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Will they be at 7pm again 🤣

I've said it to others on KIC, but I typically place a smiley face after ... forgot this time. I've been critical of the park before and will continue to, but will give credit when it's warranted. I don't have much to say currently because I only went once last year and none so far this year.

They will be announcing Phantom Theater clones coming to the other Six Flags parks to replace the Boo Blasters/Justice Leagues trust me.

I know this was posted as a joke, but I do hope Six Flags keeps Phantom Theater exclusive to Kings Island. I do think the other Boo Blasters will get redone at some point, but hopefully with their own exclusive themes and characters.

The leading rumor is a few parks that cancelled their winter events are bringing them back. Not KD though hence why they made their announcement this morning.

I see it more like Action Zone is the untouched wing of the house with peeling wallpaper and beat up furniture. Adding something to The Vortex plot would be like putting in a pool into the landscaped backyard.

I see this as an improvement for KD considering they had very few regular season shows, and will now have roughly the same amount as Kings Island when you include the Grand Carnivale entertainment. What KI needs is more shows with longer runs overall. An entertainment lineup that runs for most of the summer season (at least from Memorial Day to mid-August) and has additional opportunities for performances around the park. Some of those additional performances are already in motion with high school marching band parades going throughout the park, band/orchestra/choir performances on the bandstand, and the occasional youth dance group also on the bandstand. This all ties into something I've been talking about for a while: people want Kings Island to be a regional theme park despite it currently acting more like a regional amusement park. More shows, more theming, and more comprehensive areas. I don't think KI needs to immediately become a Midwestern Dollywood, but something closer to Busch Gardens Williamsburg would be much better. Speaking of KI entertainment, it looks like the lighting trusses are going up on the Bandstand right now. I'd much rather see The Vortex plot filled before anything major gets done in Action Zone. KI can start the Action Zone redevelopment now, but I think they need to fill the hole they have before patching an area that isn't yet letting in water (if that makes sense). Timberwolf and the KI Theater get used for Music in the Parks/Festival of Music in the beginning of the season as well.

Not entirely unrelated, but I saw my very first “real” concert (Tears for Fears) at Timberwolf in 1985 😀

On a slightly different topic did you all see Kings Dominion announced a firework and Drone show during July and August this season? I didn't think Kings Dominion did any sort of regular fireworks show (please correct me if I'm wrong) obviously I'm sure they did many many years ago but in recent times, they haven't had one anytime I've ever been there. I will be the first to call six flags out when they are doing something poorly but I'll also acknowledge when they do something right and the new shows lineup at Kings Dominion looks really solid especially considering I don't think they've had anything other than a Charlie Brown had a farm kids show whenever I've been there previously.

Retail on Int Street (and pretty much whole park) is so weak right now. Int street is most noticeable because they have 4 spaces (more if count them broken up) that provide no reason to go in any one over the other because they have the same junk. Why do they even have different names - just call them "crap for sale" 1,2 EAST and 3,4, WEST. There is KICollection that has NO artwork, collectible items, books (other than the ones available in every other shop) or anything "collection" oriented unless you collect plaid pajama pants. Essentials - has a great new interior design (which SHOULD have gone to the "Collection") but has some essentials and again the same books and random things that you just saw in "Collection" then there is an emporioum that has all of the stuff repeated AGAIN and whatever they are now calling the spot on the right that has more "essentials" as well as the same stuff I've already seen. What happened to the idea of MERCHANDISING related ideas together to create different shops? What happened to having a "home" shop that has product that brings the park to your house. What happened to the idea of creating ride-specific "mini shops" where cross-category items helped create a one stop shop if you loved The Beast etc. There is no reason whatsoever to go in any one shop over the other and even my kid who "wantedt o shop" today pretty much said "whats the point". They really need to step it up in the merchandising area. I'd seriously love to apply, but I dont think they are even hiring with an eye toward settng up the shops that way.

It’s really a shame. Herschend is making huge strides with Kentucky Kingdom-I hate that they face this setback. Ive heard from a good source the build is completely fire-ravaged on the inside and the roof is a goner. It will likely result in a ground up rebuild. The good news is, if they have to start from scratch- it will likely be an even better restaurant than originally planned. Im hoping a good outcome for the park. I think Flying Fox is going to be a hit for them.

Branded as “America’s Roller Coast,” the historic Lake Erie destination enters its 157th season with a refreshed mix of signature events, milestone celebrations and guest-focused experiences that continue to elevate it beyond a traditional amusement park visit. Full story: https://themeparksbydon.com/cedar-point-2026-season-opening-events-rides/

After a couple visits this year so far a few thoughts: Phantom Theater is great. The sound of Larry could be better in the lobby but overall a solid addition. It is not the original but is also its own great thing. I think with it being more family friendly it will hopefully have more staying power. I'd love to see more merch for it as time goes on. The music being improved in different areas is a definite upgrade and the food I have eaten so far has been good. As far as constructive criticism, I like some of the new merch but some of it too pricey. For example if The Bat shirt was $25 I'd have been tempted. At $30 it was a no for now. I've long thought the park would be smart to have a screen printing shirt shop. You could have basic colors (think the Kings Island logo shirts) with 20 to 30 logo options. People would pick their size shirt and then a logo of their choosing (not made until they select the color shirt and size and purchase). This would allow you have shirts for things like Invertigo or White Water Canyon or Woodstock Express. You could even do classic defunct rides as well. From a food service standpoint sometimes the chain (this isn't limited to KI) chases pennies only to lose dollars. For example we were eating lunch at Juke Box yesterday and the line was well out the door. It was because they had one person serving food. If they had one person doing sandwiches/tenders and another doing fries/onion rings it would have significantly sped up the line. On a day when there were a ton of school groups I wondered how many $20 meals they lost out on because people said "I'm not waiting in that line." Two meals would have easily paid that salary for the hour. I do want to point the worker did a great job and was working as hard and as fast as she could. We have the meal plan but I'm certain a significant number of the school groups did not. The park drastically needs another indoor restaurant. Tear down the Killmart building and build a nice efficient food court. There are multiple reasons why Brewhouse and Festhaus are so crowded but on days like yesterday where it was cooler, people want a place to sit down and want to be inside.

