2024 Kings Island Speculation Thread

[SonofBaconator]

12 minutes ago, Rivertown Rider said:

The interesting thing about Boo Blasters is do all four parks with Boo Blasters work together to re-do each of their rides to Phantom Theater.  If they did, it could make it more economical for all four parks.

If Disney can replicate the Haunted Mansion concept across their parks, why not? I wouldn’t be upset if we got Phantom Theater back if it meant that they cloned it for KD, Carowinds, and Canada’s Wonderland.

[johnjniehaus]

22 minutes ago, Rivertown Rider said:

The interesting thing about Boo Blasters is do all four parks with Boo Blasters work together to re-do each of their rides to Phantom Theater.  If they did, it could make it more economical for all four parks.

That's an interesting thought however, do you think there would be a high demand/fan base for phantom Theater at KD, Carowinds, of Wonderland? I mean it's almost like a cult classic here in Cincinnati but I don't believe any of the other parks ever had a "phantom Theater" did they? 

[SonofBaconator]

34 minutes ago, Rivertown Rider said:

Here are the official specs on Snoopy's Runaway Railway (56 x 70 meters or approximately 184 x 230 feet)

After doing some measurements from Google Earth, it’ll fit in that space nicely. However I’m not sure about a Lazy Bear Lodge clone coexisting without the possibility of sacrificing Flying Ace Aerial Chase- which they might want to do anyways since it’s a Vekoma “hang & bang”

[FUN&ONLY!]

I feel like Phantom Theater would be much more marketable (and potentially better) if it is in a different location (whether that be The Crypt building or a completely new show building). It being built as a completely new dark ride in a different location would help prevent it as being seen as just a revamped Boo Blasters by the general public. I also think we need more dark and indoor rides, and while Boo Blasters is nothing to write home about, I would rather have that and Phantom Theater rather than just Phantom Theater. More is better.

[johnjniehaus]

13 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I feel like Phantom Theater would be much more marketable (and potentially better) if it is in a different location (whether that be The Crypt building or a completely new show building). It being built as a completely new dark ride in a different location would help prevent it as being seen as just a revamped Boo Blasters by the general public. I also think we need more dark and indoor rides, and while Boo Blasters is nothing to write home about, I would rather have that and Phantom Theater rather than just Phantom Theater. More is better.

I don't care how they do it (I'm open to many ideas) I just want them to bring it back! I think it would be just fine to build it from scratch in a different location however I'm perfectly fine if boo blaster gets axed as well. One thing for me is I would prefer phantom Theater not to have guns or shooting and to focus on characters, sets, and story much like it's inspiration The Disney Haunted Mansion does. (besides it would just feel wrong to shoot no -legs Larry!). I feel like they could do a really good job with a new phantom Theater by obviously including the classic sets and scenes but also adding additional dialogue or story (maybe even some of the encore show material/story could be used) 

[Tr0y]

I’ve beaten this horse before but gut Boo Blasters and build something like Darkoaster inside. Give it Phantom Theatre theming and call it something like Maestro‘s Revenge. That’s an additional indoor coaster for winter fest, bad weather and potentially year round operations:

 

[BeeastFarmer]

39 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

I’ve beaten this horse before but gut Boo Blasters and build something like Darkoaster inside. Give it Phantom Theatre theming and call it something like Maestro‘s Revenge. That’s an additional indoor coaster for winter fest, bad weather and potentially year round operations:

 

Darkoaster was a blast but the ride itself is too dark and too fast to tell the PT story.  My opinion, fwiw, is to convert Boo into a Peanuts based dark ride.  Then build a new phantom theater dark ride elsewhere.  But that gets tricky because the other areas of the park may not lend themselves to a haunted theater.  Doesn't fit the theme of Rivertown and the big box or Coney Mall and the old action theater. Nowhere to put it in AP.  If Action Zone is going to eventually be redone as a haunted area, it would fit in well, but I think that will be too long down the road and the show tie in will be gone. Perfect spot would be between ki theater and chicken Shack, but in 20 years, will it be replaced with a Boo Blasters? Of course, it will need a Boo Blasters Encore show to proceed it.

[teenageninja]

I don't think you'd be able to fit a Darkoaster type ride in the Boo Blasters building, 

DarKoaster's building is around 39000 square feet and the entire building that Boo Blasters is in is 29000 square feet.

The Boo Blasters bulding also contains a stage (that isn't used frequently, but occasionally in the past), entertainment space for the characters, as well as the Park Services staging area.

Not saying all of those things couldn't move, but I think that's a bit of a pipe dream.

