Kings Island General Discussion 2026

[WoodVengeance]

1 minute ago, johnjniehaus said:

So if no jazz and no classical what are they pumping on I-Street?

I'm not currently at the park so I don't know.

[beastfan11]

6 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

So if no jazz and no classical what are they pumping on I-Street?

I definitely heard the Gone With The Wind theme. 

[BlondyRidesOn]

34 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Really?! About time! What is it now?

I just heard Hoedown by Aaron Copland, an old track that played during the KECO era.

[DeltaFlyer]

La Vie En Rose is on right now. 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

I take back almost everything I said about current park management the last few weeks! Thank you Tony and team for bringing back the orchestral music! 

[Timchat2]

A couple more tracks we identified with Shazam:

 

[WoodVengeance]

1 hour ago, WoodVengeance said:

I really wish Kings Island would bring back the orchestral music one day.

Looks like I already got my wish!

[Rivertown Rider]

I heard a couple of Billy Joel songs in Coney Mall including Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) which is a nice inside Tony Easter Egg whether intentional or not.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Rivertown also has some new music! We heard some Dolly Parton playing as we walked past LaRosa's, though I didn't notice much of the other music. Our day was kind of centered around Phantom Theater (which was really good btw) so that was most of what I was listening for.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

51 minutes ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

Rivertown also has some new music! We heard some Dolly Parton playing as we walked past LaRosa's, though I didn't notice much of the other music. Our day was kind of centered around Phantom Theater (which was really good btw) so that was most of what I was listening for.

So no more bluegrass covers?! That would be such a blessing!

Now all they need to do is fix the music in Camp Snoopy and we're all set! 

[IndyGuy4KI]

9 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

So no more bluegrass covers?! That would be such a blessing!

They were fine for one season, but after that got stale quick. 

[silver2005]

I think I may have been on the first public train on blue Racer today.

[beastfan11]

1 hour ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

They were fine for one season, but after that got stale quick. 

Unfortunately the majority of the Rivtertown soundtrack including our “favorite” bluegrass covers. Coney Mall also had some really cheap, karaoke style Queen covers. Yikes. 
 

Here’s to hoping these areas get the IS treatment and get a refreshed soundtrack soon. 

[Swiftdrawer]

Is it just me or is the Adventure Port music bopping more than before? Not sure, didnt go to the main park that much last summer and only went 3 times between Haunt and Winterfest.

[BlondyRidesOn]

I noticed something about the Eiffel Tower today. Something... different. 

You could say something(s) missing...

If you have a keen eye you might've seen it too.

[Diamondback_Is_King]

10 minutes ago, BlondyRidesOn said:

I noticed something about the Eiffel Tower today. Something... different. 

You could say something(s) missing...

If you have a keen eye you might've seen it too.

Did that balcony-type thing always used to be there?

[BeeastFarmer]

2 minutes ago, Diamondback_Is_King said:

Did that balcony-type thing always used to be there?

Yes.

[silver2005]

Preview night observations-

- Red Racer feels like its running a bit faster and harder than blue, in a good way

- The new I-Street music, while nice that it's different, could be turned a bit louder (throughout the rest of the park, too)

- Crews are very much still learning (that's obviously okay, but felt more prominent tonight compared to other years IMO)

- I'm still not used to the Six Flags logos (I'll probably feel that even more so when I go up to CP in June)

- It was WAY slower crowd-wise than I though considering the good weather today and the not-so-good weather for Saturday. 

I came in the evening so I didn't chance PT, but I will be getting to it early for opening day. 

[WoodVengeance]

3 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

Rivertown also has some new music! We heard some Dolly Parton playing as we walked past LaRosa's, though I didn't notice much of the other music. Our day was kind of centered around Phantom Theater (which was really good btw) so that was most of what I was listening for.

Dollywood at home. Now we just need Cinnamon Bread 

[BlondyRidesOn]

1 hour ago, Diamondback_Is_King said:

Did that balcony-type thing always used to be there?

It did.

