KIghostguy

The Phantom Theater photos are great (as are all the others)! Thanks for taking the time to post them!

This.

Bumping this thread a little bit... Do you have a link to that Columbus Dispatch article? I ask because I just stumbled upon this article (http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/14/A-high-school-senior-was-decapitated-in-moving-elevator/9788421732800/), from United Press International, that states John was decapitated. From The Bryan Times article you linked (https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=799&dat=19630510&id=eZJPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mVEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4078,4112870&hl=en): "Authorities said he died instantly, suffering a skull fracture and several broken bones." It doesn't specify that was the cause of death though, although it'd be odd to specify those injuries and not the decapitation. I have two articles from the Columbus Dispatch, one from the Columbus Citizen-Journal, and four from the Cincinnati Enquirer, all of which say that he had suffered skull fractures and broken bones and died from the fall. I unfortunately don't have the link for the Dispatch and Citizen-Journal as I had those personally e-mailed to me from the Columbus Public Library. The Cincinnati Enquirer articles, however, can easily be found on newspapers.com .

I never rode it. I moved in 2007, and in those remaining two years I was too short to ride. My dad did ride it and said he loved it. He always tells me that he wishes that KI still had it, but he agrees that Banshee is a worthy replacement.

I love BLSC, so I don't know what I would want replacing it if in the future it's torn down.

I don't think we "need" one. For some reason, it would just feel strange to me to have a coaster taller than Diamondback at the park.

So many times that I lost count! I think I was around the 15-20 area.

This has probably been one of the worst years for the amusement park industry. First the employee killed at Disneyland Paris, then the boy killed by the gator at Walt Disney World, then the girls that (non-fatally) fell out of the Ferris Wheel at the carnival in Tennessee (?), then the boy killed on Verruckt, and now this. My deepest sympathies, prayers, etc. go out to the families of the victims. This is absolutely heartbreaking and I can't imagine what their families are going through. As for what rcwizard13 said, there was a fatality in 1999 at Six Flags Over Texas on Roarin' Rapids (very similar to this ride) when a raft flipped over. Apparently a pipe snagged the raft and it began to fill with water until it flipped over right in front of all the people waiting in line for the ride. So yes, there has been a very significant accident on this ride type in the past.

Most definitely a return of Phantom Theater, maybe with some new effects added. The park has kinda-sorta been bringing back defunct things (The Bat, the vine tunnel, the Flying Eagles, and now Winterfest) and I hope the next one in line is Phantom Theater. One thing I would NOT like to see a Triotech ride! If Phantom Theater is brought back, I hope it's without video screens.

I was at the park yesterday. Here's what I noticed. Flight of Fear was really good in terms of theming. Music was loud and clear, I could hear the audio for the TV's very clearly, and of course, the lights were synced. In the area right before you enter the tunnel that leads to the hanger, the audio of the commander giving orders was playing. It's the first time I've heard it. I don't know if this goes under theming or just general aesthetics, but the little fountain in the Oktoberfest pond is going again. It hasn't been on all year. It's moved though, now it's almost underneath Viking Fury instead of being close to Slingshot/the Bier Garten. I was very disappointed to see that the fog coming from the Banshee sign was turned off.

Are any props out this year? I was at the park for a little over 2 hours yesterday and didn't see anything. But then again, maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough!

The animatronics for Frozen Ever After are really the only good things about it IMO. Practically non-existent story (other than "you're just going to see Elsa") and I've always been a bigger fan of original stories and rides over ones based on movies. The Haunted Mansion has original characters that are still popular even after 47 years. How many more years is Frozen going to be popular? That being said, when I go to WDW again I would probably ride Frozen Ever After, just to check out the animatronics.

The Haunted Mansion would like to argue with that.

Disney has torn down the neon "Hollywood Tower Hotel" sign in front of the building.

Why is it closing? It's definitely one of my favorite parts of COSI.

Or when the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean aren't mentioned at all.

Nor can I take voters who like the Phoenix more than the Twister.To each their own, I guess.

