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TR:TR, was the premiere example of what I believe the Paramount executives were trying to achieve with their installs. It was (IMO) the apex of all of the attractions that Paramount added during their tenure as owners. It was also one of the primary representations of how they didn't give a flying fig about where they put those attractions. (I still stand by my original 23-year assertation that it should have been shoe-horned in the area between King Cobra and Adventure Express. ) When it opened - there was a great deal of backlash among enthusiasts (go figure) who ultimately denounced it as being nothing more than a flat-ride in a box. I was in the camp that felt like Paramount had finally added a landmark ride, unique to KI, that was groundbreaking enough to be a part of the parks rich legacy of "big" attractions. The downside to TR:TR is, of course, Paramount Parks did not follow through with the demanding maintenance of such a complicated and "heavily themed" attraction. Their inability to maintain the specialized theming elements on ride installs - coupled with their absolute disregard for the esthetics and history of the park - stand as my greatest frustrations with that era of ownership. (Fun fact - Starting in 2005, I refused to attend KI for three seasons following attending their media day for Italian Job. I left absolutely disgusted at how cheap, junky and horrible the final installation of IJ:ST looked. Its placement in the park was the worst decision in the park's history and came at the unnecessary and ignorant cost of two legacy attractions. I just simply couldn't stomach it. To this day, it remains a pain-point for me... and I side eye that attraction every time I pass by it.) I was present to see/tour TR:TR ride under construction privately (fun fact, the ride unit was hidden in the picnic pavilion - the very same one where Coasterstock meals are served - while it awaited assembly.) I attended media day for the ride as well. There were some original effects that did not last past the first few weeks - that no video has ever captured. That's because the complicated theming components didn't survive the repetition of the cycles. (*See my statement above) For instance, the Shiva's eyes originally moved left to right over the entire gondola while shining a laser-effect over the riders (momentarily blinding them.) That effect literally only lasted a week or two. The pre-show room's projections screen would hydraulically raise and lower between groups of guests as they were cycled through (If I recall. this lasted only through the first season - for subsequent seasons it remained stationary.) Also, the "lava pits" water jets originally soaked targeted riders. But after complaints and a few weeks of operation - they were reduced to mostly "tease" the riders. At the very end of the ride - two large tubes would blast cool highly pressurized CO2 at the riders from either side. That eventually disappeared (probably to make the ride more clearly visible to the ride ops and safety cameras.) Each time I'd ride, it would seem like an effect was either broken - or gone - only to never return again. The flame effects above the Monkey warriors in the anti-chamber died one by one and were never fixed. The "code unlocking" triangle of light effect was temperamental - and (I believe) eventually phased out. Eventually, the triangle of light's hydraulic door no longer opened and closed - it was just left sitting ajar. In its infancy, TR:TR was a superb attraction - albeit misplaced. But as with so many rides of that era, it just didn't stand the test of time. Bottom line, you didnt miss much in that last year of its original operation. By then, it was a shell of its original intention.

This thread has been cleaned up. Please stay on topic. The TRTR horse has been to a pulp. Thanks!

I personally think the park should remove the axe/soccer game location and use that space for a nice water feature to compliment the new ride's entrance. Some sort of rock wall with an artificial spring/waterfall would be nice. Bonus points to the park if they redo the pathway between that and the gravel towards Diamondback (Swan) Lake to look like a bridge, similar to the one between Mystic Timbers' entrance and exit. I'd be oh so happy to see something like this (see below) scaled up and placed in that spot with a small pond near the pathway. Think similarly to the entrance to Camp Snoopy at Carowinds with the canoe. That would also be a great spot for the ride I.D. sign. I think it could go on the right side of the fountain in front of the Diamondback support where part of the photo booth pad is now. Bring some more water back to Rivertown and let it flow freely : )

See a Gazillion Bubble Show preview. The video came out really well, but still not the same as experiencing it in person.

