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They’d have to have a bunch of scareactors in the mazes for them to have nothing to do.

Monte Catlo

When the day does come for Invertigo, I hope the Roller Coaster Museum picks it up. Ours is the only one that has not been uprooted from its original home and I think it would be great if it could be kept at the museum for the purpose of preserving the history of this particular model of coaster. I might also add that it would be neat if they also picked up Batwing from SFA seeing as it will also be on the chopping block. The last of its kind deserves a special place to be remembered.

We as humans spend farrrrrrrrr too much time looking at screens. Which is why I fear this could possibly end up being a screen based attraction if they choose to keep the building and continue the tradition of dark rides. I realize animatronics cost a lot to upkeep and what not, but there is a sense of realness to them that gives the more analog feeling-something you can really touch vs another digital screen based thing that we as a society are already oversaturated with. If there is going to be any screen-based attractions happening, I would much rather them bring back the FX theater with the motion seats. That is still something I wish all the time they would bring back because it was yet another option to escape the heat/cold and still do something fun. It was also another option to break up the bigger rides. It was just fun/thrilling enough to keep the thrill seekers happy, but not overly wild for younger/less thrill seeking guests. I saw it as the more mature dark ride of the park. It is crazy to me to think that during my lifetime there were 4 indoor rides ( FoF, SDATHC/BB, FX Theater, TR:TR/Crypt ). And this isn't even counting the KI Theater. Shortly, we will be just down to one once BB closes for however long.

I remember last year Kings Island sent out surveys for possible ride ideas, one I remember was the extension of The Beast and the other was for a Peanuts screen based dark shooting ride... the concept art for the Peanuts ride looked very disappointing, I'm hoping KI doesn't go in that direction.

I'm hoping they will squeeze another season or two out of it. It bears repeating the inversion deficit in the park...not to mention this is really one of the heavy hitters for the thrill seekers who want something intense. Yes, the ol' boy is of the old-age Vekoma and therefore doesn't always track as good as newer coasters ( and newer Vekomas) but in the saying of those of us who learn how to ride these things, I learned the best spots for me are on the ends of the trains where you don't face anyone. Keep your head on one side of the restraint or firmly placed against the headrest and you're good to go. This is now one of only a few coasters that can still occasionally make me gray-out and the only one at KI that can make me do that. We have a rare relic, but it's one that I hope makes a return before the season is out...if not by next season.

They’re gonna remove the ride scenes, put down a floor, and make it a “premium” Haunt maze. Maybe two. Sure the track components will remain (and the hope will always linger), but most of the vehicles will rot outside with a few others used as Halloween decorations.

@disco2000 We can infer based on what we see. Land is not at an ultra-premium like it is in Silicon Valley where CGA is. Look at the nearby Beach Waterpark—that would never sit for almost a decade if the area land were THAT valuable. Also KI brings Mason a lot of money and it helps distinguish it from any other upper middle class suburb. Mason wants it there. Your example of the Cincinnati Open complex parking kind of helps my point. It is a highly specialized and under-utilized piece of land in terms of how often it is used. Land doesn't sit vacant for anything if it's valuable enough—it becomes housing developments, retail, or office parks. The land makes money at all times. Of course things can change and the park's future is not guaranteed; I just don't see it being in any significant danger of closing any time soon.

Have you seen the Warren County Master Plan and land-use report showing the best and highest use of the property or are you just speculating? Keep in mind just across the street, golf courses that operated year round were removed because it can make more money for 2 weeks as a non-paved parking lot for a tennis tournament...There was a time they would just fence off the greens and tee boxes and have cars park in the fairway for those 2 weeks. Your speculation may be correct or it may always remain KI, but land development can be weird, and if a developer offered Six Flags the right number, any park could be gone...just like many of the golf courses surrounding KI that have been turned into high end subdivisions, Kroger, other retail, etc.

Unfortunately they're already doing that. See CGA and Six Flags America. Also notice the lowered level of investment chainwide. Kings Island is not one of those parks that would be scrapped out and sold off for housing development. It's one of the best performing in the chain and the land still has its most potential being operated as an amusement park. If the chain keeps operating as it is parks are going to be lost regardless or at least change hands.

See I would agree, but my fear at this point is the park would be scooped up by private equity and I think that might be worse. I don't think Apollo buying CF would've worked out well. I think they'd mainly be in it for the land and extracting as much money with as little investment as possible.

