Leaderboard

Taking a break from the park has been very refreshing. Unless they have a new season pass deal like no other, I will wait until they drop the '26 calendar, if I renew.

If I were to guess both are for Carowinds. Rip Roarin' Falls is the name of the water ride and Timber Hallow is the area name.

You can search by owner on this site: https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-information If I post a direct link to the trademark, it will expire after awhile. I think it will just be a new area of the park. There is a new path going from the former Scrambler location to Fury 325 and a new restaurant in the plans.

New trademark filing for Superior Shores Waterpark on July 14th by Millennium Operations LLC. Sounds like a possible rebrand of Soak City at Valleyfair.

As a fan of seasonal events, I’m looking forward to experiencing Summer Wine’d Down Fest at Holiday World. And yes, you can get a Tasting Pass. https://themeparksbydon.com/summer-wined-down-food-fest-debuts-at-holiday-world-aug-4/

We are not really going to replace our passes with another park. We will take our annual spring break trip to Universal Orlando. For the summer, we are going to try to take it a little easier. Use our AMC A-List and go see more movies. Try to do a bit more hiking. We haven't ruled out passes in the future, just with the point in our lives, it is the best decision for us to not renew for the next few years. Also, if they are going to give all the gates away next year, honestly not sure I want to be around for that.

My family has decided to not renew next year. Been passholders since 2016 and Prestige since 2022. It wasn’t an easy decision, but one we feel is the best for us.

This is one of those things that continues to annoy regular pass holders and any new pass holders. The redundancy, double-speak, clear as mud language they use to explain each bullet point in the FAQ section is an entire mess. It really shouldn't be this confusing considering they have changed the pass structure so much over the last few years. When you read everything over it's like multiple people had their hand in writing out the information and didn't bother to cross reference with one another. The left hand doesn't seem to know what the right hand is doing. It all tracks as to why you hear different associates stating different things at different times on different days. There is no real clear language or consistency and that then becomes a major point of frustration for the guests. There really needs to be some serious grip on what the company wants, what their end goal is and a much more cut and dry clear language that doesn't beg the guest to ask so many questions or leave their staff also unable to fully grasp what they are saying/doing. Also. Completely random, but regarding dropping brownie points in the guest experience, I got bored one day recently and looked at Google reviews. Now granted. It's Google reviews. I'm clear that a lot of the complaints can often be just regular ignorance often portrayed by the GP who didn't get their way because they were line cutting and got kicked out. But it was interesting to see from last year that both KI and CP held a 4.6 star rating on there. KI has retained their 4.6 while CP has dropped down to 4.5. I realize this isn't a huge dip. But it is sad to see any dip at all seeing how many total reviews there are for each park. It's just mildly telling that even though we have been seeing so many cuts at KI this season that they must still be doing just a hair better than big brother up north is. Because as it is noted, the GP is what brings the business, not us. We are but a mere drop in the bucket as enthusiasts in a sea of GP. Just sad to see, even if it is just Google reviews/one .1 point lower than last year.

Because our guests entered the single rider line DEMANDING to not get split up in single rider line and the ride ops were getting verbally abused. They were not ok with getting split up. Just not worth it. Keep it FL and make some money.