Food and Wine

Just to clarify... There were several "large scale" looping coasters in operation before Vortex. Yes, Vortex set a (temporary) world record for most inversions on a coaster at the time of its opening. But "large scale" looping coasters had been around for a decade before Vortex was built. (i.e. Loch Ness Monster, Orient Express etc.) Also, KI's The Bat was not the first ever suspended coaster. It was the first "permanent modern-day" suspended coaster made by Arrow. But others pre-dated it. There was one as early as the early 1900's in California. Also, there was a suspended coaster that operated in Germany for Octoberfest in 1975. Its rumored that Anton Schwarzkopf was inspired by the German Fun-Fair version and was working on his own take on the concept in the late 1970's. (I do agree with your feeling that the land on which those two rides existed should - sentimentally - be used for something just as grand and/or groundbreaking.) Also... For posterity, if KI were to install a "Madhouse", it would not be the first time one appeared at a (legacy) KECO park. Most here are too young to recall, but in 1985 Carowinds premiered "Blackbeard's Revenge" - a Huss Haunted Swing (The manufacturer name to the equivalent ride now called a Madhouse.) It was originally built for a Worlds Fair, but after the fair ended it was purchased by KECO and moved to Carowinds. It operated there for around fifteen seasons until it was demolished for the (now defunct) Flying Super Saturator. If you are familiar with Carowinds, it was located in an themed building where the "Flying Cobra" boomerang coaster now resides. I remember distinctly when Carowinds added the ride - it was completely shrouded in mystery and marketing avoided revealing what the ride actually did/was. Both Vekoma and Mack Rides still manufacture their equivalents of a Haunted Swing. There are two Vekoma Madhouse rides in operation in the SF chain - both themed to Houdini (as discussed) and installed the same year - 1999 - at Six Flags Great Adventure, and Six Flags New England. Noah's Ark in Wisconsin is the only Mack version of the ride in the US. (I personally think that such a ride would be a great use of the TR:TR building. It would likely be an initial hit with guests that have not experienced an attraction of it's type before. There's never been one in the region - so it would likely be considered a really novel "thrill" ride to many. I do question the longevity of interest, and staying power - but, then, the ones at SFGADV and SFNE have been popular attractions for over a quarter century now.) Finally - I do not necessarily believe the 2026 ride to be a "Madhouse." Could be. But I personally believe that the attraction will be one that was previously solicited to guests via surveys. That seems to be the trend on which the ride additions are happening with the other legacy CF parks. Shaggy

There aren’t people anymore at either park that want to do these events. They now only do them because they feel they have to. As long as the camaraderie is there with the attendees, they’ll still be a good time.

I love the idea of more water in Rivertown! Something like cascading waterfalls in Celestial Park at Epic Universe (obviously not as large) would be a great addition!

I love visiting Cedar Point especially since its only 3 hours away from me...I would never wish for TT2 to go away

Oh you. Poke poke poke!

Well, yeah. Also that.

I honestly want the building gone.

I just wanna drop this here. LOL.

Here is my rendering of what should go into the TR:TR building: Miami River Mine Train - presented by Diet Coke

It looks like it may fit! The big ugly building is about 90' by 90' so I'll have to go measure the HHMP building to be sure. I use Google Maps a lot but my experiences with the 3D view distortion has broken my brain

I wonder what they'll do with the front areas of the building. The bridge over the lowered floor is super cool to me. They could stand to lose the bamboo though. The old pre-show room would be great for either a) a preshow (duh), or b) a little more indoor queue space. If this announcement is held in the same manner as those over the past few years, it'll be a social media post at 3AM (spooky!) around or on the date that 2026 passes first go on sale. The new Soak City additions were announced on 8/8/2024 — the same day 2025 passes went on sale.

These are the pics from the Crypt building compared to the most recent Madhouse called Haunted House Monster Party. (That's a lot of room for this ride to be place. And I use Google map and simply zoom in at max and use screenshot to show it.)

I hope we can see some people who want to do these events come into leadership after things settle down more across Six Flags (although that unfortunately may not be until after 2030 depending on what happens)! The camaraderie seems like one of the best parts of these events, so I'm glad attendees are able to make the situation better that way.

My idea with the spring is mainly so it can be taller (I like the back "wall" of the game and how it blocks the view behind it), while keeping the floorspace big enough for a small pond. Celestial Park-style cascading waterfalls would be nice, although I don't know how good they would look in that space. I like the idea of the cave and rock waterfall, but that may be a little hard to do with the height and space constrictions. Canada's Wonderland did just do some new rock work on Wonder Mountain that go around AlpenFury's supports. I wonder if something similar would work for the base of Diamondback's helix supports. These are some good ideas! Thank you for indulging me. That game seems to have not been set up for this season so I'm curious what'll happen with the space. If anyone has a good picture of that empty game spot in the daylight, please post it here or direct me to it. I think I'd like to see what I could do with it in (the ridiculously expensive) Photoshop. I'd miss the Winterfest photo-op if it went away, but I think this could be a nicer looking use of the land.

Maybe theme it to a cave and put a large rock waterfall at the entrance? (tough to explain, but you get the idea)

And actually adding compelling content to the ongoing narrative, not just beating the same personal dead horse over and over.

