Kings Island General Discussion 2026

[DJSkyFoxx]

35 minutes ago, Browntggrr said:

Let's not kid (pun intended) ourselves, it's far from just youth that cause incidents.

Never said it was just the youth, but more often than not the issues I have witnessed and dealt with personally have been with those under the age of 18. I realize this behavior is brought on by lack of parenting or poor parenting. But the song remains the same however you wanna slice it. Bad behavior could become a valid reason to cut fireworks/drones and later nights-thus giving more parks justification to close earlier.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

6 hours ago, Timchat2 said:

https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland/shows

The live entertainment page is listing more shows including the Kings Island Nighttime Spectacular. Trailblazers X-treme (which might not be the new All Wheel Sports show's name) is listed with the 2025 dates though, so the information might not be completely accurate yet.

It's been updated since your post with the new name, which is Beach Blast X-treme. Not my first choice of wording but I'm interested to see how it turns out.

The real relief came from the Nighttime Spectacular description listing fireworks as being part of it. Hopefully they don't do something similar to what happened with the Star Spangled Night event where it was quietly changed to be smaller after its initial upload to the website.

 

 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

A beach themed stunt show I think can be a very good show!

[brenthodge]

On 4/28/2026 at 9:40 PM, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

The current Living Liberty Bell planter does look like it was installed as a Winterfest tree spot, but looking through historical imagery I don't think it lasted very long. Either way it looks much better now with all of the new plantings. Google Earth shows a tree there in 2017, but a real tree seems to have been planted there a few years later.

It's hard to believe that next year will be 10 years since Winterfest 3.0 began. If the event makes it to 2030 then it will be the longest running KI Winter event.

aIt was a winterfest tree (the one in Coney) only for the first return year. It moved to coney the following year. They need to put a large red/white tripe tree there for Winterfest now since the base is there and it should be able to go over the topiary base

[brenthodge]

On 4/27/2026 at 6:18 PM, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

Rozzi Fireworks is looking for a local drone pilot to help with the nightly drone show at Kings Island beginning May 22nd. The post didn't mention anything about fireworks, but it's entirely possible for that to be a result of the job not requiring interactions with any fireworks rather than it being a sign that the fireworks have been cut for 2026. The starting date lines up with the beginning of 10PM closures. 

I'm a little worried that this will be the year we lose the fireworks, especially since there's not much official information available from the park on entertainment offerings. Most of the stuff we know about is either from Brad Ross' posts and signage around the park that only says show names and start dates.

Source: Jonas Jakeway on Facebook.

I have a friend who actually loads and shoots the shows at the park sometimes, and no, they are not going away. They are posting the hiring for one specific aspect of the show (which incidentally is the more expensive aspect to run) drones. This does not affect the fireworks component. 

[brenthodge]

Have we just given up on the fountain? It looks like a jumbled mess. Jets going crooked all over. Everything at full blast - even with the wind- except the ones that don’t even hit the same height. No changing, just all on- all the time-all over the place. 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Since Mike Koontz (the guy who's idea it was to mess with the fountain in the first place) is gone, maybe we could all try and convince Tony (the new president) to bring the old style fountains back with the pedestals. I know the old pedestals are being used in the Orion area, but I'm sure a company can manufacter new ones. 

[brenthodge]

43 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Since Mike Koontz (the guy who's idea it was to mess with the fountain in the first place) is gone, maybe we could all try and convince Tony (the new president) to bring the old style fountains back with the pedestals. I know the old pedestals are being used in the Orion area, but I'm sure a company can manufacter new ones. 

I think that ship has sailed, but they could at least take the time to “refocus”, inspect and program a few “classic” patterns to rotate through through the day. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

The park was testing some really nice fountain patterns in the weeks leading up to Opening Day, but maybe those have gone out the window? This feels like something that might be in limbo until the nighttime spectacular starts back up on May 22nd. It makes sense in my mind, especially if they're using the start of daily operations as the time to actually have everything ready by. I could see that being the case with a chain that seems to have adopted the "It doesn't matter if they have rides/shows/etc. ready until Memorial Day weekend since that's when more paying guests start arriving" attitude.