Now that we are halfway through July, it may be time to give the 2025 Halloween Haunt season its discussion thread. Seasonal events like Halloween Horror Nights, Howl-O-Scream, and Halloween Haunt all have parts of their websites published already. A number of the HHN houses have already been announced with Fallout, Five Nights at Freddy's, and Terrifier being notable standouts. Carowinds has also released a teaser for SCarowinds 25 Years of Fear, celebrating the event's 25th anniversary (delayed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic). I would love to see Kings Island put on a similar celebration since this will also be their 25 Years of Fear celebration, whether they advertise it or not. Kings Island is rumored to receive at least one new haunt maze in the building formerly occupied by Club Blood and Blackout, built by the trusted Plague Productions team. Rumors speculate that it could be themed to a story from The Conjuring, while some park-goers hope for it to be themed to vampires, gothic horror, or even a pirate maze. 2024 saw the addition of the new "Hooked" scare zone between Viking Fury and Adventure Port, as well as a new unnamed themed area along the path between the Rivertown LaRosa's and Jukebox Diner. Additional rumors are circulating around the former Tomb Raider: The Ride / The Crypt building, formerly home to Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror, as it has been cleared to begin construction on Kings Island's 2026 attraction or for a new 2025 Halloween Haunt maze. Online sleuths recently discovered a new Haunted Attractions Pass and a Haunted Attractions Express Pass to be available at Kings Dominion. Playing around with the URL also reveals the same program coming to Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, Cedar Point, Dorney Park, and Kings Island. The same website for Valleyfair still has dates listed as available for their Haunted Attractions Passes, with Friday and Sunday prices at $10/HAP and $55/HAEP. Saturday prices are currently set at $20/HAP and $60/HAEP. Prices at other Legacy Cedar Fair parks appear to range from $10-$40 for the standard pass and up to $70 for the Express pass. A similar program existed at Fright Fest throughout the Legacy Six Flags parks, where park visitors would need to purchase an additional pass to enter indoor walkthrough attractions during the event. These new tickets will hopefully bring some calm to the crowd levels and allow for Kings Island to begin receiving some well-needed upgrades to their Halloween Haunt event. What do you think Halloween Haunt will look like in 2025? Will you be attending? Halloween Haunt at Kings Island will be held select nights from September 19th to November 1st, 2025. This event is intended for mature audiences and is not recommended for children under 13. Kings Island will maintain its no re-entry after 6:00 PM during Halloween Haunt for 2025. It's time to get excited! Event Website: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/haunt

From the ParkFans.net bluesky account: https://bsky.app/profile/parkfans.net/post/3ltzgtpopsc2r

How much of Carousel Park and Celebration Plaza do you think a Timber Hallow area would take up? I really enjoy the vibe of Carousel Park whenever I go. This could be the stretch of path between Starbucks and the Carowinds Theater that includes the tunnel, but it would be a mini-land like Adventure Port and Camp Snoopy at Kings Island.

I was looking at different pass hierarchy systems between park chains for a different project before Canada's Wonderland unveiled their MVP sale. The biggest differences between Six Flags and the other companies is that Six Flags (and Cedar Fair / Six Flags before it) offers access to all of their parks as a prominently standard option separate from being its own pass tier. Parks like California's Great America only offer a Gold Pass and a Gold Pass with the All Park Passport. The other difference is that 2025 Six Flags parks all have different pass systems which only generally follow a standard hierarchy. The Gold Pass is the only option offered at every park. Meanwhile, I've seen variations between parks having park memberships, basically an EZ Pay option, separate from regular pass sales; the Silver Pass; the Prestige Pass (this one is somewhat understandable); a KidZPass, which is also open for Seniors aged 62+ to buy; a Summer Pass; a Pre-K Pass; a Season Pass; the FUN-Jumper pass, a regional park passport; the All-Park Passport; and all kinds of varying benefits that aren't even standardized across either former company's legacy parks. If I were someone trying to figure out if I wanted to buy a my first season pass to a Six Flags park, I think I'd get more frustrated trying to understand what is offered than it should be worth. The unclear language with mixed reviews are making me, someone who's obsessed with these parks, question how comfortable I am with getting my pass with all of the add-ons that I want. I can't imagine trying to go through this without prior knowledge and a forum like KIC. With so many things being centralized to regional teams and Six Flags corporate teams, the lack of complete standardization looks very worrying. Yes, different parks can offer different things based on what they have, but I don't think it is too much to ask for more standardization beyond pass names and hierarchy. That all being said: $100-ish to get into every Six Flags park for all of 2026 is a deal that I think most people should take advantage of. If you've got the money for the regular pass prices, this is super worth it IMO. If Six Flags wants to give away the gate then let them do it — it'll probably make them more money than they did with the 2020/2021 season pass situation. Maybe that means they'll be able to get closer to their projected numbers and make some good additions in 2026 and 2027, and possibly get to a good place for 2028.

Big seasonal events enthusiast over here as well and I gotta say: if this event is half as good as it looks, it’ll really give their competition something to WINE about!

This is the kind of thing that should have been laid out in the pass benefits or as part of the promotion itself. The way it is phrased now makes it seem like there would not be an All Park Passport add-on, and that the whole program would have been folded into regular Gold and Prestige Pass sales. Both this and the two free Single-use Fast Lane passes you get for buying via the promotion are laid out as being something that will always be sold as a part of the pass. Whoever put this MVP sale and pass sales page together may need to find a new proofreader, or be given more time to actually make sure their pages are able to be understood. This and other questions the new pass sales bring up make me wonder if desperation is making them sloppy, or if the wording is intentionally vague and confusing. It could be both. Nobody should have to call the parks to figure out something that could have been said directly on the website.

