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LINK:
https://www.imaginemason.org/download/PDFs/monthly_permit_reports/2026/MONTHLY-ISSUED-PERMIT-REPORT-JUNE-2026.pdf 

The "Project 13" maze cost fascinates me since it has such a high price. It's lower than the $900,000 price listed on the permit report for Phantom Theater (PT:ON probably cost a lot more than that), but it still feels really high. 

What could we see for that price? A total gutting of the building (or one side of it) to allow for a larger maze? A redo of the queue line so it makes better sense? If anyone can find the price Carowinds paid to gut their Action Theater that would be helpful to know for comparison. I'd love to see this ready for 2026, though I'd understand if it's for 2027. As much as I enjoy Hotel St. Michelle, it's within one of the largest maze buildings in the park and only uses a relatively small portion of its footprint.

I do hope the park has something new coming this Fall if they want to justify the continued upcharge for mazes. Some guests will see no reason to pay for what they experienced last year without something new, especially after parks like Kings Dominion removed the upcharge halfway through the event.

One thing we do know is 2027 will be the 55th anniversary of the park.

I'm going to start by saying I think a new major rollercoaster is all but off the table for a few reasons. 

1) There hasn't been any signs of work on any potential/rumored new coaster site whether it be The Vortex site, remainder of old SOB site (outside of the dirt pile in the junkyard which constantly fuels speculation this time every year but never becomes anything), or the front gate area. Unless they pull a Siren's Curse or Legacy Six Flags and start land prep/construction later in the season, I think we can rule out anything major. Under legacy CF, whenever KI added a major new coaster, land prep/clearing and/or teasing started or was underway on opening weekend.

2) Six Flags already has 3 major coaster projects under construction and/or being teased: 

*Project Purple at GAdv

*Magic Mountain's rumored thrill glider

*Whatever Fiesta Texas is building in CrackAxle Canyon

Also don't forget Carowinds is building a major record breaking water attraction for next year that is well under way that will likely be an expensive addition

3) Six Flags is in major debt so I doubt there is room in the 2027 budjet for a 15-30 million dollar rollercoaster at Kings Island

Since a coaster is likely out of question, that leads us to a couple of other options.

With the positive sentiment/debut of Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare, does the park decide to add another indoor attraction the following year? You have 2 buildings that can be used. Before Phantom Theater was announced, it was rumored the attraction for this year was going in the old Tomb Raider/The Crypt building. So do we see another heavily themed immersive ride go in there after all these years? The introduction of The Conjuring: Beyond Fear last Haunt likely throws doubts into that, but anything is possible. Then there is the old Days of Thunder/Spongebob 4D building that is currently used for Hotel St Michelle for Haunt which this Haunt would be its 5th season. Could we see the park decide to add an attraction of some type in there? We'll see.

Then that brings us to the flat ride department. You have 2 options you can go down. Do you go with a thrilling flat ride? The last thrilling flat ride added was Sol Spin in 2023 and before that WindSeeker in 2011 and before that Delirium in 2003. So the park doesn't add thrilling flat rides often. With the departure of Xtreme Skyflyer last year, that space is empty outside of being used as queue space for a Haunt. I personally think an S&S scream n swing would be a perfect fit there and you could have it tie in with the spooky theme of Banshee and Bat next door. I always thought "Phantom Flyer" would be a good name for it and would tie well with the park with Phantom Theater and would pay homage to the original name of Linus Launcher in Camp Snoopy as its original name was Danny Phantom's Flyers. There are other options as Zamperla has a major catelog of thrill rides to choose from. 

Then you have family flat rides which the park has leaned heavily into in recent years. The question is what would you do with it? Do you do another Camp/Planet Snoopy expansion? Do you add one or 2 in like Coney Mall or Action Zone or Rivertown? Or do you do a package with a thrilling flat ride which I think would be the most likely option.

Then finally we get to Soak City. The last expansion was last year and before that was 2016. With the mixed response to River Racers, do you even want to attempt another water coaster? WhiteWater West also has other slide options they could do. There's also the option of adding one of their even bigger play structures like what KD got back in 2021. 

There's also the very possible possibility the park just takes a year and focus on park improvements. After all, the company is in major debt so maybe they decide that KI has recieve enough new rides since 2023 that they give them the year to just focus on sprucing up the park and making it better. Banshee is due for a repaint and Bat too so if they decide to take an off year, that would be the year to do it as repainting rides does cost a pretty penny.

I would love to hear your thoughts on what the park could see in 2027 and why. Let's enjoy the 2026 season, but also have a little fun speculating! Speculate away!

I'll admit the photos appear to be from a known poster (I saw them second-hand in a cropped screenshot), but I would not put it past this company to remove a coaster mid-season with no warning. The temporary fence could itself soon be replaced by a more permanent fence if this turns out to be more than just some temporary movement. 

Do you think this movement around Invertigo is a sign of it's imminent removal, or is it simply a mid-season temporary closure like we've seen for White Water Canyon and Snoopy's Space Buggies?