[IndyGuy4KI]

44 minutes ago, teenageninja said:

I don't think you'd be able to fit a Darkoaster type ride in the Boo Blasters building, 

DarKoaster's building is around 39000 square feet and the entire building that Boo Blasters is in is 29000 square feet.

The Boo Blasters bulding also contains a stage (that isn't used frequently, but occasionally in the past), entertainment space for the characters, as well as the Park Services staging area.

Not saying all of those things couldn't move, but I think that's a bit of a pipe dream.

They may have to get creative with a layout. 

1 hour ago, Tr0y said:

I’ve beaten this horse before but gut Boo Blasters and build something like Darkoaster inside. Give it Phantom Theatre theming and call it something like Maestro‘s Revenge. That’s an additional indoor coaster for winter fest, bad weather and potentially year round operations:

 

I think this is a great idea.

[Tr0y]

1 hour ago, BeeastFarmer said:

Darkoaster was a blast but the ride itself is too dark and too fast to tell the PT story.  My opinion, fwiw, is to convert Boo into a Peanuts based dark ride.  Then build a new phantom theater dark ride elsewhere.  But that gets tricky because the other areas of the park may not lend themselves to a haunted theater.  Doesn't fit the theme of Rivertown and the big box or Coney Mall and the old action theater. Nowhere to put it in AP.  If Action Zone is going to eventually be redone as a haunted area, it would fit in well, but I think that will be too long down the road and the show tie in will be gone. Perfect spot would be between ki theater and chicken Shack, but in 20 years, will it be replaced with a Boo Blasters? Of course, it will need a Boo Blasters Encore show to proceed it.

The queue line leading up to the coaster tells the story. I just don’t think a ride like Phantom Theatre in its 90s iteration has any place for Kings Island. Too many animatronics that won’t be kept up with, they just refurbished AE and the arrows and hammer men still have issues working properly.

[disco2000]

13 hours ago, johnjniehaus said:

I'm not 100% sure about the whole camp snoopy thing. Been discussing some the the "rumors" with friends and it's come up numerous times that Planet Snoopy kinda needs a little something however I agree with Shaggy that it's not necessarily the rides, it's the atmosphere which is a more wood/forest setting which currently the number of mature trees in Planet Snoopy is rather low. 

Another concern that was voiced to me by some friends is wether long term Peanuts will still appeal to the younger generations. Sure my grandparents know everything about it and my parents know some about it and because I love older shows/movies I know about it but are most millennials really that into Peanuts? Millennials are the generation starting families now and if they aren't into Peanuts it's probably safe to assume that their kids and the next generation won't really know that much about them either. I say it's at least something to consider whether long term Peanuts is what is going to be marked for the kids area at Cedar Fair parks. 

 

As for my hopes for next year, I personally hope we see a phantom Theater return since it's kinda been teased last two years and boo blaster is in such bad shape. It would be really great if they could reconfigure the que to connect to I-Street instead of Planet Snoopy but even if they continue utilizing the old entrance, I think that phantom Theater deserves a return as the Kings Island dark ride. I would like to see some attention to Planet Snoopy (possible revamp/theme and new ride/coaster addition) however, I think that is too much to ask for in a single year. I would like to see a two year plan comprised of one year is spent on phantom Theater project and the other is spent on camp snoopy revamp idea. That would really bring new life and excitement back to that side of the park. 

 

It has been talked here before about the Peanuts IP.  The problem is other parks already have some of the other popular IP.  Or it is too expensive to acquire another IP.  So you go with what you got or create a new IP that nobody knows about.  At the end of the day, they are kids and if exposed to the Peanuts gang at an early age and they watch the annual Peanuts holiday shows, the kids are good.  Kids are going for the rides, not the characters.  Those of us that are older have nostalgia for whatever IP was there when we were kids, but the just born to 6 year old doesn't know history and doesn't care - they got to ride a cool ride with a beagle on it LOL.

Here are a few threads from when the CF acquisition was taking place:

 

 

[SonofBaconator]

Hanna-Barbera didn’t really age great into the turn of the millennium was on leave you properties like Scooby Doo, Flintstones, and Yogi bear be recognizable by younger audiences through direct to home films, cereals, campsites, etc. Warner Bros. didn’t really want to continue to promote characters like Quickdraw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Wally Gator, Top Cat, etc. 

Nickelodeon became a popular go-to for kids of the 90s, but where, as Hanna-Barbera had existed for a few decades, Nickelodeon’s characters more or less faded. Sure everybody remembers SpongeBob as it’s still being milked to this day, but other properties, such as Jimmy Neutron, Fairly OddParents, Wild Thornberrys, Rugrats, etc all faded into memory. 
 

