that are covered. However, that doesn't mean that additional theming can't be added to the train; fake animals, rocks, logs, trees, something else to look at besides holes in fences. Dick's Sporting Goods sells decoys for $99.99

Yeah I thought the same thing for a while too, but you can't really compare The Beast to any other ride. I want a giga that can't be compared to Diamondback the way Fury 325 and Leviathan are compared to Intimidator and Behemoth.

Well said, @BoddaH1994. A lot of enthusiasts are predicting a giga and it seems inevitable that the park is due to get one. Like I've been saying, Kings Island has always been late on the trends and for good reason. Banshee came in after the invert trend died down and now everyone loves it, similar to Mystic Timbers came in when the wooden trend died down. My formula is this: don't follow the trends, wait until the trends die down then reinvent them. Raise the bar! If this is the formula they've been following, then I think we're in for a real treat

I think the park's flat ride collection is kinda weak. I still envy Canada's Wonderland for their set of flats. If we had half the flats that Canada's Wonderland had, the park would be set.

A dive makes sense for Canada's Wonderland because a lot of their current coasters are pretty mediocre so having a dive will give them a good top 3 with Leviathan and Behemoth. Plus it'll be the only dive coaster in Canada so that could break some records there. Canada's Wonderland already has an invert, so I wasn't really surprised to see that they got a dive. I'm curious to see if we'll see more of these B&M dive machines around the chain as the years progress. California's Great America might get one since they're trying to break 200ft on multiple rides.

Some of the best theming sometimes is put on the weakest rides. Case in point, look at Skull Mountain or The Dark Knight at Six Flags Great Adventure. Even Disaster Transport was well received.

I agree that Leviathan was pretty weak compared to others but Fury seems to be superior. Hopefully they'll just get better

What's with all this B&M hate people have?

Unkept Dinos and poor attendance could also be a factor. DA would have been better if it was outside the park but still a part of KI. They could have got a lot of school groups who could have paid seperate admission just to see the dinosaurs. I think the big turn off was that if School groups wanted to see Dinosaurs Alive, they would have to pay for park admission as well.

KI might lose some of Kentucky's market if KK gets a hyper, if they haven't already. Maybe that'll be a push for CF to increase the budget for KI in the future.

Banshee has Tombstones around the front of the que and the plaza is pretty well themed. Mystic Timbers is nothing but themed: The crashed truck in the front, radio broadcasting inside the truck, the mill signs, the station has some props, the station made it sound like the truck is revving up, the lift hill has audio, and the shed has props, music, and animation. If that's not theming I don't know what is.

I always thought it would be cool if gold pass holders got one free fastlane per visit regardless of ride, just as an extra perk for having a gold pass.

Does PTC not allow this becauae of how the ride was made or how the trains were designed?

So to the left in the picture? Yeah they could it in a L shaped hyper in that area

I'd love to see all of those things but I don't know how realistic that would be. They're pretty landlocked and their water park takes up a lot of space. I don't know if a hyper could fit in such a small park unless they squeezed one around the park's perimeter or just bought more land from the surrounding area. If expansion is an issue I could see a raptor and a dive fitting in nicely, a small invert like Talon at Dorney would be a good T3 replacement, and they could even try and go for an Intamin Impulse coaster. They could put in a very compact wooden coaster if they really wanted to, think Switchback from Gravity Group. Now that I think about it, this sounds like a pretty sick lineup, assuming they want more coasters.

Bringing back the thread, what do you think Kentucky Kingdom should get for their next coaster? I personally think the park should get a dive coaster. Though Lightning Run and Storm Chaser are great rides, a dive coaster would draw in huge crowds to the park. Plus they're pretty tall, and thrilling so I think the GP would love one, even if its just like all the other dive coasters out there. Plus they're compact so KK could definitely make it fit.