Now that we're nearly SIX months (pun intended) after the official merger between Cedar Fair and Six Flags, what noticeable changes do you think will come to the park(s)? We have seen some definite changes and sharing of ideas popping up since the Legacy Six Flags parks released their new 2025 pass/membership options that mirror the Legacy Cedar Fair model. Now we are in the holiday season with Winterfest and Holiday in the Park in full swing. Some LSF parks are using shows from LCF Winterfest, the Cedar Fair All-Season Drink Bottle plan appears to be coming to LSF parks next year, and now all post-merger Six Flags websites include a park selection among their menu bars. I posted in another thread about this and thought it would be nice to have a separate discussion for the little things that might change.

What changes do you think/would you want to see brought over from either chain that aren't related to roller coasters, rides, or IPs (characters)? Think about things guests can pick up or directly interact with every day in the park. Things like what the maps, paper cups, plate covers, advertisements, menus, websites, etc. could each look like. Which of the map art styles is your favorite and which do you hope will be used going forward? Are there any events or celebrations that you would like to see brought over from LSF parks? What might not change within the next 5 years?

I think things will be consolidated and standardized across the company more and more as time goes on. My short term predictions/hopes are for new physical map art, some new-to-KI events, and more refreshed restaurants. My long term predictions/hopes/dreads are new park logos (could be good or bad), changes to company investment in the parks, and more expensive ticket/season pass prices.

Some proof for the rumor of things changing given below (for topic placement purposes).

Magic Mountain 2025 Season Pass Options (https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/store/tickets)

Kings Island's Modified Website Menu (https://www.visitkingsisland.com/)

Statement from SFEC about an "Enhanced Guest Experience" (https://investors.sixflags.com/overview/default.aspx)

F - refurbish, R - relocate, S - scrap

CP: Wicked twister (R), Skyhawk (F)
KI: Invertigo (S), Congo Falls (S)

CAN: Flight Deck (S/R), Time Warp (S/R)

CAR: Nighthawk (S), Vortex (F)

CGA: Sky Tower (F), Grizzly (F)

KD: Anaconda (S)

The list goes on, but I’m curious on what the community thinks

A Conjuring house designed by Plague Productions is coming to HAUNT this year in the former Blackout building. They’re building an extended queue now to accommodate the crowds. A sister house is going to be built at Carowinds.

Let’s break down the facts:

• Don and Ryan were the face of the resistance. Telling us how it is, and not afraid to speak their minds.
• The Tower Topics X was deleted, no more tweets, all gone, poof. 
• Today’s episode, was very apologetic, let’s focus on the good, what? What happened to the Don and Ryan from last week? This show was previously like being on a life boat (the podcast) watching the titanic sink (Kings Island). What is going on?

Sounds like to me they were confronted by upper management about their behavior, and if they keep this up they my be banned from the park. They deleted the X burning the paper trail, losing thousands of historical tweets. Sounds like damage control to me…

Has Tower Topics entered it’s shill era? Sounds like it to me.

https://screamscape.com/html/kings_island.htm

Honestly I would like to see the whole theater returns to reflect what it used to look like with some minor changes. For one I would personally like to see the lobby area where the main que room is to be brightened up a little bit what is seen in the picture below:

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2022/may/giving-phantom-theater-life---an-interview-with-rick-bastrup
 

Speaking of que, I would also bring back the outdoor part of the que as well.

I don’t know if this is possible but I think it would be cool if every other ride vehicle would alternate facing positions for certain segments of the ride; other parks of the ride the cars would be facing the same way. For example, when entering the prop room some cars would face the right side of the room and look at what’s happening in that scene while the other set of cars gets rotated to face the left side of the room to see what’s going on on that side. This would give a different ride experience depending on where you sit; similar to how your get a different scene on Mystic Timbers when you enter the shed. Like I said I don’t know if that’s possible but it would still be cool nonetheless.

With regards to the rest of the ride, I think that it should remain the same but with modern technology. I love to see the pepper’s ghost effect return along with the rotating busts. Also it would be neat if it could be over laid to reflect the Halloween Haunt and Winterfest seasons respectively.

Here is just a short list of some of the big upcoming movies for Paramount, that would lend themselves to an excelent ride or attraction.

The Brazilian Job : Stunt Track Sequel to IJ:ST

Watchmen

MI:3

Captain America

Mighty Mouse

Indaina Jones 4

source for photo: https://www.sixflags.com/six-flags-magic-mountain-breaks-ground-on-californias-largest-solar-energy-project

Yup, and I think this seriously warrants a community driven overhaul to the terms of service of this site. Users should not be forced to add a source for “rumors” (which it is not) as if traced back it directly affects someone’s livelihood. When the paper trail for a rumor is so small, you have to be careful about it, and in the coming months when you see markers, and construction equipment arrive, it will be a lot harder to keep these “rumors” at bay.
 

Forcing users to add a source only strengthens the parks control on what information is released to the public, and allows them to trace back the source to that person.
 

Many other sites successfully leak attractions without sources in an effort to protect those sources, VS KIC is concerned about protecting the pockets of the park.