Peanuts, on the other hand, has predated and existed alongside most of Hanna-Barbera and Nickelodeon properties throughout the years. There’s a Peanuts special for nearly every holiday. For a while they played said specials on network tv. They still produce content for them on AppleTV and they just had a big screen film come out a few years ago. At my house we still have the old VHS tapes that we put in for whatever corresponding holiday is coming up. I don’t think the Peanuts IP will ever truly become outdated as long as they continue to produce content for younger generations and they remain present in Cedar Fair parks.

[Shaggy]

The Peanuts license was more or less "inherited" by CF once they took over Knotts Berry Farm in the late '90's  The Knotts Family had first secured the rights from Charles Schulz back in the early 1980's.  

Prior to the buyout, Cedar Fairs "mascots" were the Berenstain Bears... which held some marketability.  After the Knotts purchase, they expanded the Peanuts license to extend to their other parks.  Peanuts is reliable, safe, steady, and Snoopy is a universally recognizable character. 

The broad spectrum of HB characters had a much wider appeal in the 60's-early 1980s.  A big part of their success was that every year there were a barrage of new shows, characters etc.  They had their steady characters, but they also constantly introduced new serials to continue to draw in new themes and interests.  However as Hannah-Barbera aged, their empire did too - and by the 90's the creation of new content/characters ground to a halt.  HB productions ceased operation in the early 2000's - and Warned Bros (who bought the rights) had no interest in creating new content, just milking the tried and true goldmines like Scooby.  

Also, there was a big shift in children's entertainment in the 1980's that changed the cartoon landscape.  Laws were changed that allowed toy manufacturers to create cartoons that served the primary purpose of selling toy lines.  You first saw it with Masters of the Universe, My Little Pony and GI Joe... and that immense success soon expanded to nearly every toy line.  That left a lot of the tried and true cartoon production companies in the dust.  HB had good taste of it with the Smurfs - which became a licensing juggernaut - but that's about it.  That trend continues today... Monster High, LOL dolls,  Transformers etc all have toy line tie ins.

Kid's taste in entertainment is flighty.  One day Lambchop is the hot property, then within 6 months its Thomas the Train.  So for a park to attempt to ride the wave of what's hot with kids would be futile.  I assume that why CF sticks with the easier, broader Peanuts license. 

Had HB Productions not ceased/sold out, and still created new content, coupled with successful toy lines, I suspect it might still be a theming staple at KI.

[Tr0y]

Dollyworld has proven you don’t need to waste money on IP’s like Peanuts to produce a quality kids area. You just need to theme it properly and have the right rides / coasters that are fun for family’s. I personally thought the reason we had Peanuts is because that’s what Kinzel grew up with. 

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

To all the people who wanted to see a Camp Snoopy make over at Kings Island. Not all park needed a camp theme. Beside if they're going to do it, Woodstock whirlybird, Character Carousel, Surf Dog, Snoopy Junction, Sally's Sea Plane, Joe Cool's Dodgems and Snoopy space buggies will need a make over or be removed entirely. Also there are not just a lot of nature in Planet Snoopy to give a camp theme. But I do like the idea of having Snoopy Racing Railway in this park since it will give them a family coaster.

[SonofBaconator]

2 hours ago, Tr0y said:

I personally thought the reason we had Peanuts is because that’s what Kinzel grew up with.

Nope, it was because of what @Shaggy said. I believe they were licensed in the Mall of America as well which ironically got taken over by Nickelodeon. 
 

Chains will always want brands to act like a mascot. Sea World Entertainment has Sesame Street, Six Flags has Looney Tunes and DC, Disney has…well Disney, Universal has their IP and Harry Potter, Cedar Fair has Peanuts, and so on. I wouldn’t be surprised if Herschend started to look for a brand to be featured in their parks in the future to establish more of an identity.

[TombRaiderFTW]

On 7/5/2023 at 4:26 PM, SonofBaconator said:

Technically, Boo Blasters is part of International Street but was rebranded when the chain dropped the Scooby Doo IP. 

I’m assuming they went with a generic ghost IP to make the transition easier while still keeping the shooting aspect.

This is a minor point, but Boo Blasters is actually an out-of-the-box concept from Sally called "Ghost Blasters II" that exists at other parks. Like, "out-of-the-box" to the point that Sally's website refers to Boo Blasters as Ghost Blasters II:

https://www.sallydarkrides.com/dark-rides/ghost-blasters-ii

Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle was, I suspect, originally based on the Ghost Blasters II concept--or, at least, they were very similar. (Sally lists the SDatHC's as their own listing in their portfolio.) Either way, it kind of tracks for Kinzel's Cedar Fair to choose a theme that's both premade (i.e., cheap) and close enough to what's already there.