Is white water canyon super busted? Rode by in the train today and it was completely drained.

I wish I could!

It says good rest of 2025 at all parks, but they can always change the terms at any time without notice.

So would the 2026 All Park Passport add-on be active for the remainder of 2025 as well? I plan on going to Cedar Point in late August and I'm wondering if the 2026 All Park Passport would work for that, or would it only take effect at the start of next season? Edit: So it seems the Canada's Wonderland 2026 gold pass includes admission to all Six Flags parks without the all-park passport. I'm not sure if this is a Canada's Wonderland exclusive perk, or if this will apply to other parks as well.

Made it to Chicago ok. Lots of construction, and for a heck of an omen, several police SUVs left the hotel I'm staying as I pulled in. Peachy.

Take this for whatever it's worth but it appears it could be very likely we will see more of this kind of deal across the chain if this is any kind of indication.

It will be interesting to see if other parks offer a MVP sale and if they tailor it to what they are trying to get out of that park guests. For example, maybe the analytics show that at Wonderland they have the smallest percentage of people that buy a pass from there with the all park passport, so they offered that free to try to encourage them to attend other parks. Maybe another park will offer something else free? Or is that thinking too much and they aren't that smart LOL.

Ultimately, they lose money on me, so I don't feel too bad about just saving some money and renewing when it's cheaper. But I will likely drop from Prestige to Gold, the stinky dumpster lounge and preferred parking were worth it for the Wonderland price, but probably not the KI price.

So how is everyone feeling about renewing their passes for 2026? Because of all the cuts we are seeing. I am even starting to see random TikTok's of people complaining about drink locations being closed, no ice, etc.. For the first time in 20-25+ years I am considering to not immediately renewing my Gold Pass . . I pretty much always renewed as soon as they become available. But this year I will probably just do a wait and see what is offered. Maybe wait until next March/April 2026 to make sure there are no "bait-n-switch". What "bait-n-switch" am I looking for?? I am concerned they might start making "Haunt" or "Winterfest" an add-on. Or weekday hours closing at 8pm. IDK what I am looking for but basically not seeing what I have bought for many years to start losing value.

Definitely interested to see if this promotion will trickle down to any of the other parks as they roll out their 2026 passes. And still no real hints as to what 2026 is going to supposedly bring as far as a new ride goes for KI. I really miss the days of the buzz and the hype around a new attraction. I will also say that I wonder if when they do announce said family thrill attraction if that would be a tie in for this kind of promotion as well? So many questions and so few answers. I think next month will be an interesting indicator as to what the rest of the parks have in store.

From what I am understanding, this is just a MVP promotion from CW which includes the All Park Passport for free with a Gold or Prestige Pass purchase or renewal. The All Parks Passport is still a separate thing. Not sure if all parks will do the MVP promotion and offer the All Parks Passport for free for a limited time or not.

Double post because I need to separate my humor from my seriousposting. I feel like we're still seeing two companies trying to merge instead of one massive company that is semi-confident in what it's doing. The websites and mobile apps are still unchanged. It may take a while to develop new ones, but the base templates for a temporary solution has been there from the start. Associates (who have been the saving grace of Kings Island this season) aren't receiving the hours that would make it worth coming back to work at the park next year. The season pass programs are in the process of being unified across all parks and resorts, but the wording for each of the pass options are very vague. I have some questions whose answers should either be easily found or should not need to be asked at all. What is the difference between a dining plan "add-on" and a dining plan "upgrade"? They have the exact same descriptions and drastically different prices. Similar thoughts for the other add-ons. Why am I seeing the "All Park Passport" symbol on any 2026 offerings when that program would not exist under the new benefits? Can I really trust that Halloween Haunt or Winterfest will still exist as a part of the 2026 season? The pass may be the cheapest out of the major chains, but why should I buy one when there is no guarantee that we'll see a steadier park next year compared to how things have gone this year? The first asterisk on the pass benefits page mentions that passes must be processed at the holders' "Home Park". How does someone process their pass before the beginning of that park's season? Most of the Season Pass Processing areas were phased out and their spaces converted to other uses. (I would support bringing these spaces back!) If I get a 2026 Gold Pass at Cedar Point, will I not be able to go to other Six Flags parks before May when the park opens? Will a ticket window or Guest Services be open from January-April for my 2026 pass to be processed? Canada's Wonderland currently has a 2026 pass activation link. Does this mean people can just activate their pass through the link, or do they actually need to go to Canada's Wonderland and head to a ticket window to complete the process? Will physical season pass cards be available for guests without access to a smartphone? That answer can't really be found anywhere. Canada's Wonderland has a section on their Season Pass FAQ page that specifically states: I wonder if this means that the MVP sale will be one of the only times when Gold/Prestige passes are bundled with the (seemingly dead) All Park Passport. Again, these things aren't consistently laid out across everything like they should be. We shouldn't have to ask these kinds of questions when most of the answers could be listed directly on the purchasing page. As much as they would like to act otherwise, this version of Six Flags is a new company with new challenges and opportunities. I think it's about time they started to show that.

