SonofBaconator

3 Questions: What’s one thing will you be upset if they don’t bring back? Whats one thing you don’t think they’ll bring back? What’s something you’d like changed that they didn’t do the 1st time?

on a somewhat related note, I’m curious if Kings Island Louisville/Lexington grip has eroded since the reopening of Kentucky Kingdom and if so, by how much.

B&M has made hypers with both the standard 4 across as well as the staggered seating. My question is- would Diamondback (heck include Behemoth, Intimidator/Thunder Striker, Shambala, and Steel Dragon 2000 in as well) have a different experience if it (and the latter mentioned coasters) had 4 across trains? The lack of open-airedness is a given, but would it/they ride any different?

I don’t know why the park didn’t preserve as much as possible- they could’ve made some cash selling some of the props off- even the minor ones like the old photos on the walls.

Fun fact, I was told they just slapped a fake spider over it to make it look like a spider web and called it a day.

I saw it on reddit- I originally had the images too- but then I read the comments and saw that this was taken during a camera’s down tour so I removed them. Not sure if keeping the link up makes any difference. @IndyGuy4KI?

https://www.reddit.com/r/KingsIsland/s/QpUR6QQtxR

“Built” as in it was erected- the coaster itself was built for an other park but was later relocated to Sandusky-it was never custom built for CP. If it was custom built, CP would have had three trains.

I have this theory that the park is gauging whether fans are leaning more toward family attractions or if there’s still a strong demand for a major thrill ride like the thrill coaster. Looking at the options, three out of the four are clearly family-focused: a storytelling inverted coaster like Arthur, a Jeep-style adventure ride through themed scenes, and a live-action Wild West stunt show. The only true thrill option is the large red roller coaster. That alone tells me the park is testing whether guests are ready for another high-intensity coaster or if they’d rather see something more accessible to families. If the results end up evenly split - say, each concept getting around 25% - then it’s highly unlikely the park will move forward with the big thrill coaster. Even if the thrill coaster gets around 50% and the remaining options share the other half, that still shows half the audience prefers family attractions, which would likely push Kings Island toward something tamer. To make a new thrill coaster happen, the response would probably need to be at least 60% in favor of the red coaster - enough to send a clear signal that the majority of fans truly want a major thrill ride over anything else. Otherwise, this survey is probably Kings Island’s final check to confirm whether it’s time to shift their focus fully toward the family market. My two cents.

At the very least maybe invest in walk around characters to engage with the public during halloween. https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/04/23/photos-video-first-look-at-disneys-life-size-walking-baby-groot/

Stories are great for rides like Mystic, Beast, Banshee, Orion, and even Diamondback- and while I’m sure KI could make up one for Racer- I don’t think that a made up story would be the right fit for it. Actually, I argue that the best way to tell Racer’s story is with its history– how it sparked the second roller coaster renaissance, how The Brady Bunch rode it, how it ran backwards for a while, how it’s as old as the park itself, etc. Sometimes a ride’s history is its greatest story

For as long as I’ve known about Fearfest/Halloween Haunt, one thing always alluded me – how come the park never had any ride related mazes? Think about if slaughterhouse was a maze themed to the legend of The Beast under a different name, if the former blackout building was centered around the legend of the Banshee, etc. Heck, we never had a maze around Phantom Theater (granted Phantom theater briefly was a Fearfest attraction.) The closest thing we really got were scare zones that were slightly related to the park sections like Alien X, Coney Maul, etc. Maybe that might come off as cheap or unimaginative, but I’m still kind of surprised that the park never expanded on a ride’s story through an adjacent maze.