Check a little higher... 👀

[BB1]

Okay so some thoughts from today's excursion to the park:

• I asked for more parking with preferred, we got it! I was pleased with the new space but I wasn't thrilled that instead of repaving the area they painted it over to make it look fresher than what it actually was which was a detriment in my opinion.
• Merch, eh the PT merch I feel like could have used some better designs in certain spots but I have to give credit where credit is due the new button down shirts are absolutely amazing. I picked up a black Beast shirt on my way out and I will definitely be sporting it in office Monday. 
• I Street finally getting movie cinematic pieces made me and my family very sentimental of the PKI days. Hearing the Godfather theme several times, not so much. I feel like a mix of the old music and the newer music like we had last year would be a good blend to keep the feel of I Street on par with what guests are looking from the park.
• Beast being down was definitely a bummer, worse yet that I was really looking forward to getting on it today, hoping that it will be open tomorrow or Sunday at the latest!
• The amount of people at Preview Day solidified what I have been saying since last year, the park really sold the gate. Now of course, last year and year before we saw high attendance but I felt like this year it was worse. Especially for the VIP section, which I didn't even venture to for my free snack as there was a line that I was not about to deal with.
• My biggest pet peeve, my one request for park management: Please bring back the Knott's merchandise to Sweet Spot!! The fact that we no longer have that luxury really was a bummer today as my dad was looking forward to getting some preserves. Better yet, I feel like the sweet spot was lacking in various spots in terms of topical treats. Now I maybe too used to Universal pumping out treats for everything but I thought we would see PT cookies or PT goodies for sale, I only saw a cake with a nod. I feel like this was a spot of major opportunity for the park to sell some on topic merch so close to the new attraction. 

I'll reserve my thoughts for Haunted Mansion North Ohio later as I want a few rides to really give a solid review. (Which won't be in here of course but it will be coming soon) 

[KIBOB]

2 hours ago, BlondyRidesOn said:

I noticed something about the Eiffel Tower today. Something... different. 

You could say something(s) missing...

If you have a keen eye you might've seen it too.

Good eye!

I always wondered.. Were those fixtures used as nighttime downlighting back in the day?

 

I love the new season threads. I grew up in Cincy but moved to Oregon 4 years ago, so I don’t get to the park very often anymore. It is always fun to recognize small changes like this!

[BlondyRidesOn]

31 minutes ago, KIBOB said:

Good eye!

I always wondered.. Were those fixtures used as nighttime downlighting back in the day?

 

I love the new season threads. I grew up in Cincy but moved to Oregon 4 years ago, so I don’t get to the park very often anymore. It is always fun to recognize small changes like this!

They were. The Eiffel Tower was originally floodlit with bright halogen lamps before switching to the colored LED lighting. The uplighting surrounding the Tower was removed prior to the 2017 season. 

[Timchat2]

If it hasn't been mentioned already, the start dates for several of the shows are posted around the park.

Hot Rhythm Nights at the Bandstand and the new show Hollywood Hits at the Festhaus both open on May 23rd.

International Showplace has a sign saying an unnamed show will open June 20th. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

The yapper is going to yap tonight, so buckle in! I mostly agree with what's been said and will be quoting to add on to y'all's comments.

4 hours ago, silver2005 said:

Preview night observations-

- Red Racer feels like its running a bit faster and harder than blue, in a good way

- The new I-Street music, while nice that it's different, could be turned a bit louder (throughout the rest of the park, too)

- Crews are very much still learning (that's obviously okay, but felt more prominent tonight compared to other years IMO)

- I'm still not used to the Six Flags logos (I'll probably feel that even more so when I go up to CP in June)

- It was WAY slower crowd-wise than I though considering the good weather today and the not-so-good weather for Saturday. 

I came in the evening so I didn't chance PT, but I will be getting to it early for opening day. 

• The funny thing is, I noticed a ton more Cedar Fair logos still present around the park (mostly on uniforms) than Six Flags logos (new and old). I understand that they don't want to buy new uniforms when they don't need to — and I know I'd be upset if my job forced me to buy a new uniform out of pocket — but it does make the park experience feel odd. I'm also peeved that they keep using the old SF logo in random places. If Six Flags really wants to look like one company then they desperately need to get their branding in order a whole lot better than it currently is. (OK rant over for now.)
• I did also notice that the crowds seemed to be lower than last year. We didn't go on any coasters, but there honestly seemed to be longer lines to get food than to get on some rides. Speaking of rides, the Grand Carousel got a really good repaint! And there's a 100th anniversary horse (two in front of the KI 50th anniversary horse)!!!!