It's an upcharge that will see no benefit to the customers. I can say with near certainly that even with the increase in revenue the mazes will at best be as staffed as last year, probably fewer roaming actors, and yes the line to guest services will be giant. The amount of kids I see chatting with security about the escort curfew rule is impressive, almost none of the park goers will know this change exists. But I, like another poster said, keep paying knowing this is unethical, but I personal do my best to keep the profit they get off me to a minimum. But even with that, this is getting ridiculous. I can see the park lawyers cheering in the streets when one of them thought up "passes get you to haunt, but the maxed aren't The Haunt, they are just part of it". I'm waiting for next year when the passes we pay 300+ bucks for gets us into the park and the rides start to cost 3-5 tickets per person like a carnival.

I agree. I do think that the 59.99 for all Haunt season is too high. At 29.99 or 39.99 I'd be tempted, but 59.99 would be what I would expect to pay for ALL parks (with a passport of course). Even if they did the 29.99 or 39.99 without the Conjurng it would be better. Some may just feel like the new experience is too intense, plus with the limited availability it would seem more senible to make it an additional charge reguardless (maybe 5 or 10 for those with the full haunt season?). Either way, as I've always stated KI is a family park. For that reason I can see a path where this upcharge strategy absolutely bombs. What will they do when 2-3 weeks into the Haunt season there are a bunch of scareactors with nothing to do in the mazes?? I think it would have been better to just do the upcharge for the Conjuring and enforcing the "no boo", no strollers/wagons & age restrictions at the enterance to the lines. Your season pass should have your age information and for people without, they could get a "haunt" band that would require proof of age. Either way it will be an interesting Haunt season.

It's starting to remind me of MoviePass toward the end. Charge too little for your product, then come up with desperate money grabs and change the rules on your customers when your poor business decisions come back to haunt you.

I'm actively rooting for bankruptcy and a sell-off at this point. Freeing KI from these clowns would be worth it. Selling passes before the announcement was unethical. That's just not how you treat a customer. Anyone else?

The folks working Guest Services deserve a bonus with all these changes. I’m sure, they’ve been taking a beating, not of their fault. I’m not too thrilled with the direction Six Flags has been taking. With that said, remind yourself to be respectful and polite to the people working at guest services, when voicing your concerns and frustrations. These changes made at the park are not from their choosing.

Can we please also take a moment to call out that hokey-a$$ repaint on the Monte Carlo bodies, especially the “eyes” where the headlight decals used to be, who did that Doswell Elementary students??? Way to “phone it in” SF!

I've always felt like the scare actors are wasted as "roamers." They could staff more mazes if they just ditched the roamers and have a more family friendly atmosphere to boot. Then again, they wouldn't be selling as many of those glowing necklaces. Honestly, they really should add more weeknights to Haunt as well, at least as we get closer to Halloween. The park has so many passholders and other people nearby who would be willing to show up on a weeknight and it would help distribute the crowds to different days. Of course, we all can imagine why they don't do this.

This. And you CAN have it both ways. All the scary, gory stuff can be tucked away inside buildings and mazes while you can make the overall park atmosphere more Halloween friendly and appeal to families. During the day when I see all of the scary stuff just sitting out like in Coney Mall, it just doesn’t seem appealing. There’s a clear difference between making things spooky and making things scary: Outside the mazes/houses = spooky. Inside the mazes/houses = scary.

I agree. I really wish they would keep the “Haunt” aspect in the mazes and decorate the park much like what Dollywood does for its Harvest festival. Think Winterfest level of decor and atmosphere, but themed for the fall season. Keep a couple fog machines out for some of the coasters, but remove them from the pathways. Keep the roaming scare actors and gore in the mazes. Haunt is the only time of year Kings Island contradicts itself with being a “Family Park.” And I’m routinely told, “Families spend the most money.”

A while ago, I shared my opinion that Kings Island should focus on improving the quality of their haunted houses and mazes, even if that means rethinking how they encourage families to stay later in the evening. In its pre-2025 form, Haunt was always extremely crowded, which hurt the overall experience. While Haunt is intense and not necessarily designed for families, many still came anyway. I think there’s a way to make both groups happy: keep families in the park later for other activities, while upcharging for the more intense haunted experiences. If families feel welcome to stay, other parents who were previously hesitant might bring their kids-and those families could end up spending more on food, merchandise, etc. Meanwhile, charging for the haunted attractions would help manage crowds and create an expectation of higher quality. For example, securing an IP like The Conjuring could justify the upcharge and deliver a premium experience for those who want to go for the haunts. At the end of the day, the park is going to aim for maximum revenue- and I’m honestly surprised this approach wasn’t implemented during the pre-merger Cedar Fair days who had only been accustomed to Skeleton keys, higher daily pass rates, and no-boo necklaces.