Since this post, Six Flags and Cedar Fair (now Six Flags) have added 4 Dive Coasters - Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger (2022), Iron Menace (2024), Wrath of Rakshasa (2025), and the upcoming Tormenta at Six Flags Over Texas (2026). I fully expect more parks are going to receive Dive Coasters between now and 2030. Will we be one of them? Considering how diverse Dive Coasters have become, I think it’s possible. Back in the mid-2000s, most were just variants of SheiKra at Busch Gardens - big drop, a couple inversions, more gimmicky. Now we’re seeing models with more inversions, some that are longer and more drawn out, some breaking 300 feet, some going beyond vertical, and even combinations of these. The range is widening, and with how popular they’ve become, it wouldn’t be surprising to see one in our future.

Honestly, this would be the best case scenario for KI in many ways: It would indeed become a premier park since its a considerable distance from Dollywood and Silver Dollar City The old logo would certainly return The chain would more than likely adopt a new IP for the kids area that could be also be used for DW and SDC Food quality and entertainment options would get better Winterfest would get better but unfortunately Haunt would be downgraded to a family event, unless Herschend decided to cross into the scary. Cross promotion with Kentucky Kingdom and Newport Aquarium would be low hanging fruit Theming would certainly improve Don't expect many thrill rides Holiday World would $h!+ a brick But as @WoodVengeance said, KI is too much of a cash cow to sell off...and even so selling them off would make them a competitor to CP. In a way Six Flags needs KI more than KI needs them in some respects.

So the original Phantom theater was introduced in 1992, the last year before Paramount took over. With all that in mind, it makes me wonder if the intent was see how it did at KI before replicating it at other parks like Kings, Dominion, Canada‘s Wonderland, etc..which we’ll never really know because ownership changed hands. There are people on here who know more than I do so please feel free to chime in. Also, with all that in mind, I wonder if Six Flags would replicate this concept to other parks to diversify IP.

An S&S SS what not be a bad addition for where sky flyer was, especially considering that they both deliver a similar ride experience

I think animatronic in the sense that their bodies will move- I don’t think there’s many animatronics that have moving faces these days- even most Disney figures have internal projections.

I think if the ride still existed to this day and it never become Scooby Doo or Boo blasters, I like to think that they would’ve switched to internal face projection animatronics l-like what you see at Disney. If you look at some of the later footage of Phantom theater, you will see Maestro’s face wear down around the area from whatever jaw mechanism is making his mouth move- the same can be said for the boiler man

I wonder if the placement of the scenes will be a carbon copy of what they originally were- just with screens- or if they’ll change things up since screens gives them more…”freedom.” I’m defaulting to the former.

I still think the ones on the top left are Houdelini: If you look at the paper, Houdelini has two images in the center where he appears to have two a split pencil mustache- which is a departure from his thicker handlebar mustache. Also where his eyes are positioned consistent with the image if you look closely. Garbonzo’s image seems to make him looking straight ahead where Houdelini seems to be looking elsewhere. Also there is a clearer image on the table in the image below of Garbonzo who has more of a wispy, “hungarian” style:

I’m trying to figure out the bottom three characters to the left of the rabbit. Also, the one to the right of the two Houdelini renderings. I wonder if these are new characters, the members of the audience that you saw during the peppers ghost scene, or something else entirely. The page isn’t laid flat out so it’s hard to make out. I’m sure that more stuff will be revealed later on, but it’s cool to decipher.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19GSHE4BGK/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Going off this paper^ Two faces far left: Houdelini Smirking face: Stagehand pulling the ropes? Shocked face dead center: Stagehand being hung by his leg? Grinning face- Boiler room? The never seen Mighty Bosco? Smiling face, no teeth- The second Boiler room guy? Garbanzo? (There’s a picture right under it of him but I still think it’s the thinner boiler room guy) Highest in the back- Willard Warbler? The one who’s face you can’t see- unknown- you’d have to really examine the eyebrows. Also note the Viking hats in the back right

Also, one has to remember the markets they’re in: one is between Dallas and Ft Worth and the other is in Atlanta- they’re not going to give up those territories.

Case in point with another park- you have a ride that was closed for the majority of the season, and now that it’s open, it’s being used it to promote the MVP Sale.