 

2 hours ago, BB1 said:

Okay so some thoughts from today's excursion to the park:

• I asked for more parking with preferred, we got it! I was pleased with the new space but I wasn't thrilled that instead of repaving the area they painted it over to make it look fresher than what it actually was which was a detriment in my opinion.
• Merch, eh the PT merch I feel like could have used some better designs in certain spots but I have to give credit where credit is due the new button down shirts are absolutely amazing. I picked up a black Beast shirt on my way out and I will definitely be sporting it in office Monday. 
• I Street finally getting movie cinematic pieces made me and my family very sentimental of the PKI days. Hearing the Godfather theme several times, not so much. I feel like a mix of the old music and the newer music like we had last year would be a good blend to keep the feel of I Street on par with what guests are looking from the park.
• Beast being down was definitely a bummer, worse yet that I was really looking forward to getting on it today, hoping that it will be open tomorrow or Sunday at the latest!
• The amount of people at Preview Day solidified what I have been saying since last year, the park really sold the gate. Now of course, last year and year before we saw high attendance but I felt like this year it was worse. Especially for the VIP section, which I didn't even venture to for my free snack as there was a line that I was not about to deal with.
• My biggest pet peeve, my one request for park management: Please bring back the Knott's merchandise to Sweet Spot!! The fact that we no longer have that luxury really was a bummer today as my dad was looking forward to getting some preserves. Better yet, I feel like the sweet spot was lacking in various spots in terms of topical treats. Now I maybe too used to Universal pumping out treats for everything but I thought we would see PT cookies or PT goodies for sale, I only saw a cake with a nod. I feel like this was a spot of major opportunity for the park to sell some on topic merch so close to the new attraction. 

I'll reserve my thoughts for Haunted Mansion North Ohio later as I want a few rides to really give a solid review. (Which won't be in here of course but it will be coming soon) 

• I think the new section of Prestige Preferred Parking was technically resealed, but that's basically the same as painting the whole thing black. It'll be nice to have more parking spaces over there, but some of them aren't much better than parking in the Banshee section. IMO the parks should just stop selling Preferred outside of being a benefit for Prestige Passes. It was very clear that the parking lot isn't finished, but I really wish the park would've sprung for more than just some new paint and fencing. It also smelled like some of the asphalt in the park was freshly paved as well.
• While I don't think any of the art within Phantom Theater was made with AI, it unfortunately does look like some of the merch was made with AI... The recolored promotional art in particular looked like someone plugged the original into AI and prompted it with "recolor this". In addition to that, did nobody make any new promo art ever since the one that came out with the ride announcement in August? All of the merch seems to either be the OG promo art in different colors or the ride logo in different colors. Maybe the jacket has something else on it?
• I really like that they changed the music on International Street. That said, the park does really need to learn how to make a playlist that lasts longer than 3-5 hours. I understand that there's a lot that goes into playing licensed music in the park, but there has to be a better way to do this.
• The crowds must've really come in after folks started to get out of work and school. I thought it was more comparable to a standard summer day, but we were done with the heat by the time we left so I was focused on getting back to the car.
• I wholeheartedly second the comment on bringing back the Knott's merch!!! I literally skipped getting the Boysenberry preserves at Kings Dominion because I was about to be at Kings Island! There were two (?) PT treats (the tart and a fudge) but I'd love to see a "Maestro's Crescendo Crunch" chocolate bar like they have in the candy case in the PT:ON queue. Either that or something else that I can feasibly take home or eat as a snack.

 

The dining plan logos and symbols seem to have been mostly changed over to the new versions. There are a few stickers left over from previous years. I'm happy to hear that Hot Rhythm Nights is returning. I'll miss Country Crossroads, but I'm interested to know how Hollywood Hits will be. Unfortunately it looks like we'll be getting yet another two years of the stunt shows. Unless they take the set down and build a new one I'm curious to see what this stunt show will be. I really hope we can see a second show in the Kings Island Theater this summer. I don't think this season will be as bad as others I've seen online have said it'll be, but there are some easy things that I really wish the park would just do. I'm excited for this season to get into full swing!

 

Here's a diagram for those wondering how the Preferred lot got expanded. The aisle in the middle is the new entrance, which has two entrance lanes (one of which is a self-service lane) and one exit lane. That little cut in at the bottom is a new lane going toward the exit of the parking lot directly from the Preferred lot. If you're in a bigger vehicle, watch out for the right turn into that lane though. Our regular-sized truck felt like it was tricky to navigate without hitting the new fence or any cones. The guard shack was moved further off of its pad, so I'm a little baffled as to why they didn't just completely redo the Preferred Parking entrance path. Wouldn't it have made more sense to realign the entrance and get rid of the curve for the service road entrance (that would still be kept)? The parking lot really needs some trees and bioswales, but this is a good start. A ton of the Bus & RV lot signage was bunched up in one parking space, so I have no clue where that is supposed to go. 

Kings Island's parking lot still needs a massive amount of work to make it even remotely tolerable, but the expansion for Preferred Parking helps a little.