Oh to be a fly on the wall of that boardroom. Imagine all of the discussions you'd hear only to still wonder what is going through their heads.

What is the difference supposed to be between the two 2026 All Parks dining plans? They both seem to have the same descriptions, with the only differences being the prices and one being an "add-on" while the other is an "upgrade". The all-park passport add-on logo (which is seemingly obsolete in the passes we have seen so far) is also shown on the picture for the "upgrade" option, but not for the "add-on" option. This early release might have been done out of desperation, but I will say I do like that the all-park passport is folded into the passes. That being said, this much access for just $99 is far too low — even this early in the pass sales. Maybe if it were $150 For context, a Kings Island Gold Pass currently costs $155 and the APP costs an additional $80. A grand total of about $235 USD now compared to last August's total prices of around $150. That early bird price compared to this $75 USD ($99 CAD) is a major price drop that could help with sales, but hurt the company in the longer run. In reality, this should all cost about $250-$300 for an all-park Gold Pass, but that price hike would hurt pass sales even more. More context on comparable 2025 pass prices (no all-park ideas): Kings Island (Gold and Prestige Passes) 2025 Gold Pass — $155 2025 Prestige Pass — $375 Busch Gardens Williamsburg (Gold Pass-ish equivalent) 2-Park Unlimited Membership — $315 11-Park Platinum Membership — $519 Universal Orlando Resort (lowest pass tier) 2-Park Seasonal Pass — $425 Dollywood (Gold and Prestige-ish equivalents) Two-Park Silver Season Pass — $234 Two-Park Gold Season Pass — $309 Silver Dollar City (Gold and Prestige-ish equivalents) Gold Pass — $235 Diamond Pass — $295 Kentucky Kingdom 2025 Gold Season Pass — $114.99 2025 Diamond Season Pass — $209.99 Holiday World 2025 Season Pass — $200 2025 Platinum Season Pass — $235 Six Flags passes will get you the best bang for your buck out of anywhere, and now it is even more super cheap to go to these parks. EDIT: Apparently I forgot to finish what I was saying right in the middle of my post. It should say: Maybe if [the new Gold Pass] were to start at $150 in August (instead of $235 as it would be right now at the end of 2025 pass sales) then Six Flags could have justified the apparent price hike like they did when they replaced the Platinum Pass with the Prestige Pass. That would probably look less desperate than a $75 pass that gets you into 40 parks. Also take note that this was released the day after the Pass + Drink Plan extended promotion ended. If the company wants to sell season passes all year, that's fine by me. These changes might have been seen a little better if we weren't still looking at a mish-mash of two very different companies, and were instead able to see a more unified company all around.