Is there anything pointing towards this being a Madhouse specifically (should something even be going in that space at all)? Could be cool. It would honestly make for a great fit with the amount of pre show space available to really flesh out a solid story. … Or it could be another bar. Which would be great. Because I just spent an hour of my Saturday reading through temper tantrums about an empty warehouse in Mason and I could use a drink.

I could definitely see Great America getting a Planet Snoopy or Camp Snoopy. From what I can see on their map, the park has three small areas for kids rides, but no singular "land" dedicated to children and families like Planet/Camp Snoopy at the Legacy Cedar Fair parks and Bugs Bunny National Park at Legacy Six Flags parks (although a number of Six Flags parks don't really label their lands). Things will probably look a lot more like Cedar Fair when attractions get announced and the new apps/maps come out.

I'd love to see if anyone attended both Coasterstock and Cedar Point's event that just happened. The posts I've seen make it sound like a lot of things were promised and not at all delivered at Coastermania, while Coasterstock was fine besides the traditions that were broken. I don't trust a lot of stuff I see on Facebook to be the common thought these days (since it is simply an amplifier of bad news), but there were way too many comments for it to just be a bad sample size. Is this a result of Six Flags cuts to management and budget? Who knows

I knew it was closed last Monday. Not sure if it was closed before then

How long has the coke freestyle building been closed?

If siren's curse was stolen couldn't one argue that we stole Orion from CGA? It's a nearly identical situation

Orion's drop is the exact same as Millennium Force's at 300' even. That horse is so dead by now there's nothing left but pieces of bones. Siren's Curse was not stolen, Six Flags Mexico had their permit to build it fall through, and Cedar Point had a nice section of flat land to put it. The Crypt building can only support a flat ride that could safely operate inside the clearance of the box. If no such high-caliber flat ride like the Giant Top Spin can be found to install, if the building is going to stay it would be a great place for an indoor coaster like the survey concept. Theme it to runaway mine carts, change the entrance and queue from a cave to a mine shaft, it'd fit in great with the other mining themes in Rivertown such as on Beast.

Yes, Trailblazers X-treme is produced by All Wheel Sports, which also produces NyteWalkers and previously Off the Rails for the Golden Celebration in 2022. This year Trailblazers X-treme opens on Saturday June 21st.

Hey - I think you mentioned this before! Tell us you have NO idea how to run a muti-park chain with different products aimed at different target audiences with different spending, pr cap and market penetration goals - oh right... you already have OVER AND OVER

I've never done Coasterstock yet......... I'd love to one day though...... Just so I can take a look at a certain set of seats. LOL. (maybe, snag a bolt off them, just kidding, I WISH)

I attended Coasterstock for the first time this past weekend. Day 1: The day started out with bad weather, moderate rainfall and cold. Entered the park and was greeted by from KD’s digital marketing person. Which was odd, considering we have PR people in our park? Which they would end up showing up later during the tours. Even with the weather to the parks credit they had their coasters opened and operating. I was pleasantly surprised by the donuts being served. They weren’t the generic Kroger kind but instead were Holtman’s donuts. Chef Perez was on site as well serving donuts to attendees, he did this both days. Chef Perez is always a familiar face to see in the park. Obviously passionate for what he does. The only complaint I would have about the morning donuts was because of its location. Due to the rain there was a lot of people crammed in the Diamondback Trading Post. I think given the weather, having one side of the brewhouse open would have been better suited for the occasion. I got to ride of bunch of rides as well as finally get a glimpse of the KIMVRR roundhouse. This proceeded with lunch at Picnic grove. The food provided was so-so. If it wasn’t for eating with a friend who didn’t have a dining plan. I would have ate elsewhere, the chips were the star of the picnic. Koontz also missed this which he apologized for later. But given the rumors surrounded his retirement and likely bombardment of questions from thoosies. I cant say I don’t blame him. Lol There were a few surprises throughout the day. One being an exclusive preview to the bubbles show for Coasterstock attendees. They also had a Graeters truck hidden behind Slaughterhouse where we were given Beast Ice cream. I prefer soft serve but it was good nontheless. Best part of the first day in my opinion was the guest speakers. It was during this time that Mike announced his retirement. PTC gifted us lanyards and gave us their story with the park. Mike surprised us all by having the mastermind behind Kings Island Gary Wachs make an appearance to speak. I was impressed for the amount of respect the park had shown, Gary. There were a lot of gold tags in the seating area for this event, as well as the new park manager. Very classy by everyone involved. Finished the day by closing out the bar at Brewhouse then getting plenty of ERT rides in. 12am in the morning and Kyle from KD is serving soft drinks to Coasterstock attendees and asking us how everything has been so far for the event. Which was nice. It was apparent that he cared that this event went well. Day 2 (Mike Koontz Day): There was a banner hanging from the tower marking the day as Mike Koontz day, being that it was his last day with the park. I proceeded to walk to Scream Zone for Holtman’s donuts, no complaints. I got in some morning ERT rides followed by tours sprinkled throughout the day. Lunch at picnic grove for the second day was an improvement from the first. Closed out the day at Brewhouse again. Watched the nighttime firework / drone show which was dedicated to Mike Koontz. Kyle again, was present for the late night ERT. However this time, joining attendees on the nighttime rides. Overall, for being my first Coasterstock, I had a great time and would attend again.