[disco2000]

Disney Channel is playing in the VIP lounge.  Mickey Mouse takeover confirmed 

[jsus]

12 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Disney Channel is playing in the VIP lounge.  Mickey Mouse takeover confirmed 

Eh, Hotel Breakers @ CP has been playing TDC in the lobby by the front desk for years.  Must just be Ouimet wistful for his prior employer.   

[SonofBaconator]

22 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Disney Channel is playing in the VIP lounge.  Mickey Mouse takeover confirmed 

Surprised they don’t play Peanuts

[WoodVengeance]

Looks like the theater at Planet Snoopy isn't being used at all. They have plants covering the entrance, which I'm not sure if that's an indication that they are about to remove it.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

I believe if I've seen things correctly this season, they used it for show rehearsals bc I remember seeing people dancing on the stage in there. However, I have heard rumblings of potential markings in that area. However, I don't have any pics or sources to back up this claim. If anyone has any pics, I'd love to see them. 

[WoodVengeance]

I found what appears to be a survey marker to the left of the peanuts stage in one of the pens. Apparently there are other markers in the area but this is the only one I was able to locate. This photo was taken in the seating area next to the snack shack.

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

10 minutes ago, WoodVengeance said:

Credit goes to @gforce1994 for pointing this out to me.

I found what appears to be a survey marker to the left of the peanuts stage in one of the pens. Apparently there are other markers in the area but this is the only one I was able to locate. This photo was taken in the seating area next to the snack shack.

Looks like coaster footers. So are we going to get Snoopy Racing Railway?

[WoodVengeance]

Location of the marker in-question

[WoodVengeance]

42 minutes ago, Cedar Fair Fanboy said:

Looks like coaster footers. So are we going to get Snoopy Racing Railway?

Possibly. I have heard from Amusement Insiders that apparently the theming for SRR was done in-house from a 3D printer that Canada's Wonderland owns. If this is true, it's going to be interesting to see how the theming would translate to other parks unless Kings Island owns a similar 3D printer or if they're going to ship the theming from CW. As a reminder, however, nothing is confirmed at the moment and we're going to have to wait until KI announces their 2024 plans to see what's really going on there.

[SonofBaconator]

2 hours ago, WoodVengeance said:

I have heard from Amusement Insiders that apparently the theming for SRR was done in-house from a 3D printer that Canada's Wonderland owns. If this is true, it's going to be interesting to see how the theming would translate to other parks unless Kings Island owns a similar 3D printer or if they're going to ship the theming from CW.

One of the props has Charlie Brown as a Mountie so that wouldn’t translate to an American theme park- granted you can design a lot with a 3D printer nowadays so they could do something entirely different.

On a side note, I wonder how much $$$ is being saved doing the theming in house.

[WoodVengeance]

2 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

One of the props has Charlie Brown as a Mountie so that wouldn’t translate to an American theme park- granted you can design a lot with a 3D printer nowadays so they could do something entirely different.

On a side note, I wonder how much $$$ is being saved doing the theming in house.

Well, it seems SRR has a wild west theme considering one of the buildings is themed after a saloon. Maybe they could dress Charlie Brown as a wild west sheriff? It's also fitting since he does appear to capture the criminal bird at the end of the ride.

[David Ellis]

Well, first of all.....I have heard a lot of speculation going on with  the expansion of Planet Snoopy to be turned into Camp Snoopy.....I'm all for that although I know the Camp Snoopy themed area are at Carowinds, Michigan's Adventure, Cedar Point & Knott's Berry Farm....  I wouldn't be surprised if Kings Island will get Camp Snoopy, that'll save me a trip to Cedar Point or Carowinds to check out Camp Snoopy....  Second, I'm all for the return of Phantom Theater although I've heard there were problems involving Boo Blasters that's getting crapped out somehow so I think that Boo Blasters should be eliiminated and be replaced with Phantom Theater....that'll make sense.  Even though yes, I've seen new Phantom Theater merch going on at Kings Island as well.

[Orion742]

On 7/7/2023 at 8:40 PM, WoodVengeance said:

Possibly. I have heard from Amusement Insiders that apparently the theming for SRR was done in-house from a 3D printer that Canada's Wonderland owns. If this is true, it's going to be interesting to see how the theming would translate to other parks unless Kings Island owns a similar 3D printer or if they're going to ship the theming from CW. As a reminder, however, nothing is confirmed at the moment and we're going to have to wait until KI announces their 2024 plans to see what's really going on there.

Has anyone here ridden SRR at CW to give us a review?