It was more like that year one (you know, the Covid year that somehow sucked less than this one LOL. There were tasting passes, every food location had a “trick” savory and “treat” sweet (or less spicy or odd) option. There were multiple shows including a pirate themed “game show”.

For the life of me I've never been able to figure out what a Mod Shop is supposed to have sold and am too stubborn to Google it.

I haven't renewed yet but one of my regular park group members did and was able to use their Prestige Pass, dining plan, and drink plan at Kings Island, Kings Dominion, and Dorney Park. We did not try to get food from a Six Flags park. The stipulation may only work for new passholders as the systems continue to merge. If only Six Flags could under promise and overdeliver on everything else they're trying to do. I think at this point a lot of the formerly-promised 2026 attractions have either been delayed or cancelled entirely.

I'm almost certain that Boo Blasters' replacement will be the 2026 attraction since The Crypt's building is being used for Halloween Haunt and the closing date for BBoBH is on September 1st. It's likely that all of the Six Flags 2026 plans changed after seeing the recent earnings reports. There was a quote from someone in the company that said any park that received a large/major/high-expense attraction in 2025 would not receive anything [big] in 2026. Great Adventure is probably the only exception to that since they just removed seven rides, including Kingda Ka, and even that replacement has been delayed. Kings Island could receive a Boo Blasters replacement, one or more rides relocated from Six Flags America, or a combination of the two.

I have heard anecdotal reports that people who purchased 2026 all-parks dining from a legacy Cedar Fair park have been able to use their dining plan at other legacy Cedar Fair parks, and likewise for those who bought at legacy Six Flags parks having been able to use them at other legacy Six Flags parks? Has anyone here attempted this? If this is the case, then as a software developer I can say that it may not have been all that bad to set the expectation of only working at the home park through 2025. Underpromise and overdeliver while also getting out of having to explain difficult concepts to grasp on the sale page (what is a "Legacy Cedar Fair park" or a "Legacy Six Flags Park"? Normal people would not know this)

Apples and oranges here. Vortex closed at the end of the regular operating season. Boo Blasters is closing in the middle of the season. Likely bc they want to start work on it asap so they can get whatever is planned up and running next spring.

Hope a true dark ride/scary....no shooting or games....lets see what they come up with...assum the peppers ghost mirrors are still in the building...

WOW. That's dirty Six Flags. Most Saturday's are $30 for the Maze access.

The cherry on top of this season is that EVEN PASSHOLDERS have to pay for the mazes, and have to pay $60 dollars for a pass add-on that only lasts 6 weekends, and you don't even go to Haunt every weekend. A drink plan that lasts YEAR LONG is less. And I'm not even joking around when I say this, I'm sure you'll have to pay to watch the WinterFest parade. Edit: Just found out that the cost for a single Haunted House pass only starts at $10. Saturdays are 20 PER PERSON, and you don't even get to experience half the mazes because it'll be so busy.

After riding Justice League battle for metropolis at Six Flags over Texas I would love to see something like that at KI. My first preference, of course, is that when Rick came to do the meet and greet at the Phantom Theatre Encore show, he signed a contract and has spent the last 2 years molding and modeling the anamatronics for Phantom Theatre's Revenge!

This would be worse than the current bad ride. At least with boo blasters if one doesn’t want to shoot, they can still ride through and there are moving sets to look at.

I believe it says 59.99 for all year with "fright lane" I don't think that's too bad actually. If it was without skipping the regular line then yes it would be way over priced

I really liked the Tricks and Treats event when they had it in Soak City. Granted I understand from a logistics POV that's a huge thing for staying to cover an entire extra section of the park. But really when they moved it over to kiddie land, everything just got smaller and smaller and more crowded. I wish they'd expand the treat areas to the entire park like a scavenger hunt.

This company also restores and upgrades existing rides. Adding props, adding new blasters, sets, etc. One of their projects looks to literally be restoring a Ghost Blasters ride similar to Boo Blasters, which I wonder if they did the new system on the Carowinds Boo Blasters. Important to note they also could've just done some small repair work over the off season on the ride

I thought this survey was fake, though I might be mistaken.

That ride was a huge hit for my kids this summer.

I'm very curious to see how all of the upcharges do this season. There are a lot of people in each park's comment section(s) talking about how they either hate the upcharge or are upset that Six Flags played a bait-and-switch tactic on guests with this. That being said, the loudest voices online may not necessarily correlate with the sentiment of Haunt goers in the parks. If it turns out that the mazes have been switched up this year (maybe something is different in each one) and are much better staffed we may still see long lines throughout the Fall season. I'll probably try out the Haunted Attractions Pass earlier in the season and save The Conjuring for another night. The all-season HAEP sounds enticing, but it'll be something I'll have to decide after experiencing everything first. If the mazes are good in September but fall off in October, there's no way I'd buy the all-season HAEP in 2026 without a lot of reassurance about a change in quality. I'm super excited to see what Order of the Dragon will have to offer and is going to be one of the main reasons why I purchase the one-night pass. Vampires and dragons aren't a combination I'd have predicted and I'm curious as to how it will be done.