Some video of Day 2 I found, including some cool shots of the lights on Flight of Fear. Who doesn't have fun experiencing that - always a fun and crowded event!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1128440032657017&set=a.644361881064837

v The one thing you all should be looking at is the Crypt building as the rumor Vekoma will be located..

I hope it doesnt. LOL. Im insanely lucky I managed to get it opening day last year, it was absolutely incredible!

Imagine them going really cheap and turning the building into an indoor inflatable park. The smell of feet would be the scariest part!

Still holding on tightly, but I made a Hero's Forge photo of one of the Madhouse Le Defi de Cesar (Challenge of Cesar) enter the world of Defunct Madhouses.

A themed madhouse to something along with the spooky Mystic Timbers theme if done right would be great.

Personally I would rather 2025 be focused on general park improvements and prep for 2026 Vortex replacement (if it does indeed come in 2026). With the last 2 additions (Camp Snoopy and Adventure Port) not opening with the park for the season, I would rather let the park get a head start on construction for The Vortex replacement like KD is doing this year with the Volcano replacement that way it can open with the park the next spring. Plus I kinda like it when the whole season is focused on park improvements (see the 50th year) and especially when they are prepping for a new big attraction. Those seasons outside of the season a big new addition opens are some of my favorite seasons. 2019 was one of my favorite seasons for this reason as it focused on general park improvements along with a very minor but much needed addition with Antique Autos along with the introduction of Grand Carnivale and then throughout the season see the construction and buildup for Orion come together really made for a fantastic season and personally I would prefer 2025 to be more like 2019 than having a decent size addition like a dark ride or flat ride package. A Soak City slide would be a fairly minor addition like Antique Autos, but with the rumors of Cedar Point and Valleyfair adding to their waterparks next year, I'm starting to doubt 2025 is Soak City's year.

My wife and I were in line for The Beast Sunday having a conversation about how dumb it is to have that big, ugly, empty building sitting there used for literally nothing except a haunted house. It takes up a good bit of space itself, and there is plenty more around it. The survey that went out mentioning an indoor/outdoor ride could certainly fit that building/plot. Personally, I'd much (much, much, much, ...) rather have a more intense looping coaster since the park is fundamentally lacking in that area with the removal of Vortex, Firehawk, Cobra, etc and most new coasters not having loops (except Banshee). Still, the real estate makes sense. If they do it, hopefully they at least make it a legit, butt-kicking ride.

I really hope this would happen That empty building is one of the biggest eyesores in the park after Stunt Coaster I think Cedar Fair is doing GREAT theming initially, but they don’t/won’t maintain it well if it’s anything that moves. Copperhead strike has some of the best theming they’ve ever done, but most of it is static. The animated chicken feathers haven’t worked for a while. A proper madhouse should have some animated theming.

Houdini's Great Escape, Hex, Le Palais du Genie, Merlin's Magic Castle, Fluch der Kassandra, Haunted House Monster Party. Need I say more. (Also I love that my idea is getting noticed.)

That's very creative I love that idea!

I could see them redoing the outside of the building to resemble a mill/factory and I would also finally put a Ferris Wheel alongside and theme it as a water wheel with the occasional sprinkle of water on the riders.

^I saw something to combine the lores of Tomb Raider/Crypt, Beast and Mystic Timbers.

I thought I'd revive this conversation about the potential mad house in river town (in crypt building). I still think it would be a great idea. Anyone have any thoughts on the theming or storyline they would like? Remember it has to fit rivertown

Madhouse does take longer to build. The entire room must be decorated after they build the rims around the ride, and after the platform has been build with all the benches, after they dug the concrete inside the building and place the motors in, AFTER they get the ride parts all away from Denmark. That's more time to construct than it is to construct the 2 new rides at Adventure Port. Edit: I've got a feeling that we might get a bit of tease during Coaster Stock this year.

If there were to be a madhouse in there, they likely wouldn't start construction until late in the season. In fact, you can probably still do the Haunt in there and have the new madhouse open by the next season's opening day.

Waiting till Passholder preview and Opening day to see Constructions going on around the Crypt building.