The closing of The Bat should be SHOUTED from the rooftops, because after next season an iconic piece of KI history will be erased from the timeline. 
 

Back to the topic, anyone who is suprised by this just needs to see the writing on the wall. You have out of industry people running this company, who don’t have an understanding of the value of an extra hour of two at the end of the night to ride some rides or get a snack with less waits. All they see is the spreadsheet with the overhead cost of keeping labor another hour or two, delaying third shift maintenance, etc.

These people do not care about you or the experience you have at the park, is this true at a park level? Absolutely not, but down in Charlotte those C-Suites don’t care what this means to you or your family, and each year it’s going to get increasingly noticeable that they are cutting anywhere they can.

You can only chop at a tree so much before it falls.

https://jobs.cedarfair.com/job/charlotte/regional-manager-social-media-and-digital-content-midwest-region/42509/69749220096

It appears that everyone working in the PR / Marketing department at their respective park will have to reapply for a job?

What will this mean for Coasterstock?

A Sneak Peek into the Future: The 1000-Foot High Rollercoaster Dream
For over a decade, I have been passionately proclaiming the imminent arrival of a rollercoaster that would shatter all records—a 1000-foot-high behemoth that would redefine the limits of thrill and engineering in our industry. We have seen several Mega coasters developed, such as King Da Ka, which is now being taken out of service. It was 456 feet tall and reached a top speed of 128MPH.  We have also seen Top Thrill Dragster at 420 feet, and Superman Escape from Krypton at 415 feet.  Currently, there is the new, under-construction “Falcon’s Flight” in Quiddiya, Saudi Arabia, which will be 640 feet high and reach an incredible speed of 155 MPH. 
Now, after years of anticipation and speculation, I have been privileged to witness a sneak preview of this incredible feat of amusement innovation, “The 1000-Footer”!  The manufacturer has sworn me to secrecy regarding many details, but I can share some tantalizing hints about what’s in store.
This rollercoaster, set to rise a staggering 1000 feet into the sky, represents the culmination of years of technological advancements in computer and AI-assisted design, a long way from the early Philadelphia Toboggan designs which in their day and age were overwhelming.  These advanced tools have made the once-impossible 1000-foot dream entirely achievable. The project is still under heavy wraps, with the final international location yet to be announced, but the progress is quite well along and so far, is nothing short of breathtaking in every sense of the meaning!
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[5:55 PM]
Creating a rollercoaster of this magnitude is an engineering marvel involving a myriad of complex considerations. First and foremost is the land location, which must provide enough space to accommodate the massive incline leading up to the apex and the equally daunting first drop run out. The structural engineering design, which has proven feasible, ensures the coaster can withstand the immense forces it will encounter both vertically and laterally.
The company indicated one of the primary challenges in developing such a high coaster is controlling the speed of the ride. The manufacturer has assured me that they have devised ingenious retardation / braking programs and systems that can adapt to temperature variations, ensuring a safe and exhilarating experience regardless of the weather.
As we all realize, safety is paramount in a project of this innovation and design scale. It is anticipated that riders will be required to wear goggles, or some type of specialty safety eyewear to protect against the elements. I was told there may be infrared night vision devices incorporated into the eyewear to see during the night at these incredible speeds. Additionally, and most importantly, newly developed restraint systems have been created and rigorously tested to accommodate riders of all sizes securely and comfortably, from the minimum weight thrill-seeker to the largest coaster enthusiast.
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We have long known that the design and manufacturing capabilities to create a 1000-foot rollercoaster were within our reach. Fast paced technological advancements have accelerated this dream.  Now, it’s only a matter of time and financial investment before this aspiration becomes a reality.  As the pieces continue to fall into place, the excitement builds for what promises to be a groundbreaking achievement in the world of amusement park rides. As I have always said….. in our world, “COASTER IS KING”!  This new MEGALODON of a ride will certainly prove this once again, AND HEY!  Mr. Manufacturer…..Not a bad name!!
Stay tuned for more updates as this thrilling journey (ride) progresses. The future of rollercoasters is about to soar to unprecedented heights, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have been part of this incredible adventure from the very beginning.

I’m not sure how to share footage from Facebook but on Kings Island Uncensored, they had the lights on and were working when it was darker out. I assume it’s being gutted by staff for removal but nothing has been confirmed by the park.

Edit: I was able to find a link:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/kingsislanduncensored/permalink/1468539920635173/?mibextid=l2pjGR

I'm no architect but I personally think it could be utilized for an indoor/outdoor ride similar to Mystery Mine with a cool backstory.

It's important to note that although this was a survey published by Kings Island itself, any of these plans could change from the final product.

I personally think it could be any of the rides in Action Zone besides Banshee. Bat is older. Congo falls is barely running half the time. Invertigo doesnt seem to be super popular these days. so i just think it could be any of them. 

i could also see some kiddie rides being taken out. snoopys surf dog and the whirlybirds come to mind. 

According to this reddit user there are plans for a new Masterblaster model in the Waterpark.  While I think this would be awesome, I am a little sad Vortex's spot will remain vacant I am guessing.  What do you all think?