[brenthodge]

Three operating weekends. That’s how long it took for the animated Larry on the merchandise cart to stop working in case anyone is wondering. The cat still works for now, but Larry-who was squeaky this morning has now stopped as of this afternoon. I believe he ties “spinning snoopy” for the “simplest animation with a short life span” award. 

[brenthodge]

Retail on Int Street (and pretty much whole park) is so weak right now. Int street is most noticeable because they have 4 spaces (more if count them broken up) that provide no reason to go in any one over the other because they have the same junk. Why do they even have different names - just call them "crap for sale" 1,2 EAST and 3,4, WEST. There is KICollection that has NO artwork, collectible items, books (other than the ones available in every other shop) or anything "collection" oriented unless you collect plaid pajama pants. Essentials  - has a great new interior design (which SHOULD have gone to the "Collection") but has some essentials and again the same books and random things that you just saw in "Collection" then there is an emporioum that has all of the stuff repeated AGAIN and whatever they are now calling the spot on the right that has more "essentials" as well as the same stuff I've already seen. What happened to the idea of MERCHANDISING related ideas together to create different shops? What happened to having a "home" shop that has product that brings the park to your house. What happened to the idea of creating ride-specific "mini shops" where cross-category items helped create a one stop shop if you loved The Beast etc. There is no reason whatsoever to go in any one shop over the other and even my kid who "wantedt o shop" today pretty much said "whats the point". They really need to step it up in the merchandising area. I'd seriously love to apply, but I dont think they are even hiring with an eye toward settng up the shops that way. 

[BeeastFarmer]

7 hours ago, brenthodge said:

Three operating weekends. That’s how long it took for the animated Larry on the merchandise cart to stop working in case anyone is wondering. The cat still works for now, but Larry-who was squeaky this morning has now stopped as of this afternoon. I believe he ties “spinning snoopy” for the “simplest animation with a short life span” award. 

You sound bitter. 

[brenthodge]

46 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

You sound bitter. 

Nope- just observing. Had a great day. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I think the main issue here is that Cedar Flags doesn't know how to treat this kind of area in terms of stores. Most of the other parks have 1, maybe 2 merchandise shops in their entrance areas — Kings Island has 4, with one of them being the size of two shops at other parks. There's 5 shops if you count Sweet Spot. Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland's shops feel more spread out due to how their entrance areas differ from KI's I-Street, so even if you go to all of them they still seem different enough. Part of that is also probably how few times I've been there, but my point still stands. Cedar Point has (I believe) 4-5 shops along the main stretch of the Main Midway, but one of those is completely dedicated to Peanuts merch while the rest are more varied overall between the Pagoda Gift Shop being the most like Emporium, the Button Stop shop selling buttons and pins (and being a stand more than a shop), and the Point Plaza shop being like KI Collections. The small CP Ride Shop has historically sold the same items as the other big shops, but seemed very focused on nano-coasters and ride plushies.

Hopefully the merch situation will improve as the company's financials improve and as Tony Carovillano gets more comfortable in his new position as Park President. My biggest wants are for KI Essentials to continue having items that guests might've forgotten at home (medicine and cheap shirts/shorts/hoodies/pants) and for KI Trading Company to have merch from around the park (items from each area of the park collected there because it's a trading depot). Would the situation also improve by Herschend buying KI? Probably, but they just bought a ton of properties and don't need to expand again just yet.

Imagine how this would feel if Starbucks' dining room was still a store too... (That space needs to be used for a different restaurant as well. Put Starbucks somewhere else that doesn't have a giant indoor dining room attached.)

 

A lot of the issues I've seen/heard/read about in the park feel like things that have been happening for years now, and are only compounded by the poor financial situation Six Flags is in. The merchandise issues have only been worsened by the inclusion of the AI shirts and magnets. The F&B issues have been the same since 2023, though I will give the park credit because they've changed up the menus a little and have consistently had stocked fountain drinks. 

[brenthodge]

5 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

Imagine how this would feel if Starbucks' dining room was still a store too... (That space needs to be used for a different restaurant as well. Put Starbucks somewhere else that doesn't have a giant indoor dining room attached.

Definitely this. This spot is usually packed, but still seems like a waste of a great indoor seating area. It’s a shame it’s on the same side as Grill and Grain in that it would be great to have a full sit down Italian restaurant “featuring” LaRosas pizza but that also had pasta dishes and salads. Wonder if the “Italy” side could ever be reconfigured to add that and use the Starbucks space for the displaced retail, then site build a new “Garden Cafe featuring Starbucks” where Shooting Star standing now. Nice indoor/ outdoor seating. Busy path, yet slightly “out of the way”. Great place to have featured breakfast items. 