This is going to be my TR now as I left early. Weather played a factor like at HW, but with less access to a water park (did bring swim wear, but saving it for Lake Erie). Before I get to that, I have to get into the driving situation today. I left Cincy at 6, which, ideally, would have put me in Monticello an hour before IB opened. Just north of Indianapolis, I hit a closed I-65 with a semi on fire. I stuck it out as best I could as I needed time to McGyver an alternate route. I was still 40-50 miles away from Indiana Beach at that point and thus, I got a very intimate tour of the vast cornfields of Indiana. I didn't get at IB until noon. THEN, coming to my hotel near I-65 (which is about 20-ish miles from Monticello, yeah, IB is hard to get to), I had to follow an oversized loaded semi for about 10-15 miles of that distance. @IndyGuy4KI, please fix your state's driving....things. Ugh. Anyways, onto the TR. Even upon entering the park I was...whelmed. I thought IB would be slightly bigger and more spread out, but instead its more like a real life RCT park where you have little land to use and have to cram in a bunch of rides in a small area. Almost every ride interacts with another, mostly thanks to how big Hoosier Hurricane is compared to the rest of the park. About half the rides are on stilts above the midways including Tigrr, Hurricane and Cornball. The waterpark is also very intigrated into the infrastructure, though less so as it uses more of the lake, but several flats and Cyclone share some real estate with some slides. In that way, it has its own charm. A lof of things like building facades, plants, signage, etc needs touching up. The park felt, for lack of a better word, tacky. I will say the rides from a mechanical standpoint, run well. Staff and ops were another issue. Food was fine, had Memphis heat on a pulled pork sandwich and mac and cheese (not bad for a park I set a low bar for), but ride ops, even for a slow day, were sus. They aren't the most ADA friendly park either when it comes to ride accessibility. I have a feeling a lot of what they do are grandfathered into when they were built so they can avoid modernizing some things, but still not a great look. It'll be a while before I ever come back. I think it may be my least favorite park so far. Rides Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain- I really liked this thing. It felt kind of like Blazing Fury, a wild mouse, and Cornball Express had a baby and this was the result. The only restraints are seatbelts, and it has insanely tight curvatures on the hills and curves. If you're facing backwards, there is no way to anticipate anything, in a good way. It is padded a TON which helps with the sudden turns and CCI-esque design lines on the coaster sections. Surprisingly smooth too given it's a wooden coaster. Cyclone- So this thing has 0 banked curves and the only way it slows down are anti-rollbacks. It moves pretty quick with good jolts of air and 2 pretty forceful helices. Not bad for a portable model. Tigrr- This is one of the smoothest coasters I've ridden. I expected the pops of air like Cyclone, but Anton almost designed it too smooth. It does have pretty good floater air and the transitions are all really seemless with some good positive G's. I only wish I would have ridden Triple Loop. Looking forward to Whizzer on Friday as its basically Tigrr on steroids. Steel Hawg- This was my intro to the S&S El Loco model. Positives- good layout, amazingly efficient in terms of the lift speed and use of brakes, the elements were all pretty cool, especially the dive loop where it straightens to give you some great hangtime. Negatives- the restraints. Particularly the shoulder restraints. Even given how smooth it was, the OTSR's are too close to your head and the handles are too high for my liking in order to brace for things. Also my 120th steel coaster and my 160th coaster overall. Hoosier Hurricane- Had some high hopes, but overall disappointed. The layout looks promising with a decent out and back layout, but most of the hills are way too drawn out. Only semi decent floater air. Did experience some jackhammering, but upon a second ride where I knew where to brace, it was alright. Very meh and mid-tier for me. Cornball Express- This, on the other hand, impressed me given its size. This is more what a CCI should do mixing some great pops of air and good curves for decent laterals. Its no Legend, but I almost enjoyed its helix a bit more. With the way the first drop is profiled with the straight section, the back seat is completely insane with air on that drop. Easily my favorite coaster there (also my 40th wooden coaster).

The way things look, weather looks good for Tuesday for IB. I'm leaving Cincy at 6 am EDT, so if my calculations are correct, I'll be in Monticello a bit early, depends on Indy traffic. In Chicago, it's supposed to rain Thursday so I'll be downtown that day and Friday looks like great weather for SFGAm. I know Chicago flooded recently but from what I've seen, the streets effects have since improved. I think I've got things figured out for tackling visiting downtown. I will be getting to my 175th coaster in SFGAm if all goes to plan, and I'm likely making Whizzer that coaster. Can't see the Cleveland portion quite yet but I'm liking the temps from what I can see. I'm really hoping to ride Siren a few times to get a feel for the tilt on different parts of the train. TT2 I'm making a beeline to if I see it open at all.

Six Flags Mexico construction update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGi9P-tLriw Six Flags Mexico official announcement: https://static.sixflags.com/website/files/sfmx_boomerang.pdf Edit: Also, the play structure from Cedar Point's Forbidden Frontier was shipped down to Six Flags Mexico and will be part of the new family area.

Has anyone seen development for rides at parks not listed in the November press release? Apparently there have been some B&M track shipments at Great Escape and some "theming" added to the Snake River Falls plot, but I haven't heard much else from other parks. Fiesta Texas will be celebrating their 35th anniversary soon and I think there's been some rumblings for that too. It's nice that they went back and corrected the spelling of Kings Island on the press release though — shame it wasn't caught before it first went out. I marked what the status of some of those projects are (from what I know), but I could be wrong on one or two.