Not related to KI, but I don’t see KD’s Haunt up-charge mazes surviving past this season. They’ve attempted an up-charge haunt before and BGW’s Howl-O-Scream beat the brakes off them, and KD switched back to the legacy CF model. Heck BGW’s Christmas Town made KD’s Winterfest no longer an event.

Ride Entertainment Systems Inc was on the last notice of commencement and they work with Lagotronics Projects. https://ohwarren.fidlar.com/OHWarren/AvaWeb/#/image https://www.lagotronicsprojects.com/en https://rideentertainment.com/lagotronics/

A number of typos and other mistakes have popped up on these recently published event pages. Another example is that Six Flags Over Texas built a new (worse looking IMO) page for Fright Fest that still calls their daytime event "Kids Boo Fest" despite the park replacing it with Tricks and Treats. It seems that there was either poor quality control or a rushed building process for these sites.

Let the buyer beware is a thing but it's usually the credo of the sleazeball business. If they were sent emails to encourage them to buy a 2025 pass they have a legitimate complaint... not legally it's just not treating your customer right.

And yet look how many complaining on FB that they bought a 2025 pass a week before the sale...

When they made mazes an upcharge

When the merger was announced, I said on the Tower Topics podcast one of the things people would see is the mazes being an upcharge at Kings Island and legacy Cedar Fair parks. I was told by a lot of people that I was wrong, that wouldn’t happen. I haven’t heard from any of those people today.

Kings Island already needs two more slow-moving attractions like the Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad, Grand Carousel, Kings Mills Antique Autos, and Boo Blasters. I'm hoping for a Phantom Theater revival to replace Boo Blasters. A river cruise attraction would be a good addition elsewhere in the park. Addition through subtraction is not a good model for a park that needs to expand by another attraction or two. Replacing Boo Blasters with another slow-moving dark ride will be a well-needed refresh.

I will have to admit that the customers like myself that realize the lack of ethics of this company and continue to go there because we like theme parks only enable them to continue to be unethical. Howe er. I don’t allow them to profit much off myself. I buy the season pass the meal pass and the drink pass and don’t spend one dime in the parks the whole season. Because of the overall lower quality experience and the absolute price gouging for everything else. I remember back when it Winterfest first appeared I made a point to spend money at the park. Every time I went to Winterfest to support the viability of the event. They have completely erased that good will.

I do not think they will be better staffed or themed better, I only see them shooting themselves in the foot here by making mazes cost money and then charging for an express pass which will likely be pointless as lines will definitely be shorter. I hope I'm wrong, but that's what my prediction is.

A new Phantom Theater would be awesome! I really like when references are done indirectly as easter eggs, rather than having them be direct tie-ins. Connecting this storyline to the rest of the park would likely best work if it were done like it is over in Area 72. Kings Island would need to put a good chunk of money into making this project worthy of the name, and would also need to dedicate a nice portion of the maintenance budget into keeping it maintained. It would behoove them to create B-modes for each scene as well. Cedar Fair was developing a plan beginning around 2012/2013 to install new interactive dark rides in their parks, but it never panned out like they had hoped. See Wonder Mountain's Guardian (Canada's Wonderland) and Knott's Bear-y Tales (Knott's Berry Farm) to find out how the first two installations went. What do you think should happen with the other three Boo Blasters rides if KI received a new Phantom Theater? Could they also become a smaller PT, or should those parks look into updating using another Sally Dark Rides property? Scooby-Doo's Haunted Mansion is also licensed through SDR, so Cedar Fair could have chosen to keep that version of the ride. Hopefully sometime soon Boo Blasters (technically Ghost Blasters 2.0 with an overlay) will get a good retheme that is not just a bunch of screens and frame sets. Screens, while cheap and easy, would not live up to the rides that have filled that building with joy since 1972. For a Soak City retheme, I'd go more for something like River Country was at WDW and call it Wildwater Country or Wildwater Junction. There could be a wooden water tower right as you enter the water park (therefore having a tower at the entrances of both the dry park and water park) with some Ohio River and Little Miami River theming. Cedar Point Shores can keep the Lake Erie theming to themselves. Moving away from the tropical theming could certainly make the water park more unique and stand out more. Now if only they could do something to deal with their capacity issues... Welcome to KIC!