[DonHelbig]

10 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

You sound bitter. 

Some don’t give the park a free pass, nor should they. 

[BeeastFarmer]

3 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

Some don’t give the park a free pass, nor should they. 

It was said in jest, Don. 

[KI Guy]

12 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

It was said in jest, Don. 

It's hard to distinguish the sarcastic from those who believe the park can do no wrong. Have you seen the Season Passholders Facebook group? It's unreal.

Here, it's been kind of nice to see some people start to call out some things.

We are in a low point in Kings Island history. Only the period from 2004-2006 rivals what we're seeing now.

[CedarPointer]

Conversations about the park cheerleaders attacking anyone who has valid criticisms of the park always brings me back to this blog post from years ago on a Disney blog, which seems very prescient now considering how social media has only made this type of thing worse.

The sad part is that a lot of the criticism now comes from former employees, who know they would have been fired if they had, say, opened on Friday with the tables still filthy from Sunday night and trash cans already overflowing.

[johnjniehaus]

On a slightly different topic did you all see Kings Dominion announced a firework and Drone show during July and August this season? I didn't think Kings Dominion did any sort of regular fireworks show (please correct me if I'm wrong) obviously I'm sure they did many many years ago but in recent times, they haven't had one anytime I've ever been there. 

I will be the first to call six flags out when they are doing something poorly but I'll also acknowledge when they do something right and the new shows lineup at Kings Dominion looks really solid especially considering I don't think they've had anything other than a Charlie Brown had a farm kids show whenever I've been there previously. 

[BeeastFarmer]

1 hour ago, KI Guy said:

It's hard to distinguish the sarcastic from those who believe the park can do no wrong. Have you seen the Season Passholders Facebook group? It's unreal.

Here, it's been kind of nice to see some people start to call out some things.

We are in a low point in Kings Island history. Only the period from 2004-2006 rivals what we're seeing now.

I've said it to others on KIC, but I typically place a smiley face after ... forgot this time. 

I've been critical of the park before and will continue to, but will give credit when it's warranted. I don't have much to say currently because I only went once last year and none so far this year. 

[disco2000]

13 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

On a slightly different topic did you all see Kings Dominion announced a firework and Drone show during July and August this season? I didn't think Kings Dominion did any sort of regular fireworks show (please correct me if I'm wrong) obviously I'm sure they did many many years ago but in recent times, they haven't had one anytime I've ever been there. 

I will be the first to call six flags out when they are doing something poorly but I'll also acknowledge when they do something right and the new shows lineup at Kings Dominion looks really solid especially considering I don't think they've had anything other than a Charlie Brown had a farm kids show whenever I've been there previously. 

Will they be at 7pm again 🤣

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

52 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

On a slightly different topic did you all see Kings Dominion announced a firework and Drone show during July and August this season? I didn't think Kings Dominion did any sort of regular fireworks show (please correct me if I'm wrong) obviously I'm sure they did many many years ago but in recent times, they haven't had one anytime I've ever been there. 

I will be the first to call six flags out when they are doing something poorly but I'll also acknowledge when they do something right and the new shows lineup at Kings Dominion looks really solid especially considering I don't think they've had anything other than a Charlie Brown had a farm kids show whenever I've been there previously. 

Meanwhile here at KI:

* the KI theater will be dark from July on which is peak summer

* International Showplace dark until like mid June

* Bandstand dark during the day and then Hot Rhythm Nights in the evening

* Timberwolf dark for a 3rd straight season

*Very little to no roaming/popup entertainment

*No entertainment or special events in Soak City

*Only 1 Star Spangled Night while our park up north gets a full weekend

But hey at least we got an average Food and Wine Festival as well as watered down Carnivale to look forward to! Plus at least we still got fireworks every 10 pm close starting Memorial Day! 

[KI Guy]

57 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

* Timberwolf dark for a 3rd straight season

How many more years will it be around? That area is so ripe for redevelopment.

