DonHelbig

Families have comprised the majority of the park’s annual attendance since 1972.

The Peanuts gang may be nearing their final curtain call at parks like Kings Island, Cedar Point, Carowinds, and Kings Dominion. https://themeparksbydon.com/uncertainty-looms-over-future-of-peanuts-characters-at-legacy-cedar-fair-parks/

Richard A. Zimmerman, president and CEO of Six Flags, will step down from his role by the end of 2025, the company announced. https://themeparksbydon.com/six-flags-ceo-richard-zimmerman-to-step-down-by-end-of-2025/

Will some rides be cut from the Haunt lineup? Will fewer restaurants be open? Will cuts be made elsewhere at a park with higher attendance? Stay tuned! Addition by subtraction.

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Fridays for Haunt were just cut in September for Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun. Michigan’s Adventure had its entire fall season cut. Several legacy Six Flags parks just had their holiday event cut. While Kings Island added Thursdays in October, other parks lost days or entire events. There’s a trade off for adding those Haunt nights. They didn’t add without taking something away.

With all the smart people in the marketing room in the building in Charlotte, NC, it shouldn’t be this difficult for current Passholders and new Passholders to understand what the pass they just renewed or bought is valid for. People shouldn’t have to be waiting on hold for 20-plus minutes to try and get an answer from a park. And is that answer correct? It’s the Most Vague Pass (MVP) offer ever!

This offer ends Sept. 1, they’ll shout and flood your inbox with. Only for the offer to be extended until Sept. 5.

Transparency, clarity, responding to guest questions… that’s become foreign territory.

Friend of mine renewed this morning for 2026. They had 2025 with the all park passport and dining. Went to get a meal today at CP and were told their dining plan wasn’t valid until next year. They used their pass for two meals yesterday at CP.

I’m looking forward to experiencing the new Summer Wine’d Down Festival at Holiday World. And yes, they have Tasting Passes! https://themeparksbydon.com/holiday-world-announces-menu-for-summer-wined-down-festival/

Queue area for a new Haunt maze.

Queue area for the new Haunt maze.

It’s a great deal they’re offering but giving away the gate like this is basically telling people you’re the Walmart of the industry—not something premium or worth paying more for.

Inexperience behind the wheel with timing misses on several fronts.

Outside of using it for a Haunt maze, there were no plans to do anything big with the SOB station when the decision was made to demolish the ride.

I bought a couple items off the Italy menu. It is a miss not having the tasting cards.

If? They’re going to do it. The product is set up to sell online.

You get into the park with a Gold Pass for Haunt. You just have to open your wallet if you want to experiences the mazes.

As a fan of seasonal events, I’m looking forward to experiencing Summer Wine’d Down Fest at Holiday World. And yes, you can get a Tasting Pass. https://themeparksbydon.com/summer-wined-down-food-fest-debuts-at-holiday-world-aug-4/

WinterFest presented by Tower Topics.

People who came to the park together were suddenly all single riders entering the line at the same time. That played a big part in the elimination of the Single Rider lines.

Together, Wildebeest, Mammoth, and Cheetah Chase don’t just push the limits of what’s technically possible—they redefine what water coasters can be. https://holidayworld.com/2025/07/11/holiday-world-reigns-supreme-as-the-water-coaster-capital-of-the-world/

The season pass program nearly got destroyed in 2007. It took a couple years to get it back on track.

Nobody from the park has ever said anything to us about the Tower Topics podcast, except they enjoy it and learned things they didn’t know. As for retiring the Tower Topics X, it simply wasn’t proving enough value for the podcast. We have chosen to put all of the channel’s social media efforts into the Tower Topics Facebook Group. That has been providing us with far more value. We did have good engagement with the content we published on X, better than many of the posts the park makes on X. It just wasn’t proving enough value for us. A lot of what we’d post on X can still be found on my personal X. Ryan and I are not going to be shills for the park. We’re going to keep doing the podcast the same way. Genuine and authentic with honest and frank discussion about Kings Island.