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Today (Dec. 13, 2025), entertainment icon Dick Van Dyke celebrates his 100th birthday. He’s a memorable part of Kings Island’s history. In 1977, Van Dyke became a key face of the park’s marketing, starring in TV commercials for Kings Island (and sister park Kings Dominion). That same year, he officially dedicated Kings Island’s outdoor International Showplace.

Calling out to all of the Monster lovers... WE HAVE PROGRESS!!! I spotted a notable change behind the fence this evening: the rotor (spinny middle thingy whatchamacallit) has been reinstalled in some manner! We didn't get to go over that way to peer over the fence, but this is an amazing change after nearly 8 months of nothing except a new fence and paint on the ride pad. I'd love to see it in the daylight if anyone can get a good photo in the park (without breaking rules or trespassing) or even on the webcam! I'm so excited to see this small bit of progress <3

Part of me really does hope the pods get a different color paint other than black. Black of course is classic but having an additional color could be very classy

Great to see. Unfortunately, it'll be next weekend before we can get any pictures with KI, as it's closed the rest of the weekend.

I've been seeing a remarkable amount of old Kings Island entertainment content lately, so I thought I'd share it with all of you. I'll try to include what I can decipher in text form as well. Credit: VideofromGeorge on YouTube Hanna-Barbera Characters (9:30-6:00?) Kings of Komedy (I think this is the clown band) (12:30, 1:30, 2:45, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00) International Air Show (depending on flying conditions) (8:00) Kings Company (five show times) and three more shows that I can't make out the names of one with four show times the Salt Water Circus (?) with six show times) another with four show times Someone posted these photos in the Season Passholder group and I can't find their name to give credit, but here's two photos that I saved from the post. To save you the counting, that is 10 shows, 1 meet-and-greet, 1 set of "atmospheric performers", and about 2-5 show times between most of them that span the entire operating day. I believe this is either from 1990 or 1991. While I understand that live entertainment costs a lot of money, and also that Cedar Fair/Six Flags are more in the rides business, it's still a little sad to see just how much entertainment the park used to have. It would be very nice to see the company put more effort into live entertainment (or even a few pre-recorded shows like was in Action Theater) while they attempt to not buy a ton of coasters each year. I won't get into my thoughts about what could improve some shows tonight, maybe tomorrow though.

I wonder if they're putting the long-lost lights back on the centerpiece while they're at it.

I didn't realize how much I actually missed the Monster until I saw that picture. Thank you for the update!

One has to wonder how much coming this close played into them getting rid of the mid weekday closures early in the season for next year? One more open day this year and they would have set a record.

Even then the employees (where a good chunk of them are teenagers) have to drive in these dangerous weather conditions to and from work. Trust me if I still worked there and the park stayed open with this weather I would've called off bc I definitely would not feel comfortable driving in this weather.

I had a pretty good night tonight despite the anticipated crowds (which I don't think ended up fully manifesting). There were some very enthusiastic elves trying to get us to go into St. Nick's Pics (we didn't but I enjoyed their enthusiasm nonetheless). Our visit to the Brewhouse was good and ended up tasting better than I'd originally thought. The downside of going to the Brewhouse was seeing a good number of tables that needed to be cleared off and only seeing one associate with the cart to clean them. I also realized something on this visit that I'd never noticed before: there are not a lot of 2-person tables. If KI built another indoor restaurant (come on Grand Pavilion dressed like the Moonlite Gardens!!) I'd love to see just a little more seating variety beyond 6-person booths and 4-person tables. We had the pleasure of being on the KI&MV RR train that had a rollback — an experience that I quite enjoyed. The lights are still out throughout the course and I noticed that only the boarding side of the cars are decorated with garland. It would be nice to see some changes to make this experience better next year if at all possible. Anything would be nice especially if they can move away from it just being a ride-through holiday light show. Next, we took a trip through the Rivertown Arcade to warm up and had a nice time watching Jingle Jazz. During this performance I was only reminded of how much I'd rather see them perform in a better venue. The LaRosa's porch is nice (although it doesn't sound so nice when I say it like that), but there's something about the crowd needing to negotiate with everyone walking by just to watch. I think they could even look better in a gazebo with benches in front than on that porch. It was odd to not see the Holly Jolly Trolley stationed in Coney Mall. I wish it could be used to take performers to their shows or be used in the parade if it isn't being used as a free guest experience. There's a hoodie with (an approximation of) the original Winterfest logo in Coney Confections that I'd like to get a good photo of. I made a stop into the Adventure Port restrooms and remembered just how tight the space between the urinal dividers is — I hope that can be resolved somehow to make them wider. To round out our night we stopped by Theme Park Art by Allen's booth where my group member purchased another round of prints. I stopped by Tom + Chee for a drink. Interestingly enough I found out that the parade music plays on the right side of the Eiffel Tower during its stop near Tower Gardens. We made it into Sweet Spot before the parade caught up. I wish they'd get a new shipment of Boysenberry Jam so I could just buy it in the park. Our last stop of the night was into KI Collections, and then we were out of the park before the parade got too close. Overall it was a good night at the park. My complaints remain the same of KI needs to do a little more to change up the event in addition to needing more indoor dining/entertainment venues in general. It really is an amazing event that deserves the high praise and good placement on the USA Today voting tallies. I hope we can keep it going for many years to come.