• Xtreme Skyflyer* Plot
• Congo Falls I like it but it's probably on borrowed time.
• Invertigo
• Timberwolf

Action Zone is hurting so much more than the area by the old Vortex plot.

 

* It's interesting that they got rid of Xtreme Skyflyer with no intention of replacing it with something in the short term. It must have been netting them zero money.

[brenthodge]

2 hours ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Meanwhile here at KI:

* the KI theater will be dark from July on which is peak summer

* International Showplace dark until like mid June

* Bandstand dark during the day and then Hot Rhythm Nights in the evening

* Timberwolf dark for a 3rd straight season

*Very little to no roaming/popup entertainment

*No entertainment or special events in Soak City

*Only 1 Star Spangled Night while our park up north gets a full weekend

But hey at least we got an average Food and Wine Festival as well as watered down Carnivale to look forward to! Plus at least we still got fireworks every 10 pm close starting Memorial Day! 

I’d take fireworks on Fri-Sunday only if it got us better entertainment during the day/week. I personally don’t need to watch 10 pm fireworks 36 times. 

[DonHelbig]

2 hours ago, KI Guy said:

How many more years will it be around? That area is so ripe for redevelopment.

• Xtreme Skyflyer* Plot
• Congo Falls I like it but it's probably on borrowed time.
• Invertigo
• Timberwolf

Action Zone is hurting so much more than the area by the old Vortex plot.

 

* It's interesting that they got rid of Xtreme Skyflyer with no intention of replacing it with something in the short term. It must have been netting them zero money.

People have been asking how many more years Timberwolf will be around for the past 25 years.

[jzarley]

8 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

People have been asking how many more years Timberwolf will be around for the past 25 years.

Not entirely unrelated, but I saw my very first “real” concert (Tears for Fears) at Timberwolf in 1985 😀

[DonHelbig]

1 minute ago, jzarley said:

Not entirely unrelated, but I saw my very first “real” concert (Tears for Fears) at Timberwolf in 1985 😀

I saw the first one when it opened in 1982, Air Supply. Ten rows back, center stage. 

[mikejenkins1]

Took a co-worker to see Chicago (16 album) there. think 1983    Great time

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

3 hours ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Meanwhile here at KI:

* the KI theater will be dark from July on which is peak summer

* International Showplace dark until like mid June

* Bandstand dark during the day and then Hot Rhythm Nights in the evening

* Timberwolf dark for a 3rd straight season

*Very little to no roaming/popup entertainment

*No entertainment or special events in Soak City

*Only 1 Star Spangled Night while our park up north gets a full weekend

But hey at least we got an average Food and Wine Festival as well as watered down Carnivale to look forward to! Plus at least we still got fireworks every 10 pm close starting Memorial Day! 

I see this as an improvement for KD considering they had very few regular season shows, and will now have roughly the same amount as Kings Island when you include the Grand Carnivale entertainment. What KI needs is more shows with longer runs overall. An entertainment lineup that runs for most of the summer season (at least from Memorial Day to mid-August) and has additional opportunities for performances around the park. Some of those additional performances are already in motion with high school marching band parades going throughout the park, band/orchestra/choir performances on the bandstand, and the occasional youth dance group also on the bandstand.

This all ties into something I've been talking about for a while: people want Kings Island to be a regional theme park despite it currently acting more like a regional amusement park. More shows, more theming, and more comprehensive areas. I don't think KI needs to immediately become a Midwestern Dollywood, but something closer to Busch Gardens Williamsburg would be much better.

 

Speaking of KI entertainment, it looks like the lighting trusses are going up on the Bandstand right now. 

 

3 hours ago, KI Guy said:

How many more years will it be around? That area is so ripe for redevelopment.

• Xtreme Skyflyer* Plot
• Congo Falls I like it but it's probably on borrowed time.
• Invertigo
• Timberwolf

Action Zone is hurting so much more than the area by the old Vortex plot.

 

* It's interesting that they got rid of Xtreme Skyflyer with no intention of replacing it with something in the short term. It must have been netting them zero money.

I'd much rather see The Vortex plot filled before anything major gets done in Action Zone. KI can start the Action Zone redevelopment now, but I think they need to fill the hole they have before patching an area that isn't yet letting in water (if that makes sense). Timberwolf and the KI Theater get used for Music in the Parks/Festival of Music in the beginning of the season as well.