A few weeks ago I saw him. The number then was 14,000, if I'm remembering correctly.

This wasn't at Kings Island, but I overheard it and thought it would you folks might get a kick out of it. This is part of the conversation. Person 1: Why would someone buy a platinum pass? Person 2: It's for people who travel to Cedar Point a lot. Person 1: Can you use it anywhere else? Person 2: Yea, you can use it at Six Flags too. Earlier, they were also talking about how Kings Island had just bought The Beach waterpark.

I usually go to the park on Sundays during the Halloween season. I'm way too chicken to go to Haunt, but I love walking around during the day and looking at the decorations. Also, I've found that Sundays don't really have big crowds during Fall, and I'm able to walk on almost every ride.

Does anyone know if Winterfest is just coming back for the 2017 Christmas season or will it be held every year after?

I'm actually really disappointed. I was really hopeful that Phantom Theater would be back. I'll probably go, and I'm sure a lot of people are excited. At least I still have Mystic Timbers to look forward to!

I'm hoping that it's a dark ride. I also hope it's Phantom Theater returning. But of course, what I hope for and what actually happens are two entirely different things. If it is a dark ride, I hope it's not a Triotech or something with video screens. Those just don't feel as immersive as something like the Haunted Mamsion or Pirates of the Caribbean. I do think that something old will be back this year. The past few years, old attractions are returning, but in different ways. In 2014, The Bat came back...as a repaint of Flight Deck. In 2015, the Flying Eagles came back...as Woodstock Gliders. In 2016, the vine tunnel is back...but as the entrance to White Water Canyon.

Honestly, I don't really write trip reports anymore because I go to Kings Island so often, it would just get boring writing (and for you guys, reading) the same things over and over. I mostly just save it for when something landmark happens to me, and today just so happened to be one of those days! I was at the park all day with a friend, instead of just my usual evenings, so we had a lot of time, and for the sake of sheer repetitiveness, I'll only talk about the two landmark rides today, Diamondback and Invertigo. I used to have a rule: no coasters higher than Banshee. I would never go on Diamondback, I thought. But after a trip to the Ohio State Fair and some strange dreams the past week or so, I decided to go on Diamondback. We got to the park at about 10:30 and ran straight towards Diamondback and we were able to walk right on. I got in, shakily buckled my seatbelt and pulled down the lap bar. "Clear!" There was no turning back now... The train lurched forwards. It's a long way up, I thought as we began quickly ascending the hill. I was shaking, absolutely terrified, but I had to ride! The train picked up speed a bit, curving over the hill! SHOOM! Down we went! Up and down, twisting and turning, until finally, SPLASH! The train zoomed back up and slowly made it's way into the station. It was amazing! It's safe to say Diamondback is my new favorite steel coaster: 5/5. Because there was no line, when we got off we went on three more times in a row. As we circled the park, we were constantly coming back, until we had ridden Diamondback a grand total of 10 times today. On our final ride, the man standing in front of us had a red Diamondback shirt that said he had ridden over 14,000 times. Just curious, with that many rides, does anyone on this forum know who he is? The other first ride for me was Invertigo. We were able to walk right on, and I sat facing down the hill, so I went forwards the first time and backwards the second time around the track. It was very jerky, shaking my head very hard. On the second time around the track, after the pretzel loop it felt like my head was being forced down. We only went on it once. All in all, I rate it 3/5. Vekoma's idea is pretty creative, and the track layout is fine, but it's just so jerky! I also went on Vortex for the first time in two years, but almost nothing had changed since the last time. The layout is good, but it really slams my ears into the restraints, maybe even more so than the last time. It's fine to ride maybe once a Kings Island trip, but I honestly don't see why people on these threads love it so much. I hope you enjoyed these snippets from my day, because I had a great time!

After some Googling..people supposedly have seen the ghosts of a little girl in the parking lot, a former employee in the theater, a boy riding the carousel, and people in 1800's clothing walking on the train tracks.