Double posting because it could be relevant to the entertainment lineup stuff: A few people have been posting this on the Facebook groups. Could we see more entertainment coming to the parks? Is it possible that KI is one of the parks that will be affected by whatever will be in this press release? The wording is weird, so it really could just be a big press release about new entertainment coming to 2 parks, but it's fun to speculate.

How many more years will it be around? That area is so ripe for redevelopment. Xtreme Skyflyer* Plot Congo Falls I like it but it's probably on borrowed time. Invertigo Timberwolf Action Zone is hurting so much more than the area by the old Vortex plot. * It's interesting that they got rid of Xtreme Skyflyer with no intention of replacing it with something in the short term. It must have been netting them zero money.

Meanwhile here at KI: * the KI theater will be dark from July on which is peak summer * International Showplace dark until like mid June * Bandstand dark during the day and then Hot Rhythm Nights in the evening * Timberwolf dark for a 3rd straight season *Very little to no roaming/popup entertainment *No entertainment or special events in Soak City *Only 1 Star Spangled Night while our park up north gets a full weekend But hey at least we got an average Food and Wine Festival as well as watered down Carnivale to look forward to! Plus at least we still got fireworks every 10 pm close starting Memorial Day!

Definitely this. This spot is usually packed, but still seems like a waste of a great indoor seating area. It’s a shame it’s on the same side as Grill and Grain in that it would be great to have a full sit down Italian restaurant “featuring” LaRosas pizza but that also had pasta dishes and salads. Wonder if the “Italy” side could ever be reconfigured to add that and use the Starbucks space for the displaced retail, then site build a new “Garden Cafe featuring Starbucks” where Shooting Star standing now. Nice indoor/ outdoor seating. Busy path, yet slightly “out of the way”. Great place to have featured breakfast items.

I think the main issue here is that Cedar Flags doesn't know how to treat this kind of area in terms of stores. Most of the other parks have 1, maybe 2 merchandise shops in their entrance areas — Kings Island has 4, with one of them being the size of two shops at other parks. There's 5 shops if you count Sweet Spot. Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland's shops feel more spread out due to how their entrance areas differ from KI's I-Street, so even if you go to all of them they still seem different enough. Part of that is also probably how few times I've been there, but my point still stands. Cedar Point has (I believe) 4-5 shops along the main stretch of the Main Midway, but one of those is completely dedicated to Peanuts merch while the rest are more varied overall between the Pagoda Gift Shop being the most like Emporium, the Button Stop shop selling buttons and pins (and being a stand more than a shop), and the Point Plaza shop being like KI Collections. The small CP Ride Shop has historically sold the same items as the other big shops, but seemed very focused on nano-coasters and ride plushies. Hopefully the merch situation will improve as the company's financials improve and as Tony Carovillano gets more comfortable in his new position as Park President. My biggest wants are for KI Essentials to continue having items that guests might've forgotten at home (medicine and cheap shirts/shorts/hoodies/pants) and for KI Trading Company to have merch from around the park (items from each area of the park collected there because it's a trading depot). Would the situation also improve by Herschend buying KI? Probably, but they just bought a ton of properties and don't need to expand again just yet. Imagine how this would feel if Starbucks' dining room was still a store too... (That space needs to be used for a different restaurant as well. Put Starbucks somewhere else that doesn't have a giant indoor dining room attached.) A lot of the issues I've seen/heard/read about in the park feel like things that have been happening for years now, and are only compounded by the poor financial situation Six Flags is in. The merchandise issues have only been worsened by the inclusion of the AI shirts and magnets. The F&B issues have been the same since 2023, though I will give the park credit because they've changed up the menus a little and have consistently had stocked fountain drinks.

Dreaming of what can happen with the structure was exactly what I was getting at I don't think they're really doing anything yet, I just thought it was a fun thing to analyze! I'd enjoy seeing it become a Haunt again simply so I can get up there at least one more time. Storage would also make sense if the park is trying to move stuff around or replace an existing storage building.

Three operating weekends. That’s how long it took for the animated Larry on the merchandise cart to stop working in case anyone is wondering. The cat still works for now, but Larry-who was squeaky this morning has now stopped as of this afternoon. I believe he ties “spinning snoopy” for the “simplest animation with a short life span” award.

The park was testing some really nice fountain patterns in the weeks leading up to Opening Day, but maybe those have gone out the window? This feels like something that might be in limbo until the nighttime spectacular starts back up on May 22nd. It makes sense in my mind, especially if they're using the start of daily operations as the time to actually have everything ready by. I could see that being the case with a chain that seems to have adopted the "It doesn't matter if they have rides/shows/etc. ready until Memorial Day weekend since that's when more paying guests start arriving" attitude.

I think that ship has sailed, but they could at least take the time to “refocus”, inspect and program a few “classic” patterns to rotate through through the day.

Since Mike Koontz (the guy who's idea it was to mess with the fountain in the first place) is gone, maybe we could all try and convince Tony (the new president) to bring the old style fountains back with the pedestals. I know the old pedestals are being used in the Orion area, but I'm sure a company can manufacter new ones.

Have we just given up on the fountain? It looks like a jumbled mess. Jets going crooked all over. Everything at full blast - even with the wind- except the ones that don’t even hit the same height. No changing, just all on- all the time-all over the place.