Just got back from the park and am pleased to report that broccoli beef is BACK at Panda Express!!!! (seems as it was addedback last week). It's not on the menu board but they were making a fresh batch at 9 and said it's doing very well.

When you give away the gate, did you have a good year?

Smart move. Props to those involved.

Such a great man. Happy Birthday to Dick Van Dyke. His brother was funny as well.

I suspect they did that because Huron, Ohio is where the Sawmill Creek Resort (where this group met with Jason McClure) is located. At least they're doing something there since that resort's holiday festivities were cancelled for this year. I don't know how much giving away the gate (at least through the MVP sale) bumped the attendance numbers, but either way I think increased attendance is good either way. If there's nothing "big" coming next year — which it seems there isn't — I hope they can use some of their funds to add shade to the Cedar Point Shores and plant more trees throughout the rest of the park. Maybe they could even do some work to improve the parking lot! Best of luck to Cedar Point as they ride the wave of their newest coasters! I'm hopeful that they can keep up the attendance and maybe even set a new record soon enough.

I feel like this past season was the busiest I've ever seen it, so I can only say that definitely almost hit a record!

Yes, it was a model of the Sesame Street dark ride at Port Aventura. By the way, that model was built by R&R Designs!

I figured if it was the actual ride model, it would’ve appeared on this site by now, but it does look like the outer façade, especially with the entrance being on the corner

IIRC that might have been a model of one of the Sesame Street dark rides at IAAPA. It does bear a striking resemblance to the original Phantom Theater facade from this angle.

Is this a mockup of the layout behind her?

If this is the same scene board as in the SDR tour video, I posted my thoughts on each scene a little while back. I might try to go find that post and share it again since this is a better view than before.

Each new sneak peek of the animatronics are getting me more and more excited!

Important to note that I still don’t think this is 100% what is in the ride vs early ideations: Bottom row,5th: Final scene where the Boiler Room was in the original. 4th row, 2nd: Larry turntable (with also the same flower setup as boo blasters) 4th row, 3rd: Peppers Ghost (??) stage scene. The 5th scene also looks to be Maestro at the organ again, so I wonder if this is before they got the budget and maybe used more elements from Boo Blasters retrofitted to Phantom (which they still could do but I think it’s a complete rebuild unless they use any props as easter eggs) 3rd row, 3-5: Houdelini, Hilda, and ?? Houdelini again??? Also after much reflection… I actually kind of feel bad at calling the documentary thing underwhelming I apologize. I think I expected more new footage of the animatronics, but this is also a good intro for someone who may not be extremely familiar with the phantom theater lore like me and probably everyone else who was refreshing for this all day. The next episode will be the best one yet.

I need the to get my prescription updated. 1. Bottom row, third shot - Garbonzo exploding at the end of the ride per Bastrup’s pitch? What else?

I am very happy to see this considering the very few updates we got for RiverRacers this past year.

Excited to see what’s next! Appreciate the updates.

Simultaneously underwhelmed personally because I knew about this stuff before and not much new footage was shown (I get very high expectations so I expected a full ride pov in my mind ig lol), but very excited that this is a continuing series! What’s interesting to note is that there’s at least 3 private videos in that series, so either it’s a monthly thing leading up to March, or it’s on some other schedule. I also love the opening to the video so much. It’s very well done and honestly should be in like the commercial they’ll inevitably make for advertisements.

IT IS POSTED Can't wait to actually see some BTS in future episodes

Here we go!

Just checked, sold out now. I might do this next year!

https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland/winterfest-weather-updates

Anyone ever done that booze gimmick? $45 for drinks all night sounds insane for a place that charges nearly $20 for one drink. Is it the whole night the park is open? Just a specific amount of time? Details don't really say. Far more interesting to me than the buffet gimmick.

The NYE dinner party at KI is now available for purchase: https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland/events/new-years-eve-celebration

Hershey Park

I've been through the costume shop(s) at Cedar Point...it's insane how many pieces they put together, keep over the years and the small teams behind them.

I think that's correct. A few years ago (first year for Swinging, I was sitting next to a lady who was telling her friend "thats the costume I sewed. I loved the way the bow looked etc" leading me to believe yes, they are made on-site

KIC members were guests for a Tower Topics Roundtable show about this year’s WinterFest hits, misses, and must-dos.

Another alternative idea for opening nightmare could be to kind of discover all the reasons for the rides in a "haunted" manner. Why Mystic Timbers had to be quarantined, why The Beast lives in the forest, the alien stuff for Orion and Outer Limits would be a bit disjointed though.

The train would be better with lights in the trees/or uplit trees instead of the framework lights.